Andrea Camilleri The Snack Thief part one

There was time on my visit to the midlands over the weekend of October 5^th to 8th to commence reading The Snack Thief the first of the Andrea Camilleri Montalbano books made into TV play and shown in the first series on BBC 4 earlier in the year. The book provides the opportunity to establish the brilliant closeness between the characters in the books and the TV productions and the subtle translation in the English Language by Stephen Sartorially a poet with three collections of his works published. I completed the reading in the early hours of October 11^th.

I thought the TV production was brilliant but the book is significantly better than expectation, satisfying and enjoyable experience which inspires me to attempt to write my own works rather than fill me with the sense of failure that has been the basis of my experience and artwork writings over the past decade.

The Snack Thief begins, as in other stories and situations do with Commissario, (Inspector) Salvo Montalbano receiving a misleading telephone call from Catarella the station officer, in control of communications, the front desk and general factotum for the Inspector and his deputy. What Catarella had wanted to convey is that an Italian fishing boat had been fired on by a Tunisian patrol/customs boat and that a man on board had been killed, riddled with machine gun bullets. Not able to arouse his chief Catarella had approached the deputy Mimi Augello who from the book we learn that is there is competitive rivalry combined with mutual respect with his boss, something I only now vaguely recall as their friendships becomes cemented over the subsequent years in which they work together.

Mimi, then a single ladies man and lustful of Salvo’s long term woman friend, Livia Burlando, has taken over the case because although the dead man was from Tunisia and killed by Tunisians with the incident alleged to have taken in Tunisian waters, the Italian fishing boat returned to its home port in Sicily and within the jurisdiction of the police force station in the fictitious Italian town of Vigáte. There much publicity and public outrage when it appears the fishing boat was in International Waters when the attempt was made to stop the vessel by gun fire which killed the fisherman who happened to be the only Tunisian on board.

While deputy Inspector Augello concerns himself with this development Salvo personally investigates the case of a married man found dead in an apartment block lift. Initially there is no connection between the two cases and then it appears that the same individual, gang or group is responsible for the two deaths and others that occur subsequently, and it is only towards the end of the book is it clear that while there is an important connection between the two murders they were committed for very different reasons by different people.

I have said too much too quickly because there is a clever and detailed brilliantly written building up solving the mysteries which as with Romanzo Criminale also reveals the interface between the Italian Security Services and crime and politics although not in this instance the Mafia, the Comorra or other forms of organised crime which have played, and probably continue to play such a role in this beautiful country bedevilled by corruption and crime and more recently its failing baking system.

Salvo discovers that there are three individuals, in one instance a pair, mother and daughter, involved in the discovery of the body and their behaviour demonstrates the understandable tendency, understandable and acceptable to my way of thinking, tendency of Italians to look the other way, to walk on by so to speak when unexpectedly encountering something which could mean they are called a as a witness, involving the police, the court and the media. What we subsequently learn is that the man was murdered on the same floor as his flat, one of a pair, and that the lift was taken down to the ground floor by the murderer with the body alongside. The crime was committed by one person although another had planned to do likewise and left the premises on discovering that someone else had done the deed for him/them. This man had an accomplice who was also a witness to what happened.

What Inspector Montalbano discovers on the first day of the investigation is that Mr Culicchia, an accountant, returning from the shops finds the body in the lift on the ground floor and travels up because his joints can no longer cope with stairs. A bottle of wine rolls out of one of the shopping bags and is first thought to be connected with the dead man but is his. Because the wine has become part of the crime scene Salvo arranges for another bottle to be bought so the man does not have to explain to his wife how he came to lose it. Mr Culicchia had spotted he had dropped the bottle but when he went to retrieve, the lift was back on the ground floor and the man who looked after the block, described as a security guard, one Guiseppi Consentino had found the dead man, called the authorities and prevented further access to the lift. That Salvo arranges for the bottle of wine, replacing that left in the lift appears a compassionate act but it also indicates that Salvo is inconsistent in his behaviour towards friends, colleagues, suspects and villains. He has something of a code of justice as fairness but he is also inconsistent.

In this instance his enquiries reveal that Signora Piccirillo and her daughter Luigina had also discovered the body when calling for the lift to go down and out but they had seen the body and did not want to be involved so they had shut the door and were content when the lift was called for someone else to find which was the security man who mentions the lift had come down from the fifth floor when the dead man lived on the fourth and this alerts Salvo that others had discovered the body before the security man. In order to teach the women a lesson Salvo arranges them to be taken to the station for further questioning and keeps them their waiting for several hours before they are released.

The dead man is Aurilio Lapécora whose wife (Antoinette Palmisano) was out visiting a sister when the body of her husband was found and the investigations commenced. They learn that the man ran an import and export business which requires his attention on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays despite the fact that the business appeared to have been closed down. The rest of the time Mr Lapécora appears to have spent sitting and watching the television although as we are to learn this is not an accurate picture of his lifestyle and interests. When the wife returns she is definite that the culprit is her husband’s mistress, who poses as a cleaning woman. She had found out when a local home furnisher mentioned that he would be delivering their new sofa bed and when it had not arrived at their home, which did not surprise her as she could not understand their need, she checked and discovered it had been delivered to the office matching the green colour of the second room.

Salvo and his colleagues visit and find that the front office has an old desk and many dusty files which covered business until three years before. The second room was clean and furnished with the sofa bed, a television, a refrigerator and well stocked with drinks. There is also a

large nude figure which Salvo considers crude bordering on the offensive. So if he business was closed does he attend over three days each week, because of an affair with cleaner? It seems so, at least at first.

An important ingredient of this and all the novels is the relationship between Salvo and a woman who lives and works in Genoa, Livia and where in this book the relationship has continued for six years with Livia mainly visiting Salvo over weekends and holidays, although he also visits Genoa and in a later novel we learn that he has a key to her home as she to his. She is to play her most significant role of the books in this volume

The other ingredient is his love of food and where he insists that no one talks to him so he can concentrate on the eating. This has less significance in relation to the main story lines in this book but I will also give much attention, for as those who know my writings will appreciate I like my food although I neither cook or have cooked for me at home similar delights and all too rarely do I got for great food in restaurants governed by my pocket and the constant need for economy. I will leave the delights he mentions until the end although the relationship with Livia becomes of crucial significance in this book,

Salvo then receives and invitation to visit a widow, a retired school teacher with a mobility disability who lives in a property across the way from the office of Mr Lapécora and when Salvo calls he is unsure what the woman can possibly have to say until she asks him to stand close to her so he can share the view she has from her sedentary position through her window across to that in one of the rooms of the office of Lapécora, the front office. Where today it is possible to see Salvo’s colleagues having their lunch at the table in the room and where the landline telephone is also located as well as a typewriter. She mentions that when the room is lit the gauze covering at the window hides nothing from view but we the readers are not immediately told what it is she had seen and which shapes the rest of investigation concentrating on the as yet mysterious cleaning lady. The woman invites him to stay for a meal and thinking that she will eat food as appropriate for an elderly woman with restricted mobility he declines but then changes his mind on learning that she is to eat braised beef and also a dish of Pasta of alla Norma, although the latter is not described but worthwhile looking up as named after Opera by Bellini who came from Sicily and is made of eggplant usually fried but some prefer roasted with ricotta salata (a firm cheese grated) and tomatoes, hot chill flakes, sea salt oregano and basil. And of course the spaghetti. I mention this meal now because of his acceptance of hospitality while on duty and investigating murder where presumable anyone and everyone is a potential suspect.

It appears that there is no policy in the Sicily police of not accepting hospitality during an official investigation, and before this he has shared coffee with an attractive resident elsewhere in the block of flats and as we are to learn he also becomes more intimately involved with witnesses who may also prove a suspects Salvo works hard and becomes single minded obsessive until he solves a case, and is full of compassion and will bend the rules in the interests of a meaningful justice, although this is not to suggest that he is not also a man of clear vision and principles. However he loses his temper quickly becomes frustrated if his instructions are not carried out instantly.

After the meal Salvo heads for the home of the woman cleaner one, Karima, on a road out of a former small village since expanded, and comprising a simple two room two story dwelling and clean. He notices the perfume Volupte (Voluptuous?) which he had also found traces in a room at the home of the dead man and at the office of the murdered man. He sends Fazio, his loyal assistant, back to the station leaving him without a vehicle in order to learn more about the Karima and the old woman who cares for the girl and her son as only a mother and grandmother can.

While many of the characters in this and all his books are fully drawn, or at least we learn some of their important traits and their attitudes, the picture of Karima even by the end of the book is less rounded than I would like and expect, We learn that is a Tunisian by birth, Ah ha you say was not the fisherman killed on the Italian fishing boat also a Tunisian. In deed this is so but I will leave for now the question of a connection.

What I will say is that she had come to live and work in Sicily several years before and that she also in fact woman undertaking cleaning work for the murdered man three times a week, although possibly not as frequently in the beginning and for others who come forward when a picture of her as reported missing with her son is shown on a local TV station as a result of a request by the Commissario. In addition to charging 50000 lire for the cleaning work visit she also provided additional services for which she charged three times as much, remembering than even by the time when the lire because the Euro two thousand lire could be exchanged for one Euro which I believe was about £15 at the time an amounting to £60 if there was special service in addition. These services were provided once a month sometimes twice.

From the old woman across the way, “Rear Window” observing neighbour, Signora Clementina Vasile Cozzo it appears that the murdered man enjoyed oral sex with Karima although the sofa bed suggests that she extended other favours to him. Arising from the TV publicity the other clients where she cleaned on regular basis volunteered information about the specialist services which I shall not detail other than to say that one individual liked to be spanked, another bathed while a third bathed her.

Salvo also reveals later what Signora Cozzo had seen from her “Rear Window,” a naked man coming to the phone one night followed by a naked Karima both emerging from the room with the sofa bed. It appears that the young man visited at intervals from memory about once a month, and was not there at times when Lapécora was not, there was much telephoning and use of a typewriter which Salvo was able to establish was different from the one found at the office and which he deduced had a different alphabet in the days before computers which with appropriate software can change the language of the keyboard. This all suggested the young man was not just a pimp.

Salvo insists on staying at the home of Karima talking to the old woman friend of the missing woman and whose name is Aisha, arranging for his assistant to take the car and return to the police station at Vigáte. Although his French is limited Salvo is able to gain the confidence of the woman and learns that the night before she disappeared she had asked Aisha to look after her son as she was to be away for the night and when she returned the following day she was in a state and gather her son, the five year old Françoise and a suitcase saying had to go away and set off for the bus stop.

Aisha was then able to confirm that after Karima had left with her son, the young man, the same one seen by Signora Cozzo at the office, and who also visited Karima at her home from time to time, occasionally staying over and she describes as a bad man because of his violence had called and rushed off in his car on learning she was not home.

Aisha then reveals that she is holding the bank pass book for Karima and it contains 500 million lira or 2500000 euros including a recent addition of 200 million lira confirming that she, the young man and Lapécora were involved in something more that prostitution.

There was also one other significant aspect of his search on the home and office of Lapécora which becomes confirmed on his visit to the home of Karima and her son. At all three he notes the existence of a strong perfume. Later as more of the jigsaw pieces are fitted together he makes Mrs Lapécora go through what she did on the morning of the murder she left early while her husband was still asleep in bed and he makes her act out her recollections rather than tell him. This confirms that she did not enter the room where Salvo believes, Karima and stayed at the flat overnight.

I have mentioned that Mrs Lapécora was convinced that it was Karima who killed her husband having learned that eh had a mistress at the office because of the delivery of the sofa bed. She also reveals that she had received three anonymous letters informing of her husband’s infidelity. These had been in the traditional form of cut out lettering from a paper or magazine but could not be examined by forensics because they had been burnt, at least this is what the widow said, but later she had produced one still in its envelope and this led Salvo to make an important step forward because he was able to establish that the envelop had been typed on the office typewriter and the wording taken from copies of magazines at the office. The husband had sent the letters denouncing himself but why and why had his wife not confronted and made more of an issue of the infidelity.

This had first come to Salvo in the middle of the night when he then telephones Mimi to demand immediate return of his loaned book the Le Carré Smiley novel, his first, Call for the Dead, in which the husband a Civil Servant at the Home Office with responsibility for Classified information had sent a letter to his Employers denouncing himself as a traitor. His deputy as is Fazio and others at the station have long since given up on rebelling when Salvo demands instant action at all times day and night without explaining first why and any possible significance in relation to a current investigation. In this instance Mini leaves the book at the door, driving off at spend back to his bed without wanting to why his boss insisted at that hour.

There was another indication that the dead man had attempted to seek help without going to the police. The Lapécora have a son, a practicing doctor of medicine aged 32 who has been estranged from his father for over a decade and has as little contact as possible. Following publicity he brought Salvo a letter his father had sent when allegedly eh was away and which clearly states that the man has got himself into something put of his depths and he feels threatened. He wants his son to immediately come to him. The son claims that when he returned from his trip away and read the letter he had phone his father who said the problem had gone away and the son was no longer needed. Salvo does not believe the young man and for a moment thinks of a way to make life officially uncomfortable for the son. This all confirms his growing belief that the office was being used for some kind of business or activity about which they were not able to find evidence.

Salvo as I have indicated is a man who reacts to those he feels do not cooperate with his enquiries and one such individual is the head of the local post office, the Commendotore Baldassare Marzachi who he asks for the name of the postman serving the Salita Granet district where the office is located. The man Commendotore, who Salvo calls an imbecile, wants a Judges warrant for something any of his subordinates would have provided without a second thought. Salvo then creates the situation when it looks to a subordinate who enters the office that the Head Postmaster is about to strangle him. He blackmails the man into submission, calling him a piece of shit.

The purpose of the request was to find out the nature of the mail delivered to the office and the obliging postman explained that there was not much but some came regularly from overseas a company Salanidis and they supplied Dates. From the local printer who had known the man and his business for over two decades Montalbano learned that new stationery had been ordered and delivered to the office. None of this information remained at the office.

His also attempt to establish the kind of life the dead man led when he was not at the office and finds that eh regular meets a group at the Caffé Albanese on Tuesdays to play cards and talk. Able to question one of the men present he finds nothing he did not already know and when Salvo challenges that the man seems to nothing about his alleged friend, the man recounts a gruesome story of a woman the story of a woman who left her son with her brother who had then chopped the baby up which he then boiled. I now come to the turning point in the case and why the book is called the Snack Thief.

There are three strands which come together.

On leaving the homes of Karima and her neighbour Aisha, Salvo had seen there was a mini crowd commotion surrounded one of the police man attending the investigation. The policeman explained that these were parents whose children said that a small boy had attacked them on the way to school taking from them food snacks which the parents had provided because of the length of the school morning until lunch time which in Italy is usually at one or even one thirty.

Salvo is approached by a man who has seen the local news photo of Karima and her son but mentioned that he had seen the woman, afraid in a stationery car as he passed by on his cycle. He had not the seen the child. But he does note the registration number

Right at the beginning of the story after Salvo had been woken by Catarella with news of the killing of the Tunisian fisherman he had switch off the phone. He had been contacted by his long term woman friend Livia who lives and works in Genoa. She said she was coming to see him at the weekend although because he had become involved in the Lapécora case he thought it was best she delayed the visit until the case was over, She was insistent and said she was coming over regardless and that he did not need to attend the airport or go out of his way as she would let herself into his home as she had her own key and await his return. He had also warned her that his boss who was planning to retire early had invited him and then both of them when he said she was coming to visit for an evening meal where his wife would be cooking a meal of Pasta with the ink of the squid. It was not this delicacy which Salvo feared but the cooking of his boss for which she had no ability but liked to believe that she had.

It was the arrival of Livia and something she said that caused Salvo to go out in the middle of he night assembling all his team and going to the village of Karima and Aisha leaving police vehicles outside the village and those entering dressed in civilian clothing. Usually he went off leaving Livia without explanation but in this instance while there was no explanation to her or the other officers, he asked her to come with him, saying she would be helpful.

It should evident from having presented these strands together that Salvo was assuming that Karima’s boy had managed to run off when his mother had been stopped at the bus stop and had been living wild since then, attacking the children for food out of desperation. He was the Snack Thief.

This was confirmed when Salvo waiting patiently until the dawn spied movement and boy was making his way to his mother’s home from where he had been hiding. It was as Salvo and suspected when the boy calmed down on being caught and was taken to his home to be looked after by Livia. This was to prove not only the turning point in the case but to have dramatic and significant repercussions for Salvo and for Livia and their relationship of six years.

Before ending this first part I mentioned at the beginning that I enjoyed the love of Salvo for good cooking and of food generally. He is insistent that when the food is before him there is no talking so he can concentrate on detecting the flavours of what he is eating similar to that of the connoisseur’s drinker of fine wines.

While I have mentioned that when Salvo joined Mrs Cozzo for her lunch which included braised beef, red meat is rarely mentioned as part of his diet which always appears to include a pasta dish and fish, sometimes the two are combined. He tends to eat out at midday, sometimes pretending to Livia he has eaten a sandwich, and sometimes deciding to stop for one course and then taking two or even three as he enjoys his sweets, especially Neapolitan ice creams. In the evenings he east out on the veranda of his home directly on the sandy beach, usually deserted, from where he swims early mornings and in the evenings. Unless Livia is present and cooks for him his daily (housekeeper) will leave the evening meal prepared for him in the refrigerator, meals prepared to his exacting standards and likings. At one point he goes home to Pasta with Broccoli and a Roulade of Tuna.

At the start of the novel he savours “a lalonga all‘agro dolce” - hake in a sauce of anchovies. I digress mentioning first an account in one of the Alexandrian Quartet books with Laurence Durrell when he describes the enjoyment of opening and eating a whole tin of olives, I cannot remember if these were stuffed with anchovy pieces or not, but I also enjoy separately the anchovy where a tiny jar or tin costs more than a generous helping of sprats, such is the way of things. Finding amore inexpensive tin of anchovies at Tesco on way home from the Midlands I purchase three tins and consume some with tea. Salvo’s dish of hake with a sauce of anchovies mixed with whisked egg to create the sauce is in fact his starter or antipasto and arrives with eight pieces of fish, sufficient, he comments for four diners. His deputy joins him and orders spaghetti with clams which the Commissario is horrified to note his colleagues smothers with Parmesan cheese and then commits a further culinary crime by adding two spoonfuls of pepper.

After the meal on returning to his office Montalbano learns that the authorities have decided that the investigation should handed over to the Tunisians which means Mimi has lost his case whereas Salvo is fully engaged in his which he regards as a victory over his deputy. This is also significant in terms of the connections between the two cases. This will be covered in my second and final writing of the experience of the Snack Thief.

The Clash of Kings ends with the stories of Bran and Theon

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.

Clash of Kings ends with the stories of Robb abd Catelyn Stark

That no one chapter in the second volume of the Fire and Ice series by George R R Martin is headed by King Robb Stark, the eldest son of Lord Stark could suggest that the young man, an adolescent boy in the books, is not to play an ongoing role in the saga for in each volume one or more of the central characters departs. Throughout the first two volumes Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings Robb is a young man thrust into a role not of his making or inclination and yet he also shows the independent judgement and determination of his father as well as the same overriding sense of duty.

Following the departure of his father and sisters to the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, Kings Landing at the request of the so called Iron King, Robert Baratheon, to become his chief adviser and manager and to cement the role by his eldest sister marrying the boy, the King regarded as his son and heir, Robb had to assume the role of family head, responsible for the family home of Winterfell and the care of his mother, younger brothers and people. With the death of his father his role quickly developed from that of the Lord Robb Stark to that of King Robb of the North, crowned with the authority of all the Lords of North and set on protecting the new realm as part of seeking the safe return of his sisters and the remains of his father.

He had engaged the forces of the Lannisters three times and forced their withdrawal taking prisoner Lord Jamie Lannister, the son of the army commander of the Lannisters, Tywin Lannister, named Jaime, twin brother of Queen Cersei, and in fact her long time lover and father of her three children including Joffrey now the boy King of the Seven Kingdoms. It was Jaime who had cast down Robb’s younger brother, Brandon from a window high in the castle after he had been unintentionally spied upon him with his sister when they had accompanied the Iron King on his journey to request the help of Lord Stark. King
The new Lord Stark had been forced by his mother to agree to marry one of the many daughters of the Lord Frey whose castle provided the quick route which enabled Robb to achieve his first victory over the forces of the South. Lord Frey was married eight times and therefore had many sons and daughters as well many natural children by others too numerous for Martin to mention. Two of the family known as Big and Little Walder had been fostered by Lady Catelyn as her Wards at Winterfell while another Olyvar had become a squire to King Robb and yet another Elmar was officially betrothed to Ayra and listed as only nine years of age. Such is the way the noble families of this Saga entwine and reinforce their position through alliances

The story of Robb is partly told though his mother Lady Catelyn Stark with two dedicated chapters towards the end of the Clash of Kings. I say partly because I have not found in the text the central development of his life which occurs as the season ends. Previously Catelyn she had been sent on missions by her son who had become concerned that she was attempting to influence his decisions and actions, as all mothers naturally do, but in a situation where he felt he had to quickly become his own man. He had suggested that she visit the Freys to determine which of the daughters he should marry but as a priority she was to visit the two bothers of the murdered King who were competing with each other for the crown to plead with them to join forces with her son to defeat the Lannisters in common cause. Robb had moved his forces to the south using the Castle fortress of Riverrun as his base.

As a consequence of her visit to Renly Baratheon of Highgarden, younger brother of the late King she had witnessed his murder by what appeared                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           to be a black smoke apparition. Renly was married to an ambitious worldly young woman of only 15 years who was aware that her husband had love for her brother.  The apparition born from the womb of the sorceress the Lady Melisandre of Asshai called the Red Woman, a priestess of R’hillor, the Heart of Fire.  Having achieved his objective of being the soul legitimate claimant to the throne of his brother, Stannis, self declared King in the Narrow Sea, had heeded the call of his faithful servant and made commander of his fleet, Ser Davos Seaworth, called the Onion Knight and sometimes Shorthand, once a smuggler and captain of the ship the Black Betha. Although Renly’s widow of the House of Tyrell had attempted to rally Renly men behind her and her brother, many of Renly’s men had gone over Stannis. That Martin has explained in detail the House of Tyrell of Highgarden, some twenty characters suggest the widow Margery may yet have some role to play in the rest of the series. In this I was to be proved right as the my reading and the TV  series progressed when after  the victory of the Lannisters  at kings landing, the bother of Margery suggests that King Joffrey marry he as his response to being asked to be granted a favour. She makes a speech saying she had admired and loved the Joffrey from afar which causes Sansa to gasp in disbelief. As mentioned in the previous writing on Tyrion and Sansa prearranged by Queen Cersei, Joffrey is freed from his betrothal to Sansa and agrees that Margery should become his Queen.

It is also with Davos whose apparent ending was also covered in the previous writing that there is need to mention how Lord Stannis and self styled King achieved victory at Storm End (442-454). He had brought his ship to join the rest of the fleet below Storm End and wanted to speak with King who remained cut off, according to the son of Davos who had become a squire to the self proclaimed King. He said the King was troubled ever since the death of his brother and appeared to be comforted only by the Red Woman who now shared the King’s tent.

It is here that Davos having gained the ear of the King counselled strongly against the plan of the Red Woman that because she had seen it in the Fire he should lay siege and take Storm End, where in the view of Davos they should go straight to the capital Kings Landing as the younger brother self styled King Renly had intended. The King was not however to be deterred from the course  which the Red Woman had set for him and he commanded Davos to once more take her his ship and go as commanded. The Red woman directed him to a passage below the entrance to Storm end where once more she seemed to give birth to a phantom creature and he was in no doubt that this was a creature of the devil.

Indeed we learn that this act worked on page 468 as Tyrion Lannister temporary Hand on behalf of his father to King Joffrey is told that the citadel had fallen when it should have held out for half a year or more and this meant that the forces of Lord Stannis could immediately set their sights on the capital city as Davos had recommended. In the text there are only rumours about what happened to Lord Stannis after his defeat at Kings Landing. In the TV series he appears to have returned to his castle and the influence of the Red Woman. She counsels him that his destiny is still to unfold and that he will do more evil things than kill his brother, an act which torments day and night. She tells him to look into the fire and see his future. She tells him he is now on fire and that the devil she had borne is now within him.

Meantime Lady Catelyn had returned to the camp of her son with the Lady warrior Brienne who had sworn to protect King Renly and was now blamed by all for his death except Catelyn who had experienced what had occurred. Brienne had freely become the guardian of Lord Stark’s widow and her new liege as Catelyn said farewell to her brother Edmure as he led his men in support of her son. Catelyn was full of doubts and fears about the course of events. When he returned from a successful confrontation with some of the force of Lannisters they had with them Ser Cleo Frey, emissary from King Joffrey, his mother and Tyrion with the terms of peace, which were no terms at all except of the offer exchange her daughters for Jaime Lannister. She had pressed for confirmation that both girls were well and Frey, determined to stick to his mission and not disclose that Ayra was missing had said that he had seen Sansa at Court and that Ayra had been mentioned.(473-484)

We next find Lady Catelyn at the house of her father distraught at the news that Wintefell had been taken and her youngest sons slain. The Lady Brienne tried to comfort her as she reported that it was Theon Greyjoy, a boy she had nurtured at her table since the age of ten who had placed the burnt heads of her son on stakes on the walls.

Lady Catelyn’s grief quickly because emerged with anger and hate and a determination to kill all those who had injured he so grievously. But first she had to think of having her daughters freed She then chose to confront Jaime who admitted being the father of Joffrey and Cersei‘s other children and then he admitted to have caused the disability of Bran by throwing him off the window when by accident he had came on him with his sister. Catelyn would have slain him there and then was he not needed for a greater purpose. The scene comes to an end when taunted further by Jaime Catelyn calls for Brienne and a sword (572-584).

This appears to be the end of story in the text although I may have missed the decision of of Lady Stark to take Janie from captivity and place him under the control of Brienne with the mission to take him to Kings Landing and negotiate the release of her daughters. We witness the two arriving from a small boat ashore and encountering a number of men who Brienne has to fight and kill the men to be able to continue with her mission. She and Jaime remain unaware of the events that have occurred.

Not did I find the decision of Robb to break the commitment to marry one of the daughters of Walder Frey. I have previously mentioned the development of a relationship between Robb and the travelling healer who had gone to the aid of one of the wounded enemy who Robb had attempted to assist. She could be described as a pacifist criticising his involvement in the bloodshed which claimed was not of his making but through self defence and seeking the release of his sisters.  They fall in love and it is as a consequence of this he tells his mother of his decision not to marry a Frey girl. In the TV series he is seen to marry the girl of his choice through a New Age kind of ceremony.         

Clash of Kings ends Tyrion, Sansa and the Lannisters

There is only one of the House of Lannister characters in Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin who I wish well and where the characterisation by the actor in the TV series won awards at the end of the first season bringing to television of the Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister, eldest son of Tywin and elder brother of the twins Cersei and Jaime. I begin with him and also Sansa, the eldest daughter of Lord Stark, of Queen Cersei and King Joffrey as their story ends, in terms of the book and second TV series. The story of Catelyn, Robb, Brienne, Jamie and Davos will follow and then of Bran and Ricken and Theon Greyjoy.

From the outset Tyrion showed only an interest in spending his life in the taverns and being entertained by one or more ladies of generous virtue. As a disabled height challenged man often referred to as the Imp, he gained favour with his father and was sent to Kings Landing to represent his father’s role as the King’s Hand leaving Lord Tywin free to concentrate as Commander of the armed forces stopping the approaches of newly crowned Kings Robb, Stannis and Renly with the latter two intent on seizing the Iron Throne of all Seven kingdoms. This is not to say that Tyrion was not without abilities, capable of wielding sword, of analysing situations and working out the likely most effective way of resolving problems and challenges.

He had no confidence in the ability of his sister to manage her wild, irresponsible and volatile son who had been placed on the throne as a means of bring her power. Cersei was not best pleased with the decision of her father and that Tyrion should be  the Hand  especially when Tyrion set about neutering her influence while establishing his own, placing his nominee as head of the city guard while outposting the previous incumbent  to become the eventual head of the Night Watch, imprisoning a member of the Counsel who was acting as a spy for the Queen and deciding that he needed to gain the support of a Lordship and his men by arranging the betrothal of his niece and sending her be raised as a ward by the family in question.

He had also been sceptical about the decision of Cersei to authorise the creation of a vast supply of incendiary devices called Wildfire until seeing what damage they could achieve he had ordered a scheme of training in the use of the weapons and also developed a plan which he kept secret including from the readers! In an attempt to mute his growing power his sister had kidnapped the woman who had become his consort out of love although because he had initially paid for her time he continued to doubt the strength of her relationship with him.

He had no part in the attempt to kill Bran and had managed to escape when captured on behalf of Catelyn, freeing himself by a test of arms. He also paid a visit to the Wall calling in on Winterfell on his return. He was angered by the decision to execute of Lord Stark, taking the pragmatic view that the man would have been useful in bargaining for the life of his younger brother Jaime.

Tyrion has more coverage than other characters in the Clash of Kings and I take up his story again with pages 430 to 442 when he saw off his niece having argued that at least she would safe where she was going having little confidence in his ability to hold off the forces now descending upon the capital.

Tyrion witnessed yet another threat to kill Sansa by Joffrey speculates if his sister is aware of the kind of monster her son has developed into. It was on the return  from seeing his niece set sail that a woman with a child dead from starvation overheard a comment by the Queen to ignore her and led to cry of brotherfucker and into a riot calling out for bread. Sansa had gone missing but was found having been pulled off her hose and injured by things that had been thrown. The daughter of a court lady was not rescued until she had been raped by several dozen men who had quickly become a mob.  It was a fearful warning of what could be in store for them all.

We rejoin Tyrion again on pages 465 to 474. He has decided to send the Queen’s second son away for his protection and the Queen believed correctly that Tyrion had a plan to make the younger boy King in place of Joffrey.

Tyrion has a happy time with his woman and then he is contacted in the night by the Eunuch, the Lord Varys to be given the news that the citadel of Storm End had been taken quickly and that its lord had been killed in mysterious circumstances. Previously we had learned that Davos, Stannis trusted man for special missions had to take the Red Woman to the close to the entrance gate where she had given birth yet again to the devil creature.

Tyrion’s next task is to try and arrange for his woman to made safe much against her wishes and then he muses at the humour of the situation were he alone, ridiculed and dismissed by his family now stands between their defeat and death.

In the chapter 517-524 Tyrion became busy organising the forces available to him to try and thwart and slow up any army advancing on the city. He considered the strength of the City Watch of 6000 most of whom were not fighting men and who had joined because they were provided with bread, ale and safety and he reckoned that the first who threw down his spear in funk would have a thousand follow. He insisted on clearing the space outside the walls, involving the movement of people who he anticipated some would resist as their properties were burned. In addition learning of the fall of Storm End he had heard of the rising of Greyjoy as King of the Islands and the North and considered sending someone to reach agreement on borders and his neutrality.
 
He was pleased but also suspicions when the alchemists claimed to have created far more pots of the quickfire than anticipated and they explained this was because they had recovered skills considered lost which in turn led to questioning over the existence of dragons because it was said that once the dragons were no more so was the art of magic. The news of Daenerys and her dragons is yet to reach them.

He also knew that many in the city had no belief that the Lannisters would triumph and was not surprised when a list of established traitors was brought to him of those who were conspiring to support Stannis. While many were merchants and city traders the name of the armourer was also on the list. They were arrested and condemned.

And during this uncertain and threatening time what of Sansa, the eldest of the Stark daughters (548-556). She had become insufferable when the marriage was first suggested; taking the side of Joffrey, eager to gain his approval, angry at the way Ayra opposed everything her future husband did. She had even supported Joffrey and the Lannisters when they declared her father a traitor and she had urged him and her sister to accept the new Order to protect her betrothal and becoming Queen. She had been made to witness the execution of her father and she was to experience beating given her on the orders of Joffrey who appeared to hate her and yet the betrothal had stood until she was to be used for bargaining to gain the return of Jaime Lannister.

Sansa saw and heard of much burning, by Tyrion in preparation for the defence of the city, and by Stannis before the taking of Storm End. She expressed the wish that the great Sept Building (of the High priest) with its seven crystal towers and marble walls would also burn. Once it had been the most beautiful building in the world to her, but that was before she had witnessed the execution of her father on its steps.

That night as many nights she experienced again the terror of what had happened when the mob had attacked her. This night the situation became worse as she menstruated for the first time and having expected something more magical than messy she had set fire to the bedding and destroyed most of her clothing with the smoke damage. This caused merriment more than concern on the part of Cersei She tried to bring some reality to the girl suggesting that her claim to love Joffrey was unwise as something Stannis would not want to hear. She chided Sansa for wanting to be loved, a disease which her former husband possessed along with Tyrion. She shared a womanly wisdom “Love is poison, a sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same.”

It was Tyrion who broke the news to the reader, or more accurately it was the Lord Varys who gave Tyrion the parchment with the news which he told his sister and us readers that Theon Greyjoy had put to death Bran and Ricken Stark and which in turn put immediately into jeopardy the life of Jaime although at least they still held Sansa, and Catelyn and Robb believed they also had Ayra, wherever she now was, alive or dead. (564-573). He had released some of them loyal to Cersei as a gesture of goodwill. She said she had his whore. She was a hostage   taken because of his plotting against her and plans to put Tommen, the younger of the Cersei’s boys on the Throne. She was opposed to his decision that Joffrey should appear with the troops on the battlement as he was requesting. Tyrion had reassured her that this was for morale and he would be taken away if there was any threat to him or the battle was being lost.

In the next Chapter on Sansa (593-598) Tyrion asks why she is not with Cersei and the high born ladies in the provided refuge from the fighting to come. Sansa has been invited and returning there but first she had been asked by Joffrey to see him off to play his part. Joffrey had asked her to bless his sword with a kiss. With Cersei she sang hymns for protection and for victory as other women would be singing all over the city. Cersei was her usual sarcastic self at the naivety of Sansa and her belief in romantic and wondrous rescues.

It is through the eyes of Davos (599- 611) see 2306 on the role of Catelyn, King Robb, Lord Stannis and his trusted friend(Davos) that we first learn of the sea battle. His counsel had been ignored as usual. He had wanted a few  of the fastest moving ships to have gone ahead and tested out what waited for them down  the river  towards the city fortress before leaving the open sea, rather than the whole fleet charging in to face whatever had been prepared for them. The soldiers the ships carried were hyped up for the battle but he would have preferred caution.  They travelled from the open sea up river using oars not sails to avoid the damage caused by what would be hurled from the battlements as they approached the fortress walls. He did not understand why the river had not been closed to them!

He was convinced of a trap when he could see some ships of the opposition fleet and not their biggest craft. It was also significant that The Red Woman as she was known, the consort of Lord Stannis self styled King Stannis, was not with them. She has been sent home after the men suggested that if she remained the victory would be said to hers and not that of Stannis. Yet she had been instrumental in the death of his brother Lord Renly and the taking over of his forces and with the easy taking of the fortress of Storm End when a siege of months had been anticipated.

It was when the burning pitch and arrows were replaced with Wildfire that Davos began to understand their fate. Although it was only when he realised what was in the barges and other ancient craft that had been floated ahead of the mini fleet of the enemy that he realised the extent to which they had prepared and well laid their trap. Soon the fleet was a blazing inferno and his craft was blown apart under him. He was thrown into the water and commences to swim back from the blaze towards the river mouth. However the river chain had been raised and ships on fire had crashed into it there as now a wall of flame before as well as after him.

Tyrion knew that his plan had worked but they had only won the first part of the battle. Some of the enemy ships had reached the shore and put their men onto the ground. The odds had been ten to one against beforehand and his plan had reduced these to less than half but there was no cause to feel victorious. He had difficulty rousing his men and took it upon himself to lead the defence as the enemy closed in on the city. He urged them to fight for their city and their lives. He did not mention the King, the Queen or himself. He hoped they were following his call but he dared not look behind (612-616).

Sansa had the soup which Cersei provided her and who was getting drunk on wine as news of the battle was relayed to her (617-622). The news was good with over a hundred of the enemy ships ablaze. Cersei also knew the reality of their situation

She explained to Sansa that if circumstances enabled she would surrender and plead for the lives of the women and their children but if otherwise there was rape, torture, mutilation and death awaiting them. She admitted that their birth might protect them as hostages for ransom but after the heat of battle men often had different things on their mind, including revenge for the death of comrades. In such circumstances she had arranged for the trust Ser Illyen who stood by them to put them to death. “Us” appealed Sansa? “Yes” replied he Queen. The Starks will not benefit from the fall of the House of Lannister.

Tyrion found himself in the thick of battle and in his won words became drunk on the slaughter (623-629). We are provided with a vivid description of the battle. Tyrion appears to survive but was sword slashing across his face and loses consciousness.

Sansa overhears the Queen being told that the battle is lost and so it also appears is her brother (630-636). Sansa retreats to her room where she was approached by the hated Hound Sandor Clegaine, of the Kings guard who on Joffrey’s orders has treated her roughly. Now he has something else on his mind. It is not clear from the text what happened  but the next she hears is news that that the City is saved, the battle won as Lord Tywin,  head of the Lannisters had arrived with his men and other supporters  but there was also the allegation that Lord Renly had also appeared and attacked his brother.

As the novel moves to its conclusion Sansa  witnesses the pomp and splendour of the official reception to mark the arrival if Twyin Lannister, Lord of Castlerock, the official Hand to the King at the Court with Joffrey in full regalia and Queen Cersei triumphant. There was also warm greetings for Mace Tyrell and his three sons, Lord of Highgarden who and served the cause so well. For their good service Joffrey offered to meet any request. One son asked to serve in the Kings guard and this was granted. Then the senior brother mentioned that his sister Margery (who we know is 15 years and was married to Lord Renly) says that the marriage was not consummated and asks that the King marries her and unites their two houses (662-669).

Joffrey states he was betrothed to another but the Queen intervened to say it would be wrong to now marry the daughter of a condemned traitor who had admitted his guilt before the people (albeit under threat to save his daughters if he did not).  This greeted with enthusiasm by the court. Joffrey says he has sworn to marry Sansa. The High Septon (priest) then intervenes declares that no spiritual ceremony had taken place moreover the crimes committed by the family also released him from his commitment. There was a great cry of support for the widow of Lord Renly. Joffrey declared that the Gods are good and that he would marry the sister.

This had all been prearranged by Cersei who had warned Sansa to look distraught at the news and to ask what would become of her despite feeling elation inside that she was free of Joffrey and she hoped free to return to her family.  Innumerable others are rewarded including the making of 600 new knights. Back in her quarters Sansa was to learn that the Queen would continue to hold her as a hostage and the Joffrey would also take her as his whore. She had to flee to survive. But she had a friend Ser Dontos offering to help her escape on the night when Joffrey was to wed.

Tyrion survived his wounds (681-688) and found himself being cared for in a place he did not now but later learned it was at the command of his sister who wanted to be kept closely informed of his recovery. He wanted the plaster and bandages removed from his face to see the extent of his injuries despite being warned he risked the recovery and properly healing of the wound. He was cheered to learn that his father had arrived and assumed his appointed role as the Hand. He longed to see his woman but wondered how she would react to his injuries. Thus the book ends but the TV series is different. I have resisted the temptation to see if this is a brought forward endomh from aspects of the next novel.

Tyrion learns that supported by his father he had been stripped of all his official roles and that in addition to suffering further deformity he has become an outcast. He had never trusts the feelings which his woman had shown him, given the circumstances in which they met and her background. When she comes to him an wants to show her devotion and share his banishment he shows her his deformed face. She only shows him her love and perhaps he has gained more than he has ever anticipated.

Clash of Kings ends-the story of Jon

The third character where the reader is unsure of their future role in the Fire and Ice series of huge novels by George R R Martin and which for the television series is known by the name of the first work Game of Thrones, is the illegitimate eldest son of Lord Stark of Winterfell, Jon, Jon Snow.

With the departure of Lord Stark to the capital of the Seven Kingdoms taking Jon’s favourite half sister, Ayra to be a companion for the eldest daughter, betrothed when still a child to the boy who the King believed was his eldest child. Jon, under the influence of the Stark’s brother, Benjen, had elected to join he Night Watch, guardian of the great wall of rock and Ice separating the Seven Kingdoms from the harsh lands beyond the Wall full, of independent human creatures called Wildings and where legend had it that the undead once walked and which some claimed had returned.

Jon had then been devastated when first he had reports that his father had been executed by the new King Joffrey after being deposed as a traitor following the death of the King Robert who has required his role as chief adviser and led to the breaking up of the family. He was then left alone when his uncle failed to return from an expedition beyond the Wall to investigate the rumours of happenings. Nevertheless he had taken the oath of lifelong celibacy and commitment and had had gained a special position after saving the life of the head of Order,

In the second book, Game of Thrones, he had become a member of a large party from the Night Watch led by its leader to find out what had happened to his uncle and what was happening according reports of concern. It is during this expedition that I rejoin Jon during the last third of the book covered in the writings this week.

In pages 457-464 Jon is party to the reports of the men from the Shadow Tower along the Wall who had engaged and defeated some of the Wildings. The leader of the Night Watch,  the Lord Commander and also called the Old Bear,  had the birth name of Jeor Mormont, the same surname as the knight who guarded and companioned Daenerys Targaryen but if  a relationship between the two has been mentioned it has not be noted. Also with the Night Watch as a counsellor and healer is Master Aemon Targaryen a relation of Daenerys and therefore a link between the future of the Night \Watch and the attempt of Daenerys Targaryen and her Dragons to regain family power is suggested.

The men captured by the Shadow Tower men had talked and explained that the intention of the Wilding hoards was to breach the wall, some seven hundred feet in height, not be tunnelling underneath or scaling its height with ropes but by sorcery. The horde had taken to the mountains in search of some great power, force, to be used and the Shadow Tower commander suggested three parties of five men should be sent to find out more. When seeking to know what men he would use for this dangerous mission, he named Jon Snow because he was a Stark and the Starks were of the Old Gods and because it was the men of the Shadow Tower who still believed that Benjen Stark the head Ranger remained alive until proved dead. However it can also be said that that the decision had been ore determined in a private conversation between the Old Bear and the Shadow Tower Commander.

From pages 537-548 we learn that Jon had taken with him his now full grown direwolf Ghost who at night went out hunting but stayed closes as he huddled with the rest of the party for warmth from furs and each others bodies as they slept the night in the open on the hard frozen rock of the inhospitable land. They had climbed in the dark trying not to think of chasm below and remembering the advice to regard the mountain akin to a mother’s teat. Jon had joked that he had always wondered who his mother was but had never considered finding her in this barren wilderness. His father had promised to tell on his return to Winterfell who his mother has been and now with the death, he assumed he would never know. They had come at night to try and take the three Wildings who had lit fires while they kept round the clock watch on movements below.

It was the first time Jon faced an enemy which required killing to ensure their lasting silence and enable their discovering what was happening... His companions did for the other two but he found the third to be a girl, no older than himself and who yielded to him. She pleaded for her companions to be burnt but instead they were stripped to their bodies and flung below to be savaged as food for wild animals.

Jon was told they had neither food nor spare men to guard the girl and Jon resigned himself to her killing, something had had to do personally as she had surrendered to him the night before. The others made their way telling him to be quick and determined to undertake the deed and he had raised his knife being told by the girl to be quick. Then he had changed his mind and told her run off.

It is at this point that the story the TV series departs from the book. In pages 557-564 Jon rejoins the party and admits he had taken the girl’s weapons and let her free something which did not cause their leader any surprise and his concern became more the dream Jon had of being his Direwolf and seeing that all the Wildings had come together not as an army as such but as everyone   including children, women and old men and of what he saw more!  And then with the dawn they heard the call of the horn knowing they had been spotted.

Much else is written of the others before the book is about to close and we find ourselves with Jon once more (689-698). The party leader had two orders. One was for someone to leave and find the Commander of the Night Watch and tell him of Jon’s dream and of the rising of creatures from mythology and that the trees had eyes again.

The other order was for Jon after getting him to recite his oath of duty and commitment with him. He was to not only to yield if captured and agree to renounce his oaths and join as the girl had bid him to do. He was to do everything that was asked of him whatever this was and keep to watch. When asked what he should look for, the party leader said he wished that he knew and then made Jon swear to do what was asked of him.

When they were captured the Wilding wanted to kill them all but it was the girl reunited with her people who explained what had happened and who he was and pleaded for him.  There was great reluctance to accept her words and as a test he was told to fight his party leader to death. Jon realised that his leader had known this was likely to happen before the order had been given. When Jon asked where they would be going the girl explained, sadly that there was no one behind them. Her countrymen were well ahead marching on the Wall and her manner suggesting she regretted not being with them...

The TV second season series follows the substance of these events although Jon loses contact with the others and he needs the girl to help him find his comrades. He becomes her prisoner when she encounters her comrades so as to protect him from immediate death. In the final sequence they are overtaken not be the rest of their company but a different kind of army, the undead, skeletal  beings reminiscent of those called to help during the Return of the King in the Lord of the Rings  or those in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. These are the most fearsome and while Jon hides he appears to be spotted by one but is ignored.