There’s an endangered species in Westeros. It’s not Starks or men of the Night’s Watch or even dragons.
It’s mothers and their children.
The HBO series takes place in a brutal world where human lives are wantonly discarded, and no one has suffered more than the mothers of Game of Thrones.
You knew the show meant business when it closed out the first episode with Bran Stark being pushed out of a high tower window (though he survived) before it offed Mycah, the simple butcher’s son, the very next episode.
The vulnerable little ones have no shot, not when the writers are such sadists.
Cersei has lost all three of her kids — Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen — as dictated by a prophecy, while Catelyn Stark watched her son and her unborn grandchild killed before she was slit across the throat.
Selyse Baratheon despondently cried out for her only surviving child Shireen as she watched her daughter be willingly sacrificed before hanging herself out of guilt.
Ellaria not only had to live with the knowledge of Obera and Nymeria’s deaths, she was chained and forced to stare at Tyene die of poison before being left to die slowly next to the corpse of her dead child.
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All of Robert Baratheon’s bastards were hunted down and killed, and those poor tykes all had mothers. Walda Bolton and her newborn son were devoured by abused dogs — her only crime was to have Ramsey for a stepson.
And what do we make of Lysa Arryn, keen breastfeeder? Devoted to a weak son, widowed, only to then be outwitted and pushed out the moon door by Littlefinger.
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Yes, mothers and kids are endangered species in Game of Thrones.
Not that the social order of Westeros and Essos is particularly kind to anyone. It seems like the show is a tad too keen to sever any maternal bonds.
So, who’s left standing? Robin Arryn, awkward teen. And Gilly and baby Sam.
With the coming wars, both against the undead and the ruthless human ones, you can’t help but feel a great sense of jeopardy for Gilly and baby Sam, especially as they’re on the front lines in Winterfell.
They’ve already defied the odds, surviving Craster’s Keep, the wildling attack on the inn, the battle at Castle Black, Castle Black rapists, the icy disapproval of Sam’s highborn family and the mind-numbing boredom of the Citadel.
“They’ve gotten through a huge amount together,” Hannah Murray, who plays Gilly, told news.com.au. “But it has not been easy by any means.
“I think this show is not always nice to kids. I’ve had my cousin’s husband tell me he couldn’t watch the series initially because he said at the end of every episode something terrible happens to a child.
“Baby Sam is definitely at risk, but I think (Gilly and Sam) are doing everything they can to protect him. You couldn’t have better champions.”
Murray said the no-nonsense Gilly wouldn’t think very much of all this murderous jostling for the Iron Throne.
“Gilly probably thinks it’s a bit stupid — I don’t think she’d be very impressed by it at all. I think her desires are relatively simple. As long as she knows she’s safe and her baby is safe, she’s relatively happy.”
Here’s hoping Murray gets her wish for Gilly and baby Sam.
Game of Thrones returns for its final season on April 15 at 11am AEST on Foxtel and Foxtel Now
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