History DeconstructedTrope / ASongOfIceAndFire

* AssholeVictim: The series is fond of giving its [[HateSink wretched, depraved villains]] absolutely deserved KarmicDeaths...that are so [[AlasPoorVillain horrific and pitiful]] that any satisfaction the reader gets is lessened considerably.

** Viserys Targaryen is a nasty piece of work, an unstable idiot who abused Daenerys for nearly her whole life. When he drunkenly threatens Daenerys and her unborn child [[WhatAnIdiot (in a sacred Dothraki city where shedding blood is forbidden)]], he's practically signed his own death warrant. Despite everything, the way he almost immediately reverts to childlike excitement when Khal Drogo promises him his [[FalseReassurance "golden crown"]] is difficult to read. Daenerys herself feels pity.

* FlamingSword: The WeaponOfChoice among R'hllor worshipers is shown many, many times to be CoolButInefficient. The fire weakens the steel and makes it brittle. After each of his fights Thoros needed a new sword.

** Tywin lannister makes a point of responding to even the small slight with massive retribution. This is both due to humor at his expense reminding him too much of his father, who was a good man but an absolute failure of a lord, and to make a point that he will ''not'' tolerate insubordination or mockery, since this decreases his house's reputation. Tywin takes it so far, however, that he isn't just feared by actively ''hated'' by large swaths of Westeros. [[spoiler:Once Tywin dies, everyone who was too afraid to take him on decides to start paying back House Lannister for all the atrocities Tywin committed]].
** Adding on to this, Tywin's policy for DisproportionateRetribution means that he has a habit of racking up enemies from people who would otherwise be neutral to him. [[spoiler:House Martell, in particular, only really started moving against him after he not only had Gregor Clegane murder Elia Martell's son Aegon (cruel, but understandable since Aegon was a Targaryen prince) but also allowed Gregor to go unpunished for ''raping and murdering Elia'' (Tywin denies this, but is implied to have at least given tacit approval to do so because he was still mad about Elia's mouther arranging for Elia to marry Rhaegar as payback for an earlier snub by Tywin)]].

** There's also the implicit other Bad Idea aspect to it: because smallfolk's lives generally remain unrecorded and a bit of a mystery to their lords, a lordling going out on a spree of this (or something more consensual) around their family's holdings when this is still a common practice or has been in the past... has a pretty decent chance of bedding a woman he's actually related to without realising it. [[SurpriseIncest Possibly very uncomfortably closely, too]]. It's not like they're going to ask nicely about the woman's actual linage, first, after all. And, that's if she even ''knows''. Heck, it can happen even without this practice being in place: look at what almost happened between Gendry and Bella, because ''Gendry'' didn't know who his father was. Now, think if Robert had spent more time in the one place his family has held for hundreds of years catting around the countryside...

* EasilyForgiven: Robert Baratheon pardoned or lightly punished most of his enemies to win their support and prevent further bloodshed, despite the fact that several of them had been staunch enemies beforehand, including the Greyjoys and the Tyrells. He succeeded in pacifying them during his reign, but by being so lenient, he let them live to plot another day, and after his death, they cheerfully put those plots into motion: The Greyjoys start another rebellion that ends up costing his friends, the Starks, dearly, while the Tyrells willingly use their enormous power to back two usurpers, Renly and later, Joffrey Baratheon, as they want to control the continent through a marriage to the one sitting on the Iron Throne. Stannis, having dealt with the Greyjoys and Tyrells before, notes that he wouldn't have been as merciful as Robert, and given what they pull, you can hardly blame him.
* ElectiveMonarchy: The Ironborn have a practice of electing their monarchy, which is brought back by Aeron Damphair to ensure his brother Victarion Greyjoy becomes ruler instead of his monstrous brother Euron. However, Euron is able to use his charming qualities and a RousingSpeech to get elected, even though he is, even by the standards of the Iron Islands, an incredibly villainous figure. The kingsmoot itself is impractical because anyone who wants to be king needs to abandon their conquests and attend in person. Victarion Greyjoy lost Moat Cailin to House Bolton because of this.

** Ser Jorah Mormont hates Ned Stark for "driving" him away from the North and sees him as a HangingJudge for being so unreasonably biased against Jorah to uphold the penalty of death. For, you know, the crime of selling poachers into slavery. For which there was rock hard evidence against him. Within Westeros, SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil, but Mormont expected a man of his rank and privilege to receive leniency, ''especially'' since he "did it for love". Ned Stark didn't buy it; heck, Jorah's own blood kin didn't buy it, and the Hightowers didn't bother to pull any strings for Lynesse, either. It was Jorah who packed up and fled before Ned could arrive at Bear Island with his sword in hand to personally chop his head off, at which point Jorah became a voluntary fugitive from justice perennially hating and blaming Ned for treating him like any other criminal in Westeros.

** It's noted that Tywin upped his ruthlessness after the death of his beloved Joanna. While Tyrion is defintely feeling the fallout of her death, Tywin wasn't particularly nice before she passed: this is the man that brought two rebellious houses to extinction, babes and all in a gruesome manner, to send a message to any other faction. [[spoiler: His enactment of the Red Wedding is done for much the same reason. And his love for his dead wife doesn't particularly stop him from using whores either, despite shitting on Tyrion for doing so.]] He may have become colder, but his methods have largely remained the same.
** Lyanna Stark's death is largely blamed as to why Robert became a poor husband and a poor king. Thing was, Robert was quite the ladies man - and by quite, this means he had a bastard while he was being raised alongside Ned Stark under Jon Arryn - so Lyanna questioned whether he genuinely loved her. Robert himself acknowledges that he never really knew Lyanna as a person, and its implied he may have been as unhappily married to her as he is to Cersei. Even if they were HappilyMarried, Robert was still a man who lived to fight: it's questionable if a stable marriage would legitimately interest him in actually ruling well.
** [[spoiler: Ned Stark's commitment to honour is held responsible for his death, and the subsequent civil war that leaves everyone worse off, especially his own family. But this ignores two things: Petyr Baelish, and Varys. For its revealed that Baelish wanted to not only create chaos in the realm for himself to move up, but remove Ned by any means necessary so as to get closer to Catelyn Tully, Ned's wife. As for Varys, it turns out that he's trying to return the Targaryens to the throne in the form of Aegon, Rhaegar's son, and as such, he had a vested interest in keeping the realm unstable and weakened so that Aegon could easily step in. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Giving what he ends up doing to Kevan Lannister,]] t who's shown to be similar in temperament and goals to Ned, its implied that Ned would have eventually ended up like Kevan if he had survived and managed to have some impact in King's Landing. Between the two, it's implied that civil war was ultimately inevitable, and that one way or another, Ned Stark would die, honour or not.]]

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Doran Martell, the Prince of Dorne, cares deeply about his people noting that Dorne has the smallest population of the Seven Kingdoms and cannot afford to antagonize the rest of Westeros nor can they possibly wage a war of revenge or conquest, as such he believes that its important to never tackle any conflict that he cannot be sure of winning because the consequences of defeat are deadly for him. [[spoiler:Hence his cautious attempts to broker an alliance with the surviving Targaryen children in secret]] while pretending to currying favor with the Lannisters by promising neutrality and a marriage alliance. To do this, Doran must, publicly, let the deaths of his sister Elia, his niece and nephew, [[spoiler:and brother Oberyn]] go unpunished despite his own grief and anger. Unfortunately this gives him a reputation as weak-willed in a HotBlooded BloodKnight culture that is Dorne, even if all these compromises were made to protect the people and ensures Dorne is spared from wartime deprivations. Doran laments to Areo Hotah about this:

** Same can be said about Eddard Stark [[spoiler:and his doomed mission to put Stannis on the throne even though its a bad idea]]. Varys points out to Ned that the court is like a stage and they are all actors and they must all play their parts if they are to survive. Ned puts himself and his loved ones in danger for the sake of doing what is right.

* StandardHeroReward: Getting rewarded for saving the kingdom ain't its all cracked up to be, especially when politics and personal feelings get involved.

** Prince Maekar Targaryen was made Prince of Summerhall for his role in crushing the Blackfyre Rebellion, bypassing his bookish older brother Aerys. When Aerys became king, he bypassed Maekar in turn as Hand, instead appointing their bastard uncle Bloodraven. Its implied Maekar was given Summerhall to keep his unsavory sons Daeron and Aerion away from court.

** Also its shown that neutrality is actually an impossible concept since the Watch find it hard to "take no part" in the politics of Westeros when the only King that actually responded to their cries for aid is the rebel lord Stannis Baratheon who also believes in their struggle against the Others. Some of the Night's Watch, especially Bowen Marsh, regret Stannis' rescue and would prefer a Lannister toady like Janos Slynt, who is completely in league with the Lannisters, be Lord Commander so as to appease the Iron Throne and their Bolton collaborators. Neutrality for them is not be seen as supporting the side most likely to lose.

** Directly contrast with Stannis Baratheon, who is denied his rightful claim to the throne because of the disdain the nobility and commoners have for him. He's disliked and rejected because his unforgiving and hard nature, the same nature that would make the survival of schemers--such as Petyr Baelish, the Lannisters, or the Tyrells--an impossibility in the long term if he were to rule. All of the above suggests that if everyone, particularly [[PoisonousFriend including the ambitious, amoral chessmasters]] within society, would ''love'' to have you as their ruler, maybe that's an important sign that you aren't actually suited to rule.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Tyrion, who was already unpopular, was further disdained by the people of King's Landing because he lost part of his nose, a typical "bad" scar, in the Battle of Blackwater, even though he was fighting [[UngratefulBastard to save their lives]].

* UndergroundCity: Castamere is mostly located underground, full of tunnels and mines. It comes back to bite them when Tywin orders Castamere to be sealed and flooded. [[KillEmAll With all Reynes inside]].

** King Maegor Targaryen lived and breathed this philosophy. This turned into [[KillEmAll a lust for violence]] that alienated all of Westeros' institutions from the Faith to almost all the great families, including his own. No one came to his support when his last nephew, Prince Jaehaerys, came gunning for the crown. He died alone.

** [[spoiler: Petyr Baelish instigated the War of the Five Kings, and the fall of several Great Houses in part because he was incensed at Westerosi society for denying him his OneTrueLove, Catelyn Tully. He succeeds at causing no small amount of trauma to all the nobles who looked down on him growing up, but in the process, [[PyrrhicVillainy Catelyn ends up dead,]] as she was one of nobles he hated so much, and loyal to the houses that were at the losing end of the war.]]

** Most of Westeros, except the Dornish, practices [[http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/male-preference_primogeniture#Male-preference_cognatic_primogeniture male-preference cognatic primogeniture]], which is responsible for putting many evil, insane, or incompetent men in power instead of more suitable female candidates.

** In the War of the Five Kings, Robb Stark, Renly, and Stannis Baratheon all have the common goal of removing Joffrey and the Lannisters from the throne. Furthermore, Robb and Balon Greyjoy also want to declare independence from the throne. Together, not even Tywin would have stood a chance of victory. Instead, they refuse to work together, and end up fighting each other as well as the crown: Balon isn't happy with being 'given' his crown, [[WhatAnIdiot and attacks the North instead of the Westerlands, despite the fact they have a common goal.]] Stannis refuses Robb's offer of an alliance in exchange for independence as he wants all the kingdoms to swear fealty, and Renly refuses Stannis' offer because he wants to be king, and isn't happy with being second in line behind Shireen. The result? [[spoiler: [[TheBadGuyWins The Lannisters win]], as all the factions are to busy fighting and weakening each other to focus on their common enemy. Renly, Robb, and Balon are dead, with the causes they fought for put in the ground, and Stannis, despite fighting on, is in ill of a position to win the throne.]]

* HappilyEverAfter: George R. R. Martin wrote the series in part as an answer to works such as ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', wherein the dark lord/evil king is defeated at the climax and everyone lives HappilyEverAfter. He purposefully set his books 15 years after the defeat of the evil king in order to show that RealityEnsues:

** [[spoiler: Ned Stark's commitment to honour is held responsible for his death, and the subsequent civil war that leaves everyone worse off, especially his own family. But this ignores two things: Petyr Baelish, and Varys. For its revealed that Baelish wanted to not only create chaos in the realm for himself to move up, but remove Ned by any means necessary so as to get closer to Catelyn Tully, Ned's wife. As for Varys, it turns out that he's trying to return the Targaryens to the throne in the form of Aegon, Rhaegar's son, and as such, he had a vested interest in keeping the realm unstable and weakened so that Aegon could easily step in. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Giving what he ends up doing to Kevan Lannister,]] [[NotSoDifferent who's shown to be similar in temperament and goals to Ned,]] its implied that Ned would have eventually ended up like Kevan if he had survived and managed to have some impact in King's Landing. Between the two, it's implied that civil war was ultimately inevitable, and that one way or another, Ned Stark would die, honour or not.]]

** The narrative also often points out that Westeros is NotSoDifferent as "smallfolk" (peasants) are considered to "belong" to whatever lord claims dominion over the land they call home, and that land can and does change hands due to conquest, marriage, or royal decree. (Westerosi's Ironborn also make thralls -- indentured servants -- of men and salt wives -- concubines -- of women they capture in battle, obviously without their consent.) Indeed, [[spoiler:Tyrion Lannister]], who becomes a slave after his ship to Yunkai is captured, notes that slaves in Essos are to some extent treated better than smallfolk in Westeros and as far as he's concerned being a peasant in Westeros is being a slave in all but name.

* TheMagicComesBack: Most fantasy portrays the return of magic as heralding the return of a golden age. Here, it's making an already bad situation worse. Because of the loss of knowledge over time, very few people can understand, control, or protect against this powerful, and in many cases ''dangerous'', force. Most people don't even believe that magic still exists, making them terribly unprepared for what's to come. No wonder [[spoiler:the Maesters of the Citadel are trying to replace it with science.]]

* LastStand: SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome when only one wants to go out fighting, DefiantToTheEnd.

* LastStand: SurprisinglyRealisticOutCome when only one wants to go out fighting, DefiantToTheEnd.

* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Sansa was raised on idealistic songs and stories, all of which she took at face value. But when [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutCome she entered the real world]], many traditional FairyTale tropes were thrown back in her face in the worst way. Believing that things would work out like they did in the stories only made things worse and further crushed her spirit when her hopes fell through.

* LastStand: RealityEnsues when only one wants to go out fighting, DefiantToTheEnd.

* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Sansa was raised on idealistic songs and stories, all of which she took at face value. But when [[RealityEnsues she entered the real world]], many traditional FairyTale tropes were thrown back in her face in the worst way. Believing that things would work out like they did in the stories only made things worse and further crushed her spirit when her hopes fell through.

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: Making sure everyone likes you is really hard, dirty work.

** Davos was knighted for delivering food for the garrison of Storm's End during Robert's Rebellion but Stannis (the leader of that garrison) chopped off the fingers of Davos' right hand as punishment for smuggling. That said, Davos himself considers the punishment fair, and the lands and advantages his family gets as a result, is an absolute bargain for a couple fewer fingernails to clean.

* LessonsInSophistication: Sansa and Arya receive them. Arya resents the lessons, fails them constantly, preferring swordplay and adventures, and eventually gets stuck as a lost child in the middle of a war-torn land (with all of the dire consequences this has). Sansa likes the lessons and succeeds in them, and they eventually help her survive in a hostile DeadlyDecadentCourt, but several other characters point out that she's an EmptyShell just going through the motions they taught her.

** Cersei Lannister is very disliked by the "sparrows," who are religious smallfolk dissatisfied with the Lannister regime after the war. The new High Septon, nicknamed the High Sparrow, is able to manipulate Cersei into [[ChurchMilitant rearming the Faith]] in part by claiming it will make her more popular with them (and, by extension, with the smallfolk, which could give her ammunition against increasingly unhappy petty lords and heavily-taxed merchants). [[spoiler: However, once she does so, they gain the power to arrest her for her crimes -- and, greater instability hits ''everybody'' and their dogs.]]

** Aegon V Targaryen has gone down in history as one of the honestly and straightforwardly [[TheGoodKing good kings]], particularly among the smallfolk. His reign is seen as the trend-bucking, shining highlight of about 200 years worth of dismal lowlights and strife, which even the nobility admit -- despite his attempts to erode "rights" aka "unequal treatment". However, all this packaged goodness wouldn't have happened without Bloodraven cutting down errant family members left and right while gaining a much-deserved reputation as a Kinslayer, [[TheSpymaster Spymaster]] and (perhaps less-deservedly) EvilChancellor. Without him thinning the Blackfyre threat considerably beforehand and setting the stall up for more peaceful times in other ways using some ''very'' pragmatic means, Aegon's reign would have been plagued with many more problems than it was. He even shuffled off the scene quite openly by getting banished to the Wall for his supposed wrongdoings by Aegon. Which, ''could'' even have been by his own suggestion, in part to make sure that none of the taint of previous issues would bleed into Aegon's Small Council by his remaining an obvious mover and shaker. [[spoiler: Not that it's ever exactly stopped him from keeping his eye on the realm via the tree-network and raven-post, of course. Or trying to interact with it in various ways.]] Yet again, we have the GoodCopBadCop thing going on.

** Directly contrast with Stannis Baratheon, who is denied his rightful claim to the throne because of the disdain the nobility and commoners have for him. He's disliked and rejected because his unforgiving and hard nature, the same nature that would make the survival of schemers -- such as Petyr Baelish, the Lannisters, or the Tyrells -- an impossibility in the long term if he were to rule. All of the above suggests that if everyone, particularly [[PoisonousFriend including the ambitious, amoral chessmasters]] within society, would ''love'' to have you as their ruler, maybe that's an important sign that you aren't actually suited to rule.

* AbductionIsLove: The Free Folk, who reside north of the Wall, believe that kidnapping women to be brides establishes a woman's independence to fight for herself and proves a man's bravery and worth to her. Also, if the woman doesn't like the man, she can just slit his throat while he sleeps. Women of the Free Folk believe that a man isn't worthy of her if he can't best her in combat. However, this practice falls apart south of the Wall because the women south of the Wall -- unlike the women of the Free Folk -- aren't typically trained in combat or have much experience putting knives to throats as they grew up in a ''very'' different culture than the Free Folk, who foster strength in women alongside men.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Baelish, Bronn, and NouveauRiche Houses such as the Spicers are looked down upon by the nobility as upstarts who are overstepping their social boundaries and don't know their place. While they aren't exactly nice people, the nobles aren't any better, especially once you look into their histories: even House Stark got to where they are by being ambitious enough to subjugate all the other houses in the North, and overthrow the previous rulers. Hell, with a couple of exceptions, all the so called nobles want to take the Iron Throne, and rule the continent. Much of the disdain for ambitious upstarts stems less from AmbitionIsEvil in itself, and more from AmbitionIsEvil for the powers that be, as they themselves don't want to be overthrown.

** Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister were married to tie the powerful Westerlands to the new regime: a politically sound move. Unfortunately, the two proved personally incompatible, and the marriage devolved into the two loathing one another for a number of reasons, culminating in [[spoiler: Cersei arranging a HuntingAccident that put [[TheCaligula Joffrey Baratheon]] [[TyrantTakesTheHelm on the throne.]]]] On top of that, Cersei found the marriage so loveless, that she not only had an affair with her own brother, but willingly aborted any potential children by Robert: the result is that their three children are in fact bastards by Jaime Lannister. When the truth of this comes out, it triggers the SuccessionCrisis that occupies much of the story. Much of the tragedy faced by the cast would have been avoided if Robert and Cersei were either more compatible, or had put in the effort to tolerate one another.
** Jon Arryn and Lysa Tully were married in order to tie the Riverlands to the Vale, with love hardly a factor. As it turns out, however, not only was the marriage loveless, but Lysa [[spoiler: was utterly infatuated with her ChildhoodFriend and resident MagnificentBastard Petyr Baelish,]] who quickly took the opportunity to put the Lady of the Vale under his power. Compound this with serious insecurities and her overprotective nature towards her only son, and fears of losing him to injury, death, or simply as a ward, [[spoiler: Lysa, with Littlefinger's encouragement, jumped at the opportunity to poison her husband, and as such, acted as a partial cause in the War of the Five Kings.]]

** [[spoiler: [[LesCollaborateurs Roose Bolton]] arranges a marriage between his heir, [[BastardBastard Ramsey,]] and a substitute of Arya Stark to make the new regime more legitimate to the bitter and skeptical Northmen. [[DomesticAbuse Ramsey's horrific]] [[MaritalRapeLicense abuse of the fake Arya,]] however, is known to just about ''everyone'' and instead serves to give one more reason for the LaResistance to want the Bolton regime gone.]]

** [[spoiler: Theon Greyjoy's [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs occupation]] of Winterfell]] turns into a nightmare. He has too few men to properly garrison the place, it is too far from reinforcements and most of the people around there hate the occupiers, but he refuses to abandon it. It demoralizes the enemy, but his refusal to sack it and leave leads him to ruin.

* CoolSword: Oathkeeper, given to Brienne by Jaime is an expensively jeweled weapon with a uniquely multi-colored [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Valyrian steel blade]]. It's, frankly, a really good, well-balanced sword. Unfortunately, it also has some real downsides. In itself, it is so overtly gaudy that it attracts unwanted attention and stands out like a sore thumb if you're wearing anything other than official BlingOfWar -- heaven help you if you're trying for "undercover" in the bad parts of anywhere. Even worse, [[spoiler:the blade was not only [[ReforgedBlade reforged]] from Ned's sword, Ice, but, it's also recognizable as being that ''and'' for currently being a Lannister sword. This has the the effect that having the weapon makes Brienne a walking target in the eyes of Stark supporters.]]

** Lord Tywin Lannister believes in PragmaticVillainy and when fighting his enemies, he makes it a point of conduct to kill the family root and stem, be it the the Reyne-Tarbecks, the children of Prince Rhaegar and [[spoiler:Robb Stark]]. He defends the deaths of Prince Rhaegar's children as necessary for ensuring Robert's ascension to the royal throne. The existence of a single claimant allows for future enemies and supporters to stroke fires of rebellion in the decades to come. [[spoiler:The fact that Varys has presumably rescued Aegon VI from the clutches of Ser Gregor, and later the young Daenerys Targaryen becomes a YoungConqueror while still a girl proves that Tywin's fears if not his methods are justified. Later Jaime discovers that Tywin had conspired with Robb Stark's mother-in-law to ensure that Jeyne Westerling never conceives a child, noting grimly that it was a detail that Lord Tywin never missed.]]

** Let's point at the Freys a bit. Tall ask, but had somebody somehow knocked sense into, say, Lord Walder, Lame Lothar and Reyman ''before'' they started party planning with Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannisters, the family wouldn't be facing as much murder now, right? [[spoiler: Nope. Between the Blackfyre-Golden Company-?Varys?'s bloc, whatever Littlefinger was doing even before he got Harrenhal (note: the Freys are directly competing in the debt-management-and-extortion business) ''and'' the Brave Companions spotting a fat target (see "extortion" -- nobody likes their rich sharks and won't mourn much if, say, a pod of murderhobo orcas get 'em), the Freys were going down even before Ned triggered the formation of the Brotherhood (after some prodding) or the Faith really got into high gear (there's another factor for you). Whether you're after lands and titles (or just a home), revenge for past defeats/ slights, a way to trigger instability in ''several'' regions (Freys are married to a lot of Vale and some Westerland families) or just for dat phat loot (Freys are only poor when compared with Lannisters), the sprawling Riverlander house everybody already dislikes which happens to have multiple strategically important holdings that generates wealth even if you forget how to manage them well... is getting hacked to pieces. Regardless.]]