# Characters that ruin a work for you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195 "2012-09-19T17:45:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/61 "2012-09-20T20:22:19Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > That stupid Seven brat on _Married with Children._ Fortunately they fired his ass after just one season of terror. Oh, yeah; agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/62 "2012-09-20T20:25:35Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Suggestion: do not, if you value your sanity, watch _Prometheus_. šŸ˜‰ Heheh. Seconded. But more importantly, **Sitnam**! You trust me right, Iā€™ve got your back on Ignatius. So do as I say and go listen to a few episodes of the podcast [Up Yours, Downstairs](http://www.podfeed.net/podcast/Up+Yours+Downstairs/24719). They function on a background assumption that Cora is slightly brain damaged, and Kelly does a wicked impression of her. Especially when she says _luncheon_. I think it might allow you to watch Downton without wanting to slap the taste out of Coraā€™s mouth, and in any case will give you a few good laughs. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/63 "2012-09-20T20:32:09Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I couldnā€™t wait, so I bought the blue ray as soon as it was on Amazon. I donā€™t guess Iā€™ll ever rewatch it, but it wasnā€™t too costly and I didnā€™t want to wait for it on Netflix. We should all just book tickets now for a flight to London next year to watch the third series. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/64 "2012-09-20T20:50:30Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > We should all just book tickets now for a flight to London next year to watch the third series. Iā€™m SO in. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/65 "2012-09-20T23:19:03Z")
Thomas Covenant. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/66 "2012-09-20T23:27:34Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > But more importantly, **Sitnam**! You trust me right, Iā€™ve got your back on Ignatius. So do as I say and go listen to a few episodes of the podcast [Up Yours, Downstairs](http://www.podfeed.net/podcast/Up+Yours+Downstairs/24719). They function on a background assumption that Cora is slightly brain damaged, and Kelly does a wicked impression of her. Especially when she says _luncheon_. I think it might allow you to watch Downton without wanting to slap the taste out of Coraā€™s mouth, and in any case will give you a few good laughs. Iā€™ll have to do that, Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/67 "2012-09-20T23:41:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > For me it was Sansa. I didnā€™t skip her chapters, but I sure didnā€™t enjoy them. > > I think what it really comes down to is that GRRM writes terrible female characters. His most engaging female characters are those who buck female convention (Arya and Cersei, who are respectively a tomboy and a politically cunning sexual deviant). Brienne is the one who really annoys me, for some reason. I think itā€™s the complete lack of a personality, as though ā€œwarrior maid who - get this - _isnā€™t hot_!!ā€ is a complete characterisation. Also, any of the children who are supposed to be acting like children (Sansa, Rickon, Viserys, Joffrey, to name a few). Martin appears to be only capable of writing whiny brats or small versions of adults. Also, Hodor. Pointless, dull, patronising, and unbelievable. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/68 "2012-09-20T23:48:47Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Daenarys in A Song of Fire and Ice. After a while, I just started skipping chapters with her in them. > [@Steophan](#): > > Brienne is the one who really annoys me, for some reason. I think itā€™s the complete lack of a personality, as though ā€œwarrior maid who - get this - _isnā€™t hot_!!ā€ is a complete characterisation. > > Also, any of the children who are supposed to be acting like children (Sansa, Rickon, Viserys, Joffrey, to name a few). Martin appears to be only capable of writing whiny brats or small versions of adults. > > Also, Hodor. Pointless, dull, patronising, and unbelievable. Especially for me, itā€™s Viserys who is the whiniest of adults (in GoT)ā€¦but his [exit (nsfw)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85JeShM_ck8) is pretty memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/69 "2012-09-21T00:17:38Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Rosamund in George Eliotā€™s _Middlemarch_. I hated her so much I ended up skipping her chapters, even though the rest of the book was so enthralling and wonderfully written that I was sure I was missing a lot of excellent material. But I just wanted someone to stab her in the face, and when I flipped to the end and saw that she doesnā€™t get any kind of satisfying comeuppance, wellā€¦fuck that. Yeah, sheā€™s horrible, but itā€™s so perfect how horrible she is. Her fatally limited perspective is so naturally integrated in her personality, so perceptively and ruthlessly drawn, and it makes the tragedy she generates so inevitable. Lydgate, who starts out as not a particularly likeable character except for his scientific enthusiasm, IMO ends up being one of the most sympathetic figures in the book, because of the realization of how he has maimed his life, his career and his personality by chaining himself to this, well, monster. Try _Middlemarch_ again sometime, please, with a colder contempt for Rosamund, and see if you can bear her monumentally exasperating horribleness just for the sake of seeing how it uncoils through the plot like a long slow snake of Nemesis. As far as eventual comeuppance goes, what would be the point of punishing Rosamond? Sheā€™s too spiritually stunted ever to understand what sheā€™s guilty of; she has no capacity for real remorse. Thatā€™s why Lydgate is punished far worse than Rosamond for making much smaller mistakes: he has the self-awareness to realize what heā€™s done, and thatā€™s ultimately what comeuppance is all about. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/70 "2012-09-21T00:21:31Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Suggestion: do not, if you value your sanity, watch _Prometheus_. šŸ˜‰ Thereā€™s not just the one character, though. All of them have their turn at failing spectacularly in situations related to doing their **jobs** , even, so you get lots of opportunity to spread the hate around. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/71 "2012-09-21T02:06:05Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > . . . As far as eventual comeuppance goes, what would be the point of punishing Rosamond? Sheā€™s too spiritually stunted ever to understand what sheā€™s guilty of; she has no capacity for real remorse. Thatā€™s why Lydgate is punished far worse than Rosamond for making much smaller mistakes: he has the self-awareness to realize what heā€™s done, and thatā€™s ultimately what comeuppance is all about. Besides, you have to know that there was a Rosamond or two out there that got completely skewered by the authorā€™s creation of the character. Not that theyā€™d recognize themselves, necessarily. Just that everyone else would. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/72 "2012-09-21T02:12:59Z")
Darrin Stevens in Bewitched (the '60s version). The guy was such a jerk towards his wife that I canā€™t even watch the show. Endora was perfectly correct. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/73 "2012-09-21T02:39:35Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Torchwood wasnā€™t that good to start with, but I could not get past Gwen at all. Iā€™ve talked about her before, how the audience surrogate in this case just makes you want to brick her. Gwen ruined it for you? Change that G to an O and Iā€™ll agree. Gwen is inoffensive, the Frog Faced Rapist on the other handā€¦ Everything about him repels me. > [@Anaamika](#): > > Whew! Someone else who liked Rhuby Rhod. I didnā€™t think he was the best character, but he was hilarious next to Bruce Willisā€™ deadpanā€¦ness. Yeah, I like him, too. If I were Corbin, or anyone else who actually had to deal with him personally, Iā€™d probably want to knock him upside the head, but since I donā€™t, and get to watch other people deal with himā€¦yeah, fun. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/74 "2012-09-21T02:42:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > For me it was Sansa. I didnā€™t skip her chapters, but I sure didnā€™t enjoy them. > > I think what it really comes down to is that GRRM writes terrible female characters. His most engaging female characters are those who buck female convention (Arya and Cersei, who are respectively a tomboy and a politically cunning sexual deviant). I like Sansa as a character. Sheā€™s supposed to be a vapid 13 year old in over her head, and thatā€™s exactly how she comes across. Similarly, I donā€™t think Cat is a bad character because she always thinks she knows whatā€™s best for her family (even though sheā€™s often wrong). I know a lot of mothers like that. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/75 "2012-09-21T03:45:43Z")
warren ( flayed or unflayed ) on buffy. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/76 "2012-09-21T03:52:37Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Darrin Stevens in Bewitched (the '60s version). The guy was such a jerk towards his wife that I canā€™t even watch the show. Endora was perfectly correct. Ahh, yes. Good point. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/77 "2012-09-21T03:54:15Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Whew! Someone else who liked Rhuby Rhod. I didnā€™t think he was the best character, but he was hilarious next to Bruce Willisā€™ deadpanā€¦ness. I agree, he was the perfect character at the perfect place in the movie. Bzzzzt! Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/78 "2012-09-21T04:12:08Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > I donā€™t care how fabulous _A Confederacy of Dunces_ is supposed to be or how intriguing the foreword is, I cannot subject myself to any more than one chapter of **Ignatius J. Reilly**. Wow. You lasted a chapter? ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/79 "2012-09-21T11:30:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Whew! Someone else who liked Rhuby Rhod. I didnā€™t think he was the best character, but he was hilarious next to Bruce Willisā€™ deadpanā€¦ness. Well yeah maybe not the _best_, perhaps just the best combination of character and memorability. > [@Malthus](#): > > Suggestion: do not, if you value your sanity, watch _Prometheus_. šŸ˜‰ Too late. That would explain a _lot_ though. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195/80 "2012-09-21T11:58:11Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Darrin Stevens in Bewitched (the '60s version). The guy was such a jerk towards his wife that I canā€™t even watch the show. Endora was perfectly correct. Absolutely agreed, this was a man so insecure and small minded he married a god and never even took advantage of her powers. I mean she could have taken them on a neverending Doctor Who like tour of the freaking universe and instead he screams at her for doing the dishes with her nose. She conspires with their half-deity children to hide magic use from him, this would be like a guy marrying a Russian woman and screaming at her for speaking Russian and making her only use it when he isnā€™t around with the children. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-that-ruin-a-work-for-you/635195.md?page=5)