I suppose everyone should have realized from the moment that Cersei told Sansa never to love because it makes you weak, that this show would be less than kind to anyone who loves. I mean, I am not a Cersei fan per se, but Lena Headey, as Queen Mother, has a knack for dropping some seriously uncomfortable truth bombs. I think that Amy Winehouse expressed it best, for in the Game of Thrones universe, "love is a losing game."
Here is a cover of the song by Sam Smith (because as much as I love Amy Winehouse, I am a sucker for piano covers...)
Although the episodes that we watched this week (S4.E9-S5-E2) are not the first to deliver devastating character losses, I felt that these episodes and their corresponding losses were particularly horrible to have to watch. There are really no love stories that have ended well thus far, and I have a feeling that this trend of loss will continue in the realm of Game of Thrones romance plots even beyond the source material provided by Martin.
Instead of this post being theory-heavy or attempting to thread together some interestingly convoluted argument, I want to spend a bit of time reflecting on the romantic tragedies that scarred me, yet again, while watching the show this week.
First we have the tragic pairing of Shae and Tyrion. Although Tyrion let her go in the last season (Season 4) to protect her, Shae's strong will and stubbornness felt betrayed by his actions. Clearly, Tyrion was acting out of love in an effort to protect her from his father, but Shae's anger lead her to seek revenge in the form oftestifying lying at Tyrion's murder trial and making him sound guilty for Joffrey's demise. Of course this all came to a head in the last episode of season 4 when Tyrion discovers that Shae has been bedding his father. Although I felt zero remorse for Shae as Tyrion strangled her, I could not help but feel devastated for Tyrion. Tyron is broken and Dinklage does such a great job of pulling of this moment in a raw and believable manner.
In a similarly tragic...almost Romeo and Juliet-like, love story, Jon and Ygritte are finally reunited amidst the battle in which their clashing clans are currently enmeshed. Ygritte is finally ready to put Jon to death (her single preoccupation in the episodes that came before), but is stopped short by little Olly. The way in which this is shot is particularly beautiful. The slow motion is a bit unccharacteristic for Game of Thrones, but nonetheless, the effect really pulls the viewer into the emotionally tragedy that has befallen Jon Snow.
Here is a cover of the song by Sam Smith (because as much as I love Amy Winehouse, I am a sucker for piano covers...)
Although the episodes that we watched this week (S4.E9-S5-E2) are not the first to deliver devastating character losses, I felt that these episodes and their corresponding losses were particularly horrible to have to watch. There are really no love stories that have ended well thus far, and I have a feeling that this trend of loss will continue in the realm of Game of Thrones romance plots even beyond the source material provided by Martin.
Instead of this post being theory-heavy or attempting to thread together some interestingly convoluted argument, I want to spend a bit of time reflecting on the romantic tragedies that scarred me, yet again, while watching the show this week.
First we have the tragic pairing of Shae and Tyrion. Although Tyrion let her go in the last season (Season 4) to protect her, Shae's strong will and stubbornness felt betrayed by his actions. Clearly, Tyrion was acting out of love in an effort to protect her from his father, but Shae's anger lead her to seek revenge in the form of
In a similarly tragic...almost Romeo and Juliet-like, love story, Jon and Ygritte are finally reunited amidst the battle in which their clashing clans are currently enmeshed. Ygritte is finally ready to put Jon to death (her single preoccupation in the episodes that came before), but is stopped short by little Olly. The way in which this is shot is particularly beautiful. The slow motion is a bit unccharacteristic for Game of Thrones, but nonetheless, the effect really pulls the viewer into the emotionally tragedy that has befallen Jon Snow.
With so many characters that seem destined to lose the game of love, I do see a bit of hope in one particular couple...Samwell and Gilly. Maester Aemon calls out Sam in this set of episodes and makes him realize the way that he feels about Gilly. Considering the way that the story keeps bringing these two characters together and escaping death, I am interested to see what happens to these characters as the story progresses.
The class has talked a bit about how the character Samwell Tarly seems to be a device by which George R. R. Martin has inserted himself into the story-world. If this is true, it will be interesting to see if Martin's "story-self" is granted a happier ending than the other characters he has created within his universe.
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