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A Thread for Small Questions XI


Stubby

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New thread with the last having reached 400.

I think this is the only unaddressed question from the last thread, from the poster Valar_Morghulis:

On my recent pre-ADWD re-read, I started wondering: Why is Stannis making his own bid for the throne of Westeros, instead of throwing his support behind Dany? We see that Stannis has become obsessed with the idea that he is the "rightful heir" to the throne. He says several times that he doesn't necessarily want to be king, but he sees it as his duty and birthright. With that mindset, it kind of seemed as if he should have assumed Dany is the rightful heir instead, since she's the only surviving member of the dynasty that ruled Westeros for centuries.

But that train of thought led me to a larger question: Given that Stannis's standards of morality/justice are so extremely rigid, it now seems kind of strange to me that he would have supported his brother's side during Robert's Rebellion. Robert was openly breaking the law by leading a rebellion to depose the rightful king, but I don't recall reading any evidence that Stannis was opposed to Robert's actions during this time. In fact, during the rebellion he was holding the besieged Storm's End, which makes him one of the rebels. That doesn't seem to jive with his personal code of ethics. We know that he doesn't show mercy to other criminals, and he doesn't particularly have a soft spot for his brother Robert. What is the explanation for Stannis's support of his brother's illegal rebellion?

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Robert didn't start the rebellion with a claim that he wanted to become king himself. It might have been (in the eyes of Stannis) a just punishment for the Mad King's crimes.

If Lyanna and Rhaegar hadn't died during the war, who knows what would have been the outcome?

But then, when Aerys and all his heirs either perished or fled, it actually was Robert that had the strongest claim to the throne.

Maybe Stannis didn't even realize that Viserys and Dany had such a strong will to regain the throne. I think it's not entirely impossible that he could support Dany when he comes with an army to Westeros, but he would have to get rid of Melissandre first (she's adding the religious aspect convincing him that he's the saviour of the world).

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Why has Starfall been on the map of Westeros since the first book? It's not a key location in any way like the strongholds of the lords paramount or cities such as Oldtown and Gulltown. Does this forebode that the castle is important to the overarching storyline of the book because it ties in greatly, maybe, with the mystery of Jon's parentage? I just want to know why this castle, held by a family that hasn't played a major role in the novels so far, and not other castles.

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Why has Starfall been on the map of Westeros since the first book? It's not a key location in any way like the strongholds of the lords paramount or cities such as Oldtown and Gulltown. Does this forebode that the castle is important to the overarching storyline of the book because it ties in greatly, maybe, with the mystery of Jon's parentage? I just want to know why this castle, held by a family that hasn't played a major role in the novels so far, and not other castles.

I'm pretty sure that Starfall was mentioned in GoT. Didn't they say that Ned took Dawn back to Starfall, and there's another hint that Jon was there at some point. Ashara Dayne was mentioned a few times as well.

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Do we know how old Mance Raydar is? Thanks all.

I'm fairly sure we don't know exactly, but I think we can infer from his story of visiting Winterfell and his physical description ('in his middle years') that he must be in his late thirties at least, maybe early forties.

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What does Lord Gyles have that causes his constant coughing?

The constant coughing, the fact that it's been a feature for a long time and the coughing up blood suggest TB to me. Having said that tuberculosis is reasonably infectious and no-one else seems to have it so it may be a partially fictionalised variant or some sort of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

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Does anyone remember the visions Dani had in the "House of the Undying Ones" in Quarth?

Off the top of my head:

- A blue-eyed king with no shadow (Stannis).

- A mummer's dragon (Aegon).

- A blue rose growing on a chunk of ice (often assumed to be Jon via R+L=J)

- A white lion (Tyrion or maybe Jaime? or maybe noone in particular).

- A smiling dead man on a ship.

- The Red Wedding.

- Aerys ckackling about destroying King's Landing.

- Rhaegar talking to his wife Elia how the dragon has three heads or something.

- Viserys dying.

- her unborn son Rhaego as the conquering and pillaging Khal.

- the crones of Dosh Khaleen kneeling before her.

Aaaand, that's what I remember without digging through the book.

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Off the top of my head:

- A blue-eyed king with no shadow (Stannis).

- A mummer's dragon (Aegon).

- A blue rose growing on a chunk of ice (often assumed to be Jon via R+L=J)

- A white lion (Tyrion or maybe Jaime? or maybe noone in particular).

- A smiling dead man on a ship.

- The Red Wedding.

- Aerys ckackling about destroying King's Landing.

- Rhaegar talking to his wife Elia how the dragon has three heads or something.

- Viserys dying.

- her unborn son Rhaego as the conquering and pillaging Khal.

- the crones of Dosh Khaleen kneeling before her.

Aaaand, that's what I remember without digging through the book.

Thank you so very much. Why did I think Theon was in there? So the visions are exactly accurate or just possible futures? The thing about Rhaego was obviously wrong or outdated.

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Thank you so very much. Why did I think Theon was in there? So the visions are exactly accurate or just possible futures? The thing about Rhaego was obviously wrong or outdated.

Some of them were accurate - she did saw the Red Wedding (she didn't understand it, but that doesn't matter). With Rhaego, it was like a glimpse to a possible future that could have happened.

Others were visions of the past - and all of them seemed to be centered around her family.

Then there were symbolic images, like the rose growing on ice or the white lion, or the mummer's dragon.

I don't think it was a single cohesive prophesy, more like a blur of visions, memories of the past, possible futures and symbolic images. I think all they have in common is the importance they had/have/will have on Daenerys.

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When forging Needle, did Mikken know who it was for? I assumed Jon did not tell him directly that the sword was for Arya, but surely Mikken had his own thoughts - he knew Arya and Jon and everyboy else there - and he decided not to ask so he would not have to go to Eddard with it. But somebody I talked to about the series recently seems to think otherwise, so I just thought to ask what do you all think.

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