Aebram

"... in that vein," indeed ... :^)

I don't know anything about Zoroastrianism, but this quote reminds me very much of Taoism: Yin and Yang, the eternal opposites, of which the whole universe is made.

Planetos is hollow! :^)

Well, yes, we've seen a number of discussions here about what the Others really are, how they were created, and whether they are truly evil or just misunderstood characters with shades of gray like everyone else. I'm somewhat skeptical, mainly because I don't think there's been any foreshadowing for that; and that would be one heck of a surprise to spring on the readers at the 11th hour. But it's possible.

That's an intriguing idea, that the confusion over dates might be due to differena cultures using different number systems. It's entirely possible ... but I don't think there's any evidence for it in the books. We know that a lot of elements of the story are taken from real life, but amplified or exaggerated. Westeros is basically England, but enlarged to the size of a continent. The Wall is Hadrian's Wall, but four times as long, and 5 to 10 times as high, with monsters living on the far side. Similarly, the history was stretched from centuries to millennia, to make it more fantastical. I will guess that the importance of the numbers 3 and 7 was driven by the story line. Once you've created a religion with seven gods, it's just human nature that the people will think that seven is a lucky number. I think the George has acknowledged that he's not real good with numbers; and in this low-tech society, the characters don't deal with them very often. So it seems unlikely that there's any complex "numberplay" in the story. But now that you've mentioned it, I'll keep an eye out for it during my next reread. :^)

Yes, I think he has said this in interviews. And indeed, he has created many characters with both vices and virtues; and he has killed off some of the Good Guys. But how far will he go in breaking stereotypes? Will the Others win the Battle for the Dawn, and destroy all life on Planetos? Will the prophecies of the Last Hero turn out to be empty superstition, leaving the characters to fight the battle without the aid of magical destiny? ... Hmmm, that second one actually seems possible; but not the first one. After 5,000 pages, the readers have a sense of where the story is going. If it deviates too far from that path, it will leave many of us disappointed. So I think the story will have an essentially "happy" ending. The Others will be defeated, the Dawn will return, and at least a few of the major characters will survive. But this will not be a fairy-tale, "happily ever after" ending. It wouldn't surprise me to find much of Westeros in ruins, its population decimated, and many of the most heroic characters brought down by their enemies, or fled, or caught up in internal squabbles with people who should have been their allies.

This question has come up before. It always gets a number of different answers. There's a lot of food for thought in a story of this size and complexity. I think that each reader's opinion of "what it's really about," its main theme or message, is a reflection of their own personality and opinions. Whatever is most important to you in your own life, that's the thing that will seem most prominent to you in the story. The basic story line is a classic epic fantasy: ultimate battle of good and evil, fate of the world hanging in the balance, ancient prophecies being fulfilled. But in a story this long, with a dozen different POV characters, there's room for a lot of subplots, Eeach of which can be as long and richly detailed as a standard novel. So the story explores a number of different themes or messages. One of the most prominent is the conflict between love and duty, between one's personal desires and the promises they have made. The theme that is most prominent to me is the way that the lords of Westeros are caught up in their political squabbles, regional conflicts, and personal dramas, while completely ignoring the much larger threats presented by coming of Winter, the Others and possibly another Long Night. It reminds me of some things that are happening here in the U.S., and to some extent in the rest of the world as well. But that's just me; other readers have different ideas. Other than the fantasy storyline, I don't think there is any one answer to the question of what the story is "really" about.

How do you figure half a pound? I don't recall seeing the actual weights or sizes of the coins mentioned in the story.

The wiki tells us that Egg was crowned in 233 AC, and: I'm sure Egg named Dunk to the KG at the first opportunity, because of his long friendship and loyalty, similarly to how Young Griff named Rolly Duckfield. (Dunk / Duck, similar nicknames) But of course, the KG is limited to seven men, and they served for life (until Joffrey fired Ser Barristan). So Egg would have had to wait until someone died -- unless there were already less than seven at the time of his coronation. Sorry, I'm not sure if we know the complete history of the KG at that time.

I was wondering about this myself. It occurs to me that, because this discussion is specifically for comparing the show to the books, it's not completely off-topic. Also, the show has been over for, what, 3 years now? It's not as popular a subject for conversation as it was when it was running. Maybe there isn't so much need to have a hard prohibition on mentioning the show here.

I agree with this. I found the first two seasons to be pretty faithful to the books. In seasons 3 and 4, things started to get different; but they mostly seem like reasonable changes, to simplify the story and reduce the number of characters. But in season 5, when they killed Ser Barristan, that was the last straw for me. I did watch the rest of the series, but I did what I call "putting my brain in 3-year-old mode." I enjoyed the acting, scenery, special effects, etc.; but I really don't remember anything about the plot. The show did have a few clever lines, such as in season 1 when Ned Stark says, "War is easier than daughters." Also, I loved that moment in season 4 when Jaime uses his golden hand to block an attacker's sword. I hope he does that in one of the books.

I suppose option C is possible, but I think it goes in the "bizarrely complex" category. If Aegon is alive, and he's not YG, where is he? Does he know about this other boy who is pretending to be him? When will he become part of the story, and how? Etc., etc.

Option D is impossible, because Young Griff is alive ... unless you think he's the most energetic wight we've ever seen, able to walk, talk, eat, and otherwise behave exactly like a living person. My vote is for B. I wrote a post about this some months ago, where I discussed the implications of "fAegon" in some detail. Basically, if YG is not really Aegon, the secret has been kept from Varys and Connington, two of the most important people in the scheme; and the whole thing gets bizarrely complex, a conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy.

Well, Tyrion was still quite young at that time. Tywin may have thought that the way he punished Tyrion was severe enough to make him change his behavior. And I agree with Castellan's comparison to Randyll Tarly. It seems that, among the nobility, everyone wants a son who can be a great warrior; other talents such as intelligence are not held in such high esteem. Similarly, Lord Blackwood described his son Hoster as "a bookish boy, I fear." (Dance 48)

I had an "aha!" moment some months ago, when I realized (not that it wasn't clear already to Careful Readers) that by the time we met Daenerys and her brother in Game, illyrio had already been involved for many years in the Young Griff conspiracy. I don't think he ever expected the Dothraki to invade Westeros. That was just a story he told Viserys. His real purpose in marrying Daenerys to Drogo was simply to get her and Viserys out of the way of his original plot. He was hoping that they would die on the Dothraki sea, or at least be kept away from the lands where his own scheme was unfolding. The Dothraki could never put Viserys on the iron Throne, for reasons of military power as well as logistics. Illyrio figured that neither Drogo nor Viserys would realize that; and he was right.

Interesting question! Tywin only had two sons; and when Jaime was tapped for the Kingsguard, he was out of the line of succession. Tywin may have been hanging on to the hope that his other son would mature into someone that he considered worthy of being the next Lord of Casterly Rock.

Who are you referring to? I thought that the details of the murder conspiracy are still something of a mystery.

Those might be good ideas in principle. But how long would it take to negotiate all that, when the fastest form of transportation is a horse, and the fastest form of communication is a raven? Robb and his army were on their way to a war. Ned was still alive, but wounded and imprisoned. Robb and Cat needed to reach an agreement quickly, and Walder knew it.

The Blackfish seems to be a confirmed bachelor. He's never married; and as a young man, he refused an arranged marriage to a daughter of House Redwyne. More generally, I think that betrothals and marriages are not things that one agrees to on the spur of the moment, as a toll for crossing a bridge. Lord Frey only asked for one wedding. Given the reputation of House Frey, neither Robb nor Catelyn would have been eager to offer more, nor would any of their friends or relatives be likely to volunteer.

The words of House Frey should probably be, "What's in it for me?" Lord Walder's highest priority seems to be greed, a desire for power for himself and his House. He complains that other Houses don't respect his, but he doesn't seem willing to earn respect by honorable behavior. When Robb arrived at his gates, the whole "King in the North" endeavor looked like a long shot. Frey had plenty of daughters; he would probably marry one off to any high lord that he could persuade to take one, in hopes of improving his status. Regardless of who Robb married, I think Walder would happily turn his coat to align himself with whoever offered him the biggest reward.

That was my first thought. We know that, in the past, the Dothraki destroyed entire civilizations. At some point, they may have realized that in the long run, it's better to let people live, so that they can keep coming back to "harvest" more slaves or treasure.

Hmmm, good point ... but when was he there? The Citadel has been around for a very long time. Maybe Hardhome was originally a village of the free folk, and Maester Wyllis lived there before the Valyrians arrived.

My own theory about this is that Hardhome was a Valyrian mining colony. That explains all the caves. I think that it ended in a "mini-Doom:" a volcanic / seismic event triggered by misuse or abuse of magic. The "screams" could be an acoustic phenomenon similar to what Brienne found at The Whispers: wind moving through natural passages in the earth. The wind at Hardhome probably blows pretty strongly sometimes. A cave or tunnel of the right size and shape could act like a giant flute.

If the George wants to accelerate the passage of time, there are subtle ways to do it. For instance, in Dance 34, we see passages such as, "the moon was a crescent" ... "the moon was fat and full" ... "the moon was a black hole in the sky" ... which tell us that at least 2 months elapsed during that one chapter. And there are chapters that show the POV character in a location quite distant from where we left them in the previous chapter; so some significant amount of time must have passed. We may see quite a lot of this in the next book, if the storyline requires some of the child characters to grow up.

I've wondered about that myself. The text mentions repeatedly that he is surprisingly light on his feet for someone so grossly fat. So I can't help wondering if he's actually a thinner man using some type of glamor.