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Episode 80: A CLASH OF KINGS, CATELYN I "Heavy Lies the Head" With Special Guest Steven Attewell SHOW NOTES!
🕑 Added 2019-09-23 14:01:00 +0000 UTCHello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish.
And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn.
Welcome to the eightieth episode of the Not A Cast, titled: “Heavy Lies the Head: An Analysis of ACOK, Catelyn I,” in which Good King Robb makes his peace with the Lannisters, and all is well in Westeros forevermore.
Emmett intros Steven
Steven says hi
This episode is brought to you by our Small Council:
- Hand of the King WolfmanZack
- Grand Maester Timbob
- Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N.
- Lord Travis, Master of Ships and Warden of the Waves
- Ser Keith J, Master of Whisperers
- Lord Philip the Merciful, Master of Laws
- Jancy O, Lady Commander of the Night’s Watch
- Lord Gene, Master of Coin
- Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes
- Ragged Michael, Warden of the North
- Nelson the Hammer, Prince of Dragonstone
- Scarlett the Other Red Woman and Mistress of Whisperers
- Lord Baby the Onion Baby
- Lord Blackheart the Defiant, Master of Zorse
- Lord Micah: Warden of the West and the Kraken’s Bane
- Lord James: the Jim that was Promised
- The High Bearded Priest
- The Blue-Ringed Octoling
- Lord Jake, Assistant (to the) Hand of the King
- Lady Xena Valyrian
- Hedrigal, Captain of the Air Ship Arrogance
- His Grace’s High Inquisitor Frank
- Lord James Stormborn, Warden of the World Wide Weirwood
- Ser Jasper the Cruel, the King’s Justice
- Laurence, Prince of Dorne
- Richard, Sealord of Braavos
- Kelly, Warden of the East and Mistress of (Old) Bay of Crabs
- Steven the Steadfast, Master of Hounds
- The Blue Winter Rose Knight of Highgarden
Spoiler warning: All published books - 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!
Question
His Grace’s High Inquisitor Ser Frank B, a small council patrons, asks:
Building off your discussion on the hellsite known as Twitter regarding GRRMs philosophy on war, which theme from the books do you agree with most and which do you disagree with (if any)? Are there any that you were persuaded by GRRM's world view on? Obviously we've all been impacted by GRRMs pen in some way, or we wouldn't be here but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on your respective windows through which you're viewing this series.
Synopsis
Hot from the presses, Robb Stark’s iron and bronze crown rests uneasily on his head. Where the Starks of old had their own crown for thousands of years, it had been lost when Torrhen Stark knelt to Aegon the Conqueror. As to what Aegon had done with the crown, no one knew. But Robb’s crown described as an “open circlet of hammered bronze incised with the runes of the First Men, surmounted by nine black iron spikes wrought in the shape of longswords” was intended to look the same as Torrhen’s crown.
Catelyn, Robb and the rest of the assembled lords, knights, bannermen and guards wait in Riverrun’s great hall for Ser Cleos Frey to be brought forward to the audience hall. When he finally arrives, Robb orders his squire Olyvar Frey to grab his sword … uh, grab the sheathe for Robb. Robb draws his sword and lays it across his lap. Ser Robin Ryger, Riverrun’s master of arms, forces the prisoner onto his knees to kneel before Robb. And Catelyn thinks this jabroni doesn’t look like a beautiful Lannister. Instead, he’s much Frey with his weak chin, brown hair and thin face.
Robb tells Cleos to rise. Catelyn notes that Robb didn’t sound as icy as Ned would have, but he wasn’t sounding like a boy either these days. All the war shit was having its toll on Robb. Cleos, meanwhile, is a bit scared. No, not by the sword on Robb’s lap. Phrasing, George! By Grey Wind. The direwolf comes forward and sniffs the captive knight. And everyone then smells the scent of fear. Guys, Cleos peed himself. No shame though, right?
Cleos scrambles to his feet quickly and thanks Robb as Lord.
“Your Grace,” barked Lord Umber the Greatjon, ever the loudest of Robb’s northern bannermen … and the truest and fiercest as well, or so he insisted.
Cleos quickly corrects himself to “Your Grace”, and Catelyn notes that this guy isn’t very brave. Jaime would have been different if he were here. Jaime would never have given Robb any honorific.
Robb tells Cleos that he has a very special mission for a very special boy. He needs to travel to King’s Landing to deliver a message to Cersei. Cleos is relieved to be going to King’s Landing until Robb says that he’s not freeing Cleos. He expects Cleos to return to Riverrun and captivity once he’s gotten an answer from Cersei. And Robb expects all this on his vows as a knight.
Cleos agrees, pledging after challenged by Ser Edmure of House My Heart (actually Tully). And then he asks what message Robb wants to deliver.
“An offer of peace. Tell the Queen Regent that if she meets my terms, I will sheath this sword, and make an end to the war between us.”
Everyone gets all quiet, except for Lord Rickard Karstark who books it out of the hall.
Robb gives his sword to Olyvar and takes a piece of paper from him which spell out the terms of the agreement. I’ll list them here in bullet-fashion for convenience's sake:
- Cersei will release Sansa and Arya and transport them to White Harbor
- Sansa and Joffrey’s betrothal will end
- In return for this, Robb will release Willem Lannister and Tion Frey and send them back to Casterly Rock
- Ned’s bones will be returned to Winterfell along with the bones of his men who died in King’s Landing
- Ice will be returned to Robb at Riverrun
- Lord Tywin will release knights and lords bannermen that he’s held as prisoner from the Battle of the Green Fork
- In return Robb will release prisoners taken at the Whispering Wood and Battle of the Camps
- Except Jaime who will remain a hostage to Tywin’s good behavior.
- Finally and most importantly, Cersei will renounce all claims to dominion over the North to include yes, the North but also all the Riverlands (“the lands watered by the River Trident and its vassal streams”) east of the Golden Tooth and west of the Mountains of the Moon
I know I’m skipping a lot of Catelyn’s observations on each of these points which make this chapter excellent, but I promise Emmett will dive into them in the depth section.
Greatjon Umber booms on about the “King in the North” much as he did back in Catelyn’s final AGOT chapter. And Robb says that he has maps prepared by Riverrun’s maester Vyman which Cleos is ordered to deliver to Cersei. And Tywin needs to GTFO from the Riverlands. He doesn’t belong. And Cersei can kiss taxes and homage from the Riverlands and North goodbye. And the Lannisters need to surrender ten highborn hostages for Tywin’s good behavior. Two will be released every year to ensure that Tywin doesn’t get all war crime-y.
Robb takes the parchment and tosses it to Cleos, saying that these are his terms.
“If she meets them, I’ll give her peace. If not-” he whistled, and Grey Wind moved forward snarling - “I’ll give him another Whispering Wood.”
Everyone starts hooting and hollering like Alabamans at a backyard barbecue, and Cleos meekly agrees to give the terms to Cersei. So, Robb says that Cleos gets new clothes and a good meal, but he’s to leave in the morning.
With that, Robb ends the audience and walks out with everyone bending the knee to him. Outside of the audience hall, Catelyn and Edmure meet up with Robb. Cat compliments Robb on his performance, but she does scold him for threatening Cleos with his wolf. And Robb, uncharacteristically Joffrey-like, gets all smile-y, talking about how scared Cleos looked. But that’s not what Catelyn was paying attention to. Instead, she saw Lord Rickard Karstark exit the building. Robb saw that too, he says, handing his crown to good Frey Olyvar.
Edmure says that more people probably felt similar to Rickard. And he has a point. The Lannisters are out here burning their way around the Riverlands. Edmure wants to march on Harrenhal. But Robb unhappily replies that they can’t. They don’t have the strength. But Edmure decides to persist, saying that they’re not going to be strong if they sit around Riverrun.
“And whose doing is that?” Catelyn snapped at her brother. It had been at Edmure’s insistence that Robb had given the river lords leave to depart after his crowning, each to defend his own lands.
The Vances, Brackens and Mallisters were back in their own lands repelling or preparing to repel Lannister reavers. And Edmure counterpoints Catelyn by saying that they had to let the river lords go home. The duty of the leader class is to protect their people. But it would be really, really bad if a northman went home.
Robb says he’ll speak with Lord Rickard, but he understands Lord Rickard’s perspective. He two of his sons to the Lannisters. He doesn’t want to make peace with his son’s killers … with Robb’s father’s killers.
Catelyn, though, isn’t about that. In a line repeated throughout the series in various forms, she brings the heat:
“More bloodshed will not bring your father back to us, or Lord Rickard’s sons.”
Regardless, if Robb wanted peace, he should have offered better terms, but Robb really wasn’t about peace here and now. His beard was coming in red, and though Robb probably thought the beard made him look fierce, royal and like a grown-ass adult, Catelyn knows the truth. He’s still just fifteen years old. And as a boy, he wanted vengeance just as much as Lord Rickard did. It had taken all Catelyn could do to get him to agree to make any offer to the Lannisters.
Catelyn states that the Cersei will never trade Sansa and Arya for Lannister cousins. She’ll want Jaime. But Robb can’t trade Jaime for the girls. His lords would kill him! Hm. And they can unmake him as king.
“If your crown is the price we must pay to have Arya and Sansa returned safe, we should pay it willingly. Half our lords would like to murder Lannister in his cell. If he should die while he’s your prisoner, men will say-”
“-that he well deserved it,” Robb finished.
Yeah, you really want that Robb? Because if that happens, Arya and Sansa are dead. So, Robb beats a quick retreat and says that Lannister won’t die in his cell. No one can even talk to him without Robb’s express permission. But King Robb will not free Jaime.
And it’s at that point that Catelyn realizes that Robb is looking down at her. She wonders whether it was war or the crown that was making Robb grow up so fast. So, Catelyn pokes Robb, asking if he’s afraid to face Jaime in battle again. Grey Wind starts growling, sensing Robb’s anger, and Edmure tries to say that “the boy has the right of it.” Oh no, Edmure. Bad move.
“Don’t call me the boy,” Robb said, rounding on his uncle, his anger spilling out all at once on poor Edmure, who had only meant to support him. “I’m almost a man grown, and a king - your king, ser. And I don’t fear Jaime Lannister. I defeated him once, I’ll defeat him again if I must, only … I might have been able to trade the Kingslayer for Father, but …”
“... but not for the girls?” Catelyn’s voice was icy quiet. “Girls are not important enough, are they?”
Robb gets all quietly hurtful and looks at Catelyn with blue eyes -- the ones that Catelyn had given him. Catelyn sees that Robb is wounded, but he wouldn’t admit it. She realizes that this was unworthy of her, thinks that Robb is doing his best, trying so hard, yet …
I have lost my Ned, the rock my life was built on, I could not bear to lose the girls as well …
Robb says he’ll do what he can for Sansa and Arya, and maybe Cersei will accept the terms. Or she’ll rue the day if she rejects them.
But with that bit of business out of the way, hey Catelyn, you sure you don’t want to go to the Twins to pick Robb’s bride? Awful nice there this time of year, Robb’s heard.
He wants me gone, Catelyn thought wearily. Kings are not supposed to have mothers, it would seem, and I tell him things he does not want to hear.
Catelyn thinks that Robb is old enough to pick his own wife. Yeah, yeah he is. So, Robb asks if Catelyn wants to go with Theon to Seagard and take a ship for Winterfell. She can go hang out with Bran and Rickon at Winterfell. They need her. Catelyn realizes what Robb is really saying is that he doesn’t need her around with her annoying good advice. But no, Catelyn needs to stay here at Riverrun. Her father is dying. She wants to remain with him. Robb tries playing the boy and saying he could command her to go. But Catelyn ignores him.
“I’ll say again, I would sooner you sent someone else to Pyke, and kept Theon close to you.”
Robb thinks that the best person to negotiate with Balon Greyjoy is his son. Catelyn puts in that Jason Mallister or Tytos Blackwood or Stevron Frey would be better than Theon. Theon is a hostage, and even if he has fought bravely for Robb, Balon is not trustworthy. He’s both an idiot and a former king himself.
Robb stood. “I will not grudge him that. If I’m King in the North, let him be King of the Iron Islands, if that’s his desire. I’ll give him a crown gladly, so long as he helps us bring down the Lannisters.”
Catelyn tries to protest, but Robb says that his decision is final, and he’s off. He walks off stage with Grey Wind, and Catelyn watches him go.
Catelyn wants to go see her father and asks Edmure to join her, but Edmure needs to, uh, go talk with Ser Desmond about the archers. He’ll definitely come later though. So, Catelyn is on to go on her own. She passes through the central keep, walking by the beautiful godswood. She looks at the leaves and flowers who seem ignorant of the white raven that’s come to Riverrun announcing the end of summer.
For that, Catelyn was duly grateful. Autumn was always a fearful time, with the specter of winter looming ahead. Even the wisest man never knew whether his next harvest would be his last.
Catelyn finds Hoster in bed in his solar with a view of the Tumblestone and Red Fork rivers meeting beneath his room. Hoster remains abed, looking frailer than ever. But next to the bed is none other than Brynden “fuck the Lannisters up” Tully.
Catelyn asks if Robb knew that the Blackfish was back, and Brynden says that he came straight to Hoster’s chambers. Besides, Brynden has got bad news, and he needed to tell Robb in private. Before that though, Brynden asks Catelyn about Hoster. Cat reports he’s the same. He sleeps and only speaks rarely, talking about old regrets, unfinished tasks and people who’ve been dead a long time. And he misses people, Minisa Whent in particular. He even called Catelyn by her name once. Brynden thinks that Catelyn resembles her, but Cat has it that Brynden remembers her better as it’s been a long time.
Still, the Blackfish wonders whether he’ll come home and find Hoster alive or dead. And though the two brothers had feuded their entire lives, they still loved each other. Hell, Brynden had even made his peace with Hoster. They sit in silence for a while, and then Catelyn asks about the news Brynden has. So, Brynden takes her outside so as not to disturb Hoster.
Outside, that damnable red comet hangs over the sky menacing, and Brynden has thoughts about it:
“You can see it by day now. My men call it the Red Messenger … but what is the message?”
Catelyn recounts that Greatjon Umber thinks it’s a flag of vengeance for Robb while Edmure thinks it’s an omen for Tully victory. Catelyn, herself, thinks it looks Lannister crimson. But Brynden knows better:
“That thing’s not crimson,” Ser Brynden said. “Nor Tully red, the mud red of the river. That’s blood up there, child, smeared across the sky.”
“Our blood or theirs?” Catelyn asks
“Was there ever a war where only one side bled?”
Brynden shakes his head and gets down to telling the tale of what’s going on. The Riverlands are on fire with fighting at the God’s Eye all the way down to the Blackwater and across the Trident nearly as far north as the Twins. There’s been small victories by Marq Piper and Karyl Piper, but the real victor so far has been Lord Beric Dondarrion:
“Beric Dondarrion has been raiding the raiders, falling upon Lord Tywin’s foraging parties and vanishing back into the woods. It’s said that Ser Burton Crakehall was boasting that he’d slain Dondarrion, until he led his column into one of Lord Beric’s traps and got every man of them killed.”
Catelyn recalls that some of Ned’s guardsmen are with Beric, and she prays that the gods aid them. Well, so far so good as Beric and Thoros of Myr are moving with impunity.
But that’s the good news. The bad news is in the river lords. Jonos Bracken is wounded, his nephew dead. Tytos Blackwood pushed the Lannisters off Blackwood lands, but the Lannisters had already stolen all livestock and crops. Worse yet was the fate of Lord Darry. Darry retainers had retaken Castle Darry, but they only held the castle for two weeks before Gregor Clegane came and murdered everyone, including Lord Darry.
Catelyn was horrorstruck. “Darry was only a child.”
“Aye, and the last of his line as well. The boy would have brought a fine ransom, but what does that mean to a frothing dog like Gregor Clegane? That beast’s head would make a noble gift for all the people of the realm, I vow.”
Catelyn knows all about Gregor Clegane and his rep, but she doesn’t want to talk about heads. Ned’s head is still mounted on a spike above the Red Keep. She still can’t believe he’s gone. All the same, Gregor was only Tywin Lannister’s dog. He was the one who was truly dangerous. Brynden agrees, saying that Tywin is hanging out in Harrenhal, feeding his army with forage (AKA theft) and burning the food his men can’t carry on their backs. Additionally, Amory Lorch is out as a ravager, and some goddamn Qohorik sellsword is out there committing heinous war crimes.
Catelyn thinks that Edmure will be furious when he hears about this, and Brynden agrees, stating that this will be exactly what Tywin wants: to provoke the Starks and Tullys into battle.
“Robb is like to give him that wish,” Catelyn said, fretful. “He is restless as a cat sitting here, and Edmure and the Greatjon and the others will urge him on.”
Given Robb’s smashing victories against the Lannisters, some of his bannermen were calling Robb “Aegon the Conqueror Reborn”, but the Blackfish doesn’t like the idea of Robb giving Tywin what he wants. And Tywin wants them to march on Harrenhal.
"Harrenhal." Every child of the Trident knew the tales told of Harrenhal, the vast fortress that King Harren the Black had raised beside the waters of Gods Eye three hundred years past, when the Seven Kingdoms had been seven kingdoms, and the riverlands were ruled by the ironmen from the islands. In his pride, Harren had desired the highest hall and tallest towers in all Westeros. Forty years it had taken, rising like a great shadow on the shore of the lake while Harren's armies plundered his neighbors for stone, lumber, gold, and workers. Thousands of captives died in his quarries, chained to his sledges, or laboring on his five colossal towers. Men froze by winter and sweltered in summer. Weirwoods that had stood three thousand years were cut down for beams and rafters. Harren had beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream. And when at last Harrenhal stood complete, on the very day King Harren took up residence, Aegon the Conqueror had come ashore at King's Landing.
Old Nan had told tales of Harrenhal and how Aegon came to Harrenhal with his dragons, and how the great walls of the castle could do fuck-all against dragons. For dragons fly. King Harren and his entire family died that day.
Catelyn doesn’t want Robb to fight within sight of Harrenhal, but they have to do something. Brynden agrees, and they have to be quick about it, because there’s even worse news. There’s a new Lannister army gathering at Harrenhal, commanded by Ser Stafford Lannister. Cousin to Tywin and brother to Joanna, Stafford was old and kind of an idiot, but his son Daven was more formidable. They have time to face them now as the army isn’t ready for battle given its composition of mostly smallfolk and freeriders, but they will come eventually. And when they do come, Tywin won’t be the same fool Jaime was in battle. Tywin will wait for Stafford to come before marching from Harrenhal.
“Unless …” said Catelyn.
“Yes?” Ser Brynden prompted.
“Unless he must leave Harrenhal,” she said, “to face some other threat.”
Brynden considers this and asks if she means Lord Renly. King Renly, Catelyn corrects. She would need to keep the titles right if she would ask him for help.
“Perhaps.” The Blackfish smiled a dangerous smile. “He’ll want something, though.”
“He’ll want what kings always want,” she said. “Homage.”
And that is ACOK, Catelyn I. What a fucking chapter, guys. It’s been a few years since I read it, but this chapter gets me really excited for ACOK in the same way that the Prologue does. Don’t get me wrong. I love every Davos, Tyrion, Bran and Theon chapter in this book, but Catelyn gets me at intrinsic levels. What did you guys think?
Depth
As we went through AGOT, I was flip-flopping on my favorite POV in that book, just as Jeff was with his favorite chapter. Was it Catelyn, or Dany, or maybe Sansa? I have no such hesitation for ACOK: Catelyn is #1 and it’s not even close. This is some of the best material in the series.
All the great themes and moods and imagery of this book are best expressed in her chapters. Each one locks into place perfectly as a self-contained setpiece--the Stannis v. Renly one, the shadowbaby one, the Jaime one, etc.--while still contributing to the whole, offering different angles on the same ideas. If Catelyn’s storyline in ASOS is one long descent, gloomy shades of black and white giving way at the end to a geyser of red, her storyline in ACOK is more like a rainbow. The full spectrum is here. Every chapter has its own distinct color pattern, everything coming full circle at Riverrun. This opening chapter is the dawn, the “morning light” glimmering on Robb’s sword as he proposes peace. Her last chapter in the book is the long night of the soul, set at midnight as Catelyn stares down Jaime Lannister, her last desperate hope for making that peace a reality. This chapter is coming off the high of “KING IN THE NORTH!” at the end of AGOT. That last chapter builds a bridge to the tragic downfall in ASOS.
Putting the larger movements of Catelyn’s story aside, this chapter is terrific on its own terms. There’s so much dense, nuanced politics to cover, some of which inspires hope...but a lot of which (esp on reread) inspires dread, and we wanted Steven here to help us tease it all out.
Steve’s thoughts
- Catelyn I of ACOK is, even more than other first chapters in this book, a companion piece for her last chapter in the previous book: if Catelyn XI of AGOT was all about the romantic nationalism of defiant voices acclaiming the first King in the North, this chapter is about what happens the day after the coronation when you have to get up and start governing.
- Throughout the chapter, both Catelyn and Robb find themselves wrestling with the dilemmas of feudal politics: how do you craft terms of peace that Northern and Riverlords can accept, and does that mean sacrificing your own family’s interests? When you’re fighting a war in the Riverlands with Northern troops, what strategy do you pursue that will keep your army together en route to victory? When you’re in a war of five kings, which kings are safe to make alliances with?
- At the same time, one of the hardest things to do on a re-read is to analyze Catelyn and Robb’s decision-making without falling prey to the traps of presentism (when we judge people’s actions on the basis of later information that they didn’t have at the time) or teleology (when we assume that “what happened” was inevitable, and ignore the role of contingency). As can be seen in significant swathes of the fandom, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that the Starks were always doomed, or that Robb and/or Catelyn are solely responsible for the defeat of the Northern cause due to an unending series of errors.
- Rather, I think what we see in Catelyn’s ACOK chapters is what happens when you make the hard decisions and the Fates (i.e, GRRM) ensure you lose anyway.
It’s been several years since I’ve read ACOK in full, and something that had slipped my mind in the years since reading is how good Catelyn’s POV is. All the macro plot and character beats Emmett talked about are fabulous, but the minor plot and character beats slap too. But having read all of Catelyn’s ACOK chapters in preparation for this episode, I’m also struck by how good Catelyn is at thinking politically in this book. And I’m going to make a strange and probably controversial comparison. Catelyn is on par with Tyrion’s political and military strategic mind.
Yes, Tyrion will get all the accolades for his pragmatically cynical Hand of the King tenure, but Catelyn demonstrates an apt understanding of the political world -- and all in the wake of monumental tragedy in Ned’s death and danger to three of her five children. From her perceptive observations of the audience Robb has in Riverrun to her warnings against trusting Balon Greyjoy to her Tyrion-esque pragmatism in wanting to treat with Renly, Catelyn demonstrates a clear-headed approach to politics.
But where Tyrion has a cynical approach to politics and his relationship with Joffrey, Catelyn is animated by the moral horror of what she’s witnessing around her. Consider the contrast in these two passages. First from Tyrion in the very next chapter where Varys informs him that a captain plans to set sail for Dragonstone and service with Stannis:
"Ser Jacelyn could arrange for him to vanish, but a trial before the king would help assure the continued loyalty of the other captains."
And keep my royal nephew occupied as well. "As you say. Put him down for a dose of Joffrey's justice."
Tyrion is pragmatically cynical here, letting Joffrey commit injustice in the name of giving himself some peace and quiet as well as shoring up the loyalty of other sea captains.
Contrast Tyrion’s cynical pragmatism to Catelyn’s reaction when she learns of Lord Darry’s murder:
Catelyn was horrorstruck. “Darry was only a child.”
And it’s in that context that Catelyn makes a smart, pragmatic move in suggesting that she treat with Renly. Yes, you heard me correctly: from a purely pragmatic standpoint, Catelyn is right to treat with Renly. Whether it’s the morally correct thing to do … well, I’m sure we’ll talk about that both here and in Catelyn II-IV. That aside, the contrast is that Catelyn is willing to make pragmatic, strategic moves to safeguard the lives of innocents -- whether it be future boy lords or her daughters. Tyrion wants some peace and quiet and loyalty to an unjust king and cause.
So, it’s in the motivation angle that I think we can say Catelyn’s pragmatic politics > Tyrion’s pragmatic politics, and it’s not particularly close.
- Robb Stark and the image of a king
- I want to start where we started last time: the Young Wolf as the pitch-perfect incarnation of the warrior-king ideal, like Robert in his “true steel” prime
- "Rise, Ser Cleos." Her son's voice was not as icy as his father's would have been, but he did not sound a boy of fifteen either. War had made a man of him before his time. Morning light glimmered faintly against the edge of the steel across his knees.
- Given how poorly King Stannis and King Joffrey came off in their opening scenes in the book named for kings, it’s especially notable that King Robb looks and sounds and acts like he just stepped down off a stained glass window
- You can feel both room and realm orbiting around him in this opening scene
- He’s putting his best foot forward, determined to come off not like a pretender but a prince that was promised--for his kingdom to feel legitimate, he must as well
- He’s got a sword on his lap, he’s got a peerless hypeman, every word he says is precisely aimed at its goal. Of course they crowned him! Look at him!
- And of course, he has Grey Wind: the symbol of his power, the foundation of his legend, and the “iron mail” beneath the “velvet courtesy” of the peace offer
- Yet it was not the sword that made Ser Cleos Frey anxious; it was the beast. Grey Wind, her son had named him. A direwolf large as any elkhound, lean and smoke-dark, with eyes like molten gold. When the beast padded forward and sniffed at the captive knight, every man in that hall could smell the scent of fear. Ser Cleos had been taken during the battle in the Whispering Wood, where Grey Wind had ripped out the throats of half a dozen men.
- Catelyn considers Robb’s use of Grey Wind “japery more befitting a boy than a king,” but I think that’s more reflective of her shifting perspective on her firstborn child than the politics at work
- This isn’t the same as Robb waving a sword around in the godswood; this is Robb leveraging his military record for political gain, or trying to, anyway
- George picks Cleos Frey to be the emissary in part because his cringing cowardice highlights what a charismatic intimidating presence Robb has become
- Of course, just because he’s living up to the image doesn’t make it easy or comfortable to do so; the chapter starts with our first sight of Robb wearing his crown, and he’s shifting it around on his head, taking it off as soon as he can
- As Catelyn notes, this isn’t actually the crown of the Kings of Winter; it’s their best guess, a working backwards, an approximation--like the new/old kingdom
- On this count, I think Catelyn hits the nail on the head:
- It is no easy thing to wear a crown, Catelyn thought, watching, especially for a boy of fifteen years.
- This doesn’t all come natural to Robb, despite him being a genuine prodigy; he has to work at it, creating a kingly wintry adult voice to match his father’s
- I want to start where we started last time: the Young Wolf as the pitch-perfect incarnation of the warrior-king ideal, like Robert in his “true steel” prime
- The peace proposal
- All credit to Robb! Stannis starts the book by telling diplomacy to fuck off, Joffrey starts the book by preparing spikes for his fellow monarchs’ heads, but Robb starts the book by making an attempt to get everyone to stop killing each other
- Of course, his motivations in doing so are different from someone like Beric Dondarrion or Septon Meribald, who understand how the war has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of the peasants and want all sides to lay down their arms
- Robb very much wants his side to win (as does Catelyn) and is trying to leverage his military victories into the best possible post-war outcome for Team Stark
- But Team Stark includes many people with different interests, as we saw last time
- Robb builds from the personal (his sisters, his father’s bones, his father’s sword) to the political (get off our land and never come back)
- The personal can’t be separated from the politics, however; Ice is part of Stark power, and Jaime’s status matters as much to Rickard Karstark as to Cersei
- Lannister withdrawal is primarily a concern of the Riverlords, whereas the Northerners aren’t worrying (for the moment) about their lands being attacked
- Instead, as we see in Bran’s ACOK chapters, they’re interested in their pieces of the independence pie, so they’re probably more concerned about taxes
- It’s a complex series of interlocking interests, made all the more difficult by the fact that Robb has made his name in a war he’s now trying to end
- He has to preserve his reputation and image, “the trappings of power,” in order to maintain control of his realm during the peacetime to follow
- For me, the ultimate takeaway from Robb’s peace proposal is that creating a peace is difficult not merely because some people love bloodshed and pillaging (though they do) but because peace isn’t actually the default state of man
- It has to be forged, and non-sadists will sometimes choose war over peace because it serves their interests
- The critique in ACOK is of a system that values those interests over the lives and well-being of the people at large, rather than purely of bad individuals
- It’s not that Robb is a thoughtless warmongering bro who doesn’t particularly care about getting his sisters back; it’s that he’s a good man with bad options
- Within Westerosi norms, Robb’s doing his best. But are we meant to nod and accept that, or interpret it as a critique of those norms?
- Yet is it Robb’s responsibility to break them? Should he not be trying to operate in good faith with Cleos, with Tyrion, with the Freys? It’s complicated!
- Catelyn the political observer
- Everything we see Robb do here, and then Renly, and then Stannis, and then Edmure, is filtered through Catelyn’s complex and well-versed political mind
- Her job as she sees it is to peel back the surface layer of everyone and everything she encounters, reporting the truth back to Robb (and the reader)
- So her political observations aren’t incidental--they’re the driving force behind her story, as they were in AGOT, as they will be in ASOS
- What more perfect terrible ending could there be for such a character, then to realize as if in a nightmare that they have fatally misread every social cue?
- Here, she’s in a liminal state, with some genuine insights (Cleos’ fear, Rickard’s anger) but also aware of the limits of her perceptions:
- She studied Theon Greyjoy’s sly smile, wondering what it meant. That young man had a way of looking as though he knew some secret jest that only he was privy to; Catelyn had never liked it.
- Catelyn Stark wished she could read the thoughts that hid behind each face, each furrowed brow and pair of tightened lips.
- A relatable impulse, but also the thought from which police states are born!
- As we’ve said, so much of ACOK is George trying to tunnel to the core of power to express what it is underneath all the trappings, if there’s anything there at all
- Catelyn and Robb trying to enforce their wills follows up on Varys’ riddle, the Walders’ game, Stannis grousing over the poor wages of the letter of the law
- She’s neither detached from her emotions nor dominated by them; it’s a perilous place in between, which is how she ends up freeing Jaime at book’s end
- Living men had gone south, and cold bones would return. Ned had the truth of it, she thought. His place was at Winterfell, he said as much, but would I hear him? No. Go, I told him, you must be Robert’s Hand, for the good of our House, for the sake of our children…my doing, mine, no other…
- That’s not a rational assessment of any mistakes Catelyn may have made. That’s the mindset of a character caught in the middle of a tragic downfall and desperately trying to find a way to understand it
- What Catelyn fears most isn’t that she (or Ned, or Robb) has doomed her family, it’s that unknowable Fate has done so. It’s that none of them have control.
- Hence we get yet another futile conversation about the meaning of the Red Messenger. The Blackfish is right--it’s a banner of blood, not of any one side
- Cat takes the blame for that blood above and beyond her own actions because then her actions have meaning, but that contributes to her downward spiral
- If she doomed them, then she could save them, please, not all my pretty ones…
- That also affects her relationship to Robb; as I said in AGOT, this is one of my favorite relationships in the series, because I find it so realistic
- There’s so much affection there, but also a lot of strain and worry; they’re each other’s pillars, yet also they find it easier to be apart
- Robb knows Catelyn is intelligent, and she knows he’s a prodigy, but she can’t deal with how quickly he’s grown up, and he can’t deal with how well she knows that he’s putting on a front
- No wonder he turns on “poor Edmure,” and no wonder she feels the need to visit her own father afterward; they’re in part turning to surrogates because of how raw the feelings between them are, haunted by the collision of youth and death
- Strategic situation in the Riverlands: So, we’re at an interesting spot in the narrative. House Stark appeared ascendant at the end of AGOT scoring massive victories at the Whispering Wood and the Battle of the Camps.
- So, it’s interesting that in their moment of greatest triumph, Brynden Tully is sounding the alarm.
- And he has good reason to sound the alarm!
- But first, let’s talk the positives for Robb
- The northmen remain in the field as a united fighting force with two major components at Riverrun and the Twins
- Karyl Vance and Marq Piper have won minor victories against Lannister marauders
- Best of all, Beric Dondarrion is doing R’hllor’s work in fighting a guerrilla campaign against the Lannisters.
- This is classic guerrilla warfare stuff -- lightning-fast raids, melt back into the forest. Kudos, GRRM. You’ve read your insurgency
- And now the negatives
- The Riverlords
- As Catelyn notes at the beginning of the chapter, Edmure requested that the riverlords be dispatched back to their holdings to defend it against the Lannisters
- This seems prudent insomuch as Lannister “foraging” parties are disrupting civilian life to include the all-important task of harvesting food at the end of summer
- The problem is that the riverlords scattering to defend their homelands has allowed Tywin to pick them off one by one -- the boy Lord Darry most horrifically
- And though the riverlords will come back to Edmure’s side after Gregor Clegane and his band rejoin Tywin for his attempt to cross the Ruby Ford and Amory Lorch goes to ground at Harrenhal, the losses are pretty bad.
- “Blood and flame around the Gods Eye” is one hell of an image…
- These strategic issues reflect political problems--the difficulty of forging a single polity out of North and Riverlands
- Yup. Edmure notes that it would go ill if the northmen left, and he’s right. The northmen in the field are able to stay in the field, because their homes aren’t getting torched by enemies (yet).
- Meanwhile, Roose Bolton is up at the Twins with his host of mixed Frey soldiers and northmen
- It’s interesting to note that it’s here that Roose Bolton was likely betrothed and married to Fat Walda Frey as Roose will later receive letters from her after he takes Harrenhal
- The primary purpose of this force is to block Tywin from moving into the North, but beyond that, Roose has a lot (Too much?) of flexibility in his command
- Finally, there’s dissention among the northmen -- Rickard Karstark in particular.
- He wanted vengeance on the Lannisters, not peace. So, he’s at odds with Robb’s ostensible desire for peace
- So, those are the positives and negatives in the friendly forces situation for Robb. Let’s turn now to the enemy forces
- The Riverlords
- Tywin Lannister
- The main Lannister host still in the field is Tywin’s army of some 20,000+ soldiers
- Jaime’s army is gone, but Tywin remains, and he’s doing damage to the Riverlands.
- The main host is picking the land clean around Harrenhal itself, depriving the smallfolk (and Robb’s army) of food
- Tywin is brutally but expertly using Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch to both raid north along the Trident and west along the Blackwater
- He also has Vargo Hoat and the Bloody Mummers doing war crimes
- I wonder if Tywin is looking at Vargo Hoat even now as an expendable piece that he can shift blame for at a later date.
- Ultimately, Tywin’s tactics of blocking any potential advance on King’s Landing while drawing the riverlords away from Robb was working
- But these were delaying tactics on Tywin’s part. He knows that he’s outnumbered. So, he’ll use his force multiplier in the form of Harrenhal to even the odds as well as tempt Robb into marching against him at Harrenhal
- And why would he want Robb to march on Harrenhal?
- Because he has another army coming into formation in the Westerlands led by Stafford Lannister
- My read is that Tywin wants to scatter the riverlords, depriving Robb of the men to take Harrenhal by force of arms while pinning Roose Bolton at the Twins (hence why Lannister raids have almost reached the Twins), force Robb into marching against him at Harrenhal and then bring up Stafford’s army to take Robb in the rear while the king in the north besieges Harrenhal
- Probably not coincidentally, this is basically the same tactic that Tywin uses against Stannis at the Blackwater -- pinning Stannis’ already-engaged army against the Blackwater while taking them in the rear.
- So, it’s interesting that in their moment of greatest triumph, Brynden Tully is sounding the alarm.
- So, with these troubling tidings, what’s our boy hero supposed to do?
- Open up a 3rd front on Tywin Lannister to his south.
- Here’s where I think Catelyn is acting pragmatically and shrewdly in her idea to treat with Renly.
- With Robb and his host to Tywin’s west, Roose to his north, forcing Tywin to fight to his south would almost certainly result in Tywin’s defeat.
- Renly has 100,000 men at Bitterbridge as Catelyn will discover in her next chapter. Renly’s got Tywin 5 to 1 without the northmen and riverlanders. Adding in the combined total force, and Tywin is outnumbered 8 to 1.
- It’s the perfect military solution to the problem of Tywin Lannister. The problem is the politics.
- Renly will want Robb to set aside his crown (something Catelyn notes at the end of this chapter)
- And then in Catelyn 2nd chapter, our lady hero will start the chapter thinking how she doesn’t want to play diplomat as she has nothing to offer. Robb doesn’t want to give up his crown.
- And then there’s the issue of Stannis
- We’re going to get super in-depth on this issue come Catelyn III, but it’s interesting how Stannis doesn’t come up in this chapter at all. Back in Catelyn’s final AGOT chapter, the discussion was whether they should throw in with Stannis, but why wouldn’t Catelyn think “Maybe we should go to Stannis”?
- Because Stannis hasn’t officially declared his kingship! This happens in ACOK, Davos I. There’s only a few people outside of Dragonstone who have any inkling that Stannis is the king.
- Remember how Cressen met with Davos, and Davos reports meeting with some of the stormlords secretly. Key word: secretly.
- You know, I don’t think Catelyn did anything wrong here by saying that they should go to Renly. As far as she and everyone else in the Riverlands is concerned, Stannis hasn’t declared for himself, and Renly has. A bird in the hand, folks. They’re going for Renly.
- Which shows how important it is that Renly declared himself before Stannis--who knows how the Stormlords might’ve handled it politically if it had been the other way around
- However, I don’t fully understand the nature of Catelyn’s diplomatic mission, perhaps you gentlemen can assist me
- At the end of this chapter, it’s implied that her goal is to encourage Renly to get his ass in gear, but that doesn’t come up later at all
- What, exactly, are Robb and Catelyn hoping Renly will offer them?
What does either Baratheon brother have to offer them in a world where Robb stays King in the North (and of the Trident)?
- We’re going to get super in-depth on this issue come Catelyn III, but it’s interesting how Stannis doesn’t come up in this chapter at all. Back in Catelyn’s final AGOT chapter, the discussion was whether they should throw in with Stannis, but why wouldn’t Catelyn think “Maybe we should go to Stannis”?
- Renly will want Robb to set aside his crown (something Catelyn notes at the end of this chapter)
Foreshadowing/Groundwork
You could argue that the whole chapter plays out as a preview of Catelyn sending Jaime--she brings up the potential trade for Arya and Sansa, Cleos Frey will also be involved, Rickard Karstark will also be furious, etc. In this chapter, we get the official peace deal, done in the “morning light” in front of dozens of witnesses; at book’s end, we get the unofficial peace deal, done in secret at midnight.
Bunch of setup packed into Robb’s terms--George reminds us of Ice and Ned’s bones (the latter will be waiting for Catelyn when she returns to Riverrun), as well as Tion Frey and Willem Lannister, whose deaths will in part represent the failure of the hope for peace kindled here.
Here we get our second mention of Beric Dondarrion in ACOK, and a more lengthy one than in the Prologue. As with Jaime, George does a great job of reminding us throughout the book who this guy is and why he matters, despite him never appearing in person.
Harrenhal was mentioned a few times in book one, but is really cemented in our minds here:
"Harrenhal." Every child of the Trident knew the tales told of Harrenhal, the vast fortress that King Harren the Black had raised beside the waters of Gods Eye three hundred years past, when the Seven Kingdoms had been seven kingdoms, and the riverlands were ruled by the ironmen from the islands. In his pride, Harren had desired the highest hall and tallest towers in all Westeros. Forty years it had taken, rising like a great shadow on the shore of the lake while Harren's armies plundered his neighbors for stone, lumber, gold, and workers. Thousands of captives died in his quarries, chained to his sledges, or laboring on his five colossal towers. Men froze by winter and sweltered in summer. Weirwoods that had stood three thousand years were cut down for beams and rafters. Harren had beggared the riverlands and the Iron Islands alike to ornament his dream. And when at last Harrenhal stood complete, on the very day King Harren took up residence, Aegon the Conqueror had come ashore at King's Landing.
Catelyn could remember hearing Old Nan tell the story to her own children, back at Winterfell. "And King Harren learned that thick walls and high towers are small use against dragons," the tale always ended. "For dragons fly." Harren and all his line had perished in the fires that engulfed his monstrous fortress, and every house that held Harrenhal since had come to misfortune. Strong it might be, but it was a dark place, and cursed.
Foreshadowing for Gregor Clegane losing his head?
“That beast’s [Gregor Clegane’s] head would make a noble gift for all the people of the realm, I vow.”
Theory/Discussion
How big a mistake, exactly, was sending Theon? Would sending anyone else have provoked a different response from Balon? Is it fair to hold Robb responsible for the domino effects involving Ramsay and Winterfell? Question for Steven specifically: was Balon planning to rebel even if Theon wasn’t returned?
Conclusion
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