James Steller

8 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

as Hand he kept the kingdom peaceful for almost the whole of Aerys' reign.

He did that by eliminating all of Aegon V’s reforms. We never hear the smallfolk’s side of the story, just the official historians kissing Tywin’s butt. We sometimes get an idea of who the smallfolk like and dislike. They never liked Tywin, from what I recall, and that says something.

Tywin is pure evil. I will stand by that opinion. 

I don’t like any of the main faiths. The Seven are intolerance incarnate, R’hlorr and the old gods both demand grisly sacrifices (stringing up entrails in weirwoods and burning people alive, respectively), and the assassin death cult is exactly that, a death cult.

I’d embrace Stannis’s atheism, personally, but if I have to pick a religion, I’m going straight to the Summer Isles. 

Borroq was apparently a mature adult when Varamyr was ten years old. 
 

I’ve seen a lot of fan art of Varamyr which portray him as a wizened old man, but then how old must Borroq be, then? But there’s no indication that he’s especially old when Jon Snow meets him. Do skinchangers just age differently or was Varamyr younger than assumed?

Superior: no slaves (except the Ironborn, arguably)

Inferior: intolerance towards many religions and other races, patriarchal feudal society, hang ups regarding sex, almost no class mobility

(To be clear, I’m using Braavos and the Summer Isles as my barometer for the ways in which Westeros is inferior. I know most places in Essos have similarly severe issues)

The Summer Isles

I doubt we’ve been introduced to all eight knights yet. They’re probably gonna be new characters, most of them, relatives to the houses we’ve already been introduced to. 

11 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

I'm just looking at the last chapter in ACOK where Bran wargs into Summer. Lots of colours - black, brown and grey! Can wolves distinguish brown? Tricky thing is those are the only colours Northerners typically see anyway, other than green leaves, but this is autumn.

Apparently wolves can’t see red or green, so that’s some clever attention to detail on GRRM’s part.

30 minutes ago, JoyfulJoy said:

Dogs do see color, just not as much.

https://www.purina.com/articles/dog/behavior/understanding-dogs/can-dogs-see-color#:~:text=to certain colors.-,What Colors Do Dogs See%3F,experience red-green color blindness.

Wow. Shows you what I know, I guess. 
 

Though I do wonder about those animals who don’t see colour. Would a warg be able to see colour through their eyes or not?

I can’t recall how it goes in the books, but when characters warg into animals, can they still see colour?

Far as I recall, wolves don’t have colour vision, nor do cats or bears. Did GRRM keep that in mind or is it just another aspect of warg magic?

58 minutes ago, House Cambodia said:

only for the TV show to lazily teleport people from A to B.

36 minutes ago, Alden Rothack said:

Don't get me started on the tv show, just don't

Balin: It’s not a show! IT’S AN ABOMINATION!!

2 hours ago, Alden Rothack said:

I wish Martin had given us even as much about population as he did about army numbers, the North takes 2 or 3 times as long to gather its full strength as the southron kingdoms because its as large as the next three largest kingdoms combined

we can't know how many men they can field unless we know how many men they have to recruit from and we don't, what we have are some educated guesses at best.

Probably for the best. We nitpick enough as it is, heh. If things are vague, then GRRM can dredge up details when he needs them and it isn’t a contradiction. That’s why the Manderlys, Ryswells and Dustins suddenly have most of their strength intact and are also very powerful houses to boot. 

I can’t recall if he ever completed his knighthood or if he was attending the tourney purely on the privilege of being a prince.

4 hours ago, Craving Peaches said:

I think people might be mistaking characters being shy/stubborn/selfish with them being autistic. You can be all of those things without being autistic. I asked a psychiatrist I know (one of my parents ) and they said that they didn't think any of the characters were autistic, with the possible exception of Stannis. They said that Cersei wasn't mentally ill, just amoral.

Not even Vaegon?

I know such a thing is impossible to determine properly, but I feel like there are some obvious examples. Vaegon and Aerys I, for example, strike me very much as people with some level of autism (assuming that’s still the correct way of saying it, and I’m very sorry if it isn’t).

Stannis could possibly be another one; someone else on this forum speculated as much and they made a compelling case for it. 
 

Any others?

8 hours ago, Craving Peaches said:

I agree because I am so sick of the blatant Blackwood favouritism.

I’m mostly a fan of House Blackwood, except for Brynden Rivers. One of the most repulsive and evil characters that GRRM ever created. 
On the other hand, I’m mostly indifferent to House Bracken. I have especially mixed feelings about Bittersteel. Yes, he’s partly responsible for the Blackfyre Rebellion, but he’s still better than Bloodraven.

19 hours ago, Craving Peaches said:

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Removing the Old Way requires radical action.

Stannis would be proud.

Joking aside, I firmly agree that the Old Way is awful and needs to be expunged from people’s mindsets. The II need to be dragged kicking and screaming out of that belief system.

I’m hoping that Perwyn, Olyvar, Roslin, and Alesander avoid the cruel fate which surely awaits the rest of their house. Big Walder Frey seems okay, but we’ll see. Also, Stevron Frey seemed like a decent person before he died. 

Don’t forget Dondarrion

That makes sense. Though is it actually said he doesn’t take part in the fighting during his first rebellion? 

Tough question, but my guess is that 

(A) Alysanne wanted to tie the North closer to the other kingdoms

(B) she didn’t want Viserra’s kids to be serious rivals for the Iron Throne when there was already a surplus of heirs

(C) Theomore Manderly had done some great service for the Iron Throne which Gyldayn breezed over

(D) Alysanne disliked Viserra for being an ambitious narcissist and wanted to humble her without banishing her to the Starry Sept

On 2/5/2024 at 6:40 AM, Alden Rothack said:

Beware old men in a profession where the merely good die young

Like Borros Blount?

Considering that Maegor’s offspring proved to be unnatural monstrosities (if the records can be believed) and considering how strangely powerful and strong he was from an early age, and also how unstable and psychopathic he was, my guess is that he had no “father” in that sense. Visenya doesn’t strike me as someone who’d sleep around like Rhaenys did. I’m guessing that she used some kind of sorcery and black magic to create the perfect heir, and it came with consequences that she didn’t anticipate.

1 minute ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

The siege of dragonstone is definitely over. No doubt in my mind about that. If I had to pick between two options -- Renly let the garrison surrender and sail off to join stannis or it was stormed and Loras isn't really hurt -- the former is the more likely but the latter seems more like GRRM.

Do you mean Rolland let the garrison surrender?

I don’t need to go over the suspicions that people have had with the details we’ve gotten regarding the siege. Nor do I have to regale you with the counter-arguments against any theorizing. 
 

based on what we’ve been told so far, do you think the siege played out as it’s been claimed? Was it all a lie? Something in between truth and lie?