Welcome to GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. Catelyn One occupies an important location in the physical and emotional geography of the book, sandwiched as it is between Bran One and Dany One. The series is about kids maturing, and we can't talk about kids without mothers, so Cat's role here is to provide the motherly presence that has been lacking in the first few chapters, and that will be so obviously and desperately needed in the following Dany chapter. 

This chapter also delves deep into the history of Starks, the Weirwood and Winterfell, as well as the various magical and mythical creatures in the series. We focus on the symbolism and possible Biblical and literary associations of Winterfell, Ice, the Stark words "Winter is coming," and finally on the significance and associations of the name Cersei, with a stopover in Pedantry Corner. 

We argue that the chapter primes the Joycean pump for the rest of the book and series. Cat One begins with a reference to Riverrun--the first word of Finnegan's Wake--and ends with a reference to Cersei, the title of the longest and perhaps most disturbing episode in Joyce's Ulysses. And then there's the small matter of the point-of-view structure, which Joyce popularized. We discuss these issues and more in the Bloomsday special episode, so please do go there for a deeper dive into Joyce's influence on the Song of Ice and Fire. Note that in contrast to these re-read episodes, which are always spoiler free, the special episodes do contain major spoilers. 

***The chapter-by-chapter reading will be spoiler free unless otherwise indicated.***

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