Musings on a A Song of Ice and Fire [SPOILERS]...

[ConnorSB]

Now, my only qualm is that my favorite character only made it into two or three chapters.

How can anyone forget Syrio Forrel? He was basically Arya's catalyst for the rest of the books. I mean, when in an Arya chapter does she NOT fall back on her water-dancer training. All those little catch phrases and such.

And he talked in the coolest way possible!

Him and Jaqen H'garr were my two favorites, although after rereading I'm starting to believe that they are one and the same. Jaqen's background is purposefully vague. Nothing is specific save that to get in jail he did "something bad that no one knows about but was bad."

And in the Soup chapter, when he basically whipes his face off and becomes totally different looking... could not he be Syrio? And Arya is going east, towards the Seven Cities... towards Bravos...

 

[Endur]

That is one heck of an insight! I'm impressed.

Syrio Forrel and Jaqen H'garr were my two favorites, although after rereading I'm starting to believe that they are one and the same. ...

 

[Nightfall]

Indeed.

Though for me the only true heroes died. Drogo's dead, Eddard Stark is dead, and Arthur Dayne is dead too. Course the entire Kingsguard died then, but I thought they were cool, the old ones before Jaime did the deed. But nice to see he's trying to make amends.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Tyrion seemed to lose his personality when talking with his father. I can understand that he may claim up, but that behavior isn't realy there. It's like he just stops being Tyrion. The fact as I'm reading their conversation many things that he COULD have said popped into my head, detracted from the story for me.

I thought all the Lannister kids including the grandkids stopped being who they were when Tywin Lannister was present. The man was used to absolute control and would have it no other way. I thought it was very realistic that even Tyrion felt "small" around his father.

At various points in the novels, it felt like Martin just did stuff to advance the plots without really justifying it from the characters view. IMO of course.

I remember feeling this way when Eddard Stark completely brushed Arya off when she was telling him what she heard below the castle, the two men conspiring to get rid of Robert. Eddard Stark was already suspicious, and it seemed too stupid for even him to ignore what his daughter had heard.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Syrio and Jaqen H'garr

I don't know if they are same person, but I would definitely not mind if Martin brings them both back as one or separate in future books. Both were cool characters.

 

[Nightfall]

I'd much rather see Lady Dowger Bear in her own series. She's cool.

 

[WizarDru]

Well, for Theon Greyjoy I mentioned it. His father and others repeatedly denigrate him for having lived among the Starks, but it wasn't his fault.
He could have fled or something, but he abided the terms his father set out in the defeat.

I think it was more the phrasing that got me, than anything else.

As for the two instances you mention, I think they make perfect sense, both in the context of the characters and the story. I've known many people who behave differently in front of their parents, particularly if their father was a powerful, domineering man who you feared....which is the case for both Tyrion and Theon.

In Tyrion's case, let's remember that his father can cow Kings, let alone Tyrion. Tywin was not impressed with Tyrion's mental faculties, and had little use for him. At the heart of it, all Tyrion wanted to do was get his father's approval...to get a measure of the respect his brother Jamie receives. But he never could, never did and never would have. Because Tywin was an absolute bastard.

In Theon's case, two different things contribute. Theon was a fool, and the code of the Iron Men. The Greyjoys barely even considered Theon one of them, as likely a turncoat as anything else. He doesn't behave like a Greyjoy, really, and is almost a foreigner in some respects. He's cocky, arrogant and inexperienced in the ways that matter most to them. Further, the Iron Men are driven by competence. He who is the smartest, most powerful and most charismatic will lead. Take a look at how the next leader is chosen in the excerpt published in Dragon magazine a few months back. Next, Theon is a constant reminder of a failure the Greyjoys would just as soon forget, and they resent him personally for it. Is that fair? No. But it's very believable, especially given their beliefs. Theon pointing that out would have counterproductive to what he was trying to accomplish. Now that he'd returned, Theon thought he could sweep in as the new heir to the throne. Given that one of his uncles had taken the priesthood, another had no designs on ruling the third had been exiled and his only sibling was a woman, Theon thought he was a shoe-in. Therefore it did little good to anger his father by pointing out his failure to conquer Westeros.

And again, Theon is pretty intimidated by his father. He just clams up in his presence, as all of the issues between them come up. Not the least of which is that his father, like Tyrion's, has little use for him and thinks him an abject failure. In fact, Theon's father thinks less of him than Tywin does of Tyrion. Tyrion is an embarassment to Tywin and a reminder of his dead wife, while Theon is just useless in his father's eyes. Even Tywin uses Tyrion as a tool....Theon's father doesn't even have that much use for him.

 

[Nightfall]

The difference between Tywin Lannister and Balon Greyjoy is simple. Balon Greyjoy is a land raiding, old school thinking man with dellusions of the past and present. Tywin Lannister is ambitious, plotting self-centered, arrogant SOB with a pride greater than all the wealth in all the Kingdoms. While both had sons they aren't proud of, at least Balon has an excuse for treating his as he does. He feels justified that he was robbed of the old ways.

 

[Tsyr]

Now, see, strangely, I got a wholey different vibe from Daenerys than most people... I didn't see her as kind-hearted at all.

 

[Cor Azer]

Now, see, strangely, I got a wholey different vibe from Daenerys than most people... I didn't see her as kind-hearted at all.

Care to expand upon that? I think she has a ruthless streak to her, or maybe it's just arrogant pride, but she does seem to care (or at least, seems to want to care) about others.