best written character (poll)

[RainGhost]

Theon. He is a fascinating character and I'm still not sure how I feel about him. His internal struggles, identity crisis and his lying to himself are all fascinating to read.

[Rhaegal Targaryen]

Jaime and Theon but if i had to pick,my vote would go to Theon.

[Slender Aimry Hill]

Not without some serious Stockholm Syndrome, no.

I think you just summed up the Theon strand in four alliterative words!

[Ser Quork]

Kinda agree with you here. I think Theon is indeed a good character but in the same way, it's like GRRM want us to oh-so-like him.

I didn't get this impression that we were being encouraged to 'like' Theon.

When we first hear that Theon is being flayed by Bolton's bastard, the Stark PoV encourages us in exulting in his downfall. Then Martin turns that on us, so we have to see the result of that torture, and what that experience does to a human being, both internally and externally. I think it's a clever depiction of Theon's existing identity crisis through to his complete deconstruction and resulting PTSD. That's why it get my vote for 'best written character'.

[The Holy Goat]

Theon. Jaime is runner up, then Stannis, Roose and Catelyn I think.

[INCBlackbird]

Jamie. That in terms of long-arc, with Tyrion close but I would also remind people of Ned. Ned's story played a huge part in my buying in, and I assume that's true for many. Cat was also excellently written each and every chapter, and nicely combined narrative and world-building, with a dash of bias that IMO many readers seem to miss.

Theon's powerful, but it IMO includes some of GRRM's worst decisions. Not plot holes or mixed up eye colour, but genuine and premeditated missteps that show the little man behind the curtain.

It's not that he manipulates us to believe Theon should have betrayed his family for his captors in a way which, without the word Stark and all the 'well treated!' not-even-excuses would normally sound insane. It's not even that he somehow has Theon pay for his 'betrayal' by inhuman suffering and buying-in to the false narrative, thereby regaining sympathies with the readers.

No, where he slips up and shows the Matrix is when he has the spear-wives scorn Theon as a turn-cloak on his way to redemption. Spear-wives. Who laugh at kneelers and birthrights and royalty. Who reject the entire structure which would even somehow pretend Theon did anything wrong. Whose leader literally turned his cloak and is celebrated for it. Somehow they got the memo that the Starks are the heroes and therefore they ought to entirely forget their world-view because this is the guy who is said to have wronged the good guys they hate.

All writers are manipulative in some way or another. But showing the road signs of where they want to lead you...that IMO detracts from the narrative because you see a writer writing. Like an actor acting, or a director directing or a politician sincere-ing, the art is betrayed when you see the artist as an artist instead of taking the ride.

Also I find torture creepy, but that's just me.

Cersei...I find her less hilarious than many. It can be fun, but I miss how formidable she seemed before we saw inside, and I want the story to have formidable foes, not bat-shit crazies like Cersei or cartoons like Ramsay. As much as I will argue that, as written, Cersei only cares about herself, I truly wish that weren't true. I want her to have hidden depths, not revealed shallows.

I'm not gonna talk about the whole Theon thing, that's simply your opinion but I kinda wanna talk about your comment of Ramsay being a "cartoon" I used to think that too but I've found that I'm very wrong about that. there's way more too him that meets the eye. I'm sure there's something about his mom that's important that we don't know yet, I have three different scenarios about what his childhood could have been like. his whole relationship with reek, both the second and the third, goes very deep, I think the first reek was probably one of the most important person in his life (although he'd never admit it because he was a servant) he's got the whole deal with hating the fact that he's a bastard and hunting low born girls to make himself feel more powerfull and resent his status as much as possible. he's a lot smarter then people give him credit for, but unlike roose he's limited by some kind of emotion (anger about his status, desparate for approval and general daddy issues), he's got antisocial personality disorder, sadistic personality disorder and probably either narcissistic or borderline personality disorder (or even both) which cause him to be very impulsive and in general not able to keep himself under control. Ithere's more but I'll stop now, I just wanted to illustrate that he's not as one dimensional as he seems on the surface.

[gvewolf243]

For me, it's Jaime and Theon, but if i need to pick one, i'll probably go with Theon.

Reek, Reek, it rhymes with writing peak.

[Grail King]

Sansa, Theon,Jamie, Cat,and Samwell Tarly.

ETA: if I had to choose just one it be a tie Sansa or Theon.

[Dr. Qyburn]

1.Reek

2.The Prince of Winterfell

3. The Turncloak

and uh... Theon.

[Red Tiger]

I prefer Sansa, I think Theon's better

[Squab]

Sansa

[Kyoshi]

Dany.

I find her struggles realistic most of the time. Catelyn is also well written.

Jon is also very relatable. These would be my Top 3 but since we can only choose one I go with Dany.

[Lutfitasiwi]

Theon

[Forelver]

Almost impossible to pick just one in a series like this but Arya.

[jaimereborn]

Jaime

Then the following order:

Arya

Sansa

Catelyn

Theon

Daenerys

Brienne

Cersei

Tyrion

Jon

Davos

[StarkSlayer LannisterLover]

IMO it's pretty obviously Sansa, but I also know she has no hope of winning this poll. :dunno:

I agree, with jaime coming in as close second

[Steelborn]

Theon Greyjoy.

[Queen.Sansa.Lannister]

Jaime

[Mal Malenkirk]

Jaime

[Damp Hair - The Prophet]

Overall & consistently best written? Theon, by a mile. A gift of a character GRRM has there.

Per book..

AGOT: Eddard

AFFC: Cersie

ADWD: Theon & Victarion (Vic's chapter here & the one from TWOW are some of the most fun & lively writing George has ever done inho)