June 2nd, 2013. Edmure Tully & Roslin Frey No television wedding list is complete without this little treasure. It's also my personal favorite, because like most American marriages it ends with death and misery, violence and bloodshed. Fans know it as "The Red Wedding." The non initiated know it as that time your buddy in the next room (and a huge portion of the world collectively) cried out in pain and didn't want to speak for the rest of the night. The episode is divided into three major plots running in tandem. To the north, the two surviving child members of the Stark family are trying to reach their adopted brother Jon Snow. Meanwhile Jon Snow is caught between the woman he loves and his desire to kill her entire family and clan of unruly thugs. Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen plans an assault on the walled city of Yunkai. But what we're interested in is what's going on over at The Twins. Here the self styled King in the North, Robb Stark, the Wolf, is planning an alliance with Lord Walder Frey, who's forces he needs to take out the evil Lannister empire. Once at the castle the Stark's, Robb's wife, and their crew are given bread and salt, a symbol of the "guest right" which is a guarantee of safety while under another lord's roof. That night, a wedding is underway at The Twins. The marriage goes gloriously and every body starts celebrating. At the feast, Walder Frey calls for the bedding ceremony and the couple is escorted to their marriage chambers where we presume they'll bone all night. Everybody is happy, Robb touches his wife's stomach affectionately, she's carrying his child. Musicians begin playing "The Rains of Castemere." Every family has their song, as well as their animal, tagline and their coat of arms. The Rains of Castemere is the Lannister's song. The Lannister's are the Stark's arch nemeses. Catelyn, Robb's mother, notices one of their friends, one of their soldiers, Roose Bolton, is wearing chainmail armor under his robes. That's when she realizes what's happening, just a few seconds too late. A soldier pops out of nowhere and repeatedly stabs Robbs beautiful, pregnant wife in the womb. Arrows go flying in all directions striking all the Stark's men down. Robb is shot with about 8 arrows, but he's still standing. His good friend Roose Bolton moves towards him, taking him in his arms saying "The Lannister's send their regards." He smiles as he stabs Robb in the side. Catelyn watches her son, the last heir to the throne (she thinks) die. His last words, as he stares at her with a confused blank expression on his face, "Grey Wind" the name of his Wolf which is subsequently killed moments later along with Catelyn. It shocked audiences the world over. For a moment, a little tinge of pain entered our collective hearts and a single tear was shed in Stark's honor. Regardless of how you feel about Robb (I thought he was a badass, missguided, brilliant strategist, fool, with balls of brace, that followed his heart straight into the grave and the loss of his kingdom). To see him share a fate so similar to his fathers, being stabbed in the back by people he trusted, to watch a beautiful pregnant woman repeatedly stabbed in the stomach as she screams in pain, to watch a mother witness her sons assassination, it all just feels so wrong, and so powerful, that it ends up feeling really good. Like a strange catharsis, like a moment of clarity following a drunken rail, like a calm after a storm... For breaking our hearts while blowing our minds, for taking us to the edge of victory and taking it all away again, Game of Thrones, we thank you, for having created the penultimate televised wedding experience... And one of the saddest most shocking experiences in television history.
Unpublished author, unproduced screenwriter, un-enacted playwright & director for higher (currently waiting by the phone), Guillaume Parisien sometimes writes puff pieces for the pop-culture indulgent in order to support his vices; of which there are many.
Musicians begin playing "The Rains of Castemere." Every family has their song, as well as their animal, tagline and their coat of arms. The Rains of Castemere is the Lannister's song. The Lannister's are the Stark's arch nemeses. Catelyn, Robb's mother, notices one of their friends, one of their soldiers, Roose Bolton, is wearing chainmail armor under his robes. That's when she realizes what's happening, just a few seconds too late. A soldier pops out of nowhere and repeatedly stabs Robbs beautiful, pregnant wife in the womb. Arrows go flying in all directions striking all the Stark's men down. Robb is shot with about 8 arrows, but he's still standing. His good friend Roose Bolton moves towards him, taking him in his arms saying "The Lannister's send their regards." He smiles as he stabs Robb in the side. Catelyn watches her son, the last heir to the throne (she thinks) die. His last words, as he stares at her with a confused blank expression on his face, "Grey Wind" the name of his Wolf which is subsequently killed moments later along with Catelyn. It shocked audiences the world over. For a moment, a little tinge of pain entered our collective hearts and a single tear was shed in Stark's honor. Regardless of how you feel about Robb (I thought he was a badass, missguided, brilliant strategist, fool, with balls of brace, that followed his heart straight into the grave and the loss of his kingdom). To see him share a fate so similar to his fathers, being stabbed in the back by people he trusted, to watch a beautiful pregnant woman repeatedly stabbed in the stomach as she screams in pain, to watch a mother witness her sons assassination, it all just feels so wrong, and so powerful, that it ends up feeling really good. Like a strange catharsis, like a moment of clarity following a drunken rail, like a calm after a storm... For breaking our hearts while blowing our minds, for taking us to the edge of victory and taking it all away again, Game of Thrones, we thank you, for having created the penultimate televised wedding experience... And one of the saddest most shocking experiences in television history.