Has being on this forums and engaging in various debates made you more prone to liking/dislike certain characters?

[Lady Arianne Martell]

I always personally never cared for Arya, but I actually did not mind her. She was ok for me.

However, being a diehard Sansa fan, after argument after argument with Arya being brought up in comparison, I began to actively detest Arya to the point where only the likes of Joff, Ramsay, etc. were more hated for me....

Anything like this happen to you?

[Danelle]

Yes! I thought I was the only one. I never really cared for Arya but some of her fans are seriously obsessed with her to the extent that now I can barely stand her and hate the fact that of all the characters in ASOIAF she is the only one to have POV's in every book. Same thing with Cat. I liked her at first, I thought that she was a tragic woman who made some bad decisions which eventually led to the downfall of her House and the extinction of her line. But I liked her until I discovered that she has hardcore fans who refuse to accept that fact that not all readers interpret the facts in the same way. And I cannot stand the Sansa hate and Jaime hate. It is as if GOT, whic featured mostly Stark pov's is the canon and everything that followed after, Sansa's torture, Jaime's and Theon's path to redemption never happened.

[Lady Sansa Stark]

I always really liked Sansa and Arya and I dare say that has only become more and more ever since I arrived here.

My appreciation for Robert Baratheon has really declined here though.

I should add my declining appreciation for Tyrion here.

[kephv]

Yes. All the Arya hate -- sort of an oxymoron, I always thought -- always makes me love her even more. So I guess it all equals out in the end.

[Cruella]

Yep! That is unfair to characters, but it's certainly the case. With Cat, it was actually the other way around for me, the criticism was so ridiculous (she is solely responsible for the war! She is stupid for being mad with grief over Bran! How could she not be interested in new stablemaster while her son was agonizing!) that I began to like her much more.

Same with Sansa, but I am more naturally interested in her than in Catelyn.

Now, Jon's fans have opposite effect on me. He's just bland and boring, but they make me dislike poor guy and wish bad things on him with their gushing fanboyism.

Tyrion I dislike on my own now, it started on first read through.

Dany is a curious case, as I can see both sides and think both defenders and haters are being fairly ridiculous at times.

[infinitesunrise]

I actually didn't really care much for Cat, but I feel kind of protective of her now after visiting the forums. She gets a lot of hate, I'll tell you. And she's far from the worst character in this series. You'd think she was Hera or something from the way a lot of Jon fans talk about her (do I agree with her? Not necessarily, but I don't think she went out of her way to make his life hell, either.). And this is coming from a huge Snow fan. :(

Same with Sansa. I actually was pretty annoyed with her...but she's a kid. Give her a break. She gets a lot of shit for not "doing much" about her situation as opposed to Arya, and I don't really think it's fair.

[David Selig]

The most extreme Tyrion fans, those who tend to whitewash him, and especially the ones who make the laughable claim he's too good for the "shallow" Sansa, certainly helped me dislike him more.

And all those "Dany is the worst, I hate her, how dares she choose Daario for a lover since I hate him too" threads made me like her more.

[danm_999]

I try not to allow other people's views of characters affect mine because I feel like it's being contrarian for the sake of it.

I do think there are some really shallow/dumb interpretations of characters floating around, but that's not really the faults of the characters. Down that road leads fanboyism, and nobody wants to be a fanboy.

[redviper9]

It's certainly been interesting for me to read other's views and interpretations of characters. For the most part, my views of characters have remained the same as from before I started participating in the forums, with two exceptions: Sansa and Stannis. I'll admit it, I was not a big Sansa fan, particularly in AGOT. But, after reading some of the threads -- particularly the stellar ones dedicated to close rereads and rethinkings of her chapters -- I find myself really looking forward to her story arc in the last two books. And then there's Stannis. I tended to like him before coming to the forums, but it was a like that was still closer to neutrality. But I was suprised to see how many supporters he has in these forums, and after reading some of their arguments and interpretations, I am fully on board the Stannis the Mannis bandwagon.

Speaking of surprises, I was surprised at the level of dislike directed towards Robert Baratheon and Catelyn Stark; I sincerely never saw that coming. They weren't perfect in the books by any stretch, but the demonization of them at times reaches rather cartoonish levels. I was not surprised to find that Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, and Jaime elicit such strong reactions both for and against them. Their arcs are among the longest and most complex that GRRM has written, so it's bound to lead to different interpretations and feelings.

[redviper9]

I do think there are some really shallow/dumb interpretations of characters floating around, but that's not really the faults of the characters. Down that road leads fanboyism, and nobody wants to be a fanboy.

Also, this.

[ab aeterno]

It's certainly been interesting for me to read other's views and interpretations of characters. For the most part, my views of characters have remained the same as from before I started participating in the forums, with two exceptions: Sansa and Stannis. I'll admit it, I was not a big Sansa fan, particularly in AGOT. But, after reading some of the threads -- particularly the stellar ones dedicated to close rereads and rethinkings of her chapters -- I find myself really looking forward to her story arc in the last two books. And then there's Stannis. I tended to like him before coming to the forums, but it was a like that was still closer to neutrality. But I was suprised to see how many supporters he has in these forums, and after reading some of their arguments and interpretations, I am fully on board the Stannis the Mannis bandwagon.

I'm somewhat similar with Stannis. In the books at first, sometimes I liked him, sometimes I disliked him. I preferred him to many characters, but he was still below many others. Now he is one of my absolute favorite after the discussions on the forum and Season 2 of the show. The thing about him is, apart from the fact that he is just an unstoppable force and that nothing fazes him, you can hate him for being a raging zealot while loving him for being just. What I really realized is that he is like a force of nature, and he's a fantastic contrast to all the other kings.

[redviper9]

I'm somewhat similar with Stannis. In the books at first, sometimes I liked him, sometimes I disliked him. I preferred him to many characters, but he was still below many others. Now he is one of my absolute favorite after the discussions on the forum and Season 2 of the show. The thing about him is, apart from the fact that he is just an unstoppable force and that nothing fazes him, you can hate him for being a raging zealot while loving him for being just. What I really realized is that he is like a force of nature, and he's a fantastic contrast to all the other kings.

Great point on how he contrasts with the other kings. And yes, he is the unstoppable force of Westeros: no matter how bad the odds are stacked against him, no matter what defeats and pitfalls he has to overcome, Stannis Baratheon cannot and will not stop.

Now that I think about it, Stannis would probably make a great old-school Kingsguard: give him his orders and he will carry them out...or die in the attempt.

[ab aeterno]

Great point on how he contrasts with the other kings. And yes, he is the unstoppable force of Westeros: no matter how bad the odds are stacked against him, no matter what defeats and pitfalls he has to overcome, Stannis Baratheon cannot and will not stop.

Now that I think about it, Stannis would probably make a great old-school Kingsguard: give him his orders and he will carry them out...or die in the attempt.

On the other Stannis thread he was compared to Judge Dredd. I think that's actually a fantastic comparison.

[Lady Lea]

The most extreme Tyrion fans, those who tend to whitewash him, and especially the ones who make the laughable claim he's too good for the "shallow" Sansa, certainly helped me dislike him more.

And all those "Dany is the worst, I hate her, how dares she chose Daario for a lover since I hate him too" threads made me like her more.

All of this.

And the Pawn to Player threads made a Sansa fan out of me.

[Winter's Knight]

Coming to the forums made me realise the following:

1. I am a Targareyen through and through.
   
2. Sansa's my honey badger.
   
3. Brienne is my knight in shining armour.
   
4. Can't stand Stannis.
   
5. I am ridiculously fond of Cersei.
   
6. I don't dislike Tyrion as much as I originally did.
   
7. Cat is all things awesome.
   

[David Selig]

On a different note, Errant Bard and Happy Ent's posts about UnCat really made me rethink the way I view her. As most others, when I first read the book, saw her as cruel, irrational and only obsessed with vengeance, but when I considered their arguments and reread the relevant parts of the books, I totally changed my mind.

[PatrickStormborn]

This board has seriously changed my views on some characters.

• I now really like Cersei
  
• I like Daenerys even more
  
• I find Jon less interesting (R+L= legitimate heir to Iron Throne = me losing interest in his angst/plight as a bastard)
  
• Tyrion went from being one of my favourite characters to being disliked
  
• I like Sansa a lot more than I did, although I always somewhat liked her
  
• I now detest Robert Baratheon
  

[Scipio Africanus]

Nope. Most of my opinions came from reading the books. I was amazed by that characters like Jaime Lannister get so many fans. While I understand what his appeal is, I would never support someone like Jaime (or Stan Baratheon) because they commited pretty evil acts pure for their own selfish reasons.

My opinion on Dany became more mild after the "Learning to Lead" threads. At first I was desturbed by her chapters in GOT and I grew pretty frustrated with her subsequent appearances - mainly because of her Idiot Abroad fashion update and culinary report chapters. I've learned she's not THAT bad, but I still skip chapters anyway on rereads.

[Kobayashi Maru]

No,not even a little. I appreciate other points of view and find them interesting but not one convinced me to change my opinion of a character. It's something personal to me,the way I form a impression of a character and my interpretation of the text is to me the most important one. It's much like sense of humor or taste,you either find something funny or beautiful or you don't it depends on your impression (and your impression alone) and if somebody thinks it's not funny or beautiful at all still can't make it less funny or beautiful to you. I guess I'm one of those readers whose opinion can only be changed by reading a book again (so by myself ). Liking or not liking a character is between me and..well the character in question,it's not a matter of somebody else's opinion. In fact it would be like betraying myself and my judgement not to mention my gut feeling if I said it doesn't matter what I think/feel/believe, this person is good orator,is convincing and can quote the book better than me so I'll think like he/she.

[Winterfellian]

Well, Sansa used to be one of my favorites but now I've grown to dislike her a lot. Is not because I agree with some of the things she gets accused off like being too passive or that I like Arya better or whatever. Is mostly because I have noticed that if you made the slightest criticism about her in the forums her fans turn to you like white cells attacking some kind of foreign agent. I actively avoid any Sansa threads because of this.