Who Would You consider an ANTI-HERO? Who's your Favourite Anti Hero? Apart from Jaime Lannister....

[eggs]

Yes, Mel is an anti-hero as she works towards the greater good.

Besides Jamie the most obvious anti-hero is The Hound. He's the only character in the novel who knows and accepts his role in life. Besides him I'd say Arya is a close second. Her death list excludes her from the hero section and despite all the 'bad' she's done I still manage to care for her.

Sandor is the only character who accepts his role in life? How so?

[turinturambar1]

Mance Raydar can be put as an anti-hero

[Selyse's Moustache Rides]

I don't know about Arya being an anti-hero in the books so far, although we may be seeing the makings of an anti-hero. Sandor, the classic anti-hero, was innocent once, and I don't think his bodycount was as high when he was her age. So far, with the exception of the insurance salesman, every killing has been for survival or code of honor (Dareon). Even the insurance guy could be seen as questionably necessary. She needed to kill him to continue her training and not get turned out by the FM.

I'd say she is morally good but never lets idealism win over pragmatism. She's definitely courageous, also. If she goes through with her FM training, then to me she has become an anti-hero, because that means she has stopped giving a fuck. One of the requirements of becoming one of them is to give up all ties and caring about what made you who you are. If she can hold on to Arya and not become No One, then she is still a grey character, not an anti-hero.

[The Broke Howard Hughes]

Yes, Mel is an anti-hero as she works towards the greater good.Sandor is the only character who accepts his role in life? How so?

Okay, maybe I misspoke. He's the only person who knows he's a scumbag and accepts himself for what he is.

[Waylin Stark]

My favorite character as an anti-hero would be Tyrion, I suppose.

[Essan]

Sandor and perhaps Tyrion. Of course, hero can become antihero and vice versa.

Mel definitely not. I don't think she's done anything for the good, only made matters worse. But then, I have a theory on the whole PTWP/Azor Ahai issue ;)

[Nictarion]

The hound.

[Jamie Lannister]

Mance Raydar can be put as an anti-hero

Mance is a better example than Sandor or Jaime imo.

[eggs]

is mance an anti hero? He seems more like a straight hero to me.

[Call me Odie]

The hound and Tyrion are my two favorite anti heroes. I hope they will meet up again.

[Nictarion]

is mance an anti hero? He seems more like a straight hero to me.

I agree.

[RenlyIsNotRight]

And I do not get how Stannis fits into the definition of anti-hero... That much. He has a temper, but solely that does not move him into the ranks of AH's. He doesn't seriously wish to kill somebody in cold blood like you'd expect from Sandor or even Arya, he does what he thinks is lawful etc. He killed Renly becauwse Renly had already made the intention of killing him and if Stannis didn't use his arsenal of weapons which was militarily much inferior to Renly's, he would die and lose something his by right forever.

I think the reason people consider Stannis an anti hero is because...well I don't think any would argue against him not fittting the "conventional hero" trope. His spin on heroism is decidedly darker, hell, almost blackly humorous - here's a guy who's essentially been jipped his entire life for doing the right thing and doing his duties to the people who ultimately end up jipping him (namely Robert). He doesn't even want what he's trying to achieve for himself ("...gold is heavy on the head..."), he wants it because it's his by right, and on a deeper level than that, it represents to him the attainment of a recognition for his accomplishments that he never got from Robert, Renly, or anyone else in his life. His devotion to attaining this sometimes leads him to participating (even if not directly) in things that are admittedly morally questionable (the death of Renly - though I agree with you don't get me wrong, and his contemplation to burn his nephew), and as a person he is not outwardly warm, kind or considerate (though not cruel either), but at the end of the day, he works towards the good of the realm, even if for him personally it probably represents something a bit more selfish.

[King Tyrion I]

My favorite character as an anti-hero would be Tyrion, I suppose.

Mine, too.

Nevertheless, all characters of ASoIaF are anti-heroes in a way. They succeed, and they fail. They're "normal" people.

And I like anti-heroes better than heroes.

[SeanF]

Dany an anti-hero? I'm sorry but how? She's quite on the 'nice-person' side of things. And don't Catelynize her (guess what this new word means ;P), she gets angry at some people because of ideas put into her head by those who held strong influence over her and because she's somewhat narrow-minded, but narrow-mindedness is not a quality that comes up in the list for criteria for being an anti-hero.

Dany has many heroic qualities, but I (and a lot of other posters) view her as anti-hero as a result of many morally questionable actions on her part.

[Isalie]

Nevertheless, all characters of ASoIaF are anti-heroes in a way. They succeed, and they fail. They're "normal" people.

And I like anti-heroes better than heroes.

They are not, just like not every character is a damsel in distress or a classic villian. The anti hero is a trope just like all other it is not the equivalent of any character not only possessing heroic traits.

Although I see why people argue that Tyrion is an anti hero, I see him more as a villainish type. Anti hero's usually have a darker past than future, and while Tyrion of course had the rape of his wife prior to aGoT, he has pretty much strayed to villainy rather than to heroism.

[Pinkie Baelish]

And I do not get how Stannis fits into the definition of anti-hero... That much. He has a temper, but solely that does not move him into the ranks of AH's. He doesn't seriously wish to kill somebody in cold blood like you'd expect from Sandor or even Arya, he does what he thinks is lawful etc. He killed Renly becauwse Renly had already made the intention of killing him and if Stannis didn't use his arsenal of weapons which was militarily much inferior to Renly's, he would die and lose something his by right forever.

So yeah I don't think he comes into anti-heroes. Although I personally love anti-heroes.

My reasons:

-He doesn't fit the traditional hero prototype

-he gets angry easily

-he never forgets a slight

-he can be quite harsh and even vindictive, if given the chance("And some will lose more than the tips off their fingers, I promise you)

-he used underhanded tactics to kill Renly

-he is stubborn and often unwilling to compromise

(I don't know why the font is acting up like this)

[Woman of War]

They are not, just like not every character is a damsel in distress or a classic villian. The anti hero is a trope just like all other it is not the equivalent of any character not only possessing heroic traits.

Although I see why people argue that Tyrion is an anti hero, I see him more as a villainish type. Anti hero's usually have a darker past than future, and while Tyrion of course had the rape of his wife prior to aGoT, he has pretty much strayed to villainy rather than to heroism.

This is the point where we are now in the story, better said until Tyrion met Penny and Jorah. Only I think the anti-hero of these books will be revealed at the end, the characters are developed in a way that many of them can be anti-heroes and those few who are shiny straightforward heroes may be the ones who end up dead, glorified and mourned.

Now the anti-heroes may end up dead as well, only their fame will be stolen by some shiny dead heroes or cunning fake heroes. And history starts again.

[King Tyrion I]

:agree: Thanks, Woman of War.

[SeethemFly]

IMO, anti-heroes are people who are generally good but have a flaw that makes them do evil things and eventually causes their destruction and/or death. This is not generally something they do, like "Cat let Jaime go free which led to the death of her and many others" but "Cat cared for her children which caused her to let Jaime go free...etc". The best example of this I can think of is Javert in the Musical Les Mis (not the book though!) He is motivated by order and rule of law and seeing criminals getting their just deserves, but he is corrupted by his insistence that Valjean is a bad man and needs to be punished. The realisation that Valjean is good ultimately leads to his suicide.

Anti-heroes in the novels for me include:

1) Jaime (obviously) - wants to be noble, but his love for his sister (his fatal flaw) is going to bring him down...

2) Cat - cared for her children and wanted to save them, but by doing so she caused the RW.

3) Dany - Dany wants to stand up for the poor, downtrodden, women and the slaves but by freeing the slaves she upsets the social structure in Essos which causes a big war and loads of people to die.

4) The Hound - A man who actually has values and sees the hypocrisies in knighthood etc, and therefore rejecting these values pushes him to violence. I'm not sure whether that caused his death though!!

As GRRM has no-one pinpointed as good or evil, all these characters have varying degrees of antihero in them.

However, I think the best example from the novels is Ned. He is motivated by honour, which, by telling Cersei what he knows because it's the honourable thing to do, ultimately leads to his execution.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Jaime is my favourite and I was thinking about maybe forgiving the Hound, but then he died so...

Dany is not an anti-hero. She's the villain, trying to steal the crown from its rightful owner. ;)