Probably Conan the Barbarian. The character comes right up to the edge of being a Gary Stu, but I love him anyway. Strong, smart (if you look past the parodies of him in popular culture), brave and most importantly - free. The world was his stomping ground. No clocking in and out at the end of every day for him.

Great setting, check out the Man-Kzin Wars series too, which includes Larry Niven’s intro short story to the Kzinti, the Warriors, its one of my favorites.

The Shire from the Middle Earth. It just feels so peaceful, green, idyllic, pure, which is what I’m sure Tolkien was going for. Also, I have to mention Redwall from the Redwall series, for similar reasons. There’s just something comforting and cozy about places like that. You wish you could live there.

I just work off of what the author gives me, if they don’t give me much, my imagination will simply fill in the blank somehow. I think I have a kind of gallery of stock “types” in my head that I can pull from to match a face to a name if I have to.

It can make me feel a little sad or melancholy at times, especially fantasy. Despite all the faults and problems and so on, of living in those worlds, I envy the characters’ freedom, like Conan’s. Their ability to move around, and explore and feel awe for the world around them, like the Fellowship of the Ring. That’s part of what I love about reading the genre, it brings you back to a simpler, and in some ways better, time. I think Tolkien was right, things are always getting worse. The Hobbits knew how to live.