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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, readers do not receive a single, all-knowing account of the past: each chapter is filtered through one character’s viewpoint, and characters may remember or interpret events differently. George R. R. Martin has described unreliable memory as a deliberate technique—but he also acknowledges genuine continuity mistakes. A discrepancy can invite comparison; it is not, by itself, proof of a hidden clue.
Are the characters in Game of Thrones unreliable narrators?
Yes, in a specific sense. Martin has said he uses unreliable narration “particularly when dealing with memory.” He described presenting some scenes “from multiple different viewpoints” whose versions “don’t quite jibe,” leaving readers to work out what happened. Those are his comments about the novels’ narrative technique, not a guarantee that every conflicting detail has a secret explanation.
Martin also described viewpoint characters as the reader’s “eyes and ears” in a chapter. The narration is filtered through that character rather than delivered by an impartial explainer; characters outside the viewpoint are observed from the outside, so their thoughts are not directly available.
“I do use the device of an unreliable narrator, particularly when dealing with memory. I present these scenes sometimes from multiple different viewpoints and the versions don’t quite jibe and then you have to figure out what really happened.”
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George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire Series)
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—George R. R. Martin, Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2014
How does memory affect the story?
The process is cumulative: a chapter follows one person’s perspective; that person notices and understands events selectively; a later account may describe the same past differently; readers compare the versions and decide what the text supports. Emotion, incomplete knowledge, and personal interest can color a recollection without making it an outright lie.
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- The ultimate collector's item for fans of the epic fantasy series that inspired HBO's Game of Thrones --a boxed set featuring gorgeous leather-cloth-bound editions of the first five novels! An immersive entertainment experience unlike any other, A Song of Ice and Fire has earned George R. R. Martin--dubbed "the American Tolkien" by Time magazine--international acclaim and millions of loyal readers.
- Now the monumental saga gets the royal treatment it deserves, with each book wrapped in bound leather-cloth covers and packaged together in an elegant display case. This one-of-a-kind boxed set includes: A GAME OF THRONES A CLASH OF KINGS A STORM OF SWORDS A FEAST FOR CROWS A DANCE WITH DRAGONS "One of the best series in the history of fantasy."-- Los Angeles Times Winter is coming.
- st of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King's Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert's name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow.
- Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse--unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season. Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances.
- Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen's brothers Jaime and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister--the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.
That distinction matters. A limited account may be sincere and still incomplete or mistaken. When versions conflict, separate what each character says from what the text independently establishes. If the books leave a question open, the careful answer is that it remains unresolved—not that one character must be lying.
Why do different characters remember events differently?
- Access: Did the character witness the event, hear about it later, or learn only part of it?
- Interest and emotion: What might the character emphasize, suppress, or misunderstand?
- Cross-checks: Does another account, a later event, or a separate passage support or challenge the recollection?
- Certainty: Which details are explicitly established, which are interpretations, and which remain unclear?
Martin has cautioned that deliberate discrepancies can be confused with errors, and that some mistakes are genuine. That caveat rules out treating every inconsistency as intentional foreshadowing. His interview establishes that the technique exists; it does not settle the meaning of every disputed passage. Readers assessing a specific memory should check the relevant passages in the novels rather than infer authorial intent from contradiction alone.
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Do the novels and the HBO series handle memory the same way?
No. A novel can place a scene inside a viewpoint character’s thoughts, while television presents the scene externally through what viewers see and hear. That changes how the audience encounters intention and recollection. Martin’s public comments about the Jaime and Cersei scene illustrate how framing can affect interpretation, but they are adaptation context, not proof about memory in particular. The books and HBO series should not be collapsed into one automatically authoritative account.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does Fire & Blood fit into this?
Fire & Blood uses a fictional historical-chronicle structure associated with Archmaester Gyldayn and his sources. Martin discussed that mediation in a 2018 Guardian interview. It offers another way to think about how accounts of the past reach an audience, but it is not the same narrative structure as the main novels’ chapter-by-chapter viewpoint characters.
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Where can readers explore memory in Martin’s work?
The novels themselves are the primary place to compare viewpoint and recollection: follow what one character knows, then check how another account or later passage changes the picture. For a scholarly introduction to memory and the series, Bloomsbury Academic publishes Memory and Medievalism in George RR Martin and Game of Thrones: The Keeper of All Our Memories, edited by Carolyne Larrington and Anna Czarnowus. The collection, published on 11 August 2022, examines connections between history and fantasy in A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO’s Game of Thrones; it includes a section titled “Memory.” Its ISBN is 9781350269606. It is further reading, not evidence for the truth of a particular character’s recollection unless the relevant chapter is consulted.
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