List of borderline fictional characters

This list is about people/characters that are neither completely "fictional", neither completely "real". This situation can occur while:

• Historical sources sometimes don't allow to discern or are not unanimous whether a character is a "fantasy" or a "historic figure" - e.g. Homer.
• Some people are obviously historical, but are attributed phantastical deeds - e.g. like some Roman emperors having ascended to heaven according to the tradition of the age they lived in.
• Pseudonyms: the pseudonymous figure may be part fictional: e.g. P. D. Q. Bach really "composes" (in capacity of being the pseudonym of Peter Schickele), while he is also a son of Johann Sebastian Bach (in his capacity of a fictional character).
• ...etc...: see subdivisions below

Characters in mythical, legendary and religion-founding tales

(only for characters that have as well a proven historical reality as a proven fictionality!)

• The Amazons
• Merlin
• ...

Characters with historical exactitude issues

• Socrates
• Saint Sebastian
• Saint George
• Homer
• Jack the Ripper
• (Beethoven's) Immortal Beloved
• ...

Fictional characters (partly) identified with historical figures

• Orlando (character), (partly) identified with the historical Roland
• Bluebeard, partly identified with Gilles de Rais (and/or the Marquis de Laval )
• Dracula, (partly) identified with Vlad III Dracula
• Virgil and Beatrice (as themselves) in La divina commedia
• Mozart and Salieri (as themselves) in Amadeus
• Arturo Ui, intended as a personification of Adolf Hitler by Bertolt Brecht
• The Great Dictator, intended as a personification of the same by Charles Chaplin
• ...

People who created a pseudonym or alter ego with fictional proportions for themselves

See also: List of real-life characters

• Ubu — Alfred Jarry
• P. D. Q. Bach — Peter Schickele
• Dogbert — Scott Adams like e.g. in the DNRC newsletters. Surprisingly, Scott Adams incarnates less as the Dilbert strip main character (there have however been some engineering topics on the Dilbert website managed by this character). Catbert activity seems to be limited to the Catbert salary calculator and the Performance review generator on the Dilbert website.
• Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) - Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Zeta Acosta, respectively
• ...

Roman à clef characters

• Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf
  • Orlando/Vita Sackville-West
  • Princess Sasha/Violet Trefusis
  • Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine/Harold Nicolson
• Broderie Anglaise by Violet Trefusis
  • Alexa/Virginia Woolf
  • Jim/Leonard Woolf
  • Lord Shorne/Vita Sackville-West
  • Anne/Violet Trefusis
• Challenge by Vita Sackville-West (and Violet Trefusis)
  • Julian/Vita Sackville-West
  • Eve/Violet Trefusis