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Adventurer



 
 
An adventurer or adventuress is a term that usually takes one of three meanings:

In fiction, the adventurer figure or Picaro may be regarded as a descendant of the knight-errant
Knight-errant

A knight-errant is a figure of Middle Ages Romance . "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicates how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures to prove himself as a knight, such as in a pas d'Armes....
 of Medieval romance
Romance (genre)

As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic prose and Verse narrative that was particularly current in aristocratic literature of Middle Ages and Early Modern Europe, that narrated fantastic stories about the marvellous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight, often of super-human ab...
. Like the knight, the adventurer roams through episodic encounters, usually involving wealth, romance, or fighting. Unlike the knight, the adventurer was a realistic figure, often lower class or otherwise impoverished, who is forced to make his way to fortune, often by deceit.






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An adventurer or adventuress is a term that usually takes one of three meanings:
  • One whose travels are unusual and often exotic, though not so unique as to qualify as exploration
    Exploration

    Exploration is the act of searching or traveling a terrain for the purpose of discovery, e.g. of unknown people, including space , for Petroleum, gas, coal, ores, caves, water , or information....
    .
  • One who lives by their wits.
  • One who takes part in a risky or speculative course of action for profit or position.


In fiction, the adventurer figure or Picaro may be regarded as a descendant of the knight-errant
Knight-errant

A knight-errant is a figure of Middle Ages Romance . "Errant," meaning wandering or roving, indicates how the knight-errant would typically wander the land in search of adventures to prove himself as a knight, such as in a pas d'Armes....
 of Medieval romance
Romance (genre)

As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic prose and Verse narrative that was particularly current in aristocratic literature of Middle Ages and Early Modern Europe, that narrated fantastic stories about the marvellous adventures of a chivalrous, heroic knight, often of super-human ab...
. Like the knight, the adventurer roams through episodic encounters, usually involving wealth, romance, or fighting. Unlike the knight, the adventurer was a realistic figure, often lower class or otherwise impoverished, who is forced to make his way to fortune, often by deceit. The picaresque novel originated in Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 in the middle of the fifteenth century. Novels such as Lazarillo de Tormes
Lazarillo de Tormes

The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and of His Fortunes and Adversities is a Spanish novella, published anonymously, because of its heresy content....
 were influential across Europe. Throughout the eighteenth century, a great number of novels featured bold, amoral, adventuring protagonists, who made their way into wealth and happiness, sometimes with and sometimes without the moral conversion that generally accompanies the Spanish model.

Under Victorian morality
Victorian morality

Victorian morality is a distillation of the morality views of people living at the time of Victoria of the United Kingdom in particular, and to the moral climate of Great Britain throughout the 19th century in general that were in stark contrast to the morality of the previous Georgian period....
 the term, used without qualifiers, came to imply a person of low moral character
Moral character

Moral character or character is an evaluation of a particular individual's Morality qualities. The concept of character can imply a variety of attributes including the existence or lack of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or Habit ....
, often someone trying to marry for money.

In comic book handbooks such as Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications....
 and Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, the term "adventurer" is used as a synonym for "super-hero" when listing a character's occupation.

In role-playing games, the player characters are often professional adventurers, who earn wealth and fame by adventure
Adventure

An adventure is an activity that comprises risky, dangerous or uncertain experiences. The term is more popularly used in reference to physical activities that have some potential for danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and extreme sports....
, such as undertaking hazardous missions, exploring ruins, and slaying monsters. This stereotype is strong enough that the adventurers can often be used as a synonym for the player characters. However non-player character
Non-player character

A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a fictional character that is controlled by the gamemaster in role-playing games. When this definition extends to video games, an NPC in a video game is usually part of the computer program, and not controlled by a human....
 groups of adventurers can also exist, and can be an interesting encounter for the players.

See also: adventure
Adventure

An adventure is an activity that comprises risky, dangerous or uncertain experiences. The term is more popularly used in reference to physical activities that have some potential for danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing, and extreme sports....
.

List of adventurers


Historical adventurers

  • Alexander von Humboldt
    Alexander von Humboldt

    was a German people natural scientist and List of explorers, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguistics, Wilhelm von Humboldt ....
  • Bartholomew Gosnold
    Bartholomew Gosnold

    Bartholomew Gosnold was an England lawyer, explorer, and privateer, instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown, Virginia, Virginia....
  • Captain John Smith
    John Smith of Jamestown

    File:Captain John Smith.JPGCaptain John Smith Admiral of New England was an England soldier, sailor, and author. He is remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and his brief association with the Native Americans in the United States girl Pocahontas during an alte...
  • Edward John Trelawny
    Edward John Trelawny

    Edward John Trelawny , was a biographer, novelist, and adventurer and friend of Shelley and Byron....
  • Edward Maria Wingfield
    Edward Maria Wingfield

    Captain Edward Maria Wingfield, sometimes hyphenated as Edward-Maria Wingfield, was a soldier, Member of Parliament, and English colonization of the Americas....
  • F.A. Mitchell-Hedges
  • Giacomo Casanova
    Giacomo Casanova

    Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt was a Republic of Venice adventurer and author. His main book Histoire de ma vie , part autobiography and part memoir, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century....
  • Ibn Battuta
    Ibn Battuta

    Ibn Battuta was a Muslim Berber, scholar and traveller who is known for the account of his travels and excursions called the Rihla. His journeys lasted for a period of nearly thirty years and covered almost the entirety of the known Muslim world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in t...
  • James Holman
    James Holman

    James Holman , known as the "Blind Traveler," was a British adventurer, author and social observer, best known for his writings on his extensive travels....
  • Jørgen Jørgensen
    Jørgen Jørgensen

    J?rgen J?rgensen was a Danish adventurer during the Age of Revolution. He sailed to Iceland in 1809 and declared the country Independence from Denmark and proclaimed himself 'Protector' promising that he would reinstate the Althing as soon as the Icelandic people were able to govern themselves....
  • Marco Polo
    Marco Polo

    Marco Polo was a trader and exploration from the Venetian Republic who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione also known as Oriente Poliano and the Description of the World....
  • Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Canary-Burke
    Calamity Jane

    Martha Jane Cannary-Burke, better known as Calamity Jane , was a frontierswoman and professional Reconnaissance best known for her claim of being a close friend of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans in the United States....
  • Mata Hari
    Mata Hari

    Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "Grietje" Zelle , a the Netherlands-Frisians exotic dancer and courtesan who was Execution by firing squad for espionage during World War I....
  • Percy Fawcett
    Percy Fawcett

    Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett was a United Kingdom archaeologist and exploration.Along with his son, Fawcett disappeared under unknown circumstances in 1925 during an expedition to find what he believed to be an Ancient history lost city in the uncharted jungles of Brazil....
  • Ranald MacDonald
    Ranald MacDonald

    Ranald MacDonald was the first man to teach the English language in Japan, including educating Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Matthew Calbraith Perry and the Tokugawa Shogunate....
  • Richard Francis Burton
    Richard Francis Burton

    Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton Order of St Michael and St George Royal Geographic Society was an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguistics, poet, hypnotism, fencing and diplomat....
  • Robin Hood
    Robin Hood

    Robin Hood is an archetype figure in English folklore, whose story originates from Middle Ages times but who remains significant in popular culture where he is known for robbing the rich to give to the poor and fighting against injustice and tyranny....
    : A thief from Dark Age times. He is best known for robbing the rich to feed the poor. Later, he was also known for rescuing Maid Marian
    Maid Marian

    Maid Marian usually named Lady Marian Fitzwalter of Leaford , is the female companion to the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the sixteenth century....
     from the evil Prince John
    Prince John

    Prince John refers most commonly to the following:*John of England , who was known as Prince John during the reigns of his father and older brother...
    .
  • Roy Chapman Andrews
    Roy Chapman Andrews

    Roy Chapman Andrews was an United States explorer, adventurer and Natural history who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History....
  • T. E. Lawrence
    T. E. Lawrence

    Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence Order of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order , known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British people soldier renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt of 1916–18....


Modern adventurers

  • Benedict Allen
    Benedict Allen

    Benedict Colin Allen is a British explorer. He is best known for his survival modus operandi: tapping into local, Indigenous peoples knowledge above reliance on modern inventions....
  • Gavin Atilano
  • Sir Peter Blake
    Peter Blake (yachtsman)

    'Sir Peter James Blake', Order of the British Empire was a New Zealand yachting who led his country to two successive America's Cup victories. He previously won the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989, and the Jules Verne Trophy in 1994 by setting the fastest time around the world of 74 days 22 hours 17 minutes 22 seconds on catamaran Enz...
  • Stanislaw Bulak-Balachowicz
    Stanislaw Bulak-Balachowicz

    Stanislaw Bulak-Balachowicz was a Poland-Belarusian general, veteran of World War I, Russian Civil War, Estonian War of Independence, Polish-Bolshevik War and the Invasion of Poland at the start of World War II....
  • Ripley Davenport
  • Ranulph Fiennes
    Ranulph Fiennes

    Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet Order of the British Empire , usually known as Ranulph Fiennes, is a United Kingdom List of explorers and holder of several endurance records....
  • Ben Fogle
    Ben Fogle

    Ben Fogle is an English television presenter, adventurer and writer....
  • Steve Fossett
    Steve Fossett

    James Stephen Fossett was an United States businessman, aviator, sailor, and adventurer and the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon....
     (1944-2007)
  • John Goddard
    John Goddard (adventurer)

    John Goddard is an American adventurer, explorer, author, and lecturer....
  • Richard Halliburton
    Richard Halliburton

    Richard Halliburton was an United States traveler, adventurer, and author. Best known nowadays for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history?thirty-six cents?Halliburton was headline news for most of his brief career....
     (1900-1939)
  • Matt Harding
    Matt Harding

    Matthew "Matt" Harding is an United States video game designer and Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations....
  • Heinrich Harrer
    Heinrich Harrer

    Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.He is best known for his books The White Spider and Seven Years in Tibet, although his pre-war Nazi links made headlines in 1997....
  • Thor Heyerdahl
    Thor Heyerdahl

    Thor Heyerdahl was a Norway ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 4,300 miles by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands....
     (1914-2002)
  • Mike Horn
    Mike Horn

    Mike Horn is a South African explorer. After studying Human Movement Science at the University of Stellenbosch, he left South Africa in 1990 to travel to Europe, where he started work as a ski instructor, river and canyoning guide....
  • Alastair Humphreys
    Alastair Humphreys

    Alastair Humphreys, an England cyclist, adventurer, author and motivational speaker has completed a 4 year bicycle journey around the Earth. He is currently preparing for SOUTH, the first unsupported return journey on foot to the South Pole....
  • George Kourounis
    George Kourounis

    George Kourounis , is a Canadian adventurer, television presenter, storm chaser, and explorer, currently best known for his television series Angry Planet....
  • David Henry Lewis
    David Henry Lewis

    Dr. David Henry Lewis was a sailor, adventurer, doctor, and Polynesian scholar. He is best known for his studies on the traditional systems of navigation used by the Pacific Islanders....
     (1917-2002)
  • Rory Maclean
    Rory MacLean

    Rory MacLean is a Canadian travel writer living in the UK and Berlin whose best known works are Stalin?s Nose, a black and surreal travelogue through eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Magic Bus, a history of the Asia Overland hippie trail....
  • Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski
    Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski

    Antoni Ferdynand Ossendowski was a Poland writer, journalist, traveller, globetrotter, explorer and university professor. He is best known for his novels on Lenin and Russian Civil War, which he took part in....
  • Robert Young Pelton
    Robert Young Pelton

    Robert Young Pelton , is an author, journalist and documentary film filmmaker. A self-styled adventurer, he considers himself a "witness" to conflict, rather than a serious journalist....
  • Bertrand Piccard
    Bertrand Piccard

    Dr. Bertrand Piccard is a Switzerland psychiatrist and balloon .He was born in Utah, Hollady canton. His grandfather Auguste Piccard and father, Jacques Piccard, were noted balloonists and inventors....
  • Brandon Reynolds
  • David Mayer de Rothschild
  • Tahir Shah
    Tahir Shah

    Tahir Shah , n? Sayyid Tahir Hashemite is an Anglo-Demographics of Afghanistan author, journalist and documentary maker....
  • Les Stroud
    Les Stroud

    Les Stroud is a Canada musician, film maker, and Survivalism best known as the host of the television program Survivorman. After a short career behind the scenes in the music industry, Stroud became a full-time wilderness guide, survival instructor and musician based in Huntsville, Ontario....
  • Ed Viesturs
    Ed Viesturs

    Ed Viesturs is one of the world's premier high-altitude mountaineers. He is the first United States, and 12th person overall, to summit all fourteen mountains over 8000 meters , and the sixth climber to do it without bottled oxygen....


Fictional adventurers

  • Argonauts
    Argonauts

    In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
  • Allan Quatermain
    Allan Quatermain

    Allan Quatermain is a fictional character, the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 in literature novel King Solomon's Mines and its various sequels and prequels....
    : An adventurer, most famous for appearing in the book, King Solomon's Mines
    King Solomon's Mines

    King Solomon's Mines is a popular novel by the Victorian era adventure writer and fabulist, Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a quest into an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain in search of the missing brother of one of the party....
    . His adventures are in Africa, during England's Victorian Era.
  • Baron Munchausen
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a 1988 in film film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring John Neville , Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, and Robin Williams....
  • Bilbo Baggins
    Bilbo Baggins

    Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist of The Hobbit and also makes a few appearances in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J....
    : The main protagonist in The Hobbit
    The Hobbit

    The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is an award-winning Juvenile fantasy and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien, written in the tradition of the fairy tale....
    . He's a hobbit and lives in a fantasy world with elves and dragons. His most famous adventure was helping thirteen Dwarves reclaim an ancient mine that had been hoarded by a dragon.
  • Captain K'nuckles: One of the main protagonists from the Cartoon Network cartoon, "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack," Captain K'nuckles is a washed-up old sailor who says to be the greatest pirate the world has ever known.
  • Conan the Barbarian
    Conan the Barbarian

    Conan the Barbarian is a fictional character often associated with the Fantasy subgenres sword and sorcery . This antiheroic character has been credited with being the most famous fictional barbarian, and one of the most well known iconic figures in American fantasy....
  • Corto Maltese
    Corto Maltese

    Corto Maltese is a comics series featuring an eponymous character, a complex sailor-adventurer. It was created by Italy comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967....
  • Dirk Pitt
    Dirk Pitt

    Dirk Pitt is a fictional character, the protagonist of a series of Bestseller adventure novels written by Clive Cussler. The name Dirk Pitt is a registered trademark of Clive Cussler....
    : A modern day adventurer created by writer, Clive Cussler
    Clive Cussler

    Clive Eric Cussler is an United States adventure novelist and marine archaeologist....
    . His adventures take him to different places and countries, where he is often pursued by villains, trying to beat him to some hidden treasure he's looking for.
  • Doc Savage
    Doc Savage

    Doc Savage is a fictional character, one of the pulp heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by writer Lester Dent....
  • Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell
    Evelyn Carnahan-O'Connell

    Evelyn "Evie" Carnahan-O'Connell is a fictional character from the 1999 film The Mummy and its two sequels....
  • Frodo Baggins
    Frodo Baggins

    Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in Tolkien's legendarium.He is a principal protagonist of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He is also mentioned in The Silmarillion....
    : One of the nine main protagonists in the books, The Lord of the Rings
    The Lord of the Rings

    The Lord of the Rings is an Epic poetry high fantasy novel written by Philology J.R.R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work....
    ; the sequel to The Hobbit
    The Hobbit

    The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is an award-winning Juvenile fantasy and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien, written in the tradition of the fairy tale....
    . He lives in the same fantasy world as Bilbo Baggins
    Bilbo Baggins

    Bilbo Baggins is the protagonist of The Hobbit and also makes a few appearances in The Lord of the Rings, two of the most well-known of J....
    , and in the book, Frodo must journey across this world in order to destroy an ancient ring which contains the power of an ancient dark lord.
  • Han Solo
    Han solo

    Han solo, the sole member of genus Han, is a species of agnostid trilobite known only from fossils found in the Ordovician Zitai Formation of southern China....
    : A space pirate and trader from the Star Wars
    Star Wars

    Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
     franchise. He is portrayed by Harrison Ford
    Harrison Ford

    Harrison Ford is an United Statesn actor. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy, and as the Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise#Films film series....
     in the film trilogy. Han Solo first became part of the rebel group against the evil empire after running into Luke Skywalker
    Luke Skywalker

    Luke Skywalker is the main protagonist of the Star Wars films Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
    .
  • Indiana Jones
    Indiana Jones

    Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional character adventurer, soldier, professor of archaeology, and the main protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise....
    : An archaeologist. He is also portrayed by Harrison Ford
    Harrison Ford

    Harrison Ford is an United Statesn actor. Ford is best known for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy, and as the Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones franchise#Films film series....
    . Indiana Jones collects ancient treasures and sells them to museums. However, his simple plans are often thwarted by the Nazis or the Communists
    Communism

    Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarianism, classlessness, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general....
    , who are almost always trying to collect the treasure first.
  • Jack Flanders
    Jack Flanders

    Jack Flanders is the protagonist of a series of audio dramas produced by the ZBS Foundation. He is the creation of writer and sound artist Thomas Lopez and is played by actor Robert Lorick....
  • Jack T. Colton
    Romancing the Stone

    Romancing the Stone is a 1984 in film Cinema of the United States action film-adventure film, and has many elements that might categorize it as a romantic comedy film....
    : An adventurer, appearing in the films, Romancing the Stone
    Romancing the Stone

    Romancing the Stone is a 1984 in film Cinema of the United States action film-adventure film, and has many elements that might categorize it as a romantic comedy film....
     and The Jewel of the Nile
    The Jewel of the Nile

    The Jewel of the Nile is a sequel to the 1984 in film romantic adventure Romancing the Stone featuring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito, the stars of the first film....
    .
  • Lara Croft
    Lara Croft

    Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of Eidos Interactive's Tomb Raider series video game series. Designed by Toby Gard, she has also been featured in movies , comic books, novels, and a series of animated short films....
  • Lemuel Gulliver
    Lemuel Gulliver

    Lemuel Gulliver is the protagonist of the novel Gulliver's Travels, created by Jonathan Swift in 1726 in literature....
  • Link (The Legend of Zelda).
  • Locke Cole: An adventurer from the Final Fanstasy Series (VI)
  • Lord Asriel
    Lord Asriel

    Lord Asriel is a major character in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.Asriel is a member of the English aristocracy in a Parallel universe dominated by the Church....
  • MacGyver
    Angus MacGyver

    Angus MacGyver, known as just MacGyver or Mac until the final season of the American television series MacGyver, is the highly intelligent, optimistic action hero played by Richard Dean Anderson....
  • MacGruber
    MacGruber

    MacGruber is a Saturday Night Live sketch that is a parody of the show MacGyver. The sketch stars Will Forte and Kristen Wiig. Richard Dean Anderson has also appeared on MacGruber....
    : The Saturday Night Live spoof of MacGyver
  • Nathan Drake
    Nathan Drake

    Nathan Drake , England essayist and physician, son of Nathan Drake, an artist, was born at York.He was apprenticed to a doctor in York in 1780, and in 1786 proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he took his degree as M.D....
    : Protaganist from Naughty Dog's Uncharted Series
  • Rick O'Connell
    Rick O'Connell

    Richard "Rick" O'Connell is a fictional character and the primary protagonist from the 1999 film The Mummy , as well as the sequels The Mummy Returns, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor....
  • Tintin
  • Xena
    Xena

    Xena is a fictional from Robert Tapert's Xena: Warrior Princess franchise. She first appeared in the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, before going on to appear in Xena: Warrior Princess and Xena: Warrior Princess of the same name....
     of Amphipolis