Lady_Qohor

Random musing - I wish we had heard more from Gyles Rosby and Tanda Stokeworth in the story before they died. These guys seem to have lived in the Crownlands for 70+ years, they would have had first hand tales of Aegon V, Jaeherys II etc. Unlike Aemon and Barristan Selmy, they wouldn't necessarily have felt an obligation to the Targaryens of old and could have been a source of good gossip.

Lord Quenton Hightower - carried out a harsh but effective lock down of Oldtown when the grey plague hit, thereby saving millions across Westeros and potentially even Essos. Then got his throat slit. Torrhen Stark - bent the knee and saved thousands of his own men. (Possibly) Daenerys - Sure she's killed some people and caused some deaths but she definitely saved some lives by ending slavery and by buying the Unsullied trainees, she's saved the lives of hundred if not thousands of new born babies.

Oh I agree that the UK populist right can't use religion to bolster their arguments in the same way that those in the US can. My point was that in the UK we tend to assume and talk about those on the populist right being principally influenced by things like greed, racism and classism - they are influenced by all those things, but I feel some may be also underestimating the extent to which they are influenced by religious beliefs.

I agree that we're less religious than the USA (thank goodness) but I wonder if religion is influencing the UK populist right more than people think it is. While the populist right isn't that verbally Christian and includes a few prominent non-Christians, it is noticeably anti-Muslim. It is also noticeable how right wing press talks about Muslim refugees vs refugees belonging to other religions.

I was thinking about the S7 and S8 and realised that despite often being the most experienced battle commanders in the room, Greyworm and Tormund hardly ever get to input into battle strategy. I can't decide if this is just bad writing or bad writing + reflection of the hubris of medieval nobles who assume they are naturally better than the lower borns at everything.

Interesting, what makes you think they aren't just alligators or caimans. We're just told that they look like logs when submerged, there's no mention of them being spotty like a leopard.

Looks great. That area of Essos is so facisnating, I wish we knew more about it.

Like this theory/ I know its been said before but the fact that the Others are called 'The Others' (synonymous with othering and general bigotry) makes me think they are actually not the evil villains of the story.

The irony is that Theon, unlike most Ironborn his age, has actually been in real battles fighting real knights, not just bullying unarmed peasants and fishermen. He just needs to steal some stuff from knights killed in Robb's battles. Hell, why not show up wearing Jaime Lannister's armour and claiming that he was the one who captured Kingslayer - something not even his father can boast to. Don't tell me that Theon is above lying.

My guess is that we're going to see some kind of Stark civil war between Sansa and Rickon (with both being used as pawns by Littlefinger and Manderly respectively). My hope is a resurrected evil Jon Snow

Absolutely, for nobles who aren't really allowed to work, war is basically one of the only ways (other than marriage) that they can increase their wealth or gain prestige

If Tywin did truely love Joanna, as is mentioned in the book then he probably wasn't rational when she died. Grief and ableist prejudices typical in the medieval era aren't exactly synonymous with rationality.

To be fair, we only have hard gossip in story of him sleeping with Barbery. He may have slept with others but it doesn't sound like he was a massive man whore. If he was I would have thought Cat or Ned would have thought about it or that Lysa or Littlefinger would have mentioned it as a way to insult Brandon.

I mean...just because something happens all the time, does not mean its not icky.

I don't know if dreading is the right word for me. I kind of see it as a weird well-funded fanfic project (rather than part of the ASOIAF canon) and fanfic can range from great to mediocre to truly dire.

I don't see how they can and for it to fit into the rest of the story, but I can't think of a reason why they would bring up this prophecy if it wasn't going to play a bigger part later on. One thought I did have, that I hope doesn't come true is that Rhaenrya spends the start of the war, stuck on Dragonstone, recovering from childbirth. That may not make for great TV, so the writers might decide to send her North to tackle a new Wight walker threat. The implication being that Rhaenrya damages her chances of getting the Throne (and maybe her sanity) in order to save the realm, drawing a parralell with Daenerys. I hope that's not what happens, its lazy writing and I prefer my targaryens (and other fictional Lords) to be selfish rather than noble

For those in the UK who want to see Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy) act properly in an great political drama, Borgen is now available on BBC Iplayer. Starring alongside him is Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (Karsi - the spearwife at Hardhome), who also delivers a great performance. Just a brilliant show that I'd really recommend.

That is weird. Maybe Ned's disapproval of the tournament or maybe she just didn't want to be forced to sit next to Sansa for hours on end? However, I would have thought that Arya would be independent minded enough to get round those barriers if it meant watching the best knights in the land hit each other with really big sticks.

Krysten Coombs (one of the dwarf entertainers at the Purple Wedding) is currently competing for Britain in badminton at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. He's lost out on a chance for gold or silver after he was defeated by India's Krishna Nagar, but there's still a chance he could get a bronze medal (match takes place early tomorrow morning). At the very least, he's going to come in fourth place He's previously won silver at the 2017 World Championships.

I'm currently reading 'A Fistfull of Shells' which is on West African history (would really recommend) and came across the name Heinrich Barth. Barth was a 19th century German traveller and scholar. Immediately I thought this is where Septon Barth comes from but a quick Wikipedia search shows that there are multiple historical Central European intellectuals named Barth. Does anyone know if Septon Barth is named after anyone in particular or do you think GRRM just thought it was a good name for a Westerosi scholar?

Really??????????? You think Larra came back to Westeros decades later, in disguise, and became her own son's mistress, even going so far as to have his child. And all this based on no evidence. I know this is ASOIAF but really??????????

...who is Arthur Dayne

I can understand why the Stokeworths want to live at court but why do Robert (and then the Lannisters) let them. What does the Royal Family get out of housing and feeding a minor noble family of the Crownlands? They're can't just be an open invitation to all lords (or even all Crownland lords) to come and stay in the Red Keep for as long as they want - if there was the palace would be swamped with nobles jockeying for favours and influence.

I could see a young Jon Connington returning the bodies as it was the honourable thing to do. I could also see Owen Merryweather (described as aimiable) returning the bodies. Merryweather was Hand when the Starks were murdered and returning the bodies may have been a desperate attempt to prevent war. If he did, that might have contributed to Aerys believing Merryweather was conspiring with the rebels and getting rid of him.

Why are the Stokeworths living in the Red Keep? They don't appear to be friends or family of the Royal Family, they don't have any official court positions and are not hostages or exiles. Lady Stokeworth has a perfectly nice castle down the road so why do Robert and the Lannisters house them for free?