Whoops, let my birthday vacation go on a bit too long. My bad! Here's the conclusion to Book 1 of the Song of Fire and Ice: The Book: The Summarizing Blog Posts: The Game.
Day 3, Day 12, Day 18, and Day 24.
And rather than do what I've done previously, now that I'm done, I'll sum up what was left of each individual character's stories and my thoughts with regards to that character.
Will
What, you don't remember Will? It's ok, neither did I! He's the poor sop who got his life choked short by the first appearance of the Wights waaaaaaaay back in the prologue. Dude was cool though. I like rogue-y characters. I'll miss him.
Eddard Stark
Arguably the protagonist of this book, Eddard had things pretty bad by the end of it. And by pretty I mean probably worse than all except one of the POV characters. After Eddard was captured, his role as a player was pretty much over. Sure, he (theoretically) still had some power, but he was shoved in a dark, dark dungeon with no visitors and no other contact. Varys came down and offered to save him, and Cersei seemed to be offering the same deal. Fat lot of good that did though. After Eddard falsely admitted to committing treason, Joffrey decided that this was a great time to use his brain and had Papa Stark put to the sword. Stark's own sword, even. So Eddard ends A Game of Thrones lost his body, got covered with tar, and stuck on a spike.
Honestly though? I'm kind of glad. I loved Eddard as a character, and I think one could make a fairly good argument that he's the most fully realized of the bunch. However, were he still alive, he'd become a huge focal point of other characters. He would easily take control of the Night Watch had he taken the Black, and thus he'd be smart enough to establish a good defense against whatever is out there or to attack with his forces Lannister lands. Had he decided to return to Winterfell instead and take up the sword against the Lannister, he'd become the unargued leader of the northern forces, and he'd probably be able to get the support of most of the great houses. Him being alive would be too easy for any meaningful conflict. At least until Dany arrived. Still, I never not enjoyed an Eddard chapter, even to the end.
Catelyn Stark
After losing Tyrion, Catelyn joined her son Robb with the great Northern armies and acted as his consul without being too overpowering, so the rest of her book is spent playing the diplomat. She proves invaluable in getting permission for the army to cross over into the Southron lands behind Tywin Lannister, where they were then able to capture Jaime Lannister and smash his army by Riverrun. This proves to be one of the most important victories of the book, as it demoralizes the remains of the Lannister forces and grants credence to Robb's claim to power. She is the only POV character present for Robb's acceptance of the King of the North title.
Remember when I said I loved politics way back when? Yeah. Catelyn chapters were like cake to me. Delicious, delicious cake. Aside from Tyrion (whose chapters were even better), no other character politics as much or as effectively as she does. Plus, she got to travel around to some places that we wouldn't have had excuses to see otherwise, such as the Aerie. Sure, it's out of the way, but we also got to see what happened to the previous Hand's remaining family (Craaaaaazy pants are now worn exclusively there), and we got some fun world building (a castle built so high up that their cells don't require walls? Amazing.) Catelyn's chapters are full of some of the best reasons to love Fantasy literature. Full stop.
Arya Stark
Arya managed to escape the Purge of the Starks from the seat of the king, but not get out of the city. She sees her dad killed, and nearly flips her shit, until one of the Night Watch saves her life by giving her a haircut.
Arya's story.... Ok, of the Stark siblings I may have liked hers the best, but it's really boring. From the moment she names her direwolf (Nymeria, the name of a warrior queen, as we are told that very sentence), it's pretty clear exactly where she will end up. Sure, it's cool we see her training. Sure, her teacher was really, really cool. But nothing really interesting was done with her. In fact, the one time Martin bothered to wrap her up in the big plot, he then summarily dropped it for all other mentions of her. She could go on to do awesome stuff in future books though. The path has been laid to lead to her being an avenger upon the Lannisters. I fully look forward to when she dances her saber through their skulls.
Sansa Stark
I hate Sansa. She hung out during the Purge of the Starks, kept safe by Cersei to use as a bargaining chip. Then she tries to get her family to not fight against the Lannisters. Then she realizes her folly as Joffrey shows his true colors and acts like a royal rapist.
Sansa's all about the loss of innocence. The problem with that, though, is that she doesn't lose her innocence until her last chapter. Beyond that, though? She ignores what's clear and obvious in front of her in exchange for her romantic ideals about how court life is. She doesn't play the game, she is only ever a pawn. And when Joffrey, the only real "winner" of the book claims his prize? She suddenly realizes she's been played. I hated reading each and every one of her chapters, and I couldn't even relish when bad things happened to her because she was just a naive kid rather than an idiot. I dunno, I'm not sure if Martin really wanted anything more with her. If he did, he sure as shit failed.
So right, this has gotten a bit long, hasn't it. Conclusion to be posted tomorrow, I suppose.
No comments:
Post a Comment