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[TWoW SPOILERS] March chapter mercy part ii


Angalin

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Anyone wonder about what Swyft wants from the Black Pearl? The obvious answer seems to be that he wants some nooky, but I do believe that there is more to it. Does the BP use her contacts and prestige to further Swyfts cause (in exchange for a handsome reward of ciurse)?

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Ser Wun Wun, hasn't GRRM said no POV rapes?

I don't know, has he? I don't remember seeing such a quote. Did he say no POV characters would ever get raped, or just that he would never show a POV getting raped? If the latter, then Sansa blacking out and the rape only being alluded to rather than described wouldn't make him a liar. Technically, anyway.

Also, LF's goal is clearly to win Sansa over. He could overpower her physically anytime he wanted; it's her psychological submission and desire for him that he wants. Thus his grooming offensive. It sounds weird, but I think LF rather enjoys wearing down Sansa's defences: "cheating" by raping her in her sleep or holding her down and raping her would in a sick way take the fun out of it for him.

I do think there is a good chance Sansa winds up with LF's bastard child at the end of this mess. I just don't think it will be through raping her while unconscious.

Well, I hope that is the case. That he'd rather seduce her than take her. But I'd be surprised if Sansa ever had sex with him willingly, no matter what he does to "wear her down." It seems inevitable that he will get frustrated with her resistance at some point, but he's not the type to force himself on someone violently. "Clean hands" and all that. LF lost his virginity in a sort of drunken, black out state, so there would be a kind of sick symmetry if he...agh.

This isn't a theory I'm exactly eager to defend. If that quote you referenced puts the kibosh on it completely, I'll be grateful.

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Earlier i said she is like Beatrix Kiddo now, but after thinking about it she is more like O-Ren Ishii. Cuz she killed her father's murderer in bed cuz he was a pedophile and she was only 12. Man I loved this chapter :)

I know! If it follows the pattern, she'll be one of the world's top female assassin's, which I'm sure will happen.

But I hope it doesn't end with her head being sliced off by some Valyrian Hattori Hanzo katana forged in Yi Ti or something :P

Her thoughts about "I should have helped him down the steps before I killed him. Now I’ll need to drag him all the way to the canal and roll him in." was when it really struck me that she's totally like Dexter now :P :D

Totally! Thinking of it as a messy inconvenience, she's got that black humor vibe of Dexter.

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Earlier i said she is like Beatrix Kiddo now, but after thinking about it she is more like O-Ren Ishii. Cuz she killed her father's murderer in bed cuz he was a pedophile and she was only 12. Man I loved this chapter :)

I always felt that O-Ren was the true star of the film. Beatrix was ok and Kill Bill 2 sucked to me.

Anyways, I don't think she would only kill bad people. She would kill innocents if she had enough motive and felt that she could get away with it but it's true that she mainly goes after bad people. I like that it's not only bad people. That's too comic book for me.

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Same for me.

I did get a "Mercy"= Sansa vibe as many others did-- that is, if Arya's playing Sansa at all it's through the Mercy character.

But I don't think that one's the best fit. I actually see more of an "Arya playing Jeyne Poole" thing going on here. Mercy is more tittery and less dignified than even early aGoT Sansa. Jeyne's the one who gets giggly, thinks about whether she's "pretty," likes "older men," and has undergone trauma of the worst sort in terms of the sexual violence it appears Mercy has. So I was reading this as a Jeyne Poole foil.

Daena finding Harys unappetizing because of his age reminds me of Sansa wondering what Jeyne could possibly see in Beric as he was so old, so Arya is playing Jeyne in the exchange.

There's also the symmetry of Jeyne playing Arya as Arya is playing Jeyne.

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I know! If it follows the pattern, she'll be one of the world's top female assassin's, which I'm sure will happen.

But I hope it doesn't end with her head being sliced off by some Valyrian Hattori Hanzo katana forged in Yi Ti or something :P

Totally! Thinking of it as a messy inconvenience, she's got that black humor vibe of Dexter.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying, she is so dangerous now

She knows how to wield assault weapons perfectly, knows where the main arteries are located.

KNows how to change her voice, her mannerisms. Jesus

and she is still so young she has no boobs, just wait til this girl is 16. yikes!!!!! :fencing:

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He's going to kill her, GRRM. I can't tell you much that sucks for me, and how little left of this alleged 'sweet' in the bittersweet ending would be left then. But, I will refrain from going on a rant about the good guys always losing, etc. etc.

I definitely have the same feeling about the ending, though I'm not sure I would consider Arya to be a "good guy" at this point. I also think you're probably right about her fate. I guess I just gave up routing for her a bit ago, so this chapter was easier to swallow for me.

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People have been wondering for a while if the Kindly Man knows that Arya has been warging. In ADWD, he warned her that she "may have bad dreams for a time" due to bleed-through from the ugly little girl's memories. But then and here, we see Arya warging Nymeria in her sleep---she has wolf dreams, but no face-related dreams. It's possible that she's been having face-related dreams off-page, or that the Kindly Man was lying, or even that she just isn't having the dreams because not everyone does. But in context, the emphasis on Arya's wolf dreams could be a hint that a warg reacts differently to Faceless Man training than the Kindly Man anticipated.



Mercy does not sew. A Greyjoy reference? :)



The actress apparently playing Cersei likes a "little nip of wine" before each play. Hah!



Have we been told what "keyholders" are in Braavosi society? Clearly they're powerful people, but what sort of "keys" do these people have access to? Literal or metaphorical keys?



The Black Pearl is Bellegere Otherys. Is there a difference between Otherys and Otharys (a typo, or two different names)? Mercy sees "three scions of Otharys, each accompanied by a famous courtesan" in one box. Could be nothing, but I'd be curious if there was a connection there.



In TMK, we saw the black dragon covered with mud, symbolically becoming the brown dragon, as dawn arrived. In AFFC, we saw Sam drop two books, one containing a picture of a black dragon that gets covered with mud (symbolically becoming the brown dragon), the other discussing Lightbringer. In this chapter, we get another black "dragon" to brown "dragon" reference in conjunction with a symbol of the dawn: the Black Pearl, descendant of a "dragon king", symbolically changes to "brown". She is shown in the company of a man with a rooster for a sigil, and roosters herald the dawn.





Exactly, I don't understand why most people seem to assume it's Sansa.





People seem to be picking up on the multiple Sansa references in this chapter. The theatre is called "the Gate", and Sansa was last seen at the Gates (of the Moon). The Bobono = Tyrion situation clearly evokes Sansa (Mercy "kneeling", the dwarf wanting to have sex with her, thinking his penis looks ridiculous), "Lady Stork" as the Queen (Littlefinger apparently plans on making Sansa a Queen), the idea of a fugitive hiding in plain sight (which is what Sansa is doing), etc. Obviously there are other references to Arya's siblings here (the "bloody paste" refers to Bran, the Stranger losing one of his two horns refers to Rickon (one horn = unicorn = Skagos), etc.), but the Sansa references seem most prevalent.



I doubt Mercy is actually playing Sansa in the play, as I can't see any playwright worth his salt reducing Sansa's role to just getting raped in the second act, particularly given the stories now circulating about her. (People think she's a witch in league with Tyrion who helped murder Joffrey, for goodness' sake!) But presumably the ties between "Mercy" and Sansa here are foreshadowing something.



"Sleeping through her own rape" reminds me of the Grimm version of Snow White, and there are a number of Sansa/Snow White parallels throughout the text. On the other hand, this play keeps referring to things that never happened (we know Sansa refused to kneel for Tyrion, Tyrion didn't make a deal with the Stranger, etc.). We know Sansa was never raped by Tyrion, and the "rape" in this chapter is fake. You could read this as a hint that Sansa will claim to have been raped by Tyrion so that, as her marriage was legally consummated, she cannot be forced to marry someone else. There are ways to check if Sansa's still a maiden, pf course, but there are also ways around that. (Bribery, a helpful fall, etc.) I can't say I'm confident that GRRM won't have Sansa actually get raped---he's far too sadistic---but there are ways to read this that don't indicate Sansa (or Arya) will actually get raped. Especially since Mercy uses her "empty-headedness", and her enemy's desire to rape her, to kill him.





I never really got the controversy about the lemon tree.





The point (as I understood it) was to highlight the discrepancy between Dany's understanding of the house with the red door and the reality of such a house. To Dany, the house with the red door was a sort of rustic place of simplicity and innocence. She never seems to understand that the "lemon tree" that she views as a symbol of a simple life was in reality a symbol of wealth and privilege. So Dany's yearning for something whose true implications she never understood.


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I always felt that O-Ren was the true star of the film. Beatrix was ok and Kill Bill 2 sucked to me.

Anyways, I don't think she would only kill bad people. She would kill innocents if she had enough motive and felt that she could get away with it but it's true that she mainly goes after bad people. I like that it's not only bad people. That's too comic book for me.

Well yeah I doubt her kill victims will remain only 'bad people' throughout, but so far, the people she is killing is ok with me.

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Anyone wonder about what Swyft wants from the Black Pearl? The obvious answer seems to be that he wants some nooky, but I do believe that there is more to it. Does the BP use her contacts and prestige to further Swyfts cause (in exchange for a handsome reward of ciurse)?

How did he even pay her?

In the books, it is said, that

The courtesans of Braavos were famed across the world. Singers sang of them, goldsmiths and jewelers showered them with gifts, craftsmen begged for the honor of their custom, merchant princes paid royal ransoms to have them on their arms at balls and feasts and mummer shows, and bravos slew each other in their names

Harys Swyft comes from the richest region in Westeros, but he is only a knight, so how does he get so much money?

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I'm in the Shae Camp. The story is called the bloody hand, its the story of Tyrion.

The fact that Tyrion never bedded Sansa was well known in King's Landing and was a great source of shame to Tywin and House Lannister. The whole point of the play is to shame House Lannister.

We also have to consider Shae's testimony at trial. She claimed Tyrion took her against her will. She also said, "he used to make me tell him how big he was." She wasn't talking about his feet... hence the giant fake cock as a prop. Thats why Tyrion is the "Giant of Lannister"

Add to that Arya mends "Lady Stork's" dress just like Shae was made "Lady Stark's" handmaid.

Arya also plays like a whore to lure Raff to his death, there is a parallel with Arya playing a version of a real life whore, excuse me "camp follower."

I agree it must be Shae.

Also, she has very little dialog in the play. This is more fitting for Shae, a whore who people knew only as Tyrion's sex slave.

Had it been Sansa, I'm pretty sure she'd have gotten more dialog, more scenes and more importance.

Sansa was known to be his wife after all.

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I definitely have the same feeling about the ending, though I'm not sure I would consider Arya to be a "good guy" at this point. I also think you're probably right about her fate. I guess I just gave up routing for her a bit ago, so this chapter was easier to swallow for me.

I still see her as a 'good guy' she's seriously, seriously damaged, and given the crazy Lommy murder re-enactment her revenge fantasies have been taken way up beyond "11"...but she's still a little girl, who has been victimized by no fault of her own, and despite her kill number has shown kindness and generousity through the whole series, even alonside her violent impulses. The super flat emotionless aspect was really troubling also, though, she barely could even summon up an emotion about her rogue revenge kill.

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Same for me.

I did get a "Mercy"= Sansa vibe as many others did-- that is, if Arya's playing Sansa at all it's through the Mercy character.

But I don't think that one's the best fit. I actually see more of an "Arya playing Jeyne Poole" thing going on here. Mercy is more tittery and less dignified than even early aGoT Sansa. Jeyne's the one who gets giggly, thinks about whether she's "pretty," likes "older men," and has undergone trauma of the worst sort in terms of the sexual violence it appears Mercy has. So I was reading this as a Jeyne Poole foil.

That's an interesting point Bumps. Arya is playing "someone" who gets raped in King's Landing. And Jeyne Poole, who is pretending to be Arya was likely raped there and in Winterfell.

I agree the whole scene is intended to evoke memories of Sansa's time in KL, just not that Arya is playing the Sansa figure. It is sad that Arya does not reflect at all on the fact that the play depicts the times Sansa was alone in KL.

As to your point about Lady Stork and "little bird." IIRC, the last thing Sandor ever called Sansa was "little bird." The last thing he discussed with Arya was "Mercy." Just another nice but of fun from the master, GRRM.

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I agree it must be Shae.

Also, she has very little dialog in the play. This is more fitting for Shae, a whore who people knew only as Tyrion's sex slave.

Had it been Sansa, I'm pretty sure she'd have gotten more dialog, more scenes and more importance.

Sansa was known to be his wife after all.

She could have just been a nameless girl meant to highlight his depravity. Shae lived to testify at his trial, I'm not even sure how they would try to spin Sansa, if they were trying to be respectful towards the Westerosi envoy.

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Hmm, yes perhaps there is another Greyjoy reference. I wish we could find out which one will cause problems for Arya though. There was the seamonster reference in book 2 then in the next book when she's on that ferry thing with Sandor the tree has kraken arms and makes her slip and drop to her knee.



I don't know if it's Euron or Victarin. Considering this chapter I would be worried if she gets in Euron's presence.


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Yeah, that's what I'm saying, she is so dangerous now

She knows how to wield assault weapons perfectly, knows where the main arteries are located.

KNows how to change her voice, her mannerisms. Jesus

and she is still so young she has no boobs, just wait til this girl is 16. yikes!!!!! :fencing:

Exactly. That'd be so awesome. Beautiful, young, and extremely dangerous.

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Oh, another thing, am I the only one who thinks the blade was indeed Needle?

A real blade, not belonging to her like her other treasures... It was thin, and she pierced his neck with it. I think Arya got it from under the stairs when she left for Izembaro.

I got the same impression as you. I'm surprised that isn't a hotter topic on these threads.

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