#rereading agot

[girlknightswatch]

Vizzy telling Dany about the guy who killed their dad: by the way he was REALLY hot like insanely hot

[jeyneofpoole]

nothing is funnier than alliser thorne to me like he had sooooo much beef with this 14 y/o emo loser as a grown ass man. jon made one (1) joke about his DOG and thorne was like ohhhhh he has to die. he really said i want that twink obliterated 🙏 no thoughts no prayers just violence. me and this eighth grader are mortal enemies. very well adjusted! good job!

[catofoldstones]

Reading agot chapters of the stark sisters and coming to the conclusion that they hate each other in isolation from their parents’ understanding of them and society’s rigid expectations on them is idiotic as fuck. They are both classic products of their environments, both familial and social, and their feelings of each are heavily informed by these two things. Please take your Sansa and Arya hate each other because they’re antagonists, and are going to come head to head thematically in the later books, and dump it in the trash where it belongs.

[strangerlittlethings]

Jon snow saying “it’s you” pointing to the wolf stone in his sword to ghost is the equivalent of me saying “it’s you” to my cat as I point to a keychain with a cat on it that looks like him

[jonquilete]

A Game of Thrones Chapter—Jon II

[starkmaiden]

Every time I read AGOT I’m blown away by just how beautiful the writing in the opening prologue is.

The description of the wights and the last stand heroism of Waymar Royce is what drew me into the story in the first place.

[flying-ham]

god bobby b is such a little bitch straight up admitting he knew joff was lying and still letting cersei kill lady

[ghastlywretch]

obsessed with how jaime looms like a spectre over the characters and the reader alike in agot and to an even greater extent in acok. you've actually witnessed him firsthand a few times with characters like jon, tyrion and sansa, but most of him is just the golden-haired man haunting bran's dreams, terrifying him, tyrion's brave, strong, impulsive brother who has to be saved, the kingslayer of the smallfolk, the one whose incest and kingslaying has brought down the wrath of the gods upon them, ned's jaime, who is vile and never to be trusted, not worthy of any empathy, the kingslayer that is more idea than person for the younger characters like jon, arya and sansa, the kingslayer that theon almost crossed blades with, his chance for glory (which...okay theon...) the kingslayer whose vile deeds don't erase the fact that he is a knight for stannis, the kingslayer who murdered daenerys' father. he's mentioned in so many conversations. cerwyn mentions him to bran and he feels like he's falling again, renly talks about him and cersei with catelyn in front of brienne, brienne and catelyn mention him in their conversation when they're going to riverrun, robb and tyrion and tywin are all thinking about him. grrm does such a good job at just establishing his presence and significance (not only in the narrative but in a meta way as well, a hint for what's to come) in this world, which just elevates that scene when cat and brienne go down to the dungeons to meet him to an insane level.

[owlsinathens]

The head bounced off a thick root and rolled. It came up near Greyjoy’s feet. Theon was a lean, dark youth of nineteen who found everything amusing. He laughed, put his boot on the head, and kicked it away.

“Ass,” Jon muttered, low enough so Greyjoy did not hear.

AGOT, Bran I

Moat Cailin has fallen, Reek realized then, only no one has seen fit to tell them. He rubbed his mouth to hide his broken teeth, and said, “I need to speak with your commander.” “Kenning?” The guard seemed confused. “He don’t have much to say these days. He’s dying. Might be he’s dead. I haven’t seen him since … I don’t remember when …” “Where is he? Take me to him.” “Who will keep the door, then?” “Him.” Reek gave the corpse a kick. That made the man laugh. “Aye. Why not? Come with me, then.”

ADWD, Reek II

Two kicks, two different audiences, two very different reactions. Both intended to seem careless and flippant, the first earning him contempt, the second a laugh.

And yet both of those kicks seem like a part of a character he puts on:

Theon Greyjoy, ward of Lord Stark, the self-fulfilling prophecy, catering to the bias against him.

And then Reek, playing the Prince of the Iron Islands and invoking Theon Greyjoy the ward.

That boy has spent every moment of his life, from the time he was taken away from his home, on stage. Always watched, always trying to fulfil expectations. He definitely knows how to please his audience.

[girlknightswatch]

Anti Jaime propaganda in agot starts so strong its like Jon I Jaime killed the last king Bran II Jaime fucks his sister also he pushes a little boy out of a window (damning) and then Ned II. Jaime sat on a chair.

[hesitantlyhappy]

I love how in aGoT all of Jon’s chapters read like a high school teen drama. Like it makes sense why he doesn’t leave the wall until the very end, but it’s still very funny that everyone else is vying for control of the realm and he’s having a coming of age story.

It’s Jon Snow’s first day in Night’s Watch High, and boy is it harder than he thought… all the other boys don’t like him because he’s too good at swordfighting.

In this week’s Very Special Episode, Jon’s family friend Uncle Tyrion helps him learn that sometimes friendship is more important than being the best.

A new student just joined Nights Watch High, and he’s the furthest thing from cool. If Jon wants to help his new buddy Sam, he might just have to upset the popular kids.

Jon wants to join the Rangers football team, but disastrous tryouts with Coach Thorne lead to him being stuck in AV club. Will he fight his way into the team of his dreams, or is there something to be said for life as a steward?

Absolute gold I kind of wish it went on forever.

[catofoldstones]

Arya III, A Game of Thrones

This is the first instance we see of any Stark [kid] exhibiting warging qualities. And it’s my beloved Arya Stark who thinks she is dreaming (something that doesn’t change for quite a while haha) but she’s actually inside the mind of a Red Keep cat.

[barbreypilled]

can I say she’s the Prim of The Dragon Books or will y’all put me to the sword

don’t tag as racebending

[jozor-johai]

Reread the AGOT Prologue last night, and I was so caught up this time in how the dynamics of that chapter are a microcosm of the class dynamics in Westeros.

Not such a long post, but putting it after the cut for ease.

Waymar Royce, of course, stands in for the Lords, with his wealth and name and undeserved authority, while one-named Gared and Will are the smallfolk.

In this chapter, with a speaking cast of 3, there's already this question of where does power lie? In this scene, the smallfolk outnumber the lords 2-to-1, and neither believe in Waymar, but ultimately each of them defers to the lord's authority (the ratio is much more extreme in Westeros at large, but this works for a 3-person dynamic). Will and Gared also trust each other, and trust each other's expertise, more than either of them think Waymar should be trusted in any capacity—he's not leader by merit (he has much less experience than either of them), he's not leader by popular appeal (they laugh at him in their cups), and he's not leader by age (younger than the both).

And we see already in this small moment the ways in which authority attempts to deal with usurpation—which we will see played out over and over again throughout the entirety of ASOIAF.

Gared challenges Waymar's authority on the basis of experience, which is a justified complaint. Faced with an inarguable position, Waymar responds with unnecessary cruelty: "you ought to dress more warmly, Gared." This is one way for the upper class to keep the smallfolk in line—to flaunt their wealth and advantage, and to push back visciously against challenges. This is the Tywin technique, one which we see done consistently throughout the series.

The significance of this being a mental confrontation cannot be overstated: when confronted with Varys' riddle, Tyrion later observes that the rule "All depends on the man with the sword." Here, Gared is the man with the sword—he's a man-at-arms, and the better swordsman. While "Will doubted it[Royce's sword] had ever been swung in anger," "Will would not have given an iron bob for the lordling's life if Gared pulled it[his own sword] from its scabbard." Gared could fully kill Royce here, if he dared. And so the challenge, for Waymar, is to make sure Gared never dares. Power lies where men believe it lies, so Waymar's job as authority figure is to demoralize Gared, so he does not outright challenge Waymar's authority. (This is the role of public humiliation—another 'Tywin tactic,' but which is also used broadly).

Perhaps Gared would dare to challenge Waymar's authority if he were not alone. When Varys follows Tyrion's thinking that the man holding the sword might have some real power, he questions: why do the men with swords obey kings at all, then? Tyrion posits: "Because these child kings and drunken oafs can call other strong men, with other swords." So perhaps the issue is unity, a majority feeling—one man cannot rebel, lest his own class turn against him, but perhaps many can. We see this as the series goes on in instances like with the Sparrows, who amass enough numbers that they can imprison the queen, or with the sellswords in Meereen, who might turn the tide of battle if they switch sides (to the side that they believe might win).

To gain this advantage, Gared and Will would have to be a united front. In the beginning of this chapter, Will was a neutral figure, he's not willing to actually challenge that authority, he didn't want to be involved in the confrontation, but knew "he known "they would drag him into the quarrel sooner or later." Later, though, after witnessing Gared's demoralization, Will nearly steps in himself—in defense of Gared, out of respect for Gared's experience, and in a moment of class solidarity, Will speaks up to defend Gared, and is cut off:

"If Gared said it was the cold …" Will began.

"Have you drawn any watches this past week, Will?"

Here, Waymar's goal, as ruling class of this interaction, is to prevent class solidarity within the smallfolk. If Waymar responded too rudely, or with too much aggression, this might bind Gared and Will together for certain, and Waymar might be usurped (this is the result of the repeated aggressions of Aerys II, resulting in his death, or the repeated aggressions of Tywin which spawned the aforementioned Sparrows).

So Waymar has to employ a different strategy: (still a bit snidely) Waymar plays the role of 'encouraging mentor,' invoking this idea that he deserves to rule by the merit of being inherently 'wiser' or a keeper of 'knowledge'. He suggests that Will figure out for himself, under Waymar's guidance, that the cold could not possibly have killed the wildlings. Led more gently by Waymar, Will seems to decide for himself that Waymar is correct. In short, Waymar is able to reposition Will to be on his side, not Gared's, by leveraging his initial assumed authority and the existing attitude of elite education, even as that makes Will go against his own first-hand experience.

This is another tactic that we see repeatedly used throughout ASOIAF (and the world)—the ruling class acting as though they are simply elevating the ("innocently wrong") subjugated class to a more aware and knowledgeable position. If we believe the Maester conspiracy, they are the most obvious example of this, but the fact that it is only the lords who have access to Maesters means this is implicitly true without even needing a conspiracy—the ruling class is already gatekeeping knowledge and education from the subjugated class. (As an aside: the Maester conspiracy, ironically, is only concerned with the possibility of an even higher authority secretly gatekeeping knowledge from the nobility—in other words, the fear that the Maesters are treating the Lords the way that the Lords treat the smallfolk).

So let's return to Varys' final proposed answers to his own riddle: "Some say knowledge is power. Some tell us that all power comes from the gods. Others say it derives from law." Waymar has employed the knowledge-as-power against Will, and we're also constantly up against the backdrop of law-as-power: The Night's Watch.

Waymar references "Mormont," someone who Waymar does not want to disappoint, and they all consider the agreed-upon terms of the Night's Watch. Even in this microcosmic scenario, they are part of a system, one where this authority figure is, seemingly, held to his own authority figure, and one where the "rules" of the interaction have been determined long before now. In the end, once Waymar decides, "the order had been given, and honor bound them to obey." They have all agreed to a set of laws, already, which keep them bound to Waymar's authority.

So, ultimately, it is in this moment that despite Gared and Will being fully correct in their fears, despite being more experienced, wiser, older, and in all ways better rangers than Waymar, authority itself held true, and Waymar marched them all on towards his own death.

[morghvls]

The tourney of the hand was lowkey westeros’ silliest most low stakes tourney ever like you’ve got

- Sansa gambling on mma unsupervised cause septa mordane is too hungover to attend and Ned is… idk detectiving

-Sansa nlog moment where she literally forgets Jeyne exists shes so into the mma

-Jaime getting literally getting stuck in his own armor

- People’s heavyweight champ Sandor Clegane

- Biggest event of the whole tourney is the Clegane bros trying to kill eachother aka Sandor’s normal Tuesday

[weirwoodsugar]

>spend five books fixing your shitty little attitude

>die anyway