Although Martin also has a habit of having his characters make declarative statements (or think declarative thoughts) just so they can later be proven to be SO VERY WRONG LIKE WRONG WRONG THINGS.
And every time I reread the books now, I am struck by a passage in the first book, in the chapter where Jon Snow gives Arya Needle, just before he leaves for the Wall and she leaves for King's Landing. Jon is ascending the stairs to Arya's room, and thinks to himself
I will never climb these stairs again.
It rather jumps out and punches you in the face once you've seen it.
You get the sense that Margaery was *raised* to play the game, rather than having to figure it out from watching her father and brothers.
So much this. Homegirl is good. And the Queen of Thorns? Don't even get me started. I am very excited for things to get all Tyrell-y up in here.
And I've learned to expect the worst for pretty much every character from GRRM. Even when good things happen, they come at a tremendous price at some point. ASOIAF is seriously one of the bleakest fantasy series I think I've ever read. And now I want to see a fan video with I'm Only Happy When It Rains as the soundtrack.
It's sometimes a little hard to say who's the worst dad in Westeros - Tywin Lannister or Balon Greyjoy.
More or less everyone who isn't Ned Stark is at least in running for the title. Joffrey isn't entirely Cercei's fault....
More or less everyone who isn't Ned Stark is at least in running for the title.
And, yeah. I suppose Davos isn't an entirely crap dad. I can think of a few other candidates to compete with Ned for Best Dad, but they are all obscure, off screen (Howland Reed, speculatively, on my part), and/or historical.
AAAAH! Game of Thrones was so good tonight! And now we have to wait another week! I can only assume the gentleman at the end was, in fact, Vargo Hoat.
And The Hound and Arya, together at last!
Also, the whole Arya and Bran hitting puberty thing I figured was coming on eventually finally happened.
