A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin

• Born: September 20, 1948
• Birthplace: Bayonne, New Jersey

First published: 2000

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Fantasy

Time of plot: Approximately three hundred years after Aegon I’s conquest of the Seven Kingdoms

Locales: The fictional continents of Westeros and Essos

Principal Characters

Catelyn Stark, widow of Ned Stark

Sansa Stark, her daughter

Arya Stark, her daughter

Bran Stark, her son

Jon Snow, their illegitimate half-brother

Samwell Tarly, a member of the Night’s Watch

Jaime Lannister, the uncle and father of King Joffrey

Tyrion Lannister, Jaime’s younger brother

Tywin Lannister, Jaime and Tyrion’s father, Joffrey’s grandfather

Davos Seaworth, an adviser to Stannis Baratheon

Daenerys Targaryen, a claimant to the throne

Sandor "the Hound" Clegane, Joffrey’s former bodyguard

The Story

A year after the death of King Robert Baratheon, civil war rages in the Seven Kingdoms, a realm on the continent of Westeros. Four warring leaders remain: Robb Stark, the king in the North; Stannis Baratheon, Robert’s brother; Balon Greyjoy, ruler of the Iron Islands; and Joffrey Baratheon, the recognized king and Robert’s heir, although he is secretly the child of Robert’s wife, Cersei Lannister, and her twin brother, Jaime.

Jaime had previously been captured by Catelyn Stark, widow of Ned Stark, who had been executed by the Lannisters. However, she releases Jaime and sends him back to the city of King’s Landing in exchange for the return of her daughters, Arya and Sansa. Jaime is accompanied by the warrior Brienne of Tarth, but the two are captured by mercenaries who cut off Jaime’s sword hand before releasing them.

Catelyn is unaware, however, that Arya is not in King’s Landing, having escaped following her father’s execution. Arya travels with a band of fighters before being captured by the warrior Sandor Clegane, also known as the Hound, who decides to return her to her family and collect a ransom. Arya’s older sister, Sansa, has been a hostage in King’s Landing since Ned’s death and is betrothed to Joffrey, who torments her. Tywin Lannister, King Joffrey’s grandfather and chief adviser, decides to end the betrothal so that Joffrey can marry Margaery Tyrell, the daughter of a wealthy ally, and forces Sansa to marry Tyrion Lannister, his youngest son. Tyrion, a dwarf, is in love with a prostitute named Shae whom he employs as a maid for Sansa.

Meanwhile, with the aid of adviser Davos Seaworth and the priestess Melisandre, Stannis works to overthrow Joffrey and claim the throne for himself. Melisandre performs a magic ritual to ensure the deaths of the three other would-be kings. Balon Greyjoy dies soon after in an apparent accident. After receiving a message from the Night’s Watch, Stannis and his followers travel to the wall that separates the Seven Kingdoms from the dangerous lands of the far north. There Ned’s illegitimate son, Jon Snow, serves as a member of the watch and is tasked with infiltrating the wildlings, a northern tribal people. He learns about the Others, frightening creatures that live beyond the Wall and can be killed with dragonglass, or obsidian, as his friend Samwell Tarly learns firsthand. Jon rejoins the Night’s Watch and helps protect its headquarters when a wildling army attacks. Stannis’s forces arrive near the end of the battle and defeat the wildlings. Also in the North, Jon’s younger half-brother Bran and his companions cross into the lands beyond the Wall in the hope of learning the significance of Bran’s mysterious visions of a three-eyed crow.

Leading an army of northern warriors, Bran’s brother Robb has defeated Lannister armies in several battles. In an attempt to gain the support of Walder Frey, the lord of the Twins, a strategic river crossing, Catelyn had betrothed Robb to a Frey woman; however, Robb marries another woman without her knowledge. To maintain their alliance with the Freys, Robb and Catelyn agree that Catelyn’s brother, Edmure Tully, will marry a Frey instead, and they and their closest supporters travel to the Twins for the wedding. There, the Freys and the Boltons, who had been strong supporters of the Starks, betray them, killing Robb and Catelyn as well as many of their followers. Arya and Sandor approach the Twins during the massacre, but Sandor realizes what is happening, and the two manage to escape.

In King’s Landing, the Lannisters and their allies prepare for Joffrey and Margaery’s wedding. Guests arriving in the city include Oberyn Martell, a prince of the southern region of Dorne whose sister was murdered years before by Gregor Clegane, Sandor’s brother. At the wedding feast, Joffrey consumes poison and dies, and Tyrion and Sansa are blamed for the murder. Sansa is rescued from the city by the nobleman and former Master of Coin, Petyr Baelish, who orchestrated the poisoning. However, Tyrion is imprisoned and tried for the crime. Jaime and Brienne arrive in King’s Landing after the wedding.

At the trial, Shae lies and says that Tyrion had plotted to kill Joffrey. Rather than confess to a crime he did not commit, Tyrion requests a trial by combat. Gregor is chosen to represent the crown, and Oberyn fights for Tyrion to avenge his sister. Oberyn mortally wounds Gregor but is killed by his dying opponent. Jaime and the spymaster Varys help Tyrion escape before he can be executed, and after killing Tywin and Shae, Tyrion flees the country. Jamie later sends Brienne to find Arya and Sansa and return them to their family. Arya boards a boat to the Free City of Braavos after leaving the dying Sandor, and Sansa lives in her aunt Lysa’s fortress, the Eyrie, in the guise of Petyr’s illegitimate daughter, Alayne Stone. After Lysa threatens her niece, Petyr kills Lysa.

Across the Narrow Sea on the continent of Essos, Daenerys Targaryen consolidates her power. The daughter of King Aerys Targaryen of the Seven Kingdoms, who was deposed and killed years before, Daenerys hopes to retake the throne she believes is rightfully hers. Accompanied by her three dragons, she conquers the cities of Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen, freeing the cities’ slaves and building an army.

Bibliography

Frankel, Valerie Estelle. Winter Is Coming: Symbols and Hidden Meanings in A Game of Thrones. New York: Thought Catalog, 2013. Digital file.

Goertz, Sharon Dee. "Mothers and Monsters: The Return of the Great Goddess in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire." Myth in the Modern World: Essays on Intersections with Ideology and Culture. Eds. David Whitt and John Perlich. Jefferson: McFarland, 2014. 102–22. Print.

Jacoby, Henry, ed. Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords. Hoboken: Wiley, 2012. Print.

Lowder, James, ed. Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, from A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons. Dallas: BenBella, 2012. Print.