Animals are characters too! Especially in this story.
Some of the animals worth talking about:
Direwolves: Ghost, Grey Wind, Summer, Shaggy Dog, Nymeria, Lady
I consider the Stark direwolves prophetic, because they obviously have extrasensory abilities regarding peoples’ intentions. I’m interested in the direwolves’ personalities (they have personalities!), what their names mean, where they came from, their motivations as demonstrated by their actions, and even their pecking order.
Dragons: Drogon, Rhaegal, Viserion
I don’t consider the dragons prophetic because I haven’t found any evidence of future-seeing or future-interacting abilities from them. But they’re definitely more intelligent than any animal has a right to be. Much like the direwolves, the dragons seem to run on pure instinct and intuition. I’m interested in the dragons’ personalities, names, how they respond to and interpret commands, and analyzing some of their more peculiar behaviors.
Horses: Smiler, Stranger, Honor
There are some noteworthy horses and Martin is doing some cool things with them that will be fun to look at. Horses with names that poetically or ironically match with the story are a common thing throughout stories and songs. They may not be as fantastic as giant wolves and dragons, but horses are a classic medium for all of the cool literary things that Martin is doing with the wolves and dragons. And he’s definitely doing them with the horses too!
Other animal stuff:
Skinchanging
Warging
Symbolism of birds like the nightengale and mockingbird
Suspicious animal behaviors like Balerion
Training
Apples and Dragons 