Page 311: Introductions and Interludes

These last hundred pages felt like a pause in many ways. Nothing earth shattering was revealed, just new plots and the introduction of a new character to focus on. But there was a lot of plot exposition, and a lot of small moments for characters to think and reflect. In other words, a heavy dose of both plot and character exposition that was actually kind of nice. Like most avid readers, I find that too much plot is like too many potato chips: Tastes oh so good but it's really empty calories. Character exploration is the meat and potatoes of this series, and Martin, thus far, has been very good at providing me ample sustenance just when I find myself growing hungry.

Jon: It's a sad irony that as Jon ticks off his raisons d'etre, we all know that his reasons are either dead, burned or have fled into the wild. Nothing that he left is how he left it, but even memories can keep him grounded. It's hard to say that any secrets he gave away were really all that valuable, but eventually I fear that the value in his hiding among the wildings might fall to the value of the secrets and actions he must undertake in order to win their trust. It's interesting to see that the Others are a pox on both their houses. For some reason I thought that Mance would have some control over them. I really do fear for Jon beyond the wall. Not for his physical well-being, but for the many temptations that lie around him. These people are strange, but he is attracted to their fellowship, and of course, there's Ygritte. Now he's headed towards the wall with all speed, but I find it difficult to believe that he'll change sides again so soon. Samwell is there to provide the viewpoint of the Night's Watch, and if Jon swapped sides again, Sam would be irrelevant. From a storytelling perspective, I have to believe he stays with the wildings for some time, but I cringe at the thought of what he'll be made to do.

Sansa: Well that's oddly kind of Cersei to offer to have a nice new dress made. And look at Sansa all grown up, looking down at the Tyrell girls with derision for their girlish naivete. I can't quite write that without smirking, because yes, Sansa has been forced, literally at the point of a sword at times, to mature and defog her sunny view on life. She even pities them. Yet, she's still hard on Arya and wishes for a sister more to her liking. And for that matter, we learn in Tyrion's scene that they know of the Tyrell plot to spirit her away to Highgarden. I can't help but wonder if that came as a result of her blabbing the plan to Ser Dontos, who clearly wants Sansa to run away with him, not the Tyrells. Yet again it appears that the thing that would serve her best is undone because she can't keep her fat yap shut. It's disturbing to have Sansa as the wise young women juxtaposed against poor naive Margery who really thinks Ser Loras can protect her against a king as cruel as Joffrey. On reflection though, I've been too hard on Sansa's dreaming for a perfect marriage. Clearly Robb suffers from the same delusions, and his marriage might very well wreck the entire northern kingdom. It's a sin of youth as much as anything, and these are just kids. It's easy to forget.

Arya: I have to give her credit, she's extremely quick to admit her mistakes when she makes them. Unfortunately, she seems to make so many. I don't trust Dondarrion, or the men who follow him, but it does seem like she's in a far better off place than she was in either the wild or at Harrenhall. Clearly Harwin is better than Roose Bolton. The dreams of the old woman in the forest were almost like a throwaway paragraph, but we can't so easily dismiss them. The shadow with the burning heart killing a golden stag? Sounds like Melisandre is after someone, and the only real stags close at hand are Stannis and Edric Storm. The coming Davos chapters could be interesting. I'm not sure what the other dreams mean though. A man without a face on a swaying bridge with a drowned crow on his shoulder? We've come across several characters with damaged faces, like the Bloody Mummer with no nose, Tyrion's wreck, and now even Jon's torn face. I don't have enough information to hazard a guess. It would seem that Roose Bolton's army did a fair bit of damage to Clegane and the rest of the Lannister men sent after him. I kind of wish Syrio would miraculously reappear, but that seems unlikely. Arya collects very interesting people about her, and I've yet to see another character in the whole series develop relationships as interesting as hers were with Syrio, Jaqen, and now Gendry. Maybe another Braavosi will drop in on her for fun. I really like the scene with her and Gendry in the forge though. I kind of hope they get together, but that seems highly unlikely, so I'm going to assume he dies, maybe dies saving her? No one would ever okay a marriage between them even if they knew of his parentage, and while that might yet be revealed, the only people who know are in King's Landing. It's nice to see her in a place of peace for a time, even if she is technically a hostage.

Samwell: Ah, another nice addition to the cast. I'm glad we'll get the Night's Watch point of view from him. I didn't realize the Other would have such numbers, or that undead animals would run around with them. I was right about dragonglass being their Achilles Heel. That was pretty sweet. Nice to see that they have a natural weakness, or else fighting them would be too dauntless a task, though even with this weapon it remains daunting. Everyone needs their kryptonite. Now I just hope that Sam makes it back to someone important enough to tell this secret to. I don't expect Samwise...I mean Samwell, to become a knight or anything, but I'm glad he found a measure of courage and got his moment. Hang on just a little longer Sam!

Tyrion: Oh look, the exposition fairy has dropped by to grace us with a little gift. Well, I guess it has been awhile, so pray, lead on you dispenser of intrigue and narrative! Seriously, Tyrion is obsessed with not being the Hand anymore. Has there been a chapter since he was injured where there isn't a noticeable observance of Tywin having the chain with the linking hands? This time I think it was the first sentence of the chapter. The marriage plots bring a lot of interesting possibilities, and dangers. Tyrion/Sansa and Cersei/Anyone both present huge conflicts, and unsavory results, and now Robb's marriage seems even dumber than before. Bran and Rickon could yet be saviors of a sort, merely by publicly being known to exist. And Littlefinger's plot is weird. He's boasted far and wide about being with the Tully girls, but Catelyn denies it (and I believe her). I don't know as much about Lysa. Could he be the "young stripling" that Hoster referred to in his delirium? And could he have fathered a child by her that Hoster did away with for being a bastard when she was supposed to be with Jon Arryn? The balance of power will swing wildly of she actually decides to marry him, and in her emotionally fragile state, who knows what she'll try to do. I think Tyrion will make an interesting CFO of Westeros Inc. Remember that Littlefinger hatched a hell of a lot of plots from his position, and it will put him and Varys in very close quarters as far as scheming goes. I expect that Littlefinger will have left him with a mess, perhaps to lay the blame at his feet, but I also suspect that Tyrion has some tricks up his sleeves yet.

Catelyn: More and more Catelyn seems to be nothing but a lens from which to view Robb's views with a motherly filter. I'd so much rather be in Robb's head at the moment. It must be extremely complicated and interesting, with lots of little conflicts to resolve. He was placed in a no-win situation, and made a reasoned choice with it, and now suffers for it probably as his father would have. Also he has to deal with the mess he made when he got married by betraying the Freys. His alliance dwindles by the day, it would seem, and trouble looms in the north. I think we're missing a huge chunk of the story and possibly a really interesting character with him. Also, I hate that he's been separated from Grey Wind.

Jaime: He grows an ever more perplexing character the more we see of him. He pledges to return Sansa and Arya for the sake of sheer amusement, and perhaps a tiny bit because he's so damned sick of people laying his one big broken oath at his feet. No one trusts him, even when he actually seems a somewhat trustworthy guy at times. Honor does matter to him a bit, but not a lot. I don't think he gives much of a crap about the larger story at play. He has no thirst for power. He just loves battle and Cersei. He's pretty bitter about all the insults he must suffer for slaying Aerys, which I think gall him all the more because no one even liked Aerys. But he feels pity for Brienne, and even endeavors to help her by making the others think that she's too valuable to rape. That was a kindness. And I think he even harbors a sort of professional, albeit grudging, respect for her. Judging from the end of this chapter though, I'd say he lost at least one of his hands it Hoat's reputation has any truth to it. That actually kind of saddens me. I'm...beginning to...sort of...like him. Not like him in the sense that I want to hang out and have a beer with him, but like him in the sense that he's really quite complicated, a very interesting character, and I don't at all have a handle on him. Even his name suggests that we should like him, it means "I like" in French. It'll take a lot more for me to start rooting for him in any serious way, but more and more I'm not seeing the Lannisters as a monolithic evil.

In closing, I don't normally single out individual sentences for appreciation, but I absolutely loved this line that Martin wrote while Jaime was dueling with Brienne: "Time slept when swords woke." Beautiful, fitting, the metaphor balances perfectly, it's just a splendid little sentence.