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Book 1
Prologue: Below him, the city
- Though in a scene that is anything but funny, there is a brief, but notable Mood Swing when Eaton remarks that the killer is surprisingly polite towards him. Even the assassin is taken aback by this and says that he does not see any reason not to be at least civil. It is a moment of Black Comedy in an otherwise bleak and crushing scene.
Chapter 1: Dark Wings, Dark Words
- Black Comedy remains a source of humour during Harren Hoare's court session. His Kangaroo Court is so obviously biased and unjust that one cannot help but be slightly humoured by this. His twisting of a prisoner's plea is so audaciously against the law that he isn't even trying to hide it.
- Marak, from the moment of his introduction, is a source of major amusement in the story. His reaction towards Noelle, first being smitten, then being terrified, is told from his relatively simple Point-of-View and it is priceless. Especially worth a mention is him mishearing the name of her god, R'hllor, calling him rollmop from there on.
- Though he stops being funny by the end of Chapter 2, the introduction of Wolfius is quite outlandish and as a result not exactly unfunny. Rosalie and Lyria are quite amused by his antics, even more than they are creeped out by him.
Chapter 2: Broken Vows
- Once again and for the last time, Wolfius manages to be actually funny when he talks to Ilish Granver. Harrassing her to the point she snaps, she tells him to get out of the tavern before she cuts his balls off. Wolfius mishears this for her name, remarking how odd it is and how he'd rather call her Katya. The whole scene manages to be quite amusing, even if it turns nightmarish soon afterwards.
- John Gutten can already be a fun character if he wants to be, but during his introduction, he is pissed drunken. The ensuing hilarity he causes with his drunken antics is one of the funniest moments of the chapter.
Chapter 3: We Write History
- After sitting out on Chapter 2, Marak is back once more. And as expected, he still is not over his weird mixture of being creeped out by/being attracted to Noelle. By now, he has started to catch up on his previous misnaming of her god though... only to continue with it anyways, out of sheer mockery of her religion.
- The whole concept of Jarow, the Lord of Bridges, is as funny as it is tragic. Sure, he is a broken man, a homeless drunkard suffering from massive trauma from a battle from years ago, but he is also dead serious about his title as the Lord of Bridges, considering his bridge as his castle and Richard as the subject of an allied lord.
- After merely being mentioned in the last chapter, Irving Todd makes his first real appearance in the story. He proves to be every bit as hilariously insufferable as Maya made him seem to be, complaining in the most ridiculous way and notably getting on Gregar's nerves.
Chapter 4: Butterfly
- Once more, Marak delivers comedy gold in his awkward flirting with Nora Recton. As expected, she does not react fondly to it, but his attraction to her is hilarious to read.
- Dimitri the Wise. Just... this troper does not even know where to begin. The whole concept is a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment for the story, sure, but so funny that despite him just appearing in two parts, the character remains a fan favourite for years. The concept of an old philosopher living in a forest, with only a pidgeon as his sole companion is by far the most bizzare the story has ever been. Maya and Irving are absolutely dumbfounded by his antics, to the point where they can only give him a Flat "What" after he finished introducing himself... only followed by him repeating himself once more.
Chapter 5: The Iron Price
- This chapter sees a meeting of great hilarity, as the stories three resident comic relief characters, Marak, Irving Todd and Alan Harking have a meeting. It is just as funny as imagined, when all three snark at each other, dwell in their misery and blame anyone but themselves for the situation they are in at the time. They end up cursing the women that put them into this situation, which includes Marak gleefully trolling Ilish, for no reason but because he could.
- What makes it even better is that during the entire meeting, Marak is trash talking Noelle, while she sits only a few tables away and is clearly listening to their discussion.
- It ends heartwarming, but during Jaron's confession to Harpy, just about everything goes wrong that could have gone wrong. First, he listens to Bakr's terrible advice by ignoring her. This leads to her seemingly falling asleep when he finally goes to meet her. He begins confessing to her, only for her to reveal that she is not sleeping. Both are very awkward about their feelings to each other, even messing up their first kiss. The fact that Abbas is there to ruin the mood even more is clearly annoying Harpy to no end, up until Jaron has enough and just kisses her.
Chapter 6: Masquerade
- In the tradition of Dimitri the Wise, the character of Roach is the wacky side character of the chapter and he lives up to his predecessor. As close as one can be to Gollum in the more grounded setting, you'd be forgiven for expecting him to exlaim "My precious!" when he lays eyes on one of his trinkets.
- Though it ends in tragedy, Ellena's interaction with Himani is just two kids having fun, something that can be equal parts heartwarming and funny, when they show themselves to be not quite as hardened as the more mature characters clearly are.
- Jaron's jealousy during the Masquerade, when he subtly tries to get Harpy away from Petyr Vyrwel, after noticing that the lord is flirting with her. Similarly, there is Ayden's anger and annoyance at the High Septon trying the same with Taria.
- Marak and his meeting with Archmaester Wulvren, when the usually unstoppable raider shows himself to be Afraid of Needles, of all things. There's also his continuing insistance that R'hllor is pronounced 'rollmop', to Wulvren's confusion and Noelle's anger.
Chapter 7: Valar Morghulis
- For the last time, Marak manages to be amusing in his interaction with Noelle. For the first time, she even comes around and joins in on it, showing that she does appreciate his company after all. Seeing this more light-hearted and funny side of Noelle is strange, but Marak accepts it gladly. He also manages to call her god 'rollmop' one last time.
- Hobert's Butt-Monkey status gets only strengthened when in this chapter, every single one of his allies turns on him in rapid succession. By the end, he is so done with their shit that he basically decides to leave Raylansfair, in a reaction that was intentionally written in a way that reminds the reader of a rage quit.
Chapter 8: What Is Dead May Never Die
- In a chapter that is exclusively bleak and grim, Federico's death manages to have at least a slightly Meta element of Black Comedy to it. Being sidelined to memetic status up until then, the source of several in-jokes among readers and author, his death occurs just as he seems to have actual relevance to the storyline for the first time, making him an out-of-universe Cosmic Plaything.
Chapter 9: Valar Dohaeris
- Once more, Arthur's fondness for pretty ladies shines, when he quickly shows attraction to both, Argella and Edonia mere seconds after meeting them, based solely on his looks. Being a bit awkward about these feelings, Arthur becomes nervous, flustered and uncomfortable around them, something at least Edonia even catches up to.
- When it seems that Edrick and his companions have finally found a way across the Green Fork river, they are stopped by a classical bridge knight, who demands a duel to let them pass. Edrick is, at this point, so done with any shit he has to go through to find Alys that he react with utter and delightful annoyance.
Book 2
Chapter 1: Fires Far
- After two months of travelling with her, Ellena has given up on striking any sort of meaningful conversation with Noelle. Instead, she snarks at her, so severely that even the stoic priestess takes note of it. Her attempts to keep her composure while Ellena just shuts down all her attempts to console her is very satisfying to read.
- There's something highly amusing about Saerya taking Jenna under her wing to become a Femme Fatale, since Jenna is clearly out of her element, and her first attempts go as well as expected.
- Harrold Hornwood's attempt at riding his semi-tamed moose is doomed to failure. Raenna even thinks the moose is annoyed with his rider.
Chapter 2: Thorns
- After a night of partying, Kyra wakes up with a huge hungover. Harrick tells her she got in a Drinking Contest with Durren Stallhart, and when Harrick tried to drag her away, she punched him in the face. Kyra is mortified to realize she punched her lover in the eye.
Chapter 3: Ours is the Fury
- Keat the Trickster tries to recruit Viviella Sand and her sisters for his mission at the Hightower. Viviella answers by kneeing him in the crotch for sleeping with her sister Glorianna (while he was with her other sister Ursa), and no one present feels sorry for him. Even Keat recognizes he deserved it.
