Remember back when I talked about why Game of Thrones was popular? There's another reason why I did that. It is my personal opinion that both Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire fail to live up to the premises that they've constructed for both themselves and their audience.
Today, I'm going to talk about how both the show and the books fail to live up to its premise of "Gray Morality." One slogan that fans of both series love to trot around is this idea that there are no good guys and bad guys in Game of Thrones. To that I say,
There are plenty of good guys and bad guys in Game of Thrones! I have maintained for a long time that Game of Thrones has far more Black and White morality than it gets credit for.
So who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Well I'm glad you asked. Let's start with the bad guys, because there are a lot of them.
The Bad Guys
# 1 - Joffrey
I can think of no other name in fictional media that elicits repulsion, disgust and pure hatred than the name of Joffrey. Everybody in the Game of Thrones fandom hates this little turd with a burning passion! Why? Well let's discuss.
If you've never seen Game of Thrones then the easiest way to describe Joffrey is that he's Draco Malfoy dialed up to 15. That's right. Not 11. Not 12. Not 13 or 14. 15. Here's a list of reasons why people like myself hate this piece of crap:
# 2 - Ramsay Bolton
- Raping his wife (Sansa Stark. Interesting how Sansa's been a victim of both of these monsters) during their honeymoon
- Starving his dogs on purpose
- Torturing people. This guy castrates a character called Theon Greyjoy, then mentally broke him to the point where Theon turned into "Reek." Prior to this point Theon was seen as a douche bag by the fandom, but thanks to all that torture he received at the hands of Ramsay Bolton, Theon became instantly sympathetic.
The book version of Ramsay is even worse. I'll let you use your imagination for that one, because I think I've gotten the point across.
# 3 - Cersei Lannister
Meet Joffrey's mom. She's the main reason why he's such a spoiled runt. Remember how I mentioned that Joffrey carved up a cat in the books? Well his dad got so horrified that he straight up punched Joffrey in the face for that. Cersei actually stuck up for Joffrey. She threatened to kill Robert if he did something like that again. That scene is a good representation of how Cersei parented that little runt.
She's also shown to be manipulative of her brother (who is also her lover. Ew) and she's the reason why their relationship is toxic. When she finds out that her husband cheated on her and sired bastard children she orders them to die. Even though there's a cruel logic to it, that still doesn't change the fact that she ordered the slaughter of children.
And the list could keep going on. The point here is that both the show and the books portray her as ridiculously evil. Even the show sets her up as a Big Bad / Final Boss type villain in the end for Dany to defeat.
# 4 - Walder Frey
Walder Frey is the prime perpetrator of The Red Wedding. This monster betrayed Robb Stark and had his men butchered like animals at a wedding. Speaking of animals, after Robb Stark dies Walder Frey and his evil sons cut off his head, cut off the head of Robb's pet Grey Wolf and then sew that wolf's head onto Robb's decapitated body and parade that body around.
Keep in mind that the moral universe of both the show and the books hold guest right as sacred. You are not supposed to harm any guest under your roof. Even by the super low moral standards of the show, Walder Frey is a monster. The books keep saying that "the gods will have their vengeance." That's how awful the Red Wedding was. Walder Frey is viewed as someone who will "burn in the seventh hell for what he did." When a character in The Song of Ice and Fire says you're going to Hell, you know you screwed up big time.
Why did Walder Frey commit such an atrocity? Because Robb Stark broke a marriage vow to marry one of his [Frey's] daughters. No really. That's it. Robb went back on his word and Walder Frey felt so insulted by that he decided to massacre his former ally.
On a side note, Walder Frey is the character I hate the most out of all the nasty monsters in this story. Don't get me wrong, I hate Joffrey. I hate Ramsay. I hate Cersei. But Walder Frey is the character I wanted to see die the most. He's dead in the show. He's still alive in the books, mainly because the show surpassed the books. The last time I hated a fictional character this much was...
Yep. I used to hate Alvis an awful lot. Just ask DRP.
The point is, Walder Frey is an evil, petty, spiteful monster born from the depths of Hell as far as I'm concerned. In case that wasn't enough, there's this little bit too:
"Lord Walder Frey...has been married 8 times and has fathered at least 28 children. Lord Walder Has known ninety-one name days, but only recently took his eighth wife, a girl seventy years his junior." (Source: https://iceandfire.fandom.com/wiki/Walder_Frey)
I do enjoy Black and White Morality, that's not the issue. The issue is this: If Gray Morality is one of the premises and appeals of a series then I think it's fair to expect that series to live up to its premise.
- He's a Bully & A Coward: Joffrey pushes people around and uses his privileged upbringing to torment people to no end. One notable instance where he does this is with a random peasant boy in the second episode of the show. Arya Stark eventually stands up to Joffrey. What does he do? He tries to kill her. He even says "I'll gut you, you little cunt!" Arya's wolf saves her and bites his hand. Then when the tables turn he acts like a total bitch and pleads for mercy.
The video I linked to is pretty much the event I described in full. Now this is far from being the only time where Joffrey pulls a stunt like that. Earlier in that episode on Joffrey tries to pull a tough guy act but then proceeds to get slapped by his uncle Tyrion. There are whole YouTube videos dedicated to just Joffrey getting slapped and smacked around.
I think it says something about how awful a character is when a fanbase universally loathes and despises him.
He's Cruel To People And Animals For No Reason: Joffrey is extremely cruel to people for no apparent reason. The show adds a scene of him making two prostitutes torture each other. He even turns one into a pincushion with his crossbow. In the books it's mentioned that Joffrey cut up a pregnant cat just to see the kitten inside. Afterward, he triumphantly shows the cat carcass to his dad.
He eventually strips Sansa, the woman he was originally going to marry, naked and has one of his knights beat her. When he finds out that a bard made a song that mocked his dad he asks the bard "your fingers or your tongue?" The implication here is that the bard either gets his tongue ripped out or gets his fingers chopped off. In the show the bard got his tongue ripped out.
Joffrey eventually does get poisoned at his own wedding. This event is referred to as "The Purple Wedding." Guess what the fan reaction was when they saw Joffrey dying? Joy. Pure, unadulterated joy. And I was one of those people. Everybody hated Joffrey. He was a tyrant, he was a literal psychopath, he was a coward and he was a bully. Joffrey is a clear-cut case of pure evil that I've witnessed in any fictional story.
You want to know why some people don't consider Joffrey to be the most evil character on the show? It's because Ramsey Bolton exists. Ramsay arguably gives Joffrey a run for his money in terms of atrocities committed. Atrocities such as:
- Raping his wife (Sansa Stark. Interesting how Sansa's been a victim of both of these monsters) during their honeymoon
- Starving his dogs on purpose
- Torturing people. This guy castrates a character called Theon Greyjoy, then mentally broke him to the point where Theon turned into "Reek." Prior to this point Theon was seen as a douche bag by the fandom, but thanks to all that torture he received at the hands of Ramsay Bolton, Theon became instantly sympathetic.
The book version of Ramsay is even worse. I'll let you use your imagination for that one, because I think I've gotten the point across.
# 3 - Cersei Lannister
Meet Joffrey's mom. She's the main reason why he's such a spoiled runt. Remember how I mentioned that Joffrey carved up a cat in the books? Well his dad got so horrified that he straight up punched Joffrey in the face for that. Cersei actually stuck up for Joffrey. She threatened to kill Robert if he did something like that again. That scene is a good representation of how Cersei parented that little runt.
She's also shown to be manipulative of her brother (who is also her lover. Ew) and she's the reason why their relationship is toxic. When she finds out that her husband cheated on her and sired bastard children she orders them to die. Even though there's a cruel logic to it, that still doesn't change the fact that she ordered the slaughter of children.
And the list could keep going on. The point here is that both the show and the books portray her as ridiculously evil. Even the show sets her up as a Big Bad / Final Boss type villain in the end for Dany to defeat.
# 4 - Walder Frey
Walder Frey is the prime perpetrator of The Red Wedding. This monster betrayed Robb Stark and had his men butchered like animals at a wedding. Speaking of animals, after Robb Stark dies Walder Frey and his evil sons cut off his head, cut off the head of Robb's pet Grey Wolf and then sew that wolf's head onto Robb's decapitated body and parade that body around.
Keep in mind that the moral universe of both the show and the books hold guest right as sacred. You are not supposed to harm any guest under your roof. Even by the super low moral standards of the show, Walder Frey is a monster. The books keep saying that "the gods will have their vengeance." That's how awful the Red Wedding was. Walder Frey is viewed as someone who will "burn in the seventh hell for what he did." When a character in The Song of Ice and Fire says you're going to Hell, you know you screwed up big time.
Why did Walder Frey commit such an atrocity? Because Robb Stark broke a marriage vow to marry one of his [Frey's] daughters. No really. That's it. Robb went back on his word and Walder Frey felt so insulted by that he decided to massacre his former ally.
On a side note, Walder Frey is the character I hate the most out of all the nasty monsters in this story. Don't get me wrong, I hate Joffrey. I hate Ramsay. I hate Cersei. But Walder Frey is the character I wanted to see die the most. He's dead in the show. He's still alive in the books, mainly because the show surpassed the books. The last time I hated a fictional character this much was...
Yep. I used to hate Alvis an awful lot. Just ask DRP.
The point is, Walder Frey is an evil, petty, spiteful monster born from the depths of Hell as far as I'm concerned. In case that wasn't enough, there's this little bit too:
"Lord Walder Frey...has been married 8 times and has fathered at least 28 children. Lord Walder Has known ninety-one name days, but only recently took his eighth wife, a girl seventy years his junior." (Source: https://iceandfire.fandom.com/wiki/Walder_Frey)
Ew. That's just...ew.
_____________________________________________________________________________
You want to know what the really sad part about all this is? This isn't even the full list of character who have done some extremely horrible things. Hopefully this should give you an idea of what type of evil characters inhabit this fictional world. And here's the thing: 3 of these 4 characters are never portrayed in a sympathetic light. The show doesn't even bother to redeem them. Cersei's the only exception, but even the show's attempts to redeem Cersei fall flat. The point here is that to say that there are no bad guys is wrong on a major scale.
Well if those are the bad guys (or at least a handful of the worst characters on the show) then who are the good guys? That too has an easy answer:
The Starks
Some Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire fans might still go "nuh uh" but I think the evidence for the Stark family being "the good guys" is pretty overwhelming. For example,
The Starks are the only noble house that aren't power hungry
The Starks are the only noble family that don't want the Iron Throne. Literally every other major noble house wants control of Westeros. When Robb participates in the War of the Five Kings he's the only king that's not competing for the Iron Throne. The only reasons why he fought the Lannisters were:
1) His father had been unjustly imprisoned and then executed.
2) Northern Independence.
2) Northern Independence.
To go off of Point # 2, throughout the entire show the Starks are fighting for their independence. No Stark has ever shown an interest or a desire to rule over the other houses. Given all the nastiness and petty politics that goes on, I can't say that I blame them for wanting to be free of all that crap. Fighting for independence is a significantly more noble goal then control over an entire continent. Now that I think about it, the Starks are essentially this show's version of the Scottish.
Here's another reason why the Starks are the main characters: Why did George RR Martin predict that people would think that these guys are the heroes? If they're not meant to be, they sure do seem to act like how a hero would. That's why Ned and Robb Stark's deaths are seen as shocking, subversive and traumatic. Because they're set up to be the main characters of the story.
Here's an interesting pattern to think about: Whenever a Stark dies their deaths are seen as pretty shocking. No other noble house gets this treatment. Sure a few other individual characters have deaths that cause people to cry, but no other major house gets the same treatment as the Starks.
Furthermore, most of the major characters that survive at the end of the show are Starks. The character who ultimately sits on the Iron Throne in the show is a Stark. Furthermore George RR Martin in his original letter to his agent had this to say:
"The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow."
"The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow."
Now to be fair here, a lot has changed since he wrote that letter. Still, I think it's safe to say that Arya, Bran and Jon Snow will survive until the end of the books. (In Jon's case he'll be resurrected but you get the point) Sansa also survived at the end of the show. I think it's safe to say that she'll probably survive the end of the books too.
One last point. Here's a breakdown of all the major points of view characters in the first novel of the Song of Ice and Fire series by character and by Noble Family:
Bran - 7
Catelyn - 11
Daenerys - 10
Eddard - 15
Jon - 9
Tyrion - 9
Arya - 5
Sansa - 6
And broken down by families:
Starks - 53
Targaryens - 10
Lannisters - 9
Bran - 7
Catelyn - 11
Daenerys - 10
Eddard - 15
Jon - 9
Tyrion - 9
Arya - 5
Sansa - 6
And broken down by families:
Starks - 53
Targaryens - 10
Lannisters - 9
It's really hard not to see that Starks as the main characters with a breakdown like that.
______________________________________________________
So here I've spent this entire post talking about good guys and bad guys. Now you might be wondering "why is that a bad thing?" or "Don't you like Black / White Morality?"
I do enjoy Black and White Morality, that's not the issue. The issue is this: If Gray Morality is one of the premises and appeals of a series then I think it's fair to expect that series to live up to its premise.
The issue here is that A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones fail to live up to this premise. They clearly have Black / White Morality going on. A lot of the Gray aspects are in all the other characters and in the fact that being a good person can nasty consequences. There are shades of gray, don't get me wrong. It's just that a lot of what happens in the series also has plenty of black and white going on.
Neither the show nor the books are honest about this representation and that bothers me. There are plenty of good characters. There are plenty of evil characters. Trying to pretend otherwise comes off as disingenuous to me. I still have more to say on this topic, but I've been writing for hours now and I need a break. Until then I look forward to seeing your comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment