A Clash of Kings, Chapter 2, Sansa
Summary
Sansa attends the tourney held in name of Joffrey. His grace is not impressed by the contestants and wants to punish a drunken knight, Ser Dontos, with death. Sansa with unexpected help from Hound manages to convince him to make a fool of him instead. Tyrion Lannister arrives at Kings Landing.
Quotes
Arys Oakheart was courteous, and would talk to her cordially. Once he even objected when Joffrey commanded him to hit her. He did hit her in the end, but not hard as Ser Meryn or Ser Boros might have, and at least he had argued.
The king laughed. “My dog has a fierce bark. Perhaps I should command him to fight the day’s champion. To the death.” Joffrey was fond of making men fight 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.
“I am sorry for your loss as well, Joffrey,” the dwarf said.
“What loss?”
“Your royal father? A large fierce man with a black beard; you’ll recall him if you try. He was king before you.”
“Oh, him. Yes, it was very sad, a boar killed him.”
Commentary
How sad and terrifying must be the life of a girl that she likes the man who argues with his liege before he hits her. Sansa’s life is a nightmare. Her betrothed is really showing his colors. With no one to control him (where is Cersei I ask you? too busy running the kingdom?) the boy is becoming more and more cruel and ruthless. Surprisingly the mitigating element in this boiling kettle of cruelty is the Hound. He’s the one that, by lack of interest discourages Joffrey from at least part of his mad moves.
I have to say, I love the way Martin paints his characters. His world is by no means black and white. Hound seems like a cruel, cold blooded killer (anyone remember Mycah?), but this chapter brings a new level of the character. Is he mitigating Joffrey’s madness on purpose or is it just the way he is? Maybe he just doesn’t care? Either way, he’s not a clean cut villain.
What I found amusing in this chapter is how Joffrey and his supporters find the red comet a sign of his certain victory over his enemies. The red comet for crimson of the Lannister. Yeah, right… Ser Aerys comes close to the truth though. The comet, the dragon’s breath, is prophesying the comeback of the dragons. Lannisters would rather believe that it’s a good sign for them because they sit in the dragon’s lair, on dragon’s iron throne.
Tags: Sansa
