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Lord Varys

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  1. Perhaps eventually, but not too soon. Would be a waste of a far too long travelogue, lol. The dragon has three heads, not one or two. And there are three dragons, not one or two. Dany and Jon clearly are two heads and two future dragonriders and also future lovers/spouses. But there is a third one missing. And that person is not going to be the fake Aegon, the fake Stannis, the fake stone beast breathing shadow fire, etc. It also won't be Victarion or Euron or Brown Ben even if one of them were to become a placeholder dragonrider. The third head will be a main character. And that only leaves Tyrion. He is the only reasonable choice. Doesn't mean he has to be Dany's half-brother. But it is not unlikely. Tyrion would - and actually seems to have been set up, perhaps unconsciously - as an anti-Jon, a twisted mirror image of the hidden prince. Jon is a prince allegedly born of rape disguised as a motherless bastard, while Tyrion is a bastard (born of rape) disguised as a great lord's son (or 'prince' if we use the term more broadly). There is great potential there, much more than in the Lannister story which doesn't go away as Joanna Lannister is still his mother. And Tywin is a dead secondary character, like Ned. Ned remains Jon's 'true father' just as Tywin remains the man who brought up Tyrion. Aegon is another plot entirely. He shows how you can exploit people's hopes by way of propping up a fake pretender. Sure, it isn't that easy. But the War of the Five Kings is the direct result of nobility caring only about their petty ambitions and feuds, ignoring both the common good in a mundane sense as well as the Others. Of course, not all Targaryen kings were equally caring about the common good, but the good ones did. And even the bad ones had their identity as being the custodians of the legacy of Aegon the Conqueror. Robert and his brothers and children are very far removed from that (with the exception of Stannis, eventually) as are the men and women making up his court. Just think about the blatant power grab of the Lannisters which is partially motivated by their own belief that Tywin would be a better king and/or Lannister blood is more noble than Baratheon blood. We didn't get that shit during the Targaryen era. Wouldn't judge Viserys that harshly as he grew up in exile with no one to prepare him to be king or even a lord. Dany is more compassionate, to be sure, but she only thinks it is her job to set things right because she is the last Targaryen and her brother's heir. Jon saw how Robb was groomed for his role as a future great lord but he lacked the instruction/perspective of a future king. Jon might eventually get that with his true parentage. I don't expect that to happen, either, but we shouldn't dismiss the possibility completely that the revelation of Jon's true parentage might play a role in his resurrection or the immediate aftermath. And for the time being Westerosi folks will have to interact with Aegon. Dany is very far away. It didn't change his opinion, and he continued to work against the Lannisters and their allies, together with Stannis, etc. I think George will have him develop a broader view when he knows who is, never mind that he could and should have already had that view as Lord Commander of the NW. Biggest weirdness of ADwD is that he makes no attempt at all to convince anyone outside the North (and not even them) about the threat the Others pose. Davos goes to White Harbor, but why no survivor of the Fist? Hell, even Sam doesn't get letters for his father, his Florent relations and Hightower in-laws. He talks to an obscure scholar, not to his uncle-by-marriage, Lord Leyton Hightower. That only makes sense plot-wise if it is saved for a later point in time ... even if it barely makes sense right now as firsthand experience of the Others should override petty ambitions and feuds.
  2. Not if you check all the foreshadowing starting with the weirdo saddles, the dragon dreams, the interest in dragons down to the white dragon piece landing in front of him. Brown Ben is a featured extra and Vic and latecomer POV. Both could be placeholder riders for Jon Snow, of course. Somebody has to ride them to Westeros. They won't just read the script and follow Dany like puppy dogs. Drogon might, but not the other two now that have been imprisoned, separated from their mother, an grown wild and feral. Tyrion is one of the most crucial main characters. If he isn't Aerys' bastard he is the most likeliest candidate to use the magical horn to bind a dragon to him permanently. Without a dragon he will be nothing but dwarf clown the plot will struggle to keep alive. He is a nobody now, and exiled criminal whose role to provide information on Westeros could be fulfilled by Barristan, Jorah, Archibald and Gerris, Marwyn, perhaps even Quaithe. Without serious leverage - like a dragon - Tyrion could also not be trusted to betray Dany/her people. He murdered his own father and stands convicted of having murdered his double nephew and king. He is poison which should be spat out, not pampered and nourished. If they keep the guy then he needs some leverage. With a dragon Tyrion could even feed Dany the idea that he is her long-lost secret half-brother ... even if that were utter horseshit (which I don't think it is). She wants to have more family, after all. Not a secret Targaryen, an ill-begotten bastard born of rape or adultery, raised by a lovesick man who couldn't spit on the memory of the woman who owned his soul. If Tyrion is Aerys' son his relationship with Tywin makes sense ... if not, then Tywin is just a one-dimensional asshole who loathed Tyrion for little to no reason. Yes, yes, his birth killed Joanna, but Tyrion again and again proved his worth, especially during the War of the Five Kings. He deserved some recognition and a reward and Tywin should have realized that he was a crucial asset to consolidate Lannister rule. Instead he is treated as if he wasn't Tywin's son ... which the guy would only do if he had good reason to do so.
  3. Not sure you read the books...? While Jon is an eventual candidate, Brown Ben Plumm, Tyrion, Victarion - the guy controlling the magical horn literally named DRAGONBINDER - are the obvious immediate candidates. Those dragons have grown pretty large now, and they are wild living in their own lairs. If no riders master them they won't leave (the ruins of) Meereen. It would depend on what he wants to do with his new, true identity and how is going to present it to the world. Privately Ned will remain his father, but not publicly. Also, of course, so far he feels no responsibility for the Realm. He juggles responsibility for the Watch, House Stark, and the wildlings in his head ... but not for all the Seven Kingdoms. That has to change. And he can do that as a Targaryen. The other nobility don't do that, that's why there were and are civil and succession wars. Aegon would be Jon's half-brother and he is here, in Westeros, right now. If Jon were to learn about his parentage tomorrow he would reach out to him, not to his mad aunt at the other end of the world. If he only learns about it much later, it might be different. But Aegon would also make a good ally for Jon Snow and the Watch/wildlings as they both have beef with the Lannisters, etc. I mentioned Tommen deliberately there. Jon writes a letter to him and literally states he wants to bring death and destruction to House Lannister while doing it. He might not want to kill the boy himself, but he certainly is okay with him dying. He has to shed this kind of attitude. And his real identity will help as he himself is both the result and the victim of another pointless civil war. Had he known who and what he was he would have tried to stop the War of the Five Kings.
  4. While it is true for his upbringing, he isn't an adult yet and the manner how his true parentage is revealed to him as well as events and people around it shaping his future development will have s lesser or stronger impact on how he will see himself. Ned will always remain his true father, but he is dead and gone now. The Targaryen thing broadens his family, adds Dany and perhaps Aegon as close kin, not to mention handing more responsibility to the whole of Westeros to him. These days he would still celebrate if King Tommen choked to death. Learning that Ned actually helped to toppled/kill his biological father's family has the potential help him overcome the pointless dynastical feuds.
  5. Aegon might be eaten by a dragon, but he is the least likeliest candidate for a dragonrider among the candidates as all foreshadowing indicates he gave up dragons when he went west. Rhaegar is the best Targaryen name for Jon as he was the only Targarydn Lya cared about. If he had such a name his mother would have chosen and given it to him, no one else. But chances that she gave her son a Targaryen name are still low. Aerys II killed her father and brother and even Rhaegar intended to kill or possibly kill Ned and Robert. And when Jon was born the dynasty was deposed. Her son could survive as a Stark but never as a Targaryen. Even if she was some kind of Targaryen fangirl and sycophant - which I doubt - the Trident and the Sack would have taught her a lesson. The name of Viserys was already used for Rhaegar's younger brother, so chances are that Rhaegar would have gone with a different one - Jaehaerys for his prophecy-obsessed grandfather or indeed Aemon to honor the great-granduncle he was corresponding with.
  6. Because Mysaria seems to have an independent connection to the Targaryens. When she accuses Nettles of treason, she wears black-and-red despite the fact that she has no right to wear the royal colors, unless... In Westeros retainers wear their own colors or none at all. And Mysaria is her very own woman with a pretty loose connection to Rhaenyra. It is just a guess but could help better with her weird motivation than simple jealousy. Also, the moniker 'Worm' also can allude to a dragon, so there might be something to this.
  7. Rodrik Stark himself is a youngest son with many elder brothers. His daughters could not expect prestigious matches ... just as he himself didn't get one. His younger daughter marrying the heir of Winterfell would have been a great success, not something he could except because his name was Stark. Chances are good that Rodrik's journeys hooked him up with folks in the Stormlands. Rogers might even be a buddy of his who returned with him to Winterfell.
  8. The bedchamber incident strikes one more as Viserra looking for help to avoid the monstrous match, not the event triggering it. Alysanne supposedly noticed the looks Viserra gave her brother earlier, and those looks led to the match. At best we sit back and dismiss the entire episode as the worst kind of court gossip. Gyldayn putting down stuff the Mushrooms of that age - say, Viserra's Butterwell girl companion - pulled out of their asses to explain this silly match. That the sources sucked there we can also deduce from Viserra being described as this devious siren and that her own mother loathed her for some reason. Alysanne didn't disown the psychopath Saera, so why treat Viserra so badly? Makes no sense. Something other/more must have happened, something Gyldayn and his sources never knew.
  9. The whole scenario is bad writing. Viserra didn't do anything wrong, and the way she is portrayed makes it clear she was just a teenager, not an ambitious evil genius. The very idea she would want to be queen by way of seducing Baelon rather than Aemon makes little sense. Especially since her big attempt there has her passing out drunk in Baelon's bed before she could even make move. More over, Baelon is a widower with only two children, so there is nothing wrong with a remarriage. Nine children producing only four grandchildren is a joke. Alysanne has no right to be angry at Viserra, nor would she be as cruel as giving her to such an old man. Especially not as the timeline has this taking place after the deaths of Daella and Alyssa in/after childbirth and after the loss of Saera. This punishment would only make sense if there was a real crime involved - say, a coup or murder plot - or if Alysanne had felt really hurt on a personal level. A better take could have been to have Viserra target sonless Aemon, seducing him with the intention to kill or destroy Jocelyn and then replace her as Aemon's wife. As Jocelyn was Alysanne's own half-sister who was likely groomed by her for the role as future queen such behavior could have made her very angry. Such a thing would have destabilized the dynasty in a way the Baelon thing obviously did not. Overall, though, the decision to force her to marry an old man still sucks. That is no way to control her. She is a royal princess, a potential dragonrider, and the most beautiful woman of her generation. She will outlive Theomore ... and then what? She would claim the hand of Edric or Benjen Stark and run the North. Or return to court as a grieving widow and do more mischief. Seduce/marry Viserys or Daemon, say.
  10. There are ways to make it interesting, by fleshing out the motivations, goals, and agendas of the conquered kings. And it is not that the Targaryens really do break the kingdoms. Those people want to be conquered/think it is better if there is but one king left. You see this with the ease the Riverlords, Arryns, and Starks submit.
  11. Yeah, that makes no sense. It is also a stretch that Alicent would have loudly bitched about the boys while there was only Jace around. With Joff as a three-year-old challenging Aemond those lads didn't spend a long time in the cradle. Sunfyre might not have been a cradle egg dragon as he hatched on Dragonstone.
  12. We actually do have a description of one Strong, Lucamore. He is blond, as per his description in FaB. That means the chances are not bad that Lyonel, Larys, and Harwin (or some of them) were blond, too. It is also noteworthy that this description entered the book long after the writing process of the Viserys and Dance chapters. If George had intended to make the Strongs a family of predominantly brown-haired and brown-eyed people he could have easily done so in the description of Lucamore. He could also have added descriptions for Lyonel, Harwin and Larys. But he didn't. Also note that Alicent's accusation is not that the boys look like Harwin Strong or Strongs specifically. Her claim is that they look 'common'. The issue is that they lack the royal Valyrian looks Alicent's children have. Harwin is put forth as the potential 'true father' because he is Rhaenyra's constant companion, not because he resembled the children.
  13. Aemon was a man in his prime and an accomplished and useful maester when he took the black. And he is still useful as hell as a frail and blind old man. And of course the Watch takes care of their old and frail as well as those who are injured and crippled while protecting the realms of men ... but the Watch isn't the soup kitchen for useless highborn cripples. Aegon II has no skills he can offer the Watch. Gyldayn contrasts Aenys and Maegor - nice mediocre warrior, paranoid super warrior - but he doesn't do that for all the princes. Viserys I's martial abilities - whose spitting image Aegon II is - aren't discussed, either.
  14. From what Corlys later did it is clear that he meant what he said there - and had he run Aegon III's government he would have upheld the bargain. But he may not have run the government and Aegon II may not have survived the transfer of power. Aegon planned to remarry precisely to have more sons. And then his nephew would have been dead. Possibly earlier if his faction had decidedly won the war on thee Kingsroad. But House Targaryen could also continue through Jaehaera if push came to shove. If Aegon was truly sterile or impotent due to his many injuries (which is actually not unlikely at all) then he could have had grandsons through his only surviving child. Injuries or not, the man was in his early 20s. He could have lived and reigned 40 years or more.
  15. Stewards actually do work, and Aegon can barely walk. There are no badly crippled stewards at the Wall as far as we know, and for good reasons. The NW is a military order of fighting men, not a soup kitchen for useless mouths. Aegon was trained at arms, but turned into a wastrel, and there isn't even an indication he ever participated in a tourney or otherwise showed significant skills at arms. And neither did Daeron. Both were good dragonriders, but for that skill to mean anything you need a dragon. Also think about the Clubfoot choosing death. The best reason for that self-destructive choice would have been that his disability would have turked his life a living hell up in the cold. And he would have known that. Injuries like Aegon's would have been even worse. The guy would have been of no use to anyone.
  16. My point simply was that Prince Aegon might be convinced to allow his uncle to take the black if he was abdicating in his favor ... while King Aegon III might change his mind on that before Aegon II could leave for the Wall, taking his head with the support of the new Blacks at court. Aegon II would have been nothing but a useless mouth at the Wall, anyway. A cripple who wasn't even a fighter before he lost the use of one leg for good, and neither a tutor or healer nor administrator. That would kind of fit with how Jaehaerys I treated the turncloak KG before and after he had taken power. Offing Aegon II at the Wall should have been easy. Either command the Lord Commander to do it or actually go there yourself with a large enough retinue. Pretexts could easily be found. Aegon was clearly foolish enough to be goaded into treason and desertion with the promise that some alleged loyalists would restore him to the throne.
  17. The point there is more that Alicent didn't want her craven son to take the black and abandon her and their cause. But to be sure, even if little Aegon had decided to allow his uncle to take the black, the Lads, Cregan, and Jeyne Arryn might have still decided to put him down as a minor king could not make such decisions on his own. Not to mention that Aegon III himself could have changed his mind after his coronation.
  18. Nobody said that - but the notion that she can regain power now that she lost it so completely and with the non-existent means is just unrealistic. Even more so in light of the Aegon and Euron plots. There is no time for this. Cersei's arc is one of longterm revenge not one where she is back in the saddle in a fortnight which she just lost a fortnight ago. You are showing what I wrote about earlier. Nobody with your scenario in mind can flesh out details in a realistic manner. All people offer is 'I want to believe this will happen'. That is literally nothing. If you can't imagine how your scenario can play out how can you imagine that George (or anyone) can write this? There is no textual evidence for this. Euron doesn't even mention Oldtown as a stepping stone or goal in his talk with Aeron, and he is rather forthcoming in those. Not to mention that we know he originally wanted to go to Meereen himself with the entire Ironborn fleet - which means he never so much as thought about Oldtown. The Arbor is also nothing he wants - he will take it to keep his forces sweet, to kill time, to finance future campaigns and, of course, because he has to crush the only naval power in Westeros which could challenge him. Once the Redwyne fleet is gone, the Hightowers might bend the knee, anyway. Euron will control their waters for good then, and their wealth is dependent on naval trade. To continue it they will have to accept Euron's terms. And we can imagine that he will offer them favorable terms as he has no shot at the Iron Throne if he antagonizes everybody. If he were to attack and storm and sack Oldtown his chances to gain the allegiance and support of mainland lords and knights will be minimal to non-existent. If he shows mercy and good will, however, the pragmatic Reach lords along the coast will join him for the time being like they did with other Ironborn kings in the past. You have to research better. Cersei had Paxter's twins as hostages which is why the Redwynes stayed out of the war until after the Blackwater. They were not part of Renly's Reach forces.
  19. We don't really know to what degree Alicent's ambitions were prompted by Otto. The factionalism at court (Blacks vs. Greens) wasn't his doing as he left KL before those factions developed. Alicent as a person shares the bulk of the blame that she didn't get along with her stepdaughter as Rhaenyra was yet very young when she married her father. She could have won her love and devotion if she had tried. That they started to hate each other is not because Rhaenyra was a natural asshole but rather because Alicent didn't want them to get along (no indication Rhaenyra ever bullied Alicent in the book - but for Alicent we have a number of toxic remarks recorded, e.g. the comment about her not being safe from Criston Cole, the comments about the looks of her children, etc.). However, them not getting along isn't the same as one faction staging a coup. Daemon and Viserys I had their bad times, too, yet Daemon never rebelled nor did he try to depose his brother. But staging a coup goes not down to family affiliations outside the royal family but to ambition within the royal family. Alicent and Otto wanted to keep their status as queen and Hand, wanted to rule through/with their blood rather than be dependent on Rhaenyra's good will. They were not, in the end, acting on behalf of House Hightower. Rather they pushed Lord Ormund to support them, Lord Ormund didn't use them to increase the influence of House Hightower.
  20. I can see Cersei trying to abduct Tommen from KL because she fears for his life, yes, but not to stay there. That is overall a ridiculous scenario as Cersei actually fears death and her enemies lurk in the walls of the castle. She could kill everyone in KL and still not feel safe in the Red Keep. Nope, those were Redwyne men and men sent to Dragonstone earlier. Sure enough, but doesn't give Cersei any power, it will only hasten the collapse of Cersei's government as KL will then be ripe for the taking. Euron has no plans to take Oldtown. He wants the Iron Throne, not waste his men to take a city on the mainland he could never hope to hold. Once he has dealt with the Redwynes he might take the Arbor, and then Oldtown might do him homage as their king to save their trade ... but he won't storm the place. I mean, haven't you read the sample chapter? Euron awaits Paxter off the Arbor. He is not on the way to Oldtown. Euron doesn't give shit about the Shields and the Mander. People perceive the fall of the islands as a threat, but the whole thing is a distraction - both for the Ironborn and the Reach. You don't seem to understand what Euron wants. Can you give examples for that and tell us those would put such hypothetical people in relation to Cersei? Varys never said he wants Cersei in power. He said Kevan was undoing Cersei's fuckery. There is no indication that Varys deems Mace and Randyll as competent rulers. If you check the Epilogue then Randyll is pissed about Margaery's trial, suggesting they put the sparrows in their place with force. He and Mace could do that, Cersei can't. LOL, perhaps in your mind, but not in a consistently written book series like ASoIaF. Nobody gives shit about Tommen. If Cersei were to get to Tommen to stamp some documents, Mace and his men would just ignore them, like Cersei ignored Robert's last will. They have the power now, not some puppet king and his whore mother. Give examples for this. That is just pulling stuff out of your ass. Yeah, there is some bad blood there, but nothing indicating that anyone wants to murder Margaery. If anything, the Tyrells might want to kill some Sand Snakes due to what Oberyn did to Willas. Nobody could stop them, if they wanted to do just that, because they are in charge. Just like Cersei was, when she arrested Tyrion.
  21. That is a wrong characterization at the moment. She still has a lot to lose. (Access to) her two children. While Tommen and Myrcella yet live, she won't turn into a loose cannon. That she restrains herself we could already see in the Epilogue. Some part of the Tyrell armies will eventually leave for the Stormlands. But it is ludicrous to assume all of the men will go as the Golden Company are only 10,000 men united (and Aegon has right now barely more than half of that) and Mace Tyrell would like to maintain order in the city and sure his position at court would not be challenged in his absence. It is also equally clear that every unaffiliated people in the city will fall over themselves to attach themselves to the Tyrells. They have the power now, while Cersei is the whore queen who was hounded through the streets. No self-respecting person would like to be seen with her now. Cersei has no clue about the hidden tunnels as she only searched the Tower of the Hand which is now gone. Whatever wildfire caches were found were actually transported to the guildhall and thereafter to the ships for Tyrion's river trap. They are gone now. Whatever wildfire remains is still hidden and not at prominent places in the city as folks already found hidden wildfire both beneath the Dragonpit and the Great Sept. To find more old wildfire Cersei would need men she didn't have and time she didn't have and the means to have her men do clandestine searches of the cellars of the city. She can't. Not to mention that Wisdom Hallyne has literally no reason to actually provide her with the means to burn down the city the alchemists live in. Cersei is not the Mad King. She doesn't rule. Ser Robert Strong is certainly a factor to consider, but he can't murder openly or even clandestinely and the Tyrell men then just accept Cersei as the new ruler if Mace, Margaery, and Randyll all died violent deaths. That can't work in a society of actual people. So far there is no indication that anyone in KL hates the sparrows and the Faith Militant more than Cersei. She and her house are very much unpopular in this city, due to recent history, unlike Queen Margaery and her family. The sparrows actually enjoy a sound support basis among the common people and also among some of the nobility (Cersei's own cousin among them). This is how and why they could turn their leader into the new High Septon. Qyburn doesn't really have much a spy network on his own ... but even if he had - knowing stuff is not going to make Cersei's enemies go away and restore her to power. If you reread the books then the Ironborn threat is for Willas and Garlan to take care of. They have known about the fall of the Shield Islands for months, yet Mace and Randyll and Mathis didn't move a finger to deal with that. Mace continued the siege of Storm's End, and Randyll remained at Maidenpool (until Margaery was arrested). There is not the slightest indication that Mace and Randyll will suddenly decide to send their men (lacking ships) down south to deal with Ironborn they can't reach and risk losing their hold in the capital. There is not the slightest indication that Margaery would die 'because of the Sand Snakes' nor do the Sand Snakes have a motive to try to mess with or kill her. She is not their enemy. What the Sand Snakes would want to do is to ruin and destroy Tywin's daughter, especially once they figured out that the bitch queen turned the killer of their father into an undead monstrosity. Which is something Lady Nym should realize in about five minutes after she arrives at court. They won't all leave. More importantly, though, the matter of the regency will be decided right now, when Kevan's corpse is discovered. Just as Mace Tyrell, the Hand, will decide who the Iron Throne is going to blame or accuse of the double murder. And their obvious scapegoat will be Cersei herself. Nobody is going to stop them from arresting her and accusing her of arranging the murders of Pycelle and Kevan, just as nobody saved Tyrion from getting arrested for Joffrey's murder. If Cersei had weeks and months of freedom of the castle (she is already under house arrest) to reconnect with folks back home and trusted lieutenants to raise more armies she could eventually seize power again. But she won't get either. She can't 'burn the all'. She doesn't have the wildfire and even if she did - the city won't burn now that it is snowing. Reread the Epilogue. Nobody is going the Faith Militant - and even if that happened. There are tens of thousands of sparrows in the city. They are a mass movement which is going nowhere. As Cersei is the legal heir of her lord father and now Lady of Casterly Rock her father's bannermen are hers now. It makes some sense that she distrusts Jaime and Kevan, but there it makes literally no sense that she wouldn't staff her court and council with Westermen she either trusts or wants to bind to herself. That is ... unless George wants to keep the Westermen out of the game until they are needed later on. She might try that. But without an army she cannot possibly cross the Riverlands ... and she doesn't have an army. Not to mention she would have been quickly captured by the Tyrells if she were to run away with Tommen. Her only chance to flee is by ship. And the notion that Cersei of all people could actually disguise herself properly or flee with no or only a very small retinue is pretty ludicrous. She once disguised herself as Jaime and she could pretend to be a serving girl while visiting Jaime in secret ... but she could not possibly travel the countryside without giving herself away immediately. To ally with Euron she has to search him out. And she could and would only do that once Tommen is gone as Euron wants Tommen's throne.
  22. Of course it does. What you mean is that the double murder will, as Varys predicts in the Epilogue, lead to further distrust, infighting, and killings ... but Cersei simply cannot be the person or faction who profits from that by regaining power. Because, again, she lacks the support, resources, and manpower to do it. Whatever she does cannot result in her regaining power. If she were to kill Mace/Margaery/Randyll she would be arrested by the Tyrell men in the castle. If she magically could kill them, too, then the tens of thousands of Tyrell men would just storm the castle and put her down. If she could magically make them disappear into thin air, the High Septon would turn the Kingslanders against her and they would storm the castle and put her down. And so on and so forth. There is no scenario imaginable in which Cersei could remove her (imaginary) enemies and convince the men serving them that she had nothing to do with that and would be the ideal person to be in charge again. And even if she could do that magically then the result would be that the Realm and large would immediately turn against her and Tommen, declaring for Aegon or another pretender. That is also why literally nobody suggesting that Cersei could regain power ever came up with a plausible scenario how this might happen. People just go on and say Cersei will be in charge again, treating the politics in the setting as non-existent and the characters involved as mindless drones. The only plausible scenario for her to gain power again is for her to leave KL, make a new alliance and/or raise another army in the West. And there are very plausible scenarios for both. There is subtle foreshadowing for the Euron alliance, and AFfC includes lines that indicate that Cersei and Tommen are genuinely loved by the rank-and-file of the Westermen. They didn't see her being paraded naked through the streets, and if they hear about that (best from Cersei's own lips after her return to Casterly Rock), if Cersei presents herself as a poor and helpless widow in distress, if she were to only get back home after the deaths of not just Joffrey but also Tommen and/or Myrcella ... then this would have a lot of potential to motivate the Westermen to take up arms again on her behalf. She is their rightful liege lady right now. If you look at AFfC it is also obviously a deliberate choice on George's part to not only have Cersei send the Westermen back home (to weaken Cersei/Tommen and make Aegon's rise easier and plausible) but also to have literally no Westermen but Ser Harys Swyft on the Small Council. Realistically Cersei should have staffed the council with her own lords bannermen in the wake of her father's death. Instead of Merryweather, Rosby, Qyburn, and the ridiculous Aurane Waters there should have been Marbrands, Presters, Crakehalls, Farmans, etc. It just makes no sense that she would favor morons from the Reach and Crownlands over men sworn to her as Lady of Casterly Rock. But plot-wise it makes a lot of sense ... because George wants the West out of the picture for the time being until Cersei uses them after she has to leave KL.
  23. While I'm fully behind that statement, I actually do think Cersei has the potential to become a truly feared figure if she successfully teams up with Euron. They could do such wonderfully terrible things together. And just think how much Qyburn and Euron could learn from each other! Once her children are gone Cersei is going to want to see the world burn. And she will acquire the means to do that. Not just puny KL (which was never her city, anyway) but Westeros. The people who assume or insist that Cersei's future is in KL lack the fantasy/imagination what she could accomplish if she teamed up with Euron and really unleashed the resources of Casterly Rock in the West.
  24. Sure, but she will get multiple fleets in any case. LOL, I'm sure they are well prepared to fight undead hordes in light of their 'professionalism'. But I didn't want to trigger you there, I just wanted to point out the economic basics of Westerosi society and its 'military'. Ser Waymar Royce was trained as a professional and he held his ground against one Other. Gared, who was an actual professional soldier, broke and run and 99 of 100 'soldiers' should follow his example once they actually see that wights and ice demons are real and the Wall is no more. Nah, this time winter will be full of monsters and should also come with a night that never ends.
  25. Drogo enslaves an entire khalasar in AGoT plus the Lhazareen that khalasar had just attacked. Those might easily enough be more people than the population of an entire city. Not to mention that nobody has actually suggested that the Slaver's Bay folks would go west through the Dothraki Sea. That would be for the Dothraki. But to be sure - we talk only about tens of thousands of people there, not all that many. There aren't millions of Meereenese. And some might choose to stay behind or move only to Volantis (which might turn into a paradise once the slaver parasites are all put down and the wealth is divided among the free people). You also have to consider that the Dothraki magically survive the winter in their sea. The grass is dying already, so winter seems to not exactly support the nomad lifestyle anymore. No idea how they do it ... but not my job to explain it. Bottom line remains - if George wants to move people from point A to point B it will happen. And if not, then not. But then he won't explain something not happening by way of it being logistically impossible ... as he just doesn't care about that. Logistics wasn't even the real issue Dany didn't leave Meereen - she wanted to stay and she could have gotten the ships she needed if she had wanted to. From Xaro and the Yunkai'i if need be. Dany's pitiful group of people in ACoK. Nobody said something as ridiculous as that. LOL, honestly, that would make more sense that a bunch of feudal assheads and fake medieval peasants do that job. They just keep showing that they don't even understand the danger, and that any of their levies have the stamina or the ability to stand against a zombie army - much less ice demons and ice spiders and whatever else the Others have in store - is ludicrous. At best a realistic ending of the book series would see a pitiful band of survivors flee to the Summer Isle to hope they can live for a time there and die of old age before all world freezes over and dies a shivering death.
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