Talkin' 'bout the Kingslayer. Teensy sploilers for A Storm of Swords.
The formatting thing is goofy today. There's probably a giant gap between this and the text above. Too bad.
So the chapter begins with Robert waking Ned up at the crack of dawn and making him ride his horse until it almost collapses. Hey George, you wanted to demonstrate that this king is an "enjoy life to the fullest" kinda guy, between how fat he is, how drunk he was at the feast, and this, you've done it.
Down to business. Jorah's been spying on Dany for Varys, who's the Master of Whispers and works for Robert. Varys is also a eunuch. Jorah sold poachers as slaves. (Say what you will about Lord Bolton, the man is... discreet.) But now he's spying on
Ned gives exactly zero damns because the Dothraki have never crossed the Narrow Sea. So what if Dany married one? (This strikes me as a curious flaw in Illyrio's plan to put her - I mean, her brother - back on the Iron Throne, but... let's just say we don't have all the pieces of the puzzle yet, and won't for a few books.)
There's some more information about the rebellion that comes out here. Tywin Lannister (Lannister pere) had the Targaryen babies killed when the rebel army sacked King's Landing, and Jaime Lannister chilled on Robert's throne for a few minutes after killing the Mad King. Robert frankly has the right of it when he asks Ned why he should begrudge Jaime killing Aerys for him. This was one thing that never quite resonated for me, either in the books or in the TV show, just how much sh*t Jaime gets for being the Kingslayer. But then, George did pull a clever trick on us with Jaime. See, the other characters hate him for being the lowest of oathbreakers, while we hate him for chucking a seven-year-old out a window after the seven-year-old saw Jaime banging Jaime's sister, who also happens to be the Queen. And then when we get to Jaime's POV in Storm, the whole "Kingslayer" thing is explained and the kid-crippling thing is... not exactly ignored, but certainly downplayed.
But I have to ask: I know he's the Queen's brother and everything, but why in the seven hells is a guy nicknamed "Kingslayer" still in the Kingsguard? Especially given that we later learn how desperate* Tywin is to get Jaime out of the Kingsguard so he can inherit Casterly Rock?
*totally not the right word. Deal with it.
I don't think Jon Arryn would have taken that much persuasion to agree that in just one very special case, maybe the Kingsguard shouldn't serve for life.
Now I'm thinking how things would have turned out if the Kingslayer ever ended up inheriting the Rock, and how le people would have reacted to that.
Tyrion II
It's cold. Tyrion and Jon are bonding a wee bit. Tyrion reads about dragons, which would come in very handy on the off chance George lives long enough to write a scene where Tyrion actually finally meets a dragon. (Yup. I'm still venting about Dance's non-ending.) Jon finally realizes that the Night's Watch is comprised of thieves, rapists, and Targaryen loyalists. Seriously, Benjen, what kind of stories did you tell this kid?
Catelyn III
Here we establish that Catelyn goes nuts whenever one of her children get injured or possibly killed. To say that this will be important later on is an understatement. She freaks out about the direwolves howling and can't be bothered to appoint a new steward or fill any other offices left vacant by Ned's party.
Robb starts taking over the lordly duties, which is good... and when Catelyn suggests that the Kingslayer threw Bran out a window, Robb impetuously grabs his sword and waves it around, which is bad. That's Robb in a nutshell. So long as emotions don't get involved, he'll be fine.
Yeah good luck with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment