History VideoGame / TelltalesGameOfThrones

* MortonsFork: Many choices actually lead to (more or less) the same outcome; for example, complying with Ludd Whitehill will have him take your ironwood reserves as a "gift", defying him will lead him to do the same to teach you a lesson. Since a player does not know this until they play through multiple times, the tension is not knowing which choices actually matter and how. For notable instances:
** The meeting with Cersei is set up as an in-universe one as placating her is just as likely to come off as badly as refusing to do so. Why? Because Cersei's a jerk. Subverted if you choose Joffrey over Lady Margaery in the final choice, which pleases Cersei. You also can make up for it as Margaery knows she ordered you to do it.
** Meeting with Ramsay Snow is another case of this as he's an irredeemable psychopath and any option to take against him will not go down well. You don't have enough strength to intimidate him militarily, offering him the ironwood equates to giving up your only reliable source of currency and any diplomacy is questionable because, again, he's a psycho. The meeting always ends just as poorly: he always sends Whitehill men to infiltrate Ironrath, he always takes Ryon hostage, and he always kills Ethan.

** Mixing in with UnwinnableByDesign, it's impossible to stay on Margaery's good side in episode 3. While her anger at Mira is somewhat understandable if she admits that she went to Tyrion for help with her family behind Margaery's back, she'll be just as equally furious if Mira claims that she simply had a drink with him--which actually does happen. She'll still accuse Mira of backstabbing her and command that she never speak to him again, or else Mira will be sent home to her family. Yet another example in the same vein comes when Tyrion asks to speak with Mira in front of Margaery. If Mira talks to him, Margaery will remind Mira that she didn't want her to and will refuse her help for the wedding. If Mira listens to her and doesn't talk to him...she'll still refuse Mira's help for the wedding. This can be a particularly brutal example if Mira claims to have simply drank wine with Tyrion, sticks to that story, and refuses to talk to him.
** Asher's choice on whether to allow Beskha to kill her former master, stop Beskha from killing her master or killing the master himself, does nothing as Daenerys will refuse to give Asher the Seconds Sons, no matter what. Though, if the master dies, Dani will scold Asher and Beskha, and if the master lives, Asher and Beskha get a chest full of gold bricks (you also get the bricks if you say that Beskha was the master's slave), but the outcome remains the same.
** [[spoiler:No matter what you do in Episode 6, Ironrath will fall, and at the very least either Gryff or Ludd will survive, if not both, while Elissa and your Sentinel perishes. However you attempt to hold off the Whitehills as Rodrik, they will break through eventually, though you might save a couple characters depending on your choices. If you try to poison Ludd as Asher, Elissa will drink the wine as well when Ludd gets suspicious, but Gryff survives and escapes to rally his troops. If you try to ambush the Whitehills while they are within Ironrath under guest-right, Gryff will die, but Ludd will escape to rally his troops. And even if you try to call off the ambush or the poison in an attempt to actually have peace under the Whitehills' surprisingly generous conditions, Elissa will have none of it, attempt to kill Ludd, fail, and both him and Gryff go to rally their troops.]]

Although Telltale announced that there would be a second season, Telltale closed before it could be created.

* DefiantToTheEnd: One way of playing House Forrester throughout Season One. This, notably, ''infuriates'' Ludd Whitehill and drives him to near-madness trying to destroy you. [[spoiler: It also doesn't prevent House Whitehill from conquering Ironrath in the end.]]

** [[spoiler: Lady Elissa does this in Episode 6, whether to ensure that both her and Ludd Whitehill are poisoned, or by saving Asher/Rodrik in the battle for Ironrath.]]

** If you're slight of stature and have never been in combat before, it's a ''bad'' idea to attack a man-at-arms in full plate and a large sword (at least if you expect to live). [[spoiler: If Lady Elissa is still alive during the battle of Ironrath, she saves her son this way, but Harys has zero trouble killing her immediately for it.]]

* MortonsFork: Many choices actually lead to (more or less) the same outcome. Since a player does not know this until they play through multiple times, the tension is not knowing which choices actually matter and how. For notable instances:

'''HERE BE GAME-WIDE SPOILERS.''' The story begins with a ''huge'' LateArrivalSpoiler for anyone who has not read up to ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'' or reached the end of season 3 of the television adaption. Because of the story-heavy nature of the series, '''only spoilers for the most recent episode will be marked''' to keep this page readable. It is best to experience the game first-hand (or a Let's Play series of it) before reading these pages.

** The Whitehills are this in virtually every respect for House Forrester. While the Forresters are a rich, respected, and ecologically friendly house of Stark banner, the Whitehills are a poor, derided, and ecologically unfriendly one.[[{{Understatement}} The Forresters are on the decline due to the events of the Red Wedding while the Whitehills are on the rise.]]

** In order to provoke Gared into fighting him, Britt tells him how fearfully and painfully the former's father and sister died ''and'' how much he enjoyed it. To say this is [[KickTheDog Kicking The Dog]] would be an understatement.

* PressXToDie: When meeting with Lord Whitehill inside his own hall and surrounded by his armed men, at one point you have the option to straight-up attack him. [[RocksFallThePartyDies Everyone present will die in the bloodbath]], including Arthur Glenmore and his rangers if you brought them.

* UnwinnableByDesign: You ''cannot'' fully please Cersei during Mira Forrester's segment in Episode 1, because Cersei's a jerk. Defiance will tick her off, obviously, but if you're continually non-committal in your answers, Cersei won't know what to make of you, and won't find that very encouraging. However, if you constantly agree with Cersei, then she'll think that you're the sort of person who will say anything to get what she wants, which Cersei won't find very encouraging. She's only pleased by kneeling to her at the beginning and choosing the King over Margaery at the end.
** Episode 5 includes a nastier example of this trope, as regardless of whether Rodrik or Asher stays behind to keep the gate up so the other can escape, the game's objective is to kill Gryff Whitehill in retribution, but you cannot win against the crowd of Whitehill troops between them. If you miss an attack prompt when someone is aiming a crossbow at you, you will be shot in the throat and die from that shot. On the other hand, if you take every attack prompt, you can take out most of the crowd, but you will eventually be stabbed from behind by Harys, shot in the throat with a crossbow, then grabbed by two soldiers and finally killed.

** In Rodrik's route in Episode 6, [[spoiler: while sneaking into the Whitehill's camp, he has the pit fighters release the horses to distract the guards.]]
** [[spoiler:they can also set a watchtower on fire or simply spill a lot of blood.]]

** The identity of Tom's master is never revealed, and since [[spoiler:either Tom or Mira is dead by the end of the season]] it's unlikely that we'll ever find out who he really was and why he was so keen to help the Forresters.
*** [[spoiler:A dummied-out file in the game's code has Tom revealing that Olenna Tyrell sent him - considering the finality of Tom and Mira's last encounter, it's likely that this revelation was left out by accident and was ''meant'' to make it in there somewhere, but the opportune moment was never found. However, this just shifts the focus of the mystery to ''Olenna's'' intentions and reasons for helping the Forresters.]]

Telltale has confirmed that there will be a second season, but its production is currently on hold.

** Asher's choice on whether to allow Beskha to kill her former master, stop Beskha from killing her master or killing the master himself, does nothing as Daenerys will refuse to give Asher the Seconds Sons, no matter what. Though, if the master dies, Dani will scold Asher and Beskha, and if the master lives, Asher and Beskha get a chest full of gold bricks, but the outcome remains the same.

** In Episode 6, [[spoiler: Lady Elissa Forrester is killed by one of Whitehill's men. If the player accepted Morgryn's marriage proposal, Tom the coal boy will be executed for Damien's death. If not, Mira will be.]]

Telltale has confirmed that there will be a second season.

* ContrivedCoincidence: One noticeable example in episode 3. Of all the caves in Essos, it was rather fortunate that Asher and co. ended up in the same one as Drogon, Daenerys' dragon and that Asher thought it prudent to pick up the dragon's tooth in the middle of the chaos. Said item proves to be useful later when appealing to Daenerys herself to make broker a deal that would let them borrow her sellswords.

* ConvenientlyUnverifiableCoverStory: Sera Flowers pretends to be a trueborn daughter of a noble house. Said house is extinct, so there's nobody to dispute her claims.

* HandicappedBadass: Rodrik is quickly getting better from his crippling injuries - in episode 3, he can withstand a beatdown and even deliver a few very strong punches to Gryff and Whitehill soldiers. In episode 4, he's shown training swordfighting with ser Royland - and doing unbelievably good for someone who can barely walk without a cane. He even can knock Gryff down. [[CaneFu With said cane]]. Now he can walk without his cane at the end of episode 5.

** [[spoiler: Mira can choose to sacrifice her life by refusing Morgryn's offer of marriage, as said marriage would result in Morgryn claiming her family's land and power as well as Tom facing execution in her place.]]

** A Bolton soldier pleads this while at Gared's mercy. The effect is somewhat lost since said soldier enjoyed killing old men and children a few minutes prior.

* {{Irony}}: In Episode 1, Ryon carves the names of two of his brothers (Rodrik and Ethan) into a wooden sword. Showing it to Ethan, he says that Ethan's side is to give him strength and Rodrik's side is for remembrance. By Episode 2, Ethan is dead and Rodrik is alive. Bonus points for Rodrik potentially using said sword as a cane to give ''him'' the strength to stand up.

** Lord Whitehill's really insistent on getting "justice" for his slain man (or men), despite the fact he'd sent said man/men to murder a peasant's family without provocation (or the Boltons did). Also, being sent to the Wall is the traditional punishment for murderers.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Implied in Episode 3. If Mira does not kill Damien in Episode 2 and flees, Tom the Coal Boy lives and Damien dies anyway. This would imply that a scrawny, disarmed boy managed to get out of being drowned by a guardsman ''and'' kill said guardsman.

** Episode 6: [[spoiler: Mira is finally arrested for the death of the Lannister guard back in Episode 2, and is awaiting execution when Lord Morgryn, the man who sent the guard to kill her and got her unjustly arrested, comes into her cell. He presents Mira with a proposition: if she agrees to marry him, he will frame Mira's close ally Tom for the murder and get her acquitted. Said marriage will allow Mira to live, but will also let Morgyrn claim right over her family name, land and all that the Forresters own. If you accept his offer Mira will be forced into a terrible marriage and Tom's head will roll, but if you reject it, Mira's will.]]

* CurbStompBattle: Gared Tuttle specializes in this trope, first delivering an (optionally) utterly one-sided beatdown to Finn in Episode 2, and then to Britt in Episode 3.

* DecoyProtagonist: Ethan is built up as one of the main characters as Lord of House Forrester, but he is murdered in cold blood by Ramsay at the end of the first episode. Rodrik takes his place as lord after turning out to have survived the massacre.

* DirtyCoward: Britt flees after his men are defeated fighting Gared Tuttle. This trope comes into play given he could have helped them and he'd just murdered an eight-year-old girl and unarmed man while bragging about his prowess as a warrior.

* DownerBeginning: You begin the game at [[WhamEpisode the Red Wedding]]. Enough said. "Iron From Ice" as a whole could also count as one for the series.

* EvilIsHammy: Lord Whitehill bellows like a wounded boar.
*** Later in episode 2, Lord Whitehill isn't doing as much yelling but his voice actor is still delightfully [[ChewingtheScenery Chewing the Scenery]].

** Averted with Ramsay Snow who is more of a SoftSpokenSadist.

* RedHerring: In Episode 2, when Finn and Cotter are introduced, it quickly becomes obvious that Finn is a bully, so it looks like he's going to cause a problem with Gared later, while Cotter seems more like harmless comic relief. In a twist, it's ''Cotter'' who starts a problem, by stealing Finn's knife and making it necessary for Gared to either tell Finn that Cotter did it or come to Cotter's defense.

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Episode 5 ends with one for either Rodrik or Asher after making a HeroicSacrifice.

* EasterEgg: If you bring Arthur to Highpoint and continuously click on him... [[https://youtu.be/38FmCylyKQc this happens.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: A couple of Whitehill soldiers start to question Gryff's actions, when he starts gleefully [[KickTheDog kicking dogs for no reason]].

* AmbiguouslyGay: In an EasterEgg, Arthur Glenmore smirks, wags his eyebrows and winks at Rickard.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Duncan and Royland, when arguing their respective courses of action. Duncan points out that the Forresters lack the men and military power for the aggressive actions that Royland keeps proposing, [[spoiler:and is ultimately proven right by the end of the game]], while Royland points out that the Whitehills and Boltons cannot be trusted or reasoned with, no matter what Duncan says to them.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Gared will change into more weather-suitable clothes in "The Lost Lords."
* AmbiguouslyGay: Arthur Glenmore. That, or he was just being cocky. See the EasterEgg...

* AnyoneCanDie: Being both a Telltale game and a ''Game of Thrones'' adaption, this was inevitable. Not even playable characters are safe. See CharacterDeath for more information.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the show, Tyrion wielded almost no real power as Master of Coin due to Tywin being the Hand during this time. Here, he seems to be reasonably powerful and able to match his sister's maneuvers. {{Justified}} as the Forrester's power-base is very specifically economic.

* ArrangedMarriage: Rodrik is betrothed with lady Elaena Glenmore. It's of [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage perfectly arranged kind]].

** For scale: there are nine major regions in the Seven Kingdoms - seven plus the Riverlands (borderlands) plus the Crownlands (capital region). Westeros is an entire continent, so a region like "The Westerlands" is really the size of medieval France or Germany. Each of these regions has about a dozen or so major noble Houses in it, such as the Umbers, Karstarks, Glovers, Tarlys, etc., which makes for about a hundred or so major Houses in all of Westeros (varying a little from one generation to the next). Each of ''these'' major Houses, in turn, have anywhere from a few to a dozen minor Houses like the Forresters as vassals - so there are ''several hundred'' minor vassal Houses that the novels have barely had the chance to mention.

* AxCrazy: Ramsay Snow flays people for fun, so yeah.

* BookEnds: Episode 1 features one, provided you allow Bowen to be killed with an ImpromptuTracheotomy. Ethan suffers the same fate at the end of the episode, courtesy of Ramsay.

* {{Foil}}: The Forresters can be played as one of these for the Starks rather than as an {{Expy}} family. The Forresters can break oaths, lie, cheat, and engage in ruthlessly duplicitous behavior versus the honorable noble behavior which they are expected to do as Stark bannermen.

* CreativeClosingCredits: The game's credits after finishing Episode 6 are a montage of various characters from the show narrating to other characters about the events of the game (Ramsey narrates to Reek, Margaery to Olenna, Daenerys to Missandei, and so on), and it goes over every major choice you made while showing what percentage of other players made the same choice. You also earn a title based on your choices throughout the game.

** Episode 5 starts with Arthur being horribly tortured and killed by Ramsey Snow in the first ten minutes.

** Ramsey's return at the end of Episode 4.

* TheMole: Episode 3 has Gwyn Whitehill reveal that there is a traitor on Rodrik's small council, since the Whitehills somehow have intelligence on everything the Forresters discuss. The candidates are: Duncan Tuttle, Ser Royland Degore, Maester Ortengryn, and Lady Forrester. It turns out to be the person who Ethan did not name as sentinal and will [[ReasonYouSuckSpeech accuse you of running the house into the ground.]]

* BittersweetEnding: The finale can be see as one. [[spoiler: Gared manages to find the North Grove and can send basically a small army to Ironrath, the surviving brother will live, albeit heavily injured, along with Beskha, Ryon, and Duncan/Royland/Gwyn, and Malcolm is still in Essos getting Dany on the Forresters' side. Even Mira's death can be seen as bittersweet since she dies with dignity and saves Tom's life.]]

** The Forresters' individual and general storylines can be see as something not quite but close to Stark levels of continuous trauma.