Warrior Philosophy in Game of Thrones (10 page)

“Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.”

&

Service

Chapter 5 – Duty and Service

“Hear my words, and bear witness to my vow: Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honour to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.”

       - The Oath sworn by the Brotherhood of the Night's Watch
[xxxiv]

There is much mention of duty in Game of Thrones and talk of 'who you serve' in terms of your liege lord, as in any feudal society.  The rigid hierarchy of such a culture means that there is great clarity about who you are working in service of – at least officially.  But who and what you are really working in service of is not so simple as whom you swear allegiance to.  We are all acting in service of many masters at any given moment – that is as true in Westeros as it is in our world and in every day of our lives.  In this moment, as I sit here writing, I am in service to: myself - my standards and reputation, also taking care of my health and welfare, my wife and son to provide a income for our family and consider their needs when I'm working, you as reader to write something worth reading, society to offer a perspective that contributes to the greater good, George R. R. Martin and HBO to treat their work with respect, perhaps my ancestors to not blight the family name (!), and at subtle levels others too.  This is even clearer and yet more complex when I am doing other work  for an employer where I can add them, my colleagues (in terms of caring for their professional reputation), and the client(s) to the list as well.  Sometimes the many things we are in service of clash and we have to prioritise.  I may work late and compromise my health for the sake of the work and earning a living for instance.  Ned Stark struggles with many levels of service when he chooses to take the role of King's Hand: service to Robert as his closest friend and almost family, service to Catelyn and his children, service to the people of Winterfell and the North, service to the Realm, service to his own honour, service in so many directions and many of them in conflict.

In the world of Westeros, it is the Night's Watch who are most profoundly in service to the greater good, that is why I have begun this chapter with their oath.  The other two main order's which people dedicate themselves to for life are the Kingsguard and the Maesters.  The Kingsguard are in service to the King, and the Maesters primarily serve whoever they are sent to.  It is the Night's Watch who truly serve all, and they have a strong foundation in the warrior path too.  They also very explicitly forswear most of the other things which a person may be in service of: love, family, personal honour, regional affiliation, political connections, possessions, and rewards.  Their service, at least in the terms of their oath, is pure.  There are times in my life, when my multiple senses of duty seem to be at war with one another, that I could easily wish for such a clear sense of purpose.  Because that is part of what service is about: purpose.  Having a very clear sense of purpose can be hugely reassuring, I think that may be part of why some people choose to serve in the armed forces, and I think that is perhaps why Jon Snow goes to serve in the Night's Watch.  As a bastard Jon doesn't know where he fits.  He is neither of true noble birth nor entirely of the common-folk, he is with the Starks but not part of the family, he is brought up by his father but not truly welcome in his home, he doesn't really belong anywhere.    For any of us desiring a sense of belonging it is easier to embrace a ready-made reason for being than to discover our own.  I think that is at least part of what Jon is doing by heading for the Wall: seeking a place to belong.  That is why it is so disappointing for him when he finds it manned by cut-throats and thieves rather than noble men, and that is why, when he accepts it for what it is he becomes a leader amongst the recruits.  He aligns himself completely with the purpose and mission of the Night's Watch and in that becomes a beacon of clarity for the other men.  He steps powerfully into a sense of belonging, and for a bunch of other young men lost in the world, his friendship offers them a doorway to belonging too.  I think that often why young men find their ways to either the more outspoken religious or political groups, or for that matter to martial arts Dojo's is because they want more than anything a sense of belonging and purpose.  These kinds of environments with their clear moral codes, boundaries around behaviour, causes to support, and groups of other seekers to join and feel a part of, give access to a ready-made and clearly defined purpose and a group to belong to.  The Night's Watch is the perfect place for men to find such belonging with it's own uniform, isolated location, the Wall as an inspiring symbol of that purpose, strict rules about behaviour, and a clear sense of an enemy in the form of everything the other side of the Wall!  Maester Aemon expresses this clarity when he says to Tyrion Lannister:

“The Night's Watch is the only thing standing between the realm and what lies beyond.”
[xxxv]

This kind of clarity of purpose, while being alluring in its own right also helps you to be more focused, present and therefore more effective.  That is why it is sought after in organisations and has been for hundreds of years.  King Robert Baratheon speaks very eloquently about the value of such unified purpose when he is talking to Cersei about the danger posed by Khal Drogo and his Dothraki horde should they ever make it across the sea to the Seven Kingdoms:

“One army, a real army united behind one leader with one purpose.  Our purpose died with the Mad King.  Now we've got as many armies as there are men with gold in their purse and everybody wants something different.”
[xxxvi]

  Again we can see in what King Robert says why one clear and simple purpose to surrender ourselves to can be so attractive.  What once took the form of a motto in the coat of arms of a noble house, today finds form as the mission statement of a company.  The family 'words' in Westeros are slightly more ambiguous but serve a similar function.  Syrio Forel when teaching Arya Stark gives a great example of the way split concerns, or to put it another way, being in service to multiple things disrupts your effectiveness.  Arya is worried about her father and Syrio says:

“You are not here.  You are with your trouble.  If you are with your trouble when fighting happens...

He disarms and trips her over,

“More trouble for you!”

He then goes on to say:

“How can you be quick as a snake or quiet as a shadow when you are somewhere else?”
[xxxvii]

There is no question that serving many masters can rob us of our clarity of mind and action.  That is why some priests and monks adopt such simple lives and chose not to have families.  As a still relatively new father, I am sharply aware of how having a child has given me both a strong sense of purpose, and a far more complex set of priorities.  If I am not clear about how I am prioritising in a given situation I can end up procrastinating endlessly, so being clear about what I am working in service of is important if I am to be as powerful as I can be.

One group of warriors in history who had a very strong sense of service are the Samurai of medieval
Japan
.  In fact, 'Samurai' can be translated as meaning 'one who serves.'  To some degree the Knights of medieval Europe had a strong sense of service in the clarity of a feudal, hierarchical culture and the Divine Right of Kings (which meant that Kings were chosen by God and their actions were therefore unquestionable), but they did not have the total commitment of the Samurai.  We can see an example of this in a story from the Hagakure:

“Once when Lord Katsushige was hunting at Nishime, for some reason he got very angry.  He drew his sword from his obi (belt), scabbard and all, and began beating Soejima Zennojo with it, but his hand slipped and his sword fell into a ravine.  Zennojo, in order to stay with the sword, tumbled down into the ravine and picked it up.  This done, he stuck the sword in his lapel, crawled up the precipice, and just as he was, offered the sword to his master.  In terms of quick-mindedness and reserve this was matchless resource.”
[xxxviii]

If you had any doubts about your sense of service to your lord you would not throw yourself into a ravine just to retrieve his sword, especially after he dropped it while hitting you with it!  This is being offered as an example of the perfect behaviour, but to many of us it will seem crazy.  Some context which might help is that, similarly to
Europe
's Divine Right of Kings but even stronger, the Emperor of Japan was considered to be an embodiment of the Gods in earthly form.  A Lord who served the Emperor was therefore quite literally acting on behalf of the God's so serving your Lord was seen as direct service to a higher purpose.  In this context perhaps it makes more sense.  I think most of us want to be in service to a higher purpose and in a survey conducted by Roffey Park
[16]
it was found that what a large group of people working in office environments most wanted from their work was a sense of purpose, and what they felt was most missing from their work was a sense of connection to a larger purpose (I'm paraphrasing but this was the gist of it).  A higher purpose doesn't have to mean anything religious, new-age, or weird, it can be 'the greater good', or something to do with your social conscience, or the future of your children – as well as possibly being connected to a larger spiritual purpose.  Really it's just about being in service to something more than your own ego, much as I was discussing in Chapter 1 around following a Code.  If you truly believe that you are acting in service of the greater good, you may be willing to do extreme things, indeed, police officers, fire-fighters, soldiers and many other people around the globe take extreme actions often at risk to their lives out of a sense of service.

So that gives a fair picture of the gifts that being in service can give us, but there are shadows of Service and Duty as well.  The first is the shadow of fanaticism.  Just as people will do extraordinarily wonderful and nobles things in the name of the greater good, people will do terrible things and cite the same justification and sense of service to a higher power.  Nazism was in theory about creating the best version of the human-race possible, and fundamentalist terrorists of all backgrounds, faiths, and politics kill many innocent people apparently in service to a higher purpose.  Westeros is not short of examples of the same.  Much is done 'in the name of the King', or the Crown, or the Throne, or the Realm which is terrible and has much more to do with personal agendas and power struggles.  At one point, when he's in the Dungeons, Ned asks Varys:

“Tell me Lord Varys, who do you truly serve?”

“The Realm, my Lord.  Someone must.”
[xxxix]
 

That may be true in his perception, he does seem to have his own personal sense of honour and justice, but whether all that he does is sanction-able, even if he truly does intend to serve the Realm is another matter.  One example of this, even when he's not following his own mysterious agenda, is when King Robert orders Daenerys Targaryen assassinated.  Ned Stark makes a stand against it as there is only a small risk in his judgement that Daenerys' marriage and pregnancy to Khal Drogo poses a threat to King Roberts rule.  Ironically it is the assassination attempt which eventually galvanises Khal Drogo to action to invade the Seven Kingdoms.  Both Varys and Grand Maester Pycelle argue for the Killing of Daenerys:

Varys:

“I understand your misgivings my Lord, truly I do.  It is a terrible thing we must consider, a vile thing.  Yet we who presume to rule must sometimes do vile things for the good of the realm...”

Pycelle:

“I bear this girl no ill will but should the Dothraki invade how many innocents will die?  How many towns will burn?  Is it not wiser, kinder even, that she should die now so that tens of thousands should live?”
[xl]

While both points potentially have merit, and most would see the wisdom of one person dying so that thousands of other can live, their conclusions are based on speculation and there is no guarantee that Daenerys' death will buy the peace they desire.  Once again we see Varys' championing of the service of the Realm, and we see Pycelle's roots in an orientation to healing (though how much that guides his actions when we meet him is questionable).  This is a sticky and complex issue, not least of all because the people around the table are not unified by being in service to the same master: be it crown, realm, king, people, honour, or selfish profit.

Another shadow-aspect of Service and Duty is the personal cost of it.  It can be a weighty responsibility to truly serve, and to fulfil your duty.  Anyone who has been in service where lives are on the line can tell you that.  Even the less extreme, more day-to-day sense of service of a parent juggling providing for the family, with spending time with that family can be a tough burden.  To quote Robert Jordan: