Editing A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

===Character development===
{{main|List of A Song of Ice and Fire characters}}
Regarding the characters as the heart of the story,<ref name=grmm_iv_scotcampus /> Martin planned the epic ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' to have a large cast of characters and many different settings from the beginning.<ref name=atlantic_sex_fantasy /> ''A Feast for Crows'' has a 63-page list of characters,<ref name=nytimes_vile_hobbits /> with many of the thousands of characters mentioned only in passing<ref name=newyorker /> or disappearing from view for long stretches.<ref name=washingtonpost_worth_wait /> When Martin adds a new family to the ever-growing number of [[genealogies]] in the appendices, he devises a secret about the personality or fate of the family members. However, their backstory remains subject to change until written down in the story.<ref name=grrm_iv_consumerhelpweb /> Martin drew most character inspiration from history (without directly translating historical figures)<ref name=grrm_iv_januarymagazine /> and his own experiences, but also from the manners of his friends, acquaintances, and people of public interest.<ref name=fantasyonline /> Martin aims to "make my characters real and to make them human, characters who have good and bad, noble and selfish well-mixed in their natures".<ref name=scifi_magical_tale /> Jeff VanderMeer of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' remarked that "Martin's devotion to fully inhabiting his characters, for better or worse, creates the unstoppable momentum in his novels and contains an implied criticism of Tolkien's moral simplicity"<ref name=latimes_adwdreview /> (see [[Themes in A Song of Ice and Fire#Moral ambiguity|Themes: Moral ambiguity]]).

Martin deliberately ignored the writing rule of never giving two characters names starting with the same letter.<ref name=grrm_iv_consumerhelpweb/> Instead, character names reflect the naming systems in various European family histories, where particular names were associated with specific [[royal houses]] and where even the secondary families assigned the same names repeatedly.<ref name=grrm_iv_consumerhelpweb/> The story of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' therefore has children called "Robert" in honor of King Robert of House Baratheon, a "Brandon" in every other generation of the Starks in commemoration of Brandon the Builder (of the Wall), and the syllable "Ty" commonly occurring in given names of House Lannister.<ref name=tiff1/> Confident that readers would pay attention, Martin distinguished people sharing a [[given name]]<ref name=grrm_iv_consumerhelpweb/> by adding numbers or locations to their given names (e.g. [[Henry V of England]]). The family names were designed in association with ethnic groups (see [[World of A Song of Ice and Fire#Background|backstory]]): the First Men in the North of Westeros had very simply descriptive names like Stark and Strong, whereas the descendants of the Andal invaders in the South have more elaborate, undescriptive house names like Lannister or Arryn, and the Targaryens (being Valyrians from the Eastern continent), have the most exotic names with the letter Y.<ref name=tiff1/>

All characters are designed to speak with their own internal voices to capture their views of the world.<ref name=scifi_magical_tale/> ''The Atlantic'' pondered whether Martin ultimately intended the readers to sympathize with characters on both sides of the Lannister–Stark feud long before plot developments force them to make their emotional choices.<ref name=atlantic_reality/> Contrary to most conventional epic fantasies, the characters of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' are vulnerable so that, according to ''The Atlantic'', the reader "cannot be sure that good shall triumph, which makes those instances where it does all the more exulting."<ref name=atlantic_brutal/> Martin gets emotionally involved in the characters' lives during writing, which makes the chapters with dreadful events sometimes very difficult to write.<ref name=scifi_magical_tale/> Seeing the world through the characters' eyes requires a certain amount of empathy with them, including the villains,<ref name=deepmagic41/> all of whom he has said he loves as if they were his own children.<ref name=grrm_iv_sfsite2/><ref name=grmm_iv_scotcampus/> Martin found that some characters had minds of their own and took his writing in different directions. He returns to the intended story if it does not work out, but these detours sometimes prove more rewarding for him.<ref name=grrm_iv_consumerhelpweb/>

Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, and Daenerys Targaryen generate the most feedback from readers.<ref name=grmm_iv_cc/> They are also four of the "big six" main characters of the series, according to Martin (the other two being Sansa Stark and Bran Stark). Martin has stated that Tyrion is his personal favorite, as the grayest of the gray characters, with his cunning and wit making him the most fun to write.<ref name=grrm_iv_sfsite2/> Martin has also said that Bran Stark is the hardest character to write. As the character most deeply involved in magic, Bran's story needs to be handled carefully within the supernatural aspects of the books. Bran is also the youngest viewpoint character,<ref name=scifi_magical_tale/> and has to deal with the series' adult themes like grief, loneliness, and anger.<ref name=time_grrm_ivp1/> Martin set out to have the young characters grow up faster between chapters, but, as it was implausible for a character to take two months to respond, a finished book represents very little time passed. Martin hoped the planned five-year break would ease the situation and age the children to almost adults in terms of the Seven Kingdoms, but he later dropped the five-year gap (see section [[#Bridging the timeline gap|Bridging the timeline gap]]).<ref name=grmm_iv_ew/><ref name=scifi_magical_tale/>