I'm very interested to read what you think. I've confessed before that my favorite scene in the show is the first scene of the ninth episode.
Ah, ok. It shouldn't take too long until I get there, I suppose. I tend to watch shows a lot at once, as soon as I get started. Of course, the new Tomb Raider gets released the day before, but I do not get too caught up in games nowadays. My estimate is that I will reach the ninth episode of season two around the end of next week, or early the week after that, at the latest.
You're right. I love to hate Catelyn. She is a terrific character. She's rich, intelligent, caring, protective, and well educated. All admirable qualities. Her education and intelligence allow her to make very astute decisions as long as her family is not directly affected. But, her caring and protective nature take over when her family is threatened and she continually makes snap decisions based solely upon emotion... and that is her undoing.
Yes, I can imagine that.
That is why GRRM had Catelyn unjustly arrest him, Lysa unjustly imprison him, and Robin (Robert in the books) unjustly plan to execute him... to make Tyrion a sympathetic Lannister. Really, if that had not happened, could the Lannisters ever be seen as sympathetic? The only Lannisters who later gain sympathy from the readers are those whom Tyrion likes. The formula is "1. Tyrion is sympathetic. 2. We like Tyrion. 3. Ergo, we like whomever shows sympathy to Tyrion."
Yeah, well, that formula is kind of simple, when ou put it like that, but I imagine it still works.
In this GRRM breaks the mold that has rigidly held fantasy since the seventies. Eddard was not quite the hero... close, but not quite. And then he died. Who is the hero? Jon? Maybe, but he's far away and taken a vow to never come back. Dany? Maybe, but she's much farther away and without a power base. Bran? Maybe, but he's crippled... and winter is coming. Arya? She's completely cut off from the family. Sansa? She's a prisoner and not very sympathetic in the first season. Catelyn? She's a mother... who wants to read about a mother as the hero? Robb? Maybe, but he does not have his own POV... we only see him through other people's eyes.
I don't think the series is intended to have a real hero, in that sense, to be honest. It just doesn't seem to be a part of GRRM's writing style. He wants shades of gray. He probably doesn't even think heroes are "authentic".
What about an anti-hero? The Hound? He's too minor of a character. Jaime? Forget regicide, forget incest, forget high treason... I don't know that there is any real redemption after defenestrating a seven year old boy. Cersei? No. Joffrey? Despicable. Shae and Bronn? Minor characters. Varys? No one can actually sympathize with a eunuch... empathize, maybe. Littlefinger? No. Drogo? Dead. Jorah? Not really, since he's working for Varys.
Who is left, at the end of the first season, with whom we may sympathize? Tyrion.
I confess Tyrion is my favorite character in the series, by far. He means well, overall, I think, and he has this wonderful sharp wit. Really, though, he has gotten the rough end if the stick from his scumbag family for his entire life, I imagine. Both Cersei and Tywin seem to look down upon him due to his deformity, and despise him because his mother died giving birth to him (which is obviously unfair, but rather unsurprising, given their natures). Ironically, despite your long list of Jaime's crimes, he seems to be the second most sympathetic (or, rather, least unsympathetic) Lannister, because at least he seems to care somewhat about his disabled family member. There are degrees in hell. Joffrey, Cersei and Tywin are really loathsome characters.
Right, even the book picks up the execution in mid scene. Eddard told Bran later how the man could not even hear him because his mind was half gone. But desertion from armies, in almost every culture, has almost always been viewed as a capital offence. My favorite American, George Washington, executed men for desertion and mutiny. I'd be shocked if Gustav II Adolf, aka The Lion of the North (this moniker conjures up conflicting images from A Game of Thrones), never had to make that decision. He was at war for his entire reign... I think.
Yes, I am well aware of how desertion has been looked upon, in the real world. However, Cersei's adultery in her incestious relationship with her twin brother, would not be viewed in any more positive light, I believe. Remember, also, that it would basically make Joffrey's claim on the throne usurpery, in the eyes of anyone knowing what Ned did. Obviously, not being Robert's son would have voided the legitimacy of that claim, an I am sure Robert himself would agree 300%.
It is not just that Cersei commits adultery, which Robert also does. It is that the resulting child of said adultery lays fake claim on the throne, which Robert's ******* son does not. While Joffrey doesn't know he isn't Robert's son, Cersei does, which makes her very responsible for Joffrey's counterfeit claim.
I do not honestly think that Ned sparing Cersei and her children in that medieval world is any more likely than him sparing a deserter, really. Usurpery is no less a capital offense than desertion. I think just unwittingly being a piece in a usurpery game would be enough to get you executed. That isn't justice by our standards, but it would be medieval justice.
But of course, Ned just claims that Joffrey is not the legitimate heir to the throne, once Robert is dead, and everyone except Ned thinks Joffrey is Robert's son, it will create a false impression that Ned is a traitor, because he offers no explanation whatsoever as to how he came to that conclusion, let alone proof to back it up.
Still, Ned questions the medieval justice of his world and goes for mercy when it suits him, or so it seems.
Darth Angelus, thank you very much for your views regarding the series. It is refreshing to get someone's first impressions... especially impressions that only stem from the show. It is difficult for me to judge the show solely by it's own merits or failures. I constantly relate it to the books to see what was omitted, what was missed, what was combined, what was subtlely changed, what was improved, and what is new.
Well, those are my thoughts on the subject.
No worries. Thanks yourself for the extensive explanations!
The TV-show is really well-made, no doubt.
