“She was no one’s daughter now. She was no one.”
Synopsis: Arya and Sandor temporarily become protagonists of a B-side cut of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
“We should have twenty trebuchets, not two, and they should be mounted on sledges and turntables so we could move them. It was a futile thought. He might as well wish for another thousand men, and maybe a dragon or three.”
Synopsis: Mance Rayder throws his army against the Wall, Jon ascends to command, and two giants fight to the death.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
So it’s never easy to explain why you straight-up disappeared for nine months and stopped writing a long-time project. The complicated and ultimately rather human answer is that my life got very hectic and I found myself getting squeezed when it came to both free time to do writing and available emotional/intellectual energy to motivate me to keep going with these rather complicated essays. Over the summer and during the fall, a big part of this had to do with being assigned a new course at work on a subject that I thought was important enough for me to do a lot of research into in order to teach a high quality course. I was still writing, but I was writing about urban demographics and immigration rather than Westeros.
Over the winter, however, I started to experience a series of lung issues that landed me in the hospital a couple of times. This kind of health stuff can really have a certain shrinking effect, where your life turns inwards in trying to get your body under control, and during this period I have to admit that, while I was still answering ASOIAF asks on my Tumblr page, I had sort of “lost my place” when it came to where I was in A Storm of Swords.
HOWEVER! This is not a post that’s just woe-is-me, I-can’t-produce-content. Instead, I’ve decided to take advantage of the fact that I’m not teaching this semester to restart writing chapter-by-chapter essays. After all, I need to do something to keep my creative and intellectual life active for several months since I’m temporarily unemployed and otherwise have nothing going on.
The next chapter in ASOS is Jon VIII. We’ve just experienced the emotional climax of the battle for castle black with the death of Ygritte, but rather than proceeding to the falling action/denouement, things unexpectedly accelerate because the assault from the south was just one of Mance Rayder’s shaping actions – it’s now time for the main assault to begin, and pretty soon Jon Snow is going to be the only thing holding the Night’s Watch together.
This should be fun.
“Do you mock me to my face? Must I learn a king’s duty from an onion smuggler?”
Synopsis: Davos engages in a pivotal act of smuggling, and then reads out a letter.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
“Riding down familiar streets with two hundred northmen, a chainless maester, an an ugly freak of a woman at his side, Jaime found he scarcely drew a second look. He did not know whether he ought to be amused or annoyed. “They do not know me.””
Synopsis: Jaime returns home to a happy Lannister family reunion.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
“My own wedding is looking much better in hindsight.”
Synopsis: “it’s a nice day for a purple wedding/it’s a nice day to start again”
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
“They have made me a Lannister, Sansa thought bitterly.“
Synopsis: Sansa and Tyrion attend Joffrey’s wedding breakfast and everything goes smoothly.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
“I survived the Green Fork and the Blackwater, I can bloody well survive King Joffrey’s wedding.”
Synopsis: Tyrion gets ready for a wedding with a bit of early morning delight.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
I will have this city, Dany pledged to herself once more.
Synopsis: Dany wrestles with strategic and personnel dilemmas during the siege of Meereen.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
Race for the Iron Throne 