Least Fav POV?

[Arrogant Bastard]

Here's my question, what was the point of Arys Oakheart's POV? Wouldn't you think GRRM would only choose a POV that had something to offer the overall story development? Someone who had access to a piece of knowledge that is important to the main storylines. He had 2 or 3 chapters and died... what was the point? Couldn't those all have been Arienne chapters or Areo chapters?

Good question, I'm not really sure what Arys Oakheart's POV offered. And actually I think he only had one chapter, which could have easily been Arianne's in my opinion.

[Mark Antony]

I actually like Areo Hotah.

:dunno:

my least favorite is probably Asha or Brienne but they both have some chapters i like a lot.

[Erinne]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Quentyn yet, his story was kinda dull, and his lack of character even moreso, plus we didn't even have a particularly witty companion to keep things rolling.

I was counting Quentyn under "anything related to Dorne". I thought his chapters were a complete waste of space.

[Queen Cersei I]

Cersei. CERSEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! And her delightful, well written, utterly fair minded chapters; masterpieces of expert storytelling, subtlety, and consistent characterization. Would that GRRM maintain such artistic distance from all of his literary creations. Personally, I've had quite enough of the glamorization of Aero Hootah, fascinating though he is.

At any rate, for those who are lucky blessed by heaven unfortunate enough to have missed and/ or forgotten about Cersei's delightful little storyline in AFFC, let me refresh your memory. For the sake of (I'm sure) artistic cohesion, each and every chapter by Cersei follows, more or less, the following pattern:

a. Cersei reflecting on how bloody smart she is, and what a sexist society she lives in**

b. Cersei sitting around making gawdaweful stupid plans

c. Cersei giving out some hand jobs and gratuitously described sex in the hopes of furthering her gawdaweful stupid plans

d. Ceresi setting gawdaweful stupid plans into motion

e. Cersei sitting back and reflecting smugly on her own brilliance.

Then we are all treated to the spectacle of Cersei's idiotic plans blowing up in her face spectacularly, followed by the delightful treat of Cersei being punished and humiliated in a cruel, generally overtly sexual and female specific manner. Yay!!!!!!! Can't wait for more of that in TWOW.

Oh, and I forgot the crowning jewel of it all-- the prophecy! The prophecy that does just what it should do-- eliminates any possible suspense in Cersei's already cliched and painfully predictable storyline

"explains" Cersei and her motivations in a pat, ridiculous, childlike way without having to bother with all those annoying devices like character development, complexity, or issues that might invoke occasional reader sympathy

deepens Cersei's already fascinating character, and adds in a sense of spicy, enticing suspense and thrilling dramatic irony.

IMO, Cersei is one character who should not have ever become a POV. The author simply should not have trusted himself to write a character's internal thoughts when he appears to loathe said character and everything they stand for, and feels the need to demonize and degrade the aforementioned character constantly to reinforce the message he appears to be trying to send.

Melisandre also should not have ever become a POV character, for entirely different reasons. The mystery and moral ambiguity that made her character so compelling are now mostly gone, replaced by a bland and needless backstory that involves yet another tragic childhood that apparently explains everything.

** (the only female character to do so-- significant? Clearly the message is supposed to be-- Cersei is not discriminated against-- she is just stupid! If these books so clearly send that message in a medieval setting, one wonders how they would portray females today making the claim that we live in a sexist society.)


[Queen Cersei I]

Ugh, the Damphair.

Ah yes. Finally, a POV who is as fascinating as he is necessary.

[Queen Cersei I]

Samwell Tarly <yawn>

Ah yes, the touching tale of a young boy on the verge of manhood, and his trusty fat pink mast. How these two bonded, how Samwell took the Little Mast in hand until he was ready to stand up on his own and fly free, was truly a thing of beauty; inspiring as it was touching. And they say there are no more heroes.

Together, this young boy and his trusty fat pink mast braved the ocean waves, the tortures of self doubt, and eventuallly gained access to a girl who was far, far out of their league, it's almost hilarious.

Poor Gilly. First she is repeatedly raped by her father, then the fat boy is whipping out his fat pink mast. Honestly, I don't think she's ever going to get over the trauma of what's been done to her, or the horrific things she's seen.

Sam's testimony that she does not seem at all disgusted by him poking her with his fat pink mast testifies to the fact that Gilly has clearly already well and truly lost it, and has traveled beyond the realms of normal human behavior, perhaps even having experienced a total break from reality.

Depends on which book. In Dance, definitely Dany. No more nibbling on dates, please, have mercy on me!

I'll forgive her for the dates, so long as she stops nibbling on Daario. :stillsick:

[Slychd]

I think Cersei through AFFC. It was a letdown finding out how much of a moron she turned out to be. Samwell has a tendancy to be boring along with Damphair. I enjoyed Areo Hotah, just an observer, but I can see why most people would find him boring.

[The King in the South]

Oh my god, thanks for reminding me Queen Cersei I!

Seriously. Melisandre. Wtffffffffffff. That chapter almost completely ruined her character for me. I used to think she was some sort of complex sorcerous with a heightened level of intelligence/ power that set her apart from other humans. Then I found out she just had a bad childhood. God damnit.

Some characters just shouldn't be POVs :bang: :bang:

[Arkh]

The initial magic with ASoIaF was the sheer number of characters and the pseudo-reality GRRM managed to create with them. When he lets just about anyone become a POV character, all the mystique of that character evaporates. Cersei is especially a victim of this. She becomes very much two-dimensional, when prior to her POV chapters I felt she was a lot more compelling. For this reason I really hope we never encounter the Hound, Stannis, Littlefinger or Varys POV chapters.

[ServantOnIce]

Overall I find Bran's point of view boring and unnecessary. Especially in "Clash of Kings" it was just him horsing around Winterfell until (spoiler). I don't find him fascinating at all. Overall he's the one I shoot through the most and pay the least attention too. I used to feel the same way about Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly until "DWD." I appreciated his character and reading SOS over again I appreciate the love and strength of Jon Snow and who can hate Samwell Tarly the "Samwise" of "A song of ice and fire?"

Now do I think he ruined Dany in "DWD" yeah, her character unrealistically regressed . . Martin bombed on that one in reality no one is going to go from Liberating Spartacus to some clueless child over night . ..

[ServantOnIce]

I actually like Areo Hotah.

:dunno:

my least favorite is probably Asha or Brienne but they both have some chapters i like a lot.

Asha is an unnecessary minor character to have POV and now Melisandre as well?? I can't wait and hope that Davos wipes Melisandre and her red demon out of this Song forever.

[Jory]

Good question, I'm not really sure what Arys Oakheart's POV offered. And actually I think he only had one chapter, which could have easily been Arianne's in my opinion.

Sex from a male perspective, come on now. How could Arianne describe her own giant dark nipples?

[Queen Cersei I]

Ah yes, the imfamous nips of Arrianne, which pretty much acquire their own seperate character, for the amount of description they merit.

"No nipples were so large, so dark, or so responsive as hers. He wanted to suckle them until they were shiny." How could we, the readers, be spared such poetry? Indeed, I had no idea nipples could be such powerful, life changing forces.

Aerys Oakheart was a TOTALLY necessary POV.

P.S.-- hilariously, despite the multiple page description of the appearance of Arriane (9/10's of which is honestly devoted to her magnificent breasts) we never, ever get a physical description of Aerys. He could be anyone... perhaps that makes it all the easier for people to imagine themselves in Aerys's place as he bangs the ridiculously objectified Arrianne.

[ServantOnIce]

Ah yes, the imfamous nips of Arrianne, which pretty much acquire their own seperate character, for the amount of description they merit.

"No nipples were so large, so dark, or so responsive as hers. He wanted to suckle them until they were shiny." How could we, the readers, be spared such poetry? Indeed, I had no idea nipples could be such powerful, life changing forces.

Aerys Oakheart was a TOTALLY necessary POV.

P.S.-- hilariously, despite the multiple page description of the appearance of Arriane (9/10's of which is honestly devoted to her magnificent breasts) we never, ever get a physical description of Aerys. He could be anyone... perhaps that makes it all the easier for people to imagine themselves in Aerys's place as he bangs the ridiculously objectified Arrianne.

I do think Martin goes over the top in some of his descriptions talking about body parts and farts . . I mean "He lifted his butt cheek to fart." That's not necessary to set or smell the mood. He also loves fashion, he's a fashionisto he goes into great fashion detail in all 5 books.

[Jory]

Ah yes, the imfamous nips of Arrianne, which pretty much acquire their own seperate character, for the amount of description they merit.

"No nipples were so large, so dark, or so responsive as hers. He wanted to suckle them until they were shiny." How could we, the readers, be spared such poetry? Indeed, I had no idea nipples could be such powerful, life changing forces.

Aerys Oakheart was a TOTALLY necessary POV.

P.S.-- hilariously, despite the multiple page description of the appearance of Arriane (9/10's of which is honestly devoted to her magnificent breasts) we never, ever get a physical description of Aerys. He could be anyone... perhaps that makes it all the easier for people to imagine themselves in Aerys's place as he bangs the ridiculously objectified Arrianne.

Arianne - and, for that matter, Dorne as an idea - is uninteresting tripe straight out of some cheap 70's dime paperback. The author writes about them in a voice that basically conveys, to quote one of the more complex, richly detailed characters of the last century: "I gotta boner". The characters there are so flat they make Daenerys' shitstorm over the plains of Essos look like Moby Dick. "There she blows".

[secretninjaboy]

Bran. I liked him initially in GoT, but then it was all downhill for me.

Catelyn too. I really thought her character was going somewhere in GoT, but starting in CoK I just found her really really whiny. By SoS I was just fed up with her.

Iron islands chapters are hit and miss with me. I could so have gone without the Dorne chapters completely, but some of the Gretjoy chapters were ok.

Areo was abysmal.

I'm also one of those people who love both Dany and Jon ... Although, yes Dany's chapters can get a little repetitive/dry/tiring.

[Hear Us Roar]

Brienne just wandering around in her POv's doing nothing

[Lord Martin]

I don't mind the Dorne story line as much as many seem to. Its not that big a part of the story... yet... it was maybe 20-25% of AFFC and ADWS (If you count Quentin).

The Areo chapter in AFFC where Doran sits and doesn't open the letter was, IMO, one of Martin's best chapters. The imagery of the overripe oranges falling and splitting open while Doran waits and waits and waits was pretty cool.

Oberyn Martell was bad ass and we can't forget him.

Arianne seems insignificant so far. But I suspect we need her background for GRRM to make her relevant in the future. She is one of the spoiler chapters for the next book that is floating out there. Lots of cool information in there.

And we're going to see the Sandsnakes in action. Dorne has been about anticipation and background so far. I expect to see it play a bigger role in the next few books.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

Dany in ADWD and any non-Theon/Asha Greyjoy. I've updated. :P

[mtwebster]

Overall for the story thus far - Catelyn is my least favorite POV. My favorite chapter of her's was the Red Wedding. I realize a lot of ill luck has befallen her family but I got tired of listening to her thoughts on the matter.

Least favorite currently is Daenerys, for reasons already plenty covered.

I had trouble with the entirety of FfC POV's the first time through - Cersei and Sansa particularly, but the second read-through it was much better - I think it had more to do with the fact that I'm not crazy about either of those characters - or wasn't - Cersei now I want more of just to see how that ends (I see her ending soon), Sansa I think is redeemable because because I've watched her slowly morph from being an infuriating 'little bird' to learning the game of thrones from a master.

On my third re-read now, Catelyn's not getting any easier to deal with, nor is Daenerys :P