A Game of Thrones Reread - Part 24

Welcome back to the South of the Wall reread. In today's reread the shit does truly hit the fan. (Have I said that before? I think I have. Well the shit tends to hit the fan pretty often in this book - I should probably just invest in an air conditioner). ANYWAY, Ned Stark's constant poking around finally produces a result.

As always, these posts contain spoilers for all published Song of Ice and Fire material, up to and including Feast for Crows.

And away we go...

EDDARD

Summary

Ned descended the stairs into the common room of the brothel, where Littlefinger and Ned's men were waiting for him. The men were enjoying the company of some of the women when Ned interrupted them and said it was time they took their leave. Heward gathered their things while Jory went outside to help Wyl with the horses. Littlefinger made an off color joke to Ned, implying Ned sampled the wares of the brothel while they were waiting. Ned does not appreciate the jest, but thanks Littlefinger for leading them to this particular brothel. Littlefinger comments that Chataya runs a fine establishment, and he contemplates buying it.

The five men mount their horses and begin their journey across the city back to the Red Keep. As they rode, Ned's thoughts drifted;

"Robert will never keep to one bed," Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm's End. "I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale." Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. "Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man's nature."

The girl Ned had visited in the brothel was a young girl with a newborn babe. She told Ned she named the child "Barra," and hoped that Robert would come back for her and the child. Ned noticed the babe's dark hair and knew it could belong to no one else but Robert. The girl asked Ned to promise her that Ned would tell the king about her. Ned promised.

That was his curse. Robert would swear undying love and forget them before evenfall, but Ned Stark kept his vows. He thought of the promises he'd made Lyanna as she lay dying, and the price he'd paid to keep them.

Ned wondered why Jon Arryn was investigating Robert's bastards, and why that got him killed. Ned's thoughts were interrupted when men came out of the alleys and surrounded them - Lannister men. Littlefinger shouted at them, stopping the Hand of the King. The Lannister men parted and Jaime Lannister approached, astride his horse and wearing his golden armor. Jaime pointed out that Ned was the Hand, but no longer. He asks Ned what he knows of his brother. Ned tells Jaime that Tyrion was taken at his command, to answer for his crimes. Littlefinger attempted to dispel the situation, but Ser Jaime wasn't having it. He bared his sword at Ned and told Littlefinger to leave. Littlefinger galloped off, promising to bring the City Watch.

Ned knew they had no chance, four men against Jaime's twenty. He told Jaime that if he were to die, Catelyn would surely kill Tyrion. Jaime said he didn't think so, but he wasn't willing to risk it. He ordered his men to make sure no harm comes to Ned, but to kill Ned's men. His men fought back, but all three were overtaken, and Ned's horse fell, landing on Ned's leg and breaking it. Ned saw his shattered bone poking through his calf before he lost consciousness. The Lannister men left, and Littlefinger finally returned with the City Watch. They brought Ned back to the castle, and the last thing Ned remembered was Grand Maester Pycelle giving him milk of the poppy.

My Thoughts

Well we knew Catelyn taking Tyrion would have repercussions, and here they are. Jaime attacks Ned in the streets of King's Landing, and kills three of Ned's men - including Jory Cassel the master-at-arms. We didn't get to know Jory too well, but enough to care that he died. He was Ned's right hand man in King's Landing, and did a good showing in the tourney. And now he's dead, first blood drawn in a feud between the Lannisters and the Starks. The thing I'm mulling over in my head, was Jaime's action rash or was it thought through? I don't think it was well thought out, I think Jaime discovered that his little brother was kidnapped by a Stark, and he responded the only way he knew. I think Tywin, or Tyrion himself, would have handled the situation very differently. Instead blood was spilled, and there is no going back - the Lannisters and Starks are at war. Words will no longer solve the problem. And Ned is now weakened, we see that despite some prowess Ned Stark is not the man he was fifteen years ago when he won his best friend a crown, now he's old and gets a broken leg when his horse slips on wet ground - not quite the way you want your hero to lose.

Other stuff did happen in this chapter though, as Ned finds another one of Robert's bastards. So what is that, four confirmed bastards? We have Gendry, Mya Stone, Barra, and the one he acknowledged down in Storm's End. I didn't mention that in the summary, but Robert took a noble woman to bed on Stannis' wedding night, IN Stannis' bed!! Jeez, what a jerk. I don't like Stannis, but you have to take his side in that particular argument. Anyway, we know the story of the bastards. They all have dark hair, and Joffrey, Tommen, and Myrcella are blondes. Once again we see Ned just totally on the wrong track. Ned realizes that they are taking the King's Landing tour of Robert's bastards, but wonders why that got Jon Arryn killed. Voicing his theories to Littlefinger - it had to be difficult for Littlefinger to keep a straight face. Ned isn't doing any real investigating, he is just reading the clues that Littlefinger hands to him on a platter, and thinking exactly what Littlefinger wants him to think. Now, I can't really fault Ned for missing all this (I did the first time I read the book) but knowing what we know Ned just seems so... foolish? dumb? ineffective? Knowing what we now know about Littlefinger, Ned's portrayal definitely suffers.

We also get some more comments about Lyanna. We know she knew of Robert's womanizing ways, and perhaps she didn't love him quite so strongly as he claims to have loved her. She knew Robert wouldn't change, and would screw around on her, another factor that could have led to her running away with Rhaegar? This is further enforced when Ned thinks whether Rhaegar frequented brothels, and decided he probably didn't. I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong!) that this is the first time Ned thinks directly about Rhaegar. To this point we mostly get Robert's opinion of Rhaegar, that he raped Lyanna hundredds of times. If that were true, or if Ned even thought it might be true, he would not be thinking about how Rhaegar did not frequent brothels. Another thing I just thought of to further the argument that Lyanna must have been pregnant. Lyanna by all accounts was a good person. Since her running away with Rhaegar directly red to the deaths of her brother and father, and who knows how many more as the rebellion got under way - wouldn't she have returned to the Starks if she could? But if she was pregnant her return wouldn't end the war (if it could anyway by that point) and seeing her impregnated by a Targaryen would likely only make Robert more furious.

We have Ned thinking how he made a promise to Lyanna as she was dying, and how that promise has cost him much. I believe that R+L=J theory is pretty much accepted at this point, but are there any alternate theories about what Ned's promise to Lyanna could be? The only other implication anywhere in the book is Ned promising to bury her in the crypts at Winterfell, but why would that promise cost him so much?

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And that's it for this week! A programming note: the plan is to try to get these posts to go up on a regular schedule again. I'm going to try to get a post up on Monday recapping the latest episode of the show, then reread posts on Wednesday and Friday. We'll see if that works out. So - what did everyone else think?