-- Ghost of High Heart; A Storm of Swords
A Song of Ice and Fire, LotR, HP, lots of photos, films and random things I like
THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE BLOG
“My lords of Stark,” the girl said. “The years have passed in their hundreds and their thousands since my folk first swore their fealty to the King in the North. My lord father has sent us here to say the words again, for all our people.”
She is looking at me, Bran realized. He had to make some answer. “My brother Robb is fighting in the south,” he said, “but you can say your words to me, if you like.”
“To Winterfell we pledge the faith of Greywater,” they said together. “Hearth and heart and harvest we yield up to you, my lord. Our swords and spears and arrows are yours to command. Grant mercy to our weak, help to our helpless, and justice to all, and we shall never fail you.”
“I swear it by earth and water,” said the boy in green.
“I swear it by bronze and iron,” his sister said.
“We swear it by ice and fire,” they finished together.
Bran groped for words. Was he supposed to swear something back to them? Their oath was not one he had been taught. “May your winters be short and your summers bountiful,” he said. That was usually a good thing to say.
Clash of Kings PoVs
finally a bald, partially nude Daenerys!
|GoT MEME| Five Deaths [2/5] - Maester Cressen
“…Stannis, my lord, my sad sullen boy, son I never had, you must not do this, don’t you know how I have cared for you, lived for you, loved you despite it all? Yes, loved you, better than Robert even, or Renly, for you were the one unloved, the one who needed me most…”
“…No, the old maester thought, this is not you, not your way, you were always just, always hard yet never cruel, never, you did not understand mockery, no more than you understood laughter…”
“…And I will serve you to the last,
my sweet lord,
my poor lonely son,
Cressen thought, for suddenly he saw the way.”— Prologue; A Clash of Kings
|GoT MEME| Seven Scenes in Season 2 [4/7] - Wolf Dreams
“He was scared, even then, but he had sworn to trust them, and a Stark of Winterfell keeps his sworn word. “There’s different kinds,” he said slowly. “There’s the wolf dreams, those aren’t so bad as the others. I run and hunt and kill squirrels. And there’s dreams where the crow comes and tells me to fly. Sometimes the tree is in those dreams too, calling my name. That frightens me. But the worst dreams are when I fall.” He looked down into the yard, feeling miserable. “I never used to fall before. When I climbed. I went everyplace, up on the roofs and along the walls, I used to feed the crows in the Burned Tower. Mother was afraid that I would fall but I knew I never would. Only I did, and now when I sleep I fall all the time.”
Meera gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Is that all?”
“I guess.”
“Warg,” said Jojen Reed.
Bran looked at him, his eyes wide. “What?”
“Warg. Shapechanger. Beastling. That is what they will call you, if they should ever hear of your wolf dreams.”
The names made him afraid again. “Who will call me?”
“Your own folk. In fear. Some will hate you if they know what you are. Some will even try to kill you.” — Bran Stark; A Clash of Kings
“And when I looked into Ygritte’s eyes, I…” Jon stared down at his hands helplessly. “I know she was an enemy, but there was no evil in her.”
(Source: grahamsalana)
"The maid loved Bael so dearly she bore him a son, the song says … though if truth be told, all the maids love Bael in them songs he wrote. Be that as it may, what’s certain is that Bael left the child in payment for the rose he’d plucked unasked, and that the boy grew to be the next Lord Stark."
Ygritte ( A Clash of Kings)
#btw jon had never heard this story #just like Bran had never heard the tourney story #Ned keeping his kids in the dark
(via swordinthedarkness)
Oh, that’s interesting. Of course I’d associated the story of Bael the Bard and the Blue Rose of Winterfell with the story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree (and the wolf maid who was granted a crown of blue roses) — but I’d never connected the fact that Ned’s kids had never heard either story. Very suspicious.
(via nobodysuspectsthebutterfly)
There’s also a couple of other differences between tv!Cersei and book!Cersei — the story of her child with Robert (in the books the only time she got pregnant by him, she had it “cleansed”); her disillusionment with Joffrey (in the books she never, ever goes there and is still making excuses for his psychopathy); the order to kill Robert’s bastards (made by Joff in the show); and a few minor things, like her age when Tyrion was born / her mother died (4 versus 8 is a pretty dramatic difference for a child’s reaction to death).
So, yes, they’ve definitely softened her for the show, made her more grey of a character. But I do think she’s still as appealing, still as interesting, and the central core of the character is still there. Also, I think her motivations are still the same, and I can still see the events of ASOS/AFFC/ADWD happening as they did in the books. Not sure if we’re going to get any prophecy flashbacks, but I can see her relating the story of her almost-betrothal, and maybe something about Maggy. I do wonder if her desire to toughen up Tommen will be the same — she’s very indulgent of him in the show — but I suppose we’ll see.
To be honest, what I most miss from the show’s depiction is her dialogue. (I miss everyone’s book dialogue, but her interactions with Sansa are some of my favorites.) “The more you love, they weaker you are” and “love no one but your children” are okay, but “Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same,” is so much better, and so much more Cersei to me. And the whole story of her and Jaime’s childhoods, the filly speech… agh, the loss of that makes me clench my fists.
But in general I look at Lena’s portrayal of the character and feel it’s mostly added to book!Cersei rather than taken anything away. (tv!Renly has that too, though I miss the young-warrior-muscled-like-a-maiden’s-fantasy thing.) The Blackwater scene with her and Tommen on the Iron Throne couldn’t have happened in the books (as he was not in KL) and yet it was still perfect. And maybe some of my more favorite lines will show up in S3, who knows…
