[Book] A Game of Thrones (1): Quotes (progress 14%)

[Book] A Game of Thrones (1): Quotes (progress 14%)

Title: A Game of Thrones

Author: George R R Martin

I watched the series up to somewhere around Season 6. Then I decided rather to read the book instead of watching it. Here are some book quotes at the point of progress of 14% of the first book. It will be a long way to go, and I am not sure I will even finish the whole series. 

Quotes

1.

 "Lord Stark," Jon said. It was trange to hear him call Father that, so formal. Bran looked at him with desperate hope. "There are five pups," he told Father. "Three male, two female."

 "What of it, Jon?"

 "You have five trueborn children," Jon said. "Three sons, two daughters. The direwolf is the sigil of your House. Your children were meant to have these pups, my lord."

 Bran saw his father's face change, saw the other men exchange glances. He loved Jon with all his heart at that moment. Even at seven, Bran understood what his brother had done. The count had come right only because Jon had omitted himself. He had included the girls, included even Rickon, the baby, but not the bastard who bore the surname Snow, the name that custom decreed be given to all those in the north unlucky enough to be born with no name of their own.

2. 

 "An albino," Theon Greyjoy said with wry amusement. "This one will die even faster than the others."

 Jon Snow gave his father's ward a long, chilling look. "I think not, Greyjoy," he said. "This one belongs to me."

3.

All but the Starks. Winter is coming, said the Stark words. Not for the first time, she reflected on what a strange people these northerners were.

4. 

 "Where the king goes, the realm follows," she said.

5. 

 "I do," he said sharply. "We go home with an army, sweet sister. With Khal Drogo's army, that is how we go home. And if you must wed him and bed him for that, you will." He smiled at her. "I'd let his whole khalasar fuck you if need be, sweet sister, all forty thousand men, and their horses too if that was what it took to get my army. Be grateful it is only Drogo. In time you may even learn to like him. Now dry your eyes. Illyrio is bringing him over, and he will not see you crying."

6. 

"And the girls, Ned!" he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "I swear, women lose all modesty in the heat. They swim naked in the river, right beneath the castle. Even in the streets, it's too damn hot for wool or fur, so they go around in these short gowns, sil if they have the silver and cotton if not, but it's all the same when they start sweating and the cloth sticks to their skin, they might as well be naked." The king laughed happily.

7. 

 "Let me give you some counsel, bastard," Lannister said. "Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you."

 Jon was in no mood for anyone's counsel. "What do you know about being a bastard?"

 "All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes."

8. 

 "What of Jon Snow, my lord?" Maester Luwin asked.

 Catelyn tensed at the mention of the name. Ned felt the anger in her, and pulled away.

9.

 He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him, and called him "son" for all the north to see. When the wars were over at last, and Catelyn rode to Winterfell, Jon and his wet nurse had already taken up residence.

 That cut deep. Ned would not speak of the mother, not so much as a word, but a castle has no secrets, and Catelyn heard her maids repeating tales they heard from the lips of her husband's soldiers. 

10.

It had taken her a fortnight to marshal her courage, but finally, in bed one night, Catelyn had asked her husband the truth of it, asked him to his face.

 That was the only time in all their years that Ned had ever frightened her. "Never ask me about Jon," he said, cold as ice. "He is my blood, and that is all you need to know. And now I will learn where you heard that name, my lady." She had pledged to obey; she told him; and from that day on, the whispering had stopped, and Ashara Dayne's name was never heard in Winterfell again.

11. 

 "Why aren't you down in the yard?" Arya asked him.

 He gave a half-smile. "Bastards are not allowed to damage young princes," he said. "Any bruises they take in the practice yard must come from trueborn swords."

 "Oh." Arya felt abashed. She should have realized. For the second time today, Arya reflected that life was not fair. 

 She watched her little brother whack at Tommen. "I could do just as good as Bran," she said. "He's only seven. I'm nine."

 Jon looked her over with all fourteen-year-old wisdom. "You're too skinny," he said. He took her arm to feel her muscle. Then he sighed and shook his head. "I doubt you could even lift a longsword, little sister, never mind swing one."

12.

 "A wolf with a fish in its mouth?" It made her laugh. "That would look silly. Beside, if a girl can't fight, why should she have a coat of arms?"

 Jon shrugged. "Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister."

13. 

 Bran looked in the window.

 Inside the room, a man and a woman were wrestling. They were both naked. Bran could not tell who they were. The man's back was to him, and his body screened the woman from view as he pushed her up against a wall. 

 There were soft, wet sounds. Bran realized they were kissing. He watched, wide-eyed and frightened, his breath tight in his throat. The man had a hand down between her legs, and he must have been hurting her there, because the woman started to moan, low in her throat. "Stop it," she said, "stop it, stop it. Oh, please ..." But her voice was low and weak, and she did not push him away. Her hands buried themselves in his hair, his tangled golden hair, and pulled his face down to her breast.

14. 

He gave Bran a shove.

15. 

 "Like Ice," she said. She looked at the blade in her hand. "Does this have a name? Oh, tell me."

 "Can't you guess?" Jon teased. "Your very favorite thing."

 Arya seemed puzzled at first. Then it came to her. She was that quick. They said it together:

 "Needle!"

16.

 He stopped then, and drew her down onto his lap. Dany was flushed and breathless, her heart fluttering in her chest. He cupped her face in his huge hands and she looked into his eyes. "No?" he said, and she knew it was a question.

 She took his hand and moved it down to the wetness between her thighs. "Yes," she whispered as she put his finger inside her.

31 Oct. 2017

gguro