The hairy bear

I'd add that the idea that Aegon was infertile not only is the only reasonably consistent theory that fans have come up with to explain the contents of Nymor's letter, but also is suspected by many people in Westeros. It seems clear to me, at least, that Glyndan thinks that's the case. The way he stresses how Aegon spent lots of nights with Rhaenys, that the boy didn't resemble Aegon at all, that there were rumors about his parenthood right after his birth, that Rhaenys surrounded herself with favourites,... it can't be by chance that Glyndayn writes that Aenys lacked Aegon's "size and strength", but had a great singing voice and was "charming and clever" (right after giving echo to the rumor that his real father was "a singer, a mummer or a mime".)

I think the outcome of this scenario would depend a lot on the reaction to Joffrey's murder of Cersei and Tywin. One imagines that Cerseicshe would push for a brutal and disproportionate response directed, more or less, to the general population of King's Landing. Depending of how much she is able impose her will, that could easily lead to much more anti-Lannister opposition within the city. When Joffrey died, Tywin was about to leave Harrenhal and move West to face Edmure at the Red Fork. On the event of Joffrey's death, he may decide that he is needed in King's Landing to control the clearly inept Cersei and Tyrion, and attend the coronation. That changes everything: no battles of the Red Fork, possibly no battle of the Blackwater,...

We have seen plenty of bastards in the series portrayed in a positive light: Mycella and Tommen, Edric Storm, Gendry, Sarella Sand, Rolland Storm,... All of them are nice people. I'd also say the some of the most evil characters in the series are trueborn children: Twyin Lannister, Gregor Clegane, Roose Bolton, Euron Greyjoy...

Jaehaerys was speaking within living memory of Orys's birth. He also makes that claim in the presence of the Grand Maester and Lord Velaryon, who would know about it.

@Alester Florent In Fire and Blood, Jahaerys considers common knowledge that that Orys is Aeryon Targaryen's bastard:

In addition to Alester Florent's great points, there's also the fact that we do not know how many daughters Lord Royce has. If Ysilla's "marriage value" would go down significantly if she was Yohn's sixth of seventh daughter. It seems that the rules of succession of Winterfell disregards female claimants (George has confirmed that there has never been a Lady of Winterfell or Queen of Winter, and with a lineage extending for several millennia, that can only happen if women are barred from inheriting). So, presumably, if Edwyle and Rickard had suddenly died, Winterfell would have gone to the closest male available. Still, I agree that the marriage seems strange. It's worth noticing that, in Jocelyn's generation, there's the only other marriage of a Stark with anyone who isn't from the North or a Blackwood: her cousin's Branda Stark wedding with Harrold Rogers. Those two girls would be too old to remain unmarried by the time of the War of the Ninepenny Kings, so it can't be explained by friendships during the war. And House Rogers and a secondary branch of House Royce are not important enough to suspect early steps of "Southern ambitions". But yeah, there might be something to dig here. On the paper, the weirdest marriage I can think of is Gerold Lannister and Rohanne Webber. But surely that's something that George plans to explain in a future D&E story.

I think LF takes it for granted that Robert will drop dead sooner or later. He has all the information available, and has had the resources to consult with the most expert maesters. We are told that the seizures are becoming more and more frequent, and that may be a bad sign. LF claims in the AFFC that it's not a matter of if Robert dies, but when. And if when Robert dies LF hasn't done anything, then Harry inherits the Vale and, as you say, he owes him nothing. He can be kicked away immediately. That's why LF tries to manipulate things so that he can control him in some way. Marrying him to his Sansa, helping him rise to lordship, and maybe, even making him complicit in Sweetrobin's death, would be strong steps in that direction. The world app claims Harry was 18 when knighted. Strong disagree. You are basing your claim on mistakes that she did when she was eleven, and without having all the information and the privilege of retrospect. Sansa has mastered all the lessons he was taught by her septa (sewing, songs, heraldry,...). She was able to identify Barristan Selmy and Renly Baratheon instantly and under stress. When she became a prisoner, she quickly developed strong survival skills, and even managing to manipulate his captors on occasion (such as when he convinced Joffrey not to execute Dontos). She has managed to keep the Alaynne persona at the Eyre without being discovered... I suggest you to read this excellent tmblr on the matter.

Fair enough. I'd say that the "effect" is not set in stone, though. A character's perception can change through times, and there's already an established trend of portraying Shylock as a sympathetic character. There was a time where Wagner's music was seen as nazi propaganda, and in some places it's still associated with it. But let's not derail the thread and go back to topic, dreadful as it is.

There's still debate among scholars on whether Shylock was intended as an antisemitic caricature. And even if Shakespeare played with common Jewish stereotypes, and made Shylock an horrible man, his Christian comrades in the play are just as petty, dishonest and despicable as him (if not more).

In ASOS Tywin gives Cersei the credit for the wildfire. But the chain prevented the ships to retreat downriver, and created zone of congestion where the ships that had been hit by wildfire set ablaze the ones that had not. Without the chain, much more ships would have been able to escape the wildfire, and they could have ferried much more men to the other side than the reduced number of soldiers that were brave enough to cross the river through a bridge of burning wreckage about to collapse.

But he can't, can he? If the Lannister regime falls, exactly 0 riverlords and at most a couple of lords from the Vale would follow him. For a Targaryen invader who wants the backing of the lords of the Vale, it seems to me that it would be wiser to negotiate with Lord Royce than with Littlefinger. The story seem to lead to Jon Snow becoming Dany's lover (the HotU prophecy) and Tyrion becoming a trusted advisor of hers (her knowledge about dragons and saddles). They would object. And as you say, Littlefinger has foolshly confided a lot of his crimes to Sansa, and she is also likely to object.

But the appendixes give us the gender of the main lords of each region, so I'd say the comparison is still fair. Out of 18 Northern houses, 6 are ruled by females at some point during the books (33,3%). Out of 22 houses from the West, 2 are ruled by females (9,1%). Fair enough. But at the same time, there's the fact that the two most significant groups of First Men that have remained free of Andal influence seem to be fairly open to leading women: the wildlings have many clan mothers and spearwives, while the Mountain Clans have Chella amongst their most important chieftains)

It doesn't seem a very strong motivation: Viserys was Jaehaerys' grandson, and Laenor his grand-grandson. There may have been some resentment that might have played a part, but it can't have been the only factor. While it is true that the North is not as progressive as Dorne, it's still by far the region where we have more examples of ruling ladies: Dacey Mormont, Barbrey Dustin, Lyessa Flint, Jonelle Cerwyn, Eddara Tallhart, and Donella Hornwood. This may be circumstantial, but still a case can be made that the first men culture is less adverse to ruling women than the Andal tradition.

Regarding Ramsay, theoretically only kings can legitimize bastards. When the negotiations at the Twins were taking place, Robb wasn't a king, so a marriage with Ramsay had no political value at all. So yeah, negotiating Roose marriage to Walda Frey would make more sense. But Robb and Catelyn could not force Roose to marry at their will. They would have to offer him something. And a three-part negotiations would probably take too much time. I honestly believe that, given the time pressure and being Walder the rotten piece of shit that he is, the deal Catelyn struck was probably the best one possible at the moment.

You are right, of course, but I don't think Littlefinger can manage to survive. He has betrayed far too many people, and his lies will eventually surface. He betrayed all his benefactors: first Hoster Tully by deflowering his daughter, then Jon Arryn and Lysa by murdering them. He also betrayed the Starks (leading to Ned's execution), the Lannisters (playing a part in Joffrey's murder), and the Tyrells (by helping Sansa Stark escape). If Stannis prevails, he'll have something to say about the man who spread the rumour that Shireen had been fathered by Patchface. And if it's Dany who comes out on top, Varys will tell her that he advocated for her assassination on Robert's Small Council, and Tyrion will not have forgotten about the dagger. IMHO, he is already in a dire situation, even if he doesn't realize it.

Walder had negotiated a marriage to a Lord Paramount. Although Robb had become a king by the time the marriage pact went awry, offering Edmure in his place was in line with the initial pact. Ofering Brynden would have been an insult. He is an old man without lands or incomes, and with no realistic chances to inherit anything.

Why couldn't Margaery and Lyanna share some resemblance? Of course Ned didn't think that anyone looked like his dear long-lost sister, but for an external viewer, why not? It's not only that they were both brown-haired. They also share other characteristics such as the slender figure, the pale skin, and the age: Margaery is 15, and Lyanna was just as old the last time Robert saw her. I think that last one is particularly significant. Besides Lyanna and Margaery, we are also told that the whore who gave birth to Barra was 15, and there are hints that Mya Stone's mother and Delena Florent may have been similarly young when Robert left them pregnant. I suspect (and maybe Renly guessed that too) that Robert had a fetish for fifteen year old girls. (Robert's 15 may be DiCaprio's 25).

But isn't it a little unfair to judge that in retrospect? I mean, Robb is also scared by the Greatjon. He is violent, brutish and insubordinate. He went as far as to draw his sword against Robb, and if it weren't for Grey Wind's intervention, who knows how that may have ended. He also has an uncle called the "Whoresbane", as per the healthy practice of disemboweling whores. And of course, the banner of house Umber is a giant breaking his chains, which plainly reveals that they plan to revolt against their liege lords. George could as easily have written a story where Roose turns out to be loyal and the Greatjon betrays Robb to the Lannisters. But without the benefit of hindsight, wouldn't any wise advisor suggest to trust the prudent pale-skinned lord instead of the unruly one?

Could you give examples of actions from the books that you think that are out of place for a kid? That's a debate that I've always found a little bit strange, because while there are people like you that claim the kids act older than they are, there are also many people complaining that Arya wastes Jacen's three deaths on unimportant people or that Sansa is a fool for not seeing through Joffrey and believing in true knights. Lady Jocelyn at sixteen years old was one of the great beauties of the realm; a long-legged, full-breasted maid with thick straight hair that fell to her waist, black as a raven’s wing. Prince Aemon was one year younger at fifteen, but all agreed that they made a handsome couple. An inch shy of six feet tall, Jocelyn would have towered over most of the lords of Westeros, but the Prince of Dragonstone had three inches on her. The couple would be notably tall, but that's precisely why their height is remarked. It was unusual. Plus, the are both nobles (healthy and well-fed), and both coming from a distinct racial background (they both would be within normal parameters in the Netherlands).

So... Catelyn gave Robb bad counsel because she failed to warn him that the loyalty of his vassals should be assessed on the basis of their banners and their looks? She should have also warned his family about those nasty Mallisters. Eagles are known to prey on fishes, now and then. And of course, Jaime, Cersei and Joffrey's beauty would make them totally trustworthy. Are you reaching that conclusion on the basis of a single known instance when Ned didn't listen to him? If Roose was able to propose to kill Barristan to both Ned and Robert, it means that he had access to the inner circle of the Rebellion. I don't seen any indication that he wasn't trusted. Barristan was badly wounded, and he had just killed a dozen noble friends. He was loyal to the old regime, and being one of the few people the Mad King would listen, one could wonder if she couldn't have intervened to restrain him during his cruelest crimes. I'm sure Roose wouldn't have been the only one thinking that Barristan should be killed. A history from more than one thousand years ago!!! Come on! Doran Martell trusts Anders Yronwood. Jon Arryn trusted Yohn Royce. Their ancestors also killed each other, and surely there are horrible tales of murder and betrayal in each family's past. This is Westeros. All thee bannermen of every single lord were once rivals and enemies.

The idea that the groups of three present in the House of the Undying prophecy each correspond to three weddings/stages in Dany's life has been around since ACOK was published. The first item of each group can be easily identified with Drogo or Dany's life with the Dothraki. The corpse being having "grey lips smiling" has been identified with a "Grey joy".

I think you exaggerate when you claim Sansa was a "carbon copy" of Cat. Once she died her hair, you'd only have a blue-eyed girl with high cheekbones. Those are not features that would arise suspicion by themselves. There are tons of girls like that. I'd say that what's most telling of Sansa's identity is not her looks, but how Alayne's "appearance" coincides in time with Sansa's disappearance. But I wouldn't take the fact that no Vale noble has openly identified Alayne as Sansa as proof that no one suspects it. As Sace says, many people seems to be suspicious. But someone like Lord Royce may prefer to wait and see how things develop, instead of ratting out Sansa. There are a few considerations that I think are worth noting here: The average lord would have killed Jon on the spot. The idea that someone who is not suspicious of Targaryen sympathies (they had killed his entire family) would want to put his own honor in question to raise the son of the man who raped his sister would be entirely alien to the mindset of most nobles of Westeros. All the Targaryen offspring in living memory had Valyrian looks, including the three sons of Egg with a Blackwood mother. We don't have the precise timeline of the war, but it was tight. It lasted just for about a year. There's a small window of opportunity for the infant to have been born by the end of the war. The Tower of Joy wasn't entirely isolated from the rest of Westeros. There would be servants, the knights of the KG came and went, people from Starfall may have visited... For one reason or another, none of those reported on Lyanna being pregnant. Apparently, Eddard managed to convince everyone that Jon was younger than he really was. No one believes that Ned had "nightly visitors" on a recurrent basis. But a one night stand can produce a bastard just as easily. We know that Ned separated from his army of thousands of men on occasion. He went to fight at the tower of Joy with just six friends. No one was with him the whole time.

It's always great to be able to read the script. It's very interesting to see the differences between what the writers intended vs. you ended watching. In this case, I like how many of the pilot's biggest flaws that the pilot are not present in the script: Daemon's raid at Flea Bottom makes more sense as written. Seeing the City Watch actually kicking in doors of taverns and fighting pits would have helped to drive home the idea that they were arresting specific criminals, instead of giving the impressions that they were arresting random passerbyes. The excessive violence in the tourney, with the deaths of multiple knights, is absent: the script only has two unsportsmanlike knights beating each other, a twisted leg, and an a single accidental death. The tourney knights mentioned in the script are all from houses that make sense: Baratheon, Tully, Tarly, Darklyn and Corbray. Whoever had the idea to add a Stark and a Bolton really dropped the ball. Also, the script clearly specifies that "two hundred knights from every house and hedge great and small have come to join the games". The show only gave us 14 participants (and only their banners were displayed on the tourney grounds). I prefer Cole beating Daemon fair and straight, instead of the surprise attack that we ended having. The filmed version has Harrold Westerling claim that Cole has just "unhorsed both of the Baratheon lads" right after he is introduced, and we have seen him unhorsing just one Baratheon lad. Now it makes more sense, seeing that Cole was introduced in day one of the tourney, and Harrold says that in day two. But if they wanted to have a single day of tourney for pacing reasons, I feel that they should have changed the quote. Same thing with Alicent identifying Cole as someone with Dornish heritage. The script describes him as olive-skinned. But once they had cast Frankel in the role, and given that his skin is indistinguishable from anyone else around, someone should have thought of scraping that line" There are a couple of instances, though, where I think that the final version improved on that script. One is the "heir for a day" scene (it works much better intercutting the scenes and not showing the actual sentence). The other is getting rid of the statues (why would ever Jaehaerys or even Viserys put a statue of Maegor on the throne room!)

You ask for evidence, yet you do not provide any yourself. It seems to me that the one making extraordinary claims that are not supported by the text (such as that Maegor mostly shunned Ceryse, or that Maegor was "an explicit enemy of the Faith" from "very early on") should be the one that brings it forward. So... just as every other single bedding between nobles in the continent? Aren't you seeing the situation through a 21st century lens? A marriage hasn't anything to do with love. Everyone (including Ceryse) would agree that Maegor was in his right to consummate the marriage as many times as he wished. The Faith wouldn't look down on any knight for being vicious and brutal. We know that when Maegor abandoned her, she still continued to insist that she was Maegor’s only lawful wife. If she really despised Maegor to the point to avoid getting pregnant, why would she want to come back with him?!?

Very early on? Maegor married Ceryse when he was 13. He didn't do anything to antagonize the Faith until he was 27, when he married a second time. During the entirety of his marriage to Ceryse, there wasn't any bad blood between them. Let's not forget that it was the High Septon himself who pushed for this marriage. It's never said that Maegor shunned Ceryse when they were together. Quite the opposite: the lords who bore witness to the bedding all agreed that the prince made a lusty husband, and Maegor himself boasted that he had consummated the marriage a dozen times that night. “I made a son for House Targaryen last night,” he proclaimed as he broke fast. A great feast was held at the Hightower to celebrate their reconciliation; the revels even included a bedding and a “second consummation,” so all men would know this to be a true and loving union.