In a new interview, Emilia Clark discussed everything from her role in the new Han Solo-centric Star Wars spin-off movie to the few indie films she has managed to cram in-between playing dragon momma for Game of Thrones. Of course, Clarke is sworn to secrecy about anything that may or may not happen in the upcoming seventh season… though, interestingly, she has a new film role that may be even more secretive than that!
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau was similarly secretive about Jaime’s journey in another interview, though he does allow himself to idly theorize about what may happen with the two powerful blonde women with whom Jaime has a complicated relationship.
Los Angeles Daily News got to sit with Clarke and talk about Voice From the Stone, an indie in which she stars that comes out this week, though it was filmed two years ago. However, Game of Thrones came up as well, in particular the silence the cast and crew must keep. In fact, now that the show is beyond the books, Clarke can genuinely claim to have absolutely no idea about what’s coming in the final season. Until the cast receives the scripts, they will just not be trusted with the much-coveted ending:
“No one knows anything. No one is told anything. It’s all crazy. It’s a secret from the cast. We generally can’t be trusted. They pretty much have told us so.”
But Game of Thrones isn’t the only hyper-secretive project in which Clarke is involved, not since she signed on to play a yet-undisclosed role in the upcoming Star Wars spin-off. Everything is a secret about this movie —and that’s including the title, which as of now is just “Untitled Han Solo Project.” When asked about the film, Clarke claims not even Game of Thrones can compare with the level of secrecy she is under for Disney:
“I genuinely can’t tell you anything other than Alden [Ehrenreich, who plays Han Solo] is magnificent, and it’s a delight to do something on that level with really cool actors and nice people. But it’s even scarier talking about that than Game of Thrones.”
In the Harper’s Bazaar interview about Coster-Waldau’s new Netflix film Small Crimes, the actor opened up just a bit about Jaime’s relationship with Cersei, and the dark path to which it may lead. There has long been a theory that Jaime may kill her sister and lover, and Coster-Waldau reiterated what he has previously said about the issue:
“I heard that theory, and it absolutely makes sense. It would be a perfect little nod. But who knows? You’ll have to watch the show [laughs]. It’s a good theory”, the actor conceded. But there is a catch: “I always thought maybe it’s too neat, but who knows.”
But Cersei isn’t the only woman in Jaime’s life. There is also Brienne, with whom a certain red-bearded wildling seems to have gotten quite smitten. What does Jaime think about this possible Tarthbane relationship? Apparently nothing, because he can’t:
“I don’t think he knows about it. He’s not on social media, so he’s not getting the play by play”, the actor jested, cleverly avoiding the spirit of the question.
Fair enough, Nikolaj. But what would he think, if he knew? Would Tormund’s advances make Jaime realize that, perhaps, he has his own buried feelings about Brienne? As an ardent proponent of their relationship, I’m very much looking forward to find out!
Khaleesi !
Kit Harington using Jon’s resurrection as a way to get out of a speeding ticket comes to mind, hah!
Tarthbane!
Speaking of Tormund, I read in EW that Kristofer Hivju is in “The Fate of the Furious”, in theaters now. Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) is in it too.
I’m dying to see more Brienne/Jaime interaction! Here’s hoping he finally leaves Cersei this season ?
It’s so weird that Emilia Clarke’s character is such a secret in Star Wars for most other actors cast they had at least a brief description but no nothing, I can only guess it’s a big character from the history or comics of SW that we wouldn’t expect.
Ten Bears,
I usually wait for the “furious” movies to hit rental so I haven’t seen it yet. I’d forgotten Hivju was in the new one. Huh. Nathalie I knew after being Ramsey in the last one – and I saw her on with Kimmel before it released to talk about it. He spent most of the interview asking her about GoT. 🙂
I’m a Star Wars movie fan but I admit I know very little about the ‘expanded universe’ stuff. If there are any stories about pre-A New Hope Han and Emilia’s character could be guessed from those then I am clueless.
Tarthbane. I love it.
I need to see Jaime get all jealous and confrontational towards Tormund, and to be really obvious in front of everyone of his feelings for Brienne
She’s playing Jar Jar in the Han Solo movie, once images from set leak the internet is going to freak.
If Jamie ever found out about Tormund’s interest in Brienne he would probably mask his jealousy by acting like a protective big brother 😉
https://www.starwarspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/emilia-clarke-han-solo-spin-off-film-726×400.jpg
I wonder if it was some one from the cast that couldnt keep quiet and that how those leaks got out?
Jaime would teasingly encourage Brienne to get some no doubt.
Nope 😉
I’m surprised NCW didn’t about Brienne and Tormund. Usually he acts so much like a shipper that I wonder if he doesn’t secretly write fanfic about them.
That was NCW talking about his character, not about himself, obviously.
Tormund leered at Brienne
and the internet went mad,
while Cersei’s son took a dive
and what was left of Westeros was sad.
Meanwhile, in his frosty realm,
the Knight King laughs his ass off,
at the naïveté of southerners
who hearing of him jeer and scoff.
The moral of the story,
the moral of the tale,
is laugh at the Lannisters all you want,
but knowing Benioff & Weiss, the Starks will surely fail.
Emilia remains, as always, completely delightful. I think she’s accumulating a quite a diverse resume away from the series that catapulted her into stardom. From the trailer, Voices From the Stone struck me as having the potential to be an interesting psychological thriller, which I always enjoy: I’ll make sure to check it out. And seeing as that Star Wars and Game of Thrones are far and away my two greatest pop culture obsessions, I love that Emilia has managed to secure roles in both franchises – joining an esteemed company that includes Julian Glover, Gwendoline Christie, Max von Sydow, Jessica Henwick, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oliver Ford-Davies, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ian McElhinney and at least half a dozen others. I’m very eager to learn more about her role in the upcoming Han Solo film.
For as much as I enjoy Tormund’s infatuation with Brienne, I don’t truly believe it will ever become serious enough to threaten what is probably an endgame pairing between Brienne and Jaime. But it’s fun that what could have been a throwaway joke has grown to such a point that Nikolaj is getting asked about it in interviews. I’m also really looking forward to checking out Small Crimes when it hits Netflix on Friday – it looks like a low-budget crime film done right.
Ten Bears,
I just saw that film tonight. Nathalie is maybe the seventh or eighth-billed actor among a pretty all-star cast – she plays a member of the ensemble working as a computer specialist. I personally wish the film had used her more, because Nathalie’s awesome, but she does have a fair amount of screentime and gets a few good moments. Kristofer plays the primary henchman for the film’s main villain, as portrayed by Charlize Theron. There’s nothing particularly unique about his role, but the sheer fact that it was Kristofer, rocking a full Tormund-style beard, made me pay far more attention to the character than I otherwise might have.
So neither one has a huge role, but it’s nice to see them both getting the opportunity to participate in such a high-profile franchise. Virtually any project that a Game of Thrones actor or alumni signs on for accrues a measure of good will from me for that association alone, and I’m always happy to see said actor attain success in whatever they do.
(The movie itself was utterly insane, but a hell of a lot of fun, IMO, and it’s on track to cross $1 billion worldwide this week. Nathalie and Kristofer have to be feeling pretty damn good about that.)
Jamie likes blonds. Looking at those two pictures above – Kaleesi is looking at something or someone thats a little higher than she is. Could she be in the throne room negotiating with C&J? And perhaps Jamie and Dany become a thing? Not sure, just late night posting
Jared,
I agree completely. I adore Emilia’s previous work but Voice from the Stone is going to be brilliant simply because it’s based on a Silvio Raffo novel. Not to mention Marton Csokas in the cast. So so so good. I can’t wait to watch it.
I love that she’s so diverse in her choices, she’s really trying to expand her portfolio and grow as both an actor and a person and it’s very admirable !
Plus extra points for being the sweetest, most adorable sunshine of a human !
ash,
I think considering the amount of build up Jaime and Brienne have had, I highly doubt that the writers will just throw that away and chuck Jaime and Dany together.
Jaime vs Tormund, now that’s a fight I would love to see. If Jaime grows his hand back of course.
This is an interesting topic for me. After the S7 leaks I wonder how many people right now know the ending to GOT/ASOIF, I’d imagine it’s a very small group game GRRM, David & Dan, Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill as script writers for S8. You would have to imagine in the coming weeks as the scripts are concluded Directors and various other production staff will find out and the actors probably in July in preparation for filming to start in September.
Clob,
I liked the Furious movies (though not enough to rush to a theater) but stopped watching when I heard that
Star Wars; The Force Awakens blew. Daisey Ridley was good, but the rest was dreck.
Jared,
Thanks for the preview of TFoTF.
So, Tormund & Furiosa. I’d watch that..when it comes to cable.
PS. Emilia was really good in a small supporting role in “Dom Hemingway.” I think she even sings in it. Richard E. Grant (Izembaro from Braavos theater troupe) was in it too.
Oh I am so excited for Emilia and being a part of the Han Solo movie. The Star Wars franchise is huge!!! Its the Game of Thrones of movies!!!!!! GOOD FOR HER! Cant wait to see what she does in it.
I think Jaime would be amused by Tormund’s infatuation as long as Brienne continues to be annoyed by it. If she starts to soften towards Tormund (even if it’s not romantic), then you might see Jaime squirm.
As for the Star Wars secrecy, is anyone surprised? Disney doesn’t play.
ash,
Daeny + Jaime has been my tinfoil fulfillment of the YMBQ prophecy for a while: When the younger queen takes from Cersei all she holds dear, what else is there at this point that Cersei cares about other than the throne – and Jaime?
Not looking forward to it though. I’m a big Lena Headey fan.
#LongMaySheReign
Really happy for Emilia but not a fan of Han Solo movie. Harrison Ford is Han Solo and that’s it. Anybody else than him is going to have it tough to convince the audience.
I don’t want to know how Han got to meet Chewie and Lando, his childhood, how he become a smuggler. Some things just should be left as a secret and for interpretation of fans. Much more excited if they give their blessing to Obi Wan Kenobi movie with Ewan McGregor or Dark Side movie about Siths but not Darth Vader since he had like 6 or 7 movies.
Ten Bears,
John Boyega was better and so did Adam Driver. Two most interesting characters. I would say Poe but his role was small, BB-8 was cute. Like Han and Darth Vader used to be. Daisy is in the role of Luke Skywalker which is kinda meh role. Two perfect characters and so on.
Dee Stark,
Part of the reason I was disappointed by Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that I was looking forward to seeing Brienne of Tarth and Syrio Forel in outer space – but Brienne had a helmet on the whole time so you couldn’t even tell it was Gwendoline C. (they may as well have cast Carrot Top and stuck him in a metal suit); and Miltos Y’s appearance must’ve been a blink-and-you-missed it cameo…because I missed it.
Ten Bears,
I loved Star Wars TFA!
haha I did not even know Miltos was in it!
OT, but Michelle Fairley is going to play Cassius in a stage production of Julius Caesar! The play will be at the Bridge Theatre in London and run Jan 31 – Apr 15 2018. Previews are Jan 20 – 29. Also starring David Calder, David Morrissey and BEN WHISHAW!!!
Tickets went on sale for the general public this morning.
Info and tickets:
https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/julius-caesar/
Her voice is pretty distinctive: I didn’t know that she was going to be in the film, but I knew very quickly who was under the gold armor.
heh, among other things…. (I suppose that Doctor Who fans would write “You mean Walter Simeon….:”)
I have long subscribed to the idea that it would be cool for Jaime to kill Cersei. Nikolaj giving it this much public support makes me doubt that.. perhaps Cersei kills Jaime?? 😛 Would be less “neat” 😉
Jaime’s girl,
I think that they will kill each other in the end. Moreover, GRRM and B&W are not going to change their plans just because someone has guessed it. (GRRM already has stated that he considered that over 15 years ago, but decided not to do so, in part because he already had written so much with particular endings in mind that it would have made a complete mess of things.)
Why would Jaime die with Cersei? His weirwood dream foreshadows that he goes on after her death.
My opinion of course, but I thought Star Wars TFA was awful…just…awful. I kept hearing how good it was, so my wife and I rented it OnDemand and we both thought it was terrible. The prequels and TFA all seem to boil down to some angsty teenager being all emo and that’s it. The voice of Kylo Ren was distractingly bad and took me out of every scene he was in. And what’s with the silly names for all the bad guys in Star Wars lately? Count Dookoo? Supreme Leader Snoke? Who the hell comes up with these names…anyway, rant over, back to GoT 🙂
Well, Luke Skywalker was pretty much an angsty teenager, upset that he was stuck in a farm life, always wanting more, and then he bonded for like ten minutes with Obi-Wan and needed more comfort when he died than Leia did after she lost her entire adopted family and WHOLE PLANET.
The entire SW franchise is based on angsty teenagers and their transformation into angsty adults.
ash,
she’s not blonde and I doubt it but I hear they have scene together next season. I’m not sure. I also doubt Jaime and Brienne will get together
Luka Nieto,
if you say so.
HotPinkLipstick,
If interested, take a look at this review of TFA: http://www.rogerebert.com/far-flung-correspondents/plagiarizing-star-wars-the-problems-with-the-force-awakens
It states the case better than I probably could for why the movie doesn’t work. Of course, ymmv
Watched ‘Mockingbird’ last night (season 4, Episode 7) just to see the scene with Brienne, Pod, and Hot Pie again. Damn, what an awesome scene that is.
Although, the “I will be your champion” scene with Oberyn and Tyrion is pretty damn good too. Don’t know which one I enjoy more, but that episode is underrated. Kind of a quieter episode, but great stuff.
I really enjoyed both TFA and RO the first couple of times. I saw each twice in the theatre when they came out. I also bought each digitally later… I’ll admit the ‘luster’ has worn off a bit for me and I need to wait quite a while to watch them again. There are dull spots and I notice parts that aren’t that great but just getting back to “normal” SW style movies covers that for me. The more time passes the more I really dislike the prequel films; Over the top cgi, terrible dialogue and forced acting method that made everyone awful. I get physically sick watching little Anakin.
Some of my posts are not getting through
Cersei’s statement that she and Jaime will depart the world as they entered it (with one dragging the other, no less) foreshadows that they will die at the same time. (I don’t recall what Jaime’s “weirwood” dream was: when was Jaime ever plugged into a weirwood?)
Yeah,i’m glad i’m not the only one who doesn’t really care for these SW films and doesn’t see them as the holy grail of movies,also why are they making a movie every year,i mean i know it’s because of money but haven’t they learned from all this superhero movies that oversaturation is a bad thing and only makes the SW franchise seem less special ? Also call me crazy but i enjoyed the prequels more,there i said it,Revenge of the Sith especially,if you look away from some of the shoddy acting has a way better story than any of these new movies . I was literally watching the Rogue One movie and i was like who are these people,why do i have to care about them ? I remained with that question till the end of the movie .
A Storm of Swords chapter 44 when he has a fevered dream (from his missing hand wound) against a weirwood tree while traveling to KL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr64-g7C3Zk
ASoS, Jaime VI.
When he wakes, he insists they head back to Harrenhal (delaying his return to Cersei) and he then jumps unarmed into a bear pit to save Brienne.
If people are going to base Jaime predictions on a part of prophecy excluded from the show, well, there was something much more prophetic and much more telling excluded from the show to consider.
It’s my position that Bran sent Jaime that dream, that Bran set Jaime on a certain path.
It’s always a mistake to believe anything Cersei Lannister believes. I mean, she believed Jaime would never betray her, and instead he give Brienne a priceless sword and sends her out to protect Cersei’s sworn enemy, he frees Tyrion, he makes an offer to let the Blackfish go, and then he takes Riverrun without bloodshed, all against her wishes.
And continuing with the books, spoiler for those who haven’t read,
All leading to my conclusion, ‘if Cersei expects it to happen, it won’t.’
I’m not defending the movie. I’m saying the entire SW franchise is based on angsty male teenagers, not just the most recent and not just the prequel. So if it’s the angsty male teenager angle that bugs, the whole franchise should bug.
Whether Cersei believes it or not is not relevant: it’s just classic foreshadowing, in which someone ironically tells us what is going to happen. Indeed, the foreshadowing is best if it’s just a figure of speech of the sort that Cersei uses: something people say, but do not really mean, or mean in some other context. The dream you mention does not do anything like this.
As for that part of the prophecy not being in the show, the show won’t include it until it’s relevant. Guns hung at the beginning of the year need to be fired by the end: and the part of the prophecy we heard hung a major gun that got a big firing at the end of the year. The other stuff has not had a chance to come up yet. As the show would have to repeat it again (the viewers are far too busy with other things in life to remember trivial stuff like this), they might as well save it for Season 7 or Season 8 if they are going to include it at all.
At this point, I don’t think that it needs to be done: they’ve developed Jaime & Cersei’s relationship as a volatile one that is only becoming more volatile with time.
Oh I’d forgotten, you’re “hung gun, Nationalists/Loyalists” guy. Sorry. I don’t accept your analysis or POV as having merit.
That reading of Jaime isn’t even puddle-deep. “Cersei thought it once, therefore all of Jaime’s chapters and scenes must be discounted.” Silly.
If you really want to look at classic foreshadowing, check out the staging of the Purple Wedding show scenes (written by GRRM) and the overwhelming indications that Jaime and Brienne will marry. There’s an entire arsenal hung there if you’re so insistent on that terminology.
I, however, am not.
I’m fully confident Jaime will go on after Cersei’s death. In fact, I’ll lay money on it.
YES! Just LOVED it! Rey, Finn, BB8, the rest – all gold! 😀 I so wish I had a BB8 of my own.
I loved Rogue One too! Felicity and the ensemble cast were soooooo…… good.
And now for The Last Jedi in December.
And then The Han Solo movie.
These are good times! 😀
I can very, very well believe that secrecy surrounding Star Wars movies is several magnitudes higher than around GoT!
Lol, All of my comments are being marked as spam. k…
HotPinkLipstick,
No, I don’t believe the entire Star Wars franchise is based entirely on angsty teenagers, but if it is, the angst from Luke is certainly much more understandable than Kylo Ren’s and that’s mainly my point.
Did you read the article that I linked to you?
Of the many things I’ve missed from the books in the TV adaptation (and yes, I do understand that most of them were eliminated for good reasons), one of the things I missed the most was Jaime’s response to Brienne, as they were riding away from Harrenhal, when she asked why he’d returned for her: “I dreamed of you.” So simple, so poignant.
Hmmm … so what would you call the question of Jon’s parentage, that was originally brought up several times during the first season, but not confirmed in any way until Season 6? Or the question of whether or not Littlefinger actually coveted the throne for himself? The original conversation he had with Varys in the throne room was also in season 1, but it wasn’t until the end of season 6 that he actually confirmed from his own lips that the throne was his dream. Those issues were more like cannons in the corner of the room, covered by sheets. The effects of them being in the room at all won’t be felt until the end of the series.
Lol, Hung Guns sounds like it could be some sarcastic porn flick that would loosely revolve around the Young Guns movies.
The fact that Jon was a bastard of unknown parentage was key to Jon’s “big” actions at the climaxes of Seasons 1, 2 and 3. Really, it’s just been a part of his basic character development: not just who Jon is, but why he is evolving the way that he is. The “who is Jon’s mother?” gun was more like a MK47 than a pistol: it had lots and lots of rounds that got fired at least once or twice a year. Amusingly, actually learning who she was…. didn’t fire anything in and of itself, but coincided with a firing that happened despite the gun’s existence!
(I a sure that there is a term for that: but I don’t know what it is.)
LF represents something different: he’s the gun that is hidden but we keep hearing the shots and seeing other evidence that it’s there. However, his propensity for mischief for unknown reasons has been a key factor in every season.
The Prophecy is very different. It sets up something. In both media, it sets up Cersei’s obsession with undermining anyone who was a potential threat to her being the Queen. Of course, it just screams “The Scottish Play!” to most readers and viewers, as they realize that Cersei’s obsession with Margaery is just paving the way for Daenerys to take over.
On the show (and in part in the books), that was a nice case of “gun hung early, gun fired late.” The rest of prophecy in the books remains unfulfilled, obviously: however, GRRM should reintroduce it in Winter or Spring (the usual caveats blah blah blah). Given that time is much more important on TV, there is much less space for verbal window-dressing like that: and at this point, all of the Prophecy unrelated to the “younger, more beautiful queen” is verbal window-dressing.
Mr Derp,
Nah. I’m just of the firm belief that Luke Skywalker was such an angsty white teen and while I love the SW franchise, I’ve always wanted to punch Luke in the face for being such a whiner. It’s the characters around Luke that made it interesting, the same as the characters around Anakin and the characters around Kylo.
HotPinkLipstick,
Lol, not sure what being white has to do with anything, but oh yes…*Does my best Yoda voice*…….the angst is strong in this one it is.
Mr Derp,
The “white male teen angst” and “mediocre white man aka average white dude” are perspectives that we of the lady persuasion can easily spot. For sites like this one, I usually leave the racial bit out, but I was typing in a hurry and didn’t edit it out. My apologies on that.
As you can imagine, I was much more a fan of Leia, who was always so much stronger and more interesting than Luke. However, I am absolutely loving Mark Hamill on his promo tour. He’s interesting, articulate, open, honest and funny as hell.
With Star Wars, and other movies, I identified with the teen angst POVs back when I was a teen. Now that I’m older, my perspective has changed as has the way I enjoy the films and the reasons that I enjoy them.
Bringing this back to GoT, at my age and level of experience, I cannot identify with a character like Sansa, so she’s not my favorite.
Mr Derp,
… Starring Podrick “The Tripod” Payne.
Wimsey,
” Indeed, the foreshadowing is best if it’s just a figure of speech of the sort Cersei uses: something people say, but do not really mean, or mean in some other context .”
——
1. D’Oh! Now that you’ve said this, I’ve got to move my crackpot AA theory from the tinfoil rubbish heep back into the “maybe so” pile.
2. Thanks for the AK47 vs. pistol analogy. I was gonna ask you your opinion on what I was tentatively calling “Chekhov’s Bazooka.” A machine gun or assault weapon probably works better.
Mr Derp,
Just love Hot Pie in that episode: butting into Brienne + Pod’s meal by sitting down with them uninvited to pontificate on the finer points of kidney pie; revisiting his false “got armor on” = a knight syllogism; and yet again reverting to calling the Stark’s home “WinterHell.”
Jared,
You wrote:
“… Virtually any project that a Game of Thrones actor or alumni signs on for accrues a measure of good will from me for that association alone, and I’m always happy to see said actor attain success in whatever they do.”.
I feel the same way. I never watched Dr. Who (What is this ? A phone booth flying through space?) until I learned Maisie Williams was going to guest star.
More to the point, there are so many incredibly talented Irish, British, Dutch, and other actors and actresses I never knew about until I saw them in GoT.
Others I’d only seen occasionally in American films, usually in a supporting role.
Mr Derp,
LMAO!!! Mind you, I’d totally watch Lou Diamond Phillips and Emilio Estevez do that thing where…
Wait. I’d better stop.
(refills whiskey)
I would argue that beyond “age and level of experience,” the characters we identify with are often the characters we might have identified with at the same age. I can’t identify with Sansa because even *at* that age, girls like her annoyed the hell out of me. But 30-35 years later, I can still identify with Arya because I recognize much of myself in the child that she was, and can imagine having become a young woman like her under the circumstances in which she lives.
I just wanted to say that I loved the Force Awakens.It was a fun movie and I can’t wait for the Last Jedi.Also the prequels were not that bad if you ignore the acting and some dubious writing lol.The characters of the new saga I really enjoy though.Do you guys think that Rey is Luke’s daughter cause I have my doubts?
Ten Bears,
Jared,
Totally agree with you. I knew some names through theatre, and recognized some faces but didn’t place them. Its been fun to read all o the things they’ve done before GOT. I had mentioned, once the show was over, doing a section of where are they now? going down the list of characters who died and what projects they are involved in. Maybe lets do that sooner than later, coz the list is already astronomical,,but really the casting of this show couldn’t be more perfect, and I love learning about new ones
Wolfish,
Yes my age in relation to the character really doesn’t matter much, its the age I was (Sansa was my mom’s view of how she wanted me to be. Arya is the girl I wished to be at that age.). However I also related to characters older than me: Olenna, Aegon….perhaps because I know enough family members and family friends to connect to?
Wolfish,
I got turned off to Sansa’s character early on when she lied about Joffrey’s sadistic attack that resulted in an innocent kid, Arya’s friend, getting slaughtered. I can accept that Sansa was a naive, deluded and confused young girl.
What really bothered me is that in the aftermath, she couldn’t give two sh-ts that Mycah had been killed. No remorse. No compassion.
Arya cared. Deeply. She was angry, sad, and even blamed herself at one point. (“It’s my fault. I asked Mycah to practice with me. I asked him…”).
Note: This is not intended as a Sansa-bashing comment.
Ten Bears,
I was outraged by Sansa’s behaviour re. the debacle with her, Joff, Arya and Mycah, but on re-reads and re-watches I’ve come to understand that Sansa was between a rock and a hard place, so decided pretending not remembering, not knowing seemed like the best option. (We’re talking about a 11-yr old girl (book) or a 13-yr old (show))
What would have happened if she had told the truth? Would king Robert have defied his harridan of a wife? At what cost to the realm? Ned’s handship could’ve ended there and then and the Stark/Lannister feud could’ve got escalated earlier. I’m not saying naive Sansa saw this, she most certainly did not. It would have been a different story… unless King Robert would’ve acted exactly the same way no matter what Sansa said, and that’s a big possibility.
The truth is that Joff wounded some lowborn, then Arya attacked the person of the Crown Prince – an offence worth cutting off the offending hand or even death. Sansa was wet with “love” for Joff but she must’ve been aware that her sister could be in serious danger for what she (and her direwolf) did, so Sansa chose what she thought the safest option. Lalalala, I know nothing. Make it go away, lalalala.
I love reading both Stark sisters’ chapters and the way they’ve been depicted in the show. Often poignant but just as often they’re annoying because Sansa and Arya are eye-rollingly annoying in their own different ways. Sansa’s passivity (and dreams of true knighthood and all the songs) infuriates me, but there’s not much she can do as a hostage.
Arya is willful, entitled (my way or no way) and damaged. Her chapters in the second book are some of the best writing as we see her progression from sheep to mouse to wolf… I think we readers/watchers are meant to question her descent into cold-blooded killer mode. Many just cheer her badassness but I think we’re meant to question it.
Also, Sansa does see the bigger picture. She’s displeased that father didn’t send Ser Loras (her crush) to deal with the Lannister harrying, butchering and burning several places in the Riverlands to bring King’s justice but she sees the why. (Ned sent Beric Dondarrion & co).
Arya only sees her own little world, her “friends” and is angry about them, she doesn’t seem concerned about the smallfolk in the Riverlands, she just wants to see the killer of her friend brought to justice. Admirable but also incredibly self-centered. But she’s only 8 or 9 at the time.
talvikorppi,
_______________
From S1E3, “Lord Snow”
[Arya stabbing table with knife]
***
Arya: “I’m practicing.”
Sansa: “Practicing for what ?”
Arya: “The Prince.”
Septa Mordane: “Arya, stop !”
Arya: “He’s a liar and a coward and he killed my friend.”
Sansa: “The Hound killed your friend.”
Arya: “The Hound does whatever the Prince tells him to do.”
Sansa: “You’re an idiot.”
Arya: “You’re a liar. And if you told the truth, Mycah would be alive.”
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(Ned comes to Arya’s room)
*****
Arya: “I was trying to learn. I asked Mycah to practice with me. I asked him. It was my fault.”
Ned: “Ah, no, sweet girl. You didn’t kill the butcher’s boy.”
Arya: “I hate them ! I hate all of them. The Hound, the Queen and the King and Joffrey and Sansa.”
Ned: “Sansa was dragged before the King and Queen, and asked to call the Prince a liar.”
Arya: “So was I! He IS a liar.”
Ned: “Listen to me. Sansa will be married to Joffrey someday. She cannot betray him. She must take his side, even when he is wrong.”
Arya: “But how you can let her marry someone like that ?”