#pov chapters

[astraeajackson]

hey jlb i love you but like i don't think you really understand what a spinoff is🤗🤗

[makerkenzie]

Who dies out, who lives on, who tells the story?

I’m working on a Project Goldenhand post, and I ended up running stats on the Paramount families of Westeros. 

Here’s the list of noble families who’ve reached the status of high nobility or royalty:

Starks of the North

Lannisters of the Westerlands

Tyrells of the Reach

Tullys of the Riverlands

Greyjoys of the Iron Islands

Baratheons of the Stormlands

Arryns of the Vale

Martells of Dorne

Targaryens of Dragonstone

Okay! Of these nine families, who have been royalty, and for how long?

Royal families for thousands of years pre-Conquest:

Stark

Lannister

Arryn

Royal families for about 1000 years pre-Conquest:

Martell

Royal family for 300-ish years:

Targaryen

Royal family for 16 years:

Baratheon

Raised to Paramount status by the Targaryens:

Tully

Tyrell

Greyjoy

Baratheon

The next question is, just of those families who have been royalty, how long have they been known as noble houses in Westeros?

1000s of years:

Stark

Lannister

Arryn

Martell

114 years pre-Conquest:

Targaryen

Just before Conquest:

Baratheon

Now, of all the major houses, how many have had POV chapters?

2 or more POV characters in all five extant books:

Stark

At least 1 POV character in all five extant books:

Lannister

1 POV character in 4 books:

Targaryen

At least 1 POV character in 3 books:

Greyjoy

At least 1 POV character in 2 books:

Martell

No POV chapters anywhere:

Tully

Tyrell

Arryn

Baratheon

Now I’m going to indulge in a bit of speculation, but it’s well-informed speculation, especially having watched Seasons 5-7 of GOT. Which of these families are likely to survive the series?

Survival highly probable:

Stark

Lannister

Tully

Targaryen

Greyjoy

Survival less probable:

Tyrell

Fucked sideways:

Baratheon

Martell

Arryn

Drumroll: the only families in Westeros who a) Have been a known, reliable presence in Westeros for thousands of years, b) were royal families of their provinces pre-Conquest, c) have a consistent POV presence in the books, and d) stand a good chance of having at least one named family member survive the series, are:

the Starks of Winterfell

the Lannisters of Casterly Rock

[makerkenzie]

POV monikers in TWOW

I was going through my old posts looking for something else, and...the “something else” may be too long ago to find by mere scrolling. BUT! There was some posting on the question of Jaime having nicknames for his POV chapters in TWOW. 

There haven’t been any rumors on the subject that I know of, so it’s not like I have any suggestions of canon-sourced nicknames. (Hell, it’s not even guaranteed that Jaime will have POV chapters in TWOW. I’m fairly sure he will, but that’s based on patterns, not news.) I’m just pulling monikers out of thin air.

Anyway. My angle is that now that he’s gone AWOL with Brienne, he’s burned bridges and he needs to be as anonymous and unrecognizable as possible for the foreseeable future. Which means his nicknames should NOT include any of the following: twin, gold, rubies, emeralds, red, white, lion, one-handed, king, cloak, or anything that may make someone think of a one-handed man named Lannister who is supposedly serving a king and carrying the title of Lord Commander. He doesn’t want to reveal any connection to his House, his vows, or his sister. He’s just some guy, who may or may not have recently acquired a major disability, riding around the Riverlands with a tall warrior maid.

As long as dealing with Lady Stoneheart is an open question, I like the Silver Knight as his POV name. It’ll probably be nothing of the sort, but right now Silver Knight seems like his speed.

Later on, assuming he stays with Brienne to keep at Mission Oathkeeper, I like the Knight of Wolves. It’s a fun little wordplay, and some unsuspecting folks on the Kingsroad may think it’s ironic. Northerners aren’t nearly as invested in knighthood as the rest of the kingdoms. It’s just weird enough to keep people guessing.

[makerkenzie]

POV spread, continued

Going from last post:

1st observation is that, of all the POV characters who haven’t been cut from the show, ALL of them were introduced no later than ACOK. Within the first two books, all the storytellers relevant enough to be cast on Game of Thrones were on the board, though some of them had to wait longer to get POV chapters.

Right?

Now, of those characters, I’ll separate them into tiers based on when they appeared and how long before they got POVs, and for each one I’ll give the number of chapters they have, with the number of books in which they get any chapters.

0.1, appearing in AGOT and getting POVs in AGOT

Dany, 31/4

Jon, 40/4

Tyrion, 47/4

Ned, 15/1

Cat, 25/3

Sansa, 24/4

Arya, 33/5

Bran, 21/4

0.2, appearing in ACOK and getting POV in ACOK

Davos, 13/3

1.1, appearing in AGOT and getting POV in ACOK

Theon, 13/2

2.1, appearing in AGOT and getting POVs in ASOS

Samwell, 10/2

Jaime, 17/3

2.2, appearing in ACOK and getting POVs in AFFC

Brienne, 8/1

Asha, 4/2

3.1, appearing in AGOT and getting POV in AFFC

Cersei, 12/2

3.2, appearing in ACOK and getting POV in ADWD

Melisandre, 1/1

4.1, appearing in AGOT and getting POV in ADWD

Barristan, 4/1

The reason why I’m ordering these tiers by “spread” first and appearance second is that it’s significant whether a character spends at least one book seen only through other characters’ eyes. Those who get POV chapters right away are not weighed down by other characters’ perceptions before they start telling their stories in their own words. With those who have to wait before they get chapters, there’s a tension between what we’ve been taught to expect vs. who they really are. 

I could probably make another hierarchy based on how many chapters they’ve all had thus far.