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“I’d stay well clear of that kingsroad, if I were you,” the man went on. “It’s worse than bad, I hear. Wolves and lions both, and bands of broken men preying on anyone they can catch.”
“Vermin,” declared Ser Cleos with contempt. “Such would never dare to trouble armed men.”
“Begging your pardon, ser, but I see one armed man, traveling with a woman and a prisoner in chains.”
Brienne gave the cook a dark look. The wench does hate being reminded that she’s a wench, Jaime reflected, twisting at the chains again. Jaime II ASOS.
The first time I read this passage, I never questioned whether Jaime’s assessment was the correct one. Jaime has questioned Brienne’s womanhood from the very start. Noting that she does not dress like the women he knows.
“Quiet,” the wench grumbled, scowling. Scowls suited her broad homely face better than a smile. Not that Jaime had ever seen her smiling. He amused himself by picturing her in one of Cersei’s silken gowns in place of her studded leather jerkin. As well dress a cow in silk as this one.
But the cow could row. Beneath her roughspun brown breeches were calves like cords of wood, and the long muscles of her arms stretched and tightened with each stroke of the oars. Even after rowing half the night, she showed no signs of tiring, which was more than could be said for his cousin Ser Cleos, laboring on the other oar. A big strong peasant wench to look at her, yet she speaks like one highborn and wears longsword and dagger. Ah, but can she use them? Jaime meant to find out, as soon as he rid himself of these fetters. Jaime I ASOS.
Nor does she look like the women he knows.
“My name is Ser Jaime. Not Kingslayer.”
“Do you deny that you slew a king?”
“No. Do you deny your sex? If so, unlace those breeches and show me.” He gave her an innocent smile. “I’d ask you to open your bodice, but from the look of you that wouldn’t prove much.” Id.
Jaime sees Brienne as trying to be a man and thinks she is angry that she was addressed as woman by the innkeep. And in Jaime’s defense, he is not alone in bewilderment that Brienne has rejected the traditional Westerosi gender roles.
The press had begun to open up. “Ser Colen,” Catelyn said to her escort, “who is this man, and why do they mislike him so?”
Ser Colen frowned. “Because he is no man, my lady. That’s Brienne of Tarth, daughter to Lord Selwyn the Evenstar.”
“Daughter?” Catelyn was horrified. Catelyn II ACOK.
Even after witnessing Brienne’s skill in the melee, her fighting instinct in Renly’s tent and her skill as a hunter, Cat is almost sure that Brienne must enjoy singing because what high born lady would not (besides your youngest daughter Cat)?
“Did you sing for your father?” Catelyn asked.
Brienne shook her head, staring down at her trencher as if to find some answer in the gravy.
The girl reddened. “Never, I … his fool, he made cruel japes sometimes, and I …”
“Someday you must sing for me.”
“I … please, I have no gift.” Brienne pushed back from the table. “Forgive me, my lady. Do I have your leave to go?”
Catelyn nodded. The tall, ungainly girl left the hall with long strides, almost unnoticed amidst the revelry. May the gods go with her, she thought as she returned listlessly to her supper. Cat VI ACOK.
So Cat is shocked that Brienne is more comfortable in traditional Westerosi men’s clothing and occupations. Jaime makes the same observations. So, when he thought that Brienne’s dark look was about being reminded that she is a woman, I never really questioned it. That was a mistake on my part even more so than Jaime’s.
Brienne was not upset about being called a woman; she was upset that she was immediately discounted as someone able to defend themself with arms. The innkeep who is not an inkeep was talking about the dangers of the road and broken men preying on travelers. Cleos then spoke to how broken men would never attack armed men. Cleos knows that Brienne will not permit Jaime a weapon, so he is clearly talking about himself and Brienne being the armed men (I think he was using “men” to mean “anyone who is armed” without regard to gender). They are the ones with the swordbelts afterall. The innkeep responds that he sees one armed man travelling with a woman.
The innkeep acknowledged Cleos being armed but does not acknowledge that Brienne is. Brienne was not mad about being called a woman; she was mad that the innkeep failed to acknowledge that she was armed and that she is capable of protecting herself. That is what ticked her off. She does not like to be discounted for her skill at arms. She tells us this in her first POV.
“Shall we ride together for a time? I do not doubt Ser Shadrich’s valor, but he seems small, and three blades are better than one.”
Four blades, thought Brienne, but she held her tongue. Brienne I AFFC.
Honestly, I should have realized this was about the arms sooner. Brienne has been prickly about being taken lightly since very early in our introduction to her.
“I did,” Catelyn admitted. The girl had kept the rainbow cloak when she discarded the rest of her bloodstained clothing, she knew. Brienne’s own things had been left behind during their flight, and she had been forced to clothe herself in odd bits of Ser Wendel’s spare garb, since no one else in their party had garments large enough to fit her. “Vows should be kept, I agree, but Stannis has a great host around him, and his own guards sworn to keep him safe.”
“I am not afraid of his guards. I am as good as any of them. I should never have fled.” Catelyn V ACOK.
And it is even presented in the preceding Jaime chapter.
He thought he saw a touch of uncertainty in her big blue eyes. “You are under my protection. They’d need to kill me.”
“I shouldn’t think that would trouble them.”
“I am as good a fighter as you,” she said defensively.
Anyway, Jaime picked up on the wrong trigger and I never stopped to question that even though the info on what Brienne values was right there. I just missed it. That is what I love about the rereads; I learn something new each time.
Yes. Brienne doesn’t hate being a woman. She hates being discounted and not being recognised as the good fighter she is just because she is a woman.
Also, she doesn’t dislike doing feminine things. It’s just she gets picked on for doing feminine things because of how she looks, so has turned away from them:
“Did you sing for your father?” Catelyn asked.
Brienne shook her head, staring down at her trencher as if to find some answer in the gravy.
“For Lord Renly?”
The girl reddened. “Never, I … his fool, he made cruel japes sometimes, and I …”
“Someday you must sing for me.”
“I … please, I have no gift.” Brienne pushed back from the table. “Forgive me, my lady. Do I have your leave to go?”
Catelyn nodded. The tall, ungainly girl left the hall with long strides, almost unnoticed amidst the revelry. May the gods go with her, she thought as she returned listlessly to her supper. (ACOK, Catelyn VI).
We know she likes singing as just before that exchange we discover she has learnt all the songs.
“There was always a singer at Evenfall Hall when I was a girl,” Brienne said quietly. “I learned all the songs by heart.” (ACOK, Catelyn VI).
Later on, Brienne more clearly expresses how she had always wanted to sing:
Dick would oft sing as they rode along together; never a whole song, only a snatch of this and a verse of that. She suspected that he meant to charm her, to put her off her guard. Sometimes he would try to get her and Podrick to sing along with him, to no avail. The boy was too shy and tongue-tied, and Brienne did not sing. Did you sing for your father? Lady Stark had asked her once, at Riverrun. Did you sing for Renly? She had not, not ever, though she had wanted… she had wanted… (AFFC, Brienne IV).
This shows Brienne’s desires are much more complicated than “she wants to be recognised as a good fighter and that is it”. Brienne wants to be recognised as a good fighter, yes, but she also has a desire to do traditional feminine things that she has never been able to express because of bullying. We’ve already mentioned the fool who made japes at her, and then there is Septa Roelle, who was presumably in charge of educating Brienne in feminine things like Septa Mordane was for Arya and Sansa. From the few snippets we get, it is clear that Roelle bullied the hell out of Brienne, and made her feel like she could never be the lady that society expected her to be.
Brienne put his age at ten, but she was terrible at judging how old a child was. She always thought they were younger than they were, perhaps because she had always been big for her age. Freakish big, Septa Roelle used to say, and mannish. (AFFC, Brienne II).
Even the men who told her what a pretty girl she was, how tall and bright and clever, how graceful she was when she danced. It was Septa Roelle who lifted the scales from her eyes. “They only say those things to win your lord father’s favor,” the woman had said. “You’ll find truth in your looking glass, not on the tongues of men.” (AFFC, Brienne IV).
(In this case, it is also entirely possible those men were being truthful to Brienne and Roelle was just being a bitch. Brienne is tall, she is bright, and she’s certainly not stupid. And she probably is a graceful dancer, because she is a graceful fighter, which Jaime comments on in ASOS).
In contrast, Goodwin, who is hired to train Brienne to fight (a traditionally masculine pursuit) was an encouraging teacher and Brienne mulls on his lessons throughout her chapters.
The gods had given her stamina too, which Ser Goodwin deemed a noble gift. (AFFC, Brienne II)
Old Ser Goodwin was long in his grave, yet she could hear him whispering in her ear. Men will always underestimate you, he said, and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly, lest it be said that a woman tried them sorely. (AFFC, Brienne VII)
Given the support of her Master-at-Arms over the hate of her Septa, is it any wonder Brienne chooses to fight, when every time she has tried to dance or sing she’s been bullied?
With all that in mind, it becomes clear that Brienne wants more than being a warrior. Her arc is not about being a woman who rejects all things feminine and therefore tries the traditionally masculine knight thing, hers is the arc of a woman who likes fighting but also wants to sing and dance and be romanced like a traditional lady would be. She feels conflicted about who she should be, son or daughter, and feels worthy of being neither because of how society treats her:
“A daughter.” Brienne’s eyes filled with tears. “He deserves that. A daughter who could sing to him and grace his hall and bear him grandsons. He deserves a son too, a strong and gallant son to bring honour to his name. Galladon drowned when I was four and he was eight, though, and Alysanne and Arianne died still in the cradle. I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be son or daughter.” (AFFC, Brienne VI)
She’s been bullied out of thinking she can be the feminine daughter (even though she had wanted those things originally) and is not made to feel welcome as a knight because she is a woman. Her arc is much, much more than “Brienne wants to be a man” or “Brienne wants to be a fighter and screw everything feminine”. It is about her duality - about being a fighter and a lover of feminine things - and that is reflected in the Tarth sigil, which is the sun and moon. Brienne is day and night. She is both things at once.
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