The Monkey Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 When reading the novels, I found Catelyn's story to be the most well-written and emotionally powerful out of all the character arcs in ASOIAF. It was only when joining this forum that I understood that she is widely despised by fans.Why is that? Sure, she got some flaws, like hating Jon Snow, but it wouldn't be ASOIAF if she was completely morally good. She hasn't come close to any of the vile acts committed by many fan favourites, like Jaime (fucked his sister and tried to murder a child), Tyrion (murdered a singer because he wrote a song Tyrion didn't like) or The Hound (murdered a child, and then laughed about it). Why is it that fans see the moral ambiguity in these characters as points of strength, but with Catelyn moral ambiguity only leads to hatred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrish Swamp Thing Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Because they have no souls. :dunno: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daario's*before*Snows Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I have a theory that Cat haters such as myself had or have evil stepmothers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 The answer is probably because Cat is the worst person in Westeros. Or because people have mommy issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Éadaoin Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 FWIW, I love Catelyn and I agree - she is easily one of GRRM's strongest characters, if not the strongest.But these threads tend to not go well. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreyKraken Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Didn't Tyrion murder the singer because he was trying to blackmail him???Correct me if I am wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizaMartell Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Does anyone ever do a search on past threads, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogLover Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 FWIW, I love Catelyn and I agree - she is easily one of GRRM's strongest characters, if not the strongest.But these threads tend to not go well. ;)Yes, they tend to get locked pretty quickly.Catelyn isn't one of my favorites, but I don't hate her and enjoy her POVs. I think the fan hate she receives on this forum is disproportionate to the mistakes she made. Especially considering other major characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kittykatknits Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I think she is one of the most powerfully written POVs in the series and I loved her from my first introduction to her character. Like the op, one of my biggest shocks upon joining the board here was seeing how much she was hated.and this won't end well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aleenys Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Fandoms are sometimes strange, I agree. What people miss is that Catelyn had to have flaws to be a believable character, like others. It's a silly situation if a character is made 100% pure fandom will call suefication (is that even a word?), it's another thing when a character is given flaws and then they're seen as the most vile character ever to exist in a book (Sansa comes to mind as well). It sometimes clouds people's mind and leads to missing later character development in some cases as well. I love Martin for making Cat so human and understandable (to me) by giving her a flaw many people would shun at first look but if you dig into it, makes you sympathize with her and question the larger elements that influence the series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techelles Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 The MILF in the North, they call her. What's not to love?Really, though, I was always a fan. My Jon Snow fandom aside, I always felt worse for her than I did anyone else, even though I had to watch her make the awful, awful decision to release Jaime. If anyone deserved justice, it was her. Which is why I support Lady Stoneheart. And I second your surprise at discovering all the Cat-hate out there. Never saw it, myself. There are just so many other people to hate more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterbumps! Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Given the level of vitriol, I always assumed it must be because of that one time she commanded her son to rape a woman he thought was a prostitute after forcing her sentries on the girl first, and/ or her penchant for wearing the skins of people she's hunted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCube Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Does anyone ever do a search on past threads, anyone?We like to relive the threads of yesterday. And the day before.Personally I'm not a fan of her (the character) primarily because of her treatment of Jon Snow, but I also don't agree with a lot of her decisions. Releasing Jaime Lannister? Madness. Selling Robb and Arya's betrothals so lightly (granted, they were desperate)? She'd never last on the markets.I agree she is very well written though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draxus Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I've had this discussion with friends of mine who have read the story and the consensus from them on why she is unlikable is that:1. She dislikes/says unkind things/reflects negatively about Jon.2. She's very savvy, clever and has a good idea of what's going on with Westeros but has absolutely no ability to do anything about it.Again, this is just what I've gathered from conversations with friends I know have read the story.I, for the record, have always thought that Lady Catelyn is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scafloc Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 When reading the novels, I found Catelyn's story to be the most well-written and emotionally powerful out of all the character arcs in ASOIAF. It was only when joining this forum that I understood that she is widely despised by fans.Why is that? Sure, she got some flaws, like hating Jon Snow, but it wouldn't be ASOIAF if she was completely morally good. She hasn't come close to any of the vile acts committed by many fan favourites, like Jaime (fucked his sister and tried to murder a child), Tyrion (murdered a singer because he wrote a song Tyrion didn't like) or The Hound (murdered a child, and then laughed about it). Why is it that fans see the moral ambiguity in these characters as points of strength, but with Catelyn moral ambiguity only leads to hatred.I think that are probably not a lot of people who really hate Catelyn but I noticed that if you have any critcism about Catelyn a lot of people will immediately categorize you as a Catelyn-hater... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florina Laufeyson Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 My Jon Snow fandom asideJon fan =/= Cat hater. Catelyn is not my favorite character in the series, but she is very important and i certainly dont hate her. Her POV chapters can be very hard to read. Cat's head is NOT a happy place. In fact, i would argue her chapters are some of the most pessimistic and agonizing to get through. Not because shes badly written or a terrible person, but the opposite. They are exceedingly well written, highly realistic, and she undergoes a great deal of what is known as Adult Fear. (meaning fear for her children and etc.) Shes an interesting character and im not sure where all this flaming vitriol comes from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light a wight tonight Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Characters get an amount of hate or love well out of proportion to how bad or good they may be. We've had a rabid Viserys fan who couldn't understand why her fave was so roundly despised and a Littlefinger fan who attacked anybody who wouldn't agree that Lord Petyr wasn't the best character in the books or disagreed with his assessment of The Ned as a moron.A lot of the Cat hate most likely comes from the Jon Snow fans for her alleged cruelty towards him. Or from fans of other characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I think that are probably not a lot of people who really hate Catelyn but I noticed that if you have any critcism about Catelyn a lot of people will immediately categorize you as a Catelyn-hater...Unsubstantiated criticism is frowned upon for any character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light a wight tonight Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Given the level of vitriol, I always assumed it must be because of that one time she commanded her son to rape a woman he thought was a prostitute after forcing her sentries on the girl first, and/ or her penchant for wearing the skins of people she's hunted.Gad! Why didn't I pick up on this? It's just so obvious once it's pointed out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scafloc Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Unsubstantiated criticism is frowned upon for any character.No, pointing out that she is not very nice to Jon is enough to get labelled "Catelyn-hater" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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