EggBlue

as far as I've realized , squires are in training to become knights and are in personal service to knights . men-at-arms are like hired fighters whose contracts, unlike sellswords , are permanent.

poor whores always name their daughters after noble lovers - Barra daughter of Baratheon - Lanna daughter of Lannister (disputed) - Obara daughter of Oberyn

he was more of a good guy in book one but he is getting darker each book. I'd like to mention that his train of thoughts as he was manipulating Aegon was interesting, considering he had not yet decided what his own agenda is (he hadn't even if he wants to live yet!) and was merely playing with him: " There, that’s made him good and angry "

Cersei? is that you?

whoever were septons/septas in AegonIII's court must be honored by the faith. they brought up a septon-king , a septa-princess and a religious queen.

Good______________________Book1T__________________Book5T______________Bad

I find it sweet that both Jon and Theon share the dream of being a legitimate member of Stark family and Ned Stark's son. Jon dreams of saving Ned to earn Stark name and sword , while Theon dreams of marrying Ned's daughter and becoming his good-son.

no, it was Big Walder

smart little monster you mean! Cersei killed her best friend for fear of a prophecy at the age of 10. Big Walder killed his cousin as a means to elevate himself in line of succession at the age of 8-9 . I wonder how this one will turn out...

whether it's writing process George is struggling with or lack of interest, I think WoW is either published / in publication process by the time of "Tourney in Harrenhall " theater or it will not ever be published at all.

how about Jorah to Lynesse? she was way younger and far more wealthy

a mid-life crisis unreachable crush

yeah

wondering what Dorne looks like in winter? http://hd.wallpaperswide.com/thumbs/landscape_white_sands_new_mexico-t2.jpg

true. however, higher rank is not achieved through marriages among them . Mance did not improve his status through his connection to Dalla. he did so via his acts , charisma and abilities.

isn't the whole point of freefolk that they don't have ranks?!

Heart tree is a specific carved tree in a godswood that's worshiped . it's often weirwood ( which is a type of tree in general) , but there are other types of heart trees where weirwoods don't grow; for example the heart tree in the Red Keep is an Oak.

sure , I see your point of view. I just can't quite agree with it . so, I guess, agree to disagree?!

first of all , I'm really sorry for how people unjustly treated you. that sucks.. no , sins of ancestors shouldn't be defining people . that's not what I'm saying . I think we should make a distinction between what people can achieve or would do on their own and what's a promised result of prophecies (the later ,obviously, simply doesn't exist in our world) . Daenerys and Tyrion are already there in the book showing that children shouldn't be responsible for their fathers' deeds and that they can turn up exactly the opposite of them. Jon on the other hand is something different ;since his supposed father was effectively working towards the end result that seems to becoming Jon's destiny . it would have been different if Rhaegar was merely a lovestruck, reckless prince running away from everything (like in the show) . but Martin has gone his ways to inform us that the dead prince knew what was coming , was preparing for it and his story with Lyanna -as implied- was a part of it. I'm not looking for some grand moral message . but from what I've read there are a couple of things Martin seems to be saying ; call it message , rule , whatever... RLJ does cheapen the effect of one of these things that's already clearly established in his books ; something that he's telling us with Stannis's story and verbalizes through Marwin : trying to act on prophecies not only bites you in the ass , it also doesn't remotely result in what you intended . because although Rhaegar and his loved ones all died as contrary to what he wanted , he had achieved his main goal nonetheless.

the Nazi example is actually irrelevant since I've already said here (the bolded), I agree that it doesn't take away Jon Snow's achievements or heroic deeds whatever they'll be. Rhaegar and Lyanna could be beasts in form of humans for all I care. did I say we should punish Jon Snow for his parents' faults?! I'm saying that I find what it implies when the story is finished dissatisfying. let me try to explain it in another way... if Jon turns out to be the ultimate hero or something like that , it'll confuse the purpose of the story.. at least in my opinion. because, after it's finished , it gives the impression that whatever happened as consequences of R&L ( whatever their intentions may have been ) , was necessary to the larger picture ;and thus , downplays the consequences of their actions . which makes the dilemma of sacrifice* for greater good unresolved in the story; as contrary to what seems to be already being established in the books ( for example, Stannis who wanted kingship for good intentions and killed his brother and was about to kill his nephew for it seems to be doomed) . with their child as the guy who saves the day , it's like the rebellion and R&L's personal losses were worth it and the end result for those actions were eventually good. * by sacrifice I don't only mean to tie up someone to a stick for burning. I also mean sacrifice of duty/honor/etc. and unintentional sacrifice ,like causing a war as a result pf ignorance and carelessness. I hope I've been able to communicate my thoughts better this time... now, if you still think it's stupid , I don't know what else to tell you! I know my view won't change just yet, not unless new books shed some more light on this issue.

I don't know , George might be able to pull it off without writing two selfish or extremely stupid and irresponsible people whose mistakes unknowingly caused a brutal war. I just don't know how he could make it it doesn't take away Jon's achievements . but the paradox between this and Stannis's plotline with Edrick Storm is a huge negative point for the story and its author for me personally... still , depends on how it'll be written..

I'm 75% sure that R+L=>J (albeit, I'm adding seduction/deception and abduction/rape into the calculation) Yet, in my opinion, as impressively popular as it is, it sucks. I know at least the L and J part of the equation is confirmed but I hope R part doesn't turn out to be true if the books ever come out. - my biggest problem with this romantic tale isn't that Lyanna explicitly cared about "keeping to one bed" and that logically since she didn't know Rhaegar , she couldn't be sure he'd keep to 1-2 beds at most. - I don't complain that it also doesn't fit an able, single minded , dutiful guy and that seduction , abduction and lovestruck each contradict with said qualities respectively. - I can relate Rhaegar's utmost ignorance of his own actions leading to war in his last conversation with Jaimie to him suffering from bipolar disorder and depression and call it a day. - and I don't really care that most of the evidence in favor of this theory ( including KotLT , ToJ baby , annulment/marriage , etc. ) are not confirmed themselves and every question relating to them is usually answered with accepted hindsight of RLJ - I try not to pay attention to the fact that a lot of the fans are too inhumanly unfair to Elia Martell as a character by making up excuses for LR's bizarre love story by saying she couldn't have more babies , she was barren , she was weak , she was surrounded by maesters all the time ... - I can accept the fact that basically this whole theory with KotLT part is a "you're not like other girls, are you? ..." moment and then a makeover to a lady resulting in pretty flowers crown and later "fuck the country and our families ... let's elope!" - I'm not bringing up George's wife's claim about it being too obvious for George since honestly ,for all I care, it might be as simple as a marketing thing aiming at RLJ haters like me for keeping up reading the books! - I can even overlook the fact that Jon has zero dragon imagery in his chapters. his paternity side could be as relevant as Robb's maternal blood ,symbolically . now , doesn't matter that dragon blood is one of the most powerful magical bloods in the series. - heck , I honestly couldn't care less about the fact that Jon's arc doesn't seem to be heading towards a secret prince reveal ... we'd still have prophecy for him. no no no.... my biggest problem with this theory is that if it's true then R & L who abandoned their morality, duty and families and played house for a whole year while the country bled , have created a hero who would save the day... which means a driven-to-Lyanna-by-prophecy Rhaegar had deliberately sacrificed thousands of lives for the greater good. which means at the end of the day , the war and everything that happened during rebellion was necessary for the greater good! BUT , the books have already given us the scene about what a boy's life means with Stannis and Davos! that paradox there is my biggest issue with this particular theory... now, if Jon turns out to be not the hero but the main villain and the main problem , it would destroy the character completely ;yet, I could live with that! PS. volume 167? page 40? that's impressive..

I once saw a theory on youtube that said the Others behavior in the prologue was as if they were testing Waymar. then , it went on to say that maybe prince that was promised was a prince promised to the Others or that there is a prince promised to them other than AA (I think it was LML's). I should re-read the chapter...

they are honorable!

it just said she had a bump on her belly? not huge? so, at least 3-4 months.