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Most Despicable Character
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From the show: Probably Littlefinger...he just has that slimy look about him and you just know he's up to no good. Cersei is bad and all, but I just can't help but love her for it. :P
From the books: (view spoiler)
eta: spoiler tag added. sorry.
From the books: (view spoiler)
eta: spoiler tag added. sorry.
It'll be so hard to comment on this thread without giving spoilers - if only by omission! Some characters change so much.But I have to agree, I think Cersei is pretty much irredeemable. Viserys too, although he's obviously already paid the price.
(Not that horrible death simply or necessarily comes to those that earn it, of course...)
I just finished book 2, so whatever I say here may change when the story goes on, but right now Joffrey is very very high on my hate list. I'm torn with Cersei, since he's so evil, but also pretty entertaining, so I have a love/hate feeling when it comes to her.I hated Viserys, but well... (view spoiler). There was never anything redeemable about him.
Since I'm still really influenced by the second book, I'd mention Theon Greyjob who just bugged the hell out of me THE WHOLE TIME. What a whiny, bitchy, sorry excuse for a character. Seriously.
But I'm also really looking forward to how the characters will evolve, since it's already clear that they do evolve. Once I finished my current book (already halfway through) it'll be on to Storm of Swords.
Ned. Damn idiot with his code of "honor" just gets people killed for no use. If he'd bowed his neck just once and taken Renly up on his offer, the whole war could've been averted. If he'd had any other motive, everyone would agree he got what he deserved, but call it "honor" and everyone likes him.
Catelyn. She messes with all the characters I love, Jon Snow, Tyrion, and Brienne. Yes, I dislike the characters I'm supposed to dislike such as Cersei, Joffrey, and Tywin, but for me the hubris of Catelyn really bugs. me. (view spoiler)
My initial thought would have been the monster Joffrey, but as he was a product of Cersei's upbringing (spoiling) and she shows no redeeming qualities whatsoever, she gets my vote, too.
Littlefinger.I can make excuses for everyone else, Catelyn is trying to protect her family, Cersei and Jaime are sort of cursed by (view spoiler) and in different ways shaped and twisted by the circumstances of the world they live in, Viserys was raised with enormous pressure to do something he was utterly incapable of doing, Joffrey is a classic case of bad parenting. Etc, etc
But Littlefinger is just such an asshole (view spoiler) is just not a good enough excuse for his behaviour.
Ser Gregor Clegane too maybe, but he's too much of an obvious villain to be worth hating.
Kate wrote: "Littlefinger."Yes, Gregor's probably the absolute worst; there's nothing redeeming there that we know of, yet.
Littlefinger's interesting, because he often does good things with questionable intentions. I'm thinking of the end of A Feast for Crows where, (view spoiler). Who knows if he'll come through, but his actions seem to be helpful in this case.
aldenoneil wrote: "Kate wrote:Littlefinger's interesting, because he often does good things with que..."
I guess (view spoiler) sort of undo any of the good he might do. Also, come on, it's ASOIAF (view spoiler).
Before I post can someone tell me how to do the spoiler block?Thank you aldenoneil,
I have to say Joffrey, bad parenting doesn't begin to cover it
(view spoiler)
Bad parenting leads to Jon Arryn's son, pure evil = Joffrey.
Scott wrote: "Before I post can someone tell me how to do the spoiler block?"< spoiler>text< /spoiler> without the spaces.
pre Feast For Crows Sansa is easily my most hated.or possibly post Feast For Crows Catelyn
Peleken wrote: "pre Feast For Crows Sansa is easily my most hated.or possibly post Feast For Crows Catelyn"
In Game of Thrones I thought Sansa was downright annoying. I didn't hate her exactly, though. I thought it got better in Clash of Kings and I definitely like her more now (although she's far from being my favorite). I especially enjoyed some of the scenes with her and the Hound or her and Cersei.
I mislike all the Lannisters, Cersei most of all. I enjoy the game of wits that Tyrion can play, though he would be dangerous to know. I do not love Littlefinger's duplicity; but, I confess, I do love Varys. Especially the phlegmatic portrayal by Roy Dotrice in the audiobook.
Forgetting the characters with no redeemable features (I'm looking at you Gregor!) I found myself hating Jaime and Cersei Lannister quite early on. I'd already heard people praising GRRM's writing for managing to make Jaime such a fan favourite character later on, but with every scene he appeared in I was pretty dismissive of that, convinced I would hate him forever more. I didn't even realise I'd grown to like him until partway through Feast of Crows when I realised that I was looking forward to the next chapter focused on him.Cersei on the other hand, I still can't stand, but as time progressed I found myself more pitying her than anything.
Jaime is like Vic Mackey in The Shield for me. They are both likable and have redeeming qualities, but have done despicable things. Jaime threw Bran from the tower and Vic killed a fellow cop. Whenever I got to liking either character these incidents popped into mind. I love characters like that though because life is not always so black and white.
Surprisingly I thought Cersei was a bit more likable in the TV show (I've watched until episode 5 so far) than in the books. Maybe likable is the wrong word, but I can easily see how you would get bitter when you're married to a man who won't let you forget you were basically second choice. I wouldn't go so far as to say I like her or that she is any less evil, but the way Lena Headey plays her, I god the feeling that I at least understood her a bit better.
For me, HBO has softened Cersei way too much. Remember, this is the cruel bitch that squeezed little baby Tyrion's pee pee until he cried. She never had any feelings for Robert from the get-go because of her incestuous affair with Jaime.
Eliaures wrote: "For me, HBO has softened Cersei way too much."I'm of two minds on this. I keep thinking, "Wait, I'm supposed to hate you." On the other hand, the little bits of humanity color her character in ways we didn't see in the book. Her nasty plotting's about to get underway, so it's kind of nice to see her as a bit of a victim before the storm comes.
I think that Cersei's pov sections in the later books are supposed to... if not soften her exactly then at least make her actions more understandable, but it's mostly too little too late. The HBO show might be right in trying to give her some humanity earlier but they may have gone too far tyre other way.
Martin takes great pains to make his villains believable. Even Viserys is pitiable in the end. If ever there was a book about the ends not justifying the means, though...Cersei, for example, is motivated by two things: 1) to protect her children and 2) to snub all the men who disrespect her sex. Ultimately, though, her actions are despicable. (view spoiler)
Sodon wrote: "Though it seems the beast she unleashed with the High Septon is like to be no better."That's what I love - when their own mistakes come back to haunt them. That whole bit with the Septon was delicious.
This is an awesome video which basically repeats the scene where Tyrion is slapping Joffrey for ten minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYNeT2...It's so much fun to watch.
"Honorable" mentions goes to Robert. Too lazy to run his our realm. I guess if he had a clue there would be no books to write.
Well, the thing with Robert though, he KNEW he was a shit king, but what else could he do once he was on the throne? He couldn't let a lannister on there, Ned would never have taken it, and Robert wouldn't exactly be up for letting another Targaryan back on the pointy seat. Backed into a prison of his own design or something. If i had a dime for every time Robert stated how he would prefer to be on horseback, beating people to death with his warhammer instead of ruling the kingdom, i'd have at least 30 cents in Game of Thrones.
After A Dance with Dragons I'm going to have to change my vote to Ramsey Bolton.Talk about nightmare fuel.Eugh.
My vote is split between 2 characters: Samwell Tarly and Brienne of Tarth - accused of the worst crime in literature, that of being despicably BORING and ANNOYING! Sam - a mountain of a blubbering idiot moaning through pages and pages that 'he can't!', and Brienne.. words fail me, what exactly is the point of her??I'll take Cersei's company anytime of the day even though it might get me killed. She's stupid and vicious but at least a bit entertaining.
No one should hate JamieJamie is my favorite, I'm in book III so I am hoping he gets the throne. Let's be honest, Bran deserved what he got for spying, Aerys deserved it, and who among us would not fall for Cersei's charms. Also, in a fight you know Jamie would have destroyed Ned. Plus, he always has a great sense of humor even after spending months in a dungeon alone.
He has honor, just not the geeky nerdy kind.
What, no mentions of Reek/Ramsey? That dude is f'd up.
xenphi wrote: "What, no mentions of Reek/Ramsey? That dude is f'd up."Reek seems more pathetic to me. He's pitiable. He's a wretched creature, barely a man anymore. I don't loathe his character the way I loathed Joffrey. (view spoiler)
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Books mentioned in this topic
A Dance with Dragons (other topics)A Feast for Crows (other topics)
My choice changes every time I think this.
I'm curious to know, since this series has so many characters to hate, who's the worst? My vote has to go to Cersei. I stray, but in the end I always come back to sweet Cersei. Sweet, despicable Cersei.