Paedantic Basterd

I have too many favourite characters to really discuss, so I'll narrow it down to certain archetypes that I tend to gravitate to. Of course there are also lots of characters I love who fall outside of these archetypes, but these are probably the big ones.

1. The sarcastic loner with the heart of gold. The outward-misanthropes who closetedly care deeply about their friends. E.g., Mat Cauthon, Jeff Winger, Dr. Macartney.

2. The hapless nice guy. The guy who tries his best to be a good person, but has terrible luck and is frankly a bit of a ****-up. E.g., Michael Bluth, Ted Mosby, Phillip J. Fry, Jake Peralta, Peter Petrelli, Dirk Gently.

3. The jaded, reluctant mentor. This is probably what the sarcastic loner looks like after a decade or more of bitterness. E.g., Gregory House, Claude (Heroes), Bernard Black, Captain Levi.

4. The oblivious jackass. This type of character is enormously deluded and has a giant, fragile ego. They're a horrible person in theory, but in practice they're just kind of a giant knob. E.g., Barney Stinson, Guy Secretan, Gob Bluth, Mason (Dead Like Me), Harry Lockhart, Peter Quill.

And then there's an "other" category full of characters who are harder to characterize, like Sue White, Jared Dunn, Alan Statham, Abed Nadir, Edward Elric, Liz Lemon, Hans Landa, Amelie Poulain, Peter Whitman, Furiosa, Dug (Up!), Hedwig (of the Angry Inch), Hope Ann Gregory, etc.

Also, I feel like it's important to distinguish between characters I have bonded with and love to watch on screen and characters I don't love, but respect as incredible works of of acting and writing, like Walter White.