Who needs a hero?

Today’s breakfast-time writer prompt:

Name a favorite protagonist and a single sentence of why. Bonus points for being off the beaten path, but recognizeable.

STEPHEN PATRICK: One of my favorite fictional Texans, the “gallant gentleman” himself, Quincey Morris: big heart, big knife, big smile, and he killed Dracula!

DAVID RIKE: Stephen R Donaldson’s leper, Thomas Covenant, a fun version of the social pariah as hero, with no real stake in society, but they defend it anyway.