HoodedCrow

I could see Arya letting Farya have the job, and going off to serve the North in her own way, free of all the constraints that culture puts on noble women. (Possessions and chattel to make alliances or to make money or give rank) Maybe she can align with Gendry.

Gosh , sorry, it’s Mervyn Peake, who I suspect wrote the character Steerpyke who perhaps inspired the character Little finger. People on this board repeatedly and technically incorrectly label Arya a sociopath. It would be great if Martin commented on that issue.

The people that I know that are the most upset about Trump are Germans who have studied WW II very thoughtfully, confronting the questions of how it could happen with a lot of passion, and a few of The Greatest Gen. I am also horrified and I read a lot of history. Part of me is amazed that anti semitism is a thing, or racism, or homophobia. Incarceration by ethnicity is so shameful for that matter, or purging votes. Running a platform on things like that is tried and true, I suppose.

I would like to know if Littlefinger is based on Steerpike from Melvyn Peake

Hey, good stuff Lone Wolf! Are the right wingers still betting on a false flag conspiracy? Probably not, because Trump says he doesn’t want you thinking or talking about how his violent and vicious rhetoric incites violence. The Trump stickers on the suspects van sure does suggest a #MAGABomber. I’m sure this fellow has broken lots of laws. Using the mail like that alone, is a felony, and it endangered all those posties and probably it cost a lot of money to track down the terrorist. And then there’s the terror part.

Perhaps it’s possible that Sweetpea and associates did a little extracurricular work against the people that Trump regularly smears?

DMC knows his stuff here. Psychopathic is not at all the same thing as psychotic. Joffrey sounds like a psychopath in the making. We know despite “medieval sensibilities “ that King Robert, who was quite a brutal warrior, was sickened by Joffrey’s conduct with the pregnant cat. Doesn’t Joff also do a little crossbow practice with animals? And, of course, Martin doesn’t say these are the only times that he would have done things like that, it is just what is included in our story. Then we have his treatment of Sansa to “observe”. No doubt having Robert be an alcoholic womanizing unconnected father, a sociopath like Tywin, as a grandfather and a narcissistic mother like Cersei and you have both nurture and nature combined. However Tommen and Myrcella are quite different so perhaps they have had a better mix.

True, I used the word honor as a short hand, but I don’t think Ned’s warning of Cersei for her children’s sake lacked honor. Agreed not a great political move, fatal, and naive. Robb was held to be honorable in one way by making a tragic choice of wife, but dishonorable in his deal with Frey., and he was rash in attacking the South, although other choices might have made him successful. it will be amusing if Roslyn and her Frey child with Edmure ended up being the last surviving Frey’s. i think it a fairly low place to go to not love or even have compassion, but then compromises must always be made.

What if truthfulness and honor were valued qualities in leadership? I guess Martin shows Ned’s honor leads him to make political mistakes, Robb’s honor to cost a war, and Jon gets killed because he wants to save his sister and a whole culture of people, but what would you think of him if he didn’t try?

I was not in the US at the time, but wasn’t it found later that Iranians were persuaded to sabotage Carters overt hostage negotiations by Americans hostile to Carter and that behind the scenes he was assisting the Canadian embassy to free those hostages, but it wouldn’t have worked if he had spilled the beans and put many lives at risk. Americans are great at smearing! Ford, who was an athlete was considered a joke because he tripped. Trump gets away with toilet paper on his shoe,his wife slapping his hand, fraud, and a dizzying number of lies. He has been quite daring at espousing causes like Habitat for Humanity and backing stronger roles for women in religious activities. No wonder the right wing doesn’t like him. He was also very much avante guard about energy moderation.

Perhaps Sansa will give him a grey and white Stark cloak and he will become a wolf instead of a dog. Yes, he may take out the false Hound. He’s got to fight against the Others, don’t you think? I liked the Lady Forlorn suggestion. It would be interesting to have Jaime and Sandor on the same side at the last. Lets see, Sandor saved Arya, Sansa, Ser Loras, KL for a while, and his brother in staying his hand. Martin makes a lot of points about what knights were about despite our fantasies, what heroes( or anti heroes )are about and I think Jaime is pretty strong about the difficulty of being able to rely on oaths instead of committing to wrestle with competing values. Dealing with moral ambiguity could be a subtitle for this series!

I believe Martin wanted to give fantasy, and fantasy about wars and governing a reality check. A thoughtful look at the monarchy in England or other country, or an elected leader can show how unpleasant, and difficult governance can be. They can lose privacy and safety. Solutions involve knowledge and compromise. Dany is 16? She has survived assassination attempts. She has marries for duty and not love. Finds top down cultural changes are very difficult. Finds judging cases hard, even when her heart is in the right place. Struggles with post war economic and supply problems. Chains up her beloved dragons because they are a danger to other people. Discovers asymmetric guerilla warfare a very difficult problem. Lacks adequate advisers. What a pity Bush two and his supporters didn’t know or anticipate difficulties after invading Afghanistan or Iraq. He did have people advising him against it, but the neocons swayed him, and the military industrial complex made pots of money from tax dollars. Still it won him a second term because his aggressiveness was popular. Learn from history, or learn from literature, as Martin has given a lot of thought to these issues, was personally confronted by the draft during the Vietnam war and has studied history. So he is showing “mission accomplished”is not really the end of a war, no matter how quickly or powerfully you”win”, and it is very naive to think so. Dany is learning the unpleasant lessons about difficult unglamorous choices, and her talents, earnestness,and bravery alone don't solve the problems. Perhaps some fantasy readers don’t want to get it. I applaud the Meereen chapters.

Add to the arguments that accusers get death threats, mocked by the wonderful orange President with an unsavory history with women. In some cultures women’s testimony won’t be believed regardless, that their well being is incidental to primo men, that they can be killed for “honor” for being raped or even gang raped because they are then soiled in spite of not being at any fault at all except being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and to this day they can be tarnished and traumatized for the rest of their lives. I know of people who did not report it, and one who did where the judge didn’t want to harm the life of the wealthy rapist. Women’s well being is of small account to some people. Isn’t it Putin who told abused women beaten by their husbands to be proud of their bruises because they were more likely to have a boy child? its really an extension of Women’s Lives do not Matter because they are not all mighty men.( who will be awarded planets after death or some such nonsense)

I didn’t like Sansa as she was unpleasant, but normal person, and a liar. But I began to empathize with her as a naive preteen, and as an abused girl without reliable support, grieving many losses. Later, I became intrigued by her plight and I am very curious about what will come of it.

Some people do know but are biding their time. Some people know, sort of like Americans “know” about the Saudis killing a journalist or their nationals causing 9/11, or about a nonsensical war depending on crazy assertions about WMD necessitating a war with Iraq. What do you do about false but propagandized info in the presence of might and money?