Scattered Thoughts On Characters

I just finished rereading 'Rilla of Ingleside' (the eighth and last book in the Anne of Green Gables series) for the third or fourth time. For some reason, there is something about that book which draws me to it. It makes me laugh and cry all the way through, which is good when I need both. It is a book about change, strength when all hope seems lost, and the growth of character that comes when times get hard. Set in WWI (and published in 1921), it also gives readers a perspective on the war and home life during difficult times like that which history books can't. Rilla is one of my many favorite literary characters--not at the beginning of the book, note, but later. She may or may not be a heroine to be admired, but, to me, she is a character I can relate to, and I love being able to relate to characters and feel like they are "kindred spirits" (even though they are fictional).

What is it about characters that make us either love or hate them? How do some seem so real to us, and yet others we can easily ignore and dismiss? It's as if they become real beings to us.
The following quote from Anne of the Island gives an example of how "real" they can be sometimes. "For the next fortnight Anne writhed or reveled, according to mood, in her literary pursuits. Now she would be jubilant over a brilliant idea, now despairing because some contrary character would not behave properly. Diana could not understand this. 'Make them do as you want them to,' she said. 'I can't,' mourned Anne. 'Averil is such an unmanageable heroine. She will do and say things I never meant her to. Then that spoils everything that went before and I have to write it all over again'."
But it's not just a disease that afflicts writers. We all have favorite and least favorite book and movie characters.

Lately I have been very interested in attributes that people are inclined to admire, particularly in heroes and heroines from fiction and history. These attributes change from person to person. And yet we all do, for the most part, agree on who are the heroes. What makes us differ on specific attributes but usually agree on who deserves the title? This is simple. We are all different. 
We all agree that Tolkien's Frodo and Aragorn are heroes, but we can differ on why they are. In turn, some may say that Sam is their favorite character, but others say that Frodo is. We all agree that both are heroes, but we sometimes feel partial towards one.
That partiality is sometimes admiration because we see they have attributes which we believe are most vital in a person and that we may even want in ourselves. Other times, however, it is because we feel a kinship towards that specific character. We relate to their personality, their experiences, or their changes and decisions.
It's important to have heroes and heroines in a story. But, don't you think it just as important to have characters you can relate to? I think that some of the best sorts of characters can be both.