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chrisdaw

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Everything posted by chrisdaw

  1. And if she was up against it she'd have called in all available arms and the bulk of them would be like Osgrey's. Sure there's a tip of the spear, but when he gives us that Sworn Sword call to arms and training and writing that they took pot boys with stolen kitchen knives in the War of the Nine Penny Kings I doubt GRRM is setting up conventional Westeros armies as professional fighting forces.
  2. It makes sense when you consider they had no interested in Stannis and the heavy magic side of things and wanted to shrink the story and get out. They were also very conscious of not revealing story beats/twists, they basically cut and ran after the published material, before even. Stannis won't necessarily lead them but he will be a linchpin, a focal point that when defeated will end the threat or turn the tide.
  3. Yeah I disagree as it is literally in the Sworn Sword, that's one of the themes of the story.
  4. I don't agree. A conventional Westeros army are a pack of farmers with regular lives and so a lot to lose, they've got every reason to break in battle whereas the Unsullied and Dothraki are warriors who live for battle.
  5. In response to the original post I believe (well GRRM has basically said this with different wording) GRRM has a tendency to create hard rules to his magic, but then sees this in part as a flaw in his writing. It's magic, not science, it's not supposed to be entirely consistent or require complete explanation. I think the manifestation of this is going to be magical rules that appear complete and consistent, but then have exceptions. For example bloodlines will matter when it comes to riding dragons, almost always, but then someone like Nettles may not be of any dragon blood and have achieved dragon riding by simply feeding and allowing the dragon to become familiar with her.
  6. A Night King doesn't exist yet but Stannis will become the approximation of one. As the Blood Emperor foreshadows Euron but there's no expectation Euron will ever be called a Blood Emperor, the Night King foreshadows Stannis but Stannis won't likely ever be given or take that name/title. Nothing I've read from GRRM precludes him creating a contemporary Night King parallel. I've never read a good idea for what Benjen is all about. His interaction was almost wholly with Jon (unless I misremember, it's been a long while) so I expect he has to relate to Jon's arc rather than Bran's. I should probably reread his part in the texts to see if I can get a feel for what's doing. Maybe he's next to take up the mantle of Aemon/Mormont as the authority figure telling Jon to abandon his family/love to carry out his duty. Something along the lines of this theme would be my best guess.
  7. I'm quite sure I know where it's leading but the wording is rather grey and I'm probably missing something in how it's going to be presented. An important question (riddle) will eventually emerge, the question being what does one need to make a rideable dragon to save the world? The answer is a dragon second lifed by a human (probably one of particular blood - Valyrian/Targaryen) thus made rideable, these are what Valyrian sphinxes represent and so they're not the question but the answer. To make some assumptions I would guess Aemon got it from a text and the text will resurface in the series and put the exact way the sentence is worded into a context that makes more sense. Alleras/Sarella might be a GRRM hint at something related to this thematically, but she's obviously not the literal answer, Aemon is talking about waking dragons and saving the world in the war for the dawn, a girl pretending to be a boy in Oldtown doesn't relate literally.
  8. Nothing has been fulfilled, fulfilling prophecies at the start of a story defeats their purpose as a literary device.
  9. When the series is finished you will still be able to argue who was AA, Jon or Dany (or Rhaego or Jon and Dany's bastard), such will be the shared and scattered manner in which the prophecies will play out.
  10. The topic has been debated since at least 2013. It really should be put to bed by now though, on reread it's abundantly clear what's happened behind the scenes. Stannis talks to Mance, draws his own conclusion that Mance has value, Mel tells him Mance has value, Val has standing with the wildlings and pleads with him for Mance's life and Jon tells him Mance has value. For these reasons he does really want to spare MAnce, BUT, he has two problems 1) He wants his show burning to eliminate Mance and place himself as the Wildling's only hope so that they'll come to his side, and; 2) He can't consciously free Mance because the law. Mel's ruby trick satisfies Stannis on the first point, allowing to have his shown burning, and Jon's sagely advice that the law ends at the Wall satisfies him on the second. The trickery is distasteful but it is what it is. Stannis saves Mance and gives him to Jon as Jon asked. He saves Mance as Val asked and not coincidentally she does as Stannis wants, as she said she would.
  11. This is a useful quote in explaining Stannis knew. "Rattleshirt" to Jon. When we understand Stannis knew (made the actual decision) the quote takes on a different meaning. I wonder if GRRM meant for it to be ambiguous, I don't think he did. I think it's just the nature of having to keep the whole identity secret for as long as required and that if you "knew" you'd never read it not knowing and so wouldn't necessarily catch that your reveal didn't make it immediately apparent that it was Stannis behind the decision and that people would assume Mel acted without him. An interesting question is if Val knows. Val never cried when "Mance" was burned. She believes she knows Mel knows about the baby swap, although why she believes this is not entirely clear, suggesting some communication between the two. And when Jon mentions Stannis by name in requesting Val not berate Seylse Val turns from playful to uncharacteristically serious and agrees to Jon's request, they then carry on in silence.
  12. He can galvanise the Vale (right now) behind Harry while influencing Harry to do his bidding, he can't galvanise the Vale behind Robert while also controlling Robert. To the Vale lords Robert is a puppet with LF at the strings and they wouldn't just go along with any plans whereas Harry would be a man grown making his own decisions and LF would be serving and advising at Harry's pleasure, the Vale lords will all do what Harry wants and mostly with enthusiasm.
  13. It's a good thought, not that she'll specifically take three dragons and melt the rock but that Dany will generally destroy Casterly Rock. Symbolism of Targaryen's overcoming rock/stone and relating particularly to Dany (one of her three lies to slay is the stone beast, her blood melts stone in her waking the dragon dream, and there's more) is persistent throughout the series not just Harrenhal. Strong possibility.
  14. The concepts of mercy and justice are core components of leadership and Arya's storyline.
  15. In the near term Jon will bloodily win and lead the north as KITN until his surrender to the Iron Throne, which will then probably see him named Lord of the North, then he will die towards the end of the series. Sansa may become Lady of the North on Jon's death and to end the series but if she does it will be a banishment of sorts forced on her and designed by others, the purpose of which will be to physically keep her from the powerful in King's Landing so that she may not manipulate and rule Westeros through them.
  16. One should quote the actual text when doing a topic like this. The dwarves ravishing the woman will prove not to be the commonly interpreted WOT5Ks. The event it is foreshadowing hasn't happened yet, the woman does represent Westeros and the dwarf men are of Euron's doing and Aeron's dreams/vision (note the general destruction GRRM accompanies that dream with). I don't think the second is the Red Wedding, I think it's about Jon and GRRM again is playing games making a vision that appears to happen when the true happening is coming later and hitting harder. The vision doesn't necessarily make the king out to be a victim, a returned Jon can be viewed as both dead and having a wolf's head, and sitting there on a throne above the scene with the lamb leg as if it is a king's scepter makes me think the scene is his doing. The way GRRM describes the scene doesn't tie into the Red Wedding themes to me. There's beheaded corpses, who was getting beheaded at the Red wedding? Beheadings speak to justice, as does severed hands reaching for goods. For mine the scene reads like symbolism for the king figure executing a bunch of lords for their excesses. With an understanding of the Others and that the world of men is at stake Jon will lead a host South and he will destroy everyone who does not submit to him on the way, he's going to be ruthless and it's going to be very bloody. Dany will be with him most the way and I believe this HOTU scene is about that. The mute appeal to Dany I believe is because she will have the power to prevent it all having to come to this and Jon having to become this. It's a "save me from having to do this" but by the time she understands this she will have lost the power to do anything about it.
  17. I think by Dance the was sort of lagging behind the titles but he had a think about it and decided Dance still worked, BUT, that makes a lot more sense if Tyrion is a Targ and thus a dragon. Dragon Aegon emerging and instead of teaming up with Dany being steered by Dragon Tyrion away from her to Westeros and Tyrion continuing on to Dany and Viserion. That's the crux of things, what should have been a natural all conquering alliance between Aegon and Dany has been railroaded by Tyrion, that's the dance and will lead to drastically different outcomes. I expect it to be revealed events in Dance to have been a result of Bloodraven and Shiera trying to steer things behind the scenes and so are also at play in the dance. The title would have almost certainly been first envisioned for the book in which Dany and Aegon war for the throne and Tyrion plays each off the other and swoops in at the end to take power for himself.
  18. Correct, and the text I think says as much, GRRM wants us to believe this and wants it established as fact in world. The why of it is because Jon like the Young Dragon he idiolised is going to go south and conquer, but being a Daeron fan Jon will recall his histories (or someone will tell him if he doesn't) and know that he must consolidate his conquest with a marriage pact lest it all fall apart, and this is how we will get the pact of Ice and Fire as Jon will force a marriage onto princess of the north Arya to the crown, and Arya will have to decide to either run away and be no-one or do her duty and become queen.
  19. Davos is about language, communication, he will work for KITN Jon, almost certainly as his Hand, and he will make the deals and pacts across the Narrow Sea and within Westeros that mend and create the alliances that will be pivotal for Westeros to survive the Long Night and win TWFTD. He will probably outlive Jon and finish the story as Hand to the crown. He will lose much if not everything he has personally, his sons and wife most likely, in service to the realm. A possible scenario is that Davos will have the resources to attempt to save his wife (Maria?) but those resources would better serve the realm's struggle for survival being used in another way, and Davos will do the right thing for the realm. This scenario would be a close parallel to what Stannis will do with Shireen, with the differences being the difference between right and wrong. Of Davos were to lose his wife and sons you'd get a situation where his own House will die, and this would serve as a sharp contrast with all the Hands who (mis)used their position to advance their House. A scenario may present itself where he could create an alliance that would serve the realm by marrying a woman known to be barren, and he will help the realm but also ensure the extinction of his House. It would make thematic sense for Davos to abandon Stannis when Stannis sacrifices Shireen as that shows Stannis is not fit for rule, and that serving Stannis is no longer serving the realm and justice. I think that will be the case but Stannis might just die before Davos gets to make the decision, alternatively Davos could make a mistake or be in the process of deciding if he should abandon Stannis when Stannis dies. Also possible Davos (justly) betrays Stannis and that becomes part of what causes Stannis's death and plays into his second life as betrayal played into Catelyn's second life and what she became.
  20. I'd think boy beating drum to time would be Bran and his story is going to get very time travelly. I agree the lines are drawn from happenings or going to happenings in the story, but I think it's just a technique he's using to just flesh out White Harbor, I don't think there's any particular theme here or anything he's trying to convey. I believe this passage is the same yet to come event that is foreseen by Mel in this passage Which I believe is a hold out of humanity during TWFTD. Probably the civilians of KL having fled to the dried out seabed of the Narrow Sea.
  21. No that's not how it works. The dragon can hold infinite souls and the souls will have varying dominance inside of it. The three heads of the dragon refers to a specific dragon, the one which will defeat the Others and save the world in the WFTD. The three heads are Rhaego, Drogo and Dany, when Dany dies her soul will join Rhaego and Drogo inside Drogon (though part of her soul will go into a sword) and Drogon will take on her characteristics and become larger and stronger and breath fire hot enough to win the battle, and that's why there's a prophecy about 3 heads because they're the important pieces in this specific instance which will save the world. It's not particularly important but they will not be the only souls inside of Drogon, many many less dominant souls will join, the dominant souls within the dragon can resist or allow other souls in. It's an afterlife and Dany is the gate keeper, she determines who is and isn't allowed in, she basically becomes a god . There's numerous textual references to it and this is the most succinct. No, you get reborn as a dragon. To be honest these are really just my theories (in my sigs) making there way onto other platforms, being bastardised and working their way back here.
  22. Nah Rhaego being the key in the instance of Dany's dragons and a child in general is thrown at us all through the series, and it's the key theme GRRM wants to explore - is there ever a situation in which the sacrifice of one's own child is moral? Like if it's to save the world. The sacrifice of the child will be how Dragonbinder is bound, that's the blood one must trade for fire, the pregnant mother blows the horn and what happened to Dany (the fire consumed Rhaego in her womb as per multiple references in the series) happens. MMD is in Rhaegal, Viserys Viserion, Rhaego and Drogo in Drogon. Part of Rhaego's soul/blood may have gone into Viserion and Rhaegal to give them life, that can happen (for example Lightbringer, only part of the soul went into making the sword, or a tiny piece remaining in Drogo's body to keep him alive while his soul was in the egg), but the controlling majority portion is with Drogo in Drogon (GRRM has used Bran/Hodor and Thistle/Varamyr to establish that multiple souls in one body is something that happens). Truly MMD shouldn't be able to get in by the rules I argue as she's not blood related to Rhaego, but she is, she broke the rules, GRRM broke his own rules even, it's magic he can do that. When Dany dies and her soul joins Rhaego and Drogo in Drogon that's the three heads of the dragon (and the scene the TV show used in place of all the near unfilmable HOTU book scenes).
  23. Dany + Euron is woven through everywhere. Daario is the Euron prototype, Falia is even Dany prototype, as Euron ingratiates himself to Faalia by empowering her to her revenge, so will Euron come bearing gifts (always poisoned) to help Dany to her revenge on Westeros. The point of Euron corrupting Drogon is to bring about two central points to the series. Dany allows Euron into her circle to help defeat her political enemies and win the throne, Euron corrupts Drogon so that he's no longer of any use against the Others. So by dividing the realm, infighting and seeking power she will lose the ability to save the world. General ASOIAF we'd all be better off if we all just got along philosophy. Dany will wish to fix Drogon back to his fire breathing regular dragon type form, and have a decent understanding of the process by which it is done. She will to her mind need to find a baby Daddy of good dragon stock, get pregnant, then sacrifice the child. And so comes the climactic dilemma of the whole series, is one child's life is worth the realm? Not just a question for Dany, but for child's father Jon too.
  24. The purpose of the topic was to put forth that the symbolism in the visions will manifest specifically in Drogon (her mount) by way of the husbands/partners souls entering Drogon, that Drogo gave it wings, Euron will make Drogon a water dragon (kraken) that will lose the ability to fly and Jon would if it were to happen create an ice dragon.
  25. Yes he was, at first he thought it was himself, then he thought it was Aegon, then he thought it was all three, though likely he changed his mind by the end, and I explain it comprehensively in the topic in my sig.
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