After 5 books of the Lannisters being on the IT, isn't it a little too much?

[Jon of the Dead]

I mean, I know right now they're about to be overpowered by the Tyrells, and I know that they're technically not the ones in power when people like LF, Varys and Bloodraven have been running the game in the shadows.

But I think the actual game of thrones can lose its sense of flux and unpredictability when you just keep one family in control of the IT, with each member being removed or dying after the next.

Stannis losing at BW was a great move from a storytelling perspective: it was unpredictable (by common fantasy tropes standards) and it added new changes to the game (the big Lannister-Tyrell-Martell alliance) without changing the dinamic of the game too drastically. Frankly, I wouldn't have liked a story in which every book a different king wins the throne only to be removed by the next one. That's predictable.

But the Lannisters being in the IT for 5 whole books is predictable in its own way. It has made the game a bit more stagnant, a bit less dinamic.

Personally, I would've liked the Lannisters to crash and burn completely after Tywin's death, with Cersei fleeing to Casterly Rock to see how she could scheme her way back to power, and Jaime still being on the KIngsguard, but Tommen and the IT being in complete control of the Tyrells. That would've been a complete game changer, but I think GRRM got a little too comfortable with the basic mechanics of keeping the Lannisters in the IT.

I know, I know, it's not my story to write, but that would've been a change I would've liked to see, just seeing another faction on the IT. Now apparently we're gonna have several people on the IT, but that should've started earlier. The reason I brought this topic is because I've seen many people complaining about this, especially non-readers, when they ask me who's on the IT now, and I say "the Lannisters" and they go "what? Still?"

I don't know, discuss :)

[Samwell Gamgi]

The way I see it, the Iron Throne doesn't matter that much. No one in the North is really paying it any mind.

[Ser Greg of House House]

I don't particularly dislike it. If the IT started changing families every week, it would be weird. That can only happen if shit's hitting the fan, and shit can't hit the fan all the time.

[MRHD]

Well, it is going to make it all the more impactful and sweet when they finally do lose it, which should be pretty soon. Personally, I think stability is about to crash and burn once and for all, and we're going to get the game of Musical Iron Chair that some of us have been hoping for (since GRRM has said several people will hold the IT before it's all said and done).

[N/A]

First you set the pieces my friend and then the flux begins

[Black Mike Secret]

Yeah it's just you.

Power is a shadow on the wall.

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

The series wasn't supposed to be this long so I am assuming in the original trilogy the Lannisters would lose the throne, halfway book 2 which is WOW.

[the trees have eyes]

I wouldn't say there is anything stagnant about what we have seen. The Game has dominated the first 4 books to the extent the ice and fire are marginalised in this series with the war of the five kings holding centre stage. Robert's death and the disputed succession has been brilliantly handled with so many twists and turns it would take all day to go through it. Right now Renly, Balon, Robb and Joffrey are dead, LF, Varys and the High Septon are scheming, the Lannisters have been fatally undermined in the moment of their apparent triumph with the Tyrells and Martells waiting in the wings, The Ironborn marauding and Aegon landing with the golden company at his back. Everything is in flux and constantly so. Even if GRRM had entitled this the WOTFK or the Wars of Westeros he would have succeeded brilliantly. In fact that's the problem for me: he succeeded so well he just kept expanding and deepening this part of the narrative and it squeezed out the rest. I think we can take it for granted a "Barratheon" / Lannister will not end the series on the IT so I don't feel the need to invest a lot more time and plot narrative with regime changes that will delay the rest. What we have had seen about the realities and difficulties of holding power has been 24 carat gold: no need to show that multiple times with different dynasties on the IT. Plus we already have it supplemented with the Great Houses (Robb, Stannis, Doran, Asha / Theon) and Dany / Jon.

[WeirwoodTreeHugger]

I like the slow burn of the Lannisters finally clinching their hold on the IT after a long struggle. Then everything starts going wrong for them. Slowly and excruciatingly the grip on power slips as Cersei goes more and more nuts.

[thelittledragonthatcould]

The first book was a Baratheon in the seat with his brothers on the council and a real possibility of a Baratheon-Stark marriage shaping the future, then for a few books it was Lannister centric and now it is evenly Lannister Tyrell.

But the Game of Thrones does not just allude to who actually sits on the Throne but who has the most influence and could be anyone from the high Lords to actual outsiders like Littlefinger.

[oprahnoodlemantra]

They won't be on the throne for long. Aegon will probably take it and then Dany.

[Pero the first of His name]

One family on the Iron Throne for 5 books is not make the story stagnant and it does not lose lose unpredictability.

You may come from movies which all tend to have lots of turns, chases, ``everything in the last minute`` and cheezy love scenes.

GRRM is not a conjurer of cheap twists.

[Whitering]

Considering the 5 books have encompassed all of 2.5 years maybe it's not really that far fetched. If there had been a 5 year gap between Storm and the next book, I would have expected them to fall in Book 4, but that never happened.

[Ingelheim]

Well, I really don't care now about the fight for the Iron Throne. That is already written and told. ACOK and ASOS are about it.

Now I'm far more interested about the Others arc, and Jaime's arc too. Dany with her dragons belongs to the Others arc.

[Glenn of House Patrick]

Yes, 1 family regime has sat the throne for each book, but look at how many storylines they've contributed to? We've had the chance to see Robert, Joffrey, and Tommen all rule in vastly different ways, and also got a chance to see King's Landing through the eyese of plenty other dynamic characters. They have helped keep the story dynamic, not static and stagnant. And besides, what difference does it make who's sitting the IT, when so many other forces are involved with running the realm. Joffrey made a real mess of it, and because of that we get to see Cersei, Tywin, Tyrion, and co. try to help fix it. We've had the chance to see the Tyrells, LF, and Varys all try to sway things in their favor. And we've got the chance to see everyone's favprite pudgy king, Tommen, outlaw beets and play with cats. I'd say the Lannisters maintaing control for so long has helped move the narrative along quite nicely.

[Jon of the Dead]

One family on the Iron Throne for 5 books is not make the story stagnant and it does not lose lose unpredictability.

You may come from movies which all tend to have lots of turns, chases, ``everything in the last minute`` and cheezy love scenes.

GRRM is not a conjurer of cheap twists.

*cough* Lady Stoneheart *cough* ;)

I see your point, and I know GRRM has taken his sweet time ending the Wot5K (it officially ended after Jaime broke the siege of the Blackwoods or the Brackens, I always get them mixed up), instead of doing it in a swift strike. I get it, more realistic this way.

But I wonder if the slow pace of aFfC and aDwD in comparison to the other books is a result in some way of GRRM getting too comfortable with the Lannisters on the IT and avoiding to change the status quo too drastically (in that storyline, obviously other storylines are changing more dramatically, especially the Northern storyline).

I mean, for 5 books the Lannisters have been imovable in KL. Yes, they've suffered, they've fought against themselves, etc, but they're still there. And now, all of a sudden, we're gonna have a constant torrent of people on the IT (supposedly, of course). I don't know, it seems like an odd pacing storywise, but that's just my (pretty unpopular, as far as I can see) opinion :dunno:

[Light a wight tonight]

It may be 5 books but it's only a couple of years. And after Joff dies there's no power in occupying the Throne, just in controlling it. At the end it's the Tyrell-dominated Small Council that's running things, not the Lannisters.

Not to mention that Joff and Tommen reign as Baratheons, not Lannisters.

[Vengeance]

The fall of House Lannister has been playing out over the last two books. I would have liked to have seen Cersei come undone sooner, rather being spread over two very large volumes and into the next. It's coming though, and I suspect Aegon will take the throne early into the next volume.

[WastingSickness]

Well, I really don't care now about the fight for the Iron Throne. That is already written and told. ACOK and ASOS are about it.

Now I'm far more interested about the Others arc, and Jaime's arc too. Dany with her dragons belongs to the Others arc.

So the interesting story has been told, and now the part where everyone is an undead warged Faceless secret Targ is coming up? That would be bracing... but I don't think that's quite true. Tommen is not long for the IT, according so SSM.

[Frey Kings]

Its still the war for Cersei's c_nt.