A Song of Ice and Fire/YMMV: Difference between revisions

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* [[Anticlimax Boss]]:

** {{spoiler|Tywin is one of the strongest candidates for Big Bad, and is a highly competent strategist, chessmaster and manipulative bastard, and were it not for his blind spot with regards to Tyrion could easily qualify as a magnificent bastard. Consequently, one might expect that he would die in a manner befitting such a powerful figure, with either Robb Stark or Daenarys Targaryen getting revenge on him. His death, while very appropriate in its own way (see Karmic Death on the main page), does not meet the expectations of those who saw him as the Big Bad. Of course, since he was ''never'' the [[Big Bad]] in the first place and was actually a [[Red Herring]] at best- half the stuff you think he orchestrated was masterminded by another person; Tywin was mostly reacting to events rather than controlling them-, this might be a moot point.}}

** {{spoiler|Pretty much everyone who seems like they're going to be a Big Bad dies in a rather inglorious way. Viserys is going to sell his sister to gain an army to take back the throne for House Targaryen? Well, not for himself, at least. Drogo's going to conquer the Seven Kingdoms with an army of horsemen? Not after a poorly-treated infected wound kills him. Balon Greyjoy, ~~Squidbilly-in-Chief~~ ~~of the vicious white trash vikings~~ of the Iron Isles, is leading a second rebellion against a shattered Seven Kingdoms? He dies ''off-page''. Renly, while hardly evil, was portrayed as the biggest danger to the other contenders for the throne in ''A Clash of Kings,'' and he dies in an out-of-nowhere way without fighting a battle against the other armies. At least semi-minor [[Complete Monster]] villain Gregor Clegane died a satisfyingly horrible death after being poisoned in a climactic fight.}}

** {{spoiler|Pretty much everyone who seems like they're going to be a Big Bad dies in a rather inglorious way. Viserys is going to sell his sister to gain an army to take back the throne for House Targaryen? Well, not for himself, at least. Drogo's going to conquer the Seven Kingdoms with an army of horsemen? Not after a poorly-treated infected wound kills him. Balon Greyjoy, king viking of the Iron Isles, is leading a second rebellion against a shattered Seven Kingdoms? He dies ''off-page''. Renly, while hardly evil, was portrayed as the biggest danger to the other contenders for the throne in ''A Clash of Kings,'' and he dies in an out-of-nowhere way without fighting a battle against the other armies. At least semi-minor [[Complete Monster]] villain Gregor Clegane died a satisfyingly horrible death after being poisoned in a climactic fight.}}

* [[Anvilicious]]: The notion that the Middle Ages were a romantic time of heroism and chivalry is complete BS. War is ''always'' hell, even (and ''especially'') when it's waged by knights in shining armor. And when noble lords wage power struggles, the common people get shafted in the end no matter who wins. As cool as dragons and wizards may be, everyday life in a [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|Tolkien-esque]] fantasy world would be hell for most people. This trope applies, however, because sometimes Martin goes overboard- for instance, in [[Real Life]] if the nobility of the Middle Ages tried to treat their peasantry half as bad as some of the Houses of Westeros did, the economy would have collapsed and the Houses would have been very poor- and very dead- very quickly. Also, most Middle Age battles were not actually as brutal (or as epic) as they are portrayed- most of them were skirmishes and ended before they had a chance to get that far, because commanders and soldiers at the time were too [[Genre Savvy]] to ''let'' them get that far and achieve nothing but scores of dead soldiers. Only a handful ever really reached that level of violence and scale.

* [[Broken Base]]: The fanbase was actually a pretty contented one up until the publication of ''A Feast For Crows''. With ''A Dance With Dragons'' finally out, the new broken base seems to divide between fans who love it and consider it a return to form, and those who hate it and consider it AFFC 2.0. And then there are those who loved AFFC and don't consider the idea of AFFC 2.0 to be a bad thing. The split in the fanbase seems to be a result of the increased focus on world building in AFFC and ADWD. Westeros and Essos are presented in more detail than ever before, but parts of the fanbase consider this to have occurred at the expense of plot.