Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 7 - Eddard XII/XIII

Episode Date: June 13, 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 slips on the ice that is King's Landing, offering Mercy where Mercy is less than deserved.  He then lays his trust in the wrong person as the King dies.   Check out The Gods are Not Good by TyrionTLannister2    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 and welcome to the seventh episode of Girls Gone Canon, Ned Stark. I am Chloe, one of your hosts. You can find me on the internet as LiesInArbor on Twitter and Tumblr, and also at Drunk Asana Vice and Fire History. And hello, I'm Eliana, another one of your hosts the other girl if you will i was the first girl you probably know me as glass table girl a on the maester monthly podcast and also on reddit we've got two two more Ned episodes left two more Ned-isodes Ned-isodes

two more this is it this is at the end you guys will hear our overview for next episode we kept it very vague because we don't want to spoil anything about the next two chapters for anyone you know also just because everyone knows like when we say these words you can be like oh yeah

I know what happens in that chapter. It's very straightforward. They're such iconic moments. They are big moments. We're a little, we come to you with heavy hearts today, Girls Gone Canon fans, because a podcast that we know spoiled a couple of our point of views, apparently, which is an outrage. That we know? I don't know. I don't know these men. Yeah, I don't know these men. If you've ever listened to them, they're from the, what's it called? The non-cast? The non-cast of like, I don't know, bread? cast. If you listened to Not A Cast, you may have heard a little bird spoil part of what our POV order is. They didn't

really spoil it. They didn't say what our next one was, and we've been dropping some good hints. You know, like Eliana, you had a couple good puns about it, didn't you? I did. In one of the previous ones i had that uh you don't have to sell me on it oh that was my favorite one i was pretty proud of that one how you you did too

yeah uh last episode actually it was last maybe it was the one before i had a really good uh we could barely stand it waiting to tell you about this but it deserved better only a few people figured it out from that pun we're doing sir barrison sell me next after we finish net episodes yeah we thought uh barrison would be a really good follow-up to ned because he comes up in some of ned's chapters and it would be a different take but still exploring some of those same themes in Ned's chapters about honor and duty. Because his point of views don't begin until dance, of course, we'll dedicate a whole episode following his journey and his backstory to meeting the last dragon. Because he's old, so there's a lot of it. We'll also go through, we'll get into real deep into

Barristan and Selmy's on wheat. Got it, because his sigil is like a wheat stock. Wheat. Wheat. Wheat. Yeah, so we're gonna start gearing up for that soon. Yeah, get excited. Hopefully we'll have some guests on during

that time. We're not sure. We might have one or two. Bring some fun to the podcast. Some diversity. I guess. I guess. I can do that. But in terms of hearing other voices, we had an email this week from Warren that we know through the

Song of Ice and Fire Facebook group and he sent us this really lovely email and thank you so much Warren for just supporting us every week it always brings a smile to my face to see your feedback I really love this email

when we didn't post on Wednesday last week he commented in the group and he's all has anyone heard anything about Girls Gone Canon? And I was like, Warren, you warmed the cold cockles of my heart. You know that, man? You rock. I was like, oh, what a guy. Yeah.

We'll skip the mushy stuff. He sent us a really nice email, though. He's our buddy. We're like sitting here grinning because he's fun. But I digress. He sent us this email and to get to the meat of the email i'm currently on a reread in a group and have just started clash one of the things i finally concluded i discover something new every read and this is number six nice was regarding the conversation aria overhears

between various and alirio i was very delighted to hear you guys discussing that they actually wanted Ned to disappear a la John Connington, not die a la John Aaron. That's my penny drop moment. I truly believe they were discussing the possibility of Ned filling the role, which ultimately bears and filmed. And it appears you guys agree. This makes me wonder what kind of counsel Ned may have given Daenerys and how badly would he have destroyed creepy Jorah? If little finger needs to get a job, what does creepy Jorah if Littlefinger needs to get a job what does creepy Jorah need get a job I love that line right I've not had a chance to listen to this

week's offering yet headphones are dead while listening to LML on this week's not a cast how awesome is LML very awesome do love LML and that was a great that was a really good episode so good i want to listen to it again someone said they listened to it like six times and i was like you know what i never thought i'd say this but i could i could that's like 18 hours though like it just came out settle down uh but yeah he left us this little note kind of asking about some of the things between the idea of Ned disappearing not dying as Jon not Jon Jon La Jon I don't know I love that idea because it is an interesting route that we don't get to see taken and the implications behind Ned being Daenerys's guardian against Jon Connington as fake Aegons and their duty is super

interesting they both have a lot of weird I don't know not almost anti-parallels but like they do things same things for different motives you know like they're they're or vice versa same motives but different things about the motives for their honor what they view as honorable uh it reminds me of a couple quotes there's one from denarius 2 in clash of kings they said robert baratheon was strong as a bull and fearless in battle a man who loved nothing better than war and with him stood the great lords her brother had named the usurpers dogs old-eyed eddard stark with his frozen heart and the golden lannisters father and son so rich so powerful so treacherous which of course we know that isn't at all how it

really happened uh we know that Lannisters joined late and Ned was obviously not in this war for the same reasons he was in it out of duty to his friends and to his family and for the honor of his family and we know he doesn't really have a frozen heart he's a real big-hearted dad he's a dad uh and then of course Daenerys IV in Storm of Swords with what honor could he have Dany said he was a traitor to his true king as were these Lannisters when you look at it from the perspective of what Jorah taught her he taught her he kind of taught some falsehoods to Daenerys like in fact as we've been going through this, we've learned Ned's heart is not frozen.

He is simply a person of honor and duty and doing the right thing. But while Jorah is slightly misleading Dany and what he knows of the usurper's dogs, I think his somewhat falsely subjective words keep her in action. In the first couple books, not only would there be conflict between Jorah and Ned had Ned come instead of Barristan, Daenerys would probably seek to be rid of him, trusting Jorah the Andal would be filling the role that Barristan ultimately filled. But I think that Barristan, he kind of ends up being that mentor figure for Dany but also

part of why he's sent to Dany is something that is said by I can't remember who said it I want to say it was one of them is Tywin the other is Renly that wherever Barristan turns up that's like huge for your PR if you're gunning for the Iron Throne. Yeah, they were worried. Yeah, I kind of think of the person who ends up being the quote-unquote replacement for Ned as that hand and advising Dany on like Westerosi politics and stuff

actually will end up being Tyrion. Yeah, absolutely. Ned and Barristan both aren't very versed in the politics. Not of King's Landing like that. Yeah, and Tyrion, Tyrion of course has a similar dynamic going on, like Barristan is just like, I don't know, I'm here, I'm chilling.

Whereas Tyrion also comes with a lot of that loaded baggage of being a Lannister. Add some nuance to the story. I feel like Ned or like just Ned would have been too wholesome anyways. But it's really interesting to think about like I, I don't I've been saying I don't get into these what if scenarios often, but the last couple episodes, there's been a lot of man, maybe it's because I'm like nostalgic and regretful over what's about to happen in Ned. But you know, I'm just like, what if this had happened, though? I don't know. I because I'm nostalgic and regretful over what's about to happen in Ned, but I'm just like, what if this had happened, though? I don't know.

I think I'm just attached to Ned right now. I also think Ned would have struggled a lot with being there for Daenerys, the other Targaryen, and being like, oh, but what about Jon? And I think that would have definitely tugged at him a lot. Oh, yeah. Anyway, thank you so much for this email, Warren. We really appreciated it.

This was really fun also to think about in terms of what would happen with another less dark timeline in which my father, Ned, is alive and well. And we can get Jorah to stop being like a total patoot Lothar Bruun yeah Lothar Bruun you guys look him up fellow listeners perhaps you too have something really fun and cool you'd like to tell us feel free to shoot us an email over at girlsgoncanon

at gmail.com you can also leave us a review on iTunes those are fun again like we read it aloud last week. I like that hedgehog one. We're narcissistic. Hell, I'm like it is. Yeah, there's that.

It makes us feel a little good inside. It makes me feel, like, fuzzy and stuff, right? Don't you want me to feel fuzzy in the inside, guys? We'll start talking about Zorces if you make her feel fuzzy. That's true. I can talk about Zorces. But, again, I'm kind of like into horseshoe crabs, but horseshoe crabs, like the fate of them, just it's not as warm and fuzzy when you think about it. It's actually like really terrible.

Crab wee. Yeah. All right. So let's jump right into it. Yeah. Without further ado, let's get to our lightning round of chapters that we missed. We only missed one chapter between Ned 11 and Ned 12, and that is Sansa 3. Sansa regales Jane with stories of her day at court, then soon gets into another spat with her sister Arya. Ned calls the two girls down for what seems to be reconciliation, but instead tells them he is sending them back to Winterfell. Sansa, distraught by the news, attempts to show her father she has to stay in King's Landing before huffing off to her room. Ned has dinner with Alan, Harwin, and Vaenpool. Ned calls the sisters over to tell them he is sending them back home. He tries to tell Sansa he will find her a new match. When Sansa says

Joffrey is not the least bit like that old drunken king, Ned has a revelation. Yeah, so that was a really pivotal chapter. I think it's fun that the revelation that Ned has isn't in his own chapter, so that we end up seeing the aftermath of all that here in Ned 12, where as Ned sues on this new information, he learns that war is brewing in the West. Later, he chooses to meet the enemy in his own field of choice, the Godswood. In an act of mercy,

Ned begins to dig himself deeper into his own grave. Dad, no. We should rename this series to Dad, No. dad no wait no we shouldn't it's actually what it is though we open this chapter up with the worst thing that could possibly happen hycel tending to ned pain is a gift from the gods lord eddard grand maester hycel told him

it means the bone is knitting, the flesh is healing itself. Be thankful. Pycelle offers Ned more milk of the poppy for the pain, but Ned is tired of sleeping. Pycelle tells Ned that sleep is a great healer, and I think that's interesting because this idea of sleep as a healer will come up in the two chapters that we're looking at today especially as Robert later on starts talking about death as sleeping. Pycelle also informs Ned that Tywin has sent a raven to Cersei and he's angry about Ned sending men after Gregor Clegane which like whatever what did

he think they were gonna do just as Pycelle said he would be like everyone knew yes thank you everyone knew that Tywin was gonna be upset about it like is the sky blue today I don't know and then we have a quote every time his legs throbbed he remembered Jaime Lannister's smile and Jory dead in his arms we're gonna come back to this in a bit about how Ned's leg throbbed, he remembered Jaime Lannister's smile and Jory dead in his arms. We're going to come back to this in a bit about how Ned's leg throbbing conveys his emotions throughout these chapters. Ned is rather nonchalant about the matter and remarks that if Lord Tywin attempts to interfere with the king's justice, he will have Robert to answer to. The only thing his grace enjoys more than hunting is making war on lords who defy him. Ned, of course, thinks Pycelle was sending a quiet threat through the queen. Ned thinks on how he's not really so confident in

Robert, like his words said, but knows better than to betray that thought. That is his one defense in this, the queen's fear of he and robert's relationship also very important we learn cersei has perfect teeth in this moment like of course she does of course she does i guess good for you girl i don't know really the only time that i can think of ned actually bluffing in king's landing in the way that he does here other than of course covering up like our R plus L equals J stuff is in this moment and it's just kind of very small compared to the bluffs that other people make like you compare it to Littlefinger just lying his ass off all the time Ned then requests a cup of honeyed wine once Pycelle departs it It does cloud his mind a little, but at

least not as bad as Milk of the Poppy, which, you know, like, I guess opiates do that. I've heard. He then thinks, what would Jon Arryn do in this situation? WWJD, what would Jon do? Ned Stark died for our sins. What would Jon do? Ned Stark died for our sins. I think it's interesting that Ned is always thinking about what would Jon Arryn do, and here it's explicitly that, because we never once see Ned think, like, oh, what would Rickard do?

Like, what would, like, my actual dad or father do? He thinks about... Probably attend a barbecue. Oh, damn. Burn. Pun intended. barbecue oh damn burn pun intended but rickard stark was also quite the savvy politician if southern ambitions is true and he was very much in cahoots with john aaron then so it's interesting that ned doesn't really wonder about that. Yeah, it's interesting he doesn't equate the two. Maybe it's like a daddy issue thing, who knows? But the things Ned leaves unsaid in his mind like that on these pages are honestly a little more interesting than sometimes some of the things he thinks.

Like as much as I love some of the imagery and some of the trauma, I mean, Ned just represses so much due to trauma and in order to survive. I mean, Ned just represses so much due to trauma and in order to survive. Ned wonders, had Jon lived long enough to act on his suspicions, or did he act and then die for it? He thinks on how Sansa made him realize the truth he died for, quote unquote, died for. Of course, ironically, she didn't make him realize why Jon truly died. She actually becomes the only character later on to eventually know the truth behind that poisoning. Yeah, that is funny uh she doesn't quite piece it all together yet because most people don't jump to incest as a conclusion for why for like what things are but it finally struck him yeah and what's interesting

there is sansa is going to obviously be the person to take Littlefinger down. So all these little connections made to her earlier on like this is also just like, hmm. Yeah. It shows she is more clever than, you know, you give the little girl credit for and she's growing. She's learning. And she learned to like use that information. As she learned to, like, use that information. Mm-hmm.

Ned thinks, It was queer how sometimes a child's innocent eyes can see things that grown men are blind to. Someday when Sansa was grown, he would have to tell her how she had made it all come clear for him. He's not the least bit like that old drunken king, she had declared, angry and unknowing and the simple truth of it had twisted inside him cold as death just gonna like throw this out there but like isn't joffrey isn't he at all like that old drunken king

right the very chapter after her dad dies he's having her beat and making her look at his head on a spike. I mean, he's kind of worse than that old drunken king, actually. Yeah. He's got a real mean streak. Grew up on the wrong side of the castle, that's for sure. Littlefinger is then Ned's next visitor, which

is pretty much like clocking in as the next worst person you would want to see after you've been drugged up for your pain for a couple of weeks. Like, so annoying. No, get a job. Littlefinger is actually wearing a rich plum doublet with his mockingbird sigil embroidered in black thread across the chest and I think that's such an interesting color to put him in in these chapters. George doesn't always describe color for outfits sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't so I do think that if he puts enough thought into it that we should look at it and purple is generally symbolic of nobility royalty and grandeur and

as Peter asserts his station throughout the story more and more especially in these last chapters this outfit definitely holds true to that his sigil is also embroidered across the plum warning that the mockingbird is growing bolder absolutely and while of course he's not royalty part of what gives it that connotation is of course it's just so expensive so you really see little finger out here swag and like i've got all this money that that i've made from my entrepreneurial pursuits well and even bigger than that when you speak like that the other thing is in winterfell they wear a lot of browns and grays and giraffe colored clothing because there's not a big clothing trade out of Winterfell, out of White Harbor. There's not a big need for that. But in the South, they wear colored silks and purple and blues would be more seen in the South, easier to obtain, but also way pricier.

So because of the dyes used in them and from them being shipped over from trade. So these are clothes that I mean, Ned noticing this is important because you think on how they don't wear that in Winterfell. He has very, you know, more simplistic looks compared to some of the royalty. Yeah. Let alone nobility. Littlefinger then tells Ned how Lady Tanda

is in trying to feast him to convince him to marry her daughter, who we later learn is Lawless Stokeworth. It's like the Stokeworths are a family more than worthy of Littlefinger to marry into them, especially like where he is in life. He's now just now becoming kind of an upjumped lord. And Lawless is not next in line to inherit yet but he is holding out for liza as we kind of know and that's a huge step in climbing his social ladder yeah well he's holding

out for liza ish right because in a lot of ways obviously he's holding out for catelyn and then at some point he does suggest trying to betroth Sansa to him, right? At one point before he then says, okay, if not her, then betroth me to Lysa. So yeah, he's really he's really trying to make that move. Also, he really talks about he brought this up in a previous chapter before, right? that that the stokeworths were kind of trying to woo him yeah i want to say it was like eight or nine the whatever preceded the brothel was it eight it was eight i think yeah yeah he like he definitely he's one of those asshole dudes that just like brags about all the girls that want him even though he's not getting laid yeah it's absolutely him he then continues the tales that ned has been hearing of free riders and sellswords that have begun to amass at casterly

rock ned then asks after robert wondering when robert's finally going to come back from his hunt on the hunt ned gets word that they had found the white heart that they were chasing's remains, but wolves had found it first and it was torn apart, which kind of gives a little foreshadowing of what's to come. Robert finally finds his heart, but it's too late. And the wolves, Ned, find the heart or the truth, but unfortunately kind of make a mess of it. I really like that wordplay of Robert finally finding his own heart and feeling his feelings and stuff but it's a big dead pile of animal and he can't do anything about it yeah i also wonder if there's a kind of prophetic dialogue that's going on between this scene and that scene in that first brand chapter uh with the direwolf mother,

with the antler through its throat. We know that there's a lot of symbolism that manifests in this series through animals. And I wonder if there's something that was going on here in terms of what the original outline had planned. Like maybe the Starks played a more direct role before in the downfall of House Baratheon, especially as we see now in the series House Baratheon dwindling and standing on its last legs

as the story continues. I don't know that it necessarily goes that way now, but it feels like there was something going on there. I feel like you're right on that. I think we really are boiling down on that. We are getting down to the end of the Baratheons. And I think in that outline, it kind of showed that Ned was more of a downfall and his family was more of a downfall to them. I mean, right now we're standing on just the bastards and Myrcella and Tommen,

and obviously those two are doomed, as we know. Yeah. Robert apparently heard of a boar on the hunt deeper in the forest and could not be talked down from pursuing it joffrey sandor the royces felon swan and 20 more of the party returned to court and left the rest to the hunt of all of the lannister party sandor clegane was the one who concerned him the most now that sir jamie had fled the city to join his father. Which I think that's such an interesting line, because Sandor is the one that actually takes interest in the Stark girl's protection after Ned dies.

Yeah, it's a good thing he didn't send him. He's that dog that helps with the wolves and follows them around. Oh, he thinks he's a wolf. What a dummy. Is he the Balto of the series? Questions. Sandor, you doggo. These are important questions.

We should do a Balto podcast. Next, we got a bit of Sandor versus Gregor exposition. Littlefinger says he would have been given a hundred silver stags to have heard the hound finding out that Beric was the one who was sent to kill Gregor. And Ned comments that even a blind man, though, could see that the hound loathed his brother. Littlefinger then continues that, of course, yes, but the point is that by not sending Sandor, it was a slight to him because Gregor was Sandor's, Sandor Clegane's to kill. He was Sandor's to hate, not Ned's. And then we come back to like this whole thing about the Stokeworths where Littlefinger's

about to leave to go have a feast with them and then gives pause to look at Maester Malion's great tome. He just said it must be a really great sleeping potion and for... It's gonna be. It's gonna be. Oh, a... Like the forever sleep-ing potion. Oh.

Dad, no! Dad, no! For a brief moment, Ned considers entrusting little thinker with the story but then thinks against it dad yes the lack of trust is kind of a little too too little too late here as we've noted in the last two episodes ned implicitly trusts Catelyn and her choices and works as a unit with her. He backs her at every turn immediately, but unfortunately, Littlefinger is the one person

that they as a unit should not have trusted. Ned, surrounded by no one trustworthy in King's Landing, is finally learning this. Again, Littlefinger is good at what he does. He hasn't climbed and stationed this much for Nott. He's more clever than half the men in the city, and he has given Ned help, but only just enough to keep him hanging on by a string. Regarding this loyalty, Ned thinks about it and how Littlefinger did help Ned a few times. He helped hide Catelyn and pointed him to resources, quote unquote, pointed him to resources.

Get a job. The wrong direction, whatever. But when push came to shove or steal came to steal, Littlefinger also shied away to save his own ass when the Lannisters were attacking Ned outside of that brothel and when Ned was really in trouble. Ned also thinks that Varys might be worse because Varys knew too much yet does too little. He also thinks on how Pycelle is becoming one of Cersei's informants day by day or he's becoming more convinced of that and how sir barriston though while of course a good warrior is too old and rigid and would just tell ned to do his duty

again this is showing ned is not politically inept but his honor and his duty do tend to get in the way and i i really agree with that we see later on that Tyrion does his little scheme to figure out where people's loyalties lie. And I think that it's a testament to Ned's skills that he actually accurately pegs most of the small council for what they are, except for Littlefinger because he's clouded by that quote-unquote help that Littlefinger has given him. Not to mention the drugs and the pain and his trust in Catelyn. I mean, he's got a lot playing against him in King's Landing. Time is running out. Ned thinks on how he must tell Robert the truths he learned

as soon as he returns from the hunt. Van Poole arranges passage on the Wind Witch for Sansa and Arya to get home on in three days. Reflecting on his daughter's safety, he thinks on a dream he had the night before, which, of course, revolves around blood. Children's blood. Last night, he had dreamt of Rhaegar Targaryen's children. Lord Tywin had laid the bodies beneath the Iron Throne, wrapped in the crimson cloaks of his houseguard that was clever of him the blood did not show so badly against the red cloth the little princess had been barefoot still dressed in her bed gown and the boy the boy it's a lot like trauma central trauma, but also I like the way that George writes this because we hear later on that Aegon's body was so mangled that it was beyond identification. But here we see that it was just so bad that Ned can't even really finish his sentences about it. And you can see why he's so scared for John and for Circe's children.

Ned thinks to himself that he has to find some way to save the children, save the babies. He reflects on the mercy that he has seen Robert give before to men like Barristan, like Pycelle, Varys, even Balon Greyjoy. Robert always had a way of inspiring loyalty in war. If you remember from the beginning of this series of podcasts, we mentioned some of the people he defeated in battle, but still offered mercy to upon their bending of the knee during the rebellion, like House Grafton, House Fell, and House Grandison. Yeah, whereas Robert seems to struggle finding that mercy for children for

some reason. I want to take a moment to like think about this a little more because of how this theme of mercy is manifesting in Ned's chapters, especially in this one. Because in the previous chapter where Ned sends what will become the Brotherhood Without Banners after Gregor. He's talking about not vengeance. He's talking about sending the king's justice, right? Now we're not talking justice. We're talking mercy. And the last time we actually heard talk of mercy in Ned's chapters was in Ned 8.

Embarrassed and in those soldiers or in those men that were pardoned were brought up also. Lord Renly shrugged. The matter seems simple enough to me. We ought to have had Viserys and his sister killed years ago, but his grace, my brother, made the mistake of listening to Jon Arryn. Mercy is never a mistake, Lord Renly, Ned replied. And here Ned is asking for that mercy for Daenerys, for children, and it's the same thing here in this situation where he's hoping that there will be mercy for the Lannister children. But again, he finds Robert lacking in this. So rather than give the king's mercy to Cersei, Ned gives his own mercy. And perhaps that mercy was actually... Maybe Ned was wrong. Maybe that mercy was a mistake.

Right. Maybe honor is what gets you killed sometimes. I mean, doing the right thing isn't always the best option if you want to live. Robert treats a man with respect and honor so long as they were brave and honest and pledged fealty and I think that these thoughts that Ned's having about him he's kind of weighing them he's facing his fear of this man being different and afraid for what the truth will actually bring this whole entire book has been ramping up of Ned going is this the man I know is this the man i love is this man going to be fair and just with me and he's finally facing this judgment that he's built up in his mind

this was something else poison in the dark a knife thrust the soul this he could never forgive no more than he had ever forgiven rhaegar he will kill them all ned realized and i think it's here that we realize it becomes clear that maybe ned made missteps in how his own life ends or doesn't end but the choice to try and protect children that in and of itself isn't really a mistake no it's very noble he's doing a noble thing even trying to protect cersei and her kids. He has seen enough blood spilled and he can't live through it again. The man breaks if you do, you know? I mean, yeah, despite knowing that Robert's rage will overcome protecting those innocents, like Cersei's children, Ned knows that he can't stay silent on this. He thinks of his duty

to Robert, to the realm, to the man who helped raise him, Jon Arryn, to Bran, you know, literally his own child and son, who seems to have stumbled on the truth, because why else would they have tried to slay him? It was for the secret. With Alan gone, Tomard is now the captain of his guard. Arya and Sansa, side note, call him Fat Tom. Very, very cute girls. Don't body shame.

Ned starts to regret sending off his best swords and half of his guard to bring Clegane to justice at Tom's arrival. Which I think ties in really well with how Jon Snow rules the Night's Watch. We now know where Jon Snow gets that sort of strategy from, because he, upon ascending to Lord Commander, as part of his kill the boy and let the man be born,

decides that that means sending away all of his own closest allies at the Wall, and surrounds himself with his political enemies, which ultimately doesn't work out for him but we can see why he thinks that this is a viable strategy because that's what ned does yeah and ned does it because he thinks that's how he'll get the business done and that's the right thing to do ned begins to lose faith even in his own guard. He thinks how Tom is loyal and capable enough, but old and heavy and has never been energetic. He doesn't lose faith in his gods, though. He requests Tommer to bring him to the godswood. Farley and Tommer

bring Ned to the godswood, and he requests the guard at the Tower of the Hand be doubled. No one can enter or leave the tower without his word. As Eliana noted, Ned keeping his best men may have actually kept him safe in his own home. The turn of events is really unfortunate. Had Lannister men not begun ravaging the Riverlands and had Ned been able to keep his men, he may have been able to put up a good fight when everything goes down after Robert's death, but now he's gunning double shifts with his men and it's totally starting to show. The godswood is empty and Ned's leg is causing him immense pain, but they lie him in the grass next to the heart tree and he gives them a message to deliver, sealed with a sigil, to which Tomard is taken aback. While he waits in the calm of the godswood,

he still feels a tie to his religion and feels relief from his aching leg. How long he waited in the quiet of the godswood, he could not say. It was peaceful here. The thick walls shut out the clamor of the castle, and he could hear birds singing, the murmur of crickets, What a beautiful scene. Oh, God, yeah. It was very beautiful and sad, kind of. You can hear the godswood in your head almost before the last paragraph when he gives tommer the scroll george does not tell us who he sends for although we have a strong hint of who it may be knowing who ned is as a person and of course

the reveal comes right after that beautiful paragraph We are made to anticipate its drop. Enter Cersei Lannister. She arrives at sunset alone, which he bid in the letter. She's wearing hunting greens and leather boots and a brown rough spun cloak, a disguise as she's usually seen in her finery. And this is to keep her from being seen as the queen in the godswood of Ned Stark. It also kind of reminds me of when Cersei says that she first went to Jaime, I guess when they first slept together, and she was dressed as a serving girl. Is this

what Cersei thinks guys are into? Is this why she makes a pass at Ned here? Because I don't know, Cersei's really into roleplaying? Is that her steeze? That's what gets her off. I mean, it's like roleplaying and brother play. You gotta keep it spicy. Yeah if that's what gets her off i mean it's like role playing and like brother play it you got to keep it spicy yeah that's true i feel like i don't know is the incest on its own it's been how many years 15 years i mean you just got to keep it going that's true because your

brother gets boring after a while longer like 20 years like since they were kids what am i saying god that's true gotta spice it up you know like i'm not your sister i'm the serving lunch who's your sister you know and yeah jamie it's jamie's only partner at least seriously i guess oh as we see later on she has other partners ned notes her bruise and its swelling from robert had slightly calmed though there was no mistaking it for anything but what it was. Ned reveals that he called her to the godswood so that all the gods can see their conversation. I love this next passage so much. She sat beside him on the grass.

Her every move was graceful. Her curling blonde hair moved in the wind and her eyes were green as the leaves of summer. I also kind of like Cersei's retort at this moment. I think it's pretty funny where she's just like, do you, is that why you called me here, Lord Stark? To pose me riddles? Or is it your intent to seize me as your wife seized my brother? Because Cersei doesn't know why Jon Arryn died. She's really happy it happened. She's like, she's loaded happy.

She's like, pour me a glass of wine to that. She's like, really? Why did he die? Please tell me. I've been wondering why this happy little miracle happened. I know. Why? This is ruined.

This ruined my entire life. So they begin an exchange where Ned shows her sympathy for Robert's abuse, and Cersei remarks that Jaime, her brother, is worth a hundred of Robert. Ned asks, your brother or your lover? Ooh, got him. It's a good, nice and simple ned in a way it's a little cheesy because it's like when has ned stark ever been this smooth george come on that's true but i love it no i do love it like dad you got him dad got him cersei is some good twin cest exposition uh twin cest sex position i don't know and both she did not flinch from the truth since we were children together and why not the targaryens wed brother to sister for 300 years

to keep the bloodlines pure and jamie and i are more than brother and sister we are one person in two bodies we shared a womb together he came into this world holding my foot our old maester said when he is in me i feel whole the ghost of a smile flitted over her lips i really like the way that cersei puts a lot of this and there are a couple of things going on here for me too specifically so first i want to focus on how she talks about we are one person in two bodies and then she says when he is in me I feel whole. These lines really remind me of this idea of platonic love like as in the philosopher Plato's symposium he includes a speech by Aristophanes that tells the story of desire and of love. He talks about how once there were three

kinds of human beings. There were males, females, and the androgynous, which had the parts of both sexes. And the way that this works is that all of these beings had, like, four legs and four arms and two genitalia and two faces and four ears. They were round. You get it.

They moved omnidirectionally. It's... they were also it sounds goofy but apparently they were incredibly powerful they had so much power that they could challenge the gods but they also had so much pride that they actually did and so in order to quench their rebellion without hashtag killing all humans, Zeus' solution was we're going to cut the humans into two. We're going to cut them in half. And Apollo over here is going to turn their faces around and fix their wounds. This is also apparently how belly buttons are made too, so that they would always see that wound and know that they were lacking.

And so people were set to wander the earth in search of their other half regardless of sex because if their other half came from like that male blob or the female blob or the androgynous blob um and upon finding them they would feel that sense of belonging the language that circe uses here again that we are one person in two bodies, I feel whole, speaks to that idea of Cersei and Jaime being that platonic whole together. It gives the idea of them being soulmates. And while, because it's Plato, the idea of that platonic ideal ought to feel pure and transcendent, the incestuous nature of Cersei and Jaime's relationship and all the destruction that it's led to in the realm ends up upturning that ideal and creates instead something horrific.

As for the other thing that this spiel from Cersei makes me think of, it reminds me of another Greek story. Cersei says that Jaime came into this world holding her foot. I'm sure that everyone here is familiar with the prophecy of the Valonqar, that idea that a little brother will choke Cersei to death. And of course many people suspect that it's Jaime and I think this passage lends itself to evidence for that. It of course tells us that Jaime is Cersei's younger brother, her little brother coming into the world after her, but him holding her ankle reminds me of the Achilles heel. The myth goes that Achilles' mother Theda's tried to render him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx, but to do so she had to hold him

just by the foot, making that his only weak spot because it was the part that didn't get dunked. Then he ends up getting hit by an arrow in the foot, and then he dies. And I feel that this birthing story of Jaime and Cersei references the myth of Achilles to show that Jaime is Cersei's weak spot. references the myth of Achilles to show that Jaime is Cersei's weak spot. Yeah, George is definitely playing on a lot of those themes. I mean, obviously, Greek tragedy is totally akin to A Song of Ice and Fire. This is just other tragedy, fantasy tragedy, not real mythology.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, we read and analyze A Song of Ice and Fire like the Bible, so why not, dude? Why not? Ned inquires about Bran, and Cersei admits that he saw her and Jaime together, and that Ned must love his children. She does, too. The craziest part of all of this is that Jaime and Cersei don't know all the allegations Ned has built up against them. They don't know he thinks it was them with the cat spa in Winterfell or that they killed Jon Arryn. So Cersei, by blasé, just saying, you love your children or you must love your children.

I love mine, too. She admitted to him several some things she really didn't actually do when she and jamie were only responsible for like bran's fall and banging each other yeah and i yeah banging each other and i don't know leading john aaron on a case but again not the reason john aaron died right ned then thinks if it came to that if it were the life of some child I did not know against Rob and Sansa and Arya and Bran and Rickon, what would I do? Even more so, what would Catelyn do if it were Jon's life against the children of her body? He did not know. He prayed he never would. Again, there's a cool amount of R plus L equals J shadowing in here, especially at how he separates John from the text. He doesn't include them with his other kids.

He keeps it separate, saying if it were John's life against the children of her body. And he actually never does know what Kat does because he does die. He prays he never would, so he doesn't. But as we know, Cat does protest Rob's will legitimizing John, which I'm sure will come to play. Yeah, I wonder if we're going to see something arise with that and maybe, I don't know, the Lady Stoneheart storyline. We do have in the 93 letter, I believe, that Cat, Arya, and Bran were supposed to be beyond the Wall.

And Catelyn was supposed to, I think, die beyond the Wall, which, of course, has implications for being risen as a wight. And, you know, it's kind of close by to where Jon is, of course. Cersei confirms that her children are Jaime's. Wow. The seed is strong, Ned thinks. He thinks on genetics from Malian's tome, and Taya and Gawain Baratheon from 90 years ago,

and their son that died in infancy, Black of Hair, and even Baratheon's from 30 years before that. Every time he searches the brittle yellowed pages, he finds the gold yielding before the coal. Cersei reveals Robert did get her pregnant once, but Jaime helped her find someone to cleanse her of the child. She continues on, speaking of how she hasn't let Robert inside of her for years, yet she knows how to satisfy him without. Which, at least we don't get the sticky prince's speech that was gross i love that i love that speech i like how sinister it is exactly maybe i just like gross

things i don't know also just want to point out that clear up some confusion that this is different from what happens in the show circe in the show gives birth to a son by Robert, who dies soon afterwards. And here in the book, Circe aborts that child. And to have aborted that one child Robert and she would have had means that her life continues to hold true to Maggie the Frog's prophecy where Robert has 16 children and Circe has three. So there's no Gendry is Cirsei and Robert's kid theories here, kids. Nope. Not here. Go somewhere else for that one. Yeah.

Ned asks Cersei why she hated Robert so, and that a thousand other women could have loved him with all of their hearts. Her eyes burned, green fire in the dusk, the lioness that was her sigil the night of our wedding feast the first time we shared a bed he called me by your sister's name he was on top of me in me stinking of wine and he whispered Liana Ned thought of pale blue roses and he wanted to I do not know which of you I pity most. Robert wasted years pining over Lyanna Stark, a girl he hardly knew and projected this life and love onto. This sense of belonging into the Stark family with brothers he never had a chance to really have the relationship with,

like his own, with Ned and Brandon even, and the girl of his quote-unquote dreams. Cersei kind over having the perfect prince as we learn in Rhaegar. The only man she wanted more than Jaime and ended up in kind of narcissistic love with Rhaegar and with the idea of being queen while of course Lyanna and Rhaegar's love put them to their early graves. Yeah I just love that Robert and Cersei in this way are so very much like they both pined for they both hated each other's object of affection I guess yeah they pine for the others others others and they get stuck with each other

but I did love the way the show did that little scene with them. That was such a great addition of just, you know, that little talk they had and how he just says, I don't even remember what she looks like. Seven kingdoms. You know, he says the seven kingdoms took her away from me. Yada yada. Winning the throne didn't bring them back or whatever. I don't know. I don't watch that show

yeah i do um that was a really great addition and but did we ever have a shot like just the look that lena heady and mark addy give each other oh my god yeah you also got a hand in like those actors killed it and they just did a great job with that scene lena heady as cersei is such a good casting it's like I can't see it. When I read the books, like I see Lena Headey and I see those little eyebrow twitches and those little smirks. Oh God, she's good. Yeah. She does a great job.

Cersei also attempts to seduce Ned. She puts her hand on his thigh and touches his hair and his face. She offers him a roll as Joffrey's hand. Be kind to me, Ned. I swear to you, you shall never regret it. This scene and the bit following reminds me of Sansa's sixth chapter in A Clash of Kings, when they're waiting in Major's holdfast. The queen sipped at her wine. Were anyone else outside the gates, I might hope to beguile him, but this is Stannis Baratheon. I'd have a better chance of seducing his horse. She noticed the look on Sansa's face and laughed.

Have I shocked you, my lady? She leaned close. You little fool. Tears are not a woman's only weapon. You've got another between your legs. You best learn to use it. learn to use it yeah and this is kind of how Circe tries to run her politics later on especially with the Kettleblacks and it seems like she has difficulty imagining that she could rule or have power without banging yeah as opposed to like in my opinion Catlin who relies on her station she

uses the vows that each of those houses swore to to house Tully when she's in the Riverlands whereas Cersei tries to seek that power through through using her body. I think that it's absolutely a tool that's necessary for a woman politician in Westeros, as we see, of course, in later Sansa chapters. Definitely something that's useful. It's just that Circe doesn't afford herself those other tools. Completely. Ned asks Circe if she made the same offer to Jon Arryn, for which she slaps him, and he repeats her own words back to her.

He will wear it as a badge of honor. to her he will wear it as a badge of honor to be honest i don't know if ned is being cheeky here when he like asks if cersei made the same offer to john erin like i don't know if he's insulting her or if it's like a legitimate question i think it's a little bit of both i don't think that he went flat out little finger on it. You know, he wasn't trying to be like, oh, like, I'll wear this like a badge of honor, Cersei. But he was just being, you know, meaningful. Dad's trying to say stuff and mean it again. You know, like it is interesting.

He notes her bruise early on in the chapter when she first shows up or early on in the gods. But when she first shows up. So I'd say it's kind of important-ish there i don't know yeah no no i absolutely think agree with the badge of honor thing i just mean like asking like if cersei made the same offer to jaudarin oh yeah maybe yeah i think and again this is kind of what i was saying with how like the language is weird for ned in this chapter. It's very like this chapter feels, I don't know, not out of character completely, just like a little like the side of Ned we haven't seen. Yeah.

Dad's being weird. Dad, stop. Circe then breaks and she fumes at Ned on his supposed honor. Honor, she spat. How dare you play the noble lord with me? What do you take me for? You've a bastard of your own. I've seen him. Who is the mother, I wonder? Some Dornish peasant you raped while her holdfast burned? A whore? Or was it the grieving sister, the Lady of Shara? She threw herself into the sea i'm told why was that for the brother you slew or the child you stole tell me my honorable lord eddard how are you any different from robert or me or jamie this is the only ashara dane mentioned in that chapter

i'd like to just put in there and this is the very first ashara dane mention on girls gone canon so we do need like some air horns here i'll see what i can find yeah i'm proud of you um i didn't know that this was the first and only ashara dane mention in ned's chapters so interesting right like i said what he doesn't think about is so much more interesting think of all these secrets he's hiding from us. And I'm like, Dad, tell me. Tell me about school, Dad. It also tells you a little bit about the Westerosi rumor mill when I think about it. Like, oh, Cersei knows this.

Me, I'm like, does it? Does it teach you the Westerosi rumor mill you want to talk about? Anyways, we won't talk about it. Well, I mean, just like, you know, that it's being talked about from the north to king's landing exactly i mean even his serving people were talking about it at winterfell yeah have you heard there's a rumor in saint petersburg have you heard it's happening in winterfell winterfell is okay never mind um are you hearing like aria on her own with the dog like but it's gendry that song me too heart don't fail me oh that's totally aria okay anyways don't desert me okay then coolly responds that he doesn't kill children for a start, and that's a big difference between them, and that Cersei and her children should leave before Robert returns. They should go into exile. He warns her that Robert's wrath will follow her.

love that line that is such a good line she's just like good she's the best evil queen man like come on uh this actually this whole part and cersei's portrayal in this chapter reminds me a lot of one of the many inspirations for cersei margaret of anjou which more popularly known in her portrayal in henry the sixth from shakespeare just quietly internally vowing her revenge against the yorkists and anyone that supports them after having all she loves and her children torn away from her such a good line what of my wrath lord start actually like this this whole this whole chapter is full of cersei zingers now that i think about it it's kind of like crazy because you don't think of cersei like this from this point of view you don't you because we know what's going on in her head now we don't really think of her the same now

just like Jamie you know it's it's it's interesting to look at this like you look at oh like Cersei was such a different character when we didn't know she was batshit she well she was also a different person then right because she hadn't suffered the loss of her son and her father. She was also a different person, I think. Yeah, she's been driven deeper and deeper into this. Yeah. But yeah, Cersei's like mixtape, this chapter. Fire.

Truly. She then remarks that Ned should have been the one to take the throne in the rebellion, which Ned remarks that he's made more mistakes than she could know, and that actually is not one of them. Could you imagine the scenario that Ned returns to King's Landing after all the slaughter and beholds Jon Snow as the last Targaryen and takes the throne as his regent. What a different story. I struggle to imagine it just because...

He would never. Yeah, exactly. That's why I can't picture it. Oh, but it was, my lord, Cersei insisted. When you play the game of thrones you win or you die there is no middle ground she turned up her hood to hide her swollen face and left him there in the dark beneath the oak amidst the quiet of the godswood under a blue black sky the stars were coming out so good that mic drop um anyways so good you can tell from this imagery that ned seems to be feeling hopeful um in that quiet and with the stars coming out and it's just like oh oh netty boy oh dad oh dad i don't know i wouldn't say he's being hopeful here necessarily um i would say that

especially the under a blue black sky i think that is a way that george is a trying to show time passing first off because he does go there for hours i mean she doesn't show up till sunset and now it's dark dark so i think time passing is a big thing there but also like i said this chapter is just a little off it's a confusing bit of imagery there at the end i would say maybe at least he's feeling i don't, confident in his escape plan or that he did the right thing by not saying yes to her plea bargain. I think, yeah, I think confident could be a way of saying it like that. He's yeah, he's confident that he did the right thing and. Or the best he could.

Yeah, and that. All right, I did it. And now, like, like things are gonna go great and seriously he's gonna like go do her thing and her kids are gonna be fine and she'll come to her senses he said so that's ned 12 a lot of things happen in that chapter so much it's funny because like in some ways a lot of things didn't happen in that chapter. It was just this conversation between Ned and Cersei. But there's just so much to unpack in it.

Mm-hmm. But, moving on. Lightning round. Dany 5. Daenerys eats a horse heart and receives a prophecy. Her child shall be the stallion that mounts the world. During the feast, Viserys breaks Dothraki code by bearing steel and base Dothrak. He threatens

his sister and her child, but at least he finally gets that golden crown he was promised. All that glitters is not gold. I mean, it's really gold in this situation. Yeah, no, it actually is gold this time. And we make our way to Ned

13. A moment of silence because we only have two chapters after we get this chapter done you guys this is it oh my god ned 13 mortally wounded by a beastly boar king robert declares ned regent of the kingdom in his will with the kingdom's counselors whispering at his ear to strike and seize power in different ways, Ned sends a letter declaring Stannis Baratheon the true heir of the throne. His misstep? He lays his trust in an ambitious, up-jumped man through the swords of the City Watch. The chapter opens with Ned dreaming of walking through the crypts of Winterfell, where he sees Rickard, Brandon, then Liana, who whispers, promise me, Ned, while crying tears of blood. Just want to throw this out there. It seems like George R.R. Martin's really into tears of blood.

Like this sort of idea came up in that previous Dany chapter we went over just now. Yeah, and it's not an often used phrase in the books it's a couple things like uh catelyn i know in storm as we all unfortunately remember she has the white tears and red tears mingling as she like scrapes her whole skin off her epidermis off um that's in storm and then john actually he has a crazy dream and he sees Gilly in a dream weeping tears of blood in A Dance with Dragons well that's sad uh yeah and I guess we also have the weirwoods and I'm just like what's up with George RR Martin in this imagery is this like a thing that like people are into when they're into metal like stuff is this like a an adolescent goth thing like are we are

we thinking evanescence here i i'm trying to just wrap my head around why this comes up a lot wake me up wake me up wake me up now save me uh the ghillie dream i mean that one does work out because that's a guilt dream about taking her child basically she's weeping tears of blood i mean that one's obvious regarding gilly is he feeling guilty it was a good run guys girls gone cannons it's over girls Girl's gone, Dawn. Girl's gone over. Ned wakes suddenly and rushes to the door to a summons from Robert, who has finally returned from his hunt. We get some descriptions of the architecture and learn about where the apartments are and makers hold fast, but we're not going to focus on that on the way to roberts though ned passes a few knights of the king's guard sir boros blount sir preston greenfield and sir barriston selmy

three men in white cloaks ned remembers and then he feels a chill of course the three catches could be said to start as early as ned six with with Jon Arryn taking three guardsmen with him, and again in Eddard 9 before we get to the Tower of Joy in his 10th chapter, and here is no different. He enters Robert's chambers, and Robert is lying in the canopied bed. The king's accompanied by Pycelle, Cersei, and Renly. Ned begins to feel as though he's dreaming and he begins disassociating all over again. The room smelled of smoke and blood and death. Reminiscent, of course, of Liana dying in her bed of blood in the tower. Promise me she had cried in a room that smelled of blood and roses from Ned I. And turns out the room smells like this because Robert is severely injured.

He told his crew, stand aside, I got this. But he did not got this, and he was in fact drunk. He missed his thrust and gets gored by the spore. Sometimes I think about how Robert's manner of death, by being sliced open from his bowels, like through his nipple, his chest in general parallels the injury that leads to Khal Drogo's own death also for some reason he seems to think that like oh yeah it's totally fine because I still killed that that boar and I brought it back for everyone

yeah the death totally mirrors uh it reminds me of Miri Mazdur and everything she did to try to save him. But yeah, he really thought that killing the boar was okay. Like masculinity is so toxic, you'd rather die than not prove you're the best hunting king. And I guess, honestly, he's not. But Redley seems astounded. Also, while I'm on this Greek mythology kick, this episode, it reminds me of the myth of Aphrodite and Adonis, who was a mortal lover of that goddess. And he died because he got gored while hunting a wild boar. Which especially after Cersei in the last, last chapter, she was very

goddess like in Godswood. So, I mean, you could relate to that or to him loving Lyanna, I guess, even. Ned kicks everyone out of the room so he and Ned can have some last bit of alone time. Ship it. Oh, man. So we get back to another one of these scenes where Ned thinks about how his leg is hurting. And we said we were going to come back to that and now we are. Throughout these past few chapters, we see that every time Ned is frustrated,

his mind goes back to how much his leg is bothering him. It's exacerbated in those moments. But when he feels something kind of like victory or feels good about a decision he's going to make, when he's confronting Cersei, he thinks to himself that his leg doesn't even bother him so much at that moment. We see that blurring between pain and emotion when he says that his leg was throbbing so badly he was almost blind with pain or perhaps it was grief that fogged his eyes. The two become one. Robert then admits that actually I was wrong about Daenerys and says that Ned, you are a true bro as you were the only one who would actually stand up to me. Gods have mercy, he muttered, swallowing his agony. The girl, Daenerys, only a child,

you were right. That's why. The girl, The god sent the boar. Sent to punish me. Wrong. It was wrong. Only a girl. Varys. Littlefinger. Even my brother. Worthless. No one to tell me but you, Ned. Only you. He lifted his hand, the gesture pained and feeble. Paper and ink. There, on the table, write what I tell you. Robert completely feels that that bore was divine punishment for putting a hit on Dani. The intense hate that Robert exhibits towards Dani that led to this grave sin, his hate of Rhaegar and the Targaryens, and of course his constant escapism of like, I'm drinking a lot and I'm gonna go on this like crazy hunt I feel that it's him externalizing in some ways we can see it as

like him externalizing his own self-hate because of course Robert himself has Targaryen blood in kind of two ways right Baratheons might be an offshoot of a Targaryen bastard. And then again, yeah, Rhael marries into the Baratheon family. So I mean, he doesn't hate himself. We're not asserting that he hates himself for being a Targaryen, obviously, just that this externalization and his own identity could speak to some of that self hate that we see him bringing up throughout the series. In this whole book, he's like, I didn't want this. I don't want any of it. And the last chapter with Cersei and his fight, he finally breaks. It's sad because Robert is kind of relieved to die, it seems like. He's ready. He knows he didn't do the realm justice. He wasn't a good king, a just king. He could have been better. And he knows that he wasted it. the realm justice he wasn't a good king a just king he could have been better and

he knows that he wasted it you know he's he's ready to go he's like looking for affirmation that like i really sucked but maybe i didn't suck that much but fishing for compliments not a good hunter but sure is a good fisher hey okay got him got him robert then begins dictating his will and ned changes the language from my son joffrey to my heir and refrains from telling robert the truth because he doesn't want to hurt him anymore which of course he's been doing that for 15 years, but even though it's not a new task, it hasn't gotten easier, exactly. Robert is ready to die, and Ned is begging him not to. And last of all, Robert asks Ned to serve the boar at his feast. Fucking men.

And says, promise me, Ned. He promises, and Ned hears Liana in his head again. Man, what if that was what Ned promised Liana and that's why he feels so much guilt, right? I didn't serve boar at her feast. Yeah, she's like, Ned, make sure that you like replace all the vases with blue roses all the time. Ned, serve, I don't know, my favorite pie. I mean, he does bring her flowers when he can. You know, she was fond of flowers.

That's true. Robert says that he's getting cold, that it's cold, and we know that means he's beginning to die. He asks of death, will I dream? And just because I can, because it's my cast and I can do whatever I want, I'm gonna throw

in some more Hamlet because of why the fuck not? You can't actually do whatever you, okay, go ahead. I'm just kidding. My wife's going to let me do whatever I want. Yeah, so Robert, of course, asks, of death, will I dream? Reminds me of this line. To die, to sleep, to sleep perchance a dream. A, there's the rub rub for in the sleep of

death what dreams may come ned says that robert is gonna dream but honestly we don't quite know this who knows what actually happens when you die don't just fucking like say things you don't know but i guess like that's like camp that's what ned's doing you know he's supporting his friend and his i guess presumably last time of need right yeah especially as robert then asks ned to take care of his children and at first ned is at a loss uh because the lannister kids aren't robert's kids but then he remembers robert's bastards do you worry that like ned was sitting there and when robert asked him to take care of his children he thought it was like mobster style like take care of them take care of them you know put some cement galoshes on them swim with the fish i

don't know give them give them some blue roses serve them boar that's not the same eliana is it not i don't know what we're talking about Eliada has never seen the godfather you guys yeah it's not a good look I mean I digress unfortunately when it comes to Robert's children Ned cannot protect them either as Cersei's wrath that she spoke of last chapter descends upon them immediately by misjudging Cersei's wrath that she spoke of last chapter descends upon them immediately. By misjudging Cersei and how Cersei would take Ned's mercy, he gave her nothing but plans and time for her to strike. And by sending Sansa to her chambers and disallowing her to say goodbye with no real explanation, Sansa hammers the nail in the coffin in her upcoming fourth chapter, giving Cersei a timeline for these plans. The advice he gets from Renly and Littlefinger later on in this chapter are pointless bits of advice,

because after denying Cersei the Regency in Chapter 12, she already knows how to master this situation. Ned Stark would never have accepted any of those offers. Renly speaks in wonder of how Robert slew the Boar. wonder of how Robert slew the boar. Yeah, he's just very amazed that Robert, I guess, had his entrails hanging out and still managed to kill the boar. And I've just, especially through this reread, been doing some thinking of Renly and Joffrey and how both of them are very much Robert's children. Like Renly grows up of age with some of Robert's bastards and we've discussed already in a couple of these previous episodes how Joffrey internalizes Robert's abusive nature and like kind of manifests that cruelty that Robert has

but I think that we see a lot of who Robert was in Renly too. He's how he yearns for that same glory that Robert has. He has that same, I guess, charisma that he embodies that same desire for fun that we see in Robert. Yes, absolutely. The pageantry that Robert desires too, and that he somewhat has, but it's kind of like a knockoff has been sad version at this point. In his court, it's almost identical to younger, more prime Renly's court in a way. Robert wishes for the love of the people, where Renly is stuck in the perpetual young days of Robert's reign. Renly was but a child during the rebellion. He was five years old, seeing his big brother take kingship and glory and kind of giving him a privileged outlook on his life. Like, yes, their parents died, but Renly didn't grow up in a court

where he could be affected like smaller houses or higher lords or small folk or understand grievances that could be brought against them or the difficulty in ruling a kingdom. Renly grew up basically with the opposite of what Ned and Robert grew up with. They had Jon Arryn, who was pragmatic and cunning and dutiful.

And Renly and Stannis grew up in Robert's realm. Renly embraced the finer points of it, but Stannis grew bitter in the shadows. Yeah, and I think it's definitely intentional that Renly looks so much like Robert. He's, in many ways, growing up trying to be like him. Then we have a Barristan. Even the truest knight cannot protect a king against himself, Ned says to Barristan, which might be something we're going to touch on more as we continue our podcast and the next POV series with Barristan. Yeah, and we also will see it in Jaime's chapters. Yeah, and we also will see it in Jaime's chapters. Like you said, we'll see it in Barristan's chapters in just a few weeks, but these are very thematically placed in their stories, especially the guilt that falls upon them from being unable to protect a king or a queen against the other or themselves.

I'd also argue that we see a variant of it in Davos's chapters as well, with Stannis and his newfound religion. That's a good point ned says that robert blamed the wine which was still robert unable to protect against himself and his own vices so he did do himself in there but various however throws doubt into how innocent the death was who gave robert the wine lancel lannister it turns. Something that occurred to me recently is that Robert would of course have been very angry to find out that none of the heirs are his, but more than that, I think he would have felt very relieved and thrilled to find out Cersei's infidelity, because then it gives him an excuse to put Cersei aside, and we see how much he hates his marriage a few chapters ago. But of course that doesn't happen.

Ned tries to tell Varys to call off the hit, but it is too late. Renly comes to Ned and says that you must strike now. I can arm you with more guards to seize the Lannister children, but Ned finds this dishonorable. Renly warns that every moment Ned delays is time for the Lannisters to prepare and strike, obviously. Interestingly, the plan that Renly proposes to Ned of seizing the Lannister children so that they can't move against Ned turns out to be exactly what the Lannisters do to him. They fail to capture Arya, of course, but they did try. But they have Sansa, and they're able to use it to

force that false confession and a surrender from Ned. Like Robert Renly says that the gods are not good and that they are seldom merciful. Which sidebar, a piece of like writing that I've always loved was, I'm not sure if this is still the person, but Tyrion T. Lannister too on Reddit, was I'm not sure if this is still the person but Tyrion T Lannister 2 on reddit they found the really nice analysis and catch of in the books when the gods are good when something happens where the gods are good it's a flat-out admission that they're not going to be good in this situation so anytime someone calls that out always check that I love that theory we'll link it below for sure I also think it's interesting though because Renly saying the gods are not good, I feel like most of the time when people say the gods are not good, it's also not good.

I kind of feel like it's just always not good. Bad. Gods are bad. I love that catch and that analysis. And it also kind of makes sense that, of course, you would love it, because this is very much in that same vein as the Lysen Arbor gold stuff. I love that one too. Yeah. So it's a great, it's a great analysis. Ned then turns instead to Littlefinger of all the choices of people that he could have had to be his allies. He chooses Littlefinger and he asked to have him brought over he tells his men search for him

anywhere that you can bring him to me he also ensures that the plans for the ship uh he has for his daughters to head back to winterfell that that's all going on track and he tells his men that oh on your way back to winterfell please make a pit stop at dragonstone i have a letter for stannis baratheon um i'm gonna write it to you and give it to you. Please make sure it gets to him. He also muses upon being able to return home again. He wanted to drift off to a dreamless sleep in his own bed with his arms wrapped tight around his lady, Catelyn. Which I think is an interesting contrast between Ned and Robert. While Robert hopes to dream, it's his way of escaping his family and his life, as opposed to Ned. Ned's escape from the horrors and the trauma that he's had is that he doesn't

want to dream. Because as we've seen from the dreams that he's had already in these that have opened up his chapters his dreams are full of ghosts of his past. Littlefinger finally shows up and Ned tells him what he knows. Littlefinger recommends that Ned put Joffrey on the throne which guarantees Ned will not go with this plan because it's so dishonorable and this is kind of the exact same strategy Littlefinger used a few chapters ago to keep Ned from going to Robert about the knife. Instead, Ned asks Littlefinger for the gold floats. You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move. Look at you now. You know why you summoned me here.

You know what you want to ask me to do. You know it has to be done. But it's not honorable, so the words stick in your throat. Like daggers. Or swords. He goes on, finally, and gives in. For the sake of love I bear for Catelyn, I will go to Jannos Slint this very hour and make certain the City Watch is yours.

6,000 gold pieces should do it. A third for the commander, a third for the officers, a third for the men. We might be able to buy them for half as much, but I prefer not to take chances. But as we know, Littlefinger does not actually do this. I kind of want to say that there's like a subtext here because he's like, for the love of Bear Catlin. And as we discuss often, it's that Littlefinger doesn't necessarily truly love Catlin so much as he does that idea he has of her.

It's another great example of men pedestalizing. Pedestalizing? Is that a word now? I think it is. We just worded it. It's canon now so it's canon in the dictionary in that book um he doesn't really know catelyn he puts her on a pedestal because he couldn't have her he knows a little girl from the great keep of river run with coppery hair and bright blue eyes he saw beauty, but not the iron underneath. Absolutely. Especially as Catlin's story goes. Not the stone underneath, I guess we should say. Hey, that's edit 13. An unlucky number. Oh, no wonder so many terrible things happen in this chapter.

Oh, George, George. As soon as Littlefinger is like, oh, yeah, I'll bring the City Watch, I'm like, no, Dad, no. Dad. All right, well, next time, it's lit. As we said, we only have two more Eddard episodes,

two more netisodes left in this POV read-through. In Eddard 14 betrayal eddard 15 we are chilling in the dungeon and thinking about life and stuff alternate alternate uh summary dad no dad no for both chapters i well i think that first one it's dad no second might be like dad why why are we laughing it's the only way to get through this pain yeah it's it's a coping mechanism everyone thank you for joining us on this ride everyone you should subscribe to us on things like itunes and on google play so that you can know whenever a new episode comes out get it right away we are also now on a cast a

and of course don't forget podbean yes and we are also always on podbean you can find us on the internet you can tweet at us with girls gone canon you can send us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com and please feel free to leave an itunes review let us know how you're enjoying the show so far we would love to hear from you as always i have been chloe you can find me on the internet as at Liza Narber and I have been Eliana and you can find me as glass table girl on reddit and arithmetric on twitter

we'll see you next week for episode 8