Aejohn the Conqueroo

I don't know about that. Varys was a fan of Ned Stark's, but that didn't sway him when he had the opportunity to set Ned free. I'm not arguing that Faegon is legit, I just don't think that we know enough about Varys' motives to deduce much from his actions. We do know that he can be ruthless when it fits his plans. One thing that Faegon presented Varys that his father (or not) couldn't is the clean slate. All that Varys recites to expiring Kevan Lannister is true because Varys got his hands on the kid and made a point of raising him to be King. It could be that Rhaegar was plan 'A', but when Elia started having kids Varys decided to check down to Aegon because he could mold him from birth.

What's your refund policy?

What about Dany herself? Did she know how to do what she did and if not, was there another influence on her? If she did know, where did that knowledge come from?

I would guess that it would come down to where Bran is on his journey as a skin changer/ greenseer when it happens. Now that you put it out there, I could see it as a potential problem that Bran will have to deal with at a perhaps inopportune moment. Varamyr does say something like some of his own animals hate him and one would tear him up if they could (the bear?), so for a mature warg these problems do arise, but are surmountable.

'A Baratheon or a Stark will mean slaughter' Why? 'The outcome will be corrupted justice and something I would not like to have happen.' I have to say that it's the virtue and integrity of this community that's kept me coming back for all of these years spent waiting for Winds.

Well, the army will be fed before the local peasants. The peasants will have to eat those secret Targaryan banners they've been making for the last 17 years. We've seen cannibalism around the peripheries of this story. Winter seems like as appropriate a time as any for it to take the center stage.

The Freys aren't going to be wiped out. It won't be because they do or don't deserve it, it will be because the people with the power to take vengeance will choose mercy.

I understand he lost his head as he watched his mother die.

Well if we're doing the show, I got to give it to Arya: "Someday I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull"

The last book is called A Dream of Spring, which suggests to me that we will end in winter. I still think they're going to find a way to flood the Riverlands though, so... magic... I think the Tullys and Freys will both survive, though I wouldn't guess at this point which of the two - or whether a third candidate will eventually sit as lord paramount. Whatever the case, Edmure's not going to take part in wiping out his wife's family. Some people will hang, but the family will survive. Probably not the Twins though, I suspect that at least one tower falls and of course, the bridge as well. (Has anyone ever done an accounting of the fates of twins? There are so many in this tale, but I can only recall the death of the two Kingsguards right now) I don't think the Brackens and Blackwoods are going to make it, I think their lines will end together.

Probably war torn and slave ridden. Dany isn't changing people, she's just killing a few off and taking a few west.

Dontos is the information. The fact that Dontos is dead the day after the event confirms his involvement. (I'm assuming that LF would still kill Dontos). it doesn't matter that he doesn't point straight to LF, it matters that he points away from Tyrion.

She knew Dontos gave her the hairnet. She also knows that she didn't conspire with Tyrion to kill Joffrey.

If Sansa wasn't extricated she would have been interrogated and could have been quite the loose end. Getting her out of Kingslanding, eliminating Dontos along the way sets her up as a patsy and a co conspirator in her husband's murder plot which keeps the suspicion away from Oleanna and the Tyrells. If Littlefinger didn't get her out, he would have had to find another way to keep her from talking.

Shouldn't we be able to get a little deeper before we have to start making assumptions? I don't see a motive for Littlefinger to kill Tyrion and if he does have one, or he's just open to doing t because chaos, I don't see why he would want to get half the court involved in the deed. He could have had a Kettleblack do it in the dark. If it had anything to do with Sansa, wouldn't LF have felt enormous pressure to do it before she wed Tyrion and got bedded? I don't think that he could have assumed that Tyrion wouldn't go through with it and I don't think his plans for Sansa include a little Lannister bastard.

Wouldn't there have been better opportunities to get rid of Tyrion than at a royal wedding? Targeting Joffrey here makes sense because there are enough moving pieces to have one unsuspecting accomplice bring the poison and only Oleanna needed to get it from her and put it in Joffrey's drink and security is lighter than what usually surrounds the king because they figure that everyone in attendance is already vetted. Tyrion could be had anywhere and if his enemies wanted him he could have been compromised a lot more by having him done in at Shae's or anywhere else. Also if it was a hit of Tyrion, who's royal nephew hated him wouldn't there have been an attempt to involve Joffrey in the plot, or at least get his sanction to upstage his wedding? This would have been embarrassing to Joffrey had he survived, Tyrion died and the cause of death emerged as poison.

He can have 2 of mine if he gets Winds out this year.

...the sight of Targ majesty would cause you to dismiss all thoughts of bloodshed, and you would stand - how should I put it? - in awe. Now a King in the North? Well I mean, why not shoot a King in the North?

What are you going to do, tax em?

Why not? I'm sure it would be impractical, but that would only constrain a certain sort of monarch. The only precedent that I've seen in Westerosi legal history is that a king isn't bound by precedent unless he choses to hide behind it, so essentially he can do as he wishes, as long as he's ready to deal with whatever rebels pop up because of it.

Could do, sure. I think that she ultimately shows down with Jeyne though. I just think that with all of the identity crisis the author has been saddling her with since book 1 it would follow that the choice to finally kill Arya Stark for good would be something she'll have to confront.

She's being heavily manipulated for what it's worth. Littlefinger talks about Sweetrobin's death as a foregone conclusion and Sansa will begin to as well. All of her plans and ambitions will become dependent upon the idea of a post Robin Vale (which we see happening already) and when his lingering gets in her way, she'll see removing him as hurrying the inevitable, perhaps even mercifully. I doubt she'll be gung ho about it, and I do wonder whether or not she'll go through with it, but I think that it will be a choice that Littlefinger will make her face and he will be depending upon her doing her part.

This would be my bet as well, but I couldn't call it anything more than a guess. He doesn't seem that eager to hurry his work, as he explains later to Arya, but unless his target was in Yoren's gang that's a horribly slow way to choose to travel and if he's there not by his own choice, well he sure got his shit together between then and weasel soup day.

I doubt he was ever in the dungeon, fwiw. Let's not forget that JH might have been the name of some murderer he replaced. If this was royally or Varys sponsored the switch could have been made at any time. If his target was Jon, then I'm sure left to his own devices Jaqen could have made far better time getting to the Wall. It could have been Ned, if the hirer believed that Ned would make the trip north with the recruits, but then what kind of outsmarting themselves sort of game were they playing? May as well just execute the traitor as Joffrey decided. I suspect that we will eventually find out that he was there on his own for reasons that might not be available to us at this time.

'The things I do for love.'?