Winter
From the previous books, we can see that the motto ’’Winter is coming’’ is a phrase mostly uttered by the Starks and it constantly reminds them to prepare for the winter that will inevitably come. While many choose to ignore that things could get worst and focuses on the present, they are all forced to admit that winter is coming indeed, both in a literal and symbolic way.
Bastards
The way bastards are perceived in Westeros and in Dorne becomes a recurrent motif in the book. We are presented two different ways of dealing with bastard children. On one side, we have the noblemen from Westeros who refuses to acknowledge their bastard children and basically ignores them. For a bastard born in Westeros, his or her possibilities are rather limited as a result of their name and many male bastards chose to go to the Wall knowing that it may be the only way to be publicly acknowledged. In Dorne however, we have a completely different view and once Oberyn comes to King’s Landing, he makes it clear on numerous occasions that the Dornish way of dealing with bastards is more efficient than the Westeros way. Instead of ignoring their bastard children, the Dornishmen chose to integrate them into their families, and even raise them with their true-born children, something that rarely occurs in Westeros.
Dreams
Dreams, especially prophetic dreams are a recurrent motif in the book. More and more characters start to have visions through dreams and we see how the supernatural gains more territory in the book through this type of prophetic dreams.
Slavery
Slavery starts to become the center of attention in the chapters told by Daenerys. She believes that it is her duty as a queen to be to solve slavery and she takes it upon herself to do everything she can for the slaves. Her anti-slavery campaign is quite successful and some of the slaves start to call her ‘’Mother’’ after they all liberated and Daenerys begins to be known as the Breaker of Chains.
Death
It is known that no one is safe in the fictional universe created by J.R.R. Martin. Probably the most predominate motif is the fragility of life and how easily one can die in a society torn apart from war. The general idea is that no matter how safe a character seems to be, there is no assurance that he or she will make it.
