[ISiddiqui]

I'd say that the willingness of Martin to kill off favorite characters & to give other characters more depth (no one is really as how they seem at first) makes The Song of Ice and Fire less escapist genre fiction and more literature. I think Martin is brilliant in that he builds up Ned as what appears to be the standard fantasy trope of the noble main character, standing among the cesspool of other lords and ladies, and then (when you are thinking he's going to that character that survives through the series & will be responsible for victory in the end) gets killed, that's when your view of the series completely changes.

As for me, that scene is when I really started to get hooked on the books.