Westeros! Essos!

GAME OF THROOOOONES! Akhirnya blogpost yang gue sempat janjikan di salah satu tweet gue tulis juga. Gue janji bahwa soon gue akan menulis sebuah postingan tentang karakter-karakter favorit gue di GoT. Pertama, mari kita basa-basi dulu.

Sudah cukup lama gue melihat fenomena bahwa para geek di linimasa Twitter gue jadi buzzer sukarela GoT. Since kesibukan kuliah gue menghambat gue menyaksikan HBO, gue gak tahu apa-apa tentang GoT sampai teman gue, Yohan (@brotherbear13) menohok gue dengan mengatakan bahwa 'lo geek palsu kalo gak nonton GoT'. Ya, not that I obviously declare myself as a true geek, tapi when it comes to TV series, I guess I should give it a try.

First impression? Pada tahulah. This series has an intolerable level of violence and nudity. Gue bukan mau sok alim, tapi kadang ada beberapa scene yang unbearable that I have to close my laptop lid halfway. But anyway, this is a well-crafted fantasy story. If you love Middle-Earth, you sure will love Game of Thrones (although both are much different). GoT is like LOTR - elf + zombies + TENSE POLITICS.

So here are three of my favorite GoT characters. Hail George R.R. Martin!

3. Arya Stark

Stick them with the pointy end.

The tomboi girl of Stark house, who doesn't love her? Pengenalan karakter Arya sangat obvious sejak awal: he prefer archery to knitting, sword-playing to clothes-folding. Arya menolak untuk menjadi gadis Stark feminin seperti kakaknya, Sansa. Sepanjang cerita, kita akan melihat bagaimana Arya Stark menjadi semakin kuat dengan tragedi-tragedi yang menimpa keluarganya.

My favorite parts of her? Tentu waktu Arya (or Arry) terpaksa jadi cup-bearer girl-nya Tywin Lannister di Harrenhal. Tiap kali season 2 masuk ke subplot yang itu, gue langsung deg-degan banget karena takut si Tywin sadar kalo Arya itu highborn girl. And I really enjoy the conversation she has with Tywin. Smart mouth she got there, eh?

2. Daenerys Stormborn (of House Targaryen)

*dragon screeching* why is Ser Jorah so annoying, Mom?

Slaves. They adore me a lot.

Mother of Dragons. Gue masih gak habis-habisnya terpukau dengan kecantikan si silver lady ini. Gue sama sekali gak tertarik dengan karakter Daenerys atau Dany di episode pertama, karena dia digambarkan cuma sebagai cewek lemah di bawah kuasa kakaknya yang meng-arrange perjodohannya dengan Khal Drogo. Sisi menarik dari Dany justru pertama kali muncul saat dia dan Khal Drogo mulai saling jatuh cinta. Menurut gue, hubungannya Dany-Drogo adalah salah satu relationship paling real di GoT, selain Tyrion-Shae dan Jon-Ygritte (my favorite!).

Daenerys adalah karakter dengan transformasi paling drastis dari awal sampai akhir. From only a weak girl to a Khaleesi to an ambitious Queen building her own army. I love the way she negotiates and deals with her enemies, the way she loves her dragons, as well as the way she always stick to her decision in spite of Ser Jorah's and Ser Barristan's advices. One thing that Jorah the Andal got very right is when he said to Daenerys, "you have a gentle heart". Daenerys is a super strategic-thinker woman I adore.

Gue belum baca novel-novel A Song of Ice and Fire, jadi gue gak tahu ending dari semua perebutan kekuasaan ini. But if I'm allowed to vote, I would vote for Dany to sit on the Iron Throne. She deserves it, this girl.

Additional note: Menurut gue si Dany bisa jatuh cinta sama Drogo karena Drogo jagoan cool-cool pendiam gitu. Shekh ma shieraki anni, Drogo...

3. Tyrion Lannister

You are mine. I am yours.

The Halfman! The Imp! I fall in love with him. Dinklage deserves that Emmy for 'Baelor' episode, he really does.

Tyrion, menurut gue, adalah karakter paling vulnerable di GoT. Ya, gimana gak vulnerable kalo setiap saat dia selalu ditekan dan diremehkan sama keluarganya sendiri?. Shae, the whore he falls in love with, is a genius additional character, karena kita sama-sama bisa ngelihat gimana Tyrion makin vulnerable saat jatuh cinta.

I also love Tyrion mainly because of his strategic thinking. Karena dia terlahir dengan satu kekurangan signifikan, yaitu sebagai dwarf (orang kerdil), he knows he can't fight with weapons, but he can use his brain. Tyrion reads a lot, that for sure. Dan bagian paling genius adalah skema yang dia susun untuk mencari siapa di antara tiga anggota small council (Lord Varys, Lord Baelish, Maester Pycelle) yang gak bisa dipercaya.

Tyrion jelas berbeda dari Lannister lainnya. Karena kekurangannya, dia punya gentle heart dan toleransi yang tinggi, terlihat sejak salah satu episode awal: Cripples, Bastards, and the Broken Things. He's nice to the Starks. And not to mention his smart sense of humor. Here's a dialogue from one of my favorite scene of Tyrion:

Cersei: We have strong high walls. We'll rain fire down on them from above. 
Tyrion "Rain fire on them from above?" You're quoting father aren't you? 
Cersei: And why not? He's a good mind for strategy doesn't he? 
Tyrion: (Sotto-voce: Call it tactics, not strategy), but yes, he does have a good mind for it!

So those are three of my favorite characters. Sebagai tambahan, gue juga punya opini singkat tentang Cersei Lannister.

Blond hair, smirk smile, smug face. It's hard to like her, isn't it? Tapi ada satu scene yang membuat gue jadi lebih toleran sama Cersei. It was her private dialogue at King's Landing with almarhum Ned Stark.

Cersei

Do you love your children?

Ned

With all my heart.

Cersei

No more than I love mine.

Ned

And they’re all Jaime’s.

Cersei

Thank the Gods. In the rare event that Rob leaves his whores for long enough to 

stumble drunk into my bed, I finish him off in other ways. In the morning he doesn’t

 remember…

Ned

You’ve always hated him.

Cersei

Hated him? I worshipped him. Every girl in the Seven Kingdoms dreamed of him, but 

he was mine by oath. And when I finally saw him on our wedding day in the Sept of Baelor, 

lean and fierce and black bearded, it was the happiest moment of my life. Then that night he 

crawled on top of me, stinking of wine, and did what he did, what little he could do, and 

whispered in my ear… Lyanna. Your sister was a corpse and I was a living girl and he loved 

her more than me.