Today, Dany does something! Jon Snow is mopey and Bran hears a story. Plus, the most awkward wedding ever. Let’s read!
First off, Dany does some major and it isn’t at the end of the book! Which is nice for me since if she hadn’t done something, most of this post would end up being about Jon Snow losing his virginity.
In A Clash of Kings, Dany sort of stagnated. She knew what she wanted but didn’t have the experience or clout to get it done, so she ended going back and forth in Qarth ultimately gaining nothing except a whole city full of enemies. Honestly, I thought going to Astapor would end up being more of the same. Luckily, I was wrong.
Dany has a choice to make: A) go back to Pentos and wait for Illyrio to give her an army or B) get her own slave army and conqueror every city between her and King’s Landing. Both choices have their pros and cons. Option A has Dany basically become what Viserys was, a angry and increasingly deranged king, and Option B would make Dany an outsider coming to conqueror instead of the rightful queen reclaiming her throne. Dany chooses Option C: free the slaves and burn Astapor to the ground. Not a bad choice, but then we haven’t seen the consequences for it yet.
That said, it is quite nice to have Dany actually take action instead mulling over what kind of leader she should be. Along with Bran and Arya, Dany is one of the few characters who are outside of the main conflict and because of that, it can get a little boring reading about them. Like I said, the most exciting thing Dany did in the last novel was piss off an entire city by burning down the House of the Undying Ones, and she didn’t even mean to do it! And I don’t mind Dany trying to figure out what kind ruler she should be, I just wish she was challenged a bit more. Robb and a whole host of other characters are also doing that, but their journeys are allowing them to learn on their feet, which makes it a lot more exciting than Dany just sort of falling into power positions and really not learning anything from them.
Speaking of people not really learning anything, let’s talk about Sansa. Now, I’m being a bit unfair to Sansa because she’s actually learned lot since the beginning of this series. I’m just saying that she has a long way to go. For example, thoughts such as this:
No one knew, but [Sansa] and Margaery and the Queen of Thorns… oh, and Dontos, but he didn’t count.
I’m guessing Dontos was the one who told the Lannisters that Sansa was going to marry Willas Tyrell. Sansa was doing so well. She knew not to trust any of the servants and kept her mouth shut to pretty much everyone, except Ser Dontos.
Sansa’s whole chapter made me feel so sad and upset for both Tyrion and Sansa. Both of them are being forced into a marriage they don’t want and both are too powerless to do anything about it. Everything about their marriage just creeps me out and was a lot harder to read about than any battle or death I’ve come across in this series.
The rest of the chapters are really just more of the same. We find out that Davos is stuck in jail and Melisandre is keeping him alive because he has to do something later… I think. Then, Bran gets told the story of The Knight of the Laughing Tree, which I’m guessing is about Ned and Howland Reed when they were younger. Jon Snow loses his virginity and has doubts about being a spy because these Stark boys are honorable bordering on stupid. And lastly, Arya comes to another town and meets up with a character that the narration leaves as a cliffhanger.
Next time: more Jon, more Tyrion, and hopefully, more Dany.
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