Prince Nicholas Andreevich Bolkonski will always be one of my favorite characters in literature. Granted, the book isn’t about him, but he’s so vital to the book, he’s a bridge between the old and the new, the only one with his head on straight, and though he seems abrasive, he is a good person. He’s a lot like Pierre in that way, but where Pierre is a kindly fool to Bolkonski’s sternness.