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Tiểu luận Lý thuyết dịch, Phân tích bản dịch, Translation Assessment, Đánh giá chất lượng bản dịch, Ngôn Ngữ Anh, Lý thuyết dịch, TLU, Translation Theory, Theoretical Knowledge of Translation, Education, Giáo dục, Chất lượng bản dịch
THANG LONG UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT -o0o - AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TRANSLATION OF “A GAME OF THRONES” By HA LY SUPERVISOR: PHAM THAI SON, M.A STUDENT’S NAME: TRAN DUC MANH STUDENT’S CODE: A34957 Hanoi, October 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 Translation Definitions 1.2 Text Analysis 1.3 Translation methods 1.4 Translation errors 1.5 Newmark’s model of translation quality assessment CHAPTER AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TRANSLATION OF “A GAME OF THRONES” BY HA LY 2.1 A brief analysis of the SL text 2.2 The translator’s purpose 2.3 Comparing the translation with the original 2.4 The evaluation of the translation 11 2.5 The translation’s future 12 2.6 Conclusion of the assessment 12 CONCLUSION 14 REFERENCES 15 APPENDICES 16 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No.: Number SL: Source Language ST: Source Text TL: Target Language TT: Target Text INTRODUCTION It is known that translation has existed a long time ago, its mark can be traced back as early as the Mesopotamian era, around the second millennium BC However, it was until the second half of the 20th century that the term “Translation Studies” was coined by James S Holmes in his paper “The name and nature of translation studies”, by then translation studies was officially considered as an academic discipline The subject of translation quality assessment or translation criticism has always been a crucial factor of translation studies, some even posed that it is at the heart of all translation theory According to Peter Newmark, translation criticism can be considered as an essential link between translation theory and its practice because: firstly, it improves our competence as a translator; secondly, it expands our knowledge and understanding of our own and the foreign language and perhaps the topic; thirdly, it helps us to sort out our ideas about translation Therefore, this assignment is my attempt to apply the theories into practice My reason for choosing this topic is because I have been fascinated with the story and the world that George R.R Martin created in his famous fantasy book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” I have decided to choose the first book of the series - “A Game of Thrones”, and its Vietnamese translation version (by Ha Ly) to serve as the source text (ST) and target text (TT) for this assessment However, because the requirement of this assignment limits me on analyzing a full chapter, I have selected only an excerpt from one chapter of the book for the evaluation Within the content of this assignment, first, some basic translation theories will be presented, including definitions of translation, text analysis, translation methods, translation errors, and Newmark’s model of translation criticism These are some of the most significant issues of the theoretical framework for translation studies Then, based on these theories, I will provide a comparison and analyze the ST and the TT using Newmark’s model to assess the quality of the Vietnamese translation of an excerpt in the book “A Game of Thrones” Through this assessment, it is expected to show how good the Vietnamese version of the excerpt in “A Game of Thrones” according to Newmark’s model and what recommendations can be made from the translated version CHAPTER THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 Translation Definitions Translation can be seen as a product or a process As a product, it is a text that has been translated As a process, the definitions are various Catford (1965) defined translation as “the replacement of textual material in source language (SL) by equivalent textual material in target language (TL)” Nida and Taber (1969) explained that “translation or translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style” With Newmark (1988), he described translation as “rendering the meaning of a text into another language in the way that the author intended the text” 1.2 Text Analysis Before doing any translation work, one must first study the ST by reading it to understand its content then analyze it from the viewpoint of a translator He or she must determine the text’s intention and how it is written before deciding which translation method should be used, and identifying all the problems The intention of the text The intention of the text can be found in the content of the text, but not in the title of the text, thus, we need to find the intention in reading By understanding the text’s intention, we will know the writer’s attitude toward the subject matter The intention of the translator In most cases, the translator’s intention is identical to the author of the original However, in some situations, it can be different for a particular target readership Text style There are four types of text according to Nida First, there is narrative, which is the type of text that denotes “a dynamic sequence of events”, and the verb that is used in the text are emphasized Second, there is description, the kind of text that is “static, emphasis on linking verbs, adjectives, adjectival nouns” Third, the text that contains and is signified by colloquialisms is dialogue Last, there is discussion, which presents “a treatment of ideas, emphasis on abstract nouns, verbs of thought, and mental activity” The readership The readership is another aspect that must be considered, to so, some characteristics should be assessed, such as the level of education, the class, the age, and the sex to indicate how much attention needs to spend in translation There are three typical types of readers, they are expert, educated layman, and the uninformed However, the average text for translation tends to be for an educated, middle-class readership, and in an informal style The stylistic scales When the original text is studied, the translator must identify the stylistic scales of the text For example, depending on the formality of the text, there are officialese, official, formal, neutral, informal, colloquial, slang, and taboo; depending on the generality or difficulty, there are: simple, popular, neutral, educated, technical, and opaquely technical; lastly, depending on the emotional tone, there are: intense, warm, factual, and understatement The setting of the text Newmark (1988) suggests us to decide on the setting of the text, by considering some questions about where the text would be published in the TL, about the client that we are translating for and the requirements, etc The translator should make assumptions about the readership, then it needs to be considered that whether the TL text would be read by the same kind of readership in SL text or different Quality of the ST The quality of the ST is an important thing that a translator needs to pay attention, before deciding which translation method should be used As Newmark (1988) suggested, the quality must be judged in relation to the intention of the writer and/or the requirements of the subject matter A text is well-written when the manner is as important as the matter, the right words are in the right places, and there is minimum redundancy It is badly written if it has stereotyped phrases, recently fashionable general words, and poorly structured 1.3 Translation methods Newmark stated that there are eight translation methods and he classified them in the form of a flattened V diagram SL emphasis TL emphasis Word-for-word translation Adaptation Literal translation Free translation Faithful translation Idiomatic translation Semantic translation Communicative translation Word-for-word translation In word-for-word translation, the SL word order is preserved, and the words are translated singly by their most common meanings, out of context This method is used mostly either to understand the general information of a text or to pre-translate a difficult text Literal translation In literal translation, the SL grammatical constructions are converted to the nearest TL equivalent but like word-for-word translation, the lexical words are translated singly, out of context It is used in pre-translation to identify problems Faithful translation In faithful translation, as its name, the translation must be faithful to the intention of the original, the words are translated precisely within the constraints of the TL grammatical structures It means that the words are translated in context, and cultural words are transferred, but the translated text expresses in an unnatural way Semantic translation In semantic translation, it is nearly the same as faithful translation method, but it takes more account of the aesthetic value of the SL text It is more flexible than faithful translation, especially when it focuses on naturalizing the text in TL with the aid of semantic information It is used for expressive texts like literature Communicative translation In communicative translation, it attempts to render the exact contextual meaning of the original in a way that both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the readership Communicative translation is used for informative texts because it tends to make the TL text smoother Idiomatic translation In idiomatic translation, it reproduces the ‘message’ of the original but prefers using colloquialisms and idioms which not exist in the original Free translation In free translation, it reproduces the content without the form of the original Usually, it is a paraphrase much longer than the original Adaptation translation In adaptation translation, this is the ‘freest’ form of translation It is used mainly for plays and poetry; the themes, characters, plots are usually preserved, while the SL culture is converted to the TL culture, and the text is rewritten 1.4 Translation errors According to American Translators Association, translation errors are negative impacts or impacts on the understanding or use of a target text In their framework for standardized error marking, there are 22 errors which are grouped into four types of errors: 1) Linguistic errors: word form, grammar, syntax, usage, style, register, false cognate 2) Comprehension errors: misunderstanding of ST, ambiguity 3) Translation errors: mistranslation into the TL, addition/omission, terminology, inconsistency, too freely translated, too literal, indecision 4) Formatting errors: incomplete passage, illegible, punctuation, diacritical marks, spelling, case 1.5 Newmark’s model of translation quality assessment In the book “A Textbook of Translation” (1988), Peter Newmark presents a model to assess the quality of the translation, including five steps as follow 1) a brief analysis of the SL text stressing its intention and its functional aspects; 2) the translator’s interpretation of the SL text’s purpose, his translation method and the translator’s likely readership 3) a selective but representative detailed comparison of the translation with the original 4) an evaluation of the translation: (a) in the translator’s term, (b) in the critic’s terms; 5) where appropriate, an assessment of the likely place of the translation in the target language culture or discipline In the first step, it is a must to try to indicate the author’s purpose, which is the attitude he or she takes towards the topic; the characterization of the readership; an indication of its category and type The quality of the SL needs to be assessed to determine the translator’s degree of license The topic or themes could be stated briefly but not precisely, and not discuss the author’s life, other works, or general background if they are not referred in the text In the second step, we attempt to see the text from the viewpoint of the translator, to see the translation method that has been used, and to identify whether the translator has misinterpreted the author by omitting any certain sections of the text In the third step, this is the heart of the assessment We consider how the translator has solved the problems in the SL text We group selectively under general heads such as the title; the structure, including the paragraphing and sentence connectives; shifts; metaphors; cultural words; ‘untranslatable’ words; proper names, etc In this step, a discussion of translation problems between the two texts should be presented In the fourth step, we evaluate by our own standards of referential and pragmatic accuracy of the translation to see its quality, and extent of the semantic deficit and to see whether it is inevitable or due to the translator’s deficiencies Then, we assess the translation as a piece of writing, independently of its original In the last step, in the case of a serious text, for example, a novel, a poem, or an important document, we assess the work’s potential importance within the target language culture to see if it was worth being translated or what kind of influence it has on the language and the literature CHAPTER AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TRANSLATION OF “A GAME OF THRONES” BY HA LY 2.1 A brief analysis of the SL text The Intention of the text ‘A Game of Throne’ is the first novel of the series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’, a series of fantasy novels, which was written by George R.R Martin – an American Novelist The book was first published in 1996, by Bantam Spectra in the US and Voyager Books in the UK The ST is taken from a chapter of the book; thus, its intention must have related to the intention of the book as well as the whole series The books’ purpose is first to serve Mr Martin as a work of fulfilling his dream of creating his own fantasy world since childhood, after being influenced by Tolkien’s novels Secondly, it is to entertain the readership, to satisfy the need to ease one’s soul for confronting the harsh realities of everyday life The ST is the beginning of a chapter from the novel ‘A game of Throne’, which is the scene when Eddard is on his sickbed after being defeated by Jaime Lannister Eddard fell into a dream of the past when he and his men went to the tower of joy for a fight to rescue his sister Lyanna After awake from the dream, he recalled the fight which made him suffer a long sleep and realized that maybe his life is in danger, maybe for his appearance in King’s Landing The translator’s intention Usually, the intention of the translator is identical with the author’s intention, and in this sense, let us come to agree that the intention of the translator was simply to repaint and retell the story for concerned readership, and help the readers feel that they are in the medieval world the ST author Text types Throughout the ST, some parts are dialogue as the characters have some conversation, some are descriptive, but overall, the text is categorized as Narrative As it emphasized mainly on verbs or phrasal and in sequences of events Characterizations of the readership The target readership of the novel are people above eight-teen years old because the content of the story contains many adult themes, and they are filled with violence, foul language, and many more which I dare not to mention The readership is those who are interested in fantasy, especially curious about the medieval time, and those who have already seen the television show that adapted from the series, so they have known the story presented in the ST partially For this reason, the typical readership must be the educated layman Stylistic Scales The text was written with the formality of neutral, and the words in the text have the difficulty of neutral as well, which make the text not hard to read or to understand Quality of the source text The story is told in third person point of view, in which the narrator exists outside of the story and addresses the characters by name (e.g., Ned, Alyn, Poole), by the pronouns “he, she, it” and “him, her, them” Moreover, the words are used correctly and it has a minimum redundancy Thus, the ST is well-written 2.2 The translator’s purpose After analyzing the ST, we attempt to see the text from the viewpoint of the translator The translator has used faithful translation method in the process of translating the text from English to Vietnamese most of the time Considering the two paragraphs below for clearer illustration Target Text Source Text Họ có bảy người, chọi ba Giấc mơ ngồi đời thực Nhưng khơng phải ba người bình thường Chúng đứng chờ trước tháp, núi Dorne đỏ sậm sau lưng chúng, áo chồng trắng tung tay gió Và khơng có bóng cả; mặt họ bừng sáng, hiển rõ ràng Ser Arthur Dayne, Hiệp sĩ Ánh sáng, mang nụ cười buồn mơi Chi đại đao Bình Minh thò khỏi vai phải anh Ser Oswell Whent quỳ chân, mài kiếm Hai bên mũ trụ men sứ trắng hình dơi đen Gia Đình giang cánh Đứng họ Ser Gerold Tháp Lớn, Bò Đực Trắng, lãnh chúa huy Ngự Lâm Quân They were seven, facing three In the dream as it had been in life Yet these were no ordinary three They waited before the round tower, the red mountains of Dorne at their backs, their white cloaks blowing in the wind And these were no shadows; their faces burned clear, even now Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, had a sad smile on his lips The hilt of the greatsword Dawn poked up over his right shoulder Ser Oswel Whent was on one knee, sharpening his blade with a whetstone Across his whiteenamelled helm, the black bat of his House spread its wings Between them stood fierce old Ser Gerold Hightower, the White Bull, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard As it could be seen, all the words were translated, and the TL text was grammatically correct The overall content of the ST remains in the TT, yet the sentences in the TL text are displayed unnaturally In this matter, the translator’s purpose seems to focus on reconstructing the general content, not the semantic details at the word level However, the translator did not misinterpret the author or omit any important sections of the text 2.3 Comparing the translation with the original The translation consists of five pages printed in the book, from page 541 to 545 In the framework of this assignment, we will compare the translation with the original in page order print, and look at the problems of the ST to see how the translator has solved them No Target Text Source Text Title Trò Chơi Vương Quyền A Game of Thrones Page Lyanna nằm vũng máu and Lyanna in her bed of blood 541 họ sánh bước bên ông đời as they had in life người trông coi đầm lầy the crannogman hồn ma cưỡi ngựa mù grey wraiths on horses made of mist sương Chúng đứng chờ trước tháp, núi They waited before the round tower, Dorne đỏ sậm sau lưng chúng Và khơng có bóng And these were no shadows; their cả; mặt họ bừng sáng, hiển faces burned clear, even now rõ ràng Hiệp sĩ Ánh sáng The Sword of the Morning đại đao Bình minh the greatsword Dawn 10 Ser Oswell Whent quỳ chân, Ser Oswell Whent was on one knee, mài kiếm sharpening his blade with a whetstone 11 Hai bên mũ trụ men sứ trắng hình Across his white-enameled helm, the dơi đen Gia Đình giang black bat of his House spread its cánh wings 12 Đứng họ Ser Gerold Tháp Lớn, Between them stood fierce old Ser Bò Đực Trắng, lãnh chúa huy Ngự Gerold Hightower, the White Bull, Lâm Quân Lord Commander of the Kingsguard 13 “Nếu Phản “Woe to the Usurper if we had been,” Vương gặp hoạ rồi,” 14 Vương Đô King’s Landing the red mountains of Dorne at their backs 15 Page Ngai Sắt Iron Throne 16 542 củng cố phòng tuyến to lift the siege Lãnh chúa Tyrell Redwyne hạ cờ Lords Tyrell and Redwyne dipped their banners 17 18 Chúng không dễ dàng quỳ gối trước Our knees not bend easily 19 với hoàng hậu hoàng tử Viserys with your queen and Prince Viserys 20 người tốt bụng trung thành a good man and true 21 Ngài tháo mũ trụ He donned his helm 22 Giờ bắt đầu And now it begins 23 Lưỡi kiếm trắng đục cỏ sữa The blade was pale as milkglass 24 Giờ kết thúc Now it ends 25 Khi kiếm thép kiếm As they came together in a rush of ma hồ vào steel and shadow 26 ơng nghe tiếng Lyanna hét 27 Một trận bão cánh hoa hồng rơi lả tả A storm of rose petals blew across a khắp bầu trời mang vệt máu, blood-streaked sky, as blue as the xanh mắt người chết eyes of death he could hear Lyanna screaming 28 Page Tháp Quân Sư Tower of the Hand 29 543 yếu mèo weak as a kitten 30 Page Sát Vương Kingslayer 31 544 Quỷ Lùn the Imp 32 Tiểu thư nhỏ bé can trường She is a fierce little thing 33 Hội Chị Em Quản Sinh Tử the silent sister 34 tháp hạnh phúc tower of joy Page 35 545 Ơng khơng nghĩ điềm báo He did not think it omened well that giấc mơ có thật sau hàng năm he should dream that dream again trời after so many years Table Comparing two version of the text The title The ST was taken from a chapter of the book entitled “A Game of Thrones” which is one of the novels in the series namely “A Song of Ice and Fire”, as it was already mentioned However, when the book was translated and published in Vietnam by Tre Publishing House in September 2012, it had been divided into two separate books; one was named “Trị Chơi Vương Quyền (1A) - Sói tuyết thành Winterfell” and the other was named “Trò Chơi Vương Quyền (1B) - Vua phương Bắc” It is better to not dig into the reason why the publisher does such a thing Still, as in the titles of the two books, they share the same phrase: “Trò Chơi Vương Quyền”, thus it is wise to consider “Trò Chơi Vương Quyền” is the translation of the original title “A Game of Thrones” 10 The translator has translated the word “Thrones” (special chairs used by kings or queens) to “Vương Quyền” (the right to be a king or queen) If the translator translated the title literally, the translated title would be “Trò Chơi Ngai Vàng”, which is fine as one might say, but it is not suitable for the content of the story, since the word “Ngai Vàng” can be referred to two meanings: ‘a throne’ or ‘a golden throne’ The second meaning would be a big problem since there was no golden throne but an iron one in the story The translated title would be more suitable cause it avoids all the misunderstandings that might happen, and is more precise to the book’s content Structure Throughout both texts, in most cases, the TL text has the same form of sentences as the SL text The reason is that the source text does not contain many complex and compound sentences However, there are a few situations the structures are different (No 13, 18, 25, 35) Proper names In the original text, there is a lot of proper nouns, including geographical names, characters’ names, and other kinds of names With all the characters’ names and most geographical names, the translator did not translate but transferred them to the TL text (e.g., Eddard, Lyanna, Jory, etc.) Some proper nouns that have been translated using TL are in No 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 28, 30, 31, 34 The translator has translated these names, for these are the names created by compounding words that describe the person or the objects themselves (e.g., No 15: Iron Throne), or the names that are based on real things/concepts (e.g., No 9: Dawn) The translator’s purpose for translating these might be because she wanted to minimize the SL words in the TL text as possible 2.4 The evaluation of the translation Evaluation of the translation through the criteria of the translator In this part, the translation will be evaluated through the analysis of section 2.3 above In general, the translator has provided an accurate translation of the meaning of symbols and expressions See number (No.) 4, 15, 28, 33 (Table 1.) These have proved that the translator has researched the original text well, and has a rich Vietnamese vocabulary Example: No 33: Hội Chị Em Quản Sinh Tử (the silent sister) In the story, the Silent Sister is a religious order of women, who are sworn to the service of the Stranger – a god that represents death They are responsible for dressing and preparing dead bodies for funeral rites, they are called the “silent sister” as they have sworn vows of silence The translator has made an excellent translation here by creating the name “Hội Chị Em Quản Sinh Tử”, the name refers to their role as women who preparing for a man’s death, instead of translating it into “chị em im lặng”, which was “silent sister” literally There are some points that need to be overcome in the translation, including comprehension errors and translation errors 11 Comprehension errors: No 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 17, 27, 35 In close, the translator seems to translate some details in a way that may not affect the meaning of the text, but these minor details may create misunderstandings in related to the storyline of the ST author For example, in No 12, the name of the character was “Gerold Hightower” but she has translated it to “Gerold Tháp Lớn” Usually, the name of the character must not be translated, yet she did understand that this is a name, as she keeping the first name of the character – “Gerold”, but she has misunderstood the last name “Hightower” to a nickname In No 27, she translated “A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death.” into “Một trận bão cánh hoa hồng rơi lả tả khắp bầu trời mang vệt máu, xanh mắt người chết” In the original version, the sentence denotes an image of blue-colored rose petals blowing in a red-colored sky, but in the translated version, it creates an ambiguity of either an image of a storm of rose petals carrying blue blood streaks or an image of blue petals blowing in a sky and the sky carries blood streak Translation errors: No 9, 11, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32 Again, these errors a minor effect on the original content As in No 11, “the black bat of his House spread its wing” has been translated to “hình dơi đen Gia Đình giang cánh”, which is too literal and senseless I suggest the phrase should be converted to “là hình gia huy, dơi đen dang cánh” Another example is No 23, the translator has translated the phrase “as pale as milkglass” to “trắng đục cỏ sữa”, the word “milkglass” refers to the milky-white glass, but it has been translated wrong into “cỏ sữa” – a kind of grass that has green color, thus, the translated text seems meaningless Evaluation of the translation as an independent piece of writing As a reader, when reading the translated version without caring about the original, we can see that the text is organized well and the content is well-presented The language used in the text is easy to understand and comprehensible to most readers In sum, as an independent piece of writing, this is a completely readable text 2.5 The translation’s future The world created by George R.R Martin come to the audience of Vietnam through the movie series that adapted from his novels However, the movies could not cover all the details, all the images, and all the plots from the book “A Game of Throne”, therefore, the need for a Vietnamese version of the novel is an obvious matter, and it has been solved by this translation of Ha Ly Although, it must be said that this translation is not perfect, for many minor details that might affect the reader, but it would be the base for further edition 2.6 Conclusion of the assessment Overall, this is a qualified translation It remains the same content and structure as the original text The translator has conveyed the author’s intention through the choice of diverse vocabulary, paragraphing the same ways as the original, and attempting to translate it as close 12 as possible without significant addition or omission of any parts This shows that the translator has been able to render a text from one language into another while keeping both the matter and the manner of it However, the translation still exists some issues that have not been converted well, related to the differences in structure and expression between the two languages The translator should also be more careful when translating words that were created specifically for the content of the ST 13 CONCLUSION After evaluating the translation using Newmark’s model, the researcher concludes that the translated version of the excerpt in “A Game of Thrones” is of good quality In general, the translated text has conveyed most of the author’s ideas by using faithful translation method as the main method, translating closely to the original text Despite the differences in sentence structure between the two languages, the sentences in the translated text are all grammatically correct The translator has also made excellent selection of words and showing the creativity and flexibility in translating new term created in the source text The language used in the translation is easy to understand for all readers as well Still, some issues of the translation should be review for a better version in the future First, by using faithful translation the content of the text is remained but most of the aesthetic values in the source text has not appeared in the translation Secondly, the translation has an inconsistency in translating geographical names, which some are translated into Vietnamese but some are not, this may create a confusion The researcher suggests that the translation should be translated using semantic translation methods, for it would be suitable to express both the meanings and the aesthetic values of the original text All the geographical names should not be translated, for even though it being translated to Vietnamese, the world in the story is somewhat relevant to western culture which is not always the same as Vietnamese culture 14 REFERENCES • ATA’s Framework for Standard Error Marking • Catford, J.C 1965, A Linguistic Theory of Translation, Oxford University Press, London • Newmark, P 1988, A Textbook of Translation, Prentice Hall International, New York • Nida, E.A & Taber, C.R 1969, The Theory and Practice of Translation, E J Brill, Leiden • Munday, J 2016, Introducing Translation Studies - Theories and Applications,4th edn, Routledge, London 15 APPENDICES (Target text) EDDARD Ông lại có giấc mơ ngày xa xưa, ba chàng hiệp sĩ áo trắng, tháp sụp đổ từ lâu, Lyanna nằm vũng máu Trong giấc mơ đó, bạn bè ơng bên cạnh, họ sánh bước bên ông đời Martyn Cassel kiêu hãnh, cha Jory; Theo Wull trung thành; Ethan Glover, người hộ vệ anh Brandon; Ser Mark Ryswell, người có giọng nói nhẹ nhàng trái tim ấm áp; người trông coi đầm lầy, Howland Reed; Lãnh chúa Dustin ngựa chiến to lớn Ned biết tường tận khuôn mặt người ông nhớ khn mặt mình, năm tháng cướp ký ức, kể ký ức ông thề khơng qn Trong giấc mơ họ cịn bóng, hồn ma cưỡi ngựa mù sương Họ có bảy người, chọi ba Giấc mơ ngồi đời thực Nhưng khơng phải ba người bình thường Chúng đứng chờ trước tháp, núi Dorne đỏ sậm sau lưng chúng, áo choàng trắng tung tay gió Và khơng có bóng cả; mặt họ bừng sáng, hiển rõ ràng Ser Arthur Dayne, Hiệp sĩ Ánh sáng, mang nụ cười buồn môi Chuôi đại đao Bình Minh thị khỏi vai phải anh Ser Oswell Whent quỳ chân, mài kiếm Hai bên mũ trụ men sứ trắng hình dơi đen Gia Đình giang cánh Đứng họ Ser Gerold Tháp Lớn, Bò Đực Trắng, lãnh chúa huy Ngự Lâm Qn “Tơi tìm vị dịng Trident,” Ned nói với họ “Chúng tơi khơng đó,” Ser Gerold trả lời “Nếu chúng tơi Phản Vương gặp họa rồi,” Ser Oswell nói “Khi Vương Đơ sụp đổ, Ser Jaime giết chết vua vị kiếm vàng, băn khoăn liệu vị nơi nào.” “Rất xa,” Ser Gerold nói, “Nếu khơng Aerys ngồi vững Ngai Sắt, người anh em phản bội bị thiêu bảy địa ngục.” “Tôi tới Storm’s End để củng cố phòng tuyến ” Ned nói với họ “Lãnh chúa Tyrell Redwyne hạ cờ, tất hiệp sĩ họ quỳ gối thề trung thành với Tôi tưởng vị đó.” “Chúng tơi khơng dễ dàng quỳ gối trước ai,” Ser Arthur Dayne nói “Ser Willem Darry tháo chạy tới Dragonstone, với hoàng hậu hoàng tử Viserys Tôi nghĩ ngài họ.” 16 “Ser Willem người tốt bụng trung thành,” Ser Oswell nói “Nhưng khơng thuộc Ngự Lâm Qn,” Ser Gerold “Ngự Lâm Quân không bỏ chạy.” “Dù lúc hay bây giờ,” Ser Arthur nói Ngài tháo mũ trụ “Chúng thề,” Ser Gerold già nói Những bóng ma Ned di chuyển tới bên ông, với kiếm ma tay Bảy chọi ba “Giờ bắt đầu thôi,” Ser Arthur Dayne, Hiệp sĩ Anh sáng nói Ngài rút Binh Minh khỏi vỏ cầm hai tay Lưỡi kiếm trắng đục cỏ sữa, sống động nắng “Không,” giọng Ned buồn man mác “Giờ kết thúc rồi.” Khi kiếm thép kiếm ma hịa vào nhau, ơng nghe tiếng Lyanna hét “Eddard!” cô gọi Một trận bão cánh hoa hồng rơi lả tả khắp bầu trời mang vệt máu, xanh mắt người chết “Lãnh chúa Eddard,” Lyanna lại gọi “Anh hứa,” ơng thầm “Lya, anh hứa mà ” “Lãnh chúa Eddard,” giọng người đàn ông vang vọng bóng tối Eddard rên rỉ mở mắt Ánh trăng luồn qua khung cửa sổ cao Tháp Quân Sư “Lãnh chúa Eddard?” bóng đen đứng bên giường “Bao… rồi?” Tấm ga giường nhàu nhĩ, chân ơng bó bột Một đau nhoi nhói chạy dọc người ơng “Sáu ngày bảy đêm.” Đó giọng bác Vayon Poole Người quản gia đưa cốc lên mơi Ned “Lãnh chúa uống đi.” “Cái ?” “Chỉ nước thơi Maester Pycelle nói ngài khát.” Ned uống Môi ông khô nứt nẻ Nước có vị mật ong “Bệ hạ cho gọi,” bác Vayon Poole nói cốc nước cạn “Bệ hạ muốn nói chuyện với ngài.” “Sáng mai đi,” Ned nói “Khi ta khỏe hơn.” Ơng khơng thể đối diện với Robert lúc Giấc mơ làm ông yếu ớt mèo “Lãnh chúa,” bác Poole nói, “bệ hạ lệnh cho chúng tơi đưa ngài tới ngài mở mắt.” Bác quản gia tất bật châm nến bên giường 17 Ned khe khẽ chửi thầm Robert chưa biết kiên nhẫn “Nói với ngài ta mệt không tới tiếp kiến Nếu ngài muốn nói chuyện với ta, ta vui lòng tiếp ngài Ta mong ông đánh thức ngài dậy khỏi giấc ngủ ngon Và gọi ” Ơng định nói Jory nhớ “Gọi đội trưởng đội hộ vệ.” Alyn bước vào phòng ngủ lát sau bác quản gia lui “Lãnh chúa.” “Bác Poole nói với ta ta mê man sáu ngày,” Ned nói “Ta cần biết tình hình.” “Sát Vương đào tẩu,” Alyn nói “Người ta nói trở Casterly Rock cha Chuyện phu nhân Catelyn bắt Quỷ Lùn tới tai người Tơi tăng thêm lính gác, mong ngài vừa ý.” “Ngươi làm tốt ” Ned lên tinh thần cho “Các gái ta sao?” “Họ ngài suốt ngày Sansa im lặng cầu nguyện, Arya ” Anh chần chừ “Tiểu thư khơng nói lấy lời kể từ họ mang ngài Tiểu thư bé nhỏ can trường Tôi chưa thấy giận đến bé.” “Dù chuyện xảy ra,” Ned nói, “ta mong gái ta an toàn Ta sợ bước đầu.” “Không làm hại họ đâu, thưa Lãnh chúa Eddard,” Alyn nói “Tơi lấy mạng mà đảm bảo.” “Cịn Jory người khác?” “Tôi trao họ cho Hội Chị Em Quản Sinh Tử, để đưa họ lên phương bắc Winterfell Jory muốn nằm cạnh ông mình.” Tất nhiên muốn nằm cạnh ơng mình, cha Jory chơn cất xa phương nam Martyn Cassel ngã xuống người khác Sau Ned chiếm tòa tháp, sử dụng viên đá đẫm máu để xây lên tám mộ đồi Nghe đồn Rhaegar đặt tên tháp hạnh phúc, Ned đoạn ký ức đau thương Bảy người bọn họ đấu với ba người, cịn hai người sống sót; Eddard người trơng đầm lầy nhỏ bé, Howland Reed Ơng khơng nghĩ điềm báo giấc mơ có thật sau hàng năm trời ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wRIFif06KaTAF8o-Fs4K-6mRQoH1Xocn/view?usp=sharing ) 18