Any old Hero won't do
My biggest problem with the Fantasy genre is that many authors seem to develop their stories and their characters separately. Just because you've conceptualized a provoking character, it doesn't mean they fit into the world you've imagined. Often times you end up with conflicts between what needs to happen and what the character should do. In the end the character bends to make the story work and you get a book that's a shadow of what it could have been.
Martin is different.
While it's easy to romanticize the characters, they're all distinct individuals with identifiable goals and ultimately things make sense even if you didn't see them coming. If you have an established character and something doesn't make sense or sticks out, it's usually for a reason that has either already been hinted at or will be revealed later.
There's just a lot less maneuvering to get things where they need to be. People do the things they would do and as a result the story progresses as it should.
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