Oh, and yes, his name was Brandon Stark. Bran is actually named for him.

I’m cool with that!

She did, which rather made me want to drop kick her in the face. But then, I always want to drop kick her in the face…

Ah, Varys! More than meets the eye, I’m telling you!

yeah, littlefinger’s backstory was interesting. that hit home for me more in the next ned chapter where he dislikes him so much for that history with the older stark brother (what was his name? brandon?). and i thought if catelyn was mistrusting him it was only in her mind, not in her actions…she did go ahead and tell him everything readily enough.

varys is certainly an intriguing enigma for now…

hm…interesting to know petyr is one of someone’s favorites. i liked him better after the ned chapter, although i still don’t trust him. but at least he can crack a fucking joke sometimes.

Well, if she is there to serve as a baseline for what incompetence in the game is, then I can at least appreciate what I just saw. But I don’t think I’m being too hard on her, because I dislike her entire view of the world, and I don’t care that it was informed by her life. It is also limited by her lack of imagination. I feel like from conversations with Ned about court she has some awareness that the court is full of intrigue and plotting…and yet she doesn’t think twice about whether she can cope?

I’m definitely not going to stop reading the book! I was referring more to continuing the chapter-by-chapter readings after the show starts spoilering plot points for me. But after the 15 minute preview I can see that a lot is going to be shifted just enough that I’ll probably want to dive into the book with this same sort of depth. There just may not be the unsullied surprise when something big happens. But if everyone’s okay with that… 🙂

Now I want a shirt with this illustration! Maybe with Cat getting skewered…

Littlefinger…GAH! His back story of having challenged Brandon Stark for Catelyn’s hand actually made me wonder just how honest he could be with her, so I WAS pleased to see her not trusting him. His first impression wasn’t favorable, and even his physical description put me in mind of someone driven to overcompensate, which makes me immediately suspect anything he says.

But that’s for later chapters, heh. 🙂

All in all, what’s really revealed in this chapter is that Cat wouldn’t know Incognito if it slapped her, and Varys and Littlefinger are ready to pounce on why she came. Can you smell trouble?

Finally read it, and you’re right!

I also want her to continue! 🙂

Well, I hope, i’m not the only one who would like you to continue.

DAMN!! SPOILERS!!! PLEASE DON’T READ THE ABOVE, ELENA!!

ARGGHH!! Is there an edit button? 🙁

SPOILERS

I must agree, but Cat somehow seems to grate on me worse than the rest. But perhaps it’s because she never has those moments where she does something endearing, as Ned does. Like when he hired Syrio for Arya instead of punishing her for having a sword.

Too true! That’s the thing that drives me batty!!

While it seems that Catelyn is being stupid it’s just that she was not raised to play court intrigue. Like I said, this is a flaw of every Stark only some of them learn better than others or it works out better for them than it does for others.

boo at Jay to leave you all alone! Soldier on, for if you think Catelyn is obtuse now…

I agree with you completely. WTF was her plan? I will secretly go totally out in the open, shove my hand in a huge pit of vipers I haven’t even been marginally part of in 25 years and then just… swish my hand around and expect everyone to jump up and apologize and give me what I want.

She’s soooooooo ridiculous.

But I do like Petyr. He always came off, to me as a nice boy who would have done well in a richer house – as a husband and father and leader, but since he was poor and couldn’t have what he wanted he resolved to get what he wanted with his brain and that sorta turned him into a jerk. But do his ends justify his means? Shit.. I don’t even know what his ends ARE!

ha.. me too!

Hee! Sorry, but that mental image of varys and Littlefinger fencing with Cat in the middle, armed with a spoon, is priceless! I’m laughing like a fool!

SPOILERS!!!!

@Taksi, yes. He strikes me as almost superhuman in his ability to improvise and calculate! I HATE him, but I must respect his abilities. What is his true goal, though? That’s something of a mystery, too!

Hmm, I do need to check the facts, there. I’d always assumed that Petyr and Varys found out seperately, but it’s been a while since I read that chapter.

He does come of as rather oily in this chapter, though. And he and Varys just play of each other so well. They are like two master fencers, and Catelyn is in the middle, armed with a spoon.

Catelyn is rather obtuse, but as others have pointed out she is on unfamiliar ground and is completely outmatched by the people already in the city. She does not even know what game she is playing in, let alone the rules and goals of her “opponents”

And the dagger is awesome…

(SPOILERS)

I think Littlefinger must have known by this point that Tyrion was visiting the Wall, and assuming that Catelyn would be traveling back to Winterfell before Tyrion returned, figured there was a good chance their paths would cross on the King’s Road. So he was basically just trying to stir up trouble between the Starks and the Lannisters. At which he, of course, succeeded in spades.