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Warfare
War is ever-present in this story. The War of the Five Kings is ongoing at the novel's beginning, and it won't reach a definitive conclusion until later in the series. Importantly, though, much as the plot is driven by war in A Clash of Kings, the book looks at war as just one element of its fantastical society, showing how the consequences of violence on such a massive scale infect the realms of politics, agriculture, and economics. War, in other words, is one way in which we come to understand Martin's world—a big deal, but not the whole show.
A Clash of Kings considers war to be a natural phenomenon, something people of all eras undertake simply due to human nature.
Arya's personal journey demonstrates how a war culture propagates violence at all levels of society, not just in soldiers and on battlefields.
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