Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Thoughts on Tomes. If you want to join or find out more information about the weekly themes check out the Goodreads page! May is going to be Top 5 Wednesday Rewind month, so the topics are open to any that we’ve missed out on in the past. When I was browsing through old topics I saw this and I was SO EXCITED! I immediately thought of three of my characters who I will defend until my dying breath, and then I started writing this post, and realized those were the only three characters I could think of! So this is more of a Top 3 Wednesday haha, but this topic was way too important to me to skip.

SANSA STARK – The North knows no queen but the Queen in the North, whose name is Stark. The amount of people that vehemently hate Sansa Stark is so disheartening. It’s okay to dislike a character, but the reasons people hate her are terrible. She gets blamed over and over for the death of Ned when she was only an eleven year old child who was cleverly manipulated by adults. People seem to hate her for the mere fact that she is more feminine in nature and enjoys things such as singing and fairytales. She’s most often compared to Arya and Daenerys and found lacking because she’s not as “badass” or strong. I think that’s the issue that bothers me the most: if a female character doesn’t show interest in weaponry and fighting, then they’re considered weak and insignificant, even if it’s far from the truth. I happen to like things that are often considered “girly” (such as clothes, makeup, the color pink) and so I like characters that show more traditionally feminine traits because I find myself connecting with them better. And the amount of people that believe Sansa deserves everything that has happened to her – beaten, tortured, raped – and hope she is killed next are absolutely sickening to me and I have no time for any of that nonsense in my life. 

CHAOL WESTFALL – I’m a proud and original member of the #ChaolDefenseSquad. The treatment of his character by SJM is one of the main reasons I cannot stand her. The fact that an author can destroy the characterization of one of the protagonists all for the sake of another ship and to boost affection for a new character, is horrible. And the amount of fans that completely ignore the fact that she basically rewrote entire plot lines mid-series is such a shame. The introduction of Rowan and Rowaelin (which was completely fanservice, but that’s another issue I won’t delve into) gained her so much popularity that wasn’t there with the first couple of books, and so she decided to toss Chaol aside like trash and many fans followed suit. We are a small, but us few members of the #ChaolDefenseSquad will always defend that sweet, loyal Captain of the Guard. 

MALYEN ORETSEV – This just baffles me. The amount of hate Mal gets is so unnecessary and uncalled for. I honestly believe a lot of people started to hate him when they realized Alina would never choose the Darkling. And listen, I love the Darkling as much as the next girl, but Malyen Oretsev is my boy. Yes, he has his moments of weakness, but he’s human like the rest of us. He walked half the length of Ravka to get to Alina. He was loyal to her above all else. He loved her fiercely. He understood who she was, supported her, and never once tried to change her. He fought for her, risked his life for her, fucking died for her. Goodness, where can I find a man like Malyen Oretsev?