Frey family reunion

Staying with the books, there is a way that Jace's genes could have been introduced into the Stark family line through the Mountain clans, and specifically through Arya Flint. Arra Norrey and Sara Snow apparently both grew up in Winterfell. Presumably both being close to Cregan, they may have been fairly close to each other as well. So it seems quite possible that Arra Norrey may have arranged a marriage alliance with someone in the Mountain clans through her family, to help out her friend Sara who may have been left with Jace's child. The child (or children if twins) grows up in the Mountain clans and one of his/her descendants being Arya Flint, who is then married into House Stark.

Every sperm is sacred.

No, it's not a flower. The flower that you cited is Agapanthus. The particular shade/variety of the Agapanthus you cited is labelled Lapis Lazuli. Lapis Lazuli is a mineral with a striking blue color. It's often used as a descriptor of other things. Kind of like calling something ruby red. So Lord Florent has a very ornamental breastplate. In much the same way that Rhaegar used rubies to adorn the dragon on his breastplate, Lord Florent uses Lapis Lazuli to adorn the ring of flowers on his. Which gives us a clue that the flowers on the Florent sigil are a blue circle of flowers. Which is an apparent call back to the blue roses on the crown that Rhaegar gives Lyanna.

Lapis Lazuli is a mineral. It's considered a deep blue in color. Presumably, Lord Florent used the Lapis Lazuli minerals to adorn his breastplate. Thus I think the real image is a red gold fox sticking his nose through a circle of blue flowers.

Yea, I agree. I guess that they're trying to keep Daemon semi-sympathetic with the audience to prevent him from becoming a one dimensional villain of the story. But in trying to straddle the line, they instead just played up to an ugly stereotype of the bitchy woman had it coming.

Is homosexuality considered a sin in Westeros? I haven't seen it specifically defined as such. The takeaway I have is that Westeros really doesn't have a concept of a sexual identity. At least not in the books. I think there seems to be fairly nonchalant view of a person's sexual preferences (at least for the nobility). I'm not sure anyone seems to really care that much as long as it doesn't get in the way of performing your duty to your House. Now the commonfolk may have different issues. We're not given much to go on there.

I gave it an 8. The show continues to treat GRRM's material seriously. I've also been impressed with the actors involved. Especially the guy playing King Viserys. Rhaenerya's potrayal has been pretty interesting as well. They're also doing a good job of fleshing out the world as well. I enjoyed the trip to High Tide as well. I still have issues with the half-assed way GOT presented Casterly Rock and Highgarden. Like everyone else, I thought Joffrey's murder at the wedding an odd decision. I suppose they kind of want to have a call back to the other Joffrey's death in the Purple Wedding. I guess they also didn't want to revisit a tourney so soon after the first episode. Either way, it's a bit messy. Presumably, the queen will get some witnesses to testify on behalf of Criston Cole (probably with the help of Larys, who seems interested in cozing up to the Queen).

I'm a bit surprised how lukewarm a lot of these reviews are. I really enjoyed last night's episode. I'm giving it a 9 out of 10. It was almost a 10 from me, but I had to deduct a point from some of the subpar cgi that distracted from the dragon scenes and the boar scene. The show is taking GRRM's world a lot more seriously than the original show did and even without fan favorite characters like Tyrion and Arya, I'm still becoming invested in the characters the show has given us.

Not necessarily, even though I really wish the show would address the issue. I think GRRM has set up the fact that the gold/silver hair and purple eyes are not necessarily ancillary to the bloodline that allows Targaryens to bond with dragons. Nettles, the "Strongs", Brown Ben Plumm, ect are all clues that you don't need a traditional Targaryen look to be a dragon rider. Personally, I think the relevation that the seafaring nature of the Velaryons makes them more likely than their Targaryen cousins to interact with cultures outside of Westeros, which occassionally leads to an outside marriage (such as with a high born Summer Islander), would add to the idea of Corlys being a bit of an outsider to some of the Lords of Westeros which in turn might have caused Rhaenys to lose support.

This has been the biggest missed opportunity IMO. Mysaria should have been a breakout character, someone given carte blanche to chew up the scenary. An actual "bad guy" for a show that really doesn't have one. She could have been a combo of Littlefinger and Melisandre. But instead we get a timid woman with a crush on Daemon.

I gave it a 7, one notch below last week. I still like the visuals of the show, and I like the fact that it's taking the source material more seriously in GOT. But it was slow. I can see a lot of casual viewers being bored stiff by the episode. The three best characters so far are Viserys, Daemon, and Rhaenrya by far. I thought how they've handled Mysaria is a big letdown. They've made her way too timid, and kind of like a one note foreign girlfriend of Daemon's. The impression that you got in the book was that she was a pretty formidable presence in her own right.

The most overt (almost to the point of parody) in Fire & Blood, was Queen Alysanne and King jaehaerys journey from Blackhaven to Storm's End:

It was the pause he gave before he gave his response that makes me suspicious that he's being very careful as to how he responds. I'm willing to bet it was his mistress that gave the toast. Those Essos women are always getting their Westerosi boyfriends in trouble.

I kind of assumed seventeen or eighteen. Yea, I can see a stink being raised.

How old is she supposed to be in the show?

I haven't heard it but let me guess, Probably why they made him Dornish.

Forgive me if this has already been brought up downstream on this thread, but is it possible that Daemon never said "Heir for the Day". We're taking his lack of denial as proof that he said it, but there is one other possibility. That Daemon is protecting the person that actually said the toast, his mistress Mysaria.

Yea, they may have Rhaenyra make the trip to Winterfell with her son Jace, or perhaps even in lieu of her son Jace. God I hope this thing doesn't completely go off the rails like GOT. ETA sorry I meant to respond to @Lady_Qohor

No, it was either In Deep Geek, or Joe Magician, one of those I think.

One of the youtube videos I watch, had a pretty interesting take on Alicent reading to Jahaerys. F&B specifically noted that Alicent was reading Septon Barth's book Unnatural History. The suggestion was that Alicent may have had an ulterior motive for using her postiion of caretaker to Jaehaerys to gain access to the information in the book. Probably a bit tinfoil, but interesting nonetheless. Is it possible that Alicent was trying to guage whether it would be possible for any children she had with a Targaryen dragonrider could also become a dragon rider? If so, it definitely implies that Alicent was more than a pawn in the game.

Yea, I see where you're coming from now. I guess the problem would be creating a schism between Rhaenyra and Viserys right before he appoints her his heir. Perhaps they could have had Rhaenys take up that role. But as of now Rhaenys just comes across as kind of aloof almost resigned to her lot.

I don't really understand your point here. It didn't appear that the scene was shown for a gratuitous thrill of violence against women. In fact the exact opposite was true. I think we were supposed to be horrified about how women's worth were only tied into their ability to deliver an heir to their husband. But if you really must criticize, don't criticize HBO or the show writers. Criticize GRRM. This scene was lifted from an earlier chapter in F&B when Rogar Baratheon made the exact same decision to authorize a fatal cesarean to try and save his child.

You said the clip implied that what Daemon did wasn't cheating. Of course it was cheating. Not being adequately punished for bad behavior doesn't absolve the bad behavior. ETA: personally I found the way the tourney was depicted as being one of the negatives of the show. It was really quite ridiculous how out of hand it got. The other problem was the crowd reaction. Really people should have been pretty horrified about what was happening.

No, comparing what Daemon did to what Aerion did in the Hedge Knight doesn't absolve it. Because what Aerion did was also dirty (even dirtier) as was widely acknowledged by everyone at the tourney. Aerion just avoided major punishment by being a Targaryen prince.

I think you’re right if they never attempt an explanation. I do think they need to address it and explain it. Because it makes a ton of sense that the Velaryons would have had more contact with foreign cultures than the other Houses. So it seems possible perhaps that Corlys’ father could have visited the Summer Islands and fallen for a high born woman there, married her and brought her back to Driftmark. Which in turn might give an additional motivation for a lot of the lords to have voted against Rhaenys’ claim or Laenor’s claim. Not only is the claim from a woman, there might be an additional element of prejudice against Corly‘ mother being a Summer Islander.