History Literature / AGameOfThrones

** He doesn't back Renly's [[spoiler:bid for the throne, but Renly's a diplomat with no combat experience in a situation that will require winning a war. Sure enough Renly does nothing but divide the forces against the Lannisters. He also does not have a rightful claim of succession.]]

* HonorBeforeReason: Good God, Eddard Stark might as well be the poster child for this trope. His modest and stubborn humility and insistence on feudal obligation might fly in the north, but in doesn't work so well in King's Landing.

** Should he proclaim Stannis Baratheon as the rightful king even if it invites civil war? He chose yes but eventually recanted after a BreakTheHaughty process.

* NotAGame: Jon brings up how Daeren Targaryen conquered Dorne at the age of 14 to show what peopl that age can accomplish. Benjen isn't impressed.

* DarkSkinnedBlond: Dany's dreams of her unborn child Rhaego show him with her silver hair and Drogo's copper skin.

** One of Catelyn's earlier scenes involves her walking across a room naked in full view of her husband and Maester Lewin; for the rest of the series, she's never sexualized again.

** Tyrion's bizarre acrobatics when he meets Jon are never brought up again until we're given a vague justification for them in the fifth book. This is more of a case of AuthorSavingThrow, as Martin was told by actual dwarves that Tyrion's acrobatics were impossible for an person with dwarfism to do. Martin proceeded to remedy this by showing how Tyrion's dwarfism actually limits his mobility in the later books.

** Tyrion's bizarre acrobatics when he meets Jon are never brought up again until we're given a vague justification for them in the fifth book.

The events of the novel were adapted in the first season of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

** [[spoiler:In Catelyn's final chapter, the various Stark bannermen reject the idea of suing for peace with the Lannisters or helping Renly (which would simply end up with the North being under the Iron Throne again) and instead declare Robb "''THE KING IN THE NORTH!''"]]. Note that Robb is not actually crowned in this scene (not least because there was no physical crown as yet). His formal coronation took place some time later, as reminisced by Catelyn at the beginnning of The Clasch of Kings.

** [[spoiler:In Catelyn's final chapter, the various Stark bannermen reject the idea of suing for peace with the Lannisters or helping Renly (which would simply end up with the North being under the Iron Throne again) and instead declare Robb "''THE KING IN THE NORTH!''"]].

* AChildShallLeadThem: [[spoiler: At the end of the book, Robb and Joffrey are crowned kings at age fifteen and twelve, respectively.]]

** And the House Stark words: "winter is coming". They basically mean don't get comfortable because things will go wrong. At the beginning of the book, the decades long-summer is wrapping up, the kingdom is prosperous and at peace and the autumn harvests are just starting. [[spoiler:At the end the kingdom is ear deep in debt, a massive civil war is starting, the king is a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk, the fields are burning and ''winter is coming''.]]

* {{Bookends}}: Ned's first appearance where he beheaded a deserter before his sons. [[spoiler: He is beheaded with his own sword before his daughters.]]

* CommonKnowledge: Ned Stark was defeated and ultimately killed because he was just too ''honorable'' to be in charge, right? Well, although he is known to be an honorable man, the point of honor comes up in only two places: 1. The discussion about whether to assassinate Daenerys, and 2. ''Tyrion'' in the second book thinks that Ned Stark must have been outsmarted because he was too honorable. In regards to the first point, Ser Barristan sides with Ned and it turns out that the assassination attempt was a ''bad'' idea. As far as the second point, Tyrion has no special knowledge and is only making assumptions, and is seen through the course of the second book to having too high of an opinion of his own abilities. Ned Stark's weakness that led to his defeat (beyond bad luck) was explicitly ''mercy'' and his refusal to treat Cersei as a legitimate threat. In fact, had he been ''more'' honorable, he would have informed his liege immediately instead of giving Cersei time to escape with her children (something that Robert might have viewed as ''treason'' had he known) and/or he would have refused to confess to falsely conspiring against the rightful king Joffrey, and either or both of these steps would likely have saved his life.

* ShoutOut: A very minor character has a Series/{{black adder}} on his coat of arms, two others have a ComicBook/{{green arrow}} and a ComicBook/{{blue beetle}} - and it can't be a mere coincidence that [[ComicBook/IronMan the Iron Men are so close neighbors to the Starks]]...

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!" Said by Joffrey, sealing Ned's death even though the action is basically a [[WarWasBeginning declaration for war.]]]]

* WombHorror: Daenerys has a run-in with some BloodMagic, which causes her to give birth to a stillborn deformed winged reptilian fetus.
* WouldHurtAChild:
** At the end of Robert's Rebellion, Tywin Lannister ordered his men Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch to kill three-year-old Rhaenys Targaryen and her infant brother Aegon (and their mother Elia).
** Robert orders the death of thirteen-year-old Daenerys and her unborn child.

** And the House Stark words: "winter is coming". They basically mean don't get comfortable because [[MurphysLaw things will go wrong.]] At the beginning of the book, the decades long-summer is wrapping up, the kingdom is prosperous and at peace and the autumn harvests are just starting. [[spoiler:At the end the kingdom is ear deep in debt, a massive civil war is starting, the king is a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk, the fields are burning and ''winter is coming''.]]

* AdultFear:
** [[spoiler:Ned dies executed in front of his daughters (one right in front of him, the other one is among the crowd), knowing he just invited a war that would tear the continent apart.]]
** [[spoiler: For Catelyn it starts since her beloved child apparently falls from a tower. ''Then'' someone is sent to kill him because he could have seen something he shouldn't, and ''then'' your husband is allegedly framed for treason, executed and your daughter held captive in a DecadentCourt]]. [[FromBadToWorse And it gets worse]].

->''When you play [[TitleDrop the game of thrones]], you win or you die. There is no middle ground.''

* NotSoDifferent: Lysa and Cersei. Cersei is quickly shown to be a bitter, petty, paranoid tyrant who assumes anyone who isn't a fawning YesMan is out to get her, smothers and spoils her eldest son rotten, and inflicts swift DisproportionateRetribution on anyone she perceives as wronged her family in any way. Once Catelyn gets to the Eyrie, she quickly learns that her sister Lysa has become petty and paranoid, constantly believes that anyone who gives advice she doesn't want to hear is against her, has spoiled and smothered her son so much he still breast-feeds at age ''six'', and leads such a blatant KangarooCourt against a man merely ''accused'' of killing her husband that even his accuser, Cat, thinks it unjust. Oh, and Lysa and her son enjoy carrying out executions as much as Cersei and Joffrey do. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that both Lysa and Cersei arranged to get their lord husbands killed with wine.]]

** [[spoiler: For Catelyn it starts since her beloved child apparently falls from a tower. ''Then'' someone is sent to kill him because he could have seen something he shouldn't, and ''then'' your husband is allegedly framed for treason, executed and your daughter held captive in a DeadlyDecadentCourt]]. [[FromBadToWorse And it gets worse]].

-->'''Ned:''' I remember Robert as he was the day he took the throne, every inch a king. A thousand other women might have loved him with all their hearts. What did he do to make you hate him so?
-->'''Cersei:''' The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sister’s name. He was on top of me, ''in'' me, stinking of wine, and he whispered ''Lyanna''.

* WouldHurtAChild: At the end of Robert's Rebellion Tywin Lannister ordered his men Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch to kill three-year-old Rhaenys Targaryen and her infant brother Aegon (and their mother Elia).
** Not only did Robert give his retroactive blessing to those murders, but in the present day he orders the death of thirteen-year-old Daenerys and her unborn child.
* YankTheDogsChain: See WhamLine. It looks like Ned will be able to take the black and see Jon again if he only confesses to his crimes...[[spoiler:which is blown to pieces when Joffrey decides to execute him against everyone's better judgement.]]

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In universe. It's said that the song about Robert's death because of a boar is really about Cersei. This fails to get past the radar, however, and leads to the singer being given a SadisticChoice.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Ned Stark]].