Oona Chaplin as Talisa Maegyr and
Richard Madden as Robb Stark
June 2, 2013: The HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones airs an episode titled "The Rains of Castamere." Based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series, this episode includes a scene known to the books' fans as "The Red Wedding."
The show's 1st 6 seasons each had 10 episodes. The 9th episode of Season 1, "Baelor," featured the death by execution of the character who, to that point, had been suggested as the show's hero, Eddard "Ned" Stark.
Ned was played by Sean Bean, and it had already become a trope that Bean dies in everything he's in (which is greatly exaggerated, as he "only" dies in 1 out of every 3 roles on the average), so maybe the show's fans should have seen it coming. The message from the show, and before that from the books, to the fans was, "See? No character is safe. Anybody can be killed off at any time."
This was made clear in Season 3, again in the 9th episode. At this point, the main conflict on the show was between the portrayed-as-noble, though often reckless, family House Stark, now led by Ned's eldest son Robb (played by Richard Madden); and the evil, forever-scheming House Lannister, officially led by the sociopathic teenage King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), but truly led by his mother, Cersei (Lena Headey), and her father, Tywin (Charles Dance).
There is a lull in the fighting, and one of the other family heads, Walder Frey (David Bradley), who is pledged to support another of the family heads, Robb's uncle Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies) -- offers to allow Robb to marry one of his daughters. Before this can happen, Robb falls in love with Talisa Maegyr (Oona Chaplin -- granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin and great-granddaughter of Eugene O'Neill), and marries her.
In revenge for Robb breaking his promise, Walder comes up with a new plan. He offers to let Edmure marry one of his daughters, and to host the wedding. It's a trap: Walder is now allied with the Lannisters, and he breaks the sacred rule that no guest may enter a wedding armed. Walder's men use swords and daggers to kill the Starks: Robb, his wife, even his mother, Edmure's sister Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley); along with many men loyal to House Stark. Edmure, not being a Stark by blood, is not targeted, and escapes. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Robb's teenage sister, is barely rescued and taken away.
This scene was horribly violent, and very bloody, and could not have been shown on non-pay TV. The level of cruelty was as shocking as the fact of Robb's death. As Tywin pointed out in the next episode, Robb had a large army of very loyal men, and had never lost a battle -- but because he had followed his heart instead of his head, he was now dead, and his family in seemingly irrevocable decline.
As photographer and YouTuber Phil Alexander put it, to the tune written by Jim Steinman for the song sung by Bonnie Tyler:
Once upon a time, he was a King in the North
now he's just a corpse in the dark.
There's nothing he can do:
A Total Eclipse of the Starks.
Author Martin had used 2 sources for the Red Wedding, both from Scotland: The Black Dinner, in Edinburgh in 1440, where the Earl of Douglas and his brother were executed by their great uncle (who inherited the Earldom) in front of the 10-year-old King James II; and the Massacre of Glencoe, in Argyll in 1692, where 30 members of Clan MacDonald were killed for refusing to pledge themselves to England's King William III.
It took 3 more seasons for Arya to train as a warrior, and to get her revenge on Walder Frey; and 2 more seasons, and several twists, for House Stark to ultimately triumph.
*
June 2, 2013 was a Sunday. It was the day that the United States Soccer Federation celebrated its 100th Anniversary with a special match at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, the closest thing American soccer then had to a "national stadium." The match was between the U.S. team and Germany, seen by 47,359 paying customers, myself included.
The U.S. got a goal by Jozy Altidore and an own goal by the Germans, and were up 2-0 in the 16th minute. Germany scored in the 2nd half, but Clint Dempsey scored 2, to make it 4-1. Germany scored in the 78th and the 81st to make it 4-3, but the U.S. hung on to win. I have a separate entry for that event.
This was not a full-strength Germany team: Of the 20 players on their roster, 17 of whom they sent into the game, only 3 would appear for them in the 2014 World Cup Final: Benedikt Höwedes, Miroslav Klose, and, very briefly at the end of that final, Per Mertesacker.
American-style football was out of season. The NBA Playoffs were approaching a climax. The next day, the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers to win the Eastern Conference title, and went on to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.
In hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at the United Center in Chicago, to win Game 2 of the NHL Western Conference Finals. The Hawks took a 2-0 series lead. The day before, the Boston Bruins had taken a 1-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Hawks would beat the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals, 4 games to 2.
And these games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. The game was called in the middle of the 6th inning, due to rain. (It had threatened to rain in Washington all day, but it only really started as we came out of RFK Stadium. The real problem was the 90+ degree heat.) Clay Buchholz allowed only 3 baserunners: A walk by Robinson Canó in the 1st inning, a single by Ichiro Suzuki in the 2nd, and a single by Austin Romine in the 3rd.
* The New York Mets lost to the Miami Marlins, 11-6 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Despite the threat of rain, they got the entire game in.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Despite the threat of rain, they got the entire game in.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals, 6-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Travis Snider singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
* The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians, 11-3 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners, 10-0 at Target Field in Minneapolis. How many Twins pitchers does it take to pitch a 4-hit shutout? This time, 4.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb or Arlington, Texas.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Petco Park in San Diego. Mark DeRosa hit a home run in the top of the 11th, and the Jays got 2 more runs to put the game away.
* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-4 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum). How many A's pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit shutout? This time, 4.
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