"Winter Is Coming" - The Importance of Seasons

In this series, seasons, Summer and Winter, last for years. The amount of time a season stays is constantly changing. When the story opens, it is Summer and has been for nine years.  

While Summer is adored because of the warmth and life it brings, Winter is feared for it brings despair and death. Therefore, it is dreaded by the people of Westeros, who prepare to face the new season. The Stark’s house motto is “Winter is Coming”. This is ironic because out of the many characters in the book, their family is by far faced with the most hardships and devastation.

 

The seasons are connected to and symbolize ‘coming of age’. The youngest Stark boy, Bran, is deemed “a sweet summer child”, because he was born during the summer season and is still innocent. He has never known hardship. In one point of the novel, Bran’s father, Eddard Stark, states: “Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.” If Summer is childhood, then Winter is adulthood.