What are the overarching themes of the series?

[Warpath]

See this thread: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/109566-not-only-a-song-of-ice-and-fire-but-also-a-song-of-storm-and-stone/

[Peter George Stewart]

I think if there's any theme it's about the complexity of human character, and the unintended consequences of actions. Good actions and intentions can sometimes have bad consequences down the road; and vice-versa - people can do bad things, but sometimes good things happen down the road as a result. Also, characters can be rich and complex, they can change in many ways, and there can be conflict between the good and bad parts of their character, with it not always being clear and predictable which side will win out.

He's basically taking a stand against the traditional over-simplification of storylines and morality in fantasy.

Some people think GRRM just reverses tropes and expectations for the hell of it. That's not right.

Some people think he's a moral relativist who doesn't see good/evil, but all greys. That's not right either.

It's more that, yes, there's good, and yes there's bad, and yes of course we should be rooting for the good (basically good characters, or the good parts of peoples' characters) to win out. That, in itself is natural, and not a problem.

But if you expect the good to win just because it's good, you're living in a fantasy world.

[King Jaime Lannister]

The value of keeping your identity and draw strength from it, especially in circumstances when you are forced to be someone else is also a theme that appears with several characters.

This is how I took it from the very start. There are definitely multiple themes going on. But identity is central. Individuals come back from death and are not the same, come out from hidding and may or may not be who they say they are, and many characters go through their own identity crisis. Even the POV titles change.

“Let me give you some advice, bastard: Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”

[DipMeInGoldAndCallMeAegor]

Everyone dies sooner or later.

[Bloodrobin]

War is ultimately pointless. This is one theme I notice in the books.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

It's about a lot of things.

The conflict of love and emotion against duty and honor.

The cruelty people commit against each other in a futile grab for power.

The justification of cruelty against other cruel people; who decides who gets to wield "justice" and who doesn't.

The nature of what justice is and the difference between justice and vengeance.

The nature of power and who wields it and how.

The nature of perspective and how "where you stand depends on where you sit," as one of my old politics professors used to say.

Nature against nurture. Biology aside, is Jon Ned's son, or Rhaegar's? What matters more?

Fate against choice. Do people make prophecies become fulfilled, or is it out of their hands?

The inevitability of death (Valar morghulis) paired with the desire for life to have some meaning or purpose (Valar dohaeris).

What it means to be family. Do you choose your family, or are you locked into the family you were born with? An extension of nature vs. nurture on a bigger scale.

Life isn't always fair. Good people get screwed and bad people get away with it, and sometimes the right people get killed for the wrong reasons.

Becoming your own person and an independent adult, seen most prevalently I think with the Stark kids. Learning to cope with loss and grief.

There's probably a good many more themes I'm forgetting, but those stand out a lot.

[TheReal_Rebel]

The Balancing of Ice and Fire in a leader/ruler requires sacrifice of one's personal desires to the Greater good...and your friends might kill you for it.

[Harlaw's Book the Sequel]

Sibling relationships

[BearQueen87]

Identity is key, for sure.

Ayra goes through how many names? And each time she looses a bit more of the Ayra Stark we knew at the start.

Theon/Reek

Sansa/LF's bastard daughter

Jon Snow -- High lord's son or Man of the Night Watch? And later, Son of Rhaegar and Lyanna or man of the night watch

Tyrion -- the wicked Imp that is considered low and base by family, or the clever Hand who could probably lead the realms

Dany--scared teenager, queen, mother, ruler, possibly going crazy?

Cat or LSH

Jamie--Kingslayer or redemable knight

I could go on, obviously

I think GRRM knows how complicated identity is

[The.Smiling.Knight]

So I'm on some other forum and a guy there is calling me an idiot because I've said there's no overarching theme of the series - each character has a different theme in their arc - Tyrion's is about how he requires some kind of love to function, Cersei is about how women are in medieval society, Brienne's about the futility and brutality of war etc., Dorne is about the cost of vengeance. Meanwhile he insists the overall theme of the show/series is "power corrupts" and "nihilism" because of D&D's hamfisted "beetles" and "nothing is nothing" scenes they've inserted into the TV show.

What do you think the overarching theme of the series is, if there is one, or does each character/arc have it's own theme? Is the series too broad and wide to have a singular unifying theme throughout each story?

I agree that each character has their own arc - but I think the most overarching theme of the series is cost.

Everything has a cost - whether for good or evil or because it tastes sweet - there is always a cost.

[ARYa_Nym]

He addressed identity in an interview.

It's been pointed out that a lot of characters in A Dance With Dragons are losing their names, and their very identities, as a result of intense circumstances. What's that about?

Arya has been doing it for some time, actually. Arya has gone through a dozen different identities, even getting to Braavos — where the ultimate goal of the Faceless Men is to become no-one, and to be able to assume identities as one assumes a suit of clothes. But yes, identity is one of the things that I'm playing with in this series as a whole, and in this particular book — what is it that makes us who we are? Is it our birth, our blood, our position in the world? Or something more integral to us? Our values our memories, et cetera.

Usually in a heroic fantasy series when someone loses their identity, you expect that to be followed by them regaining their selfhood in some dramatic way, or taking some heroic action that reasserts who they really are. Do you feel a responsibility to subvert that? Or play with that trope?

I'm certainly playing with it. There are different ways of assuming identities. Some of them I try to get at in books, and it's a little bit reflected in the chapter titles. In some cases, it's just someone putting on a mask. I mean Qwentyn Martell and his companions assume false names at several points during their journey from Dorne to Meereen. They assume different roles and different identities, but it never really affects who they are. When they're in private, they're still the people that they have always been. When you're dealing with Arya and what she's going through, or you're dealing with Theon... you're dealing with something much, much deeper there, where the original identity is being threatened or kind of broken down by one means or another, and maybe is in danger of being lost entirely.

http://io9.com/5822939/george-rr-martin-explains-why-well-never-meet-any-gods-in-a-song-of-ice-and-fire/all

I totally see the what makes them who they are question. Some people think Arya is only Arya if she goes back to being good/the way she was in the beginning. Others say she's still Arya. This is just an Arya that has changed. This is who she is now. So not everyone agrees on what self identity entails.

[BearQueen87]

When it comes to identity, I think GRRM will ultimately come down on "you cannot go back." Arya will never by the Ayra we met at Winterfell in aGoT. Theon will always have the Reek identity as part of him, even if he reclaims being Theon again. Once you've crossed a certain threshold where you block or shut down your "original" identity you might be able to get parts of it back, but there are parts of you that can you never recover. Theon literally looses a piece of himself to Ramsey. Arya hides Needle behind a stone, a symoblic object of her past life.

In the future should Jon learn that he is the son of L and R, his identifity will shift again. We've seen Bastard Snow, Night Watch Snow, Traitor Snow, Lord Commander Snow and now he "died" and will be reborn, a metaphorical rebirth of a new identity. But he can never be just Bastard Snow again, for example.

The same can be applied to Dany and Tyrion or anyone. You cannot go back to what you once were. Your identity if a fluid thing that changes based on life expereinces and your choices.

[RoamingRonin]

No good deed goes unpunished.

[Ser Creighton]

Not that I am an expert on narrative themes but it seems a lot of people are mentioning elements or elements of themes instead of a central theme which is what the OP asked. I also see some pretty long lists which does not point to a central theme, although if you could say life was a theme which it really isn't then that would probably be the best theme for the series. But it is far to broad to be a thematic concept or statement.

Generally a theme or a central theme will be much more specific. There are many themes in the books, and in fact wiki has an entire page of them, but they don't list a central theme rather several themes from the series. Though I believe there is one central theme. Conflict, in all it's forms. War, conflict of the heart, the mind, political conflict, class conflict, gender and race. Conflict may be the central theme of the book but only Martin really knows that and it may not even be an intentional theme. Moby Dick has a powerful Man vs. God or nature theme but Melville denied this, none the less it does seem to exist, though the actual central thematic theme was the subjective nature of perception. I bring this up because this is also a major theme for Martin which is probably why he writes in the Third person POV's. The subjective nature of perception is also great for generating conflict.

Anyway hope that helps, though I really can't say I am right about this it's really just what I perceive and that of course is subjective. :)

[Ser Leftwich]

1- Everything that Apple said above.

2- There is a strong theme of the danger of drinking too much.

3- It is not about the outcome of the plot elements, but how the plot element came to be. (The note that Jaime killed Aerys versus the later learned, why Jaime killed Aerys is one that we readers know. There are plenty yet to come.)