What is the point of Arys Oakheart POV?

[Skoboe]

The members of the KG after Barristan was made redundant came across as being mindless drones...either cocky and duplicitous (the Kettleblacks), or cruel and mindless (Trant for example).

Oakhearts PoV showed that despite strictly following orders, he had a conscience and didn't appreciate the way Sansa was treated. It also humanised him by showing what type of person he could be once away from KL.

It did nothing to show that Trant is anything but a jerk though :)

[The Prince of Newcastle]

Because George lost is mojo since he finished aSoS

Nah... He wrote himself into a corner and it was a bit clunky getting out.

AFFC and ADWD flesh the world out so much more than the first 3. They are slower more deliberate books.

Arys was an interesting POV I thought. Could have made a good prologue.

[The Mother of The Others]

Knowing him makes the Dorne finale more impactful. I wouldn't have felt the "oh darn" as much. And it creates complexity because the POVs are pulling you in multiple directions toward their agendae and you don't know which to root for, for the KL bunch or the war snakes or for Doran. It shifts you from wanting to keep the princess safe to wanting to see her gambled with to realizing that was foolish. You don't get pinballed around as much without the Oakheart POV.

[Hotpie Targaryen]

I can't speak as to why Martin wrote it, but I will say I rather liked it, especially his thoughts on Marcella, whom we don't really get to hear a lot about, otherwise. I liked the character of Arys, and so then it was a real bummer when he croaked. If I hadn't heard from Arys earlier, I'm not sure I would have cared.

[Dornish Vinegar]

Knowing him makes the Dorne finale more impactful. I wouldn't have felt the "oh darn" as much. And it creates complexity because the POVs are pulling you in multiple directions toward their agendae and you don't know which to root for, for the KL bunch or the war snakes or for Doran. It shifts you from wanting to keep the princess safe to wanting to see her gambled with to realizing that was foolish. You don't get pinballed around as much without the Oakheart POV.

I agree with this. Having him as a POV gives the Dornish plot a little more meat, so that when it hits the fan you get a more weighty feel for the magnitude of what just went down.

[Mithras]

I think without his POV, his "suicide" might be a bit pointless. He died as a KG should, just like the big 3 in the ToJ. A KG does not back down no matter what. However, his real motivation was his shame. I wonder if this was the case for Arthur and his company at the ToJ.

[joluoto2]

George needed to write that chapter from a PoV that wasn't Arianne's, so it had to be Oakheart. And it was interesting to see a decent member of Robert's/ Joff's King's Guard. It wasn't a well written chapter thoug, might be George's worst.

[Olligarchy]

I still think that Arys PoV was mostly just to shot Arianne naked.

Though it was my favourite chapter for a very long time due to it revealing so much about the Kingsguard, Dorne and so forth.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I think without his POV, his "suicide" might be a bit pointless. He died as a KG should, just like the big 3 in the ToJ. A KG does not back down no matter what. However, his real motivation was his shame. I wonder if this was the case for Arthur and his company at the ToJ.

Probably. The King died, the prince died, the babies died. And they were alive.

[Basileus777]

Because post-ASOS GRRM fell into the trap of needing to show everything on screen, which gave us POV sprawl and the bloat it led to.

[The Bastard of Walton]

Maybe he started of as a Prologue character, but GRRM had to much to tell in one chapter so fleshed him out into a POV.

[Shierashiera]

I can't speak as to why Martin wrote it, but I will say I rather liked it, especially his thoughts on Marcella, whom we don't really get to hear a lot about, otherwise. I liked the character of Arys, and so then it was a real bummer when he croaked. If I hadn't heard from Arys earlier, I'm not sure I would have cared.

I liked the fact that Arys gave us information about Myrcella's character.

It is a shame that GRRM hasn't focused more on Myrcella.

In any case, Arys was a minor character and quite controversial.

Sansa thinking that at least he protests before he hits her and him feeling relief when he learns that he has to escort Myrcella in Dorne,

is just another case of a grey character.

While he lacks the depth of other POV's, such as Jaime and Barristan, my guess is that GRRM wanted to have another POV from Dorne.

Arianne is the most important POV character in Dorne.

Areo is less important and he simply observes.

Arys has found himself in a position similar to Areo, he is a stranger who has arrived in Dorne, to ensure the safety pf a young woman. Unlike Areo, Arys got involved in the Game.

Telling the story in Dorne, using only Arianne as a POV would be unbalanced in comparison to the other storylines.

So far in KL we had Ned, Cat, Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, Jaime and Cersei as POV's.

In the Iron Islands we had Theon, Asha, Aeron and Victarion.

In Essos and particularly in Slavers bay we have Dany, Barristan and Tyrion.

GRRM needed a POV to contrast Areo and Arianne.

[Ragnorak]

I liked the fact that Arys gave us information about Myrcella's character.

It is a shame that GRRM hasn't focused more on Myrcella.

In any case, Arys was a minor character and quite controversial.

Sansa thinking that at least he protests before he hits her and him feeling relief when he learns that he has to escort Myrcella in Dorne,

is just another case of a grey character.

While he lacks the depth of other POV's, such as Jaime and Barristan, my guess is that GRRM wanted to have another POV from Dorne.

Arianne is the most important POV character in Dorne.

Areo is less important and he simply observes.

Arys has found himself in a position similar to Areo, he is a stranger who has arrived in Dorne, to ensure the safety pf a young woman. Unlike Areo, Arys got involved in the Game.

Telling the story in Dorne, using only Arianne as a POV would be unbalanced in comparison to the other storylines.

So far in KL we had Ned, Cat, Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, Jaime and Cersei as POV's.

In the Iron Islands we had Theon, Asha, Aeron and Victarion.

In Essos and particularly in Slavers bay we have Dany, Barristan and Tyrion.

GRRM needed a POV to contrast Areo and Arianne.

I think you're on to something here. Dorne is different from the rest of Westeros in several ways and Arys having this outsider perspective really helps establish this in the reader's mind. He often thinks to himself about how Arianne is Dornish so that he must make allowances for his expectations of her and her behavior. I don't think he could have colored that separate Dornish mood from within Arianne's POV.

[Lord_Tyrell]

I honestly think that it is the worst chapter and biggest blunder on GRRM's part. Honestly, there's no need to not have any other Dornish POV besides Arianne's. Even the first chapter she could have been there, and in Oakheart's and Hotah's 2nd POV chapter, she is present for basically all of it. This was just sloppy writing on George's part and I think even he once said that he regretted writing this chapter from Oakheart's POV.

[fuelpagan_tw]

I think the chapter shows how good KG Knights struggle with vows and the blurred lines they must face. This was before he planned on using Barristan as a POV.

But the chapter also highlights the tension between the Reach and Dorne directly from the others sides perspective.

[Lord Damian]

To demonstrate what it is like for a sworn knight to fall for a sexy, seductive highborn who throws herself at him and coaxes him to committing treason all in exchange for great sex.

[OrangeStallion]

To keep us on our toes with POV's, they could be killed at any time

[Arlan of Pennytree]

Why did GRRM need an extra POV while could give another POV to Arianne?

To show us the seductive powers of Arianne Martell? From Oakhearts POV we can see just how successful she is. Oakheart's POV isn't typical of the KG we know. He seems more like a 'true knight' than anybody we've seen, and he dies quicker than any POV as well. . .

[Berric_Dondiedagain]

This doesn't bother me as much- I am not sure why it bothers other people-its not a big deal-

Prologue and epilogue characters die in their chapters-

Would you prefer him to give you more Arys chapter before he died?

Would it have been better to watch him die from someone else's POV?

I do not feel that characters have to have some great storyline for us to get their POV for a chapter before their death-

I think his chapter speaks to GRRM's theme of oaths and giving your word- and breaking or not breaking your oath

It also shows that you never know- I thought we were going to get into the character and he died right away- again nobody is safe no matter how long or how short they are around for.

[Wmarshal]

I have no idea why no one liked his POV.