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Mathematicians mapped “Game of Thrones” relationship to find the main character

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Re: Mathematicians mapped “Game of Thrones” relationship to find the main character

#25
This is only a popularity contest among the known characters and their known interactions. For instance, Littlefinger started out seemingly as a small player but then we learn later he was actually a rather significant player in almost all aspects of what has been happening so far. Granted his obvious interactions are with rather important people but by appearances the number of interactions seem low while actually being quite large.

As for Tyrion; he has a high position in life, hangs out with a large number of similar characters, and even crosses an ocean to meet up with more of that group that the others have not met yet. Regardless, I would say he's not so significant to what's going on simply because most of the others don't listen to a thing he says, even though he's right most of the time, so he doesn't have as much impact on events as he should. Just because he's present at significant events doesn't make him significant. Although, I admit those reasons are why I find him one of the more interesting characters.

Seems fun but I don't see how it can answer the question without it just being about today's favorite. It cannot be fully answered until the end.

Re: Mathematicians mapped “Game of Thrones” relationship to find the main character

#26
post #19

Or you know... you could count the number of chapters that every character has and come up with the one that has the highest number of chapters as the main character?

Or you could just count the number of times their names are mentioned... Except neither approach really represents character importance accurately. Why just go the naive route when you can extract more information from your data by using a more complex approach? The article actually counters your point exactly: " For example, Arya Stark, Sansa’s younger sister, has the third most chapters with 34, but ranks behind Sa…

I don't think the naive approach is too far off in this case. Arya's importance is reflected in the sheer amount of exposition devoted to her. She's pretty clearly being set up to make a major return at some point, just as it is with Daenerys. The characters with a lot of network connections, on the other hand, are easy to kill off because they're ultimately redundant.

Re: Mathematicians mapped “Game of Thrones” relationship to find the main character

#27
post #7

spoiler alert I wouldn't say this necessarily points to the "main" character, as its just one measure of a character's significance. Littlefinger (Petyr on this diagram) is rather small and on the edge - but he's ultimately responsible for a huge amount of what goes on.

you are right but the aim is to find who the writers consider the "main" character and not who had the most impact on the GoT universe. If we take it in that sense the white walkers are probably the most significant.

I would say there is no single main character to the story.

Re: Mathematicians mapped “Game of Thrones” relationship to find the main character

#29

Shocker: POV characters are probably main characters.

Readers of the books know that is definitely not the case.

For instance Areo Hotah is a repeated point of view character who is merely there to provide prospective on the court of Dorne as a silent body guard. Fans of the series call him "the camera who rides."

On the other hand GRRM has said characters like Littlefinger and Varys will never have chapters because their plans are too revealing of the end of the book. They are too central to be PoV characters.

Re: Mathematicians mapped “Game of Thrones” relationship to find the main character

#30
post #7

spoiler alert I wouldn't say this necessarily points to the "main" character, as its just one measure of a character's significance. Littlefinger (Petyr on this diagram) is rather small and on the edge - but he's ultimately responsible for a huge amount of what goes on.

you are right but the aim is to find who the writers consider the "main" character and not who had the most impact on the GoT universe. If we take it in that sense the white walkers are probably the most significant.

This is an analysis of the books, who have just one author.
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