This is irksome.
Palin is irked. But probably not for the same reason.
Now, this may be a little too much about me and my relation to characters, but the whole first part of this chapter is about Catelyn and how she does not like the quiet seriousness of the northern godswood. Her godswood (or religious experience, I am going to say) was very light and joyful and involved music and beauty and other people in a building set aside just for worship.
I grew up very familiar with religion. My parents are Christian and my sisters and I were all raised Christian, but we shifted churches a lot. Thanks to that (seriously, I am very thankful for that), I have had a whole myriad of different religious experiences within this one religion. I have been in churches that are silent and solemn and are built to inspire awe and serious reflection. I have been in churches made to be homey and warm and casual. I have been in churches that are bright and exuberant and...well, kind of over-the-top. I have been in churches that hit close to every experience you can think of. There were good and bad things about each one, but I ended up liking things like the northern godswood. I like quiet and solitude and reflection. The wild, dark, stark (well, the word fits) northern godswood appeals to me. Maybe it's just how I am, maybe it's because I was always a fairly serious kid, I don't know. I'm just saying.
I also have to say that I love this picture of the north that is slowly growing. I grew up in Montana and it suited me. I never wanted to escape to a warmer climate or avoid the winters. I loved the rainy, thunder-storm-filled days and sharp, windy days. I loved all the days where the whole world was cloudy and grey and the snow cast everything into harsh black-and-white. I would pick cold over heat pretty much every time. I don't hate sunshine or anything, I just like cold, brisk weather. I went to visit my friend in Texas a month or so ago and was dying. It was in the eighties and nineties and that ISN'T EVEN THAT HOT FOR TEXAS. I could not survive there. Seriously. I would melt. Or burn all my skin off.
I'm pale, in case you didn't know.
Pale like this.
Anyway, the whole point of that lengthy and self-absorbed exposition is to say that I think I would like the north. And I really like the intense, serious, TOTALLY PREPARED people that live there. The Stark motto is "Winter is coming"? Hell yes.
Ok, enough Stark-gushing. Moving on.
I know this is random, but there was a throwaway line about green men on the Isle of Faces. I want this explored, please. Curiosity: aroused.
I like Ned and I like that he obviously cares a lot for his family (his first question to his wife is "where are the children"), but dude. Your youngest child is three and slightly nervous about a wolf he was just given to raise. I have little recent experience with children (largely because I avoid them), but I feel like three is young. Quite young. Aren't kids still learning complete sentences and such at that age? I know your land is harsh and serious and intense and all, but HE IS THREE. Cut the kid some slack.
This is a three-year-old. Give him a break.
So we learn here that the night watch is losing people rapidly, both to death and desertion. This is foreboding. For real. Also, there's a King-beyond-the-Wall? Is that who Mance Rayder is? Answer things for me soon, GRRM. Please.
Please don't ignore this Others-talk, Ned. Bad things are happening. And those things are terrifying.
We learn that Jon Arryn, Ned's sort of adopted-father is dead. Who was married to Catelyn's sister. This is depressing, but is lightened pretty quickly as Ned finds out King Robert is coming and actually smiles. NED IS CAPABLE OF SMILING!!! This makes me happy.
Conflict time!
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