A Few Thoughts After Reading "A Song of Ice and Fire"

[A note before we begin: I wrote this article less than twelve hours after finishing the last chapters of A Dance With Dragons, at an absurd hour of the morning on Wednesday. What follows is a somewhat rambling account of my experiences so far with this compelling series of novels; I’m basically just working through my thoughts, in writing, and attempting to come to terms with the many sudden twists and surprises that occurred at the end of ADWD.... PS - I promise there are no spoilers!]

Many of you have most likely heard a thing or two about George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series by now; with HBO’s TV adaptation of A Game of Thrones last year and the second season airing in a few months, and the highly anticipated release of the fifth book in the series last summer, it seems A Song of Ice and Fire is everywhere. 

My own journey with the series began with HBO’s Game of Thrones mini-series last spring. I had heard about the books when I worked at a local bookstore, but hadn’t had a chance to read them before the series began, and I was determined to wait until I’d read them all before watching the show. My mind was changed, however, when I heard from friends of mine who were watching the show how good it was. I had not heard such acclaim for a fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings, so I decided to heck with it - I’m watching. [It also helped that I read a scathing and highly inaccurate review of the series from a certain journalist at the New York Times, which made me even more intrigued by the show... for a critique of that author’s critique, check out my blog’s archives - it’s easy to find!]

What has followed that decision to watch the show has been a months-long emotional roller-coaster as I watched the show, then dove head-first into the novels and finished the first four over the summer and last night, finished the fifth (the delay was caused by my university studies taking over my life). 

A Song of Ice and Fire is unlike any fantasy series I have ever read... in fact, unlike any series of novels of any genre I have ever read. It is so very elaborate, intricate with details of all kinds that make for one of the richest and best-developed fantasy worlds in literature (or any other format). In some ways, Westeros and the world in which it exists is even more detailed and alive than my long-time favourite world of Middle-Earth. The world and cultures developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings and associated novels (The Silmarillion, etc.) seem almost - dare I say it? - simple in comparison. How so? The explanation that I’ve settled upon for now is that where The Lord of the Rings is a very clear story of good vs. evil, and it is obvious who is good and who is evil (though there are some characters at certain degrees in between), A Song of Ice and Fire is something else entirely. 

At first, it may seem like the reader can tell which characters are “good” and which are “evil”, it quickly becomes clear that such labels cannot in any way apply to anyone in these books. There is no black and white in A Song of Ice and Fire - it’s all grey. Even the almost obviously evil creatures - the whitewalkers, with their zombie-like wights - I’m sure will almost certainly turn out to have legitimate and possibly sympathetic motives (I’m just waiting for that revelation to occur). All characters in the series have their motives for good and bad, though most often they think they are doing good when others think they are doing bad, and everything in between. There are characters who think they are acting for the good of themselves or for the good of others; more often than not, what they think will be good turns out to be bad. 

Seriously though, the thing to know about these novels is that if you ever think you have it figured out, something will happen that throws everything off balance. There have been many occasions while reading these books where I though I knew for sure what a character’s motives were (for good or bad), and then much later, Martin will write a chapter from that character’s point of view and show that what I thought was entirely opposite to the truth. It has been a frustrating but also refreshing experience - too often I read novels where I can guess (and be completely right) about characters or plot points - not so here!

Similarly, it’s very hard to figure out exactly who the protagonists of the series are. Unlike other series (for example, The Lord of the Rings) where it is quite clear who the protagonists are, A Song of Ice and Fire keeps surprising the reader by suddenly and unexpectedly killing off characters that had seemed to be very important to the plot. Prophecies and expectations have no power to protect anyone in these books. Characters that appear to be central to all kinds of plots and motivations of characters through many of the books will shockingly find themselves betrayed and murdered in all kinds of ways. The notorious “Red Wedding” caught me by surprise, I must admit... well, in so much as I had not expected all those characters to die all at once, though at the beginning of that unhappy chapter I saw enough clues to know what was coming. As well, at that point I’d realised that no one was safe - any character could die at any time. 

The end of A Dance With Dragons was no different, except that I got the impression that Martin reached the last few chapters of the novel and thought “Hmm, I don’t think I’ve killed off enough characters in this book... let’s murder a whole lot of them all at once! Yay!” Thanks, Martin, for causing me further emotional pain. Like that one character I’d grown to like, and thought that perhaps maybe they would be the one character who survived everything... yeah, maybe not.

But then, I still have some hope. “Dead” doesn’t always really mean “dead”, right? Just check out any sci-fi series, either novels or TV - characters can be killed off and resurrected at a whim... or, made to appear as if they’d died but then it’s revealed later that they really hadn’t. That’s my hope right now, anyway. It’s happened before in this series: one character was murdered, but resurrected in a rather zombie-like fashion. Another character who was pronounced dead long before the series takes place is later revealed to have never been killed at all. A couple characters have spent long stretches of time incognito, where everyone assumes they’ve died but then eventually a chapter appears that reveals they’ve actually just been hanging out somewhere doing something or other. Still, more often than not, when Martin decides to brutally murder a character... they’re actually dead. I feel like my curse of having all my favourite characters die is returning (yes, for a while - in fact, a number of years - it seemed that no matter what book it was I read or show/film I watched, whichever character was my favourite would always, unfailingly, come to an untimely and tragic demise).

I suppose the point of this blog post is to warn anyone interested in reading these books that you really shouldn’t get attached to any characters. Like I said before, no one is safe. I really mean no one. Not a single character is safe from fate or chance or plots; anything could happen to anyone, and no prophecy or cunning plan or army will save them. Also, nothing that any characters say can be trusted - even if the characters themselves fully believe in the “facts” they are reporting, chances are the “truth” is entirely different. That’s just how complex these books are... and I love it. 

No series of novels has ever made me think and try to figure out what exactly is going on as much as these ones have. I appreciate them for that, and for the intense complexity of the plots, the sudden changes, the unexpected turns that take the reader (and the characters) utterly by surprise. I just wish that I would stop liking any of the characters, because I know that as soon as I feel like they might be safe from harm... they’ll be horrifically murdered. 

And now I have to wait who knows how long for the next novel to find out which characters have survived to see winter... which is, in fact, officially here. Which makes me wonder, what do the Starks say in winter? Their words, as any ASOIAF fan would know, are “Winter is coming.” If winter has arrived, what do they say then? “Winter is here”?

Please, George R. R. Martin, please write quickly and publish your next book soon! Until then, I will mourn the loss of certain characters who have not survived, and hope that maybe someone will make it to the end, and maybe, just maybe, have a happy ending... though I doubt that will happen. These are not the kind of books to read if you need a happy ending, but in many ways, they are better for it. I think a happy ending would quite negatively effect the series as a whole... it’s too depressingly realistic for that kind of conclusion. I’ve heard that Martin has said that he would prefer to end the series with one character walking alone, the last survivor, with destruction all around (I’m paraphrasing - please don’t quote me on that!). I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly how it ends; however I may be surprised with who that character is at the end, since the one I thought it would be appears to have been killed off right at the end of A Dance With Dragons... 

Anyway, I will bring this rambling to an end. I’m curious to know, however, what my fellow ASOIAF fans speculate about the series. How do you think the series will end? Which characters do you think will survive to the end? 

[A note before we end: if you will be mentioning anything that happens in A Dance With Dragons in your response, or anything that could be considered “spoiler-y”, please mark that at the top of your comment so anyone who isn’t caught up yet can avoid any major plot revelations, thanks!]