While I assumed that the future of the Lannisters was justifiably in question, the one development not anticipated was the death of Brandon Stark, the second Stark son and whose ability and inclination to climb any and everything had led to his being thrown from a window ledge high up in the castle of Winterfell by Jaime Lannister at the instigation of Queen Cersei because he may have discovered the true nature of the relationship between the twins. Cersei denied her role and is among the great liars of the two books read and watched as the TV series Game of Thrones. The second novel of the Ice and Fire series is called the Clash of Kings
That Bran survived the fall, albeit unable to walk, was miraculous and that he commenced to have visions of what was to happen should have enabled him to avoid what appeared to be his fate.
As the book Clash of Kings reached it last third Bran is having one of his waking dreams in which he had become his Direwolf scavenging at night with one of this brothers and then waking in terror of the situation he had found himself in, calling out of help only to realise there would be no guard at the door having sent every able bodied man to the Northmen under attack from the Greyjoys of father and daughter while the son had been sent with only one ship to skirmish coastal communities. This had left Wintefell with the minimum of protection. It had been his decision as the effective master of the family Castle with everyone else elsewhere and his baby brother Rickon was too young to be of help.
It was then his door crashed wide and he recognised one of the men who entered, his father’s made ward Theon Greyjoy taken when a child with the defeat of his father and who had served with Robb and then sent to enlist the support of his father only to switch sides supporting the opportunistic cause of his father to reclaim his rank and position, yet another of the Lords who chose now be regarded as a King of the Iron Islands. The assault on the undefended Winterfell had been the creative act of Theon to impress his father and sister. He was a young man full of emotions, seeking sexual satisfaction with every woman and girl he encounters, driven by a sense of injustice for his captivity despite brought up by the Starks as a son and with no ability to think though the potential consequences of his actions.
Theon tells Bran he has to order his people to cooperate with their new Lord having yielded to him. His father having declared himself King Theon styled himself a Prince and declaring the position to Maester Luwin, the guardian helper of Bran he goes off to bring the fighting to an end and organise the assembly of the inhabitants of Winterfell. Luwin blames himself for agreeing to send so many men never considering that they would be vulnerable to any form of direct attack.
Luwin with Bran in arms made their way to the Great Hall to find Theon in the Stark’s chair demanding to know who the other young people are, the Walder wards and others who had come to renew their loyalty to the Starks. In the first of the demonstrations to try and prove his loyalty and manhood he orders the brutal death of the blacksmith who served the Starks, and who knowing Theon and his worth had ridiculed and refused to acknowledge his authority.
It was not this act that hurt Bran the greatest but when Osha, the Wilding woman of the woods he had saved and brought to serve in the Winterfell and regarded as a friend who had helped him to understand his visions, the latest of which appeared to be coming to pass, stepped forward, explained her position and expressed the wish to serve Theon and his cause that made Bran feel all was lost.
Theon made himself at home taking a young woman into his bed (525-536)) but he remained insecure, worrying about the Direwolves running wild in the night, checking that Bran and his brother was in their beds. His anxiety was justified. The boys and their wolves were not to be found. Theon then discovers that two guards at a gate had been murdered, men who he had recently ordered to be flogged for the rape of kennel girl, a decision taken to demonstrate that he was a just ruler as well in full control. He then learns that the Wilding woman was with the boys having pretended to switch loyalties in order to help the boys to escape.
With the daylight Theon had the citizens assembled who he referred to as his loyal subjects saying that he could have had the men put to death and given their women to his soldiers and they must help in the capture of the boys. The task was now to recapture the boys.
He assembled a small group of men plus Maester Luwin who he decided he would not leave in the Castle making it plain that if he failed to return his designated commander should destroy everything and everyone before departing. He was then surprised to find that instead of the tracks going south they went north and west into the Wolfswood and towards where his sister was in command of his father’s forces. He had to recapture the boys before his family found out about this development.
They followed the tracks of the direwolves and boys and then discovered only the tracks of the wolves. Given that Bran had to be carried he could not understand how they failed to find either the wolves who had taken to the water or the boys and their helpers. During the hunt Maester Luwin had counselled Theon that he should not harm the boys when they were captured but keep them hostages. Theon being Theon wished the Stark sisters were here too and had thoughts of taking Sansa for his legal wife. As night came upon them and there was speculation that the boys had taken shelter with the Miller and his family, Theon said he knew where they were hiding and Luwin pleaded that he followed his advice and used to the boys to bargain.
Before we next encounter Theon we have learned that the boys have been recaptured, killed and their bodies burnt and hung on the ramparts of Winterfell, at least this is the visual image that we have in the TV series. This we have learned in the book from the information given Tyrion and his sister and now to Lady Catelyn. Theon (585) returned to Winterfell boasting of having seen the boys killed and their head dipped in tar. He returned to find that his sister had arrived, not with the army as he had requested but with an escort. He found her in the Great Hall with twenty men calling him Prince of Fools and explaining that only ten would stay to help him with the others her escort for her return. She called his actions those of a bloody fool. She was about the mission their father had set, on the coast with access to their ships. He was inland with a thousand miles of people around him angry with what he had done. Theon has a nightmare and in the morning looks on at the heads of the boys. We learn that these are in fact the Millers’ boys with their skin flayed and their head in tar unrecognisable now. It is not clear if Theon knows this or not. In the TV series we are left contemplating their deaths.
The tide which had turned in favour of the Lannisters to the South had become strong against Theon at Winterfell with the refusal of his father and sister and their allies to come to his aid. Maester Luwin reckoned that they could hold out for an hour and suggested that the man sue for peace(670-680) It was Sir Roderick Cassels, the Master of Arms at Winterfell who begged Theon to surrender but Theon had rearranged for the man‘s daughter to be placed in a noose to force the citizens to defend him. There were one possible two thousand men before he castle with less than score within to defend.
Maester Luwin suggests that he surrender and indicate his intention to join the Night Watch with the consequence that all his past sins will be forgiven. Theon takes a different approach and makes a great speech to his men saying they will be remembered for their loyalty and bravery. Before he can finish one of his men strikes him dead and fatally wounds Luwin. He says it time for the men to go home.
We are then given sight of the emergence of Bran, Rickon and Asha who have remained hidden within Winterfell now in smoking ruins. Everyone has been killed or departed. They find Maester Luwin and he begs them to leave, asking Asha to end his life quickly to prevent further pain.
So we have the situation of Robb losing support with the fragmenting Seven Kingdoms and appearing to put his heart before his duty and risking the loss of further support by marring someone else. The Lannisters appear secure having beaten the combined forces of the two brothers of the former King and gaining support by Joffrey marrying the recent widow wife of Lord Renly. There is Brienne sworn to the allegiance of Lady Catelyn taking Jaime Lannister to negotiate the release of the Stark daughters with Sansa preparing to leave during the Wedding of Joffrey while Ayra has already broken free again and is heading north. Now there is also Bran and Rickon on the run, but to where?
We also know that Stannis far from defeat and death has been shown his role in taking the crown for all the seven Kingdoms while the Freys guard the territory they have gained claiming much of the North. Unbeknown to them there are two new threats. There is Daenerys and her fledgling dragons from across the sea and we have the great horde of supernatural creatures and Wildings seeking to break out from behind the Wall and move south, while Jon Snow, Starks eldest boy by an undisclosed woman and perhaps his uncle Benjen Stark are behind the Wall. Previously I said it was Jon who had witnessed the great horde on the move where as upon checking it was one of his friends, part of the main expedition party hides behind a crag as the beings pass by one spotting him.
That Bran survived the fall, albeit unable to walk, was miraculous and that he commenced to have visions of what was to happen should have enabled him to avoid what appeared to be his fate.
As the book Clash of Kings reached it last third Bran is having one of his waking dreams in which he had become his Direwolf scavenging at night with one of this brothers and then waking in terror of the situation he had found himself in, calling out of help only to realise there would be no guard at the door having sent every able bodied man to the Northmen under attack from the Greyjoys of father and daughter while the son had been sent with only one ship to skirmish coastal communities. This had left Wintefell with the minimum of protection. It had been his decision as the effective master of the family Castle with everyone else elsewhere and his baby brother Rickon was too young to be of help.
It was then his door crashed wide and he recognised one of the men who entered, his father’s made ward Theon Greyjoy taken when a child with the defeat of his father and who had served with Robb and then sent to enlist the support of his father only to switch sides supporting the opportunistic cause of his father to reclaim his rank and position, yet another of the Lords who chose now be regarded as a King of the Iron Islands. The assault on the undefended Winterfell had been the creative act of Theon to impress his father and sister. He was a young man full of emotions, seeking sexual satisfaction with every woman and girl he encounters, driven by a sense of injustice for his captivity despite brought up by the Starks as a son and with no ability to think though the potential consequences of his actions.
Theon tells Bran he has to order his people to cooperate with their new Lord having yielded to him. His father having declared himself King Theon styled himself a Prince and declaring the position to Maester Luwin, the guardian helper of Bran he goes off to bring the fighting to an end and organise the assembly of the inhabitants of Winterfell. Luwin blames himself for agreeing to send so many men never considering that they would be vulnerable to any form of direct attack.
Luwin with Bran in arms made their way to the Great Hall to find Theon in the Stark’s chair demanding to know who the other young people are, the Walder wards and others who had come to renew their loyalty to the Starks. In the first of the demonstrations to try and prove his loyalty and manhood he orders the brutal death of the blacksmith who served the Starks, and who knowing Theon and his worth had ridiculed and refused to acknowledge his authority.
It was not this act that hurt Bran the greatest but when Osha, the Wilding woman of the woods he had saved and brought to serve in the Winterfell and regarded as a friend who had helped him to understand his visions, the latest of which appeared to be coming to pass, stepped forward, explained her position and expressed the wish to serve Theon and his cause that made Bran feel all was lost.
Theon made himself at home taking a young woman into his bed (525-536)) but he remained insecure, worrying about the Direwolves running wild in the night, checking that Bran and his brother was in their beds. His anxiety was justified. The boys and their wolves were not to be found. Theon then discovers that two guards at a gate had been murdered, men who he had recently ordered to be flogged for the rape of kennel girl, a decision taken to demonstrate that he was a just ruler as well in full control. He then learns that the Wilding woman was with the boys having pretended to switch loyalties in order to help the boys to escape.
With the daylight Theon had the citizens assembled who he referred to as his loyal subjects saying that he could have had the men put to death and given their women to his soldiers and they must help in the capture of the boys. The task was now to recapture the boys.
He assembled a small group of men plus Maester Luwin who he decided he would not leave in the Castle making it plain that if he failed to return his designated commander should destroy everything and everyone before departing. He was then surprised to find that instead of the tracks going south they went north and west into the Wolfswood and towards where his sister was in command of his father’s forces. He had to recapture the boys before his family found out about this development.
They followed the tracks of the direwolves and boys and then discovered only the tracks of the wolves. Given that Bran had to be carried he could not understand how they failed to find either the wolves who had taken to the water or the boys and their helpers. During the hunt Maester Luwin had counselled Theon that he should not harm the boys when they were captured but keep them hostages. Theon being Theon wished the Stark sisters were here too and had thoughts of taking Sansa for his legal wife. As night came upon them and there was speculation that the boys had taken shelter with the Miller and his family, Theon said he knew where they were hiding and Luwin pleaded that he followed his advice and used to the boys to bargain.
Before we next encounter Theon we have learned that the boys have been recaptured, killed and their bodies burnt and hung on the ramparts of Winterfell, at least this is the visual image that we have in the TV series. This we have learned in the book from the information given Tyrion and his sister and now to Lady Catelyn. Theon (585) returned to Winterfell boasting of having seen the boys killed and their head dipped in tar. He returned to find that his sister had arrived, not with the army as he had requested but with an escort. He found her in the Great Hall with twenty men calling him Prince of Fools and explaining that only ten would stay to help him with the others her escort for her return. She called his actions those of a bloody fool. She was about the mission their father had set, on the coast with access to their ships. He was inland with a thousand miles of people around him angry with what he had done. Theon has a nightmare and in the morning looks on at the heads of the boys. We learn that these are in fact the Millers’ boys with their skin flayed and their head in tar unrecognisable now. It is not clear if Theon knows this or not. In the TV series we are left contemplating their deaths.
The tide which had turned in favour of the Lannisters to the South had become strong against Theon at Winterfell with the refusal of his father and sister and their allies to come to his aid. Maester Luwin reckoned that they could hold out for an hour and suggested that the man sue for peace(670-680) It was Sir Roderick Cassels, the Master of Arms at Winterfell who begged Theon to surrender but Theon had rearranged for the man‘s daughter to be placed in a noose to force the citizens to defend him. There were one possible two thousand men before he castle with less than score within to defend.
Maester Luwin suggests that he surrender and indicate his intention to join the Night Watch with the consequence that all his past sins will be forgiven. Theon takes a different approach and makes a great speech to his men saying they will be remembered for their loyalty and bravery. Before he can finish one of his men strikes him dead and fatally wounds Luwin. He says it time for the men to go home.
We are then given sight of the emergence of Bran, Rickon and Asha who have remained hidden within Winterfell now in smoking ruins. Everyone has been killed or departed. They find Maester Luwin and he begs them to leave, asking Asha to end his life quickly to prevent further pain.
So we have the situation of Robb losing support with the fragmenting Seven Kingdoms and appearing to put his heart before his duty and risking the loss of further support by marring someone else. The Lannisters appear secure having beaten the combined forces of the two brothers of the former King and gaining support by Joffrey marrying the recent widow wife of Lord Renly. There is Brienne sworn to the allegiance of Lady Catelyn taking Jaime Lannister to negotiate the release of the Stark daughters with Sansa preparing to leave during the Wedding of Joffrey while Ayra has already broken free again and is heading north. Now there is also Bran and Rickon on the run, but to where?
We also know that Stannis far from defeat and death has been shown his role in taking the crown for all the seven Kingdoms while the Freys guard the territory they have gained claiming much of the North. Unbeknown to them there are two new threats. There is Daenerys and her fledgling dragons from across the sea and we have the great horde of supernatural creatures and Wildings seeking to break out from behind the Wall and move south, while Jon Snow, Starks eldest boy by an undisclosed woman and perhaps his uncle Benjen Stark are behind the Wall. Previously I said it was Jon who had witnessed the great horde on the move where as upon checking it was one of his friends, part of the main expedition party hides behind a crag as the beings pass by one spotting him.
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