Why I Don't Want To Be In Westeros

Saturday Stories

August 18, 2018

I

The most significant insight I gained from reading and watching Game of Thrones is the sense of gratitude about living in the world as it is today.

I am grateful that I'm not in the medieval era when no one – not good men like Lord Commander Jeor Mormont of the Night's Watch, and not even the powerful like Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King to King Tommen and the real force behind the Iron Throne – is safe.

II

We here have the rule of law. No man can take a life without facing the consequences of his actions, unlike the renegade knight, Sandor Clegane, known and feared as The Hound.

An accused has the right to speak for his defense, unlike Tyrion Lannister, The Imp, who was denied the right to question the witnesses during his trial for the death of King Joffrey.

The justice system, like most things made by men, is not perfect, but I'd rather be in a democracy than in any feudal society.

III

Here and now, we have freedom. A man can say what he wants to say, do what he wants to do, go where he wants to go.

But most people in Westeros, and in Essos across the Narrow Sea, have lived and died without even knowing the most fundamental liberties we sometimes tend to take for granted.

IV

Here, we can move up through our own merit. But there, it seems the only way to rise from non-nobility is through sheer ambition and cunning, like Petyr Baelish, known as Little Finger.

He had been the Master of Coin, or treasurer, when Robert Baratheon was King, and now he is Lord of the Vail by marrying Lady Lysa Arryn, the widow of Jon Arryn and sister of Catelyn Stark. Now he has his own kingdom with an impregnable fortress, the Eyrie.

But Little Finger has another ace. He has Sansa Stark, the daughter of the martyred Lord Ned Stark of Winterfell, the most respected House in the north. A marriage to Sansa would make him the most powerful man north of King's Landing.

But first, he has to kill his first wife.

V

A man can keep his own property and bequeath it to his heirs, unlike what happened to Brynden Tully, known as The Blackfish.

The Tullys have ruled Riverrun for generations, and now they are under siege by the combined armies of the Lannisters and the Freys.

This is in retaliation for their alliance with Robb Stark, "King In The North," who had been gruesomely murdered at his own wedding night.

VI

And here, above all, there are no slaves unlike in Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen, the three slave cities conquered by Daenerys Targaryen on her way to conquer King's Landing.

Young girls are not sold to brothels, and young boys are not mutilated and raised as Unsullied, a warrior trained for absolute obedience and complete loss of emotions and self-identity.

VII

In our realm, the dead don't come back to life, unlike Catelyn Stark who came back as Lady Stoneheart and led the Brotherhood Without Banners, a group of fighters who do not recognize the authority of any King.

The dead here don't become flesh-eating monsters, to which I'm grateful. Here there is no Night King and no White Walkers.

But beyond the Wall, thousands upon thousands of the Undead continue to march through frozen wastelands towards the land of the living.

Photo courtesy of Amazon