Fanfic / Forum of Thrones

A long read awaits...^note  From left to right, the three house sigils that are used as the 'covers' for the books. On the left, House Raylan for Book 1, followed by House Reyne for Book 2, finally House Manwoody for Book 3.

Forum of Thrones by LiquidChicagoTed is an ongoing Elsewhere Fic set in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. It takes place roughly 300 years before the main events of the novels and the series, during the period that would later be known as the War of Conquest. Starting shortly before the beginning of the war, the initial main setting of the story deals primarily with a Succession Crisis in the city of Raylansfair in the Kingdom of the Reach, where Lord Robert Raylan, the last of his line, dies without naming an heir, leaving the rich and strategically important city to be preyed upon by several interested parties, each with their own distinct motives and personalities. That said, the narrative eventually expands to feature locations across all of Westeros and beyond, telling a story of epic scales through the eyes of over two dozen Point-Of-View characters, as one of the most important moments of Westerosi history unfolds before their eyes.

One thing that makes this Fic stand out compared to others of its kind is its interactivity and how heavily reader input can change its course. After almost every part, the author offers a number of options on how the Point-Of-View character is supposed to deal with a situation and the readers are allowed to give their vote for their favoured option, similar to a Gamebook-story. The option that gets the most votes determines how the character is going to act in their next part and their actions in turn affect the characters around them. These choices can have a drastic effect on how the story continues. Another key feature of the story is that it allows the readers to create their own characters, which will eventually appear at some point in the story. Over the time, a huge and diverse cast has been created by dozens of readers and many of these characters take a central role in the story.

This fanfiction gets it slightly unusual name due to its origin. Written on the Telltale forums, alongside several other fanfictions set in the worlds of the more recent Telltale games, Forum of Thrones was the first of its kind that appeared in the Game of Thrones subsection of the forums, therefore taking up on the mantle of Forum of Thrones. Starting in late December 2014, it consisted of over a thousand pages about two years later and it is still far from finished, with roughly one third of the planned material having been written so far. It is noted to be very active, with long updates several times a week.

Originally, the story could be read on the Telltale Forums, but when the Game of Thrones section of the forums got closed down a few months after Telltale's bankruptcy, the author moved the story to Creator's Haven, an original forum dedicated to Interactive Fanfiction, where it is also primarily updated and where the author mostly interacts with the readers. New parts appear there first and it is also the place where readers can vote on how the story is supposed to continue. However, the chapters are also available on Google Docs.

At precisely 1,117,256 words for Book 1 alone, it furthermore qualifies as a Doorstopper.

Starting in April 2024, the author has begun to revisit and remaster the older parts of the story. In this process, he also spread this remastered version to the alternatehistory, spacebattles and sufficientvelocity forums, making the story available to a wider audience.

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This fanfiction provides examples of:

A

• Abusive Parents: Harren Hoare is heavily implied to be this. Three out of four children grew up to be messed up in some way and he likely had a hand in this. Firmly believing in raising his sons with a strong hand, he showed little love for them, combining this trope with Parental Neglect. On top of that, he respected them only when they earned it, which at least Harlan and Harndon never did. His physical beating of Harmund instilled the boy with a deep-seated wish to assure his dominance over others, which led to him becoming abusive to his younger siblings as well, something Harren either did not care about, or even outright encouraged.
  • In an interesting subversion to this, Harren is shown to have at least some love for his sons. He keeps even the mentally damaged Harndon around despite his lack of worth for the house and gets enraged like never before when Harlan is seriously wounded. This implies that his actions as an abusive father are actually a misguided case of Tough Love.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Swords made from Valyrian steel of course. During the duel between Orys Baratheon and Rodrik Stone, the latter demonstrates this by cleanly cutting through the former's sword with his Lady Forlorn.
• Accidental Misnaming: Initially, Marak mishears Noelle when she mentions the name of her god, R'hllor. In the following, he calls the god "rollmop", much to her annoyance. He eventually seems to catch up on the real pronounciation, but continues to misname it on purpose, to annoy her even further.
• The Ace:
  • Elias Tyrell is one of the most famed knights in the Reach. At a rather young age, he is incredibly gifted in combat and openly embodies the virtues of a knight, at least in public.
  • Orys Baratheon is one of the few genuine examples of a Knight In Shining Armour this story has, as well as a highly skilled tactician. His polite and chivalrous behaviour makes it easy to forget that he is also one of the most deadly fighters in Westeros.
  • Aegon Targaryen himself proves himself to be one. He is a great commander, brave in battle, handsome as all Valyrian's are, as well as an actually inspiring leader with a strong vision of uniting the continent and ruling justly over a peaceful realm.
• A Child Shall Lead Them:
  • After the death of Alester Arryn, his young son Ronnel is his heir and technically King of Mountain and Vale. However, due to him being a mere child, his mother Sharra rules in his stead, as Queen Regent.
  • Years before the story, when she was only fifteen, Kyra Greyjoy commanded a force of grown men on their raid to Bear Island, where she fought against Worland Mormont, the Lord of Bear Island and renowned warrior.
• Action Dad:
  • Richard Harking is one of the prime examples in the story. He is a father of four, which doesn't stop him from being one of the most physically active Point-of-View characters, who undergoes several dangerous tasks to keep his city of Raylansfair save.
  • Argilac Durrandon counts as well. Being old and the father of a young daughter doesn't stop him from kicking ass and personally leading his army to battle, as well as to train his recruits.
  • Aegon Targaryen has already fathered a son and heir, Prince Aenys, who is merely an infant. He did this to ensure the survival of House Targaryen right before starting his Conquest, which sees him and Aenys' mother personally fighting against the kings of Westeros.
• Action Girl: While there are outstanding examples of this trope in the source material, Forum of Thrones has a larger number of prominent female fighters that are portrayed as being equally skilled as their male counterparts, despite the traditional role of women in Westerosi society. Notable examples include:
  • Samantha Ducard, the dual axe-wielding sellsword from John Gutten's group and one of the primary Point-of-View characters.
  • Her friend Sasha, who sports an exotic, eastern fighting style and wields her arakh with dangerous skill.
  • Janae, another sellsword from John Gutten's group, is a former fighting pit slave and a deadly archer.
  • It is not unheard that women decide to be soldiers or guardsmen in the continuity of Forum of Thrones. These women, while vastly outnumbered by their male companions, are treated equally by most. Examples for this are Nora Recton and Edonia Bernile.
  • Similarly, there is a vast number of female characters that decide to join a sellsword group for various reasons and they are typically presented as similarly skilled than male sellswords around them.
  • Special mention goes to Argella Durrandon, who manages to be this trope, while still fitting into her role as the princess of the Kingdom of the Stormlands. While being fully capable of being a sweet and charming diplomat, she puts special emphasis on the fact that she is not only the princess of the Stormlands, but also the heiress to the kingdom.
• Action Survivor:
  • Jenna Harking is nothing but a simple servicemaid in the castle of Raylansfair. She herself suffers from a terrible lack of self-esteem and starts the story with no actual skill in anything related to action. She goes on to become one of the stories most prominent survivors, after managing to hold her own against Wolfius for a while and slowly becoming a more capable and active person. She ultimatly plays a key role in taking down Septon Corbin and also provides a problem for Sherryl.
  • Ellena Terys, the youngest of the Point-of-View characters, is barely a teenager and accordingly not Action Girl material. She goes through great hardships, being resourceful, cunning and sometimes plain lucky. All the while, her main goal is to actually find a peaceful place to stay and live at.
• Adaptation Expansion: The War of Conquest goes from an unseen event in the backstory of the source material to the main conflict of Books 2 and 3 of this story. Additionally, many characters who are at best posthumous characters in the source material are major characters here.
• Adipose Rex: Harren Hoare is a downplayed example. After his days of raiding were gone the moment he inherited the crown, he started to put on weight, even more in his advanced age. Currently, he is described as chunky and it is likely only a matter of time until he would become outright fat.
• Adopt the Dog: When Samantha is in dire need of help to find Lunett, Lucas and Leonard, she stumbles upon Sasha, who eventually decides to help her. Said help goes way beyond what they agreed upon during their initial contract and while Sasha insists that she is Only in It for the Money, she doesn't manage to fool anyone, firmly being one of the good guys by the start of Chapter 6.
• Aerith and Bob: This is taken to even higher extremes than in the source material, which already sees the name Jon existing in the same part of the world as the name Rhaegar, thanks to some of the characters created by readers. On one hand, there are canonical characters with names like Argella and Mern. On the other hand, there are characters like Federico, Richard and Christian.
• Affably Evil:
  • Samuel Harrington is by far the most honourable of the Solvers. Though he is a no-nonsense sellsword who Would Hurt a Child without hesitating, he only reacts in such a way when provoked and later reveals himself to have plenty of sympathetic traits, from his tragic backstory, to his surprisingly firm sense of honour. His eventual Heel–Face Turn is a logical consequence to this.
  • The Burned Man is affable to such a degree that it is debatable if he even qualifies as evil at all. Of course, he still is an unrepentant criminal, although his methods are noted to be fairly reasonable and his ultimate goal is considered noble by many characters. During all of his scenes, he is unfailingly polite and dignified, as well as openly protective of the children under his employ.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Alysanne is very fond of calling Kersea "Puppy". She later explains that this is because she sees her as exactly as cute and innocent as a puppy, though also just as weak.
  • Leonard constantly calling Lucas by his last name "Flowers" has shades of this. It started off as a means of belittling them, though as their friendship grew, so did the meaning of the nickname
  • Terroma is another major case of this, as he has nicknames for those especially close to him. More specifically he is fond of putting the words "Sweet", "Pretty" and especially "Little" in front of Ellena's and Raenna's names.
• After Action Patch Up: One early scene in Chapter 5 has this between Kersea and Clayton, where he is patching her up after beating her in the first place. It is not meant to be a bonding scene between the two though, rather it serves to demonstrate another layer in their messed-up relationship.
• Agent Mulder:
  • Archmaester Wulvren is a firm believer in magic, dedicating his entire life to explore this topic, even if he has no proof of its existence. He is the first person to outright believe in Noelle's magic, even more than Marak and unlike the latter, he is portrayed to be a very smart man.
  • Simon Stokeworth has always been fascinated by House Targaryen and their dragons, which makes him one of the first people to fully understand that Aegon Targaryen intends to invade Westeros. He knows how dangerous dragons can be and fully believes that they give Aegon all he needs to succeed.
• Age Lift: Prince Aenys Targaryen has been born on the first year of the Conquest instead of a couple of years afterwards.
• Agent Peacock:
  • Terroma exclusively dresses in colourful clothes, mainly made out of silk and befitting for a Braavosi nobleman. His manners are somewhat effeminate, with him being a major case of The Nicknamer and genuinly seeming mild-mannered and friendly. He is also the former leader of a group of assassins and known as The Old Man, one of the most feared professional killers in all of Westeros.
  • Rayden, one of Butterfly's assassins, behaves in a slightly effeminate way, dressing in a longcoat and showing off his good looks, but he is so dangerous that he becomes The Dreaded even for Clayton.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg:
  • The prisoner in the court scene during the beginning of the first chapter is pleading for Harren Hoare to spare him, or to allow him to join the Night's Watch. It only makes Harren punish him more severely.
  • After being revealed to be a deranged child-murderer and after receiving a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, Otis Shiff is reduced to a crippled and pathetic shadow of a man that desperately begs to be spared. It does not work out well for him.
• Alas, Poor Villain:
  • Jaylon has been a massive Jerkass for a majority of his time in the story. However, his brief time as part of Samantha's group in Chapter 5 revealed a more likeable side of him, by giving him time to explain how he became the man he is today. Gradually, he even warmed up to his former enemies, which ended with him heroically staying back to distract the Alley Cats during the chapter finale. Unfortunately, this move cost him dearly, when Maron Mullendore captured him alive. In the following torture, Jaylon lost at least the fingers of his left hand and the pain was apparently strong enough to make him loyal to his former master once more. He joins the ambush during the Chapter 6 finale and dies an unceremonious and undignified death at the hands of Jaron, who had no previous connection to him and no knowledge of his sympathetic traits. One can't help but to feel slightly bad for the guy.
  • Alysanne, though typically being seen as sympathetic from Kersea's Point of View, is still a violent killer and a major threat to the city of Raylansfair. Despite that, she is also a victim of her own broken mind and Trapped in Villainy. She genuinely wishes to change her ways, but finds herself too far gone to truly do it. As a result, her death in Chapter 8 is one of the story's Tearjerker moments.
  • While Sherryl has been a cold, Manipulative Bitch, who caused caused at least a dozen deaths with her sabotage of the castle gate during the raid, and who was fully willing to cause even more, as well as directly murdering Jax Montclair in an attempt to kill the Storm Princess, her end can instill sympathy. Disfigured by an arrow, she reveals that she acted out of love for Maron Mullendore, who cast her aside after noticing that her good looks are gone. Desperate and realizing that she had been used by him, she is Driven to Suicide by slashing her wrists. As she lies dying, she reveals Mullendore's secrets to Arthur, therefore partially redeeming herself even.
• The Alcoholic: After the reality of his poor life slowly hit him, Robb became this, especially after getting rejected by Harpy, the only woman he ever developed genuine feelings for.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: This is Rosalie's motivation for her feelings for Philip, despite the fact that he is older than her and clearly not interested. She eventually gets in contact with a truly bad boy when she meets Wolfius, though that is decidedly not the kind of attention she wanted.
• Alliterative Name: This is something the author is quite fond of. Major examples include Robert Raylan, Maron Mullendore and Wolfius Woodbark, as well as the entirety of House Hoare.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • This is the case between the one-side crush Rosalie has on Philip. He does care for her, though decidedly not in a romantic way, but more in the way a father would care for his daughter.
  • Irving Todd holds clear feelings for Maya, even outright admitting so to his drinking buddy Marak. While she is slightly aware of it, she has shown no signs of attraction towards him in return. Given that he is The Load, this is not particularly surprising, not even to him.
  • There are also signs that this is the nature of Alysanne's feelings for Kersea, which are a bit too close to be mere friendship. However, while Kersea values Alysanne as a friend, she certainly harbours no romantic feelings for her.
• All There in the Manual:
  • The wiki is stated to include additional background information that has no room in the actual story, but can still be treated as canon to it.
  • This very page is often frequented by the author, who uses it to establish minor details that may or may not be brought up in the story proper later on, such as the names of minor lords or the exact nature of some events.
• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In the penultimate chapter of Book 1, the Ironborn launch a massive attack against Raylansfair, together with reonforcements from the Second Sons and the Band of Claws. Almost every Point-Of-View characters is present in the town at this point, leading to an entire chapter dedicated to this trope.
• Almighty Janitor:
  • Harrick Hoare is the fourth-born son of Harren Hoare and with Harndon being declared unfit to rule, he is only the third in line of the throne, which makes it unlikely he will ever be king. He is also without a doubt the most reasonable and competent of his family and serves as his father's chief advisor.
  • Maron Mullendore is a minor nobleman from a relatively poor background. Though the commander of the city guard of Oldtown, his position is ultimately minor in the grand scale of things. Nonetheless, his plans concern the entire kingdom of the Reach and he is cunning enough to actually pull them off.
• Almost Dead Guy:
  • Terroma, after falling down a cliff, is clearly mortally wounded. He gets a chance for a final talk with his loved ones before finally passing away.
  • The Burned Man was caught and tortured by the Alley Cats. To prevent him from ever escaping, the Sphynx attached him to a set of hooks that would kill him if removed. Once help arrived, his would-be rescuers are only able to grant him a Mercy Kill.
• Almost Kiss: Happens between Jaron and Harpy several times during their talk, as they are interrupted by their own awkwardness and Abbas al-Yunkari. It ends when a frustrated Jaron just kisses her, resulting in a Big Damn Kiss.
• Aloof Archer:
  • Janae is a prime example for this. Even outside of the battlefield, she is hardly the most emotional person, but in a fight, she gets even colder, acting simply by logic and with ruthless precision.
  • Willfred's uncle, Roger Hill. He is far more friendly than Janae, but when in battle, he is just as calculating as she is.
• Aloof Big Brother: Though they haven't been shown interacting with each other so far, the fact that Carvin just flat out left his little sister Ilish when she needed him the most paints him as this.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl:
  • Harpy is this, at least initially. She has dark reddish-brown hair, is a quiet, calm and reserved woman, but she eventually defrosts, especially towards Jaron.
  • Jenna is another major example of this trope. Being so shy that she barely manages to speak to strangers, this is her natural state and she often comes across as brooding and aloof.
  • Rhonda Upcliff has long black hair and a pale complexion, yet she's mostly calm, aloof, mysterious and only speaks when directly spoken to.
• Alpha Bitch:
  • This is what Argella Durrandon appears to be like in her initial appearance. She is incredibly vain, haughty and catty when provoked even the slightest bit. Her first real scene even has her brutally mocking a group of diplomats from Dragonstone after her father severed the hands of their leader. However, later chapters firmly subvert this trope, by giving her the chance to show a much more positive side of hers.
  • Sherryl plays this trope straight. Next to her, many other characters appear almost saintly in their behaviour. Aside from being one of the driving forces behind a majority of the schemes going on in Raylansfair, she is incredibly smug, arrogant and downright condescending in her interaction with most characters. For her goals, she is even willing to betray old friends and to callously get the citizens of Raylansfair killed.
• Always Someone Better: Harmund is this to Harlan Hoare, being more handsome, more capable and more powerful. It is one of the reasons Harlan constantly seeks to be close to his brother, despite said brother's... tendencies.
• Amazon Chaser:
  • Davith is notably attracted to the skilled fighter Samantha Ducard, among other things because of her ability to kick his ass.
  • Samantha herself is very much into women who are good fighters. There are her implied feelings for Sasha, as well as the fact that she compliments the looks of Nymeria Aspys, who is an Amazonian Beauty.
  • Her physical abilities are also outright mentioned by Irving as one of the reasons he is attracted to Maya.
• Ambadassador: Maya Iresons, ambassador of Runestone and the Vale of Arryn is not a skilled diplomat. Instead, she has been chosen to undergo the mission to Raylansfair because of her skills as a fighter and a thief.
• Ambiguously Evil: The Burned Man, which is lampshaded by several other characters. He himself has no problem with admitting his own evilness, while also putting emphasis on his good actions. In fact, almost everyone working for him speaks fondly of him and Harpy explains that his actions actually help the city, by providing work and food for those who need it. He also has a strong soft spot for children, so strong that he employs them into his organization, to train them as thieves and spies. Which still might be more favourable than just giving them no future at all. He is a complicated case, in and out of universe.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Dimitri the Wise has last been seen in a forest in the middle of the night, in a forest full of bandits. His fate has been unknown ever since.
  • Davith and Jaylon both decide to remain behind, to allow Samantha, Sasha and Leonard to free Lucas from the cells below the Hightower, leaving both of their fates unknown until the next chapter, where Jaylon is revealed to having been caught and tortured into submission, whereas Davith managed to survive by hiding for a week.
  • Ayden Blackwell heroically distracted several guardsmen during the ambush in Tanner's Alley. He has not been seen for almost a whole chapter, before reappearing as a prisoner underneath the Hightower. Jaron manages to save him without any permanent injuries.
  • Similarly, The Burned Man and Maron Mullendore have ambigous fates at the end of Chapter 6. Chapter 7 confirms that the former has been captured and tortured to the brink of death, while the latter has been given the medical treatment he needed, leaving him on a long road to recovery.
  • Jarow's Last Stand against Bear's bandits is treated as far less ambiguous, though his death is still not outright shown.
• Ambition Is Evil:
  • This is a prime flaw of Harren Hoare, whose yearning for more and more power has turned him into a tyrant, who ruthlessly bleeds his own kingdom dry.
  • Maron Mullendore and Edward Anturion show many of the same traits, as their ambition is generally the cause for their worst actions and almost exclusively portrayed as negatively.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • One of the most prominent mutilations in the entire story take place in Chapter 4, when Argilac Durrandon, the Storm King, mutilates Corilyan Celtigar, ambassador of Dragonstone, over something he perceived as a slight against his beloved daughter.
  • Before he is killed, the Solver posing as Butterfly loses his sword hand in his fight against Samantha.
  • Holt Torv, the head torturer of Harrenhal has lost his foot on the battlefield years before the story starts.
  • At the end of the Raid on Maybros, Sadie gets into a duel with Durren Stallhart. It ends as well as you might expect, with Durren slicing off Sadie's sword hand and nearly killing her.
• Ancestral Weapon: Like in the source material, several houses own these. House Corbray's ancestral sword forged from Valyrian steel is the most prominent example, as it is wielded by the antagonist Rodrik Stone. House Targaryen happens to be in possession of two; Blackfyre and Dark Sister.
• And Then What?: Brought up by Leonard during his talk with Lucas on their ship back to Raylansfair, when he asks his friend what he has planned after he managed to save Raylansfair.
• Animal Motifs: Several characters sport these.
  • Wolves are commonly associated with Wolfius Woodbark and Brandon Snow. The former embodies the imagery of a rabid wolf, while the latter stands for the calm and dignified sides of the animal.
  • Argilac and Argella Durrandon are, like their whole house, compared to stags at several points of the story, as a means to symbolize their proud, regal behaviour.
  • Raenna Minsworth has a dragon motif going on, as a result of her Valyrian heritage and her fiery temper. She is even called the Half-Dragon by Noelle in her visions.
• Anti-Hero: A number of characters, though ultimately heroic, have rather murky morals and can't be called clear heroes.
  • The Burned Man is this even if you are on his side. He is affable, gentle and generous, but it must be remembered that he is a professional criminal and a very successful one at that. He employs children and raises them into a life of crime, yet his intentions are to keep them from falling victim to even worse things and to teach them something that will actually help them survive in Oldtown.
  • His adopted daughter Harpy is no less complicated. She is a sweet and caring young woman, with a soft spot for the children her adopted father employs. Many of them come to see her as a big sister and she genuinely mourns every loss close to her. Ultimately, she only wishes for a normal life, which sadly gets more and more out of reach for her. She is also incredibly vengeful, willing to go to great lengths to avenge any injustice she and the people she loves suffer. Her temper can also only be described as volatile.
  • Perhaps under the influence of the abovementioned characters, Jaron develops into one as well. Starting the series firmly as an idealistic, yet naive Knight In Shining Armour, he gradually got more cynical and more willing to compromise his honour to get results. The key moment that cemented this was arguably when he did not stop Harpy when she moved to kill the defeated Butterfly.
  • Irving is a Classical Anti-Hero. He lacks the skill of almost everyone around him, lacks the will to improve on his flaws (at least initially) and is a huge, but lovable coward. He is also firmly one of the good guys despite all of this.
  • Torvin Breaker is a sympathetic Point-of-View, with plenty of likeable traits, which makes it easy to forget that he is, by all means, part of a culture that encourages Rape, Pillage, and Burn. Compared to a majority of the other Ironborn, Torvin is certainly not that much of a bad guy and the ones he fights against are worse without a doubt, but even at his best, he is merely an Unscrupulous Hero.
  • After his Heel–Face Turn, Samuel Harrington has not lost his moral ambiguity. Though generally on the side of the good guys ever since, he has no problem with getting innocent people harmed or with stabbing those that consider him an ally in the back. That said, he also gradually develops into a more likeable person, as evidenced by his Ship Tease with Raenna.
• Anti-Villain: Many villains have at least some sympathetic traits and a few of them can be genuinely seen as this trope.
  • Maron Mullendore is hardly a sympathetic man once his true identity is revealed. A cruel sadist with a fondness for mind games and brutal torture methods, as well as the fact that he won't even back down from harming children makes him one of the most despicable villains in the story. However, even then he retains some of his knightly virtues, like a sense of honour, as twisted as it is. His ultimate goal is also positive, making him a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
  • The Burned Man is only a villain if you stand against him and even then, he has only few truly villainous traits. He is genuinely concerned for the future of Oldtown, even if he uses criminal methods to achieve this future. He is also by all means a genuinely polite man who is friendly unless provoked. That does not mean that he is not capable of some pretty evil things, but all in all, he still hardly qualifies as a villain.
  • Harris Flowers. Despite his noble demeanor and trying to appear as friendly as possible, he is an unstable Control Freak who quickly resorts to violence when things don't go his way and who has problems controlling his urges. He is also a strong, generous and just leader with a natural talent for ruling. Ultimately, his goals are absolutely well-intentioned, but it doesn't change the fact that he is willing to murder others to achieve it.
  • Jaylon Gordus is a very tragic figure. A rude Jerkass of a man, he comes from a dysfunctional family, with a depressed and abusive father, from whom he ran away. Stranded in Oldtown, he long since realized that he is doomed to a life he does not want to lead, fighting for a man he does not want to fight for, but left with no alternatives. This turned him, once idealistic and proud, into a cynical jerk. However, he reveals his more likeable side when he temporarily joins up with Samantha to save Lucas, first out of necessity, but later on out of genuine affection for her and the others, showing that not all of his former self is lost.
• Anyone Can Die: This Fic stays true to the source material in these regards. The prologue already establishes this by killing off Lord Robert Raylan and Maester Eaton and later chapters see the deaths of Ser Ilhan Lagoon, Dairon, The Burned Man, Marak, Terroma, Lyria, Alysanne, Harris, Torvin, Sheryl and Lucas. And that's only for the first book of three planned!
• Apologetic Attacker: This is how Clayton typically starts an assassination. He politely apologizes to his victim, before brutally attempting to murder them regardless. Usually, he at least tries to give them a somewhat dignified death though.
• Appeal to Force:
  • This is implied to be Hobert's back-up plan in case he would not manage to secure Raylansfair for House Lowther. The presence of Argella Durrandon and her troops kind of ruined this plan for him, but even without her, it is highly questionable if it would have ever succeeded.
  • Aegon Targaryen has absolutely no legal right to the kingdoms of Westeros. However, what he does have are three adult dragons, capable of raining fire and death down on the woefully underequipped Westerosi armies, establishing him as a major power player only weeks after his landing.
• The Apprentice: Dairon is this to Maester Eaton and briefly to Archmaester Wulvren.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Maron Mullendore is this to many characters actually. Lucas considers him his arch-enemy, as do Leonard and Harpy. He himself considers neither a worthy arch-enemy, even if his opinion on Harpy changed after she came very close to killing him.
  • Rayden is this to Clayton. They have been partners before, working together, but ultimately getting into a fight, which ended with Clayton losing an eye and Rayden receiving a gruesome scar over his chest. When Rayden reappears, he quickly starts to antagonize Clayton, even mocking him over his missing eye.
  • In general, the Burned Man and Butterfly are arch-enemies and their fight is a constant source of conflict in Oldtown.
  • Historically, the Dornish are this to the Kingdom of the Stormlands. At the time of the story, they are still openly at war, although their battles are nothing more but small skirmishes in the Dornish Marches.
• Arc Number
  • Rule of Three: The story is divided into three books, each consisting of three acts with three chapters respectively.
• Arc Villain: Generally averted, as most villains hold significance for more than one storyline and over a longer period of time. However, there are some minor exceptions.
  • Maya's storyline in Book 1 Chapter 3 features Lord Trymon Brune, head of House Brune and lord of the Dyre Den. He is killed at the end of the same chapter and held overall little importance for her plot, other than to introduce Aldrik Wolver to her group.
  • After some minor encounters as an Arc Villain for Maya and John Gutten, Rodrik Stone becomes this to Samantha and the people that surround her in Chapter 7 and 8 of Book 1.
  • Rayden, Clayton's Arch-Enemy is the Arc Villain for a very short time in Kersea's storyline, during chapters 6 and 7.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Most of the nobility of Westeros avert this, but the lords of the Iron Islands play this trope straight. There is their king, Harren Hoare, Lord Clint Volmark, Lord Reymand Orkwood and the Lord Captain of the Iron Fleet, Damon Greyjoy. The lower captains are occasionally portrayed in a more positive light though.
• Arc Words: Each book has its own arc words. For Book 1, they are the words of House Raylan "We Write History". Book 2 features the words "All For Our Pride", the words of House Reyne of Castamere. Book 3 is planned to feature the words of House Manwoody, which are "No King Above Me".
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Argella gives a very stern warning to Hobert that he is about to overplay his position when she bluntly asks him, "Do you want to be my enemy?" after reminding him of the Badass Boast of her house's words. Hobert being Hobert, he tries to ignore her of course, but the other people in the room react accordingly.
• Arranged Marriage:
  • Avoiding one is the main motivation for Alys Boleyn's actions in the early story. After her father betrothed her to Dante Karstark against her will, she ran away from home, leaving her father and her fiance to try and follow her.
  • Alisa Karstark's backstory holds a remarkable similarity, only that she ran away from home to avoid being married to a member of House Forrester.
  • The marriage between Darren and Mileena Reyne is one of these. At least from her side, it is also a Perfectly Arranged Marriage.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy:
  • Leonard Constantine started off as one. Developments in later chapters, especially his experiences in Oldtown, turn him into a far more humble person.
  • Elias Tyrell is an incredibly gifted fighter and he makes sure that everyone knows about it. He at least tries to appear like a true knight and usually manages to fool others to fall for this trick, but upon closer examination, his arrogance and lack of discipline become obvious.
  • Willfred Reyne is the eldest son and heir of the most powerful lord of the Kingdom of the Rock. Because of this, he has received the best training possible and has developed into a swordsman that is as skilled as he is arrogant.
  • Rayden spends his entire lifetime in the story being smug and overly arrogant about his skills. We don't get to see much of it, though he is considered to be extremely dangerous by the master assassin Clayton, so there must be something about him.
• Artificial Limbs: Holt Torv, the chief torturer of Harrenhal, has a wooden foot, to replace the one he lost in battle.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Though majorly involved in the chapters she appeared in, Kyra Greyjoy still only appeared in two chapters of Book 1. She is confirmed to return as a major Point-of-View character in Book 2.
  • The same goes for Gabin Strad, who appeared in more chapters, but with less involvement. He is also confirmed to become a Point-of-View character in Book 2.
  • The same trope applies to the entire Vale of Arryn, only seen in a single chapter in Book 1, most of which was spent in a dark hut. Book 2 features the Vale as a major location.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Lord Trymon Brune, over his short lifspan in the story, proves himself to be nothing but a Jerkass and a firm example of Aristocrats Are Evil. Ultimately, he tries to rape Maya, to avenge the honour of his daughter, who had been seduced and deflowered by Maya's employer, Lord Royce. It is incredibly satisfying to see him dying at her hands instead.
  • Halla Peddle, the housekeeper of House Raylan has been reviled in and out of universe for the heavy physical and psychological abuse through which she put the servants under her command. No one legitimately mourns her passing when she is murdered by Wolfius and Kersea.
  • Rodrik Stone has been an unrepentant Jerkass and Hero Killer from start to finish of his lifetime in the story. In the end, he is killed by his intended victim, simply because he could not give up on his revenge towards her.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership:
  • The Ironborn are strong believers in this creed. It proves to be a problem for their king, Harren Hoare, whom many see as weak because he does not personally lead raiding parties like many kings before him did. To gain the respect of his men, he has no other choice but to rule his subjects through brutish force.
  • Argilac Durrandon, the Storm King, used to be the best fighter in his kingdom during his younger days. With his advanced age, he is no longer as skilled as he used to be, but still a fearsome warrior and worthy of his Memetic Badass status.
  • Argella Durrandon is not particularly strong physically, but ever since she became the crown princess, her father subjected her to a rigorous training, to make sure that the future queen of the Stormlands is able to hold her own in any fight.
  • Aegon Targaryen is a lethal warrior with his sword, the Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre, as well as atop his dragon, the even more lethal Balerion.
• The Atoner:
  • Following the rescue of her little sister, Kersea is no longer forced to work for Clayton and Butterfly. She then decides to make up for her past actions in their service by helping in bringing them down.
  • Harpy's actions during the chapter 6 finale, where she risks her own life to get an attempt at killing Maron Mullendore, the real Butterfly are a version of this trope, as she underwent this risk because she was convinced that the situation leading up to it has been entirely her fault for killing the fake Butterfly two chapters ago
  • Terroma is revealed to feel heavy guilt over having trained Clayton back in his younger days. After hearing of his former pupil's actions, he decided to return from retirement and to focus on bringing him down.
• Attempted Rape
  • Samantha is nearly raped by Rodrik Stone, after he defeated her group and knocked her down. Luckily for her, this was the moment Orys Baratheon and his knights appeared.
  • Butterfly fully intends on raping Harpy after briefly capturing her in Chapter 4. He did not expect her viciously fighting back though.
• At the Crossroads: The Hammered Harp Inn is a major location in Chapter 2 and 3. It is located near a major crossroads in the western Reach, on the road between Raylansfair and Highgarden.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Bear's knife gloves are terrifying, but practically useless in a real fight, since he can barely parry with them. He mostly uses them to intimidate, or when he gets into a brawl, but the moment he meets a real opponent, he has to waste precious time with drawing his sword.
  • Sasha is fighting with a dothraki arakh. While the weapon itself is certainly awesome and practical on top when in Essos, it loses a lot of the latter attribute in Westeros, where more heavy armour is common. It still gives her an advantage against enemies who wear only light armour though.
  • The Targaryen dragons, of all things, while very much essential for the war, can get into situations in which they are very impractical, namely in a battle. Their main weapon, breathing fire on their opponents, is kind of hard to use without causing massive casualties to their own troops, through literal Friendly Fire.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Wolfius Woodbark, the psychopathic serial killer introduced early in Book 1. Over the course of the story, he shows absolutely no hesitation to act with utmost brutality, sometimes without any provocation at all. He is so unstable that his companions outright ditched him to make sur that he won't compromise their mission.
  • Kreep has signs of this as well. Most of the time, he shows no emotion at all, but his eagerness to get into a fight and the brutality he uss to dispatch his victims is unsettling, to say the least. Fittingly, he is revealed to be the son of Wolfius
  • Alysanne Waters is another example. She is as unstable as she is dangerous, a psychopath with a violent temper. One scene that sees her fighting against several men at once has her outright laughing at the violence around her.

B

• Back for the Dead:
  • An in-universe example happens with Rayden. After being out of his live for many years, he encounters Clayton again just hours before he is killed, by the very same man nonetheless.
  • Lyria doesn't appear at all in Chapter 7, giving her a several month-long break. She returns as a Point-of-View character in Chapter 8, which features her brutal death at the hands of Wolfius.
  • While he appears in the chapters, Torvin, originally one of the most major Point-of-View characters, doesn't have any parts of his own in Chapter 6 and 7 and is overall Demoted to Extra. He returns as a major Point-of-View character in full force in Chapter 8. However, at the very end of it, he is killed by Edward Anturion.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Jaron and Ayden, when they hold off the city guard during the ambush in Tanner's Alley.
• Badass Adorable: Kersea has a petite physique and is usually described as cute by others, which does not mean that she can't kick plenty of ass. Her best friend Raenna is similarly slim and small and no less of a badass.
• Badass and Child Duo: Terroma and Ellena are this in Chapter 2, though they split up in the early Chapter 3.
• Badass Boast: Again, in a work of such length, there's guaranteed to be quite a couple of them:
  • Much like in the source material, the house words are meant to include one. The most prominent example is House Raylan's "We Write History", which at first seems to be a rather straightforward description of their role in the society of Westeros, until you remember another popular saying about history.
  • Though he is weakened by a serious wound and having pushed himself to his limits, Terroma manages to deliver an impressive one when he faces Noelle and Marak.
    Noelle: "I've been awaiting you, Old Man. Come closer, into the light. Warm yourself at our fire, for the night is dark, and full of terrors"
    Terroma: "The night might be dark, priestess, but I am the only terror you have to fear"
  • Argella Durrandon is very fond of giving these to remind everyone that she is every bit the badass her father is.
  • A villainous one goes to Cleaver Clint Volmark, spoken to a man he is about to kill during the raid of Raylansfair.
    Clint: "I want you to look me in the eye. I want you to see the man that will slaughter your people. That will burn your city to the ground. That will fuck your precious little daughter to death. And I want you to die"
  • Aegon Targaryen's Badass Boast is so effective, he sends it to each ruler in Westeros to declare war on them.
    Aegon: "Those who bend the knee will keep their lands and titles, serving as my vassals from now on. Those that refuse, I will destroy"
• Badass Bookworm: Dante is a Bookworm through and through, as well as a Technical Pacifist, but make no mistake, he still is a knight and a Karstark, meaning that he is far from a weak pushover.
• Badass Family:
  • Admittedly, it only consists of two members by the time the story is set, but both Durrandons are noted for their fighting skills. This trope runs in the family, as the Storm Kings of House Durrandon are expected to be warrior kings and, save for some shameful exceptions, have lived up to these expectations.
  • House Targaryen does not have to hide from House Durrandon in terms of badassery. Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys are dragon riders and set to conquer an entire continent. Their half-brother Orys is one of the most skilled swordsmen in all Westeros and their cousin Raenna has been trained as a Professional Killer to perfection.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Again, Terroma, who wears the story's equivalent of a nice suit, which are elegant, colourful clothes befitting of a rich Braavosi merchant, even when he fights to the death.
• Badass in Distress: Leonard, who is a supreme swordsman, able to hold his own against Samuel Harrington, finds himself in distress in the early Chapter 5, when he is wounded and tied up by the corrupt city guard of Oldtown. Luckily for him, Samantha and Sasha come to the rescue not long afterwards.
• Badass Longcoat: Rayden wears one and he is also quite the badass, even if he didn't really had a chance to show it off in the story proper.
• Bad Boss:
  • Harren Hoare is shown to have absolutely no care for his underlings or their well-being. He doesn't even make sure the workers that are supposed to build his castle are properly fed.
  • Clayton is technically the superior to Kersea, Alysanne and Wolfius. Since he is Clayton, he antagonizes all three of them, mentally abusing Kersea, trying to get Alysanne killed and using Wolfius as a scapegoat for his own crimes, all of it without even the hint of remorse.
  • Maron Mullendore is secretly the crimelord Butterfly. This means, he actively sacrifices some of his guardsmen to make sure his cover remains believable.
• Bait the Dog: While Clayton is introduced as a villain from the beginning, the reason for Kersea's hatred of him is not immediately apparent. Slowly however, it is shown that he is violently obsessed with her and gets so irrational in this that he is far from the Reasonable Authority Figure and Noble Demon he appeared to be at first.
• Bandit Clan: Bear is leading one of these, the Band of Claws.
• Band of Brothers: John's small group of sellswords is exceptionally close to each other. Bonus points for some of them being actually related to each other.
• Bar Brawl:
  • Leonard gets into one with Temari, over the latter's sister nonetheless.
  • Another brawl breaks out between John and Torrence Bernile, when the former (correctly) interpreted the actions of the latter as trying to break into one of the guest rooms.
• Bastard Bastard: Downplayed with Harris Flowers, the Anti-Villain castellan of Raylansfair, but played absolutely straight with Rodrik Stone, who is a kinslayer and rapist on top of being a major Jerkass.
• Beard of Evil: Harmund and Rodrik are noted to wear full beards and they are also among the most evil characters in the story.
• The Beastmaster: Chapter 8 reveals that Wolfius is a warg and an immensely powerful one at that.
• Beast of Battle: House Targaryen doesn't have many soldiers to their command. The fact that they still are among the most powerful houses in Westeros is because they control three giant dragons, trained for war.
• The Beautiful Elite:
  • Argella Durrandon embodies this trope. She is famously beautiful, always well-dressed, has received flawless education and she is also the heiress to the Kingdom of the Stormlands.
  • Queen Rhaenys Targaryen is another straight example. Like Argella, she is a very beautiful woman, even if their physical features couldn't be different. She is cultured, well-read and behaved and loves the courtly life.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Played With, like in the source material.
  • On the one hand, many of the good characters are noted to be beautiful. Lucas and Leonard are both described as handsome, Argella and Raenna are stunningly beautiful and Samantha and Maya regularly get their fair share of admirers as well and all of them are good guys, more or less.
  • On the other hand, a noticeable number of attractive characters are very evil and some of them use this trope to hide it. Sherryl is the most prominent example and a Manipulative Bitch on top, but Harmund and Wolfius are noted to have handsome qualities as well, even if they are Ax-Crazy psychopaths.
  • The number of Mooks that are described as plain or outright ugly is also noticeably high.
• Bears Are Bad News: The cruel leader of a bandit clan calls himself Bear and wears a helmet shaped like a bears head, paired with knives embedded in the fingers of his gloves, to emulate claws. Surely enough, he is bad news whenever he shows up.
• Beautiful Slave Girl: Harpy was at least born a slave and she grew up to be very beautiful.
• Because Destiny Says So: Noelle's actions are motivated by preventing the coming war, by comitting a number of horrible actions she sees as necessary as a result of her visions. After her Heel Realization, she quietly admits that things are more complicated than that.
• Because I'm Good At It: This is one of the Burned Man's reasons for remaining in Oldtown even after it got so dangerous for him and despite Harpy's wishes. As a cripple, he simply has no other opportunity to affect the lives of others.
• Because You Were Nice to Me:
  • Jaylon's most heroic action in the entire story is turning against corrupt guardsmen to save Samantha, which happened only shortly after they bonded (as she treated him with a kindness he had never experienced before).
  • Rell Vessels, though still far from any sort of a heroic character, actually does something decent when he saves Garthon's life during the Raid on Raylansfair, in return for having his own life saved previously.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Lunett wishes to leave her boring life at her father's inn and to go on an adventure. She gets her wish when Lucas and Leonard agree to take her with them. Two chapters later, she gets raped, mutilated, raped again, blinded and finally killed just to send a message to Lucas, giving her the most cruel and undeserved death in the entire story.
  • Harpy dreams of taking revenge on Butterfly for all he did to her friends. Her moment comes when she has the defeated crimelord at her mercy. Unfortunately, by killing him, she misses a chance to gain valuable intel, which ends up having major negative consequences for herself and everyone she cares for.
• Becoming the Mask:
  • Initially, Terroma befriended Ellena because he assumed that his target Clayton would have an interest in her. However, he genuinely grows to adore her, even ending up considering her a daughter and risking his life to safe her from danger.
  • While she tries to remain as professional as possible, there are signs that the Targaryen spy Saerya Waters has actually grown to genuinely care for those she befriended as part of her mission. A prominent example for this is when she goes out of her way to make sure that Carma Strad is save during the Ironborn raid.
• Being Evil Sucks: Jaylon realizes this when he starts helping Samantha and her group. He even turns against his former companions to give them a chance to escape. Unfortunately, this realization doesn't stick for long.
• Being Good Sucks: Richard Harking has to realize this when he helps the barmaid Ilish against the psychopathic Wolfius, therefore making sure that he and his family are on his hit list. Later, while pursuing Wolfius, he is ambushed by the man's allies and grievously wounded. This results in him almost being unable to save his daughter later on, leaving her with a prominent scar on her face.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension:
  • There is certainly something between Drent and Argella, especially from her side.
  • Samantha and Sasha have some subtext between them, especially in their earlier chapters. They eventually stop fighting and snarking at each other, making their mutual attraction much more prominent.
• Beneath the Mask:
  • Argella is revealed to be far more insecure in private than she shows in public, constantly doubting wether or not she is actually worthy of her inheritance and expressing fear of the thought that her father could die one day. She is also a lot kinder in private than in public.
  • Maron Mullendore seems to be a jovial if slightly foul-mouthed man who genuinely cares for the well-being of his men. However, he is secretly a violent Jerkass and a Bad Boss, as well as the crimelord Butterfly.
• Benevolent Boss:
  • Argilac Durrandon is beloved by his soldiers for being fair and respectful towards them and to his entire kingdom. His daughter seems to have inherited this part of his personality as well.
  • Harris Flowers proves himself not only to be an effective leader, but also a caring, fatherly mentor to his younger servants, especially towards Jenna. Unfortunately, she has seen the more nasty sides of his personality and is therefore wary to trust him.
• Aegon Targaryen gains a lot of support from the lords that bend the knee to him, on account of being a fair and decent ruler, who tries to find just compromises to problems among his subjects, a novelty in all Westeros.
• Berserk Button:
  • Harren Hoare has plenty of these, but by far his most prominent one is not being treated with respect. And he demands a lot of respect.
  • Whenever he is rejected by Kersea in one way or the other, Clayton has the habit of falling into a murderous rage.
  • Speaking of Kersea, hurting her is a major Berserk Button for Alysanne.
  • Go on, insult the Storm Princess in front of her father.
• The Berserker: Cleaver Clint and Marak fight like this.
• Best Served Cold: Samantha and Kersea have both lost their families to Butterfly's killers. Both are unable to strike back immediately, Samantha because of her having to train how to fight, Kersea because Butterfly holds her sister hostage. Both eventually plot to take their revenge, if given the opportunity.
• Better the Devil You Know: This is Leonard's argument in favour of setting aside his differences with Harris to fully focus on the threat posed by Maron Mullendore.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Orys Baratheon is a Knight In Shining Armour who fully embraces his oath and even goes as far as to spare defeated enemies. He is also one of the most skilled swordsmen in Westeros and the general of the Targaryen army, as well as not afraid of beating down those who push him too far.
  • Terroma is a genuinely sweet and polite old man, who does not like violence. He is also a retired master assassin, capable of taking on several opponents at once and if you harm those he cares for, Prepare to Die.
• Beware the Quiet Ones:
  • The Moggy rarely speaks and is generally dim-witted. But be very afraid if you count the Tom to your enemies, because he follows all of his orders. He is also an eight-feet tall juggernaut of a man who randomly breaks into violent fits of rage.
  • Kreep only speaks in Creepy Monotone sentences, appearing more like an emotionless machine than a genuine human being. His runtish size does the rest and people generally underestimate him horribly. The moment they do, he jumps at them and beats and bites them to death like a rabid wolf.
  • Aegon Targaryen is a stoic, brooding man, who rarely raises his voice, but who also manages to be a Young Conqueror dedicated to unite the entire continent of Westeros under his banner, a task which he doesn't need to do much talking for.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • Bakr is a goofy comic relief with a crude, but jolly attitude and a tendency to be a good-natured alcoholic. However, he is a master slaver and incredibly strong fighter, able to tear through enemies with his bearded axe.
  • Jarow, a former captain of the city guard, turned insane after a particularly traumatizing battle, believing himself to be the lord of a small bridge near Raylansfair. This makes it easy to forget that he has slain fifteen men during this battle and lived to tell the tale.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: Chapter 8 of Book 1, What Is Dead May Never Die, is mostly dedicated to the raid on Raylansfair, with the similarly big raid on Maybros being a secondary storyline as well.
• Big Bad: While there are several bad guys, the ones behind most of the conflict in Book 1 are arguably Harren Hoare and Maron Mullendore.
• Big Bad Wannabe:
  • Ser Rodrik Stone is introduced as a genuine threat, an intimidating sellsword leader, commanding dozens of men in league with the villainous (and much more dangerous) Edward Anturion. Over his time in the story, he does not achieve much though. He ambushes John and Janae, resulting in a stunning defeat against three men, during which a part of his men gets blown up with Wildfire. Later, he ambushes Samantha and her group, which ends with him beaten and humiliated by Orys Baratheon.
  • Rayden is introduced as a major threat in his first scene, being an old rival of Clayton and even more of a Smug Snake and Jerkass than him. He gets taken care of in the middle of the next chapter, without even getting the chance to put up much of a fight, perfectly falling victim to Clayton's plan.
• Big Brother Bully: Harmund Hoare. His constant and severe bullying is implied to be one of the key reasons why Harlan and Harndon grew up to be the damage young men they are. His youngest brother, Harrick, grew up while Harmund was already regularly away from home and was therefore spared the worst of the abuse. As a result, he is by far the most stable of the siblings.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Temari is not the most easy-going individual to begin with, but he gets downright possessive towards his sister, Behara. She is the only person he treats with utmost kindness, while simultaneously being absolutely ruthless towards anyone that might pose a threat to her.
  • Martin has such a relationship with Harpy, to whom he acts like an older brother and whom he tries to keep safe at all costs. Eventually, he is even willing to lay his life down for her.
  • Damon Greyjoy is a very mysterious character with few outright positive traits. However, it is known that he loves his little sister, Kyra. So, when Harndon Hoare ends up hurting her and almost killing her, Damon gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown without even thinking twice. Even after returning from the resulting banishment, he has not calmed down when it comes to Kyra.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • John has the first big moment of these in the story, when he saves Kyette from being raped by the Band of Claws during their attack on the Hammered Harp Inn.
  • During the same attack, Samantha returns from her mission to keep the inn staff safe, just in time to prevent John's death at the hands of Bear.
  • Irving, of all people, gets one when he saves Maya from being detected by one of the bandits, who would have alerted the entire camp if he would have spotted her.
  • Just a few minutes later, Christian Thomas dispatches several of the bandits pursuing Maya and Irving, just when things looked grim for them.
  • Martin pulls a highly dramatic one in the Chapter 4 finale, when he and his reinforcements literally arrive just in the right second to save the lives of Jaron an Harpy from Butterfly and his Solvers
  • Samantha manages to rescue Leonard before the corrupt city guardsmen were able to bring him to one of their outposts.
  • Kersea went against Clayton's direct orders to save Ilish and Lawsen from Wolfius and Kreep.
  • In Chapter 7, Orys Baratheon and his knights arrive just in time to defeat Ser Rodrik and his men and to save Samantha and her friends.
• Big Damn Kiss: Jaron and Harpy finally have one when they manage to confess their feelings to each other after everything they have survived together.
• Big Fun: Bakr is a heavyweight slaver, but he is also firmly this trope, being a genuinely jolly and friendly man, seemingly without a bad bone in his body.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Both, Abbas and Bakr are described as having really thick eyebrows. Bakr even takes it one step further.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: House Hoare is a major example of this. Themselves perhaps the most powerful house in Westeros, they have all sorts of problems in their relationships. Currently, six known members of the house exist and safe for Harrick and Harndon, none of them have any sort of a positive relationship with each other. Harren has at best a neutral opinion on his sons (though he seems to respect Harrick), Harmund hates everyone that could get in the way of him and his crown, Harlan is a psychotic nutjob without the emotional capability to form deeper connections, Harndon is legitimately insane and Harrick holds deep resentment over his family for all they put his brother through. Then there is Harrigon, Harren's brother and the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, who has such a bad opinion on his family that he didn't even appear to the funeral of his own father. Yeah, they have some issues.
• Big Sleep: Terroma dies this way, after receiving a ton of damage, including being thrown down a cliff.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
  • Tariel seem to be a kind, well-intentioned woman who uses her schemes solely to survive in a harsh world and never means any harm. Then, she slowly reveals herself to be a deeply vengeful person, still suffering from the emotional abuse she received from the people of Raylansfair, for something she never did. This drives her to the point where she manipulates even the Storm King and outright tries to convince Argella to leave the people of Raylansfair to die in Chapter 8.
  • Sherryl might also count, even if she barely hides her real self, at least to some people. Others, such as Harris, are genuinely fooled by her nice and sweet act until she decides to drop it.
• Bizarre Seasons: It is Westeros after all, meaning that the seasons are far longer than usual, sometimes spanning several years. The story starts at the very end of summer, close to the beginning of autumn.
• Blackmail: Collecting material for this is part of Saerya's plan to take down Sherryl.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Compared to the source material, Forum of Thrones has a little bit of a Lighter and Softer theme going on in that there are more genuine heroes, but a majority of the characters still falls onto various parts of the grey spectrum, while a couple of characters are clear, irredeemable evil.
• Black-and-White Insanity: The philosophy of the Solvers revolves around this, having taken an All Crimes Are Equal stance when it comes to pursuing justice against criminals. To them, even child criminals are primarily to be treated as criminals and not as children. Their leader, Maron Mullendore, has firmly embodied this trope.
• The Blacksmith: This is Lyria's profession in Raylansfair. Previously, her husband used to be the blacksmith until his death at the hands of the Ironborn. Her daughter, Rosalie, is her apprentice.
• Black Sheep:
  • Even among a house as depraved as the Hoare's, Harndon is typically seen as one of these, mostly for being completely deranged even when compared to his brothers.
  • Lucas is this to House Vyrwel, but solely because his brother Petyr framed him for things he never did. This means, the real black sheep in the family would be Petyr.
  • Rodrik Stone is this to House Corbray. Always jealous of his trueborn siblings and their inheritance, he murdered his own father and stole the family sword, before running off to join the Second Sons.
• Blood Knight:
  • Emphryus Dresfel is a Stormlander through and through, but even for their standards, his lust for battle is extreme. Whereas every other soldier is at least slightly worried about fighting against the Ironborn in Raylansfair, Emphryus is trembling with excitement. Apparently, his entire family has such a lust for battle and had it for countless generations.
  • Daghan Oxus is Emphryus' Targaryen counterpart in this regard. While not specifically fond of killing his opponents, he loves the act of fighting itself to a perverse degree. Usually a soft-spoken and affable man, his behaviour changes completely when getting into a fight and he actively searches for opponents to challenge.
  • A villainous example goes to Clint Volmark, fittingly known as Cleaver Clint. He proves just how much he loves fighting when he outright ignores Torvin's orders during the raid on Raylansfair, just so that he will be able to cause more carnage.
  • Bear is a similar case. Being the leader of an infamous Bandit Clan, this trope is a given, but he pushes it even further, to the point where he becomes virtually uncontrollable in a fight as long as there are people to kill
• Blood Lust:
  • It's not only battling his enemies, it's spilling their blood that actively thrills Bear. This is best shown when he uses his knife glove to disembowel one of the Ironborn that caused a bit of trouble in his camp, all with a gleeful grin on his face.
  • Alysanne loves to cause pain and the sight of blood delights her, even if it is her own.
• Blood Magic: Edward Anturion has knowledge about such spells and about the importance of blood. He is especially fascinated by the blood of the First Men, as Alys has to find out.
• Blue Blood: Nobility is an important part in the Westerosi society. Much like the source material, this story features countless families and even adds to them with original houses, like the Frostborns or the Boleyns. On top of that, many of the noble characters come from houses that only play a minor role in the source material, like House Reyne, House Vyrwel or House Volmark.
• Bodyguard Crush: After initially not having much of an opinion about her, Drent slowly starts to fall for Argella after being assigned as one of her personal guards and spending more time around her. She seems to be quite aware of this crush.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Always concerned with her safety, Argilac Durrandon assigns several hand-picked fighters to protect his daughter on her journey to Raylansfair. However, Argella shows herself more than capable of dealing with threats, considering that her own training has likely been harder than anything these fighters have been put through.
• Boisterous Bruiser:
  • Usually soft-spoken, Daghan turns into a growling, screaming whirlwind of death in a fight.
  • Clint Volmark combines this trope with being a Blood Knight.
• Boisterous Weakling: Zig-zagged with Jaylon. He is not a bad fighter by any means, able to put up a good fight against those he duels, but he is by far not as good as he likes to appear. Out of the two duels he fought, he lost both and the only time he actually achieved a victory was when he stabbed his own companions in the back.
• Bolivian Army Ending: Jarow's death is not shown, but heavily implied when the last thing we see of him is him facing dozens of bandits, led by Bear.
• Book Dumb: What Maron Mullendore claims to be, in order to fool his enemies into underestimating him. He is actually perfectly literate, but pretends to be unable to read or even write his own letters.
• Bookworm:
  • Dante Karstark has a noticeable fascination with books, which is seen as strange in a family that has a strong martial aspect to it.
  • Simon Stokeworth, the heir of Stokeworth is an intelligent, bookish man, who holds a particular fascination with dragons, so much that he has read every account he was able to get his hands on even before meeting them.
• Boring, but Practical: Good armour is portrayed this way. It makes the wearer slow and less elegant, but usually able to withstand blows from most attacks.
• Boom Head Shot: Keira is killed instantly when the Tom hits her in the head with a throwing knife.
• Boss Banter: Several of the villainous characters have a habit of doing this. The Tom does it when he has the upper hand, Rodrik meanwhile does it even when he hasn't.
• Bottle Episode: What Is Dead May Never Die, the penultimate chapter of Book 1 is this, taking place only in the previously established towns of Raylansfair and Maybros and introducing almost no new characters or storylines, unlike virtually every chapter before and after.
• Boyish Short Hair: Ilish wears her hair very short for a woman and she has more than one tomboyish trait, including a deep lust for adventure.
• Brains and Brawn:
  • Abbas and Bakr, the Ghiscari slavers, have such a partnership going on. Though Abbas is not a bad fighter, he is no match for the hulking Bakr. In turn however, he is by far the more cunning of the two.
  • Noelle and Marak have a partnership in which she is explicitly the brains. Marak, being rather dim-witted, is happy with his role as the brawn, even if he shows some moments of surprising insight.
• Brainy Brunette: No matter her flaws, Sherryl is a very intelligent person. She also has light-brown hair. Her Foil Saerya is another example of this trope, but with slightly darker hair.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter:
  • This is how Argella is usually seen by others. And despite her more positive traits, she indeed has aspects of this trope.
  • Rosalie plays this trope straight initially, though she grows out of it over the course of Book 1.
• Break the Badass: This happens to Lucas after his torture at the hands of the Sphynx, which does not only affect his mental health, but also costs him three fingers, an ear and an eye and therefore severely limiting his fighting skill afterwards.
• Break the Cutie:
  • In chapter 2, we are introduced to the cheerful, innocent Lunett, who accompanies Lucas and Leonard on an adventure to Oldtown. Two chapters later, she is completely disillusioned with the city she dreamt about, regretful of ever leaving and especially of lying to her friends. It gets worse once Mullendore gets his hands on her and in the end, she is reduced to a mutilated, broken mess, begging to go home again.
  • Rosalie Mettel is Lyria's bratty, but overall more or less sweet daughter. She is cheerful, sociable and energetic. All of this changes when she meets Wolfius and ends up nearly getting disemboweled by him. Surviving this attack on her life has serious consequences on her behaviour and by the time of Chapter 8, she is noticeably more cynical.
  • The young Amerei Mooton, heiress of Lord Grenn Mooton, is so shocked by the gruesome death of her father that she outright refuses her inheritance, giving up Maidenpool if it means not having to kneel to her father's murderer. And then, her uncle kneels either way, meaning she now has to indirectly serve the same man who took everything from her.
• Break The Fellowship: Chapter 9 sees the end of John Gutten's sellsword group, the Gutters. The surviving members are scattered into all directions, each with their own goals to fulfil and in some cases with no intentions of ever reuniting with the others. Out of the core members, only John and his loyal companion Temari remain.
• Brilliant, but Lazy:
  • Rosalie has, according to her mother, tremendous skill as a blacksmith. However, she doesn't do much with it, or with her other talents, instead preferring to spend her days with her friends and just focussing on having fun.
  • There are hints that Irving, of all people, is actually very talented at many things, if he'd only actually try and improve on them. He is a fast learner, but any attempt at being eager is thwarted by his laziness that shines through sooner or later.
• Broken Bird:
  • Harpy is a major example of this trope. She started her time in Oldtown as an innocent Wide-Eyed Idealist who genuinely hoped that she and the Burned Man could change the world. By the time we meet her in the story, she is disillusioned with Oldtown, took a major level in cynic and shows a disturbing obsession with taking revenge on Butterfly.
  • Jenna has never been a confident person and years of emotional abuse at the hands of her boss, Lady Halla, has left her with crippling insecurities. However, things get even worse for her when her only real ally in the castle is killed and she is targeted by Wolfius Woodbark. Unlike many other examples of this trope, it actually starts a positive character development for her.
• Broken Pedestal: Harris becomes this to Lucas and Leonard, once they find out about the crimes he did in their absence. By extension he is under the constant threat of becoming this to the entire town of Raylansfair.
• Brother–Sister Incest: Aegon Targaryen is in a polygamous marriage with both of his sisters, which is seen as disturbing by the more traditional lords of Westeros.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center:
  • Underneath is Blood Knight tendencies, Daghan Oxus is a genuinely friendly and reasonable guy, who is a loving father.
  • According to Argella, her own father is this as well. Sure enough the Storm King loved his second wife and was fond of his first one, as well as incredibly loving to his children.
• Brutal Honesty: Maron Mullendore is not a friend of mincing his words, ever, which gives him a reputation of being incredibly foul-mouthed. Th best example for this is when he directly tells Lucas just what would happen if his girlfriend gets caught by Butterfly before he leaves the city, without holding back on the graphic details. Of course, he has to know.
• The Brute: The Moggy is a hulking, unstoppable monster of a man, who serves no other purpose but to protect his considerably more influential master, The Tom.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Raenna thinks this word for word when she is fed up with a group of increasingly aggressive men harassing her. This leads to a Curb-Stomp Battle for her. She gets extra points for being Valyrian and therefore as much a dragon as humanly possible.
  • Argilac Durrandon tempts his fate when mutilating the ambassador of Dragonstone, whose liege lord, Aegon Targaryen, has access to literal dragons.
  • In return, the ambassador should have known better but to insult the Storm Princess in front of her father. To his defense, he comes from a completely different culture and never intended to insult her. But still, that man is an ambassador, so he should have known better.
  • To be fair, this is what happens anytime someone decides to face Aegon Targaryen and his dragons.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After not appearing at all for an entire chapter, which means several months of absence, Lyria, Urid and Torvin all return in Chapter 8 in major roles.
  • Harrenhal as a location is confirmed to return in Book 2, roughly a year after it has last been seen in Chapter 6 of Book 1. This includes every character who is currently in that location, such as Harren Hoare or Kyra Greyjoy.
  • Archmaester Wulvren leaves the story in mid-Chapter 7, to seek out Agon Targaryen and to offer his support. He returns in the first chapter of Book 2, having gotten a promotion to the personal Maester of House Targaryen.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Maron Mullendore as commited so many atrocities against the criminals of Oldtown that he barely manages to remember any of them in particular, whereas Harpy remembers the names and faces of everyone she lost to him.
• Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Death only, but the Solvers are led by a man who calls himself Butterfly and together, they have the highest combined kill-count of named characters in the entire story.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Lucas Flowers. Dear god, Lucas Flowers. The poor guy can't catch a break over the course of Book 1.
  • Robb is made of this trope as well. During his brief time in the story, he is constantly disrespected, beaten, belittled and distrusted. It is only through his Heroic Sacrifice that he gets some sort of respect.
  • Rodrik Stone is a villainous example, as the one villain without any major accomplishments despite being a reportedly highly dangerous man.

C

• Cain and Abel: Jaro and I'lian have this relationship with their youngest brother, Akjen, who is a violent madman, refusing to follow their code of honour.
• The Caligula: Harren Hoare is a big example of this. Not entirely incompetent, mostly thanks to his youngest son and advisor, Harrick, his violent temper and famous cruelty get in the way of him being a good ruler in the slightest. In fact, he is one of the most unpopular rulers in history.
• Call-Back:
  • In Chapter 7, Saerya mentions her cousin Corilyan, who has been the ambassador mutilated by the Storm King in Chapter 4 as a reason for hr serious grudge against the Storm Princess, who arrived in Raylansfair shortly before that scene.
• Camp Straight: Lord Hobert Lowther is a rather effeminate man with dandy manners, but there is no indication that he is not straight. In fact, one scene involves him and a female prostitute.
• Canis Major: Direwolves of course. Major examples in the story include Aldrik Wolvers pet direwolf, as well as the beast.
• Cannot Spit It Out:
  • This is how the relationship between Jaron and Harpy starts off as, up to the point of being a case of Twice Shy.
  • Samantha seems to have romantic feelings for Sasha, but finds herself unable to put them into words.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: A zig-zagged version of this trope takes place between Lucas and Leonard. Lucas is the leader of the two and usually the more level-headed and smooth guy, whereas Leonard expressed more hot-headed behaviour. However, Leonard accompanies Lucas precisely because of his charisma, which is something Lucas mostly lacks.
• Carry a Big Stick: King Argilac Durrandon is mentioned to fight with a huge warhammer.
• Character Catchphrase: Maron Mullendore has a tendency to say "All will be well", describing his overall positive outlook on the future. It is also a major clue about his true identity.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: The Moggy is the physically strongest character in the story, able to wield a greatsword one handed and to break an extremely thick door down just by slamming his own body against it. Although, considering the borderline supernatural experiments the Sphynx conducts and his off-handed comment about ''making'' another Moggy, it remains up for debate just how much of his strength is truly natural to begin with.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Connor Frostborn is first introduced as nothing more than the Sphynx' assistant. Only several chapters later do we meet the rest of his family and it is revealed that finding him is a major motivation for his brother Alphyn to accompany Edrick south.
  • During the meeting at Storm's End, Ambassador Corilyan Celtigar casually mentions his cousin Gordar. The very same man appears at the end of Chapter 7 in the company of Orys Baratheon and Rahaerys Velaryon, to save Samantha and her group from Rodrik Stone.
  • Maron Mullendore is first mentioned in Chapter 2. It isn't until Chapter 4, months later, where he makes his big entrance.
• Chewing the Scenery: Harren Hoare has a tendency to do this whenever he holds a speech.
• The Chessmaster:
  • In Raylansfair, Sherryl is slowly orchestrating a takeover in favour of the unknown party she supports and she does so with considrable skill, only revealing her true loyalty when she has actually won. It turns out, she is working for Maron Mullendore.
  • In Oldtown, Mullendore is this big time, as he effortlessly plays everyone aroun him with remarkable subtlety.
• Children Are Innocent: Briar Catelins is a big example of this, even after spending almost two years in a cell in Butterfly's dungeon. The fact that she still has her innocence after all of this seriously creeps Raenna out for a while, until she realizes that this innocence is genuine.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Martin is a womanizer, who specializes in slightly perverted comments, much to the annoyance of Harpy and his girlfriend Keira. However, he is a deeply moral character, who would put his life on the line for friends.
• The Chosen One: Noelle seems to believe that Aegon Targaryen is this, believing him to be the Prince who was promised, a central figure in the faith of R'hllor.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
  • Sherryl certainly has it. During her time in the story, she constantly stabs anyone in the back she has no use for anymore. Harris is her first victim, but she doesn't even stop to screw over her supposed friend, Tariel. The only one she is loyal to is Maron Mullendore.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Mathea is suffering from one, as she refuses to leave anyone behind if she can help. This notably includes villains, such as Wolfius.
• Clear My Name: This is one of Lucas' dreams, after being framed for trying to poison his own father.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Alysanne. She is extremely possessive of Kersea, to a degree that is worrying. The only fact this trope is usually portrayed sympathetically with her is because Kersea would otherwise suffer from the likes of Clayton and Rayden.
• Cloud Cuckoolander:
  • Dimitri the Wise is without a doubt the biggst example of this trope in the entire story. He is a hermit living in the woods on his own, claiming to be a philosopher. His only companion is his pigeon, Hildemara, with whom he loves platonically (probably). Maya and Irving are understandably weirded out while meeting him.
  • Jarow is a more tragic example, as he combines this trope with being a Shell-Shocked Veteran an his more wacky characteristics are a result of a deep trauma he suffered. Nonetheless, he genuinely believes himself to be the lord of a little bridge near Raylansfair and calls himself Lord Jarow, which qualifies for this trope.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: The Sphynx is very fond of this and his victims over the course of the story include Lucas Flowers, Himani Sand and The Burned Man.
• Cold Sniper: Janae rarely shows emotion in an out of the battlefield and she is also a gifted archer.
• Colonel Badass:
  • Orys Baratheon is the high general of the Targaryen army and a supreme badass.
  • This is expected from the officers in Argilac Durrandon's army, who all consist of experienced and accomplished knights.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Samuel Harrington is an incredibly gifted swordsman, but what truly makes him The Dreaded is this trope. Sure enough he doesn't fight honourable in the slightest. Kicking his opponnts while they are down, surprising them, even backstabbing them, he sees no big deal in this.
  • The Tom has no problem with using throwing knives as a part of his fighting style, by hitting his enemies from afar in what was supposed to be a melee fight or even in the middle of a conversation.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Alysanne loves to cause pain, but she seems equally aroused by the sight of her own blood.
• Conflicting Loyalty:
  • Kersea constantly has to decide between loyalty to her family and loyalty to her own morals. Her younger sister, the only living member of her family, has been kidnapped by Butterfly's men, forcing her to commit a series of gruesome murders on the orders of Clayton. For a long time, she finds herself unable to fight back.
  • Jaylon seems staunchly loyal to Butterfly, until it is revealed that he follows them solely because he has no other place to go. His encounter with Samantha puts him into a dilemma, as he has to decide between opposing her with the rest of his men, or risking his life to do the right thing.
  • In Chapter 7, Lucas is faced with his own version of this trope. Though loyal to House Raylan, he is tempted to declare his support for House Durrandon, after the Durrandon princess not only charms him, but also offers him a new life to replace what he has lost. Her argument that House Raylan is basically extinct is what drives him to decide in her favour.
  • Very early into the story, Torvin has to decide between staying loyal to a king who poses a threat to anyone around him, including his family, or fighting against said king with the hopes to keep his family save from his wrath.
• Consummate Liar:
  • Saerya is a prodigy at manipulating others and it's only because she slightly underestimates Jenna that her cover as a Targaryen spy is blown to the readers.
  • Maron Mullendore is so gifted at this that he manages to fool the entire city of Oldtown, including The Burned Man and the readers.
• Contrived Clumsiness: In a lethal version of this trope, Edward deliberately messes up drawing a protective rune onto the forehead of an Ironborn, resulting in the man's Cruel and Unusual Death later on. All of this, because the man treated him with disrespect.
• Control Freak: According to Rhaenys at least, her father Aerion Targaryen was a very controlling man towards his children, deciding to whom they were going to marry from a young age. Aegon's grand ambition is seen as a way to leave his father's shadow behind.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Erik Inchfield decides to kill Jaqoreo Kotos this way, just seconds before the latter is able to kill Jaron.
• Cool Crown: Every king in Westeros has his own. So far, two have been shown.
  • Harren Hoare's crown is described as a thick, iron circlet with four sharp, horizontal points on top, each looking as if someone had forged a dagger into it.
  • Argilac Durrandon wears a large crown with hulking metal antlers on top.
• Cool Helmet: Bear's bear-shaped helmet definitely counts.
• Cool Old Guy:
  • Terroma. Even when he does not kick ass, he is witty, caring and overall loveable. Almost every person he interacts with gets along with him.
  • Maester Eaton apparently used to be this and from the little that is shown about him, it's true. One notable incident involved him running miles through the cold to save Richard Harking's wife, while being in his eighties nonetheless.
• Cool Sword: Lady Forlorn, the ancestral sword of House Corbray, forged from Valyrian steel, currently wielded by the Corbray bastard Rodrik Stone. The ancestral sword of House Dresfel, the Dessel, qualifies as well. Unlike many other swords, it was not forged to look good, but is instead a weapon solely designed for the purpose of killing.
• The Corrupter: Clayton tries to be this to Kersea. She's not really having any of it though.
• Cowardly Lion: Jenna eventually develops into one. She doesn't quite overcome her fears and insecurities, but that doesn't stop her from facing them.
• Crapsack World: Well, it is Westeros we're talking about here. Amazingly, the situation in Westeros at the beginning of this story is even worse than the situation at the beginning of the source material. Here, Westeros is divided into several warring kingdoms. The dornishmen have a centuries-long bloody conflict with the men from the Reach and the Stormlands, the Riverlanders suffer under a cruel Ironborn king who bleeds the kingdom dry to build the largest castle in the known world, the Kingdom of the Rock fights a war against the Ironborn and slowly has to face defeat. All of this happens before Aegon Targaryen and his dragons invade the continent.
• Creepy Child: Raenna feels this way about Briar Catelins initially, believing that no child could be so innocent after going through so much. She eventually realizes that she is wrong with this.
• Creepy Monotone:
  • The appropriately named Kreep never shows the slightest bit of emotion, or even raises his voice while speaking.
  • The Sphynx speaks this way as well, most of the time. When he doesn't it is to show amusement at the pain of his victims.
• Crisis of Faith: After already having doubts, Noelle finally hits this in the Chapter 7 finale, when she refuses to burn Briar. Believing to have failed her god, but finding herself unable to do something so evil, she completely breaks down.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
  • Terroma is a friendly, slightly eccentric old man, dressing colourfully and speaking in a ridiculously affectionate manner. He is also a master assassin and perhaps one of the most dangerous men in Westeros.
  • Jarow is a major example of a Cloud Cuckoolander, who lives in his own reality, where he believes himself to be the lord of a small bridge near Raylansfair. As a former elite soldier, he has killed over a dozen men in the battle that traumatized him and as his Last Stand proves, he still knows how to kill years later.
• Crown of Horns: The Storm Kings of House Durrandon wear a crown that sports a massive pair of antlers.
• Cruel and Unusual Death:
  • Cass has her throat ripped out by Bear's knife gloves and effectively drowns in her own blood.
  • The fake Butterfly suffers a remarkably brutal one. First he loses his sword hand, then he is beaten to the brink of death, which also claims one of his eyes and before he is killed via getting his throat slit he is slowly castrated.
  • Lunett Kawl has undoubtedly the most cruel death in the entire story. First she is raped by Maron Mullendore, then her feet are hacked off to stop her from fighting back, then she is raped again and before he finally kills her, he brutally blinds her as well, in front of the man she just fell in love with. It doesn't get more cruel than that.
  • This is the fate Clayton had intended for Rayden. However, Kersea decides otherwise.
  • Otis Shiff is another example that undoubtedly deserved it.
  • Poor Lord Mooton is one of the first major victims of Balerion the Black Dread's rampage, and a grim reminder that death by dragon fire is far from a pretty affair.
• Cruel Mercy: This is Raenna's reason to spare Noelle at the end of Chapter 7. The latter, already undergoing a Crisisof Faith, is reduced to a broken, pathetic and sobbing mess, which prompts Raenna not to give her the death she seems to yearn for, but to force her to live with the knowledge of her failure.
• Culture Clash: The major differences in culture between the Ironborn and the Riverlanders they rule over cause huge problems between the two factions and trying to satisfy both is one of the reasons why the Hoare kings are incredibly unpopular.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: With a story so rich in badass characters, this tends to happen quite often.
  • The first time this is seen is when Terroma effortlessly kills three Solvers who were about to kill Jaron.
  • A group of four thugs tries to intimidate Raenna up to the point where a fight breaks out. In her thoughts, she even remarks how stupid their move is.
  • Rodrik Stone attempted to give one to Samantha and her group. It did not work out when they proved to be surprisingly stubborn. In the end, he himself is on the receiving end of one when he encounters Orys Baratheon.
  • Jarow gets into a fight with five of Bear's men. Just a minute later, these five men are dead.
  • In terms of actual battles, the small skirmish between the Crakehall forces and the Ironborn that tried to plunder the southern Rock is this.
  • And in Loren's interlude we see the king leading his forces into breaking the siege of Golden Tooth, utterly annihilating the invaders.
  • The Alliance between House Mooton and Darklyn suffered a huge one when Aegon and Balerion descended upon them.

D

• Dance Battler:
  • Terroma has such a fighting style. He's a little less agile than in his youth, but he taught the same style, mentioned to be influenced by the Braavosi water dancers, to his students. As a result, Raenna and Kersea also sport such a style, as do Clayton and Alysanne, even if the latter two have a more rough, brutal streak in their moves.
  • The Tom relies mostly on his speed to defeat his opponents, using a sort of elegant fencing style that apparently involved a lot of dodging and evading hostile attacks.
• The Dandy: Lord Hobert Lowther, the vain and cocky lord of Mander's Mouth fits this trope. He dresses like a dornish nobleman in the attempt to look dashing, even if several characters mention that it doesn't suit him.
• Dark Action Girl: Kyra Greyjoy, the captain of the guard in Harrenhal is typically a likable character. However, as an Ironborn with heavy Blood Knight tendencies, she still has a very dark grey morality at best, which puts her under this trope. She led her first raid on the age of fiteen, clashing swords with the lord of Bear Island in the process and she lived to tell the tale.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Far too many to count. Many of the characters had some sort of tragedy in their lives up until this point and most of them are subjected to further trauma during the story.
  • Even then, Kersea probably sticks out. She used to live a normal life with her parents and her little sister, Briar, on their farm up in the North. One day, completely at random, Butterfly's killers chose her farm as their new training ground. One of the killers arrived, slaughtering her parents while she was out collecting food. Her mother managed to mortally wound the killer to save Briar and the other killers mistakenly assume that Kersea killed the man, when all she did was only giving him a Mercy Kill. To use her potential, she gets forced to work for the man who is behind her parents' death, while her sister is abducted as leverage. In the following years, she grows increasingly colder, as well as gets closer and closer to a breakdown, especially once the leader of the killers, Clayton, takes personal interest in her. The only person she befriends, Raenna, then ends up dying (or so we're led to believe), leaving her all on her own. Yeah, it sucks to be Kersea.
• Darkest Hour: Lucas hits this at the end of Chapter 4. The man he put his trust in is revealed to be the Big Bad, who proceeds to torture his girlfriend to death and to take him prisoner. His best friend gets badly wounded and taken to a different outpost and he is left to be tortured by a psychotic sadist to reveal the supposedly safe location of another friend, with no hope for him to escape.
• Dark Fantasy: Well, this is based on A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones after all.
• Dark Is Evil:
  • Harren Hoare is a brutal tyrant who dresses exclusively in black armour and who is heavily associated with the colour black in general. His hair is completely black and his eyes are so unnaturally dark that it repeatedly creeps people out who speak to him. He also has the nickname "Harren the Black".
  • Bear, the ruthless bandit leader, is not only a Scary Black Man, he also wears an exclusively black armour.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • On the other end of the spectrum is House Targaryen of Dragonstone. Their colours are black and red, but the Targaryen-associated characters seen so far in the story are more or less good guys.
  • Harren's youngest son, Harrick, has grown up into a decent man, against all odds. He shares his father's preferance for the colour black though, as does his entire family.
• Dark Secret: Maron Mullendore is the crimelord Butterfly.
• Deadpan Snarker: Everyone! Seriously, every character gets the chance at some snark sooner or later and mostly they use it. It is almost quicker to list the characters who are not this trope. Notable example include:
  • Samantha Ducard is probably the biggest snarker in the story, which says a lot. She combines this trope with being a Stepford Smiler though.
  • I'lian, the cocky sellsword and brother to Jaro (who is one notable exception from this trope) snarks in every single sentence he says.
  • Lenrianda is, by all means, a female version of I'lian. She even snarks just a after nearly being killed and lying in her bed with a serious concussion.
  • Harpy has shades of this once she's more comfortable around someone.
• Death from Above: Dragons can rain fire upon enemy troops with deathly effect, as Lords Mooton and Darklyn unfortunately found out.
• Dead Guy on Display: After Butterfly's men start to purge Oldtown from the Burned Man's followers, those who are killed are decapitated and put on stakes in front of the Hightower, for everyone to see.
• Death Glare:
  • Harpy gives a very unsettling one to Butterfly the real and the fake one to show her utter hatred for this man.
  • Wolfius is another character who is fond of this, especially if he is genuinely angry, which happens shockingly often.
• Death Is Dramatic: The story is relatively light on deaths in each chapter, so all of the dying characters get an appropriate send-off, especially if they have been major characters.
• Death of a Child
  • The way Harren Hoare breaks Torvin's resistance is by murdering his unborn child.
  • Himani Sand is captured, tortured and eventually killed in the Chapter 6 finale.
• Declaration of Protection: After having failed to save Lunett, Samantha declares her intention to protect Lucas and Leonard from all dangers in Oldtown. However, this does not mean that she feels any sympathy with them, she simply does it out of a deep sense of personal obligation.
• Decoy Protagonist: As it is standard for the series, Maester Eaton does not survive the prologue.
• Deconstruction: Lucas and Jaron both get a good dose of this during their stay in Oldtown, when their more naive beliefs are confronted with the cold reality of a Vice City.
• Defiant to the End:
  • Martin decides to go down fighting against the Tom instead of even trying to surrender.
  • Already mortally wounded, Roman spends his last moments desperately fighting against the beast of Raylansfair, even though he had to realize how futile this would be.
  • Jarow goes down facing dozens of armed men, refusing to surrender or to flee and instead opting to take down as many men as possible with him.
• Defrosting Ice Queen:
  • Argella starts of seemingly as a typical Alpha Bitch. It isn't until she warms up to her companions that she gets a chance to show a different side of hers.
  • Initially, Harpy acts cold and somewhat distant towards Jaron, though by the time of Chapter 3, she slowly starts to warm up to him.
• Depraved Dwarf: Reymand Orkwood is described as runtish, almost dwarfish in size. He is also extremely depraved, having, among other things, abducted Gabin Strad's betrothed, to marry her himself.
• Despair Event Horizon: Lucas hits one after the events of the Chapter 4 finale. Though he survives, it takes him a long time to recover from this.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Harren Hoare main goal is to rule over the Kingdom of the Isles and Rivers, as well as over anything else he might manage to conquer. The state of his kingdom does not concern him one bit.
• Determinator:
  • Leonard Constantine is made of this trope. Few characters get pushed to their limits as frequently as he is, yet he refuses to give up until he has reached his goals. This is best shown by his insistence to help Samantha during her dangerous mission to rescue Lucas, even though he was suffering from a barely treated and dangerous leg wound.
  • Terroma is another prime example. Wounded during a skirmish and tired to the point of exhaustion, he nonetheless embarks on a journey across half of the Kingdom of the Reach to save a young girl he has come to consider his daughter.
  • It doesn't matter through how much shit Torvin Breaker has to go, but he will find a way to achieve his goals. That is, until his family is threatened, which forces him to back down.
• Devious Daggers: Terroma has taught his pupils to fight with daggers, as they are easily hidden and precisely because they are not particularly handy in large fights, which forces the user to avoid blood baths. Kersea and Raenna show tremendous skill with them. Clayton however averts this, as he switched to a more practical sword in a fight, indicating that he abandoned his master's teachings.
• Didn't See That Coming: Lucas has accounted for a lot of things in his plan to escape Oldtown, but definitely not for one of his supposd allies turning out to be the guy whom he actually tried to escape from.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Hobert Lowther, the lord of a small castle in the Reach decides that it would be a good idea to taunt and insult Argella Durrandon, the daughter of the most powerful man in Westeros.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Cass, after having her throat ripped out by Bear, spends her final moments being cradled by her lover, John.
• Dirty Business: Harpy feels an incredible amount of guilt and shame after killing Butterfly in a moment of emotional weakness.
• Dirty Coward: Alan Harking is a sleazy, selfish douche on his good days. At worst, he leaves his own brother and a wounded man behind without hesitation, just to save his own life.
• Dirty Old Man:
  • Trymon Brune is well in his sixties, yet one of his first acts in the story is trying to rape Maya, who is about one third of his age.
  • Though Maron Mullendore has only hit fifty years, he still fits, since he is attracted to women half his age. This is especially obvious when he rapes Lunett twice.
• Disney Villain Death: Maester Eaton dies that way in the prologue, even though he is far from a villain.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Wolfius' reaction to even the slightest problem in his way is downright psychotic. Several characters get added to his list for absolutely minor offenses, sometimes for none at all and he proves that he has both, intention and methods of actually killing his victims.
  • Argilac Durrandon mutilates the Targaryen ambassador for insulting his daughter. Note that the perceived insult was not intended as such, a result of cultural differences, only part of the message the ambassador was delivering and even all things considered not particularly harsh.
• Dissonant Serenity: Kreep is always entirely calm and emotionless, even while killing someone.
• Does Not Like Magic: Marak has a deep distrust of all things magic, especially when they come from Noelle.
• The Dog Bites Back: In Chapter 5, Jaylon undergoes a temporary Heel–Face Turn to aid Samantha's group, which has been, among other things, motivated by how little respect the other Solvers gave him.
• Domestic Abuse: Though their relationship is one-sided at best, this trope perfectly describes Clayton and Kersea. He is obsessed with her and her constant rejection causes him to revel in tormenting her, either physically or mentally.
• Doorstopper: Book 1, currently nearing its end, is already at over 1.000.000 words. Two more books are planned and both are highly unlikely to be any shorter than the first one, likely even longer.
• The Dragon:
  • The Tom is this to Butterfly. He starts of as a Co-Dragon together with Samuel Harrington, but takes the sole spot after Chapter 6.
  • Harrick Hoare is, by all means, Harren's right-hand man. He also combines this with being the Evil Genius.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Though he never gives orders and follows those he is given with utmost precision, Harrick can be considered this to his father, since he is by far the more dangerous of the two, being a smart and actually likable man, unlike Harren.
• Dragon Rider: The Targaryens, naturally. At the time of the story, there are three dragon riders, Aegon Targaryen and his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys.
• The Dreaded:
  • Samuel Harrington is so feared in the city of Oldtown that no one in their right mind dares to cross him. His skill even gave him the nickname ''"Fang of Shadows"''
  • The Tom and his Alley Cats are dreaded by their enemies, for their petty cruelty and ruthless efficiency. Special mention goes to The Moggy, a hulking brute who is considered to be virtually unstoppable.
  • Butterfly, the crimelord who is employing both of the abovementioned characters, is deeply feared by the entire city of Oldtown and he continues to earn this fear through his actions.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Ser Ilhan Lagoon and Argilac Durrandon both have this approach when it comes to training new recruits.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?:
  • Jaylon considers himself to be not valued enough by the other Solvers, who mostly see him as a joke. He is incredibly resentful over this and even temporarily helps their enemies for it.
  • Harlan Hoare is deeply frustrated over the lack of respect people have for him, which drives him to some of his worst actions.
• Duel to the Death:
  • Jaron and the Tom get into one, though it is subverted when Martin intervenes, allowing Jaron to escape with his life. Instead, Martin and the Tom get into such a fight, though it is even more one-sided than the previous match.
  • Rodrik Stone offers one to Samantha, to save herself and her friends. She refuses and rather fights with all of her group against all of his men.
• Due to the Dead: Noelle is very keen on this, to the point of it being a big Pet the Dog-Moment for her when she wastes precious time for her mission to make sure that the victims of a serial killer all get what she sees as a proper burial.
• Dumb Muscle: The Moggy, the dim-witted right-hand man of The Tom is barely able to speak, but he is Gregor Clegane's equal in terms of strength.
• Dying Moment of Awesome:
  • Dairon dies when he charges at the Moggy, landing a hit on his opponent in the process and saving the life of Samantha.
  • Though grievously wounded, Martin somehow manages to muster enough strength to face the Tom, to allow his friend to escape.
  • Jarow is last seen facing dozens of men on a chokepoint, to buy the entire city of Raylansfair more time to build up their defenses.
• Dysfunctional Family: House Hoare consists of four men who have (mostly) nothing but hatred for each other and who are only united in their mutual lust for power. Harren Hoare is a major example of an abusive father and his eldest son, Harmund, is even worse. Two of his sons are mentally damaged and the youngest, who is the Token Good Teammate for the family, is deeply resentful of almost all of them.

E

• Early-Installment Weirdness: Though he quickly found his style while writing, Forum of Thrones has been the authors first work of such a size. As a result, some of the earlier chapters feature a slightly different style.
• Eaten Alive: This is Lyria's eventual fate at the hands of Wolfius/The Beast.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Some of the more physically attractive characters naturally invoke this reaction in others. This is most commonly seen with Argella Durrandon, who is well aware of this trope and regularly uses it to her advantage.
• The Eeyore: The stories prime contender for such a spot would be Irving Todd, who seems to be pessimistic to hilarious degrees almost all of the time.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Leonard highly dislikes being called "Lenny" by others.
• Endless Winter: Much like in the source material, all seasons are unnaturally long. At the start of the story, such a winter is slowly coming closer.
• Enemy Mine: While the different factions that try to take control over Raylansfair are not outright enemies, they are still on very bad terms with each other. Yet when the Ironborn attack the city, all of them are forced to work together just to survive.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Surprisingly for an Ironborn, Harren Hoare allows women in his service in the same position that would traditionally be occupied by men, as long as they prove to be effective.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Harren Hoare's introduction already paints him as a vile, hated tyrant with no respect for his subjects. His treatment of a prisoner that has stolen a loaf of bread due to sheer hunger is filled with Kick the Dog-moments and when he is ultimately confronted over this by Edmyn Tully, he proceeds to openly mock the man, who is one of his most powerful and influential subjects.
  • Argilac Durrandon is first introduced training his recruits. By training, we mean that he, a man in his sixties, straight up charges at his terrified recruits when they fail to form a proper shield wall and beats them mercilessly with his training sword, all under the cheers of the soldiers around him. It shows both, his love and skill for battle, while a nearby soldier comments that his harsh, but effective training methods also serve to minimize later losses during the ongoing war his kingdom fights with the dornishmen.
  • Bear is introduced as the absolute savage he is, attacking an innocent wayside tavern For the Evulz. He proceeds to wipe the floor with the previously established badasses John Gutten and Temari Keys, before displaying his more pragmatic side by taking John's lover Cass hostage when things start to grow dire for him.
  • Raenna Minsworth is first seen wandering almost aimlessly into a tavern, before quickly befriending the innkeeper. When confronted by a group of Solvers who get increasingly rough in their attempts to seduce her, she tries to avoid a fight until it is impossible, before utterly kicking their ass. However, she goes out of her way to spare the leader of the group, since she has learned that he has recently become the father of a child, advising him to take up honest work to provide for his new family.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Ilhan Lagoon is betrayed and murdered by his friend Harris Flowers, after the two vocally disagree over their ideas for the future of Raylansfair
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • While it is heavily downplayed, there are signs that Harren Hoare does love his children. He still is verbally abusive towards them and it is noted that he rarely cared for them in their childhood, but the sight of his son being severely wounded is enough to put him into a serious fit of rage.
  • It is a one-sided example, but Kreep is utterly devoted to his father and gladly follows his very command.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Maron Mullendore might be one of the most cruel and sadistic men in the story, who has a history of torturing and raping his victims, but he keeps his word and when he owes someone, he insists on repaying them, even if it puts him at a disadvantage. He also rserves his worst actions as a last resort, but when he is pushed that far, he will not hold back in the slightest.
  • Although he is an utterly horrible person himself, even Clayton is disgusted by Wolfius' uncontrollable violence and sadism, up to the point where he kicks him out of his team. Subverted when it is revealed that he only did so to avoid the risk of Wolfius ruining his mission.
  • It says a lot that even The Sphynx is unsettled by Mullendore's brutal torture methods, seeing them as way too harsh and way too dangerous for the victim.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Alexander Botwerys, who serves Rodrik Stone as a member of the Second Sons, holds an intense dislike of his leader's Jerkass behaviour and ultimately stands up against him.
  • Raenna has no problem with killing a group of men who assaulted her. However, after defeating them, she goes out of her way to convince the leader of this group to leave peacefully, since she had previously learned that his wife gave birth to a child recently.
• Evil All Along: Maron Mullendore is revealed to be the crimelord Butterfly at the end of the chapter of the same name.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Maron Mullendore is virtually incapable of understanding that Harpy would rather die to take him down as opposed to leave her friends and loved ones behind to safe herself. This mistake costs him dearly.
• Evil Cripple:
  • The Burned Man. While not exactly evil, he is still a seriously crippled crimelord, who has no problem with employing children and raises them into a life of crime.
  • Holt Torv, Harrenhal's chief torture, is less ambiguously evil and he is also missing his foot.
• Evil Gloating: Maron Mullendore is fond of this when he thinks that he has his victims in a position that leaves them unable to fight back. At least in one scene, it comes to bite him.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Abbas al-Yunkari, the yunkish slaver, makes several awful jokes that only he himself seems to find even remotely funny.
• Evil Is Bigger: The Moggy is the tallest character in the cast, as well as firmly one of the bad guys. His inhuman size is noted to be about 8 feet and possibly the result of gigantism.
• Evil Is Hammy: Harren Hoare is among the largest hams in the story, as well as one of the most evil.
• Evil Old Folks: Again, Harren Hoare, who is in his sixties by the time the story is set.
• Evil Redhead: Noelle, the Red Priestess, being a Melisandre-Expy, has red hair and a very murky morality at best. Though not with evil intentions, she still kidnaps Ellena, which results in the deaths of Marak and Terroma all for the goal of sacrificing Briar Catelins to the Lord of Light to avoid the War of Conquest
• Evil Sorceress: Noelle again
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Harrenhal is intentionally designed to be like this, its five towers meant to resemble an outstretched hand that is ready to grasp the whole world.
• Exact Words:
  • When Lucas expresses concern about the guardsman Ryder Harrington listening to their conversation, due to the danger of Butterfly's men listening to their conversation, Maron Mullendore assures him that he is certain that Ryder is not working for Butterfly. Of course he can be certain, since he himself is Butterfly
• The Exile:
  • Having murdered his own father, Rodrik Stone had to leave Westeros for Essos, where he joined the Second Sons and became one of the companies captains.
  • Similarly, Alisa Karstark accidentally murdered her younger brother while running away from Karhold, leaving her with no choice but to never return home.
• Expy:
  • Noelle is one to Melisandre, in that they are both scheming, red-headed and fanatical servants of R'hllor, who commit evil acts to further a goal they believe to be ultimately good. They receive visions in which they have unfailing trust, but neither considers the possibility that they misinterpret what they see. One of their plans also involves burning a child as a sacrifice
  • Vaasrand of Lys is Geralt of Rivia in Westeros. Though their backstories are entirely different, the similarities in design and personality are absolutely intentional
• Eyepatch of Power: John Gutten wears one of these.
• Eye Scream:
  • Wolfius suffers one of these when he attacks Jenna Harking. It does not permanently blind him, but drastically reduces the vision in one of his eyes.
  • Before Lunett is killed, she is brutally blinded at the hands of Maron Mullendore
  • As a result of his Cold-Blooded Torture, Lucas loses one of his eyes.
  • Maron Mullendore is subjected to a brutal one when Harpy gets the chance to kill him. Though she fails to achieve this, she manages to basically cut one of his eyes in half.

F

• Face Death with Dignity:
  • Though mortally wounded already, Martin decides to spend his final moments buying his friends time to escape when he holds off the Tom in a Duel to the Death.
  • Jarow knows that he is nearing the end of a dignified life, growing older and weaker with every passing day and probably not surviving the approaching winter. As such, he decides to stay on his bridge, to stall the incoming bandits to give Raylansfair more time to prepare.
• Face–Heel Turn: Harris undergoes one rather quickly after the events of the prologue.
• Faceless Goons: The Alley Cats wear unsettling cat masks to hide their faces.
• Facial Horror: Tedyn Bullister's face has been mutilated and disfigured by House Hoare for defying their orders once.
• Fair-Play Villain: The Tom is ruthless and cruel for sure, but he enjoys a good fight and goes out of his way to make sure that his opponents get at least a chance to beat him.
• False Flag Operation: Maron Mullendore regularly murders his own guardsmen, to maintain the illusion that he is at war with the crimelord Butterfly.
• False Friend: Lucas has to realize this when he finds out that his supposed ally Maron Mullendore is actually the crimelord Butterfly.
• Famous Ancestor: All of the great houses of Westeros have some and can trace their line back to a legendary hero. Among the most frequently mentioned is Harwyn Hoare, known as Hardhand, the man who conquered the Riverlands a good hundred years before the story starts.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Torvin puts Honor Before Reason and is a Determinator, refusing to back down from any challenge he has set for himself. Being forced to do so effectively breaks him.
  • Lucas' honor and trust make him willing to believe that others hold similar values, especially when they are knights.
  • Maron Mullendore has a habit of critically underestimating seemingly harmless opponents, preferring to toy with them instead of outright killing them.
  • Wolfius is a sadist who loves to cause as much harm as possible to his victims, even ignoring his own safety or easy ways to get rid of potential dangers in the process.
• Fat Bastard: Cleaver Clint Volmark is highly overweight and one of the most repulsive characters in the story.
• Fate Worse than Death: Raenna wishes this for Noelle after her schemes cause the death of Terroma. She realizes that all she has to do to achieve this is to leave the priestess alive, after giving her a well-deserved No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of course.
• A Father to His Men: Argilac Durrandon has a great amount of care for his soldiers, making sure that they are prepared to the utmost before being sent to war.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • Clayton Teryl, the leader of the assassins in Raylansfair, seems to be a firm case of Affably Evil at first, being polite and rather respectful even to his victims. However, over the time he gradually reveals a far more nasty side of his personality, especially in his interactions with Kersea, showing that most of his more positive qualities are merely an act, to make his later acts of clear villainy all the more shocking to those around him.
  • Maron Mullendore is this ever. He carefully maintains a mask of civility at most times, being gruff, but undeniably cordial with others, which is a major factor for his good reputation in the city. However, he is scretly the crimelord Butterfly, the very same person he publically tries to destroy. As Butterfly, he reveals his true persona, in which he does not hesitat to rape, to torture and to murder. Every bit of affability is gone the moment he is provoked
• The Fettered:
  • Instead of using his skills as an assassin merely to gain power and riches, Terroma limits himself through a code he strictly adheres to. It doesn't make him any less badass, arguably only more so.
  • Orys Baratheon has a strong code of honour that gives him inner strength and a peace of mind to face any foe. It helps a lot with his reputation as a Knight in Shining Armor.
• Feuding Families: As in the source material, rivalries between the houses are a major factor behind the plot.
  • House Raylan had a one-sided feud with House Hoare, who barely even acknowledged them as an enemy.
  • They had a far more mutual one with House Bennick, ending in the latters complete destruction.
  • For centuries, House Gardener and House Durrandon had a bitter feud. It ended when the current Storm King slew the former Gardener King, making genuine, if shaky peace with his more open-minded successor.
• Fiery Redhead: Marak, the loud, boisterous and battle-hungry Ironborn sellsword definitely qualifies.
• Finger in the Mail: This is how Clayton ultimately breaks Kersea enough to do his bidding, after presenting a package from Oldtown, seemingly containing the severed hand of her sister. At that point, the readers already know that it is a ruse though.
• Fingore:
  • Lucas loses three fingers on his left hand due to the torture he suffers in Butterfly's dungeon.
  • In a battle with the Second Sons, I'lian loses two fingers on his right hand.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Lucas and Leonard have become this after surviving the dangers of Oldtown together.
• First-Episode Twist: Maester Eaton and Lord Raylan are murdered by an assassin, meaning that someone with sinister motives is interested in Raylansfair.
• Fish out of Water:
  • Lucas, an honourable Knight in Shining Armor has to ajust to the ruthless streets of Oldtown, Westeros' prime example of a Vice City. It ends badly for him.
  • Marak, a straightforward sellsword who hates magic has to work together with the enigmatic red priestess Noelle, to assist her in her schemes. Half of the time, he has absolutely no clue what is going on.
• Flaying Alive: In the very beginning of the story, Harren Hoare orders this to be done to a poor prisoner.
• Foil:
  • Sherryl and Saerya are clearly foils to each other. Both are bastards, but whereas Sherryl is a clear Bastard Bastard, Saerya reaches more towards the Heroic Bastard version. She is also highborn, whereas Sherryl is lowborn, though both had to fight for everything in their lives. They are both fiercely loyal to their true employers and have infiltrated the court of Raylansfair in positions that completely turn their different social standings around. The highborn bastard Saerya poses as a servicemaid, whereas Sherryl seduces the acting lord and becomes something of a noblewoman at court. She has absolutely no morality to hold her back from achieving her goals, whereas Saerya genuinely grows to care for the other servants and the city itself.
• Forced to Watch: Maron Mullendore forces Lucas to watch as he mutilats and eventually murders his girlfriend, Lunett.
• Forceful Kiss: Davith gives one to Samantha before charging off to distract the Alley Cats. She is too stunned to do anything and considering that she has an Incompatible Orientation, it is unlikely she would have returned it either way.
• Forging the Will: Subverted when Maester Eaton is tempted to do this when a dying Robert dictates his final will. He decides not to go through with it.
• For the Evulz:
  • Wolfius doesn't need a reason to do acts of evil. In fact, he sees this as his reason, the sole fact that he can do it and doesn't need to answer to any kind of morality with it.
  • Though Maron Mullendore claims to commit nothing evil without a reason, the cruel joy he shows while raping and mutilating his vitims show that he clearly goes way beyond what is necessary solely for this.
• For Want Of A Nail: This occasionally comes up when one seemingly minor choice ends up having massive consequences in a later chapter, causing situations that could have been avoided if the readers would have chosen a different option.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Every royal house in Westeros has one, though only some are explicitly mentioned in the story.
  • The Kingdom of the Isles and Rivers has been founded by Harren Hoare's grandfather, Harwyn Hardhand.
  • Far older is the legendary Durran Godsgrief, founder of House Durrandon and the Kingdom of the Stormlands.
  • House Gardener traces their line back to Garth Greenhand, the mythical first king of the Reach.
• Four Lines, All Waiting: As a result of the massive amount of storylines and Point-of-View's, it occasionally happens that specific characters aren't seen for several weeks or a hundred pages and more.
• Four-Star Badass:
  • Orys Baratheon is the high general of the Targaryen army. He also effortlssly wipes the floor with any man that challenges him.
  • Argilac Durrandon has been this in his youth. Old age is slowing him down, but he still somewhat qualifies.
• A Friend in Need: Right when Samantha is at her lowest, having realized she failed at everything she set out to do in Oldtown, Sasha comes along to stand by her side and to help her turn a full defeat into a Bittersweet Ending at least.
• Friendly Sniper: Hjalgar's only real talent when it comes to fighting is archery and he is also one of the most genuine example of a Nice Guy in the story.
• Frontline General:
  • King Argilac used to be this in his youth. His greatest opponent, Garse Gardener, used to be one as well, up until Argilac slew him.
  • Not being one is what makes Harren Hoare so unpopular among his fellow Ironborn, who see him as weak for his refusal to lead his raiders to battle.
• The Fundamentalist: Noelle's belief in the Lord of Light is absolute.

G

• Gambit Pileup: The situation is Raylansfair is increasingly heading this way.
• General Failure: Completely subverted with Argella. Everyone views her as one in the beginning, though she slowly manages to completely prove them wrong, revealing herself to be a capable leader and diplomat.
• Genius Bruiser:
  • Daghan Oxus is surprisingly smart and soft-spoken for a man that initially seemed as little more than a hulking fighter.
  • Bear is a lot smarter than people initially assume, but nonetheless one of the most dangerous fighters in the story
• Get It Over With: Butterfly practically taunts Harpy to kill him when he is at her mercy, knowing fully well that his survival is incredibly unlikely.
• The Ghost: Many major characters get this treatment in the beginning, to build up their appearance in later chapters or even books. Aegon Targaryen is the most notable example.
• Going Native:
  • It takes him a while, but Jaron eventually adapts to the pragmatism of Oldtown.
  • Many Ironborn fear that their entire culture suffers this from living in the Riverlands and ruling over the Greenlanders instead of raiding them.
• Glory Days: The Ironborn collectively mourn their prime, when they raided the entire western coast of the continent and more, seeing their current position as needlessly limiting their potential.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: When Raylansfair is under attack by the Ironborn, the defenders are left to beg for the help of the Storm Princess and her soldiers, despite the previous tensions between them.
• The Good Chancellor: While Harrick is loyal to his father, he nonetheless aims to bring stability and peace to the Riverlands, mostly out of pragmatism. Therefore, he serves to keep the more unpredictable parts of his family in line.
• Good Is Not Nice: After his Heel–Face Turn Samuel Harrington is still every bit the ruthless opportunist he was before, he just happens to be on the side of the good guys now.
• Good Is Not Soft: Orys Baratheon is portrayed as a Knight in Shining Armor, but beware those that get on his bad side and assume him to be a weak opponent for his strict adherence to his vows.
• Good Old Ways: Completely inverted with the Ironborn, who yearn for their old Glory Days of Rape, Pillage, and Burn.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars:
  • The heroic Determinator Leonard Constantine has a fashionable scar on his forehead that even goes across his eye without harming it.
  • Clayton is portrayed as obsessive, slightly sadistic and ruthless, with a nasty scar that has cost him his entire left eye.
  • Subverted with Lucas, who sports gruesomely disfiguring scars, including the loss of an eye after being on the receiving end of Cold-Blooded Torture.
• Go Out with a Smile: The Burned Man manages to give one final smile to his adopted daughter, before he is given a Mercy Kill.
• Grande Dame: Helenys Bellward, a dignified, proper and shrewd old businesswoman.
• Gray-and-Grey Morality: While some of the characters can indeed be painted as good or evil, there usually are good people on both sides of any conflict in the story.
  • The raid on Raylansfair mostly features sympathetic defenders against brutal raiders. However, these raiders are led by the Point-of-View characters Torvin and Garthon, who have mostly been portrayed positively.
  • The conflict between Butterfly and the Burned Man can be summed up as bad people with good goals versus good people with bad goals.
• Greek Fire: Wildfire, naturally.
• Groin Attack:
  • Harpy delivers a particularly slow and nasty one to the man she believes to be Butterfly.
  • In a rare female version of the trope, Sasha is kicked between the legs during her fight with Jaylon, hard enough to incapacitate her.
• Grumpy Old Man: Otis Shiff comes off as this initially.
• Guile Hero: Lacking any physical power, Saerya and Jenna are both forced to use their wits to achive their goals.
• Gut Punch: The finale of Chapter 4, Butterfly, is one of the darkest moments in the story, especially as the story has been lacking such particularly dark moments before.

H

• Hair-Trigger Temper:
  • Harren Hoare has a very short fuse and literally anything can set him off. His particular Berserk Button is a lack of respect, but there is no limit as to what might provoke him.
  • Fitting for his volatile nature, Wolfius' temper might even be worse. He doesn't even need a genuine provocation to fall into such fits of rage.
• Handsome Lech: Hobert Lowther has shades of this.
• Has a Type: Samuel Harrington mentions that he has a thing for Valyrians. True enough, the only woman we ever saw him being attracted to was the Targaryen bastard Raenna Minsworth.
• Hate Sink: Some of the characters are intentionally designed to be hated.
  • Clayton Teryl is a cold-blooded killer without any remorse. This is before he starts to show a violent obsession with Kersea, filled with Kick the Dog moments and the general attitude of a Jerkass.
  • Wolfius constantly switches between this and being Creepy Awesome, but at heart, he still is the most vile and depraved character in the story and one of the few without any redeeming qualities.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Just as Jaylon has started to show a more redeeming side of himself, he gets killed in a duel to the death with Jaron.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door:
  • Jaylon starts the story firmly as a villain. Over the course of Chapter 5, he slowly gets redeemed, but suffering Cold-Blooded Torture at the hands of his former employer causes him to become a Heel again. He ends the story firmly on the side if the bad guys.
  • Harris seemingly can't decide if he wishes to be one of the good or one of the bad guys. The amount of Heel–Face Turn's and Face–Heel Turn's he performs over the course of Book 1 are impressive.
• Heir Club for Men: Completely subverted with the Kingdom of the Stormlands. Admittedly, he had male heirs once, but King Argilac outright encourages his daughter (and last living child) to be his heiress and therefore the future queen of the Stormlands.
• Hellhole Prison: The dungeons underneath the Hightower are damp and pitch black, built out of eerily black stone that is rumoured not be of human origin.
• The Hero Dies: Book 1 ends with the death of Lucas Flowers, previously considered to be the main character.
• Heroic Bastard:
  • Lucas Flowers, the bastard son of Leo Vyrwel, is one of the most central and unambiguously heroic characters in the story, being the main protagonist of Book 1.
  • Ysilla Sand, bastard daughter of Alester Allyrion, is an example for Book 2.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Samantha suffers a big one when she finds Lunett's corpse and has to realize that she has been too late to save her and the knights.
  • In the same chapter, Lucas undergoes one, not only over Lunett's death, but also over his failure to see through Mullendore's lies and the knowledge that he is to blame for everything that is going to happen to his friends.
  • Jenna spends a majority of Chapter 4 in a state of shock, after just narrowly surviving the attack from Wolfius.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Martin goes out with this, when he holds off the Tom, despite being wounded and vastly outmatched. In doing so, he allows Jaron to escape with his life.
  • Jarow is last seen holding a choke point against a small army, to buy Richard and the city of Raylansfair more time to prepare for the attack.
  • Richard stays behind at his farm trying to give time to Kersea, Leonard and Jenna to escape from Mullendore's grasp, being beaten to death in the process.
• Heroic Seductress: Saerya is not afraid to use her physical beauty to her advantage when it comes to achieve her (probably) heroic goals.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Du to Deliberate Values Dissonance, Torvin is despised as a traitor by the other Ironborn, even though he tried to kill a tyrant they loathe. It just happens that they loathe traitors even more.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Lucas and Leonard alternate between this and Vitriolic Best Buds.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Butterfly has the noble goal of ending crime in Oldtown, by brutally slaughtering every criminal his gang comes across. In doing so, he commits outright villainous and criminal acts of unspeakable cruelty, effectively becoming the very thing he sought to destroy.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Argella seems to be a spoiled, arrogant brat, depending on her father to solve every problem for her. As it turns out, she is quick-witted, capable and has a far higher set of morals than the majority of the cast.
  • Behind her obvious sarcasm and constant joking, Samantha is actually a highly troubled woman and by far not as cheerful as she likes to be seen as.
  • Daghan is not the bloodthirsty brute he seems to be at first, at least not entirely. He is highly intelligent and well-read, bing one of Aegon Targaryen's most trusted knights.
  • Philip, the easy-going commoner and friend of Richard is actually a fiercely protective Action Survivor with a Dark and Troubled Past.
• High-Class Call Girl: Keira works for Hishi, Oldtown's foremost provider of exquisite pleasures.
• The High Queen: Though she is only the crown princess, Argella aspires to be one and is, by all means, on a rather good way.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Maron Mullendore ends up severely crippled simply because he had to insult and taunt one of his victims, allt he while he clearly underestimated her.
• Hold Your Hippogriffs: One of the more common sayings in the story is "Speaking of the Stranger" instead of "Speaking of the Devil".
• Honor Before Reason:
  • Ser Ilhan has such a stance, especially when it comes to the will of his lord. This is what costs him his life.
  • At least initially, Lucas has a very strong sense of honour, which leads him to do things onthers would see as problematic and perhaps even outright stupid, solely because his honour demands it.
  • This trope is the only reason why Orys Baratheon decides to leave Rodrik Stone alive after defeating him, knowing fully well how dangerous he is. Unfortunately, Rodrik is a knight and as such he deserves a fair trial.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Keira is a high-class prostitute and also one of the nicer characters in the entire story.
  • Donna Flowers is a surprisingly nice and understanding person that gets along with both Harrington siblings.
• Hope Spot:
  • After spending an entire chapter trying to evade Butterfly's men, Lucas and Leonard finally find a reliable ally in Maron Mullendore. It is then revealed that Mullendore is actually the man they tried to escape from all this time and their attempts at evading him only brought them closer towards him.
  • In the same storyline, after Lucas learns that Lunett is in danger of being captured by Samuel Harrington, he quickly finds a group of guardsmen to accompany him during his rescue mission. Only too late does he find out that these guardsmen are actually corrupt and working for Mullendore.
• Hot-Blooded: This is a common trait with House Durrandon. Both members are incredibly hot-headed, passionate about whatever they are doing and god have mercy on the poor soul that manages to anger them.
• Horse of a Different Color: Mace Crowl owns and rides a Unicorn, while Harrold Hornwood has semi-tamed a moose he intends to ride one day.
• Hulk Speak: During the rare occasions where the Moggy actually speaks, his sentences resemble this.
• Human Sacrifice: Noelle's big plan eventually involves one. As it turns out, she plans on sacrificing none other than Briar Catelins.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Harmund does this for fun, by travelling to the Riverlands around Harrenhal and hunting for beautiful young maidens.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick:
  • Harrick Hoare is a very capable administrator, arguably way more suited for such a role than his father.
  • While Harlen Tyrell is weak-willed and cowardly, his nephew Elias is a strong fighter who doesn't take crap from anyone.
• Hypocrite: Maron Mullendore is a major example of this. He constantly expresses his concern over the criminals of Oldtown, arguing why drastic steps has to be taken, while secretly being the crimelord Butterfly himself. He murders criminals without mercy, but doesn't draw the line at harming innocents, as evidenced with his treatment of Lunett.

I

• I Call It "Vera":
  • Rodrik Stone is in possession of the ancestral sword of House Corbray, Lady Forlorn.
  • Emphryus Dresfel's sword is called The Dessel.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: The Burned Man is in such a situation at the end of Chapter 7. Reluctantly, Jaron grants him mercy.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Though not having appeared in the story so far, the castle of House Bloodboar is named Howlester.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: The Burned Man outright says this to Jaron, when finally approving of his relationship with Harpy.
• If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: This is a running theme in Kersea's storyline in Book 1. To test her loyalty to him, Clayton constantly asks of her to do some pretty huge dog-kicking. Usually, he doesn't get things his way though.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Butterfly has such a reaction when he finally gets his hands on Harpy, even outright stating his intentions to be this.
• I Have Your Wife: Sister actually, but the fact that her little sister is in the hands of Butterfly forces Kersea to go along with Clayton's demands.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die:
  • Decades before the story starts, Maester Eaton was unable to save the grievously wounded Morna Raylan, whom he had feelings for. This failure would go on to haunt him for the rest of his life.
  • Lunett's death has taken a huge toll on Lucas, especially since he knows that he is to blame for it.
• I Lied: Wolfius says exactly this when he is about to escape.
• Improvised Weapon: Whenever she's in danger, Lyria puts her blacksmith's hammer to good use.
• Incompatible Orientation: Davith has the hots for Samantha, not knowing that she's into women only.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Taenora, the owner of the circus at the fair has a very prominent one that keeps getting worse.
• Informed Attractiveness: Several characters are mentioned as attractive in the story. Argella and Raenna are the most frequent examples of this, since they are commonly seen as beautiful by most of the characters they come across.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: After having a Heel Realization, Jaylon admits that this is part of his reason for acting rude and arrogant.
• Informed Attribute: For all the build-up about his diplomatic skills, Leonard never really gets a chance to show them outside his backstory.
• Insane Equals Violent: Wolfius and Harndon Hoare both qualify.
• In-Series Nickname: Plenty of characters use a nickname in the story, sometimes they are even exclusively known by them. Examples include Harren "The Black" Hoare, Argilac "The Arrogant" Durrandon, Bear, Roach, Arkan "The Burned Man" Gorys, Ilhan "The Impaler" Lagoon, Samuel "The Fang of Shadows" Harrington, Vaasrand "The Serpent" of Lys, Tedyn "The Axeman" Bullister, "Bloody" Brandon Frey, "Cleaver" Clint Volmark, Keat "The Trickster", Dimitri "The Wise", Rodrik "The Kinslayer" Stone, as well as Maron "Butterfly" Mullendore.
• Insult of Endearment: Harpy continues to call Jaron "Ser Bastard" even after their Relationship Upgrade, though far more affectionately than before. Slightly subverted, since Jaron didn't ever mind the insult and is actually rather proud of his heritage as a bastard.
• Interclass Romance: Lucas and Lunett are a downplayed version of this. Though not too far away from each other in terms of social standing, Lucas is still an acknowledged highborn bastard, while Lunett is only a commoner, which he even brings up. He's not too far out of her league, but enough to worry him.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Maester Eaton and Robert Raylan had one with Harris and Ilhan, who are both thirty years younger than them.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Arthur almost walks in on Harris and Sherryl in the early Chapter 5.
• In the Back: This is the way Harris starts his fight with Ilhan, by attacking him from behind.
• In the Hood: Raenna commonly wears one to hide her Mystical White Hair.
• I Should Have Been Better: After her mission to Oldtown, Samantha still suffers from failing to save some of the people she wanted to save.
• It Amused Me: This is another big part of Wolfius' motivation for comitting his unspeakable crimes. Overlaps with For the Evulz.
• I Told You So: Maron Mullendore drops one of this when revealing his true identity to one of his victims, after repeatedly warning said person.
• It's All About Me:
  • Harris sees himself as the only person capable of stopping Raylansfair's enemies. To be fair, his allies don't exactly prove him wrong, when they heavily rely on him for help.
  • Hobert is an incredibly selfish character, who only cares about his own gain. The moment it is clear that he doesn't manage to win lordship over Raylansfair, he abandons the city without a second thought.
  • Completely subverted with Argella, who clearly displayes such an attitude in the beginning. However, she is revealed to have Hidden Depths that paint her as anything but this trope.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: Samantha exploits this trope in her fights against male opponents, using it to taunt them and to discourage them, as well as to underestimate her.
• I Was Quite a Looker: As it turns out, Lady Halla used to be a pretty woman in her youth, enough to catch the eye of Trystane Raylan. The years haven't been kind to her at all.

J

• Jerkass: Considering how large the cast his, it's obvious that quite a number of characters fits this trope. The most prominent example however is Clayton Teryl, who is a complete dick to everyone around him even when he is not an abusive control freak.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • However, even then Clayton's anger at Kersea is occasionally justified by her endangering an extremely important mission for a man who does not tolerate failure.
  • Garen is a snide and smug douche at best, but even then, he has a point when he calls Argilac's treatment of the Targaryen ambassador stupid and needlessly cruel.
  • From a certain point of view, Maron Mullendore gets one as well, since he genuinely tried to solve his problems with Lucas without violence and only had to resort to extreme measures after being denied several times.
• Jumped at the Call:
  • When given the chance to leave her boring life, Lunett quickly takes it without a second thought. It ends horribly for her.
  • Ilish is extremely eager to pull her weight and help to catch the extremely dangerous Wolfius Woodbark.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: As the story progresses, Clayton grows increasingly more unhinged and careless, a far cry from the cunning schemer he was in the first few chapters.
• Just Like Robin Hood: The Sons of the Trident are a merry band of outlaws that fights against the only true example of an evil king in the story. They are also based on the Brotherhood Without Banners from the source material.

K

• Kangaroo Court: A standard at the court of Harrenhal, since Harren Hoare doesn't really give a damn about justice or the law.
• Karmic Death:
  • Halla is reduced to beg for mercy shortly before her death, something she denied others for her entire life.
  • Butterfly is brutally murdered by the woman he had mentally tormented for years with his actions and in a manner not unlike the cruel deaths he preferred for his victims. Subverted when it turns out that he is not the real Butterfly, but merely a high-ranking follower.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Mullendore gets a particularly nasty one when he rapes, mutilates and gruesomely murders Lunett, solely to prove a point and For the Evulz.
  • Harpy's revenge against Butterfly can be somewhat justified from a certain point of view, but the way she commits her revenge definitely crosses the line into this.
  • Wolfius kills Urid solely for annoying him with his begging for mercy.
  • Clayton is very fond of kicking the dog. Most of the time, Kersea is the dog, but he treats Alysanne not much better and once even tried to leave her to die.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Urid is killed in the middle of begging for his live.
• Kill the Cutie: Cass and Lunett are both incredibly warm-hearted and kind characters. They are also both dead by the time Chapter 4 ends and on top of that, both suffer a Cruel and Unusual Death.
• King Bob the Nth: This is how the kings of Westeros are typically introduced. Mern Gardener happens to be the ninth of his name. Argilac Durrandon and Loren Lannister are explicitly the first of their respective names.
• Klingon Promotion: Rodrik Stone became leader of his unit after killing the previous one. This sort of behaviour is actively encouraged by their employer, the self-styled god-king Nain Anturion.
• Kneel Before Zod: This is how Harren Hoare offers Torvin and Garthon a way out of their miserable situation. He accompanies this with demanding an oath of loyalty.
• Knight In Shining Armour:
  • Lucas Flowers started at this, before he Took a Level in Cynic during the Oldtown storyline.
  • Orys Baratheon is a major example. He is polite, heroic, chivalrous and helpful and unlike other characters, he is unambiguously so.
  • Aldrik Wolver is eventually revealed to be like this, even if he has some more pragmatic character traits as well.
• Knight in Sour Armour:
  • Lucas and Leonard are both this post-Oldtown. In case of Leonard, it can be argued that he acted in such a way even before. They are still both unambiguously the heroes of the story.
  • Vaasrand of Lys, being a Geralt-expy and all, embodies this trope.
  • Raenna is very disillusioned by the world and has a biting cynicism to her character, yet she still always acts according to her moral code and is one of the more heroic characters in the story.
• Knight Templar:
  • The Solvers depict such a mindset. At least those that genuinely believe in Butterfly's teachings.
  • Being Butterfly himself, Maron Mullendore is a big example himself of course.
  • Harris sees himself as a hero at best, or Necessarily Evil at worst, but still as the good guy in his own little world, not seeing how his actions cause more harm than good.
  • Noelle knows that what she is trying to do is an act of evil, but she justifies it since she knows it will happen in the name of her god.
• Knowledge Broker: The Burned Man acts as one, as a result of his vast network of spies in Oldtown.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Occasionally, this is brought up in-story and it usually is a good thing for the characters who do it.
  • Garthon saves himself further torture by bending the knee to the king he tried to kill, who displays enough pragmatism to use him as an example of his forgiveness (even if that is a case of Blatant Lies) to convince other enemies to do the same.
  • Torvin doesn't know when to fold them and his family has to suffer dearly for it.

L

• Large Ham:
  • Harren Hoare combines it with Evil Is Hammy. He seems to revel in his ability to paint himself almost as a larger-than-life personality in the presence of his followers. What little we get to see of him in private indicates that it is only partially an act.
  • Argilac Durrandon is another delightfully hammy king, who loves to yell at everyone, save for his daughter.
  • Jarow, the self-titled Lord of Bridges, loves to proclaim his lordship in loud, colourful words and he is always completely serious about it.
• La Résistance: The Ironborn in the Riverlands face opposition from a group calling themselves the Sons of the Trident, who specializes in guerilla tactics.
• Last Chance to Quit: Lucas realizes it too late, but his final talk with Mullendore before The Reveal was an example of this trope.
• Last Stand:
  • Martin knows he is about to die after being mortally wounded by the Tom. He decides to remain behind and to fight against the man as long as possible, to allow his friends to escape.
  • Jarow pulls off an epic one, when he holds a choke-point against dozens of armed bandits to give the city of Raylansfair a fighting chance against them.
• Light Is Not Good:
  • The Sphynx, Butterfly's head torturer, dresses in white. His boss, the Tom, wears a mask in white and golden. The Moggy, another member of the Alley Cats, is an albino.
  • The colours of House Mullendore are predominantly white and bright orange, yet Maron Mullendore is one of the main villains.
• Lighter and Softer: Downplayed, but occasionally still in full effect. The story can be dark and depressing at times, but there are moments where hope is a strong aspect, with some characters overcoming great danger and coming out alive despite of it, even in situations where the source material would have undoubtedly killed them off.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: Lucas, after taking a level in cynic, becomes an Anti-Hero, though he is still portrayed as sympathetic and overall good, which makes him the story's primary example of this trope.
• Lightning Bruiser: This is what makes Daghan Oxus and Orys Baratheon so incredibly dangerous.
• Little Miss Badass: Ellena seems to develop into one.
• Long-Lived: Princess Meria Martell is 80 years old at the start of the series, and has ruled for nearly 50 years, a rarity in Westeros. Lord Lucan Estermont is even older at 90 years old, the oldest lord in the Stormlands. Balerion the Black Dread is already over a hundred years old, which is rather average for a dragon but incredibly old for a human.
• The Lost Lenore: Morna Raylan's death has a deep effect on Maester Eaton, setting him down onto the path that would turn him into the humble, kind man we meet in the story.
• Lovable Coward: Irving is a coward and he even admits it, but he is loyal and wants to pull his weight in the group, even if he rarely gets a chance to actually contribute.
• Love at First Sight: Lunett almost instantly had a crush on Lucas. Justified, since she is a naive young girl high on hormones, who always dreamt of meeting a knight as handsome and dashing as Lucas.
• Love Makes You Evil: Not exactly evil, but as his feelings for Harpy grow, Jaron gets more willing to accept her morally questionable actions and at least in one case even encourages them.

M

• Machiavelli Was Wrong: Harren Hoare, who rules through fear and violence, is so hated by everyone around him that he has legitimate problems keeping his kingdom together.
• Mad Doctor: The Sphynx has shades of this, as the chief medical officer of the Alley Cats. It is also hinted that he is behind the Moggy's inhuman strength and resistance to pain.
• Mad Love: Clayton's crush on Kersea gets only stronger the more she rejects him. Unfortunately for her, so do his Yandere characteristics.
• The Magnificent:
  • Harren the Black, The Iron King, King of the Isles and the Rivers, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Seawind and Lord Reaper of Orkmont.
  • Argilac the Arrogant, King of the Stormlands, Bringer of Tempests and Blood of the Gods.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Clayton tries to pull this off with Maester Eaton. Unfortunately for him, no one's really buying it.
• Malevolent Masked Man: The Alley Cats, who hide their faces behind masks shaped like the heads of cats and who serve the clearly evil Butterfly.
• Mama Bear:
  • Lyria is not exactly an Action Girl, but the moment her daughter gets threatened, she loses it, becoming perfectly willing to commit violence against those that threaten to harm her.
  • Kersea's mother used to be one in the backstory. When an assassin, part of a highly trained group of killers, came to murder her entire family to train his skills, she reportedly wounded him so badly that her daughter had to give him a Mercy Kill later on, all to protect her youngest child.
• Massive Numbered Siblings:
  • Lunett had seven siblings, though at the start of the story, only her youngest brother was still alive.
  • Alisa Karstark is the fourth daughter and sixth child of seven of Lord Karstark.
• Master Swordsman: Orys Baratheon, Samuel Harrington, Daghan Oxus, The Tom and Emphryus Dresfel all have such a reputation and they certainly earn it.
• Mauve Shirt: Due to the massive cast of characters, some inevitably end up like this, though the author usually tries to give them as much personality as possible in their short lifetime.
• Memetic Badass: In-universe, this is the reputation of Argilac Durrandon and Brandon Frey, who used to be the best fighters of their generation. Samuel Harrington is this for the current generation of fighters and he combines this trope with The Dreaded.
• Men Are the Expendable Gender: At the time this is written, 29 named characters have died in the story, only 5 of which have been female. Perhaps somewhat justified by the fact that the readers submit far more male characters than female.
• The Mentor: This is Terroma's position to Kersea, Raenna and Ellena. Originally, he has been this to Clayton as well, before they had a fall-out.
• Mercy Kill:
  • Kersea is frequently at the giving end of this, whenever she spares someone from the torture her companions wish to inflict upon them. Over the course of Book 1, she gives this to Lady Halla, Septon Corbin and Rayden.
  • Jaron is forced to give one to the Burned Man, after it has been made clear that there is no way for him to survive his wounds.
• Mid-Season Twist: At the end of Chapter 4 out of 9 it is revealed that the true identity of Butterfly and therefore the Big Bad of the story is none other than the previously affable Maron Mullendore.
• Might Makes Right: Ruling through this is what makes the Ironborn, particularly Harren Hoare, so incredibly unpopuler among the people of the Riverlands.
• Miles Gloriosus: Hobert, as part of his typical Smug Snake personality also exhibits shades of this.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Argella Durrandon is the princess of the Stormlands and its future queen and despite usually being shown as refined and graceful, she has been taught how to fight by her father, who is a Memetic Badass, which means that she definitely knows how to handle a fight.
• Moment Killer: Abbas interrupts Jaron and Harpy just as they were about to have their Big Damn Kiss. It remains questionable how much of this was actually accidental, given that it is Abbas we're talking about.
• Mood Whiplash: This tends to happen quite often, due to the rapidly switching Point-of-Views. One storyline which is fairly light-hearted at the time might be followed by one that is depressingly dark, sometimes even in the same part, if it holds two different Point-of-Views.
• Morality Kitchen Sink: Almost every character has an agenda and a personal shade of grey, with a couple of clearly white and clearly black characters in-between.
• Morality Pet:
  • Harpy is one for the Burned Man and he sees her as the only reason he still qualifies as a Noble Demon.
  • Surprisingly, Maron Mullendore has one, in the form of Kersea's little sister Briar, whom he is very fond of.
• Morton's Fork: Another common theme in the story is that occasionally, the readers have to choose between two options that both lead to an outcome that can be considered bad to various degrees.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Harpy has one when she realizes just how gruesomely she just killed Butterfly.
  • Kersea has repeated flashes of guilt whenever she is forced to do something particularly bad in her work for Clayton.

N

• Named Weapons: Many of the more prized weapons in the story receive names, especially if they are family heirlooms. The most prominent examples are House Corbray's ancestral weapon, Lady Forlorn, and the Dessel, Emphryus Dresfel's weapon of choice.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Quite a number of characters get nicknames that are meant to be this.
  • Samuel Harrington is better known as the Fang of Shadows, a highly skilled Master Swordsman, The Dreaded to those he opposes, with skills that specialize in infiltration, meaning he can enter any building that isn't sufficiently guarded and even some that are.
  • Bear, the leader of the bandit group "Band of Claws" plays the Scary Black Man and Bears Are Bad News tropes straight.
  • Harren Hoare is also known as Harren the Black, to really make it clear that he is not one of the good guys.
• Necessarily Evil:
  • Some of the crimelords of Oldtown believe themselves to be this. Especially The Burned Man and Butterfly, both of whom have arguments to back this up. The Burned Man wishes to control the crime in Oldtown, by organizing it and therefore preventing civilian casualties, while Butterfly fights with brutal methods to effectively end organized crime.
  • Harris Flowers also claims to be this, by emphasizing that his clearly villainous actions are the only way to prevent a horrible fate for the town of Raylansfair. Given the events that happen after he is taken down, it seems he has not been entirely in the wrong.
• Nice Guy: In the cast, there are some characters who are undeniably this.
  • Ando Pyre is a kind, sweet and honest man, who preaches forgiveness over revenge and is a Friend to All Children.
  • Lucas Flowers starts off as one, as part of him being a Knight In Shining Armour.
  • Unless provoked, Terroma is by far the kindest and most caring character in the entire story, acting like a sweet grandpa to those around him, especially if he is fond of them as well.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Harpy's killing of the man she assumes to be Butterfly ends up only helping the real Butterfly. This results in a chain of actions that claim the lives of most of her friends, including her adoptive father.
  • Lucas' unwillingness to cooperate with the shady Archmaester Quent and Maron Mullendore ends up causing the gruesome death of his girlfriend and of the boy he even travelled to Oldtown to find in the first place and it gets him gruesomely interrogated.
  • Willfred's attempts to find a better future lord of Raylansfair than Harris Flowers, Hobert Lowther and Argilac Durrandon result in all three losing any chance at getting the title and Maron Mullendore walking in and just claiming it.
• Nice to the Waiter: Argella's kindness towards Drent, who is only a low soldier, is the first indication that she is not as bad as she initially appears to be.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant:
  • The Sphynx deliberately scares his victims, by hiding his face behind a creepy mask and by singing nursery rhymes.
  • Wolfius also loves to do this, by displaying deliberately unsettling mannerisms even before his nature as a Serial Killer is revealed.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Alexander Botwerys selflessly tries to stand up for Ilish and even defends her against Wolfius. It ends as well as you would expect.
  • Urid Strad helps Richard in his fight against the assassins, because he refuses to let his friend do this alone. He ends up getting his legs badly burned to the point where he might be crippled for life. Later, he is caught in the crossfire in the fight between Wolfius Woodbark and Lyria Mettel.
• No Kill like Overkill: Jarek is killed by being impaled and then having his head crushed by a raging giant.
• No Name Given: Bear prefers it this way, since he dislikes his given name. So far, it hasn't been revealed in the story.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Samantha realizes that she and Jaylon have quite a lot in common when he reveals his Dark and Troubled Past to her.
• Number Two: Harrick Hoare serves as this for his father, even above the designated heir, Harmund.

O

• Obfuscating Stupidity: Maron Mullendore pretends to be a stupid, thuggish brute who doesn't even know how to read. It couldn't be further from the truth.
• Odd Friendship: Maya, an Action Girl and Ambadassador starts one with Irving, who is typically The Load to her group and a Lovable Coward at best.
• Offing The Off Spring: Not done deliberately, but when Mullendore sends his men to collect Dairon, who is is son, he accidentally causes the death of the boy.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • Davith gets one for surviving in the labyrinth below the Hightower for an entire week, constanly evading the Alley Cats that hunt him down.
• Old Master: Terroma
• Old Retainer: Halla, Eaton and Harris have all three served House Raylan for decades by the time the story starts.
• Old Soldier: Harris has signs of this.
• Older Than They Look: This is heavily implied to be the case with Noelle. Her age is never given, though she is old enough to have known Archmaester Quent in his youth. She still looks to be in her mid-twenties, which he lampshades.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Maester Eaton, being a member of the Order of Maesters and all. It is actually averted with the other maesters who appear in the story, as they are Archmaesters and therefore specialized in their respective field.
• One-Steve Limit: With so many characters is no surprise this is averted, although they are usually on different regions, which makes them easier to differentiate:
  • The are two Petyrs; Petyr Vyrwel and Petyr Blackwood, both important supporting characters.
  • Two Edwards: Edward Anturion and Edward Lancaster.
  • Two Darrens: Darren Reyne and Darren Tallwood. There's also Darreth Kailen, whose name sounds similar.
  • Two Leonards: Leonard Constantine and Leonard Hill (both important supporting characters).
  • Three Damons: Damon Greyjoy, Damon Darklyn and Damon Blackmont (the last one has only been mentioned so far).
  • Two Samuels: Samuel Harrington and Samuel Puffer (both important supporting characters). There's also a Samantha.
  • Two Lucas: Lucas Flowers and Lucas Lolliston. The former one is a POV character while the latter is a secondary character.
  • Then there are the characters with similar sounding names; Jared, Jaron, Jarrod Estermont, Jaro, Jaylon, Jarek and Jarow.
  • And of course there are Jons (or variants of it); John Gutten, Jon the Harper, Jon Mooton, Jonathan Errol and Jonos Arryn (none of them have been on the same place so far).
  • There's also a Ryder and a Ryler (Harrington and Grimthorn, respectively).
  • This is actually lampshaded with the two Torvins, Breaker and Hale. Garthon Breaker is actually surprised to meet a man with the same name as his brother.
• The One That Got Away: Despite his feelings for her, which have been hinted to be mutual, Maester Eaton was unable to marry Morna Raylan, who ended up getting betrothed to another lord. She died on her wedding day, making her a case of The Lost Lenore as well.
• Only in It for the Money: Sasha claims to be this, though she fools absolutely no one with this act.
• Only Known by Their Nickname:
  • The crimelords of Oldtown invoke this, by being commonly referred to by their nicknames to avoid anyone finding out about their real identities.
  • Bear, the ruthless bandit chieftain, prefers things that way, as he has an intense dislike of his given name.
• Order Versus Chaos: One part of the conflict in Raylansfair is fought between Sherryl and Saerya, who represent chaos and order respectively. Sherryl believes that causing chaos is the easiest way to achieve her goals, while Saerya values order and stability, manipualting others in a less straightforward and unpredictable way.
• Original Character: Thanks to allowing the readers to create their own characters to be featured in the story, a large majority of the acting characters are this. It also expands into noble houses and locations that do not appear in the source material, although they are included in a way that does not break with the established canon from the books. Characters and noble houses canonical to the source material appear as well in major roles, but the number of characters original to this fic outnumber them vastly.

P

• Papa Wolf: Argilac Durrandons most redeeming an most terrifying trait is his unquestionable love for his daughter, Argella. A threat to her, even just a perceived threat, or an insult, is met with brutal force. Additionally, Argella is one of the few people who know a far softer side of him.
• Parental Abandonment: A large part of the characters has somehow lost one or both of their parents, driving home just how dangerous Westeros really can be.
• Parental Favoritism: Harren Hoare clearly favours his more stable sons Harmund and Harrick over the mentally damaged Harlan and Harndon. Harrick in particulary is his most favourite, for being the most useful.
• The Patriarch: Harren Hoare has such a position in his family. He is not only his son's father, he is also their ruler and even more so.
• People of Hair Colour: Every member of House Durrandon has black hair, the same apparently goes for members of House Hoare (which isn't called the "Black Line" for nothing), while members of House Lannister have predominantly golden hair. Those of Valyrian descent often have silver or platinum blonde hair, though the dark-haired Orys Baratheon is a notable aversion of this.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Downplayed, but Maron Mullendore gave Lucas plenty of chances to assist him instead of directly taking what he wanted. Eventually, he has enough of it, resulting in a major Kick the Dog example, but its the sentiment that counts.
  • Samuel's apology to Ellena is entirely genuine and he seems to feel honestly bad for his earlier actions. Her forgiveness eventually helps his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Noelle might be a Knight Templar, but even she has standards. When she stumbles upon the victims of a deranged serial killer, many of them including children, she sacrifices valuable time for her mission to make sure that they receive a proper burial and the last rites according to her faith.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Kersea and Raenna are both rather petite, yet their training makes sure that they know how to kick ass.
• Plot-Triggering Death:
  • The death of Robert Raylan in the prologue triggers a majority of the following events that revolve around Raylansfair.
  • Special case for Jaron, the death of his mentor, Matthos the Kind, is what drives him into adventuring on his own, leading to him eventually stranding in Oldtown.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • The Solvers are this. They are sexist and openly racist, with their leader particularly targeting foreigners he takes a dislike to.
  • Butterfly. He is a crude Jerkass who spends his entire introductory scene insulting Harpy, mostly for her mixed heritage.
  • Wolfius also has signs of this, since women seem to be among his most frequent targets.
• Polyamory: Aegon Targaryen, the Dragonlord, is married to both of his sisters, Visenya and Rhaenys. This is noted to be unusual even for the Targaryens, who have a history of intermarriage.
• Posthumous Character: Morna and Trystane Raylan are both dead by the time the story starts. Robert Raylan and Maester Eaton only narrowly avert the same fate.
  • Lord Aerion Targaryen, the father of Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya, has been dead for several years but his children (and indirectly his niece Raenna) speak of him on occasion.
• Praetorian Guard: Argilac Durrandon used to be the best knight in his kingdom. When he started to grow older, he gathered those that claimed this title after him, making them his personal guard and perhaps the most formidable one in Westeros.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • The Tom displays a lot of pragmatism in almost all of his actions. He is a sadist, but doesn't give in to his urges unless he can actually follow through with them without danger. He also explains to the Sphynx that this is the reason he still works for Butterfly, despite having a chance to be just as powerful as him, since he wants to avoid becoming a target in Oldtown.
  • Clayton subverts this. Originally displayed as having standards, motivated out of pragmatism, he is later revealed to be incredibly unstable and when he finally loses it, he loses any hint of pragmatism with it.
• Pretty Boy:
  • Martin Wilshere is described as boyish and more pretty than handsome. He doesn't even grow a beard.
  • Elias Tyrell is famous for his beautiful face, combined with long, brown locks of hair.
• Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Argella Durranon certainly qualifies. Since the age of ten, she has been prepared to lead the Kingdom of the Stormlands one day, which is why her father considers it mandatory to teach her how to fight properly. At the same time, she still is a classically beautiful princess, often mistaken for a typical Princess Classic.
• Princess Classic: Argella was more or less forced to defy this, to become the heiress her father needed.
• Private Military Contractors: The story features numerous sellsword groups. The Second Sons are the most prominent ones and they reportedly form the army of Nain Anturion, the God King of Vaes Khadokh.
• Professional Killer:
  • Terroma has been part of a group of these and later took several students in, to teach them his craft. Raenna and Clayton have been his most successful students. Kersea, Alysanne and Samuel Puffer have also encountered and learned from him, albeit the latter doesn't actually work as a professional killer anymore.
  • Butterfly employs a highly dangerous group of these. Clayton is a member, so are Alysanne, Kersea and Rayden.
• Promotion to Parent: After the death of their parents, Kersea had to take care of her far younger sister, Briar.
• Prophet Eyes: Wolfius shows these when he reveals himself to be a warg.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy:
  • The Stormlanders have a strong martial aspect towards them. Many of them serve in the army for a while and the king of the Stormlands, Argilac Durrandon, has once been the best fighter in Westeros.
  • The Ironborn live to raid, which heavily involves fighting. The fact that their king averts this trope is a source of great anger for many of them.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Harndon Hoare and the Moggy are both grown men and clearly psychotic, but also mentally damaged and with heavily childish qualities towards them.
• Punch-Clock Villain:
  • Samuel Harrington treats his work for Butterfly as exactly this, work. He finds no joy in his evil actions and he isn't above actually helping the good guys.
  • Jaylon Gordus eventually reveals himself to have such an attitude. He works for Butterfly because he is well-paid, but when he isn't doing anything Solver-related, he isn't doing anything villainous, even if he is still a massive Jerkass.
• The Purge: After he succeeded in capturing the Burned Man, Mullendore goes on to kill every member of his enemies' organization he can find, resulting in a massive purge among the criminal underworld of Oldtown.
• Put on a Bus: Considering the large cast, it happens frequently that some characters don't appear for several chapters. Most prominently, the entire Harrenhal cast is put on a bus after the Point-of-View characters leave the location.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Maron Mullendore's victory in Oldtown. He has succeeded in crushing his enemies like he always wanted to, but in the process he is crippled, his secret gets partially revealed and is the source of rumours that ruin his reputation and two of his biggest remaining enemies escape and deny him his ultimate victory by giving a Mercy Kill to the Burned Man, whom he wanted to torture to death.

Q-R

• The Quest: Lucas and Leonard undergo one at the beginning of the story, to find Dairon somewhere in the city of Oldtown. Later on, Edrick is tasked with a quest of his own, to find the missing daughter of Lord Boleyn.
• Rags to Riches:
  • Dan Ornon started off as a simple peasant, though through hard work, he eventually became a wealthy merchant.
  • Though never exactly poor, Maron Mullendore nonetheless worked himself up into a considerable position. Coming from a minor side branch of House Mullendore and with no chances to ever inherit his families ancestral seat at Uplands, he befriended the son of Lord Manfred Hightower of Oldtown and eventually became a trusted protector of the city and commander of the city guard.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: Willfred Reyne is a naturally talented fighter for sure, but his status as the heir to Castamere gave him access to training that really unlocked his true potential.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: One of the pillars of Ironborn society. They have been limited recently, by the fact that their previous main raiding grounds at the Riverlands now belong to their kingdom, but they still raid the coasts of the Rock, the Reach and the North and this trope usually ensues, unless they are repelled.
• Red Baron: Plenty of badass characters also have a pretty badass nickname. Perhaps the prime example is Samuel "The Fang of Shadows" Harrington, as well as Clint Volmark, better known as Cleaver Clint. It is actually subverted with Arkan Gorys, also known as the Burned Man, who is a Non-Action Guy and on of the more affable characters in the story.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Hackor Nathamer, the commander of the city guard, is a lawful and capable man, who does his utmost to keep his city safe.
  • Harris tries his best to come across as this, with varying success.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: This is what Lucas sees as the best possible outcome for Harris, by offering him to banish him to the wall for his crimes. Harris on the other hand sees it as a Fate Worse than Death
• Recruited from the Gutter: The Burned Man does this with the children he employs, offering them a better life than the one they have on the streets of Oldtown.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Lucas and Leonard play with this trope. Initially, it seems Lucas is the blue oni to Leonard's red, though later on, after Lucas undergoes a Trauma Conga Line, their roles reverse.
  • Played straight with the headstrong, vengeful and rash Samantha and her partner, the smart and distanced Sasha.
• Red Right Hand:
  • Wolfius has one damaged eye, which is unnervingly pale in comparison to his other one.
  • Harren Hoare has facial scars that clearly lean towards the evil end of the spectrum.
• Red Shirt Army: Torvin's raiders are treated as such by Harren Hoare and Edward Anturion, who use them for their own gain and don't care if they all are going to die.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Harris is treated as such by Lucas even after he decided to atone for his actions by helping him against his enemies. It eventually leads to his Then Let Me Be Evil moment.
• Regent for Life: Harris becomes the acting lord of Raylansfair after the death of the last Lord Raylan. He has absolutely no intentions of abandoning this title.
• Relationship Reveal: After numerous hints, Drent eventually finds out that Garen and Tariel are indeed in a relationship (if a strictly physical one, as Garen claims).
• Revenge Before Reason:
  • Harpy's hatred towards Butterfly makes her stop at almost nothing to achieve it. The only line she wouldn't cross is to willingly endanger her friends.
  • Samantha has a similar hatred towards Butterfly, which even causes her to momentarily abandon her quest in order to fight him, potentially wasting important time to save Lunett.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: After Lucas is caught by Butterfly's men, Samantha and her small team have to act quickly to save him.
• Royal Brat: Argella is not only the only living child and heiress of the Storm King, she is also a spoiled and incredibly vain young woman.
• Royal Inbreeding: Aegon Targaryen has married both of his sisters and both have given him children by the time the story starts.
• Rule of Three: There are three books, divided into three acts, divided into three chapters.
• Rule of Seven: The seven kingdoms of Westeros of course, as well as the prominent Faith of the Seven.

S

• Sacrificial Lamb: Robb, Alexander Botwerys, George, Keira, Jarek, Than and Rayden are all killed relatively early after their introduction and before they have a chance to become big characters.
• Sacrificial Lion: Up to their untimely deaths, Ilhan Lagoon, Dairon, The Burned Man, Marak, Terroma, Lyria, Lucas and Richard have all been fairly major characters, so their deaths are big plot points.
• Sadistic Choice: The author is fond of offering these to the readers, so expect several of these to come up each chapter.
  • A prime example would be Jaron's choice at the end of Chapter 4. He can either allow Harpy to kill Butterfly, violating his own morals in the process and potentially dragging on the gang war in Oldtown, or he can stop Harpy, upsetting the girl he has feelings for and allowing a dangerous and depraved villain to get away with his crimes. He decides to allow her to kill Butterfly.
  • Garthon has to face a terrible one at the end of chapter 5. During the assassination of Harren Hoare, he is offered several targets, namely Harren or Harlan Hoare, as well as Edward Anturion to help with the assassination or he can shoot Torvin or George nonfatally, to prevent them from wasting their lives in a doomed mission. He decides to shoot Harren Hoare, though he fails to kill him.
  • Lucas is constantly offered these in Chapter 5. Trapped in Butterfly's torture prison, he can either reveal the truth about Dairon's whereabouts, therefore endangering his friend, or he can remain silent, suffering further torture. He decides to stay silent as long as possible, until he reaches his breaking point.
  • Kersea's entire storyline in Book 1 is basically a string of sadistic choices. Almost all of her choices force her to balance her morals against Clayton's orders, knowing that not following them could have serious repercussions for her or her sister.
• Samus Is a Girl: 'Ser Reymond Mormont' the "knight" fought by Alphyn in chapter 9, is revealed to be a woman.
• Sarcastic Clapping: During the big fight in the Chapter 6 finale, The Tom introduces himself to Jaron by doing this.
• Scars Are Forever:
  • Jenna's facial scar she received from Wolfius is not expected to ever truly fade away.
  • Harren has a number of gruesome scars on his face from various attempts on his life he has survived over his long reign.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Sanyse Gomblinger is a rude, crusty old woman, the oldest in the entire story to be precise.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Every member who denies Butterfly's offer of joining him, at least those who don't follow him out of idealism. Usually, it ends badly for them. Davith Lanser is the only one we know who survived pulling this trope off.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Jaron's storyline can be summed up as this. He supports the Burned Man in his criminal activities, because he genuinely believes that the crimelor is making Oldtown a better place.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After is has been made clear that he won't ever become Lord of Raylansfair, Hobert Lowther immediately leaves the city behind.
• Scylla and Charybdis: Many of the choices are this, forcing the readers to choose between two mutually exclusive options, sometimes having to consider their priorities or which option is the lesser evil.
• Secret Relationship: Garen and Tariel are in one, though many characters have strong suspicions into this direction.
• Secret Stab Wound: A downplayed example, but Hackor deliberately hides the full extent of the wound he suffered at the hands of Wolfius from his son, so that he won't worry him.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sibling Team of the Breaker brothers consists of the experienced and hardened raider Torvin as the Manly Man and his thoughtful, cultivated and sophisticated brother Garthon as the sensitive guy.
• Serendipitous Survival: On the day of the Ironborn raid, Mathea left her house for a few errands, before the raid itself trapped her in the castle for a while. This is likely the only reason she survived Wolfius' attack on her house.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • Noelle's mission to prevent the War of Conquest is abruptly ended when Raenna and Terroma stop her, she undergoes a Heel Realization and her companion and Point-of-View character Marak gets killed in the process.
  • Lucas' mission in Oldtown ends like this when the boy he wanted to rescue gets killed in the crossfire.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Hobert definitely tries to pull this trope off, though wether or not he manages to succeed is a point of discussion in-universe.
• Ship Tease:
  • Before having a Relationship Upgrade in Chapter 5, Jaron and Harpy are heavily teased.
  • Samantha and Sasha. At the very least, Samantha has been confirmed to have feelings for Sasha.
  • Garthon and Kyra has also received some heavy spotlight in Chapter 6.
  • Raenna and Samuel, to the point where they even share a kiss.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story:
  • Lyria struggles for many chapters to keep her daughter and herself safe from the psychopathic Wolfius. In Chapter 8, she ends up being killed by him after he reveals his nature as a warg. Though her daughter survives, she is horribly traumatized by having to watch him murdering her mother.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • Argella delivers an epic one to Tariel, after the latter advised her to leave the citizens of Raylansfair to die at the hands of the Ironborn, on the accounts that her father would do the same.
    Argella: “Tariel, could you kindly shut your lying mouth for a second? First of all, you will never again speak of my father as if you know him better than I do. My father would be the first in battle! Admittedly, he'd do it solely to fight and to kill. I am not my father. I'm doing this because it is the right thing to do. And it is the right thing. What kind of a person would suggest otherwise? What kind of a person would suggest leaving them to die? Coward! You say they rejected me? They didn't even get a say in what happened here! Your friend made sure of that! But no, it was you whom they rejected, isn't that right? Poor little Tariel Flowers, what they did to you... and now? Do you hate them so much that you'd leave them all to die? Women? Children? Are you truly that petty?”
• Silk Hiding Steel: Whenever it is necessary, Argella can pretend to be a Princess Classic, which puts her into this trope.
• Sibling Yin-Yang:
  • The polite, calm and capable Edonia and her younger brother, the rebellious, angry and jerkish Torrence.
  • Harrick Hoare, who is a respectful and pragmatic White Sheep among his family and his brother Harmund, who is a Sociopath and serial rapist, whose actions frequently cross into Stupid Evil.
  • Torvin and Garthon as seen under Sensitive Guy and Manly Man above.
• The Siege: The raid on Raylansfair in Chapter 8, especially once the Second Sond and the Band of Claws join the fight on the side of the Ironborn.
• Sissy Villain: Hobert, even if he barely qualifies as a villain and more as a Smug Snake.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Subverted with the two Ghiscari slavers Abbas and Bakr, who are, at worst, the Token Evil Teammates to the Burned Man and his organization.
• Sliding Scale of Continuity: The author works hard to avert a Level 5, by having created a summary, a wiki and even this very page, but the story still has over a thousand pages in length, with an ongoing and increasingly complex storyline, which makes it hard to follow without having at least read some of the summary and the wiki.
• Smug Snake: Harmund Hoare and Hobert Lowther are this.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat:
  • Mastering this is part of Samantha's attempts at upholding her Stepford Smiler tendencies.
  • Argella and Hobert get into one during the debate on who is going to inherit Raylansfair.
• The Sociopath: Harmund Hoare and Wolfius are this stories prime examples.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: The Sphynx rarely raises his voice or shows much emotion, which makes his sadism even more unsettling.
• Sore Loser: The moment it becomes clear that he lost the chance to inherit Raylansfair, Hobert immediately swears revenge on the other claimants and leaves the city.
• Spanner in the Works: Samantha becomes this to Butterfly in Chapter 5.
• Spell My Name with a "The": It's The Tom, The Sphynx and The Moggy.
• Spikes of Villainy: As part of his Tin Tyrant appeal, Harren Hoare's armour has some pretty impressive spikes on the shoulders.
• Spiteful Spit: Lyria gives one to Wolfius when she is about to die at his hands. It provokes him to the point where he orders the death of Urid.
• The Squire: Adrew Frey is Harren Hoare's squire.
  • Damion Lannister is this for his cousin and King Loren Lannister.
  • Asher Velaryon serves as this for Orys Baratheon.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Maester Eaton and Morna Raylan have been this in the backstory, since she, a noble lady, was far out of his league and since his status as a Maester prevented him from marrying either way.
• The Starscream: Damon Greyjoy is eventually revealed to plot the downfall of House Hoare, whom he is sworn to.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Unlike the source material, this story averts it, by having plenty of female characters in prominent action-centered roles.
• Stepford Smiler: Samantha is literally forcing herself to smile whenever she feels sad, which is part of her coping mechanism for the death of her entire family.
• Stepford Snarker: Samantha once again, whenever she is snarky. Harpy and Argella also qualify.
• Straight Gay: Samantha displays none of the tropes that are usually expected from a lesbian character.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Lucas suffered this when he returned from his journeys in the east, only to realize that his home at Darkdell has changed to the point where he doesn't belong anymore.
• Street Urchin: The Burned Man employs a great number of these. The one we primarily meet is Himani Sand.
• Succession Crisis: The main storyline of Book 1 deals with one of these, taking place in the town of Raylansfair after the last member of the ruling House Raylan dies, leaving his town and the surrounding lands without a clear ruler for a while. Initially, House Raylan's castellan, Harris Flowers, steps in, though thanks to his low birth, he is generally seen as nothing but an interim ruler, while more powerful people start their schemes to take control over the rich and strategically valuable city. Among the key players in the following crisis are Hobert Lowther, Argilac Durrandon and Maron Mullendore
• Sudden Principled Stand: Harren Hoare's cruelty is finally challenged when the noble Edmyn Tully has enough of it and starts to plot against him.
• Suppressed Rage: After learning that she lost her efforts in Raylansfair and was tricked, Argella is livid, though she manages to suppress it for long enough to appear like a Graceful Loser.
• Sympathy for the Devil:
  • After hearing about his tragic past and learning more of his Hidden Depths, Samantha starts to sympathize with Jaylon, who is also a Jerkass.
  • When he seeks for her forgiveness, Samuel reveals his Dark and Troubled Past to Ellena, who seems genuinely affected by it, to the point where she indeed ends up forgiving him.
• Sympathy for the Hero:
  • A morally grey character at the best, Samuel Harrington nonetheless shows great sympathy for Raenna's Dark and Troubled Past, which kicks off their Ship Tease.
  • Damon Greyjoy seems to hold a great deal of respect towards Torvin, for standing openly for his morals.

T

• Tall, Dark, and Handsome:
  • This is a common trait with members of House Durrandon. Argella is a bit smaller than her father, but Argilac plays it straight.
  • Orys Baratheon, which is surprising, considering that his father's side of the family is known to have Mystical White Hair
  • Harmund Hoare, which doubles as a case of Dark Is Evil.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Leonard Constantine, Philip Loren and Garthon Breaker are all described as handsome and they are also among the three most snarky male characters in the cast.
• Taking You with Me: Terroma is bleeding from heavy wounds and clearly outmatched against the younger and stronger Marak. Because of this, he deliberately allows himself to be grabbed and thrown down a cliff, since it allows him to cut his opponent's throat in the process.
• Tap on the Head: Lucas suffers one at the very end of the Chapter 4 finale, causing him to black out.
• Teaser-Only Character: Maester Eaton and Lord Robert Raylan are both dead by the time the prologue ends.
• Technical Pacifist: Mathea is completely opposed to the process of taking a life, but she knows how important it is to be able to defend herself. While not fond of violence, she is not unwilling to do it, as long as she can prvent the loss of lives.
• Teens Are Monsters: Connor Frostborn, the young apprentice of The Sphynx is a deeply disturbed and messed up young man, who apparently comes after his brother Lupin.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Lucas and Leonard are briefly considering this with Harris, whom they both consider to be the lesser evil compared to Mullendore.
  • As a whole Ironborn and Riverlanders hate each other, and can barely fight alongside each other.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Having enough of being rejected, Harris eventually decides to become a fullblown antagonist again, if a well-intentioned one.
• Thicker Than Water: House Hoare is a Big, Screwed-Up Family, but they nonetheless stand togther against all odds. Harmund might be the only one who averts this, but every other member of the family plays it straight.
• Third Line, Some Waiting:
  • Initially, the Harrenhal storyline is completely separated from the other two main storylines, which take place in Raylansfair and Oldtown.
  • Just as Harrenhal starts to get some strong ties into Raylansfair, Sadie's storyline in the Northern Rock comes up as a new and delibrate example of this trope.
• Those Two Guys: Abbas and Bakr, the Ghiscari slavers, who occasionally show up to help out The Burned Man and Terroma over the course of Book 1.
  • Members of the Storm guard Dickon Morrigen and Beric Storm are usually seen and mentioned together.
  • The Winterfell guards Eon Dustin and Harrold Hornwood are best friends and are always together.
• Thousand-Year Reign: At the beginning of the story, most of the ancient royal houses of Westeros have ruled for thousands of years. The only notable exception is House Martell of Dorne, which has been founded only several hundred years before the story starts.
• Tin Tyrant: Harren Hoare is a deliberate example of this trope, as he wishes to look as intimidating as possible in his massive, black armour.
• Took a Level in Badass: Jenna Harking starts off as a timid and meek young woman. After going through a Trauma Conga Line, she slowly starts to change and by the time of Chapter 8, she is willing to risk her life to save her best friend.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Lucas, after surviving his experiences in Oldtown.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Once again, Lucas post-Oldtown.
• Torture Cellar: The dungeons underneath the Hightower have one and every victim of the Sphynx finds themselves in there. Harrenhal also has a disturbingly large one.
• Torture Technician:
  • The Sphynx works as this for Butterfly and The Alley Cats.
  • Harren Hoare has his very own one, in the form of Holt Torv.
• Tragic Mistake: Lucas gets a clear choice to either work with Maron Mullendore or not, more than one time. He declines every time and only too late does he find out that Mullendore is both, powerful and willing to take what he wants from them by force, triggering one of the darkest and most tragic parts of the storyline.
• Trauma Conga Line:
  • Jenna suffers a big one during the first three chapters.
  • Similarly, Lucas' situation just keeps getting worse and worse.
• Trial by Combat: Nothing comes out of it, but after his crimes are revealed to the general public, Harris is offered one by Argella.
  • There is a major one at the end of Book 1 between Lucas Flowers and the Tom. Despite his best efforts, Lucas ends up dying.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: Several of the kings and even some lords in the story have a ridiculous amount of titles amassed over the long history of their houses.
  • Harren Hoare's full title would be "King Harren Hoare of the Black Blood, the Iron King, King of the Isles and the Rivers, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Sea Wind and Lord Reaper of Orkmont"
  • Mern Gardener's full title was revealed to be "King Mern of House Gardener, King of the Reach, Lord of Highgarden, Defender of the Marches, Protector of the Mander and Stalwart Hand of the South"
  • On the same occasion, Manfred Hightower was called "Lord Manfred of House Hightower, Lord of the Hightower, Lord of the Port, Voice of Oldtown, Defender of the Citadel and Beacon of the South"
• Tsundere: Argella Durrandon is a Tsun by default, though she has a strong, caring side for others, which brings out her Dere traits. But even then she manages to occasionally come off as harsh and cold.
• 24-Hour Armor: In all of his appearances in the story, Hackor Nathamer is always seen wearing his green armour.

U-V

• Undying Loyalty:
  • No matter his flaws, there is no doubt that Harris will never betray House Raylan or Raylansfair and always act in their best interest, even ater the house he serves is all but gone.
  • Leonard is not the easiest person to get along with, but once he befriends someone, he would do anything for that person, even if it means risking his own life.
  • Emphryus Dresfel comes from a family with a long history of serving House Durrandon. However, even among them, his loyalty is unrivaled and extends not only to th king, but also to his daughter.
• The Unfettered:
  • Maron Mullendore might claim to have some morals left, but his actions in the story show that he clearly has no boundaries when it comes to the means he is willing to use to achieve his goals.
  • Wolfius has this at the core of his philosophy. He is going to do and take whatever he wants and he will stop at nothing to get it.
  • Harris is a slightly more heroic example, but he still has demonstrated a disturbing willingness to do whatever it takes to save his city.
• The Unfavorite: Harren Hoare does not hide the fact that among his family, Harndon has by far the lowest position.
• Uriah Gambit: Possibly part of Harren's motivation to send Torvin and Garthon onto the dangerous raid on Raylansfair.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Harpy certainly feels this way after getting her revenge on Butterfly and noting how it only caused more problems than it solved.
• Vice City: Oldtown. The city is by far the largest of its kind in Westeros and one of the largest in the known world. Unfortunately, it is governed by the well-meaning, but rather weak Manfred Hightower, who is unable to control the rise of organized crime in his domain. The result are self-styled crimelords, ruthless men who rule the city from the shadows and according to their own interests. The result are crime rates that run rampant and a bloody street war taking place between the followers of the crimelords.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Noelle suffers one in the Chapter 7 finale, after realizing that she is morally unable to go through with her plans.
  • It is a bit more subtle, but the more Kersea defies his will, the more unhinged Clayton gets, resulting in him starting to make mistakes and go out of his way to punish her, revealing more and more how deeply disturbed he is by her actions.
• Villainous Lineage:
  • Members of House Hoare have such a reputation. They are known as the "Black Blood" and for their violent nature. Most of the Hoare's in the story have displayed disturbing tendencies and habits and the current head of the house is universally reviled as a cruel tyrant. From what we know about his ancestors, he isn't even the worst.
  • The Storm Kings of House Durrandon have a legendary temper, attributed in-universe to them being descendants of the gods of wind and sea. While the truth of this is up for speculation, at least the Durrandons in the story display a wild Hair-Trigger Temper.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Wolfius certainly thinks this and his moral philosophy is all about defying such concepts that could limit him.

W

• Wandering Minstrel: Jon the Harper poses as one during his work for the Sons of the Trident. However, he gets bonus points for actually being one as well.
• Warrior Princess: Argella Durrandon proves herself to be every bit her father's daughter when she personally leads the Stormlander charge against the Ironborn during the raid on Raylansfair.
• The War Room: Many castles in Westeros have one, to allow the lords to carefully plan their next moves. The story explicitely shows the war rooms at Castamere and Storm's End.
• We All Die Someday: Valar Morghulis of course, the famous saying from the Free City of Braavos, which translates to All Men Must Die. It is even the title to the seventh chapter of Book 1. The mentality behind this statement is firmly embodied in many characters, with Terroma being the most prominent example.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Even after Edmyn Tully tried his best to unite them against their common enemy, the Riverlords wasted countless hours with their petty rivalries instead of planning on how to get rid of the Ironborn. It is noted that many lord of the Riverlands hate their neighbours almost as much as they hate the Ironborn that occupy their lands.
• Weapon-Based Characterization:
  • A majority of knights in Westeros uses the sword as their weapon of choice, among other things because Swords Are Heroic. However, notably unheroic characters use swords as well, therefore averting this trope.
  • The sadistic Blood Knight Bear loves to kill his victims with his knived gloves, Freddy Krueger-style. It is exactly as terrifying as it sounds.
  • The Tom fights with a thin, curved sword from the east, which only adds to his elegance and mysteriousness.
  • Harmund Hoare's weapon of choice is the longbow, indicating his perverse love for hunting, as well as his wish to absolutely dominate his victims, with them having not even a chance to fight back.
  • In contrast, Hjalgar's love for the bow indicates his fear of getting into close combat, or any kind of combat at all.
  • In general, the Ironborn seem to prefer axes, as a result of their viking inspirations.
  • The monstrously brutal Clint Volmark prefers a meat cleaver, showing his crude, brutish nature.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy:
  • In one way or the other, every son of Harren Hoare has this. It is a bit more hidden with Harmund and Harrick, but very obvious with Harlan and Harndon, who are also the most childlike of the four sons.
  • Rell Vessels has some massive daddy issues. It comes from his father being an abusive Jerkass who outright killed his brothers as infants because they looked too little like him.
  • This trope seems to be Kreep's sole driving motivation.
  • Argella is a female example of this. After the tragic death of her brothers, she stepped up to try her best to fit her father's expectations. To do this, she worked twice as hard, knowing that her gender would prove a problem for her future intended role as the queen of the Stormlands. She has, by all accounts, succeeded at gaining her father's respect, though that doesn't mean that she is ever going to stop trying to prove herself.
• Wham Episode: Thanks to its length, almost every chapter holds some moments that qualify it as this in one way or the other.
  • "Broken Vows": Richard Harking encounters Wolfius, while the man just murdered a young woman. He pursues him and is lured into a trap, being knocked out and beaten to the brink of death by highly trained professional killers. Meanwhile, Harris ends up snapping under the pressure of being the acting lord and he murders Ilhan Laggon over a disagreement
  • "Butterfly:" Harpy and Jaron manage to trick Butterfly into revealing himself, resulting in a brutal fight and the even more brutal death of the crimelord at the hands of Harpy. Lucas and Leonard find Dairon, Lucas and Lunett hook up with each other. In the end, their uneasy ally Maron Mullendore is revealed to be the real crimelord Butterfly. He overpowers Lucas and to punish him for hiding the information about Dairon, he brutally murders Lunett
  • "The Iron Price": Dairon is killed during a skirmish with The Moggy. Lucas is tortured and mutilated to his breaking point, but eventually saved by Samantha and Leonard. Jaron and Harpy confess their feelings for each other and enter a relationship. Torvin and Garthon attempt to assassinate Harren Hoare, but they fail due to one of the Riverlords betraying them and they are taken captive.
  • "Masquerade": Ellena is abducted by Noelle and Marak to be traded for Briar, who is supposed to be sacrificed to R'hllor. Samuel Harrington undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, he assists Terroma and Raenna and gets some very prominent Ship Tease with the latter. Torvin is pushed beyond his breaking point when Harren Hoare murders his unborn son and to save his wounded girlfriend, he agrees to go on a suicidal raid to the town of Raylansfair. Jaron and Harpy prevent The Tom from assassinating Lord Hightower, but they are ambushed by Mullendore on their way back. In the following fight, almost all of their allies are killed, while Mullendore himself is grievously wounded. When they escape, it is revealed that the Burned Man has been taken captive by the Solvers.
  • "Valar Morghulis": Lucas decides to turn on Harris, by declaring his loyalty to Argella Durrandon. Sherryl reveals herself to be working for Mullendore and she screws over every other powerful party in the city to gain control of it in his name. Harpy and Jaron infiltrate the dungeons beneath the Hightower, but they are unable to save the Burned Man and can only give him a Mercy Kill to spare him further torture. Terroma and Raenna catch up with Marak and Noelle. In the following duel, Terroma and Marak kill each other, while Noelle finds herself unable to go through with her plan. Wolfius' execution fails when the man escapes, just in the same moment where the Ironborn arrive in Raylansfair.
  • "What Is Dead May Never Die": The Ironborn attack Raylansfair, causing massive losses among the smallfolk and resulting in the death of several major characters. Among the dead are Point-of-View characters Lyria and Torvin, as well as important non Point-of-View characters Harris, Hackor, Alysanne and Jax, together with over a dozen secondary characters, more than in any other chapter. Janae is abducted by Abbas, who undergoes a Face–Heel Turn after revealing their shared history and in a fit of rage, he takes Behara with him as well and murders Ando in cold blood, intending to bring his captives back to Yunkai. Wolfius reveals himself to be a very powerful warg and he murders Lyria and Urid, traumatizing Rosalie in the process. Someone, implied to be Sherryl, makes an attempt on Argella's life, nearly starting a war with the Stormlands in the process, if not for Jax' Heroic Sacrifice. Kersea is reunited with Raenna and Briar, making a genuine Heel–Face Turn in the process. She gets into a fight with Clayton, while Alysanne snaps and fights Raenna, throwing her off the lighthouse and to her apparent death in the process. In the following fight, Harris intervenes, severing Clayton's sword arm and fatally wounding Alysanne, before being killed by Kersea in return. However, a heavily wounded Clayton managed to nearly kill her, before fleeing, after triggering a wildfire explosion of the lighthouse, which Kersea only survives due to the help of Richard Harking. Sadie in Maybros gets into a fight with the Ironborn Durren Stallhart, a brutal duel that ends with her losing her sword hand. Finally, the Ironborn take a majority of Raylansfair, but are defeated by the surprising arrival of Maron Mullendore and Petyr Vyrwel, who proceed to take Lucas as their prisoner. Seriously, this is the Wham Episode of Forum of Thrones.
• Wham Line: In a work as long as Forum of Thrones, there's guaranteed to be some of them:

  Lucas:"You... you're Butterfly!" - to Maron Mullendore after deducing his real identity

  Harren:"Do you remember what I told you a month ago, back at the Great Hall? Honour always comes last for you... but family... family always comes first" - to Edmyn Tully, immediately before presenting the riverlord his captured daughter

  Noelle:"Ellena Terys is the bait, the one we’re going to trade for our target. She's so important for the old flame, that he won't even have a choice in this. The one we have to kill is named Briar Catelins" - to Marak, revealing her true target and the first glimpse into her plans

  Clayton:"My target will be a certain Leonard Constantine. You're going to kill Lucas Flowers" - to Kersea, when he gave her the name of her final target

• What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters occasionally disappear, although no character gets truly forgotten. Among the longest absentees are Dimitri the Wise and Christian Thomas, the former of which even has unknown whereabouts.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Samantha gives a brutal one to Leonard after saving him from the Solvers, in which she accuses him of all of his screw-ups, including the death of Lunett.
  • Jaro and I'lian are not save from it, when they provoke Behara's wrath, after casually showing up weeks after they were expected and after their prolonged absence nearly caused the death of her brother and of John.
  • Lucas is on the receiving end of this when he declares his loyalty to Argella Durrandon, basically forsaking House Raylan. Leonard is definitely not pleased and it drove a deep rift between the friends.
• Whip of Dominance: Abbas is constantly seen with a whip close to him. Fitting, considering that he is a slaver.
• White Stallion: Argella uses one to make an appropriate entrance when she arrives in Raylansfair. As noted by Drent, it mostly only intimidates the people, which is not what she should be aiming at if she wishes to win their hearts.
• Who Needs Enemies?: Torvin has to realize this during his raid on Raylansfair, when his supposed allies, Cleaver Clint Volmark and Edward Anturion, prefer to leave him to conquer the city on his own, while they pursue their own agendas in it.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist:
  • Jaron is this in the very beginning of the story. The reality of Westeros eventually catches up with him though, triggering some important Character Development for him.
  • Similarly, Lucas has shades of this, though he is a downplayed example at best. Whatever wide-eyed idealism he still had at the beginning of the story was permanently lost after the events in Oldtown.

X-Z

• Xanatos Gambit: Maron Mullendore pulls off an impressive one, manipulating everyone around him into acting exactly as he expected, to lure his final enemy out of hiding. First, he recruits a loyal follower to impersonate him during a meeting with the Burned Man's adopted daughter, Harpy. Back then, he either intended to capture her and to use her to press the Burned Man into revealing himself, or to sacrifice the man that impersonated him, therefore faking his death and giving the Burned Man a false sense of security. After the latter happened, he continued his plans, by carefully watching for a sign of the Burned Man. When he managed to catch one of his key followers, he tortured every information he wanted to know out of the poor captive and crushed the Burned Man and his organization in a single night
• Yandere:
  • Clayton is violently obsessed with Kersea. He pairs this with being incredibly abusive towards her, but he still is possessive towards her above all other things and wishes nothing but to control her, out of a feeling he believes to be love.
  • Alysanne also has shades of this towards poor Kersea. She is usually distanced from others, but if anyone poses a threat towards Kersea, she will make their life a living hell. Unfortunately, she is also so possessive that she doesn't allow Kersea to have any other friends next to herself.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After everything he's been through in Oldtown, it is honestly heartwarming to see Lucas slowly returning to his old self in the presence of the Storm Princess. However, shortly after declaring his loyalty for her, the Ironborn attack Raylansfair and start a bloodbath, endangring him and the lives of his friends, slaughtering a great number of th civilians he was sworn to protect.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Clayton pulls this on Wolfius, after the latter has proven to be too dangerous to be controlled. He manages to capture him and they deliver him to the city guard, to frame him even for murders he never committed.
• You Monster!:
  • Harrick says this to Harmund after finding him (once again) mentally abusing their weak-minded brother, Harndon.
  • Wolfius is repeatedly and rightfully called a monster by a majority of characters that interact with him.
  • After seeing the mindless destruction he caused, Hjalgar calls Cleaver Clint Volmark a monster.
• Younger Than They Look:
  • Years of alcohol abuse haven't been kind on Robb. He is only two years older than Jaron, but looks at least a decade his senior.
  • For the same reason, Jarow, the Lord of the Bridges, has aged prematurely. He is an old man, but his long, grey beard and heavily wrinkled face make him seem far older. The wiki reveals his age to be 53, but he looks a good fifteen years older.
  • Petyr Blackwood is only 48, but the stress and having to live under the rule of Harren Hoare made him look much older.
• You Shall Not Pass!:
  • This is how Jarow chooses to go out during the raid on Raylansfair. When hostile reinforcements, led by Bear, charge towards his bridge, he decides to stay at his post instead of abandoning it, fully intent on taking as many of them down as possible. This gives Raylansfair more time to prepare and it gives Richard and Hal time to escape.
• 0% Approval Rating: Harren Hoare is universally despised by his subjects. The Riverlords hate him for his cruelty, the Ironborn hate him for ruling over the Greenlanders instead of raiding them and see him as not cruel enough.

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