“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge” or if A Girl is to remember all the Game of Thrones lore necessary to understand the final season after the show took a year off. I spent the first couple months of the year finally sinking my teeth into George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels in anticipation of the final season (THIS SUNDAY!!!!!) and as someone who jumped from show to book I cannot tell you how much I recommend doing it in that order.

The books start out familiar if you’re coming from the show with the first book and the first season lining up so nicely, I actually found myself mixing the two in my head. By the fifth book though, it’s like it’s a different world. It’s so fascinating to see what the show changed, left out and simplified. For as much flack as the show gets for being dense, it’s nothing compared to the books. There are characters and storylines I kind of wished had made it into the show (Jon Connington and Arianne Martell) and characters that I’m cool with them having left out (all the other Tyrell siblings).

The books and the show are parallel versions of the same story with the same broad strokes. The similarities that exist this far in are due in part to the faithful adaptation of the first book. That’s where Martin lays out the big themes of the series, the ideas that drive the story from page one onward.

There’s a lot of fun to be had reading through A Game of Thrones if you know who Jon’s parents are, especially Ned’s chapters. But I feel like a lot of times, the unanswered questions of the series dominate the conversation. The fact that people figured out, and could come to a broad consensus, on Jon’s parentage before the official reveal shows that Martin isn’t hiding things. It’s less of a puzzle and more of a scavenger hunt when it comes to plot. The same is true of the series’ prevailing themes and that’s a scavenger hunt that might just give us some clues on how it’s all going to end.

So before the final season begins, I’ll be going through the ASOIAF books and highlighting a few favorite quotes/passages, reminiscing on Westeros before the show’s return, and seeing if Martin’s books can lend any insights into what’s to come.

Let’s start with a quote that shows up in the first book and in the show, albeit in different ways:

“When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.” — Ned Stark

It all really does come back to Ned Stark, doesn’t it? Dead since episode 9 and still one of the game’s most important players. This quote from one of Arya’s chapters is what I consider one of Martin’s guiding light philosophies for the story. The importance of alliances and teamwork gets increasing important as the dead march closer. Over the past couple of seasons, the show has rewarded characters who saw the importance of alliances, who saw the value of family and friends. These are the characters focused on Westeros’s real fight, the war with the Night King.

Sansa and Jon used their familial connections and political connections to unite the North, Vale and Wildlings and won back Winterfell and the North. Arya faced a choice at the Crossroads: go to Winterfell or go on a one-woman assassination adventure. She chose going North and reunited with her family. Sansa, Arya and Bran unite their skills to kill Littlefinger, the man who “turns family against family, sister against sister.”

Dany had to choose between fighting the Night King or fighting for the throne. Her allies who pushed her to fight for the throne (Olenna Tyrell, Ellaria Sand) were arguably punished by the narrative. Noticeably at the point of their defeat, the Targaryen forces are divided, with no true consensus about how to move forward. The Lannister forces, by contrast at this point of the narrative, are united behind the same goal. Dany herself is initially hesitant until she loses one of her children. Whether or not her choice to fight for the North will be rewarded is still up in the air, but she did get a loyal ally in Jon out of it and maybe more.

Which brings me to the rest of Ned’s quote: “You may be as different as the sun and the moon, but the same blood flows through both your hearts. You need her, as she needs you…” Ned is talking to Arya, telling her to be nicer to Sansa, but the idea of strength from diversity of thought weaves through the narrative. Sun and moon, north and south, ice and fire. Only together can they stop the Night King’s endgame from coming to fruition. The Wildlings have made a tentative peace with a North, the North has made allies with the South. Martin and the showrunners have also validated a literal interpretation of Ned’s quote, emphasizing the theme of family uniting and standing together. Dany and Jon’s alliance gives them a stronger military force than Cersei, more knowledge about the Long Night and the expertise to fight it. There’s a united vision from the top down amongst the Targaryen/Stark alliance toward a greater goal for the good of Westeros. Cersei’s goal is her’s alone, with no regard for those she sees as beneath her.

And as the alliance between House Targaryen and House Stark gets stronger, House Lannister grows weaker. Tyrion starts the season 7 on a different team and as the season goes on Jamie switches sides as well. “Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I’ll sleep more easily by night,” Jamie said in A Game of Thrones. Season 8 Jamie probably feels differently, that he’d rather have honorable allies than ambitious ones. He might not be sleeping very well at night when it comes to fighting Cersei later in the season though.

Sansa and Arya’s final scenes of the season centered on this quote, bringing it full circle and signaling just how strong the Stark family is as a unit. Ned Stark’s philosophy has been the series’ north star. That seems to bode well for House Targaryen, House Stark and their allies and maybe not so well for Cersei. All of Westeros seems to be uniting against her. I doubt a lone lion will fare any better than a wolf.

Part Two: Clash of Kings and The House of The Completely Different Vision