A Storm of Swords Response 3- Power Starts Every Problem

I just finished A Storm of Swords, the third book in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  The most overwhelming theme is betrayal.  You can't trust anyone in these books!  No one!  Not even family!  Petyr Baelish pushed his own wife off a mountain for no reason at all!  Even the smallest insult can destroy so much.  The people of Westeros are very touchy.  No one laughs off a friendly jape, or pushes aside a slight.  A friendly jape means fighting among friends.  A slight means war.  A full-out insult?  That would be suicide for the insulter.  Most lords have a host of armed men waiting to kill the offending person,  and lowborn knights or sellswords would gut someone over a disagreement.

Power is a slippery thing.  It can be given, but it can be taken away.  Some don't know what to do with power when they get it.  The best example of this was Robert Baratheon- as he said, "winning this throne was a hundred times easier than sitting on it".   If Viserys Targaryen had ever been a king, he would have been the same.  All he spoke of was winning the throne, not what he'd do when he'd won it.  Viserys was betrayed by Ser Jorah (though he didn't know it at the time) because Ser Jorah was promised that he'd be able to return home (he had deserted the Night's Watch- the penalty for that is death).  So he spied on him and his sister, Daenerys.  When she found out, she exiled him (again), even thought he claimed he had stopped reporting to the king because he loved her, which may have been true.  This may have been a good idea in that she would be rid of a spy, but since betrayal is a theme, I fully expect him to go to the Lannisters and tell them Daenerys's plans.  It would have been wiser to imprison him.

Power.  In every story, every great epic, the hero is tested with power.  To take it when offered?  To take it when it does not belong to you?  To risk hundreds of lives for it?  Is it worth it?  Many may think so.  Personally, I don't.  Ned didn't.  Daenerys isn't sure.  Joffrey, however, thought it was worth it, no matter how many people had to die.  Often single combat is used to determine the outcome of a war. Supposedly, the winner had the gods on his side.  They do this because they figure, better one life than thousands.  Joffrey disagreed, and was extremely violent for a thirteen year old king.  Which is why I'm glad he was killed, but the way it was done!  It was done by the grandmother of his bride (Margaery Tyrell).  Olenna Tyrell poisoned his wine- or was it his pie?  I think it was the pie, although everyone else blames the wine- because she knew he'd be a terrible husband for Margaery.  And also because she was bribed.  With money, of course.  It's awful the way it works- the people with the military means have the power, and the people with the power have money.  The people with the money can afford to have a larger army.  The people with the money usually gained it through some sort of trickery.  Betrayal, power, deceit- it never ends.