Most cowardly character(s) of the series?

[Crotalus]

I think Ramsay shows signs of cowardice by hiding behind his pack of dogs and pack of friends. Whether he truly is or not remains to be seen. If he has to face a foe on his own we may find out.

[Silverin]

Yep. But she also shows courage long before this as well: looking at Ned's head. It's not the kind of courage expected out of someone like Boros (an utter failure), or Jon, or even Arya. But courageous all the same.

Yes and during the Blackwater Battle when Cersei left her with a bunch of people who started to panic and she didnt run away (she wanted to), she calmed them down, and when they brought Lancel in she even made sure to cure him. I think that showed bravery.

Or during her wedding night when she told Tyrion that she would never desire him. That was brave as well. She was compeletly humiliated naked before him basically compeletly powerless at Tyrion's mercy. I was cheering her so much when she told him that.

Or there was the time when she decided to help Dontos and risk Joffrey's anger, she was brave there too for others sake.

And I think when she decided to not to kill Joffrey suicidally that was brave too. It showed great strenght.

[Alexia]

I agree about Sansa. To clarify, I didn't mean that the mountain trip was the first time she showed bravery in the books, but the first example that came into my head. Sansa has been a very courageous person, IMO.

[the Scorpion Knight]

I think Ramsay shows signs of cowardice by hiding behind his pack of dogs and pack of friends. Whether he truly is or not remains to be seen. If he has to face a foe on his own we may find out.

I think once on his own ramsey becomes almost pityable.

Roose mentions that ramsey is a lousy fighter

Littlefinger is no coward. Duelling Brandon Stark, infinitely his superior at fighting, and facing down the Lords Declarant both took plenty of guts.

that wasn't brave that was the work of lovestruck fool

Does he fight someone who isn't fooled by his devil in plain sight trick (tyrion)?

does he accept that the Woman he wanted will be forever out reach (she didn't even love him as he her) ?

[Ser-Arthur-Dayne]

+1 for Slynt. Also, to all the people who said LF, Jeff, or Boros, +1. To all the people that said Cercsi, Varys, Sansa, Ramsay, Viserys, or Aerys, I disagree.

Also, can we try to come up with a list of the top 10 cowards? I'll start my list, and then people can change it. Here is the rules: You can only make one move per post (and have to wait 2 other posts after). The moves are:

-People can add a character to list only by replacing the character at no. 10. For example, if you want to add Stannis, you'll use your one move to replace the person at number 10 (ex. Dany).

-People can move one character up or down on the list. For example, Sansa is at number 6, and you want to move her up, then you use your move to switch places with the number 5 character.

I'll begin the list, with only 5 characters. Other people, add a character until the list reaches 10, then the procedure above begins:

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Janos Slynt

5. Viserys

Also, please bold the change you make.

[LordBloodraven]

+1 for Slynt. Also, to all the people who said LF, Jeff, or Boros, +1. To all the people that said Cercsi, Varys, Sansa, Ramsay, Viserys, or Aerys, I disagree.

Also, can we try to come up with a list of the top 10 cowards? I'll start my list, and then people can change it. Here is the rules: You can only make one move per post (and have to wait 2 other posts after). The moves are:

-People can add a character to list only by replacing the character at no. 10. For example, if you want to add Stannis, you'll use your one move to replace the person at number 10 (ex. Dany).

-People can move one character up or down on the list. For example, Sansa is at number 6, and you want to move her up, then you use your move to switch places with the number 5 character.

I'll begin the list, with only 5 characters. Other people, add a character until the list reaches 10, then the procedure above begins:

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Janos Slynt

5. Viserys

Also, please bold the change you make.

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Janos Slynt

5. Ramsay Bolton

[headtrip_honey]

+1 for Slynt. Also, to all the people who said LF, Jeff, or Boros, +1. To all the people that said Cercsi, Varys, Sansa, Ramsay, Viserys, or Aerys, I disagree.

Also, can we try to come up with a list of the top 10 cowards? I'll start my list, and then people can change it. Here is the rules: You can only make one move per post (and have to wait 2 other posts after). The moves are:

-People can add a character to list only by replacing the character at no. 10. For example, if you want to add Stannis, you'll use your one move to replace the person at number 10 (ex. Dany).

-People can move one character up or down on the list. For example, Sansa is at number 6, and you want to move her up, then you use your move to switch places with the number 5 character.

I'll begin the list, with only 5 characters. Other people, add a character until the list reaches 10, then the procedure above begins:

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Janos Slynt

5. Viserys

Also, please bold the change you make.

You confuse me. First you say you disagree with Viserys being a coward, and then you put him at number 5?

Or was this not YOUR list, but rather a collection of everyone else's?

[Ser-Arthur-Dayne]

You confuse me. First you say you disagree with Viserys being a coward, and then you put him at number 5?

Or was this not YOUR list, but rather a collection of everyone else's?

Its a collection from what I saw people agree with the most :). I couldn't accept the fact that i'm the ONLY one that thinks Viserys isn't a coward. If it was purley my list, Sam would be no. 1.

[Ser-Arthur-Dayne]

dp

[the Scorpion Knight]

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Janos Slynt

5. Walder Frey

[Ser-Arthur-Dayne]

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Janos Slynt

5. Walder Frey

1. Jeff

2. Littlefinger

3. Boros

4. Walder Frey

5. Janos Slynt

Simply put. Hate the Frey's.

[Ah Man]

Please give one, just one, example of bravery on Ser Boros' part. The worst incident is the one that gained him his food tasting position, when he stepped aside and let Tyrion's men seize Tommen.

I'd point to the decisions he made that put him in that situation in the first place. He became a knight. He took a position guarding the King, whose always going to be a prime target for assassins. He continues in that position after his life is put in danger more than once, and there's no evidence he goes to great lengths to avoid dangerous assignments. Boros knowingly makes decisions that put him in danger. That's what bravery is. He's definitely not very brave, but if we're not holding him to a higher standard because he's a knight, I think there are countless characters who make more of an effort to avoid danger.

OTOH, Sansa does show bravery at various times throughout the book, and the first example that comes to mind is when she is descending the mountain from the Eyrie and helps Sweetrobin over the terrifying stretch that Catelyn had to be helped over with eyes closed. And of course there was the time that she saved Dontos, and stood up for Tommen (more than once).

I agree. While I'm not sure her lack of acrophobia is particularly courageous, the points where she stands up for Dontos and Tommen are fine examples. That's actually my point. Calling Boros a coward because he doesn't allow himself to be butchered in a hopeless fight against Tyrion's sellswords is like calling Sansa a coward because she allows herself to be cowed by Joffrey's knights, and that would be wrong. Sansa's not a coward. Whether Sansa is braver than Boros is immaterial.

Ser Boros may be no more cowardly than the average inhabitant of Westeros, but as a knight, we're entitled to judge him by comparison with his fellow knights.

If that's the way you want to look at it, I agree entirely. But I think it's valuable to make that distinction.

[Alexia]

I'd point to the decisions he made that put him in that situation in the first place. He became a knight. He took a position guarding the King, whose always going to be a prime target for assassins. He continues in that position after his life is put in danger more than once, and there's no evidence he goes to great lengths to avoid dangerous assignments. Boros knowingly makes decisions that put him in danger. That's what bravery is. He's definitely not very brave, but if we're not holding him to a higher standard because he's a knight, I think there are countless characters who make more of an effort to avoid danger.

But there is! During the KL riots, when he was being sent back out to find Sansa and he started trying to get out of it (something about white cloaks inflaming the mob). During that time, another fighter cut her loose from assailants (all of whom were unarmed, btw) and brought her in, and later said that the job didn't even require any courage. And what was the other fighter's response, when he was immediately sent back out into the mob? I recall some tough talk about how he needed to find his horse. And when Tyrion threatened his life if he didn't go out to get her, Ser Boros suddenly found himself some courage and grabbed his sword!

I also tend to think that the KG is rather cushy position by knightly standards. He also has no choice but to continue in the position (he's sworn for life) else he would have quit rather than be made a food taster. And he may well have become a knight, but his cowardice makes him an incompetent knight.

Sansa risks danger to help others, despite not being any sort of fighter. But Ser Boros' posturing around those who he feels he can bully (such as dwarfs and 12 year old girls) make him a particularly contemptible coward.

A quote is required here. "Paint stripes on a toad, he does not become a tiger."

[The Oncoming Storm]

Rattleshirt. All he has is a big mouth and a stupid armor...

Pycelle definitely, and Boros. Ramsay too, he's only "brave" when he can torment defenseless people.

Robert, not on battlefield but in his personal life, as he won't admit he's just as responsible for his terrible marriage as Cersei. He drinks because he doesn't like to face reality.

[Pihla]

1. Jeff

2. Boros

3. Littlefinger

4. Walder Frey

5. Janos Slynt

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Any Frey involved in the Red Wedding (to be fair, not all of them were).

Joffrey.

And, yes, Littlefinger.

[LadyMary]

My definition of a coward is someone who can't fight his own battles so uses others to do his dirty work, and someone who abuses others who are helpless to make himself feel like more powerful.

Ramsay is a coward. He can't fight his own battles in a fair fight so hides behind others - his dogs, his pack of thugs, his father's power. He gets off on "lording it over" on everyone around him and brutalizes those who are helpless.

Joffrey was a coward for the same reasons, but he used his Kingsguard as thugs and hid behind his mother's power.

Littlefinger did at one time show courage (foolishly) in challenging Brandon to a duel. He is a risk-taker and smart, but he does have some cowardly traits as well, probably because he doesn't have the same amount of power and can't outfight others. He uses cunning to get people to do what he wants and then uses others to do his dirty work.

Janos Slynt, from what we know in the books, is a coward and corrupt, who kills innocent babies for gold. He's brave when surrounded by powerful people who back him up, like Queen Cersei or Alliser Thorne, but shrinks when confronted by real power.

[mediocre cheese]

I also tend to think that the KG is rather cushy position by knightly standards.

Well the whole sworn to celibacy thing is a major drawback. On the other hand, boros ignores those rules so its not like it took any willpower in that aspect.

Ramsay is a coward. He can't fight his own battles in a fair fight so hides behind others - his dogs, his pack of thugs, his father's power. He gets off on "lording it over" on everyone around him and brutalizes those who are helpless.

He got the dogs, the thugs and his father's power as well as the ability to "lord it over others" by forcing his way into his father's plans. His father intended him to be a peasent, and through his own force of will/deeds he became his father's heir. And he does fight his own battles, albiet perhaps not fairly, he personally leads his army against winterfell and kills rodrik himself. I don't think he is cowardly in the conventional sense, I think he's a sociopath, but thats not the same as a coward.

[Ah Man]

But there is! During the KL riots, when he was being sent back out to find Sansa and he started trying to get out of it (something about white cloaks inflaming the mob). During that time, another fighter cut her loose from assailants (all of whom were unarmed, btw) and brought her in, and later said that the job didn't even require any courage. And what was the other fighter's response, when he was immediately sent back out into the mob? I recall some tough talk about how he needed to find his horse. And when Tyrion threatened his life if he didn't go out to get her, Ser Boros suddenly found himself some courage and grabbed his sword!

Fair enough. I may have underestimated his cowardice to some extent, though I'd still argue he's no candidate for most cowardly in the series.

I also tend to think that the KG is rather cushy position by knightly standards. He also has no choice but to continue in the position (he's sworn for life) else he would have quit rather than be made a food taster. And he may well have become a knight, but his cowardice makes him an incompetent knight.

The impression I get is that KG is certainly a more cushy position, but probably more dangerous than many as well. Boros' decision to take a more dangerous position for greater cushiness is, on some small level, a brave decision. A more cowardly knight would have looked to serve under some pacifist lord. A more cowardly man wouldn't become a knight in the first place.

Sansa risks danger to help others, despite not being any sort of fighter. But Ser Boros' posturing around those who he feels he can bully (such as dwarfs and 12 year old girls) make him a particularly contemptible coward.

Boros' bullying certainly makes him a more contemptible coward, but under the definition of coward I was brought up with it certainly doesn't make him a more cowardly coward, and I'm definitely not defending Boros' probity.

[LadyMary]

Well the whole sworn to celibacy thing is a major drawback. On the other hand, boros ignores those rules so its not like it took any willpower in that aspect.

He got the dogs, the thugs and his father's power as well as the ability to "lord it over others" by forcing his way into his father's plans. His father intended him to be a peasent, and through his own force of will/deeds he became his father's heir. And he does fight his own battles, albiet perhaps not fairly, he personally leads his army against winterfell and kills rodrik himself. I don't think he is cowardly in the conventional sense, I think he's a sociopath, but thats not the same as a coward.

His father was forced to get more involved with Ramsay because Ramsay was uncontrollable and disturbing the peace with his "friend" (the real) Reek. He has done nothing but prey on those who are helpless and he murdered his trueborn brother Domeric with poison - a coward's weapon. He used an army to conquer the Hornwood lands and forced the Lady to marry him them tortured and left to starve to death. He avoided justice for the murders and rapes of peasant girls by switching clothes with Reek who gets killed in his place. Yes, he's a sociopath, but he's also a coward.