# Game of Thrones 3.07 "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" 5/12/13 No book spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162 "2013-05-12T17:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/81 "2013-05-13T18:28:26Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > It’s nice to see that Bart the Bear is getting work at his age. [Tragically, Bart the Bear died in 2000.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Bear) [That was Little Bart.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Bart_the_Bear#Little_Bart) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/82 "2013-05-13T18:31:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > OK, what Dany’s brother said was obviously outrageous but he was nuts about getting his throne back. But the rest of it, the idea of marrying off your sister or your daughter to someone for strategic or military gain, sounds like what happened throughout Europe for centuries. Well, Dany didn’t know about European history. \* She\* just remembered her creepy brother selling her to a barbarian… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/83 "2013-05-13T18:35:54Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Shoot - maybe I should hold off watching until the season is done and then take them all on in one weekend That’s why I like when HBO does their entire season marathons. The show plays much better as a ten hour movie with intermissions. > [@tim-n-va](#): > > Yes. I see that as if the Secretary of Defense wanted the President to come to the Pentagon for national security briefings. He’s not the President. He’s a hereditary king. If conflicting orders come from Tywin and Jeofrey, who do you think the men will follow? Their beloved, unstable tyrant or the man who pays them? Westeros isn’t really a society based on “laws” written down on paper. It’s a society based on power. Ned Stark had a piece of paper. How did that work out for him? Heck, even their most heinous crime of “king slaying” is mostly frowned upon. > [@Sampiro](#): > > One of my favorite things about GoT is Robert’s bloated playboy incompetence. So many myths and epics end with the handsome young rebel winning the crown and the lady, this one picks up a decade+ later. It would be kind of like following up STAR WARS where Leia and Han have become Eleanor and Henry from The Lion in Winter (“Do you ever wonder if I slept with Luke?”). Yeah…unfortunately we might actually see that in the upcoming Star Wars sequels. Ford can pull of Han as an old grizzled general (sort of like the one he’s playing in Endors Game or played in Cowboy’s & Aliens). But I think Leia’s a long way from her golden bikini days. Although I think a bloated wine-swilling bitter, old Leia might be fun.😃 > [@clairobscur](#): > > Some lines I loved : > > “How do you know all this? Did your mother teach you?” > > “You’ll end up the most popular dead man in town” > > “You pay me to kill people who bother you. Evil notions come free” (I like this actor/character a lot, by the way) “How many lives have you saved, Kingslayer?” “Half a million…the entire population of King’s Landing.” ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/84 "2013-05-13T18:37:55Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I get the impression that Theon’s tormentor, if not a professional, is certainly a torture hobbyist. I was refrring to the hot naked chicks. When they went to cut off Theon’s Greyjoy, the hot naked chicks started giggling. I doubt they are professional (or even hobbyist) torturers so it seemed weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/85 "2013-05-13T19:29:35Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > OK, what Dany’s brother said was obviously outrageous but he was nuts about getting his throne back. But the rest of it, the idea of marrying off your sister or your daughter to someone for strategic or military gain, sounds like what happened throughout Europe for centuries. > > Well, Dany didn’t know about European history. \* She\* just remembered her creepy brother selling her to a barbarian… My point was merely that this sort of thing went on in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/86 "2013-05-13T19:33:23Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > The link starts right on Charles Dance. Hmmm. Not on my setup. (System 7, Chrome.) ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/87 "2013-05-13T19:44:53Z")
p.s. that clip is NSFW - naughty language. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/88 "2013-05-13T19:51:05Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > Care to be more specific? I have no interest in sitting through an hour-and-a-half video in the hopes of a random Tywin sighting. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3POYx6IeeI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3POYx6IeeI) is a better place to go. Yeah, that’s what I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/89 "2013-05-13T19:55:46Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > My point was merely that this sort of thing went on in the real world. It goes on in Westeros too. How much cognizance of his children’s feelings did Tywin take when he told Dany to marry Loras and Tywin to marry Sansa … or of their prospective spouses’ feelings? My point is that this sort of thing is normal and natural for aristocracy in Westoros. Now Dany may have felt her brother had treated her badly and used her, but there’s nothing to make her identify with slaves because of it … it’s normal noble behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/90 "2013-05-13T20:02:55Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I was refrring to the hot naked chicks. When they went to cut off Theon’s Greyjoy, the hot naked chicks started giggling. I doubt they are professional (or even hobbyist) torturers so it seemed weird to me. It doesn’t seem especially surprising that the women were amused by Theon’s plight. Their society, by and large, doesn’t protect or acknowledge the rights of people outside of one’s own group. Even within a group, things are iffy; the pecking order is held together by the threat of personal violence (not the state-monopolized kind). Bear baiting and public executions are popular family diversions. Theon’s an out-group prisoner who’s obviously not even worth ransoming. He’s only good for entertainment purposes. The fact that he’s a prince and semi-well known only makes his ignominious treatment more entertaining for his tormentors. How well would those women have fared if Theon’s men had occupied their village/castle/whatever? Or anybody’s men, for that matter? > [@mozchron](#): > > [Tragically, Bart the Bear died in 2000.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_the_Bear) [That was Little Bart.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Bart_the_Bear#Little_Bart) Bummer. The kid is good, though. He had me convinced that someone was going to be bear chow. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/91 "2013-05-13T20:25:35Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > Followed by the spin-off _You Know Nothin, Jon Snow_, which brings back the classic laugh track and has each episode ending with the feisty red-headed love interest saying the titular line with the studio audience chanting along. > > **“YOU KNOW NOTHING, JON SNOW!”** [cue credits] [I found the theme song…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua4awjJEngg) ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/92 "2013-05-13T20:30:28Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The Grand Maester (Pycelle)- religious and assorted domestic affairs Nitpick: Maesters are more of a science/scholarly advisor, they are unrelated to the church. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/93 "2013-05-13T20:31:49Z")
Bears are so adorable. Tis pity they’re godless mindless engines of carnage. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/94 "2013-05-13T20:45:44Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > Nitpick: Maesters are more of a science/scholarly advisor, they are unrelated to the church. Incidentally, do we know much at all about the religion of the average Westerosian? Melissandre, the Brotherhood and Jaqen(? I’m not sure about that one) are all, to varying degrees, religious fanatics about this Lord of Light thing. (I rather like someone’s suggestion last thead that the LoL doesn’t exist–the reason we see “his” power manifesting in such radically different ways among his followers is that they’re manifesting their own natural abilities, then pointing a finger at the sky like an NBA or NFL player. :D) The Starks, we learned way back in the day, follow the “Old Gods”. We saw evidence of this about once, in a two minute scene that involved a tree with a face on or something. We have since heard absolutely zip about the Old Gods. The Dothraki seem to have some sort of kinda religious thing going on. At least, they have prophecies(?) about a stallion humping the world or some shit. (One wonders how they decided that Kings Landing was the vulva of the world, but I digress.) I can’t really remember what the wildlings have going on, but I think not much. And I think we’ve seen exactly no evidence of religious faith or ceremony in the lives of the other characters. Have I got this pretty much right? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/95 "2013-05-13T20:50:28Z")
There is also “the seven” that the rest of westeros worship: the mother, the father, the warrior, the stranger, the maid, the crone and the smith i think. Sam sung a song about them a couple episode ago and Stannis burnt their statues to his sword back at the start of season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/96 "2013-05-13T21:08:30Z")
I wonder if we’re going to see the sorcerer who came C.O.D. to Varys again. It could be a nice “dueling banjoes” torture exchange twixt him and Theon. > [@DigitalC](#): > > There is also “the seven” that the rest of westeros worship: the mother, the father, the warrior, the stranger, the maid, the crone and the smith i think. Sam sung a song about them a couple episode ago and Stannis burnt their statues to his sword back at the start of season 2. The seven worship is reflected in lots of subtle ways. Notice that the stars in the palace at King’s Landing and elsewhere are seven pointed, the priest (including the one ripped apart in the riot) is called a _Sept_on and one of the whores servicing Theon mentioned her training to be a _sept_a (something like a nun devoted to The Seven). It’s a cool way of working it into lots of scenes. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/97 "2013-05-13T21:14:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > There is also “the seven” that the rest of westeros worship: the mother, the father, the warrior, the stranger, the maid, the crone and the smith i think. Sam sung a song about them a couple episode ago and Stannis burnt their statues to his sword back at the start of season 2. This is the area where the no-book-spoilers rule is trickiest… there’s some general background knowledge about things like this which is clearly not at all intended to be a secret or surprising or anything, but which is spelled out much more clearly in the books than in the series. (There was a similar situation way back at the beginning of the series when book readers very clearly knew who Rob, Jon Snow and Theon were, and TV viewers didn’t, but it wasn’t supposed to be a surprise or anything… should book readers have held back from clarifying things?) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/98 "2013-05-13T21:17:48Z")
Someone ran a non-spoiler background thread during season 2 for these sorts of questions, it might make it easier to start something like that (easier in the sense of avoiding disputes over what’s spoiler, what’s background, etc) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/99 "2013-05-13T21:18:24Z")
Everything i mentioned is strictly from the show. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162/100 "2013-05-13T21:19:49Z")
Ah yes, that does sound sort of vaguely familiar. I get the impression that its importance for the vast majority of Westerosi is roughly equivalent to the role of religion in modern western life, rather than the all-dominating force that it was in the actual Middle Ages. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-3-07-the-bear-and-the-maiden-fair-5-12-13-no-book-spoilers/658162.md?page=6)