So we are now at the end of season three and the much anticipated Red Wedding has assaulted the eyes and hearts of those that are participating in this blogging project. I think that Maisie Williams gave the best breakdown of the situation to date:



I wanted to touch upon the use of sound and images in this particular scene.

As the scene opens, the audience is invited to participate in what seems to be a normal wedding festival. The music is joyful. And why should it not be? We learned during the actual wedding that Walder Frey had been hiding away the attractive, Roslin and Edmure Tully gets to enjoy the fruit of his obedience to Robb.

As Edmure and Roslin are carried away for their bedding ceremony, the camera settles on Robb and Talisa who have a conversation concerning their unborn child. Talisa suggests, if it is a boy, they will name it Eddard. Robb is clearly pleased with this choice and the two embrace.The camera moves out wide, blurring Robb and Talisa, and focusing on Catelyn looking on in the background. While Talisa and Robb embrace, Catelyn is undeniably alone; A stark reminder to the audience of the fact that this child's namesake was murdered by the Lannisters.


This moment is interrupted by a guard making his way to the doors. The audience's attention moves with Catelyn's perspective and focuses on the door being closed and the large ominous thud of the act. Immediateely following the door's bellowing latch, the music begins again. However, instead of the joyous tunes that were being played before, the tone changes to something distinctively ominous. Caitlin picks up on this song choice, almost immediately by the look on her face. The song that is being played is one that is well known in Westeros, it is called "The Rain of Castermere."  Here is a version with the lyrics. It is strangely/hauntingly beautiful. I will admit I have been listening to it on repeat as I have been writing this post.


This song is understood in Westeros to be associated with the Lannisters (Tywin in particular). Although those viewers who had not read the book first would have largely had this fact lost upon them. The song has not been very present in the series. However, the above version was present in at least one other episode in the series. Bronn and some of the Lannister men sing it just before the Blackwater battle and the song is also played over the credits of that same episode (season 2, episode 9). Appropriately, the credits (and thus this song) role immediately after Tywin Lannister is revealed at the end of the Blackwater battle to have "saved the day."


Additionally, Cersei uses an explanation of this song to intimidate Margaery Tyrell in the episode before.


The significance of the song playing at the Frey/Tully wedding was, likely, lost upon the viewer unless they were paying particularly close attention or had previously read the books. That being said, I feel the show did adapt the red wedding scene with justice, particularly in reference to this song changing the tone of the scene.

I also wanted to provide a few comments on the choice to end the episode with silence over the ending credits. I think this was a particularly bold choice but one that was extremely effective. In another somewhat Hitchcockian move, there is a loss of two major characters, characters that, through three full seasons, the audience has been able to become fond. The silence, in some ways reminded me of Ned's death, where the ruckus and noise was drowned out to represent the emotional trauma of Arya. But in this instance, we, the audience are the traumatized in need of a moment of silence to process the loss we have suffered.


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