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Chapter 2: 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
Viserys brings his sister Daenerys, or Dany, a new dress for her to wear tonight. The fabric is softer and more luxurious than anything Dany has seen before. Viserys says it’s a gift from Magister Illyrio. Daenerys needs to look like the princess she rightly is tonight when she meets Khal Drogo, a rich man from Vaes Dothrak who’s rumored to have an army of over 100,000 men. Daenerys is 13 years old. Viserys talks constantly of the land that belongs to them, of places like Casterly Rock and King’s Landing, which they fled when Viserys was eight years old and Dany was still in her mother’s womb. They had to flee the Usurper—with support from the Starks and the Lannisters, the Usurper had unrightfully taken the throne from their father, Aerys II Targaryen, the former king. Viserys plans to retake the throne, no matter the cost.
This passage sets the scene for the characters who oppose Robert’s reign as king. While the previous two chapters, narrated from Bran and Catelyn’s perspectives, portrayed Ned as an almost unimpeachably honorable leader, this chapter portrays Ned as the morally bankrupt supporter of Robert, who had no rightful claim to the throne. The novel uses chapters narrated by different characters to portray the complexity of the political machinations that the characters are involved in and to show how different the current state of events looks depending on one’s perspective.
Themes
Viserys and Dany have been on the run ever since the Usurper took over. They’ve gone from free city to free city, looking for people who want to provide shelter to the last two members of the Targaryen family. They’ve been residing in Pentos recently with patronage from Magister Illyrio. Dany had always assumed that, when she came of age, she would marry her brother Viserys, which has been the custom among Targaryens for centuries since they don’t want their bloodline to mix with people of lower standing. Dany is surprised, then, that her brother is trying to marry her off to Khal Drogo, whom she considers a barbarian.
The Targaryens’ practice of marriage between brothers points to their sense of superiority—they want to keep their supposed superior genes intact. Daenerys seems to evince some of that same sense of superiority when she refers to Khal Drogo as a barbarian. At the same time, Daenerys is 13 years old, and her brother has made decisions about her marriage that she doesn’t seem to have had a say in. This reflects Daenerys’s powerlessness in a rigidly patriarchal society, even though she comes from a once-powerful family.
Themes
That night, Illyrio, Viserys, and Dany go to the feast with Khal Drogo. There are hundreds of people there, but Dany is frightened to see that she is the only woman in attendance. Many of the people at the feast are Dothraki, like Khal Drogo, but there is a knight there, too. Illyrio says the knight is named Ser Jorah Mormont. The Usurper had wanted his head because of some inconsequential offense, so he fled. When Dany sees Khal Drogo, she’s terrified. He has a braid down to his thighs. Viserys says the Dothraki people cut their braids when they lose a battle. Khal Drogo hasn’t lost a single one. Dany doesn’t want to be forced to marry Khal Drogo and tells Viserys that she wants to go home. Viserys says the only way they can go home is with Khal Drogo’s army.
This passage reinforces Daenerys’s lack of power. She tells her brother she doesn’t want to be married to Khal Drogo, but she has no power to actually change what will happen. This reinforces how much control her brother exercises control over her life, including over her decisions and her body. Viserys’s decision to marry Daenerys to Khal Drogo also comes into clearer focus. In his mind, he is essentially trading Daenerys’s hand in marriage for the use of Khal Drogo’s army, which he believes will help him retake the Crown.
Themes
