Quote Originally Posted by Sapphire Guard View Post
Spoiler: deaths throughout series
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Of the four protagonists that die, two are extremely minor (Quentyn and Arys), while Cat only half died. So GRRM has managed to gain a rep for killing protagonists... by killing one protagonist in book one.


Spoiler: Deaths
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If by protagonist you mean "point of view character", then yes. Albeit he also kills off (almost?) every PoV character in an opening or closing book chapter, not that many of them are desperately important (you could make an argument for Kevan).

In the first three books he does kill an average of two kings per book, not counting Khal Drogo or anyone in Slaver's Bay, mind, so while none of them are PoVs there's still a steady conveyor belt of significant characters heading to the knacker's yard. That's not even counting major establishment non-royal figures like Tywin, Lysa, Oberyn.

I think it's easy to forget how affecting some of the minor characters' deaths can be, too. Jory and Rodrik Cassel, for instance, are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things and overshadowed by the ensuing deaths of more major characters, but at the time it was quite a shock to see them killed.

Of course, there is another apparent death not yet listed, and that's the closest thing the entire series has to a main character to date. But he might not be (probably isn't) dead.