Re-reading Song of Ice and Fire

Chapter 58, Eddard
Summary
Ned is starved in the dungeon. Feverish from his wound he is delirious. He’s visited by Varys in disguise. The eunuch tells him that on the next day queen is going to visit him and give him a chance to save the life of Sansa by confessing his crimes. Ned would be sent to the Wall to take the black.

Quotes

Cersei Lannister’s face seemed to float before him in the darkness. Her hair was full of sunlight, but there was mockery in her smile. “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die,” she whispered. Ned had played and lost, and his men had paid the price of his folly with their life’s blood.

I failed you, Robert, Ned thought. He could not say the words. I lied to you, hid the truth. I let them kill you.
The king heard him. “You stiff-necked fool,” he muttered, “too proud to listen. Can you eat pride, Stark? Will honor shield your children?”

“If there was one soul in King’s Landing who was truly desperate to keep Robert Baratheon alive, it was me.” He sighed. “For fifteen years I protected him from his enemies, but I could not protect him from his friends. What strange fit of madness led you to tell the queen that you had learned the truth of Joffrey’s birth?”
“The madness of mercy,” Ned admitted.

“You are an honest and honorable man, Lord Eddard. Ofttimes I forget that. I have met so few of them in my life.” He glanced around the cell. “When I see what honesty and honor have won you, I understand why.”

Commentary

Ned is hurt, feverish, locked in the dungeon, yet he’s not contemplating his own fate. He’s despairing over the fact that he has failed people he loved. His honor has led him into a trap and his family and men will suffer the consequences. Ned is changing, he begins to understand that honor is not everything, that there are bigger things than one’s honor.

I can’t stop to wonder who Varys really serves. He admits that he’s misled Ned, that he let him believe that he was “his”. He claims that he serves the realm and the realm needs peace. Either he’s lying again or he truly was unable to stop this war. Could be that the master of whispers’ plans were thwarted by the young king with his own idea of “justice”?

Interesting point was broung to my attention by one of my friends, who’s following the story with me. Does it make sense that Cersei would be willing to let Ned live, to let him free, go back to the North, even if only to take the Black? Ned was the biggest threat Cersei and her spawns had in the Seven Kingdoms, maybe except Stannis. After reading this chapter again I think it is possible. If Ned decided to take the Black he would have to confess his cirmes, he would have already given up on his honor. Also, I’m sure Cersei would have kept Sansa with her, as hostage. Ned would not be a big threat, sending him to the wall could have prevented Robb marching against Lannisters.

Chapter 49, Eddard
Summary
The king dies. Ned summons the small council to read the will. Before he’s accepted by the members of the council as the Protector of the Realm they are summoned by Joffrey. Cersei’s son demands their oaths of fealty. Ned is forced to reveal that Joffrey has no claim to the throne. He commands the Golden Cloaks commander to take the queen and their children into custody. The Golden Cloaks attack his men instead.

Quotes

“King Robert is gone. The gods give him rest.”
“No,” Ned answered. “He hated rest. The gods give him love and laughter, and the joy of righteous battle.”

The queen glanced at the words. “Protector of the Realm,” she read. “Is this meant to be your shield, my lord? A piece of paper?” She ripped the letter in half, ripped the halves in quarters, and let the pieces flutter to the floor.
“Those were the king’s words,” Ser Barristan said, shocked.
“We have a new king now,” Cersei Lannister replied.

As his men died around him, Littlefinger slid Ned’s dagger from its sheath and shoved it up under his chin. His smile was apologetic. “I did warn you not to trust me, you know.”

Commentary

All I can say is: poor Ned. His honor would not allow him to do what had to be done.

One of the biggest selling points for the Song of Ice and Fire series is the moral ambiguity ever present in the books. It’s for the reader to decide who’s good and who’s bad. Who’s right and who’s wrong. What was the right thing to do and what was a mistake.

This chapter is a prime example. Ned refuses to bend the rules, make alliance with the forces without who’s support he’s going to lose. He’s obviously not doing the right thing. He’s betrayed by one of his allies and the other seeing futility of all this, runs away. He should have followed their advice, right?

I can’t stop thinking about what would happen if Ned actually agreed to Renly’s proposition. Would things have been better? Probably yes. But at what cost? Heeding his advice was not an honorable thing to do. It would have been *wrong*. This begs the question: are we allowed to do bad things in the name of greater good? This is a very slippery path. Once you step on it, it’s hard to stop…

Chapter 47, Eddard
Summary
Ned is summoned in the middle of the night. King is back from the hunt and he’s mortally wounded. Robert asks Ned to write his will. He commands that Ned becomes Protector of the Realm until his son Joffrey is of age. Renly tries to convince Ned to strike before Cersei has time to prepare, however Ned refuses. Stark intends to put Stannis on the throne and asks Littlefinger to grant him loyalty of Golden Cloaks.

Quotes

“The milk of the poppy, Your Grace,” he said. “Drink. For your pain.”
Robert knocked the cup away with the back of his hand. “Away with you. I’ll sleep soon enough, old fool. Get out.”

“Wrong, it was wrong, I… only a girl… Varys, Littlefinger, even my brother… worthless… no one to tell me no but you, Ned… only you…”

“Will I dream?”
Ned gave him his answer. “You will, my lord.”
“Good,” he said, smiling. “I will give Lyanna your love, Ned.”

“I know the secret Jon Arryn was murdered to protect. Robert will leave no trueborn son behind him. Joffrey and Tommen are Jaime Lannister’s bastards, born of his incestuous union with the queen.”
Littlefinger lifted an eyebrow. “Shocking,” he said in a tone that suggested he was not shocked at all.

“You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move.

Commentary

As I’m re-reading the series and digesting everything over and over I find myself liking Robert Baratheon more than any other character in the book, more even than Ned. His story is the story of a man, who has everything except the things that make man’s life worthwhile. The love of his life died. Throne he won was an empty victory. Life in court was more of a burden than reward. And on top of that it turns out that his children are not his own. The only children he made were born on the wrong side of the bed. Being killed by schemes of his own family is a truly tragic ending to the story of his life.

You can call me a cry-baby, but I actually had a tear in my eye when I was reading this chapter. Just as he’s about to die Robert gets a moment of clarity, he starts to see things differently. The vicinity of death gave him new perspective. He *understands* now that killing Dany would be wrong. He sees that the only man true to him, honest no matter what, was Ned. It breaks my heart to see him get to that point hours before his death.

As for Ned, he’s facing a very difficult time and makes a grave mistake. At this stage he knows what Lannisters are capable of doing. He *knows* they are not going to stop at nothing and playing “fair” is not going to cut it. There are two mistakes he makes in this chapter. Turning down Renly’s offer, who had genuine interest in securing the throne, and trusting Littlefinger after he turned down his offer to pretend that Joffrey is the legal heir to the throne. When I was first reading this chapter I wanted to shout: “Ned, you fool, this is no time for honor!” but he would not listen…

Chapter 45, Eddard
Summary
Word of Ned’s sentence on Gregor reaches Casterly Rock, Lord Tywin is wrought. Ned contemplates the facts he has just discovered and decides that he can’t allow for a another child slaughter. He wants to give Cersei the opportunity to flee with her children. He meets with her in godswood and tells her what he has discovered, however Cersei decides to fight instead of running away.

Quotes

“Lord Beric rides beneath the king’s own banner. If Lord Tywin attempts to interfere with the king’s justice, he will have Robert to answer to. The only thing His Grace enjoys more than hunting is making war on lords who defy him.”

The seed is strong, Jon Arryn had cried on his deathbed, and so it was. All those bastards, all with hair as black as night. Grand Maester Malleon recorded the last mating between stag and lion, some ninety years ago, when Tya Lannister wed Gowen Baratheon, third son of the reigning lord. Their only issue, an unnamed boy described in Malleon’s tome as a large and lusty lad born with a full head of black hair, died in infancy. Thirty years before that a male Lannister had taken a Baratheon maid to wife. She had given him three daughters and a son, each black-haired. No matter how far back Ned searched in the brittle yellowed pages, always he found the gold yielding before the coal.

Her eyes burned, green fire in the dusk, like the lioness that was her sigil. “The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sister’s name. He was on top of me, in me, stinking of wine, and he whispered Lyanna. ”
Ned Stark thought of pale blue roses, and for a moment he wanted to weep. “I do not know which of you I pity most.”

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”

Commentary

The mystery of Jon Arryn’s death is out in the open. The gold always yielded before coal. Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen are not Robert’s children. Jaime Lannister, Queen’s brother is their father. Ned knows what this means. If Robert finds out he will order the children, as well as their parents killed. Ned’s conscience does not allow him to let that happen, yet his duty to Robert forces him to reveal the truth. He’s trapped and the only route he’s willing to take is the road leading to his doom. He reveals Queen that he knows her secret. Offers her the chance to escape.

At first I thought that Ned made a grave mistake underestimating Cersei’s will to fight, but when I thought of it I changed my mind. Ned knew what he was getting into. He felt pity for both Robert and Cersei. He didn’t want to have innocent children butchered for the crimes of their parents. In his eyes there was no other way.

The true drama behind this is that this is not the way the “game of thrones” is played. You don’t win it by being noble, like Littlefinger pointed out to Ned already. The ice under his feet is cracking and soon Ned will make a “noble splash”.

Chapter 43, Eddard
Summary
Ned, in place of Robert, is listening to the people in the throne room. There is a group of refugees from the westlands claiming that they were raided by Lannisters led by Gregor Clegane. Ned listens to them and decides to send king’s men after the Mountain.

Quotes

“There are many large men in the realm.”
“As large as the Mountain That Rides?” Ser Karyl said. “I have never met one.”
“Nor has any man here,” Ser Raymun added hotly. “Even his brother is a pup beside him. My lords, open your eyes. Do you need to see his seal on the corpses? It was Gregor.”

Ned raised his voice, so it carried to the far end of the throne room. “In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, his Hand, I charge you to ride to the westlands with all haste, to cross the Red Fork of the Trident under the king’s flag, and there bring the king’s justice to the false knight Gregor Clegane, and to all those who shared in his crimes. I denounce him, and attaint him, and strip him of all rank and titles, of all lands and incomes and holdings, and do sentence him to death. May the gods take pity on his soul.”

Commentary

Now doesn’t that just sent a chill down your spine. The way Ned Stark sends king’s justice after Gregor Clegane raised the hair on my neck when I read it. Knowing full well that his action may bring the war to the realm and against the counsel of the members of the council Ned sends king’s people after Lord Tywin’s dog. During this hearing we clearly see who in the small council supports the Lannisters. Pycelle first wants to dismiss the accusations and telling refugees to pick this up with Lord Tywin and after Ned decides to listen to them he wants to stall any decision until King returns. Pycelle is Queen’s creature to the bone.

Making a bold move against Lannisters Ned leaves himself open. With twenty men of his own guard going alongside Lord Beric to kill the Mountain Ned’s strength in King’s Landing is greatly diminished. Also, by sending his strongest supporters/Lannister enemies he stays in the Red Keep surrounded by enemies. A grave mistake he will learn to regret very soon.