There's so...so... so many choices! So many reasons...

There's category A: People that are hungry and sad who you think deserve a nice dinner off on the side.

That would be: all single moms on the face of the planet (it's difficult), anyone from the hunger games (barring President Snow and the Careers, of course), quite literally millions of people from the past, especially from the Black Death (not that I want it), but ye gods, if anyone needs a nice dinner, it's them.

There's category B: The fascinating, fascinating people that exist...everywhere. Everyone's fascinating. I find everyone fascinating... if given enough time.

Um, I guess that would include a lot of psychopaths, though, which brings us to subcategory C: people who are pretty safe.
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?disc=199610

Now, I'm horrible with conversation, so most people I'd love to meet would simply terrify me. Let's disregard that. Pretend like I know what I'm doing when I open my mouth (which I never do)

There's basically every Terry Pratchett character... Miss Susan and Sam Vimes and Carrot and Angua and Sybil and Miss Susan's class, the lot of them...

There's Aerin from Robin McKinley's books, and Harimad-sol.

There's the whole lot of NCIS, and Jane and Lisbon and Grace and Cho from the Mentalist. All fascinating.

There's Jason Bourne, and Marie, both of the movies and books (preferably the books)... Ludlum only, of course.

There's Neverwhere's Marquis de Carabas (though depending on what state he's in, he may ruin my appetite), and Door and Richard.

There's the Three (Four, really) Musketeers...

There's everyone... and the only reasons those people are there is because basically they're the first people I thought of. Others are springing up in my head even as I write, believe me.

Sigh.

I suppose there should be an actual top three, huh?

Okay.

1) Patrick Jane of (the great god) Bruno Heller's TV show the Mentalist: fascinating, and not likely to kill me. Unless I was a serial killer, which, thankfully, I'm not.

2) Miss Susan of (the great god) Pterry's Discworld series: also fascinating, and more likely to scold me than kill me. Hopefully.

3) Too difficult. Just too difficult.

I was kind of itching to put Sam Vimes on there, but making the poor man go to a social function without his wife would be a disaster... not to mention the fact that most of the people there would scare him and he'd want to arrest us all or at least lock us up somewhere secure.

Masterharper Robinton from Pern, set before The White Dragon.

Faramir

Dr. Donald Mallard, Ducky, from NCIS

... so few spaces.

Anyway:

1) Chairman Jorhan Stahl (Killzone 3)

Who said villians have to be over the top bastards? While just as capable of cruelty as his fellow countrymen, Stahl is civilised, a smooth talker and, being a businessman from Helghan, might have some interesting stories of his own to share.

Just don't play poker with him ... he always has an ace up his sleeve.

2) First Lieutenant Rip van Winkle (Hellsing OVA IV)

A perfect combination of child-like naievity, innocence ... and, if push comes to shove, outright cruel crazyness. Of course, the facts that, for an artificially-created vampire, she has "the looks" and a serenading singing voice compounds matters.

3) Liara T'Soni (Mass Effect trilogy)

Asari biotic, graduate in history and archeology, rumoured head of an intergalactic intelligence organisation and one of the heroines of tthe galaxy. I certainly believe the stories she has will keep us going well into the night.

So many awesome characters to choose from! I'd probably end up narrowing it down to these guys:
1. The Eleventh Doctor. Not only would he be fun to talk to, I'd wear a bow tie just to see his reaction. XD
2. Luna Lovegood. I *really* want to know more about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack and whatnot. :D
3. Wigglytuff from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. He never fails to make me laugh. :D Of course, Perfect Apples will be a necessity at the dinner.
Close runners-up would be Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender, for funniness and delightful sarcasm; Kronk from Emperor's New Groove, both because he's funny and because he can cook really well; and Telemain from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, so that I may observe his sesquipedalian loquaciousness and discover the extent of my capability to comprehend it. XD

Hmmm... so many to choose from.


1 - Sherlock Holmes from the 2010 BBC Series because he is several different kinds of brilliant, and I'd love to see what he'd make of me and my other two guests. Might make for some... awkward conversations (read: him trying to outsmart everyone else, but meh)

2 - Twilight Sparkle from MLP: FiM. I'd love to learn more about Equestria and how everything 'works' there, and I mean: cool geeky pony that can do magic? What's not to like?!

3 - The 10th Doctor from Doctor Who. Do I really have to give a reason? He's the Doctor! We wouldn't be short of interesting stories, that's for sure.

Hmm... three egotistical (well, 1 and 3 certainly) super-geniuses. This could be interesting.

Hmmm, this is a hard decision to narrow it so a small set, but, not impossible.

(Ten minutes Later)

Well, my final decision would be

1. Rodney McKay, from Stargate: Atlantis. Reason? Because he is the right mix of funny, sarcastic, and intelligent that would make the dinner conversation VERY interesting.

2. Luxury, from the PPC. Reason? Because she would be able to diffuse any tense or awkward situations (probably by doing something even more awkward). She is a nice enough person, and I'm sure she would have plenty to talk about, especially with so much food and people around.

3. Dracula, from Castlevania. Reason? Because the dude is regal while still being a demon/vampire, and would bring some posh into the dinner convo. He would probably think Luxury was Succcubus from his castle, so not too offput by her. And hey, if things get bad with him, we can always count (Stealth Punned!) on a Belmont crashing in to fight him, and some cheesy dialogue from the two.

I could turn this into a banquet room so easily .... :)

But my first three choices would be:

1) Brother Cadfael. He'd have a lot of good stories, and from references in the books I don't think he'd be upset about my not being Catholic. I'd have to get some of my friends to recommend a wine to go with dinner, though, since he's from a period when that was normal even for monks. (From the novels by Ellis Peters.)

2) Since I'm already getting wine recommendations, the second guest will be Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He's another person who should have lots of stories. (From Star Trek:The Next Generation.)

3) For my third guest, I'd probably go for Belgarath the Sorcerer. Talk about having stories, the guy's been active in the world for seven thousand years -- and he spent a chunk of that time traveling as a professional storyteller, so he can certainly tell them well. If this is post-Malloreon, I'd set a place for his wife Poledra as well. I thought about inviting Polgara, but I think she would be too intimidating as a dinner guest; in canon she's the best cook in the world. (From the novels by David Eddings.)

I'd probably keep the menu simple, so we can relax and enjoy the stories.

1. Professor Kirke from the Chronicles of Narnia. He would have plenty of interesting things to talk about.
   2. Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, because he's funny. Things tend to explode around him, though, so I probably wouldn't want to put out the nice silverware.
   3. I have to pick Paul Fester from The Midnight Dancers, by Regina Doman. (That's a novel-length retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses which, sadly, lingers in obscurity.) He's very friendly and can juggle and can play the flute and is a ninja and he's AWESOME. He gets along with everybody, so he'd be good at breaking the ice.
   This would be the best dinner ever!

Okay, first off I would pick John Watson from the BBC show Sherlock. He'd be pleasant company, and if nothing else, he'd have loads of stories to tell. I only hope that Sherlock wouldn't somehow manage to join us uninvited, but if he does, well, it's not like he'd be hogging the food.

Secondly, I'd pick Richard Castle, from Castle, pretty much for the same reason as John. He just seems like he'd be nice to hang out with, and it'd be fun to see him and John swap stories. Plus, I could grill him for writing tips.

Thirdly, Raven from Tales of Vesperia, mainly because he's my favorite character of the current subject of my obsession. Seriously, this guy's like the physical personification of fun. Schwann's not invited, though.

I'm going to add one more place setting, just to prevent this from being a total sausage fest. Abby from NCIS is also welcome dinner company. I think she'd get along pretty well with John and Castle, since they're all from crime dramas. I'd have to ask Raven to keep the flirting to a minimum, though.

This was fun!

Hm. Any three from any canon anywhere? I would have to say...

1) Firion from "Final Fantasy II". At least the way he's portrayed in Dissidia. Personally, I enjoy political discussions at my dinner table, and it would certainly be nice to see what Firion would our government to be like in comparison to that of Palamecia (US government, that is).

2) Buddy Sorrell from "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Although ultimately a personfication of Morey Amsterdam himself, Buddy is sharp-witted and talks in daggers. Which is great, because he'd make a whole bunch of fun at the dinner table.

3) Lavitz from "Legend of the Dragoon". No particular reason. I just personally liked Lavitz as a character and companion from the game where he made his brief appearance.

1. First off, I'd have to got with General Jack O'Neill of the Starate verse. Why? Well, he's funny, and would help keep the other guests in line especially...
   
   2. Polonius, of Hamlet fame. The only Shakespeare character I really like, he'd ensure that there would never be a quiet moment, and to be quite frank, watching the pompous windbag interact with O'Neill would make for a very interesting dinner...
   
   3. Kane, of Command and Conquer fame. What? I want someone to appreciate the amusing situation caused by sticking Polonius and Jack O'Neill in the same room. That, and I'd love to watch him say "Pass the roast beaf" and other such mundane things. I'm sure it would be the most epic meal ever. "You cannot kill the messiah. However, these brussel sprouts are an excellent attempt."
   
   

Well, here are my three:

1) Gordon Freeman, from Half Life. He'd be a very... quiet guest but his sheer awesomeness would more than make up for it.

2) Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, from Discworld. I'd like to have a conversation pertaining to statecraft with him.

3)Rincewind the "Wizzard" (and the Luggage by proxy), also from Discworld. Rincewind embodies one of my favourite character types: the shameless yet very lovable coward. The Luggage deserves a special mention for traveling through dimensions just to reach its master.

Is it also a dinner for schmucks? ;)

Anyhow, if I had to pick three people to dine with me...

1) Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. I'd probably ask her to cook just about everything since she's experienced with that kind of thing. Yeah, she'd be more than a bit uncouth at the table, but given where she comes from that's to be expected. Plus, I think she deserves a chance to eat some meal without suspicion of being watched by the Capitol, so that would be welcome for her.

2) Thane Krios from Mass Effect 2. A mysterious assassin, sitting down and eating dinner would actually be quite nice, especially given that Thane is the most spiritual assassin ever. I'd imagine that the conversations with Thane would kick major ass, so... Yeah.

3) Myka Bering from Warehouse 13. Because we need more by-the-book Warehouse agents relaxing around the place, that's why.

This is absolutely the place for this kind of thing. I love it. And now on to the more important question. Here are my three guests:

I would go with Saltheart Foamfollower. He was a Giant of Seareach from The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. He is jovial and the only thing he loves more than telling stories, is listening to stories. I would want him before he showed up in the books, though, since he got a lot more grim after that.

He can bring some diamondraught, which is a potent liquor made by the Giants.

Secondly, I would have to say that Thrall, Former Warchief of the Horde (World of Warcraft). He is wise and fair. He has stories, I've no doubt, and he isn't likely to kill anyone unless they are trying to kill him, which is not something that can be said for many Orcs.

Lastly, I think Thom Merrilin would round out the group nicely. He is a Gleeman, which is something very similar to a bard. He sings, he tells stories, he juggles; and that's just for starters. He can also hold conversations on philosophy and various other subjects.

All in all, I think this group would be fun to talk to. The meal would consist of some kind of roast meat, bread, vegitables, and, of course, the Giantish liquor.

Good times.

My alternate (by which I mean Sci-fi) list would include Captain Jean Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise (Star Trek: TNG), Admiral William Adama of the Battlestar Galactica(Battlestar Galactica 2003), and Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Serenity (Firefly).

Oh well.

My first would be Mina Mckee, from David Almond's Skellig and My Name Is Mina. She's an incredible person with a great outlook on life.

My second would be Arthur De Caldicot from Kevin Crossley-Holland's books. I really love the way he plays with words, and he'd be really interesting to talk to, I think.

And finally, Luna Lovegood. Because she's awegreat.