Samwell Tarly should remain craven

[Bernie Mac]

22 minutes ago, Rose of Red Lake said:

Go away. No one wants to interact with you. You treat everyone on this forum like they're on trial and you're cross examining them. 

Sorry you feel that way. As you clearly speak for all users of this forum this will be my last post.

[LynnS]

21 minutes ago, Bernie Mac said:

Sorry you feel that way. As you clearly speak for all users of this forum this will be my last post.

Just to clarify my comment; I read a lot of threads because I am curious about what people think or how they interpret what they have read.  I don't necessarily feel compelled to engage someone on everything I read.  In this case, I don't want to reduce Sam Tarley's character to someone who is craven.  In fact, I think he is kind and compassionate, which is a character trait I value in people.  What I look at mostly are the things that engage me; the mysteries, the puzzles, the stuff that nobody really talks about.  Most people aren't interested in the things that interest me.  It's not a big deal.  I also look at stuff that I don't have any knowledge about;  war strategies, what people think will happen in the next book.  You know, just in case I never get to read it.  I can always say, I got a fair facsimile of it.  LOL.  I don't want to have arguments on something that is basically subjective just for the sake of an argument.  That isn't personal.

[Moiraine Sedai]

To remove that one defining character trait is to completely change the character.  So yeah.  Keep him craven.  He is more interesting that way.  There are enough brave people.  We could use a craven but goodhearted young man who gets the girl and his father's estate.  Sam would be awful at lordly duties but so what.  Hornhill will be very depopulated.  It won't matter.

[Here's Looking At You, Kid]

I remember watching an old movie as a kid called The Secret of Santa Vittoria.  The mayor of the small Italian mountain town is a lazy drunk named Bombolini.  Bombolini is a disappointment to his wife and to himself.  He is a shiftless drunk.  The people of the town consider making him leave the office.  But he came through when his town needed him and saved their livelihood.  He was the town hero by the end of the movie.  I think the same can happen to anybody in this story.  Samwell will be a hero if he does it right at the most important moment.

[TedBear]

Sam reminds me of Usopp, only less comical

[GoldenGail3]

No.

[Springwatch]

On 6/9/2020 at 5:11 PM, Rose of Red Lake said:

Go away. No one wants to interact with you. You treat everyone on this forum like they're on trial and you're cross examining them. 

WTF is this? Rose, you show an amazing lack of self-awareness.

[Anck Su Namun]

On 6/4/2020 at 6:32 PM, Big P said:

Randyll Tarly is not the only lord who would refuse to let his trueborn son serve another house as a maester.  

No and it makes you appreciate Walder Frey for allowing his sons to enter the maester college.  Walder has a working class ethic and it has served his House well even if the other fams looked down on him.  

[Anck Su Namun]

On 5/28/2020 at 12:10 PM, Prince Rhaego's Soul said:

Well, what do we really know about George R R Martin?  A lot of assumptions are made about the man.  His short stories in the thousand worlds are unusual science fiction material.  I just hope he is not planning on putting Samwell Tarly on the throne in the end.  While that may appeal to the bookish types, in my opinion, it is unrealistic.  There is a very good reason(s) for why Pickard is the captain rather than Data.  I hope he doesn't turn Samwell into a coward most days of the week but rises to the occasion when women and children are in danger.  A person who is not brave is more than likely to freeze and become paralyzed during highly stressful situations.

Randyll did him wrong.  We cannot really deny that.  However, we also cannot blame Randyll for not letting Samwell inherit the lordship of the family lands.  It is not about love.  Should not be about fatherly love.  It is about responsibility.  Responsibility to the land and its people.  Like it or not, a strong person should be in the position of leadership.  Someone who can protect the people and negotiate on their behalf.  The farmers need a lord who can negotiate for the price of their produce.  Strong does not have to mean skill with weapons.  Strong also means brave and persistent.  Somebody who can tolerate physical and emotional stress. Strong personal discipline is a must.  Samwell is a bookish man who never enjoyed the activities most boys do.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that as long as the person is also brave and do not allow themselves to be dominated easily by their peers.  There is a place for such an intellectual.  But it is unconscionable to put such a person as head of the house in the medieval era.  He would never be able to advocate for the people on his lands.  

Samwell Tarly should remain true to his character in a realistic fashion.  I do not want to see this man in a leadership situation.  He had it right from the beginning when he took interest in the citadel.  Healer is not his area though.  Samwell might faint at the sight of intestines.  But he can be a capable historian or something that does not require too much physical field work.

Sam is okay to lead for a specific purpose.  He is not going to rule an empire.  That is not going to happen unless the author does something completely silly and unbelievable.   Sam was sent on a mission to get Aemon home and to study at the Citadel.  Aemon was the senior but Sam was the second-in-command of that mission.  He did alright.  

[Rose of Red Lake]

7 hours ago, Springwatch said:

WTF is this? Rose, you show an amazing lack of self-awareness.

I know, I need to not hop on the forums when I've had a bad day. 

[Quoth the raven,]

On 6/8/2020 at 8:53 PM, BlackLightning said:

I think the whole point of Sam's story is to highlight different types of courage.

Bran is established to have been be the kind of boy GRRM both wishes he was as a boy and had for a son. But Sam is basically GRRM's self-insert, his love letter to himself.

I think the end-goal of the character arcs of Bran, Sam and Sansa is to show that there are different kinds of courage and different kinds of heroes and all have a place in science fiction and fantasy.

BL.  I have to ask.  What is it about Bran and George which make them similar?  Bran was a gregarious boy before the accident.  Very well, so Bran is one of the better, less violent of the Starks.  But I found nothing remarkable about him.  Just a normal boy with big dreams of knighthood.  I don't think George was thinking of becoming a Rambo commando dude.  

[BlackLightning]

On 6/28/2020 at 6:45 PM, Quoth the raven, said:

BL.  I have to ask.  What is it about Bran and George which make them similar?  Bran was a gregarious boy before the accident.  Very well, so Bran is one of the better, less violent of the Starks.  But I found nothing remarkable about him.  Just a normal boy with big dreams of knighthood.  I don't think George was thinking of becoming a Rambo commando dude.  

You're focusing too much on the beginning of Bran's story. Losing sight of the forest for the trees. Bran is a dreamer and a storyteller who is delving into both increasingly magical and increasingly horrific territory. By the end, he will likely end up becoming the MOST fantastical character of them all with Dany coming in at a close second.

Bran actually bears great similarities to Harry Potter.