Jon Connington - ASOIAF Character Analysis

where would your billion is Far and Away the most influential event that has taken place in the recent past of A Song of Ice and Fire this conflict erupted due to The Madness of a king and it saw the nearly three century-olds Targaryen Dynasty fall from Power following the death of prince rhaegar in the sack of King's Landing Robert Baratheon the Man For Whom the rebellion was named won the iron throne and the conflict that laid the foundations of the modern story Drew to an end however vestiges of this conflict remain one man a hand of the king who served aerys II was left to Stew in bitterness hatred and regret for nearly two decades at the time of the main story this Lord re-emerges ready to right the wrongs caused by Robert's rebellion and place a rightful Targaryen King on the iron throne today we'll be examining Lord John connington as a character assessing his history his potential future trajectory and his thematic significance to the story as a whole and analyzing why exactly he's my favorite point of view character in A Song of Ice and Fire John connington the eldest son of Lord Armand connington was born in the year 260 AC in his youth John was sent to Squire in King's Landing alongside then Prince rhaegar Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne the two of them soon formed a close brand of friendship and this Bond proved crucial both to Robert's rebellion and to connington's Life as a whole it's hinted that John's love for rhaegar was more than just platonic and George R.R Martin himself has already confirmed that connington was indeed in love with his silver Prince the fact that this romantic Club was unrequited did not diminish its strength as connington's emotional core still revolves around his feelings regarding Prince rhaegar one important memory that the reader gets to see from John's early life comes from rhaegar's visit to the connington castle Griffin's Roost John looks back on this moment with fondness and regret when he eventually retakes this castle in A Dance with Dragons both rhaegar and Jon were young adults at the start of Robert's Rebellion rhaegar went off to make prophecy babies and Jon was named hand of the king during one of King heiress's famous bouts of paranoia Aries wanted someone vigorous and strong as his hand the Taiwan Lannister who himself had previously held the position thought the connington was too young and too headstrong Taiwan may have been correct in both of those assertions despite the reservations of other Lords Lord connington soon set out to prove his strength and win glory for himself and for the crown he promised Ares Targaryen and Robert's head on a spike and set off into the riverlands and stormlands to find the rebel their paths eventually crossed the small town of Stoney sept in an event that is recounted in one of John's point of view chapters in A Dance with Dragons quote Robert wrathian had been hiding somewhere in the town wounded and alone John Coddington had known that and he had also known that Robert's Head Upon a spear would have put an end to the Rebellion then and there he was young and full of Pride how not King heiress had named him hand and given him an army and he meant to prove himself worthy of trust of rhaegar's love he would slay the rebel Lord himself and carve a place for himself in all the histories of the Seven Kingdoms and so he swept down on Stony sept closed off the town and began a search his Knights went house to house smashed in every door peered into every Cellar he'd even sent men crawling through the sewers and yet somehow Robert still eluded him the town's folk were hiding him they moved him from one secret bolt hole to the next always one step ahead of the King's Men the whole town was a nest of traitors at the end they had the usurper hidden in a brothel what sort of King was that who would hide behind the skirts of women yet whilst the search dragged on Edward Stark and huster Kelly came down upon the town with their Rebel armies bells in battle followed and Robert emerged from the brothel with a blade in his hand and almost slew John on the steps of the old sept that gave the town its name this battle later dubbed at the Battle of the Bells leaves John connington a Broken Man it is the core traumatic event that shapes his thoughts more than anything else even in the main series 18 years later his stomach fills with knots whenever Bells begin to chime for all this failure Aries strips Jon of not only his handship but of all of his titles and inherited lands connington was sent across the narrow sea as an exile and was unable to prevent the silver Prince's Doom at the trident John vanished Into Obscurity or before long rumors circulate that he succumbed to alcoholism and had passed from this world now we arrive at the events of the main Series in the fifth book A Dance with Dragons Tyrion Lannister finds himself sailing East so the very strange group of individuals among this odd band is a Man simply calling himself Griff a grizzled warrior with dyed blue hair and a red beard Tyrion soon deduces that one member of this party called young Griff is actually aegon Targaryen The supposed son of prince rhaegar who escaped the sack of King's Landing from there the Imp is able to deduce that Griff is none other than John connington now supporting the claim of his lost loves son Griff is rather Gruff and send office particularly towards Tyrion yet he saves Lannister's life when their boat is attacked by the stone men connington's instincts here remained protective and it seems as though at least at this point there is still a core of good to John connington alternatively that might have just only happened because Tyrion had previously saved aegon from the same Stone men of moments before soon after this point in the story Tyrion is captured by Jorah Mormont and our view on Griff and his machinations are snatched away however this is where a surprise occurs it's at this point where Griff or John connington or the Lost Lord becomes a point of view character in our story as I've stated before he's my favorite point of view character by a pretty wide margin the rest of this video will be dedicated to analyzing the themes of his chapters and the weight of his story as a whole so why is this specifically the moment where we enter connington's head as a point of view put simply his first chapter entitled The Lost Lord is an inflection point for his life as a whole he has lived as an exile and as a Broken Man for nearly two decades at this point and it's within the Lost Lord chapter where John finally begins to his return to Westeros after such a long time it's also a literal inflection point for the Journey of aegon and his cause as a whole as they'd previously been traveling to Marine only to decide that they would be better served returning to Westeros immediately literally turning around and reversing their course from what it previously had been the bulk of this chapter spends its time introducing the reader to the aegon cause to the golden company into connington as a point of view character this is done in quite an interesting and inorganic way connington served with the golden company for years while aegon himself has not met these people before so we the readers receive introductions that are needed when meeting these new characters for the first time as aegon is as well as a good amount of background context from John connington's internal narration it's a great balance that I wish that more chapters could find when introducing new characters this also serves as a great full introduction to aegon Targaryen sixth of his name we've met young Griff before from tyrion's point of view yet the character begins to change and fully develop once he takes on what is supposedly his true name what's more the reader is able to observe a marked change in connington's thoughts and actions previously his presence in the story had been characterized by Prudence in my planning and yet that seems to have changed drastically just within this one point of view chapter connington Ponders this change in aegon while simultaneously displaying his own internal change quote from the Lost Lord when all of them began to speak at once Griff knew the tide had turned this is a sight of aegon I never saw before it was not The Prudent chorus but he was tired of prudence sick of Secrets and weary of waiting win or lose he would see Griffin's Roost again before he died and we buried in the Tomb beside his father's the road ahead was full of perils he knew but what of it all men must die all he asked was time he waited so long surely the gods would Grant him a few more years enough time to see the boy he'd called a son Seated on the Iron Throne to reclaim his lands his name his honor distill the bells that rang so loudly in his dreams whenever he closed his eyes to sleep this is part of why I love John connington's chapter so much this is ostensibly a new character we've only interacted with him for a few chapters at the start of dance and yet there's still a very distinct shift in his character and it's at the end of this first point of view chapter where the reader learns the reason for his new attitude the Lord of Griffin's Roost contracted greyscale while saving Tyrion from the stone men a deadly disease that surely means who will die within a few years of Contracting it George RR Martin often States is The Only Thing Worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself John connington is the exception that proves this rule he enters the story as a typical George RR Martin character conflicted about the pace of advancing aegon's claim and the potential dangers to the young prince however Contracting grayscale removes that conflict entirely Coddington is a man reborn driven by knowledge that he has only so much time left in this world John resigns to use what time he has to advance the one thing in this world he still cares about aegon's claim he failed the father but he will not fail the Sun foreign ton strikes a perfect balance that I believe is necessary to create an excellent character that being between the strength of his motivations and the urgency of those motivations connington is driven by the regret and sorrow of his lost love and being placed on a time where it acts as an accelerant over his 18 years in Exile connington became a powder keg Contracting greyscale lit a fuse to this bomb potentially spelling the Doom of many and the glory of aegon Targaryen connington's second chapter fully emphasizes this change in John he's no longer just some lost Lord he is the Griffin reborn return to Westeros in order to reclaim his rightful Castle this is the first attack of aegon's reconquest of the continent and it goes incredibly well cunnington anticipated losing over a hundred men but only loses four in his recapture of Griffin's Roost he captured the castle by surprise and was able to reclaim it pretty easily now the connington has returned to his helmet the emotions of the past begin to Bubble to the surface he reflects on his time with rhaegar and what is one of my favorite quotes in the entire series quote from the Griffin reborn his father and his father's father had never lost their lands he had I Rose too high loved too hard dared too much I tried to grasp a star overreached and fell it is at this point that John reflects further on the battle of the Bells remembering the circumstances that led to his Exile and to his loss of lands these memories shine a light on the reinvented John as well and could give indication as to how he'll conduct himself in future warfare he remembers his actions being compared to those of Tywin Lannister by an old friend from the golden company quote Lord Tywin would not have bothered with a search he would have burned down that town and every living creature in it men and boys babes the breast noble knights and holy septins pigs and rats and Rebels who would have burned them all when the fire is guttered out and only Ash and Cinders remained he would have sent his men in to find the bones of Robert Baratheon later Stark and Tully turned up with their hosts and he would have offered pardons to the both of them and they would have accepted and turned for home with their Tales between their legs this passage gives the impression of admiration for Tywin and may indicate a generally more ruthless strategy from connington going forward he's no longer concerned with personal Glory but rather with advancing aegon's Claim by any means necessary Johns connington serves as a bit of a parallel to Jaime Lannister throughout this chapter both are Adrian Knights past their Prime in battle attempting to come into their own as a commander by taking a castle both of them compare their tactics to those used by Thailand and both men have a health concern involving the right hand that causes them to reconsider the philosophy and place in the world Martin loves his parallels and connington may continue to be a dark mirror for Jaime moving into the Winds of Winter in many different ways connington's role in the future of this series seems to be his hand of the king to aegon VI Targaryen we hear from Holden half mace during a sample chapter of the Winds of Winter that the young king's forces have already laid the claim to Storm's end and intend to meet mace tyrrell's Army in open combat it does seem quite likely that aegon's forces will win this battle and from there claim the Iron Throne itself the best indication of this comes from daenerys's Visions in the house of the undying she sees a cloth Dragon swaying on poles above a cheering crowd this seems to indicate both that aegon could be a fake Targaryen a Blackfire bright Flame or something else what have you and then he will have the support of the Common People however connaughton might still prove quite dangerous even if aegon does have this popular support Danny is coming for Westeros and it seems as though she'll attempt to take King's Landing at some point we saw this in Game of Thrones where she goes crazy for no reason and does some light war crimes this episode is entitled The Bells however as we've just discussed we have a character who is actively going to be impaired by greyscale who is going to be the second most powerful person in the city and debatably on the continent who has PTSD related to Bells it seems quite likely that John connington will be the one to instigate the burning of King's Landing rather than Daenerys I've got a whole video on this topic specifically which I'll link in the cards it's about grayscale as a whole and John and connington's future in The Winds of Winter and how that might play out in relation to this disease and its spread it's also good to note that we really don't know much about connington's chapters in The Winds of Winter itself we know that he will have chapters that has been confirmed by The Author George RR Martin however he has not received sample chapters as many other characters have it seems as though Martin is keeping the chapters of characters who are involved in pretty major events pretty close to the vest at least there's releasing samples as we haven't gotten any from connington from Jamie from Cersei from Jon Snow obviously because he's dead Daenerys Etc so the closer characters are two major events the more likely they are to have not received a sample chapter so it seems as though whatever is going to go down it storms end at the beginning of the Winds of Winter is going to be fairly interesting and fairly important John connington is a man of singular Focus he's running out of time due to a deadly disease and is willing to do whatever it takes to put the son of his beloved rhaegar Targaryen on the throne of all Westeros his life up until the modern day has been defined by failure and by regret and it seems as though he has one last chance to make everything right John connington is my favorite point of view character in A Song of Ice and Fire as I find him incredibly compelling for all of the reasons listed in this video thank you all so much for watching this has been a really fun Deep dive into his chapters and just general character study if you're like this and like this format be sure to let me know I'd love to do more of these for more characters in the future if you do want to see me do more of these suggest a character in the comments below I'd love that as well also while you're down there be sure to like And subscribe as it does really help me grow the channel and just generally makes me feel good good I don't know why you people are listening to me talk but I'm glad that you are it makes me happy and I'm glad to be able to talk about this with other people who are similarly passionate about the subject matter I will have more videos coming in the near future I'm currently working on a collaboration as well so hopefully that'll be fun and yeah thank you all for watching I hope you all have a great uh rest of your day I will see you all soon

Channel: Quinn The GM

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Keywords: asoiaf, a song of ice and fire, jon connington, Jon Connington, the lost lord, the griffin reborn, a dance with dragons, the winds of winter, winds of winter, winds of winter theory, twow theory, joncon, JonCon, Jon Connington Winds of Winter, GRRM, Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Jon Snow, Aegon Targaryen, Faegon, Blackfyre, Greyscale, the bells, asoiaf the bells, winds of winter news, alt shift x, glidus, preston jacobs, storm's end, asoiaf character analysis, dragons, jon

Id: AuwdzUdPQgk

Length: 15min 36sec (936 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 26 2023