LynnS

The idea that the sun hid its face and the darkness started in the North, affecting the globe; mirrors descriptions of the year with no sun. Starting at 26 minutes:

Something interesting - The year without a sun 536 - 560 AD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter_of_536#:~:text=Modern scholarship has determined that,the atmosphere for several years. GRRM's inspiration for the Long Night perhaps?

I saw a fascinating demonstration of ChatGPT on The Philosophers Games podcast the other day! It just amazes me how far technology has progressed.

Cheers! I'm over the covid. It took about 10 days and lots of sleep. I've been thinking about the Sky Gods lately and I might have something in a week or so...

Yes, I can't explain it or comprehend it. These are characters in a story of high fantasy. We are meant to see them as flawed characters and some are vile beyond question. It's turned into a kind of competition for some readers. I don't know what to say to that and I pass on those threads. I am very much appreciating the humour that is coming out in some threads. There can't be too much of that for my liking.

More on green pea galaxies:

Rescheduled to Mar.5th:

Yah, I like that. Some kind of sorcery involved.

It was interesting to see video footage inside Gibralter. It gives me a better idea of how GRRM imagines the inside of Casterly Rock. You have to wonder how the Eyrie was built and if it was carved out of the mountain ,which seems easier than hawling up blocks of stone, to the pinnacle. Same with Dragonstone. It seems to be carved from the volcano with the main residence inside the volcano.

Not sure of the date of this interview, but more on Casterly Rock:

@Sly Wren This ones' for you. This dovetails with our discussion about Maester Aemon. Part 2 tomorrow.

Here's an interesting feature video. I wonder if oaths and curses work the same way in ASOIAF?

It seems pretty mild. I had some joint pain last week and I woke up with a sinus headache and a sure throat yesterday. But it seems to be going away though. I had two positive tests yesterday and one today. I'll be ok, I've had a pneumonia vax and 3 covid vax. But thanks!

Crap! I have covid. So i"m isolating in my room and I've made a nest out of pillows and fuzzy blankets. I'm listening to audiobooks and livestreams to pass the time.

I'm coming across a lot of this stuff as I'm delving into Tolkien lore. The use of light and fire against the shadows; Dany as an analog to Galadriel; in that Galadriel is tempted to use the power of the ring for good; but would eventually be corrupted by it. Everyone would love Galadriel/Dany and despair. The business of Arya as a dark angel who would help those who are tired of the injuries and pain of life by guiding them to the shadowland. An inversion of the elves (lesser angels/beings of light) doing the same for Frodo. The Black Gate/Night Gate used used as an entrance from the primary world to the secondary world and the entryway to a prison.

Does this remind you of anything?

I'm going to have re-read Dany chapters and shake off the cob webs. I think she will be Dany the Conqueror, at least of Essos and she inhabits a cruel and brutal world that shapes her to some extent. I'm not sure she knows what she wants at this point but she is being driven by those around her to follow their path instead of her own path. Aegon is in the same boat, perhaps more so than Dany. I think her heart is good and she would prefer the velvet glove to the iron fist; but she has to subdue a continent first and she will meet brutality with brutality, since this is the only language her foes understand. She will have to deal with all the unexpected consequences of the power she wields. It won't all go her own way. What choices she makes will fall into the category of the things we do for love.

Yes, if such a journal exists and why not. It could include correspondence between Rhaegar and Aemon; Bloodraven's thoughts and dreams, Aemon's dreams etc. If there is some connective tissue between show and book canon; then Dany's vision of Rhaegar, Elia and newborn Aegon, in the House of Undying, could influence her choices. Especially if Aemon and Bloodraven knew about Aegon the Conqeroos prophecy of the Song of Ice and Fire.

I don't know if he's going to do that. He's the one who said prophecy would bite your dick off every time. Didn't Gilly name Mance's son Aemon? I don't think Dany will go in for child sacrifice, period. She's more likely to be surprised that a wildling woman would name the boy after Aemon and that Jon would send Aemon and the child out of Mel's reach. Aemon might become her teacher after the fact anyway.

Silly me. I thought this was a reference to Coldhands only Jon will be Coldheart. I dp like the idea of Jon as an ice dragon though.

What Gilly, the wallflower, knows or doesn't know is a good question. Just because she is silent doesn't mean she doesn't know anything; listening and observing what is said around her on or off the page. Dany would certainly find out more about Aemon, and how he removed himself from the line of succession in favour of Aegon. Of course, I wonder what books he was sending to the Citadel and if they included his own journals. He was a maester and an academic after all. The idea intrigues me.

Well, no. I expect these fires she has to light to have some kind of magical component. We've been primed by the show to expect Dany to burn the Khals and walk out of the fire unburnt again. I'm just not sure it will happen that way. IIRC George said that Drogos funeral pyre was a one-time miraculous event. So I don't think she was given permanent immunity to fire. And does she need that when Drogon is likely to attack anyone who threatens her? So I don't know what the fires will be. However, there must be a reason why George has preserved Aemons body, in alcohol, no less. Someone has to give him a fiery funeral and I think that's likely to be Dany, if Marwyn does take Aemons remains with him. I imagine something less mundane and rather spectacular. A funeral pyre a big as Julius Caesars and pyrotechnics befitting an alcohol soaked body. He is also kings blood and this would make Melisandres leach burning look like childs play. I wonder what Dany will see in the flames this time. Pure speculation, but that's what I imagine.

I don't think being selected for the KG is criteria for being the Sword of the Morning. Likely the other way around.

Both Jamie and Ned think that Arthur was the finest knight in the realm. Not just for his skill as a warrior, but for the quality of his character.