Going Over Jon II, A Game of Thrones

Rereading A Game of Thrones. Here's me going over Jon II, AGoT
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Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on the fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. A Game of Thrones is one of the most successful television series to ever made and continues to captivate audiences all over the world. The series is set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and interweaves several plot lines with a large ensemble cast. The first narrative arc follows a civil war among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms; the second covers the attempts to reclaim the throne by the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed ruling dynasty; the third chronicles the rising threat of the impending winter and the legendary creatures and fierce peoples of the North.
#asongoficeandfire
#gameofthrones

[@maxwell_j_R]

Bran does wake up from his coma with brain damage. He thinks he is a wolf and thinks he is getting supernatural visions from a three-eyed crow.

[@BaalFridge]

Lmao

[@matthewheywood8532]

Are you telling us this story will end like St Elsewhere the tv show from the 80s and it was all in Brans head after the fall ?

[@kieran10202]

Jojen had schizophrenia, it was all a tragic mistake

[@tjosiahhaynes]

​@@kieran10202 does any other character acknowledge jojen reed exists?

[@kyleisbart197]

@@tjosiahhaynesyeah the gaurdsmen and maester lewin get angry at jojen for speaking about the “sea coming to drown winterfell” prophecy which really meant the iron born were coming to attack winterrell

[@alasdairgodewife8534]

Arya is a little kid, Septa Mordane's comment might've upset her so much that she scattered her clothes all around the room in a tantrum. It's not that hard to imagine 😂

[@henkdevrjes9640]

I wanted to comment the exact same thing. Plus she has shown to throw a tantrum every now and then.

[@dookieshoe2905]

He makes so much out of the smallest things to the point of nonsensical at times. He thinks there wouldn't be any hearth fires since Winterfell is warmed by thermal vents or whatever. He always makes weird leaps in logic and then extrapolates from there, coming to kinda far-fetched conclusions. He is good at theorizing but it can get a bit annoying at times with some of those conclusions.

[@KaritKtana]

Yes, Preston is so clinically logical - for better or worse. I personally was a messy little girl, and let me tell you, even when *trying* to put things in order, I would have made a mess 😅

[@Paradoxymoronic]

I'm not sure Bran being Cat's favourite is that strange. In a feudal sense there was always a preference to boys, but Robb was heir to Winterfell, so important generally, whereas Bran was "her" boy, and hers alone

[@Vmac1394]

I think it's more that Bran is her first son in a cultural sense, since Robb was raised in a foreign culture with a foreign religion. Bran was raised in Cat's faith and acted like little boys do where Cat is from, aspiring to be a knight and whatnot.

[@Longshanks1690]

It would be kind of a hilarious twist that Bran actually did endure serious brain injuries from the fall and there actually is no three eyed crow in his dreams or Children or Bloodraven, he never goes into Summer - Osha just doesn’t have the heart to tell him that his delusions aren’t true. 😂

[@maxwell_j_R]

We had the same idea! My comment was literally one minute after yours (just commenting to give you that credit, cuz the "28 minutes ago" vs "27 minutes ago" won't be obvious later).

[@Longshanks1690]

@@maxwell_j_RWasn’t necessary but appreciated either way 😅

[@ajaxlupis]

I really want to thank you for all your videos. I've been watching them for about 10 years and love the attention to detail and insights you bring. I am really enjoying these line-by-line analyses you are now doing. Great work. Thank you again.

[@paulcato3434]

"You Starks are hard to kill," is a reference to Bran not dying. I don't think Jon is thinking of anyone else.

[@aaronholland4107]

Think it refers to how enduring the Stark family is. Thousands of years.

[@paulcato3434]

It's a pretty brilliant line actually. Jon is still reeling from what Cat said. Fighting to keep it together. But he's also worried about Bran and hopes he survives. He sees Robb. Feels some irrational anger/jealousy towards him. And this line expresses all those feelings while distancing himself from Robb and the Starks to protect his own feelings.

[@DarthYoungling]

I actually think it's understandable Arya feels trapped. Even in today's society where it's overwhelmingly clear women can fight and be warriors when they want that it's still not common or even accepted within your family or community. I'd imagine in their society where the women who were warriors were such standouts that it would be still a big thing to overcome. Especially since her mother seems to be the main one pushing her to be more ladylike.

[@hollin220]

Idk man Ive seen folks do over the top things when grieving. I wouldnt think it so far-fetched for Cat to be so mean to Jon.

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

I agree that insanity is the best explanation as Cat is a completely and utterly different character after this.

[@zemiron]

Yeah, I was thinking the same exact thing. I can easily see someone harshly lash out at someone whom they've always resented when they are experiencing the worst kind of grief someone can experience. It's not insanity. It's just a pretty normal human reaction.

[@mattkeflowers]

I can understand viewing things as retcons from the perspective of manuscript production and writing, but I also think it works well as a way to set expectations that many in ASOIAF have that based on their ignorance or prejudices. Like the commentary on bastards comes mostly from cat who has every reason to denigrate the roles of bastards because jon represents a betrayal

[@thehalfmanTL]

22:00 Come on Preston, surely you have seen a child throw a tantrum and just throw everything out?!

[@daltorthedestroyer2016]

Some of these criticism are just silly.

[@baptizedatheist3168]

I feel like a lot of the gripes you have are how these arent things your feelings and your motivations would do in these situations rather than what these characters with their feelings and motivations would do in this particular story

[@johnschwartz1641]

I don't need to walk a mile in Khal Drogo's shoes to know that buying a thirteen year old child bride is wrong. Ditto for Cat saying that a fifteen year old boy should have fallen from a tower.

[@elinakeranen4499]

Yeah and also that character's thinking isn't necessarily perfect, their thoughts can be misguided or childish and they might be lying to themselves even if we clearly see the objective facts don't support that thought.

[@lifefindsaway7875]

I wonder if this hyper criticism is to help him relax his standards while writing the fan fiction

[@theletterm5425]

@@lifefindsaway7875 I feel like he's been a lot more critical of George's writing since starting to write his fanfic. I think it's mostly a result of their different writing styles. Preston comes across as much more of an "architect" compared to George's "gardener".

[@spankey88]

Y’all must be new 😂

[@elinakeranen4499]

In the books Rickon is so young in the beginning that he doesn't really have any agency, he's not old enough to understand that Bran is seriously hurt, or the concept of death really.

[@ev1677]

It's not unreastically cruel at all. I had a friend as a kid, who's sister before he was born, had died as a baby. I heard his mother whilst drunk and crying about it tell him it should have been him as he tried to gently console her.

[@elinakeranen4499]

It is very cruel but not unrealistic, as you say, a parent with a kid in danger of dying is in huge grieving stage.

[@JohnTorres1987]

That’s a monster

[@ev1677]

@@JohnTorres1987 What's weird is she wasn't a nasty person generally. She was quite pleasant and kind. Ofc this is an awful monstrous thing to do to your son and not excusable by any means but she you wouldn't describe her as nasty or abusive, generally.

[@ev1677]

And actually she didn't say it should have been him, she said she wished it would have been him and not her.

[@nyz7971]

it's not unrealistically mean for Catelyn to say "it should have been you" to Jon or to have never called him by name. It just speaks to the kind of person she is. If this is a world that has cruelties such as flaying men alive amongst other atrocities that would be considered war crimes nowadays, why wouldn't there be a woman who resents the fact that 1) her husband had an affair with a woman soon after marrying her, 2) brought back his bastard son to raise with her own children (bringing along all the potential dangers of succession etc), 3) won't even say who the woman was and got mad at her for the first time for asking. Even if she can't bring herself to hate Ned, why wouldn't she transfer all that resentment and hate toward the representation of his unfaithfulness to Jon? I believe this scene with Jon is meant to provide a different side of Catelyn to the reader from the side she shows the rest of the world.

[@dblackesquire]

But Catelyn's own internal thoughts about Eddard finding comfort with another woman was one of acceptence. She didn't resent the affair nor the child. She resented Eddard treating Jon like a trueborn son.

[@JohnTorres1987]

Catelyn is a monster

[@nyz7971]

@@dblackesquire I believe it's possible to lie to oneself in internal thoughts. I mean we're not in her head 24/7. Also, that still means she's resentful. Action speaks louder than thoughts. The way she behaves toward Jon is evidence of that resentment.

[@dblackesquire]

​@@nyz7971Catelyn repeatedly tells us her issue is fear rather than resentment. When she tells very young Robb that Jon is a bastard and can never be lord. When she begs Robb not to make Jon heir because he or his children could be a threat. Your interpretation is fine but I don't think the weight of the text is on your side. More supports fear of Jon toward her kids than resentment over Eddard having a man's needs in the year after they wed and two week honeymoon.

[@nyz7971]

@@dblackesquire either way, her telling Jon "it should have been you" is within the realm of reasonable behavior for her, which is the main point my comment was trying to make. I don't see how whether she fears Jon or resents him/Ned makes a difference in her treatment of Jon.

[@cheeseproductions748]

GRRM intending this scene to be the seed of a Jon/Arya romance does frame it in a very different light. Closing the door so they wouldn't be disturbed. Comments about her body/physical closeness ("skinny arms" 'It's so skinny' 'So are you' "messed up her hair"). Odd description of the scabbard ("supple as sin"). Phallic sword imagery. Crazy that for years this chapter and Arya I were the setup for Stark incest shenanigans, alongside Targaryen and Lannister.

[@codygeorge2202]

I don’t think Jon’s character loses this emotional intelligence, in fact I think so many of his issues in Dance are caused by him intentionally going against that side of his character. Or rather utilizing it in such a detrimental fashion. Even when he’s Lord Commander, he is still basically just a kid.

[@elinakeranen4499]

I think fighting as a woman is disapproved enough that every single woman has to force their own way to it, every girl is raised with the assumption they have to be a proper lady. Brienne was also expected to marry and wear dresses and dance, even though she was taller than all the guys and clumsy. Also I don't really remember anything being said about all Dorne women being fighters, it's more like a sand snake thing. And they are bastards so they don't have any expectations for them anyway.

[@dagreen92]

The reason Arya "spilled her chest" and "scattered her clothes on the floor" was because George had some word play in mind for when he eventually wrote their love scene

[@SHARKVADERS]

PJ IS BACK FOMOS

[@jdmbapastor5172]

Arya's Needle reminds me of George Patton's assessment of the sabre for calvalry purposes. Patton essentially said that the shock of being penetrated had as (or greater) effect than the actual damage of the weapon. I imagine the effect of Needle to be much the same. 3 stabs of any blade will cause anyone to reconsider violence as a means of resolution of conflict.

[@thewatcher2538]

we caught up to the patreon

[@thewatcher2538]

and i take that back we got dany 2

[@niightingale]

Mr. Jacobs please make more I love these videos

[@umwha]

29:00 yes k also thought the women warrior thing was somewhat retconned. The key thing is the Mormonts a major house with all warrior trained women. Arya would have heard of them and probably met them sometimes. The lady of bear island would surely have visited the starks at least once in the last 9 years. Arya should probably be obsessed and idolize them . I’d say Martin just came up with that layer but isn’t it in if not GoT then the next book all this about the Mormont women is told.

[@Sheild401]

I never could warm up to Catelyn after this chapter. Whatever good deeds she did after this point, her behavior here was inexcusable.

[@warrenray9760]

Bring this back ser preston

[@marctemura2017]

Preston have you ever gone into great detail into the visions that Danny received in house of the undying?

[@simmingsammi]

Bran is not the middle child, Arya is. Also Bran was the baby for a while before Rickon. If we’re being fair to Cat we don’t know the Bran she loves so much. Our Bran is handicap and miserable. Her Bran loves to climb and is a sweet boy.

[@elinakeranen4499]

Also of course he's the favorite kid now that he is not well. I don't think she thought that way before the fall.

[@simmingsammi]

@@elinakeranen4499 She did, that’s why she was so upset that he was leaving. That was from her POV chapter. Catelyn II I believe.

[@vpapako]

The only way the phrase "it should have been you" makes sense is if, in the past, Cat had prayed for Jon's death (or something more generic like "make him go away")

[@nobodycareswhatithink]

I wonder if Catelyn being uncharacteristically mean is just Jon’s perception of how she treated him.

[@Thatguy-un4yq]

I will say a few things about the hearth tales is for 1 it provides light not just warmth and it's where a group can easily gather as it's likely at a central location with seating arrangements already and people like listening to stories in groups

[@johnnygriffith5668]

Awful takes. Literally 5 different times i said "wtf are you talking about". This dude cannot suspend his disbelief

[@danielbasich2729]

If she called him Jon only once then she was calling him bastard. Again Cat sucks!

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

That's a bit of a jump.

[@danielbasich2729]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin no way man I think that’s what GRRM is insinuating. Jon’s very upset he even makes a comment about how in the past she would’ve sent him crying from the room.

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

@@danielbasich2729 I have no doubt Cat would sometimes say "bastard," but there is no way she is saying it in front of Ned, Robb, Bran or any of the family. It's not ladylike and would be unseemly. Once you eliminate those instances, we are left with how often they are alone together, which would be very rarely.

[@nyz7971]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin she could have just never referred to him at all in front of the rest of the family and chose to ignore his very existence. You can tell her attitude toward Jon not only from this scene but from Sansa's attitude toward Jon.

[@danielbasich2729]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin yeah I think GRRM is trying to make a statement here. Jon never been called by his name by cat and with the previous Cat chapter really digging in on Jon’s bastardy. I think the reader is supposed to suspect that cat has only been calling him bastard. This other stuff about how often they are alone idk that GRRM was think about that.

[@umwha]

14:51 ‘it should have been you’ my head cannon is now that this is a telepathic echo Catelyn is getting from an alternate timeline where it was Jon. As Preston speculated , brand fall and coma may have been organized by time traveling bran to awaken his powers early. Maybe the original timeline had Jon find Jaime and Cersei (perhaps on another day) and he was battered or stabbed or thrown out a window. His coma awoke his powers , and brans took longer to cook. That timeline must have ended with the loss of the Long Night and hence ttb had to change it. Catelyn is spending multiple days trapped in one room with little sleep around bran while he’s being telepathically contacted by 3EC , in which he sees other timeline Brans (impaled dreamers) so if she ever was to get a telepathic whisper from another timeline it would be then. Thoughts?

[@LucasSchimmel]

As someone who thinks Jon is quite annoying specially in the later books and the fan obsession with him as the Aragorn-Jesus-Generic prince guy that doesn't even fit the themes of the story, Catelyn being so mean to him is so strange because she's never as mean to someone like that before or after, but also, we don't know how insane she is right now, I like to think she hasn't slept in so long and is so stressed she's just being crusty, cantankerous and utterly brutal to everyone who speaks with her. Only thing that makes sense.

[@Travis7060312]

Are you still doing these?

[@StrangeGamer859]

"It should have been" you to me just shows the mental state Catelyn was in. The kind of rage and sorrow that makes you lash out and want other people to be as miserable as you are at that moment. It's not how she is normal, but it shows how bad she is at that point.

[@christopherlaws8182]

In regards to Cats cruelty to Jon, I think you are attributing unrealistic expectation of reasonableness. I love your analysis of asoiaf but every now and then I think your analytical tendencies blind you to the emotional layer. If we accept the text as the truth, regardless of whether we agree or not (as to who *should* be Cats favorite, etc) cat is in extreme emotional distress and has been since bran fell. She would not be thinking rationally, making logical connections, or thinking straight in the slightest. Cat being religious implies that she believes the gods have a hand in what happens in her life and her telling Jon that it should have been him is easily believable as "If the gods saw fit to take a child from our house, they should have taken you instead." She wouldn't be thinking about how this fate doesn't make sense to befall Jon but that her child is near death and Jon is the easiest target for her anger and blame. Her reasoning is not logical or make sense, but that's the point. She feels that something has been stolen from her and she is angry about that. She wants vengeance for that, and until she discovers who hurt her baby, the world can burn. Especially Jon, who she already feels doesn't belong, but is also a constant reminder of something else that was stolen for her. Barely controlled rage and helplessness presented with the most visible reminder of her sense helplessness and hatred. I would argue that in that moment, hoping she would never see him again, it's possible she *wanted* to hurt Jon regardless whether it's true or not, lashing out at an easy target that she already dispised. Claiming a character in extreme emotional distress not making logical sense isn't bad writing. It's characterization. People in real life make illogical decisions and show illogical malice for emotional reasons all the time.

[@yvettelowe3069]

Bran is her favorite child before he falls tho It's mentioned in Catelyn 2

[@christopherlaws8182]

@yvettelowe3069 my point was that Preston made a big deal that "typically...you would think...doesn't really make sense..." and then doesn't understand why cat would snap at Jon the way she did. As I said the implication I take umbridge with is the implication that cats unreasonable behavior is unrealistic when that is based on some expectation of reasonableness in arguably the most emotional state the character has ever experienced that is in itself unreasonable. Going further, she is characterized as an impulsive actor as well, choosing to burn the letter, kidnapping tyrion, letting Jaime go, etc etc. A broken impulsive woman being faced with the greatest monument of her shame is the perfect time to lash out as cruelly as possible against the only thing she sees as a safe target.

[@TheKrostiman]

She had zero reason to ever think about Jon again as she eliminated him as a ‘threat’ to her kids. His possible future claim or that of his future kids would be dead after he takes the black.

[@BigHoss03]

Catelyn is so over the top resentful against Jon it is truly hard to understand. The fact that she’s so upfront about it is even crazier. I guess we’re led to believe Ned just enabled her the whole way? Idk. Cat not calling Jon by his name for fifteen years is crazy.

[@sapphia]

this series is what i imagine bible studies feel like for kids who are into jesus

[@jgr7487]

My guess is that the problem between Cat & Jon is that no one knows Jon's real origins, so he can be the oldest kid. If he is legitimised & he's the oldest kid, all of Cat's children would go after him in the line of succession. Cat fears for her position as possible Lady dowager of the North.

[@kylemallett1606]

14:31 I kinda disagree with this mostly because Cersei lacked opportunity but this is definitely something she would have done If Robert demanded that mya come to court. She would do everything to make her life a living hell.

[@scolioscraps8612]

Yeah but it makes me think that Cat has been cruel to Jon repeatedly. If her comment was wildly out of character Jon would’ve been more shocked. At least internally

[@Damon-xf4kt]

Catelyn got Ned killed!

[@heathenwizard]

Cat gets a lot of shit - and rightly - for being such a huge dick to Jon. I do get though that it’s really hard for her to have this constant reminder of her husband’s infidelity - and a potential threat to her own sons’ inheritance - in her house, playing with her kids.

[@aniruddhapurekar6855]

What if Bran started climbing in chapter 1 in order to chase or find Jon. And Jon took the black to punish himself?

[@dblackesquire]

The reason Cat says it should have been you had to do with what she told Jon earlier. "I prayed for it," she said dully. "He was my special boy. I went to the sept and prayed seven times to the seven faces of god that Ned would change his mind and leave him here with me. Sometimes prayers are answered." She prayed for some event that would change Eddard's plan. An injury to a child changed everything but she feels the wrong target was selected by the gods. She wanted Jon to be the sacrifice. It's still otherworldly cruel to say but I get why this isn't some out of the blue comment. GRRM does a similar thing with Dany later where she bargins a life to save Drogo. She thinks it is the horse but it ends up her son...maybe. No body was found.

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

One would think that if Cat had made a blood sacrifice offer to the seven gods trading Jon Snow for Bran it would come up again. The line is just weird as Cat never acts like this ever again. It's not one to treat the innocent poorly, she's not cruel, she's not petty. She is never really angry at Jon in her thoughts ever again.

[@mr_yoru5834]

​@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin She never acts like that again because she is never around Jon again for the rest of her life. Sometimes, people don't like someone even if they know logically that they have no real reason to hate them. She hates Jon. She knows she shouldn't blame him, but she cannot help it. She even counsel's Robb against trusting Jon. Not because he would ever actually betray Robb, but because she doesn't like him.

[@dblackesquire]

​​@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin I didn't write a literal blood sacrifice but rather more a prayer. I compared it to Dany's sacrifice. The point is unintended consequences of desires.

[@LSK1]

Did Jon have to pay for Needle ?

[@elinakeranen4499]

I think Mikken the smith is employed by Winterfell, so they would provide his resources and he would use those to forge the sword, so no, Jon didn't pay separately.

[@dblackesquire]

The same way Osha pays Gage?

[@ev1677]

I dunno Preston maybe because they have maesters who come from a highly educated institution that's outside the idea of medieval medical learning?

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

And superior to our modern medical system?

[@ev1677]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin no... But enough to know maybe that people do wake up after comas. It's not an actual historic medieval setting as shown by the citadel.

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

@@ev1677 So, they should all know he would have massive brain damage. The maesters seem to have General Hospital medical knowledge.

[@ev1677]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin nobody is saying they had modern hospital knowledge for a start. But yes they should know that was likely if they had studied it. But where does it say in the book that anybody thinks he will be fine? They just say they think he may wake and if he was gonna die he would have died already. You're just picking at stuff that isn't there and it's boring mate.

[@profoundpronoun4712]

A comment for the algorithm ❤

[@TheWarChief929]

What if the "Jon. it should have been you" line and other uncharacteristic lines said by others are actually a fractured time traveling bran warging randomly through time as he dies. The "it should have been you" line here might refer to him being "the chosen one" that bran ended up being. The fact she had never said his name in FIFTEEN YEARS makes me suspicious.

[@louisroy4911]

I don’t think you need medical knowledge to hope a comatose person wakes up. I think it’s quite logical to assume they’ll eventually wake up, they just appear to be sleeping. Surely they’ve seen feverish people trash in their sleep for a day or two before waking.

[@bbbfjfjfjr9914]

Wowee great video

[@DavidWatts505]

Please don’t drop this series ❤❤

[@seniorbunk1183]

Craplen Stark, poopin in the corner

[@janaussiger4111]

Is uncle Ben's beans

[@dylanberry9468]

If lysa fears the lannisters why does she put tyrion on trial for his life, especially when shes the one who killed her husband. Carmine king

[@whyismyricewet1986]

Bro just release the next fanfic chapter already

[@leomesser415]

It’s just unrealistic and annoying how awful Cat is to Jon so there’s rly no reason to wonder why fans don’t like her she’s just straight up annoying

[@leomesser415]

No one would be vindictive enough to verbally lash out at their husbands son while dealing with their own comatose son

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

@@leomesser415 I agree. And from this point on, Cat never acts this mean to anyone and never really holds Jon Snow in contempt in her thoughts. This is the same woman who is forgiving enough to release Jaime Lannister from his cell.

[@nyz7971]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin I didn't see that as forgiveness... It's more of a trade for her girls.

[@Damon-xf4kt]

Preston, releasing Jaime was f***ing stupid!! She's a goofball!!

[@ElderSchleem]

🐐

[@Damon-xf4kt]

Catelyn isn' t defenseable!!

[@matthewheywood8532]

This chapter is where the Cat hate comes from and she is pretty awful in this chapter and to know she never called Jon ever by his name makes her look even worse. The Cat hate can be over the top but she isn’t a good person either

[@JohnTorres1987]

How did they hydrate and feed Bran for those WEEKS he was in a coma?

[@caramia4789]

Water mixed with honey.

[@zenm0de]

"it should have been you" is one of the clumsiest lines honestly. It should have been Jon climbing? and falling? what? felt like Grrm just had that zinger in his head for a while and wanted to throw it in a chapter

[@TheEnecca]

Its not like Cat thinks very rationally an that point.

[@Longshanks1690]

I don’t think it’s that deep, she just means she wishes her child could be saved and the child she’s always resented suffer his injuries instead. She’s hurt and scared for her son, and has never liked Jon, so wants him to feel her pain in that moment in some desperate way to make herself feel better.

[@ev1677]

Nope, grief. I personally have seen a mother say this to her actual child about his dead sibling.

[@theletterm5425]

Preston, I love you man, and I love this video series in particular. Still, I‘m gonna need you to stop analyzing emotional moments from the perspective of "logic". Please? "Why does Jon tell Robb that Starks are hard to kill when talking about their dying younger brother, doesn't he know about Brandon and Lord Rickard?!". Come on…

[@elinakeranen4499]

Exactly, I can imagine that's a thing all families would be bragging about themselves.

[@connors9597]

Preston when the Starks aren’t actually immortal: “This is just ridiculous…ridiculous”

[@zeoxyman]

I mean, when all of Westeros is just future Bran moving people around like chess pieces, it really is strange he doesn't show favoritism. Maybe he was worried about others accusing Starks of witchcraft? /s

[@theletterm5425]

@@zeoxyman Cat's unexplained favoritism towards Bran is just time-traveling Bran making sure this iteration of himself gets to have a nice childhood before shit starts hitting the fan lol

[@carter9449]

Yeah, it's not like they died from something survivable, no one is surviving getting burned alive by wildfire

[@MachineCode0]

Bran lying there emaciated, starved, skin stretched tight over his bones, legs unset and smashed, resting at sicking angles, staring with his eyes open, at nothing, his skin a sickening colour: "nonetheless, we get this Hollywood convention of the beautiful coma". Preston I love so much of your work, but sometimes you say the strangest things...

[@gokbay3057]

Yeah seriously. Bran in the coma is not fine/peaceful at all.

[@KaritKtana]

Thank you! Yes! And if you're only talking about him not showing any brain damage.. well, what do you want, the plot not to happen? He's a magical boy who is visited by a magical shaman bird and spends so much time in darkness that his telepathic gifts exceed all others. He loses the memory of what happened before his fall, but Bran *has* to wake up lucid.

[@Slechy_Lesh]

Well, perhaps George is consciously drawing on the supposed link between 'magic' - shamanic roles, rune-workers - and mental health issues.

[@umwha]

10:00 I think medieval people would expect people to wake from comas because illnesses would cause small comas relatively often - like when someone has serious flu they are semi-conscious for days unable to rise or do anything. That’s similar to a coma. Also a coma is like sleep and people wake from sleep. Also , by a week or two weeks brans broke ribs and flesh wounds would clearly show signs of healing so he is getting better

[@scolioscraps8612]

That’s a good point. Makes me think of the phrase “saved by the bell”. How many people were declared dead only to wake up more or less themselves?

[@DoubleDowner]

This series should be called 'Preston is really starting to hate ASOIAF and picks holes in the tiniest things'

[@yvettelowe3069]

He liked the Arya chapter

[@115gangsta]

Preston, I'm surprised you didn't mention how Jon seems to get major confidence boosts from Ghost in this chapter. One of the reasons he is able to face Catelyn the way he does is because Ghost has some physical contact with Jon prior to the Cat meeting. He also directly describes how Ghost is making him more brave post the overly dramatic meeting.

[@nicksherman5702]

The other wolves being submissive to ghost, makes me feel like he is the oldest. Which would be a cool parallel if Jon was Ned’s first born son

[@KomodoDojo]

I heard my grandfather say to my father, at my father’s uncle’s funeral, “it should have been you” So that line resonates with me as very real.

[@KomodoDojo]

@@dw1419 He loved his brother and despised my father. His brother was about a decade younger and died in his sixties from a tragic bike accident. My father was very counter culture/ rebellious growing up.

[@KaritKtana]

😮

[@Pikepaw]

Even though Bran is in the “beautiful comma” as you call it, going over his description slowly like this still comes across as horrific. Reading it myself, my ADHD goes over the description quickly and it glosses over the worst of it. The broken legs, back and ribs…like I can understand why Jaimie and Robert were pro-euthanasia.

[@dominiqueodom3099]

Im gonna be honest,ever since the reveal that the original incestuous relationship idea came from Arya Stark and Jon Snow makes this chapter so weird and everything surrounding Needle and "stick em with the Pointy end" so pervy 😆 I cannot separate

[@KumarAnshs]

Wow i never thought about it that way. Thank you for putting that filth in my head

[@dominiqueodom3099]

@@KumarAnshs your welcome. I accept payment for my services

[@YupertDoober]

The Fanfiction goes back decades on this ship. You pretty much can’t read fanfic that doesn’t end up with at least a little bit of Jon/Arya but I feel like Gendry/Arya feels ‘cesty to me almost more than Jon/Arya

[@jbailey5061]

I think the Jon and Arya thing was changed extremely early. I know he had wrote these chapters when he penned that letter to his publisher, but it's not unbelievable that he rewrote their dynamic to be more sibling-like.

[@Sunshine-is_here_to_stay]

👉👉👉Are you going to do more reading 📚 of the chapters???

[@nyz7971]

Even though there are plenty of examples of non-stereotypical (for this setting) women in the story, they are only a very minute percentage of the general population of women... you can count a dozen of these women versus hundreds of thousands of women who don't hear about or know the names of who do play the "women's roles."

[@stevie-c1471]

Would just like to say I'm loving these chapter-by-chapter vids! Keep up the great work :)

[@richardtabor8686]

lol. Love the close reading re: the chamber pot. No, I never did think of that. Oofta.

[@jacklasher9225]

Preston, why do you think George decided not to have a farewell scene between Ned and Jon? Obviously the show has a goodbye between them where Jon asks about his mother. Do you think George was trying to hint more subtly to the fact that Jon is not Ned’s son by not having it in the chapter at all?

[@connors9597]

“Bran doesn’t have any brain damage” yeah but his mind was magically awoken by the Three Eyed Raven you’d think that would repair/enhance his brain, no?

[@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin]

Can that be done? Healing a physical brain?

[@connors9597]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobin it’s definitely interesting to think about, given that priests of rhollor can heal with their magic to a degree. Bloodraven says he can’t cure Bran’s legs but yet is on some kind of magical life support from the weirwood. George’s magic system is extremely soft and vague so it’s hard to say, but I do think a somewhat clairvoyant Bran would circumvent any brain damage he sustained.

[@alexs_toy_barn]

@@PrestonJacobstheSweetrobinwe know the lord of light or whoever can bring people back to life after being split in half or hit with a lance or worse, like Cat being dead in a river for days after having her throat cut open. It's not crazy to think that the three eyed crow can fix a brain if it's all telepathy and telekinesis like we think

[@Jup1terr]

We need more!!!! These videos are so good

[@TriuneWorshipper]

Tbh from cats perspective saying she wishes Jon was the one who fell just makes sense. After having marriage arranged the one consolation prize was Ned’s honor, especially within the marriage. Jon is evidence (from her pov) that cat can’t even have that. Although yes it’s not Jon’s fault for existing, he himself presents a problem for her kids as well. He could have a claim to usurp their titles, specifically because he looks like a Stark, more so than the more tully looking siblings.

[@tfraenckel]

I think its odd to say "why would people in a medieval setting expect someone in a coma to wake up". Like, why wouldnt they expect them to? If they have no knowledge, and he appears to be sleeping I would default to thinking its at least possible to wake up, given no other knowledge

[@iamsheel]

13 chapter in and I'm already tired of how disconnected preston with people is, and with how they think, behave and the sh!t they say.

[@simmingsammi]

Most of the hate goes to Cat and even sometimes to Jon. It should really go to Ned. This big happy family he’s trying to make will never happen.

[@grandmaestershibe]

i always thought that cat's favoritism from bran came from the fact that he was the second boy. the first son would always be "for ned" to raise into lord of winterfell and the girls would obviously fall under her care, but bran was a boy she could raise to be who ever or how ever she wanted him to be

[@therealmarkg171]

The answer to the "why does Arya need to be gender conforming" question of early AGOT when there's warrior women elsewhere is that Arya hadn't giving any real reason why she shouldn't be like others did. She may suck at needlework and ladylike qualities (apart from math apparently), but she still does them. There's plenty of women elsewhere in the story who are "bad" at their ladylike gender conforming ideals. People were just expecting Arya to turn out like that. Cause in reality Arya WASN'T being that unladylike. She wasn't going down to the yard to watch them or ask to join. She wasn't openly playing around with swords, though apparently her and Bran had done some play stick fighting. Jon's the one who gives her a sword before he leaves but also thinks she has no idea how to use one, and indeed that's why she's playing with Micah later. When others find out about it and her sword they're completely shocked that this interests her. She's not going around screaming "I love swords" before AGOT, nobody really knew this. There's other stuff too. She herself mentions in AGOT that she's a better horse rider than Sansa, but it's mentioned in terms of ladylike horsemanship and how that irks Sansa. She's not racing horses, playing at rings, or anything more masculine than just riding her horse well. Harwyn, who Arya remembers leading her around on her pony, is fairly surprised at how good she actually can be when she truly races in ASOS. So she wasn't going around with horses beyond what she was expected to do. It's a byproduct that Arya was being gender conforming up until AGOT when she's finally pushed not to be.

[@conniesuper9892]

Great chapter!!!Thanks!

[@atlash6387]

It was good to actually hear the "live" analysis. Half of this is ridiculous besides the one for the prologue chapter, which was decent.

[@_addison4772]

I think every time Jon thinks “I’m not stark” the Caitlyn scene comes back up - no need to have him meet lady Stone heart

[@Astromamut]

18:28, I don't think that's a smart thing to say, smarter response is "She said it should have been me. She's completely insane, and probably blames me for it. If I stayed here, I'd fear for my life.".

[@Damon-xf4kt]

Katelyn is a freekin goof!

[@the_chosen_one5642]

HE HATH RETURNED

[@MrSzipszap]

i loved you in eurovision

[@KaritKtana]

The ORIGINAL plot may have led to a resolution between Jon and Catelyn, since she was supposed to flee north to the Wall, wasn't she? I believe this was GRRM's original path to wight-ing Cat.

[@1354381]

Obviously "it should have been you" is novice time traveling Bran trying to tell Jon hes supposed to be king! Why else would she call him Jon?!?!? /s

[@nyuzotturunk]

I've never understood why Martin is surprised that so many people hate Cat. Who didn't start to hate her in this chapter? Even those readers who will find later Cat's character more interesting and more compelling than Jon's (like myself); this early in the first book, even those readers thought Jon was the main character they should identify with. And we never get anything from Catlyn to redeem herself - unlike Jaime, who can virtualy redeem his much bigger sin (the attempted murder of Bran) by his arc in Strom of Swords.

[@ThailandOutsider]

Cat being crazy mean does seam out of character compared to every other time we see her, except every other time she isn't interacting with Jon, I can tell you that that sort of bitterness is entirely believable, I've seen it first hand from a birth parent let alone a step mum

[@YupertDoober]

Some people are just way less forgiving of children that aren’t their own when forced to raise them I have experienced some pretty gnarly things that step parents have done with their spouses kids and it is not all sunshine and roses

[@Slechy_Lesh]

18:50