July 13, 2016sarahylockwood

An In-Depth Analysis of A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

*This Post is Dark and Full of Spoilers*

Approximately seven years ago I was introduced to the A Song of Fire and Ice series and promptly became obsessed with the Seven Kingdoms and everything that realm and world has to entail. One of my goals upon starting my blog was to do a set of posts, whereupon I reread the aforementioned series and comment on statements, clues, or breadcrumbs Martin leaves for the reader to perhaps ascertain the bigger mysteries at play. As you can imagine, my analytical mind loves this kind of jigsaw puzzle and as my family and friends can attest they have suffered through me discussing my various theories regarding people and places completely foreign to them. My Mom once stopped me and commented that she thought I was speaking another language. With that being said, I’ve finally finished listening to the first book and you’ll find the following blog post significantly different from my traditional posts. As when I reviewed The World of Ice and Fire, which  was broken up into four components, Ancient History, Seven Kingdoms, Free Cities, and the world beyond the Free Cities, I will be formatting the posts in bullets containing the topics that catch my interest during the reread. In the past two weeks, I’ve pondered the wisdom in whether living through Sansa’s betrayal, Ned’s death or Drogo’s suffering would be worth the pain, but the end result has been to fall even more in love with this fantastic series! Even though I know what is going to happen Martin’s extensive details draws me in, hook, line and sinker. Of note, I’ve highlighted in RED several of my theories, as well as interesting insights garnered from the novel. Please let me know what you think! I’m rearly looking forward to hearing your theories, however you’d better be able to back them up with references to the text.

  • I was pleasantly surprised, upon starting the book that the White Walkers made their very first appearance in the Prologue. I’d forgotten how early they appeared, having gotten caught up in the comparatively petty battle for the crown.
  • Another aspect that I’d forgotten about was the discrepancy in the ages from the books to the show. For example, Daenerys was 13, John Snow and Rob Stark were 14, Bran was 9 and poor Ned Stark was only 35.
  • Another foreshadowing I had overlooked the first time around was the cause of death of the mother direwolf. She had an antler in her throat, which could be read that the Baratheons will lead to the downfall/death of the Starks. Specifically, Ned’s impending death at the hands of Joffrey (technically a Baratheon). Another interesting comment was the superstition surrounding the pups regarding being ‘born with the dead,’ with respect to their recently deceased mother. Of note, Theon made the comment upon the discovery of Ghost, that it would be the first to die, whereupon John quipped that ‘No, this one belongs to me.’ Perhaps Ghost will make it to the end? Dare I hope?
  • The very first Daenerys chapter makes mention of the Red Priests, far sooner than I had anticipated. There are additional references to burning that while not specifically naming the Red Priests, they offer intriguing connections. One such example is the First Men cutting down the Weirwoods and giving them over to the fire, much to the displeasure of the Children of the Forest. Also Daenerys, burns Khal Drogo upon his death, as with the Dothraki customs and sees many images in the flames, including her lost love. Those flames also gave her the gift of her dragons. I just found these references to flame interestingly worded.
  • With both the Red Priests and White Walkers mentioned early in the text, the readers are subtly being introduced to the main players all the while being distracted with the pseudo main conflict of crowns.
  • The night Daenerys met Drogo and he asked for her hand, Viserys is quoted as saying,

    “When they write the history of my reign sweet sister, they will say it began tonight.”

    Little did he know, the more accurate quote would have been in reference to his sister’s reign. Another quote of interest around this chapter was one Daenerys thought regarding Rhaegar,

    “Her brother Rhaegar battling the usurper in the bloody waters of the Trident and dying for the woman he loved.”

    There is no elaboration to this quote, however what woman was she referring to? His wife, which seems unlikely? Lyanna? I thought it was an interesting quote that seemed a bit out of place because how did Daenerys know about Lyanna? Toward the end of the book Daenerys makes a second reference to the woman Rhaegar loved.  She must be talking about someone other than his wife!

  • Let’s hope this quote from Ned proves true!

    “Winters are hard but the Starks always endure, the Starks always have.”

  • Several times, early in the book, it has been mentioned that in the Winterfell crypts iron long swords are placed across the laps of each previous ruler of Winterfell to keep the spirits in place. Perhaps an old tradition from when the bodies might literally wake, e.g., the Others.
  • When Caitlyn Stark is reflecting on John’s mother she notes that the mystery woman must have been someone that Ned truly loved to have never revealed her identity. Well of course she was! She was Ned’s sister. Oh GRRM, I love these breadcrumbs you leave!
  • It was said that Summer was keeping Bran alive. Perhaps Ghost will keep John Snow alive after his debacle at the end of ADWD? I have many many thoughts on this topic. All in due time.
  • I now have a great hope that John and Arya will meet again! In their last meeting John tells her that different roads can lead to the same castle. Let’s hope they converge at the same castle soon!
  • When Tyrion is at the Wall, Maester Aemon calls him a giant among men. I found this quote significant because not many people, including Tyrion see his potential that this junction of the book. Was this the first whisperings of the great adventures that await Tyrion? This reference must still be in the back of his mind because in his initial meeting with Shae he asks her if he is a giant.
  • Bran’s first green dream of the three-eyed crow happens just prior to awakening from his coma and is thoroughly analyzed and discussed in many, many blogs and forums. If you’re curious you should take a gander, however be aware of people saying false claims as fact! This dream is a treasure in the early part of the series because here we see GRRM beginning to weave later events into the present. There is a sequence of images as he looks out over the Seven Kingdoms and beyond, most of them are things that have happened since his fall from the tower, and as such he should have no knowledge of, such as his mother on a ship with a storm quickly approaching and his father pleading for Lady. However, in the latter image, he describes three shadows looming over the scene or the Sansa and Arya. The interpretation is again discussed in excess within the other blogs. My initial interpretation is that the first shadow has to be the Hound and the second Jamie. I try to put more thought into the first two, however my other guesses don’t seem to match up as cleanly. The last of the shadows as described below, would fit the description of the Gregor Clegane. In the end of A Dance with Dragons, it can be safely assumed he had been made undead and renamed Ser Robert Strong. My reasoning:
    1. In the book we still do not know what Robert Strong looks like as he always wears a visor, however the mountain’s head was sent to Dorne. Personally I’m thinking that a dwarf head sits atop the monstrous body, but that has yet to be seen.
    2. The shadow is described as having armor of stone, as such, please recall Gregor Clegane’s nickname: The Mountain.
    3. I’m of the assumption that the larger shadow loomed over the two pervious shadows, as well as the Starks. Perhaps the two other shadows are also impacted by the larger, threatening one? The Hound’s connection, as well as Arya’s is obvious, however the other characters (assuming Ned isn’t involved) might have to band together to defeat this greater evil.
    I can see the arguments for Joffery or Littlefinger filling the shadows, however they don’t sit quite right with overall feeling of the scene. To be fair, my husband immediately said the third shadow must be Littlefinger because he is the ultimate puppet master. We will see who is right!

“There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armer made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but the darkness and thick black blood.”

  • I can’t believe I didn’t notice the following quote the first time I read Game of Thrones! Hearing Ned mention his father talking about the wolf blood in the Starks immediately made me think of the dragon blood in the Targyrians. Yet another parallel!

“Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. ‘The wolf blood,’ my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave.”

  • The following quote is another exchange between Ned and Arya, which resounds throughout the remainder of the series! I feel as though it was a turning point in Arya’s character where she starts to mature into the tough persona we come to love.

“Arya, sit down. I need to try and explain some things to you.”

She perched anxiously on the edge of her bed. “You are too young to be burdened with all my cares,” he told her, “but you are also a Stark of Winterfell. You know our words.”

“Winter is coming, “ Arya whispered.

“The hard cruel times,” her father said. “We tasted them on the Trident, child, and when Bran fell. You were born in the long summer, sweet one, you’ve never known anything else, but now the winter is truly coming. Remember the sigil of our House, Arya.”

“The direwolf,” she said, thinking of Nymeria. She hugged her knees against her chest, suddenly afraid.

“Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles.

In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths. So if you must hate, Arya, hate those who would truly do us harm.”

  • Interesting sequence when Tyrion returns to Winterfell after visiting the Wall when the direwolves attacked him without provocation. Tyrion has an interesting relationship with the Stark children. He befriends John, helps Bran, and weds Sansa, but stays respectful toward her. There’s also a fun quote from Tyrion in this interaction where he claims he as a soft spot for, cripples bastards and broken things.
  • Later that evening when supping with the men of the Night’s Watch, the news is broken that Benjen is missing north of the wall. In a fit of realization, Bran yells out that the Children of the Forest will help/save him. Bran was laughed at and corrected that the Children are long gone. He is probably more right than the reader yet knows based on the revelations from the most recent HBO season.
  • Oh, poor sweet innocent Lancel makes his introduction early in the series as one of Robert’s hapless squires trying in vain to fit the plump King into his ill fitting armor as he attempts to enter the melee. It was an inconspicuous introduction to a side character that turns out to have a role throughout the series and even in ADWD.
  • Speaking of the Hand’s Tournament, I believe that this is the critical event in which Game of Thrones (GoT) truly begins to separate itself from its contemporaries. Up until this point in time we see the Hound as only an evil, vile man, however he defies his character’s previously defined personality as the reader find themselves pitying him upon revealing the origin of his horrific wounds to Sansa. Perhaps that initial sense of pity can be excused away by the reader as a fluke, but alas our perception of the Hound is altered yet again as he comes to the aid of the Knight of Flowers, as his terrible brother is intent on taking revenge of the most permanent kind. This was the first of many, many times in which GRRM, teaches the reader to pass no judgment on his beloved characters as good or evil. His creations are far more complex than simple black or white classifications, and oft times, as in the case of the Hound, you will find yourself growing to like a character previously despised. Also, around this timeframe, Varys meets with Ned and the lines of division that had seemed so clearly drawn in sand, quickly became muddled. Who is actually good or evil, trustworthy or dishonest, loyal or enemy? The mere scale at which the lines become blurred again is a statement to GoT truly being in a league of its own.
  • Another important conversation, which I was delighted to rediscover, was overheard by Arya in the dungeons of the Red Keep between two men she had never seen. From the descriptions it can be inferred that the two culprits were Varys and Illyrio Mapotis. It was the first hint at Varys true allegiances that have become more apparent in the last few books. Their conversations are full of secrets that, for the most part, can be deciphered from talking about Daenerys being pregnant to the death of John Arryn. One interesting tidbit that we still are not sure about refers to Varys’ birds. Who are they?
  • The Faceless Men also make an interesting introduction as the Council is meeting with King Robert to discuss how to best deal with Daenerys’ pregnancy. Littlefinger mentions over and over again how expensive they are to hire.
  • Poor, poor Sam. He has matured so much as the series progresses it is hard to recall the broken, weak, and pitiful boy that first entered the Night’s Watch. His story is just as heartbreaking the second time hearing it.
  • One story line that consumed much of the GoT has to do with Jon Arryn and Ned Stark hunting down Robert’s bastards. While that story line, in my opinion, has run its course, unless Genry or Mia Stone decide to make another appearance, it is good to remember that it established that Cerci’s three children are not of Baratheon decent. During the reread I found myself getting frustrated with this side story, prior to remembering that what I know now wasn’t necessarily obvious to begin with. I did enjoy Ned train of thought while mulling over Littlefinger’s statement about all Kings frequenting brothels and begetting bastards, which entailed Ned pondering if Rhaegar was fond of brothels and somehow he thought not? Slightly before this train of thought Ned was thinking about his sister predicting that Robert would never stay faithful. This exchange felt as though Ned was comparing Rhaegar to Robert through Lyanna’s eyes.
  • While Tyrion was in the sky cell in the Vale, he had begun to ponder his situation and stumbled upon the troubling thought that there were more than just Lions and Direwolves at play. Another allusion to the increasingly complex nature of the GoTs.
  • Upon his release from the Eyre he and Bronn stumble upon the Mountain Clans with delightful results for the reader. These side characters are so colorful, especially Shagga’s constant threats regarding cutting off the enemy’s manhood. These fearless clans remind me in a lot of ways of the Wildlings, moreover read about my theories regarding the origin of the Burned Men here.
  • Poor, Poor Ned! He had so many chances to live or foresee the betrayals yet to come, however his honor leads him to the most unfortunate outcome. Speaking of his honor, the fact that he was had a bastard turned out to be a permanent stain and character flaw as people use that as an excuse as to why he was capable of treason. As will we find out soon enough, he isn’t in fact Jon’s Father, but those breadcrumbs are only first being laid. Back to Ned’s missed opportunities. First, he underestimated Cersei by telling her his plans by meeting with her in the Godswood. She shockingly admitted to all of Ned’s accusations, e.g., her children being products of incest, Bran’s intentional fall, however her comment, “When you play the game of thrones you win or you die.,” might prove to be the most prophetic for the series. Second, Renly offered to help Ned take the throne by holding Cersei’s children hostage. Ned refuses and Renly flees the castle, thereby abandoning Ned to his morals. Lastly, he puts misplaces his trust in Littlefinger, by telling the opportunist his entire plan and did not heed Littlefinger’s disagreements or take note of the potential for betrayal.   Ned is so frustratingly blinded by his morals that we love him for it but yet are exasperated by his lack of self-preservation.
  • Sansa, Sansa, Sansa. Oh, how I’d forgotten how much I had despised you. You betray your family not once but twice. You failed to denounce Joffrey as a liar, thus punished by the murder of Lady. Lastly, you run to the evil Queen and lay your father’s plans at her feet, ultimately leading to his death. I found it interesting while she was defending herself against the Cousil regarding her traitor blood that she claimed she did not have the same blood as Arya, especially after her Lord Father told Arya she had wolf blood running through her veins. Therefore, Sansa admits that she is not made of the same stuff as Arya, hence why the readers love the little sister more than the selfish elder.
  • Osha, the wildling is another fascinating character. She tells Bran stories of Giants and the Others that exist above the wall. She forewarns Bran that Rob’s army is headed the wrong direction, and that they should be marching North to meet the White Walkers. Another interesting moment of foreshadowing is when Osha interprets the Old God’s answer to Bran’s prayers regarding keeping Rob and his family safe. She claims that the God’s are sad that they can not keep him safe because all of the Weirwood trees have been cut down in the south and how can they keep his family safe when they can not see.
  • The first time reading through GoT I thought Jorah sneaking off in the Western Market place was strange but I dismissed it much as Daenerys had. However, during the reread, the sequence stood out, his timely arrival at the wine seller’s tent seemed a bit too consequence. Did Illyrio really warn Jorah about the price of Dani’s head or did it come from Varys.
  • It is mentioned that Princess Rhaenys once owned a black cay named Balerion, who disappeared upon the young Royal’s death. The description fits the black tomcat that Arya catches right before Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella surprise her. How interesting if the two cats are indeed the same one? When questioned regarding the cat, George R. R. Martin fails to deliver a straight forward answer but he doesn’t deny it either.
  • Jon is indeed a Targaryen. I called it from the moment that Daenerys has her dream regarding a blue rose at the Wall in one of the later books. However, the fact that he burns his hand when dealing with the white walker troubles me regarding two main theories about Jon Snow. The first one is that he might be a dragon rider. However, if he is of dragon blood and a Targaryen he should not be hurt by fire. My other thought is that he might be the Prince who was Promised, Azor Ahai, rather than that Stannis fraud. Yet again he has to be able to wield the Lightbringer without being burned. I believe I remember that this fabled hero must be of Targaryen decent, but all in due time.
  • Jon receiving Longclaw from Mormont was emotional, despite Jon’s lack of appreciation. Daenerys promises Jorah a sword of valerian steel. Might he receive or recognize the sword at Jon’s side?
  • Aemon reveals to Jon that he is a Targaryen, much to the shock of the reader. He claims that he had three times his vows tested throughout his life. The first must have been when his older brother Aerion died. The third must have been Rhaegar and his family’s deaths, however I had a hard time placing the third time. Still pondering. I like the thought that he had fallen in love at one point or another.
  • Bran and Rickon’s dreams about Ned being in the crypt the night after his death was rather creepy but also add another point in the column regarding these children having unique talents. I also thought it was interesting that Ned appeared to have two different messages for Bran and Rickon regarding Jon and coming home, respectively.

 

51 comments

  1. I’m in the process of doing a reread/analysis myself. It’s fascinating to see how the foundation was laid.

    One thing to remember about Sansa is the disparity between how she and Arya were raised. The eldest Stark daughter was groomed to be a ruling lady whereas Arya was mostly left to her own devices. I think Sansa takes more heat than she deserves. She was an 11 year old girl who had no idea what the results of her actions would bring, and that’s one of the main points GRRM is trying to make “Actions have consequences.” She’s his deconstruction of romanticism (not my theory, actually one of the person I’m about to mention) I also don’t think she can be entirely blamed. There’s an excellent theorist named Steven Attewell who has a PhD in history (I believe). He writes a political analysis of each and every chapter, and there’s one where he discusses Ned’s downfall in great detail. His blog is Race for the Iron Throne. There’s also an excellent defense of her by Pat Sponaugle here. https://patricksponaugle.com/2014/01/08/in-defense-of-sansa-stark/

    Definitely agree with you about Martin forcing us to see things in shades of grey. I’m actually right at the Bran wake up chapter (I had to put the reread on hiatus to finish my latest story and now I’m in editing mode and reading other things, etc), and knowing what I know now, it will be amazing to see how or if any of his visions have come to fruition.

    I think my single favorite line is in A Clash of Kings spoken by Tyrion, “It all goes back and back. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those before us, and one day our children will pick up our strings and dance in our stead.” THAT is the crux of the story. In fact, it’s the crux of nearly every story and the crux of life. Everything just repeats over and over and over again until and unless we can find a way to break the cycle. Martin shows it in constantly speaking about the myths of the past within in his epic. We constantly hear about characters being “X reborn.” It’s a never ending cycle.

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  2. What wonderful counter-insight! Thanks for commenting! First off I will need to look further into Attewell. I’ve read an article or two about him but haven’t ventured any further into his work. Also, great find with Sponaugle’s post. I agree with Pat’s three main points regarding people’s dislike for Sansa. While I understand and have heard people lamenting all of those aforementioned issues, my frustrations with the eldest Stark girl lie in the fact that in comparison to the other Stark children she doesn’t not hold up to the honor code in which the Stark family is famous for. She was raised to be a great lady, much as they attempted with Arya,however that doesn’t exclude her from the family values being instilled. Perhaps she became spoiled by Cat, much as you insinuated, leading her to put more stock in her own ‘fairytale’ story than her family honor (I like this theory). Regardless, I think we will find Sansa’s chapters growing in interest as the new books are released.

    I love that quote from Tyrion as well, however I strongly feel as though all of these puppets are the side show and the real battle will be between fire and ice. I keep trying to predict the event that will cause the puppets to look up from their immediate skirmishes to see the ultimate danger brewing. Hopefully, they band together in time! I love your insight though! Two different people, two different perspectives! Part of what makes GoTs debates so lively! 🙂

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    • Wow, this is a pretty thorough post. I’ve bookmarked it so I can come back and talk about some of your points. Thank you for reading my Sansa defense post.

      Like I said, I’ll have to come back, but right off the bat, I’m interested in you talking about the Red Priests being mentioned early on, and also the First Men burning the Weirwood trees. Eventually, the First Men adopted the customs of the Children of the Forest (worshipping the Old Gods) and that implies that the threat of the Others was dealt with in an Old God fashion and that was convincing in a religious way. Maybe. I have to think about this.

      Burning the weirwoods doesn’t prove the First Men worshipped R’hllor, but now I don’t want to rule it out. (Or R’hllor is something similar to the proto-religion of the First Men in the Dawn Age.)

      I write a lot about Game of Thrones, the television series, and I do it all in the off-season as therapy, but I’ve read all the books, and I love reading posts and analyses of the books.

      Best regards, I’ll try to come back and leave more comments.

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      • Thanks Patrick! I’m not convinced either of many of my observations. I wanted to use this post to collect observations or thoughts to ponder further. I look forward to your future thoughts! 😀

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  3. Excellent post! One thing I thought of when Danaerys mentions the woman her brother loved, I wonder if she’d hears some stories from Illyrio about it. She did spend quite a lot of time with him, and he was close to Varys so if anyone knew the scoop about that story (or at least part of it) it would be the two of them.

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  4. Great post! I really need to do a reread and analysis of the books. I was thinking of doing something chapter by chapter. Kind of waiting on the Winds release date before I do another reread though.
    I think the crypts of Winterfell are going to play a role in future books, what exactly that is I’m not sure.
    Sansa is my favorite character, and she gets a lot of flak for acting like what she is in this book: a lovesick young girl who thinks their crush is the best person ever. She slowly learns not to believe in the fairy tale of the kind prince that she’s thought of her whole life and she grows up in the process. I love how Martin shows different sides of being female in the sisters – you’ve got the “tomboy” and physically strong Arya and the more classically feminine Sansa. Both are strong in different ways.
    As for Bran’s green dream, I think the figures around Sansa are the Hound, Jaime, and Gregor Clegane. Possibly that last one is Littlefinger (the Baelish sigil was the titan of braavos), and his arc is definitely tied to Sansa, while Gregor’s hasn’t been so much. Neither has Jaime’s though. And of course The Hound is most definitely tied to Sansa’s arc!
    And I wouldn’t worry too much about Jon being burned. GRRM has said that Targ’s aren’t fireproof and that Dany’s being fireproof when the dragons hatched was a special thing.

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    • Thanks for responding! I completely agree with you thoughts about the crypts. I had forgotten how many times they were mentioned. Even in the prequel/ history book it is rumored that there are dragon eggs in the crypts!

      Sansa definitely grows on the reader, much as Jamie and the Hound do as well! I love that Martin has the talent to play with the reader’s emotions!

      I agree with your thoughts on the Green Dream. My husband is convinced the large shadow is Littlefinger but I’m skeptical.

      Jon definitely is a Targ but I really think he is going to be The Promised Prince.

      Oh the joys of debating! 😀

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      • I agree with you about Jon being The Promised Prince. Dany is so heavily forshadowed to be the promised one, that surely GRRM will go another route. Although GRRM does love to change things up, so who knows. After my first reread I honestly had no idea who Jon’s parents were, and it was only on subsequent rereads and reading the Westeros forums that I started to really logically think about who his parents could be. But obviously R+L=J now.
        Dragon eggs in the crypts would be really awesome. Perhaps those would be for the rumored ice dragons? There must be a reason why there must always be a Stark in Winterfell, and I’m hopeful we’ll get this story in the next book.
        GRRM has such a talent in writing grey characters – his characters constantly take me by surprise and are so real and complex. Such a shame that the show has dropped that complexity for the standard “good” or “bad”.

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  5. I can’t wait to start reading Game of Thrones! I enjoyed watching season 6 so much that I feel more motivated to read the books (again). Haven’t read your review because I don’t want to be spoiled but will return to reading it once I’ve read the first book 🙂

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  6. I’m actually listening to them for the first time. I watched the show first and found it hard to read the physical book but the things that are kept the same within the TV show from the book have been interesting to take note of and like you I had forgotten a lot of the finer details from the earlier periods of Game of Thrones. Your analysis is really interesting to read and Game of Thrones is perfect for such in-depth analysis with all the foreshadowing and game playing. I look forward to seeing you analyse the rest of the series. Also,​ can’t believe you are rereading these massive books!

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  7. We’ve never actually read a post like this due to the length and our sometimes short attention span. Saying that we must admit that we absolutely loved this post and didn’t feel bored once!
    You’ve also prompted us do to read A Game of Thrones once more to see if we too can pick out observations like your own and subsequently develop some theories.
    Thanks for writing this

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  9. Oh wow. This was so intertesting. I lover the first book and would like to read it again (although not sure I have the stamina to plough through the rest for a second time).

    I despised Sansa too. I feel very different about her now though. I’m really curious to see where she ends up.

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    • Thanks Deborah! You should consider doing the audiobook for a reread! I’ve loved reading the series again but I don’t know if I would have the energy to physically read it!

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  13. Hey Sarah,

    This post reminds me of my more in-depth posts about my favorite films, shows, and games. It is very detailed and lengthy. I would finish my longer posts in one go, after several hours, and I would be…drained! I want to tell you about a great resource I enjoy using whenever I want to learn more about a piece of popular art- tvtropes.org. It’s a site that organizes pieces of various mediums into many different types of, well, tropes. The site has been around for over a decade, and had a full site make-over a few years ago to make it easier to use.

    For example, here is the page for A Song of Ice and Fire: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire

    It can be a very fun site to use for us pop culture aficionados. It is also quite addicting…but when has that stopped people like us from enjoying the arts?

    You very clearly put a lot of work into you blog. It’s very interesting, keep it up!

    JRC

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  21. Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam responses? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any assistance is very much appreciated.

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  22. Since the series ended I keep looking for intelligent discussion about the book/series. I’m sure you know fantasy genre is a commentary on the socio-political times we live in and GOT has it down above and beyond on multiple levels. I don’t read fantasy genre, but I am grateful to the writers of fantasy for the metaphors – a folk tale of my own current time. How generous of them! So, this is NOT a piece of work about some long ago period in a galaxy or continent far, far away. It is about NOW. I don’t personally ever get caught up in story or characters in this genre, as I am looking for meaning only through them. They are showing me my time, not theirs as they do not have one, and I try to hear their lesson. So in GOT, the author is brilliant at using all of time to depict the “end” of time as we know it, to include the opening of the show with the kingdoms as Swiss time pieces and a fiery sun, our original time piece. The series is brilliant even in its casting, one can transpose Cerci and her brother right into the streets of downtown Manhattan. This could not happen in the book. He used the visual medium of TV to enhance his meaning of the novels. And when I saw Ned Stark die I saw the most perfect symbolic image of ALL loss of soldiers in Vietnam in the death of one brilliantly cast, directed and filmed actor. Aria and her sister go down paths that are symbolic of what happens to girls when society is male dominant and corrupt and too many good fathers gone…they are taken advantage of sexually and/or made to become fighters or protectors of themselves, as too few good dads are around to do the job. Do you know the rate of female kidnapping and molestation in the 1970’s, what it increased to then? The author sure as hell does. The author knows EXACTLY what happened to our nation, very, very well. GOT (like any good fantasy book) is what is going on or has just gone on in our own world. Why else are the ones Danni is uplifting and protecting of African descent? The story projects our future forward, too. And like with any bit of genius writing, as readers we mostly only know this subconsciously. Brilliantly, he uses all history and pre-history (pre-historical subconscious tendencies, darkness, rage we don’t remember represented by what’s in the snow…white walkers, who are beyond a “wall”) to bring about the depiction of an end of history, an end to “systems” we see now cannot work even when those with the best of intentions try…and a start of a new epoch and story now without that fucking throne, which the dragon melts but not Jon. Jon’s an orphan because it is the only type of person symbolically that carries out good action in corrupt times. Suffering preserves the orphan.

    The “game over” that we are experiencing now in OUR world, all the hideous abuse and hurt and harm and loss and misguidedness and helpful guidance that has brought us to this point, is come to a head. It is our turning point that is happening and the start of a whole new game. This is magnificently depicted in his story. It resonates with the whole world because of it, but mostly in the US because this is where history came to finally draw the line. That’s the reason so many stuck with this story, passionately. Operative word: passionately. Also because the author wrote it so well, cast it brilliantly and then they shot it like a beast, truly amazing work. But it was mostly because we knew it, felt it. The pain and problem was cathartic. It was real. It was really about us.

    Thank you so much for this forum and your writing!!

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