Which characters do you dislike and why?

[Sila Darklover]

I liked Faile at first, and I still admire her strength and intelligence, but Perrin's obsession over her is getting on my nerves.

 

Egwene also started out interesting--adventure-loving country girl, channeler, honorary Aiel, expert on all things dream-related--but after she became Amyrlin, every book section involving her became SO BLOODY BORING that I can't help starting to dislike her.

 

I don't get what Min sees in Rand, so her tagging after him gets a little annoying, but otherwise I think she's a fine character.

 

My least favorite "good" character might be Lan. I have nothing against him personnally, but I gotta hate Blight-fighters on principle *points at signature*

[trakand01]

I genuinely dont think that I dislike anyone... yes Egwene is self - righteous but then - she was raised as the daughter of the wealthiest man in the Two Rivers... Mat is childish but he's always been 'the joker', Perrin is too weak with Faile but arent many men who just want a quiet life? Rand depresses himself about the death of women for his cause but... so? He's just being a gentleman... he wants to take care of women, not see them hurt and that's a bad thing? Nynaeve yes sometimes is a bit irritating but she's been the most superior one (and in charge of protecting her 'brood' as i'm sure she sees it) for several years...

 

Even Berelain yes she's a hussy but can you blame her for trying?! She's well renowned as being a fantastic ruler...

[Beckon]

You know what?

 

Everyone is a hypocrite in this book (with the possible exception of Perrin). Everyone. If you look at everyones POV' date=' you can tell. However, everyone also has their reasons.

 

Egwene, to my mind, is a strong character through what she has gone through. She was raised as the Mayors daughter, remember? She was raised with the thought that men need women because they have no sense. Then, she found out she was special even to Aes Sedai- who are held up as the most powerful, mystical women around. Then, she is *singled out* with the fact that she comes from Rands village. She is captured by the Seachen and is put through hell. Then, she is told to find and hunt Black Ajah from the *Amyrlin Seat*. Then, she went through the Aiel. And finally, she is told that she *has* to be the Amrylin Seat. She is tough, arrogant, but practical as well. You have to also realize that there is *no way in the world* that she, or anyone who is not right there with him, could possibly know what Rand has gone through. How could she? Shes not there.

 

Im not saying its not frustrating to read and there are definently times when I want to rip people out of the books for their arrogance and stupidity. Just, try to understand that RJ makes a foundation for all of his characters.

 

And please please dont hate me for writing that.[/quote']

 

Egwene was presumptious even in the beginning of EotW, prior to being singled out and put under any pressure. Being the Mayor's daughter is no excuse, especially since Bran himself doesn't lord his status over the other villagers. I spose it could be the result of being the youngest child and trying to fit in with people older than herself, but I feel she takes it to an extreme.

 

Admittedly she begins to lose that in tSR, but as late as tLoC she's dunking 3 Sea Folk people in the river in Cairhien with the Power when she's supposed to be avoiding the notice of Elaida's embassy. She'd chew Rand up one side and down the other if he ever did anything 1/10 that stupid. Even in aCoS in her PoVs she still retains a lot of that blindness to her own faults.

 

You're right they all have their hypocritical moments but Egwene is the only character for whom I can't brush it aside as simply annoying. For most it feels IMO more like bluster than what they really believe.

[Sila Darklover]

The main thing that annoys me about Egwene is her idea that she can leave her past completely behind, that "the mayor's daughter" is dead. Granted, she has a flaming big role to play now and can't afford to dwell too much in the past, but you can't just leave your old self behind like a cloak dropped in the mud. She's deluded if she thinks her childhood doesn't affect who she still is. All of the Two Rivers people have to leave something behind, but most of the others try to keep a little, or at least mourn for it. Well, maybe not Rand, but he doesn't spend so much time assuring himself how much he's changed.

[Alia]

In a way, for her, that "mayors daughter" was an innocent. She didnt have to worry about anything. Egwene doesnt allow herself a lot of room right now to be innocent. She is still hypocritical but then again look at the majority of the rest of the women. There are very few that dont share her views which tells you about the general mindset of this place and time. And- whats worse, now shes with Aes Sedai- who generally think that they are better than any man and that they can "make the world dance to their tune". Personally, I cant wait until Moraine gets back- shes a great char and she was actually not as arrogant as the rest of them

[Gaul]

Honestly, I don't understand why people hate Rand from this "Whining". If you were mentally instable, had to save people and unite them before Tarmon Gai'don (and most of them oppose you,) and you have to kill the second strongest thing in the world... universe (Dark One. Creator being the strongest,) and basically have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Would you whine? I'm sure I would. (And possibly death, and leaving three of your lovers, and family.)

 

 

Anyway on to the characters I hate! :D

 

First of all... Drum roll please... Egwene! For the simple fact of an arrogant little girl, thinking she can do Rand's job better than him, and the hypocrit.

The "Oh Rand got Elayne pregnent. What! Two kids!"

 

Same chapter.... "I want millions of Gawyn's babies!"

 

I also hate Perrin after Faile gets captured. "26 knots...."

 

Elayne.... she's ok imo. But the "I should of drunk the tea before sleeping with him... NO! It's all his fault!"

 

 

I hate Faile too. She should drop the jealousy and crap. Like I think it was Min she walked up to and said "You better not think of touching him," or something along those lines. Been a long time since I read the series. Oh and also she should have told Perrin about Saldean ways before getting all pissy and all that.

 

 

Wow, I really went on about it.

[slayerA]

I dislike Tuon. (I wonder if Mat really likes little boys?) Anyways, I think she is just a snotty little brat who thinks the world owes her everything and that everyone is beneath her. Someone like that in real life would be very friendless and lonely. I would love to see her made gai'shain or collared.

[Siswaiaman]

lol i suppose the seanchan at least do owe her everything.

 

My one largest grievance with any charecter in the book is ANY Aes Sedai. I loath their false serenity and stature. The serenity that they show people are false, they are taught how to maintain that as BEING aes sedai. True serentiy comes from knowledge and experiance. Lan is serene. For cryin out loud the newest James Bond is serene! He never shows any unneccesary outward emotion, but he is not COLD, that is simply his charecter.

 

The Aes Sedaie, and moirane especially annoy me to no end in their permanent mask of serenity. They pretend to be in control of themselves and their emotions, but this false control is more horrible then if they had none at all! all they see is themselves, and moirane goes so far as to create a boundrary between herself and rand throug the series. All she does is manipulate and scheme, all while acting superior. I. Hate. Her. Randland would be better is she never returned.

 

The Aiel are serene. They take whats coming to them (the ones that stayed, at least) without a pause and without fear. They are calm in the face of danger, but they do NOT treat their allies as enemies, or even tools; moirane does.

[Simple Gleeman]

What are you talking about? Out of all the prominant Aes Sedai in the books, Moiraine is the *one with the fewest* of those qualities you despise.

 

The viewpoints from Moiraine show her to be practically the only Aes Sedai - hell the only woman - who doesn't see herself as instrinsically better than everyone else - especially non-channelers.

 

And false serenity from Moiraine? Almost all the characters that project no-emotion have emotions raging inside when you read from their point of view, except for Moiraine - and the Aiel.

 

And as far as manipulation, I don't remember her ever doing that for her own personal reputation, whereas most other characters manipulate purely for their own gain.

 

Yeah and Randland will probably goto hell if Moiraine doesn't return seeing as how Min had a viewing of Rand needing her to succeed. Besides that, I think Rand learning of Moiraine still being alive would be a *huge* step in favor of his mental health.

[ugami]

I often think about this very subject as I am re-reading these great books. Really, the only two characters that I cringe when I think about them are Perrin and Faile - omg the most annoying duo ever. The manipulative Faile and the idiot Perrin make me want to skip their chapters.

 

I thought Moiraine got treated very poorly by all the Two Rivers "kids" after all the things she did for them. I continue to feel that they were ungrateful to the "nth" degre - although Moiraine could have explained things better I suppose. I continue to wonder about her decision to initially "freeze" out Rand instead of developing a more trusting environment. But, I suppose there is no telling how he would have reacted to that either (one of the more interesting thought provoking aspects of these books IMHO).

 

I am a bit surprised reading about the Egwene hate - I guess I cut her some slack for being well meaning as well as being young, inexperienced and to a certain extent a product of her upbringing.

[Beckon]

In terms of Moiraine:

 

Tower initiates are taught the whole serenity thing. The test for Aes Sedai is channeling under extreme pressure. You can't channel if you're letting your emotions control you.

 

Add to that the fact that she's a Cairhienin noble.

 

If you read New Spring, and pay close attention to the few PoVs she has, she shows more humanity than any of the other Aes Sedai. She shows a lot of passion for her cause and a fair amount of affection for the Two Rivers kids. She's just very practised at not losing sight of her mission in favor of her own wants and needs.

 

I think a lot of the animosity for Moiraine comes from viewing her through the eyes of the kids when they're being petulant and presumptious. They often express resentment of how little she tells them and so on. You can agree or not with her methods but that doesn't mean her heart isn't in the right place. When I first read the series I did that a lot, both with Moiraine and Cadsuane. If you read objectively though I think you see her in a different light.

 

Egwene on the other hand I can't make myself like.

[Jaric Mondoran]

Egwene is the only main character who I believe Jordan has seriously miscalculated from the beginning of the series. "Increasingly sanctimonious" comes to mind, KoD being the best example.

 

In general I think that the scope of the series definitely shows that Jordan's talent is in breadth rather than depth. As I occasionally grow annoyed with some of the major characters, I find myself enjoy the significant but minor ones (those with a recurring presence through the series, but who seldom if ever are present as a POV). To me, the cornucopia of cultures that Jordan has invented is his biggest strength, and I experience that most strongly through the characters that seem to be part of Randland rather than those who are simply moving through it.

[torrente]

I dislike the 3 sisters egwene elayne nynaeve equally because of the way they treat mat and how self-important they are. Nynaeve gets bonus points for braid tugging.

[raydurz]

Faile, because he ruined Perrin.

[Graendal probably did it]

I really really really hate Elayne. I am currently relistening to the KOD audiobook, and I had to skip to hours of it cause it full of Elayne whining about birgitte's lack of armour an her thoughts about the future of andor.

 

I was just glad when the siege finally came to an end. I almost think RJ could have entirely cut out Elayne from the series and not many would miss her. It has taken so long for her to gain control of Andor, and she has still not been coronated. By my rough count thats a third of books 8, 9, 10 and 11 right there.

[Zardi]

I don't get what Min sees in Rand, so her tagging after him gets a little annoying, but otherwise I think she's a fine character.

Thing is, Min met Rand when he was still a sweet, clever country boy with a big heart and a desire to do the right thing. I think those are very likable qualities, and while they may be buried deep inside him now, Min knows they are there. I don't think it's all that weird that she likes him, because she actually had a chance to know the real him.

 

What I don't understand is why Elayne likes him. She met him once for an hour or so, and decided she was in love with him. Huh?

 

Elayne.... she's ok imo. But the "I should of drunk the tea before sleeping with him... NO! It's all his fault!"

Yeah...the only reason I tolerate that from her is because I don't think she's actually serious. She knows it isn't his fault, she just needs to vent, and I don't think she'd do it to his face. She's very sweet with him, usually.

 

I didn't like Faile until KoD, when her PoV's showed that there's more to her than just being jealous and pushy, and that she really does believe in Perrin. I still don't consider her one of my favorites, but I actually liked those chapters.

[Guest Barmacral]

What I don't understand is why Elayne likes him. She met him once for an hour or so, and decided she was in love with him. Huh?

 

He's also probably the first human being that wasn't conditioned in court and didn't instantly treat her like royalty that she had ever encountered. I imagine that this drew her in extremly quickly, and after that, it was all downhill... I suspect until she actually met him in the Stone of Tear though, it was little more than a highschool type crush for her.

[Joiya]

Quote:

Elayne.... she's ok imo. But the "I should of drunk the tea before sleeping with him... NO! It's all his fault!"

 

Yeah...the only reason I tolerate that from her is because I don't think she's actually serious. She knows it isn't his fault, she just needs to vent, and I don't think she'd do it to his face. She's very sweet with him, usually.

 

I'd be suprised to find a pregnant woman, even one with a wanted pregnancy in a happy, stable relationship, who's never thought or said something along these lines. Not that you really mean it, it's just hard not to go to that place when your hormones are all over the place and there's a bowling ball sitting on your pelvis. If you've been there, you understand.

[CauthonsCousin]

Look, I'm sure that there are a few males on this thread, but 99% is Elayne, Nyneave, aor Avhienda, or another one of the women, but put yourself in their shoes. (I don't mean this as an insult) But 99.99999% of you would all be rolling on the floor sobbing and muutering about "the purple butterfies" that live under the skin of your arms.

[Nerevar]

Faile as I can't bear to read Perrin's parts of the books any more as they seem to be simply obsessing about her.

 

Perrin because he let himself become a whipped, tamed puppy instead of the wolf we all saw promise in at the start.

 

Elayne was decent in Tanchico, Tear and Ebou Dar but once she got to Andor she really deserved a few hard slaps.

 

I used to hate Mat but somehow during the series he turned into one of my favourites.

 

Lan as he failed to save Moiraine, she was and still is my favourite character, and I still dislike Lan for not being able to do something to help her.

 

Mogheidien as she isn't a very capable forsaken, she was broken by the a'dam far quicker than some 'normal' windfinders. One of the most powerful channelers in her time my foot!

 

Damn I dislike quite a fair few, oh well :roll:

[Zardi]

What was Lan supposed to have done to save Moiraine? He didn't know any more about what was going on than Rand did.

[Beckon]

Wasn't Lan busy lying in an unconscious heap at the time? Honestly, Moiraine was determined that Lan should live...she probably was prepared to club him over the head herself if necessary to keep him out of the way.

[Nerevar]

he should have learnt to channel on the spot and over powered Lanfear :(

[PrinceOfRavens]

wheres bela when u need her :evil:

[Zardi]

he should have learnt to channel on the spot and over powered Lanfear :(

No, it's a fair question...you hate Lan for not saving Moiraine, but what could he have done? :P