Video Game / Game of Thrones (Telltale)

aka: Telltales Game Of Thrones

"Iron from Ice."

— Forrester House Words

Game of Thrones is an episodic graphic adventure based on the A Song of Ice and Fire books and Game of Thrones television series. The first episode was released on December 2, 2014 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The game is developed by Telltale Games in partnership with Ty Corey Franck, the personal assistant of the books' author George R. R. Martin, who works as the "story consultant". The game follows a similar episodic format to other Telltale titles, such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Tales from the Borderlands, where player choices and actions have significant effects on later story elements across the six-episode arc.

The game takes place concurrently with the television series, from the end of the third season until just prior to the start of the fifth season, and includes voice work from the show's actors. However, the story's focus is on House Forrester, who were name-dropped in A Dance with Dragons but did not appear within the show itself. House Forrester's fief is the Ironwood forest just north of Winterfell, and their seat is Ironrath. The game primarily takes place near Ironrath, but includes established locations on both continents of Westeros and Essos. There are five playable protagonists, either as family members or servants of House Forrester.

Although Telltale announced that there would be a second season, the studio closed before it could be created. It has yet to be announced if LCG Entertainment's Telltale will take on the second season.

HERE BE GAME-WIDE SPOILERS. The story begins with a huge Late-Arrival Spoiler for anyone who has not read up to A Storm of Swords or reached the end of season 3 of the television adaption. Because of the story-heavy nature of the series, only spoilers for the last episode are marked to keep this page readable. It is best to experience the game first-hand (or a Let's Play series of it) before reading these pages.

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Tropes

A-M

• Aborted Arc: With the closure of Telltale Games, the fate of the Forrester clan and their allies is a tale left untold.
• Action Girl: Beskha, Asher's parter-in-crime in Essos.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • In the show, Tyrion wielded almost no real power as Master of Coin due to Tywin being the Hand during this time. Here, he seems to be reasonably powerful and able to match his sister's maneuvers. Justified as the Forresters' power-base is very specifically economic.
  • House Forrester itself is this to hardcore fans of both the TV show and books. House Forrester is only a third-tier house in Westeros, answering to House Glover which answers to House Stark. Here, the Forresters answer to the Starks directly and are trusted to lead the vanguard of their forces. They are also apparently rich and highly placed enough that one of their ranks is handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell. The Codex also states that Ironrath, the seat of house Forrester, rivaled Winterfell and hints that it made Eddard Stark jealous.
  • A major one for the pit-fighters of the Slaver Cities. Beska calls them the equal of any ten soldiers and they're presented as game changers in the Forrester-Whitehill conflict although this is sort of an Informed Attribute in the end. In the books a plot point was made that pit-fighters are trained to fight individuals, as individuals, and are more concerned with making fights entertaining than organized combat; indeed, Astapor was treated as a joke for sending out pit fighters during a battle.
• Agony of the Feet: Cotter shoots himself in the foot with a crossbow bolt, though for some reason he doesn't seem any worse for wear aside from rubbing his foot while grunting.
• Albinos Are Freaks: Sylvi's village saw her white hair as a bad omen, and her mother left her in the forest to die as a baby, but her brother recovered her and left the village with her.
• Almost Dead Guy: Gared's father lives exactly long enough to say his goodbyes.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Lord Morgryn tries invoking this on Mira in the finale: either marry him and live or face the executioner.
• Ambiguously Gay: In an Easter Egg, Arthur Glenmore smirks, wags his eyebrows and winks at Rodrick.
• Annoying Arrows: At the end of Episode 5, Asher or Rodrik fight the Whitehills and get hit by multiple arrows, even in the neck, yet show little to no reaction to being hit by the arrows only finally expiring to being stabbed multiple times and hit by the pommel of a sword.
• Anyone Can Die: Being both a Telltale game and a Game of Thrones adaption, this was inevitable. Not even playable characters are safe.
• Arc Words:
  • "Iron from Ice," House Forrester's words.
  • "The North Grove must never be lost," the message that Lord Forrester told Gared to give to Duncan and only to Duncan.
  • "Valar Morghulis", which shows up when your character dies in a QTE.
  • Gared can choose to say "Winter is coming" as a response to Jon Snow questioning Gared's motives in wanting to become a Ranger.
  • "Words are wind." Both Cersei and Malcolm quote this in Episode Three, in very different contexts, to emphasize that it's one's actions, rather than statements, that have lasting consequences. (Also counts as Leaning on the Fourth Wall given the choices-matter nature of the game.)
• Arranged Marriage:
  • Rodrik is betrothed with lady Elaena Glenmore. It's of perfectly arranged kind.
  • In episode 4, Elaena is commanded to marry Gryff Whitehill instead - something she doesn't take kindly.
  • Episode 6, Ludd can try and invoke this on Asher with Gwyn.
• Ascended Extra: The Forresters are just one of the many houses in the background of A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Their name was mentioned exactly once, in the fifth novel - though this mention did establish that they are indeed a minor noble House from the Wolfswood, and that they are vassals of House Glover. Instead of inventing a new House from scratch, the video game creators chose to round out one of the minor background Houses only mentioned in passing.
• Artificial Atmospheric Actions: The reactions of characters oftentimes don't quite align with the current situation or what's being said.
  Crowd: Fucking traitor! Murderer! Kill Her!
  Mira: *to her executioner* Let's get this over with.
  Crowd: A noble death! What a brave woman! Have mercy on her!
• As You Know: Mostly averted, despite being a narrative-driven fantasy series. The game either makes use of a Naïve Newcomer or The Watson to justify explaining things for the audience. Other exposition is disguised as characters wondering aloud, chit-chat between two parties, and discussions/arguments where they remind each other of things they know already.
• The Atoner: If you spare the traitor, he helps Talia escape Ironrath during the final battle and helps treat the surviving Lord Forrester's injuries in The Stinger.
• A Tankard of Moose Urine: Beskha comments on the Ghiscari ale she and Asher found in an abandoned tavern quite unflatteringly. "Ale! Goes in yellow and comes out yellow. Waste of time even drinking it".
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Ramsay Snow flays people for fun, so yeah.
  • If the player so chooses, Asher can become this.
• Back for the Dead: Britt, the Whitehill man-at-arms from Episode 1, returns in Episode Three only to be swiftly killed after ambushing Gared Tuttle. He was kind of asking for it, though.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Though it can play out in several different ways, the story ultimately ends with either the Big Bad or Dragon Ascendant sacking Ironrath and defeating the Forresters, even if he does lose his son/father and most of his men in the process.
• Bad Boss: Ramsay Snow, to no one's great surprise. He coldly murders Lord Ethan, a vassal lord to the Boltons, even if he acts perfectly loyal. He'd also rather have two of his vassal houses fight to the death (mostly for his amusement) rather than actually do his job and mediate their hostilities.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Gared wants to be more than a squire, and he wants to have a sword like Lord Forrester's. His wish is fulfilled quickly at the end of the Red Wedding.
• Bears Are Bad News: Gared encounters a huge, aggressive polar bear in Episode 6. Subverted after the bear (and its warg) joins his side.
• Bittersweet Ending: While the Forresters are overthrown by the Whitehills, the ending can still be as seen as this. Gared manages to find the North Grove and can send a small army to Ironrath, Asher/Rodrik survives (albeit heavily injured) and escapes along with Talia and Duncan/Gwyn/Royland, Ryon is taken to safety by Beskha, and Malcolm remains in Daenerys' service on Essos. Even Mira's death (if she refuses to marry Morgryn) can be seen as bittersweet, since she dies with dignity and saves Tom's life.
• Blatant Lies: According to Lord Whitehill, Gared attacked Britt's men without provocation. Except that they had just slaughtered Gared's family.
• Book Ends:
  • Episode 1 features one if Gared leaves Bowen to be killed via an Impromptu Tracheotomy. Ethan suffers the same fate at the end of the episode, courtesy of Ramsay.
  • Episode 1 starts with the Red Wedding. If Asher is the lord in episode 6, the Forresters will betray and attack the Whitehills at a feast to celebrate Asher and Gwyn's wedding.
  • Gared is the first and last playable character, not counting the stinger with Asher/Rodrik. Also, if Gared chooses to return to Ironrath with Elsera and Josera, the first episode begins with Gared raising a cup and the season ends with Gared raising his sword.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Duncan and Royland, when arguing their respective courses of action. Duncan points out that the Forresters lack the men and military power for the aggressive actions that Royland proposes, while Royland points out that the Whitehills and Boltons cannot be trusted or reasoned with no matter what Duncan says to them.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: The Glenmore's elite rangers join Rodrik's cause in Episode 4, each of whom are skilled with their longbows and with swords.
• Call-Back: Several pieces of dialogue change to reflect your previous choices, including from earlier episodes.
  • In Episode 5, the traitor gives Rodrik "The Reason You Suck" Speech based on Rodrik's previous choices that he doesn't agree with, as the Stranger did in Episode 5 of Season 1 of The Walking Dead. Namely whether or not Rodrik: kissed Ludd's ring, lost his betrothal to Elaena, submitted to Gryff, took the Glenmores to Highpoint, and who Rodrik took to Highpoint (Duncan or Royland). The one scolding that remains constant is the traitor always scolding Rodrik for getting Arthur killed, which is unavoidable.
• Cane Fu: Rodrik is resident badass, who's temporarily crippled and forced to use a cane to walk. Those who didn't expect him to use a cane for beating people up weren't paying attention.
• Character Death:
  • Episode 1: Bowen will die at the Red Wedding if Gared chooses to warn Lord Gregor Forrester instead of saving him; Gregor himself will then be slain; Gared will find his father and sister dead and kills either one or both of Britt's two men in retaliation; and Ethan is shockingly stabbed through the neck by Ramsay.
  • Episode 2: Damien is either stabbed to death by Mira or killed off-screen by Tom via a rock if Mira flees.
  • Episode 5: Arthur is tortured to death by Ramsay, and either Asher or Rodrik will die performing a Heroic Sacrifice to save the other.
  • Episode 6: Either Mira is executed if she refuses to marry Morgryn, or Tom is executed if Mira agrees; Lady Elissa Forrester either poisons herself alongside Ludd Whitehill to ensure his death, or is stabbed by Harys; if Elissa poisons herself, Bowen will be stabbed by Harys if he was saved in Episode 1 (or Erik if Ethan showed mercy to him in Episode 1 and Bowen was killed); Gryff will be stabbed by Asher if Asher does not poison Ludd, or beheaded/fatally stabbed by Rodrik if Rodrik chooses to kill him instead of Ludd; and Ludd will be poisoned if Asher allows Elissa to drink the poison first, or beheaded/fatally stabbed by Rodrik if Rodrik chooses to kill him instead of Gryff.
• Chekhov's Gun: There are a few items that you can pocket that may help out later on. For example, if you ask for Margaery's help in Episode 1, you can then steal her letter seal, which proves useful in Episode 2 if Mira chooses to forge a letter to Elaena in Margaery's name, allowing her to seal the forged letter. Another example is Gared being able to take herbs and bandages from the maester after his injury in Episode 1, which come in handy in episode 4 to patch up Cotter's wounds.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: After Lord Forrester and his heir Rodrik are killed during the Red Wedding, young Ethan finds himself the new Lord Forrester. After he dies, the title technically passes to his even younger brother, Ryon, but Ryon is a hostage of Ramsay Snow and is therefore unable to actually do any leading. In Episode 2, Rodrik is still alive so instead of Ryon, Rodrik naturally receives the title of Lord of House Forrester.
• Combat Pragmatist: When Rodrik is re-training to use his sword with Royland, his ruined arm and leg don't let him fight with the same strength he once did. Ser Royland suggests that he stops trying to fight like a knight and use any advantage he can, and shows him how to drop down low and knock his opponent off his feet.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Cotter first explains how he ended up taking the Black for thievery, one memorable possible response from Gared:
  Finn: What are you here [at the Wall]] for then?!
  Cotter: (bitterly) Fuckin' potatoes...
  Gared: (confused) You... fucked potatoes?
• Composite Character: See Adaptational Badass, the Forresters are more or less a combination of themselves and their liege lords House Glover. Indeed, they wield an economic position in the North equivalent to House Manderly due to the Ironwood trade being something seemingly everyone in King's Landing wants a piece of.
• Conflicting Loyalty: A persistent theme. Several members of House Forrester and House Tuttle must choose between two loyalties, often to their family and to another priority of theirs, and usually more than once.
  • Gared is caught between his desire to stay at Ironrath and his duty to his family to go to the Wall; his uncle Duncan (as Castellan) makes the choice for him (the latter). Later at the Wall, it seems like Gared must choose between keeping to his Night's Watch vows or breaking them to help his family and find the North Grove; again, this choice is made for him when he kills Britt in self-defense and is forced to flee for his life.
  • Mira faces conflict as to whether to please Margaery and stay in King's Landing or please the Lannisters and work out a deal her family needs.
  • Asher is torn between his desire to return to Ironrath after years in exile and meet his family and love interest again (his family badly need his martial skills and leadership for a potential army), or his lifestyle in Essos and strong bond with fellow sellsword Beskha that he doesn't want to break by leaving her.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Surprisingly, given the gritty realism for the source material, this is averted during some sequences. Gared manages to fight off two armed soldiers after being disarmed himself in a minor example, while Asher and Beskha carve through dozens of armored Lost Legion mooks in Essos.
• Contrived Coincidence: One noticeable example in episode 3. Of all the caves in Essos, it was rather fortunate that Asher and co. ended up in the same one as Drogon, Daenerys' dragon and that Asher thought it prudent to pick up the dragon's tooth in the middle of the chaos. It proves to be useful later when appealing to Daenerys herself to make broker a deal that would let them borrow her sellswords.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Glenmores have dark red hair and their elite rangers dress in red as well.
• Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Sera Flowers pretends to be a trueborn daughter of a noble house. The house is extinct, so there's nobody to dispute her claims.
• Creative Closing Credits: The game's credits after finishing Episode 6 are a montage of various characters from the show narrating to other characters about the events of the game (Ramsay narrates to Reek, Margaery to Olenna, Daenerys to Missandei, and so on), and it goes over every major choice you made while showing what percentage of other players made the same choice. You also earn a title based on your choices throughout the game.
• Cruel Mercy: Ethan sentencing the thief to the Wall instead of cutting off his fingers is this. Even though the guy is spared gruesome maiming, he gets exiled for life and will never get to see his family again, to say nothing of what will happen to them now that their breadwinner is gone...
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Gared Tuttle specializes in this trope, first delivering an (optionally) utterly one-sided beatdown to Finn in Episode 2, and then to Britt in Episode 3.
  • In Episode 6, Gryff can be on the receiving end of one from either Rodrik or Asher
• Cycle of Revenge: Lampshaded by Maester Ortengryn as the reason he believes the Forresters and Whitehills hate each other.
  Ortengryn: I don't doubt someone killed someone, which led to more killings of someones, and then... well, here we are.
• Death by Irony: In the first episode Elissa remarks that Ludd Whitehill roars like a wounded boar. If Rodrik fights Ludd in episode 6, everyone's favourite boar gets speared in his gut.
• Death of a Child: In Episode 1, Gared's little sister is murdered off-screen and the episode concludes with Ethan, the young Lord of House Forrester, being brutally stabbed through the throat by Ramsay Snow.
• Decadent Court: King's Landing in a nutshell. Everyone is a piece in someone else's power struggle and saying the wrong thing to the wrong person can have lasting ramifications.
• Decapitation Presentation: A particularly cruel version of this can occur in Episode 6 if you have been confrontational in your interactions with Ludd. He will stick Asher's head on top of a pike and force Ryon to carry it to Ironrath if he sacrifices himself to save Rodrik in episode 5.
• Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: In the intro for episode 2, the Lost Legion plans to do this to Asher and Beskha, blaming them for killing the former slave master so they can keep the bounty for themselves.
• Decoy Protagonist: In good Game of Thrones fashion.
  • Ethan is built up as one of the main characters as Lord of House Forrester, but he is murdered in cold blood by Ramsay at the end of the first episode. Rodrik takes his place as lord after turning out to have survived the massacre.
  • Depending on your choices, Rodrik could serve as a decoy protagonist to Asher, who slowly gets more screen time and prominence as the series goes on, by sacrificing himself so Asher can live on and become lord.
• Defiant to the End:
  • One way of playing House Forrester throughout Season One. This, notably, infuriates Ludd Whitehill and drives him to near-madness trying to destroy you. It also doesn't prevent House Whitehill from conquering Ironrath in the end.
  • Minor villain example. When the living Forrester brother finds a wounded Whitehill soldier at the start of Episode 6, the Mook refuses to tell them anything and mocks the fallen Forrester brother for his cowardice. He keeps laughing bitterly even if he's beaten to a pulp by the infuriated POV character.
• Dirty Coward:
  • Britt flees after his men are defeated fighting Gared Tuttle. This trope comes into play given he could have helped them and he'd just murdered an eight-year-old girl and unarmed man while bragging about his prowess as a warrior.
  • Gryff isn't much better. He's a hothead, and loves pushing people around, but the moment people push back and he doesn't have his men to carry the weight of his words around, he is quick to hide behind his right hand man and get away from the actual conflict on horseback.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Whichever Forrester brother has to be left behind at the end of Episode 5, you can potentially hack your way through over a dozen Whitehill soldiers surrounding him before they are finally overwhelmed and slain.
• Downer Beginning:
  • You begin the game at the Red Wedding, in which Forresters' patriarch is slain, its heir is presumed dead, and the house's army is slaughtered.
  • Episode 5 starts with Arthur being horribly tortured and killed by Ramsay Snow in the first ten minutes.
• Downer Ending:
  • Episode 1 ends with Lord Ethan Forrester murdered in cold blood by Ramsay Snow.
  • Episode 2 ends with a montage of the funeral of Ethan and Lord Gregor with Lord Rodrik and Lady Elissa mourning, Mira washing blood off her face if she killed the Lannister knight to save the servant boy who's been helping her, and Gared at the Wall. All this set to Talia singing an original piece about how she would do anything to bring her father and twin brother back.
  • Episode 5 ends with either Rodrik or Asher killed, depending on who stays behind to make sure the portcullis is raised so the other can escape.
  • The game ends with Ironrath being conquered by the Whitehills, Elissa dead, and Mira either executed or forced to marry Lord Morgyn at the cost of her freedom. Depending on your choices, the Forrester Sentinel can die and Eleana can be captured by the Whitehills.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Beshka gets hammered before the mission to infiltrate Meereen, and ends up angry enough to antanogize both Asher and Croft. It turns out that she's a former fighting pit slave and really doesn't want to go back there.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Both your candidates for Knight Sentinel react poorly if you don't choose them.
• Dying Moment of Awesome:
  • Episode 5 ends with one for either Rodrik or Asher after making a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Lady Elissa is killed by a Whitehill soldier while saving her son's life.
  • Should Mira choose to face execution, she will have a more subdued but no less awesome one as she faces her death with dignity and walks fearlessly to the block. In her last words she can express disgust for the people of King's Landing and the injustice of the system, or defiantly cry “Iron from ice!” before being put to the blade.
• Easter Egg: If you bring Arthur to Highpoint and continuously click on him... he'll start making suggestive gestures at Rodrick.
• Establishing Character Moment: Ramsay's first appearance involves him flaying a man alive for fun, just to let players unfamiliar with the source material know just what kind of person is about to visit Ironrath.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • A couple of Whitehill soldiers start to question Gryff's actions when he starts gleefully kicking dogs for no reason.
  • Lord Whitehill himself: Even though he's still a Jerkass extraordinaire, he at least still takes guestright very seriously. It's later revealed that he loves his family to much to leave it to any danger, even if a pathetic fourth-born son Gryff.
• Every Man Has His Price:
  • The only way to secure lady Eleana's marriage to Rodrik (and an alliance with her father) on their first meeting is to offer her family ironwood. Lots of it.
  • Subverted with Ramsay Snow, you can try to bribe him but he kills Ethan anyway.
• Evil Is Hammy:
  • Lord Whitehill bellows like a wounded boar. Later in episode 2, Lord Whitehill isn't doing as much yelling but his voice actor is still delightfully Chewing the Scenery.

    Lord Whitehill: But now... I hear YOU're OR-dering them around...

  • Gryff Whitehill is a loud mouthed underhanded bully, he does his best to come off as intimidating as possible but apparently doesn't have the guts to act out his threats when push comes to shove.
• Evil Is Petty: The Whitehills and their soldiers have several Kick the Dog moments when they're not being outright cruel. For instance, they mockingly call Rodrik "the Ruined" and act out an insulting farce of Ethan's death when they know Rodrik can't make them stop.
• Exact Words: Fails miserably when used in King's Landing as everyone has seen this trick before. Cersei in particular defies this.
• The Exile:
  • Asher was banished to Essos when he attempted to elope with the Whitehills' eldest daughter.
  • Duncan forces Gared to join the Night's Watch to protect him and the Forresters from the Boltons's wrath.
• Eye Scream: Rodrik can hit Gryff in the eye in episode four with his cane as part of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • Gryff's men return the favour if you had Rodrik stay behind in episode five, and it's a bloody mess. If it's Asher, he also gets struck in the eye with a sword pommel, but all he gets is a black eye.
• Failure Is the Only Option: In Episode 5, it finally seems like you get a chance to exact your revenge against Gryff Whitehill. No matter how many of his men you hack down to get to him, though, Asher or Rodrik are overwhelmed before he can get close enough.
• Faux Affably Evil: Ramsay likes to act cheerful and friendly, but makes little effort to conceal his desire to painfully murder people for fun.
• Feuding Families: House Forrester and House Whitehill, who have fought over the Ironwood forests in the North for many generations. The Whitehills believe that they were unfairly robbed of the grove, but the Forresters recall that the Whitehills chopped down all of their Ironwood trees and then tried to take more from the Forresters. This even extends to the fact that the second son, Asher, was exiled to Essos for eloping with a Whitehill girl.
• Fingore: The classic punishment for a thief, according to the Forresters. Ethan can inflict this punishment on a thieving man himself, or pass it off to Royland.
• Foil:
  • The Forresters to several other families:
    • Firstly, the Starks. The Forresters can break oaths, lie, cheat, and engage in ruthlessly duplicitous behavior versus the honorable noble behavior which they are expected to do as Stark bannermen.
    • The Whitehills are this in virtually every respect for House Forrester. While the Forresters are a rich, respected, and ecologically friendly house of Stark banner, the Whitehills are a poor, derided, and ecologically unfriendly one. The Forresters are on the decline due to the events of the Red Wedding while the Whitehills are on the rise.
    • The Forresters can become one of these for House Frey of all people in the Asher ending. They can re-enact the Red Wedding with an ambush of the Whitehill guards, massacring all of their enemies while under guest-right. We, the viewer, sympathize but it's definitely every bit as heinous in Westeros due to differences in beliefs. Alternatively, they can become one for the Tyrells by poisoning Ludd Whitehill. Unlike Lady Olenna, though, they let Elisa sacrifice herself rather than blame someone else.
  • The Whitehills serve as a Foil for House Frey as well. Despite being both unrespected and disliked second-tier houses, the Whitehills have an ancient pedigree and were on the downturn while the Freys are considered an upstart house with immense wealth. Both houses benefit immensely from the Red Wedding but House Whitehill, despite many Kick the Dog moments, respects guest-right immensely and can be subject to it being broken by the Forresters.
  • Royland and Duncan are to one another from the beginning, being a Red Oni, Blue Oni and Those Two Guys who can basically be countered on to give the exact opposite advice in any given situation. They're actually not that different, as their reaction to being passed over for a promotion is to betray House Forrester to House Whitehill because they're that confident theirs is the only path to survival.
  • Mira to her fellow handmaiden Sera Flowers. Mira has the choice of playing the game in King's Landing or remaining true to her personal code of honor, while Sera remains neutral by being neither willing to completely betray Mira or completely stand behind her. By taking a stance at all, moral or ruthless, Mira proves very different from her friend.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Maester Ortengryn talks to Ethan about how his father's epithet will mark him in history as "Gregor the Good". Ethan asks Ortengryn what people will call him when he is gone, and Ortengryn tells him that will be up to him to decide by his actions. By the end of the episode that opportunity will come up, and promptly be sealed.
  • When Ramsay Snow comes to Ironrath, Ethan can offer him "bread and salt", the traditional offering to extend the protection of the laws of hospitality, promising not to hurt him while he visits in exchange for the same. Ramsay refuses, rudely saying he hates bread and salt. This indicates he has no intention of respecting the laws of hospitality and intends to kill Ethan in his own hold.
  • Lord Morgryn remarks to Mira in Episode 3: "You have a good head for business, Lady Mira. It'd be terribly disappointing to see it on the end of a pike." Morgryn is revealed to be the one who bribed Damien to kill Mira, and Mira herself is executed in Episode 6 if she refuses to marry Morgryn and give him control over Ironrath.
• Forest Ranger: The Forresters have this as their hat. Justified as their wealth comes from lumber and they live in the North. Played with as they love the forests because they chop them down for their wealth and they're warding away others who might steal their trees (and wealth).
• For Want Of A Nail: The traitor in House Forrester is determinant on who Ethan chose as Sentinel. The candidate not chosen will end up as the traitor.
• The Ghost: Several characters are mentioned but never appear, most notably King Joffrey, as Cersei and Tyrion seem to do all the talking for the crown, and Roose Bolton, who has his bannermen and son appear instead.
• Gilligan Cut: In episode 3, when Malcolm asks how Asher and Beskha know Croft, Asher confidently answers that he's a good friend. Immediate cut to a furious Croft decking Asher in the face.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: Cersei's meeting with Mira is full of subtle threats and not-so-subtle ones.
• Green Aesop: One a surprising number of lumber companies could get behind. Specifically, if you're a lumberjack, make sure to replant your trees so you can cut them down again. Invoked by the Forresters who are very close to the Earth and live in a near-literal tree house while the Whitehill Lord looks like Hoggish Greedly.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It is ridiculously easy to get Ludd Whitehill mad, even for something as little as swearing - something he does constantly. His son Gryff seems to have inherited this trait as well.
• Handicapped Badass: Rodrik is quickly getting better from his crippling injuries - in episode 3, he can withstand a beatdown and even deliver a few very strong punches to Gryff and Whitehill soldiers. In episode 4, he's shown training swordfighting with ser Royland - and doing unbelievably good for someone who can barely walk without a cane. He even can knock Gryff down with it. Now he can walk without his cane at the end of episode 5.
• Heel–Face Turn: Finn goes from The Bully to developing a pricly friendship with Gared.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ethan's plea to Take Me Instead ends up becoming this; though Talia ends up left alone, Ryon is not.
  • Rodrik or Asher depending on the player's choice at the end of Episode 5.
  • Mira can choose to sacrifice her life by refusing Morgryn's offer of marriage, as it would result in Morgryn claiming her family's land and power as well as Tom facing execution in her place.
  • Lady Elissa does this in Episode 6, whether to ensure that both her and Ludd Whitehill are poisoned, or by saving Asher/Rodrik in the battle for Ironrath. In the latter case, if she is already dead by that point, another expendable background character will do the same thing, which is still tantamount to suicide.
• Hero Killer:
  • Ramsay Snow kills Ethan in Episode 1 and Arthur Glenmore in Episode 5, and likely would have killed more people if not for his boredom.
  • In Episode 5, Harys is one of many Whitehills that kill Asher or Rodrik, putting his victim's eye out. During the battle in Episode 6, Harys (The Dragon of House Whitehill) personally kills at least half a dozen Forrester-aligned people, including Lady Forrester and very nearly Asher/Rodrik.
• Hero of Another Story: The main players from Game of Thrones. Tyrion, Jon Snow, and Daenerys have their own stories to tell in the main series, though they still play pivotal roles for the protagonists in this game.
• Honor Before Reason: More or less the theme of the game. Do you choose to do the right thing to do or the practical thing? Will the practical thing even help?
• Hope Spot:
  • One moment in Episode 3 for those who have no prior exposure to the source material; this is mixed with Dramatic Irony for those who know what's coming. Tyrion finally decides to purchase ironwood from House Forrester, giving the protagonists the coin they need to pay a sellsword army and giving their house's claim on their forests some legitimacy. The decree to make this happen is on his desk and will be signed shortly. Shame that this happens right before the Purple Wedding, so Tyrion gets promptly arrested for poisoning Joffrey and the deal does not go through. Moreover, even stealing the decree is hugely risky, as anyone who associated with the man suspected of kingslaying will be investigated too.
  • By the end of Episode 4, Asher pulls off an infiltration in Meereen as part of his deal with Danaerys to get a mercenary army, Mira has sabotaged an ironwood deal between the Whitehills and the Lannisters, Gared is on his way to the North Grove, and Rodrik may have negotiated a deal to get Ryon back... only to find that during his absence, Ramsay Snow has returned to Ironrath, and is all but holding Talia at knife-point. At the start of Episode 5, most of the progress made by the Forresters has been undone (with the exception of Gared's storyline).
  • The end of Episode 5, Asher arrives in Westeros with Beskha and the Pit Fighters and reunites with Rodrik. Everything seems to be looking up for the Forresters. Then the gate shuts and Gryff and his men show up...
  • Furthermore, once you're forced to leave either Asher or Rodrik behind, the sacrificing Forrester will be completely surrounded by Whitehill men, and the game's objective to you is simply "Kill Gryff Whitehill". It initially looks like you finally have a chance to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and kill him, even if you go down swinging in the process, but regardless of how well you fight your way through his men, he will get overwhelmed and killed before reaching his goal.
• Idiot Ball: If you are playing as Asher in Episode 6, the Whitehills offer an end to all of the conflict. Their terms are surprisingly generous, letting the Forresters still operate the ironwood business in exchange for becoming vassals to the Whitehills and having Asher marry Gwyn so a Whitehill will inherit Ironrath. But despite this, you are forced to attempt to betray the Whitehills by either trying to poison Ludd or going all Red Wedding at the negotiations. The plot will only kill some of the Whitehills, and the rest will ransack and destroy Ironrath. Even if you attempt to call off the plan in an attempt to secure genuine peace (albeit in servitude), Elissa will have none of it and try to murder Ludd herself. Though this is somewhat justified as she has had multiple sons killed in this fight, it still ends with her being dead and either Ludd or Gryff alive to attack Ironrath for your "betrayal".
• I Have a Family:
  • A Bolton soldier pleads this while at Gared's mercy. The effect is somewhat lost since he enjoyed killing old men and children a few minutes prior.
  • A more sympathetic example is the thief at Ironrath, who tries to avoid punishment by Fingore or by being sent to the Wall using this excuse.
• Improbable Weapon User: Asher is forced into this in Episode 5, when he's challenged to a pit fight and can only use weapons thrown to him by the spectators. This means that a guy who normally prefers a sword and an axe ends up using an absurdly large club, a sickle, and, most improbably, a katar.
• Interface Spoiler: Averted in Episode 2. The title screen shows all of the POV characters for that episode, but one of them is blacked out to disguise the fact that Rodrik survived the Red Wedding.
• Ink-Suit Actor: All of the characters from the books are voiced by their Game of Thrones actors and modeled on them whenever possible. This includes Cersei, Margaery Tyrell, Ramsay Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, and Daenerys Targaryen.
• Insane Troll Logic: No matter which is the traitor, both Royland and Duncan have leaked intelligence to Ludd Whitehill to ruin the chances of House Forrester being able to counter against the Whitehills. Their reasoning? Rodrik is bringing House Forrester to ruin with his actions. So therefore, since Rodrik is making the House SEEM weak, their solution is to also make the House ACTUALLY weak.
• Irony: In Episode 1, Ryon carves the names of two of his brothers (Rodrik and Ethan) into a wooden sword. Showing it to Ethan, he says that Ethan's side is to give him strength and Rodrik's side is for remembrance. By Episode 2, Ethan is dead and Rodrik is alive. Bonus points for Rodrik potentially using it as a cane to give him the strength to stand up.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Surprisingly, this is encouraged by the game with regards to the Whitehills and Boltons. Ethan, Rodrik, and Asher are all encouraged to show obedience to them both while plotting their revenge against them. While it's possible to pursue a genuine path to peace, the characters are always looking for some way to backstab both and regain their former standing. This can culminate into re-enacting the Red Wedding in the Asher ending, slaughtering the Whitehills for their crimes
• It Amused Me:
  • Ramsay's only reason for killing Ethan, especially if he's completely loyal to him.
  • Tyrion needs ironwood for his duties as Master of Coin, but he toys with the idea of helping Mira Forrester because doing so would irritate his sister, an activity he delights in.
• Just Following Orders: The disarmed soldier begging for mercy after participating in murdering Gared's family.
• Just in Time: Asher Forrester manages to do it twice in the span of two minutes. Meereenese soldiers are trying to light the signal fire that will warn the whole city about the invasion. First Asher manages to throw his axe and cut the rope exactly in time to prevent the disaster. A soldier tries to light the brazier manually, and yet again Asher barely breaks the Harpy's horns, which serve as brazier's supports.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Due to being Saved by Canon, the Forresters will never get their revenge on the Bastard of Bolton for Ethan's death. However, while the Boltons are Saved by Canon, the jury is still out on the Whitehills.
  • In Episode 2, Cotter becomes one for stealing Finn's knife. Even if Gared rats him out, Cotter hides the knife in his sleeve so no one can prove it was him.
  • In Episode 6, either Gryff or Ludd Whitehill will become one, as only one can be killed. If Asher survived Episode 5, he will end up killing Gryff in Episode 6, unless he agrees to poison Ludd and allows it to proceed at the cost of his mother's life. If Rodrik survived Episode 5, he must choose whether to kill Gryff or Ludd after the pair split up.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Lord Whitehill's really insistent on getting "justice" for his slain man (or men), despite the fact he'd sent them to murder a peasant's family without provocation (or the Boltons did). Also, being sent to the Wall is the traditional punishment for murderers.
    • And as if to rub it in more, if you want Ryon to attend his brother's funeral, you have to kiss Lord Whitehill's ring.
  • Ramsay murdering Ethan in front of his already-grieving family, and then proceeding to kidnap his younger brother Ryon.
  • Britt, the man who murders Gared's family, not only kills an unarmed pig farmer but also an eight-year-old girl while bragging about it. He then flees when the odds turn against him. Britt proceeds to blame Gared for the whole affair.
  • Gryff Whitehill does this both figuratively and literally - that's how evil he is. His most shining moment of jackassery is repeatedly kicking Rodrik while he's down and threatening to hurt Talia if Rodrik doesn't lie quietly while he's doing it. Gwyn Whitehill also mentions how dogs still go silent in the kennels, when Gryff passes by.
• Killing in Self-Defense:
  • In Episode 3, Gared does this to Britt after the latter picks a fight with him atop the Wall. Britt dies whether or not the player chooses to finish the job cleanly.
  • In the same episode, Mira is attacked by a Lannister guard when she meets with him and either she or Tom has to kill him. Regardless of whether it was self-defense or not, rumors spread that she killed him and she's suspected before long.
• Kneel Before Zod: Several times. You can choose whether to submit or not, with lasting consequences either way.
  • While Cersei doesn't outright demand it, she will be displeased if Mira doesn't opt to kneel to her during her audience in Episode 1.
  • In Episode 1, Ramsay Snow demands that Ethan kneel before him to demonstrate fealty.
  • In Episode 2, Lord Ludd Whitehill demands that Rodrik kneel and kiss his ring in exchange for allowing Ryon to attend the family funeral.
  • In Episode 3, Gryff Whitehill does a more savage version where he kicks Rodrik to the ground and demands that he submit and stay lying down on the ground.
• Lady-In-Waiting: Mira Forrester is a lady-in-waiting to Margaery Tyrell, as is Sera Flowers.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler:The game spoils the biggest surprise of Season 3 (the Red Wedding) in the first scene.
• Left Hanging: Season One's Sequel Hook will most likely remain unresolved following the closure of Telltale Games in 2018.
• Meaningful Name: The Forresters are careful caretakers of the ironwood, while the Whitehills are clearcutters who harvest the land barren. The latter is Lampshaded.
• Mexican Standoff: At the end of Episode 4, one occurs within the Whitehills' hall if you bring Arthur and his rangers with you. When tensions reach their boiling point regarding the release of Ryon, Ludd has the protagonists at crossbow-point while the Glenmore rangers have bows drawn at him.
• The Mole: Episode 3 has Gwyn Whitehill reveal that there is a traitor on Rodrik's small council, since the Whitehills have intelligence on everything the Forresters discuss. The candidates are: Duncan Tuttle, Ser Royland Degore, Maester Ortengryn, and Lady Forrester. It turns out to be the person who Ethan did not name as sentinel (either Duncan or Royland), who will accuse Rodrik of running the house into the ground.
• Mood Whiplash: Like its source material, happy or calm moments in the narrative are often interrupted abruptly. On the other hand, during a few dramatic or tense moments, one dialogue option will be humorous and can be used to defuse the tension.
  • Right at the start, the viewer is treated to Northern soldiers singing a bawdy wedding song and talking about how they will lead the vanguard for the Starks. For book-readers and show-watchers, the whiplash is the Wham Line that it's the Red Wedding. For others, it's when the Forrester squires notice that something's not right...
  • When One-Eyed Croft is introduced, he's furious with Beshka and Asher- and seemingly wants payback for losing his eye. He then reveals that it was all an elaborate ruse, and he just wanted to mess with them.
• Mordor: Whitehill's seat, the Highpoint, looks absolutely horrid, with the ruined towers, ugly tree stumps surrounding them, dirty banners and omnious dark clouds looming over the castle. Subtle.
• Morton's Fork: Many choices actually lead to (more or less) the same outcome. Since a player does not know this until they play through multiple times, the tension is not knowing which choices actually matter and how. For notable instances:
  • The meeting with Cersei is set up as an in-universe one, as placating her is just as likely to come off as badly as refusing to do so. Why? Because Cersei's a jerk. Subverted if you choose King Joffrey over Lady Margaery in the final choice, which pleases Cersei and doesn't upset Margaery as she knows she ordered you to do it.
  • Meeting with Ramsay Snow is another case of this, as any option to take against him will not go down well. You don't have enough strength to intimidate him militarily, offering him the ironwood equates to giving up your only reliable source of currency, and any diplomacy is questionable because he's a psycho. The meeting always ends just as poorly, as he always sends Whitehill men to infiltrate Ironrath, takes Ryon hostage, and kills Ethan.
  • Episode 2 has Lord Whitehill decide to take the entirety of the Ironwood with varying justification - if he's spoken to humbly, it will be taken "as a token of goodwill", and if defied, it will be taken "as a lesson".
  • Mixing in with Unwinnable by Design, it's impossible to stay on Margaery's good side in episode 3. While her anger at Mira is somewhat understandable if she admits that she went to Tyrion for help with her family behind Margaery's back, she'll be equally furious if Mira truthfully claims that she simply had a drink with him. She'll always accuse Mira of backstabbing her, and command that she never speak to Tyrion again or she will be sent home to her family. Tyrion then asks to speak with Mira at the wedding in front of Margaery; even if Mira follows Margaery's orders and doesn't talk to him, Margaery will refuse her help for the wedding after hearing Tyrion mention the decree.
  • Asher's choice on whether to allow Beskha to kill her former master, stop her, or kill the master himself does nothing as Daenerys will refuse to give Asher the Seconds Sons no matter what. She will scold Asher and Beskha if the master is killed, and will only give them a chest full of gold bricks (the same reward she gives if you reveal that Beskha was the master's slave) if the master was spared.
  • No matter what you do in Episode 6, Ironrath will fall and at least one of Gryff or Ludd will survive, while Elissa will perish (as will your Sentinel if you did not kill the traitor in Episode 5). The Whitehills will eventually break through Ironrath, though you might save a couple characters depending on your choices. If you poison Ludd as Asher, Elissa will die as well when Ludd gets suspicious, and Gryff survives and escapes to rally his troops. If you try to ambush the Whitehills while they are within Ironrath under guest-right, Gryff will die but Ludd will escape to rally his troops. And even if you call off the ambush/poison in an attempt to actually secure peace, Elissa will unsuccessfully attempt to kill Ludd and he will survive to rally his troops.
• Mysterious Past: We never get the full story on Elsera and Josera. In fact, they themselves don't know it, and the one guy who likely did is dead. Who's their mother? Under what circumstances did she meet Lord Gregor? Did he send them up North because of their magical abilities, or for some other reason? Did he even know about said abilities?

N-Z

• Naïve Newcomer:
  • Gared to the Night's Watch. The first thing that he's told is that being nice is not a great quality to have in an Army of Thieves and Whores.
  • Ethan Forrester suddenly becomes lord of his house at the age of 11, leaving behind his music and his childhood forever. He can adapt to his new position fairly quickly. Too bad it doesn't last past a single episode before he gets killed.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead:
  • Averted in a very nasty fashion in episode 3, as the Whitehills put on a performance designed to mock the way Ethan died in episode 1, portraying that character as dying in a cowardly manner, when in reality he was being very brave/bold/wise at the time.
  • At the start of Episode 6, again a defiant Whitehill soldier mocks Rodrik or Asher as dying like a coward. Averting this must be one of their favorite pastimes.
• Night of the Living Mooks: Late in Episode 5, Gared and company find themselves being attacked by an army of Wights, and they are forced to run.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: What does Gared get for defending himself from the Whitehills, avenging his family, and fulfilling his oath to the late Lord Forrester? Sent to the Wall, of course.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • Gryff can get a SAVAGE one from Rodrik in episode four, up to the point of Eye Scream
  • The surviving Lord does this to a Whitehill soldier at the start of Episode 6, for insulting his brother's death. No matter how much you beat on him, the character is growling with anger by the end.
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: In episode 4, Ludd Whitehill invites Rodrik to Highpoint to discuss a truce with him. Bread, salt, vinegar and a dozen of armed crossbowmen are all present.
• No-Sell: The Forrester's House words are Iron From Ice. According to Telltale, they're very comfortable with Westeros' years-long winters and have many survival skills related to them. Which may be a case of Wrong Genre Savvy since the problems with Westeros winters aren't just the elements.
• Non-Standard Game Over: In Episode 4, you can command Duncan, Royland, or Arthur (depending on who is present) to kill Ludd Whitehill. What happens next are deaths of Ludd, Ryon, Rodrik, Lady Forrester, and Duncan/Royland, all happening in span of ten seconds, leading to a Game Over screen. If Arthur and his men were brought along, they too are killed and they kill Gwyn Whitehill as well.
  • When speaking to Cersei in Episode 5, you can consistently refuse to answer. Eventually Cersei will grow exasperated with Mira's silence and order her guard to kill her.
• Noodle Incident: At several points in their storyline, Asher and Beskha briefly reminisce about a few incidents/jobs in different cities of Essos.
• Not Quite Dead: Rodrik turns out to have survived the Red Wedding in Episode 2, though with wounds so severe that a lesser man would have probably been killed outright.
• Not Worth Killing: Gared can decide this with Britt when the latter attacks him on top of the wall.
• Off with His Head!: If Mira refuses to marry Lord Morgryn, she is executed in this way.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Implied in Episode 3. If Mira does not kill Damien in Episode 2 and flees, Tom the Coal Boy lives and Damien dies anyway. This would imply that a scrawny, disarmed boy managed to get out of being drowned by a guardsman and kill him.
• Outliving One's Offspring: ...and being helpless to protect your child when it happens again. Watching your youngest child being taken hostage by a man who flays people for laughs. Learning that another one of her sons was killed. Lady Forrester is almost completely broken by the end of the series and can lead to Driven to Suicide.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: When Gared and co. run into a huge pack of wights, the game suddenly turns from low fantasy back into The Walking Dead, now with zombies that can use weapons and only truly die to fire.
• Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: A variant. In Episode 6, in Asher's path, one choice to assassinate Ludd Whitehill is to poison his goblet. He suspects this and will only drink if Lady Forrester does so too.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Ramsay, of all people, shows this when he only kills one of the Forresters, takes their last male heir hostage, and leaves behind a garrison. The Forresters are too valuable to the Boltons to dispose of en masse. It also ensures the Forresters have no competent male heir, leaves them fearful of the Boltons, ensures the house will likely crumble in time, but still leaves them intact enough to provide their craft skill. And he knows he can get away with it.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Before Gared attacks the three soldiers who killed his family and want his greatsword, you have the option to have him say one of the following: "Fuck you." "Aye. You'll have it." "Come and get it."
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Gared has one if the player chooses to kick Britt off the Wall.
  Gared: Britt, try not to piss yourself on the way down.
• Press X to Die: When meeting with Lord Whitehill inside his own hall and surrounded by his armed men, at one point you have the option to straight-up attack him. Everyone present will die in the bloodbath, including Arthur Glenmore and his rangers if you brought them.
• Put on a Bus: Ramsay Snow disappears from the story after episode 1, leaving Whitehills as your primary antagonists. In the episode 4, the bus comes back in an appropriately horrible way.
• Pyrrhic Victory: House Whitehill ends up attacking House Forrester with ten times as many troops in the Rodrik ending. However, the attack ends with the death of either Ludd Whitehill or his son as well as many more soldiers killed than should have been possible due to the gladiators from Essos. In the Asher ending, Ludd and company get ambushed in House Forrester, which results in a bloody fight which goes about as well for them. They take Ironrath but suffer grevious losses.
• The Quiet One: It is possible to play any character like this by taking the silence option ("...") often. However, remaining silent can earn you the annoyance or distaste of other characters, especially when they expect you to speak.
  • Choosing to be this can backfire spectacularly on Mira in Episode 5, where staying silent three times in a row when speaking to Cersei will result in Cersei ordering her guard to kill her for wasting her time.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Margaery Tyrell and Tyrion Lannister are this at King's Landing. Probably.
  • Subverted with Frostfinger, who tries to execute you for killing Britt, even if you didn't attack him first, didn't try to finish him off and the only witness speaks in your favour.
• Red Herring:
  • Maester Ortengryn is the most likely candidate as The Mole, given that the other two suspects are your two closest advisers. If you tell Ortengryn the secret of the North Grove, Malcolm will warn you that he finds Ortegryn untrustworthy. It turns out that Ortengryn is not the mole.
  • In Episode 2, when Finn and Cotter are introduced, it quickly becomes obvious that Finn is a bully, so it looks like he's going to cause a problem with Gared later, while Cotter seems more like harmless comic relief. In a twist, it's Cotter who starts a problem, by stealing Finn's knife and making it necessary for Gared to either tell Finn that Cotter did it or come to Cotter's defense.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Duncan Tuttle and Ser Royland have this dynamic. Duncan is cool-headed and pragmatic enough to think ahead while Royland is much more aggressive and encourages fighting to show one's strength. A major part of playing the Lord of House Forrester is to choose whose counsel to listen to.
  • During the Essos segments, a similar dynamic forms between Malcolm and Beskha. Later, in Episode 4, there's a moment of this between Croft and Beskha, with Beskha as the Red Oni once again (though Croft is less Blue than Malcolm), as Asher must decide whether or not to allow Beskha to kill her former master.
  • Also the difference between Rodrik (Blue) and Asher (Red). Albeit, this can be subverted with Rodrik choosing the most belligerant anti-Whitehill courses of actions while Asher chooses the most peaceful.
• Revenge Before Reason: A running theme of the game is the Forresters are grossly outnumbered and outmatched by the Whitehills and Boltons. However, due to a series of Kick the Dog moments, they get pushed into a corner where they become obsessed with this. Asher can attempt to end the fighting for good but will fail miserably because his mother will not let the loss of two children go.
• The Rival: The Whitehill family are traditional enemies of the Forresters.
• Sacred Hospitality: As in source material, guest right is an extremely important tradition in Westeros. Episode 1 starts with the Red Wedding - the infamous subversion of this trope. And then, if Asher becomes the lord of Ironrath, you get to subvert it too.
• Sacrificial Lamb:
  • Ethan is killed at the end of Episode 1, highlighting how nobody is safe in a Game of Thrones setting.
  • Arthur is gutted by Ramsay at the beginning of Episode 5; while he was a badass, we got relatively little screen time of him before he was offed.
• Sacrificial Lion: Episode 5 ends with either Rodrik or Asher sacrificing himself to help his brother escape the Whitehill ambush.
• Sadistic Choice: Seemingly Once per Episode.
  • Episode 1:
    • Gared must choose whether to save Bowen from impending death at the Red Wedding or leave him to warn Lord Forrester.
    • Ethan must decide whether to let Erik go free for stealing, being merciful but risking looking weak; send Erik to the Wall, angering no one but separating Erik from his family; or sever Erik's fingers, following his father's example but risking looking too harsh.
  • Episode 2:
    • Rodrik must decide whether to kiss Lord Whitehill's ring and allow Ryon to attend Ethan and Gregor's funeral but discredit himself to Elaena, or refuse and maintain his pride but anger his mother Elissa for being selfish.
    • Mira must either kill a Lannister knight sent to kill her and become responsible for his death, or flee to safety but risk the death of the Coal Boy (who intervened to save her).
  • Episode 3:
    • Asher must choose between saving his best friend Beskha or his uncle Malcolm, and is chewed out by whomever he doesn't choose.
    • After being ordered by Margaery not to speak to Tyrion after her prior meetings with him, Mira is torn at the Purple Wedding when Tyrion when asks to meet her in view of Margaery. Mira must either stay with Margaery, following her orders but risking Tyrion revealing his Ironwood Decree to her in front of Margaery and landing in trouble, or defying Margaery by speaking with Tyrion and risking being sent home to her family.
    • Rodrik has to choose between submitting to Gryff to secure peace but once again risking having to swallow his pride, or standing up to Gryff and risking further consequence.
  • Episode 4:
    • Asher has to decide between letting Beskha kill her former master and risk losing the aid of Daenerys by defying her orders, or stepping in and hurting his best friend by denying her the chance to get revenge. He can Take a Third Option and kill the master himself, but this pisses off both sides.
  • Episode 5:
    • Asher and Rodrik are trapped between a portcullis and Whitehill forces led by Gryff. One must make a Heroic Sacrifice, keeping the portcullis open for the other to escape.
  • Episode 6:
    • After finally being arrested for the death of Damien in Episode 2, Mira is given a choice by Lord Morgryn, the man who bribed Damien to kill her in the first place; either marry Morgryn and have Tom executed in her place but give Morgryn control over Mira's family home (Ironrath), or refuse and be executed herself.
    • If Asher survived, he must firstly decide whether to ambush or poison Ludd, before choosing whether or not to call off the plan and marry Gwyn, who longs for peace. If he chooses to poison Ludd, Elissa goes to drink the poison when Ludd gets suspicious; Asher must either stop her and sabotage the plan or allow Elissa to be poisoned alongside Ludd.
    • If Rodrik survived, he must choose whether to kill Gryff or Ludd when the pair split up, killing one but risking either not ending the war or not rescuing Ryon.
• Saved by Canon: Unfortunately, since the series must adhere to canon, the Forresters will never get their vengeance on the Boltons. However, all bets are off when it comes to House Whitehill, since they do not have the same protection.
• Scars Are Forever:
  • Rodrik is severely scarred and injured after the Red Wedding.
  • Ser Royland Degore is Ruggedly Scarred.
  • Likewise, Beskha has some very prominent scars on her face.
• Secret-Keeper: At several points, your POV character is entrusted with somebody's secret, whether it's their true parentage or vitally important ones to House Forrester. You can choose to either have them keep quiet or tell others.
• Sequel Hook: The Whitehills may have successfully taken Ironrath, but the Forresters are far from dead. Asher/Rodrik is seriously wounded but rescued by Talia and Duncan/Gwyn/Royland, Malcolm is still in Essos with Daenerys, Beskha and Ryon ride together to safety, Gared reaches the North Grove and either remains there with Elsera and Josera or returns South with them, and Mira is still alive if she agreed to marry Morgryn.
• Shame If Something Happened: Cersei Lannister gives the Forresters one of these in the trailers, referring to their lucrative lumber business. Subverted by the fact Cersei's subtext from the trailer is significantly more subtle than what she actually says. It's not so much subtext as text masquerading as subtext.
• Shout-Out: Two oldest sons in the Forrester family are named Rodrik and Asher. Roderick Usher is the protagonist of Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. The title is not unrelated to the plot of the game.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: During Lord Whitehill's visit, you can call him out several times for lying or being too egotistic to realize he's in the wrong.
• Slasher Smile: Ramsay sports a particularly smug one just a moment before killing Ethan.
• Smug Snake:
  • No matter how much Lord Whitehill postures, he's little more than a Bolton toady.
  • Cersei Lannister comes off as this in her meeting with Mira. Her innuendos and threats are crude as well as blunt. Later, Tyrion points out she doesn't even have the authority to control the Ironwood trade. Tyrion does as Master of Coin.
  • Britt is fine murdering unarmed pig-farmers and their eight-year-old daughter but goes to pieces fighting a trained warrior.
    • In episode 3 Britt meets his end while fitting this trope to a t. He provokes a fight with Gared describing in a despicably fond tone how he murdered Gared's family. For all his posturing, it's possible to somewhat easily disarm and kill him.
• The Social Darwinist: Ramsay Snow admits he doesn't really care about the Forrester's or Whitehill's reasons for struggling against each other and just wants them to fight it out until the stronger house remains. It's likely he's just looking for an excuse to see blood spill, though.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog:
  • No matter what choices you make, Mira ends the season having accomplished nothing, and with no prospects of helping the Forresters in the future. She's either executed, or (if she lets Tom take the fall for her) ends up trapped in a marriage to Morgryn which is implied to be a Fate Worse than Death — essentially being told she'll be locked up and used for breeding his heirs until she dies in childbirth or finds a way to end it all.
  • Determinantly, if you choose to sacrifice Asher in the penultimate episode, his story up until then becomes this. It can feel quite anticlimactic to have Asher get home and immediately perform a Heroic Sacrifice just to get Rodrik through to the next stage of the fight — moreso than the other way around, since Rodrik's story up until that point had taken place in Ironrath and been integral to the main plot, whereas Asher's chapters in Meereen often felt like a B-plot.
• Stealth Expert:
  • Asher, Beshka, and Croft all display a large degree of competence in this field when they infiltrate Meereen. They sneak in and quietly take out all the guards before they can light a beacon signaling intruders.
  • Surprisingly Rodrik and the pit fighters can do the job just as well in episode 6, if Asher died the previous episode.
• The Stinger: Episode 6 has two of them:
  • First, the severly wounded Rodrik or Asher manages to make it to the safety of a hut, where he is found by Talia and (depending on the player's previous choices) Royland, Duncan, or Gwyn.
  • Second, Beshka and Ryon ride a horse, having managed to escape the battle.
• Suicide Mission: In Episode 6, if Rodrik is alive, he, Beshka, and the pit fighters go on one of these to infiltrate the Whitehill camp and get Ryon back. Most of the group actually survive.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Asher unwittingly does this in Episode 3 when his group is cornered by the Lost Legion. While searching for a way out, he runs into a medium-sized dragon, which adds chaos to the fight but ultimately drives off most of their pursuers.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The game is just as fond of this as its source material.
  • What happens after you go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge? Well, the authorities would like a word with you. Which sucks when the authorities are the Boltons.
  • There's honestly no good solution when you're on the losing side of a war and your opponents are unreasonable.
  • Letting a psychopath like Ramsay Snow into your house is an incredibly bad idea. Then again, you don't have much of a choice.
  • Even if you're a badass that survives wounds that should have killed any other man, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be fine afterwards. Indeed, Rodrik's body is badly broken and takes a long time to recover (over the course of 3 or 4 episodes).
  • It's repeatedly pointed out that troop numbers and supplies are the key deciding factor of wars; if you're sufficiently outnumbered, determination and the moral high ground make little difference. House Forrester's troops are reduced to peasant conscripts, Ironrath guardsmen, and (later on) foreign pit fighters, which cannot hope to win a head-on fight against a real army.
  • Give someone a crossbow who has probably never seen one, let alone used one, without any instruction. Sure enough, it takes only a few minutes before he gets a bolt though his foot. Which, frankly, is incredibly lucky given how bad it could have been.
  • All those times in the series when you've shown scorn for characters taking Honor Before Reason, when you know they could have won if they had swallowed their pride and did what they were told. Have Rodrik kiss Ludd's ring and submit to Gryff, and you feel and see how absolutely difficult, humiliating, and degrading it is to keep swallowing your pride.
  • You are finally given the option to straight up attack Ludd. While surrounded by crossbow-wielding troops. This decision ends rather predictably with a Non-Standard Game Over.
  • Making a defiant last stand? Hopelessly outnumbered by swordsmen and crossbowmen? A badass like Rodrik or Asher may take several men down with him, but all it takes for Conservation of Ninjutsu to end is a few lucky glancing hits or stabs...
  • Mira learns the hard way why trusting people too easily in a Decadent Court like King's Landing is a very bad idea, especially in the case of Lord Morgryn. Don't expect an easy way out of your execution, either: chances are, people won't go through the effort of freeing you without wanting something big in return.
  • If you're slight of stature and have never been in combat before, it's a bad idea to attack a man-at-arms in full plate and a large sword (at least if you expect to live). If Lady Elissa is still alive during the battle of Ironrath, she saves her son this way, but Harys has zero trouble killing her immediately for it. In fairness, said man-at-arms will kill any other character just as easily (every possibility is an armed man) if the primary choice to attack him doesn't do it.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • The Forresters have a a lot of similarities to the Starks. Justified due to the fact they're both Northern families who have married Southerners. There's also the fact that the Forresters were bannermen to the Starks since... forever.
  • Gared, Cotter, and Finn resemble the dynamic that Jon Snow, Pyp, and Grenn have in the Night's Watch. Cotter is like Pyp in being talkative and fast-moving while Finn is strong but slow and bullish like Grenn. Jon Snow remarks how Gared's struggle reminds him of his, but now his former rivals are now his True Companions (as do Gared's).
• Sympathy for the Devil: In Highpoint, there's a brief moment where Whitehills aren't portayed as pure, sadistic evil - it's when Rodrik sees a tapestry portaying their family - in the happier times.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Generally averted, as your decisions are usually on a timer and staying silent is also a choice you can make. However, played straight for the final choice of Episode 5, in which you decide whether Rodrik or Asher stays behind to hold the gate open so the rest of the party can escape; soldiers will be shown readying their weapons and approaching the pair, but the choice has no timer and you can take as long as you like. Justified, since in this particular scenario the player running out of time would logically lead to a Non-Standard Game Over in which both brothers are killed.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: One way to get rid of Ludd is to invite him to dinner and poison his drink. Unfortunately, he'll only drink it if Lady Elissa does too.
• Take Me Instead: When Ramsay Snow wants to take Talia as his "highborn ward", one option for Ethan is to beg the bastard to take him hostage instead. Ultimately Ryon is taken hostage, having inherited the title of Lord when Ethan's throat is slit.
• Technicolor Fire: Ironwood lights in blue flame. Blue torches are part of the Forresters' traditional funeral rites.
• Throwing Off the Disability: Near the end of Episode 5, Rodrick meaningfully throws his crutch into the fireplace; his physical recovery symbolizes the (seemingly) revitalized hopes of House Forrester.
• To Be Lawful or Good: The judgment of Eric in Episode 1 plays out like this, Ethan having to decide whether to show mercy to the thief and set him free or punish him in a harsh manner.
• Trauma Conga Line: Gared's storyline in Episode 1 can be summarized as horrible things happen to Gared in quick succession. He watches his Lord get killed, finds his family murdered, gets stabbed in the leg, gets sentenced to the Wall to avoid a harsher punishment, and then discovers that the man who is visiting his adopted family enjoys flaying people for fun.
  • The Forresters' individual and general storylines can be seen as something not quite but close to Stark levels of continuous trauma.
• The Undead: Wights are corpses reanimated by the White Walkers, characterized by their glowing blue eyes and inability to be killed by anything except fire. The Free Folk hunters killed by Gared and co. in Episode 4 come back as Wights in Episode 5, along with reinforcements. If you brought Finn along when searching for the Grove, he'll come back as a Wight in Episode 6 and Gared must put him down for good.
• Unwinnable by Design:
  • You cannot fully please Cersei during Mira Forrester's segment in Episode 1, because Cersei's a jerk. Defiance will tick her off, obviously, but if you're continually non-committal in your answers, Cersei won't know what to make of you, and won't find that very encouraging. However, if you constantly agree with Cersei, then she'll think that you're the sort of person who will say anything to get what she wants, which Cersei won't find very encouraging. She's only pleased by kneeling to her at the beginning and choosing the King over Margaery at the end.
  • Episode 5 includes a nasty example of this trope, as regardless of whether Rodrik or Asher stays behind to keep the gate up so the other can escape, the game's objective is to kill Gryff Whitehill in retribution, but you cannot win against the crowd of Whitehill troops between them. If you miss an attack prompt when someone is aiming a crossbow at you, you will be shot in the throat and die from that shot. On the other hand, if you take every attack prompt, you can take out most of the crowd, but you will eventually be stabbed from behind by Harys, shot in the throat with a crossbow, then grabbed by two soldiers and finally killed.
• Video Game Caring Potential: A lot of what drives the game and makes the player's choices difficult is the thought of how those decisions may affect the characters around you, often on a purely emotional level. For instance, will you take an action that may upset your kind, caring sister Talia and change the way she thinks about you, even if you feel that action is right or expected of you from others? Are you willing to ask favours for your family from Margaery Tyrell, or does the possibility that you might get her in trouble if you do stop you?
• Villainous Breakdown: The first and closest example in the game thus far occurs if Rodrik refuses to stay down at Gryff Whitehill's insistence. Gryff becomes increasingly infuriated to the point where he sounds like he's frothing at the mouth. He's visibly shaking, making threat after threat both verbal (against Talia) and visible (with his sword pointed at Rodrik) and losing what little self-control he had to begin with—even his troops get freaked out when they see how nearly insane with impotent rage their commander becomes. It's topped off with him screaming how he's in charge, then retreating from the entire situation. Double points for the fact that he went into that hoping for Rodrik to be the victim of humiliation, and ends up being utterly humiliated himself.
• We Hardly Knew Ye
  • Lord Gregor Forrester, his son Rodrik and possibly Bowen, are all slain at the Red Wedding at the beginning of the first episode before getting much characterization. Subverted with Rodrik, as he turns out to be alive. With some serious scarring and grievous wounds to his arm and leg, but alive.
  • The Beast, who's killed in Episode 5 after only having a few lines and one confrontation with Asher.
• Welcome to Corneria: NPC's will usually have their dialogue change the first couple of times you speak to them if you're wandering around, after which you will receive a brief generic response. Do this repeatedly to Arthur Glenmore at the Whitehill hall and he'll imply interest in Rodrik.
• We Need a Distraction:
  • In order to buy Mira some time, the coal boy lights a tapestry on fire.
  • In Rodrik's route in Episode 6, while sneaking into the Whitehill's camp, he has the pit fighters release the horses to distract the guards. They can also set a watchtower on fire or simply spill a lot of blood.
• Wham Episode: Episode 5, which brings the "Holy Shit!" Quotient to a whole new level. Arthur Glenmore is brutally murdered by Ramsay. Gared, Cotter, Sylvi and Finn (if you chose to bring him along) are attacked by wights, and Finn is killed during the fight. The House Forrester traitor is finally revealed to be Royland or Duncan, depending on who you didn't pick to be the Sentinel. Rodrik and Asher finally reunite and are ready to go to war, only for Gryff and his men to ambush them. Depending on your choice, Rodrik or Asher will die so the other one can live. Then the episode ends, with no preview of the final one.
• Wham Line:
  • The game opens with Lord Forrester's party celebrating. All seems well until about five minutes in, when the subtitles read:
  The Twins
  Stronghold of House Frey
  The Red Wedding
  • At the end of Episode 1:
  Ramsay: Aren't you the bold/brave/wise lord? (stabs Ethan through the throat) But I don't want a bold/brave/wise lord. Far too much trouble.
  • In the previews for Episode 3: "See you at the wedding."
  • In Episode 3:
  Gwyn: "There is a traitor in your council."
  • In Episode 5:
  Rodrik: "One of us has to stay."
  • In Episode 6:
  Lord Morgryn: "That's why I bribed that Lannister Guard to kill you."
• Wham Shot:
  • At the start of episode 2, the camera lingers on Rodrik's (presumed dead) bloody face... and he wakes up.
  • Just before the title sequence of Episode 3: the reveal that Drogon is in the cave.
  • Ramsay's return at the end of Episode 4.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The series leaves a few questions unanswered, and unfortunately it doesn't look like Season 2 will answer some of them, such as...
  • If you spare Bloodsong as Asher in episode 5, Bloodsong will appear in the Battle of Ironrath in episode 6 and put up a good fight, but he doesn't appear on-screen after watching the Whitehills break down the gate in horror, so it is unclear whether he lives or dies.
  • The identity of Tom's master is never revealed, and since either Tom or Mira is dead by the end of the season it's unlikely that we'll ever find out who he really was and why he was so keen to help the Forresters. A dummied-out file in the game's code has Tom revealing that Olenna Tyrell sent him - considering the finality of Tom and Mira's last encounter, it's likely that this revelation was left out by accident and was meant to make it in there somewhere, but the opportune moment was never found. However, this just shifts the focus of the mystery to Olenna's intentions and reasons for helping the Forresters.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Some characters call you out on your less-than-heroic or less-than-pragmatic choices. In more than a few instances, you must choose between two people and the snubbed person calls you out.
  • A nuanced version from Talia: if Ethan chooses to act when Ramsay wants to take her hostage, her ballad exhorts both her twin and father as heroes. However, if Ethan does nothing, the lyrics slightly change and focus more on her father, implying that the pragmatic act made her remember Ethan less fondly.
  • If you choose to shoot the wildling spearwife escaping with your food in episode 4, Cotter will call you out for killing someone who was running away and not fighting anymore.
  • No matter what you choose at the end of episode 5, you get called out by someone. If Asher stays behind, Beshka is furious. If Rodrik stays behind, your sentinel is incredulous that the lord of the house is sacrificing himself.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Ramsay murders Ethan, threatens to rape Talia, and takes Ryon as a hostage within the span of a few minutes.
  • Gryff Whitehill threatens to hurt Talia if Rodrik doesn't submit to him.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?:
  • In order to provoke Gared into fighting him, Britt tells him how fearfully and painfully the former's father and sister died and how much he enjoyed it.
  • A wounded Whitehill soldier attempts to goad either Asher or Rodrik about how their brother died like a coward, when the opposite could not be more true. The taunted person is furious and beats the shit out the guy for it.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Gared can hear them say "You Fight Like a Girl" when he sees two Crows sparring when he first arrives to Castle Black in Episode 2.

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