Quotes from " Game of Thrones "

Like it or not , Game of thrones is ended. A lot has been said about the last season. I won’t delve into the disappointment I share with fellow fans. It is time to think about some of the good stuff .

Game of Thrones left with us, some memorable writing, especially in the first five seasons. There is a certain charm to the medieval dialogues, which ranged from sassy to profound. It added depth to the characters and made me route for them. Having been a fan of the series, this is my way of saying thank you to George R R Martin and the TV adaptation.  In a subsequent post, I hope to compile my favorite sound tracks, as a tribute to Ramin Djawadi . In this post, I attempt to revisit some of the lines that influenced me the most, the ones I will carry with me.

Ned Stark is one of my favourite characters in the series. Tywin Lannister asks Arya during her hiding time in Harrenhal -  “What killed your father?”, to which she replies “Loyalty”. Ned Stark was noble to a fault. He hid Jon’s identity to keep his promise to his sister. He remained loyal to his wife, who thought otherwise, when he brought Jon home as his bastard son. He took up the role of Hand of the King for his friend and even confronted Cersei with the truth. He refused to lie and was beheaded for being truthful. In the first episode, we get a hint of all of this, when he says,

"The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."

                                  

While this might not literally make sense in our lives,  I interpret it as taking full responsibility for your decisions and the resultant action.  If only this guided all of our decision-making, would we not be more thoughtful and rational?

If there was one thing the Starks embodied, it was their fierce love for their family and having each other’s back through the toughest times.  

Ned Stark says to Arya in Season One :

“Winter is coming. In winter, we should protect ourselves – look after one another”.

                                                         

Sansa recounts this in the final episode of Season 7

“When the snow falls and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives”.

Robb Stark  to Lady Talisa on his father:

“I asked him, how can a man be brave if he's afraid? That is the only time a man can be brave, he told me. “

Ned Stark’s  honesty, impeccable work ethic and values, are  worthy of emulation. A shout out to Sean Bean who played him so well in the series.

Next up – hands down, my favorite character in the series, Jon Snow (slow whistles). His is one of the best character arcs I have read about or seen, in books, movies combined. Nothing comes easily to him; his rise is by merit. While he is mostly portrayed as too serious for a kind person, we see sparks of his lighter side when he presents Needle to Arya and gives her first sword fighting lesson

“Stick them with the pointy end”   

                                                         

Be patient with me here, there is a lot of Jon Snow coming your way.

Jon, to Sam Tarly at the Nights Watch:  "Sometimes there is no happy choice, only one less grievous than the others."

Jon holds no prejudices. When no one else saw the goodness in the Wildlings, he realizes a union would be in their best interest. He walks into Mance Rayders camp knowing full well he might be killed , because it is the right thing to do.

He refers to the wildlings as “Freefolk” after he returns from Beyond the Wall and treats them with the same respect he would  his brothers at the Watch.

Jon says of the Freefolk -

“They were born on the wrong side of the Wall — doesn’t make them monsters.”

While there are “leaders” who talk a lot, but do not lead with action, Jon walks the talk. At a war, he is on the frontline with his men, not crouched at the back like Roose Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards.

He challenges Roose Bolton for a one-on-combat to save their armies . Bolton backs out, saying he would rather have his army fight for him.  Jon asks him this...

Jon Snow to Roose Bolton

“.. Will your men want to fight for you when they hear you wouldn't fight for them?”

With all the power games around him, Jon knows only one way to negotiate with his allies – showing them what is in it for them.

                            

Jon Snow says this when he convinces the Wildlings to fight for the North

“ You're right. This isn't your fight. You shouldn't have to come to Winterfell with me. I shouldn't be asking you. It's not the deal we made. I need you with me if we're going to beat them, and we need to beat them if you're going to survive.”

He is smitten with Danaerys from the moment he sees her. Nevertheless, his negotiation game is on point, when she insists that he bend the knee to honor the Stark house perpetual fealty to the Targaryens.  

Jon, to Daenerys: 

“You’re not guilty of your father’s crimes, and I am not beholden to my ancestor’s vows. I need your help, and you need mine … because right now, you and I, and Cersei, and everyone else, we’re children playing a game screaming that the rules aren’t fair … Your Grace, everyone you know will die before winter’s over if we don’t defeat the enemy to the North … I am not your enemy; the dead are your enemy.”

It is hard not to fall a little bit in love with Jon Snow.  However, to get myself to shut up about him and move on, presenting to you, his best line in the series. Jon and every other leader in Westeros is at Dragon pit at Kings Landing, for a White Walker demo. Cersei walks off  in a huff when Jon reveals he has bent the knee to Dany. Tyrion is furious with Jon

Tyrion to Jon: “ “Have you ever considered learning how to lie every now and then?” 

Jon to Tyrion:  I’m not gonna swear an oath I can’t uphold. Talk about my father if you want, tell me that’s the attitude that got him killed. But when enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies, and lies won’t help us in this fight.

                        

Lyanna Mormont , all of 12 years was one of the best support characters in the series . Here she is at her savage best,  when a Northern Lord asks her to stay out of the fight.

Lyanna Mormont to Lord Glover:

“I don’t plan on knitting by the fire while men fight for me. I might be small, Lord Glover, and I might be a girl, but I am every bit as much a northerner as you. And I don’t need your permission to defend the North. We’ll begin training every man, woman, boy, and girl on Bear island.”

                     

The most satirically comic lines in the series went to Tyrion Lannister, the Hound, Bronn of the Blackwater and Olenna Tyrell. Tyrion in particular. It is a pity his character lost scope in the last two seasons .

Tyrion to Jon Snow:

“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”

                                       

Maester Aemon at the Night’s watch, had the best quality advice. His conversations with Sam and Jon at the Night’s watch, are precious.

Maester Aemon to Jon when he contemplates leaving the nights watch :

What is honor, compared to a woman’s love ? What is duty against the feel of a new born son in your arms?  

Oh, we all do our duty when there's no cost to it. Honor comes easy then . Yet sooner or later in every man's life there comes a day when it's not easy. A day when he must choose.

I will not tell you...to stay or go.

You must make that choice yourself, and live with it for the rest of your days. As I have.

                                 

Maester Aemon to Sam Tarly :

“Old age is a wonderful source of ironies, if nothing else. “

“Love is the death of duty . Sometimes, duty is the death of love.”

"Nothing makes the past a sweeter place to visit than the prospect of imminent death."

Master Aemon Targaryen’s best lines, however, are with Jon when there is a Krishna Arjuna moment between them before he decides to ally with the Wildlings.  Maester Aemon asks Jon to decide himself. He tells him he is his own man now.

Maester Aemon to Jon Snow:

But, with luck, you will find the strength to do what needs to be done

Kill the boy, Jon Snow , and let the man be born

                              

Olenna Tyrell gave us so much of comic relief with her sass and no nonsense style. Says Lady Olenna about things that can’t be taken back, but have to be dealt with

Lady Olenna to Sansa Stark:

 "But once the cow's been milked, there's no squirting the cream back up her udder, so here we are to see things through,"

                         

Lady Olenna, to Daenerys Targaryen when they plan to overthrow Cersei:

 “ Peace never lasts, my dear. Will you take a bit of advice from an old woman? He’s a clever man, your hand. I’ve known a great many clever men. I’ve outlived them all. You know why? I ignored them. The Lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.”

To round up this post on quotes from Game of Thrones, I saved the best for last. It comes from Petyr Baelish aka Little Finger during a conversation with Lord Varys.

Lord Varys: I did what I did for the good of the realm.

Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish: The realm. Do you know what the realm is? It’s the thousand blades of Aegon’s enemies, a story we agree to tell each other over and over, until we forget that it’s a lie.

Lord Varys: But what do we have left, once we abandon the lie? Chaos? A gaping pit waiting to swallow us all.

Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish: Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some, are given a chance to climb. They refuse, they cling to the realm or the gods or love. Illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.

While these lines take a scheming connotation in the series, the message is powerful. Chaos is not a pit  - it is a ladder. There is a silver lining to every cloud and the worst of situations also present opportunities. It is easy to give up when we cling on to something and cannot let it go. But, who are we if we lose the spirit to climb?

 Here is the actual scene from Season 3; Little Finger’s delivery lends itself so well to the lines

That is a wrap on this rather long post. If you are a GoT fan and have any favorite lines that I have missed, do share them with me in the comments.

GRRM – please write fast and give us your ending to the story , so we can all have some closure. Winds of Winter coming soon!