Walda

He was in the place where he slept. The night was dark and the paths slippery with snow. Meaning Wun Wun wouldn't have much reason to expect visitors (except perhaps Leathers coming back to tell him about the plans for the relief of Hardhome) He had nothing to do but curl up and sleep. Patrek might have attempted to sneak past him in the night, but Wun Wun can hear and smell perfectly well. It doesn't take much for Ser Patrek to whip his sword out. The Other's swords have a distinctly different sound to Ser Patrek's, so Wun Wun would know it was not a glass sword. We know that Mance had organised him (and everyone in the Great Wildling Army, and all their children and goats and chattels besides) to attack the Wall at Castle Black so they could seek refuge from the Others on the other side of it. Thistle, Varymyr, Mother Mole, the Weeper and the Thenns, Hornfoots, Ice River Clans, the Free Folk and the other Giants that fought for Mance under Mag the Mighty knew they were being hunted down by the Others, and were seeking refuge behind the Wall, so it is a very good bet that Wun Wun also believed the Wall could provide sanctuary from the Others. It isn't a secret, and it is a part of Northern lore that the Wall keeps these things on the Northern side and they cannot pass (In Ygritte's "Last of the Giants" Song there is the line "they've built a great wall through my valleys" - I know this is a free-folk song about Giants, and not an actual Giant's song, but it indicates a shared lore about the wall, nonetheless) Also, the black brothers found Wun Wun in the Castle Black Godswood, rather than in retreat to the Valley of the Thenns or Hardholme. The other giants, that decided not to go through the wall because they wanted to protect their mammoths, have stayed very close to the wall at Eastwatch, rather than strike out for Hardhome or other places to the north, too. Most of the opinons we hear about giants come from Jon Snow's perspective, and they seem to me to be more than a little racist. For example, when Wun Wun speaks "It sounded like growling, interspersed with grunts, and Jon could not understand a word of it." According to Jon "He speaks the Old Tongue after a fashion, but nothing of the Common." Yet when Jon introduces him to Selyse, Wun Wun bends his knee and says "Kneel queen. Little queen.” Meaning, in the time since they first met, Wun Wun has demonstrably learnt more than twice as many words in the common tongue as Jon has learnt of the old tongue. Jon thinks of Wun Wun as "Hodor twice as big, twice as strong, and half as clever." literally a paragraph after smugly observing that he "was learning much and more about his people and their history" by talking to Wun Wun whenever he could, using Leathers as a translator. He breaks down Wun Wun's five syllable name into a three letter word repeated, to aid his own comprehension (and the readers), but acts as if simple three letter words are all Wun Wun can comprehend. He observes their "Rats eyes no larger than beads were almost lost within folds of horny flesh, but they snuffled constantly, smelling as much as they saw." Jon neither sees nor smells what the giants see and smell, and he underates Wun Wun against the evidence in front of him so often, I don't trust his opinions on Wun Wun's abilities or intelligence at all (or Hodor's, for that matter). He is only less bigoted than Yarwick and Marsh, and grew up with the same cultural bias against giants. But in this case, it is dark anyway. The wight's eyes are a glowing blue light, so Wun Wun might have see them, if there were any for him to see. But the blue stars on Ser Patrek's surcoat, probably too dark for them. Jon's eyes were sharp enough to catch the glint of a dagger in the dark, so maybe Wun Wun's are sharp enough to catch a glimmer of something shiny like Ser Patrek's cloth of silver surcoat, or his drawn sword - or maybe Wun Wun is as good as blind at night) About the weather: During the day it snowed heavily, with a wind blowing from the south. It was cold, but not so cold that the snow turned to ice. And the wind that blows from the south is comparatively warm and humid compared to the wind that blows from the North (that the wall would shelter them from) and from the West (that would probably be the coldest wind at Castle Black in winter - as the wind that blows in over the sea during the day in winter would be warmer than the wind that blows down from the Western hills at night, especially when the land is covered in snow, and the sea is not yet covered in ice). The snow storm seems to have abated by the time Tormond showed up with the Wildlings, so it is probably colder when they leave the Sheildhall than it was when they went in. But not so cold that the tears freeze on Bowen Marsh's cheeks, as they might do if he was proximit to an Other. It is possible that this sort of sudden cold does happen at the very end, when Jon feels the cold, but not the fourth dagger. But that might also be because Jon has lost a bit of blood, and is face down in the snow, cold regardless of the weather. There is no sign of a rising wind when Ser Patrek dies and Jon is stabbed. In fact, the smoking second wound and the clarity of sound (Jon hears Ser Patrek's scream and Wun Wun's roar from the Sheild Hall) indicate that the wind fell off with the snow storm, and the night is cold and still.

I don't think so (Prologue, Game of Thrones) (A Storm of Swords Ch 18 Sam I) These are the two eye-witness accounts of Others that we have - they are tall, slender, clad in something that reflects what is around them (this might be a type of skin, rather than clothing, given how it melts around the Other Sam kills.) They carry swords of transparent glass, with a faint blue light, and a high keening sound when they come in contact with wood or steel. It gets much colder when they appear - they are hard to see, but this sudden cold feeling is the big tell they are close. Ser Patrek is part of Queen Selyse's retinue at Castle Black. He is quick to draw his sword, but his sword is of steel, not glass, he dresses like a Southron knight, his skin is windburnt, and he leaves footprints in the snow like a normal human being. The temperature does not lower as he approaches, Wun Wun has met him, knows him. He knows the cold wind that rises when the Others come, and he knows they can't get through to the South side of the Wall. Immediately before the altercation between Ser Patrek and Wun Wun, Jon reads the Pink Letter to those who had gathered in the sheild hall. The only Queensmen who were there were Ser Narbert Grandison and Ser Benethon Scales, waiting at the door, that day's pair of guards that Lady Melisandre made a point of having, "the trappings of power" she used to send a certain message. Not common drunks like Morgan and Merrel on this occasion, but knights of storied noble blood, sworn sheilds to Queen Selyse. She arrives late, so she and they are the first to leave the hall. Now of course, the number one duty of Ser Benethon and Ser Narbert is to inform the Queen that the King is dead, Ramsey has summoned her to Winterfell, and Jon Snow is intending to go there to challenge him, with an entourage of her new Wildling subjects. They have had just enough time to deliver the news before Ser Patrek sets off. We learn of Ser Patrek's motivations at the wedding of Alys Karstark to the Magnar of Thenn (A Dance with Dragons Ch 49 Jon X) On the morning of Ser Patrek's death, before Jon had read the Pink letter, (but long after he had denied King Stannis's leal knights the castles of the wall) Queen Selyse is full of marriage plans, and guess who is at her elbow? (A Dance with Dragons Ch 69 Jon XIII) Now, we know that Wun Wun sleeps in the entry hall of Hardin's tower (A Dance with Dragons Ch 53 Jon XI). It is guarded by Black Brothers, not Queensmen. But that night Leathers was at the Shield Hall discussing the relief of Hardhome with Jon, and "his men" were Bowen Marsh's stewards, with daggers in their hands, intent on assassinating Jon. Wun Wun had been assigned the task of protecting Val. So when Ser Patrek hears his king is dead, he knows he must steal his wife immediately, before Jon Snow can take her to Ramsey, and/or/perhaps Mance. That if he doesn't act now, he will end up with nothing, and on the wrong side. This is what provoked Ser Patrek's attack on the sleeping giant. And when Wun Wun woke to find him slashing at his belly and arm, well... it was his duty and his life, and a gross violation of guest right.

(AGoT Ch 42 Tyrion VI) The legitimacy of both Tyrion's weddings are suspect. Tysha and he sincerely loved each other and wanted to marry each other, believed they had married each other, had never slept with anyone else before and consumated that marriage. But the Septon was lied to, bribed, and drunk. So were their vows legal? Were they consecrated? The septon might say it was a false marriage. In the real medieval, parental authority was the basis for marriage until the 1140 Decretum Gratiani required verbal consent from the actual couple, and consummation, to legitimise the marriage. Parental consent was still a requirement, but before then, the bride was assumed to have consented to whatever arrangements her father made, and her presence (or the presence of her proxy) was deemed sufficient proof of consent. Marriage was more about peace treaties, trade alliances, political advantage than the consent of the couple until then. It wasn't until the 1563 Council of Trent that marriage was explicitly defined as a sacrament, and not until Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 that only marriages that took place in a church in front of a minister, after three weeks minimum notice, recorded in an official marriage registry were the only legally valid marriages (and even then, only in England. Meaning Gretna Green, just over the border in Scotland, became a place where English couples would go for a quick/cheap/secret but legitimate wedding.) From the third century, when Christianity was not the majority religion, the church struggled to accommodate converts who came with multiple pagan wives and children, bishops who divided diocesan assets among their sons, and so on. Once Constantine made Christianity the state religion, Christian marriage and non-polygamous marriage and married priests not sleeping with their wives or having their children inherit church wealth became the norm, although, again, not until the 12th century that priestly celibacy became a thing, and the church attempted to insist that weddings were performed in the church in front of priests, and only one living spouse allowed. And even then, there were many exceptions and many problems with factitious marriages performed by bribed priests to bigamists and so on. In spite of the celibate Septons, GRRM seems to place his marriages in that 300-1140 era, when the Old Gods and the New were both recognised, and it wasn't clear what exactly was required for a legitimate marriage. For the Tysha marriage, Tyrion is thirteen (when sixteen is considered "a man grown") and does not have his father's consent. He does have a septon officiate, but not in a sept, there are no human witnesses, he used deception and bribery to obtain the septon's services, the septon was drunk and as soon as the septon was sober, he went to Tywin and the marriage "was over". However, both Tysha and Tyrion gave enthusiastic consent, the marriage was consummated, neither of them had any sexual relations before each other. It was a marriage of hearts, while it lasted. His marriage to Sansa has all the formal legal elements that his marriage to Tysha lacks. It was performed in a Sept, in front of hundreds of witnesses, the King himself took the part of Sansa's father and gave his consent to the marriage. Sansa was there, in her wedding dress and wedding cloaks and, with the possible exception of not stooping to allow Tyrion to put the bridal cloak on her, did not resist the marriage. They exchanged vows in front of the High Septon, who consecrated their marriage. The wedding was announced far and wide, reaching even Sansa's mother and brothers, even her half-brother at the Wall. Every legal protocol was followed. On the other hand, the Sansa marriage has not been consummated, neither Tyrion nor Sansa wanted to marry, it is an open question if Tyrion is not already married, and if bigamous marriages are legitimate if he is. Sansa as Alyane has since been conditionally affianced to Lord Robert Arryn and Harrold Hardyng by Lysa and Littlefinger, in spite of SweetRobin's age and Harrold's reluctance and the way she has been misrepresented to Harrold's guardian (and to both her prospective husbands), and even though Lysa and Littlefinger were only defacto guardians, and Sansa arguably still has the guardianship of her mother, of the Queen Regent, of Bran, and even of Jon Snow. Jon Snow claims that "marriage and inheritance are matters for the King" but nonetheless accepts Alys Karstark's plea to him, as her kinsman and the last surviving son of Lord Stark, to prevent her uncle marrying her against her will to his son... even though the legitimate heir of the Karhold might still be alive in the South. Lord Snow takes the place of Alys's father in her marriage to the Magnar, although he does not claim guardianship of her. He uses his authority as Lord Commander and the laws of guest right to thwart Creagan's plans, not his Stark blood. I am pretty sure Jon introduces Alys to the Magnar - if Queen Selyse had a say in who Alys married, the bridegroom would more probably have been Ser Patrek of King's Mountain (hence his anger at the wedding). Melisandre must have been consulted, because she officiates, and because of her, Selyse is on board. Most likely, the Magnar and Alys married by the rites of the Red God because Melisandre and Queen Selyse are the King's religious and secular representatives, and the Magnar swore fealty to the Red God when he bent the knee to Stannis, rather than any barrier presented by the rites of the Old Gods, that allow equally speedy marriages. Their ceremony appears to be a mish-mash of Southern, Northern and Eastern rites, with the veil, announcement of the bride and groom, exchange of cloaks, heraldry of costume, and jumping of the fire-pit. Of all marriage rites, those of the Old Gods appear to be the most perfunctory and the least clear. Who knows if Jeyne Poole is married to Ramsey, or Arya, or neither. It seems the only witness that matters is the heart tree, and the two that would be married testify to it. At least the Old Gods have an age restriction. I think GRRM has deliberately made the marriage rites extremely fluid, so it is an open question if anyone is legitimately married or not. Otherwise, it is too difficult to create a scenario where Lyanna Stark could plausibly be legitimately married to a Targaryen when she was affianced to Robert, with her father's consent. I think Tysha is still alive, and she is the Sailor's Wife (although I would rather she wasn't, and who knows the legitimacy of all those weddings officiated by Ezzelyno, Eustace, and Myrmello) . Lanna is Tyrion's child. I am not so sure if Tyrion is still alive, or if he has risen again, stronger, courtesy of the Shrouded Lord. (Theon, Davos, Sandor, Gregor, Dany...there are a lot more "maybe dead" people than just Lord Beric and Lady Stoneheart). Or perhaps Yna was telling Arya that Tysha's love for Tyrion had died. (AFfC Ch 34 Cat of the Canals) not "as a corpse" which would make it clear that "Her love" = "him", but "it will be a corpse", meaning "Her love" could also be an abstract noun, a feeling she had, in the past. It is the same kind of quibbling grammar that the Elder Brother used:- "That man is dead", "He is at rest", "The Hound died there, in my arms", meaning Sandor Clegane is now his Gravedigger.

The best cuisine is in Meereen! Even if you don't like to eat exotic animals and dog, there are so many fruits, sometimes served iced on sliver trays: pears, persimmons, apricots, cherries, plump black figs, small green figs, dates, melons, pomegranates, grapes and dates. Dany is served a succession of "simple meals":- Duck eggs and sausage, and half a cup of [honey]sweetened wine mixed with the juice of a lime. Lamb, with a salad of raisins and carrots soaked in wine, and a hot flaky bread dripping with honey. Platter of flatbread, olives, figs, and cheese. A melon and a bowl of hard-cooked eggs Honeyed lamb, fragrant with crushed mint and served with the small green figs she liked so much. dark red wine Autumn greens and ginger soup Kid with dates and carrots Goat cheese and olives, with raisins for a sweet. Quentyn also has a "simple meal" of fruit and bread and cheese, washed down with goat milk Belwas demands liver and onions, and feasts on hot sweet locusts. The Green Grace sips from a goblet of lemon juice, sweetened with honey The Meereenese have an old Spice Market, and use saffron, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and other costly spices in their food and in their wines. They stuff their meat with pecans and peppers, and have grains and vegetables, beans and (in the past, and possibly in the future) olives and olive oil, and fish, from the river and from the bay.

From memory (while I was researching guineas and pounds in the late 18th-early 19th century, the time of the holey dollar and the Rum Rebellion) the English currency started with gold coins in the 7th century, that was replaced with silver pennies a century later. A century after that, silver alloy pennies. A midlands king, before Alfred, introduced a half-penny coin, and also a much rarer gold coin, that was worth about an artisan's wages for a month (a labourer's wages for a year). He also made the penny larger and thinner than previous pennies. The obverse of these coins were often a cross, so by the time of King Stephen, people had taken to cutting them in half and quarters for half-pennies and farthings. This quartering cross became a feature of most British medieval silver coins after. Later kings minted half-penny and farthing coins. Edward III introduced gold coins, including the groat, and 'stars' - halfpenny and farthing coins made of an alloy with slightly less silver than his sterling pennies, with stars on both sides of the coins (I think he also introduced sterling silver as a measure of his coins' value). So he had groats (or maybe pennies, one or the other) made in both gold and silver, introducing the bi-metal standard and future woes. The gold coins and the silver coins were nominally the same value, and initially the value of the gold and silver in them were very near parity. But not quite. International merchants already familiar with making profits by arbitrage (what we now call forex trading) would demand payment in one metal, and pay in the other, in order to give themselves the most profit. Which caused a positive feedback loop. Also, most of the known silver in the world was in China during the medieval, and China was being paid in silver but paying in gold (I think). Which gradually made silver quite scarce in the Western world, eventually being a driver for the age of colonisation and the Spanish Amarda (funded by the sliver and gold of South America) and later causing problems with the disparity in the value of the coins for Isaac Newton in his role as the head of the Royal Mint, which he (sort of) solved by fixing the value of the British gold coins at a higher value that the equivalent of foreign silver, effectively moving Great Britain from a silver standard to a de-facto gold standard. But in the medieval, the value of the gold currency soared way over the value of the silver currency, and in fact by the late 14th century, there was a time when a single gold groat (or gold penny, or perhaps even a leopard or florin - sorry I can't remember what the standard gold coin was. The one that Edward III's introduced) was worth more than 200 silver pennies - (pretty sure it was pennies, but might have been silver groats, with one silver groat being 4 silver pennies). This was partly as a result of payments of monies according to the treaties that resolved the Hundred Years' War. That might be where the Hedge-Knight gets the 800 silver stags = 4 gold dragons from. At the time, even silver coins were used more by merchants and ship-owners than commoners. Gold coins were more commonly used by nation-states than merchants. The idea of tossing out a gold coin in exchange for a room at an inn is just ridiculous, although Tyrion being a baller, and a Lannister, it is just barely possible he would go on long journeys with maybe a dozen gold coins in his purse, in the event he wanted to part ways with the King's entourage (which, of course, would be supplied with everything at his host's expense) or flash some cash somewhere. But the idea of Brienne roaming the outlaw-ridden and devastated Northern Crownlands with saddlebags full of silver and gold is a bit much, even supposing Jaime was as ignorant of the price of milk as Tyrion clearly is. Gold coins tended to drop out of currency in Britain because they were rarer, and however high their value, their value as bullion always became greater than their face value. So they were hoarded and traded overseas. Henry VIII introduced crowns, Charles II introduced guineas from his new African gold mines, Victoria re-introduced sovereigns (they had been one of the medieval gold coins of short currency) But always, the value of the gold would inflate relative to the value of the silver, even when silver was scarce. On the other hand, a pound was a pound was a pound. Meaning, 240 sterling pennies of 30 grains of silver would always be a pound of silver by weight and a pound by denomination. But not really, especially in the time of Henry VIII, who deliberately debased the currency, both gold and silver. (His children had to restore the value of the currency) But also, there was a lot of fraud and penny-clipping, and medieval methods of assaying the purity of coins were not as accurate as they became later. Still, the idea that a pound was a pound was a pound kept silver as the real measure of value for British currency from the early medieval until 1717. Scotland had its own currency, also pounds/shillings/pence but separate to English currency until the Act of union in 1707. Until the 14th century the Scottish penny was at parity with the English one, but when the Act of Union came in, one English penny was worth 13 Scottish pennies. My takeaway on this is that Lord Manderley's mint might not be issuing coins that King Tommen's taxmen accept as Westerosi currency, but Northerners might accept both King Tommen's and King Robb's coins as being of equal value. I don't know how the Iron Bank would choose to view it. So, to my not very deep knowledge of medieval currency, the very low inflation between the time of Daeron II to King Robert Baratheon seems similar to the generally very low inflation in the British medieval era. The huge disparity between the value of the gold and silver currency is realistic for the late 14th c. Having silver as the main currency is on point. Although apparently the penny and the groat are the smallest denomination coins, equivalent to the half-penny or farthing (or perhaps copper coins of even lower denomination). In Tyrion's eyes, they are worth very little, but he is the guy that tosses gold coins to commoners just to watch them jump to do his bidding. Penny might not attach the same disparaging meaning to her name that Tyrion does.

I think that GRRM is going to have a sword-that-was-broken reforged. The most likely candidates to my mind are Oathbreaker and Widow's Wail, the broken sword being Ice, because Tobho Mott's Qhorick incantations could not make the Valyrian Steel meld with the new steel without lifesblood or dragonfire or both. Perhaps one or both of these brittle swords will be broken before being forged anew. Longclaw has already been reforged for Jon by Donnel Noye. Jon has a burnt sword-hand, and a lot of other imagery that indicates he is the Prince that Was Promised, but I would not be surprised if he got a different sword, especially if Jorah Mormont returns to Westeros or Beyond the Wall. Jon Snow resurrected is not the only candidate for Azor Ahai. Stannis's Lightbringer could also be forged anew into the weapon of Azor Ahai, this time without Melisandre's mummery, the wildfire, and, in all probability, the padded glove. Dany has the dragons, and Maester Aemon's vote for Azor Ahai, but she has no skill with the sword, and no sword. Waymar's sword was broken, and could be forged again - if we ever see it again. I think I see foreshadowing that Hodor is the Last Hero. He has a sword (A Storm of Swords Ch 9 BranI) Perhaps the Iron sword could be reforged into Dragonsteel. Gendry has sworn his service to the Red God and the BwB. He has a sword and a forge, and Kingsblood, so is another good candidate for Azor Ahai. Another Sword that was Broken reforged could be the Greyjoy fortress on Pyke (A Clash of Kings Ch 11 Theon I) This particularly applies to the Sea Tower, the point of the sword, the oldest part of the castle, upon whose bridge Balon died. The Ironborn talk about "riding the wind with fire and sword". I am sure there are more swords-that-are-broken, that could be reforged. Especially if we consider swords-not-yet-broken and metaphorical swords. I feel it is a bit too late in the tale for a sword-not-yet-forged to be broken and reforged, but I am assuming we are at least half-way through, and that GRRM is "playing fair" - given his fondness for supernatural happenings, secret passageways, poisons, oriental people, and accidents, I can't image that he follows Fr Robert Knox's rules, but still I hope that a lot of his mysteries, if not the 'main' mystery have been introduced to us already, that the 'murderers' are not PoV's, that our PoV's reveal all the clues they get as they get them, that logical deduction is all that is required, and all the clues are revealed to us before the denouement and none of them indelicately pulled out of his ass at the last minute or any other minute. At the moment, all I am sure of is: There will be a sword-that-was-broken reforged.

I thought this quote meant that House Strong had fine straight brown hair, like Robert Arryn's. Which implies that Petyr Baelish's grandfather was as Westerosi exile in Braavos.

Tully red, the mud red of the river

Jon recalls the phrase "stick them with the pointy end" four times, to Arya's three: (A Storm of Swords Ch 55 Jon VII) (A Dance with Dragons Ch 28 Jon VI) (A Dance with Dragons Ch 53 Jon XI) I would argue the phrase has in fact been foreshadowing the steward's mutiny all along: (A Dance with Dragons Ch 69 Jon XIII)

There are lots of these. I would add "Only blood can pay for blood" and its variants (like "Only death can pay for life") and "kill the boy" - the exact phrase refers always to Jon Snow (a couple of times, Maester Aemon explains to Jon that he also gave this advice to Aegon V, so you could say it also directly applies to Egg) but variants of the phrase apply to Bran, Mycha, Willem and Tion, Robb, Joffrey, Dalla's child and Gilly's, Edric, Podrick, Theon, Sam Tarly, FAegon, Ronald Storm, SweetRobin and perhaps even JonCon on his return to Westeros (the implication being he was just a boy when he left and supposedly died in exile) ETA : I would point out that while the phrase "stick them with the pointy end" is exclusively a thing between Jon and Arya (along with "don't tell Sansa") there is a metaphorical resonance with the way Janos Slynt's goldcloak butchered Fat Tom, and Slynt chosing his sigil on that event. Tyrion might think it appalling, but when he unintentionally kils a knight in the battle of the Green Fork by sticking the point of his helmet into the belly of the knight's horse, who falls and traps the knight underneath, he also 'stuck him with the pointy end'. Also, regarding tongues, there is Stonesnake's warning to Jon when he attempts to question Ygritte, that she might bite off her tongue and spit it out rather than answer his questions. And Thistle does bite off her tongue, although Varymer was possessing rather than interrogating her. And of course Illyn Payne had his tongue cut out by Tywin, and there is Wex, and Euron's mutes, the Dusky Woman, and Biter - being without a tongue is a whole thing (like being without an ear, or a hand). And in Westeros, it leaves a person mute, reduced to hisses. (In real life, cutting out the tongue doesn't affect the voicebox, and people without tongues can speak and vocalise).

I suspect that Jorah was set up to marry Lynesse by Lord Tywin, Lord Leyton and possibly King Robert. Barristan knows that he was ordered to take a dive for the jouster carrying Lady Lynesse's favor. Lynesse was told who to give it to. Jorah still doesn't know that all those better jousters let him win. Lord Leyton made the trip to Lannisport specifically to marry Lynesse off. Thanks to Robert's knighthood, and Jeor's Lordship, and his first wife dying without issue, Jorah (barely) makes it onto the list of gallant single lords that a Hightower lass might be permitted to marry. Of course, it is a vastly inferior match to Alerie's at Highgarden, and we can assume the reigning Lord Ambrose and even a cadet branch of the Redwyne family were prosperous marriages for Alysanne and Denyse. Not so sure about Leyla's husband, Ser Jon Cupps. But that is because all we know about him is his name, which strongly suggests he is part of the household entourage at the Arbor. Or perhaps the sisters fell in love, and Lord Leyton deemed a couple of hidalgos associated with the Arbor were a good enough match for a couple of the younger Hightower girls. Lynesse was clearly expecting more than a log keep with an earthern wall and an axe-weilding bare-breasted strumpet scratched onto the gate. She might also have been expecting *less* in the form of axe-weilding strumpets and their bastard offspring, too. But the way Lord Slynt associated the Mormont name with "beds with bears", tells me that this scandalous part of Jorah's household would not have taken Leyton, Tywin, or Robert by surprise. Why Lord Leyton would agree to such a match, when he had made such a spectacular match with Alerie? I think maybe, Lord Tywin and King Robert felt that Leyton needed to bring someone into his family who was *not* so loyal to King Aerys as Mace had been. Why Ser Leyton would just hand his beautiful youngest daughter to the stiff they suggested? Two possibilities. One is that Lynesse was in some sense "soiled goods". Perhaps she had given her favor to some unsuitable Southron who had died in the battle of Pyke, making her sad and indifferent about who her father married her off to, and willing to collaborate with him (or at least, eager enough to escape him to not to foil his plan). Or perhaps Malora has had a vison that Lynesse needed to marry the swain she would meet at the tourney of Lannisport. I guess there is an outside chance that Robert had uncovered some sort of treasonous plot that Leyton might be suspected of supporting, and having uncovered it, offered Leyton the opportunity to make amends by marrying Lynesse to the man King Robert chose (rather like Doran married off Lady Sylva, heir of Spottswood, to the inferior but safe and strategically good for him Lord Estermont as punishment for her family allowing her to participate in Arriane's (really Tyene's) plot to crown Myrcella). I can see how Oldtown would benefit economically from the sea trade if the Lannisport docks were burnt or the seas around it were infested by Ironborn. I can see how Lord Tywin would object to that. I can see, too, how King Robert would be happy to have the opportunity to weaken the Hightowers, who might have played a role in keeping Viserys safe in the Free Cities, and strenthen his own and their loyalties in the North, in a way that Lord Leyton might be grateful to acquiesce to. His own marriage, and Jon Arryn's, even Ned Stark's, show that King Robert knows the value of marriage diplomacy. Robert is also skilled at turning enemies into friends when he sees the military advantage of doing so. Plus, happy father-in-law, happy life. Lord Tywin would be more likely to be motivated by money than King Robert, although he is no slouch when it comes to identifying military threats to his own power, either. Lord Tywin's fleet had been wiped out by the Ironborn, who were on Robert's side, attacking the South in *his* rebellion. Then, after burning Lannisport the Ironborn had moved on *Seaguard* rather than following the trade routes down to the Mander, the Arbor, and Oldtown. Leaving the Arbor with the biggest navy in Westeros, and the King with a navy in need of rebuilding at some expense, and Lord Tywin with no navy at all. Of course he is going to wonder if maybe Mace and his bannermen had some sort of *arrangement* with King Balon, that Balon's target was the Trident, rather than the wealthy South. He would wonder who gave Balon the notion that King Robert lacked the aristocratic support a Targaryen king could rely on, when *he*, Aerys own Hand, had taken Robert as a son-in-law. He might also remember and resent that Leyton had the audacity to act offended when Tywin had proposed that one of Leyton's daughters might marry Tyrion. Perhaps that is the reason that Melora never married, and the older girls all married Targ loyalists of the Reach. Lord Tywin is not the type to let some fool like Balon get away with destroying his fleet at anchor, either. Robert, on the other hand, is exactly the type to give Balon clemency and arrange for the Iron Fleet to return to trade as soon as the hostages have been taken and peace promised. So I am pretty sure, of my three suspects, Lord Tywin is the real maker of this match. Tourneys are not cheap to hold, and *his* sea-trade must be done by proxy captains at proxy ports for the nonce, and these will profit from the customs and duties that Lannisport used to levy. But without King Robert's knighthood, Jorah might not have fancied himself a tourney knight, or sought the thin pleasure of Lord Tywin's hospitality. Without the knighthood, Lord Jorah would look like the brutal solider he is, twice Lynesse's age, ugly and inconsiderate, with one wife already buried, rather than a dazzling hero covered in honors and glory. I don't think Ser Barristan or Ser Jaime would have taken a dive except on his king's order,either. And of course, if Lord Leyton did not approve the match, it would not have happened. If Lynesse had to be instructed to surrender her favor to Jorah, it would be Lord Leyton giving her the instruction. Lynesse clearly thought Jorah was more genteel than he really was, and probably more wealthy (at least, assumed he had the money to afford the lifestyle she had imagined enjoying as a married woman, at most, was a gold-digger). Lord Leyton's sons attended the tourney, but there's no mention of daughters apart from Lynesse. I think this indicates that Lord Leyton had been given a choice of which child was going to be (secretly) claimed by King Robert as proof of his loyalty. He could have chosen Malora, who as the elder has precedence over her sister, althought the sobrequiet "Mad Maid" and the association with witchcraft might have made her a less attractive proposition, even supposing she was outwardly as lissome as Lynesse, and more age appropriate. Of course, we know that Lynesse being half Jorah's age did not put him off, and was likely one thing that made her so utterly attractive to him. The brothers that jousted were probably Baelor and Garth, as Gunthor was no older than fourteen, and Humphrey even younger. Baelor was about Jorah's age, and Garth in his twenties, both presumably knights already, or very recently dubbed by Robert. Also, Lord Leyton's wife is a Florent. We know that Stannis was wedded to Selyse around this time, at Robert's command. Perhaps Stannis marrying Selyse was part of Robert's/Tywin's plan to marry into houses they suspect might plot resistance to King Robert. Robert doesn't care if Selyse has a mustache and Stannis isn't comfortable with women at all. That would just make their union hi-larious to him. But it might explain why Stannis needed to marry into a family so much less wealthy and powerful than his own I notice a lot of Jorah's opponents in the joust were Riverlords (Jason Mallister, a couple of Freys, Lord Whent). That is interesting, but I have no explination for it. Also, it seems strange to me that Cersei's hand in marriage was such a hard sell. I suppose, after Tyrion was born, some might wonder what kind of ofspring she might bear, and others might fear such a powerful and merciless in-law as Lord Tywin. In the time of Aerys, some might be slow to rush in and marry the beautiful girl that Prince Rhaegar neglected. I am wondering if it was also because King Aerys had spoken widely of twincest, and trashed her reputation, but Tywin never let her or Jaime know.

Please explain. I came here today because I re-read this (AGoT Ch 2 Catelyn I) I had not noticed before how out-of-place the Valyrian sword was in the black pool by the ancient weirwood. Nor had I noticed there was at least one earlier Ice, that there might be an Ice in one piece still. Eddard's Ice was forged about 130 BC, before Daenys the Dreamer foresaw the Doom of Valyria, before the Targaryens had left Valyria, but after Dragonstone had been built as the Westernmost outpost of Valyria. Was Ice a gift from Dragonstone (or from Valyria) to the King of Winter? Was it a commission because Ice Eyes or Bran the Breaker had broken the family sword? The transaction shows us that at least one King of Winter had some kind of non-violent contact with Valyria, or at least Dragonstone. And that the Valyrians were willing to arm him. -- On Ser Waymar's interaction with the Others, the Other approached Ser Waymar with a drawn longsword, at front guard or short guard. It is unclear if the blade was out before Ser Waymar warned "Come no farther". Waymar's own stance is an extraordinary choice: holding his sword in both hands, high over his head. As if he was preparing to be a ritual sacrifice. We know from various comments about 'drawn steel' that in Westeros, that is a signal that you are intending to fight. Robb displayed a bare sword on his lap when Tyrion asked an audience with him, to show him the enmity between their families. In Braavos simply carrying a sword was a sign you were prepared to fight any bravo you came across. The Others understood Waymar was issuing a challenge, and did him the courtesy of having only one of them answer his challenge. The shattering of Royce's sword seems to signal that the sport is over, and all the Others gather around to stab him with their longswords, rather than leave his dispatch to the one who fought him. Stabbing seems an odd way to use a longsword, and the frenzied way they do it, shredding his cloak, seems an inefficient as well as inelegant way of killing him. But that is how they do it. We know the Ice that was melted down to make Oathkeeper and Widow's Wail is not Dawn. The swords co-exist, and perhaps they met at the Tower of Joy in the red sands of Dorne. I suppose it is possible that Dawn was an earlier Ice. The old Kings of Winter in the crypt at Winterfell have swords of iron across their laps, so old that all that is left of some of them are a red line of rust. Admittedly, none of the last dozen Lords of Winterfell have a statue with Ice across its lap. They swords they rest with are not so fancy. Osha took Eddard's sword, forged after his death by Mikken on Bran's command. Meera took Lord Rickard's, Bran took Uncle Brandon's. (Incidentally, while Bran claims that Eddard had the statues of Lyanna and Brandon made because he loved them, that only Lords and monarchs were really entitled to statues. But I think Brandon was the Lord of Winterfell in the short time between his father dying and his own death. That statue is clearly in defiance of Aerys Targaryen, second of his name. King Robert protests Lyanna's presence in the crypt, but Eddard insists she belongs there. Perhaps because both Robert and Eddard know she was briefly the Queen of the realm. Although Robert would rather not acknowledge as much.) Hodor took a "much older" sword, that also seems to be much larger. Well spotted with rust, but we don't know which statue it was taken from. Lady Dustin notices a sword missing when Theon is guiding her past Beron Stark who ruled in Bloodraven's time. But Theon doesn't remember the name of the king the sword came from, and it might not have been the sword removed by Hodor - When Rickon had learnt that Robb was going to war he and Shaggy had gone to the crypts, and when Gage and Mikken found him (AGoT Ch53 Bran VI) I doubt a four-year-old would be able to snatch or slash with a sword as heavy as the one Hodor took. There is no mention of returning the sword to the statue, or of the part of the crypt Rickon was in when he weilded it. The swords in the crypts are generally described as longsword, and iron. Nothing indicates they are at all fancy. There are several indications they are all rusty. Eddard's sword had Mikken's mark, so I guess we could assume the swords were all castle-forged. The Starks having the history they do, we can be sure even their ghosts' swords have a honed edge, less decoration and more decollation than a southern ceremonial sword. But none so fancy that a later ancestor would covet it. No Valyrian steel (likely no steel at all). If a former Ice lay in the crypts, it would not have a milky translucent blade, or generate heat, or be engraved with magical runes, nothing that would tempt anyone to take it rather than another of the scores of rusty iron longswords around it. Meera complains that Rickard's sword is heavy, but she doesn't exchange it for another. She is shorter than Osha, who wears the newest sword on her back. Osha knew Mikken and Gage, who would be sharing his wood supply with the forge. She might even have seen the sword forged. I am guessing it was longer and heavier than Meera's, and that Hodor's was the heaviest and largest of the four they took. Bran's sword might have been smaller and lighter than Meera's, but Meera knows her Royal protocol too well to choose before the prince or to ask her liege to swap. Bran's sword is likely Mikken's too. Hodor's sword is the only one we hear of after they leave the crypts. Bran sees Meera often using her trident, net, and helm, but not her sword. He never mentions his own sword, either. Perhaps Hodor carries all three, like a pack horse. I guess there is no reason a former Ice would not be a plain looking iron sword. It is implied the nine black iron longswords on the crown of winter that Torren ceded to Aegon share symbolism with the swords in the crypt that keep the dead from walking. On the other hand, the iron swords of the Wildlings (and the bronze of the Thenns) have not done much to stop the dead from walking, and the Others' armor is impervious to iron, and they can shatter iron blades.

I have just read The Wall from Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill (1936). It is a historical fantasy where a couple of children crawl through a hedge to meet Puck, who on this occassion introduces them to a Roman soldier guarding Hadrian's Wall. I think GRRM must have read it - there is a marked resemblance between this and GRRM'S Wall. Of course, one expects some similarity between stories based on the same location and historical facts, but the similarities that struck me especially were more about characters, especially the development of Jon's character and relationships. (The framing conceit might also have influenced C S Lewis's Narnia.) This particular story is directly comparable to Jon's arc, especially in Game of Thrones, (say, AGoT Ch.19 Jon III or Ch.26 Jon IV), and Jon's relationship with Tormund, or the position of the Wildlings generally (in Kipling's story the Picts have just observed another enemy landing and would be glad of an alliance, or at least, a cessation of hostilities with the Romans). The two boys in Kipling's story go hunting wolves north of the wall with a 'tame' pict. They came to the wall as boys, with Parnesius at first struggling to fit in with the men on the wall, for he was nobly born and they had been sent there as punishment for their crimes. But then he meets Pertinax, whose father had died, and his wealthy but unkindly uncle had sent him to the Wall by force and trickery. As they become friends, Parnesius learns to how to read, and lead, and respect his cohort. There has been a mention of Kipling in this thread before, his poem on the unattainable Blue Roses for a dead love. Well, GRRM hasn't been explicit about the TOJ storyline, so it is hard to tell. Also

Thanks Seams, for the great OP, and what an intriguing play on swords! * (ASoS Ch 22 Arya IV) (ACoK Ch26 Arya IV) Way ahead of you Lady Smallwood.

The only time silver spurs are mentioned, they are given as a gift, not an award. Joffery was king, but he wasn't a knight, so for his wedding he received (ASoS Ch59 Sansa IV) This, from his Master of Arms, who is a knight, who has it in his power to make Joffrey a knight, might almost amount to a rebuke. On the other hand, it is the closest thing to gold spurs that could decently be given as a gift, and holds the promise that, if he just spent a bit more time in the training yard, Joffrey might easily earn his golden spurs. As gift or award, spurs are an ambiguous symbol.They can be used to urge a warhorse into the frey, or to flee in terror. They are terribly cruel to horses, but even gentle little Tommen sinks spurs into his pony without a second thought. Even Bran. Even Dany spurs her beloved silver. Dontos was stripped of his golden spurs by Joffrey. So a king can do that, even if he can't make a knight and has no (golden) spurs himself.