Which character do you understand on a personal level?

[Eternally_Theirs]

I noticed that the empathy thread was closed, and I wanted to give an answer of my own.

My answers are Shireen Baratheon and Androw Farman. Something in my heart resonates deeply with their problems, and I feel like that could be me in their shoes on a constant basis.

To those who didn't have a chance to answer that thread before it got locked, feel free to do so here, provided that it doesn't get locked again.

[TheLastWolf]

Tyrion

I'm the ugly duckling yet to become a swan. I'm surrounded by people about as intelligent as the Kettleblacks, with only books for company. Wine for him is music for me (i just turned legal so substituite), women to him is cinema for me. The Truffaut quote. I'm a freak too like the Imp, he a dwarf while I a head taller than anyone else and growing. But the average height here is low, I wouldn't be out of place among the Dutch. Also I'm morally grey/gray 

[The Commentator]

Aliser is genuine. He fought for his king and should have been handsomely rewarded for it. He deserved a lot better out of life. 

[C.T. Phipps]

Samwell.

I hate that I understand Samwell so well.

[SeanF]

Quentyn.  He’s me at the age of 18.

[TheLastWolf]

5 hours ago, SeanF said:

Quentyn.  He’s me at the age of 18.

Then you have matured a lot since, my friend 

[SeanF]

Thanks.  Although, at the age of 55, I ought to have matured!

[TheLastWolf]

1 hour ago, SeanF said:

Thanks.  Although, at the age of 55, I ought to have matured!

Ooops, I pegged you for a 30ish gent, never mind. Quentyn was an asshole, albeit one I and am sure a lot could empathize with. No offie btw. I'm 18 and a different breed of asshole (on the wane), but asshole none/never?theless.

[Elizaveta]

Brienne. I enjoy reading her POVs and seeing her, and ugly unfeminine warrior woman describe how the world interacts with her. While we don't have a lot in common, I relate to her feelings about herself.

[Corvo the Crow]

Jon and Stannis, poor poor me.

[Craving Peaches]

Daenerys, in a specific way. And Jon.

[Bowen 747]

On 7/19/2022 at 12:15 PM, The Commentator said:

Aliser is genuine. He fought for his king and should have been handsomely rewarded for it. He deserved a lot better out of life. 

I just hope the future Targaryen monarch, which I hope will be Daenerys, will pardon Ser Aliser and reward him with lands confiscated from the Lannisters. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

Samwell, Tyrion in AGOT, Davos, and Ned, to some extent.

[The Commentator]

On 12/2/2022 at 5:34 AM, Bowen 747 said:

I just hope the future Targaryen monarch, which I hope will be Daenerys, will pardon Ser Aliser and reward him with lands confiscated from the Lannisters. 

Yup. And take the lands from the despicable Tullys and give it to the closest kin to the Darrys.  

[SeanBeanedMeUp]

This might be crazy, but Jaime.

Jaime's life went to shit when he killed Aerys II, didn't tell why he really did it, and had to live with the "kingslayer" insult for his life. He had to live with the loss of Elia and her kids and gave up on the idea of honor and morality until Brienne came along.

Jaime also screwed up badly by siring bastards with Cersei and was complicit in the Lannisters' atrocities during the War of the Five Kings. And after having lost his right hand, Jaime is currently trying to become a better person; even though he is trying to enforce Lannister rule in the Riverlands.

I relate to him in that my life has been miserable, I've made poor decisions, and I'm trying to be better. Jaime is relatable for everyone who's had a lousy life (caused by no fault of their own) and has to live with the consequences of their own terrible decisions.

Edited August 7, 2023 by SeanBeanedMeUp

[Lord of Raventree Hall]

Brienne of Tarth and Theon Greyjoy. I am gender non-conforming (male) however, the general experience of not fitting in one's own gender is extremely relatable to me when it comes to Brienne. I also was quite stubbornly moral (I am a pastor's son) when I was younger. When it comes to Theon, I'll explain it in the way I see it. How Theon feels about the Starks is how I feel about femininity/women. How Theon feels and how he is treated by the Greyjoys is how I feel, and was treated by masculinity/men. Although this may feel like a stretch, I find his story VERY relatable. The way he tries and fails to fit in and be accepted as a Greyjoy, when all he really wants is to be a Stark. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely hated Theon in ACoK, but......even then, I felt something. Granted I never did anything close to the horrible things he did, but I did do things that were against my own personal code of honor to fit in/be accepted by men. 

[Willam Stark]

Jon

In terms of personality, he's the closest to me.

[Kal-L]

Jaime.

Quote

The world was simpler in those days, Jaime thought, and men as well as swords were made of finer steel. Or was it only that he had been fifteen? They were all in their graves now, the Sword of the Morning and the Smiling Knight, the White Bull and Prince Lewyn, Ser Oswell Whent with his black humor, earnest Jon Darry, Simon Toyne and his Kingswood Brotherhood, bluff old Sumner Crakehall. And me, that boy I was . . . when did he die, I wonder? When I donned the white cloak? When I opened Aerys's throat? That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead.

That sentence struck hard. Growing up and realising along the way you're not the man you wanted to be.

[SeanF]

On 8/14/2023 at 7:21 PM, Kal-L said:

Jaime.

That sentence struck hard. Growing up and realising along the way you're not the man you wanted to be.

It’s an incredibly sad quote.

And yet, Jamie’s efforts at redemption are very half-hearted.

[VisenyaTargaryen]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:54 PM, SeanBeanedMeUp said:

This might be crazy, but Jaime [...]

I relate to him in that my life has been miserable, I've made poor decisions, and I'm trying to be better. Jaime is relatable for everyone who's had a lousy life (caused by no fault of their own) and has to live with the consequences of their own terrible decisions.

This and for the same reason. I also can relate to the times when Jaime feels resentful for being misunderstood by others (even though he doesn't explain himself). Having to deal with the dissonance between how you see yourself, how others see you, and how you wanted others to see you can be very difficult to navigate. And incest aside, the fact that he's also a romantic (kind of like Sansa) is also relatable to me, just like his identity crisis from ASOS onwards.

I also relate to Brienne and Arya too, because I'm gender non-conforming, often feel like I failed at femininity/womanhood, and struggle to find a place in the world. I'm very glad Martin chose to write GNC female characters, and imo he did it well (Visenya is my favorite, but I can't relate to her because she's too much of a badass and I'm more like Samwell or Aenys lol).

In a very specific way, Rhaena (Jaehaerys I's sister). I'm not as difficult as she is, but we have a similar temperament. And as someone who has always feared marriage and thought of it like an obligation and not something I'd do for pleasure, I can see how she ended up so bitter, resentful, with difficulty at maintaining any kind of relationship, and taking it out on others (esp. Androw, who's also a bit like me). I didn't like realizing that I could relate to her, but I did, and reading her story was kind of a cautionary tale for me lol