So, in dramatic theory, story structures tend to fall into one of two major categories: revolutionary, that is, those which involve the breakdown of tradition and the creation of a new dynasty; these tend by and large to be tragedies (i.e. Hamlet, where the previous Danish monarchy dies, and a new dynasty takes over) and confirmatory, that is, those that reaffirm those traditions and familial structures which existed at the beginning of the story (Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, etc.).

(Dramatic Theory, cont.) (2) I suppose there must be some sort of spectrum in there–I think Macbeth could debatably fall into the reaffirmation category, for example–but I’m curious, given your previous analysis of GRRM as a capital R Romantic, and GRRM’s stated goal of essentially deconstructing the High Fantasy ideal of a good king, how you think ASOIAF will play out in this respect.

This is an excellent question. One thing that makes me uncertain is that these structures were mostly pre-Romantic (hence all the Shakespearean examples) and part of what the Romantics did that was so shocking and avant-garde in their time is that they broke with a lot of these structures. So I could see GRRM going either way. 

For example, I’m damn sure that the Starks will retake and renew Winterfell as part of their “coming home” arc. However, I’m genuinely unsure as to whether there will or won’t be an Iron Throne by the end of the series, or whether Jon or Dany will live to see the end of ADOS – Tyrion I think is more suited to the Edgar/epilogue role, so him I’m less worried about.