jurble

3 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

Isn't that exactly what happened? She had blood on her dress but wasn't soaked in it. Laena seems to have not wanted her life saved at the expense of the child.

No, the doctor says he's very sorry and they can try opening the womb to remove the infant, but that the mother wouldn't survive.  There's no indication an embryotomy is an option, the only choice is apparently letting both die or attempting to save the infant.

@Ran

 

Were this olden times and GRRM still easily accessible by DM'ing on Livejournal, I would ask him this, but since that era is long past us, I'll pose this to you:  are the Maesters and the other physicians aware of embryotomy?  In both the case of Aemma and now Laena the only option for an obstructed birth has been Caesarean, but in the actual Middle Ages any university trained physician (though perhaps they would leave its actual performance to barber-surgeons?) would've been familiar with al-Zahrawi, who describes the other option (and gives illustrations of the necessary tools).  This, was, of course, the gruesome destruction of the fetus and its removal in chunks.   I'm aware that in the actual *Fire and Blood* neither Aemma nor Laena are described as dying of a Caesarean or that there was a suggestion of one.  Especially in Laena's case, she delivers the baby and *then* dies.

 

The fact that the show went with a Caesarean twice (well the suggestion of one in the latter case) strikes me as unrealistic.  Especially as Laena as show in the show would've been a good case for embryotomy - Daemon certainly seemed like he would've chosen to kill the child to attempt to save her life.

8 hours ago, Werthead said:

Interesting article here by Bakker's brother, where he talks about how the series developed out of their D&D campaigns in the 1980s. He shows some maps, character ideas and even a poem that came out of those campaigns, which were set in a proto-Earwa. It's interesting seeing D&D races like gnomes alongside SA names like Scylvendi.

At the end he alludes to Scott having some problems in recent years which he is trying to overcome. He also says of the final series that it's kind of where we thought it was five years ago: Scott seems torn between expanding the story further with a final series/trilogy or leaving The Unholy Consult as the final word on the series.

 

 

Interesting, the article seems a few weeks old too?  I suppose it went unnoticed since I don't think Bakker-bro has the largest internet profile?

 

Quote

His singular focus right now is raising his daughter and building his family's future.

 

Not to speculate overmuch, but this sounds like his wife left him?

The Warp and the Outside being very similar, I assume they're drawing from some older Fantasy source, but nothing comes to my own mind, especially as regarding the atemporality.  When the atemporality started popping up in the newer 40k novels, I actually pinged one of the authors on Twitter and he said he hadn't read Bakker (was it ADB? I honestly don't remember who it was.  Maybe it was Guy Haley since atemporality being a feature of the Warp was mostly strongly expressed in the Plague War book than any previous 40k book I've read).

Atemporality also shows up in the Dr. Strange movie with the Dark Dimension having no 'time', though it's a bit weakly done.  I assume this is an aspect of the earlier Dr. Strange comics, so maybe Bakker and 40k drew from comics, but I assume it's an even older trope.

40k lore was no-where near as robust when Bakker started writing.  E.g. The atemporality of the Warp is something that's come up in recent novels with demons knowing that they won't die because they're still alive at the Final Battle or whatnot, but I don't recall it from pre-Horus Heresy novels.

Wait, they took Drizzt from Salvatore?  I haven't read any Forgotten Realm tie-ins in years (I believe Wizards stopped publishing all them various books generally?)

eegads, i saw this as well today

but as someone on reddit pointed out, this likely doesn't mean anything with regards to his work on DoS in general - he had an 'alpha' manuscript ready almost immediately after the last book, which he sent out to his beta (alpha?) readers - and the reddit commenter notes that it's likely within that alpha manuscript were at least a few bits he was satisfied with keeping.  that is to say, anything he releases could easily be among the few 'finished' parts he had ready a decade ago

 

 

also why is the forum blue now?

shame, i never find these when they're going on

Began reading the new book, noticed it's in the same fictional world as Sarantine and Lions.

 

I wonder if his Chinese books actually take place in the same world.  We wouldn't know, would we, given the setting and isolation?  It wouldn't surprise me if they do.

Since he's slowly going forward in time, I suppose we'll know in the next few books, since it seems this one is right at the start of the Age of Discovery.   Should be interesting.  I'm willing to make a small bet we're going to get an alternate history of either the Aztec or Inca conquests.

 

Edit: Book done, it was aight, but nothing astounding.  Why does my Kindle copy have Questions for Discussion at the end? 

Given that Aeron's vision has Euron on the Iron Throne with the dwarves below, the dwarves might represent the lords of Westeros under a Euron monarchy.  He's not exactly one who seems given to hands-on administration.  Westeros under Euron would be France during the Hundred Years' War - failed state with constant internecine warfare.

Is it possible to change display names on IPB 4? I looked around during the brief time the forum was functional, and couldn't find it. I'd hate to be trapped as Sranc and Sensibility forever.

The Catelyn story has enraged me beyond words.

Man, all the changes are fine by me except Jaime killing a cousin. It really doesn't jive with how Jaime's character should/would act in that situation. I can't see Jaime, even with his pre-handchop personality flaws, killing a family member.

You can't possibly still think Talisa is Talisa from Volantis after the scene tonight. She's clearly hiding her identity. Beyond that, Volantis isn't exactly an integral aspect of the Ice and Fire series. I don't think altering the color palette of its people is all that detrimental to anything. It's one thing to make Dany raven-haired, it's pretty inconsequential to make a Volantene one.

Whether she is Volantene isn't the issue, the fact that Rob didn't go "Bullshit!" when she stated it, based on entirely on her appearance, indicates that Valyrian looks in the TV-show are probably going to be restricted entirely to Targaryens, which I hate, since it makes Targaryens magical or special, when they just happen to be a Valyrian family that managed to keep their dragons alive.

A dark-haired and dark-eyed Volantene noblewoman? Gosh, this show is throwing world-building right out the window. This, along with the Spice King's comment about the "silver-

Dagmer being a stranger to Theon - why? And the Fist is waaay too far north. This is like land of always winter north, instead of the haunted forest.

Giving Bran Jojen's dreams? Bah.

The Joffrey scene was too much, Torturing whores like that is a bit far for him, even. I can't even begin to imagine how Tyrion would react if that scene had actually occurred in the book.

No. One of the finest jousters in Westeros. Yes.

He was described by Ned as slender as a reed.

Doesn't mean he wouldn't have definition. Dude playing Loras looks like he couldn't lift a copy of ASoS, let alone a sword.

The guy playing Loras still has the physique of a 12 year-old, wtf. How am I supposed to believe this is one of the strongest knights in the kingdom, damn it?

I can't think of a reason why it would not fit, personally. I think you are overestimating the differences in cultural mindset between the middle ages and these days. If anything, people back then would be more aware of how optional belief in deities actually is.

No, you're wrong. Read some historical books on the subject.

Wow, the people, who don't like changes, heads just exploded.

MY MONITOR IS COVERED IN SKULL.

Issues I had with the episode:

1. Asha letting Theon finger her - wat.

2. Ayra looks like a Final Fantasy character.

3. That added scene with Jon and the sacrificed kid. Why was it necessary? How convenient that one of Craster's wives had a son while Jon was around...

4. Making Melisandre banging Stannis explicit is kinda lame, but it was the same with Renly+Loras.

5. RAKHARO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

6. Atheist Davos and Saan. Davos isn't a religious man, but he still keeps the Seven, and Saan keeps the Lord of Light. Making them irreligious is fine, but atheism doesn't really fit the setting at all.

7. Black Saan still bothers me -

I would have no problem with Black Saan if they had changed his city of origin to one of the more cosmopolitan Free Cities, he could be gosh darned Pentoshi or Volantene, but they keep his city as Lys. A black Lyseni!? Preposterous!

The episode was a B- to me, because Balon is awesome as shit.

Eh, I didn't say they were Aurane Waters' fleet. I just meant that between those three groups of ships she's got all she needs. I forgot an "and" in there.

So where does this chapter fit on the timeline of AFfC chapters?

Then they go on to talk about how Baelor never married, but the whore that spoke to Davos says that he married one of his sisters, he just never bedded her and had all his sisters locked in a tower in the Red Keep to avoid the temptation.

This looks like it might be a subtle reminder for not-as-obsessive readers as where House Blackfyre comes from, so they aren't going "Who? What?" when the Golden Company shows up.

I don't see Davos suddenly breaking with Stannis, he's way too loyal. And with Aurane Waters and the Iron Fleet (the fleet the Qartheen give her in the spoiler chapter), Dany has all the ships she needs.