The Fattest Leech

J'ai passé de courtes vacances. @Meera of Tarth

No. Wrong. This happened once and only once in the story Glass Flower. And this is a story related to mental slavery/thralldom. Most of his heroes/heroines look like Arya or Ashara Dayne. A few have red hair. Melantha Jhirl, who was rewritten as Val, is a black woman. Cyrain is the only silver haired, purple- eyed character he writes... and she is related to Dany literary-wise because they are mental slavers, not heroes. Once. Josh York is pale like the old gods/Starks with grey eyes and a long face. Martin does like the tree/old gods thing, l’ll give you that. Yeah, exactly. They both put down and deflect on themselves that they are physical slavers, but in truth they are both mental slavers/ icons of religious zealotry. Cyrain actually jokes that she is Jesus Christ, for chrissakes! And that she had 12 apostles. But she quite literally jokes about Khar Dorian (Daario) being her slaver who brings her bodies... and Cyrain sits in a hot cup of “fire”, just as Dany drinks from the cup of fire. Cyrain has a huge personality before we see her in her fifth stolen body as the young Targish Body we read her as. She had several careers and lived on several planets throughout the solar system and beyond. How can that not be personality? And Cyrain rebuilds her tower in obsidian and strategically places her personal abode in a spot where everyone has to pass through her to reach the relic where the game of mine is held. She is judging everyone as Jesus judges people, but in a cruel, condescending way. Cyrain has people/beings flocking outside her gates in a religious prostrating way. But yeah, no personality Cyrain only steals bodies as she sees fit. You are correct that Cyrain of Ash and Lilith is Daenerys Stormborn. I agree that Martin is repurposing his own characters he is comfortable with, but if you think that always means a good protagonist, well, I’ll add that to the beer tally I have that you owe me.

LV, watch your mouth. In The Glass Flower Cyrain was mental slaver. Cyrain was never a slave herself. Khar Dorian was “her slaver” because he brought Cyrain mental slaves for her to steal bodies from. Cyrain is a proto-Targ in this story alone, none other. A story that revolves around slavery based on suppression and trying to achieve the unachievable. And Fevre Dream???? Really? She is Damon Julian, right down to the “free the slaves, but keep he mental slaves/religion” talk. You want quotes? Also, no proto-Targs here, but instead a guy dressed up in white, grey, red, and blue frickin’ flowers crowned atop his “ship”.

Bran, as in knowledge of the trees and history.

Changes to the game. What makes sense? What you dislike? Why? Just going to post a little history here to get started... but speak freely about any other changes. * * * Football has come a long way since its first laws were drawn up in London in 1863. That historic meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern led not only to the foundation of the Football Association but, moreover, to the game's inaugural set of common rules. Although undergraduates at Cambridge had made an earlier attempt to achieve a uniform standard in the late 1840s - albeit still allowing the ball to be caught - it was not until 1863 that football, a sport played down the centuries in often-violent village contests and then embraced in the early 1800s by the English public schools, had a fixed rulebook. One club represented at the Freemasons' Tavern, Blackheath, refused to accept the non-inclusion of hacking (kicking below the knee) and subsequently became a founder of the Rugby Football Union. However, the 11 others reached an agreement and, under the charge of one Ebenezer Cobb Morley, 14 laws were soon penned for a game that would, in the following century, become the most played, watched and talked about activity on the planet. Original offside rule The offside rule formed part of the original rules in 1863 but it was a far remove from the law as we know it today. Any attacking player ahead of the ball was deemed to be offside - meaning early tactical systems featured as many as eight forwards, as the only means of advancing the ball was by dribbling or scrimmaging as in rugby. In the late 1860s, the FA made the momentous decision to adopt the three-player rule, where an attacker would be called offside if positioned in front of the third-last defender. Now the passing game could develop. Despite the unification of the rules and the creation of the FA in 1863, disputes, largely involving Sheffield clubs who had announced their own set of ideas in 1857, persisted into the late 1870s. However, the creation of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) finally put an end to all arguments. Made up of two representatives from each of the four associations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland), the IFAB met for the first time on 2 June 1886 to guard the Laws of the Game. Then, as today, a three-quarters majority was needed for a proposal to be passed. Gradual changes In those early years, the game gradually assumed the features we take for granted today. Goal-kicks were introduced in 1869 and corner-kicks in 1872. In 1878 a referee used a whistle for the first time. Yet there was no such thing as a penalty up until 1891. In the public schools where modern football originated, there was an assumption that a gentleman would never deliberately commit a foul. Amid the increased competitiveness, however, the penalty, or as it was originally called 'the kick of death', was introduced as one of a number of dramatic changes to the Laws of the Game in 1891. Penalties, of course, had to be awarded by someone and following a proposal from the Irish Association, the referee was allowed on to the field of play. True to its gentlemanly beginnings, disputes were originally settled by the two team captains, but, as the stakes grew, so did the number of complaints. By the time the first FA Cup and international fixture took place, two umpires, one per team, were being employed to whom each side could appeal. But it was not the ideal solution as decisions were often only reached following lengthy delays. The referee, at first, stood on the touchline keeping time and was 'referred' to if the umpires could not agree but that all changed in 1891. Referees introduced From that date a single person with powers to send players off as well as give penalties and free-kicks without listening to appeals became a permanent fixture in the game. The two umpires became linesmen, or 'assistant referees' as they are called today. Also during that meeting in Scotland, the goal net was accepted into the laws, completing the make-up of the goal after the introduction of the crossbar to replace tape 16 years previously. With the introduction of rules, the features of the football pitch as we know it slowly began to appear. The kick-off required a centre spot; keeping players ten yards from the ball at kick-off, brought the centre circle. It is interesting to note that when the penalty came in 1891, it was not taken from a spot but anywhere along a 12-yard line before 1902. The 1902 decision to award penalties for fouls committed in an area 18 yards from the goal line and 44 yards wide, created both the penalty box and penalty spot. Another box 'goal area', commonly called the 'six-yard-box', six yards long and 20 wide, replaced a semi circle in the goalmouth. However it was not for another 35 years that the final piece of the jigsaw, the 'D' shape at the edge of the penalty area, FIFA joins IFAB Football fast became as popular elsewhere as it had been in Britain and in May 1904, FIFA was founded in Paris with seven original members: France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by Madrid FC), Sweden and Switzerland. There was some initial disquiet in the United Kingdom to the idea of a world body governing the sport it had created rules for, but this uncertainty was soon brushed aside. Former FA board member Daniel Burley Woolfall replaced Frenchman Robert Guérin as FIFA President in 1906 - the year the FA joined - and in 1913 FIFA became a member of the IFAB. In the restructured decision-making body, FIFA was given the same voting powers as the four British associations put together. There remained eight votes and the same 75 per cent majority needed for a proposal to be passed, but instead of two each, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland now had one, while FIFA was given four. On the field of play, the number of goals increased aided by the 1912 rule preventing goalkeepers from handling the ball outside the penalty area and another in 1920 banning offsides from throw-ins. In 1925, the three-player offside rule became a two-player one, representing another radical change that propelled the game further forward. Rous rewrites the Laws By the late 1930s it was felt that the Laws of the Game, now totalling 17, required a makeover. The original Laws had been penned in the language of Victorian England and since then, there had been more than half a century of changes and amendments. Hence the task given to Stanley Rous, a member of the IFAB and the official who first employed the diagonal system of refereeing, to clean the cobwebs and draft the Laws in a rational order. The Englishman, who would become FIFA President in 1961, did such a good job that not until 1997 were the Laws revised for as second time. Despite football's phenomenal popularity, there was a general agreement in the late 1980s that the Laws of the Game should be fine-tuned in the face of defensive tactics. If fan violence was a serious off-the-pitch problem during that period, then on it the increasingly high stakes meant a real risk of defensive tactics gaining the upper hand. Hence a series of amendments, often referred to as for the 'Good of the Game', which were designed to help promote attacking football. They began with the offside law in 1990. The advantage was now given to the attacking team. If the attacker was in line with the penultimate defender, he was now onside. In the same year, the 'professional foul' - denying an opponent a clear goal-scoring opportunity - became a sending-off offence. Back-pass rule changed Despite these changes, tactics during the 1990 FIFA World Cup™ suggested something more needed to be done. The IFAB responded in 1992 by banning goalkeepers from handling deliberate back-passes. Although the new rule was greeted with scepticism by some at first, in the fullness of time it would become widely appreciated. The game's Law-makers then struck another blow against cynicism in 1998 when the fierce tackle from behind became a red-card offence. With a new century approaching, the commitment to forward-thinking football could not have been clearer.

Lawwwd jeesus! There is a breakdown to show what he is paid by the second Neymar earns an astonishing €36.8 million a year at Parc des Princes, which works out at over €700,000 a week. That dwarfs the €300,000-a-week deal he signed with Barca in 2016 and moves him comfortably ahead of Ronaldo and Messi, even if we take into account the pay rise the latter is said to be receiving in the new deal at Camp Nou he signed last November. Tevez cashed in on the gold rush in the Chinese Super League in 2017 and was, for a time at least, the only player who topped Neymar's salary. He was said to be earning €38.4m a year at Shanghai Shenhua before returning to Boca Juniors in January 2018. Timeframe Earnings Per second €1.16 Per minute €70 Per hour €4,200 Per day €100,821 Per week €707,692 Per month €3.07m Per year €36.8m

It’s both. Jon doesn’t like people who burn their “brother”. So what happens when Jon encounters people who burn their brother? He puts and end to it (arrow to Rattleshirt) and doesn’t trust the fire person. What we read in the previous books is setup for the future books as plotlines start to come together. Well, Bowen might burn, but only because he was used as a vessel... kinda like Cragan (sp?) at the Queensmoot with the horn. Sam mentions how odd it is that Mel shows interest in Marsh. But that’s another thread I agree. Mel probably would want to burn Bran, but that ain’t happening Chances are Mel and Selyse will be out of the picture by the end of TWOW. Many options here. The Dance of the Dragons 2.0 (and a half I think?) will most likely take place either on the Trident, or the Gods Eye. All speculation, of course

Both. Fire people are fire people. I do also believe Aegon is the real deal (as much as I love and root for Blackfyres). And I do believe a fire person will end up burning Aegon (“clan” kin).

I always read that as backshadowing. Who else let their brother be burned alive?

J’ai etudié le français dans l’ecole pour six ans. Je suis terrible.

Je sais qu'il y a différentes façons de le dire, mais je me souviens, “comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?

Martin is a tricksy bird

This is the kinkiest thread we’ve had in a while. Q: 2. Is Varys truly a eunuch, or is it just another of his many disguises? GRRM: Guess we won't know till someone takes a peek inside his breeches.

@kissdbyfire Hope I’m not overstepping here, but I happened to have the Learning to Lead IV thread bookmarked on my phone. (I sometimes peek back in to them from time to time). This one is LtL 4, but the links for the first three threads are right at the beginning of the first post. A good read at how Jon and Dany are both still learning.

I have heard this over the years. I guess this happens with any large organization after a while?