[ADwD Spoilers] Who is the main character?

[Son of Jon Snarkgaryen]

The three-headed dragon of course --> whichever three characters that may be. My money's on Jon and Dany definitely being two of them! The third? Aegon VI/Young Grigg? Tyrion? Who knows...?

[MyDogIsNamedDanerys]

I'm pretty sure it's Dany, Jon, and Tyrion. And this is despite the fact that only one of these is a favorite of mine (GUESS WHO).

But I actually doubt that any of these three except Tyrion will actually survive the series. So does that mean that he's the main character after all?

It's an unanswerable question in the end.

[Sister Goldenhair]

I think Jaime and Bran are the main characters, it was their interaction that started the entire war and I think they will be the ones that meet again in the end. Danny gets the dragons to Westeros and Jon brings the white walkers after his death.

[Son of Jon Snarkgaryen]

and Jon brings the white walkers after his death.

How do you mean? As one of them??

[FanTasy]

Tough question, Traditionally you would meet the main character in the first chapters. Later on he/she will meet main supporting characters and the main opponent or opponents.

Who the main character will be in ASOIAF depends on what has to be accomplished in the end, and that's still a bit fuzzy, to say the least.

Who will be the main force so that the ring is thrown into the fires of Mordor? And what is the ring?

I like to think that not persons but family lines are the main characters in ASOIAF: Stark, Targaryen, Lannister, Baratheon and within those families Bran/Jon/Arya/Sansa, Dany/possibly Aegon, Tyrion/Jaime, Stannis/Melisandre.

But I think the main characters could as well be ice and fire, and their possibilities to be good - or be very destructive. Both forces harbour both possibilities and are used as such by the supporting characters.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

I know I've answered this question before, but I've done a lot of rereading lately, and my answer is still Jon, Tyrion and Dany. If I had to narrow it down to one (even though I think it really is the three of them), then it's Jon.

[Jory]

Stannis is the main character. He is Azor Ahai, Jon's dad, Lyanna's lover, Ned's best friend, Syrio Forel, the reincarnation of R'hllor AND the Great Other, the High Septon, Cersei's boyfriend, and Bran's uncle. His is truly the Song of Ice and Fire.

[Val the Wildling Princess]

If there has to be just one then it's clearly Jon for me.

[Sister Goldenhair]

How do you mean? As one of them??

Think Bran will become the most powerful and Jaime is the AA and Dany is just a conduit to bring the dragons to Westeros and Jon Snow will warg into a wolfe and either join Bran in fighting the humans or fight Bran and join Jaime. There's a lot of clues, symbols etc in the books and from what I can gather fashioned after the Norse legends of Loki and Baldr and Hod etc.

Jon may become a white but with his death the white walkers get across the wall.

[DurararaFTW]

Dany, Jon, Tyrion, Sansa and Arya.

The focus on their characters, even when they are totally isolated from everyone else in the plot, dwarfs everyone else. Even if Bran has 10 chapters in Winds of the Winter and 10 in the one after that. Which he won't, I'll bet you anything, he won't catch up to chapter number they have by then. Bran's chapter count depends on how much there is to tell. This simply isn't the case with the others. He, Jaime, Eddard and Catelyn are support.

[Dagos_Rivers]

I think each book has a character who is featured more than others.

AGOT: Eddard Stark (15 chapters and featured in the POV of his family)

ACOK: Tyrion Lannister (15 chapters and featured in most of the Sansa POV)

ASOS: Tyrion Lannister/Jon Snow

AFFC: Cersei Lannister (Her chapters and some of Jamie's chapters are about 1/3 of the book)

ADWD: Danaerys Targaryen (Jon and Tyrion have more POV's but the story is centred on Danaerys).

[EgoistMusketeer]

I'm sure this has been mentioned but I admit I didn't read pages 2,3,4.

Its Jon. He's half Stark, half Targ, and 100 percent Valyrian steel wielding, skin-changing bad ass.

Rheaghar says it himself, his is the song of Ice and Fire.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

I think each book has a character who is featured more than others.

AGOT: Eddard Stark (15 chapters and featured in the POV of his family)

ACOK: Tyrion Lannister (15 chapters and featured in most of the Sansa POV)

ASOS: Tyrion Lannister/Jon Snow

AFFC: Cersei Lannister (Her chapters and some of Jamie's chapters are about 1/3 of the book)

ADWD: Danaerys Targaryen (Jon and Tyrion have more POV's but the story is centred on Danaerys).

Kind of disagree. Dany's story is a big (boring) chunk of the book, but the superb northern arc, featuring Jon, Davos, Asha, Bran and Theon, which is the strongest part of the book, has nothing to do with her. That's why it's the strongest part of the book. :P

[Francis Buck]

Honestly I'm not into the idea of deciding the main characters purely on the number of POV's they have had. To me, the "main characters" have remained essentially the same since the first book: Jon, Bran, Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei, and Daenarys. Out of those, Jon, Dany, and Tyrion are the most prominent.

[Dagos_Rivers]

It's not just how many POV's they have, it's how much you see them in the story. Danaerys has the chapters for Mereen, Quentyn Martell, her own POV and Ser Barristan which is a good chunk of the book. I don't think this makes them main characters but I think certain characters have more 'screen time'.

[TC_Chaos]

George RR Martin has really shown us that conventional writing sometimes isn't the way how writing should always be. Every book I read has one protagonist and the rest of the cast surrounding him/her. The POV comes solely through one character's adventure throughout the novel.

With this said, I think that every POV character in the books are main characters. Everyone on this board has their own favorite characters and enjoyed reading some POV character's chapters over other characters'. Judging on the level of intensity of the story line of each character is debatable. Jon's story is more interesting than Dany's could yield to some but not others. Everyone is biased before they all sink their teeth into the books. I, myself, didn't like Bran and Arya's chapters that much; but it appears on the board, they get a lot of love.

Now some of you will argue that POV characters like Davos and Arienne are not really main characters because their chapters are not interesting or they're not impacting the main story too much. But I argue that with the big characters, without the small characters to surround them they couldn't really do much anyways. For example, Dany without all her core group of leal servants, can she achieve all that much and be a big force in the main story line? I tend to take on new POV characters as they come and try to make sense why GRRM would even bother making them POV. I still couldn't really figure out why Robb was not a POV character.

[House Balstroko]

I will classify the characters into 3 classes based on how important I think they are (up till now with some speculation). Only the survivors past ADWD

1st class: the main characters (story revolves around their actions)

-Jon

-Daenerys

-Tyrion

2st class: (important players)

-Cersei

-Jaime

-Bran

-Arya

-Sansa

-Victarion (not sure as we don't know what's in store for him, but if he pulls a Quentyn he'll probably be relegated to 3rd class)

-Griff (he's only had 2 POV's, but I think he'll be important in

-Samwell

-Theon

-Davos (he's linked to Stannis)

3rd class: (offer additionak viewpoints to the story)

-Areo Hotah :D (I don't think anyone will argue with that)

-Arianne

-Aeron Damphair

-Brienne

-Barristan (he's currently ruling in Meereen but he's mostly just the queen

s follower)

-Asha

-Melisandre (for now although she could easily jump to 2nd spot)

Some of these are also based in the number of POV's a character gets. But I think its important to remember that it cannot be the determining factor. Bran has had little yet he's supposed to play a large role).

The main plot is supposed to be about the battle with the Others, yet they've made very few appeaances till now and little is known about them. Add in the fact, that there is only 1 POV (Jon's) that actually focuses on the threat of the Others. The house players are either concerned with gaining the Iron throne or supporting players who want it. Arya and Bran are training...

[Young Wolf's Vanguard]

Wex. Pyke.

[Young Wolf's Vanguard]

I will classify the characters into 3 classes based on how important I think they are (up till now with some speculation). Only the survivors past ADWD

1st class: the main characters (story revolves around their actions)

-Jon

-Daenerys

-Tyrion

2st class: (important players)

-Cersei

-Jaime

-Bran

-Arya

-Sansa

-Victarion (not sure as we don't know what's in store for him, but if he pulls a Quentyn he'll probably be relegated to 3rd class)

-Griff (he's only had 2 POV's, but I think he'll be important in

-Samwell

-Theon

-Davos (he's linked to Stannis)

3rd class: (offer additionak viewpoints to the story)

-Areo Hotah :D (I don't think anyone will argue with that)

-Arianne

-Aeron Damphair

-Brienne

-Barristan (he's currently ruling in Meereen but he's mostly just the queen

s follower)

-Asha

-Melisandre (for now although she could easily jump to 2nd spot)

Some of these are also based in the number of POV's a character gets. But I think its important to remember that it cannot be the determining factor. Bran has had little yet he's supposed to play a large role).

The main plot is supposed to be about the battle with the Others, yet they've made very few appeaances till now and little is known about them. Add in the fact, that there is only 1 POV (Jon's) that actually focuses on the threat of the Others. The house players are either concerned with gaining the Iron throne or supporting players who want it. Arya and Bran are training...

Move Arya and Bran up one class

[House Balstroko]

Move Arya and Bran up one class

Arya and Bran are completely isolated from everyone else. Until we know how they will connect to the other characters they seem secondary to me.

Keep in mind that while Arya is undergoing training to become an assasin, and will most likely play a large part in the final struggle, as of right now her concerns are on getting revenge on a few people who have done her wrong. She is not concerned with the conflict at large, be it the Others or the game of thrones.

Same goes with Bran, his primary interest is to overcome his crippled state by learning the old ways.

I do expect both of them to play large roles, but even then i think it will mostly be as major support characters, not as leaders.