Welcome back to the Randomizer!
And to an article about the great epic fantasy series: Game
of Thrones!
Now I must be honest: I didn't get into Game of Thrones
straight away when the first series came out in 2011. I was "forced" into it by
my friend Alice Beadle. Because that's what friends do! They tie you down to a
chair and make you watch their favourite series. Obviously. (Many apologies
Alice, I love you to bits lol). And also I did manage to spoil the series for
myself when I learned what happened to one of the major characters near the
end. Oops.
But before the second series was released, I managed to
catch up with the first on Sky Atlantic. And my god I was hooked. I came to
love the series and enjoy the characters as everyone practically went to war with
each other and themselves. Annoyingly, I missed the first two and a couple in
between so I brought the DVD boxset and managed to enjoy the series all over
again (though the commentaries are a plus). Then watching the second series,
things got kicked up a notch with some shocking deaths, betrayals and obviously
DRAGONS.
I have probably effectively become a Game of Thrones nerd
(especially with considering a fancy dress party) and will stay that way for
some considerable time. And this will be my own tribute for the return of one
of the best series in the world.
This particular blog will show off my opinions about the
series so far, who are my favourite characters, what tidbits I find interesting
about the world, and where I think the series will go next season with regards
to certain characters. I will point out some interesting facts that could
factor in the revelations of what could happen, and what could happen to our beloved
characters and DRAGONS.
So here on the day that Season 3 is released, is my tribute
for Game of Thrones.
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What is the show about?
Game of Thrones is set in a fictional world divided by two
continents: Westeros and Essos.
Westeros is the main setting for the series and focuses so
far on 5 seperate families: The Starks, The Lannisters, The Baratheons, The
Greyjoys and the Night's Watch. Currently four of these households are at war
with each other, as one member of a family was held prisoner by the king and
eventually killed off. This incurs wrath and the member's house want their
revenge. Meanwhile, The Night's Watch are protectors of the land as they live
up at the mystical Wall and keep a look out for wildlings and something far
worse that has recently revealed hints of returning after thousands of years.
Chavs?
Essos on the other hand, features the last member of the
Targaryen household, Daenerys, on a journey to reclaim her dynastic crown by
going the long-way round and cleverly not going into any mines. Obviously she's
read the Lord of the Rings, she's not taking any risks. She becomes a forced
part of a Dothraki group, but then grows a pair and eventually becomes that
same groups Queen and leads them around the continent to different locations in
hopes of finding something that help her lead an invasion force once more
against the houses of Westeroes. Maybe that something is Goths?
The Show so far...:
I have enjoyed the series , and it's interesting to see how
the characters have found themselves in their different situations as time goes
on into the War of Five Kings (between a psychopath, a scientologist, a pirate,
a wolf and a pretty boy) in season 2. The stories interwoven with each other
make for good pacing and allow different surprises to be taken at slow and
steady, as we see the characters go through suffering, love, politics, and face
essentially death near every corner.
The different twists in the series as well help make for
shocking results as some characters are completely bumped off and the effect
this has on the series really shows that this world is kind of like ours,
dangerous and unforgiving. This is all down to the characters and their
individual choices that sometimes all but finish them off. The choices that
they each make have a profound effect on the future and shows how completely
stupid or clever they can be. I must admit, this notion of characters has
inspired me when I'm writing my novel, about how their choices can have drastic
consequences for all concerned.
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Favourite and Hated Characters:
Sometimes it can be easier to talk about characters you
don't like due to their actions and what they do.
For my most hated character, it is near indefinitely Cersei
Lannister.
I know Joffrey is everyone's most hated character in the
whole series because he is pretty much Hitler re-incarnated. But for me
personally, Cersei is the most demented woman to exist in history. I will go
into a bit more detail about her later when I come to interesting tidbits, but
there are still some things to talk about.
She is a vengeful person, as shown in the second episode
with Arya's direwolf Nymeria taking a nibble out of Joffrey's arm. But with
Nymeria gone, she turns her sights onto Sansa's direwolf Lady who is as
innocent as a little baby and gets her way in comdemning it to death just
because it's another direwolf. She also blatantly lies to protect Joffrey and tries
to blame Arya for causing the fight between her and him in the first place,
wanting her punished. Yeah, you love your little Joffers, but you're not the
greatest parent in the world if you don't intend to discipline him.
There are some steps that I do find understandable though,
yet quite disturbing at the same time. In the penultimate episode of season 2,
Cersei decides the best solution to help in matters of warfare is drinking. As
she drinks, she slowly reveals why Ser Ilyn Payne is in the room in the first
place: not to defend the women in the room, but to kill them, thinking that
they'll all be raped by the opposing army. This makes some sense I guess, but
also reveals something about her personality. She is willing to kill these
women off, but why? To protect them from the reprisals? I wonder if it shows
that to her, death is preferable then suffering at the hands of another.
Another situation that could prove that is that when in the
throne room, she has her youngest son Tommen with her. She was given Essence of
Nightshade earlier in the episode, which is deadly when take in a big
substance. She places the liquid into his hands, promising to keep him safe
after telling him a story about how stags, wolves and all other manner of
animals will bow down to the lion club. They are saved only when the Lannister
Army enters with Tywin declaring victory. This shows that she is willing to go
as far to keeping her own son safe from reprisals.
Sheesh, I'm developing a kind of respect for her. That's not
good for someone I don't like very much! In a way I understand why she does
these things, because she can foresee what will happen against a man and a army
who have a claim to the throne and what will happen to her family and the women
under her protection. Planning people's deaths (especially your own children)
around when you and others are in danger either is a huge step in courage or
mindlessness. I suppose it's a question to ask yourself. What would you do in
times of when your trapped? Would you actually kill your children in times of
desperation?
I think for the most part, the hatred for this character
came from Lena Heady's performance of the character. So far to me, she had done
a good job of making a character so brilliantly bad, subtle, and showing a lick
of mischief. If the actor/actress can make you feel angry, they're doing their
job well! But oddly, I'm slowly coming around to her in a weird way. I'm not
entirely sure why...help please!
Now for my favourite character. No, it's not Tyrion
Lannister. I'm armed with a crossbow to protect myself any haters. Just try
coming around to my house if you dare!
At the minute, it is in fact Tyrion's associate, Bronn,
played by Jeremy Flynn.
I find Bronn interesting at times because he is a mercenary,
in it for the money. What describes him perfectly is Tyrion's question towards
him after Janos Slynt is sent to the wall, asking if he would kill an infant
without question. Bronn's simple reply is: "Without question? No. ...I'd
ask how much?". This is a man whose only concern is how much he will paid
for carrying out an act of pure murder against an innocent child. Though I
wonder if it's a better standard than carrying out an order without questioning
it.
He seems to have built his entire life around the prospect
of money and is willing to do any sort of degree of murder to do it. But I
wouldn't go as far to say he is completely amoral. Maybe the phrase 'twisted
ethics' would be a better description. And also in that same line, he says he wouldn't
kill a baby just because he was given an order to do it.
And as a sellsword mercenary, he is very good at his job.
His fighting prowess is brilliant and he is also quite clever, not using armour
and pushing different objects against Ser Vardis Egen in Tyrion's trial by
combat. Wearing him out, Bronn catches him in different places and eventually
finishes him off. When stated with the point that he doesn't fight with honour,
he simply says, "No....he did". He doesn't give two shits about
honour. But he could go for being a comedian maybe. He's already a singer as
well, so he can multitask.
He also has some street smarts as well apparently due to his
understanding of how the people of King's Landing see Tyrion as the one pulling
Joffrey's strings. He also believes that in a castle siege, food is the most important
commodity from experience, instead of reading books to plan defensive measures.
His solution is to kill the thieves who take all the food because they'll be
the richest men in town when the siege is complete. I think in that kind of
circumstances, I'd be willing to trust Bronn's word seeing as he seems to know
what he's talking about. Even Varys seems to agree that 'extreme measures are
warranted', though reluctantly by the sound of his voice.
If there's any man I'd have in a fight by my side, it would
be Bronn. Provided I have enough cash in my bank to pay his services. He has a certain air and charm to him that
initially makes him approachable but you should beware. He is not a man to
cross should you not pay him.
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Interesting Tidbits:
One of the things I found interesting is this: You ever
notice how the family's motto can sometimes reflect traitsthe characters traits
of that family?
A couple examples I will pose are the Tullys and Lannisters.
The House Tully motto is 'Family, Duty, Honor'. The first
Tully we're introduced to is Catelyn Stark (nee Tully), wife of Eddard Stark.
In the first ever episode, we see her being in the mother role, but nothing is
developed on until the next episode when her son Bran is in a coma. She stays
by his bedside near throughout, keeping an eye on him and not being around to
help with arrangements for the household. Though it does come handy that she is
around, since an assassin comes to kill Bran and Catelyn fights him off with
her bare hands. Pretty badass, but ultimately fails. Bran is saved not from his
mother in the end, but his direwolf Summer instead.
(GOT Dictionary = Direwolf: like a wolf but with steroids)
Soon after the assassination attempt, Catelyn goes in
detective mode and discovers a blonde hair in the tower where he fell. She goes
to the capital of Westeros, King's Landing, and discovers from her old friend
and brothel master Petyr Baelish that Tyrion Lannister (youngest and the
awesome member of the Lannister children) was behind the attempt. Meeting the
very man at the crossroads Inn, she takes him around to her sister's for tea
and biscuits. Or to be tried for attempted murder against her son, whichever's
easier.
(SPOILERS)
In the second season, she wants to get her two girls, Sansa
and Arya, back into her arms whom had originally gone to King's Landing only
for Sansa to be kept under Lannister control and Arya to escape. And eventually
after hearing of the "deaths" of her boys at the hands of Lily
Allen's brother, she follows her desires and frees Jaime Lannister to make an
exchange. This incurs the wrath of her son, Robb and she remains under arrest
at the end.
(End of SPOILERS)
So you see, Catelyn cares deeply for her family and would go
to any lengths to protect and save them from danger. It is understandable to
see what she's going through. She wants the family unit all back together. But
this has repercussions for later things to occur and makes Catelyn bold in her
ventures.
Another thing that should be noted is her relationship with
Jon Snow the bastard of the family. Since he wasn't born from her and told that
he is Eddard's own blood, she sees him as a ill wind and holds him in very low
regard. In fact, she is more cruel to him in the books then in the TV series, (she
wished it was him rather than Bran that fell from the tower) but you can still
see the hatred she has for him in her eyes, simply demanding he leaves after he
says his goodbyes to Bran when he leaves for the Wall. Jon is not considered
part of her family world, more a viper among birds. He is always a reminder in
a way of Eddard's infidelity and she would be more happy to not have anything
to do with him.
In comparison, Catelyn's sister Lysa Arryn definitely lives
up to that motto as much as Catelyn does, even though she's only in a few
episodes. When we're introduced to her in the TV series, her young son is still
sucking her breast for milk. I think that can happen in real life, wasn't there
a Channel 4 Doc about that? Anyway, she is concerned with killing Tyrion Lannister
quick and easily without much fuss, which doesn't work after allowing him to
trial by combat and loses. Sad face. Later when Catelyn gets pissed off about a
letter from King's Landing, Lysa reveals that family means everything to her.
Except it's only her family she cares about and not her sisters, doting on her
son.
So in a way, the 'Family, Duty, Honor' motto can be smashed
against a brick wall and left broken in tiny little pieces. Lysa doesn't come
to the aid of her sister because she is one egg short of an English Breakfast,
and Catelyn does not harbour any sort of love for Jon. In Catelyn's case it
makes sense, because for one reason or another, Eddard could not hold it in.
Lysa however has seemingly become unstable after the death of Jon Arryn and
stays in her stronghold, The Eyrie for isolation.
Another example I will use is the Lannisters and their motto
'Hear Me Roar', as well as their unofficial and more used 'A Lannister always
pays their debts'.
First is the patriarch of the family, Tywin Lannister. In
his first appearance on screen, he is a prideful man wanting his name to
command fear and respect and believes that his children need to be as strong as
him. Though he hardly has much love for Tyrion, he still is a Lannister. When
he is captured, Tywin does what any military dictator would do and sends his
men to burn Catelyn Stark's homeland and to remind her that Lannisters pay
their debts. Tywin seems to set great pride in the name 'Hear Me Roar' as he
wants the name of his house to live forever in the minds of all the houses of
Westeros. He is also ruthless and had been Hand of the King before under the last
Targaryen King, but at the end of Robert's Rebellion betrayed him and sacked
King's Landing. In a way, The Lannister name was stained with blood and would
not easily be washed away. The name may command respect, but in the wrong way.
(GOT Dictionary = Robert's Rebellion: A rebellion by Robert
:P)
The second is the Queen, Cersei Lannister. I have talked a
bit about Cersei's personality already as the character I most hate in the
series, but it won't hurt to go into a little more detail. She is married is
Robert Baratheon and has lived in the political world for a long time. She is
quite quick in her movements as she moves to bring people into power and also
to destroy others as quickly. She also puts herself in position on the King's
Small council and tries to govern the realm to her own abilities. But she also
can have a merciful side as well, for she wants to let Eddard live and keep her
dark secret away by taking the black (joining the Night's Watch).
However there a few points that can easily knock her off her
pearch:
1. When Tyrion is declared Hand of the King in
Tywin's stead, Cersei is livid and has her mistakes pointed out, that she
failed to stop Joffrey from doing what he did, for failing to keep all the
Stark children. All of that is true. It shows to an extent that Cersei is not
as brilliantly minded as everyone sees her to be.
2.
Her love
for her children might be a redeeming feature, but it doesn't help matters in
this world of intrigue. In season 2, she berates Tyrion for shipping off her
daughter Marcella to the region of Dorne and wishes to destroy him and
everything he loves for taking her away from King's Landing. But this is a time
when threats against the thrones are increasing and Tyrion is only shipping
Marcella to safety, from those who are not involved in the war. In trying to
protect, Cersei is ironically putting them at risk.
3. We see her teaching her son Joffrey ways to be
king and that 'Everyone who isn't us is an enemy'. Their facebook profiles must
be quite low on friends, or maybe quite a few friend requests that they never
respond to.... Unfortunately, her teaching backfires majestically and Joffrey
decides to act at being Hitler 3.0 (random point here, Joffrey has blonde hair
and blue eyes. O_O). Their relationship becomes further strained at the best of
times, Joffrey taking the mick out of her for Robert's none interest and Cersei
calling her son from battle back into the castle.
So it seems that Cersei is a failure as a political minded
person and possibly just as much as a mother, using personal threats as a means
to better herself and get ahead of the game. . She thinks she knows what she's
doing, but really....she doesn't. She
wants to be THE lion and can roar in the direction she chooses to go in, but mostly
it is in the wrong direction. If I may put up a comparison with a historical
figure, she aspires to be someone like Elizabeth I (one of the most politically
minded women in the world) and ends up being like Mary Queen of Scots, cocking
up at nearly every moment of her life. Though Mary was probably worse, Cersei
obviously isn't a barrel of laughs. I wonder what will happen to her in future
seasons...
There are not many houses that have this reflective idealogy,
but there might be some symbolism hiding in the Starks and their family motto,
'Winter is Coming'. (still here for the minute and hasn't left yet...).
As we all know winter is the time where all the leaves have
fallen off the trees, where snow covers the land, animals hide away from the
world with their stockpiles of food and its Christmas! There are references
that regard winter as the time of death, that a lifecycle is near complete. And
maybe, just maybe, that time has come for the Starks.
Most of us know what happened in Season 1 with regards to
the certain family member that always regenerates in different fictional
universes. Would that count as a Universe Lord? Like being more powerful than a
Time Lord? I digress. Anyway, the Starks seek revenge and manage to defeat
their enemies a number of times in the field of battle. However, the Stark
children have all gone their own ways, finding their own path into the world.
Robb is leading his father's bannermen in his absence, Sansa is still in King's
Landing trapped by the Lannisters, Arya is part of the men bound for the
Night's Watch, and Bran is trying to find the source of his dreams, albeit
unknown to his family since they believe otherwise what has happened to him.
This could be a stretch, but maybe the motto means that we
go through a period of suffering, that we must be able to get through the dark
times and to prepare for such times that come with dark times. Maybe we
could've used that for the recession? Imagine then that the Stark children as
animals foraging food to survive the winter climate. They need to get through a
period where there's no food growing in the ground and prepare adequately for
such times.
With the destruction of Winterfell in the finale of season
2, The Starks are in deep trouble. And Robb's marrying of a female OTHER than
whom he promised to House Frey might complicate matters. I will come back to
this point later on. If you think about it, the journey of the Stark children
starts at the beginning with Bran's falling out of the tower. And it only
becomes worse as time goes on. Will they all survive the harsh times present
and future? It's hard to say.
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Final question: where will the series go in season 3?
I have heard that the series will apparently go on for
another five more seasons, making it at least until 2018 until the entire
series is complete. Whether the actual book series will be complete by that
time depends on George R.R. Martin himself and his speed at writing. It's hard
not to say what will happen because I've read the books, but things can change
around and such.
Daenerys will continue in her journey to be Queen of
Westeros using the jewels and trinkets she collected from Xaro Xhoan Daxos's
house and might buy a boat, judging from the trailers. I will only add to this
in suggesting that she will be joined by two other people, one of which I think
will become very important as the series progresses.
Jon Snow is about to meet the King-Beyond-The-Wall, Mance
Rayder and may have to convince them he is one of them now. And what is
Rayder's plan when he says he will light the biggest fire the world has ever
seen? Considering there are shots of an unnamed
wilding trying to climb the Wall, it may undoubtedly involve the Night's Watch.
Tyrion looks to be remaining in King's Landing for the time
being, but in a position of lesser power since his father Tywin has officially
accepted the post of Hand of the King. He also seems to suggest that the whole
of Westeros will be united in fear of Tywin. I wonder what this could mean, but
I suppose it could refer back to Tywin's past terms as Hand in some manner.
Those are just a few examples as to what could happen in the
series. But I reckon the biggest game-changer will be in the penultimate Season
3 episode called "The Rains of Castamere". The title is also the name
of a particular type of song, known as the 'Lannister song'. Named as such
because it tells the story of Tywin Lannister virtually wiping out the entire
House Reyne of Castamere after their rebellion, restoring the Lannister name to
'honour'. Since that time, the song has been used as a reminder to what the
Lannisters can do.
Season 3 will be based on the first half of 'A Storm of
Swords', but there have been moments when a little bit from the start of the
book was adapted towards the end of Season 2, such as certain elements
involving Jamie Lannister. And the actual third book has been split into two
parts. So it's entirely possible that some elements will be brought over from that
part. And there are two significant chapters in that part that will definitely play
a role in the future of the TV series. I am not spoiling anything that will
compromise the series, but I will say this:
Blood will flow.
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Thanks for reading this week! I apologise for this article being
a bit smaller this week, but unfortunately I was overcome by an illness which
for the past two days had wore me down and I don't think I could've done much
writing in my condition. I will try and make it up for the next article in a
fortnight.
Til next time, this is the Randomizer!
