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Characters unfairly judged.


Salafi Stannis

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I've noticed on these threads that people who do a lot of bad things but eventually do a couple good things get a lot more love than people who have lived most of their lives with honour but have a few shortcomings. For example, there was a thread asking who was more honourable, the Hound or Ser Barristan, and I shit you not 90% of the repliers said the Hound. By what definition of honour does that make any kind of sense? The Hound has killed Mycah and countless innocents, but because he was a bit nice to people towards the end he gets forgiven by people. It seems like no matter what you do if you have a redemption arc you get a clean slate. I mean, the Hound more honourable than Ser Barristan? The Hound killed Micah, a child, and people forgive him because it was an order, but still, he didn't even feel bad about it, he didn't give a shit. Imagine if Ser Barristan was ordered to kill a child, he would either flat out refuse, or if he was forced, he would feel like a piece of shit for the rest of his life. And I know what Hound apologists might say, "You don't know if the Hound didn't feel bad about it", yes I do, he mocked Arya with it, about how he killed Mycah. Imagine again, if it were Ser Barristan who killed a child (which he would never do), can you imagine him going around making jokes about it, and going to that childs friends and said "Ha Ha I killed your friend!" No, he wouldn't. And if you think this thread I'm talking about is a troll thread, it isn't, read it and decide for yourselves.



http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/116135-who-has-more-honor-the-hound-or-barristan-selmy/?hl=%2Bhound+%2Bbarristan



Also, it's not just about Ser Barristan and the Hound, it's just an example, there's also Cat gets more shit about being mean to Jon than Jaime gets for trying to kill Bran and cut off Arya's hand, things like that.


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None of the characters are all good or all bad (which makes them that much better to read). But I think it depends on where your perceptions are coming from. I hated the Hound at the start, but thought that he killed Mycah because he had been told that the kid hurt the prince. He didn't know it was all a lie. But he never makes any claims to being any better than any others (only stronger). He was the one who refused did the most to shield Sansa from Joffrey...but he does have a lot of shortcomings as a hero. It's all shades of gray. Selmy protected the Mad King and let the King continue to hurt the realm, but then he went over to the man who took down that king. He admitted as much to not being the best person in this situation, but that he say the error of his ways.


I would never go so far as to say that the Hound was better than Selmy but they both have their good days and bad days.


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Some here still call Stannis a religious fanatic when it's been stated again and again in the novels that he's not.



Jaime gets more shit for attempting to kill a child and not really reminiscing about it than the Hound does for actually killing a child and subsequently laughing about it.



Cat and Sansa of course get a lot of shit.


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I'd say Renly. He gets a lot of flack for the single mistake of not accounting for an unheard of ghost-baby killer. Somehow that turns him into a brainless Icarus.

And then there's all the dismissals of his 'fashion sense' or being 'soft' or 'fabulous!' or w/e that are retracted to 'of course I'm not homophobic' whenever addressed directly.

Theon, I don't even like him, but he's the victim of overStarkensation. Even somehow the spear-wives get in on the act and scorn him for betraying a concept they utterly reject.

Robb, consequentialism.

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Sansa and Cat seem to get unfairly judged more than most other characters. The hate that I've seen directed at both is simply ridiculous. This coming from someone who wasn't particularly fond of Sansa until the third book and never really warmed up to Cat.



Robb gets his share of unfair hate as well, and while I'll never fully understand the unwavering love Stannis seems to get, some of the hate is a bit much. Dany also draws more hate than she deserves, even considering her many flaws.


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Catelyn gets a share of what you may call unfair hate because she is one of those characters that give you high expectations but ultimately fails to fulfil them. Both Catelyn and Barristan have holier-than-thou attitudes which galls many readers. In the end, they are better than Jaime and The Hound, but we don't expect them to be morally good or politically savvy.


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I don't like it when people hate on Cat so much because of how she treats Jon Snow. --- I'm not saying it's nice, good, acceptable behaviour, but it's completely understandable given the context. Jon is a walking, talking symbol of betrayal by the man she loves most in the world. Are all of said Cat haters basically saying that if their long term Significant Other was to suddenly come home with a tiny baby/get pregnant and say 'oh, hi this isn't yours - I just cheated on you, but you can't really send it away or leave me' that they'd be totally ok with that? Sure it's not nice, but I dont understand how she can be on a par with Cersei, who would as soon slaughter her husband's bastards as look at them?


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