An Analysis of Brienne III AFFC

 Mac's thoughts on his reread of Brienne III AFFC:

So recently in my first reread of the series since some 5 years ago, I've been going through and trying to take notes on the more minute thematic and plot details of the story. For most people especially on the first read, there is a lot of seemingly gratuitous paragraphs - characters hearing about rumors that don't really come up again, or about some history irrelevant to the plot. I think this is especially present in AFFC and especially in Brienne's chapters. Brienne's quest is presented to the reader as pointless since we know the fate of the two people Brienne is searching for, Ser Dontos being dead and Sansa in the Vale. So, what is this story supposed to be about? Looking more into this question, here are some notes from my reread of the third Brienne Chapter. Most of the discussion is about gender and being a "knight" though there's probably some other parts about oath keeping and the role of religion.

- We start the chapter with Brienne thinking about her journey coming back from the Riverlands. Brienne seemingly wants to see all the locations from her journey to king's landing, looking for the specific place where Cleos Frey died and where her fight with Jaime occurred.

- We hear Podrick's backstory which is deliberately very vague, no name of a father or a mother; only that Kevan rescued him from the noose,
and he was eventually made to squire for Tyrion.

- Podrick is said by Brienne to be a quick learner and decent at swordsmanship. Kevan took charge of Podrick and sent him to squire for Tyrion, and Tyrion supposedly sent him to train with Aron Santagar, another dead man. Outside of Tyrion and Kevan's thoughts, we don't have anyone around to verify why Podrick might be good at fighting.

- The farmer couple Brienne runs into on the road used to have an ox and a daughter, but they seem more disappointed about the ox than the daughter. This is a trend we see in the previous two Brienne chapters where people on the road tell tales of women losing their virginity, and then being spurned by their family. Both the old woman in Rosby and the customers at the seven swords say that a girl travelling the roads are "unlikely to still be maids".

- A big bearded Septon was wandering south with 40 followers, we'll check if this character reappears in future Kings Landing chapters.

- Brienne considers she would have been a mother at Nightsong had her first betrothed lived. She feels both saddened, and relieved. This is a common thought for Brienne, who both desires traditional femininity (dancing with Renly, being courted at Highgarden) but also to be a knight and a fighter, something very frowned upon for Westerosi women.

- upon arriving in Maidenpool, Tarlys men at the gate are rapers and attempt to take the farmer's wife; the farmer himself does nothing, Brienne is forced to step in and "act knightly" though the rapers only relent with the appearance of Hyle Hunt. Another common trend that spans the first 3 chapters is Brienne being a much more intimidating force, but being disregarded for her gender (Ser Illifer and Ser Creighton discount Brienne as a fighter in Brienne I)

- The farmer thanks Hyle Hunt for being a “true knight” and then says, “come along wife”. Even the common farmer disrespects Brienne by not acknowledging she was going to stop his wife from being raped, but doesn't acknowledge this because he relies on the patriarchal society than gives him power over his wife.

- Hyle Hunt is a major Dick to Brienne; also he says that she could not beat Robar Royce or many of Renly’s kingsguard. This is especially egregious since we later find out that the two of them trained together at Highgarden, not to mention that she almost beat Jaime Lannister, widely regarded as one of the best fighters in Westeros.

- The soldiers are rebuilding the town, though they’d rather be drinking and fucking so says Hyle Hunt. We start getting the picture that at both a macro and micro level, men are easy to moral failing, but it is women that are responsible for causing this failing. Randyll and Hyle blame whores for making men lazy, and Brienne for causing discontent among the men at Highgarden.

- A galley, a galleas, and a cog are seen in port.

- Tarly is in the square described at "doing Justice" by punishing a man for stealing from the gods; his fingers are cut and Brienne thinks of Zollo maiming Jaime

- Randyll orders Lye to be put in a whore's vagina and throws her in a dungeon for spreading pox. The reader should obviously see the problem here since sex is normally a consensual activity, and Randyll's men are at least partially responsible for spreading the pox, but get no punishment.

- Tarly blames Brienne for letting Renly die and says she never should’ve donned the mail; that this isn’t a ball. What of Loras or the other kingsguard? Several other kingsguard were also responsible for guarding Renly that night but Brienne receives all the blame.

- “When you’re raped don’t look to me for Justice. You will have earned it with your folly.” -- Tarly. Folly of being a woman searching for Sansa Stark, or being a woman playing at being a knight? We are presented again with characters questioning the point of the journey; thematically its meant to ask "what is the point of Brienne's story?"

- "The knights of summer; it is autumn, and they are falling like leaves…"

- When Brienne thinks about the maidenhead wager, Brienne thought the various men wanted her for love and engaged in acts of courting, but they really just wanted her maidenhead, and the prize it entailed. Randyll stopped it, for worry of a rape; he worried for their honor and said the blame was Brienne’s for being present. Once again, Brienne is blamed.

- “The gods made men to fight and women to bear children” --Randyll Tarly. He is the personification of toxic masculinity.

- Later, Brienne goes to meet Nimble Dick. Nimble Dick's sister got her virtue spoiled and left to become a prostitute in Kings Landing, while the knight she slept with faces no consequences.

- The whispers is a smugglers cove on crackclaw point.

- Clarence Crabbs wife was a witch that kissed the lips of dead men and brought them back to life - kiss imagery is very common "kiss of fire" "kiss of the drowned god".

- “— before some knight gets in her slit” Nimble Dick ends the chapter noting that a maiden's maidenhead is where the worth is. And the use of ‘knight’ meaning knights are often bad.