Canon Claude

It would be really cool to see that campaign. But something tells me that it was much less about combat and more about negotiations

I still don’t get why people refer to House Florent as this rival to House Tyrell on the level of House Reyne, House Bolton, House Frey, any of them. All those other houses had ambition, and a history of ill will, but they also had a genuine amount of strength. The Freys are the second strongest house in the Riverlands, the Boltons are probably the third strongest behind House Manderly and Stark, while the Reynes did become the second strongest for a time. House Florent, we are told, has 2000 swords. 2000. And I don’t care how rich they are, they live in the Reach. Two thousand is a pitiful amount for that region. Hell, they’ve got less than half the strength of House Frey. If anything, the true rivals of House Tyrell would be any of these houses: Peake: yes, they’ve been out of commission for a while, but they used to hold three castles and they used to be powerful enough to openly vie for the kingdom of the Reach. Tarly: They are the most militarily powerful house in the Reach. Maybe not the most numerous, but they maintain the martial tradition of the marcher lords. Plus Randyll is rightly feared as a dangerous man who might have some more ambitions than one would assume. House Hightower: the obvious one to me. They are as rich as House Lannister, and almost as powerful. They brought about one of the most devastating wars in Westerosi history and almost won it, all while House Tyrell just impotently sat it out. And they are still strong enough to be called a great house, not to mention they have the centre of the Andal faith in their city. What is House Florent compared to any of that? Why would Robert and Jon Arryn bother to elevate that house by wedding Selyse to Stannis? It didn’t matter at all, not to Stannis or to the Reach. Randyll is married to a Floret, he still massacres his wife’s family followers with impunity. Leyton Hightower is married to a Florent, but he’s not helping them when they lose their title and lands. It just seems so strange that anyone regards the Florents as having any influence whatever.

When has the Vale lost to another one of the kingdoms? And I don’t count Visenya’s dragon ride as a victory. Plus they did lose the Sisters to the North for a time, but they got them back eventually.

Naming Tywin as his hand was way smarter.

Yeah, no. The Stormlands have a terrible track record when it comes to their military. They’ve had their asses kicked by the Westerlands, the riverlords, the Dornish, even the Ironborn while on land! Plus they turn on each other at the drop of a hat. Some of the most unreliable people ever, far as I’m concerned. The real answer is the Vale. The men of the Vale are highly skilled knights who have almost never lost a war, and it isn’t just because of the quality of troops. They are very smart about picking sides. The best troops in the world will always lose they join the wrong side.

It would have been amazing if they’d put that exchange in the abomination. No matter how well they acted it out, it would be so melodramatic that everyone wouldn’t help but laugh.

I heard a theory that Varys is either a surviving Reyne, or he’s descended from a survivor of House Reyne.

I hope Aegon himself swings the axe when Unwin is executed.

Well, we know that the Peakes became a thorn in the Targaryens’ side for a few generations, so whatever enmity was created between Unwin and Aegon III is sure to blight thousands of lives.

Fire and Blood

Bowen will likely die a gruesome death at the hands of the wildlings once they find out about Jon. I give him three chapters at the most.

Marston Waters switching sides during the Secret Siege.

Ironic that the last of Aegon II’s kids is murdered on a former Green’s orders. Also, it was Mervyn Flowers, not Amaury Peake.

Honestly, my choice for the funniest lines is this: I know it wasn’t meant to be funny, and it isn’t a funny moment, but that just makes the accidental humour even funnier to me.

How was Renly planning to get Cersei out of the way again? He didn’t know her children were bastards, so did he just think Robert could cast her aside willy nilly?

Viserys shouldn’t have married again, and he should have dragged Westeros kicking and screaming into a more feminist age.

The night is darkest before the dawn

Plus she resented the fact that Alyssa supported Jaehaerys’s claim to the throne over hers and her children.

I mean, isn’t it obvious? Barristan Selmy’s a mighty warrior, but all the younger guys aren’t up to par. Bryce Caron was killed by a random one-eyed knight with zero rep. Beric Dondarrion got killed six times. The marchers haven’t been held back. House Caron’s forces were spent at Blackwater and up north, same with House Selmy. The Dondarrions are apparently leaderless and the Swanns reserved themselves, but they’ve also been fully involved in the wars going on through the individual members of their houses.

But that doesn’t work. For one thing, the Reach and the Stormlands only ever became allies after they’d been conquered by the Targaryens. And for that matter, the Dornish Marches are populated by rock Dornishmen, who are the most alike to the rest of Westeros. There’s no racial difference to be pointed out.

Just to recap, the Dornish Marches are a highly contested area where three different regions meet. The Reach, Stormlands, and Dorne all claim territory, and we’re told that the marcher lords spent centuries battling the Dornish raiders coming up from the south. Most of the marcher lords (Caron, Dondarrion, Selmy, and Swann) are in the Stormlands, but it seems like House Peake and House Tarly are also marcher lords in their own right. But as much as we hear of the marcher lords fighting the Dornish, I’m kind of surprised that there’s no mention at all of the marcher lords fighting each other. The Reach and the Stormlands have definitely fought each other many times over the centuries. Given the proximity of such powerful and warlike houses in two different regions, you’d think they’d have been at each other’s throats just as often as they were fighting the Dornish.

I’m sorry, but it doesn’t.

Then why not leave Benjen at home? It’s not like anyone actually thinks he could be the Knight of the Laughing Tree anyway

huh… I never thought of that. Rickard Stark sends all four of his kids in place of himself? Assuming that the tourney was a cover for Rhaegar to hold some kind of council, why would Rickard stay home??

Since when do people dictate whether or not they will be captured? It wouldn’t have been up to Stannis if Renly’s men forcibly captured him alive. The option was always there. Renly specifically didn’t take it.