Groo

Interesting, I didn't think that was a problem. His baby was being held by the Watch; He was under the ruby's power; He easily could have been killed for not complying; Going to Winterfell would let him test how far the ruby's power reached; He might gain some leverage back on Jon. Of course, you're right that nothing I've listed addresses the emotional truth of the situation or the fact that we know Mance feels things deeply.

I had a similar reaction to Mance's attack on the Wall. The brothers 700 feet up are freaking out about the wildings charging the Wall with their chariots and horses. What were they going to do? Run the chariots vertically up the Wall? When you're manning a high wall, the last thing you're worried about are idiots on horseback charging you.

I remember one extended discussion not too long ago about gender roles and gender relations in the books. One poster actually said we can't say Ned and Cat have a good marriage because of the inherent power imbalance between them. I can only assume the person who wrote that has never been married and doesn't know what it looks like when two people actually love and respect each other. That post also ignored the actual story. With one important exception, the story gives us every indication that Cat was happy with her marriage and her family. That exception had nothing to do with Ned being a powerful lord and everything to do with Ned having brought a bastard baby back to Winterfell.

Your first post said there were 3 riddles. Your second post now says there are 4 riddles. Is the new riddle: "How did I decide Benjen Stark is not a Stark?"

I have the same reaction to Harys Swift in yellow breeches and a yellow cloak with a chicken sigil on his breast. It's hard to take that seriously.

When I first read the books, there were a few times when I was pulled out of the story. The biggest, by far, was early in ASOS. I was reading along in Sansa’s first chapter and I got to this line. “He kissed me and threatened to kill me, and made me sing him a song.” What?! That’s not what happened. I was sure there was no kiss but I needed to check to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. I put down the book, went back to ACOK, and read that scene again. No kiss. How could the editors have missed this? This was before I started looking at forums or knew anything about the “unkiss”. I was reading the paperback version of a best seller so it seemed unlikely that this was an editing error. Was this just bad writing? Did Martin just change his mind about how he wanted the story to go, like some bad TV show? I was done reading for the day. The next day I decided to just keep on reading. Six hundred pages and a few days later, I started to get an idea what Martin was up to. This whole unkiss business was one of the reasons I eventually started visiting forums. What moments pulled you out of the story the first time you read it?

A riddle is a question. Is the question "what is hidden in the crypt of Winterfell"? I assume you meant Bael's song is a key to the riddle and not the riddle itself. The song itself is a story and doesn't ask any questions. So, the riddle isn't about what is hidden in the crypt of Winterfell? It's about Jon?

So many questions and possibilities here. Are all the kids in one spot or are they spread out? If they're in one spot who controls them? What if brothers loyal to Jon have them? What if in the chaos the wildings seize Selyse and want to start trading hostages? What if they don't seize Selyse but tell her they want to march on Winterfell to help Stannis? Would she let Bowen stop them from helping Stannis?

I was producing a general garment only, not one custom cut for you.

In the beginning I'm sure Ned didn't tell Cat because he hardly knew her. I always assumed he never told her later because he eventually realized that her clear ongoing anger at Jon was the best cover possible for making Jon really look like his bastard.

Yes, and at some point A Song of Ice and Fire becomes A Song of Tin and Foil.

Notice the emphasis here. “Do they keep a bear down here?” Brienne was moving, slow and wary, sword to hand; step, turn, and listen. Each step made a little splash. “A cave lion? Direwolves? Some bear? Tell me, Jaime. What lives here? What lives in the darkness?” Brienne starts with asking about a bear and only a bear. In fact, it's the first question she asks in the dream. The first verb isn't even lives. It's keep. A bear pit: "Do they keep a bear down here?" A little further on it becomes a list of animals but it ends with bear again, repeating the emphasis. After the dream, Jaime returns to Harrnehal to find they've thrown Brienne into the bear pit.

You mean like Minions stacked on top of each other?

Magic? Maybe Howland Reed whipped up some deep in the Neck kind of magic for making your voice sound deep in the neck.

That would be some amazing irony. Joffrey sounded exactly like an immature adolescent trying to have a macho sounding sword when he chose Widow's Wail. I'm now imagining Widow's Wail as the instrument of Lady Stoneheart's grief and vengeance, a terrifying wail.