Catelyn I

WARNING SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS AHEAD

Synopsis: A relatively short chapter in which we are introduced to the Lady of Winterfell, Catelyn Stark (formerly Tully) who is Ned's wife. They briefly discuss matters of state, security, and family. We get a look into the decline of the Night's Watch from Eddard's perspective. We also see Catelyn's perspective of how different the North is. Importantly the news of the death of Jon Arryn reaches Winterfell, this of course sets off a series of plots, schemes, and counter-plots which will drive the entire story.

Credit to Thomas Denmark

What do we learn?

Culture:

Well culture wise we get some great exposition right off the bat from dear old Catelyn. She reflects on just how different the North is from the southern realms of Westeros, not just in culture, but even in religion. We know that Catelyn follows the Faith of the Seven while the hard men of the North follow the older, much less organized religion of the Old Gods. Here men sit in sacred godswood groves of weirwood and listen to the voices of the gods under the watchful eyes of the heart trees, old and brooding these trees symbolize the gods themselves.

We also learn that the Andals burned or chopped down the godswood groves and heart trees in a religious crusade to establish themselves as the dominant peoples when they arrived from across the Narrow Sea. It gives much more meaning to the idea that all the Northern customs and traditions have survived when we realize that they were persecuted vigorously by the arriving Andals. Like I mentioned previously it is a distinct culture in the North, one that has had to defend itself martially from southern invaders for centuries in order to maintain its identity. The blood of the First Men runs in the Starks indeed, and their commitment to the Old Gods is true and remembered rather than how the southern Houses perceive these relics from the First Men.

Catelyn herself reflects that even though the Great Houses each keep a godswood in their castles (out of tradition I would imagine) they are treated more like gardens and places of retreat and rest rather than as religious institutions or a spot to commune with the Old Gods. We see Ned sitting here in a sort of religious state where he cleans his blade in the cold waters beneath the heart tree.

The rites and practices of the Old Gods seem fairly simplistic, and if I'm being honest it's very hard to explain them vs. those of the Faith of the Seven. The worship of the Old Gods seems animistic and vaguely shamanistic (though probably more so under the Children of the Forest) and it seems to have very few rights of passage or formal religious observances other than apparently sticking to a code of honor and nobility and keeping the faith. We know that important prayers, oaths, and marriages are all said in the godswood before the heart tree.  All in all a very informal religion compared to the Faith or even the worship of R'hillor.

Once again we are shown just how culturally different the North is from the South, we even learn that there was no sept in Winterfell until Ned married Catelyn so its quite obvious that the Seven are not widely followed in the North and that their influence there is minimal at best.

This chapter really does start to really emphasis the differences between north and south by even talking about the words of House Stark "Winter is Coming" which as compared to the flowery boastful words of many southern houses is merely a stark (ha!) warning of things to come. They are a dour and serious people always preparing for the dreaded winter which will creep upon them.

That is of course not to say they are above petty politics and feuding, as we will see later on.

We keep up the view of scary supernatural elements and omens with Catelyn being partial to them and Ned again not being so. It's really wonderful, I think, seeing effort put into the upkeep of the superstitious attitudes that people would hold to and how omens will indeed shape peoples actions in the story to come.

On a final cultural note we get a look at the Valyrian steel blade (Ice) that is the ancestral weapon of House Stark that Ned carries. These are hallmarks of a families wealth and heritage, echoes of a forgotten time when the Valyrian Freehold ruled the world, and swords forged with skill and magic never to be found again in this world. It is a curious thing that though these weapons are oft toted as great items of cultural importance we don't see them being given much significance after a time, but they may pop up as being important again.

Political/Military:

Though I should really split these into two parts the military matters here aren't necessarily separate so combining them into one section just makes more sense.

Militarily we get a good look at the decline of the Night's Watch and how it has greatly declined. The fact that it has fallen below the strength of one thousand men and is taking casualties on rangings it can little afford to replace is something that rightly troubles Ned (and makes the 300 men taken beyond the Wall in the so called 'Great Ranging' very problematic) who sees this as direct threat to the security of the North. He of course assumes this is the work of bold wildlings and their King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, who must intend to carry a great raid south and disrupt the North. Ned says he will have to consider calling his banners and riding out with the Night's Watch to confront the threat once and for all.

We also see that Ned's brother is in the Night's Watch and this to me indicates a sort of patronage on the part of the Stark's towards the Watch. Though that patronage must not be counting for enough since the Watch is so rapidly declining. It's gotten so bad that Ned has executed four deserters that year, which is apparently an unusually large number of men fleeing, and even Ned comments that the man he killed was mad with fear.

His resolution to do something, up to military action, shows he is a firm leader who takes the security of the realm very seriously.

However, this isn't the main political gist of the this chapter, it is the monumental news that Jon Arryn, a man who had been for all intents and purposes a second father to Ned, has died.

This isn't a small thing either. Jon Arryn was the man who knit Westeros together after Robert's Rebellion, a man who helped topple the ancient Targaryen dynasty, installed King Robert on the throne, smoothed the way for good relations with all the realm, and brought fifteen years of peace (with one minor Greyjoy inspired exception). I think the character of Jon and his meaning to Eddard can be summed up Catelyn says:

"Ned had fostered at the Eyrie, and the childless Lord Arryn had become a second father to him and his fellow ward, Robert Baratheon. When the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen had demanded their heads, the Lord of the Eyrie had raised his moon and falcon banners in revolt rather than give up those he had pledged to protect."

It speaks much to Jon Arryn's character (and the words of his House) that he would risk all he had to protect his wards and rise against a man who was his rightful overlord. Though of course it may have been about more than defending his charges, but that is for another time.

What is important here though is that the Hand of the King has died, and now Robert and his court come to the North to greet Robb and for them to grieve mutually over the death of their beloved mentor. Of course there is more to this than a mere friendly get together as kings seldom travel far without an ulterior motive. More on this another time though as it will become the dominant theme of later chapters, and indeed the dominant aspect of Ned and Robert's relationship for the time being.

Politically we also see the enmity between Ned and the Lannisters. This is because they came late to the cause and when they did it was in a spectacularly bloody fashion. Ned is not fond of Queen Cersei or her entire family really, something which can be clearly seen when he sours at the mention of the Queen's brothers, Jaime and Tyrion. Though we will see later that it is for her twin brother and her father than he bears the most distaste.

Character:

Though I'll admit I'm one of the many people who are disdainful of Catelyn Stark (and especially the key role she plays in kicking off the War of the Five Kings) she actually is a good woman and much of her character is wise and well written. She is a dutiful wife, mother, and sister since she not only worries for her husband and her children but her sister who has so suddenly been widowed.

She also shows that she is a true Tully and a brave woman. Though she is clearly uncomfortable in the North and finds the culture of the northmen odd and somewhat strange she has grown accustomed to it and even braves the unsettling godswood to meet her husband.

We will get to see her character shine as the books go on and we will also see how contrary to many people's beliefs she isn't an irrational idiot, but a fairly keen and observant political actor.

Credit to Amoka

Here we also get to see a more nuanced look at Lord Stark's character. He is obviously a spiritual man as he has come to the godswood to cleanse himself and his blade after killing a man. We see he is a good friend and a man who has lost much.

We also see though, for everyone who believes him to be a paragon, that he does hold grudges. He dislikes the Lannisters (admittedly not without good reason) but he can't see beyond past offenses and is unwilling to take growth of character into account and nor does he forgive easily it would seem. This will play a big role in his dealings with his old friend Robert where he has to war between seeing the man he wants to see and the man his friend has become.

History:

Here we get an interesting look at Northern politics and I've got an apt historical analysis to make. The Northern houses are positioned along the Wall and Ned's reaction to the loss of strength of the Night's Watch is a very militaristic and apt one.

Though the comparison is not perfect the way Ned reacts makes me think very much of the English marcher lords who sat on the Welsh border in order to protect the land from Welsh raids, and eventually to govern that wild and oft rebellious realm. The marcher lords had broad powers of justice, the ability to raise armies and declare war, as well as the right to establish castle towns! These were all rights which were otherwise vested only with the king. It sits well with Ned's status as Lord Paramount of the North and as the Warden of the North who is a supreme military commander.

The sort of counter raiding strategy many more northerly Houses must adopt and the militant mentality they keep because of it also echoes much like those English lord's sitting on the Scottish border, and the border earls grew quite powerful in their own right and were militarily formidable. Mind you the comparison is not totally spot on, House Umber is a spot for spot of the House of Percy. The analogy still sticks in a way though seeing how the North is very Scottish/North England in character.

Though in this case the wildlings are more like Braveheart's version of Scots vs. historical Scots. Though Braveheart's weird emphasis on freedom does ring true to the wildings beliefs on freedom, just not a freedom we in the 21st century would be incredibly comfortable with! Maybe I'll come back to this comparison later.

Well next time we ourselves will cross the Narrow Sea and link up with a wholly new character and locale!

Bran I

WARNING SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS AHEAD

Synopsis: Bran, one of the younger sons of the Lord of Winterfell is present at the execution of a deserter of the Night's Watch, something which tragically ties up the tale of those poor Rangers and their meeting with the Others. There he see's his father do justice and it is explained to him why Ned had to kill the man himself. On their return journey to Winterfell they come across a troubling sign, a direwolf south of the Wall and with it just enough pups for the Stark children. Even one for the bastard Jon Snow.

Credit to Mark Evans

What do we learn?

There are of course a number of things we can pick up on here, for convenience sake I shall break them down into their relevant categories.

Cultural:

This chapter is very interesting because it establishes almost immediately off the bat that the North is almost a cultural entity unto itself. We know of course from Westeros history that the North is both ethnically and culturally different from the southern realms with the culture of the First Men standing out in stark contrast to that of the Andals. Their customs, ideas, and traditions have survived countless attempts at integration into the southern realms and the Kings of Winter turned back countless Andal armies seeking to crush the last vestiges of the original culture of Westeros, it wasn't until dragons came that the last kingdom of the First Men finally joined the realm.

The great North, one of the Seven Kingdoms

Mind you this is established in a far more subtle way in this chapter. Here it's just shown as an act where the Lord of Winterfell believes that every man who passes the sentence should swing the sword, otherwise he loses sight of what it means to kill.

Philosophically this is a very noble tradition, and as Eddard points out, if a man has a headsman or someone to commit violence/justice on his behalf he soon loses any scope of what life or death means, even the concept of justice then becomes an abstract notion merely whim to the fancy of a monarch and not a hard decision which must be weighed according to the judge's conscience. Eddard here is unique as he acts as judge, jury, and executioner, though all in King Robert's name. More on that later.

This chapter also gives us a wee glimpse into the psyche of the Northmen who live there, even if only from the point of view of a nine year old lordling. However, he is seen here wondering after the wildlings, savage barbarians from beyond the Wall who come raiding and killing as they please, with only the Night's Watch, and eventually the Northern lords to stop them.

It gives us a good look at just how the wildlings are viewed south of the Wall. They are probably viewed in a more similar light to how the Chinese would have seen the barbarian riders from beyond the Great Wall than how the Romans would have seen Pictish tribesmen from beyond Hadrian's Wall. The culture differences between the two societies is interesting and will be fascinating to explore more in depth later on.

On a broader note we also get to see how contrary to some authors, GRRM keeps his medieval style peoples very much into omens and ill signs, much like people in our world would have been. The muttering about bad signs from the dire wolf, and the even worse sign of the stag's antler stuck in its throat is ominous for any reader, if they can pick up on it for their first read through.

Finally though we get our first look at the Night's Watch through the eyes of someone who isn't of the Night's Watch, a boy brought up on tales of the Others, giants, and wildlings, all the mysterious beings from beyond the Wall. Though beside that it is obvious he has been raised on tales of how the Night's Watch is a gallant organization, one which protects the realm. This will play an important part later on in the beginning of the series.

Lastly a brief word on deserters. Here we have the great quote from Lord Eddard Stark on deserters saying:

 "In truth the man was an oathbreaker, a deserter from the Night's Watch. No man is more dangerous. The deserter knows his life is forfeit if he is caught, so he will not flinch from any crime no matter how vile."

There is of course wisdom in this and shows that Eddard knows of what he speaks when he muses on the nature of oathbreakers and deserters. We will be coming back to this train of thought quite a few times throughout the books and I encourage readers to ruminate on these words well.

Political:

One could be forgiven for thinking that there isn't much political about this chapter, but they would be incorrect. Right near the start we see some fascinating political developments in the forefront.

Firstly we get a glimpse at the power and responsibilities of the Lord Paramount of the North. It is clear that he is acting in the name of his King as when he goes to proclaim justice he invokes the name of the King with his full title. He also invokes his own authority as the Lord of Winterfell and the Warden of the North. Now we know that invoking the authority of the Warden of the North is meaningless since it is a purely military title with no other authority, but it is important to see he invokes his authority as Lord of Winterfell and as a Stark.

We can understand that the Starks have been overlords of the North for millennium (due in no small part to the strategic placement of Winterfell) and that the name Stark itself carries weight and authority in the North with great connotations. As Lord of Winterfell Eddard is expected to carry out the King's justice, defend his portion of the realm, and govern it as he sees fit. This is of course all subject to the laws of the realm set forth by Robert the king. Though as we will see later, the various feudal lords of Westeros have plenty of autonomy when it comes to dealing with things within their own domains.

Something that I think is often missed upon first reading is that the location of the execution and Eddard's words to Bran later show us something fascinating about feudal politics here. The holdfast that the execution is carried out in flies the banner of the Starks. This suggests either a) the banner was placed up to show Lord Eddard was in attendance, or b) that this is a holdfast held directly by the Starks and ruled from Winterfell.

I am more inclined to believe scenario b) based on Eddard's words to Bran here:

"One day, Bran, you will be Robb's bannerman, holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king,"

I am inclined by this then to believe that this is a holdfast on a piece of land which is garrisoned or kept up by Stark retainers in service to their liege waiting for the day when a Stark heir will take his place as rightful lord of those lands and its attendant keep, where he will raise goods and swords for his brother and liege lord.

As looks into the feudal nature of the Seven Kingdom's go it is interesting, suggesting that at least some of the Great Houses hold tracts of land in trust for their heirs to help prevent wandering lords or dissension amongst their children, seeing that each is in some way compensated in land, which is only fitting for a person of their station.

Character:

As this is an early chapter it does show us some good first glimpses into the nature of the Stark boys, Eddard Stark, and his ward, Theon Greyjoy.

Since this is from the POV of Bran I may as well start with him, he is shown as being like any typical nine year old boy, afire with curiosity about the world and sitting in the shadow of his father and trying to live up to his expectations. Then of course he lives in the shadow of his brothers, even his half brother Jon Snow who is technically lesser than him in the social order, but is still regarded as a brother anyways.

Jon and Robb are shown as close, though we will later learn of course that rather than feel like brothers they are more like good friends since Jon is well aware of his bastard status and Robb is more outgoing and aggressive than his half brother. Like any young boy Robb is always up to no good and eager to speed along in life. We'll be getting a much better feel for these two as the series goes on.

Theon is also a character who we'll get more of a feel for but its interesting to see a few things. One is that despite being for all intents and purposes a hostage, Lord Eddard treats him as, essentially, an equal to his sons, he is allowed to accompany them on matters of the kings justice, see the authority of the Lord of Winterfell carried out, carry weapons, and ride amongst the noble party as an equal. He is not well liked however, and Jon mutters that he is an ass and a bloody minded boy, arrogant and quick to laugh. We can in fact tell that Jon doesn't like him very early on, the other Starks though are far more accepting of him.

Finally we get Lord Eddard Stark himself. From the POV of Bran we see a mighty and imposing man, one who has dual personalities which Bran refers to as 'Father' and 'The Lord of Winterfell' showing us that Eddard takes both his responsibilities as the head of House Stark, and the Lord of the North seriously, but handles them with a different personality. As a father he is a concerned, caring, and deeply emotional man, but as the Lord of the North he is a stern, hard, and dutiful man who works hard to do his duty.

Contrary to what many believe about Ned being stupid, he is actually a smart, decisive and fairly skilled political actor. As the review goes on I plan to show how events (and GRRM) conspired against him in the Game of Thrones and that while he was a great player who was bound by honor, he did indeed make mistakes but never lost because of it, but rather, in spite of it.

However, more on that another time.

General:

Well here we see the end of our poor friend Gared. Clearly driven mad by the events he witnessed on his ranging, the ranger simply ran blind with fear from the otherworldly menace that was the Others and attempted to get as far away as possible.

We also once again get a beautiful point of dramatic irony as Bran is curious and even a bit eager to believe the fantastic stories from beyond the Wall, but his elders who are more level headed (tragically) are disinclined to believe in such fanciful tales.

Yet another wonderful interaction with the meta-plot of the series is the finding of the direwolf and her cubs. This is once more a very fleeting glimpse into the fantastical elements of the series with the direwolf just happening to perish in a place where the pups can be found by children who all just happen to have inherited warging abilities.

The cool meta-plot material here is clearly showing us that something is stirring beyond the Wall and even though one force is evil, another force which is good (or 'good' in the sense that the Old Gods/Greenseers are at least opposed to the life destroying will of the Others) is attempting to push back and set up a way for them to be defeated.

How this is to be is of course left to our imaginations but I have thoughts of my own on the subject I may share later on in this series.

As another aside I feel compelled to end the analysis by praising the way that the TV show handled this scene. It captured the character of Eddard Stark and his children well and did a wonderful job of showing us both the unfairness of the Seven Kingdoms, and how hard the North is.

For your consideration:

The Noble Titles of Westeros

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ALL BOOKS

When looking at the nobility of Westeros and its various incarnations we actually see little variety among the noble houses which stretch from the Wall to the Sea of Dorne. In fact compared to our world the nobility of Westeros and its various ranks and titles are rather simplistic. We know that there are the Lord's Paramount of the various regions, that certain ones also claim the title of Warden, we know about the distinction between knightly houses and lordly houses, and finally we can see the difference between the Great Houses and the Royal House.

Verily this can lead to some confusion over rank and status, is one lord inferior to another, or is the Lord of Raventree Hall equal to the Lord of Stone Hedge or does one have somewhat higher social standing than the other? Similarly are we to infer that House Frey is of lesser standing than House Mallister or that Lord Frey is unequal to his peers? Is it because of the relative youth of his house or because most outrank him socially?

These are difficult questions to answer. This of course could be chalked up to the simplicity of the noble titles in Westeros. GRRM himself has said that he feels in hindsight he should probably have used at least one more rank when spelling out the forms of nobility in Westeros. Even he acknowledges though that the sheer number of different rankings in our own medieval history was absurd and confusing. However, I think it is important that we get a firm fix on what GRRM could have done to iron out these kinks in terms of Westerosi rank. To do so I am going to look at the noble houses in the books, their general standing, and of course see where you could possibly apply.

I'll generally be looking at the titles and positions in this order:

The Royal House
The Great Houses/Lords Paramount
Noble Houses
Knightly Houses

First off we can take a look at the king and his title. It all seems fairly straight forward but upon examination it seems to have some glaring faults in not spelling out the whole of the king's authority. Let's look at it in full shall we?

The full title of the King would go something like this: His Grace King Robert of House Baratheon, First of His Name, King of the Andals, Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm.

Credit to Amoka

Fairly straight forward right? I don't think so personally. Here we see the monarchic title as one which seems to merely bind diverse polities and peoples together, there is emphasis on the overlordship of the various peoples in the Seven Kingdoms and an emphasis on ruling all the different realms. There is of course the mention of the king as the supreme military leader and protector of the realm clearly indicating his military responsibility in the defense of the realm.

However, it seems to be lacking a number of things.

Firstly (and most obviously I think) it seems to lack any reference to the religious responsibilities or the favor of the dominant religion of Westeros the Faith of the Seven. Nowhere in his title does it mention the Faith, any religious obligation, or favor. Compare that to the title of the British monarch which explicitly states that the monarch rules 'By the Grace of God' and is 'The Defender of the Faith'. We do know that the monarch is crowned by the Faith and that they are anointed by the High Septon, but that gives us very little knowledge on what the mechanisms for the recognition of the Faith are (in fact we get perilous little information on the workings of the Faith of the Seven until A Feast For Crows).

Secondly despite the title of 'Lord of the Seven Kingdoms' there is a lack of acknowledgement over the King's personal authority of the Crownlands, which serves as the ruling Houses's personal demesne. Nowhere in the books do we really get an idea of how the king governs the Crownlands as its Lord Paramount, nor do we get a sense of what his duties are in ruling it. The lack of acknowledgement of this in the royal title is an oversight I think.

Finally there is an absence of mentioning how the King is the supreme justice in the realm. Yes it is implied as the right of the king and of course is in the law, but without it in the title, it is sincerely lacking I would say.

These are the great abscences I see in the royal title. Now If I were to have the King of Westeros's full title I would give it something like this: By the Light of the Seven, His Grace King Robert of House Baratheon, First of His Name, King of the Andals, Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Duke of the Crownlands, Supreme of Justice, Protector of the Realm, and Defender of the Faith.

Much more grandiose, but captures the full authority and duties as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Some would of course say that it is too unwieldy a title but I think for how grandiose titles could be in our time this one fits perfectly well!

Moving on to the next category I will be looking at the Lord's Paramount of Westeros, or as they are known the Great Houses.

You have a Great House for each of the 8 separate realms of Westeros, each with differing amounts of power and prestige, and some having the added title of the Cardinal Wardens. There is only one mention of the Lord's Paramount in the book series though, and that is when discussing the removal of the Tully's as Lord's Paramount of the Riverlands. We are much more familiar with the discussion of the title of Warden and its implication, but more on that in a moment.

The Nine Regions of Westeros

The ruling Houses of these regions are the Great Houses of the realm, though this is rarely spelled out in detail but the implications and duties owed to them are often apparent. We also know that from the replacement of both House Tully and House Stark that this rank and title can be removed by royal decree and granted by such a decree. However it appears that it is a distinction which does not have to be renewed very often and seems to be one which has slowly become a fact of life in the realm and not one thought to be often challenged.

In light of both the power which is held by the Great Houses and their titles as Lord's Paramount I would propose that a good idea for GRRM had he given another noble ranking would have been to declare the Lord's Paramount Dukes. This not only gives them a clear rank above their other vassal houses, but adds to the de-facto hereditary position. This of course would still be subject to approval by the king and the removal of a house from power could be considered and enacted with ease, and that threat held above the Duke to ensure he doesn't get any ideas of rebelling.

Now the normal title of a Lord seems to go something like this: Eddard, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. 

Now we can surmise that the title 'Lord of Winterfell' is the stand in for the title of Lord Paramount of the North since Winterfell is the de-facto capital of the Northern province. Much like Riverrun is the de-facto capital of the Riverlands and so forth. Unofficially it would seem that being lord of the capital is what encapsulates the ability to be Lord Paramount, but as we see when Petyr Baelish is declared Lord Paramount of the Riverlands and granted Harrenhall as his seat this is a concept which is fairly fluid and can apparently be changed at will. However, we also see the Frey who inherits Riverrun as mistakenly believing this elevates him to Lord Paramount of the Riverlands, which does show that tradition has handed down these great castles as the seats of power, but again, it appears to be a fluid institution.

Given the fluidity of the title I would personally propose it go something like this: Eddard, Duke of the North, Lord of Winterfell, Warden of the North (that last bit of course added on for accuracy).

This upgrades all the Lord's Paramount to the status of Dukes, gives themselves and their heirs an instantly recognizable social standing and higher authority over their vassals in a recognizable title. This would have helped balance things politically between the Lord's Paramount and their bannermen in many cases I feel as the authority and duties of a Duke over the whole of one of the regions of Westeros would grant them much more legitimacy and power.

The only regions I would see this distinction not working would be Dorne and the Iron Islands where the cultural differences would keep them from adopting such a title.

As a slight aside I would simply see the title of Warden, which is a purely military one, merely adding to the prestige of a Great House, and the reason it is sought after because it would potentially give them a degree of power over their social equals to command them as they saw fit.

Moving on let's examine the lesser houses and their titles. Here is somewhere where we would want to be more diverse in creating titles, but for simplicity I'm only going to suggest two distinctions. The two distinctions I would suggest are simply that between baron and lord. A baron would be a title of a greater lord who owns vast lands or is a much more wealthy house, and a regular lord would be one step above a knightly house.

The distinction is one I think is important for many reasons. Coming back to my question on the Frey's earlier, we can't know by title alone that House Frey is a younger house since its leader is named Lord just like every other noble in Westeros. I think it was a great opportunity that was missed in both narrative and sociopolitical terms to have Lord Walder Frey pining for both greater influence and a greater title. His House was one which was clearly rich, and strong, but being younger it didn't garner enough respect. I believe that the better driving motivation (and a clearer one) would have been Lord Walder to be wishing to become Baron Walder, since he clearly feels his house is on level with the Mallisters and even the Great Houses since he was so eager to gain marriage into one of them for his progeny.

So to put it in perspective I believe we would have had different addresses being doled out like this; let's say for a moment we are addressing Lord Jason Mallister of Seagard, with a baronial title he would most likely be styled Baron Seagard when addressed naturally and more formally as "My Lord Baron of Seagard" when addressed by his social inferiors. While addressing Walder Frey one would simply say, Lord Walder of the Twins, or more formally Lord Walder/Frey.

The fact that any lord would then have to address a baron more formally does two things in my eyes a) it establishes a balance of power between barons and their sworn houses (in regular Westeros parlance usually a lesser house or a knightly house being sworn to a more powerful house) which gives more of a degree of rank among them, and b) it has a better political aspect with Dukes having to worry more about their barons in the feudal politics ring and having a sure sign of rank and influence across the eight regions of Westeros.

Now for the last noble title, a knightly house. These are the lowest order of nobility on the pecking order since they consist of landed knights with small holdings. Towerhouses and small holdfasts these are the lesser of the lesser lords. Not powerful enough to claim themselves as full lords, and more often than not simply the vassals of a larger house. They are valued for their military service and little else. This can be seen by Houses like House Clegane, House Cassel, and House Connington of Griffon's Roost.

House Clegane, the most infamous Knightly House

Personally I actually see nothing wrong with their naming and rank as it is and simply think that in my revised system the ranking becomes more clear and the power distinctions between the Houses of Westeros come into sharper focus giving us a better view into the feudal politics.

Now to summarize, here is how this new ranking system would work:

1) The Royal House (supreme rulers of the realm)

2) The 8 Ducal Houses (appointed by the king)

3) Baronial Houses (sworn as bannermen to the Ducal Houses)

4) Lordly Houses (either powerful enough but without the title to be sworn in as full bannermen or simply sworn vassals to Baronial houses)

5) Knightly Houses (basically landed knights and are sworn to whichever noble house which has granted them land)

There we have it. This is my own little fan reorganization of the nobility and titles of Westeros. I leave it to you to see if that makes sense or if it even works in your heads. I know it does in mine and that's how I'll stick with it!

Prologue

WARNING SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS AHEAD

Synopsis: Three Rangers of the Nights Watch, Will, Gared and Ser Waymar Royce, head into the Haunted Forest north of the Wall in pursuit of a band of wildling raiders. They encounter some startling circumstances only to find the wildlings dead and that a sudden cold has drifted upon them. Unbeknownst to them, but known to us, the Watch's ancient and supernatural enemy has re-appeared after fading into myth and legend.

What do we learn?

Here we are first introduced to the world of GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire. Its an interesting chapter as unlike most of the series its told from the POV of one of the smallfolk, Westeros's least powerful people and the equivalent of medieval peasants in this setting. However as anyone familiar with this series it should be quickly apparent that any character we meet in the prologue has a poor chance of surviving. It's a shame too since having more characters who can convey the perspective of the smallfolk would be wonderful.

Moving on though we get both an interesting look at the dynamics of power in Westeros and the workings of the Night's Watch. This is our first look at an eventual long look into this very unique and strange order of men guarding the end of the world. What we see is something that is both surprising and sadly predictable.

First though let me outline the disparity that we can already see from the prologue in the mission of the Night's Watch. Founded as an order of guardians and sentinels to keep back the ancient threat of the Others who had come down from the far north in an attempt to destroy all life in an eternal winter, they man a truly massive fortification that straddles the North at its narrowest point. Though the Night's Watch was founded to keep out the Others these mythical beasts have vanished into myth and now the Watch spends its time worrying about wildling raiders from beyond the Wall. It is in the act of pursuing a band of said raiders that we see the three protagonists of this prologue.

Two men are smallfolk, while their leader is an illustrious knight from the south who carries himself as though he were on the tourney grounds. There is a stark difference presented between the knight and the men he commands. The knight is dressed in finery and armor with castle forged steel at his side while his companions have weapons which seem in disrepair and have only inferior cloaks which do less to keep the cold out. Despite the knights lack of experience he is given command over two men who are veterans of the Wall and leads them into a very unsavory situation. This outlines the social reality of Westeros very well I find, despite the fact this young and upstart lord is clearly inexperienced compared to the men he is leading he is still given command simply because of his noble heritage, and this is in an organization like the Night's Watch, where rank isn't supposed to matter.

However, for all that we do see that Royce is sincere to his commitment to the realm. He bravely faces down the Others and even cries out in the name of his King, showing he truly believes in what he is doing defending the realm. It's a small, yet interesting detail that I noticed and felt it was worth commenting upon as it shows there is some unity behind King Robert and his reign.

Credit to Jon Neimeister

However, there is still another important disparity to highlight. One of the rangers is a criminal forced to the Wall by the crimes he has committed, another is a man who was adopted into the Watch as a boy to escape life beyond the Wall, and the third is a knight who has joined the Watch as a position of honor and prestige. This shows us that clearly something is rotten at the wall when there are men who are not here by choice and foreshadows the fact that the Wall has turned into a sort of penal colony rather than a sort of illustrious position for men to serve at with honor. More on that in another post however.

The final thing we can take from the prologue here is that all is not well in Westeros. Creatures which were nothing but tales told by mothers to frighten their children have come back and they have proven their ability to kill with both the cold, and their bare hands. Not only that but they have powerful magics on their side which can reanimate the dead to do their bidding.


Reading this passage gave me chills (no pun intended) and it also gives us a maddeningly rare view inside the metaphysical plot and greater epic fantasy elements of A Song of Ice and Fire (there's a reason some people call it wish fulfillment). This is a sort of grand dramatic irony to the readers who are the first to know that all the old stories that the characters will be talking about are true and that the Others really have returned to Westeros and are making their way south.

This is something which has frustrated and intrigued readers ever since the story began back in 1996. The prologue raised many questions; What are the Others? What do they want? What are their goals? Why do they take so long to assault the Wall?

Of course these questions aren't all easily answered and we may never know everything about the Others, but I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them in the Winds of Winter and onwards.

Credit to John Piacio

Well that's all for the prologue, we'll be on to Bran and the fate of one of our erstwhile Night's Watchmen next time!

Weclome!

Hell everyone, this is a new project I will be working on for quite a while. This is going to be an analysis through story telling of the Song of Ice and Fire series. This will be a chapter by chapter analysis of the books attempting to learn, through the characters eyes just how the world of A Song of Ice and Fire works.

From Westeros to Essos, the Iron Islands to Dorne, I intend to see the world through the eyes of its characters and examine the social, cultural, military, and political attributes of the world George R. R. Martin has made.

That said I'm not a mega fan of the series but I am an avid admirer of how it is fleshed out and how the reader slowly pieces together the dark fantasy kingdom and its all too often unpleasant realities. How the characters within are shaped, molded, and react to this world and their circumstances is fascinating! I think its a world which bears in depth study and analysis simply because this is a series which will be one of the rocks of the fantasy genre for generations to come and as it stands now we have an awesome opportunity to pick it apart and speculate as its being made.

That being said I'll try and stay away from long term plot speculation as much as possible (except where necessary like when dealing with characters such as Varys or Littlefinger). However, I also intend to review solely the books and the other written media surrounding it so I won't be commenting on the television series except where I think it could be necessary.

In the meantime though I hope people who like the series (or even people too lazy to read the series and just wanting in on the secrets it offers) will enjoy this analysis/critique of the books as a whole and be able to have fun reading it with me.

While primarily concerned with the plot analysis I will occasionally break format and do a small aside on certain details specific to the world itself. These will be my own little musings on the goings on in Westeros and how we can compare them to things from our own world.

I'll be attempting to do one chapter a week for this blog and it will be updating on either Saturday or Sunday, I may occasionally get in more than one chapter but I hope to just chug along at a leisurely pace until I've reached the end of A Dance with Dragons (and hopefully the Winds of Winter if it comes out in the near future).

Well here's to you readers! Let's sit back and have some dark fantasy fun!