While Game of Thrones was on the air, I was fortunate enough to write about the show over on the excellent show-centric website Watchers on the Wall. But, even though the show has concluded, there are still books due to be published. Over on the WotW site, I have a new feature that largely involves book speculation. Sort of.
In the post, I speculate that Bran Stark’s book storyline might act as a reference to the failed ambitions of his grace, King Stannis Baratheon.
The legal system in Westeros leaves much to be desired. There is no dedicated feudal analog of a judicial branch, ideally guided with fairness, objectivity, and the concept of justice. Instead, legal disputes are adjudicated by lords who often have vested interests in the outcomes and the overpowered ability to settle disputes by fiat (and with the martial support to have their decisions enforced.)
Tyrion is not impressed with this episode of Law and Order: King’s Landing
One would hope that disputes aren’t entirely decided arbitrarily by feudal lords; that local customs, precedents, and traditions might hold sway. But that’s not a given when the common-folk are facing the sharp end of Westeros justice.
Although the smallfolk of the Seven Kingdoms have less flexibility when it comes to facing legal issues, those with more status and privilege do have the option to take decision-making out of the hands of overlords and into their own. If they can accept the risks of Trial by Combat.
The final season of Game of Thrones has come and gone, closing the chapter on the conflict between Starks, Lannisters, and Targaryens with battles, betrayals, and the unexpected choice of a boy-king to rule over (most) of the kingdoms of Westeros. The conclusion of the story was tied in with the tragic fall of Daenerys Targaryen, who ambitiously considered herself The Last Dragon and had long sought to reclaim the seat of power that had been literally forged by her ancestors.
There’s solid analysis talking about Daenerys as a tragic hero in the Shakespearean mold. I’ll be happy to recommend articles from ShakespeareOfThrones discussing the Shakespearean ending to the series, as well as /r/asoiaf subreddit moderator glass_table_girl and her epic opus on Daenerys which predicted a literary-inspired tragic fall. But I’m not here to talk about Shakespeare. Instead, I’d like to talk about Daenerys and her association with the other prominent Targaryen in the story, Jon Snow, from an Arthurian perspective.
In just two months (more or less) we should have all seen a new episode of Game of Thrones, the start of the eighth and final season. The kind people at the Watchers on the Wall site have graciously allowed me to submit features for them, so I can work through my Game of Thrones related issues. Or something like that.
Just published on the site is a feature on Cersei Lannister, who is almost absolutely guaranteed to be regarded as a witch when the maesters write their histories of the War of the Five Kings and the Second Long Night. Sorry Cersei.
Another great A Song of Ice and Fire + Shakespeare analysis. I’m pleased to be able to reblog this.
One can almost see the sombre face of Eddard Stark looming up behind these lines:
BRUTUS:
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
– Julius Caesar, II.ii
Hailed as Shakespeare’s great political tragedy, Julius Caesar presents the delicate balance between the private and public self; a central conflict for both Ned and Brutus. The parallel is likely intentional, especially considering that George R. R. Martin has named Julius Caesar as one of his two favorite Shakespeare plays. Throughout A Song of Ice and Fire, the conflict of private self vs. public self persists as a vibrant theme–a duality of opposing concepts, much like ice and fire. It is also congruent with Martin’s ultimate conflict; the heart at war with itself.
By examining Ned’s orientation as a Brutus figure, we can identify how Martin incorporates thematic elements of
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It’s November and the ongoing (thanks to the extended and legal counting of all the votes) Mid-Term Elections in the United States have been on my mind. But no one needs to know my thoughts on that hot mess, so I wrote a post tackling several political points in Game of Thrones for the Watchers on the Wall site.
I give an overview of the political landscape going into Season Eight of Game of Thrones (I even have a shout-out for the delightful Lollys Stokeworth.) And I definitively tell you who is ending up on the Iron Throne. Hopefully I avoid referencing political cliches.
Jon Snow: Hashtag I’m With Her. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!
Me: Keep it real, son.
Here’s a special treat for Game of Thrones fans and Shakespeare lovers – an essay discussing witches and their significance in A Song of Ice and Fire. (Everyone should be aware of the work Shakespeare Of Thrones is doing. She’s the best.)
Witches.
One of the most easily recognizable archetypes in literature, yet transmutable into so many varying forms. Old, young, wise, prophetic, repulsive, tempting, ugly, beautiful–for every one witch characteristic, there seems to be a corresponding opposite.
Macbeth’s three Witches are old and ugly hags, endowed with the gift of prophecy. They begin and end the play—indeed serving as a centerpiece of the story—as they feed Macbeth’s ambition. Lady Macbeth is, likewise, a witch figure. She is young and mortal, bereft of prophetic powers, but aligns herself with the Witches and has seductive power as she impels her husband to do wicked deeds.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, there are many more types of witches. Melisandre comes to mind as the most prominent, plot-driving witch in the story, but there is also Maggy the Frog, Mirri Maz Duur, Ghost of High Heart, Lady Stoneheart, and even Cersei. Quite…
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This is the final post in a series talking about the direwolves on Game of Thrones (with some references to their analogous narratives in the books of A Song of Ice and Fire.) For more info on what this post is about, you can check out Part One. I tried to constrain myself to a five-part series, but part four was split up among two separates posts, because I was too verbose.
Nymeria hates verbosity as much as she hates Lannisters.
If you’ve wandered here without having read any of the previous essays talking about the direwolves, here’s the Too Long; Didn’t Read summation.
The direwolves on Game of Thrones appear to be an endangered species, and though it might not be correct to say that I’m okay with that, it is entirely fair to say that I’m not not okay with that. If there’s weakness in the adaptation of the direwolves’ narrative (which is hard to say definitively since there are more of the books to come out) then that weakness is probably on par with the other shortcuts taken in adapting A Song of Ice and Fire.
This post is part of a continuing series on the direwolves in Game of Thrones. I’ll also be discussing the books so if you’re not up on either versions, this is your spoiler warning.
I’ve been discussing the various fates of the direwolves, and had planned on writing a single post about pairs of direwolves (so, six direwolves would be covered in three posts) with an intro post and a wrap-up post making for five posts total. This worked well with the dead pair of direwolves (Lady and Greywind) and the dead-on-the-show direwolves (Shaggydog and Summer) but when I started writing about the still-living Nymeria and Ghost in the last post, I wrote so much about Nymeria I had to split my discussion of that pair into two posts.
So this is the second part of a fourth entry in a five-post series. And it will be all about Ghost. Or rather, mostly about Ghost. (I reserve the right to refer back to other wolves.)
But there will be no more math, I promise.
This is the penultimate post in my series of articles talking about the direwolves on HBO’s Game of Thrones (and the literary source A Song of Ice and Fire.)
I’ve mostly been defending the fact that the majority of the direwolves are dead and that the showrunners are probably doing a reasonable job with them in the adaptation, although that’s not a popular fan-held position.
Just a reminder, I’ll be talking about the show and the books. So spoilers abound if you’re behind on your viewing or watching.
Two posts ago, I talked about the Stark direwolves Lady and Greywind, and the most recent post in this series featured Shaggydog and Summer. Up next are the last two wolves in the story, Nymeria and Ghost.
I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time 