Strength and skill come in super handy in the struggle for power. It's all about deciding who is better: stronger, smarter, more skilled, meaner, or just better dressed (in armor). Whoever has more strength and skill may just take home the trophy in A Game of Thrones. After all, this is a game, and skill is the key to winning just about any game. Or is it? Where does luck come into play in this novel? Are there any right-place-at-the-right-time moments? Or worse: wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time? As important as strength and skill are in the game of thrones, the world wants what the world wants. And sometimes it wants you dead.
Questions About Strength and Skill
- What is the most important skill in A Game of Thrones? Discernment? Strength? Intelligence?
- Does any character have all the skills he or she needs to survive? Or do characters need to work together in order to prosper?
- Do skills ever get characters into trouble? For instance, Tyrion is a great speaker, but as he notes when he's in the Aerie's prison, his big mouth sure is a problem sometimes (39 Tyrion 5.12). Is Tyrion in trouble because of his skill – or is it because he's not skilled enough?
- Could any of the skills that the characters have be considered superpowers? Or are they all pretty this-worldly?