Don Quixote — Cervantes

Don Quixote is the first great character of the European novel—a 50-year-old hidalgo who loses his mind to chivalric romances and tilts at windmills, symbolizing idealism and the power of fiction. His delusion that fiction is more real than reality makes him faster than the average literary hero in shifting perceptions, as his adventures span 126 chapters of the 1605 and 1615 volumes. Cervantes’ creation has inspired 30,000 scholarly works, a data point that underscores his cultural impact. Cheaper than the typical tragic figure in production cost, Quixote’s pathos of obsolescence rivals #4 Jay Gatsby’s dream, but his timeless optimism sets him apart as a benchmark for modern anti-heroes.