James Fenimore Cooper XXII

I don't know if this can be called a mistake but she was not devious enough. Skahaz mo Kandaq knows his people and he has completely thrown in with her cause. It is hard to swallow, the idea of killing children, but that could have worked. Though not the strategy which I would have advised her to take but at least do something similar. Imagine Skahaz and Daario on one shoulder. They whisper more violence as if the end justified the means. Barristan and Jorah on one side whispering, "lets leave." Because it is Westeros they care about. Her small council is not complete because they do not have the set of skills, skill set, required to root out the guerillas and the underground terrorists which are causing trouble. They need somebody like Varys. If not, then the poor man's Varys, Arya Stark. A spy who can gather the needed intelligence to find the troublesome operatives of the harpy. I think Ser Barristan will be taken by surprise. The harpy will attack them from behind. I hope he survives and lives long enough to lead the return to Westeros.

I will say no to triplets. There is that theory that's been going around of a twin/ brother to balance out the prophecies. Symmetry, to follow the chain of sister-brother marriages. King Aerys must have fathered a lot of bastards. Gerold Dayne is my suspect.

She does. Visenya, Aegon, and Rhaenys. The founding members of the Targaryen Dynasty.

Agreed

There was no need to remodel. They took up the space they needed and left the rest to the rats. Laziness and the expense may be partly to blame as well. But there was no need to tear down and rebuild. All they need do and did was to use the space they needed and let the rest go unmaintained. Vanity and house pride in having a large castle which they cannot afford to fully maintain were in effect too. It is like that family who wants to show the world the appearance of wealth. Big houses, fine clothes, and expensive automobiles which are not receiving the proper care and maintenance because the family can barely afford them.

Lord Samwell with an enforcer like Sandor Clegane to back him up.

In typical George fashion, the characters of Lady Stoneheart is not set up to be totally wrong nor totally right. Justice is important. If we are to assume that there are no gods who dictate what is right or wrong, then it is up to us, a species who can think and reason, to come up with a system to guarantee justice and discourage destructive behavior. The system of justice should probably be guided by principles of compassion, fairness, and the need for social order. While there is no doubt that some of the people she targets are guilty of doing bad things, it is correct for me to say that her system does not have much in the way of compassion and fairness. I am not even sure she is interested much in social order. Did she bother to consider whether many of the Stark's own soldiers committed crimes and atrocities during their war campaign? Is she even interested in punishing them or is her interest only in punishing those on the other side who harmed the Starks? I think it is more the latter. I do not think Stoneheart's campaign is ethical. On that note, I also do not think Jon's execution of Janos Slynt is in any way within a thousand kilometers of just and ethical. Both were spurred on by the desire for revenge. Slynt was not even the one who killed Ned. The man begged for mercy. I never cheered for Jon Snow. The boy was bad news from the start of the story. Arya wants justice for her family and friends. But I disagree with the murders of the insurance vendor and the black brother that were committed by Arya. Daenerys wants to bring freedom to the hell that is known as Slaver's Bay. The masters who were crucified were selected by a jury of their peers. The punishment perfectly fit the crime. That is as modern a decision as you can get. Daenerys picked the sentence but the guilty were chosen by their peers. It is not a perfect system but it is as close as it comes to the modern trial system where jurors are selected and are tasked with deciding who is guilty or not. That is as close to modern justice as anybody can get. Contrast that with the crap called "trial by combat" used in the west. Trial by combat proves nothing. If I were to rank these actions based on ethics, with #1 being the most ethical, it would be like this: Daenerys Arya Jon Catelyn Lady Stoneheart

Here are my thoughts on this matter. Sansa is not more beautiful than a younger Cersei. Of course looks may have some subjectivity to it but my reading of the material leads me to believe it is the younger Cersei who is the more beautiful of the two. And it is not close. The younger more beautiful girl is a queen. Sansa is not a queen. I do not think the girl who will take everything away from Cersei is Sansa. I agree on the gender neutral term, valongqar. But I also believe this person will be one of these two: Tyrion or Aegon (but only if he is the real deal).

On the other hand a wild boar unzipped him rather nicely. Spilling his entrails for all the world to see. Comeuppance.

Petyr Baelish and Tyrion Lannister will become adversaries in the future. Tyrion is to Petyr as Quasimodo is to Frollo. Sansa will be their connection. She is what will lure Tyrion to the Vale. Tyrion will attempt to rescue her. The people of the Vale will march to the gates to bring Sansa to justice for her part in the death of Lysa. We know why Lysa was killed but it looks bad for Sansa. The Vale is the cathedral and will be where Sansa dies. She will be thrown from the Moon door.

It would not have been so bad if they only destroyed the Baratheon family. They messed up Westeros. Robert took over a prospering kingdom and it's drowning in debt within a few years.

Broad strokes, the battle between fire and ice will happen. As it has since the beginning of time. Light versus dark is the same battle. The fight for freedom is universal. The haves and the have nots. Powerful people enslaving and exploiting the weak for their own gain and comfort. While the slaves want to break free. The leading characters all are part of this play and nature is the master. I believe the Starks will be the Ice faction in this fight. Daenerys and her allies will be Fire. The Starks will have temporary control of Westeros during the duration of the long winter and the darkness. Daenerys will arrive just in time to herald the coming of spring and sunshine. Something will cause the Starks to resent humanity. Jon is already bitter from getting stabbed. Arya will go off her rails when she learns what happened to Jon. I think this is how Jon becomes the new King of Winter, the Night's King. Arya, who is death, will be the new corpse queen. Daenerys is the female Azor Ahai. I wrote a long theory post about this already. I do not think she can force the sun to come out. None of the previous Azor Ahai were able to do that. Nature is too powerful. But she can let in the light and save a few people by cleaning up the walking dead and putting them to rest. Dragons will be perfect for this clean up job.

Shiera is actually a very interesting character because of those "gifts." Let's take a look at the social system of the time. The ruling class have created a social system in which they govern by virtue of having special blood. This privileged status does not have to be earned, nor does it have to be deserved by virtue of merit. They simply have it because they are legally special and born superior by law. It's an artificial superiority that they created. Shiera and the Targaryens at least have something actual from which to build their superiority. They are different and some of that family have abilities which are not found in most people.

As violent as his world, ours is arguably more destructive to the planet and other forms of life. Perhaps that should be his message, human population gone too large is the bigger sin. But maybe the story is not that deep.