Who is the luckiest character in ASOIAF?

[El Guapo]

I thought Daario got pretty lucky in ADWD.

 

 

[Britisher]

1 hour ago, Wolf of the Steppes said:

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?

 

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.

If it counts: he also survives the Bloody Flux despite coming into extremely close contact with Nurse and Yezzan zo Qaggaz.

[Wolf of the Steppes]

16 minutes ago, Britisher said:

If it counts: he also survives the Bloody Flux despite coming into extremely close contact with Nurse and Yezzan zo Qaggaz.

Yea, I was going to mention that, probably should have.  It would have made the list a round dozen

[The Princess of Ghosts]

For me it's Ramsay. He has no outstanding qualities except his cruelness if it can be deemed a 'quality'. He is low-born, a bastard, even his own father was about to kill him if he hadn't noticed that the child had his eyes. He got away with killing his legitimate half-brother, sacking Winterfell, marrying and starving Lady Hornwood to death and countless other evil and unlawful acts. Meanwhile he's getting little to no punishment - instead he's legitimized by the Crown and currently Lord of Winterfell, Hornwood and maybe heir to the Dreadfort. I can't wait to see him die

[estermonty python]

1 hour ago, The Princess of Ghosts said:

For me it's Ramsay. He has no outstanding qualities except his cruelness if it can be deemed a 'quality'. He is low-born, a bastard, even his own father was about to kill him if he hadn't noticed that the child had his eyes. He got away with killing his legitimate half-brother, sacking Winterfell, marrying and starving Lady Hornwood to death and countless other evil and unlawful acts. Meanwhile he's getting little to no punishment - instead he's legitimized by the Crown and currently Lord of Winterfell, Hornwood and maybe heir to the Dreadfort. I can't wait to see him die

Yeah I thought of this too.  For me at least, and without getting into specifics because its such a no-no on this board, Show Ramsay is SO much luckier than Book Ramsay that I think maybe Book Ramsay's luck gets downplayed in the minds of those who have consumed both.

[No True Knights]

I don't believe any characters have so called Plot Armour but one character that comes to mind for me who has been pretty lucky to still be alive is Sam.

His crazy father could have decided just to stage that hunting accident.

Chett almost killed him in his sleep if it was not for the wights arriving.

Could have easily been left to freeze to death laying in the snow if he was not found by one of his close friends.

Survived an encounter with an other.

Saved by the Ravens from the wight in the abandoned village.

Only saved from drowning in Braavos by a passing stranger.

It is a miracle he has made it to Oldtown.

 

[One-eyed Misbehavin]

13 hours ago, khal drogon said:

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.

 Trust me I understand the work he put in and the backstory.  Part of my argument is that the woman he had wrapped around his finger just so happen to marry the hand of the king.  Of course he made his own luck.  But if you go back and read Mann there are many many things where he just got completely lucky I didn't even mention  Tyrion not having Bronn kill him for the dagger situation.  I'm not sure who would win in a fight between Bronn and Lother Brune tho

 We just have a difference of opinion of John Arryn  I think he would've realize what little finger was doing and you don't .  That's a big part of my argument so I can't really say anything since obviously you formed your own opinion about the situation. And you may be right he might've been too caught up in politics/covering Roberts ass  and you may be right he might've been too caught up in politics/covering Roberts ass  to even notice little finger "Not keeping the money stored and instead putting it to work"  it's just in my humble opinion Jon would have caught on. 

[Cridefea]

Tyrion is alive not only for his luck but also thanks to his cleverness.

1 hour ago, No True Knights said:

I don't believe any characters have so called Plot Armour but one character that comes to mind for me who has been pretty lucky to still be alive is Sam.

His crazy father could have decided just to stage that hunting accident.

Chett almost killed him in his sleep if it was not for the wights arriving.

Could have easily been left to freeze to death laying in the snow if he was not found by one of his close friends.

Survived an encounter with an other.

Saved by the Ravens from the wight in the abandoned village.

Only saved from drowning in Braavos by a passing stranger.

It is a miracle he has made it to Oldtown.

 

Sam is more at the mercy of events than other characters.

[SerBronnsMullet]

I'd go with Tywin. It takes GRRM completely tipping the scales and everything going wrong for the Starks for him to pull a win from his butt.

Next I'd go with Littlefinger. Most of his moves are dangerous improvisations and there are a few times, like the knife incident, where he easily could have and really should have been caught. 

After that I'd go with Dany. I'm not gonna call hatching the dragons "luck" since that is magic destiny but she gets lucky that Barristan kills the manticore just in time, that she narrowly missed the poison, that Drogon swoops down just in time before the Dothraki come at the end of ADWD (though you can debate if that really is a coincidence), and the Battles of Yunkai and Meereen depend on some luck (though she did come up with good strategies).

If AFFC hadn't come out I'd say Cersei is luckiest but the other shie certainly dropped in that book...

[Ser Scott Malkinson]

4 hours ago, Wolf of the Steppes said:

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?

 

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.

1. Tyrion was only there because he unluckily met Cat at the Inn at the Crossroads.

2. As a sellsword, Bronn would obviously have a lot of experience fighting, and thus likely be good at it. Also, Tyrion made a point of befriending him on the road to the Vale. Therefore, this was due to Tyrion's skills rather than luck.

3. Likewise to Bronn, Tyrion's skills at diplomacy managed to get the Clans on his side.

4. By now he did have expecience fighting from the Eastern Road. Also, he was not exactly rushing into the enemy spearline if I remember correctly, making it less likely for him to get killed. Besides, if we include every character who ever fought in a battle as being exceptionally lucky to have survived, the list would be endless.

5. Once again, surviving battles does not make you exceptionally lucky in a world where most major characters end up in some fight or battle at some point in the story.

6. Wasn't it rather unlucky that Tyrion managed to run into Mandon Moore in the midst of the battle?

7. It wasn't luck, rather the love of his brother and the use Varys saw in him that saved him.

8. He hasn't run into that many people on his journey. And even for those he did run into, how many of them could hope to gain passage to Westeros to even claim that Lordship, if they even knew about it in the first place. 

9. I'll grant you this one partially, since he didn't get greyscale. But JonCon seems like a decent guy who would have saved anyone regardless of his thoughts about the person. Plus, Tyrion would still be of use to fAegon.

10. My memory is a bit hazy on this one, but wasn't Tyrion hiding below deck with Penny? That would make it kinda unlikely for him to be blown overboard.

11. Once again, it seems rather unlucky that Tyrion got to be in this situation to begin with.

BTW, you are missing that he was striving for power against Cersei during all of ACoK, and Cersei, despite fearing Tyrion as her killer-to-be, not acting to see him dead throughout this ordeal (unless you think ser Mandon was tasked by Cersei, which I do not). If you look at it this way, Tyrion was even lucky to survive his childhood. But maybe Cersei just wasn't mad enough yet...

In conclusion, while it may be kinda lucky that Tyrion got to survive all these situations, it was rather unfortunate that he got to be in these situations in the first place. Therefore, he is not by far the luckiest character in the story. Dany is, for not being crisped to death when stupidly walking into a fire and gaining three dragons from it to boot.

[Ser Snowflake]

23 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. 

I meant to include Littlefinger in the OP. I was shocked that the Lords Declarant didn't simply throw him out of the moon door. SR didn't particularly care for him and besides Ser Lother Brune, who would have stopped them? I doubt Ser Corbray would have risked his skin for Littlefinger.  He has done the most dirt of all the characters, and his time will come. I want him to die for betraying The Ned to the Lannisters and for perving on the dead Hand's daughter. 

Varys is another who should be dead. If I was King Robert, killing the eunuch would have been high on my priorities.  How does a foreign spy, despised by almost every major characters, and lacking any allies (little birds not included), survive for five books?

 

Out of all the characters in the series, Varys and Arya are the ones I would bet my own money to make it to the end. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the eunuch is revealed to be The Great Other. There is something unnatural about the spider.

[Nevets]

I'm going to go with Jon.

Only survivor of Halfhand's expedition.

Survives infiltrating and spying on the wildlings.

Avoids having to kill the old man by the timely arrival of Summer.

Avoids killing Mance, and being killed himself, by the timely arrival of Stannis.

Elected LC as a last-minute compromise to keep Slynt out.

His survival of the assassination attempt by Marsh, et al is considered to be a certainty by readers.

He is essentially unkillable (at least for the time being).  Although once his parentage is revealed, that could change.

 

Tyrion and Daenerys are pretty lucky, too, but others have mentioned them.  

[Drogonthedread]

5 hours ago, SerBronnsMullet said:

I'd go with Tywin. It takes GRRM completely tipping the scales and everything going wrong for the Starks for him to pull a win from his butt.

Next I'd go with Littlefinger. Most of his moves are dangerous improvisations and there are a few times, like the knife incident, where he easily could have and really should have been caught. 

After that I'd go with Dany. I'm not gonna call hatching the dragons "luck" since that is magic destiny but she gets lucky that Barristan kills the manticore just in time, that she narrowly missed the poison, that Drogon swoops down just in time before the Dothraki come at the end of ADWD (though you can debate if that really is a coincidence), and the Battles of Yunkai and Meereen depend on some luck (though she did come up with good strategies).

If AFFC hadn't come out I'd say Cersei is luckiest but the other shie certainly dropped in that book...

She calls drogon and rides him to where dothraki is ...she is going towards dothraki not the other way around

[Sullen]

As far as the main characters go, no one beats Tyrion and Arya.

Jon and Dany are not too far behind, but they're not quite at that level just yet.

Out of all the secondary characters, I'd have to say Littlefinger.

[khal drogon]

6 hours ago, One-eyed Misbehavin said:

 Trust me I understand the work he put in and the backstory.  Part of my argument is that the woman he had wrapped around his finger just so happen to marry the hand of the king.  Of course he made his own luck.  But if you go back and read Mann there are many many things where he just got completely lucky I didn't even mention  Tyrion not having Bronn kill him for the dagger situation.  I'm not sure who would win in a fight between Bronn and Lother Brune tho

 We just have a difference of opinion of John Arryn  I think he would've realize what little finger was doing and you don't .  That's a big part of my argument so I can't really say anything since obviously you formed your own opinion about the situation. And you may be right he might've been too caught up in politics/covering Roberts ass  and you may be right he might've been too caught up in politics/covering Roberts ass  to even notice little finger "Not keeping the money stored and instead putting it to work"  it's just in my humble opinion Jon would have caught on. 

Yeah Lysa marrying the hand of the King seems lucky from hindsight. But that only did little help for his rise. Do you think Jon Arryn gave him that position just because of Lysa? Knowing Petyr he would make the best out of most of the circumstances and for a person as power hungry as him he would have found a way. Besides he already knew Hoster would marry Lysa to one of the powerful families. That means him getting close to the power centre is almost certain. Even after that being Jon Arryn he had to use his skills to rise. I believe he would have rose to power even if Lysa married Jaime.

Yes the Tyrion incident is odd and it certainly counts being lucky.

Yeah my opinion of Jon Arryn is not that good. But the truth is he never found out and that could mean he was too impressed with LF to doubt him. That's all assumption because we know too little of Jon Arryn to judge his character.

[khal drogon]

4 hours ago, The Pimp that was Promised said:

I meant to include Littlefinger in the OP. I was shocked that the Lords Declarant didn't simply throw him out of the moon door. SR didn't particularly care for him and besides Ser Lother Brune, who would have stopped them? I doubt Ser Corbray would have risked his skin for Littlefinger.  He has done the most dirt of all the characters, and his time will come. I want him to die for betraying The Ned to the Lannisters and for perving on the dead Hand's daughter. 

Do you realise we know more about LF than anyone in the books. We know LF is behind a lot of events but the book characters hardly have any idea. No one in the books have such a negative perception of him as the readers do. The Vale lords are more worried about the position he came from than what he is doing. So we may find him lucky or others in the book stupid but the fact is not anyone has any idea remotely close to know what he is doing except maybe Sansa.

[No True Knights]

Not sure you can call either Varys or Littlefinger lucky, they both surivive because they are more cunning then everyone else, as I always say they are the only two characters truly playing the game of thrones, everyone else is just a pawn.

[Runaway Penguin]

I think we have it on a good authority that Watt of Long Lake is very lucky indeed.

[Kaibaman]

In my opinion Robb was a pretty lucky dude at the start. When he marched south to rescue Ned he was able to cross Walder Frey's bridge for a small price, this then allowed him to take the Lannisters by surprise and defeat them at Riverrun cause they didn't suspect the Freys would ally with him and scored him Jaime who was a important hostage. Then thanks to his magical direwolf he was able to slip into the Westerlands undetected and allowed him pay them back in kind. Things only began going down hill when he kept pushing his luck. Sending Theon to Pyke (dumb decision), marrying Jeyne and breaking his pack with the Freys (super moronic), not to mention Cat releasing Jaime although that we cannot blame him for.

[Woman of War]

Call no one lucky until they die 

paraphrasing Tom Waits