History Woobie / ASongOfIceAndFire

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic girl]] who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and initially aspires to be a PrincessClassic. At the start of the first book, she is living with her loving family in a not-so-exciting, but safe home, with dreams of going off to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]]. Now, all she wants is to go home and be reunited with the surviving family she has left.
** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life, must face the Westerosi social stigma of being an illegitimate child, and is always facing ConflictingLoyalty between love vs. duty. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings deeply and they all love him, Jon is still somewhat of an outsider in his own family, yearns to know about his MissingMom, and [[JumpedAtTheCall wants to find his own place in the world]]. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is almost always a FishOutOfWater as he's far too noble and educated to be lowborn but not highly born enough to inherit his family's titles. He believes his father wouldn't speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a ranger in the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour as an illegitimate son but, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. Later, the Lord Commander begins to see Jon as his successor and Jon [[CallToAdventure gets to go ranging]], but then he is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him being only 15 years old and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others]]. He's elected Lord Commander at [[AChildShallLeadThem a very young age]], where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face Westeros's [[ZombieApocalypse greatest threat]] -- and he must fight it with limited resources while working to save ''everyone''... but [[SealedEvilInACan many in the kingdom don't even believe this evil has returned]]. When he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to defend against [[NotUsingTheZWord the army of the dead]], who is coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is morally right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared unfavorably to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry bullies her]]. She comes from the same loving family as Sansa, Jon, and the rest of the Starks, but finds she does not fit gender roles as her siblings easily do because her [[{{Tomboy}} own talents]] (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender restrictions. Though Arya has the support of her half-brother Jon, who gives Arya her CoolSword, and eventually her father, who arranges for her to learn how to use her CoolSword under the guise of 'dancing lessons,' she must keep her sword fighting aspirations secret and cannot openly take part in these talents. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and thinks that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life, must face the Westerosi social stigma of being an illegitimate child, and is always facing ConflictingLoyalty between love vs. duty. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings deeply and they all love him, Jon is still somewhat of an outsider in his own family, yearns to know about his MissingMom, and [[JumpedAtTheCall wants to find his own place in the world]]. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is almost always a FishOutOfWater as he's far too noble and educated to be lowborn but not highly born enough to inherit his family's titles. He believes his father wouldn't speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a ranger in the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour as an illegitimate son but, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. Later, the Lord Commander begins to see Jon as his successor and Jon [[CallToAdventure gets to go ranging]], but then he is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him being only 15 years old and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others]]. He's elected Lord Commander at [[AChildShallLeadThem a very young age]], where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face Westeros's [[ZombieApocalypse greatest threat]] -- and he must fight it with limited resources while working to save ''everyone''... but [[SealedEvilInACan many in the kingdom don't even believe this evil has returned]]. When he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight [[NotUsingTheZWord the army of the dead]], who is coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is morally right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared unfavorably to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry bullies her]]. She comes from the same loving family as Sansa, Jon, and the rest of the Starks, but finds she does not fit gender roles as her siblings easily do because her [[{{Tomboy}} own talents]] (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender restrictions. Though Arya has the support of her half-brother Jon, who gives Arya her CoolSword, and eventually her father, who arranges for her to learn how to use her CoolSword under the guise of 'dancing lessons,' she must keep her sword fighting aspirations secret and cannot openly take part in these talents. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic girl]] who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and believes in the fairy-tale stories and songs about princes, knights, and princesses. At the start of the first book, she is living with her loving family in a not-so-exciting, but safe home, with dreams of going off to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]]. Now, all she wants is to go home and be reunited with the surviving family she has left.
** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life, must face the Westerosi social stigma of being an illegitimate child, and is always facing ConflictingLoyalty between love vs. duty. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings deeply and they all love him, Jon is still somewhat of an outsider in his own family and yearns to learn about his MissingMom who he knows nothing about. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn at the Wall but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a ranger in the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour as an illegitimate son but, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. Later, the Lord Commander begins to see Jon as his successor and Jon gets to go ranging, but then he is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him only being 15 years old and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. He's elected Lord Commander at [[AChildShallLeadThem a very young age]], where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat, he must fight it with limited resources, and he's working to save ''everyone''... but [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe the threat has returned]]. When he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is morally right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry bullies her]], while [[{{Tomboy}} Arya's]] own talents (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender roles. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic girl]] who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and believes the fairy-tale stories and songs about princes, knights, and princesses are true. At the start of the first book, she is living with her loving family in a not-so-exciting, but safe home, with dreams of going off to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]]. Now, all she wants is to go home and be reunited with the surviving family she has left.
** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life, must face the unfair social stigma of being an illegitimate child, and is always facing ConflictingLoyalty between love vs. duty. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings deeply and they love him, Jon is still somewhat of an outsider in his own family and yearns to learn about his MissingMom who he knows nothing about. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn at the Wall but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: it could be because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a ranger in the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour as an illegitimate son but, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. Later, the Lord Commander begins to see Jon as his successor and Jon gets to go ranging, but then he is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him only being 15 years old and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. He's elected Lord Commander at [[AChildShallLeadThem a very young age]], where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat, he must fight it with limited resources, and he's working to save ''everyone''... but [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe the threat has returned]]. When he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is morally right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry bullies her]], while [[{{Tomboy}} Arya's}} own talents (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender roles. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic girl]] who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and believes the fairy-tale stories and songs about princes, knights, and princesses are true. At the start of the first book, she is living with her loving family in a boring, but comfortable, home with dreams of going off to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]].
** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life, must face the unfair social stigma of being an illegitimate child, and is always facing ConflictingLoyalty between love vs. duty. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings and they love him, Jon is still somewhat of an outsider in his own family and he dreams of his MissingMom who he knows nothing about. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn at the Wall but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: it could be because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He yearns to become a ranger of the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour as an illegitimate son but, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. Later, the Lord Commander begins to see Jon as his successor and Jon gets to go ranging, but then he is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him only being 15 years old and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. He's elected Lord Commander at [[AChildShallLeadThem a very young age]], where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat, he must fight it with limited resources, and he's working to save ''everyone''... but [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe the threat has returned]]. When he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is morally right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** The most sympathetic of the Freys is the poor fool, Aegon "Jinglebell" Frey. The poor guy was born with substantial learning difficulties and was thus made the butt of family jokes for decades. And, with ''that'' [[HateSink family]], well... you just have to pity him, as its all too easy to picture what he must have gone through. [[spoiler: In the end, he was considered a throw-away sacrifice of not much note, too, even though he probably barely knew what was going on.]]
** Olyvar is the 18th son of Lord Walder, who was made Robb Stark's squire as part of the crossing agreement between the Starks and Freys. He genuinely looked up to Robb despite being a couple years older, has a lively personality and when the Freys withdraw their support in anger over Robb breaking his vow to marry one of the Frey daughters (by marrying Jeyne Westerling instead), Olyvar is the only one present (and still alive, unlike his brother Stevron) who still supports Robb. He is not at the Twins for Edmure's wedding to his sister Roslin, ostensibly "on business" along with his nephew Alesander and his brother Perwyn; the real reason is that [[spoiler:all three of them they were judged to be ''too'' sympathetic to the Northerners]], and it's implied that Perwyn [[spoiler:knew about the Red Wedding, yet despite objecting to it, he didn't stop it out of family loyalty]]. Olyvar only finds out about this ''well after'' [[spoiler:his former lord and sworn King, along with many people he fought alongside during the campaign, were already massacred.]] This guy really needs a hug.

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old [[WideEyedIdealist idealistic girl]] who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and believes the fairy-tale stories and songs about princes, knights, and princesses are true. At the start of the first book, she is living with her loving family with dreams of going to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]].
** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings and they love him, he's still somewhat of an outsider due to his illegitimate status and he dreams of knowing his MissingMom who he knows nothing about. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: it could be because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He yearns to become a member of the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour and overcome Westerosi stigma against illegitimacy. However, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. Nonetheless, Jon proves to be the best new recruit and bonds with the Lord Commander, who grooms him as his successor, but then Jon is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him only being a teenager and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. He's elected Lord Commander and is put into the position of AChildShallLeadThem, where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat -- and he must fight it with limited resources -- while, due to his strong sense of morality, he's working to save ''everyone.'' Then, when he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent and [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe this is true]]. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].
*** During all of this, [[spoiler:Jon is devastated by the belief that his family has perished -- his father, his three brothers, his two sisters, his uncle. It's gotten to the point where those remaining in this family -- Jon, Arya, Sansa, Bran and Rickon -- don't actually know that any of the others are alive and, if they get ''any'' shred of hope to this effect, pray their hardest that they're okay, long to see each other again, but whenever they try to get to each other, something always prevents them from reuniting. In ''A Dance With Dragons,'' he finally thinks he may be able to save one of his family members -- his beloved little sister Arya -- but is killed for his efforts and unbeknownst to him, the girl claiming to his sister is an imposter.]]

** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings and they love him, he's still somewhat of an outsider due to his illegitimate status and dreams of knowing his MissingMom, who he knows nothing about. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be all because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He yearns to become a member of the Night's Watch like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] so he can earn his own honour and overcome Westerosi stigma against illegitimacy. However, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds out what the Night's Watch has now mostly [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores become]]. In the Night's Watch, Jon proves to be the best recruit and bonds with the Lord Commander, who grooms him as his successor, but then Jon is ordered to go on extremely dangerous missions like being a FakeDefector among the wildlings, despite him only being a teenager and a brand new member. He's an outsider among the wildlings and when he returns, he's an outsider among the Watch due to his time with the wildlings. From his experiences, Jon is one of the few who comes to understand the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. He's elected Lord Commander and is put into the position of AChildShallLeadThem, where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat -- and he must fight it with limited resources -- while, due to his strong sense of morality, he's working to save ''everyone.'' Then, when he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' he faces more dissent and [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe this is true]]. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off in his efforts to do what is right, some of which comes into conflict with the Watch's neutrality, [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry bullies her]], while [[{{Tomboy}} Arya's}} own talents (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender roles. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Despite not getting much development, Rickon Stark is really having a sucky childhood -- ever since his family was split into different directions by events taking place early on in the series. This is made all the sadder as Rickon had wished for none of his family to leave Winterfell in the first place and wishes for all of them to return. Now that's unlikely to happen because like the rest of the Starks, [[spoiler: he's separated from the rest of living siblings (Jon, Sansa, Arya and Bran) while his parents and oldest brother are dead, his home is burned down and everyone in Westeros thinks he and Bran are dead]]. Rickon's only companions are his direwolf Shaggydog, who is violent and very wild as he himself is, and a wildling girl. Rickon [[spoiler:is said to be an island rumored for a bunch of cannibals and unicorns (no, we're not talking about those cutesy unicorns)]]. You can't help but feel sorry that this kid had to grow up in such a CrapsackWorld with a lack of parental guidance.
* Dany is set up as one, being abused by her {{JerkAss}} brother and forced to run for her life, for her ''entire life''. Then it's totally subverted with her [[YouGoGirl ascent to awesomeness.]]

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old romantic WideEyedIdealist who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and believes the fairy-tale stories and songs about princes, knights, and princesses are true. At the start of the first book, she is living with her loving family with dreams of going to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who bullies her, and [[{{Tomboy}} Arya's}} own talents (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender roles. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Well, Falia's...[[AssholeVictim not a particularly great person]], having ''immediately'' and happily sold herself to Euron when the Ironborn raided Oakenshield, from which she proceeded to give him ideas on how to humiliate ''her own family'' further, such as making all the women serve naked. She then remained at his side as he gifted her multiple prizes and luxuries, ignoring Aeron's constant pleas to run. Her [[spoiler: ending up as a sacrifice is [[TooDumbToLive very much her own fault]] and a [[KarmicDeath fitting end...]] but having her ''tongue cut off while she's bound naked to the prow of a sailing ship despite being pregnant with his child'' can still net her a Woobie status, depending on your interpretation.]]
*** Even before becoming Euron's lover, Falia was a woobie in her own right. She was born a bastard, but her father, stepmother, and trueborn half-sisters [[CinderellaCircumstances forced her to be their servant.]] Small wonder she jumped at the opportunity to get revenge when it was offered to her.
*** On the other side of the coin, Falia's sisters may have mistreated her, but not all of them deserved the humiliation she put them through after joining Euron Greyjoy. The youngest of them is only ten years old and cries when she's ordered to strip.

** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life. Although he loves his father, uncle, and half-siblings and they love him, he's still somewhat of an outsider due to his illegitimate status and dreams of knowing his MissingMom, who he knows nothing about. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his mother's identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be all because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a member of the Night's Watch to be a ranger like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] and to earn his own honour. However, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds that the Night's Watch has now fallen into disrepair, [[BrokenPedestal shattering his rather idealistic views]]. In the Night's Watch, Jon proves to be the best recruit and bonds with the Lord Commander, who looks at him as a potential successor, but then he's sent into very risky missions like being a FakeDefector, despite him only being a teenager and a brand new member. Also, Jon's one of the few who understands the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. Shortly after, he's elected Lord Commander and is put into the position of AChildShallLeadThem, where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat -- and he must fight it with limited resources -- while, due to his strong sense of morality, he's working to save ''everyone.'' Then, when he tries to save the wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe this is true]]. By the end of the fifth book, he ends up pissing too many people off [[spoiler: and a faction of his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who bullies her, and Arya's own talents (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict gender roles. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].

** Poor Bran Stark wanted nothing more than to be a KnightInShiningArmor, and ''loved'' climbing. Then Jaime pushed him out of a window, paralyzing him from the waist down. Now, not only can he never be a knight and can never climb again, he can't even ''cross the room'' without someone's help.

** Sansa Stark is an 11-year old romantic WideEyedIdealist who dreams of going to court, being swept off her feet by a handsome knight, and believes the fairy-tale stories and songs about princes, knights, and princesses are true. At the start of the first book, she is living with a loving family with dreams of going to court and being engaged to a handsome prince. She gets her [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish]] but by the end of this same book, her betrothed -- the handsome PrinceCharmless -- has her father beheaded while the royal family has declared almost her entire family to be traitors. While her mother, eldest brother, and younger sister are being hunted down, Sansa finds herself alone without any of her family and becomes a StepfordSmiler engaged to an abusive, cruel prince and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]].
** Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life. Although he loves his father and trueborn siblings and they love him, he's still somewhat of an outsider due to his illegitimate status. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by a lord father with his siblings, he is [[FishOutOfWater too noble and educated for the lowborn but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles]]. He believes his father would never speak about his [[MissingMom mother's]] identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be all because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a member of the Night's Watch to be a ranger like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] and to earn his own honour. However, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds that the Night's Watch has now fallen into disrepair, [[BrokenPedestal shattering his rather idealistic views]]. In the Night's Watch, Jon proves to be the best recruit and bonds with the Lord Commander, who looks at him as a potential successor, but then he's sent into very risky missions like being a FakeDefector, despite him only being a teenager and a brand new member. Also, Jon's one of the few who understands the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. Shortly after, he's elected Lord Commander and is put into the position of AChildShallLeadThem, where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat -- and he must fight it with limited resources -- while, due to his strong sense of morality, he's working to save ''everyone.'' Then, when he tries to save the Wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe this is true]] [[spoiler: and his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Poor Bran Stark wanted nothing more than to be a KnightInShiningArmor, and ''loved'' climbing. Then Jaime pushed him out of a window, paralyzing him from the waist down. Now not only can he never be a knight, not only can he never climb again, he can't even ''cross the room'' without someone's help.

* [[IronWoobie Doran Martell]] thought that he's not going to get younger siblings after the first two died weeks after they were born. Fortunately, Elia and Oberyn lived through their adult years. And then, Elia and her children are brutally killed by a Lannister bannerman and the current regime didn't bother to deliver that man to justice because they're closely tied to the Lannisters. This made Doran into a cynical and depressed man who is diagnosed with gout, wants revenge on the Lannisters and had to send his son, Quentyn, to a rival house as a ward to earn their alliance which cause his wife to leave him. [[spoiler:Then, Oberyn died in a brutal MutualKill against the same man who had killed their sister and Quentyn failed his quest to bring Daenarys to Westeros and got roasted. Gods knows how Doran's going to take if he's going to find out about his son]].

** Well, Falia's...[[AssholeVictim not a particularly great person]], having ''immediately'' and happily sold herself to Euron when the Ironborn raided Oakenshield, from which she proceeded to give him ideas on how to humiliate ''her own family'' further, such as making all the women serve naked. She then remained at his side as he gifted her multiple prizes and luxuries, ignoring Aeron's constant pleas to run. Her [[spoiler: ending up as a sacrifice is [[TooDumbToLive very much her own fault]] and a [[KarmicDeath fitting end...]] but having her ''tongue cut off while she's bound naked to the prow of a sailing ship despite being pregnant with his child''can still net her a Woobie status, depending on your interpretation.]]

** Sansa Stark is a romantic WideEyedIdealist who dreams of going to court and being swept off her feet by a handsome knight. By the end of the first book, almost her entire family have been declared traitors and are being hunted down, while she herself has become a StepfordSmiler with an abusive PrinceCharmless fiancé and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]].
** Although he is loved by his father, half-siblings and uncle, Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by his father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[PrincelyYoungMan too noble and educated]] to be just another bastard kid in Westeros but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles. He believes his father would never speak about his [[MissingMom mother's]] identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be all because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a member of the Night's Watch to be a ranger like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] and to earn his own honour. However, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds that the Night's Watch has now fallen into disrepair, [[BrokenPedestal shattering his rather idealistic views]]. In the Night's Watch, Jon proves to be the best recruit and bonds with the Lord Commander, who looks at him as a potential successor, but then he's sent into very risky missions like being a FakeDefector, despite him only being a teenager and a brand new member. Also, Jon's one of the few who understands the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. Shortly after, he's elected Lord Commander and is put into the position of AChildShallLeadThem, where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat -- and he must fight it with limited resources -- while, due to his strong sense of morality, he's working to save ''everyone.'' Then, when he tries to save the Wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe this is true]] [[spoiler: and his own men attempt to murder him]].

** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who bullies her, and Arya's own talents (horseback riding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate by Westerosi society due to Westeros’s strict restrictions on women's roles. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed [[{{sadist}} Joffrey Baratheon]], Arya's friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf Nymeria away to save Nymeria’s life. All this pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].
** Ned Stark is the OnlySaneMan in a DeadlyDecadentCourt and didn't even want the job as the king's NumberTwo in the first place because he loathes the petty power feuds in the court and wanted to stay away from it as much as possible. Also, he has a inferiority complex towards his older brother Brandon, who was intended to be heir of Winterfell instead of him, and even the wife he came to love was originally meant to marry his brother. He is also struggling with his PTSD about what he witnessed during Robert's Rebellion. Memories of his sister Lyanna's death are frequently present in his mind, as is ThePromise he made to her, and it has heavily influenced his mindset. He tries to do good for most of his time, will even go against rules for the sake of doing the right thing, but ends up in disgrace and [[spoiler:executed by a boy]] he was trying to protect -- because of schemes he never knew were being played.

* Jaime, since ''A Storm of Swords''. We find out that he killed the Mad King [[spoiler: in order to save thousands of lives]] but is always scorned for it. [[spoiler: Then he loses his sword hand and Cersei's affection, the only two things that made him feel alive]].

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died during the battle. Later his mother Rhaenyra took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee once the citizens of the city turned on them, along with another of his brothers dying. Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera, and was imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became king, but he remained in melancholy for the rest of his life, never smiling and always wearing black in mourning for his mother. He would brood in his room for days, meaning his brother Viserys had to run the realm, and didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon. He also died relatively young, at the age of 36.

* Rhaenyra Targaryen's mother died when she was very young. She gets slut-shamed and her claim to the throne is contested because of her gender and the Hightowers' ambition. [[spoiler: Her father died, her daughter was stillborn, her three eldest sons died one after another, her youngest son was taken hostage, she saw her dragon die, her second husband might have been cheating on her, she loses control of King's Landing, she's betrayed by her own men, then she's burned alive and fed to her brother's dragon.]] [[TraumaCongaLine All that in the span of less than two years]]. She can't even catch a break posthumously, [[spoiler: since everyone ''still'' considers her a usurper and terrible queen despite her being the mother of the current line of Targaryens]].
* Joffrey Velaryon, Rhaenyra's third son. After losing both his elder brothers the Dragonpit is stormed, putting his dragon in danger. His attempt to ride his mother's dragon to save his fails and he falls to his death, though spends ages dying in agony.
* Poor, poor [[BrokenBird Queen Helaena]]. The horrific Blood and Cheese incident left her severely depressed and [[spoiler: lead to her committing suicide ([[NeverSuicide allegedly]])]].
* Helaena's last surviving child, Princess Jaehaera. Her twin brother was murdered in front of her, her other brother was sent away soon after and died, and her father married her to her cousin Aegon III at a young age to ensure his line would continue to hold the throne. However she [[spoiler:died shortly after when she fell onto spikes, taking an hour to die. She apparently committed suicide but more likely she was murdered on the orders of Lord Peake so his daughter could marry Aegon.]]
* Queen Naerys, the pious daughter of Viserys II. She was a slender, small and sickly woman who wanted to join the Faith but was forced to marry her brother Aegon IV "The Unworthy". Aegon constantly cheats on her and abuses her. Childbirth was very difficult for Naerys, after her first birth it was warned another pregnancy could kill her, but even though she bears him a son, Daeron, Aegon refuses to let [[MaritalRapeLicense her leave his bed]]. She had numerous miscarriages, a daughter being the only other child that survived. Even before that her husband accuses her of cheating on him with her other brother, Aemon, who is kind to her. After Aemon dies defending the brother he hates due to his Kingsguard vows, Aegon continues to spread rumors about Daeron's illegitimacy, and Naerys dies a year after her kinder brother in childbirth.

* Ellaria Sand's world came crashing down [[spoiler:when she had watched Oberyn ''get his skull crushed'' by Ser Gregor Clegane. Then, she's upset that his brother and her three older stepdaughters still want revenge despite that the people responsible for Elia's and Oberyn's deaths are gone. She clearly doesn't want them to get entangled with the horrible CycleOfRevenge that killed her lover and is worried that her four younger daughters could likely get involved in this cycle if their older sisters died.]]

* The [[SexSlave sunset girl]] that Tyrion sleeps with in the Selhorys brothel. Her back is covered with scars from having been whipped and [[DespairEventHorizon her eyes look completely dead.]] She has no identity, not even a name of her own; the proprietor of the brothel just calls her "the sunset girl". Despite knowing almost nothing about her, it's not hard to imagine the kinds of horrors she's been through. Even Tyrion feels ashamed of himself after he has sex with her.
* The slaves of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen lead miserable lives before they are freed by Dany, but a slave's life in Astapor is a living nightmare. When new slaves are led into the city, the first thing they see is the Plaza of Punishment, where rebellious slaves are punished and executed. Disobedient slaves are punished by flaying, and slave children are regularly fed to bears for entertainment. The Unsullied are castrated at age five and go through horrible training regimens that involve being forced to kill the puppies they've bonded with and murder slave infants in front of their mothers.

* The slaves of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen lead miserable lives before they are freed by Dany, but a slave's life in Astapor is a living nightmare. When new slaves are led into the city, the first thing they see is the Plaza of Punishment, where rebellious slaves are punished and executed. Disobedient slaves are punished by flaying, and slave children are regularly fed to bears for entertainment. The Unsullied are castrated at age five and go through horrible training regimens that involve being forced to kill the puppies they've bonded with and murder slave children in front of their mothers.

* The slaves of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen lead miserable lives before they are freed by Dany, but a slave's life in Astapor is a living nightmare. When new slaves are led into the city, the first thing they see is the Plaza of Punishment, where rebellious slaves are punished and executed. Disobedient slaves are punished by flaying, and slave children are regularly fed to bears for entertainment. The Unsullied are castrated at age five and go through horrible training regimens that involve killing the puppies they've bonded with and murdering slave children in front of their mothers.

* The slaves of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen lead miserable lives before they are freed by Dany, but Astapor is particularly awful. When new slaves are led into the city, the first thing they see is the Plaza of Punishment, where rebellious slaves are punished and executed. Disobedient slaves are punished by flaying, and slave children are regularly fed to bears for entertainment. The Unsullied also go through horrible training regimens that involve killing the puppies they've bonded with and murdering slave children in front of their mothers.

* The [[SexSlave sunset girl]] that Tyrion sleeps with in the Selhorys brothel. Her back is covered with whipping scars and [[DespairEventHorizon her eyes look completely dead.]] She has no identity, not even a name of her own; the proprietor of the brothel just calls her "the sunset girl". Despite knowing almost nothing about her, it's not hard to imagine the kinds of horrors she's been through. Even Tyrion feels ashamed after he has sex with her.

* Rhaenyra's mother died when she was very young. She gets slut-shamed and her claim is contested because of her gender and the Hightowers' ambition. [[spoiler: Her father died, her daughter was stillborn, her three eldest sons died one after another, her youngest son was taken hostage, she saw her dragon die, her second husband might have been cheating on her, she loses control of King's Landing, she's betrayed by her own men, then she's burned alive and fed to her brother's dragon.]] [[TraumaCongaLine All that in the span of less than two years]]. She can't even catch a break posthumously, [[spoiler: since everyone ''still'' considers her a usurper and terrible queen despite her being the mother of the current line of Targaryens]].

* Depending on your interpretation, Cersei Lannister could be seen as a ''deeply'' complex JerkassWoobie. Her mother died when she was a child, her father became distant, she was married off to a man who often raped her, and generally had to deal with being a woman in a patriarchal society. What makes her interesting is that her sympathetic traits are meant to ''explain'' her actions, instead of [[FreudianExcuse excuse them]]. She spent her life believing her brother would one day kill her, so she despises and abuses Tyrion. She was told everything would be stolen from her by another queen, so she plots against her daughter-in-law and guards her power at any cost. She thought her children would all die young, so she became overprotective and controlling. Even her hypocritical BoomerangBigot tendencies arose from her internalizing the values of the society that raised her, along with her bitterness about having limited opportunities due to her gender. [[spoiler: Cersei's Walk of Shame in the fifth book exemplifies this. Even though she'd done many horrible things, her punishment is so deliberately targeted towards her gender that feels cruel and disproportionate.]]

** To expand on Falia, she's...not a particularly great person, having ''immediately'' and happily sold herself to Euron when the Ironborn raided Oakenshield, from which she proceeded to give him ideas on how to humiliate ''her own family'' further, such as making all the women serve naked. She then remained at his side as he gifted her multiple prizes and luxuries, ignoring Aeron's constant pleas to run. Her [[spoiler: ending up as a sacrifice is [[TooDumbToLive very much her own fault]] and a [[KarmicDeath fitting end...]] but having her ''tongue cut off while she's bound naked to the prow of a sailing ship despite being pregnant with his child'' still nets her a Woobie status.]]

** [[spoiler: To expand of Falia, she's...not a particularly great person, having ''immediately'' and happily sold herself to Euron when the Ironborn raided Oakenshield, from which she proceeded to give him ideas on how to humiliate ''her own family'' further, such as making all the women serve naked. She then remained at his side as he gifted her multiple prizes and luxuries, ignoring Aeron's constant pleas to run. Her ending up as a sacrifice is [[TooDumbToLive very much her own fault]] and a [[KarmicDeath fitting end...]] but having her ''tongue cut off while she's bound naked to the prow of a sailing ship despite being pregnant with his child'' still nets her a Woobie status.]]

* Theon Greyjoy, [[spoiler: as Reek, having been tortured to insanity]]

* Jeyne Poole manages to claim this title in ADWD despite being a very minor character. [[spoiler:Being married to ''Ramsay Bolton'' is exactly as bad as it sounds. It's also all but stated that she was whipped while being forced to train as a prostitute.]]

* Brienne has been mocked and rejected by many people for her lack of beauty and for her desire to be a KnightInShiningArmor. Despite being one of the closest things to an ideal that [[CrapsackWorld Westeros]] has, it actually makes things a far more difficult for her as men try to "[[AttemptedRape put her in her place]]". [[spoiler: Now she's being forced by the undead Catelyn (Lady Stoneheart), a woman she has sworn a duty to, to betray Jaime, a man that she has come to respect.]]

** Despite not getting much development, Rickon Stark really is having a sucky childhood ever since his family split into different directions, which is made all the sadder as he had wished for none of his family to leave Winterfell in the first place and wishes for all of them to return. Now that's unlikely to happen because like the rest of the Starks, [[spoiler: he's separated from the rest of living siblings (Jon, Sansa, Arya and Bran) while his parents and oldest brother are dead, his home is burned down and everyone in Westeros thinks he and Bran are dead]]. Rickon's only companions are his direwolf Shaggydog, who is violent and very wild as he himself is, and a wildling girl. Rickon [[spoiler:is said to be an island rumored for a bunch of cannibals and unicorns (no, we're not talking about those cutesy unicorns)]]. You can't help but feel sorry that this kid had to grow up in such a CrapsackWorld with a lack of parental guidance.

** Olyvar is the 18th son of Lord Walder, who was made Robb Stark's squire as part of the crossing agreement between the Starks and Freys. He genuinely looked up to Robb despite being a couple years older, has a lively personality and when the Freys withdrsw their support in anger over Robb breaking his vow to marry one of the Frey daughters (by marrying Jeyne Westerling instead), Olyvar is the only one present (and still alive, unlike his brother Stevron) who still supports Robb. He is not at the Twins for Edmure's wedding to his sister Roslin, ostensibly "on business" along with his nephew Alesander and his brother Perwyn; the real reason is that [[spoiler:all three of them they were judged to be ''too'' sympathetic to the Northerners]], and it's implied that Perwyn [[spoiler:knew about the Red Wedding, yet despite objecting to it, he didn't stop it out of family loyalty]]. Olyvar only finds out about this ''well after'' [[spoiler:his former lord and sworn King, along with many people he fought alongside during the campaign, were already massacred.]] This guy really needs a hug.

* The smallfolk in general 00 the arrogance and pride of the five kings has doomed them to years of war and deprivation.

* The smallfolk in general - the arrogance and pride of the five kings has doomed them to years of war and privation.

* A kind of weird inversion occurs with Robert Arryn in the first book - the reader wishes that someone would just take him away from his overprotective mother and force him to man up. You know your mother is bad when the readers wish that you had been sent to be fostered by ''Tywin Lannister.'' Even his father noticed it and wanted to send him to Stannis Baratheon.

** Olyvar is the 18th son of Lord Walder, who was made Robb Stark's squire as part of the crossing agreement between the Starks and Freys. He genuinely looked up to Robb despite being a couple years older, had a lively personality and when the Freys withdrew their support in anger over Robb breaking the deal (by marrying Jeyne Westerling), he was the only one present (and still alive, unlike his brother Stevron) who still supported Robb. He's not at the Twins for Edmure's wedding to his full-sister Roslin, ostensibly "on business" along with his half-nephew Alesander and his full-brother Perwyn; the real reason is that [[spoiler:all three they were judged to be ''too'' sympathetic to the Northerners]], and it's implied that Perwyn [[spoiler:knew about the Red Wedding, yet despite objecting he didn't stop it out of family loyalty]]. Olyvar only found out about this ''well after'' [[spoiler:his former lord and sworn King, along with many people he fought alongside during the campaign, were already massacred.]] This guy really needs a hug.
** Roslin is crying when she marries Edmure, and though she claims that they're TearsOfJoy he soon learns that [[spoiler:she knew about the Red Wedding but was forced to go along with it by her family despite hating the thought of it.]] Despite the circumstances, she truly likes Edmure and even admits that she prays that their first child (which she is currently pregnant with) will be a girl rather than a boy [[spoiler:so that her family will not dispose of Edmure once they have a Tully heir to Riverrun they can control.]]
* Brienne has been mocked and rejected by many people for her lack of beauty and desire to be a KnightInShiningArmor. Despite being the closest thing to the ideal that [[CrapsackWorld Westeros]] has, it actually makes things a lot more difficult for her as men try to "[[AttemptedRape put her in her place]]". [[spoiler: Now she's being forced by the undead Catelyn, a woman she a duty to, to betray Jaime, a man that she has come to respect.]]

* Rhaenyra's mother died when she was very young. She gets slutshamed and her claim is contested because of her gender and the Hightowers' ambition. [[spoiler: Her father died, her daughter was stillborn, her three eldest sons died one after another, her youngest son was taken hostage, she saw her dragon die, her second husband might have been cheating on her, she loses control of King's Landing, she's betrayed by her own men, then she's burned alive and fed to her brother's dragon.]] [[TraumaCongaLine All that in the span of less than two years]]. She can't even catch a break posthumously, [[spoiler: since everyone ''still'' considers her a usurper and terrible queen despite her being the mother of the current line of Targaryens]].

*** During all of this, [[spoiler:Jon is devastated by the belief that his family has perished -- his father, his brothers, his sisters, his uncle. It's gotten to the point where those remaining in this family -- Jon, Arya, Sansa, Bran and Rickon -- don't actually know that any of the others are alive and -- if they get ''any'' shred of hope to this effect -- pray their hardest that they're okay, long to see each other again, but whenever they try to get to each other, something always prevents them from reuniting. He finally thinks he may be able to save his favourite little sister Arya, but is killed for his efforts and unbeknowst to him the girl claiming to be his sister is an imposter.]]
** Arya Stark has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister who bullies her, and Arya's own talents (horseriding, sword fighting, maths) are considered inappropriate due to Westeros's brutal restrictions on women. She loves befriending the small folk and is one of the only characters not to care about class distinctions but thanks to her sister's betrothed, her friend the butcher's boy is killed and she's forced to drive her direwolf away. All that pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed in front of her and having to flee from his killers. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and is exposed to deprivation, horrific violence and the threat of rape. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people and isn't ladylike enough -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to get to but she never manages to reach]].
** Ned Stark is the OnlySaneMan in a DeadlyDecadentCourt and didn't even want the job as the king's NumberTwo in the first place because he loathes the petty power feuds in the court and wanted to stay away from it as much as possible. Also, he has a inferiority complex towards his older brother Brandon, who should have been heir of Winterfell instead of him, and even the wife he came to love was originally meant for his brother. He is also struggling with his PTSD about what he witnessed during Robert's Rebellion. Memories of his sister Lyanna's death are frequently present in his mind, as is ThePromise he made to her, and it has heavily influenced his mindset. He tries to do good for most of his time, will even go against rules for the sake of doing the right thing, but ends up in disgrace and executed by a boy he was trying to protect -- because of schemes he never knew were being played.
** Catelyn Stark. That poor, poor woman loses ''everything'' she holds dear.

** Despite not getting much development, Rickon Stark really had a sucky childhood ever since his family split into different directions which made him wishing for all of them to come home. Now that's unlikely going to happen because like the rest of the Starks, [[spoiler: he's separated from the rest of living siblings, his parents and oldest brother died, his home was burned down and everyone in Westeros thinks he and Bran are dead]]. His only companions are his direwolf who is violent and very wild as he is and a wildling and [[spoiler:is said to be an island rumored for a bunch of cannibals and unicorns (no, we're not talking about those cutesy unicorns)]]. You can't help but feel sorry that this kid had to grow up in such a CrapsackWorld with a lack of parental guidance.
* Dany was set up as one, being abused by her brother and forced to run for her life, for her ''entire life''. Then it's totally subverted with her [[YouGoGirl ascent to awesomeness.]]

* Sansa is a romantic WideEyedIdealist who dreams of going to court and being swept off her feet by a handsome knight. By the end of the first book, almost her entire family have been declared traitors and are being hunted down, while she herself has become a StepfordSmiler with an abusive PrinceCharmless fiancé and is trapped in a DecadentCourt where the only one who treats her decently is ''[[BloodKnight Sandor Clegane]]''. [[BreakTheCutie It just gets much]], ''[[BreakTheCutie much]]'' [[BreakTheCutie worse from there on out]].
* Although he is loved by his father, half-siblings and uncle, Jon Snow finds himself to be an outsider his entire life. Because of his highborn upbringing wherein Jon is raised by his father with his trueborn siblings, he is [[PrincelyYoungMan too noble and educated]] to be just another bastard kid in Westeros but not highborn enough to inherit his family's titles. He believes his father would never speak about his [[MissingMom mother's]] identity because he might be ashamed of it but [[spoiler: really, it could be all because he wants to protect Jon from finding out an AwfulTruth or even worse]]. He dreams of becoming a member of the Night's Watch to be a ranger like his [[CoolUncle uncle]] and to earn his own honour. However, like his half-sister Sansa who was also a WideEyedIdealist, his dream is ''crushed'' when he finds that the Night's Watch has now fallen into disrepair, [[BrokenPedestal shattering his rather idealistic views]]. In the Night's Watch, Jon proves to be the best recruit and bonds with the Lord Commander, who looks at him as a potential successor, but then he's sent into very risky missions like being a FakeDefector, despite him only being a teenager and a brand new member. Also, Jon's one of the few who understands the need of Night's Watch and the [[GreaterScopeVillain oncoming threat of the Others, an army of the dead]]. Shortly after, he's elected Lord Commander and is put into the position of AChildShallLeadThem, where he is the first Lord Commander in thousands of years to face this oncoming giant threat -- and he must fight it with limited resources -- while, due to his strong sense of morality, he's working to save ''everyone.'' Then, when he tries to save the Wildlings from an atrocious fate and teams up with them to fight their true enemy, the Others, who are coming for them ''all,'' [[SealedEvilInACan many don't believe this is true]] [[spoiler: and his own men attempt to murder him]].
** During all of this, [[spoiler:Jon is devastated by the belief that his family has perished -- his father, his brothers, his sisters, his uncle. It's gotten to the point where those remaining in this family -- Jon, Arya, Sansa, Bran and Rickon -- don't actually know that any of the others are alive and -- if they get ''any'' shred of hope to this effect -- pray their hardest that they're okay, long to see each other again, but whenever they try to get to each other, something always prevents them from reuniting.]]
* Arya has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister. But that pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and is exposed to deprivation and horrific violence. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly picking away at her sanity. She believes almost her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's killed people -- except for her faith in her beloved half-brother, Jon Snow, who she wants desperately to go to but she can't get there]].

* Ned Stark is the OnlySaneMan in a DeadlyDecadentCourt and didn't even want the job as the king's NumberTwo in the first place because he loathes the petty power feuds in the court and wanted to stay away from it as much as possible. Also, he has a inferiority complex towards his older brother Brandon, who should have been heir of Winterfell instead of him, and even the wife he came to love was originally meant for his brother. He is also struggling with his PTSD about what he witnessed during Robert's Rebellion. Memories of his sister Lyanna's death are frequently present in his mind, as is ThePromise he made to her, and it has heavily influenced his mindset. He tries to do good for most of his time, will even go against rules for the sake of doing the right thing, but ends up in disgrace and executed by a boy he was trying to protect -- because of schemes he never knew were being played.

* Cat. That poor, poor woman loses ''everything'' she holds dear.

* Poor Bran Stark wanted nothing more than to be a KnightInShiningArmor, and ''loved'' climbing. Then Jaime pushed him out of a window, paralyzing him from the waist down. Now not only can he never be a knight, not only can he never climb again, he can't even ''cross the room'' without someone's help.

* Despite not getting much development, Rickon Stark really had a sucky childhood ever since his family split into different directions which made him wishing for all of them to come home. Now that's unlikely going to happen because like the rest of the Starks, [[spoiler:he's separated from the rest of living siblings, his parents and oldest brother died, his home was burned down and everyone in Westeros thinks he and Bran are dead]]. His only companions are his direwolf who is violent and very wild as he is and a wildling and [[spoiler:is said to be an island rumored for a bunch of cannibals and unicorns (no, we're not talking about those cutesy unicorns)]]. You can't help but feel sorry that this kid had to grow up in such a CrapsackWorld with a lack of parental guidance.