Base Breaking Character / Game of Thrones

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• Ros's status as a Canon Foreigner who takes screen time away from characters in the books makes her hated to a lot of people (being the main participant in most of the sexposition scenes doesn't help), but plenty of critics and viewers find her snarky, charismatic and sexy.
• Talisa Maegyr. Some viewers enjoy the expanded role that Robb's love interest gets, while others dislike the new material for various reasons, including Talisa's Canon Foreigner status, viewing it all as a Romantic Plot Tumor.
• Karl Tanner, leader of the mutineers of the Night's Watch. While Burn Gorman's performance was generally well received, the character is unique to the show, which upset some of the book readers, who consider him yet another example of a cartoonish villain who steals precious screen time from the most important characters. Some viewers also prematurely judged him to be a Small Name, Big Ego and were upset when he outclasses Jon Snow in a fight. Of course, most fans ignore that he fought dishonourably.
• Shae, largely due to her characterization being vastly different from in the book. While in the book she's a manipulative opportunist who is clearly interested in Tyrion only for his power and social position, in the show she she is clearly in love with Tyrion and cares for Sansa, and also jealous and vindictive. Although some fans think it makes the character and her dynamic with Tyrion more interesting and more tragic, others fans are divided on whether the change works, especially once the Purple Wedding, trial, and her death are taken into account. Many complain that precisely because Shae's arc in Season 4 is more faithful to the book, it ends up not matching her personality and actions in the rest of the series.
• Stannis Baratheon was already fairly divisive, with fans who adore him giving him the nickname Stannis the Mannis and others fans consider him only a boring and generic religious fanatic. Many fans complain that the writers cut out several of the character's nice moments and focused only on his flaws. In Season 5, after Stannis sacrifices his daughter to R'hllor, Stannis fans divided on whether Stannis remains a sympathetic character or has done a Face–Heel Turn into a Hate Sink. A lot of book fans (including many who don't even particularly like Stannis) were more angry at the writers, considering that in the equivalent Cold Equation in the books Stannis refuses to burn anyone (not even captives or unbelievers) except as punishment for cannibalism and still seems confident of defeating the Boltons.
• Olly also gets a lot of hatred in Season 5 and Season 6 due to being whiny, anti-Wilding and for delivering the final kill on Jon Snow in the season finale. Other people believed that he didn't deserve that much hate and pointed out that Olly hated the Wildings because they killed his parents and destroyed his village in Season 4. In fact, his actions in the finale of Season 5 could be justified due to believing that Jon let Tormund off the hook despite being one of the ringleaders who raided in his home.
• Ramsay Bolton. While no one denies his extreme cruelty and ruthlessness, some think that he is still a cool and entertaining villain much more interesting than Joffrey Baratheon. Others think he is just an exaggerated, unfunny version of Joffrey whose success relies on luck and plot armor more than anything. It doesn’t help that he received a massive dose of Adaptational Attractiveness and Adaptational Intelligence, changing him from a hideous and alienating brute in the novels into essentially a handsome supervillain with no real weaknesses and numerous Adaptational Skills - the kind of character the show and novels usually went out of their way to avoid.
• The House Tyrell has become this over the years. In the books, the characters of this house do not have POV chapters, being seen only from the point of view of characters like Cersei and Sansa. Therefore, it was inevitable that the screenwriters would invent new scenes detailing their motivations better. Some people like it, thinking it fleshes out Margaery Tyrell more and shows more of the political intrigue, as well as praising the performances of Natalie Dormer and Diana Rigg. Others think the added Tyrell scenes, especially in Season 4 and Season 5, aren't that important to the overall plot and are basically Pandering to the Base. Then the scenes of Margaery sexually manipulating Tommen in Season 4 and Season 5 are also very contentious due to Tommen's unclear age (especially as he continues acting like a child) making Margaery seem like a sexual abuser and sexual predator, especially as their relationship in the books is non-sexual due to Tommen's age. And while the Tyrells are important to the plot, some people think their emphasis is annoying as it takes too much time away from other significant characters, such as Stannis. Then there's their Adaptational Heroism, with them being clearly portrayed as better people than the Lannisters and Stannis, taking away a lot of the moral ambiguity of the books. Finally, many fans accuse the writers of making Loras Tyrell and Mace Tyrell much more one-dimensional than they are in the books.
• Varys from Season 6 onwards, as the entire Young Griff storyline was cut. With it went speculation on Varys' motives, making him simply interested in restoring the Targaryen dynasty. Some dislike that it simplifies his character from the books where he was more shifty, morally complex, and shown to have been working on his plans for "Young Griff" for almost twenty years. Others like the change because it makes Varys a moral and loyal man but no one trusts him because he's a eunich and a spymaster, which also works for the series' love of subverting tropes, while in the books Varys turns out to be just as ambitious a schemer as everyone else in Westeros and really is just as treacherous as everyone says, just layered in how he's treacherous. And then there's those who appreciate that the Young Griff subplot (itself controversial) was cut for the sake of Pragmatic Adaptation. Others were willing to accept a simplification, but not the Voodoo Shark the writers made of Varys' motives. In Season 7, Dany directly confronts Varys about how backing her "cruel, stupid, and weak" brother Viserys back in Season 1 disproves all his "good of the realm" rhetoric, but rather than answer the charge Varys just blathers for a bit before returning to that same old rhetoric unchallenged. His actions towards Daenerys in the final season are also questioned and criticized by many fans.
• Euron Greyjoy is either an Large Ham, entertaining and badass villain who steals his scenes, an uninteresting and obnoxious one, or simply a pale shadow of his more intimidating Sorcerous Overlord book counterpart. Others say that he could have been a good villain, but he was introduced too late, making everything about him feel rushed and underwhelming, even though Pilou Asbaek's portrayal of him has been generally well-received, especially in Season 7. The biggest complaint between fans and critics is that Euron was introduced too late and right when the show had its quality drop, to the point where his only role is to serve as a convenient plot device whenever needed.
• Daenerys Targaryen:
  • Some fans see her as a kind-hearted character who began the series as a victim of abuse and eventually becomes a Magnificent Bastard with the strongest claim to the throne, a really fancy wardrobe, and, of course, three dragons under her command. Others find her incompetent, overrated, and her lines to be full of Narm. Regarding the latter, there are different opinions on how much of this is either the fault of the writers or Emilia Clarke's acting.
  • It should also be noted that gender politics has some role in this: due to Dany ascending to Big Good as of Season 7 and apparently becoming The Hero; some people see her tale of conquest as highly inspiring and empowering for women and see her as a strong feminist role model, while others dislike how her importance and role have started to overshadow allegedly more competent and experienced male characters such as Tyrion^note whose own descent into incompetence is blamed on this and Stannis. A third camp has taken to criticizing the character and the flaws in her writing for not being progressive enough, with shades of the problematic "white savior" trope (as below) and her entitlement and desire to be the singular person in charge despite her good intentions, culminating in her Face–Heel Turn and role as the Final Boss.
  • There's a debate over whether her story is a classic rags-to-riches or a white savior story. The scene in "Myhsa" where she is called 'Mhysa' (mother) and lifted up by several hundred ambiguously brown freed slaves is particularly contentious, but overall the idea of a white foreigner suddenly arriving in the 'uncivilized' majority darker-skinned cities and then magically improving the lives of every slave rightfully inspires a little contempt. George R. R. Martin has refuted Dany as a white savior and explained the reason behind the race of the slaves on the show was due to the practical availability of extras in Morocco, where they were filming Dany's scenes during this time in the series.
  • Her actions over the course of the series is also a point of contention. Some fans consider her to be a genuinely evil person much like her father or even Cersei, citing that she herself has taken slaves (Mirri Maz Durr, for one), is planning an invasion that will leave thousands of dead for entirely selfish reasons, and has executed hundreds of people in cruel and unusual ways such as crucifixion or being burned alive by a dragon (especially in the case of the Tarlys). However, others argue that she does not at all desire to murder thousands to obtain the throne, and the very few innocents (among many an Asshole Victim) she unknowingly killed caused her true remorse. Plus, she gave the Tarlys a choice to serve her (and Tyrion suggested they take the Black), but they refused and willingly chose death over betraying their Queen Cersei (whose own claim to the Iron Throne is morally dubious at best), adding to the fact that, in war, if an enemy soldier refuses to join you, they are still your enemy and should be taken care of. Many point out that both Ned and Jon have executed people, yet none of their actions were deemed as wrong or at least as controversial as Dany's. Arya and Sansa are also pointed to as examples of people whose Pay Evil unto Evil moments don't get nearly as much criticism. To add to this, she did not have to aid Jon Snow and let him mine Dragonglass or come to the rescue of Jon and his company from miles away while they were under attack by the Army of the Dead, nor did Tyron persuade her. It was her choice.
  • Her actions in the final season, more specifically in the final two episodes were... controversial among fandom, to say the least. One camp saw burning King's Landing as the culmination of her Protagonist Journey to Villain character arc, with her morally dubious acts in prior episodes showing she was capable of such an atrocity all along. Another camp, however, contended that it made no sense for her to be Jumping Off the Slippery Slope so quickly and committing an act that not only was far more horrific than anything that had done before, but also made no sense given that Cersei had surrendered. A related controversy is whether having her and Cersei, the two most prominent surviving female leaders, fight each other in an Evil Versus Evil conflict, is full of sexist implications due to Daenerys' sudden fall to evil, or an appropriate aversion of Females Are More Innocent.
• While many continue to applaud her badassery and Undying Loyalty, Brienne's killing of Stannis rubbed many fans the wrong way since they not only felt Stannis suffered from Designated Evil but were angered Brienne would abandon Sansa for personal vengeance and later gloat about it to Davos and hold a grudge against him even though she's not so different in serving people Because You Were Nice to Me. For many book fans in particular, this behaviour also bought into stark focus that the show's surly and vindictive Brienne is the antithesis of the kind, gentle, and idealistic character they love from the books who only kills to defend herself and others.
• Tyrion Lannister became this in the second half of the series (Seasons 5, 6, 7 and 8), when the writers decided not to make the character as dark as he becomes in the books after leaving King's Landing. Some fans think this was the best possible decision, arguing that it would be impossible for the viewer to care or sympathize with Tyrion after seeing the horrible actions and behavior he takes during his trip through Essos. Other fans think this was a mistake and a missed opportunity for the writers, as a darker and more dangerous Tyrion makes the character more interesting, would be a delight for Peter Dinklage's performance, and could even justify Daenerys' actions in the final season. These fans also argue that with the decision to cut the dark Tyrion of the books, the Tyrion of the TV series ends up becoming generic, uninspired and less interesting.
• There are several different debates around Sansa Stark. First, transferred over from the book fandom, considerable vitriol is directed at her in some quarters for (variously) being stupid, girly, or passive. Second, there are the people who like the book character and dislike the changes made to her by the show's writers (such as removing her involvement in her escape from King's Landing, being generally more sympathetic to Tyrion, and giving her Jeyne Poole's storyline of marrying and being abused by Ramsay when it makes no sense and in the books, Sansa is meant to be disguised as Littlefinger's bastard daughter in the Vale). Other fans think the writers have made the character rather unsympathetic for the way she deals with Jon and Daenerys in the final season. Lastly, there are quite a few viewers who are extremely happy with show Sansa's portrayal, finding her to be complex, strong, and smart.
• Jon Snow is either the most sympathetic, likable, and heroic character in the series or a generic, one-dimensional and boring character in a universe populated by complex and infinitely more interesting characters.
• Grey Worm and Missandei have a few fans who find them likable and enjoy their devotion to Daenerys. Then there's others who believe they're incredibly boring and have taken up too much time after surviving into the final seasons. Didn't help in season six where a large chunk of the very beloved Tyrion's scenes was him playing opposite two characters widely agreed to be much less interesting and entertaining. The final season also didn't help matters given they both completely support Dany burning all of King's Landing. This became more pronounced with Grey Work for his active role in committing war crimes, but Missandei actively advising such a turn has got her into this too.
• Arya grew more divisive as the show went on due to a variety of factors. She took a noticeable level in jerkass, she suddenly takes an enormous level in badass that is not reflected at all from her training and prior feats, which in turn heavily downplays her previous intelligence. There's also the fact that ever since returning from Braavos, the creators seem to enjoy reminding the audience what a cool badass she is, which is capped by her killing of the Night King, which is either a cool and unexpected twist, or a horrible decision given their respective stories were completely separate, thus robbing Jon of what was built up as his big moment. Not to mention, her role following episodes was critiqued for having far too much screentime for a subplot that ultimately doesn't have any effect on the overall story. With all that said, Arya still has plenty of fans from her previous days as a universal favorite, with several viewers enjoying how badass she's become, and like how she still ultimately cares for her family despite her colder demeanor.
• Fans of Jaime Lannister were more than a little displeased to see that his on and off character development through seasons 3-7 was completely abandoned in the final few episodes of season 8, and that after finally decided to break ties with Cersei at the end of season 7, he then breaks Brienne's heart and abandons her to run back to Cersei's side, where he goes out with a whimper after being crushed by a pile of falling bricks.

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