I think the biggest, all-encompassing theme of ASOIAF is:
There is no such thing as good people or evil people.
or maybe The good and evil world view is flawed.
There are a lot of ways it could be said, but that’s one way I would say it. Another way I say it is that the story is fundamentally a criticism of moralization. Davos would say everybody is part good and part evil. I’m happy with that version too. People in the fandom will often say everybody is a shade of grey. I’m ok with that version, but I think it’s lacking because I don’t think it gets people to stop moralizing and start empiricizing. It just gets them arguing over whose shade of grey is lighter or darker. Dr. Jonathan Haidt would say moralitty is not relative or illusory, it’s very true, but it’s an emergent truth. I’m ok with that version too, but I think it’s lacking because it also doesn’t seem to solve the problem. It seems like it will just move the war to a more local venue in which people argue over whose emergent truth is truer. Another version of this idea I liked was by Yeonmi Park, who says that everything must be taught, including compassion. It brings to attention that most of the values we think are intrinsic to being a human are absolutely not, and we’re fools to take them for granted.
There are several other major themes in the story such as “power corrupts”, but they’re all lesser articulations of the bigger theme. And they all ultimately point to it. If I ever want to know what something in the story is doing to help tell the story, I think about how it might be serving this theme and start tracing it back to it.
I gather that a theme is also a premise, though a premise isn’t always a theme. It not only describes what the story is about, but it describes the way the story-world works. So one way I can tell when a character is due for long-term tragedy is that he will act out a good and evil world view.
The character will be dismissive of the points-of-view of his enemies and the people who disagree with him, often by categorizing those people as “bad” or some variation of it.
“And that will mean blood on your hands before the thing is done.”
Blood and fire, thought Dany. The words of House Targaryen. She had known them all her life. “The blood of my enemies I will shed gladly. The blood of innocents is another matter. (ASOS Daenerys I)
And I can tell when a character is due for long-term triumph because he will champion the points-of-view of his enemies and the people who disagree with him. The ultimate heroes of the story are the characters who challenge their own points-of-view by making themselves vulnerable for the sake of the challenge, and learning from the results.
Men are men and women women, no matter which side of the Wall we were born on. Good men and bad, heroes and villains, men of honor, liars, cravens, brutes … we have plenty, as do you.”
She was not wrong. The trick was telling one from the other, parting the sheep from the goats. (ADWD Jon V)
“His Grace is not an easy man. Few are, who wear a crown. Many good men have been bad kings, Maester Aemon used to say, and some bad men have been good kings.” (ADWD Jon III)
“A queen must listen to all,” she reminded him. “The highborn and the low, the strong and the weak, the noble and the venal. One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found.” She had read that in a book. (ASOS Daenerys I)
Updated Mar 23, 2021 – Expanded some
Apples and Dragons 