R’s Comments (group member since Jul 18, 2015)

R’s comments from the A Song of Ice and Fire - A Chapter a day group.

I'd like to say that I'm not getting notifications for whenever a new post of a chapter is made, I don't know if this is normal but in fact, I thought there was not a post for today, I have to check manually to see the actual post, which I think is a little bit upsetting. Also, not to be moody but I did check manually early today and all these past days, and I've noticed that the posts have been created late, this too may be some reason for the few ammount of people commenting.

Clara and Vicki's comment have been accurate and very good these couple of days, by the way. Keep up with the discussions.



You Starks are hard to kill

It's hard to imagine that a statement like this comes from a 14 years old boy's brain but it certainly gives you something to think; it says to me the opposite to what Vicki came up, I'm not sure he considers himself as a Stark, he's a bastard, that's sure. An the way Jon sees his family... for him, I think, they're his family but he doesn't quite belong there, it's sad beyond words, even more if you stop to think on all the things Catelyn just told him a few moments before... Jon is really an impressive and strong character who has to grow up very fast.

"Stick them with the pointy end"

He is mentioned again in ACOK, doesn't really have a huge story in the series but he's there.

http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/...

Clara, you're right, he's not come with the party of the King, he's the septon of Winterfell.

you are right, that was exactly was I was thinking about, your comparison with USA's history classes is really accurate, I had not thought about it.

I have found that I don't have to say much about this chapter, not because it was boring or unimportant but somehow, it seems, I didn't miss much from the first two readings I had already given it.

But it's true, Tyrion is an amazing character and you can see here how he interacts with a lot of other different characters... Chayle, Sandor, Joffrey, Jaime, Cersei, Tommen, Myrcella, his first thoughts on Robert, Eddard, Bran's accident. It's really a very interesting chapter to read (as any other of these first ones) once you know what happens next.

Funny how Bran (we discover that also Jon and maybe all the Stark children) has this perspective of The wall...

He was going with Uncle Ben to the wall, to join the Night's Watch. That was almost as good as going south with the king. Robb was the one tehy were leaving behind, not Jon.

I think Old Nan hasn't been telling the right stories to these kids... more is the contrast compared to the times when they have to face "winter" and all the horrible things that come with it.

number 5 is epic

I wouldn't say Joffrey doesn't have a good side, he's more like a sociopath, it's in his nature to be like he is and in the end, that's natural.

wouldn't you say Joffrey's first appearance made him look like a two dimensional character? surely, we never know too much about him, but it kind of looks like the classic high school bully to me in that scene.

You may hate Catelyn but I've found this chapter very interesting, even while reading the next ones.

“Robert would never harm me or any of mine. We were closer than brothers. He loves me. If I refuse him, he will roar and curse and bluster, and in a week we will laugh about it together. I know the man!”

(view spoiler)[Taking in consideration the R+L=J theory as a fact (which I totally do), I see in this Chapter a vulnerable Eddard, asking himself a lot of questions and doubting if Robert would ever represent a danger for his family. We know how passionate Robert was about things he loved, we know how much he hated Rhaegar for taking his girl. What happens then when he realizes that Rhaegar had a child with Lyanna? Would he dare to put a hand on Jon?

Eddard is trying to convince himself that Robert is still his friend, that despite his angry he would come to his senses in the end. I think this analogy is what makes him choose between staying or leaving Winterfell, the north and his loved ones.

Catelyn, finally, made him see, because, at the end of the day... pride is everything to a king:

“You knew the man,” she said. “The king is a stranger to you.” Catelyn remembered the direwolf dead in the snow, the broken antler lodged deep in her throat. She had to make him see. “Pride is everything to a king, my lord. Robert came all this way to see you, to bring you these great honors, you cannot throw them back in his face.”... (hide spoiler)]

First of all, we get to see a bunch of little ladies together in one scene. Realizing it, kind of created a big impact on me, knowing, of course, that every single one of them has their own story to develop in the future. It's amazing that you get to see Beth Cassel, Jeyne Poole, Princess Myrcella, Sansa and Arya in one place, and that place, of course, none other than Winterfell.

I read in one of the many interviews of GRRM that he kind of wanted his story to be developed the way Tolkien's The Lord Of The Ring was, having a large group of people in one place, then having the members of the group taking different paths and then coming back together in the end. I don't see how he's doing that with everything that's happened so far but... maybe we'll have a chance to have a glipse of these ladies reunited in the end, who knows?

I'm always thinking like that when reading these first chapters of the series.

I think she hates him because somehow, there's no way she can blame Ned, she loves him too much, he's a great figure of respect, he's honorable, strong, just, even admirable, not that her feelings towards Jon are justifiable for this but "it was the one thing she could never forgive him".

Also, Jon looked more like Ned than her own Children, that must've hurt.

I find absolutely interesting the perspective Eddard has for his dead brother Brandom. Somehow, I had never noticed this the first two times I read the book.

...That brought a bitter twist to Ned's mouth. "Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King's Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me."

This reminds me of a certain character who's introduced later in the second book who's always comparing himself with his brother.

*SPOILERS (maybe?) FOR A CLASH OF KINGS, BOOK 2* (view spoiler)[Something I value (maybe too much) is Stannis constant comparision with his brother, how Robert was the one getting all the credit while he was himself struggling to choose between his duty and his family (not even to be recognized for this) (hide spoiler)]

We get a chance to see into Eddard's thinking about his siblings, Also, the pleasure he takes in the little things, not that being the warden of the north is a small task, but he doesn't believe greediness and power would be his recipe to happiness.

It may be something common in brothers and sisters to always be comparing themselves but I wonder if there was something else in the lonely pup's head?... I hope there is some background story between both of them.

Extra from the chapter, it makes you think he had his brother(s) always in mind:

Eddard Stark had married her in Brandon's place, as custom decreed, but the shadow of his dead brother still lay between them, as did the other, the shadow of the woman he would not name, the woman who had borne him his bastard son.