119 replies to this topic

[Ser Sweets]

I'm new to the forums, and from about a week of dwelling here I'm getting a general consensus that people do not like Brienne.

Why?

Is it simply because people felt cheated by having so many POV chapters from her in AFFC? Because she isn't a political player?

As far as I've seen, most of the people who do favour Brienne like her for a pairing to Jaime. Not always necessarily for herself, but as a fan of the pairing.

But I loved reading her chapters. I loved her being an adventurer, her point of view, her very existence. :V

And as for her chapters being boring; I don't know. Is it just a bias because she's my favourite character? I have characters who I like but whose chapters I find boring, though. I like Dany, but for about three books her chapters were tiresome. I like Davos, but I've never read a Davos chapter I thought truly gripping.
Having said that, I just didn't find Brienne's chapters boring. She was on a neverending quest to save her girlfriend Sansa.

Edited by Pelki, 12 April 2012 - 08:08 AM.

[Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren]

I haven't noticed that at all. It seems to me that most people like her but found several of her chapters in AFFC sort of boring.

Edited by Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren, 12 April 2012 - 08:11 AM.

[daggers]

Everytime I got to a chapter and it said Brienne I let out a loud sign.  Kind of boring...her whole story could fit in 2 chapters

[Awesome Oberyn Martell]

I liked Brienne as someone who travelled with Jaime during his change. Though she didn't need so many, nor did we need her boring chapters of searching for Sansa.

[Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren]

Yeah I found all her pre Septon Meribald chapters sort of unnecessary and rather boring. But I liked the chapters from that point onwards with Meribald, Quiet Isle, Brotherhood without banners.

Edited by Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren, 12 April 2012 - 08:16 AM.

[Ser Sweets]

Qhorin Halfhand and Yoren, on 12 April 2012 - 08:10 AM, said:

I haven't noticed that at all. It seems to me that most people like her but found several of her chapters in AFFC sort of boring.

Awesome Oberyn Martell, on 12 April 2012 - 08:13 AM, said:

I liked Brienne as someone who travelled with Jaime during his change. Though she didn't need so many, nor did we need her boring chapters of searching for Sansa.

I can understand that. So it was the lack of politics in her chapters?

I personally liked the questing, regardless of Brienne. I loved the questing with Jon north of the wall, too, before they found the Wildlings. That, again, was mostly just roaming about.

[Free Northman]

Yeah. Like someone said above, it's not so much disliking Brienne, as finding her story mildly depressing, boring and lacking any real exciting moments.

I am sympathetic towards her character. I just don't particularly enjoy seeing the world through her eyes for extended periods of time.

[Corm]

I think it was simply because her chapters weren't interacting with everything else that was going on, it wasn't really going anywhere until she met septon Meribald. I didn't really like the first few chapters but once the group formed up it wasn't so bad.

[The Monkey]

She's a good characters, but her travel chapters in AFFC were too many and too long, unlike Bran, whose journey north (unlike most other readers, it seems) I actually liked.

[TheDrawback]

Pelki, on 12 April 2012 - 08:16 AM, said:

I personally liked the questing, regardless of Brienne. I loved the questing with Jon north of the wall, too, before they found the Wildlings. That, again, was mostly just roaming about.

Totally with you on that

[Ser Sweets]

The Monkey, on 12 April 2012 - 08:21 AM, said:

She's a good characters, but her travel chapters in AFFC were too many and too long, unlike Bran, whose journey north (unlike most other readers, it seems) I actually liked.

I'm never sure how I feel about Bran's chapters. They tend to either hit or miss with me, but there are definitely times when I've found him tiring even though I like him as a character and think he has an interesting plot ahead of him.

[BogginsTheDog]

I enjoyed her chapters but I must admit that her wild goose chase in AFFC was a drag as we KNEW that she wouldn't find Sansa. Kinda makes her trek around Westeros a rather pointless plotline in terms of entertainment.

Edited by BogginsTheDog, 12 April 2012 - 08:41 AM.

[nara]

BogginsTheDog, on 12 April 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

I enjoyed her chapters but I must admit that her wild goose chase in AFFC was a drag as we KNEW that she wouldn't find Sansa. Kinda makes her trek around Westeros a rather pointless plotline in terms of entertainment.

Agree.  Love Brienne, but more with Jaime than traveling on her own.  However, I would prefer them as buddies than husband/wife or lovers.

[Corm]

BogginsTheDog, on 12 April 2012 - 08:41 AM, said:

I enjoyed her chapters but I must admit that her wild goose chase in AFFC was a drag as we KNEW that she wouldn't find Sansa. Kinda makes her trek around Westeros a rather pointless plotline in terms of entertainment.

I actually kind of liked the fact that we knew she wouldn't find Sansa on one level because in literature, TV, film etc. the "good" guys never seem to be completely blind of a fact, which was the case hear. If nothing else it's a little more interesting than if she happened to know exactly where Sansa was. That didn't make the early chapters easier to read though.

[Ser Bleys of Amber]

About the only thing I truly enjoyed about Brienne was being introduced to more of the Westerlands/Reach/Riverrun areas. It was good to get a view of Randall Tarly as well. Otherwise, like everyone else on the board, I was simply reading those chapters to move on in the books and make sure I didn't miss anything important. And no, I haven't yet.

Edited by Ser Bleys of Amber, 12 April 2012 - 09:01 AM.

[Charles Stuart]

Despised is the term I prefer.

[thistlepong]

I've really only dipped my toe into this section of the forums, so forgive me if this has already been talked to death.  There is something about Brienne's chapters that kind of bugs me.  At this point I'd have to go back and reread the series or maybe just AFfC to really support it.  But there's something about the way Martin wrote them that makes me feel like I have blinders on.  Like the world is somehow less bright, less joyful, less exciting.  I imagine there's a distinctly different color palette between her chapters and Jaime's, for example.  And my first impressions reading AFfC were that phrases were repeated more often in her chapters.  Has anyone looked at that?

[Thunderfist]

I agree with most of the posters in this thread. I doubt that anyone really hates the character but alot of people probably find the second half of her storyline a bit boring, having her chase Sansa Stark when all the readers know that she is not even remotely close to finding her was a bit of a drag. And I can imagine that alot of people are a bit frustrated about the massive cliffhanger that involved both her and Jaime in ADwD. But hatred for the character is probably very, very rare.

[Gurkhal]

Pelki, on 12 April 2012 - 08:08 AM, said:

I'm new to the forums, and from about a week of dwelling here I'm getting a general consensus that people do not like Brienne.

Why?

Is it simply because people felt cheated by having so many POV chapters from her in AFFC? Because she isn't a political player?

As far as I've seen, most of the people who do favour Brienne like her for a pairing to Jaime. Not always necessarily for herself, but as a fan of the pairing.

But I loved reading her chapters. I loved her being an adventurer, her point of view, her very existence. :V

And as for her chapters being boring; I don't know. Is it just a bias because she's my favourite character? I have characters who I like but whose chapters I find boring, though. I like Dany, but for about three books her chapters were tiresome. I like Davos, but I've never read a Davos chapter I thought truly gripping.
Having said that, I just didn't find Brienne's chapters boring. She was on a neverending quest to save her girlfriend Sansa.

I never noticed any hatred for Brienne, just that some people find her a bit boring. Also Brienne and Sansa have never met so I can't see Sansa being Brienne girlfriend.

[Corm]

thistlepong, on 12 April 2012 - 09:07 AM, said:

I've really only dipped my toe into this section of the forums, so forgive me if this has already been talked to death.  There is something about Brienne's chapters that kind of bugs me.  At this point I'd have to go back and reread the series or maybe just AFfC to really support it.  But there's something about the way Martin wrote them that makes me feel like I have blinders on.  Like the world is somehow less bright, less joyful, less exciting.  I imagine there's a distinctly different color palette between her chapters and Jaime's, for example.  And my first impressions reading AFfC were that phrases were repeated more often in her chapters.  Has anyone looked at that?

I think that might be due to how she sees the world. I've always found that each POV has a different way of looking at the world and GRRM reflects that when he writes about them. This is most evident when he's writing as Cersei to me, it's very much focused on her and how people are acting towards her, there is no real bigger picture.

Brienne is a very shy character so we don't have the great exchanges that other characters do. GRRM uses so much more dialogue than I'm used to with authors so when you have a character that usually replies curtly and reservedly, it makes for less interesting reading, IMO.