[TWoW Spoilers] Barristan

[bogdevil]

The Red Lamb who kills LP is not interested in gold, only blood. I'm struggling to connect him to anyone. Here is the only description of him from ADWD:

I'm thinking maybe the Hound....but the Hound was interested in gold at one point, so it's not a perfect connection. If someone can think of a better fit, please do.

maybe a certain little No One who says hit list "prayers"? :cool4:

[ladyinblack]

The Ironborn don't have allies; they are reavers & will cut through anyone in their way to stealing Dany & the dragon/s. The battle will be chaos---with sellswords turning cloak, the horn blown, Harpys in the city, reavers, dragons attracted to the blood & noise etc

[ladyinblack]

The Ironborn don't have allies; they are reavers & will cut through anyone in their way to stealing Dany & the dragon/s. The battle will be chaos---with sellswords turning cloak, the horn blown, Harpys in the city, reavers, dragons attracted to the blood & noise etc

and I love Barristan but fear for his survival

[eggs]

pretty boring Ser Grandfather. I liked the surprise with the sellswords fighting Victarion though.

During the Greyjoy Rebellion, wasn't Barristan the "head general"?

no. Edited February 18, 2013 by eggs

[MikeDC]

Heh, if GRRM really liked us, he could release more but smaller books. He's probably already written half of a normal sized novel and read it out loud. I could settle for 1 400 page novel a year instead of an 800 page novel every two years.

[Carristan the Cold]

Red Lamb was merely one of Barristan's 'knights'. He mentioned three were of high quality and I'm sure one of them was nicknamed 'Red Lamb' and he brought those three to battle with him.

[Arataniello]

Red Lamb was merely one of Barristan's 'knights'. He mentioned three were of high quality and I'm sure one of them was nicknamed 'Red Lamb' and he brought those three to battle with him.

ISTR at the end of aDwD that Barristan thinks that Red Lamb and the two others are furthest along in their training, and worries about whether he should knight them before he confronts Hizdahr or not. I am not sure that they have in fact yet been knighted.

[longish claw]

cheers azador great post!!

bit off topic but on the LF quote: “I’ve never been frightened of shepherds. It’s the sheep who trouble me. Still, I suppose an escort might be in order.”

weren’t the original valarians peaceful sheep herding folk till they found and tamed dragons from the fourteen fires, possible foreshadowing to death by dragon flame but stil think it i'll b sansa to do it.

[Gerion Lannister]

Great stuff. This forum alone might help me make it to the next book.

Assuming the following.

The Dragon Horn is blown.

Viserion and Rhaegal join the battle and burn all.

Selmy dies.

Dany returns.

She meets Victarion (complete stranger who controls her babies), Brown Ben Plumm (traitor), Jorah (traitor), and Tyrion (Lannister scum) as the conquering heros.

Why would she trust any of these men?

For this part isn't Barristan's survival necessary to bridge an alliance?

I'll admit GRRM usually turns out the lights on a character when their hopes are highest but I think the old knight will last a bit longer. Let him die in Westeros.

Edited February 18, 2013 by Gerion Lannister

[The Monkey]

How can Barristan know that Balon is dead, yet doesn't know that the Greyjoys have attacked the Starks? The former happened a lot later than the latter. Also, how did Dany's Unsullied go from 8600 to 5000? Sure, some died taking Mereen and a few more from the plague and the Harpy's attacks, but 3600? That sound like an awful lot without anyone commenting that the Unsullied strength has been significantly reduced.

Anyway, the chapters sound great. A meeting between Victorian, Tyrion and Barristan would be awesome. I can hardly think of three people who are more different from each other.

[Runaway Penguin]

3000 are Ser Granddad's tactical reserve in case Shavepate tries something.

[Arataniello]

How can Barristan know that Balon is dead, yet doesn't know that the Greyjoys have attacked the Starks? The former happened a lot later than the latter.

There is a ton of factors that could have influenced this - when Barristan left Westeros, how and where and from whom he learned about Balon's death, and how much news was coming out of the North as the situation deteriorated.

It could well be a question worth asking GRRM at a future con, since if it is a glaring inconsistency, he can always revise it before the book is finished.

[Sweet-N-SourRobin]

How can Barristan know that Balon is dead, yet doesn't know that the Greyjoys have attacked the Starks? The former happened a lot later than the latter.

Barristan, as a greenlander, might make the false assumption that Ironborn inheritance works the same as everyone else's, and thus Theon is ruling the Ironborn in the wake of Balon's death. Since Barristan is not going to know about "Theon Turncloak" since that news likely did not get past the neck [Robb would keep his enemies in King's landing from hearing about it, of course, and thus King's Landing can't leak it to Essos], and Barristan is also not going to know where Theon is now or what happened to him, because The Boltons made Theon "disappear", it might still be plausible to Barristan that Theon would take The Ironborn in a pro-Stark direction to help out his buddy Robb, who Barristan ALSO might not know is dead yet, though Robb's demise is rather infamous and seems like the one story that WOULD get around. Maybe Barristan doesn't know that Bran and Rickon are "dead" too and assumes they're a rallying point in the wake of Robb's death if he has heard about it.

But really, Barristan is likely just grasping at straws, trying to find a way for something that makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER to somehow make sense. Someone from Westeros coming to Barristan's/Team Dany's aid was unlikely enough, but of all the people in Westeros who might, it's the Ironborn who do so?

And it's a fun sad little kick in the teeth to have Barristan remind us once again how tight Theon and Robb used to be and how much better things at Winterfell were as opposed to how they are now. :P

[ARYa_Nym]

maybe a certain little No One who says hit list "prayers"? :cool4:

All ferocity and no technique doesn't sound like her though. Plus, she doesn't have any real link to being a lamb.

Anyways, t4p. I was hoping for some Gerris news but that's fine.

[Tourniquet]

Awesome.

[Caro99]

Thank you for sharing this!! (:

[BlueEyedCrow]

Barristan teaching the knightly ways to those essosians (?) is so cool.

"I came for blood, not gold"

[total1402]

I thought in the Vic preview chapter he had already blown the horn on the way into Mereen? First he wiped his blood on it, got two people to blow the horn once and then finally blew it himself; under the direction of Moqorro. Or maybe it was three seperate slaves. But I am pretty sure it said he had already had it blown before the attack even began.

Plus I don't think the dragons are remotely big enough to destroy a city of half a million people. They're even smaller than Drogon who has a wingspan of only twenty feet. Baelerion, who destroyed Harrenhal, which was only a big fortress not a city, was huge enough to swallow a mammoth whole. Not really seeing them destroying the city.

Far more likely will be that the big victory will be undermined by the fact that 300 ships from Volantis with 30,000 troops will land and perhaps the Harpy will rise up inside the city. I was quite worried by how the beasts were on the walls. What if Shakaz has played Dany and co false or their loyalty isn't secure? They could shut them out of the city and our heroes would risk being trapped between the walls and the volantese.

Edited February 18, 2013 by total1402

[NotSoSilentSister]

And LF does say this in ACOK:

He is frightened of Sheep, aka lambs. I should add that to the original post! :)

My favourite candidate for LF's fatal lamb would be Sweet-Robin. He's mother was certainly rather sheepish. And right now he's about to be led to slaughter, isn't he? Lamb has the ring of something sacrifical and Robin is quite probably supposed to be sacrificed to promote LF's agenda. If he ever discovered sufficient ferocity within himself to face down LF, he would certainly still be rather untrained. (Strictly speaking, "untrained" would disqualify people like Arya and Pod as candidates).

[Sour Billy Tipton]

I thought in the Vic preview chapter he had already blown the horn on the way into Mereen? First he wiped his blood on it, got two people to blow the horn once and then finally blew it himself; under the direction of Moqorro. Or maybe it was three seperate slaves. But I am pretty sure it said he had already had it blown before the attack even began.

No, Victarion offered three thralls the opportunity to blow the horn. In return they will be given wives, land, a ship, and maybe thralls of their own. All three agreed.

Wulf One-Ear will be leading the first attack with Victarion's best men (most likely that's what Barristan is witnessing).

While the fighting is taking place Victarion and the thralls will be sailing on the Iron Victory and Victarion at some point will tell them to blow the horn.