Face of the Father

As I said in the last post, the problem with the Seven concerned their rigid interpretation. This lead to their representations being either very stern, corrupted, or uninteresting. This is probably most true for the aspects of the Father, Mother, Maiden, and Warrior.  In each case, we see a narrow path presented.  Staying on the path means a whole set of rules. Straying from it results in some very bad things.

One of the first examples we see of how this plays out is in the case of Jon Snow once he joins the Night's Watch. When assignments are made, the black brothers are divided into one of three paths. They can be Rangers (which here represent Warrior), Builders (Smith), or Stewards (caretakers who represent the Father). Now mind you, the Watch is eons older than the Faith of the Seven, so these paths are not dictated by the gods of the Seven, but as the minds of the people tend to shape the narratives of how gods/roles/icons are viewed, over time, the two began to merge.  Jon views the ONLY path acceptable as that of a Ranger. The other two, to him, seem boring to the point of being insulting. He's deeply angered and disappointed when he's put in the Steward ranks and doesn't seem to understand that the Lord Commander is grooming him to take his place when he's older. Even after Sam points this out, Jon still isn't happy about it and finds a way to function as a Ranger as quickly as he can.  In this way, Jon is displaying a common issue with the role of Father in the Seven Kingdoms. He doesn't want to be in charge. He doesn't want to tend to others. Even after circumstances prove that he is, in some ways, very good at this, he is still, fundamentally, against the idea. At the beginning of the story (in both books and show), we see this is pretty common with a lot of men. Robert hates being king and is awful as a father. Jorah runs from his responsibilities as a lord. Jaime denies his own children and plays as the single, beautiful knight. Only Eddard Stark, our main and martyred character of the first book/season, is a reasonable father figure. The problem is, he is flawed by his sense of honor and values. While he does some things to keep his family safe, his own code prevents him from doing all that is needed to keep things going. In the end, he is killed, taking our best example (up to that point) of a father and therefore the Father, out of the picture.

Ned's replacement comes along in the second book/season, in the form of Davos Seaworth. Davos is an upjumped former smuggler who is now a knight serving under would-be king Stannis Baratheon. Davos earned his rank and standing by using his smuggling ship to bring food to Stannis during Robert's War when he'd been neglected by everyone else, meaning, the first heroic act we see from this man is technically a crime. Davos isn't afraid to get his hands dirty if it means doing the right thing. In fact, this is his strength.

When we meet Davos, we see his war from the outside, from the perspective of Maester Cressen who has taken care of Stannis since he was a child. Cressen introduces us to the major Dragonstone players....Stannis, Melisandre, and Davos. Then he is killed when he tries to assassinate the Red Priestess. He speaks with Davos before he dies, symbolically handing off guardianship of Stannis to him.

Even though Davos is involved in many events throughout the story, his war is a private one. He is battling Melisandre (who despite being a priestess of the Red God, represents the Corrupted Mother) for narrative control of the area around them. At first, it seems like the Corrupted Mother is winning. She has control over all of Davos's sons. She has Stannis's ear. She even uses Davos's water skills to help her get to the places she needs to birth her shadow monsters. But he doesn't let her keep this control. He convinces Stannis to not let her go to King's Landing and never allows himself to fully be under her thrall. Even though they both battle for Stannis's faith, most of the time, Davos is coming off the better for it.

The show has moved past the books. In the show, Melisandre has a major win against him when she convinces Stannis to sacrifice Shireen. He sends Davos away, but in the end knows what he did was wrong. Mel is able to use that power to bring back Jon Snow, actually on the advice of Davos. When he realizes how she was able to do this, Jon exiles her and Davos knows he'll kill her if he sees her again. He isn't able to keep her from doing horrible things, but at least he drives the Corrupted Mother away.

Davos brings many new aspects to the archetype of the Father. He is common born, humble, and yet capable of doing noble and heroic things. He is a savior, who risked his own life again and again (and has even had two symbolic deaths in the book) in order to fight for what he believes in.

Most importantly, I think the aspect of the Father of the Seven that will shine the most as this new age begins is something we see in Davos again and again. Even after he loses his own children, he is still a father to the children of other people. He takes care of Shireen. He is sent to rescue Rickon in the books. He also rescues Edric Storm (and Gendry in the show) from being sacrificed by Mel. This inspires Jon to do the same later with Dalla's baby. In fact, once we see Davos-as-new-Father in play, we start to see this aspect of him over and over again in other characters. Jon saves Aemon. Sam saves Gilly's child from Craster. The Hound (of all people) takes care of Arya. All of this reflects men using trickery, but also kindness to help children. They break the rules, but in doing so, children are saved.

And this kind of Father is needed. In a land ravaged by war, where orphans and starvation are common, the idea of men willing to do what they can for the kids around them is a beautiful thing, a holy thing, and a needed thing if the Faith of the Seven is to survive.