And I mean like. He already is an ass, of course, but I mean turning douchey to the point that he goes beyond the pale and is no longer likeable in any way shape or form -- I can totally imagine being tricked into loving one of these characters only to have them go down a path which I can no longer follow or condone. Right now he's this kind of tragic spiteful broken figure but he's not bad. (Then again, ambiguities are what this is all about idek.)
I agree on Jaime, who just plain doesn't have enough screentime yet (he has like, what, two scenes in this book and they're both cruel badassery) but we will have to agree to disagree on Cersei. :D We've seen a bit of Lysa + Robert! -- and it's creepy and terrible. Now that you mention it I can totally see the resemblances, but Cersei's is like a pale shadow of Lysa's, which is what makes it more palatable to me -- I find it easier to relate to her brand of fierce, irrational overprotectiveness, as much as it damages her children. (I wonder what made Joffrey such a despicable shit, while Tommen and Myrcella seem fine. Ugh, twisted noble families and their childrearing problems intrigue me so much, both in HP and here.)
ENEMY FAMILY --> LESS ENEMY FAMILY --> DIFFERENT FAMILY is a really nice way of putting it.
And OMG YES REED WHERE U GO. I will spoilermark our theory in a second comment!
And yeah on Rickon. I don't need this rhetorical question answered, but I just wonder what the timespan is like on the following books -- how far the time goes and how old Rickon will be by the last book. Depending, maybe he'll warrant some more later? OR GRRM'LL PULL A '20 YEARS LATER' SORT OF THING, IDEK. If Rickon lives. IF ANYONE LIVES. Rocks fall, dragons eat everyone. 8|