How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Narrator.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The smallfolk were hiding themselves behind closed shutters and barred doors as if that would keep them safe. The last time King's Landing had fallen, the Lannisters looted and raped as they pleased and put hundreds to the sword, even though the city had opened its gates. This time the Imp meant to fight, and a city that fought could expect no mercy at all. (53.Sansa.21)
Harming civilians as a wartime strategy generally conjures images of the Dark Ages or Robin Hood opening credits, but it has been used in more modern wars, too. Fun fact: When war comes to town, it's never pretty.
Quote #8
Ser Desmond had brought twenty casks up from the cellars, and the smallfolk were celebrating Edmure's imminent return and Robb's conquest of the Crag by hoisting horns of nut-brown ale. (56.Catelyn.2)
Is this a war or did Riverrun just win the World Cup? The us-versus-them mentality of the war means victories are celebrated in a way not too dissimilar to sporting events. But does the victory's cost in death make it all the more worthy of celebration, or all the more haunting that such a celebration occurs?
Quote #9
The battle fever. [Tyrion] had never thought to experience it himself, though Jamie had told him of it often enough. […]. "You don't feel your wounds then, or the ache in your back from the weight of the armor, or the sweat running down in to your eyes. You stop feeling, you stop thinking, you stop being you, there is only the fight, the foe, this man and then the next and the next and the next, [...]." (62.Tyrion.15)
We receive few glimpses of what life and death are like on the battlefield, but Tyrion's account is vivid. While he may not have the word for it, we would say his experience suggests a switch to more of a mechanical mindset.