The venerable Charles Dance as Tywin was some of the most inspired casting on this show. Dude spends this entire scene cleaning and skinning a dead dear while dropping hard truths on Jaime and proving he was the Tywin Lannister.
"The future of our family will be determined in these next few months. We could establish a dynasty that will last a thousand years. Or we could collapse into nothing as the Targaryens did."
Well, at least he was half right about the future of House Lannister.
--
Ned, you poor honorable fucking moron. That's not entirely fair, of course, because he really didn't understand "the game", but showing his hand that blatantly to Cersei was the dumbest thing he could've done, even after trusting Littlefinger
Ned: You've always hated Robert.
Cersei: Hated him? I worshiped him. Every girl in the Seven Kingdoms dreamed of him, but he was mine by oath. And when I finally saw him on our wedding day in the Sept of Baelor, lean and fierce and black-bearded, it was the happiest moment of my life. Then that night, he crawled on top of me, stinking of wine, and did what he did, what little he could do, and whispered in my ear, "Lyanna." Your sister was a corpse and I was a living girl, but he loved her more than me.
Fuck, that had to hit Ned harder than his realization about Robert's offspring's parentage.
Ned: I've made many mistake in my life, but that wasn't one of them.
Ned, you're currently making the biggest mistake of your soon-to-end life by telling Cersei to flee King's Landing with her incest kids.
--
Ros: Why don't you join us, my lord?
Littlefinger: I'm saving myself for another.
Ros: What she doesn't know won't hurt her.
Littlefinger: A stupid saying. What we don't know is usually what gets us killed.
Apart from his little speech about being so good to convince others enough to overcome their very nature, "what we don't know usually gets us killed" is the very essence of Petyr Baelish.
Littlefinger: Do you know what I learned losing that duel? I learned that I'll never win, not that way. That's their game. Their rules. I'm not going to fight them, I'm going to fuck them. That's what I know.
--
God, ignoring Jason Momoa's great physique, it's no wonder he became such a bankable action star. Here he was delivering an incredibly powerful monologue in a spoken language that didn't exist just a couple years earlier like it was his native tongue. Yeah, I know, editing and ADR probably covered up his flubs, but still...that great of a performance from an actor trying his best to make the gibberish (to him) come off natural still blows me away 13 years later.
"King Joffrey?"
"King Robert is gone, the gods give him rest."
Fuck, Bean was so good in this moment. You can tell how much Ned is dreading what he has to do, and knowing how bad that'll be for Robert's "children" and Cersei. Ned never enjoyed violence or delivering justice, but he knew the ramifications of his "testimony" would probably end with a lot of bloodshed...just not how he imagined.
Janos Slynt: We stand behind you, Lord Stark.
God, I can't wait to see how Tyrion "handles" Slynt and how he finally earns his punishment at Castle Black.
Ned: Ser Barristan, I believe no man here could ever question your honor.
Review by Digital PhreakerBlockedParentSpoilers2024-05-06T01:43:56Z
The venerable Charles Dance as Tywin was some of the most inspired casting on this show. Dude spends this entire scene cleaning and skinning a dead dear while dropping hard truths on Jaime and proving he was the Tywin Lannister.
"The future of our family will be determined in these next few months. We could establish a dynasty that will last a thousand years. Or we could collapse into nothing as the Targaryens did."
Well, at least he was half right about the future of House Lannister.
--
Ned, you poor honorable fucking moron. That's not entirely fair, of course, because he really didn't understand "the game", but showing his hand that blatantly to Cersei was the dumbest thing he could've done, even after trusting Littlefinger
Ned: You've always hated Robert.
Cersei: Hated him? I worshiped him. Every girl in the Seven Kingdoms dreamed of him, but he was mine by oath. And when I finally saw him on our wedding day in the Sept of Baelor, lean and fierce and black-bearded, it was the happiest moment of my life. Then that night, he crawled on top of me, stinking of wine, and did what he did, what little he could do, and whispered in my ear, "Lyanna." Your sister was a corpse and I was a living girl, but he loved her more than me.
Fuck, that had to hit Ned harder than his realization about Robert's offspring's parentage.
Ned: I've made many mistake in my life, but that wasn't one of them.
Ned, you're currently making the biggest mistake of your soon-to-end life by telling Cersei to flee King's Landing with her incest kids.
--
Ros: Why don't you join us, my lord?
Littlefinger: I'm saving myself for another.
Ros: What she doesn't know won't hurt her.
Littlefinger: A stupid saying. What we don't know is usually what gets us killed.
Apart from his little speech about being so good to convince others enough to overcome their very nature, "what we don't know usually gets us killed" is the very essence of Petyr Baelish.
Littlefinger: Do you know what I learned losing that duel? I learned that I'll never win, not that way. That's their game. Their rules. I'm not going to fight them, I'm going to fuck them. That's what I know.
--
God, ignoring Jason Momoa's great physique, it's no wonder he became such a bankable action star. Here he was delivering an incredibly powerful monologue in a spoken language that didn't exist just a couple years earlier like it was his native tongue. Yeah, I know, editing and ADR probably covered up his flubs, but still...that great of a performance from an actor trying his best to make the gibberish (to him) come off natural still blows me away 13 years later.
"King Joffrey?"
"King Robert is gone, the gods give him rest."
Fuck, Bean was so good in this moment. You can tell how much Ned is dreading what he has to do, and knowing how bad that'll be for Robert's "children" and Cersei. Ned never enjoyed violence or delivering justice, but he knew the ramifications of his "testimony" would probably end with a lot of bloodshed...just not how he imagined.
Janos Slynt: We stand behind you, Lord Stark.
God, I can't wait to see how Tyrion "handles" Slynt and how he finally earns his punishment at Castle Black.
Ned: Ser Barristan, I believe no man here could ever question your honor.
Ned, that is why you lose the game of thrones.