I have to admit, the character Ragnar Danneskjold in Atlas Shrugged gets my vote.
Imagine being able to seize ships stocked with foreign aid so that you can give hard-earned money back to the producers in the form of a tax refund?
One of the things that stimulates me about Ayn Rand’s novels is her ability to concoct such characters.
So which Ayn Rand character did you find most fascinating?
I have to admit, the character Ragnar Danneskjold in Atlas Shrugged gets my vote.
Imagine being able to seize ships stocked with foreign aid so that you can give hard-earned money back to the producers in the form of a tax refund?
One of the things that stimulates me about Ayn Rand’s novels is her ability to concoct such characters.
So which Ayn Rand character did you find most fascinating?
Ragnar is my favourite character just ahead of Francisco.
I wish there was more of Ragnar in the book.
Gail Wynand and Dominique Francon. I can’t help but to love these two characters. It must be the Nietzsche in me. :blink:
Ma Chalmers and the ‘Soybean Cult’. :pimp:
Seriously though, my favourite character will always be the one that introduced me to this world. The one who stood on a cliff and laughed.
Howard Roark.
Howard Roark…
I would say Galt, but he had the misfortune of being turned into an abstraction early in Shrugged. So, Roark it is.
I liked Eddie Willers. He wasn’t endowed with the same talents as Galt or D’Anconia but it never stopped from working to the best of his potential.
My favorite would have to be Hank Rearden. We get to see more of his “intellectual journey” than that of any other character, as he discovers the premises on which he has lived his life versus the premises which direct others. Mostly, though, I think it’s the speech at his trial: “the public good be damned.”
Roark is a very close second.
I’d go with Roark because I associate with him a little better. He was more of a practical artists than any other character.
Gail Wynand and Dominique Francon. I can’t help but to love these two characters. It must be the Nietzsche in me. :pimp:
Or perhaps you saw the movie. 
Both these characters were given great portrayals by Particia Neal (as Dominique) and Raymond Massey (as Wynand).
Most fascinating character: Probably Roark, though Ragnar, Dominique, and Wyatt are very strong contenders too. (In very different ways.) Favorite character: definitely Francisco.
From a clinical psychological point of view I would say Keating’s mom is most fascinating.
My favorite scene in The Fountainhead is Roark’s encounter with her on the porch of the Keating home at the beginning of the novel. The contrast between the significance that the encounter likely represented for each of them is striking.
Whereas Roark may have considered the episode the equivalent of negotiating around a fallen branch obstructing his path on the pavement, Mrs. Keating saw it as an opportunity to address her many neuroses stemming from having existed at the percetual level of awareness for so many years.
If any thought did go through Howard’s mind at the time, it might have been one of fascination mixed with pity for the extent to which the human spirit can debase itself.
I’d have to say Francisco is my favorite! I said to someone recently {in jest} that I want to meet my Francisco and she wanted to know why I didn’t say my Galt…I think that Francisco is the most romantically portrayed character I have ever read.
Male character: Hank Rearden. His is the most directly developed characterization.
Female character: Dominique. I found way too much of her in myself so it gave me some great insights to some of my own mistakes.
Hank Rearden.
I can relate the most to his character. He had personal struggles and he still rose to the top to conquer the industry.
In this capacity, I can also relate to Galt’s “son of a gas station mechanic” part as well.
However, Hank had some personal problems integrating all aspects of Objectivism into his life. He made errors of knowledge, not errors of morality.
In that capacity, I have made my own. I’m not proud of them, but you move on because to give up would be the greater crime (as he illustrates to Dagny when he apologizes, tells her he loves her, and lets her know that he knows about her other love).
Hank is someone who is always pushing to make yourself.
I think the lyrics to the Incubus song “Make yourself” remind me of how Hank sees life which is why I have always liked that song.
No one has so far mentioned Dagny Taggart or Equality 7-2521, so I will.
My personal favourite was Hank Rearden.
He appears to start off relatively unarmed against people such as his family and the thugs who steal from him. He tries to appease them, keeping his diquiet to hidden, (esp. concerning his wife).
But as the book progresses, we see him arm himself intellectually and see his “rebellion”.
Besides him, Francisco for his sheer, youthful love of life.
Ragnar is my favourite character just ahead of Francisco.
I wish there was more of Ragnar in the book.
Gotta agree with this. I love love love Ragnar and Francisco, and find them to be Rand’s most fascinating characters. But then, I love all of Rand’s heros, just in different ways and for different reasons. Others high on the list would be Roark, Kira, Equality, Rearden, Mallory…I guess I’d better stop there or I’ll just end up listing them all!
I’d have to name the characters who most remind me of the people I know and love. My father was a delightful and challenging combination of Francisco and Rearden. My husband Stephen is like Francisco and John Galt in many respects with some heroic characteristics that are uniquely his own. (Stephen also has a definite Ragnar streak at times, so watch out!).
Gotta love 'em!
Dagny, definately Dagny. Reading her thoughts, for the first time, made my brain scream, “Those are MY thoughts!! In WORDS!!” I had never thought it possible. Atlas Shrugged was my first glimpse into a world that existed, and not just in my own head, and I experienced it all through Dagny’s eyes.