Ser Lepus

On 1/14/2023 at 9:42 AM, astarkchoice said:

Normal for  the 0.001% you mean

As I said, "everybody with power...".

On 1/12/2023 at 11:29 AM, astarkchoice said:

Like believing all lives are forfeit so she can rule a country shes never set foot in by divine right of birth? That sort of maddness.

That's normal for Westerosi. Everybody with power thinks that they are owed their position due to their birth...

On 1/4/2023 at 3:30 PM, kissdbyfire said:

Most heart trees are weirwoods, but not all.

ETA: heart trees are any trees w/ carved faces.

But in the old times they used to always be weirwood trees.

Because the weirwood tree is the "heart" or "core" of the sacred garden. The Children of the Forest's places of worship were sacred weirwood groves in the forests. When the First Men adopted their religion, they planted "forests" in their castles, and put a weirwood at its center to mimic the CotF's sacred groves... The weirdwood tree is the "heart" because it's the most important part of the garden, it's what makes the garden a sacred grove instead of just a mere garden.

On 6/4/2019 at 4:06 AM, Lord_Ravenstone said:

Actually, you’re wrong here. 

Sansa would pass the Stark name off to her sons. It’s already happened in the past with previous Starks and it happened with the Lannisters too. Bael Bard had a bastard with the Last Stark’s daughter who he legitimized as a Stark to inherit for him.

All the current Starks and Lannisters are descended from Brandon the Builder and Lann the Clever via the female line although I could always see Sansa marrying a Karstark thereby keeping her line pure wolf.

The part about the Lannister is true: They are descendants of Ser Joffrey Lydden, who married a Lannister heiress...

But the story of Bael the Bard is nothing but a wildling folktale.

I have realized that in the books BIIIIIIIIIG SPOOOOOOOOOOILEEEEEEER!!!!

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It is likely that Sansa will rule the Vale and Rickon the North, but D&D have removed so many plotlines that they had to settle for Rickon dying and Sansa ruling the North...

 

10 hours ago, Vashon said:

I just realized something. Old Town is still intact, and there is nothing preventing the Faith of the Seven from reviving its militant orders. And they still have the Maesters spying on everyone and poisoning away all potential problems and putting propaganda directly into the minds of young nobles.

Looks like the Faith wins, by outlasting everyone, and Old Town will come to dominate Westeros again, and this time there won't even be strong regional monarchs/paramounts to oppose them. The only large scale military that will exist will be the Faith's, and they will probably re-introduce Lord's Right to First Night to puff up the number of bastards and surplus males.

I guess the lesson here is, if you war against a religion and endeavor to de-fang it that isn't good enough, because that religion will just outlast you.

The Faith doesn't control the Maesters.

1 hour ago, Lord Varys said:

Westeros doesn't agree with you.

But that's not an assertion I did make, did I? I said the scenario as presented by the show is ludicrous - but it is equally ludicrous that a lot of people would make a fuzz about Dany killing a bunch of enemies because nobody in this world gives a rat's ass whether the smallfolk 'yields'. Nor has anybody at this point in this series actually ever expressed regret or doubt about the smallfolk on the other side of a conflict. There is literally zero consideration for this kind of thing.

People do care for their own smallfolk up to a point, and there are people, like Stannis, who refuse to punish the smallfolk for a betrayal of their lord. But this never extends to the point that wars or battles are not fought because the result could be the deaths of innocent bystanders on the enemy side. Nobody cares about that in this world.

And this should even be more true after the War for the Dawn is over. If Dany were to burn all five great cities of Westeros at that point people would likely just shrug. The winter they lived though should be much more horrible than anything we can imagine. As early as autumn Catelyn and her band of thugs are hanging people left and right. 

Care for commoners is a modern concept that has no place in George R. R. Martin's Westeros. There are small traces of this in Doran Martell's political approach and the softness of Edmure Tully - but that extends only to your own smallfolk, not to the smallfolk of your enemies. And curiously enough the only person who gave a rat's ass about the lives of innocents she basically had nothing to do with actually is Daenerys.

Tyranny in Westeros never was burning peasants. It was mistreating the nobility and limiting the powers of the Faith. If Dany does that she might become problems. But if she just burns down a city - with or without good reason - then nobody in this world is going to fault her for that.

I mean, just think of the Dance. The Two Betrayers burned down Tumbleton but they were not later betrayed and killed by their allies because they killed thousands of innocent commoners - they were killed because they were seen as lowborn scum who overreached themselves.

Dany gains NOTHING from burning the commoners. The freaking Red Keep was in front of her like a sitting duck, waiting to be attacked, and she chose to slaughter the commoners instead! These aren't "normal" medieval atrocities, that are "I am gonna burn my subjects for no reason, so TV watchers will know that I am mad and evil durr durr!"

1 hour ago, olibar said:

Why does everyone keep saying that Dany has gone mad?  Her decision was perfectly rational.

Unlike her father, who was going to burn a city for no strategic reason, the razing of a city by an invader who has enough firepower in reserve and the will (or appearance of the will) to repeat the tactic on other locations is a sound military strategy.  

Furthermore, the complete destruction of the city will allow the victor to control the narrative of what occurred in the histories.  Dany can tell the world that the bells never tolled, that Circie fought until the bitter end, and there is no one alive who can or will say differently.  Or the very few who can can be labeled as Lanister sympathizers and executed.

On the flip side, let's say Dany stops the attack with the bells.  Best case scenario has her deposed within weeks as the call for the "true King" of the Seven Kingdoms to take the throne grows louder and louder.  If she kills Jon, the people revolt and she's lost.  Worst case scenario is that this was another Lanister trap, set up by Tyrion, that ends with her and Drogon dead.

There is no doubt that what Dany did was evil, but it was also sane.

Uh... nope. No it wasn't rational at all.

The Red Keep was in front of her. She could have attacked it and killed Cersei, or at least scared the shit out of all the witnesses... but she chose to attack the commoners while Cersei watched from the window... if Cersei had half a brain cell, she could have escaped on time with Qyburn through the tunnels while Dany ruined her reputation on her own volition...

And "control the narrative..." the northeners were there. There are survivors escaping the city, and Lannister soldiers have probably escaped too. They will tell the truth, the tale of the Mad Queen... and there is a city down to cinders to prove it. What is Dany going to do, hunt the fleeing survivors across Westeros? She won't get them all. There is no way the tale of the Mad Queen won't spread around.

Or maybe she will invent the radio, TV and newspapers so her propaganda can drown the rumors?

Westerosi lords were already swearing loyalty to her. The King of the North was in her palm and in her bed. She could have taken power seamlessly. Now everybody will think she is mad. She will have to keep guard constantly, using terror as her only weapon to keep everybody in line... and is some day Drogon isn't there, she is dead... Not to mention Drogon can't protect her inside castles... she can be assassinated or poisoned...

I used to wish for her to return to Slaver's Bay and rule there, but now I think death would be a more merciful end... the character is ruined...

On 7/12/2016 at 8:34 PM, Lost Melnibonean said:

Elric of Melnibone. 

I don't really like the Elric of Melnibone books... Elric kind of... passively allows his fate to carry him... When he does something good/right/intelligent, it is usually because a wiser character is telling him that it his his fate or that he was chosen or just that is the best option; otherwise he willingly falls in the snares of Chaos, surrending to his destiny...

There isn't any real character growth... he is like "woe of me, damned to this terrible fate I'm barely doing anything to avoid!"

I can't read the content of many posts that include quotes.

Sorry, double post.

This is kind of how I'm reading it too, Ellaria wants war, Doran does not. My theory is that Ellaria and Tyene orchestrated this without Doran's knowledge knowing that Trystane, the only heir, would become a captive in KL thereby forcing Doran's hand.

That's the best I've got

Doran will probably hand Ellaria and all his nieces to Cersei or whoever rules at KL in exchange for the return of Trystane.

Holy...

Well, let look for the silver lining: Sothoyros may become a pretty nice, disease-free, temperate place during the incoming glacial age that nobody will be able to stop (or even try to stop it because everybody will be too busy fighting everybody else)...

The search function doesn't work for me. I can't view new content or view my content. Is anybody else having this problem, or am I the only one? I would like to know before contancting the mods.

EDIT: I have read the answer in another post.

or did Aegons conquest pacify the region: another thing that amnazes me: how "uneventfull" Arianne journey is.

Aegon has barely started his own war for the throne of Westeros, it is going to be a long time before he can do anything about the Stepstones, if he even lives that far.

What I was thinking about is...will the war over the Stepstones escalate to a point where more powers (Myr, Braavos, Lorath, Pentos, Volantis, Summer Islands) get dragged into it? The battles between Lys and Tyrosh seem to have reached a point in which no trading ship will dare to cross the Stepstones.

It would certainly fit the theme of the books, with the Others marching south, the Westerosi slaughtering each other, Dany fighting Yunkai, Tolos, Elirya, Mantarys, Volantis and Qarth, a slave revolt brewing in Volantis, Lys and Tyrosh at war and a corsair king attacking Tall Trees. It seems that GRRM intends for his world to be thrown into complete disarray.

I wonder...Myr, Lys and Tyrosh seem to have started a full out maritime war in the Stepstones, Aurane Waters and Sallador Saan are there too, plus the pirates that were already there, plus the Ironborn fleet swept through them too, and still have to make the way back, and the Golden Company are taking control of some islands near there (Estermont and Tarth, for example), and even krakens are surfacing to prey on galleys...

Taking into account that the Stepstones bottleneck is swarming with warships, will the trade routes between the Narrow and Summer seas get cut? How will that affect the economy, already damaged by Slaver's Bay's war? Will Braavos, Lorath, Pentos, Volantis and the Summer Islands do something to unlock the Stepstones?

Question: When are you going to include the new information GRRM gave in his spanish interview?