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Who is the luckiest character in ASOIAF?


Ser Snowflake

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I've noticed some people on this board complain that some of the characters owe their survival to "plot armor", and that it takes away from the story when some survive unlikely circumstances.  What I love about GRRM's masterpiece is how the story is more realistic than most of the fantasy I've read, and how any character can die at any time. No one is safe.

However I disagree that some of the characters owe there survival to plot armor. Hundreds of thousand Jews survived the Holocaust, and lived full lives despite having lived through hell on earth. I keep thinking about the Polish pianist, Szpilman who survived the Holocaust in Warsaw (the worst place to be during WW2 IMO). He and other Holocaust survivors attributed luck more than anything for the reason they survived while millions perished.

From the beginning AGOT to ADOD, who is the most luckiest character to be alive despite there circumstance. For some of the older characters, you can go back to the events before AGOT.

 

 

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I'd have to say Tyrion. He survived the getting to the Vale, the Vale, leaving the Vale, and a battle where he was placed on the front lines as malformed dwarf and that's just in the first book. He also goes through the black water and the Joffrey trial, doesn't get greyscale & will probably survive the battle of meereen. So I definitely go with him not only because he survives but also bc he is at a real disadvantage because of his size.

i actually do consider it plot armor. I just don't have a problem with it as others do. Important/main characters have to go through conflicts for a story to be interesting but they also have to survive for there to be ya know a story. So I never understand why people take such issue with it. I agree there is a line where it becomes too much but I don't think asoiaf characters have truly reached that point

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Tyrion-- The Imp have defied death in every book he's appeared. Perhaps a dwarfs cock does have magical qualities. Somehow this dwarf survived The Battle of the Green Fork despite being placed in the vanguard and having no military experience.  He survived Blackwater in even worse circumstances by personally leading a sortie against the foe at the gate armed with a battle axe, and somehow was able to cheat death at the hands of a Kingsguard knight. He survived two trials by combat, sweet robin, and greyscale.  There is no other character who has been as lucky, and if he survives the entire series, I will be very surprised.

Arya-- She was forced to part from her dire wolf very early in AGOT, and out of all the  surviving Starks, she has been the luckiest. She has been on her own for most of the series, and in the company of westeros biggest monsters. I breathed a sigh of relief when she escaped to Braavos, only to realize that she joined a death cult. For someone so young, her story is so tragic. And if the rumor.that she is GRRM's wife's favorite character is true. She may be the only person with plot armor.

Ser Barristan-- Ser Barry survived the campaign against the Kingswood Outlaws, The War of the Ninepenny Kings, and Robert's Rebellion. To top it off, he rescued The Mad King from the Darklyns all by himself. He is probably the most BAMF left in the series. And if the show is a precursor of events to come in the book, I doubt that he survives his next battle.

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Daenerys is also very lucky: she survived the "usurpers hired knives"; she survived being burned alive and birthed three dragons from stone; she survived crossing the Red Waste; she survived the House of Undying; she was not afflicted with the Pale Mare despite coming into close contact with a number of its victims; she has managed to avoid the consequences of her many terrible actions mostly by chance (eg. turning the Meereen elite against her by murdering 138 Great Masters - saved by her dragon); her besiegers are effectively beaten by the Pale Mare and her city (or should I say the city she is trying to turn into a ruin) will probably be saved by Victarion's Ironborn fleet. Also I suspect that the enemy (Volantis) fleet heading to Meereen will be ravaged by the storms in Slaver's Bay.  

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I really don't feel like Dany  is at all vulnerable or in any kind of real danger. I know she faces many political pressures in Mereen, but  it doesn't feel like it has real consequence since she is not from there and her ambitions don't end there. The stakes just don't seem very high for her. 

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1 hour ago, The Pimp that was Promised said:

Tyrion-- The Imp have defied death in every book he's appeared. Perhaps a dwarfs cock does have magical qualities. Somehow this dwarf survived The Battle of the Green Fork despite being placed in the vanguard and having no military experience.  He survived Blackwater in even worse circumstances by personally leading a sortie against the foe at the gate armed with a battle axe, and somehow was able to cheat death at the hands of a Kingsguard knight. He survived two trials by combat, sweet robin, and greyscale.  There is no other character who has been as lucky, and if he survives the entire series, I will be very surprised.

Arya-- She was forced to part from her dire wolf very early in AGOT, and out of all the  surviving Starks, she has been the luckiest. She has been on her own for most of the series, and in the company of westeros biggest monsters. I breathed a sigh of relief when she escaped to Braavos, only to realize that she joined a death cult. For someone so young, her story is so tragic. And if the rumor.that she is GRRM's wife's favorite character is true. She may be the only person with plot armor.

Ser Barristan-- Ser Barry survived the campaign against the Kingswood Outlaws, The War of the Ninepenny Kings, and Robert's Rebellion. To top it off, he rescued The Mad King from the Darklyns all by himself. He is probably the most BAMF left in the series. And if the show is a precursor of events to come in the book, I doubt that he survives his next battle.

:-) I laughed out loud at that. Made my day honestly 

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1 hour ago, Ashes Of Westeros said:

Definitely, Beric Dondarrion - the guy was 6 times lucky to have Thoros around as he died.

Daenerys - She walked in the fire, was about to be poisoned several times etc.

It woulda took me awhile to think of that. Very nice but his description to Arya definitely doesn't sound lucky lol but that is very convenient for thoros to be there every time.

But then again if you don't follow the guy who's died and came back to life multiple times, then following the guy who brought him back from the dead wouldn't be a bad alternative 

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I'm actually gonna go with LF. I understand (especially while he had the position) that the autonomy he had over the crown's money is unrealistic. But the fact that he had a noble of Lysa's status who just so happened to marry the super elderly hand of the King and get a somewhat free position on the small council. Not to mention he gained control of the vale after pushing his wife whom he gained said control of weeks or months after getting married!!! 

But the biggest problem I've always had is..... If Jon Arryn was so involved with the crown on a daily basis while Robert was drinking and whoring then HE WOULD HAVE CAUGHT PEYTR MADOFF BERNIE BAELISH LF I have no doubt in my mind about that. Honestly Madoff doesn't even begin to compare LF is ready for winter to say the least. 

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Tyrion and probably Arya.

8 hours ago, Britisher said:

Daenerys is also very lucky: she survived the "usurpers hired knives"; she survived being burned alive and birthed three dragons from stone; she survived crossing the Red Waste; she survived the House of Undying; she was not afflicted with the Pale Mare despite coming into close contact with a number of its victims; she has managed to avoid the consequences of her many terrible actions mostly by chance (eg. turning the Meereen elite against her by murdering 138 Great Masters - saved by her dragon); her besiegers are effectively beaten by the Pale Mare and her city (or should I say the city she is trying to turn into a ruin) will probably be saved by Victarion's Ironborn fleet. Also I suspect that the enemy (Volantis) fleet heading to Meereen will be ravaged by the storms in Slaver's Bay.  

Disagree that most of them are called 'luck'. Luck should be getting saved by something not properly explained or something unlikely. Eg. Tyrion not getting Greyscale. Dany's cases are well explained. Her surviving the pyre is a miracle as Martin calls it. An important defining moment of the whole series. Either it happens and ASOIAF happens or both don't happen. Can't really call that as 'lucky'. Again in other cases 'Dragons' are involved. Of course they would save her like the direwolves saved Stark kids. Also Targaryen disease immunity is established which could explain her not afflicted by Pale mare. And then again not everyone in the Astapori camps had Pale mare even when they share the same surroundings with the diseased. Dany spends lesser time there than them so not really a surprise there. Some suspect she caught pale mare resulting in what happened in the Dothraki Sea. So it's out there. So hardly anything to be attributed to 'luck'.

There are lots of discussions about the consequences of her actions. Don't be ignorant. 

Her besiegers are catapulting corpses into the city. They have reinforcements arriving. Victarion with hardly a hundred longships is not a savior of anybody. And Volantene fleet operated by slaves will turn to her as a consequence of her action.

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7 hours ago, One-eyed Misbehavin said:

I'm actually gonna go with LF. I understand (especially while he had the position) that the autonomy he had over the crown's money is unrealistic. But the fact that he had a noble of Lysa's status who just so happened to marry the super elderly hand of the King and get a somewhat free position on the small council. Not to mention he gained control of the vale after pushing his wife whom he gained said control of weeks or months after getting married!!! 

But the biggest problem I've always had is..... If Jon Arryn was so involved with the crown on a daily basis while Robert was drinking and whoring then HE WOULD HAVE CAUGHT PEYTR MADOFF BERNIE BAELISH LF I have no doubt in my mind about that. Honestly Madoff doesn't even begin to compare LF is ready for winter to say the least. 

He worked a lot to get the power he has. Lysa could be explained by his backstory. He controls the lord of the Vale and still he has to bribe and play games to control the Vale.

For the other thing, Jon Arryn was dumb  enough to not see Petyr was replacing relevant positions with loyal men. He is a smart politician. Him getting that level of control is not surprising.

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7 hours ago, One-eyed Misbehavin said:

It woulda took me awhile to think of that. Very nice but his description to Arya definitely doesn't sound lucky lol but that is very convenient for thoros to be there every time.

But then again if you don't follow the guy who's died and came back to life multiple times, then following the guy who brought him back from the dead wouldn't be a bad alternative 

Well, he isn't happy, if you mean this. But we talk about surviving, so he's lucky to keep on going. But I can't think  of any character in ASOIAF who could be considered lucky in sense of being happy with their life situation.

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1 hour ago, khal drogon said:

Tyrion and probably Arya.

Disagree that most of them are called 'luck'. Luck should be getting saved by something not properly explained or something unlikely. Eg. Tyrion not getting Greyscale. Dany's cases are well explained. Her surviving the pyre is a miracle as Martin calls it. An important defining moment of the whole series. Either it happens and ASOIAF happens or both don't happen. Can't really call that as 'lucky'. Again in other cases 'Dragons' are involved. Of course they would save her like the direwolves saved Stark kids. Also Targaryen disease immunity is established which could explain her not afflicted by Pale mare. And then again not everyone in the Astapori camps had Pale mare even when they share the same surroundings with the diseased. Dany spends lesser time there than them so not really a surprise there. Some suspect she caught pale mare resulting in what happened in the Dothraki Sea. So it's out there. So hardly anything to be attributed to 'luck'.

There are lots of discussions about the consequences of her actions. Don't be ignorant. 

Her besiegers are catapulting corpses into the city. They have reinforcements arriving. Victarion with hardly a hundred longships is not a savior of anybody. And Volantene fleet operated by slaves will turn to her as a consequence of her action.

Targaryen disease immunity is the same as Targaryen fire immunity. Her last chapter clearly shows us she is sick and I wonder what caused deaths of Daeron II, Valarr and Matarys.

But still it is funny how slavers are most affected by disease.

I would like to add that Tyrion was incredibly lucky when Hizhdar told Daenerys they will release lions.

I also consider Arya very lucky.

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It all depends on how you define luck. My first thought was of course Tyrion... As someone earlier pointed out, he has come close to death in every book, the luckiness of those lions getting mentioned to Dany ahead of time so she could stop the lions was a good example. 

Also, knowing his how his father thinks, I find it incredibly lucky (or unlikely) that Tywin didn't throw him into the sea as a baby.

But does all of that good luck balance the scales of the terribly bad luck he had to be born a dwarf (and kill his mother in the process) in the first place? 

Another lucky character that comes to mind is Sam. He was lucky to show up to the NW when Jon Snow was there to help him, he was easily the worst ranger yet he outlived many of his brothers that went north of the wall with him, he's possibly the weakest grown man in the series w/out gout, yet he killed a WW. 

Hell, almost anybody still alive has been pretty lucky! Haha! 

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6 hours ago, dariopatke said:

Targaryen disease immunity is the same as Targaryen fire immunity. Her last chapter clearly shows us she is sick and I wonder what caused deaths of Daeron II, Valarr and Matarys.

But still it is funny how slavers are most affected by disease.

I would like to add that Tyrion was incredibly lucky when Hizhdar told Daenerys they will release lions.

I also consider Arya very lucky.

No Targaryen fire immunity is purely speculative and untrue while the idea of Targaryens having resistance against disease to some extent is established as Daenerys says she was hardly sick. Maybe it's Daenerys who has better immunity. Anyway that explains my point.

Not only Slavers. It's the Astapori refugees that brought the disease and are the ones mostly affected. And it seems the disease is water-borne and that explains why the besieging army got afflicted as they have to use the waters of Skahazadhan. It was a mistake on their part. Or is that really a wonder that the besieging slavers got the disease? I think that part was well explained and the Slavers even started using the disease to their advantage.

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IMO, its unequivocally Tyrion.  Not even close.

1.) Survives the journey to the Eyrie with Catelyn and others

2.) Survives trial by battle--just so happens that the only possible person to stand for him (Bronn) is also a deadly fighter.

3.) Survives the Vale Clans--makes them his own

4.) Survives the Battle of the Green Fork as @The Pimp that was Promised said, "despite being placed in the vanguard and having no military experience."

5.) Survives the Battle of the Black Water and the bridge of ships.

6.) Survives a hit by a Kingsguard knight.

7.) Survives being convicted of regicide.

8.) Despite having a Lordship on his head, he hasn't ran into any of the wrong people

9.) Survives the Bridge of Dream, being saved by JonCon who despises him.

10.) Survives the storm that takes the lives of many of the people aboard the "Stinky Steward", The Selaesori Qhoran.

11.) The lions are not loosed on him and Penny in Daznak's Pit

Am I missing any?

 

19 hours ago, The Pimp that was Promised said:

 

I've noticed some people on this board complain that some of the characters owe their survival to "plot armor", and that it takes away from the story when some survive unlikely circumstances.  What I love about GRRM's masterpiece is how the story is more realistic than most of the fantasy I've read, and how any character can die at any time. No one is safe.

 

I agree with this and I really dislike the "plot armor" thing being thrown around constantly.  Let's face it, we all thought that Ned Stark had plot armor when this thing began.  Most of us thought Robb had it too before aSoS.

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