A Game of Thrones, Chapter 16, Eddard
Summary
Arya, Nymeria and Mycach are still missing. For four days parties of both King’s and Stark’s men have been searching the woods for them. On the fourth day one of Ned’s men, Jory Cassel, comes back with Arya. She is brought in front of The King and Queen immediately. Arya tells everyone her story. Joff tells his, how Arya, Mycach and Nymeria attacked him together. Sansa, when asked to point, who’s version is true says she can’t remember. Robert, unable to get to the bottom of the story decides that both kids will be disciplined by their fathers. Queen is not pleased with that, she demands the skin of the wolf that attacked her son. Nymeria is nowhere to be found, so Queen demands that Sansa’s direwolf is killed instead.
Quotes
The king was in no mood for more argument. “Enough, Ned, I will hear no more. A direwolf is a savage beast. Sooner or later it would have turned on your girl the same way the other did on my son. Get her a dog, she’ll be happier for it.”
“Lady,” he said, tasting the name. He had never paid much attention to the names the children had picked, but looking at her now, he knew that Sansa had chosen well. She was the smallest of the litter, the prettiest, the most gentle and trusting. She looked at him with bright golden eyes, and he ruffled her thick grey fur.
Commentary
If anyone had doubts about what kind of series Song of Ice and Fire is going to be, they should be gone now. There are no happy endings here. Two chapters earlier Martin made sure we understand how important to the lives of Ned’s children are their direwolves. And now he kills one for no good reason.
This chapter is particularly heart breaking, because in such a small amount of time there is so much injustice being done. Sansa stabs her sister in the back by covering the lies of “her prince”, Robert yields to the Queen and agrees to kill Sansa’s wolf, which had nothing to do with the incident, and finally Ned has to kill the direwolf himself because Robert has had enough of this. No one ends up happy, not even the Queen, who was refused the punishment she demanded for Arya.
Tags: Eddard
