7 - Temeraire. I'm a very, very bad person. Also, I haven't read the latest one yet myself.
16 - I don't think it's true of the fandom following at large, but personally I like Otto because I get the sense he's having fun, and I like people who are having fun. He certainly isn't an especially fleshed out character - we're never told where he was putting up before he moved into the cellar, or get any information about people closer to him than "this friend of mine" - but I have the impression he sticks with the Times because he's enjoying the hell out of it. The iconography lets him take charge without being threatening, and I just get the sense he's playing with that. Giving unsolicited romantic advice does the same thing (and lets him flirt with everyone and get away with it). The throw away line in Thud to Vimes, "Yes, sir. But I make them laugh," kind of reinforces that idea.
I think that's kind of it? The sense of play and misdirection. I wrote a bit of a novel here - not trying to convert you or anything! ;) It's just that I've long not been entirely sure myself what I'm responding to about him.
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16 - I don't think it's true of the fandom following at large, but personally I like Otto because I get the sense he's having fun, and I like people who are having fun. He certainly isn't an especially fleshed out character - we're never told where he was putting up before he moved into the cellar, or get any information about people closer to him than "this friend of mine" - but I have the impression he sticks with the Times because he's enjoying the hell out of it. The iconography lets him take charge without being threatening, and I just get the sense he's playing with that. Giving unsolicited romantic advice does the same thing (and lets him flirt with everyone and get away with it). The throw away line in Thud to Vimes, "Yes, sir. But I make them laugh," kind of reinforces that idea.
I think that's kind of it? The sense of play and misdirection. I wrote a bit of a novel here - not trying to convert you or anything! ;) It's just that I've long not been entirely sure myself what I'm responding to about him.