Does the implication that Chris and Everett were comparing themselves to fictional characters in books throw a negative light on their quests to follow their dreams?

This question calls for your opinion, there is no right or wrong answer. In my opinion, the knowledge that they compared themselves to fictional characters has no bearing on the men themselves, except perhaps, that the books they read as youngsters spurred their desire for adventure. We might also consider that both Reuss and McCandless saw traits held by their heroes in themselves.... not so much traits they aspired to, but rather, commonalities.

Shortly after Everett’s disappearance his father suggested that the boy had probably been inspired to call himself Nemo by Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea—a book Everett read many times—in which the purehearted protagonist, Captain Nemo, flees civilization and severs his “every tie upon the earth.” Everett’s biographer, W. L. Rusho, agrees with Christopher Ruess’s assessment, arguing that Everett’s “withdrawal from organized society, his disdain for worldly pleasures, and his signatures as NEMO in Davis Gulch, all strongly suggest that he closely identified with the Jules Verne character.”

Reading of these monks, one is moved by their courage, their reckless innocence, and the urgency of their desire. Reading of these monks, one can’t help thinking of Everett Ruess and Chris McCandless.