Mastering the Game of Thrones by Jes Battis & Susan Johnston

Author:Jes Battis & Susan Johnston
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Published: 2015-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

The Hound of the King or the Hand of the Queen

This essay began with a set of contradictory quotes, one from Barristan Selmy, and the other from Sandor Clegane. Sandor rejects chivalry and knighthood in all its forms throughout the novels, going so far as to snap at anyone who mistakenly assumes him to be a knight and calls him ser. He tells Sansa, “there are no true knights, no more than there are gods” (CoK 53 Sansa 4: 569), and lectures her that “knights are for killing” (CoK 53 Sansa 4: 568) and nothing more. Sandor sees the institution of knighthood as an exercise in hypocrisy, pointing out to Sansa that his monstrous brother is an anointed knight, and delivering the following diatribe to the Brotherhood Without Banners:

A knight’s a sword with a horse. The rest, the vows and the sacred oils and the lady’s favors, they’re silk ribbons tied round the sword. Maybe the sword’s prettier with ribbons hanging off it, but it will kill you just as dead. Well, bugger your ribbons, and shove your swords up your arses. I’m the same as you. The only difference is, I don’t lie about what I am. So kill me, but don’t call me a murderer while you stand there telling each other that your shit don’t stink [SoS 35 Arya 6: 385–386].

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