[Book Spoilers] Talissa/Jeyne

[turdle]

can anyone explain why she interrupted rob and rooses discussion? she marches into the tent like she's got something important to say, and roose kindly leaves, but then all she says is, "how are you?" really? you see the king and one of his bannermen having a discussion in the kings tent, and you break up their talk just to ask robb "how are you?"

"roose, i'm going to have to ask you to leave, we'll carry on the talk of strategy and retaking winterfell later, someone is here to make small talk. sure is nice weather out tonight. seen any good movies lately?"

HBO, please at least give the girl a reason to be in the tent.

[Ran]

I presume she was trying to work up the nerve to have a fling with Robb. She wants to be with him, nothing stands in the way of that, love knows no bounds, etc. Standard Hollywood cliches.

[turdle]

I presume she was trying to work up the nerve to have a fling with Robb. She wants to be with him, nothing stands in the way of that, love knows no bounds, etc. Standard Hollywood cliches.

yeah but even if she had ANYTHING to say, it would have been better. thanks for your help; we were able to get what we needed; i still don't have enough supplies; etc. OR if when she entered and saw that robb wasn't alone, she started to leave, and roose excused himself, fine. but instead she stands there waiting, like shes got a thought in her head... and nothing.

[Mad Queen]

So is she not a Lannister spy? If there's no trap for Robb, no plotting going on to create a falling-out between Starks and Freys, the Red Wedding will be less interesting. :(

[Ser Hippie]

She wasn't a trap in the books either, her mom just took advantage after the fact.

[David Selig]

At this point would be pretty silly if it turns out she's Jeyne Westerling in disguise. She went to the Crag, everything was fine. And the Volantris story seemed genuine - it matches the details about the city we know from the books.

It seems the writers just decided to make her a foreigner to help explain her "sassy" behaviour.

[Mad Queen]

She wasn't a trap in the books either, her mom just took advantage after the fact.

She might have encouraged Jeyne to comfort Robb that way, but even if that did not happen, Talisa's mom (or anyone else) isn't there to take advantage after the fact.

[Ser Hippie]

The Freys abandon Robb at the Crag before any plotting between the Westerlings and Tywin could take place. Bolton and Frey begin plotting (along with Tywin) once the news comes out and Bolton believes/realizes Robb is going to bring him down with him.

Sybelle Westerling's only importance to the Red Wedding in the books is that she's purposefully feeding Jeyne a contraceptive to keep her from getting pregnant, so I'm not seeing why the TV RW would be less interesting.

[Mad Queen]

Because in the books, Robb was surrounded by the Westerlings, had them as squires etc. Robb does the right thing by Jeyne, welcomes her family to his and the Westerlings are ready to stab him in the back.

[Ser Hippie]

Other than Sybelle's contraception what Westerling betrayal are we losing out? Rollam was a loyal squire, Raynald dies defending Grey Wind (offscreen). Rolph Spicer?

[Ser Hippie]

Dreaded house double post appearance

[Mad Queen]

It's not about anyone in particular. The Westerlings hardly matter as characters.

[birdsong66]

I think she is a component of what Ned talked about with arya in S1. Dividing them as outside forces have, has weakened the strength the Starks possess when together. Talisa weakens Robb not just because of the Frey issue should it lead to marriage, but it divides him from his mother, the only other Stark who is with him. Destroy that two person unit, destroy the impact of the Northern rebellion in general. Same with sending Theon, releasing Jaime....each becomes weaker when separated from the other. And Roose is there to observe and report on progress.

the pack is effectively destroyed. And now each is fairly easy prey. Jeyne/Talisa, whatever, the end is the same. But the depiction for HBO is trite and boring, IMO.

[Umberto]

That body...forget about comforting Robb when he was vulnerable, now I know the real reason he threw everything away for her.

Good job Robb, no regrets! (except maybe your horrible death)

[MoonCoffee]

At this point I'm half hoping she's a Lannister spy. Robb captured that one spy in season 1 and sent him back to Tywin with an insult. It wouldn't be out of character for Tywin to refuse letting that slight to his pride slide, and retaliate accordingly.

The writers need a very good reason why Robb would marry her though. Or why she would accept to marry him, since she's an intelligent person who should be able to see that him marrying her isn't a good decision for the Northern people (not just the nobility).

[CrypticWeirwood]

Is her name Talissa (with a double s) to rhyme with Melissa, or is it Talisa (with just a single s)

to rhyme with Elisa?

[CrypticWeirwood]

The writers need a very good reason why Robb would marry her though. Or why she would accept to marry him, since she's an intelligent person who should be able to see that him marrying her isn't a good decision for the Northern people (not just the nobility).

Your second point is an especially good one, I think.

[CrypticWeirwood]

It's not about anyone in particular. The Westerlings hardly matter as characters.

I don’t mean this to contradict or disagree with your point, which I think holds even so, but wasn’t Jeyne’s grandmother Maggy the Frog, who prophesied the prophecy to Cersei?

She dreamt an old dream,

of three girls in brown cloaks,

a wattled crone,

and a tent that smelled of death.

[Targaryen Kaiser]

I posted this theory in the 208 Discussion as well.

I was thinking about the possibility of Talissa being Jeyne Westerling but a different one than the sweet and innocent girl in the books. Maybe she is indeed a spy for Tywin and will be loyal to the Lannisters until the end. She may end up being to the group of Robb's betrayers, replacing her mother? That would add some tragedy to Robb's story, as if the Red Wedding itself weren't tragic enough.

[Jolene Brown]

I just re-read this whole section of the book. I honestly don't see why they couldn't have done it exactly that way - Catelyn is in trouble with Robb's men in his absence for releasing the Kingslayer - he comes home with his new bride and everyone flips out. That would have been a shocking twist on the tv show, much more interesting than a fairly cliched meet cute and pretty standard romantic drama banter. Then explore the aftermath and get to know Jeyne as his new bride. It's not like he had to be offscreen very long. Send him off to conquer the crag in episode five or six, do your kingslayer drama with him gone in episode seven, bring him back with her in episode eight.

I honestly don't see why we had to meet her before she married him. There is plenty of time between then and the Red Wedding for us to get to know her and the point of the Red Wedding anyway is that we mourn Catelyn and Robb, the characters we have come to love since the beginning of the story, not that we mourn Robb's lost relationship. I truly don't think there was any need to change it for tv - in fact, I actually think on tv it would have worked better this way and provided a much more interesting surprise. By the time Robb and Talisa slept together on the show, it was painfully obvious that was where it was headed, but who the hell could have seen him showing up with his new wife from the enemy's ranks in the wake of the Kingslayer release. I'm not trying to be a super purist or a whiner, although i definitely hate the storyline we got; I just really think the book storyline would have been more interesting on the show as well and could have worked just fine.