Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 29 - ASOS Sansa Stark Intro/I

Episode Date: November 30, 2018

Is it all lies, forever and ever?  Hostage of the throne, Sansa Stark's world looks up as an escape is on the horizon.    intro by Anton Langhage Soul Blossoms by Jonny Easton Eliana's twitter: ht...tps://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 and welcome to episode 29 of Girls Gone Canon. Sansa, A Storm of Swords, Chapter 1. I am Chloe, one of your hosts. You can find me on the internet as at Liza and Arbor on Tumblr and on Twitter. And I'm Eliana, another one of your hosts. You can find me as GlassTableGirl on the Mace for Monthly podcast, the Song of Ice and Fire subreddit, or Zayra's Metric on Twitter. This is the first Sansa chapter in A Storm of Swords.
Starting point is 00:00:51 We are in A Storm of Swords. It's a lot. That's cool. I'm excited. Dude, this is the book. This is the book. This is a wild book. But is it the book?
Starting point is 00:01:02 Look, it's just a wild. Okay, that's what I'm trying to say i'm just i'm just poking fun as many of you probably know there is a an opinion in the fandom that a storm of swords is the best book everyone's got their own opinions everyone can like whatever book they want yeah i mean sure it's not so it's definitely the most action-packed book and i will not disagree with that yes it is the most eventful book but it's no a feast for crows so which is the best book ever made i could read it right now in front of you i could pull that book out and i would read the whole thing to you if we had the time welcome to your 36 hour a feast for crows podcast maybe more than 36 hours how long is the audiobook i don't know probably long really long like there's
Starting point is 00:01:53 definitely more than 36 chapters in in a feast for crows so i would assume that it's longer than that okay well listen if you know how long the storm of swords audiobook is i'm not gonna look it up please tell us please write in please tell us i'll let someone else do it i don't think either of us listen to audiobooks we're just i'm just not very good i can't i tune out i have to i would have to double back and be like what happened yeah i have a bad attention span i like to read it and then like two pages later i'll be like wait a second and i'll go back and i'll read it again go huh and then i'll like read forward until it's like i'm good i'm good we received some great tweets of note uh i've pulled out particularly the ones that are in response to discussions of ver from last week squirrel fur squirrel fur and i'm to start off with Amanda, a.k.a. Crowfood's daughter, who's lovely.
Starting point is 00:02:48 And her response, though, is, it looks like a bunch of dicks. Please tell me I'm not the only one to see this. So on the internet, all of you, if you also see dicks when you look at their cloth and fur, please tell at crow food underscore SD. Maybe don't. Don't do that. Don't do that. But what you should do is check out her YouTube channel. She is the disputed lands on YouTube.
Starting point is 00:03:18 She's great. Really good work. She has a really great piece. She put out about the Dothraki sea last, last week yeah last week this past week so i really recommend it give her a try she's great we did have another tweet that's an actual factual actual factual that was fun tweet from virginie uh one of our good buddies who said fun fact in french ver sounds like ver. Is that right? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:03:46 I think the point is that they sound the same, so. Oh, so I did it okay. Probably. Well, I just, you guys make fun of me when I say things, so. Ver. Ver. Fun fact, in French, ver sounds like ver, glass, the material and object. And although in the old versions of the tale, Cinderella's shoes are made of ver, the spelling switched to ver later because that's what people came to think they heard.
Starting point is 00:04:13 And it looked cool. So that's V-E-R-R-E. That's interesting. I didn't really know that. I had no idea. I learned something new. I feel that I need to go research Cinderella more and wonder why it was made of squirrel fur, which actually does sound better for traipsing around in as opposed to glass shoes. But I just assumed the glass shoes were part of like the patriarchy or some shit. But that's interesting. That's an interesting lost in translation thing too, right?
Starting point is 00:04:40 Stories changing translation, and especially with all this fire and blood reading going on seeing a lot of that lately so really interesting i love that thanks virginie thank you and so that brings us to a storm of sorts sansa stark clang clang clang dude we got to sansa and storm i'm really excited this is our first chapter in storm at all right yeah and we got to Sansa in Storm. I'm really excited. This is our first chapter in Storm at all, right? Yeah. And we're with Sansa. What a great guide to have. This is a fantastic journey that we're on.
Starting point is 00:05:13 We totally planned it this way. Literally, though, we did. We did. We planned. We have this all mapped out, you guys. Your next four years with us. Buckle up, sunshine. You got a long way to go
Starting point is 00:05:25 sansa has seven chapters in a storm of swords so one fewer than she did in clash right and some are really spaced out which we saw this kind of in clash and game and that the climax of her story her chapters get a little closer together in chapters four and five. She does actually get the last chapter besides the epilogue where her mom steals the show for a mini second. The last Sansa chapter is a phenomenal ending. Obviously, it's a heavy hitter. And Storm is a really wild book with so much going on and happening that it does a lot to change Sansa's arc and game. There was a great conversation recently happening on Twitter and Tumblr, I don't know if you got to see it going on,
Starting point is 00:06:09 about Sansa Stark being a passive character in A Song of Ice and Fire. And I think it's hard to be objective about that in story because we meet so many prisoner of war and child soldier characters that are stuck in one world and mindset. Look at Jaime, whose chapter we're going to talk about in just a minute. Jaime has different tools to break out of his chains than what Sansa gets to deal with, right, in Clash of Kings. She has nothing equipped to deal with the Lannisters.
Starting point is 00:06:38 She has nothing except her courtesies, her beauty, and feigning dumb. In A Game of Thrones, she isn't passive at all. In fact, actions and inactions she takes, they aren't really plot changing, but they set off certain guns and bombs that escalate them. They kind of do the same in both Clash and Storm. Getting the magic hairnet is lying the bomb in Sansa's lap, but her choosing the hairnet isn't really what I consider did Joffrey in. Her conspiring with Dantos and the gods would, choosing to strap a knife to her, setting off in the dark, lying to the castle guards, sneaking out to this drunk old man's sloppy kisses, and giving him enough courtesy
Starting point is 00:07:16 to, well, what she thinks she's doing is manipulate him into helping her get home. We learn in perfect timing as we transition into this book, A Storm of Swords, gold wins for everything. We learn it from the golden roses themselves, the Tyrells, where not only gold, but a golden harvest makes their name in fortune in King's Landing. The same golden harvest that they refused to give to the city in the first place, which had actually targeted Sansa in a series of unfortunate events in the riots. And what you were saying about what did Joffrey in, it's as much Sansa and the Hairnet and Dantos as it is the things that happen in this upcoming chapter, as we're going to talk about and what
Starting point is 00:07:58 she decides to discuss with the Tyrells, who serve as a really interesting exploration of power that women can wield in A Song of Ice and Fire, and of course, another set of unlikely mentors. In Clash, we had Sansa learning from Cersei a lot about the difficulties of being a woman, and the sort of weapons that women can wield, tears and sexuality, to manipulate the people around them. But of course, a lot of this is colored by cersei's own limitations as a person and her own experiences like she's been taught as many of the women in the series how that being pretty and making babies is all that women really are for and can aspire to
Starting point is 00:08:37 but the tyrells are entirely different like cersei feels, she feels stymied, and the Tyrell women are some of Sansa's first steps into learning that knowledge is power. A thing that Circe does not necessarily have a lot of. While the Tyrells also have to perform the song and dance of the court in front of
Starting point is 00:08:59 everyone. They do so, though, by surrounding themselves with other women, which allows them to form alliances in courts, and they also create these narratives that make the commons love them, which, as we themselves with other women, which allows them to form alliances and courts. And they also create these narratives that make the commons love them, which, as we see, because we're going to just talk about fire and blood all the time throughout this podcast, was so crucial to Jaehaeri's securing power. Just going to drop that in there. And, of course, poison is a recurring motif in Sansa's story. Cersei talks about in Clash how love is a poison. And here we see the literal poison come up twice in Sansa's story. Cersei talks about in Clash how love is a poison, and here we see literal poison come up twice in Sansa's storyline in Storm. The Tyrells use poison to protect the ones they love, and then there's poison again, of course, at the end in Sansa's last Storm
Starting point is 00:09:36 chapter with Lysa Arryn and Littlefinger, who eventually ends the book as Sansa's central teacher. But as always, none of Sansa's teachers really want anything that's best for her. And Storm is a part of her growth and learning to balance other people's desires and her own. Yeah, Sansa getting stuck with really undesirable mentors or people around her is something that happens to her quite often, right? It's like exercising that muscle that normal people don't want to exercise without a choice. A big part of Storm is Sansa's relationship with Tyrion. They intertwine as a duet in the Blackwater,
Starting point is 00:10:17 and of course throughout the book in A Storm of Swords, and at the climax, the death of Joffrey. They are thrown together together stuck together as husband and wife so they're both kind of prisoners in their own relationship and it's definitely something that we are going to get into in the next couple chapters. For sure but before we do that let's talk about Sons of Wood and talk about the chapters that start off Storm. Jaime 1. Jaime is being escorted to King's Landing by Brienne of Tarth and Cleo's fray. Later, after a haircut, some shit goes down with Robin Riger. Riger?
Starting point is 00:10:53 I don't know. Who cares? In Catelyn 1, Hoster Tully tells us, in more or less his dying words, exactly why he wasn't the best parent. Edomir returns to Riverrun, voicing his disapproval to his sister's actions. Arya won. Arya and her party are lost on the road again. Arya dreams through her wolf, ravaging members of the Bloody Mummers.
Starting point is 00:11:17 In Tyrion 1, Tyrion is denied his birthright after his work on the Blackwater. Davos won. denied his birthright after his work on the Blackwater. Davos won. Solidor's son comes to the rescue of the Onion Knight, washed up on the sea, but Davos still drowns in the loss of his sons. Davos lives.
Starting point is 00:11:34 Oh my god, hashtag Davos lives. This all, of course, leads us up to Sansa Stark's first chapter in A Storm of Swords, where Sansa dines with the roses in their garden, trying to learn their true intent. While she dines, a new opportunity for escape seems to be on the horizon. The lush green gables of Highgarden.
Starting point is 00:11:54 Sansa Stark. Storm of Swords 1. Margaery invites Sansa to eat with her and her court. Sansa though is nervous and she's like, is this a trap? It's a tart. She watched the Tyrell litter arrive.
Starting point is 00:12:10 We have a flashback to when they came in and how Margaery was wearing a cloak of autumn flowers. I mentioned this in the Sansa 2 episode when I had a chance to jump on Not A Cast. Something about this undead clothing choice made of flowers really
Starting point is 00:12:26 bugs me for the Tyrells. It's like, A, I get it, it's on the nose. The idea of Loras, and I mean, I've seen like Derby, someone pointed out the Derby flowers blankets, but I mean, Loras had a cape of roses, like, okay. And you're an attorney? Sure.
Starting point is 00:12:42 This is gonna be a fun book. Feels very Balenciaga. Yeah yeah it's just a little i get it and i get the intent and it's just a little much though for me i mean that's the tyrells you know they're extra speaking more on fashion though joffrey entered the city in his gilded armor and marjorie was wearing green and you know again Joffrey in this gilded armor we're seeing that all the glitters is not gold I also get flashbacks of Jaime but anyway Joffrey fucking sucks that's what's up with the gold and Margaery's in green which we've discussed before symbolizes many things in A Song of Ice and Fire but when it's combined between her and Joffrey it I think shows how the Tyrells, like the Lannisters, are not ready or preparing
Starting point is 00:13:25 for the winter to come. You know, something else interesting for your like minutely fire and blood update. Margaery, and maybe maybe you'll catch this here, Eliana, come with me on this journey. Margaery is in her green. And Joffrey is in his gold, like the greens, and their banner, Aegon's banner, with the golden dragon. Eh? Eh? Yeah, no, it's definitely there. And this could carry on for Tommen as well.
Starting point is 00:13:54 It's just an interesting idea, especially between the two queens later on in this plot, Cersei and Margaery, the greens and the blacks. The princess and the queen. Yep, the princess and the queen. But the queen and the queen. Yep, the princess and the queen. But the queen and the queen.
Starting point is 00:14:07 Also, in case since we, I guess, haven't mentioned this yet, we are putting out a Patreon episode this week because the month is ending. And what we are doing is we are splitting up and going really in-depth on the dance. We thought about doing it in one episode, but turns out the dance is really dense. There's so much new
Starting point is 00:14:24 stuff to go over. There's so much new stuff to go over. There's just so much stuff in general. I think even if there weren't new stuff, it would be an endeavor. Well, here's the deal is we were very ambitious in general of wanting to do a Fire and Blood episode this month because we're incorrigible, mostly.
Starting point is 00:14:39 We are incorrigible. We're ambitious people. Alright? We're like the Tyrells. Up-jumped. We're killing it. What we're gonna do is we're gonna split up the dance, and part one we're going to talk about the context and the powder keg that's leading up to the dance, right? And the
Starting point is 00:14:56 political situation there from the perspective of both the Blacks and the Greens. Yeah. And then the second episode we're gonna- in December we're going to talk about the dance itself and the conflict and then we're going to talk about the coda and what it means for Westeros
Starting point is 00:15:11 the aftermath in January yes we think we might space these parts out but for now you're definitely going to get part one probably at the same time you're listening to this episode. If you're a patron, you might get it a little earlier, depending on your tier.
Starting point is 00:15:29 So check that out. Two for one. So, of course, everybody cheers for Marjorie and Joffrey in Sansa's flashback. And Sansa thinks on how the small folk cheer her, but they hated Sansa. They would have killed her if Sandor hadn't saved her. She wonders if Joffrey put Margaery up to this dinner, or if Margaery just wants to get Sansa on her side. Sansa's so traumatized, she's fearing that Joffrey's just trying to embarrass her in front
Starting point is 00:15:56 of this cool older girl who's like beautiful, and she knows things, and she's worrying that Joffrey's gonna have her stripped naked again in front of everyone. Right, or beaten. I know. And all she can do at this point is wait for her Florian to save her and take dinner with the new queen-to-be. And she's afraid that she might be too mistrusting because everything that she's learned in King's Landing has been to mistrust those around her. I wish the hound were here. The night of the battle, Sandor Clegane had come to her chambers to take her from the city,
Starting point is 00:16:34 but Sansa had refused. Sometimes she lay awake at night, wondering if she'd been wise. She had a stained white cloak hidden in a cedar chest beneath her summer silks. She could not say why she'd kept it. The hound had turned craven, she heard it said, at the height of the battle. He got so drunk, the imp had to take his men. But Sansa understood. She knew the secret of his burned face.
Starting point is 00:16:57 It was only the fire he feared. That night, the wildfire had set the river itself ablaze and filled the very air with green flame. Even in the castle, Sansa had been afraid. Outside, she could scarcely imagine it. Chloe, how do you feel? Listen, this is not fair. Wait, this is my podcast. I can feel however I want. This is your podcast. You can feel however you want.
Starting point is 00:17:21 Don't kink shame me. I'm not kink shaming you. I'm just like, how do you feel? I know that you put this quote in here for a reason, and I'm letting you unpack it. None is as accursed as the kink shamer. Oh my god. Oh, you're out of the kink slayer. I am not doing that. I'm giving you a space to be open.
Starting point is 00:17:39 You're kink enabling. Okay, anyways. So, I do love this quote. It's kind of a passing quote right before the action of the chapter really starts to ramp up. It's talking about the action of a couple chapters ago in Clash of Kings for Sansa. So she's thinking about the hound and she's thinking about how she didn't go with him. And we do get that line that she kept his cloak and it is in the bottom of her chest under her summer silks. I just think it's a great passage and it really fills in with that theory we mentioned a couple chapters ago at the Blackwater. Lady Gwyn's theory about Sansa and the Kingsguard cloak and all that.
Starting point is 00:18:22 There's just some good stuff. Anyways, I digress. and the Kingsguard cloak and all that. There's just some good stuff. Anyways, I digress. Laura's Tyrell then comes to escort Sansa to her chambers because we're going to just bring both semi but not really fully formed love interests. And Kingsguard members.
Starting point is 00:18:34 Yeah, that's true. Both Kingsguard, who are very different from one another. They're individuals. And he's super beautiful. So like, don't freak out. Sansa's not going to freak out. It's fine. She's doing great. She's totally freaking out i'm imagining louise when she's like i don't know how to feel
Starting point is 00:18:49 about what's that boy's name in uh boo boo yeah boo boo that's aria and gendry oh true true and yeah the freaking out anyway sansa's girly crush she's freaking out and then she loses senses of her tongue and she says like some things that they're definitely not meant to hurt on the surface. But they're obviously super sensitive topics for Loras. Yeah, she mentions his grandma first. She calls her the Queen of Thorns to his face, which, like, Sansa didn't realize. Maybe that's not okay when I say it. And he's like, yeah, it's only okay when I say that.
Starting point is 00:19:22 Like, what? He just kind of looks at her like what is with this girl so if you guys recall some olena terrell backstory olena was betrothed to agon the unlikely's youngest son darren targaryen and the man she did marry luther tyrell was originally betrothed to princess shara both Both pacts were broken, and Olenna did everything in her power to not marry Darren, while Shara married her brother Jaehaerys, so Luthor got off easy, and then Olenna married Luthor, so Olenna Redwyne
Starting point is 00:19:54 turned into Olenna Tyrell. Yeah, I do want to say that, in Sansa's defense, I would not have thought that Queen of Thorns was an insulting name. It sounds like a badass name. But then you're like, oh, in that time, you know, for that little, like, society, it's probably not proper for a lady to go around being like, the Queen of Thorns.
Starting point is 00:20:16 Sure. Sure. But Olen and Tyrell is also past the point of caring. I think she'd own it. Anyway. Sansa sees Garland and Tyrell training against three to four men. And here's a fun Easter egg in this passage. So, Loras explains,
Starting point is 00:20:36 Garland often trains against three men or even four. In battle, it is seldom one against one, he says, so he likes to be prepared. He must be very brave. He's a great knight, Sarah Loras replied. A better sword than me, in truth, though I'm the better lance. And
Starting point is 00:20:53 I think this is a very fun small callback to a Game of Thrones in John 1, where John is talking to Benjen, and it says, John spelled his pride Rob is a stronger lance than I am but I'm the better sword
Starting point is 00:21:09 and then we get like the and Holland says I sit a horse as well as anyone in the castle you know pointing towards Leona being I love it I love that that's a great little nod great catch yeah it's like a little inverted but it's definitely there there are a lot of other ones and i'm gonna save them for john obviously when we get to his chapters someday but i will save
Starting point is 00:21:34 them for another day however however uh sansa continues to stumble in her speech and she hits like all the worst topics you could hit right with loris she's like hey let's talk about robar royce and he's like oh the guy i had to fucking kill cool and then she's like hey what about renly i'm so sorry for your sister your poor poor sister how terrible for your poor sister and he's just saying they're like bitch how terrible for me like bitch like she's it's so terrible to this, right? You're just so awkward. You're like, Sansa doesn't know. We know, but Sansa doesn't know.
Starting point is 00:22:09 And she feels awful about it. And she was just excited because it's the Loras Tyrell. And he showed her the tiniest knot of attention once. And what if he's the one to save me? Like, the Dragon Knight Aemon and Naries. Like, Sansa, girl, you're're gonna save yourself in the end i love you baby girl don't stop being you you know like do for yourself yeah you're gonna do it for her girl you're gonna do it for her you're gonna give that speech yeah in the eerie to all the veil men and
Starting point is 00:22:37 be like did my father not run through these halls blah blah blah like take me home get my birthright anyways yeah sansa's gonna be like thank you next and talking about her new her new relationship with the best person sansa yeah we'll talk about this far later ever i should write that anyways after enough awkward conversation sansa decides i'm gonna stop word vomiting on this poor boy before I ruin everything. Before I spoil everything. They come across Eric and Eric. Shout out to their predecessors, the Cargiles in Dance of the Dragons. Hashtag fire and blood.
Starting point is 00:23:19 And Sansa asks, who are they? And Laura says, that's Olenna's personal guard. She calls them left and right. So really interesting there. Just like a direct nod. I love that. Loras brings Sansa to the Maiden Vault. And a little exposition on the Maiden Vault for you.
Starting point is 00:23:45 Of course, it's the infamous keep behind the Sept in King's Landing where Baelor the Blessed stowed his temptatious sisters, Diana, Elena, and Raina Targaryen. So, you know, they didn't seduce him in court. Of course, Diana snuck out to hook up with her cousin Aegon the Unworthy and birthed the man of them all, Daemon Blackfyre. But that is a tale for another day. Sansa bows to Margaery when they come across one another and greets her as Your Grace. And Margaery's like, oh no, no honorifics. Don't use San or Kun with me. You can just call me
Starting point is 00:24:07 Margaery. Can I just call you Sansa? We get an introduction to the rest of the Tyrell Court, starting with The Tyrell Court! Starring Butterbumps. But also, he's the star. Do you like that I didn't even list him in these notes? But, of course, we rattle off with Lord Tyrell's wife, Lady Allery Hightower,
Starting point is 00:24:36 who has a long, silvery braid she's described as handsome at one point in the books, I think. And she has jeweled rings throughout her braid we get mega alla and eleanor the maidens in the maiden vault themselves as we advance through this story we'll see that someday when we get to the cersei chapters i love those nods as well that of course they're so innocent i've never noticed this until you pointed this out. I don't know why. Well, I got you. I know. We meet someone that Eliana is about to be so excited about. Mace Tyrell's sister, Lady Jana Fossaway. She's married to
Starting point is 00:25:13 John Fossaway, a green apple Fossaway, but also they have the best couple name. First of all, I'm not going to combine it because Jana sounds dumb and it's basically her first name, but it's like Jana and John. Adorable. Precious. Beautiful. because like jana sounds dumb and it's basically her first name but it's like jana and john adorable precious beautiful yeah what if their son's name was john jen that's what if what if john jen joe jen reed is their kid but in hiding as joe jen reed it's really someone asked us recently is benifer septon septon benifer maester
Starting point is 00:25:46 benifer right what is his title grand maester benifer a reference to ben athleck and jennifer fuck what was her last name aniston's jennifer yeah relationship and i, it is. I thought it was Ben. Yeah. So we continue on to meet Garland Terrell's wife, Leonette Fossoway. We meet Septa Nesterica, Lady Alice Graceford, who is with child, Lady Bulwer, a girl younger than eight, Meredith Mary Crane, and of course, Lady Meriiwether the sultry beauty from Myr and this entire sequence where we find out that there are like these 12 women at the table this is not insignificant okay this is politics happening because look at how many different houses are here at this table with the future queen now Margaery Tyrell and regardless of
Starting point is 00:26:44 whether or not Margaery was going to be queen, like, this is how Margaery was raised, and this is the sort of thing that you could expect, the sort of companionship that you could expect for highborn ladies. Like, in the Maester Monthly episode we did, like, a while ago, called Women of Westeros, Mighty Isabel, Fat Walda, and Bassmaster and I discussed the importance of noble women
Starting point is 00:27:03 having their own ladies in court or, like, in waiting, and the importance of this in forging alliances. Like, with everyone, all these women dying in childbirth prior to the start of A Song of Ice and Fire and Robert's Rebellion, the story that we come into proper in A Game of Thrones starts with a lot less women that might have been normal or expected, especially like, look at Fire and Blood. And it could be argued that this is a big part of that fractured political landscape in Westeros, because a lack of that knowledge on the social dynamics or that forging of alliances, these courts, these were necessary to bind together the realm. But this idea of a ladies court being normal is bolstered by fire and blood.
Starting point is 00:27:48 They discuss Queen Alysanne's girlhood because at some point we're going to talk a little more about a young lady's education, probably. But we do get quite a bit of information from Maester Gildane when he's making conjectures because it actually wasn't chronicled for Alysanne's early years as the youngest child of house targaryen and a daughter but he stresses quoting as a princess of the royal household aliceanne would of course have had servants and companions from an early age girls of common birth would have served as her maids washing her clothing and emptying her chamber pot and in good time she would certainly have taken ladies of alike age and noble blood as companions to ride and play and sew with. Which is one part,
Starting point is 00:28:29 along with the other schemes of why Queen Alyssa sends more women to Alicene, but it is notable that Sansa is alone in King's Landing. Like, this is a big part of lessening and taking away her power. It's why Cersei was so adamant about isolating her from Jane. She's like, why is that girl there? But it's. It's why Cersei was so adamant about isolating her from
Starting point is 00:28:45 Jane. She's like, why is that girl there? But it's also insight into why Cersei is giving the sorts of lessons she does to Sansa, which is full of internalized misogyny. She doesn't understand this stuff at all, because it seems like Tywin didn't seem to have invested in this kind of childhood for Cersei. But we can see that Joanna Lannister was trying to do that. She was friends with Elia Martell. She was creating these alliances, trying to get them to be friends. And alliances among women are very key for the Game of Thrones.
Starting point is 00:29:14 Yeah, and in Fire and Blood, we get a lot of details of court life and princess life, and how those girls are there for a reason. They're there to watch over the princess or the queen and make sure that she is not in danger. They're there to watch over the princess or the queen and make sure that she is not in danger. They're there to tattle on the girl. They're straight up told you should tattle if she gets into trouble. Something we see in a couple stories where it was a working process for
Starting point is 00:29:37 someone like Alysanne or where it wasn't a working process for someone like Sarah Targaryen. It also really shows you how ill-prepared Sansa is when she steps foot in the capital. The North in general is ill at place in politics. They usually don't have the people, right? It's the biggest, most spacious kingdom, but the least populous. Even so, there were totally enough girls to come with Sansa her age of higher-born houses in the North, and not even higher-born, just in the North. Eddard doesn't even think about how she may need that sort of support system. He never tried to wed, robbed anyone in the North, as we hear talked about from Alice Karstark.
Starting point is 00:30:19 And Sansa didn't come to court with Alice Karstark or Beth Castle or Winifred or Wyla Manderly or Barbary Riswell or even one of the Mormont girls or two of them. That's not how the North plays. They don't want to play. Ned brought the steward of his house's daughter, and Arya brought no one. No one. Had Sansa had this guidance, though, and had Olenna in her ear explaining court to her,
Starting point is 00:30:39 explaining the things the king was hearing, this story would have gone way differently. For Sansa, the Red Keep is a pale pink nightmare, but life is bleak and colorless there. the things the king was hearing this story would have gone way differently for sansa the red keep is a pale pink nightmare but life is bleak and colorless there the lands beyond the castle behind the sept in the rose garden are a lot like eden in this chapter the fruit is luscious and tempting and the color seems to fill the air it leads in towards sansa as a persephone-esque character in her underworld pomegranate eating with Littlefinger. Which, of course, like, did you notice in this chapter later,
Starting point is 00:31:09 Olenna's all like, no, don't blush with your hair. It makes you look like a pomegranate. Yeah, I love that. It's such a, it's a very Persephone thing. Like, Sansa just gets so much Persephone imagery. She's a very half winter, half summer queen. I really love this point. Sorry, I just got to riff on something you said about all these other
Starting point is 00:31:28 houses that Ned could have brought with him. And granted, Castle, I guess, wasn't strong enough because we see how Drory Castle was just cut down. But had Ned brought all of these other people of...
Starting point is 00:31:43 They're not high houses, but they're not like high houses, but they aren't, you, they're not dismissible. Like the Manderlys are a powerful house because they control so much of the trade. Had he done that, it would have been harder.
Starting point is 00:31:54 I think for the Lannisters to pull what they did because they would have incurred the wrath of a lot of these other houses. It would have put more pressure on the Lannisters politically oh yeah absolutely I mean and even so like the Karstarts that is a great match to have to bring Alice Karstart of course would have been great that's like the Stark Lannisters of Lannisport you know I mean that's that's basically that off branch that other house Dane like that's that would have been it's still a big deal in the north like yes the north a lot of these houses are lower castle etc but i mean
Starting point is 00:32:31 look at where beth castle is now i mean she's in the dungeons of the dreadfort you know taken as a hostage so like you said if they had bonded those forces together and had these people come to court and if they were prepared for that then it could have gone a lot more successful yeah it's not nothing because i mean look at the carstarks the racewells any of them they're comparable to what the fossaways or any of those other houses yes they're on par i mean graceford that's not a big house yeah they're on par I mean Graceford that's not a big house yeah they're on par Bulwer, Graceford no one cares about them I'm just saying it's not names you hear until you hear about
Starting point is 00:33:11 Marjorie's retinue and of course in the retinue she's not really part of the retinue she's the star of the show last and certainly not least Marjorie presents us with the real MVP her grandmother, Olenna Tyrell. You want to be Olenna? You can be Olenna if you want. Is that what you want for me?
Starting point is 00:33:35 Yeah, I'll be Marjorie. I can be a seductress. Okay. A sweet seductress. I am honored to present my grandmother, the Lady Olenna, widow to the late Luther Tyrell, lord of Highgarden, whose memory is a comfort to us all. The old woman smelled of rosewater. Why, she's just the littlest bit of a thing. There was nothing the least bit thorny about her. Kiss me, child, Lady Olenna said, tugging at Sansa's wrist with a soft-spotted hand. It is so kind of you to sup with me and my foolish flock of hens.
Starting point is 00:34:08 That might be the best one yet. I mean, it was very similar to your amen in a couple ways, but anyways, I dig that. I'm sorry. It's okay. No, it was good. It was great for me. Thank you. That's really what I wanted. I'd do it for you. Not really. I'd do it for me.
Starting point is 00:34:22 Do it for yourself, Sansa. Do it for yourself. Yeah, baby. you i know not really i do it for me do it for yourself sonza do it for yourself yeah baby olena says she knew lord rickard carstart or fuck olena said she knew lord rickard stark and sonza responds he died before she was born she never knew him olena comments her other grandfather is said to be dying too hoster toly and that she's sorry for Sansa's griefs and losses. Sansa offers her courtesies for Renly's death, which seems to please the Tyrell clan enough, except for Olenna, of course. Her grandmother snorted, Gallant, yes, and charming, and very clean. He knew how to dress, and he knew how to smile, and he knew how to bathe, and somehow he got the notion that this made him fit to be king.
Starting point is 00:35:09 The Baratheons have always had some queer notions, to be sure. It comes from their Targaryen blood, I should think. They tried to marry to a Targaryen once, but I soon put an end to that. Renly was brave and gentle, Grandmother, said Marjorie. Father liked him as well, and so did Loras. Loras is young, Lady Elena said crisply, and very good at knocking men off horses with a stake. That does not make him wise. As to your father, would that I'd been born a peasant woman with a big wooden spoon i might have been able to beat some sense into his fat head
Starting point is 00:35:48 hearing you do that out loud retreat thank you eliana you're welcome for everything you do for me i'm here for the rest of this episode there's so many fucking quotes i did it on purpose did you really is this really your plan i didn't know that i thought you were planning on being olena and then you were like do you want to be olena no i knew you'd do it if i made you you were like oh no i want to be i was like i know i was like i'll do whatever you want see i'm getting pretty tyrell on this i'm a very cautious schemer here i scheme to have you be olenna the whole episode. Are you Littlefinger praying upon my desires and giving me my heart's desires without me knowing it?
Starting point is 00:36:33 Yeah, your heart's desire, which is the queen. You want to be the queen. Oh my god. I love that line about Baratheons had queer notions with Fire and Blood coming out. There's a lot of good Baratheon exposition to learn. And we learn, of course, Orys and Roger Baratheon, for example, they've always basically been kings in waiting. That upjumped Baratheon feel, they just want a taste of that royal blood.
Starting point is 00:36:58 Oh, yeah. That's definitely been driven home by that book. And also here we see briefly briefly something that's gonna be repeated throughout this chapter and the rest of probably all of the song of ice and fire aletta teaching sanza once more that beauty is not the same as good and she more or less says like yeah we're roses but like when roses fart it still smells like shit so or is uh the band Outkast so beautifully put, roses smell like poop. Poop, poop, poop. After calling her son an oaf and telling Allery she is not Olenna's daughter, Marjorie tells Grandma she needs to calm down before Sansa thinks they're crazy.
Starting point is 00:37:40 Grandmother, Marjorie said, mind your, or what will Sansa think of us?' "'She might think we have some wits about us. "'One of us, at any rate.' "'The old woman turned back to Sansa. "'It's treason,' I warned them. "'Robert has two sons, and Renly has an older brother. "'How can he possibly have any claim to that ugly iron chair?' "'Tut, tut,' says my son.
Starting point is 00:38:04 "'Don't you want your sweetling to be queen? Eustarchs were kings once, the Arans and the Lannisters as well, and even the Baratheons through the female line. But the Tyrells were no more than stewards until Aeon the Dragon came along and cooked the rightful king of the Reach on the Field of Fire. If truth be told, even our claim to Highgarden is a bit dodgy,
Starting point is 00:38:27 just as those dreadful Florids are always whining. What does it matter, you ask? And of course it doesn't, except to oafs like my son. The thought that one day he may see his grandson with his arse on the iron throne makes Mace puff up like... Now what do you call it, Marjorie? You're clever. Be a dear and tell your poor old half-daft grandmother the name of that queer fish from the Summer Isles that puffs up to ten times its own size when you poke it. They call them pufffish, grandmother.
Starting point is 00:38:58 Of course they do. Summer Islanders have no imagination. My son ought to take the pufffish for his sigil, if truth be told. He could put a crown on it, the way the Baratheons do their stag. Mayhap that would make him happy. We should have stayed well out of this bloody foolishness, if you ask me, but once the cow's been milked, there's no squirting the cream back up or utter. After Lord Pufffish put that crown on Renly's head, we were into the pudding up to our knees. So here we are to see things through. And what do you say to that, Sansa? Oh my god, that was everything I ever wanted. Diana Rigg, move over. My fucking god, these are so long you're like i'm never reading again oh my god oh do you and guess what you get to be butter bumps
Starting point is 00:39:52 later too do i i'm gonna have to think about what i'm gonna do for butter bumps i haven't thought that far ahead in my life christ i really haven't just take it as it comes eliana all right proud all right thank you um but coming back to the content of what we're reading i did just realize of course that it doesn't actually make anything easier for sansa here but elena is admitting to treason and i don't know if this was like an attempt to try and get sansa to open up like look we're all traitors just tell us let me want to know fellow traitor right it definitely lays the ground to say hey they're not new to this game they've killed before and they're gonna kill again
Starting point is 00:40:31 sansa's like really speechless at this she's like oh okay like damn um uh and she finally comes up with well you guys can trace your lineage back to Garth the Greenhand, though. And Olenna's like, OK, but who the fuck can't? She's all Rowan, Oakheart, Florent, and pretty much everyone else in the Reach claims that Garth boned their ancestors. Like, that's not it's not your best line, Sansa. And she's flustered and there's a lot going on. Lady Allery interrupts them and she changes the subject and asks Sansa if she wants boar and lemon cakes, which, of course, she wants lemon cakes. She's a reasonable human being. Agreed.
Starting point is 00:41:11 Sansa counters, those are her favorites, which Olenna's like, yeah, Varys told us. Don't know why he had to tell us that. You know, no clue. Not sure. But he told us that. So whatever. And then she goes on just like grandma needs to take her meds. Like now, grandma, like, don't take your wig off again.
Starting point is 00:41:31 You know, that's how I feel this whole chapter. I'm like, damn, she's wild. She's never understood the point of a eunuch. They're men with the useful bits cut off. I mean, I'm going to be Elena when I grow up. Oh, Leniana. Never mind. Eliana, whatever.
Starting point is 00:41:45 Anyway, Eliana. Never mind. Oliana. Whatever. Oliana? Loliana. Loliana. Do you think Barry said this to Olenna because he was like, that poor girl needs something good in her life. Give her lemon cakes. I hope so. I hope he was like, take some high garden kush, roll it up, okay,
Starting point is 00:42:02 in a weirwood leaf. Roll it up in a weirwood leaf lace it with a little bit of that there weirwood paste and like just hand her that hand her that and a good old lemon cake that's what that girl needs let sansa stark finish her blunt yeah the butter bumps is it what kind of butter is this you know sweet butter that was good eliana good job thank you i did you've heard of the drugs before i heard of drugs what are drugs coming back to get to the story uh olena talking about not understanding the point of a eunuch there is an interesting inversion here i think just throwing this out
Starting point is 00:42:37 there that olena again she is old enough to be past the point of caring which bless her again goals goals and she's saying the exact opposite of what all the point of caring, which bless her. Again, goals. Goals. And she's saying the exact opposite of what all the rest of Westerosi society seems to be telling them, especially telling women. They're telling women that they're only useful for their wombs and making babies. But throughout this chapter, Olenna's being like, no, we have
Starting point is 00:42:58 our wits. Men are fucking dumb. And they're only good for their seed or pleasure. Which, like, up top, Olenna, up top. And this is something I did like, though. Like, how the show treated her, they still gave her these, like, badass lines, these snippy little things. I mean, she even says straight up to Sansa, Diana Rigg has that line,
Starting point is 00:43:18 and she grasps, like, Sansa's wrist, and she's like, so what do you say about that, Sansa? And it was just, like, it's good. Like, they really did good by her in the show. They gave her a good arc. They gave her a good actress and good arc and good lines. Yeah, they really hooked it up. Well, I mean, it's Diana Rigg, dude.
Starting point is 00:43:34 You gotta. I mean, she was perfect. They did her good all the way up until the end, you know? We can't say that for every character. We cannot say that for Doran. Yeah, Doran didn't get shit. They didn't give doran shit they just shit on him you know what they did to doran they just took a big old poop and they just
Starting point is 00:43:51 put it on his lap oh i was talking about doran but i also meant all of doran in general all of doran no yeah that's even worse they didn't just poop on doran they like took Dorne and they put it in the world's biggest blender and just mashed it up with sand and sadness and ruining. Olenna introduces us to the best character in this arc, Eliana would argue, Butterbump. What? I didn't say that. I just said he's very talented. You love him. I do love him. You really respect his crap. I do, actually. He's very talented. You love him. I do love him. You really respect his craft.
Starting point is 00:44:27 I do, actually. He's an artist. Anyways, go on. He should never have dropped out of liberal arts college. Olenna asks Sansa if she likes fools. And I'm imagining in this moment when Butterbumps is traipsing around right before and Olenna says, do you like fools, Sansa? Oh, shit, dude. Her heart's gotta be out of her butt. She's probably like, what? What do you mean do I like fools? No, I don't like fools. I don't like anything about fools. I've never heard of fools. Why are you talking
Starting point is 00:44:54 about fools? I don't talk to one every night in the Godswood. What? What about fools? What's a fool? She's probably sitting there like, fuck, fuck, fuck. This is a setup. This is a setup, dude. This is a trap. If you're the cops, you gotta tell me. a trap if you're like if you're the cops you gotta tell me yeah you gotta tell me if you're the cops and if you are the cops everything i did in front of you does not count butterbombs is wearing this big motley outfit it's got like green and yellow feathers and he
Starting point is 00:45:22 like straight up just lays an egg on the table at Sansa. This is like the weirdest. This is the best. This is extra. He's great at his job. This is Arya Targaryen shit right here. This is Arya Targaryen levels of horror and surrealness right here. Sansa breaks the egg and a billion little baby chicks fly out of it.
Starting point is 00:45:43 He tells her catch the chicks and Lady Bulwer catches one and hands it it. He tells her, catch the chicks. And Lady Bulwer catches one and hands it back to him. And he eats the chick. And Lady Bulwer is bawling. She's like a five-year-old. And the chick comes out of his sleeve. And she's like, yay, I'm happy again because I'm a kid. And anyway, the wind blows.
Starting point is 00:46:03 You forgot the part where the feathers come out of his mouth when he pretends to saw the chick. Because Butterbums, again again is an artiste he's a master of his craft uh you said he went to liberal arts college i'm gonna say butter bumps both went to the tish school in nyu and then he later went to ucla you know i was gonna say he say he went to Columbia, but... Oh, yeah, he did that, too. That's where he got his doctorate. Oh, my God. I had a friend that went to Columbia, and she lived in this fancy-ass art school apartment,
Starting point is 00:46:34 and there was a whole entire room that you could, like, at the top floor of the apartment building, that you could just go in there and spray paint. That's what I imagine this is like. That's where Butter bumps honed his craft butter bumps you know again he can make feathers come out of his mouth later on we're gonna see him bust out some of his other talents such as bouncing oranges on his head and then he spits the seeds out of his nose this is like some next level like yoshi's island shit okay he's really
Starting point is 00:47:00 actually very good at his job oh my god y's cookie, but with butter bumps and the chicks. I don't know Yoshi's cookie, though. Oh, it's the one where he eats the cookies in a row, if they're in a row of four. Oh, I know, I do know this one, yes. I do know this one. But real talk, he definitely makes King's Landings Court look like really serious baby town frolics in comparison, right? Like, some meta here. Look at Cersei's court and Moonboy and Dantos and the dreary, dark quality.
Starting point is 00:47:32 And then look at the Tyrells. I guess you can't buy that kind of class, Cersei. You're playing your game better at it than you. And they even remember to have fun when they murdered people. XOXO. even remember to have fun when they murdered people xoxo or is it just that butter bumps is actually good at his job because he's this is his first profession you know he's not freelancing as a fool with his like real main gig being a spy in the way moon boy is and i mean like this was butter bumps like dream job it's not the career path that Dantos was trying to take, you know?
Starting point is 00:48:05 This is Dantos. It's not even, like, his fallback. He's like, I had to make a really fast pivot. Moonboy's no mushroom, though, and the Tyrell court is everything a queen's court should be. And it hides all of the courtly intrigue even better under those perfume flowery layers. True. I'm gonna peel those back. Anyway, while the ladies and
Starting point is 00:48:31 the readers are entertained by Butterbump, a leek and mushroom soup I'm gonna add in this mushroom because it is a leek and mushroom soup is served. It sounds real good. Elena then turns the conversation to politics, and Olenna asks Sansa, like, do you know
Starting point is 00:48:47 about my son, the lord Pufffish of Highgarden? And Sansa courteously tells Olenna that he is a great lord. And Olenna's like, uh, he's a great oaf, just like his dad. Yeah, Luther Tyrell rode himself off a cliff
Starting point is 00:49:03 while he was hawking. Is this true? Yeah, he was just on a horse. And he just, like, was looking up at the sky and rode off a cliff and died. And his son is doing the same, Olenna says, but this time he's on a lion, not a horse. Who says George R. R. Martin doesn't do comedy and only does tragedy? Should you ever have a son, Sansa, beat him frequently so he learns to mind you.
Starting point is 00:49:30 I only had one boy and I hardly beat him at all, so now he pays more heed to butter bumps than he does to me. A lion is not a lab cat, I told him, and he gives me a tut-tut, mother. There is entirely too much tut-tut, mother. There is entirely too much
Starting point is 00:49:46 tut-tutting in this realm. If you ask me, all these kings would do a deal better if they would put down their swords and listen to their mothers. Yeah, like Catelyn Stark. Exactly what I was thinking. Also, part of the success of Jaehaerys.
Starting point is 00:50:03 I mean, he kind of listened to his mom. Eventually he was like, nah, mom mean he kind of listened to his mom eventually he was like not mom but he also listened to his mom a lot you know you know who shouldn't listen to their mom i don't know where you're going agon the second oh yeah agreed sansa is surprised at the brash way lady olenna speaks to her. Olenna asks her the truth about Joffrey, and Sansa finds herself incapable of coming to answer. Butterbumps is still proving a distraction for the court, but Sansa is nervous someone will hear. She gives false empty niceties about the king. She calls him a lion.
Starting point is 00:50:39 She says he's brave. Olenna says she is starting to wonder if sansa is as dense as everyone at court says sansa then interjects that joffrey is comely and olenna says even arian brightflame was comely and he was a monster i kind of like this easter not easter egg with this callback right but arian brightflame makes an appearance in here yes uh what olenna does here though is very clever like she in this moment when she's like okay i'm not getting anything out of sansa she like the text says she's reached to snag a passing servant i am not fond of leaks take this broth away and bring me some cheese and for a second this seems very inconsequential it seems like elena's just being very capricious
Starting point is 00:51:27 in her choice of food and super picky but what she's actually doing here is she's giving the servant a reason to leave the room she's ordering the servant to leave the room because as we've seen in sansa's other chapters she sansa talks about the servants being changed out constantly because they're spies and reporting on what she's doing so by sending the servant away to get cheese olena's creating a private space for sansa to be able to tell her the truth safely and feel secure in being able to do that it's interesting because she really embraces another form of weakness of woman weakness we see sansa embracing that kind of you know hedgehog mentality of just like you know play dead whatever uh stay inside yourself and no one can touch you and olena does the same
Starting point is 00:52:13 kind of thing she plays the weaker older woman when you look at her but when you talk to her she's very sharp she's very quick-witted she's not just like this wizened old old woman that doesn't speak she she does things for a reason. And she continues to show this and demonstrate this throughout the chapter, even showing her knowledge of Varys and his little birds. It's the same thing that Daenerys does when she says, I am but a young girl who knows little in the ways of war. It's the same sort of strategy. Olenna then commands Sansa to tell her the truth, and she asks her, are you frightened? And she says,
Starting point is 00:52:47 nothing will come of Sansa for telling the truth. But Sansa quietly says that her father always told the truth. Yeah, Olenna catches that, and she says, your father was an honest man, but they strung him up on the spikes as a traitor for all to see.
Starting point is 00:53:03 And so Sansa snaps. She says that Joffrey did that. Joffrey promised mercy for my father, and then he killed him, and then he forced me to look at it because he sucks. Yeah, she's unable to say anymore. She's afraid Joffrey might find out. I- I can't. What if she tells him? What if she tells? He'll kill me for a certain then or give me to Sir Illyn. I never meant. My father was a traitor. My brother as well. I have the traitor's blood. Please don't make me sing more. With encouragement from Marjorie and Olenna, of course, Butterbump singing the bear and the maiden fair, Sansa finally, for the first time and over a book, gets to tell someone what a fucking piece of shit Joffrey is.
Starting point is 00:53:45 It feels real good. Yeah, let it out, babe. It feels real good. And of course, this kind of plays a little bit into what we were talking about last chapter, where the truth comes out in the open, underneath the stars, in the godswood where
Starting point is 00:54:01 Dantos and Sansa are talking about the truth here. Sansa's doing it in public and that somehow provides more of a cover and Georgia also subtly uses some sensory imagery here to show us that the truth is coming out now when Sansa first met Olenna
Starting point is 00:54:17 Olenna as we were talking about portrays herself as this little old woman and she smells of rose water but here with Butterbump singing real loud and no servants Olenna's then leaning close to sanza the queen of thorns was so close she could smell the old woman's sour breath so all those niceties all those rose roses and like smelling good shit is gone because now the sour truth of joffrey is coming out and also the tyrells very well put sanza says joffrey's a out and also the Tyrells. Very well put. Sansa says Joffrey's a monster,
Starting point is 00:54:48 that he lied about the butcher's boy and made her father kill her wolf, that he had the Kingsguard beat her when he's unhappy with her, that he's evil and cruel and the queen is too, which a lot of interesting stuff happens right in this moment because it's not just Sansa telling Joffrey's cruel crimes to them some of this she isn't even giving them a context it's just coming out the damn broke right it's just coming out at her she she doesn't give any context about who the hell the butcher's boy is they don't know who the butcher's boy is they weren't there and they don't know anything about her wolf they don't
Starting point is 00:55:21 know any of this stuff that she's just spouting out now and it's also interesting because she admits joffrey is the reason her wolf's dead something a year ago sansa couldn't quite admit and wanted to put on the queen and her sister sansa's truly opened her eyes at this point in the story and not only and she not only understands the danger she's in she's cautious to overstay in the secret garden it's most definitely the terrells in their element as well they bring sansa to their rose garden in the start of the book garden. It's most definitely the Tyrells and their element as well. They bring Sansa to their rose garden in the start of the book. I think it's interesting we start the book with that. Does she want her to love me too?
Starting point is 00:55:52 We end Sansa's story in a storm of swords in the Eyrie, surrounded by snow with, I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell. Such a flip. Margaery and her grandmother exchange a very certain look after this truth comes out with one another and then marjorie asks sansa would you like to visit high garden because like
Starting point is 00:56:13 we would be super happy to have you there she's telling her that there will be singers and crows and fountains and harpists and fiddlers and marble columns. And did Varys give them all this information too? It's like, is she just like that obvious? I don't know. And then Margaery's like, oh, do you like hawking?
Starting point is 00:56:33 We have excellent hawking here. And Sansa's like a little, and I'm just like, I didn't know this about you. When were you into hawking? I don't know. Of course, all of this leads up to the best part eventually.
Starting point is 00:56:46 You will love Highgarden as I do. I know it. Marjorie brushed back a loose strand of Sansa's hair. Once you see it, you'll never want to leave. And perhaps you won't have to. That's not ominous. Her hair, her hair, the bead with honey in her hair. Shush, child, the Queen of Thorns said sharply. Sansa hasn't even told us that she would like to come for a visit. Oh, but I would, Sansa
Starting point is 00:57:15 said. Highgarden sounded like the place she had always dreamed of, the beautiful magical court she had once hoped to find at King's Landing. Of course, this is the opposite side of the Lannister manipulation spectrum. I might even argue it's similar to Cersei in A Game of Thrones, but much better done, neatly. Margaery's intimacy, her gentle way of ensnaring Sansa in the Tyrell Vines, is only beginning in this chapter, and it sets it up to crash down on the ground a few chapters later. Of course, Olenna shoehorns this Cersei-like behavior in right then and there. She does the same thing we see Cersei do in the throne room with Sansa when they send Jane Poole away. She does the talking in front of a kid who's too dumb to understand what I'm implying thing. Sansa's smart enough to question it at least this
Starting point is 00:57:59 time, and she thinks what she's served isn't as awful as everything else she's been served. For sure. And then Olenna, of of course reveals the true purpose of their questioning uh they want her to marry the heir of house tyrell that'd be rad for them right right and of course it's a little misdirection for sansa because in her mind she has built it up not to be the heir she has built up this person to be loris tyrell but they are talking about willis tyrell only good tyrell mostly because we haven't met him yet thank god uh don't at me i fucking said what i said this is like a gender flip version of catelyn's dream for rob she's like why don't you have like why couldn't you have, like, why couldn't you have picked Margaery? All the people. Yeah. Right. But, of course, Sansa
Starting point is 00:58:47 doesn't really know who Willis is. She thinks that they're talking about Loras, and then Olenna chastises her. She's like, Loras is at the Kingsguard, you idiot, and can't marry anyone now. And Sansa tries to save face, and she's like, oh, okay, we're cool, cool. Like, is the heir of Highgarden nice? Like, is he
Starting point is 00:59:03 as gallant or good night as loris olena and marjorie tell sansa the truth willis is a nice young man but he was injured and disabled by oberyn martell and we start to get that hint of the animosity that builds up in the book with oberyn really good setup and i mean i'm just like confused this is just a thing that i'm not sure i understand like marjorie and olenna they exchange it and like they're very forgiving they're like oh just tell her the truth and they don't think it's weird that sansa doesn't know about willis and his accident like tyrian knows about it like is this not common knowledge across the seven kingdoms like isn't this something that everyone knows? If the son of
Starting point is 00:59:46 a great house was injured by the son of another great house, I just do not understand. I suppose, but, I mean, we're looking at Sansa came to court with a steward's daughter as her companion, her one and only companion. She's not on the up and ups of the big, big gossip like this, and I feel like it was kind of put hush-hush,
Starting point is 01:00:04 especially because the Martells didn't want it to be a big deal. And the Tyrells, I mean, Willis and Oberyn didn't want it to be a big deal, right? They talk about it at one point and how, hey, they're cool. They're cool. It wasn't really, you know,
Starting point is 01:00:17 they still write to each other all the time. Yeah. It's just everyone else mad on their behalf. Yeah. Well, it also builds up all these, like, prejudice notions of the Dornish and the Reachmen. And you look at, like, you know, we get it with Aerys Oakheart. We get it all over the map. That's true.
Starting point is 01:00:38 There's actually a lot of Reach versus Dorn in Fire and Blood we're gonna talk about i'm sure too definitely so and then finally the song ends i don't know elena's like real jazz and her cheese comes out she's super happy about that the song did and it's over the rose garden is done yeah i do think it's interesting that the entire way that this chapter is framed, and it's a running thing throughout the book, the way song plays a role in it. Like, the truth comes out because they're under the cover of that song, The Bear and the Maiden Fair, which recurs so many times in many different ways throughout A Storm of Swords. And this is notable because the whole name of the series is a song of ice and fire yes it is that's perfect i love that and i love that sansa sansa's story forever remains that's true that's true it's also just interspersed throughout the chapter really well like it makes it kind of jarring because you're like trying to read what's going on and then you're like oh look at these words in caps about a bear and honey and like what the hell
Starting point is 01:01:51 is going on and it makes it just as confusing and difficult to understand what's happening which is the point that's what the tyrells want to happen for anyone else who's listening in on their conversation yeah it works smoothly and uh they sowed their seed that day, absolutely. Well, that wraps us up on our episode 29, Sansa 1 in A Storm of Swords. God, I'm so excited for A Storm of Swords. Thanks so much for tuning in, guys. So much happens in this book, yes. Thank so much for tuning in guys so much happens in this book yes thank you
Starting point is 01:02:25 everyone for tuning in be sure to keep tuning in and following along with whenever things happen subscribe to us on social medias is like girls gone canon on twitter or shoot us an email maybe you like this episode maybe you didn't or maybe you like want to say something to us about like I don't know Vare and shoot us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com as always you can give us a subscribe on Podbean where we're hosted on iTunes
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Starting point is 01:03:11 two episodes coming out this week, this one that you're listening to, and another one in which we begin breaking down the Dance of the Dragons. I'm excited. It's gonna get fiery. It is. We also really like the Dance of the Dragons. I'm excited. It's gonna get fiery. It is. We also really like the Dance of the Dragons.
Starting point is 01:03:29 I think it's such a big deal. And honestly, in Fire and Blood, you guys, there's so much more added to it. It's impeccable. I'm excited. It's so dense. There's a lot to get through. And we're really excited to go deep in on this analysis
Starting point is 01:03:43 and do a series for the dance is dense yeah so five dollars are up a month you will get that uh and hey if not eventually someday we'll release it don't worry and maybe otherwise i mean you guys we're gonna do this for free for like ever i mean for literally at least four years unless we murder each other first like game of thrones style wow I mean, for literally at least four years. Unless we murder each other first, like Game of Thrones style. Wow. And that is how we're closing our podcast, you guys. I've been Chloe.
Starting point is 01:04:19 Find me on the internet at Liza Narver. And I've been Eliana. You can just find me on the internet somewhere as Glass Table Girl or like whatever at Arrhythmetric. Peace out.

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