To recap what we learned last week:
- death is a thing that happens
- Others are creepy
- First People are apparently Different People than the Rest Of Westeros's People
- Stark kings need to kill people in person
- people don't trust direwolves
ON TO THIS WEEK'S POST!
Caetlyn's chapter
Caetlyn, originally of House Tully and married into House Stark, seems to be an expositional character. She finds Ned (her husband) in the godswood after killing the dude mentioned in Bran's chapter. It seems that a godswood is a forest dedicated to prayer, it seems. One tree of importance seems to be the weirwood tree, which has had a face carved into it for a very long time. (No clues to why there is a face carved into the tree, or why most of the other weirwood trees have been, according to the text, "cut down or burned out a thousand years ago... Up here [in the north] it was different. Here every castle had its godswood, and every godswood had its heart tree, and every heart tree its face").
Other things that are established in this chapter:
- Ned asks about the kids first
- "Winter is coming" is an unusual phrase for Family Words; apparently, the Starks are the only family not to talk about honor, glory, loyalty, etc.
- "beyond the Wall" is something nobody wants to hear as a destination - no clues to why, but still.
- more information about the Others: that they have been gone for eight thousand years, like the children of the forest.
- Jon Arryn is dead. Apparently this is a bad thing - he is Ned's brother-in-law, married to Caetlyn's sister.
- Ned had apparently been fostered with Robert Baratheon
- Robert Baratheon is KING (of... what, exactly?) and is COMING TO VISIT NED
QUESTIONS:
- who the crap are the children of the forest?
- why is Robert coming to visit Ned?
- are we at the inciting action yet?
DAENERYS
NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
Apparently, from what I can gather, 13-year-old Daenerys and her brother, Viserys, may or may not be descended from dragons. They have purple eyes, an affinity for dragons, and their family has copulated amongst siblings to "keep the family pure," or something; since dragons don't have sex with common farm animals, neither should the Targaryens. Apparently, Daenerys is about to break that cycle, because Viserys is about to marry her off to Khal Drogo, who is Dothraki. Viserys is marrying his 13-year-old sister to a man with an army because Viserys demands REVENGE. Since the Usurper and the Kingslayer had killed the Targaryen rulers (the parents of Dany and Viserys), Viserys can't get over the defeat and needs VENGEANCE. So he marries his 13-year-old sister off to a non-Targaryen with 40,000 warriors, because VENGEANCE.
Viserys also mentions that he would let his sister endure some very unpleasant sexual things if it meant getting the 40,000 warriors on his side.
I hope he gets smited. He seems like an ass.
I can see where Viserys is coming from - he's styled himself as a beggar king because he and Dany are essentially homeless after their entire family was killed, and it's EVERYONE ELSE'S FAULT. But, personally, I'd try not to alienate my only living relative before I got my 40,000-man army.
MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER:
Illyro of Pentos - master of one of the Nine Free Cities; current host to Daenerys and Viserys
The Usurper and the Kingslayer - the Kingslayer is Jamie Lannister (I think), who killed Dad Targaryen; the Usurper is Robert Barantheon, who took the throne later.
Ser Jorah Mormont - this is a knight amongst the Dothraki. Since this is a rare occurrence, I'm including him. He may become imporant.
Khal Drogo - Dany's future husband.
QUESTIONS:
- who are the Dothraki?
- Why is Ser Jorah among the Dothraki? What did he do to make the Usurper want his head?
- Why did he go to the Dothraki?
- How do the Dothraki feel about this?
- Will Viserys succeed?
Showing posts with label Game of Thrones Spoilers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game of Thrones Spoilers. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Game of Thrones Post 1: Prologue and Chapter 1 (no POV and Bran)
SUMMARY OF PROLOGUE
There are three guys named Will, Gared, and Ser Waymar Royce, who are going through the forest. They are, apparently, members of the Night Watch. Will and Gared have lots of experience and Royce, an 18-year-old noble, doesn't have so much. Guess which one's in charge? (If you said "Gared the 50-something-year-old man who has over 40 years of experience and would be the logical choice to head something like this," guess again. If you guessed "the 18-year-old lordling," you are correct). Royce frustrates me. He's the sort of guy who might say things like "being scared is for sissies. Don't make a fire when it's well below freezing and there's snow on the ground. Fires are for sissies."
Of course, Royce is the first casualty in Game of Thrones. He is struck down by an "Other," which either kills him or turns him into a zombie-Other; it's hard to tell which. (Well, to be fair, you have to be dead to be a zombie, so maybe they killed him and made him a zombie-Other). What the crap is an "Other," anyway? I assume "Other" is capitalized because that's the name of the kind of creature - sort of like how Elves can be capitalized in Lord of the Rings. From what I can tell, the Others are some kind of super-deadly, super-mysterious ice monster thing.
At any rate, Royce is definitely the first to collapse, but he turns into an Other-type thing and kills Will. Gared is nowhere to be found.
QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE PROLOGUE:
1. WHY IS AN 18-YEAR-OLD NOOB GIVEN AUTHORITY OVER A 50-SOMETHING WITH 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE?
2. WHY DOESN'T SAID 18-YEAR-OLD NOOB RESPECT THE WISDOM OF SOMEONE WITH LITERALLY DECADES MORE EXPERIENCE?
3. WHAT THE CRAP IS AN "OTHER?"
4. WHERE THE CRAP IS GARED AT THE END?
BRAN'S CHAPTER
There are several Stark children - in this chapter, you know there are five (plus Jon Snow the bastard and Theo Greyjoy the ward), but you only meet Robb (14), Jon (14), and Bran (7); Rickon (3) is also mentioned. Ned Stark, the head of the family, has to kill some guy for treason. There's an interesting passage here about how kings become too separated from death if they hire out executioners.
SPOILER SIDE NOTE (highlight over the text to see what it says):
I find it interesting that Ned dies by execution. Not sure the circumstances, but keep that in mind.
END SPOILER SIDE NOTE
Anyway, at the end of the chapter Jon finds a litter of five abandoned direwolves. This may be significant because the sigil of the Stark household, Winterfell, is a direwolf. Jon finds himself an albino direwolf to take care of, and he and Robb insist that the kids are capable of raising the direwolves on their own. Ned agrees, so long as the kids do it and not anyone else.
QUESTIONS RAISED BY THIS CHAPTER:
1. Ned mentions to Bran that they are descended from the First People, or something like that. According to My Roommate the GoT History Buff, the First People are important because they're a different species of people than the rest of the world. Like Homo Erectus vs. Homo Sapiens, or something? Anyway, will this be explored?
2. Why are they trusting the care of direwolves to kids 14 and younger? They say themselves that direwolves are bigger than the normal wolves - possibly bigger than Bran's pony. Sure, they're only pups, but 3-year-old Rickon won't be able to actually direct the direwolf, and Ned said that none of the staff should be involved with the raising of the direwolves. HOW THE CRAP IS A 3-YEAR-OLD GOING TO RAISE A DIREWOLF?
3. What's the deal with Bran having to see the death?
There are three guys named Will, Gared, and Ser Waymar Royce, who are going through the forest. They are, apparently, members of the Night Watch. Will and Gared have lots of experience and Royce, an 18-year-old noble, doesn't have so much. Guess which one's in charge? (If you said "Gared the 50-something-year-old man who has over 40 years of experience and would be the logical choice to head something like this," guess again. If you guessed "the 18-year-old lordling," you are correct). Royce frustrates me. He's the sort of guy who might say things like "being scared is for sissies. Don't make a fire when it's well below freezing and there's snow on the ground. Fires are for sissies."
Of course, Royce is the first casualty in Game of Thrones. He is struck down by an "Other," which either kills him or turns him into a zombie-Other; it's hard to tell which. (Well, to be fair, you have to be dead to be a zombie, so maybe they killed him and made him a zombie-Other). What the crap is an "Other," anyway? I assume "Other" is capitalized because that's the name of the kind of creature - sort of like how Elves can be capitalized in Lord of the Rings. From what I can tell, the Others are some kind of super-deadly, super-mysterious ice monster thing.
At any rate, Royce is definitely the first to collapse, but he turns into an Other-type thing and kills Will. Gared is nowhere to be found.
QUESTIONS RAISED BY THE PROLOGUE:
1. WHY IS AN 18-YEAR-OLD NOOB GIVEN AUTHORITY OVER A 50-SOMETHING WITH 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE?
2. WHY DOESN'T SAID 18-YEAR-OLD NOOB RESPECT THE WISDOM OF SOMEONE WITH LITERALLY DECADES MORE EXPERIENCE?
3. WHAT THE CRAP IS AN "OTHER?"
4. WHERE THE CRAP IS GARED AT THE END?
BRAN'S CHAPTER
There are several Stark children - in this chapter, you know there are five (plus Jon Snow the bastard and Theo Greyjoy the ward), but you only meet Robb (14), Jon (14), and Bran (7); Rickon (3) is also mentioned. Ned Stark, the head of the family, has to kill some guy for treason. There's an interesting passage here about how kings become too separated from death if they hire out executioners.
SPOILER SIDE NOTE (highlight over the text to see what it says):
I find it interesting that Ned dies by execution. Not sure the circumstances, but keep that in mind.
END SPOILER SIDE NOTE
Anyway, at the end of the chapter Jon finds a litter of five abandoned direwolves. This may be significant because the sigil of the Stark household, Winterfell, is a direwolf. Jon finds himself an albino direwolf to take care of, and he and Robb insist that the kids are capable of raising the direwolves on their own. Ned agrees, so long as the kids do it and not anyone else.
QUESTIONS RAISED BY THIS CHAPTER:
1. Ned mentions to Bran that they are descended from the First People, or something like that. According to My Roommate the GoT History Buff, the First People are important because they're a different species of people than the rest of the world. Like Homo Erectus vs. Homo Sapiens, or something? Anyway, will this be explored?
2. Why are they trusting the care of direwolves to kids 14 and younger? They say themselves that direwolves are bigger than the normal wolves - possibly bigger than Bran's pony. Sure, they're only pups, but 3-year-old Rickon won't be able to actually direct the direwolf, and Ned said that none of the staff should be involved with the raising of the direwolves. HOW THE CRAP IS A 3-YEAR-OLD GOING TO RAISE A DIREWOLF?
3. What's the deal with Bran having to see the death?
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