Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 121 - AGOT Catelyn IV

Episode Date: April 2, 2021

Catelyn beats everyone else to King's Landing so she can do the exposition and heavy lifting for everyone (as always). But there's no rest for the weary because Littlefinger comes calling for a meeting between him, Cat, and a spider.   ---   Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl] Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/ Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor Chloe's blog: www.liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Panic Reads A Song Of Ice And Fire, episode 121, Cattle in Four in a Game of Thrones. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Hello, everyone, and welcome back. Yes, 121. Four of them. I am riding this cat high. I love it. I do, do not to be biased but i just think these are really fun chapters they've been really short uh really you know just punctuated but like full of so much information and some fun stuff to speculate on and compare to later things in the book i'm excited for another chapter with cat yeah the chapters are really just unfolding the entire world i don't know it they're all as you said strong chapters so far and i mean every cat chapter is a banger yes every cat has its day is what you're saying no i don't know i don't i don't i think it's the other aminal

but well yes we do have a little bit of an altered schedule happening this april it's not it's not going to be like wild all right but moms are taking one week off the week uh where you would get an episode 4 30 april 30th you will not get an episode that week but we will be bringing you catalan 4 here 4 2 april 2nd you're probably hearing this public. Catalin 5 will be on the 9th of April. And Catalin 6 will be on April 16th with our La Belle Sauvage Book of Dust His Dark Materials episode

being on April 23rd. And that will again be April 30th. We're taking just a quick breather. Yeah. Girls Gone Canon is going on a spring break we are heading over to the summer isles and no i would even say we're actually not full something fateful might happen at a crossroads you know and maybe some secret weddings we don't know we just don't know very very possible you know so we are going on spring

break and i mean okay so because this is on april 2nd please know this is not an april fool's joke we are legitimately taking that last week of april off yeah that's real that's real life we will come back on may 7th right we'll be back on may 7th with more Catelyn because she has at least nine lives. Just kidding. She's so dead right now. She's got like two. She's got two. She's got maybe one left. One life to live. The Catelyn soap opera.

Absolutely. But, you know, even though we are taking that last week off, we are not skimping on our Patreon episode for April. For patrons, the stranger tier and above, and that is $5 and up, we will have a His Dark Materials

episode, bonus episode, about the episode that was not a bonus episode. Yeah, there is an episode that was the missing episode from series 2. I'm so excited. It was a bottle episode that was supposed to follow Lord series two i'm so excited it was a bottle episode that was supposed to follow lord asriel from his dark materials during some off-screen events a little

bit of uh playing around with canon you guys uh might might fear that hearing that from some hbo you know fans in the crowd but don't worry it's good it sounds like it's all good disregarding of canon in my opinion so i'm excited they redistributed a lot of the ideas of this episode through the rest of the series uh and just cut this episode out due to covid the ultimate villain but we are going to go into what we know what we know existed what we know was shot there's been a lot of great interviews in the his dark materials community from other podcasts and from magazines and different

journalists that have gotten some great interviews and just different quotes that help inform us. I'm excited to talk about it with you. Yeah, we are going to piece it all together the same way that Lyra and Will are piecing things together in their world and trying to figure it all out. That's us now.

We will have an episode next month for patrons in May. again if you're listening to this it is likely april 2nd public release so we will have in a song of ice and fire themed patron episode coming out in may like we said patrons in that stranger tier and above they get a special themed episode and you know we've got a lot of friends over in our discord that have come and started hanging out there they have been talking a lot about some of the old episodes like the mentorship episode has been a highlight of the chat this week so i love seeing the return to it i can't say that i remember a lot of the things from it but it sounds like they're all like wow what an interesting thing and I'm like that is interesting I don't know it

they could have said it was theirs honestly they're real smart they really could have and it would have been like oh my god that's so great that's so smart well if you want to be some of our beautiful smart patrons just take credit for ideas and we will believe you

we will believe they're yours we're really gullible well if you're in the ten dollar and above tier our thunders here and above you do have access to discord if you have not obtained an invitation or if your invitation expired by chance and you're checking it out please hit us a message we'll get you a new link we do a brunch every month it's been a a blast too. Again, we have a really great time. Discord has a voice chat feature. We all get in there and we've been playing Jackbox games and

other shenanigans. There's a lot of laughter. And legally, I cannot tell you yes or no, but there might even be a giveaway of something cool like art from the fandom. There might, in fact, be. But, you know, gotta come to find out yep yep come to brunch and happy hour come sip with us come hang out with us and if you want to access some of those perks

like our previous catalog of patreon special episodes there is a back catalog and discord and brunch and hang out you can get that at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon. Patreon.com slash girlsgone, C-A-N-O-N. Yes. And of course, if you want more Girls Gone Canon stuff, I finally fulfilled a big dream of mine, something that was on my bucket list. Actually, this legitimately was. I made it onto Radio Westeros, so you can go check it out.

I'm sure a lot of you have already listened to a lot of what we've said about Aria and Martel but again those were years ago you might have forgotten what we've said because we probably have and I'm hoping you did so you can go check that out I might have new ideas I might not over on their YouTube

you've got to check that live stream out i think it'll come out later in audio format as well but the live stream eliana was doing some slaying she was very beautiful she's always very beautiful if i may say but uh and talented and smart but right now it's beautiful sorry you called me the youngest you called me the fucking youngest beautiful queen on twitter I'm like what the fuck is going on it was really funny I was like I'm being made fun of I'm so um

I'm older than Littlefinger yeah you're older than me too I just wanted you to remember that yeah exactly that's why I was like interesting Chloe even pawns can have their own will oh my god Yeah, exactly. That's why I was like, that's why I was like, interesting, Chloe. Interesting. Even pawns could have their own will. Okay. Oh, my God. Yeah, so check it out. You also said some really brilliant things, by the way, about Dorne. I did really appreciate a lot of your take on Arianne's relationship with Dorne.

I know that you and I wouldn't say came to spear blows over it, but we did not see eye to eye on what Arianne's fate might be. Your view is a little more optimistic than mine. Mine is everything burns everywhere and everyone dies all the time. It's not always just Arianne. Sometimes it's every character. It's like, they die. Everything goes up in flames. For me, I'm like, everything burns around the area.

And then she has to watch and be like, fuck, what have I done? That's my take. Well, you made me yearn in this conversation with Yolkboy and Lady Gwyn for Arianne to survive. You did a great job, so I was impressed. I think it would be fun. And I also tried to explain Chloe's theory and then mischaracterized it. Yeah. I tried to explain that it was that she got Oberyn's plan and then I got flustered and then didn't explain the part where Doran just figures it out on its own.

I'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. I was like, the title of the essay that I wrote is called No One Told. Yeah. Just so you know. Well, we are going to bypass our emails and tweets of note this week because, listen, these are short, sweet chapters, but we're going to get into some really juicy stuff. And we're getting some great emails from you all on just how Catelyn views the world and how she approaches things. And I'm very excited to talk about that some more this week.

So next week, we'll come back to a few emails from you all. week so next week we'll come back to a few emails from you all yeah so that helps us just jump right into our lightning round of what we missed in between catlin three a game of thrones and catlin four we're gonna start off with sansa one sansa has a magical day with her prince charming but the veneer cracks when they come upon aria and the butcher's boy at third three aria and joffrey recant their version of events to the king, and Sansa plays the neutral card. Unfortunately, every dog has its day, and Lady has hers and must suffer in place of the royal children. Oh god. Bran 3. Bran dreams that he's falling, but then he learns to fly.

Hey, you win some, you lose some in how stark this episode. That's true that brings us to catalan four where the stakes are ever high the magic turns to politics as cat enters king's landing having a secret meeting with both peter and varys before discovering the owner question mark question mark question mark of the dagger i don't know the wand chooses the wizard i guess yes and so that brings us to catlin for a game of thrones the storm dancer ship is about an hour away from king's landing no more are we there yet and somehow interestingly we get to king's landing through catlin's chapters first and not the other POVs that were actually headed there as we saw in the lightning round um and left obviously Winterfell earlier so again

it sets Cat up to be our exposition perspective yes I love that and I really love that she is later on she sneaked into King's Landing right like Ned comes through the doors broad daylight normal whatever he's like all right I'm tired let's get in there King's Landing, right? Like, Ned comes through the doors, broad daylight, normal whatever. He's like, alright, I'm tired, let's get in there, let's go do some work. Catelyn is snuck in. I think that's really interesting. She is. Catelyn tells Captain Moreo she'll be tipping each of his oarsmen with a silver stag.

In this, we get more of Catelyn's, you know, no bullshit attitude, right? She cuts through Morioh's flattery. It's very consistent with the Catelyn that we were introduced to in Catelyn 2, who had no time for modesty in front of Maester Luwin when she felt that her family was in danger. And despite being trained in courtesy, we see that Cat is actually quite immune to very blatant flattery, right? Which makes her a great counterpart to Ned, but also a great foil to the two characters that we're going to be meeting later in this chapter. We get a great amount of backstory on Moreo. Like you said, this is a camera into the world.

He had been sailing for 30 years, and first he was an oarman, then a quartermaster, and now a captain. The Stormdancer, his fourth and fastest ship, was a two-masted galley with 60 oars and the fastest of ships available in White Harbor. Roderick argued they should hire a fishing sloop at the Three Sisters, be more low-key, but Catelyn was like, no, I'm not having that, and she's very grateful now that she pushed for this galley because the winds are really bad and the fishing sloop would

have taken twice the time. Now that I think about it, not only twice the time, but would they have really made it out? If they did that at Sisters, they might have just crashed right back in. Now that we know. Now that we know. But, you know, like, she would be there. She'd be eating. She'd be eating good. You know, there's actually a lot of connection to Davos's chapters in this chapter.

I know we, you know, moved over to Catlin from Davos, but this is a big part of it, right? Because the last time we were in White Harbor with Davos at the end of A Dance with Dragons, Adabada, respectfully, we saw Storm Dancer. We even hear from one of the oarsmen when the whole Agin Dany debacle comes out. His fellow drinkers were talking about dragons now you're bloody mad said an oarman off of storm dancer the beggar king's been dead for years i thought that was so interesting that we do see storm dancer we don't necessarily see moreo that we know of but we see storm dancer in the harbor at white Harbor. Yeah, it is. It is. And it really goes to show their success as a ship. They're a pretty good ship and also helps tie these books together,

right? It's a way that George is really smart and just detailed about his world building. Yeah, it's crazy to think this came first, right? Like that this chapter happened before. Like, these details are very well woven i think a lot of these chapters are very purposeful in agot right like they're just very like they have their purpose sometimes they don't give you so much illumination to their answers sometimes it's very like plot plot plot event we're moving forward here's the big explosion and it's obvious that george's gardening kind of like he lets it grow a little more in the next book and give us a little more air to breathe. Even all of these characters feel looser in the next book and more relatable.

And I think it's a really interesting progression that then he goes all the way back with Davos to bring some of these details and some of these other ships back. We even see a swan ship, right? A white swan ship that's supposed to be kind of a pleasure ship just a lot of stuff that comes up throughout the story that has repeating imagery and i also think this imagery is important because we're going to talk a lot about catalyn's relationship with her daughters of course with aria and sansa as we go along and as she travels through white harbor i know there's been a lot of theorizing especially since fire and blood came out that sanza would go maybe travel through white harbor

in a dream of spring we might see her enter the north through white harbor it would be an interesting way to enter unless she goes with her knights by land so some interesting vibes coming from katalin here yeah and as you see it would be uh it'd be quite fast considering how quickly So, some interesting vibes coming from Catelyn here. used to bend because as you'll all remember there's a very bloody encounter the previous chapter the other fingers would never be dexterous again but brand is still alive and that's what mattered to her and you know this is another another thing right those details and those hands are going to come back but her hands here are serving as this like really great reminder to the stakes of you know caitlin's trip and what's going on here with this plot. Sir Roderick comes to the deck to chat with Morioh, who speaks through his green forked beard. So we get that Tyroshi sort of character world building and the winds in the bite and the roughness of the narrow sea were definitely

not for Sir Roderick, who had almost gone overboard at one point passing Dragonstone. He had clung to a rope until Morioh's men rescued him and put him below deck. And also Roderick looks a little different now. He's shaved his great white whiskers on the trip, because he just kept puking into them back when they were at the fight.

And Cat marvels at how different he looks. Smaller, less fierce, and also ten years older. I really like the use of whiskers on men in the story just the way george uses them as you know like symbols of strength and weakness and here of course kat is marveling that he looks smaller but still older usually when you remove the whiskers men look younger right like i know my partner looks 80 years younger it's very insane benjamin button on this shit but here she sees

roderick's age and it kind of also shows this respect that she has for him right that she's kind of i mean even the way she's treating him while she's here he's lived in winterfell longer than she has he's served the starks longer than she has and he treats her with utmost respect as a leader of the house right uh? Just as Ned has trusted her. And her treatment of both Roderick and the men on the ship here feels significant in that. She's giving them a lot of respect. And, oh, Roderick. He's so lovable.

He is. And the thing that you're saying about whiskers and beards, actually, George does revisit the same device with Pycelle later, right? How Pycelle seems sort of diminished without his beard pie cell's beard seemed pretty cool though like they there's a lot of words devoted to my cell's beard and i don't know i feel bad for roderick i can't believe that he shaved it just because he like kept puking into it like that's how bad it was and that was his only solution and you were talking about the relationship that cat has with Roderick and the people on the boat. And I do love the courtesy that she extends Roderick, despite how embarrassing the situation

is for him. He sort of apologizes, right? That he hasn't been very good. And it's a trait that we see in Sansa, right? Because she's very good at complimenting people. And she does it, for example, with Lancel, right? right because she's very good at complimenting people and she does it for example with lancel right despite his injuries after the black water she has this gift of making people feel comfortable and and strong and that's what catelyn's sort of doing here with roderick yeah we're gonna see a

lot more of that as we go through this chapter right and i think there are a couple other call outs for both aria and sansa on that they are very much influenced by catelyn for both Arya and Sansa on that they are very much influenced by Catelyn. Morioh leaves them to discuss their business, and Roderick sheepishly apologizes for not being the best of protectors, as you said. Catelyn's happy, though. She's like, I'm glad we're here safely.

Don't worry about it. Now's the hard part, though, so buckle up, Roderick. Reaching the Master-at-Arms, Arryn Santagar, that is the next part, and hoping he will give them the truth that they seek i thought it was interesting right that the master at arms at the red keep is dornish aaron santagar considering how things went between the martels and the lannisters right at the end of robert's rebellion and especially that santagar is one of the houses that does seem quite close to house martel i wonder if maybe like one hand, could it be that they're trying to do it as sort of appeasing, like rebuilding their relationship with the Dornish? But also I wonder if maybe Aaron, while he was alive, was perhaps reporting back to Doran, Martell, and informing on the royals.

Yeah, and we don't really know, right? Yeah, and we don't really know, right? That's interesting, especially because later Cersei threatens, right, to bring someone from Dorne to be the master at arms to teach Tommen how to fight. Hmm. When we started with one. But like, oh, we're returning back to what we were doing.'re good at fucking and fighting oh cersei but it's interesting we don't actually know how long he's been there but we it seems that it's implied he's been in service to them for a while right probably something that like you were mentioning probably with dorn's involvement also could have been like a healing of dorn kind of thing like hopefully this will abide for some of the things and well we gotta give someone from Dorne because otherwise

they think we're gonna kill the rest of their kids uh and I also wonder if he would have been close with Llewyd and if this would have been someone Robert you know kept on after the rebellion I'm wondering if maybe he was there at the same time because there was a lot of Dorne going on in court

in the Outer Rings. Yeah, that's definitely possible too, right? And I mean, obviously, I think he still wouldn't have been pleased with how everything went down. I mean, George wanted to get rid of him. Yeah, even George was like, I'm not pleased with Aaron Santagar. Fuck this Aaron Santagar guy. Roderick thinks that Aaron is vain, but honest and warns that they are at risk when they land ashore. Says that, you know, many people at court would probably know Catelyn on sight.

Littlefinger, she murmurs, and thinks of the boy that she once knew. His father had died a few years past, so now Littlefinger has been bumped up to Lord Baelish, but everyone just still calls him little finger uh it's hard to shake off some names rodrick tries to say something polite about peter but fails which is a total mood and then cat gives us a brief history on p tire which uh chloe has put here to pay uh respects right, to other alternate pronunciations. And I will say, because again, inclusivity, yes. You say Mareo, I say Morio, Peter, Petire.

And because again, Kat is past delicacy, as the book says she is. She's straight to business here when it comes to roger being like what do i say about little finger and also you know how else are we going to get the exposition on peter if she doesn't tell us right now i love it the the first instinct she has when he's like we're at risk when we get here people will know you is fuck peter baylish so her first gut says that interesting he was my father's ward we grew up together in river run i thought of him as a brother but his feelings for me were more than brotherly when it was announced i was to wed brandon stark peter challenged for the right to my hand it was madness brandon was twenty, Peter scarcely fifteen.

I had to beg Brandon to spare Peter's life. He let him off with a scar. Afterward, my father sent him away. I have not seen him since. She lifted her face to the spray, as if the brisk wind could blow the memories away. He wrote to me at Riverrun after Brandon was killed, but I burned the letter unread. By then I knew that Ned would marry me in his brother's place. Sir Roderick's fingers fumbled once again for non-existent whiskers. Little finger sits on the small couch now. I knew he would rise high, Catelyn said. He was always clever, even as a boy, but it is one thing to be clever and another to be wise. I wonder what the years

have done to him. Well, we are about to find out. Not to be a rhetorical bitch here, Kat, but we are gonna find out unfortunately. Unfortunately, indeed. Yeah, they've not been good to unfortunately unfortunately indeed yeah they've not been good to you know the years have done

that you can't improve garbage you know what I mean yeah that's true garbage does only smell get worse over time I mean you can dress it up put a gold trash bag in your bin but end of the day it's still a trash bag you know bin, but end of the day, it's still a trash bag. You know what I'm saying?

End of the day, it's still a trash bag. I do know what you're saying. Well, something that I think I personally could have misread, I guess this could be another reading of it. Roderick leads into this, right? And he says, Lord Baelish once, and his thought trailed off uncertainly in search of the polite word i personally took this as as you said uh he tries to say something polite you know like say something nice no but is this a reference to bailish spreading around to everyone that he took Kat's virginity. I don't know. I think that's interesting. Go on.

Because Katalin says that she's past delicacy, right? And, you know, when a proper girl says she's past delicacy, she's about to read the riot act, which is kind of what this could be read as is that here's the real story. I know what people are saying about Peter and I. This is the truth. I don't know what you've heard, but this is all what the truth is. Here's my truth, Catelyn Stark. So it almost makes me wonder if, because he kind of starts, he just falters, right?

He's like, uh, Lord Baelish wants... And he's like, I don't want to be improper with you as my liege. I don't know. I found that really interesting. I thought that could be another way to read this after rereading the chapter and also rereading Eddard's next chapter, since we get a good amount of Baelish in it and a good amount of the cross with Catelyn and just kind of how things were read. I do think there's something interesting flipped in it that this is the same perspective that Catelyan has on

him is actually how liza introduces us to her view on him right she says my father said he was too low born but i knew how he'd rise john gave him the customs for gold town to please me but when he increased the incomes tenfold my husband saw how clever he was and gave him other appointments even brought him to king's landing to be a master of coin they immediately both of them always saw the potential in little finger yeah i think that's a great connection absolutely and what you were saying is earlier about whether or not i i would believe that sir roderick had heard the rumors because little finger just loved telling people about it but obviously as we know Catelyn hadn't heard that

story and also she didn't sleep with him so she'd be like why the fuck would he say that but yes so I think that's an interesting thought that he might have been going towards that as opposed to the, you know, just him being like faltering and also so we could get an info dump. And yeah, but yeah, and also that both Liza and Catelyn recognize how clever he is. it could be possible especially because of that display of intimacy as you know like master at arms and lady of the house that they already are displaying of like she and roger have taken this journey together he's he's not just like someone else that works at the house that

she doesn't talk to like he's seeing it all right now they're on a journey together on a boat cramped up together they are right like they're just they know each other's comings and goings uh so the intimacy of that is interesting that like maybe he would feel comfortable enough or obviously not comfortable enough because he doesn't say whatever he was gonna say and she cuts him off but it is interesting to me and i'm sure that there are rumors and i'm sure that she does as we hear like she literally says to him peter wanted me bad like that's all there is to talk about roderick he wanted me i said no the end i think it's an interesting translation and she does think that's all there is to talk about yeah it is scandalous but it's like honestly not the most scandalous

thing that i think has happened in westeros. There's a whole war. There's a whole war. And also Ned's thing is way more scandalous. Yeah, that's true. Like Jon, I mean. That is some secret scandalous, you know, some passion, days of our lifestyle drama, some

hella novella. I would be very into that. Actually, I want to see the everyday of of it you know all the tensions rising absolutely there's something else notable going on in that that the end of ned's next chapter once more instigating little finger and various are playing between both of them he speaks to cat yada yada they're seeking the truth he's doing his detective spy work chapter four for ned ends in all justice flows from the king he told her when i know the truth i must go to robert and pray that he is the man i think he is he finished silently and not the man i fear he

has become both of these people are dealing with the same exact problem about two different people that they grew up with and they know that they are not good people and they know better, but they want to believe that they're still the people they thought they were in their heart. God, they're so close. If they could have just said it out loud to each other, their fears. Anyways, neither of these men are the men that Catelyn and Ned think they grew into. And it kind of plays out as this like redux of what Cat just went through in Winterfell

without Littlefinger, like trying to trace these steps, figure out a game plan, getting all these men to swear to her they're going to chase after this thing and then getting to King's Landing. Now Ned has to do it. Absolutely. And I think that's such a great comparison between uh robert and little finger rated and ned and catelyn both finding out that neither of them are the men that they think they are should be and it's not that like neither of them have grown into certain men right it's that

neither of them have grown at all there's both little finger and robert are stuck in the past and speaking of that past i i do want to bring back, I think, I don't know if I brought this up in the songs, the chapters back then, maybe in the Ned ones, that we get that mention of the scar that Peter Baelish got from his, his scuffle with Brandon, how he almost died. And I do think we are going to see that scar one day. And it's probably going to be really uncomfortable.

But I do think that the day we see that scar is probably heralding close to the end of Peter Baelish. I mean, just want to say two things. What if the scar is not even real and it was just like a bar story he told people? No, I'm just kidding. And second of all, what if he shows up? He's he's like well i don't know how i got these scars oh my god that would be the worst he'd be even worse than he already is but it's been you know speaking of speaking of the things that make him like shitty right i love this distinction that catelyn draws between cleverness and wisdom when she's describing Peter and I mean we find out he is still clever

he's still not quite wise and I think for many of these players it seems as though they are more interested like the players of the Game of Thrones are more interested in being clever than necessarily wise or maybe they are somehow

blinded by how clever they are and cannot see wisdom they all got that chip on their shoulder yeah that's that's the thing exactly like the difference between being clever and wisdom like being clever can get you a couple meals and sometimes it amounts to a bunch of clever things that add up, and you end up the treasurer of a failing company, I guess. And you're just, like, reaping your chaotic rewards, but it's not sustainable living off of other people like that, too. And they got, like, and I think because they recognize that they're clever. Again, they have that chip on their shoulder, and they want other people to recognize how clever they are and that's part of how they're able to rise so high i guess as you know maybe that's part of what caitlin and liza saw and

little thinker a desire to be recognized whereas the wise thing to do if peter were wise he would have moved the fuck on that's, I mean this legitimately. That is the wise thing to do. Let her go. I mean, also, like, you're just gonna take your business and yourself straight in the ground and your whole house name. Like,

you're on a downward spiral, man. Anyway, yeah, it doesn't look great for Littlefinger in the end, which is awesome, but here, he feels pretty fucking happy with himself, doesn't he? Captain Mareo gives orders atop the Storm Dancer, and King's Landing slides into view. Some beautiful world building here. 300 years ago, there was nothing but forest and fisher folk at the Blackwater Rush,

but Aegan sailed from dragonstone landed his army and built his first wooden earthen crude now the shore is covered in manses and arbors and granaries brick storehouses timbered inns graveyards lanterns brothels taverns brothels cadeline could even hear the fish market at the distance in the calling and i think that's so sweet it just reminds me of Arya you know their plots are so connected with the water and with being near the water I just think it's a great connection

this is kind of another way that Catlin and Arya as you were saying right are like in their practicality because again despite the way that everyone as we see in this chapter they're all like really concerned that like Catlin's a lady and they're stepping on eggshells around her making sure that like what they're doing is right. Catelyn is concerned with getting shit done, which is why she has no trouble sailing into this harbor.

She has no trouble with like, you know, being around all the people or whatever or staying at a tavern. Yeah, she has a certain familiarity around water and Arya kind of returns to it. has a certain familiarity around water and Arya kind of returns to it. I love it. I love to see that grow and I'm excited to kind of see some more of these comparisons as we go along Catelyn's chapter and as Arya breaks out alongside her into the wild. But here's where Catelyn flourishes. Absolutely right. Like she's a little rusty but this is this was her place the south. Visenya's hill is crowned by the great sept of Baelor with its seven crystal towers, and on Rhaenys' hill stood the collapsed ruin of the Dragonpit. Its bronze doors closed for a century.

Between them runs the Street of Sisters, and beyond, walls rise, strong and tall. The harbor's packed with ships, business, and trade, moving from Braavos, Pentos, and Lys. She can even see the queen's ornate barge tied up beside a whaler from Ibn. Above all of it on Aegon's Hill was the Red Keep, seven huge drum towers with iron ramparts, vaulted halls, covered bridges, barracks, dungeons, gran granaries massive curtain walls and archer nests all fashioned in red pale stone yes exposition exposition exposition here's a little bit more of it agan had started the construction of the red keep and the maker the cruel saw it finished afterwards maker took the heads of every person who labored on it in order to preserve the secrets of the

dragon's fortress. And now we get a little bit of the current day exposition. Yet now the banners that flew from its battlements were gold and not black, and where the three-headed dragon had once breathed fire, now pranced the crowned stag of House Baratheon.

What symbolism. Right? This is a mummer's farce first of all is what they're telling us and we actually learn it in eddard four right we'll talk about it later but very kind of is like haha i'm gonna put this very lightly my dear hand but the king doesn't do fuck all around here is basically what he says uh and here the symbolism is big the dragon once roared from this battlement and now the crowned stag prances around it's also really funny because obviously the banners are gold with the black stag on them black with the red dragon lannister crimson with the gold lion but the way this is worded kind of feeds into that cedars strong language in the first book of

the lannisters colors are the gold and crimson and here now is the gold is everywhere and the black stag is prancing around playing but the gold versus black is just so prominent in this quote which obviously we have later on in the story the greens versus the blacks the reds versus the blacks but here with the gold versus the black it really does kind of bring you to the forefront of like blonde yellow lannister baratheon black bold seed is strong and it kind of reminds you that like the gold being everywhere is this sparkly Lannister regime. It's not really a Baratheon regime anymore. Absolutely.

And the gold, of course, you know, if you combine their colors in a way, the gold, the golden dragons, and if you just take what's left of the colors, the black and the red. Interesting. Sounds like the previous regime. Yeah.

Reminds me. And, you know, you you think of the gold you think of Aegon's banner with the gold dragon right versus Rhaenyra yeah I did like his dragon I didn't like Aegon too so yes I did like his dragon but I think that's also fun to think about with the gold versus the black not as much like 1-1

but it's just fun to like put those two roles of the baratheons clashing with the lannisters here absolutely we also have that line of only the blood of the dragon ever know the secrets of the fortress the dragon lords had built he vowed and i think that's fun because we meet various and even if various isn't a secret targaryen of sorts or some sort of black fire of swords or dragon blood within him he at least supports the blood of the dragon he supports that regime and is doing a lot

a lot of extra shit to get them back in power so I think that's fun he isn't doing the most yeah it's fun because he does know all the secrets of the castle as we see in Arya's chapter as we're going to see in this chapter he knows a lot of secrets that's his like shtick yeah well you were talking about this earlier about the swan trip from the summer isles it's leaving port as they pull steadily into the shore and roger advises

catelyn that she shouldn't enter the castle he says he'll bringah erin to her instead in a safe place and catelyn thinks but roger you're in just as much danger as me but he's like it's fine no one can tell who i am i can scarcely even remember myself without whiskers the only person you saw me without whiskers last was my mother and she's 40 years dead he's like it's safe enough now and i kind of like this because the facial hair is a disguise rears its head again with jamie actually does also with uh varies because he's got like a bunch of wigs and shit but yeah yeah jamie doesn't get away with it rodrick doesn't either as we find out rodrick is very he's got one of those faces he really does moreo finishes getting the men into port and he announces to Catelyn they've arrived,

asking if she needs help bringing her belongings in. She's not going in the castle, though. She asks for a suggestion for an inn. He promises to help her, but reminds her her promise of extra silver to the omen. He attempts to take it from her. He's like, oh, they're just going to dice it away or drink with it. And Roderick's like, there are worse things to spend your money on winter is coming and catelyn's like they earned the silver and how they spend it i do not care

she pays the oarman herself a stag to each man and a copper to the men who carry her belongings to the inn up visenya's hill that moreo suggests before i'm all like uw ooh i love cat so much i do want to say to be fair she did just make 90 silver stags she earned those 90 silver stags though okay she paid for it her hands don't fucking move anymore all right no one wants that i can tell you it's not fun but obviously she wanted to get rid of that money she also was like oh get rid of that money. But 90 silver stags is what she took from the assassin. So spending the 60, not a big deal here. I do appreciate, though,

very much that she's making sure the ormen get their money that they don't get steal from, and she does not care what it's for. It's very obvious Kat and Mad value people's time and money. It shows throughout their chapters most of the time, but also in their children's chapters.

I think we talked a lot in the past and in this episode, even of where we see Ned and the children at times and their values. But here there's so much of Cat that we see in Arya and Sansa moving forward, right? Like Sansa in the Bread Riot, she has nothing to give of her own, right? As she's kind of held hostage and has no capital. But she manipulates Joffrey to throw coins down to the people. And Arya later gives food to people all the time when they're in need. And water.

Water to dying men. She gives free oysters to Sam. Food to the boys on the road. She shares with Gendry and she offers it to everyone. They very much so have been taught to give you know when they have extra or give even if they don't have extra that's a great point and i kind of wonder to some extent kat is hoping that by showing this courtesy she's buying the silence of the men on the ship though i guess only mario really knows who they are and we do get hints of mario being

greedy and untrustworthy already that he might be willing to steal his men's earnings and i think that cat sidesteps that very coolly without insulting him i really love her response that it's their money to spend however they like you know catlin doesn't believe in policing how the lower classes spend their money it's theirs they earned it um i'm joking catlin is not at all like a class traitor she's not about to break down she's not about to like lead a socioeconomic revolution in the least um i don't know she's doing good work right now she's doing some good work out there you know i mean one fray gone a couple more to go she she's well maybe well, maybe now, now, you know, but that's Lady Stoneheart. But so I, part of me also is like, you know, because you were talking about the dragon

earlier in the stag, it's interesting that she's paying everyone in silver stags, not in dragons. Because, you know, they are Baratheon. That's a faux pas. That would be a faux pas, wouldn't it? I mean, A, they're not that... Again, Catelyn not redistributing the wealth to everyone, or else, yes, she would be giving fucking golden dragons to everyone.

No, they're silver stags because also, you know, they are Baratheon loyalists. And there is this line about how men must make their choices that she says in regards to how the men can spend their money fucking however. And it feels very pointed considering how her husband left uh the previous chapter even caitlin was like no you can't go to king's lair anymore it doesn't make sense and that he left choosing right despite saying that he had no other choice or thinking he has no choice and the many other ways that that sort of manifests in this story yeah that's that's a really good i didn't think about that i didn't see it as petty but now i'm like yeah good point i don't see it as whatever the fuck they want it's not

but it's a subtweet you know what i mean it's like enjoy spending your money wherever you want she says then tweeting a screenshot of their joint bank account their checking account you know she's out there like interesting how's the 40 you spent at the bar ettered with robert the tag at 7 p.m that's true but also that's probably like oh my god i didn't want to be out here at all i mean just holding him accountable reminding him that's like probably throwing throwing the drinks into the pan in the side. Like, oh, God. I did that once when I was younger. A friend and I, we had a crazy party weekend. We were 17.

We drank triple sec. Okay, it wasn't a big deal. Triple sec. Not a real liquor. A liqueur. So we got drunk on triple sec. And it was, I don't remember what we made. It was nasty.

But I just remember she got very drunk. And we were in her basement so i was pouring her drinks out of the basement window because she was too drunk she was and i was just like and she would come out of the bathroom and be like you poured my drink out didn't you and i'd be like fuck oh oh you i was the mad out yeah i thought ned was throwing out his own drinks because i was gonna to be like, I, you know, I'm clever, but I'm not wise. I would have just kept pounding the drinks back. And next thing you know, I'm hungover and vomiting. No, Ned's out there throwing out Robert's drink is what I'm trying to tell you.

He's like, Robert's not looking. Time to pour out half his beer so he doesn't get his drunk. Right. And he's replacing it with like water or something or like lighter ale because i don't know potability but after the third they all go down the same the inn is an old place in eel alley that they are staying in it's owned by a crone with a sour face hey settle down cadeline that could be you soon who bit the coin that she was given i love love that. She bites her coin. Which again, comes back to the Arya chapters. Yes, absolutely.

The old crone with a sour face who bites her coin. And it does feel very underworld-y in that aspect. That's really, yeah. Woo! Arya everywhere! It made no matter. The rooms at the inn and eel alley were large. Morioh swears on her fish stew as well, which I would love to try.

And best of all, the woman doesn't care who they are. Roderick warns she should stay away from the common areas of the inn, and he dons his dark cloak, ringmail, and dagger, vowing to be back by nightfall with Sir Aaron Santagar. And Catelyn has no problem falling asleep in her bed, though it's straw-stuffed feather stuffed she's very tired but also can't be that picky she wakes up to someone pounding on the door demanding to open it in the name of the king and she wraps herself in her cloak grabbing the dagger from the bedside and unlatches the door to find gold cloaks of the city watch who

smile at her dagger they tell her there is no need we are here to escort you to the castle and she asks by whose authority and they reveal a ribbon with a waxy gray mocking bird seal it's peter hooray it's a well-setup chapter in general though you know we introduced some of that backstory in little finger right and right? And then he shows up here, but obviously it all goes together. She thinks something must have happened to Roderick immediately. And she's like, and she asks these men if they know who she is. But they don't. She's still safe in that aspect. They don't, though, but they do know Littlefinger sent for her to be delivered to him unharmed.

She commands them to wait outside while she dresses and redresses her wounds. She struggles to lace up her bodice, throwing a drab cloak around her shoulders. Were they too late? Had the Lannisters reached King's Landing before her? No. No, if that were true, Ned would be here too, and surely he would have come to her. How? But then she understands.

She thinks, Mareo, the Tai Roshi sold her out. She hopes he received a good price for her. Yeah, kind of like that Bran stuff earlier, but... Yep. To be honest, despite what I said about Mareo earlier being a little shady, I'm unsure if he actually did sell Catelyn out or not. But if he did, I wonder if it's like maybe he and Varys have like a mutual connection right like a middleman or something through folks that they all know from

the Free Cities yeah that's interesting I was thinking that too because it is a Free Cities connection it does feel significant and you know coming back to Davos later, hearing many different tidings from some of the sailors from this boat in A Dance of Dragons, he learns a lot, right? Like he learns a bunch more that no one knew. Davos gets a lot of information in the north, which is interesting to me and in the Vale. to raise an army lord manderley was not returning his pleas so propaganda we know he was white harbor is weary of war and the riswells and dustins are uh surprised by the iron men and they have their long ships destroyed and the bastard of bolton is riding with hoth or umber to attack moat calen you know that he got all this big news that he never would have gotten had he not stopped there into that's so funny that he is at the lazy eel and this inn is on eel lane or whatever the eel inn or something like that yeah how funny um but yeah he gets all this news and then we eat eels later the lampreys they're technically eels and we say we're eating lamprey pie. Yes! That's true. I love it. I love it!

It's interesting, because Davos gets all this news from the Tairoshi sailors, or from the sailors from the ship, and I think that could be a great connection, like that they have the Varys connection. The Free Cities. Absolutely. A lot of them, you know, as we find out as the books progress, have

some connections with one another. Not all of them, but... Well, you know, one Tyroshi knows every other Tyroshi, Eliana. Apparently, I mean, of course, absolutely. That's how, that's how it works when you're all of one nationality, one ethnicity. Yeah, absolutely. Female comics and, you know, wow. The men had brought a horse for Catelyn to ride. And as they ride, the lamps are being lit along the street, which is actually kind of cute in imagery if you think about it. But what's not so cute is that Catelyn feels the city's eyes watch her.

And they reach the Red Keep. The portcullis is down. The great gates are sealed. And, you know, there goes the whole low-key traveling, right? Because she's like, oh, shit, everyone's looking at me now that the gold cloaks are all flanking me that's a yeah it's not low-key you have a whole party bringing you in the side door now and entourage i love that the city's eyes are watching her when we open up with her being watched by the eyes of the weirwood right it always feels like she's being watched the parano paranoia is always being built for Catelyn underneath.

That's interesting. Yes. And, I mean, apparently that fear is not misplaced as we saw last chapter. Yeah. It's nice, though, because it's just all lit up. You know, it does remind me of, like, a little, I mean, I live in a beautiful city. I know you have some beautiful bits where you live and i just love at night the skyline here which unfortunately literally on my birthday they will be stop lighting up my favorite building that turns bright purple all night

because birds are dying um birds keep going like early morning they just like fly into it because they're like oh a light dead so they're trying to save the birds, which is kind, I suppose, but I just love looking out at the city lights and seeing, you know, from a good vantage point even, just seeing all the little houses and the little lights and the people going about their lives. Makes you feel small,

but in a good way. Yeah. Ketlin is escorted through a door up endless stairs to a tower where a little finger sits alone at wooden table, writing at an oil lamp. He greets her quietly, and she asks why she's been brought here in this fashion, which, same. And he dismisses the guards and notes her hands. We have this quote. Catelyn ignored the implied question I'm not

accustomed to being summoned like a serving wench she said icily as a boy you still knew the meaning of courtesy did he though did he though did he though I'm just putting it out there was he ever less scampy

no he's really apologetic he's like oh this wasn't my intent and he looks very contrite which brings back some memories for catalan she's like hmm he always looked contrite after his mischiefs he was a small boy and grew into a small man one or two inches shorter than cat with sharp features and laughing gray green eyes now just shy of 30 and he grew an ugly ass beard he could have grown any kind he could have grown any kind of beard right he could have grown like some stubble which could have been like kind of cool but he grew like a pointy beard instead like he he has some silver hairs now on his hair, and that

could look distinguished if you do it right. That could work for him. That could be daddy's work. I know, but he's not working any of it. He grew a pointy beard. It's all wrong on him. It's like a... I don't know. I remember as a kid my mom bought me all the limited to

clothing in the world, and when I wanted Hollister and Abercrombie to try to clothing in the world and like when i wanted hollister and abercrombie to try to fit in she was like okay well i'll try to save some money up and we can buy a shirt or we can go look at the thrift store and see if they have anything that has the logo on it and like no matter what i wore i was never gonna fit in with those kids man i was never gonna you know and i remember that so hard and little finger is like he's wearing the look cost like the the he's wearing the polos and he's popping the collar and he's got the hat on he's like i'm so cool and it's like if you haven't gotten cool at age 28 little finger it might

not happen for you i'm very worried to tell you that just don't try just be yourself oh fuck don't never mind he is trying to be himself now he's gotta wise up is what it is not be clever oh my god be wise there's a line here even as a child he had always loved his silver which that's some judas betrayal imagery if i've ever heard it 30 pieces of silver was the price judas betrayed jesus for right from the gospel of matthew last chapter we also had that line about bran's death not being bought for cheap uh and catalan says it again of herself earlier on i hope that morio paid a good price for me. She said the same about Bran was paid a good price for. And here she's being paid a good price for eventually.

It's not Littlefinger's direct fault, but he sure does instigate war that leads to it, doesn't he? I mean, and he is Judas, right? He does play Judas to Ned. Yeah. He absolutely, you know, seduces Ned into his trust yep and all of that well here he's doing similar all he had to do was fucking move on you know oh catalan asks him how he knew that she was here and he answers various knows all various will join us soon enough he says but he wanted to see her alone first.

Okay, just really wanted to get that power dynamic, little finger, didn't you? You really thought you were big stuff. Does this give you those two extra inches on your heels? Catelyn ignores his familiarity. He's constantly calling her cat. And she's like, so the king's spider found me. He then is like, you shouldn't call various that he's very sensitive with that name you know it probably comes from him being a eunuch and i'm like

are you talking about various or are you talking about yourself here right like little finger is probably a nickname you don't want people to call you so are you saying truly saying don't call people by mean nicknames cat right absolutely because i'm like Because I'm like, it's not a flattering nickname, right? And I guess he's just sort of learned to embrace it because like you said, he's just trying to fit in and be cool. He's like, yeah, guys, that's my nickname. That's so funny. But like, who wants to be going around like,

who wants to be called like small dick all the time? Because that's what they're basically saying. Damaging. It's very damaging. Right, it's hurtful. It's hurtful. It's not cool like nimble dick. Nimble dick is like, oh oh yeah he knows how to use it but like little finger's not a flattering name

and like I get it I do get it and he doesn't really have a flattering personality to save it either which I mean honestly he could have just had a better personality because I think Aiden Gilden can he can get it he is a handsome man and you know what you were saying the stubble

if we just changed little finger's entire personality and his facial hair he could probably do better and it's interesting because he's actually not described as like ugly he's not described as like a disgusting man he's just creepy he's just a fucking weird vibes and he like even how this is interesting so can't only remembers him having laughing gray green eyes or calls his eyes laughing gray green eyes or green gray and we do have that language used for another character in the story you'll never guess how i'm gonna segue this one uh ashara dane ashara dean has theon no uh no that's a great one too with theon's smile though and like he's always smiling at some jokes his smiling eyes yeah yeah his smiling eyes and ashara dane is described as

laughing eyes only by a couple people she's described as it fondly by mira actually no once by mira everybody else describes them as haunting and not laughing, which is really interesting for other implications we're not going to go into because you all know who I am as a person. You know what I'm thinking about. It's Howland and Ashara every day, every night. But here, Catowyn is remembering Peter's eyes favorably. The people who remember Ashara's eyes as haunting are people who seem to have some sort of issue with her, like Cersei or Ned. And Catalin even thinks of her having haunting eyes,

of people describing her as, oh, her haunting eyes. The people that all find her having haunting eyes feel guilty about that person or have some sort of issue with them. Peter here, she is calling them laughing eyes instead of seeing them as like sinister or uh or condescending or mocking yes she sees them as laughing and she sees them kind of as a lighter thing which i think that is a call out like i think that his eyes are laughing and they don't look mocking or condescending to her uh she is seeing it when she puts her face up in the mist and she tries to blow the memories

away she's like let me just make this all go fine i can just get through it compartmentalize through it make it happen and that makes sense right and and yeah laughing eyes is like very it's a very fond descriptor as you said whereas ned does feel like little fingers being condescending all the time to an extent he's like maybe it's in my head and i'm like no ned that's real listen to your heart listen to your heart anyway little finger goes on to say that nothing happens without various knowing here king's landing because his informants, the little birds, know all, and one had heard of her visit. And thankfully,

Vierys came to visit him first, Littlefinger, and Catelyn's like, why you? And I'm like, the plot! The plot, Catelyn! It's happening in your chapters! I love that he gets defensive here.

He responds and he says, Why not me? I am Master of Coin, the King's own counselor. Selmy and Lord Renly rode north to meet Robert, and Lord Stannis has gone to Dragonstone, leaving only Maester Pycelle and me. I was the obvious choice. I was ever a friend to your sister Lysa.

Varys knows that. two interesting call outs one everyone left and there's literally two people left and you are the better choice over a walking cadaver good job first of all okay like good job pat yourself on the back a little more for nothing there of Of course it's you. Second of all, I was ever a friend to your sister Liza. Excuse me? That's a way to put it. Hmm. The plot thickens. He explains Varys does not know why she's here, and then he's like,

yeah, so why are you here, lol? She's like, a wife is allowed to yearn for her husband, and if a mother needs her daughter's clothes who can tell her no he doesn't believe that though he's like what were your annoying family words you said every weekend at the family barbecue again he's like ah yes family duty honor he echoes her and says their hand left her in winterfell, but yet she's here. It speaks of a certain urgency. I do like that she did weave in she's like is a wife not allowed to yearn for her husband

being like remember I'm married Littlefinger I have a husband that I yearn for because you just know in the back of Littlefinger's mind he's like why is she here and he's like she didn't come here for me though unless unless I'm glad she like doesn't bury the lead

she's right away like I want to pork my husband Peter why do you think I'm here dick I would say that is what that means like outside of proper lady talk like she did lead with that on purpose i mean yeah that happens people will be like oh yes my boyfriend my uh husband i'm people i blame everything on my significant other well little finger once more tries to be Catalin's white knight, right? He's like, let me help you, Catalin, please. I'm begging you to let me help you.

You need it. When a soft knock comes to the door, a man steps through, plump, perfumed, powdered, hairless as an egg. Varys wears a loose gown of purple silk with a golden woven vest. And he takes her hand in both of his exclaiming how joyed he is to see her after so many years okay so actually though i really love the opening lines for how we see viewers i i think the words that are chosen are just so great and incredible i love also the hairless as an egg like who fucking comes up with that love it and beyond that though hammering home the point again of how

much of the story's exposition and setup is happening in cat's chapters it is through cat's chapters that we get our first glimpse of the two people who by books three and five which we're supposed to actually be very close to one another but you know things happen gardening but they end up being revealed as the masterminds behind a lot of like why westeros is the way it is in the current timeline in 300 ac right they they've been scheming in the background and the plot with the lannisters and the errands is actually as we know revealed through cat's chapters right and the death of john erin and it builds through her chapters as well with the dagger's owner revealed

and unbeknownst to her or the reader, right, you know, who the wizards behind the curtain are at this moment, but also unbeknownst to us at first is how all the evidence against the Lannisters, right, a lot of it is mounting actually through Kat's chapters from Lysa's letter and the dagger. It's all coming together there.

It comes back to a little of, you know, what our friend Alex was saying about Kat's chapters from Liza's letter and the dagger it's all coming together there it comes back to a little of you know what our friend Alex was saying about Kat's story being a bit of like a almost detective noir story but in regards to that cleverness versus wisdom it's through Katlyn's chapters interestingly later right Kat is clever and she's a bit wise right because we begin to humanize both of the lannister brothers besides you know their own povs later on but like a lot of it happens in catelyn's chapters as she's like wait you know what tyrian said about the dagger actually makes a lot of sense a lot of the things that tyrian says make sense to her and as she releases jamie later in clash and hears out his confessions about like what actually went down in the Red Keep with Ares,

she really begins to understand a little bit more and question the things that Littlefinger told her and takes a bet on Tyrion's armor. But unfortunately, the laughing eyes and the memory of the boy that she knew, really, it's a way that the emotions in our human hearts in conflict with themselves cut through any of the wisdom that any of us could have absolutely and it doesn't help when after that you just keep taking grief hit after grief hit after grief hit maybe you know living your life under this society that we live in because we live in a society maybe it's you know i mean you break after a while when you face

piece of grief after piece of grief and loss and loss and win and when the wins aren't big enough to imbalance those losses what do you become that's a lot of it yeah the broken man stuff is just as much about catelyn right preced, preceding that book. Varys immediately notices Catelyn's hand injuries, and he laments about them, offering to send for a jar of salve from Maester Pycelle. But Catelyn retracts her fingers, thanking him politely. She says Maester Luwin has seen to her hurts. Varys sends another volley. He offers his grievous sadness for Bran's injury. He says the gods are so cruel.

And Catelyn's like, yes, yes, they are. I wonder to what extent if Varys' sadness here is maybe somewhat legitimate, given his own childhood and what was taken from him when he was forcibly castrated. Yeah. Not that any of that stopped him from cutting kids' tongues out. But anyway, I wonder if some of his sympathy here is quite real. Catelyn addresses him, though, as Lord Varys. And George gives us this line.

The title was but a courtesy due him as a council member. Varys was a lord of nothing but the spiderweb, the master of none but his whisperers. master of none but his whisperers it's kind of notable in this introduction to various that george does say here catalan and various have met before this is not their first meeting they know each other uh which makes sense because we know that she traveled with hoster as a girl probably throughout the south and obviously to king's landing. All of this in King's Landing, I mean, she speaks about it familiarly, right? Like she knows this land. She knows where she is. So it's not her first time here and it's not her first time meeting Varys, which I think is very interesting.

She addresses him as such. Varys interesting indeed. Varys thinks that they agree on more than just that. He says that he has great esteem for their new hand, Eddard, and says that, you know, both he and Eddard, they both do love King Robert. Catlin to say an oath right out loud like oh yes just like you we both do share a love of King Robert Catlin and it says the text is literally

yes she was forced to say for a certainty Catlin as you said looking up the $40 the $40 tab the like $80 tabs every night Robert and Ned were at the strip club till 3am last

weekend okay Ned cried for two days afterwards I don't want to deal with it anymore Catelyn says but she smiles and she says yes for a certainty we love King Robert and Littlefinger also adds his little quip he says never has a king

been so beloved as our Robert at At least in Lord Varys's hearing. Shut up, Littlefinger. Shut up. Get a job. Get a job. Ah, a different job. Yeah think he's honestly, at this point, I think it's really a dangerous rhetoric for us to continue saying, get a job, Littlefinger, in this economy because he is taking jobs away from skilled workers that might not have that opportunity. I think we should not give Littlefinger a job. I think in 2021, Girls Gone Canon should take an official stance,

keep him unemployed. Don't hire Blacklist Littlefinger. Blacklist Littlefinger. Blacklist Littlefinger. For those of you that have the get-a-job koozies, I mean, that's vintage now. Good luck. Something I noticed during this read.

This dance between Catalin and Littlefinger is very different from the dance that she does with Varys. George does something so artful that he allows us to read between the lines in Varys's tone because Varys is quite obviously populating here and he's like, hello, I'm Varys and I'm not going to tell you what I'm actually doing, but I'm just going to keep badgering you with questions, Lady Catelyn, to, you know, just feel you out. Smile, powdered weird clammy hands. Smile. He's tough, right?

He's a tough little egghead to crack. And there's something here that he's kind of suggesting and isn't suggesting things in between his lines, right? Catiline starts with Littlefinger, treating him with familiarity. But then Varys comes out and lays her into the spider web and traps her. Her attitude changes as she tries to feel out how Varys is kind of dancing with her. And the way he dances is far different. Catelyn regards Peter in that brotherly kind of way and fighting with that idea. But Varys here is trying to comfort her and also saying, while probing for information, that he knows the truth of her adventure.

Right? Like, he's straight up like, bitch, I know why you're here, first of all. But you look great while you're doing it, so congrats, honey. And he tells her he knows about her son. That's big news, because not a lot of people know what happened after, right? Which is where he then says, ah, your hand. And the polite thing to do would be, what happened to your hand is where he then says ah your hand and the polite thing to do would be what happened to your hand and move on but he threatens to reveal that she's here right because

he says you know i could send for a cell from maester pie cell and really take care of it and again he tries to do the same thing about bran he's like you know i can give you access to better health care than whatever you have up in Winterfell honey just say the word that things are going badly there we'll hook it up in King's Landing that would reveal she's here right and but if she says no to that without doing it politely or in the right way if she didn't say Maester Lewin could do it a different person would trap themselves into it right because what Because what person would decline? Oh, that's so kind. So she's kind of caught between this web. And he also keeps reasserting like, you know, Maester Pycelle has this and we could do this for you, Catelyn, we could do this.

And she has to retort back to him like, no, Maester Luwin knows what he's doing. Thanks so much for the offer. It's very much much like if you give me the right information catalan i could make this happen for you or we can tell you the truth we can give you the world she's just kind of caught between the two of them little finger who's kind of massaged her into all of it and then varies who's sitting here like you poor helpless thing let me spin a narrative for you and find out the truth from you absolutely i think that's such a great analysis of what's going on here you know there's sort of like it's a trap right like if she accepts anything then suddenly she's beholden to him and next thing you know she's caught up in his network

of being little birds or blackmailed for anything and so you have a you have a note here about him like being caught in the web of like a spider and I would say also, in a way, she's a fish caught in a net. Ah, it's, yep. It's true. It's very true. Well, as you said, Varys offers to find the healer in the Free Cities with wondrous healing powers. And as you said, Cat says, Luin knows best. And Catelyn refuses to speak more

about bran because she trusts little finger very little and varies not at all you know what catelyn is right to trust lewin because you know what bran's awake now as of last chapter hell yeah everything's going well varies begs her forgiveness for having Baelish drag her here like this. And yes, people should beg forgiveness for Baelish dragging them anywhere. And then Varys shocks her and asks her, show me the dagger. I love this because he's one move ahead, right? Again, caught in the net, caught in the web. Varys was one move ahead.

that caught in the web various was one move ahead he knows that she has motives for being there and he's just trying to puzzle out the last few angles to put his story together and put his comprehension of this together right so i just love it because he's like hmm show me the dagger now and also again it's that kind of that flex of power we already know we already know now she has to sit there and assume what they know. And he's also feeling out who Catelyn is, right? Because he's seeing, will she mention the dagger up front? How easy is she to bribe? How maneuverable is she, right? And he finds her very difficult, so then he has to use this tact.

Yeah. And she does not cave easily. She asks, what have you done with Sir Roderick? Fearing the worst, because again, she knows that varies knows all little fingers lost he's like who's roderick what's this how dare he not know how dare he not know who roderick is he acts like he cares about her but he doesn't even know her master at arms god he doesn't even know her bff he roderick is in her top eight okay that's a millennial joke everyone that's a millennial joke i'm sorry we're the youngest beautiful queens we're the villains various tells him roderick's position as master at arms in winterfell and he assures cat that he's safe roderick visited with erin in the armory and

they spoke of the dagger and then they went to drink at the inn Kat and Roderick are staying at where she will find them waiting for her return. He then adds that Roderick was very distressed of her absence. She asks how he knew all this and he responds through the whisperings of my little birds of course. And again we're beginning to see those stakes more in Catelyn's chapter, that we are not in Winterfell anymore, right? Like, everything's just like, whoa, everyone knows everything, and that perhaps

Cat and Nett are just a little bit out of their depth. The way that Varies uses knowledge as a sort of intimidation, as you were saying, right, Chloe, it's like a show of his power, because Varies is absolutely the embodiment of the idea that knowledge recommendation as you were saying right right chloe it's like a show of his power because various is absolutely the embodiment of the idea that knowledge is power he's brandishing it in a way that i think is very reminiscent of melisandre who we saw a lot in our previous pov and the way

that she's using mystery and tricks right to make herself seem more impressive and she's also using knowledge right that that she only she can glean from the flames and i think that's a little similar to what varies is doing here right perhaps he doesn't really even mind the title of lord spider maybe he encourages the rumors that he dislikes it because it makes people want to use it more that which they're forbidden to do maybe he even encourages the rumors that he has supernatural abilities because again it adds to his allure it adds to his influence it adds to his allure, it adds to his influence, it adds to his power and the mythos of the spider. And now retroactively, we've seen some of that continue, right?

Like the expanding of Misaria, the white worm, Daemon's mistress. That's a name right there to really build weirdness. Like, okay, full disclosure, my name on Twitter is lead sandworm 2021 Dune, whatever. But that inspires awe wow yeah that's i am just nothing but a little worm you know like it's amazing we record this every week but missaria the white worm that's a name that you don't like immediately think of right as as a good thing and we don't know whether or not that was encouraged to spread it might have been not encouraged to spread uh for that same reason so it kind of reminds me there of lord spider the white worm you know tyana of the tower is another one that has that big black reputation

and shira sea star as well yeah names have power as we see right or melisandre being called the red witch things like that like these if you know how to use it as we see that berries does actually it's the scarlet witch no i'm just kidding oh my god marvel i'm sorry here's fifty dollars uh so they should pay us she brings out the dagger and she says perhaps your birds will whisper its owner's name clever very clever cat various runs his thumb on the edge and blood wells on his thumb and he drops it with a squeal nothing holds an edge like valerian steel little finger says little finger says trying to be like but what about my edginess i know so many things because I'm edgy like the steel.

I will say, despite how much I'm talking up berries here, this is fucking dumb. Who runs their finger along the edge of the knife? Even if you are just checking if it's sharp or you're not sure if it's dull or not, that's the dumbest thing you can do. Don't run your finger along the fucking edge. If you really need

to check, use your nail or a piece of paper you know that said not to uh completely you know go against you here but it does remind me of a lot of those kind of tests in fantasy mythos of like to go further in a quest you have to make yourself bleed because the blood is magical to get you through the next thing or whatever sure also not that here but like in a way he's weakening himself in front of catalan to prove to her that he like i mean it's a blood oath right like this is like he he cut his finger to prove to her like oh a dagger i didn't realize how sharp that was going to be in little fingers like oh that's valerian steel you guys how did you not realize that various knows what valerian steel looks like so why would he do that it was purposeful if you bleed in front of someone you're weakened in front

of them it's vulnerability yeah it is absolutely an act and as we know various is all about putting on act but yeah if he did if it weren't an act right i'd be like you dumbass yeah i wonder if it's that supposed to if that's supposed to be the angle especially because little yeah seems to be playing like the knowledge here and various is playing dumb everything he's doing is like oh how's your son you know he's doing typical like small talk coded things you know that you'd get between some people that haven't seen each other and their kids in a while, where Littlefinger is kind of stoking the fire in the longer way,

adding the exposition in the other hand, like, oh, that's a Valyrian steel dagger you have there. Oh, Bran was killed by an assassin, or, you know, like, just like, he's adding the long form, yeah. Yeah, and I think that's a great point that Varys is trying to make himself seem weaker here because he's balancing it out right he did his show of power but then

he's he doesn't want to seem too untrustworthy so that he brings it back with that well someone else who's trying to i guess put on their own show of power, I guess, is Littlefinger. He flips the knife in the air, catches it with the other hand. He tells Catelyn, if you want to know the owner, you should just come to me because he's like, it's my knife. Again, nothing holds an edge like me, Littlefinger. Burying the lead again. there's this point also in this moment where little finger like throws the dagger across the room like over his shoulder or something like throws the dagger across the room and i'm like oh so little finger is the weeb who practiced the naruto like ninja throws this whole time thinking like yeah i'm gonna throw knives across the room that's gonna get catlin so wet and he's like totally thinking that yeah I'm gonna throw knives across the room that's gonna get Catelyn so wet and he's like totally thinking that

this move is gonna work for him right now and Catelyn's just like alright so who tried to kill my son then? If it's your knife? And he's like look at that Catelyn look at that. Listen the only knife play that really works well tonally is Asha Greyjoy and it always will be sorry little finger

you'll get upstaged in a book. Absolutely. Yeah. Until the tourney on Prince- Asha can get it. Oh yeah, Asha can get it all day long. From anyone. Okay. Until the tourney on Prince Joffrey's name day, Littlefinger was the owner,

again, buried the lead. Peter backed Jaime in the joust and Loras Tyrell unhorsed him he says many of them became much poorer the queen lost an emerald and he his knife the queen retrieved her emerald eventually but the knife was never returned the winner kept the rest yeah it's a great detail here that i actually really like i don't know if cersei actually deigns to gamble or not on in these tourneys Maybe she does if it's Jaime. But it's something that's thrown into this like little story that they're weaving together to sort of stir the pot of how Cersei's personality

is being built throughout this book until we finally actually come face to face with her in Ned's chapter in the Godswood. But perhaps it is to try to get catelyn to maybe believe the story better right by preying on her preconceived notions of cersei and her pride that like of everyone who lost something during that day cersei's the only one who got her emerald back that's a really big sign every single thing being laid here is to instigate against the lannisters from little finger very much so and we'll talk about it in a moment as we get to this end here, because the end of the chapter is

who, Catelyn demanded, her mouth dry with fear, her fingers ached with remembered pain. The imp, said Littlefinger, as Lord Varys watched her face. Tyrion Lannister. You fucker. All right. Hysterical

because Tyrion finally got Valyrian Steel before Tywin, first of all. Got him! But, and lost. Got and lost it before Tywin. Right. But that said, this is a lie. We are rereading these books. This is a lie.

We know that this is a lie. We know Varys is a lie uh we know various is actually covering this lie up uh tyrian would never bet against his brother and both of these men are covering that up they both know the truth about this like there's no way various doesn't know the truth of what happened with money changing hands and swords and daggers and jewels changing hands uh they both are instigating their ideas to push war between Lannister and Stark with different agendas, right?

Varys is pushing for his Targaryen master plan. Littlefinger is pushing his agenda to sow chaos, get back at Catelyn, slash get Catelyn back, slash get her daughter, slash get her daughter back. Ruin House Stark, right? Like for literary cuckolding, I guess. And all the embarrassment. But who knows?

Truly, the man is an enigma, a mystery. We may never know what he's out for. He's like a Tootsie Roll Pop. Exactly. You never know what you're going to get on the inside. One, two, three. Oh, God. These lies are not only about instigating the war but also there's a problem because if they tell the truth for whose dagger this is that's treason because it's robert's we

learned that later from tyrian it changed hands to robert in a clash of kings not to tyrian who lost it which is how of, Joffrey is able to send it from, you know, it's in the armory that came along with them. Yes. That dagger changed hands. I recall it now. Robert showed it to me that night at the feast. His grace loved to salt my wounds, especially when drunk. In Eddard IV's next chapter, Littlefinger plays with him in the absolute opposite way of all this, right? He says, oh, most likely the king didn't know. It wouldn't be the first time. Our good Robert has practiced at closing his eyes to things he wouldn't rather see. So with Catelyn, he removes it from the story. There is no Robert in the story that he's using to help instigate all of this.

But with Eddard, he completely knows that Robert is the button to push for him. What makes the mystery of the cat's paw dagger interesting isn't who sent the dagger. It's why Littlefinger lies about the dagger. It's complete happenstance and luck for Littlefinger that cat ends up coming across

the named Lannister, Tyrion, in this on the road, right? Like, had she not come across him, life would have gone on, she would have moved on, maybe everyone would be living and happy, we don't know, maybe not, probably not, but it's happenstance that this happens. Like, Littlefinger didn't play on that part, it's just his inflaming constantly of pushing the lannister lannister queen bad tyrian bad lannister finally paid off in a great way for him in clever luck and it happens again for ned and various right because various tells ned sir hugh was murdered by the lannisters and we accept that but i'm gonna be real with you gregor just kills people all the time. Like, for fun. Yeah.

He kills and assaults people all the time for fun. If you look at him the wrong way, he'll kill you. Without reason. It is so much more likely that Gregor just killed the guy because that's what he does than... I mean, I'm sorry, but there's not much controlling that guy. He does what he wants. Yeah, he just, like... He, like, kills the horse for no goddamn he does what he wants yeah he just like he like kills the horse for no goddamn reason you know he's just like i'm over this and yeah that's what he does and i think that there's other parts of the cat's paw dagger that are interesting in regards to how

it flushes out joffrey's character later on. But absolutely regarding, you know, why does Littlefinger lie about it and how effective it is? And as you said, the way that it plays on both Catelyn and Ned's preconceived ideas of the world. And I've heard before this question brought up a couple of times, right? Because why does Varys go along with this right

because surely varies does know who the dagger actually belongs to as you said it's not something he would forget so why does he permit little finger to get away with this lie and i mean the answer is the plot again that's that's a big part of the catlin's early chapters the plot is the reason things happen but the fact that varies chooses not to correct peter it's part of the catlin's early chapters the plot is the reason things happen but the fact that various chooses not to correct peter it's part of the strange like act that they've got going on here we know that they aren't actually working together in many ways right they both have their own ends but here for like a brief moment they're they're both kind of aligned and various needs to go along with what Littlefinger says.

In a way, they're sort of like casting this spell on Catelyn, right? Trying to, as you said, catch her in their net. And people constantly ask, why would Catelyn trust Peter? And for what it's worth, after the show that Veris puts on about knowing everything and impressing Catelyn, that

Veres doesn't dispute Littlefinger's version of the events of that tourney and to whom the dagger belongs, actually ends up, I think, lending Littlefinger's lie more credence. Yeah. It's very interesting because

I don't think that, I mean, I was just discussing this with my partner, that I don't think that i mean i was just discussing this with my partner that i don't think little finger and various will probably ever see each other again at this point in the story um i think little finger will die in the north be buried by the snows and i don't know that various is going to make it there maybe they will maybe they'll reunite at some point but it is nice to see them parallel in the story both working towards different ends but kind of being fine grinding next to each other because they have bigger opponents you know they're like i have bosses to deal with i'll come back to you peter and if you're still kicking then good let's fight it out if not and part of me always likes that

idea of like like i'm i'm not into the the tour theory for Sansa, you know, she's been with all the guys in order. I think it's clever, the Ashford tourney theory that Sansa has been with the dude or is going to be with slash married to each of the guys. And the last is Aegon. I know a lot of people took that to either mean fake Aegon or Jon Snow Aegon, whatever you want to go with. I'm not into that theory personally. Snow Agon, whatever you want to go with. I'm not into that theory personally. I used to, I like it for platonic

cute Johns-ness, but I'm not a Johns-a person per se, but I just like their friendship in the bad show, personally. But I don't know, I don't think they're going to come back together various in Littlefinger. I will say, I like the idea that so, to address both of what you said,

I believe Butterfly, right, from Aswath University, was the originator of the Ashford tourney theory. And Butterfly has also stated that the point of the theory was to point out that this might be the course that Sansa's story goes, but it's not about who Sansa ends up with, right? Butterfly said it's not like Sansa ends up with the targaryen at the end it's just these might be the different suitors because as we know from that we don't actually know from the ashford tourney that the lady ashford ends up with any of the suitors they're just suitors and that's how i feel about that um i feel similarly to that and regarding little finger and berries i i think it'd be interesting i agree they don't necessarily even need to meet even if they don't meet they're meeting on the battlefield on the physical plane they are though they are like they're chess pieces right they are still

battling one another from afar even if they never see each other in person and maybe that's more intimate for some people like them yeah and there is something interesting about the pattern of various's appearance in the story like he appears we first hear of him in eddard too and i didn't really think about this but he sent a rider to ned and robert with the report of daenerys's wedding to cal drogo oh that's some instigator fucking bullshit because immediately ned and robert to Ned and Robert with the report of Daenerys' wedding to Khal Drogo. Oh, that's some instigator fucking bullshit, because immediately Ned and Robert got tense over it. It's Varys that did that. Interesting.

Interesting. Yeah. And then we get this chapter, right? Catelyn IV, we get his on-page introduction, Lord Varys knows all. Peter says that Varys knows Peter is friends with Lysa, is another pointed thing so it's obvious like they know

each other's shit they're just not acting on it. Varys then introduces himself to Eddard in the council meeting plays the listening attentive informative man to him. He tells him about Lord Stannis leaving and Ser Barristan riding with the king and

Varys says, Our good king Robert has many cares. He entrusts some small matters to us to lighten the load. So that's his nice way of saying, Robert, don't do shit. Later, he comes back with Catelyn in that chapter, right? And Catelyn says of Varys to Ned, Ned says,

Does the eunuch know all of it? And she goes, Not from my lips. But we know he will know all of it? And she goes, not from my lips. But we know he will know all of it. Right? We know. He's pretty good. In Eddard 5, Varys shows back up as a character, right? Eddard is like

talking to Littlefinger and Littlefinger's like, hey, see that guy? That's Varys' guy. See that guy? That's Varys' guy too. I am so trustworthy, Ned. It's Catelyn's fault you died though. And Sansa's, bye. And Eddard V, Peter, also is like, here's all this info for free.

Good luck with it, Ed. Eddard VII, Varys comes to him and is like, your friend's doomed. Save the realm. Save the cheerleaders. Save the world. And then over Eddard XII, Ed 12 eddard 14 he comes in and out and gives some important news of comings and goings but then he shows up in sansa 5 at the

council where he manipulates with cersei with little finger to have sansa send the letter declaring her father a traitor eddard 15 he, comes to Ned, tells Ned to sacrifice himself for his kid, for the realm. You know, it was theoretical at first, but then it became real. Oops. Like his honor, yeah, just take the fall. Go to the north. Take the fall. And he is, we do see, as you and I

discussed a bit ago, he's in the Arya chapter, which, you know, we noticed that he and, of course, Illyrio are chatting and saying if one hand could disappear why not another so he was obviously plotting for something for Ned but in Arya 5 he is genuinely upset the crowd roared Arya felt the statue of Baelor rock as they surged against it the high septon clutched at the king's cape and Varys came rushing over, waving his arms. And even the queen was saying something to him, but Joffrey shook his head.

I mean, Varys went over waving his arms, right? Saying, no, no, no, no, no, do not kill him. Do not kill him. This is not in the master plan. Yeah, this is not master plan shit. This is not how I put the Targaryens in power. I need this fool. So after that, we finally get him in Tyrion's plot,

but we do not get him out of a Stark chapter until the end of Agat. He is fucking around with the Starks through Agat. All of them. Because he's trying to court Ned, right? He's trying to wound Ned into his side. No, in a way, yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah, no, all of them. Because he's trying to court Ned, right? He's trying to wound Ned into his side. No, in a way, yeah. I mean that.

Trying to court Ned is, again, new job applicant. He's like, oh my god, Joffrey, don't kill him. I'm about to send the offer letter. And, I mean, obviously that goes awry. And I do think that plays a big role in why in A Storm of Swords, Vierys and Jaime work together to free Tyrion.

Because Vierys is like, I learned my lesson last time. We are not taking risks. We are going to jailbreak my new candidate before he gets to the point where he might be executed. We're not taking the risk that he could be executed. No, I legitimately think that. I think so too. That's learning from your mistakes.'s wisdom with cleverness yeah i think little finger could really do with paying attention to various wisdom and cleverness i mean he does right he does pay attention it's just like in a different way for different reasons sporadically and with his hormones. Yep. So, Cap 4,

it's a loaded one. That was a loaded chapter. It is. It reveals so much. A loaded Chekhov's Dagger. Ooh. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I look forward, we're looking forward, we have the veil soon. You know, we have the inn next week. So much happens. And then we have,

the Inn at the Crossroads is next week. I don't, that's one of the most iconic moments I'm excited it is and I mean Kat goes so many places in this one book right you were talking about this when we started the

Kat chapters that she goes the most places and like she really just makes it all around yeah Arya and Kat actually pretty much beyond Daenerys obviously as the other obvious choice but Daenerys Arya and Kat actually pretty much, beyond Daenerys obviously, as the other obvious choice, but Daenerys, Arya, and Kat do the most traveling, I would say. Yeah, just well-traveled, get those frequent, I don't know. I mean, Daenerys goes through everywhere in book one, and it's real quick, and again, the same as how Catelyn chapters are kind of succinct to the point, all of these

chapters kind of are in the beginning. They're to the point, tell you what they need to know, and George really condenses the details of Daenerys casually traveling through the forest of Qohor in two lines. And he does that here with Cat. Yeah, absolutely. All of a sudden, here we are, boom, and now we're here, boom, and now we're back at the inn. And I do like that in Aegon. I think it keeps things moving along in the story moving along i think that's really important because you need to draw the readers into the first book if you're going to

write 18 books i mean 18 you say 18 i say 21 you know my god well that's Catlin 4 you know we again are still here we're in King's Landing haven't made it to all those other places yet but we hope that you will join us as we go around Westeros with Catlin if you want to let us know any of your thoughts

that we might get to next week you can let us know on social media at girls Gone Canon, C-A-N-O-N, on Twitter, or shoot us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com. Yeah, and don't forget to subscribe to us on a platform where you listen to podcasts. We are everywhere. Spotify, Google+, Apple, you know, iTunes, those podcasts, Amazon, Audible, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, you name it, you podcasts amazon audible iheart radio stitcher you name it you'll find us there or at podbean where we're hosted yes and of course we do have a patreon where if you subscribe to that you can also get access to our patreon feed where all of those episodes are as well as special episodes for patrons five dollars and up, the Stranger tier and above.

This month we are doing an episode again on the His Dark Materials missing episode that we lost due to COVID and next month we are going to be coming back with an A Song of Ice and Fire episode. Yes, be sure to stay tuned for that.

As always, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I i have been one of your hosts chloe and i have been another one of your hosts eliana see you next week they can't see us not the last week of april i don't know why i always say that they can't see us eliana not with that attitude not with that it's like berries and littlefinger they see each other's hearts from afar but on the battlefield do they maybe i don't know goodbye bye