A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 11

We are moving right along through Game of Thrones, and there's no reason to slow down now!  Today some more of our cast arrives in King's Landing, and Ned realizes immediately that his new job kind of sucks. And up north we see how big a giant wall looks when you're only three feet tall (or however tall Tyrion is).

A quick note, if anyone lives in/around New York City, HBO is sponsoring a food truck this week. Each day it will be giving out meals inspired by Game of Thrones. You could read more about it at HBO's Making Game of Thrones site. HBO is really going all out to market this show.

And now, let's see what Ned is up to.

EDDARD

Summary

Ned finally arrived at the Red Keep, tired, sore, hungry, and irritable. Before he could get to his rooms, the king's steward informed Ned that the small council had convened and Ned's presence was expected. Ned had no time to unpack, and was forced to borrow clothing before making his way to the council. In the room Ned finds the rest of the small council, including Grand Maestar Pycelle, Lord Varys, Renly Baratheon, and Littlefinger. Ned tells Renly that he looks much like Robert, when Robert was younger.

"A poor copy," Renly said with a shrug.

"Though much better dressed," Littlefinger quipped. "Lord Renly spends more on clothing than half the ladies of the court."

Ned exchanges some barbs with Littlefinger, before settling down to business. As they sit, Ned notices some members of the council are missing. Lord Stannis, Ser Barristan Selmy, and King Robert himself. Varys informs Ned that Stannis has left for Dragonstone shortly after the king went north, and that Ser Barristan was riding with the king as he made his way through the city. When Ned said they should wait, he was met with a laugh from Renly, who informed him the king rarely made appearances when the council met. In fact, the council was ordered to convene by Robert, who had sent Renly ahead with instructions, which he hands to Ned. Robert had ordered that a tourney be held Ned's honor - for his appointment as Hand. The winnings Robert ordered totaled 90,000 gold dragons, not to mention all the other expenses. Ned then learns that the Crown is actually in debt over six million gold, at least three million of which has been borrowed from the Lannisters. Ned was aghast that the kingdom was so far in debt, and said they would deal with the tourney another day, and left.

As he walked towards his new home, the Tower of the Hand, he was met by Littlefinger who bid Ned go with him. He tells Ned that he is taking him to see Catelyn, which Ned does not believe as she should be in Winterfell. Littlefinger led Ned through a circuitous root through the castle, then out a hidden exit where they needed to climb down a hill and around, in order to get back to the city. This way nobody would see their leaving. Littlefinger eventually led Ned to a brothel, and told him his wife was inside. Ned could stand the insult no further and moved to attack Littlefinger, when he was stopped by an old friend - Ser Rodrik Cassel.

Ned finds his wife inside, who tells him about the attack on Bran. When he learned that Bran's wolf had saved his life, he felt a pang about Sansa. What had he done by killing her wolf? He couldn't make sense of why the Imp would do this, and Littlefinger pointed out that he would not have worked alone.

"If the queen had a role in this or, gods forbid, the king himself . . . no, I will not believe that." Yet even as he said the words, he remembered that chill morning on the barrowlands, and Robert's talk of sending hired knives after the Targaryen princess. He remembered Rhaegar's infant son, the red ruin of his skull, and the way the king had turned away, as he had turned away in Darry's audience hall not so long ago. He could still hear Sansa pleading, as Lyanna had pleaded once.

Littlefinger advises Ned and Cat that the smart thing to do would be to throw the dagger in the river and forget the whole thing. Pursuing this line of thought could end with treason, and someone going before Ilyn Payne. Ned angrily dismisses this, saying he is a Stark of Winterfell and cannot ignore an attack on his son. Cat tells Ned that she told Petyr what Lysa had told them about the Lannisters and Jon Arryn, and that Littlefinger had promised to help. Ned told Cat she must leave for the north at once, and alert his bannermen to begin raising an army. He hoped it would not come to that, but he wasn't sure who Robert was anymore, and hoped that he was still the man he once knew.

My Thoughts

And Ned has entered the adder's nest! No kidding you guys, but King's Landing is STRESSFUL. We knew the Lannisters were plotting, but now we have Varys and Littlefinger, and who the hell knows what they are up to. Varys has spies, and was able to hear a conversation between Ser Rodrik and Ser Aron, despite nobody being around, which is creepy. And Littlefinger has his secret way into/out of the castle. And of course, we already know Littlefinger has lied to the Starks about Tyrion. To be honest, I still can't remember what his endgame in all this is, so I'll just have to keep paying attention.

The council brought up a few other main points. Robert is clearly very irresponsible with the kingdoms funds. He's more concerned with food and entertainment, so much that the kingdom is six million in debt, half of which to the Lannisters, which is crazy. I mean, I don't know what constituted "a lot" of money in Westeros, but I'm pretty sure six million actual pieces of gold is A LOT. I also laughed a bit at the description of Renly, which I don't know if I noticed before. He spends a fortune on clothes, and is a very particular dresser. Not to stereotype a character, but it does seem humorous after we learn of his relationship with Loras. That said, I commend Martin for including diverse characters in his book. Not everyone is a straight male in real life, and Westeros isn't any different. This relationship isn't revealed until later, and even then not explicitly, but I'll keep my eye out for them.

Last, we have Ned's thoughts about Robert. I suppose this is a good a point as any to bring up the Rhaegar/Lyanna/Jon theory. That paragraph I quoted above, mentions how Ned's not sure if he knows Robert, thinks of Robert wanting to kill the young Targaryen girl, thinks of baby Aegon's had being smashed against the wall, remembers Sansa pleading (for Lady), and then equates that to Lyanna's pleas. Robert clearly HATES the Targaryens, and has no qualms about killing them be they grown man or suckling babe. Then Ned thinks of Lyanna's pleas to Ned. I am confident that this means (and if you haven't heard this before it may seem like a jump of logic) that Jon Snow is not Ned's bastard, but the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Lyanna's pleas to Ned were actually asking him to promise to keep the lineage of the child secret, because Robert would surely kill the babe if he knew it was Rhaegar's son. This also explains why honorable Ned Stark would lie about Jon, and why he would take such good care of him. I'm not going to break down all of the proof of Jon's parentage here, but I will continue to point out any lines that I believe support it as we go. And if you don't believe it, just wait I bet you will, but feel free to disagree in the comments.

TYRION

Summary

Tyrion was having dinner with the Lord Commander and the other high officers, and Lord Mormont was trying to convince Tyrion to stay longer. Tyrion cracked jokes, which annoyed Ser Alliser. Ser Alliser finally left the table. Tyrion complained about Ser Alliser, but the other members of the Watch told Tyrion that Alliser fought bravely at the Trident, but on the wrong side. Alliser and several other members were given a choice by Tywin Lannister - to take the black or to have their heads on pikes. Tyrion continued to drink, and the others told him he had a great thirst for such a small man. Maester Aemon then entered the conversation, saying he believed Tyrion was quite a large man. "I think he is a giant come among us here at the end of the world." Tyrion told the old man, gently, that while has been called many things, giant isn't one of them.

"Nonetheless," Maester Aemon said as his clouded milk-white eyes moved to Tyrion's face, "I think it is true."

For once, Tyrion Lannister found himself at a loss for words. He could only bow his head politely and say, "You are too kind, Maester Aemon."

The blind man smiled. He was a tiny thing, wrinkled and hairless, shrunken beneath the weight of a hundred years so his maester's collar with its links of many metals hung loose about his throat. "I have been called many things, my lord," he said, "but kind is seldom one of them." This time Tyrion himself led the laughter.

After dinner Lord Mormont asked Tyrion to speak with him. Mormont told Tyrion that there were fewer than a thousand members of the Night's Watch, with barely a third of those fighting men. If an attack came, he would have three men to defend each mile of the Wall. Mormont had sent Benjen Stark out after Waymar Royce, as Royce was lost on his first ranging. Royce was green, so Mormont has sent two of his best men with them. Royce and Wyl went missing, and Gared turned deserter. And now Stark had gone missing searching for them. Mormont was nearly seventy, and he trusted none of the men to take over for him once he was finished as Lord Commander. Tyrion promised Lord Mormont he would speak on his behalf, to his father Tywin, to his brother Jaime, and to the king. And Tyrion meant it, as he always kept his word, but he knew that none of them would listen. Mormont told him that a long winter followed a long summer, and it had been summer for nearly ten years now.

Tyrion took leave of Mormont, as he had to leave early the next day. As he walked back to his chambers, he was seized with the desire to see off the Wall. Who knew when he would be back here? Tyrion went to the lift, and rode it up the seven hundred feet to the top. As Tyrion walked along the Wall, he came across Jon and Ghost. They walked together awhile, and Tyrion told Jon he would stop by Winterfell on his way back south, and was there any messages Jon wanted delivered? Jon told Tyrion to tell Robb that he would soon be the commander of the Watch so Robb may as well take up needlework. Then more seriously he asked Tyrion to try to explain to Rickon that he wouldn't be back, and that Rickon could have all his old toys.

"Bran . . ." He stopped suddenly. "I don't know what message to send to Bran. Help him, Tyrion."

 "What help could I give him? I am no maester, to ease his pain. I have no spells to give him back his legs."

"You gave me help when I needed it," Jon Snow said.

"I gave you nothing," Tyrion said. "Words."

"Then give your words to Bran too."

"You're asking a lame man to teach a cripple how to dance," Tyrion said. "However sincere the lesson, the result is likely to be grotesque. Still, I know what it is to love a brother, Lord Snow. I will give Bran whatever small help is in my power."

Jon thanked Tyrion, then pulled off his glove to offer Tyrion his bare hand, and called him "friend." Tyrion was touched, and removed his own glove to clasp hands, flesh against flesh. They turned and stared into the Haunted Forest. Jon said that his Uncle Benjen was out there, and that he and Ghost would find him. Tyrion believed him, but wondered, who would find Jon?

My Thoughts

This chapter was a strange mix of sad mixed with foreboding. It started off fun enough, with Tyrion being his jovial self. It's very easy to like Tyrion. But despite the laughing, the conversation Tyrion had with Mormont was sobering. The Night's Watch is clearly in decline, it doesn't have the numbers and the numbers it does have are criminals and other people who just couldn't fit in to society. And for that matter, do we ever find out why Jeor Mormont himself took the black? If we do, I can't recall. And for that matter, is this the first we found out that the Lord Commander was Jeor Mormont? If we did I don't think I mentioned it in the other Jon chapter, but here he is, the father of Ser Jorah Mormont, the disgraced knight/spy riding with Daenerys. The Mormonts haven't had a great run of it, huh? One in the Night's Watch, the other on the run. Jeor's sister Maege Mormont rules Bear Island since all the male Mormont's are otherwise occupied.

Nice bit of foreshadowing, with Jon predicting himself leading the Night's Watch. Of course, I doubt he even believed it when he said it here, and I doubt he thought it would happen so quickly.

The final thing I have to say is the friendship between Jon and Tyrion. This is the last they see of each other (so far), and I truly believe that they parted as actual friends. I mentioned this last chapter, but they both treated each other as equals, and respected each other. Respect and being treated as an equal isn't something that Jon and Tyrion encountered much.

And that's it for today! Arya and Dany on tap for tomorrow. Be sure to come back and view the first real steps Dany and Arya take to becoming totally Bad Ass.

Anyway, not only is the Night's Watch a shadow of its former self, we know that Winter Is Coming. For realz. And not just any winter, as we the readers know exactly what happened to Ser Waymar Royce, and that the Others are indeed out there.