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Jan. 19th, 2012 06:20 am→ Character Information ←
→ Character Name: Catelyn Stark
→ Canon: ASoIaF
→ Canon Point: Directly after releasing Jaime Lannister. She's been notified of her sons' deaths, and has recently been placed under house arrest by her brother, Edmure.
→ Personality:
Catelyn is a precarious balance of strength and demureness. She grew up a daughter of Riverrun, the eldest child of Hoster Tully and Minisa Whent, and as such learned how to be a proper lady. Less prim and prickly than her sister, Lysa, Cat proved that she could keep up with the boys of her father's bannermen. As a girl, she was full of life and enthusiasm. Over the years, that enthusiasm has hardened into a mettle that means that she will do anything, anything, to protect her family. She does place value in honor, as her late husband did and her eldest boy does, but the safety and happiness of her kin will always be more important to Cat.
Many people don't recognize her strength. Ned did, which was one of the many reasons she loved him so fiercely. Cat is a woman ready to catch a dagger with her bare hands to protect her child, to arrest one of the wealthiest men in all of Westeros to avenge her boy, and to spend day in and day out offering advice to a son who ignores her because she is too devoted to him to leave. Her love for her family does blind her to a point, but that she was able to release the man who paralyzed her son in the interest of having her daughters returned to her is a testament to her good sense. Her weakness lies in denying the people she loves.
That being said, Cat has no causes of her own, no real ambition. She supports the people around her. An embodiment of The Mother, a goddess of The Seven, her lack of selfishness has crippled her. Upon moving to The North, she tried to overhaul her identity, to let go of the life she'd known as a Tully and become a Stark. She's never made that transformation and the loneliness it has left her with weighs heavily on Cat. It's no wonder she's closest to Robb and Sansa, the two children with the most Tully in them. All her children are well-loved but, though she would never admit it, Cat does have her favorites.
There's a deep-seated thirst for revenge in Cat, but she manages to keep it bottled up. Instead, she extols justice and holds herself to a strict moral code. It would have been so very easy to have Jaime Lannister put to death or to leave Brienne to hang. Her conscience is as much a liability as it is a virtue and secretly Cat waits for the day when she can finally let it go.
News of her sons' deaths at the hand of her husband's ward reached Cat when she was at camp with Robb. As such, she handled the news as stoically as she could. Appearing strong in front of her children is incredibly important to Cat. Her father instilled their house words in her: Family, Duty, Honor. They must always come in that order. Though inside she's aching with grief, she has to support her dwindling family. It's more important than ever that they stay together, as a pack.
→ History:
Echoing Robb's player to say that westeros.org is a problematic source, but it does a good job of recounting what happens in canon. Here is Catelyn's page.
→ Abilities:
Catelyn's abilities are almost strictly interpersonal. In Westerosi society, it's uncommon for a woman to train or be talented in anything outside of the domestic sphere. Catelyn is a fine seamstress, decent on horseback, well-versed in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, and has a mind for politics. Her list of abilities is short because first and foremost she is a mother and was a wife. Taking excellent care of her family is an ability she very much possesses, though many take it for granted.
→ Strengths:
Completely devoted to family and friends, sees the forest for the trees, tactful, warm-hearted, just.
→ Weaknesses:
Cares more for others than herself to the point of martyrdom, terrible at making people listen to her, repressed, very few physical skills to speak of, easily made uncomfortable by unfamiliar situations (read: it's gonna get real when she wakes up).
→ First Person Sample:
[Video]
[Catelyn is disheveled. Her long, auburn hair hangs in tangles around her face and her eyes rove as she tries to understand how the communicator works. The picture shakes in time with her hands.]
I will not be reduced to a madwoman in a tower. This is a delusion. Some serving girl loyal to my brother has laced my food with milk of the poppy. I refuse- [She winces and her voice quavers.] I am speaking to myself. It's only natural that I want for conversation after so long on my own. Yet, words are wind.
[Clenching her jaw, she leans towards the strange contraption.] My daughters must come home, safe. Do you hear me? Find them and the King in the North, my son, will reward you.
→ Third Person Sample:
The beach was terrifying. The waves breaking violently against the shore at high tide were every bit as overwhelming as the whistles, bright lights, screams coming from the boardwalk. Catelyn understood none of it. She'd watched the ocean from King's Landing, but it had seemed so calm. An arabesque of ripples that she could lose herself in was infinitely preferable to the salty, angry spray of this beach. She was a daughter of the river, not the sea. Still wearing the strange clothes she'd been released from the hospital in, Cat sunk to her knees. The water was meant to comfort her. She'd missed it for so long.
What sort of world had she created in her madness? There was no doubt in her mind that she remained in Riverrun, locked in her room on her brother's wishes. As a child, Petyr had always designed their fantasies. He would invent the dragon they rode upon, the foreign kingdom they ruled together. Catelyn's imagination had died before it took its first breath. How, then, was all this so real?
Did the servants pity her? Did they brush her hair, ignoring her rambling? Clenching her fists in the sand, she fought the urge to mutter in protest. 'I'm capable of seeing to myself. I'm no southron girl.' But there was no comb in her hair, only the sea wind calcifying her long, soft locks. Catelyn rose, her mouth set in a firm line as she said her goodbye to the beach. Perhaps a daughter of Pyke might have felt at home, but she longed for fresh water. With each step she took, she wondered if she would be brought back to reality. The stone stairs that lead to her room were steep. What a horror to return to sanity only to experience the fall. Still Catelyn kept walking. If she could not leave her quarters, at least she could be free in her mind.
→ Character Name: Catelyn Stark
→ Canon: ASoIaF
→ Canon Point: Directly after releasing Jaime Lannister. She's been notified of her sons' deaths, and has recently been placed under house arrest by her brother, Edmure.
→ Personality:
Catelyn is a precarious balance of strength and demureness. She grew up a daughter of Riverrun, the eldest child of Hoster Tully and Minisa Whent, and as such learned how to be a proper lady. Less prim and prickly than her sister, Lysa, Cat proved that she could keep up with the boys of her father's bannermen. As a girl, she was full of life and enthusiasm. Over the years, that enthusiasm has hardened into a mettle that means that she will do anything, anything, to protect her family. She does place value in honor, as her late husband did and her eldest boy does, but the safety and happiness of her kin will always be more important to Cat.
Many people don't recognize her strength. Ned did, which was one of the many reasons she loved him so fiercely. Cat is a woman ready to catch a dagger with her bare hands to protect her child, to arrest one of the wealthiest men in all of Westeros to avenge her boy, and to spend day in and day out offering advice to a son who ignores her because she is too devoted to him to leave. Her love for her family does blind her to a point, but that she was able to release the man who paralyzed her son in the interest of having her daughters returned to her is a testament to her good sense. Her weakness lies in denying the people she loves.
That being said, Cat has no causes of her own, no real ambition. She supports the people around her. An embodiment of The Mother, a goddess of The Seven, her lack of selfishness has crippled her. Upon moving to The North, she tried to overhaul her identity, to let go of the life she'd known as a Tully and become a Stark. She's never made that transformation and the loneliness it has left her with weighs heavily on Cat. It's no wonder she's closest to Robb and Sansa, the two children with the most Tully in them. All her children are well-loved but, though she would never admit it, Cat does have her favorites.
There's a deep-seated thirst for revenge in Cat, but she manages to keep it bottled up. Instead, she extols justice and holds herself to a strict moral code. It would have been so very easy to have Jaime Lannister put to death or to leave Brienne to hang. Her conscience is as much a liability as it is a virtue and secretly Cat waits for the day when she can finally let it go.
News of her sons' deaths at the hand of her husband's ward reached Cat when she was at camp with Robb. As such, she handled the news as stoically as she could. Appearing strong in front of her children is incredibly important to Cat. Her father instilled their house words in her: Family, Duty, Honor. They must always come in that order. Though inside she's aching with grief, she has to support her dwindling family. It's more important than ever that they stay together, as a pack.
→ History:
Echoing Robb's player to say that westeros.org is a problematic source, but it does a good job of recounting what happens in canon. Here is Catelyn's page.
→ Abilities:
Catelyn's abilities are almost strictly interpersonal. In Westerosi society, it's uncommon for a woman to train or be talented in anything outside of the domestic sphere. Catelyn is a fine seamstress, decent on horseback, well-versed in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, and has a mind for politics. Her list of abilities is short because first and foremost she is a mother and was a wife. Taking excellent care of her family is an ability she very much possesses, though many take it for granted.
→ Strengths:
Completely devoted to family and friends, sees the forest for the trees, tactful, warm-hearted, just.
→ Weaknesses:
Cares more for others than herself to the point of martyrdom, terrible at making people listen to her, repressed, very few physical skills to speak of, easily made uncomfortable by unfamiliar situations (read: it's gonna get real when she wakes up).
→ First Person Sample:
[Video]
[Catelyn is disheveled. Her long, auburn hair hangs in tangles around her face and her eyes rove as she tries to understand how the communicator works. The picture shakes in time with her hands.]
I will not be reduced to a madwoman in a tower. This is a delusion. Some serving girl loyal to my brother has laced my food with milk of the poppy. I refuse- [She winces and her voice quavers.] I am speaking to myself. It's only natural that I want for conversation after so long on my own. Yet, words are wind.
[Clenching her jaw, she leans towards the strange contraption.] My daughters must come home, safe. Do you hear me? Find them and the King in the North, my son, will reward you.
→ Third Person Sample:
The beach was terrifying. The waves breaking violently against the shore at high tide were every bit as overwhelming as the whistles, bright lights, screams coming from the boardwalk. Catelyn understood none of it. She'd watched the ocean from King's Landing, but it had seemed so calm. An arabesque of ripples that she could lose herself in was infinitely preferable to the salty, angry spray of this beach. She was a daughter of the river, not the sea. Still wearing the strange clothes she'd been released from the hospital in, Cat sunk to her knees. The water was meant to comfort her. She'd missed it for so long.
What sort of world had she created in her madness? There was no doubt in her mind that she remained in Riverrun, locked in her room on her brother's wishes. As a child, Petyr had always designed their fantasies. He would invent the dragon they rode upon, the foreign kingdom they ruled together. Catelyn's imagination had died before it took its first breath. How, then, was all this so real?
Did the servants pity her? Did they brush her hair, ignoring her rambling? Clenching her fists in the sand, she fought the urge to mutter in protest. 'I'm capable of seeing to myself. I'm no southron girl.' But there was no comb in her hair, only the sea wind calcifying her long, soft locks. Catelyn rose, her mouth set in a firm line as she said her goodbye to the beach. Perhaps a daughter of Pyke might have felt at home, but she longed for fresh water. With each step she took, she wondered if she would be brought back to reality. The stone stairs that lead to her room were steep. What a horror to return to sanity only to experience the fall. Still Catelyn kept walking. If she could not leave her quarters, at least she could be free in her mind.
