Duty
Throughout the book, the importance of duty is stressed on numerous times. Almost every position has a certain role model and ideal when concerning how a person should act when holding such position. For example, it is mentioned that a King’s or a Queen’s duty is, above all, protecting their people. Then, it is shown that a married woman is expected to obey her husband even if they may not love each other. Sansa Stark is one such character who even if she doesn’t like Tyrion, she respects him and does the things that are expected from her.
War
The conflict between the kings and the struggle for power continues to remain one of the main themes in the book. In the previous book, the struggle for power was represented by the civil war between the Five Kings and the actual confrontations that they had. In a Storm of Swords, the war slowly sifts from physical fights to diplomatic ones and focuses more on creating allies against a common enemy. This happens in the case of Tywin Lannister, Roose Bolton and Walder Frey who all unite against Robb Stark because of different reasons.
Vows and Oaths
Vows and oaths are regarded as serious matters in the fictional universe. Many characters ruin their reputation because they go back on their words and lose their credibility. Because of this, the vast majority of the characters in the book try to keep their vows. For example, Jon Snow refuses in the beginning to sleep with Ygritte because he promised to never lay with a woman when he became s Sworn Brother. Even if technically he was regarded as a deserter, he still refused in the beginning to give in to her.
