Game of thrones: episode 9

[alexandral]

I loved the episode and am feeling too emotional to write anything coherent.Out of the new characters, I liked Shae (who is long past 18, but otherwise perfect, the trend to make everyone older continues) and I continue to love Bronn. Ros-the-whore seems to have disappeared without a trace, thank you to the old gods of TV. And then there were characters that I hated strong enough for the Russian Amazon in me to rise up and want to kill them all with bare hands (and feed their livers and other parts to the dogs :D).

Wall of HATE:


What has always bothered me is this : why did Joffrey decide to execute Ned? May be there was some explanation in the future books, but I have forgotten it. Unless it is plain and simple "Joffrey is a tyrant and thinks killing people is a good thing to do" which does not seem strong enough. Even Cersei seemed to be surprised, and really, Ned's death was in no way advantageous to her and Joffrey as it meant more war. It meant that Lannister's troops that are positioned against Northerners (who could have gone back to Winterfell if Ned was still alive and contacted them) could have instead travelled to King's Landing to meet the troops of Stannis Baratheon. Plus, killing high lords did not seem to be an everyday thing to do as they usually were imprisoned or sent to the Wall.

One of my personal pet theories is that this was Littlefinger's doing. He said something to Joffrey, hinted at something. Something must have set off Joffrey's madness.

What do you think? What made Joffrey decide to execute Ned?


PS I have taken tomorrow off so that I can make some animated icons. Yes, this is serious!

PS: Possible spoilers in comments

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

as for what littlefinger did to ned, i think he believed he had to. as long as ned was alive, there was always the opportunity for people to find out about joff and his siblings true parentage. which just wouldn't do.

I think plenty of People knew about Joff's parentage already (or suspected, or began to suspect), for exapmle, Lord Stannis. ned, somewhere far far away did not prsent any danger. Plus, rememebr that Ned was a honorable person to the EXTREME. If he promised to keep the secret - he would have had.

I think it is more about "the fact that he hated ned and his brother didn't help ned's cause at all."

[geeklee.livejournal.com]

but that's just it. ned never promises not to tell. he only agrees to give cersei a head start. and he never implies that he will not share this information with people. even from the wall, he could leak it.

and yes, many people knew about joff's parentage but none had threatened to tell. only ned. which gives a few people motive. however, the fact that he was disgraced, (encouraged to confess treason) makes me think littlefinger was behind all of it. after all, ned makes a big fuss about being honorable. having him publicly acknowledge dishonorable behavior sounds very much like littlefinger's actions.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I think I am using some info from the book (I think Ned promised not to disclose the secret there), but at any rate - it was pretty easy to make him promise. He has already admitted this publicly.

and yes, many people knew about joff's parentage but none had threatened to tell.

Stannis Baratheon (who only suspected something) is marching to the King's Landing already. He is actually the main danger (I do not want to spoil you if you haven't read that far).

however, the fact that he was disgraced, (encouraged to confess treason) makes me think littlefinger was behind all of it. after all, ned makes a big fuss about being honorable. having him publicly acknowledge dishonorable behavior sounds very much like littlefinger's actions.

Oh, I see! This is actually a very good point. Yes, from the POV of anyone else but Baelish , Ned's dishonor and death brought no advantage (His publical denouncement was something cersei needed, however). But from the POV of Littlefinger : this was something he wanted: Ned's dishonor and death.