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Brienne's one word.


Sun Tzu

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What if she said Stannis?

Quoted from aCoK, p.562 US paperback.

''No, but you have courage. Not battle courage perhaps but ... I don't know ... a kind of woman's courage. And I think, when the times comes, you will not try and hold me back. Promise me that. That you will not hold me back from Stannis.''

Catelyn could still hear Stannis saying that Robb's turn too would come in time. It was like a cold breath on the back of her neck. ''When the time comes, I will not hold you back.''

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I think another option is "Ice". The consensus seems to be that she either yells "sword" (to save Pod's life) or "Arya" (even though Stoneheart will know her daughter is alive, Brienne doesn't know that Stoneheart knows). Brienne knows something else that Stoneheart doesn't know - and that is her sword Oathkeeper is Ice re-formed. Brienne is dangling at the end of a rope and needs to yell something to get Stoneheart's attention. Perhaps the news that Stoneheart is actually now in possession of her late husband's sword may grant Brienne a brief stay so that she can try to engage Stoneheart one more time.

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The "Stannis" word crossed my mind as well, when I thought about ACOK. However, I discarded it because I doubt Stoneheart cares at this point. In her mind, Brienne already broke her oath with Cat, so all bets are off, she's doesn't need to honor her end of the oath for someone who betrayed her.

"Sword" just fits too well. It is dead-on thematically for Brienne and Jaime. Their characters seem to be all about conflicting oaths, and now Brienne will be faced with one. She despised Jaime for being an oathbreaker until she heard the full story, so who's oath will Brienne keep now?

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Sorry for the minor hijacking, but I have heard sword many times and still don't see how it can save Pods life. Can someone give me a easy link or a 2 second summary?

Happy's Ent post on page four of this thread is the best explanation that comes to mind.

In short: Brienne is given a choice: sword or noose (that is, accept Stoneheart's commands or be hanged as an oathbreaker). It's made clear that refusal to choose will count as saying "noose". Therefore, to prevent her companions being hanged, she must choose "sword".

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Happy's Ent post on page four of this thread is the best explanation that comes to mind.

In short: Brienne is given a choice: sword or noose (that is, accept Stoneheart's commands or be hanged as an oathbreaker). It's made clear that refusal to choose will count as saying "noose". Therefore, to prevent her companions being hanged, she must choose "sword".

The symbolism of the name of Brienne's sword is great! I mean (if she says "sword"), she will have to decide whether to break her oath or, indeed, decide which oath(s) to keep all while she bears a Valyrian steel blade named "Oathkeeper". Talk about an unpleasant, nagging reminder. Well, whatever happens, I think whenever that sword leaves it's scabbard during the rest of the story the shit's gonna hit the fan for somebody!

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Any chance she just yelled 'wait' or 'stop'?

I've been following this board for a while, and everyone seems to have their theory on what Brienne yelled, but it seems to me, even if the word was 'Arya' the BwoB would just look oddly at each other, shrug their shoulders, and continue with what they were doing.

I think if we see Brienne in the pages of any of the next books it will be because the Red Priest (can't remember his name) reanimates her. He seemed to be against the direction Lady Shoneheart was taking the Brotherhood... maybe killing Brienne will be the final straw for him, and he'll finally do something about it.

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Any chance she just yelled 'wait' or 'stop'?

I've been following this board for a while, and everyone seems to have their theory on what Brienne yelled, but it seems to me, even if the word was 'Arya' the BwoB would just look oddly at each other, shrug their shoulders, and continue with what they were doing.

I think if we see Brienne in the pages of any of the next books it will be because the Red Priest (can't remember his name) reanimates her. He seemed to be against the direction Lady Shoneheart was taking the Brotherhood... maybe killing Brienne will be the final straw for him, and he'll finally do something about it.

I am sure the Freys they hung did alot of yelling "wait" or "stop". Didn't do them much good so if that is Brienne's one word then it was her last word.

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I agree with Ned's Bones. I had the same "Stannis" thought when I re-read aCoK too, but there's just so little chance of UnCat giving a crap about that old promise these days. I think "sword" is the only possibility that makes sense.

Having said that, I'm just not sure that saying "sword", assuming it get's her off the hook - or should I say out of the noose, means that she'll automatically go after Jaime. It may be that her intent is to stall for time, make sure that Pod gets away, and then figure out a way out of her dilemma. I'm assuming here that her sense of honor will preclude her from just getting on a horse and saying "ha ha, I sure fooled you," but I'm also assuming that her feelings for Jaime will cause her to look for some alternative to killing him, at which point Martin will be Martin and throw whole new twists and turns into the story line and turn everything on its head anyway.

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I like the idea of the word being Stannis (even though I don't remember that quote.. eep :/ ). If the word WAS ice or sword (concerning ice) that could interest Stoneheart just from what we've seen and her reaction to Robb's crown. She's still holding on to it, so if Brienne were to tell her that Oathkeeper was reforged from Ice, well then she may have a change of heart (really bad pun intended :P ) and decide to either let her down to get the sword, or just keep her hanging and take it when she's dead.

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"I'm assuming here that her sense of honor will preclude her from just getting on a horse and saying "ha ha, I sure fooled you""

Honor, honor; lemmesee. Wasn't that what got Ned Stark separated from his head?

How about saying "Look, bitch, I've been riding all over East Bumfuck looking for your frickin' daughter, who would never have been in jeopardy if you'd cared as much about her and the rest of your kids as you did about your moronic ambitions and who killed your fat crazy sister's old man,and as thanks you strung me up, so I think we're just about even now and if I'm lucky I'll never see your ghastly face again. Jaime Lannister of the 'shit honor' treated me with more respect than you have, so hang out with your skanky pals hanging Freys until somebody figures out a way to kill you for good."

That's as she rides away, mind you, not while the noose is still around her neck.

:P

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I think we may be giving a bit much credit to Brienne... she either yells something that gives the reader some insight to future happenings in the books, or she yells some gibberish. Let's really look at this. She has a noose around her neck, running out of breath, in a panic, and she actually manages to think over the single word that will save her AND yell it out in this situation? Even if she did choose a good word, someone still has to let her down, and by the time someone did that she may be dead...

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My first thought after reading that chapter was, "Oathbreaker." After all, Catelyn swore vows to Brienne, too.

"And I vow that you shall always have a place by my hearth and meat and mead at my table, and pledge to ask no service of you that might bring you into dishonor. I swear it by the old gods and the new. Arise."

However, after coming to this board, I've come to agree that "sword" is more likely. After all, would Stoneheart really care what vows Catelyn swore?

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Actually, I have a brand new theory of the "one word." And it's so blatantly obvioius I can't believe I didn't think of it until just now.

First, some backstory...

A few years ago I came up with the idea for a game. It was a variation on Bingo, in that just like in the regular version you have a grid of boxes, and the way you win is to complete a horizontal, diagonal, or vertical line (or some other agreed upon pattern). The way in which this version was unique is that all of the boxes would contain unpleasant life events. Examples would include breaking a leg, having a car accident, going bankrupt, etc. One could then imagine the following exchange:

"Kids, I have some bad news for you. Grandma is dead. But on the plus side, Bingo!"

The name of my game was "Shit Happens Bingo"

Now, I thought that I had kept this million dollar idea a secret, but of course like any good secret I did share it with a few "close" friends that I thought I could trust.

Apparantly not. :tantrum:

It appears now that someone spilled the beans and word of my little invention somehow made it to Martin's ears. It would seem, then, that a version of SH Bingo has made its way into Westeros.

"Hmmm, let's see. 'Brother killed by huge pack of roaming wolves.' Ahh, yes. There it is, C4."

Which leads me back to my latest, painful insight.

Brienne's last word: "Bingo."

There's just no doubt about it.

;)

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Just as long as Brienne doesn't come back as UnBrienne. And I'm bummed that UnCatelyn who has made the worst choices of any woman character next to Scarlett O'Hara, is worse now that she's Undead. Please, no more undeads.

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