A Game of Thrones-Chapter 71

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Catelyn XI
A Game of Thrones chapter
AGameOfThrones.jpg
POV Catelyn
Page 656 US HC (Other versions)
Chapter chronology (All)
Catelyn X
Jon IX  ← Catelyn XI →  Daenerys X

Catelyn returns to Riverrun for the first time in many years. After meeting with her ailing father, she finds Robb in the godswood. After praying with his lords bannermen, Robb calls a council to determine their next move. The council argues for hours about which way to march and which king to support until Greatjon Umber gives a rousing speech and the bannermen proclaim Robb the King in the North.

Synopsis

To Catelyn it seems a thousand years since she left Riverrun by boat with an infant Robb to head north to Winterfell for the first time. Now she is returning by boat across the same river with a son who wears plate and mail instead of swaddling clothes.

As they draw near, the men on the walls cheer them but Catelyn cannot feel anything but sadness since she received news of Ned’s death. After passing under the wall through the wide Water Gate, they are greeted by Catelyn’s brother Ser Edmure Tully and Lord Tytos Blackwood. Edmure expresses his condolences and promises vengeance against the Lannisters. Catelyn only says that it will not bring her husband back.

Catelyn asks to see her father and is escorted to his solar. Along the way, Edmure explains that he is dying, as Catelyn expected. When she demands to know why she was not notified, her brother explains that with the realm so volatile their father forbid it; if word got out that he was ailing, the Lannisters might have attacked. Catelyn immediately blames herself, remembering it was she who sparked the war by capturing Tyrion Lannister.

Lord Hoster is much older and frailer than Catelyn remembers. He speaks weakly and is wracked by spasms of pain. He defends his decision to keep news of his illness a secret, but admits that he was afraid he would die before seeing her again, especially once the siege began. This leads Lord Hoster to tell her of the joy he had as he watched her son defeat the Lannisters and free Riverrun.

When her father asks if it was her son who won the battle, Catelyn tells him that it was. Then she mentions that her uncle Ser Brynden was also an important figure. Lord Hoster seems surprised by the mention of the Blackfish and asks if Lysa has come down from the Vale as well. Catelyn cannot lie and explains that Lysa is frightened and believes she and her son are safe in the Eyrie.

Lord Hoster agrees to see her son, whom he remembers has his eyes. When Catelyn presses on to ask about Ser Brynden, her father asks if he has married anyone yet. Catelyn is saddened that her father cannot allow the old feud to rest. She tells him that his brother has not wed, nor will he ever. Lord Hoster launches into a weak rant, criticizing Brynden’s choice to defy him and never marry any of a number of possible marriages. Catelyn has to remind her father that Bethany Redwyne has long ago married another man when Lord Hoster claims she is still waiting for Brynden.

Eventually, Lord Hoster agrees to see his brother later, he is too tired to fight now. When Catelyn conveys the message to her uncle outside the solar, Ser Brynden only laughs that his brother will chide him about the Redwyne girl as they light his funeral pyre, Catelyn smiles and asks where she can find Robb.

Catelyn finds Robb in the godswood, much as his father would do after battle, praying with those of his lords bannermen who hold to the Old Gods, including Lord Tytos Blackwood, one of the few followers of the Old Gods south of the Neck. As she walks through the godswood, memories of her childhood beset Catelyn. Here her father had taught her to ride, there Edmure had fallen and broken his arm, and under that bower she and Lysa had played at kissing with Petyr Baelish and he had tried to tongue them. As Robb rises from his prayers, Catelyn wonders if Robb, who has ridden into battle and killed men with a sword, has ever been kissed.

When he sees her, Robb declares that they must call a council to discuss the news that Lord Renly Baratheon has proclaimed himself king. The lords argue long into the night. Every man takes full advantage of his right to speak. Some favour marching east to meet Lord Tywin Lannister at Harrenhal, others favor marching west to Casterly Rock. Jason Mallister suggests that they simply stay athwart Lord Tywin’s supply lines and rest their troops. Jonos Bracken proposes they pledge fealty to Renly and move south to join him.

Robb, speaking for the first time, insists that Renly is not the king. The lords protest that Robb cannot mean to hold to Joffrey, who executed his father. Robb insists that that makes Joffrey evil, but does not make Renly king. Stannis is the true heir. That splits the room again, with some favoring Stannis and some still favoring Renly. Ser Stevron Frey, old Walder’s heir, suggests that they make peace and allow Renly and Joffrey to fight and oppose or submit to the winner as they choose. This is met with shouts of disapproval.

Catelyn suggests a peace, pleading that she wants her daughters back and that no amount of vengeance and further death will bring back Ned, whose captivity had provoked the north to war. Robb declares that he will have no peace with Lannisters and lays his sword on the table to emphasize his point. Ser Brynden question what the terms of the peace would be that could prevent another war in the near future. Rickard Karstark and Jonos Bracken question what their sacrifices have been worth if peace is made now. Tytos Blackwood notes that if they make peace with King Joffrey, are they not traitors to King Renly? Catelyn’s hopes of a peace shatter before her eyes.

The meeting breaks down into another argument of which king to support, until the Greatjon rises to his feet and silences them all. He spits upon all the kings and declares that Renly and Stannis are nothing to him. He ask why they should rule over him and his from some flowery seat in the south when they know nothing about the North. Even their gods are wrong. The Greatjon asks why they should not rule themselves again. It was the dragons they submitted to and the dragons are all dead. Then the immense man points his two-handed greatsword at Robb and proclaims:

There is the only king I mean to bend my knee to, m’lords. The King in the North!

The other bannermen all take up the call, even the Riverlords who have never been ruled from Winterfell. And for the first time in 300 years, there is a King in the North.

External links

References and Notes