Who are the main characters?

[StannisandDaeny]

I've never really thought about this before I had to do a book report on A Dance With Dragons. Simply saying the main characters are the POVs doesn't always work, see Areo Hotah the breathing camera and excuse for a thought-process narrator. George also makes it difficult by tricking us into thinking someone is really important, and then killing them off. I suppose we have to look at the subject and the most important thing in the series. Not the fight for the Iron Throne, but the prophecies and the coming of the Others has to be the main subject of ASOIAF, no? The battle that will result from that will decide whether it's even going to matter who has the Iron Throne, so we have to deduce that the people who seem like they will play a big role in this are the main characters, so who does that leave us with?

Jon and Daenerys seem to be a given, but other than that...

[Davos's Missing Fingers]

I think you can probably safely add Arya and Tyrion to that list as well and probably Melisandre (personally, I think she has "more impact" than Stannis).

And by "main" are we referring to "people that have a profound impact on GRRM's world" or just "people we see a lot?"

I mean, if we're talking about the former, it's a really long list. The latter probably has characters now that will ultimately have big impacts on the series (in my opinion, Sansa).

I also think Euron Greyjoy will have a big impact without having a PoV chapter.

[Guillotine]

Jon: duh
Ned: only for one book, but knowing RLJ and the twincest and his death sparking off everything else, i think Ned counts
Bran: duh
Catelyn: mainly for AGOT-ASOS, but still
Sansa: i do think she has a huge part to play
LF
Arya: i think she'll kill someone very important
Jaime: duh
Cersei
Tyrion: duh
Davos
Dany: duh

LF, Cersei and Davos are probably up for debate

The reason I exclude several very important figures e.g. Stannis, Tywin, Robb etc. is that I think the main characters have to be POVs. The others are just hugely important figures in the POVs world, if that makes sense

[Northbound]

Jon, Tyrion, Jon, Dany, Jon, Arya, Jon, Sansa, Jon, Jamie and Jon(Who is the Song of Ice and Fire.)

[DaveSnow House Stark]

Pretty much agree with Guillotine.

Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Arya, Sansa(if she becomes a player), Bran.

These have all been POV from the beginning and still are.

I will add Jaime to the list if he makes it to the end.

[The Dornishman's Widow]

Going by number of mentions in the text, the top 7 are:

Jon, Tyrion, Arya, Jaime, Dany, Sansa, Bran

I think this sums up pretty well who I consider to be the mains.

If you're also interested in their order, I'm inclined to move Dany up a few places on account of her being mentioned less only because her story is yet to join the main story. It's also my feeling that Jaime should only barely make the list, while Bran is clearly on it (i.e. move Jaime behind Bran or something) for similar resons: Jaime picks up a few gratuitous mentions just by being in the thick of the story without moving too much along, while Bran is a bit divorced from the rest of the action at the moment but nevertheless has a central role to play.

[StannisandDaeny]

Amount of mentions isn't really a good way of saying who's most important in my view, though I suppose if we described how a peasant lived through all this I guess he'd be a main character in mentions even if not in importance on the greater scale. It's just the way of looking at things, I'm trying to see who moves the plot the most, who the Song of Ice and Fire is about. A lot of the people mentioned have been or may become important for the fight over the Iron Throne, but not so much the fight against the Others. I'll agree that Bran obviously has a pretty big part to play alongside Jon and Dany, but I don't see how Tyrion, Jaime or Sansa will have any effect on the war against the Others. I know probably only few people would see them as main characters but I think Melisandre is ridiculously important for representing the R'hllor side of the conflict and Euron because he seems to be shaping up to become the main villain, the guy who understands something about the occult, the greater purpose of things, and seems poised to seriously f s up rather than simply a guy who harasses peasants.

[Annara Snow]

A character doesn't have to "do something big" to be a main character. And on the other hand, a character may do lots of "big things" and never be a main character. (Or else Tywin Lannister would be at least one of the 3 main characters in the series.) That's not how a literary protagonist is defined.

So, yes, you must take the POV into account. It's not the only and most reliable way to determine who the protagonists are - since the POVs start to multiply in AFFC and ADWD. But, the characters who get a POV in the first book (other than the prologue) are all without a doubt among the main characters (Dany, Tyrion, Ned, Cat, Arya, Sansa, Bran and Jon) and books 2 and 3 don't really add that many new POVs (Davos, Theon, Jaime, Samwell). I think that, if you look at the people with the biggest numbers of POV chapters, you get a pretty good idea who the main characters are:

Tyrion - 47

Jon - 42

Arya - 33

Daenerys - 31

Catelyn - 25

Sansa - 24

Bran - 21

Jaime - 17

Ned - 15

Davos - 13

Theon - 13

Cersei - 12

Samwell - 10

Brienne - 8

(the others are all 4 or less)

[The Dornishman's Widow]

Amount of mentions isn't really a good way of saying who's most important in my view, though I suppose if we described how a peasant lived through all this I guess he'd be a main character in mentions even if not in importance on the greater scale. It's just the way of looking at things, I'm trying to see who moves the plot the most. A lot of the people mentioned have been or may become important for the fight over the Iron Throne, but not so much the fight against the Others.[...]

Well yeah, if the whole books were about a life of a peasant during the Wot5K, then that person would be the main character. If you read a romance set before the backdrop of the Civil War, I assume you wouldn't raise your finger and say "Oh, but the real main character is Abe Lincoln!" And if you watch the movie Titanic, you don't say "Yeah nice, but the real main character is the guy at the wharf who ordered the low quality bolts that made the Titanic so susceptible to collisions."

The questions about the movers in the background, or the greatest assets for the conflict against the Others, or the person that would change most of history when taken away are all very interesting ones, but they do not automatically coincide with the question about the main characters.

[StannisandDaeny]

Actually I think it does matter, because all the time, just like the characters in the novel, we keep forgetting that the fight for the Iron Throne isn't the most important thing, and realizing that sheds a light on who's going to become important in the end, and who seems important but really isn't. I figure they're the people we read and hear about a lot, but not necessarily the POVs for a lot of reasons. Even if we get 50 chapters of Areo Hotah observing conversations in the next book I will not consider him a main character, because he has no importance and he doesn't do anything. Yes, the true main characters are probably still going to be the ones who have a lot of action apart from being important, but I'm trying to narrow it down, a list of 7 or more people just doesn't do it for me. Their contribution is important if you like their personal story, but seriously, what impact has Tyrion had, despite all of his chapters, in ADWD? What impact can Sansa hope to have? Following my logic I end up with Daenerys, Jon and Bran with Stannis as a maybe depending on how his role plays out. 'Cos if it weren't for Stannis, there wouldn't be a whole lot going on in Westeros post-ASOS, but, if he doesn't stick around (to become the Night's King or something like that) even he won't seem so important in the long run.

[Annara Snow]

Actually I think it does matter, because all the time, just like the characters in the novel, we keep forgetting that the fight for the Iron Throne isn't the most important thing, and realizing that sheds a light on who's going to become important in the end, and who seems important but really isn't. I figure they're the people we read and hear about a lot, but not necessarily the POVs for a lot of reasons. Even if we get 50 chapters of Areo Hotah observing conversations in the next book I will not consider him a main character, because he has no importance and he doesn't do anything. Yes, the true main characters are probably still going to be the ones who have a lot of action apart from being important, but I'm trying to narrow it down, a list of 7 or more people just doesn't do it for me. Their contribution is important if you like their personal story, but seriously, what impact has Tyrion had, despite all of his chapters, in ADWD? What impact can Sansa hope to have? Following my logic I end up with Daenerys, Jon and Bran with Stannis as a maybe depending on how his role plays out. 'Cos if it weren't for Stannis, there wouldn't be a whole lot going on in Westeros post-ASOS.

It's a novel, not a historical account. It's not about 'who has the biggest impact on the fate of Westeros'. If you're following multiple books and dozens and dozens of chapters about a character's life, their development, the way that the events are affecting them, their feelings and problems and memories and dreams, then they're a main character.

Or else, you would have to, for instance, conclude that Scarlett O'Hara is not the main character of Gone with the Wind, since she doesn't affect the big picture of the Civil War. The main characters of War and Peace would have to be Kutuzoff, Napoleon and the emperor Alexander, not Pierre Bezuhoff, Natasha Rostova or Andrei Bolkonsky, who don't really affect the "big picture" of the war in any significant way.

[Alys Fiddlewielder]

That's actually a tough question, it kind of varies from book to book. I don't know if you're still doing that book report, but for ADWD I would say the Big Three are Jon, Dany and Tyrion. (:

[Nyrhex]

Isn't it obviouse? The Borrells. Both Godric and his father have had more impact than any other character I can think of out of hand, with the simplest act possible.

[Sansa_Stark]

1st Tier: Jon, Dany, Tyrion

2nd Tier: Bran, Arya, Sansa

3rd Tier: Cat(maybe), Jaime, Cersei

POV counts are one of the biggest reasons,but I would also say their overall importance and status is also important.

I think Dany is more important than Arya despite the latter having more chapters.

And Cersei is clearly more important than Davos/Theon.

[Ours if the Fury]

Eddard Stark

Tyrion Lannister

Bran Stark

Arya Stark

Jon Snow

Dany

Jamie and Cersei

[Alty732]

All named POVs are main characters, people who have titles for each chapter are not.

That was the way I took it anyway

[SugarCrisp]

It's hard to say, because the main characters shift of the earlier novels to the later ones. The only three that have been consistent are Tyrion, Jon & Daenerys. And even though Cersei doesn't have many POV chapters, I would also include her as a consistent characters in all six novels. I would count Jaime, Arya, Sansa and Bran as main secondary characters.

Edit: Just noticed that you said the report is on ADwD. In that case, Daenerys, Jon and maybe even Theon.