11 examples of George R.R. Martin’s subtle foreshadowing in A Song of Ice and Fire
By John Fallon
George R.R. Martin is excellent at foreshadowing what’s to come in A Song of Ice and Fire, both stuff that’s already happened and stuff that’s on the way…
A wizard of foreshadowing, George R. R Martin likes to play Hansel and Gretel in his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, leaving breadcrumbs that hint at storylines to come. He’s so good at this that fans have taken to analyzing every sentence for possible clues about future plots. While the theories may have progressed into insanity over the years, examples of the author’s subtle hints paying off add fuel to the fire, and are a wonderful display of Martin’s writing ability.
Martin likes to foreshadow events with passing remarks, prophetic visions, or by highlighting past events that are doomed to repeat themselves. On a reread, you catch even more hints, and scratch your head over how you could have missed it the first time.
A lot of Martin’s foreshadowing has already paid off. Some of it surely previews events yet to come. Let’s look through some of the best examples of foreshadowing from A Song of Ice and Fire. Beware SPOILERS!
1. The Fall of the House of Stark
In Bran’s first chapter in A Game of Thrones, Eddard Stark and company “chance” upon a dead direwolf pierced through the neck by the antler of a stag, leaving six pups to fend for themselves alone.
"It’s no freak,” Jon said calmly. “That’s a direwolf. They grow larger than the other kind.” Theon Greyjoy said, “There’s not been a direwolf sighted south of the Wall in two hundred years.” “I see one now,” replied Jon. “There’s something in the throat,” Robb told him, proud to have found the answer before his father even asked. “There, just under the jaw.” His father knelt and groped under the beast’s head with his hand. He gave a yank and held it up for all to see. A foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off, all wet with blood. Bran, A Game of Thrones"
This first chapter of the first book would set the theme of the series to follow. The antler through the neck of the direwolf symbolizes the beheading of Ned Stark, leaving all six children behind. In the show, the same stag was found dead nearby, implying Robert Baratheon would die as well, but in the books, there is no trail or sign of the stag other than the antler, which may be symbolic of Cersei of Joffrey getting away with Ned’s execution.