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Here in the States, we set aside the third Monday of January to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. I thought today would be a good day to share a moment from the ASOIAF series that I think captured the values forming the core of his civil rights and human rights philosophy.

I found a number of good contenders. Septon Merribald's Broken Man Speech immediately came to mind because of the focus on forgiveness and compassion. And while that is a powerful moment, I did not find that to be the strongest parallel because Merribald is extending kindness to those who have harmed others rather than himself.

Missandei also came to mind when she spoke of the peaceful people of Naath who would not inflict violence on others even to defend themselves from slavers. While this is a great example of non-violence, I could not get a sense of what the people of Naath do to resist and change the structures. Ultimately, I concluded that I admire the Naathi but didn't have enough there to draw the parallels I was looking for.

I ended up finding what I was looking for in Catelyn's "Why not a Peace?" speech from Catelyn XI AGOT. If you don't recall, let me set the stage for you. The POV chapter opens with Cat learning that Eddard was killed and her daughters are captives. The war is started in earnest and her son has survived his first battle. She later learns her father is dying. Cat is in a place of grief, fear and uncertainty and it compounded when the assembled lords of the North and the Riverlands hold a council to decide the next steps.

Marq Piper seeks to win all by joining with Renly.

"Renly is crowned," said Marq Piper. "Highgarden and Storm's End support his claim, and the Dornishmen will not be laggardly. If Winterfell and Riverrun add their strength to his, he will have five of the seven great houses behind him. Six, if the Arryns bestir themselves! Six against the Rock! My lords, within the year, we will have all their heads on pikes, the queen and the boy king, Lord Tywin, the Imp, the Kingslayer, Ser Kevan, all of them! That is what we shall win if we join with King Renly. What does Lord Stannis have against that, that we should cast it all aside?"
Steveron Frey wants to wait and see and perhaps profit.

"My lord father would urge caution," aged Ser Stevron said, with the weaselly smile of a Frey. "Wait, let these two kings play their game of thrones. When they are done fighting, we can bend our knees to the victor, or oppose him, as we choose. With Renly arming, likely Lord Tywin would welcome a truce … and the safe return of his son. Noble lords, allow me to go to him at Harrenhal and arrange good terms and ransoms …"
The GreatJon roars, Lady Mormont does not want to look weak and Karstark hold on to his desore for revenge.

A roar of outrage drowned out his voice. "Craven!" the Greatjon thundered. "Begging for a truce will make us seem weak," declared Lady Mormont. "Ransoms be damned, we must not give up the Kingslayer," shouted Rickard Karstark.
And then Cat speaks...

"Why not a peace?" Catelyn asked.

The lords looked at her, but it was Robb's eyes she felt, his and his alone. "My lady, they murdered my lord father, your husband," he said grimly. He unsheathed his longsword and laid it on the table before him, the bright steel on the rough wood. "This is the only peace I have for Lannisters."

The Greatjon bellowed his approval, and other men added their voices, shouting and drawing swords and pounding their fists on the table. Catelyn waited until they had quieted. "My lords," she said then, "Lord Eddard was your liege, but I shared his bed and bore his children. Do you think I love him any less than you?" Her voice almost broke with her grief, but Catelyn took a long breath and steadied herself. "Robb, if that sword could bring him back, I should never let you sheathe it until Ned stood at my side once more … but he is gone, and a hundred Whispering Woods will not change that. Ned is gone, and Daryn Hornwood, and Lord Karstark's valiant sons, and many other good men besides, and none of them will return to us. Must we have more deaths still?"
A powerful moment here because Cat is reading the room so well and so bravely. She has to wait for all to stop yelling because she can't yell over them. She has no blade to draw to make her point. The only thing she has to get their attention is acknowledging her loss. And she really does not want to. Look at this exchange from a few hours earlier in the day.

"Your grief is mine, Cat," he said when they broke apart. "When we heard about Lord Eddard … the Lannisters will pay, I swear it, you will have your vengeance."

"Will that bring Ned back to me?" she said sharply. The wound was still too fresh for softer words. She could not think about Ned now. She would not. It would not do. She had to be strong. "All that will keep. I must see Father."

"He awaits you in his solar," Edmure said.
I do not think Cat wants to talk about Ned now either. But she must if she has any chance of getting them to listen. She is directly harmed by the actions of the Lannisters, which puts her call for a non-violent solution in a different light than what Merribald does when he feeds and forgives those who hurt others. But her non-violent approach is by no means passive. King was unrelenting in his desire for equality and protection under the law but he was against actions that worked against his long term goals. Cat is no less dogged about getting her children safe. She simply recognizes that war will not secure her family. She sees that war is counterproductive.

Let me say as I’ve always said, and I will always continue to say, that riots are socially destructive and self-defeating. I’m still convinced that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and justice. I feel that violence will only create more social problems than they will solve. That in a real sense it is impracticable for the Negro to even think of mounting a violent revolution in the United States. So I will continue to condemn riots, and continue to say to my brothers and sisters that this is not the way. And continue to affirm that there is another way. -MLK 3/14/1986.
The Northern Lords dismiss her as a woman who does not understand. An odd statement with Lady Mormont standing right there.

"You are a woman, my lady," the Greatjon rumbled in his deep voice. "Women do not understand these things."

"You are the gentle sex," said Lord Karstark, with the lines of grief fresh on his face. "A man has a need for vengeance."
Cat answers that.

"Give me Cersei Lannister, Lord Karstark, and you would see how gentle a woman can be," Catelyn replied. "Perhaps I do not understand tactics and strategy … but I understand futility. We went to war when Lannister armies were ravaging the riverlands, and Ned was a prisoner, falsely accused of treason. We fought to defend ourselves, and to win my lord's freedom.

"Well, the one is done, and the other forever beyond our reach. I will mourn for Ned until the end of my days, but I must think of the living. I want my daughters back, and the queen holds them still. If I must trade our four Lannisters for their two Starks, I will call that a bargain and thank the gods. I want you safe, Robb, ruling at Winterfell from your father's seat. I want you to live your life, to kiss a girl and wed a woman and father a son. I want to write an end to this. I want to go home, my lords, and weep for my husband."
Cat, very much like King, wants a future in which her children can find joy and live the fullest life they are able. And she will set aside her desire for vengeance for the losses suffered in order to secure than dream because she can clearly see the futility in it. This does not mean that she wishes to give up on efforts to achieve peace. Rather she does not take a more harmful approach. King too did not relent in his pursuit for equal protection under the law. He simply did not endorse tactics that would distract from the goal. That goal being:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. -MLK 8/28/1963
Cat is not fighting to change discriminatory laws. I am aware of that. I am not saying Cat is some world changing agent for peace, but I do see a parallel to King in her desire to secure a future for her children and her willingness to deal with her personal pain in order to achieve that. I can't say I very much like Cat as a character. I can't understand how she couldn't find something to love in Jon when I could within about 8 pages of text. However, I cannot deny how much I admired and respected her in this moment. And I thought today would be a good day to recognize a moment that I think does not get enough screentime.

Maybe some of you don't see this as a good comp. That is fine. There are many different interpretations of the text and I thank you for sharing your constructive feedback. Oh, and try to do something to make the world a slightly more peaceful place today if you can. Even if that is just not yelling at someone on the internet for a day.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Fanbase? His two lore masters that he works with are frothing at the mouth over this as well. He doesn’t give a poo poo.

TERFherder posted:

GRRM might give a poo poo, but I'm pretty sure he has nothing to do with it, and a non-disparage clause of some sort as well.

Justin Credible posted:

They made an entire TV series out of his books, in between the time it took him for DwD to.. now, without the new book being completed.

The Expanse was an entire book series written, and had 2/3rds of it made into some of the best Sci-Fi ever seen, in between the time it took him to write DwD to now, with the new book not being completed.

No, no, GRRM totally gives a poo poo.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

I’ve written more in posts than GRRM has in anything since ADWD.

ruddiger posted:

Stephen king has written like a dozen books since Dance With Dragons came out.

Barreft posted:

Im thinking Ty wrote the books.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Well we know very well that ADWD was unfinished and only released at all because the publishers still had leverage over GRRM before the show premiered.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

quote:

For the past decade or so, he was writing an original  novel all his own, a period horror/ SF tale called BLACK TRAIN COMING.   He never finished it, though he had been laboring on that one even longer than I’ve been working on THE WINDS OF WINTER.   His declining health the past few years slowed him down considerably, sad to say.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

It’s long since become apparent that many ASoIAF fans literally can’t grasp the concept that writing is a profession and that if you are only capable of putting out your “best” work by writing yourself into an endless maze of ever more diverging subplots and loose ends that you’ll never be on the hook for satisfyingly resolving it means you aren’t actually good at it.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

BIG NEWS

https://twitter.com/GRRMspeaking/status/1491085678737858565

TERFherder posted:

surprised this hasn't been mentioned at all:

Mistborn author says he should have written Elden Ring instead of George R.R. Martin

Fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson claims Martin has no interest in video games

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/mistborn-author-says-he-should-have-written-elden-ring-instead-of-george-r-r-martin/

Coquito Ergo Sum posted:

I'm sure that if From wanted an okay-ish YA author they would have contacted Brandon.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

Fantasy world building is the easiest thing in fiction because it doesn’t actually involve plotting or story telling so of course GRRM is constantly happy to keep doing it.

mind the walrus posted:

There is no way GRRM didn't just sign off on drafts and pick a few pieces of concept art out of a lineup in one afternoon.