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[TWOW Spoilers] March 2014 Chapter Part III


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Excellent chapter.


the sexualisation of Arya is a bit creepy though.


In my opinion the killing blade used sounds too much like Needle for it not to be. It is mentioned quite specifically that she is wearing a real mummer's cloak, with secret compartments and a hood. It is described as a Victorian Magicians cloak would have been, and the sword would not neccessarily have to be hidden in the sleeve for it to come out that way. Mercy is the only one that mentions her own murder, so there is the rape on stage but the "rape and murder" refer to what happens back at her room. on her way to the Theatre she sees all the comings and goings in the port so it is entirely possible that she has seen Raff in Bravos before; the play was written specifically to show to Swyft, so he has obviously not gone there straight from his ship, but has been there a while. When she sees him in the box and it makes her heart race it is not because she is seeing him for the first time, but because she knows what is coming up.


It was significant that the name was changed at the end of the chapter, because that is when she truly starts to think of herself as Arya again. I wouldn't expect her to be in trouble with the KOM unless she says that she is still No-one. I fully expect her to go back and when asked "who are you?", her reply to be "Arya Stark of House Stark".



With regards to the key, I do not think that it is for the house of black & white; the doors seem to always be open. No idea what it is for , but she describes it as one of her treasures, that does not belong to Mercy, so I would think it is probably something that the KOM would not permit her to have, as with Needle.



Whoever she is playing on stage I dont think it has much significance for the future story, although it is a little strange that she does not draw any parralells with her sister, she has probably got through all of those thoughts in the previous days when she read the script to learn her lines.




11 posts since I started writing this. boy this thread is moving fast

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Not sure if this has been brought up yet.



In the comments section of GRRM's newest blog entry he was asked about that much-discussed line which might hint at Cersei's return to power, or wether it was just a relict from an older version of the chapter.



He did not directly address this question, but spoke more generally about rewriting chapters and the fact that he does not wish to have plot discussions in the comments.



Well, I think we can read between the lines and conclude that it was not a simple continuity error, because if it was, I think he would have said so and not directed the discussion of the line elsewhere.


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Well, did anyone realistically thought that Cersei was gone lose her trial by combat? There is much more milk for the story is she gets back in power. Sandor coming in as the champion of Faith was as crackpot as they come, possible, but highly unlikely.


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Excellent chapter.

the sexualisation of Arya is a bit creepy though.

In my opinion the killing blade used sounds too much like Needle for it not to be. It is mentioned quite specifically that she is wearing a real mummer's cloak, with secret compartments and a hood. It is described as a Victorian Magicians cloak would have been, and the sword would not neccessarily have to be hidden in the sleeve for it to come out that way. Mercy is the only one that mentions her own murder, so there is the rape on stage but the "rape and murder" refer to what happens back at her room. on her way to the Theatre she sees all the comings and goings in the port so it is entirely possible that she has seen Raff in Bravos before; the play was written specifically to show to Swyft, so he has obviously not gone there straight from his ship, but has been there a while. When she sees him in the box and it makes her heart race it is not because she is seeing him for the first time, but because she knows what is coming up...

Interesting, though I guess it is possible that She was always going to abandon the character of 'Mercy' during this night. and as Mercy knew others, her disappearance would require some kind of explanation, so a murder would achieve that one way or other.. although it is possible that her 'mission' was to cause upset by making it appear that a Westerosi guard murdered her.

the point about Needle is interesting also, it could have been Needle she had.. but I think also it may be an alternate blade suitable for being hidden prior to assassinations.

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Not sure if this has been brought up yet.

In the comments section of GRRM's newest blog entry he was asked about that much-discussed line which might hint at Cersei's return to power, or wether it was just a relict from an older version of the chapter.

He did not directly address this question, but spoke more generally about rewriting chapters and the fact that he does not wish to have plot discussions in the comments.

Well, I think we can read between the lines and conclude that it was not a simple continuity error, because if it was, I think he would have said so and not directed the discussion of the line elsewhere.

I see what you are saying, but I think it's very likely that George would decline to answer that question for the very reason he gives. You can imagine how easily people would bombard the blog with such questions if he appeared to be open to discuss plot points. I think it's possible that George's answer is what it appears, unlike most of his writing lol

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Wasn't LF's Mother from Braavos though, he must have some contacts there, and if Syrio was in some sort of exile, would he not have come into contact with the kin of other ex pats?

LF's mother was Alayne, but other than that, we don't know anything about her.

His grandfather was a sellsword from Braavos and as a result the sigil of his House was none other than the Titan of Braavos.

I don't know if it is plausible for LF to introduce Syrio to Ned.

If anything, Syrio was loyal to Ned and Arya.

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Excellent chapter.

the sexualisation of Arya is a bit creepy though.

In my opinion the killing blade used sounds too much like Needle for it not to be.

I think she is too smart for that.

People seem to keep forgetting that when she was becoming No-One , she violated the FM rules.

All things Arya were to be totally disposed of.

She kept Needle, and she knows it.

(Supposedly, if I remember correctly, she not supposed to Warg, but I don't know how in the hell the FM would know that she does.)

By pure FM rules she can't be a FM.

My theory is that some higher power want's Arya to become a FM but not be a FM, so serve some more important purpose than being a high class assassin.

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Not sure if this has been brought up yet.

In the comments section of GRRM's newest blog entry he was asked about that much-discussed line which might hint at Cersei's return to power, or wether it was just a relict from an older version of the chapter.

He did not directly address this question, but spoke more generally about rewriting chapters and the fact that he does not wish to have plot discussions in the comments.

Well, I think we can read between the lines and conclude that it was not a simple continuity error, because if it was, I think he would have said so and not directed the discussion of the line elsewhere.

Which I think ties in to his comment that he worries about releasing too much. It's entirely possible that by the time Harys Swift gathered up Clegane's old crew and headed off to Braavos Cersei has already had her trial. We shall see...

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It is mentioned quite specifically that she is wearing a real mummer's cloak, with secret compartments and a hood. It is described as a Victorian Magicians cloak

I have never heard of anything like that and google search lead me mostly to ebay, can you tell us more or link to an explanation.

Well, I think we can read between the lines and conclude that it was not a simple continuity error, because if it was, I think he would have said so and not directed the discussion of the line elsewhere.

Go my queen, destroy all who have wronged you! (sorry, guys, after that horrible walk, it is hard not to cheer for her, even though I know how vile she is).

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I'm also under the impression that Mercy's murder was a planned event from the outset-- at the opening of the chapter, she mentions that she'll be raped and murdered; at the end of the chapter, she's thinking about the role she's playing in Izembaro's play directly, and only mentions that Izembaro will kill her if she misses her rape (so the murder is referring to Mercy rather than character she's playing there).

I do think there's a mission involved in Arya's stint with the mummers, but I'm not certain that she's the only one who'd have been tasked with some sort of mayhem to cause that night-- I mean, I wonder if causing trouble for the emissary was part of a bigger plan, of which she had a part to play (for example, the Black Pearl's presence is of interest to me).

I fully agree with this.

Regarding the debate about whether Arya used Needle - I'm with the "No" group for two reasons:

1 - Needle would be too long to carry around up a sleeve, in a pocket, or any other way than in its scabbard on Arya's belt. It would also be far too long for close quarters work.

2 - Arya hiding Needle was a hugely important part of her story in aFfC. It symbolized her refusing to abandon her past, but putting it into "storage", so to speak. Retrieving Needle will be a similarly huge event for her, with the reverse symbolism - her choosing to resume being Arya and leaving the FM. She hasn't reached that point yet. And I don't think GRRM would have it happen off-page; he'll show us that moment.

I'm not terribly worried about Arya becoming a sociopath. She doesn't kill for pleasure; she kills for survival or revenge. (The killing of the Bolton guard at Harrenhall was necessary for her to escape and survive.) Daeron was a special circumstance - NW deserters get automatic death sentences, and as a Stark it is Arya's duty to carry out that sentence (in her view). She sticks to her list. She has even shown a willingness to take a name off the list (the Hound). The important point may come when she finishes her list - what will she do then?

Tyrion and Arya are on similar trajectories, but it would be redundant for them both to continue in parallel. In all likelyhood one will continue and the other one will turn around. Arya will likely turn once she finds out much of her family is still alive.

I definitely took the "watching tree" in her dream as Bran. I wonder if Sansa will have a similar "tree dream" soon. Bran may be setting up a family conference call on the weirnet.

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Ok, maybe this should be rephrased:



The question I'm really asking is to what extent could one of our Westerosi players be influencing anything we just saw in Braavos in some way. The IB has reason to go against the Lannister regime as it is, but I'm wondering how much contact between Braavos and one or more of our other players there is, and to what extent the politics of Westeros and Braavos are connected.



I mentioned LF more because we've already seen him go out of his way to influence political events through a mummer show (PW). We also know he has a lot of connections to Braavos, that he, as Master of Coin who borrowed copiously from the IB has a connection to the very issue plaguing the Lannister regime at the moment, and is currently in the closest position to Braavos of any other player right now (he's literally right across the channel).



That said, I am not insisting on LF's influencing events in Braavos, but meant that as an example of someone who could have some stake in what's going on this chapter and the potential means to influence it.



For the record, if LF were trying to win Ned's trust, recommending Syrio as a gesture of good faith isn't such an insane idea.


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I have never heard of anything like that and google search lead me mostly to ebay, can you tell us more or link to an explanation.

Go my queen, destroy all who have wronged you! (sorry, guys, after that horrible walk, it is hard not to cheer for her, even though I know how vile she is).

a black cloak with a red silk lining is probably stereotypical for an old time stage magician

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I see what you are saying, but I think it's very likely that George would decline to answer that question for the very reason he gives. You can imagine how easily people would bombard the blog with such questions if he appeared to be open to discuss plot points. I think it's possible that George's answer is what it appears, unlike most of his writing lol

Comments have to be approved before they appear, so he easily could have ignored the question as I'm sure he does with the hundreds of other plot-related comments that people are posting.

I don't know, the fact that he responded but didn't say that it was in fact a continuity error... to me it looks like the clearest answer he can give without explicitly saying "Nope, this was intentional" and thereby pretty much confirming the suspicions that Cersei has won her trial at that point in the story.

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LF's mother was Alayne, but other than that, we don't know anything about her.

His grandfather was a sellsword from Braavos and as a result the sigil of his House was none other than the Titan of Braavos.

I don't know if it is plausible for LF to introduce Syrio to Ned.

If anything, Syrio was loyal to Ned and Arya.

Syrio was looking for a job, and Ned was looking for a fencing Master. It gave Ned a reason to trust LF.

I was not suggesting that LF knew Syrio well, just that their paths may well have crossed in KL. As far as Syrio knew at the time the Lannister's burst into the room LF and the starks were allies anyway.

Sorry skipped a generation there on the Braavosi connection

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*snip*

It sounds very likely to me that somebody anti-lannister might be pulling some strings but I think that we simply have nothing to base any theory on.

If it were Littlefinger, then plot would be very complicated because IB is pro Stannis, and LF very much not.

Then again, he is known to use mummery and bards to affect the politics of Westeros. This would be in character.

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