Catelyn is Eddard's wife, who used to live in a nice warm castle in the South where there were happy girly gardens. Instead, she married into a household where it snows during the summer and her backyard is straight out of Pan's Labyrinth. More Stark badassery: when Catelyn talks about how their three year old is fearful of his new wolf pet, and Eddard responds "then he must learn to face his fears." Apparently, the Starks are training Rickon to be Batman. Arya and Sansa are Eddard's daughters, and even though Jon mentioned they existed in the Bran chapter, I was still half expecting Martin to tell me in true Chuck Norris fact fashion that the Starks have no daughters, only sons.
We find out that the Other sighting is kind of a big deal, as they have never been seen for 8,000 years*. It could be a "those who see them are already dead" kind of deal, but Gared got away just fine, and could have told the story. Maybe nobody believed him. As for the rest of the chapter, I had a hard time focusing because there were simply too many names being thrown around. We learn that an old Lord who saved Eddard's life is dead, and his widow is Catelyn's sister. Also, King Robert is coming and he's bringing his Lannister in-laws, who are cowardly and come from the south (read: wussiness^2).
* 8,000 years? Really? Right now we're on year 2009 and we have the Internet and space shuttles while poor King Robert travels by covered wagon.
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I was terribly confused at the beginning of the next chapter. My first thought was that Dany was a Lannister, since she was described as a princess. Instead, she and her brother are far away in never never land, a place where it's okay to grab your underaged sister's boob and refer to yourself as a dragon. Viserys has decided, in his Dr. Evil-esque plot to conquer the world, to not marry his sister, instead choosing to sell her off to a guy who may or may not have a taste for "boys, horses, and sheep". Dany is predictably terrified when meeting this Khal Drogo, who I assume looks exactly like the Rock in The Scorpion King. Can you smell what the Khal is cooking? Statutory rape of your 13-year-old wife! Viserys wants his army though, and has no problems letting between one and forty thousand guys use his sister. Congratulations Martin, three chapters in and I already see why your series can only be made on HBO.
PS - Magister Illyrio has one of the best gangster (or rapper) names ever, and he's already in the business of human trafficking.
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It will take many and more chapters to get a grasp of all the characters. I had to read the series twice before i fully comprehended everything. It will start to make sense eventually, especially if you're writing down all the questions you have, so you can refer back to them later.
ReplyDeleteHuman civilization has existed for well over 2009 years. It began perhaps 10,000 years ago. Yet our medieval era was only 1000 years ago.
ReplyDeleteGiven that, 8000 years doesn't seem so strange.
You're funny as shit.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anonymous. Too bad shit isn't funny.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely hilarious
ReplyDeleteI hope you're actually enjoying the books; the extent of your sarcasm leaves me unsure
Names get thrown around a lot, but as long as you keep some mental track (ie, assign a face to people - there are several websites around that suggest actors for the roles) it's easy to handle.
ReplyDeleteThe main thing to remember is that there are 3 main groups of characters:
* The Starks, based around Winterfell
* The Lannisters (the royals) based at King's Landing
* The Targaryens (exiled ex-royals) based across the sea on another continent
On a side note, The Rock from The Scorpion King is exactly how I pictured Khal Drogo too!
ReplyDeleteLeftHandedMatt - you forgot about the Martells, the ruling house of the kingdom of Dorne. They're playing a pretty big role man. =P
ReplyDeleteNot at the start of the story :)
ReplyDeleteThough I did forget to mention the group of characters up on the Wall. They're pretty important too.
Nice blog, fun to read. I am afraid if you write this much at the beginning, no way you will keep a blog all the way to the end. There is so much stuff to poke at in this series.
ReplyDeleteI hope you keep it up! I'm really going to enjoy reading this blog. Stick with it. The names, places and scope in general can be a bit daunting, but you'll get it. Took me three tries to get past 100, but I kept going back because I could tell there was something good going on.
ReplyDeleteAs for the 8,000 years thing... I think the need to survive through winters that can be 10 years or longer can hold a society back from advancing.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the books!
The Lannister's are definitely not cowardly or wussy. Except maybe one, but you'll see.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd throw up if I started Imagining the Rock as Khal Drogo, or any other Hollywood actor as a character.
ReplyDeleteWow lots of comments. Thanks for reading everyone. I'll try to stick with it and write a paragraph or so per chapter. It's not much writing at all, and it's much easier to be motivated when I know people are reading it.
ReplyDeleteGreat blogs, Jason. I had a good chuckle at some of the remarks you made.
ReplyDeleteKeep at it-you won't regret it. ;) And the Starks are probably my favorite family in the series, though I must have a weakness for wolves... And winter...
i'm going to keep reading as well. these are my favourite books, and i think it will be fun reading your reactions to to the story as you go through. it has been so far.
ReplyDeleteLikewise. One thing though, don't read it constantly thinking about the adaption. I just rue the day it will be better known as a tv show and not a book. Fuck Martin's a fat sell-out.
ReplyDeleteI read all of the books about 3-4 years ago. The first three are great. The last one was lacking, especially since it was missing half of the characters, and the better half at that.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the last guy. If anyone else were making it I wouldn't be thrilled either, but HBO is usually quite awesome (Rome, The Wire, Carnivale, Oz), so I have some measure of faith that they will do the story justice.
I only wish that Martin would take his work on ASoIaF seriously again and finish up the series instead of continually pushing Wild Cards and collections of his short stories on his fans.
8,000 years before these events everyone used bronze and stone weapons though so that's not so odd when compared to our own civilization.
ReplyDelete"* 8,000 years? Really? Right now we're on year 2009 and we have the Internet and space shuttles while poor King Robert travels by covered wagon."
ReplyDeleteOn asoiaf.westeros.org, someone once had the idea that Varys and Illyrio were part of a secret society whose job it was to keep Westeros in the medieval ages. Alas, I cannot find the thread and even if I did, it would probably contain spoilers.
I had no trouble at all with the many characters the first time through the book. Kind of sad that it could take someone multiple reads. It's not THAT bad.
ReplyDeleteUsually time is measured in seasons, at least until a society figures out scientific astronomy. The time measurement normally is one year = one cycle of seasons. How can "winters that can be 10 years or longer" exist?
ReplyDelete``How can "winters that can be 10 years or longer" exist?``
DeleteThat's not hard to understand once you allow for a solar system unlike Earth's. All you'd need is another (or more) massive object(s) (probably another planet) in the solar system not too close as to crash into the world, but also close enough so as to have a significant gravitational pull.
@Barry - The non-solar calendar confused me at first as well. The primary alternative would be a lunar calendar, where every ten or twelve or single new moon was considered a year.
ReplyDelete@Barry - another way to put it. The book follows the Gregorian Calendar, but somehow, the way their world tilts away or towards the sun is way slower than our Earth. It can take years before their equinoxes and soltices. Maybe that explains years of summer, years of autumn, years of winter, and so on...
ReplyDelete``* 8,000 years? Really? Right now we're on year 2009 and we have the Internet and space shuttles while poor King Robert travels by covered wagon.``
ReplyDeleteAnd nothing happened before year 1, according to your Christian calendar? SMH
``Anthropologists believe that modern man, or Homo sapiens, emerged as a distinct species by about 100,000 years ago.`` -- Wiki