The Tragedy of the War of the Five Kings

A review of George R.R. Martin's book series

By Tristan Pagan

George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire are great works of fantasy fiction - complex stories with a ton of interweaving characters and plot lines, filled with epic battles on a large scale, including battles of wits. It is easy to get caught up in all of that and forget that at its core it is a tragedy. Many of the more morally upright characters die horrible deaths or at best simply survive to the next book. The bad guys eventually die equally horrible deaths, but not before doing so much damage that in the end you feel they got off kind of easy. And what often causes the tragedy at the heart of Game of Thrones are not the bad decisions characters will make; it is war. Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin are aggressively anti-war. War in Game of Thrones is often portrayed as a morally gray affair that hurts everybody involved. Whether or not you die in or survive it, you are always left with scars.

Tyrion and Davos: Moral ambiguity

One of the core themes of a Song of Ice and Fire is moral ambiguity. Much of what keeps us watching/ reading is wondering what will happen to each of our favorite characters. We want to know what will happen to Tyrion, Davos, Catelyn, Stannis, Jamie and Dany. And what keeps us in suspense is knowing that most of the characters on that list can’t succeed until some other character on that list is dead. A good example of this is Tyrion and Davos. Tyrion and Davos are both on opposite ends of the War of the Five Kings. Both are likable characters. Both are fighting for somewhat valid reasons. Tyrion for his family and Davos because he believes Stannis is a just king. I like that the books often portray both in a sympathetic light. Many war stories often seek to portray war as bad and how there are good people on both sides but often in movies and shows we only see one point of view through that war.

A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the few series to show multiple points of view in war. In one chapter you are rooting for Tyrion as he fights against Stannis’ soldiers and the next you are horrified when he blows up half of Stannis' fleet causing Davos' sons to die horribly. This shows how good people can get wrapped in a war they have no business fighting. Like how Tyrion wants to gain respect and love from his family so he helps fight a war he knows is unjust.

What is tragic is it all ends up being for naught. Tyrion longs for the love and appreciation of his family, but after he wins the Battle of Blackwater he ends up getting no love from his family.

Davos loses all his sons in the Battle of Black water and gets most of his sons killed. He is haunted by guilt for the rest of the series over their deaths. It reflects how often soldiers will go into war enthusiastic about fighting but will come out of it scarred and cynical.

Stannis, Robb, Joffrey, Balon and Theon: All for naught

The kings involved in the War of the Five Kings do not really fare much better than the soldiers they send to die. They all either die humiliating deaths or lose everything they love. Joffrey starts the war because he wants to appear as a strong king who will execute all his enemies. This thought process causes him to fight in the front lines in the Battle of Blackwater only to nearly get himself killed. He sends tons of soldiers to die for his own idiocy and ego trip. And yet he wins the war despite fleeing from the only battle he was a part of, only to get poisoned later. I like Joffrey's arc through the series because it just shows how he changes. He wanted to appear strong and masculine like his father was, only to be humiliated in battle.

Stannis kills his own brother to help his chances of winning the throne only to lose the Battle of Blackwater along with his best chance of winning the throne. Stannis is a just person and would likely be the best king out of all the five kings, but he loses due to him being too bitter to back up his brother's claim to the throne. I am not saying Renly had a proper claim to the throne. He didn't and I hate him. However, Stannis often talks about how he does things for the good of the realm, but the best thing he could've done was to team up with Renly or Robb to help take the throne. He comes to regret his decision of killing his brother and this shows how good people can commit atrocities if they think it is just. But Stannis lost anyway. 

Theon betrays his family (not the Greyjoys; his real family is the Starks) to impress his father Balon only to get captured and realize he hurt people and ruin all his family’s lives for no real reason. Theon's story shows how war can often tear people apart. He wanted approval from his father but learned too late that his real family was the family. And does Balon achieve for his people. He just wants some more land, gets it, then loses and dies much later. Balon represents all the wars that were fought because an imperialist country wanted more land and ended up ruining thousands of lives and killing thousands. Theon never goes so far as to actually commit war crimes but he does do bad things just to hold a piece of land he doesn't care about for Balon who doesn't really care about or its people either. Balon also dies a pointless death. Being killed by Euron. 

I like how most kings who start the War of Five Kings and are the bad guys who don't die in the war. Joffrey or Balon are not putting their lives on the line. It is only people like Davos, Theon and Tyrion who end up getting their lives ruined for no reason. It is the little people that get their lives ruined. Most leaders who vote on wars are never on the front lines of war or are even affected by it in any real way. This has been getting worse recently with the advent of drone strikes allowing for people to be killed halfway across the world and disconnected from the consequences.

Robb is probably the only king other than Stannis who is declaring war for a just reason. He wants justice for his father who was killed and wants independence for his people. Unlike most of the other kings except for Stannis (in the show) he rides with his men into battle and fights alongside them. He treats his men with respect and tries to do right by them. But he is continually screwed over due to that fact. His men kill some Lannister children he has hostage. He executes them for killing children only for a decent amount of his men to desert because of that.

I like that as cool as Robb is and how many battles he wins, he is still just a kid. He constantly has his mother Catelyn fussing over him after battle and giving him advice.

If you like action and aren’t opposed to violence in fiction, you will enjoy these books. By the end of book 3, the crows have many bodies to feast on.