Posts Tagged ‘Ned Stark’

You Are Not Stones But Men: Ned Stark and Shakespeare’s Brutus

Posted: February 7, 2019 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones
Tags: , , , , , ,
2

 

Another great A Song of Ice and Fire + Shakespeare analysis. I’m pleased to be able to reblog this.

Shakespeare of Thrones

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

View original post 3,330 more words

Second Looks at Jon Snow: Ned Stark 2.0

Posted: May 9, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
Tags: , ,
23

On the off chance that the names Jon Snow or Ned Stark are unfamiliar to you, go watch Game of Thrones or read the book series A Song of Ice and Fire. Otherwise this post will be spoiling the story.

Ned: Thanks to the North’s chilly climate, things don’t spoil too quickly up here.
Jon: Well actually, Lady Catelyn just makes me eat all of the spoiled food.
Ned: There’s that. Wait, did you just “well actually” me?
Jon: Uh, no?

When Game of Thrones first aired in 2011 on HBO, one could not escape promotional material featuring Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark, played by ruggedly handsome Sean Bean.

Typically our man Ned was shown seated and pensive upon the Iron Throne, the symbol of power in the fictional Seven Kingdoms.

(more…)

Margaery Tyrell, Walking in Ned Stark’s Bootprints

Posted: April 4, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , ,
10

April is here and April showers bring May flowers, so now seems a reasonable time to talk about the flower-themed queen from Highgarden: Margaery Tyrell.

(If not everything in the above sentence makes sense to you, then you are behind on your Game of Thrones watching and should correct that before reading this post.)

margaeryfrown

Margaery Tyrell is one of those rare Game of Thrones characters who has more depth and dimension on the television show than they do in the books.

To be fair, that’s probably because in the published books so far, the Highgarden celebrity has never had a point-of-view chapter. She’s certainly an important character in the books, but she’s clearly only a secondary character.

On Game of Thrones, she’s a player.

(more…)

Second Looks – Ned Stark

Posted: February 21, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , , ,
8

This post will be talking about Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark, from the HBO television show Game of Thrones (and prominent in the source material, George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.) If you don’t know who Ned Stark is, just know that he’s awesome and a big damn hero. Then go read the books and/or watch the show.

nedthrone

Big damn hero? I’m just an ordinary man, trying to do right by his family. And his king. And the realm. And the North. And my dead sister. And honor. And my [redacted] Jon Snow. There are probably some other competing interests that I’m forgetting.

Hopefully, anyone not familiar with my man Ned will be gone now, so I can begin to talk plot details.

(more…)

Westeros Romance: the roses are blue, but the blood is still red.

Posted: February 14, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
Tags: , , , , , ,
23

Happy Valentine’s Day! (If you’re into that thing.) This post will be talking about Game of Thrones and a very specific story of love and broken hearts. I’ll be tromping all over a spoilery plot detail, one that some might argue hasn’t been 100% comfirmed, so I’ll just let you decide if you want to keep reading.

blueroses

“Promise me, Ned,” Lyanna’s statue whispered. She wore a garland of pale blue roses, and her eyes wept blood.

(more…)

Show of Hands; Hands Up, Hands Down

Posted: April 7, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , ,
30

This post will be dealing with plot points in Game of Thrones, you know, that awesome TV show on HBO. (Which is starting up again this weekend. FINALLY!)

Anyway, if you’re not caught up with the show, then

  • You smell.
  • This is your only spoiler warning.

HandBadgeSmall

Four years ago (in “our” time, not TV time), Lord Eddard “while Cat’s away, Ned will play” Stark got some bad news. Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, had died.

It wasn’t revealed at the time, but the Hand of the King had been killed by a family member, who then quickly fled the capital.

(more…)

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Stark

Posted: March 3, 2015 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , ,
14

There’s this show on HBO called Game of Thrones. Maybe you’ve heard of it. It’s great (as is the book series it’s based on, A Song of Ice and Fire.) This post will be talking plot points from the show (but no spoilers from book materials that the show hasn’t covered yet.) If you’re not up on the show, it’s up to you if you want to read the following article. Consider this your warning.

RockPaperScissorsLizardStark

Rock. Paper. Scissors. Lizard. Stark.

In Season One of Game of Thrones, Lord Eddard Stark brings to the court the recently deceased King Robert Baratheon’s last written directive granting Ned the regency until Robert’s heir comes of age. This document is presented to Queen Cersei.

Cersei: Is this meant to be your shield, Lord Stark? *rips paper*
Ned: Hmmm, maybe I should have played rock instead…

Scissors-Beats-Paper

Anyone not familiar with the rules of Rochambeau? (Sometimes spelled Ro-sham-bo.) Rock-Paper-Scissors?

(more…)

Trick or Treat; Tricks and Threats (in Game of Thrones)

Posted: October 7, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , ,
11

This post will be talking about details found in the first three seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones. If you’re not caught up on the show (at least to that point) you might trip and fall over some Spoilers in this post. You’ve been warned, my friends.

Pumpkin

Happy Halloween! Or as the Dothraki Might Say: Happy Khalloween!

October is here, a solidly Autumn month. I know my daughter is looking forward for the month to fly by as fast as possible, to land on October 31st and the holiday of Halloween. Although this generation knows Halloween as mostly a costume-laden, candy-filled explosion, years and years ago the night of Halloween put just as much emphasis on the Trick part of the equation, as well as the Treat. Like I said, Autumn’s here, so Winter is Coming. A perfect time for a Game of Thrones post, and in honor of hooligans who are planning practical jokes for the upcoming Halloween, I thought I’d spotlight some of the greatest pranksters in the Seven Kingdoms. Westeros: where it’s all fun and games once someone loses a body part. Usually. (more…)

Regarding Renly Baratheon

Posted: August 27, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , ,
17

This post will be referencing plot points throughout the four seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones. If you’re not caught up, shame on you! It’s the most pirated show in the universe!

But I shouldn’t be slack-shaming. Should you need to get caught up, please do so and come back.

renly-death

Being King is Awesome!

My work colleagues are great; the office is a Game of Thrones-friendly environment. Many of us have read the books and nearly everyone’s watching the show.

When I started blogging about Game of Thrones last year, I didn’t necessarily expect my teammates to follow my blog but they have been, since it gives them more Game of Thrones things to talk about (and the opportunity to make fun of my grammar and bizarre typos and run-on sentences and Fnord.)

Most of my early posts were “In Defense of … ” articles, where I’d try to rationalize or defend one of the major character’s bad decisions. After a few of those articles were on the blog, one of my colleagues asked me when I’d go on the offensive and not defend someone, but take them to task.

That time is now.

(more…)

In Defense of Joffrey Baratheon (Yes, JOFFREY)

Posted: February 25, 2014 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
26

This post will be touching on the first three seasons of HBO’s excellent series Game of Thrones. If you’re not caught up on the story, be forewarned that I’ll be dropping plot spoilers for the TV show.

joffrey-baratheon-1024

Bring Me a Puppy! A King Has a Schedule to Keep!

There isn’t a lot of good things that can be said about the eldest son of Queen Cersei…

  • Executing Ned Stark? Bad move.
  • Torturing Sansa with severed heads, having her publicly humiliated? Extremely ungentlemanly.
  • Killing Ros? There’s nothing that I can say that would adequately express my horror and disgust.

But, and as odd as it sounds, I’m not here to condemn Joffrey Baratheon (although he is worthy of condemnation.) I’m here to defend the one time he was solidly, entirely right. And as a bonus (or the opposite of bonus) I’ll try to cast some reasonable doubt on some of the atrocities attributed to him.

Even the Mad King 2.0 can be surprisingly correct on occasion.

(more…)

Older Entries