Who is the Protagonist of Game of Thrones?

SPOILER ALERT


     At the end of last year and over the summer, I read the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire (I will be referring to it as Game of Thrones to save time), by George R.R. Martin. About halfway through the middle of book 5, A Dance with Dragons, I began to wonder something: who exactly is the protagonist of this series? Is there one, or more?

     Of course, I suppose I could go to Wikipedia and see what the Game of Thrones page has to say. But I think I would rather guess first. The thing about the series is that it is from several different points of view per book, and the cast of characters who are even alive to narrate is constantly changing (I bet if Ned Stark hadn't died early on I wouldn't be posting this). And because you are seeing events from the eyes of many different people, you find yourself sympathizing with characters who are considered bad guys by other characters.

     You could argue that the protagonist changes, depending on the storyline, such as Jon Snow being the protagonist of the storyline in the North. You could argue that Cersei Lannister is the protagonist, because even though she makes some very stupid decisions and is basically responsible for starting the War of Five Kings, she is only trying to protect her children and keep her place in power. You could argue that her little brother Tyrion is the protagonist- he is overlooked and stepped on and denied his right to his home, and he is constantly working against his sister to try to restore peace to the Seven Kingdoms.

     However, I think that the protagonist of the series is Danaerys Targaryen. She is at the center (figuratively, if not geographically- she is still in the East at the end of book five) of the story. The entire story began with her father, the Mad King Aerys, who Jaime Lannister killed before the story started. The Iron Throne is hers by right. She has DRAGONS, for goodness' sake. As of book five, there are three separate parties making their way east to help her, and one huge party on its way to kill her. No matter what, I personally kept rooting for her. I want her to come out on top. Of course, we won't know who it really is until the end of the series, but until such time as The Winds of Winter tells me otherwise, I will want Danaerys to end up on the Iron Throne.

     I know this isn’t exactly what I am supposed to do for this post- I read this book a few weeks ago- but I am curious. Anyone else have any ideas?

A Dance with Dragons

 SPOILER ALERT



     This summer I read A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. It's the fifth and most recent book in his series A Song of Ice and Fire. This book actually takes place at the same time as the previous book, A Feast for Crows, does. This did lead to some confusion, but it wasn't too bad.

     The first half of A Dance with Dragons focused on things that happened in the North and the East. We caught up with a lot of characters we hadn't seen much or at all in the last book, including Danaerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and Jon Snow. We see these characters undergo some big changes- Jon has to adapt to being Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and things go from bad to worse to unbearable to frightening beyond belief for poor Dany. Around the second half of the book we start to see chapters from the perspectives of people we saw a lot in A Feast for Crows, such as Cersei Lannister. Boy, is Cersei in trouble.

     I don't want to give away everything, even with the spoiler alert. Let's just say that on the one thing not a lot of good things happen, but on the other hand, it isn't like the end of book three. For anyone keeping up with the TV show (I'm not), the end of book three has already begun. RIP Robb Stark. I enjoyed this book, but not much really happened that made me want to keep reading until the very end. I wasn't excited. Of course, the epilogue made me want to keep reading straight away. I am excited to read The Winds of Winter.