Ser Gerold Dayne, AKA Darkstar: A Second Impression; A Second Chance?

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

So Doran sends Obara and Swann to go get him at High Hermitage. Somehow I don't think Swann is going to have any success.

I just wonder how many Kingsguard they're going to keep sending down to Dorne. Like friggin' Bic razors.

[Downright Daario]

I am going to be blunt here. Nobody gives two shits about Darkstar.

[Lord Freypie]

No character in the series thus far, as best as I can recall, has provoked such a passionate and divided discussion amongst readers

Hum have you read any thread about Sansa and Tyrion, or any "Daenerys is mad" topic ? Good luck to try rival with that,.

Darkstar is more a subject of crackpot theories, jokes threads and some occasional serious speculation. Never seen any heated debate about him.

[Nyrhex]

Nyrhex,

Totally agree. Martin took Oberyn's popularity and has translated some of this for Ser Gerold, most probably with the intention of reviving another interesting anti-hero type figure in the series. However, I don't see Ser Gerold as an exclusively Dornish player. Methinks his actions will send out ripples much farther than Dorne.

Now that I actually bothered to read your original post, I think that Option B is the most likely. The Oberyn-Copy-Paste at first kinda took away from him. But considering that this is GRRM, the man who killed Ned just so we would get to feel crushed when he kills Robb, just so we will actually fear for our loved charachters, I realy don't see Darkstar being forgotton so soon. I think we can expect him, for better or for worse.

[FuriousGeorge]

I'm ain't firing no shots at nobody I'm just saying an unbalanced forum member : GRRM ink ratio is no way to determine the importance of anything

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

I'm ain't firing no shots at nobody I'm just saying an unbalanced forum member : GRRM ink ratio is no way to determine the importance of anything

That I might have been making a joke is apparently not a consideration.

[The Y.O.L.O Submarine]

I had no opinion on dark star before but now im silently hoping he will piss on jon cons face and murder dany and aegon

[Daecon Dayne]

To address a few of the replies on this thread:

A - I don't think Darkstar is going to be a main runner in the series, hell no - but I'm quite convinced that he's going to reward those readers with a genuine intrigue in him, and Martin is going to put some of his renegade fanboys back in their place for ever doubting him. I see Darkstar killing a favourite, or doing something to really, really deflate readers.

B - He is almost certainly not AA, TPtwP, TLH, The Great Other, or any other variation of messiah, no. But, then again, I'm pretty adamant that none of the prophecies will become reality (besides some prophetic dreams, which are largely symbolic anyhow). If I read the lines "And Jon/Daenerys/whoever, truly was Azor Azhai reborn, they rose to be the Last Hero and...", I'd tear the pages out of the book and return them to the book shop with annotations of "ZzZzZz" all over the page.

C - I find it quite unlikely that Darkstar is not going to fizzle out with a whimper. On the contrary, it will be with a bang.

[Daecon Dayne]

Hum have you read any thread about Sansa and Tyrion, or any "Daenerys is mad" topic ? Good luck to try rival with that,.

Darkstar is more a subject of crackpot theories, jokes threads and some occasional serious speculation. Never seen any heated debate about him.

Lord Freypie,

These are characters with literally tens-of-thousands of words dedicated to the endeavour or stirring theories/discussion amongst readers. Darkstar has had a single chapter - and that was hardly devoted to him any more than it was to Swann or Myrcella. I've not posed any crackpot theories about Darkstar, as it says in the OP, I'm actually quite opposed to them. The (albeit not so "heated") debate is all over these forums in the guise of jokes, and the consequent rallying calls for a ceasefire against Ser Gerold.

[Hukthagz]

Good stuff OP. Don't listen to detractors much, i mean it's actually well thought not some crap like "Robb+Jon" or "Sansa is a psychopath" so it doesn't deserve to get shot down.

[Glenn of House Patrick]

It was all a joke, including my "Shots fired" comment.

[Daecon Dayne]

Now that I actually bothered to read your original post, I think that Option B is the most likely. The Oberyn-Copy-Paste at first kinda took away from him. But considering that this is GRRM, the man who killed Ned just so we would get to feel crushed when he kills Robb, just so we will actually fear for our loved charachters, I realy don't see Darkstar being forgotton so soon. I think we can expect him, for better or for worse.

Haha, I'm glad you took the time to lend an ear to my post. Martin's forte is definitely making his readers resent him somewhat. Darkstar is the new pizza burn on the roof of every readers mouth, and, personally, I think he's going to tick a hell of a lot of people off. I can see it already: 'Ser Gerold circled the bodies of the slain Targaryens, admiring himself in the mirror. "The dragons need their precious fire, their holy, burning light," spoke the almighty, lusciously-haired Dayne, "but I am the god damn Darkstar, and I am of the...THUUUUG LIIIIIFE".

Okay, maybe a little more pungent/well crafted than that. But, then again, a deliberately in-your-face line in that vein seems to be exactly what incites such toddler rage in the readers of this series, apparently. It was one line, people, and it was a extremely relevant to his character. I might presume to cringe equally at Tyrion's repetition of "Where do whores go?" Get over yourselves, folks; surrender to the allure of Ser Gerry Dayne.

[Glenn of House Patrick]

I think he'll be back, but I still don't get the hopeless devotion to a character who, as of yet, hasn't done much to warrant the attention. He tried to assassinate Myrcella, and got evaded capture. Would Bran's would-be assassin receive the same attention if Summer hadn't slain him? No. Darkstar receives the attention that he does because he is a Dayne. When he shows back up, then devote your fandom to him. Right now he hasn't done much. Let him win rookie of the year after he does something worth talking about.

[Denny Crane]

While I have no strong opinion on Darkstar, I do agree that the hatred for him is pretty dull, and seems to boil down to 'Wow hes an emo who thinks hes cool, how lame'. Which of course is ludicrous, does anyone over the age of 14 really give any positive or negative thought to the idea of an 'emo'?

[Lord Freypie]

These are characters with literally tens-of-thousands of words dedicated to the endeavour or stirring theories/discussion amongst readers. Darkstar has had a single chapter - and that was hardly devoted to him any more than it was to Swann or Myrcella. I've not posed any crackpot theories about Darkstar, as it says in the OP, I'm actually quite opposed to them. The (albeit not so "heated") debate is all over these forums in the guise of jokes, and the consequent rallying calls for a ceasefire against Ser Gerold.

Never said the contrary, but your sentence was a bit of an exageration (and by the way you can also find non-PoV characters like Daario being subject of more passionate debates).

Sure he is famous for his "I'm of the night" failed introduction, which, coupled with him failing to kill a little girl, made him a subject of jokes, but I don't see any debate there.

Very few have any serious positive or negative opinion of the character as we don't know anything about him, except that. Darkstar jokes are more jokes about a Martin fumble in badass creation.

I agree that next book, if he does something of note (I agree option B is the most likely) he will be treated better.

But it's just unrealistic considering what has been shown of Darkstar to expect he will stop being a laughing stock before.

Now there's already a quasi-"ceasefire" here due to "I'm of the night" jokes getting old, and "man of the world" jokes being better.

[Daecon Dayne]

I think perhaps both factions vastly overstate Gerold Dayne's importance, no?

Perhaps, yeah. Characters with chips on their shoulder tend to do some cool stuff in this series, though. I.e Sandor, Stannis, Varys, Tywin etcetera. I imagine that if he amounted to virtually nothing of significance, we'd all feel disappointed and cheated. He's already got closer to killing a royal Lannister than 99% of every other character in the song.

And, please, no reverting to "BUT HE COULDN'T EVEN KILL A LITTLE GIRL," guys. I've addressed this discrimination against Ser Gerold in the OP. In addition to this, Martin seems to have made the point that Myrcella was ridiculously lucky to survive with just a wee maiming, which he reiterates quite explicitly in the new TWoW excerpt.

Not every blow hits its mark, it's quite the opposite: even in an organised fight (tourneys, trial by combat) there are far more miss-hits than fatal strikes. Taking into account that Darkstar effectively had a single shot, was surrounded by enemies, and may not have even intended to kill the girl, the whole thing "he's so pitiful that he couldn't even succeed at the one thing he pursued in the chapter" seems quite moot to me.

[Lost Umber]

it's odd that Arys Oakhead gets peppered with arrows and Dayne gets away clean with just a scratch.. to Myrcella.

He should never have gotten away. It's almost like it was planned.

[Daecon Dayne]

Never said the contrary, but your sentence was a bit of an exageration (and by the way you can also find non-PoV characters like Daario being subject of more passionate debates).

Sure he is famous for his "I'm of the night" failed introduction, which, coupled with him failing to kill a little girl, made him a subject of jokes, but I don't see any debate there.

Very few have any serious positive or negative opinion of the character as we don't know anything about him, except that. Darkstar jokes are more jokes about a Martin fumble in badass creation.

I agree that next book, if he does something of note (I agree option B is the most likely) he will be treated better.

But it's just unrealistic considering what has been shown of Darkstar to expect he will stop being a laughing stock before.

Now there's already a quasi-"ceasefire" here due to "I'm of the night" jokes getting old, and "man of the world" jokes being better.

Apologies for misreading your entry there. I don't expect him to cease being the butt of (quite bad) jokes, I simply don't feel that his introduction warranted such relentless mockery. There's equivalent "Oh, Christ. You can't be serious..." moments in the book which don't earn half the attention which Darkstar's famous line has. Personally, I find about 1/3 of everything Daenerys says as pretty damn "Oh, Christ. You can't be serious...", for lack of a better term.

I have to say however, I enjoy how people present Darkstar in purple font! Very endearing.

[Daecon Dayne]

Good stuff OP. Don't listen to detractors much, i mean it's actually well thought not some crap like "Robb+Jon" or "Sansa is a psychopath" so it doesn't deserve to get shot down.

Thanks, Hukthagz. Though he is a very minor character as of the moment, I felt like he'd been given very little supportive thought beyond: "OMG IT'S RH/AEGON". Like I said in the OP though, he's not really a favourite of mine; but nor do I particularly dislike him. He seems like an emerging character with - potentially - a lot to offer to the series in terms of plot development, reveals, and possibly an awesome fight here and there. He's scarcely been written yet.

[King of Winters]

Thanks, Hukthagz. Though he is a very minor character as of the moment, I felt like he'd been given very little supportive thought beyond: "OMG IT'S RH/AEGON". Like I said in the OP though, he's not really a favourite of mine; but nor do I particularly dislike him. He seems like an emerging character with - potentially - a lot to offer to the series in terms of plot development, reveals, and possibly an awesome fight here and there. He's scarcely been written yet.

I wish everyone though of Darkstar like that. I really like he's going to be badass in TWOW and might be important with Dawn and Starfall.