I decided to rate these two characters on 10 valued positive personality traits and the results are below:
As you can see in the graph above, their scores are pretty similar on the majority of these traits. The 'loving' trait and the 'funny' trait are where the two heroines differ significantly. Mukti is more loving and affectionate, whereas Ellie isn't the touchy-feely type. That's not to say that Ellie doesn't love her friends and family ~ she just doesn't show it all the time.
And although Mukti has her moments and can appreciate good humour, she isn't as funny as Ellie, who makes me laugh all the time. Her witty and sarcastic sense of humour is one of my favourite things about Ellie and the Poison Blood Series.
I also thought I'd compare them based on some negative traits ~ a high score on any of these traits = bad:
Mukti does have low self-esteem issues, but they only become noticeable or pronounced when she's feeling hurt or vulnerable. Otherwise, she is a reasonably confident person. Ellie on the other hand, doesn't suffer from low self-esteem and you can see in the chart above that she's higher on the arrogance score than Mukti is. But that has a lot to do with her advanced vampire senses and abilities, as well as her "Slayer-gene". When she was human, Ellie wasn't conceited at all.
Mukti has issues with controlling her jealousy sometimes, when it comes to the man she loves, that is, but she isn't a jealous person in general. Being the amazing vampire that she is, not to mention inhumanly beautiful, of course Ellie is low on the jealousy scale. There isn't much for her to be jealous of.
Ellie being a teen however, means she can be pretty argumentative and stubborn sometimes, grumpy and pouty, but in a cute way. Its part of her charm, I think :)
And seen as a lot of Ellie's humour is sarcasm-based, she's higher up on this trait than Mukti is. Now that I think about it, most of Mukti's 'funny' moments are when she's making a sarcastic joke/comment....
Ellie is more approachable than Mukti is when you first meet them in their respective series openers. Mukti, in Soulmates Saga, Book 1, is determined to work hard in her new job in the City and keep people at bay, not get close to anyone. Ellie however, isn't the distant/closed-off type at all. She's too chatty and witty to keep herself to herself, and when she was human, I'd say she was the type of girl that made friends easily.
Of course, the negative traits in both my heroines were intentional. These behaviours make them more real, more human and credible. More interesting. Because, after all, who wants to read about goody-two-shoes that are always sweet as pie, time and time again?
