Game Of Thrones / Tropes E to F

Game of Thrones
Tropes A | Tropes B | Tropes C to D | Tropes E To F | Tropes G to K | Tropes L to O | Tropes P to S | Tropes T to Z

Tropes with their own subpages:

• Establishing Character Moment
• Fan Disservice
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture
• Foil
• Foreshadowing

E

• Ear Ache:
  • Brienne bites off her opponent's ear during their Combat Breakdown in "The Children."
  • Tormund bites the ear off Smalljon Umber.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Important antagonist Rast is among the convicts that join Jon and Tyrion en route to Castle Black in "The Kingsroad."
  • Hizdahr zo Loraq appears among the Great Masters gathered on the walls when Daenerys arrives at Meereen.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Much of the pilot was re-shot, resulting in an unusual number of continuity errors. Segments of a scene were sometimes filmed months apart with different actors, child actors age months between scenes, titles identify each new location, and facial hair had to be retconned with a barber scene. Hodor also has a beard which was dropped in later episodes because it made him look like a "Classics professor."
  • The first season in general also counts, since it is the only season to use Malta rather than Croatia for the exteriors of King's Landing. The White Walkers also underwent a slight redesign for Season 2.
  • When Jaime does an impression of his father in his first scene, he uses a hoarse, whispery voice that sounds nothing like Tywin. This was obviously filmed before Charles Dance was cast.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: So far, Hot Pie is the only character to exit the story in a content, non-violent manner by becoming a baker in a quiet wayside inn. It's actually quite touching.
  • By the Grand Finale of the entire show, it is inarguable that in spite of all the death and hardship, House Stark won the Game of Thrones.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Robert cemented his control of Westeros by forgiving any remaining Targaryen loyalists who surrendered, including Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister, Varys, Pycelle, the Tyrells, and the Martells.
  • In season 8 episode 1, Cersei sends Bronn to kill Jaime. The only reason Jaime is even alive by the end of episode 4 is because Tyrion bribed Bronn with the promise of the castle he yearned for the entire series. Despite this, Jaime returns to King's Landing and comforts Cersei in her last moments, dying in embrace with her. In fact, he shuns Brienne, the woman who actually loved and believed him, in order to be by Cersei's side.
• Eating the Eye Candy:
  • Loras shows great anticipation as Renly removes his shirt in "What Is Dead May Never Die".
  • Arya can't keep her eyes off shirtless Gendry as he forges a sword in "The Ghost of Harrenhal".
  • Sansa stares longingly at Loras as he walks away in "Dark Wings, Dark Words" until Margaery gently snaps her out of it.
  • Oberyn and Loras exchange smoldering gazes during the feast in "The Lion and the Rose" that can only be interpreted as, "I want you for dessert." Oberyn and his paramour Ellaria also spend a great deal of time ogling the eye candy in Littlefinger's brothel.
  • Dany clearly enjoys Daario stripping for her in "Mockingbird".
  • Littlefinger clearly approves of Sansa in her black dress in "The Mountain and the Viper."
• Eat the Rich: When the famine-stricken inhabitants of King's Landing riot against the aristocracy, the mob tears the gluttonous High Septon limb from limb in a scene very reminiscent of a zombie apocalypse.
• The Eeyore: Dolorous Edd is a humorously pessimistic Deadpan Snarker.

  "We'll live another day. Hurrah."

• El Cid Ploy: Loras Tyrell pretends to be King Renly's ghost to sow terror and confusion among his enemies.
• Eldritch Abomination: Robb says Old Nan once told him the sky was blue because they live inside the eye of a blue-eyed giant named Macumber.
• Elective Monarchy:
  • The wildlings occasionally unite behind a king, but this king only holds power so long as the wildlings choose to follow him and there are always holdouts like Craster.
  • Robb is acclaimed King in the North by his bannermen and the riverlords of the Trident.
  • After the Great War, Bran Stark would be elected as the new king of Westeros.
• Elemental Zombie: The White Walkers are undead who have powers over ice and cold. Fans even colloquially call them "ice zombies" on occasion.
• Elephant in the Living Room:
  • Over the 8,000 years since the Long Night, conditions at the Wall have steadily deteriorated, leaving the Night's Watch undermanned and under-equipped to hold the Wall against the wildlings and White Walkers beyond. In addition, the long summer is ending and the War of Five Kings has distracted everyone, even the Starks, from preparations for the coming winter.
  • Neither Jon nor Ygritte want to face the question of what will happen when Jon is forced to choose which side he's really on.
  • Tyrion calls Joffrey a bastard in front of everyone in "The Laws of Gods and Men," though his entire speech is so venomous it's doubtful anyone read too much into it.
• Elite Man–Courtesan Romance: Tyrion Lannister of House Lannister of Casterly Rock, one of the many noble houses in Westeros and by far the richest, falls in love with camp follower Shae, who becomes an Ascended Extra after Season 2.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Khal Drogo's Westerosi is very limited, but his subtitled Dothraki reveals him to be a highly-intelligent war leader, a loving husband, and an eloquent and fiery speaker. This sometimes overlaps with Strange-Syntax Speaker since the Dothraki don't have words for things like castles and plate armor.
• Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Sansa's first period is featured in season 2; she promptly tries to cut the bloodstains out of her bedsheets before anyone sees, so that Joffrey doesn't try to take advantage of her ASAP.
• Embarrassingly Dresslike Outfit: In Episode 2.02, "The Night Lands", Theon Greyjoy travels to the Iron Islands to propose to his father Balon that they form an alliance with Robb Stark against the Lannisters. Balon sees Theon's stylish Northern-style clothes and asks, "Was it Ned Stark's pleasure to make you his daughter?", viewing them as a sign of Theon not being much of an Ironborn. He rejects the offer and decides to attack the North instead, placing Theon's sister in command.
  Theon: (in shock) She [Yara] can't lead an attack!
  Balon: And why not?
  Theon: You're a woman!
  Yara: You're the one in skirts.
• Embarrassing Nickname:
  • Petyr Baelish grimaces slightly when Arya asks why people call him "Littlefinger."
  • Tyrion dislikes being called "the Imp," but owns it regardless. He even takes some pride in the sobriquet "Halfman" given to him by the mountain clans. He only takes real offense to being called a "twisted demon monkey."
  • Jaime detests being called "Kingslayer," particularly when it comes from men like Ned and Robert whom he views as hypocrites, since they fought a rebellion against the king he killed.
  • Jon seethes at the name "Lord Snow," until Tyrion tips him on how to deal with it.
  • Theon plans a Last Stand to avoid being remembered as "The Greyjoy Who Ran," but the ensuing events culminate in him becoming "Reek."
  • Lord Karstark declares that Robb should be called "The King Who Lost The North."
  • Walder "the Late Lord" Frey earned his moniker for his tardiness at the Battle of the Trident.
• Empty Shell: Drogo becomes this following a life-saving ritual. Vorpal Pillow ensues.
• End of an Era: By the Grand Finale, Westerosi politics have been completely upended and can never return to their old ways. One of the old great houses has gone extinct, four teeter on near extinction, most of the major northern minor houses were eradicated as well as several of the southern minor houses, The Magic has begun fading away again following the loss of the dragons and white walkers, and the last of the Valarian houses is near extinction as well. The North has dramatically changed, thus ending the era of the Seven Kingdoms. Plus, The Iron Throne, representation of the old era was melted down.
• Endless Winter: Played With in that the seasons last for years at a time — allegedly due to magic rather than as a natural feature of the planet — and consequently winters can be very long and hard due to longer food shortages and the cold weather obstructing travel. The White Walkers, whose Weather Manipulation causes blizzards and winter storms to follow them wherever they go and who caused a winter that allegedly lasted a generation before they were defeated thousands of years ago; actively threaten to plunge Westeros and likely the world into a truly endless winter, overlapping with The Night That Never Ends.
• Enemies List: Arya starts this beginning in Season 2, and it eventually becomes the focal point of her character.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch:
  • In "Blackwater", Bronn and some gold cloaks and Lannister soldiers are drinking, singing and whoring in a tavern, expecting Stannis' siege. Then Sandor Clegane the Hound, King Joffrey's intimidating guard, enters with a guy, and he motions to two guys to get out from their table. They don't even blink an eye and go. One of them tries to take his mug of ale with him, but the Hound calmy takes it from his hands, sits and starts drinking.
  • The Hound undercuts veiled threats by chugging his opponent's ale and demanding one of his chickens. A Bar Brawl with swords ensues.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The Lannisters and the Tyrells against Stannis.
  • Jaime and Brienne become this when they are captured by Locke.
  • Arya and the Hound make a good Badass and Child Duo even though they hate each other.
  • The wildlings have united to attack the Wall despite their inextricable tangle of rivalries and feuds because the White Walkers will kill them all if they don't.
  • Oberyn Martell champions Tyrion much more for a chance at revenge than for any sense of justice or personal connection between them.
  • Ser Alliser Thorne tells Jon outright that they will go back to hating each other after the battle is over.
  • Subverted by Stannis and Renly, who refuse to cooperate with anyone who refuses to submit to them. Renly at least offers to let Robb remain king in name, but Stannis refuses to view any other claimant as anything but a usurper who must be forced to submit.
  • Loras initially views the Lannisters as his enemy but chooses to side with them to avenge his lover Renly.
  • Jon Snow argues that the Night's Watch, the southern kings, and the Wildlings should put aside their differences to fight the White Walkers.
  • The Tyrells set aside their centuries-long rivalry with Dorne when Cersei murders every Tyrell save Olenna, who jumps at the opportunity to join the Sand Snakes in their quest for vengeance against the Lannisters.
• Enemy Rising Behind: Ser Waymar Royce is killed by a White Walker this way in "Winter is Coming".
• Enraged by Idiocy: Tywin has no patience for incompetence of any kind.
• Ephebophile: Meryn Trant is revealed to be one in "The Dance of Dragons." He likes them so young that the madame of a popular Dornish bordello must resort to desperate measures to please him.
• Epic Flail:
  • Brienne wields a flail during her melee with Loras in "What Is Dead May Never Die."
  • Theon is unhorsed with one in "Walk of Punishment" and spends the next several seconds disoriented and struggling to breathe.
• Epic Tracking Shot: When Jon descends the Wall during the Battle of Castle Black, the camera swoops 360 degrees around the courtyard to view Ygritte, Styr, Tormund, and Sam playing out scenes.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Tywin Lannister doesn't care if you're a man or a woman; he cares whether or not you are Stupid Evil.
• Equivalent Exchange:
  • Mirri Maz Duur tells Daenerys that only death can pay for life.
  • Jaqen H'ghar also mentions this as his reason for assisting Arya.
• Erotic Eating: Oberyn and Loras signal their sexual interest in each other by sensually chewing fruit in "The Lion and the Rose."
• Establishing Character Moment: Has its own page.
• Et Tu, Brute?: The show is very fond of this kind of classical, Shakespearean flavoured betrayal:
  • Robb Stark is betrayed by Theon Greyjoy in Season 2 and by Rickard Karstark and later to his death by Roose Bolton and Walder Frey in Season 3.
  • Shae is this to Tyrion in Season 4, which is implied to be revenge for sending her away. Notably, she's the only person at his trial who tells an outright lie against him.
  • Tywin can hardly fathom that his children would be capable of rebelling against him. His miffed line, "You shot me," carries far more indignation and disbelief than it does fear or pain.
  • Jon dies like Robb, stabbed after being lured into a trap and betrayed by people he considered allies.
• Eunuchs Are Evil:
  • Varys could be described this way, although that's not how he sees it even if he is not entirely benevolent. He even lampshades it when Eddard is leery of the water he offers, asking with exasperation, "Why is it no one ever trusts the eunuch?"
  • Averted by Theon, who suffers an involuntary penectomy only after showing remorse for some of his evil acts.
• "Eureka!" Moment:
  • Ned has one in "A Golden Crown" when he realizes the truth Jon Arryn died for.
  • Theon has one in "The Ghost of Harrenhal" when he considers that attacking Torrhen Square would draw out the garrison of Winterfell.
  • While explaining geography to his foreign wife, Robb realizes that his forces stand between the Lannisters and their home at Casterly Rock.
  • A conversation with Shireen reminds Davos of the Iron Bank of Braavos, and how they could fund Stannis.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Several characters are only redeemed from being complete monsters by this trope.
  • Cersei Lannister is probably the most notable, as her scheming against Ned is strongly motivated by a desire to protect her children. Tyrion even lampshades this by calling it her only redeeming quality besides her cheekbones.
  • Likewise, Jaime's nefarious ambush of Ned in the streets is motivated by his fury that his brother had been abducted.
  • Tywin Lannister seems incapable of expressing affection for any living thing besides his son Jaime. Later, in a uncharacteristic moment of paternal concern (of course, paired with obvious dynastic pragmatism), he moves swiftly to shield his grandson Tommen from Joffrey's death scene. Also, his hatred for Tyrion is deeply rooted in the Death by Childbirth of his very beloved wife, Joanna.
  • After doing nothing but humiliating and arguing with Theon, Yara Greyjoy shows genuine affection for her little brother when she urges him to abandon his prize before it drags him to his death.
  • Littlefinger declares that his involvement in Joffrey's death was revenge for the death of Catelyn. The amount of truth in this is left ambiguous.
  • Joffrey worships his "father" and is devastated when he dies.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Hound, who rode down an innocent peasant boy in "The Kingsroad", has an obvious distaste for seeing women abused as shown by his protective actions with both Sansa and Arya. The Bluray extras mention his dead younger sister when enumerating suspicious deaths attributed the Sandor's brother Gregor.
  • For all of her scheming against Ned in order to protect her children, Cersei is taken aback when Joffrey orders Ned's execution and visibly tries to dissuade him, as she (and Pycelle) foresee just how bad of an idea it is.
  • The entire Lannister small council's reaction to Joffrey's intent to serve Robb Stark's head to Sansa at his wedding feast. Even Cersei wants to believe he's just joking.
  • Invoked and mocked by Ramsay Snow. After emasculating Theon, he eats a suspiciously-shaped piece of meat only to feign shock and indignation when his victim draws the obvious conclusion, assuring him it's just pork sausage. It's all part of Ramsay's cruel game.
  • Tormund is a pitiless wildling raider who kills innocent villagers without hesitation, but even he hates the Cannibal Clan Thenns.
  • Subverted by Rast, who is very conflicted about leaving a baby in the snow, but ultimately goes through with it after covering the baby's face to dehumanize it.
• Even the Guys Want Him:
  • Ser Loras Tyrell, who is described by two common Lannister soldiers as "prettier than the Queen" and immediately targeted by the bisexual Oberyn Martell when he arrives at court.
  • Oberyn Martell also finds the male prostitute Olyvar so desirable that he isn't at all deterred by the fact that he's "wildly expensive."
• Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Combining HBO's penchant for Not Safe for Work content with the source material's mentality that sexuality is integral to the human condition definitely results in this trope. The show helped popularized the term "sexposition," many scenes are staged in Littlefinger's brothel, bastard children are common, and sex and sexuality are frequent plot points.
  • The adulterous Twincest between Jaime and Cersei has vast implications for the entire continent.
  • Daenerys' change in sexual position is her first major instance of Character Development.
  • Melisandre's magic is sometimes powered by sex.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave:
  • As of the end of Season 7, only half of the Stark family remains — Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Jon are alive while Ned, Catelyn, Robb, and Rickon have been killed. "The Spoils of War" lampshades the death toll somewhat poignantly when Arya shows up at Winterfell and the guards don't recognize her. She tells them that Maester Luwin or Ser Rodrik can vouch for her — but the guards don't recognize these names because Rodrik and Luwin were both executed by Theon four seasons earlier.
  • Invoked later that episode when, after Arya is let in and evades the guards, Sansa finds her down in the crypts at Ned's tomb. Arya remarks that the statue doesn't really resemble Ned all that much, and Sansa tells her it's because everyone who did remember what he looked like is dead.
  • By the finale of Season 6, this happens to a number of noble houses, namely the Tyrells, the Baratheons, the Martells, and the Boltons.
    • In the Season 6 finale, Margaery, Loras, and Mace die when Cersei blows up the Sept of Baelor with them in it. Only Olenna is left alive, but since Olenna is a Redwyne by birth, the Tyrell bloodline is extinct. In the books, there are numerous minor Tyrell cousins (through Mace's two sisters, and old Lord Luthor's younger brothers). Some of the female cousins serve as Margaery's handmaidens. Even the TV series briefly acknowledged that other Tyrell cousins exist in Season 3 — one of them even had a speaking line and outright called Olenna "Nana" (grandmother). The main branch of the family, however, is very clearly dead beyond recovery. With her death in Season 7, House Tyrell has been extinguished.
    • At the end of Season 6, the Baratheon line is effectively extinguished. The legitimate ones were killed following the Battle of Winterfell, while the King's Landing branch (the three supposed offspring of Robert Baratheon and Cersei Lannister) are Baratheon in-name-only and they died one by one under different circumstances. Joffrey was poisoned for being a madman and a threat to the Tyrells, Myrcella was poisoned by Ellaria Sand as revenge against the Lannisters for Oberyn's death, and Tommen committed suicide when his mother murdered all of her political adversaries (including Tommen's wife Margaery Tyrell) with a massive explosion that killed hundreds (if not more) of his subjects. Ultimately, Lannister pettiness was the King's Landing branch's downfall, and only Joffrey could be said to have invited the fate brought upon him. All that is left of the Baratheon line is an unknown number of illegitimate children fathered by Robert. Most of the known ones were purged by King Joffrey at the beginning of his reign and only one managed to escape — Gendry — and he's an unacknowledged illegitimate son of a Baratheon king with no way to prove his lineage.
    • As of Season 8, Gendry has been legitimized as Lord Gendry Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End, leaving House Baratheon with only one member instead of zero.
    • As of Season 6, House Martell is effectively extinct. The only Martells by blood are the Sand Snakes, but they're illegitimate and much-despised kinslayers. In Season 7, two of them are killed off by Euron Greyjoy while the third one is dying of poison in the Red Keep dungeons. While it is confirmed that Oberyn has eight bastard daughters, the five remaining ones are too young to take up the leadership, which left their House and rest of Dorne in a power vacuum.
    • At the end of Season 6, House Bolton is effectively extinct, with all their members being killed by Ramsay and him finally meeting his end after the Battle of the Bastards. Sansa confirms that their lands, name, and titles will be completely erased from history.
  • In the Season 7 premiere, Arya Stark eradicates the entire male line of House Frey after she assassinated the patriarch, Walder Frey, in the Season 6 finale while sparing the women.
• Every Man Has His Price: A matter-of-fact principle of the Lannisters that occasionally gets subverted.
  • In "Walk Of Punishment", Jaime plays it well with a seemingly agreeable Locke, only to get rejected.
  • It is totally subverted in Season 4 when the Lannisters find themselves in debt to the Iron Bank of Braavos. Cersei tells her father Tywin Lannister to find someone at the bank to bribe or bully, he replies that the Iron Bank won't respond or bend to such tactics.
  • And in the next two seasons it is completely averted with the High Sparrow, who is blissfully indifferent to any power or money Cersei or Olenna offer him.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep":
  • The Spice King, who receives Daenerys outside Qarth, lampshades it by insisting his name is too intricate for foreigners to pronounce.
  • The wildling leader who captures Jon and Qhorin is known only as Lord of Bones.
  • The head of the Faith of the Seven forsakes his name upon ascent and is known only by his rank: High Septon.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • A city watchman refuses an order to kill an infant girl, leaving Janos Slynt to do it himself.
  • Tyrion is so disgusted by Janos Slynt's actions that he revokes his title and banishes him to the Wall, though he also has the personal motivation of getting rid of a lackey of Cersei who back-stabbed the previous Hand of the King.
  • Zigzagged with Bronn, who openly shares Tyrion's disgust for Meryn Trant's mistreatment of Sansa yet also declares that his only quibble with murdering an infant girl would be his payment for doing so.
  • The Hound insists he's not a thief even when Arya points out that he rode down a peasant boy early in the series. Then, at the first opportunity, he robs a kindly farmer and just shrugs off the renewed accusations of hypocrisy, in fact even telling Arya that the farmer will be dead by winter anyway, the way things are going.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Beric Dondarrion opens his shirt to show the scars created by his multiple deaths.
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: Corpses touched by the White Walkers turn into undead "wights" under their control. These wights are resistant to normal weapons but can be destroyed with fire, giving a lot of credence to the wildling tradition of cremation.
• Evil All Along: Roose Bolton and Walder Frey were rather unpleasant all along, but the Red Wedding cements them as completely irredeemable bastards.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • Joffrey seems genuinely baffled but intrigued by Margaery's charity work in "Valar Dohaeris."
  • Kraznys mo Naklos and his fellow slave masters cannot comprehend that Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil.
  • The value of "good" depends on personal interpretation of the character, but The High Sparrow uses this to his advantage, knowing that Cersei believes that he just has to have some ulterior motive for everything he does and will refuse to accept that he's genuinely just trying to help the poor citizens of King's Landing.
• Evil Chancellor: Tywin Lannister deconstructs the trope quite thoroughly. Despite being very much a terrible father and The Unfettered, he is also extraordinarily competent and committed to doing what he thinks is best for the dynasty he shares with his king.
• Evil Costume Switch:
  • While she has yet to perform a Face–Heel Turn, Sansa illustrates her transition from naive victim to Bastard Understudy with a Grand Staircase Entrance in a severe black dress complete with Spikes of Villainy shoulders made of raven feathers and a good deal more cleavage than previously.
  • After being reinstated as the Faith Militant, the Sparrows swap their humble grey robes for black ones adorned with chains and religious symbols carved into their foreheads.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Ramsay Snow to Jon Snow. Both are the bastard son of a northern lord, but Jon is heroic and Ramsay is definitely not.
    • Ramsay's relationship with his father, Roose Bolton, is also a dark counterpoint to Jon's relationship with his father, Ned Stark. Where Ned loves and acknowledges Jon as one of his sons, raising him alongside his trueborn siblings in his castle, GRRM states in HBO's featurette 'Bastards in Westeros', "Ramsay gets nothing from Roose," with Roose treating Ramsay poorly and only acknowledging him when he has no other choice for an heir.
  • Joffrey Baratheon to Robb Stark. Both are young men who rise to power after their father's death and die by treachery at a wedding, but Joffrey is The Caligula and Robb is the Young Conqueror.
• Evil Cripple: "Lame" Lothar Frey is a vicious participant in a massacre despite his limp.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: The direwolves. Ghost alerts Jon to the wight in Castle Black, Summer giving Jojen a Licked by the Dog moment leads Bran to trust him, and Grey Wind is very restless in his kennel just before the Red Wedding begins.
  • The wildlings' dogs are also the first to detect the undead army's approach in "Hardhome."
• Evil Former Friend: Theon Greyjoy to Robb Stark.
• Evil Gloating: Deconstructed by several characters who only gloat after their victims are thoroughly dead. Notable examples include Walder Frey the morning after massacring his enemies and Tywin Lannister as he oversees the re-purposing of an enemy heirloom for his own family with smug satisfaction.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor:
  • The more someone is hurt or humiliated, the funnier Joffrey thinks it is. This extends to everyone else during Joffrey's wedding, where you can tell which characters are meant to be sympathetic by their reactions to Joffrey's tasteless entertainment.
  • Ramsay Snow gets plenty of sadistic laughs out of physically and mentally torturing his victims.
• Evil Is Bigger: The Mountain is a character of such massive size that the 6'9" professional strongman portraying him in Season 4 is introduced via a low-angle shot to make him seem even bigger.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: The White Walkers, who emanate cold and have a material culture almost entirely structured around ice and snow.
• Evil Is Hammy:
  • After he reveals his true colors, Ramsay turns into a giggling, mood-swinging, Large Ham psychopath.
  • Littlefinger's "Chaos is a ladder" speech.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Joffrey is not above stealing Tyrion's stool for a few cheap giggles at his struggle to cloak his taller bride.
  • Cersei does this whenever she's feeling powerless, such as deriding Sansa for keeping hope alive during the Battle of Blackwater, or domineering Pycelle and ordering the leftovers be given to the dogs instead of the poor during Joffrey's wedding
  • Locke maims Jaime Lannister just because his aristocratic attitude was annoying.
  • Karl Tanner and his mutineers run on this trope, turning Jeor Mormont's skull into a cup and baiting Hodor with spears.
  • The entire War of the Five King’s is testament to Littlefinger’s spite over not getting Catelyn Tully as a wife.
• Evil Laugh:
  • Walder Frey has one during and after the Red Wedding.
  • Averted by notably humourless Tywin Lannister and dispassionate Roose Bolton, who almost never laugh at all.
• Evil Makeover: Joffrey gives the throne room one early in his reign by stripping away the artwork and adding giant spiky braziers to the base of the pillars. He basically makes it look like a supervillain's lair, claiming he's bringing it more in line with the conquering spirit of the old Targaryen dynasty.
• Evil Matriarch: Cersei Lannister until her father The Patriarch arrives in the city.
• Evil Mentor:
  • Dagmer is re-imagined into one for Theon Greyjoy, driving his pupil to heinous actions by playing on his insecurity and hoping to share in his success.
  • Littlefinger seems to have begun coaching Sansa in how to play the game of thrones in Season 4.
• Evil Nephew: Joffrey plotted the assassination attempt on Tyrion at the Battle of Blackwater; Ser Mandon Moore carried out his order.
• Evil Old Folks: Tywin Lannister, Craster, Walder Frey, and Balon Greyjoy.
• Evil Power Vacuum: Tywin's death creates one in Westeros. The hegemony he built crumbles almost overnight, with Lannister puppets like the Boltons going rogue, renegade religious factions like the Sparrows slowly taking over the city and Cersei sabotaging his alliance with the Tyrells.
• The Evil Prince: Joffrey actually subverts this trope. Yes, he's a Royal Brat and an evil king, but his sole sympathetic moment is his distraught moment at the deathbed of the man he considers his father.
• Evil Redhead: Melisandre provides the trope image. She's a Knight Templar priestess of a fire-themed god who practices blood magic, advocates human sacrifice by burning, and generally serves as an Evil Chancellor to Stannis. However, she seems to believe her actions are necessary to save humanity from the White Walkers, and from what we've seen of them, she may in fact be right.
• Evil Sorcerer: Pyat Pree the Warlock.
• Evil Sorceress: Melisandre.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Styr of the Thenns.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Karl Tanner.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness:
  • The five massive towers of Harrenhal are all the more ominous for having been melted by dragonfire.
  • The House of the Undying in Qarth is intentionally shot at angles that leave its summit unseen to make it seem more imposing.
• Evil Uncle: Deconstructed by Stannis and Renly Baratheon, who contest their nephew's claim to the throne. However, since Joffrey is The Caligula and neither the rightful king nor their nephew besides it takes more than just wanting to depose him to make them "evil."
• Evil Wears Black: Tywin Lannister frequently wears a black leather coat and Sansa illustrates a darker turn in her character by donning a black dress.
  • Cersei takes the throne in a black gown.
• Evil Will Fail: Despite their faction's successes Joffrey Baratheon and Tywin Lannister are killed as a result of their evil actions. Joffrey is a Spoiled Brat who continually makes enemies of both the rich and the poor by flaunting his power, and when he gets poisoned, nobody is really sure who did it (because practically everybody had a grudge against him) and nobody really cares to find and punish the real killer.
  • Ramsay Bolton's Stupid Evil acts ultimately end up getting him fed to his own dogs when his Karma Houdini Warranty runs out, also resulting in the extinction of House Bolton, arguably the most unambiguously evil faction in the story.
• Evolving Credits: New locations are periodically added to the opening title sequence as the story moves into new regions. For added symbolism, the credits continue to depict Winterfell, the seat of House Stark, even after the action moves away from it, with its heart tree totally unharmed.
• Exact Eavesdropping:
  • Subverted when Arya tries to relay Varys and Illyrio's cryptic conversation to her father in "The Wolf and the Lion". Since she's only eleven and doesn't understand most of it, the information gets all mixed up in her head and Ned justifiably tells her Not Now, Kiddo.
  • Played straight when Locke overhears Jon and Sam speculating about Bran.
• Exact Words:
  • Tyrion says he's willing to confess his crimes, but not necessarily the crimes he's accused of.
  • “The wine will flow red, the music will play loud, and we’ll put this mess behind us.” -Walder Frey, right before the Red Wedding.
  • A twofer in Vaes Dothrak: it's illegal to shed blood within the city, but Viserys threatens Daenerys and her unborn child to demand the crown he was promised. Khal Drogo responds by giving Viserys a crown of molten gold without shedding any blood.
  • Joffrey swears to grant mercy if Eddard Stark confesses to treason. Unfortunately, Joffrey considers a quick beheading merciful. Later, he says his mother told him never to strike his lady, so he orders Ser Meryn to strike Sansa instead...with a gauntlet.
  • Mirri Maz Duur says her blood magic will save Drogo's life, but only brings him back as an Empty Shell.
  • Melisandre promises to give Stannis a son in "The Night Lands" and gives birth to a living shadow assassin a few episodes later. In a meta example, the dialogue of that scene is also deliberately vague about whether Stannis has a daughter because the producers had not yet decided if Shireen would be Adapted Out.
  • Jon Snow, as a sworn member of the Night's Watch, swore that he "shall take no wife and father no children." Ygritte points out all the obvious loopholes.
  • Sam notes that the rule to "father no sons" is not explicitly a requirement of chastity. It's generally treated as such, though commanders turn a blind eye toward brothers frequenting the brothel at Mole Town.
  • Later, after his resurrection, he justifies his intent to leave the Watch by noting that his vow lasted until his death and since he's already died, he can leave. Not to be outdone, Edd immediately responds by noting that it also requires he serve through "all the nights to come", which would mean he can't leave.
  • Brienne explains killing some scumbag Stark loyalists by insisting she only serves Catelyn Stark.
  • Arya tells the Hound that her victim in "Mhysa" was the "first man" she killed, leaving out the boy she killed in "The Pointy End" and her emphasis suggests that he's only the first.
  • Sam justifies bringing Gilly and her son to Castle Black by pointing out that his vows are to "guard the realms of men," which he insists includes the wildlings.
• Excrement Statement: The champion of Meereen pisses at Daenerys' army to taunt them into a Combat by Champion.
• The Exile:
  • Daenerys and Viserys have spent the time since Robert's Rebellion seeking supporters and running from enemies in the Free Cities.
  • Ser Jorah Mormont fled Westeros to avoid punishment for selling slaves. Later, he is also banished from Meereen when Daenerys discovers he was initially spying on her for Robert Baratheon.
  • Season 4 ends with several prominent characters departing Westeros to become this.
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Rast escapes the attack on Craster's Keep only to be killed by Ghost.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Lady Olenna so outmatches Tyrion that she expresses disappointment in finding a "browbeaten bookkeeper" instead of the Deadpan Snarker Depraved Dwarf of his reputation. Tyrion is so outmatched that he can't even come up with a good comeback.
• Expository Hairstyle Change:
  • After Margaery takes up residence in King's Landing, her signature style gradually takes over the capital's fashion from Cersei. Thus the many noblewoman extras ditch their flamboyant updos in favor of Tyrell style intricate ponytails.
  • Jaime grows an appropriately long one while in Northern captivity in Season 2 and he keeps it this way into the rest of Season 3. His hairstyle changes to a shorter, simpler cut in Season 4 to indicate his newfound humility and a disconnect with his earlier self.
  • Arya has one twice. The first one occurs at the end of Season 1 when Yoren cuts Arya's hair short to help her pose as a boy. The second time happens in Season 5 when Arya starts wearing her hair pulled back from her face in braids upon joining the Faceless Men.
  • The haircut Cersei receives at the end of Season 5 results in her bearing an absolutely terrifying resemblance to Joffrey. By the end of Season 6, we see that Joffrey largely got his insanity and penchant for irredeemable cruelty from her.
  • Missandei changes her hair after becoming Daenerys' handmaiden.
  • Kit Harington confirms that Jon's switch to a man-bun starting in Season 6 is meant to echo Ned's hairstyle and show Jon's growth.
• Extra-Long Episode: The last two episodes of the seventh season were extended to run fifteen minutes (+) more compared to the previous hour-long episodes. The eighth season continues the trend, as it has only six episodes.
• Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Arya stabs an enemy many more times than is necessary in "Mhysa."
• Eye-Dentity Giveaway: Zig-zagged with warging. When someone wargs into a person or creature, the warg's eyes will go white for the duration of their control, but the controlled being's eyes will go white for a few moments as the warg takes over, before returning to their normal eye color.
• Eye Patch After Time Skip: Beric Dondarrion when he reappears in Season 3.
• Eyepatch of Power: Beric Dondarrion wears one after "surviving" a dagger in the eye.
• Eye Scream:
  • Jory Cassel is killed by a dagger through the eye in "The Wolf and the Lion".
  • Jaime is threatened with this when Locke takes offense to his Every Man Has His Price attitude.
  • Beric Dondarrion wears an Eyepatch of Power because he was stabbed in the eye.
  • During his Bar Brawl in "Two Swords," the Hound slams one opponent onto his own knife multiple times, using CGI to make it a single shot.
  • Prince Oberyn has his eyes gouged out in a very graphic death scene.
  • Ramsay kills Wun Wun with an arrow to the eye.

F

• Face Death with Dignity:
  • Syrio Forel's You Shall Not Pass! stand to protect Arya.
    "The First Sword of Braavos does not run."
  • Ned Stark closes his eyes and quietly embraces his impending death once he knows Arya will not see.
  • Ygritte's only requests when she believes Jon is about to execute her are that he kill her clean and burn her body.
  • Theon Greyjoy has every intention of going out in a blaze of glory, but his men don't give him the chance.
  • The horse breeder the wildlings capture in "The Rains of Castamere" is granted permission to stand up for his execution.
  • During his execution, Ser Rodrik Cassel calmly comforts the children who are begging and crying for him to be spared.
  • Robb Stark stands to deliver his last words in a tone that suggests he's accepted his inevitable death.
  • Tywin Lannister shows great composure throughout the tense scene leading up to his death.
  • Mance Rayder walks to his execution with absolute composure and dignity. Even as he's being burned at the stake, he manages not to scream before Jon gives him a Mercy Kill.
  • Stannis Baratheon, defeated and wounded, is found by Brienne of Tarth and calmly tells her to do her duty.
  • Septa Unella tries to go out like this, but eventually Subverted, and for good reason as it's made abundantly clear that Unella is going to be tortured and raped by a zombie until she dies.
  • Averted by one of the thugs that the Brotherhood without Banners allows the Hound to execute since they killed all the other members of Brother Ray's religious group. He twice swears at the Hound when offered his opportunity to say any last words; leaving the Hound to say "You're shit at dying."
  • One interpretation of Jon bellowing defiance at the undead Viserion; with the battle for Winterfell seemingly lost and the undead dragon having cornered him, Jon chooses to die standing rather than cowering.
  • Missandei doesn't cry, and her last words beseech Dany to burn them all.
• Face–Heel Turn:
  • Theon illustrates his turn by burning his warning letter to Robb as the Stark theme shifts into the Greyjoy theme.
  • Its only referenced obliquely, but Mance Rayder went from being one of the best rangers in the Night's Watch to King Beyond the Wall.
  • Daenerys goes from liberator to power-mad conqueror by the end of the series.
• The Faceless: Masked Quaithe of Asshai pops up twice in Qarth to have enigmatic conversations with Jorah Mormont.
• Faceless Goons:
  • The Lannister men-at-arms (a.k.a. red cloaks) wear helmets with visors over their eyes and noses.
  • The City Watch of King's Landing (a.k.a. gold cloaks) wear helmets with chainmail over their noses and mouths.
  • The Unsullied all wear identical spiked helms with face plates and make a rare light-grey morality version under Daenerys' command. Their commander Grey Worm is established as a character the moment he removes his.
  • The men in ironborn armor who pursue Theon in "Walk of Punishment" are these, except for their leader.
• Face-Revealing Turn: Shireen Baratheon is introduced lying on her side and it's only when she runs up to hug her father that the audience can see the scarred half of her face.
• Face Stealer: The Faceless Men have a whole hall of faces they've stolen and can use.
• Face Your Fears: The pyrophobic Sandor Clegane when he fights against Beric Dondarrion's Flaming Sword in "Kissed By Fire."
• Facial Dialogue: Varys has a variety of amusing facial expressions to express his feelings about what is being said or done around him, particularly in council meetings.
• Facial Horror:
  • Sandor Clegane has nasty scars on his face from his brother holding his face into a brazier as a child.
  • Shireen's face is scarred from her childhood brush with greyscale.
• Facial Markings: Talisa describes a mundane version among the slaves of Volantis, who have cheek-tattoos to indicate their occupation; we later see this when Tyrion and Varys visit the city.
• Fade to White: When Jon passes beyond the Wall at the end of "The Watchers on the Wall."
• Failed a Spot Check:
  • In "Baelor", Arya is by far the most conspicuous person in the crowd, yet no-one but Ned notices her outright.
  • Despite suffering Flaying Alive Fingore on an X-shaped crucifix, Theon fails to guess his torturers are House Bolton, whose sigil is literally a flayed man on just such a cross.
• Fainting Seer: Jojen Reed frequently faints or has seizures during his visions.
• The Fair Folk:
  • The White Walkers are malevolent magical creatures who take human children offered to them, reminiscent of changelings.
  • The Children of the Forest are mysterious, magical, forest-dwelling creatures who have long contested with humans and have been fading as The Magic Goes Away.
• Faint in Shock:
  • After having to witness her father's execution, Sansa falls to the ground unconscious.
  • Still very sick and weak from recent events, Jaime passes out in a moment of high emotion in "Kissed By Fire".
  • Discussed when Jon Snow (born of a noble family) tries to explain the concept of swooning to his wildling girlfriend Ygritte. Needless to say, she mocks the idea mercilessly, having come from a society where people have to be tough to survive.
• Fair-Play Villain: The Meereenese champion in the fighting pits kills the Braavosi fighter who is about to finish Jorah off, then allows Jorah to get back up and rearm himself before engaging, presumably to give the audience a better show.
• Fake Defector:
  • Osha offers to pledge herself to Theon to allow her to help Bran and Rickon escape.
  • Jon Snow joins the wildlings in "Valar Morghulis" and remains with them throughout Season 3, but remains loyal to the Night's Watch.
• Fake Guest Star:
  • Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) is billed as "also starring" (curiously enough, only after all the guest stars) despite being a major character.
  • Neither Julian Glover (Pycelle) nor Conleth Hill (Varys) are credited as regulars in the first season, even though they are arguably as important and appear as often as Aiden Gillen (Littlefinger), who is credited as a regular.
  • In Season 2, Donald Sumpter (Luwin), Joe Dempsie (Gendry), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne), Natalia Tena (Osha), and Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar) are all credited as guests even though they appear full as often as several characters credited as regulars.
• False Confession:
  • Ned Stark makes one to save his daughter Sansa.
  • Tyrion subverts this twice by claiming he wishes to confess only to launch into a "The Reason You Suck" Speech against his accusers.
• False Flag Operation:
  • Xaro Xhoan Daxos has several of his own guardsmen killed to conceal his involvement in stealing Dany's dragons.
  • In the beginning, Theon's torture is conducted by men dressed like ironborn.
• False Friend:
  • Ramsay does a very intricate version of this to Theon.
  • Jon is oblivious to the fact that Locke plans to kill or capture him and his half-brothers.
• False Reassurance:
  • Khal Drogo promises Viserys "a golden crown that men shall tremble to behold."
  • Mirri Maz Duur promises to save Drogo's life with Blood Magic and strongly implies that a horse can be used for Equivalent Exchange. In reality, Drogo is left an Empty Shell and Dany's unborn son is used instead of the horse.
  • The unofficial motto "A Lannister always pays his debts," can be used this way. At face value, it promises gratitude to those who do well by them, which is true, but it is frequently used to promise revenge to those who have wronged them.
  • In "Blackwater," Sansa tells Tyrion that she will pray for his safe return... just as she prays for Joffrey's.
  • In "Mockingbird," Littlefinger assures Lysa he's only loved one woman his entire life. It's not her.
• Famed In-Story: Tywin Lannister's destruction of House Reyne inspired the song "The Rains of Castamere," which serves as the Lannister theme.
• Familial Cannibalism Surprise: Arya Stark kills and feeds Walder Frey's sons Lame Lothar and Black Walder to him as meat pies, instead of Lord Manderly being the one to do it like in the books.
• Familial Cannibalism Surprise: In the Season 6 finale, Arya feeds Walder Frey a last meal consisting of a meat pie made out of his own sons and helpfully informs him of what (who) he just ate before slashing his throat. This form of payback is in reference to "The Rat Cook", a story Bran told in the episode following the Red Wedding, which involved a cook who murdered a prince, baked him into a pie, and fed him to the boy's unknowing father. The gods punished him by turning him into a monstrous rat who could only eat his own offspring. The reason they cursed him? Because he violated Guest Right.
• Family Relationship Switcheroo: Turns out that Eddard Stark is Jon Snow's uncle who claimed Jon as his illegitimate child to protect him. Ned's sister Lyanna Stark is Jon's mother and she died after giving birth to him. Before she dies, she passes her son into her brother's care, with her Dying Wish being to save her son from Robert Baratheon who'd want to kill Jon for his Targaryen blood.
• Famous Ancestor:
  • Daenerys is directly descended from Aegon the Conqueror, the first king to unite all of Westeros except Dorne.
  • The supplementary "Histories and Lore" segments on the Bluray release elaborate on the famous ancestors of many other noble houses such as the Starks (Brandon the Builder), Lannisters (Lann the Clever), Baratheons (Durran Godsgrief & Orys Baratheon), and the Tyrells (Garth Greenhand & Harlan Tyrell).
• Fan Disservice: Has its own page.
• Fanservice: So much that it is frequently parodied, including by SNL. Littlefinger's brothel is probably the largest supplier since it is the simplest justification for Fanservice Extras.
• Fanservice Extra: Littlefinger's whores (some played by real porn actresses), the captain's daughter Theon beds en route to Pyke, the bedslave Mero fondles while discussing Daenerys, etc. The character of Ros was initially conceived as this, but was later expanded because the showrunners were so impressed with the actress.
• Fantastic Naming Convention:
  • Within Westeros, those descended from the First Men tend to have shorter, straight-forward names (Stark, Reed, Mormont, Bolton) while the Andals tend towards more complex names (Lannister, Tyrell, Arryn).
  • Valyrian names almost always contain "ae" and frequently end in "-on", "-ar", or "-rys" (Aegon, Aemon, Rhaegar, Maekar, Aerys, Viserys, Daenerys).
  • Male Dothraki names end in "-o" (Drogo, Rakharo, Kovarro). Daenerys combines Valyrian and Dothraki conventions for her son Rhaego and her black dragon Drogon.
  • The letters "k", "r", and "z" are very common among the Ghiscari of Slaver's Bay and there is a "mo", "na", or "zo" between the given and surnames (Kraznys mo Nakloz, Razdahl mo Eraz, Prendahl na Ghezn, Hizdahr zo Loraq).
  • Names from the Free Cities often have suffixes like "-io", "-is", and "-o" (Syrio Forel, Illyrio Mopatis, Daario Naharis, Tycho Nestoris). Others show clear Valyrian influences (Varys, Petyr Baelish, Shae, Talisa Maegyr), and some are even more exotic (Jaqen H'ghar, Salladhor Saan).
• Fantastic Nuke: The ship full of wildfire explodes into a giant green fireball complete with mushroom cloud out the top that consumes thousands.
• Fantastic Rank System:
  • The prime minister of the Seven Kingdoms is called the Hand of the King. He is supported by a "small council" (privy council) of officials such as the "Master of Coin" (treasurer), "Master of Whisperers" (spymaster), and "Master of Laws" (attorney general).
  • Dothraki khalasars are led by khals who are protected by three "bloodriders" and appoint lieutenants called kos who each command their own unit called a kas. When a khal dies, the strongest ko will strive to replace him.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Westeros itself was once home to magical elf-like beings known as the Children of the Forest (though some still exist in places uninhabitable by humans), giants, a race of icy zombie-like figures with glowing blue eyes capable of resurrecting corpses to serve their will, and a very long-lived witch from a distant country who controls shadows and worships an unseen god of light, with other witches following the same religion in different countries implied to be similarly much older than they look. Dragons have been extinct for hundreds of years in Westeros, but beyond it is a queen who hatched THREE of them and plans on returning to Westeros to reclaim her throne, which means dragons won't be gone for much longer. A house of immortal sorcerers known as "The Undying Ones" dwell in the continent of Essos, faceless shapeshifting assassins worship a Many-Faced God, and direwolves play a prominent role in the legacy of House Stark of Winterfell. Manticores also exist, although unlike how they are portrayed in Greek mythology, they are instead closer to scorpions. Mermaids, unicorns, krakens, sphinxes, harpies and Snarks (*cough* Alice in Wonderland) are believed to be fictional and are frequently thought of as fairy tales meant to frighten children, although given all the things which DO turn out to be true..... In A Song of Ice and Fire, there is mention of basilisks, giant ice spiders, demons, tiger-men, walrus-men, rock goblins, selkies, Woolly mammoths, wyverns, hellhounds, and the presence of House Lothston seeming to suggest vampires may have once existed. The Great Old Ones and the Deep Ones from the work of of H.P. Lovecraft are also implied to exist.
• Fantasy Conflict Counterpart: The War of Five Kings is loosely inspired by the Wars of the Roses, Aegon's Conquest has obvious parallels to the Norman Conquest of England and the historical period the dance of the dragons was clearly based on the English Anarchy of 1135-1154.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Has its own page.
• Fantasy Counterpart Religion:
  • The Faith of the Seven is Westeros' version of the organized Christian Church, being that it has institutions organizing a common doctrine, regulating practices of priests, complete with monasteries and nunneries (called Septries) with a Pope being elected by high ranking Septons. Its doctrine though with its One God in Seven Aspects is an elaboration of the Holy Trinity. However, the Faith lacks many other features familiar from the history of the Catholic Church or the Christian namely a Christ-figure and a Passion Play on which the religion is built, as well as a veneration of saints. Likewise, in terms of how the Church is directly under control of the Crown, it is significantly weaker than the Church was in the Middle Ages.
    • And the High Sparrow's take on the Faith echoes early Protestantism: he disdains the larger, gaudier, sept of Baelor in favor of the plainer chapel underneath it in which he talks to Cersei, whose designers, he notes, are unknown since "they refused to inflict their vanity on later generations". Adherents insist that all members of society follow the church's teachings closely, including those on sexual sin, regardless of their social stature. He himself wears undistinguished, plain clothing and, in his embrace of society's downtrodden and ignored, subtly suggests to Olenna that his movement could carry the seeds of a post-feudal society.
  • The Old Gods, praised by the Children of the Forest and the First Men before the Andals brought the Faith of the Seven from Essos and still worshipped in the North in a somewhat syncretic fashion. This religion is clearly based on pre-Christian European Paganism and frequently invokes shades of various druidic and pagan faiths of pre-Christian Europe, as well as other animist religions such as worship of trees on which faces are carved and a past that includes human sacrifice.
  • The Lord of Light, a fire deity whose followers insistently describe him as the "one true God" in opposition to an evil counterpart god, bears a strong resemblance to Zoroastrianism and Gnosticism.
  • The Ironborn's faith of the Drowned God, inspired by Scandinavian mythology, is a monotheist religion based on a god who died (drowned) but came back to life and is eternally at war with the satanic Storm God, similar to the Norse religion worship of Odin's death by hanging in the Ygdrassil, resurrection of the warriors after death and the war against chaos represented by the Ice Giants and other Always Chaotic Evil forces of the Cosmos. This resurrection is the basis for the Ironborn's creed "What is dead may never die," and their practice of baptism in sea water. They also believe that if they serve the Drowned God well (by keeping to the Good Old Ways of Rape, Pillage, and Burn) they will be reborn into his halls beneath the sea after their death.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Very much played straight, there are no firearms in Westeros, though there is a kind of Greek Fire which is also implied to be partly magical in nature.
• Fantasy World Map: The award-winning opening credits.
• The Farmer and the Viper:
  • Arya and the Hound are offered food, shelter, and employment by a kindly farmer and his daughter. After accepting the food and shelter, the Hound robs the farmer of the proposed wages the next morning, claiming such folk will not survive the winter anyway.
  • After quelling the rebellion of Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, Prince Doran Martell gives them a second chance, which they promptly use to kill Myrcella Baratheon, Prince Trystane's fiancée.
• Fatal Flaw: Almost every character has their own fatal flaw, often of the excessive virtue type; some survive it, others do not.
  • Ned chooses Honour Before Reason, though the alternatives do mostly involve children suffering.
  • Catelyn's need to protect her family drives her to impulsive actions that often work to the detriment of her family.
  • Robb Stark chooses to Marry for Love despite the strategic consequences.
  • Sansa's status as The Ingenue leaves her Genre Blind in a Crapsack World. She's learning, though.
  • Daenerys Targaryen's Chronic Hero Syndrome keeps distracting her from returning to Westeros.
  • Theon Greyjoy has ambition, pride, and a thirst for approval. Most of this is beaten out of him by Humiliation Conga and a Trauma Conga Line.
  • Oberyn Martell's lust for vengeance.
• Fat Bastard:
  • Deconstructed by Robert Baratheon, who isn't an evil man, but is still an obese hedonist, an incompetent king, a neglectful father, and a terrible husband (though his wife is just as vicious to him). Robert was a better man in his youth but really let himself go physically and morally after losing Lyanna Stark and being stuck with a throne and an Unwanted Spouse.
  • Subverted by Hot Pie, a chubby boy who bullies Arya (alongside skinny Lommy) to project strength but backs off and becomes quite friendly later.
  • Played straight with Rorge and Biter, who are both fat and stupid criminals from King's Landing.
• Fat Best Friend: Samwell Tarly to Jon Snow. Sam is a Shrinking Violet with terrible self-esteem issues due to his abusive upbringing.
• The Fate of the Princes in the Tower: The arcs of Bran and Rickon Stark are inspired by lore about the Real Life missing sons of Edward IV, which posits that one of the boys was swapped for an unfortunate servant and survived. In the show, both boys escape this way, at least for a few seasons.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • Ned Stark views losing his honour as a worse fate.
  • Bran literally says, with regards to being paralyzed, "I would rather be dead."
  • Tyrion implies that the Night's Watch is this, claiming that most rapists choose the dangerous process of castration rather than taking the black.
  • Inflicted on anyone captured by Ramsay Bolton.
  • Beric Dondarrion, who is becoming more and more empty every time he's resurrected, tells Arya that he would not wish his fate on her father, but Arya disagrees.
  • Invoked by Mance Rayder as the fate the wildlings will suffer if they do not get south of the Wall, away from the White Walkers.^note In this case the trope is almost literally true as the White Walkers do not simply kill; their victims are reanimated and become their army.
• Father Neptune: Ser Davos Seaworth, a smuggler-turned-knight, complete with Sea Dog Beard.
• A Father to His Men: Robb, Renly, and Daenerys are shown to be caring and affable commanders towards even the lowliest soldier in their army. Robb explains that he inherited this mentality from his father, Ned. Lord Commander Mormont is also this as much as he can be to an Army of Thieves and Whores.
• Fat Idiot: Hot Pie is the bumbling comic-relief member of Arya's group.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish is rather charming and polite, a combination he uses to further his schemes and lull his targets. He quickly betrays those he offers to help, like Ned Stark and occasionally shows his true colors to his sex workers.
  • Ramsay is cheerful and jocular during all his torturing and murdering.
• Fauxshadowing: In Season 5, Bronn jokes about death, sings a song about dying, and gets cut by a poisoned weapon. Despite all of these obvious death flags, Bronn survives the season.
• Fauxreigner: Ros claims the whore Aremca pretends not to speak Westerosi to increase her exotic appeal.
• Fear of Thunder: Hodor's almost gets Bran and Rickon discovered by wildlings.
• Feed the Mole: Tyrion feeds Pycelle, Littlefinger, and Varys different plans for a marriage alliance so when Cersei angrily confronts him about a particular plan, he has his mole.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: Pod calls Brienne "Ser" out of habit, earning glares from both Brienne and Jaime.
• Feel No Pain: The Unsullied, as Kraznys mo Nakloz is pleased to demonstrate in "Valar Dohaeris" by cutting off one's nipple. The books elaborate that this is brought about by a potion they consume at every meal.
• Female Gaze:
  • Melisandre consciously invites one by remaining undressed in Queen Selyse's presence. Selyse takes a long look, apparently envious of the woman who seduced her husband. Melisandre goes on to claim flesh is just another trick of the Lord of Light.^note This foreshadows her true appearance as a much older woman we see in Season 6.
  • Dany clearly enjoys what Daario is packing when he strips for her in "Mockingbird."
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Invoked^note or inverted, depending on your perspective by Shae's complaint about how every man she cooks for says something to the effect that for a cook she's a great whore.
• The Fettered: This is the main factor in making the Starks the most sympathetic Great House, since in the beginning they are utterly wedded to love, honour, and justice. White and grey are even their House colours.
• Feuding Families: A major theme of the series.
  • The Starks and Lannisters were never on the best terms, but they quickly slide into Arch-Enemy territory when Catelyn Stark abducts Tyrion Lannister and Cersei Lannister imprisons Eddard and Sansa Stark. By "Baelor," a civil war breaks out between them.
  • There is a lot of bad blood between the Lannisters and Martells since Elia Martell was murdered during the Sack of King's Landing when Tywin Lannister sent men to kill her children by Rhaegar Targaryen.
  • Adapted Out in the case of the Martells and Tyrells, who have a long-standing rivalry in the source material dating back to the ancient wars between Dorne and the Reach, but in the series canon, Oberyn Martell and Loras Tyrell openly flirt with one another.
• Fiction500: The Lannisters are frequently referred to as the richest family in Westeros. Cersei calls the Tyrells the second richest in "Second Sons."
• Fictional Currency:
  • Westeros runs on the Gold–Silver–Copper Standard (dragons, stags, and stars respectively).
  • Coins from other cities are also depicted, including Jaqen H'ghar's Faceless Man iron coin in "Valar Morghulis," a square Braavosi one in "Second Sons," and the voucher-tokens of the Iron Bank in "The Laws of Gods and Men."
• Fiery Redhead:
  • Melisandre, almost literally, though her ferocity is masked by an icy, enigmatic, almost regal exterior.
  • Ygritte, the wildling encountered by Jon north of the Wall.
  • Ros, the savvy prostitute.
  • Tormund Giantsbane provides a male example.
• Fighting a Shadow: Pyat Pree can create copies of himself.
• Finger in the Mail: Ramsay sends Theon's "favorite toy" to his family in a box made of his breastplate with the promise that more pieces will follow if they don't withdraw their forces.
• Finger Muzzle: Margaery does this when she wants Renly to stop quoting philosophy and focus on consummating their marriage.
• Fingore:
  • Davos lost the fingertips of one hand as punishment for his crimes, and keeps them around his neck as a Creepy Souvenir.
  • One of Ramsay Snow's favorite games is flaying his prisoners' fingers until they beg him to amputate.
  • Although the show never elaborates, Qhorin is called "Halfhand" for a reason.
• Fire-Forged Friends:
  • Jaime and Brienne after their ordeal in the Riverlands.
  • Jon and Tormund — and Wun Wun — after fighting the White Walkers in "Hardhome."
• Fire Keeps It Dead: Burning is the surest way to prevent or dispose of a wight. This is likely the root of the wildling custom of cremation.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Unsurprisingly given the title of its source material, the series uses this to contrast various political and supernatural factions.
  • The first season is book-ended by the return of the White Walkers and the dragons on opposite sides of the world. The White Walkers are undead beings from the frozen north who build, arm, and armour themselves with ice and melt like ice when killed while the dragons are living, fire-breathing creatures described as "fire made flesh."
  • Although not in direct conflict as yet, worshipers of the ocean-dwelling Drowned God show their devotion by wearing blue-grey, anointing with seawater, and Kill It with Water while the worshipers of the fiery Lord of Light wear red and show their devotion with bonfires and Kill It with Fire. Furthermore, the cosmology of the Lord of Light sees all things as a contest between fire and cold, light and dark, and life and death.
  • Many factions of the War of the Five Kings are visually associated with fire, water, or ice and tend to align similarly to their elements. House Stark is constantly associated with ice and cold and tends to stoic or unyielding personalities whereas their greatest rival House Lannister bears fiery colours like red and gold and are characterized by pride and wrath. The Starks are also closely allied with the water-associated House Tully of the Riverlands and indirectly opposed to the Lord of Light worshiping Stannis Baratheon and dragon-owning Daenerys Targaryen.
• First-Episode Twist: Bran is pushed out a window for discovering Cersei and Jaime engaged in adulterous twincest.
• First-Name Basis:
  • After insistently calling Jaime "Kingslayer" ever since they met, Brienne displays her new-found regard for Jaime Lannister by calling him "Ser Jaime."
  • Littlefinger frequently reminds Sansa to call him "Petyr" to encourage some intimacy between them. She prefers to call him "Lord Baelish," which is still more polite than "Littlefinger."
• Fish out of Water:
  • The honest and honourable Ned Stark at the Decadent Court in King's Landing. He knows it, too.
  • Daenerys and Viserys among the Dothraki. Daenerys takes to it much better than her brother.
  • Jon among the lowborn, undertrained recruits in his training squad at the Night's Watch. Jon was raised with a highborn upbringing by his noble father with strong moral values and was trained by a master-at-arms alongside his brother from the time he could hold a sword. Meanwhile, the other recruits grew up under impoverished circumstances and never held a sword in their lives. Jon helps these other kids out once he realizes how rough they had it, teaches them how to fight, and they become friends.
    • He is nicknamed “Lord Snow” by Alliser Thorne for being a highborn bastard son with a young lord’s upbringing.
  • When Davos saves Gendry, the illegitimate son of King Robert Baratheon, from Stannis and Melisandre by putting him in a rowboat and telling him to just row. Poor Gendry doesn't even know which way to sit or how to swim if he falls out.^note A literal inversion of the trope
  • Stannis and his southern army when they campaign in the North. After their victory over the wildlings beyond the Wall, things go downhill, in part because they aren't used to fighting in winter.
  • As mentioned by Yara and Balon, the Ironborn — a seagoing archipelago nation — are not generally good at land war and their efforts to take the North, or a portion thereof, ends badly for them despite initial successes.
  • All the characters from tropical Essos—Danaerys, the Dothraki, the Unsullied, and the dragons—seem this way getting used to the cold, snowy North in the first episodes of Season 8.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Jojen sees a vision of Karl's dead body burning. Five seconds later, the attack that results in just that begins.
• Flaming Sword:
  • Thoros of Myr is famous for using wildfire to set his sword afire in battle and tourney.
  • Beric Dondarrion makes a similar sword to Thoros' using his own blood and the magic of the Lord of Light.
  • Stannis Baratheon launches his bid for the throne with a ritual where he draws a flaming sword from a bonfire.
  • It's worth noting that Beric's flaming blade effect was achieved with good ol' practical effects, no CGI included. Real stage swords were milled with channels which were stuffed with dura-blanket material. By flicking on a tiny pilot light discretely fitted into the handle, the actor could ignite the dura-blanket material and the blade like a lightsaber. This effect could only be maintained for a few minutes at a time however.
• Flat Joy: This is how Dolorous Edd earns his name.
• Flaw Exploitation: This is generally how characters overcome their enemies. The better a character is at this trope, the more successful they are.
• Flaying Alive: Lord Roose Bolton provides the page quote: "A naked man has few secrets; a flayed man none." House Bolton has a long enough tradition of this activity to make a flayed man their sigil. Roose's bastard son Ramsay does it for fun.
• Flexibility Equals Sex Ability: One of the recurring prostitutes in Littlefinger's brothel is a contortionist and is frequently seen in impressively flexible poses as part of her beckoning customers to choose her for her "services."
• Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: In the sixth season finale, Walder Frey asks a serving girl (who is Arya Stark in a Faceless Man mask) if she's from his castle, to which she replies "No, my lord." Walder then remarks "You're too pretty," then smacks her in the bum.
• Flower Motifs: The Tyrells' emblem is a rose, but they are strongly associated with flowers in general.
• Flowers of Romance:
  • Sansa Stark believes the red rose Ser Loras Tyrell offers to her at the Tourney of the Hand is a token of his affection. If only she had noticed that the Knight of Flowers was in fact making eyes at Lord Renly Baratheon sitting behind her...
  • Daario Naharis offers Daenerys several flowers under the pretext of teaching her about the surrounding region. She responds with bemused aloofness.
• Fluffy Tamer: In "The Night Lands," Sam appears to be the only person Ghost will listen to besides Jon.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Each Stark child receives a pup that quickly becomes a full-grown direwolf capable of tearing out throats and more than willing to savage anyone who threatens their masters. Robb, Arya, and Jon Snow go for fittingly impressive names but Sansa, Bran, and Rickon name theirs Lady, Summer, and Shaggydog respectively.
• Foil: Like its book counterpart, the show has enough to have its own page.
• Food Porn: The wedding feast in "The Lion and the Rose" looks amazing, especially that huge pigeon pie.
• Food Slap: Joffrey pours wine over Tyrion's head in an attempt to escalate an argument. When Tyrion refuses to rise to the bait, Joffrey resorts to other tactics.
• Forced to Watch:
  • Ned believes it is important for his sons to watch him carry out executions with his own hand to instill them with a strong sense of justice. His children continue to be forced to watch terrible things for far less noble purposes throughout the series.
  • Olly sees both his parents killed when the wildlings raid his hamlet in the Gift. Styr then forces him to look at their bodies while gloating that he is going to eat them before sending Olly to Castle Black as a lure.
  • Metaphorically speaking, Forced to Watch can be seen as a choice for all the most dangerous criminals instead of losing a limb (or something else ), as they are "forced to (Night's) Watch". Literal meaning can be the Night's Watch itself being forced to watch the realm of people.
• Forceful Kiss: Sansa is on the receiving end of one in "Mockingbird." She reacts with shock rather than enthusiasm and her counterpart is obviously disappointed.
  • Arya to Gendry in "The Rightful Queen".
• Foreign Fanservice:
  • Doreah suggests in "The Kingsroad" that this is Daenerys' appeal to Khal Drogo.
    "If he wanted the Dothraki way, why did he marry you?"
  • Shae is occasionally consumed by fears that this is all she is to Tyrion.
• Foreign Ruling Class: Also applies to the series.
  • In Season Seven, Randyll Tarly says he'd rather be ruled by Cersei Lannister than Daenerys Targaryen, because at least Cersei was born and raised in Westeros, rather than a "foreign invader; one with no ties to this land" (although Daenerys was technically born on Dragonstone and forced to flee as an infant). Also in the series, Daenerys ends up becoming ruler of all the Dothraki, which they accept pretty readily because they believe in Asskicking Leads to Leadership; Daenerys killed all the other khals (Dothraki lords), leaving her few rivals and has a sizable army and three dragons at her back, so she is quite easily the strongest among them. She incorporates their warriors in her conquest of Westeros, which in Randyll's opinion, is just another point against her.
• Foreshadowing: Has its own page.
• Forging Scene: Lord Tywin oversees with villainous smugness as the Ancestral Weapon of House Stark is melted down into two smaller swords for his own family.
  • Quite a few, especially with Gendry, in the first two episodes of Season 8.
• Forging the Will: Portrayed sympathetically when, as he is dying, King Robert dictates his will for Eddard Stark to write. Robert says "to my son, Joffrey", but Ned replaces this with "to my rightful heir", as he has learned that Joffrey is not actually Robert's son but wishes to spare his dying friend the truth.
• Forgiveness: In "The Rightful Queen", Jaime goes to see Bran and apologizes for pushing him off the tower seven seasons earlier, paralyzing him from the waist down. Bran, now the Three-Eyed Raven, tells him he's not angry and that neither of them would have become who they are now without that having happened.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend:
  • Benjen Stark has hardly been mentioned since his disappearance, despite one of main missions of the great ranging being to investigate the disappearing rangers. Jon never even bothers to ask the wildlings about his uncle while gathering information as a Fake Defector. He resurfaces in Season Six (see his House Stark entry for more details).
  • Subverted by Mycah the butcher's boy. While some viewers might only vaguely remember his unjust death in "The Kingsroad," Arya never forgets and his unjust death remains at the center of her hatred for Sandor Clegane. Arya even brings up Mycah during the Hound's trial in "And Now His Watch Is Ended" and the Hound uses it in his attempt to goad her in "The Children." Arya also remembers Lommy's death and takes revenge on his murderer, killing him the same way he killed Lommy.
• Formally-Named Pet: Tommen has a cat named Ser Pounce.
• For Science!: Qyburn lost his maester's chain for performing medical experiments on living men.
• For the Evulz:
  • This is Joffrey's motivation for most of his endeavors, but it's possible one of his most nefarious acts, namely Ned Stark's execution, is actually a subversion since it is unclear how much of the plan he was told and he seemed to believe he was making a clear example of what happens to his enemies.
  • Theon's captor in Season 3 tortures him and eventually extracts one piece of useful intel: Theon did not in fact kill Bran and Rickon Stark. Then the captor continues brutally torturing Theon, admitting that it's not for any reason other than he enjoys doing it.
  • Having expected a larger ransom, Locke tosses Brienne into a bear pit instead, saying it gives him more pleasure than gold ever could. Qyburn explains that such men live for the moment because they don't expect to be alive when all the fighting's done.

• Founder of the Kingdom: 300 years before the series, Aegon I Targaryen and his sister-wives conquered and unified six of the Seven Kingdoms with the aid of dragons. Accepting and rewarding all who surrendered, they founded King's Landing and the Kingsguard, forged the Iron Throne, and are fondly remembered for the most part. Aegon's Landing even marks a Year Zero in the chronology of Westeros.
• Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The 4 main houses:
  • Starks = Optimists
  • Lannisters = Cynics
  • Baratheons = Realists
  • Targaryens = Conflicted
• Four Lines, All Waiting: As of the end of Season 4, the series is currently following:
  • The Lannisters and Tyrells at court in King's Landing,
  • Stannis' court at Castle Black,
  • Daenerys' court in Meereen,
  • Tyrion and Varys bound across the sea,
  • Jon and Sam with the Night's Watch,
  • Sansa and Littlefinger in the Vale,
  • Arya bound for Braavos,
  • Bran and his companions with the three-eyed raven,
  • Brienne and Podrick in the Riverlands, and
  • Roose, Ramsay, and Reek at Winterfell.
• Four-Star Badass: With medieval command-and-control being very limited, this is an important trait for any successful general.
  • Robb Stark wins his battles by leading from the front.
  • Jaime Lannister was this until his army was ambushed. Even then he killed a dozen Stark men before being captured.
  • The Battle of Blackwater features no less than four: King Stannis who leads the assault from the very front, Tyrion Lannister who leads the desperate counterattack against him, and Loras Tyrell and Tywin Lannister who combine their respective armies into a massive cavalry charge to save the city.
• Fragile Speedster:
  • Several duels hinge on the Competitive Balance between this trope and Mighty Glacier. Bronn faces Vardis Egan while lightly armed to tire the knight out. The Viper uses a similar tactic, combined with a spear, to avoid the slow, heavy blows of the Mountain.
  • Arya has become a skilled swordswoman by season 7, using her small size and agility to compensate for her lack of strength.
• Frame-Up: Tyrion finds himself the victim of this twice.
• Framing the Guilty Party: Cersei seems to believe she's doing this in Season 4.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The close-ups of The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms and The Book of Brothers reveal in-depth texts related to some of the backstory from the source material.
• Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow:
  • Vows of chastity are integral to orders such as the Night's Watch, Kingsguard, and Maesters of the Citadel, but Loophole Abuse is common since the Exact Words often only forbid wives and children. The nearest town to Castle Black even has a thriving brothel catering to black brothers of the Night's Watch.
  • A major reason for Jaime Lannister's openness about his lack of honour is his disgust with being vilified as The Oathbreaker for killing the Mad King despite solemn oaths of loyalty and moral behaviour being violated on all sides.
  • The Hound consistently refuses knighthood because he considers their vows to be this. Thoroughly reprehensible men like his brother Gregor are knights, so in the Hound's opinion knights are just killers pretending not to be. He prefers to forgo the pretense altogether.
• Freudian Excuse: Given the Black-and-Grey Morality of the setting, such excuses are common.
  • Tywin Lannister's father Tytos was a weak man whose forgiving nature was mocked and exploited so frequently that it nearly brought ruin to their House, leaving Tywin to restore the power and glory of his family by any means necessary. Later, his beloved wife died in childbirth and his decades of loyal service as Hand of the King were rewarded with suspicion and derision by his increasingly mad former friend King Aerys II.
  • Sandor Clegane was mutilated at a young age by his psychopathic older brother and grew up watching that brother rewarded for his brutality with praise and eventually a knighthood, leading Sandor to embrace his Blood Knight tendencies and disdain knighthood because he believes nobility and chivalry are absurd constructs and only the strong survive.
  • Petyr Baelish came from the absolute lowest nobility but was fostered by one of the most powerful lords in the realm. Nicknamed "Littlefinger" for his small stature and low birth, Petyr fell unrequitedly in love with Catelyn Tully and challenged her fiancée to a duel, urged on by stories of the plucky underdog, only to lose badly and have Catelyn cut off contact with him. These events helped turn Petyr from a mischievous, romantic boy into a ruthless Machiavellian schemer obsessed with power.
  • Viserys Targaryen lost his family and kingdom when he was no more than a child, leaving him to care for his newborn sister Daenerys (whose birth killed their mother) and carry the fate of the dynasty on his shoulders practically alone. Given the stress of such a situation and the Targaryen tendency for madness, its not really surprising he went nuts.
• Freudian Slip: In "Valar Morghulis," Loras subconsciously lets it slip that Renly was far more than a brother-in-law to him when he tells the court, "My sister Margaery, her husband was taken from us before..." He should have said "her husband was taken from her," or simply "her husband was taken" instead.
• Freudian Threat:
  • Played for Laughs when Shagga warns Tyrion that Shagga will cut off his manhood if he betrays the hill tribes. Tyrion is familiar enough with the threat to interrupt him and complete the phrase "...and feed it to the goats, yes". Later in King's Landing, Tyrion tells Timett to cut off Pycelle's manhood and feed it to the goats. Timett protests that there are no goats, so Tyrion tells him to "make do."
  • Theon's captor provides a rare example of actually carrying through on such a threat in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair".
  • Played Straight when Tyrion threatens Joffrey with this to stop him harassing Sansa in "Second Sons".
• Freudian Trio:
  • The Baratheon brothers form one: Robert is a hot-blooded and impulsive warrior (id), Renly is an affable and easygoing politician (ego), and Stannis is described as a skilled strategist but not at all a people person (super-ego). True to the Crapsack World, the brothers resent each other and cannot cooperate rather than working together as an effective Power Trio.
  • This dynamic is also present in the menage-a-trois between Renly, Loras, and Margaery with Loras' id providing the emotional support to Renly's ego while superego Margaery provides the coldly logical and strategic advice such as the necessity of an heir.
  • The Lannister siblings are this, especially in earlier seasons. Tyrion is the strategic and capable but unfocused superego. Cersei, as the id, uses her sexuality and hired strongmen to indulge her hot temper, desire for power, and general need for sex, without necessarily thinking through the consequences of her actions. Jamie's charisma and swordsmanship position him as the ego. Unfortunately, they're never able to implement their potential as a power trio.
  • In Season 6, Tyrion, Grey Worm, and Missandei form this dynamic when they have to work together to rule over Meereen in Daenerys' absence. Grey Worm is a stoic, strict military commander of the Unsullied (superego), while his love interest Missandei is a Cunning Linguist who can go from serious-minded to relaxed depending on who she's around (ego). Tyrion, meanwhile, is a lot snarkier and emotive than either of them will ever be, and after working with them for a while he decides that he wants them to relax and have a glass of wine for once (id).
• A Friend in Need:
  • Concern for his friend Robert's safety is a major motivation for Ned to accept the office of King's Hand.
  • Podrick refuses to betray Tyrion in exchange for a knighthood, even though the alternative is likely persecution.
  • Averted when Bronn jumps ship the minute he gets a better offer, just like he always said he would.
• Friendless Background: Brienne is ostracized by Westerosi society due to her unattractiveness, large size, and her pursuit of a traditionally masculine occupation.
• Friendly Enemy:
  • Mance Rayder treats Jon with surprising respect instead of just killing him in "The Children."
  • As of season 5, Tywin Lannister and Olenna Tyrell seem to have this dynamic. Before the Purple Wedding, they are seen strolling in the gardens, bonding over being The Chessmaster in their respective families and being Surrounded by Idiots.
• Friendly Sniper: Anguy the Archer is one of the deadliest archers in Westeros and a genuinely friendly guy.
• Frigid Water Is Harmless: In Season 7, Jon Snow is knocked into the frigid waters of a frozen lake. Despite being submerged for quite some time, he survives just fine, even when he has to wear his thoroughly drenched clothes in winter weather on a long ride back to the Wall afterwards.
• From Bad to Worse: A major theme in the series. Anyone Can Die, Hope Spots abound, and Winter is Coming. Earn Your Bittersweet Ending is really the best anyone can hope for at this point.
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • Petyr Baelish, the greatest schemer of Westeros, from pimp to the head of House Arryn, with a brief turn at the king's Small Council.
  • Melisandre, the terrifying Red Priestess with great powers, reveals to Gendry that she was once a slave.
  • Daenerys rises from a timid bride to a Young Conqueror.
    "A fortnight ago I had no army, a year ago I had no dragons."
  • Walder Frey goes from a unpleasant but relatively harmless Dirty Old Man to the regicidal lord paramount of the Riverlands without even leaving his chair.
• Frontline General: As a medieval society where fighting prowess is an important aspect of generalship, commanders in Westeros commonly take the field with their men.
  • Robert Baratheon won his throne by slaying his counterpart (and second cousin) Rhaegar Targaryen in battle.
  • Khal Drogo's only claim to leadership is his ability to be this.
  • Robb and Jaime both lead their men into battle, which allows Robb to capture Jaime by surprising him in the Whispering Wood.
  • Lord Commander Mormont flat-out refuses to sit meekly at Castle Black and takes command of the great ranging beyond the Wall.
  • In the Battle of Blackwater, Tyrion approves of Joffrey joining the troops on the walls for morale even though Tyrion is actually in command. Indeed, when Cersei orders Joffrey brought back to the Red Keep, the soldiers falter and Tyrion is forced to lead a sortie himself to shame them into action.
  • In direct contrast to Joffrey, Stannis Baratheon inspires him men by being the first off the boats and the first up the ladder.
  • Tywin Lannister and Loras Tyrell lead the cavalry charge that wins the Battle of Blackwater.
  • During the Battle of Castle Black, Alliser Thorne and Jon Snow do this for the Night's Watch while Styr and Tormund do it for the wildlings. When tasked with defending the inner gate, Grenn is also front and center among his men.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Hobb, Castle Black's cook, kills a few wildlings by flinging boiling stew and then pummeling them with his cooking pot.
• Full-Boar Action: King Robert Baratheon is killed by a boar in a Hunting "Accident".
• Full-Circle Revolution:
  • Robert's Rebellion to depose and punish Mad King Aerys Targaryen for his atrocities resulted in atrocities against King's Landing and the Targaryen family that go entirely unpunished. Years later, Robert is enraged by objections to assassinating a pregnant Targaryen, including the declaration that only "fear and blood" keeps the kingdoms in line, an alarming echo of the Targaryen motto "Fire and Blood."
  • No sooner has Daenerys completed her Slave Liberation in Slaver's Bay than she must face uprisings against her regime.
• Full-Frontal Assault: After shrinking away when Jaime first joins her in Harrenhal's baths, Brienne rises to confront him when he mocks her failure to protect Renly. It's so sudden and powerful that Jaime apologizes immediately.
• Full-Name Basis:
  • Ygritte is quite fond of Jon Snow's full name.
  • The Spice King refers to Xaro Xoan Daxos by his full name for the benefit of the audience during his introduction.
• Functional Addict: Tyrion and Cersei both spend an inordinate amount of time with a cup of wine in hand, particularly when they are nervous or upset, but it generally doesn't affect their control of a situation.
  • Lampshaded in Tyrion's case when Jarys tells Shae that Tyrion has been drinking less since he began seeing her regularly.
• The Fundamentalist:
  • Melisandre is out to spread the good news about the Lord of Light. The good news is that all your false gods will be thrown in a fire. The bad news is you might just join them if you don't go along with her.
  • Stannis' wife Queen Selyse is a fanatic supporter of Melisandre and her red god.
  • The Sparrows are such overly-dedicated followers of the Faith of the Seven that they're even called fanatics on-screen. Once Cersei gives them the authorization to arm themselves, they go on a rampage throughout King's Landing, arresting, brutalizing, and killing everyone they consider sinners.
• Funny Background Event:
  • Ser Barristan cannot openly disagree with his king, but his facial expressions when Renly and Robert are arguing in "A Golden Crown" shows that he actually supports the younger brother's War Is Hell rant.
  • In "Fire and Blood", Joffrey orders Sansa to accompany him; he wants to show her something. What's going on in the background (and mercifully out of focus)? A minstrel who insulted the late King Robert having his tongue ripped out.
  • In "Garden of Bones", Loras laughs merrily after Renly makes his ham joke, but as soon as Catelyn starts talking, the Knight of Flowers becomes annoyed and sighs heavily.
  • In "Valar Morghulis", it turns out that the Dothraki can lift the peacock statue from Daxos' palace after all.
  • In "Two Swords", Janos Slynt's derisive laugh when Jon mentions that Mance's army includes giants peters out hilariously when all the experienced officers take the claim seriously.
  • Loras appears to be flirting with a young nobleman while Cersei recounts the story of the Reynes of Castamere in "Second Sons."
  • When Joffrey rises to inspect his new Valyrian sword in "The Lion and the Rose," Mace Tyrell raises his eyebrow at Tywin and his wordless query is, "Are you sure it's wise to give that maniac a deadly weapon?"
  • During the applause in the sept during the royal wedding, Oberyn sneaks a glimpse of Loras Tyrell, perhaps indicating that he thinks Loras is more attractive than his sister Margaery.
  • Varys expressing his opinion of various scenes, particularly council meetings with only Facial Dialogue such as eye rolls become a Running Gag.
• Funny Foreigner: Shae accuses Tyrion of seeing her this way and sarcastically dubs herself "Shae the Funny Whore."

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