History Literature / AClashOfKings

* LetMeTellYouAStory: Ygritte tells Jon about Bael the Bard's song. [[spoiler:It is ''very'' reminiscent of the [[EpilepticTrees fan theory]] about Jon's parents.]]

* LameRhymeDodge: When Arya Stark gets into a fight while travelling undercover with recruits for the Night's Watch, she looses her head and screams "Winterfell!" her home castle as a battle cry. When another boy mentions this to her friend [[SecretKeeper Gendry]] claims all she was "Go to Hell!" and warns Arya to say the same thing if asked.

There are nine POV characters in this novel, with Stannis Baratheon's Maester Cressen narrating the prologue:

* Catelyn Stark follows the negotiations between the kings on the march and the tidings at Riverrun.

* Theon Greyjoy and Bran Stark narrate the events on the Iron Islands and the North.
* Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen continue to give us glimpses beyond the Wall and across the sea respectively.

* DidNotThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler:Theon]] takes a castle with a tiny number of men through a cunning ruse. Looting the place and taking hostages would have been a great coup, but instead he tries to hold it with a few raiders.

-->'''Catelyn''': Listen to yourselves! If you were sons of mine, I would bang your heads together and lock you in a bedchamber until you remembered that you were brothers.

-->'''Cersei''': Gods be good. I'm starting to believe that ''Robert'' was the clever one.

** [[spoiler:Renly's death by Stannis' shadow. Though this depends on your view of Stannis and Renly.]]

* FlowerMotif: Blue winter roses appear several times

** Daenerys sees a vision about her father Aerys, completely gone mad, who is ranting ''Let him [Robert] be king over charred bones and cooked meat.'' [[spoiler:In ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', Jaime tells us he was planning to burn the city with wildfire, and that's why Jaime killed him. She also sees the Red Wedding, and possibly Quentyn Martell.]]

* HiddenDisdainReveal: More like Hidden wanting you dead reveal, as Tyrion and Cersei's relationship has always been a hostile one, but Cersei finally reveals to Tyrion during their dinner together that she does want him dead, admitting that she has thought of slitting his throat more than once, and only stopped because Jaime would never forgive her for that. This reveal, and Cersei's holding of and threat to harm Alayaya, and Tyrion's own threat to harm Tommen if anything happens to her despite not meaning it, is what pushes their relation beyong the point of no return and truly make [[SelfFulfillingProphecy Tyrion Cersei's enemy.]]

* TheQuest: At the end of the book [[spoiler:Bran and his FiveManBand run to The Wall to find the Three-Eyed Crow.]]

* CruelMercy: Played with. Sansa, not wanting Joffrey to have Ser Dontos murdered for showing up drunk and half-naked to his nameday joust, plants the idea that it would be crueler to strip him of his knighthood and for him to live as a fool rather than having him executed.

* LetMeTellYouAStory: Ygritte tells Jon about Bael the Bard's song. [[spoiler:It is ''very'' reminiscent of the [[EpilepticTrees fan theory]] about Jon Snow's parents.]]

-->'''Cersei:''' Robert wanted to be loved. My brother Tyrion has the same disease. Do you want to be loved, Sansa?
-->'''Sansa:''' Everyone wants to be loved.
-->'''Cersei:''' I see flowering hasn’t made you any brighter. Sansa, permit me to share a bit of womanly wisdom with you on this very special day. Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.

* RuinsForRuinsSake: While traveling in the red wastes, Daenerys' ''khalasar'' comes across the ruins of an ancient city, which they name Vaes Tolorro (Dothraki for "city of bones"). Though long abandoned, it has a well filled with fresh water, an orchard full of fruit trees, and shade from the desert sun.

* RuinsForRuinsSake: While traveling in the red wastes, Daenerys' ''khalasar'' comes across the ruins of an ancient city, which they name Vaes Tolorro (Dothraki for "city of bones"). Though long abandoned, it has a well, an orchard full of fruit trees, and shade from the desert sun.

* RevealingCoverup: When the Small Council is discussing Stannis' letter that declares Cersei's children to be bastards and himself to be the rightful king, she suggests that anyone heard speaking of incest or calling Joffrey a bastard should be beheaded. [[ProfessionalButtKisser Pycelle agrees]], but Tyrion replies with:

* VillainousDemotivator: When Tyrion gathers a collection of blacksmiths, wanting to hire them to [[spoiler: forge a chain across the harbour to impede Stannis's fleet]], the blacksmiths mention that Cersei has hired them to make weapons and armour for her soldiers, and threatened any smith who doesn't meet their quota will get their hands crushed on their own anvil. An exasperated Tyrion insists he won't let Cersei go through with it.

** Stannis tells Catelyn that he brought his suspicions Joffrey and his siblings were illegitimate to Jon Arryn specifically to avoid this; Robert would have dismissed such accusations coming from Stannis as an attempt to advance himself up the line of succesion, but would be more inclined to trust the word of his old mentor and ParentalSubstitute Jon.