Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 27 - ACOK Sansa Stark VII

Episode Date: November 16, 2018

 Thrust into a magical world where the line between truths and lies blurs more often than not, Sansa Stark must wait patiently in the Red Keep, while the Battle of the Blackwater rages outside the ca...stle. intro by Anton Langhage Lady Gwyn's Bloody Cloak Theory: https://ladygwynhyfvar.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/the-bloody-cloak/ Scad from DavosFingers performing @ Ice and Fire Con: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYEjhErHxQg Use the code "DRUNK" to get $5 off a ticket at Ice and Fire Con 2019.  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

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello guys and welcome to episode 27 of Girls Gone Canon, Sansa Stark in A Clash of Kings, chapter 7. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. You can find me on the internet as at Liza Narber on Twitter and on Tumblr. And I'm another one of your hosts, Eliana. You can find me as GlassTableGirl on the Song of Ice and Fire subreddit and the Maester Monthly podcast and as Arithmetic on Twitter. Guys, we did it. We did it. It's hour 267 of the Blackwater. It's my favorite.
Starting point is 00:00:59 I can't believe you're letting me do this, Eliana. I'm letting you do 1,000 hours. Literally, Eliana got up the other day and she was like, Chloe, I am going to let you have this episode. We were not going to do Sansa 7 in A Clash of Kings. You know, Chloe just really seems to love it. Yeah, we were going to skip over it.
Starting point is 00:01:18 We were like, whatever, this isn't important. Nothing happens in this chapter. Nothing, but you guys, this is such a big chapter. This is like the penultimate Sansa chapter of A Clash of Kings. This is, it's all building up. The war, the smoke, the fire, the flames, the Sandor, the Sandor, the Sandor, the Sandor. It all builds up to this chapter and it's so, so good. There's such, I got a little emotional today.
Starting point is 00:01:43 I was reading it at work and i was sitting at my desk and i got a little tear in my eye i was like my babies all of my babies guys chloe's actually waving her arms in the air and fist pumping as she describes how jazzed she is for this chapter i love this this is my favorite clash of kings chapter What would yours be? I think mine would actually be the one where Catelyn treats with Redley and Stannis. It's not Sansa 7? It's not Sansa 7. You can read a Clash of Kings
Starting point is 00:02:13 and not have Sansa 7 be your favorite? I don't believe you. Yes. I don't believe you. That or there's also the House of the Undying. How do you not like the House of the Undying? Oh, I forgot about her you that or there's also the house of the undying how do you not like the house of the undying oh I forgot about her in that who
Starting point is 00:02:29 I'm so excited for this episode for this chapter we are once more only doing one chapter for this episode we're gonna keep it good tight we're gonna keep this tight we got a lot to talk about in this episode. So but not too tight, because we wanted to fill the hour and also because we're doing 1000 hours.
Starting point is 00:02:52 Yeah, we're literally starting and then it's gonna go to 1000 hours. So no, we are doing one chapter, we'll see how long we run. But we do have some housekeeping per usual, we have some emails and tweets of note and different other things. First up on that roster, guys, we're not going to be selling our Bellwoss stickers to the book, at least not yet. Yeah, that's probably not going to happen anytime soon, though. Thank you to people who are interested. Yeah, it was very special for patrons only that signed up before we started. It was very special for patrons only that signed up before we started.
Starting point is 00:03:30 And I understand if you weren't in a financial situation to deal with that or if you hadn't heard of us then. It doesn't mean that these won't come back someday as maybe like a special purchase or something. But there are definitely going to be other opportunities for really cool merch in the future. And honestly, I kind of am hoping for like four years from now when we're like, you know, finishing up for someone to be all, look at my Bellosses or Better sticker. You know, real classic, real traditional. We can't just go selling these to everyone yet.
Starting point is 00:03:55 You know what I mean? There will be other art that we make Aliana do. I promise. Like this sounds a picture I've been meaning to finish. Yeah, like that. I don't know you guys we're gonna make a lot of things because we want to have fun with this and basically we've just decided that this is going to be the thing that we use to do whatever the hell we want it's our podcast we're gonna make friendship bracelets maybe I don't know that was an idea we threw out there I saw someone
Starting point is 00:04:20 mentioned to a different podcast but I was like I like I was like, ooh, beer koozies. I don't know if we're going to do that. I'm just saying there will be physical things that you can own at some point. Yes. If you want Girls Gone Canon swag, totally suggest some to us. We will start creating more ideas and more things. Maybe we'll maybe we'll sell some swag. We don't know. Maybe we'll sell cats for you to put your sticker on if you already own a sticker. Yeah. If you don't have a cat for your bell was to be on then we'll see what we can do and that brings us to another uh thing that one of our lovely friends on the interwebs sent to us shakespeare of thrones on twitter sent us a bunch of lovely words and lovely ideas it says hello ladies just wanted to slide into your dms
Starting point is 00:05:07 and let you know i'm really enjoying you ate your a cock sounds episode sliding into our dms and talking about our a cock damn dude uh yeah i'm kind of into shakespeare thrones too though so yeah i know call me babe call me oh by the way while we're here shakespeare of thrones uh did a great episode with joe magician and san rixian um a few weeks ago about witches and how they manifest in a song of ice and fire so if you haven't checked that out definitely do it is still witchy season because every day is halloween as we like to say anyways shakespeare throne says your cast keeps getting better and better but gosh it really is horrifying how obsessed people are with this poor 12 year old girl having her period leave sansa and her pussy alone thank you thank you i'm so glad that's to the point where
Starting point is 00:05:56 i'm i know it's to the point where i'm almost like geez george but then i'm sure martin is doing this as a parallel to the princess coming of age and initiation trope in fairy tales. There's a lot of menstruation imagery in fairy tales, even if it isn't explicitly talked about. Think of Sleeping Beauty pricking her finger on the spindle, Snow White eating the blood red apple. And this is the climax of their adventure and nightmare, and also their initiation into
Starting point is 00:06:20 womanhood. Likewise, menstruation is the same for Sansa, and I love how it's referred to as a flower blooming to sound pretty and fairytale-like, but of course it's not. Even the characters say it ironically. Sansa's life isn't the fairytale she imagined, but perhaps that's only because there's less magic and the monsters are more real than she ever thought they would be. Also, love that you called out the stabbing menstrual pains. I remember reading that for the first time and being like, hmm, not quite. Yeah, it's not like it doesn't hurt.
Starting point is 00:06:48 Like, I'm not, when I say that, I wasn't saying it doesn't hurt. I'm just saying that it's not as much stabbing as it is somebody taking a meat grinder and just grinding your ovaries with them, right? It's like somebody's taking, like, a... Just, like, squeezing. Something's, like, in there, like, squeezing like squeezing and then like pushing all of the things like it's not great the worst discomfort in the whole world and pinching maybe like a lot of pinch it's not it's not like a stab it's like a it's like somebody's taking a screwdriver and they shove the head of it or no no no worse they shove the other side the the not head the not sharp side they somehow shove the head of it. Or no, no, no. Worse. They shove the other side. The knot head.
Starting point is 00:07:25 The knot sharp side. They somehow shove the butt of a screwdriver into your stomach and then start twisting. And like that's a lot of force to get that in there. You know what I mean? So anyways, I digress. We won't go off on this. But yeah, it sucks. So George, if you ever decide to get a womb.
Starting point is 00:07:43 Womb, there it is. Don't. God. Anyways, I do love Sansa is obviously she's our princess character, right? She is our maiden in the tower. That's our point of view to the extreme. Her and we also obviously get that in Arianne, as we have discussed. And I love this because fairy tales are huge for Sansa.
Starting point is 00:08:04 We get that in the Eyrie in A Storm of Swords when she loses her shoe. As Lysa dangles her out of the moon door, it's the lost princess losing her shoe. The clock striking midnight when the bells toll in A Game of Thrones and at the Purple Wedding and even here in the Blackwater. even here in the Blackwater. And of course, in A Storm of Swords, and of course, in A Storm of Swords, Cersei plays that twisted fairy godmother role for Sansa in her wedding to Tyrion. She brings this beautiful dress, this magical dress,
Starting point is 00:08:35 all to turn Sansa's life into a pumpkin, worse than it was. Absolutely. I think these are really great things to point out. And I mean, it is perfect in sansa's storyline especially as we're deconstructing all of these different fairy tales and getting us as the reader to question like damn what did i internalize growing up so we did get a really great podcast review which i don't care about obviously as we've discussed
Starting point is 00:09:08 but eliana does so i will read that for you actually this is great this is a really good one i'm gonna it has a fantastic title the best a song of ice and fire podcast to get high to by salty samurai this is a an Honestly, it's the only honor. It's the highest of honors. It is as high as honor. And Salty Samurai said, A Song of Ice and Fire is, at its core, about the characters, and so is this podcast.
Starting point is 00:09:37 Chloe and Eliana have the talent to pick apart A Song of Ice and Fire theory in a coherent, thoughtful way without having to be total nerds about it. Excuse me, I resemble that remark. They have the correct takes on all the characters so if your journey through the fandom has left you confused as to who deserves praise and who should be mercilessly and repeatedly dunked on this is the podcast for you i love this a but i don't know do we we not total nerds at all a little bit? I think we're very nerdy.
Starting point is 00:10:06 I mean, I guess we're cool. Are we cool? I don't know. I like that when we first got this, when we first saw this review and I told Chloe about it, I was like, is this like us? Are we like Helga Pataki punching Brainy in the face? Yeah, we are.
Starting point is 00:10:23 Also, I guess a lot of our viewership is more modern culture and i think maybe it's because we make a lot of modern pop culture references me i don't know i'm just spitballing i don't know are we cool are they saying that we are hip the youths hello youths yeah i say late i say bops i ask the my focus group of one teenager every now and then. I'm like, do you know who the Spice Girls are? Because I just want to know what the kids know. Also, it's like when they don't know the Spice Girls or who they were, when they don't know that anymore, we're over.
Starting point is 00:10:56 Anyways, so back to our baby Spice, Sansa Stark. She is a baby Spice. She is. Okay, but first we have to get away from Sansa Stark for a quick second in our very, very, very fast lightning round. Ours is the Fury lightning round. Tyrion, 14. Can you lead us in, Eliana? Yes, I can.
Starting point is 00:11:18 Speaking of leading, as if dealing with the surprise force of men invading on the west of King's Landing, Tyrion faces betrayal at the sword of Mandimor. Of Mandimor? Offering Tyrion his hand, Mandimor slices off part of Tyrion's nose. Podrick Payne saves Tyrion's life, shoving more into the river. Yeah, Podrick. Yeah, Podrick. Get it, Podrick?
Starting point is 00:11:44 Also our baby boy. In Sansa Stark 7, when the queen gives up hope and abandons her people, Sansa, a younger and more beautiful queen, steps up to the dais to bring them calm before running back to the bedchamber herself. It seems that a lost puppy, though, has also found his way there. And so that brings us to Sansa Stark 7. also found his way there. And so that brings us to Sansa Stark 7. Lancel arrives in Maegor's Holdfast telling Cersei that the battle is lost and Cersei's like go tell Tyrion. Lancel though is bleeding and he tells Cersei that he thinks Tyrion might be dead. I mean first time readers maybe same. I love that there's like both of those things going on. The battle wasn't lost and Tyrion wasn't dead. Tyrion was on the bridge or boats as it broke he thinks mandan is likely dead as well and also
Starting point is 00:12:31 remember the hound he's gone of course we know what actually happened from the other side of the battle and even in our overview mandan almost murders tyrian but but for Padraic pain, and very soon we'll find where Sandor Clegane went. Lancel says that Cersei, having pulled Joffrey out of the battle and back into the castle walls, is what broke the army's morale. If you'll remember, this happens, like Cersei gives that order, the previous Sansa chapter, we don't see it happen on page. And then all the troops lost heart because they saw that the king left yeah joffrey really isn't cut out for upper management is he like first rule of management you don't ever make your team do something you wouldn't be willing to get in there and do as well that's a sign of a good leader inspire by leading lead by inspiring right we actually get to see this in tyrian's
Starting point is 00:13:24 battle speech in the last chapter and in Barristan's in the Winds of Winter before the Battle of Fire. It poses kind of this interesting question of men being born into leadership and men acquiring leadership through the hard way. Tyrion was born into a family where he should be a leader, but his actual birth kind of stunted that idea of him being a warrior. He had to earn it, which of course he does get this job through privilege tossed at him by Tywin, but he does prove himself through it. We see this through Jon, through Stannis starving in Storm's End and being just and righteous. We even hear the idea of what makes a good leader
Starting point is 00:14:00 and warrior from Sansa, who has the biggest standards in A Song of Ice and Fire, about her brother, Rob, who leads the Vanguard. Rob's gonna come back. We're gonna talk about him again later. Hundreds of gold cloaks quit. They're like, well, shit. If our VP's resigning, actually he's the president, you know, if the president of our company is leaving, I'm gonna leave too. If the president of our company is leaving, I'm going to leave too. This startup is obviously going to shit to bring back Chloe's metaphor from last time. You know, I'm having a really interesting time with my new job.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Can any of you tell? Because it's really shown the last two podcasts, hasn't it? Like, all I've been doing is making work metaphors. There are corpses and flames up and down the coast. One of the seven million kettle blacks comes in. It's Osney, by the way. And he says it's a shit show out there. There's fighting on both sides of the river. It looks like it's Stannis's men are fighting themselves on the shore.
Starting point is 00:14:59 And they're not. But we'll get to that. Bell and Swan has pushed out. Sandor can't be found. Mobs and deserters and riots are shooting off. People trying to get out. People trying to get in. Men are ramming the gate down.
Starting point is 00:15:12 Gods be good, Sansa thought. It is happening. Joffrey's lost his head and so have I. She looked for Ser Ilyn, but the king's justice was not to be seen. I can feel him, though. He's close. I'll not escape him him he'll have my head sansa's pretty much succumbed to her fate at this point right like she just thinks it's over
Starting point is 00:15:31 it's curtains for us i mean in her defense everyone else thinks that too like circe thinks that too which is why she's all tells osreed raise the bridge We're not letting anyone in or out of Maegor's. Yeah, buy us a few more moments, right? And Osprey's like, wait, but what about all these other women who went to go pray in the set? And Cersei's just like, fuck that. Fuck those bitches. Cersei's like, guess I should have stayed here, right? But I'm also just like, I mean, was that the best choice seeing now what Sansa thinks? Like, were they that much safer with Cersei? If I'm going down, I'm taking everyone with me, Lannister. Like.
Starting point is 00:16:12 No. There were no good choices. Cersei then is all, what the fuck? Where the fuck is Joffrey? And Joffrey, of course, is at the castle gatehouse bossing around the crossbow men below him crowds are howling at him because he's dumb and he's a duty head and people throw their poops at him and he deserves it and he sucks Joffrey sucks I just love that one scene the bad lip reading of medieval fun time world land's like, who threw their poops on me?
Starting point is 00:16:47 I do love medieval Funtime Land. I don't even know the title exactly. I just mix the words up and throw them out there and say, this is fine. Cersei commands the soldiers to bring the king fucking back inside Maegor's and Lancelot doesn't want her to. But Cersei's like, oh, he's my son. And then she reminds Lancel like, you should want it to survive. He's Lannister blood just like you. Which of course, funnily enough, Lancel would do anything to get rid of this blood as of A Feast
Starting point is 00:17:15 for Crows. In a way, Lancel goes through his own transformation from Shrama as kind of like Reek. I am excited to get into that when we do Jaime and Cersei and Tyrion. And we end up seeing most of Lancel initially from Tyrion's point of view, where like Lancel acts kind of shitty to Tyrion. But I find Lancel to actually be a really great and interesting character. Like everyone, this is a war,
Starting point is 00:17:41 and it is Lancel who first comes off as like this spineless boy who's like super shitty and snooty and doesn't know shit. And he's the one who's willing to stand up and say what everyone else is thinking, but they're too afraid to say that Joffrey really needs to be out there. He needs to be on the battlefield. He's the king. He's their leader.
Starting point is 00:17:57 This is important for morale that people see the king out there so that they don't think that the battle is lost because turns out, guess what, Joffrey? The beatings will not improve morale he has that kind of boyish charm that Theon had right when you first meet him that you just want to smack him talks back he's a smart ass he's a 16 year old boy that's literally what 16 year old boys are like when I was 16 I was a smart ass I'm still a smart ass yeah that's true's true. And I thought I knew everything. It turns out I didn't. I do.
Starting point is 00:18:27 I'm just kidding. I really don't. Well, you didn't. Maybe you do now. But did you at 16? No, absolutely. I've told my mom that she was right so many times now, and I just want to die about it. No, my mom was still wrong.
Starting point is 00:18:40 But some things she was super right about. Yeah, some things. That's true. Lancel argues that if the castle's taken, Joffrey is going to die anyway. Cersei pushes her palm into Lancel's open wound that he has and leaves as he's almost fainting, which that's kind of fucked up. Like Cersei, insult to injury, salt to wound, literally hand to the wound. She was intending pain. She was straight up cersei wanted
Starting point is 00:19:06 to cause lancel pain sansa realizes that cersei has forgotten her and cersei's not gonna care if sir ill and pain comes for sansa because turns out being drunk means you don't give a shit about everyone else around you i mean yes the amount of ill and pain in sansa's chapters is really standing out this read through like oh yeah i i'm just floored i there there's not going to be a huge payoff i don't think for it but it's just very prominent i don't know i don't know or if it's just emblematic of the trauma i don't know sansa's train of thought though is broken by the fearful walls of the people who worry that the battle is lost. There's children crying inside of the walls and Sansa realizes that, oh, the children can smell fear.
Starting point is 00:19:53 She never knew why she got to her feet, but she did. Don't be afraid, she told them loudly. The queen has raised the drawbridge. This is the safest place in the city. There's thick walls, the moat, the spikes. Queen. Yeah, absolute queen. And first off, she's right. You know, this is technically the safest area in the city right now. They are in the safest place.
Starting point is 00:20:15 They're barricaded in. No one in, no one out. And good queen Sansa, though. First of her name. Second of her name. First queen of her name. Second Sansa of her name. And of course name second Sansa of her name and of course like we mentioned last episode this harkens right back to that idea of the woman's court that Queen
Starting point is 00:20:30 Alysanne keeps according to George after seeing Joffrey do the exact opposite when he flees from battle and seeing Cersei do it as well Sansa does her duty she does what she thinks is right as a queen right after she decides that if she was a queen someday she would make them love her exactly she does the exact thing that circe says like in the previous chapter that people are gonna say of whatever circe did that she didn't fucking do on this night you know yeah they're not gonna remember circe it wasn't circe who did that it was sanza exactly people are demanding news from the outside because their loved ones and family are, of course, in the battle. And Sansa gives a courteous non-answer about how Joffrey is back and he's unhurt.
Starting point is 00:21:14 She lies that the queen will be back soon so they don't think Cersei abandoned them. And she commands Moonboy to entertain them and make them laugh. Amidst this, in walks Lancel Lannister, man of the hour, more injured than he was before. She moves to Lancel's side and speaks with him and comforts him. Lancel's bleeding, he's hurt, he's traumatized, and Sansa, again, takes command and orders guards to bring a maester to Lancel,
Starting point is 00:21:37 which, as we know, we've discussed him before in the last couple episodes, it's Maester Franken. Sansa berates herself for being too soft and stupid because she's caring for lancel she's not soft and stupid she's just very caring she's empathetic as we see throughout this whole chapter this injury that we see here it's one of those things that breaks lancel and like as you pointed out chloe he undergoes a transformation and yeah lancel seemed like a shitty of job teenager which a lot of them do initially but that doesn't mean he deserves like what he went through like i'm
Starting point is 00:22:13 just gonna say controversial things here get uncomfortable like circe's 32 years old right and she deuces her she seduces her 16 year old cousin and that's pretty rapey. She abuses her power and her age on like this impressionable boy and she does this. She abuses her power later on with Tana Merriweather. Like that's a really weird gray moment. I think that this is part of to an extent what leads him to becoming a broken man along with the things that happen in the battle. to an extent what leads him to becoming a broken man along with the things that happen in the battle and it's very much like another character who appears later in this chapter when they join a religious order and another holy man in this in a song of ice and fire who also has that backstory of being sexually abused as a child before finding his god Aaron. Yeah. Cersei has not returned, and the torches have started
Starting point is 00:23:06 to burn out with no one there to replace them. Dantos tells Sansa to lock herself in her bedchamber and that he'll meet her there, which like, Rose, don't. Please don't. Please don't come to my bed. Thanks, I hate it. She wonders if it will be Dantos that comes
Starting point is 00:23:24 for her or Ser Ilyn Payne. And we of course know it's neither. She goes there and finds Sandor. She wonders for a moment if she should ask Dantos to defend her. He had been a knight too, trained with a sword and sworn to defend the weak. No, he has not the courage or the skill. I would only be killing him as well. It's very subtle, I think,
Starting point is 00:23:46 because this is just like that one line in there, but it's a big indication, I think, of how much Sansa's character has changed since game. It's often pointed out by people how much Sansa might be making the situation with Dantos more palatable because she's still seeing it through the lens of the songs of Florian and Jonquil.
Starting point is 00:24:04 But that's more of, I think, a comfort because we see she's still seeing it through the lens of the songs of Florian and Jonquil but I that's more of I think a comfort because like we see she's like constantly like fuck she straight up says it to Dantos's face like fuck the gods gave me you and I'm still here in King's Landing and I think it's more of just like a thing she tells herself that she has a way to comfort herself because she needs some sort of hope because I mean it's danto stuff and danto says she often points out is it's all she's got and the idea of what true knighthood is begins to be dismantled here like sansa recognizes that yes dantos used to be a knight but it turns out not all the knights are strong and able to defend the weak so she's here and learning that idea that all knights are heroes and acknowledges
Starting point is 00:24:45 that you know her she can't ask dantos to defend her he's too unskilled he's gonna fucking die which that's something that even grown adults in this world don't pay attention to in a song of ice and fire right they choose their random you know their trial by combat person and they don't even blink an eye at these thoughts. And Sansa's already looking at it very analytically, thinking, oh, no, Dantos would just die. And going back to what you said, yeah, Sansa is absolutely repressing
Starting point is 00:25:16 and displacing some of these emotions because she has to, like, kiss this fat, drunk old guy who says he's going to get her home and never does. And she knows this to an extent, but she just like fuck guy's a loser such a loser sansa holds her composure until she gets to the steps after she leaves the ballroom she wants to run but she knows running isn't very clean so she waits until she can get to the stairs where she spirals up them and knocks into a guard who is escaping with gold and jewels and all the good stuff wrapped up in his lannister cloak which is just another example of failed knighthood in this chapter scattered all over absolutely it's all over
Starting point is 00:25:56 her chambers are dark and outside it's real bright the southern sky was a swirl with glowing shifting colors the reflections of the great fires that burned below. Baleful green tides moved against the bellies of the clouds and pools of orange light spread out across the heavens. The reds and yellows of common flame warred against the emeralds and jades of wildfire, each color flaring and then fading, birthing armies of short-lived shadows to die again an instant later. Green dawns gave way to orange dusks in half a heartbeat. The air itself smelled burnt, the way a soup kettle sometimes smelled if it was left on the fire too long and all the soup boiled away. Embers drifted through the night like swarms of fireflies.
Starting point is 00:26:43 Sleep, she told herself, and when I wake it will be a new day and the sky will be blue again. The fighting will be done and someone will tell me whether I'm to live or die. Lady, she whimpered softly, wondering if she would meet her wolf again when she was dead. My baby girl. No. There is a really interesting nod here and there's a lot of it if you read the imagery in the tyrian chapters the sansa chapters and the davos chapters here during the black water it just reminds me of that line from arianne in the winds of winter the very air was green it's such force that shit's gonna blow dude it's gonna blow oh i just thought it was interesting this line where it just says birthing armies of short-lived shadows which of course this is the battle
Starting point is 00:27:30 against stannis who through rulor has you know fucked a few babies out of melisandre you know shadow babies short-lived shadows short-lived shadows died again an instant later after their kill and they happen in this book yeah i think it's great language really great catch you found something and called something out that definitely fits in i mean if it's within the same book you know some sort of some sort of poetry yeah it's almost like george is a great writer it's almost i don't want to go that far, but... Who would read these books? Something stirs behind Sansa. And it's not just something, it's someone.
Starting point is 00:28:16 It's my husband, my husband, Sandor Doggo Clegane. I love him. Woof woof. And is it a coincidence, Chloe, that your husband appears when Sansa calls for her wolf. I, I think not. I think not! Of course not. Of course not.
Starting point is 00:28:32 In the words of George R. R. Martin, there's something there, which is also one of the tracks from Beauty and the Beast, so keep up. Uh, do-do-do-do-do. I also still just want to yell back, get her a dog. She'll be happier for it, said Robert. But really, no, by chance. I love all the theorizing that was Sansa's powers as a Stark child.
Starting point is 00:28:53 She definitely has the old gods on her side, and she has some extra supernatural senses, just like her siblings. George has confirmed all the Stark kids have powers. George has confirmed all the Stark kids have powers. Of course, by Sansa losing her wolf so early on, she never gets the chance to really process these skills and learn them. I wrote a theory a really long time ago that I deleted, I'm pretty sure. Thank God. It was like my first theory five years ago or so.
Starting point is 00:29:20 So just knock that bitch out of the internet. I hope no one ever read it. That's how I feel about my Zanga. Sansa in this theory, right? You get me? Like, I just, I can't believe I read the books like that once. I was an idiot. Sansa, this theory basically revolves around the idea of Sansa skin changing Sandor during Blackwater.
Starting point is 00:29:39 So, well, I guess he's a dog, so it could be Ward. During the battle and it chills him the fuck out in her room. Which I don't think it's true, and I don't really think we'll see Sansa doing much more than maybe having very symbolic dreams or intuitive moments with her powers. And I think that Lady Dying definitely put the sword in that one, you know. Ouch. But it's interesting to consider and to think about. I'm just, like, stuck on put the sword in that one. Thanks. It's very sad.
Starting point is 00:30:09 It hurt. Why would you? Sandor grabs her by the wrist and she almost poops out of shock. Sandor stops Sansa screaming by putting his hand over her face and his hands are sticky with blood and calloused. Yeah, there's blood blood i know what it's like outside a swirling lance of jade light spit at the stars filling the room with green glare she saw him for a moment all black and green the blood on his face dark as tar his eyes glowing
Starting point is 00:30:38 like a dog's in the sudden glare and the light faded and he was only a hulking darkness in a stained white cloak it probably doesn't mean anything but a the imagery and use of lighted stuff is great in this but b you know that color and imagery about like he's all black and green and how this is like the main colors in the black water it doesn't mean anything probably but it is reminiscent to me of the factions from the dance of the dragons i would love to read the tyrian chapters alone to this to kind of look into that coloring again because it really does remind me of illyrio's rings in a dance of dragons tyrian one right illyrio was reclining on a padded couch gobbling hot peppers and pearl onions from a wooden bowl his brow was dotted with beads of sweat,
Starting point is 00:31:27 his pig's eyes shining above his fat cheeks. Jewels danced when he moved his hands. Onyx and opal, tiger's eye and tourmaline, ruby, amethyst, sapphire, emerald, jet and jade, a black diamond, a green pearl. I think that's just such a good imagery with the blacks and the greens. Obviously Illyrio's involved, so we know it is about the Black with the blacks and the greens obviously illyrio is involved so we know it is about the black fires and the targaryens i'm pretty sure that like half of
Starting point is 00:31:50 these were just like those last few were just variants of the crystal gems from steven universe i was gonna say from sailor moon oh i don't know ruby amethyst sapphire are there oh oh my god they were so sad those were so tragic i like how you said i i would like to do a read of these tyrian chapters alone like we're not going to do that oh yeah i forgot i forgot we're on the character reread podcast whatever holding a bottle of wine sandor threatens to kill sansa if she screams and takes a swig of his wine, surprised that Sansa hasn't asked him who's winning yet. Sansa complies and then Sansa's like, I don't know. I don't know, dog. I don't actually know. I just wanted to, I just wanted you to ask. He laughs and
Starting point is 00:32:39 says, all I know is who's lost, if that's me. Sansa asks him what he's lost and he says oh Sansa has never seen him this drunk. He was sleeping in her bed. Which is a little weird. Some Goldilocks. It's a little Goldilocks-ish. I'm gonna say it's Goldilocks since we were talking about the fairy tales earlier.
Starting point is 00:33:00 And then Sandor says that he wants Tyrion dead. A. That bed was just right is what I'm hearing. B, I think it was too small of a problem. Especially because Tyrion made him go fight in the flames. Sandor is like, fuck that guy. And he's always felt that way. He's always felt like Tyrion looks down on him.
Starting point is 00:33:18 In Sandor's death scene, which we're going to talk about later in A Storm of Swords, he shows a ton of disdain at Tyrion for marrying Sansa and for just existing mostly. Sandor says he's going and Sansa repeats after him. She asks, where will you go? North, he says, anywhere away from the fires. Sansa says there's no way you'll get out, but he says he has a white cloak that will get him anywhere.
Starting point is 00:33:43 But of course, he does leave this cloak in just a few paragraphs okay hot take kind of hot not that hot santor is doing that thing where it's like you know when you're really drunk and you like subconsciously leave an article of clothing at the place like someone that you're kind of into and i'm sorry chloe it's like weird though if because now i'm insinuating that he's like into sanza which he is and it's weird i mean yeah that's the point of the whole thing eliana you leave the thing so that you have an excuse to go back to go get the thing later and be like oh i forgot my sweater here and uh can i stop by to go get it kind of i think there's also all this symbolism you know like in real a swath life
Starting point is 00:34:26 where like he leaves his cloak because he doesn't feel worthy of it and you know all that but i mean yes also this i thought you were going to talk about the other cloak thing which we can touch on later i think we should definitely touch on it later for sure just touch but sandor doesn't come back to king's Landing and doesn't come back for his cloak. I don't know if he's gonna come back to King's Landing. I guess he does in the show. Yeah, but who watches that?
Starting point is 00:34:53 Why did you come here? You promised me a song, little bird. Have you forgotten? She didn't know what he meant. She couldn't sing for him now, here, with the sky a-swirl with fire and men dying in their hundreds and their thousands. I can't, she said. Let me go. You're scaring me.
Starting point is 00:35:14 Everything scares you. Look at me. Look at me. The blood masked the worst of his scars, but his eyes were white and wide and terrifying. The burnt corner of his mouth twitch white and wide and terrifying. The burnt corner of his mouth twitched and twitched again. Sansa could smell him, a stink of sweat and sour wine and stale vomit, and over it all the reek of blood, blood, blood. I could keep you safe, he rasped. They're all afraid of me. No one would hurt you again, or I'd kill them. He yanked her closer, and for a moment she thought he meant to kiss her. He was too strong to fight. She closed her eyes, wanting it to be over, but nothing happened. Still can't bear to look, can you? She heard him say. He gave her arm
Starting point is 00:36:02 a hard wrench, pulling her around and shoving her down onto the bed. I'll have that song, Florian and Jonquil, you said. His dagger was out, poised at her throat. Sing, little bird. Sing for your little life. I'm just like, I don't know, Sandor, maybe she like can't look at you because you're assaulting her and not because of your face like that's i think a thing you're projecting onto sansa right now and i'm just over here you know
Starting point is 00:36:31 rocking the boat of my marriage i'm feeling really attacked because it's not like i don't recognize the toxicity of it i feel like a lot of people don't get that it's not i don't ship sandor and Sansa now. There are some sweet moments and just some sweet protector nurturing moments that I love. But I ship it in like five years when Sansa's, you know, become a woman, gotten to hang out in the world and go, oh, shit, this is what's up. And Sandor has, you know, gone to therapy on the quiet aisle. He's found peace. That's when I ship it.
Starting point is 00:37:04 I ship the protection kind of thing. I don't ship it. I don't know on the quiet aisle. He's found peace. That's when I ship it. I ship the protection kind of thing. I don't ship it. I don't know what the word is. Whatever. Anyways, I digress. Like, literally, he shows. You stan it. I stan it, yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:14 He shows up like a crazed psycho, and she talks him off the ledge with her empathy. With her empathy. And then he just, like, goes off and realizes what a fuck up he is eventually not just realizes but he admits he owns up to and wants to die about it it's a whole arc have you even read these books eliana i don't know what happens in class remember what happens in this book no one knows i also want to chat about the duality of sandor we see it in characters like Two-Face and Batman, really on the nose.
Starting point is 00:37:46 Jekyll and Hyde, Beauty and the Beast, and George is obviously playing off of that with Sandor, the man behind the mask, the man behind the burns. Yeah, I mean, he is the Prince Zuko of the storyline. Don't look at me. In many ways.
Starting point is 00:38:02 I'm sorry, when he says look at me, I think of that scene in Futurama where Swidberg's like, look at me, look at me, look at me. Don't look at me. He's like juggling things and I don't know, being Swidberg. Also, if we want to go this far, I also made Emmett drunk watch Phantom of the Opera the other night with me. And it's literally Phantom of the Opera. You're right. It is.
Starting point is 00:38:28 How have I not seen that connection before? This is literally Phantom of the Opera the other night with me and it's literally Phantom of the Opera. You're right. It is. How have I not seen that connection before? This is literally Phantom of the Opera. Because you don't do Sansan. That's true. And also, I guess I don't do enough Phantom of the Opera. I don't... It really is. The the singing of the songs. And anyways. And like the toxicity and like, I'm going to take you with me in this little underground cavern. Anyways. Sansa's heart pumps in her ears and Sansa sings for Sandor, the only song she can think of in this moment.
Starting point is 00:38:59 And Sansa sings Sandor, the song of mercy. This is such an important moment, right? That she can't think of a single song, all of her songs about Florian and Jonquil, the songs that he wanted her to sing. He, you know, playfully told her, I want you to sing me the song of your little Florian and Jonquil, you know, the knight and his woman,
Starting point is 00:39:20 which, okay, a little on the nose, Sandor. You're like, oh yeah, you're going to sing for me? You're going to sing for me the song of a knight taking his lady? Like, that's pretty much what he's saying. Like, sing to me about these knights and ladies that made love. And instead, she sings for him the only song she can think of, the religious song asking the mother to pray for mercy for our warriors. The same song that just in the last chapter you know she thought
Starting point is 00:39:46 and prayed for sandor too she prayed and let it gentle the rage inside him and sandra clegane wanted that mother's love right that's that that's the love he's missing that touch that was needed for him and he never got to have how the adults in his life should have protected him just like they should have protected Sansa how instead they hid it under ointment and Gregor's cloak and Sandor's white cloak eventually Sandor breaks in the battle but we don't get to see his actual breaking we only get to see the aftermath of it we hear in Tyrion 13 he's afraid Tyr Tyrion realized, shocked. The hound is frightened. Everybody sees the hound as this killing machine, right?
Starting point is 00:40:34 This huge robot killing machine, Terminator, just out there to murder. Sandor is drunk. He's traumatized by the fire, and he drunkenly stumbles to the only place that's safe in the castle, Sansa's chamber. And while Sansa thinks, why did he come to my bed? There are several answers for that question. The first answer we can get from part of this chapter and part of Arya in Storm of Swords, Arya 13. He made a queer sound and it took her a moment to realize he was sobbing. And the little bird, your pretty sister. I stood there in my white cloak and let them beat her. I took the bloody song.
Starting point is 00:41:07 She never gave it. I meant to take her too. I should have. I should have fucked her bloody and ripped her heart out before leaving her for that dwarf. A spasm of pain twisted his face. Do you mean to make me beg, bitch? Do it. The gift of mercy.
Starting point is 00:41:21 So while Sandor coaxes Arya to kill him, at the same time, he's sobbing. Where he wakes to Sansa, poised to kill, knife at the throat, he realizes he can't do it. He throws his knife down, which is what we see in the next passage. Sandor, who stood there in his white cloak and let them beat her, who tried to convince himself to fuck her bloody and show up at her room and tear her heart out, very, which I like to point to, the huntsman in Snow White, right? This is very huntsman in Snow White. The evil queen sends him to do her bidding and he can't tear her heart out like he wants to. I don't know anything about the huntsman.
Starting point is 00:41:57 I'm learning so much. Well, there you go. My wife's so smart. I played him once in a play in fourth grade. So it all goes back to that, does it, Chloe? Let's psychoanalyze Chloe again. Let's not. Brave, small Sansa Stark, who sang to Sandor a song of healing, of compassion, of mercy, whether he wanted it or not.
Starting point is 00:42:18 Because that's what Sandor needed and wanted in that moment, whether he knew it or not. Sandor went to the bed of the only person who could provide him comfort in that city. But his first thought was that behavioral programming, right? That killing machine mode, bloodlust. I'm drunk. I just killed a bunch of shit and I'm scared as fuck. I'm going to fuck this chick and kill her. And she talks him down from that ledge.
Starting point is 00:42:42 It's interesting that we see in Tyrion 13 the whites of Sandor's eyes, right? Which is how we know he's afraid of fire, which Tyrion notes that the hound leaned on that notched and bloodstreaked sword and looked at him with those wide white eyes. Because we see this again in Arya 6 in A Storm of Swords. Arya could see the whites of Sandor Clegane's eyes as he bowled his way forward again it all comes down to the moment in that chapter please Sandor Clegane rasped cradling his arm I'm burned help me someone help me he was crying please Arya looked at him in astonishment he's crying like a little baby she thought yeah see that's what i thought fuck you eliana fuck you you be nice to my baby boy because you've opened my mind so much in this
Starting point is 00:43:35 as i've heard you talking about things i i had a revelation and like and i'm sure you already knew this but now I'm like realizing it like that Sandor's initial drunken inclination to like be violent and thinking that he was going to attack Sansa was because he felt scared and his masculinity was threatened because of the fire and the way like you know he was made to feel small the way that gregor made him feel small and so what he thought he wanted to do was exert a strength to quote unquote remind himself he was strong by doing that to sansa but then he realized that like and it's also like because I'm thinking about Tyrion because he
Starting point is 00:44:26 was in the chapter right before and because it's the Blackwater and he was and Sander was talking about Tyrion like you know for a moment Sander's trying to be like that monster you know as Tyrion says I will be the monster that you all think I am and then yeah as said, Sansa's like, mercy. Yeah, mercy, mercy, mercy. It's literally Beauty and the Beast. It's exactly that story of, you know, a beast going to savage the maid, savage the princess, and then being incapable of doing it. It's the huntsman going to tear out Snow White's heart. Is that what?
Starting point is 00:45:01 I don't even know anything about the huntsman, turns out, in that story. In Snow White, in Snow White, the evil queen does a bunch of ploys, is that what i don't even know anything about the huntsman turns out in that in snow white in snow white the evil queen does a bunch of ploys and she's like i'll get her this time and they all fail because snow white somehow has dumb luck it's the dwarves are looking out for her she just like doesn't listen or she is a little clever at some point and then the huntsman gets sent after her in the forest to go rip her heart out for the evil queen who is worried that a younger more beautiful queen will come to take everything she holds near because mirror mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all and so she sends the
Starting point is 00:45:38 huntsman after to get her heart out but of course snow white is so virginal and pure and sweet and etc and he just can't do it. He can't bring himself to do it. He looks at her and he throws down his sword and runs. He goes and he takes out, I want to say a boar's heart or something and brings it back to the queen. And then later on, the queen finds out, oh, Sansa, I mean, Snow White is still alive and yada, yada, yada. Some instinct made her lift her hand and cup his cheek with her fingers. The room was too dark for her to see him, but she could feel the stickiness
Starting point is 00:46:13 of the blood and a wetness that was not blood. Little bird, he said once more, his voice raw and harsh as steel on stone. Then he rose from the bed. Sansa heard cloth ripping, followed by the softer sound of retreating footsteps. When she crawled out of bed long moments later, she was alone. She found his cloak on the floor, twisted up tight, the white wool stained by blood and fire. The sky outside was darker by then, with only a few pale green ghosts dancing against the stars. A chill wind was blowing, banging the shutters. Sansa was
Starting point is 00:46:52 cold. She shook out the torn cloak and huddled beneath it on the floor, shivering. So a couple notes about that passage. First, pale green ghosts dancing. Ah, like Renly. a pale green ghost dancing. I love that.
Starting point is 00:47:09 As well as things. I'm getting real good at this chapter, aren't I? Yeah. As well as Sandor ripped off his cloak, his ticket out of the city. He ripped out his cloak. That was literally his ticket to leave. That was his ticket to ride. That was what he was going to get out.
Starting point is 00:47:26 He's like, ah, they sent me out. Let me out of the city. He rips it off and he leaves it because he realizes he's no longer worthy of that cloak because he went to that chamber with this idea of what he was going to do. And he was talked down from it. And he realized I should not have this cloak. I am no true knight damn and sansa wraps that cloak around her in almost like we've talked about a marriage
Starting point is 00:47:54 symbolism of protection she takes that cloak his protection over her and wraps it over her just like she did in the throne room no velvet had ever felt so fine it's just a full circle king's landing arc for them and anyways yeah and you can listen and hear more about that idea of the marriage cloak
Starting point is 00:48:16 I want to say that's Radio Westeros right Lady Gwyn her Sansa cloak theory there's a ton in there there's Sandor's cloak Sansa dyeing it and wearing it another time. There's so much involved. We'll leave a link below in our description for you guys. You really have to read it for yourself.
Starting point is 00:48:33 For sure. I haven't read it. I only heard them talk about it. They talk about it, right? Yeah, you need to read it. This is literally you need to read it. I'm sending it to you after this. I might have read it. You probably gla to read it. This is literally, you need to read it. I'm sending it to you after this. I might have read it. I think like.
Starting point is 00:48:46 You probably glazed over it. Maybe, doesn't Cantus also talk about it as well? Or he like draws on that too, I think. I don't know. If you're a Sansa person, if you write Sansa meta or you read Sansa meta, you'll know it for sure. It's a classic. I knew it was Lady Gwyn's. I just thought that it was only in the cast.
Starting point is 00:49:03 I didn't realize that there was an essay that went with it on her wordpress on her lady guinevere wordpress and it's amazing if you haven't had time i highly recommend that piece i recommend a lot of her arthurian stuff she has a lot of arthurian parallels with you know liana and arthur dane and other stuff uh and she also has some really good stuff in general on the rebellion. That's the people that opened my eyes the most on rebellion. Things were Lady Gwynn and also believe it or not, King Littlefinger's
Starting point is 00:49:34 Heron Hall conspiracies, which we just talked about in Etterd 10 at Nauticast that I was on last week. That theory, while I don't agree with everything, it opened my eyes it it was like a moment where i read all the parts all three of the parts and i said oh shit there's some stuff afoot like if you read it you're like oh that could be a thing and it's interesting because
Starting point is 00:49:55 the text allows for you to think that way i don't know it was very eye-opening very eye-opening yeah i agree i remember being really excited when i saw when i read king littlefinger stuff though i also don't agree with all of it but yeah oh yeah bells begin to ring in the city but they're different bells this time they are not the death bells for the king it is joyously tolling dantos now comes flying into her room like where the fuck were you, dog? Like, weren't you supposed to be here when shit sucked? I don't know. He spins Sansa around and tells her that they have won. He tells her what has happened. It's confusing to follow at first because it is
Starting point is 00:50:35 Dantos, which, you know, we know why. And so the river, and then Stannis was neck deep in the river, and then they took him from the rear. Make it you cowards i love that before this i put in the notes you bet stannis's asshole i'm gonna talk about this it's just a really it's a queerly put phrase for sure i mean that's like i mean don't they make things like this about the mud gate it's it's really in there. Stannis' mud gate. To be a knight again, to be a part of it, says Dantos. We see this whole idea played out in a couple of places. It goes back to this idea of playing at war, like Cat 6 in The Clash of Kings. A mob of ragged boys race by, screeching and flailing at each other with sticks. Why do boys so love to play at war?
Starting point is 00:51:24 But it also comes back to the idea that being a knight and winning honor for your family and for your legacy, a seed in a garden that you never get to see, comes up. In the musical Hamilton that Eliana still has no clue about, Hamilton is an immigrant from the Caribbean, right, who comes wanting to fight to build a name for himself, coming straight from the bottom. And General Washington says to him,
Starting point is 00:51:46 fighting is easy, young man. Living is harder. See, what I think of when I'm thinking of green boys who have not yet been torn or playing at it is that scene in Mulan where they're all singing about a girl worth fighting for, right? And they are all there to bring honor to their families and then the song suddenly ends because they're just like oh war is actually
Starting point is 00:52:12 this entire dead town and everyone's gone look at all these dead bodies uh that they only show for like a split second and then when you look back on the field later on there are no bodies because it's disney but like it's there for a moment yeah it's the best yeah tons of good themes in that one too yeah i'm not i'm not a fun person to watch for long i'm always just like but you guys look anyways do you remember this part that we're about to watch shut up like guys guys look this is about her character development look Look at the clouds. I do love that Dantos, when he's telling Sansa about what happened, he's all, I heard it from Osni, who heard it from Osmund, and then Ser Balon showed up and he said it was true as well, which Dantos trusts the word of Balon Swan over the Kettleblacks because the Kettleblacks appeared out of nowhere. It reestablishes no one knows who they are or trusts them.
Starting point is 00:53:06 Who is she? Who is she? Balon Swan is also, like, kind of a bad liar, so, I mean, I get it. Like, we saw in the George chapters, he's not very good at- he's incredibly uncomfortable when he's trying to lie, so. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:22 The ashes turned the armor of the opposing army right gray and dantos talks about how the banners must have been bright though and names off the golden roses the lion the marbaran tree rowan the huntsman oh the huntsman and the red wine grapes he talks about how they slice through stannis' army like a tenderly smoked ham. Oh. You like that? Is he?
Starting point is 00:53:51 He doesn't actually say that. I say that. He talks about the power of the West and the South joined at last. He asks her if she could guess who was leading the vanguard. And Sansa, of course, hopefully thinks it could be Rob. Rob? It was too much to be hoped, but... It was Lord Renly! Lord Renly in his green armor, with the fires shimmering off his golden antlers. Lord Renly with his tall spear in his hand.
Starting point is 00:54:17 They say he killed Ser Gyar Morghan himself in single combat, and a dozen other great knights as well. It was Renly! It was Renly, it was Renly. Oh, the banners, darling Sansa. Oh, to be a knight. But it's not glorious, Dantos. Yeah, Dantos' reaction is really weird here. Like, it shows us that maybe the one who's really living in the songs isn't Sansa.
Starting point is 00:54:42 Like, first of all, Renly being alive is fake news, okay? We all know this. We all know this. Dantos, you idiot. The one who really actually needs this Florian and Jonquil narrative
Starting point is 00:55:00 is, in fact, Dantos, not Sansa because Sansa knows that Dantos is the one here who's romanticizing that idea of being, like, a knight because Sansa knows that Dantos is the one here who's romanticizing that idea of being like a knight or a soldier. Like she's seen it in the guards who were stunned before when they were helping Lancel- like when they were supposed to be helping Lancel, they weren't doing shit. She's seen shitty knights and soldiers and a king that's fleeing his own battlefield and a guard that's looting the people he's supposed to be protecting and like most recently in a very scared man who's finally
Starting point is 00:55:30 leaving his master after all these years and just as Renly like on the battlefield is false Dantos so too is the romanticizing of knighthood and that fighting which you know we know from the other povs that go with this one tyrians and the other one that began all of these uh davos's where he's like oh it was the mouth of hell absolutely and we see a lot of this back with the quentin chapters and with some of the bear scent chapters as well i think we also have to have a chat about how it's not really a far stretch for her to think it was Rob leading the Vanguard, given what she knows of her brother and what she thinks Dantos is paying attention to in their conversations, right? Like she's thinking, oh, you think you're going to tell me my brother? Like, that's why you're telling me all this. Like
Starting point is 00:56:21 she doesn't give a shit who the hell won the war. She's like, good, I'm alive, I guess. Like, now I'm still stuck here. Dantos doesn't care about that, though. He cares about her name, her budding 12-year-old titties, gold for more booze, right? Like, oh, sweetling Sansa. Dantos led with their armor was gray with ash, right? Like the stark colors.
Starting point is 00:56:43 And even in the riot in Tyrion 9, people cheered for Rob. A tumult of sound drowned his last words, a rolling thunder of rage and fear and hatred that engulfed them from all sides. Bastard, someone screamed at Joffrey. Bastard monster. Other voices flung calls of whore and brother fucker at the queen while Tyrion was pelted with shouts of freak and half man mixed in with the abuse he heard a few cries of justice and rob king rob the young wolf of Stannis and even Renly but of course we know who Renly was it was Garland Tyrell who will be dying in the winds of winter so at poor Quentin tweet. This marks the beginning of the roses growing in
Starting point is 00:57:25 King's Landing and sets off Sansa's next stage of growth in King's Landing. And of course, back to what you said about Dantos' romanticization, right? Especially of knighthood and especially after Sansa pulls her rose glasses off. Think of all the boys that died. I think no one puts it best like Septon Marabal does in A Feast for Crows. I think this is the perfect placement for this because we are, of course, talking about the man that inspired this speech, Sandor Clegane. For some, that one taste is enough to break them. Others go on for years until they lose count of all the battles they have fought in, but even a man who has survived a hundred fights can break in his hundred and first. Brothers watch their brothers die. Fathers lose their sons. Friends see their friends trying to hold their entrails in after they've been gutted
Starting point is 00:58:16 by an axe. They see the Lord who led them there cut down, and some other Lord shouts they're his now. They take a wound, and when that's still half healed, they take another. There's never enough to eat. Their shoes fall to pieces from the marching, their clothes are torn and rotting, and half of them are shitting in their breeches from drinking bad water. If they want new boots, or a warmer cloak, or maybe a rusted iron half-helm, they need to take them from a corpse, and before long they're stealing from the living, too, from the small folk whose lands they're fighting in, men very like the men they used to be. They slaughter their sheep and steal their chickens. And from there, it's a short step
Starting point is 00:58:54 to carrying off their daughters, too. And one day, they look around and realize all their friends and kin are gone. They are fighting beside strangers beneath a banner that they hardly recognize. They don't know where they are or how to get back home, and the lord they're fighting for doesn't know their names, yet here he comes, shouting for them to form up to make a line with their spears and scythes and sharpened hoes to stand their ground. And the knights come down on them, faceless men clad in all steel and the iron thunder of their charge seems to fill the world and the man breaks.
Starting point is 00:59:30 This is exactly what we just watched with Sandor. It's an illustration of where he was during the sack of King's Landing. George has confirmed Sandor was with the Lannisters during the sack. He was sacking King's Landing during the Greyjoy Rebellion. He was probably there.
Starting point is 00:59:48 Here he is now, the Knight of the Blackwater, the ironclad knights, the Tyrells descending down, the Tyrells and the Lannisters descending on Stannis' men. In the end, men are just men. Whether they're in steel, whether they're not in steel, whether they're in spun and done, the man breaks. Yeah yeah that's this entire chapter from sandor to the lannister guard looting to lancel that's exactly what i was thinking by
Starting point is 01:00:16 the way when you saw the looting like this this speech is literally this blackwater chapter that's what this chapter is it's all of of Blackwater. We see it firsthand. Also, because we were robbed of this speech in the show, if you would like to watch this speech performed, I would like to point you all, we will link it, I would like to point you all to a video of Skad from the fantastic, wonderful Davos Fingers uh that is also a reread i mean they are they are an old school reread podcast you know they they do not show they do not show they also have finally finished all of the five books and are now on to duncan egg and they also just did an interview with joe buckley who has a new podcast called isle of faces i digress scad did a dramatic reenactment of this speech as septon marabald at ice and fire con 2018 and amazing
Starting point is 01:01:19 you could hear a pin drop it was the most amazing thing i've ever heard dude he came out and it was like quiet and everyone was like is he gonna is he doing what i think he's gonna do is he doing what i think he's gonna do and then he starts doing it and everyone's like it's the broken man speech it was so literally no one moved no one moved it was just pin drop everybody was just it was amazing it was the most amazing thing you guys have to watch it it it was amazing. It was the most amazing thing. You guys have to watch it. It was amazing. Ice and Fire kind of so fun for that kind of crap because like every once in a while, someone just shows up and does something like that where you're just, what?
Starting point is 01:01:55 What? That was amazing. There's nothing that was more amazing than that. It was amazing because he actually made it dramatic and meaningful. I mean, the speech itself is dramatic and meaningful. I've just like, you know. To hear it out loud like that and hear it out loud emotion and he has an acting background he is a very well-learned actor a well-learned actor he's been doing acting he's been involved with a lot of stage stuff yeah he's i i would say i'm sure he would argue but i'd say he's an expert in his craft you
Starting point is 01:02:25 know he knows what he's doing and man he knew what he was doing to all of us we were in pain ill in pain it was it was a good i mean he brought back to me like emotion and a thing that like has become like cynical about it yeah it's not just bookshelf stud but in large part because of bookshelf stud you know my my other comrade michael on maester monthly uh if you should all check him out give him a follow uh yeah i mean scad just breathed life back into it it was amazing uh we will put the link in the description and make you guys watch it. 10 points to whatever house you're in if you watch it, because, man, it made me emotional. I mean, that speech always makes me emotional.
Starting point is 01:03:14 And I kind of pickpocketed at some of the quotes that we did in there for that. I didn't do the whole entire speech, obviously. It's long. It is long. Hopefully, when we get to that chapter in 17 million years, we will get to do the whole entire speech obviously it is long hopefully when we get to that chapter in 17 million years uh we will get to do the whole thing yeah and i mean like you know don't just do it for your house points do it for yourself honestly you deserve it you deserve watching this video all right and hey if you guys do want to come out to ice and fire con next year uh 2019 it's the last
Starting point is 01:03:46 weekend of april and you will get five dollars off if you use the code drunk at checkout it's my code for drunk a song of ice and fire history so give yourself some money off and come out because it's a bunch of nerds that hang out eliana and i go a bunch of our friends go uh there's tons of people that come to this convention and it's just a place to be yourself among a sea of nerdy aswaf fans but speaking of people coming out and hanging out in a few days chloe and i will be in jersey city together together not like separately yeah not just like in spirit you know with our fleshy meat bodies. We're going to be together in meat space. And we're going to be at the Fire and Blood event where George R. Martin is speaking. We're actually going to be doing a live cast with the boys from Not A Cast and our good friend Joe Magician as well.
Starting point is 01:04:40 So keep an eye out on social media. We will announce links and such when it's about to be a thing. And I'm sure if you're a patron of ours or if you follow us on social media, you'll probably see inklings of our hangouts. Patreon. You guys will definitely probably get something special from Eliana and I. So keep an eye open next week for that. Hey, if you want to check out our Patreon and become a patron, we got $1 to whatever. Whatever you want to do.
Starting point is 01:05:06 If you don't, that's cool. You're still going to get these episodes for free. But check us out on Patreon.com slash Girls Gone Canon. See what we're about there. Keep up with our other, like, hijinks on the social medias. You can follow us on Girls Gone Canon at Twitter twitter where we're always up to hijinks and you can tweet at us you can also send us an email at girls gone canon at gmail.com and don't forget to subscribe to us on the many various platforms you can find our podcast
Starting point is 01:05:39 you can find us give me a deep breath and a drum roll here, Eliana. iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, Acast, and of course the lovely, wonderful hosting palace that we live in, which is podbean.com. We're like Jack and the Beanstalk. Oh, Jack and the Podbeanstalk. Truly. Speaking of beanstalk. Oh, jacking the pot beanstalk. Truly. Speaking of fairy tales. Oh. Anyway, thank you everyone for joining us.
Starting point is 01:06:13 Yeah, this was an episode. Thanks for getting down while I cried about Sandor Clegane. I almost feel like I changed Eliana during this episode a little. I think she went into it a little more cynical than she was. I think something clicked for her. And now she's like, wow, that's a sad dog. I think you sang your song of mercy to me. Gentle Eliana. Fanta of mercy. Anyway.
Starting point is 01:06:36 You guys, I have been one of your hosts. Chloe. You can find me on the internet as at Liza and Arbor on Twitter where I tweet some stuff on Tumblr where I write some stuff and you can find me Eliana as Glass Table Girl on the Mesa Monthly Podcast on the Song of Ice and Fire subreddit
Starting point is 01:06:56 and Arithmetic on Twitter thanks so much guys be sure to join in for our last Clash of Kings chapter at the end with Sansa 8 next week. And we'll see you the not a cast music here like we sing it It does sound like that.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.