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1''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' deconstructs so many tropes it needed its own page. '''Be warned, for the night is dark and full of spoilers.'''
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3See also the [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype/ASongOfIceAndFire Deconstructed Character Archetype]] page
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8* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Maintaining power when everyone under you hates you isn't easy... and, can easily lock you into a cycle of [[Catch22Dilemma doing things people will hate you for simply to maintain your grip on your slippery position of power]].
9** 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.]]
10** Despite her intent to make things better, Daenerys is so despised in Slaver's Bay that chaos reigns more than she does. Innocent people who support her are murdered at night by the [[TheRemnant Sons of the Harpy]] [[spoiler: and there is an attempt made on her life, which she narrowly escapes. She can barely control her own court and is forced to marry a possible enemy to placate her opponents, which only boosts frustration among her strongest supporters. Nothing she tries to do gains traction because of the hatred, sexism and incessant factionalism. It has gotten to the point where Daddy's favourite strategy starts to look a ''very'' attractive alternative as a means to get the whole lot to sit down, shut up, pretend to get along and pull in one direction: "Burn them all!". After all, dragons don't plant trees.]]
11** Tyrion's demonization by the commoners in King's Landing wouldn't have helped his case with his father after Blackwater, when Cersei was able to convince Tywin that most of the preparation and defensive work was her doing. Had the blame for most of the Lannisters' mistakes been applied to the correct people in the popular mind instead of reaching for the easy "Demon Monkey" scapegoat role they loaded him with, Tywin might have actually taken note and taken pains to include him in later reconstructive efforts. [[TheUnfavourite Well, maybe]]. At the very least, Cersei would not have come out of it quite so glowingly and a whole raft of problems might have been avoided. As it was, Tyrion's perceived failures at curbing the Crown's self-inflicted chaos during the siege using financially and verbally harsh means come back to bite him time and again, [[TheScapegoat blown up out of all proportion]] and scuppering any attempt by all half-competent Lannisters to stabilize the boat ''without'' reaching for the even bigger crackdown-and-take-hostages option. [[spoiler: Tywin, Kevan and Jaime have to resort to this when the wheels start to fall off, if in slightly different ways -- Jaime and Tywin picking the rather direct versions; Kevan attempting the more diplomatically disguised route.]]
12** Roose Bolton ponders all the pitfalls having such a negative public image can plague a whole House if even just ''one'' member pushes the envelope a little too far. If Ramsay continues being gratuitously StupidEvil right in front of people's faces, the whole House, not to mention the population of the Dreadfort, could be exterminated by the combined effort of the unhappy Northern Houses in less time than it took them both [[spoiler: to work their way into holding Winterfell's lands and titles in the first place.]] And, that whole speculation was made before [[spoiler: the revelations of House Bolton being actively involved in the Red Wedding]] had even started to leak through various sources. [[spoiler: There is a possible plus-side: if that one member of the House is loathed enough, the rest ''might'' get off by throwing him to the wolves and blaming most of the collective monstrosities on him, then citing whatever can be proved of as their own doing as, "We were just trying to protect our own blood -- even if he was an unpredictable, AxeCrazy idiot. Will his head and reparations do?" Maybe.]]
13** The Freys were already this before the war, being mocked and looked down upon for being opportunistic weasels and glorified extortionists. So, if you're already despised, why ''not'' go for broke by going large and waving it about? What can you lose? Well... after [[spoiler:their betrayal of a huge number of neighbours and allies during the Red Wedding]], they are hated by nearly everyone in the Riverlands and the North. Quite a lot in those regions will gladly take the opportunity to kill every Frey they encounter if it presents itself, and other people will not think twice when one of the House dies. Heck, because many Northern and Riverlands Houses lost men and relatives to them, most break out into very thinly disguised schadenfreude upon hearing of the latest tragedy to befall the Freys -- in front of them. All of this means that, just to govern what they hold, actual Freys have to go out to risk bodily harm while threatening it upon their vassals. This is a family which leans more towards the behind-the-desk CorruptBureaucrat end of the slime pool rather than the actively knee-capping enforcer one, remember: they're a bit out of their comfort zone as a group. Also, even though the Riverlords have officially submitted to the Iron Throne, Jaime knows he can't rely on the people in reality to stay quiet, let alone loyal, and ''has'' to take hostages (often ones the Freys were holding as collateral) to remind the squabbling Freys and Riverlanders alike who is in charge of them all.
14** Because Joffrey was this trope on legs, it's practically impossible for the Lannisters (who aren't Cersei) and most at court to [[spoiler: work out who actually killed him.]] Although the story of [[spoiler: Tyrion-and-Sansa is publicly accepted, few buy Sansa's wholehearted involvement]] and it muddies the waters as a result. But, due to the sheer number of other candidate suspects, nobody can find alternative narratives that are closer to the truth. This cloud of uncertainty could play out in many different ways, depending on what happens in the next book. And, not necessarily in Cersei or [[spoiler: Tommen's]] favour, at that.
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19* 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.
20** Varamyr Sixskins demonstrates another way the logic behind this trope fails horribly: what is a spearwife (and capable, well-tooled lass) to do when the guy kidnapping her uses a sodding skinchanged bear, wolf and/or snow leopard to do it ''and'' can try surfing into an eagle or ''you'' to get away from [[SoulJar either pain or death]]? Which throat do you slit in time to defend yourself and not get mauled? [[spoiler: Thistle bites her own tongue out to stop the bastard with her own death and wighting, giving up on the "not getting mauled" to die free of him.]] Even if the bloke doesn't have magic, you've got problems if he brings enough friends with him, all willing to break the rules for long enough.
21** There's also Craster's Keep to think about; sometimes, nobody local is going to willingly go out of their way kidnap/ court you, even if you might actually want out. They're also not going to help your Other-centric, inbred, indoctrinated selves, either. Getting yourself into position to get successfully "kidnapped" by the likes of, say, Samwell Tarly takes luck, determination and sheer hard work.
22* AllAnimalsAreDogs: At first, Dany's dragons ''do'' behave in a puppy-like manner while they are still small enough to ride on her shoulder and generally do exactly as she asks. As they grow, though, they become far more aggressive and dangerous to be around. As of ''A Dance With Dragons,'' they have become so out of control that [[spoiler: Dany is forced to chain them up (which doesn't help matters) after Drogon eats a human child. Drogon even attacks Dany and she is forced to use a whip ([[HarsherInHindsight "A dragon is no slave!"]]) to make him obey her. Dany ''is'', of course, the "Mother of Dragons" and she must make her child obey or risk more innocent people getting burned, and striking a dragon with your bare hand isn't going to do much good, but it's still a bit ironic.]]
23* AllGirlsWantBadBoys[=/=]DracoInLeatherPants:
24** Despite signs that Joffrey wasn't the kind of person she should be marrying, Sansa didn't realize how psychotic he was until it was too late.
25** Daenerys falls for Daario, but his less than sterling behavior becomes a liability to her regime.
26** Cersei falls for Aurane Waters, despite her terrible experiences being married to Robert, and heaps undeserved praise and favor on him. [[spoiler: Once she's out of power, he abandons her by stealing her fleet and sailing away to the Stepstones.]]
27* TheAlliance: Forging one of these is an arduous task due to all the [[EnemyMine political infighting and divergent agendas]]. They are also very fragile in times of defeat or betrayal--times when they are needed the most.
28-->'''Tyrion''': A wrong word, an ill-timed jest, a look, that's all it will take, and our noble allies will be at one another's throats.
29* AltarDiplomacy: Arranged marriage is the most common way for the noble houses to cement alliances, but it gets taken for granted.
30** Viserys Targaryen marries his sister Daenerys to Khal Drogo so he can use Khal Drogo's horde to take back the Iron Throne but the Dothraki don't believe in business arrangements and see the new Khaleesi (Daenerys) as a gift. [[spoiler:Viserys loses patience and threatens to harm Dany and her unborn baby so Drogo kills him. Later, an attempt on Dany's life convinces Drogo to invade Westeros and give the Iron Throne to their son as a "gift".]]
31** Robb Stark breaks his marriage pact with Walder Frey so they get Edmure Tully to marry a Frey girl instead. [[spoiler:This is used as a pretext for the Red Wedding.]]
32** The Queen's Men think they can marry off the "Wildling Princess" Val to get them to fight with them. Wildlings of course don't believe in this since strength of leadership is all that matters.
33* AlwaysMurder: Westeros' history is so riddled with backstabbing power plays that suspicious deaths are almost always seen as foul play, even though suicides and freak accidents are just as likely. Many Targaryen kings, Rohanne Webber's husbands and even Ser Hugh of the Vale are victims of this.
34* AmbitionIsEvil:
35** 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.
36** Aegon the Conquerer and his sister-wives fulfilled their desires to rule the continent of Westeros as a single Kingdom. In the process, they destroyed numerous Great Houses such as Hoare and the Gardeners, and forced each of the kingdoms to yield their sovereignty. From the perspective of their subjects, they were pretty much this trope in distilled form. Yet, in doing so, they unified the realm into one, putting an end to several millennia of intercontinental strife, removed Ironborn control of the Riverlands, and put several much needed reforms into practice. While they did a lot of harm initially, and it's unlikely they conquered a continent for selfless reasons, the Targaryen reign brought a lot of good in the long run, something Stannis Baratheon of all people actually appreciates.
37* AncestralWeapon: Valyrian steel weapons are treasures often handed from generation to generation and it is said the most impoverished family would rather sell their children rather than give up one of theirs.
38** Tywin Lannister's youngest brother Gerion got himself lost in his quest to find his family's precious Brightroar. Tywin later [[spoiler: melts down the Stark greatsword Ice and has it reforged into Oathkeeper and Widow's Wail. He did it both to give his family Valyrian steel swords and to spite the Starks.]]
39** Aegon IV handed his baseborn son Daemon the Targaryen sword Blackfyre, which many interpreted as a sign that he is the true heir to the Iron Throne. This, among other factors, eventually sparked the Blackfyre Rebellion.
40* AngstWhatAngst: If a character doesn't seem to be overtly affected by a traumatic event you ''know'' they're in for some serious psychological problems further down the road. Just ask Littlefinger, whose curb-stomping led him to [[spoiler: start a civil war]], or Arya, who [[spoiler:becomes a ruthless killer]], or Tyrion, with whom a lifetime of family abuse and neglect caused him to [[spoiler: murder his own father]].
41* AristocratsAreEvil: Stannis Baratheon's blunt manners and tendency to speak nothing but the truth make him seem like a {{Jerkass}} but they also make him more relatable to the common folk. His talk about how people owe him their allegiance makes him seem like a glory seeker but his little moments behind closed doors show his empathy for the less fortunate which he can't show openly for fear of being seen as weak.
42* ArmiesAreEvil: The "good" armies like the Starks and Baratheons aren't immune to doing things like rape and plunder. Daenerys buys the Unsullied especially to prevent this trope but Jorah still points out that they will still kill and ravage, earning the hatred of the Seven Kingdoms people.
43* ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes: Armor's unwieldiness can be exploited by unarmored opponents (Ser Vardis vs. Bronn, Oberyn vs. The Mountain) but going up against someone in armor with the wrong kind of weapon can get you killed (Syrio Forel vs. Ser Meryn). All in all, what you wear is no guarantee as to your general safety or relative virtue (Petyr Baelish vs Brandon Stark; Ser Hugh "May As Well Have Worn Nothing For All The Good The Bling Did Me" of the Vale vs The Mountain).
44* ArrangedMarriage: Among the nobility, marriage is an institution meant to facilitate alliances and land exchanges, so personal happiness means almost nothing to the people setting them up. It's also extremely politically charged and could mean the difference between war and peace or life and death. In contrast to the usual "follow your heart" philosophy other more romantic series would preach, [[MarryForLove love matches]] like Doran Martell and Mellario can fail while some arranged marriages like Ned and Catelyn Stark can work out.
45* AssholeVictim:
46** The series is fond of giving its [[HateSink wretched, depraved villains]] absolutely deserved karmic deaths...that are so [[AlasPoorVillain horrific and pitiful]] that any satisfaction the reader gets is lessened considerably.
47** 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 (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, as is him pitifully begging Daenerys for his life. Daenerys herself mourns him, despite her own complicated feelings.
48---> Daenerys (in narration): That was the saddest thing, the thing that tore at her afterward...the way he smiled.
49* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership:
50** The Dothraki way. Initially, this is believed to make them an incredibly dangerous threat to Westeros and a highly advantageous ally to Viserys Targaryen. However, the series also demonstrates that this philosophy doesn't make them the threat Robert and Viserys imagine them to be.
51*** Because they only respect strength, their culture makes them largely uninterested in ambitions of pursuing wealth or conquering nations, as none of these things indicate authority to them. This also makes them far more difficult to ally with than Viserys anticipated, given his lack of understanding for their culture.
52*** This philosophy means that disagreements are resolved by fights to the death. In an era where minor wounds can easily be fatal, even the winners of these fights are at risk. And because there's no persistent structure of government, even the mightiest horde will dissolve immediately if the ''khal'' is incapacitated.
53** Aegon seems like this, conquering six of the seven Kingdoms with dragons. However, he still needed to set up institutions to rule.
54** Robert claims to have taken power with his war-hammer, but when he became king he found ruling more difficult than fighting, and as a result takes little interest in running the realm.
55* AwfulWeddedLife: As a consequence of {{Arranged Marriage}}s being used to form alliances among the nobility instead of for happiness, it's almost inevitable that these may occur. Unfortunately, ''because'' these marriages take place ''entirely'' between powerful entities that can start bloody wars with one another, the consequences of horrible marriages go from just being painful for the two parties involved, into being triggers for continental civil wars.
56** 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.
57** 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.]]
58** One of the many reasons why [[TheCaligula Aerys']] [[WeUsedToBeFriends relationship with Tywin]] fell apart was because Tywin had been married to the love of Aerys' life, Joanna Lannister, while Aerys and Rhaella were very much forcefully and unhappily married. The loss of Tywin's support almost certainly contributed to Aerys' defeat, and the ousting of the Targaryen dynasty, and while it certainly wasn't the only reason for Aerys' madness, being forced to marry his sister at the behest of his father, [[ParentalHypocrisy who himself married for love,]] while his best friend was HappilyMarried to Aerys' OneTrueLove probably didn't help matters.
59** [[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.]]
60** Put simply, while [[MarryForLove love matches]] [[LoveRuinsTheRealm can bring ruin to the realm,]] completely overriding the compatibilty of the potential marriage partners for the political benefits can backfire just as badly, and prove just as calamitous. In short, do what Dorne does; official marriages, semi-official separations, divorce, paramours... out-right mixed-orientation polyamoury. Whatever you do, make the customs you use work for you, rather than forcing everybody to be miserable.
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64* BecauseDestinySaysSo: It's possible that the Targaryens' [[spoiler:urgent need to make the prophecy of the [[TheChosenOne Prince that was Promised]] come true]] is what doomed their dynasty. Several Targaryens made poor, even insane, decisions believing they were necessary for the prophecy to be fulfilled, but so far all it's done is caused them disaster after disaster.
65* BigDamnHeroes: TheCavalry swooping in to save the day is credited in the history books with turning the tide of battle but it also leaves the besieged left out and made to look helpless and become resentful at the "help". Examples include Stannis at the siege of Storm's End, Tyrion at the Blackwater and Maekar Targaryen at the Redgrass Field.
66* BigFancyCastle:
67** The construction of Harrenhal Castle almost bankrupted both the Riverlands and the Iron Islands. Unfortunately, it was [[CripplingOverspecialization designed for defense against a ground attack]], and Aegon Targaryen had [[GameBreaker dragons]]. Even though most of it is a ruin 300 years later, it's still too big to be properly garrisoned and very expensive to uphold. Harrenhal remains Westeros' ultimate symbol of CoolButInefficient. Petyr Baelish [[spoiler:after being made Lord of Harrenhal, says once he has enough money he intends to tear the place down and built a more practical castle.]]
68** [[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.
69* BlingOfWar:
70** Ghiscari masters in general, and Yunkish ones in particular, have gone so overboard with their peacock displays on their slave soldiers that they're barely able to move, let alone fight.
71** Ser Hugh of the Vale might as well have gone into battle naked against The Mountain for all the good the fancy-looking, ego-inflating armor did him, proving that even tasteful, well-designed bling is still a bad idea if you're a newly-promoted, tourney noob facing a professional killer.
72* BodyguardCrush: Romances between highborns and those who protect them never seem to work out.
73** Everyone knew Brienne loved Renly, so when [[spoiler:he got killed she was blamed for it because it was easy to see her as a WomanScorned.]]
74** Jorah Mormont falls for Daenerys Targaryen but he couldn't take back the fact that he had previously betrayed her for a royal pardon. [[spoiler:It comes back to bite him and he is exiled.]]
75** Daenerys and Daario Naharis's relationship is intensely romantic but his reputation as her hatchet man and his low origins is one of the things hated about Dany's regime.
76** Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Criston Cole were rumored to have loved each other but their relationship soured along the way. They eventually ended up on opposite sides during the Dance of the Dragons.
77** [[spoiler:Then there's Cersei's relationship with a Kingsguard who is her brother and fathers her children. When the truth comes out it leads to a war over succession.]]
78** Arys Oakheart loved Arianne Martell and she convinced him to [[spoiler:help in a coup that resulted in his death and the maiming of his charge, Princess Myrcella.]]
79* BreadAndCircuses:
80** Ned Stark opposes hosting a [[TheTourney tourney]] held in his honor because it is way too expensive and contributes little in way of actual revenue to the people. Littlefinger, Varys and Pycelle argue that the tourney is a useful distraction for the common people and helps subsidiary businesses such as prostitution and bars that are also entertainment businesses. When the tourney takes place, the city faces riots and frenzies that the Gold Cloaks find it hard to contain. Likewise in [[Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg "The Hedge Knight"]], a bar hostess tells Duncan vis-a-vis the Tourney of Ashford that she's never known an instance of a tournament actually cutting down the cost of grain.
81** When Tyrion becomes Hand in ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' he initiates a period of austerity so as to secure resources for preparing a siege. To this end, he shuts down businesses pertaining to expensive armory and other luxury businesses and then shuts down the fisheries wharf, which was also coupled with a blockade of food sent by the Tyrells to King's Landing. Tyrion's refusal to supply some form of distraction makes the people of King's Landing angry at starvation and war deprivation, triggering a riot and mass anger at the government and especially the Demon Monkey whom they associate with the bad times, whereas the real culprits such as Joffrey and Cersei are associated with a period of peace. This also leads businessmen such as the Antler Men to plot defection to Stannis because they feel Tyrion is bad for business since he forced them to work directly for the Crown and canceled their prior business contracts, citing an imminent siege rather than giving assurances. When the Tyrells arrive alongside his father, they come bringing food and are greeted as heroes despite being responsible for a mini-famine by depriving food to begin with. His father, Tywin, puts a tax on prostitution and other pleasure businesses which gets labelled the "dwarf's penny" because Tyrion was demoted to Master of Coin without his consent. Tyrion's genuine service to the realm and protection of the common people gets brushed aside thanks to empty displays of charity and superficial rhetoric of heroism simply because he never put in token efforts of distraction and indeed scorned displays such as the Royal Wedding with its 77-course meals at a time of widespread starvation in the city.
82* BreakTheCutie: Petyr Baelish, Sandor Clegane, Lysa Arryn and Jaime Lannister walked into life [[WideEyedIdealist wide-eyed, full hearted and determined to live up to many of the ideals they or others held.]] When reality not only failed them, but outright punished them for trying to live life like a fairy tale, [[JerkassWoobie they all become much more bitter and darker]] [[TookALevelInJerkass in their adult lives.]] [[spoiler: Even Sansa ends up abandoning her family's ideals of honour and justice out of a desire to simply survive as a hostage, and out of the realisation that following those ideals got most of her relatives killed.]]
83* BrilliantButLazy: Robert Baratheon had all the traditionally accepted traits of the perfect king. He was both ruthless to his enemies and had a knack for making allies, but he found that VictoryIsBoring and preferred letting others rule in his stead. His inattentiveness ruins the stability of the realm.
84* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: Ned Stark brought his sister Lyanna's remains back North as per her last wishes but [[DueToTheDead he did not do so to his companions]]. [[spoiler:Now Lady Dustin vows to destroy his remains when she finds them in revenge for Ned not bringing back her husband's remains]].
85* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Tywin Lannister is so used to doing unspeakably terrible things that he doesn't remember them all. His LackOfEmpathy makes him unwilling to meet anyone halfway or have some understanding of those who suffer because of his decisions. [[spoiler: The combination of both gets him killed.]]
86* ButterflyOfDoom: It's remarked several times how certain characters were brought to ruin by a single event or decision, and how things could have been better. Except reading between the lines suggest that, even if different choices were made, [[MortonsFork the events would all too often have stayed the same]] because of unseen factors being more critical.
87** It's noted that Tywin upped his ruthlessness after the death of his beloved wife 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.
88** 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 it is 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.
89** [[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 it is revealed that Baelish wanted to not only create chaos in the realm for himself to move up, but also to remove Ned by any means necessary so as to get closer to Catelyn Tully, Ned's wife. As for Varys, 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,]] who's shown to be similar in temperament and goals to Ned, it is 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.]]
90** [[spoiler:In that same vein, how much longer Tywin would have lived can be seen in a similar way, and for much the same reasons as Ned's death. While he definitely brought it upon himself after years of treating Tyrion like shit, and callously provoking his son into shooting him; with Littlfinger and Varys still around, and still wanting to undermine things, Tywin would have been an obstacle just as Ned and Kevin were. Indeed, Tyrion only manages to find Tywin in the exact situation he did (taking a dump after sex with a whore), thanks to Varys. So it's genuinely debatable whether Tywin would have lived much longer had Tyrion not killed him, simply because he was the one man keeping House Lannister in power on the Iron Throne, or if Varys or Baelish would arrange for him to die some other way to trigger the chaos and instability we see that results from Tywin's death.]]
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94* ChangelingFantasy
95** Ramsay Bolton (formerly the bastard Ramsay Snow) thinks his father Roose took him in out of kindness and that Roose and his mother couldn't marry because she was just a peasant. Ramsay is actually a ChildByRape and his mother never wanted him.
96** Obara Sand left her mother and joined her father Oberyn Martell because she didn't want to be trampled on as a girl and as a commoner.
97* ChildhoodFriendRomance: When this trope [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend goes wrong]], the emotional fallout of someone losing the person they grew up with and loved haunts them well into their adult years. Their inability to move on leads them down dark paths.
98** Petyr Baelish couldn't marry his childhood crush because he wasn't highborn enough for her. [[spoiler:He tried a duel with the man she was engaged to for her hand, and got beaten badly, so he orchestrated a civil war to get back at the world for Catelyn's ArrangedMarriage]].
99** Lysa's obsession with Petyr, compounded with a loveless marriage and resentment about his feelings toward her sister, left her vulnerable to his manipulation. Not only does she [[spoiler: murder her husband and lay the groundwork for a war, she also tries to murder her niece from fear that she might take Petyr away from her, and ends up getting killed by Petyr when he was done using her.]]
100** Although it's unclear exactly when Prince Aerys Targaryen started crushing on his best bud's cousin, Johanna Lannister, that group of friends had an average age of "young teen" when it became obvious. It... didn't go well, mainly because the future king became a primo creep and Tywin is protective of fellow Lannisters, not just those he ends up devoted to.
101* ChildrenAreInnocent: This doesn't mean they can't do terrible things, or that even their attempts to do well will go well.
102** Rickon Stark is relatively overlooked by his parents, and has something of a savage streak. [[spoiler:He is currently staying with a wildling who has no qualms about killing people on an island full of cannibals.]]
103** Joffrey is seen as a nuisance and it's thought he will be easily manipulated. That changes when he [[spoiler:has Eddard Stark executed]].
104** Arya is easily trusted or dismissed by the people around her because she's a little girl. [[spoiler:They don't realize that she also has a disturbingly high body count. No one looks at her twice while she's being trained as an assassin.]]
105** Bran Stark openly flirts with ObliviouslyEvil [[spoiler: when he innocently commits MindRape on poor Hodor when skinchanging into him]], even though he is aware that the guy doesn't like it. And he's broken other skinchanging tenets out of both ignorance and necessity.
106** Robert "Sweetrobin" Arryn really likes to watch people get thrown off a mountain or duel to the death as a form of entertainment, but doesn't seem to really get what death means or how the world doesn't revolve around his needs. As self-centered and bonkers as Joffrey, if just a bit sweeter because he really doesn't know any better and is a lot frailer. There is no actual, overt malice in him, just childish glee, tantrums, and an epic-class MyBelovedSmother to pin much of the problems on.
107* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Walder Frey didn't bring his troops when ordered to by his liege lord in time for the Battle of the Trident, only showing up after the battle had been won, which to many signifies disloyalty. For this he became known as the Late Lord Frey and his family's reputation took at hit. [[spoiler:When the Freys betray Robb at the Red Wedding they figured it would be for the best, as they had a bunch of people to stand by them. But because everyone knows they're involved, it taints their reputation basically beyond repair, to the point where even their ''allies'' are taking swipes at them. And it's not just their reputation at stake -- some members of House Frey are in fact being ''murdered'' because their betrayal broke one of the most fundamental elements of pre-modern society: [[SacredHospitality guest right]]. The effect extends far beyond the Twins; now, ''no one'' can trust ''anyone'' not to murder them at dinner, and their betrayal means that the riverlanders and Northerners despise them and won't willingly help them.]]
108* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Dany could not bear the oppression and suffering of the slaves in Slaver's Bay, so she decided to liberate them, even though it diverted her from her aim of claiming the Iron Throne. The result? [[spoiler:Astapor is taken over by a new king and then depopulated by war, famine, and plague, Yunkai reverts to business as usual as soon as she leaves, and Meereen descends into a political and economic quagmire. Even then, she refuses to let go of her need to help her "children," to the point where it starts to look less like idealism and more like a neurotic compulsion.]] Inevitably, the scheming characters are catching wise; for instance, [[spoiler:Tyrion]] points out (though it's a tad ambiguous as to how serious he was) that the only surefire way to force Dany into conquering Westeros is to create a situation where she'll need to swoop in on her dragons and save the day -- [[spoiler:in this case, having her young nephew attempt a land invasion in which he cannot possibly be successful without her]].
109* CockFight: Petyr Baelish challenged Brandon Stark to a duel for the hand of Catelyn Tully [[WrongGenreSavvy thinking that]] UnderdogsNeverLose. He only survived because Catelyn begged Brandon to spare him. The duel left Petyr physically and emotionally scarred and he spent the rest of his life [[MagnificentBastard screwing everyone else over]] because he couldn't let go of his bitterness.
110* CombatByChampion: Single combat is used by besieged defenders as a hail Mary. More savvy commanders refuse this at the risk of giving up a strategic advantage. Others like [[spoiler: Aegon the Conqueror at Ghost Hill]], would often get played.
111* {{Conscription}}: The series pulls no punches in showing that WarIsHell, and this is just one part of it. Different aspects are explored in different portions of the books.
112** The chapters with the Night's Watch emphasize just how bad conscripts have in regards to training alone - while most of Jon's fellow recruits are volunteers to some degree (even if it amounts to TradingBarsForStripes), most have never held or trained with a sword in their entire lives, much less owned one. They get absolutely decimated in training fighting an experienced swordsman, with chapters during the War of the Five Kings indicating that this happens quite often in true battles.
113** Feudal levies frequently have no idea where they are fighting because, while they are not quite MedievalMorons, they don't know much about the world outside of their home towns. Many turn to banditry if the force they belong to breaks because they have no idea how to get home.
114* CoolChair: The Iron Throne [[ThroneMadeOfX made from the thousand swords of Aegon the Conqueror's enemies]] is incredibly uncomfortable and is rumored to have killed Aegon's son Maegor. The entire point of the Iron Throne is to constantly remind any king that supreme power is supremely dangerous and is not a thing to be trifled with, but instead, virtually everyone sees it as a monument to what Aegon accomplished, so instead of the throne signifying WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility, it instead suggests that WithGreatPowerComesGreatPerks.
115* 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 effect that having the weapon makes Brienne a walking target in the eyes of Stark supporters.]]
116* CourtlyLove: The short and simple lesson? "If it would make a lovely song, don't try it at home. It'll actually suck to live it."
117** According to the Greens, Lord Commander Criston Cole and Princess Rhaenyra were in love but he wouldn't touch her since he upheld his vow of celibacy as a knight of the Kingsguard. She took this as an insult and slept with Ser Harwin Strong. This is one of the reasons Criston turned against Rhaenyra and sparked a civil war between her and her half-brother Aegon II. The idea of pure selfless love without sex is thus seen as absurd.
118** It is possible Aemon the Dragonknight and Queen Naerys' relationship was platonic but this didn't stop wagging tongues from twisting their relationship into something more. It got to the point where Aegon IV himself believed the rumors and came to question the paternity of his son and heir Daeron, with terrible consequences.
119** [[spoiler:Queen Cersei Lannister is trapped in a loveless marriage with King Robert. She engages in {{Twincest}} with Jaime, leading to a civil war when the truth about her children's parentage is revealed.]]
120** Whatever the heck it was that went on between Rhaegar and Lyanna. A stirring song of tragedy and winter roses; a bloody disaster in actuality. Pissing off Lords Paramount just doesn't pay off.
121* CultureClash: The idea of CultureClash is itself brought into question since many ideas such as slavery are opposed by cultures like Westeros which imposes serfdom and class oppression on the lives of the majority of people living there, where most peasants will lose limb or life for giving lip to their masters or liege lords. Indeed [[spoiler: Tyrion Lannister]], during his travels across Essos, notes that quite a few slaves live a lifestyle that is actually ''better'' than peasants in Westeros, seeing very little difference between both beyond one enjoying a polite euphemism. The Ironborn likewise oppose chattel slavery but see no problem in taking captives as "thralls", indentured labourers whose children would be freemen, and "salt wives". In many cases, people are clinging to the notion of civilization by linguistic gymnastics.
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125* DavidVersusGoliath: Deconstructed both ways with Ser Gregor vs. Prince Oberyn. Gregor's size and strength count for little against an experienced warrior who knows how to deal with enemies with his advantages. [[spoiler:Oberyn's showboating got him killed. In a real sense, The Mountain was the underdog of this fight.]]
126* DecadentCourt: Those in positions of power may neglect their day-to-day governing duties in favor of engaging in realpolitik, forcing their more responsible peers to pick up the slack. The lack of unity among the kingdom's rulers causes many serious problems to fall by the wayside. The biggest concern is that nearly everyone capable of protecting the realm is too wrapped up in politics to deal with the wildling invasion or even realize that there is an upcoming ZombieApocalypse at their door, despite [[CassandraTruth repeated warnings]] from the Night's Watch. [[spoiler: Stannis is the only one who took those warnings seriously.]]
127* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Viserys ''tried'' to invoke this trope for Daenerys throughout her childhood; not just about their parents, but using their older brother, as well. Unfortunately, his tales involved a lot of whitewashing that clashed horribly against the dark and complex reality Daenerys learns actually exists when Ser Barristan, a firsthand source, alludes as to the very real madness of her father, the very human limitations of her mother, and the failings of the supposedly perfect Rhaegar (who he, nonetheless, still admires). Not to mention the fact that Viserys was a terrible example of a parental-sibling-potential-husband figure, so he was not exactly the best advertisement for the caring side of the Targaryen family dynamic he tried to portray in stories, himself. Nonetheless, Daenerys was made so emotionally invested in the idea that, despite ''his'' flaws and inadequacies bringing her up, the rest of her family had generally been just, gifted, beloved and, therefore, were wrongfully usurped. To the point that she has acute difficulty accepting the nuances of their history, even though she now knows it's not entirely how Viserys painted it as being. And, she still got an inadequate childhood with little stability out of the deal.
128* DefeatMeansFriendship: The concept of fealty is questioned time and again since the bannermen of most of the great houses started as their rivals. Not all remain loyal despite centuries of servitude and it's possible that [[TheStarscream they might rebel if the conditions are right]].
129--> Jamie (to Brienne): Every great lord has unruly bannermen who envy him his place. [...] My father had the Reynes and the Tarbecks, the Tyrells have the Florents, Hoster Tully had Walder Frey. Only strength keeps such men at bay. The moment that they smell weakness ... during the Age Of Heros, the Boltons used to flay the Starks and wear their skins as cloaks.
130* DefiledForever:
131** Young Lysa Tully got pregnant by her father's ward, Petyr Baelish. Her father, Hoster Tully, wouldn't consider a marriage due to Petyr's lower social standing but also couldn't allow his daughter to be this trope. So he [[spoiler:deceived her into taking abortifacients. The loss of her child left Lysa so bitter and traumatized that she refused to see her father while he was dying.]] Instead, he arranged her a marriage to an older childless lord who needed an heir. Sadly, [[spoiler:the potion probably damaged her womb and the couple had one sickly son.]]
132** Robb Stark married Jeyne Westerling after having sex with her to keep her honor and to not repeat his father's mistake of having an illegitimate child. [[spoiler:By doing this, he broke his marriage pact with the Freys, which lead to his death ''and'' ended the Northern uprising at a stroke]].
133** Victarion Greyjoy killed his wife in accordance to Ironborn custom after she was raped by his brother Euron (or seduced, as Euron claims). Victarion didn't blame her at all for what happen, rightfully directing all his anger at Euron, and still loved her deeply. But although he didn't want to kill her, [[HonorBeforeReason he felt he had to]] and it was the most painful experience of his life. [[spoiler: Now he's trying to steal the woman Euron wants to marry as revenge.]]
134** Cersei, fearing that Margaery Tyrell is becoming more popular and powerful than herself, [[spoiler:has her framed for adultery. Because Margaery swore she was a maiden when she married Tommen, a child, when it's discovered that her maidenhead isn't intact, she's arrested. But since highborn ladies often lose their maidenheads by horse riding, her fate hangs on a trial. However, Cersei's accusations infuriated the Tyrells, who refuse to be shamed and deprived of the throne. The most powerful alliance in Westeros is being stretched to its breaking point, threatening to drag the realm into yet more chaos because of the uncertainty over one girl's virginity.]]
135* {{Determinator}}:
136** The Baratheons refuse to compromise, which just makes things needlessly more difficult for themselves and the people around them. [[spoiler: Stannis and Renly's inability to reconcile leads to the former killing the latter.]]
137** Brienne never, ever gives up, not when she's trying to [[spoiler:protect Jaime]] and not when she's sent out to [[spoiler:find Sansa]]; not because they're what she wants to do, but because she [[IGaveMyWord promised to do them.]] She takes any failures very hard, even small or inevitable ones or ones she couldn't prevent (such as [[spoiler:Jaime losing his hand]]), and by the midpoint of AFFC she flat-out admits that what she really wants is to go back to Tarth, and oaths be damned... but she can't, and she won't, [[HonorBeforeReason because she swore an oath.]] She's increasingly psychologically drained and traumatized, and [[spoiler:as of ADWD her obsession with doing the right thing and damning the costs almost lead to her death, because she couldn't lie to an undead crazy lady. Now she might be leading one of the only people who likes and respects her into a trap because of same.]]
138** The Martells' single-minded pursuit of their goals also cost them dearly: Oberyn's obsession with getting a confession out of his almost beaten opponent [[spoiler:gets him killed in a fight he otherwise would have won]]; Quentyn [[spoiler:gets burned to death by a dragon]] when he refused to accept that his quest had ended in failure, and the Sand Snakes' refusal to consider anything other than taking brutal vengeance promises to only bring more pain and suffering to themselves and others, as Ellaria points out.
139* DisproportionateRetribution:
140** Tywin Lannister makes a point of responding to even the smallest slight with massive retribution. This is both due to humor at his expense reminding him too much of his father—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 but actively ''hated'' by large swaths of Westeros. [[spoiler:Once Tywin dies, everyone who was too afraid to take him on starts paying back House Lannister for all the atrocities Tywin committed]].
141** 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 mother arranging for Elia to marry Rhaegar as payback for an earlier snub by Tywin)]].
142* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler:Doran Martell]] hides a brilliant scheme by pretending to be weak and appeasing. Unfortunately this doesn't just fool his enemies. His own allies believe he's useless and they make plans of their own without telling him. Not only do these plans fail, they interfere with [[spoiler:Doran]]'s much better thought out ones.
143* DroitDuSeigneur: Even when the custom was legal and widespread, raping your inferiors is an utterly awful idea on [[PragmaticEvil a pragmatic level]] at the very least. House Qoherys, the first Lords of Harrenhal after the Hoares, met its end because Gargon the Guest abused this right so much that the smallfolk betrayed and handed him over to [[RebelLeader Harren the Red]] to be castrated and executed. [[spoiler: In the present, one of the few StupidEvil decisions Roose ever partook in was the rape of a peasant girl and the hanging of her husband. This encounter produced [[BastardBastard Ramsay Snow]] who causes no end of problems for Roose, and there's a heavy implication that the peasant Roose raped raised Ramsay to be a monster, and sent him in Roose's general direction [[RapeAndRevenge precisely so she could pay him back for taking his lord's rights.]]]]
144** 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 lineage, 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...
145** Theon stumbles on another aspect of this, too. Granted, it's unlikely that what happened between him and the miller's wife was this trope to the letter, but she (and her husband) were hardly in a position to demand justice if, indeed, one or two of her children were his (and we don't know how pressured either of them felt). So, when he has the Stark-enough-looking kids killed to cover Bran and Rickon's escape, he might have killed his "dark hair is also a Greyjoy-look, you doof" kid or kids. Worse, either the miller or his wife could conceivably have been Stark by-blows themselves, for all we know (not looking at Ned's brother, Brandon, as an out-of-the-blue example). And, in a world where the Old Gods might know who, what, when and how when that close to a heart tree... that could be an issue when you're not supposed to kill either kin or sworn kith.
146* TheDulcineaEffect: Daenerys's surprisingly fast military successes in Essos are in large part due to strong and experienced warriors falling in love with her - whether it be the person she is or [[RightfulKingReturns the idea]] of [[TheHighQueen who she could be]] - and wanting to help her achieve her goals. [[spoiler: As they leave her one by one due to death, exile, or betrayal, her rule begins to falter just as quickly.]]
147* DyingMomentOfAwesome: One minor character in ''A Dance With Dragons'' suggests that focusing on heroism in death can lead to a lack of respect for life -- and the behaviour of many Westerosi knights seems to bear this criticism out. Despite the belief that kings, lords, and warriors should die in a heroic or dignified manner, they are not so great that they can't die pointless, humiliating deaths like the peasants they care so little about.
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151* 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.
152* 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, [[EverybodyHasStandards 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.
153* EvilCannotComprehendGood: This trope and GoodCannotComprehendEvil get put through the wringer in a setting full of GreyAndGrayMorality. The best examination would be the Red Wedding. [[spoiler:The North is massacred at the Twins because nobody thought that the Freys and the Boltons would stoop to breaking SacredHospitality, allowing Tywin Lannister to kill Robb Stark and his army in one fell swoop. Unfortunately for the Lannisters and their lackeys, breaking the most sacred of traditions has put a permanent black mark on their reputations, which to more fundamentalist types demands ''the total extermination of their houses''. Jaime trying to root out the Brotherhood Without Banners is ultimately a doomed effort because his efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Riverlanders will ''never'' erase the stains of his family's sins]].
154* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The exotic fortress of Dragonstone was deliberately built to look scary to hide the fact that it's not very defensible. Some believe its dragon-shaped towers will supposedly come to life when The Prince Who Was Promised returns.
155-->'''Salladhor Saan''': If the red woman brings them to life, the castle will come crashing down, I am thinking. What kind of dragons are full of rooms and stairs and furniture?
156** Also deconstructed by its current owner: The very obvious supervillain lair belongs to Stannis Baratheon, a deeply conflicted and flawed figure who ''looks'' like the sort of EvilOverlord who'd hold a castle like Dragonstone but is anything but underneath.
157* EqualOpportunityEvil: In a society that values privilege, hierarchy and inherited status, anyone who vaguely moves to make attempts at equality, or insist on some form of it, will come off as "evil" or be considered evil by the powers-that-be who, in turn, define the values and opinions of society:
158** Aegon V the Unlikely, a.k.a. Egg, attempted to be an InternalReformist who wanted to put into effect legal reforms that would provide greater rights to the smallfolk and better improve their lot. To do so he had to curb some of the rights of his more powerful vassals. How did they respond? They criticized Egg for being "a bloody-handed tyrant intent on depriving us of our gods-given rights and liberties", i.e. their liberty to oppress their own subjects.
159** The Iron Islands, led by the Drowned Priests, rebelled against and brutally massacred any king who sought to improve the rights of thralls.
160** Stannis Baratheon is feared and disliked by many partly because he believes in equality before the law and that those in power who abuse their posts should submit to the same justice doled out on those below them. This makes him come across as unlikable and tyrannical but it also makes him meritocratic and fair, and the first King-claimant in Westerosi history to allow the Free Folk to immigrate into the Seven kingdoms and settle on the land with the same rights and dues as any Westerosi of their station.
161** Daenerys Targaryen is painted as a violent and terrible queen by people in Volantis and across Essos for her abolitionist crusade, while the slaveowning Qartheen see her leveling attempts as an example of a prized guest turned FallenHero.
162** 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.
163* EverybodyHatesMathematics: Westerosi culture may regard reading and writing with great suspicion, but that's nothing compared to how high-end arithmetic, bookkeeping and even vaguely complex mathematics generally gets treated (it's considered an art almost as dark as magic). This contributes massively to their bad case of MedievalStasis, leaving them highly vulnerable to players like the Iron Bank, Petyr Baelish or any other culture (say, Valyrian-descended ones) with a better grasp of mundane or magical engineering due to knowing tricks with integers. It's biting them hard, but most people can't even spot the problem.
164* FantasticRacism: In the feudal setting of the series, racism can lead to practically suicidal stupidty.
165** Most of Westeros does not think highly of the North, regarding them as humorless and honor-obsessed, and at times barely more civilized than the Wildings. This also causes them to dismiss the Others as Northern Supersition, which is a bit of a problem when their undead armies start to approach the Wall...
166** Speaking of the Wildlings, most of Westeros thinks of them as subhuman savages. While part of this is due to the threat of RapePillageAndBurn that hordes under a King-Beyond-The-Wall can unleash, this fails to acknowledge how the Wildlings can't arrange for peaceful passage south because the Watch refuses to let them cross for any reason. It gets to the point where much of the Watch is willing to let them be slaughtered by the White Walkers, despite the fact that [[TooDumbToLive this will bolster the Walkers' Wight army with thousands of corpses]].
167* FeudingFamilies: The Blackwoods and the Brackens tried to make peace several times over the centuries through marriage alliances, to the point that there is Blackwood blood in every Bracken and Bracken blood in every Blackwood. However, the feud has continued for so long because eventually something will happen to start it happen, and it can ultimately never end because the Houses don't forget the wrongs that have been done to them.
168* FishOutOfWater: [[spoiler:Eddard Stark, Viserys Targaryen and Janos Slynt's]] inability to adapt to their new environments gets them all killed.
169* FlamingSword: The weapon 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.
170-->'''Davos''': The Red Sword of Heroes looks a proper mess.
171* ForTheEvulz: Doing senselessly cruel things just makes things harder for oneself since every action has consequences, notably earning the hatred of people you need.
172** Joffrey [[spoiler:has Ned Stark executed after Ned is forced to confess to treason rather than send him to the Night's Watch. This leads to the North, under the leadership of Ned's son, rebelling against the Iron Throne. Joffrey's continuing cruelty leads to the people of King's Landing hating him and eventually leads to Joffrey's murder by his wife's family, partially out of fear he will abuse her.]]
173** Ser Gregor Clegane "The Mountain that Rides" is a notoriously cruel and brutal man who raped and murdered Elia Martell even though he was only told to murder her son. [[spoiler:His brutality ends up making him a liability to the Lannister regime, who end up sending his skull to Dorne to placate Elia's brother.]]
174** Ramsay Snow delights in indulging his sadistic pleasures, even hunting women, raping and flaying them. His father Roose Bolton considers him a problem, as the Bolton regime is already unstable and Ramsay is not helping them gain support. Meanwhile Ramsay's brutal abuse of his wife, [[spoiler:a pretender daughter of Ned Stark used to legitimize Bolton rule of Winterfell, further loses support. Someone even says that though Roose is cruel they can deal with him, but Ramsay is a monster.]]
175* FreudianExcuse: Cersei justifies her mistreatment of others by believing that she has been unfairly treated herself, or that she is merely protecting herself and her family, or that she is taking what she is owed. However, most of her excuses are paranoid delusions or distortions of the truth. When her claims of victimization are legitimate, she continues the cycle by victimizing others for her own gain.
176* GenghisGambit: Uniting warring factions against a common enemy is easier said than done, and just because these factions are working together ''now'' doesn't mean the differences or grudges between the lot will vanish or be forgotten, especially when the dust settles.
177** Robb Stark, Stannis, and Renly Baratheon all want the Lannisters off the Iron Throne, but their visions of who will rule Westeros and its regions are so divergent that instead of engaging in EnemyMine, they war against each other as well as the crown. [[spoiler: With the result that two of the three are dead, and their individual aims looking more and more remote of being achieved.]]
178** Mad King Aerys ended up uniting four of the Seven Kingdoms in open rebellion thanks to his tyranny, ushering in a new dynastic era of rule, but once the war was over, it became politics as usual at King's Landing, and not only did the old tensions not disappear, but new ones were formed, particularly between the Westerlands and the North, which eventually fed into the War of the Five Kings down the line.
179** As a race of AlwaysChaoticEvil [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal maniacs]], [[TheFairFolk the Others]] who once brought about [[DarkestHour the Long Night]] should be the perfect enemy for all of Westeros, nay, the ''entire world'' to band together and fight against. But since the last sighting of the White Walkers was millennia before the beginning of the saga, they've been reduced to legends and fairy tales while they're collecting strength and rising again in the Land of Always Winter, while Westeros itself is falling apart in the midst of a SuccessionCrisis as all but a few are unaware that the Long Night is about to happen once more.
180* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: This is something of a FatalFlaw for the Starks, who hold themselves quite rigidly to a sense of honor and operate on the assumption that so does everyone else. Whilst this serves them quite well in their capacity as rulers of the North (the vicious Boltons notwithstanding), outside it renders them vulnerable to being blindsided by just how low people are willing to sink to get what they want.
181** [[spoiler: The Red Wedding is perhaps the best example, where Robb Stark, his mother, many of his bannermen and nearly all of his army get massacred under trust because Robb had previously broken a pact to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters. Though both of them are aware that Walder is a prickly, cruel and mean sort who never forgets slights or grudges and take steps to counter any potential treachery (Catelyn begs Robb to ask for bread and salt so as to invoke SacredHospitality, which mandates that neither a host nor a guest may harm each other whilst under the same roof, whilst Robb decides to bring a very large portion of his army along as well), they underestimate just how depraved and petty he is that he would be willing to violate the one inviolate social contract just to get payback. The subsequent slaughter is so complete precisely because it doesn't cross any of the victims' minds that they could be in any danger under guest right]].
182** [[spoiler:Ned ends up dying for a similar underestimation of how villainous several characters are - when he tries to depose of Joffrey, he attempts to convince Cersei to flee with her children, knowing just how bloody things are about to get. Not only does he fail to realize that Cersei would just order his arrest, but he's betrayed by Baelish due to missing the hints that Peter wants Ned's wife for himself. He ends up being executed because he fails to realize that Joffrey is a monster who ''should'' be put down]].
183* GoodScarsEvilScars:
184** 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]].
185** Sandor Clegane's horrifically burned face is used as an indicator of his evil nature by the people who see him, and also makes him very intimidating. However, Sandor's backstory illustrates how aquiring such an ugly scar is a painful, traumatizing experience, [[ThenLetMeBeEvil and that the prejudiced world of Westeros gave him little choice but to accept his image.]] Only a few people, like Sansa, are able to look past Sandor's appearance and see him as the tragic figure he is.
186[[/folder]]
187
188[[folder:H]]
189* 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 the realistic consequences:
190-->Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it’s not that simple. Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn’t ask the question: What was Aragorn’s tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren’t gone – they’re in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles?
191* HeelFaithTurn: Although played straight in a few cases (i.e. The Elder Brother and Septon Meribald), characters "finding religion" generally does not come with an overall improvement in personality and behavior:
192** Following a grievous injury at the Blackwater, Lancel Lannister becomes fervently religious, but no more likable, and his newly found asceticism furthers the damage to his health and looks wrought by his injury.
193** Ser Bonifer Hasty known as "Bonifer the Good" is renowned as a KnightInShiningArmor turned champion of the Faith who embodies the virtues of the Seven. However, at least in Jaime's POV, he largely comes across as a humorless, self-righteous prig.
194** Formerly a lovable BoisterousBruiser, Aeron Greyjoy's embrace of religion turned him into a stern, humorless fanatic. More importantly, both his earlier recklessness and current fervor are implied to stem from deep-seated emotional issues tied to implied sexual abuse by his brother Euron as a child.
195** Thoros of Myr went from a skirt-chasing BoisterousBruiser who was nominally a Red Priest into a true believer in R'hllor after [[ReligionIsMagic his religious observances suddenly came with magical powers]]. In this new state, Thoros belongs to a band of righteous outlaws, who over time, go from somewhat ruthless defenders of justice to outright knight templars. While Thoros isn't happy about this shift, the effect is that he is involved with much worse behavior following his religious conversion than before it.
196** With the rise of the [[ChurchMilitant Faith Militant]], many an outlaw, ruffian (male or female), and hedge knight is likely to join up; if only for the promise of regular meals and a stable mode of living that won't get them hanged. They'll still be doing pretty much the same old things, only now it's sanctioned by the clergy.
197* HeirClubForMen:
198** Most of Westeros, except the Dornish, practices [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primogeniture#Male-preference_primogeniture male-preference primogeniture]], which is responsible for putting many evil, insane, or incompetent men in power instead of more suitable female candidates.
199** The bloody civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons began when Aegon II rose against his older sister Rhaenyra, their father's chosen heir. When Rhaenyra lost the war, the Targaryen line of succession became even more strictly biased against women, wherein a more distant male claim can override a closer female one.
200** Cersei is incredibly bitter about the fact that she is the last choice for Tywin's heir despite being his eldest child and the one most interested in ruling. Even after Jaime gives up his claim to Casterly Rock by joining the Kingsguard, he's still held in higher regard than her.
201** What's more, after [[spoiler:Tywin is killed, Tyrion is in exile, and Kevan is alienated]] it does fall on Cersei to rule the Lannister regime in the capital, and thanks to the sexist gender roles of Westeros and the holes in Cersei's education, she has never learned ''how'' to rule. She makes multiple foolish mistakes while thinking she's outplaying all sides, empowers a dangerous new rival for power while trying to lessen the influence of an allied faction, and generally makes a hash of things until she's caused a major crisis for the throne. Only teaching the skills of ruling and leadership to men means when you do need a woman to step up, they may be missing the basics that would allow them to do so. Not to mention that the feeling of being cheated out of her inheritance added up to Cersei's paranoia and left her unable to keep any alliances, as she sees everyone as potential threats to her power. Also, Cersei tries imitating her father in acting like how she thinks a man should act, and as a result is internally misogynist.
202** [[spoiler:Sansa Stark, Alys Karstark, and Donella Hornwood]] are considered relatively unimportant while the male heirs of their houses are alive. When their family members die, other men try to marry them to take control of their inheritance without even giving them the chance to grieve.
203** Even though Dorne averts this by not showing preference to either gender, Princess Arianne fears being cast aside in favour of her younger brother Quentyn. [[spoiler: She plots a coup to stop her father from denying her birthright, only to have it fail and learn that her father had been planning to make her queen of the Seven Kingdoms.]]
204** Tyrion scolds [[spoiler: Young Griff]] for assuming that his clearly ambitious aunt [[spoiler: Daenerys]] would be fine with handing him all her resources and settling for being his HotConsort just because he's a man. She's more accomplished, has a following of her own, and unlike him [[spoiler: is pubically recognized as a legitimate Targaryen]]. She has no reason to give him the time of day, let alone put him on the throne instead of herself.
205* HonorBeforeReason:
206** Many characters that place value on honor instead of money, power or the family name often end up betrayed and dead, as people who ''do'' value those things see them as obstructive to their ambitions and have them removed. This is even lampshaded by Varys, who notes he's met few men with a sense of honor as strong as Ned's, and understands why when he sees what it gets them.
207** Inversely, characters that are considered dishonorable become pariahs, however well-meaning their actions. People refuse to trust them, ally with them, or utilize their valuable skills. Thus, people like Tyrion and Jaime become bitter and disillusioned.
208** People who are honorable and determined to a fault, such as Stannis Baratheon and Ned Stark, are seen as lacking mercy and will gain a reputation as a HangingJudge.
209** The notion of honor is, however, also regarded as a sign of civilization and hospitality, the violation of the same at the Red Wedding leads to further chaos in the Riverlands and across Westeros, causing much PoorCommunicationKills. Moreover the violation of the same from the wealthy and powerful sets a negative precedent for the poorer sections of society.
210---> Mercy, thought Theon [...]. There's a bloody trap. Too much and they call you weak, too little and you're monstrous.
211* HotBlooded:
212** Ned's older brother, Brandon, unwisely threatened Mad King Aerys' heir, Rhaegar, and got himself and his father killed. Ned also blames the "wolf blood" for the death of his sister Lyanna but the reason is still unknown.
213** The Sand Snakes' and Arianne Martell's attempts to rush into revenge plots of their own without careful hedging cause merry hell to Doran Martell's carefully constructed (and, perhaps, over-convoluted) attempts of same over decades. Having said that, his brother was no help, either, for all he was supposed to throw up concealing smoke with his actions. His hot-headed insistence on getting a confession out of the Mountain instead of [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just ending him]] triggered the mess in the first place.
214[[/folder]]
215
216[[folder:I]]
217* IGaveMyWord:
218** Jaime Lannister points out that the many vows knights are made to take eventually contradict each other, so expecting a knight to keep all his promises is ridiculous. He also notes that many times those [[MyMasterRightOrWrong vows are sworn to terrible people]] because those are the ones in power, meaning knights are expected to go along with their lieges' atrocities [[MortonsFork but]] are also condemned for committing them or letting them happen.
219** Brienne gives her word several times, and does her utmost to keep it for each one. Shame the world around her has absolutely no interest in letting her manage to do so. The more she fights to stay loyal, the harder it gets and the more she faces conflicting loyalties.
220** The Starks try to live by this as a general rule. Then things happen and they can't fulfill their promises, either due to circumstances outside their control or because another set of promises clashed. It rarely goes well. The more adaptable Starks have since quit trying to do this quite so much or started learning ExactWords.
221* IHaveYourWife: Hostage taking is a common practice in Westeros. [[GreyAndGrayMorality Both villains and protagonists do it and often for similar reasons, depending on the context]].
222** Anyone can be made into a hostage, often in ways so subtle it requires a double-take to notice. Sending your child to be someone's ward or squire involves either coercion or a huge amount of trust. Some people get KickedUpstairs where they can be watched, such as Harys Swyft, [[spoiler:whom Cersei named Hand of the King]] so his son-in-law Kevan wouldn't make a move against her. On the flip side, some people may have to be wary of their in-laws, such as Elia Martell, who was held against her will by her father-in-law, King Aerys, so her family would fight for him.
223** Some people are unable or unwilling to negotiate for their loved ones because the terms of release are too demanding (at least to them) or they don't actually care about that person. In other cases, the party holding the hostage has no intention of letting them go regardless.
224** Robb wanted to trade his sisters for Jaime Lannister, but feared that his bannermen won't respect him if he gave up the Kingslayer, an extremely valuable hostage, for two mere girls. After chastising him for letting sexism stop him from saving his sisters, Catelyn [[spoiler: carried out the prisoner exchange behind his back in a desperate bid to be reunited with her daughters. Robb had to arrest his own mother for treason and the exchange didn't go through due to several complications. [[ILied Not that the Lannisters were going to honor the pact anyway]], though Jaime actually would have returned the girls to Catelyn had it been left to him -- mostly because nobody would expect it of the man with shit for honour -- and later on he goes to considerable lengths to honour his bargain with Catelyn]].
225** Theon was taken from his home, Pyke, to be a ward of the Starks to prevent his father from rebelling against the crown again. The Starks grew so used to him that no-one but Catelyn expected him to [[spoiler: seize Winterfell in his father's name]]. Theon's chapters also highlight the psychological consequences of being raised in such circumstances; namely not being able to fully become part of the family, no matter how much they cared about each other, and living with the knowledge that his foster father might one day execute him.
226[[/folder]]
227
228[[folder:K]]
229* KickTheDog: You can only do this for so long before your victims eventually snap and bite back, usually very hard.
230** The Mad King did this to pretty much everyone as his insanity grew; his best friend and right-hand man, his son and heir and his family and all of his vassals. Eventually he crossed the line when he brutally murdered Lord Rickard Stark and his heir on false charges of treason and caused half his realm to rise in open rebellion before dying ignonimously at the hands of one of his bodyguards.
231** The Lannisters have a habit of doing this, even to each other, and it usually backfires horribly. Tywin abused his youngest son for his entire life out of hatred for his dwarf status and blaming him for the death of his wife in childbirth, eventually culminating in said son shooting and killing him; Cersei treated everyone like dirt and found herself with no allies when she was truly vulnerable; and Joffrey vented his sadistic urges on people with no provocation, had people executed on a whim and publicly abused his own intended, eventually resulting in being poisoned at his own wedding.
232* KingmakerScenario: Ned Stark was imprisoned for supporting a rightful heir over a usurper and an illegitimate son. Varys makes him realize his choice has far reaching consequences and he had just invited war to his home and his family is now in danger. Ned has no choice but to recant to save The North. [[spoiler:It is too late and he is beheaded, leading to a war]].
233* KlingonPromotion: House [[spoiler:Bolton]] and House [[spoiler:Frey]] reached their current positions -- the titles of [[spoiler: Lord Paramount of the North and Warden of the North]] for the former; several new castles and marriage alliances for the latter -- by betraying their liege lords. Their new bannermen are ''furious'' over the regime change because breaking an oath of fealty and [[spoiler: violating SacredHospitality]] are both considered crossing the MoralEventHorizon. Because the feudal system rests on a lord being sure that his vassals are loyal and trustworthy and the vassals being sure that their lord is firm but fair, the [[spoiler: Boltons and Freys]] remaining unpunished for their crimes is a huge affront to people's sensibilities; which is why [[spoiler: the northerners and riverlanders are secretly plotting to get the Boltons and Freys out of power by any means necessary, and won't do anything to help the Freys when they begin getting murdered by the Brotherhood without Banners]]. And that's not even mentioning the people's UndyingLoyalty to the ousted lords or the fact that in the process the [[spoiler:Freys and Boltons]] murdered the men and relatives of the lords they now presume to rule over.
234* KnowWhenToFoldEm:
235** In a society that values bravery, honor, and glorious deaths, backing down even in the face of impossible odds is seen as cowardly. Torren Stark is still somewhat mockingly called the King Who Knelt even though the one he knelt to had ''dragons''.
236** Just because you try to surrender doesn't mean your foes will accept. Ser Criston Cole, realizing his army would have no chance against the newly arrived Northern forces, tried to surrender. Seeing how he was one of the people responsible for the entire war they were all fighting in, they ignored him and eventually gave him an UndignifiedDeath via being riddled with arrows.
237[[/folder]]
238
239[[folder:L]]
240* LadykillerInLove: Robert Baratheon fathered a lot of illegitimate kids despite professing undying love for Lyanna Stark. She apparently didn't believe he really loved her and had little hope that he would be the kind of husband she wanted. Ned also expresses that Robert didn't know Lyanna as well as he believes he did. Despite how sincere Robert perceives his love to be and how genuinely heartbroken he was by Lyanna's death, it's implied that Robert might have ended up just as unhappy with Lyanna as he was with Cersei if they had gotten married and Lyanna failed to conform to the image he had of her.
241* LastStand: {{Surprisingly Realistic Outcome}}s occur when only one wants to go out fighting, DefiantToTheEnd.
242** Dagon Codd takes an axe from his second in command when he refuses to surrender Moat Cailin to the Boltons.
243** Argella Durrandon is captured by her own men when she refuses to surrender to Orys Baratheon.
244* 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 DecadentCourt, but several other characters point out that she's an EmptyShell just going through the motions they taught her.
245* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Princess Arianne Martell cooks up a failed coup to oust her father Prince Doran because it appears she is to be passed over as his heir. Unnecessary bloodshed could have been avoided had she been clued in that [[spoiler:it's all a part of his plan to oust the Lannister/Baratheon regime and restore the Targaryens to the throne.]]
246* LoveAtFirstSight
247** Jorah Mormont and UptownGirl Lynesse Hightower fall in love and get married right way but their personalities and lifestyles don't mesh. Jorah is exiled for selling slaves to finance his high-maintenance wife's needs, but she abandons him for a richer man.
248** Sansa's instant infatuation with Joffrey blinded her to his cruelty and sadism [[DomesticAbuse until he turned on her]].
249* LovingAShadow: Like the LadykillerInLove example above, Robert was implied to have never really known Lyanna all that well, and that he was more excited about marrying her for the sake of being Ned's brother than any values of her own. This is implied when Robert tries to broker a marriage between his [[spoiler: false]] son and heir Joffrey and Ned's eldest daughter Sansa. Ditto for Sansa and Joffrey, showing how dangerous it could be in a CrapsackWorld as [[spoiler: when he showed his true colors to Sansa she already fell for the cultivated image of a PrinceCharming meant to mask his true sociopathic nature, no thanks in no small part to several birth defects from inbreeding.]]
250[[/folder]]
251
252[[folder:M]]
253* MachiavelliWasWrong: Probably the most discussed and subverted trope in a fantasy series concerned with {{Realpolitik}}.
254** Renly and Stannis are useful contrasts. Renly openly cultivates the image of a benevolent prince, a man who loves people through displays of superficial charm and generosity and who wants to rule through love despite the fact that his claim rests on a military alliance and superior numbers and his actions would have set a terrible precedent for the succession system. Stannis is disliked and feared for being a duty bound killjoy obsessed with justice, old grudges and fierce discipline, traits that lead to him to be far more meritocratic than Renly's simplistic "common" touch. In the end, Stannis commands loyalty through his devotion to duty, for being the only king to realize that a king has to protect his people for them to accept him as a king, actions which cause him short term defeats but keep him alive in the long run and leads him to command genuine loyalty from the likes of Ser Davos and Melisandre and his fellow soldiers, because despite not being loved and feared by some, he is never hated and commands genuine respect from the likes of Jon Snow, who do not like him personally but admire him for his BrutalHonesty and reserve.
255--->Renly (speaking to Catelyn): Men respect Stannis, even fear him, but precious few have ever loved him.
256** Tywin Lannister commands fear and respect because of his policy of cold, calculated atrocity concentrated for a short period of time, that in his view stops war and prevents violence. This was his justification for the Sack of King's Landing and the Red Wedding and his use of Gregor Clegane and his men as his private goon squad. He tells Joffrey that while he is brutal to his enemies, anyone who actually bends the knee will be helped back on their feet. However the scale of his atrocities is such that people mistrust or disbelieve his overtures of peace and as soon [[spoiler:as he dies]] the Lannisters go from feared to hated under his daughter Cersei, brother Kevan and son Jaime all of whom, despite their different moral leanings find themselves at the receiving end of the consequences of Tywin's actions.
257** The Starks rule through love and friendship among their allies and supporters, and keep the North safe to such an extent that women could walk through the roads in the North without being afraid of rape. Their refusal to submit to callow brutality allows [[spoiler:underhanded enemies like the Boltons]] to endure and plot future betrayal, but it also makes it very hard for them to be replaced since their vassals and the people prefer the lifestyle they enjoyed under the Starks to any future promised by [[spoiler:Roose and Ramsay Bolton]].
258** Littlefinger being the most beholden to {{Realpolitik}} in principle and practice shows that Machiavellian tactics, playing off alliances on necessity and interest rather than bonds of love and common ideals work. However, it works in part because Littlefinger doesn't really seem to care about being a good ruler per se; he just cares about increasing his own power. So whether his approach works depends on what you mean by "work." It works for him very well (so far). For the people of the Riverlands who [[spoiler: are technically his subjects as of the end of the second book]]? Not so much.
259* TheMagicComesBack:
260** 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.]]
261** There's also another dimension to both becoming lost and then found again: hoarding and/or restricting access. Knowledge of how to practice magic was apparently never fully codified, practiced uniformly or spread universally, even though there seem to be some broad, underlying rules governing it. People hoarded what knowledge they did have and actively guarded it from other groups or even tried destroying or obfuscating some of it in fear of it becoming more widely understood (thus negating their monopolies). Making the later gaps between points of data others have to bridge when piecing things back together to use the stuff without exploding/ dying/ going mad far harder to join and make sense of.
262** There's a lot of emphasis placed on the ways in which people can't handle magic being back. It's causing major political upheavals (the assassination of [[spoiler:Renly Baratheon]] via shadow demon, multiple factions trying to marry/control Daenerys so they can use her dragons to achieve political goals, etc.), as well as social ones (the return of dragons is leading to increased religious fundamentalism among followers of the Red God, causing unrest in cities like Volantis). And most concerning, the Night's Watch is completely unprepared for dealing with [[GreaterScopeVillain the Others]] and [[ZombieApocalypse their wight army]].
263* MagicalSociety: In this world, magic isn't regarded with whimsy and childlike awe. Instead, witches and sorcerers are ''widely'' feared and hated by pretty much everyone, including those who don't claim to believe in the supernatural. The closest thing to a country full of magic users are the [[{{Mordor}} Shadowlands]] and the closest thing to a WizardingSchool is [[EldritchLocation Asshai]] within them. The Shadowlands are a place tucked away in the far corner of the world full of strange creatures and fauna and, allegedly, are where you can find surviving dragons and demons. Asshai is an ancient city built by ''someone'' where the sun doesn't come up and everyone walks around hooded and veiled. It's one of the only places in the world that produces witches and wizards (Called Shadowbinders) such as Melissandre and Quaithe following years of studying some pretty scary shit. It goes without saying but basically everyone is afraid of the place and the people who come from there and, unless they're traders, avoids them like the plague if they even survive the trip over. So new students aren't exactly lining up to learn what the Shadowbinders have to teach.
264* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Having questionable paternity leads to trouble among highborns because the [[SuccessionCrisis line of succession]] may be called in question. Highborns will start devastating wars to protect their own claims and bolster their family name. In such cases, the true heir is [[WrittenByTheWinners whoever wins]].
265** Much like in real medieval England, the potential consequences of uncertain paternity in the line of royal succession make it an act akin to treason to lie with the Queen or for the Queen to have extramarital affairs, as this is a direct threat to the royal bloodline and potentially undermines the legitimacy of heirs if there is even a possibility that their father was not the King.
266** This mentality imposes stricter norms of propriety for women over men and is essentially patriarchal. King Robert can father bastards in the double digits with women across Westeros and he would face no rebuke, but Cersei, equally guilty of adultery, [[spoiler:faces rituals of humiliation and submitted to a ShamefulStrip made to walk naked across King's Landing in broad daylight in a ritual meant "to break her pride."]] Likewise, Aegon the Unworthy apparently invoked this trope to cast doubt on the paternity of Daeron II over that of Bastard Pretender Daemon Blackfyre, because the latter's battle prowess appealed to his vanity far more than the scholarly Daeron ever did, and when Princess Rhaenyra tried to claim the Iron Throne, part of the reason she was opposed is because it was believed her three oldest sons were bastards.
267* MarryForLove: Harshly deconstructed in the case of Robb Stark. The Young Wolf breaks off a politically-important ArrangedMarriage when he falls for the FlorenceNightingaleEffect after he's wounded in battle. He hastily arranges for [[WhyWasteAWedding his uncle to marry his fiancée in his place]] in an effort to uphold the alliance... [[spoiler:but at the wedding feast, he, his mother and many of his high command are murdered by their hosts, who took the snub as an excuse to change allegiance. This is the famous "Red Wedding" which you may have heard many readers and ''Series/GameOfThrones'' viewers lamenting.]]
268** Jorah Mormont, from the arse-end of nowhere that is Bear Island, surprised nobles and commoners alike by winning the hand of the fair (and massively out of his league) Lynesse Hightower of Oldtown care of one of those infamous tourney whirlwind romances. Perhaps he should have paid a bit more attention to her background as a Hightower than to her pretty face, because to say the marriage failed catastrophically with a wide area of emotional and political fallout is an understatement. There is no doubt that he still loves her, but... The questions as to why she was allowed to marry him at all just pile up.
269* MightMakesRight: Several characters gain power by right of conquest, only to find that conquering and ruling are two very different things.
270** Robert was an excellent warrior, but useless in peacetime. He gives up trying to be a good leader because he finds kingship less exciting than battle, meaning injustice and corruption are rampant in his court.
271** Renly emulates Robert in trying to win the crown by force, disregarding his older brother Stannis' claim for no other reason than his army is bigger. [[spoiler: His huge army doesn't do him any good when Melisandre uses magic to assassinate him, meaning Renly's attempt at conquest accomplishes nothing besides wasting time and pitting potential allies against each other]].
272** Daenerys tries to be a good queen in Meereen, but her conquest left wounds in the city's social, economic, and political infrastructure, many of her new subjects hate her for disrupting their lives ''and'' she has to sacrifice her personal morals and desires to try fixing the mess she caused.
273** [[spoiler:The Lannisters won the Iron Throne in the War of Five Kings, but personal issues brought up by war and politics bring them to the brink of destroying themselves almost immediately afterwards.]]
274** King Maegor Targaryen lived and breathed this philosophy. This turned into 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.
275** Aegon Targaryen went from just Lord of Dragonstone to King of Westeros through the use of his dragons, but they proved nowhere near effective in conquering Dorne because unlike the rest of Westeros, the Dornish not only took dragons seriously due to their descent from the Rhoynar, who had a brutal experience at the hands of the Valyrian dragonlords, but knew how to use their own environment to sufficiently counter their status as unstoppable war machines. The war for Dorne not only failed despite having three dragons and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, but cost Aegon his sister-wife and the hand of his best friend, showing that one's might, no matter how seemingly unstoppable, has limits.
276** Daeron I Targaryen managed to succeed where his ancestors failed in subjugating Dorne, but much like Daenerys he WonTheWarLostThePeace, as his substandard handling of the occupation led to the Dornish throwing the Targaryen forces out of the country, with Daeron himself assassinated. By contrast, Daeron II managed to bring Dorne into the fold through diplomacy and a marriage alliance, subverting the Targaryen credo of just using dragons to get what they want. Unfortunately, the wounds and bad blood left from the wars for Dorne laid the groundwork for the Blackfyre rebellion, showing how just expecting force of arms to solve all your problems and goals can backfire in the long run.
277* MightyWhitey:
278** Daenerys becomes something like this after freeing the slaves of Yunkai, but this ends up biting her in the ass later in the series when her insistence on viewing her subjects as her "children" leaves her wide open to manipulation, and eventually the cities she "liberated" rise against her in rebellion. In Yunkai, the slaves she freed are back under the heel of their old masters, and Astapor has collapsed into bloody anarchy after civil wars over rule of the city and an outbreak of the "pale mare" (dysentery) causes the attacking Yunkai'i to quarantine the city; this leaves the slaves of Astapor even worse off than before Daenerys' coup.
279** As Queen of Meereen, Daenerys realizes the hard way that ruling a foreign culture involves absorbing and assimilating into their culture, including their clothes, their customs, traditions and their cuisine, all of which she finds abhorrent. Yet, she refuses to instill change by imposing her values on the Ghiscari in return to explain some of what lies behind her decrees about, e.g. the fighting pits. So, she willingly tries to assimilate for the sake of peace and order in Meereen as she visibly holds her nose; however, as noted by the Shavepate, a socially mobile collaborator who is casting off the trappings of Meereenese culture, she would be better off if she went full-on in conqueror mode and actually made changes to the society and made them submit.
280* AMillionIsAStatistic:
281** Many lords aren't concerned with the death toll among smallfolk except in how it affects them (e.g. how many are left to give orders to... like "grow the food"). Only the deaths of the famous and powerful inspire strong reactions. As a result, wars are started without a single thought to how it will affect the common people. Even the "good" guys carelessly ruin countless lives with this mentality. Tired of their lords constantly brushing off their suffering, the smallfolk eventually revolt and take over King's Landing in hopes of being able to help themselves, since no one else is going to help them.
282** Jeyne Poole is a completely ordinary young girl who doesn't come from a powerful family. [[spoiler:Because she's just one of thousands of common girls, no one bats an eyelash when she's forced to become a prostitute, impersonate Arya Stark, and marry Ramsay Bolton. All the people trying to save her are only doing so because they think she's someone else, someone important, with the exception of Theon, who knows exactly what it is like to be dehumanized. Jeyne's ordeal stands in sharp contrast to Sansa's in that both girls suffer in similar ways, but Sansa doesn't need to pretend to be someone else for people to care what happens to her]]. In essence, Jeyne's story serves as a microcosm of the reality of being a non-highborn girl in Westeros and how their lives are still worth something even if no one else thinks so.
283* MoralEventHorizon: In fairness it can take a LOT to get to this point given the incredibly skewed morality of Westeros, not helped by a multitude of cultural differences where some things are reviled in one place but celebrated in another, but if you manage it then your life and legacy is essentially forfeit. [[spoiler: The Red Wedding is regarded as this in-universe because it breaks the sacred guest right (not helped by the fact that the majority of those killed were also horrifically butchered and mutilated pre and post-mortem) and the main perpetrators, House Frey, are now forever reviled; their enemies want them dead without quarter and what few allies they possess are so disgusted by their actions that they won't stir themselves to protect them from very justified reprisals]].
284* MosesInTheBulrushes: [[spoiler:Aegon VI Targaryen, believed to have been killed as a baby, is alive and was raised abroad by allies of his family. In an attempt to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] how this trope usually plays out, Aegon is given a broad range of education and experiences so that he will be ideally suited for ultimately reclaiming the throne a la The Once And Future King. There are hints that Aegon [[RoyalBrat may not be the perfect hidden prince his protectors hoped for]], and he may not even be the real Aegon at all (even if he himself doesn't know that). Varys claims to be working for the greater good and thus doesn't care about such small details, and Young Griff may in fact not just not be Aegon Targaryen, but Aegon Blackfyre. Red dragon, black dragon, same difference to the little folk.]]
285[[/folder]]
286
287[[folder:N]]
288* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Lord Walder Frey's offspring and other kin name their children after him (regardless of gender) to curry favor. This makes for a confusing family tree, and he actually hates this practice, as he's all too aware of his (numerous) descendants' desire to get in his good graces.
289* 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 it is 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:
290--> ''"Until the Mountain crushed my brother’s skull, no Dornishmen had died in this War of the Five Kings. Tell me, Captain, is that my shame or my glory?"''
291* NeverASelfMadeWoman: The series picks this trope apart and shoves the bits under a microscope all across the books. Cersei's arc is where we pick much of the nuts and bolts up, but the real kicker is when her situation is contrasted with other women ''and men'' in the series and the histories. For starters... ''every'' last person with even a hint of power relies predominantly on their social ties to not only inherit it (and/or the knowledge to gain it -- highborns do better in the Faith and the Citadel) in the first place, but also to maintain it while they have it: it's not just the women relying heavily on others' names and ranks as children and adults. However, women get predominantly stuck with the short-end, as they are usually ''only'' seen has being the ties between the ''men'' of lineages, and having no politically active agency in and an of themselves -- however good at the game they actually might be, if they got the same training as their brothers and were given credit for what they achieve at, not just condemned when they fail with their particular hardships dismissed as unimportant. Many a women does makes her ''own'' mark on events -- even if it is dismissed and despite having to work in and around this cultural handicap: Olenna, Catelyn, Cersei herself, Daenerys, various Targaryen queens and consorts of either the ruling or supporting variety (both actual Targaryens and others), Great Ladies you hear about from history... many spring to mind. And, their actions are deliberately shown ''not'' to just be an extension or consequence of their fathers', brothers' or husbands' policies and beliefs. They hamper or help plots and plans when they make their ''own'' actions, choices and decisions, whatever training and bloodline they come from -- just like the men do. The major difference lies both in how it's perceived as working at the time, which dictates how it gets recorded.
292* NeverLearnedToRead: The story of how Lord Borros Baratheon was manipulated into turning against Rhaenyra Targaryen and killed during the Dance of the Dragons by a maester who twisted her message to him shows that wealth and influence mean jack if you don't understand basic skills like reading.
293* NiceToTheWaiter: Eddard always told his kids to see their servants as equals. Arya took this to heart which made her empathetic to everyone, regardless of class. The death of her loved ones hits her hard and fuels [[IJustWantToBeBadass her obsession to gain power to protect]], no matter the cost.
294* NoTrueScotsman: The Ironborn have a vaguely undefined set of codes as to what constitutes true Ironborn behaviour. In [[BeliefMakesYouStupid Aeron Greyjoy]]'s views, true Ironborn are drowned in saltwater as per the religion of the Drowned God, but many Ironborn, not wanting to risk certain death, take a more user-friendly ritual to Aeron's contempt. All of them look down on maesters and book learning but the richest lord of the Iron Islands is [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect Rodrik "The Reader" Harlaw]]. Balon Greyjoy looks down on Theon Greyjoy for being a "greenlander" but nominates his daughter Asha Greyjoy as his heir, going completely against the macho viking culture he wants to install. Likewise everyone despises Euron Greyjoy for his blasphemy and relative cosmopolitanism, but [[spoiler:he gets voted in as King of the Iron Islands because he has a bigger plunder than any of them have ever seen]]. Victarion Greyjoy despises chattel slavery but has no problem with taking thralls, salt-wives and executing male prostitutes. The idea of a culture being a SingleIssueWonk of RapePillageAndBurn is obviously shown as a ridiculous endeavor.
295[[/folder]]
296
297[[folder:O]]
298* OnlyAFleshWound: [[spoiler:Khal Drogo and Vargo Hoat]] found out the hard way that wounds, no matter how small, have to be dressed so they will heal properly.
299* OrderReborn: Attempted by Jon Snow, who believes the Night's Watch needs to be whipped back into shape in order to face the return of the Others. He pisses too many people off by trying to change things too drastically and too quickly, [[spoiler:and eventually gets several knives in the back for his trouble.]]
300* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: [[spoiler: A large faction of Maesters are trying to make this trope a reality for various reasons, by discrediting or removing magic where they can. Unfortunately for them, [[TheMagicComesBack magic isn't a superstition in this verse:]] dragons are coming back, prophecies seem to be coming true, wargs and greenseers exist, and sorceresses are perfectly capable of assassinating from long distances. Oh, and TheFairFolk looking to KillAllHumans are very much real. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero And because of their efforts, the maesters have left the entire continent willfully unprepared for the annihilation the Others plan to bring to Westeros, because everyone's convinced that they are nothing more than fairy tales.]]]]
301* OutOfTheInferno: Daenerys survives walking directly into a roaring blaze unscathed except for losing all her hair (though [[BeautyIsNeverTarnished this detail was changed]] for the [[Series/GameOfThrones TV series]]), but this happens under very unusual, supernatural circumstances. Much later, after [[spoiler: Drogon returns to Meereen and burns down the fighting pits]], she once again loses her hair walking through fire, and this time suffers burns as well.
302* OvershadowedByAwesome: Ned Stark, Robert Baratheon and Jon Arryn are always praised for defeating the Mad King but Stannis Baratheon, who weathered the Siege of Storm's End and took Dragonstone, is frequently left out. This makes him bitter and motivates him to get the Iron Throne no matter the cost. By the law of Westeros he ''is'' the legitimate heir to the throne, however the fact that after the rebellion he was posted by his brother to a small island with few resources and fewer vassals than other regions means that he has trouble getting enough support to enforce his claim, prolonging the war.
303[[/folder]]
304
305[[folder:P]]
306* ParentalFavoritism
307** Tywin Lannister wants Jaime to become Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West despite the fact he is Kingsguard, thus can never inherit, and that Tyrion has a better mind for politics and administration.
308** Randyll Tarly forced his son Samwell to take the black because his brother Dickon fits his ideal of a warrior leader. It's only when Samwell is on The Wall does he show his superior political skills.
309** Viserys I appointed his daughter Rhaenyra as heir over her much younger half-brother Aegon despite the fact that he himself became king due to a council decision that, in sum, stated male Targaryen lines have a stronger claim than female lines. Viserys I even had all the lords of the realm come forth and swear oaths to uphold Rhaenyra as his heir. The resulting confusion regarding who was truly heir polarized the kingdom and resulted in a bloody SuccessionCrisis known as The Dance of Dragons.
310** Aegon IV favored his baseborn son Daemon over his trueborn son Daeron, one of the many factors that would lead to a rebellion; people began to believe that Daemon was the true heir to the Iron Throne. Arys Oakheart for one did not believe the rumors and chalked up the whole mess to Aegon playing favorites just because Daeron didn't meet his father's standards.
311** Aegon I made Aenys (elder son from the younger wife, Rhaenys) his heir over Maegor (younger son from the older wife, Visenya). Maegor would retaliate later by violently usurping the crown from Aenys' sons. Notable in that Aegon I was also believed to favor Rhaenys over Visenya, reported to have spent ten nights with Rhaenys for every one he spent with Visenya.
312* PartyScattering: The remaining Starks are dispersed, and while they all want their home back, [[AHouseDivided their methods have diverged and are sure to collide with each other]].
313** [[spoiler:Littlefinger plans to use Sansa to unite the Vale, The North and the Riverlands]].
314** [[spoiler:Most Northern lords have cut a deal with Stannis Baratheon. They will accept him as king if he rescues and restores a Stark as their liege. The one whose location they know is Rickon who is on an island of cannibals]].
315** [[spoiler:Roose Bolton solidifies his rule by having his son marry an imposter Arya Stark]].
316* PleaseSpareHimMyLiege: It's implied Catelyn Tully's begging Brandon Stark to spare Petyr Baelish's life came off as demeaning to him. Now Petyr is poised to become the most powerful lord in Westeros to prove he is not a "boy" as Cat called him.
317* PragmaticVillainy: While this series warns how playing too fairly can cause one to be outmaneuvered, playing too dirty can make one look too dishonest. [[spoiler: Just ask the Lannisters, Freys and Boltons after the Red Wedding]].
318* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Many characters dream of the future but few listen to it or know how to cope. Targaryens who can't deal with their "dragon dreams" either go mad or turn to drink.
319[[/folder]]
320
321[[folder:Q]]
322* TheQuest: This series goes out of its way to look hard at what a quest actually is. The answer? A complex ShaggyDogStory some wise-arse edited into bits to get smaller and more presentable chunks to shove into an existing narrative framework, attached AnAesop to... and, then put to music well after the dust settled and anybody who could complain about the hack job was in no position to. Because every last character who tries living their lives as if on a great quest, or with an eye to having songs sung about their deeds, finds out that events don't do narrative. Only the people describing them do. And, it won't go well if, for example, you're on the losing side. Just ask the Golden Company how great their "quest" is going, for one.
323** EscortMission: Catelyn's quest to bring Tyrion to the Eyrie does not go well. Most of the men who accompany her get killed in skirmishes with the hill tribes. They aren't welcomed warmly when they arrive and Cat finds out [[spoiler:the letter Lysa sent fingering the Lannisters for Jon Arryn's death [[PoorCommunicationKills was a warning]], not an invitation to go to the capital]]. Tyrion wins his freedom in trial by combat by choosing a CombatPragmatist champion, effectively nullifying everything Catelyn had worked for up to that point. Worse yet, the whole ordeal sparked [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Tywin's attack on the Riverlands, Catelyn's homeland, and Jaime's attack on Eddard, her husband]].
324** TheHerosJourney:
325*** Prince Quentyn Martell sets off with his loyal band of friends to find and woo the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman. Half of them get killed in a minor skirmish before we even get to their story. By the time Quentyn reaches his beautiful princess, [[spoiler:Daenerys is already set up for an ArrangedMarriage, while sleeping with a lowborn sellsword who's much more handsome and [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys dangerously exciting]] than Quentyn. Believing that TheHero can't be killed, Quentyn then tries to steal a dragon to prove himself worthy of her, only to be roasted alive for his trouble]].
326*** Invoking the Hero's Journey also gets Benfred Tallhart and his band of "Wild Hares" into phenomenal amounts of trouble. Interpreting news of Robb Stark's initial military successes as their CallToAdventure, the group goes on to similarly interpret their remaining elders' misgivings and warnings against their uncoordinated mobilization as obstacles any stalwart group of young heroes will naturally overcome during their myth arc. Unfortunately, they turn out to be horrifically WrongGenreSavvy about their self-appointed "call" to defend the North from Ironborn or surprise Southern incursion while the bulk of the far more seasoned Northern forces are focused South. Heroes, apparently, don't need to worry about things like communications, experience, scouts, stealth or the element of surprise when on the march... It gets them mostly ignominiously slaughtered by Theon's small well-deployed and experienced raiding party. Furthermore, upon capture, "defying The Villain to his face" and swearing undying resistance doesn't result in imprisonment pending a badass rescue (who from: nobody else "on your side" even knows what you've got yourselves into, yet) or a prison breakout montage to stirring music leading up to a redemptive rallying of your fellow Northmen to take back what was lost of your honor due to your own screw-up. Nope; it gets you unceremoniously sacrificed to a strange god by drowning instead, doesn't it, Benfred? It just doesn't pay to outright prove to your captors that you'll be far more trouble than your ransom could possibly be worth to keep imprisoned than to just... kill.
327** TheHomewardJourney: Arya Stark spends most of the second and third books trying to get back to Winterfell, a journey through the war-torn Riverlands with the threat of death ([[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]]) at every turn. Just staying alive from day to day is a challenge and all the trauma she faces damages her psyche. Eventually [[spoiler: she's forced to abandon the notion of going back to Winterfell because there's nothing left for her: nearly all her family is presumed dead, Winterfell is a ruin occupied by the Boltons and Freys, and the longer she stays in Lannister-controlled Westeros, the more likely it is she'll be captured.]]
328** ImpossibleTask: The Targaryens had dragons and esoteric Valyrian knowledge that gave them a serious edge in a world post-Doom without much of either. They lost both over successive generations and a great deal of family in-fighting. Regaining it all became an obsession to the dragonless descendants. To the point that when a dusty [[PropheticFallacy prophecy that kind-of, sort-of]] gave pointers about what circumstances needed to be met to get everything back was found, succeeding generations tried to force it into being: [[SolveTheSoupCans and, failed utterly]]. Mainly thanks to no longer having the [[RequiredSecondaryPowers knowledge or culture they needed]] to [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock interpret it correctly any more]]. They damned near exterminated their own lineage multiple times trying, in fact. Yes, they've finally found their "Prince That Was Promised". Through no direct attempt to, this time (although, [[EpilepticTrees others might have used them knowing more than those that played parts did]]). However, there are not that many of them left to celebrate the (accidental and likely unreproducible) return of dragons. Worse, there are no Targaryens around who know how to train or control the things now they're back. Also, there are plenty of people willing to take them off the princess. Wonderful.
329** IWillFindYou: Brienne of Tarth's search for [[spoiler:Sansa Stark]] is nothing like the amazing, daring exploits that are often sung about. It consists of roaming the Crownlands and Riverlands asking people if they've seen her and looking for signs of her presence or movements. The task is arduous, dangerous, and tedious, especially for a woman with few concrete plans and little help. When she actually finds a lead, [[spoiler: it turns out to be a ShaggyDogStory and she has to fight her way out]].
330** RescueArc: Robb Stark agrees to marry a Frey, among other deals, so his army can cross the Frey bridge to rescue his father and sisters. [[spoiler: Ned is executed anyway and the Freys betray Robb. Sansa only escapes thanks to Littlefinger.]]
331** SideQuest: Daenerys decides to hold off on simply building her strength to sweep into Westeros. Instead, she parks herself in Meereen for ''months'', expressly to practice ruling. The result? Her forces start getting whittled down by disease and guerrilla tactics, major powers in Essos get time to get their ducks in rows to attack her sitting target, starting with a difficult city-state on the Nightmare setting proves immensely frustrating and the political and financial situation in Westeros changes like crazy. Oh, and the Golden Company starts complicating things. In short: people and situations don't pause to let you faff about before getting back to the Main Quest.
332** WalkIntoMordor: Gerion Lannister's quest to find the Valyrian steel sword Brightroar ended abruptly when most of his crew abandoned him in the Free Cities because he wanted to sail past The Smoking Sea. He forgot that "The Doom still rules in Valyria". The last anyone saw of him was in Volantis where he bought slaves to replace the crew members that left, and it's presumed his quest met with failure and resulted in his death.
333[[/folder]]
334
335[[folder:R]]
336* RagsToRiches:
337** Lowborns who rise to prominence through their business acumen would be inspiring in a modern setting. But in the deeply class-ridden society of Westeros, Littlefinger and the Frey family are seen as upstarts who made their fortune through "dishonorable" means (prostitution and toll-raising, respectively). Walder Frey is still seen as a NouveauRiche despite his house being some six hundred years old, and as a result a lot of his actions are driven by his desire to make prestigious marriage matches for his children.
338** Ser Bronn of the Blackwater, Lord Protector of Stokeworth (formerly: Bronn), is also viewed with suspicion, partially justified in that his wife inherited her title when he killed her brother-in-law (in a duel the other man demanded) and expelled her elder sister from the castle.
339** People may be elevated to nobility or rewarded with lands and titles, and all the wealth that comes from that position, for acts in service to their liege lord or to the King, with Davos Seaworth being a straight example. However, much of what we see in the series is cronyism, elevating people who are loyal to your House, or as a reward for committing horrible acts in support of your House. The prospect of this RagsToRiches story can also be used to entice people to do horrible things, be it a bribe to the likes of Janos Slynt, or a reward to anybody who manages to bring Cersei the corpse of [[spoiler: her brother Tyrion after he escapes King's Landing.]] Being elevated to a higher position through these means also often backfires on the people involved, by making them stick out as potential threats, or by granting them far too much attention as people loyal to a particular house. Both Bronn and Janos Slynt are targeted as potential threats not long after they receive their higher position, swiftly nullifying their RagsToRiches story.
340* RagsToRoyalty
341** Ramsay Bolton is the son of a noble father and despite being raised by peasants, shares the traits of his father. Through his skills, Ramsay improves upon his situation and is ultimately recognized as the son and heir of his noble father. Ramsay is also one of the most vile and evil characters in the series (which is saying something), and he is like his father in being sadistically evil (although Roose is a lot better at hiding it), and got himself into the position of heir by murdering his trueborn brother. Interestingly, Ramsay himself is apparently somewhat WrongGenreSavvy in that according to Roose, Ramsay thinks Roose and his mother had a great romance that transcended their classes, whereas in actuality, Roose [[DroitDuSeigneur raped her]].
342** Sansa's friend Jeyne Poole is told she can never marry a Lord because she is a commoner (actually a very petty noble: she has a last name, but little more than that). BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor -- [[spoiler:she is sold to Ramsay Bolton and married as Arya Stark as part of his plan to legitimize himself as Lord of Winterfell.]]
343* RankScalesWithAsskicking: As noted by the Night's Watch, the only reason highborn lords and knights tend to be better swordsmen is because they've had formal training in it. Skill and training with a blade is much more important than raw strength.
344* RapePillageAndBurn: The standard practice of armies on every side. The loot and women taken keeps men loyal. Those who refuse to practice this, like Daenerys and Stannis, are seen as weak even though leniency is a good way to win hearts and minds. During and after the War of Five Kings, the damage to local communities is so horrific, especially in the Riverlands, that it spawns a powerful new religious movement. Lead by the High Sparrow, the common folk of Westeros lash out at the nobles for failing to protect them and keep the peace.
345* ReallyGetsAround
346** Robert Baratheon sires a lot of illegitimate kids only to abandon them. [[spoiler:Most of them are later killed by his widow because of the threat they might pose to her children]]. Also a dangerous case of WrongGenreSavvy on Cersei's part: she assumes that one of Robert's bastards might be the Hero in a ChangelingFantasy that ends with [[RightfulKingReturns the rightful king returning]], when in fact [[spoiler:the laws of Westeros state that, even without any legitimate children, Robert's ''brothers'' should inherit before any of his bastards. Both go on to be very dangerous and damaging opponents in the War of the Five Kings, which could have been greatly averted if Cersei had targeted them before Robert.]]
347** Aegon IV's voracious sexual appetite disrupted the already complicated relationships of the noble families by leading him to father kids from rival families.
348** Pia the buttery girl is raped many times during the occupation of Harrenhal. One of her rapists tries to justify his actions by saying that because nearly everyone has already slept with her, her consent shouldn't matter anymore.
349* ReassignedToAntarctica: The Night's Watch is both a dumping ground for criminals and a place where some go to serve the realm honorably. Unfortunately, by the time of the series, the former have overtaken the latter to the point where the few good men are unable to restrain the bad and a mass desertion happens.
350* RedemptionQuest: The world of Westeros is so harsh and judgmental, places such a high value on honor, that regardless of religious notions of forgiveness, stains are hard to rub away, as noted by Jorah Mormont, Jaime Lannister and others. Even when Jaime Lannister makes a genuine attempt to be true to his vows to "never take arms against a Stark and a Tully", the fact that he fulfills it while serving as a conquering army to enable the hostile takeover of people who betrayed SacredHospitality makes it hard for others to see his actions as anything other than self-serving or self-delusional.
351* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated:
352** Great distances and lack of clarity because of the "fog of war" means that false reports are common and can be equally dangerous. When Bran and Rickon flee Winterfell, Theon fails to find them and [[spoiler:thanks to Ramsay/Reek, he decides to cover up their disappearance with two corpses of miller's sons as replacements, so as to demoralize the population and prevent further attempts to aid the "runaway princes" who will almost certainly be regarded as impostors]]. The reports of this greatly upsets Catelyn Stark, who [[spoiler:frees Jaime so as to protect Sansa and Arya]], and Robb Stark, [[spoiler:who seeks SexForSolace from Jeyne Westerling. Both actions help lead to the Red Wedding]].
353** The threatening "Pink Letter" that is sent to Jon Snow is of disputed veracity but is convincing enough for him to make a controversial decision that leads to his fellow black brothers [[spoiler:betraying him and stabbing him "For the Watch"]].
354** [[spoiler:Jon Connington understood faking his death in the most humiliating way possible was the only way his enemies will let down their guard but it's made him resentful and vows to make Varys, who is supposed to be his ally, pay for inventing the ruse.]]
355* RightfulKingReturns: Several claimants to kingship see ''themselves'' as this, causing a SuccessionCrisis.
356** Stannis Baratheon is the rightful heir of his late brother, King Robert I, who won his throne by conquest and by being the first in line to throne after all Targaryen options were eliminated, due to his grandmother having been a Targaryen.. Likewise, Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen are the heirs of Aerys II (the king Robert deposed) and the royal line that ruled Westeros for nearly three centuries. [[spoiler: Their nephew, Aegon VI, is Aerys' grandson and direct heir, thought to have been killed as a baby.]] The Targaryens are thoroughly swept up by this trope, believing their return will inevitably unite the people and restore peace to the realm. However, it's frequently shown throughout the series that there's not necessarily any correlation between right to rule, ability to rule, ability to win a civil war, or public reputation.
357** ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' establishes that [[spoiler:Varys and Illyrio, the sponsors of Viserys and Daenerys had never intended her and Viserys to be the heir, they wanted their own specially trained claimant, Rhaegar's son who supposedly survived the Sack of King's Landing, Aegon VI, to be the King with Daenerys as his HotConsort, because a male will always come before a woman in the line of succession]]. Buuuuut, because Dany did the unexpected at every turn, she's got a very strong argument she can use in any Great Council that could easily short-circuit standard procedure: she more closely resembles Aegon, the First of His Name, the Conqueror and rider of the Black Dread. She's hatched dragons, flown on one ''and'' actually conquered cities, not just dreamed about doing so. Also: big, stonking army + three dragons = bin the rules.
358** In addition, the Targaryens themselves overthrew the previous rightful kings, including King Torrhen Stark, whose direct descendent Robb Stark is proclaimed King in the North when his bannermen decide to re-establish their independence. After his defeat, their former vassal [[spoiler:Wyman Manderly]] no longer cares who the rightful king is, but agrees to submit to King [[spoiler:Stannis]] so long as a Stark remains his liege lord.
359** In addition it's pointed out that regardless of how rightful a King's claim is, the so-called return will bring with it much war, destruction and political turmoil and tension, rather than the end of warfare and civil order that this trope normally embodies. Ser Davos feels very guilty appealing the Manderlys to fight for Stannis because regardless of his just claim, he's asking them to renew hostilities and risk the lives of their families for an uncertain future. Likewise, Daenerys Targaryen spent all her time trying to convince Khal Drogo to invade Westeros only to come face to face with the RapePillageAndBurn that the Dothraki will unleash on Westeros should she take them across the Narrow Sea. When the dragons start growing and get violent, she realizes that using them in battle will involve the death of innocents because "Dragons plant no trees".
360** Daenerys, in particular, knows very little about the land she plans to rule because she was too busy just trying to survive to brush up on Westeros' history and politics. She didn't even know the sigil of her own sister-in-law's family. She believes the people are eagerly awaiting her arrival when in reality many of them don't know or care that she's still alive. Not to mention that when/if she returns to Westeros, it will be extremely difficult to tell potential allies from enemies.
361* RousseauWasRight: The Free Folk believe that the free primitive state of life they live in make them superior to the "kneelers" because they lack laws and enforcement of the same and are free of the corruption of a feudal society's obsessions with Kings, Castles and Titles. However the brutality of the landscape beyond the Wall and the presence of strange magic makes several characters such as the Weeper and Varamyr Sixskins become TheUnfettered and TheDreaded, alongside the relatively egalitarian male-female equation and quasi-democratic organization, making them less and more than the NobleSavage the romantic likes of Mance Rayder believe in.
362[[/folder]]
363
364[[folder:S]]
365* SacredHospitality: Guest Right is the one tradition everyone in Westeros and beyond values but that doesn't mean some (like [[spoiler:Mance Rayder incognito in Winterfell]]) won't exploit it to their advantage. Others [[spoiler:like the Manderlys]] find loopholes so they can break it without coming off as the aggressors. [[spoiler:The Red Wedding]] orchestrated by the Freys, Roose Bolton and approved by the Lannisters is the biggest breach of the right yet it ends the War of the Five Kings in one fell swoop, but it also causes a downward moral spiral for the rest of the realm. Now no one feels safe having strangers in their homes.
366* ScrewDestiny: Cersei desperately attempts to avert a prophecy made when she was a child: [[spoiler: that she would outlive all her children, who would die as kings and queens, and that after everything she had was taken away by another, younger and more beautiful, the valonqar (High Valyrian for "little brother") would come to end her life.]] Her manner of doing so involves murder, torture, and treason. When the prophecy seemed to be [[YouCantFightFate coming true anyway]], her fear caused her to [[SanitySlippage unravel]]. Over the course of the ''A Feast For Crows'', she becomes increasingly unstable and irresponsible, her paranoia causes her to alienate her most valuable allies, and she gets herself into huge amount of political and religious trouble.
367* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: [[spoiler: The main reason why the Freys performed the Red Wedding is because of assurances from Tywin Lannister of great boons, as were the Boltons. Whilst they do initially benefit, being awarded numerous titles, positions of power, ownership of Riverrun and (in the case of the Boltons) rulership over the North, Tywin dies not long afterward and as the real power of House Lannister, all of those assurances and connections go right down the privy and both treacherous Houses are left ruling over lands full of people hostile to them with the Lannisters too concerned with securing their own power at home to care about their nominal allies. Being well-connected does you no good if said connections can't make good on their promises or lose their power.]]
368* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight:
369** Jaime Lannister, sworn bodyguard to the Mad King, finally realized just how dangerously insane Aerys had become and put him down. Everyone tacitly agrees that he did what needed to be done, but he's still almost universally reviled as an [[TheOathbreaker Oathbreaker]]. It doesn't matter that he did the right thing (or as right a thing as could be done under the circumstances); he broke his sacred vow, so in Westerosi society he's a pariah. Being treated this way for doing the right thing embitters Jaime, and eventually he just stops trying to be anything other than the amoral JerkJock that everyone thinks he is. Furthermore, by proving that not even [[MyMasterRightOrWrong the Kingsguard]] [[SubvertedTrope were above breaking the rules,]] the Baratheon regime under Robert, and later Joffrey, became inclined to treat the Kingsguard as more a political appointment than a PraetorianGuard. This is why the Kingsguard undergoes BadassDecay, as the new kings are more inclined to shy away from [[KnightInShiningArmour True Knights]] that may take issue with the king's antics, in favour of men like Boros Blout and Gregor Clegane, knights in name only, who are loyal to the regime, and ''may'' be good at killing, but have few other qualities or virtues.
370** The right thing also being the humanitarian and the ''pragmatic'' thing to do doesn't necessarily help, as Jon Snow finds out. The Night's Watch is drastically undermanned, most of the Wall is undefended and the Others are coming, as well as tens of thousands of wildlings who will be slaughtered, reanimated and sent against the Watch. And [[spoiler: Ramsay Bolton, a vicious psychopath, has declared open war upon the Watch]]. Jon puts aside the Watch's traditions, laws and centuries-old prejudices to offer sanctuary to the wildlings, make those who are willing part of the Watch- including the women- and [[spoiler:makes to fight Ramsay himself, since the Wall cannot be defended from attacks from the south. He gets assassinated by his own men for his efforts.]]
371* ScrewTheRulesTheyreNotReal: Whilst rules and laws do exist in this setting, they are not codified and enforcement of them relies on spoken vows, sworn oaths and mutual assent. As a direct result of this, however, there is no guarantee that some people won't break them if they think the advantage is worth it or don't see any reason to follow them if they don't actually exist. On the flipside, however, breaking said rules will cost you dearly with those who do believe they're real and can lead to a complete breakdown in social order because if nothing is sacred, then nobody is safe.
372** Prior to the Dance of Dragons, King Viserys named his daughter and (at the time) only child Rhaenyra as heir to the Iron Throne and had all of his major lords swear oaths to uphold and support this, even though succession was generally held as males inherited over females. When he had sons with another woman yet did not change this, many spurned the oaths and supported the eldest son instead because it aligned with their own views on succession and it led to a bloody war that cost House Targaryen dearly.
373** [[spoiler: One of the very few laws of the realm that everyone will observe and agree on is the importance of SacredHospitality; the two major religions of the realm, who at best grudgingly tolerate each other, both hold it as sacred, there exist many tales and legends of the horrific fates that befell those who dared to break it and even mortal enemies will behave in each other's presence as long as bread and salt has been shared. As such, it serves as a perfect tool to get your most powerful and persistent enemies in one place to be slaughtered because they believe themselves safe under it and that nobody would stoop so low as to break it to get revenge, as Tywin Lannister and Walder Frey clearly think when they organise the Red Wedding that sees the complete slaughter of House Stark's forces and rebel leadership. However, the violation of the most sacred tradition in the realm causes a massive uproar and things almost immediately start to go badly for the conspirators]].
374*** [[spoiler: Even if the Lannisters' role in the atrocity remains publicly unknown, there are plenty of people savvy enough to recognize that the massacre only benefited them, the Freys would never have dared to commit such sacrelige without assurances from very powerful people and the Lannister-controlled Crown has not condemned it despite huge public outcry whilst the Freys themselves have gained huge boons in the form of lands, titles, castles and marriages rather than being rightly punished for their despicable crime. As such, it is basically open season on anyone affiliated with them. Even if no gods exist to inflict divine retribution, there are ordinary flesh-and-blood people who'll gladly take up that task]].
375* SheIsAllGrownUp: Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen wanted Criston Cole to see her as a grown woman and not the little girl he protected so she took lessons from her uncle Daemon on how to please men. These "lessons" became infamous and "the realm's delight" became "the whore of Dragonstone".
376* SidekickGlassCeiling:
377** It's common for squires to remain squires well into their 40s because they never had the money and patronage to buy armor and titles and become full knights.
378** Likewise novices in the Citadel such as Pate can spend a longtime serving a useless position with little advancement simply because highborn students get preferential treatment and early education that give them a leg up over poor students like him.
379** In the Night's Watch, stewards and builders are underrated and looked down by rangers and would-be rangers like Jon Snow, creating a lopsided InterServiceRivalry.
380* SilkHidingSteel:
381** As Catelyn's internal monologues show, being strong for everyone else while maintaining the image of a ProperLady is emotionally exhausting. Eventually it starts to take a toll on her mental health and decision-making.
382** Sansa develops this trait as a coping method for all the abuse and manipulation she suffered. She wears her courtesy like armor but secretly engages in small defiances [[spoiler:and plots against her captors]]. Even so, her success is limited because she's still a young, inexperienced girl at the mercy of a volatile royal court.
383** [[spoiler:Arya learns to use a [[FilleFatale distinctly dangerous shade of this]]. And, it's far from a happy application of the trope. It is also rather sadly ironic, considering her previous loathing of being made to act [[TheIngenue demure or girly]]. She deliberately invokes UnderestimatingBadassery to get close enough to kill Raff the Sweetling using herself as bait. And, in doing so, continues to lose her connection to her previous sense of self.]]
384** Cersei masks her cruelty and mental instability with a graceful, dignified appearance, but actually wishes she could be as openly brutal and physically imposing as men can. She resents having to rely on this tacit, despite being good at it.
385* SlaveLiberation: Daenerys used force to end the slave trade in Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen. Problem is that their entire economic and social structure was based on slavery, and she had no real plan for how to build a post-slavery economy. And when she tries to build one, she has to deal with an active insurrection, mass social unrest resulting from the changing social order and economic collapse, and an invasion from other slave-trading powers that see her as a threat. It can be argued that even most of the slaves aren't immediately better off under her reign.
386* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The common belief of Westerosi, including the Ironborn and especially Daenerys Targaryen. However, Galazza Galare points out that slavery was the sole source of income and revenue in Slaver's Bay, a region devastated by dragon attacks from Daenerys' slave-owning Valyrian ancestors destroying much of their forests and farm lands and forcing them to rely on slavery for income and revenue.
387** The narrative also often points out that Westeros is no better 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.
388* StandardHeroReward: Getting rewarded for saving the kingdom ain't all it's cracked up to be, especially when politics and personal feelings get involved.
389** Robert Baratheon became king after overthrowing the last Targaryen. He came to hate this new duty as well as his new queen because he still loved his former betrothed.
390** Stannis became Lord of Dragonstone, the most powerful lord in the Crownlands, because it is a hotbed of Targaryen loyalists. He and others believe it was punishment for his failure to kill the Mad King's children since Dragonstone is just a bare rock in the middle of the ocean, whereas the Baratheon ancestral seat, Storm's End, is a much more desirable castle.
391** 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. It's implied Maekar was given Summerhall to keep his unsavory sons Daeron and Aerion away from court.
392** Orys Baratheon got the last Storm King's castle and daughter after the Targaryen Conquest. Some say it's because his rumored legitimate half-brother Aegon the Conqueror didn't see it fit to legitimize him as a real Targaryen.
393** 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' left hand(right in the series because his actor was a lefty) 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.
394** Harrenhal is often used as a reward for service to the realm, but its high upkeep and sinister reputation instead destroys the families who gain it for a time. The lands surrounding it are rich and fertile so it remains a desirable piece of real estate so the Iron Throne keeps using it again and again.
395** Tyrion Lannister was "rewarded" by his father for the defense of King's Landing with marriage to Sansa Stark to prevent him from inheriting Casterly Rock and to disinherit Robb Stark at the same time.
396* StayInTheKitchen: Because Westeros is a misogynistic society, women are forced into a position of passivity, but in a martial society, passivity entails vulnerability. Women are taught that dutifully obeying the men in their lives will bring them protection, but in reality, relying on men condemns them to violence because justice and chivalry don't mean anything unless men chose to enforce them. One hedge knight claims that "a true knight is the only shield a maiden needs", but all the evidence suggests that maidens would be much better off with actual shields of their own.
397** Peasant women often don't have men who can really protect them, so less scrupulous men are often free to rape and beat them. Knights are sworn to protect the fairer sex, but this usually only applies to noblewomen. Yet, conversely, being a ProperLady still isn't a guarantee that a woman is really safe, even from men who are suppose to protect her. During the Battle of Blackwater, Cersei explains to Sansa that when the men protecting a city die in battle, chivalry goes out the window and all the women inside are fair game, from the lowest whore to the queen herself. And none of them can do anything to protect themselves.
398* StraightForTheCommander: The tactic of killing the enemy leader doesn't always work.
399** Stannis favors assassinating enemy leaders using magic but killing Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy and Joffrey doesn't end the war or even weaken his enemies. They just clear the way for someone else more dangerous (Roose Bolton, Euron Greyjoy, and the Faith Militant).
400** Aegon II killing Princess Rhaenyra not only didn't end the war, it actually escalated it. He wanted to keep fighting despite his depleted forces so ''someone'' poisoned him to end the war.
401* StrongFamilyResemblance: Heredity and genetics is thought to be straightforward in Westeros but a simple quirk in either could be disastrous especially for the noble families.
402** Arya Stark was insecure because she didn't have the attractive facial features or auburn hair of a Tully when, in fact, she and her half-brother Jon Snow have the traditional Stark look.
403** Rhaenyra Targaryen's sons were suspected to be illegitimate because they weren't blond like their parents of Valyrian descent. They could have inherited their look from their maternal grandmother who was an Arryn. This doubt in their legitimacy was one of the reasons for the Dance of the Dragons.
404** Cersei's children having the Lannister looks instead of Baratheon's serves as a "proof" that their father is Jaime Lannister and not Cersei's husband King Robert Baratheon. [[{{Irony}} The funny thing is]] that since Jaime is Cersei's ''twin brother'', the Lannister looks could have been passed down completely legitimately from Cersei herself and not because "the seed is strong" - making it a case of the accusers being RightForTheWrongReasons.
405* SweetPollyOliver: According to legend and various songs, Brave Danny Flint was a girl who disguised herself as a boy and joined the Night's Watch. When her secret was discovered while she was bathing, her sworn brothers raped and murdered her. ArmyOfThievesAndWhores, after all.
406
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408
409[[folder:T]]
410* TeamSwitzerland: The Night's Watch is far more politicized than most people realize, only it is internalized into a destructive force that threatens what little stability the order has. The brothers of the Watch have to stand back as their homelands and families are ravaged because of their vows while the Game goes on in their own halls.
411* TeenPregnancy: Abundant because girls are encouraged to breed ASAP. DeathByChildbirth and miscarriage is common and affects many of the characters.
412* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Sansa was raised on idealistic songs and stories, all of which she took at face value. But when 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.
413* ThisIsUnforgivable: If you do something truly unforgivable in a society where your honor and reputation are everything, you've probably signed your own death warrant. [[spoiler:The Freys breaking SacredHospitality at the Red wedding has had them marked for extermination by everyone who isn't their ally, those allies are trying to find a way to dispose of them, and those who want the Freys dead are expanding their targets to the Lannisters because they know Walder wouldn't have acted without assurances]].
414* ToBeLawfulOrGood: A common dilemma faced by multiple characters. There's never really a clear answer. The ones who choose Good ''never'' make out well in the end, because the ones devoted to being Lawful are ruthless and merciless in their enforcement of it, and will tolerate no dissent. The ones who choose Lawful are seen as cruel even though they are in the moral right.
415** Jaime's choice to be Good over Lawful in the breaking of his oath and killing Aerys made him one of the most despised men in all of Westeros. Even genuinely good men such as Ned Stark and Barristan Selmy treat him as irredeemable for this act. The fact that he became so despised for choosing Good over Lawful made him bitter to the point where he stopped really caring about either.
416* TrialByCombat:
417** Seen as a sure way of deciding who is right and who is wrong because [[MoralLuck the gods favor the winner]]. Two of the three we've seen in the main books have given false verdicts. The other one acquitted an innocent man, but the victory was won by using [[CombatPragmatist dishonourable tactics]] (though the result was respected anyway).
418** The Trial of Seven, an old tradition seen in "The Hedge Knight", pits two teams of seven [[CombatByChampion champions]] against each other in a mini-battle. Dunk is acquitted, but feels incredibly guilty [[spoiler:that some of the men who fought for him died, particularly since one of them was TheWisePrince and would in Dunk's opinion have made a great king when his time came.]]
419* {{Tyrannicide}}: In theory, dethroning and killing the tyrant of the realm is sound and justified. In practice, even when the tyrants are such an AssholeVictim that death would be too kind, usurping the reigning monarch can have devastating consequences, even when justified and necessary.
420** Robert's Rebellion took place because Mad King Aerys finally took too many liberties with his vassals, and declared open season on three of his biggest ones. But the Targaryen removal from the throne didn't really improve the situation because the usurpers weren't really up to the task of taking the Targaryen position of ruling an entire continent, which is unsurprising since Robert just wanted Lyanna back and take revenge on Rhaegar. Being king ''really'' wasn't on his mind. The aftereffects of Aerys' {{Tyrannicide}} lays the groundwork of much of the conflict the story records.
421** [[spoiler: Tywin betrayed his king and the formerly ruling dynasty, wiped out the family of [[IdealHero ideal heroes]], and organised the gang rape of his daughter-in-law for being a peasant amongst other crimes, so Tyrion's {{Patricide}} is completely understandable. Yet that doesn't change the fact that as a [[PragmaticVillainy brutal but effective administrator,]] [[NecessarilyEvil his death plunges the realm further into chaos,]] especially since the [[StupidEvil insane and incompetent]] Cersei takes control of the regime.]]
422** [[spoiler: [[RoyalBrat Joffrey]] ends up being gruesomely assassinated at his own wedding, to the cues of AndThereWasMuchRejoicing. Tyrion, however, is made TheScapegoat, and goes through a repulsive HumiliationConga because Joffrey was still the King, and if Tyrion's guilty, he's both a traitor and a kinslayer. In reality, the Tyrells and Littlefinger were responsible for Joffrey's murder, but their reasons for doing so were less about doing a public service, [[PragmaticVillainy and more about furthering their own agendas,]] [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness and ridding themselves of a unstable, unpredictable pawn,]] showing how seemingly justified actions can be done with ill intent, and much like Aerys, with disastrous consequences.]]
423* TyrantTakesTheHelm:
424** [[spoiler:Cersei finally takes power after the deaths of her son and father, and her cruelty and arrogance immediately get her dethroned.]]
425** [[spoiler:The Boltons are given control of the North and the Freys gain greater power in the Riverlands as a result of the Red Wedding, where they betrayed the Starks and Tullys and murdered people from many of the Northern and Riverlands Houses. As a result, they are surrounded by people who despise them and are trying to get their old liege lords back, and the Riverlords and smallfolk can't be relied upon to help the Freys who are being killed off by a group of outlaws.]]
426[[/folder]]
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428[[folder:U-V]]
429* UnderdogsNeverLose: When Petyr Baelish challenged Brandon Stark for Catelyn's hand, he was a short, slight teenager with no particular combat skills, challenging an skilled swordsman six years his senior. [[LampshadeHanging Everyone told him this was a terrible idea]], but he was convinced that his love would win the day. He only survived (with a nasty wound) because Cat begged Brandon to take pity on him, which humiliated him further. This all resulted in Petyr's life-long thirst for vengeance against the Starks, as well as several other disasters.
430* 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. With all Reynes inside.
431* UndyingLoyalty:
432** Say what you will about Pycelle but he is loyal to the Lannisters. He remains so even after losing Cersei's favor. [[spoiler:This causes Varys to finally kill him to destabilize the regime even though he's technically no longer a threat.]]
433** Brienne's loyalty to Catelyn Stark (and her search for the two girls) is without question and she continued to try living up to it even after Catelyn's death. Except... [[spoiler:Lady Stoneheart doesn't quite agree with her interpretation or methods, and is putting her through one of the cruellest tests of loyalty to be found in all the books combined by making her go directly against her loyalty to Jaime.]]
434** The Kingsguard is composed of morally detached men who do whatever the king tells them to do because they were JustFollowingOrders. Jaime Lannister is trying to change this mentality.
435** The loyalty of [[spoiler:House Stark's]] bannermen drive them to heroic and terrible acts. Many are plotting against the [[spoiler: Boltons]] and the Iron Throne under the condition that [[spoiler:Winterfell be liberated and a Stark, ''any'' Stark, be reinstated as the rightful lord]].
436
437* UniversallyBelovedLeader: Making sure everyone likes you is really hard, dirty work, and being liked isn't the same thing as being a good ruler.
438** The Tyrells demonstrate that aiming for widespread, positive publicity on this scale is a constant battle of time, energy, resources and some exceedingly calculated and, occasionally, very dirty dealing behind the scenes; from cheating while dressed ''spectacularly'' at tourneys, to being able to manipulate food supplies for "fortuitous" timing, to murdering bumps in the road undetected, to calculating when to walk away from people who could be too damaging to associate with. And there's the risk of a misstep the whole time.
439** Baelor the Blessed is fondly remembered by the faithful and has been put on an enormous pedestal for decades. At the same time, it's rather easy for readers (and Tyrion, as well as other characters in-universe) to come to the alternate conclusion that he might just have been taking the Targaryen family nuttiness to new, religious places when reading of his exploits. [[TheManBehindTheMan His uncle]], Viserys, may have had a large part to do with the positive spin and damage limitation placed on Baelor's actions at the time, to boot, as one of the more successful Hands before taking the throne himself. And, he's considered pretty much an EvilChancellor in folklore for his pains.
440** By not working to maintain and consolidate what she had pragmatically and politically, Daenerys lost quite a bit of the adoration she started out with among her freed "children" whose lives have been turned upside down. Having said that, her positive legend is still alive in parts of Essos she hasn't yet been to. For example, in Volantis, a city filled with slaves, she's regarded as TheMessiah with even cynics like Vogarro's Whore praying for her arrival. But, little is said about how the nobles there feel, although the next election is likely to be interestingly deadly. There is already factional troop build-up.
441** 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.
442** Renly cultivates a good image and uses this to justify his attempt to usurp the Iron Throne. However, he is in reality a greedy and vain figure who is willing to murder his brother and starve hundreds of thousands of people to seize power. The Tyrells are more than happy to lend him their political, martial and financial backing, as well as their PR know-how, simply ''because'' he's good enough at the game of appearances (and venal enough) to work with. The fact he is trying to be king in spite of the rules of succession means that he also handicaps himself and divides the Stormlands people between him and his brother Stannis, and he loses a potential ally in Robb Stark because of this.
443** 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 of 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 [[FalseFriend 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.
444
445* UptownGirl
446** Jorah Mormont' s marriage didn't work out because he couldn't give Lynesse her accustomed lifestyle.
447** The Blacks' account of Rhaenyra and Criston's doomed love centers around her not wanting to run away and marry him because the she is not destined to be merely the wife of a mercenary.
448* VetinariJobSecurity: Even if someone is essential to the management of the kingdom, it doesn't guarantee that they'll be treated like it. In fact, the person's superiors and rivals will likely openly resent them for making them look inferior and make their job more difficult because of it.
449** Tywin Lannister was one of the most efficient Hands in history and was the one running the kingdom during the reign of the incompetent and insane Aerys II. The Mad King hated the belief that he was nothing but a figurehead and he had Ilyn Payne's tongue torn out when he repeated the rumor within earshot. He took every opportunity he could to mock and embarrass Tywin and encouraged others to do the same. His need to prove himself better than Tywin is what also led to him attempting to bring the defiant Lord Darkyln to heel by himself, which led to him being held hostage in Duskendale for a year.
450** Tyrion was the only person in King's Landing who was completely invested in protecting King's Landing during the War of the Five Kings. Without him, not only would have Stannis have taken the city but it's likely the city would have torn itself apart long before he arrived at Blackwater Bay. However, he is disrespected and hated by his family, colleagues and the city at large and it's a thankless, uphill battle to try and keep everyone alive.
451* VillainousLegacy: [[spoiler: Tywin inspired fear and dread wherever he went, and is oft-remembered as a brutal tyrant and statesmen. However, the sheer power and influence he held prevented anyone from taking a stab at him... except for his own son. With Tywin dead, things start going belly-up for the Lannisters as Cersei and Jaime bear the brunt of his victims' wrath. As it turns out, people remember the awful things done to them by those who are truly evil, so if you entice a lot of people into hating you and your family, your enemies will jump at any chance they get to take revenge. Villains don't leave legacies that people like to follow.]]
452* VillainRespect: Gwayne Corbray so impressed Daemon Blackfyre during their duel at the Battle of the Redgrass Field that Daemon had him carried off the field to be tended by his own maesters. This took too long and allowed Bloodraven and his archers to zero in on Daemon's position, killing him and his sons.
453[[/folder]]
454
455[[folder: W]]
456* WeAreStrugglingTogether:
457** 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, 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.]]
458** [[spoiler: The Lannisters themselves end up with a PyrrhicVictory because they keep hamstringing each other for petty reasons despite winning the war, culminating in Joffrey's assassination, Tywin's long deserved murder by Tyrion's hands, Jaime losing faith in Cersei on discovering her infidelity, and Cersei pissing off ''everyone'' who's technically on her side due to paranoia, arrogance, and her desire to keep the throne away from the Tyrells or Kevan Lannister driving her to arm the Faith Militant, who turn on her instead.]]
459* WeHaveReserves: [[BigScrewedUpFamily There are certainly a lot of Freys]]. So many, that the [[spoiler: rapidly accelerating]] number of character deaths that have occurred to the House have yet to raise alarm bells within it. This is partly thanks to 1) nobody particularly irreplaceable (even in other Freys' eyes) getting offed to draw the attention... [[spoiler: yet]], 2) the [[spoiler: (as it turns out, false)]] sense of security they have in their safety in numbers and 3) nobody being able to communicate enough to work out [[spoiler: that there is more than normal attrition going on]], thanks to their wide dispersal to keep their fingers in various important political factions' pies. The latter seems a fairly sound strategy, when you have a lot of bodies to throw at your priority of keeping your [[SmallNameBigEgo influence]] visible [[spoiler: (but, that has its own downsides when most hate your guts and, yet, are being reminded that there are a lot of you that can be used as CannonFodder ahead of their own troops)]]. The main problem in all this is... you can count the hard-working, practised and ''able'' Freys who are fully willing to and capable of working with each other (and chivvy others into moving their butts) on about one hand -- [[TeethClenchedTeamwork if that]]. They lose those key players, and it's Game Over for the House as a whole, regardless of the numbers they started with, as they'll either splinter and kill themselves off [[DysfunctionJunction rather directly]], and/or be even easier to pick off thanks to uncertain chains of command and leadership leading to even stupider strategic decisions than normal.
460* WhatsUpKingDude: This trope is rare since the vast majority of smallfolk don't even know what their ruling lords look like, let alone capable of meeting with them directly. For the few who do interact with the nobility on a regular basis, talking with them casually can be dangerous to their health. When Arya was serving Roose Bolton under the identity of a peasant girl, he threatened to cut her tongue out for questioning him and he later got mad at Brienne for speaking out of turn. However, there are some notable exceptions, as one of the reasons Ned Stark was loved in the North was because of his due to his efforts to make sure his smallfolk knew him. He even occasionally invited peasants to dinner just to hear out what problems they were having.
461** Given that George Martin himself revealed [[https://entertainment.time.com/2011/04/18/grrm-interview-part-2-fantasy-and-history/ during an interview]] how much he hates this trope, it's of no surprise that he decided to smash it to bits:
462--->'''GRRM''': [...]And that's another of my pet peeves about fantasies. The bad authors adopt the class structures of the Middle Ages; where you had the royalty and then you had the nobility and you had the merchant class and then you have the peasants and so forth. But they don't seem to realize what it actually meant. They have scenes where the spunky peasant girl tells off the pretty prince. The pretty prince would have raped the spunky peasant girl. He would have put her in the stocks and then had garbage thrown at her.
463* WhosLaughingNow:
464** The Freys were among the least respected houses in Westeros, and Robb Stark's breaking of a marriage pact was TheLastStraw in a long string of humiliations. [[spoiler: So they killed him, his mother, and his bannerman during a wedding]] to show that they meant business. While [[spoiler:the Lannisters]] gave them new honors and good marriages, the Freys are actually worse off than before. Rather than merely being mocked, they're now ''[[NeverLiveItDown loathed]]'' by everyone, even their allies, [[spoiler: for breaking SacredHospitality]]. More Freys were killed in retaliation for this event than died in the war but no one bothers to help them, especially as many of the powerful figures around the Freys lost men and relatives in the Red Wedding.
465** [[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, [[PyrrhicVictory 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.]]
466* WithCatlikeTread: The band of Northern warriors called The Wild Hares would ride out singing. The Ironborn ambush and kill them because they could be heard from miles away.
467* TheWomenAreSafeWithUs
468** Stannis castrates rapists, but it's presented as yet another way his principles lose him the good will of his followers, who consider the women of their slain enemies to be spoils of war.
469** Daenerys tries to stop the Dothraki warriors from raping the women of defeated tribes. Since they view those women as spoils of war, she's seen as simply being ''greedy'' by claiming them for herself, so she only succeeds in protecting a handful. Later, one of those women rebukes Daenerys for seeing herself as a hero who "saved" her, when she'd already seen her temple burned, her people murdered, and indeed been raped several times already. Additionally, a girl that Daenerys saves, Eroeh, is ultimately gang raped ''and'' has her throat slit. It's arguable that she would have at least managed to keep her life if Daenerys hadn't intervened. Safety can't really be defined as protection from rape when that protection makes women targets for additional violence.
470* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: Education and exposure to a wide range of influences are disproportionate advantages in a medieval setting ensuring a ceiling of reinforced steel rather than glass. Most smallfolk lack training in arms and have never been taught to hold a sword. However, the smallfolk often have a better grasp of society and the class system's ruthlessness than rebellious highborn like Arya Stark and the young Egg.
471* WouldHurtAChild[=/=]WouldntHurtAChild: In a medieval world where children are treated less sentimentally than they are in later centuries, with royal children given access to entitlement and privilege and power at an early age, the idea of ChildrenAreInnocent is less at play. As such several characters have differing views about the morality of killing and/or sparing children.
472** 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 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.]]
473** Eddard Stark will not kill a child because he was traumatized by the deaths of Prince Rhaegar's children. He discovers that Cersei had cuckolded Robert with her brother Jaime and that all three children, TheBully Joffrey and the nice and gentle Tommen and Myrcella are bastards born of incest. Because he will not kill a child, Eddard, despite his hatred for the Lannisters, forewarns Cersei to leave King's Landing and take the children with her. [[spoiler:This decision backfires on him spectacularly and in the end, Ned Stark, is executed on the whims of the very boy-king he had been trying to spare from Robert's wrath]].
474** Daenerys Targaryen also will not kill the young hostages she takes from Meereenese nobles in the wake of the terrorist attacks of the Sons of the Harpy. The Shavepate points out, much like Tywin Lannister in Westeros, that her failure to follow up on her threats will make her appear weak and tractable and indeed, Daenerys ends up being forced into a political marriage of convenience and make concession after concession with her opponents making increasing demands in the belief that she won't actually hurt hostages and back up her threats.
475* WrittenByTheWinners:
476** The nobles are the only ones who know how to read and write, so their stories are the only ones who get told. This includes the book series themselves. Enter Septon Merribald in ''A Feast for Crows'', who gets several chapters to describe the commoners' view on the noble-centric narrative the series has used up to that point and essentially deconstructs the entire first three books by pointing out how destructive wars of the nobility are to the smallfolk.
477** It should be noted that while the winners of wars and conflicts often rewrite history and current events to put themselves in the best light possible, few people who hear it are fooled by it. Almost everyone knows this trope is in effect in every official account of history and current news and they are often able to easily deduce what really happened. The only reason they pretend to believe the altered accounts of history is for political reasons, as it's not very smart to accuse the ruling powers of lying. The same holds true for actions and events that happened centuries ago, as many characters are able to look past all the romanticism of old songs and legends that glorify the noble houses and come up with more realistic theories for historical events.
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479
480[[folder: Y]]
481* YoungestChildWins: Renly tries to invoke this, much like stories where the third son ends up being the ruler. However this involves him going against Westerosi law, including his older brother Stannis. Robb Stark points out to his fellow lords that they can't support Renly in good conscience because the line of succession is the rule for their claim for titles as well, so what's to stop ''their'' younger brothers from revolting with an army and claiming seats based on AppealToForce if they support this precedent? When Stannis offers Renly very reasonable terms, such as making him the heir until Stannis has a son and giving him Storm's End, Renly mockingly dismisses him. [[spoiler:Though Renly is killed this situation leads to the Tyrells turning against Stannis and prolongs the war when such an alliance would have quickly finished it.]]
482[[/folder]]

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