#Samwell Tarly..... Samwise Gamgee..... my loves

[jackoshadows]

Jon is often seen as a sullen, brooding, emo bastard and an introvert. However the text indicates that he has an ability to make friends wherever he goes. In fact GRRM’s themes of brotherhood and his cast of funny and loyal friends is a big part of what makes Jon’s story so much fun to read.

Robb Stark is a big part of Jon’s life. Jon describes him as ‘his rival and best friend and constant companion’. Robb has more mentions in Jon’s POV chapters than even Arya. They grew up together, learned together, played together. It’s interesting that Jon doesn’t get along with Theon Greyjoy. There’s an element of rivalry there for Robb’s affections, but also their different personalities seem to have prevented their getting along. Theon describes Jon as ‘Sullen’ and jealous of Theon’s high birth, not really understanding Jon as a person. The Robb we meet in AGoT however demonstrates empathy towards Jon’s situation and even protectiveness – he is concerned for Jon after he visits Catelyn and defends Jon to Catelyn’s accusations of future treachery. It’s also possible that Robb’s decision to marry Jeyne Westerling was influenced by how Jon was treated.

As mentioned above, Robb features heavily in Jon’s chapters. Jon wants to break his oaths and help Robb fight the Lannisters, he thinks of his childhood in WF playing in the snow with Robb or listening to Old Nan’s stories. Even when Stannis offers him WF, it’s memories of Robb he recollects. When he says farewell to Sam, it’s the snowflakes on Robb’s hair that he remembers.

And of course there is Samwell Tarly. The best friendship in ASoIaF in my opinion. There are obvious comparisons here to Frodo and Samwise gamgee. Samwell is as loyal and as wise as Samwise. Jon lost a trusty companion when he send Sam off to the Citadel, but Sam also gets to meet all the people important to Jon like Bran and Arya and most probably in the near future Tyrion and Daenerys.

Jon’s relationship with Arya in a lot of ways defines his relationships with friends and lovers alike. GRRM has stated that ‘Jon Snow has me in him’ and I think this reflects in Jon’s soft spot for the outsider, the underdog. As GRRM says it:

My Game of Thrones is told by outsiders of both types. None of them fit comfortably into the society into which they’ve been born, and they’re all struggling to find a place for themselves in which they’re valued and loved and respected, despite what their society considers their deficiencies.

There is Arya herself for whom Jon makes a special sword so that she can train and learn and do what she likes and be herself. Samwell Tarly, who cannot fight, for whom Jon rallies the other recruits to help him and even approaches Maester Aemon to find Sam a job more suited to his talents.

Jon’s fellow graduating class  – Pyp, Grenn, Toad, Halder, Matt. Mummer’s boys and the sons of winesink owners. He apologizes to them for being a bully and helps teach them how to fight, getting loyalty and friendship in return. It’s his friends that bring him back and prevent him from being a NW deserter leading to that classic line about honor from Jeor Mormont. 

Jon’s relationship with these friends does become complicated as he becomes Lord Commander and feels that he cannot hold friendships with the men he commands. He distances himself and some of his friends like Pyp feel that he has become arrogant. Jon also sends his friends away to other castles, and I really hope they all get to meet again.

There’s Tyrion Lannister to whom he holds out a hand in friendship because he recognizes a fellow kindred spirit. Tyrion is moved to emotion by the gesture. In book 5, Jon reflects on how they parted  as friends and Tyrion’s status as a kinslayer. No doubt their relationship will be central to the story later on.

Jon also fosters friendships with the older men. Dolorous Edd for instance is a good and trustworthy friend. Jon spends time in the forge with Donal Noye talking with the smith and Noye trusts that Jon has not turned deserter. There’s the new recruits like Iron Emmett.

There there’s the Freefolk and friends like Tormund Giantsbane - Tall-talker, Horn-blower, and Breaker of Ice, Tormund Thunderfist, Husband to Bears, the Mead-king of Ruddy Hall, Speaker to Gods and Father of Hosts.

 ”Well met, Jon Snow. I am fond o' wargs, as it happens, though not o' Starks." - Tormund Giantsbane

Mance Rayder points out that Tormund likes Jon Snow and from Jon’s own POV we see that this friendship is returned. So much so that towards the end of ADwD, Jon is making plans with Tormund instead of his first stewards, builders and rangers. Jon is also friends with Leathers from whom he learns the Old Tongue

Jon can even count a Giant among his friends – Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun. He makes special provisions for Wun Wun, spends time talking to him and even introduces him to Selyse!

I loved Jon’s interactions with Alys Karstark and would count her among Jon’s new friends. He helps her out and she pledges to help him in whatever way she can, by sending him whatever men she can afford to spare.

There’s a parallel here between Jon Snow and Arya Stark in the friends they make along the way. Their friends are mostly not nobility, but of the smallfolk. They both tend to form packs wherever they go. The difference being of course Arya feels that her pack abandoned her, whereas Jon abandons his pack deliberately because he feels that a leader cannot get too close to the men he commands. Jon sending most of his friends away and trying to be a lone wolf, leaves him without much of a sense of the hostile mood of some of his men.  

In a sense, The lone wolf dies but the pack survives is also as much about friendships as it is about family and unity. If TWoW comes out, there is a chance we will see how Jon’s friends at the Watch react to his assassination and it’s not going to be a pleasant time for the mutineers.

#Jon Snow #JonSnowMonth2022 #Friendships #Robb Stark #Samwell Tarly #Tyrion Lannister #Tormund Giantsbane

[doctapuella]

my lovely friend @nyebevans tagged me in a post to list 9 characters i identify with. naturally i’ve been overthinking a lot so here we go:

1. Cassandra Pentaghast, Dragon Age

2. Danny Butterman, Hot Fuzz

3. Apollo, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series

4. Dot Williams, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

5. Samwise Gamgee, LOTR

6. while we’re at it, Samwell Tarly, ASOIAF (I just connect with the fat sidekick characters a lot i guess)

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i just found this in my drafts, unfinished, but i’m posting it anyway because i remember i put like three weeks of thought  into this and only got 6 out of 9 ideas

[long-liv-prairies]

I was tagged by @idrelle-miocovani. Thank you!

Rules: answer the 20 questions and tag 20 amazing followers you would like to get to know better.

Name: Olivia

Nickname: Liv to those on Tumblr. Beyond that I don’t really have a nickname.

Zodiac sign: Virgo (and it’s scary how much I fit into this description)

Height: 5′9″

Orientation: Heterosexual (I think). I’ve been... musing more and more about whether I’m bi. Idk, I may never know for sure.

Ethnicity: White, specifically Dutch and German ancestry.

Favorite fruit: Strawberries I think, or grapes. 

Favorite season: I love Autumn. The cooler temperatures after summer, the fall leaves, the muted oranges and browns after the leaves fall down, Thanksgiving... it’s all wonderful!

Favorite book series: Ugh, so hard to pick. I like A Song of Ice and Fire, the Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. 

Favorite flower: Spiderwort! (genus Tradescantia)

Favorite scent: The smell of prairie seeds that are ready to be planted, anything with apple, warm chocolate.

Favorite color: Grassy, bright greens. 

Favorite animals: Any kind of cat!

Coffee, tea or cocoa: Hot chocolate! I love coffee and tea too, but hot chocolate is my weakness.

Average sleep hours: 6-7 usually, though I’ve been getting 8 recently.

Cat or dog person: Cat person.

Favorite fictional characters: Samwise Gamgee, Hermione Granger, Zuko and Katara and Sokka and Toph from AtLA, Asami from LoK, Sansa Stark and Samwell Tarly from ASOIAF... my head hurts, I can’t think of more.

Number of blankets you sleep with: One sheet and and a comforter during the winter, just a sheet in the summer.

Dream trip: Oh, why must you make me choose! Ok... I think I would go with travelling around Australia and New Zealand. There are just so many cool, unique species there that I would love to see.

Blog created: November 2015

Number of followers: About 250. Hey everyone! Thanks for following <3

#liv answers #ask meme

[good-and-safe]

I have the National's Boxer album in CD to listen to in my 13 year old car that still has a proper CD player. Anyways, I'm really glad Sam didn't die in the S3 finale but I'm still not holding my breath on him surviving very long. Tyrion is being so extra about his new scar.

what a great album omg. and okay look, samwell tarly, much like samwise gamgee in LoTR, is the unsung hero of GoT. tyrion is extra about everything (a trait i love abt him) and re: your other message about joffrey: you just may get that wish…..

#hmt anon #answered #on GOT

[jackoshadows]

Samwell Tarly is a rather important character in ASoIaF. His similarities to Samwise Gamgee, Frodo’s loyal friend in LOTR, has already been pointed out.

Q: It's not really a question, but I've noticed a great similarity between ASOS and Lord of the Rings - the two Sams, Samwell Tarly and Samwise Gamgee. In particular, in each series, a Sam made a desperate attack on a hopelessly superior force (an Other and the huge spider Shelob) to protect a defenseless companion (Gilly and her baby and the bound Frodo). Would you care to comment?

A: There are a number of homages to LOTR in my book. I am a huge Tolkien fan.

Q: By the way, I hope Jon Snow isn't ASOIAF's Frodo. Jon's my favorite character, and I wouldn't want him to end up like Frodo, sick and scarred inside from his burden.

A: He's taller than Frodo - SSM, 2001, GRRM (🤣🤣)

But Samwell also has similarities to Loial from The Wheel of Time for example. The bookish character who may end up writing about the stories of his friends and those he knew. Sam may end up penning A Song of Ice an Fire, writing about the heroes who fought in the Long Night and were instrumental in the saving of Westeros. Like Glydayn who wrote Fire and Blood and Targaryen history.

In Wheel of Time Loial tries his best to always travel with the Ta'veren because that’s where the story happens. And interestingly we see GRRM start to do the same thing with Sam. He spends most of the books with Jon Snow at the heart of the main conflict on the wall and figuring out about the Others. 

GRRM then has him meet Bran Stark, travel all the way to Braavos to say hello to Arya Stark, talk with Maester Aemon about Daenerys Targaryen, go to Old Town and is responsible for Marwyn going after Daenerys. Samwell may very well end up meeting Daenerys and Tyrion once they get to Westeros and even mediate the meeting between them and Jon Snow.

Sam the Slayer is also the only character to have killed an Other. There is every chance that he will also encounter Euron Greyjoy - another major antagonist - when he attacks Old Town. Maybe he even helps thwart Euron’s attack considering there are hints that Sam will be involved in the battle there.

Besides all this, Sam is important to GRRM as a character. He is one of the characters GRRM spontaneously talks about. He loves writing for Sam

GRRM interview:

So if Martin were on the show, which character would he be?

"I would probably be Samwell Tarly.  I love Sam, too. He's a great character," he said. "Tyrion might be who  I want to be, but Sam is probably closer to who I actually am. The fat  kid who likes to read books and doesn't like to go up a lot of stairs."

Both Sam and Tyrion love books mirroring GRRM’s love of books.

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." - Jojen Reed

GRRM was bullied as a kid:

Q: When you look back to George as a little boy, looking out on Staten Island, did you know little King Joffrey on the street?

A:  Oh there were a number of them, yeah. I was the shy kid, I was the  smart kid. There were also always bullies in school. People made life  miserable for the smart kids and the shy kids. So I think little Joffrey  was partly made up of all the bullies I knew in my life. -SSM Apr. 2014

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Tommy’s me . . . but no more than all the others. Robb is me in "Song for Lya," as Dirk is me in Dying of the Light . . . though Arkin Ruark and Jaan Antony in that one are both me as well. Abner Marsh is me, as his proud sidewheeler Fevre Dream  is the excursion boat to Far Rockaway, only the passengers drink blood  instead of Kool-Aid. Sandy Blair is J-school me, Peter Norten is chess  club me, Kenny Dorchester is me trying to lose weight. Holt in "The   Stone City," he’s the kid lying in the grass, staring up at distant   stars. Trager is me on a dark night of the soul, bleeding poison from   three wounds named Josie, Laurel, Rita. Jon Snow has me in him, and Sam Tarly. The women too, Lyanna and Shaara, and the girls, Arya and Adara .  . . Daenerys Stormborn, searching for that house with the red door. And  Tyrion Lannister? Oh, yes. The Imp is me in spades, the horny little  bastard - GRRM

I see Sam Tarly as being in the thick of things when important stuff happens in the last books. He will be most probably be instrumental in helping Jon Snow bring everyone together and provide them with the information needed to tackle the threat from beyond the wall.

#Samwell Tarly