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A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

#128: Mar. - May 2014 (Fiction)
VMLM
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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I guess I'm a bit late to this party xD. I've sort of shot ahead unintentionally and I haven't had much time to sit down and write about stuff. But I have been reading, rather intensely.

One thing I want to talk about, that you guys have already been discussing is the children (think of the children!)
Crystalline wrote: As I'm reading this book, I find it hard to escape from reality into this world and the characters who live there. What is often brought up is the age of the characters: 7, 8, 12, etc. As I'm reading this, I compare my 12 year old grandson to some of these youngsters/characters and their actions, and, in my mind, this becomes totally unreal...
I know some 12 year old kids who are, sadly, very much adults. They work to help their parents, or to support their younger siblings. Many don't go to school, either because they can't afford it or because they see it as a waste of time. Never really kids and yet kids all the more, with the same desires, dreams and needs as all kids, yet in very difficult circumstances.
As for climbing and running and whatnot... well I know children who've been surfing and climbing and running around since they were 7 years old. I was something of an expert tree climber at about 9... so I don't think it's impossible that Bran, who has nothing to do all day, might have explored every nook and cranny in Winterfell and learned to climb rather well in the process.
That being said, I do think you hit on a problem Crystalline. I think GRRM isn't very good at "changing voices", so that when he writes as Arya, Bran, Daenarys or Jon, the way they think seems grown up and rational beyond what might be believable. Same goes for many of the adult characters, who all appear to think alike at first glance.
I say at first glance because, while all the characters seem to share the same kind of thought process and inner voice, what they think about, what they pay attention to and the decisions they finally make, depend a lot on the nature of their character.

Let's look at the ages of the characters:
Rickon - 3
Tommen - 7
Bran - 7
Myrcella - 8
Arya - 9
Sansa - 11
Joffrey - 12
Daenarys - 13
Robert - 14
Jon - 14
Theon - 18

A comparison of the Baratheon (Myrcella and Tommen) kids to the Starks is interesting. Generally the Starks seem to be more independent and more capable... and they also have a lot more freedom. An unbelievable amount of freedom actually, from our modern perspective. Arya and Bran seem to run around all day with no adult supervision whatsoever. I find it sort of weird that Sansa is so... tame... compared to her siblings. She is something of an airhead, obsessing over the chivalry and pageantry of the royal family (and her betrothed in particular), to the point where she isn't really thinking about who these people actually are...

At age 12, 13 and 14 Joffrey, Jon, Robb and Dany are practically adults... although they aren't really. We get the feeling Joffrey is a bit of an ass, Robb is brimming with good intentions, courage and honor but little sense, and Jon is possibly the more thoughtful and mature, though angsty and filled with teenage dreams of validation through honor..."Bastards grow faster than other children" they say. His tendency toward thoughtfulness, his romantic dreams of being a Watchman and his angstiness may be explainable through his status as "the bastard" and his relationship with Catlyn, who wants nothing to do with him. That has to be a stressful situation for a kid.

Dany's situation is... interesting. She's been abused and belittled by her big brother throughout her life and, being the perceptive child that she is, she's learned to keep her thoughts to her self while accepting abuse as a normal part of their relationship. Then she's repeatedly raped by her new husband... until she learns to like it. When she finally "takes control", it's in the bedroom. She takes Drogo out beneath the stars and, for the first time since their nuptials, they have sex in a way that isn't cold, brutal and utilitarian. She learns to be a Dothraki Khaleesi and finally finds some degree of freedom and power, after an entire lifetime of being little more than a prisoner. Her adaptability and inner strength are admirable...
It does, however, makes me uncomfortable that sex is so... brutal. This isn't the last time in the series that we'll see sex as this misogynist act that women either suffer through or learn to like... What's GRRM's intent in transmitting this sentiment? Is it just his own repressed fetish? Is it meant to shape his characters in someway? Is it meaningful?
Is it excuse enough that the book models 15th century Europe, and "sex was different back then"? That seems wrong... This is fiction after all, and it would be laughable to call this "realistic" when there's whitewalkers and direwolves running around in a fantasy kingdom, on a world that doesn't exist.. GRRM has created this world, these situations to his own specification. And the world he creates is undeniably a man's world... Even if it is true that there are strong women characters, the men go whoring, bastards abound and women are intermittently used for sex.
I like your view of Eddard Stark Crystalline.. because until now I'd never questioned his honor. I do feel he's meant to be an honorable character, and when he chooses to leave for King's Landing, he's doing it for the good of the realm, in the hopes of protecting Robert from a Lannister conspiracy and to investigate the death of Jon Arryn. But it's also undeniable that he has a duty as Bran and Rickon's father that he's relegating. I wonder if that says something of GRRM's view on fatherhood.
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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Cattleman wrote:scrumfish, your spoiler is interesting. I have read all five published books, and I must admit this idea never occurred to me. It does have merit, though.

woooooh boy... Do we even want to talk about that?
Spoiler
There's one particular chapter in this book (Eddard X) that's going to blow the whole thing out of the water if you read it keeping in mind that Jon may be Rhaegar's and Lyanna's son.
It's definitely an interesting possibility, and very possible... although we have to wonder at Jon's survival.. how will he survive? will he be trapped in Ghost for the rest of his life? Will he be revived by the Red Witch? Will he come back as an "Other"? Is there some ice magic at work that we don't know about?
And then we have to wonder at what it'll mean for the plot... will he become one of Dany's dragonriders? Is he the "Ice", in A Song of Ice and Fire? Is he the prince that was promised? Given that he and Dany are the last Targaryens, can we expect them to hook up at some point and continue the Targaryen bloodline?
Or will GRRM continue his tradition of killing off all well loved characters by placing Jon's head on a spike at the beginning of TWoW?

Anyways, I like some of the stuff being said about The Wall. The comparison of the wall to Korea seems pretty spot on.. But I also think the Wall is meant as a barrier between the unfantastic world of the seven kingdoms and the north beyond the wall, where Whitewalkers, Wights, man-sized spiders, Giants and other fantastic creatures still roam. In this first book the world seems devoid of magic, and we see it entering at the fringes: We hear of wizards and manticores in far away lands while in the north a litter of direwolves appears, even though direwolves haven't been seen in hundreds of years. We get a lot of hints that the world used to be filled with ancient magic and unthinkable creatures.. The three eyed crow, the children of the forest, the weirwoods with bloodlike sap filling their carved eyes, dragons, etc... all this seem relegated to the past, and yet its present in dreams and myth. We get a feeling that the magic of the world has been vanquished by men, but remains alive, latent, sleeping, waiting for something... and as we know:

"Winter is coming"


I also think the wall is interesting as a symbol because it's been used in a couple of other series that I've liked... I don't know if any of you follow Anime, there's this show called Attack on Titan, in which another wall features prominently, and just like in this case, the wall protects the known world from fantastic dangers awaiting on the other side of it.
Then, in Pacific Rim, humanity decides to mount a wall to keep out the monstrosities attacking the earth through dimensional wormhole, instead of continuing with the "hunter" (jaeger) program whichproduced gigantic fighting robots to fend off these monsters... Although in this case the decision to erect a wall is meant to be unwise because there's no point in hiding behind a wall, since the enemy would unavoidably find a way through it.

I would say that in all three cases the walls are representative of the human tendency to not think about encroaching threats, simply because they aren't visible. "Out of sight, out of mind".

So... what's with all these walls in fiction? What "encroaching threat" is so prevalent today? Nuclear War? Environmental Cataclysm? Worldwide pandemic due to some super bug?
Or are all these walls in fantasy entirely unconnected?
Does anybody else know of any wall with special significance in fantasy or sci-fi?
Last edited by VMLM on Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:04 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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VMLM, great input!
"GRRM has created this world, these situations to his own specification. And the world he creates is undeniably a man's world..."
Yes, and GRRM undeniably loves this world, and so I'm not so sure I like this old man (GRRM), but I don't have to like him, only his book(s)...not so sure I like his book either...
I'll keep reading, I'm enjoying this discussion. It's better than the last two, and maybe it's the subject/book...
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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Crystalline wrote:I don't get the feeling that Eddard Stark "is so obsessed with honor". He leaves his dying son and his wife, who is half alive from grief, sitting day and night at Bran's side, not eating or sleeping, and takes the position as the King's Hand. That's an honor to his personal gratification and ambition (called career now) that he won't refuse. And there have been so many "honorable" men who have succumbed to beautiful women and good sex throughout history. And especially in those times, where it would have been so easy to do due to attitudes about women being just mere possessions and the right of any knight to "go whoring". Oh, and there was no birth control then...
As for my reading subsequent books...hmmmm...not so sure that's going to happen. I may be tempted to watch a DVD or two just for comparison...
I find it interesting that you take Eddard Stark so differently than I do. How I interpreted it was that Eddard did not at all want to be the King's hand. He would have refused it it if it were not for his wife, the wife who sat by his dying (or not dying) son. I see Eddard as not caring about politics but his wife understanding politics enough to know that it would be worse to refuse even though they both knew it would be a difficult and long struggle if he accepted and probably dangerous. At no point in this book have I ever seen any evidence that Eddard Stark agreed to be Hand of the King because he craved power or anything that came along with that office. Do you not remember the conversations that Eddard and Kaitlyn had about that at the beginning of the book? Kaitlyn told him he had to because of politics and that if he didn't it would be worse for the family. Eddard argued on the side of against it. She hated it, but she still told him he had to.

That is how I interpret it. As always I admit that I could be wrong. :)
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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R+L=J; this is where legends are born, just who are Jon Snows parents. Fans of ASoIaF, are all over the web with theory's, R+L=J, is by far the most agreed upon.
Something else I think is significant, Why does Bran survive the fall? crippled yes but he lives and is recovering as well as can be expected. Its not for drama sake, his death would be a greater dramatic trauma for the family, not to mention an even stronger element to feed Eddards need for honor and Catelyn's need for revenge. (they do not know who shoved him out the window) but are certain about who was behind the attempted assassination. We like this family because they are so good at being victims. The apotheosis of bad things happening to good people. Anyway this kid hasn't survived on what counts in Westeros (Wits) but because the story needs him for something else. I don't have it in for the kid, I just think its a clue to the future of the story. Part of the overall mystery that is the phenom of ASoIaF. Something else, aside from his past ability to climb things he is for the most part an unremarkable character.
We build walls when we are frightened of something and want to keep it out, prying eyes, the bogey man, anything you like to think fits here, trouble starts when those walls trap the thing that's going to get you on the side your on.
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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Scrumfish, there is no right or wrong in all our opinions. How we see these characters and this book is shaped by our own lives and our own experiences and views of the world. I like people who are not "sheeple" and are not afraid to disagree with others, as long as they don't resort to sarcasm or name calling, etc. I respect everybody's opinion...
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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Crystalline wrote:Scrumfish, there is no right or wrong in all our opinions. How we see these characters and this book is shaped by our own lives and our own experiences and views of the world. I like people who are not "sheeple" and are not afraid to disagree with others, as long as they don't resort to sarcasm or name calling, etc. I respect everybody's opinion...
I wasn't saying you were wrong. I was offering a different take. I actually really enjoy reading your opinions and very much appreciate that you are taking the time to read the book despite not being a fan of the genre. It's pretty awesome to be able to hear a point of view from someone who isn't a total fanboi of the book!
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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And I didn't take it that way...as an artist and an author myself, I have pretty broad shoulders. I was just saying to somebody the other day, "If you want to experience rejection, become an artist or an author." You said that you "could" be wrong, and my post was an answer to that statement.
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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Different points of view are what makes a quality discussion. :)
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Re: A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire: Book One: Ch. 16 through 23

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Oh thank goodness, lol, I was worried that I had somehow come across as offensive or belligerent or something! That makes sense now.
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