YMMV / Thy Good Neighbor

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • The story does well establishing that Cyril’s eccentricities and behavior are extremely foreign to the sensibilities of Westeros, but the exact underlining reason for why Cyril acts the way he does is a matter of some speculation. Is it all really simply a case of Cyril and Evette coming from a Victorian era society and social mores, compared to the medieval culture Westeros operates under? Is it the fact Cyril is now an Eldritch Abomination, and has thus lost human perspective, despite remembering what it was like to be human enough to continue acting as one? Or is it that surviving all the horrors of Yharnam would have an affect on anyone’s sanity, and Cyril for all his affability and good-will is indeed a little crazy, even if he were fully human? It may also be some mixture of all three.
  • Rhaegar. Due to the mystery surrounding him and Lyanna in the books, it’s not easy to get an exact read on his character. Not helped by the fact that in this story, he’s personally introduced entering Lyanna’s private room while her family is away (though enough guards and servants are present to make sure they aren’t totally alone together), makes the excuse of just happening to hear her music while walking to his apartment that’s on the other side of the castle, and casually drops the deeply personal information about his wife being in poor health due to her pregnancy to a girl he just met. While the consensus is that this is deeply creepy behavior, the event itself comes off so random and isolated from the rest of the story, it’s hard to tell if Rhaegar is simply another entitled Targaryen who thinks he can do whatever he wants, or if he’s a guy who’s just too focused on a prophecy he believes he must fulfilled, and is oblivious to how his behavior appears to others.
• Memetic Loser: Rickard, at least in non-canon omakes and apocryphas, is treated as a Butt-Monkey by the readership. Yes, he's politically savvy, and yes, he's a well-meaning and honest lord, but readers tend to treat him as being utterly flabbergasted if not well and utterly done with all the weird and strange crap that's seemingly attracted to his front doorstep since Cyril showed up.
• Values Dissonance:
  • The aftermath of Chapter 5 sparked huge debates regarding Brandon breaking Guest Rights, with many finding that Rickard being forced to disown his son when he tried to stab Cyril in the back being far too harsh when Brandon didn't even succeed. Readers more intimately familiar with the books, however, point out how big a deal Guest Rights are, and Brandon breaking it is the biggest taboo he could've committed. Even if his attempt didn't succeed, Rickard still has no choice but to punish him lest the other lords despise him. One reader cited the infamous Red Wedding scene as to just how important Guest Rights are in Westeros and how severe the consequences are for breaking them.
  • Chapter 15 wound up sparking another one in light of Lyanna refusing to go along with the Arranged Marriage between her and Robert. While her defenders point out Robert's many flaws, such as his skirt-chasing and how he canonically celebrated the news of his betrothal with a trip to the nearest whorehouse, some readers have also rightfully pointed out how Lyanna is acting rather spoiled and petty; since the story is in a medieval setting with matching customs, pre-arranged marriages are nothing new. Noble ladies were expected to follow through with these marriages regardless of personal feelings. Even Lord Fairchild admits that as a daughter of nobility, marriage is nothing short of duty for Lyanna.

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