Showing posts with label Queens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queens. Show all posts

"Q" is for Queen!

Author: Anonymous / Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

Just because you are a Queen doesn't necessarily give you absolute power.

Just look at Cersei Lannister. She yearns to sit on the Iron Throne and rule over Westeros with a vicious grip. Not bloody likely. Not while she is Queen Regent. Which, for all of her scheming and calculations, it more or less backfired in her face. Placing Joffrey on the thrones was like unleashing a swarm of angry bees after someone has knocked over their hive. Not pleasant for anyone involved.

Not that she fared any better as Robert Baratheon's Queen. She did her duty: she married him, united two powerful Houses in the Seven Kingdoms and produced three children (whom we all know are not legitimate children borne of that union, but products of incest).

Sansa Stark was betrothed to Prince Joffrey Baratheon in Season I. She would've been his Queen, once the late King passed on and perhaps things may have had a nicer turn out, had Eddard Stark not been accused of treason and Joffrey didn't turn out to be the vile sociopath that he really was. In Season II, Sansa should thank her lucky stars that she did not wed Joffrey. Her physical and mental abuse at his hands (or his henchmen's hands) was a real nice preview of what a 'blissful' married life they would've had together. (note my sarcasm)

Next candidate for Queen: there are two potential women who vie for the title and all it's privileges: Lady Talisa Migear and Lady Margaery Tyrell. (in the book we know that Robb Stark ends up marrying a character named Jeyne Westerling, from an impoverished House)

Lady Talisa is a field nurse, tending to wounds, cuts, amputations and dead bodies, no matter what House they serve. Lady Margaery has been trained by birth in the finer arts of women's studies, castellan management and court politics and etiquette by her grandmother, Lady Olenna Redwyne. Who is more worthy of the title? Who will be able to play the game better, outwit and outlast people longer and live to see another year in the Seven Kingdoms?

The tides have now turned and people's fortunes rise and fall just like the sun and the moon in the Seven Kingdoms. By the end of Season II, we see that Lady Margaery Tyrell has now been betrothed to King Joffrey Baratheon. Where Sansa cowered and put on a mask to conceal her true feelings, Margaery looks like she's able to use her looks and her sexuality to manipulate Joffrey. She doesn't look like she's afraid of Cersei, either. And you wonder why I like Margaery Tyrell.

Season III is going to place the women of Westeros on a whole different playing field!





"I" is for the Iron Throne

Author: Anonymous / Labels: , , , , ,

Between you and I, would you really want to sit on the Iron Throne?

I did. Once. This happened in March. I went downtown Toronto to see the Game of Thrones exhibition at the Bell Lightbox and it was pretty cool. So, in a sense, I can truly say that I sat down on the Iron Throne. It was hard and lumpy. And that was just one of the prop chairs flown in from Dublin.

I know that the Iron Throne is not a seat of power that I'd want to occupy anytime soon. Especially since I've read four of the books already and know that the throne is a curse. Too much hatred to deal with. Too much greed from everyone wanting their share of wealth. Too many sleepless nights, worrying about assassins coming to get you, resentful Houses trying to wage war or revenge, getting deeper and deeper into debt. Give me another position, but not as a Queen on the Iron Throne.

That throne does something funny to those who occupy it. They either go slightly mad, they abuse their power or their reign is ended abruptly. I took many history courses when I attended university and the one main theme that seemed to carry over was that the path the paved the way to sitting on any throne, for that matter, was littered with sins, murder, blackmail and greed. When I watch the HBO series Game of Thrones, I totally understand and agree with the aforementioned statement.

Remember what the late King Robert Baratheon said to the late Ned Stark in Season I? All he wanted to do was, "eat, sleep, drink and whore his way into an early grave." Remember what Petyr Baelish said to Ros in Season II? "Too often those with the most power have the least grace." He was absolutely correct. The current King sitting on the Iron Throne, Joffrey Baratheon, is a psychotic, arrogant and condescending twit who is cruel to everyone around him. He has a malicious streak to him a mile wide. No doubt lovingly nurtured by his own saintly mother, Queen Regent Cersei. I wait in high anticipation for Season III to roll around next year...and to see which character says another profound quote about power or ruling the Seven Kingdoms.

Ruling from the Iron Throne means having only the most loyal people around you, having a keen intellect, a sharp eye for military and financial dealings and having courage. Having a backbone. And having really think skin, because the amount of people that hate you and openly mock you is enough to make anyone go in a corner and lick their wounds. A ruler who sits on the Iron Throne should also possess honour, strength, courage and tenacity. All the qualities that Joffrey does not possess.

Power shared is power halved. Joffrey knows that and clings tightly to his throne. Same with Cersei. Poor Ned Stark. He found out the hard way that trying to be noble instead of cunning cost him his life.

"When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."