jay, i am right behind you in the “i hate cat” camp. i found that as a high born mother of the most important family of the north, her behavior in GoT was completely hideous.

she abondons her sons (after telling ned he can’t take bran to court) to deliver a message that truly could have been delivered safely and believably by ser rodrik. but somehow cat decides the only thing she should do is head to court after ned. completely out of character for a medeival mother. and then she chooses time and time again to stay away from winterfell, despite knowing that ned says a stark must always live at winterfell. perhaps she tells herself a stark IS at winterfell. in fact, there are 2. and they are aged 7 and 3. with no parents and a mere handful of servants.

finally her decisions show a woman driven on vengance with little common sense or self and family preservation. taking tyrion prisoner? riding to war with robb knowing that her husband was just executed? whatever. she is a selfish, silly, emotional woman not the mother of a noble house. just as crazy as her sister but in a different way.

i haven’t read the red wedding scene yet but it promises to be spectacular. and of course, unCat is still unread as well. but from the sounds of it, its just more of the same: a selfish, silly, emotional woman bent on vengance. just dead.

and yeah, zombies really suck 🙂

Hi there! I am also starting to re-read everything (and I fear I won’t have finished when the Dance comes out – damn, why does GRRM have to write that fast? ^^ SCNR)
Two things that struck me in this chapter:

1. About the children and the difference in how they grow up depending on whether they live in the south or in the north – isn’t it amazing that Bran and Tommen are the same age??
2. For the first time (I guess) I stumbled over the sentence: “The Others are as dead as the children of the forest, gone eight thousand years.“ – Sounds like a promise to me now that the children of the forest can’t be that dead either!

i too think that Zombie Cat takes something away from her totally Gangsta end, but a comment at Westeros SSM is intriging to me

Martin has said that the characters brought back from the dead (Cat, Beric, Gregor?)while they are not wholly the same as before they do retain their core traits/mission if you like.

so while Cat in this book particularly makes poor decisions and sulks quite a bit she did always have the Gangsta part in her aswell which makes me retrospectively like her more
although i do also agree with Elena assessment of her

because you’re plum dumb, Waverly Place.

Main reason why I stopped liking these books, if I gotta go to the appendix its more like work than fun.

@Knurk Welcome and thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I guess there are two issues for me then. One, I consider the Red Wedding o be one of the best chapters I’ve ever read , and presently Catelyne’s existence diminished a part of that .Everything from the Rains of Castamere to the acts themselves was perfect. Second, I don’t particularly enjoy zombie fiction (nor zombie reality I guess!). I do realize the significance in the ability (and other instances of the fantastic returning), I just didn’t like it here because IMHO it creates a character that had a perfect end into one that can’t possibly (that I can see) have a finer resolution, mainly because the character is dead to me. I guess there might be some truth to the thought that the The Brotherhood Without Banners as a whole were never favorites (though I love many of the individual characters) of mine. AFFC was really he double whammy for me, because it used the most boring POV (for me) in the series to lead us to her, so there may be something to be said about having one of the final new impressions in the series that didn’t sit well.

Elena: you might also like to read another blog by a first time reader called ablogoficeandfire: http://blogoficeandfire.blogspot.com/ . He’s doing 2 chapters at the time, but on a very slow pace. It’s very refreshing to see someone look at the books with a very humorous tone, and he picks up on a lot of things I didn’t as a first-time reader.

Jay: it seems a lot, a lot of people hate unCat, but I absolutely love it. A zombie-mother on a killingspree revenge, they can’t write that in Hollywood. I have wondered if George wrote that epilogue to soothe the readers who were absolutely mad with frustration about the Red Wedding. It’s like he’s saying: “don’t worry guys, these Freys will get what’s coming to them, don’t start writing me angry letters now!”

@Jay
Thanks for pointing that out about Jon having possibly been named after Jon Arryn by Ned. That had kind of escaped me and it sounds about right.

@ Quanta – here’s my thought process between seeing your comment earlier and having the chance to respond. “that wasn’t necessarily an expectation, just an expression of how something might not turn out to be how it looks. then again maybe he’s the biggest asshole in the world, just like V says. thanks for the tip though!” then i started second guessing what part of that statement you were referring to; could be dany, ie she would never allow someone to shield her from anything, and then i just got really amused that i can’t even take comments at face value!

@ Jay – i’m usually the last to be offended by stuff, too. i honestly think the main reason i’m even looking at in those terms is bc i’ve seen other people apply them.

@ Rob – I’m already hooked. speed of posting is more dependent on the fact that i’m balancing this with a FT job and writing for/editing another site on the side of that…though you may very well be right and it gets faster the more the plot weaves together and I get more anxious to know What Happens. Also, after all the damn “just wait till you get there”s I’m getting, I can’t either!!!

Great post, and I look forward to reading your thoughts on the next chapter.

Also, I can’t wait for Elena’s reactions to later parts of the story!

Anyway, my point is, I’ve always wanted to know Jon’s REAL (read: Targaryen) name 😉

Ah hah! Found it.

5. Since all of their mothers died, who gave Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister their names?

Mothers can name a child before birth, or during, or after, even while they are dying. Dany was most like named by her mother, Tyrion by his father, Jon by Ned.

So yes, I really want to know what name Jon was given when he was born. 😀

Her initial take on Dany is very interesting especially since it is partially informed by hearing accusations of misogyny directed at GRRM. She is interested to see whether Dany will be forever weak and victimized. She gives a hint to her level of expectations with this line, “…and he perhaps becomes a shield against her brother.” If that is the sort of thing she is expecting I do believe she is in for a surprise.

For the next installment, I’m looking forward to reading her reaction to meeting King Robert and Queen Cersei.

Thanks so much–I check your site all the time now, and I have read several of your other pieces.

I look forward to the next installment!