Pike, thanks for adding the spoiler tags. I didn’t read it. Though it definitely is taunting me there. No, I’m not going to do it. No. Instead, I’m going to spend my day off reading book 4. Well, after this post. 
I don’t like her because I can’t respect her because ultimately she puts her faith & loyalty in people she should not. She is not loyal to her family, given that her family, although not always perfect & in some ways seriously dysfunctional, they are a solid family she had no business betraying. For that I can’t forgive her & I can’t respect her at all.
Maybe it is because everyone keeps saying how unlikable she is, so I was all prepared and kept expecting her to do something really terrible after GoT…and she hasn’t. She’s basically been the one Stark to have been in what I think to be the worst position of all because she’s not just hiding from or fighting her enemies, she was stuck in the hornet’s nest and had to sit pretty and smile at the Lannisters every day for the past 3 books, and now in the hands of someone who pretty much choreographed the demise of the Starks and is being all pervy. Maybe that’s also why I cut her a bit of slack as well. I really don’t think her betrayal to her family was a betrayal. With Ned, I blame her naivite, but in the same regard I did Ned’s when he started the ball rolling himself by telling Cersei what he knew and totally shouldn’t have. I didn’t hate Ned for his stupidity, so I don’t hate Sansa for her stupidity either. They were both completely out of their leagues in that part anyway. The thing with Arya, I think Sansa paid the worst price for not backing Arya up with her direwolf, and I bought Ned’s explanation, which is what ‘honor’ for women meant - she was being loyal, to her betrothed, as Catelyn was loyal to Ned. And I was weirdly much more pissed that Sansa forgot to mention her in the letter Cersei instructed her to write, but since we’ve seen a few instances where Sansa recalled memories of Arya (and her other siblings and family), I’m good with her for forgetting about Arya in that moment. She just saw Joffrey lop Ned’s head off, after all. And I don’t think she did anything afterwards that made me feel like she’s disloyal or untrustworthy. But I also get the argument that Sansa hasn’t done anything proactive to make people like her either. That is most definitely true, so I get the hate. She hasn’t done anything, because she’s been nothing but a pawn for the past 3 books. She’s no Dany or Jon or Arya or anyone highly rootable. But IDK, I keep anticipating her to at some later point in the series to finally do something great …but I guess AFfC ain’t it! But I feel it’ll happen. Maybe…
Or maybe not. I’ll probably eat my words because she’d do something really gross in the next book. But for now, I’m cool with Sansa. But I do think the direwolf death did signify her Stark-ness, especially since she’s not even really Sansa anymore by the end of book 3. But she was building a Winterfell snow castle! That got to me too.
Littlefinger should be thrown out the moon door. I really can’t stand him. The guy betrayed Ned out of some schoolboy crush he had on Cat and anger over Brandon besting him in that fight. I want to see him go down hard, hopefully roasted by one of Dany’s dragons. He’s as bad as Walder Frey in my book, no allegiance to anyone but himself.
See, I know he’s a terrible guy. But I also marvel at how deft his planning was, and how effed up he is with his obsession with Catelyn, or perhaps his obsession with gaining power because he’s not highborn. I would love to see a scene when Catelyn faces him off after all this frakkery. Even Walder Frey, I hate him, but then I also have to be a little impressed by how well his plan worked for him, gruesome and heartbreaking it was. It made sense for him to want to betray them. And that’s why I like the books so much. There isn’t some evil dude twiddling his mustache being all obviously evil - which going back to BSG for a moment, is what I disliked most about how the series dealt with Cavil. He was interesting …and then became a total mustache twiddler. That disappointed me even more than them flying all their ships into the sun. That, at least, I can block out. With these books so far, I think Martin’s careful not to do that for the main characters, good/bad/grey. There’s purpose, there’s reason. (Though I think that might be a little side problem for Dany, because for now, she’s been facing off these characters who are pretty one dimensionally horrid, so of course I’m rooting for her to burn their faces off. Which is why I liked her decision to stay, since that would give her problems that aren’t so one sided.) Closest to that is Tywin, really, who I do think is a total poopyhead, but then again he provides the reason to feel sympathy for his frakked up kids, and so there’s a purpose for him being the most frigid and awful father. (and hey, Tyrion killed him. And I totally yayed that, except I feel bad for Tyrion now having to carry the burden of being a kinslayer.) And Joffrey, who is also a total poopyhead, but was stupid up to the moment he died and how he died, so the book gave me some excellent payoff on easily dislikable characters (man, I don’t know if I want to know what happens with Sansa now, since she’s obviously much disliked.) But yeah, I don’t know if I actually hate anyone in the series. It all works and fits into the puzzle. I might not root for them (well, for the most part), but I like them all.
She’s a far better choice for him than Cersei.
IKR?? Damn men who think with their nether regions. I had problems with why Jaime is so attached to Cersei in the past 2 books, but now that I have a much better understanding of how the King’s guard works, Tywin, and all his POVs, I kind of get why Jaime just can’t let Cersei go. There’s that narcissism peeking in, what with doing your own twin. But yup. Jaime, look at Brienne’s twinkling eyes! He was able to forge that trust and respect with Brienne, and that seems almost impossible for Lannisters to do, trusting outsiders (Tywin’s doing, obvs. It affects all three of his kids. Man Tyesha. Wow.), but it totally happened. I just hope we’d get some kind of reunion in the next book, because leaving Jaime all alone in King’s Landing makes me sad because there goes all the witty banter.
To me Varys is all about helping get Dany on the throne at this point. I think it’s actually been his plan all along…etc
Yeah, I would agree. But with Varys, I just don’t know. Is he ultimately someone whose only goal all along was to get a Targaryan back on the throne? Or is that merely because all the other candidates for kings, well, suck? Does he really care that much about realm? Can someone be so impartial to being on anyone’s side? The thing with Varys is that I’m never sure. He is too good at what he does, he really seems to anticipate everything that comes his way, and I never know quite what he’s up to or why he does what he does, even after 3 books. Which is why he’s awesome.
