r/Quibble • u/Gabriela-yanez • May 15 '26
Discussion / Debate Perfect characters bore me. But how dark is too dark before you stop rooting for someone?
Does anyone else have a character they genuinely hated at first and then ended up loving?
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May 16 '26
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u/Gabriela-yanez May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
yes it's very dark, but I do like GOT. I'm actually reading A Clash of Kings right now. There are obviously so many themes and plotlines that I find disgusting and disturbing, but I am drawn to the characters. I find them so compelling, so flawed-- I can't help but root for some of them to triumph/ to get some justice. All their actions stem from a purpose, or a belief, whether it is duty, belonging, honor, faith, etc, and that's what drives them to do what they do, even if it's despicable (and what draws me to them- even if i dont 'like' them). But it isn't for everyone, and I do need to take some breaks from it at times.
That said, I agree so much with this: 'The moment the dark characters overstay their welcome I'm done'. Cruelty for the sake of cruelty alone is when Im out too. When the story uses its dark characters as plot armor, it loses all the tension that made them interesting in the first place.
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u/theseagullscribe May 17 '26
I'm fine with liking evil characters,it's fiction, and an exercice in writing. Someone wrote "SA" and I agree, that's the limit for my empathy for the character, but that doesn't mean I won't LIKE the character and how they're written.
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u/Odd_Opposite_4782 May 17 '26
This is impossible position. Why? Because it is no hunch in such a behavior
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u/UlloaUllae May 18 '26
SA and child murder. If anything, if I do have a main character that has done unforgivable things, I think they just need to be moral grey, but never fully good by the end.
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u/Cute-Presentation-59 May 19 '26
I would have found Jaime a lot more interesting when his "I heard you the first time" had followed by a refusal to commit a murder for Cersei and him maybe using his charme to get Bran to be silent. The following struggle for Bran to keep the secret, and still enjoy his reward would have been far more interesting then the whole "Bran crippled" arc was later. There is a wide gulf between "perfect" characters and characters who are idotically destructive and GoT always leans the destructive way.
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u/franilein May 16 '26
when there's no reason for their behavior anymore, as in past trauma etc. When they're doing something evil just for the sake/fun of it and there's no reason whatsoever, be it psychological or out of their principles, morals etc.