Knight Of Winter Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Being intrigued about lack/rarity of threads about Pycelle's character, I've decided to make this one. While I've seen various threads passionately arguing about every possible Westerosi character and his morality, from Starks, Lannisters and Tyrells, to Barristan, Dany, Littlefinger or Varys, I can't remember seeing one discussing our favourite Grand Maester in the same way.So basically, I'd like to know what's everyone's opinion of Pycelle? Does he have fans or is it unanimously agreed he is irredeemable jerk? What do you all think are his best or worst moves/decisions?Note: since I'd like to steer this thread towards discussion of his character and hearing about people's opinions on Pycelle instead of ranting, I'll put my (very low) opinion of him inside spoiler tag.I consider him as one of most disgusting and distasteful characters in the series, smug jerk willing to burn the world if he could help the Lannisters.As soon as I met this guy, I knew I wasn't going to like him. From the scene where he was introduced to his untimely death he mainly talks about about himself and especially how old he is. Which could be stomached, but then he gets worse pretty fast. He firstly manages to endear himself to me by defending Ser Gregor, an „anointed knight“ in front of whole court after Tywin sent him to murder and pillage poor Riverlands folk. This gives us his M.O. regarding his moral standing and his behaviour in Lannisters in general. Till the end of book, he further manages to get sniffed out by expert player such as Ned, and emotionally blackmail Sansa by telling her of her traitor's blood when Cersei wanted her to write the letter.Pycelle continues to shine on in ACOK, where he chooses to kiss Cersei's ass despite knowing how poor of a ruler she is, So he supports her stupid idea to cut out tongues of people who talk about incest. After he betrays Tyrion, he gets surprise visit in the middle of the night where he shows how truly pathetic character is is. He confesses to murdering Jon Arryn – a fine Hand (so much for him serving the realm) simply because he thought Cersei wanted him to. And there's whole thing with him bedding his young servant – which he accomplished either by abusing his position or by being 80 year old Casanova (I'll let you decide which is more likely). Worth nothing is how his aura of wisdom and magnificence suddenly dissapears when Tyrion had his beard cut.I think this incident also highlights what a hypocrite Pycelle is. While he has no problem with thousands of people being killed for Lannister cause, he is terrified of spending some time in Black Cells.When Tywin returns to KL, Pycelle is back in his comfort zone. Being Tywin's lackey is something he knows and does best. So he continues to serve as GM, generally being useless (suggesting they let Stannis rot on Dragonstone) or going along with Tywin's schemes at the expense of kingdom (proposing horribly corrupt and incompetent man as commander of NW). Till the end of ASOS, he manages to call Joffrey the sweetest child that ever walked the land, or something similar, probably leaving one giant WTF sign over the heads of everyone listening on Tyrion's trial.After Tywin dies and Cersei the Mad takes over, Pycelle still faithfully serves Lannister cause. And despite him suffering continuous humiliations by Cersei, Pycelle still lies to her about Margaery requesting moon tea from him (let's be frank, there's no way someone tutored by QOT would be so stupid to ask abortificant from known Lannister lackey). Anyhow, Cersei's downfall was inevitable, and Pycelle uses this opportunity to take reins and invite Kevan to rule as Regent.This also leads me to believe Pycelle has no self-respect at all. Through the course of series, Tyrion cuts of his beard and has him imprisoned (or imprisoned), Tywin tells him he lost his wits along with his beard while Cersei repeatedly degrades him – and yet, when each of them suffers downfall, he again invites another Lannister to rule. Combination of no self-respect, defending Lannister atrocities, abusing his power, and generally being hypocritical lackey truly make a character worthy of every possible ounce of contempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Dayne's Honor Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 He is a thoroughly disgusting person what more is there to discuss about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arya kiddin' Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Lickspittle - enough to describe him. He would've licked Tywin's arse clean for him had he asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitering Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 A Lannister loyalist, much like Manderly's, I am not sure why House Lannister inspires such loyalty, by all accounts Tywin's dad was nothing special, but I guess Tywin might have earned Pycelle's loyalty while serving as Hand.That's his redeeming feature really, but he is also quite wise and smart, but also lacks morals, a dangerous combo. He probably could have stood up to Tyrion but he didn't have much backbone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhaenysBee Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Pycelle is like the biggest traitor of all. A little disgusting rat, who deserves to be rotting cockless in a black cell. I just hope somebody'll take care of that and feed him some of his cooking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Dayne's Honor Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Im glad Varys killed him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mother of The Others Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 He's a butt on an average day, but he can also be an ass on more daring occasions. People like him are the reason the glorious Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't turn California's legislature around. There's just too many nimrods like this clogging the wheels of government. So Arnold eventually gave up and boinked some maid who walked into his field of vision. Same with Renly, who gave up on the system ever working right, so he decided to go around the law and try to do things his way. He knew that in life you have to stop to smell the flowers. He just sniffed them way too hard is all. (There was a chance just now to replace 'smelling the flowers' with 'fisting the flowers', but I missed it and now it's too late). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Young Black Dragon Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 He's nothing but a Lannister dog, and a shame (or perhaps the embodiment) of a Maester. I still haven't decided if Maesters are good or not. But Pycelle, no good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arya kiddin' Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 He's a butt on an average day, but he can also be an ass on more daring occasions. People like him are the reason the glorious Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't turn California's legislature around. There's just too many nimrods like this clogging the wheels of government. So Arnold eventually gave up and boinked some maid who walked into his field of vision. Same with Renly, who gave up on the system ever working right, so he decided to go around the law and try to do things his way. He knew that in life, you have to stop to smell the flowers. He just sniffed them way too hard is all.Thank you. I laughed for like a minute after reading the first line. :rofl: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Bong of Ice and Fire Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I wonder what his background is. Maybe he's a Lannister relative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Silver Otter Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 A Lannister loyalist, much like Manderly's, I am not sure why House Lannister inspires such loyalty, by all accounts Tywin's dad was nothing special, but I guess Tywin might have earned Pycelle's loyalty while serving as Hand.That's his redeeming feature really, but he is also quite wise and smart, but also lacks morals, a dangerous combo. He probably could have stood up to Tyrion but he didn't have much backbone.He was Tywin's creature to be sure. As a young Maester he heard of the Young Lord of the Rock that destroyed the Reyenes and Tarbecks then when Tywin was Hand I'm sure they bonded. Pycelle knew the Lannisters were the richest, and Tywin was cunning and rutheless so he backed their horse...er lion.There is an excellent deleted scene that didn't take place in the books but show's the situation perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaarioKnowsBest Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I always thought it was genius the way he walked a fine line. Appear just smart enough to be of some value but if you appear too smart then it will cause suspicion and envy.Pycelle did this beautifully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonstoned Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Cheered more at his death than any other character in the series so far probably.Still, you can see why he did what he did, huge respect for Tywin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jrogo Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I don't like him! He's disgusting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKev Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 "I can have you returned to the dirt this afternoon if you like" That line made me laugh so hard when I first watched that scene. It's incredibly funny because you know Tywin isn't joking at all, haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TORMUNDSMEMBER10 Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 Annoying arselicking cunt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Ilyn's Tongue Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I thoroughly disliked Pycelle. Complete sycophant. His death was one of the most satisfying revelations in ADWD. He was a good character to dislike though, as most of the other characters don't really know what he's like and his true nature is only really revealed to the reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood of the Trout Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 He seemed smart enough, but his sycophantic personality put me off at the very first moment he appeared in Ned's POV. And my opinion of him didn't improve any better after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gneisenau Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 I like him, pretends to be dumb so as to not paint a huge target on his back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
65536ob Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 out of him vayrs and and littlefinger he's the one i prefer the most since he's loyal, i don't hold the death of jon arryn against him because if the twincest came out there would have been a civil war Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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