Turn on the Hunter

3 AGOT Catelyn I: Ned attributes the desertions and missing rangers to Mance Rayder and thinks he may have to call banners and move in force against this King-beyond-the-Wall.

8 AGOT Arya I: When Septa Mordane asks Arya just where she thinks she's going, "I have to go shoe a horse," she said sweetly, taking a brief satisfaction in the shock on the septa's face" 70 Arya had overheard Septa Mordane tell her mother "Arya has the hands of a blacksmith." 68

18 AGOT Bran III: When Bran sees the heart of winter beyond the Wall, the three-eyed crow tells him he must live because winter is coming. So, Bran named his direwolf Summer.

20 AGOT Jon III: Jon is confronted by a gang of bullies, led by Grenn, who he humiliated in the yard earlier. He defies them and fights well but it turns out all Grenn wanted was an apology. And they only ganged up on him because he's such a good fighter they're afraid of him.

21 AGOT Eddard IV: Ned instructs Catelyn to have Moat Cailin manned and White Harbor defenses repaired. She fears war, then, but the purpose is to show formidability so as not to be attacked as weak.

23 AGOT Arya II: Ned tells Arya not to squabble with her sister but reserve her anger and animosity for those who would hurt their family.

29 AGOT Catelyn V: When Catelyn seizes Tyrion, she feels she's heading off future attacks, not that she is being the aggressor. Catelyn is so sure Tyrion is a murderer, she surrounds herself with swords and calls for justice.

38 AGOT Bran V: Robb charges the wildlings, though outnumbered.

39 AGOT Tyrion V: To keep from dying in the sky cell, Tyrion must turn on his accusers and require justice of them.

41 AGOT Catelyn VII: When Edmure sends word Jaime is gathering a host at Casterly Rock, Catelyn would call the banners of the north, just as The Blackfish would take a thousand men of the Vale. Turning on the hunter is an act of deseration and high emotion likely to bring all available guns and hit with maximum power as though in a final, life-saving attack of self-defense.

43 AGOT Tyrion VI: Or, invite them to dinner. Negotiations could serve both sides. No one really gains by killing.

44 AGOT Eddard XI: Ned sees Tywin's loosing an incognio Mountain on the riverlands as an attempt to provoke youthful Edmure into retaliating in what can be framed as an unprovoked attack. The will to vengeance is hot and unselfrestraining.

46 AGOT Eddard XII: When caught by Ned, who says he'll tell Robert, Cersei tries to seduce him.

47 AGOT Daenerys V: When Viserys shows up drunk at the Dothraki feast to celebrate the good omens around Daenerys's pregnancy, baring steel and threatening her child in her belly, Drogo is forced to act and demonstrate his authority. He both keeps his word to Visery, giving him a golden crown, and observes the law in Vaes Dothrak that no blood be shed.

48 AGOT Eddard XIII: The boar that killed Robert charged. Robert always liked to kill boars this way, provoking to charge the killing with one sure thrust of his spear at the last moment. One miss though...

51 AGOT Arya IV: Arya kills the stable boy who grabs her. "She struck him with the pointy end, driving the blade upward with wild, hysterical strength." 538

53 AGOT Jon VII: When Chett tries to force the dogs to move closer to the corpses, they whimper and plant their feet. "He tries dragging one. The bitch resisted, growling and squirming as if to escape her collar. Finally, she lunged at him." 557

54 AGOT Bran VI: As each of the bannermen challenge Robb, he masters them with courtesy until the Greatjon, who unsheaths his greatsword after initiating too violently in the first place. Robb sics Grey Wind on him to disarm. He wins Greatjon to his side by showing superior brute force.

55 AGOT Daenerys VI:

"No. He cannot have my son." She would not weep, she decided. She would not shiver with fear. The Usurper has woken the dragon now she told herself...and her eyes went to the dragon's eggs resting in their nest of dark velvet." 592 Daenerys tries to hatch the dragon eggs to get revenge on Robert, who is dead.

68 AGOT Sansa VI: When Sansa is ready to shove Joffrey to his death, it's because he's removed all safety. It is not enough to smile, to obey.

69 AGOT Daenerys IX: Mirri Maz Duur's revenge is not intended so much to lash out in anger as to remove a predator. Or, maybe it's both. But her motive is clear: no cities should be burnt.

A Clash of Kings

75 ACOK 2 Arya I: When Hot Pie turns down Arya's offer of her wooden sword and reaches for Needle, Arya swats his donkey with her wooden sword so it dumps him in the dirt. That was enough, but Arya misunderstood the threat Hot Pie posed and so jumped down and beat him bloody with her wooden sword in self defense.

103 ACOK 30 Tyrion VII: Lancel enters sneering: Cersei's tool with a few commands made too forcefully and far, far too rudely. So, Tyrion blackmail's Lancel, taking him for a spy. Cersei didn't have to attack him.

112 ACOK 39 Arya VIII: Arya names Weese to increase her chances of escape, but also because he is nastily harsh to her and his other charges.

124 ACOK 51 Theon IV: When the wolves and boys turn up missing in the middle of the night, seeming to have escaped out the Hunter's Gate, Theon did not relish the idea of chasing direwolves through the wood by night; the hunters could easily become the hunted." 725

125 ACOK 52 Jon VI: In the Skirling Pass, well north of the Wall, Jon and Stonsnake volunteer to ambush and kill the wildling scouts that have lit a fire. He compares their attack to tht of a shadowcat he saw stalk a ram. "They will have weapons as well, and I am not armored. He wondered who would prove the shadowcat by night's end, and who the ram." 739

126 ACOK 53 Sansa IV: When Sansa calls the Hound brave, he derides her, unwilling to show vulnerability. He escalates to attack, bullying her to fend her off. She then does the same to him.

127 ACOK 54 Jon VII: When Orell's eagle sees Ghost and knows him for warged, he easily finds the Night's Watch rangers and alerts a hunting party. Qhorin commands retreat.

128 ACOK 55 Tyrion XII: Believing he means to kill joffrey to rule through Tommen, Cersei seizes Tyrion's whore, a defnsive move. When she tells Tyrion she holds Alayaya to stay his hand against Joffrey, he counters that he holds Tommen to stay her hand agains Alayaya, a defensive move. Both escalate unintentionally when they turn on the hunter.

129 ACOK 56 Catelyn VII: When Brandon confronted Rhaegar at King's Landing, he affronted Aerys. Aerys punished him and all who rode with him so harshly as to set an example of what happens to those who so boldly affront the crown. Jaime later cites this as the reason he killed Aerys.

132 ACOK 59 Davos III: Ser Imry, knowing he has the numbers, thinks to sail in and overwhelm Joffrey's fleet in the Blackwater. He doesn't consider that his foe is aware of being the extreme underdog who will be excuted if defeated and so has resorted to a massive sacrifice in order to survive. Tyrion's wildfire trap destroys Stannis's fleet.

133 ACOK 60 Tyrion XIII: The Hound turns his sword on Tyrion when commanded to go back out into the battle. His fear is aggressive when prodded.

134 ACOK 61 Sansa VI: Cersei must hold up a brave face to the women assembled but is secretly terrified Stannis will take the city. As a result, she menaces Sansa, preferring anger and irritation to feeling her fear.

138 ACOK 65 Arya X: When Qyburn worries Roose Bolton shouldn't go hunting because of the bold wolves, Roose tells him the bold wolves are what he's hunting. Roose also recognizes Qyburn is employing an intimidation tactic and waves him off by smiling and making it clear he's more one to be feared than to wring his hands. 893

142 ACOK 69 Jon VIII: When the eagle sees them come out of the mountan and flies away, Qhorin says it's time to take a stand, since they're in a good spot to keep from being surrounded, the mountain at their backs and in a ledge overhead, sheltering them. 950

A Storm of Swords

144 ASOS 1 Prologue: Chett's party of deserters must become mutineers or else be tracked and executed. They plan to kill Mormont and others only to escape and live.

Sometimes when someone is angry, they kick dogs. Chett bullies Sam. at first it seems he blames Sam for taking his job as Aemon's assistant, but when Chett pisses himself at the third horn blast, as he'd predicted Sam would do in his first taste of battle, it's revealed Chett is a coward. Bully's Bravery

145 ASOS 2 Jaime I: Brienne sinks Ryger

146 ASOS 3 Catelyn I: Catelyn agrees to restrain her movements to Hoster's chambers and the sept. Ser Desmond Grell offers Catelyn the cover story that she freed Jaime in grief for her sonbs. That she does not fall to pieces at this suggests it might not be true. Catelyn was panicked, certainly, but she seemed more vengeful than grieving. It may be that Catelyn freed Jaime to do something more than to do the right thing. It was fear for her girls more specifically than grief for her boys that motivated Catelyn to trade Jaime for them, though Robb had many times forbid this.

147 ASOS 4 Arya I: arya's escape from Harrenhal with Hot Pie and Gendry is hunted by Bloody Mummers so she kills them by warging Nymeria.

All these are examples of attacks prompted by cornerings of protgonists who have to escape and who are hunted by strength. Later in the section, the theme of attacking one's hunter focuses on the betrayal at center and on feelings of revenge and the right to life.

148 ASOS 5 Tyrion I: Tyrion forces himself from his tiny quarters to vye to be reinstated as Hand

149 ASOS 6 Davos I: Davos was ready to die on the merling king's spears until his laments to The Mother were responded to with the accusation that he had burned his gods. Realizing it was Melisandre's fault, Davos aims for Dragonstone with murder in his heart.

150 ASOS 7 Sansa I: Sansa invited to Highgarden to wed Willas would be as much a hostage there?

151 ASOS 8 Jon I: Jon among the wildlings as a spy must pretend to love his new freedom. Ghost must also defend himself. "Six days ago, the largest hound had attacked (Ghost) from behind as the wildlings camped for the night, but Ghost had turned and lunged, sending the dog fleeing with a bloody haunch. The rest of the pack maintained a healthy distance after that." 92 It might be noted the hounds attack Ghost because his strength alone represents a threat. Similarly, Rattleshirt menaces Jon. Bully's Bravery

152 ASOS 9 Daenerys I: Daenerys decides to take Jorah's advice not to trust Illyrio and to show up with an army of Unsullied partly because she knows she's being followed by various assassins. She agrees to pre-betray Illyrio by selling his goods to buy the army she will confront him with, recognizing he has already sold her once.

153 ASOS 10 Bran I: Bran, enroute north, fears being taken by the "war everywhere." Preferring to hunt as Summer from the safety of Tumbledown Tower, he finally acknowlegdes that he must risk all, even the lives of Hodor and the Reeds, to reach his teacher beyond the Wall so he can "fly."

157 ASOS 14 Arya II: When Lem stops Arya reaching for her sword, "Again! Arya thought. It's happening again, like it happened in the village, with Chiswyck and Rolf and the Mountain That Rides. They were going to steal her sword and turn her back into a mouse." 186 Arya breaks Lem's nose with her tankard, screaming "Run!" But they're taken. When Arya sees Harwin, she calls out to him and, crying, says he has to know her. She wants the safety of family.

158 ASOS 15 Catelyn II: The Westerlings saw Robb coming and prepared to defend themselves and stay loyal to their liege without losing more men to a bitter fight. It might be guessed they feared Tywin enough to require to defeat Robb.

161 ASOS 18 Arya III: The men Eddard Stark sent to bring the Mountain to justice were massacred in a trap at the Mummer's Ford.

162 ASOS 19 Samwell I: Though he'd earlier laid down to die, so exhausted by the run from the Others at the Fist of the First Men, Sam runs toward the Other "shoving the dagger out blindly before him with both hands." 252

163 ASOS 20 Tyrion III: From Pycelle's old place at the foot of the table, propped up by cushions, Tyrion voices objections to what he knows are traps. The Master of Coin post: "I fear a trap. Littlefinger is subtle and ambitious. I do not trust him. Nor should you." 264

165 ASOS 22 Jaime III: Caught by the Bloody Mummers, Jaime thinks he can trick and betray Urswyck the Faithful by convincing him to take him and Brienne to King's Landing for ransom from from his father instead of to Hoat. Usywyck sl;aps him, calls him an oathbreaker and is done. Unless this conversation was relayed to Hoat and contributed to his decision to Jaime's hand cut off for ransom.

173 ASOS 30 Arya V: The Battle of the Bells at Stoney Sept happened because an injured robert Baratheon was hiding there to heal when hunted down by the Hand, Jon Connington. Eddard Stark and Hoster Tully came to find Robert fighting.

174 ASOS 31 Jon IV: The party climbing the Wall is tasked to attack Castle Black from the south, opening the gate, or at least take a bite out of the Night's watch before Mance's army moves on the Wall. They need this passage, so will strike first.

Upset and with tears in her eyes, Ygritte tells Jon she almost fell and more than once while climbing the Wall. Jon says it's over and not to be frightened but she lashes out at him insisting she wasn't frightened: "I'm crying because we never found the Horn of Winter..to bring this cold thing down!" Ygritte responds to her terror at nearly falling to her death with viscious fury at her attacker, The Wall.

183 ASOS 40 Arya VII: The Brotherhood Without Banners has started launching attacks on the Mountain's men when they find them. Here the Bloody Mummers are held up in a septry, so the Brotherhood burns it down.

192 ASOS 49 Jon VI: Back at Castle Black, Jon warns of the coming attack from the south and of Mance's Army enroute. He had to betray the wildlings and escape ASASP in order to keep the Wall standing and all fires lit that would be snuffed by the Others were the Wall to fall.

213 ASOS 70 Jon IX: When Thorne tries to seize Jon for an oathbreaking turncloak, Jon lifts Thorne by the throat.

218 ASOS 75 Arya XIII: At the inn, when the Mountain's men try to get the Hound to come with them, he understands it's to be as a captive and attacks, after dodging the first cut.

A Feast For Crows

229 AFFC 4 Cersei I: Waking from a dream of being tormented by Tyrion, Cersei sends Boros Blount to see that he's still in his cell. Tywin has been murdered. She's ready to tear down the walls when she finds out there are secret tunnels and Tyrion has escaped.

235 AFFC 10 Brienne II: Sheltering in the ruins of Hollard Castle Brienne sees the person who's been following her. The boy on the piebald rounsey. "He's stalking me, she realized, but that's a game that two can play." 203 Brienne sneaks up behind him and swats his horse across the rump. The horse rears and the boy falls in the mud.

249 AFFC 24 Alayne I: Littlefinger pays Lyn Corbray with gold and boys and promises. In exchange "Ser Lyn will remain my implacable enemy. He will speak of me with scorn and loathing to every man he meets and lend his sword to every secret plot to bring me down." As a spy, presumably.

262 AFFC 37 Cersei VIII: To forestall Maggy the frog's prophecy, Qyburn has told Cersei she knows what to do. In the tent she'd thought that if some younger, more beautiful, came to replace her she'd have Jaime kill them. Though it's really the valonquar Cersei fears, she figures she can stop the rest of the prophecy by stopping her replacement by Margaery.

A Dance With Dragons

279 ADWD 8 Jon II: Jon sends Slynt to command Greyguard to separate him from Thorne. Giant says he should be chopping turnips, not commanding. Jon thinks "I'd never dare eat another turnip" 118 It'sunclear to what extent Jon expects Slynt to rebel and be executed, but he thinks "I'm giving you a chance. It's more than you ever gave my father."

310 ADWD 39 The Watcher: When Doran confirms Cersei's plan to kill Trystane, he decides to send Lady Nymeria to the small council seat offered, Tyene to infiltrate the Great Sept of Baelor, and to not send Trystane. Cersei might have achieved her end another way, but really had not only no right to try to break the engement, she already had an enemy inDorne, now attacking.

340 ADWD 69 The Dragontamer: Dragons turn on those who hurt them. Viserion eats the crossbowman who shoots him.

343 ADWD 72 Daenerys X: Daenerys would have been taken by a Dothraki scout, but he realized he was prey to the hunting dragon. Daenerys called Drogon and followed the scout to meet the khalasar in a position of strength.