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Do you think Arya's problems with needlework might come from her being left handed? Especially if she was being taught to do it with her right hand?

Hmm, from what we see, Syrio is the first to recognize Arya’s left-handedness:

It was not just a stick, but a true wooden sword complete with grip and guard and pommel. Arya picked it up and clutched it nervously with both hands, holding it out in front of her. It was heavier than it looked, much heavier than Needle.The bald man clicked his teeth together. “That is not the way, boy. This is not a greatsword that is needing two hands to swing it. You will take the blade in one hand.”“It’s too heavy,” Arya said.“It is heavy as it needs to be to make you strong, and for the balancing. A hollow inside is filled with lead, just so. One hand now is all that is needing.”Arya took her right hand off the grip and wiped her sweaty palm on her pants. She held the sword in her left hand. He seemed to approve.“The left is good. All is reversed, it will make your enemies more awkward.”

–AGOT, Arya II

…and not just the first to recognize it, but approve of it…

Then yes, I think it’s very probable that Arya had trouble coordinating her stitches due to being taught to use the wrong hand. And not just needlework, but likely other crafts (drawing, painting), and musical instruments too.*

Mind you, I don’t think Arya has realized that her sword hand (and stick hand) is the one she should be using for other coordinated work, as per her TWOW preview chapter Mercy’s sewing is still “wretched”. Maybe that will change eventually?

*(Note: I’m a lefty, and though I never had trouble with my teachers due to observant and caring parents (my dad’s a lefty too), I think my left-handedness was a possible reason why I never had much in the way of music lessons. Also note that my younger brother did have a teacher who claimed he couldn’t write, until my parents found out the reason, that she was trying to force him right, and well that teacher got her ass handed to her, and the situation fixed immediately.)

Hello ! Sorry if this has been asked before- when do you think Jon and Dany will meet and will the circumstances of them meeting and falling in love will be more or less like the show or drastically different? I mean, Jon will still want to get dragonglass, right?

Drastically different. Jon does want dragonglass – but more importantly, Stannis wants dragonglass, Stannis controlled Dragonstone, Stannis ordered his men on the island to start mining for dragonglass, and Stannis is still alive in the books and very probably still will be by the time Dany gets to Westeros. That “controlled” is in past tense, mind you, because the Lannister-Baratheon-Tyrell army attacked Dragonstone castle and island under the leadership of Loras Tyrell – also alive in the books btw – and captured it although they took great losses, including Loras who was greatly wounded and is under care of maesters (probably including Stannis’s former maester Pylos).

If Dany comes to Dragonstone before King’s Landing (no guarantee there), she’s not just going to walk in with no resistance, there’s an army on the island and in the castle. (Though if she does take Dragonstone, she’ll probably come face-to-face with Loras, a terribly disfigured survivor of burns, which should be extremely interesting re her probable acceptance of “fire and blood” and possible resistance to compassion.) She will also find that dragonglass has already begun being mined (I imagine crates of it just inside the lava tunnel entrances of the volcano) and will probably find out why. (From Maester Pylos? Or from Stannis’s former castellan Rolland Storm if he wasn’t killed and is captive in the castle? Both? Somebody for sure.) Mind you, that’s assuming the Tyrells don’t ship the mined dragonglass to King’s Landing for lack of finding any other treasure…

Another major difference: there will almost certainly be no Jon Snow “king in the north” scene of any sort, because he’s not dealing with the Boltons and retaking Winterfell, Stannis is. If Robb’s will becomes relevant again and its contents are known (it is not necessarily with Maege Mormont and Galbart Glover in the Neck, though it might be), then it is possible that Jon may be acclaimed by the northern loyalists, but it’s also just as possible there may be a lot more resistance to Robb’s idea that he could just order the Night’s Watch to release Jon. Even if Jon has left the NW due to, y’know, being assassinated and dead and resurrected, the Northern lords take the NW vows extremely seriously; although their loyalty to Robb is also extremely serious so it may cancel out. Nevertheless, there won’t be any sort of “Battle of the Bastards” to make Jon famous – again, that’s Stannis who’s been rallying the northern lords and retaking Winterfell, so. Stannis is a major factor here who just can’t be ignored.

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Why the fuck would petyr try to isolate Sansa from her family though. She has no power right now no position. Jon is king, arya is playing assasins creed right now, it looks like bran is revealed to be alive to them this season too eliminating any claim Sansa could make. Does petyr want power? or does he simply want to smash? Like Sansa is nothing but a cat look a like fuck toy with out her connection to the Starks why the fuck would he be trying to turn her on them.

Because isolating her is how he can exact control over her. Making her believe he’s the only one who can help her. The only person she has. The only person who will steer her right. His manipulation of her situation enables him to control her, and by extension, her claim to winterfell.

Keep in mind in the books Petyr and Sansa are pretty sure the rest of her family is dead and gone at this point, and he has a plan to have the North rally behind her. The shows blown that out of the water, so of course the current plan (and petyr even being alive after the bolton fuckery) looks beyond stupid.

But point is he’d much rather have all the other Starks out of the way because A) they have claims of their own and B) they’re more than likely not going to approve of him using sansa for his own ends

People always say to me that my dislike for dany is rooted in sexism and that if jon were to do the same, i wouldn’t complain. But this episode highlighted their differences way better than i could have ever put into words. book!dany can actually be speared from this criticism, however on today’s episode the Mereenesse plot (that is taking forever in the books) was solved in like, ten minutes, bc DrAGoNS™. Dany, on the show, has no real dangers, everything comes easily to her: the ships she needs, the men she needs, the support from the houses of westeros (asha and theon are the first, dorne will probably follow soon after and we know everyone will most likely bend the knee in KL), even Tyrion’s advice and support is quite literally introduced in an episode called ‘The Gift” jfc. 

But with Jon and Sansa and the North in general, nothing comes easy: they do have to fight for what they have. Fight for Winterfell and Rickon, and that has a price. Rickon was the price, Rickon was what was at stake. They can -and they did, several times- lose something they hold most dear. The starks have been paying for their mistakes since Bran was pushed from the tower: ned pays in KL for catelyn’s mistake at the inn (taking tyrion), sansa pays for her mistakes being held captive in the capital, robb and jon pay theirs with their lives. 

the point is, dany makes no mistakes on the show. and the mistakes she makes on the book are ignored (Quentyn Martell), deemed unimportant (slavery back on Yunkai and Astapor, the sons of the Harpy), or atributted to Tyrion (failing negotiations with the Masters, Mereen’s siege).

And that’s not even getting into the fact that dany’s biggest problem on the books is that her dragons don’t obey her commands. But on the show, her dragons do whatever she wants them to do. need some help with the fighting pits? drogon’s here to help. need some help boosting the dothraki’s morale? drogon’s here to help. need to burn enough ships as to release the -very timely- siege in mereen? drongon’s here and, look, rhaegal and viserion are totally cool following you even though you kept them in chains for months. 

It’s frustrating, and it is boring as hell.

and i cannot understand how people who like her cannot see that. Her role has been reduced to “looking fucking cool on a dragon”. I cannot understand why people who actually like her are not fucking furious.    

I’ve heard some people thought it was weak plot-forcing to have Tyrion be wrong about where the Lannisters forces would be, as Tyrion should be far smarter than Jaime and Cersei.

I strongly disagree with this.

While Tyrion is definitely intelligent and well read, Jaime is an experienced soldier and commander of an army. Jaime himself points out that he learned from his battle mistakes from earlier in the show (being captured by Robb Stark). So he learned from his mistakes and applied it to a new battle and he was the real winner. Dany’s army may have ‘won’ Casterly Rock, but lost the bigger game. 

Also while it does simplify things and is a good visual clue, one being good at ‘chess’ does not mean one is good at actual war or battle. Tyrion may be able to plan with his war board, but that doesn’t matter if the other side doesn’t do what you expect.

Also I imagine, Jaime (more than Cersei) can figure out what Tyrion might suggest and plan, because Jaime knows Tyrion and also knows Tyrion is working on the knowledge of Jaime would’ve done, of course Tyrion didn’t realize his brother learned from his past mistakes. 

This idea is also shown in a couple of the fighter/warrior characters -Brienne, Jon, Arya, Podrick–knowing how to fight and sparring practices are not the same thing as having been in an actual fight and learning from that experience. 

Tyrion may knows things, but that doesn’t mean he will always be right. 

In a similar fashion, we see this idea being repeated with Samwell Tarly. Sam says he just read the book and followed the instructions, but clearly that’s not just it. Because knowing and doing are two different things. Anyone could’ve read the book and followed the instructions and they would’ve been infected,Sam is very capable and his skills will grow. 

And in another fashion, this might affect characters like Littlefinger (and Varys). Clever men, who can plan for every outcome, but in some situations knowledge or information is not enough. It’s certainly an important aspect, but it’s not the only thing that matters.

What’s pissing me off this season is that no one is aware of armies movements. First Highgarden and then the Dothrakis. I mean, how comes that no one notices thousands of people and horses moving before it’s too late?

Lady Olenna could’ve easily retreated to Dragonstone while the Lannisters'a army approached, but no one in the Reach realised what was happening.

Now they did the same with the Dothrakis, a howling hoard landed on the coast that still no one managed to notice before they crushed against the Lannisters'a army.

Having fantastic elements like dragons doesn’t necessarily imply abandoning realism once and for all.

Yes, I hope we get a shot of those burnt lannister army that just destroyed the Tyrell army. I wonder if any of those Tyrell army men were expecting a child too? Probably

You know I’ve been thinking about numerous ways to answer this … maybe make a statement about how you are completely (and I believe deliberately) missing the point, maybe go on a long rant about how not a single one of Dany’s enemies so far has been sufficiently humanized for us to actually care (compared to many antagonists our other heroes faced), and some more blah blah blah, but it I think you actually put an interesting thought in my head … so thank you 😘 

I think that having one of the ed-sheeran-squad soldiers turn up dead at the Field of Fire would be far more emotionally involving, if not challenging, than having a equally “developed” Tyrell-soldier show up dead at after Jaime sacked high garden. It would make way more sense for the narrative and let’s call it “viewer-engagement” as well.  

War is an ugly affair. The books show this much better than the show, but even though GoT loves it’s bloodshed in an almost perverse degree and I’m pretty sure D&D get off good to gruesome revenge and violence, it has depicted the horrible realities of war several times. War is ugly. Really ugly.

But Grrm is not making the point that war is always wrong, no matter how ugly. There are things worth fighting and dying for, maybe, probably, even sending other men to their death for.

The important question is what are those things? How do we know?

Fiction and especially visual mediums have a rather easy solution for this: Show us the consequences after we know about the motives and intentions and let our gut decide. Those feelings can sometimes be hard to articulate, but you can and should try (I mean we are on tumblr here after all). But war-battle-sequences are a bit tricky: We get lost in all the spectacle and the amazing visual effects. At some point you just don’t see “people” anymore. We really need a “human face” to produce a real emotional connection. I think that the best way to achieve this is the pov-battle-sequence. You follow one character through the chaos, the bloodshed, the killing, a la Jon Snow in the botb. Draws you right into the horror that is war, you don’t even need tragic backstories for it. They tried to replicate this with Jaime and/or Bronn but it didn’t feel quite as “intimate” as it did with Jon. I am not exactly sure why, maybe it’s just me, but the botb is still the BEST FUCKING BATTLE SEQUENCE IN THIS GODDAMN SHOW ! I WILL FIGHT YOU ON THIS! THE FUCKING EMOTION BEHIND IT! THE FUCKING CAMERA-WORK! LIKE FUCK IT WAS … but I digress. 

War is especially ugly if the party we are rooting for is in the offensive. We tend to be far more forgiving towards people in the defensive, after all they didn’t “choose” to fight. So far, we have already witnessed two wars in which our hero could be seen as the “aggressor”, sort of. One of them certainly more than the other, but bear with me for a minute. In this case we really have to be down with this issue, we really need to agree with what “we are going to war for”. 

1. Robb’s Northern Campaign

I don’t know if it’s really fair to call him the “aggressor” (it isn’t, btw), considering everything that lead to his decision, but I hope you get the parallels I’m trying to draw here. He took his army south - into “foreign territory” - and went in for the attack on people that wronged his family. The show did not shy away from showing how ugly it was. We got this nice little scene of a Lannisters soldiers foot being cut off. A poor lad from a fishing-village near Lannisport who had no choice in any of this. In the beginning Talisa’s entire character more or less resolved around throwing shade at Robb (and de facto the audience) for being YASSSS KING IN THE NORTH! FIGHT THOSE FUCKERS! DEATH TO JOFFREY! DEATH TO THE LANNISTERS! As much as criticism Talisa’s character received, she did serve one important role. She put on her best disappointed mom-face, looked us straight in the eyes and asked “Now look at the mess you’ve made, was that worth it?” In this case both the narrative and most, if not the entire audience agreed: Yes. It failed, but Robb was right for trying. Our conscious was tested by an “innocent” enemy soldier being crippled, but Robb’s “honor” came out of it intact. We understood his motives and intuitively decided that this war might be ugly (as all of them are), but not necessarily “wrong”.

2. Dany’s Invasion 

Side-note: About the dead Tyrell soldier: There is no reason to put in a dead lovable Tyrell soldier, because we already know that Cersei is driven by nothing but powerhunger. How would that influence the audience? Hah, Cersei evil doing evil shit, what else is new. We know that she (on the whole) is bringing death and destruction to the Seven Kingdoms for completely selfish reasons. The only thing that would accomplish would be to flash out Cersei as “tha villain™” and that really isn’t necessary at this point… We are not rooting for her, we do not have to ask ourselves whether her motives “justify” all this. We already know the answer to this: No. (Though I suppose there are some weirdos who are genuinely rooting for her, most are just fucking cynical … I hope, I neither want her nor Dany anywhere near a Throne). 

It feels like until this point, both D&D, Dany and the audience have been “selling” her invasion as a glorious endeavour, quite similar in many aspects to Robb’s Rebellion actually. They are both trying to avenge their father, they are trying to overthrow an illegitimate ruler, both have armies at their backs that fiercely believe in them, both said that they do not want the blood of innocence on their hands. Among the differences is that Dany clearly is the main aggressor of this war and that her motives might not be as “pure”. She is not trying to save her siblings, her father was rightfully disposed and most importantly: She is a conquerer. She is fighting to gain power over others. She is waging war for her “birthright”.

I would simply love for one of those ed-sheeran-squad lannister soldiers to show up dead because it would put Dany’s ideals and her crusade to the same ultimate test: How are we feeling about the mess Dany is causing? Is that worth it? Do we start to question her after being faced with an innocent real human victim we are at least a bit familiar with? Someone we can actually empathize with instead of the anonymous mass of soldiers she sets on fire? This is less about the poor soldier himself and more about our reaction to it. And how it does or does not change our perception of the person responsible for it. 

Also Dany does not have her own personal Talisa right now. Varys and/or Tyrion might involve into something similar, but since they are still on Dany’s side … let’s just wait and see.

I know that my original post was a bit snarky, but why do you even assume that we would automatically blame Dany for his death and not Cersei for sending him to the Reach in the first place or simply the universe for “the world” being such an awful, awful place. I’m sure after giving on of her inspiring speeches, all would be forgotten. Maybe the reason that you, anon, and so many others are that sensible and defensive to this suggestion (you are not the first ask and I doubt you’ll be the last), is that you yourself are not sure if Dany’s “purpose” justifies this? Is that it? Maybe? 

If Dany’s conquest is only worth fighting for if no lives are lost (or at least none that we care about) … is it really worth it at all? Should we cheer for her to win if one dead father leaves a bitter taste in our mouths? Have you lost faith in Dany’s cause and can’t stomach the consequences once they have a human face? In that case, welcome to the club. I can’t neither. Come to the dark!dany-side! We appreciate and love her character as the interesting, multi-faceted “villain” she really is and we have cookies. 

why wouldn't you want dany on the throne?(not judging btw,just curious)

nah it’s ok. I’m warning you this will get very nerdy, and very, very, VERY long.

I wouldn’t want her to rule Westeros because she doesn’t know anything about the country she so desperately wants to rule. It’s like if the queen of England suddenly woke up one day and decided that she wants all of her family’s old territory back. It won’t and shouldn’t happen. Dany thinks she knows Westeros from the tales Viserys told her, but she doesn’t. Viserys fed her lies upon lies, and she doesn’t seem interested in hearing the truth. The Starks are not “usurper’s dogs”, the Baratherons were 100% right in wanting Aerys to fuck off, eccetera eccetera. 

Some of the utterly delusional lies Viserys told her, that will likely continue to impact and already are impacting the skewed image she has of Westeros:

“We are entitled to the throne, it’s mine (hers, now) by right” - they lost that right when Aerys was killed, the Baratheons rule by right of conquest. Just like Aegon the Conqueror did after Valyria went boom.

“Westerosi people will certainly welcome us with open arms” - Nevermind how unlikely this was before Viserys’ death; Nowadays she has 3 weapons of mass destruction and a whole foreign army behind her. The peasants are going to love that!

“We are the chosen ones. it’s in our blood. it’s our destiny. nobody does it better than the Targaryens.” - This statement, repeated at least 56 times a day, cries “Targaryen exceptionalism”, for lack of a better term

“We have many friends in Westeros. Surely they will come to our aid.” The Martells are gone. The Starks/Baratheons/Tullys/Lannisters are all “usurper’s dogs”. The Tyrells are Lannister loyalists who have already been attacked by the Greyjoys in ADWD. The only remaining Targ loyalists are the Greyjoys. Granted, Daenerys now has a huge army behind her, so she might need less help. But still, resistence from the mainland could potentially be a problem for her.

“The Martells (specifically) are our friends.” Dany doesn’t know that yet, but Quent is dead and Aegon “YG” Targaryen is on the way. Arianne/Aegon is a very strong possibility. In my modest opinion, literally everyone who would’ve supported her will flock to Aegon as soon as he steps on their territory. The fact that Aegon, once he gains power, might screw it all up and lose everything, is another matter entirely.

Some of the reasons I don’t think it’d be a good idea for her to rule Westeros:

She has never been trained to rule a castle, much less a kingdom. She’s a GREAT leader, mind you, but a much worse ruler. Great at inspiring the masses, idealistic, amazing orator - but godawful military strategist, only passable diplomat, not really the forward thinker. Of course that’s not her fault, she has never been trained like Robb Stark was to be a Lord, but that’s exactly the point. Would you vote for a person with no experience in poiltics? (”BUt she’s learning!!” Yeah, I don’t really care. Added up to every other flaw I think she has, inexperience isn’t even the main problem with her imo.)

As far as we know, she can’t have children. With no other legitimate Targs, her becoming Queen (through a bloody conquest/dDance with Dragons VOL.2 featuring Aegon “Young Griff” Targaryen, which would leave Westeros a ruin) is only going to lead to another Civil War when other factions try to take the throne upon her death. I want a stable Iron Throne for the next 100 years, please and thank you.

If R+L=J is publicly proven to be a thing, Jon has a better claim. Better education. Better cultural background. Better attitude (Jon is, not unlike Dany, a good leader who has to learn how to rule a bigger kingdom. In his case though, the learning process would be smoother bc of his background. He got Ceasar’d because he has the charisma of a goldfish left in the sun and a closed-minded entourage.) Him as the King would lead to better inter-house relationships in the long run, since he’d be the union of North and South, for better or for worse. And finally, he doesn’t have an army of foreigners and a fucktruck of former slaves to worry about. 

If Aegon is Real, he has a much better claim than Jon, Dany, or anyone else, and a top notch education. Like, really seriously prepared to be a king since he was 0 years old. Literally trained his whole life to be a King. If he’s forreal (or even if he’s not, fuck Targaryens tbh), Aegon sounds like a good alternative. Plus he has literally the best advisors and listens to them - which is something Dany refuses to do for the most part.

I simply don’t like the idea of dragons coming back for anything else other than melting off the Others. I want her to save the world with her dragons by fucking shit up beyond the Wall and then do whatever the hell she wants - but I want her to keep those 3 unruly, wild dragons away from the peasants of Westeros.

Meereen screwed every little possibility she had to stop being an Essosi (cos that’s what she is…culturally) and start behaving like a full formed Westerosi. She married a sketchy weak ass meereneese merchant just to ensure her weak ass meereneese peace. What made her think Westeros would accept Hizdahr as king? I get it, she wanted to free the slaves, rule Meereen, plant trees. But what does that mean for the Iron Throne? When does she plan to leave for Westeros, exactly? Does she plan on fixing a place called “Slaver’s Bay” in just a couple of years? Is this a five-year, ten-year, fifty-year plan? Is it in her “10 things to do before turning 30″ list? Even in her inexperience, she has to know time is of the essence. Aegon went off on his own while she was marrying Hizdahr. Quent died, so did the Martell alliance. Her dragons are basically untrained. If she leaves, slavery comes back worse than ever. If she stays, goodbye iron throne. 

I don’t like the way she treats cultures that are different form her own. (With that I don’t mean slavery - she was 100% correct in wanting slavery gone, even though she should have committed to a long term plan of economic and societal reconstruction afterwards.) From the moment she gains power in Meereen, she starts dismissing Ghiscari customs - and I really really don’t think that’s appropriate. She just invaded a foreign land and now she wants them to accept her culture as the dominant one. I believe that’s called imperialism? I get banning slavery, but there’s no excuse for dismissing Ghiscari wedding customs, social customs, and even eating habits (”ew, they eat dogs??” and you ate a raw horse’s heart, please sit the fuck down). Martin has already compared her Essosi quest to Iraq, that should say something. Will this attitude go on in Westeros, too? Will she fuck with everyone’s culture while sitting on the Iron Throne too?

I don’t like her last chapter at all. It’s ominous as hell. She’s going to “embrace the dragon in her”, “embrace the words of her House” aka “Fire and Blood”.. aka roast everyone and everything who gets in her way. Even though it seems like a very convenient thing to do in the situation she’s in right now, in Meereen, and it certainly sounds like something a Targaryen heir would do, I don’t think this is an attitude that is bound to bring anything positive for Westeros. I don’t want a person who roasts things because “they’re in their way” on the Iron Throne. Aerys was known for doing that, and he was killed because he did nothing but roast his enemies for decades, until someone decided they’ve had enough.

I’m not even finished it’s just that I’m tired I can’t write anymore. I have a whole lotta other reasons.

tl;dr: she doesn’t know shit about the place she wants to conquer, she doesn’t seem to want to learn, she has a very troubling attitude towards roasting people in the last chapter of ADWD, she has no ruling experience, mereen was a fucking fiasco & a whole country will be an even worse one. the iron throne needs strategic thinking, not great leadership

then again she might be azor ahai but in that case she dead

edit: typos galore

Okay I am SO tired of people keeping repeating Maggy's prophecy "Queen you shall be until there comes another, young and more beautiful", as if being young and beautiful are all the that matters for a woman: Cersei had proved them wrong. It's pretty obvious that hse will die this season, we know that but, hey, what a STRONG FEMALE CHARACTER for once! And thenn, what she says in the last trailer, "Whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it", it's the best answer to those who want her to lose.

100% agree!!!

I doubt Shaggydog is dead. Shaggydog was the most powerful, mental and largest of the Stark direwolves, and as big and powerful as Greatjon Umber is, I doubt he could have beaten him when he was trying to protect Rickon. I also don’t buy the Umbers and the Karstarks going onto fucking Ramsey’s side - they put a ton of emphasis on the fact that they were so loyal to the Starks, and what about “The North Remembers”?Greatjon literally knelt at Robb’s feet, so to go hand his little brother over to Ramsey? It makes no sense. Also the fact that Rickon - the kid who was always described as being wild and perfectly matched with Shaggydog because they were both nuts - barely struggled, didn’t say anything and barely winced at seeing “Shaggydog”’s head being brought in makes me question the entire thing. Also - the head of supposed Shaggydog was pretty small, more the size of a normal wolf, never mind the biggest direwolf in the show. I think, because of all of this, the Umbers and maybe the Karstarks are planning to overthrow Ramsey, mainly because he’s a dick, but also because of his father. Roose Bolton, as everybody knows, was incredibly smart and knew how to play the game of thrones, but Ramsey (as well as being a bastard) is power-hungry and impulsive, and doesn’t think beyond what is happening to him at that moment. I think they knew they couldn’t beat out Roose, because he was too clever, but Ramsey…that’s a whole other ball park. So frankly I think this is either one big plot, and if not…it’s just shitty writing.

hi ! you've said once about joffrey "it’s because every father figure he had robert jaime tyrion all fucking abused the shit out of him" and while i totally agree about robert and jaime, i've failed to see how tyrion abused joffrey. i've always thought tyrion really wanted to guide joffrey, to bring him his knowledge, to be a kingmaker. In some ways, tyrion is the best tutor joff ever had, the only who man "care". especially when we all know joffrey was really awful withtyrion.

Hi Anon,

Tyrion and Joffrey were very much in a relationship of cyclical mutual abuse: one would say/do something, the other would react in self defense, note it, then say/do something later.  Tyrion is a very subtle character, and he certainly doesn’t think that he abuses Joffrey, or at least because he’s reacting to Joffrey’s attacks on him, he thinks either that he’s defending himself or that Joffrey deserves it in some way.  And Joffrey certainly doesn’t seem to care about whether or not he’s compounding on the societal (and familial) abuse laid on Tyrion.

When we first encounter Tyrion, this is the first interaction we see between him and Joffrey:

“None,” Tyrion said. “Yet it is expected of you. Your absence has been noted.”

“The Stark boy is nothing to me,” Joffrey said. “I cannot abide the wailing of women.”

Tyrion Lannister reached up and slapped his nephew hard across the face. The boy’s cheek began to redden. 

“One word,” Tyrion said, “and I will hit you again.”

“I’m going to tell Mother!” Joffrey exclaimed.

Tyrion hit him again.  Now both cheeks flamed.  

“You tell your mother,” Tyrion told him. “But first you get yourself to Lord and Lady Stark, and you fall to your knees in front of them, and you tell them how very sorry you are, and that you are at their service if there is the slightest thing you can do for them or theirs in this desperate hour, and that all your prayers go with them. Do you understand? Do you?”

The boy looked as though he was going to cry. Instead, he managed a weak nod. Then he turned and fled headlong from the yard, holding his cheek. Tyrion watched him run.  (Tyrion I, AGOT)

Joffrey is definitely being a misogynistic little shit in this scene, in addition to showing very little sympathy to the fact that Bran is on the verge of death.  The behavior in and of itself is abominable; but hitting him is physical abuse of a child.  Additionally, when Joffrey protests (going to an authority figure who might protect him from being hit), Tyrion hits him again, and challenges that safety.  

So what’s Tyrion reacting to here?  Joffrey being rude is one thing, but I think that it’s more telling to look at earlier in the scene: 

Tyrion glanced down and saw the Hound standing with young Joffrey as squires swarmed around them.  “At least he dies quietly,” the prince replied.  “It’s the wolf that makes the noise.  I could scarce sleep last night.”

Clegane cast a long shadow across the hard-packed earth as his squire lowered the black helm over his head.  “I could silence the creature, if it pleases you,” he said through the open visor.  His boy placed a longsword in his hand.  He tested the weight of it, slicing the cold morning air.  Behind him, the yard rang with the clangor of steel on steel.

The notion seemed to delight the prince.  “Send a dog to kill a dog!” he exclaimed.  “Winterfell is so infested with wolves, the Starks would never miss one.”

Tyrion hopped off the last step onto the yard.  “I beg to differ, nephew,” he said.  "The Starks can count past six.  Unlike some princes I might name.”

Joffrey had the grace at least to blush.

“A voice from nowhere,” Sandor said.  He peered through his helm, looking this way and that.  “Spirits of the air!”

The prince laughed, as he always laughed when his bodyguard did this mummer’s face.  Tyrion was used to it.  “Down here.” (Tyrion I, AGOT)

Joffrey is cruel; Tyrion berates him; Sandor makes fun of his disability; Joffrey laughs; Tyrion retaliates.  He’s very much reacting to the ableism here, and directing his frustration at Joffrey, because Joffrey’s already crossed the line even before Sandor Clegane opened his mouth.  I’ve seen people call this “tough love” or “teaching him a lesson” and my issue with that is that if he is teaching Joffrey a lesson, he, like Robert, is using negative reinforcement.  Physical abuse and belittling Joffrey’s intelligence are things that will shape him very much, and this is the first of several such interactions over the course of the two and a half books in which Joffrey is alive.  

But of course, you also can’t talk about Tyrion abusing Joffrey without also talking about how Joffrey repeatedly is horrible to Tyrion, down to his dying moment when he hires a troupe of dwarves to entertain at his wedding expressly to humiliate Tyrion.  It’s very much cyclical.  Joffrey is reacting to all the times Tyrion called him stupid, hit him, threatened him (Tyrion does this too) and made him feel powerless.  Meanwhile, Tyrion, when he does things like this, is reacting to all the times that Joffrey–like everyone else in Westeros–belittles him for his disability and hits him precisely where it hurts.  

Now here’s the thing, especially when you get to A Clash of Kings, I do very much think there’s a lot of idealism in Tyrion.  He cares very much about how he’s viewed by the larger public–I see this as being intimately related to being starved of love from his father–and cares about how he’s remembered.  He wants to do great things and be remembered for them.  But more importantly, he wants to do the right thing (such as he perceives it).

“So what will you do, m’lord, now that you’re the Hand of the King?” Shae asked him as he cupped that warm sweet flesh.

“Something Cersei will never expect,” Tyrion murmured softly against her slender neck.  “I’ll do…justice.” (Tyrion I, ACOK)

He definitely cares about what he is doing, and sees himself as doing the right thing, even if he often walks lines that are murky morally.  And I don’t for a second deny that Joffrey is absolutely gross to Tyrion.  But I wouldn’t also think that what he wants is not to guide Joffrey.  He wants power, and he wants no one to stand in his way (hence his tussels with Cersei).  Does he want to bring Joffrey knowledge?  He probably hopes that the boy will grow up and realize how great he is, but we never see him sit down with Joffrey and train him, or even treat him as someone who might learn, undoubtedly because if he were to do so, Joffrey would continue to be gross to him and because he sees Joffrey as a vicious lost cause.  So he tries to operate around Joffrey more than anything else, and manages to do this with some success until Tywin shows up and takes the reins away from him.  

What do you think of how Tywin treats each of his children?

Tywin needs to calm his ass and sit down, take some parenting classes.

Cersei - Should have been hit..A LOT when she was younger. Like, every day a million times an hour…and I don’t condone abuse BUTT she needs it.

Jaime - Shouldn’t have been treated like wielding a sword was all he was good for. He should have been made to read some books and hone some other skills besides killing/maiming 

Tyrion - My precious cinnamon roll should have been loved from day FUCKING one! He’s so smart and caring, deep down he cares anyway, and he deserves just as much attention and recognition as the rest of his family gets.

All of them are the result of how poorly they were raised. I’d like to think Tywin would have been better had Joanna lived, but we need to remember that Joanna was a Lannister as well and for Tywin to have loved her as much as he did she had to be at least a little similar to him. If Joanna had lived, I do believe at least Jaime and Tyrion would have ended up slightly different (not so focused on just being a Knight and not so much of a drunk)).

As I read you description of Renly's scheming to get Margaery to be Robert's mistress, how much of that do you think was his idea and how much was the Tyrells'? I tednt to read Renly as a (witting and willing) puppet of the Tyrells in their bid to get more power.

I think it was mostly (perhaps almost entirely) Renly’s idea. The Tyrells want power, yes, but they’re cautious about it. Well, partially cautious. For example:

Her grandmother snorted. “Gallant, yes, and charming, and very clean. [Renly] knew how to dress and he knew how to smile and he knew how to bathe, and somehow he got the notion that this made him fit to be king. The Baratheons have always had some queer notions, to be sure. It comes from their Targaryen blood, I should think.” She sniffed. “They tried to marry me to a Targaryen once, but I soon put an end to that.”“Renly was brave and gentle, Grandmother,” said Margaery. “Father liked him as well, and so did Loras.”“Loras is young,” Lady Olenna said crisply, “and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick. That does not make him wise. As to your father, would that I’d been born a peasant woman with a big wooden spoon, I might have been able to beat some sense into his fat head. […] It’s treason, I warned them, Robert has two sons, and Renly has an older brother, how can he possibly have any claim to that ugly iron chair? Tut-tut, says my son, don’t you want your sweetling to be queen? […] The thought that one day he may see his grandson with his arse on the Iron Throne makes Mace puff up like […a puff fish…] We should have stayed well out of all this bloody foolishness if you ask me, but once the cow’s been milked there’s no squirting the cream back up her udder. After Lord Puff Fish put that crown on Renly’s head, we were into the pudding up to our knees, so here we are to see things through.”

–ASOS, Sansa I

This discussion is of course about the Tyrells supporting Renly’s bid for king, but I think it also applies to Renly’s Margaery/Robert plot. While Mace might find the plan attractive, Olenna would consider the idea of throwing her sweet granddaughter into a den of lions in hopes she might succeed in turning Robert’s head and gaining a crown for hers absolutely appalling. (There’s the danger of Cersei knocking Margaery off, there’s the chance that the adultery/incest might not be provable, there’s a chance that Robert might make Margaery his mistress but not his new queen, or maybe he’d just love her and leave her like he does with most women, etc.) So I very much doubt it was a plan that the Tyrells came up with on their own and proposed to Renly.

Rather, I think Renly was visiting Highgarden, saw Margaery and heard something about how people were comparing her beauty and appearance to the proven royal-seducing Lyanna (which of course is B.S. but also Margaery doesn’t look a thing like Lyanna so, y’know, the romance of the Reach yadda yadda), and realized aha, here was the key he could use to influence Robert and get rid of Cersei. Maybe Loras played a small part too – like, “you’re unhappy with Cersei and Joffrey, why don’t you do something about it” – but he also was definitely Renly’s instrument in convincing his family to go along with the plan. Varys says Loras was writing to Mace, not the other way around. And also, Mace may be an ambitious pompous blowhard, but he doesn’t strike me as someone who’d come up with the idea to pimp out his daughter that way (unlike those who facilitated Aegon IV’s mistresses, like Lord Bracken with his daughters Barba and Bethany, or Lucas “the Pander” Lothson with his wife and daughter).

Note Renly also tells Stannis that he was planning to make Margaery Robert’s queen, he doesn’t blame it on the Tyrells or anything – and though thatcould just be his own “look how clever I am” taking credit for it, IMO it’s said too casually, as an admission of “yep, guilty, I had those plans all right”. Basically, I think it’s an extreme misread to think Renly was being manipulated by the Tyrells to give them power, or by anyone else. Everything he did was his own choices, alas.

THE RUIN OF ELIA MARTELL IN GOT AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE - PART II

Judging Elia:  versus Lyanna.       We have the eternal war between Lyanna x Elia. A war that wasn’t even started from both of them, or their families, but from the fandom.                 Let’s remember that when Eddard Stark found out about Elia and her children’s bodies he was the only one, between Starks, Baratheons and Arryns, to find that disgusting and even he cut ties for a time with Robert.   When we know that Oberyn wanted to champion Viserys’ cause, and emerge a war against Robert, he never blamed Lyanna, never even he mentioned her at all.     There is nothing known – yet - about Elia’s reaction to the events of the Tourney of Harrenhal, not we know also Lyanna’s thoughts on Rhaegar being married and a father of two. But we know that Elia had a “sweet wit” and that she knew that “the dragon must have 3 heads” we also know that one of the main problems of Lyanna being married to Robert, was the that he was an womanizer, he “wouldn’t be stick to their bed.” And she knew it, so I really believe that these two points speaks volumes about what really happened in the events later. So, no, I don’t believe in “love run” or much less in a marriage thing, like the series want us to accept. Especially because Rhaegar wasn’t the king, he had no real power to null any marriage and a second marriage was forbidden by the faith…but the HBO show wants to make Jon a legitimate king at any costs, even if logic is going to be out of the table.        

So, Elia is judge by her “not so beauty”, by her feminine aspects and pitted against a teenager mostly by the fandom.        

Judging Elia:The Frail, weak girl               In a last aspect, let’s talk about Elia’s health, that seems to be one of the major aspects we know of her, that Elia was fragile, that she almost died giving birth to her children and she couldn’t give birth to a third child, the third head.               Still, believe it or not, she gets judge because of that too. She get’s judge for not being healthy enough to have one more baby. And about that there is nothing I can say about it, I have no words at all to write about people who criticizes a character for not being healthy enough.                 So, why would you care? So, why should you care about Elia Martell being dismissed and getting bash from HBO show Got? Because Elia is a metaphor of what being a women in a sexist world means. You will be judge by your looks, the ones you date, your style, how you act and react and will be pitted against others, and gets bash if they think you are not better than them. Elia died a victim of her husband and father-in-law actions, Elia died, raped and murdered, so people could “ship” a couple, Elia watched her son being murdered, so Jon can be called “Aegon” and turn out to be the legitimate heir, and now Elia fans will have to see her marriage being null and children getting illegitimate, so Lyanna and Rhaegar can be a happy family with Jon, the king. Sorry, don’t ask me to support this and I’m sure that, if these kind of things happen in the books (which I highly doubt) I’m sure George Martin will give us in a logic and well written chain of events. Unlike is happening in the show. That is my vent and, Elia deserved better.

“It’s kind of ironic. Because I started writing Game of Thrones all the way back in 1991, long before anybody was talking about climate change. The people in ​Westeros are fightingtheir individual battles over power and status and wealth,” Martin said. “And those are so distracting them that they’re ignoring the threat of ‘winter is coming,’ which has the potential to destroy all of them and to destroy their world. And there is a great parallel there too, I think, what I see this planet doing here, where we’re fighting our own battles.”

“We’re fighting over issues, important issues, mind you—foreign policy, domestic policy, civil rights, social responsibility, social justice. All of these things are important. But while we’re tearing ourselves apart over this and expending so much energy, there exists this ​threat of climate change, which, to my mind, is conclusively proved by most of the data and 99.9 percent of the scientific community.”

“And it really has the potential to destroy our world. And we’re ignoring that while we worry about the next election and issues that people are concerned about, like jobs. Jobs are a very important issue, of course. All of these things are important issues. But none of them are important if, like, we’re dead and our cities are under the ocean.”

– George R. R. Martin x

Do you think Catelyn failed her children in protecting them? The younger ones in particular.

Not at all. I know people love to play the blame game when it comes to Catelyn, but to say she failed at protecting her children feels like a special kind of reach.

First, geography: Sansa and Arya were in King’s Landing with Ned when everything went south, and even if Catelyn showed up there for a short amount of time earlier in AGOT, she had no chance of smuggling them back with her. If there’s any blame placed on not being able to protect Sansa or Arya, Ned would have to take a good deal of it, as he failed to communicate to Sansa as he did with Arya, and I don’t believe he put guards on either of them when he went before the court to confront Cersei (Syrio doesn’t quite count, though his efforts did allow Arya to evade capture).

Of course, Ned’s mistakes don’t make him a terrible person, only a flawed one. But his character has never been put under the same scrutiny that Catelyn’s is.

Furthermore, Catelyn freed Jaime Lannister to get Sansa and Arya back. She sent him and Brienne to King’s Landing in exchange for her girls because it seemed the best option to actually get them back. Tyrion would have made the exchange, and we know Jaime intended to deliver on his vow.

Jaime had decided that he would return Sansa, and the younger girl as well if she could be found. It was not like to win him back his lost honor, but the notion of keeping faith when they all expected betrayal amused him more than he could say. (Jaime III, ASOS)

Circumstance conspired against everyone in this case, unfortunately; Tyrion is removed as Hand and he and Sansa are forced to marry, Jaime shows up so late that Sansa has escaped, and Catelyn herself is dead. Or undead. Either way, it doesn’t work out for anyone.

As for Bran and Rickon, Catelyn once again was not present during their “demise”. Now, unlike with Sansa and Arya, you could argue that her absence is itself an aspect of her supposed failure to protect, but I would say that doesn’t quite hold up. Both Bran and Rickon were safe in Winterfell, being watched over my Maester Luwin, Ser Rodrik, and a host of other northerners. 

Theon’s actions ruin all of this, and as we know from the text, almost no one saw his betrayal coming. Except Catelyn.

“I’ll say again, I would sooner you sent someone else to Pyke, and kept Theon close to you.”                  

“Who better to treat with Balon Greyjoy than his son?”

“Jason Mallister,” offered Catelyn. “Tytos Blackwood. Stevron Frey. Anyone … but not Theon.” (Catelyn I, ACOK)

Catelyn may not have known that Theon would take Winterfell, and she certainly wasn’t assuming he’d murder her two youngest sons. Both decisions on Theon’s part would be astronomically foolish, which is why everyone is so shocked and horrified when it happens (though technically only the former stupidity took place; the latter was faked). But Catelyn knew his character and his flaws well enough to see the potential problems they could cause, and her warnings went ignored.

This is the tragedy of Catelyn Tully Stark. A significant part of her POV is her own feeling of sorrow and helplessness as circumstances beyond her control bring tragedy down on her family. Catelyn didn’t fail protecting her children, but she feels like she did.

Had there been too much of Lynesse Hightower in her after all, and too little of the Starks? Would that I had known how to wield an axe, perhaps I might have been able to protect them better. (Catelyn V, ASOS)

An axe wouldn’t have changed a single thing. Catelyn speaks sense to Robb, Renly, and Stannis, but what good does it do? No one will listen, and everything that can go wrong in her story goes wrong. It’s infuriating, and the culmination of all of that bad luck and betrayal shows itself in the bitter cruelty of Lady Stoneheart. Catelyn is ignored when she speaks, but Lady Stoneheart can’t talk at all, and she doesn’t have nearly as hard a time making herself heard.

This is so accurate! 

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