Going Over Arya I, A Game of Thrones 

About the septa, I think the boys don’t get one to teach them because they’re expected to stay in the North. The girls get one because they’re expected to be married out and not stay in the north

its called the war of the roses because the yorkshire flag is a white rose and the lancashire flag is a red rose

I kinda always thought the boys "belonged to the north" and were expected to take after Ned and worship the old gods, where the girls would follow their mother's faith and possibly marry southern lords.

41:54 I don't think I've ever heard this being discussed as foreshadowing of Arya's ultimate fate. "When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers." The needle being the sword Needle.

I think the point of Sansa, besides being a opposite to Arya, is to point out how being a beautiful princess in this monarchical patriarchy isn’t lemons and gumdrops either, that idea “lady” is literally killed right away. You think you want to be princess, think again

Suprised to see how mature and responsible Theon was being. Like an older brother to Robb.

27:28 it’s also foreshadowing because a wolf fishes Katlin out of a river

I hope he does this with every chapter all the way through 😂

I think George's use of hair and eyes as evidence of a genetic link is just an easy way to give clues to readers to figure out heritage of certain characters. I guess there are other ways to do it but it seems like using hair and eyes is easiest.

I was surprised you completely glossed over Jon's remark about why he isn't down there with the other boys. "Bastard's aren't allowed to damage young princes." It's an especially interesting line since we know Joffrey is the bastard and not a young prince, which if this proves to be irony, which is much of Jon's story, Jon should be the young prince.

The Robb/Joffrey rivalry and abortive "live steel" duel seems like obvious foreshadowing of Robb maiming Joffrey on the battlefield with live steel, as mentioned in the 1993 outline.

Jeyne eventually being forced to become Arya after her relentless mocking and bullying of Arya is pretty ironic.

41:53 When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers." Could be foreshadowing of Arya at the end of TWOW.

George definitely is taking a lot about sex roles no doubt. However I think it would be very interesting to bring in some other lenses. Gregor burning Sandor because he played with a toy … personally I don’t think this is about sex roles. The toy wasn’t a girl toy - so he wasn’t being punished for not being boyish. That scene was about contrasting fantasy with harsh realities. It was a puppet knight - implying Sandor has fantasies about mythical knights - the face in the fire was a horrific bringing down of those dreams- the same theme is found is Sansa’s broken fairytale life , and Briennes constant contrast of her knightly aspirations with the reality of war.

Rodrick is merely the gentle face on the same ‘toxic masculinity’ that the hound represents? Or are we being presented with two contrasting masculinities? Rodrick accompanies Catelyn, unchains osha, acts as castellan and mentor to Bran, and is shown to love Beth so much that she was used as a hostage to prevent Rodrick from attacking Theon, and then dies in that battle. In this very chapter , the level of padding he put on the boys is repeatedly emphasized, in contrast to Sandors call for live steel. Toxic masculinity where? Robb and Jon’s lives later depend on their skill with arms, showing ‘training children’ for battle was indeed necessary for them. So how does that fit with the notion that George the very idea of boys learning to fight? Rodrick and Sandor are presented as contrasts here - much in the same way Joff and Robb, dueling, also represent the positive and negative masculine. Rob dying to avenge his father- Joff a sadistic bully.

Well, there is Septon Chayle at Winterfell. But we don't see him interacting with the boys much.

Jon is observant when he is with ghost. When ghost is on the other side of the wall hes kind of an idiot, and he gets stabbed when he locks up ghost in his room. Ill have to review the text more on this. Just a thought though.

41:59 extremely surprised you didn't touch on "come the spring fall they'll find you dead with a needle frozen in your hand." Arya dies during the fight with the Others while wielding Needle confirmed?

The first bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Is it possible that the girls learn the faith of the 7 because they are more likely to marry southern lords to create alliances where the northern boys would stay in the north?

Oh I'm so using that😅 "excuse me, which way is the bathroom, I need to go shoe a horse"

The name of the war of the roses comes from the fact that the royal houses had roses for their coats of arms, Red rose for Lancaster and white rose for York. That’s why it was such a big deal for Henry VII to use the “Tudor rose,” being a combination of white and red to show that the wars were now over and his line was indisputably the royal family now* - so long as you ignored the other pretenders. That’s why Shakespeare included it in the play, he didn’t invent the idea, he was just referencing the colour scheme that already existed. * Actually it was significantly more complicated than that. Henry VII typically used the banner of the Welsh dragon, particularly at Bosworth, Henry VI tended to use an antelope, Richard III preferred a boar and so on. Yorkist kings did tend to use the white rose more, Edward IV particularly while Lancastrian kings used the red rose sparingly, but you get the idea - people could differentiate the families based on a different coloured rose, so the name for the conflict stuck, even if the colouring scheme wasn’t always consistent or 100% accurate.

Incidentally my nephews follow grrm’s rules on genetics, one completely looks like his father / his side of the family and one looks exactly like my sister /our side of the family.

oofta. pumping these out! ty for the content.

Fuck yes Preston

I'm wondering if Arya and Sansa were always meant to marry people in the south. Why educate them in the Faith if they're just going to marry Northern Lords who won't understand what they were raised with? It probably wasn't a "Southron Ambitions" situation, but rather Catelyn pushing Ned to have her kids (specifically her female kids) get the same experiences she herself had when she was in her home. Robb was destined to be Lord of Winterfell and marrying a Northern Lady was almost certainly the endgame to secure alliances in the homeland. Jon was going to get lands in The Gift. Bran might have gone to the Kingsguard if he was good enough or the right strings were pulled. And Rickon could either be "the spare" to Robb if Bran leaves or he could be given a castle of his own or join the Watch and basically be guaranteed a leadership role due to his heritage. The girls might have been destined for a life of being sold off to another family to make babies, but Cat clearly wants more for them. At least in the sense of giving them a life outside of the isolated North. That's a big reason why she was cool with them going to King's Landing, after all.

4:30 but it seems very obvious: Ned would be even more interested in having them brought up in the northern way. It's also important for acceptance and to preserve tradition for when they would rule the North after him. He just doesn't care about the girls when it comes to faith.

Im loving these read along videos Preston! You give great analysis along the way. I hope you get to do this for every chapter!

Please keep doing these Preston they’re awesome!

I’m surprised you didn’t comment on the famous ‘wolf with a fish in its mouth’ foreshadowing of Nymeria pulling Cat out of the river.

arya is of course a lil girl that killed the nightking

Wasn’t it called war of the roses because the sigils were the white rose of york and the red rose of Lancaster?

Nymeria and Lady... interesting that GRRM didn't go with a specific historical figure for Sansa to want to emulate (Naerys Targaryen, Elinor Costayne, maybe Alysanne Targaryen, etc.). Is GRRM saying that being a 'good' traditional woman strips you of your individuality, or that such women don't 'rock the boat', so their names are forgotten to history?

Am re-readong agot with you preston. Am now at the second to last arya and i have to say. Am appreciating the first book more now. I always considered it as the weakess of them all

Honestly I’m still shook that Preston dosent think Targaryens have an innate tendnacy toward incest.

"I need to return some video tapes"

Interesting that Nymeria's warrior queen status was kinda retconned into a misconception in The World of Ice and Fire - what implications should that have for Arya and her wolf? Or since its just TWoIaF, we shouldn't analyze it too deeply?

When talking about sigils its intresting that Joffery and later Tommen is one of the few characters that have split sigils of at least two houses(Lannister and Baratheon). I feel that more characters should do this in our story. Like Rob with Tully and Stark. It is a good way to sement his claim. This should also have been done historically in Westeros so that a lot of character should have split sigils.

I like the contrast of Viserys earlier telling Dany she's too skinny because he's vain, and Jon teasing Arya for being too skinny to hold a longsword, and then going and getting her a smaller sword

On the septa and the boys... so the role the septa plays in the girls' lives kinda correlated to the role of a governess (in Georgian or Victorian England, I think? They were probably around earlier, as well). Historically, at times and in places where governesses were prominent, the boys usually went to boarding school, I guess? That doesn't really fit in with asoiaf... hmmm. I guess highborn boys usually graduate to squiredom, and from there, its the knight and maybe a maester who cover their religious education? Knighthood has some Faith-of-the-Seven vibes... if 90% of most highborn boys' religious education is Warrior-centric, this could help explain the split we see with men and women focusing of worshipping different aspects of the Seven?

I feel like one of the reasons why Arya is so well loved is precisely because her GOT chapters did such a fantastic job of setting up her character along side some of the core themes of 'why feudalism bad'. The 2 key points on the list are 'class' and 'gender' and Arya is our primary insight into both for the first book. Until Brienne, she's the one who sticks out the most and is really where you get to see the cracks in the system, which forces you to kinda step back and realise how absurd the gender divide is. You kinda just have to laugh at just how dumb it all is, and Arya's perspective feels uniquely suited to painting these pictures. She's a clever, flawed character who gets to be a messy little girl. At times it feels like she got some of the observation skills that Jon was supposed to have. Or at least, she gets to develop it with the facelessmen training while Jon kinda lost his somepoint when he was getting his privilege checked. Maybe Sam's just so smart that Jon just stopped paying attention, assuming that if it's really important Sam would bring it up. And I mean...if that white raven flapped its wings faster, who knows? I've also started to appreciate just how much irony gets crammed into these books thanks to this series. Thanks Preston.

It must be strange for Robb who has been at the top of the food chain all his life to have to defer to the prince. He seems like a brat here.

I like the imagery of Sansa sitting with her friends during "stitchwork". Sansa sitting there with one friend curled at her feet, almost like cat, and one whispering in her ear, like a crow or raven. And Stitch Work is NOT needle point...that entire scene is SPOOKY.

Sansa just casually being professionally condescending. With that line about Jon. Her mother who loves abusing Jon would be so proud of Sansa.

Both Yorks and Lancasters had rose as their sigil - white and red. That's why Shakespear talks about plucking roses.

8:40 why would Beth Cassel hear something from Jeyne Pool's father?

the fact that people are calling it political for discussing the overt themes in the text shows how we aren't really too far gone from westerosi social norms

War of the Roses - House Lancaster had a red rose crest Yorks had a white rose crest… They are neighbouring counties (Lancashire and Yorkshire) that still have a feud due to proximity and history.

the show really did good in aging everybody up

salute to preston "asoiaf is scifi" jacobs.

“are you training women here?” 😂

Probably just a coincidence but Jon mentions Arya changing her heraldry to a wolf with a fish in its mouth and later Nymeria pulls Cat from the river

The war of the roses is labeled as such because the yorks sigil was a white rose and the Lancaster sigil was a red rose. The national flower of England is a red rose because of the Lancaster victory.

Septa Mordane teaching the girls got me thinking how it's strange that there is no specific type of person who teaches and preaches the Old Gods faith to the next generation. There are no Old Gods priests or shaman-like characters within northern society which makes it seem like Old Nan's fairytales are the only way for a young person to learn about the Old Gods. We later see Robb praying at Riverrun's heart tree, but I wonder what he personally believes or understands about the Old Gods faith

17:05 This is a fun detail as you had remarked earlier how Arya is bad at lady stuff. But in fact she is better at the practical aspect of being a lady (running a household) compared to Sansa despite being worse in the more glamorous aspects.

Hi Preston, considering how much Arya's story started with this contrast of gender roles and how big a part of Brienne's story that is, do you think it's likely they will ever meet, or has Arya moved too far away from gender exploration?

Perhaps the reasons the girls specifically were trained in the Faith of the Seven was because their parents intended to wed them to southern lords

Men don’t need Septas to encourage and guard their honor- women “do”.

Doesn't it make sense that the Girls would learn Fot7 because they might be expected to marry southern Lords?

❤

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Preston have you looked at the theories of David lightbringer?

I wonder if the split in the girls and boys faiths is also a gendered thing; the brutal and tough "Old Ways" vs the "progressive" merciful and harmonious New Gods. There could also be a statement about how religions are more readily adopted when they can be used to reinforce societal norms. Men raised under the Old Gods would be taught to be fearsome, and perhaps introspective - see how the Old Gods have "no septs, no septons", leaving each follower to make their own interpretation of the religion. These would be traits valued and expected in a leader. Meanwhile, women of the Faith are expected to be courteous, friendly and submissive - traits already valued in the sexist North. So Northerners may be more accepting of women following the Faith because a) women are less powerful and therefore wouldn't be seen as threatening to their religion's dominance if some women aren't following it and b) the Faith's puritan virtues tact onto sexist ideals Northerners already hold, and so the Faith seems more appropriate and "beneficial" for women. Story-wise, Caitlyn's status as an outsider is reinforced with her Faith - I want to say she at least believes that Robb's soldiers do not respect her both because of her gender, and because she isn't of the North and doesn't practice the Old Ways. So worshipping the Seven in the North is made out to be an additional barrier for Caitlyn. Maybe she felt that it was best her sons didn't have to deal with that and a religious split possibly weakening their claims in the future...? but all of this is just rampant speculation because I think it is just Caitlyn wanted her daughters to know about her religion so she wouldn't be so alone up north, especially being separated from her sister and surrounded by men. It seems that the boys are being trained in lordship from Ned, so naturally they'd get a lot of influence from him. I do wish the split nature of the Stark family's religion was explored more, it's actually really interesting. As is, it seems all the kids favor the Old Gods pretty heavily and there's little conflict between the ideals of one religion they were raised with vs the other, except maybe in Sansa a little.

I don't think Gregor was trying to toughen Sandor up. He was just a dick.

WARS of the Roses. Not singular war. Wars.

PJ IS BACK FOMOS

I didn't appreciate Arya's comment about Tommen.

Game of thrones is not based on the wars of the roses, it is inspired by it. there are no real hard one to one versions of the real thing in the fantasy that is asoiaf. while the names are similar, they are superficial comparisons.

Blacksmiths don't shoe horses, Farriers do that.

I named my daughter Arya 12 years ago, before the show turned her into wolverine.

I think its just toxic environments and toxic behavior. Femininity and masculinity are noble good things if they are toxic its not actually feminine or masculine.

Theon gives no f*ks

Wait a second, Clegane 'killed a Man at 12'. wtf? What age was Sandor when he left home? What man is he talking about here? He leaves home for good when his dad dies, right? He was older than 12, right? Interesting-I wonder if it was one of his brother's men? Might be that was when he leaves his home for good. Huh. *edit* I realized I said stitch work. They call it needle work and stitch work i think. Bt they def it stitches..which it is NOT lol. You 'stitch' people..dolls. It is needlepoint, not needlework. The imagery is insane...LOOK at the Septa. Look at Myrcella-she doesn't now wtf is going on. That is NOT the OG Myrcella in text. She got swapped right before Joff's Name Day in text. The real Myrecella and real Tommen are with whatever Queen Pycelle sent that sad missive to regarding Jon Arryn's death. The one he talks to Ned about. THAT Queen CANNOT be Cersei as Cersei was STILL in KL with Joff and Jaimie and Tywin for Joff's Name Day celebrations. Pycelle literally says so-he and Ned talk like they BOTH know there are 2 queens being discussed. It's coming up in a few chapters-we can ALL check it out together lol. That is NOT Myrcella I PROMISE. That is why she 'seems' so 'stupid'. She is watching and learning. You can think I am crazy now, but there are 2 Myrcella's in text. And there is more than one Queen. Listen to the words and how they are said. It DOES make sense, but it IS crazy. You are right to question how it is worded. After the question try seeing it all the way it IS worded. The answer is that it is crazy on purpose. Look at Sansa really...she is a literal doll. She is etheral/wraithish and her hair is flaming. She is beautiful and spooky. In this scene she is a beautiful witch girl. An Arya, she is like Lyanna. The hands of a blacksmith...and she says she is gona shoe a horse lol. What does Arya REALLY look like to people who can SEE? Arya in this scene looks like a centaur. A wolfish centaur. And Sansa looks like a Spidery Doll Witch. Just like her mom.

this chapter is so so subtle about the gender thing.

It's kind of funny that Arya's story is all about sexism and not fitting into traditional women's roles and yet her chapter immediately fails the Bechdel test. The second a woman talks to another, they're talking about a Prince 😂

How dare you teach men to be confident and masculine, how awful, womp womp.

It's funny because on my last re-read, I kept thinking how crappy Ned and Cat were at parenting Arya considering how violent she can be (despite Joff being a little shit, I can't imagine many 9 year old girls attacking someone with a rock and causing significant damage) but I never thought to question how fucked up it is to train kids as young as Bran to kill. Like wtf is wrong with us you know?

No one cares anymore.

I love this, I open my own old got copy and follow Preston simultaneously noticing all over again how truly atrocious the translation into my native language really is 🥲

Suprised to see how mature and responsible Theon was being. Like an older brother to Robb.