The Winter is Coming (actually I am hoping it's leaving soon)
After bemoaning the lack of a Song of Ice and Fire (George RR Martin) fandom in queenofthorns' journal, I thought maybe I should post more about it so as not to be the pot calling the kettle black, so to speak.
Jon Snow
The series starts with execution and the discovery of direwolf pups. Ned Stark (or I might say more signifigantly: The Stark Family) doesn't have a headsman and this is stated to be symbolic of the importance of taking full responsiblity for one's decisions. If you are going to sentence someone to death, you should also deliver that death. Jon Snow admires his father. Ned Stark is all that is good is basically what we are told by him in this chapter. So they find the direwolves. Initially they find 5, enough for all the legitimate children but not for Jon. So there it is, Ned Stark can be as noble as he wants but he cannot/will not erase the lack of equality. Jon Snow is not a Stark. However, they find a 6th direwolf, one that is white like the snow Jon is named after instead of grey like the normal direwolves. So Jon symbolically is still a direwolf (the Stark emblem), even though he is passed over and ignored initially. His choice of naming his wolf "Ghost" is of course appropriate to the place he holds in the family and the world. Jon is made invisable by his bastard birth. When the royal court comes to Winterfell, the family essentially pretends he doesn't exist. He is also a reminder of Ned's past transgression, or (if he is not Ned's bastard at all but instead the child of Lyanna Stark and Rheagar Trgaryen as queenofthorns suggested) a reminder of Ned's dead sister, a sort of corporeal ghost, and also a leftover from the conflict and revolution sparked by their passion. Also, as a Man of the Night's Watch, he is a shadow protector of the kingdom, not seen or remembered by the majority of the kingdom. In some ways Jon remains more a Stark than his half siblings, who leave the north while Jon stays and defends it. The meaning of "Starkdom" is tied to the North in a way that some of the other families are not tied to their locations, Lannisters are still at home in King's Landing instead of Castely Rock for instance. Starks, like snow and other things of the north, melt and dissolve into nothing when you take them out of the right climate. Regardless, although he is not a legitimate member of the family, Jon represents what Starks/the North seemingly is supposed to stand for. He is stoic, heroic... okay that was a bad rhyme but you get my meaning. I know some people who don't care for Jon, finding him boring in his goodness, but I love him. He's just resentful and angst ridden enough to not be smackable, but he handles it like a man and doesn't go all emo on us, and his burdens aren't so impossibly hard that he's a super hero type. Jon is my favorite of Ned Stark's children, probably because his lack of Stark status makes him more accessible in many ways. Perhaps Jon should be a prince, King of the North, but he is not and we love him the better for it.
Robb Stark
Robb Stark is the golden boy of the series, even though technically vile Joffery is the one who supposedly looks it. I always imagined Robb, contrary to the actual description of him as dark haired, a golden godlike boy like Ralph in Lord of the Flies. While Jon is prematurely knowing, Ralph is much more boyish. He is virtuous like his half brother, believes in the right things and does the best he knows how, but he is a boy. This makes sense since he's a lordling. It also makes sense because he is strongly influenced by his mother's heritage. Caitlyn is a Tully and that's different than being a Stark. The Tullys live by the water in the middle of the kingdom where it's neither to hot nor too cold, they are gracious and lively, in some ways more the opposite of Stark than the Dornish in the South, whose climate is rought like the Stark's though in a different way. It is important to note that Robb is crowned King of the North in Riverrun, his mother's homeland, and not in the north proper at Winterfell. Things are not so heavy in Riverrun as in Winterfell, they are not responsible for any border of Westernos. Regardless, Robb is good but he doesn't see some things and expects the rest of the world to be good too. Not to lay all this on his mother though, Ned Stark also died because of his goodness and faith. So it isn't suprising that Robb would think to marry for love and expect everyone else to respect that. He smiles and apologizes and expects that the Freys will act how he would in their position, partly because he is young, and partly because he is so good hearted that he doesn't recognize the potential for evil in others. Robb's death hit me hard, possibly hardest of any in the series. He was so young and beautiful and good and I had planned for him to marry Dany and thus make it possible for both the Starks and Targaryens to win. At the same time, Robb is not a particularly interesting character, as far as I remember we never get a chapter from his perspective even.
Sansa Stark
In A Game of Thrones, Sansa is probably the most annoying character in the entire book. I hated her a lot. She's shallow and stupid and she is responsible for her father's death at least partly. Her naming her wolf "Lady" sort of describes exactly how much she lacked originality. She was taken in by the outward appearance of the Lannisters and their golden image. However, she has developed more than any of the other Stark children and now she is my favorite of the legitable Starks. It is too bad she is unlikely to live considering that her wolf was killed in book 1. Of course, the old Sansa is dead in a sense. She has lost her identity for the most part becoming Alayne Stone, the bastard daughter of Petyr Baelish who has always been in love with her mother. It is interesting to note that when I actually start to like Sansa she becomes a bastard child, losing her name and becoming her environment... like Jon. Sansa became sympathetic when she started to realize the true nature of the Lannisters, when Joffrey humiliated her, when she began to be nicer to those she had scorned. When her story really becomes most compelling though, at least for me, is when she falls into the trap of Petyr. Sansa looks like her mother, and we imagine that probably much of her idealism about court and princes is reminiscent of what Caitlyn might have been like as a girl. The thing with Petyr is comflicting because he is psychotic and ruthless and wants to have Sansa in a sexual sense, but he also is the one person who can be trusted to protect her from the rest of the dangers she faces. Petyr's lust is all the more disturbing because, while half the time he essentially sees her as Caitlyn, the other half he sort of fantasizes that Sansa is he and Caitlyn's daughter. Of course Petyr's desire for Caitlyn was always borderline incestuous because he was her foster brother. I have to say that I like Sansa as Alayne though, she's competant and useful. I have to attribute at least past of that to the fact that the Eyrie is in th North. As I discussed with Jon, Stark power is bound to a geographic location and we can see that by how terribly wrong things go for Sansa when she goes south to King's Landing, and the way her life becomes more bearable when she goes North again. Considering that Arya, also is experimenting with identity, I think that whether being a Stark is an external of internal thing is very important. Possibly it also shows the difference in the two girls nature in the way that Sansa becomes Alayne but Arya can never really stop being Arya. Regardless, from the looks of things as of Feast for Crows, it seems that Alayne is soon to become Sansa again, and I hope she survives it, although it seems unlikely.
Jon Snow
The series starts with execution and the discovery of direwolf pups. Ned Stark (or I might say more signifigantly: The Stark Family) doesn't have a headsman and this is stated to be symbolic of the importance of taking full responsiblity for one's decisions. If you are going to sentence someone to death, you should also deliver that death. Jon Snow admires his father. Ned Stark is all that is good is basically what we are told by him in this chapter. So they find the direwolves. Initially they find 5, enough for all the legitimate children but not for Jon. So there it is, Ned Stark can be as noble as he wants but he cannot/will not erase the lack of equality. Jon Snow is not a Stark. However, they find a 6th direwolf, one that is white like the snow Jon is named after instead of grey like the normal direwolves. So Jon symbolically is still a direwolf (the Stark emblem), even though he is passed over and ignored initially. His choice of naming his wolf "Ghost" is of course appropriate to the place he holds in the family and the world. Jon is made invisable by his bastard birth. When the royal court comes to Winterfell, the family essentially pretends he doesn't exist. He is also a reminder of Ned's past transgression, or (if he is not Ned's bastard at all but instead the child of Lyanna Stark and Rheagar Trgaryen as queenofthorns suggested) a reminder of Ned's dead sister, a sort of corporeal ghost, and also a leftover from the conflict and revolution sparked by their passion. Also, as a Man of the Night's Watch, he is a shadow protector of the kingdom, not seen or remembered by the majority of the kingdom. In some ways Jon remains more a Stark than his half siblings, who leave the north while Jon stays and defends it. The meaning of "Starkdom" is tied to the North in a way that some of the other families are not tied to their locations, Lannisters are still at home in King's Landing instead of Castely Rock for instance. Starks, like snow and other things of the north, melt and dissolve into nothing when you take them out of the right climate. Regardless, although he is not a legitimate member of the family, Jon represents what Starks/the North seemingly is supposed to stand for. He is stoic, heroic... okay that was a bad rhyme but you get my meaning. I know some people who don't care for Jon, finding him boring in his goodness, but I love him. He's just resentful and angst ridden enough to not be smackable, but he handles it like a man and doesn't go all emo on us, and his burdens aren't so impossibly hard that he's a super hero type. Jon is my favorite of Ned Stark's children, probably because his lack of Stark status makes him more accessible in many ways. Perhaps Jon should be a prince, King of the North, but he is not and we love him the better for it.
Robb Stark
Robb Stark is the golden boy of the series, even though technically vile Joffery is the one who supposedly looks it. I always imagined Robb, contrary to the actual description of him as dark haired, a golden godlike boy like Ralph in Lord of the Flies. While Jon is prematurely knowing, Ralph is much more boyish. He is virtuous like his half brother, believes in the right things and does the best he knows how, but he is a boy. This makes sense since he's a lordling. It also makes sense because he is strongly influenced by his mother's heritage. Caitlyn is a Tully and that's different than being a Stark. The Tullys live by the water in the middle of the kingdom where it's neither to hot nor too cold, they are gracious and lively, in some ways more the opposite of Stark than the Dornish in the South, whose climate is rought like the Stark's though in a different way. It is important to note that Robb is crowned King of the North in Riverrun, his mother's homeland, and not in the north proper at Winterfell. Things are not so heavy in Riverrun as in Winterfell, they are not responsible for any border of Westernos. Regardless, Robb is good but he doesn't see some things and expects the rest of the world to be good too. Not to lay all this on his mother though, Ned Stark also died because of his goodness and faith. So it isn't suprising that Robb would think to marry for love and expect everyone else to respect that. He smiles and apologizes and expects that the Freys will act how he would in their position, partly because he is young, and partly because he is so good hearted that he doesn't recognize the potential for evil in others. Robb's death hit me hard, possibly hardest of any in the series. He was so young and beautiful and good and I had planned for him to marry Dany and thus make it possible for both the Starks and Targaryens to win. At the same time, Robb is not a particularly interesting character, as far as I remember we never get a chapter from his perspective even.
Sansa Stark
In A Game of Thrones, Sansa is probably the most annoying character in the entire book. I hated her a lot. She's shallow and stupid and she is responsible for her father's death at least partly. Her naming her wolf "Lady" sort of describes exactly how much she lacked originality. She was taken in by the outward appearance of the Lannisters and their golden image. However, she has developed more than any of the other Stark children and now she is my favorite of the legitable Starks. It is too bad she is unlikely to live considering that her wolf was killed in book 1. Of course, the old Sansa is dead in a sense. She has lost her identity for the most part becoming Alayne Stone, the bastard daughter of Petyr Baelish who has always been in love with her mother. It is interesting to note that when I actually start to like Sansa she becomes a bastard child, losing her name and becoming her environment... like Jon. Sansa became sympathetic when she started to realize the true nature of the Lannisters, when Joffrey humiliated her, when she began to be nicer to those she had scorned. When her story really becomes most compelling though, at least for me, is when she falls into the trap of Petyr. Sansa looks like her mother, and we imagine that probably much of her idealism about court and princes is reminiscent of what Caitlyn might have been like as a girl. The thing with Petyr is comflicting because he is psychotic and ruthless and wants to have Sansa in a sexual sense, but he also is the one person who can be trusted to protect her from the rest of the dangers she faces. Petyr's lust is all the more disturbing because, while half the time he essentially sees her as Caitlyn, the other half he sort of fantasizes that Sansa is he and Caitlyn's daughter. Of course Petyr's desire for Caitlyn was always borderline incestuous because he was her foster brother. I have to say that I like Sansa as Alayne though, she's competant and useful. I have to attribute at least past of that to the fact that the Eyrie is in th North. As I discussed with Jon, Stark power is bound to a geographic location and we can see that by how terribly wrong things go for Sansa when she goes south to King's Landing, and the way her life becomes more bearable when she goes North again. Considering that Arya, also is experimenting with identity, I think that whether being a Stark is an external of internal thing is very important. Possibly it also shows the difference in the two girls nature in the way that Sansa becomes Alayne but Arya can never really stop being Arya. Regardless, from the looks of things as of Feast for Crows, it seems that Alayne is soon to become Sansa again, and I hope she survives it, although it seems unlikely.