Richard Sharpe

In 1809, in Portugal, Sergeant Sharpe saves Sir Arthur Wellesley from French horsemen and is made a lieutenant on the spot. He's handed a squad of riflemen who won't accept an officer from the ranks, and he has to fight, fists included with Harper, to earn their respect. By the end of the mission with Spanish major Vivar and partisan Teresa, the men follow him.

Attached to the coward Simmerson's South Essex, Sharpe watches the regiment lose a color. He promises the dying Major Lennox to take a French eagle, and Wellesley makes him captain. At Talavera, with Harper beside him, he keeps his word.

At Badajoz, Sharpe learns he has a daughter with Teresa, Antonia, and runs into Sergeant Hakeswill, who once had him flogged. He saves mother and daughter in the sack of the city. Months later, now a major, he rescues hostages from a deserter gang run by Hakeswill, who escapes and kills Teresa. Sharpe sees his enemy go before a firing squad.

In 1813, the spy Ducos sets Sharpe up: a letter from the marquesa Helena accuses him, her husband challenges him to a duel and turns up dead that same night. Sharpe is sentenced to hang. Wellington can't save him openly, so another condemned man is hanged in his place. Presumed dead, Sharpe goes after the truth with Harper, escapes the French and makes it to the Battle of Vitoria.

In England, Sharpe breaks the recruiting scam and marries Jane Gibbons, Simmerson's niece. When the war ends, he's accused of stealing Napoleon's treasure while Jane, in London, spends his money with Lord Rossendale. In Normandy, looking for someone who can clear him, Sharpe meets Lucille, and they fall in love.

In 1815, Sharpe leaves the farm to serve on the Prince of Orange's staff, whose orders cost Hagman and Harris their lives. He faces the Imperial Guard with his old regiment and sees Napoleon fall.

In 1817, widowed after Lucille's death, Sharpe goes back to India to rescue Harper and confronts William Dodd, the man he saw commit a massacre in 1803. He kills Dodd and, soon after, on a new escort job, defeats Colonel Dragomirov and makes peace with old Simmerson.

Sean Bean took the role on short notice after Paul McGann hurt his knee, and played Sharpe in all 16 films. Bernard Cornwell has said that when he writes Sharpe, he hears Sean Bean's voice.