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Game of Thrones Reread: Catelyn II


Maggie Mae

1,414 views

 

Chapter 6: Catelyn II

Catelyn and Ned enjoy some post-coital conversation/arguing. Maester Luwin shows up with a mysterious box with a message for Catelyn.

 

Location: Catelyn’s bedchambers in Winterfell

 

Characters Present:

  • Catelyn Stark – wife of Eddard Stark.

  • Eddard “Ned” Stark – Lord of Winterfell.

  • Desmond – I have no idea who this guy is. A named guard, maybe? This is the second mention of him, no description or anything.

  • Maester Luwin – small grey man. Grey eyes, grey hair, old, grey wool robe with lots of pockets.

 

Characters mentioned but not present:

  • Lysa – Cat’s sister

  • Edmure – Cat’s brother

  • Rickon – Cat’s youngest son.

  • Robert – the king

  • Sansa – Cat’s eldest daughter, 11 years of age.

  • Joffrey – crown prince.

  • Brandon – Ned’s brother, betrothed to Catelyn Tully at the time of his death. When he died, Ned married Cat out of obligation/custom.

  • Arya – child of Catelyn and Ned. “needs refinement.”

  • Robb – Oldest son of Cat & Ned. Will be expected to learn to rule Winterfell in Ned’s absence.

  • Ser Rodrik - Told Ned that Joff and Robb don’t get along. I think he’s the Master of Arms, but it’s not mentioned in this chapter.

  • Jon Snow - (thought to be the) Bastard of Eddard Snow and an unnamed woman. Possibly Ashara Dayne

  • Ser Arthur Dayne – Sword of the Morning, deadliest of the seven knights of Aerys’s Kingsguard.

  • Ashara Dayne – tall and fair with haunting violet eyes.

  • Benjen Stark – A Sworn Brother of the Night’s Watch. Younger Brother of Ned.  

 

Other locations mentioned:

  • Riverrun

  • The Wall

  • Mountains of Dorne

  • Starfall – a castle on the shores of the Summer Sea.

  • Myr – has great lens crafters.

Recap:

Catelyn and Ned have sex. After they finish, Ned decides to refuse Robert’s offer to be Hand and marry Sansa (11) to Joff (12, asshole). Catelyn tells him that kings are not like other men, and Ned cannot refuse him. Catelyn is upset at this choice and tries to change Ned’s mind. She points out that she (Cat) was only 12 when she was betrothed to Ned’s older brother Brandon. At the mention of Brandon, Ned becomes upset.

Maester Luwin, who has a mysterious message for Catelyn, interrupts them. He says that a carved wooden box was left in his observatory while he napped. It contained a new lens for the observatory, and a message for Catelyn. The message, hidden beneath a false bottom, was sealed with blue was and the symbol of House Arryn. It’s a message from Lysa, written in a private language that Cat and Lysa made up as children, that says Jon Arryn was murdered by the queen.

Catelyn immediately uses this to convince Ned to go south.

Ned decides that Catelyn must stay in Winterfell. Catelyn this of this as a punishment. Ned decides to leave Robb and Rickon and take Sansa, Bran, and Arya to Kings Landing. Cat is like “cool, except I really like Bran so can I keep him?” and Ned’s like “no, I need him to try and make friends with the Lannister/Baratheon royal children.”  

After the discussion about the true-born children, Maester Luwin brings up the fact that Jon Snow exists. Catelyn tells him that “He can not stay here.” That’s after a couple of paragraphs about how Jon is treated different, how the Starks are not like other men, and how she doesn’t know who the mother is, but she suspects it is Ashara Dayne. Catelyn has forgiven Ned for the bastard, as it was expected. She has not forgiven him for bringing Jon back to Winterfell and calling him son. They argue some more. Cat basically expels Jon from the castle. Maester Luwin cuts in and tells them both that Jon would like to join the Night’s Watch. Catelyn thinks about herself while Ned gazes out the window and finally agrees to send Jon off to the North with Benjen. Catelyn is happy that Jon will never have sons that might contest her grandchildren for Winterfell.

 

Thoughts:

I love the description of Winterfell. I would love to live in a castle, build over hot springs, where water heats the walls and glass gardens. The pools in a dozen small courtyards would be nice too. Just head out, hop in a hot spring for a bath or whatever. I love that combination of hot + cold. It might explain my choice to live where I do and vacation where I vacation.

I could do without this:

Her loins still ached from the urgency of his lovemaking. It was a good ache. She could feel his seed within her. She prayed that it might quicken there. It had been three years since Rickon. She was not too old. She could give him another son. 

Not because it doesn’t pack a bunch of information about Cat’s character, her place in the world, and her main interests. It’s the word “loins.” And the description of “feeling his seen within her” along with my mental picture of dirty Sean Bean from the show.  

I had never noticed that Catelyn actually gets angry with Ned, and can’t figure out why he (Ned) can’t see what an honor it would be to be Hand, and to marry Sansa to the crown prince. She wants Sansa to be queen, she wants the honor. Catelyn also straight up tells Ned that Brandon is dead and that he (Ned) must take his (Brandon’s) role, like it or not.

Does anyone bother to ask “how did this box with this message end up in the observatory with a new lens from Myr?” For all I know, Catelyn put it up there as to help her cause of making her daughter queen. “Catelyn’s heart went out to him, but she knew he could not take him into her arms just then. First the victory must be won, for her children’s sake.”

Then there is this:

Catelyn, you shall stay here in Winterfell

His words were like an icy draft through her heart… Was this to be her punishment?

Her first thought is about how it makes her feel. How it’s HER punishment. Not that she’s sending her husband to King’s Landing, where she just heard that the last Hand was murdered. Whatever, Cat, you uncompassionate idiotic character who has no thoughts other than duty and sons. Also, I guess Bran is her favorite. It didn’t take her long to “let go of” the girls “in her heart.” Seriously, like 10 seconds. Girls are not important in Westeros. Not even to their mother.

After Catelyn decides that Ned is right about Bran  and that she can’t argue with Ned, the subject of Jon Snow is brought up. Catelyn is really upset about it and says that Jon must go. Even though Jon and Robb are close. She is still upset that Ned brought Jon back to Winterfell and called him “son.” Ned is “anguished” at her response.   I dislike Cat more in this chapter than I ever have before. I know all the stuff about the context of the time they were living in, but I still don’t like her. She has the opportunity to change the way she looks at things. In the North, things are different. She could allow Jon to stay for Ned’s sake or Robb’s sake.

If she were about “duty, honor, family” she would be more submissive to Ned. Maybe she needs some lessons from Lori Alexander.

I wonder why Benjen decided to join the Night’s Watch. Was it just that he was younger and not heir to Winterfell? Did he feel the need to punish himself for something?

In the last Cat chapter, we read that she found Ned “At the center of the grove and ancient weirwood brooded over a small pool where the waters were black and cold.” According to this chapter, the waters around Winterfell are all hot springs. I don’t think it’s a mistake. I know, from living in the north, that there can be cold lakes and hot springs.  Just something I noticed about Winterfell’s godswood.

 

R+L=J Thoughts

“Ned had carried Ser Arthur’s sword back to the beautiful young sister who awaited him in a castle called Starfall.”

IIRC, Ned buried Ser Arthur at the TOJ. They (or maybe just Ned?) tore down the tower to create cairns because the soil was so bad.

Yet somehow, Lyanna’s remains ended up in Winterfell. The remains of Ned’s men, however, were buried at the TOJ, and Ned brought that sword back to Starfall. None of this makes any sense to me. If they could bring Lyanna back, why not his men? How far is Starfall from the TOJ? How did he tear down that tower with only his hands and Howland Reed? These questions need answering. Stupid, stupid Joffrey “Baratheon.”

What if he stormed up the Tower, held Lyanna’s hand while she died, picked up the baby who was starving, went to Starfall, where Ashara helped conspire with him, giving him Wylla to use as a wet-nurse. Meanwhile, Eddard and Ashara have an affair. Or maybe they don’t have an affair. Eddard sends a wetnurse and the baby north with Lyanna’s body and Howland Reed. Eddard goes back to deal with the carnage at the Tower. Maybe he puts everyone in a mass grave because the animals have made a mess of things, and then heads to the trident to meet Robert?

In regards to Jon, Ned says:

 

“He is my blood and that is all you need to know.”

Catelyn thinks that Ned must have loved whomever Jon’s father is  "fiercely." If it was Lyanna, then yes, Ned would love her fiercely. And based on her thoughts in this chapter about Sansa being queen and Jon’s grandchildren contesting her grandchildren for Winterfell, there is NO WAY Ned would ever trust Catelyn with this.  

 

  • Upvote 2

2 Comments


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housetyrell

Posted

Just re-read this today and it seems pretty clear that R+L=J. He made a promise to Lyanna, but we don't know what that promise was. Do we know where the Tower of Joy is located? I've been reading some theories that Ashara Dayne is still alive 

Spoiler

And is the Septa that is traveling with Jon Connington and Aegon. I can't remember her name (Lemole maybe) but Tyrion keeps thinking she seems familiar. I need to go back and re-read that theory, because it alludes to the fact that Ned and Ashara fathered a child together.

 

Link to comment
Maggie Mae

Posted

48 minutes ago, housetyrell said:

Just re-read this today and it seems pretty clear that R+L=J. He made a promise to Lyanna, but we don't know what that promise was. Do we know where the Tower of Joy is located? I've been reading some theories that Ashara Dayne is still alive 

  Hide contents

And is the Septa that is traveling with Jon Connington and Aegon. I can't remember her name (Lemole maybe) but Tyrion keeps thinking she seems familiar. I need to go back and re-read that theory, because it alludes to the fact that Ned and Ashara fathered a child together.

 

Spoiler

 

Septa Lemore. She could be Ashara, and that's the most likely candidate. She could also be one of the Sand Snake's mothers, um, I don't know which one. But one of them was the child of a Septa. 

Tower of Joy is in Prince's Pass in the Red Mountains. 

 

@housetyrell

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