Mine would have to be Snake Pliskin. Some people just have the touch, y'know. A good example of it being better to be lucky than good.

Rambo...the book version...not Sly Stalone

Bond, James Bond. Survive in style, shaken not stirred...

Lazarus Long, or maybe Louis Wu.

Lassie. She always managed to escape danger and save little Timmy from the old well/abandoned mine/raging floodwaters/forest fire/whatever without even matting her coat. She's one tough [censored]!

Jeff

I have to go with Truckergut. Lazarus Long and Louis Wu were both very long term survivors.

Snake...classic.

Does Forest Gump count as a survival character? Love that character. Regardless of his situation he makes it through it.

Ginger and Maryann.

-Blast

Good old Burt Gummer

Pete

Richard B. Riddick (especially in Pitch Black)
Ellen Ripley

MaryAnn was definitely hotter. If I had to be stuck on an island with one of them, she would be the choice.

Hugh Farnham, except for the surgical part-

Ashe....evil dead, evil dead 2, and army of darkness
...."Hail to the King Baby!"

-Bill Liptak

Hugh didn't get clipped, Duke did. (Reread it last month.)

But I would have to go with H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy. Always equipped, always learning, always playing. And anyone who is two feet tall and weighs 20 pounds who can pull a a 20 pound bow or hump 15 pounds of gear, and isn't afraid to approach an alien being many times larger has to be respected.

Mitch Rapp.

John Kelly (aka John C. Clark) from Tom Clancy's Without Remorse & Rainbow Six.

Lazarus Long or Hazel Stone - Heinlein

-Eric

Karate Man

John T Roark (sp?)

The Survivalist series of paperback books.

The writing got repetitive after the 15th book or so, but it was an interesting series to that point.

1st Snake
2nd Rambo(book)
3rd Maryanne
4th ??????

The driver who made it across the continent in Damnation Alley (the book).
Anyone know where all the characters people are chosing are from?
The Sock

Lazarus Long is a Robert Heinlein character from many of his books. He appeared first in Methuselah's Children and later in Time Enough for Love.

Louis Wu is a Larry Niven character, found in all of the Ringworld series as well as a few others.

Hugh Farnham is another Heinlein character from Farnham's Freehold.

John Thomas Rourke.
Jerry Ahern's hero in his Survivalist series.

Snake Pliskin-Escape from New York
Rambo-Book Series of the same name or Sly Stalone movies
Ginger and Maryanne-Gilligans Island


Mike

Ben Raines - Out Of The Ashes by William W. Johnstone
Quinn Harris - the movie Six Days Seven Nights, played by Harrison Ford
Capt Dooley - in the movie Islands in the Sky, played by John Wayne
Captain Ron, in the movie Captain Ron, played by Kurt Russell
Maryann and Ginger - Gilligan's Island

I always enjoyed Robinson Crusoe and Swiss Family Robinson. they did some interesting things.

Terminator, Reese...goes shopping a viola! plastic explosives, and he gets the girl!

I agree with SBRaider..Ben Raines...good series of books, hard to find.

I'll also add Tom Hanks character from Cast Away.

Thanks for the info on who all these people are. The only thing I can remember about Louis Wu from Ringworld is that 'he made a lousy warrior'. Guess he toughened up in the later books?
The Sock

I go with J. T. Rourke ("The Survivalist").

#2 Ben Raines

#3 The two guys (main characters) from the Deathlands series...

I guess I could go for any one of Richard Marcinko's heroes in his fiction series. I have only read one of them, but the hero in that one could do no wrong, could overcome any obstacle and win in the end...

Jeremiah Johnson... certainly at the end of the movie.
At the beginning he was quite a tenderfoot.

At the start he was lost and confused it seemed... probably new more than most do today that think they know 'some'... in the middle I say he was very good 'survival character' in the end a ruthless killer out for revenge/protection/death wish but also an expert of the area.

My .02 at least.

-Todd

The mother alien in the movie "Aliens". Or is this restricted to human characters?

Also Drake Douay, in the book "The Walrus and the Warwolf". He's not someone that can be learned from, but he does survive numerous tribulations.

+1 to the Howard Family

Hell Tanner--Damnation Alley.

Any bum on Philedelphia streets.

i have to say Burt Gummer(though the fact that he calls lifeboat rations MREs bugs me every time.) food for five years, a thousand gallons of gas, air filtration, water filtration, Geiger counter, bomb shelter. Underground, God**** monsters.

and Indiana Jones. booby traps, hostile natives, Nazis, snakes, spiders, evil priests, women, mobsters, mercenaries, aliens, commies; he always comes out a bit worse for wear, but alive. and he does it all without a GPS.

Ok. I totally blew it on Indiana Jones. Damn. One of my all time fav movies

I'd have to say "The man" and his son, "the boy", from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". For those of you who have never read the book no specific names, dates, or even what caused the end of the world is mentioned.

No matter what these two kept trying and moving forward through countless little triumphs and setbacks. And they stuck together and stood up for each other with a lot of love and compassion. Like the book mentioned in the beginning, each was "the other world's entire".

I tell people every single time when post-apocalyptic/survival fiction is discussed: anyone can write a good or even great post-apocalyptic story. But it takes a brilliant writer, IMHO, to make readers understand there's something more important than the protagonist's stuggle to just stay alive, and that's the struggle to retain one's humanity.

The Road, Lord of the Flies, Alas Babylon, The Old Man and the Sea, Robinson Crusoe, and others - all are earmarks above your standard survival fiction because the characters are people that we can all relate to and have empathy towards. Not only do they have to conquer the elements and the adversities they face, but they have to better themselves by staring into the dark side of human nature. The heroes sometimes have to take an introspective look to do this as well.

The first time I finished "Lord of the Flies" I was just floored. Same with "Crusoe", "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Road", and that's the reason why. Writers that want to shoot for punching out a brilliant story have just GOT to focus on the human element, and not just a slam-bang survival story.

The Road was a great book. I read it when my son was about a year old and man did it really affect me.

What a good topic! These come to mind from my youth:

Julie of the Wolves
the gal from Z is for Zachariah. I don't remember if she ever gives her name.

What? No Macgyver fans?

oh man, I totally skipped over that. +1 and then some to Macgyver. Not only survive but take out the bad guys with nothing more than a SAK and what ever happens to be laying around. I'll change mine to Macgyver and Hazel Stone.

-Eric

"Newt" from "aliens"

Alone, unarmed and perhaps six years old her character survives amidst an entire colony of some of the deadliest monsters to come out of fiction.

IMO survival, unlike what is presented in the survival gun porn depictions, is seldom fighting the the enemy and threatening forces. Usually the forces arrayed against us will be of a size and form you can't actually fight. Except in rare situations the forces cannot be faced down. You can't square off against a wildfire, or a hurricane or the storm surge it brings. Your only chance is to flee, roll with the punches or, at best, you hunker down and try to ride it out.

The primary traits are not will, physical bravery and a willingness to fight. They are patience, endurance and adaptability.

And for these traits the character of "Newt" is a good example.

To refresh your memory of the movie:
http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Aliens_James_Cameron_May_28_1985_first_draft.html

we are ALL blasphemers!! for none hath named supreme the great Lord Chuck!!!11!

Rod Walker - Tunnel in the sky

James "Slippery Jim" diGriz from the Stainless Steel Rat series.

Closely followed by Jason dinAlt from the Deathworld series.

Both series are written by Harry Harrison.

No demi-gods allowed, that's why.

You can't use CN, because it isn't fair to the rest or the pantheon. There's got to be a chance the character might fail. Besides who can aspire to such greatness. You gotta give us a little hope.

Oh, the Stainless Steel Rat, I have not thought of that one in a long time. Love those Harry Harrison books (of course, I even read "Bill the Galactic Hero" books).

One of mine would be Tim Hamner from Pournelle and Niven's "Lucifer's Hammer". Basic tech geek (astronomer) ends up surviving the post-comet impact world. Makes me think there is hope for geeks like me.

I also really enjoyed Gordon from David Brin's "The Postman" (read the book - even if you have seen the movie).

Indiana Jones, MacGyver (who's first name was Angus FYI) are both great but how about Max Rockatansky aka "Mad Max"? I also like Jack Reacher of the novels by Lee Child, all the smarts and wit of James Bond, with the toughness and physical power of say Rambo...or an Abrams tank.

Does this mean that Bolo's are off limits (as fictional characters) too? I had my heart set on surviving in style with my continental siege engine. I guess I could settle for having Retief along instead. He always seems to overcome the environment and the bureaucrats while ending up in the company of a bevy of beautiful women.

- Eric

Yes, but WHICH Bolo?

I rather like 721-KNE, aka "Sir Kendrick Evilslayer".

"I am a sentient in armor... It is the duty of the armored sentient, identification as knight-errant, to protect the weak and use strength in the service of justice. My name is not Kenny. That is not a name proper... I am Sir Kendrick. It is my mission to protect."

Kinda defines the line between artificial intelligence and "heck with it, we're all people here."

What? No vote for Jeebee in Wolf & Iron by Gordon Dickson? Overweight, outta shape and takes on a bear with a bowie. I can relate. At least with overweight and outta shape part...

My bolo is a 1917, does that count???

Only if others can hear it when the two of you are discussing something.

- Eric

Bilbo Baggins

Many good ones have already been taken, I'll throw in Charles Bronson as Albert Johnson in Death Hunt

How about Kanaalaq? She was the young Inuit girl from "The Snow Walker".

I'd like to add Darry Ransom in "Hunted" & "Prey" by William W. Johnstone

The frog in the milk pail. Never give up!

Frankie

How about "smoke Jensen" from the mountain man series. books by William W. Johnstone.