Floki of the Ironborn

You can just edit your original remark, you don’t have to reply to it.

That does make sense to me. When Stannis sets up at Castle Black, the North is a powder keg of various factions. The wildling threat has been subdued for the moment, but it isn’t gone. Then there’s House Bolton bringing Freys up north with Lannister backing. The Ironborn still occupy key locations. And then there’s also a shadow conspiracy of Stark loyalists whose identities we still don’t fully know. Of course Stannis would want to put a stop to that bs going on, especially considering that the Boltons would be incentivized to drive Stannis out of the North.

That does raise a good question… what would have happened if Braxton won the duel?

I mean, what else was left for him? If he didn’t accept trial by combat, he was marked for life as a cripple. He was backed into a corner where Jaehaerys could personally kill him.

I think he’s aware of it too. He always emphasizes that Tyrion is his, whether he likes it or not. And Genna was quick to say that Jaime isn’t Tywin’s son the way Tyrion is. Not to mention the incest, Jaime’s war prowess in line with Admin or other Targaryen powerhouses, Cersei’s madness being compared to the Mad King, plus the idea that Jaime slew his own father as well as his own king… it’s almost canon at this point.

I think Tyrion is Tywin’s only biological child. The twins are half Targaryen.

For one thing, foster the noble houses’ kids at Riverrun so they have a bond to their overlord. Have several kids for marriage bonds. Enforce justice in my name to endear the smallfolk to me as their lord paramount.

I know Jae-hae is listed as one of the best kings in House Targaryen’s history, but good gods did the Saera storyline paint him in a bad light. I’m not saying that Saera was a victim, mind you: she was clearly a spoiled bully who took advantage of her position to abuse smallfolk. But there really is something profoundly unsettling and overly Freudian about how Jaehaerys handled things with the Ser Beesbury. He pretty much forced him into a trial by combat just for having consensual sex with his daughter, personally fought, and killed him all while making Saera watch. Like, what was that supposed to accomplish? Whose pride and honour was that really trying to fix? I don’t blame Saera for trying to get the hell away from him. And it looks like she did a great job for herself. She managed to avoid the Targaryen s***show and make it rich in Lys.

I’m beginning to see why Canon Claude left

For what it’s worth, I doubt the last Peake has any land left at this point.

Well, she was clearly stupid enough to think that her kids wouldn’t come into the line of fire even though their loyalty wasn’t feigned.

Prior to the Red Wedding, Walder Frey expressed his dislike that Jeyne didn’t accompany Robb to the Twins. Obviously, he was hoping she’d be there, but what would have happened to her? On the one hand, she’s one of Lord Tywin’s subjects, and her mother was actively working with Tywin to bring Robb down. She would have been a good hostage as well, given her position as Robb’s widow. Catelyn was supposed to be a captive herself before she went mad. But on the other hand, the Freys were quite happy to kill her brother, even though they could have easily taken him captive. Plus she was the person for whom Robb betrayed the Freys. I could easily imagine that they planned something nasty for her and were also planning to make Robb watch it happen to her.

To put it simply, the Freys never had dragons. But for what it’s worth, I think the disrespect shown to House Frey was always meant to be more about their character rather than their lineage. Walder’s father was involved in the Blackfyre conspiracy, after all, so that would cast a lot of shade towards him. And Walder would have grown up in that shade, turning more and more resentful. Plus he was too cautious to pick a side in Robert’s Rebellion, probably because of what happened to his dad. This also backfired on him though, so it’s just been a steadily increasing sense of injured pride which made him turn on Robb Stark as a harsh message to the world that House Frey isn’t to be trifled with. And of course, that will also backfire.

Euron is being built up so much that he has to either be the last big human villain (which would undermine the main players for the throne that we’ve already got) or he has to die in a surprising and possibly underwhelming way, as a subversion. I could buy either one happening to him.

That moment when he spends hours looking for his daughter, finds out that Robert and Cersei have her, storms into a room full of Lannisters and berates the King for not bringing Arya back to him as soon as she was found.