Finally the Squisher King is getting the attention he deserves. Not gonna lie, Brienne’s Nimble Dick story arc is one of my favs in Asoiaf. “He was a Crabb!” 😔✊🏻
I think the cruel feelings that Loras claimed Renly had for Brienne were more about Loras just resented her. George RR Martin brought that up when someone in an interview mentioned that Renly mocked Brienne behind her back; he said something like how it wasn't Renly's words, but Loras' and said we can't always trust the words characters put in other people's mouths.
Makes sense. Brienne did beat him pretty badly. It could be a - 'You embarrassed me in front of my crush' - situation. He may have also picked up on Brienne's admiration/love for Renly, and that could provoke some jealousy or protectiveness.
Yeah, I suspect the same, loras is projecting. Renly probably did not have the highest opinion of her ever and might have said in a different context something that with a lot of ill will could have been interpreted as such, ans well loras had that ill will. From what we see, renly respected her
I did too but I got to read it on a bus trips through the snowy alps in the dark and cloudy evening so I probably have no good standard. One of my fav memories.
They grew on me the second time around. I have to admit the first time around I was not amused until close to the end with the big reveal. I found the Iron Island plot and it's relation to Daenerys much more interesting.
Brienne is such an underrated character. Her storyline is so tragic and yet she is easily one of the toughest characters in the asoiaf universe. The fact she is able to survive in this world as a gender-non-conforming woman. All the odds against her, and she is still able to fight for what's right and try to bring some justice to the world.
@@MrTCHOSS This doesn't sound like a very serious reply, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Every man is killed? Definitely hyperbole, so I won't respond to that. Plenty of women and children are also presumably killed, raped, tortured, etc. due to the ongoing wars. Castrated? I think that's just one main character, Theon. And the 'woman-hood' of many female characters is destroyed in not too different fashion. Dany is very explicitly raped and her entire story is about how her agency is completely taken away from her. She is just a puppet for the men around her. Cersei was similarly 'sold' to King Robert as a wife. And was raped and abused by him for her whole adult life. I could go on with many examples. Your view seems to be a very misogynistic one. Try rereading the chapters of female characters in asoiaf. George has some really good insights into what being a woman in a patriarchal society may be like.
I was joking. I was making fun of how the HBO showrunners adopted George's story. No, I agree with you that the books are much deeper and nuanced. I love Arya, Sansa in the books and hate them in the show, lol.
D&D omitting a book plotline is a badge of honor to said plotline. It automatically registers as more important in my mind when they disregard one because it must mean there is something interesting going on between the lines those two didn't pick up on. I honestly didn't mind Brienne's meandering. I assumed she wouldn't find Sansa, but would get into interesting hijinx nonetheless, and I wasn't sure if she'd eventually turn toward the Vale. It wasn't always the most exciting story, but I loved that septon's speech about the broken man and liked learning more about the Riverlands.
The number of times i've done re-reads of JUST the Brienne storyline! It's just great, so so much nuance and clues for stuff going on around her. It's my favorite
The "omg same" goes beyond on this one. I was about to reply on how i've been listening to her audiobook chapters to put me to sleep for years. And then I saw your username. To which I say, nice to meet you, fellow Brienne enthusiast, i'm Ana David
@@anamakesthings for real, if George packaged JUST the Jaime/Brienne/chapters that mention them, in one book, and entitled it "A Tale of Two Kingslayers" I would buy every copy in the world I wish Roy Dotrice had been more consistent with pronouncing her name. Sometimes she's Bry-een and sometimes she's Bree-ehn and sometimes she's Bre-anne In the same paragraph PICK Still sad he's not with us anymore Also, it was a complete absolute pleasure "meeting" you, I hope to see you around again
God I loved AFFC; Jaime and Briennes journeys especially. Really felt like the realm was fleshed out and given some character more so than other books in the series.
I especially loved the gradual decline in Jaime and Cersei's relationship, Cersei still trying to manipulate him and Jaime finally seeing her for the monster she is
@@chyawanprash i think Cersei is supposed to be Marie Antionette. The tv show made her way to competent. I can understand why, though, that actress was magnificent
Brienne reminds me of the Roald Dahl quote "If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
yeah but briennes not actually ugly, shes just handsome. as in she looks more like a man than a woman, long hair or short hair. her teeth are crooked, but everything else is as generically masculine as can be, square jaw, huge blue eyes, fat lips, freckles, broad shoulders and significant height, at at around 6'3. shes only called ugly in her rebellion against gender roles and unfemininity.
@@god47398 . . . she is not handsome either, crooked teeth, strawy hair, . . . . she is not traditionaly attractiv, neither in a female nor male way, but it does not make her ugly. She has pretty eyes though, the few people who actualy care to look agree on.
Brienne is one of maybe 5 characters who are genuinly beautyful on the inside, I love how whatwvwr you go wkth outside or inside who is the beauty or beast changes with them
1:15 stopped to comment: am I the only one who considers the adventures of Brienne in Feast for Crows essential, especially her meeting with septon Meribald and his speech about war and broken men one of the best moments of the books?
That speech would really have benefited from being trimmed down. The last few lines ("...that it was...") were good, but the rest was this bizarre ornithology rant which didn't really say much about anything.
I don't feel that the trade of Jaime for the Stark girls was shot down completely because of sexism. It also had strategic reasons for being rejected: Jamie is an outstanding fighter who killed many of Robb's best men trying to cut his way towards Robb in the Battle of the Whispering Woods. To let him go back to the Lannisters means giving them back their strongest fighter. Also, there was no reassurance that Sansa or Arya were alive to the Starks, so for all Robb and his commanders knew, they would be trading Jamie for ghosts. Regardless, Brienne is one of my favourite characters in the books, and I loved her Feast for Crows story. So I'm interested in seeing the rest of this.
And to be fair the political importance of Jaime Lannister versus Sansa and Arya is pretty clear. Still kinda shitty to be so mercenary with your own sisters' life lol but I get where Robb is coming from
I think it's mostly political. Jaime as Tywins eldest son and a capable fighter is much more valuable to the Lannister cause than Arya and Sansa are to the Starks. You could argue that this stems from a sexist society in wich sons come before daughters in succession and in wich military and political leadership is mostly a male domain. But then again I would not interpret this as some conscious attempt to oppress women but more as a natural, almost inevitable outcome in a feudalistic medieval world in wich most conflicts are still solved through violence and women just are not equal to men on a medieval battelfield.
I feel like this will be my favorite series you've done yet. Brienne and Jaime chapters have always been my favorite, and this sort of analysis highlights why the writing is so good and on point during these chapters.
You didn't really plainly state this, but it was absolutely intentional that Jaime and Brienne's story in ASOS ended on a bad note. Jaime calls himself Kingslayer again and Brienne a "wench" in that scene. Thematically, that's a statement.
@@cybele_m the atmosphere of the storm the rocky muddy ground and her bargaining with herself to give in and die super super powerful writing. She's such a good character without even the subtext I was literally on an adrenaline high when I went through that chapter the first time.
That is a thing that I as a woman have only realised in the recent years. There are all these derogatory terms of women but not of men... and it sure tells of something.
there's lots of sword related dick jokes and direct sword=dick references in the story too, like Longclaw, the Sword of the Morning, and when jeoffry makes sansa kiss his new sword at the blackwater
Regarding the oaths, I feel like you could read it as the oath being non-consensual because of the skewed power dynamic between (in this case) the knights and their family/ king/noble lord. The oath is consesual when it's given freely and agreed upon between Jamie and Brienne. I'm probably wrong about half of this (am I allowed to say that?)
An oath sworn under duress isn't morally binding, and it's not like the Westerosi doesn't know that (for example, "Vows said at swordpoint are not held to be valid" -- awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Marriage ), but apparently they become selectively stupid when the king make them swear an oath. It is their stupidity that upholds the feudal system, not that they make promises and keep them.
I love Brienne and was really invested in her story. It always bothered me how many book fans seemed to dismiss it as soon as we get chapters from her point of view, as it turned out she was just a mere woman or something. The climax of the quest brought me to tears, one of the most intense fights in the entire series, and so cathartic. Great work as always Preston
funfact "esposa" in spanish is the same word for "wife" and "handcuff". I've never found someone making that connection, but it's fun nonetheless that getting a "wife" could be translated to getting "handcuffs".
Not even watched the video yet, but just off the description... I didn't know people disliked the Brienne chapters. They weren't ground breaking plot shifters sure, but they were some of my favourites in Feast
Bears smell like a strong musk, but its not really "bad" persay. I think the idea that bears smell awful is taken from bear meat, which does in fact have quite a smell to it before (and sometimes after) its cooked There is a reason its most often stewed and alot of people won't even eat it.
@@HxH2011DRA Depends on what season you get it in. Don't eat bear killed in early spring, they have mostly been eating skunk-cabbage, and it shows in the taste. BBQ sauce can't hurt, too
Yeah, bears stink. Particularly during mating season. Being within a mile or so of a bear in heat is somewhat akin to punching your own scent glands with a fist made of armpit and used athletic socks.
Black bears emit slightly musky odor when they are in heat, but in general bears are mostly odorless. Human definitely can't smell them across large distances.
I think the thematically messed up final chapter of Jamie and Brienne makes a lot of sense in terms of them being two people who have gained so much of feudalism basically deciding you maintain it and bring it a “better” meaning. “We’ll do oaths but better, we’ll do insults but make them fine!” Basically suffering under the delusion that because of their status they can alone reform structures. (This is without the future context, all about how they are in this moment of choice)
Also, isn't part of the whole bath scene that the oath of the Kingsguard has multiple different parts that all conflict with eachother? with the whole protect the king, obey the king, respect one's father protect the smallfolk and so on. the oath in the final chapter seems a lot simpler, find and protect Sansa. a combination of actions that will go together most of the time. The rest of the Brienne story can then go into why such an apparently simple oath is quite difficult as women in Westerosi society have very little means to protect themselves let alone others and those who do have the power have little interest in changing the system to do so (i.e. Cersei).
@@Dragonshade64 I think the part where "oaths" are an issue is also the part of the "why" are you doing it, oaths give you an easy why, but they also give you an excuse to never really think of the why, or of what that why is a part of, making it easier for Brienne, and Jamie, to never really reflect on how they're changing, who they've become, what they actually want, and what will actually change the world they want to change. It's like a "we've been through a fuck ton, let's make our lives simple for a hot second". When it comes to the second part, I think that's part of why the oath shouldn't be successful. Sansa's story is a lot about how she learns how to take care of herself by using her empathy, and creating care between her and others. It's becoming over time less about how she "needs others to survive" and more about learning to "thrive with others". A lot of her story still revolves around using and being used, but she did learn that she can't really be alone. And when it comes to "not changing the system", there's also a side of intersectional analysis. Cersei can make use of the system as it is. She has the privilege of being the most powerful woman in all westeros within the current system. The analysis is, where do people hold interest/have privilege in the current system, and where are they discriminated/don't have privilege in it. Not only does the second have to outweigh the first to start to want to change the system, but the second has to outweigh the risk of losing the first when you've changed the system.
Hm, not only are Jaime and Brienne mirrored character-wise, I distinctly remember this being portrayed visually too, with them being tied on opposite sides of a tree in ASoS.
Yes. They are also usually tied back to back on the same horse, united like Siamese twins, when Jaime is too sick to ride alone. Once they tie them face to face, in jest, while Jaime drifts in and out of consciousness, like two parts of a whole brought together. Jaime and Cersei are a rare type of twins, polar twins, made from the same maternal egg that split in two halves, each half fertilized by two different sperm, this is why they are mirror images of each other, despite being dizygotic twins. Despite not being related with Brienne genetically (if Dunk and his ancestor Lady Rohanne Webber did not have kids together), he is bound to her by fate. She reminds him of his dreams of being a great knight and she is what he feels he should have become, a true knight.
The Robb decision was not sexist, but geared toward military concerns: the other army’s top 5 generals vs two non-combatants that cannot assist his army in any way.
I have been a member of your channel for five years Mr. Jacobs. I was a fervent member of the thousand worlds book club. I am interested mostly in your work on aSoIaF and the thousand worlds universe but I check out some of your other work occasionally. When I saw this video in my channels feed today it genuinely got me excited which is not easy to do. Thank you for your continued work, it reeks of excellence. When I graduate university next year you will have one more patron I assure you.
I was surprised after I read the book that people hadn't liked Brienne's chapters. I was so into them. I remember when I was reading them and I yelled out while reading "oh, no, he died!" and my brother who hadn't read the books but was watching the show wanted to know who it was who had died. I hesitated, and then said "Nimble Dick." My brother was laughing for at least twenty minutes.
One of the things I love about these theory videos is that it engages in a lot of thematic analysis. Rather than just plot, there is an exploration of what the author means beyond the literal
Brienne's chapters were legit some of my favourite in the whole series, I don't engage with the fan community that much so the revelation that people think they're boring filler is shocking to me lmao
Preston, you keep getting better and better. I find it truly admirable how you keep pushing your own boundaries. Hats off! You are an inspiration to many of us, I’m sure.
"We should wonder if the real problem is really Brienne not having a sword or if the real problem is that big fierce bear." This was great, the interpretation that the bear represents all that is wrong in patriarchy was so good.
And I love how much it will annoy his sexist fans lol. I'm hoping we get another intro where he highlights the insults thrown at him. I immediately thought of the "liberal cuck" line from I think the purple wedding video.
I did not expect your analysis of Brienne's gender bending nature and how it affects her interactions with other characters to be so excellent. I think this is my new favorite Preston video.
Who gave Jaime his dream to go rescue Brienne? Who with dream-sending capabilities would even know what's going on or care about Brienne surviving? Bloodraven? Quaithe?
Can't it just be his conscience? While the sending of dreams does exist in this universe, that doesn't have to be the explanation of everything and as far as I can remember there isn't anything supporting something like that in the text. Everything doesn't have to fit into a grand massive supernatural conspiracy; sometimes a character just feels bad and wants to grow and be better.
@@lowethiderman this is how I feel about Sam's story for sure, and Jaime is definitely growing as a character, but it seems to be very specific that he's given a vision of exactly what's about to happen to Brienne
Brienne’s story is probably my favourite in the books. She goes on to find a girl in a huge wide world, her quest is almost futile and it makes sense that she wanders. She’d be extremely lucky to find her first try, like she does in the show (goes straight for Lisa Tully). I like how realistic it is, that life and adventures aren’t like you expect. It also makes me think of playing a game like Dark Souls. You explore and you have no idea what will come next, but you proceed one step at a time. And it both cases, the world is dangerous.
Ooh there's also the maiden fair/bear parallel with Dany and Jorah (thrice her age lol). I wonder what the implications are for his arc, given the recurring theme of everyone who isn't an able-bodied cisgender man needing to fight off bears/the patriarchy.
Maybe the point was that some oaths are worth keeping while others are not, depending on a number of factors. Yes, Brienne could have gone in a quest to rescue an innocent girl just for the innocent girl herself (that Brienne never met), but why would she do that? She could probably save many more innocent people doing something else. She did that because she felt her oath to Catelyn was still honorable and worthwhile under the circumstances (contrary to Jaime's situation with Aeris). I don't think GRRM is trying to make an absolute statement about oaths being good or bad on their own.
I think it's more of an exploration of morality vs. ethics. To put it simply, morality is about following rules you have been told, while ethics is a system that helps you think through choices yourself. Jaime is treating oaths like morals, and, unable to reconcile their contradictions, says the whole thing is stupid.
"Protecting people doesn't require oaths." "Protecting (...) a child (...) is a good thing, but that would have been a good thing regardless of the oath." I've had these same thoughts about Ned and the Promise. Protecting Jon is the right thing to do, Lyanna making Ned swear it should be irrelevant, so I wonder if she really said "protect the baby", or if "Promise Me" was something different than we expect.
I've heard more from fans theorising that Ned promised Lyanna to protect Jon from Robert, so I think that's the current standard theory - it even made it into the show. I think some version of "never tell anyone about Jon's parentage" happened, but maybe for different reasons.
@@froggywoggy473 purple wedding was grat also with the detail pictured in the graphics, my altime favrid was ,,times are changing,, theme song for a intro. amazing!
Finally! Glad to see Brienne's story getting the Preston work. Edit: The scene where Jaime gives Brienne Oathkeepr always struck me as a type of backpedaling. Sure, Jaimie and Brienne have a personal relationship, but they go back to calling each other derogatory names (wench and Kingslayer respectively). Also, the tone here seemed bitter; Brienne and Jamie have a low-key falling out in the scene. While there was a measure of respect grown between the two, their relationship takes an obvious nosedive here. Brianne thought Jamie was abandoning his oath to protect Sansa, Jaimie seemed hurt by her lack of faith in him before very formally dismissing Brianne, showing he felt hurt from the exchange and just wanted his space (I assume). He still cared for her, but it seemed obvious to me that that there was a wedge between. Their parting felt bittersweet to me. Is that just me?
It's likely that the scene is set to foreshadow what will eventually become of Jaime, Brienne, and Sansa (possibly Arya as well). In a traditional tale, Jaime's gifting armour and Oathkeeper to Brienne is an act of Courtly Love™ and Chivalry™: Jaime, the beautiful highborn, gives Brienne his Favour, a token of hope for her success and their eventual reunion. Oathkeeper becomes a symbol of Jaime himself, acting to aid Brienne's quest in his stead, and a visual reminder to Brienne of Jaime's faith in her. Obviously, ASoIAF is NOT a traditional tale and so the romantic, optimistic symbolism of it all comes across as both ominous and willfully naïve: in attempting to act within their cultural expectations, even with a token effort of subversion, even AFTER their journey emphatically disproved their successfully fitting within them, Jaime's act rings hollow: the two have already become self-aware of how their society's gendered systems fail them, repeatedly, and to their profound detriment. Attempting to simply "swap" their roles, as if Jaime was again in his childhood of trading clothes (and thus roles) with Cersei, is unfeasible because no one else in their society will recognise this "swap" and, if they did, they would ridicule it. Jaime's "subversive" act is half-hearted because, rather than acting knightly together, he has simply traded their gendered roles, Jaime becoming the "Lady" to Brienne's "Sir Knight", and hoping it serves as a Solution to the sexism to which they are victims. Exchanging gendered roles is to misgender them both, depriving Brienne of her need to be recognised as knight AND woman, thus foreshadowing that neither has truly shaken off the trappings and Traps of their gendered society. So. Like. Jaime is trying to re-centre their story as a "Hero's Journey" with BRIENNE as "Hero" but their POV chapters are structured according to the "Heroine's Journey" and so what would be a mark of a story half-told in the former is really just another red herring in the FIRST ACT of the latter. To clarify to any unfamiliar with what stories following The Heroine's Journey are structured like, have some examples: both the latest Voltron series and Star Wars trilogy were SET UP to follow the Heroine's Journey, only to be backpedal in their Third Act, sabotaging their narratives in the process; The Hunger Games trilogy, Tangled, and Steven Universe are COMPLETED Heroine's Journeys, while the Kingdom Hearts series is one ongoing. Overall, ASoIAF is NOT structured according to The Heroine's Journey but some of its POV characters' arcs DO follow it, at times intersecting with each other's while at different points in the Journeys of each individual, with some Journeys abruptly aborted via Character Death (etc).
You are right. However, after she leaves, he thinks of her often, even prays to the Father above to help her, when standing vigil over his own father's corpse. I loved how he hit Red Ronnet Connington with his golden hand when he called her "wench" and demanded he should call her "Lady Brienne", although he used to call her that, too. Ah, and when Jaime gave Brienne Oathkeeper, she appeared in a blue gown he had ordered made especially for her, in which she looked good. I think this shows that sometimes attractiveness or lack of it do depend on fashion choices. He wanted to show her that she could be attractive in the right feminine attire, if she chose to. Well, he used to wear Cersei's gowns as a child, in jest, so he learned something, lol. He also encouraged her masculine interests by gifting her with a magnificent sword, armour, gold, etc. Here, the sword is not a phallic symbol, it symbolizes protection. He gave her everything he could to help and protect her on her quest. Also, when she appeared at Pennytree, wounded and tired, he dropped everything and went to help her, even though he was no match for the Hound, as Brienne lied she ran into the Hound holding Sansa and the only way to save Sansa was for him to come alone. They both repress their sexual attraction for one another, as it would be a forbidden relationship. When she was wounded and delirious with fever, she called his name repeatedly for help, even though she saw Renly close by (actually Gendry, who looks like his uncle and had saved her from Biter). She subconsciously knew that Jaime cared enough for her to come save her, not Renly or another. Brienne also had an older brother, Galladon, who drowned when he was 8 and she was 4 y.o, and she regreted that eversince, maybe Pod reminds her of her brother she could not save. She didn't remember her mother who died when she was very young, and began to see Catelyn as a mother figure, so sad! I hope Brienne and Jaime survive Stoneheart without too much damage!
I don't think it's a falling out, necessarily. They don't hold any bitterness towards each other after this interaction and they even go on to think about each other fondly (Jaime frequently hopes she's okay and Brienne keeps wishing he was with her). I honestly just think they're misunderstanding is the result of two people feeling things they don't know how to explain and haven't had the relationship experience for the fundamentals
@@alanpennie8013 She hasn't betrayed him YET. When she agreed to bring him to Stoneheart, she was being hanged AND witnessing 10 y.o innocent Podrick being hanged in front of her. My guess is that she will save Jaime somehow, she is smart and resourceful, like when she climbed on an island and threw rocks at the boats chasing them, when Catelyn let them leave Riverrun's dungeons.But it is ironic in the books that bad girl Cersei only cheated on him, while good girl Brienne is leading him into deathly danger.
I think George's feelings about the status quo and traditional structures are more complex than "patriarchy bad" or "oaths bad". Why else put the story of Queen Alysanne and the Lord's Right to the First Night? Alysanne performs a good deed, one that will save thousands of children and prevent thousands of rapes. However, because she does not fully understand the context in which this cruel structure was formed and its utility she will end up directly causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Remember, George may be a pacifist hippie, but he's no fool. He takes true revolution and its consequences deadly serious with no easy answers.
@@arnekrug939 Sure it is. I mean, just using the bear symbolism, you can get more information on George's ideas on maleness. In both Jaime and Arya's chapters the bear at Harrenhal isn't seen as evil or something to be destroyed. They feel bad for it. It's just a big, brave brute doing what it was designed to do. It's maleness in its basest form. Compare this to the old dancing bear at Joffrey's wedding. It's now overly tame and trained. It's described as old, sad, and unimpressive. George realizes that completely taming man makes him pathetic. There needs to be a middle ground. The sensitive fighter, or the warrior bard. In ASOIAF the quintessential archetype of this is Rhaegar who is repeatedly contrasted with Robert (Robert as bear is shown to the reader repeatedly). Another good example is Mance Rayder. Cunning, brave, strong, intelligent. All "traditionally male" traits that are shown as necessary. I think this middle ground idea is more apparent in Dying of the Light though. The Kavalar's highly masculine culture of duels, honor, and loyalty is contrasted with Dirk who is a more emotional, sentimental type, but also a bit of a coward. In that story it wasn't until Dirk stopped running and combined his emotions and intellect with "traditional male qualities" like bravery, strength, and the will to fight one's own battles that he became truly self-actualized and worthy in the end. George's vision of the ideal male or person in general is one who is thoughtful, sentimental, and in tune with his/her emotions, but ALSO brave, willing to fight for what is right, and physically and mentally competent.
I don’t think Alyssane abolished that law to help the small folk. She just stream lined the process of child sacrifice, and made it more discreet by moving it to Craster’s keep.
Just judging by the videos intro. I guess Preston is trying to convince us, that the squishers will invade Westeros with Speedboats and Monstertrucks to try establish the Burgerking as the true ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.
17:50 it is clumsy in GRRM's part, but bears actually smell, a lot, so it might be likely that they'd be the go-to animal for bad body smell. It was however a "smellier society" than ours, but bear smell in the woods might be pretty noticeable for people living in much closer contact to nature.
This... Was... Great... We all have our favourite Preston Vids and Series we come back to again and again. There are also ones that we appreciate but, for some of us, they don't hit the spot. This is waaaaay up there for me. Brilliant analysis.
Just because there exists some bad aspect of a system, doesn't mean the whole system needs to be scrapped. In fact, it works relatively well for most people, a few freaks like Brienne, Sam, and Arya notwithstanding. For the vast majority of female characters it is a bad idea to try and outcompete men in maleness.
It may not be funny, but this story has people's attention now. They should actually be taught the lesson GRMM is trying to give us. Thank you for bringing it to the ftont.
My experience with the Brienne chapters would always be the same: turn the page and see it was a Brienne chapter “urgh not a Brienne chapter”. Finish the chapter “wow that was a great chapter!” Read on through the book, get to the next Brienne chapter “urgh not another Brienne chapter”. Finish the chapter, “wow that was a great chapter!” This process would repeat for every Brienne chapter where they’ve ended up being some of my favourites in the series yet I’m always disappointed when I see the next chapter is Brienne 😅
Ah, a series about gender and two of my favourite characters? Count me in. No idea yet where this going, but am already very invested. (Hopefully it will make me forget Brienne turning into a snivelling little girl after Jaime left her *shiver*)
I've watched the video twice now and I'm really curious to hear where Preston sees the Brienne story going. A lot of fans say they really like the Brienne AFFC storyline for its themes and emotional moments but as it stands it is rather pointless for the overall plot. Brienne meets some characters who will influence other storylines like the High Sparrow, Ser Shadrich, Randyll Tarly and the gravedigger but otherwise everything except her last two chapters don't really lead to anything. I've always wondered why George chose to write a story about Brienne looking for Sansa when we as reader already know this information. If he had kept Sansa's location a secret then Brienne's story would at least have some intrigue to it, but the way it’s written we just know from the start that her quest is doomed to fail. So I'm looking forward to Preston's thoughts on the matter. Obviously he's thought about this quite a bit and I'm sure he'll come up with a good explanation for why George decided to write Brienne's story the way he did.
Dear Preston Jacobs Do you think Brienne will be the "beautiful and younger queen" who will displace Cersei in Jamie's eyes? Since Jamie thinks of her as his "queen" of love and beauty.
Despite the fact that it is an accurate term for the world of westeros, I feel that the word patriarchy is loaded and fails to get across the point of the story. Like you said, Jamie is in the bear pit too. This story isn't a metaphor for how men oppress women for their own selfish gain, it's a story of how society and gender expectations oppress us all.
That's literally what patriarchy means, in the social studies sense. Some people prefer the word kyriarchy because of the same thing you brought up, but it's a lot less common.
Hmmm I wonder who the high born ladies that Catelyn has brought into her services over the years? That is a line that I paid no attention to when I read the book but now seems odd.
You're right...it is odd. And all I am going to be thinking about for the rest of the day. As that other person said, possibly Northern lords' daughters or even from the Vale or Riverlands is possible I gather. But it may be consequential. George loves to slip in tiny, one-line important details with other seemingly more paramount shit going on to distract us. The Northern daughters may have been obviously to charm Robb or even Jon. Jon would become a lord possibly or at least a noble with a line if "the dream of Spring" between the Northern houses and the Watch to resettle the Gift with men with strong ties to the ruling strong houses like Stark, Bolton, Umber, Karstark, and Flint. Jon would be a perfect candidate; he would never oppose the Starks, his overlords, because they are family as well. So we should probably look to the daughters of these houses who may have known about the Dream of Spring. If Jon knows of it, other Northern lords probably would know of it as well, and may have children in mind for Stark marriages/alliances. I certainly wish to know more about the Flint lineage, since we have Arya Flint being a probable source of skinchanging genetics for the Starks, so it would make sense if that happened again. We also have brave Dany Flint, another woman who probably had special genes and powers. I am certainly no Preston Jacobs, but if I notice anything, I will let you know dude.
@@peterhowie1212 LISTEN...the fact that Catelyn Stark brings it up in conversation, yet does NOT return to ponder these women/girls tells me that George does not want us to know. Catelyn is a reflective person, who will even linger on painful memories like Ashara Dayne and Jon Snow. She is a logical and shrewd woman, and honestly doesn't get the credit she deserves...she understood risk far better than Robb or Edmure or Brandon, and her dumb decisions like kidnapping Tyrion Lannister may have been someone else messing with her mind, because that decision still puzzles me. Who cares that she was dressing down in an inn...she had specifically stayed there with her father as a child as a highborn obviously. She could say she was visiting House Whent just south at Harrenhal...her mother's ancestral home. It didn't have to be suspicious, and was risky to take Tyrion, yet she does...at great cost crossing the Vale to reach the Eyrie. And for what? She could have just told Tyrion to fuck off in a highborn way, and let him think what he wants. Well...Tyrion does fall into the company of Bronn...conveniently a sellsword who is more than willing to take gold from a rich man. And Bronn probably works for Varys...so is that who wanted all this conflict between the Starks and Lannisters? Varys seems to want peace until Aegon is ready and seemingly old enough for kingship...at least that's what he tells Illyrio Mopatis. Sometimes I wonder if they are really allies...or if Varys is double crossing him. But anyways, sorry got way off topic, my point was that Catelyn Stark would absolutely reflect upon her old female wards, and the fact that she does not, is telling in my opinion. Lol
I love Brienne because no matter how awful the world was to her she still has a soft spot for women and children even protecting them while being alone.
Especially when she herself is a woman (and some can say even a child as she still is only a teen, if I remember correctly) and faces many of the same problems herself. Yet she still strives on. Gosh, I love her so darn much.
I hope u also do a Davos series. It's pretty well known at this point that Westeros, at least to some level is modeled after England (the UK), I also think the island of Skagos is meant to represent Scotland. Skagos has unicorns, unicorns are the official state animal of Scotland (sounds insane but it's true), and the Westerosi mainlanders' low opinion of the Skagosi mirrors the famously low opinion the English had of the Scots during the Dark ages and medieval times. And the two names just sound similar too. I really hope we learn a lot about the Skagosi and House Magnar in particular in the two future books. And I also think any Davos/Rickon/Skagos theory should take the Scotland connection into account.
Whoa...just had a thought based on your interpretation. If Jon Arryn is an old goat, does that mean Mya Stone calling herself "half goat, half mountain" means that she is half Arryn? We are meant to believe that Mya's mother was lowborn...but we honestly don't know either way. And the only other Mya that I could find in the stories was Mya Rivers, sister to Bloodraven, and daughter to two highborns, Aegon IV and Melissa Blackwood. I would gather that Mya Stone's mother was an Arryn...or maybe a Royce since she may be an agent of the cadet branch of House Royce...old Nestor and Myranda. It would be interesting if Jon Arryn as Hand of the King had been considering convincing Robert to "wipe the taint of bastardry" from Mya Stone, and declare her an heir to the Iron Throne backed by the Vale/Stormlands/North/Riverlands/probably Crownlands alliance that still existed, and boosted by possible Ironborn support from Theon in Winterfell, and a promise of sacking the Westerlands, which would be a fine prize. I could even see Robert allowing some more autonomy for them if they asked, who knows. So that leaves Lannisters to ally with Dorne (laugh...no way), and the Reach, and maybe the Crownlands but I am not sure either way on them. So if Jon Arryn could prove the children were bastards, remove Lannister influence, and bring in Mya Stone married to somebody...maybe Renly. It's her uncle, he's a Baratheon, looks like Robert, apparently likeable...it could work and bring Arryn or Royce blood on the Throne. Although Renly seems to try to charm Robert with Margaery Tyrell, and Renly of course marries her instead. So, he may have been open to marrying Mya Stone if she was from two highborns, Renly doesn't care, he just would be more than happy to be King I think. Just some thoughts I had about the direction Jon Arryn may have been going for the whole Lannister situation. We will never know for sure.
I will say, the inclusion of the bear reference in Jon's conversation with Ygritte makes sense because he grew up in a world with the bear and the maiden fair, so it shows how he sees her
Preston, if you ever get a chance, review the best order to read (or likely re-read) AFfC and ADwD chapters given they're essential one large book covering similar points of time in the story. The most popular is the Boiled Leather order, though The Ball of Beasts order is also entertaining, but I'm sure subscribers would be interested in your take.
I think that wildling "bride stealing" is a spectrum. In cases like Yigrette, I would guess she consents to be stolen. Attractive guy come to the clan village to trade, boy meets girl, proper signals are given, and when he tries to steal her, she consents to be "stolen". If he tried to steal her and she doesn't want to be stolen, and she has kin nearby, bride thief guy gets handed his head, or she slits his throat later. When Sam stole Gilly, her family had to coax him to, so it was "arranged" by her family. The nights watch mutineers stole Craster's women, will they be killed in their sleep? Craster's women don't seem to happy about those crows.
Even if bride "stealing" happens the way you describe, they are still promoting violence against women, even if it's just simulated. How would someone like Sam get married in a society like that?
I agree, I think George wants us to think all Wildlings think alike but they do not, just like we in our world do not. Osha seems to be matrilineal and does not think that Mance Rayder is a Wildling, but thousands do all the same. I would guess that Osha has Children of the Forest or Giant blood, invoking peoples older than the First Men. Ygritte sounds like a Wildling who comes from true First Men blood...yet are they really feminist? I would say not much...they are called the First Men lol. And have only had Kings Beyond the Wall...at least told to us from a South of the Wall point of view, so who knows what the Maesters have changed or omitted. They do have females warriors though (awesome) and seem to value marrying people who are not their family members, an all around good idea for health of population growth. Inbreeding may produce special genes but is not good for future generations obviously. And Tormund does question Jon on why a daughter would be any less valuable as a ward/hostage than a boy...fathers love their children all the same...which is true. Ned Stark gives his life for his daughters, quite literally for Sansa since she speaks for him, something that should be not lost on Jon. Craster is different...I think like Preston has said in other videos, that Craster is a bastard of Bloodraven with a Wildling woman, interbreeding to give sons to the Others to appease them, and try to keep the peace by offering sacrifices. Apparently this used to be Night's Watch things (makes sense) but Alysanne Targaryen shuts it down. Bloodraven restarts this but gives inbred babes to curb the spread of telepathic genes to the Others. I do wonder if Maester Aemon knew of Bloodraven's plan...he probably did since seems to believe in certain prophecies relating to the dragon having three heads, and we know he wrote to Rhaegar later as well. I could see Aemon and Bloodraven working to bring Jon and Bran beyond the Wall...for whatever those reasons are lol, not totally sure honestly. Maybe they are meant to reproduce...Jon surely would have gotten Ygritte pregnant had she lived, and Bran is currently in a tree dungeon being "wed to the trees"...whatever that means. Daenerys is also a bride but to fire, but becomes a bride again to a real man as well. Bran could be mirroring Aerys II in the Defiance of Duskendale...being imprisoned in the dark and forced upon...apparently perhaps sexually. Maybe the Children want him for his genes...although he hasn't gone through puberty. I don't know about any of this but here are some guesses I have to offer.
@@db7213 Acknowledging that bride stealing can be a spectrum, is not the same as condoning it. Do I think it's a good system? No. Yigrette's attitude that if a man she doesn't like abducted her, she would kill him, suggests a society that has a great deal of violence embedded in the culture. I agree that bride stealing promotes violence against women, and this culture accepts violence against everyone, considering Val's comments on Shireen. It was GRRM's intention for writing them this way. At least free folk women have the out that they can kill their abductors without risking punishment. Yigrette doesn't mention any repercussions for a woman who kills her abductor, so I would guess wildling culture would not have a lot of sympathy for a man who is killed by his stolen bride. Overall, it's an ugly system, that accepts a great deal of violence as normal. Sam did get married according to wildling culture, because Gilly's mom and aunt arranged for Sam to steal Gilly. If Sam was born a wildling, he probably would have become a bard collecting songs and tales and performing them. Sam would not have faced the same pressures that he faced at Horn Hill, which would have made him a very different person. Bards, probably didn't have that much trouble finding intimate companionship. I would guess a talented bard who isn't that old, would have women planning how to get him to abduct them.
@@hopedixon2133 Excellent points. I like your point about Osha coming from an even older matralineal culture, it give a tremendous variety to wildling culture. With that insight, I find it interesting Osha's transactional relationships with men. She is with Stiv because he is helping her get south away from the white walkers, but she isn't broken up about his loss. After capture, she takes up with Gage, which is a good move for her. Gage is kind, gentle and smells good, plus below stairs the cook has a bit of power, it's a win-win for Osha. In real world matralineal cultures the man who raises a woman's children is often her brother, because he can be sure they are related to him. In matralineal cultures the woman owns most of the property, making intimate relationships more easily transferable from one baby daddy to the next. This would square with Osha's situation. I wonder when Bloodraven met the Children of the Forest and how that all went down. Had he met them before disappearing, or did the CotF lure him into the cave then entrapped him. Once the CotF got Bloodraven stuck on that weirwood chair, they learned everything he knew. I don't know if Aemon was part of a plan for that, or if Bloodraven's disappearance was mysterious to Aemon as well. I think Jon and Bran were both called to the far north for different reasons. With Jon it's probably for prophecy, while Bran is a CotF skill acquisition plan, which may be part of the prophecy plan. Bran can warg humans, which Jojen says is unique, it is quite a valuable skill to acquire, once Bran is enthroned in the weirwoods. I am concerned that the CotF somehow tricked Bloodraven into his current situation, and that Bloodraven has become a puppet of the CotF. Craster (with Bloodraven's help) has set up a wildling/Targaryan hybrid culture that has the worst of all aspects of both those cultures. It's ironic that when Jon met Craster, that was the second member of his extended Targ family Jon ever met. I think it's more Bran's warging abilities the CotF want, and to get those they probably need to get Bran planted into weirwood net first. If the CotF could warg humans they would be a formidable and dangerous power.
@@permiebird937 Yes, Bran and Jon are there for different reasons but it is still possible that Aemon and Bloodraven collaborated. Aemon seems to know of Azor Ahai, as did Bloodraven undoubtedly. However, I don't believe Jon is a Targaryen, I believe he is Ashara's son, and Brandon was probably the father. We know he is Ashara's because Ned tells us; back in AGoT, Catelyn thinks back to asking Ned about Ashara, and Ned replies to never ask him about Jon. So he connects the two for us... and would also explain why Ned never just told Cat. If Jon were his, it wouldn't have mattered if Ned and Ashara hooked up at the Harrenhal Tourney...Brandon was engaged to Cat and still alive. So Cat would have understood. But if it were Brandon's...she would have been pissed. And thus Ned does not tell her. If Jon were Rhaegar and Lyanna's, same thing, he would have told her eventually. Ned and Cat have a strong love and trust that most arranged marriages don't have. But Ned just couldn't betray Brandon like that because he was supposed to marry Cat. And the whole thing is painful for Ned because HE loved Ashara just as Barristan...more unrequited love that our author enjoys lol. I think Jon will fulfill the Last Hero scene again....a man with no fear alone with a Valyrian steel sword off to find the CotF north of the Wall for their help. He'll probably die again or something too honestly. He's going to be the successful version of See Waymar Royce from the very first scene, those two have obvious parallels. And since he's a Dayne, he'll maybe take Dawn with him as well, who knows. I think the Others want Jon...I'm assuming to be turned or lead them or fulfill whatever prophecy they prescribe too. Bran...not as sure what will happen there. I assume he's going to be a king in some way since that happens weirdly on the show but not sure how. I think Bloodraven is going to use Bran to destroy the Children and weirwood net because I don't think Bloodraven is their ally. Notice how only at Raventree Hall (House Blackwood) is a dead weirwood. Weirwoods aren't supposed to die according to other characters, so why does this one? I think the Blackwoods didn't want the Children spying on them through the weirwood so they "killed" it themselves and used ravens and crows to find the Children's secrets. I could be wrong about this, but it just strikes me as too coincidental that the only dead weirwood isn't chopped down, and it's House Blackwood's tree. Not sure how it would be a benefit for leaving it up but it is an absolutely ENORMOUS tree that can see for miles. Maybe the Blackwoods can still harness power from it without being connected to the whole weirwood net, like a disconnected space relay station that still functions alone. Lol sorry just rambled a bit but oh well.
I have seen nothing of this video except for the title music and the explosions, but honestly the first ten seconds alone are well-deserving of that thumbs up. :)
Finally the Squisher King is getting the attention he deserves.
Not gonna lie, Brienne’s Nimble Dick story arc is one of my favs in Asoiaf.
“He was a Crabb!” 😔✊🏻
Im sorry Nimble Dicks deaths is so surprisingly impactful it meant almost as much as Ned's death in a way
Ok the TREY the Explainer & Preston Jacobs crossover is what the world really needs in these troubling times
The Accuracies and Inaccuracies of Maester Yandel?
Surprised to see you here, didn't know you were a preston fan.
And the Crabbs always fascinated me ngl
Preston: "Well the title is already sensational, let's go all out on the title card too."
It's the intro for me 👩🏾🎤 😝🤟🏾!!
It's the new rogue prince song. Calling it now.
It’s the speed boat for me 🤣
I think the cruel feelings that Loras claimed Renly had for Brienne were more about Loras just resented her. George RR Martin brought that up when someone in an interview mentioned that Renly mocked Brienne behind her back; he said something like how it wasn't Renly's words, but Loras' and said we can't always trust the words characters put in other people's mouths.
Makes sense. Brienne did beat him pretty badly.
It could be a - 'You embarrassed me in front of my crush' - situation.
He may have also picked up on Brienne's admiration/love for Renly, and that could provoke some jealousy or protectiveness.
@@davidbodor1762 also he though Brienne betrayed and murdered Renly for a long period of time. That would cloud your perception.
Yeah, I suspect the same, loras is projecting. Renly probably did not have the highest opinion of her ever and might have said in a different context something that with a lot of ill will could have been interpreted as such, ans well loras had that ill will. From what we see, renly respected her
I actually really enjoyed the Briennes story. It pulled me in and made me feel the environment.
I did too but I got to read it on a bus trips through the snowy alps in the dark and cloudy evening so I probably have no good standard.
One of my fav memories.
They grew on me the second time around. I have to admit the first time around I was not amused until close to the end with the big reveal. I found the Iron Island plot and it's relation to Daenerys much more interesting.
Brienne is such an underrated character. Her storyline is so tragic and yet she is easily one of the toughest characters in the asoiaf universe. The fact she is able to survive in this world as a gender-non-conforming woman. All the odds against her, and she is still able to fight for what's right and try to bring some justice to the world.
You're kidding right? She lives in a world where every man is killed, castrated and every woman has plot armor to make them invincible.
@@MrTCHOSS This doesn't sound like a very serious reply, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Every man is killed? Definitely hyperbole, so I won't respond to that. Plenty of women and children are also presumably killed, raped, tortured, etc. due to the ongoing wars. Castrated? I think that's just one main character, Theon. And the 'woman-hood' of many female characters is destroyed in not too different fashion. Dany is very explicitly raped and her entire story is about how her agency is completely taken away from her. She is just a puppet for the men around her. Cersei was similarly 'sold' to King Robert as a wife. And was raped and abused by him for her whole adult life. I could go on with many examples. Your view seems to be a very misogynistic one. Try rereading the chapters of female characters in asoiaf. George has some really good insights into what being a woman in a patriarchal society may be like.
I was joking. I was making fun of how the HBO showrunners adopted George's story. No, I agree with you that the books are much deeper and nuanced. I love Arya, Sansa in the books and hate them in the show, lol.
@@MrTCHOSS Ah okay, cool. No problem. I'm autistic, and this is the internet - so its very difficult to tell jokes and stuff.
@@TheOakleysworld Nah, it just wasn't a very good "joke", not your fault at all for not getting it.
D&D omitting a book plotline is a badge of honor to said plotline. It automatically registers as more important in my mind when they disregard one because it must mean there is something interesting going on between the lines those two didn't pick up on.
I honestly didn't mind Brienne's meandering. I assumed she wouldn't find Sansa, but would get into interesting hijinx nonetheless, and I wasn't sure if she'd eventually turn toward the Vale. It wasn't always the most exciting story, but I loved that septon's speech about the broken man and liked learning more about the Riverlands.
"Shut up book, or I'll honor you again"
-D&D each season
@@atro-city this comment is amazing, the way I cackled out loud--
The number of times i've done re-reads of JUST the Brienne storyline! It's just great, so so much nuance and clues for stuff going on around her. It's my favorite
The "omg same" goes beyond on this one. I was about to reply on how i've been listening to her audiobook chapters to put me to sleep for years. And then I saw your username. To which I say, nice to meet you, fellow Brienne enthusiast, i'm Ana David
@@anamakesthings for real, if George packaged JUST the Jaime/Brienne/chapters that mention them, in one book, and entitled it "A Tale of Two Kingslayers" I would buy every copy in the world
I wish Roy Dotrice had been more consistent with pronouncing her name. Sometimes she's Bry-een and sometimes she's Bree-ehn and sometimes she's Bre-anne
In the same paragraph
PICK
Still sad he's not with us anymore
Also, it was a complete absolute pleasure "meeting" you, I hope to see you around again
Holy... This intro is lit.
God I loved AFFC; Jaime and Briennes journeys especially. Really felt like the realm was fleshed out and given some character more so than other books in the series.
I especially loved the gradual decline in Jaime and Cersei's relationship, Cersei still trying to manipulate him and Jaime finally seeing her for the monster she is
And poor Nimble Dick :(
@@chyawanprash i think Cersei is supposed to be Marie Antionette. The tv show made her way to competent. I can understand why, though, that actress was magnificent
@@workingclassclassicalguita730 well, you feel at least a little bad for Marie. I dont really feel bad for cersei
Brienne reminds me of the Roald Dahl quote
"If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
yeah but briennes not actually ugly, shes just handsome. as in she looks more like a man than a woman, long hair or short hair. her teeth are crooked, but everything else is as generically masculine as can be, square jaw, huge blue eyes, fat lips, freckles, broad shoulders and significant height, at at around 6'3. shes only called ugly in her rebellion against gender roles and unfemininity.
@@god47398 IDK I find lots of guys atttractive and she doesn't sound attractive
@@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901 Brienne sounds like she would look like a taller Robert Redford when he was younger.
@@god47398 . . . she is not handsome either, crooked teeth, strawy hair, . . . . she is not traditionaly attractiv, neither in a female nor male way, but it does not make her ugly.
She has pretty eyes though, the few people who actualy care to look agree on.
Ironically Roald Dahl himself was kind of a monster, or at least a miserable asshole at the bare minimum.
lol the random cleos Fray getting shot in the background around the middle
Cleos frey the wise. Wiser and better negotiator than a maester.
@@e22ddie46 He was a decent fellow of Lannister & Frey descent, which is rare. He was killed and left a widow and little children behind.
Haha that's actually his role in the books too
@@lalywindland5764 I agree with Genna. He should be entombed within the Hall of Heroes at Casterly Rock. Seven save him.
Brienne and Jamie as the inverse of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale. Always liked these chapters.
Brienne is one of maybe 5 characters who are genuinly beautyful on the inside, I love how whatwvwr you go wkth outside or inside who is the beauty or beast changes with them
I'm thinking that at this point we should send Preston over to help out our George get these books done
Dumb
Please no or we're going to get references to Dany as a cis gender woman signaling as a patriarch
Yes and no. While I love the guy, lately he's becoming a little too of a modern leftist with all this cis made up gender bullshit.
1:15 stopped to comment: am I the only one who considers the adventures of Brienne in Feast for Crows essential, especially her meeting with septon Meribald and his speech about war and broken men one of the best moments of the books?
That speech would really have benefited from being trimmed down. The last few lines ("...that it was...") were good, but the rest was this bizarre ornithology rant which didn't really say much about anything.
I love Brienne’s affc chapters. “ No choice and no chance” is one of my favorite lines of the books
I don't feel that the trade of Jaime for the Stark girls was shot down completely because of sexism. It also had strategic reasons for being rejected: Jamie is an outstanding fighter who killed many of Robb's best men trying to cut his way towards Robb in the Battle of the Whispering Woods. To let him go back to the Lannisters means giving them back their strongest fighter. Also, there was no reassurance that Sansa or Arya were alive to the Starks, so for all Robb and his commanders knew, they would be trading Jamie for ghosts.
Regardless, Brienne is one of my favourite characters in the books, and I loved her Feast for Crows story. So I'm interested in seeing the rest of this.
Doesn't cat explicitly ask robb and he says he can't make a trade for two girls?
@@e22ddie46 Yeah, and also they do know Sansa is alive as they received a letter from her; it's only Arya that's an unknown.
I think Robb was correct.
Arya and Sansa only became politically important after his death.
And to be fair the political importance of Jaime Lannister versus Sansa and Arya is pretty clear. Still kinda shitty to be so mercenary with your own sisters' life lol but I get where Robb is coming from
I think it's mostly political. Jaime as Tywins eldest son and a capable fighter is much more valuable to the Lannister cause than Arya and Sansa are to the Starks. You could argue that this stems from a sexist society in wich sons come before daughters in succession and in wich military and political leadership is mostly a male domain. But then again I would not interpret this as some conscious attempt to oppress women but more as a natural, almost inevitable outcome in a feudalistic medieval world in wich most conflicts are still solved through violence and women just are not equal to men on a medieval battelfield.
Wait, Stoneheart spent time in the river as a corpse and now is all squishy . I get it
ohhhh makes sense
Squishers could just be resurrected dead people in the sea.
Bruh
I feel like this will be my favorite series you've done yet. Brienne and Jaime chapters have always been my favorite, and this sort of analysis highlights why the writing is so good and on point during these chapters.
You didn't really plainly state this, but it was absolutely intentional that Jaime and Brienne's story in ASOS ended on a bad note. Jaime calls himself Kingslayer again and Brienne a "wench" in that scene. Thematically, that's a statement.
Brianne's chapter with biter is one of the best in the series in my opinion.
No chance and no choice.
@@cybele_m the atmosphere of the storm the rocky muddy ground and her bargaining with herself to give in and die super super powerful writing. She's such a good character without even the subtext I was literally on an adrenaline high when I went through that chapter the first time.
I like the bit in the middle of the video talking about female versus male terms, I honestly never thought about that before. Thanks!
Hussy being the plural of housewife is a new one to me.
@@ThereIsNoLord It's not the plural, it's a derivative term. Comes from "huswif" which used to mean "housewoman".
@@ThereIsNoLord - It if helps to understand the term, it probably went like this: housewife to housy to hussy.
That is a thing that I as a woman have only realised in the recent years. There are all these derogatory terms of women but not of men... and it sure tells of something.
there's lots of sword related dick jokes and direct sword=dick references in the story too, like Longclaw, the Sword of the Morning, and when jeoffry makes sansa kiss his new sword at the blackwater
Regarding the oaths, I feel like you could read it as the oath being non-consensual because of the skewed power dynamic between (in this case) the knights and their family/ king/noble lord. The oath is consesual when it's given freely and agreed upon between Jamie and Brienne. I'm probably wrong about half of this (am I allowed to say that?)
An oath sworn under duress isn't morally binding, and it's not like the Westerosi doesn't know that (for example, "Vows said at swordpoint are not held to be valid" -- awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Marriage ), but apparently they become selectively stupid when the king make them swear an oath. It is their stupidity that upholds the feudal system, not that they make promises and keep them.
I love Brienne and was really invested in her story. It always bothered me how many book fans seemed to dismiss it as soon as we get chapters from her point of view, as it turned out she was just a mere woman or something. The climax of the quest brought me to tears, one of the most intense fights in the entire series, and so cathartic. Great work as always Preston
funfact "esposa" in spanish is the same word for "wife" and "handcuff". I've never found someone making that connection, but it's fun nonetheless that getting a "wife" could be translated to getting "handcuffs".
Surely you know the saying "you've been cuffed" when speaking of marriage?
The ol' ball and chain
Not even watched the video yet, but just off the description... I didn't know people disliked the Brienne chapters. They weren't ground breaking plot shifters sure, but they were some of my favourites in Feast
Septon Meribald (and Dog) is my favorite character in the series.
The chapter where the Septon tells the story about when he was fighting in one of the wars was awesome.
Right? The whole bear pit thing is like the most memorable thing on the whole book.
@@OurHourglass
Pretty sure the Bear Pit is in ASOS, not AFFC.
Nice, finally someone talking about Brienne's story.
YT's Alisa Patience did
glidus: expertly edited audio and video
preston: same mic as 2017 probably, now w explosion effects and MONSTER TRUCKS
king shit
Graphics vs Aesthetics in a nutshell
Who's glidus?
I find it sometimes hard to understand Glidus's speech, I don't know if it's his accent or speed or what.
@@Sipu97 it's because i'm drunk, i don't have an accent
@@Glidus king! If you guys like preston you should def watch glidus
"Do bears even smell particularly bad?"
*YES*
I've been around black bears - didn't smell anything. Thankfully, I have never encountered a grizzly.
@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin ah so THAT'S how you can say that XD, fair enough
Bears smell like a strong musk, but its not really "bad" persay. I think the idea that bears smell awful is taken from bear meat, which does in fact have quite a smell to it before (and sometimes after) its cooked
There is a reason its most often stewed and alot of people won't even eat it.
@@TheNietzscheanRight don't even get me started on bear meat 😭😭😭
@@HxH2011DRA Depends on what season you get it in. Don't eat bear killed in early spring, they have mostly been eating skunk-cabbage, and it shows in the taste. BBQ sauce can't hurt, too
Bears can have a *very* strong, musky smell, to the point where it can act as a warning if you're hiking in the woods.
Yeah, bears stink. Particularly during mating season. Being within a mile or so of a bear in heat is somewhat akin to punching your own scent glands with a fist made of armpit and used athletic socks.
Black bears emit slightly musky odor when they are in heat, but in general bears are mostly odorless. Human definitely can't smell them across large distances.
I don't know who to believe here
@@duganrocks100 Google it to check facts, that's what I did.
Your analysis of the series is second to none. Will never not drop everything to watch these videos
To be honest, even if Brianne's story is just world-building filler, I don't see why that should be a problem. I love world-building filler.
Yes, bears are known to smell horrible, be killing, near unstopable machine, and look hella cute with those cute ears that you just want to pet them
I am ridiculously excited for the next one. This is so good.
I think the thematically messed up final chapter of Jamie and Brienne makes a lot of sense in terms of them being two people who have gained so much of feudalism basically deciding you maintain it and bring it a “better” meaning. “We’ll do oaths but better, we’ll do insults but make them fine!” Basically suffering under the delusion that because of their status they can alone reform structures. (This is without the future context, all about how they are in this moment of choice)
Also, isn't part of the whole bath scene that the oath of the Kingsguard has multiple different parts that all conflict with eachother? with the whole protect the king, obey the king, respect one's father protect the smallfolk and so on. the oath in the final chapter seems a lot simpler, find and protect Sansa. a combination of actions that will go together most of the time.
The rest of the Brienne story can then go into why such an apparently simple oath is quite difficult as women in Westerosi society have very little means to protect themselves let alone others and those who do have the power have little interest in changing the system to do so (i.e. Cersei).
@@Dragonshade64 I think the part where "oaths" are an issue is also the part of the "why" are you doing it, oaths give you an easy why, but they also give you an excuse to never really think of the why, or of what that why is a part of, making it easier for Brienne, and Jamie, to never really reflect on how they're changing, who they've become, what they actually want, and what will actually change the world they want to change. It's like a "we've been through a fuck ton, let's make our lives simple for a hot second".
When it comes to the second part, I think that's part of why the oath shouldn't be successful. Sansa's story is a lot about how she learns how to take care of herself by using her empathy, and creating care between her and others. It's becoming over time less about how she "needs others to survive" and more about learning to "thrive with others". A lot of her story still revolves around using and being used, but she did learn that she can't really be alone. And when it comes to "not changing the system", there's also a side of intersectional analysis. Cersei can make use of the system as it is. She has the privilege of being the most powerful woman in all westeros within the current system. The analysis is, where do people hold interest/have privilege in the current system, and where are they discriminated/don't have privilege in it. Not only does the second have to outweigh the first to start to want to change the system, but the second has to outweigh the risk of losing the first when you've changed the system.
Hm, not only are Jaime and Brienne mirrored character-wise, I distinctly remember this being portrayed visually too, with them being tied on opposite sides of a tree in ASoS.
Yes. They are also usually tied back to back on the same horse, united like Siamese twins, when Jaime is too sick to ride alone. Once they tie them face to face, in jest, while Jaime drifts in and out of consciousness, like two parts of a whole brought together. Jaime and Cersei are a rare type of twins, polar twins, made from the same maternal egg that split in two halves, each half fertilized by two different sperm, this is why they are mirror images of each other, despite being dizygotic twins. Despite not being related with Brienne genetically (if Dunk and his ancestor Lady Rohanne Webber did not have kids together), he is bound to her by fate. She reminds him of his dreams of being a great knight and she is what he feels he should have become, a true knight.
The Robb decision was not sexist, but geared toward military concerns: the other army’s top 5 generals vs two non-combatants that cannot assist his army in any way.
I have been a member of your channel for five years Mr. Jacobs. I was a fervent member of the thousand worlds book club. I am interested mostly in your work on aSoIaF and the thousand worlds universe but I check out some of your other work occasionally. When I saw this video in my channels feed today it genuinely got me excited which is not easy to do. Thank you for your continued work, it reeks of excellence. When I graduate university next year you will have one more patron I assure you.
"No chance, and no choice" Is one of the best lines in all of asoiaf, love the Brienne part of Feast
I was surprised after I read the book that people hadn't liked Brienne's chapters. I was so into them. I remember when I was reading them and I yelled out while reading "oh, no, he died!" and my brother who hadn't read the books but was watching the show wanted to know who it was who had died. I hesitated, and then said "Nimble Dick." My brother was laughing for at least twenty minutes.
One of the things I love about these theory videos is that it engages in a lot of thematic analysis. Rather than just plot, there is an exploration of what the author means beyond the literal
Brienne's chapters were legit some of my favourite in the whole series, I don't engage with the fan community that much so the revelation that people think they're boring filler is shocking to me lmao
Preston, you keep getting better and better. I find it truly admirable how you keep pushing your own boundaries. Hats off! You are an inspiration to many of us, I’m sure.
My gods this channel is incredible
"We should wonder if the real problem is really Brienne not having a sword or if the real problem is that big fierce bear."
This was great, the interpretation that the bear represents all that is wrong in patriarchy was so good.
And I love how much it will annoy his sexist fans lol. I'm hoping we get another intro where he highlights the insults thrown at him. I immediately thought of the "liberal cuck" line from I think the purple wedding video.
Brienne meeting Jaime is one hell of a cliffhanger.
"No chance & no choice" and the "Broken Man" speech are my two favourite moments in all 5 books.
I did not expect your analysis of Brienne's gender bending nature and how it affects her interactions with other characters to be so excellent.
I think this is my new favorite Preston video.
We all know the point of the brienne story was just to introduce dog.
The best character.
@Jim Bob's Arcade Jon Snow can't even compare to Dog.
*Dog
Dog = Azor Ahai confirmed!!
Best character and he has the best line ever associated with him: "Pod evidently did not know what to make of a dog namend Dog."
Who gave Jaime his dream to go rescue Brienne? Who with dream-sending capabilities would even know what's going on or care about Brienne surviving? Bloodraven? Quaithe?
Bran
Can't it just be his conscience? While the sending of dreams does exist in this universe, that doesn't have to be the explanation of everything and as far as I can remember there isn't anything supporting something like that in the text. Everything doesn't have to fit into a grand massive supernatural conspiracy; sometimes a character just feels bad and wants to grow and be better.
@@lowethiderman this is how I feel about Sam's story for sure, and Jaime is definitely growing as a character, but it seems to be very specific that he's given a vision of exactly what's about to happen to Brienne
@@lowethiderman well having a dream where she is begging for a sword in a fight, and this is one where he's sleeping on a weirwood right?
Brienne’s story is probably my favourite in the books. She goes on to find a girl in a huge wide world, her quest is almost futile and it makes sense that she wanders. She’d be extremely lucky to find her first try, like she does in the show (goes straight for Lisa Tully). I like how realistic it is, that life and adventures aren’t like you expect.
It also makes me think of playing a game like Dark Souls. You explore and you have no idea what will come next, but you proceed one step at a time. And it both cases, the world is dangerous.
Ooh there's also the maiden fair/bear parallel with Dany and Jorah (thrice her age lol). I wonder what the implications are for his arc, given the recurring theme of everyone who isn't an able-bodied cisgender man needing to fight off bears/the patriarchy.
If you like that, check out Tormund x Mormont.
The Brienne plot is my favourite thing about AFFC 😊
Maybe the point was that some oaths are worth keeping while others are not, depending on a number of factors. Yes, Brienne could have gone in a quest to rescue an innocent girl just for the innocent girl herself (that Brienne never met), but why would she do that? She could probably save many more innocent people doing something else. She did that because she felt her oath to Catelyn was still honorable and worthwhile under the circumstances (contrary to Jaime's situation with Aeris). I don't think GRRM is trying to make an absolute statement about oaths being good or bad on their own.
I think it's more of an exploration of morality vs. ethics. To put it simply, morality is about following rules you have been told, while ethics is a system that helps you think through choices yourself. Jaime is treating oaths like morals, and, unable to reconcile their contradictions, says the whole thing is stupid.
Brienne's story has the only two scenes from the whole series that ever made me cry!
"Protecting people doesn't require oaths." "Protecting (...) a child (...) is a good thing, but that would have been a good thing regardless of the oath."
I've had these same thoughts about Ned and the Promise. Protecting Jon is the right thing to do, Lyanna making Ned swear it should be irrelevant, so I wonder if she really said "protect the baby", or if "Promise Me" was something different than we expect.
I thought the standard fan theory was that Ned promised Lyanna not to tell anyone about Jon's parentage.
Which is plausible but lacking hard evidence.
I've heard more from fans theorising that Ned promised Lyanna to protect Jon from Robert, so I think that's the current standard theory - it even made it into the show. I think some version of "never tell anyone about Jon's parentage" happened, but maybe for different reasons.
@@lasttoparty7570
Certainly the two theories are compatible.
If Ned tells no one Robert won't learn that Jon is a Targaryen.
I'm busy right now but I absolutely cannot wait to watch this video later. Already gave it a like, I know it's gonna be fire
Definitely best intro.
Purple Wedding is close
@@froggywoggy473 purple wedding was grat also with the detail pictured in the graphics, my altime favrid was ,,times are changing,, theme song for a intro. amazing!
Finally! Glad to see Brienne's story getting the Preston work.
Edit: The scene where Jaime gives Brienne Oathkeepr always struck me as a type of backpedaling. Sure, Jaimie and Brienne have a personal relationship, but they go back to calling each other derogatory names (wench and Kingslayer respectively). Also, the tone here seemed bitter; Brienne and Jamie have a low-key falling out in the scene. While there was a measure of respect grown between the two, their relationship takes an obvious nosedive here. Brianne thought Jamie was abandoning his oath to protect Sansa, Jaimie seemed hurt by her lack of faith in him before very formally dismissing Brianne, showing he felt hurt from the exchange and just wanted his space (I assume).
He still cared for her, but it seemed obvious to me that that there was a wedge between. Their parting felt bittersweet to me. Is that just me?
It's likely that the scene is set to foreshadow what will eventually become of Jaime, Brienne, and Sansa (possibly Arya as well).
In a traditional tale, Jaime's gifting armour and Oathkeeper to Brienne is an act of Courtly Love™ and Chivalry™: Jaime, the beautiful highborn, gives Brienne his Favour, a token of hope for her success and their eventual reunion. Oathkeeper becomes a symbol of Jaime himself, acting to aid Brienne's quest in his stead, and a visual reminder to Brienne of Jaime's faith in her.
Obviously, ASoIAF is NOT a traditional tale and so the romantic, optimistic symbolism of it all comes across as both ominous and willfully naïve: in attempting to act within their cultural expectations, even with a token effort of subversion, even AFTER their journey emphatically disproved their successfully fitting within them, Jaime's act rings hollow: the two have already become self-aware of how their society's gendered systems fail them, repeatedly, and to their profound detriment. Attempting to simply "swap" their roles, as if Jaime was again in his childhood of trading clothes (and thus roles) with Cersei, is unfeasible because no one else in their society will recognise this "swap" and, if they did, they would ridicule it.
Jaime's "subversive" act is half-hearted because, rather than acting knightly together, he has simply traded their gendered roles, Jaime becoming the "Lady" to Brienne's "Sir Knight", and hoping it serves as a Solution to the sexism to which they are victims. Exchanging gendered roles is to misgender them both, depriving Brienne of her need to be recognised as knight AND woman, thus foreshadowing that neither has truly shaken off the trappings and Traps of their gendered society.
So. Like. Jaime is trying to re-centre their story as a "Hero's Journey" with BRIENNE as "Hero" but their POV chapters are structured according to the "Heroine's Journey" and so what would be a mark of a story half-told in the former is really just another red herring in the FIRST ACT of the latter. To clarify to any unfamiliar with what stories following The Heroine's Journey are structured like, have some examples: both the latest Voltron series and Star Wars trilogy were SET UP to follow the Heroine's Journey, only to be backpedal in their Third Act, sabotaging their narratives in the process; The Hunger Games trilogy, Tangled, and Steven Universe are COMPLETED Heroine's Journeys, while the Kingdom Hearts series is one ongoing. Overall, ASoIAF is NOT structured according to The Heroine's Journey but some of its POV characters' arcs DO follow it, at times intersecting with each other's while at different points in the Journeys of each individual, with some Journeys abruptly aborted via Character Death (etc).
You are right. However, after she leaves, he thinks of her often, even prays to the Father above to help her, when standing vigil over his own father's corpse. I loved how he hit Red Ronnet Connington with his golden hand when he called her "wench" and demanded he should call her "Lady Brienne", although he used to call her that, too. Ah, and when Jaime gave Brienne Oathkeeper, she appeared in a blue gown he had ordered made especially for her, in which she looked good. I think this shows that sometimes attractiveness or lack of it do depend on fashion choices. He wanted to show her that she could be attractive in the right feminine attire, if she chose to. Well, he used to wear Cersei's gowns as a child, in jest, so he learned something, lol. He also encouraged her masculine interests by gifting her with a magnificent sword, armour, gold, etc. Here, the sword is not a phallic symbol, it symbolizes protection. He gave her everything he could to help and protect her on her quest. Also, when she appeared at Pennytree, wounded and tired, he dropped everything and went to help her, even though he was no match for the Hound, as Brienne lied she ran into the Hound holding Sansa and the only way to save Sansa was for him to come alone. They both repress their sexual attraction for one another, as it would be a forbidden relationship. When she was wounded and delirious with fever, she called his name repeatedly for help, even though she saw Renly close by (actually Gendry, who looks like his uncle and had saved her from Biter). She subconsciously knew that Jaime cared enough for her to come save her, not Renly or another. Brienne also had an older brother, Galladon, who drowned when he was 8 and she was 4 y.o, and she regreted that eversince, maybe Pod reminds her of her brother she could not save. She didn't remember her mother who died when she was very young, and began to see Catelyn as a mother figure, so sad! I hope Brienne and Jaime survive Stoneheart without too much damage!
I don't think it's a falling out, necessarily. They don't hold any bitterness towards each other after this interaction and they even go on to think about each other fondly (Jaime frequently hopes she's okay and Brienne keeps wishing he was with her). I honestly just think they're misunderstanding is the result of two people feeling things they don't know how to explain and haven't had the relationship experience for the fundamentals
@@lalywindland5764
After all she knew Jaime had rescued her once already at great risk to himself.
It makes her betrayal of him all the more bitter.
@@alanpennie8013 She hasn't betrayed him YET. When she agreed to bring him to Stoneheart, she was being hanged AND witnessing 10 y.o innocent Podrick being hanged in front of her. My guess is that she will save Jaime somehow, she is smart and resourceful, like when she climbed on an island and threw rocks at the boats chasing them, when Catelyn let them leave Riverrun's dungeons.But it is ironic in the books that bad girl Cersei only cheated on him, while good girl Brienne is leading him into deathly danger.
I think George's feelings about the status quo and traditional structures are more complex than "patriarchy bad" or "oaths bad". Why else put the story of Queen Alysanne and the Lord's Right to the First Night? Alysanne performs a good deed, one that will save thousands of children and prevent thousands of rapes. However, because she does not fully understand the context in which this cruel structure was formed and its utility she will end up directly causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
Remember, George may be a pacifist hippie, but he's no fool. He takes true revolution and its consequences deadly serious with no easy answers.
With all the gender symbolism etc. I was actually trying to remember wether any traditional male behaviour is ever portrayed positively in the books.
@@arnekrug939 Sure it is. I mean, just using the bear symbolism, you can get more information on George's ideas on maleness.
In both Jaime and Arya's chapters the bear at Harrenhal isn't seen as evil or something to be destroyed. They feel bad for it. It's just a big, brave brute doing what it was designed to do. It's maleness in its basest form.
Compare this to the old dancing bear at Joffrey's wedding. It's now overly tame and trained. It's described as old, sad, and unimpressive. George realizes that completely taming man makes him pathetic. There needs to be a middle ground. The sensitive fighter, or the warrior bard.
In ASOIAF the quintessential archetype of this is Rhaegar who is repeatedly contrasted with Robert (Robert as bear is shown to the reader repeatedly). Another good example is Mance Rayder. Cunning, brave, strong, intelligent. All "traditionally male" traits that are shown as necessary.
I think this middle ground idea is more apparent in Dying of the Light though. The Kavalar's highly masculine culture of duels, honor, and loyalty is contrasted with Dirk who is a more emotional, sentimental type, but also a bit of a coward.
In that story it wasn't until Dirk stopped running and combined his emotions and intellect with "traditional male qualities" like bravery, strength, and the will to fight one's own battles that he became truly self-actualized and worthy in the end.
George's vision of the ideal male or person in general is one who is thoughtful, sentimental, and in tune with his/her emotions, but ALSO brave, willing to fight for what is right, and physically and mentally competent.
@@Jooooger Thanks for the overview, it has been some time since I read the books.
Edit: Fixed spelling
this is a great comment. so true
I don’t think Alyssane abolished that law to help the small folk. She just stream lined the process of child sacrifice, and made it more discreet by moving it to Craster’s keep.
Just judging by the videos intro. I guess Preston is trying to convince us, that the squishers will invade Westeros with Speedboats and Monstertrucks to try establish the Burgerking as the true ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.
They're already here man. They just are in hiding. Like you allar deem
The one down vote is from shag well
17:50 it is clumsy in GRRM's part, but bears actually smell, a lot, so it might be likely that they'd be the go-to animal for bad body smell. It was however a "smellier society" than ours, but bear smell in the woods might be pretty noticeable for people living in much closer contact to nature.
I appreciated the Brienne chapters alot more on a second readthrough. Now they're some of my favourites.
I think Catelyn's woman's courage is about her tenacity and ability to take everything with composure and focus
🤟🏻 Brienne and the Squishers! 🤟🏻 it is still the most metal storyline in the books.
never heard of this "Preston Jacobs" fellow but his intros seem pretty wacky! might give his videos a watch :)
Lol
This... Was... Great...
We all have our favourite Preston Vids and Series we come back to again and again. There are also ones that we appreciate but, for some of us, they don't hit the spot. This is waaaaay up there for me. Brilliant analysis.
Just because there exists some bad aspect of a system, doesn't mean the whole system needs to be scrapped. In fact, it works relatively well for most people, a few freaks like Brienne, Sam, and Arya notwithstanding. For the vast majority of female characters it is a bad idea to try and outcompete men in maleness.
It may not be funny, but this story has people's attention now. They should actually be taught the lesson GRMM is trying to give us. Thank you for bringing it to the ftont.
So glad that you are doing something on Brienne . Love her character and her great (or so) grandfather´s .
My experience with the Brienne chapters would always be the same: turn the page and see it was a Brienne chapter “urgh not a Brienne chapter”. Finish the chapter “wow that was a great chapter!” Read on through the book, get to the next Brienne chapter “urgh not another Brienne chapter”. Finish the chapter, “wow that was a great chapter!” This process would repeat for every Brienne chapter where they’ve ended up being some of my favourites in the series yet I’m always disappointed when I see the next chapter is Brienne 😅
Ah, a series about gender and two of my favourite characters? Count me in. No idea yet where this going, but am already very invested.
(Hopefully it will make me forget Brienne turning into a snivelling little girl after Jaime left her *shiver*)
I’ve missed your GoT content , Preston Jacobs. Live long and prosper, y’all ! Stay safe.
This is one of my favorite analysis, everyone always glosses over Brienne, but her story is amazing
Just yesterday I thought: "what were those brienne chapters about?" Then BAM, PJ VIDEO
You should wonder about the science of peaches, mole rats, and bees; it will help Preston. Also that all humans have four women in our lives.
I've watched the video twice now and I'm really curious to hear where Preston sees the Brienne story going. A lot of fans say they really like the Brienne AFFC storyline for its themes and emotional moments but as it stands it is rather pointless for the overall plot. Brienne meets some characters who will influence other storylines like the High Sparrow, Ser Shadrich, Randyll Tarly and the gravedigger but otherwise everything except her last two chapters don't really lead to anything. I've always wondered why George chose to write a story about Brienne looking for Sansa when we as reader already know this information. If he had kept Sansa's location a secret then Brienne's story would at least have some intrigue to it, but the way it’s written we just know from the start that her quest is doomed to fail. So I'm looking forward to Preston's thoughts on the matter. Obviously he's thought about this quite a bit and I'm sure he'll come up with a good explanation for why George decided to write Brienne's story the way he did.
Never heard the chess metaphor for agency. Works really well
Preston my man you are killing it
Dear Preston Jacobs
Do you think Brienne will be the "beautiful and younger queen" who will displace Cersei in Jamie's eyes? Since Jamie thinks of her as his "queen" of love and beauty.
"Do bears even smell particularily bad?"
Yes.
Despite the fact that it is an accurate term for the world of westeros, I feel that the word patriarchy is loaded and fails to get across the point of the story. Like you said, Jamie is in the bear pit too. This story isn't a metaphor for how men oppress women for their own selfish gain, it's a story of how society and gender expectations oppress us all.
That's literally what patriarchy means, in the social studies sense. Some people prefer the word kyriarchy because of the same thing you brought up, but it's a lot less common.
Preston... You're the best and you always brighten my day with your choices in your content. Never stop being a giant, rad nerd.
Hmmm I wonder who the high born ladies that Catelyn has brought into her services over the years? That is a line that I paid no attention to when I read the book but now seems odd.
Probably just some random daughters of northern lords
You're right...it is odd. And all I am going to be thinking about for the rest of the day. As that other person said, possibly Northern lords' daughters or even from the Vale or Riverlands is possible I gather. But it may be consequential. George loves to slip in tiny, one-line important details with other seemingly more paramount shit going on to distract us.
The Northern daughters may have been obviously to charm Robb or even Jon. Jon would become a lord possibly or at least a noble with a line if "the dream of Spring" between the Northern houses and the Watch to resettle the Gift with men with strong ties to the ruling strong houses like Stark, Bolton, Umber, Karstark, and Flint. Jon would be a perfect candidate; he would never oppose the Starks, his overlords, because they are family as well. So we should probably look to the daughters of these houses who may have known about the Dream of Spring. If Jon knows of it, other Northern lords probably would know of it as well, and may have children in mind for Stark marriages/alliances. I certainly wish to know more about the Flint lineage, since we have Arya Flint being a probable source of skinchanging genetics for the Starks, so it would make sense if that happened again. We also have brave Dany Flint, another woman who probably had special genes and powers.
I am certainly no Preston Jacobs, but if I notice anything, I will let you know dude.
@@hopedixon2133 haha I don't think it's that important. We just never hear about female wards at Winterfell.
@@peterhowie1212 LISTEN...the fact that Catelyn Stark brings it up in conversation, yet does NOT return to ponder these women/girls tells me that George does not want us to know. Catelyn is a reflective person, who will even linger on painful memories like Ashara Dayne and Jon Snow. She is a logical and shrewd woman, and honestly doesn't get the credit she deserves...she understood risk far better than Robb or Edmure or Brandon, and her dumb decisions like kidnapping Tyrion Lannister may have been someone else messing with her mind, because that decision still puzzles me. Who cares that she was dressing down in an inn...she had specifically stayed there with her father as a child as a highborn obviously. She could say she was visiting House Whent just south at Harrenhal...her mother's ancestral home. It didn't have to be suspicious, and was risky to take Tyrion, yet she does...at great cost crossing the Vale to reach the Eyrie. And for what? She could have just told Tyrion to fuck off in a highborn way, and let him think what he wants. Well...Tyrion does fall into the company of Bronn...conveniently a sellsword who is more than willing to take gold from a rich man. And Bronn probably works for Varys...so is that who wanted all this conflict between the Starks and Lannisters? Varys seems to want peace until Aegon is ready and seemingly old enough for kingship...at least that's what he tells Illyrio Mopatis. Sometimes I wonder if they are really allies...or if Varys is double crossing him.
But anyways, sorry got way off topic, my point was that Catelyn Stark would absolutely reflect upon her old female wards, and the fact that she does not, is telling in my opinion. Lol
I love Brienne because no matter how awful the world was to her she still has a soft spot for women and children even protecting them while being alone.
Especially when she herself is a woman (and some can say even a child as she still is only a teen, if I remember correctly) and faces many of the same problems herself. Yet she still strives on. Gosh, I love her so darn much.
I hope u also do a Davos series. It's pretty well known at this point that Westeros, at least to some level is modeled after England (the UK), I also think the island of Skagos is meant to represent Scotland. Skagos has unicorns, unicorns are the official state animal of Scotland (sounds insane but it's true), and the Westerosi mainlanders' low opinion of the Skagosi mirrors the famously low opinion the English had of the Scots during the Dark ages and medieval times. And the two names just sound similar too. I really hope we learn a lot about the Skagosi and House Magnar in particular in the two future books. And I also think any Davos/Rickon/Skagos theory should take the Scotland connection into account.
Or the Faraoe Islands? They are near the UK aren't they??
Wow, what a great analysis. Well done Preston. I‘m very excited about the next part.
I always assumed the three boys were Ned, Stannis, and Renly, the old goat was Jon Arryn, the bear was Robert, and the maid was Cersei.
Whoa...just had a thought based on your interpretation. If Jon Arryn is an old goat, does that mean Mya Stone calling herself "half goat, half mountain" means that she is half Arryn? We are meant to believe that Mya's mother was lowborn...but we honestly don't know either way. And the only other Mya that I could find in the stories was Mya Rivers, sister to Bloodraven, and daughter to two highborns, Aegon IV and Melissa Blackwood. I would gather that Mya Stone's mother was an Arryn...or maybe a Royce since she may be an agent of the cadet branch of House Royce...old Nestor and Myranda. It would be interesting if Jon Arryn as Hand of the King had been considering convincing Robert to "wipe the taint of bastardry" from Mya Stone, and declare her an heir to the Iron Throne backed by the Vale/Stormlands/North/Riverlands/probably Crownlands alliance that still existed, and boosted by possible Ironborn support from Theon in Winterfell, and a promise of sacking the Westerlands, which would be a fine prize. I could even see Robert allowing some more autonomy for them if they asked, who knows. So that leaves Lannisters to ally with Dorne (laugh...no way), and the Reach, and maybe the Crownlands but I am not sure either way on them. So if Jon Arryn could prove the children were bastards, remove Lannister influence, and bring in Mya Stone married to somebody...maybe Renly. It's her uncle, he's a Baratheon, looks like Robert, apparently likeable...it could work and bring Arryn or Royce blood on the Throne. Although Renly seems to try to charm Robert with Margaery Tyrell, and Renly of course marries her instead. So, he may have been open to marrying Mya Stone if she was from two highborns, Renly doesn't care, he just would be more than happy to be King I think. Just some thoughts I had about the direction Jon Arryn may have been going for the whole Lannister situation. We will never know for sure.
Bears famously smell extremely potently.
will we get an explanation of how Brienne is descended from Dunk?
Yes, its important
Love how the shadow used to kill Renly is Stannis outline in the video
The not so subtle "rainbow gaurd" how did i never pick up on this?
I will say, the inclusion of the bear reference in Jon's conversation with Ygritte makes sense because he grew up in a world with the bear and the maiden fair, so it shows how he sees her
Preston, if you ever get a chance, review the best order to read (or likely re-read) AFfC and ADwD chapters given they're essential one large book covering similar points of time in the story. The most popular is the Boiled Leather order, though The Ball of Beasts order is also entertaining, but I'm sure subscribers would be interested in your take.
The Brienne chapters in AFFC are superb imo. The one with Nimble Dick heading to The Whispers is my favourite chapter from the entire series thus far.
I think that wildling "bride stealing" is a spectrum. In cases like Yigrette, I would guess she consents to be stolen. Attractive guy come to the clan village to trade, boy meets girl, proper signals are given, and when he tries to steal her, she consents to be "stolen". If he tried to steal her and she doesn't want to be stolen, and she has kin nearby, bride thief guy gets handed his head, or she slits his throat later. When Sam stole Gilly, her family had to coax him to, so it was "arranged" by her family. The nights watch mutineers stole Craster's women, will they be killed in their sleep? Craster's women don't seem to happy about those crows.
Even if bride "stealing" happens the way you describe, they are still promoting violence against women, even if it's just simulated. How would someone like Sam get married in a society like that?
I agree, I think George wants us to think all Wildlings think alike but they do not, just like we in our world do not. Osha seems to be matrilineal and does not think that Mance Rayder is a Wildling, but thousands do all the same. I would guess that Osha has Children of the Forest or Giant blood, invoking peoples older than the First Men. Ygritte sounds like a Wildling who comes from true First Men blood...yet are they really feminist? I would say not much...they are called the First Men lol. And have only had Kings Beyond the Wall...at least told to us from a South of the Wall point of view, so who knows what the Maesters have changed or omitted. They do have females warriors though (awesome) and seem to value marrying people who are not their family members, an all around good idea for health of population growth. Inbreeding may produce special genes but is not good for future generations obviously. And Tormund does question Jon on why a daughter would be any less valuable as a ward/hostage than a boy...fathers love their children all the same...which is true. Ned Stark gives his life for his daughters, quite literally for Sansa since she speaks for him, something that should be not lost on Jon.
Craster is different...I think like Preston has said in other videos, that Craster is a bastard of Bloodraven with a Wildling woman, interbreeding to give sons to the Others to appease them, and try to keep the peace by offering sacrifices. Apparently this used to be Night's Watch things (makes sense) but Alysanne Targaryen shuts it down. Bloodraven restarts this but gives inbred babes to curb the spread of telepathic genes to the Others. I do wonder if Maester Aemon knew of Bloodraven's plan...he probably did since seems to believe in certain prophecies relating to the dragon having three heads, and we know he wrote to Rhaegar later as well. I could see Aemon and Bloodraven working to bring Jon and Bran beyond the Wall...for whatever those reasons are lol, not totally sure honestly. Maybe they are meant to reproduce...Jon surely would have gotten Ygritte pregnant had she lived, and Bran is currently in a tree dungeon being "wed to the trees"...whatever that means. Daenerys is also a bride but to fire, but becomes a bride again to a real man as well. Bran could be mirroring Aerys II in the Defiance of Duskendale...being imprisoned in the dark and forced upon...apparently perhaps sexually. Maybe the Children want him for his genes...although he hasn't gone through puberty. I don't know about any of this but here are some guesses I have to offer.
@@db7213 Acknowledging that bride stealing can be a spectrum, is not the same as condoning it. Do I think it's a good system? No. Yigrette's attitude that if a man she doesn't like abducted her, she would kill him, suggests a society that has a great deal of violence embedded in the culture. I agree that bride stealing promotes violence against women, and this culture accepts violence against everyone, considering Val's comments on Shireen. It was GRRM's intention for writing them this way. At least free folk women have the out that they can kill their abductors without risking punishment. Yigrette doesn't mention any repercussions for a woman who kills her abductor, so I would guess wildling culture would not have a lot of sympathy for a man who is killed by his stolen bride. Overall, it's an ugly system, that accepts a great deal of violence as normal.
Sam did get married according to wildling culture, because Gilly's mom and aunt arranged for Sam to steal Gilly. If Sam was born a wildling, he probably would have become a bard collecting songs and tales and performing them. Sam would not have faced the same pressures that he faced at Horn Hill, which would have made him a very different person. Bards, probably didn't have that much trouble finding intimate companionship. I would guess a talented bard who isn't that old, would have women planning how to get him to abduct them.
@@hopedixon2133 Excellent points. I like your point about Osha coming from an even older matralineal culture, it give a tremendous variety to wildling culture. With that insight, I find it interesting Osha's transactional relationships with men. She is with Stiv because he is helping her get south away from the white walkers, but she isn't broken up about his loss. After capture, she takes up with Gage, which is a good move for her. Gage is kind, gentle and smells good, plus below stairs the cook has a bit of power, it's a win-win for Osha. In real world matralineal cultures the man who raises a woman's children is often her brother, because he can be sure they are related to him. In matralineal cultures the woman owns most of the property, making intimate relationships more easily transferable from one baby daddy to the next. This would square with Osha's situation.
I wonder when Bloodraven met the Children of the Forest and how that all went down. Had he met them before disappearing, or did the CotF lure him into the cave then entrapped him. Once the CotF got Bloodraven stuck on that weirwood chair, they learned everything he knew. I don't know if Aemon was part of a plan for that, or if Bloodraven's disappearance was mysterious to Aemon as well.
I think Jon and Bran were both called to the far north for different reasons. With Jon it's probably for prophecy, while Bran is a CotF skill acquisition plan, which may be part of the prophecy plan. Bran can warg humans, which Jojen says is unique, it is quite a valuable skill to acquire, once Bran is enthroned in the weirwoods. I am concerned that the CotF somehow tricked Bloodraven into his current situation, and that Bloodraven has become a puppet of the CotF.
Craster (with Bloodraven's help) has set up a wildling/Targaryan hybrid culture that has the worst of all aspects of both those cultures. It's ironic that when Jon met Craster, that was the second member of his extended Targ family Jon ever met.
I think it's more Bran's warging abilities the CotF want, and to get those they probably need to get Bran planted into weirwood net first. If the CotF could warg humans they would be a formidable and dangerous power.
@@permiebird937 Yes, Bran and Jon are there for different reasons but it is still possible that Aemon and Bloodraven collaborated. Aemon seems to know of Azor Ahai, as did Bloodraven undoubtedly. However, I don't believe Jon is a Targaryen, I believe he is Ashara's son, and Brandon was probably the father. We know he is Ashara's because Ned tells us; back in AGoT, Catelyn thinks back to asking Ned about Ashara, and Ned replies to never ask him about Jon. So he connects the two for us... and would also explain why Ned never just told Cat. If Jon were his, it wouldn't have mattered if Ned and Ashara hooked up at the Harrenhal Tourney...Brandon was engaged to Cat and still alive. So Cat would have understood. But if it were Brandon's...she would have been pissed. And thus Ned does not tell her. If Jon were Rhaegar and Lyanna's, same thing, he would have told her eventually. Ned and Cat have a strong love and trust that most arranged marriages don't have. But Ned just couldn't betray Brandon like that because he was supposed to marry Cat. And the whole thing is painful for Ned because HE loved Ashara just as Barristan...more unrequited love that our author enjoys lol.
I think Jon will fulfill the Last Hero scene again....a man with no fear alone with a Valyrian steel sword off to find the CotF north of the Wall for their help. He'll probably die again or something too honestly. He's going to be the successful version of See Waymar Royce from the very first scene, those two have obvious parallels. And since he's a Dayne, he'll maybe take Dawn with him as well, who knows. I think the Others want Jon...I'm assuming to be turned or lead them or fulfill whatever prophecy they prescribe too.
Bran...not as sure what will happen there. I assume he's going to be a king in some way since that happens weirdly on the show but not sure how. I think Bloodraven is going to use Bran to destroy the Children and weirwood net because I don't think Bloodraven is their ally. Notice how only at Raventree Hall (House Blackwood) is a dead weirwood. Weirwoods aren't supposed to die according to other characters, so why does this one? I think the Blackwoods didn't want the Children spying on them through the weirwood so they "killed" it themselves and used ravens and crows to find the Children's secrets. I could be wrong about this, but it just strikes me as too coincidental that the only dead weirwood isn't chopped down, and it's House Blackwood's tree. Not sure how it would be a benefit for leaving it up but it is an absolutely ENORMOUS tree that can see for miles. Maybe the Blackwoods can still harness power from it without being connected to the whole weirwood net, like a disconnected space relay station that still functions alone. Lol sorry just rambled a bit but oh well.
Brienne is symbolic for the journey that doesn't go anywhere. It's autobiographical.
Last series’ thumbnail was so iconic.... this one just so weird 😂. Love it tho
I have seen nothing of this video except for the title music and the explosions, but honestly the first ten seconds alone are well-deserving of that thumbs up. :)
AFFC and Briennes story are my favourite parts for some reason, maybe 50/50 with Bran.
Man, you are awesome at analysis. If I had 1/2 of your comprehension skills, I’d be rich by now.