One of the greatest television shows of all time ended Sunday night. Breaking Bad wasn’t incredible because of its cinematography, its acting, or its storyline—though all contributed to the brilliance of the show. It was its characters, one in particular.

Walter White. Heisenberg.

It’s not a new story. Well, not completely. Breaking Bad is, at its core, the story of a man who, little by little, loses himself to the darkness within. The progression is always gradual, and the trick is making it seem natural, but some of the greatest (and by greatest, I mean my favorite) characters in literature wage this type of internal struggle. As readers, we love emotional turmoil. We can relate to it. It’s what defines us as human beings.

Some of my favorites:

Rand al’Thor from Robert Jordan’s THE WHEEL OF TIME series is driven insane as the series progresses.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is literature’s greatest detective, yet Holmes is a struggling drug addict and habitual tobacco user, habits that threaten his trademark deductive capabilities.

LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding. Pick a character, any character.

There’s a few. Let’s hear others. Who are your favorite characters?