June 9, 2013

Thats What Ygritte Said

Weekly Game of Thrones Musings by Sam Ryu

Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go in the same box. - Italian Proverb This is the world of Game of Thrones. No one is safe. Good doesnt necessarily triumph. It is a world in which the rules, structure, and the very nature of the game are changing faster than the mood at a Frey wedding. Gone are the days of duty, loyalty, and honor. And here are the days of political maneuvering, short-sighted self-preservation, and cold-blooded craftiness. On a more macro level, Game of Thrones is reaching a tipping point with its audience and hitting a stride with its long, confident strokes of storytelling. Season 3, Episode 9 The Rains of Castamere How the hell am I supposed to write about this episode? I guess first its important to remember the story behind the foreboding, unofficial Lannister anthemThe Rains of Castamerethat Cersei reminded us of the week before. (Long story short: House Reyne rebelled against House Lannister. House Lannister wiped them off the face of Westeros. And get it? Reyne? Rain? The Lannisters are punny folks.) But weve also heard it throughout the show. Tyrion whistles the tune at various parts of Season 2 and Bronn sings his adopted houses song, with Lannister soldiers before the Battle of Blackwater. Not to mention it is the song that plays during the credits of the same episode. (Season 2, Episode 9coincidentally a ninth episode as well) I bring this up not to draw strained parallels or to make a comprehensive reference list, but to show that this moment and this episode have been a long time coming. In an episode that is even more focused than the previous (only 2.5 storylines this time, as opposed to the normal 25), Ive decided to do something slightly different: Im going to discuss the events of the Red Wedding from various perspectives, as it relates to each house involved. The author of the books, George R.R. Martin called it probably the most powerful scene in the books. Does it all go downhill from here? Or is it just getting started?

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House Frey Walder Frey (besides being an extraordinary name-rememberer) is a nasty motherfucker. Not only is he a slightly more civilized version of the equally disgusting, daughter-wife loving Craster (the dude north of the Wall), but he is also vindictive and contradictory. Understandably, Walder feels slighted by Robb and the sight of his new queen with firm tits and a nice fit. Lord Frey extended his hospitality and protection in light of the Seven and shared the ceremonial bread and salt with them. But he felt so betrayed by Robb breaking his oath to marry one of the Frey girls, that he broke his own oath of safe passage for the Starks/Tullys. And while this further emphasizes the blurring delineation of honor and the weight of ones words, this also means that no one will trust the Freys again. They effectively screwed themselves over. But you have to hand it to Walder Frey. Everyone thought him a Westeros equivalent of a hillbilly and he pulled off the bait-andswitch perfectly while the Starks had their guards down. Theres no way the Starks enter this situation with as little caution if they were dealing with the Lannisters. House Stark A moment of silence for the late King in the North, Robb Stark. For his wife, Queen Talisa Stark. And for his mother, Catelyn Stark. Wow. That was something wasnt it? The thing that everyone seemed to do after getting past the initial WHAT JUST HAPPEND? phase is assign blame. I heard people calling Robb stupid for choosing love over duty (cue Jaime Lannister in the very first episode: The things I do for love.) Im not excusing his decision to break his marriage oath, but he really only made one mistake. Robb was a brilliant strategist and leaderconstantly outsmarting Tywin Lannister but it just so happened that his one bad decision was the one that led to his familys death. To boot, Robb is supposed to be only 18 or 19 years old (he was 16 when the show started). Raging teen hormones aside, he didnt have the wisdom of his father, Ned. Can you really blame him though?

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I saw a lot of people putting this on Catelyn too. All of this wouldnt have happened if she didnt release her sons prisoner, Jaime Lannister. Or the fact that after explaining to Robb that attacking Casterly Rock is a bad idea in the opening scene, she tells him to do it anyway out of motherly rage. (Show them how it feels to lose what they love.) Or what if Bran never liked climbing high castles walls? GAME OF THRONES WOULDNT EVEN EXIST! Im being facetious here because it doesnt matter whose fault it was. No single decision led to the Red Wedding. It was a series of intertwined events, decisions by flawed characters, and extenuating circumstances. Game of Thrones by Alfred Hitchcock: Last week, I joked that Hitchcock guest directed Fat Sam Tarlys The Birds scene. It seems like hes backthis week, in a babystabbing remake of Psycho. Whats next? Bran checking out wildlings across the Wall (via warg powers) la Rear Window? (Bran is cripple too, after all.) Or maybe they can recreate the iconic North by Northwest scene with dragons instead of the plane and Hodor in the Cary Grant role? Speaking of Hodor, his rate of Hodor! per minute (measured as HPM) was off the charts this week! Bran even had to tell him, No more Hodor-ing. Back to the Starks. How freaking gangster was Catelyn? She was the heart of the Stark family. But because she lost her husband, saw her oldest son die in front of her, and believed that Arya, Bran, and Rickon were all dead, she had little to nothing else to live for. She never loved Jon Snow and Sansa seemed to be in the firm grasp of the Lannisters. This brings the Dead Stark Count to four (Ned, Cat, Robb, Talisa) and the Dead Direwolf Count to two (Robbs Grey Wind and Sansas Lady while Aryas Nymeria and Jons Ghost are missing). Also, poor Arya. She was within shouting distance from her father when he was killed and she finds herself in a similar position here. Conspiracy Theory of the Week: Littlefinger is going to be PISSED. Catelyn was and is the love of his life. A dead Catelyn Stark means he really has no chance with her. And remember where he was headed when he left Kings Landing? (Season 3, Episode 6) Thats right. He went to the Vale of Arryn, to marry the widow Lysa Arryn. On Tywins orders no less, but Littlefinger is loyal to no one. Lysa Arryn (ne Tully) also just happens to be Catelyns sister. And although they were prickly the last time they saw each other, family is family. Plus, the Freys were supposed to be House Tullys bannermen. This doesnt end well for you Walder Frey. House Tully In Edmures case, I guess its better to be a fool/lucky than to be smart. Walder Frey will keep him alive (probably) because he is the Lord of Riverrun (the capital of the Riverlands, home of House Tullylike Robb was Lord of Winterfell; the capital of the North, home of House Stark) and his daughters children will be the heir. Edmure is stuck. The question becomes, does he continue to be an inept pushover? Or does he retaliate against the Freys? Also, note that Edmure and Catelyns uncle, Brynden Blackfish Tully, left the wedding to take a leak before shit got crazy. I definitely dont think he was in on this (what would his motives have been?) But he (presumably) is alive.

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House Lannister Now we know why almost every time we saw Tywin this season, he was writing letters behind his desk (when Cersei visited him, when Tyrion visited him, etc.) He was planning this the whole time. Which now makes sense, given how Tywin so urgently tried to get Tyrion and Sansa wedded and bedded. Why? Because Tyrion is technically the new King in the North now. How fun is this going to be? Sure the political alliances and outdated power structures are being displaced, but if the North can somehow embrace Tyrion as Lord of Winterfell and Tyrion gets fed up with his father, we could see an epic North vs South (Lannister, Baratheon, Tyrell, etc.) showdown that we never saw while Robb was in charge. But for now: House Lannister 2, Everyone Else 0. House Bolton

We got the sense that Lord Roose Bolton was up to no good starting from the second episode (last page, here) and our suspicions were all but confirmed by the sixth episode (last page, here) when he was adamant that Jaime tell Tywin that he had nothing to do with Jaimes be-handing. And remember all those letters Tywin was getting from a northern spy, while he was in Harrenhal? (Season 2, Episode 6) That would be Tywins pen pal, Lord Roose Bolton. All this letter writing comes full circle. House Everyone Else Daario Naharis accuses Ser Jorah of being a dishonest man. Surfer dude Daario is correct (explained last page, here). By the way, how great was it seeing Daario, Jorah, and Grey Worm all fight together? Grey Worm (the Unsullied captain) has some serious moves. He would be the #2 suitor for Daenerys if he wasnt... you know... unsullied. Rickon the Nutcracker (Brans little brother) speaks! Also regarding Jon Snow ditching Ygritte: it was necessary. What was he going to do? Take her to Castle Black where all his Nights Watch brothers would kill her? And then kill him for sleeping with her and breaking the black oath? He knocked her down before she could kill any wildlings with her bow because if he didnt, the wildlings wouldve killed her themselves. For those of you who didnt read the potentially spoilery page at the end of last weeks newsletter, the coast is clear. Feel free to see how right and wrong I was. I wish I wasnt right about the deaths and it got downright weird when Robb was saying (in the opening scene with Catelyn) some things, almost verbatim, I wrote about him not listening to his mom. Read my predictions here, last page.
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