Thursday, September 22, 2011

Betrayal

Like the deaths, the betrayals keep coming. Which one did you find most upsetting? or surprising?

I'm still stewing about the Red Wedding. I knew something was going to happen, but I didn't expect wholesale slaughter, and the violation of the guest rule/peace banner was utterly shocking.

I also was pretty outraged at Catelyn for betraying her king (Robb) and freeing Jaime. That just seemed stupid and ill-fated and not entirely explicable as an act of mother love.

I sensed that Theon wasn't altogether upstanding, but I was also surprised by his heartless and cruel betrayal of the Starks.
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4 comments:

kc said...

And the fool knight's betraying Sansa to Petyr! That pissed me off.

9:41 PM, September 22, 2011
Erin said...

Ugh, yes! The betrayals are shocking. The fool knight totally pissed me off. I was glad when Petyr had him killed. The Red Wedding pissed me off, too. Lord Frey was an a-hole from the beginning, of course, but I never suspected that he would slaughter a bunch of wedding guests like that. That was particularly appalling. Even the Lannisters felt funny about that, I think.

Catelyn's freeing of Jaime didn't make a lot of sense to me, either. She was desperate, I suppose, to do something, anything to reach her daughters. She had to have not been thinking clearly if she thought that plan was really going to work. Ill-fated from the start, as you say.

And Theon pissed me off, too! I get that he was basically a captive at Winterfell and that Ned didn't treat him as well as his own sons, but come on! He grew up with those people. How could he turn on them like that? What a dick.

Shae's betrayal of Tyrion was also pretty surprising to me.

1:48 PM, September 23, 2011
kc said...

I honestly never cared much for Shae. I didn't foresee that she'd be such a dastardly traitor, but I did peg her as something of a shallow opportunist, the way she was always pining after jewels and riches and society. She didn't seem to appreciate that she had a pretty good gig for her station in life and that seeking more was reckless and greedy. I also felt bad because I understood why Tyrion liked her so much: She made him feel good about himself. She made him feel "normal" and desirable. She behaved as though she genuinely enjoyed their moments of physical affection. She was the most fulfilling love experience he had ever had, even if, in other circumstances, she wouldn't have exactly qualified as an ideal mate for him. It made it all the sadder when she showed her true colors. (On the other hand, in that society women had so little power that you can't wholly blame a woman for doing what it took to survive).

2:17 PM, September 23, 2011
Erin said...

Yeah, good point. Shae didn't have a lot to hope for. She had no power and no rights of her own. She probably didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. It was just so sad, like you say, because Tyrion was so hurt by it. Tyrion's experiences with women are pretty heartbreaking.

3:19 PM, September 23, 2011

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