Jump to content

The Rains of Castamere

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by NMaia (talk | contribs) at 18:21, 6 June 2013 (→Critical reception). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the song, see Music of Game of Thrones.
"The Rains of Castamere"

"The Rains of Castamere" is the ninth episode of the third season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 29th episode of the series. The episode was written by executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, and directed by David Nutter. It aired on June 2, 2013 (2013-06-02).

The episode is centered in the wedding of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey, one of the most memorable events of the book series commonly named "the Red Wedding". Other storylines include Bran Stark's group having to separate, Jon Snow's loyalties being tested, and Daenerys plotting her invasion of the city of Yunkai.

Plot

In the North

North of the Wall, Sam (John Bradley) and Gilly (Hannah Murray) continue their march south. Sam tells Gilly he plans for them to cross the Wall using the entrance at the Nightfort, an abandoned castle along the Wall.

South of the Wall, Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and his group take shelter in an abandoned mill. Nearby, Jon (Kit Harington) and the wildling party raid an elderly horse breeder's home, taking his horses and gold while the old man flees. While in the mill, Bran and Jojen Reed (Thomas Brodie Sangster) discuss how they plan to cross the Wall, before Meera (Ellie Kendrick) spots the old horse breeder riding nearby. After the old man is captured by the wildlings, Hodor (Kristian Nairn)—scared by the thunder—begins yelling, which threatens to give away their location to the wildlings. Bran uses his warg abilities to enter Hodor's mind and cause him to take a nap.

Outside, Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) moves to kill the old man, but Orell (Mackenzie Crook) tells him to have Jon do it instead to prove his loyalty. Jon is ultimately unable to kill the innocent man, and instead Ygritte (Rose Leslie) kills the man with an arrow. Tormund orders his men to kill Jon and Ygritte, and soon after Jon battles with Orell. Bran enters the mind of Summer, his direwolf, and aides Jon. Jon kills Orell while the wolves hold off the other wildlings, and is then able to steal a horse and escape, leaving Ygritte and heading back to the Wall. At night, Bran asks Osha (Natalia Tena) to take Rickon (Art Parkinson) to Last Hearth, the home of the Umber family, and they depart shortly after.

Across the Narrow Sea

Planning their invasion of Yunkai, Daario (Ed Skrein) tells Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and her knights about a rear gate to the city, through which they can sneak in and open the main gate for her army. Ser Jorah (Iain Glen) is suspicious of Daario and his plan, but comes around when Daenerys seeks Grey Worm's (Jacob Anderson) opinion. When night falls, Daario, Jorah, and Grey Worm arrive at the gate. Daario enters ahead of them, posing as a still loyal Second Son commander. Shortly after being let inside the city, he signals Jorah and Grey Worm to follow him. Soon, they are ambushed by a group of Yunkai's slave soldiers, and though largely outnumbered, manage to kill them and accomplish the mission. The group returns to Daenerys, and tells her that she is now in control of the city.

At the Twins

At camp, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) counsels her son Robb (Richard Madden), the King in the North, about his planned alliance with Lord Walder Frey (David Bradley) and his planned assault on Casterly Rock, the homeland of the Lannisters. The Stark host soon arrives at the Twins, castle homeland of the Freys, where they are given bread and salt, a symbol of the "guest right": a guarantee of safety when under another lord's roof. Robb makes an apology to both the sarcastic Walder Frey and his daughters. Walder accepts the apology but insists on inspecting Talisa (Oona Chaplin), the woman Robb broke his vow for. Nearby, Arya, (Maisie Williams) though still a captive of Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann), journeys to the Twins to reunite with her mother and brother. When they come upon a trader and his cart, Clegane knocks him out and moves to kill him, but Arya manages to dissuade him, and he instead steals the cart of food.

At night, Walder walks his daughter Roslin (Alexandra Dowling) down the aisle to her future husband Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies), who is pleasantly surprised by her beauty. They are married shortly after, and the celebration begins. At the feast, Walder calls for the bedding ceremony, and the couple are taken to their chamber. After they leave, Lothar Frey (Tom Brooke) closes the banquet hall doors, and a musician begins playing "The Rains of Castamere," a Lannister cautionary song. Using the food cart as their reason for being at the Twins, the Hound and Arya arrive at the wedding. They are turned away at the gates, but Arya sneaks in.

Catelyn notices Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton) wearing chainmail under his robes and realises they have been betrayed. Walder signals his men to attack the Starks' men, and Lothar repeatedly stabs the pregnant Talisa in the womb, killing her. Before he can react, Robb is shot by crossbows. Arya, having snuck past the gate, witnesses Frey men kill Stark soldiers and Robb's direwolf. She is saved by the Hound, who knocks her unconscious and carries her out of the castle. Catelyn, although wounded by a crossbow bolt, holds Walder's young wife hostage and demands that Robb be allowed to leave. Walder refuses, and Roose Bolton stabs Robb in the heart, saying that "the Lannisters send their regards". Catelyn kills her hostage in retaliation, before Frey's son Black Walder (Tim Plester) cuts Catelyn's throat.

Production

Writing

"The Rains of Castamere" was written by executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, based on George R. R. Martin's original work from his novel A Storm of Swords. The episodes adapts content from chapters 40 to 42 and 49 to 52 (Bran III, Jon V, Daenerys IV, Catelyn VI, Arya X, Catelyn VII, and Arya XI).[1]

The episode includes one of the most important plot turns of the series: the betrayal and assassination of the Stark forces during a marriage ceremony in what came to be known as the "Red Wedding". This tragic turn of events had a profound impact on Benioff and Weiss in their first read of the novels and it was the scene that convinced them to attempt to obtain the rights for a television series.[2]

The Red Wedding was inspired by the Black Dinner that took place in 1440 at Edinburgh Castle.

George R. R. Martin conceived the Red Wedding during the earliest stages of the planning of his saga, when he was envisioning a trilogy with the Red Wedding closing the first of the three books.[3] Martin was inspired by a couple of events in Scottish history. One of them was the 15th century historical event known as the "Black Dinner", where the Scottish king invited the chieftains of the powerful Clan Douglas to a feast at Edinburgh Castle.[4][5] A black bull's head, the symbol of death, was served as the last course of the dinner while a single drum was playing in the background, and the Douglases were murdered.[4][5] Another event from which the author drew inspiration was the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe, where Clan MacDonald hosted the Campbell Clan and killed thirty-eight of them overnight.[5]

Martin has stated that the Red Wedding was the hardest thing he has ever written. He explains that he always tries to put himself in the skin of his characters when writing from their perspective, and ends developing bonds with them. Even the minor characters killed during the massacre were also people he felt attached to. It was so painful for him that he skipped the chapter and continued writing, and only when the rest of the book was finished, he "forced himself" to come back to the dreaded scene.[6][7] In 2012 at ComicCon he even joked that "he will visit a country with no television when the episode goes on air".

Casting

Will Champion, the drummer and backing vocalist of the alternative rock band Coldplay, has a cameo appearance as one of the musicians who play at the wedding.

Main cast members Peter Dinklage (Tyrion), Lena Headey (Cersei), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime), Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger), Charles Dance (Tywin), Liam Cunningham (Davos), Stephen Dillane (Stannis), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa), Alfie Allen (Theon), Jack Gleeson (Joffrey), Joe Dempsie (Gendry), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), Conleth Hill (Varys), and Jerome Flynn (Bronn) do not appear and are not credited.

Reception

Ratings

"The Rains of Castamere" premiered to 5.22 million viewers and received a 2.8 ratings in adults 18–49. The second airing was viewed by 1.08 million people, bringing total viewership for the night to 6.30 million.[8]

Critical reception

The episode garnered critical acclaim, often being referred to as the best episode of the season. The majority of the comments were directed at the massacre at the end of the episode, where praise were especially given to Michelle Fairley's performance. IGN's Matt Fowler gave the episode a perfect 10/10, calling it "...an exquisitely awful event that managed to out-do the unpredictable and horrifying death of Ned Stark back in Season 1."[11] Writing for The A.V. Club, both David Sims and Todd VanDerWerff gave the episode an "A" grade. Simms (writing for people who have not read the novels) expressed shock at the deaths of several main characters, writing "I don’t think I’ve really processed what I just watched".[9] VanDerWerff, who reviews the episodes for people who have read the novels, wrote "If [the reader] doesn’t terribly want to deal with the thought of the deaths of Catelyn and Robb, well, he or she can read that much more quickly. Or he or she can read that much more slowly if there’s a need to process the emotions more fully. On TV, you can't really do that."[10] Reviewing for Forbes, Erik Kain called the episode "one of the best episodes of HBO's dark drama yet", and noted "there was a deeper sense of tragedy knowing [Robb] also lost his unborn child."[13] Sean Collins of the Rolling Stone also praised the episode, and commented on the unusual step the show took in ending the central conflict of the show.[14]

Others—like Joe Concha from Mediaite—thought the episode was too "brutal," citing the killing of a canine and the stabbing of a pregnant woman in the womb.[15]

References

  1. ^ Garcia, Elio. "EP309:The Rains of Castamere". Westeros.org. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  2. ^ Hibberd, James (30 March 2012). "'Game of Thrones' showrunners on season 2, splitting Book 3 and their hope for a 70-hour epic". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  3. ^ Harren the Black (20 April 2002). "SSM: Elf Fantasy Fair (Netherlands; April 20-21)". Westeros.org. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  4. ^ a b Trebla (5 October 2001). "SSM: Archon Meeting (October 5-7)". Westeros.org. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  5. ^ a b c Hibberd, James (June 2, 2013). "'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin: Why he wrote The Red Wedding". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  6. ^ Green Armadillo (17 February 2005). "SSM: Boskone (Boston, MA; February 17-19)". Westeros.org. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  7. ^ "George R. R. Martin Webchat Transcript". Empire Magazine. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  8. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (June 4, 2013). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Game of Thrones' Wins Night + 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Real Housewives of New Jersey', 'Breaking Amish', 'Mad Men' & More". TVbytheNumbers.com. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Sims, David (2 June 2013). ""The Rains of Castamere" (for newbies)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  10. ^ a b VanDerWerff, Todd (2 June 2013). ""The Rains of Castamere (for experts)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  11. ^ a b Fowler, Matt (2 June 2013). "The Wine Will Flow Red and the Music Will Play Loud". IGN. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  12. ^ Power, Rob (3 June 2013). "The Rains Of Castamere" TV REVIEW". SFX. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  13. ^ Kain, Erik (June 3, 2013). "'Game of Thrones' Season 3 Episode 9 Review: The Rains of Castamere". Forbes.com. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  14. ^ Collins, Sean (June 3, 2013). "'Game of Thrones' Recap: Red, Red, Red". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  15. ^ Concha, Joe (June 3, 2013). "Divorcing HBO: Sunday's Brutal Game of Thrones Goes Way Too Far". Mediaite. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Rains_of_Castamere&oldid=558639826"