The Bard of Banefort

Well, to be fair, the fact that Daena just had a bastard didn’t help. I’m not sure why she didn’t name the father, but I’m wondering if was to spare Naerys the embarrassment.

Yeah, it sucks for Daena, although we are told he tried to have her and her sisters freed from the Maidenvault. (It shows how there was something deeply wrong with Baelor when you consider that he could have just arranged marriages for his sisters. Instead he locked them in a tower for ten years. I doubt he planned on ever letting them out).

That’s a great catch! There was a Cregard, so maybe that should count. I always found it weird that there were never any other Visenyas, but I think FnB cleared that up pretty well.

Silly EggBlue, Whoresbane’s first name is Hother, not Edric! I forgot Daemon had a son named after him. In my defense, he wasn’t on the family tree. He probably did like and respect the Dragonknight though. Even Daeron II seemed to have liked Daemon when he was younger. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aegon let Daenaera name all of the kids herself. Good catch with Baela and Rhaena. George may have only had one Cregan for the same reason he only had one Rhaegar and Rhaenyra, to make them unique. (Multiple Daeneryses though, curiously). The tinfoil is strong in this one. Don’t come for my guy Viserys. He spent his entire life cleaning up his idiot relatives’ messes, from the time he was as a teenager. He was more fit to rule than all of them.

I’m talking about the family trees in TWOIAF. But I think that just reinforces how the Freys are all desperately trying to kiss up to Walder by naming their kids after him lol.

I was looking at the family trees in TWOIAF and noticed a few things: A number of Starks were named after their grandfathers (probably setting up for one of the current Stark kids to name their son Eddard). Brothers Artos and Willam Stark both had sons named Brandon, so that might have been a Big Walder/Little Walder situation there. There was only one Cregan Stark. Twins run in all three families (Stark, Lannister, Targaryen). Almost no Targaryens were named after their grandparents or close relatives. Exceptions include Aenys’ son, Aegon, Aegons II and III (though we know there’s a story behind that), and Viserys II, who was named after his grandfather. Interestingly, Visery II’s niece, Eleana, named her son Viserys. I hope this means that the two were close, especially since Eleana would have been very young when her father Aegon died. No one is named after their father. By the looks of it, the women were never named after any close relatives in any of the families.

Maybe. Assuming they need magic to defeat the Others, that could still happen at Winterfell.

This is one of the reasons why I disagree with the people who say ASOIAF has a cynical approach towards love. Most of the characters in this story are deeply in love with someone else. I also get the impression that George enjoys talking to shippers. Part of that is probably because of how passionate they are about his work, but I think he also just likes writing romances.

My favorite thing in the world is when Amazon has their buy 2 get 1 free book sales. I hope another one comes up soon.

Well, not all of these men stayed single after their wives died, just a few. As for whether Jon breaks his vows again, we shall see.

I don’t think this falls into the monogamy pattern that I was talking about. Ygritte is dead.

Jon broke his NW vows, but he’s only been with Ygritte. Granted, I wouldn’t say he was a great LC. He only lasted like six months before completely betraying his post and getting mutinied.

This isn’t so much something I just noticed as it is something that I never see brought up. For all the bastards mentioned in this story, all the good kings and leaders are almost always portrayed as faithful and monogamous (or polygamous in Aegon I’s case) husbands, oftentimes swearing off other women even after their wife’s death. Aegon, Jaehaerys, Aemon and Baelon, Viserys II, Daeron II, Baelor and Maekar, Jon Arryn, Hoster Tully, Doran, Stannis (edit: scratch that, forgot about Melisandre), Robb, Tyrion, even Daemon Blackfyre and Quellon Greyjoy (no mentions of salt wives). He’ll, even Drogo isn’t mentioned having any lovers during his marriage to Daenerys. Maybe it’s just because George is a romantic, but he seems to use adultery as a signal that someone is not fit to rule. The only exceptions I can think of are Corlys and Davos (I’m leaving Ned out altogether). When you think about it this way, the fact that Jaime has been faithful to Cersei for thirty years may have been the first thematic sign that he wasn’t intended to be a true villain. (You could, of course, make the argument that some of these men had mistresses we didn’t know about, but usually there’s some kind of passing mention about whether a character gets around or not. We don’t know who any of Aegon II’s lovers were, for example, but we were told that he had them).

Has Cersei’s Walk of Shame happened yet at the time of this tourney?

Since they omitted the valonqar from the show, I’m thinking whoever it is probably relates to one of the many cut characters/plots. Aegon is technically a younger brother, but I have a hard time seeing him murder Cersei by such personal means as strangulation. Euron and Victarion are both younger brothers, and they’ve both killed a wife or lover. Then again, maybe Arya’s the valonqar but they thought having her kill both Cersei and the Night King was too much. She is referred to as “the little sister” a few times in the books. Speaking of the Night King, does anyone have any idea how the Others will be defeated in the books? I’m guessing it will be at WF, but I don’t think the show shed any light on how.

While I'm open to the idea that LF encouraged Joffrey to execute Ned, I took this scene to mean that Cersei is the one who told Joffrey that a strong king acts boldly, and now she's trying to pin it on Robert. Tyrion only backed her up to needle his father and get in another dig about Joffrey's (and therefore Cersei's) stupidity:

Someone pointed out that the only two characters known as “young” something, the Young Dragon and the Young Wolf, both died young as well (even Young Henly, while technically not young, died in the only chapter he was mentioned in). Further proof that both Young Griff and the Young Falcon are probably both in for a nasty surprise.

It’s just funny because Cat is described as quite attractive (and you can still tell if someone is comely even if you’re not attracted to their sex) so it makes him calling her an old lady extra funny.

I really hope we start to see LF’s luck run out in TWOW. He has so much plot armor that it’s ridiculous he’s even made it this far.

I haven't read through this thread, so apologies if this came up already, but I'm leaning towards Daemon Sand being the one who revealed Arianne's Queenmaker plot to Doran. Daemon seems fairly level-headed and he could probably see just how disastrous of a plot trying to crown Myrcella was. Plus he was imprisoned for demanding the Sand Snakes be freed in AFFC, so he probably had some contact with Doran in the weeks leading up to it.

Old thread, but I was reading through the comments here and had some thoughts. For one, it's crazy that this sample chapter came out nearly seven years ago (that's longer than the gap between AFFC and ADWD). Secondly, I think most of our predictions have changed somewhat since the show ended, even if we know book-Sansa isn't going North to marry Ramsay. My read on Sansa's relationship with Sweetrobin is that she's deeply in denial about what Littlefinger is doing to him with the sweetsleep. Something Sansa shares with Ned is her ability to compartmentalize, and we've seen that quite a bit since she became Alayne. Sansa knows deep down that Littlefinger is a predator and a monster, but she doesn't believe she has any other options, so she has willfully pushed aside all memory of Lysa's confession at the end of ASOS. (Consider the fact that, in AGOT, Ned realizes that he hasn't thought of Rhaegar in years, despite him raising Rhaegar's secret son as his own. His family's survival rested on completely adopting the role of Jon's father, so that's what he did). As for Harry, I've seen people suggest--not so much here, but on other websites--that Sansa still hasn't learned her lesson and is falling for Harry the Arse. Remember, Sansa thinks she's going to be spending the rest of her life with this guy. She's looking for things to like about him and trying to charm him so that they have some semblance of a good relationship in the decades ahead. Sansa dancing with every notable man at the feast, and many of them trying to hit on her beforehand, reminds me a bit of Ashara at Harrenhal. I doubt this tourney will end the same for Sansa as it did Ashara, but George does seem to be setting her up as this bewitching young woman who catches the eye of every man she meets.

Here’s something funny that I just noticed: in ASOS, Loras refers to Catelyn as an “old lady.” Cat is like 35

Who is House Velaryon sworn to now? Is little Monterys the Lord of Driftmark, or was he disinherited by the Lannisters?

There’s another queen who never was aside from Rhaenys and Daena: Daenora, Rhaegal’s daughter and Maekar’s niece. She gave birth to Aerion’s son, Maegor, during Maekar’s reign, so she would have still been alive when Aerys I died. But she was passed over, and the crown went to her father’s younger brother instead.

ASOS: AFFC: Paxter Redwyne was in favor of the Greyjoy alliance, but the Lannisters refused. Now the Ironborn are raiding his land and sinking his ships instead. Methinks Lord Redwyne is going to be looking for some payback once a certain Aegon reaches King's Landing.