If I had written this question instead of the OP, I probably would have said "of books" to avoid the dangers of it being a historical figure (or a character claimed to be a historical figure). Thankfully, Richard was wise enough to avoid these pitfalls.
I also want to try to dodge "from books". Because e.g., James Bond is originally from books but his fame is almost-exclusively from the movies.
I think that additional caveat ends up blocking a bunch of my gut instinct answers:
- Sun Wukong
- Lu Bu
- Sherlock Holmes
- Batman
- Frankenstein
I then fall onto famous book characters even if people haven't read the books:
- Jane Eyre
- Rodian Raskolnokov
- [A third name I'd come up with if it wasn't midnight]
And that brings me to my actual guess:
- The Little Prince
obviously I'm tilted because Sherlock Holmes was my answer and I've been arbitrarily rules-lawyered out here but it brings to the fore a crucial aspect to the question: How would you get an answer?
"The most famous character in [or 'of'] books [and other representations don't count]" presents a particularly tricky scenario because you can't show someone a picture of the character and say "who is this?"
Would you instead ask "name a character from a book"? If so, I still stand by my answer and assert "Sherlock Holmes" reigns supreme.
I think Sherlock Holmes is a good answer and Joel is right to be annoyed that I have rules-laywered a world where he can't be
