‘GoT’ Star John Bradley Reveals There ‘Is A Point’ To Keeping Samwell Tarly Around
The life expectancy on GoT is pretty low, especially if a character doesn’t have a knack for fighting. Yet Samwell Tarly beat the odds and managed to stick around for the first seven seasons of Game of Thrones. Although Sam’s situation could change in the upcoming year, actor John Bradley recently revealed there is a reason why his character is still breathing.
According to Winter Is Coming, Bradley believes Sam will play an important role in the events to come in Westeros. After all, why would producers keep him around if they didn’t have something for him to do in the coming war. Bradley, unfortunately, didn’t leak any major spoilers, but he did offer a look at what’s to come for Sam in Season 7.
“I think he’s lived his whole life with this burning desire to learn and has a huge respect for knowledge. He’s had doors slammed in his face and people have said to him ‘you want to learn how to swing a sword, it’s the only way you’ll affect the world’ but he’s refused to believe that. He’s at this seat of learning where he feels he belongs,” Bradley explained.
In an interview with CNet, Bradley was asked about the possibility that the entire story of GoT is being told from Sam’s perspective. Sam is one of the few characters with a love for the written word and has experienced a lot with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) at the wall. This makes him an ideal story teller, at least when it comes to the events in the north, and Bradley completely agrees. The only hole in the theory is that Sam hasn’t been around to witness all the events in Westeros, so everything that has happened in the south would be understood through his point of view.
Meanwhile, Bradley went on to discuss the abundance of violence on the show and how his character fits into a world ruled by the sword. Although some of the characters have experienced some glorious moments on the battle field, Bradley believes Sam represents the reality of violence. After all, his character is quick to shy away from a fight and is far more comfortable in a library than at war.
“There’s nothing beautiful about it. There’s no physical prowess, it’s just a man that can’t take that sort of punishment. In the fight scenes with him you get a sense of how unpleasant it is to punch someone in the face, similar to seeing it on the street,” he shared. “It’s a man who can’t cope with it and there’s something so despicable about it.”
Of course, Samwell’s fighting days might be well behind him. According to Elite Daily, he finally reached Oldtown at the end of last season and is currently studying to be a maester. Apart from facing the discipline of a few arch-maesters, Sam should have it pretty easy moving forward, at least until he reunites with Jon Snow.
Season 7 of Game of Thrones premieres Sunday, July 16 on HBO. Check out a GoT teaser below.
[Featured Image by HBO]
