Ded As Ned

FIVE more Osten Ard novels... geez. Um... I'm not sad to hear this, just a bit surprised.

That seems the most obvious choice... also considering Morgan got a glimpse of him/it in his little climbing escapade in tWC. I guess of all the options, I like that one the least. I want Pyrates to be dead. Ded dead. Dead as Ned dead.

Good question, and I'm with you on the wasted pages if nothing comes of it, and agree on the bolded above. Sometimes I wonder if he lost his memory (like Camaris in the originals) and is out there scrubbing floors babbling nonsense. Or got sucked into the dream world or wherever the souls of those like Ineluki et al went to... Back to Da'ai Chikiza... so coverged there we have: The Pure, Tanahaya (presumed dead), Morgan, Nezeru, Norns, the 2 Trolls, Tinuke'daya and all their various forms, Adelin and his group. Lots of witnesses to whatever is about to happen. Wasn't there mention that one of the master witnesses used to be there? Also in the vicinity we have the Ogre of Misty Valley who has to show up again later... Chekhov's Gun and all. I really thought the book was going to end with that event... and instead seems it will be the beginning of the next book.

I am convinced she's not dead (yet anyway). Remember Joshua in the original trilogy when everyone thought he was dead for so long? I just can't see her going out like that. She gave the ring to the girl so she would be believed when she delivered Miri's message, then she ended up dead and everyone thinks it's Miri when Miri's really still hiking through the bush somewhere. Classic Tad. Anyway, yes I have always held that the Garden was on a different planet, or perhaps in a different dimension or plane of existence, what have you... and Ruyan teleported them to Osten Ard with his magicks. Doesn't explain how the dragons came along for the ride, however. That has always been the burr in my thinking, because the dragons also were created before unbeing took the Garden. I have no explanation for how they also ended up in Osten Ard.

I finished EoG a few days back, so I finally came here to the spoiler thread, only to find there were no spoilers! Despite the misleading thread title, I came to discuss the story... I really enjoyed the book... although the ending it felt kind of like an odd stopping point. The events in Da'ai Chikiza are unresolved and unless I missed it, we still don't know what is going on there (nevertheless why). Lots of characters converging there only to end the book just before whatever big event is going to happen with the Tinuke'daya (I'm assuming related to the events in Naglimund). Miri's cliffhanger (of course she's still alive)... I'm still most disappointed in Pasavellas... I really liked him before it turned out to just be the traitorous servant unraveling the kingdom trope... maybe I'll be surprised in the end, but I felt something.... more.... could have been done with that plot line. Who is the red thing underneath the Hayholt? Pyrate's ghost? Cadrach? I keep trying to remember from tGAT, the blind guy who heard the voices down there that Rachel would feed... could it be him as I don't remember what happened to him? Maybe I'm in the wrong forum for this

All the talk of budget cuts is really confusing.

The idea was that Dany's children were not a side-show spectacle. She wanted entry to the city based on her own merit, to show them that she was not there simply to put on a dragon-and-pony show for their entertainment. IMO, anyway.

For my 2 cents... I think it entirely plausible that Coldhands is using Benjen's deceased body, without any knowledge of the person to whom the body originally belonged. Thus it can both be, and not be, Benjen. When Bran finally sees his face... "Uncle Benjen!"... "Is that who this body originally belonged to? Small World." replies Coldhands

IMO, I don't think identifying fake-Arya is what Ramsay has in mind for Theon. Does he have much reason to even suspect she isn't the real Arya? And if he did, wouldn't/couldn't he just torture it out of her and know for sure? I don't think it would even take much coersion before she sang like the little songbird she is. I just think he has something bigger (and more sinister) in mind for our good friend Reek.