Catelyn visits the godswood, and visits us with some exposition.
After the first couple posts in this series, I was regretting that I didn't have more to say. But then I said to myself, Dude, (I call myself dude, because no one else will), you're going to write 344 of these. I don't think the works of James Joyce deserve 344 long blog posts, to say nothing of the works of George R. R. Martin.* And this Catelyn chapter is especially devoid of things on which to comment. The description of the godswood is atmospheric enough considering the plainness of Martin's style, but otherwise this chapter is mostly about setting up the scenario and underlining the differences between Northern and Southern worldviews. (Northerners are grim and, er, stark, while Southerners are soft and joyful. If you hadn't noticed.) Because of this emphasis, our first glimpse of Ned and Catelyn is about the distance between them rather than the basic stability of their relationship. Which is interesting, since the Starks have pretty much the only functional marriage in the whole damn series, and they don't get a lot of time together. Granted, Ned is in a mood because he had to cut someone's head off.** The second Catelyn chapter shows more of their intimacy, in every sense of the word. But there are also some signs of strain there, as we'll see, which makes me wonder if on some level Martin doesn't assume that every arranged marriage has its hollows. Or every marriage period; even his fiction with contemporary and futuristic settings isn't big on people getting along. There's a reason some people call it grimdark.
*Idea for a parody: James R. R. Joyce. "Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a deserter coming down along the road and this deserter that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named bran stark..."
**Which sort of undermines my point from last post about the coarseness of the Northern worldview, even granting that Ned is an especially awesome guy.
Next: Daenerys I.
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