Original reactions to reading about the Red Wedding

[BarneyBent]

I had it spoiled for me while read ACoK. I stopped reading for about a year, before finally picking it up again. By the time it came to reading it, I'd developed a sort of acceptance that this series isn't about your favorite characters; the protagonist is the world itself, not any one individual. That made it a lot easier to read.

I still found gutting though.

[RGW Dayn]

I was like Holy shiit WTF! Why? What? How? Why? WHY THE HELL GEORGE!

Just couldnt believe it. I threw my book on the couch. Then I just sat there thinking like, WOW, this book is something else, this is for real. I grabbed some chips and grabbed my book again

[JonathanTheBold]

I accidentally noticed on robs wiki page that he was dead and stopped reading it so I had my suspicions and then the chapter came I stuggled through put the book down and said ok I guess I'm done with these books and didn't pick it back up for almost a week

[Baldessaria]

Usually every time I read, I do it with a pencil in hand, taking notes and underlining what I think it's important or poetic so I can easily find it later. It wasn't different with ASOIAF. However, I couldn't do any of that while reading Catelyn chapter because I simply couldn't waste my time taking notes, I couldn't stop reading. Once I finished, all I could do was write "WTF!" at the bottom of the page. Then I went to the bathroom, washed my face because I was crying so much, returned to my room and read the chapter all over again.

To this day if I think about "No, not my hair, Ned loves my hair" I get teary. I probably stared at this line for about 5 minutes until I was able to move :(

[Tyrion_the_Oneironaut]

My reactions in a real-time replay:

'alright let's speedread through another boring Catelyn chapter'

'oh that asshole Walder. Playing a Lannister song to taunt him? I guess he's going to betray Robb down the road...'

'what the hell...why is Catelyn chasing that guy? Did he do something earlier I missed? What's up with the chain mail? Did he promise Catelyn something?'

'shit they're taking them captive'

'..............................................................oh that's what RW means."

[Jorah the Andal]

Yeah, I got spoiled that Robb died, only not how he died. I'd also heard the term 'Red Wedding' floating around but never investigated further. Initially I thought the RW would be the Lannister wedding because of their colours. WHOOAAA, how wrong was I...

After reading it the first time, I was like 'holy shit' no way. Then after the chapter I had to go back and read the finer details. After that I set the book aside, and sat staring blankly at the wall. Thinking ' wow, where do we go from here?' I just had to find out what happened next. So i kept reading. And later hearing how the cut the wolfs head off and sewed it to Robbs body was sickening. I had a bad feeling when GW starting growling at the Freys before the weding. But in no way anticipated it.

I think they did a good job with it on the show. That final shot of Cat was haunting, couldn't get it out of head the whole next day. And the eerie rendition of the Rains of Castamere. I wonder if they'll put the wolfs head on Robbs body on theshow? That would be awesome, they could open the final episode with that image. I hope theyinclude it somewhere.

[Commander Jon Snow]

I was pissed and shocked. But I kept reading, at that point I was hooked

[Rohan Stormborn Tandon]

It took a long LONG time to sink in.... While watching it, it seemed so surreal, i didnt feel ANYTHING... at all!!! I was like... eh! A week or two went by, and as I thought of it, every day the horror sunk in a little deeper until I was thinking about it, EVERY waking second!!! What's worse is that Catelyn died thinking that now her whole family , save sansa is ended.... Ned had been beheaded, she thought bran and rickon had been killed by theon, having heard nothing from arya, she felt that she too was dead, and she saw robb and his wife get killed right in front of her!!!! And for most of it she blamed herself because she had sent ned south in the first place, and then left Bran and Rickon as well!!!

So in ways she died the MOST agonizing and PAINFUL death probably so far in the series... in fact the most painful death there can be.... what she felt was even deeper than being flayed by Boltons bastard!!!

[Alistair's Pantaloons]

I was pissed off, mainly when Walder Frey was sitting on his wrinkled ass gloating about the King in the North getting to his feet. I just wanted Sandor to run in there and butcher those fuckers but once it began, it was pretty clear how it would end. The death that was most unexpected was Dacey Mormont because I thought she might get away to tell the tale of what she saw instead of an axe in her belly.

[Bob Sacamano]

I was sort of, kinda, expecting it because my friends who read the book previously said all the best/favorite characters die...Even still, I was at work while reading it, and I just sat there with my jaw open for a good five minutes, until my boss asked me if I was alright.

[Danyl Stark]

I knew something dodgy was going on when Robb wouldn't take Grey Wind in with him. Got to the point at which Frey was giving his "apology" and put the book down for about an hour, when I had finished reading it I threw the book & didn't pick it up for about a week. I still thought Robb would get out, right until the point at which Bolton stabbed him :frown5:. Anyone else have the faint moment of hope when the Boltons came into the hall, only for it to be dashed once they started skewering Robb's men?? I think the thing I was most pisse off about was that Cat didn't kill Frey. :crying: I cried when I read about Grey Wind's death and was in utter shock and disbelief since the swapping of heads, I will never recover from the trauma of reading those chapters. When Joffrey died I didn't even cheer, I was just so numb that it didn't matter anymore and I was pissed that there was no sense of vengeance for the Starks.

[Azrael of the Darkness]

For me it was a very weird experience. As someone who learned English as a second language, a lot of the details can escape me (particularly because I am a voracious reader - I want to move forward, not analyze the lines) and I wasn't sure if that was going on, with all the violence and the whirlwind of descriptions.

But the last line, that fucking last line. And then the iron kissed her neck, its bite red and cold. Suddenly the chapter seemed meaningless, all the pages of writing nothing more than a setup for that line.

Then I had to keep reading to try and understand what was going on. I finished about 4:00 am the next morning.

[Blood of the Flagon]

I was in bed almost ready to sleep when it went down. I didn't want to believe my tired eyes and read it over again. Then I got out of bed and got a drink of whiskey and took it out to the porch and lit a cigarette. Started talking to myself as well. Shit like... "how could i not see this coming...heres to the young wolf" took forever to get to sleep.

[Kaerys Snow]

I was going home from office, and as usual I made myself comfortable in the train with GRRM and a few beers. I probably gave a strange view back then: a grown (slightly drunk) man with a large book in the one hand, a beer in the other, and tears in the eyes. Really, I was drunk, but still it was very moving. Fortunately none of my students saw me...

[aceluby]

I was in the bathroom and didn't think that could possibly have happened. I read the entire chapter again and went straight to facebook to proclaim how no characters are sacred and that this is why I love the series so much.