6 Life Lessons From the Stark Family in 'Game of Thrones'
The Children of the North gained quite some wisdom over their journey
Game of Thrones is an enthralling book series, filled with life lessons to learn. This time, I delve into the noblest house: The Starks. Ned Stark’s children give us vital messages they captured during their perilous journey.
Here are some of them.
1) Rickon Stark: Life is not fair
In the books, we didn’t get to view life from Rickon Stark’s perspective because he was three, having little effect on the affairs surrounding him.
Yet, we can look at the poor boy’s life and derive the lesson that life is unfair to everyone.
In the first book, his mother ignored him for weeks over his elder brother, Bran. All his siblings travelled away except Robb, who himself stayed busy with the duties of a lord. Later, when Theon Greyjoy took over the North, he was forced to flee the castle in the harsh winters on Osha’s back.
These are some pretty harsh conditions for a boy who has just begun to understand the life around him.
Life is unfair like that. Accepting the fact and moving on is sanity.
2) Brandon Stark: Every flight begins with a fall
Everyone loved Brandon Stark; he was an adorable child.
Like his siblings, he had to suffer hardships as well. Not even eight, he had been flung down a window by the Lannisters and had come close to death.
While he was recovering, he was having dreams of a three-eyed crow who was urging him to fly, attempting to eradicate his fears.
Brandon could have fallen while he tried to spread his wings. He could have died and that would have been the end of his story. But, if he had not even tried to fly, he would have been stuck in his anxieties, his progress stagnated forever.
We are often in Bran’s shoes, facing a hard choice.
Failing is absolutely an option. But, you would rather learn a lesson and form plans for a second time with their help rather than never take a step towards progress.
Don’t fear failing. Every flight begins with a fall.
3) Arya Stark: Fear cuts deeper than swords
Arya Stark was not a proper lady.
She preferred swords to needles, fighting to sewing, punches to talks. I like Arya, for she didn’t hide her choices from society even though it frowned at her actions.
Arya’s master, Syrio, gives her this piece of advice that makes her achieve the impossible later:
Fear cuts deeper than swords.
Words are considered more powerful than swords for a reason.
Even though most of our fears are illogical, they still manage to run shivers down our spines. We have to remember that they don’t exist, however real they seem. They are just constructions of our minds. If we let them take control, they can hurt much worse than a blade.
Mind is the best servant and a terrible master. Keep it in its reigns by logic.
4) Sansa Stark: Keep your senses open and LEARN!
Once upon a time, the world (except me; she is my favourite character) hated Sansa with all its might because of the dumb mistakes she made. Her lovesickness blinded her to the truths. She betrayed her family for a tyrant who later tortured her and was responsible for her father’s death.
Ouch.
The realisation of her errors hurt.
But, Sansa didn’t let her past and naïve actions define the rest of her life. She admitted she was dumb, which only the bravest of people can do. Next, she put all her knowledge to use in surviving the court, while bestowing kindness. She kept her senses running, learning all she could from her vicinity.
A combination of these factors let her become the Queen of the North in the end.
Don’t let mistakes deter you. Rather, learn from them and things around to rebound.
5) Robb Stark: You can win all battles and STILL lose the war
Fate is a strange entity.
Like Rickon, we don’t get to see the world from Robb’s perspective. We watched his progress through his mother’s eyes.
Robb, a boy-king, started impressively. His subjects implored him to bow to no one after his father was killed. He agreed and began his campaign. Battle after battle, with his direwolf by his side, his wins kept mounting by his side. For once, it seemed that the good side was prevailing.
But, how could we have forgotten that George R. R. Martin was writing the books?
There are always consequences. Be ready to face them.
Robb made a teeny mistake that cost his head, his mother, and his kingdom — he wed the wrong girl! The Red Wedding was gruesome and amazing to read.
No victory is certain. No defeat is final.
6) Jon Snow: Friends are a priceless resource
(Technically, Jon is the illegitimate son, not a Stark. Since Ned Stark brought him up without any distinction, I have included him in this list.)
Jon Snow, sent to the Wall, spent the first few weeks alone, facing bullying and scorn from his fellows. He realised how wrong the assumptions of his future were. Slowly, he realised that they weren’t the only ones to blame for this enmity.
Jon offered to break the ice first. It worked.
Through his kind actions, he befriended boys like Pyp and Grenn, which stayed loyal to him to every end. Later, when he saw a coward boy getting bullied, he stepped up to put a stop to it. He gained Sam Tarly’s friendship as well.
In those cold and brutal winters, friendship was one of the reasons that the boys survived.
Friendship is a priceless item. Gaining it is hard, and maintaining it is harder, but it is worth the cost.
Suggested Read
This week, I suggest you to pick up the One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston.
This book made it to the list because of how different it proved to be from the contemporary romances — its conflict was fresh out of the oven, and the genre included light-fantasy/science-fiction elements as well.
Our protagonist, August, has no hope in life. She doesn’t expect things to become better when she shifts to New York. As all of us have thought, she believes that her life will be lonely and dejected forever, that she can’t extract anything out of the miracle of life, and that she would always be disconnected from the rest of the world.
Instead, things begin to turn for good.
She gains a found family consisting of unique individuals, full of possibilities and love for one another. I adored the wholesome and satisfying dynamics between the four of them.
More importantly, August’s heart gets to skip several beats every day, a feeling she thought she could never hold on to. She meets a girl with devastating cheekbones on the Q train almost every day. The goddess is Jane, who looks slightly out of her vicinity, though August can’t point out why.
Casey McQuiston’s relatable and sensual novel provides the last thing readers expect from a romance novel — a time travel twist with a murder mystery!
Jane’s been stuck on the Q train since the 1970s. August, an amateur detective, begins to investigate this mind-blowing case while also getting leads on her uncle, who has been missing for years.
Slowly, with the abundance of platonic love thrown on her with the required presence of Jane, August, the girl who never could fit in, finally understands what home means.
The book, full of comfortable representation of the LGBT+ community, queer people, and drag queens is a must-read!
Previous issues, in case you missed them: