Kierria

I don't think it was necessary to send Thorne on that mission. The wildings could have gone on their own. Jon was motivated by revenge and petty politics.

Many of the top tier young characters are meant to learn an important lesson. This important lesson is unique and tailored to each person. The story lines of Bran Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, Asha Greyjoy, Sansa Stark, and Arianne Martell are leading them to learn something important for their place in the story. Bran Stark is learning to greensee. He needs to value the responsibility over his love for his brothers and sisters. He just might succeed where Jon and Arya failed. Daenerys Targaryen is learning how to control dragons and govern people. I think she will learn and succeed in the end. Asha and Sansa are the outliers in their families and the only hope for the Greyjoys and the Starks. Arianne will take the Dornish to war with the Lannisters. I sadly don't believe this will turn out well for Arianne. Arya's story is not for her but rather to teach the book reader of the futility and tragedy of revenge. Jon is not on a character development arc. Don't expect Jon to see the error of his ways and sacrifice the Starks for the greater good. George is using his story to encourage his fans to discuss the opposing forces of duty versus love of family.

Our author likes gray areas. So yeah. The Others can't be complete evil. The Others are made up of thrown away babies in the north. Preston Jacobs hinted at something like bastards were thrown out in the cold to perish. These babies mutated by magic turned into the creatures named as the Others. They are hostile for understandable reasons and want their share of the land. It's like these kids now want their fathers' land.

The Wall is impossible for the Others to pass unless somebody on the watch lets them in. They would have attacked the south if they could. Jon is a turncoat. I think Bran is the lion of the night of the prophecies though. One of the boys will unlock the way for the Others.

Mercy should be taken into consideration before delivering the punishment. A person begging for mercy and asking for forgiveness should be listened to. It was hard to sympathize with Ned after what he did to Gared. He killed a traumatized old man suffering from shock and ptsd.

Robert fathered a lot of bastards and so the risk of the family going the way of the Dodo is small. I doubt Stannis will return south. So the last will be Tommen Lannister who is known as Tommen Baratheon. I think Steffon's children and legal grandchildren will die out. The Baratheons don't deserve to keep their lands after what they did.

Knowing more about as in their backstories? Mopatis and how Illyrio came to possess three dragon eggs. He's not technically a noble but being Magister is high status. Then Marwyn whose blood can't be trusted by the maesters. He comes from a family of Targaryen supporters. Blood means family. He is either a Targaryen bastard or comes from a family loyal to the dragons. He could be a Darry. If he isn't a noble then perhaps his family was one of the dragon handlers working for the Targaryens.

100% atheist will be very unusual during a period when scientific knowledge is lacking. It is human nature to look for explanations and when the science is lacking the people will look to magic and gods. The most modern of the religions is the Seven because Martin seems to model it after Catholicism. No blood sacrifices. Quirky gods with multiple aspects like Christianity is. The Old Gods, the religion of the Starks, is the most primitive and visceral. The North is backwards and demanded human sacrifice. The belief was strong enough so that they were carrying out human sacrifices to trees. I would not call Stannis a non-believer. He saw things which would make most men switch faith. Mellisandre was crafty and would have convinced most people. Daenerys believes in magic because she used her own powers to bring life to her dragons. She also saw things which proved the existence of the supernatural. Maybe she's supernatural herself. Bran believes in the OGs and uses magic. Arya is a real believer though she knows not who or what she prays to. The Faceless men belong to their own religion and she is a follower. Doubting Tyrion is cynical but no atheist.

I'll risk a guess and say the reason is omission. Martin didn't set the stage as carefully as it needed to be to pass our scrutiny. Everybody knew who will become the lord of SE from the day Robert was born. He became the lord when Steffon died but was still young enough to need fostering. The arrangement was made before Steffon lost his life.

For sure that was entertaining. You are onto something with Jon not being able to cross the wall to go south without first knocking it down. Which he just might do to cross and find Arya. Another decision he makes to sacrifice everything to find Arya.

IRL, Why are ancient gods depicted with the heads of birds, snakes, and other species.

Rhaegar was trying to duplicate Rhaenys, Aegon, and Visenya. Rhaegar was wrong about two major things. First, he thought he was the prince who was promised. He was biased towards his time and thought the big event would happen during his time. Wrong fair haired boy. But his biggest mistake was gender bias. He assumed Azor Ahai had to be a boy. How very wrong he was there. Boys do not hatch dragons. They have hatched naturally until they died out. The species needed a resurrection. Only a female can "give birth" and give life. Valyrians are already unique but they needed a gifted Targaryen to do what no other Targaryen has been able to do. Resurrect the dragons. That is where Dany comes in.

People bring up that subject.

Gregor is just a dumb brute with some head damage. Ramsay yeah he's a sociopath. But that has nothing to do with Arya. Arya is on her own and she is suffering from insanity.

Daenerys Targaryen fit all of the criteria. Including the most important one of waking the dragons from stone. The Red Comet showed up for her. She walked in and then out of a burning fire. Daenerys is Azor Ahai. There will be others who will try to fake it and claim the title but they will be exposed and I hope executed. A fitting execution method is death from an angry dragon. Stannis is pretending. I'm thinking Jon will try to fake it. Dany burning both men to ash dust is what I want to see.

Arya has been called a psycho.

Velaryon, Arryn, Rogare, Martell, Dayne, and Blackwood genetics passed to Rhaegar, Viserys, and Daenerys. My particular interests are the Rogare, Dayne, and Blackwood genes. There is a small amount of Lyseni in Dany from Lady Lara Rogare. She inherited the Targaryen and Rogare beauty. It is the Dayne and the Blackwood genes that could affect what magic she may have. The family tree looks very deliberately trimmed and guided as if it were a prized bonzai. Examine the Hightower Targaryens. They were pruned and bred out of the tree. The scandal of possible Strong illegitimate kids from Princess Rhaenyra are also removed. Rhaenyra’s children with Velaryon were also trimmed until only her children with Daemon lived to have their own. The hand guiding the tree selected the branches allowed to grow until it eventually led to Dany’s birth. House Targaryen has a secret guardian protecting the branch which led to the special baby they have waited for, Princess Daenerys.

Jon and Arya have already succumbed to their inhumanity. Winterfell is a place of evil. It would be fitting if the black rock, the one worshipped by the Bloodstone Emperor, is the foundation of the castle.

A Game of Thrones began with a Bran chapter and ended with Daenerys and the birth of her Dragons. I think it is also the way the story will end. The story began on a very, very dark note. Ned Stark, spouting silly nonsense like the man passing the sentence should do the actual killing, forces his children to watch him murder a sick man who has loyally protected the realm for forty years. Theon, the a$$, kicks the man's severed head around is our introduction to how the bodies of the dead are violated. It seems not even death earns dignity in the North. Arya would later apprentice to the Faceless Men and she also violates the bodies of the dead. The execution party happens upon a disturbing scene where a Stag and a Direwolf had killed each other. The Starks take the wolf cubs in and begins their mental and emotional descent into savages. Winter has begun. The rise of Bran Stark is the beginning of the Darkness and the harbinger of death in Westeros. Bran and the Starks will bring a world of hurt to the people of Westeros. Supernatural pestilence, unclean creatures like Direwolves, ice spiders, and such as what nightmares are made of. In the last chapter, we are given hope. The beautiful music of the dragons heard in the dark of night for the first time in a very long time. Daenerys, Azor Ahai, brought dragons back from a long extinction. She and her dragons will defeat Bran and end his cold grip on Westeros. The land should bloom again and the plans for reconstruction can begin.

Injuries are not healed when the dead are brought back. What killed them are serious injuries. They do not get repaired by the resurrection ritual. Arya will carry the physical damage but what is left of her mind will be tucked away in her wolf. Nym will be one crazy direwolf with part of Arya's mind in her. The dragons were not dead because of injury or the body giving out because of old age. The species just went extinct. The vitality of the dragons were connected to the vitality and strength of the Targaryen family. Daenerys is very strong mentally and she has a strong will. That means Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion are strong.

Bran is being exposed to horrors. Most of those horrific things were done by his own ancestors. It is Arya though who has already lost some of her sanity.

Trauma from repeated stress and this new revelation fully explains Arya's mental instability.

You @Terrorthatflapsinthenight9 are applying double-standards. The breaking of an oath is something taken very seriously in Westeros. Robb and Jon are known oathbreakers. Ned confessed to treason and the public was not happy about it. House Stark will have a difficult time earning trust again. This is the best hope for the Freys. Someone who was not involved in the wedding should do the judging and the sentencing.

Sweetrobin is slowly being poisoned. It is not yet a crime of murder because the child is still alive but Sansa is part of the insidious plot to murder the child and take all that is his. Will Sansa go through with the murder? The odds are close to even but does lean lightly to Sansa doing the crime. Look back on Sansa's past and tell me what you think. Tell me what you think will happen.