Jump to content

(OB) Most Disliked Stormlight Character


Who is the most disliked?  

368 members have voted

  1. 1. Who is your least favorite?

    • Sadeas
      59
    • Amaram
      65
    • Moash/Vyre
      117
    • Roshone
      33
    • Elhokar
      11
    • Shallan Davar
      57
    • Other
      48
    • Lift
      23
    • Taravangian
      14
    • Adolin
      14


Recommended Posts

I think your poll is missing perhaps the two most hated characters. Lift and Adolin. Conversely I think they are also perhaps the two most loved characters. They just happen to be very polarising. I don't really hate any of the options provided, they are all deeply flawed characters, but I think that makes them rich. I love lift, and while I'd be reluctant to say I "hate" Adolin, I do dislike him. I think as a character he is fake, and the only honest thing he has done is admit that he doesn't feel bad about killing Sadeas, everything else he does is disingenuous, mostly to himself.

I find an interesting contrast between Lift and Adolin. Lift appears so odd, because she's entirely honest about it, and Adolin appears so normal because he's entirely deceitful about it.

FYI, not looking to begin any fights here. These are my thoughts on the characters, and should in no way be interpreted as a criticism of anyone elses thoughts on the characters. Many of you will no doubt disagree strongly with me and I respect your right to do so..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, aemetha said:

FYI, not looking to begin any fights here. These are my thoughts on the characters, and should in no way be interpreted as a criticism of anyone elses thoughts on the characters. Many of you will no doubt disagree strongly with me and I respect your right to do so.

To be honest, this thread looks like it might become a war zone. But I think that's part of the fun.

@Ookla the Toasted I have abstained from voting because I don't think any of them can be considered my least favourite. I also think this thread is better served without the poll, because that encourages more flexibility and discussion. I think the why is a lot more important than the who.

That says, I'll throw my hat in the ring. I don't like Adolin. He's boring, and he's far too perfect and he gets handed everything on a silver platter. Also, his fanbase can be a bit....vocal. I also started not liking Lift. Not because she was too honest, or because she was weird. I didn't like her because I have known a lot of people like her who are very arrogant. Self-assured to an extremely grating degree. I disliked her enough that I didn't read Edgedancer despite owning Arcanum. She lost a lot of that in OB, and I immediately began liking her more. In fact, her segments and her interactions with Szeth is one of my favourite bits of OB. I also feel like Elhokar gets far too much hate. But I'm rambling a bit. My point is, this is far too difficult a question for me to answer simply with a poll. I appologize if I offend anyone with this post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[x] Someone else

Adolin for reasons already provided above. Of all the brilliant SLA characters, he seems to be the most Mary Sue-ish IMO.

Edited by SLNC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I voted for Shallan because I'm pretty sure she's the only character who's POV I don't want to see when I turn the page. I like her a bit more when she's with other character's, for example I really enjoyed her scenes with Adolin (my favorite being the highstorm/stormwall... cafe(?) in WoR), but when she's alone with her thoughts I feel like she's always focusing on the wrong thing, or at least to not give the impression that I agree with other characters at all times, on an uninteresting thing compared to the other characters.

I don't want to seem like I feel the books would be better if we took Shallan's POV out or something, or that I completely hate her chapters, I just feel like they are worse/more boring than other characters chapters.

I also don't really like her character as such. This might just be me, but I took the question as to which I dislike hearing from more, because I find other characters that I hate/dislike more, but I enjoy reading about them because I find them interesting. When I read about Shallan I either want to skip the chapter or shake to get her to stop being such an idiot (accompanied by many Wheel of Time Flashbacks).

I did like her in WoR, I think this is because she had a clear goal in that book, and I feel she works best when she has a clear goal or challenge in mind, but in OB I felt like she was just there to be there and to frustrate me, and in WoK I was giving her a chance because I found Jasnah so interesting and she was the only POV who showed her, but I still didn't look forward to her chapters.

Tl/dr: I voted for Shallan because in general I don't like her chapters.

Edited by Matt Snow
Spelling
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Darn. Why couldn't you make this easy by putting Odium on the list?

I guess it depends on what you mean by "character". I see it two ways:

1) Character as in the personality and actions of the person in question. i.e how we would talk about someone's character irl. 

2) Character as in how they fit into the over all Stormlight narrative. 

In the first case I would have to say Amaram. Roshone, Sadeas, and Elhokar have all done, caused, or allowed extremely awful things to happen, but none of them have explicitly worked for an organization(The Sons of Honor) that wanted to bring about a desolation(potentially ending the world) to restore power to the Vorin church. As if starting a desolation wouldn't have been bad enough, empowering the Vorin church afterwords would probably not have been such a great development given Roshar's history with the church. Then, to make things even worse, he straight up joins the darkside! Becoming, in my book(pun intened), the biggest piece of crem to have ever blown in a storm wind. At least Mr.T had the intention of saving the world before he became Odium's pawn.

In the second case I would have to say Shallan. Say what you want about how horrible Amaram, Mr.T, Sadeas, ect, are; but at least they have a clear purpose and work within the narrative in ways that seem appropriate given their motivations. Shallan on the other hand just feels ... off to me even considering that she is supposed to be unstable. Shallan does have an excellent story in WoR(one of my favorites actually) and a decent story in WoK, but her story in OB was just a complete mess to read and an absolute headache to understand. Then, by the end of the book, none of her issues are resolved! I guess you can count the love triangle as resolved, but given the severity of her other character issues it felt really weak. All of those words wasted on the stupid triangle could have gone into Lopen chapters for all it was worth.

I guess the same argument could be used for Kaladin's arc in OB, but he got two MASSIVE wins in WoK and WoR and plenty of character development. It was time for his character to lose for once, unfortunate though it may be. Shallan, however, pretty much won by default in WoK, and then she speaks her next truth at the end of WoR and all her character development from the past two books is rendered completely moot and nothing changes by the end of OB! Don't get me wrong, I feel that struggle is an important part of any character, but important parts of the story happen from Shallan's PoV and they just don't feel as real as those from other character's PoV. 

Some of Shallan's most interesting moments throughout all three books for me have been when she is investigating some suspicious activity, infiltrating some group of people, or using the training Jasnah gave her to dig up some sort of ground breaking revelation. And all these things happen to some extent in OB, but they are completely dominated by her storming alert egos! Which leads to her inner monologue feeling fake and interactions with others (especially Pattern) falling short of what I expected from WoR. Over all, it just didn't seem to work the way it was intended to, imo. But hey, maybe it's all part of Mr. Sanderson's master plan.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gotta go with Shallan. She gets so much screentime to do things that have almost no overall plot impact. And her character development is all over the place. The ways she seems to learn and grow randomly disappear the next time the POV switches to her. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In world at this moment, it would be Moash/Vyre. Which is what I voted for. 

Outside of the books Shallan. I started out indifferent towards her in book, and over the course of the story she's become one of my favorite characters to read. My issue is that every discussion of her turns into a polarized discussion where people think their opinions and desires for the the characters are somehow more valid than other people's, and sometimes more than the story as written.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@FuzzyWordsmith I chose the poll simply because I was interested in seeing who the most hated character really is (looks like its Moash by a mile).

@aemetha Huh. I considered adding Lift, but I have never felt that Adolin is hated. I know that some are upset about the love triangle, and that some "don't get the hype". Would you mind explaining why Adolin is fake? That is an interpretation of the character which I haven't seen before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While Sadeas and Amaran did terrible things, that are great characters to read about, and I am disappointed they left the story when they did.  I don't know who is going to take up their mantle in future books

I am surprised Mr T didn't make the list. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moash wakes up something in me that makes me realise i could be a very bloody, hateful, evil person if i would let myself to embrace the urges. I would enjoy every mi ute of his sloooooow, painful and detailed death. I know this post is getting rather dark and i want to assure everyone that i am not a sociopath & i don t plan on killing anyone, but i really hate him to the point start fantasize about his slow death :ph34r: #NOREDEMPTIONARC 

2 hours ago, Ookla, the Incalculable said:

In world at this moment, it would be Moash/Vyre. Which is what I voted for. 

Outside of the books Shallan. I started out indifferent towards her in book, and over the course of the story she's become one of my favorite characters to read. My issue is that every discussion of her turns into a polarized discussion where people think their opinions and desires for the the characters are somehow more valid than other people's, and sometimes more than the story as written.

Shallan was one of my favourite characters, but lately i ve also started to get a bit tired of how polarazing she is. Although this debates shouldn t affect out liking of the characters, i ve noticed that happened to me with multiple characters. So i just started avoiding certain threads/topics

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Ookla the Toasted said:

Would you mind explaining why Adolin is fake? That is an interpretation of the character which I haven't seen before.

I just find his veneer of civility to be indicative of overcompensating for the fact he is a deeply angry and impulsive young man, who has at times even moved into sociopath territory, most notably in his refusal to acknowledge that the murder of Sadeas, however much he might have deserved to die, was wrong. He does not regret the action, which suggests he either does not understand the morality of the issue of arbitrary vigilantism, or simply does not care.

To be clear, I don't have an issue with a character being a vigilante, or a sociopath. I have an issue with him pretending not to be. I like Dalinar, old Dalinar, Dalinar the warlord, because as vile as some of his actions were, he was honest about it.

Edited by aemetha
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wait, I can actually rant here my frustration? Good!

I hate that little traitor Moash, but I voted for Shallan. I liked her in WoK (terrible humor aside), had mixed feelings about her in WoR and I think OB dragged my impression of her to the ground. I don't want to repeat things I have said about her for previous books, so I'll focus on two things from OB.

She has some surgebinding experience she doesn't remember. She said a new Ideal right at the end of WoR. Yet neither of those is a satisfactory explanations of how she suddenly manages to make her illusions perform plays and fighting sequences when last book she could even manage to make them stay if she wasn't looking or hadn't attached the illusion to Pattern. The skill jump was too much too fast for me. At least Shallan had the decency to wonder about this, too. She even managed to hold hands and have conversations with her illusions :blink: That was terrible.

Terrible in a way that leads me to my number two - last book (yes, I'm bringing WoR again) she recognized Veil was part of her. I thought the creation of Radiant would be no problem and Shallan will eventually just accept her as part of herself, too, integrating this new persona as well. But it turns out Shallan actually can't integrate even Veil, let alone Radiant. Why did Veil become even more separate? That was so frustrating to read! This is such a huge issue that can't disappear in few chapters, yet I sincerely don't want another book on Shallan and her extreme personality issues. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If by hate you mean like Joffrey, then the answer is Moash. I dislike him because he is detestable. Traitor.

If you mean from a literary perspective then the answer is Shallan, I don't have to delve into the current political maelstrom of opinions regarding her, I just find that her chapters drag. I find that for me, this is largely due to her "level up" moments feeling a bit anticlimactic in comparison to the other's witnessed onscreen so far.

Kaladin has failed an ideal twice when I would have sworn it was coming in that chapter, and I STILL found those moments more of a developmental climax than any moment Shallan has had.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Toaster, you should add T in, while not my first pick for me he is always at the top of the list. 

I choose Moash because he is a traitor to his friends, and there is not a crime worse than that. That been said, I felt a bloody, dark satisfaction while reading his scenes in OB. Why? Because I had been saying since I ended WoR and joined the 17th shard that Moash was bad news and utterly doomed. And voila my predictions came true. There is something fiercely satisfying about been right about a bad apple :ph34r:.

Shallan is agreed the most boring character of OB, I'd be happy to have her pov diminished and swapped with any other flashback character except Venli and perhaps Lift. I like Lift but in bite-sized pieces, a lot more could get overwhelming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I debated between Moash and Amaram. I enjoy reading Moash as a villain, whereas Amaram makes me grit my teeth every time he's on screen. I think it's because he outwardly pretends to be noble and acting for the greater good, while he is inwardly a total scumbag. Moash on the other hand, is a scumbag and doesn't pretend otherwise.

That said, I voted for Moash for three reasons that are unforgivable: he betrayed his friends, he kicked a child out of his father's arms, and he gave the Bridge Four salute after killing Elhokar. That's way worse than any other villain, in my opinion. I do love reading his chapters though, and look forward to seeing where he goes from here.

I also had issues with Shallan this book, though I didn't consider voting for her. While while her chapters are tough to read, she isn't a bad person so she doesn't come anywhere near to the other villains. I think my problems with her are that I can't put my finger on who she is as a character. This is a side effect of her identity issues. She doesn't know who she is, so therefore I don't know who she is. I started out liking her a lot in the first book, so I'm a bit bummed that I no longer relate to her as a character. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Ookla the Toasted said:

I have now updated the poll and added Taravangian, Lift, and Adolin.

It looks like you changed 'other' to Adolin, which I think is unfair since people who chose this option commented also about Lift and Vargo, may be someone was thinking of another character, but didn't comment. I'm not saying it's unlikely 10 people dislike Adolin most, just pointing out it would be better to leave other as an option and allow people to change their votes now that you added 3 more characters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Aleksiel said:

It looks like you changed 'other' to Adolin, which I think is unfair since people who chose this option commented also about Lift and Vargo, may be someone was thinking of another character, but didn't comment. I'm not saying it's unlikely 10 people dislike Adolin most, just pointing out it would be better to leave other as an option and allow people to change their votes now that you added 3 more characters.

I know, I accidentally removed it. Not on purpose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, aemetha said:

Is there a way to change votes? I previously voted for other and now I can't choose Adolin since he has been added.

I hoped it would work since there is multiple choice, but if that isn't the case, I don't know. I apologize for the poll being stormed up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Ookla the Toasted said:

I apologize for the poll being stormed up.

Just delete the poll and go with the advice my lecturers always gave. Explain yourself and cite two supporting references for each point. You should also deduct points from peoples opinions if they fail to adhere to correct APA referencing ;).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...