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He wants to erase this world, and I am its memory.
He is, very specifically, afterour beetle-browed young seer.
The war council accepts this explanation at face value.
Thats what death is, isnt it?
If we forget where weve been and what weve done, were not men anymore.
But what does it mean to remember inGame of Thrones?
Memory is a consistent preoccupation inGame of Thrones.
But memory shapes more than just the Stark story lines.
Daenerys inherits her brothers childhood memory of Targaryen glory and it drives her across the Narrow Sea to Westeros.
Without us, men would be little better than dogs.
Memory permeates every level of the known world.
It is a force with personal, familial, social, and historical power.
She never fooled you, Tyrion says.
You always knew exactly what she was, and you loved her anyway.
Bonds are forged, or reforged, through the power of a witnesss recollection.
Brienne recounts howJaime saved herfrom being raped by the Bolton men.
husband was never anything but decent to me.
In this battle-preparation hour, nostalgia is a kind of coping mechanism.
After all, the history in question doesnt simply exist within the bounds of the fictional story.
(And thats been true for nearly a decade, too, as Laura Millerswonderful 2011New Yorkerprofileof George R.R.
Martin and his fandom makes clear.)
To be aGame of Thronesfan, then, is to be aware of the seams and constructions of storytelling.
Dragons are supposed to be gone from the world, but theyre not.
Jon was supposed to be Ned Starks bastard, but hes not.
And lets not forget dear, departed Littlefingerscoffing to Varys, Do you know what the realm is?
Its the thousand blades of Aegons enemies, which were said to have been forged into the Iron Throne.
A story we agree to tell each other over and over till we forget that its a lie.
After all, there arent even 200 swords in the throne Littlefinger counted.
If so, the mechanics of that civilization-ending jolt remain unspecified.
And every time you leave the house and shut the door, they howl like youre gone forever.
(Hes alsonot a virgin, Edd,unlike you.)
But the litany isnt inaccurate.
So book learning does have a claim to knowledge, too.
(Theyre not even first-person narrators.)
