As always, the article is short but full of spoilers. Read ahead at your peril if you have not yet watched the second episode of Game of Throne’s final season.
Eight seasons into the television adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy thriller, songs have played an important role in foreboding important themes of moments in the show. When the Rains of Castamere plays, you know you can expect a sombre moment to come (case in point being the Red Wedding).
In GoT’s second episode of season 8, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’, one song makes a surprising entry as the only one not yet adapted from the books to the TV so far — ‘Jenny of Oldstones’.
Sung by the surprisingly talented Podrick, the baby-faced sexual wizard and apprentice to Brienne of Tarth, it is a melancholic tale of longing, loss and memory. But what is interesting is how the song was introduced.
In the scene, the show’s grimmest warriors are all huddled together against a fire, unable to sleep as a terrible battle looms overhead. Tyrion Lannister has recovered his mojo over several glasses of wine, and requests a song to lighten the mood. There is an awkward silence as none of the grim warriors find a voice in their throats. But then Podrick — the baby-faced sex god who serves as Ser Brienne’s squire — breaks into song with ‘Jenny of Oldstones’.
It is surprisingly beautiful, intercut with scenes of the show’s characters enjoying precious moments with each other, on the eve a battle that may be their last. The parallel of a youngish boy singing to an older audience with visuals from an army and crew on the brink of war are a brilliant echo to Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and the scene where Pippin sings to Denethor before the Battle of Osgiliath.
Like Podrick, Pippin too was initially a novice to war in a world full of hardened soldiers. His voice and song is valued for bringing a peacetime melody to the ears of those who have never known peacetime. Over time, he becomes a hero like the others, earning his stripes in battle by killing a troll.
While the tradition of singing songs before battle is older than television itself, the Lord of the Rings throwback may not be entirely coincidental. The film’s makers had earlier stated that their plans for the eventual battle sequence would be bigger even than Helm’s Deep from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In fact, it is slated to become the biggest battle in the history of entertainment, clocking in at around forty minutes. Game of Thrones S08E03 is set to deliver one of the biggest battles of all time.
While ‘Jenny of the Oldstones’ is beautiful in Podrick’s rendition, the song was also covered by Florence and the Machines in the credit sequence of S08E02. As of writing, it had already gathered half a million views on YouTube.
