Winning the Game of Thrones: The Host of Characters and their Agendas by Valerie Frankel Read Free Book Online Page A

close to Stannis will get it for her – perhaps she’s plundering Dragonstone for its ancient secrets or seeking the real Lightbringer sword.
     
    A single, carefully-written chapter from her point of view in the fifth book fails to clarify much of anything. She has a vision of the past in which a woman cries, “Melony” and a man calls “Lot Seven,” suggesting she was sold as a slave once (V:408). She believes she’s doing the right thing to battle the darkness and protect her King Stannis. And she has a number of powers we haven’t yet seen. Her story is still largely a mystery.
     

    What Happened to Winterfell?
    After Theon’s emotional speech, his ironmen hit Theon on the head and leave for home – Robb promised amnesty to all but their leader. They’re surrounded on all sides by the Bastard of Bolton’s men – he’s the son of Robb’s bannerman, sent to save Winterfell and the Stark boys. When Bran and Rickon emerge from the crypts, their home has been burned to ruins. So who did it? Clearly the Bastard of Bolton. Why? Well, he’s a sadist and a selfish monster, as we see as he takes Theon home to his dungeons. The books show him filled with a jealousy, ambition, and need to prove himself that somewhat echoes Theon’s. Given the attack from a northern lord, perhaps it’s less puzzling that Maester Luwin urges the boys to find Jon on the Wall, not seek out other northerners for aid.
     

    Why is Tywin so Useless?
    Tywin seems the Machiavellian mastermind behind the Lannisters. So why does he keep losing against Robb, letting Joffrey rule idiotically in King’s Landing, and doing little else of use? Certainly his Lannister pride has led to arrogance. In season two, he, like many lords, is shocked by how well Robb is doing on campaign. As he struggles to modify his customary battle strategies, he’s been seriously taken off guard. On the other hand, he’s better in the council chamber than the battlefield. He notes that “some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens” (III:260). In fact, most of his great plots work behind the scenes.
    In the Battle of Blackwater, Tywin arranges the alliance with the Tyrells and their massive army after Renly’s death and arrives at King’s Landing in time to aid with the battle. Tywin’s henchmen, like the Mountain that Rides, are terrorizing the Riverlands. In the books, he hires mercenaries to loot the Riverlands, but they desert to serve the Boltons (under the Starks) and savagely slice off Jaime’s hand when they capture him. Ironically, Tywin has orchestrated his own son’s maiming.
    Season three Tywin returns to King’s Landing and demotes Cersei and Tyrion for being incompetent (though this seems unfair in Tyrion’s case.) There, a scene of chair-moving as the Small Council literally jostles for position seems his greatest accomplishment. However, many of his complex schemes from book three have not yet unfolded by that point. Basically, he’s arranging covert and overt alliances, hoping that with a large enough army he can defeat Robb. His schemes in the book and show include having Littlefinger woo Lysa Arryn and her army, wedding Sansa Stark into the Lannisters (with Bran and Rickon allegedly killed by Theon, and Arya vanished, she’s the only Stark heir after Robb), and even wedding Cersei off to Loras Tyrell. In the books, Princess Myrcella’s betrothal to the Dornish prince is only the beginning of pacifying Dorne and somehow giving them Princess Elia of Dorne’s killer (unfortunately, Tywin Lannister is known for giving that order) in order to get Dorne’s massive armies. Going down the map, that’s five of the Seven Kingdoms, leaving only one for Stannis, whose war grows ever-shakier. The last kingdom, the Riverlands, is in the worst shape, as the most fighting and sacking has been happening there. By contrast, Tywin can add Highgarden, Dorne, and the Vale – who