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Chapter 28: Catelyn
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Game of Thrones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Politics and Power
Climate Change and Collective Action
Gender and Power
Honor and Integrity
Identity
Summary
Analysis
Sansa watches men joust in the tournament from the stands. She’s in awe of the lavish armor that some of the men wear. Ser Gregor Clegane, the Hound’s brother, kills the man he’s jousting when his lance rides up and goes through the other man’s neck. After another joust, the winner, Ser Loras Tyrell—whom people call the Knight of Flowers—hands Sansa a red rose. He tells her that she’s more beautiful than any victory. Sansa thinks the Knight of Flowers is the most beautiful person she has ever seen.
The novel again portrays Sansa as being drawn to appearances above the potential substance behind those appearances. That, so far, has been one of the defining characteristics of her relationship with Joffrey, as she seems convinced that he is heroic and worthy of her love based on little more than his appearance.
Themes
Joffrey comes to sit next to Sansa. The two haven’t spoken since the fight between Arya and Joffrey, after which Queen Cersei had Sansa’s direwolf Lady killed. Sansa doesn’t blame Joffrey for what happened. In her mind, it was the queen and Arya’s fault. Joffrey acts courteously toward Sansa, and she’s glad to spend the rest of the day with him. By the end of the day, the four remaining jousters are Ser Jaime, Gregor, the Hound, and the Knight of Flowers.
Sansa again shows her shortsightedness toward Joffrey’s character. Even though Joffrey instigated the fight with Mycah and Arya, brought the complaint to Cersei afterward, lied about what happened, and then didn’t object when Cersei killed Lady, Sansa still finds him blameless.
Themes
Joffrey orders his bodyguard, the Hound, to walk Sansa back to the Red Keep. On the way, the Hound remarks on Sansa’s fascination with the knights. He says that he isn’t a knight, though his brother Gregor is. By torchlight, he shows Sansa his face. The left side is scarred from a burn he sustained in childhood. He explains how he got it: he took a toy knight from his brother Gregor because he had wanted it, and Gregor hadn’t been interested in it. In response, Gregor held the Hound’s face down in hot coals, badly burning him. The Hound’s father did nothing. Years later, Gregor became a knight. Sansa puts her hand on the Hound’s shoulder and says that Gregor isn’t a true knight. The Hound tells Sansa that if she breathes a word of what he told her to anyone else, he’ll kill her.
The Hound’s story shows how uncaring and vicious Gregor is. It also gives the Hound a rare moment of vulnerability, as he opens up to Sansa about one of the most painful moments of his childhood. Notably, he follows up that vulnerability by threatening to kill Sansa. That scene provides a commentary on the norms of masculinity in Westeros, as the Hound feels compelled to harden himself by threatening someone with death just after he is vulnerable, showing the level of discomfort he feels when he is metaphorically stripped of his armor and how he lashes out when he feels insecure and defenseless.
Themes
