Winning the Game of Thrones: The Host of Characters and their Agendas (22 page)

     
“The Voyage of Bran son of Febal” is an epic poem describing a hero, like Brandon the Builder, who built a ship and sailed all the way to fairyland.

     
The name Bran means crow or raven among the Celts. Crows were associated with the gods and prophecy, and sometimes were said to carry men’s souls. They were also omens of war and death but would speak the truth to those wise enough to listen.

     
In Celtic legend, King Bran (Blessed Raven) gave his sister Branwen away in marriage. However, in her distress, “she reared a starling in the cover of the kneading-trough, taught it to speak, and told it how to find her brother; and then she wrote a letter describing her sorrows and bound it to the bird’s wing, and it flew to the island and alighted on Bran’s shoulder.”
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Messenger birds are just as vital to Martin’s series. Bran is not seen trying to rescue his sisters, but Jon is at one point.

     
In battle to retrieve Branwen, King Bran was wounded in the foot with a poisoned dart. He bade his men to cut off and carry his head, which, still living, spoke and gave valuable guidance to his people. In his name, ravens are kept guarding the Tower of London, even today. Bran Stark too is crippled and must be carried, but he becomes a force of great wisdom, slowly reaching out to influence those he cares for.

     
Robert dies gored by a boar. The boar is often directly or indirectly involved in the death of the hero in the great myths and epics, from Culhwch and Olwen to Adonis.
In Celtic
 
tradition, the boar was associated with courage and strength as well as sovereignty and protection of the land.
“The ancient Greeks associated the boar with winter, so its killing represented the slaying of winter by the solar power of spring.”
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By contrast, this boar kills the king, and with his death, summer changes to autumn, just as the kingdom deteriorates into war. The courage and strength has killed King Robert rather than allowing him to prevail.

Likewise, the warrior Diarmuid stole away Grainne, his lord Fionn MacCumhail’s betrothed. When he and the lady finally returned, Fionn and Diarmuid went on a hunt and Diarmuid was wounded by a giant boar. Fionn knew he could heal Diarmuid by letting him drink water from his cupped hands, but several times he let it spill through his fingers and Diarmuid died. From the affair to the betrayal and death of a warrior, Robert’s death has parallels.

CHAPTER 5: HERO’S JOURNEY, HEROINE’S JOURNEY

Jon’s Hero Journey

The hero’s journey as defined by Joseph Campbell is the great epic pattern behind all the great tales, from King Arthur to Siegfried. It’s also the pattern behind
The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter,
and most epic fantasy. The hero, an orphan or unloved foster child, leaves his home to venture out into the wilderness, the Otherworld of magic and mystery. Mentored by the wise old Merlin or Gandalf, he receives a magic sword and does many heroic deeds. In the wild, he meets a magical woman and learns about the world beneath perception, that of emotion and sensitivity. Thus enlightened, the hero develops his own magic, reluctant though he is to leave the world of rationality. Finally, the hero descends into the darkest place of all to face his ultimate foe, the shadow that is all he has rejected in himself: Darth Vader, Voldemort, Mordred. By understanding and defeating this opponent, the hero grows from boy to man, understanding the buried side of his own nature.

More than any other character, perhaps, Jon embarks on the classic hero’s journey.

First, he has a mysterious parentage and grows up with a callous foster family. Catelyn suffers his presence, but considers his very existence an insult and treats him accordingly. Jon is the bastard, seated below the family table when the king visits, cast out when his father leaves for King’s Landing. He cannot inherit by law.

As such, he sets his sights on the Wall, like his Uncle Benjen, their talented First Ranger. Producer D.B. Weiss notes that the Wall is “a merit-based society, which mostly don't exist” in medieval times or in Westeros.
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For the young man dreaming of heroism and distinguishing himself as more than the unwanted son, it’s a powerful lure.

His birth is shrouded in mystery, and many fans believe he’s the child of Lyanna Stark and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. If Jon is a Targaryen, he shares Daenerys’ ancient magic and her destiny: Rhaegar insisted that he must have three children, that “there must be one more,” since “the dragon has three heads.” He said of Aegon “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire” (II: 701). He had planned for three children, a conquering hero and his two sister-wives like Aegon the Conqueror had. If Jon is his child, he is intended to be husband to Daenerys, the conqueror reborn.

Beginning the Adventure

A Game of Thrones
begins with Jon finding the direwolf pups in the woods. His is the homely rejected one, the discolored runt that echoes himself, ignored beside his legitimate siblings. Whether or not he has the blood of the dragon, he has the blood of the wolf, and the direwolf bonds with him. Working with Ghost, Jon develops prophetic shapechanger dreams. He sees Bran with a third eye, and in his dream, the heart tree gives him one as well, even as he enters Ghost and hears his thoughts (II: 559-561).

The Quest

Jon departs home and travels to the edge of the world, the Wall that separates the lands of Westeros from the lands of magic and otherness. Martin notes that “It’s the boundary of the kingdom of the North. Beyond that is the wild, is the haunted forest. is lands where no one rules.”
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His mentors on the trip include such contrasting voices as Benjen Stark and Tyrion Lannister. Once there, Jon trains and swears his oath before the Heart Tree, just on the magical side of the Wall. “Once they had entered the forest, they were in a different world,” the book notes (I:520). Executive producer David Benioff explains, “There are many dangers that lurk beyond the wall: beasts, the wildlings that are essentially northern barbarians, but the most fearsome are the White Walkers.”
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Jon steps into the realm of the Other to say his words, risking his life to go ranging beyond the safety of the Wall. Once he’s spoken them, he is appointed steward to Commander Mormont, making him in a way the heir to the throne. By Mormont’s side, he begins to truly learn.

The hero’s traditional quest is defeating the dark lord of evil – Jon soon begins searching hopelessly for his lost uncle Benjen, certainly killed or taken by the Others. As such, he has a personal grudge with the forces of darkness, and the oath he swears binds him to fight them: “I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn,” he vows. (I:520)

There appears to be an actual dark lord, though he’s still unseen: “Beyond the Wall, the enemy grows stronger, and should he win, the dawn will never come again,” Melisandre worries. His face is “cold and black and too terrible for any man to gaze upon and live” (V:410).
Bran stares into the Heart of Winter and sees the Other, probably the spirit that commands the wights. It’s not certain if this force is completely evil like Sauron in
Lord of the Rings,
despite Melisandre’s fears. The battle between fire and ice may be a quest for balance, not for good to conquer wickedness. Of course, the hero’s journey is traditionally the quest to conquer the father-tyrant and bring about a new reign of peace and prosperity. .

Faced with such a foe, Jon needs allies. Sam, his best friend, is like
Lord of the Rings
’ Sam Gamgee, practical and smart while his friend has grave responsibilities. Sam chooses to swear his oath before a Heart Tree rather than the Seven, taking his own steps into the Otherworld. Soon both boys are summoned to their first mission, ranging beyond the Wall as the second book ends. “It's ultimately...the kind of a place that can break people or make them stronger,” executive producer D.B. Weiss notes.
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Jon and Sam indeed find their courage alone in the wilderness. Martin, when asked if Jon’s fate will mirror Frodo’s, quips, “He’s taller than Frodo,” but both heroes are undoubtedly preparing for grave suffering and torment.
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Beyond the Wall, Jon finds a cache of obsidian weapons and a mysterious horn. He gives the horn to Sam, who is destined for a world of magic and lore as Jon is destined for battle. Jon makes weapons of the dragonglass, which come to be more useful than he knows. He encounters the Others, terrible frozen dead brought to life, who herald his greatest foe. He also meets a lesser shadow who prepares him for his ultimate encounter.