Previously on A Game of Thrones, Catelyn Stark kidnapped the son of the richest and most sinister man in the Seven Kingdoms based largely on hearsay evidence. I am not a lawyer (yet), but I sincerely doubt she's got enough for a conviction here. Anyway, we now get to a tourney, with jousting and a grisly death. Hooray!
Sansa
Having previously been used as a dumping ground for random worldbuilding details, Sansa's second chapter starts out basically the same way. "The heroes of a hundred songs ride forth" for the tourney, but George hasn't written the lyrics yet. A lot of familiar faces in later books turn up here. Jaime Lannister in his gold armor. Gregor Clegane, the Mountain, thundering past "like an avalanche." Nice touch, George. Yohn Royce and his supposedly magic armor. Jason Mallister, hereafter "Extra Man." Thoros of Myr, and a story about his flaming sword.
Then come the younger knights, the unknowns. Coming back to this section is a bit like re-watching Blade Runner and noticing that Edward James Olmos was hunting down skinjobs 20 years before Battlestar Galactica. Hey, it's that guy! Ser Balon Swann, who'll be the only decent Kingsguard left capable of swinging a sword by the end of ADWD. Horas and Hobber Redwyne, who get to spend the next several books as hostages or prisoners. Patrek Mallister, hereafter "Extra Man Jr." Robar Royce, Knight of the Soon-To-Be-A-Corpse. Beric Dondarrion, Knight of the Soon-To-Be-A-Corpse-But-Not-About-To-Let-A-Trifling-Thing-Like-That-Stop-Him. Six Freys, largely interchangeable. And a freerider named Lothar Brune, about whom much later. Notably these characters come in a paragraph that describes them as "younger sons of high lords and the heirs of lesser houses. Younger men, most had done no great deeds as yet, but Sansa and Jeyne agreed that one day the Seven Kingdoms would resound to the sound of their names" and yet Loras Tyrell, who qualifies as a younger son of a high lord, doesn't get a mention. Ponce.
Jaime unhorses Ser Barristan. The Mountain kills Ser Hugh "by accident," but of course that's completely insignificant to Sansa. Balon Swann falls to the Mountain - foreshadowing, mayhaps? If so, eesh. Beric gets unhorsed by Thoros - funny, that.
Ser Loras Tyrell finally gets mentioned when they're down to the final four, and Sansa's immediately smitten. Not that Sansa hasn't been immediately smitten with half the knights, the tart, but Loras is super hot. And he gave her a flower. A red one, not a white one. Commie.
Then she meets Littleprick, with his "grey-green eyes that did not smile when his mouth did." Hey, Sans, that's probably not a sign you can trust someone. Sansa's very observant; she just, y'know, is naive and can't interpret the things she sees. Littleprick gives off serious paedo undertones before flitting away. They call a halt to the tourney because it's getting dark, even though there are only three jousts left and they're capable of lighting fires. (Oh, wait, has George invented the pyromancers yet? Hmm...)
Then it's time for Sans Sense to go moony-eyes over Joffrey again. Flip flip flip... Joff being courteous but also getting her drunk... flip flip flip... food... flip flip flip... okay, here we go. Robert gets drunk and roars about how he's going to fight tomorrow. Everyone wants to talk him out of it, but I'm all for it. If That Other Medieval Pron Show With Natalie Dormer In It was any indication, Henry VIII wound up crippled because of a wound he got in a tournament. That sort of thing might put a damper on Robert's hunting...
It's time to go back to the castle. Joff dumps her like a sack of potatoes (now, that's unfair. A sack of potatoes wouldn't have nearly as many annoying infatuated hangups). She has to walk back with the Hound, who terrifies her and then tells her the story of how he got burned, and then tells her not to tell anyone. Uh, Sandor, Sansa would probably tell the first cute boy who asked.
Believe it or not, Blogger's spellcheck does not recognize the word "sigil." And we're done here.
No comments:
Post a Comment