Favorite Game of Thrones Scenes » aka the BEST Scenes
No one's suppose to be here...
She swam, following her nose. The river smells were rich and wet, but those were not the smells that pulled her. She paddled after the sharp red whisper of cold blood, the sweet cloying stench of death. She chased them as she had often chased a red deer through the trees, and in the end she ran them down, and her jaw closed around a pale white arm. She shook it to make it move, but there was only death and blood in her mouth. By now she was tiring, and it was all she could do to pull the body back to shore. As she dragged it up the muddy bank, one of her little brothers came prowling, his tongue lolling from his mouth. She had to snarl to drive him off, or else he would have fed. Only then did she stop to shake the water from her fur. The white thing lay face down in the mud, her dead flesh wrinkled and pale, cold blood trickling from her throat. Rise, she thought. Rise and eat and run with us.
But the bedding was part of the wedding, and the wedding was her duty; there was no room for cowardice where duty was concerned.
I wanted to make a strong mother character. The portrayal women in epic fantasy have been problematical for a long time. These books are largely written by men but women also read them in great, great numbers. And the women in fantasy tend to be very atypical women… They tend to be the woman warrior or the spunky princess who wouldn’t accept what her father lays down, and I have those archetypes in my books as well.
However, with Catelyn there is something reset for the Eleanor of Aquitaine, the figure of the woman who accepted her role and functions with a narrow society and, nonetheless, achieves considerable influence and power and authority despite accepting the risks and limitations of this society.
She is also a mother… Then, a tendency you can see in a lot of other fantasies is to kill the mother or to get her off the stage. She’s usually dead before the story opens… Nobody wants to hear about King Arthur’s mother and what she thought or what she was doing, so they get her off the stage and I wanted it too. And that’s Catelyn.
"- George RR Martin on Catelyn Stark (via jaimelannister)
…the controversy over the very idea that Game of Thrones might be taking Catelyn on a different path than the books has overshadowed what Catelyn’s confession means for the show, and I’d like to ignore the books entirely to discuss why the scene –- which I’d argue was Michelle Fairley’s best scene as Catelyn to date –- was so significant for her character on the series.
Over the course of the series, we’ve seen Catelyn lose her husband, believe she’s lost her sons Bran and Rickon, and fear for Sansa and Arya’s fates as the hostages she believes both to be. That’s an immense amount of loss for any one character, but the idea that Catelyn has been holding herself responsible adds new resonance to her desperation to make things rights – a desperation that led her to release Jaime Lannister. Game of Thrones is set in a cruel, senseless world, in which a character like Ned Stark can end up beheaded due to the whims of a sadistic young boy. Given the immense powerlessness of her situation, it’s heartbreaking to watch Catelyn blame herself for all the tragedy that has befallen the Starks since the series began. We know, as Catelyn doesn’t, that the tragedy that has befallen the Starks was caused not by a moment of personal weakness or the anger of her seven gods, but by the deliberate actions and machinations of a series of people. Catelyn calls herself a murderer, but we’ve repeatedly seen what murder means in Westeros -– even murder abetted by a god –- and Catelyn isn’t guilty.
-Scott Meslow, Think Progress
Fans of the books have complained that not only does the scene not take place in the books, but that it is a huge departure for Catelyn’s character in both media. (As Slate commenter TawdryHepburn put it, “I just wish they hadn’t shoved her in the silly-emotional-lady box so early.” ) She’s never been nice to Jon Snow at all. Remember in Season 1, when he was about to leave for the Night’s Watch, and he came to visit Bran, who was recovering from being pushed out of a tower by Jaime Lannister? He said he came to say goodbye and she said, “You already have.” And then she asks him to leave. You can tell she wishes it had been him.
So yes, having Catelyn break down with guilt over Jon Snow was jarring, at first. But after watching the scene a few times, I like it. I won’t pretend to be in the heads of show-runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, or to know precisely why they handle material differently between the books and show, when it’s not just to condense the very complex material. But I see at least one benefit in thawing Catelyn at least little bit.
Even in its abridged-for-TV version, this show has a kajillion characters. We don’t even get to check in on every major storyline in each hourlong episode. (Missed you this week, Danerys!) So to keep us watching, and to help us keep everything straight, the characters must be compelling. They don’t have to be likable, obviously, but they have to be interesting. And honestly, Lady Catelyn just hasn’t had that much to work with since Season 1. The show did not allow her to indulge much in her grief over Ned (bringing his bones to her at Renly’s camp—really?), and they couldn’t show her internal anguish about leaving Bran and Rickon for months.
All of which leaves her looking not just cold, but boring. The revelation might upset fans, but it doesn’t change that much. She’s still a flawed woman. Proper and honest and honorable and fiercely protective of her (trueborn) children, but flawed. But by admitting that, and by saying that she blames herself for her family’s considerable recent woes, she’s opened herself up just enough to make us curious about her.
-Rachel Larimore, Slate
I don’t know, I kind of want to kiss the showmakers now because ofthis one single scene in episode 3.02 that perfectly describes Catelyn’s character. Or at least they way I see her.
Photograph by GAVIN BOND
