8 George R.R. Martin Tropes And What They Really Mean

1. Arc Number: Seven

What It Is: An arc number, much like arc words (example: Winter is coming) is a number that is used repeatedly and purposefully throughout a story to various effect. In this instance, it's the number seven. What It Really Means: Throughout A Song Of Ice And Fire, the number seven is used frequently and repeatedly. Take, for example, the Seven Kingdoms, the name given to the realm that controls most of the continent of Westeros. Then there's the Faith of the Seven, which is the dominant religion of the Seven Kingdoms. There are seven knights in the Kingsguard and seven in the Rainbow Guard, and Storm's End has been rebuilt seven times. And what about the Seven-Faced God? That's not to mention the fact that the series is set to be seven books long. So what's the purpose? Like arc words, the use of the number seven resonates throughout the series with a curious poetry. At its most simple, the number cements the fact that there's a single narrative running throughout multiple books. Not only that, but Westeros is so huge that it would be easy to lose sense of the fact it's supposed to be a single, coherent world. What do the people in King's Landing have to do with the people of Dorne, or the people of The Eyrie? References to the same Seven-Faced God, the same Seven Kingdoms, and the same Faith of the Seven lend the world a sense of unity. Seven is so ingrained in Martin's world that any time it's used, it seems to reinforce the reality of his creation.