Oh yeah, I know about whaling away at the turtle!
Still, to me, the best shot is Julian. He starts out the "bravest" so it takes a bit less to level him up to where he can get around without having to cower from all the ogres and wraiths.
Also, I noticed as soon as you get whoever up where he can get down to finding all the stuff, his vitality goes up and the sucker is hungry ALL THE TIME!
Curtis