Laughter is poison to fear.

The line frames laughter as an antidote to fear: when people can laugh—at danger, at tyrants, or at their own anxieties—fear loses its power to paralyze and control. In Martin’s fiction, fear is often a political tool (used by rulers, religions, and armies), while humor can restore agency, perspective, and solidarity. The aphorism also suggests a psychological truth: laughter interrupts the body’s stress response and reframes threats as manageable, even if only briefly. As a piece of character wisdom, it implies courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to counter it with defiance, wit, and emotional resilience.