A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 2

Welcome back to the A Song of Ice and Fire reread! Now we move on to the next two chapters of A Game of Thrones. We get a lot of history and a lot of new characters coming up, so be ready for a lot of info.

As I said in the last post, but I suppose it bears repeating, this is a reread. Meaning I assume you've read these books before, so spoilers will abound. Aright, enough BS, on to the show!


CATELYN

Summary

Catelyn contemplates that she never liked the godswood at Winterfell.  She was born a Tully, far to the south where the godswood was more of a garden, full of streams, birds, and flowers.  In Winterfell it was different.  The godswood here was old forest, untouched for ten thousand years, with the castle built around it.

This was a wood of stubborn sentinel trees armored in grey-green needles, of mighty oaks, of ironwoods as old as the realm itself.  Here thick black trunks crowded close together while twisted branches wove a dense canopy overhead and misshapen roots wrestled beneath the soil.  This was a place of deep silence and brooding shadows, and the gods who lived here had no names.

Catelyn knew that her husband would be in the godswood.  Whenever he took a life, he would seek its quiet. Catelyn did not follow the same faith as her husband, she was of the Faith and her gods had names.  The blood of the First Men still flowed with the Starks, and they worshiped the old, nameless gods that they shared with the vanished children of the forest.

In the center of the godswood was an ancient tree known as "The Heart tree."  On it, a face was carved long ago.  It was said the children of the forest carved the faces into the trees before the First Men came to this land.  In the south all of the weirwoods had been cut down, but it was different in the North.

Ned sat beneath the weirwood, Ice across his lap.  Catelyn tells him the children are in the kitchen playing with the new wolf pups.

"Arya is already in love, and Sansa is charmed and gracious, but Rickon is not quite sure."
"Is he afraid?" Ned asked.
"A little," she admitted.  "He is only three."
Ned frowned.  "He must learn to face his fears.  He will not be three forever.  And winter is coming."

Ned tells Catelyn that he was proud of the way Bran handled himself.  Catelyn watched as Ned cleaned Ice. She thought of how the sword was over 400 years old, forged in Valyria before the Doom came, when the forgers used spells as well as hammers.  The name was a relic of a time when the Starks were the Kings of the North.

Ned reflects to Catelyn that this was the fourth man to desert the Night's Watch this year, and even more men were being lost on rangings.  The Night's Watch consisted of fewer than a thousand men.  Ned worries about the possibility of calling the banners and riding north beyond the wall to deal with the wildlings himself.  Catelyn is worried, but Ned reassures her that "The Others are as dead as the children of the forest, gone eight thousand years."

Catelyn then tells Ned the real reason she sought him out.  Word has came that Jon Arryn is dead.  This news has profound impact on Ned.

In his youth, Ned had fostered at the Eyrie, and the childless Lord Arryn had become a second father to him and his fellow ward, Robert Baratheon.  When the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen had demanded their heads, the Lord of the Eyrie had raised his moon-and-falcon banners in revolt rather than give up those he had pledged to protect."

Ned and Jon were brothers as well, as they had married sisters - Catelyn and Lysa.  Ned wants Catelyn to take the children and visit her sister in the Eyrie to help her through the death of her husband, but there is more news.  King Robert Baratheon is on his way to Winterfell.  Ned breaks out into a big grin at this news, and even the fact that the Queen and her brothers are traveling with the King is not enough to dampen his spirits.

My Thoughts

Does Martin know how to pack a lot information into a short space or what?  We learn a lot of information about the history of this world, but again only in snippets of dialogue, or through Catelyn's musings.  Not much of Catelyn's own personality comes out in this chapter, except to show how different she feels from the Starks.  Especially in the different religions, as Catelyn follows the Faith found in the south, "the Seven."  We also have our first mentions of the children of the forest, the weirwoods, and the Doom of Valyria.  I'm still not sure what any of those are except in broad strokes, but it definitely is just enough information to make this world feel that much more 'lived in.'

We also learn the names of the rest of the Starks.  The girls, Arya and Sansa, the baby Rickon, and Ned's brother Ben (who I didn't mention in the summary, don't worry we'll talk about him later).  We also learn, in one paragraph, of The Shit That Went Down Fifteen Years Ago.  We know that Ned and Robert were raised as brothers, for some reason the King demanded their deaths, and their foster father and patron, Jon Arryn rebelled.  Now, the King was deposed and Robert himself sits the throne.

And of course, the plot starts building in earnest as Jon Arryn is now dead, and Robert is coming to visit Winterfell.  Things are picking up.

DAENERYS

Summary

Dany is given a dress from her brother, a gift from Magister Illyrio.  Her brother tells her that tonight, she must look like a princess.  Dany, 13, was suspicious of Magister Illyrio's generosity.  They had been living on his estate for the past six months, and Illyrio has provided for them.  Viserys, Dany's older brother, assumes the Magister's generosity is simply to curry future favor, once Viserys sits on the Iron Throne.  Dany has been listening to gossip and rumors, and knew Illyrio had an ill reputation, that he dealt in unsavory merchandise, and that he would sell his mother for the right price.  She did not say any of this to Viserys, as she did not want to make him angry.

His anger was a terrible thing when roused.  Viserys called it "waking the dragon."

Viserys tells Dany that Illyrio's slaves will be in to bathe her.  She has to look good, as Viserys is presenting her to Khal Drogo tonight.  Viserys instructs Dany to stand up straight, to show off her womanly shape.  He then pinches and twists her nipple, warning her not to fail him, as she does not want to "wake the dragon."  Viserys then leaves, confident that when the histories are written, tonight will be seen as the beginning of his reign.

Dany thinks about the lands across the sea, known as Westeros.  A land she doesn't remember, but Viserys plans to retake.  She was still in her mother's womb when they were forced to flee.

Yet sometimes Dany would picture the way it been, so often had her brother told her the stories.  The midnight flight to Dragonstone, moonlight shimmering on the ship's black sails.  Her brother Rhaegar battling the Usurper in the bloody waters of the Trident and dying for the woman he loved.  The sack of King's Landing by the ones Viserys called the Usurper's dogs, the lords Lannister and Stark.  Princess Elia of Dorne pleading for mercy as Rhaegar's heir was ripped from her breast and murdered before her eyes.  The polished skulls of the last dragons staring down sightlessly from the walls of the throne room while the Kingslayer opened Father's throat with a golden sword.

She was born nine months later, during a raging storm on Dragonstone, and her mother did not survive the birth.  Some faithful retainers spirited Viserys and Dany away to the Free Cities.  There they got by on their reputation as the last Targaryens, and by selling what they were able to take with them.  They kept moving to stay ahead of any assassins sent by the Usurper.  Soon they were forced to subsist solely on charity, earning her brother the moniker of "the beggar king."  While Viserys thought only of retaking his land, Dany only had fond thoughts of a house with a red door they briefly stayed in.  To Dany, that house was home.

The slaves then arrived to bathe Dany, and to fill her head with gossip about Khal Drogo, discussing how rich he is, how many men rode with him, and what a great warrior he is.  Dany did not know what to think of this, as she had always thought she would marry Viserys.  The Targaryens always married brother to sister, to keep the bloodline pure.  The slaves bathed, perfumed, and dressed Dany, making her look every bit the princess.

Viserys and Magister Illyrio were waiting for Dany in the hallway, and Viserys inspected her to make sure she looked good enough.  Viserys was worried that Dany was too skinny and too young for Drogo, but Illyrio told him not to worry.  As they traveled to Khal Drogo's estate, Viserys fondled his sword (borrowed from Magister Illyrio) and fantasized about retaking the Seven Kingdoms, using men from Drogo's khalasar.  Viserys assumes the commonfolk will rise up and join him once he returns, and Illyrio assures him that this is so.  Dany, however, did not trust a word that came from Illyrio's mouth.

They were met at the gate by one of the Unsullied, a eunuch, and brought into the Drogo's manse.  Illyrio pointed out the various guests to Dany and Viserys, and Dany noticed that she was the only female in attendance.  Included with Drogo's men was Ser Jorah Mormont, a disgraced knight from the seven kingdoms.  Finally, Dany saw Drogo himself.  A tall, well-built man, with a long braid that hung below his buttocks.  Viserys tells her whenever a Dothraki is defeated in combat, he cuts his braid off.  Drogo's has never been cut.

Dany suddently got scared and begged Viserys not to make her wed him.  Viserys spoke with a cold fury, telling her that he would let all forty thousand of Khal Drogo's khalasar fuck her, and their horses too, if that's what it took to get an army so he could retake his kingdom.  He told Dany that she should be grateful it was only Drogo she need bed.  As Illyrio brought Drogo over, Viserys told her to dry her eyes.

"Smile," Viserys whispered nervously, his hand falling to the hilt of his sword.  "And stand up straight.  Let him see that you have breasts.  Gods know, you have little enough as is."

Daenerys smiled, and stood up straight.

My Thoughts

Ho-Lee-Shit.  I remembered Viserys was a bastard, but I did not remember just how awful he was.  All of his actions to Dany are unspeakably horrible to begin with, but when you add in the fact that it's his thirteen-year-old sister???  Viserys, you are scum, you and your "waking the dragon."  And could there possibly be a creepier line?  "You don't want to wake the dragon."  ICK.

We also get some more gaps filled in.  We know Robert, of course is the "Usurper" and that Viserys and Daenerys are the last of the Targaryens.  But we also get some other, darker insights, such as the butchering of the entire Targaryen family, including a child still at its mother's breast.  Martin is all about shades of grey, and this is our first sign that maybe Robert and Ned and Jon Arryn weren't the noble heroes rescuing the land from the evil King.  Of course, if Viserys is anything to go by, then yeah, the King needed to go.  But Dany is a kind child, and it is hard to fathom her being killed simply because of her family name.

There's not much else going on in this chapter, other than introducing our Royalty-in-Exile, so I'll take the time to comment on something else that I probably should have mentioned last post.  The chapter setup is very intriguing, with each chapter being through a specific character's point of view.  It definitely paints our perception of what we see, not the least of which are the terms used.  To Daenerys, Robert is the Usurper, but to Catelyn he is King Robert - her husband's friend.  To Bran, his father is either "Father" or Lord Eddard Stark, but to Catelyn he is "Ned."  This also leads us, as the reader, to feel sympathy for whoever's point of view we're reading.  There are not many characters that think of THEMSELVES as the bad guy, so it's a very novel approach to show us what's going on behind the scenes of all these disparate characters.

I suppose that's enough for now, I will be back with more on Tuesday!