The Game of Thrones can be read as a battle of ideologies.
In this video, we’re going to look at three key Starks
and how they each represent a distinct outlook.
The clash between different contenders of the Iron Throne functions as a simulation,
"When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.
There is no middle ground."
pitting various philosophies against each other through the characters who embody those
ideas.
So if we compare characters and how they’re faring in the fight,
we can interpret the show’s deeper messages
about the best way to live in a cruel and dangerous world.
"If you think this has a happy ending...you haven't been paying attention."
The most prominent philosophical value the show discusses is honor.
"You'll dishonor yourself forever if you do this."
"Honor?
I've got seven kingdoms to rule!"
Publicly in Westeros, honor is considered a noble and admirable trait,
but in reality it’s a liability.
“You think you’re too good for this, too proud and honorable?
This is a war!”
Honor implies a commitment to cause higher than oneself,
and it means that a person who’s guided by honor doesn’t have the freedom
to always choose what’s “smart” or in his own self-interest.
When King Robert rides North to ask Ned Stark to serve as Hand of the King,
Ned’s sense of honor prevents him from saying no.
"I hope I'll serve you well."
"You will."
Ned is also dedicated to honesty, even when it’s inconvenient.
“When the king returns from his hunt, I will tell him the truth.”
He only lies when it's for an honorable reason, like to mask Jon Snow’s true heritage.
"You know he will.
You have to protect him."
For this noble lie, Ned nobly suffers public embarrassment for having a bastard,
and even lets his own wife think poorly of him.
“17 years ago you rode off with Robert Baratheon.
You came back a year later with another woman's son.”
His honor makes him traditional.
For example, he respects the rules and customs of the monarchy.
After his discovers the supposed Baratheon heirs were born of incest by Cersei and Jamie,
he refuses to bend the knee to the Lannisters.
“Your son has no claim to the throne.”
Yet honor and honesty don’t usually equal survival in Westeros,
and especially not in King’s Landing.
Ned Stark’s sudden demise at the end of Season 1 warns us that
this isn’t a world where the good people necessarily win.
Iin Westeros a stubborn dedication to preserving one’s honor can be a death sentence,
as we later see with Mance Rayder, King Beyond the Wall.
"The King beyond the Wall never bent the knee.
How many of his people died for his pride?"
Ned’s refusal to adapt, or at least pretend to adapt, gets him killed.
The sends the early message that a rigidly honorable approach does not work in this game.
At the same time though, the lessons that Ned’s honor imparted to the Stark children
shaped them in a deep sense.
They remark constantly on how central his memory is in guiding their behavior.
“He’s a part of you.
Just like he’s a part of me.”
"In winter we must protect ourselves.
Look after one another."
"Father."
In many ways, Jon Snow embodies the same sense of honor that condemned Ned.
"You're as stubborn as your father.
And as honorable."
"I can imagine no higher praise."
"I didn't mean it as praise.
Honor got your father killed."
Yet, crucially, Jon shows the ability to adapt his mindset
in the face of new circumstances and a changing world.
Given the opportunity to serve the Night’s Watch, he dedicates himself to its sacred
cause.
But when he recognizes that the White Walkers are the ultimate threat,
he adapts his outlook and makes an effort to save the lives of the Wildlings,
despite their millennia-old conflict with the Night’s Watch.
Jon gets that honor has to come second after living to fight another day.
“Isn’t their survival more important than your pride?”
His death and subsequent resurrection free him from his vows,
"You shouldn't be alive!
It's not right!"
giving him the opportunity to lead a different fight.
“My watch is ended.”
Jon’s honor can lead him to risk his safety in acts that some criticize as stupid.
“Heroes do stupid things and they die.
They all try to outdo each other,
who can do the stupidest, bravest thing.”
But his lack of concern for himself can also lead him to make smart decisions
that others wouldn't be capable of.
Most of us are excessively risk-averse because we fear too much for our own safety.
At least some of the brave yet stupid-seeming things he does are necessary gambles,
like uniting the Stark loyalists and taking back Winterfell,
or going to meet Daenerys when the other Northerners tell him not to.
These are calculated risks in a greater mission where he can see that the odds are overwhelmingly
against him.
And the stupidest thing he could do would be to play it safe and do nothing.
“But the odds are against us...We need allies.
Powerful allies.
I know it’s a risk but I have to take it.”
Putting his life on the line -- in Jon’s mind -- makes sense when the chances of survival
are so slim anyway,
and his own life is less important to him than his cause.
Although he has been saved from death multiple times seemingly by chance or divine intervention,
Jon’s risks to serve his greater good have also paid off multiple times.
"I know Ned Stark's son will be true to his word."
And his selflessness also wins the hearts and allegiance of most who know him,
inspiring others to rise to the occasion.
So in this way his honor is strategic.
Jon brings people together for a common purpose.
"The King in the North!"
Taking all this together, we can say that Jon has an intelligent sense of honor.
"I put my trust in you.
A stranger.
Because I knew it was the best chance for my people.
For all our people."
He’s not rigidly committed to honor for its own sake,
but he believes behaving honorably is a key tool in making society functional and life
tolerable.
"You all crowned me your king.
I never wanted it.
I never asked for it.
But I accepted it because the North is my home.
It's a part of me and I will never stop fighting for it,
no matter the odds."
To survive in Westeros requires cunning,
and the characters who survive and flourish are those who continually adapt
in the wake of threats and traumatic experiences.
Yet to adapt too much means to lose our sense of self, our lives' meaning.
"A girl has no name."
Or the things we want to fight for.
Jon’s philosophy is to adapt to new circumstances,
as he evolves from being the Jon who knows nothing
"You know nothing, Jon Snow."
to coming into his own as Aegon Targaryen.
Yet he is vigilant not to abandon the core value that he holds dearer than anything else,
and that value is the honor that he learned from Ned Stark.
"I'm not going to swear an oath I can't uphold.
Talk about my father if you want.
Tell me that's the attitude that got him killed.
But when enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything."
Jon is also not the only character we see updating and elaborating on Ned Stark's form
of honor.
Sansa, perhaps even more so than Jon, has developed an extremely intelligent form of
honor.
"You have to be smarter than father.
You need to be smarter than Robb.
I love them, I miss them, but they made stupid mistakes and they both lost their heads for
it."
She’s learned a lot from the smartest, most dishonorable characters on the show,
especially Littlefinger,
"Sometimes, when I try to understand a person's motives..."
"Sometimes, when I'm trying to understand a person's motives, I play a little game.
I assume the worst."
Ramsay Bolton,
"My hounds will never harm me."
"You haven't fed them in seven days -- you said it yourself."
"They're loyal beasts."
"They were.
Now they're starving."
and Cersei Lannister,
"Everyone who's ever crossed her she's found a way to murder."
"You almost sound as if you admire her."
"I learned a great deal from her."
But at the end of season 7, Sansa’s reaffirmed loyalty to Arya, Jon and her family
shows that the Stark and the honor in her are stronger than ever.
"That's what you've always done, turn family against family, turn sister against sister.
That's what you do to our mother and aunt Lysa.
That's what you tried to do to us."
Sansa’s choices testify to the truth that honorable behavior in the long run is smart,
as long as honor doesn't override our ability to stay sharp and observant.
Arya is even more rigid in her fierce defense of honor.
As a blunt and candid warrior, she has a distaste for the pretense of politics.
"I'm going to kill the queen."
But ultimately both sisters show intelligent honor each in her own way.
The fact that Arya and Sansa come together shows that their philosophies can work together.
"My sister asked you a question."
Instead of Littlefinger’s approach of trying to split people up,
or Cersei’s approach of rejecting people who don’t serve her perfectly,
the season ends on the sentiment of wolves sticking together with their pack
And that's the smartest and most honorable thing to do now that winter has come.
Next up we have Littlefinger versus Varys.
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