High in the halls of the kings who are gone...
a song of ice and fire is a series of high medieval/dark fantasy novels written by george r. r. martin.
after a bloody rebellion that ends the 300-years reign of the dragon-riding targaryen dinasty, the noble houses fight over the reign of the seven kingdoms of westeros: the privilege to sit on the cold and hard iron throne, constructed from the melted and broken swords of the enemies of aegon i targaryen, the conqueror. more as a symbolism of violence and conquest, the twisted blades are still sharp enough to cut those who attempt to lean back on it even after all those 300 years.
"the human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about. i've always taken that as my guiding principle, and the rest is just set dressing."
FAV HOUSES
a noble house from the north, with its seat at the dreadfort. as few weapons are as effective as terror, they are known for the historical practice of flaying their enemies, and it is said they keep torture chambers in their castle. they ruled as red kings before bending their knees to winterfell and are the second most powerful northern house.
the lannisters swindled their enemies, the storm kings hammered them, and the starks cut off their heads. in such company as this, were the boltons really so indelicate?
one of the great houses of westeros. from the seastone chair in the castle of pyke, they rule the iron islands as the lord reapers.
what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger.
another great house of westeros, ruling the stormlands as the lords paramount and with its seat at the storm's end, an ancient castle raised by the storm kings. as the king of the seven kingdoms of westeros, robert baratheon sits at the iron throne - his brother stannis holds the castle of dragonstone and the youngest, renly, is the lord of storm's end.
the gods mock the prayers of kings and cowherds alike.
the dragonlord family who once ruled the seven kingdoms of westeros. they had many castles during the dinasty, their seat being at the red keep while dragonstone was given to the heir and summerhall to the youngest. they are prone to madness and are also known for the ability to have prophetic dreams.
madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. every time a new targaryen is born the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.FAV CHARACTERS (main series and historical)
THEON GREYJOY is the youngest son of balon greyjoy, lord of the iron islands. he is taken to winterfell as a hostage at the end of the greyjoy rebellion. he is deeply insecure and seeks approval from the members of the house stark, but even as he eats at their table and trains with their children, he knows he does not belong there. too greyjoy to be a stark and too stark to be a greyjoy, he masks his insecurities with a fake confidence and is always smiling at the wrong things. having to choose a side while neither considers him one of them, he ends up making the wrong choice, disobeys his own moral compass and loses himself in the struggle of keeping control.
truly one of the best character developments i've ever read, and to me he is the star of ADWD - his chapters are so brutal and traumatic, you can feel his regret in every line. beautifully well-written. one of the few characters that i also like in the hbo's game of thrones series because they managed to adapt important things from his chapters. also i think grrm was being sooo funny when he wrote his arc: oh this is a bad character right? he made bad decisions was insufferable and now you want him to suffer? too bad you didn't explicitly say how much suffering. you, as the reader, has to deal with the consequences. enjoy the endless torture :) shout out to simultaneous victims and villains gotta be one of my fav genders
ROOSE BOLTON is the lord of the dreadfort and head of the house bolton. known as cruel, cold and discreet, his personal motto is "a peaceful land, a quiet people". he avoids the attention of the starks (as he adheres to banned traditions) and does not raise his voice so he can force others to listen quietly, his eyes conceal more than they tell and his silence is a hundred times more threatening than malevolence.
"roose has no feelings, you see. [...] he does not love, he does not hate, he does not grieve. this is a game to him, mildly diverting. some men hunt, some hawk, some tumble dice. roose plays with men."
he is a careful, practical man able to see things as they are in a world full of desperate people who want to prove themselves so badly and believes fear is what keeps a man alive. his apathetic demeanor is only broken by the chance of speaking about his quiet and accomplished trueborn son, domeric, now dead. i actually think he's really funny if you're able to understand his sense of humour, and i love his creepy armour with the blood-red tunic, the vampire theories and all.
ASHA GREYJOY is the daughter of lord balon greyjoy and his only remaining child in pyke, as the eldest siblings rodrik and maron have died during the greyjoy rebellion and the youngest, theon, has been taken to winterfell as a hostage. she is the captain of the longship black wind, and a bold and headstrong young woman as balon has effectively raised her as his heir, treating her like he would a son - she lives with an axe in her hand and a laugh upon her lips. she is terrified by the thought of becoming a lord's wife and is constantly in both verbal and physical fights against men. asha makes her own claim to sit at the seastone chair in pyke against her uncles, offering the ironborn a chance for land, peace and victory.
i really really really love asha. she's proud of herself but not blinded by it like her uncle victarion (easily one of the most stupid characters i have ever had the displeasure of reading). even while raised to sit at the seastone chair in pyke, she prefers the ten towers, the seat of her uncle rodrik harlaw - another great character, the cautious captain of the longship sea song who is rarely seen without a book in hand (he calls one of the towers the book tower and keeps septons there to help care for his books, was the only one who advised balon greyjoy to not start the greyjoy rebellion, is the first to support her claim at the kingsmoot and even offers to name asha his heir at the ten towers. an ordinary man, distinguished only by his love of written words, which so many ironborn found unmanly and perverse). i think her point of view delivers an unique perspective of the ironborn culture and the challenges they face + the recurring themes of gender, where balon sees theon as a daughter and asha as a son. the hbo's game of thrones series version is also great and i loved her dynamic with daenerys.
AEMOND TARGARYEN was the second son of viserys i targaryen by his second wife, queen alicent hightower. he rode the oldest and largest of the dragons in westeros during the dance, vhagar, and was a proficient and unforgiving swordsman who wore nightblack armour. feeling trapped by the shadow of his siblings claiming their own dragons, he claimed vhagar in secret while the others slept but was soon discovered by his nephews, who slashed his eye in the ensuing fight. aemond hardens himself into discipline and resentment and believes that the iron-and-ruby crown of aegon the conqueror looks better on him than it ever did on his brother. his bedmate, alys rivers, ruled the dark and ruinous castle of harrenhal as the witch queen.
VISERYS III TARGARYEN is the heir of king aerys ii targaryen after the death of his older brother, rhaegar targaryen. smuggled/exiled at the end of robert's rebellion, he soon loses his family's belongings to stealers and has to take care of his younger sister, daenerys, impoverished and alone. a king without a kingdom who feeds on dreams of reclaiming the iron throne, clinging desperatedly to the memory of the lost glory of his house as the only one who still remembers it, as rhaegar is dead and daenerys was too young. viserys was forced to sell his mother's crown and that ultimately destroyed him, making him a volatile, insecure and weak man out of humiliation. he loves to talk about dragons and carries the same royal madness as his ancestors.