Ran on TWoIaF and more|Reddit AMA

[midi]

I don't get the parchment thing.. ._.

Basically it means that the hand of the soviet censor has touched the page.

[Mithras]

Personally I think Ran’s theory about Dawn being Lightbringer much more unlikely than the Oberyn poisoned Tywin theory

For one, the last War for the Dawn happened before the Andals came to Westeros, and the Daynes are either Valyrian or Andal based on their coloring. Why would the office for holding Lightbringer, when it would have been created at the time of the First Men, be passed down by an Andal house?

Two, Lightbringer is called the Red Sword of Heroes, and I always pictured it as blood red, based on the story of its forging, or fire red, based on the idea of a burning sword. Lightbringer is described “pale as milkglass”, furthermore, Dawn emits no heat, and we’re told in the Jade Companion that it emits heat.

Three: We already have an existing origin story for Dawn. It was forged from a falling star, the Dayne House is seated at Starfall. The legend of the sword and locale corroborate each other.

Now I am not saying the theory is impossible, I just see it as highly unlikely, and is directly contradicted by existing text that must be explained away. As conjectures go it is much weaker than the Oberyn/Tywin theory.

Agreed. A bronze age culture that knows how to make one-handed short swords cannot be expected to make a two-handed great sword from a fallen meteor. The consturction of two-handed swords belongs to the advanced steel era. The shape of the swords depend on the material technology which can be developed over long periods of practice. People were able to make iron swords well into the bronze age but they were not a match for bronze swords for a long time. When the technology of steelworking developed enough, the iron swords became a feasible alternative to bronze swords. With more practice, steelworking was developed greatly and steel replaced bronze.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Btw this is an extract released by Vulture. About RR, I do warn you all though, you'll probably hate Yaendel when you get to the end http://www.vulture.com/2014/10/game-of-thrones-compendium-roberts-rebellion-world-of-ice-and-fire.html

Knifes? How quaint of you :P I'd advise you to upgrade your arsenal, otherwise this might happen to you when the day comes :P

Even this part, I'd like to slap Yaendel after this

The Red Keep was soon breached, but in the chaos, misfortune soon fell upon Elia of Dorne and her children, Rhaenys and Aegon. It is tragic that the blood spilled in war may as readily be innocent as it is guilty, and that those who ravished and murdered Princess Elia escaped justice. It is not known who murdered Princess Rhaenys in her bed, or smashed the infant Prince Aegon’s head against a wall. Some whisper it was done at Aerys’s own command when he learned that Lord Lannister had taken up Robert’s cause,

while others suggest that Elia did it herself for fear of what would happen to her children in the hands of her dead husband’s enemies.

Aaaah.. The suggestion only....

So, he's not the son of Rhaegar Frey's? I knew that.

I like this! :D

[Mark Antony]

I accept it because most of the theories they called BS I wasn't convinced they were true in the first place...and those theories always seemed a little thin.

Yeh not like any of the theories Ran pointed out were really convincing. At least in my mind. Him calling bs could mean fuck all to somebody I don't really care its just icing on the cake for me since I hold his opinion in high regard.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Basically it means that the hand of the soviet censor has touched the page.

aaaaaaaahhh..

oh, wait... D:

Aaaah.. The suggestion only....

That part actually made me thing "WHAT???!". Awful stuff :/

Speaking of Elia, debunked theories and paternities.

Rhaegar and Elia lived in DS. Ashara was her handmaid, so, she also lived there. So, not Aerys fathering anything with her, please???????

[Elessar]

I say it was Pycelle who fiddled with the Robert's rebellion piece.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

That part actually made me thing "WHAT???!". Awful stuff :/

Speaking of Elia, debunked theories and paternities.

Rhaegar and Elia lived in DS. Ashara was her handmaid, so, she also lived there. So, not Aerys fathering anything with her, please???????

Yes! (I hope so)

[Bael's Bastard]

I'm not really getting why it would be fiddled with to any great extent. What is going to be in an account made for Robert that would need to be removed from an account for Joff or Tommen? Unless it is being suggested that an account was written as it happened (under Targs) and then altered after Robert won?

[Bael's Bastard]

aaaaaaaahhh..

oh, wait... D:

That part actually made me thing "WHAT???!". Awful stuff :/

Speaking of Elia, debunked theories and paternities.

Rhaegar and Elia lived in DS. Ashara was her handmaid, so, she also lived there. So, not Aerys fathering anything with her, please???????

Won't stop the Rhaegar/Ashara crackpots, lol.

[Veltigar]

I'm not really getting why it would be fiddled with to any great extent. What is going to be in an account made for Robert that would need to be removed from an account for Joff or Tommen? Unless it is being suggested that an account was written as it happened (under Targs) and then altered after Robert won?

Well, given some of the shameless things Yaendel writes about the sack of KL, I suspect that the original version of this part of the text was a lot less Lannister friendly than it is now, if you catch my drift ;)

[Mrs.Grumpy]

As for Nettles

Re-read the brief bit on the burned men.

Wow! I didn't notice it :0

Mindblown o.o

[Manderstark]

And what about Martin's tweet about "something special to do with woiaf"?

[TheHouseHB]

And what about Martin's tweet about "something special to do with woiaf"?

Winter is Coming :crying:

[Ramsay's Penguins]

If someone poisoned Tywin, it doesn't have to be Oberyn. There is plenty of other people who could have, if he even was. GRRM does that. Put a poisoner in a city and someone gets poisoned, but it wasn't necessarily our poisoner.

[Liz Stark-Targaryen]

Speaking of Elia, debunked theories and paternities.

Rhaegar and Elia lived in DS. Ashara was her handmaid, so, she also lived there. So, not Aerys fathering anything with her, please???????

Oh, I felt SO vindicated & can't wait to bump the thread where I was dismissed as a know-nothing newbie next month. :cool4: I feel so vindicated!

And cannot wait to discuss the idea that

Rhaegar made no provisions for Elia and the children when he decided to take Lyanna away. From what I've read, Rhaegar and Aerys were practically in the midst of a cold war by Harrenhal. He knew EXACTLY what his father was, and seemed to be working on a way to depose him when something messed up his plans.

The #1 thing I thought as a new reader this spring was "why wouldn't Elia, Rhaenys & baby Aegon be on Dragonstone?" It will be VERY interesting to find out how on earth Elia and the children ended up in King's Landing during the war, but I bet it wasn't a case of "Rhaegar was crazy and/or stupid." I bet he figured they'd be safe on DS and if TSHTF, her people in Dorne could reach her by sea. But perhaps when RR began she was removed to KL "for her safety." In the end it was her death sentence, because there's no way Stannis would've killed her if she'd spent the war on DS.

Definitely has lots of implications, as does the ID of Egg's wife. Cannot wait! :)

[Lord Varys]

LST,

I guess Aerys eventually commanded that she come to KL, and sent men to drag her there, possibly KG (the White Bull & Jon Darry, I imagine). That would have happened at the latest when Aerys searched for Rhaegar and could not find him during the war, but I guess it may have happened earlier.

The cold war seemed to have cooled down somewhat after Harrenhal because neither did Rhaegar continue his plotting nor did Aerys move against his son. Rhaegar's rash actions seem to have triggered by the birth of his son Aegon at the end of the year, since that was necessary for him to confirm his belief that this child was the promised prince - the comet in the night of his conception only heralded the savior in Rhaegar's mind, but if it had been a girl he would not have believed that she was the One. Not to mention the birthplace of Rhaegar's two children, Dragonstone.

The nagging question is - did Rhaegar go at once to the Riverlands to make Lyanna the mother of the third dragon head, or did he other stuff before that? And it seems that the latter is the case, because Yandel is clearly omitting stuff there.

[LordBloodraven]

Personally I think Ran’s theory about Dawn being Lightbringer much more unlikely than the Oberyn poisoned Tywin theory

For one, the last War for the Dawn happened before the Andals came to Westeros, and the Daynes are either Valyrian or Andal based on their coloring. Why would the office for holding Lightbringer, when it would have been created at the time of the First Men, be passed down by an Andal house?

Two, Lightbringer is called the Red Sword of Heroes, and I always pictured it as blood red, based on the story of its forging, or fire red, based on the idea of a burning sword. Lightbringer is described “pale as milkglass”, furthermore, Dawn emits no heat, and we’re told in the Jade Companion that it emits heat.

Three: We already have an existing origin story for Dawn. It was forged from a falling star, the Dayne House is seated at Starfall. The legend of the sword and locale corroborate each other.

Now I am not saying the theory is impossible, I just see it as highly unlikely, and is directly contradicted by existing text that must be explained away. As conjectures go it is much weaker than the Oberyn/Tywin theory.

House Dayne descents from the First Men. Used to be one of the petty kings of Dorne (King of Starfire).

I say it was Pycelle who fiddled with the Robert's rebellion piece.

Wait until you read the Aerys-Tywin governance of Westeros.

[Liz Stark-Targaryen]

LST,

I guess Aerys eventually commanded that she come to KL, and sent men to drag her there, possibly KG (the White Bull & Jon Darry, I imagine). That would have happened at the latest when Aerys searched for Rhaegar and could not find him during the war, but I guess it may have happened earlier.

The cold war seemed to have cooled down somewhat after Harrenhal because neither did Rhaegar continue his plotting nor did Aerys move against his son. Rhaegar's rash actions seem to have triggered by the birth of his son Aegon at the end of the year, since that was necessary for him to confirm his belief that this child was the promised prince - the comet in the night of his conception only heralded the savior in Rhaegar's mind, but if it had been a girl he would not have believed that she was the One. Not to mention the birthplace of Rhaegar's two children, Dragonstone.

The nagging question is - did Rhaegar go at once to the Riverlands to make Lyanna the mother of the third dragon head, or did he other stuff before that? And it seems that the latter is the case, because Yandel is clearly omitting stuff there.

I just think GRRM has to write a ASOIAF prequel now, LV... even if it's just a post-ADOS novella. This is far too intriguing for maesters or the Bran/BR weirnet; we need contemporary POVs. :)

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Oh, I felt SO vindicated & can't wait to bump the thread where I was dismissed as a know-nothing newbie next month. :cool4: I feel so vindicated!

Yeah... so far, the best about Rhaegar being revealed is that I was right about him. Jon could be the son of Genna Lannistar and Viserys for what I care... doesn't matter to me B)

[Free Northman Reborn]

That extract of Yandell's on Robert's Rebellion was sickening. Most of all the way he referred to Eddard as a mere afterthought, when in fact Eddard was the primary military strategist and best battle commander of the Rebellion. Robert was a mere figurehead. Good for raising his hammer, shouting "Freeedoooom" and charging head first into the fray.

All the thinking had to be done by Ned.