How do you top Survivor season 40: Winners at War? This burning question has occupied fans of the show since the finale aired in May 2020, and it will be no easy feat. But I believe I have the solution: heroes vs. villains, literary style!
The best seasons of Survivor give us contestants to root for and to boo from the safety of our couches. They give us dark horses and favorites who go out early, manipulators both obvious and subtle, players who swear by their families and mean it. Sometimes there are heroes who turn out to be villains all along, and sometimes the villains have hearts of gold. There are people we love to hate (looking at you, Russell Hantz!) and ones we love to love (Natalie Anderson, you have my heart!). And part of the glory of season 40 is that if you were a longtime fan, you already knew these players. You’ve seen their past game, you already have your favorites going in, and best of all, you know that they’re there to play.
Enter the below characters! We’ve seen them in the pages of our favorite novels, and we’ve watched them struggle against all kinds of different odds. But unlike the season 40 contestants, these characters don’t know each other. What reader or watcher doesn’t love knowing more than the ones playing the game? Truly, this will be a season for the books.
Let’s meet our contestants!
Heroes
Edmund Dantes (The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas)
OCCUPATION: man of leisure and great influence
STRENGTHS: spent 14 years unjustly imprisoned, highly educated and determined
WEAKNESSES: does not easily forgive and will hold a grudge for basically ever
Charlotte Holmes (A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas)
OCCUPATION: secret detective
STRENGTHS: is used to working behind the scenes and under the radar, unparalleled skills of deduction and mental prowess
WEAKNESSES: not so great at the whole “being friendly with people” thing
Thomas Wazhashk (The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich)
OCCUPATION: night watchman at a jewelry factory, Chippewa Council member
STRENGTHS: has been through worse things, is very good at wrangling people, faced down the U.S. Congress; has wisdom and experience
WEAKNESSES: is getting older, not sure how well he’ll play the physical game
Eloise Ribkins (The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard)
OCCUPATION: student
STRENGTHS: one of the youngest competitors, she’s got the most to prove; her secret talent for catching things might also come in handy, if she can keep it a secret
WEAKNESSES: her youth and inexperience; tends to be impulsive
Gideon Nav (Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir)
OCCUPATION: cavalier of the Ninth House
STRENGTHS: have you seen her biceps lately, also she’s faced down literal bone demons so this is nothing
WEAKNESSES: is still mad they didn’t let her bring her sword, wears her heart on her sleeve and her brain on her face
Noemí Taboada (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia)
OCCUPATION: graduate student
STRENGTHS: her beauty and social graces; people will dismiss her as just a pretty face
WEAKNESSES: she’s pretty sure she doesn’t have any, thanks very much
Candace Chen (Severance by Ling Ma)
OCCUPATION: former Bible production assistant, currently in between jobs
STRENGTHS: already survived an epidemic and dealt with all the jerks who also survived, so this is going to be nothing
WEAKNESSES: can be impatient with others, not super into massaging anyone else’s ego
Evan Whitesky (Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice)
OCCUPATION: jack of all trades, father
STRENGTHS: very easy-going and good at getting along with people; responsible; has survival and wilderness experience already
WEAKNESSES: tropical survival isn’t necessarily his forte
Murderbot (The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells)
OCCUPATION: former Sec-Unit
STRENGTHS: is a robot and therefore does not need to eat to survive, will dominate at challenges
WEAKNESSES: genuinely hoping to be voted out first, doesn’t know why it let its humans talk it into this, THIS IS THE WORST
Villains
Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray)
OCCUPATION: a lady doesn’t work, and she is now a lady, thank you very much
STRENGTHS: extremely good at manipulating people, knows what she wants and how to get it
WEAKNESSES: overconfidence
Eleanor Young (Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan)
OCCUPATION: matriarch
STRENGTHS: has spent decades dealing with the social and financial elite as well as wrangling her family, forceful personality
WEAKNESSES: not very excited about the lack of food and comforts but will just have to ensure her team wins all the rewards
Cleo Judson (The Living is Easy by Dorothy West)
OCCUPATION: woman of means
STRENGTHS: very smart and good at getting people to do what she wants, is genuinely unsure why she’s on the Villains team and believes she has been miscast
WEAKNESSES: forgets (actually, just doesn’t care) that others might have plans of their own, not super into physical exertion
Janina (Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones)
OCCUPATION: retired cabin caretaker
STRENGTHS: everyone dismisses her as a harmless, kooky old lady, which allows her to work behind the scenes; strong for her age
WEAKNESSES: sometimes gets carried away, especially when animals are involved
Kaul Hilo (Jade City by Fonda Lee)
OCCUPATION: definitely not a gang member, why do you ask
STRENGTHS: physical strength, he is going to DOMINATE all the challenges and outlast everyone, even without using jade powers
WEAKNESSES: hot-tempered, extremely unsubtle
Orquídea Montoya (The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova)
OCCUPATION: matriarch
STRENGTHS: she’s got nothing to lose since she knows she’ll die soon anyway; people will underestimate her since she’s just a harmless abuelita; strong willpower
WEAKNESSES: extremely unlucky
Tremon Philippe (Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki)
OCCUPATION: demon
STRENGTHS: he’s a demon (although he has managed to convince the producers that he’s a human); is motivated less by the money and more by the opportunity to corrupt some human souls on behalf of Hell
WEAKNESSES: the pesky innate goodness of certain humans
Borne (Borne by Jeff VanderMeer)
OCCUPATION: discarded lab experiment
STRENGTHS: capacity to evolve to suit its environment
WEAKNESSES: genuinely unsure how it got past, or even into, the casting process (but was bored so figured why not); does not have human motivations or care about money
Chloe Sevre (Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian)
OCCUPATION: student
STRENGTHS: as a psychopath she was made for this game; young and strong
WEAKNESSES: really hoping no one gives her any reasons to kill anyone because the producers said if she does, they’ll boot her from the show
And there you have it: a slate of players that will shock, surprise, and engage viewers from the arrival on the beach to the final vote. Pick your favorite, and tune in to see what happens next!
