Arrow of the Morning

Daeron I did not marry or left children, be then legitimate or not. No source and genealogy show he leaving offspring. I agree that is odd that his parents didn't marry him nor betrothed him before, while arranging the marriage of two of his younger siblings, but as far as we know nobody in Westeros called it strange or abnormal. Daeron not wanting to marry or being too absorbed in his wars to arrange one after being crowned is other issue. About Jena Dondarrion marriage with the crown prince, I don't think it was due to her having Targaryen or Valyrian blood, but a way for Daeron II to settle any animosity caused by his union with the Dornish princess, Such sentiment caused a revolt later, so it was wise to try to placate it.

Yeah, this give plenty of evidence that members of the Kingsguard have squires, pratcally every knight needs a squire to tend for the horse and help the armor and in the joust. It is just strange that George didn't name any of them in the book, being a Kingsguard is a prestigious position and historically the Kingsguard are filled by excellent knights and squiring for them would give prestige as well, just image being squire for Barristan Selmy or Arthur Dayne. It could be used for politics too, if the king and the princes already have squires, giving the position of squire of a kingsguard to the scion of a noble house would be a good way to reward loyalty. The only reason to not have squires would be for the Kingsguard to dedicate all his time protecting the king or needing to maintain a small group to keep the king's secrets, in this case squires might be used only during missions, campaigns and tournaments.

I agree that protecting Jon's life was also really important and with the death of the other Rhaegar's children still so fresh it would had impacted Ned's decision. But honor also plays a role in it. And Ned cares about the honor of the ones he love, so no, he was not protecting Cersei's honor and he meant to tell Robert about Cersei's treason and her children true parentage, but Robert' death prevented it.

Brandon might be dead, but thething about Ned's honor is that it is not just about his personal conduct and public image, but also about the honor of the ones he love and he goes in great lenght to protect their honor even if he has to sacrifice his own. He for sure did it for Lyanna at the point of taking her child and saying he is his bastard son, something really dishonorable for him and that cause strain on his marriage. He might have done the same for Brandon, he for sure know about his brother sexual escapades, but he for sure never told Cat elyn about it. AnNed might have done the same for Ashara, the woman he loved, and hded the fact she was having a bastard. If Brandon did indeed had a fling with Ashara he might have hiden it well and may be Ned might have helped him in it deflecting the blame for himself.

We don't know, but I think it is possible that Ned and Brandon might have a clash. He for sure loved his brother enough to honor him with a statue over his grave at the crypts of Winterfell. I don't remember he expressing anger or resentment towards his brother in his POV chapters; the only feelings he showed was inadequacy. By the way, before Lyanna's kidnaping something weird was happening with the Stark family. Each member was separated from each other, Lyanna was close to Harrenhal, Brandon was probably in the Riverlands too, but was not close to her, Ned seems to in the Vale (why didn't he joined his brother wedding?) and Rickard seemed to be in Winterfell. George might have separate them for sake of the plot, but might there be a reason for this.

Actually the timeline makes sense. Ashara's child could had been conceived during the Harrenhal tournament, in the case both Brandon and Ned could be the father. And, yes, the baby could had be conceived after the tournament during in between the tournament of Harrenhal and the beginning of the Robert Rebellion! There is some months between the tournament and Lyanna's kidnaping, no source states how many months but it was enough for Elia to give birth to Aegon, during this period too Brandon went to Riverrun to get engaged (and beat Littlefinger's arse), go back to the North and go South again to his wedding. I think it is unlikely that Brandon met Ashara again during this time, but we don't know where Ned went, he could have gone North or returned to the Vale, what is much closer to King's Landing and Dragonstone and he might have met Ashara during this time and there is a chance he fathered a child. In any case, by the time Ned went to Starfall deliver Dawn, Ashara would have lost the child some months earlier. In almost every account about her death, they speculate about the motivation of her suicide and make different propositions; Barristan speculates if it was because of the lost child or because of the man who dishonored her, Edric Dayne said it was because of a broken heart and Cersei inquires if it was because of the death of her brother and the stolen child. Anyway, it is likely she was motivated for more than one tragic event. And about Brandon or Ned being the father of the child, we know about how different the two brothers were. Ned was shy and very honorable while Brandon was charming and was not shy with women. Having sex with a unmarried noblewoman is in character for Brandon (he did it before), Ned is the unlikely candidate, but I don't think it was impossible for him to have sex with Ashara even with they were not married, it is just less likely.

Not really. According with George at one point Dance was almost 1700 pages long, but he edited things back to 1510 pages. His quote can mean anything, he might be hundreds of pages far from finishing or he could surpassed the size limit and be close to fthe end, it is impossible to know for certain.

What is the name of House Redwyne's seat?

Answering the initial question of the topic, George detailed the process of determining if a book is too long for publishing in a blog post. https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2011/05/19/talking-about-the-dance/ To be short, it all depends if the manuscript surpasses the 1600 to 1700 pages threshold, after this it is impossible to physically put together everything in one book. George claimed to had already written hundreds of pages and that he needs to write hundreds more to finish the book properly and Lord knows how many hundreds of pages it means. About the delay, I am frustrated as well. I believe George will finish Winds of Winter even if takes time, I am not so optimistic about A Dream of Spring though, even with George claiming he have everything figure out.

I don't think so. Doran send Arianne to gather information and makes the best decision when facing Aegon. So, spreading rumors would sabotage his efforts. If the Iron Throne discovers Arianne was there to negotiate a possible alliance with Aegon, Dorne would be charged by treason, the fact Aegon is true or not would be irrelevant.

And the small island the Ironborn took seems to be the Isle of Pigs. The dialogue the Ironborn that killed the lord seems to indicate this; the "The Tyrells oink, the Redwyne oink, the Highotwers oink".

I enjoyed very much the chapter. It really delivered very good insights and foreshadowing. It is sad we didn't get this sample in AFFC or ADWD, this chapter would be a very good way to finish the Iron Islands arc in this book. It would end as a cliffhanger, but it would be much more satisfactory than end an arc without any climax. The editorial decision in cut this and other chapters in Dance really harmed this book. I liked this one more than the Arianne samples, but I don't blame the folks in the Cons that choose her instead of Aeron. Aeron is annoying and we didn't had a good perspective of what Aeron would do. Trystifer Botley said he was in the Iron Islands making a cup against Euron and it did not seem to promising.. Arianne is more interesting and the coming of Aegon gave us a good expectation. - I find Aeron pain in the ass, but I liked the sample and even sympathized with him. - We found Euron is a killer, rapist, pedophile, kinslayer. He is the pinnacle of the evil, the zenith of the badness, The "Supra Sumo" of the wrongdoing. - I have mixed feelings about Fallia Flowes, for one side I could not help, but laugh of her naivety when she though she and Daenerys would be like sisters and have schadenfreude mixed with pity when she lose the tongue. - I really liked the imagery. The Iron crown with shark teeth, the black Valyrian steel armor. - The visions are interesting and I don't agree totally with the interpretation of many people here. I think may be Euron will not gain the Iron Throne. The prophecies we have the vision of a Euron with kraken's face sit in the Iron Throne, with a woman with white fire in her hands, gods impaled in the throne's blades and two dwarfs, but is the man with kraken's face really Euron? Can this man be Victarion and Aeron interpreted as Euron? Dany drunk the same drink and had the visions, including the corpse with grey lips in the prow. Did Euron had the same vision and tries to make it become reality putting Aeron in the prow? It would be like Melisandre giving "Lightbringer" to Stannis.

Yes, I know. And when the men of the Golden Company said they raped no one I don't believe in it, even the GC soldiers being very disciplined. But, the number of rumors about noble women being raped was unusual, even if they are not true. Noble women being raped is a rare incident. I wonder if someone like this will gonna happen. Sylva Santagar (Arianne's dear friend and widow of the old Lord of Green Stone) is in Green Stone and the island was captured by the Golden Company. If it happens with her, Arianne's reaction would not be good.

One thing that called my attention is the number of rumors about rape in the chapter. We had first the rumor about the septas that were kidnap and turned slaves and the rumor about about Alynne Connington being raped by Griffin. In Mystwood we had Lady Mertyns saying she was not raped, but some of her servants were. I wonder if this rumors will have impact in Arianne.

Actually, if you see, the Faith is more like the Greek religion, they had gods that ruled or blessed some specific thing: Zeus (God of the sky and ruler of the Gods), Hares (God of War), Hephaesto (the blacksmith and god of all sort of craftsmanship), Hestia (Goddess of the family and health) and so on. They also had Primordial Deities like Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (Underworld), Pontus (Sea). May be the Faith have the Seven Gods (like the Greeks had the twelve Olympians Gods) and some other minor or ancient gods that are part of their creation mythology.