Your favorite characters and what that means

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My favorites are Jaime, Sandor and Ned Stark.

 

Jaime and Sandor are my favorite for two reasons: they are complicated human beings who are not obvious chosen ones; and two they represent the ideal of bad people doing good things and the capacity for doing what's right and change in all of us no matter how demented or far gone we might be.

And Ned Stark because on the flip side he represents the ideal most people aspire to be - dutiful, honorable and righteous to a fault sometimes. He's a great subversion and a genuinely compelling character because of it.

[Neddy's Girl]

11 hours ago, Banner Without Brothers said:

Brienne is my favourite but I have no idea what that says about me. I just find her chapters the most exciting and respect her hard work and dogged determination.

Also one of mine.  She's an outsider who struggles to conform to the stereotypes of either gender - I really get this (although it's nowhere near as stark for me as it is for Brienne).  She really seems to lack confidence in herself and underestimate her abilities, but this doesn't stop her trying to do the right thing.

[Neddy's Girl]

1 hour ago, Apoplexy said:

Jaime: He is fascinating to read once you get his POV. He is sharp and witty, which makes his chapters fun to read. Maybe I like reading about grey characters, most people in real life are some shade of grey.

Brienne: Her chapters are really interesting to read. An ethical person trying to survive in a world where ethics don't mean much.

Catelyn: Loyal to her family, trying to survive in a world that doesn't comport with her sense of honor and justice. I loved reading her chapters.

Ned: Quite alike Catelyn in some respects. His internal conflicts were really interesting to read.

Yup.  All these plus Arya are my top 5.  You have good taste!

[Apoplexy]

6 hours ago, Neddy's Girl said:

Yup.  All these plus Arya are my top 5.  You have good taste!

Thanks. Cheers!

[Damsel in Distress]

On 10/5/2017 at 8:12 AM, Bowen 747 said:

 

1. Dany - I enjoy reading her POVs the most.  She's the star of the story.  The mother of dragons, the breaker of chains, Stormborn, the Unburnt, Queen of the Andals, the First Men, and the Rhoynar, Khaleesi of the great grass sea. 
2. Theon - I used to not like Theon, but after thinking he was in all but name a captive of the Starks. I now see why he did what he did to the Starks. 
3. Jorah - The finest example of a gray character.  Capable of slaving but just as capable of helping to free slaves.  Redeemed himself when he chose to serve Dany.
4. Doran - Patient and careful.  Perhaps too careful.  I like him because he's the most anti Lannister person in the plot. 
5. Bowen - Because he stuck 'im with the pointy end.  Loyal man of the watch for most of his life.  Forced into a difficult situation by his erratic commander. 

1.  Daenerys.  She's my favorite character and the one whose chapters got me to continue reading AGOT.  I hated AFFC because she was not in that book.  I just love her story.

2.  Theon.  He's the gollum of aSoIaF.  He will play an important role in the end.  Maybe he will die and take out Bran when he does.

3.  Jorah.  Solid backstory.  I agree about his arc of redemption.  His love drove him to sell poachers to slavery and now his love is driving him to help end slavery.

4.  The rogue prince.  He's the rock star of Westeros.

[One-eyed Misbehavin]

9 hours ago, Damsel in Distress said:

1.  Daenerys.  She's my favorite character and the one whose chapters got me to continue reading AGOT.  I hated AFFC because she was not in that book.  I just love her story.

2.  Theon.  He's the gollum of aSoIaF.  He will play an important role in the end.  Maybe he will die and take out Bran when he does.

3.  Jorah.  Solid backstory.  I agree about his arc of redemption.  His love drove him to sell poachers to slavery and now his love is driving him to help end slavery.

4.  The rogue prince.  He's the rock star of Westeros.

Thank you. Has any westori star ever rocked harder?

Where he "left" Dark Sister is the coolest thing of all time. 

I'll add yet another Dark Sister wielder Aemon the Dragonknight. What he did for Baelor I've always thought family > King and well the whole him being the total opposite of his Royal older brother who is regarded as the worst of Targ Kings.

I can always get behind someone who truly cares about their family and friends ahead of others..... 

[Curled Finger]

I'll curl up on your couch, but I warn you my favorites change all the time.   Currently Jamie Lannister and Uncle Blackfish have me thinking about the end of the year and my ban on rereads.   These 2 are in so much trouble and I honestly look forward to them out thinking their opponents.  Is it possible not to dig these 2?    Lady Brienne and Gilly are both interesting female characters busting out of stereotype.  Looking forward to more of their steadfast loyalty and determined survival.   Sam!   I want to read what he reads and thinks of all of it.   Bloodraven now and then--just awesome.   Davos and his wonderfully insightful good intentions.   Roose Bolton and his unfathomable plans.   Stannis finally winning something.  The mystery and magic that is surely Euron Greyjoy.   Sweet little Bran and his lessons.   That's not to misstep any of the main characters, but these are the characters that move me or I just lust for in the Winds to come.   

[Endymion I Targaryen]

• Daenerys Targaryen. A strong woman who has nothing at the start of the story but managed to gain an army, gold and 3 dragons.
• Robb Stark. His treat of Jeyne Westerling was very honorable.He could do what Theon did with the captain's daughter.

 

[Ghost+Nymeria4Eva]

On 10/5/2017 at 5:13 AM, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Love this thread! 

My absolute favorite is Arya Stark:

I was a small girl with a big heart. Not heart as in kindness but as in toughness. She is smart & resourceful. She is bad ass in a way only a little girl in a fantasy novel can be. She is a survivor.

Mine too! Arya is my all time fav POV character in the books! I can't even explain why. I got so absorbed in her POV in AFFC and I didn't even care that some other main POVs were absent (also DwD had come out when I started reading). I like that fact that she's a survivor like you mentioned. She's also really smart (in GoT, when they are on the way to King's Landing, Arya can enumerate the flowers they have seen). And she doesn't let anyone walk all over her either (beating up Hot Pie in ACoK). She also carries this anger and hatred inside, but doesn't curl up in the corner and cry about it. She has the only POV that's in all 5 books, so I suspect she's more important than we realize. 

I have Dany as my second favorite. Though she did really frustrate me in DwD (chaining up the dragons, ugh Daario), she has one of the most unique POVs in the books. She overcomes impossible situations, and is also a survivor, kind of like Arya. I mean, she's a young girl in a world that's really dangerous to young girls, but she ends up being the dragon queen. She also shows the ability to rise above prejudice that everyone else holds. Above all, she can empathize, a characteristic most other characters in the story lack. 

After that, I go with the direwolves and the dragons. 

[Ser Snowflake]

Quentyn Martell-- As a middle child and second son, I identify with Prince Quentyn the most. Most people consider him stupid because of how he went out, but I call it bravery. He was sent across the narrow sea by his father to wed the mother of dragons. Despite the fact that members of his fellowship died en route, and that Dany had already agreed to marry Hizadahr, Quentyn does not take any setbacks for defeat. Instead he contrives the bravest act of the series IMO, and tries to become a dragon rider to woo the Dragon Queen. 

The easy choice would have been to tuck his tail between his legs and crawl back to Dorne to face his father's shame and his sister's scorn. Heroes seldom make the easy choice, and I very much consider Quentyn a hero of sorts and I hope that the crackpot theory is correct and he survived his encounter with Rhaegal. If he surives, Quentyn would be the strongest contender to be TPTWP. My fingers are crossed.

Jon Snow-- I never understood the hatred and scorn seems to get on this board. Of all of the characters, Jon behaves the most like me. I am honorable to a fault and take all oaths serious. Jon is one of the most empathetic characters in ASOIAF. How many people would have risked their lives and position to rescue some wildlings? Not many. 

Sandor Clegane-- He is one of the best written characters in the whole series. On the outside, he is fierce and so angry. The only emotions he shows is anger and contempt for the whole system (religion, politics, social norms). This is just a mask to disguise his fear of fire and his brother and his wanting to be accepted by society. He hates Sansa just as much as he loves her, and his scene with Sansa, after he fled the battle of Blackwater Bay is one of my favorites in the series.

Arya-- How could anyone not root for Arya? Her story could be an allegory for childhood in general. Arya is helpless to a lot of the things that is happening to her. She stood by helpless as her sister's wolf was butchered to appease a madwoman and her equally mad, incest son. Arya watched helplessly as her father lost his head in a similar fashion. She was helpless on the road and in Harrenhal as people around her died.

That's how I felt as a child. I grew up poor and shared my family's anxiety about finances. I remember my parents not being able to pay the electric bill and the lights going out and how my mother cried. I shared her grief, and felt like there wasn't anything I could do to change our financial situation. I truly hope that Arya makes it to the end of the series.

[Alora]

Hello! I've been coming to this board for about a year but this is my first post

1. Jon Snow - I've really liked Jon since mid-way through the first book. I was drawn in by Dany but quickly, I really liked both Jon and Dany. He's not perfect and acted a bit spoiled pre-Donal Noye but I love that he's morally good and trying to do the morally right thing. He represents a bright spot of hope for me in this series and I like rooting for somebody who is good and represents values I admire such as inclusion and protection. He has bitterness and sour moods but he also recognizes he has a good family and a privileged upbringing most people in this world don't get. I also like how he's pretty reserved on the outside but is caring and able to learn from his experiences, and correct some of his own misconceptions to readjust his views based on advice and experience (wildlings). He seems to be among the more progressive characters in this series' world. I also love how, despite becoming more world-weary and cynical, he doesn't lose his good heart, his compassion, his desire to protect the whole realm wildlings included, and never loses his love for family and friends.

2. Ned Stark - I like him, especially in scenes with his kids. He appears to use tough love when necessary and though he is perceived as reserved and distant by those who don't know him, he clearly loves all of his kids (including Jon, regardless of R+L=J), his wife, and the rest of his family. Ned was the first parent I've seen in a medieval-era series that acted like a recognizable parent to me: his love for his kids is obvious and he's not afraid to parent them himself (he spends so much time with them: he gets involved in Sansa and Arya's squabbles, teaches Robb and Jon himself, plans to teach Bran and Rickon, and knows them as people, not pawns). I like that Ned is truly trying to do the morally right thing, even at the expense of his own honour (hiding Jon, wording Robert's will, giving Cersei the chance to escape with her children) and I don't know if there is a better dad in this series

3. Daenerys Targaryen - As with Jon and Ned, I liked Dany from the first book. I identified with her initial characterization of a scared girl thrust into impossible and overwhelming situations where she must adapt. She does go to extremes but I've always loved how she really does try to do the right thing, her compassion, and good heart, and wants to make the world a better place for the oppressed. Dany and Jon are the characters who drew me into the series and kept me reading

4. Sansa Stark - I have a soft spot for Sansa because I think I identify the most with her. She does have a good and gentle heart, she is compassionate, but at the same time, she was the mean sister with Arya - I was the mean sister myself admittedly, and I feel horrible about it. Much like Sansa and Arya, me and my sister were always forced together and we clashed. I feel more for Arya in that situation but I identify with Sansa. Sansa's not out to save the world like Dany and Jon, or riding into battles to be a hero, she's just trying to survive in this horrible world the best she can and get back to a familiar place, her home, and be reunited with whatever family she has left. She never got along with Arya, and she wasn't so close with Jon, but she loved them and they love her, which I think is a pretty realistic way of portraying various sibling relationships, especially in large families. Not all siblings are close, and not all siblings get along. I am very close to one sister, constantly argue with another, and my third sister... well.. she's okay That Sansa yearns to reunite with Jon, Arya, and whatever else family she has left is exactly how I'd feel if I were in Westeros and I hope she gets to. 

[The Sunland Lord]

Robb Stark. He is a symbol of what not 15-years old kids should be put through.

Surprisingly, managed to save his brother's life (along with Theon), become a lord by right, but crowned by the lords he ruled over. He didn't proclaim himself a king for the sake of it, unlike Renly or Balon for example.

He forgives his mother for releasing the kingslayer. He praises Edmure publicly for actually commiting an empty, out of command act of bravery. And he confessed he made a mess of everything but the battles. You see this kid coming back home high on some bad drugs and admitting it caused him trouble. 

Unlike Daenerys, he didn't have dragons. This is his problem. He had to fight an actual war with only people as factors (yes I'm aware he is a warg and has Grey Wind). Against Tywin Lannister and Balon Greyjoy, but unfortunately, had no clue about how big of treasonous cunts Theon and Roose actually are. 

He treats Jon like a true brother. 

He is, in my eyes, a Jon without plot armor and a lot more difficult tasks to do. I guess GRRM wanted two of the same kind so that at least one of them can survive, even through resurrection.

I hope Jon survives.

 

 

 

[Wild Bill]

3 hours ago, Alora said:

Hello! I've been coming to this board for about a year but this is my first post

...

Hello, and I'm a newcomer as well.

To your particulars, it doesn't really matter much, the long-timers have seen every possible subject, over and over and over again. So newbies, like ourselves, need to find some angle to express something original - or alternatively to bring up old subjects with some kind of twist...

To your post, I've come to be fond of Sansa. Initial reading made me feel that she was a silly dreamer, but subsequent reading have shown a depth of her character and her development...

[Danelle]

I have many favourite characters but the top three are:

 

• Jaime: At first I loathed, even Cersei seemed nicer than him and in book 3 bam! He becomes a POV character and he is revealed to be a complex personality trapped in a fake world, member of the most controversial family, member of the most controversial KG and he has the rare privilege of being the only Lannister who truly loves his family and they love him back. The fact that he is trying to find a balance between his vows and his duty, make him an utterly fascinating character. He is also the embodiment of the Byronic hero, described by Albert Camus:“The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action.”
• Sansa: If the Starks are the family that is so easy to love, then Sansa is the Stark that is easy to hate. Often I read comments claiming that she is insipid or arrogant, but I disagree. Sansa is by far my favourite Stark. In GOT we only get a glimpse of what is about to happen, a girl who is gradually falling to a tragic situation. She is unaware of it of course, just like she is unaware how horrible the Lannisters are. What makes her so intriguing is that in most of her chapters she pretends to be timid, docile whereas in reality she is thinking the exact opposite of what she is saying. Plus it is refreshing to see a battle from the point of view of a woman, who cannot fight but is forced to sit back and wait, while hoping for the best.
• Theon: First he was prince of the Iron Islands, then he became Stark's ward, then Prince of Winterfell, then Reek. If his COK chapters are testimony to the frivolity of youth then his DWD chapters are chilling to read. A handsome, carefree boy who is desperate for his father's approval and is willing to do anything to get it and by anything I mean disobeying orders and capturing his bff's castle and releasing the most vile and cunning person in the 7 kingdoms. He paid the price for his actions and it remains to be seen whether he will ever regain his sanity.

 

I guess what those 3 have in common is extraordinary beauty and a tendency to trust/fall in love with the wrong people.

[Wild Bill]

8 hours ago, Danelle said:

I have many favourite characters but the top three are:

 

• Jaime: At first I loathed, even Cersei seemed nicer than him and in book 3 bam! He becomes a POV character and he is revealed to be a complex personality trapped in a fake world, member of the most controversial family, member of the most controversial KG and he has the rare privilege of being the only Lannister who truly loves his family and they love him back. The fact that he is trying to find a balance between his vows and his duty, make him an utterly fascinating character. He is also the embodiment of the Byronic hero, described by Albert Camus:“The Byronic hero, incapable of love, or capable only of an impossible love, suffers endlessly. He is solitary, languid, his condition exhausts him. If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action.”
• Sansa: If the Starks are the family that is so easy to love, then Sansa is the Stark that is easy to hate. Often I read comments claiming that she is insipid or arrogant, but I disagree. Sansa is by far my favourite Stark. In GOT we only get a glimpse of what is about to happen, a girl who is gradually falling to a tragic situation. She is unaware of it of course, just like she is unaware how horrible the Lannisters are. What makes her so intriguing is that in most of her chapters she pretends to be timid, docile whereas in reality she is thinking the exact opposite of what she is saying. Plus it is refreshing to see a battle from the point of view of a woman, who cannot fight but is forced to sit back and wait, while hoping for the best.
• Theon: First he was prince of the Iron Islands, then he became Stark's ward, then Prince of Winterfell, then Reek. If his COK chapters are testimony to the frivolity of youth then his DWD chapters are chilling to read. A handsome, carefree boy who is desperate for his father's approval and is willing to do anything to get it and by anything I mean disobeying orders and capturing his bff's castle and releasing the most vile and cunning person in the 7 kingdoms. He paid the price for his actions and it remains to be seen whether he will ever regain his sanity.

 

I guess what those 3 have in common is extraordinary beauty and a tendency to trust/fall in love with the wrong people.

Nice.

I've read the books a number of times. Jaimie's redemption is easy to see and absorb. Sansa and Theon take some work, but it is worth it to appreciate them.

Bran, then, is a bit difficult. He is an adolescent called to some cosmic insight, while having an injury that precludes a normal childhood. (not to mention Theon and such). Not to say that Bran is a potential favorite, but to contrast with other characters where the path to appreciation is relatively easy...