I feel like all good Dark Souls fans have their own personal favorite characters they've interacted with over the course of the series, and it's always interesting to hear exactly why those respective characters stand out.

As for me, I feel pretty trite in saying I pinball between the trio of Solaire, Knight Artorias, and Dragonslayer Ornstein, three of the most obvious and beloved characters from the first game. But, particularly in the case of Artorias and Ornstein, the mythology surrounding these characters has always fascinated me, offering enough intriguing gaps in their individual histories to leave me curious.

Whether because of lore or the simple joy of interaction, who are the characters you always think about when you think about Dark Souls?

(P.S. -- I was set to make this a poll but wow, wow, wow there are a lot of Dark Souls characters.)

I'm a big Stockpile Thomas fan. Dude fucked up big time.

Sieglinde. She's like the only human in Lordran, and certainly the only one there by choice. She can't respawn after she dies, and yet shes stomping all over the place without a damn care, handling herself without a problem (after you free her from a golem anyway), and looking for her bumbling father who, despite being undead, has to constantly be helped out by you. She's fucking awesome. Don't get me wrong, Siegmeyer is a likable awesome dude who's probably a close second, but his daughter kicks major ass.

Laurentius is also a fucking stand up dude. Very much a, "too good for this world, too pure" type character.

I have a real soft spot for Ostrava. Having to defeat his black phantom was areally nice touch.

Siegmeyer is also really good. I really like both of the ways his story can play out.

Ditto on Ostrava. Guy just wanted to help..

I like a lot of the characters, but my gut reaction is Patches. Fuck that guy.

Lucatiel of Mirah.

Really cool character, cool gear, fun to summon and had a kind of tragic storyline. Easily my favourite

I kinda like Yhorm for the shit he put up with in the name of leadership. And he has a transformer face for no reason. He's my favourite accidental Hitler.

Giant dad

Solaire's definitely my #1, but I also really liked Greirat. His voice acting is just so good.

My favorites are easily artorias and sif. There was so much lore build up to him before you get the opportunity to finally fight him. The sif fight was great too, I was underleveled the first time I went against him and it was infuriating but after I got him to low health and he was limping around I felt like shit. Finding puppy sif surrounded by the dark spirits and him only being protected by artorias's greatshield was also a really cool moment.

Sellsword Luet

@marco724: Agreed but I sort of skew towards Sif. I like to think about what adventures they've had, battles they've won and I wonder how Sif fit into it. One of the interesting things in the souls games is that White animals/beasts and in some cases Demons have been found in instances where they are fighting things from the abyss and it's encroachment. Like they have their own agenda and in Sif's case he seems like he joined up with Artorias specifically to fight the abyss and the spread of the Dark soul.

The Souls games are chock-full of quirky and likable characters. Since he hasn't been mentioned yet, I'll shout out Gough. He's big, old, slow, blind, and a total badass. He unassumingly sits on a locked-up ancient tower endlessly carving the world's supply of those obnoxious/hilarious speaking stone trinkets. I like to think that after living through so much, he's developed a certain resigned sense of humor about life in Dark Souls.

I like the Siegmeyer/Sieglinde characters from Dark Souls. If you get all the dialogs it's a real touching bit of storytelling in a game that doesn't do that all that often. Sieglinde secretly the most badass character in all of Dark Souls - the original no death run.

I've got to use my head. And think. Hmm... Mmm...

Probably Mephistopheles. For those that never found her in Demon's Souls, she is one wicked woman. Who wants you to kill every NPC in the game. And then tries to kill you once you have.

Big. Hat. Logan.

Seriously though I don't know what any characters in Dark Souls are actually up to despite playing all the games. The story parts just don't get through to me. I like the Crow lady in Bloodborne too if that game counts.

Snugly.

@savage: Gough is so good. I kept thinking about him during Dark Souls 3. "At thy twilight, old thoughts return, in great waves of nostalgia." I felt like that summed up the entire spirit behind that game.

For people that only show up momentarily, I think Crossbreed Priscilla is wonderfully pleasant and fantastical. The young prince Lothric also makes an incredible impression. He's only got one scene and they use it to the fullest. It's the opposite with Gough. That guy will talk at you forever if you let him.

Patches the spider. (IT COUNTS!!)

That one guy who stares off into the distance and rambles about the ending of the world as we know it.

Oh...wait...

Maiden in black. She keeps the candles lit.

Oh man, I have lots of answers...

• Gavlan for being so damn silly.
• Marvelous Chester! Dude is basically bloodborne before bloodborne, and he kinda sounds like Tim Curry at times!
• Also, Simon and Ludwig from the old hunters, both have pretty awesome dialogue.

Siegmeyer, Navlaan, Lautrec, Lucatiel.

Solaire's alright.

Probably Maiden Astrea.

Within the context of Demon's Souls story, what they tried to do with her made no sense. But isolated, her's and Garl Vinaland's story is one of my favorite in fiction.

Oh, how could I forget! Domhnall of zena is the best!

They have characters?