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118-573: In the novel, recounting events from various points of view , Martin introduces the plot-lines of the noble houses of Westeros , the Wall , and the Targaryens . The novel has inspired several spin-off works, including several games . It is also the namesake and basis for the first season of Game of Thrones , an HBO television series that premiered in April 2011. A paperback TV tie-in re-edition

236-481: A comic book series , several card games, board games, video games, and other media. A Game of Thrones has received critical acclaim. Lauren K. Nathan of the Associated Press wrote that the book "grip[s] the reader from Page One" and is set in a "magnificent" fantasy world that is "mystical, but still believable." Steve Perry told readers of The Oregonian that the plot is "complex and fascinating" and

354-468: A retiarius ); she is able to defeat Bran's direwolf , Summer, in mock combat by entangling the direwolf in her net. The legacy of Bran's late aunt Lyanna Stark is also largely narrated through her storytelling. The younger brother, Jojen, is thirteen when he first appears, but his sullen seriousness and maturity make him seem older. He is short and slim with unusually deep green eyes, and he wears green-colored clothing. He claims to have "greensight" and

472-497: A "golden crown all men will fear", and is killed as the Khal pours molten gold over his head. Daenerys names one of her dragons Viserion in his memory, though only out of respect for keeping her alive for years by protecting her and finding shelter in the free cities. Daenerys Targaryen , referred to sometimes as 'Daenerys Stormborn', 'Khaleesi', the 'Mother of Dragons', is the daughter and youngest child of King Aerys II Targaryen and

590-417: A close relationship between the narrator and reader, by referring to the viewpoint character with first person pronouns like I and me (as well as we and us , whenever the narrator is part of a larger group). The second-person point of view is a point of view similar to first-person in its possibilities of unreliability. The narrator recounts their own experience but adds distance (often ironic) through

708-467: A first- and a third-person narrative mode. The ten books of the Pendragon adventure series, by D. J. MacHale , switch back and forth between a first-person perspective (handwritten journal entries) of the main character along his journey as well as a disembodied third-person perspective focused on his friends back home. In Indigenous American communities, narratives and storytelling are often told by

826-522: A hunting “accident” and install Joffrey on the throne. Ned prepares to send his daughters away from King's Landing and enlists Littlefinger's help to challenge Joffrey's claim; but Littlefinger betrays him, resulting in Ned's arrest. Arya escapes the castle, but Sansa is taken hostage by the Lannisters. Ned's eldest son Robb marches his army south in response to his father's arrest, and in order to relieve

944-541: A large cast of characters. The series follows three interwoven plotlines: a dynastic war for control of Westeros by several families; the rising threat of the undead White Walkers beyond the northern border of Westeros; and the ambition of Daenerys Targaryen , the exiled heir of the previous ruling dynasty. In Martin's fictional world, the Great Houses of Westeros represent the Seven Kingdoms which exist on

1062-550: A mercenary named Bronn to defend him in trial by combat . Ned investigates Jon Arryn's death and eventually discovers that Robert's legal heirs, including Joffrey, are in fact Cersei's children by Jaime (making Robert's uncharismatic younger brother Stannis the rightful heir to the Iron Throne ), and that Jon Arryn was killed to conceal his discovery of their incest. Ned offers Cersei a chance to flee before he informs Robert, but she uses this chance to arrange Robert's death in

1180-402: A missing ranging party, but he and his men also disappear. The bodies of two of his men are later found and brought back to Castle Black; they reanimate as undead wights and kill several men before they are destroyed, but no trace of Benjen has yet been found. Lyanna Stark is Eddard Stark's younger and only sister, and has been deceased for 14 years at the beginning of A Game of Thrones , but

1298-455: A number of elders in the community. In this way, the stories are never static because they are shaped by the relationship between narrator and audience. Thus, each individual story may have countless variations. Narrators often incorporate minor changes in the story in order to tailor the story to different audiences. The use of multiple narratives in a story is not simply a stylistic choice, but rather an interpretive one that offers insight into

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1416-503: A political prisoner. During the 2014 San Diego Comic Con , George R. R. Martin stated that Jeyne Westerling will appear in the prologue of the sixth book, The Winds of Winter , but did not reveal whether she would be the prologue POV character. Lord Roose Bolton is a significant vassal of Lord Eddard Stark. His seat is the Dreadfort and his sigil is a flayed human, a homage to the ancient Bolton tradition of flaying enemies. He

1534-551: A rebellion against Aerys, with Robert personally killing Rhaegar in single combat at the Battle of the Trident, and ultimately overthrowing House Targaryen . Though Robert continues to vilify Rhaegar throughout A Game of Thrones , many other characters express admiration for him. Daenerys's stillborn son Rhaego and her dragon Rhaegal are named after Rhaegar. Viserys Targaryen is the seventh-born child of Aerys II Targaryen , and

1652-500: A single character; the book presents the perspective of eight main characters. Additionally, a minor character provides the prologue. Chapter headings indicate the perspective. In the later books, certain viewpoint characters are added while others are removed. Throughout the novel, characters are often faced with decisions that match one redeemable trait against another. The Guardian outlines characters who are frequently "forced to choose between their love for those close to them and

1770-469: A sling on his back. When Winterfell is sacked and burnt, Hodor escapes north with Bran, Jojen, Meera, Rickon and Osha. Osha ( / ˈ oʊ ʃ ə / ) is a wildling woman who sneaks south of the Wall to escape the Others . When she and her fellow refugees try to kidnap Bran Stark in A Game of Thrones , she is captured by Robb Stark and taken back to Winterfell , eventually employed as a scullery maid , and

1888-456: A total of thirty-one such characters have narrated over the course of the first five volumes of the series. House Stark is described as one of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms and the principal house of the North . Its seat is at Winterfell , one of the oldest castles in the Seven Kingdoms. Its coat of arms displays a grey direwolf running on a white field, and its words are Winter

2006-452: A war have all these processes of self-justification, telling ourselves why what we're doing is the right thing. Martin acknowledges several authors who lent their time and expertise during the writing of the novel: Sage Walker , Martin Wright, Melinda Snodgrass , Carl Keim, Bruce Baugh, Tim O'Brien, Roger Zelazny , Jane Lindskold , and Laura Mixon . The HarperCollins/Voyager 1996 edition

2124-873: A warlord of the nomadic Dothraki people, in exchange for the use of Drogo's army to reclaim the throne of Westeros. Illyrio Mopatis, a wealthy merchant who has been supporting the penniless Targaryens, gives Daenerys three petrified dragon eggs as a wedding gift. Jorah Mormont , a knight exiled from Westeros, joins Viserys as an adviser. Initially terrified of her new husband and his people, Daenerys eventually embraces her role as Drogo's " khaleesi   ". Drogo, however, shows little interest in conquering Westeros, and an impatient Viserys tries to browbeat his sister into coercing Drogo. When Viserys publicly threatens Daenerys and her unborn child, Drogo executes him by pouring molten gold on his head. An assassin seeking King Robert's favor attempts to poison Daenerys, finally convincing Drogo to conquer Westeros. While sacking villages to fund

2242-542: Is "so refreshingly human and intimate that it transcends them." She described it as "an absorbing combination of the mythic, the sweepingly historical, and the intensely personal." John Prior, writing in the San Diego Union-Tribune , called Martin's writing "strong and imaginative, with plenty of Byzantine intrigue and dynastic struggle", and compared it to Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time books, "though much darker, with no comedy or romance to relieve

2360-615: Is Coming . Bastards born in the North are given the surname "Snow". House Stark had ruled as the Kings in the North for thousands of years until House Targaryen conquered Westeros, whereafter the Starks were known as the Lords of Winterfell and Wardens of the North. For prizing honor and devotion to duty, House Stark is the closest of the noble houses to heroism. Descended from Bran the Builder,

2478-404: Is Walder, he is commonly called "Hodor" because that is the only word he is capable of saying. He is over seven feet tall, and hinted to possibly have giant ancestry. He has a friendly, childlike disposition and possesses great physical strength, though he is too timid and gentle to use it against others. After Bran Stark is crippled in A Game of Thrones , Hodor is tasked to carry him around in

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2596-512: Is a central component of the novel, and the reader receives points of view from both sides. Likewise, Daenerys' storyline develops around the Targaryen's upheaval in Westeros, in which the Starks played a significant role. Martin argues: Having multiple viewpoints is crucial to the grayness of the characters. You have to be able to see the struggle from both sides, because real human beings in

2714-612: Is assassinated by a member of his own Kingsguard, Jaime Lannister . Rhaegar Targaryen, the 'Last Dragon', was the eldest son of King Aerys II and the heir apparent to the Iron Throne , and the older brother to Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen . He died 14 years before the events of A Game of Thrones , and his life's tales are mainly narrated through the words of Jaime Lannister , Cersei Lannister , Barristan Selmy and Daenerys (via visions of sorcery), as well as commentaries by Eddard Stark , Aemon Targaryen , Jorah Mormont , Meera Reed , Jon Connington and Gilly . Rhaegar married

2832-460: Is betrothed to Daryn Hornwood, heir to the Hornwood, but Jaime Lannister kills him alongside two of her brothers. Her father offers her to whoever captures Jaime Lannister, so the sadistic sellsword Vargo Hoat captures Jaime in the hope of becoming Lord of Karhold. However, after Rickard's death his uncle Arnolf Karstark plots to take control of Karhold. He declares for Stannis when he comes North in

2950-550: Is given limited freedom for her good behavior. She becomes close to Bran Stark and often gives him advice about the oncoming winter. When Theon Greyjoy captures Winterfell, Osha chooses to protect Bran and Rickon over her freedom. She joins Bran and Rickon hiding in Winterfell's crypt after faking escape. She later parts ways with Bran and is entrusted to take care of Rickon through the North in their escape, and by A Dance with Dragons , they are reported to have landed on

3068-470: Is his own bastard by a woman named Ashara Dayne. In actuality, he is the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar. Although Jon Arryn persuaded Robert to marry Cersei Lannister, Robert greatly mourns Lyanna for over a decade, causing great strain in his marriage with Cersei. Jeyne Westerling is the older daughter of Lord Gawen Westerling of the Crag, a Westerlands bannerman of House Lannister . She meets Robb Stark when he

3186-422: Is intensely loyal and protective of her "prince" as well as of her own brother, with Bran commenting that the only one who ever angers or upsets her is her brother, Jojen. Though she is never described as being particularly beautiful, both Theon Greyjoy and Bran Stark seem to consider her attractive. She is a skilled huntress and fights with a small fishing net and a three-pronged frog spear (similar in style to

3304-401: Is introduced as beautiful and demure. Arya Stark is the third child and younger daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark . She serves as a POV character for 33 chapters throughout A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings , A Storm of Swords , A Feast for Crows , and A Dance with Dragons . So far, she is the only character to appear in all 5 books as a POV character. Brandon "Bran" Stark is

3422-534: Is later killed by the Lannisters. When Catelyn helps Jaime escape in an attempt to recover her daughters, Rickard murders two of Jaime's cousins and has his army desert Robb to search the Riverlands for Jaime, offering his daughter Alys Karstark to whoever brings him the Kingslayer. Due to this Robb executes Rickard personally. Alys Karstark is the only daughter and youngest child of Lord Rickard Karstark. She

3540-399: Is mentioned in every published book in the series. She died at the age of 16 and was said to have been very beautiful by all who knew her as "a child-woman of surpassing loveliness" and "a wild beauty". She was also remembered as being headstrong and "had a touch of" the fabled Starks' "wolf blood", and was one of the best horse-riders in the North. She was betrothed to Robert Baratheon , who

3658-541: Is nicknamed "the Leech Lord" for regular leechings meant to improve his health. Ramsay Snow is the bastard son of Lord Roose Bolton, later legitimized as Ramsay Bolton. He is known as the Bastard of Bolton or the Bastard of the Dreadfort. Ramsay is vicious, ruthless, psychopathic, sadistic, opportunistic, unpredictable, and fearless. He takes great pleasure and pride in torturing others and enthusiastically practices

A Game of Thrones - Misplaced Pages Continue

3776-406: Is one of the last surviving members of House Targaryen. She serves as the point of view character in thirty-one chapters throughout A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings , A Storm of Swords , and A Dance with Dragons . Prince Aegon Targaryen, also known as Young Griff, is the only known son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell . Fifteen years before the events of the series, the infant Aegon

3894-632: Is overwhelmed by grief and does not leave Bran's bedside while he is comatose, ignoring her political responsibilities, choosing family over duty. But soon after, Catelyn leaves Bran and her family for King's Landing to inform Ned of potential Lannister treason, effectively displaying a more duty fulfilling role. Family, duty, and honor play major roles in conflicts that arise in the story arc, and qualities traditionally categorized as noble oppose each other in resolution. Character decision conflicts and consequence analysis are particular to how Martin wants to portray fantasy. Martin characteristically deviates from

4012-510: Is persuaded to remain loyal to the Watch. Mormont then declares his intention to march north to find Benjen, dead or alive, and to investigate rumors of a "King-beyond-the-Wall" uniting the wildlings. Across the sea to the east of Westeros live the exiled prince Viserys and princess Daenerys , children of the late "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen , who ruled Westeros before being overthrown by Robert Baratheon. Viserys betroths Daenerys to Khal Drogo ,

4130-513: Is said to be on an island of cannibals, presumably Skagos. Jon Snow was raised as Ned Stark's illegitimate son and serves as the POV character in 42 chapters throughout A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings , A Storm of Swords , and A Dance with Dragons . He shares the Stark family values of honour, and tries to stay morally correct and honest, even when forced to act otherwise. He is theorized to be

4248-479: Is sometimes also used as synonym for narrative technique , encompasses the set of choices through which the creator of the story develops their narrator and narration: Thus, narration includes both who tells the story and how the story is told (for example, by using stream of consciousness or unreliable narration ). The narrator may be anonymous and unspecified, or a character appearing and participating within their own story (whether fictitious or factual), or

4366-591: Is the position and character of the storyteller, in relation to the narrative itself. There is, for instance, a common distinction between first-person and third-person narrative, which Gérard Genette refers to as intradiegetic and extradiegetic narrative, respectively. The Russian semiotician Boris Uspenskij identifies five planes on which point of view is expressed in a narrative: spatial, temporal, psychological, phraseological and ideological. The American literary critic Susan Sniader Lanser also develops these categories. The psychological point of view focuses on

4484-491: Is the same as their present. Past tense can be used regardless of whether the setting is in the reader's past, present, or future. In narratives using present tense, the events of the plot are depicted as occurring in the narrator's current moment of time. A recent example of novels narrated in the present tense are those of the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins . Present tense can also be used to narrate events in

4602-544: Is when the narrator conveys the thoughts, feelings and opinions of one or more characters. Objective point of view employs a narrator who tells a story without describing any character's thoughts, opinions, or feelings; instead, it gives an objective , unbiased point of view. While the tendency for novels (or other narrative works) is to adopt a single point of view throughout the entire novel, some authors have utilized other points of view that, for example, alternate between different first-person narrators or alternate between

4720-590: Is wounded, and falls in love with him during his convalescence. He marries her the next day to preserve her honour, in doing so breaking a marriage contract with House Frey . After Robb's departure for the Twins, Jeyne remains in Riverrun and does not witness the massacre. After the Red Wedding, she is granted a royal pardon. In A Feast for Crows , she is openly mourning and last appears riding to Casterly Rock as

4838-454: The A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin . The Home and the World , written in 1916 by Rabindranath Tagore , is another example of a book with three different point-of-view characters. In The Heroes of Olympus series, written by Rick Riordan , the point of view alternates between characters at intervals. The Harry Potter series focuses on the protagonist for much of

A Game of Thrones - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-553: The dwarf brother of Cersei and Jaime, in the assassination attempt. On the road back to Winterfell, Catelyn encounters Tyrion by chance, arrests him, and takes him to the Vale , where her sister Lysa Arryn is regent, to stand trial for the attempt on Bran's life. In retaliation for Tyrion's abduction, his father Lord Tywin Lannister sends soldiers to raid the Riverlands , Catelyn's home region. Tyrion regains his freedom by recruiting

5074-573: The line of succession and his older brother Aemon chose to abdicate by joining the Night's Watch . He was called "Aegon the Unlikely" because as the fourth son of a fourth son, he was placed very low down the line of succession and therefore considered unlikely to inherit the Iron Throne. Aegon V's reign lasted more than twenty-five years, during which he tried to push policies more favorable to

5192-591: The three-eyed crow after Ramsay Snow sacks and burns Winterfell. At the end of A Storm of Swords , they travel beyond the Wall and Jojen becomes very weak. In A Dance with Dragons , Meera struggles to keep the group's spirits up but implies that Jojen's future is bleak. In Martin's fictional universe, House Targaryen ruled the Seven Kingdoms as Kings of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, and as Lords of

5310-630: The Bolton custom of flaying their enemies. Roose suspects that Ramsay murdered Roose's legitimate heir and expects that Ramsay will kill all of Roose's future children. He is described as ugly, with blotchy skin and dry, dark hair. Rickard Karstark is the Lord of Karhold and one of the main Stark vassals. During the Battle of the Whispering Wood, Jaime Lannister kills two of his sons, who were guarding Robb Stark. Rickard's surviving son Harrion Karstark

5428-952: The Dornish princess Elia Martell of Sunspear, and fathered with her a daughter named Rhaenys and son named Aegon . After winning the Tourney at Harrenhal, the greatest tourney in Westerosi history, he surprised everyone by passing over his wife Elia and crowning Lyanna Stark as the tourney's "Queen of Love and Beauty". One year later, he and Lyanna both disappeared, prompting rumors that he abducted and raped Lyanna. Enraged, Lyanna's oldest brother, Brandon, goes to King's Landing to confront Rhaegar, which results in both him and his father Lord Rickard being brutally executed by King Aerys. Lyanna's other older brother Eddard Stark , her betrothed Robert Baratheon , their foster father Jon Arryn and Brandon's father-in-law -to-be Hoster Tully then started

5546-462: The Dothraki army disperses. Daenerys smothers Drogo with a pillow and has Mirri tied to Drogo's funeral pyre. She places her three dragon eggs on the pyre and enters it herself. When the fire burns out, she emerges unharmed, with three newly hatched dragons. Awe-struck, Jorah and the remaining Dothraki swear allegiance to her. Each chapter concentrates on the third-person limited point of view of

5664-677: The First Men had built and converting them to the Faith of the Seven. The Starks made peace with the Boltons and finally unified the North and began opposing the Andals as one force instead of individually like the rest of the First Men, sacking Andalos and driving them back from the fortress of Moat Cailin. They would lose their strength at sea after a failed voyage across the Sunset Sea ended in all their ships being torched. House Stark would also aid

5782-719: The Free Cities of Essos. The Targaryens originally came from Valyria on the continent of Essos , one of forty Dragonlord families in the Valyrian Freehold, but not the most powerful. Before Valyria was destroyed, the Targaryens left for Dragonstone, the westernmost outpost of their empire. A century after the Valyrian "Doom", Aegon I Targaryen was approached by an alliance of some of the Free Cities against Volantis, Valyria's oldest colony, who sought to rebuild

5900-486: The Freehold under their rule, which Aegon consented to before defeating Volantis with his dragon, Balerion. With the Valyrian Freehold broken, Aegon turned west towards Westeros, intent on uniting the Seven Kingdoms under one ruler, with Dragonstone being the perfect staging point for his conquest, due to having deep waters for his fleet and within range of the continent. With the aid of his sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya,

6018-551: The Freys and Boltons when he attends Ramsay's wedding, even eating some himself. The Freys suspect him of murdering their kin, and when Little Walder is murdered (possibly by his cousin Big Walder Frey) their uncle Hosteen Frey attacks Wyman and cuts him in the neck. It is unclear if he survives. Hodor / ˈ h oʊ d ɔː r / is Old Nan's great-grandson and a slow-witted stable-boy at Winterfell . Although his real name

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6136-488: The Freys present for their treachery. Wyman apparently has him executed but secretly executes a criminal in his place, leading to Cersei returning his heir. Wyman reveals to Davos he knows where Rickon Stark is hiding and will support Stannis if Davos returns him. Wyman is implied to have murdered the White Harbor Freys when their stay was over (thus keeping to guest right), then put them in pies which he serves to

6254-486: The Freys. Due to his heir being held captive Wyman cannot openly defy the Lannisters. Three Freys come to his city with Wendel's bones and a peace is apparently made, in which Wyman's granddaughters Wynafryd and Wylla will marry one of these Freys, Rhaegar Frey, and another of Walder Frey's grandsons, "Little" Walder Frey. When Davos Seaworth arrives in White Harbor to treat with Wyman to support Stannis, Davos denounces

6372-577: The King to Robert Baratheon. He is executed, by Joffrey's order, on the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor. He serves as a POV character for 15 chapters in A Game of Thrones . Catelyn Stark is the Lady of Winterfell , wife of Lord Eddard Stark , and mother to his children Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rickon. She is the daughter of Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun; niece to Ser Brynden Tully (also known as

6490-596: The Neck through their vassals of House Reed. They would also gain a new vassal from the Reach after House Manderly was exiled, granting them White Harbor in exchange for protection against piracy. House Stark would ultimately unite the North and drive the ironborn away, making enemies with House Hoare, and a new vassal in House Mormont of Bear Island, just as the Andals arrived in Westeros and began conquering every kingdom

6608-531: The Night's Watch several times against wildling raids, defeating many Kings-beyond-the-Wall, and forming a second branch, called House Karstark. During Aegon's conquest of Westeros, the Starks intended to oppose the Targaryens, unwilling to bow to an outsider, but King Torrhen Stark knelt after hearing of the scorching of Harrenhal and the devastating outcome of the Field of Fire caused by the Targaryen dragons, becoming

6726-609: The Second, also called The Mad King, is the last Targaryen king to rule the Seven Kingdoms. While his rule started out well, he slowly descended into madness. His sister-wife Rhaella bore him eight children, but only three survived into adulthood: sons Rhaegar and Viserys and daughter Daenerys , who was not yet born when the Targaryen dynasty fell. After Rhaegar absconded with Lyanna Stark , Aerys had Ned Stark's father and brother executed, beginning Robert's Rebellion. When Aerys plans to burn King's Landing rather than let Robert rule, he

6844-510: The Seven Kingdoms, proclaiming Robb "King in the North". The prologue of the novel introduces the Wall : an ancient barrier of stone, ice, and magic, hundreds of feet high and hundreds of miles long, shielding the Seven Kingdoms from the northern wilderness. The Wall is defended by the Night's Watch : an order of warriors sworn to serve there for life, defending the realm from the fabled Others , an ancient and hostile inhuman race, as well as from

6962-470: The Targaryens, using their three dragons, successfully conquered six of the Seven Kingdoms by destroying defiant houses and making subjects of submissive ones, with the seventh one peacefully joining the realm through marriage. Aegon built the Iron Throne with his enemies' swords and his dragon's flame, building the Red Keep as his throne room and King's Landing as his new capital. The Targaryen dragons were

7080-483: The Wall . In A Dance with Dragons , Bran meets the Three-Eyed-Crow: an alias of the last trained clairvoyant. Rickon Stark is Ned Stark's youngest child and is three years old in A Game of Thrones . When Theon Greyjoy captures Winterfell in A Clash of Kings , Rickon hides in the crypts. After Winterfell is sacked, he and the wildling woman Osha travel through the North . In A Dance with Dragons , he

7198-574: The War of the Five Kings the Manderlys and Boltons begin a private war over the Hornwood lands after Ramsay kidnaps the widowed Lady Donella Hornwood, Wyman's cousin, forces her to marry him and then starves her to death. Wyman's heir Wylis is captured when Roose Bolton treacherously sends a large Northern force to be wiped out by Randyll Tarly. Wyman's younger son Wendel is murdered at the Red Wedding by

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7316-470: The Wildling leader Sigorn, Magnar of Thenn, in a ceremony performed by Melisandre, which will aid Wildling integration into the North. If Harrion dies childless, Karhold will pass to the newly formed House Thenn. Wyman Manderly is the Lord of White Harbor, the only city in the North, and the wealthiest of the Stark vassals. He is an enormously fat man, with two sons, Ser Wylis and Ser Wendel Manderly. During

7434-627: The architect of the Wall, House Stark is the chief First Men dynasty in Westeros due to their successful repulsion of the Andal invasion and became the ruling house in the North after defeating the Barrow Kings and slowly uniting the North into one kingdom, contesting for dominance with House Bolton of the Dreadfort, the second-most powerful Northern house with a sinister reputation for their flaying tradition. Their expanding dominion would also repel incursions of pirates and raiders, and secure control of

7552-662: The audience a deliberate sense of disbelief in the story or a level of suspicion or mystery as to what information is meant to be true and what is meant to be false. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators; a third-person narrator may also be unreliable. An example is J.D. Salinger 's The Catcher in the Rye , in which the novel's narrator Holden Caulfield is biased, emotional and juvenile, divulging or withholding certain information deliberately and at times probably quite unreliable. Night%27s Watch George R. R. Martin 's A Song of Ice and Fire saga features

7670-639: The audience but not necessarily to other characters. Examples include the multiple narrators' feelings in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying , and the character Offred's often fragmented thoughts in Margaret Atwood 's The Handmaid's Tale . Irish writer James Joyce exemplifies this style in his novel Ulysses . Unreliable narration involves the use of an untrustworthy narrator. This mode may be employed to give

7788-458: The audience, particularly about the plot : the series of events. Narration is a required element of all written stories ( novels , short stories , poems , memoirs , etc.), presenting the story in its entirety. It is optional in most other storytelling formats, such as films, plays, television shows and video games, in which the story can be conveyed through other means, like dialogue between characters or visual action. The narrative mode , which

7906-607: The author themself as a character. The narrator may merely relate the story to the audience without being involved in the plot and may have varied awareness of characters' thoughts and distant events. Some stories have multiple narrators to illustrate the storylines of various characters at various times, creating a story with a complex perspective. An ongoing debate has persisted regarding the nature of narrative point of view. A variety of different theoretical approaches have sought to define point of view in terms of person, perspective, voice, consciousness and focus. Narrative perspective

8024-583: The book is "rich and colorful" with "all the elements of a great fantasy novel". Writing in The Washington Post , John H. Riskind commented that "many fans of sword-and-sorcery will enjoy the epic scope of this book" but felt that the book "suffers from one-dimensional characters and less than memorable imagery." Phyllis Eisenstein of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that, although the book uses many generic fantasy tropes, Martin's approach

8142-485: The capital city, King's Landing , bringing along his daughters Sansa and Arya . Upon arriving in King's Landing to take his post as Hand, Ned finds that Robert is an ineffective king whose only interests are hunting, drinking, and womanizing. At Winterfell, an assassin attempts to kill Bran while he is unconscious, and Ned's wife Catelyn travels to King's Landing to bring word to Ned. Catelyn's childhood friend, Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish , implicates Tyrion Lannister ,

8260-453: The characters' behaviors. Lanser concludes that this is "an extremely complex aspect of point of view, for it encompasses the broad question of the narrator's distance or affinity to each character and event…represented in the text". The ideological point of view is not only "the most basic aspect of point of view" but also the "least accessible to formalization, for its analysis relies to a degree, on intuitive understanding". This aspect of

8378-412: The children of the late Eddard Stark . They become fast friends with Bran Stark and his baby brother, Rickon , and are shown solely from Bran's point of view . The older sister, Meera, is sixteen years old when introduced in A Clash of Kings . As is typical of crannogmen, Meera is short, slim, and flat-chested with long brown hair and green eyes, and is described as having a cheerful disposition. She

8496-621: The continent: the North, the Iron Islands, the Vale of Arryn, the Westerlands, the Stormlands, the Reach, and Dorne. A massive wall of ice and old magic separates the Seven Kingdoms from the largely unmapped area in the most northern portion of the continent. Each chapter is narrated in the third-person limited point of view through the eyes of a single character. Beginning with nine POV characters in A Game of Thrones (1996),

8614-584: The crownlands for nearly 300 years. Seventeen Targaryen kings held royal court in King's Landing . Its coat of arms shows a red, three-headed dragon breathing fire on a black field, and its words are Fire and Blood . The Targaryen dynasty ended with the death of Aerys II, known as the Mad King, during Robert’s Rebellion, which overthrew the Targaryens and placed House Baratheon on the throne. Aerys II’s two surviving children, Viserys and Daenerys, fled into exile in

8732-485: The development of a larger social identity and the impact that has on the overarching narrative, as explained by Lee Haring. Haring provides an example from the Arabic folktales of One Thousand and One Nights to illustrate how framing was used to loosely connect each story to the next, where each story was enclosed within the larger narrative. Additionally, Haring draws comparisons between Thousand and One Nights and

8850-469: The first Warden of the North, and had a marriage alliance with House Arryn to keep the realm together. Over the course of the novels, the Starks are scattered by the War of the Five Kings, and the fate of the House remains uncertain, as most characters believe that all the legitimate Stark sons are dead. Eddard "Ned" Stark is the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, and briefly serves as Hand of

8968-511: The genre), are not true second-person narratives, because there is an implicit narrator (in the case of the novel) or writer (in the case of the series) addressing an audience. This device of the addressed reader is a near-ubiquitous feature of the game-related medium, regardless of the wide differences in target reading ages and role-playing game system complexity. Similarly, text-based interactive fiction , such as Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork , conventionally has descriptions that address

9086-548: The greater interests of honour, duty and the realm." In Westeros, Ned ultimately decides to venture south with Robert, leaving much of his family in Winterfell. At the Wall, Jon wrestles with the predicament of joining his half-brother Robb in rebellion or staying with his sworn brothers in the Night's Watch. Daenerys has issue with the Dothraki treatment of those they conquered in Essos. These conflicts characters encounter oftentimes reflect inconsistent decision making. Catelyn initially

9204-441: The heir to Winterfell. He is not a POV character, but features in the POV chapters of his family members in the first three novels in the series. Robb is also slain at The Red Wedding along with his mother. Sansa Stark is the second child and elder daughter of Eddard and Catelyn Stark. She serves as a POV character for 24 chapters throughout A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings , A Storm of Swords , and A Feast for Crows . Sansa

9322-421: The hope this will mean the Lannisters execute his great-nephew Harrion Karstark, so Karhold will pass to Alys, whom Arnolf intends to force into marriage with his son Cregan Karstark. Arnolf also intends to betray Stannis when the Boltons attack. However, Alys (pursued by Cregan) flees to the Wall seeking Jon Snow's help and reveals her uncles' plans. To protect her Jon imprisons Cregan and arranges for Alys to marry

9440-505: The horde until he gets his "golden crown", Viserys grows restless and impatient with Drogo's refusal to march towards the Seven Kingdoms. He also loses influence over Daenerys, who gradually stands up to his abusive behavior. After his scheme to steal her dragon eggs is thwarted by Jorah Mormont, Viserys drunkenly threatens his sister and her unborn child in the Dothraki's sacred city of Vaes Dothrak, demanding that Drogo make good on their deal. Viserys then unwittingly agrees to Drogo's offer of

9558-413: The human " wildlings " who live north of the Wall. Jon Snow , Ned's bastard son, is inspired by his uncle, Benjen Stark , to join the Night's Watch, but becomes disillusioned when he discovers that its primary function is as a penal colony . Jon unites his fellow recruits against their harsh instructor and protects the cowardly but good-natured and intelligent Samwell Tarly . Jon is appointed steward to

9676-459: The interests of common people, and frequently clashed with noble lords as a result. He later perished in the 'Tragedy of Summerhall', a huge fire at the Targaryen summer palace, along with his son Prince Duncan and close friend Ser Duncan the Tall. After he died, his son Jaehaerys inherited the throne. When Jaehaerys died three years later, the Iron Throne was passed to his son Aerys . Aerys Targaryen

9794-419: The invasion of Westeros, Drogo is badly wounded, and Daenerys commands the captive folk healer Mirri Maz Duur to save him. The healer, angered by the Dothraki raids against her people, sacrifices Daenerys's unborn child to power the spell to save Drogo's life, which restores Drogo's physical health but leaves him in a persistent vegetative state . With Drogo completely incapacitated and unable to lead, much of

9912-416: The island of Skagos, supposedly inhabited by cannibals. Jeyne Poole is the daughter of Vayon Poole, the steward of Winterfell , and Sansa Stark 's best friend. She has brown eyes and dark hair and is described as being very pretty. Following the arrest of Eddard Stark in A Game of Thrones , the members and servants of his household are killed. Jeyne reappears in A Dance with Dragons , having survived

10030-453: The last known to exist and died out long before the events of A Game of Thrones . People of Targaryen ancestry, referred to as "blood of the dragon", tend to have silver-blonde hair and amethyst eyes. Fifteen years before the events of the series, the Targaryens were deposed in Robert's Rebellion, with the last two fleeing to Essos . Aegon Targaryen, nicknamed "Egg" in his youth, is one of

10148-459: The leader of the Watch, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont , making him a potential successor to Mormont. Benjen fails to return from an expedition north of the Wall. Six months later, the dead bodies of two men from his party are recovered; these re-animate as undead wights before being dispatched by Jon. When word of his father's execution reaches Jon, he attempts to join Robb against the Lannisters, but

10266-405: The legendary "Blackfish") and sister to Lysa Arryn of the Vale and to Edmure Tully . She is murdered during the Red Wedding, and later resurrected as an undead, vengeful killer under the name of Lady Stoneheart. She serves as a POV character for 25 chapters throughout A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords . Robb Stark is the oldest child of Eddard and Catelyn Stark, and

10384-428: The massacre but being sent to Petyr Baelish 's brothels. The Lannisters use her as a stand-in for Sansa's younger sister Arya and send her north to marry Ramsay Bolton at Winterfell. Theon Greyjoy recognizes that she is a fake, and that the Boltons are aware of the ruse. It is implied that Ramsay Bolton tortures her and forces her to perform sexual acts on dogs. Jon Snow, Arya's half-brother, believes Jeyne to be

10502-769: The narration refers to all characters with third person pronouns like he or she and never first- or second-person pronouns. Omniscient point of view is presented by a narrator with an overarching perspective, seeing and knowing everything that happens within the world of the story, including what each of the characters is thinking and feeling. The inclusion of an omniscient narrator is typical in nineteenth-century fiction including works by Charles Dickens , Leo Tolstoy and George Eliot . Some works of fiction, especially novels, employ multiple points of view, with different points of view presented in discrete sections or chapters, including The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje , The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud and

10620-538: The narrator's present. Often, these upcoming events are described such that the narrator has foreknowledge (or supposed foreknowledge) of their future, so many future-tense stories have a prophetic tone. Stream of consciousness gives the (typically first-person) narrator's perspective by attempting to replicate the thought processes—as opposed to simply the actions and spoken words—of the narrative character. Often, interior monologues and inner desires or motivations, as well as pieces of incomplete thoughts, are expressed to

10738-479: The nastiness." On November 5, 2019, the BBC News listed A Game of Thrones on its list of the 100 most influential novels . Point of view (literature) Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience . Narration is conveyed by a narrator : a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to

10856-552: The oral storytelling observed in parts of rural Ireland , islands of the Southwest Indian Ocean and African cultures such as Madagascar . "I'll tell you what I'll do," said the smith. "I'll fix your sword for you tomorrow, if you tell me a story while I'm doing it." The speaker was an Irish storyteller in 1935, framing one story in another (O'Sullivan 75, 264). The moment recalls the Thousand and One Nights, where

10974-670: The overthrow of House Targaryen . At the end of the war, Eddard and six of his companions ventured to the Tower of Joy within Dorne , where Lyanna was located and guarded by three of the most prominent Kingsguard knights — the "Sword of the Morning" Ser Arthur Dayne, Ser Oswell Whent, and the "White Bull" Ser Gerold Hightower (Lord Commander of the Kingsguard). After a fierce skirmish that killed everyone except Eddard and Howland, Eddard entered

11092-432: The point of view focuses on the norms, values, beliefs and Weltanschauung (worldview) of the narrator or a character. The ideological point of view may be stated outright—what Lanser calls "explicit ideology"—or it may be embedded at "deep-structural" levels of the text and not easily identified. A first-person point of view reveals the story through an openly self-referential and participating narrator. First person creates

11210-399: The position when he learns that Arryn's widow Lysa believes he was poisoned by Robert's wife Queen Cersei Lannister and her family. Shortly thereafter, Ned's son Bran discovers Cersei having sex with her twin brother Jaime Lannister , who throws Bran from the tower to conceal their affair, leaving him comatose and paralyzing his legs. Ned leaves his castle, Winterfell , and departs for

11328-531: The power of prophetic "green dreams", from which he knows various arcane facts, including the day of his death. In Winterfell, Jojen recognizes Bran Stark as a skinchanger who is able to enter the mind of an animal and control it, and he mentors Bran to help him gain control of his abilities. When Theon Greyjoy captures Winterfell, Jojen and Meera hide with Bran and Rickon in Winterfell's crypt after feigning escape, and they join Bran in his journey north in search of

11446-400: The reader's past. This is known as " historical present ". This tense is more common in spontaneous conversational narratives than in written literature, though it is sometimes used in literature to give a sense of immediacy of the actions. Screenplay action is also written in the present tense. The future tense is the most rare, portraying the events of the plot as occurring some time after

11564-430: The real Arya and sends Mance Rayder to rescue her. The group enlists Theon's help, but their cover is blown and Theon and Jeyne barely escape. Jojen and Meera are the children of Howland Reed, the Lord of Greywater Watch and a loyal Stark bannerman. They first appear in A Clash of Kings , when their father sends them in his place, to attend the harvest festival and renew House Reed's pledge to House Stark and support

11682-491: The same. For Example, for the German Paperback Editions published by Blanvalet and later Penhaligon, the book and the other novels of the series were split in two. In June 2000, Meisha Merlin published a limited edition of the book, fully illustrated by Jeffrey Jones. A Game of Thrones and the subsequent novels in the A Song of Ice and Fire series have been adapted into an HBO television series ,

11800-554: The second person. You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. Mohsin Hamid 's The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Gamebooks , including the American Choose Your Own Adventure and British Fighting Fantasy series (the two largest examples of

11918-417: The second son and fourth child of Eddard and Catelyn Stark. He serves as the third-person narrator of twenty-one chapters throughout A Game of Thrones , A Clash of Kings , A Storm of Swords , and A Dance with Dragons . In A Game of Thrones , he sees Queen Cersei and her brother Jaime Lannister committing incest , and Jaime pushes Bran from the window to keep the relationship secret. Bran survives, but loses

12036-495: The secondborn son to survive infancy. Thirteen years before the events of the series, he and his sister Daenerys fled Westeros to escape death at the hands of rebel Robert Baratheon . Viserys is an arrogant, cruel and ambitious man given to violent mood swings. He is widely nicknamed the "Beggar King" across both Essos and Westeros. Hoping to win the Dothraki's favor to conquer Westeros, Viserys arranges for Daenerys to wed Khal Drogo to form an alliance with them. Travelling with

12154-576: The seven novels, but sometimes deviates to other characters, particularly in the opening chapters of later novels in the series, which switch from the view of the eponymous Harry to other characters (for example, the Muggle Prime Minister in Half-Blood Prince ). Examples of Limited or close third-person point of view, confined to one character's perspective, include J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace . Subjective point of view

12272-402: The son of Lyanna Stark, Ned Stark's sister, and Rhaegar Targaryen. Benjen Stark is Ned Stark's younger brother and a First Ranger in the Night's Watch. He appears briefly at the start of A Game of Thrones , first in Winterfell and then later on the Wall at Castle Black, where he travels with his bastard nephew Jon Snow . Benjen is sent on a mission into the lands beyond the Wall to search for

12390-536: The story of "The Envier and the Envied" is enclosed in the larger story told by the Second Kalandar (Burton 1: 113-39), and many stories are enclosed in others." In narrative past tense, the events of the plot occur before the narrator's present. This is by far the most common tense in which stories are expressed. This could be in the narrator's distant past or their immediate past, which for practical purposes

12508-439: The surviving Aegon and is under the guardianship of Rhaegar's close friend Jon Connington (under alias of Griff). He is to be used by Varys and Illyrio as a puppet king. Young Griff intends to travel to Slaver's Bay to visit Daenerys Targaryen and propose marriage, but Tyrion provokes him during a cyvasse game and convinces him to abandon the proposal and independently attack Westeros. Revealing himself as Aegon, Griff persuades

12626-400: The threat on the riverlands. To secure a strategically necessary bridge crossing, Catelyn negotiates a marital alliance between Robb and the notoriously unreliable House Frey. Robb defeats a Lannister army in the Riverlands, capturing Jaime. Tywin sends Tyrion back to King's Landing to act as Hand of the King to Joffrey. When Ned is executed, Robb's followers declare the North's independence from

12744-443: The tower and found Lyanna dying in a "bed of blood". Before she died, she asked her brother Eddard to make a promise, something that Eddard regarded as a price he paid that haunted him days and nights for 14 years. Eddard later takes her body home to be entombed in Winterfell's crypt, and installs a stone statue in her likeness in front of her sarcophagus. When he returns, he also brings back a newborn boy named Jon Snow, whom he claims

12862-481: The traditional fantasy model and clear-cut lines of good versus evil. Martin reflects: "I think the battle between good and evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make. It's not like evil dresses up in black clothing and you know, they're really ugly". This viewpoint characterizes the book and is evident in the actions of several different families which frequently have conflicts with each other. The Starks' and Lannisters' conflict

12980-486: The two main characters in the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. As a child, his father Prince Maekar reluctantly permitted him to serve as squire to the knight errant Ser Duncan the Tall, in the hopes that the lessons learned through humble service and hard experience would help him avoid the excesses and shortcomings of his royal brothers. He was later crowned as King Aegon V when a Great Council bypassed those before him in

13098-417: The use of his legs. While comatose, Bran dreams of a three-eyed crow. Slowly, he develops the ability to assume his wolf Summer's consciousness, making him a warg or skinchanger . After his older brother Robb is crowned King in the North , Bran becomes Robb's heir and the acting Lord of Winterfell. In A Clash of Kings , Jojen Reed teaches Bran how to correctly use his telepathy , and directs him beyond

13216-540: The use of the second-person pronoun you . This is not a direct address to any given reader even if it purports to be, such as in the metafictional If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino . Other notable examples of second-person include the novel Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney , the short fiction of Lorrie Moore and Junot Díaz , the short story The Egg by Andy Weir and Second Thoughts by Michel Butor . Sections of N. K. Jemisin 's The Fifth Season and its sequels are also narrated in

13334-427: The user, telling the character what they are seeing and doing. This practice is also encountered occasionally in text-based segments of graphical games, such as those from Spiderweb Software , which make ample use of pop-up text boxes with character and location descriptions. Most of Charles Stross 's novel Halting State is written in second person as an allusion to this style. In the third-person narrative mode,

13452-525: Was deeply in love with her, although she was unimpressed by Robert's reputation for infidelity. Her life's tales are mainly told through the words of Eddard Stark and Meera Reed (via Bran Stark 's viewpoint chapter), with some passing commentaries from other people such as Barristan Selmy , Cersei Lannister , Roose Bolton and Kevan Lannister . During the Tourney at Harrenhal, the greatest tourney in Westerosi history, Lyanna rescued Stark bannerman Howland Reed by beating away three bullying squires. She

13570-418: Was later chosen by the eventual jousting champion, Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen , as the tourney's "Queen of Love and Beauty". Because Rhaegar was already married, and Lyanna was a maiden betrothed to Robert Baratheon, Rhaegar's wooing of Lyanna was considered an outrageous scandal at the time. One year later, she was said to have been abducted and raped by Rhaegar, triggering a civil war that resulted in

13688-464: Was published in March 2013, titled Game of Thrones . A Game of Thrones follows three principal storylines simultaneously. Upon the death of Lord Jon Arryn , the principal advisor to King Robert Baratheon , Robert recruits his childhood friend Eddard "Ned" Stark , now Warden of the North, to replace Arryn as Hand of the King, and to betroth his daughter Sansa to Robert's son Joffrey . Ned accepts

13806-473: Was reported to have been killed along with his mother and sister by Gregor Clegane . In A Dance with Dragons , Varys claims to have switched Aegon with another, lowborn infant (known as the "Pisswater prince") and smuggled Aegon out of King's Landing prior to the capital's fall. During his exile in Essos, Tyrion Lannister (under the alias Hugor Hill) meets Young Griff, a well-trained teenage boy endorsed by Varys's associate Illyrio Mopatis, who claims to be

13924-616: Was the British first edition. Its official publication date was earlier than that of the US Bantam edition, but Bantam went to print several months earlier to hand out copies at the American Booksellers Association (ABA). The novel has been translated into many languages and published in multiple editions in hardcover, paperback, e-book, and audio book form. In different languages, the number of books may not be

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