Previous
Chapter 7: Arya
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
It’s Bran’s last day in Winterfell before he rides south to King’s Landing with his siblings and his father. He is excited to start his new life, but on this last day, a feeling of emptiness overtakes him. He thinks maybe he should say his goodbyes, but when he goes to see his pony that he’s leaving behind, he starts to cry and runs away before anyone can see. He decides to spend the rest of the day climbing, which he loves more than anything. His mother can’t stand to see him do it, but his father doesn’t outright forbid it, so Bran just tries to stay out of sight when he climbs.
Bran is portrayed as sensitive and, it seems, like someone who might prefer to be by himself considering that, even though it’s his last day in Winterfell, he finds himself alone. Catelyn and Ned’s differing responses to Bran’s climbing reveal their distinctive approaches to parenting. Catelyn seems to be primarily concerned with protecting her children, whereas Ned seems to encourage them to pursue their passions, even if those pursuits might entail some level of risk.
Themes
Bran decides to climb from the godswood to the old clock tower. To get there, he’ll pass by the First Keep, one of the oldest buildings in the castle, though it’s no longer in use. When he reaches the roof of the First Keep, Bran hears voices inside, which is strange because no one ever goes in there. It’s a man and woman speaking. The woman says that it’s wrong that Robert asked Ned to be the Hand. The job should belong to the man, she says. The man responds that he doesn’t want it. The woman wonders if Ned accepting the offer means that he’s onto them. Perhaps Catelyn’s sister, Lysa, sent Ned and Catelyn a message, she says. The man tells the woman that Lysa doesn’t know anything.
This passage points to the “game of thrones” that provides the title of the book. The “game of thrones” conceives of politics as a game that each person plays to try and get power for themselves and their family. In this case, though Ned has just accepted the role of the Hand of the King, his position of power is already causing others to talk about him enviously. That envy suggests that people may desire the power he has to the point that they are willing to do nefarious things to try and get it for themselves.
Themes
Bran knows that he has to see who is talking. As he tries to traverse the outside of the First Keep, he hears the sound of skin against skin. He hangs from a gargoyle and looks through the window. He sees the queen, Cersei, having sex with a man who is the spitting image of her. When the queen sees Bran, Bran is shocked and loses hold of the gargoyle. He slips and grabs hold of the ledge of the window. The man reaches his hand down and pulls Bran up. He asks Bran how old he is. Bran says he is seven. The man says, “The things I do for love,” and shoves Bran out the window.
Bran sees Cersei having sex with her twin brother Jaime. Jaime and Cersei are so afraid that their secret will come out that Jaime is willing to kill a child to protect that secret. Notably, when Jaime shoves Bran, he says that he’s doing it for love. That statement highlights again the novel’s recurring theme of the tension between love and duty. In this case, moral duty calls for Jaime to protect Bran, while Jaime’s idea of love compels him to protect Cersei. In this case, Jaime chooses what he calls love over moral duty. His immoral act also points to the incompatibility of morality and power in the world of the novel—his apparent murder of Bran shows just how low he is willing to sink to protect his and Cersei’s hold on power.
Themes
