Of all the new characters we'll be meeting, the most important is arguably Stannis Baratheon. Mentioned as having "the personality of a lobster" on the show, it's his very presence that drives the action in the last couple of episodes of Game of Thrones In a lot of ways, he's kind of a composite of Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark, who departed during season one. As Joffery's lineage is...dubious, Stannis makes the claim to the throne of Westeros. What's very interesting is, his ambitions don't come from a craving for power, or even a need to serve, but to a certain degree, a perfunctory adherence to duty. While many of the characters in this world are driven by compulsion, Stannis's conflicts come from his robotic devotion to "The Rules", and his inability to understand why nobody likes him. While Robert is the Seven Kingdom's Big Man the Star QB and Renly is the charming overacheiver, Stannis is the Hall Moniter. He's Inspector Javert. He's Principal Skinner. He'll be played by Stephen Dillane, from John Adams. An interesting choice, as Jefferson, especially as presented in the miniseries, was an innovative iconclast. However, Dillane also played him as somebody uncomfortable with social situations, so this will be worth watching.
Stannis will not be alone, every king needs a court, and the power behind his would-be throne is the mysterious Melisandre. The only outright magic user of the series, Melisandre throws an interesting wrinkle into the game of thrones. While most would expect Stannis's campaign to be kind of a meat and potatoes war, Melisandre is a priestess to a strange, foreign religion; As Baratheon's forces make their way across the continent, they bring a bit of an esoteric holy war into the mix. For whatever reason, Stannis trusts in Melisandre completely, and while their relationship is never revealed to be overtly sexual, it is oddly subtexual. Possibly some of the creepiest, oddest scenes will come from her. Really, the best way to describe Melisandre is like some bizarre cross between Angelina Jolie and Michelle Bachmann. She's going to be played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten, who's been in fims like Paul Verhoven's Black Book, and opposite Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. Which is to say, she probably knows a thing or two about out-there religions and misdirected sexual energy.
Rounding out the major players in Stannis's Camp is Davos Seaworth. Called "The Onion Knight", and bearing the pungent crop on his heraldry (Which was the fashion at the time...) Davos's story is the rarest, but at times most wonderous of things in Westeros...a regular honest guy who made good. Davos is is a former smuggler who was granted knighthood by Stannis, but at a very grisly price. Grateful for his new station in life, but versed hardly naive about the world outside castle walls, Davos is both Stannis's most loyal lieutenant, and his most abject critic. He's possibly the most pragmatic character in the series, and often serves as the hypotunese to Melisandre's perplexing, and often frightening approaches to running a kingdom. Davos has become a fan-favorite as a relatively good egg in a very rotten world. He'll be played by Liam Cunningham, an acclaimed stage star who's done his share of salty men-at-arms in stuff like Clash of the Titans and Camelot.
Did someone say "rotten world". Game of Thrones has introduced us to tyrants, rapists, and infantes terrible, but the gold medal winner of depravity in a very competitive contest probably has to go to the Bolton family. The Boltons are the Starks' nominal allies, but they're not very fun to be around. Their House insgnia is that of a human being flayed of all his skin. The really disconcerting thing is, in the world of Game of Thrones, family crests aren't just donned to look pretty--they have them for a reason. They'll play a larger role in series as it goes on, but for now we'll be introduced to Roose Bolton, played by Paths to Freedom star Michael McElhatton.
However, there are plenty of crazy clans to go around, for instance, the Grejoys. You've met one of them, Theon, but he really isn't the most prurient example of what the Greyjoys are like. Rulers of the Iron Islands, the're something like vikings as re-imagined by H.P. Lovecraft. They're morose and merciless, and have never really accepted how much Theon "went native" to the mainland. The two Greyjoys we're going to see this season are Balon, Theon's ruthless father, and "Yara", his adventurous, tomboyish sister. The thing is, in the books, Yara is called "Asha", but they don't want viewers to confuse her with "Osha", the Wildling played by Natalia Tena. To be honest, since Lady Greyjoy plays a much larger part in the books, they probably should have thought around that first. Balon will be played by Patrick Malahide, while "Yara" will be portrayed by comedienne Gemma Whelan.
While not the biggest presence in Clash of Kings, one of the first roles to be cast for season two was Margaery Tyrell. To throw a little spoiler your way, in part two of the saga, Margaery has marriage arranged with Robert and Stannis's brother, Renly. For those who remember who Renly is, you'll know that as eligible a bachelor Renly is, marrying him has some solid drawbacks, as he doesn't quite bark up that tree. The really juicy part is, the tree that he does bark up belongs to one Loras Tyrell, heartthrob knight and Margaery's brother. Certainly HBO is jumping to explore the drama in that dynamic. It's also worth noting that the Lady Tyrell, while soft-spoken, is one of the more astute denizens of the Seven Kingdoms, and here's more to her than being a trophy queen. She'll be played by Natalie Dormer, who as Anne Boyelin on Showtime's The Tudors, is well trained in playing an all-too-clever lady in an all-too-decadent royal court on a risque cable series.
Brienne of Tarth is probably the most popular of King's freshman class. At first she may sound like the typical "Warrior Woman" found in much fantasy fiction. But as Martin does with fantasy tropes, she's a deconstruction of the classic, spunky, chainmail bikini-wearing shieldmaiden. Brienne does not look like a male fantasy with a sword, but a woman who's all-too-well built for warfare. However, she also possesses vulnerability and is a bit of a romantic. She doesn't inspire fear and shock from those around her, but rather pity. Like all characters popular in genre fiction, she appeals to both the reader's want for escapism, and need to identify with the outcast. Brienne has clearly bucked all traditions and become a warrior in her own right, in a world where such a thing would be inconceivable, but has to live with being an outsider day by day. Cast in the role is Gwendoline Christie, a newcomer to the acting world, but to many fans, one of the best choices that can be made. Christie is six foot three, taller than many men in the cast, even the non-Peter Dinklage ones. And while hardly ugly (It's Hollywood after all), it's not the level of insulting "uglying down" you get in so many productions. She does have a quirky set of features, including a very expressive set of eyes that betrays Brienne's vulnerability.
