Episode 22: A GAME OF THRONES, ARYA II: "The Wolfblood" Show Notes!

Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish. 

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn. 

Welcome to our twenty-second episode of the Not A Cast entitled: “The Wolf Blood: An Analysis of AGOT, Arya II,” in which Arya gets a much-needed pep talk from Dad. This episode is brought to you all by our Lords Commander Mark N, Timothy W, Hayden J, and WolfmanZack. Thank you, gentlemen!

Spoiler warning: All published books - 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!

Questions

Craig Mulvey asks:

Since we're in King's Landing for a bit....Was there any settlement prior to the Aegonfort? It seems odd that it wouldn't already be settled being in prime real estate like that.

Where once only fishing boats were seen, now cogs and galleys from Oldtown, Lannisport, the Free Cities, and even the Summer Isles began to appear as the flow of trade shifted from Duskendale and Maidenpool to King's Landing.

Darren Sowards asks:

Hello again!

Loved the Stannis episode. I have a question regarding the way that the series adapts aspects of the book’s plot to the screen, for both screen time and plot complexity reasons. One that I have been wondering about since the end of season 7 is whether or not D&D adapted the falling of the wall via a horn of winter by two-fold solution: first destroying the magical ward of the wall by allowing a marked Bran to cross, followed by destroying the physical wall by using an undead dragon?

The clues of various horns throughout the series have been quite obvious but the show completely side-tracked it. I understand it could be too deep fantasy for the common viewer, but I also entertain the notion that GRRM could be building up this fantasy element to subvert the genre, as he has done so with other fantasy tropes. I suppose this also extends to if you think Dany goes north of the wall on the dumb (but satisfying) Suicide Squad mission, then Night’s King gets an undead dragon. If he had the horn he would not need a dragon (potentially).

What do you two think?!

Snark Knight asks:

Hey Guys,

In Eddard IV when Littlefinger tells Ned, "your wife is inside." Ned draws his dagger on Littlefinger but Ser Rodrick interrupts before it goes any further.

What do you guys think Ned's plan was there?  Kill the Master of Coin in the streets of King's Landing on his first day in the city?  Was this GRRM trying to recreate Hamilton vs. Burr?

Thank you and I love this podcast.

Ser Travis M asks:

My question has to do with George’s level of involvement with the potential HBO prequel, as well as the ability for it to provide further answers and clues to many of the mysteries of Planetos.

Some context: please correct me if I’m wrong, but TWOIAF book grew from George’s interactions with fans, especially Elio & Linda. He had a general idea of many of the characters and events in history, but he hadn’t set down and pieced it all together and developed it fully.

Now, we know George is involved in the 4-5 successor shows, but we don’t know how significantly. We know he and Bryan Cogman were working on one directly, but we also know that he has discussed concepts with the other screenwriters and developers.

All this brings me to my question - could the Age of Heroes/Long Night prequel be an opportunity, like TWOIAF, for George to flesh out some of the real backstory to his world?

Further, do we want some of the mysteries answered?

Finally, do you expect anything significant to occur in GOT’s final season that will be a real shocking moment for the audience (like something done by the White Walkers or Jon & Dany), giving an opening for the prequel to explore why events transpired as they did in Season 8?

Thanks!

From Joseph S:

Well Ned can be blamed for trusting Littlefinger in his adventure in Kings Landing, I don't think we should be too hard on him overall for how everything eventually works out. Ned is coming in at the eleventh hour of three or four major, long-term plots that are all reaching their conclusions. Renly (with the Tyrells), Varys and Illyrio, Littlefinger, and Cersei's plot to kill the king. Littlefinger appears to have specifically maneuvered to get Ned to Kings Landing so he could take revenge. Ned has no allies at court other than Robert who can't be bothered. He hasn't been keeping an eye on court and doesn't know the players (which maybe you could blame him for, but he wasn't expecting to have to go and didn't want to go when asked). 

The one person who could have helped him, who should have helped him, is Stannis. I like Stannis, I think that by Dance of Dragons he is acting as a king should by protecting the kingdom to win the crown, but he could have saved Ned and his brother if he'd just done his duty and stayed in Kings Landing. He knew the secret and instead of trying to fo something about it he hid in his castle, gave his brother up for dead, and sulked. He could have answered Ned's ravens, he could have left a message, he could have sent Davos to Ned, he could have told his brother, he could have done a million things other than what he did. It would have been dangerous, but for someone who expects others to do their duty, he seems to be neglecting his.  

I understand their wouldn't be a story if Stannis had just told Robert or Ned, but Stannis made a mistake here. He was selfish and it cost his brother and Ned their lives. 

Synopsis

Ned Stark’s no-good, very bad first day at the office has, if anything, gotten worse as time has progressed in King’s Landing. It’s plain enough that Arya Stark, second daughter of Lord Eddard, sees it when Ned enters the Small Hall, a dining facility that can seat two hundred people -- though only fifty, all of Ned’s retinue, are present and Ned is pleased if only because they’ve started eating without him.

Jory Cassel, Captain of Ned’s guard, says there’s talk of a great tourney, of knights and lords coming to joust and feast in honor of Ned’s appointment as Hand of the King. Ned ain’t happy about that and states that the tourney is the last thing he would have wished. But Sansa is excited. A tourney. Will we be permitted to go, Father, she asks. Hell no, Ned replies. But Sansa really wants to see the tourney. And Septa Mordane presses Sansa’s case to Ned. Lord Stark relents and says that he’ll arrange places in the stands for both Sansa and Arya.

But Arya, so far nearly invisible in her own chapter, finally pipes up. I don’t care about their stupid tourney. Goddamn Joffrey will be there, and she hates that little shit. Sansa does early-Sansa AGOT stuff and says they’ll be better off without Arya which then leads to Ned doing early-Ned stuff: telling Sansa and Arya to work together and remember that they’re sisters and are to behave as such. 

The girls bite their lips and nod, but Arya is upset. Ned’s not happy either. He excuses himself from the table and leaves everyone to finish their meal without him. With Ned gone, the men talk of horses, Sansa and Jeyne Poole whisper amongst themselves and others calls for more wine. And Arya? Arya fades into the background yet again, wishing she could eat alone. She misses the rest of her family back at Winterfell where they’d all eaten together and fellowshipped as a family. She recalls that Ned used to leave an empty seat at the Stark table and called upon different members of the Stark retinue to come eat with the Starks. And Arya loved that time. She loved listening to the common folks speak, share their stories. She loved playing with the common people, helping them pilfer pies from the kitchen and playing with their children. She was Arya Underfoot then, but that was a world away.

Here in King’s Landing, Arya had grown to hate the voices of the men and women in service to Ned Stark. They were supposed to be her friends, but they let her down. They let the Hound murder Mycah: her friend who the Hound so brutally murdered that they returned his chopped up body in a bag to his father. No one had defended Mycah. Not even her father.

He was my friend, Arya whispers to her plate.

Sullen and angry, Arya rises from the table and is challenged by Septa Mordane. She asks to be excused. Mordane refuses and says that Arya will need to clean her plate before she leaves. You clean it! Arya yells as she runs for the door.

She rushes under Fat Tom (one of Ned’s men)’s legs and rushes into her bedchamber. She slams the door and drops the crossbar in its place, content that no one can enter the room. She wanders over to the windowsill and sobs. The deaths of Mycah and Lady was all her fault. Sansa had told her as much. Jeyne Poole had as well. Jerk move, Sansa and Jeyne.

Fat Tom knocks on the door, asking if Arya is within. She yells “No”, and Fat Tom walks away. He was always not the brightest bulb in the shed. When she hears his steps fading, Arya walks over to her chest and retrieves her sword Needle from her chest. The thought of Mycah returns, and tears fill her eyes. If only she hadn’t asked him to play at swords. It was all her fault, her fault, her fault … and then Septa Mordane pounds at the door.

Mordane yells for Arya to open up, Arya says tells Mordane to eat shit. Mordane tells Arya that Ned will hear of her insolence. And then Mordane leaves. With Mordan gone, she returns to the window and looks out, wishing she could climb like Bran and how she would love to climb down the tower and run away from this wretched place, from Septa Mordane from Prince Joffrey. She’d run back to the Trident and find Nymeria or run far to the north and hang out with Jon at the Wall. She wishes Jon were with her now. They were always close.

Just then, a softer knock comes at the door. It’s her father. He asks to be let in, and Arya crosses the room to let him in, still holding Needle. When she opens the door, Ned notices Needle and demands the sword from her. She gives it up. Ned notices that it’s a bravo’s blade, and that it was made in his own forge by his own blacksmith Mikken. 

My nine-year old daughter is being armed from my own forge, and I know nothing of it. The Hand of the King is expected to rule the Seven Kingdoms, yet it seems I cannot even rule my own household. Ned complains.

He asks where she got the sword. Arya refuses to snitch on Jon. Ned says ultimately it doesn’t matter. But the sword isn’t a toy for children, least of all a toy for a girl. And what if Septa Mordane knew that Arya was playing with swords. I wasn’t playing. I hate Septa Mordane. Ned’s lord’s face appears, and he instructs her that Mordane is doing nothing other than her duty, and Arya is making Septa Mordane’s task of making Arya a lady impossible. Ned, c’mon, man.

Arya doesn’t want to be a lady, and Ned says he should snap the blade in half across his knee. Arya declares that Needle won’t break, but she knows it probably will. Ah, so the sword has a name, Ned says. Her father goes on to talk about how Arya has some wolf blood in her -- much like Lyanna had a touch and his brother Brandon had more than a touch. In the end, their wolf’s blood brought them early grave. Yikes.

Ned says that Arya reminds Ned of Lyanna sometimes, and Arya is taken aback. Lyanna was beautiful, and Arya doesn’t believe that she is. She was. Beautiful and willful, and dead before her time, Ned says with sadness. And Arya, who were you planning to use this sword against? Mordane? Sansa? And what do you know of sword fighting anyways?

Stick ‘em with the pointy end, Arya blurts out.

Ned laughs and says, “Yeah. That’s the essence of it.” Arya then turns desperate and explains that she wanted to learn and had asked Mycah to practice with her, and then the tears return. It was my fault, it was me. Oh man, my heart is breaking. No, sweet one, Ned says, Grieve for your friend, but never blame yourself. You did not kill the butcher’s boy. That murder lies at the Hound’s door, him and the cruel woman he serves.

Arya hates all of them, hates that Joffrey lied and hates that Sansa lied by saying she didn’t remember what happened. Ned replies that everyone lies, and that he knows that Nymeria didn’t just run off. Arya then reveals that her and Jory threw rocks to drive Nymeria away, because they knew she’d be killed if she returned to camp. And Arya hit the direwolf with two rocks, and she feels awful about it.

It was right. And even the lie was … not without honor. Ned says gently.

Ned picks Needle up again, walks to window and looks out over the courtyard and then decides to explain things to Arya. You know our words, Arya. Winter is coming. The Starks had gotten a taste of that on the Trident, but winter is truly coming now. And what is the Stark sigil? The direwolf, Arya replies.

Let me tell you something about wolves, child, Ned says, When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.

You see, Summer is the time for infighting but we have to stick together now. Mordane is a good woman, and Sansa is your sister. You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you … and I need both of you, gods help me, Ned finishes.

Arya gives comfort to Ned next. I don’t hate Sansa, not truly. It was only half a lie. But Ned isn’t comforted. They’ve come to a dark, dangerous place, and people here mean them harm. We can’t fight amongst ourselves. We have to band together. And you, Arya, you have to grow up.

I will, Arya vows, knowing that she had never loved Ned as much as she did in that instant. I can be strong too. I can be as strong as Robb.

Ned offers the sword back to Arya. Here, it’s yours. Arya is stunned. She can keep it? Yes. Besides, Ned knows that he’d find a morningstar hidden under her pillow if he took Needle away. But try not to stab Sansa, Arya, whatever she does. Arya promises that she won’t.

The next morning, Arya apologized the Septa Mordane, and the septa reluctantly accepted the apology. Three days later, Vayon Poole, Ned’s steward, sends Arya to the Small Hall. And there in the hall, she encounters an unfamiliar voice.

You are late boy. Tomorrow you will be here at midday.

It’s motherfucking Syrio Forel, and he’s come to train Arya and chew bubble gum, but he’s all out of … uh, where was I? Oh yes. Syrio introduces himself as Arya’s dancing master. He tosses her a wooden sword. She fails to catch it. But tomorrow, by God, you’ll catch it. She picks up the wooden sword, and damn, that shit is heavy. It’s as heavy as it needs to be to make you strong, and for balancing, Syrio explains.

Arya holds the sword with her left hand, and this pleases Syrio. But that damn thing is heavy. What if she drops it. The steel must be part of your arm. Can you drop your arm? No. And then Syrio explains that he was the First Sword of Braavos for nine years, serving under the Sealord of Braavos, and that he knows his shit, and boy, you best get to listening and training.

I’m a girl, Arya objects.

That shit don’t matter, Arya. Boy, girl, you are a sword. Dayum. I fucking love Syrio. And get your grip right, Arya. You ain’t holding a battle ax. No, not a battle ax, a needle. Just so. 

And then they dance the dance as Arya tries again and again to strike Syrio, but Syrio dodges her every attempt all afternoon until every muscle in Arya’s body is aching. The next day, Arya Stark discovers the mantra of the U.S. Navy SEALs: the only easy day was yesterday. And the real work with Syrio begins.

And that is AGOT, Arya II. Simply-put: an outstanding chapter, striking masterful emotional beats and concluding with our introduction to my favorite King’s Landing minor character: Syrio Forel! I guess that didn’t need to be said.

Depth

IIRC Arya I remains our shortest episode to date, as we didn’t have much to say, but that sure isn’t the case here. While that first chapter in Winterfell did establish Arya feeling like an outsider and bonding with Jon on that basis, Arya II checks in after Needle and Mycah, and so is the true introduction to the tone and themes that will persist throughout her storyline. 

Specifically, the tone is one of loss and subsequent anger, and the theme is why does the world work this way? Of course, most POVs in ASOIAF are arguably concerned with the scales falling from one’s eyes, but unlike Sansa (whose story focuses on her personal dilemmas and filters the politics through the lens of, well, stories), Arya’s story is largely about the palpable feeling of injustice regarding the structures of society. This remains true even when she leaves Westeros itself: “He should’ve killed the masters!”

That really starts here, as Arya is stricken not only with grief but also rage at the people around her, by whom she feels profoundly betrayed. 

This was the first time they had supped with the men since arriving in King’s Landing. Arya hated it. She hated the sounds of their voices now, the way they laughed, the stories they told.

They’d been her friends, she’d felt safe around them, but now she knew that was a lie.

They’d let the queen kill Lady, that was horrible enough, but then the Hound found Mycah. Jeyne Poole had told Arya that he’d cut him up in so many pieces that they’d given him back to the butcher in a bag, and at first the poor man had thought it was a pig they’d slaughtered. And no one had raised a voice or drawn a blade or anything, not Harwin who always talked so bold, or Alyn who was going to be a knight, or Jory who was captain of the guard. Not even her father.

If this is what the game of thrones looks like, Arya argues, then it’s not worth playing even with good intentions. Anyone who takes part in it is implicated. She specifically calls out bold talk, the desire to be a knight, and the authority figures in her life--Jory and Ned. What worth is all of this when a man is handed pieces of his child in a bag and everyone just moves on? 

Again, GRRM goes widescreen on this question in Arya’s storyline in later books--her bearing witness to the rape of the Riverlands in ACOK and the Brotherhood’s campaign in response in ASOS is rooted in her first sight of the nobles unleashing hell on the smallfolk. Fascinatingly, however, the character this most puts her in line with is the man who cut Mycah down, Sandor Clegane. He, too, saw in childhood trauma the revelation that “it’s the world that’s awful,” not just individuals. In response, he adopted the face of the Hound, and so Arya’s story increasingly becomes about what face she shall wear. 

And of course, the face presented in this chapter in opposition to that of the Hound (and Cersei) is that of her father. Her father crosses class lines just as she did with Mycah, as we see emphasized in this chapter, and it’s he who tells her *Robin Williams voice* It’s Not Your Fault.

New catch: Mycah and why Arya loses her appetite:

Jeyne Poole had told Arya that he'd cut him up in so many pieces that they'd given him back to the butcher in a bag, and at first the poor man had thought it was a pig they'd slaughtered. 

Her ribs sat there untouched, grown cold now, a thin film of grease congealing beneath them on the plate. Arya looked at them and felt ill.

Arya feels ill looking at the plate of (likely) pork ribs and her memory of Jeyne Poole telling her that Mycah’s dad thought the bag containing Mycah was a pig they slaughtered. And this is something we’re going to explore as we go on: GRRM gets a lot of mostly good-natured ribbing for his food descriptions, but those lavish descriptions of food are written for a purpose. 

Likes/Dislikes

Likes: Gotta love Fat Tom, amirite? This lil moment not only breaks the tension, it adds to the childhood feel of Arya’s chapters:

Fat Tom was knocking on her door. “Arya girl, what’s wrong?” he called out. “You in there?”

“No!” she shouted. The knocking stopped. A moment later she heard him going away. Fat Tom was always easy to fool.

Like: This is a realistic exploration of trauma and how it affects kids. It’s heartbreaking, and Martin strikes the correct emotional notes in Arya’s internal monologue and then shows that trauma in action when she acts out against Septa Mordane at the dinner table and then holds Needle when Fat Tom, Septa Mordane and Ned Stark come to her room. Her holding that sword is a defense mechanism against a world where Arya feels no one will actually protect her. She has to protect herself.

Dislike: I would’ve liked to know what exactly Ned was arguing about with the small council--we don’t get a sense of Ned’s policies in between the Hand’s Tourney and the debate RE Dany.

Dislike: I agree with Emmett that the small council and what Ned and the council are arguing about should have been shown. In addition to that, though, I think there’s a missing Sansa chapter here. Yes, you heard me right. GRRM should have had a Sansa chapter before this chapter exploring Sansa’s psychology post-Trident. Why? Well, in this chapter, Sansa seems fine, but Ned’s prior two chapters have Sansa extraordinary (and completely reasonable) sadness over Lady to the point where she was crying herself to sleep every night. Yet here in this Arya chapter, we see Sansa returning to her previous state of being a bit of a snot to Arya. So what changed for Sansa between Eddard IV and Arya II? 

Foreshadowing/Groundwork

Arya Stark Death Foreshadowing?

We talked at some length in episode 8 about the potential foreshadowing of finding Arya dead with Needle still frozen in her hand, but here we get some more potential foreshadowing of Arya dying with Ned telling Arya:

"Ah, Arya. You have a wildness in you, child. 'The wolf blood,' my father used to call it. Lyanna had a touch of it, and my brother Brandon more than a touch. It brought them both to an early grave." Arya heard sadness in his voice; he did not often speak of his father, or of the brother and sister who had died before she was born. "Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her."

Ned drawing a connection between Arya/Lyanna, the wolfblood they share and Lyanna’s early grave might signal that Arya may suffer the same fate that Lyanna did, namely death.

Small Trivia: Maisie Williams’ left hand fighting

Back in 2011, Maisie Williams was interviewed by TV Guide, and she told them that:

I’m right-handed, and when Mom was reading the first book, she told me about Arya being left-handed. From then on, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to try to do everything left-handed.’ When I was practicing out in the garden and things I would do left-handed just to feel that rhythm.

In this chapter, Arya holds her wooden sword with her left hand:

Arya took her right hand off the grip and wiped her sweaty palm on her pants. She held the sword in her left hand. He seemed to approve. "The left is good. All is reversed, it will make your enemies more awkward. 

Escape from Harrenhal

It goes a lot like this:

Steal some food from the kitchens, take Needle and her good boots and a warm cloak.

The List of Names

“I hate them,” Arya confided, red-faced, sniffling. “The Hound and the queen and the king and Prince Joffrey. I hate all of them.”

Theories/Discussion

Ned’s noble lies

In this chapter, the question of lying comes up with Arya admitting that she lied about what happened with Nymeria. Ned, in turn, says two interesting things that all revolve around R+L=J

I hate Sansa too. She did remember, she just lied so Joffrey would like her."

"We all lie," her father said. "Or did you truly think I'd believe that Nymeria ran off?”

And …

"It was right," her father said. "And even the lie was … not without honor." 

Remember the context of Ned talking about lying here. He had just finished telling Arya about the wolf’s blood and about Lyanna and Brandon. The subtext reads that Ned is speaking as much about Arya and Sansa here as much as he’s speaking about his own “lies”, and this is a motif that gets repeated throughout Ned’s arc where he dwells on his lies in places like:

• When Ned recalls the end of Robert’s Rebellion:
  
  Troubled sleep was no stranger to him. He had lived his lies for fourteen years, yet they still haunted him at night. (AGOT, Eddard II)
• When he edits King Robert’s will as Robert lays dying:
  
  "Robert …" Joffrey is not your son, he wanted to say, but the words would not come. The agony was written too plainly across Robert's face; he could not hurt him more. So Ned bent his head and wrote, but where the king had said "my son Joffrey," he scrawled "my heir" instead. The deceit made him feel soiled. The lies we tell for love, he thought. (AGOT, Eddard XIII)

The lie that Ned is dwelling on is almost certainly the parentage of Jon Snow, but notice too that “Ned lived with his lies for fourteen years.” That’s not Ned lying to the world about who Jon Snow’s parents actually are. There are other lies? What might they be? Ashara? Something more about Rhaegar than has been previously known/theorized? I’m curious!

We also see Ned lying “for honor” later in AGOT when he claims Catelyn took Tyrion captive at his command:

Robert frowned. "I take it you know what Catelyn has done?"

"I do." Ned took a small swallow of wine. "My lady wife is blameless, Your Grace. All she did she did at my command."

And this after Robert told Ned that:

You never could lie for love nor honor

Conclusion

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