A Song of and Dan and Josh: Bran VI (A Game of Thrones)

It’s time for another episode of A Song of Dan and Josh, the show where FanSided editor Josh Hill and myself walk through every chapter in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and get our literary analysis on.

Today, the chapter under the microscope is “Bran VI” from A Game of Thrones. The second youngest Stark is still having a tough time adjusting to life as a paraplegic, but Osha the wildling fires his imagination with tales from beyond the Wall. Meanwhile, Robb’s attention is split every which way and Hodor won’t stop banging Bran’s head on doorframes. Childhood: it’s weird.

Our topics include:

• Does information move faster in the early books, or is Martin just more willing to skip ahead?
• Robb Stark isn’t a viewpoint character in the books, but Martin still finds a way into his character. What do we make of the whole Robb Stark/Robb the Lord split personality conceit?
• Robb decides to march off to war himself rather than send someone to command armies in his place. Good idea? Bad idea?
• Bran Stark now thinks of himself as “Bran the Broken.” He’s been stigmatized by other people in Westeros. How does this tie him to Martin’s other characters? Somehow The Last Jedi comes into this conversation.
• Josh is adamant that Robb should have a POV chapter. I don’t agree. What do you think?
• I slobber all over how elegantly Martin folds in discussions of giants and wights and all that into the more grounded story with Bran and Osha at Winterfell. Or as Josh puts it, “I really dig how natural Game of Thrones makes unnatural things.” Also: Naked Hodor.
• Rickon Stark gets more attention in the books than on the show. He even punches Old Nan! What do we make of his character?
• Everybody sit up for the day’s vocabulary lesson!

We normally stream new episodes of A Song of Dan and Josh live on our Facebook page every Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. CST. However, this week we’re off for Independence Day. But we’ll be back on July 11 with a twofer: Daenerys VI and Catelyn VIII!

Next: A Song of Dan and Josh: Jon VII (A Game of Thrones)

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