If Martin were dispatching his characters like a little kid with a magnifying glass pointed at an ant hill I would be just as disappointed as APurpleCow seems to be. But, to my way of thinking, every death, whether it be the noble Ned Stark or the humorless Tywin Lannister, has purpose.
At the start of the first novel there was order. There was no war, there was no strife. All the POV characters were going about their lives and, as far as I know, were content. Then Robert went north and, against his better instinct, Ned went south. And from that point on the pot began to boil.
I was stunned when Ned was beheaded. Like many of the contributors to this thread I was rather complacent in my science-fantasy reading. I was certain that Ned's life would somehow be spared. But it most graphically was not.
And then came the Red Wedding. The patriarch, the matriarch and the heir apparent of House Stark are all dead. Those left behind are young and weak and scattered, quite literally, to the four winds. Even if you consider Jon Snow a Stark by proxy (and I do) he to is severely limited by both his ******* birth and his allegiance to the Black Brothers.
To me this is the real story of ASOFAI. The destruction and, hopefully, the rebirth of House Stark. So I don't find the death of any character gratuitous or unnecessary. Death creates tension. Death creates uncertainty. Death creates chaos. And I believe death will also bring order back to the world of Westeros and ultimately Winterfell.
