Am I the only one that was not that affected by the Red Wedding?

[DragonAwoken]

However... the whole sewing of the wolf head onto the body really did bother me because I wasn't expecting that. I was quite shocked and disturbed!

I saw it coming since Dany went to the Houe of the Undying. She looked into one of the rooms and saw a king sitting on his crown with a wolfs head wearing an iron crown....

[WhiteWalder]

I sat the book down after the Red Wedding and had serious thoughts about stopping. You think you know the direction the story is going, that one of the more liked characters is going to win, and that Robb has a great plan - then BOOM. I thought about the way I felt after Ned was taken out, and realized the story was better for it. I realized he was making room for something big or better to happen. You can't have Robb win, then Dany or some other beloved character come back and destroy him. Get rid of him, let the book breathe and make room for other characters and plots develop without the Robb story line. After thinking about that for a few minutes, I picked up the book and kept reading.

[FCOS]

I kept reading to make completley sure they were gone, and by that stage I had finished dance.

[AliKat]

Cat gives Robb better advice than any of his bannermen, except maybe the Blackfish. Her one stupid move after he declares himself King was releasing Jaime, and she was a mother in grief. And it didn't really hurt Robb's cause - Jaime hadn't even made it to King's Landing by the time Robb was killed.

Robb, on the other hand...

-Accepted Kingship over the RIverlands, which the Starks have never ruled and are part of the Southern Andal culture

-Sent Theon back to Pyke. Despite knowing Balon was a potential enemy, Robb gave up his only possible leverage over him

-Didn't tell Edmure his supposedly genius plan, and then laid all the blame on Edmure when it went sour

-Married Jeyne, throwing away one of his most powerful allies

-Insisted on executing Karstark, losing another ally

He was a good battle commander, and had honor. But he was wasn't ready to be King.

-

You forgot where Cat started the war by taking Tyrion prisoner after Ned told her that they couldn't do anything without proof.

I think the Red Wedding for me was so hard was a few things. I'm a huge fan of the Starks. I mean in a power crazy society they just wanted to get their family back and go home. None of their mistakes were to gain more power. Robb accepted role as King - he didn't want it.

The thing that breaks my heart and is going to KILL me seeing on the show the most probably is Arya being outside (Maisie is going to rip our hearts out I suspect). She was so close to being reunited with her mother and brother finally. I mean granted, if she had come a day sooner she'd be dead but it would have been easier to take if she'd never even gotten close to being near them. I knew it was coming but The Red Wedding represented the end of the North as it was because now Bolton is in charge. It was the end of a GOOD force in Westeros and the bad got quite a few more steps ahead.

Once/If the Starks regain power somehow with the remaining children, I will be happier.

[AliKat]

I saw it coming since Dany went to the Houe of the Undying. She looked into one of the rooms and saw a king sitting on his crown with a wolfs head wearing an iron crown....

But I thought that was figuratively (since they called him the Young Wolf) not literally going to have a head of a wolf! lol

[Luke Sineath]

I wasn't particularly affected, but I figured something would happen,. I've come to expect the worst in this series, honestly.

[Theda Baratheon]

You realize Robb made much stupider decisions than Cat, yes?

Cat gives Robb better advice than any of his bannermen, except maybe the Blackfish. Her one stupid move after he declares himself King was releasing Jaime, and she was a mother in grief. And it didn't really hurt Robb's cause - Jaime hadn't even made it to King's Landing by the time Robb was killed.

Robb, on the other hand...

-Accepted Kingship over the RIverlands, which the Starks have never ruled and are part of the Southern Andal culture

-Sent Theon back to Pyke. Despite knowing Balon was a potential enemy, Robb gave up his only possible leverage over him

-Didn't tell Edmure his supposedly genius plan, and then laid all the blame on Edmure when it went sour

-Married Jeyne, throwing away one of his most powerful allies

-Insisted on executing Karstark, losing another ally

He was a good battle commander, and had honor. But he was wasn't ready to be King.

-

Love it. Great posts.

The amount of people saying shit like ''oh sad Robb died, glad/don't care about Catelyn dying'' what the actual fuck. Robb makes loads more bad decisions than Cat. What is so monstrously bad about her anyway? If we switched Robb and Cat's genders I'm sure we'd have a very different story, OH YEP. I'M GOING THERE. I genuinely think that if Cat was a father and Robb was a Queen in the North battle commander we'd all be thinking very differently about him breaking his marriage contract and we'd be respectful of Cat's pretty stellar advice (Cat's the one who tells Robb he should have Grey Wind with him at all times) all the way through.

I'm not saying anyone here is sexist, but I think there is a rampant attitude of ''oh stupid hysterical woman''. and Robb as oh young and handsome and a tragic king.

[Woftis]

Love it. Great posts.

The amount of people saying shit like ''oh sad Robb died, glad/don't care about Catelyn dying'' what the actual fuck. Robb makes loads more bad decisions than Cat. What is so monstrously bad about her anyway? If we switched Robb and Cat's genders I'm sure we'd have a very different story, OH YEP. I'M GOING THERE. I genuinely think that if Cat was a father and Robb was a Queen in the North battle commander we'd all be thinking very differently about him breaking his marriage contract and we'd be respectful of Cat's pretty stellar advice (Cat's the one who tells Robb he should have Grey Wind with him at all times) all the way through.

I'm not saying anyone here is sexist, but I think there is a rampant attitude of ''oh stupid hysterical woman''. and Robb as oh young and handsome and a tragic king.

I think the 'don't care about cat dying' attitude is more down to her being an unlikeable (at least for some) character rather than her being female. I personally, don't see the hype with Rob and didn't feel upset at all when he died (absolutely loved the chapter though) whereas with Cat, I'm slightly ashamed to admit, I was kind of relieved I wouldn't have to read any more of her "ohhhhh my dear ned" pish.

[StannisandDaeny]

It's too long ago for me to know how exactly I reacted, but I was impressed with the way it was written, you know, that second you realize the guys were playing music so badly because they were soldiers and not musicians, that's just brilliance. That said it didn't make me happy (obviously), more because I wanted someone to kick Lannister butt than my affinity with the characters (Robb is a self-righteous stupid ass who should've listened to his mother's advice a little more), but I didn't stop reading and I definitely didn't throw my book through the room (it cost money! and it wasn't even really mine). I was never in support of Robb's decision and knew it would bite him in the ass, which kind of softened the landing, but yeah, I was kind of awestruck even though I saw it coming to some degree.

[xDireWolfx93]

But I thought that was figuratively (since they called him the Young Wolf) not literally going to have a head of a wolf! lol

Very good point. Even if I had recalled that scene while reading the third book I probably still wouldn't have taken it literally. lol

When I did think of it after reading that part my thoughts were, "Oh... literal foreshadowing... I never would have guessed." Though with Martin's love of gruesome deaths I guess we maybe should have.

[Choy]

I saw it coming since Dany went to the Houe of the Undying. She looked into one of the rooms and saw a king sitting on his crown with a wolfs head wearing an iron crown....

Oh wow I totally missed that. Can you state exactly which page this is (more or less) in ACoK?

I only saw it coming (Robb's demise) when Grey Wind started barking/growling before entering The Twins' portcullis. I was like oh shit you gunna die. It was of course made more obvious with Lord Frey's heh's in every statement.

[Lion of Judah]

I was at the opposite end of the spectrum, I was probably too emotional. ASOS was published in 2000, I read it in 2007 somewhere around that time. I wrote GRRM a nasty email about how he spoiled the series for me and blah blah blah...yeah 7 years or so later.

[DragonAwoken]

But I thought that was figuratively (since they called him the Young Wolf) not literally going to have a head of a wolf! lol

LOL well even with the forshadowing I'm still a bit confused about the story line because there has to be someone to fight the others and I keep expecting it to be a Stark.

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

I was at the opposite end of the spectrum, I was probably too emotional. ASOS was published in 2000, I read it in 2007 somewhere around that time. I wrote GRRM a nasty email about how he spoiled the series for me and blah blah blah...yeah 7 years or so later.

whats that you said about lions never cowering?:)

I was not really affected on my first read(both Cat and Robb are not among my favorites), but when I was rereading the novel I just couldn't get over this passage..

"Dacey Mormont, who seemed to be the only woman left in the hall besides Catelyn, stepped up behind Edwyn Frey, and touched him lightly on the arm as she said something in his ear. Edwyn wrenched himself away from her with unseemly violence. “No,” he said, too loudly. “I’m done with dancing for the nonce.” Dacey paled and turned away. Catelyn got slowly to her feet. What just happened there? Doubt gripped her heart, where an instant before had been only weariness. It is nothing, she tried to tell herself, you are seeing grumkins in the woodpile, you are become an old silly woman sick with grief and fear. But something must have shown on her face. Even Ser Wendel Manderly took note. “Is something amiss?” he asked, the leg of lamb in his hands."

:bowdown: great passage this