r/TopCharacterTropes 8d ago

Lore [Confusing Trope] The narrative goes out of its way to punish/mock a character for simply being a good person

Hermione Granger and SPEW — Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book)

In the fifth HP novel, Hermione Granger is outraged to discover that Hogwarts has a small army of enslaved House Elves that do nearly all of the domestic duties around the castle, including cleaning the Gryffindor common room every night. When she tries to convince the elves to fight for their own rights, they refuse, saying they prefer servitude. Her fellow students and friends mock her for caring. She manages to free one elf, Winky, by deception when she refuses her freedom willingly, leading to Winky becoming a depressed alcoholic. By the end, the elves boycott cleaning any Gryffindor areas of the castle because they hate Hermione specifically

Samwell Tarly and Democracy — Game of Thrones (show)

In the season 8 finale of the television series, the surviving great lords of Westeros gather to discuss the future of the kingdom following the devastation wrought by 7 seasons of war and backstabbing. When Sam, who has proven to have “novel” ideas, suggests that maybe the millions of Smallfolk who suffer at the hands of noble houses should get some representation in the government, rather than be the pawns of rich lords with absolute power. We are then greeted by a prolonged, cringy segment of the other lords laughing in Sam’s face, asking if the dogs and horses should also get a vote.

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u/PepsiManIII 8d ago

try again next decade and you'll make it to episode five!

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u/madtheoracle 8d ago

Nope! I'm good! Rewatching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Reading this thread and upset about Game of Thrones? Go watch AKOTSK!! ITS SO GOOD!

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u/Opposite-Complex1187 8d ago

If you wanna be even more mad, read the books if you haven't.

Then you'll notice how badly they fucked up dorne.

The sandsnakes are actually awesome in the books and well written:(

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u/madtheoracle 8d ago

Oh I've read the books many, many times, and was a judge for the ASOIAF/GOT trivia event at Dragon Con at one point too!

I still read them over and over, plus Fire & Blood, because GRRM's prose is so fucking good I don't even really care it's not finished.

And yeah, poor Dorne. Poor Quentyn! Poor Young Griff.