The Wacky Weather of Westeros

Welcome to the final week of my Month of Thrones series. This final part will consist of original essays involving various themes/characters of the show all leading up to Season 4 on April 6th.

 

Source

 

The first will cover the omnipresent force that is the crazy and unusual weather/seasons that the citizens of the continent have to deal with. On a larger scheme, the weather is used a a literary device to denote a broad change in the story at hand. Book 1/Season One takes place as a 10 years summer is finally ending and the characters are starting to get ready for the upcoming and uncontrollable winter. My obvious love of alliteration aside, I think that this is an interesting topic as the weather/climate affects all of the characters and is in their thoughts many of the times.

In regards to the weather being used as a literary device, the first example would be shown in the younger Stark kids (Sansa, Arya, Bran and Rickon). They were all either born during the decade-long summer or weren't old enough to remember any other season. Due to the nature of living in the North, they still experienced snow, but still mainly had nice weather and didn't experience anything difficult. I believe that the time that they were born heavily contributed to their innocence and idealism, which drastically changed after the events of the first book/season and forward. This can also apply to other noble children born during this time like Myrcella and Tommen Baratheon, who also never had any real concerns and had good childhoods and sweet dispositions.

For contrast, other characters like Tyrion, Viserys and Willas were born during a 3 year winter offer an example of the unfortunate tragedy that the season (literary theme) had on these characters and their development. Tyrion unintentionally caused the death of his mother via childbirth, earning the ire of his father for that and for being born a dwarf. Viserys Targaryen was born a year later and lived a normal life until Robert's Rebellion led to the death of his entire family, and he was left to beg in the Free Cities with his younger sister until he was killed for attempting to harm his sister (who was then a Khalessi of the Dothraki). Willas Tyrell (a character not in the show), was seriously crippled by the Red Viper during his first joust, contributing to tensions between the two families (Martell and Tyrell). All of these characters have been born into or come across extremely bad circumstances that have contributed to their present personality/views on life.

Another aspect of the seasons would be how it affected the entire story. The story begins as summer nears its end, and that also coincedes with the end of "good times" for all of our main characters, as their lives are ruined with tragedy and death from this point on. Each book/season delves further into the fall/autumn and will eventually show us the true hardships that winter brings. The evolving darker tone fits with the weather becoming more cold and chill. The Stark family words, Winter is Coming, also make the changing of seasons seem more ominous than natural as in our world. We are told from the book/show and from interviews with the author that the seasons/climate are magical in nature, which gives way to uneven summers and winters (each lasting any number of years).

As a result of the unpredictable seasons, all of the regions have to take advantage of the summer to ensure there is enough grain for a years-long winter. With all of the fighting and burning of fields/crops during the War of Five Kings, the upcoming winter is sure to cause a big problem to the already riddled Kingdom. A tradition that resulted to aid the people in preparation was the maesters trying to predict the winter and then sending out white ravens, who hail the beginning of the change of seasons.

Other historical instances show how GRRM likes to play with the seasons to denote a serious change in the society. One example would be of the Great Spring Sickness, which was a plague that killed tens of thousands of people It also led to the death of the King, his Hand and his two direct heirs. This changed the Targaryen line significantly as it ended up continuing with the fourth son of a fourth son (King Aegon V). It was also followed by a two-year drought, which further tested the Kingdom and its strength. And finally the Year of the False Spring contained the Tourney at Harenhal, which was the catalyst for the beginning of Robert's Rebellion and the end of the Targaryens on the throne. The name implies that after this year, there was a winter that persisted. This defintely says something ominous/deceitful about this year, as there was deceit/trouble brewing with Rhaegar, who later "kidnapped" Lyanna after meeting her at the Tourney.

In the show we are still in autumn, but the important thing to note is that the changing season will first be felt in the North and then trickle down Westeros. With the show and the books, it's important to undersatnd that everything is changing and even more danger is on the way. The fact the the characters have to deal with the war, the seasons and the threat of the Others (who bring the cold, or the cold brings them) will make the rest of the series very interesting to experience.