Characters Outside of ASOIAF that you despise any genre

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Actually I still hope that George would go this way: with evil scientist from Citadel causing Long Night through poisoning all dragons, and religious fanatics being the right solution even though they burn people alive and stuff. That would be suitable solution that would make most readers feeling uneasy, and after all ASOIAF should have uneasy ending!

[HexMachina]

Nils Bjurman. The thought of the man was enough to turn my stomach

[Spring Bass]

I never noticed the incredibly passive nature of the female characters. Thanks for pointing it out.

My own major gripe with the book (well, apart from forcing us to read well over a thousand pages in order to present us with a deus ex machina, the US being treated as the world, and the fact that King utterly wasted such an awesome premise) is the anti-science nature of the story. It's those evil biologists who exterminate 99.4% of America's the world's population. It's the secular rational types like Harold who get taken over by the Dark Side, whereas the good guys are "simple" and "unsophisticated" in their reliance on Faith. Redemption is obtained by submitting to God and His Prophet, Mother Abigail. Boulder becomes a virtual theocracy, and the one guy who points this out gets conveniently killed off.

Stephen King's fantasy novels (not necessarily his horror ones) almost always have a kind of technophobic, anti-science element to them. He even wrote it directly into the cosmology of the Dark Tower series.

That said, Glen's speech about the "death-trip" and the "life-trip" might be the worst example of that. I'd forgotten about that character - he's the Ian Malcolm of that book, and even more annoying because Ian Malcolm at least had the excuse of being out of his mind on pain-killers.

[The Santa of House Claus]

Edward Kealty from the Jack Ryan series, he is an absolute sleaze ball.

[TrackerNeil]

Redemption is obtained by submitting to God and His Prophet, Mother Abigail. Boulder becomes a virtual theocracy, and the one guy who points this out gets conveniently killed off.

Even worse, prior to his death that guy comes to appreciate the theocracy he's helped to put into place.

[A Rising of Peasants]

Thank you I've always wondered why people hate that Woman so much :)

Where to start? She led the government that deliberately provoked the Miners Strike (1984-85) in order to smash the National Union of Miners and destroyed the British mining industry to do it; escalated the war in Northern Ireland; sold off most of the council housing and didn't replace it, so now we're all at the mercy of private landlords; began the (ongoing) dismantling of the welfare state; brought in the poll tax, etc, etc ..... and her political/ideological heirs have been running the country ever since (she said herself that her greatest achievement was her influence on 'New Labour'). Pretty much the only good thing she ever did was be the first women PM, which is an important precedent to set but it's a shame it couldn't have been some other, better woman that did it.

Anyway, back on topic.... whoever said Victor Frankenstein, I second that. It's a long time since I read the book, but IIRC he never seems to take responsibility for any of it.

Also, I thought The Stand was more anti-insane-military-application-of-science than anti-science as such. The first half (the plague) was generally better than the second (Good vs Evil) though.

And Notes from Underground is a really good portrait of a particular mindset, obviously a really unhealthy one, a kind of extreme depression. The underground man despises himself as much as he hates everyone else, and the one person who gives him a chance, he deliberately insults and tries to humiliate her, so she just walks off. He's harming himself more than anyone else.

[SeanF]

I find Bayaz, from the First Law, wholly despicable, by the end of the series.

[SerArthurHeath]

Oh, Bayaz is the worst of a thoroughly horrible bunch. Logan isn't that much better

[sToNED_CAT]

I find Bayaz, from the First Law, wholly despicable, by the end of the series.

I actually quite like him. I don't really think his crimes are worse than most of kings. He's also described more positively n Heroes. He's like Tywin Lannister, just with sense of humor.

[SeanF]

I actually quite like him. I don't really think his crimes are worse than most of kings. He's also described more positively n Heroes. He's like Tywin Lannister, just with sense of humor.

I quite liked him for most of the story. But, I came to despise him at the end. I loathed the fact that he was prepared to provoke a war, directly kill thousands of people (and indirectly kill even more), and risk demons breaking through into the world, solely and simply because of his feud with Khalul.

[Anatúrinbor]

Yeah, I also like Bayaz. He's also a true hero for saving Midderland(?) from Khalul and his minions.

[SeanF]

Oh, Bayaz is the worst of a thoroughly horrible bunch. Logan isn't that much better

In Best Served Cold, almost every principal character is despicable.

[Tyrion Lannister]

Bayaz is a good mention. In a world filled with morally shitty characters, he's the worst, at least IMO.

[Snowborn]

How could I forget Bayaz! I don't know to what extent I hate him now, but when I first read the trilogy there wasn't any character worse than him, for me.

[Bridgeburners]

Speaking of Kellhus - I just could never really "buy" that character. An author has to be very careful when they're creating a character who is so intelligent and witty that it's basically their superpower. Don't forget, you have to write the witty and intelligent things they do, so you have to put your money where your mouth is, and it's almost like claiming that that's your superpower. Not as easy as writing a guy who can shoot fireballs or some shit. I just never bought how easily people were persuaded by his speeches, which didn't seem all that magically persuasive when I read them. That whole concept, which it seemed Prince of Nothing revolved around, basically turned me off the rest of the series (I only read the first).

Besides that:

Mallick Rel & Pormqual - Malazan

O'brien - 1984 (too much "villain explains the plot" symptom, much of which seemed inconsistent with what he was trying to accomplish)

Yahweh - The Bible

Everyone - Wheel of Time

Ralph - Lord of the Flies (IDK if that was mentioned)

[Anatúrinbor]

Speaking of Kellhus - I just could never really "buy" that character. An author has to be very careful when they're creating a character who is so intelligent and witty that it's basically their superpower. Don't forget, you have to write the witty and intelligent things they do, so you have to put your money where your mouth is, and it's almost like claiming that that's your superpower. Not as easy as writing a guy who can shoot fireballs or some shit. I just never bought how easily people were persuaded by his speeches, which didn't seem all that magically persuasive when I read them. That whole concept, which it seemed Prince of Nothing revolved around, basically turned me off the rest of the series (I only read the first).

I don't agree with this. A witty and intelligent person usually comes up with stuff on the spot, in the heat of the moment. That requires real talent. A writer though, can spend weeks contemplating what a character says at any moment, and he/she can try different versions to see what fits best. Not to mention that the writer can put a character in whatever situation he wants and control what the character reacts to. That said, I cannot say that I bought most of Kellhus's manipulations of those around him, but it didn't turn me off of reading the rest of the series.

[Bridgeburners]

I don't agree with this. A witty and intelligent person usually comes up with stuff on the spot, in the heat of the moment. That requires real talent. A writer though, can spend weeks contemplating what a character says at any moment, and he/she can try different versions to see what fits best. Not to mention that the writer can put a character in whatever situation he wants and control what the character reacts to. That said, I cannot say that I bought most of Kellhus's manipulations of those around him, but it didn't turn me off of reading the rest of the series.

Well you're right about that and I agree. In fact I even remember GRRM saying, in an interview, that he's nowhere near as clever or witty as Tyrion because he could never come up with the lines that Tyrion could on the spot. Still, I think it's completely arrogant to even claim that you could analyze a situation in hindsight with enough time and come up with the magical combination of words that would have completely swayed the person and turned them unquestionably loyal, or that that's even possible. It was enough to turn me off because I remember basically, like, half the novel revolving around Kellhus' amazing power with words. But then it's been a while and my memory of it is probably distorted by my own bias.

[Anatúrinbor]

Still, I think it's completely arrogant to even claim that you could analyze a situation in hindsight with enough time and come up with the magical combination of words that would have completely swayed the person and turned them unquestionably loyal, or that that's even possible.

Not even Bakker claims that he can do this. He talked about writing Kellhus in an interview (it's probably on youtube). He basically keeps trying different combinations of words/actions/reactions and goes with whatever sounds the most convincing. He even called this "throwing shit on the wall to see what sticks". It's fiction, and Kellhus is more than human, as a writer you do what best you can to portray him.

[Batbob45]

Peter petagrew- He betray the Potter

Umbridge- Evil charactor

Wormtongue

[north of the wall]

Genvissa and all her incarnations in the Troy Game. (I hated on all the main characters at some point in time throughout the series but she is the one I was the most consistent with.)

Daisy and Jay in the Great Gatsby. (So very frustrating)

Umbridge of course from Harry Potter

Probably many more as well but I'm stumped at the moment.