April 2021 – Page 2 – Enneagram and Encaustic

EDDARD STARK (BOOK), ONE

Book Ned has a lot more intel than TV Ned. Varys informs him that the tournament melee was going to have an assassin for Robert. Cersei openly forbade him from fighting, a devious way to get the king to insist. Only Ned being his brutally honest self diverted Robert. Ned’s consciousness of the swirling danger is much higher in this form and Ned seems smarter, more active. TV Ned seems like a well-meaning fool in comparison.

He has a duty to Robert, the realm, and the dead Hand Arryn to tell the king his children are not his offspring. The girls are booked on a ship home, and Ned will now speak. However, when the moment strikes, when Robert is deathly injured, Ned refuses to act. He’s offended at the suggestion. His sense of the flow of time and proper order for actions is completely out of sync with the reality of The Game. To be fair to Ned, grief plays a part in this. His best friend is dying.

Make your peace with the Lannisters, Littlefinger counsels. It’s really good advice, better than Renly’s more aggressive answer. Be the Protector of the Realm that Robert appointed you, basically. Guard and train the boy, build allies, position yourself. All the peace that Ned thinks he wants can be his. It’s reasonable and fair to all. But it’s treason. And wrongs have been done. Ned genuinely thinks he has no choice but Stannis and war. He never considers the kingdom, though, or the people in the streets. His choice will be the hardest on them.

Cersei, when the confrontation comes, offers him a deal similar to Littlefinger’s. Bend the knee, step down as Hand, and go home in peace. Does she mean it? She’s already ripped up the paper, removed his chance at Protector and shown how much power she believes she wields. She offers the deal in front of everyone. It might be an honest offer. Again, Ned underestimates her, but mostly he will refuse because of honor. He also completely misunderstands Littlefinger, who turns on him. And the letter he wrote to Stannis, committing his intentions to paper, is captured with his seal on it. What a blithering idiot.

More Salvation

We continue to investigate the cult. Skeletons appear at night and attack people on the roads. With a key we access a different part of the catacombs to discover another meeting. No Elysion this time, but some other believer leads them. They use their own followers as fodder for their dark arts. “Bone warriors wrought from living men are stronger than those come from corpses.”

It’s all part of preparing for the dragon and the chaos.

Toadette

Our girl from Mariokart 8. Since the internet, for some inexplicable reason, has few Toadette screengrabs, let me also include the original for others to find.

The original is so colorful. I almost regret how I covered the pink castle with encaustic layers. What do you think: Did I put the focus rightly on the toon, or did I lose the charm?

The Storm

ONE

The episode opens with Aang’s dream. The animation is in an altered style; we can tell right away that something’s not normal. Aang happily flying on Appa, with Katara on a overlarge Momo and Sokka using the air glider, is actually disturbing. The state of the world is unsettling. Aang’s mind is not at peace.

And I find this One unsettling. I don’t care that it’s weird. I’m bothered by how random the beat feels. This is too much information, too many feelings for us and them, for a One.

TWO

Part of the dream is a threatening cloud and a memory of the water bubble Aang made in the Avatar State. This aligns with the Eight. Now we have a solid beat.

THREE

And then we’re in confusion again. I don’t think there’s a Three. Katara asks if Aang’s okay and we see their campsite. This is normally how this show hits the One: establish their location. They’ve reversed the One and Three, subverted our expectations, in order to emphasize the uneasy feeling. I understand this intention, but I don’t think they’ve succeeded with it.

The next moment is a Sokka bit, which has been a go-to Three/Six for this series, but it doesn’t align with anything later.

The Verdict

One of our required tasks has been to find evidence in a trial against Fournival. He’s a financier who may or may not be treasonous. This quest lasts for days in game time. I get all the documents and even escort in the witness. Just as a spoiler: I’m pretty sure that the witness is the key between guilty and innocent. The affidavits are busy work. I do it all, though.

Fournival is acquitted. I’m not sure if this has any meaning to the story, but it’s a quest that can’t be ignored. Why is he so critical? Well, the crown isn’t happy he’s loose, although they abide by the law. When he’s declared guilty he disappears from gameplay, imprisoned. So does his shop, which has almost nothing except one or two endgame items that are otherwise unavailable. Maybe the answer is that simple. You want some kind of magical one-shot arrow? Save Fournival.

EDDARD STARK (TV), SIX

He’s honest and doomed. He gets all the best scenes: with Baratheon he mysteriously reflects on his dead sister and his own past, with Jon he mysteriously hints at the truth about Jon’s mother, with Cat he parts from her in King’s Landing in a sincere way that breaks your heart if you know what’s coming.

Of course he’s lovable. He brings Arya the dancing master. He takes responsibility with honor when trouble comes, executing Sansa’s direwolf himself as a creature of the North, of his people. And his insistence, regardless of the obvious danger, in pursuing the truth, in investigating Arryn’s death, is admirable. He’s so honest he doesn’t stand a chance.

He’s such a Six, the ultimate trooper. He takes honor and rides it into the ground. In prison Varys visits, trying to persuade him to bend the knee. What about the realm? What about your children? He says he must stick to what’s right. Joffrey is not the blood heir. The one thing Ned’s good at, being Robert’s friend, is ruined when he changes the king’s last official declaration.

Ned’s final moment is an awkward confession. I don’t believe his character would do this and we aren’t shown his decision moment that would explain this. It seems a manipulation, a heart pull on the audience, to trick us into thinking that Ned could eke out survival. Clumsy writing, though.

I’ll have more complete thoughts about Book Ned. During this re-watch/re-read I’ve grown to despise a character I used to admire. It’s been quite interesting.

OPPOSITE DAY

ONE

A clamshell rooster crows, and we dissolve from the Easter Island head to Squidward asleep.

TWO

A quiet giggling awakens him and he throws back the covers. Yikes! Spongebob and Patrick in party gear lie next to him. Happy Birthday! Hahaha, wow is that disturbing.

THREE

A montage of singing, partying shots follow. Throughout, Squidward is stone-faced. When they leave he finally reacts, yelling after them, “It’s not my birthday!”

ROBERT BARATHEON (BOOK), EIGHT

Robert carries all his grief over Lyanna, all his sense of hurt and injustice, as an excuse to do as he pleases. If she had lived, he could have been a better man, or at least so he tells himself. But because he’s been harmed he has license to live freely.

The Sellsword King. That’s his dream. He loves the fight and hates the crown he won with it. Only the thought of Joffrey as king stops him from haring off.

“Defiance was not a dish he tasted often.” Why is Robert so insistent on killing Daenerys, even against the counsel of his friend and Hand? He hates being king, yet he’ll fight to stay. He hates the Targaryens even more. What a tragic figure. Lyanna’s death, and his understanding of their relationship, drives him in unconscious ways. Ned, sworn to secrecy, never feels responsible for letting his friend continue on like this. However, Ned also knows that Lyanna never seriously considered Robert as a true prospective husband. She says that love “can never change a man’s nature”, and Robert’s nature is to sleep around. Denial, if not defiance, was something he rarely experienced even before he was king.

As in the show, Robert backhands Cersei and regrets it after. He uses the oldest excuse — “you see what she does to me” — of blaming the struck for getting hit. It’s funny, I always liked Robert but he’s quite despicable. If he can’t beat on something he has no idea what to do. Fighting, winning the kingdom, were his destiny. He’s a terrible king, though, and a rotten husband. Sometimes he’s Ned’s good friend and sometimes he’s confused by his role as king and leaves Ned to twist. This is a character written to die. His conflict can’t be resolved.

Before becoming king Robert was like a warrior god: tall, muscled, wielding the warhammer and wearing an antlered helm that made him tower over others. Robert’s last act, his stand against the boar, is described as another physical feat. His custom is to plant himself and curse at the boar, thrusting for the kill at the last moment. These are the actions of a Body Type. He’s too imposing to be a One, so we’re looking at an Eight or Nine.

He loves the fight too much to be a Nine. As an Eight, he would impress people that he could be their leader, that he would make a good king. They would be wrong.

Griffin!

A rare monster that only appears at certain times and in certain places, the griffin is a treat to fight. We got one! If I’m not on a build that shoots a bow, I won’t hurt it and it won’t land.

When it does land, I jump on it and hold for dear life as it rises again, stabbing as I go. The tricksy thing will fly away, even injured. Once our mage sets it on fire, I know the battle is ours.

The Great Divide

ONE

Sokka sets up a tent, casting the rain tarp aside.

TWO

Katara, carrying some kindling, questions his judgment. Sokka fights back, telling her to worry about her own job. Aang, as the Avatar peacemaker, comes between them and suggests they switch tasks. How can people who disagree get along, and can Aang actually help them reach accord? That’s the Trouble.

THREE

Appa and Momo also fight over a piece of fruit. It’s hilarious because Appa, giant bison, holds the melon in place with his toe while Momo, small mammal, goes all ballistic on trying to free it. Aang halves the fruit, sharing it out.

This is basically a repeat of the Two, so why is it the Three? Well, first, it’s what comes next (and the material after that is clearly Four-ish). Second, food is part of the struggle in this episode and recurs in a Six-ish way. Mostly, though, I’m reaching.