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Episode 76: A CLASH OF KINGS, SANSA I: "Fool's Gold" SHOW NOTES!
🕑 Added 2019-08-26 14:01:01 +0000 UTC
Hello 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 seventy-sixth episode of the Not A Cast, entitled: “Fool’s Gold: An Analysis of ACOK, Sansa I,” in which King Joffrey Baratheon celebrates his birthday...well, he’s not a Baratheon. Nor a true king. It is his birthday, though, and Sansa Stark got him a present.
Defiance.
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
- And our two new members of the council:
- Laurence, Prince of Dorne
- Richard, Sealord of Braavos
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
Ser Darren S, a Sworn Sword asks:
Hiya guys!
How do you think Ned’s death chapter from either his, Sansa’s, or Cersei’s POV would’ve changed his death? I think one of the most interesting things is when multiple POVs are in the same location and how GRRM chooses to which ever one for that moment in time (Tyrion/Sansa, Bran/Jon, Sam/Jon, etc.). Gimme that American bred opinion!
Synopsis
It’s Joffrey’s nameday, and the world is bright and windy. Sansa watches the comet overhead from her window tower and asks the Soiled Knight Ser Arys “the good Reachmanr” Oakheart what he thinks the comet is all about. Why, it’s definitely, 1,000,000% Joffrey’s comet. It represents his glory. The gods themselves have blessed Joffrey with a symbol in the sky, he says very, very loudly. When Sansa challenges that the servants call it the Dragon’s Tail, Arys again, very, very loudly states that of course the servants call it that. Aegon the Conqueror once sat in the chair that Joffrey currently sits in. And Joffrey will triumph over his enemies, he practically shouts.
Is it true? She wondered. Would the gods be so cruel?
Catelyn was one of Joffrey’s enemies now. So was Robb. Are they going to die next? Uhhhhhhhhh.
Joffrey closes the window to the tower, and Arys “stupid Rommel” Oakheart says that she looks lovely today. Sansa thanks Arys, but she knows she’s going to have to attend the tourney in Joffrey’s honor. So, she’d taken special care for her appearance and clothes. And she’s wearing long sleeves to cover up the bruises that Ser Boros Blount had given her after Joffrey found out that Robb Stark had been proclaimed King in the North. Fuck you, Joffrey.
“Simple Himmler” Arys Oakheart offers Sansa his arm, and they head on out to the tourney grounds. All things being even, Sansa prefers Arys to the other Kingsguard knights. He was courteous. And yes, while he did hit her, he protests Joffrey’s orders and doesn’t hit her hard. Wow, what a guy, that Arys Oakheart. Regardless, Sansa was not quite so fortunate with the other Kingsguard Knights. Those alleged white cloaks obeyed without question.
As Sansa and Arys walk towards the tourney grounds, Sansa asks who will win, and Arys says that he will win, but he’s not precisely thrilled about the potential victory. It’s going to be a small field of mostly squires and freeriders. Sansa thinks back to the Tourney of the Hand and how every last champion in the realm had attended. She thinks back to the magic of the moment and all the colors of the rainbow had been present. But now Robert and Ned were dead. And there were three kings in the realm. And war was afoot.
Sansa asks if Cersei will be present, and Arys says that no, she won’t be there. Too busy misruling King’s Landing. Then Arys drops some gossip about how Cersei is furious at big daddy Tywin for going to ground at Harrenhal instead of coming to King’s Landing’s defense. Sansa, though, isn’t so concerned with this military development. She’s worried that without Cersei present that Joffrey will be unrestrained. They reach the gallery that the carpenters erected for the tourney, and Sansa notices that the crowd is mostly Lannister dudes and a “paltry few” that remained such as Gyles Rosby, Lady Tanda, Lady Falyse, Jalabhar Xho and a baby Lady Ermesande who was going to get married off to a Lannister cousin.
Joffrey, himself, is up under a crimson canopy with his leg hanging over a chair like a brat who needs to be sent to his room. Myrcella and Tommen sit behind him. And Sandor Clegane stands above them all with his white cloak draped over his broad shoulders. He announces Sansa when she shows up with a voice “rough as the sound of a saw on wood.” Now those are some good-ass words, George!
Myrcella nods shyly at Sansa and Tommen excitedly tells Sansa that he’s going to ride in the tourney today. Sansa talks up Tommen’s prowess, but then Joffrey is there, wearing a bunch of armor like a moron, stating that Tommen is going to ride in a tournament against straw opponents. Sansa curtsies to Joffrey, and Arys excuses himself.
“I’m pleased you wore my stones.”
So the king had decided to play the gallant today. Sansa was relieved.
Well, for the moment, I guess. Sansa thanks Joffrey for the stones, and says she’s praying Joffrey has a lucky name day. Joffrey then reports that Viserys is dead, laughing about how he got killed by having molten gold poured on him. Hm, wonder how that little piece of information reached King’s Landing … Also, Joffrey intends to challenge Robb Stark to single combat which lol, if only.
“I should like to see that, Your Grace.” More than you know.
Joffrey tries to puzzle out whether Sansa is mocking him or not which leads Sansa to quickly change the subject and ask whether Joff is riding in the lists today. He’s not of course. Mama’s boy that he is, he’d listened to Cersei about how it wasn’t fitting. But he so totally would have been the champion had he ridden, right, Sandor?
The Hound’s mouth twitched. “Against this lot? Why not?”
When Sansa then asks whether Sandor will joust, he tells her nu-uh. This is a tourney of gnats. Joffrey hoots and hollers like some goddamn Alabaman when Achy Breaky Heart comes on rumblin’ over the dancehall loudspeakers, and then says maybe they should make the champion fight the Hound to the death.
“You’d be one knight the poorer.” The Hound had never taken a knight’s vows. His brother was a knight, and he hated his brother.
Finally, the trumpets blare, and we’re onto the tourney of gnats. First in the chute is Ser Meryn Trant who rides against Ser Hobber Redwyne. Meryn trounces Hobber on the second tilt. Poorly ridden, Joffrey declares. Next, Balon Swann comes up decked out in swans. He faces off against Morros Slynt: Janos Slynt’s son. Sansa hopes Morros gets his ass killed in the tilt. And she very nearly gets her wish as Ser Balon Swann thwacks Morros and pushes him off his horse. Morros’ head thuds off the ground and his foot catches in the stirrup in the horse, dragging him on the ground for a bit. But when his people get to him, he’s still alive. Next Horas Redwyne takes out an elderly knight who might be of some relation to House Connington(!?) Whaaaaaa. Oh, and this character never shows up again. Of course.
Finally, Ser Lothor Brune, in service to Lord Littlefinger of course, shows up to face Ser Dontos Hollard, buuuuuuuuuuuut Dontos doesn’t appear. Well, he doesn’t eventually, chasing after his horse in the nude with everyone shouting insults at him and laughs at him. Everyone but Joffrey.
Joffrey had a look in his eyes that Sansa remembered well, the same look he’d had at the Great Sept of Baelor the day he pronounced death on Lord Eddard Stark.
Dontos declares that he’s the loser and loudly asks for wine. So, Joffrey proceeds to order a cask from the cellars to drown Dontos in.
Sansa heard herself gasp. “No, you can’t.”
The air kind of goes out of the room, well, not room. It’s out in the open. I’m trying to say it becomes very tense! Joffrey is stunned that Sansa spoke out. Sansa, herself, is a bit taken aback at how courageous she is. When Joffrey asks very politely and without any hint of malice whether she said that he can’t, Sansa says it’s bad luck to kill someone on your name day.
Joffrey doesn’t believe her and then again, very politely and without any hint of malice says that he should drown Sansa alongside of Ser Dontos for lying, but then something curious happens. Sandor Clegane backs Sansa’s story.
“The girl speaks truly,” the Hound rasped. “What a man sows on his name day he reaps throughout the year.”
Sansa notes that Sandor speaks flatly and doesn’t seem to care about Dontos’ fate which leads her to think that maybe it’s true or some shit? Uh-huh. All the same, Joffrey says he’ll kill the fool tomorrow which leads to a stroke of merciful intelligence on Sansa’s part.
“He is a fool. You’re so clever to see it He’s better fitted to be a fool than a knight, isn’t he? You ought to dress him in motley and make hi clown for you. He doesn’t deserve the mercy of a quick death.”
And then Joffrey, incredibly, agrees having been utterly outwitted by Sansa. Suck it, Joff. Dontos thanks Sansa and Joffrey as Lannister guardsmen lead him away.
The master of revels then appears asking if they should summon a new challenger for Ser Lothor Brune, but Joffrey is done with this tourney of gnats. The master bows, but then Tommen jumps up and roars that he’s supposed to ride against the straw man. Joffrey and him bicker back and forth for a bit with Myrcella joining in on Tommen’s side, and finally Joffrey agrees to allow Tommen to joust.
Tommen mounts his pony and rides against a warrior stuffed with straw who, of course, has his helmet fastened with large antlers like Robert Baratheon. He rides his pony hard as the people in the stands cheer the boy, but then as Tommen’s sword strikes the straw man’s shield, the mace spins around and thwacks Tommen on the back of his head, knocking the poor boy from his pony. People laugh at the poor kid, and Joffrey begins hyena-laughing at his brother like a fuckin’ dick. Myrcella rushes to the boy’s side, and Sansa urges Joffrey to go out and see if Tommen is hurt. Joffrey, gentle-ser, says no fucking way, but then Sandor sees that Tommen is getting up to try again.
If only Tommen were the elder instead of Joffrey, Sansa thought. I wouldn’t mind marrying Tommen.
But then a noise disturbs things. Chains come up to everyone’s surprise and a column of DMX ruff ryders come pouring through the gate. It’s none other than Tyrion Lannister, Bronn and his merry band of Vale clansmen come to save the day. Tommen rides out to meet his uncle, and one of the clansmen scoops the boy out of his saddle and deposits him in front of Tyrion who then backslaps an overjoyed Tommen. Myrcella runs up too, and Tyrion spins her around in the air.
The dwarf makes his way to Joffrey, bends the knee.
“Your Grace.”
“You,” Joffrey said.
“Me,” the Imp agreed, “although a more courteous greeting might be in order for an uncle and an elder.”
Sandor says that they thought Tyrion was dead, but Tyrion ain’t about talking to the Hound. He’s speaking to Joffrey. Myrcella says that she’s glad Tyrion isn’t dead, and Tyrion is also glad he’s not dead. He turns to Sansa:
“My lady, I am sorry for your losses. Truly, the gods are cruel.”
Sansa is utterly unsure of how to respond; so, she says nothing. Tyrion then says he’s sorry for Joffrey’s loss. Joffrey isn’t sure what loss he’s recently experienced, and Tyrion says, uh, your “dad.” Remember him? Sansa then apologizes for Catelyn’s completely justified action in taking Tyrion prisoner, and Tyrion says that a lot of people are sorry for that.
“And before I am done, some may be a deal sorrier.”
Tyrion asks where Cersei is, and Joffrey gets all huffy and says that she’s with the small council and how his “uncle” Jaime keeps losing battles. He glares at Sansa like she’s to blame, and he states that Robb Stark has crowned himself. Joffrey then asks what gifts Tyrion brought for his name day, and Tyrion says “Me. I’m the gift.” Oh, wait, shit, that’s season 5. He says:
“My wits.”
Well, Joffrey wanted Robb Stark’s head for a gift, which lovely as always, Joffrey. And then he orders Tommen and Myrcella to come with him. Sandor warns Tyrion that he may loss his tongue if he keeps on keeping on.
Sansa notices that Tyrion’s arm is injured and asks after it, and Tyrion gives a quick after-action of what occurred on the Green Fork with him escaping a northman by falling off his horse. But as Tyrion watches her, Sansa sees that he softens around her.
“Is it grief for your lord father that makes you so sad?”
“My father was a traitor,” Sansa said at once. “And my brother and lady mother are traitors as well.” That reflex she had learned quickly. “I am loyal to my beloved Joffrey.”
“No doubt. As loyal as a deer surrounded by wolves,” Tyrion replies.
“Lions,” Sansa whispers
Sansa says this without thinking but hopes that she wasn’t heard. But Tyrion heard. He says that he’s only a little lion, and he promises he won’t savage her. But for now, he’s off to see Cersei and the small council.
Sansa watches him depart and thinks that he seems more gentle than Joffrey, but Cersei seemed that way too. Tyrion was a Lannister and wasn’t her friend. She once trusted and loved Joffrey, but what had that gotten her?
They had repaid that love and trust with her father’s head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.
And that is ACOK, Sansa I.
There’s a lot going on in this chapter, but I think it effectively sets up Sansa Stark’s arc for ACOK introducing us to the major players, showing us the simmering tensions in her status and relationships to those close to Joffrey and then bringing Tyrion Lannister on-stage. But I figure, I would ask you Emmett, in addition to what you thought about this chapter, what’s your take on Sansa Stark in ACOK?
Depth
I think Sansa’s ACOK chapters are both stronger and weaker than her chapters in AGOT. As we talked about with Michal, Sansa’s story in book one built flawlessly to its ending, which laid out what George was going for all along. We don’t get such a clean structure here; at the end of ACOK, Sansa is still stuck in King’s Landing, still functionally at the mercy of the Lannisters, and while I love her character development in this book, it’s still very much a slow burn. This is a product of the overstuffed writing process we’ve talked about before with books two and three, in which ACOK expanded the series in a rewarding fashion, but left threads dangling in the process. ACOK often feels like the first half to one big book with ASOS as the second half.
That being said, if you zoom in closer than the big picture to look at the actual content of Sansa’s chapters in this book, you’ll find so many powerful scenes, memorable bits of imagery, and really crucial themes, even more so I would say than in her AGOT chapters.
Looking at Sansa’s POV in ACOK, I see a lot more of George giving a POV to a historical character that typically wasn’t a POV: the hostage. So, I figure I’d take a brief moment in my little intro to talk about the historical and ASOIAF conceptions of the hostage.
In ASOIAF and in medieval history, hostages were used as a means of attaining the good behavior of various figures in the story or in ascertaining ransoms. Theon, Richard the Lionheart, the Redwyne twins, the famed knight Sir Stephen Langton were all hostages in their own time. But the use of women as hostages came as a rather late development in medieval history as historian Dr. C. Dale Brittain writes:
During the early Middle Ages, hostages were almost always male. But starting in the eleventh century, girls and women started appearing as hostages. Here Stockholm Syndrome really was an issue for young women might well end up marrying someone at the court where they were hostage. Or, like the boys, they could be put to death, rather nastily if the negotiations that had brought them there totally broke down. - Dr. C. Dale Brittain
That idea of female hostages having “Stockholm Syndrome” and occasionally marrying members of the court where they were held hostage works well with Sansa’s story with the caveat that from the accounts I’ve read, historical hostages were not treated as shittily as Sansa is in ACOK. But, and this is a big but, the reason being is that the hostage held value to the hostage-taker.
Sansa’s value to the Lannister court in King’s Landing is not especially high at the moment. Robb Stark’s belligerence isn’t cowed by Sansa’s status. And while Tywin will later place value in Sansa by marrying Tyrion to her, the current crop of Lannisters in King’s Landing are too short-sighted and only see Sansa as a “I guess we have to keep our word to marry Joffrey to her”. Of course, Creepyfinger has already put himself in for her hand in marriage, because despite him being the fuckin’ worst, he’s not unintelligent.
.
- The golden comet
- We begin of course with the comet, looming above King’s Landing just as it did Dragonstone across the bay:
- The morning of King Joffrey’s name day dawned bright and windy, with the long tail of the great comet visible through the high scuttling clouds.
- And just as Maester Cressen couldn’t help but see the comet through the lens of “the red woman,” Ser Arys Oakheart promptly links it to Joffrey’s birthday:
- “See how it flames across the sky today on His Grace’s name day, as if the gods themselves had raised a banner in his honor. The smallfolk have named it King Joffrey’s Comet.”
- Cressen’s fear that the comet was linked to Melisandre was genuine (if irrational), though, whereas Arys is spouting propaganda he probably doesn’t believe
- Arys does state rather loudly that the comet is for Joffrey. Given the early stages of Joffrey’s reign of terror enveloping the capital, I wonder whether he’s attempting to avoid getting his ass killed by having one of Varys’ spiders.
Lady Olenna squirmed forward. "Even when I was a girl younger than you, it was well known that in the Red Keep the very walls have ears.”
- Arys does state rather loudly that the comet is for Joffrey. Given the early stages of Joffrey’s reign of terror enveloping the capital, I wonder whether he’s attempting to avoid getting his ass killed by having one of Varys’ spiders.
- George uses the comet as a Rorschach blot to reflect back on the people trying to interpret it. Duh! But just as important are the many different kinds of interpretations. Some personal, some political; some genuine, some not.
- These reflect the different meanings of truth--rational, irrational, official, etc.
- The comet tears down Cressen’s worldview because that worldview was specifically built in opposition to things like giant scary red comets, whereas it bolsters Arys’ worldview because propaganda is flexible, absorbing any stimuli
- Hence Arys not only claiming the comet for Team Lannister due to its color (fair enough) and it being the king’s birthday (not unreasonable so far), but stepping over the line to claim that Joffrey “is the dragon’s heir,” which is just ludicrous
- Typical of George’s ironic uses of prophecy, there’s a hidden truth here: Joffrey is “the dragon’s heir” as a royal product of incest...but Arys isn’t confessing that ofc
- So why does he say it at all? Because the smallfolk are calling the comet “the Dragon’s Tail,” and Joffrey’s rule is just too fragile to allow that shit to stand!
- Even Sansa, a prisoner of the Red Keep, is noticing the cracks in the facade, and in the privacy of her own mind, she doubts that the comet was sent to honor Joffrey...though she doesn’t have enough information to put the pieces together:
- The comet was red, but Joffrey was Baratheon as much as Lannister, and their sigil was a black stag on a golden field. Shouldn’t the gods have sent Joff a golden comet?
- Indeed, it’s hilarious that Arys has to implicitly admit that Joffrey isn’t a Baratheon in order to make his framing work, as well as hijacking the Targaryen claim
- That’s why George is using Arys as the mouthpiece, rather than one of the dumber or more soulless members of the Kingsguard (Blount, Trant, Moore)
- Arys knows better than to believe it, but he is above all driven by self-preservation and so keeps to the script, even as Sansa tries to trip him up
- He has to lie about the cat per Syrio's story; he has to point at the fool's gold and call it the real deal
- We begin of course with the comet, looming above King’s Landing just as it did Dragonstone across the bay:
- Ser Arys Weakheart and Joffrey’s gifts
- Sansa’s escort for the day isn’t exactly a fan favorite character, but I think Ser Arys is used perfectly in this chapter
- What he represents here is the idea that the lesser evil is still evil
- Arys is no Meryn Trant. He doesn’t enjoy causing pain. He would really rather not. But when it comes down to who will suffer, him or Sansa, he chooses Sansa.
- He’ll do the right thing when it’s convenient for him to do so, and falls short as soon as it isn’t; this is in direct contrast to the likes of Davos Seaworth and Brienne of Tarth, who do the right thing when it is not easy nor rewarding
- Sure, it’s annoying that his name isn’t spelled like the Mad King’s, but I think the reference is there for a reason: Arys would’ve watched men burn for Aerys
- Arys in Joffrey’s court is one part of the threefold critique of knighthood
- On one hand you have your Gregor Cleganes and Amory Lorchs: evil men are promoted within the military structure of Westeros as brute instruments of violence.
- On another, you have your Barristan Selmies
- Stood. Saw. Did Nothing.
- Barristan didn’t participate in Aerys’ cruelties, but he bore witness to them and did nothing.
- And then you have your Arys Oakhearts
- A “good bloke” who obeys immoral commands from
- When vows conflict, most of the knightly class will flinch in the direction of political authority be it Aerys, Tywin or Joffrey
- He’s the ultimate court flunky, and I hold him equally responsible as his more cruel comrades
- I’m not surprised by sadists gravitating to a sadistic child king; that seems to me to be the natural consequence of the non-sadists leaving the child king in charge!
- The apologists, the handwavers, the silently assenting; they overwhelmingly outnumber the Meryn Trants of the world, and yet do nothing about Joffrey
- Why? Because “power resides where men believe it resides,” and plenty of people (Arys Oakheart included) derive their power from believing in Joffrey
- And so, everyone silently agrees to overlook this:
- She wore a gown of pale purple silk and a moonstone hair net that had been a gift from Joffrey. The gown had long sleeves to hide the bruises on her arms. Those were Joffrey’s gifts as well.
- The pretty gown covers up the bruises, and Arys’ easy smile and courteous words cover up the fact that he helped give them to her
- As Sansa will note after Joffrey has her beaten in open court, this is in flagrant violation of the knighthood vows, which stress the importance of protecting the young and innocent and female...but have nothing to say about obeying the king
- People like Arys give Joffrey cover and legitimacy; Tywin noted that Barristan lent honor to whomever he served, and along the same lines Arys is culpable in normalizing the new mad king
- This is especially true given that Joffrey is a child and can’t do (most of) his own violence
- At some level, Arys knows all this, and tries to go out in a blaze of glory on Myrcella’s behalf because he feels so guilty about failing to protect Sansa:
- Joffrey. He had been a handsome lad, tall and strong for his age, but that was all the good that could be said of him. It still shamed Ser Arys to remember all the times he'd struck that poor Stark girl at the boy's command. When Tyrion had chosen him to go with Myrcella to Dorne, he lit a candle to the Warrior in thanks.
- The tournament of gnats
- Remember the first time we saw Joffrey on the Iron Throne, and it was genuinely intimidating, with the crescent of Kingsguard knights and the snarling Hound and the sheer bulk of the throne itself?
- And now, he can’t get anyone to come to his birthday party!
- The only ones participating in the tourney are the Kingsguard (because he can make them), the Redwyne twins (because Cersei can make them), and low-hanging hangers-on like Lothor Brune and Dontos Hollard (because how else can they climb the ladder?)
- “This will be a small field, and poor. No more than two score will enter the lists, including squires and freeriders. There is small honor in unhorsing green boys.”
- Along the same lines, the courtiers in the stands are the likes of Gyles Rosby, Tanda Stokeworth, and Jalabhar Xho. Not exactly an impressive entourage.
- Everything about this event is designed to undercut Joffrey’s pretensions (along with Cersei’s by implication) and establish how precarious Lannister rule really is
- Joffrey himself is just lounging in a chair like he hasn’t a care in the world, and the most exciting match of the day is between Tommen and a literal strawman
- It’s similar to how Stannis is introduced with a tiny army at his back; even as George plunges us into the dynamics of the clashing kings, he wants us to notice how they all think they’re more important and impressive than they really are
- All this ties into Sansa’s own character arc, as George helpfully outlines for us:
- The last tourney had been different, Sansa reflected. King Robert had staged it in her father's honor. High lords and fabled champions had come from all over the realm to compete, and the whole city had turned out to watch. She remembered the splendor of it: the field of pavilions along the river with a knight's shield hung before each door, the long rows of silken pennants waving in the wind, the gleam of sunlight on bright steel and gilded spurs. The days had rung to the sounds of trumpets and pounding hooves, and the nights had been full of feasts and song. Those had been the most magical days of her life, but they seemed a memory from another age now. Robert Baratheon was dead, and her father as well, beheaded for a traitor on the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor. Now there were three kings in the land, and war raged beyond the Trident while the city filled with desperate men. Small wonder that they had to hold Joff's tournament behind the thick stone walls of the Red Keep.
- That paragraph links Sansa’s downfall to that of the realm; as she has lost her innocence, the “taste of summer” Robert spoke of has given way to autumn, and the realm of plenty and peace has given way to the realm at war
- Splendor is a memory from another age, and so Joffrey’s court is withered and pathetic, to reflect how she now knows better than to trust him:
- The king settled back in his seat and took Sansa's hand. Once that would have set her heart to pounding, but that was before he had answered her plea for mercy by presenting her with her father's head. His touch filled her with revulsion now, but she knew better than to show it.
- Sansa wanted to play that role more than anything; now she doesn’t want it, but she has to play it in order to keep herself alive
- His Grace and his siblings
- This chapter spends a lot of time with not only Joffrey but also Tommen and Myrcella, and it’s interesting to consider them in context with each other
- Tommen and Myrcella are as sweet and innocent as it gets, and they’re clearly the analogues to their not-actually-cousin Shireen: rays of light in a dark place
- (and of course they’re just as doomed sigh lol)
- Tommen clearly doesn’t realize that Sansa is now a hostage, and Sansa thinks wistfully of how he reminds her of Bran and how much easier he’d be as a fiance
- He’s the only one genuinely enjoying the day, in contrast to his big brother
- Myrcella is concerned when Tommen falls, again unlike Joffrey, and she gets this gem of a line:
- "We're children," Myrcella declared haughtily. "We're supposed to be childish."
- It’s a solid burn on Joff, but it’s so much more!
- The right of children to be childish is one of the first things to go in war, and you see George dwell on the sorrow of that all across the series
- Arya, Sansa, Tommen, Myrcella, Shireen, Lommy Greenhands...they’re supposed to be childish, but they don’t get to be
- So Tommen and Myrcella’s oasis is fragile, and both Sansa and Sandor know it, yet they approve
- "The boy has courage. He's going to try again."
- "You should help him up and tell him how well he rode."
- And Joffrey, of course, is this lethal mix of childishness and cynicism
- He’s more informed on and engaged with the big picture than his siblings (he knows Sansa is a prisoner now, he’s heard about Viserys’ death, etc.)
- But he presides over this event with the air of a spoiled kid who got more presents last year
- The two come together as the day goes on, because while Joffrey the birthday boy is pissed that no one came to his party, Joffrey the king is realizing that this is tantamount to disrespecting his crown
- He starts off playing the gallant, but when his environment refuses to support that, well...the claws come out
- This is within a political context in which the stag crown has suddenly come to signify the enemy, in which the Lannisters are surrounded and outnumbered
- A tantrum becomes so much more dangerous when it’s backed by state power
- The fool and the Hound
- This chapter also re-establishes two characters that will be central to Sansa’s story in ACOK (especially in relation to each other, though that part isn’t clear yet)
- George introduces Sandor as looking “somehow unnatural” in his new white cloak, jarring as the contrast is with his burned face
- The white cloak is the image of the Lannister regime, the burned face the reality (given that Gregor is currently burning the Riverlands on Tywin’s orders)
- But he’s the inverse of Arys in that despite being the embodiment of roughness, he earns the cloak more than any of his brothers
- We see that when he spares Sansa a beating from Joffrey, far more admirable than Arys merely objecting once and then hitting her not quite as hard
- And he does so by buying into Sansa’s transparently false cover story, despite him saying that a hound will never lie to you
- Perfect example of a lie being honorable if told for the right reasons, and Sandor is putting the knightly virtues ahead of his cloak even as George reminds us he hates knights
- Also a great example of how the image Sansa used to believe in can’t protect her on its own, but she can use it to protect herself: courtesy is a lady’s armor
- She more than anyone is stuck in this emperor’s new clothes situation wherein no one is willing to call out Joffrey’s transparent unfitness to rule
- Instead, she has to craft her entire life around predicting his reactions
- She has to play the part of Joffrey’s lady love because he’s not even content to be cynical; he wants the image even as he does whatever he wants to everyone
- And yet, and yet, her true self comes through, first subtly mocking him about Robb, and then directly defying him regarding Dontos:
- None of these knights or lords tell Joffrey no, but the young girl who has more to fear from him than most--she insists on keeping the values of the songs
- Joffrey orders Dontos killed not just on a whim but as the last straw; Sansa notes his mood getting steadily worse just like when he had her father executed
- Dontos in his ridiculousness makes clear how pathetic this event, and by extension, Joffrey is; he will re-cement his rule in fear by drowning Dontos in wine
- Sansa can’t bear to see another Ned death, and puts her life on the line instinctively for Dontos’ sake. Arys used the notion of Joffrey’s birthday being metaphysically significant as propaganda, Sansa uses it to save a life
- You can see her good heart elsewhere in feeling bad for both Tommen and Morros Slynt, whereas Joffrey does not, and that speaks to something in Sandor
- Nuncle Tyrion
- And only then, after we’ve seen what a pathetic cock-up Joffrey’s regime really is, does George usher in Tyrion Lannister, the protagonist of A Clash of Kings
- We’ve seen the mess; now here’s the person whose job it is to try and fix it
- Right away, he’s aggravating Joffrey, as the Red Keep’s gates are opened for Tyrion without his knowledge or consent
- Neither he nor his men fit the golden shining Lannister image of Joff and Cersei:
- The visitors were dinted and haggard and dusty, yet the standard they carried was the lion of Lannister, golden on its crimson field. A few wore the red cloaks and mail of Lannister men-at-arms, but more were freeriders and sellswords, armored in oddments and bristling with sharp steel...and there were others, monstrous savages out of one of Old Nan's tales, the scary ones Bran used to love. They were clad in shabby skins and boiled leather, with long hair and fierce beards. Some wore bloodstained bandages over their brows or wrapped around their hands, and others were missing eyes, ears, and fingers.
In their midst, riding on a tall red horse in a strange high saddle that cradled him back and front, was the queen's dwarf brother Tyrion Lannister, the one they called the Imp. He had let his beard grow to cover his pushed-in face, until it was a bristly tangle of yellow and black hair, coarse as wire. Down his back flowed a shadowskin cloak, black fur striped with white. He held the reins in his left hand and carried his right arm in a white silk sling, but otherwise looked as grotesque as Sansa remembered from when he had visited Winterfell. With his bulging brow and mismatched eyes, he was still the ugliest man she had ever chanced to look upon.
- And yet they’re here to do far more good for the Lannister cause than Cersei, Joffrey, or any of their cronies
- In that regard, you could see Tyrion and his men as a parallel to Sandor, and once again, George uses Tommen and Myrcella to cue our sympathies:
- Yet Tommen put his spurs into his pony and galloped headlong across the yard, shouting with glee. One of the savages, a huge shambling man so hairy that his face was all but lost beneath his whiskers, scooped the boy out of his saddle, armor and all, and deposited him on the ground beside his uncle. Tommen's breathless laughter echoed off the walls as Tyrion clapped him on the backplate, and Sansa was startled to see that the two were of a height. Myrcella came running after her brother, and the dwarf picked her up by the waist and spun her in a circle, squealing.
When he lowered her back to the ground, the little man kissed her lightly on the brow and came waddling across the yard toward Joffrey.
- “I’m glad you’re not dead,” said Princess Myrcella.
- Of course, Tyrion and Sandor loathe each other, because at the end of the day they come at Joffrey’s power from different angles
- Joffrey kinda looks up to Sandor, hence giving in on the Dontos question
- He loathes Tyrion, though, and the latter has come to bring him to heel
- Every line back and forth between them is so barbed and hostile, you can already see where this is going long before the riot and the Blackwater
- Joffrey’s openly affronted at Tyrion’s presence, and Tyrion can’t help himself from dropping lines like “all sorts of people are calling themselves kings these days”
- In contrast, Tyrion approaches Sansa with sympathy and understanding
- Yet as she notes:
- He speaks more gently than Joffrey, she thought, but the queen spoke to me gently too. He's still a Lannister, her brother and Joff's uncle, and no friend. Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.
- And that political reality cutting across the personal dynamics also applies to Tyrion’s relationship to Joffrey
- No matter how little Tyrion likes his nephew, no matter how much he understands that Joffrey isn’t fit to king, Tyrion is still here to keep Joffrey’s butt on the throne
- That’s ultimately more significant than a slap or two, and undercuts Tyrion’s ability to present himself as a different kind of Lannister
Foreshadowing/Groundwork
Her father had died by the king’s command. Must Robb and her lady mother die next?
Oh, boy, Sansa. You sure you’re not the prophet in the family?
Lothor Brune was mentioned in passing at the Hand’s Tourney in AGOT, but this is the first time we hear he works for Littlefinger, which becomes very important later when Sansa flees King’s Landing. There’s a great irony in realizing Lothor v. Dontos is Littlefinger crony v. Littlefinger crony, nicely encapsulating how he sets multiple sides of the war against each other.
Theory/Discussion
Sansa v. Arya: contrasts and parallels in ACOK
- “Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you.”
- Ironically, it’s only once the Stark sisters are separated and have lost their father, left alone at the helm of their respective storylines, that George really digs into this dynamic
- Contrasts:
- Environment (on the road v. the Red Keep)
- Supporting cast (peasants v. nobles)
- Relationship to mobility/freedom (wandering all over v. stuck in the castle)
- Day-to-day activity (forced to do too much v. not allowed to do anything)
- Parallels
- Omnipresent threats
- Ambiguous mentor/savior figures
- Instinctive heroism emerging under pressure
- Desire for home and family
- Both Arya and Sansa’s stories are deepened by the presence of the other, given their full meaning in the reader realizing Ned was right; the Stark sisters are binary stars
- It’s fascinating to see George set that foundation in a book focused on sibling dynamics: Stannis v. Renly, Tyrion v. Cersei, Theon v. Asha
- This will all only ramp up when we get to their apprenticeships in AFFC...
Conclusion
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