| Sansa IV | ||||||
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| A Clash of Kings chapter | ||||||
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| POV | Sansa Stark | |||||
| Place | King's Landing | |||||
| Page | 548 UK HC (Other versions) | |||||
| Chapter chronology (All) | ||||||
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Sansa III ↑ | ||||||
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↓ Sansa V | ||||||
Sansa has conversations with Dontos and Sandor, and she meets with Cersei after having her first flowering.
Synopsis
[edit]Sansa sees fires in the kingswood south across the Blackwater Rush, and recalls that Tyrion Lannister has also burned the riverfront outside the walls of King's Landing.
Sansa meets again with Ser Dontos in the godswood of the Red Keep, and learns that he hears more things as a fool than he ever did as a knight. Varys pays in gold for anything overheard, making Dontos believe that Moon Boy has been working for Varys for years. Dontos tells Sansa that Stannis burned the godswood at Storm's End at the behest of the red priestess. When Sansa asks him to make good on his promise, Dontos tells her the time is not right for their escape. Dontos does promise her that when his friend returns to King's Landing, they will have a ship to escape on. Meanwhile, the royal war galleys have been exchanging arrows with Stannis's archers on the south shore; Stannis's vanguard has arrived under the leadership of Ser Guyard Morrigen.
Sansa does not want to return to her room yet, so she goes up to the roof of Maegor's Holdfast, where she is surprised by Sandor Clegane. The Hound is in a foul mood as ever, and tells her that he enjoys killing, and that only cowards fight with fire. He claims he fears no man, but Sansa thinks that he does fear his brother. Once again, Sandor assures her that there are no true knights.
That night, Sansa has another dream of the riots in King's Landing. This time she is surrounded by a mob, and calls out to all the great knights, but none respond to her call. She feels herself bleeding, and awakes to find the sheets soaked with blood. She realizes that she just had her first flowering, and burns the sheets in fear that Joffrey will find out and want to bed her.
Sansa's maids catch her and bring her before the queen, but Cersei comforts her, knowing the girl is frightened at the prospect of marrying Joffrey. She tells her how difficult Joffrey was to bear, and how Robert was out hunting when Joffrey was born. Cersei informs her that while Sansa may not love Joffrey, she will love the children she bears him. The queen also reveals that Robert always wanted to be loved, to have friends and be cheered, and that her brother Tyrion had the same disease. She tells Sansa, "Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same."
Character list
[edit]Mentions
[edit]References and Notes
[edit]- Analyses and summary of the chapter in the course of a 10th reread by Slynt.
- Review and summary by Leigh Butler.
- The synopsis was copied from AOL member vbkorik27 previously at [1].