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.

Thanks! I found it. http://grrm.livejournal.com/487298.html?thread=24441730#t24441730 Many people believed they would get rid of Areo POV when George said we would have less POVs in Winds. They were wrong.

Someone here said that George confirmed Areo will return as POV in Winds of Winter. Do someone have the source, please?

Reading all the cave sequence, I could see that all this was an foreshadow. It seems like the travel they did to Griffin's Roost. They had a travel through a difficult patch and arrived in the Roost, so Arianne is presented with two options go by ship to Storm's End or by horse, while Daemon give a third option, send him as envoy instead. And we have Arianne talking with Elia. The second part is a foreshadow about what is about to happens in Storm's End. I interpret this in two ways. 1. it is a representation of Arianne's internal struggle. She will have to choose a patch, one guided by her mature side represented by Daemon and her immature side represented by Elia. Her mature side have to analyse what JonCon offers and Aegon claim with skepticism and her childish personality being vulnerable to what can influence her to accept to enter in war (Aegon's appearance, her envy for Quentyn, the desire to please her father). Which side will win? Good question. 2. It represents what actually will happens there. It can be not a representation of what is happening inside of Arianne's head, but what will actually happens in the physical plan. She will go to Storms'End (the big cave hall) where the meeting will happens. I think she will refuse the alliance, creating the sad faces in the Golden Company (No Dorne, no hope to win the Iron Throne), but Elia (wanting to avenge her father) will discover the code used by Arianne and send a message to Doran and put Dorne in war. It sides with the other foreshadowing we had in in Arianne I, with Arianne disputing a ride with a redhead girl, while Elia comes and surpass her without her not even Elia coming. (There is a thread somewhere that develops very well this theory). That last one is really tragic, because show that after years craven for revenge and wanting a war where few will die, Doran will be dragged to the conflict not in its own therms. After that we also have the following dialogue between Arianne and Elia I wonder what will happens with Elia. Probably she will do it to avenge her father and be responsable for the war and ruin of Dorne. Will she do it thinking Doran would never do something really harsh against her? Because, if she do it, she will commit high-treason and the penalty is death. And may be it will be her fate.

About the Fall of Storm's End, Arianne give us a good description of the walls and towers and show us how mighty this castle is. But, also give us a clue of how Jon Connington could have conquered it. The banner of House Mertyns is not there, the castle fell and that could be the reason the banner is not there, but we have another clue when the dornish are searching for information in the inns. We don't know about the first rumor (It can be true). The second may be true either, but I will discuss it later. But, by the last POV of Jon Connington we know it is not entirely true, even Red Ronnet is dead, we know his sister was not raped, she was just imprisoned in the castle and is been well treated. Chains and Young Jon Mudd said Jon Connington forbid rapes (we know the highborn women are safe, at least). And, may b Ronnet not even headed Griffin's Roost or encountered JonCon. It shows how inaccurate the rumors are and they can be just lies or half-trues. It leads back, to the second rumor, that men-at-arms of House Whitehead joined the Golden Company. It can be true, may be this House was royalist and defended the Targaryen in the Robert Rebellion or is betting in Aegon, the heir of the house is with them indeed. But is Ser Addam with them because he wants or forced? Did the travelers just see some men dressed as Whitehead soldiers and carrying the House's banner? We saw in Dance that Jon have a plan to take Storm's End and it is probably an ruse. I bet Jon Connington ordered the soldiers to take the banners of each castle they conquered, to pose as a relief force to Storm's End forces, beat the small force commanded by Mathis Rowan and when the besieged open the gates, they enter and conquer the castle. It can explain the missing banner and the Whitehead forces.

The Golden Company can win, not always the numbers decide a battle, it depends of the commander's competence (they have Mance and the GC have Jon Connington), the strategy used, if the army choose the terrain that give them advantage. The discipline of the troops (the GC have high disciplined soldiers, the Tyrells have a bunch of knights eager for ransoms and glory, no so disciplined). Other factor are the elephants, their charge is unstoppable, not even a forest of lances can stop them. Their charge can smash and trample the enemies, break the lines and cause a devastator psychological effect in the adversary making them disorganize. Also, the smell of the elephants cause panic in horses not used to this animals.

Randyl made a vow to the High Septon to return Margaery and her cousins to the Faith to their trial, so probably he had to stay in King's Landing. Mace is leading the army and it is not so odd, h is a man that never truly won a battle as commander and is eager to gain his laurels.

George just posted a new sample of the Winds of Winter. It is Arianne II, her second POV chapter that he already read in an Conference. We already had details about this chapter, but here is it to us to read http://www.georgerrmartin.com/excerpt-from-the-winds-of-winter/ Here is his original entry in Not A Blog http://grrm.livejournal.com/487298.html DISCLAIMER: The link is dated as April 2 2015, because George edited an older entry.

May be they will show more parts of the flashback