yesourbladesaresharp

[yesourbladesaresharp]

Game of Thrones’ Season 6

[yesourbladesaresharp]

Jon Snow and Brynden Rivers parallels

[yesourbladesaresharp]

the most realistic part of game of thrones is baby jon lookin just as tired and jaded as adult jon

[yesourbladesaresharp]

“Queen you shall be… until there comes another, YOUNGER and MORE BEAUTIFUL, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”

[yesourbladesaresharp]

Promise me, Ned.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

The North remembers. We know no king but the King in the North whose name is Stark.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

[yesourbladesaresharp]

             The First Men named us children. The giants called us wok dak nag gran, the squirrel people, because we were small and quick and fond of trees, but we are no squirrels, no children. Our name in the True Tongue means those who sing the song of the earth. Before your Old Tongue was ever spoken, we had sun our songs  t e n  t h o u s a n d  y e a r s .

[yesourbladesaresharp]

miss u Jojen

I mean...I knew the kid had to die, but I wasn't expecting it this week or so gruesomely!

Jojen was thirteen, only four years older than Bran. Jojen wasn’t much bigger either, no more than two inches or maybe three, but he had a solemn way of talking that made him seem older and wiser than he really was. At Winterfell, Old Nan had dubbed him “little grandfather.”

[yesourbladesaresharp]

In the books, Shae was a teenaged sex worker who was paid to be Tyrion’s girlfriend. 

Tyrion, just to spite his father (who specifically told him not to bring Shae to Kings Landing), brought Shae anyway. At first he set her up in a nice manse, with guards (which he made sure were hideously ugly, because he didn’t want his paid mistress to be making eyes at anyone who wasn’t him). But when things got dangerous, he moved her into the Red Keep, forcing her to act as a lady’s maid to another woman.

Throughout all of this, Shae kept up the act so well that Tyrion developed real feelings for her. It’s understandable, but also not Shae’s concern. Tyrion even kept reminding himself that she only wanted his gold, that she didn’t love him. 

But inevitably, all things must end. When Tyrion is accused of treason and murder, Shae understandably abandons him. Once more, she is a teenaged sex worker. She is lowborn. She has no protection but that of her patron, who has just been imprisoned, and will likely be executed.

So Shae testifies against him. It’s implied that Cersei (“kill all my husband’s bastards”) Lannister not only bribes her to testify (with marriage to a knight, if memory serves), but also probably threatened her.

Tyrion is, again, understandably upset. Shae divulges very personal things on the stand. But she has no personal allegiance to him. He was a client. Her skin is more important than his pride.

So when Tyrion escapes from his cell, and finds her in his father’s bed, it is understandable that he is angry, that he feels betrayed. But that does not mean that he is justified in murdering her.

Big wet tears filled her eyes. “I never meant those things I said, the queen made me. Please. Your father frightens me so.” She sat up, letting the blanket slide down to her lap. Beneath it she was naked, but for the chain about her throat. A chain of linked gold hands, each holding the next.

"My lady Shae," Tyrion said softly. "All the time I sat in the black cell waiting to die, I kept remembering how beautiful you were. In silk or roughspun or nothing at all…"

"M’lord will be back soon. You should go, or…did you come to take me away?"

"Did you ever like it?" He cupped her cheek, remembering all the times he had done this before. […] "Did you ever like my touch?"

"More than anything," she said, "my giant of Lannister."

That was the worst thing you could have said, sweetling.

Tyrion slid a hand under his father’s chain, and twisted. The links tightened, digging into her neck. “For hands of gold are always cold, but a woman’s hands are warm,” he said. He gave cold hands another twist as the warm ones beat away his tears.

Shae was guilty of no more than embarrassing Tyrion. Yes, she lied about his guilt (and Sansa’s) during his trial, but that’s not why he killed her. He killed her because she wasn’t sexually faithful to him, because she revealed secrets about their sex life. Because people laughed at him.

The show twists this in a…different…way. Show!Shae is an entirely different character, one who is infinitely more complex and likable than her book counterpart. She and Tyrion are in a genuine relationship, for starters. Yes, it starts out the same as in the books, but there’s no denying that Shae genuinely likes, if not loves, Tyrion. 

Her reason for betraying him on the show is that Tyrion has, for lack of a better term, broken up with her. It’s for her own safety, but he doesn’t tell her that. She’s a “woman scorned,” as it were. 

And when Tyrion confronts her in Tywin’s bed, rather than the scene we saw above, she grabs a knife to protect herself. And Tyrion, with hardly any prompting, jumps on top of her and strangles her to death. 

There’s a lot of depth missing on the show. They omitted possibly the most important thing to Tyrion’s future development. Tyrion, in the books, has just discovered that his first wife, who he’d been told was a hired sex worker like Shae, who had been gang raped by his father’s guards under his father’s orders, who Tyrion had been forced to rape as well, was just a girl. The reason that Tyrion has a complex about women and sex and affection has just been revealed to have been a lie. Tysha, his first wife, truly loved him. But Jaime, his big brother, had lied to him. Had told him that Tysha was just a “whore” that he hired to make Tyrion a “man”. 

So in this moment, Tyrion’s very reality is crashing down. Lies that he based his whole life on have been revealed. People that he trusted have betrayed him. And he breaks.

But once again, Tyrion is not justified in murdering Shae. 

Women are killed by sexual partners every day. It’s a fact.

So please don’t say that Shae had it coming. Because she didn’t.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

When Tyrion does finally confront Tywin and bristles at his father’s casual but barbed use of the word “whore,” I don’t get the sense that he shoots an arrow into him because he’s slagging his true love. It’s because “whore” is a reflection on Tyrion. It’s a term that cuckolds the younger man; it renders him foolish, unmanned. In the end, the figure of Shae and the shame she embodies is simply the last straw in the long, grinding battle between these two lions.

From Vulture, a good take on the motivations for Tyrion's murder of Tywin on the show. Without the inclusion of Tysha, it's hard for book readers to imagine what would compel show-Tyrion to go after his father, but it could be read as a reflection of his manhood in general.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

sure I'll allow it

To begin, consider, a description of Tormund from A Storm of Swords.

Beside the brazier, a short but immensely broad man sat on a stool, eating a hen off a skewer. Hot grease was running down his chin and into his snow-white beard, but he smiled happily all the same. Thick gold bands graven with runes bound his massive arms, and he wore a heavy shirt of black ringmail that could only have come from a dead ranger.

Tormund Thunderfist cracked a gap-toothed smile.

And now, Alysane Mormont, the daughter of Maege, whom I have said is probably Tormund’s:

Her proper name was Alysane of House Mormont, but she wore the other name as easily as she wore her mail. Short, chunky, muscular, the heir to Bear Island had big thighs, big breasts, and big hands ridged with callus. Even in sleep she wore ringmail under her furs, boiled leather under that, and an old sheepskin under the leather, turned inside out for warmth. All those layers made her look almost as wide as she was tall.

Alysane smiled. Her teeth were crooked, but there was something ingratiating about that smile.

And then, of course, there’s this little detail.

“So how did you come by your other names?” Jon asked. “Mance called you the Horn-Blower, didn’t he? Mead-king of Ruddy Hall, Husband to Bears, Father to Hosts?” […]

“Are all crows so curious?” asked Tormund. “Well, here’s a tale for you. It were another winter, colder even than the one I spent inside that giant, and snowing day and night, snowflakes as big as your head, not these little things. It snowed so hard the whole village was half buried. I was in me Ruddy Hall, with only a cask o’ mead to keep me company and nothing to do but drink it. The more I drank the more I got to thinking about this woman lived close by, a fine strong woman with the biggest pair of teats you ever saw. She had a temper on her, that one, but oh, she could be warm too, and in the deep of winter a man needs his warmth.

“The more I drank the more I thought about her, and the more I thought the harder me member got, till I couldn’t suffer it no more. Fool that I was, I bundled meself up in furs from head to heels, wrapped a winding wool around me face, and set off to find her. The snow was coming down so hard I got turned around once or twice, and the wind blew right through me and froze me bones, but finally I come on her, all bundled up like I was.

“The woman had a terrible temper, and she put up quite the fight when I laid hands on her. It was all I could do to carry her home and get her out o’ them furs, but when I did, oh, she was hotter even than I remembered, and we had a fine old time, and then I went to sleep. Next morning when I woke the snow had stopped and the sun was shining, but I was in no fit state to enjoy it. All ripped and torn I was, and half me member bit right off, and there on me floor was a she-bear’s pelt. And soon enough the free folk were telling tales o’ this bald bear seen in the woods, with the queerest pair o’ cubs behind her. Har!” He slapped a meaty thigh. “Would that I could find her again. She was fine to lay with, that bear. Never was a woman gave me such a fight, nor such strong sons neither.” [A Storm of Swords]

“No. My children were fathered by a bear.” Alysane smiled. Her teeth were crooked, but there was something ingratiating about that smile. “Mormont women are skinchangers. We turn into bears and find mates in the woods. Everyone knows.” [A Dance with Dragons]

That sure sounds like Alysane remembering a funny story her mother told her once to me. Possibly even when a young Alysane asked who her father was? We don’t know who Maege married, after all. And yet, her children’s surname is Mormont. How so, when they should bear their father’s name. Unless their father had no surname. Like, say, Tormund Giantsbane, Tall-Talker, Horn-Blower, and Breaker of Ice, called also Tormund Thunderfist, Husband to Bears, the Mead-king of Ruddy Hall, Speaker to Gods and Father of Hosts. But is it even possible that Maege and Tormund could meet? Doesn’t the fact that Tormund lies all the time make the bear story likely just a story?

Well, yes, to both. But I don’t think so. Besides the similarities in the appearances of Tormund and Alysane, there’s also the fact that Tormund likes to embellish. Take his original tale, and remove all the fantastic elements. Not a snow-storm, but a spring day. Not truly a bear, but a woman with a bear on her clothing. Not sons she fathered, but a daughter. However, I do believe that a younger Maege would beat the ever loving shit out of Tormund.

Now, how then would Maege Mormont, the lady of Bear Island, come to meet Tormund the many-titled in the first place? Maege is described by her brother Jeor thusly: “Maege is a hoary old snark, stubborn, short-tempered, and willful.” Bear Island is far to the North, and it would only be a short trip by boat across the Bay of Ice for her to get beyond the Wall, if she truly wishes to go. Exploring, perhaps, while her brother, the lord of Bear Island at the time, was distracted. Note that I absolutely think that Maege has to go to him, for this scenario to work. Had Tormund come raiding across the Frozen Shore like the Wildlings of old, and lain with the sister of the Lord of Bear Island, I don’t think the Tall-Talker would be alive today.

So there you have it. Circumstantial evidence, true, but it’s a lot more convincing than my Howland Reed theory.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

melisandre: *stares at jon* *stares at stannis* stares at jon*

"i’ve made a huge mistake"

[yesourbladesaresharp]

Game of Thrones: A Summary.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

:'(

"The gods aren’t down here. It’s the six of us, you hear me?"

[yesourbladesaresharp]

I knew that they would kill off at least one of Jon's good friends at the Wall, but I didn't think they would kill BOTH Grenn and Pyp.

At least we still have Edd

Pyp & Grenn.

I just have a lot of emotions and I wanted to get them out.

I’m brutally, unbelievably sad, don’t get me wrong. But that’s kind of the point. I’m seeing a lot of posts comparing these deaths to like, Irri and Rakharo, which I understand (and approve of parallels for though, lbr) - but there’s actually a major difference.

Grenn took the place of Donal Noye, a character who by this time was known and endeared to the reader. When Donal and Mag kill each other in a manner which keeps the gate closed, it is unbelievably sad, and also, realistic. Had they added Donal into the show a few episodes ago, then it could have worked. But had they added Donal in tonight just to kill him off, it would have fallen emotionally flat.

Furthermore, before Grenn died, he gave Jon the command, using a bit of trickery and brilliance much befitting a triumph and growth from Grenn the aurouchs.

Pyp did not take any immediate place, but in the books, by this point he has been shipped off to another castle. Yes, he’s giving orders, but Satin has taken the place of Pyp in chapters with Jon Snow, and has less of an impact on the story than those of us who love minor characters want to say he does. Here, having him die, makes his character last longer in show-watcher memories only.

This is NOT the case with Irri and Rakharo. The freaking entire khalasar was killed off on Dany, which is a 120% NOT okay, because what they tried to do was make Dany all “alone”, which officially changes her characterization. In the books, Dany is simply the strongest of widows, children, cripples, and all the ones who couldn’t walk off with the other two Khals — aside from her handmaidens and her bloodriders. They choose to stay, honor their vows and friendships, which is important. Even more important, Dany continues to take care of them, because she is mother of ALL of her people, as much as she is physically capable of, not merely of dragons. She is a leader, just as much as Jon Snow is if not more so.

So anyways, I am sad that Grenn and Pyp died, but it makes the battle at Castle Black MATTER more to show watchers, makes the fact that this was a HARD BRUTAL BATTLE actually felt, as opposed to just magically protecting the characters that are named. Irri and Rakharo died for no purpose - so I approve of this change, where I strongly disapprove of the former.

That being said, WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST HAVE ADDED IN DONAL NOYE AND LET US KEEP GRENN FORFCKSSAKES ahem I am calm really.

[yesourbladesaresharp]

He could feel the despair all around him. “There must be a hundred thousand,” Satin wailed. “How can we stop so many?” “The Wall will stop them,” Jon heard himself say. He turned and said it again, louder. “The Wall will stop them. The Wall defends itself.” Hollow words, but he needed to say them, almost as much as his brothers needed to hear them. “The chariots, the horsemen, all those fools on foot … what are they going to do to us up here? Any of you ever see a mammoth climb a wall?” He laughed, and Pyp and Owen and half a dozen more laughed with him. “They’re nothing, they’re less use than our straw brothers here, they can’t reach us, they can’t hurt us, and they don’t frighten us, do they?”“NO!” Grenn shouted.“They’re down there and we’re up here,” Jon said, “and so long as we hold the gate they cannot pass. They cannot pass!”