I’ll have a go at doing this justice, although it’s just impossible for me to mention all of the literary characters I love, let alone properly explain why each is significant. The ones that I have included though deserve thrones in the Literary Hall of Greatness, where readers who love them will meet them and be best friends with them, which is, naturally, my biggest dream ever. Here are the heroes I’d like to shake hands with. And hug. I’ll start with someone acceptable for an English student, which is what I am, although you’d never have guessed.

Satan from Milton’s epic Paradise Lost is the character we hate to love. The idea of him caught my attention when I was reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (more on this obsession soon). Years later I read Paradise Lost itself and fell in love. I think Satan is probably just about the sexiest antihero ever – rebelling against God? That is supremely cool. Plus his dark internal torment, his magnificent impassioned speeches, his seductive persuasiveness… I think the argument that Milton intended Satan to be the hero of the poem is stupid, as the whole point of Satan is that he is alluring but he’s still really, really evil – that’s half the fun. He’s the ultimate bad boy.

The supposed ally of the fallen angel is Lyra Belaqua from His Dark Materials. I spent my time between ages eight and 15 just longing to be friends with this girl. She’s the heroine I wanted to be: brave, clever, funny and charismatic – I’m still working on these. She also travels between worlds, can read the truth about anything, tells spectacular stories, and is utterly independent, running wild as she grows up and going on an epic adventure. I think I was also envious of her having a dæmon (Google it), probably because I didn’t have any pets and thought one that could change shape would be nice.

There were two other girls I wished I was friends with. The first was Lucy Pevensie from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She was loyal, kind, determined, and Aslan’s no. 1 gal. I’ve got to give a shout out to the lion himself here – yes, I know he’s Jesus, but you don’t have to be into God to think he’s completely brilliant. The other character from the Chronicles of Narnia character that deserves a mention here is Edmund. Talk about a turnaround: no one else could go so genuinely from spiteful Witch accomplice to lovable supporting brother and hero in so few pages. The other girl who was a sort of imaginary friend is Titty from Swallows and Amazons. Despite her unfortunate name and unfortunate attitudes to the indigenous people of anywhere that isn’t England, she’s got the sort of tough attitude that we all wish we had. She completely aces everything: capturing the Amazon, finding the treasure, rugby tackling Captain Flint. What a boss.

I know I’ve just done a whole bunch of children’s books, but this is the last one, I promise. The Wind in the Willows is just about one of my favourite books ever, and my favourite character is the Rat. He gets the best line – “there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” – and he muses and writes poetry. No disrespect meant at all to the Mole, the Badger or the Toad, though. All four of them deserve medals, but I feel a special affection for good old Ratty just because he’s so charming, mild, and hilarious.

Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream is next on my list (here the struggling English student attempts to redeem herself). He’s obviously a beautifully crafted character, the instigator of an excellent plot and a fairy to boot; but I am also of the opinion that he says the most perfect passage in Shakespeare. I know I’m not a scholar or anything, but his closing monologue is just exquisite: “If we shadows have offended, / Think but this and all is mended…” He’s not just talking about the fairies in the story. He’s talking about the actors, and reminding the audience that it’s make-believe and transient. While we’re showing off with Shakespeare, I also nominate Beatrice from Much Ado about Nothing. She’s just the funniest.

The last character who sits in my Hall of Greatness is Antoinette Cosway from Wide Sargasso Sea. Once she’s married to an Englishman for her dowry and shipped away from her home in Jamaica, she’s known as Bertha Mason, appearing as the archetypal ‘mad woman in the attic’ in Jane Eyre. Jean Rhys’ 1966 novel gives her a voice, and it’s moving and passionate, transforming her from a ghost into a woman who lets us explore important gender issues and society’s attitudes towards mental health. Others who’ve been knocked off the list are Odysseus, Cassandra from I Capture the Castle, Dr Iannis from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and Úrsula Iguarán from One Hundred Years of Solitude.

I won’t go into detail because I have a word limit (and an English degree, that unfortunately neglects many of these self-evident classics), but if you’ve read the books then they speak for themselves. If you haven’t read the books, I really can’t recommend them more. Last but not least, Dumbledore. Enough said.