Who do you consider the "main characters"?

[khal drogon]

4 hours ago, The Sleeper said:

A character may influence the plot just by his or her presence or absence. In the end both Tywin and Ned's actions were over Stannis' claim over Jeoffrey's. Ned essentially was trying to get Stannis on the throne even if he didn't know it until the end and Tywin considered Stannis his main enemy. Besides he got his ass whooped around a bit fighting on the wrong front, rode the wave and claimed credit. And anything they did never approached the impact of the shadow baby.

Now if you want to argue about Ned and Tywin's legacies this is a different matter, but it doesn't affect the plot directly.

I rate the influence by how the story would have changed if you remove a character. By that logic Cersei would have had more impact than Stannis. She killed Robert and she placed her bastards on the Iron throne which caused the entire war. Without her there would be no story. Stannis is just another pretender for the throne. His role was to further complicate things nothing like a pivotal role. He didn't discover twincest it was Jon Arryn and Stannis hardly acted about it until Robert's death. It was Ned who acted about twincest, resulting in his death and the Northern rebellion and it was because of Ned that Daenerys lives. Ned would have tried to crown Renly if Stannis didn't exist but still he would have found the twincest and lost his head resulting in North's rebellion. The only things that happened because of Stannis is Lannister-Tyrell Alliance and the victory in the Wall. In the future too Stannis is getting irrelevant. It looks like he will fail in the North too and his story will come to an end as other players like Aegon and Euron has entered the game.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

Jon, Bran, Dany, Arya, Tyrion in that order.

Jon is literally the personification of the series' title, Bran is a God, Dany has for now three baby dragons and a big army, Arya is a powerful warg and is training to be an assassin without face and Tyrion can be a politician.

[Wrl6199]

Arya Stark is the only character with POV chapters in every book.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

18 minutes ago, Wrl6199 said:

Arya Stark is the only character with POV chapters in every book.

Tyrion is the one who has the most chapters, 49, Jon has 42 and Arya has 34. If quantity over quality Tyrion is the main character.

[khal drogon]

14 minutes ago, Wrl6199 said:

Arya Stark is the only character with POV chapters in every book.

That's because Martin chose to split the fourth book in a weird way.

[Endymion I Targaryen]

The big six (Sansa, Arya, Bran, Jon, Tyrion, Daenerys) are the main characters. As GRRM writes his story, we are very interested in their growth, thoughts, feelings, actions, experiences.

Catelyn, Ned,Theon, Davos, Sam, Jaime, Cersei are very important too but not as the big six.

, 

 

[The Sleeper]

39 minutes ago, khal drogon said:

I rate the influence by how the story would have changed if you remove a character. By that logic Cersei would have had more impact than Stannis. She killed Robert and she placed her bastards on the Iron throne which caused the entire war. Without her there would be no story. Stannis is just another pretender for the throne. His role was to further complicate things nothing like a pivotal role. He didn't discover twincest it was Jon Arryn and Stannis hardly acted about it until Robert's death. It was Ned who acted about twincest, resulting in his death and the Northern rebellion and it was because of Ned that Daenerys lives. Ned would have tried to crown Renly if Stannis didn't exist but still he would have found the twincest and lost his head resulting in North's rebellion. The only things that happened because of Stannis is Lannister-Tyrell Alliance and the victory in the Wall. In the future too Stannis is getting irrelevant. It looks like he will fail in the North too and his story will come to an end as other players like Aegon and Euron has entered the game.

“Lord Stannis,” she asked, “if you knew the queen to be guilty of such monstrous crimes, why did you keep silent?”      “I did not keep silent,” Stannis declared. “I brought my suspicions to Jon Arryn.”

Catelyn, at the Clash of Kings

Nope. It was Stannis. This is a pointless exercise if you remove any of the characters, well some others wouldn't exist to begin with. The story is as it is. And in this story, Stannis is at the center of all turbulence. I don't know whether he will continue to do so. But so far he has.

[khal drogon]

23 minutes ago, The Sleeper said:

“Lord Stannis,” she asked, “if you knew the queen to be guilty of such monstrous crimes, why did you keep silent?”      “I did not keep silent,” Stannis declared. “I brought my suspicions to Jon Arryn.”

Catelyn, at the Clash of Kings

Nope. It was Stannis. This is a pointless exercise if you remove any of the characters, well some others wouldn't exist to begin with. The story is as it is. And in this story, Stannis is at the center of all turbulence. I don't know whether he will continue to do so. But so far he has.

Only if you had a warped view that sees only Stannis and wished to be blind to see other characters. I wouldn't even call him the main character of the first act. He was a very good supporting character in my opinion. But in the ende he is nothing but filler who was there to further complicate things. The story could exist if you remove him and do minimal changes. 

[The Sleeper]

@khal drogon I was referring in terms of impact to the plot. Which is not the same as significance to the story. As I wrote in my first post. To make another example. Walder Frey has appeared on page twice. He had a very great deal of impact on the plot.

Martin has used Stannis as a catalyst for many of the most significant plot points in the books.

[Nevets]

I define main characters as "Who is the story about?"  In that respect, the story is about Tyrion, Jon, Daenerys, Sansa, Arya, and Bran.  Characters like Stannis, Cersei, et al may have an impact on the overall story, but it isn't really about them.  That's why we see so much of Arya in the Riverlands in ACOK and ASOS.  Those chapters aren't there because of their effect on the overall story.  They are there because of their effect on Arya.

[bent branch]

1 hour ago, The Sleeper said:

“Lord Stannis,” she asked, “if you knew the queen to be guilty of such monstrous crimes, why did you keep silent?”      “I did not keep silent,” Stannis declared. “I brought my suspicions to Jon Arryn.”

Catelyn, at the Clash of Kings

Nope. It was Stannis. This is a pointless exercise if you remove any of the characters, well some others wouldn't exist to begin with. The story is as it is. And in this story, Stannis is at the center of all turbulence. I don't know whether he will continue to do so. But so far he has.

Completely agree. People have strong opinions about characters they particularly like or dislike, but the mix of characters needs to be what it is or the story would be entirely different. Although, some people have a twisted view of the story because they like to exaggerate or minimize some characters' influence.

[Quietstorm16]

19 hours ago, TWR said:

GRRM originally said Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Bran and Arya were the 5 central characters. To me, the only main characters are Jon & Dany, as they're the only ones I see with plot armor enough to basically guarantee their survival to the end of the story.

I don't think Dany is safe at all. Safe until the conquest, but after that she's going to have a target on her head. 

[Wrl6199]

Daenerys, Arya, Jon, Bran and Tyrion are the five characters that Martin originally intended to follow all the way through the story, “growing from children to adults and changing themselves and the world in the process". 

[Mladen]

26 minutes ago, Wrl6199 said:

Daenerys, Arya, Jon, Bran and Tyrion are the five characters that Martin originally intended to follow all the way through the story, “growing from children to adults and changing themselves and the world in the process". 

Add Sansa, as it is clearly that her story is about growing up and finding her place in the world. The fact that 20+ years ago, GRRM had some plans for ASOIAfF, doesn't mean they actually came to fruition. Actually, many didn't.

As GRRM said, there are 6 main characters. I don't understand where the discussion comes from where we have author's clear input on this.

3 hours ago, Jon's Queen Consort said:

Jon, Bran, Dany, Arya, Tyrion in that order.

Jon is literally the personification of the series' title, Bran is a God, Dany has for now three baby dragons and a big army, Arya is a powerful warg and is training to be an assassin without face and Tyrion can be a politician.

You missed Sansa.  

[Wrl6199]

15 minutes ago, Risto said:

Add Sansa, as it is clearly that her story is about growing up and finding her place in the world. The fact that 20+ years ago, GRRM had some plans for ASOIAfF, doesn't mean they actually came to fruition. Actually, many didn't.

As GRRM said, there are 6 main characters. I don't understand where the discussion comes from where we have author's clear input on this.

You missed Sansa.  

Wait where Did he say that there were six main characters. I mean yes it seems like Sansa would be included in the list. She also was originally supposed to have Joffrey's baby.

[Mladen]

7 minutes ago, Wrl6199 said:

Wait where Did he say that there were six main characters. I mean yes it seems like Sansa would be included in the list. She also was originally supposed to have Joffrey's baby.

There is a link on the first page. But, nonetheless, it was clear enough by reading the series. If you just read it as a cross-generational saga about kids growing up, Sansa fits the mold perfectly. Her role and character obviously changed from the first script.

[Jon's Queen Consort]

15 hours ago, Risto said:

You missed Sansa.  

You are absolutely right. I was between Tyrion and Sansa for the fifth place but then I remembered that Tyrion is GRRM's favorite character so he has to be number 5.

[Lord Lyman]

21 hours ago, Wrl6199 said:

Arya Stark is the only character with POV chapters in every book.

That only happened due to how GRRM split AFFC and ADWD.

[Mladen]

2 hours ago, Jon's Queen Consort said:

You are absolutely right. I was between Tyrion and Sansa for the fifth place but then I remembered that Tyrion is GRRM's favorite character so he has to be number 5.

JQC, don't make me repeat again what has been already said. There is no 5 main characters, but 6 - Jon, Dany, Tyrion, 3 Stark children. Even if we follow GRRM's idea about cross-generational saga and kids growing up and finding their place for themselves, those 6 work perfectly. This is rather simple and even though we didn't need GRRM's confirmation on this (apparently we DO need GRRM's confirmation on EVERYTHING), the saga itself clearly defines the main characters. 

[Jon's Queen Consort]

9 minutes ago, Risto said:

JQC, don't make me repeat again what has been already said. There is no 5 main characters, but 6 - Jon, Dany, Tyrion, 3 Stark children. Even if we follow GRRM's idea about cross-generational saga and kids growing up and finding their place for themselves, those 6 work perfectly. This is rather simple and even though we didn't need GRRM's confirmation on this (apparently we DO need GRRM's confirmation on EVERYTHING), the saga itself clearly defines the main characters. 

I always make a top 5 or top 3 list...