A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 10

Ah, Monday! I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. We are really getting into the juicy part of the book now. It is very hard to stop reading every two chapters and write up my thoughts.

Today we have Catelyn meeting an old friend, and a character I plan to keep a close eye on this reread - Littlefinger. And our favorite bastard, Jon Snow, begins to see what life at the Wall is like.

As always, spoilers for the four books released so far: Game of Thrones, Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords, and Feast for Crows.

On with the show!

CATELYN

Summary

Catelyn's ship was in sight of King's Landing. It had been a fast journey, but Ser Rodrik did not take it well. He was seasick and was forced to shave off his "great white side whiskers." Catelyn kept the dagger close to her at all times, she had to touch it every now and then to reassure herself. Their plan is to find Ser Aron Santagar, the master-at-arms to the king, and see if he knows the origin of the dagger. Ser Rodrik knows Santagar, and trusts him. Ser Rodrik points out that Catelyn's face will be known at court, specifically Petyr Baelish, called Littlefineer, as he was a childhood friend of Cat's. When Cat was betrothed to Ned's brother Brandon, Littlefinger challenged Brandon for the right to Cat's hand. Brandon was five years older, and left Littlefinger with a scar. She had not seen him since, even though he sent her a letter after Brandon's death. Cat knew by then she would marry Ned, and burned Littlefinger's letter unread.

Catelyn thought that Littlefinger was on the small council now. She surveyed King's Landing, and the impressive Red Keep. Aegon the Conqueror began the construction of the Red Keep, and it was said his son, Maegor the Cruel, had every stonemason, woodworker, and builder killed - so that no man may know the its secrets. Ser Rodrik was unrecognizable without his whiskers, so it was decided he would find Ser Aron while Catelyn would remain hidden in an inn. Catelyn found an inn and decided to lay down and nap, Ser Rodrik would be back before nightfall.

Cat awoke to a pounding on the door. Several members of the City Watch were there, with orders to escort her to the castle - on the authority of Lord Petyr Baelish. Cat could not figure out how Littlefinger knew of her presence, but she retrieved the dagger and went with the City Watch anyway.

Littlefinger was alone in the room Cat was brought to. Cat chastised him for the way she was brought before him, and he apologized. He informed her that Lord Varys was the one that informed him of her presence, and that Varys would be joining them shortly, but Littlefinger wanted to see her alone first. Littlefinger explains that Varys hears everything, that he has informants in the city, and often knows of events before they happen. Littlefinger and Cat bandy back and forth as to her purpose in King's Landing, with Cat not giving a straight answer, until they are interrupted by Lord Varys' arrival.

Lord Varys, Cat, and Littlefinger all exchanged various pleasantries, all suitably filled with double meaning, before he asked to see the dagger. He really did know everything, Cat thought. She showed them the dagger, and said she had come here to find its owner. Littlefinger said she should have come straight to him, as the dagger belonged to him. Cat was taken aback at this, until Littlefinger quantified that he had it until the tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day. Littlefinger said that he had backed Jaime Lannister in the joust.

"When Loras Tyrell unhorsed him, many of us became a trifle poorer. Ser Jaime lost a hundred golden dragons, the queen lost an emerald pendant, and I lost my knife. Her grace got the emerald back, but the winner kept the rest."

"Who?" Catelyn demanded, her mouth dry with fear. Her fingers ached with remembered pain. 

"The Imp," said Littlefinger as Lord Varys watched her face. "Tyrion Lannister."

 My Thoughts

On its face, I thought this chapter was rather useless, as it focused so much on the dagger plot which I do not enjoy. But as I thought about it, while this thread was ostensibly about the dagger, there was a lot more going on.

First, on a superficial level, we received a great introduction to King's Landing. I didn't include it in my summary (except for the brief history of the Red Keep), but there was about a page and a half in the book describing the city. Martin does a great job of creating atmosphere, and Cat walking off the ship into a bustling city was very effective.

And of course, we meet two of the more complicated characters this chapter - Lord Varys and Littlefinger. Both of these characters have so many separate plots and schemes that it is difficult to keep track of them all, and all but impossible to determine whose side they are on (other than their own). As much as they seem to work together, I am sure they both have several plans on how to deal with the other if the opportunity arises. And, and this may be controversial, but in my opinion Littlefinger is the smartest (or maybe the better word is cleverest) character in the series - moreso than even Tyrion.

That said, I don't know (or maybe I don't remember) the reason for Littlefinger's lie here. We know the damned dagger wasn't won by Tyrion in the tournament, Tyrion would never bet against his brother Jaime. Jaime is his only friend in the world. What did Littlefinger gain from this move? And yet, we know the consequences. Catelyn, believing Tyrion to be behind the assassination attempt, will have Tyrion publicly arrested. That will be the impetus of a lot of bad things happening to her family, and none of that would have happened without Littlefinger's lie here. Again, I can't remember exactly why he did it, so that's something I'll be paying attention to as we go further.

JON

Summary

Jon was practicing swords with another new member of the Night's Watch, Grenn, in the courtyard, and Jon was making short work of him. Jon dismantled his attack, hit him hard on the wrist, and was moving in for more when he was called off by Ser Alliser Thorne. As some of the other boys helped Grenn off, Jon leaned on his sword, which earned him a rebuke from Ser Alliser. Ser Alliser berated Jon then in front of everyone for being weak, and referred to him as "Lord Snow," which Jon hated. Ser Alliser hated Jon, but he hated all of the boys.

There were twenty other new recruits along with Jon, but he had made no friends. And it was cold, all the time. No one had told Jon the Night's Watch would be like this, no one except for Tyrion Lannister. He wasn't even able to talk to Benjen, as at the Wall Benjen wasn't his uncle, he was the First Ranger and had his own duties. Three days after their arrival, Benjen went beyond the Wall on a ranging mission, and would not allow Jon to accompany him. After Benjen had left Jon has sought out Ghost and buried his face into his fur, thinking about how he missed his brothers and sisters, Arya most of all. She was always able to make him smile.

Grenn approached Jon with three other boys, looking for revenge for the beating Jon gave Grenn. One of the boys, called Toad, called Jon's mother a whore, and then a fight broke out. Before the fight could get too out of hand, it was broken up by Donal Noye, the one-armed armorer. Noye sent off the other boys, but made Jon come with him. He explained the Watch needed all the men it could get. And as for Toad calling Jon's mother a whore;

"Words won't make your mother a whore. She was what she was, and nothing Toad says can change that. You know, we have men on the Wall whose mother's were whores."

Jon told Noye that the other boys would never be his brothers, that they hate him because he's better than they are. Noye points out that they hate him because he acts as if he's better. He told Jon that he was being a bully, pointing out that Jon had years of practice with a sword, while many of these boys had not touched one before joining the Watch. Jon needed to change his attitude, or begin sleeping with a dagger ready.

Jon left the armory and stood staring at the Wall. It was almost seven hundred feet high. Tyrion approached Jon, engaging him in conversation. Jon had seen little of Tyrion since he arrived, as Tyrion spent his time with the Lord Commander and the other high officers. Tyrion invited Jon to walk with him to dinner, and Jon fell in beside him. They discussed the current state of Castle Black. The vast majority of the Castle was vacant, housing one tenth of what it was capable. The entire Watch was small in number. There were nineteen castles along the length of the Wall, and all but three lay vacant. Tyrion told Jon that the talk was that Benjen, who was out searching for Ser Waymar Royce, was gone too long. In fact, several rangers had vanished recently.

As Jon supped with Tyrion, he was approached by Ser Alliser, who informed him the Lord Commander wanted to see him. Jon wanted to know if it was news of his uncle, but Ser Alliser would not divulge the reason for the request. Tyrion stuck up for Jon, demanding the nature of the message. Ser Alliser told them it did not concern Benjen, but Jon's brother. Jon assumed something had happened to Bran.

Tyrion Lannister laid a hand on his arm. "Jon," he said. "I am truly sorry."

Jon did not hear him, and ran to the Commander's Keep. There awaited him a letter from Robb, informing him that Bran had woken up, but would be crippled. Jon was so happy that Bran was alive, he was not concerned that he was crippled. He ran back to the dining hall and found Tyrion shouting "He's alive." He was so excited that he picked Tyrion up and spun him in a circle, before giving him the letter to read. By this time a crowd was forming, and Jon saw Grenn. Jon ran to Grenn and apologized for earlier, telling him that Robb had done the same move to him and that he could show him how to defend it.

Alliser Thorne overheard him. "Lord Snow wants to take my place now." He sneered. "I'd have an easier time teaching a wolf to juggle than you will training this aurochs."

"I'll take that wager, Ser Alliser," Jon said. "I'd love to see Ghost juggle."

A silence fell over the entire room, before Tyrion let out a loud guffaw. The other black brothers then joined in, until everyone in the room was laughing. Ser Alliser Throne just stared at Jon, with the look of an enemy.

My Thoughts

Before I get into anything else, I have to just point to the scene of Jon Snow grabbing Tyrion under his arms, picking up him, and spinning around in a circle. It's such a funny image, I laughed out lout when I read it. And Tyrion, who takes every affront so personally, was too bewildered to know what to do. Jon Snow and Tyrion is an interesting relationship, and maybe I'm being naive, but I generally believe they are friends to one another. I don't believe either is spending time with the other to gain an advantage, or for any reason other than the fact they enjoy each other's company.

To be honest, I can't remember what I thought when I first read the books. At this point, we think that Tyrion sent the dagger, so it seems a bad idea for Jon to let Tyrion see the letter and make him aware that Bran was alive, especially as Tyrion will pass by Winterfell again on his way south. But Jon wasn't aware that Tyrion was a suspect, and Tyrion was being framed anyway, so it's more of a trick played on the reader than anything to do with the characters in this scene.

I already spoke about Martin's gift for creating atmosphere, and I think he does a great job getting across just how freaking COLD it must be at the Wall. As it's currently the never-ending winter here in New York (I know it's spring, but where is the warm weather??) I can appreciate days and days of cold. And I have heating in my house, I'm not even forced to live in a drafty castle. I know the Night's Watch plays an important service, but really who would ever volunteer for that outfit? You can never have sex, and it is cold ALL THE TIME. Better men than I, I guess.

Nothing else to talk about really, unless you want to see this as the first step on Jon's journey to becoming the Lord Commander himself. Him realizing just how big of a bully he was being, and taking steps to befriend Grenn, the boy that was the ringleader in the "I hate Jon Snow" gang, was a huge step forward for Jon's character.


And that's it for tonight! Looks like there's an Eddard and a Tyrion chapter on tap next. I always get excited for a Tyrion chapter.