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Originally Posted by MagicHef
No, Tywin is not a good guy. Why would I compare Cercei to a good guy?
Actually though, I'm having trouble determining good guy vs bad guy in this series. My favorite character has committed several murders, and is driven entirely by hate, yet is probably labeled as a good guy by most people.
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Frankly, this is precisely what Martin wants. He hates black/white, and wants everyone to have shades of gray. He specifically spoke out against Tolkien, where character are clearly either COMPLETELY good or COMPLETELY evil. And the concept that the "rightful king" is always a just, good and honest king who makes good laws and whom everyone loves. Martin thinks that stuff is the most ridiculous fantasy of all.
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If love for your children is completely dismissable as a positive character trait, that leaves a lot of other characters with significantly diminished resumes as well. Cough-Catelyn-cough. Also, love for your children is easily the most important characteristic for a mother to have, whether in ASOIAF or not.
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I don't really remember Catelyn doing anything particularly unpleasant, much less evil, in the books at all, other than perhaps being less than hospitable to Jon Snow (under fairly understandable circumstances).
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Much is made of Cercei's failings, but she's been successful in a lot of ventures as well. She's been reigning as queen for a very long time, and she basically single handedly overthrew the Baratheon line and installed the Lannisters as the royal family.
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All she did on that score was move up the timeline of what was inevitable already. Except that she had to commit murder to do it to cover up her incest.