Game of Thrones Series Blog – The Bear and The Maiden Fair

‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair’ is probably my favourite episode of the season so far, as the action ramps up, and the finale is tantalizingly close. Gendry finds out the truth of his lineage, Tyrion and Shae have a heartbreaking discussion, and in a rare moment of naivety, Ygritte thinks that a windmill is a palace. I can’t wait to see her face if she does ever get to see Winterfell.

I’m just going to throw this out there: Robb is far too happy. He’s smoothed things over with the Freys, he’s managed to keep his marriage intact, and to top it all off, the lovely Talisa is expecting a baby. However, as Theon’s mysterious captor stated last episode, ‘if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention’. Happiness in Game of Thrones seems to be used as a tool to make people even more miserable by bringing them back down. The day’s delay from the rain and the ‘prickliness’ of Lord Walder Frey are still unsettling. I’m not convinced that this wedding will go well.

Tywin and Joffrey are in a competiton for ‘least likeable character’ and in my opinion, Tywin’s winning that one. At least with Joffrey, we know he’s completely crazy. Tywin just seems to be going out of his way to ruin as many of his family member’s lives as possible. Still, Joffrey’s reaction to his grandfather’s blatant disrespect shows just how much influence Tywin Lannister has. If anyone else had spoken to him like that, they’d find themselves with ‘a serious case of sword-through-bowels’, to quote Tyrion. Tywin, however, walks off with a smug smirk, leaving Joffrey looking a little sheepish. And let’s face it, Joffrey certainly deserves to be knocked down a few pegs.

Tywin’s lack of communication with the King means that he’s obviously trying to run the seven kingdoms himself. I’m not sure which one of them is more dangerous. At least Margaery, with her uncanny ability to manipulate the young King, might be able to save Westeros from annihilation. Tywin, on the other hand? He’s completely left to his own devices. And Joffrey’s intuition about Danaerys’ dragons might be one of the few things that he’s done right. Tywin is all too quick to dismiss them as ‘curiosities’. That may come back to bite him at some point.

I’m getting incredibly bored with Theon’s storyline. I know he doesn’t have much to work with, but I feel like every scene in the past few episodes could have been summarized with his captor saying ‘I’m going to chop bits off for no well defined reason’. It’s difficult to engage with a character arc when you have no idea where they are or what’s happening, and we don’t appear to be getting any closer to an answer. I hope they manage to make him a bit more relevant soon. There’s only three more episodes, and I’d like to remember who Theon Greyjoy is when the fourth season starts.

Dany’s back! This time, she’s raiding the city of Yunkai, attempting to free all 200,000 slaves before making her way across the sea to Westeros. I can’t help but feel that her kindness will be her downfall. If you’ve been reading this series blog up until now, you’ll know that I root for the Mother of Dragons to win the iron throne. However, can she really save all the slaves in the East, or is she overestimating the power of her young (but growing) dragons? Regardless, her take-no-prisoners attitude towards the Yunkai representative was brilliant, and I really love seeing the clever, ruthless side of Danaerys. Emilia Clarke is a simply fabulous actress.

And finally, ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair’ is named for the phenomenal final scene of the episode. Jaime Lannister leaves Harrenhal with Bolton’s men, but his tales of Tarth’s sapphires come back to bite him. He discovers that Brienne’s captors are offended by her father’s ‘meagre’ offering of gold, since he apparently has an island full of jewels. He convinces the men to return to Harrenhal, and finds Brienne in a pit, fighting a bear, with hundreds of singing spectators.

What Jaime does next exemplifies his strength of character in a way that could never have been done whilst he had a sword in his hand. He jumps, unarmed, into the pit, in an attempt to save Brienne. You can’t help but smile as even in the worst of situations, Brienne still protests when Jaime asks her to stand behind him. The Game of Thrones TV series does a phenomenal job of portraying strong female characters, and despite how many times Brienne has proved herself as a knight, it’s clear that she doesn’t want to play the damsel in distress. Once she’s been dragged from the pit, she pulls Jaime to safety in a rescue that was slightly too close for comfort. As the two knights leave with their heads held high, Jaime parts with an ever-so-slightly sarcastic ‘sorry about the sapphires’.

There were so many fabulous scenes in this episode, and I feel as though I could go on forever about it. What awaits Arya in the hands of the Hound? Will Bran and Jojen convince Osha to carry on past the wall? And how on earth does Margaery still have the ability to make Sansa smile after her conga line of trauma? In any case, there are only three episodes left, and next week’s installment, ‘Second Sons’, promises to be a great one.