Game of Thrones Discussion – Season 4, Episode 6: Banker Rules

Who has power? The person who holds the sword? The person who tells him what to do? Or the one who pays them both?

Come, step into a hot bath with us — careful not to trip on anything hard! — and enjoy the viewpoints of “The Laws of Gods and Men” from three fans with very different perspectives: Laura Fletcher, a casual fan of the TV and book series; Corrin Bennett-Kill, a hardcore fan of the book and TV series (she has read all the books four times!); and Cheryl Collins, a TV show watcher who has never read the book series.

Please join the discussion in comments!

Laura Fletcher
I’d like to vote for Ramsay’s sex scene as my new least favorite (consensual) sex scene ever in Game of Thrones, or anywhere.

Cheryl Collins
If last week was about the women, I felt that they threw red meat to the bros this week with that lame hot tub scene and the sex scene with Ramsay Bolton. The sex and boobs feels so self-indulgent now, and I am sick to death of it.

So what about that scene at the Iron Bank?

Corrin Bennet-Kill
Braavos! I was excited to see the Titan of Braavos finally [the giant statue Stannis sails beneath]. And the very first thing I thought when the bankers came in was, “Mycroft!” My nerdiness know very few bounds. Overall, I thought it was one of the most successful scenes in the episode. Stannis, himself, is not a very compelling man. His virtues do not make him charming as the larks. Being capable and stable, but unwilling to bend his stiff neck, doesn’t endear men to him. HOWEVER, we see the king he may be by the loyalty of the men of character that support him. I don’t think that the bankers were swayed by the content of Ser Davos’s speech so much as the strong feelings that Stannis inspired in a man like Davos. I also liked the somewhat stunned expression on Stannis’s face when Davos jumps to his defense.

Cheryl
I was struck by how Stannis stood with his back to the bankers as Davos gave that speech. This episode was filled with big empty rooms, and the people in them stationed as chess pieces. This includes the Iron Bank scene, Dany speaking with her supplicants, and then the small council scene. These are the rooms where power is exercised. Stannis looked like a rigid chess piece on that big empty floor — being pushed into place by the guys with the money.

Laura
Yes, lots of small groups sitting in judgment.

Cheryl
Corrin, to your point, it felt to me that the bankers were just hedging their bets, and Davos displaying his severed fingers to the bankers really showed the loyalty that Stannis inspires.

Laura
I think we’re meant to compare those three chess-piece, sitting-in-judgment scenes, especially since they’re divided among the three claimants to the throne: Tommen/Lannisters, Stannis, and Daenerys.

Corrin
I also think its a clear demarcation between the several stages of ruling: established rule (Tommen), new rule (Dany), and claimant (Stannis). Each has its own glories and pitfalls.

Laura
Nice division, Corrin. Whereas Tommen is merely the stand-in for Tywin’s attempt to install his family into long-term power, he does talk the talk of justice. In fact, Tommen’s brief speech before Tyrion’s trial was eerily smooth and reminiscent of Tywin’s coaching back in the sept. Dany is finally “ruling,” as she wants to, and realizing that means she’s around to see how justice warps itself even with the best intentions. Stannis is cold and unlikely to instill excitement in his people, but above all he’s just.

Corrin
Precisely, Laura. I thought that Emilia Clarke (Dany) did a terrific job portraying the stages of her rapid disillusionment with actual ruling. And that shrug from Jorah. Priceless! Like, “This is what you signed up for, sister.”

Cheryl
“Be careful what you wish for! Good luck with the Iron Throne!” Dany was exercising judgment as she believes a “just” ruler would, and Tywin is doing the same — I mean, exercising single-pointed power — through the joke of a trial.

Corrin
It is getting so much clearer that conquering is the easy part. Power is brutal and direct. There is us and the enemy. But what about when the enemy is brought into the fold? What about those who continue to oppose your rule from the inside? Being a just ruler means, at times, taking the long view at the expense of the immediate individual in front of you. Dany is going to have a hard time with that as her sense of justice and right is intensely emotional and personal.

Cheryl
Great point. And Tommen will be schooled on those issues from the master. What did you think of Jamie’s offer to save Tyrion? It seems to me that Tywin used the trial as leverage to get from Jaime what he wanted. Tywin was forcing Jaime’s hand to save his brother’s life, banking on the fraternal bond. (Remember, Tywin did go to war to save Tyrion after Cat took him.) And Jaime walked into it.

Corrin
Tywin, bastard that he is, is still a Lannister. And Tyrion, dwarf that he is, is also still a Lannister. There is NO WAY that he was going to allow one of his blood, even a hated member, to be executed. I think he had the Wall in his back pocket from the jump. Jaime just handed himself on a silver platter. Idiot. I don’t know that Tywin expected the offer from Jaime, but he sure as hell jumped on it when it was made.

Cheryl
Tywin was way too quick with that offer. But then Tyrion threw down the gauntlet and upset his father’s plans — and did the unexpected.

Corrin
Tyrion is more similar to Tywin than any of his other children. Without his cruelty. But I think we’re jumping ahead. Do we want to discuss the Ironborn and Theon?

Cheryl
From one guy missing some appendages to another: Theon.

Corrin
Laura, maybe you can firm up my memory, but I don’t recall an attempt to rescue Theon by his sister. That, like much of Theon’s story line, has diverged greatly from the books. I have theories as to why they are doing what they are doing with Theon/Reek.

Laura
You’re right. Yara did go on the mission to save Theon in the book, but she never faced his new Reek persona in this way. Without giving away something from the books that may still happen, I think this storyline is getting some twists but will get to some of the same points eventually. Corrin, what’s your theory?

Corrin
My theory is this: It’s the same first-person perspective problem that we have in other areas of the show. Much like with Jaime and Cersei in the rape/not rape scene in the book, we only have Jaime’s perspective to draw from. Watching that on the show had a vastly different impact. With Theon/Reek, almost all of the information we have about Ramsay is from Reek’s perspective. (Cheryl, the chapter titles of the books are the name of the person from whose perspective it is written.) At some point his chapter headings stop being Theon and start being Reek. How do you convey that total stripping of one’s personality from the outside in? Yara’s attempted rescue and our witness of Reek’s response to her, I think, was the attempt to show that change, to bear witness to the reality that Theon is gone. Only Reek is left.

Cheryl
And that’s what his sister says: ”My brother is dead.”

Corrin
In that regard, I think it was successful. But, otherwise, the rest of the Ironborn stuff felt like a drop-in. Again, the difficulty of telling a story of this scope within the limits of television.

Cheryl
That attempt to save him was all over quite quickly, but it did show Ramsay running straight into the fight.

This episode had me contemplating Corrin’s comment from last week: “The men die violent deaths and the women survive, make their own way. Even those remaining males are oddly feminized (Bran, for one) or in some way less than full men. (Read: Tyrion, Jaime, Varys, Tommen.)”

We saw Varys telling Oberyn “I can see what desire has done to people … the absence of desire leaves one free to pursue other things.” So while most men toil in blood and sex, men like Varys and Littlefinger have their eyes on the prize. Tywin too seems completely unsexed.

A good example of the opposite is Ramsay Bolton, who is covered in blood — from his sexual encounter? from one or more of the Ironborn? — and then lustily throws himself into the fight, bare-chested and armor-less, wearing a smile. Last week’s episode was a lesson in the usefulness of armor, and then here is crazy Ramsay, just thrilled with the chaos and blood and hormones.

Laura
And compare Ramsay’s boldness and sexuality with Theon’s castration and fear, even of rescue. He’s feeding off Theon’s pain.

Cheryl
Yes. Varys — who was featured this episode — is castrated, Theon is penis-less.

Laura
Ramsay’s into psychological warfare, right? Running into battle bare-chested and bloody (with an erection, probably, but HBO wouldn’t show that, heaven forefend) has got to be intimidating. Just as he tortures Theon one-on-one, he fights as much with wildness and unpredictability as with might. Sort of like the Mountain. Ahem. Who’s also a violent rapist, by the by.

Corrin
The bath scene between Ramsey and Reek had me flinching in anticipation, just as Reek did. I just kept expecting the cut of a knife or a fist. That it didn’t come made the scene even more disconcerting.

Cheryl
I felt the same way Corrin. I thought, OK, lots of boobs and then a Theon torture scene: it’s a Season 3 flashback.

Laura
Perhaps that’s what scares me/us most about Ramsay: as cruel and unpredictable as he seems, he also has it under control. He can be so patient with his torture. Now Theon is waiting for the other shoe to drop, AGAIN. shiver

Cheryl
I just think Ramsay is about sex and death. Yet Varys quietly schemes …

Laura
Back to Varys and Oberyn’s tete-a-tete: when Varys looked knowingly at the Iron Throne, I was surprised. Does he really want it for himself? Or is he trying to find a way to control it from the shadows?

Cheryl
I felt that scene was inserted to explain later why Varys testified against Tyrion.

Corrin
Varys has always claimed that his priority is the safety of the realm. Varys, I believe, is going to do whatever he thinks is in the best interest of the Iron Throne as an institution. In the small council scene, Varys is the one in the know. He’s the one who has his eyes/little birds on the wider world, not just the King’s Landing fishbowl. So glad he’s back!

Cheryl
That point of the wider world is reinforced by Oberyn, who notes that most people only know the place they are born.

Laura
I’m reminded of the riddle Varys gave to Tyrion back in Season 2, after Tyrion spread several stories about Myrcella’s future to see who on the small council he could trust. Here’s the quote courtesy of IMDB, emphasis mine:

Varys: Power is a curious thing, my lord. Are you fond of riddles?
Tyrion: Why? Am I about to hear one?
Varys: Three great men sit in a room: a king, a priest, and a rich man. Between them stands a common sellsword. Each great man bids the sellsword kill the other two. Who lives, who dies?
Tyrion: Depends on the sellsword.
Varys: Does it? He has neither crown, nor gold, nor favor with the gods.
Tyrion: He has a sword, the power of life and death.
Varys: But if it’s swordsmen who rule, why do we pretend kings hold all the power? When Ned Stark lost his head, who was truly responsible? Joffrey? The executioner? Or something else?
Tyrion: I’ve decided I don’t like riddles.
Varys: [pause]Power resides where men believe it resides. It’s a trick. A shadow on the wall. And a very small man can cast a very large shadow.

People like Varys can influence others to think power lies in a specific person … or misdirect them.

Corrin
The quote is also in the book.

Cheryl
Which brings me to Bronn, who was conspicuous by his absence at the trial. Bronn first fought for Tyrion at the Vale. Somehow I wondered if something similar will happen, pitting Jaime against Bronn, and thus why we have seen the two of them fighting. (It’s useless to speculate!)

Corrin
Put a pin in Bronn. We haven’t seen the last of him. Let’s just say he isn’t present for a purpose.

Cheryl
So the big question mark was: Shae.

Laura
Oh, Shae. We suspected you didn’t get on that boat …

Cheryl
The question is, how much is she doing this to hurt him, and how much is coercion?

Laura
Exactly what I was thinking! She looked pained, but that could be a woman scorned i a regretful ex-lover. I think it’s probably some of each. What really made the case for coercion is her betrayal of Sansa, I think.

Corrin
Mostly coercion, but not a small part to hurt him. Remember at the end, “I’m just a whore,” while looking pointedly at Tyrion.

Cheryl
That seems right. And her testimony is what seemed to push him over the edge.

Corrin
Not just seems, Cheryl. It was like a held breath finally getting released. All the pokes and prods Tyrion has suffered. All the slights. The pain of losing Tysha [Tyrion’s first wife]. Everything in his life leading up to that one moment of fury finally being unleashed. The way he snarled at the court, wow. And more than anything, the look on Tywin’s face when he realizes that Tyrion is more than a match for him.

Laura
I know everyone (rightly so) is saying this episode will be on Peter Dinklage’s Emmy clip reel, but it should also support a nomination for Sibel Kekilli, as Shae. Their chemistry…wow.

Corrin
Yes, Laura! It was more satisfying to watch Tyrion get one over on the court members than to watch Joffrey choke to death.

Cheryl
My by-far favorite shot was the glare exchanged between Tywin and Tyrion — finally, Tywin is put on his back heel, with Tyrion throwing a wrench into the well-oiled machine Tywin thought he had created. I feel like this was the first time I had seen all of Dinklage’s teeth — snarl is the right word.

Corrin
The trial as a whole, though, didn’t really get good until Shae showed up (another deviation from the book, by the by). It seemed pretty pedantic up until that point. Law and Order: Medieval. Dun dun.

Cheryl
One interesting aspect was Margaery: her looking at the necklace in Pycelle’s hand, seeing the tool used by her grandmother. Perhaps remembering those necklaces Olenna had ordered her handmaidens to buy.

Corrin
Did you see Oberyn sit up in his chair after Tyrion declared trial by combat? “This is someone of interest!”

Cheryl
Yes, and Loras, too.

Laura
Both fighters, Oberyn and Loras. I thought the trial got sort-of interesting when, as we mentioned before, Jaime tried to intercede on Tyrion’s behalf. Not only did he walk into Tywin’s trap, he also screwed up his chance to save his brother’s life (at least Night’s-Watch-wise) by telling him, since Tyrion recalled when Ned was offered the same thing.

This was quite a cliffhanger. I hope GoT doesn’t skip the trial next episode and make us wait. They wouldn’t do that, would they?

Join the discussion in comments! No spoilers, please!