A Song of Ice and Fire/Tropes J To R: Difference between revisions

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== J-L ==

** Moon Boy serves at the Red Keep and can walk on stilts. He's also {{spoiler|on Varys' payroll}}.

** The [[Monster Clown]] Shagwell dresses like a jester and cracks jokes while braining you with a three-headed morningstar.

** Dolorous Edd is a very jester-like character, always snarking under the guise of being [[The Eeyore]], and like a jester, he's able to get away with making those comments to a higher up (in this case the Lord Commander) in a way that others aren't.

* [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot]]

** {{spoiler|The wildlings give this offer to Jon Snow when he and his partner Qhorin Halfhand are captured. However, to make sure he's truly switched sides, they also force him to kill Qhorin.}}

** One of the recruitment methods of the Night's Watch, even those condemned to die may save their lives by choosing the Wall over the headsman.

* [[Just Like Robin Hood]]:

** The Brotherhood Without Banners starts out as this, with some pretty clear expies of the Merry Men (including [[The Archer]], a revered leader, and a roguish priest). After a change in leadership, the group increasingly become [[Knight Templar|Knight Templars]], changing its goal from helping the victims of war crimes to hanging war criminals.

** Lord Manderly's delicious {{spoiler|Frey Pie}} in ''A Dance With Dragons'', {{spoiler|which he serves to other conspirators, including a bunch of Freys.}}

** {{spoiler|Lysa Arryn gets shoved out the Moon Door}}, which she often threatened to do to others.

** When Tyrion {{spoiler|murders his father and former lover in cold blood, he clearly crosses a moral line, but his two victims were such jerks that it's hard not to cheer him on.}}

** While it's quite clear that Arya becomes increasingly morally grey every time she kills someone or is involved in causing a death, it's compensated for the fact that [[Asshole Victim|all of them more or less deserve it]].

** Joffrey is a teen by the time the series begins, but there are several stories about his childhood cruelty--and when he becomes king, he starts to like the idea of ordering men to duel to the death to settle disputes.

** To a much smaller extent, Little and Big Walder. They indulge in some literal kicking the dog and are pretty mean to Hodor. In ''A Dance With Dragons'' they both start palling around with [[Torture Technician|Ramsay Bolton]] and get much worse.

** The best way to deal with undead wights. There's even a song about it. {{spoiler|Presumably fire works on the Others as well, but obsidian, or "frozen fire," also works. Jon also interprets an ancient passage about "dragonsteel" to mean that Valyrian blades would work as well.}}

** One of the Mad King's preferred methods of execution.

* [[Kill the Poor]]: It is mentioned offhandedly that [[The Caligula|Joffrey's]] proposed solution to beggars and starving poor people in King's Landing is to kill them. He at one point brings a crossbow to the castle walls and uses it to [[Kick the Dog|shoot at the people outside the gates begging for food]].

* [[King Bob the Nth]]: At the beginning of the series, Jeor Mormont is the 997th Lord Commander of the Night Watch; later on {{spoiler|Jon Snow}} is the 998th; more than likely there will be a 1000th by the end of the series, due to the fact that {{spoiler|Jon Snow was betrayed by his own men, so even if he survives the stabbing, he'll probably lose command}}.

* [[Knight in Shining Armor]]: Ser Loras, Ser Barristan, Ser Garlan, the old Kingsguard (at least according to the rose-tinted glasses of those who remember them) and many characters from the "Dunk & Egg" stories. Most of them are [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] to a greater or lesser extent. Brienne plays the trope more or less straight, with the twist being that she is female. Sandor Clegane so despises this trope that he [[Defied Trope|has refused multiple offers of knighthood]], even when he joins the Kingsguard.

* [[Knight Templar]]: Stannis Baratheon is a rigid and merciless man who never compromises on anything. He has an even ''bigger'' [[Knight Templar]] advisor, the priestess/sorceress Melisandre, who wants to burn all false gods in preparation for the last battle against evil. The rise of the [[Church Militant]] of the Swords and the Stars provides even more opportunities for the trope. Finally, the Brotherhood Without Banners have gone from Robin Hood Expys to this under Lady Stoneheart aka {{spoiler|Catelyn}}

** Torrhen Stark became known as the King Who Knelt because he chose to submit to Aegon the Conqueror rather than fight a battle he could not win.

** After a failed rebellion, Balon Greyjoy accepts his defeat, even though it comes with two of his three sons being killed and the third taken hostage, biding his time until the day when he can rebel successfully.

** Catelyn gave one to Brandon before he went to duel Petyr Baelish, though in this case there is no real possibility that her hero ''won't'' come back in one piece; in fact, she begged him to leave the boy in one piece.

** Jorah Mormont wore the favour of Lynesse Hightower and won a tourney, defeating all opponents and even gaining her hand in marriage.

* [[Lady of War]]: Daenerys

* [[Laughably Evil]]: Vargo Hoat might lead a mercenary gang of the worst [[Psycho for Hire|psychos for hire]] in the known world, but he's got a humorous lisp that even his victims mock. He's also rather dim-witted, getting outsmarted and outmaneuvered many times before meeting an end that is pure [[Nightmare Fuel]].

* [[Laxative Prank]]: Done seriously. Tyrion is too busy trying to save the city to struggle with Cersei's schemes so he uses a mild poison to get her out of his hair for one day.

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Seemingly part of the "ice and fire" theme of the series overall, in which all extremes are destructive. The red priests describe R'hllor as the champion of life and goodness, but all signs point to a much more malevolent force. [[Dark Is Not Evil|The reverse]] is not true, as the darkness to R'hllor's light is overtly evil.

* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: What makes the Hound one of the most dangerous fighters in Westeros, when he's not drunk off his arse.

** Ser Rolly Duckfield, one of Griff's men in ''A Dance With Dragons''; like other lowborn characters who receive knighthoods (e.g. Davos and Bronn), he wasn't born with a surname, and made up/acquired one upon being knighted. In Rolly's case, while being knighted in a field, he noticed some ducks nearby.

** In ''A Storm of Swords'', Jaime questions Ser Osmund Kettleblack on who knighted him, and Osmund responds "Ser Robert... Stone". Jaime wonders to himself if this was a real person (presumably a bastard sellsword made good) or whether Osmund made him up, combining the name of the deceased king with a glance at the castle wall.

* [[Living Shadow]]: Introduced in ''A Clash of Kings'', these shadow-beings are revealed to be {{spoiler|the children of Melisandre.}}

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: How many? Well, for a long time, the huge character sheet wouldn't tell you who the five kings in the "War Of Five Kings" were, just because ''some of them weren't important enough to list''. The reader of the unabridged audiobook of ''A Game of Thrones'' actually holds the certified world record for most characters voiced in an audiobook - 224.

** Also Sansa, what with her infatuation with Joffrey and wide-eyed hero worship of Cersei. {{spoiler|That sure doesn't last long.}}

* [[Loose Lips]]: Sansa Stark. {{spoiler|Unintentionally helped the queen's plot against Eddard, which cost him his life, and also prevented the Tyrell's plan to help her and whisk her away to Highgarden because she kept telling everything to Dontos.}}

* [[Love At First Sight]]: Subverted several times. A glory-drunk Ser Jorah Mormont falls for fair Lynesse Hightower from afar, and Sansa becomes infatuated with Joffrey. Neither relationship ends well.

* [[Love Dodecahedron]]: A spiderweb:

** Robert Baratheon loved Lyanna Stark, but married Cersei Lannister, who loved her brother Jaime but also wanted to marry Rhaegar Targaryen who wind up marriying to Elia of Dorne even though he [[Wild Mass Guessing|might have loved Lyanna Stark]].

*** {{spoiler|Jon Connington}} is also revealed to have harbored feelings for Rhaegar.

** Several characters note that just about all the war and strife afflicting the land can be traced back to Rhaegar marrying Elia of Dorne instead of Cersei Lannister, then absconding with Lyanna Stark.

** The Starks and the Northern rebellion are brought down when {{spoiler|Robb Stark has a tryst with Jeyne Westerling and breaks his marriage pact with the Freys to marry her}}.

 

== M-O ==

* [[Mad Libs Catchphrase]]: [[Madness Mantra|Reek, Reek, it rhymes with ______]].

* [[Mad Love]]: {{spoiler|The loony Lysa Tully Arryn, whose [[Horrible Judge of Character|terrible taste in suitors]] makes her an easy pawn for Petyr Baelish}}.

* [[Mama Bear]]:

** Cersei Lannister, while a horrible leader, has protecting her children as her strongest motivation. Catelyn Stark gains a darker shade with this trope as well. Ironically, their protective instincts only serve to make things worse. Cersei screws up everything she touches. While Catelyn is full of good advice, her {{spoiler|kidnapping of Tyrion (who was innocent) due to suspicion that he tried to murder Bran}}, led to a Lannister retaliation and was one of the major catalysts that created the perfect storm for the War of the Five Kings.

** Unsurprisingly, being a bunch of assassins, the Faceless Men are adept in the use of poisons. One of them, referred to the as the Waif, specializes in them. While an adult woman, she looks like a child as a result of spending all of her time surrounded by dangerous substances.

* [[The Man They Couldn't Hang]]: One of the members of the Kingswood Brotherhood outlaws was known as Oswyn Longneck, the Thrice-Hanged because of this. Subverted with Beric Dondarrion. While his reputation is for surviving a hanging and other should-be-fatal injuries, he actually died and was resurrected a bunch of times.

** A very clear example of this trope occurs in ''A Storm of Swords'', when Melisandre—who has already been unambiguously demonstrated to have actual magical powers—performs a ritual that will supposedly cause the deaths of three other characters. All three other characters do die soon thereafter, but each as a result of unrelated plots that started well before Melisandre cast her spell.

* [[Meaningful Echo]]:

*** ''Janos'' Slynt turns out to be two-faced, as the Roman god Janus.

*** ''Lancel'' Lannister is (one of several people) having an affair with the queen, reminiscent of Arthurian Lancelot.

*** Hodor may be an approximation of Höðr, a disabled (blind) god in [[Norse Mythology]].

*** ''Stannis'' Baratheon is hard and unyielding. His name is a homophone for "stannous," meaning "like tin," which is often brittle. He's openly compared to iron, however, specifically for his brittleness.

** The ''Kettleblack'' brothers (as in "the pot calling the...") are involved in a scheme by Cersei to accuse Margaery of crimes that Cersei herself is guilty of.

** Ami Frey is a very [[Really Gets Around|friendly]] young woman.

* [[Medieval Stasis]]: Westerosi technology has improved very slowly over its extremely long history. The continent was once ruled by the Children of the Forest, with stone age technology, who were then conquered by the First Men with Bronze Age technology, who were then partially replaced by the Andals with Iron Age technology. In the last thousand years, technology has not significantly improved. In fact, some ancient marvels of engineering, such as the Wall, Harrenhal, and the hot-springs-heated Winterfell, are probably built on [[Lost Technology]]. However, it's hinted that the timeline includes many legends and anachronisms, so it's not entirely trustworthy.

* [[Mentor Archetype]]: Littlefinger for Sansa Stark; Syrio Forel, Jaqen H'ghar and the Kindly Old Man for Arya Stark; Jeor "Old Bear" Mormont and Qhorin Halfhand for Jon Snow; Ser Arlan for Dunk

* [[Mook Horror Show]]: There's several similar instances (at Winterfell when Theon held it; at Harrenhall under the Lannisters; and at Winterfell again under the Boltons) where "good guys" spook "bad guys" by committing undetected murders of their forces.

* [[Morality Pet]]: Brienne, for {{spoiler|post-[[Heel Face Turn]] Jaime}}. The two Stark girls, for Sandor Clegane.

* [[The Mourning After]]: Tywin is forever hardened after his wife Joanna's death, to such an insane extent that he never smiles {{spoiler|though he does get it on with whores}}. Hoster Tully is also never quite the same. Robert, one of the most epic cases, goes so far as to get hammered and then call Cersei "Lyanna" on their wedding night. And then there's Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, whose long [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|fixtation]] on Catelyn (not to mention the severe [[Break the Cutie]] process he went through because of it) lead to him turning severely [[Yandere]] and [[Replacement Goldfish|creepy consequences]] regarding Catlyn's daughter, Sansa.

* [[Mr. Smith]]:

** Qyburn calls his towering creation "Ser Robert Strong."

* [[The Munchausen]]: Tormund Giantsbane, who admits as much with one of his [[The Magnificent|many nicknames]], "Tall-Talker."

* [[My Beloved Smother]]: Cersei Lannister gave Joffrey free rein, but does this with Tommen after {{spoiler|Joffrey's death}}. Lysa Arryn does this with Robert. Both find a strange balance between coddling their children's flaws so they don't outgrow them and smothering them to prevent them from maturing. Olenna Tyrell makes no apologies for running her son Mace's life, stating, "All these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers." Subverted in that Olenna is way more competent than him.

* [[My Nayme Is]]:

** Westerosi culture features a lot of archaic, alternate, or non-English spellings of common names, such as "Eddard" instead of "Edward". The letter Y crops up quite often in names, especially as a vowel. Knights are titled ''ser'' rather than the traditional English "sir."

** There's a whole lot of surnames that are unusual spellings of animals, fruit, etc. (typically those featured on the family's coat-of-arms): i.e. Plumm, Codd, Hogg, etc.

* [[Myth Arc]]: The Others, The Prince Who Was Promised.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: A standard of the series. The Hound, the Mad King, the Kingslayer, the Mountain That Rides, the Bloody Mummers, the Crow's Eye, the Red Viper, the Titan's Bastard, the Darkstar and so on...

* [[Necromancer]]:

** The Others, who raise the corpses of people and animals they kill (and possibly corpses in general) as wights.

* [[Never Say That Again]]: Tyrion does ''warn'' {{spoiler|Tywin}} to stop throwing the word "whore" in his face. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't listen.

* [[Never Split the Party]]: played with. Jaime is criticised for splitting his siege of Riverrun into three camps, allowing them to be overrun separately. Tywin immediately shoots down the criticism, pointing out that the [[Genre Savvy]] Tullys have sited their castle precisely to ''enforce'' this trope, making defense that much easier.

** {{spoiler|Of course, Mirri's actions do wind up resulting in the rebirth of dragons into the world, and it's entirely possibly that they'll mount the world or whatever. So possibly played straight, with a helping of prophecy?}}

* [[Night of the Living Mooks]]: People killed by the Others come back as nearly unstoppable wights who kill people. Jon becomes convinced that the Others can reanimate ''any'' corpse they find, whether or not they made it a corpse in the first place. [[Red Herring|Is he right]]? ...[[Zerg Rush|Would you take the risk]]?

* [[No Party Like a Donner Party]]: In ''A Dance With Dragons'', some of Stannis' men end up eating their dead when they are trapped by a massive snowstorm during the march to Winterfell. They get burned alive for it.

* [[No Pronunciation Guide]]: GRRM is of the opinion that you should be allowed to decide on pronunciations for yourself. This is probably because he didn't ''want'' to have to decide how to say "Xaro Xhoan Daxos" or "Jaqen H'ghar." The TV series immediately begged his help.

* [[Noble Fugitive]]: Viserys is a bit of a deconstruction. Straighter examples in Daenerys, {{spoiler|Ser Barristan, Jon Connington, and Tyrion.}}

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Averted. Defecation is mentioned quite frequently. In ''Storm of Swords'', Strong Belwas shames the Yunkai champion Oznak zo Pahl by shitting in the direction of his city and wiping himself with the dead Oznak's cloak. And {{spoiler|Tywin Lannister}} is assassinated when he's on the privy, {{spoiler|proving that he ''doesn't'' shit gold}}. Astapor's refugees bring the bloody flux to Mereen, leading to a mass outbreak of dysentary. Also, {{spoiler|Dany}} gets the runs after eating wild berries while stranded near the end of Dance with Dragons.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: A number of incidents are referred to early on, with clues popping up over the course of the series. Examples include the tragedy at Summerhall, the Doom of Valyria, and the events at the "tower of joy."

* [[Mother Russia Makes You Strong|The North Makes You Strong]]: The people of the North are strong and hardy, thanks to their tough and cold homeland.

* [[Not Helping Your Case]]: Tyrion Lannister, especially after {{spoiler|he's accused of murdering Joffrey and finally snaps.}}

* [[Not Just a Tournament]]: "The Mystery Knight" takes place during a tournament that's {{spoiler|secretly a gathering for conspirators trying to start a second Blackfyre rebellion}}.

* [[Not So Different]]:

** Tyrion comes to this conclusion regarding himself and his father.

** The Starks are shown to have been ruthless in maintaining their power in the past. Long before the series begins, a branch of the Stark family called the Greystarks joined with the Boltons in a rebellion against the Starks. The Stark lord at the time crushed the rebellion and wiped out the Greystark branch of the family.

** Sandor Clegane calls out the Brotherhood Without Banners in what's both an example of this as well as [[At Least I Admit It]]:

* [[The Oathbreaker]]:

** Jaime Lannister. He killed the king he was sworn to protect, and everyone - even the people who acknowledge that Aerys needed killing - treats him like the lowest of the low, even in a [[Crapsack World]] full of child rapists, [[Torture Technician|Torture Technicians]], and [[The Caligula|mad kings]] (like the one he killed to save King's Landing).

* [[Oddly Common Rarity]]: While the Targaryan features initially seem quite unusual (and are admittedly rare in Westeros), it's eventually revealed that not only are there two Westerosi families who have the same look (the Daynes and the Velaryons), but that in Essos, or at least the city of Lys, those features are exceedingly common.

* [[Oedipus Complex]]: Tywin and Tyrion Lannister.

* [[Offstage Villainy]]: Done chillingly well with Ramsay Bolton. Pre-''Dance'' he had only appeared in person under his own name in one chapter at the end of the third volume, yet was already one of the biggest sources of [[Nightmare Fuel]] in the series. Once he comes onstage he manages to get ''worse''.

* [[Older Than They Look]]: The waif is a Faceless Man (Faceless Woman?) who is thirty-six years old but looks like a child close to Arya's age. Her body is unnaturally small because she is around dangerous poisons all the time and the face she has probably isn't her real one anyway.

* [[Old Master]]: Ser Barristan Selmy, Syrio Forel and Jeor "Old Bear" Mormont.

* [[Old Soldier]]: Many examples, including Qhorin, Jeor Mormont, Yoren and Rodrik Cassel.

* [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]]: [[Invoked Trope]] by the Citadel; Maesters wear a chain with each link representing a field of study they've mastered, and are expected to earn [[Jack of All Trades|as many as they can]].

* [[Old Retainer]]: Ser Rodrik Cassell, Master-At-Arms for House Stark.

** Ser Cortnay Penrose, castellan of [[Meaningful Name|Storm's End]].

** Archmaester Marwyn, called "The Mage" by the other archmaesters for his interest in the occult. He is very well-traveled and he is mentioned a few times throughout the story but so far he has only actually appeared once, at the end of the fourth book. Possibly his popularity with the fandom is a result of his [[Jumped At the Call|extremely proactive behaviour]] in what had been a very slow-paced book.

** Lord Manderly's granddaughter [[Plucky Girl|Wylla Manderly]], {{spoiler|who stands up for the Starks and gives Davos her support, despite her family's protests and attempts to silence her. Wyman Manderly praises her bravado once he reveals his plan to Davos.}}

** Ned Stark names two of his children Brandon and Rickon, probably after his brother and father who were killed by the Mad King. Robert Arryn (and probably Robb Stark) is named after King Robert Baratheon; there has been more than one Jon running around (Arryn, Connington, Snow, two Umbers); there's two Balons (Swann, Greyjoy); it seems to be a House Stark tradition to ''always'' have a Brandon in each generation (The Builder; The Shipwright; The Burner; The Daughterless; The Broken); and there's more Aegons, Viseryses, Aeryses, Daerons, and Baelors than you can break a spear at.

** House Frey is a particular exception for all the Walders and Waldas, named to suck up to family patriarch Walder Frey - even the ''other characters'' get confused, and good luck trying to remember whether you're reading about Black Walder or Red Walder or Bastard Walder without [[All There in the Manual|referring to the family tree]]. Winterfell takes on two young wards, ''both'' named Walder Frey. They're called Big Walder and Little Walder in reference to their age, but Little Walder is bigger than Big Walder, which greatly amuses the two boys but confuses everyone else.

* [[The One That Got Away]]: Lyanna, for Robert. Tysha, for Tyrion. Catelyn, for Littlefinger. Lynesse Hightower, for Jorah Mormont.

* [[Oracular Urchin]]: Jojen Reed, with his prophetic "green dreams."

* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: Dragons look like like winged, legged serpents with thick scales. They breathe fire and cook their meat before eating it. They are hermaphrodites, and lay scaled eggs that must be bathed in fire before they hatch. Like fish, they grow according to the size of their environment. They have animal level intelligence and can be trained to accept a rider, making them useful weapons of war. Their presence seems to be linked to the effectiveness of magic. When the story starts, they have been extinct for years {{spoiler|though they got better, thanks to Daenerys}}. They may also have a taste for human flesh. Their internal body temperatures appear to be tremendous: steel weapons stuck in them almost immediately are red, melting hot. Similarly, their blood is so hot it glows, akin to molten metal.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: The Others, [[Epileptic Trees|possibly]], although it's hard to tell, since we've seen so little of them. Still, they (reportedly) drink blood, are pale and cold, and only seem to come out at night...

* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: Called skinchangers, beastlings, and wargs, and they {{spoiler|take control of animals rather than turn into them, and can do this with other animals besides wolves}}.

* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]:

** The people resurrected with the flames of Rh'llor are the Revenant variety, and Coldhands is likely one of these as well.

* [[Out of the Inferno]]: The end of ''A Game of Thrones''.

* [[Outside Context Villain]]: The Others.

 

== P-R ==

* [[Parental Abandonment]]

* [[Parental Favoritism]]: Tywin Lannister hates Tyrion for his deformity and for causing his mother to die in childbirth. He grudgingly tolerates his presence in the family, but refuses to grant him any inheritance. On the other hand, Randyll Tarly is so openly disgusted with Samwell that he threatens him with murder if he does not disinherit himself. Catelyn Stark openly resents Jon's living at Winterfell, for the reason that [[Heroic Bastard|he isn't her son]].

* [[Perfectly Arranged Marriage]]:

** The Starks, though it's noted to have taken some years to get used to each other

** Greyscale is a chronic, disfiguring disease that causes numb grey lesions to spread across the body, making the victim appear to be turning to stone. Victims in an advanced state are called "stone men" and live together in isolated colonies. Its symptoms share similarities with leprosy and smallpox. Supposedly it's relatively harmless in children, merely leaving them disfigured (notably Shireen Baratheon), but the wildlings disagree and kill afflicted children as a matter of course. Victims of Greyscale are so scorned that {{spoiler|Jon Connington hides the fact that he has it rather than seek treatment because he won't risk abandonment by his followers}}.

* [[Planning for The Future Before The End]]: {{spoiler|Jon}} has something of a one-sided version of this with the dying {{spoiler|Ygritte}}. He tells her that she'll be fixed up, that she'll see a hundred castles, and that they'll return to their cave together. Her response is simply, "{{spoiler|[[Arc Words|You know nothing, Jon Snow.]]}}"

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Many the characters in the series have already died by the first page, including Rhaegar Targaryen, Aerys Targaryen, Jon Arryn, Lyanna Stark, Ashara Dayne, Elia of Dorne, Ser Arthur Dayne, etc; Ser Arlan of Peny Tree in the Dunk & Egg Saga.

* [[Powder Keg Crowd]]: During the starvation, the hungry poor people of King's Landing become this when King Joffrey deliberately provokes them (by telling the Hound to kill anyone that gets between him and someone who threw shit at Joffrey).

* [[Prayer of Malice]]: Before she goes to sleep, Arya recites to herself a mantra which lists the names of her enemies, all of whom she plans to kill, and at one point, when she has an opportunity to engage in prayer, she recites the same list.

* [[Precursors]]: Valyria.

* [[Preemptive Apology]]: The modus operandi of the Sorrowful Men, a guild of assassins.

* [[Preemptive Declaration]]:

''''Ryman''': "Ser, you do not unders-" (cut off by Jaime backhanding him in the face) }}

* [[Pretty Boy]]:

** Also, Joffrey Baratheon, who is described as a combination of his sister Myrcella and his uncle Jaime, {{spoiler|who also happens to be his father.}}

** Jaime was apparently one in his early youth, when he and his beautiful sister were almost spitting images of each other.

** Lancel Lannister is also said to resemble a younger Jaime.

** {{spoiler|Aegon "Young Griff" is described as taking after his true father, with eyelashes "as long as any woman's," purple eyes, and a lithe, skinny build. And once he gets all that dye out...}}

* [[Private Military Contractors]]: There are many named sellsword companies. Each has their own traditions and reputation, ranging from scum like the Brave Companions to the elite Golden Company. The world is also filled with independent sellswords and [[Knight Errant|hedge knights]], who bounce from job to job. Bronn is the series' most notable sellsword.

* [[Punctuated Pounding]]: Arya when killing {{spoiler|The Tickler}} and Brienne when killing {{spoiler|Shagwell}}, with both of them momentarily berserk with rage by the end of it.

* [[Punctuation Shaker]]: Jaqen H'ghar, amongst others. Lampshaded when Arya is unable to pronounce "R'hllor".

* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]]: The Night's Watch, the Brave Companions, and the Brotherhood Without Banners.

* [[Rashomon Style]]: Surprisingly rare -- despite the multiple-POV format, chapters tend not to overlap -- but one example in ''A Feast For Crows'' shows both sides of a conversation between Samwell and Jon.

* [[Ravens and Crows]]: Ravens serve as messenger birds throughout Westeros, often delivering bad news. This leads to the commonly-repeated expression, "dark wings, dark words." Jeor Mormont's old pet raven can also speak a few words, which often seem ominously prophetic. The Maesters of the Citadel also breed special white ravens who are only released to signify the official changing of seasons; one shows up at the end of ''A Dance With Dragons'' to show that winter has, in fact, come.

* [[A Real Man Is a Killer]]

* [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]: The Night's Watch often serves this purpose for criminals, disgraced ex-soldiers and [[Black Sheep]] members of noble houses. This backfires on the Watch big time when {{spoiler|some of these former criminals kill Lord Commander Mormont.}}

* [[Reassignment Backfire]]: Happens to several characters who are sent to join the Night's Watch.

* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Robb, Bran and Sansa.

* [[Red Right Hand]]:

** A literal example in Victarion Greyjoy, whose infected hand becomes {{spoiler|magically healed by a red priest. It appears horrifically burned, but it's apparently painless and supernaturally strong. The hand coincides with Victarion becoming increasingly convinced that he is favored by the gods to seize Dany's dragons for himself and kill anyone in his path.}}

** Biter's filed teeth and Rorge's slit nose, both directly caused by their villainy.

** The [[Evil Is Deathly Cold|deathly cold Others]] and the [[Light Is Not Good|fire-themed R'hllor]].

** Stoic Ned Stark and [[Boisterous Bruiser]] Robert Baratheon.

* [[Reformed but Rejected]]: Jaime Lannister will probably never get over his reputation.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: In-universe -- after {{spoiler|the Red Wedding}}, [[The Starscream|the Freys]] know no-one would believe that [[Honour Before Reason|the Starks]] were the first to break the rules of [[Sacred Hospitality]]... so their story is that {{spoiler|the Starks all simultaneously warged into wolves and began slaughtering people.}}

* [[Religion Is Magic]]: Magic is left vague and mysterious, but a good portion of the magic we see is rooted in a religion of some form. Several followers of R'hllor are able to perform magical feats. Other types of magic, such as skinchanging and prophetic dreams, are linked with greenseers and the old gods.

* [[Religion of Evil]]:

** The faith of Rh'llor presents itself as good and loving and as a necessary bullwark against the "Great Other," who aims to wipe out humanity. However, their sinister priests are shown burning people alive as sacrifices and practicing necromancy.

** The Many-Faced God worshiped in the House of Black and White is rather hard to pin down. The priests offer painless euthanasia to the suffering, and their founder led the Braavosi out of bondage. They also offer Arya Stark shelter and support in return for a debt. However, their priests are Faceless Men, a feared and [[Shrouded in Myth]] guild of shapeshifting assassins who are brainwashed into a total [[Loss of Identity]].

** Ser Jorah confesses to Daenerys that she reminds him of [[Love At First Sight|Lynesse]].

** Cersei's musings on Aurane Waters include comparisons (of whim-dependent favorability) to Rhaegar.

* [[Rhetorical Request Blunder]]: {{spoiler|The attempt to kill Bran after his injury}}

* [[Royal Blood]]

** The Targaryens, though it seems to be touch and go: there's an equal chance that each new Targaryen baby will be a total nutter like Aerys or a reasonably capable leader like his son, Rhaegar.

** The Baratheons are hardly any better; Robert was a lazy, inconsistent ruler as well as a drunk and adulterer, his brothers went to war over his throne, and the two children who've succeeded him are actually his wife's bastards by her own brother. Joffrey in particular seemed to share the worst qualities of both his biological parents and his legal father, and the graces of none of them.

* [[Rule of Three]]:

** In ''A Storm of Swords'', there's a detailed description of how Robb bids farewell to Jeyne Westerling thrice before departing to his uncle Edmure's wedding, {{spoiler|which turns into the Red Wedding, making it the last time the couple bid farewell to each other.}}

** The [[Rule of Three]] runs through Dany's whole story - contrast the Rule Of Seven in the Westeros chapters. She's one of three children (as are a lot of past Targaryen generations), she has three bloodriders, three handmaids, three dragons, three ships. She sends her bloodriders out from Vaes Tolorro to find civilisation, and only the third succeeds, returning with three envoys from Qarth, only the third of which is any help. The Undying's prophecy is stacked to the gills with threes - the famous line that "the dragon has three heads", along with "three fires must you light, one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride: one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know: once for blood and once for gold and once for love". She conquers three Ghiscari cities, settling in the third.

* [[Running Gag]]:

** Shagga's "I'll chop off your manhood and feed it to the goats!" There's a reference to this running gag in the ''Dunk and Egg'' stories, but with dogs instead of goats. Tyrion also gets in on the act:

'''Tyrion:''' I'll get some, just for you. }}

** "As useless as nipples on a breastplate" is quipped by multiple people throughout the series. The gag continues when {{spoiler|Ser Jorah Mormont}} is shown in ''A Dance With Dragons'' wearing a breastplate with pierced nipples.

 

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