Summer - Bran III

Let me preface this by saying that this chapter was the most interesting to me in my first read-through. It dangles answers right before our eyes. One of the characters sees something that we as readers are unable to. We are given glimpses of what’s going on in multiple mysterious lands (Always-winter and Asshai). Also, if you consider the fact that the series was only intended to be three books, then the first book should include insight and foreshadowing into what is truly going on in the world.

I also talk about this chapter a lot on forums because I believe people connect certain parts to Robert Strong, Oberyn Martell and prophesy when it doesn’t have anything to do with them.

Bran recalls Maester Luwin dressing up clay dolls to look like him - dropping them out of the tower to demonstrate how dangerous climbing could be. He says, “But I never fall.” In the end, he never really does, at least not by accident or his own carelessness.

He falls though, from above the world. The imagery is interesting. I wonder if he’s seeing the world as it is in the beginning of his fall, or if he’s just entering this out of body experience from some type of void. He thinks he’s dreaming, but he’s not.

“I’ll wake up when I hit the ground,” Bran says

“You’ll die when you hit the ground,” Replies the crow, Bloodraven.

He sees the ground very far away, only grey mists surround him. He mentions that it’s cold, there’s no sun or stars. The fact that there is navigation throughout the seas makes me believe that the nothingness that surrounds him is a void his consciousness is plunging from. He is very close to death, after all. Is this a familiar experience for all those who are near-death, or only those with the warging/greenseeing ability? In a later chapter, Euron mentions that he experienced a similar circumstance.

He tries to fly.

“The things I do for love,” A painful memory, causing him to fall faster than ever, nearing death in body and mind.

“Every flight begins with a fall”

Bran sees the whole world spread out before him. “He could see the whole realm, and everyone in it.”

He sees maester Luwin studying the sky with a bronze tube, taking notes. He’s probably forecasting the weather.

He sees Robb practicing swordplay with real steel in his hand.

“Gods,” Robb swore, his young face dark with anger. “If this is true, he will pay for it.” He drew his sword and waved it in the air. “I’ll kill him myself!” Ser Rodrik bristled at him. “Put that away! The Lannisters are a hundred leagues away. Never draw your sword unless you mean to use it. How many times must I tell you, foolish boy?” Abashed, Robb sheathed his sword, suddenly a child again. Catelyn said to Ser Rodrik, “I see my son is wearing steel now.”

He sees Hodor carrying an anvil to Mikken’s forge.

He sees the weirwood brooding over its reflection until it lifts its gaze back at Bran.

He sees a galley racing across the waters of the Bite. His mother is inside, looking at the knife that was intended for him, blood still on it. Ser Rodrik is there, too, sea-sick and throwing up over the rails of the ship.

Ser Rodrik protested. “My lady, let me accompany you at least. The kingsroad can be perilous for a woman alone.” “I will not be taking the kingsroad,” Catelyn replied. She thought for a moment, then nodded her consent. “Two riders can move as fast as one, and a good deal faster than a long column burdened by wagons and wheel-houses. I will welcome your company, Ser Rodrik. We will follow the White Knife down to the sea, and hire a ship at White Harbor. Strong horses and brisk winds should bring us to King’s Landing well ahead of Ned and the Lannisters.” And then, she thought, we shall see what we shall see.

The next couple glimpses are one paragraph, which is the most discussed aspect of his experience. 

He sees Ned pleading with the King.

He sees Sansa crying herself to sleep.

He sees Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets in her heart.

I'm not sure if these visions occur before or after caught, because Arya is watching in silence, possibly hiding. Ned is still pleading with Robert even though Robert stormed off in the previous chapter - there shouldn't be much left to plead about if Lady is already dead.

“There are shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.”

The shadow with the terrible face of a hound is too easy, Sandor Clegane. If you’re dense, the ash is also alluded to because of his face and fire.

Armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Many take this description to mean Oberyn Martell, especially when they consider the next bit to be Gregor Clegane. Their sigil, however, is that of a RED sun, with a spear through it. Oberyn, though damn sexy in the show, is not often referenced as beautiful. Jaime, however, fits all the criteria. He’s armored in gold, and is pretty.

These two men are also the ones searching for Arya at this point in the story (refer to previous chapter). They are both leading search parties north of the Trident. North of the Trident is also where there are mountains of the Vale begin.

Now, for the giant in armor made of stone. Sure, Gregor's helm has a stone fist atop the helmet and he's called the mountain that rides, but the whole of his armor is not made of stone, nor is he relevant yet in this story. If it is a reference to Robert Strong, the armor is different and it wouldn't make much sense - Strong has white enameled plate over gilded mail. He also has rainbow feathers coming from the top of his helm. If Gregor was decapitated, then I suppose the poison used by Oberyn could turn his blood thick and black, however, GRRM uses "black blood" as a reference to any blood coming from wounds:

Khal Drogo thrashed, fighting some unseen enemy. Black blood ran slow and thick from his open wound.

He remembered the old man’s eyes too, and the black blood rushing from his throat as the storm cracked overhead.

Beneath her ravaged scalp, her face was shredded skin and black blood where she had raked herself with her nails.

All of it came pouring out of Brienne then, like black blood from a wound

When he laid the edge of the blade against the swollen throat of the creature on the straw, the skin split open in a gout of black blood and yellow pus.

The dragon gave one last hiss and stretched out flat upon his belly. Black blood was flowing from the wound where the spear had pierced him, smoking where it dripped onto the scorched sands.

So, thick black blood isn't any indication that poison was used. It most likely isn't Robert Strong. The armor is wrong, he's not yet relevant, and there's no indication that thick black blood = poison. This means it probably doesn't have anything to do with Gregor's duel with Oberyn Martell, either.

What could it be, then? If what we are seeing are events that are currently happening while Bran lays unconscious/dying/having an out of body experience, then what Bran is seeing is the literal mountains of the Vale, maybe even specifically, Giant's Lance.

Geographically, the mountains are north of the Trident, where both Sandor and Jaime are searching. It is said to be looming. If we search for Giant's Lance, we see that it's quite an imposing geographical feature:

So lovely. The snow-clad summit of the Giant’s Lance loomed above her, an immensity of stone and ice that dwarfed the castle perched upon its shoulder. Icicles twenty feet long draped the lip of the precipice where Alyssa’s Tears fell in summer. A falcon soared above the frozen waterfall, blue wings spread wide against the morning sky. Would that I had wings as well.

Interesting - Giant's Lance looming above her. Would that I have wings as well. Well I'll be damned.

Looming over them all was the jagged peak called the Giant’s Lance, a mountain that even mountains looked up to, its head lost in icy mists three and a half miles above the valley floor. Over its massive western shoulder flowed the ghost torrent of Alyssa’s Tears. Even from this distance, Catelyn could make out the shining silver thread, bright against the dark stone.

Another quote about the looming, headless mountain. Three and a half miles is 18,480 feet. Mount Everest is 29,029 feet from ground level. Mount Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet.

What then, is the visor? There are two possibilities for the visor - either the Gates of the Moon, which lies at the base of the mountain, or the Bloody Gate. It's more likely the Gates of the Moon as it is the last line of defense before ascending the Eyrie. The Bloody gate is further south and is one of the first defenses.

“The Gates of the Moon,” her uncle said as the party drew rein. His standard-bearer rode to the edge of the moat to hail the men in the gatehouse. “Lord Nestor’s seat. He should be expecting us. Look up.” Catelyn raised her eyes, up and up and up. At first all she saw was stone and trees, the looming mass of the great mountain shrouded in night, as black as a starless sky. Then she noticed the glow of distant fires well above them; a tower keep, built upon the steep side of the mountain , its lights like orange eyes staring down from above. Above that was another, higher and more distant, and still higher a third, no more than a flickering spark in the sky. And finally, up where the falcons soared, a flash of white in the moonlight. Vertigo washed over her as she stared upward at the pale towers, so far above.

So, we have a visor, the gates of the moon, that opens up to darkness and nothingness, the Eyrie. The Eyrie is much quieter and less populated than the Gates of the Moon. What is the blood?

The Vale of Arryn bathed in the morning light. It stretched before them to the misty east, a tranquil land of rich black soil, wide slow-moving rivers, and hundreds of small lakes that shone like mirrors in the sun, protected on all sides by its sheltering peaks.

If the Eyrie is being personified with the mountains as its armor and the Gates of the Moon as its visor, then the blood of the Eyrie is the definitely the rich black soil.

He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise.

If what Bran is seeing are real things and events, then these dragons really exist in or near Asshai. It's possible that they're smaller dragons like those toward the end of the Targaryen dynasty. Perhaps some Targaryens/ dragons escaped Valyria and headed East. Perhaps Asshai just has dragons of their own - I wish we'd get a look at Asshai.

Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from

This is another quote used by people connecting it to Jon being stabbed at the end of ADWD. I believe it's just Jon sleeping alone (as Ghost makes the other recruits afraid), and adapting to life at the wall.

And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks. Now you know, the crow whispered as it sat on his shoulder. Now you know why you must live.

What did he see, damn it!? It says he looked beyond the curtain at the end of the world, the heart of winter. I think it has to be something other-worldly, the heart of winter - something that has to do with the existence of the Others - death itself, perhaps. Incorporeal consciousnesses, tied to the elements.

Bran looked down. There was nothing below him now but snow and cold and death , a frozen wasteland where jagged blue -white spires of ice waited to embrace him. They flew up at him like spears. He saw the bones of a thousand other dreamers impaled upon their points. He was desperately afraid.

In the show, we see a similar scene when the Other converts the baby. He's surrounded by spires of ice. I believe the truth in the books is much more graphic. Dreamers are impaled on the spires of ice. Bran is a dreamer himself. I think there are two possibilities:

1. Those who have the ability to warg/greensight "fall" when near-death, and they come close to this place, this curtain of light at the end of the world. Either they fall and die with their consciousnesses fusing with the spires of ice and become an Other, or they fly and live. 
2. The sacrifices given by Craster and/or any captives they come across with the ability to warg/greensee are taken and impaled upon the spires manually. This explains why Bran sees bones. Of course, HBO can't show babies being impaled on spires of ice, so their interpretation is more TV friendly. 

Perhaps it's the case that all with the warg/greensight ability fall when near-death, and simply only die when they hit the ground. Maybe the Others still need to impale the dreamers on the spires of ice. Maybe we'll see this if Jon has to go through it.

Death reached for him, screaming.

Is death the ground, or an entity?

Bran wakes up after learning to fly.

“His name is Summer”

The Things I do for Love - Bran II

The Things I do for Love – Bran II

The chapter begins with a bunch of the party out hunting wild boar, which Robert wanted for the feast that evening.  Bran is eagerly anticipating heading south and riding a real horse for a change, instead of his usual pony. He daydreams about being a knight of the kingsguard and considers the three kingsguard that came along with King Robert. Of the three, he says that Jaime is the only one who looked like the knights in the stories. Jaime, however, doesn't seem very fond of boar hunting and isn't with the party.

He reminisces about his life in Winterfell and visits a couple of friends. He plays with his wolf for a bit and then decides to go climbing. His wolf, the only one still without a name at this point, objects to his climbing. This is where some of the interesting imagery begins and, of course, he begins his ascent into warg-dom.

First, when he begins climbing he considers Winterfell, “To a boy, Winterfell was a grey stone labyrinth of walls and towers and courtyards and tunnels spreading out in all directions. In the older parts of the castle, the halls slanted up and down so that you couldn't even be sure what floor you were on. The place had grown over the centuries like some monstrous stone tree, Maester Luwin told him once, and its branches were gnarled and thick and twisted, its roots sunk deep into the earth.”

This seems like a comparison to an old bone-white weirwood tree, which we’ll see referenced again as a tree that looks like stone around the cave up north and possibly on the Iron Islands. Is it only a comparison though, or does Winterfell have something magical about it below in its deep roots? What keeps it warm? What’s in the crypts?

The tree imagery doesn't stop there; however, “He confessed his crime the next day in a fit of guilt. Lord Eddard ordered him to the godswood to cleanse himself. Guards were posted to see that Bran remained there alone all night to reflect on his disobedience. The next morning Bran was nowhere to be seen. They finally found him fast asleep in the upper branches of the tallest sentinel in the grove.”

Could this possibly be foreshadowing his time inside and connected to a weirwood, just as Blood Raven is?

“When he got out from under it and scrambled up near the sky, Bran could see all of Winterfell in a glance. He liked the way it looked, spread out beneath him, only birds wheeling over his head while all the life of the castle went on below. Bran could perch for hours among the shapeless, rain-worn gargoyles that brooded over the First Keep, watching it all: the men drilling with wood and steel in the yard, the cooks tending their vegetables in the glass garden, restless dogs running back and forth in the kennels, the silence of the godswood, the girls gossiping beside the washing well. It made him feel like he was lord of the castle, in a way even Robb would never know.”

This is very similar to what happens to Bran next. He enjoys seeing events in Winterfell unfold from above. The next thing he knows, he’s flying and seeing events all across Westeros from above.  Is it possible that he becomes a kind of “lord of warging/greenseeing” that his siblings and any other wargs would never know?

“Old Nan told him a story about a bad little boy who climbed too high and was struck down by lightning, and how afterward the crows came to peck out his eyes. Bran was not impressed. There were crows’ nests atop the broken tower, where no one ever went but him, and sometimes he filled his pockets with corn before he climbed up there and the crows ate it right out of his hand. None of them had ever shown the slightest bit of interest in pecking out his eyes.”

Is it just another Old Nan story or does she know something about warging, or even about Blood Raven and his crows?

Finally, as he gets to the top of the First Keep, we learn of the incestuous relationship between Jaime and Cersei and, well, Bran never falls….

Before he left the window, Bran says his age (7) if that’s of any significance. The wolf howls, the crows circle.

Crooked Stitches - Arya I

Arya I

This is Arya’s first POV chapter, and basically serves to illustrate the contrast between her wildness and Sansa’s proper ladylike behavior.

The chapter begins with Arya, Jeyne Poole, Beth Cassel, Sansa and Princess Myrcella practicing the womanly art of needlework overseen by Septa Mordane. Arya isn’t very interested in her work, possibly because she once overheard the Septa telling her mother that she had the hands of a blacksmith. Instead, she glances around the room thinking about how beautiful Sansa’s work is because “everyone says so.” The rest of the girls giggle, gossip and gush about Joffrey and how he’s going to marry Sansa. The talking attracts the attention of the Septa, and Arya’s lack of needle talents is announced publicly, to her embarrassment. Arya storms out of the room and out of any possible opportunity to lead a prissy proper ladylike life. When asked where she is going by the Septa, she responds with quick wit saying “I have to go shoe a horse.”

This makes me wonder if Arya had any real chance to be a “proper lady” or whether she was born with the wild wolf-blood. Everyone seemed to be too busy cooing over Sansa’s beauty and talents. She seemed to be trying her best at needlework, and we know how well she gets at sword play with Syrio with practice, but perhaps when she overheard the Septa telling her mother that she has the hands of a blacksmith, it activated some type of stereotype threat or self-fulfilling prophecy which made her unable to perform well or get better. She’s also two years younger than Sansa, so the expectations of the Septa may have even been unrealistic. Telling the Septa that she was going to shoe a horse was a rejection of the gender norms. It’s also interesting with her later friendship with Gendry.

After she leaves, she looks for some place to watch Joffrey get knocked on his backside by Robb. At this point, there isn’t much reason to dislike him, besides the fact that Jon said he looks like a girl. Perhaps this could be the earliest glimmer of Arya’s dark side. She also says that she would have taken Nymeria to needlework seemingly to intimidate Septa Mordane. She is only 9 years old though, and is embarrassed and hurt by her sister’s friends giggling at her failure to fit in and do girly things. It isn’t unreasonable to feel this way.

She finds a spot to watch the fighting and Jon is already there. She’s disappointed to see that it’s only the younger boys fighting instead of Robb and Joffrey. Jon messes up her hair as she says she can perform better than Bran who’s fighting plump Prince Tommen. They remark on the arms on Joffrey’s coat. It’s interesting that they are looking at Joffrey’s arms and not Tommen’s because the arms are divided between the crowned stag and the lion of Lannister. This is possible early symbolism of Joffrey’s  incestual parentage and also the proudness of house Lannister.

The fighting ends with Robb and Joffrey arguing since Joffrey doesn’t really want to go another bout with Robb, and the Lannister men laughing at Joffrey’s lame jokes.  Arya heads back to her room where the Septa and her mother were waiting for her.

A couple of other important things that were mentioned in the chapter:

Arya discussing appearances. She says “Jon had their father’s face, as she did. They were the only ones. Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair. When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It had been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her.”

Possibly subtle evidence of R + L = J. She’s discussing similar features that she shares with Jon, and later on in her second chapter, Ned says she looks like Lyanna. It’s just a small connection.

“Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. ‘The wolf blood,’ my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave.” Arya heard sadness in his voice; he did not often speak of his father, or of the brother and sister who had died before she was born. “Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her.” “Lyanna was beautiful,” Arya said, startled. Everybody said so. It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya. “She was,” Eddard Stark agreed, “beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time.”

As a little sidenote, she says “everyone said so” again in regards to someone’s appearance. She doesn’t think much of herself because of the fact that she’s called Arya Horseface even though she’s probably actually pretty (in the books at least). The last line of that quote is pretty dark and foreboding, especially given what Jon tells Arya at the end of the chapter I reviewed,

“You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.”

Combine this quote with what the Ghost of High Heart sees, and I’m a bit on edge about the future of Arya. 

Summer Will End Soon - Catelyn II

Pride and deceit were the main theme in this chapter.

PRIDE: The chapter began with Ned and Catelyn’s discussion of the former’s acceptance/refusal to being hand of the king. As Ned argued to refuse his closest comrade, Catelyn insisted that the king would not understand his reasons and his refusal would eventually put their house in danger. We get a glimpse of Cat’s pride in bringing her house honor when she talked about Sansa’s betrothal to the crown prince and her supposed marriage to Brandon Stark, Ned’s older brother who was killed by the Mad King Aerys.

DECEIT: As we continue reading, Maester Luwin makes an unexpected appearance bearing a lens, a symbolism that every character and reader should look more closely as events unfold and a controversial letter from the Lady Lysa Arryn of the Eyrie. The first taste of deceit was thrown to us in this chapter, a concept that GRRM greatly utilized in writing the whole series. Lysa sends a hidden letter in a language only she and Cat could understand and revealed that the Lannisters murdered the late hand, Jon Arryn. This event made me believe that the Lannisters were the antagonists of the series, when they are in fact just players in a game played by characters who claim loyalty to the realm. Lysa’s cunning way of sending the message also hints of her sly nature, a fact that will later on be revealed in A Feast for Crows. Due to this event, Ned was urged by both Cat and Maester Luwin to go south to find out the truth about Jon Arryn’s death; this makes me conclude that everything that was brought upon house Stark is Cat’s fault.

PRIDE and DECEIT: We are later introduced to Ser Arthur Dayne of the Kingsguard also known as the Sword of the Morning. Ser Arthur is one of the deadliest and finest knights of Aery’s seven and Prince Rhaegar’s closest friend, it is believed that Ned slew him in the Tower of Joy in single combat, a contradiction to Ned’s statement that Ser Arthur would’ve killed him if not for Howland Reed (This establishes the Bran-Jojen connection). After Ser Arthur Dayne, Lady Ashara Dayne was introduced, a beautiful maiden who is believed to be the mother of the bastard Jon Snow. Again, a devious way to conceal the true identity of Jon’s mother/truth behind R+L=J, a theory that we all probably accept as true (verified by Ned’s own statement “He is my blood, and that is all you need to know” regarding Jon Snow). This part of Cat’s POV emphasizes on her pride as a mother (something that will eventually transcend to something bigger and powerful) and how that eventually sends Jon to the wall.

CONCLUSION: Does anyone else blame Cat for falling into Littlefinger’s trap (The first step to start the game that is about to be played, yes he knows her that well)? If only Ned stayed north, none of this would’ve happened and the series wouldn’t be as interesting. So thank you, Catelyn Stark. 

The Bastard

This chapter mostly serves to introduce the royal family and the rest of the Lannisters, although Jon's exchange with Benjen is significant too. Picking up from the previous chapter, Jon sees Robert the same way Ned does, but doesn't pull his punches in describing him - a fat man, red-faced and sweating. Joffrey's doucheface also makes an appearance, as does Tyrion's white-blond hair and his mention that his father does not really consider him his own - fodder for the Tyrion Targaryen theory, which I think is absurd.

This chapter seemed more clumsily written to me, than did some of the others. I can't exactly say why, but something about the writing style comes off as amateurish. I'd bet that GRRM wrote this one quite early in the process.

Benjen's conversaton with Jon seems odd. First he raises the idea of Jon going to the wall, but then begins discouraging him almost immediately. This may be because he wasn't expecting Jon to be so enthusiastic about it, but in any case, the seed is obviously planted. It's too bad Jon didn't have the chance to talk to Tyrion about the Wall during their conversation at the end of this chapter; maybe Tyrion's take on the sorry state of the Night's Watch might have given Jon second thoughts, if he'd heard it before becoming so emotionally committed to the idea.

Also touched on is the expectation that each younger son of a Great House will inherit a holdfast and serve as his older brother's bannerman, which relates to my complaint about the sparse size of noble families in ASOIAF - what happened to all of the Stark uncles, aunts, cousins, and so on, in the generations before Ned and Benjen's? Few of the other nobles families seem to be any more sizeable. But I've complained about this elsewhere. In a story of this scope, some things have to be abstracted and written unrealistically. In this case, we have problems with distances and the size of Westeros, and with missing nobles throughout the realm. Whatever - at least the political intrigue is developed more deeply, and that's what matters.

Finally - does anyone think it's significant that Ghost distrusts Tyrion initially? Is that an omen, or just a leftover from GRRM's early stages of writing, when he didn't put as much thought into things?

Also, what the hell is up with Tyrion backflipping down off walls?

Promise Me, Ned

Given that all of us are probably R+L=J believers, if not zealots, I feel safe in saying that, re-reading this chapter, we probably fixated on the characters' implied relationship to Lyanna.

So what do we have? To see her crypt is Robert's first wish, and it inspires in Cersei what might be seen as jealousy (though I doubt this, given the insight we get later into her feelings about Robert - perhaps she is trying to control his foolish behavior here? It is a pretty absurd thing for a king to do in this public occasion).

"Ned loved him for that." So whatever else Ned thinks about Robert's obsession with his sister, he appreciates it as something genuine and doesn't scorn it. But Ned is reticent in the rest of the conversation, or silent. He certainly doesn't openly share in Robert's continued hatred of Rhaegar, one hint that he knows more about that dead prince than he's letting on. And this chapter is the first appearance of "promise me" - here it implies she was begging to buried at Winterfell, though it's perfectly plausible to doubt this. I don't think this chapter is heavy with foreshadowing of Lyanna's story, and certainly not with clues, but it's the first thing that came to my attention while reading.

There's more going on than just clues for a theory, though. Throughout the chapter, Ned notes, and Robert demonstrates, the degree to which the king has gone to seed; it's a sign of the state of the kingdom: In thrall to Lannister wealth; grown weak and sloppy and corrupt; incapable of withstanding the pressures on it.

This being an epic fantasy novel, it would be too much to expect political strife or civil war not to be looming, but here there are only signs of it - Ned's mistrust of Tywin; the mention of a rebellion nine years previous, from which Ned still holds a hostage; the surprise offers-that-can't-be-refused of a promotion to king's regent and of a Baratheon-Stark marriage alliance; the tension between Cersei and Robert (and by extension, their houses); and Robert's total disinclination to deal with the demands of ruling a fragile new dynasty. Having read the series, I know how ominous each of these mentions are, but none of the characters seem to have any notion of how badly things are about to go wrong.

The characters of Ned and Robert seem incompatible as close friends, as well. Ned is solemn and stark, if you will; Robert is sanguine and apparently a buffoon. Both, we'll learn, are completely unprepared for the game of thrones, though for wholly different reasons. I wonder if their youthful friendship did not resemble Robert's character more than Ned's current one - behind the rigid, honorable face of Lord Stark could be a well-hidden past full of drinking, whoring and carefree hedonism. It's certainly conceivable, but it's also possible their differing personalities have always been so. If Ned was more like Robert in his younger days, it's easier to imagine him fathering a bastard. Although I believe R+L=J, I never bought the argument that said Ned's current emphasis on honor means it's too hard to believe Jon would be his son - it could just as well be that Jon's existence led him to become so conspicuously scrupulous.

Across the Narrow Sea

In Pentos, across the Narrow Sea, we meet Daenerys of House Targaryen. Dany, as many call her, is one of the last known living Targaryens. Her father, "The Mad King" was stabbed in the back by Jaime Lannister and killed. Robert Baratheon took the throne and since then, Dany and her brother Viserys have been running and hiding to stay alive. 

When we meet her, she is a meek girl but as we know, she develops into a strong character.

At this point in they story she is a poor child at the mercy of her older brother Viserys. Through Dany's eyes we see the monster in Viserys. He touches her inappropriately; he plans to marry her off for an army and doesn't even seem to feel an ounce of

guilt or shame about it. 

Viserys remembers everything they went through since their family was butchered. Unfortunately, he seems like a sick twisted boy who is incapable of ruling a kingdom. He controls Dany, while he is controlled by Illyrio Mopatis. Illyrio is an obese man of many talents and business endeavors. As Dany mentions, they have lived in his home for a year, yet Illyrio has never asked anything of them. 

In this chapter Martin certainly emphasizes that Daenerys mistrusts Illyrio. We already know Illyrio has some schemes brewing. What we know now really makes me question why he had this plot with Dany, Viserys and the Dothraki. Obviously, raising a kid to be Aegon or raising Aegon in secret isn't exactly a plan B. 

Daenerys mistrusts him for a reason. It seems like he possibly planned to betray her and her brother all along. Dany notices the words he speaks to Viserys. For example, he tells Viserys that "in holdfasts all across the realm, men lift secret toasts to [his] health while women sew dragon banners and hide them against the day of his return." Those words seem very empty and Dany senses that Illyrio is misguiding her brother. 

Daenerys at this point just yearns for a home. Not necessarily in Westeros but she is definitely curious about her "homeland". She doesn't share her brother's rage or need to conquer. We can see that she is controlled by her brother. The poor girl is upset that she is going to marry a rich and powerful horse-lord because she always assumed she would marry her brother.  

Dany is extremely worried about meeting Khal Drogo, and she gives protest to her brother despite the fact that she is very afraid of Viserys. Her protest does nothing but anger Viserys. The chapter ends with Dany in tears, right before she is about to meet the ruthless horselord that will be her husband and give her brother an army to conquer Westeros and reclaim the Targaryen throne. 

The Old Gods and the New

In this chapter we are introduced to Catelyn of House Tully of Riverrun, Ned Starks southern wife. Martin uses her to give us a crash course on religion and practices in the North and South. We learn that they are as different as spring and winter. We also learn that Jon Arryn, a character that was like a second father to Ned Stark, is dead.

From the news of Jon's Arryn death we learn a few very important things. We learn that the King, Robert of House Baratheon is headed to Winterfell. Ned Stark mentions that he finds it strange that the widow of Jon Arryn, Lysa Tully, went to the Eyrie rather than Riverrun. As we now now, Lysa had specific plans and thus traveled to the impregnable land where the Eyrie sits.

During this reread I find myself paying a lot more attention to the gods in this world. The north, as we are told in this chapter, follows the old gods. The old gods of the children of the Forrest have no names. We know through Catelyn that Lord Stark sits before the weirwood in the godswood after taking a man's life. "The heart tree", as Ned calls the weirwood, makes Catelyn uneasy because she senses that the face carved by the long gone children of the forest watches her. Catelyn's southern family worships the new gods. She feels like an outsider in the north. We can truly see that Catelyn views the north as a dark place compared to her southern home. 

Her southern traditions are very different from the practices in the north. Her religion, The Faith of the Seven seems more complicated. She describes that worshiping involves a septon, incense, a seven sided crystal, and song. Worshipping the old gods involves praying before the weirwood tree in the godswood. No priests, no song, just the worshiper and the tree. 

 In the North, the children of the forest carved the faces in the trees long before the arrival of the First Men. During a war, between the Children and the first men, all the trees in the south were cut down. The only place in the south where weirwoods still exist is in the isle of faces. This caught my attention because I don't exactly remember this from my first read. Maybe this isle will come to play in future books. Perhaps a Howland Reed/knight of the laughing tree/Green Seer Bran connection. 

As we now know, the weirwood trees are a sort of network. A network that greenseers use to see visions of the past and present. Since there are no weirwoods in the south we no that greenseers have no sight there. 

It's interesting that Catelyn Stark, despite believing in the faith of the seven, is so afraid of the weirwood trees. She is also afraid of The Others. One would think that her faith would put her at peace. According to Ned Stark, The Others and the children of the forest have been gone for thousands of years and Maester Luwin doesn't even believe the Others ever existed. Catelyn Tully obviously believes in all of these otherworldly entities. She is very uneasy about the dead direwolf in the snow with the antler it's throat. Foreshadowing that George RR Martin throws at us right at us from the beginning. This is definitely one of the more obvious omens in the books. Direwolf and Stag, representing the Starks and Baratheons. 

Finding and reinterpreting all of the omens and prophecies is something I'm really looking forward to. I'm sure Martin has foreshadowed the end of the series already. I hope that as we read the last two books we can say, "Whoa, that was spelled out all along!"  Or maybe we'll be completely blindsided. As "boy" says in season 3 episode 6 of A Game of Thrones "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." I'm definitely paying attention to omens/prophecies throughout this re-read and I think the Children of the forest storyline will give us many clues.


Sent from my iPod

Our Way is the Older Way

The morning dawns and the air is crisp and smells of fall. Now, quickly, follow the horses, we're on the way to a beheading. 

George R.R. Martin introduces us to Westeros and the Starks of Winterfell in the midst of a procession on their way to see a man beheaded. So, if the prologue wasn’t enough of an indication, the reader should now be aware that this book doesn’t end with hobbits, dwarves and wizards sitting for a meal.

The chapter is told through the point of view of Bran Stark, second youngest of the Stark children, who at the age of seven has finally been ruled old enough to see his father, Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, “deliver the King’s justice.” Bran assumes that the condemned man must be a wildling based on his eldest brothers rumors; a man serving Mance Rayder, the-King-beyond-the-Wall. We learn that wildlings are a sort of boogie man to the children of Westeros, lawless people living beyond the Wall, cruel and criminal.

At the execution we meet Robb Stark, the eldest Stark child and heir to Winterfell and Jon Snow, the Stark bastard of an age with Robb. We are also introduced to Theon Greyjoy, Eddard’s ward, and several of the Stark servants and laborers.

The condemned man is not a wildling. Based on his description we, the readers, recognize Gared, the old ranger of the Night’s Watch from the prologue. It appears that he survived the encounter with the Others only to be killed as a deserter in Winterfell.

His death marks the death of the only living person in Westeros, that we are aware of, who may know for a fact that the Others are real and active. Does he manage to deliver a warning to Eddard Stark before he dies? We don’t know as Bran does not remember what questions and answers preceded his death. We know he may have been too far gone to make sense based on Jon Snow’s observation that his eyes looked like those of one already dead from fear.

On the ride back to Winterfell, Ned has a side conversation with Bran which grants us the first look into his character. First, Bran asks him about the debate Jon and Robb were having about whether the man died bravely. Bran asks his father if one can be brave if they are afraid to which Ned replies that that is the only time one can truly be brave. Ned also explains to Bran why he had to personally deliver the sentence.

Bran’s initial nervous excitement on the way to the execution suggests that death is rather commonplace and cheap in Westeros. Ned explains that the Starks keep to the old ways and that the one who ordered justice be done must be the one to deliver it, lest he forget what sentencing a man to death means. Here we see that Ned is a ruler who is steadfast in his ways and in keeping with tradition and we get a glimpse of his sense of honor.

The most important event in the chapter is, of course, the discovery of the dead direwolf and the Stark children’s adoption of her litter of pups. A defining moment for all of the children that will carry weight throughout the series.

The symbolism of the direwolf pup’s is pretty obvious, and basically explained in the text by Jon Snow. There is a pup of the right gender for each of the Stark children, including the outcast runt of the litter that Jon finds at the last second, and the direwolf is their house sigil.

The other hinted at symbolism comes from the manner in which the mother died, she choked on the horns of a stag. The stag is the sigil of House Baratheon to which Ned’s old friend and current King, Robert, belongs. The direwolf choking on the stag it tried to kill is an inauspicious omen at best. The other fact, that all of the characters seem to overlook, is that the wolf pup’s who fate has deemed represent the Stark children have been orphaned by fate.

In introducing us to Winterfell through Bran, Martin has used the freshest eyes available. The first time Bran sees his father behead a man is the first time we see his father. When Ned opens up to Bran to explain concepts of bravery and honor Martin is opening his character up to us. We first hear of the wildlings through Bran’s memories of an old woman’s stories, ones that meet the expectations of a typical fantasy reader. But those stories are somewhat shattered by the bleak reality of the matter and by Ned’s very human explanation of things.

This is a world of honor and blood and death and like Bran we have just begun to learn that.

Night Gathers, and Now My Watch Begins

Our first glimpse into the world of Westeros is North of the Wall. We are introduced to three Nights Watch Rangers, in the process of tracking a group of wildling raiders. The Rangers are led by Ser Waymar Royce, the third son of Lord Yohn Royce of Runestone. Through the eyes of Will, we learn that being sent to the Night's Watch may be used as a means of punishment. Will was arrested for poaching, and Ser Waymar is a third son, unlikely to gain lands or titles.

Much of the chapter is dedicated to showing the way that Ser Waymar, the "lordling" is viewed by his common born brothers in arms. Gared and Will despise Ser Waymar, and chafe at taking orders from him due to his relative lack of service on the wall, age, and attitude. Ser Waymar is overconfident, cocky, and unwilling to listen to Gared, the older and more experienced man. Ser Waymar's confidence, and his refusal to "fail on his first ranging" in the end is what leads to his death and the death of his men. He bravely faces off against a White Walker before being killed and resurrected as a vengeful wight. Indeed, it is Ser Waymar who Benjen Stark is searching for when he goes missing on his ranging.

The chapter serves as a strong introduction. We're headed to a world where the stories you hear "at a woman's teat" in the words of Ser Waymar Royce, are about to come true.

What's more interesting to me, more than anything that happens in this specific chapter, with its three soon to be dead main characters, is how Ser Waymar's failed ranging affects the way Jon Snow is treated when he arrives at the Wall.

As noted frequently in the series, the Night's Watch was once considered a noble calling. Much ink is committed to reinforcing the fact that the Night's Watch has changed from a group of knights and lords dedicated to saving the kingdom to a group of malcontents and rapists living bitter and miserable lives on the Wall. Ser Waymar Royce, as a son of Bronze Yohn Royce, the second most powerful Lord in the Vale, is a big catch for the Night's Watch and a glowing exception. His coming does the Watch great honor, and they are in his father's debt. As a result, they make him a ranger and give him command of a ranging within six months of being on the Wall. Contrast that with the treatment Jon Snow gets when he arrives and you see that what happens here serves as an important lesson for the Watch.

Jon Snow, despite being from a more powerful and prestigious House than Ser Waymar, is trained with the regular recruits when he first arrives. When he asks his uncle Benjen to go ranging, he is immediately shot down. Furthermore, the need for men who can read and write means that Jon is placed with the stewards, not with the rangers, like Ser Waymar, which is directly against his wishes.

Since we see Ser Waymar primarily through the eyes or Gared and Will, we see his arrogance and condescension. We don't get the benefit of seeing Jon through the eyes of Grenn or Rast, so we don't see exactly how he comes off initially. But we do see that he is feared by the recruits and disdained by the long-serving brothers. Going through training "with the boys" helps prepare Jon for the entirety of the life ahead of him, a benefit Ser Waymar didn't have.

A Re-Read Project

A Thousand Eyes and One is a re-read project, aimed at uncovering some of the mysteries of George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice, upon which the popular show A Game of Thrones is based. By re-examining a familiar text through "A Thousand Eyes and One" we hope to figure out key mysteries in the novels, solve burning questions, and formulate sound theories.