Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 6 - Eddard X/XI

Episode Date: June 6, 2018

Eliana and Chloe embark on a journey through each character's POV in ASOIAF, starting with everyone's favorite honorable patriarch: Eddard Stark. Eddard dreams an old dream, writ in blood from ghosts past and that familiar tinkling of blue rose petals; later, he goes back to business, bringing about the King's Justice.   Check out Race to the Iron Throne's analysis of Catelyn VII and Eddard X in AGOT.     intro by Anton Langhage. TOJ music Drops by Whitesand.   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: https://liesandarbor.tumblr.com     producer's note: apologies for the slightly tinny audio on one side, it was unfortunately out of our control this time!

Hello and welcome to the sixth episode of Girls Gone Canon. I am one of your hosts. My name is Chloe. You can find me on the internet as at LiesInArbor on Twitter and LiesInArbor.tumblr.com and also at DrunkSongOfIceAndFire. of Ice and Fire. And hello! I'm another one of your hosts, Eliana, and you can find me as GlassTableGirl on the Maester Monthly Podcast and,

of course, on the A Song of Ice and Fire subreddit. Thank you so much for joining us again this week! Oh my gosh, we are on episode six! They just keep going! They do! They do. I'm excited for this one too i mean last week was really fun and this one's also it's a heavy episode this one's dense like i was yeah

chloe and i were talking before we started recording this and we're like there's gonna be a lot in this episode and actually now that i think about it some of these chapters some of them are actually pretty short but there's a lot to unpack in them yeah and last week's episode was really short it was only about an hour so i guess uh it was a teaser for this week yeah it was set up yeah absolutely not a lot in emails and tweets of note today to tell you guys because we are kind of recording really fast. We both have some packed weeks, so we're doing some back-to-back recording.

We did get a tweet that Corbindescence on Twitter sent saying every time the newest episode of Girls Gone Canon ends, I get sad and wish it was like a Netflix show with the entire season that I could binge. Well, soon enough you'll have all of Ned done.

Because we only have a few more episodes. So you'll be able to re-binge it all. Yeah, and I mean theoretically I guess you could just stop listening to us. And then catch up on all of it later. Where's the fun in that? I don't know. We also got a review that I thought was really cute and funny. From Werlane Dervish over on iTunes. We also got a review that I thought was really cute and funny from

Rurlane Dervish over on iTunes called Hedgehog Life, where they say, I'd like to tell you ladies how much I love this podcast, but I need to keep my distance so I don't get hurt. And I just thought that was a really funny way to reference the way we talked about the hedgehog's dilemma a few episodes back. Yeah, so it's a callback is what we call that. Good one. Next episode

we are going to announce the person who I cannot tell you who it is yet that we're doing for our next point of view. I came really close. Eliana just looked at me like, don't say it. Don't say it. But we will announce our next point of view in the next episode to get you excited and hyped. We're not going linear.

We're not going in order of appearance and book, obviously, because we did start with Ned. But there is a little bit of a rhyme and reason to these characters as we read them back to back. So look forward to that. For sure. But before we even go in depth on other characters, we're going to do our skim, our lightning round through characters whose POVs we are not currently reading, but just to contextualize what's going on in Nedland, the Ned space. netherlands okay took me a bit to get there um and so first we have dany four where the dragon has begun its awakening as the khalasar gallops up the god's way to vase dothrak denarius discusses dothraki combat skills with jorah mormont after making themselves as comfortable as they can be denarius requests viserys come have dinner with her and even makes

a peace offering to him of better suited garb for the grassy fields. Viserys becomes angry and attempts to assault Daenerys, but she strikes him with a belt and tells him to leave. In this chapter, we have a very short moment in which Jorah Mormont talks a little bit about Robert and Ned, in which Jorah Mormont talks a little bit about Robert and Ned. And I wanted to just touch on this because we'll see a little bit how this manifests. It plays well with the way that Robert and Ned show up in these chapters. So Jorah Mormont says, But if Robert Baratheon were fool enough to give them battle, in regards to the Dothraki invading,

is he, Dany asked, a fool, I mean? Ser Jorah considered that for a moment. Robert should have been born Dothraki, he said at last. Your call would tell you only a coward hides behind stone walls instead of facing his enemy with a blade in hand. The usurper would agree. He is a strong man, brave, and rash enough to meet a Dothraki horde in the open field. But the men around him, well, their pipers play a different tune. His brother Stannis, Lord Tywin Lannister, Eddard Stark. He spat. You hate this Lord Stark, Dany said.

He took from me all I loved, for the sake of a few lice-ridden poachers in his precious honor, Sir Jorah said bitterly. From his tone, she could tell the loss still pained him. Now, first of all, shut the fuck up, Jorah. No one likes you. I'm not here to listen to you trash talk. My boy Ned- Isn't that what villains do, too, or like bad guys? Like, they won't take responsibility for his actions? Like, yes, that's what Ned did. He took all you love from you for the sake of some poachers. Like, yes, you're the one that became a slaver, buddy. that became a slaver, buddy. Which is what he does. He refuses to own up to anything. Everyone,

we said this last cast, but just remember, Sir Lothar Brun, if you would like someone with all of the good parts of Jorah and none of the shitty parts, Sir Lothar Brun is your guy. But also

I find some of the ways that Jorah talks about Robert kind of ironic based on what transpired in that previous, uh, some of the previous chapters, um, in Ned 8. Uh, so for example, only a coward hides behind stone walls instead of facing his enemy with a blade in hand. The usurper would agree. Ned says, actually, that if Robert wants Dany dead, then Robert should be the one out there trying to kill her. But that means by this definition, the Robert that we have now is a coward. He's the one hiding behind stone walls, sending another man to assassinate a girl, where Ned is the one who says that if you would kill a man you should face him

it also plays a lot into this whole idea of him being two different people that you know the man ned used to know versus the man now and it's even apparent in this quote from jorah which obviously both of these men are very different people than they once were in his memory yeah absolutely Obviously, both of these men are very different people than they once were in his memory. Yeah, absolutely. In Bran 5, Bran prepares for his first horseback ride since his fall, learning of Jaime Lannister's attack on his father. Rob rides ahead, looking to find their direwolves, and Bran finds himself surrounded by six outlaws. Rob returns with the wolves, defeating all but one of the outlaws. The last holds a dagger to Bran, but Theon kills him with an arrow from behind.

They take the last survivor, a spearwife named Osha, as a captive. A spearwife named Tonks. Oh my god. Then we have Tyrion V. Tyrion's imprisonment in the Eyrie's sky cells causes him to be a little creative with his escape plans. He bribes Mord, the jailer, to send along a message. He's ready to confess. As he enters the High Hall, he convinces Lysa Arryn to give him a trial by combat,

and Bronn, the sellsword, declares he'll be Tyrion's champion. And they lived happily ever after. Also, we learn about Tysha in this chapter. This brings us to Ned 10. Spaced out on opiates, Ned Stark recalls an old dream 15 years past. Wraiths of guilt flit in and out of his memory, haunted by the white cloaks of the Kingsguard and bloody rose petals. When he awakens, he has been under for six days.

Still weakened by his broken leg, King Robert is angry about Tyrion's abduction and demands Ned come to peace with House Lannister. Ned is restored to his position as Hand of the King and is tasked with sitting the Iron Throne while Robert goes on a grand hunt. the Iron Throne while Robert goes on a grand hunt. Faithful Theo Wohl. Ethan Glover, who had been Brandon's squire. Sir Mark Riswell, soft of speech and gentle of heart. The Cranog Man, Howland Reed. Lord Dustin on his great red stallion. Ned had known their faces as well as he knew his own once, but the years leech at a man's memories, even those that he has vowed never to forget. In the dream, they were only shadows, grey wraiths on horses made of mist. They were seven,

facing three. In the dream, as it had been in life. Yet these were no ordinary three. They waited before the round tower, the red mountains of Dorne at their backs, their white cloaks blowing in the wind. And these were no shadows. Their faces burned clear even now. Sir Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, had a sad smile on his lips. The hilt of the greatsword dawn poked up over his right shoulder. Sir Oswell Went was on one knee, sharpening his blade with a whetstone. Across his white-enameled helm, the black bat of his house spread its wings. Between them stood fierce old Sir Gerald Hightower, the White Bull, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

I looked for you on the trident, Ned said to them. We were not there, Sir Gerald answered. Woe to the usurper if we had been, said Sir Oswald. When King's Landing fell, Sir Jaime slew your Kang with a golden sword, and I wondered where you were. Far away, Sir Geralt said, or Ares would yet sit the Iron Throne, and our false brother would burn in seven hells. I came down on Storm's End to lift the siege, Ned told them, and the lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners and all their knights bent the knee to pledge us fealty. I was certain you would be among

them. Arnese do not bend easily, said Ser Arthur Dayne. Ser Willem Darius fled to Dragonstone with your queen and Prince Viserys. I thought you might have sailed with him." Sir Willem is a good man and true, said Sir Oswell, but not of the Kingsguard, Sir Gerald pointed out. The Kingsguard does not flee. Then or now, said Sir Arthur. He donned his helm. We swore a vow, explained old Ser Gerald. Ned's wraiths moved up beside him with shadow swords in hand. They were seven against three. And now it begins, said Ser Arthur Dayne, the sword of the morning.

He unsheathed Don and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milk glass alive with light. No, Ned said with sadness in his voice. Now it ends. As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. Eddard, she called out. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked even know how to transition out of this. It's just such a powerful- I know. I kind of got some chills, too. It's just such a powerful- Yeah, yeah. I got a little teary-eyed, like the- It's just such a powerful... Yeah, yeah.

I got a little teary-eyed. It's just such a well-written... It's just so well-written. Okay, alright. There's just, like, no way. We just have to move forward after, like, all of these feelings. We're gonna move forward after all these feelings and just jump into it, everyone. we're going to move forward after all these feelings and just jump into it, everyone.

As you all know, so many of the lines in this scene are very quotable, especially in that dialogue between Ned and the Kingsguard. First of all, there's just that, I love the structure that, of that exchange where Ned each time puts something before the Kingsguard and it creates that pattern of like, I was here and thought you would be there. And then you have the callback from the Kingsguard. It's this fantastic duet and you just wait for how they're going to respond each time. Another thing that I feel makes this dialogue, gives it so much of that gravitas and feels so epic is that they have what is called a foot in poetry, which helps determine the meter of a line by the number of stressed syllables. So for example, an iambic foot means that you have an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. So it's like, bum-ba. All right. And here's how that sounds

in some iconic lines. You'll probably recognize this one from a famous play. play. To be or not to be, that is the question. So you have there unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed. And this even manifests in modern pop culture. You'll probably recognize that term iambic from something called iambic pentameter, which was very popular among old playwrights such as Shakespeare or Christopher Marlowe. And it's especially used in ideas like very formal speech verse. You'll have a term called blank verse. And even more modern pop culture draws in it so you recognize this line to boldly go where no man's gone before and because poets and playwrights don't always write in perfect verse you'll you'll know that like that line is actually where no man has gone before.

And there's like a split I am in there. Perfect verse isn't always interesting. So sometimes there's stuff like that. Now the opposite of an I am, which is unstressed, stressed, is the reverse of that where it's stressed, unstressed, and that's called trochee. And if you have a line or meter that's full of trochees, that's called a trochaic meter, right? Trochaic foot. And an example of that would be these lines from Macbeth, The Witches. Double, double, toil and trouble, fire, burn and cauldron bubble. Fire, burn, and cauldron, bubble.

Now, the dialogue at the showdown, the Tower of Joy, while they're not in any specific meter, right? They're in these paragraphs. You don't have it set as... Each line doesn't have a set amount of iambs or trochees, right? It just kind of goes. They do follow this idea of that stress-unstress. So many of those first lines at the beginning of that dialogue have a trochaic foot. For example, I looked for you on the trident. We were not there, right? And then at around our knees do not bend easily,

we start switching around to using I ams. That creates this reversal and shows that we're starting to lead up to something. You can kind of see that shift of we're about to butt heads. And then you have some of this internal rhyming going on as the lines become shorter towards the end. First of all, you know, those lines do become shorter, which shows that we are moving into more of an action sequence as opposed to having this exchange, this dialogue. Then or now, we swore a vow and now it begins.

No, now it ends. And I just love the dialogue for the scene. I think it's incredibly beautifully crafted. Oh, definitely. I mean, this is one of the most iconic parts of this entire book, let alone maybe even the story. Oh, the whole series. The whole series. What's not to remember about ned's fever

dream and there's so much to unpack i mean we could talk about this probably for the whole entire time like it's really hard to even want to do any more of this because god it's just such a moving passage and you just can feel the battle uh just coming up in you know strips of curtains of gray mist, even. It's important, as always, to note the ambiguity surrounding this dream. It is a fever dream. George himself has been quoted saying, remember, it's not all 100% in that dream.

It's just a dream that Ned's having. Ned has been sleeping on and off for days, and he's on opiates, practically, with milk of the poppy. Some of this dream is lucid, like the conversation with the Kingsguard, but other parts are merely hallucinated. The blue rose petal storm across the Bloodstreak sky is obviously more imagery related, and it even reminds me a bit of Daenerys' House of the Undying visions from Shade of the Evening, based on real things but coming across more metaphorical.

A couple really interesting things about that passage also that i like are the blood streaked sky and how the comet appears by the end of the story of the first book i think that it definitely is really cool that george puts that in and then the blood streak in the sky i've read a lot of people talk about that. And another thing that, I mean, a lot of people have talked about this before, I can't even credit to one place, but Azor Ahai being born under a bleeding star is akin to Arthur Dayne dying and Jon Snow's birth. I really like these ideas that you've brought up, and I absolutely agree that it has that kind of similar feeling

from the house of the undying it the whole scene just feels so vivid but also turned up to 11 right it it there's just i don't know i i i don't have words yeah right it's hard to have words about this so poignant it's obvious too that like the conversation with with the Kingsguard is definitely, that's canonical. That obviously more than likely happened, but the bits around it and the Grey Wraiths and the dying and the battle, we don't know what actually happened. We don't have, and he has kept it so vague. I mean, even look at the story know he tells bran about it and how you know he had gotten sad then and quiet and would not say more and then you have a little bit of that like metonymy going on where i don't know i just love how it cuts to ending with the rose petals and like as you said that blood street sky really just tying those images together as you said, that Bloodstreet Sky, really just tying those images together, as you were saying, like John and that comet together and that bleeding star. But it also just feels so, feels like a music video to me, which maybe that's a good thing. Maybe that's a bad thing, but it just feels so cinematic. bad thing but it just feels so cinematic it is it's a very cinematic moment it's uh i think that's why a lot of people i don't know of myself included i'm kind of half and half i knew i

wasn't going to get what i wanted out of it but when that moment was in the show and it was displayed through brand seeing the vision it felt you know just kind of subpar because i mean we just read that aloud and i'm emotional i'm'm kind of sitting here like, how are we going to record this podcast? I'm so upset right now. Yeah, it sounds like something out of an epic story. Which it is. I mean, we're in an epic story. True.

Ned Stark wakes up to Van Poole. He has been out for six days and seven nights which like i'm just glad he woke up to vanpool because i was expecting especially because i forgot how the chapter exactly goes and just because maester pycelle is the one who's in charge of taking care of people's health i was like oh god that's gonna wake up from like this this kind of nightmare to pycelle. And I'm like, that's an actual fucking nightmare. Like, oh god, no. Go back to sleep. So wrinkly.

Yeah, but it's Veonpool. It's Veonpool. And then he also wakes to some not great news. Where it turns out the king has left orders for Ned to attend him as soon as he is awakened. Ned thinks he could not face Robert now. The dream had left him weak as a kitten. I feel weak as a kitten. Oh my god, me too.

Not only has Ned been keeping this lie, a lie that kept him locked away in his frozen tundra for about 15 years, he is also hanging onto it by a thread. He's surrounded by all of these people who are constantly talking about killing Targaryens, and he's reminded of it. The dream, the milk of the poppy, it's all weak in Ned's resolve. The pain from his leg, the trauma, it's becoming just a bit too much. Not only did Ned have to die for the plot to advance,

but his character would have cracked at any moment after these chapters had Robert not died. Yeah, absolutely agree. After all of this, you can even see as we go through these chapters how much Ned's power is affected by his injury. Ned then asks for the captain of his guard, and he's about to ask for Jory, but instead he asks for the captain of his guard because he remembers that this awful, terrible thing happened. And who appears but Alan, Sir Alan. I don't know if you guys remember, but a few episodes ago, I gave you a little breakdown but Alan, Sir Alan. I don't know if you guys remember, but a few

episodes ago, I gave you a little breakdown of Alan, and he is now advanced to being Captain of the Guard. We will talk a bit more about Alan in this chapter and in the next, so we'll move past him for now, but keep him on the brain. There was a reason I brought him up.

He's informed that Jaime Lannister has left King's Landing and that extra guards have been put on and that his daughters are safe Jory, Huard, and Will have been given to the Silent Sisters to go north and so that their bones

may rest beside their family Jory will be placed next to his grandfather, as his father, as you know from that scene we just read aloud, was buried in the south when Ned took down the Tower of Joy and made eight cairns to bury the dead. Which, I just find that really unrealistic. Which, I just find that really unrealistic. I mean, it's him, Howland, a crying baby, Wyla the milk mother, just hanging out while he tears down a whole entire tower in his grief in the heat of the prince's pass, making eight cairns to bury these people in?

Like, okay, sure. Sure. I always wonder, like, it couldn't have just been Ned. You know, the scene says in Eddard I that they found her there cradling her body. There's obviously more than one person.

It's Howland, I don't know, probably Willa, and like, we don't know who else. But, I don't know, they came up with a bulldozer and were like hey ned we got this for you no that's not what happened yeah it's obviously more poignant though if it is just ned like i understand the idea that he could be so moved and just traumatized by everything that just happened that he does this completely unrelated thought it kind of reminds me from this of this scene from danny 10 over in

dance where she's like out in the middle of the fields after she's like rode off on drogon and she finds like these ruins there were these sites in the grass that had been built of mud and straw um and she found eight of them and i don't think it really means anything it just kind of reminds me of these eight karens that are over at the tower of joy but also maybe it's foreshadowing that we're going to get eight books and not seven. Or five. Or three. Or one. Maybe two. Yeah, maybe...

How many books? How many children did Scarlett O'Hara have? Seventeen. You get this quote from ned that rhaegar had named that place the tower of joy but for ned it was a bitter memory they had been seven against three yet only two had lived to ride away eddard stark himself and the little crannog man howlin reed which of course is giving us a little more of the info drop on the battle at the Tower of Joy

and more Lyanna and Rhaegar exposition. Rhaegar naming the place the Tower of Joy, of course, is another nod that it was more than likely a consensual relationship with he and Lyanna. Yeah. Tower of Joy, though, sounds like a mad, sad place. Yep. Sure does. During this time, Ned's daughter, Sansa, and Arya have been with him daily. Sansa has been praying, while Arya has been angry and silent and won't say a single word.

won't say a single word and maybe it's because i just used my uh super patron status of not a cast to listen to their brand three episode before it was released but it reminds me of the quote in brand three when bran is having some visions and dreams and he saw his father pleading with the king his face etched with grief he saw sana crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. So make sure to check that episode out, it's a really good episode. It should be out by the time you're listening to us, so make sure to get on that. We know that whatever happens, Ned wants his daughters to be safe. No harm shall come to them, Lord Eddard. Alan said, I stake my life on that.

And we do touch on this in Ned 11, as Alan again ends up being what allows the Brotherhood Without Banners to form. again ends up being what allows the Brotherhood without banners to form. Ned doesn't necessarily think that it bodes well that he's dreaming of the Tower of Joy again after it's been so long since he last dreamed it. I think it's important again to remember that until his life was just uprooted, he had had nine years that he had stuffed all this trauma down since the Greyjoy Rebellion. Nine years of his children happily bickering in Winterfell, watching Catelyn birth out kids, praying in the Godswood, hoping his boys grow up strong and to treat each other and others

with respect, and dreading the day they leave to marry northern lords and hold keeps of their own. Yeah, absolutely. He expected to just stay in the north, ruling and keeping everything together, and now he's down in King's Landing and everything's falling apart. The entire country is falling apart.

Which brings us to the most relaxing thing that could ever happen to Ned, where Vaon Poole announces that not only is Robert going to come see him now, it's both Robert and Cersei are coming. And Ned's like, wow, no, I don't think that's not what i wanted but he's not saying that aloud and he thinks that it doesn't bode well that cersei came but at least robert's looking fly i guess he's dressed well in his velvet finery and he's already drinking wine and his face is flushed it's the hour of the wolf somewhere yeah right somewhere on planetos um in bakumbu's eye uh then circe is behind him also also blinged out with her jeweled tiara and her hair and that's a total power move circe is reminding him that she's the queen

and that her money is behind the throne. It does remind me too of Sansa having to act and play the part of future queen when she's beaten by Joffrey and powdering her face and the hound telling her he wants you to look pretty. Further, the Lannisters know that the Starks are on to them about something. What? They don't exactly know. further cersei and jamie are probably going at this point you know what the fuck like why did you kidnap tyrian he doesn't know about our schemes and there's a lot of robert manipulation that comes in here cersei makes some very quietly unheard threats during these exchanges lots of you should be grateful you're not dead you're a

traitorous scumbag i hate you go back to back to the north. No one wants you here. Type of venom that's spewing from her. Yeah, she's really the kind of person who'll kick you when you're down. When you don't have a leg to stand on. I know, right? She is that person, though. Robert asks Ned how his leg is feeling. And if he even knew what Catelyn had done in terms of kidnapping

Tyrion. Ned once more says that what Catelyn did, she did at his command. Robert is displeased as he's been for quite a bit. It's interesting, this read-through, because I'm really noticing that Ned immediately stands up and says no no well he doesn't stand up here but he says no uh you know this was my order that catlin is carrying out it was not her idea it was mine i think that's a great point by bringing that up you're showing that ned and Catelyn are really a unit together, which is absolutely not what Cersei and Robert are, as we're going to see as we go on in this exchange, because Cersei, once more, goes off and is silenced by Robert. Ned, though, says that what he was doing was keeping the King's Peace as Robert's hand.

And Robert says, how are you doing that there are seven men dead but seriously he's like no there are eight because tragar tragar died that morning tinfoil it's rhaegar in disguise probably but as a Oh, it's Rhaegar in the Weirwoods. Oh, we need JoeMagician42. We do. Matt, Matt, get here. Okay, abductions on the King's Road and slaughter in my streets. I will not have it, Ned.

That was a good one. Thank you. That was really good. So good. Abductions on the King's Road reminds me of this language that's used in the world of ice and fire about liana and rhaegar's runaway and also of the narrative spun about them through the kingdoms of course especially by robert not 10 leagues from harrenhal rhaegar fell upon liana stark of winterfell and carried her off lighting a fire that would consume his house and kin and all those he loved and half the realm besides i don't know why but it just reminds me of that language a little bit, the abductions on the King's Road.

It lights a fire that consumes half the realm, too. Robert commands Ned to have Cat release Tyrion and make peace with Jaime, which, as we know, it already happened in the last chapter. That is kind of what we risk while running these chapters next to each other because all of these things are happening at similar times in different areas. Three of my men were butchered before my eyes because Jamie Lannister wished to chasten me. The narrative here is being spun that Rumer Mill is saying that ned was returning home drunk from

a brothel my ned yeah excuse me ned not my father they drunkenly attacked jamie and his guards uh which of course ned defends himself is like, Robert, come on, like, you know me. That ain't me. He goes on to say that the whole reason he was there was to see Robert's bastard daughter named Barra, who is in love with him. We still don't get this poor girl's name. I know, it's really killing me after last episode. This gives Cersei a hint as to why the Starks are suspecting them of something. I kind of

hate how Ned gets caught up in the back and forth with her in this chapter, and especially in chapter 12, because his playing the noble nice guy every time, even while knowing that she has some awful secret, whatever it may be, does nothing for him. He is only playing into her game.

And the really sad part is that Ned doesn't quite know the lengths that Cersei will go to yet, and he doesn't know exactly what that secret is. But, I mean, does Ned revealing Barra's location kind of damn her and her mother when Cersei decides to go on her bastard killing spree after Robert's death? Oh, absolutely. Ned actually does this a lot with Cersei in these last few chapters, just like Sansa does with her. They both hand her info really easily, not realizing what they handed her and what she can do with it. both hand her info really easily not realizing what they handed her and what she can do with it robert says that this is all no matter for the queen's ears and ned begs robert's leave to bring jamie lannister to justice and the way robert phrases this is no he said i want no more of this jamie slew three of your men and you five of his. Now it ends. We talked about this last cast,

but note how Robert calls out the number of men slain on each side, which mirrors that showdown at the Tower of Joy, that three and five, but it's reversed here. And because, of course, as we just gushed about that dialogue being so so well written and iconic, you'll notice that repetition of Ned's line parroted back to him from Robert. Now it ends. Oh, yeah. George is playing with so many different things here that he continually repeats for effect, and I love it. Cersei plays her game at Robert, calling him not the king she knew.

If any man had dared speak to a Targaryen as he had spoken to you, she's really just finding ways to keep boiling his blood. She speaks of how Tyrion and Jaime are now his brothers and almost has him until she goes one step too far and claims that she should be the one in armor and he in skirts. Robert backhands Cersei and calls for Ser Meryn to escort her back to the chambers because she is tired now. Yeah, no clue where Joffrey got any of his behavior from. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I have no idea where he got that. I think you see a lot of the time people talk about Joffrey getting these terrible traits, about Joffrey getting these terrible traits, like his narcissism from his mother and Cersei enabling him. And of course, this line of like, if anyone dared to speak to a Targaryen like that, that kind of tells you what kind of ruler Cersei will be later on, a tyrant. And we also see that

in Joffrey. But we know from other interactions that Robert has hit Cersei more than once. And we know that Joffrey has said at another point in time that his mother says that a king or a man should never hit his wife or a king should never strike his wife. What this ends up doing is normalizing, though, this sort of abuse for Joffrey, who has already experienced it from Robert. And apparently this kind of desensitizes and normalizes it for Meryn Trant too because Meryn Trant escorting Cersei he thinks that this is what it's supposed to be like to be a Kingsguard and he's the one that we see hitting Sansa later on so I think that we should be laying quite some of that blame of who Joffrey became in the cycle of abuse at the foot of Robert. I also think it's kind of funny that Cersei says that Tyrion and Jaime are Robert's brothers now because of their marriage and in-law.

But as we've been stressing throughout this entire cast ned is the brother that robert chose not only that but we know later on we hear you know jamie would have killed robert whatever he could have however if he had woken up while they were banging in the bed next to him while they were just cucking him quietly i mean yeah it's a good thing that Robert was, I guess, drunk and asleep during all those times. Yeah, that would have been really difficult to explain to the rest of the realm. to him. He then once more compares her to Lyanna, stating that Rhaegar won in the end because he has Lyanna and Robert has Cersei. It's actually really really sad because I'm not sure what's sadder, that Robert can't be a righteous good man all the time, or that his rule is so steeped in malice and lies and scheming being whispered at and around him the entire time. And this is also a great moment to just reiterate that you're responsible for

your own behavior and everyone should always remember that not a dead girl not your dead parents not your quote bitch wife unquote you are responsible for how you act and what you do especially you robert the way george writes it has i guess a lot of those shades of nuance because what Robert did was wrong, but he ends up acting childish and scared of himself. He's like cradling this wine and you're like, oh, maybe you shouldn't be drinking this wine. Maybe that's like also not, yeah, that's definitely part of the problem here. And of course, make no mistake here. What Robert has done in striking Cersei is not condoned. It's not passable necessarily by Westerosi laws, like, or not laws, Westerosi social wars. While he gets away with it because he is the king and he's the head of the land and has all this power,

Ned judges him for it. We see later on that the way Ares treats Rhaella gets judged morally, even though people say they aren't. Robert himself judges his actions, and he clearly feels guilt. That's why he's cradling that wine. It's why later on in the story, the Boltons feel a little skittish about the way that Ramsay is treating Jane, who's posing as Arya, because they can't just let people think that he's abusing his stark, quote-unquote, stark wife. It's not actually condoned anywhere. It's not allowed. It's very uncouth. Robert then talks about how he was always strong. How do you fight someone if you can't hit them? Which like, we understand that this is a problem, I guess,

for Robert that he can't quite turn out or overcome. But the entire story of A Song of Ice and Fire is kind of a study in 1001 ways to do that, of how you fight someone if you can't hit them. But also this kind of reminds me of that quote earlier from jorah about robert about he how he was always strong and on the battlefield yet here he is with a problem that he can't fight and can't stand up against ned tells robert that they need to talk he tries to give him the talk finally ned's sitting there thinking okay let's go but robert says he's sick of talking and says they can talk when he returns from the hunt tomorrow this is the moment ned finally had to tell robert the truths of the big secrets of

what's happening with the john erin investigation to what happened with brand to his hunch about something going on and even the eventual revelation of incest of his children possibly not being his, but Ned hasn't quite gotten there yet. And of course, Robert closes his eyes and Ned does not get to tell him. Ned says that he and his family are still leaving, going back home to Winterfell, to which Robert throws his Hand of the King class back at him, forbidding Ned to leave. Ned then tries to ask about Daenerys again, and is told that topic is over. Finally, Ned asks why he would even want to continue

as the Hand of the King if Robert's not going to take Ned's advice, to which Robert replies that, well, someone has to run the kingdom. And that if Ned tries to leave again, Robert will name Jaime Lannister as his hand, which we know Ned would hate. But also, it's kind of funny because later on in the story when that actually could happen, Jaime refuses the office of hand. And that is Ned 10. That's Ned 10. Without missing a beat,

we're going to skip ahead to our What We Missed lightning round. Catelyn 7. Word reaches Catelyn from Riverrun that the Lannisters have begun gathering an army at Casterly Rock. She and Rodrik meet her uncle, Ser Brynden Tully,

as they arrive at Tyrion's trial by combat. The Blackfish has resigned from his duties in the Vale and plans to join in defending Riverrun. During the duel, Ser Vardis Egan meets his end at Bronn the Sellsword's hand, and much to her dismay, Lysa frees Bronn and Tyrion outside of the Bloody Gate, leaving them to deal with the Mountain Clans. And in Jon V, Ser Alistair Thor decides to pass eight recruits Jon Snow among them, but not Sam Tarly. Jon seeks Maester Aemon, hoping that he will allow Sam to become his steward. Without Pip, Gren, and Jon to protect him, Sam will not survive, but he is very capable of reading, writing, and doing his sums.

but he is very capable of reading, writing, and doing his sums. And finally, in Tyrion VI, freed in his trial by combat, Tyrion and his new companion Bronn make camp as they travel the High Road. Bronn warns Tyrion for making a fire, lest they attract the mountain clans, but Tyrion finds no reason to delay their meeting. As the mountain clans descend upon them, Tyrion meets the stone crows and charms them into an agreement for their lives. Good weaponry and the Vale of Arryn. Which finally brings us to Ned XI. A little different than the previous chapter.

While King Robert goes to hunt a white heart, Ned Stark is left to sit the Iron Throne and rule in his name, and a room the color of blood. Knights, lords, ladies, and common people bring their grievances. Westeros has become a powder keg, and brigands seem to be looking to light it. Lannisters accuse the people of the Riverlands. Ned must make careful, calculated decisions of whom to send to give the king's justice. Ned finds himself sitting in the throne room atop the Iron Throne itself, holding court. While the old dynasty's dragons have been replaced

with Robert's hunting tapestries, the sunset continues to light it with Targaryen red. Now the stone was covered with hunting tapestries, the sunset continues to light it with Targaryen red. Now the stone was covered with hunting tapestries, vivid with greens and browns and blues. And yet, still, it seemed to Ned Stark that the only color in the hall was the red of blood. Which, of course, this has been a common theme building up with Ned every chapter, blood. Each chapter has used it more and more, with the walls of the Keep in Eddard IX and the Bloodstreak Sky in Eddard X and many other chapters before that.

Yeah, it creates this sense of foreboding and it's, of course, carried over from that previous chapter, this use of imagery and color and this omnipresent red that stays in Ned's chapters, starting with that rain-soaked fight where the water changes the pale pink stones to deep blood red with the Lannister men there. And then it continues into that fever dream

against those red mountains of Dorne. Finally, it brings us back to this throne room, bathed in red light, blood, and death, as we begin that journey towards Ned's death. Blood and Ned's death. Yeah.

Ned complains that this chair sucks. It fucking sucks. Yeah, it seems like it's a cool chair to sit in, but turns out it sucks. Yeah, it seems like it's a cool chair to sit in, but turns out it sucks. And we get a lot of descriptions actually about the Iron Throne

in this chapter through Ned. And we'll point it out when it arises because it'll keep coming back up. It ties in well with what we were talking about last episode where Robert spoke of the shadow of an axe that hung over him in Ned VIII, and you'll

recognize that theme that we brought up last time set forth by that sword of Damocles. And it comes up again in Aegon the Conqueror's ethos to ruling, which is that a king should never sit easy. It'll rear its head throughout this chapter as Ned

tries to navigate this difficult political landscape. As usual, we begin in the middle of things. The way Varys poses his question makes that clear. You are quite certain these were more than brigands. The room is packed with members of council, petitioners, knights, high lords, ladies, small folk, and guards. Villagers have come to seek justice for what's been done to their homes, accompanied by three main knights, Sir Raymond Derry, Sir Mark Piper, Edomir's fast friend, and Sir Carol Vance. Now, we of course recognize the name Sir Raymond Derry, and we'll see Sir Mark Piper later on. Mark Piper makes me think of the wine Rex

Goliath, which I sometimes buy for really cheap at the corner store. But we were all like, who is Carol Vance? So we ended up doing some digging and found some really interesting facts about Carol Vance and House Vance in general. Like, for example,

the House Vance sigils are black dragons for the Wayfarer Vances versus the House Vance of Atranta, which has green dragons kind of reminding you of that Dance of the Dragons. And of course, these sigils are some canon um they're from westeros.org and are likely approved and vetted by linda and elio the atranta vances are the house that armistead vance actually hailed from uh during the conquering in westeros he was the mightiest of Andal conquerors who defeated Christopher Mudd IV, who was actually the guy, the Hammer of Justice, who raised Oldstones, the fourth king of the rivers and hills. There are actually a really few good Gendry parallels there, but we'll get to those

someday in Arya chapters. Someday. Carol Vance himself also has some interesting things going on. He has a large wine stain birthmark that I believe is also on his face. Mm-hmm. And feels very much like a Blood Raven-y reference, especially because he's like a Riverlands house, too. Oh, yeah. House Vance is named in honor of author Jack Vance, inspired by the short story The Dragon Masters,

with references to Vance's other stories interspersed in the name of the house's branches and different sigils. George is a big fan of Jack Vance's writing. Yep. But speaking of

these knights and some of the other known ones, Sir Raymond Derry is the first of the three that we hear, and he makes no pretense as he just goes and starts accusing the Lannisters. Which, of course, like Ned feels the unease in the entire room and that everyone now is straining to listen. Because after all, these knights and these villagers are accusing the lions in their own den. Now, these villagers understand very well the implications of what they are saying, even though they're not always involved in those politics. That's why it's described that their faces are drawn by fear. We learn that the Riverlands are on the brink of war, with Casterly Rock and Riverrun both already calling their banners and armies massing at the Golden Tooth.

We get a lot of Derry exposition back at the Trident with Arya and Sansa in the Direwolf fiasco. Willem Derry was mentioned last chapter in the Fever Dream, and now once more we return to Raymond Derry. George does a great job of reminding us of this. I find it interesting that more than half the court was out at the royal hunt also. It reminds me of how the world will shut their eyes out to things by using major events, like we've talked about in the past Super Bowls with tourneys, as distractions.

This royal hunt is happening while the people who are supposed to be ruling the realm are out doing that instead of seeing and doing something about injustice done to small folk. Yeah, it's like they're, I don't know, out at their golf game or something. Yep, absolutely. With the taxpayers' money. We hear several of the villagers speak as witnesses to the crimes of the brigands in the chaos.

to the crimes of the brigands in the chaos so a quick rundown of all the terrible things that they've been doing is that they've destroyed an ale house via arson but first they drank everything there before they did all that and yeah but they also decided to burn more things like this other farmer's lands and then they killed all the animals they weren't even stealing them to do anything which is how you know i guess that they're not raiders they also rode down a smith's apprentice toying with him before spearing him they killed this young girl's mother with the implication of sexual assault either towards her her mother or both they also killed a bunch of the people in wendish town first by driving them into a hold fast and then they're like uh no we definitely feel like killing these people so they smoked them out and started setting that up they really like like setting things on fire okay so they smoked these

people out and as the people were escaping this building that's on fire they started slaughtering them which they tried to do with sharerer, but thankfully for them, their holdfast was made of stone and they decided to just go somewhere else. In Wendishtown, it's described that the people who were killed were even women with

suckling babes. Oh, dreadful, murmured Varys, how cruel can men be? Which I think is interesting because Varys, who capitalizes off the murder of children politically in order to champion Aegon, and even again, he visits Ned in the dungeons in his last chapter, using Sansa against him to kind of get him to do the right thing for the realm. It really brings you Varys in a whole new light. it really brings you various in a whole new light. There's also that specter of the killing of children in general and that specter of Robert's hate and the decree for Danny's death hanging over that

scene. And all of this is interspersed with more description of the iron throne with blades between fingers still sharp enough to cut or kill a man. Rather than tell us how Ned feels about the news he hears, we see it through a metaphor of the Iron Throne. The song said it had taken a thousand blades to make it, heated white-hot in the furnace breath of Valyrian the Black Dread. The hammering had taken 59 days. The end of it was this hunched black beast made of razor edges and barbs and ribbons of sharp metal, a chair that could kill a man and had if stories could Rip. or worse, and not just from metal, which he's about to learn, obviously.

Rip. The brigands are also very smartly dressed in that there's nothing to brand them as Lannister men. However, there is a lot to imply it through the equipment that they wear. Every man among them was mounted and mailed they have steel-tipped lances and long swords battle axes for butchering and they rode war horses who never pulled a plow their armor however is plain with no lannister insignia littlefinger who continues to be the worst says that maybe they stole all of these things. That's why they have so many nice things,

which is just like, he knows. Ugh. I do think it's interesting how we begin to see and know that, yes, these are Lannister men, even though they don't have lines on them and we don't see their colors, because there's a lot in this chapter that's highlighting the difference between highborn and lowborn people. Of course, we see it in the sense of how these brigands are. They have

good steel, actual weapons, where small folk would have to make do with what they have, as we see in their testimonies. The horses that they have only really need to serve one purpose, which is destruction and not the livelihood of farming the land. But it also comes through in the language that's used. The way that these people speak when they're giving their testimonies. So Joss, the alehouse owner, says, I kept an alehouse, my lord, in Sharer by the stone bridge. The finest alehouse of the neck, everyone said so. Begging your pardons, my lord, and sharer by the stone bridge. The finest alehouse of the neck, everyone said so, begging your pardons, my lord. It's gone now, like all the rest, my lord. They

come and drink their fill, and spilled the rest before they fired my roof, and they would have spilled my blood too if they'd caught me, my lord. The farmer's language is, they weren't no raiders though, my lord. They had no mind to steal our stock not these they butchered my milk cow where she stood and left her for the flies and the crows so the way that these are actually written you see that repetition of my lord with m apostrophe lord which we learn later on is a difference between how more highborn people would speak where they say the entirety of those two words of like my lord and we see that actually manifest within this chapter the way joss's dialogue is written it says would of like w-o-u-l-d space o-f where we know that's

technically incorrect grammar it should be would apostrophe V-E or would have, but they're implying that he just through the way he's speaking, right? It's something that's intentionally misspelled and miswritten in this book to show that class or knowledge difference. And then there's the way the farmer

articulates like his grammar is a little more colloquial as well. They weren't no raiders. And then they also have, when you look at the way it's written, they have all these comma splices. They aren't separate sentences to show that running on. Even after Joss was corrected about the terminology that he uses to refer to Ned Stark, who is the Hand, the girl, when she's talking about what happened to her, she says, Your Grace, even though that's not the right honorific. Whereas, again, we see the knights saying, My Lord, and they only do that sometimes.

Whereas Ned never uses any honorifics to refer to the villagers or to the knights because he, as the hand, as the person with the most power in this room, does not have to do so. You have those knights pushing back a little with Sir Raymond being, my lords, open your eyes. They're speaking a little more casually. It's really just kind of a bummer because that was those people's livelihoods you know they don't get to just go stay in the red cape for free and have a guard of 20 people to command they don't i mean they just don't get any of that and this this is the other side of the fuel coin by making these issues public and coming as a group

together with the knights the small folk are reminding Ned of their side of the bargain in this contract. The king's lords must uphold the peace and protect their people. They are putting public pressure on them. The one identifier for who set the brigands is Gregor Clegane, whom we earlier established via tourneys and stories of what happened to Aegon and Rhaenys and Sandor as being Tywin's mad dog, as he is called here. Clegane's reputation is already built up to this, so this accusation doesn't really come as a surprise to any of the higher lords, and it doesn't come as a surprise to us readers either. When Gregor Clegane is accused, whispers fill the hall. Ned understands why the villagers are scared. They had thought they were being dragged here to name Lord Tywin a red-handed butcher before a king who was his son by marriage.

He wondered if the knights had given them a choice. I also find that kind of interesting because it reminds me, with the thought of the red-handed butcher, almost kind of an allusion in Ned's mind to Micah, the innocent butcher boy of the small folk ridden down by Clegane's younger brother Sandor. I really get that sense too. And even that makes sense if it's an illusion, because the way Micah was ridden down was definitely another manifestation of that power difference between knights or, well,

not knights, that power difference between the highborn and lowborn people and the consequences, the unfair consequences of just being born in the wrong station. like that like oh maybe it's not gregor clegane and he's it's like dude no one else looks like gregor clegane and we're also as you said like the villagers understand the implications behind what they're doing and what it means to name lord tywin and ned of course definitely understands what all this means so when paisell's like my hand, Pycelle declared in a stiff voice, I urge you to remind this good knight that Lord Tywin Lannister is the father of our own gracious queen.

And it's like, thank you, Grand Maester Pycelle. Ned said, I fear we might have forgotten if you had not pointed it out. Interestingly enough, Ned understands this more than the small folk could yet, because I mean, he's doing the same

thing right now. It's been in the back of his mind the entire time, which is why he's trying to really get as much evidence as he can out of these people, because otherwise, he can't take any action, and it's all for naught.

I also like, is Ned taking some pointers from Littlefinger's playbook of how to be sarcastic? I think a little bit. He's starting to rub off on him. Look at them. Really, really getting close. Gross. Then, as Ned's looking around in the room and sees some people have been slipping out, he notices that Sansa happens to also be in the back of the room and feels a little angry that Septa Mordain would have brought her to court that day. But he of course knows that Septa Mordain couldn't have known what today's topic would be. He feels that this issue, he says, this was no place for a girl which i i disagree with that assessment what do you think oh oh my gosh i disagree completely this is the very place ned should have had sansa it's the very place that he should have been the one teaching her about politics after that display ned should have been walking the galley afterward with her explaining what happened at court why he made the decisions he made and letting her know who each lord was to them, and what lord wanted what and why they wanted it. But instead, Sansa learned

her very small political background from Septa Mordain in King's Landing and Winterfell, and large influences from Cersei. Sansa's maternal guidance left much to be desired in King's Landing, and the only paternal figure that ended up politically teaching her things was eventually Sandor Clegane. I kind of imagine that the Tyrells, on the other hand, would have been the kind of people who would have had Margaery, or whomever. Olenna would walk with her immediately.

Olenna would walk with her after that and say, now Margaery, why did this happen? And Margaery would be like, well, grandmother, this, this, this, you know? Yeah. And Mace wouldn't have, Mace would have agreed that Marjorie should be in that room and privy to these sorts of decisions. Littlefinger tries to put blame on the knights for a moment. Ugh, get a job. And asks where they were, implying, why weren't you protecting

your people? Again, reminding us of that feudal contract. We even get a glimpse of what may be Tywin Lannister's plan and Lord Hoster's response. Ned shows his experience through judgment and effectiveness of those plans because Tywin, Hoster, Jon, and Rickard were old guard players. They were shrewd and smart politicians that knew when and where to show their power. We see that Tywin's plan seems to be to bleed Riverrun and then slowly begin winnowing away at its strength. And we see the counter through Hoster Tully. Hoster Tully obviously isn't okay with this happening to the Riverlands. And before he takes any action, he wants to get the crown support

before retaliating because then this ensures that the lannisters cannot stay or claim that the tullys attacked first which is actually interestingly exactly what cersei and jamie do in the previous chapter where they accuse ned in that showdown in front of the brothel they're saying that ned and his men attacked first whereas we know it was the other way around lannister media spin it actually is thoughyalties where he's all like oh no but we can't move against him and we can't make these people like you should make these people go to Tywin for justice if that's what they want so Ned's all like no the king's justice is everywhere which is of course it's a precarious decision and position because people know that the wolf and the lion are already at each other's throats

paisel also seems to want to stall ned for making these choices and he hopes to wait for robert who will do nothing or worse tywin and there's also a good bit here of ned thinking on how edmure is more gallant than pragmatic when it comes to this sort of situation that edmure totally is the type to save the small folk and everyone no matter what which we again experience later on during and after rob's brief reign as a brief aside i kind of like that ned seems to take what i see as a very charitable view of edmure because I like Edmure. He calls him gallant as opposed to this idea of foolish or naive. Edmure is young and idealistic.

Maybe a bit misguided at times and doesn't always make the right decisions and sometimes lets his weird male pride get in the way. But Edmure has his heart in the right place i like edmure a lot too honestly steven attawell actually talks about this in his catalan seven analysis and he talks about how edmure has zero military sense in these matters but we also learn in a storm of swords it's not just military sense he lacks but that he truly has a big heart and serves almost as a direct contrast kind of to hoster's stylings as steven says admira approaches war with his heart and not with his head i'll drop a couple links below to both his cat 7 and ned 11 analyses in the description of this episode if you haven't checked them out take a look he actually unravels the throne room political situation way better than i ever could yeah he goes much more in depth um regarding the whole political powder

kick that is westeros the knights use the language of wanting to take vengeance on sir gregor for his actions which leads to ned giving a spiel on the difference between vengeance and justice saying saying that what they will be administering is not vengeance, which is burning Gregor's lands, they're going to administer justice. Then we have Loras, who's dressed very heroically, great blue cape and stuff, who asks to be sent to be the one to take Gregor Clegane. But through Ned's POV, we note that he actually looks very young, maybe even too young, to be sent against a man like Gregor. As Littlefinger also publicly notes. Get a job. Instead, Ned sends four men who will form the basis of the brotherhood without banners later

uh barak thoros sir glad and sir lother and each asks them to bring 20 good men 20 good men oh my god we later learn alan is sent to command the 20 men eddard sends from his own household guard and he carries the dire with flag to represent the 20 men, Eddard sends from his own household guard, and he carries the dire with flag to represent the Starks as they leave the keep. Sansa says Alan is handsomer than Jory was and that he was going to become a knight. In the chapter before this, he tells Eddard no harm will come to his girls. Alan actually ends up restoring order to the ranks at Mummerford, as we talked about a few episodes ago, and he basically is the reason the Brotherhood Without Banners gets to form, letting Thoros of Myr lead a third of the force out of

battle. The Brotherhood goes on to champion justice in the lands until their forces break apart and become led with Mother Merciless at their front. Ned sends these men to bring Sir Gregor to justice, stripping him of his rank, his titles, his lands, his incomes, his holdings, and also sentences Gregor Clegane to death. After everything's said and done, Faerie says that Ned actually should have sent Loras, and now I kind of wonder if Littlefinger saying what he did aloud, casting these doubts on Loras, was one of those things that nudged Ned against the wiser choice. Had it been me, I should have sent Ser Loras. He so

wanted to go, and a man who has the Lannisters for his enemies would do well to make the Tyrells his friends. Which, we learn this rings true. I mean, the Tyrells have a flowing economy, whether it be food or money, and they starve King's Landing out while they support Renly and eventually bring all that economy and food to King's Landing after Renly's death. And the alliance is formed with the Lannisters and the Tyrells. It's interesting. I'm not a big person for what if scenarios, but I do always like to hear kind of like what if rob had married marjorie what would have happened in the war for the five kings yada yada i find stuff like that really interesting when it comes to that kind of look at it especially with economics me too i i also just love caitlin's lines of just like why couldn't rob have fallen into marjorery's arms instead. It would have been so much better. Yeah.

Then Neveri says that Ned should have also sent Illyn Payne, who is of course known as the King's Justice, and that having not done so, Illyn Payne might have taken it as a slight, which I really think is an interesting political move, right? It splits the Lannister forces against one another, but also it's interesting, I don't know, did Illyn Payne actually want to go? What it does, though, in terms of the text,

is it builds a sense of doom that's hanging over Ned with Illyn glowering at him, especially since, of course, Illyn Payne's going to be the one to behead him. Such crude foreshadowing. And that brings us to the end of Ned 11.

Wow. That was a chapter. There was a lot that happened in that chapter. I know, my head is swimming. So dense. There's a lot of things just like kind of simmering under the surface and that really just paints the picture of what Westeros is like, even from this room.

Yeah, I like to call this chapter like the back to business chapter because that's it. After that, it's over. The boys are back in town. town. Well, things are a little different next time. In Eddard 12, we get the iconic line, In the game of thrones you win or you die. From Cersei, of course.

She doesn't deliver it like that. That's just me. Ned learns the truth of his foster father's demise, and learns through Pycelle and Peter Baelish that Tywin has called his banners for war in the godswood, Ned confirms the truth of the Baratheon or Lannister, heirs

and offers Cersei a chance at the Hand's mercy before the king's justice catches up in Eddard XIII King Robert finally found a vicious beast to match his storm. Wounded tragically by a boar on the royal hunt, he declares Ned the regent of the kingdom in his will.

Renly Baratheon is at Ned's ear, urging him to take Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen, but Ned declines his advice. He sends a raven to the rightful heir of the kingdoms, Stannis Baratheon, and tells Littlefinger his plans, asking for him to bring the City Watch into his power.

Well, thank you everyone for joining us for today's podcast. We've only got a few more episodes to go before we say goodbye to Ned. So, make sure that you subscribe so that you will know when the next

episode comes out. You can find this on iTunes at Girls Gone Canon. You can find this on Google Play. And, of course, we're also on Podbean, where it's all hosted. And now, exciting news, we are also on Acast.

Confetti! If you use that, subscribe to us there. You can find us on the internet at Girls Gone Canon on Twitter. You can also hit us an email if you are feeling so inclined and chat with us or even drop us a message on twitter our email address is girls gone canon at gmail.com we love hearing from you as always i have been chloe you can find me on the internet as at lies in arbor and i have been eliana you can find me on twitter as arithmetric and always on Reddit as GlassTableGirl. We'll see you next week for episode 7, Ned 12 and Ned 13.

Seven episodes. A holy number. Maybe we'll do eight. Who knows? Or two. Maybe five. There's going to be three of them. No more. This doesn't exist. This episode doesn't exist. Bye, guys.