Take out the dragons, the ice wall, and the magic and you’ve got a parody of the Wars of the Roses. So basically it’s fantasy in fifteenth century costumes, written by a fat old left wing sadist who gets off on killing the few decent people in the story who he carefully brings his readers to the point of caring about. Hugely talented, but the kind of guy who as a child killed the pets of other kids he didn’t like, leaving the remains to be discovered on their doorsteps. Sometimes you can feel the soul of an author through his writing. George R.R. Martin’s is rotten.
Or he’s just telling a brutal story based on a brutal time in western history. People focus on the “popular” characters he kills off. But they completely ignore the fact that characters die left and right in the story. At least 3/4 of the original group of “main” characters are dead, good and bad. And given that it’s a multi-generational story most of the rest are doomed too. And anybody that doesn’t like all that brutality really should be blaming it on the royal houses in Europe that inspired the story, if they weren’t so murder happy he wouldn’t be either.