Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 8 - Eddard XIV/XV

Episode Date: June 20, 2018

Eliana and Chloe's journey through Ned Stark's POV in ASOIAF grinds to its end. Eddard's mercy and honor brings him to the black cells of King's Landing, and he is haunted one last time by the ghos...ts of his past and the crying of innocent babes.    intro by Anton Langhage.   Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/   Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. You can find me on the internet as at Lies and Arbor, on Twitter, and also on Tumblr as Lies and Arbor. Hello, I'm Eliana, another one of your hosts, and you can find me as Glass Table Girl on the Maester Monthly podcast and always on the Asanga Vice and Fire subreddit. It's here. We're here.
Starting point is 00:00:50 Oh, dad, no sorry it's our eighth episode of eddard stark in the week of father's day nonetheless oh my gosh i didn't even plan that that's really me neither it was fate it was fate we chose that it was the oh so powerful there was an omen a few years ago where um we found a dead calendar uh date with a staghorn i should stop yeah i don't think we did that i think we did no i like where your head's at but i don't think that's you're welcome wow i don't know i feel like i should be more emotional and maybe it'll be next week i get more emotional about it but oh yeah these are ned's last two chapters that we're reading it's definitely he deserved better he did deserve the starks all deserve better it's true i mean we're really brought into the story like you're supposed to be a stark
Starting point is 00:01:45 bannerman you know i know yeah that's true and i simfire con this year i can't remember when it was but one of the days i think it might have been during the drunk a swath panel but one of the days we uh i was like come on like you have to be a stark bannerman like raise your hand here if you're a stark bannerman and like three people raised their hand. I was like, oh. Well, I guess I'll just sit down. I don't know if it was that night or not. I don't know. We were all drunk. It was a weekend.
Starting point is 00:02:15 Man. We did get, we have a couple emails that we've gotten and we're so happy about it. Thank you for sending emails in. If you want to send an email in, ask us a question just say hey or dm us on twitter whichever we are always open our email is girls gone canon at gmail.com uh we got a really cool itunes review that i liked from tomas tongue strider which is
Starting point is 00:02:39 an amazing username oh my god yeah obviously a reference if y'all don't know to little miss long strider but but sexier sexier um more linguistically inclined i don't know linguistically i don't know yeah and this itunes review also very very sweet two girls one cast which gonna throw it out there that was an idea that we had Yeah, and this iTunes review, also very, very sweet. Two girls, one cast, which, gonna throw it out there, that was an idea that we had. That was. That was one of the naming. Two girls, one cast, what's not to love?
Starting point is 00:03:19 Their POV-based reread method really helps stay in the mind of the characters. A nice change up from your regular reread. Jump on board, they're just just getting started and will give you all kinds and new insights besides anyone whose accent makes wolf sound like wolf is okay in my book anyway is that directed at me it's definitely you i've definitely thought about it before when you when you say wolf i'm like how adorable my wife is so cute. I can't help it. I think it's just like, me and you were talking about earlier, but reader's vocabulary. You know, you grow up being kind of alone. Wolf, wolf, wolf. And reading things more than talking to people about them.
Starting point is 00:03:58 So I have issues saying Las Vegas if I don't think about it when I say it. One of my best friends makes fun of me so hard, but I will say it like Las Vegas. And she's always like, it's Las Vegas if I don't think about it when I say it. One of my best friends makes fun of me so hard, but I will say it like Las Vegas. And she's always like, it's Las Vegas. I'm like, I can't help it. That's just how I say stuff. I've never been there. I've just read it in books. I don't know. And as I was telling you, I guess I never
Starting point is 00:04:17 listened from reading it in books. I just used to call telemarketers telemarketeers and I don't know, maybe that's what my parents said. Way more badass. Yeah. Some like warriors, warriors of the brandishing phones. Yeah. Surely.
Starting point is 00:04:31 Yeah. That's like, I'm a big advocate for don't ever make fun of people for how they pronounce things, because that means they probably read it in a book and learned it in a book. Yeah. That's true. Well, thank you, Tomas Tungstrider. Thomas? Tomider. I say Tomas because I have a friend named Tomas. That's his name now. You have two friends named Tomas now. Tomaso Tomaso. Okay, so the actual story that we're here to read.
Starting point is 00:05:07 story that we're here to read yeah uh before we jump into ned 14 we're gonna talk about do our lightning round what we missed we only had one chapter between ned 13 and ned 14 this time and that is john six john snow gets sorted into hufflepuff when his whole entire family is in gryffindor just kidding wrong story uh hoping to follow in his brave Uncle Benjen's footsteps and ever thirsty for adventure, John learns he will be a steward for Lorne Commander Mormont on the Wall and not a ranger. Samuel Tarly tells John that he should be honored because he's being grim for command, obviously. They say their vows in the Godswood beyond the Wall, and after finishing their vows, receive a fleshy treat from Ghost. beyond the wall and after finishing their vows receive a fleshy treat from ghost i think it's really cool also that this ends with john saying his vows at the heart tree when the last chapters had ned at the heart tree kind of saying his own vows i didn't notice that that's a great point
Starting point is 00:05:58 there's a lot of really good mirroring uh in these especially between 14 and 15 there's a lot of chapters between that and it's very interesting how it all works out yeah and we'll we'll talk about that in a bit yeah it's the construction here is like they really just kind of threw in this john chapter there because they needed a transition of course like between the previous ned chapter in this one but this one fits really well absolutely lots of memories so as for what happens in ned 14 as we summed it up last time i'm gonna keep that as our overview betrayal betrayal betrayal betrayal that's it that's the summary that's the overview i mean that's like what happens yeah literally it's betrayal yeah ned's chapter once more opens up to him waking from sleep
Starting point is 00:06:55 below men are practicing fighting and of course this scene has some great outlining of what's about to occur in the very nearby future. Lannister men in the yard, iron-tipped lances through a man's head, Lannister guardsmen joking and cursing. Ned's concern grows as he wonders why Cersei has still not fled. Arya ends up getting permission to have one last dancing lesson, and Sansa asks why she can't get to say goodbye to Joffrey to be honest um a first of all Arya is very fortunate that she is in this last dancing lesson when everything happens and again this sort of rift between the sisters comes because Ned has explained more or less to Arya why they distrust the Lannisters but he never had that talk with
Starting point is 00:07:46 sansa as for why sansa can't like say goodbye to joffrey he just kind of settles on a like because i said so explanation which sure like sometimes is a thing parents have to do but as someone who was a preteen girl also just a preteen in general as someone who like went through adolescence this is not the most effective method for someone of that age yeah so like sansa obviously responds with it's not fair which like yeah that sounds just about right for the response from an 11 year old girl speaking from experience yeah i've been one too and you're definitely right it's it's definitely a simple parenting rule like when you have two kids treating one unfairly in their eyes and not explaining to them why causes them to reject that ruling and revolt like completely from the parent you can't just give little Jimmy a candy bar
Starting point is 00:08:45 and then little Marco can't have one because he said so. That's, like, cardinal parenting rules, you know? Especially after Sansa did exactly what she thought was right and expected of her. She followed every rule to be a lady. She went to all the events. She dressed properly. She was courteous and well-spoken,
Starting point is 00:09:03 which actually has a lot of parallels to her wolf lady uh and how she died after not really you know doing anything wrong per se which of course we say uh in our sage experiences only children right look i don't i don't have siblings but i babysat a lot growing up like I had probably two sets of siblings for six years of their formative lives. I can safely tell you, only child or not, you're in for a world of hurt if you deny one kid something they want, but give the other kid something they want. It's just bad. It's not good. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:40 Doesn't work out. I don't imagine it would especially of course at that age especially with those two kids dang you got aria wolf-headed and blooded yeah and saza who stuck in her way an hour later um paicel comes in and his shoulders are heavy from more than just his chain king robert has passed away by cell is talking about how may robert find rest and you know this is a bit of that last characterization that we're really going to get from like of robert for a bit or from ned at least no ned answered he hated rest the gods give him love and laughter and the joy of righteous battle. It was strange how empty he felt.
Starting point is 00:10:30 He had been expecting the visit, and yet with those words, something died within him. He would have given all his titles for the freedom to weep, but he was Robert's hand, and the hour he dreaded had come. hand and the hour he dreaded had come so again in king's landing ned can't even be himself even grieving for his best friend even with robert's passing he's still he's not thinking of himself as ned stark he's still thinking of himself as robert's hand and rather than give himself that time to mourn he realizes he jumps into. He calls a small council meeting. And then, of course, Littlefinger tells Ned that the Dark Deed he has requested of buying out the gold cloaks is done. Because he is a liar.
Starting point is 00:11:21 You'll never get a job on this side of town again, Littlefinger. I hate him so much. He's the worst. He only gets worse from here on out. I know. We learn Renly has already fled, which Renly was relying on Ned's plan to keep his power in King's Landing, and when Ned said no way to that plan, Renly was
Starting point is 00:11:38 like, okay, well, I got this flowery backup plan. His alliance with the Tyrells shouldn't be a surprise to any reader he leaves accompanied by loris terrell and 50 retainers as the council reads the last will ned thinks to himself that robert's heir is of age stannis baratheon ned thinks it would be best to share all this with the council but he doesn't trust any of them and he also thinks that barriston sir barriston was honor bound to protect and defend the boy he thought his new king the old knight would not abandon joffrey easily and i just want to call
Starting point is 00:12:21 this line out because as we announced last cast we're're going to be doing Barristan as our next POV. And I think it's kind of funny how honor operates as a reputation and affects people's perceptions. Because this line kind of cuts two ways. So Barristan is defending a false king by failing to abandon Joffrey. He's defended tyrants like Ares. than Joffrey. He's defended tyrants like Ares. And some of the subtext of the story asks us if
Starting point is 00:12:47 Barristan's actions are truly honorable. And then, of course, we're later going to see that Barristan has abandoned royal families twice. To be fair, he gets fired, but let's just put that out there.
Starting point is 00:13:04 I mean, hey, if your name is brendan b fish he's gonna abandon royal families three times so i mean maybe i don't know we'll find out well we'll discuss we'll discuss this more we'll discuss this more in a few weeks i'm actually really excited for baristan especially after this it's gonna be fun, it's gonna be a real change of pace and it's also gonna obviously take us to the exact other side of the story, all the way
Starting point is 00:13:34 down to dance so just as Ned asks to be named Lord Protector the royal steward comes in and says that the new king Joffrey, is asking for his small council. Ned's surprised because
Starting point is 00:13:51 Cersei apparently moves extremely fast. Absolutely. Especially for all the talking he's done throughout the chapter, saying, why hasn't she made a move yet? Why hasn't she made a move yet? She was waiting for that drop. She could not have any power until Robert dropped. Ned, it's interesting because he refuses, you'll notice through these chapters,
Starting point is 00:14:12 to say that Joffrey's the king. No matter what, which makes it that much more heartbreaking when he's forced to. You know, when he has to lie for honor or for love for his daughters and family and life. Oh yeah. it's good construction because of that entering the throne room uh ned feels comforted seeing how many gold cloaks there are dad no hint it's a tarp don't fall for it yeah no and you get warning-ish of this but the small detail which you
Starting point is 00:14:50 think is for Ned but it's not that like Janos Slynt his armor is really ornate which shows that he's been bought off cause like damn like he's just Janos Slynt? Commander of the Gold Cloaks yeah it's like why are you stunting and everyone is all like all hail Jo Yeah, he's like, why are you stunned?
Starting point is 00:15:07 And everyone is all like, all hail Joffrey. He's here now, I guess. There's this line that Ned Stark slowly limped and hopped toward the boy who called himself king. And I like that characterization in that last phrase, because beyond us, of course, knowing that Joffrey isn't really king we see this kind idea come up again in that exchange later on that really iconic exchange between Joffrey and Tywin that any man who must call himself king is no king at all oh yeah it also pays right into Ned refusing to call Joffrey king yeah there's also this line the first time he had come this way he had been on horseback sword in hand and the Targaryen dragons had watched from the halls as he forced Jaime Lannister down from the throne.
Starting point is 00:15:52 He wondered if Joffrey would step down quite so easily. Which, this is also, of course, another nod to Ned thinking how neither of these men are worth or deserving of the throne, let alone they should not be able to take it by blood rights. For sure. are worth or deserving of the throne let alone they should not be able to take it by blood rights for sure in this moment is ned very much like jamie standing up against an unrightful king yeah a little bit in the same room with the dragons okay that's in a way yeah and then from here on out it's like a total fashion show where we talk about what everyone is wearing. We got gold cloaks. We got white cloaks. We got Circe who's decked out in monochromatic power outfits. We have Joffrey wearing his Lannister colors, even though the whole throne room is still wearing Baratheon colors for obvious reasons.
Starting point is 00:16:41 Like, boy who is calling himself king. Right. He realizes his dad, like, what are you doing? Like, this is the time to really wear your Baratheon colors. I mean, Sandor is wearing a very statement dog helm, very sartorial fashion, and then everyone behind the throne is wearing Lannister crimson. Sandor is also wearing very, suit gray dark clothes uh kind of dressed as a
Starting point is 00:17:07 shadowing figure in this story however as we come to see later on after he has moved to Kingsguard and takes Ser Barristan's spot Sandor's wearing you know he never wears the white scales or anything he'll wear his gray armor his suit gray armor with the white cloak eventually but mostly with his uh his olive cloak when he shows in public and such uh i digress cersei wears similar garb in a storm of swords in jamie three a sea green dress and she wears a pigeon egg sized emerald on her finger in this chapter kind of pointing to the marital ties she has to the throne, but in Jaime 3, she wears a necklace with a huge emerald. Emerald tends to represent balance and peace. We know as Varys comments in chapter 15 that Cersei would rather a tamed wolf than a dead one. She also wears her tiara, which reiterates once more to Ned and everyone else in the throne
Starting point is 00:18:00 room, I am the queen, just like robert and she visit ned when he's first injured ned is surrounded by a sea of red and gold gold cloaks and lannister guards ned notes thankfully there are many gold cloaks which means he thinks little finger kept his promise especially since they outnumbered the lannister soldiers oh dad bye dad no i think that's a great point that you pointed by bringing us back to this tiara that circe's wearing and it's not just that she's saying that i'm the queen to ned like it's again it comes back to all those trappings of power especially since ned doesn't end up calling her out explicitly as like a fraud she's wearing this crown also reminds everyone else in the room where their fealty supposedly lies too she's absolutely obligating these vassals to remain
Starting point is 00:18:53 loyal to the crown uh especially interesting i thought of that she wears the ring to kind of remind everyone of her marital status and that she was the queen she was robert's queen she was their king's wife and then also during the jamie chapter in a storm of swords she wears a necklace which there's a lot of necklace language with her and jamie whenever she's with him which i think is interesting and brings a little bit of attention to her throat oh yeah definitely i've never noticed that like with the Valenkar stuff. That's a really great catch. We also get Ned physically leaning on Littlefinger because of his leg, which in many ways is pretty much what he's been metaphorically doing his entire time in King's Landing.
Starting point is 00:19:38 His leg is in blazing pain, which as we've established before, tells us how Ned is feeling emotionally through physical language we know then that he's feeling really stressed out and note ned's internal language surrounding cersei in this scene again he's refusing to call her the queen nor queen regent he thinks and calls her my lady of lannister Which is also another really good point. It reminds me of in later books where we have interactions between Kevin, Lannister, and Cersei, and Kevin's telling Cersei that her place is back at Casterly Rock, that she's Lady of the Rock.
Starting point is 00:20:20 Ned is ready to drop his trump card. It's Robert's will, and he's ready to go. But Cersei's horrible and all, but you totally have to respect this moment. She's like a badass power move queen in this moment, and she just tears the letter up. The eunuch carried the letter to Cersei. The queen glanced at the words. Protector of the realm, she read. to come up again later in the story. That language, specifically of a paper shield, shows up in A Feast for Crowsows in an exchange between sam and john it's going to come up again and dance uh when we see that exact same exchange again from a letter where john is writing
Starting point is 00:21:13 to show that the night's watch i guess takes no part supposedly even though they kind of are and the fact that this paper shield doesn't really work for Ned shows us that this is probably going to blow up in Jon's face, just like it did for Ned, because of that similar wording and idea. This is also, of course, just the beginning. As the series and the war progresses, the Lannisters are going to break all of the rules, as they did with this paper shield. They're going to tear up the traditions that hold Westerosi society together. A dynasty for us!
Starting point is 00:21:53 Sorry. I thought that was appropriate. It is. I also love Cersei's just like badass power moving through the end of this chapter because she turns it all on him. And she's like, I'm gonna offer you the same advice you offered me lord stark and the knee my lord and the knee and swear fealty for my son and we shall allow you to
Starting point is 00:22:14 step down his hand and live out your days in the gray waste you call home do it dad do it please yeah dad you should do it god dad please please you should have done it you should have just listened to the mean lady
Starting point is 00:22:31 and gone home I realize now he was like given three chances you know he was like given a chance from
Starting point is 00:22:36 Renly Renly's plan his little finger little finger and then Cersei and each time he was like
Starting point is 00:22:44 nah my little bunny foo foo oh man and his little finger and then Cersei and each time he's like, nah. My little bunny foo-foo. Oh, man. He's just scooping up the field mice, popping them on the head. Ned tries to tell everyone that Stannis is the true heir, which of course, to everyone
Starting point is 00:23:02 else listening, makes himself totally sound like a traitor and also kind of makes him look like a huge douchebag because he's this grown man who's being mean to a bunch of little kids, especially when Marcel's all like, mommy, isn't Joff the king now? And like, yeah, it's just not a good look.
Starting point is 00:23:18 And did he think through how he's going to do this? Like, shouldn't he have led with, as opposed to being like, Stannis is the true king, shouldn't he have led with like opposed to being like stannis is the true king shouldn't he have led with like maybe i don't know joffrey and the other children are bastards born of incest i mean it sounds crazy but he just doesn't mean he's just like oh no it's stannis well and that's another point of where ned puts his honor above his political aptitude unfortunately uh because he even was trying to kind of almost shuffle it under the rug saying like you know Stannis is the true heir like not trying to make it a big scene almost I feel like oh it's a scene yeah it's definitely a scene
Starting point is 00:23:59 something that makes me so sick to my stomach about this is Cersei immediately puts this on Ser Barristan and the Kingsguard to seize Ned and Ser Barristan is so conflicted by honor and he's surrounded by Stark men that he doesn't even have a chance to make up his mind and Cersei puts the words in his mouth and says do you think Ser Barristan stands alone my lord obligating him basically and making his choice for him but like isn't this exactly the same thing that catlin does though at the end of the crossroads um no because catlin stark is an angel and lannisters are garbage humans they are garbage humans and everything i just said would hold up
Starting point is 00:24:38 in a court of legal laws so sue me Joffrey after this whole exchange comes off as super unstable he's just yelling liar and kill all of them which sounds just like Ares but also a little bit like Sweet Robin oh yeah a little bit a little
Starting point is 00:24:59 but like Sweet Robin kind of like when you have a mom that's off her rocker I guess that's yeah Sweet Robin like only really has when you have a mom that's off her rocker, I guess that's... Yeah, Sweet Robin, like, only really has bark, you know, not any bite. Poor boy. Yeah. Well, he has no agency to have bite. Well, I mean, he will soon, but... Maybe.
Starting point is 00:25:14 Somewhat. Maybe. Unless he just dies. I give him 75% of the way through Tiwau. We'll get to this somewhere, but I give him, like, the last half of Tiwau he'll die. Yeah, probably. He's probably gonna, he'll die. Yeah, probably. He's probably gonna die. Poor boy. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Starting point is 00:25:32 And of course, then, betrayal. Betrayal! Betrayal. And, sorry, we should be more angry. Betrayal! Betrayal! Betrayal! It isn't a coincidence sorry we should be more angry betrayal betrayal betrayal and is it a coincidence
Starting point is 00:25:49 that Tomard was stabbed in the back just like our dear father metaphorically in this entire situation yeah also I think it's crazy that he we like built up Tomard
Starting point is 00:26:04 George like only gave him a nickname and talked about him just to give us Yeah. Also, I think it's crazy that we built up Tomard. George only gave him a nickname and talked about him just to give us that connection so we'd be sad about it. Yeah. It's bullshit. I mean, yeah, because it goes from what? Tomard gets stabbed and they're like, and then he saw Fat Tom fall and we're like, oh no, we know he's called Fat Tom because that's what our girls called him and it's so sad. I don't know what that accent is. Guess you shouldn't have fat shamed him huh girls now he's dead that's true not because the fat shaming just he died as ned's men fall around him he notices it's not just his soldiers it's varley it's kane it's tomard it's it's every soldier that he knows by name and cares about every member of his household and of course
Starting point is 00:26:50 then we get the worst line little finger with his i did warn you not to trust me you know i'm just like get the fuck out of here you victim blaming piece of shit i hate it don't talk to me or my children ever again george is like his smile was apologetic shut up fuck you little finger get a job god i'm so mad right now i want to fight someone little finger would lose he would lose that fight anyway that's it, that's 114 dad no
Starting point is 00:27:29 dad no okay, so we got a lot, oh my god there's so, okay, let's talk for a second before we jump into our lightning round there is a heap of chapters like just a pile of chapters between this the pacing is really interesting like aliana said earlier there's a
Starting point is 00:27:50 random john chapter that works out but it's stuck in between the two ned chapters that we just had and that's great but it's like they kind of started stuffing and had to be like oh george was like let's slow down a little bit because ned has to die still and then all of a sudden it's rapid fire like this is our most lightning of all lightning rounds there's like 800 chapters in this yeah and i i think it is well constructed in that way like you know we have that ned chapter right before you know ned chapter 13 and as i was saying we have that john chapter it's to create that passage of time and then of course this like chapter ends with the betrayal and we have all these things and it kind of builds that suspense by having all of those chapters between it because like the last
Starting point is 00:28:36 thing we ended on was all of ned's men dying and him just you know being captured and you kind of hear a little bit about it from like the later chapters as you can see like we get some news of oh he's been captured and this is what happened but we don't really know for sure and it's it's a great build-up it's very intense yeah it's a smart way of construction especially as you know when we come into ned's chapter we don't know, like, it makes it feel like he's been down there a long time a little, but also building that suspense and just keeping Dad alive a little bit longer. It's great because Ned has the most chapters of the POVs,
Starting point is 00:29:17 you know, in this book, I think, right? 15, I want to say, he's the most. Yeah. And it's like he goes from having basically the very beginning is, you you know he has a good chunk of his chapters you get to the middle of the book and it's like all of a sudden it's ned heavy you're getting a ned chapter every couple chapters no matter what where you're waiting a little longer in between for like sans or aria uh so you're getting a ned chapter like
Starting point is 00:29:39 every two chapters and then all of a sudden it stops and he like pulls that away from you he pulls it out from under you and says you have one Ned chapter left you better read the next 700 chapters I put in this book first Ned being captured you start seeing the ball rolling for like here's what's gonna start happening to all those Starkids and you
Starting point is 00:29:59 start to see the trajectories of their storylines and things like that yeah it really gives you the cause and effect. It's like literally actually every single other person in the book, in terms of POVs, gets a chapter before we finally come back to Ned. Yeah, it's like the last walk for him.
Starting point is 00:30:18 Yeah. And then we still don't, as we'll go into later, we still don't get his death in this chapter. His death comes to us from a different chapter. Arya. Damn, dude. All right. Lightning round.
Starting point is 00:30:32 Give us Arya IV, Alyana. Yep. Arya IV. Arya's last lesson with her dancing master is cut rather short when Lannister Guardsman, led by Ser Meryn Trant, who is no true knight, demands that Arya come with them. Syrio denies the request, beginning a dance with them
Starting point is 00:30:51 to save her life. Arya finds her sword, needle, in the stables and evades capture by killing the stable boy and escaping through the Red Keep's dungeon. A place she's no stranger to hey i'm full of it today after aria 4 we get sansa 4 i think it's interesting that sansa 4 is a chapter that
Starting point is 00:31:19 mirrors how eddard's chapters works it starts in the middle of actions and recants what's been happening around her three days have passed since sansa snuck out, telling Cersei her father's plans in hopes of staying with her beloved Joffrey. She is brought out of her house arrest before the queen and the small council, where they tell her her father has been treasonous, and they have her write letters to her family members to inform them of what has happened. And then in Jon 7, members to inform them of what has happened. And then in John 7, we get a taste again of that larger mystical story where bodies of the men that accompanied Benjen Stark on his ranging surface, while some, including Jeremy Riker, are quick to cast blame on wildlings. Sam notes distinct characteristics that say otherwise. John learns of King Robert's death and his father's treason charges
Starting point is 00:32:09 and gets into a scuffle with Sir Alistair Thorne, who mocks him in Ned. Settling in for the night, John finds the undead body of one of the rangers in the Lord Commander's room and has to kill the monster, saving Jeyar's life. No big. Ah, no big. Yeah, I was just thinking as you said that that is an intense chapter. Oh yeah. He keeps the suspense.
Starting point is 00:32:34 I totally forgot how suspenseful this is. Brand six, a really good chapter. Rob calls the Stark bannermen for war at the news of his father's captivity and the Karstark forces are the last to arrive at Winterfell. Forbidden to leave the castle since the events in the Wolfswood, Bran seeks prayer in the Godswood.
Starting point is 00:32:53 Osha the Wildling interrupts his prayer, telling him about the Old Gods and the Others. The Spearwife tells Bran that Rob should be riding north, not south. Bran relays the information to Maester Luwin, but Rob rides south. Free dad! Free dad! Then across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys finds herself fighting a losing battle and attempting to inspire her husband to head for Westeros. As Khal Drogo goes off to a hunt,
Starting point is 00:33:22 Dany heads to the market and is offered a cask of wine from a merchant. Ser Jorah asks the merchant to drink first, suspicious that the merchant is attempting to poison the Khaleesi. And the merchant refuses and tries to run. Later in the evening, Drogo learns of the attempt on Daenerys' life and declares that he will attack the Seven Kingdoms and take back her chair. I will do this thing for you, Daenerys, mood of life. I will take back your chair.
Starting point is 00:33:54 Like, yeah, I mean, he totally, you know, there's a lot of, you know, like, rapey bits in that story, but that speech is pretty good. I will do this thing. Jason Momoa really brought that speech to life like it's like pretty good I can't hear it you know now any other way I can see him in my head
Starting point is 00:34:12 it's a little different in my head if I'm like thinking of it from the books but I still see Jason Momoa in the books you're like yeah that's cool but like when Jason Momoa does it you're like yeah they're coming they're gonna invade Westeros. That's happening.
Starting point is 00:34:26 Yeah. Screamers. Yeah. In Catalan VIII, the 900th chapter I've had to talk about already. There's so many chapters, you guys. In Catalan VIII, the war is frothing and brewing. Cat and Brynden Tully meet Robb and his raised levies at Moat Catelyn. This chapter establishes Robb's budding military prowess with
Starting point is 00:34:49 gentle guidance from Catelyn. Robb decides to go south, since the only options seem to be win or die. He decides to keep Tywin's troops busy with a feint down the king's road. And then there's Tyrion, because he is also in this book and there's so many people in this uh story now he's obligated to meet his father at the inn at the crossroads
Starting point is 00:35:13 tyrian has nowhere easy to stash his new wild friends the wild thorn berries and he's forced to bring them with him to establish trust in the already untrusting very much so mirroring Catelyn and Robb in the war councils in the chapter preceding this Chloe wrote these Tyrion, Tywin, and Kevin
Starting point is 00:35:39 discuss the current situation in the Riverlands barracked on Tyrion and the glory Jaime was finding with his sword upon the field. Is that a sex joke? I don't know. Might be a sex joke. Jaime's just so... Turns out he's, like, really innocent, like, sexually.
Starting point is 00:36:01 I know, right? He's just like, my sister is real cute. Ew. Jaime, God. my number is one um news arrives that rob stark's host is traveling down the king's road and tywin and tyrian secure the clansmen against the north with tyrian at their lead these were such simpler linear like times you know they really were all these chapters just things happening i do really love i was really excited that cadeline and rob chapter with the
Starting point is 00:36:31 tyrian chapter it's very interesting to see tyrian trying to live up to his dad and rob trying to live up to his dad's legacy even in a way so i love those two chapters next to each other we finally make it to our very last chapter of the 10 hundred million chapters we have read tonight already and that is Sansa 700. Just kidding it's Sansa 5. King Joffrey holds court for the first time calling for nobility to swear fealty to him and his reign. The small council appoints new titles and lands to those receiving. Ser Barristan Selmy is dismissed from the Kingsguard, and Sandor Clegane takes his place. Sansa Stark comes forward to beg for mercy from her father, and her gracious king says he will grant this mercy.
Starting point is 00:37:14 If Ned comes forward and names Joffrey as the one true king of Westeros. And finally, that brings us to our last ned chapter ned 15 dad no dad why dad why now we're gonna actually give a real overview for this but like dad why that's also a summary yeah it's a big mood the king dies and the hand is buried. Ned Stark finds himself in the black cells, leg throbbing and rage frozen within him. He begins to think on the tourney at Harrenhal, on blue bloody roses, and finally, days later, a new jailer comes to visit him, Varys. Varys brings him wine and advice, the realm or have your daughter's head serve to you
Starting point is 00:38:07 what a good friend he's like decent Varys bringing wine and advice Varys is your friend who's gonna like tell you sometimes maybe to your face like what are you doing sometimes I think everyone needs a friend like Varys
Starting point is 00:38:24 especially cause like he's really open about how he doesn't care what happens sometimes. I think everyone needs a friend like very... That's true. Especially because like he's really open about how he doesn't care what happens to you and it's like why why, you know? That's true. At least you know where he stands. Like, you don't have to question. Yes. Alright, so... Oh my god. This is like Coachella all over again.
Starting point is 00:38:39 So, we just we're just trying to string it out because we don't want the chapters to end dad no dad no why dad why don't leave me this has been like a really good journey with you guys this has been really fun with you i'm so happy sad though sad well at least we have another character after this so we have a lot of characters after this we uh we're gonna be doing this for at least we have another character after this. We have a lot of characters after this. We're going to be doing this for at least four years, so I'm ready.
Starting point is 00:39:11 Well, Ned 15, without further ado. George immediately hits us with the straw on the floor stink of urine, and you know that you're in the dungeons, just from that one line. No morning light to greet us or wake us from sleep. No windows and only darkness. In the cells below the ground, Ned remembers the crypts of Winterfell. The king dies and the hand is buried. There's a quick aside here, of course, about how these dungeons are made, about Maegor the Cruel,
Starting point is 00:39:44 and how he built this castle and then executed all of the builders which of course is a common trope to characterize someone as a cruel tyrant and you can see how that happens and a lot get a much better idea of his cruelty in the sons of the dragon novella which if you haven't checked that out it's in the anthology book of swords then you have ned blaming everyone who turned on him for the position that he's in but most of all most of all ned is blaming himself because his men paid the price for his foolishness and finally all of ned's chapters between sleeping and waking, the two blend into the eternal darkness. He slept and woke and slept again.
Starting point is 00:40:33 He did not know which was more painful, the waking or the sleeping. When he slept, he dreamed. Dark, disturbing dreams of blood and broken promises. When he woke, there was nothing to do but think and his waking thoughts were worse than nightmares which again blood and broken promises are very common ned theme i also want to talk a little more about what it is that ned hopes and dreams and how none of these actually go according to keikaku. He made plans to keep himself sane, built castles of hope in the dark.
Starting point is 00:41:08 Robert's brothers were out in the world raising arms at Dragonstone and Storm's End. Alan and Harwin would return to King's Landing with the rest of his household guard once they had dealt with Sir Gregor. Catelyn would raise the North when the word reached her, and the lords of River and Mountain and Vale would join her first of all i just love that phrase built castles of hope in the dark building all these dreams and it is true that robert's brothers are raising armies at dragonstone and storm's end
Starting point is 00:41:40 but as we all know it's not gonna go to go as Ned hopes. Those armies are going to end up turning against one another. And next we have that line about Alan and Harwin who don't end up returning to King's Landing. They never actually succeed in defeating Ser Gregor and instead become a bunch of outlaws that
Starting point is 00:41:59 make up the Brotherhood Without Banners. And then Catelyn kind of raises some of the north as we know from the previous chapters the north is now getting ready to march south but the mountain and fail never join her so ned has all these big hopes and dreams and they really are big hopes and dreams and none of them really come to pass which is Yeah, none of it really bears fruit. It's very sad, especially because he was using those to keep himself sane. I know.
Starting point is 00:42:30 He was telling himself this stuff. I mean, deep down, he probably knew it wouldn't happen. Ned cannot bear to bring himself to say aloud how he failed his best friend, who is now a deathbed hallucination companion in his dreams and in life. The king heard him you stiff-necked fool he muttered too proud to listen can you eat pride stark will honor shield your children that's not really a mutter but can you really think of robert muttering I can't oh no absolutely and also I'm so glad we're doing this because it's you know one last ride with you as King Robert we won't get to it again until Cersei probably I forgot that like that I guess that line was in there I was like I have to do it obviously this is your calling. This is it.
Starting point is 00:43:31 This whole line about, like, will honor shield your children, it's going to come into play as the chapter progresses. But no, honor ultimately does not protect his children. Honor has not protected his sister's children, and he knows this already. In fact, honor is the killer for him and his children in a way. The real Sansa Stark dies, quote unquote, in King's Landing. She's replaced as basically a hostage, a puppet for her claim. She doesn't get to be the life she
Starting point is 00:43:56 had as a kid. Arya dies and becomes no one. Jon dies honoring his Stark family and Arya, obviously, in the Night's Watch mutiny. And then of course it brings me to the line in Jon VIII in A Game of Thrones. Tell me, Jon, if the day should ever come when your lord father must needs choose between honor on one hand and those he loves on the other, what would he do? Well, we know what he's going to do now.
Starting point is 00:44:27 We're seeing it right now we're gonna see it right now and it tells us exactly everything that we need to know of course with that exchange that happens in tron 8 where because it's of course talking about a brother's love and a newborn and like family but anyways finally after days of waiting in the dark with no food light or sound ned hears footsteps he immediately tries to ask about his daughters please my daughters the dungeon no longer stinks it smells like, which tells us about how long he's been there. I'm kind of wondering, is this like a metaphor for King's Landing? You know, those sayings of like, you know, if it doesn't smell or something, you've been in the doghouse too long or you are the whatever. Yeah, like Ned was there far too long. Yeah. Ned was there far too long. Yeah. Between sleeping and waking, Ned dreams of the tourney at Harrenhal.
Starting point is 00:45:32 He smells and sees everything compared to the lack of smell and sight in the dungeon. I think this passage is so great because George really gives you a sense of being at the tourney. It's what I always think about whenever I'm thinking about the rebellion and trying to picture the events that happened. It was spring, the smell of pollen in warm days and deep green lawns and cool nights and the taste of wine. He thinks on Brandon's laughter, Robert's success in the melee, Jamie's knighting, and Gerald Hightower fastening the cloak around his shoulders. The smell of pollen is not something that I i associate with something awesome but in general this is spring i like spring i hate it pollen's ruining my life this is great juxtaposition
Starting point is 00:46:13 on george r martin's part of like how he writes these two different settings now Now Ned's dreams are everything that his waking life is not. They're vivid, they're full of different sensations, unlike the dungeon. Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the Queen of Beauty's laurel It's interesting that everyone fell to Rhaegar in the lists, especially now that we know that Harrenhal was obviously a little bit of a setup of a thing. I mean, Brandon, Bronzion, Royce, even Arthur Dayne fell to Rhaegar. And obviously Rhaegar, you know, went into training to become, you know, well fought and have good swordsmanship. But do you think he was actually winning or that it was like a he's a prince and also Harrenhal was a setup thing?
Starting point is 00:47:23 I do think that Harrenhal was like a setup in that it was counsel for some's a prince and also harrenhal was a setup thing i do think that harrenhal was like a setup in that it was counsel for some of those high words to me but i don't think people intentionally fell to rhaegar especially as we are going to see later on in those barryson chapters where he's all like i should have tried harder dude like he he did want to win i think rhaegar just wanted to win more than everyone else. I wonder why. I don't know. I wonder what kind of reason he would have. Better be a good one.
Starting point is 00:47:52 No one knows. Yeah, right? No one knows. Ned reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals, the thorns lay hidden. the flowery crown but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden he felt them clawing at his skin sharp and cruel saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers and woke trembling in the dark well of course this line is about liana this is also very much what ned's situation is like now he reached for a crown made not of of petals, but instead of metal. And instead of grasping those
Starting point is 00:48:28 antler horns and securing the Baratheon crown, he found thorns, and he found betrayal from pretty much everyone who was around him. Man, I guess Ned saw that crown's beauty, but not the iron underneath.
Starting point is 00:48:44 He saw Robert's beauty and Dude, he like thinks a lot sidebar, he thinks a lot about Robert and how beautiful he was in these chapters. I don't think we cover it anywhere but he thinks a lot. He like talks about Robert's beautiful clear eyes, blue
Starting point is 00:49:00 eyes during that like scene where he's his hallucination and like he just like talks about how it was robert when he was like 16 17 18 he's beautiful and he's muscly and has beautiful blue eyes and then his face turns into a giant fishers so that wasn't good but the rest of it was like real sexy i'm like ned put it away buddy yeah there's a lot of r plus l equals j exposition here in the promise me his sister had whispered from her bed of blood she had loved the scent of winter roses coupled with he could see it still
Starting point is 00:49:31 a crown of winter roses blue as frost these thoughts are linked by her love of roses and her love of flowers as we continually hear in dad's chapters ned notes cersei does not actually want him dead thinking cat Cat still holds Tyrion. We know that Tyrion has escaped, so he doesn't have that leverage, but a few chapters later, Cat will have an even more valuable hostage that makes keeping Ned alive much more important, Jaime. Not that it stops Joffrey, who is an idiot, of course. He's the worst. And then finally, after a few days, we'd no longer get like the i guess thin gowler who has a goatee or something a different gowler appears and oh my gosh wow it's varies
Starting point is 00:50:14 who for some reason everyone still thinks is a magician and this kind of actually makes me wonder we've gotten this like idea of varies as a magician so many times throughout this book, that I kind of wonder if George R.R. Martin was going in a different direction with Varys first. Kind of like how, I don't know, he had a lot of, as you can see in the 1993 letter, a lot of different ideas of where the story was going. And you can see some of that foreshadowing planted. But part of me kind of wonders of like, yeah, was he going in a different direction with the berries? Because we see that
Starting point is 00:50:49 several other Master of Whisperses such as Bloodraven and Tyanna of the Tower do wield magic powers. There's also, of course, kind of that irony from when the story does develop where berries, who everyone calls
Starting point is 00:51:05 a magician, actually kind of hates magic and also I guess Varys is very thirsty because he would also like some wine. I wonder, yeah, if George didn't exactly have him nailed out 100%. I think he knew Varys would end up a supporter for fake Aegon and I think he knew thatys would end up a supporter for fake Aegon. And I
Starting point is 00:51:25 think he knew that Varys had mystical ways of doing things, but he definitely played with the magical Master of Whispers idea with him and decided against it at the end, probably. The show definitely wants to pit the R'hllor versus Varys thing very hard, but they also dropped the fake Aegon plot, which I think would have clouded making Varys magical. I guess you can't be both, Baldi. I do think that George had an idea for Varys being, I guess, that Aegon, big Aegon, Aegon, some other person's supporter. And I also really get the sense that George R.R. Martin is feeling things out. Like, as you said, didn't have Varys completely nailed nailed down yet or he changed his mind like he does with jamie who gets a lot of foreshadow foreshadowing thrown his way
Starting point is 00:52:10 in this book of like how he's going to take the throne but that doesn't he obviously goes in a different direction than jamie um but i guess at least like some of that gardening lets him reappropriate what may have been some of those ideas for various to others to these other masters of whisperses i also like to think that in some ways that lack of magic on various part in terms of his methods combined with the cruelty of what it takes to make those little birds of cutting out children's tongues making them crawl in walls and stuff kind of of makes Varys more horrific than if he had been magical. It almost makes me wonder where George put that plot for Aegon then. You know, who is Aegon going to end up having that will be his magical person?
Starting point is 00:52:58 Yeah. Or maybe none. I don't know. Maybe that's the whole thing. Like, Dany comes off as this witch with all this magic, and... Oh, yeah, yeah. Aegon's holistic, and... Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:12 Ned asks if the wine is the same poison that they gave King Robert, and Varys is like, whoa, buddy. Like, I am the only person that is on anything that even closely resembles your side right now, so maybe you should be a little nicer. Like, don't don't think I'm gonna kill you, okay?
Starting point is 00:53:28 I don't have the time or the energy. He brings news of Arya, Sansa, Catelyn, and Tyrion to Ned. Then Ned's like, uh, why didn't you stand up for me then? Uh, why didn't you, like, fight against them? And Varys is
Starting point is 00:53:43 like, uh... Do i have to explain this to you he's like i seem to recall that i was unarmed unarmored and surrounded by lannister swords the eunuch looked at him curiously tilting his head when i was a young boy before i was cut i traveled with a troop of mummers through the free cities. They taught me that each man has a role to play in life as well as mummery. So it is at court. The king's justice must be fearsome. The master of coin must be frugal. The lord commander of the king's guard must be valiant. And the master of whisperers must be sly and obsequious and without scruple a courageous informer would be as useless as a cowardly knight
Starting point is 00:54:33 as useless as nipples on a breastplate for some reason ned seems to think that fairies who can do nothing and is useless as a warrior, should have fought for him in the throne room. Which continues to speak kind of who Ned is, that he believes he should do the right thing even if it costs him his life, even if the odds are against him, which of course, we've seen this. Varys thinking that each person has a role to play also shows us how he thinks about politics, especially as he weaves a narrative about a new young dragon, Prince Aegon, later. As for whether or not Varys is going to help out Ned in this cell, Varys interestingly says no, he will not free Ned because then all suspicion falls on him. Which, of course, is exactly what happens when Varys various partially with the help of jamie kind
Starting point is 00:55:28 of nod he like he's like oh no i'm not gonna open he didn't need to be nudged that much but he frees tyrian from the cells in the storm of swords and i think it's funny because he says to ned that he's not going to do the exact thing he does for tyrian and i think that's because he realized that with ned he made the mistake of letting the lannisters get their hands on his his prized hand um as we know from his earlier plans with illyrio his prized hand before and he's not about to let it happen again in a storm of swords he learns his lesson from ned's beheading he's like no chances this time we get him out before anyone has a chance to execute him
Starting point is 00:56:06 yeah and Eliana touched on this a little bit last episode I want to say but it's interesting that where originally there was the idea of sending Ned to be with Daenerys and then
Starting point is 00:56:23 Tyrion would have been the next hand that he sent, but Tyrion gets sent to Aegon, which kind of also says a lot about wanting Daenerys to survive, because while Ned is a good man and while he is an honorable man, sending Ned to Daenerys may not be the right choice for her and wouldn't do much for her small council or her you know queen's council ned would be wanting to do the honorable thing and they would probably clash a lot especially with all the knowledge she learned from jorah about ned quote unquote about shut up jorah lother brun's
Starting point is 00:56:56 better uh but tyrian he sends first to agon so So it's interesting, especially knowing that Varys supports Aegon over Daenerys' rule. I think that's just such an interesting little connection that you touched on. Do they even say for sure that they are trying to send Ned to Dany? Because it could have been that they were also trying to send him to
Starting point is 00:57:19 Aegon. If they're talking about how one hand can disappear before, and that hand was John Connington, who of course ends up with Aegon. Well, that's what I was kind of thinking, was he was the one that they sent
Starting point is 00:57:36 Aegon, so they wanted a different hand for Daenerys. The only thing I'm unsure of, and maybe stuff changed, but I do in A Dance It's the only thing I'm unsure of, and maybe stuff changed, but I do... In A Dance with Dragons, Illyrio says to Tyrion that he intended for Dany to die out there with the Dothraki. So it might not have been that Ned would have been hand to Dany, but hand to Viserys. Ah, right, right. They still need the narrative of, like, false, like, crazy, quote-unquote false like but like crazy targaryen comes in like ruins everything and they're like do you want the
Starting point is 00:58:15 brood of mad king aries or would you like the son of valiant prince rhaegar because you know aries's brood like makes a mess of everything and then Prince Aegon gets to, like, fix everything. Yeah, Rhaegar's good son and Rhaegar was the good one. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. So Varys basically is talking with Ned about Robert's death. Varys tells Ned that the mercy that he basically gave to Cersei is what killed Robert, and that one way or another he was going to die. Cersei was always going to kill him. The madness of mercy, Ned calls it.
Starting point is 00:59:03 We learn that Rob is marching south to free his father, which reminds me a lot of Brandon marching south to demand Rhaegar free Lyanna. Except, as we know, it was too late, which I guess it was in this case also. This one's not too late, but it also... Similar idea, like Rickard coming down to free Brandon. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. That whole entire... the entire the whole fam the whole fam it's a family affair as they say whenever uh stark's head south yep they melt i guess it's not funny i'm just thinking of them as snowmen um
Starting point is 00:59:41 do you want to build john snowman do you want to make john snowman okay um as various begin speaking of how rob has started heading south and then how cersei very much fears stannis uh especially that stannis has a claim but also that stannis unlike ned is a man who is not known for his mercy we in this chapter begin to see the preamble to that war of the five kings all just here in these ned chapters and of course a lot of it starts because of ned's mercy um ned's mercy and honor is why he doesn't take up Renly on his offer. It's why, I guess, he thinks Robert died. Varys' explanation also brings up different kinds of honor. The kind that is done for one's own honor, for the self,
Starting point is 01:00:38 and kinds that are done for the realm. Varys seems to, at this point, be talking about the greater good. For so long Ned has had that ability to conflate the two that his own honor is what's best for him but by doing the honorable thing it's what's best for his
Starting point is 01:00:55 people, the land but now with his own life at stake and everything going like crazy in King's Landing the choices are not so easy. Varys lays out the political climate that will now ensue and all of Cersei's enemies, Jaime with the River Lords, Lysa in the Eyrie, the Martells in the South,
Starting point is 01:01:17 and now the North in Rebellion. Ned has a chance of survival if he plays his cards right. The Wall, with your brother and that baseborn son of yours. The thought of Jon filled Ned with a sense of survival if he plays his cards right. The wall, with your brother and that base-born son of yours. The thought of John filled Ned with a sense of shame, and a sorrow too deep for words. If only he could see the boy again, sit and talk with him. Pain shot through his broken leg, beneath the filthy gray plaster of his cast. He winced, his fingers opening and closing helplessly. He winced, his fingers opening and closing helplessly. His leg is hurting again as Ned feels emotional distress thinking about Jon.
Starting point is 01:01:59 But also, we just finished up a Jon chapter where he burns his hand because, you know, zombies. This action where Ned is, his fingers are opening and closing helplessly he's flexing his hand and I think it's interesting because it's very much the same way that Jon flexes his hand, opens and closes it from here on out in order to keep his hands limber interestingly enough Catalin does
Starting point is 01:02:19 it too. Oh my god all these hand things and then of course you got Jaime you got Jamie. You got Jamie. He can't like... You gotta really hand it to him. Ay! Also, Ned is the hand.
Starting point is 01:02:33 He is. He is. I also want to touch on the boy in that sentence. How Ned thinks of Jon as the boy. We kind of mentioned it before, but Ned tends to speak of those that are not close kin as the boy. He says it about Aegon Targaryen, about Robert Arryn, about Gendry Waters,
Starting point is 01:02:52 and especially Jon Snow. No familiarity, and he never refers to Jon as his son himself. Gee, I wonder why. I mean, well, he's his son. It's Ned and Lyanna Stark's son. Because they're Targaryens secretly.
Starting point is 01:03:08 Right? Yeah. Right? You said Ned and Lyanna Stark? Yep. They're Targaryens. Right? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:17 That's the story. That's why, you know, Beerus is trying to support Ned because he knows, right? That's how I met your mommy for sure yeah I was born with her really is so funny
Starting point is 01:03:31 that is like a story for a couple of people in this book it's Rhaegar and Lyanna get over it not Rhaegar the dragon does not say anything I wish it was Uh, Vag- not Vhagar. The dragon does not say anything. I wish it was Vhagar. I know. It would be such a better story if it was Vhagar.
Starting point is 01:03:59 Ooh, yeah, if we had, like, okay. Varys presses that he is doing all this because he wants to serve the realm. And then in the end, the story, Ned's story story it all just comes back to the children again varies reminds ned that while he might not care about his own life sansa's life is at stake and uh cersei's definitely gonna remember that you know cersei who only received ned's mercy for the sake of her own children and then then of course back to Ned, who has thought repeatedly about the Targaryen children throughout this entire story. He's finally reminded about it towards the end, not from his own thoughts, which don't end his chapter.
Starting point is 01:04:37 Ned's story ends with Varys, reminding him of the small innocence whose deaths have haunted him for years and goads him into making a choice. The last words any ned chapter and they aren't even his the choice my dear lord hand is entirely yours dad no dad man dad head Dad. Man. Dad. Dad. I mean, that's the last... That's it.
Starting point is 01:05:09 That's the last Ned chapter, guys. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just gonna be quiet. Yeah, I need a cigarette, and I don't even smoke cigarettes. Same. But I need, like, two of them. Dude.
Starting point is 01:05:26 Emotional. Because it was all supposed to keep going. He was supposed to be fine. He's gonna be fine. He's gonna be fine, right? Have you finished this book? Is it gonna be fine? He's gonna go. He's gonna take the black
Starting point is 01:05:42 and then go hang out with John and like benny boy is gonna come home yep that's not what happens aliana he dies dude he dies like he straight up dies it's all just because joffrey was like a wild card wild card wild cards oh my god my favorite series i love it so much just trying to keep the humor here i know i know same i'm like how do i deal with that dying wow well the good news is we can put it off, how we feel, for another week, because our next episode is going to be an overview of
Starting point is 01:06:30 all of Eddard's chapters that we just read through. We're kind of going to do that. We obviously had the beginning overview that we did for our first episode with Eddard 1 and a bit of an overview, so next time we are just going to do a wrap-up and an overview and get real sad. Yeah, next time we are just gonna do a wrap up and an overview and get real sad yeah next time we're just gonna cry on here uh we're also gonna talk about eddard's actual
Starting point is 01:06:52 death like when it actually happens um the chapter we're gonna discuss the different possibilities for what could have happened to ned like did ned work into a pigeon at the last second did he Did Ned worg into a pigeon at the last second? Did he worg into the sword ice at the last moment? I don't know. Did he worg into the pigeon-sized emeralds? I mean, maybe. Maybe.
Starting point is 01:07:17 You're the worst. We're gonna talk about reactions to his death from other point-of-view characters. What his death and his life meant to the story and to the reader. We'll talk about Rhaegar and Lyanna and Jon, of course. We'll talk about some of that King's Landing politics. And things that we learned. Things that we want to know more of or wanted to know more of cersei was so good in that chapter dude she was she was like all of ned's chapters she was a boss like she was competent yeah she's competent this book you know yeah she goes downhill after the
Starting point is 01:07:59 whole like kid dies thing but wouldn't you fair yeah i think i would i mean cadeline holds it together somehow but not completely yeah she holds it together for like a couple chapters and then she dies not a couple like a lot of chapters i guess i wish we were doing cadeline next in a way but i think it's better that we're doing someone not Cattlelings. I think that's too easy. Barristan is good. That's gonna be real fun. And again, it gets us to the other side of the story, right? And not just staying
Starting point is 01:08:33 here in the first three books. It gets us all the way down to dance, which I think will be interesting. It'll be really fun to cover. We already have a guest that will be on one of the episodes we're branching out we have to diversify i guess i guess thank you everyone for joining us on this journey go like cry if you need to i guess and when you're done doing that you can come back to us and find
Starting point is 01:09:00 us over on podbean tell us how you feel we're on like itunes if you want to get sad find us over on Podbean. Tell us how you feel over on iTunes. If you want to get sad with us, you can also find us on Google Play and on Acast. You can send us a tweet or a DM, a direct message of
Starting point is 01:09:19 sadness at Twitter. Our Twitter username is Girls Gone Canon. You could send sadness at Twitter. Our Twitter username is girlsgonecanon. You could send us an email if you want to get real intimate. We do have an email address we will email with you and that is girlsgonecanon
Starting point is 01:09:35 at gmail.com. Feel free to send in questions of anything you want to hear on our overview for NED next week. We definitely want to hear it. We would love to week we definitely want to hear it we would love to answer some questions we do have a couple pretty cool questions and emails we've gotten that we are going to talk about in this episode yeah we've saved quite a few because we think that they make more sense for the overview and for this all all around discussion about ned yes
Starting point is 01:10:02 everything ned i know i'm really sad are you really sad right now i'm i'm just sad i it's just like it's like saying goodbye to a friend you know like this is our last ned chapter dude we're gonna do this a lot so we have to get better at like a lot of people die that's true i well some of them don't some of them it's just like i don't know what's gonna happen to them where's the next book? Some are doing okay. We're fine. There's some that I don't mind, I guess. Like, let me think. I don't know. Whatever.
Starting point is 01:10:33 Alright. Well, goodbye everyone. I'm Eliana, also known as GlassTableGirl on the Mesa Monthly Podcast and on the Song of Ice and Fire subreddit. You can also find me on Twitter as arithmetric.
Starting point is 01:10:49 I've been Chloe. I'll still be Chloe after this, but I've been Chloe for most of this also. You can find me as at Lies in Arbor on Twitter at liesinarbor.tumblr.com to read some stuff that I put on there, I guess.
Starting point is 01:11:06 I write it. And you can also check out Drunk A Song of Ice and Fire History on Twitter and on Podbean. It's Drunk A Swath. And that's a wrap on Net Chapters. You guys have been the listeners. You guys rock. Just go drink a glass of wine
Starting point is 01:11:22 and hug each other. Yeah, pour one out pour one out for dad dad why dad no dad no bye guys

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