Spoiler Alert: This article may contain spoilers for Game of Thrones through S6 Ep3, as well as all published books. If you are not caught up, this is your warning.
I was bouncing around the interwebs, as you do, and came across a few posts on IGN. I have not watched them, but the topics looked interesting and I felt like we could talk about them (would be interesting to see how we do or don't match up).
The topics were:
1) Dany and Arya's S6 plots so far - The issues with them
2) What is driving Jamie Lannister? Is his story becoming unfocused?
Point 1 first.
Whether or not I end up agreeing with what IGN says, I can see there's a point to be made here. Both plot lines have had a distinct feel that sets them apart from the others.
In Dany's case it seems like it may be partially due (like the transition from A Storm of Swords to Feast/Dance) to a change of pace and expectations. Dany, for the past 3 seasons at least, has been on a hardcore conquering spree. Even when she wasn't conquering, she was ruling. She had bodyguards, advisors, an army, even just an 83-mile-long string of titles. When we pick up Season 6, she is in a *very* different situation.
Right from the get-go, we find where she was found by the Dothraki. Even then, she was looking pretty rough (versus clean and super-regal). She gets surrounded by every Dothraki on the planet and Drogon doesn't show up for the horsey buffet.
I hadn't really thought about it but apart from The House of the Undying, we've never really seen Dany alone. She's always had some one (or some ones) to help or at least back her up. She's now trying to navigate this situation by herself and it *is* very different.
I think an issue I have, Dany and the pacing aside, is just how irritating I find the Dothraki at this point. Compared to the sophistication of everything going on around them, they seem like a people that can't possible survive in their current state beyond another generation or two. The way HBO has conveyed the Dothraki is as a people who are dominated by the males, (which is accurate, sure), but even those males who we run into seem so one-note. "Rawr, I'm a Dothraki. I'm a barbarian so I talk about rape/sex and use vulgarity constantly and think only about sex and violence and conquering."
I understand that they are barbarians, but I just wish they gave the individuals more personality. They all seem brash, overconfident, ignorant and shallow, except the Khals. Also, how do they not know who-the-actual-eff she is? Drogo was the biggest name in Dothraki society for a *while.* They also spent time in Vaes Dothrak, where all Dothraki gather and exist communally. As many things that seem "known" by the the collective whole, you'd think they would have heard mention, at some point, about Drogo's pale, silver-haired Khaleesi, who was bearing the Stallion Who Mounts The Damn World. She sticks out like a sore thumb. Also, if Drogon has been ranging like we know he has, she should guess they've seen him and as superstitious as they are, she could probably make some progress leveraging that connection.
I get the sense that right now, this section is the tape connecting the last bit seen in the books, to the next major plot stuff in the show and we're just buying time for the moment.
On to Arya. Her story right now is a bit frustrating for other reasons. The House of Black and White is cool. It's an order of freakin' face-changing, shape-shifting assassins. They're hard core. We know Arya is hard core. We're hoping for this epic, extended training montage, with some bumps in the road for flavor. At the very least, if not epic montage, then deep training. We don't quite get that.
Here's my first issue: the Waif. In the books, she is this girl who has really been there a while. She doesn't quite age normally, but it's plain she has been here a while and is much older than her appearance lets on. She is the teacher's aide. She shows Arya things, teaches her. Sometimes they are hard lessons, but not always. In the show, however, the Waif is just mean spirited and honestly comes off as jealous. At no point do I feel like the Waif is trying to teach Arya. She may be trying to get her to quit, but she never says that. It's just constant beatings and bitchy glaring.
Aside from that, there are the No One questions. These get resolved in Ep 3, but I feel they've done a mediocre job really showing the point. I *know* the point, but I feel it could have been elaborated on or illustrated better. It's that the assassin is an impartial instrument of Death and it is impossible to be this if you're are peraonally invested in the targets (or just feel anything towards them at all). To become an instrument of death, you sacrifice your "self" for the cause.
Also, in terms of the HoBaW, we also haven't seen much in terms of how the place *works* apart from mortuary services and the face chamber itself. We haven't seen much in the way of contracts, other legitimate members, or what Arya is actually aspiring to. It would be nice to see more that there is even a *hidden* belief inside Jaqen that she could succeed / should succeed. Up until recently, the sense of whether she was really accomplishing things or where she was progressing to was pretty muted.
All that having been said, we DID just see her pass the ultimate death-water No One test, and start putting the Waif on the back-foot. She's gaining traction and maybe we've just been waiting for things to kick off. It is likely that when we're able to see all this within the greater scheme of the season, it may seem perfect. Just have to wait and see.
Where do we think Arya will end up at the end of this season? Do you think she'll leave the faceless men (I do)? If so, under what circumstances and where does she go next?
Finally, we get to Jamie. Oh Jamie, what a winding road you walk. Let's break down where he's been:
- Has alwayd had an intimate relationship, sleeping with his sister, having 3 children by her, and watching them grow up thinking another man (one he despises) is their father.
- Attained knighthood at an extremely young age
- Admitted to the Kingsguard at an unprecedented age
- Stabbed his King in the back in his own throneroom while his father was taking the city
- Throws a child out a window
- The second king he has served dies from boarsassination
- His son is now king
- His son is a sadistic idiot and kills the Patron of one of the Great Houses, kicking off a war
- He goes off to fight in this war
- Kills a bunch of people in battle and is captured by the Starks
- Is held prisoner, being dragged camp-to-camp for months at least
- Is released by Catelyn Stark in the hopes his return will get her daughters released by the Crown (fat chance)
- He's escorted by some huge, ugly wench (his words) and hates her guts.
- He grudgingly starts seeing her value
- They're captured by mercenaries working for the northern cause
- Turns out they're psychotic and chop off his sword hand (and identity)
- He descends into a dark place where he questions himself and Brienne helps him view things differently, giving him the strength to go on.
- They're taken to Harrenhal and he's eventually released by Roose Bolton, while Brienne is to be kept for less-than-altruistic purposes
- Jamie leaves but then realizes he can't leave this new friend, goes back and rescues her from being bear food.
- We find out he saved the city by slaying Aerys, because he would have ignited secret chaches of wildfire across the city.
- He gets back to Kings Landing, changed.
- Cersei's view of him has changed.
- He rejects his father's control
- He takes his position as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard seriously, forswearing the chance to be released from his vows to become Lord of Casterly Rock (his initial birthright).
- He sees his son die by poisoning
- He sends Brienne off to find and keep the Stark girls safe, giving her the Valyrian Steel sword given to him by his father, which becomes named Oathkeeper.
- He sees his brother tried for murdering Joffrey.
- He watches Tyrion's trial by combat fail and sees him sentenced to death.
- He breaks his brother out, out of love and the belief in his innocence.
- After the death of Oberyn Martell in Tyrion's trial by combat, Dorne sends a death threat, saying Myrcella (his daughter) is in danger.
- He volunteers to go rescue her himself and takes Bronn.
- They find her, get her released, and finally leave.
- On their way out, he starts telling her the truth about him and Cersei, and really has a wonderful moment with her, only to find she'd been poisoned by the Dornish.
- He arrives home, to Cersei's grief and learns about her incarceration by the faith, and her walk of attonement (and the apparent reanimation of Gregor Clegane)
...
GOOD LORD! This guy has been around the world and back! He has gone from Villain to Hero (or at least respectable person) and is perhaps one of the best examples of what a great author can do with a character and the reader's / watcher's feelings toward them.
With all that, Jamie really has never *been* on a course, per se. He is one who has always been reactionary, moving where fate wills that he go. He faces challenges, overcomes them, and moves to face new ones. I think he finds new purpose in each situation he finds himself in and thats where he is now. He's asking himself "Who am I and who do I need to be?"
I honestly think Jamie has never been a character with typical purpose. In fact, part of what makes him interesting is that even IN the books, everyone around him tries to dictate his purpose TO him and he rebels, holding true only to himself and what feels right to him.
We genuinely see him grow, think and change over a course of events that become a crucible for him. I think his purpose now is to find his place in a world where his family once held ultimate sway and now is only hanging on by a thread. I think his purpose is to find something true to him worth living, fighting or even dying for. I think his ultimate purpose is that he doesn't want to be remembered as The Kingslayer, he wants to be remembered as a man who tried to do the best he could and was at times got to taste greatness.
What do you all think? Post your thoughts in the comments and be sure to share this with any friends / fans you know.
Thanks for reading!
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