Eden-Mackenzie

It seems to me that rather than creating actual cadet branches with separate holdings of their own, such as the Karstarks or Daynes of High Hermitage or others mentioned above, Westerosi tradition seems to keep younger sons as a part of the lord's household or head to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Kevan Lannister has no holdings of his own, but works for Tywin. The myriad of Frey sons and grandsons all seem to have remained at the Twins. None of the Karstark uncles, Umber uncles, Mace Tyrell's siblings, Blackfish, Oberyn and Llewyn Martell, etc. have been granted lands or titles beyond "Ser" (Martells are born as "Prince"). A few cadet branches have sprouted recently, but those were mostly born out of the necessities of war (Nestor Royce, Lancel, Emmon, etc.) rather than being "true" cadets, a la Karstarks. Since we know nothing about the origins Lannisters of Lannisports, Starks of White Harbor, or Arryns of Gulltown, we really have no idea how these offshoots were created. I think it could be that these families were created by younger sons who said "forget it" and went to learn a trade of some sort, rather than live as an underling in their brother's/uncle's/cousin's household. They're all located in their region's city, and medieval cities were places where tradesmen and merchants lived, while lords and ladies just visited when summoned by their superior. After all, Cat did not mention the Starks of White Harbor or Barrowton when listing possible heirs, she mentioned non-Starks (in name) from the Vale as Robb's next closest heirs.

Korn's Freak on a Leash for Ramsay and Theon

Oh, I agree, you're most likely right it wouldn't have mattered, but I still think Roose could have tried. Especially considering how many Northern lords had sons roughly the same age Domeric appears to have been.

He murdered a peasant and then raped his wife simply because the man had had the audacity to get married without letting Roose have sex with the bride to be first. Later he ripped out the tongue of the brother of the dead man to keep him from tattling to his lord. Ramsay's exploits with girls and his dogs were known, to Roose and others in the North, Lady Hornwood had heard of them before their "wedding", yet rather than put an end to it, Roose told Ramsay to be more discreet. Roose played a role in the planning and execution of the Red Wedding, and before that he sent men whose loyalty to Robb was strongest on a ridiculous mission to Duskendale, with the sole purpose of getting them captured or killed so they would be unable to help Robb retake the North. Being no more cruel than Tywin does not make Roose un-cruel.

But, had he not "befriended" Ramsay, Domeric would have spent the years leading up to the war under Roose's tutelage, learning how to be Lord of the Dreadfort. Roose is nothing if not pragmatic (and cruel, but for the most part he keeps his cruelty well-hidden), and I would imagine that a few years under Roose would eliminate at least some of Domeric's naïveté. I do have to wonder at Roose's reaction to Domeric's wanting a relationship with Ramsay though. Rather than just discouraging/forbidding their meeting, if Roose had presented an alternative, such as encouraging him to form relationships with other lords' sons, Domeric may have lived... Roose could have even provided him with "friends", like he did with Ramsay and the Bastard's Boys.

Eh, you may be right. According to the wiki Domeric died not too long before the books started, and he most likely was not in his late 20s/early 30s when he died. The phrasing of Roose's description reads (to me) as though Lyanna and Domeric were contemporaries though - "could outrace" implies (again, to me) a direct comparison was possible. Also, Roose is a bit older than Ned, I think he was closer to Rickard in age than Ned (especially with his talk of not living to see Walda's child reach majority age), so it would make sense if his son was also older. Ramsay's age is unknown, as far as I remember, but I would place him as at least Theon's age if not older, and Theon was older than Robb, and I believe Domeric was older than Ramsay...? If Domeric was closer to Robb's age, then he would be even more likely (in my opinion) to die fighting in Wo5K, as he likely would have been fighting as one of Robb's guards. He also would likely have held less sway in the Vale...

If you had not added the stipulation that both Roose and Ramsay were dead when Wo5K broke out, I would say Domeric would have died in the war, since that is what happened to almost if not every single Northern heir who went south (Ramsay was able to stay in the north because he was not Roose's recognized heir at the time). Had Domeric lived, and had he been a decent person and not a sick, twisted fuck, he could have been invaluable to Robb with his connections to the Vale, but whether that would have been enough to convince to Lords of the Vale to disobey Lysa and join Robb is hard to say. Based on the comparisons to Lyanna, I would say Domeric was at least 10-15 years older than Robb, so he might not have had the same seniority in Robb's army as Roose, so someone else likely would have stayed at the Twins to keep the Freys in line, and perhaps they would have remained loyal to Robb. So, hypothetically, things could have been dramatically improved for Robb.

She's a singer from across the Narrow Sea. Catelyn and Brienne had been discussing songs and singers, and just before mentioning this woman Brienne says they had singers at Evenfall Hall every year. There were singers from Essos at the Purple Wedding, and we know purple eyes are present in at least Lys. Brienne notes she only sang in an unknown language; as a Targaryen I would think she would know a few songs in the Common Tongue, and if she was someone of importance, I think Brienne would have learned it at some point, even if it had been after the fact. As much as we all focus on the mysterious being that is Howland Reed, I personally find Lord Selwyn Tarth to be just as conspicuously absent. He is lord of one of the main houses of the Stormlands, but do not know who he sided with during Robert's Rebellion, and unknown relation Ser Endrew Tarth is at the Wall, presumably for the same reason as Ser Alliser Thorne and Ser Jaremy Ryker. He has one of the great hereditary nicknames, the Evenstar, but we don't know if it is automatic, like the Wull, or must be earned, like the Sword of the Morning. Like House Dayne of Starfall, the words of House Tarth of Evenfall Hall are unknown, and the names of their keeps are strikingly similar. Sorry to go slightly off-topic, but I would really like some more information about this family, and with this new information it looks like I might just get it. Maybe. At some point.

Maybe that's why the grey-lipped smile is sad...? Or, maybe the prophecy only concerns Westerosi marriages, since that is Dany's true calling/purpose/destiny? Yes, Drogo was not Weserosi, but their marriage was intended to be the impetus for the Targaryen restoration in Westeros, first for Viserys and then for Dany and Rhaego, or from Illyrio's POV, Aegon. Euron wants the Iron Throne as well, he told Victarion as much, so a wedding between Dany and Euron would have the goal of seating them (him) on the Iron Throne, while a wedding with Vicatrion does nothing but ensure conflict with Euron. Dany and Jon would be a return to the Targaryen Way, assuming of course R+L=J and Aegon is fAegon and Dany and Jon live (un-die?) to the end and actually claim the throne in the names of their fathers. Whereas Hizdahr is just about control of Meereen, and Meereen does not matter.

Doesn't Dany admit at one point that Daario is a completely unacceptable consort? With 1 and 3 describing Drogo and Jon, it seems like 2 should also describe a likely match, and not just Dany's lust crush. Victarion is not the only Greyjoy suitor Dany has; after all, Euron sent Victarion to Essos to fetch him his bride. From Arya's first encounter with the Ghost of High Heart: I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings. (ASOS 22) The day of Balon Greyjoy's death, Euron Crow's Eye returns from exile. He is often described as smiling, as opposed to his dour younger brother, and his lips are blue from drinking Shade of the Evening. And then there are is eyes, thr one that he keeps hidden behind an eye patch, and the other, which is referred to as his smiling eye and has been described as "blue as a summer sky", "glittering", "shining", and "bright". Also, I believe Euron's Silence is the only ship whose prow and figurehead get more than a passing mention in the books, as they are described at least twice by Victarion in almost identical terms. His figurehead has no mouth so cannot smile, but her eyes are mother of pearl, which could also be described as "bright". Euron Greyjoy is Dany's second suitor' the corpse with the bright eyes, not Victarion, and not Daario. Except Euron is already dead and has been replaced by a Faceless Man, because the Faceless Men are up to something regarding the dragons.

Nah, at least not beyond the title. Sabbath's music is too ... upbeat...? for Theon. Mad World is soooo mournful, and whenever I hear it I imagine Theon roaming the walls of Winterfell with a montage of memories playing in his mind, and song ends when he runs into someone (spearwife, Barbrey Dustin, the Hooded Man, etc.). But maybe that's just me...

Gary Jules's Mad World always makes me think of Theon.

The only way to conquer the North (which I'm reading as "unseat the Starks") is from within. The Wall cannot be breached from the north, however it is vulnerable from the south. Moat Cailin cannot be taken from the south, but there are ways around it, if you know where to look. The amount of time and effort it would take to surreptitiously forge alliances and gather numbers large enough to defeat the Starks will likely take years, so unless by a happy accident you managed to start this process at the very beginning of a very long summer, winter is going to come, at which point your only two options will be hunker down and wait for the thaw or carry on despite the snows. If you opt to wait out the winter in the North, you may soon find your new friends to be not so friendly after all, as resources become scarce no one will relish the extra mouths to feed. If you opt to carry on, you may soon find your new friends to be not so friendly after all, as they return home to their shelter and winter stores and leave you and your remaining frost-bitten appendages to fend for yourselves. As hypothermia sets in, you will feel the desire to remove your clothes and climb into a snow bank, and that is where they will find your body when the spring thaw comes. The North is the Starks' land. Even now, with all the Starks supposedly dead, the Boltons' hold is tenuous at best, and highly susceptible to being undermined from within. The Andals had no hope of conquering the North, at best they could have married into families with the intention of introducing their Andal customs, but from what we have seen, you assimilate to the North, the North does not assimilate to you.

Well, we know at least one dog was at the feast, along with a pig. My first thought was maybe it was Crunch, hanging around after his joust, but he was gray, not black. I think dogs at feasts were such a commonplace occurrence that not even Cersei would have thought to ban them from the wedding. As for Sandor, I think the key is there has been no indication of him being a warg. So far the only wargs we have seen are the Starks, Bloodraven, and some Wildings, which makes warging appear to be connected to the Old Gods/First Men. House Clegane is a relatively new house (Sandor and Gregor are the third generation), and their sigil comes from the three dogs that died when Grandpa Clegane saved Grandpa Lannister, there is no long-standing Clegane-dog affinity that we are aware of. Sandor was also busy traveling the Riverlands with Arya at the time of the Purple Wedding, and I think Arya may have noticed if Sandor "left" his body for awhile to go hang out at a wedding. Sandor despises knights, as he is fully aware how few "true knights" there are, even though he himself exhibits some true knight tendencies, especially when it comes to protecting Sansa. I do think he was following Sansa, not as her stalker but as her protector - he was the only member of the Kings Guard who refused to follow Joff's commands to abuse Sansa, he saved her during the riot, he attempted to help her flee during Blackwater. More than anyone, he knew what Joff was like, and he wanted to save Sansa from him as much as he could. So if the dog was Sandor, it would have been more interested in Sansa's wellbeing, not Joff's. Sometimes a black dog is just a harbinger of death.

Here's the thing about songs though: they're open to a myriad of interpretations/associations, especially those with uncertain origins, such as the Dornishman's Wife and the Bear and the Maiden Fair (it's about Brienne; no wait, it's about Sansa; no wait, it's about Dany and Jorah). Even the Rains of Castamere, which we know was written about Tywin's takedown of the Reynes, is forever tied to the Red Wedding, and, to a certain extent, the Purple Wedding as well. When Mance changed the lyrics from "Dornishman's wife" to "Northman's daughter", he made the song be about the situation in Winterfell. Mance has brothers too: his former brothers of the Watch, and his brothers-in-arms of the Free Folk; portions of each group are/were planning a visit to Winterfell. Mance is a singer, knows all the bawdy songs, and seems like an overall jovial guy who may smile from time to time. Seducing is not the only possible interpretation of "tasting" a woman, it could also be raping, or it could be stealing the hostage wife of a sadistic lunatic. I would think the staircase would still have to be a bit wider than just a single person, in order to allow a defender to effectively swing a sword, but not wide enough to allow two people to fight side-by-side against a common enemy. So staircase is maybe wide enough to allow two people to walk beside each other? The real advantage comes from holding the higher ground: your blows are going land higher on the body, near the more vulnerable spots (eyes, mouth, throat etc.), and have the added momentum of gravity behind them, whereas your attacker will have to be swinging up at you, with less of a target. The only advantage this staircase could have for Mance would be if he can get to it without being seen by Roose's men, and that is going to largely depend on exactly what caused all the commotion, whether it was the escape or the sounding of the war horns.