Samwell Tarly

[bunn]

How *does* he stay so fat? I'm pretty sure that if I were on military food for months while undergoing physical training (no matter how bad I was at it), and then had to ride for days on end, and then had to walk all the way back again for several weeks through heavy snow eating only what I could carry, I'd shed more than a few pounds.

I reckon he has a Star Trek food replicator.

Comments

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Well, the physical training wasn't very good, by which I mean that there wasn't a lot of exercise for those who didn't actively go and do it for themselves. From what I can remember it mostly consisted if sword fighting. If somebody wasn't very good at it they simply got lots of bruises rather than some hard physical exercise to try and get them fit.

I also suspect that Sam has a very low metabolic rate and probably a large frame. He might also have a hormone problem. There was a lad I was at school with who did and although he didn't eat any more than anybody else, he was rather large. Exercise wasn't a solution, only some form of hormone therapy would fix his problem.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

From what I can remember it mostly consisted if sword fighting.

Pretty sure that's not all of it - there is a scene where Jon has to spread gravel over the top of the Wall, for example, and the implication is that this is a routine task carried out by new recruits.

I'd have thought that sort of thing would involve quite a lot of effort, yet in book 5, walking upstairs STILL makes him breathless by the fifth step!

I kept telling myself about low metabolic rate and hormone problems while reading those sections, but I just didn't believe myself once it got to the bit about him walking through the snow for 9 days. I don't see how you could do that if you weren't burning your own fat.

[chainmailmaiden]

I get wheezy far more quickly going upstairs than I do walking on the flat, maybe Sam has a similar problem. The cold doesn't help my asthma either a couple of steps outside when it's freezing and I can't breathe.

Also since he's supposed to be very overweight he could probably loose several stone before there would be very much difference in his overall shape and size.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

My asthma doesn't like the cold either - but when he's walking up the steps, he's doing it inside in the warm (on his way up from the library vaults). A few weeks earlier he was trogging on foot across rough country surrounded by Others!

I agree he could probably lose quite a lot and not be noticeably thinner, but you'd think he'd register some small difference, given that he's quite conscious of his size and it's in his thoughts quite often. During the same period, Grenn grows about a foot, loses all his flab and starts bulging muscles everywhere, yet Sam doesn't even get to tighten his belt a notch!

I have developed another theory about him actually: I reckon he was actually killed early on in the story and is now a wight (so no need to be powered in the conventional way) but nobody, including him, has noticed...

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

I wonder whether Sam has asthms that is triggered by warmth? But he doesn't have a problem with cold. (Like you and chainmailmaiden my asthma doesn't like cold.)

I also wonder whether he doesn't know the difference between muscle and fat? If he's converted a bit of fat into muscle, but it hasn't changed his overall size he might well think he is still all fat.

Since he is very conscious of his size he might well consider that he was fat even though he had actually lost weight.

[chainmailmaiden]

I still get wheezy going up stairs inside, I can't get up to the restaurant on the 4th floor at work without suffering. Admittedly I'm not very fit at all at the moment, but even when I was doing 2 hour rowing sessions at ChCh 6 days a week, stairs still made me breathless. Stairs are evil.

I do agree it you would think Sam would notice a bit of a difference, but I like sigisgrim's idea that Sam wouldn't realise even if he'd lost weight because he has such a poor self image.