History YMMV / AStormOfSwords

* JerkassWoobie: Merrett Frey, the narrator of the final chapter. While he's not really a nice guy, being a useless alcoholic, a Frey, and [[spoiler:a participant in the Red Wedding, albeit not a particularly vicious one]], his life is worthy of pity. His dreams of becoming a knight were crushed in his squirehood by a head injury, which would give him constant headaches forever after that only drink could soothe. Right after he married his wife, her family fell out of favor because they had supported King Aerys II Targaryen right after he lost the war. He has no land or keep of his own, isn't good at anything except drinking, and he's the ninthborn son of Walder, which means he has about zero chance of inheriting anything. [[spoiler:And he dies an UndignifiedDeath when he's hung by the Brotherhood Without Banners.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: In the epilogue, the Brotherhood argue among themselves about whose turn it is to pretend to be Lord Beric, and Tom of Sevenstreams jokingly asks if he has to be Thoros. In the TV show, Tom was AdaptedOut and his traits of singing and being amiable were given to Thoros.

* ShockingMoments: The highest in the series, with [[spoiler: the Red Wedding, the Purple Wedding, the Red Viper vs. the Mountain, Ygritte's death, the battle for the Wall, Tyrion's murder of Tywin and Shae, Sam killing an Other, Stannis arriving at the Wall, Littlefinger revealed as being the BigBad of the first three books, Lady Stoneheart]], to name a few.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Jeyne Westerling. She's a girl from enemy territory who treats Robb after he was injured in a siege when he heard of Winterfell's sacking and [[SexForSolace tended to him]]. Being honorable to a fault, Robb breaks his engagement to a Frey girl to marry Jeyne and preserve her honor. Despite the marriage being borderline shotgun, Robb seems fond of her. We don't get much insight into her character, details about her relationship with the King in the North beyond sleeping with him, or much interaction with mother-in-law Catelyn [[note]]They only share ''one'' scene together in Lord Hoster Tully's room, with Jeyne asking Catelyn for tips on aspects of her relationship with Robb, but it is from Cat's perspective, and she is kind of sort of more focused on the fact that her dad is going to ''die soon'', so we ''still'' don't get much info[[/note]]. Even when Cat sees her brother's fiancé who might have wed Robb if he hadn't broken his vows with the Freys, Catelyn's main comparison between Roslin and Jeyne is that Jeyne has better hips for child-bearing.
** She does at least get one minor scene in a Jaime POV chapter in [[Literature/AFeastForCrows the next book]], showing she [[spoiler:has stayed true to Robb and his cause despite her parents' scheming and lying to her, and her genuine grief over Robb and defiance of her parents who helped arrange the betrayal earns her Jaime's respect]]. She is also [[https://www.hypable.com/george-r-r-martin-teases-the-prologue-and-plotlines-of-the-winds-of-winter/ slated to appear in the prologue]] for ''The Winds of Winter''.[[note]]Normally that'd be a bad omen for Jeyne as [[ActionPrologue prologue]] characters have a tendency to be killed off, but GRRM has stated she won't ''necessarily'' die as she won't be the POV character for the prologue. Though that's also no guarantee, as non-POV characters can also die in the prologues and so far poor Jeyne's luck has proved about as good as Robb's.[[/note]]
** The second season of [[Series/GameOfThrones TV show]] tries to avert this to its credit, granted with a monkey's paw of completely replacing Jeyne herself with a CanonForeigner called Talisa Maegyr, who has an entirely different backstory and personality from Jeyne. Talisa gets a good amount of screentime and she and Robb have a storyline of falling in love before they marry, though Talisa and the reworking of why Robb broke his marriage pact were very unpopular with fans, as detailed [[TheScrappy/GameOfThrones here]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Jeor Mormont collaborating with a rapist paedophile and enabling the rape of numerous women for ''decades'' is portrayed more as a minor moral failing rather than ''irredeemably evil''.

(( [[spoiler:After being the two main antagonists of the first three books, Joffrey Baratheon and Tywin Lannister end up not being killed in an epic or triumphant manner by the Starks. Instead, Joffrey is poisoned by his own allies, while Tywin dies sitting on the privy with an arrow through his chest inflicted by Tyrion as revenge for years of abuse.]]

** [[spoiler:Balon Greyjoy declares himself King of the Iron Islands and has set up a major campaign to raid the North, but dies off-page before he ever does anything. His brothers, however, take up the cause.]]
** [[spoiler:Tywin, as head of the Lannisters and chief adversary for many of the other characters, but his death has nothing to do with his domination of the continent. His abuse of his son Tyrion finally catches up to him and he dies an ignominious death on a privy.]]

** [[spoiler: Walder Frey, Roose Bolton and Tywin Lannister]] crossed this with [[spoiler: the Red Wedding. Walder crosses it for having Robb and his bannermen murdered for the petty excuse of Robb breaking a marriage vow and for laughing as the entire thing unfolded, Roose Bolton for personally killing Robb himself, and Tywin Lannister for secretly planning it all.]]. In-universe, [[spoiler:Walder Frey is also considered to have crossed this for the Red Wedding, but less so for the wholesale murder (which is excusable) but more for having broken the [[SeriousBusiness rules of hospitality.]]]]

** [[spoiler: Walder Frey and Roose Bolton]] both crossed this with [[spoiler: the Red Wedding. Walder crosses it for having Robb and his bannermen murdered for the petty excuse of Robb breaking a marriage vow and for laughing as the entire thing unfolded and Roose Bolton for personally killing Robb himself]]. In-universe, [[spoiler:Walder Frey is also considered to have crossed this for the Red Wedding, but less so for the wholesale murder (which is excusable) but more for having broken the [[SeriousBusiness rules of hospitality.]]]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Roose Bolton became one of most highly debated characters in the series thanks to betrayal in this book. Was he EvilAllALong and was already [[TheStarscream undermining Robb from the start]] and waiting for the perfect opportunity to make a power grab for the North? Or did Robb make one tactical mistake too many and Bolton saw where the wind was blowing and simply [[IFightForTheStrongestSide switched to the winning side]]?

** Most readers wanted [[spoiler:Joffrey]] dead since the first book.

** Tywin Lannister in the end of book three is [[spoiler:shot in the gut with a crossbow while sitting naked on the privy, and takes a postmortem dump. Tyrion later suggests that shit was dripping from the wound]].

** The TV show thankfully averts this, granted with a monkey's paw of completely replacing the character with a CanonForeigner called Talisa Maegyr. The TV show introduces Talisa in season two (the adaptation of "A Clash of Kings") and makes her a foreign aid worker who serves as a battlefield nurse for the Starks and who's relationship with Robb plays out in season two in a far more organic fashion, where they fall in love over the course of the season and Robb ultimately defying his mother to marry Talisa rather than go through with his promise of marrying a Frey daughter after the war. Sadly, to ensure no loose ends from the Red Wedding, Talisa is the first casualty of the Red Wedding, made worse in that she's pregnant with Rob's child and Walder Frey explicitly having Talisa stabbed in the stomach in front of Robb and Catelyn.

** Oberyn Martell to the max for many readers of this book and the primary example over all in this book. His bout with Gregor is often herald the best duel in the series thus far and Oberyn himself is seen as a LovableSexManiac whom despite being a bit of a {{Jerkass}} initially opts to act as champion for Tyrion to fight his (Oberyn's) sister's killer. The fact he's so popular even [[spoiler:after he dies not long after being introduced]] speaks volumes of his character.

* {{Narm}}: Stannis and Melisandre talk about "waking the great stone dragons" on Dragonstone... just like the Ancestors wanted Mushu to do in ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Jeyne Westerling. She's a girl from enemy territory who treats Robb after he was injured in a siege when he heard of Winterfell's sacking and [[SexForSolace tended to him]]. Being honorable to a fault, Robb breaks his engagement to a Frey girl to marry Jeyne and preserve her honor. Despite the marriage being borderline shotgun, Robb seems fond of her. We don't get much insight into her character, details about her relationship with the King in the North beyond sleeping with him, or much interaction with mother-in-law Catelyn [[note]]The only share ''one'' scene together in Lord Hoster Tully's room, with Jeyne asking Catelyn for tips on aspects of her relationship with Robb, but it is from Cat's perspective, and she is kind of sort of more focused on the fact that her dad is going to ''die soon'', so we ''still'' don't get much info[[/note]]. Even when Cat sees her brother's fiancé who might have wed Robb if he hadn't broken his vows with the Freys, Catelyn's main comparison between Roslin and Jeyne is that Jeyne has better hips for child-bearing.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Jeyne Westerling. She's a girl from enemy territory who treats Robb after he was injured in a siege when he heard of Winterfell's sacking and [[SexForSolace tended to him]]. Being honorable to a fault, Robb breaks his engagement to a Frey girl to marry Jeyne and preserve her honor. Despite the marriage being borderline shotgun, Robb seems fond of her. We don't get much insight into her character, details about her relationship with the King in the North beyond sleeping with him, or much interaction with mother-in-law Catelyn beyond their ''one'' scene together in Lord Hoster Tully's room, with Jeyne asking Catelyn for tips on aspects of her relationship with Robb, but it is from Cat's perspective, and she is kind of sort of more focused on the fact that her dad is going to ''die soon'', so we ''still'' don't get much info. Even when Cat sees her brother's fiancé who might have wed Robb if he hadn't broken his vows with the Freys, Catelyn's main comparison between Roslin and Jeyne is that Jeyne has better hips for child-bearing.

* JerkassWoobie: Merrett Frey, the narrator of the final chapter. While he's not really a nice guy, being a useless alcoholic, a Frey, and [[spoiler:a participant in the Red Wedding, albeit not a particularly vicious one]], his life is worthy of pity. His dreams of becoming a knight were crushed in his squirehood by a head injury, which would give him constant headaches forever after that only drink could soothe. Right after he married his wife, her family fell out of favor because they had supported King Aerys II Targaryen right after he lost the war. He has no land or keep of his own and he's the ninthborn son of Walder, which means he has about zero chance of inheriting anything. [[spoiler:And he dies an UndignifiedDeath when he's hung by the Brotherhood Without Banners.]]

* JerkassWoobie: Merrett Frey, the narrator of the final chapter. While he's not really a nice guy, being a useless alcoholic, a bully in his childhood, and a Frey besides, his life is worthy of pity. His dreams of becoming a knight were crushed in his squirehood by a head injury, which would give him constant headaches forever after that only drink could soothe. Right after he married his wife, her family fell out of favor because they had supported King Aerys II Targaryen right after he lost the war. He has no land or keep of his own and he's the ninthborn son of Walder, which means he has about zero chance of inheriting anything. [[spoiler:And he dies an UndignifiedDeath when he's hung by the Brotherhood Without Banners.]]

** Yes, [[spoiler:Lady Stoneheart is frightening and has jumped over the MoralEventHorizon by killing Frey children along with the adults. She also is avenging her family and her first kills are the AssholeVictim descendants of dear Walder, forcing the others to go on the defense. Merret Frey's OhCrap and realizing he is going to die is quite satisfying after he weakly tried to say he only drank during the Red Wedding]].

* HilariousInHindsight: In the epilogue, the Brotherhood argue among themselves about whose turn it is to pretend to be Lord Beric, and Tom of Sevenstreams jokingly asks if he has to be Thoros. In the TV show, Tom was AdaptedOut and his traits of singing and being amiable were given to Thoros

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Jeyne Westerling. She's a girl from enemy territory who treats Robb after he was injured in a siege when he heard of Winterfell's sacking and [[SexForSolace tended to him]]. Being honorable to a fault, Robb breaks his engagement to a Frey girl to marry Jeyne and preserve her honor. Despite the marriage being borderline shotgun, Robb seems fond of her. We don't get much insight into her character, details about her relationship with the King in the North beyond sleeping with him, or much interaction with mother-in-law Catelyn beyond their ''one'' scene together in Lord Hoster Tully's room, with Jeyne asking Catelyn for tips on aspects of her relationship with Robb, but it is from Cat's perspective, and she is kind of sort of more focused on the fact that her dad is going to ''die soon'', so we ''still'' don't get much info. Even when Cat sees her brother's fiancé who might have wed Robb if he hadn't broken his vows with the Freys, Catelyn's main comparison between Roslin and Jeyne is that Jeyne has better hips for child-bearing. Unsurprisingly the TV series expands Robb's wife into a main character - though Jeyne is replaced by a CanonForeigner called Talisa Maegyr.

* WhatAnIdiot: Walder Frey's decision to collaborate in [[spoiler:the Red Wedding in [[SacredHospitality the way he did]]]]. In the process he's [[spoiler:joined sides with two backstabbing houses and taken most of the blame for the atrocities committed there.]] Although House Frey gained a big jump in nominal power, it's also [[spoiler:received a bad reputation throughout the kingdom and had some of its members picked off by bandits as a result]]. Some fans believe that the cons vastly outweigh the short-term gains that his house has received.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Oberyn Martell to the max for many readers of this book and the primary example over all in this book. His bout with Gregor is often herald the best duel in the series thus far and Oberyn himself is seen as a {{Lovable Sex Maniac}} whom despite being a bit of a {{Jerkass}} initially opts to act as champion for Tyrion to fight his (Oberyn's) sister's killer. The fact he's so popular even [[spoiler: after he dies not long after being introduced]] speaks volumes of his character.
** For readers, it was clear that archetypal VillainBall holder Jaime Lannister had more to his story than had yet to be told; and, when he is the CharacterNarrator for the first chapter of the book, it becomes reasonable to believe that his story ''will'' be told. What readers were ''not'' necessarily expecting was the sheer depth of his CharacterDevelopment -- so extensive that, not only had he accomplished an impressive HeelFaceTurn by the end of the novel, he had gained a spot in many readers' top 5 favorite character lists.
** Beric Dondarrion's fight with Sandor was yet another highlight from the book and as such he's got a respectable fanbase himself [[spoiler: despite the fact like Oberyn, he too dies in this book... after six times before]].

* HesJustHiding: [[spoiler: The Hound's]] death is unconfirmed and the body not recovered, so some fans hold out hope he survived.

** For readers, it was clear that archetypal VillainBall holder Jaime Lannister had more to his story than had yet to be told; and, when he is the {{narrator}} for the first chapter of the book, it becomes reasonable to believe that his story ''will'' be told. What readers were ''not'' necessarily expecting was the sheer depth of his CharacterDevelopment -- so extensive that, not only had he accomplished an impressive HeelFaceTurn by the end of the novel, he had gained a spot in many readers' top 5 favorite character lists.

* {{Narm}}: Stannis and Melisandre talk about "waking the great stone dragons" on Dragonstone... just like the Ancestors wanted Mushu to do in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}''.

* CatharsisFactor: Most readers wanted [[spoiler:Joffrey]] dead since the first book.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Walder Frey and Roose Bolton]] both crossed this with [[spoiler: the Red Wedding. Walder crosses it for having Robb and his bannermen murdered for the petty excuse of Robb breaking a marriage vow and for laughing as the entire thing unfolded and Roose Bolton for personally killing Robb himself]]. In-universe, [[spoiler:Walder Frey is also considered to have crossed this for the Red Wedding, but less so for the wholesale murder (which is excusable) but more for having broken the [[SeriousBusiness rules of hospitality.]]]]