Post by Moggio on Dec 29, 2016 3:54:40 GMT
I didn't analyze the last part about the colors of the pups, i think it's been discussed ad nauseam, but here are my notes with fresh eyes:
^^ For people compiling timelines, here's the first clue we get. Highlighted this in case I feel compelled to figure out Jon's age one day.
I never noticed our intro to Mance so early, gives credence to the importance of his character.
I never noticed this before, either, but I have to say I don't think a 7 year old would have such a neutral non reaction to death. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but seeing a dead body up close is traumatic for an adult, much less a child, even if they have no emotional attachment. I mean even Ned had trouble with Lady.
His father took off the man's head with a single sure stroke. Blood sprayed out across the snow, as red as summerwine. One of the horses reared and had to be restrained to keep from bolting. Bran could not take his eyes off the blood. The snows around the stump drank it eagerly, reddening as he watched.
The head bounced off a thick root and rolled. It came up near Greyjoy's feet. Theon was a lean, dark youth of nineteen who found everything amusing. He laughed, put his boot on the head, and kicked it away.
"Ass," Jon muttered, low enough so Greyjoy did not hear. He put a hand on Bran's shoulder, and Bran looked over at his bastard brother. "You did well," Jon told him solemnly. Jon was fourteen, an old hand at justice.
I can't account for Greyjoy, but we know he's a sociopath. I can only surmise that Jon has the only healthy reaction. Other than forcing his 7 year old brother to witness a decapitation.
First solid descriptor. To recap for Jon:
dark grey eyes almost black
Close in age with Robb
Slender
Dark (says Robb was fair, unsure if they refer to hair or complexion in this context)
Graceful and quick
We know now that Robb is
•of an age with Jon
•muscular
•"fair"
•strong
Shortly after this, the descriptor of the horse race, where Robb has to catch up to Jon. So he's a good rider. Hmmm... another nuance I never picked up, and right after the details of his looks:
"No," Jon Snow said quietly. "It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes, Stark." Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.
Robb was not impressed. "The Others take his eyes," he swore. "He died well. Race you to the bridge?"
"Done," Jon said, kicking his horse forward. Robb cursed and followed, and they galloped off down the trail, Robb laughing and hooting, Jon silent and intent. The hooves of their horses kicked up showers of snow as they went.
Bran had no answer for that. "King Robert has a headsman," he said, uncertainly.
"He does," his father admitted. "As did the Targaryen kings before him. Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.
"One day, Bran, you will be Robb's bannerman, holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king, and justice will fall to you. When that day comes, you must take no pleasure in the task, but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is."
I like this passage, and while there are doubts about whether Ned is Jon's father, you can see how his wisdom and stubborn sense of justice influenced Robb and Jon, perhaps to their detriment. Robb with the Karstarks and conversely we see Jon later gain Stannis' respect with the same method at the Wall. It makes you wonder if this is nurture or nature. Supposedly Brandon & Lyanna have wolfsblood, but being wild does not mean they weren't honorable.
At least Ned respects human life. That's why it's revealed not to look away. Own up and acknowledge the gravity of what you are doing.
We meet the direwolf. I noticed the line about a woman's perfume. Could this be foreshadowing Cersei's involvement later?
Back to the question we keep asking in Heresy. Was this a magical event to foretell an omen, or have direwolves been roaming in secret out in the open? The north is a wild place with a lot of nothing in between holdfasts. That or we have the old trampoline theory.
"Direwolves loose in the realm, after so many years," muttered Hullen, the master of horse. "I like it not."
"It is a sign," Jory said.
Father frowned. "This is only a dead animal, Jory," he said. Yet he seemed troubled. Snow crunched under his boots as he moved around the body. "Do we know what killed her?"
"There's something in the throat," Robb told him, proud to have found the answer before his father even asked. "There, just under the jaw."
His father knelt and groped under the beast's head with his hand. He gave a yank and held it up for all to see. A foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off, all wet with blood.
A sudden silence descended over the party. The men looked at the antler uneasily, and no one dared to speak. Even Bran could sense their fear, though he did not understand.
Even Ned is starting to sound a little superstitious. Everyone got nervous when they found the antler, too, but nobody will elaborate. Are they thinking of Robert's sigil like readers figured out later, or are they freaked out about finding a dead direwolf with live pups, another omen according to one of Ned's men. Maybe how the direwolf got there is unimportant, but we are supposed to notice it's an important event.
Is it possible that this ties in with Lyanna giving birth somehow? Possibly being gored or stabbed like the wolf with the antler? Except with a sword? We know Robert didn't kill her, but was a possible parallel I thought of.
When Robb mentions Ser Rodrick's bitch to help nurse the newborns, it kind of mirrors how a nursemaid may care for an orphaned Jon... and Jon was the one who softened his father enough to agree to let them adopt a pup. Nostalgia?
This was the first time he had been deemed old enough to go with his lord father and his brothers to see the king's justice done. It was the ninth year of summer, and the seventh of Bran's life.
^^ For people compiling timelines, here's the first clue we get. Highlighted this in case I feel compelled to figure out Jon's age one day.
The man had been taken outside a small holdfast in the hills. Robb thought he was a wildling, his sword sworn to Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall.
I never noticed our intro to Mance so early, gives credence to the importance of his character.
Bran's bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer. "Keep the pony well in hand," he whispered. "And don't look away. Father will know if you do."
Bran kept his pony well in hand, and did not look away.
Bran kept his pony well in hand, and did not look away.
I never noticed this before, either, but I have to say I don't think a 7 year old would have such a neutral non reaction to death. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but seeing a dead body up close is traumatic for an adult, much less a child, even if they have no emotional attachment. I mean even Ned had trouble with Lady.
His father took off the man's head with a single sure stroke. Blood sprayed out across the snow, as red as summerwine. One of the horses reared and had to be restrained to keep from bolting. Bran could not take his eyes off the blood. The snows around the stump drank it eagerly, reddening as he watched.
The head bounced off a thick root and rolled. It came up near Greyjoy's feet. Theon was a lean, dark youth of nineteen who found everything amusing. He laughed, put his boot on the head, and kicked it away.
"Ass," Jon muttered, low enough so Greyjoy did not hear. He put a hand on Bran's shoulder, and Bran looked over at his bastard brother. "You did well," Jon told him solemnly. Jon was fourteen, an old hand at justice.
I can't account for Greyjoy, but we know he's a sociopath. I can only surmise that Jon has the only healthy reaction. Other than forcing his 7 year old brother to witness a decapitation.
Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.
First solid descriptor. To recap for Jon:
dark grey eyes almost black
Close in age with Robb
Slender
Dark (says Robb was fair, unsure if they refer to hair or complexion in this context)
Graceful and quick
We know now that Robb is
•of an age with Jon
•muscular
•"fair"
•strong
Shortly after this, the descriptor of the horse race, where Robb has to catch up to Jon. So he's a good rider. Hmmm... another nuance I never picked up, and right after the details of his looks:
"No," Jon Snow said quietly. "It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes, Stark." Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.
Robb was not impressed. "The Others take his eyes," he swore. "He died well. Race you to the bridge?"
"Done," Jon said, kicking his horse forward. Robb cursed and followed, and they galloped off down the trail, Robb laughing and hooting, Jon silent and intent. The hooves of their horses kicked up showers of snow as they went.
Bran had no answer for that. "King Robert has a headsman," he said, uncertainly.
"He does," his father admitted. "As did the Targaryen kings before him. Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.
"One day, Bran, you will be Robb's bannerman, holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king, and justice will fall to you. When that day comes, you must take no pleasure in the task, but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is."
I like this passage, and while there are doubts about whether Ned is Jon's father, you can see how his wisdom and stubborn sense of justice influenced Robb and Jon, perhaps to their detriment. Robb with the Karstarks and conversely we see Jon later gain Stannis' respect with the same method at the Wall. It makes you wonder if this is nurture or nature. Supposedly Brandon & Lyanna have wolfsblood, but being wild does not mean they weren't honorable.
At least Ned respects human life. That's why it's revealed not to look away. Own up and acknowledge the gravity of what you are doing.
Half-buried in bloodstained snow, a huge dark shape slumped in death. Ice had formed in its shaggy grey fur, and the faint smell of corruption clung to it like a woman's perfume. Bran glimpsed blind eyes crawling with maggots, a wide mouth full of yellowed teeth. But it was the size of it that made him gasp. It was bigger than his pony, twice the size of the largest hound in his father's kennel.
We meet the direwolf. I noticed the line about a woman's perfume. Could this be foreshadowing Cersei's involvement later?
Theon Greyjoy said, "There's not been a direwolf sighted south of the Wall in two hundred years."
Back to the question we keep asking in Heresy. Was this a magical event to foretell an omen, or have direwolves been roaming in secret out in the open? The north is a wild place with a lot of nothing in between holdfasts. That or we have the old trampoline theory.
"Direwolves loose in the realm, after so many years," muttered Hullen, the master of horse. "I like it not."
"It is a sign," Jory said.
Father frowned. "This is only a dead animal, Jory," he said. Yet he seemed troubled. Snow crunched under his boots as he moved around the body. "Do we know what killed her?"
"There's something in the throat," Robb told him, proud to have found the answer before his father even asked. "There, just under the jaw."
His father knelt and groped under the beast's head with his hand. He gave a yank and held it up for all to see. A foot of shattered antler, tines snapped off, all wet with blood.
A sudden silence descended over the party. The men looked at the antler uneasily, and no one dared to speak. Even Bran could sense their fear, though he did not understand.
Even Ned is starting to sound a little superstitious. Everyone got nervous when they found the antler, too, but nobody will elaborate. Are they thinking of Robert's sigil like readers figured out later, or are they freaked out about finding a dead direwolf with live pups, another omen according to one of Ned's men. Maybe how the direwolf got there is unimportant, but we are supposed to notice it's an important event.
Is it possible that this ties in with Lyanna giving birth somehow? Possibly being gored or stabbed like the wolf with the antler? Except with a sword? We know Robert didn't kill her, but was a possible parallel I thought of.
When Robb mentions Ser Rodrick's bitch to help nurse the newborns, it kind of mirrors how a nursemaid may care for an orphaned Jon... and Jon was the one who softened his father enough to agree to let them adopt a pup. Nostalgia?
