Chapter 16: Eddard

King Robert overstays his welcome at Castle Darry.

Characters Present:

• Eddard Stark: AKA “Ned.” Lord of Winterfell, Hand to the King, Warden of the North.
• Vayon Poole: a steward for the Starks.
• King Robert: The drunken king of the seven kingdoms. Not really suited for the actual duties of being a king.
• Cersei Lannister: King Robert’s beautiful but horrible wife.
• Joffrey Lannister: Heir to the Seven Kingdoms. Also quite terrible.
• Lord Renly Baratheon: King’s little brother.
• Ser Raymun Darry: Owns a castle a half-day’s ride south of the Trident. The King’s Party is staying at the castle, but the Darry family fought for Rhaegar during the war.
• Ser Barristan: The Bold. Kingsguard, was also Kingsguard for Aerys, I believe. Why would you want the same Kingsguard?
• Sandor Clegane: a Lannister bannerman. Willing to murder children.

Location: Castle Darry

What Happens:

Arya Stark has been missing for four days. When Jory Cassel finds her; she is brought directly to the king, on Cersei Lannister’s (the awful terrible no-good queen) order. Eddard is heartsick, worried, and furious. The fury is because of Cersei’s interference, of course.

When Eddard finds Arya and Jory, they are standing in the center of a room that Robert borrowed from the Darry’s to hold court. Cersei and Joff (with a thick bandage on his arm) are standing next to Robert’s chair. I feel it’s important to note that Robert is slumped over in the chair.

Eddard asks Robert why Arya wasn’t brought to him, and the Queen admonishes Eddard for how he speaks to the King. The King tells Cersei to “Quiet, woman” and straightens up in his chair. King Robert apologizes to Eddard, saying it seemed best to bring her(Arya) here and get the business done with quickly.

Ned, “with ice in his voice” asks what business, and the loathsome Queen Cersei interrupts again to whine about her unpleasant and sociopathic son being attacked by Arya and the butcher’s boy. The Queen of the Seven Kingdoms claims that Arya’s “animal” tried to rip Joffrey’s arm off.

Arya denies this, of course, because it is a lie. Arya points out that Nymeria only hurt Joff a little, and that Joffrey was hurting Mycah.

Cersei still claims that Joff told them what happened, and that Arya and the butcher boy beat Joff with clubs while Arya set the wolf on him. Arya denies it again and is close to tears.

At this last denial, Prince Joffrey joins in and claims again that he was attacked, this time saying that Arya threw “Lion’s Tooth” into the river.

Finally, the “King” tells everyone to shut up, and asks Arya what happened, telling his son to STFU. (Paraphrased.) Arya tells her side of the story, and Sansa enters the hall with Vayon Poole. When Arya got to the point where she threw the sword into the river, Renly Baratheon started laughing. And he laughed some more about “Lion’s Tooth.” Robert tells Renly to leave the hall.

Joffrey tells his side. It’s different. The King doesn’t know what to do. Ned points out that Sansa was there also. They bring Sansa forward and she just says she doesn’t know or remember, and that everything happened so fast. Arya attacks Sansa physically, and Jory and Eddard break it up. The Queen claims that Arya is as wild as the animal, and asks Robert to punish her.

Robert reminds Cersei that Arya is a child, and children fight. He tells Ned to see that Arya is punished. Robert will also punished his son, himself. Robert starts to walk away when the BITCHFACED Cersei reminds Robert of the wolf. Jory tells the kind that they found no trace of the direwolf. Robert is content to let it go, but Cersei offers a hundred golden dragons to the man who brings her the direwolf's pelt.

Robert wants no part of that, and tells her to buy her furs with Lannister money. She also says:

Quote

 

The king I’d thought to wed would have laid a wolfskin across my bed before the sun went down.

 

Cersei points out that they have a wolf. And the Kind is pissed off and tired, and just kind of over it and tells them to have Ser Ilyn see to it. Ned tells him no, he’ll do it himself.

And so, Ned executes Lady.

After that is done, he has Jory choose four men to take the wolf’s body north. As Ned goes back to the tower, Sandor Clegane comes back with the body of Mycah.

Thoughts:

Everything sucks. Especially the Lannisters. And Robert. I actually almost think Robert is worse. He just sits there and lets the Kingdom he won go to shit because HE is SEVERLY SELFISH and bored and lazy. It’s all so dysfunctional.

Renly Baratheon is great! I miss him already.

This seems like the beginning of the end for the Eddard/Robert relationship. Although, I would not be surprised if it was shaky well before this. Perhaps after the Rebellion? Maybe the Greyjoy Rebellion?

Sansa has the Tully “look” but not the strict adherence to the “Family. Duty. Honor.” words.

I never noticed the line where Ned knew Sansa’s side of the story already. Arya needed to hold her temper, but Sansa should have told the truth. She knew what happened, she remembered.

It’s an interesting parallel. Eddard led searches for days, and then became heartsick and weary and could barely stand when Arya was gone. Then he was filled with fury, which is a word I more closely associate with Robert, when she was found and taken to psycho bitch Cersei first. Catelyn, when worried about Bran, didn’t sleep for weeks and just became more and more insane and useless. I am glad they found Arya after just a few days. I am also thinking that Arya is Eddard’s favorite, like Bran is Catelyn’s favorite. Do people usually have favorite kids? I bet they and they just don’t admit it.

Everything might have just smoothed over, if not for Cersei. She pressed the issue. I wonder if she would have just ramped up her cruelty if Sansa had told the truth. Would Robert have conceded the battle over the wolves?

I know the direwolves are symbolic, but this chapter, man. Sansa, the docile obedient, girly Stark, has the obedient, friendly wolf. It is beheaded, on the Lannister’s command. It’s the first, out of all the wolves, to go. They drive Nymeria away (well, we do not know that yet, but Jory and Arya drive her away and tell her to go.) Arya ends up being forced from Westeros. But back to Lady. What does her beheading mean? Is it reflective of Sansa being the one Stark to truly lose everything? Even her name, perhaps, when she is married off to someone? I have no idea.

Was Cersei talking about Rhaegar when she said "the kind I thought to wed?" 

Characters Mentioned (not present):

• Jaime Lannister: Leading a search north of the Trident for Arya.
• Ilyn Payne: The King’s headsman

Links to Previous Chapters:

• Prologue
• Bran I
• Catelyn I
• Daenerys I
• Eddard I
• Jon I
• Catelyn II
• Arya I
• Bran II
• Tyrion I
• Jon II
• Daenerys II
• Eddard II
• Tyrion II
• Catelyn III
• Sansa I

Named Character Death Count: 5*

*I am not counting anyone who died before the events of Game of Thrones. So anyone who died in previous rebellions will not be included, e.g. Rhaegar Targaryen, Brandon Stark, etc.