What the heroes of famous books actually looked like

To create a truly distinctive character that will be interesting to follow in the pages of books, creative people turn to images from real life that inspired or somehow surprised them. Such literaryist It is doomed to success and often falls under the scrutiny of even the most sophisticated reader.

In this article, we decided to tell you about the eighth most interesting book characters and their prototypes. Find out what Jules Verne's Tintin really looked like and why vampire hunter Van Helsing doesn't look like handsome Hugh Jackman.

Literary character

1. John Silver, Treasure Island . . . one thought occurred to me about John Silver, who promised to deliver many amusing minutes: to take a friend of mine, whom I loved and respected very much (the reader may well be, knows and loves him as much as I do), to cast aside his sophistication and all the virtues of the highest order, to leave him nothing but his strength, bravery, smartness and ineradicable sociability, and try to find them embodied somewhere on a level accessible to an uncoutained sailor. Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island.
   
   
   
   
   
   Due to bone tuberculosis suffered by Williamomo Ernst Hensley as a child, the guy had his left leg amputated to the knee. However, as an adult man, strong physically and mentally, Hensley was friends with the author of “Treasure Island” and inspired him to create “The Ham” by John Silver, the one-legged leader of a whole gang of pirates.
   
   
2. Daisy Buchanan, “The Great Gatsby” Ginevra King, the prototype of the literary character Daisy Buchanan, was born into a wealthy family of the time and had the fame of a very enviable bride with great connections and dowries. At the age of 16, she met Francis Scott Fitzgerald while sledging with friends.
   
   
   
   
   
   The young people had a very passionate affair, but two years later the young man in love received a letter in which he talked about the engagement of Ginevra with the son of one of her father’s business partners. It is believed that the phrase “poor boys should not think about marrying rich girls” was written by her, and the author later moved it to the pages of his book.
   
   
3. The Austrian physician of Dutch origin Gerard van Sweeten was a real scientific luminary of his time. He had a high position at court and used it as much as possible for the benefit of science. As a result of his reforms, a chemical laboratory, a botanical garden and the most advanced system of training doctors for its time appeared in Vienna.
   
   
   
   
   
   In addition, van Sweeten hated superstition and village beliefs in all otherworldly. When part of the Balkan Peninsula was transferred to Austria, he personally went to Moravia to investigate a number of local cases of “vampirism.” Obviously, they were domestic crimes and all sorts of insinuations. Later it served as the prototype for the character of Van Helsing in the famous writer Bram Stoker.
   
   
4. A British writer, poet, lecturer, theologian and much more, Clive Staples Lewis was a very close friend of the famous fantasy writer John Ronald Tolkien. Clive Lewis himself wrote several fantasy stories, such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy, which are still popular today.
   
   
   
   
   
   Clive Staples Lewis was a great speaker with a deep, strong voice. When he gave lectures, he could be heard very well in the hallways, even behind closed doors. It is for this reason that his friend Tolkien awarded his character, the forest Ent, the same low and outstanding voice.
   
   
5. Tintin, "The Adventures of Tintin" The main literary character of the book "The Adventures of Tintin" is very similar to his real prototype. He's a 15-year-old guy in short pants with a protruding chick. Tintin also traveled around the world, saw a lot and his adventures were envied by schoolchildren around the world.
   
   
   
   
   
   In honor of the centenary of Jules Verne, the Danish newspaper Politiken announced in 1928 a competition among teenagers, the winner of which could travel around the world at the expense of the editorial office. Condition: you must do this in a maximum of 46 days and do not use air transport. The competition was won by the young Palle Huld, who traveled the world in 44 days. Comics about Tintin began to print almost a few days after the start of the round the world.
   
   
6. Ichabod Crane, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow In 1812-1815, during the Anglo-American War, the “father of American literature” Washington Irving served as an aide-de-camp to General Tompkins and, accompanying him in the next inspection, he met Captain Ichabod Crane. Later, he will call the main character “Sleepy Hollow”. He will only take his name from him.
   
   
   
   
   
   The image of the provincial teacher, always sad, with subtle features, Washington Irving will notice later. His prototype will serve as a real teacher Jesse Mervin, quietly working in the town of Kinderhoek, where Irving will live for several months in 1809.
   
   
7. Dolores, "Lolita." In 1948, 11-year-old Florence Sally Horner was kidnapped by a 50-year-old man. He traveled around the country with her for a long time. This was the inspiration for Nabokov’s novel Lolita.
   
   
   
   
   
   On the other hand, there is an opinion that the prototype of Lolita was the future wife of 35-year-old Charlie Chaplin 15-year-old Lita Gray. Historians have not yet come to a general conclusion on this issue.
   
   
8. The personal biographer of Hans Christian Andersen Carol Rosen in his works claims that the analogue of the Snow Queen was a person who denied the writer mutual tender feelings.
   
   
   
   
   
   They met opera singer Ennie Lind in 1848. Since then, Andersen has repeatedly confessed his feelings to the girl, but never received a mutual response. His reaction was a cold, almost inanimate character in a famous children's fairy tale.
   
   

That's how they are, writers. As you can see, people react differently to a given situation: just because of a strong character or refusal of reciprocity, books can make you an antihero. But for much bigger faults, as in the case of Lolita, on the contrary, the character will be given a monologue for the whole book, and people will like it. What do you think, dear reader, who would you portray as a character in your book?