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Who would be right character for a first person narrative?


Ordos

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I'll grant you that this is NOT a great idea for A Song of Ice and Fire as the third person limited narrative POV structure is already the right way to go. A first person narrative has far to many writing restrictions.

Such restrictions include: Having only ONE character describing just one location in a much larger and complex story. The character would also be limited to the author's world view (meaning he/she would almost certainly be what the author views as a 'good person') and the character sees the world as mostly black and white.

But with that said, which character would fit best to tell the ASOIAF story from a first person narrative? It would probably have to be the most traveled character so the world and story can be seen and experienced as much as it could possibly be. That would have to be Tyrion. We also know he is GRRM favorite character so he is the obvious choice.

But if it had to be a narrator most readers could relate to that would be either Sam or Quentin as in another thread most people said they related to them most out of all the characters.

Or maybe somebody from the complete outside of the game of thrones like a commoner or a soldier. A maester perhaps as he writes down in some diary?

Perhaps the Dunk and Egg stories would have made good first person narratives.

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I agree with Tyrion. He spent time withe the Stark family, went to the wall, in Essos, and will probably spend time with Daenerys at some point. Plus his chapters are ones of the most entertaining (for me at least). He interacts with a lot of people from every factions (Sansa, Jon, Jorah, Aegon, his family...) so it would be the most complete. But no Stannis. (Is that even a bad thing?)

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Aren't Dunk & Egg 1st person? Dunk is the only POV in them.

I have not read them but I assume it's still third person narrative. First person is narrative is I while third person is narrative is them. Second person narrative is you (used in role playing game books and some poems).

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I have not read them but I assume it's still third person narrative. First person is narrative is I while third person is narrative is them. Second person narrative is you (used in role playing game books and some poems).

This is correct.

One of the things about the way the books are written is the clever way Martin fudges third-person limited and omniscient. Often he's having his cake and eating it too and we never notice. It's a clever way to regulate information in a way to maximize dramatic impact.

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Can I say Bloodraven? Or is that cheating (but not as much as SQRTed)?

I can hardly think of a better one than Tyrion. Another obvious choice might be Danaerys as alone is (for most of the series) our sole eyes-and-ears on Essos. But then, her chapters aren't really my favourite.

If I had to pick someone non-Tyrion, I would say Arya. Granted, it would be hard to ask GRRM to write an entire series in a little girl's PoV. But I think she has one of the most interesting journeys. I especially love the stark ( :rofl: ) contrast between her time in Harrenhall and her time in the Many Face temple.

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I agree the obvious choices would be Arya and Tyrion: Tyrion for being the most traveled and the author's favorite and Arya for having the most chapters and what I will call adventures.

STILL... if you wanted a character readers can easily relate to by personality it would have to be Quentyn or Sam.

Jon and Danaerys play important roles in the story but neither suit the criteria above as well as names mentioned.

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Tyrion is a poor choice. Why? because he isn't objective... This is one of the charms of the POV structure, you see the world through their eyes, and it works when you have multiple chapters for the same story. Tyrion is a better person, but he is not that far from Cersei when it comes to objectivity, could you imagine ASOIAF by Cersei? :) My choice would be Jaime. His chapters are a lot of fun, he is an intelligent man, just like Tyrion he has a keen eye for detail, and he's not vengeful against the world.

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  • 2 months later...

Theon; a slightly darker series, with no hope for dragons, no despair at wights, just unremitting accounts of the cruelties and heroism of men

Or Ser Rolland Storm. Clearly no way it wouldn't be superb

A Theon centralized book would be like a Stephen King novel. Describing ones relationship with his/her jailer and tormentor (Misery and Rose Madder).

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Cersei and Theon, they're the most psychologically complex characters and their POV is already twisted and distorted as it is. In first person, it would be even more oppressive and compelling.

ETA: Oh, you meant just one character for the entire story? In that case, I'll have to go with Arya. Just one awesomely dark coming of age tale

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The most interesting and revealing would be the POV Of the Others! You really cut through all the extra intrigue and get the real story!

Xenofiction is hard to pull off. You want them to be more than humans in ice-suits, yet having characters with foreign emotions (or even senses) can be off-putting for the reader.

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