The Sword and Laser discussion
Are there protagoinists you couldn't stand?
I hated every character in the movie Chicago, but loved the music.I HATE Fail, Perrin's wife in the WoT series.
I know there are others, but I've blotted them out of my brain I guess.
Heh. I wasn't a fan of Perrin or Faile.
Nynaeve from WOT. I always dreaded her braid-tugging chapters.
If you know me, you would know that I really dislike Kvothe as he is not a person you would want to be friends with or date because you could not trust him.
Kvothe. Wasn't able to get passed page 70 in The Name of the Wind 'cause I hated him so much.Sansa Stark, in the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire.
Ender Wiggen.
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Oscar Britton from Control Point.Every ten pages he changes his loyality, is swayed by an argument and changes his opinion again.
If the book had been 10 pages shorter or longer, he would have ended up in the other camp.
I think the author wanted to show the inner struggle of a military member with weighing duty against morale, but the constant back and forth between the two ideals wasn't really believeable and made Oscar a character I had not much sympathy for.
I hate Kadaspala from the Malazan Book of the Fallen, but this is due to me not being interested in art at all and he constantly talks in annoying art and paint brush similees. That...and he's kind of an ass as well.
Catelyn Stark from the A Song of Ice and Fire series was pretty annoying, but she and I just have agreed to disagree on everything. When I say left, she says right, when I say black, she says white and so on and so forth.
(view spoiler)
Little snob Kvothe from The Wise Man's Fear was pretty annoying too. He has this arrogance thing going on, that I find amusing for 50 pages, lightly entertaining for 150, but getting really annoyed by when I have to stand him for 1000+ pages.
I also wasn't the biggest fan of one Percy Jackson and one Clary from the Mortal Instruments series, but just this afternoon I promised one of my GR friends not to be so harsh on YA characters anymore, so they get a pass.
terpkristin wrote: "Heh. I wasn't a fan of Perrin or Faile."It was all three of them that drove me crazy in Eye of the World, but my first strand of profanity came when Matt took the dagger.
"Yes, follow the creepy old guy that lives in the creepy and haunted city into the creepy cellar because he says there is $&*$ treasure down there!!!"
But at least they improved and grew.
I absolutely loathe Katniss. Perhaps some of it is the teenage girl, love triangle bit, but she drives me crazy.
Its the fact that she is so sure the capital is pure evil but she isn't even sure what she's going to change. She doesn't even consider it. There's some point where she's whining about how her dad died in the mine for the eighth time and thinking of how when the rebellion is over, no one will have to die that way again. All I can think is, yes Katniss, you train those monkeys to dig coal.
Gary wrote: "Thomas Covenant."Yeeeeah, I wasn't too keen on reading about a rapist protagonist either.
Michal wrote: "Yeeeeah, I wasn't too keen on reading about a rapist protagonist either."Yeah, man, I reread that a couple of years ago and was torn between "Do something! Just shut up and DO something! Damn!" and "What? What the hell are you doing?! Why would you do THAT?! Damn!"
I am really surprised Thomas Covenant only showed up in post number 10. A rapist whiner often called an anti-hero for some reason. Heck, I have more sympathy for Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter series.
I get annoyed with Kvothe but it's Denna I really can't stand. Every time she shows up I want to kick her.I get extremely annoyed with Holden in the Expanse series and Katniss in Mockingjay.
I could not stand Louis Wu in Ringworld. I thought he was a condescending, sexist asshole.
Her name was Bella. She was a whiner girl. She needed to brush her hair and dressed without flair.
Her boyfriend wanted to eat her, so he left her
She jumped off a ledge to put on a show
'Cause she couldn't let him go.
Then she met a wolf, and kept him on a hook
She was a brat and she was stupid
Why can't she just die?
*to be sung to the tune of Copacabana*
No love for my lame Snow Crash joke? /sadface....
I haven't read Snow Crash yet. When I do, I promise to come back to this thread and give love to your joke (note: I withhold the right to break this promise on account of the fact that I will probably forget all about it when I eventually read the book)
Ruth wrote: "(note: I withhold the right to break this promise on account of the fact that I will probably forget all about it when I eventually read the book)"Sorry in advance for being silly about it, but that made me smile, so now I'm handing out a really helpful tip:
Make a note in your Snow Crash review now, so you won't forget it.
And I haven't read Snow Crash either (that's why I didn't get the joke, too), so we could even buddy read it at some point in the future, reminding each other. ^^
AndrewP wrote: "Whoever the main character was in The Magicians."I hated that book. The protagonist is awful, he keeps whining without any reason...
I haven't finished it yet but Ardee West in Last Argument of Kings. I'd like to drown her in a barrel of wine.
Xara wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "Whoever the main character was in The Magicians."I hated that book. The protagonist is awful, he keeps whining without any reason..."
Agreed. I hated the MC in
The Magicians.
Thomas Covenant. Everyone in the entire Gap series.
Dharmakirti wrote: "I could not stand Louis Wu in Ringworld. I thought he was a condescending, sexist asshole."Him too.
Ruth wrote: "I haven't read Snow Crash yet. When I do, I promise to come back to this thread and give love to your joke (note: I withhold the right to break this promise on account of the fact that I will proba..."The (slight) joke is that the main character in Snow Crash is... Hiro Protagonist.
Hey I remembered more!Guinevere in Mists of Avalon and Leto in God Emperor of Dune.
Lazarus Long when he starts popping up as a side character, he's very smug and condescending.
Evgeny wrote: "I am really surprised Thomas Covenant only showed up in post number 10. A rapist whiner often called an anti-hero for some reason. Heck, I have more sympathy for Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter ..."Well he's sort of a given. Like those cartoons you may have watched as a "kid". You tolerate the main hero because they have a cool robot or ninja powers but you rarely like them. Then you get a little older and you can't stand them.
By the end, pretty much everyone in the Wheel of Time.In a reread of ASoIaF - Every Stark with the exception of Bran and Arya. They are kids, so they get a pass at being idiots. Have no sympathy for the others. Most of the crap that gets heaped on them is because they can't exercise any long-term critical thinking skills. If it was just one of the, sure, I could live with that, but they seem to be stupid for the sake of plot.
Neo from the Matrix movies.
PEter Parker. Spider man is cool. Peter Parker I could do without. Cyclops from the Xmen too.
Hey, I thought the Snowcrash joke was funny....
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I lol'ed a bit. I just didn't post it.
Just came here to give Thomas Covenant another kick. As I mentioned in antoher thread, Metro 2034 was the first book I set free. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever was the first I threw away to make sure no one else has to read it.
The Kvothe heat around here is staggering, heh. For my money it's Harry Potter. He's the chosen one that can't do anything and lucks into everything. I've heard of a fan comic that follows Neville Longbottom through the years. I think I'd much rather read that story.
I have to say I'm surprised by all of the hate for Kvothe from the Kingkiller Chronicle. He's got to be one of my all-time favorite protagonists.As for protagonists that irritate me, Matrim Cauthon from WOT had me rolling my eyes a few times but I got over it as his character developed more. Elayne Trakand irritated me more with her careless disregard for the safety of her unborn children just because Min foretold they would be born healthy... that one scene from AMOL had me so upset I literally threw the book down and stood up and paced for awhile before I could get myself to finish the scene. Wanted to scream at her.
Jack from Jack of Fables. Why the fuck did they give him his own comic? And how the hell did it last for 50 issues?
I'm going to have to say Shadow from American Gods. While I enjoyed the story...he just never really did anything and when he finally did the book ended. I just don't really know why he bugged me so much, but I just couldn't understand why he just wondered wherever Wednesday told him to go. I get the whole, I've got nothing else to do...but three hundred pages of wondering, I just couldn't wait for the "storm" just so he'd stop being so complacent.
Not genre, but Jane Austen's Emma. In fantasy, Thomas Covenant. In Sci-fi, I don't know has there ever been a novelization of The Adventures of Pluto Nash?
I'm going to take a kick at Kvothe as well ;]Other characters;
Bettina in Shadow's Claim
Axis in the Wayfarer Redemption Trilogy
With all the hype around The Name of the Wind, and how everyone and their mother loving the book, I would have never guess there would have actual people that would dislike Kvothe.
Michele wrote: "Guinevere in Mists of Avalon I despised Lancelot. I could not f-ing stand him and wanted so desperately for him to die.
Tris from the Divergent series, Clare from the Mortal Instruments Series, Bella from the Twilight Saga (because a Saga is soo much better than a series.) That's it for the YA novels (as far as i remember, anyway.)
Mercedes from Moon Called.
Richard from Wizards First Rule. (Lemmed it halfway through)
Frankenstein from (you guessed it) Frankenstein. I'm reading this now and you would not believe that hate-on I have for this guy.
Kevin wrote: "With all the hype around The Name of the Wind, and how everyone and their mother loving the book, I would have never guess there would have actual people that would dislike Kvothe."That's the thing about books and media in general. No matter how much hype something gets some segment of the population will always dislike it.
And the bigger that hype, the more vocal that hate will usually be.
Christopher wrote: "And the bigger that hype, the more vocal that hate will usually be."I actually kind of find quite the opposite with The Name of the Wind.
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I don't understand the dislike for Kvothe or Denna either but I just understand that people all like different things and different styles of writing.
I will pile on Wheel of Time but expand it -- By book six, I hated every single character in the story and gave up on the series.I admit I started skipping Sansa Stark chapters in Song of Ice and Fire.
And Tom Bombadil.
Christopher wrote: "And the bigger that hype, the more vocal that hate will usually be."not always the case imo
I know this probably doesn't count but in both the Farseer and tawny man trilogy I wanted to bang Fitz's head against a wall and scream "the fools in love with you! the fools in love with you! say something you idiot!". let's just say after six books I was not a happy bunny.
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
The Name of the Wind (other topics)The Desert Spear (other topics)
Pushing Ice (other topics)
The Land of Laughs (other topics)
Metro 2034 (other topics)
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Torn pages from a paperback like a grizzly might gut a fish because Ms Protagonist is wondering who her true love is... in the middle of a battlefield?