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.
All good points. But there were times reading the novels (I admit ... the books and now the series are hugely addictive) when my reader’s disbelief got unsuspended with the image of the author chuckling sadistically in the background. It’s a personal thing.