Character Guide Help!

[LadyFriend]

I am about 1/6 of the way through CoK and I am having a hard time keeping up with some of the new characters (or those who are newly emphasized). I am afraid to search out most character guides for fear of spoilers. Does anyone know a spoiler-free guide to characters that includes those not portrayed in the first book/season (if such a thing is possible)?

[iheartseverus]

I am about 1/6 of the way through CoK and I am having a hard time keeping up with some of the new characters (or those who are newly emphasized). I am afraid to search out most character guides for fear of spoilers. Does anyone know a spoiler-free guide to characters that includes those not portrayed in the first book/season (if such a thing is possible)?

Hmmm, its difficult to see how anyone would create a character guide for characters that begin after book 1, but are only characterized up through 1/6th of the next book. What could possibly be said about them, other than describing what they look like? Even any history about them might not actually be revealed until later and so would constitute a spoiler.

Lets try this--give me the names of 2 or 3 (new) characters that fit into this category for you, plus a very brief outline of what you know about them, and I will look at Wiki and see if the entry for that character is spoilerish or not.

ETA: typo

[LadyFriend]

Lets try this--give me the names of 2 or 3 (new) characters that fit into this category for you, plus a very brief outline of what you know about them, and I will look at Wiki and see if the entry for that character is spoilerish or not.

I had a feeling that this was a weird request!!!

OK -

1. Davos

I know that he was a smuggler who somehow ended up with Stannis. I know that he was caught smuggling something (?) and chose to lose some of his fingers as his punishment. I am confused as to where he came from and how he got to be a central character. Is he important only as a view into Stannis' story?

2. Who is this "Red Woman" character? Why are people "afraid" or enamored with her? I assume she is some kind of sorceress or something, but it seemed like she came out of nowhere a bit.

-Is she the same or connected to "Lady Melisandre"??

That's all I can think of at the moment because I'm not reading as I'm typing. Perhaps I will just ask the questions here if I have ones that are really puzzling me. I tried to just read through and assume I'd get it, but I'm about 10-ish chapters in and I'm still confused about a few. There aren't that many new principle characters, but I feel like there have been a few names that are talked about as if I'm supposed to be really familiar with them.

I appreciate any insight!

[iheartseverus]

I had a feeling that this was a weird request!!!

OK -

1. Davos

I know that he was a smuggler who somehow ended up with Stannis. I know that he was caught smuggling something (?) and chose to lose some of his fingers as his punishment. I am confused as to where he came from and how he got to be a central character. Is he important only as a view into Stannis' story?

2. Who is this "Red Woman" character? Why are people "afraid" or enamored with her? I assume she is some kind of sorceress or something, but it seemed like she came out of nowhere a bit.

-Is she the same or connected to "Lady Melisandre"??

That's all I can think of at the moment because I'm not reading as I'm typing. Perhaps I will just ask the questions here if I have ones that are really puzzling me. I tried to just read through and assume I'd get it, but I'm about 10-ish chapters in and I'm still confused about a few. There aren't that many new principle characters, but I feel like there have been a few names that are talked about as if I'm supposed to be really familiar with them.

I appreciate any insight!

I don't even have to go to Wiki--no question in the world about major spoilers for these two.

1. Davos--

what he smuggled was a shipload of onions to Stannis and his men who were starving and close to eating their own dead during the seige of Dragonstone. That's why he's known as the 'Onion Knight.' For that, rigid Stannis thanked him and then cut off his fingers for smuggling. And yes, Davos will be around and involved and quite interesting--it'd be worth your time to pay attention to him.

2. The Red Woman

Yes, you're correct. Mellisandre. Major. Pay attention!

[The Anti-Targ]

I don't even have to go to Wiki--no question in the world about major spoilers for these two.

1. Davos--

what he smuggled was a shipload of onions to Stannis and his men who were starving and close to eating their own dead during the seige of Dragonstone. That's why he's known as the 'Onion Knight.' For that, rigid Stannis thanked him and then cut off his fingers for smuggling. And yes, Davos will be around and involved and quite interesting--it'd be worth your time to pay attention to him.

2. The Red Woman

Yes, you're correct. Mellisandre. Major. Pay attention!

Just to be clear. Davos was

a smuggler before the rebellion / siege of Storm's End. Stannis punished Davos for his previous smuggling, but mitigated the punishment to only the end joints of the fingers on one hand because of his life-saving service in smuggling onions into Storm's End. He wasn't punished for onion smuggling. Good deeds do not wash away the bad, neither do bad deeds negate the good. Or something like that.

[iheartseverus]

Just to be clear. Davos was

a smuggler before the rebellion / siege of Storm's End. Stannis punished Davos for his previous smuggling, but mitigated the punishment to only the end joints of the fingers on one hand because of his life-saving service in smuggling onions into Storm's End. He wasn't punished for onion smuggling. Good deeds do not wash away the bad, neither do bad deeds negate the good. Or something like that.

Anti-Targ, I always look for your posts soon after I've posted, anywhere. Feel like you follow me around the board, thread to thread, correcting, correcting, correcting...I post something is funny, you follow to point out that its not actually funny, reasons, reasons. I post a brief overview of a smuggler, you're right there, to explain in further detail, detail, detail. Its a weird sort of 'art', wherever I make a mark on the paper, I know you'll be right there to point out why its not exactly right. Nice to see you. Again.

:P

[Robb_]

Question about those spoiler tags: Are they spoilers from later in the series, or just from the first few chapters of book 2?

[Cliff]

Question about those spoiler tags: Are they spoilers from later in the series, or just from the first few chapters of book 2?

All the info is from book 2, can't remember where exactly but rather early. It's mainly background story so no big spoilers.

[taurunum dire cat]

You can go to the site TOWER OF A HAND and chose in options only first book and than you can search throug world of Westeros spoiler free

[nihil]

If you just want to know bare-bones facts about the characters' roles with relation to the guy they work for and maybe a brief bit of bio and AKAs, check the character glossary at the end of the book. It doesn't contain spoilers for the book it's attached to, i.e. someone who dies in ACOK will be marked as alive in the ACOK glossary, but someone who died in AGOT will be marked as dead in the ACOK glossary. (Cressen, who died in the prologue chapter, is not marked as dead in the glossary.) For instance, the glossary entries for the two you mentioned are:

-LADY MELISANDRE OF ASSHAI, called the RED WOMAN, a priestess of R'hllor, the Heart of Fire

-SER DAVOS SEAWORTH, called the ONION KNIGHT and sometimes SHORTHAND, once a smuggler, captain of Black Betha

It won't answer questions about why they are important to the story; you pretty much have to read to find that out, but it can be really helpful to clarify their standing in society and help you figure out if two names refer to the same person.

[LadyFriend]

I don't even have to go to Wiki--no question in the world about major spoilers for these two.

1. Davos--

what he smuggled was a shipload of onions to Stannis and his men who were starving and close to eating their own dead during the seige of Dragonstone. That's why he's known as the 'Onion Knight.' For that, rigid Stannis thanked him and then cut off his fingers for smuggling. And yes, Davos will be around and involved and quite interesting--it'd be worth your time to pay attention to him.

2. The Red Woman

Yes, you're correct. Mellisandre. Major. Pay attention!

Awesome. Thank you. I figured that I could ask the easy question(s) here and manage to avoid the spoilers that kill me when I google!!!

I might be back as I continue to read this new book. (aka, I'm sure I will).

I wish there could be such a thing as a basic spoiler-less character guide, but obviously that isn't possible.

[LadyFriend]

If you just want to know bare-bones facts about the characters' roles with relation to the guy they work for and maybe a brief bit of bio and AKAs, check the character glossary at the end of the book. It doesn't contain spoilers for the book it's attached to, i.e. someone who dies in ACOK will be marked as alive in the ACOK glossary, but someone who died in AGOT will be marked as dead in the ACOK glossary. (Cressen, who died in the prologue chapter, is not marked as dead in the glossary.) For instance, the glossary entries for the two you mentioned are:

-LADY MELISANDRE OF ASSHAI, called the RED WOMAN, a priestess of R'hllor, the Heart of Fire

-SER DAVOS SEAWORTH, called the ONION KNIGHT and sometimes SHORTHAND, once a smuggler, captain of Black Betha

It won't answer questions about why they are important to the story; you pretty much have to read to find that out, but it can be really helpful to clarify their standing in society and help you figure out if two names refer to the same person.

I find the glossary incredibly helpful, but I have had trouble transitioning between the first and second book. It is probably because I read GoT when the HBO series was about 2/3 done, so I might have missed some details accidentally (??). That's what I am hoping my confusion is due to. Anyway....it is always helpful to have a place to ask when I'm confused, so thank you all.

[LadyFriend]

Btw....I'm writing in this section bc I'm even a bit nervous about surfing around the CoK chapter section. I had 2 serious accidental spoilers before (basically bc of google, but it was very innocent searching). Anyway...that is why I'm posting in this section, so I hope that's ok.

[Aegon II]

Davos - his fingers were cut off due to smuggling but he was knighted for the onions.

[Robb_]

I find the glossary incredibly helpful, but I have had trouble transitioning between the first and second book. It is probably because I read GoT when the HBO series was about 2/3 done, so I might have missed some details accidentally (??). That's what I am hoping my confusion is due to. Anyway....it is always helpful to have a place to ask when I'm confused, so thank you all.

You're in the exact same boat as me.

I read about 5 spoilers on google during season 1.. thankfully they've all happened already apart from 2 of them.

I'm about 300 pages into Book 2 now.

[merveilleux]

I am about 1/6 of the way through CoK and I am having a hard time keeping up with some of the new characters (or those who are newly emphasized). I am afraid to search out most character guides for fear of spoilers. Does anyone know a spoiler-free guide to characters that includes those not portrayed in the first book/season (if such a thing is possible)?

I really do recommend that you check out Tower of the Hand and specify what book you've read up to. It caters not only the news articles to what you've read, but the character information. e.g., for Petyr with a scope of AGoT, it only cites things things revealed in the first book, like:

During their meeting, he told her that the dagger wielded against Bran used to belong to him, but that he lost it to Tyrion Lannister. (AGOT 19)

[LadyFriend]

You can go to the site TOWER OF A HAND and chose in options only first book and than you can search throug world of Westeros spoiler free

PERFECT!!!! Thank you! Great advice!

[Ile de Le Fleur]

PERFECT!!!! Thank you! Great advice!

Awesome! If only the "scope" could be altered chapter to chapter. lol I know what a nightmare that would be on the devs but still it would be cool... no more spoilers!