Game of Owns: Tywin Lannister’s Great Day

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1. Hodor!

   YAY

2. When they’re discussing the state of the Vale, Tyrion gives what is probably his worst political advice in the series here, namely, that they should give him an army to invade the Vale and depose Lysa. A major theme in Tyrion’s ASOS is the waning of his influence, and with it, his self-confidence, and this always reads to me like his trying to create something for him to do, as well as to indulge in his vendetta against Lysa. Because by any reasonable measure, Tyrion’s idea makes no sense. At a time when the war is beginning to wind down, opening a new front in the war in the Vale is utterly asinine. The Bloody Gate is unassailable (and moreover, snows will, within a few months, close the High Road), so either he’s going to try and batter his way there, or mount a naval invasion, which would require the full deployment of Lord Redwyne’s fleet, in addition to an enormous troop commitment — he’ll be invading highly mountainous country which can raise at least 35,000 soldiers, in addition to what is likely to be a highly hostile local population, with Winter shortly to commence. Tyrion should know better.

   One thing brought up in the podcast is how Tywin’s plan to thwart the Tyrells takes advantage of the secret nature of the marriage plan they had for Sansa, whereas if they had asked the Lannisters would have had to gratify their request. That raises the obvious issue of why the Tyrells are waiting, and I think some of GRRM’s recent comments about the Tyrell side of the Purple Wedding plan allow us a fuller appreciation of what is going on. Essentially, the Tyrell plan to assassinate Joffrey preferably involves Joffrey’s death being taken as a choking, with the backup plan being that Sansa, who is wearing the hairnet, will be blamed for the poisoning. Thus, the reason the request to marry Sansa to Willas Tyrell is being delayed until after the wedding is so that, if Plan B ends up being needed, the Tyrells will be spared the embarrassment of being associated so strongly with the king’s assassin. Whereas, if the choking explanation goes off without a hitch, Sansa’s free and clear, and they can spring the marriage request on Tywin.

   It’s interesting, actually, that Tywin doesn’t seem to have planned to get Sansa safely hitched before the Red Wedding, prior to the need to thwart the Tyrell scheme.

3. My own goes to Eric for the Dr. Horrible reference.

4. Not surprisingly, Game of Owns is once again illuminated by the brilliance and humor of Kate.

5. Re: Catelyn chapters being a buzzkill

   I agree with this, but I really like Catelyn as a character. I’ve been mulling over how both of those things can be true, and this is what I’ve come up with.

   While I did find her chapters kind of boring/depressing on my first read, on the re-read I mostly just find them frustrating. Because almost from page one Catelyn is always in really frustrating situations that she has little or no ability to do anything about. She often comes across as either passive or a screw-up, but if you stop and think about it she’s actually not. She’s very smart, strategic, loyal, and (other than her hatred of Jon) a good mother. Rob’s campaign can pretty much be summarized as: “listens to Catelyn, wins; stops listening to Catelyn/goes against Catelyns plans and advice, looses. Thereby getting both of them and all of his men killed.” Even Catelyn’s most famous “missteps” – arresting Tyrion and freeing Jaime–were not bad ideas and in fact did not have any inherent bad consequences. They seem to have bad consequences because other, more powerful characters (Jaime and then Lord Karstark) use her reasonable and smart actions as an excuse to do something they wanted to do (and may well have done) anyway. Jamie had been dying to get a piece of Ned since Ned walked into Arys’s throne room and gave him the stink eye. Catlyn’s arrest of Tyrion (and seriously, if you have reasonable suspicion and not-obviously-untrustworthy testimony that someone tried to have your son killed, what are you supposed to do? There’s no Westeros PD) was just Jaime’s excuse to do exactly what he wanted to do. And Tyrion walked away from the scenario without any major harm and with Bronn and the Clansmen in tow. Later when Karstark kills the boys, it’s not really because Catelyn releasted Jaime. In fact, by that point releasing Jaime into Briene’s custody was the best thing she could have done, since it prevented Briene from being present at the Red Wedding. And if Catelyn’s brother hadn’t sicked Roose Bolton on them, they might have made it to KL with Jaime intact and earned some goodwill from the Lannisters–at least enough to avert the Red Wedding if not to get Sansa back. Karstark killed the boys because he was frustrated with Rob’s seeming impotence as a leader, which had waaaayyyy more to do with Rob losing the Frey’s to marry the cute girl than with Catelyn trying to make that prisoner exchange she’d been telling him to do anyway. It’s not like Rob ever would have executed Jaime, and if Jaime had still been around Karstark might well have killed him, thus dooming Sansa.
   So, from my point of view, Catelyn is constantly trapped in bad situations not of her own making, with most of her good advice being ignored and every move she makes being used as an excuse for someone else’s bad behavior.

   So that’s how I can really like Cat as a character and still cringe when her chapters come up. 🙂

6. I agree that Catelyn’s chapters are not exactly pick me ups (maybe she needed a reunion with Hodor for some Hodoring), but I really enjoy reading from her perspective. Despite her costly mistakes, she is a really wise and strong woman and I feel GRRM writes from her perspective very well. Of POV chapters, she is one of the characters I feel I know the most.

   Also, I for one would LOVE a Rickon POV chapter. I love that angsty kiddo.

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