top 5 tuesday

top 5 tuesday: Characters to Team Up With to Rule the World

Rachel26 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fantastic Bionic Bookworm.  This week’s topic:

SEPTEMBER 26TH – Top 5 characters I would team up with to rule the world!

Characters’ moral compasses may vary.

51bcsc2fcflSansa Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin).  My girl!!!  I think I’ve waxed eloquent about my love for Sansa Stark enough on this blog, so I’ll just get right to it.  Sansa is the sort of character who has a tremendous amount of growth, and while I wouldn’t necessarily want to team up with her 11-year-old self to rule the world, the young woman she becomes is one of the most formidable and capable characters in the entire series.  She learns from the best and the worst alike, and she knows how to navigate the complex political situations she finds herself in.  I want to team up with her to save Westeros and then dismantle the patriarchy.

23437156Kaz Brekker (Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo).  (I would just like to point out that Sansa and Kaz are like….. the very embodiment of the two Types of characters I always fall for.  The dichotomy of my being summed up in this one unlikely pair.)  Anyway, this one doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation… Kaz is the sort of character you’d rather have on your side than against you, so while he may not be the most trustworthy person in the world, I’ll take my chances.  He’s the sort of criminal mastermind who could easily take over the world if he decided that would be an advantageous course of action.

41cigepew5l-_sy344_bo1204203200_Henry Winter (The Secret History by Donna Tartt).  Henry is one of the most memorable characters I’ve ever encountered.  He may not be a Good Person, but I don’t think he’s a bad person either… and at any rate, he’s another one who I’d rather have on my side than against me.  Plus, his idea of taking over the world would probably include ‘make The Iliad required reading for everyone’ and let’s be real, that aligns very nicely with my own agenda.

1371Helen of Sparta (The Iliad by Homer; classics).  Anyone powerful enough to (inadvertently) bring about a war is someone I want to be partners in crime with.  Helen is one of my favorite characters, and the thing that makes me defend her character is how little agency she has in her narrative: she’s stolen by Paris and then her husband Menelaus wages a war to get her back.  The question of what Helen herself wanted has long been debated – did she go willingly with Paris, or was it kidnap? – and anyway, I’m saying all this because I want to give Helen a narrative where she’s in total control.  i.e., Ruling the world.

pillars-of-the-earthAliena of Shiring (The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett).  Aliena is one of the most capable characters I can think of.  She goes from being brought up in nobility to having absolutely nothing, to starting her own business as a wool merchant.  She’s someone who gets shit done, and above that, she’s also just a deeply good person.  I’d gladly rule medieval England with her.

 

Which character(s) would you team up with to rule the world?  Comment and let me know!

26 thoughts on “top 5 tuesday: Characters to Team Up With to Rule the World”

  1. I got a huge smile on my face when I saw Sansa on your list! I LOVE her! I didn’t at first but she’s turning out to be a very smart and resourceful lady!! Kaz made my list as well – I think we will be seeing a lot of him today lol!
    Thanks again for participating!

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    • Sansa is literally one of my favorite characters of all time if not THE fave. I love her so much and I love finding other Sansa fans!!!! Hahahaha I bet you’re right about Kaz showing up a lot today, he’ll have quite the army!

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      • Same!!! She is SUCH a strong character, and I relate to her a lot in some ways. It irritates me to no end when people think she’s the worst but Arya is perfect just because she can fight. All these characters have flaws, Sansa isn’t the worst just because she’s a teenage girl.

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      • Same here I relate to her so much!!!

        Omg so the worst ~internet fight~ I have ever been in was about Sansa – basically what happened was there was this Buzzfeed article that had a flippant comment making fun of her, so I commented to defend her and then all of these grown ass dudes started attacking me because I guess I was infringing on their right to mock a traumatized teenage girl????? Like I was literally called every slur I can think of and my comment hadn’t even been particularly inflammatory!!! It was VICIOUS omg but it also just strengthened my love for her. Like…. thanks for proving my point?? Men suck and Sansa is the best???? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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      • Oh my GOD that’s terrible. I love how men always end up proving your point. Like “man it sucks when men do x thing” and then men do x thing to prove that they don’t because ??? they think that will help somehow hahah.

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  4. Sansa is a great choice! She’s the kind of character that is so easy to dismiss or underestimate at first because she’s not overtly or physically strong, but the kind of inner strength she does have is hard-earned and formidable in its own right.

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    • YES exactly! Her character growth is amazing. I love Arya too, but people like to compare them and be like ‘Sansa wouldn’t last ten minutes in Arya’s shoes’ – very true, but Arya wouldn’t last ten minutes in Sansa’s, either. They’re very different sort of strengths.

      Have you read the books or watched the show or both?

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      • Yes, yes and more yes! I remember Maisie Williams being asked about this and saying that if Sansa had been through what Arya has been through, she’d be dead, but if Arya had been through what Sansa has been through, she’d be dead. They are both equally strong, just in different ways.

        I’m a fan of the books and the TV show. What about you?

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      • YES absolutely! I’m glad Maisie is also a Sansa fan. I know Sophie Turner always defends her in interviews and it makes me happy.

        Both as well! Well, I wouldn’t quite say I’m a ‘fan’ of the show at this point… I used to love it a lot but I feel like it’s gone downhill since season 3 and I find the sheer amount of sexism really grating. But I still tune in every week when it’s airing, I’ve already invested this much time in it so I might as well. Also I’m 100% here for Sansa kicking ass.

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      • You’re quite right there. It does have a habit of having female characters completely exploited (usually sexually) as a means to allow them to show their strength, rather than just letting them flourish or be strong on their own merits, which is a rather tired trope.

        That said, I’m very much holding out for a bit of girl power to win out, and a Queen to be on the Iron Throne by the end.

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      • Ugh yes exactly. I find it so lazy when medieval fantasy stories are filled with rape and sexism because ‘that’s just how it was back then’… really, there were dragons and ice zombies back then, too? The fantasy genre is such a great opportunity to subvert these tropes and play around with gender roles, so when it’s just ‘the men are powerful and the women are victims who occasionally show strength but only after being raped’ I find that not only offensive but downright terrible writing.

        YES PLEASE! I feel like Jon and Dany ending up on the Iron Throne together is too obvious but with one season left that does kind of seem like the endgame… I wouldn’t mind Dany ruling, I guess, I do really like her mainly in the books. Also I just really want Sansa to end up Queen in the North.

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  6. Great choices! I completely agree with you when it comes to Helen, there’s so little known about what she really wanted. It’s kind of sad that she was only a pawn in the war without having much to say. Sansa, Kaz and Henry are such great choices for taking over the world, I don’t know Aliena, but she sounds really badass too!

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    • Thank you!!! I love that you’re familiar with most of them. You’d probably love The Pillars of the Earth if you like stuff like the Iliad (or The Song of Achilles or whatever it is) – it’s a great sweeping epic of a story. And YES #helendefensesquad always.

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      • I adored both the Iliad and The Song of Achilles, though I think I should reread the Iliad pretty soon since I only read it in my native language and I would love to try it in english too! I’ll check it out, I was tempted to watch the mini-series of this a while ago, but gave up on the thought when I heard there’s a book…

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      • Same here, I love just about any version of this story. For English translations of the Iliad I’m a huge fan of Robert Fagles, though I’ve also heard good things about the new Caroline Alexander translation, but I haven’t read that one yet.

        I actually watched the miniseries before reading the book and it didn’t diminish my enjoyment at all! I highly recommend both of them. It’s such a wonderful and fun story.

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      • Thank you for telling me about it, I’ll make sure to look for Robert Fagles’ translation then! That’s good to know since sometimes it can be awful to watch the adaptation before reading the book…

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  7. Love your choice of Helen. Also I’m wondering what would happen if Kaz and Henry were to team up….I can’t tell if it would go very well or very badly. I’m leaning toward very badly mostly because I feel like Kaz would be less likely to get along with Henry, while Henry would be better at pretending….

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    • Reading a lot of these posts I noticed that a lot of people were like… assembling a team to take over the world with and mine was just a list of TOTALLY different individuals who would……… probably not work together particularly well. At all. Omg Henry and Kaz would be such an interesting pair, they’re both such alpha males in a sort of subtle way?? I feel like Henry doesn’t even realize how ruthless he is while Kaz fully embraces it so that could be a point of contention.

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      • YES that’s exactly it, I feel like Kaz would be much more aware and it would not gel with him. But they’re both so sneaky and underhanded their plans would go PERFECTLY or they’d end up like, backstabbing each other so one comes out on top.

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