A Song of Ice and Fire

WIENER PARTY! WIENER PARTY!

This article contains spoilers! You have been warned.

Warning: This article contains so many spoilers we're ruining books that haven't even been released yet.

A Song of Ice and Fire (abbreviated as ASoIF and pronounced "Ass-Off" by the efficient) is a fantasy book series for people who hate fantasy, and which you probably never heard about till you pirated the long format pornography show on Torrent. Its central themes include incest, douchebaggery, and inefficiency. Thus it has become one of the most popular series of our generation and its author, George R. R. Martin, has been praised for his highly realized world and gritty low fantasy style. He was even called "the American Tolkien" by Time magazine gormless idiots who lump diametrically different writers together for no other reason than that they're both fantasy authors. The series itself is set on the totally not medieval European ripoff realm of Westeros as it is wracked by a massive succession war drawing its regionss into conflict. There's at least five kings depending on how you're counting, they're burning the continent down in their scramble for power, and somehow all of the fuck-ups are managing to lose simultaneously while a horde of evil snow elves and their armies of zombies come to fuck them up from the North.

Fun Fact: In the world of ASOIF, all the black people see prostitution as the greatest profession. No, srsly.

According to a leaked fan conversation, George R R Martin stated the series would end with an epic cock-slap fight between Samwell Tarly and Jaime Lannister.

TL;DR: War of Roses redux, with a side helpin' of cliched fantasy.

Yeah, pretty much.

House Stark

"Winter Is Coming"

Proud, hardass, northerners who serve as the series' main narrators. They have a tendency towards Lawful Stupid that bites them in the ass frequently. House of York-ish.

• Eddard Stark The Quiet Wolf: Patriarch, lord and POV death-puppet.
• Robb Stark, The Young Wolf: Shiny, Lawful Stupid King Arthur-like hero, cacks it nastily. Became an Ulfwerenar. HAHA, DISREGARD THAT. He's not that awesome. Nor is he at all favoured by the Four Gods of Chaos. He actually got his pet's head stuck on his body and was paraded around. HERE COMES THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH, THE KING IN THE NORTH, THE KING IN THE NORTH! HERE COMES THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH...
• Sansa Stark: Useless teenage girl extraordinaire. But it looks like she'll be good at courtly intrigues. Also, stereotypical domestic abuse victim.
• Arya Stark: Little tomboy assassin. Has a kill list, but won't get to use it so long as she is a amnesiac apprentice of the Faceless Men.
• Catelyn Stark (nee Tully): Fucks everyone's shit up by being a bitch. Gets killed along with Robb, then comes back as an undead witch bent on killing all the Boltons, Greyjoys, Lannisters, and pretty much everyone who betrayed her and her family.
• Bran Stark: Intelligent little boy, crippled in the first sign of major GrimDark. Has prophetic dreams and becomes a wizard.
• Rickon Stark: Four years old at the start, turning into a real little Barbarian by the third book. third book and everything after it sucks.
• Jon Snow, Lord Snow: A 'Bastard', which is a bad thing, apparently mary sue. Became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (basically Colonel Schaeffer with more men under his command) at the age of teenaged boy. Currently dying of knives in his back. Might not actually be Eddard's son, but rather the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.
• Hodor: A pokemon.

House Targaryen

"Fire and Blood"

The one time dragon kings and rulers of Westeros, who got that way thanks to the twincestastic Aegon (who married his older and younger sister and fucked several kids into each, which of course cause succession issues down the line), aka William the Conqueror. Due to a policy of catastrophic inbreeding they sired a line of almost alternatingly great and lunatic kings (something possibly to do with divine ambivalence about incest. Maybe.), culminating in Aerys "That Guy" Targaryen and a palace coup. Now stuck in Essos (that means "Eastern Continent," for the possible half a person who didn't get the obvious distinction between Westeros and Essos) trying to gather armies to retake the Iron Throne for reasons no one knows. Nobody likes reading their parts of the books because none of the action takes place in Westeros (they're xenophoibic morons). Pseudo-Romans/House of Normandy.

• Aerys V, The Mad King: A pretty fun guy to be around. Had a thing for burning traitors, a category of people that eventually grew to include anybody he disliked for any reason, and a few people who were unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire.
• Daenerys Targaryen, Stormborn: An albino Mary Sue. She was sold by her brother to a barbarian king, in exchange for his promise to conquer Westeros. Then her husband killed her brother and promised to conquer the world for Daenerys, making her a badass barbarian warqueen. Unfortunately, her husband died and his horde fell apart. Then she hatched three dragons and now everyone wants to marry her. Gets shit done except the entire fifth book, in which she mopes around about wanting to bang an annoying, flamboyant homosexual mercenary in a clown suit. She also does nothing while insurgents kill her men, she lets a horde of plague victims spread disease to her city, and she stands idly by while an enemy army besieges her walls. Also learns how to train her dragon.
• Viserys Targaryen, The Beggar King: Daenerys' brother, got himself killed for being an all-around bastard and whiny fuck. Daenerys' husband poured a crown of molten gold over his head.
• Aegon Targaryen, Aegon VI: Daenerys' nephew, the son of her brother Rhaegar. Been hiding in Essos for the entire length of the series, but recently raised an army of Westerosi exiles and invaded Westeros. Wants to marry his aunt because she has dragons, and might not actually be a member of House Targaryen if you believe the tinfoil-hat wearing fans. He can actually count past 6, can multiply numbers, can read different language and has a minor understanding of geometry. Thus cementing him as one of the most educated people in this overwrought series. Can also do his own laundry.

House Lannister

"Hear Me Roar"

Rich, fabulous, bastards who always pay their debts. Not much of a martial tradition but if you cross them they will fucking cut you. You can tell they are the bad guys because they are blonde have an army of sick fucks, including a zebra-riding mercenary band and 7'20" Khornate Champion (though his Khornate status is debatable since he sickeningly seems to enjoy raping women

• AXE BLOW* FUCK YOU. ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME IN WARHAMMER FANTASY KNOWS THAT I AM CONDONING OR AT LEAST AMBIVALENT OF RAPE, FOR I AM WORSHIPED BY MOTHERFUCKING VIKINGS.), Gregor Clegane. House Lancaster in drag.
• Tywin Lannister, The Lion of Lannister: Head of the house. Kills everyone who fights against him, he was the true power behind the throne until he died on the toilet. Has his own sweet, yet creepy as fuck theme song about him (spoiler) fucking up one house so badly their name is used as a warning against anyone standing against him. Essentially a rip-off of Edward Longshanks, minus anything that made Edward Longshanks awesome (ie: chivalrous warrior-king who bitch-slaps his assassins)
• Cersei Lannister, The Bitch Queen: Twin sister to Jaime Lannister and wife to King Robert Baratheon. She fucks her brother all the time and had three of his children, whom she passed off as Roberts to grab power. She seeks to rule Westeros as the Queen, and will do anything to keep her power. Crazy as all fuck, and gonna be killed by one of her younger brothers. Three guesses as to who that's going to be, and you don't need the last two. This is because of a prophecy a maegi made when Cersei was a child that she'd be a beautiful queen, lose everything, her children would die before her and a younger sibling would kill her. Possibly the maegi was messing with her head knowing what a bitch Cersei was. She is currently alive only because Varys want her to be alive because she's a terrible queen and she'll destabilize the realm enough for him to bring back the Targereyns.
• Jaime Lannister, The Kingslayer: Younger twin brother (by about three seconds) to Cersei Lannister and commander of the Kingsguard. He loves his sister in every sense of the word and had three children with her. Killed the last king despite his oath, and hated for it (even though everyone agrees that Aerys was insane and a monster). His desire to openly love his sister and win the respect he feels he deserves eventually causes Cersei to reject him. Starts off as an arrogant douche but becomes quite bro-tier after learning a few hard lessons and having some time to rethink his life. Also the only person who treats Tyrion well.
• Tyrion Lannister, Halfman: a dwarf who is awesome but who all civilized characters, except his brother Jamie, hate. He seems to do much better with whores, rogues, and barbarians. His silver tongue is one of his greatest assets, at persuading people, and flaws as he's quick with insults and speaks the truth in a city ruled by pretentious liars. Currently in exile after killing his father and being accused of killing his nephew Joffrey.
• Cersei and Robert's (actually Jamie's) children.
  • Joffrey Baratheon: Technical king of Westeros since he lives in King's Landing and sits on the throne. Worse than Aerys. He died and there was much rejoicing. Except by his mother, who instead had sex on his corpse. Sadly, this may be cut out of the long format porno version, Scratch that, funeral incest sex has been included in the long-format porno(as rape, no less). Fourteen years old at time of death.
  • Tommen Baratheon: The new king on the Iron Throne. Nine years old. Married to a teenaged shotacon wife, who might or might not have arranged for his brother's murder. Outlaws beets. Loves kittens. He's pretty well-rounded and non-fucked up, a miracle considering his parents, both putative and biological. Also seems to be trying to take kinging seriously. Whether it holds is another matter entirely. Prophesied to die before Cersei; doubly tragic due to his age and being a much better person than her.
  • Mycella Baratheon: Princess, had her face fucked up because of the Martells, plus chronic backstabbing disorder, poor planning and general stupidity. Ten years old. Before the maiming, she was quite decent and non-evil. Who knows how she'll turn out now with her face cut off. Also prophesied to die before Cersei. Also, the readership all got on George's balls for maiming this girl, mostly because it was a sign that he had run out of ideas and was basically just milking diabolus ex machina.

House Baratheon

"Ours is the Fury"

Ascended to the iron throne after a successful rebellion. Produce no less than three claimants to the succession, each more shit better than the last. Technically a cadet branch of House Targaryen (their founder was a Targaryen bastard), they're pretty much the House of Plantegenet.

• Robert Baratheon, The Usurper: Fat old badass king who led the rebellion and married Cersei Lannister. Then he fucked a bunch of other women and had lots of kids, and was killed by a boar, but he fucking took that pig down with him, what the fuck have you done lately?. Pretty much a sad, lonely old bro who would rather not have been king.
• Stannis The Mannis Baratheon, TRUE HEIR TO THE IRON THRONE, all-around badass who swings between Lawful Stupid and killing everyone who stands against him getting shit done. Also pussy-whipped by fire-loving bitches in red.
• Renly Baratheon, That Gay Guy: Robert's youngest brother. Killed by The Mannis for trying to steal his crown. Also the only half-way competent person this family has ever shat out.

House Tully

"Family, Duty, Honor"

Lords of the central river lands. Being the obligatory central nation they spend a lot of the series being fought over like a cake in between fat kids. Basically Poland, given how hard they've been fucked over.

• Edmure Tully: Basically the SoIaF universe's eternal butt monkey. A useless ponce with a dense streak a mile wide and a bad habit of bragging about things he shouldn't be proud of. It took [spoiler]hanging in a stockade for a few months[/spoiler] to make him experience some growth.
• Brynden Tully Black Fish: Didn't catch the memo that he was part of the joke faction and proceeds to spend the entire series fucking Lannister shit up and generally being a boss.

House Arryn

"As High as Honor"

Mountain lords turned neurotic shut ins. Goes through lords about as quickly as you would expect a castle equipped with a door that opens into empty air.Basically Afghanistan, seeing as how their land is covered by nothing but mountains and constant battles with the local tribes. They're being entertainingly screwed over by Littlefinger.

• John Arryn: Cadaverific, only appears posthumously.
• Lysa Arryn: Loli bride turned Lady of the Vale after the Lannisters forcibly retired her husband from life Littlefinger convinced her to poison her husband and blame the Lannisters, which pretty much started this whole clusterfuck to begin with. A basement tier hikki who spends the entire series chilling in the Eyrie being useless and (refusing to help her sister and nephew in the war she/Littlefinger pretty much started, which may have guaranteed their eventual horrific murders at a goddamned wedding) until Littlefinger kicks her our the moon door (post-taunting, of course), putting her out of our collective misery. Long live the Lord Protector.

House Greyjoy

"We Do Not Sow"

Though the author claims that they are Vikings, the Greyjoys are not at all Norse, due to their tentacle porn fetishes, feudalism, regimented armies, galleons and the fact that the Iron Islands are in the south (seriously the only Viking about them is that they believe in an underwater Valhalla), not the North. Rather, they are in fact the most cliched of cliched Romantic Pirates.

• Balon Greyjoy: Asshole dad, crappy ruler and general Chaotic Stupid shithead who rebelled against Big Bobby B and failed miserably. All of his sons were killed, except the shittiest, Theon, who was taken as a hostage to ensure his good behavior. Despite being in a position to join either the Lannisters or the Starks during the War of Five Kings and thereby get whatever he wanted from either (independence and the North, or independence and Casterly Rock, respectively), he does the absolute stupidest thing possible and declares himself independent without support from anyone, attacking the North and the rest of Westeros, thereby virtually guaranteeing that he'll be on the receiving end of another curbstomp battle. Never got that far, though, since he came down with a fatal case of fallen-off-a-bridge before the Lannisters managed to get their own shit together enough to crush him.
• Victarion Greyjoy: Admiral of the Iron Fleet. Gets shit done while wearing fucking plate armor during boarding actions. Does it for vengeance and the lulz.
• Aeron Greyjoy Damphair: A priestly Alan Moore who drinks seawater. Once a fun-loving party animal, he nearly drowned during the Greyjoy Rebellion, and became a dour and devout priest of the Ironborn Cthulhu religion. Possibly raped by Euron when they were kids.
• Theon Greyjoy: Son of the Lord/King of the Iron Islands. He was given to Ned Stark by daddy after daddy failed to successfully rebel against Robert the Fatass. Swore an oath to Robb, but then ditched him to please daddy. Ends up the personal butt monkey of Ramsey Bolton after Ramsey cuts his dick off.
• Asha Greyjoy: Theon's older sister and a commander of some renown, quite a feat with every man on the Iron Islands except her father either trying to get in her pants or tell her to stfu and GB2kitchen. Until she kicks ass and reminds them why she's in charge. Rescues Theon after he escapes Ramsay but then looses him to Stannis.
• Euron Greyjoy Crow's Eye: A sick fuck pirate sorcerer. Every member of his crew is a mute, because Euron ripped all their tongues out. Uses an eyepatch to conceal his red right hand, a pitch-black eye. Raped his brother Victarion's wife so he'd have to kill her. Raped his older brother Aeron, maybe. Also showed back up in the Iron Islands the day after Balon died, despite having been raping and pillaging in Essos before that, meaning he probably had Balon killed. Now the new Iron King.

House Tyrell

"Growing Strong"

Lords of Highgarden and backstabbers par-excellence. They are also French to the bone, to the extent that Westeros is not a mega-England, which is to say, not much. House of Tudor with the serial numbers filed off.

• Mace Tyrell: Lord of Highgarden. About as fat as your average neckbeard (his uncle is fatter). Stupid, arrogant, and overreaching.
• Olenna Tyrell: The brains behind House Tyrell's schemes. Known as the Queen of Thorns for being a prickly and venomous old lady.
• Garth Tyrell The Gallant: Second-born son, who really only does one thing in the entire books, and that is being kind to Tyrion.
• Loras Tyrell The Knight of Flowers: The Tyrell who appears most in the series. Considered to be an example of the perfect knight, despite his youth. Is secretly Renly's gay lover and conspired to take the throne with him and his sister. Ends up horribly burned.
• Margaery Tyrell: The would-be Queen of Westeros, she has married, in order, Renly Baratheon (gay), Joffrey Baratheon (evil), and Tommen Baratheon (8 years old) and has been crowned as queen three times.

House Bolton

"Our Blades Are Sharp"

The Lawful Evil northern house made of Grimdark, and the Starks' most important vassal. Their sigil is a flayed man and their castle is called The Dreadfort, which shows how Lawful Stupid the Starks were for allying with them. Evil motherfuckers. One, in particular, gives Honsou a run for his money for sheer, ludicrous evilness. Though the other's not actually less evil, just sneakier.

• Roose Bolton, "The Flayer": Second-most powerful Lord in the North with ambitions to depose the Starks. The Starks being Lawful Stupid, this doesn't prove too difficult. He hets his wish when he dickishly stabs Robb Stark in the back, at his uncle's fucking wedding no less, and has anyone associated with Robb killed. He then makes over Winterfell in his bloody image, and is currently trolling Stannis. Believes in the abolished practice of "Droit du seigneur" (a tradition that allowed a lord to have sex with subordinate women, including virgins and married women) and killed a man for trying to prevent Roose from fucking his wife. The sneaky one.
• Ramsay Snow/Bolton: The bastard son of Roose Bolton and a woman he raped, the best example of Stupid Evil in the story. Will fuck up anyone who points out his illegitimate heritage though now he's legally recognized as a Bolton. Loves to torture and kill people openly for the lulz, such as Theon Greyjoy, who he castrated and crippled (knocked his teeth out too). In the long format porno, he then sent the severed appendage to the forshortened Theon's dad in a cutesy box with a letter written in lolspeak detailing his evilness. Also has a pack of dogs he names after women he rapes and kills. Married a fake Arya Stark and regularly mistreats her, including forced bestiality. Not a fun guy to be around. Honsou without power armor.

House Martell

"Unbowed Unbent Unbroken"

Desert dwelling survivalists who pride themselves on having never been conquered by the Targeryn dynasty (though they later married in). Arab Spaniards, kinda.

• Doran Martell: Lord of Sunspear. Still mad at the the Lannisters about that whole "murdered-my-sister-and-infant-niece thing". Playing the longest of long games with Varys while trying to keep the rest of his psychotic family members in check.
• Arriane Martell: One of GRRM's characters who seems to exists soley to fuck everything up at the worst conceivable moment.
• Oberyn Martell: A champion of Slaanesh, he's a bisexual swinger who enjoys the finer things in life. Crippled the Tyrell heir in a fight, causing a rift between the two houses. Known for poisoning his weapons, as well as his battle-cry of "EEEEEELLLLLIIIIIIIAAAAAAAA!!!" Died from a mutual kill with Gregor Clegane, though it's probably a win for him since he got Clegane with a horribly painful and slow-acting venom, which stretched his death over days or even weeks, during which time he was ruthlessly experimented upon by a pre-Renaissance mad scientist/Dr. Mengele. Mengele may or may not have resurrected Clegane as a Space Marine.
• Quentyn Martell: Didn't realize what series he was in, poor bastard. A member house Martell, sent to marry Daenerys to secure an alliance between the families, since the original marriage plan won't work with Viserys dead. Leaves Westeros and goes all the way to the city of Meereen to marry her, but he's both too late as she marries the Meereenese noble Hizdahr, and he's not her type. Tries to tame two of her dragons to impress her; the series being what it is, he gets horribly burnt and later dies in agony.

Night's Watch

The Night's Watch are an apolitical force in charge of manning The Wall, a giant wall that separates the relative tranquility of the south from the Lovecraftian fucked-up-itude of the true north. They are chronically undermanned and undersupplied since nobody believes their stories of a barbarian army or the impending zombie apocalypse. Basically everybody else thinks they're in a game of Diplomacy and the Night's Watch are the only ones who realize they're actually in Warhammer Fantasy Battle, though it's been so long since the last snow elf invasion that even they've lost sight (until recently) of the Ruinous Powers and focused too much on a bunch of half-bit, barely Bronze Age, Chaotic Stupid barbarians.

• Jeor Mormont, The Old Bear: Lord Commander of the Nights Watch at the start of the series. Sees Jon Snow as something of a second son (since his own son Jorah was exiled for enslaving and refused to take the black for his crimes). Leads a ranging north of the Wall to investigate reports that the Others have returned. Ends up killed during a mutiny of survivors after the Others wiped out most of the force.
• Aemon Targaryen: Maester of the Citadel at Castle Black. Despite being the third born son of King Maekar I Targaryen, he declined the right to sit on the Iron Throne, which probably would have avoided so much trouble in the series. One of the few people in the series to die of old age, at 102.
• Samwell Tarly, The Slayer: Fat bookworm who was forced to take the black after his father Randyl threatened to murder him for being unmanly. Jon Snow's best friend among the Night's Watch. Knows every because he "read it in a book". Despite being a self professed coward, Sam became the first person in thousands of years to slay an Other with an obsidian dagger. George Martin himself said he's based on Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings.

Wildings

Groups of nomadic hunter gatherer tribes who live north of the Wall. Mostly First Men by blood, they have been heading toward the Wall for the past decade with the reputed reemergence of the Others. Despite everything, these guys are actually the closest thing in the series to Vikings.

• Mance Rayder, The King Beyond The Wall: A Wilding orphan who was taken in by the Night's Watch, he became their best Ranger before he deserted to join his people. He united the Wildings and lead them south to escape the Others. Also a trained bard.
• Tormund Giantsbane: Cool as fuck old guy who fucks mother-bears in his free time. Tough as nails, who preaches the merits of using one's cock for everything. Clearly the wisest person in the books.
• Ygritte: Wilding woman who Jon Snow ends up falling for. This being A Song of Ice and Fire, she ends up dying.
• Craster: A sick bastard, formerly a member of the Night's Watch. Has lots of daughters who are also his wives and fucks them regularly, giving him more children. Girls grow up to become more wives, boys get sacrificed to the Others. This keeps them at bay and that sanctuary is why the Night Watch tolerate him. There was much rejoicing when the story killed him off.

House Frey

"We Take Our Tolls"

House of weasels who are always grumpy and have a thing for over-fucking-reacting to perceived slights. Wouldn't be that important except for the fact that they own the only bridge over a strategically important river, and regularly extort anyone attempting to cross it. They make for delicious meat pies.

• Walder Frey: The ancient, horny old man in charge of the Twins. Hates everyone for looking down on him, and will readily betray an important ally for more young maidens to fuck, or a young king refuses to marry into his family. His descendents are literally so numerous that no one except GRRM himself have been able to count them all, so we aren't even going to attempt it.

Commoners, Knights, and Petty Lords

Basically any character not associated with any of the Great Houses.

• Varys The Spider: The eunuch spymaster of Westeros. You can't take a shit in the Seven Kingdoms without Varys finding out where, when, and how watery or dry it was. Stabs everyone in the back because he's actually trying to bring the Targaryens back.
• Petyr Baelish, Littlefinger: The master of coin (the ASOIAF equivalent of a treasurer). Manages to trick and steal his way to positions of lordship and wealth because no one takes him seriously, and stabs all the Lannisters in the back. The guy responsible for kick starting all the infighting after Aerys was overthrown as part of his master plan, but no one in the story knows this, not even Varys. Serious Karma Houdini, possibly The Deceiver in disguise. Scheming, social climber who wants to be king at any cost, even if it means destroying Westeros and ruling over the ashes. Lusted for Catelyn, but when he couldn't have her changed his focus to Sansa, so now he's a paedophile.
• Pycelle: Old, seemingly harmless man who is actually Tywin Lannister's biggest lackey. He convinced the good old Mad King to let Tywin in as Bobby B's armies were marching on the capital, where Tywin proceeded to sack the city and claim it for Robert. Gets his throat slit by Varys' men.
• Qyburn: Formerly a maester, who was kicked out of the order for unethical experiments on the living. Introduced serving Roose Bolton which should be a red flag. Cersei employs him to replace Pycelle and eventually Varys. Serves Cersei loyally as long as she lets him indulge his sick experiments.
• Barriston Selmy, The Bold: Knight of the Kingsguard. Which Kingsguard? Take your pick. He's served pretty much every king since Aerys and understandably feels pretty bad about it. Another sad old bro who pretty much just wants to die before Danaerys this time. This time, though, he may get his wish, because he's regarded as the most badass guy in the series.
• Melisandre, The Red Witch: A priestess of R'hllor, the god of fire. Proclaimed Stannis the Mannis to be the messiah-king and is doing everything in her power to make sure he wins (considerable given that she can scry and set things on fire with her mind). She'd be pretty bro-tier if her god wasn't such a vicious cunt. As it stands she's kind of in the gray. Most of the people she set on fire deserved it, and she hasn't succeeded in killing any babies yet.
• Jorah Mormont: A knight and son of Jeor Mormont, exiled for trying to sell poachers into slavery and eventually joining the exiles of House Targaryen. He is offered a pardon in exchange for spying on the Targaryens, but ultimately decides to stay with them after falling in love with Danaerys. Despite this she still votes him off the Khalassar after learning he was a spy. He's still following her in secret, though.
• Davos Seaworth, The Onion Knight: A former smuggler and bannerman to House Baratheon. During Roberts Rebellion he ran a blockade with a cargo of contraband onions to a castle Stannis Baratheon was besieged in. In exchange for for the food he had, Stannis knighted Davos, but Stannis's Lawful Stupid mindset compelled him to remove three fingers from his left hand. Despite this, Davos has served Stannis with unquestioning loyalty, because Stannis knighting him gave his children a future. The fact that Stannis's war for the throne has ended up killing several of his sons hasn't dented his loyalty at all.
• Shae: A former camp follower and Tyrion Lannister's squeeze for most of the story. Fled from an abusive family and became a camp follower to earn a living. Seems to fall in love with Tyrion, but it turns out she's a gold digging bitch. When Tyrion doesn't marry Shae she sells him out to Cersei for a better offer, then fucks Tywin when she realizes Cersei is a cunt while Shae is just a bitch. Tyrion finds her in his father's bed and kills her for betraying him.

The Others

A mysterious race from beyond the Wall, known to HBO fans as "the White Walkers". Eight thousand years ago, they invaded Westeros during a decades long winter known as "the Long Night". With an army of undead warriors, they proceeded to fuck Westeros up every which way to Sunday before the locals finally drove them out, established the Night's Watch, and built the Wall to keep them out. Like all fantasy aspects of ASOIF, they are very cliched.

Gods and Deities

The world of ASOIAF has various religions and faiths abound, just like in real life. Similarly, they range between fucking awesome to utterly useless.

• The Seven: Useless, content to sit on their asses while the mortals die, and generally not giving a fuck. The Catholic Church stand in. (Kinda shows you what Martin thinks of his old church. He's lapsed Catholic, you fuck.)
• Old Gods: Native American/Druid/nature spirits that reside in places called godswoods. They can kick some serious ass, but their powers are limited to everything north of the Neck. Communicate through the trees. For some reason, Martin claims they're based off the Norse Gods.
• R'hllor: The god of fire and light. So far the only one who is actually shown to get shit done asides from Death. Has a nasty habit for burning heretics, though. Some people think that R'hillor is supposed to be a stand-in for Islam, but these people tend to be inbred white-trash.
• The Great Other: the god of cold and darkness. Supposedly the leader of the Others, and prophesied to get his ass kicked by "The Azor Ahai". Whether this is before or after he destroys the 7Ks is unsure.
• Death: Him of Many Faces, and the only god that seemingly matters in this grimdark universe. According to his wacky cult of assassins, whom Arya joins, he is worshiped in different forms and requires his assasins to utterly forget their very names in service to him. Has a heyday during the Red Wedding.
• Drowned God: Cthulhu combined with Odin. Runs an underwater Vahalla were all Ironborn go when they die if they either died in a manly way or drowned at sea.

Games

Like any fantasy author who finds themselves unexpectedly in the warm embrace of commercial success Martin quickly licensed the shit out of his setting, spawning everything from resin miniatures to replica great swords. While most of this is worthless junk to foist on obsessive fanboys /tg/ has agreed that a few of the games are made of win. The first two are a collectable card game put out in 2002 by Fantasy Flight Games and a risk-esque board game that followed shortly after in 2003. One of White Wolf's subsidiaries also put out a d20 RPG in 2005 but it quickly tanked because, come on, White Wolf. Martin since wrested the rights back and developed a new version with Green Ronin games.

Books

• A Game of Thrones
• A Clash of Kings
• A Storm of Swords
• A Feast for Crows
• A Dance with Dragons
• The Winds of Winter
• A Dream of Spring