Genre
Epic fantasy
Setting and Context
The story takes place in the Land of Westeros and Essos and the story begins in 291AC (Years after Aegon’s Conquest)
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is omnipresent and presents the story from 12 different point of views.
Tone and Mood
Frightening, violent, tragic
Protagonist and Antagonist
As there are many conflicts in the book that develop at the same time, the antagonists and protagonists are not universal to the whole story but they are relevant to the conflict they take part in. As the Lannisters are antagonist to the Starks.
Major Conflict
After having won the War of Five Kings, Joffrey is celebrating while the Starks are constantly loosing support. Stannis is looking for a way to get support of other houses while Daavos tries to murder Melisandre. Daenerys is trying to create an army to take on Westeros.
Climax
A major point of climax is during the Red Wedding, when Robb Stark and his family and army are murdered by their own supporting houses, the Boltons and the Freys.
Foreshadowing
Lady Olenna states to Sansa, "...but if we start killing men at weddings they'll be even more frightened of marriage than they are presently." It foreshadows the death of Joffrey in some time as he is celebrating his wedding.
Understatement
Lady Olenna is often understated as weak and frail, but she maintains such a façade to fool others, as she poisoned Joffrey.
Allusions
The Red Wedding alludes to 15th century historical event known as the "Black Dinner", where the Scottish king invited the chieftains of the powerful Clan Douglas to a feast at Edinburgh Castle. A black bull's head, the symbol of death, was served as the last course of the dinner while a single drum was playing in the background, and the Douglases were murdered.
Imagery
A powerful imagery is formed as Robb's body is beheaded at the Red Wedding and the head of his direwolf is attached to it, while it is paraded around in the mockery of 'King in the North. It shows the ruthlessness and non-trustworthy nature of Freys.
Paradox
A paradox can be found in the nature of Sandor Clegane, while he pretends to be cruel and rough, he has a soft spot for Arya and protects her throughout their travels.
Parallelism
There is parallelism in between the Red Wedding and the real-life incident of 'Black Dinner' where unsuspecting guests were murdered by hosts, under the promise of peace.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
The Iron Throne is a metonymy for power.
Personification
The swords are important to their owners and are often names and are spoken of as if they represent a living entity, as the OathKeeper.
