Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 21 - AGOT Sansa IV/V

Episode Date: October 5, 2018

Thrust into a magical world where the line between truths and lies blurs more often than not, Sansa Stark begins to learn that life is not a song, and to use her courtesy as a shield.   intro by Anton Langhage   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    

hello my name is chloe and you're listening to girls gone canon episode 21 sansa 4 and Sansa 5. You can find me on the internet as at Liza Narber on Twitter and also on Tumblr, and as well as Drunk A Song of Ice and Fire History on YouTube and Podbean. And I'm Eliana. You probably know me as GlastableGirl

on the A Song of Ice and Fire subreddit, the MaesterMulti podcast, and as Arithmetric or Sailor Moon, whatever the fuck, on Twitter. That's you. That's me. That's me. So thank you so much, everyone.

And thank you for being patient this week while we had a few life changes. Yeah. Thank you so much, you guys, for being patient. I know, patrons, I'm so sorry we didn't get you your episodes early this week, but Eliana does have a little surprise for you, so hopefully you will see that soon.

She just made a face at me, but it was a loving face. But I moved to Philadelphia this week from the great north in Michigan. It's a crazy week. I moved, like, over Saturday. I packed up at 3 p.m., and I left by 8 p.m damn and then i was in philadelphia by noon and moved in by 2 p.m so in about a 25 hour span i moved to philadelphia so that was fun uh yeah so that's exciting though because it's a little bit closer to something that's happening next month, which is, of course, George R.R. Martin is going to be in Jersey City. The greatest city in the United States.

It's Word Bookstores in Brooklyn in Jersey City is presenting him at the Historic Lowe's Theater Monday, November 19th at 7.30 p.m. The doors are at 7 p.m. If you're like us nerds, you're going to be there probably earlier than that in line. Maybe some New York beers happening on the sidewalk. We don't know. But if you want to hang out, we're going. I know a lot of other people in the community are going. we're going. I know a lot of other people in the community are going. I'm excited, man. I feel like I moved right

at the right time. Literally the day after I moved was the announcement for this. You know, like I was just sitting there like, ah, this is a thing. George didn't announce it for you. He is doing this for you. I mean, sure, it's his home state. That's another fun thing. At Liza and Arbor, just

moved there. Yeah, he's like, I. That's another fun thing. At Lysen Arbor, just moved there. Yeah, he's like, I gotta get my ass back there. We have the sixth Sansa chapter left, and that's it, you guys. Then we're on to A Clash of Kings. I mean, of course, all the chapters are good. But just so you know, since this is our first time doing APOV that actually spans multiple books. This is what you can expect with next episode. First, we're going to cover Sansa 6. We're going to do an outro that sums up Sansa's story in A Game of Thrones because like, while this is a whole large series that is all like

one story, many of these characters do have a narrative arc or like plot arc or something that happens within one book and just within one of the legs of the story, if you will. So, of course, we're going to do that. And then we're going to pick up again with Sansa in A Clash of Kings by doing an overview of Sansa's story in Clash and then do A Clash of Kings Sansa 1. Yeah, that's in just a couple weeks so get excited for that. I'm really excited for it. I think that A Clash of Kings is one of the more underrated books in the series. I think it kind of surpasses Feast in some of those ways because I think Feast is very split where most people I don't know most people kind of assume Clash is kind of just like it's there. You know people i think people don't

go back to their roots enough they don't appreciate a game of thrones and clash and all this groundwork and different things that we've been reading so leading into something even more exciting we have an exciting idea for a patreon episode for you that are patrons of ours of Girls Gone Canon. Coming up in October, we've had, this took so long to decide. So if you're not a patron, this is one for the books. You will not want to miss out on this. It took 27 minutes of discourse for Eliana and I to decide. And of course, if you want to be a patron

that can get these special episodes, feel free to check it out at patreon.com slash girls gone canon sign up for the five dollar or above tier the stranger tier yeah it's stranger you know if you sign up for stranger or even thunder or chestnut like you know if i can go wild sign up for sweet foot resources you're gonna get this episode yeah actually our, our largest tier for Patreon, we do have a patron in it. Shout out to Hayden. Yes, thank you. If you're not into that yet, the biggest one we have, we do offer a $40 tier,

which, in my opinion, is ridiculous, but, you know, why not? We have some fun stuff coming out of it, though. You'll get a physical gift this year, along with a lot of other really big perks. So we will send you a gift around the holiday season, whatever you celebrate. But our episode for October, Eliana, would you like to tell them what it is? Yeah, this October,

we picked a very spoopy episode for you. And spoopy. And because, of course, Halloween is about putting on costumes, we're going to talk about the different disguises, or assumed identities, etc. in A Song of Ice and Fire. Get it? Because they're dressing up. Like, for Halloween?

Yeah, we're going to do identity! Woo! I think it's exciting spoopy it's it's it's a little spoopy but not super yeah absolutely and we still get to cover a few things there were a lot of ideas we were throwing around we were talking about like an episode on like fire whites and ice whites like john catalan barrack etc you name it, in A Song of Ice and Fire, or like, we were talking about the ghosts of Harrenhal, just talking about Harrenhal's history, but I think this is the one. We want to talk about identity of disguises, of costumes, of

people putting on a facade, just I think it's going to be a great episode. It's something I'm particularly really invested in. I might get a little too shiny tinfoil on it for Eliana's sake, but... It's gonna be great. Yeah, so, again, if you are not a patron of ours, and

high five, shout out to all of our patrons. You all know who you are. You're all sitting there whispering, get a job. And dad, no. And dad, no, definitely. And dog, locusts. I mean, I think that's just... We're particularly branded at this point, and it's because of you guys. Are we a cult? that's just, we're particularly branded at this point,

and it's because we're a cult. So yeah, we might be a cult. Thank you for being a part of our cult, you guys. We have a couple things to highlight in emails and tweets of note, and the first thing we want to highlight is shout out to ThisGreyArea on YouTube. If you haven't checked out her channel,

please give it a quick shout. We were recently on her Overwatch series on YouTube. If you haven't checked out her channel, please give it a quick shout. We were recently on her Overwatch series on YouTube discussing cripples, bastards, and brokens. And we had a blast. That was a lot of fun. It was so much fun. She's fun. Gray is fun.

We hadn't gotten to collaborate with her before, but it's always been in talks. And that was a blast. People have told us it was kind of like a slumber party, but's okay because that's like our thing i think i think we're all having a slumber party weekly with you right uh we also got a lovely itunes comment from our good friend phil and phil ters says when i was sore bes and friendless, hounded from my home and in peril of my life, Girls Gone Canon took me in and nourished me. Fun podcast that doesn't take itself too seriously and always promises a fun time. Phil Terzik makes us sound like Jesus.

After three days, they rose again to record a podcast. I love it. I love it. I love that. Thanks, Phil. That was fun. We did get a great comment from Styles of the Veil about our podcast saying, Hey, girls, I'm listening to your second Sansa episode. You mentioned how Jane had to leave the tourney because she had a weak stomach.

I thought it was interesting since she ultimately becomes false Arya. And as we know, Arya might be the most deadly character, female, maybe even including males. I haven't done a kill count. Not sure if it means anything or if George was planning on Jane being a fake Arya at this point, but I thought it was interesting. I agree. We have a lot to talk about with Jane Poole.

We have a whole Jane Poole segment today. So I think we're going to get launched into that really soon, but I love that. I love any Jane-focused analysis. Same. Jane, I was lobbying for it, but I don't know if I guess there's enough material, but I was like, what if we did a Jane episode? So, Jane Poole, this is a great email that's going to come into play soon, but first

the lightning round yeah, lightning round, Eliana, lead us in alright, so we start off with Eddard 12 Ned isolates Cersei in the Godswood after learning the truth of Jon Arryn's death Ned warns Cersei that he will be telling Robert

the truth after he returnsryn's death. Ned warns Cersei that he will be telling Robert the truth after he returns from hunting and gives Cersei a chance to save her children. And of course, since we cut out anything not really Stark-related in this lightning round, in Eddard XIII, King Robert returns from hunting on his deathbed done in by a boar. He has Ned write his will and declares Ned the regent. Ned writes a letter inviting Stannis to take the throne as the rightful heir, while his younger brother Renly tells Ned to seize the Baratheon children to keep power in the city. At the end of the chapter, Ned lays his trust in the wrong hands.

In cold hands. John 6. John's pretty miffed that he's been assigned to the stewards and not the rangers. Sam has to keep him grounded and remind him he's being groomed for command with Jeyar. They say their vows beyond the wall in front of the old gods, and Ghost brings home a rather icy trophy for his owner. It's a dead hand. Look at what I got you.

Wait, wait, wait. Ghost brings home a dead hand to John. You know who else is going to bring home a dead hand? Probably John from Howlin' Reed. Anyways, I have a very, you like that? That was pretty.

A dead hand. Is this foreshadowing of Ned? I think this is foreshadowing. Like, ghosts bringing a dead hand back to John right before Ned dies in a few chapters?

Yeah, that's foreshadowing. Whoa, my mind is blown. Thank you for this, Chloe. You're welcome, babe. Keep it up, hot stuff. I'll give you all the hot takes on this cast. In Etterd 14, we have a very simple summary. I think you all will know it very well if you've been with us from the beginning.

If not, you need to go back. You've got to listen to those Etterd chapters. Dad, no! Dad? Dad, no no it's not good it's not looking good for our protagonist then that brings us to aria 4 linus regardsman interrupt aria's dancing lesson led by marin trant and demanding the hand stutter sensing trouble sir trouble, Ciri offends them off while Arya escapes, but he pays with his life. Ciri, Ferell is dead. Don't at me.

Oh my god, he's so dead. In Sansa Stark 4, an overview, we return to our story with our princess stuck in a tower atop Maegor's Holdfast, much like our last princess in the story. Three days have gone by since Sansa snuck out and told the queen that her father was trying to ruin her life. Right? Summoned from house arrest, where she'd been shacked up with Jane Poole, Sansa is brought before the small council and told that her father's a traitor and her duty lies with the crown she's forced to send the queen's words to her family members

they came for sansa on the third day and of course sure this is our start to the chapter but this whole third day thing has some very religious vibes it's a you know he rose on the third day and i wonder if it's like channeling more about how ned stark dies for our sins yeah absolutely there's so much religious kind of imagery especially in a game of thrones uh there's a lot that we get into when you look at the three Kingsguard, something I've really thought about a lot is like the three wise men, just like what we get into with clash with Daenerys. So some very religious vibes.

Absolutely. Sansa dresses herself very carefully for meeting with Cersei and the rest of the small council. She wears a simple dress and it's made of dark gray wool and it's very plain cut, very simplistic. It's heavily embroidered with silver fastenings. It is, of course, reminiscent of the dress that Cersei wears later on when she's dealing with the Faith and she's trying to dress a little humbly. I think this is the right dress. Yeah, it's the same kind of idea. Sansa and Cersei both choose their outfits for the situation and the Faith dress that Cersei wears has some very light needlework on it.

It's high-collared. You know, it covers her bosom. It covers her neck. Jane has been confined with Sansa this whole time, but Sansa thinks Jane is being childish and useless. She's been crying about her father for three days, which, well, of course, that's a little depressing yeah how many days is sansa gonna cry over her dad you know yeah anyway sansa comforts jane once sansa's

buttoned into her dress which jane isn't apparently very helpful with and attempts to lighten her spirits and then jane just looks at sansa and begins to sob sanza again thinks jane is being so childish but she's ignoring something jane clearly understands everyone is dying outside of these doors sanza's clinging to the idea that if she dresses right and performs the proper courtesies everything's gonna turn out fine and her fairy tale world is not going to be ruined and we're gonna come back to this a little later in the episode but there's this interesting idea here that maturity the way that sans interprets it here in terms of being a lady is that idea of like not showing your emotions

and that means keeping your composure but obviously life's a little more complicated than that sansa recounts the first day of the slaughter, and she too had also wept. She was locked in the walls of her room in Maker's Holdfast, and she heard the sound of steel on steel, which is not new to her, but this was a new sound, because along with it are like shouts for help, moans, groans. It's not the only time in her story she's gonna have to hear that from outside her window. It's not the only time in her story she's going to have to hear that from outside her window. Curses, pain, and dying men. In the songs, the knights never screamed nor begged for mercy.

And of course, Sansa is kind of starting to learn this isn't the songs, but she's not really accepting it yet. The worst hits are yet to come. She pleads for the door, asking for her father, for Septimordain, for Joffrey, the king, whoever, and they don't answer. The only time the door opened was late that night when they thrust Jane Poole inside, bruised and shaken. They're killing everyone. The steward's daughter had shrieked at her. She went on and on. The hound had broken down her door with a war hammer, she said. There were bodies on the stairs of the Tower of the Hand, and the steps were slick with blood.

Sansa dried her own tears as she struggled to comfort her friend. They went to sleep in the same bed, cradled in each other's arms like sisters. They went to sleep in the same bed, cradled in each other's arms like sisters. So of course there's major Arianne vibes, the princess in the tower vibes, that no one's telling Sansa anything. She's asking and asking and no one's answering.

And of course there's the other vibe from this, which is a sad vibe, right? Like Sansa choosing Jane as her sister and struggling to comfort her and they go to sleep cradled up and curled up like sisters and it's sad because it also alludes to that that Jane is Arya kind of language as we've kind of already hit on a little bit yeah I think that's a great catch that Jane playing the role of Sansa's sister later on is what damns her. And of course, I personally think this is both an underrated line in the story and an iconic line. They're killing everyone. Just like Jane shrieking that. Yeah, we come back to it a little later, so I won't go too deep. But even later when we get a little more, because Sansa starts this chapter just like Ned starts his chapters, right?

In the thick of it, in the middle of everything that's been going on. We don't get exactly at the beginning the past three days, but by God, by the end of the chapter, we do. There's also, of course, this great imagery that's absolutely horrifying and tells you how bad the situation is there, that there are bodies on the stairs of the tower and that the steps are slick with blood. That's not a normal fairy tale, and Sansa's blocking that out in her tower. Yeah. The fighting ends, and Sansa and Jane are still confined in a tower in Maegor's Holdfast. There's this eerie silence that's washing over the Red Keep, and it's filled- The Red Keep is only filled by, like, armed Lannister guards who are walking the walls,

and also Jane sobbing, which, like, that sucks. The servants bring them really good food, though. I mean, like, it's the same thing every day, but it still sounds really good. And I'm into it. And then they also have clothing from the Tower of the Hand. But none of the servants speak to them. Also reminiscent of those Aryan vibes. Then Sansa says, please, I need to speak to the queen again, Sansa told them.

As she told everyone she saw that day, she'll want to talk to me. I know she will. Tell her. I want to speak to the queen again, Sansa told them. As she told everyone she saw that day, she'll want to talk to me, I know she will. Tell her I want to see her, please. If not the queen, then Prince Joffrey. If you'd be so kind, we're to marry when we're older. Yeah, it really reminds me of Ariane playing that card like we mentioned. And I mean, it just reminds me of, please tell the prince I want to see him about Doran.

It's very Ariane, very much so. I want to see him about Doran. It's very Arianne, very much so. Very good writing there on George's part. The second day of their capture, the bell rings and the king is dead. It fills Sansa with dread, and that's something we're definitely going to come back to when we get to some in A Storm of Swords. I love this quote, though. This is like one of the best quotes. The sound rumbled across the city like thunder, warning of the storm to come. That's Robert Baratheon's death that just rippled across the sky. Robert Baratheon, the storm king, right? The storm that comes once robert dies the war of the five kings all of it just it's a perfect line beautiful prose i love it yeah it's such a great way for him to go out

you know if you ignore all the other parts about him being gouged by like a boar but so that language is just awesome yeah and like the behavior and he you know he had his like shit together maybe this would have happened i don't know you know maybe i don't know i don't know if you let cersei win in the end like you lost yeah we'll get to that sansa tells jane what the bell's ringing means because she knows instinctually she wonders against hope if the fighting was against some enemy that is storming the castle to kill king robert yeah also though like this line i think of course this chapter is very frustrating for many people because we learned that

sansa ran to cersei but we also see that sansa in this moment that's very clever she doesn't actually know no one's told her what it means when the bells ring no one's told her that that means that the king is dead but she connects it because she has this really great intuition and is very good at finding those connections and at first this seems kind of unimpressive like yeah you're whatever but this skill of hers hones becomes more honed and you're going to see it more of course in a feast for crows when she pieces together that collaboration between little finger and lynn corbray yeah and of course her behavior towards jane where she acts like she's an upper intellectual that she understands high society and jane probably does not and she's just trying to play

things off like they're fine sansa ends up becoming Jane after this instance in the end like you mentioned like how many times does Sansa cry about her father's death no one is telling her what's happening and her first thought is to worry about King Joffrey and of course about her father that night she dreams of Joffrey as the king and she has queen in woven gold and that everyone comes and they must bow to her and give her her courtesies it's a very selfish pre-teen dream there's no way else to really describe it and that's what her subconscious is telling her her subconscious is warning her saying girl, open your eyes, little girl. I wonder if this is a remnant of the old... Oh, yeah.

Well, I guess not. Yeah, the old outline, like, where Sansa was going to be married to Joffrey. It totally is. Yeah. As you all know, this doesn't happen. Boros Blount, though, he does take her to the Queen the next day, happen. Boros Blount, though, he does take her to the queen the next day and this absolutely incredibly nauseating scene happens and plays out. It's awful. Sansa extends her courtesies to Boros Blount, though, and he returns them to her kind of flatly, kind of lackluster.

You know, he's Boros Blount. What do you expect from a man named Boris Blount? Yeah, he's a total hedgehog, first off. Callback. Secondly, though, it really bums me out, that scene, because as we know, Boris Blount isn't some valiant knight, right? And Sansa thinks that, you know, this is all courtesies and that if she is good and she is courteous, it will all be fine. Everything will turn out fine. And she literally like breathes in and she says the nicest thing to this ugly dude. Like she even thinks he's so ugly and he's just like an asshole to her. Everyone regards Sansa as a stupid young girl when she's just trying to figure out

how to play. And Boros's white cloak is actually clasped with a lion brooch in this scene, which is totally the first sign telling us the power of the city has shifted, right? She forces herself to smile at the Lannister guards that are at her door as well, which, sign of Lannister power. Because, of course, there are no more Stark guards left in the Tower of the Hand to defend her. And Sansa recalls that the two days passed, like, when Cersei had, like, Cersei had

Ahri's Oakheart, remember him? Lead her to the Tower. And Cersei claims that it was actually for Sansa's safety. And she's like, I don't know, dude. Sansa expects to go to the royal apartment, but instead Boros takes her out of the hold fast and she's cringing away from the iron spikes below the bridge and because she's afraid that

if she looks down she might see someone that she knows she's afraid to she's afraid to see the truth absolutely and there's something interesting here that Cersei while she has gotten rid of you know the Starks basically like she's fixed that problem. She knows it's about to come to a close one way or another. She's surrounded by people loyal to Robert. All Cersei has are these upjumped knights and different people that end up eventually joining onto her powers. So the fact that we see the Lannister power circling around and that the white knights, she can't dismiss them. It's very interesting. Cersei, while she seems like she's one up on everyone at the same time, she's

kind of, her defenses are lowered. She's not, she may have somewhat won the situation by birthing Joffrey, but there's still some obstacles in her way, which we'll go into in the next chapter. I love the line that Sansa is looking down at those iron spikes and just remembers it it reminds me of Sansa you know in Sandor's scene in after the turning when he tells her to look at me look at me and there's something that I'm totally going to go into probably in the next couple uh chapters maybe in a clash of king of some phantom of the opera parallels with Sandor, because it's just been a while.

Yeah, I've never thought about this Phantom of the Opera connection before. I guess I've only like seen or read, not read, seen Phantom of the Opera a few times. Boros Blanto

takes Sansa to the council chamber and she thinks that oh the council chamber is exquisite and sansa's just blown away by the majesty of it and it's kind of funny because we didn't really hear about the council chamber being so fucking awesome in that chapter he's like oh i hate being here yeah it's it's really interesting because it shows sansa's want to be a part of the southern politics and culture and how Southern politics and culture have rejected her so far. We talk a lot about how Sansa is Ned's daughter for sure, but she does have some of those Catalan aspects and this is an aspect for sure. The Southern culture and her subscribing to it ends up rejecting her. Her intrigue in this room is just,

it's a room that has scrolls and candles and some statues lying about. It's something that shows her desire to be in that room where it happens, where the magic happens. It's not just the iron throne and a golden woven dress for her, right? Like for Sansa, this is court life.

This is the life that she thought she was being trained for. And she's met with that life snapping at her neck at her throat it's a seat at the table where the laws are made for sansa it's those parchments just lying everywhere and her reading them like that's good enough we're met with the small council. Baelish, Pycelle, Varys, and Cersei is what's left. All of them wear black to mourn the king, and Cersei's dress is, of course, the most dramatic and the most ironic in a way. While everyone is wearing black, Cersei's is just cut kind of ridiculously with a high collar, black silk, red teardrop shaped rubies sewn against her neck and bosom.

Sansa remarks it looks almost as if she were weeping blood. And if Cersei's dress is weeping blood, it could suggest really seeing through the entire facade of her mourning, right? Cersei smiles and Sansa thinks it's sad and sweet, Cersei smiles and Sansa thinks it's sad and sweet, which of course we know is her helping to appear more sympathetic to Sansa and a little bit more manipulating her. She feeds Sansa a line of bullshit about how, sorry I didn't come get you the past couple days, I had to murder the entire castle, which, you know,

she says it nicely and without the murder bits. They're killing everyone. Cersei is, I'm sorry sorry when i think of this i think of like i don't know some sort of like hard metal music going on like we are crying blood or not metal music i don't know evanescence or some shit and what i am also getting out of this wardrobe that cersei is wearing is shades of Rhaegar Targaryen and the armor that he wore at the Trident. I don't think it means anything, but it's interesting that these are the colors that she's chosen, that she has these rubies woven onto her black dress. Yeah, for sure. Sansa then tells Cersei though

that like at least she's been treated well and that no one will tell us what's happening and Cersei's just like hold up I'm sorry us what the fuck is us whomst whomst it of whomst it of

oh whomst us Boros totally is like sheepish. He's like, oh, yeah, the steward's girl is with them. That one girl. We couldn't kill the young girl. She's with them.

And Cersei is like, next time you will ask, she said, her voice sharp. The gods only know what sort of tales she's been filling Sansa's head with. Jane's scared, Sansa said. She won't stop crying. I promised her I'd ask if she could see her father. All of the adults in the room, like, they look away at this scene. It gets kind of awkward. No one responds.

Sansa asks if Jane's dad is cool, if if he's fine and thinks no one would harm a steward veon pool didn't even wear a sword dude he was helpless he was slain and they they killed him he was helpless dude fuck the lannisters you know like fuck fuck fuck a lannister fuck them fuck them i don't even give a fuck about the lannisters yeah they ain't shit fuck a Lannister fuck them fuck them I don't even give a fuck about the Lannisters yeah they ain't shit fuck a Lannister Tyrion whatever Jaime whatever Cersei whatever fuck them fuck a Lannister I said what I said it's just as you said Van Poole was absolutely helpless he had nothing to do with all this it's to quote Jorah Mormont but you know sansa here is thinking that vanpool doesn't have any power he's not a pawn he's not part of this whole game and therefore everyone's a pawn sansa yeah

from pawn to player though later on but you know anyways so vanpool's not part of this and she thinks that he should be left alone but the truth is that when you are lowborn and you are again caught in the game that the high lords play you are the lowborn are the one who suffer most and we're gonna see that a lot when we come to clash um not necessarily in sansa storyline but it is absolutely a running thing throughout a clash of kings it runs throughout a feast for crows and veon pool is one of the first examples of that to someone whose life has been built on these stories and dreams and this idea of what fairness and justice is or should be and finding out it's not worse than that house pool is built on that absolutely built on the starks and on the stark' fairness and on their rise to power. And when the Starks fall, House Poole falls even harder.

Cersei plays her devilishly clever scheme that could only ever go over the head of an 11-year-old, of course. And in the end, it really doesn't, right? Sansa operates on the honor system, just like her dad, as we learn. And Cersei then asks the council so what should we do about jane pool because we can't have jane upsetting sansa and in this moment little finger says that he will take care of it so what does that really mean to us readers we know exactly what this means. This is the government pawning Jane off on one of their consultants, and she gets trafficked into sex slavery and sold to the Boltons eventually. Cersei tells Littlefinger to take care of it and to not keep her in the city.

So each time that you read this chapter, I want you to think of Jane Poole, of her cowering skinny and ragged in her pelts in Winterfell, cold. I was never beautiful like Sansa, but they all said I was pretty. Jane's entire life has led to this moment. For her, much like Theon Greyjoy, to be a Stark, something she could never be, living as nothing but a steward's daughter. Each lash on Jane's back reminds me of the corrupt, disgusting politicians, right? Who can't even own up to the crime they've committed, yet easily can endanger innocent people to keep blood off of their hands. If you are listening to this podcast and you think Littlefinger is cool or flashy or edgy,

I know a lot of people that just like are like, I think Littlefinger is great and he should be on the throne. And I don't, I don't get you, dude. Like, think again. He sold a young girl age 11, 12 into sex slavery, right? To be assaulted in every manner. And she was sold again once more for worse to the Boltons. Like, what was it for in the end? We see contrasts of this in future Arya chapters. If you haven't read the Winds of Winter sample chapter, Mercy, you won't know, but close your ears. Arya herself begins to hone kind of a small amount of her sexuality and agency as a 12 year old, 11 year old, something Jane Poole has never had, not even once and never will. Poor Jane, right? If you think Cersei and Peter aren't going to die a gruesome death, you're wrong. They are literally supposed to be these corrupt, corrupt politicians,

these political figures. The mindless ignorance they exhibit in this scene is unbearable. In the background, you could just hear Sansa's, when I am queen, I'll make them love me from the Blackwater, right? Ever so softly chiming in. It's the hope in a better world. It's a more just world. It comes from these kids on these pages that we're seeing.

Absolutely agreed. I mean, just like rereading these scenes and keeping in mind what happens to jane and you know you brought up some of those wins chapters if you haven't read the wins chapters cover your ears but like even when jane's finally rescued she doesn't get to be jane she has to be she has to keep pretending to be aria because no one's gonna fucking care about her if she's not like Theon tells her you gotta you gotta keep telling people that you're Arya Stark because otherwise you're gonna get just dumped out in the snow and if you reread the scene that it's not even just like it's the moral bankruptcy of these adults discussing how they're going to move this little girl this

child and just traffic her like what happens to jane pool isn't just i mean yeah it's sex slavery when little finger brings her to be married off to ramsey he's all like oh it's fine i've trained her well and then you just have these scars on her back the adults are talking about jane like she's an annoyance like this is nothing to them they're talking about her like oh yes we're going to pair these nice lacy napkins with the plates that's how they're talking about jane like she's nothing and i don't know some every now and then i people see people bring up this line from the show which just goes to show how utterly different cersei's character is and she's all like everyone in the world they

hurt little girls like cersei lannister is absolutely a part of this system she's not doing a damn thing to dismantle it here she is selling jane pool into sex slavery and human trafficking because it is inconvenient for her to have jane pool there just like reread it it's it's a nauseating scene like just thinking about what's going on what they're talking about in the background and what happens to jane and of course sansa's so young she just she doesn't understand right she just keeps asking where jane's dad is and why boros won't take her to her father instead of Peter's apartments. And Sansa really stands up to this, even though she doesn't understand it.

She's 11. She doesn't have that knowledge. She doesn't know that that happens in this world. Did you know when you were 11? You just knew that your parents said to you, don't talk to strangers. You could get kidnapped by bad people, like, that's all you knew. You didn't understand as a teenager or an 11-year-old, you didn't think to yourself, like, oh, like, I could get sex trafficked and put into a sex ring and then married to a guy and then he's gonna abuse me and make me fuck his dog. Like, you don't think that

when you're 11, obviously, but that's kind of, like, like sansa at least tried even though she didn't understand it and they tried to get and they told jane to come with her and they give her this like small inkling of hope because now they know because sansa's just like uh yo where is jane's dad and they're like just tell jane that you're going to take her to go see her father and like for a second she thinks she's going to see safety and then after that she just has a life of pain jane jane rhymes with yeah i didn't even think about that and i was like all right yep that is what now that we're nice and depressed welcome to girls gone canon girls gone sad joole deserved better. Let her finish her blunt. She did. Let Jane Poole finish her blunt.

Sir Boros Blunt. Ew. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And then, so Sansa says, she had promised herself she would be a lady gentle as the queen and strong as her mother the lady catlin but all of a sudden she was scared again for a second she

thought she might cry where are you sending her she hasn't done anything she's a good girl she's upset you the queen said gently we can't be having that not another word now lord balish will see that jane's well taken care of i promise you she patted the chair beside her this i don't know this line is absolutely indicative of course of sansa's worldview life is fair only those who have done bad are punished this idea of like she hasn't done anything she's a good girl and those who are good like jane who haven't done anything wrong they will be rewarded or nothing bad will happen to them. And that's not how this works, right?

Like, people constantly say, like, Sansa did nothing to help Jane pool. They just took her. But, like, what? Did you just read this chapter? Sansa did a very brave thing for an 11-year-old girl who made a mistake. It is all alone with the queen, the evil queen, and her companions, right? Like, the recession is probably Sansa's fault as well, if you didn't know it. Like, Cersei is manipulative.

Like, Cersei had the power to manipulate Ned. Why is it so surprising she has the power to manipulate an 11-year-old girl who idolizes queens? For sure. And like, they reassured Sansa. And also, you have to think that there isn't anything Sansa could do. She couldn't do anything. And this entire chapter, the next chapter, is very much highlighting the powerlessness that Sansa has in a king's landing she's an 11 year old girl she has no political power and she's going to be forced to do whatever they want her

to do not as brutally as Jane is forced of course but what what can she do other than try and survive? Yeah, Sansa's survivalist instincts are very big here. Cersei uses Joffrey and her own love for Sansa to manipulate her about her dad's treason, and she also uses very soft and floral language while she does so. And we've talked about this in previous episodes, but, like, being an adolescent is fucking hard, dude, like, Cersei's absolutely manipulating Sansa's adolescent desire to be accepted, that desire to be loved, and look at how she couches this entire scene, she's like, I do hope you know how much Joffrey and I love you, and Sansa's absolutely silent, she's like, you do? Because she doesn't fucking know, like know like these past few weeks sansa hasn't felt that loved like her dad's not being been paying any attention to her

he like killed her fucking dog like that doesn't feel very loving of course and her sister and she haven't like necessarily gotten along like she's even been at odds with septimordane who's been punishing her for the way she's been acting and like sansa has jane right and then all of a sudden this beautiful queen that sansa is idolizing this queen who's everything that sansa thinks a song should be everything that sansa like wants to be tells her that the prince the prince and she loves sansa that she thinks of sansa like a daughter and sansa who hasn't been as close to her father the past week sansa who was away from her mother whom you see just now she thinks strong like her the lady Catelyn she's far from her

mother and having someone to be that figure for her is so enticing and they all tell her that she has to be brave you must be brave child like a brave young girl would support the crown and be loyal to the crown. Sansa immediately defends Ned. She says he would never steal the throne from Joffrey. She tells him there has to have been a mistake. Robert was his friend. Cersei, of course, then holds Sansa's

being the daughter of a traitor over her head against her marriage to Joffrey and the puppet strings easily play. Sansa's wailing. She's like, I love Joffrey! I love him! Same. I feel it. I feel that. I do, dude. Also, I mentioned this, like, the other night. Like, reading Joffrey's name so many times throughout these chapters,

I just keep reading it, like, in my head as Joffey. Like, I'm just hearing Tom and go, Joffey! And I know, know right it makes it like so much more enjoyable circe claims though that she like knows that why else like would told circe of ned's plans if not for her love for joffrey and sansa goes it was for love sansa said in a rush father wouldn't even give me leave to say farewell. She was the good girl, the obedient girl. But she had felt as wicked as Arya that morning, sneaking away from Septimordain, defying her lord father.

She'd never done anything so willful before. She would have never done it then if she hadn't loved Joffrey as much as she did. Which is ultimately, like, this is the ultimate progression of a teenage rebellion kind of flatline, or like preteen rebellion. Like, I remember doing things that I knew my parents wouldn't approve of, and her thought process begins to outline what happened. She wanted to tell the king that Ned wouldn't let her say goodbye to Joffrey and that he was sending them home, but the king scared her, so she told Cersei, who had been gentle and sweet as any good mother could be to her. And I'd be mad if, like, this whole scene of Sansa sneaking out to get strawberry tarts or something was supposed to be foreshadowing for all this because, like, the language is similar, where she's like, I felt as wicked as aria but also i want to just say that like sansa didn't tend to tell robert but maybe if robert hadn't been

such a oh i was gonna say such a shitty drunk maybe i don't know like he wasn't accessible or warm anymore. It's so different from the Robert earlier, you know, pre-rebellion and stuff, where people were like, oh, yeah, he's so great, he was so charming, and everyone fucking loved him. Now, like, the little girls who idolize the songs that Robert used to be are like, uh, yeah, no, he's super scary. It is weird to think of him like that when you know he's not capable of anything like that the council keeps discussing that the traitor's blood is in sansa and that

aria had even set her own wolf on joffrey there's no way sansa could remain loyal to the crown which of course now now we know sansa would probably murder the hell out of the crown if she had the chance. Yeah, but I mean, it's their fault. And also, I just want to keep coming back to this chapter, but I just want to rip Pycelle's beard off of his face here. Not just rip, just pluck it out strand by strand. Have you ever plucked out your eyebrows? And it doesn't feel good plucking your hair out but i just want to do that because paisele's being so awful to sanza in the scene and like the next few chapters he won't shut

up every single time something happens he's like oh but the traitor's blood runs through her right like shut up paisele i know leave her alone. You're so dumb. Circe then finally thinks that, like, if Sansa, though, can be able to get her kin to be loyal, then the fears that the small council feels about Sansa could be deemed unnecessary. Just if. So, of course, Sansa is manipulated into writing to her family and it's so messed up. The adults talk about her like she's

not there. The words they say say so much more like Peter saying that they should be concerned about the Tullys yada yada. They're practically making half-assed war plans out loud without using the word war or 100% planning it. And they're also just spinning circles around her, just these adults to a child.

The queen took Sansa's hand in both of hers. Child, do you know your letters? Sansa nodded nervously. She could read and write better than any of her brothers, although she was hopeless at some. I'm pleased to hear that. Perhaps there is hope for you and Joffrey still. What do you want me to do? You must write your lady mother and your brother the eldest, dot dot dot.

Then Littlefinger takes his time because they're like, oh, but there's three sons. And Littlefinger's like, oh, yes, Catelyn. Yes, Catelyn, of, but there's three sons. And Littlefinger's like, oh, yes, Catelyn. Yes, Catelyn, of course. She has three sons. And just a few paragraphs ago, he's like, actually, does she have her father's traitorous blood? Because Sansa looks a lot more like Catelyn. And it's a very, it's a little subtle, but his obsession with Catelyn is just starting to come through in this passage. Like, you know how, like, he just won't shut the fuck up about her.

Like, how some people don't shut the fuck up about people that they're into. They're like, oh yeah, but like trying to bring them into every conversation. I almost wonder if in a way he was trying to set groundwork for that. If Catelyn decided to not, you know, remain loyal to her husband, that there would be a place for her to come back and swear fealty. And he could be like, well, you should marry me and now I'll be married to Catelyn Tully. I do think that that is part of what's going on here yeah because we see him do that a few times later on and then he moves to sansa after she dies oh so gross cersei tells sansa that she needs to write to her

relatives that she's well and being treated well and she wants for nothing and that they must come to king's landing to swear their fealty to joffrey and that when she flowers she will wed the king sansa hesitates and said asks can i speak with my father though and then cersei immediately goes sour on her she like becomes hard and mean and she's like sansa you've disappointed me and sansa being a small girl she like feels tears welling up and says that she only wanted to know that ned was well and that he was harmed fucked up yeah grandmeister paisal tells her that joffrey will decide his fate but sansa thinks oh i i must i must plead to the king joffffrey loves me. The queen says so. He'd never hurt Ned if she

asked. So, of course, there's this line that only if mother or Rob did anything treasonous, calling the banners or refused to swear fealty or anything, it could go all wrong. Her Joffrey was good and kind. She knew it in her heart, but a king had to be stem with rebels. A king had to be stern with rebels. She had to make them understand. She had to. She writes four letters. One to her mother, one to her brothers, one to her grandfather, Hoster, and one to her aunt, Liza.

These are all major political players, and she hasn't, I don't know if she's ever met Hoster or Liza, but I guess they're like, you know, whatever, they'll probably know her handwriting, I don't know. It's also worth pointing out that in this desperation that the small council

and Cersei have just planted in Sansa, her hand is just sore after writing all of these letters, it's stained with ink, but she just powered after writing all of these letters stained with ink. But she just powered through writing all of them anyway because she's so worried that it could all go wrong. And it isn't necessarily in this moment about her hope to marry Joffrey. She's worried about her family being branded as rebels and what's going to happen to them if they are. Though, of course, she doesn't understand the full danger of the situation yet.

But she's just beginning to because small council's been just talking circles around her yeah she like she gets what it means for her if they don't swear fealty but she really hasn't wrapped her head around kind of the brevity of it all yeah she understands that they could be punished she doesn't understand that they will be killed that's and she doesn't want them to be punished which is part of i think why she's like it would all go wrong and is worried about them yeah all of these letters were sealed with her father's seal that they had kept and by the time mandan moore returns her to maegor's hold fast jane is already gone she thinks pretty favorably on oh thank god no more sobs from Jane Poole.

But at the same time, she feels colder without her there, even after she builds a fire. This is some great writing from George, just calling that out of like showing how Sansa feels scared and alone by talking about the temperature and feeling, physical feeling rather than telling us. Yeah, I love that. and feeling, physical feeling, rather than telling us. Yeah, I love that. She then does a very Sansa thing, and she pulls out stories to keep her comfort, and she reads on Florian and Jonquil, Shella and the Rainbow Knight,

and Prince Aemon and his brother's queen. And I just want to call this out here, because I tried to figure this out. I'm like, who the fuck is Lady Shella and the Rainbow Knight? Like, literally, this is the only time we've ever heard about them these are the important questions i am telling you who is lady shella and the rainbow knight yeah the only that's literally the only feature of that story in a song of ice and fire there's no one else the only other time we hear about the rainbow knights is of course course, the Rainbow Knights, the Rainbow Guard, for Runley and for Queen Margaery.

They seem very different in, like, present day and not in a storybook. Sansa then realizes as she's drifting off to sleep that, oh, she forgot to ask about Arya. I don't think that was like a purposeful ask. I mean, she had a pretty full plate of court, but it is kind of that telling of like sisters growing apart in a way, right? Mm-hmm. Physically and literally. That looks great. Yeah, there's that. She just was bombarded with a lot of information

and a lot of decisions she suddenly had to make yeah absa fucking lutely dude absolutely yeah um and that wraps up sansa four and a sansa five but first our lightning round John 7 two of the rangers that went north with Benjen are found and there's something odd about their bodies news of the king's death reaches Castle Black and John learns Ned has been

charged with treason late at dinner Alistair Thorne takes his mocking a step too far and John attacks him John saves the lord commander though from a reanimated corpse of one of the dead rangers. In Bran 6, Bran welcomes the Karstarks into Winterfell and prays in the Godswood. Osha tells him about the old gods and the others, and how Robb is marching in the wrong direction. Bran tells Maester Luwin this advice, but Robb still marches south.

Speaking of Robb marching south, in Catelyn VIII, the Blackfish and Catelyn arrive at Moat Cailin, and they are trying to figure out the fastest way that they're going to take their troops to King's Landing. So Catelyn speaks with her son Robb, and she warns him about the need and the price of using the crossing watched by House Frey.

And then she also thinks a little bit and notices about Robb's shitty 16-year-old peach fuzz, And the price of using the crossing watched by House Frey. And then she also thinks a little bit and notices about Rob's shitty 16-year-old peach fuzz, a.k.a. puke beard. I just want everyone to take this moment while we're thinking about being a teenager and adolescence. Remember all those shitty beards? Rob had one. Yeah, that boys thought were cool. A boy is poison. yeah that boys thought were cool a boy is poison um so in sansa stark five an overview joffrey holds court for the first time as the protector of the seven kingdoms and calls for the noble houses to pledge their fealty to him the small council announces some changes in their

lineup right in lands and knighthoods. Barristan's out, the Hound is in, and just a few other minor betrayals. Sansa begs for mercy for her father, and Joffrey says he will be merciful if Ned will confess his treason and name Joffrey the King. And so, Sansa 5. Now that Robert has died, his hunting tapestries have been taken down, which I've never noticed that this is a chapter where they actually mention that the first time and it's actually very great because the next time that they really are relevant into this story come back into play is through Sansa's storyline when Littlefinger asks for them from King's Landing when he's in

the Vale I'm interested to see how that storyline pays off honestly me too me too the nestor royce thing is like very interesting to me i love the veil i love its history the battle of the seven stars so good sansa is free to roam the castle but she's always guarded cersei calls them her honor guard but sansa doesn't exactly feel honored right sansa is basically a glorified prisoner, a rat in a cage. She is unable to leave because of Jano Slynt's guards. She's not sure where she would go anyways, though. Yeah, I mean I guess

she goes to the godswood because as she says, since the Starks kept the old gods, which I think is a step showing Sansa's journey back towards Starkdom. Yeah, home. Oh, Winterfell. This is, of course, right before stop showing sansa's journey back towards home start dumb yeah home home oh winter fell this is of course right before joffrey's first court session which there are no small folk at this session yeah and this is interesting in contrast to another court session that we saw

that sansa also saw which might be why she notices this, where Ned's like, oh, I don't want Sansa here. But the one that Ned held where we find out about Gregor Clegane laying waste and the Lannister forces laying waste to the Riverlands, that had a lot of small folk giving their testimony. Yeah, it speaks into the new Lannister regime too, that we're seeing only red and gold striping the halls. I also want to point out that usually i guess there are hundreds of guards right in this hall guarding the king but right now there are no more than 20 men 20 lords by joffrey 20 good men just 20 20 good men enough to enough to ravage an entire army in the north. So in attendance at this meeting that we see for sure is Jalavar Jo, Aaron Santagar, Horace and Slobber Redwine, Lord Guile, Sir Dantos, and Sir Balin Swan. And most of them are just pretending not to know Sansa.

There are also many faces that are missing from the crowd that are friendly faces to Sansa and she notes them as well. It was as if she had become a ghost, dead before her time. I don't like theories that say that Sansa is going to die within the span of these books.

Because they're wrong. There is similar language though here to the way that Lyanna has been described. Beautiful, beautiful willful and dead before her time i do want to say that in the last chapter we had her thinking about sneaking to cersei and telling her what her dad had said and that she felt willful during that time so i do think it really ties into that two halves of a whole thing with aa, her equaling Lyanna. The small council are there again, Pycelle, Baelish, and Varys. And of course, when Baelish enters the room, Sansa begins to feel fear, and she tells herself she mustn't be afraid.

Yeah, because Baelish is creepy AF. but of course this parallels aria's chapters especially the one like right before sansa 4 where aria's mantra becomes fear cuts deeper than swords as opposed to the not today which is also a very well done and classic choice from the show but it contrasts again those lessons that the boys learn like the girls tell themselves not to feel fear and to steal themselves but because of ned telling his sons that a man is courageous when he feels afraid and acts despite that that's true bravery so the boys kind of learn i think to accept their own feelings of fear while the girls learn to try to ignore it or stuff it down yeah it's total overarching meta on being a female am i right it like, taught to, like, ignore all these warning signs. And Baelish is giving off so many warning signs. Oh, God.

Get a job. Get a job. Get a job. Get a job! Okay. Varys and Selmy leads the Kingsguard into the room, followed by Aerys Oakheart, who escorts Cersei, then Boros Blount, besides Joffrey. All the Kingsguard, minus Jaime, are actually there.

Joff wore plush black velvets slashed with a crimson, a shimmering cloth of gold cape with a high collar, and on his head, a golden crown crusted with rubies and black diamonds. Okay, it's my turn to have a fashion hour. I'm doing it. Okay, get it. So again, we get some of these regari vibes i think with like this color combination of the black and the red but what i want to talk about here for a moment is like what joff is actually wearing because this is something that i thought was really interesting that idea of the velvet slash with crimson and it doesn't just mean like oh look it's like got a splash of red

he's like got these like red accents here because i think that in this line when george talks about that he's drawing inspiration from actual renaissance era clothing which like take that all like the it's medieval europe okay sure medieval europe preceded the renaissance and this is kind of at the cusp but whatever it's renaissance clothing we have renaissance painting methods to chronicle this fashion anyway i'm gonna get off my soapbox and get on a different one right now that slashing was a specific fashion trend that was popularized in the mid 1400s it's like this decorative technique where people would actually wear like multiple layers of clothing because you know we style in and the top layer was slashed and by that i mean they literally cut the cloth so that the layers

beneath would show through and what they would do is they would take some of those under like those under layers and garments and they would just kind of pull them through a little through the cuts and stuff and this of course is partially a status symbol it shows that they can like afford all these like layers of clothing to wear it but it's like a sartorial statement i mean like why does anyone fashion and this technique yeah why does anyone fashion the technique was introduced by actually interesting history the swiss army troops that after the defeat of charles the bold of burgundy and the swiss troops they took scraps of like the tents and the Swiss troops, they took scraps of, like, the tents and the banners, and they would thread them through the holes in their own garments, and this showed that it wasn't, like, solely, like, the, an upper class trend. It actually started out amongst more

lower classes before making its way up, kind of, like, grunge, you know, and so with that image in mind, because this is a reread, I think you can see kind of like echoes of the Tower Prince and even Vance Raider. I don't know if it means anything, but just saying like hashtag real fashion. Fun times. Oh my God. Marc Jacobs. Not Marc Jacobs. What?

Gucci. What? Joff says this thing about how it's his duty to punish the disloyal and reward the true, which is not his job. It's not for him, first off. And Pycelle acts super fancy as he reads aloud the decrees that Joffrey has issued. He reads a parchment and calls forth many names, asking them to swear fealty. The names he read made Sansa hold her breath. Lord Stannis, Lord Baratheon, his lady wife, his daughter. Lord Renly Baratheon,

both Lord Royces and their sons, Sir Loras Tyrell, Lord Mace Tyrell, his brothers, uncles, and sons, the Red Priests, Thoros Amir, Beric Dondarrion, Lady Lysa Arryn and her son, the little Robert, Lord Hoster Tully, his brother, Sir Brendan, his son, Sir Edomir, Lord Jason Malister, Lord Bryce Caron of the Marches, Lord Titus Blackwood, Lord Walder Frey, and his heir, Sir Steverin, Lord Carl Vance, Lord Jonas Bracken, Lady Shallow Wendt, Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, and all his sons, so many, she thought, as Pycelle read on and on. It will take a whole flock of hens to send out these commands. I just want to quickly say that it's funny here that it just says Prince of Dorne and all his sons.

It just shows how little respect they have for women in King's Landing and that they just don't understand Dornish culture because it should say Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, and all his children. Yeah. Because Arian Martell, of course, will be Princess of Dorne. Yep. Absolutely. And these names all have an indeed common interest because they're all people who were

loyal to other causes but Cersei, just like we said, loyal to others first, crowned second. There's Lord Renly Baratheon, who left the morning Robert died. There's Lord Royce and his sons, Sir Loras Tyrell and Lord Mace Tyrell. There's the Red Priest, Thoros Amir, Lord Beric Dondarrion, Lysa, and Robert Arryn, Lord Hoster, Brynden, and Edmure Tully, Lord Malister, Lord Cairn, Tytos Blackwood, Walder Frey, Stevran Frey, Carol Vance, Jonos Brackwin, Shella Wendt, and Doran Martell. All of these people don't need a lot of explaining, right? There's at least 70% of this list.

It's like 70%. They're not coming to King's Landing. They're not. They're not doing it. Oh. They're not coming. Absolutely not. Not at all.

Also interesting, Grelin Tyrell is not mentioned. Well, they do say Mace and his sons. Yeah, it's just Loras isn't firstborn. It's kind of funny. I guess it's because he was at King's Landing. I don't know. Yeah, they were like, well, we remember this boy, I guess. And at the end of the list, near last, came the names Sansa had been dreading.

Lady Catelyn Stark, Robb Stark, Brandon Stark, Rickon Stark, Arya Stark. Sansa stifled a gasp. Arya? They wanted Arya to present herself and swear an oath. It must mean her sister had fled on the galley. She must be safe at Winterfell by now. Which of course is the saddest to think of. They all think that the others are safe, right?

The Stark kids. But they're not, when they're all just so alone and worrying about each other's well-being and that's so sad i do think it's interesting here that when aria sansa's thinking of aria she uses that word that aria must be safe now and i don't know if like that's relief but i do think it means that on an implicit level, Sansa understands and feels that King's Landing is not safe for her to think Arya must be gone and safe now, because she knows that King's Landing, of course, is not safe for Ned right now, because it's not. Not at all.

Tywin Lannister is appointed Hand of the King in place of Ned, and Cersei gets appointed to the small council in Stannis' place, which leads to a lot of whispers and murmuring. Which, first off, like she wasn't running it before, of course, but this is kind of big historically because females on the small council aren't really a thing. You have like Tyanna of the Tower and Lady Jane Arryn, but there aren't a lot of powerful figures on the small council making decisions. And of course there's Alyssa Valerian, for example, who was a regent during the reign of Jaehaerys. And there's a possibility we'll learn other women that were on the small council in the future, but obviously not too many based on the surprise about Jonquil Dark, the Scarlet Shadow, and the sworn sword of Alysanne. And while

technically not on the small council, Visenya and Rhaenys were Aegon the first counselors for day-to-day governance so women do definitely have a place in the government but being appointed publicly is still kind of a big deal though you know Pycelle was a puppet yeah Janoslan is made lord of Harrenhal which only makes the murmuring louder and angrier especially those of old bloodlines I'm glad that this is what really bothered everyone. This is actually Which, to be fair, it is kind of a big deal when we're talking

about those old bloodlines. Like, Janos Flint gets Harrenhal, like the place to be, the biggest. He gets Harrenhal. He's not shit, right? Like, he's just as objomped, like, he ain't shit. He's not shit. He's really not shit, like he's just as objumped like he ain't shit he's not shit he's really not shit though like he wishes he was even shit like i couldn't even like this guy's not good enough

to come out of my ass i wouldn't even flush this motherfucker i wouldn't i wouldn't even eat anything to make this motherfucker okay never mind what am i saying slint wears golden scales and black velvet and this is i guess his new house colors and shit like he's checked with black and gold satin his sigil is a bloody sphere and it's gold the bloody sphere is gold on a night black field and coming back again to sansa's, like, intuition, and she wasn't there in the room, but she thinks that the sight of it raised goose pimples up and down Sansa's arms. I do kind of think that, what, is this like gold on Night Blackfield?

Like, is this a tongue-in-cheek reference to how Slint is later sent to the wall? Like, these are the two colors of the stations he has held. He's been part of the Gold Cloaks and then the Black Brothers. Is that what's happening? Yeah, yeah absolutely i definitely think that's being taken into account hallelujah sister you guys i want everyone to know how comfortable chloe looks right now i am slumped over a pillow i'm so tired um she looks so great baristan is then called forth and they ask him to remove his helm. He's like, excuse me?

He's asked to step down then as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, which is very confusing for him because, of course, only death may relieve him of this position. Whose death, Sir Barristan? The queen's voice was soft as silk, but her words carried the whole length of the hall. Yours or the king's? Joffreyrey's all like you let my father die which man this sucks to read right the shame he's feeling and after we've read these povs we went through this new golden lying regime taking him out like this it's just disgusting so terrible i mean he has his he has his downsides with like this is just so humiliating and then of course because you all know about sir barrison because

we literally did his povs as a whole segment on this podcast. We get some of his own history from his own mouth here, which I, we're just going to call back because we think it's fun. Your Grace, Barristan said, I was chosen for the White Swords in my 23rd year. It was all I'd ever dreamed from the moment I first took sword in hand. I gave up all claim to my ancestral keep.

The girl I was to wed married my cousin in my place. I had no need of land or sons. My life would be lived for the realm. Sir Gerald Hightower himself heard my vows. To war the king with all my strength, to give my blood for his, I fought beside the White Bull and Prince Lewin of Dorne, beside Sir Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. Before I served your father, I helped shield King Aerys and his father Jaehaerys before him. Three kings.

Who are all dead, Littlefinger points out. Jaime Lannister gets promoted to Lord Commander in his stead, which of course Barristan takes great offense to. That was the man who killed his last king. Yeah. That's actually super ironic in this context where they're like, yeah, those kings are dead, so we're going to put the guy who killed them, whatever. Varys, at the very least, though,

has a good sense to offer a consolation prize to Barristan in this moment of like, oh, we're going to give you a land and keep and like people and shit. And Bryson's like, I don't want that. Yeah, he chose this life, dude. This is what he wanted. Yeah, I chose him.

Everyone starts to laugh when he unclogs himself, even his sworn brothers. Surely that must have hurt the most, Sansa thought. Her heart went out to the gallant old man as he stood shamed and red-faced, too angry to speak. Finally, he drew his sword. Sansa recognizes his stature and his history, even here. And also beyond that, you can see when she thinks that must have hurt the most, she's feeling empathy for Baristan. This idea of him being just humiliated in front of all these people after everything he's done, in front of the men that he commanded

that were supposed to be his brothers. It's fucked up. Barristan then does a mic drop speech before leaving, and this is such a dumb move on the Lannister regime, as Tywin points out later yeah like i don't know it i get the whole idea lately a lot in business you get the whole fire the old man that's been there 50 years and hire a younger guy with no experience and pay them no money squat money then just do it though you know like not in a big scene it's embarrassing for everyone that's actually involved agreed joffrey is then like taken aback that of all things paris and called him boy

and then mentioned stannis might end up sitting on the throne which i guess makes joffrey paranoid on top of his bruise ego it's really it's's really that Joffrey's super offended and his ego's been bruised. Male fragility. And he orders Barristan seized. And Janos is all like, yeah, it's fine. My gold cloaks are going to take care of it. Meanwhile, in a dance with dragons. Janos is dead.

And Barristan is alive? What? Season whatever. I don't know. Drinks wine. You want to talk about your baby boy? Yeah. Sandra Clegane gets a promotion,

but he refuses to become a knight, even though he has to take the position on the king's guard, which, good for you, baby boy, a man's got to have his code. And I think this might be a good time, as time of any, to address that I love Sandor Clegane. If you're listening to this podcast and you didn't realize that by now, I feel like you're just not paying attention. He's basically my baby boy. Right? He's my baby boy. My baby. And I love him. So we can move on now. I just remembered this tweet

someone sent us about last week's episode where Sandra gets Renly's the thing and then someone tweeted at us this Arrested Development game. It was so good. And they were like, i don't want this or something it's hilarious uh okay yes so sandra is now king's guard baby boy he's like i don't need

i'm qualified i don't need no college degree it is now almost time for sansa to go forth and like the previous chapter, she is dressed for the occasion. She was dressed in mourning as a sign of respect for the dead king, but she had taken special care to make herself beautiful. Her gown was the ivory silk the queen had given her, the one Arya had ruined, but she'd had them dye it black and you couldn't see the stain at all. She'd fretted over her jewelry for hours and finally decided upon the elegant simplicity of a plain silver chain. She's scared, but she asks the gods for courage as she steps out. People eye her, and she's thinking, I must be as strong as my lady mother.

I love this segment. Like, Sansa addressed to convey that penance and simplicity. She's showing in a way, like, patriotism by wearing the black and learning from Robert as opposed to addressing for humility in the last chapter when she like didn't really know and this line about being as strong as her lady mother you know we it happened in the last chapter where she talks about the strength of Catelyn and I don't know I guess you dear listener not like Catelyn, but damn is Catelyn a fierce woman. She outwits Tyrion Lannister, much to his own chagrin. She's treating with kings, she's sneaking into Kingsleyan things, she's out here doing things. Sure, Lady Stoneheart is not Catelyn Stark, and vengeance is not admirable, but she's a strong woman.

She's a force to be reckoned with i think joffrey smiles as sansa comes forward and sansa thinks he does love her everything that cersei has said is roping her in sansa kneels upon sir barriston's cloak and asks for mercy for her father lord utter, which I never really noticed that imagery before that she kneels on Sir Barristan's white cloak. A soiled cloak. Now, you know, it's over. That cloak is an ex cloak.

Oh, I was thinking you were going to talk about Sandor's cloak. We're going to get to that. Maybe in a clash of kings. We'll talk some more about it. No, we're going to. There's no maybe. I don't know why I said maybe. it was like a flirtatious maybe like you all know uh we're gonna talk about what she's hidden in the bottom of her summer silks and you know sansa comes up

and sarah she's like so done with preteens and she's like oh my god what did i just tell you about traitor's blood and like why are you bringing all this up here again? Like, why are you coming in front of all these people and my salad and talking about all this again? And then Pycelle reminds Sansa that Eddard has committed great crimes. And Varys is like, but just look at her though. She's so cute. Right. Shut the fuck up, Pycelle.

Shut the fuck up, Paisley. Baelish asks if Sansa is denying Ned's crime, and she thinks she knows better than to try to do that. She tries to explain that someone lied to him, someone dissuaded him, like there's no way he would ever say this. She begs for mercy from Ned, which this is all honestly kind of the best you can ask for with a 12-year-old, right?

Like this, she is lying her head off, and she's just like hoping that it works. She doesn't, she doesn't know what's happening right now. Yeah, she's just trying. And apparently, I guess Joffrey's actually just mad that Ned didn't call him king, I guess. Apart from the whole treason thing, he's just mad that someone didn't say nice things about him and sansa quickly answers as to why ned said that his leg was broken sansa replied eagerly it hurt ever so much maester paisel was giving him milk of the poppy and they said that milk of the poppy fills your head with clouds otherwise he would never have said it yeah opium's a good

excuse i think this is a i think this is a pretty smart, quick excuse. For a 12-year-old whose parents are honorable as sin, like, this is pretty impressive, in my opinion, right? Like, Lady Stark, you may survive us yet. Varys echoes Ned's words from Sansa 3, and Varys says, A child's faith, such sweet innocence, and yet they say wisdom oft comes from the mouths of babes. Word.

Pycelle, though, continues being a butt. He's like, treason is treason. Like, this is his argument. And I have a thought. I have a thought now. But what if the reason that Pycelle is so staunchly against treason and is such a fucking dickhead about it is because of the guilt that Pycelle feels? Like, yeah, Ares is not a good king.

Pycelle was a traitor for what he did. He always truly supported Tywin in his heart. And it could be argued that convincing Ares to open the gates to the Lannisters was itself an act of treason. And I'm sure Pycelle had an idea of what was going to happen and what Tywin was doing. And so Pycelle keeps being like, oh yeah, we can't, I'm very against traitors. Traitors are terrible and bad because he

is a traitor. Exactly. I love it. I think you're definitely onto something there. I'm still going to pluck all of his beard hairs out but you should you really should cersei says that if ned will confess everything is good everything is as eliana says gucci joffrey says he would be merciful if ned will confess that he has to confess and say that i'm

the king or there will be no mercy for him again tying this back to like lessons that the stark girls learn versus the lessons that the stark boys learned how the boys saw and were taught justice when ned's like you would look a man in the eye because you know that it's right etc teaches the boys proper ruling in that way whereas ned's death which is the first beheading that the girls see teaches them vengeance and this is the mercy that the girls learn right that joffrey's like i'm gonna show a mercy if he confesses he doesn't he doesn't fucking show ned mercy right and this is what the girls learn which is not mercy at all yeah the definition is definitely skewed and their plots revolve very

much around finding that mercy in the next two books after this book it's also a moment that like as females we settle like this is again overarching meta commentary like yeah i have my dad shame the entire house and himself and his family on the sept of baylor like the most religious place in the universe all for this little pretender king like nice well as long as he lives guess that's good enough right like that's that's what we're handed that's the cards she's handed that's all she has to play and so she plays it and so the chapter ends Nassan's saying that Ned will confess she knows that he will and of course he does she does and we will get to that of course and seeing ned confess his sins very soon once more i feel like we've already gone through it once so like it shouldn't be as painful but

like it is yeah it it doesn't stop being bad and i think the aftermath and some of this chapter is really terrible but i'm ready i. I'm not, man. Chapter six. That'll be next week. Thanks for tuning in, you guys. This has been such a great episode. Episode 21, Sansa 4 and 5, A Game of Thrones. Please be sure to subscribe to us on social media at Twitter, at Girls Gone Canon.

And, of course, give us an email if you're thinking of some stuff at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com and of course be sure to subscribe and follow this reread along with us you can find us on Podbean on iTunes on Google Play on Stitcher yes on Stitcher and on Acast

and leave us a comment on like iTunes or any of the things. That'd be pretty swell. Helps people find us. Yeah, and if you haven't checked out our Patreon, check out our Patreon at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon. Tons of fun, extra content, and extra things for you there. I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. You can find me

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