Join us, and take a walk of remembrance through your favorite classic stories and teen-fantasy romance novels. The men in these books were so incredible that they set majorly unrealistic standards for our real life boyfriends. Here are the 15 male book characters that absolutely ruined us for life, and that we're still obsessed with.
1. Westley from The Princess Bride
The first time he ever opens his mouth to say "As you wish," he was imprinted on our hearts forever. This farmhand/man in black/hottie has completely ruined all other men for us. Westley is a true hero who never stops fighting for the woman he loves. Where can we get one?
2. Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars
Cancer kid with one leg? Yeah, we're still in love with him. Gus is perfect because he's able to find the miracle in the mundane, and never loses hope. He inspires you to appreciate the bigger purpose of your life, and makes you feel special in the way that all girls dream about.
3. Jace Herondale from The Mortal Instruments
Jace is the classic bad boy with a heart of gold, and his character type is basically candy to all women. He's sexy, sensitive, hilarious, vaguely rude and ultimately a sweetheart. Needless to say he's a walking contradiction--but where else are we ever going to find such a hot mess of a man?
4. Fang from Maximum Ride
Fang was our teenage sexual awakening. This mutant kid with perfect hair is the brooding boyfriend of our dreams. He's the type of boy that will subtly sneak his way into your heart and never leave, but that's okay, because if he ever left us we'd have a meltdown.
5. Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird
Let's be real, Atticus is kind of the ultimate DILF. He's an honest and dedicated man that fights for justice, which is hella attractive. Not to mention he's an awesome father, and we would love to check out his dad bod. His maturity and dedication to ending racial inequality has officially ruined all other DILFs for us. Atticus is the man all women hope to marry.
6. Aragorn, Son of Arathorn from The Lord of the Rings
Aragorn is the ultimate protector and all around good person. Honestly, he's kind of grubby throughout the series since he's tromping around in the wilderness with some hobbits, but his overall knowledge and outdoorsy-ness is something we look for in the adventurous sort of man. Could you imagine going to camping with him? Yes, yes and yes.
7. Patch from Hush Hush
HOT HOT HOT. The kid is literally a fallen angel. He's a total bad boy—actually he's kind of a huge tool, but for some reason that's attractive. He's basically the only jerk we will ever be able to fall in love with and not get hurt by, solely due to the fact that he's a book character.
8. Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby
Gatsby is the classic, sophisticated gentleman. The thing that stands out most about him is his unending dedication to Daisy. Literally nothing will stop him from pursuing her. Not even the fact that she's married. He's ruined all other men for us, because no man could ever match his level of romantic effort.
9. Gale Hawthorne from The Hunger Games
Gale is simultaneously the ultimate best friend and romantic interest. He's self-sacrificing, brave and really cares about family. You could depend on him to hold your life together if you ever had to suddenly to leave and go fight to the death. Maybe he would make a great stay-at-home dad? No matter what, Gale's sweet spirit has blown us away and no man can compare.
10. Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice
He goes from being an arrogant, grumpy man to a gooey pile of mush as soon as love hits him. We would kill for the power to drastically change a man's life with the sheer force of our love. If only Tinder were that easy.
11. Marius Pontmercy from Les Misérables
Marius also falls into the ideal best friend/lover category. The sole reason for his character's existence is to fall in love with Cosette, but that's complicated because his favorite lower class friend, Eponine, is madly in love with him too. All these women chase after him, but he deftly handles the situation. You could trust Marius to be faithful to you while also still maintaining other female friendships--in other words, he's a dream come true.
12. Will Traynor from Me Before You
Yes, we know he's in a wheelchair and the treatment toward quadriplegics in this book is more than problematic. However, if you ignore the tricky details and just examine Will for the man he is, well then he's pretty darn amazing. His soft side could make any girl swoon, and you could spend hours in a garden together just talking and having fun. Also, do you get the feeling he would be an amazing person to Netflix and chill with? Because we do.
13. Ian O'Shea from The Host
Ian is ridiculously amazing because he falls in love with Wanda despite the fact that she's an alien and her true form is a gross little worm. He's willing to look past how weird and messed up a girl's life actually is. We may not be aliens, but hopefully Ian could extend the same sort of loving patience towards our appearance when we wake up in the morning.
14. Four from Divergent
Four (also known as Tobias) is the badass boyfriend of our wildest fantasies. While it's not super attractive in real life when guys spend their time fighting, it's totally okay when Four does it. Knowing how dangerous and powerful he is underneath that beautiful face makes him all the more tempting.
15. Christian Grey from 50 Shades of Grey
Go ahead and roll your eyes, but Christian Grey has 100 percent ruined all other men for us--at least sexually. He's the type of man that encourages a woman to act like the sexual being she is. Even if riding crops aren't your thing, we could definitely go for a guy who knows his way around in the bedroom.
