#rani's asoiaf playlist

[queenbeyondthewall]

Final stop on the Lannister siblings/Hozier self-titled campaign is From Eden, one of my first Hozier infatuations and to this day one of my favourite songs of all time. The absolutely unavoidable aura of Jaime/Brienne that comes from this song motivated me to write these analyses. A romance between a completely disillusioned narrator and a youth whose idealism he recognizes, outwardly dismisses, and inwardly admires? I hope this is already screaming Jaime/Brienne at you.

Babe, there’s something tragic about you Something so magic about you, don’t you agree? Babe, there’s something lonesome about you Something so wholesome about you, get closer to me

Reading this as Jaime’s thoughts about Brienne is pretty straightforward, I think. Brienne’s story is rather tragic - she's an outcast due to the rigid gender norms of her society, lonesome and desperate for acceptance and respect (from people like Renly to Catelyn and eventually to Jaime himself.) The real tragedy is that we (and Jaime) can see that she’s one of the few truly good people in this story, despite the lack of appreciation from her surroundings. Her kindness, courage, skill, and honour are in short supply in Westeros.

No tired sigh, no rolling eyes, no irony No “who cares,” no vacant stare, no time for me

The Jaime/Cersei/Brienne triangle is pretty renowned, and not only for the obvious romances. These lines, especially in contrast to the warmth of the ones before, seem to highlight the aspects of his former life that Jaime has grown so tired of. The cool reception that Jaime receives from Cersei upon his return to King’s Landing, including the detachment of the sept sex scene and her mockery of his severed hand, contribute to showing him how the two of them might not be one soul in two bodies after all.

Honey, you’re familiar, like my mirror years ago Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on his sword Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me, I should know I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door

Now the chorus, aka the most braime set of lines that have ever been sung. On the face of it, this verse is gently dismissive of the idealism that Jaime sees reflected in Brienne from his own youth. Jaime would have us believe that he has seen through the lie of honour, of true knighthood, the lie that allows Kingsguard to be called the finest knights in the realm while they stand by and watch tyrants rape and torture and murder. Take this quote, for example.

“A boy knelt; a knight rose. The Young Lion, not the Kingslayer. But that was long ago, and the boy was dead.” - AFFC Jaime I

Really? If that boy and the idealism he represented died long ago, why does Jaime send Brienne off on a mission to rescue Sansa as his “last chance for honour?” Why does he name the sword he gifts her Oathkeeper? From Eden’s speaker dismisses the idealistic viewpoint of its subject in one breath, but is drawn towards it in the next, much as Jaime is drawn towards Brienne because of her relentless idealism, not in spite of it.

Babe, there’s something broken about this, But I might be hoping about this, oh what a sin.

There it is - hope. Jaime trusts Brienne because he hopes against hope that she can finally prove the ideals of knighthood as true and attainable.

A rope in hand for your other man to hang from a tree

Ok so this is a minor point but. THIS. This is the line that genuinely makes me stop and consider if Andrew Hozier-Byrne is secretly a massive asoiaf fan. WHY ELSE would he include a line like this that is so clearly a reference to the one and only Hyle Hunt?! Hyle Hunt, whose house’s sigil is that of a hung deer, who accompanies Brienne throughout AFFC, who was a suitor to her hand in marriage, whose last appearance on page is as he’s being hanged, and who is predicted to die in TWOW by hanging? I just. I can’t. It’s too much. Thematically I guess hanging is a motif throughout AFFC, especially in the Riverlands with Brienne and the BwB, and they will be very relevant to Jaime and Brienne's story early in TWOW. I guess.

This song is terribly romantic which fits because to me Jaime and Brienne are the main love story of the series. I had a lot of fun writing this and hopefully you can now join me in bashing my head against a wall every time I listen to this song and am reminded of them.

[atopvisenyashill]

pov you just read the red wedding chapters & now you’re thinking about how they cut lady stoneheart from the show and you’re coping with sad music

o children nick cave and the bad seeds / runaway aurora / time to pretend mgmt / endless night jason raize / running up that hill kate bush / until we bleed lykke li / upward over the mountain iron & wine / what the water gave me florence + the machine / rhiannon fleetwood mac / the dismemberment song blue kid

[queenbeyondthewall]

Snow was falling on the Eyrie. Outside the flakes drifted down as soft and silent as memory. 

The frost, it looks Like dust settled on the world

The sight took Sansa back to cold nights long ago, in the long summer of her childhood.

After everyone's long been gone

"Did you think we were making for Winterfell, sweetling? Winterfell has been taken, burned, and sacked. All those you knew and loved are dead." 

But me, I was hiding or forgotten

The queen had men out looking for the Imp and Sansa Stark. It will mean my head if I am found, she reminded herself as she descended a flight of icy stone steps. I must be Alayne all the time, inside and out.

The only one left, Now the world is mine alone

Lady was dead, though; Robb, Bran, Rickon, Arya, her father, her mother, even Septa Mordane. All of them are dead but me. She was alone in the world now.

With no one, no one To share the memory of frost Out the window this morning

She had last seen snow the day she'd left Winterfell. That was a lighter fall than this, she remembered. Robb had melting flakes in his hair when he hugged me, and the snowball Arya tried to make kept coming apart in her hands.

After you're gone And the house is mine alone 

The snow fell and the castle rose. It was only a castle when she began, but before very long Sansa knew it was Winterfell.

You're my best friend Now I've no one to tell How I lost my best friend

For just a little while, as she ran, she forgot who she was, and where, and found herself remembering bright cold days at Winterfell, when she would race through Winterfell with her friend Jeyne Poole, with Arya running after them trying to keep up.

The frost, it looks Like we've been left in the attic

White towers and white snow and white statues, black shadows and black trees, the dark grey sky above. A pure world, Sansa thought. I do not belong here. Yet she stepped out all the same.

But you're not here to see

She could feel the snow on her lashes, taste it on her lips. It was the taste of Winterfell. The taste of innocence. The taste of dreams.

It's just witness-less me

I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. 

The Frost, Mitski // A Storm Of Swords, George R. R. Martin // A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin // The Winds Of Winter, George R. R. Martin

[queenbeyondthewall]

Oh who am I kidding I think a lot about a lot of things because I am a massive nerd. HOWEVER two things I definitely think too much about are asoiaf and my favourite songwriter Andrew Hozier-Byrne, so what better subject for my inaugural post? The album Hozier, with all its themes of identity, toxic relationships, disillusionment, love, sex, and substance abuse, was unintentionally written for the Lannister siblings. Here's why.

Ladies first, so let me begin with our disastrous girl Cersei and the absolute banger that is Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene. This one starts off strong:

I watch the work of my kin, bold and boyful

Cersei’s one half of the famous incest ship from the famous incest series, of course, so we’re talking of her kin. Bold and boyful sounds to me how Cersei would describe Jaime in his youth - the picture of Westerosi masculinity and everything she could never be on account of her sex.

Toying somewhere between love and abuse

How better to describe Jaime and Cersei’s dynamic? Twisted, toxic, narcissistic, and yet the two definitely see their feelings for each other as love.

Freshly disowned in some frozen devotion

To me, this lyric can be generally applied to all three of the Lannister siblings and their relationship with their father. Tywin has disowned them all in some manner - Cersei for being a woman, Tyrion for being a dwarf, and Jaime for his refusal to forsake his position as a Kingsguard. Cersei, however, is the only one of the three who has not been completely disillusioned of her devotion to the man - a primary motivation throughout feast is an aspiration to live up to him and prove herself as his heir. 

With her sweetened breath, and her tongue so mean She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene With her straw-blonde hair, her arms hard and lean She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene

The whole of the chorus couldn’t be more Cersei - Jaime’s continually calling her his “sweet sister,” she has a famously mean mind and sharp tongue, and of course that characteristically Lannister blonde hair and beauty. “Small death and the codeine scene” is Hozier-speak for sex and substance abuse, which are both things that Cersei defines herself and her relationships by. I can’t help but think of the Sansa POV Blackwater chapters, where Cersei is getting drunk and “teaching” her a horrifying lesson about the power of female sexuality.

All fetor and fertile, it’s bloody and raw but I swear it is sweet

Fetor like the rot that Cersei inherits from Tywin’s legacy and that permeates his corpse at the funeral, and fertile like the one value she has as a queen in Westeros. Her blazing rise to power after Tywin’s death is built on cruelty and avarice - it’s also what Cersei craves beyond anything else.

I’ll wander the concrete  Wonder if better now, having survived

Coming down from her blaze of glory, of course, is the horror of her walk of shame. Cersei intended to get through it on pride alone, but where we left her POV in feast was with her horrible realisation of the intense vulnerability of her exposure to the public. She survived it, however, and with the hints in the Kevan epilogue of her scheming at full force once again… damn it George we need to see winds!

[queenbeyondthewall]

Winter comes for all of us, Catelyn thought. For me, it came when Ned died.

Spirit of my silence, I can hear you But I'm afraid to be near you

She gazed down at the bones that were all that remained of her lord and love. "Now leave me, all of you. I would be alone with Ned tonight."

And I don't know where to begin

She could see her reflection in the breastplate, gazing back at her as if from the bottom of a deep green pond. The face of a drowned woman, Catelyn thought. Can you drown in grief?

I lost my strength completely

"Mad," someone said, "she's lost her wits," and someone else said, "Make an end," and a hand grabbed her scalp just as she'd done with Jinglebell, and she thought, No, don't, don't cut my hair, Ned loves my hair. 

Oh, be near me, tired old mare With the wind in your hair

"I loved a maid as red as autumn," Rymund sang, "with sunset in her hair." Catelyn never noticed when the singing ended.

Amethyst and flowers on the table Is it real or a fable?

"There's a song," he remembered. "'Jenny of Oldstones, with the flowers in her hair.'" "We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky." She had played at being Jenny that day, had even wound flowers in her hair. 

We all know how this will end

"It will not last," Catelyn answered, sadly. "Because they are the knights of summer, and winter is coming."

What is that song you sing for the dead?

Blood ran hot over her fingers. His little bells were ringing, ringing, ringing, and the drum went boom doom boom.

I see the signal searchlight strike me In the window of my room

"I keep remembering the Stark words. Winter has come, Father. For me. For me." 

Well, I've got nothing to prove

"Hang them," she croaked.

I forgive you, mother, I can hear you

She was always looking for her mother, stumbling through a wasted land of mud and blood and fire. It was always raining in that dream, and she could hear her mother screaming.

And I long to be near you But every road leads to an end

"I want my girls back, I want Robb to lay down his sword and pick some homely daughter of Walder Frey to make him happy and give him sons. I want Bran and Rickon back, I want ..."  Catelyn hung her head. "I want," she said once more, and then her words were gone.

Your apparition passes through me in the willows

"I dreamt of a roaring river and a woman that was a fish. Dead she drifted, with red tears on her cheeks, but when her eyes did open, oh, I woke from terror."

Five red hens You'll never see us again

"I had five children. Now I have three."

You'll never see us again

I am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings. There is an empty place within me where my heart was once.

Death with Dignity, Sufjan Stevens // A Clash Of Kings, George R. R. Martin // A Storm Of Swords, George R. R. Martin // A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin

[queenbeyondthewall]

In the cool silvery-blue light of the swords, the big wench looked pale and fierce. 

Shine bright Your light

In this light she could almost be a beauty, he thought. In this light she could almost be a knight. 

They'll tell you that you're mad But you're not

"Some men are blessed with sons, some with daughters. No man deserves to be cursed with such as you. Live or die, Lady Brienne, do not return."

You're true And you're the holiest of things

"What's the point o' having some magic sword if you don't bloody well use it?" "Honor," she said. "The point is honor."

Your guts, You rise

She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice.

You moon

"In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining."

"There was always a singer at Evenfall Hall when I was a girl," Brienne said quietly. "I learned all the songs by heart."

They'll tell you that you can't, but you can Elevate until you're on a higher plane

"Men will always underestimate you," he said, "and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly, lest it be said that a woman tried them sorely."

You’ve gotta work ’til the body works for you

She is stronger than I am. The realization chilled him.

Your innocence is your USP

"There is a sweet innocence about you, child."

You’ve gotta take all that they give to you To get a break when you're seventeen

"I came to fight," she insisted. "To be a knight."

They say you can't But you can

Young or old, a true knight is sworn to protect those who are weaker than himself, or die in the attempt.

USP, Liz Lawrence // A Storm Of Swords, George R. R. Martin // A Feast For Crows, George R. R. Martin // A Clash Of Kings, George R. R. Martin

[queenbeyondthewall]

"Theon," a voice seemed to whisper.

I’m just a man, but I know that I’m damned All the dead seem to know where I am

The voice had been as faint as rustling leaves, as cold as hate. A god's voice, or a ghost's. 

The tale that began on the night of my birth Will be done in a turn of the earth

Theon wondered if he would ever see the Drowned God's watery halls, or if his ghost would linger here at Winterfell.

Die if I must, let my bones turn to dust, I’m the lord of the lake and I don’t want to leave it

"I'm Prince Theon now. We're both princes, Bran. Who would have dreamed it? But I've taken your castle, my prince."

Under the waves and the earth of an age  Lie a thousand old northerner’s graves

“I dreamed that the sea was lapping all around Winterfell. I saw black waves crashing against the gates and towers, and then the salt water came flowing over the walls and filled the castle. Drowned men were floating in the yard.”

Deep in the night when the moon’s glowing bright They come rising up into the night

He was trapped here, with the ghosts. The old ghosts from the crypts and the younger ones that he had made himself, Mikken and Farlen, Gynir Rednose, Aggar, Gelmarr the Grim, the miller's wife from Acorn Water and her two young sons, and all the rest. My work. My ghosts.

Every eye on the coast ever more Will remember the sight of the ghost on the shore

There are ghosts in Winterfell, he thought, and I am one of them.

I’m going away for a long time

The Ghost on the Shore, Lord Huron // A Dance with Dragons, George R. R. Martin // A Clash Of Kings, George R. R. Martin

[queenbeyondthewall]

She sat in her wedding silks, nursing a cup of honeyed wine, afraid to eat, talking silently to herself. I am blood of the dragon, she told herself.

If it be your will that I speak no more And my voice be still, as it was before

Her brother had told her to smile, and so she smiled until her face ached and the tears came unbidden to her eyes.

I will speak no more, I shall abide

As the khal was saddling the horse, Viserys slid close to Dany on her silver, dug his fingers into her leg, and said, "Please him, sweet sister, or I swear, you will see the dragon wake as it has never woken before."

Until I am spoken for, if it be your will

He always took her from behind, Dothraki fashion, for which Dany was grateful; that way her lord husband could not see the tears that wet her face, and she could use her pillow to muffle her cries of pain. 

If it be your will that a voice be true

"You heard my words," she said. "Stop them." She spoke to her khas in the harsh accents of Dothraki. "Jhogo, Quaro, you will aid Ser Jorah. I want no rape."

From this broken hill I will sing to you

And for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.

From this broken hill, all your praises, they shall ring

"Fierce as a storm this prince will be. His enemies will tremble before him, and their wives will weep tears of blood and rend their flesh in grief. The bells in his hair will sing his coming, and the milk men in the stone tents will fear his name."

If it be your will to let me sing

"The prince is riding, and he shall be the stallion who mounts the world."

If it be your will, if there is a choice

"What will you do then, Khaleesi?" asked Rakharo. "Stay," she said. "Rule. And be a queen."

Let the rivers fill, let the hills rejoice

"I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only a young girl."

Let your mercy spill on all these burning hearts in hell

Mercy, thought Dany. They will have the dragon's mercy.

If it be your will to make us well And to draw us near, and bind us tight

"Mhysa!" they called. "Mhysa! MHYSA!" They were all smiling at her, reaching for her, kneeling before her.

All your children here, in their rags of light

Mother. They are calling me Mother.

In our rags of light, all dressed to kill

"Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …" Dany could not recall the child's name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. "I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons."

And end this night, if it be your will

Dragons plant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what you were made to be. Remember your words.

If it be your will

"Fire and Blood," Daenerys told the swaying grass.

If It Be Your Will, Leonard Cohen // A Game Of Thrones, George R. R. Martin // A Storm Of Swords, George R. R. Martin // A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin

[queenbeyondthewall]

Alright so next on the Hozier self-titled/Lannister sibs agenda is the one and only Tyrion Lannister and his theme song Foreigner’s God. I simply cannot listen to this song anymore without thinking of him. It might be one of the most tragic songs on the album which is a perfect fit for one of the best tragic anti-heroic characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Let’s go.

She moved with shameless wonder The perfect creature, rarely seen Since some liar brought the thunder And the land was godless and free

This verse, to me, really represents the purity and innocence of Tyrion and Tysha's youthful love affair before Tywin (the liar who brought the thunder) pulled it to shreds. The word shameless is particularly apt in reference to Tyrion: 

“Tyrion hated weakness, especially his own. It shamed him, and shame made him angry.” - ASOS Tyrion I

“And make no mistake—this was the last time I will suffer you to bring shame onto House Lannister. You are done with whores.” – Tywin Lannister, ASOS Tyrion I

Nothing cuts him quite so deep as shame, especially from his father, and especially in reference to his dwarfism and his relationships with so-called “whores.” Speaking of,

Her eyes look sharp and steady Into the empty parts of me But still my heart is heavy With the hate of some other man’s beliefs

I interpret this verse in reference to Tyrion’s relationship with Shae, a defining feature of our understanding of his character. She's a bright, lively young woman, and they are almost sweet with each other, he seems to genuinely trust and care for her. Their relationship, however, is stained by the intense hatred Tyrion has for himself and the world around him, due in no small part to the Tysha incident and Tywin’s continued dismissal and disrespect of him. Tyrion compares the two girls to each other constantly, as though desperately seeking the kind of carefree love he once felt free to have, and not finding it.

Always a well-dressed fraud Who wouldn’t spare the rod

Back and back again to Tywin and the impenetrable shadow he casts over Tyrion’s life. I love thinking of Tywin as a well-dressed fraud - there’s a hint there of the Lannister ostentation and hunger for power. Spare the rod in biblical reference to corporal punishment and to Tywin’s neverending efforts to dampen the spirit of his younger son. 

She feels no control over her body She feels no safety in my arms I’ve no language left to say it But all I do is quake to her Breaking if I try and convey it The broken love I make to her

The darkest part of Tyrion’s story, without question, is the drunken, cruel, destructive spiral of self-loathing and self-pity he is set on by a culmination of his traumas and betrayals. I’m sure many readers felt the same horror as I did watching Tyrion take out his inner torment upon the poor “sunset girl” in the brothel. I find Tyrion’s relationships with women to be very important in underlining the tragedy of his character - someone who has been on the receiving end of some of Westeros’ cruelest societal and personal biases, someone with true innate empathy, and yet who falls just short of extending his understanding of these hardships to other disadvantaged people around him (namely women, especially prostitutes). Tyrion’s relationship with sex has been warped ever since the rape-by-proxy he suffered at the hands of his father. The outcome? More pain to innocents, which this verse communicates in striking clarity.

Screaming the name of a foreigner’s god The purest expression of grief

This song has a simple but impactful refrain. I saw a post recently speaking of Tyrion as a victim - angry, hateful, imperfect. Sometimes I think the wit that so endears Tyrion to us as a POV distracts from the very real grief and trauma that is a driving force for his character. Tyrion, to me, is the character with the most ambiguous path forward through winds and dream, and I can’t wait to see how he continues to grow from rock bottom. Part of that, I think, will be an altogether different sort of relationship with Penny and Daenerys, two new young women in his life.

[queenbeyondthewall]

So it’s been a minute since I did the Lannister Siblings/Hozier self-titled analyses, and while I haven’t had any ideas that were as elegant or unified since, I have been finding some neat little asoiaf character parallels in some of my favourite music lately. I was thinking I might start writing some freeform meta about them, just as a chance to get to critically revisit some of my favourite characters since I don’t plan on doing a reread anytime soon. Rani’s asoiaf playlist, if you will!