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

** 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.

* [[Kill It With Fire]]:

** 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.}}

** Also the execution/sacrifice method favoured by followers of R'hllor, naturally. By contrast, priests of the Drowned God are fond of [[Kill It With Water]].

* [[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.

** 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.

{{quote| '''Cressen, thinking: '''Stannis, my lord, my sad sullen boy, son I never had, you must not do this, don't you know how I have cared for you, lived for you, loved you despite all? Yes, loved you, better than Robert even, or Renly, for you were the one unloved, the one who needed me most.}}

* [[Line in The Sand]]: Theon in ''A Clash of Kings''.

** 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.

* [[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.

* [[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}}.

* [[The Magic Comes Back]]: [[Wham Episode|And does it ever]]. George RR Martin has stated many times that he prefers [[Magic Realism]] over flashy spells, but with {{spoiler|dragons hatching, people rising from the dead, and the shadow babies of Melisandre}}, there's no doubting the existence of at least some sort of magic.

* [[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]]:

* [[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 Master Right or Wrong]]: Most of the Kingsguard. Jaime relates being informed by one of his compatriots that his job is to guard the king, not judge him--in response to Jaime suggesting they intervene and stop Aerys from beating his wife. Jaime ends up [[Never Live It Down|famously]] averting it.

* [[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.

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** {{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]]?

* [[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.

* [[The Nondescript]]: the Tickler, Gregor Clegane's [[Torture Technician]], could disappear in a crowd of three; [[Television Without Pity]] described him as an "[http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/game-of-thrones/garden-of-bones-1.php?page=8 interestingly casual man]."

* [[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.

{{quote| ''{{spoiler|Now that's where you're wrong, Father. Why, I believe I'm you writ small. Do me a kindness now, and die quickly.}}''}}

** 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).

* [[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]].

* [[Only Known By Their Nickname]]: Plenty of people, such as Spare Boot, Kegs, Shitmouth and the Tickler.

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

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

{{quote| "Very well, ''ser''. Bring on your storm. And remember, if you will, the ''name'' of this castle." }}

** 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.

* [[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

** 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]].

** The [[The Stoic|Starks]] and the [[Royally Screwed Up|Targaryens]]

** 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]].

[[Category:A Song of Ice and Fire (Literature)]]

[[Category:A Song Of Ice And Fire Tropes J To R]]