Tom Bombadils

[Walda]

I like to think a lot of these mysteries will be more like Emma than Tom Bombadil - the book never tells the whole story of Jane Fairfax or Frank Churchill, but if you go back through it forensically, considering where they were seen and when, and what the various characters are doing when they are not on-page, and getting the lay of the land, and constructing time-lines, and noticing deceptive chapter divisions, and remembering that just because there are only two characters talking, doesn't mean it is a tete-a-tete, and considering who might be listening, and what they would likely take away from the exchange, and scrutinising the bs that they said later, compared with what was actually reported at the time ...there is a whole nother novel in the subtext, and stuff like lame carriage horses, and minor flooding, and gypsies, and mail held over at the post office on Sunday, and pork, become totally relevant and click everything into place, without the author even needing to add a 'pardon' for Jane Fairfax not to read.

Even now, if you look at where various commodities turn up, and where they are shipped to, there is no reason to suppose Euron was anywhere near Volantis himself - he could have plundered it from Lysene pirates off Andalos, who got it from some trader who got it from some Dotharki, who got it from some pirates north of the Sorrows who took the cursed spoils from a fisherman who foolishy cast a net in the Sorrows, and drew in some artifact of Chroyane that came from Valyria before the Doom, or something like that. His plunder is too miscellaneous to have come solely from the Southern seas.

The Reader being sceptical about Euron's trip to Valyria is like Aemon being sceptical about Lightbringer - he has read something that he thinks should be quite reliable and it is absolutely contradicted by Euron's self-serving bullshit.

  Euron mentions the Dothraki a few times (who, being land based and wary of even the smell of the sea, are not going to normally be hanging around ports to trade) and the people of Ib (who go to sea, no worries, but the Shivering sea), which makes me suspect that if he did go east to Asshai following the Southern trade routes, that he must have gone north through the Saffron Straights, and up the  east coast of Essos, turning west when the continent did, then heading south up a Nile-like river to one of those Great Lakes in the Dothraki sea, then back out and home via Qothos, Lorath and Ib before the ice closed in. If he was stopping at every port the traders did, it would take him more than two years, but he has a fast ship, and it seems that the trade winds in the Southern seas have been westerlies (judging by Cinnamon Wind bring news of Robert's death to Qarth while Dany was there), so if he mostly stayed where they were strongest (well away from the Smoking Seas), he would get to Asshai faster than the average merchant cog, and when he got into the shivering seas, that presumably are closer to the North Pole, and with brisker winds and shorter distances, he would make even better time, although the way north and the way into the Dothraki sea would be a time-sink, and also his timing, when it came to Balon dying, is so neat one would almost suspect he had been lying in wait - only the Ironborn would notice if the Silence had been seen in the offing anywhere where he could lurk.

Every novel so far reveals a lot more about the novels before it, recontextualises them, and questions like that and 'Where is Dark Sister' only need a few more hints to be pinned down to a certain place or person, no explanation required. Probably just as well, given that some explanations given in the past have raised more questions rather than answer any.

19 hours ago, Ssangkall said:

If these questions weren't going to be answered in the future books, wouldn't he answer these questions to fans then when they asked?

While he is still writing it is probably better for GRRM just to choose a few areas that he has ready for publication, is willing to comment on in detail, well away from what he is currently working on, or anything not yet to settled, and use them to tease the next book at cons.

He doesn't have unlimited time to answer questions, and some questions have quite convoluted answers. He might not want to spoil the dreams of SanSans and BoltOns and people who think Ashara is Lemore (or Daario is the High Septon, or whatever), he might not chose to correct people who have missed things, or have misread things, or are too tenaciously attached to their theory to let go of it even when there is written evidence that contradicts it pretty much unambiguously - it's really more professional for him to say 'Keep reading' than to say 'Learn to read', or 'what the hell are you on?'

[Clegane'sPup]

Walda, I enjoyed reading your ^ above post.

[MinotaurWarrior]

3 hours ago, ErasmusF said:

I guess I have a different interpretation of whether Tom Bombadil fits into LOTR. IMO he very clearly represents the notion that our most sincerely held struggles are just a part of a world that goes on without us. At the Council of Elrond, they suggest giving the One Ring to TB, and they say "nah, he's probably just lose it." That's funny. 

And I think GRRM has built in some of those concepts as well - the mysteries of the oily black stones, for example. We'll never know that one, I don't think. 

The question I am asking is which of these mysteries, especially the ones that people seem to draw into so many tinfoil theories (the FM, Doom, various missing swords, various missing people), which of these are key to the story, which are red herrings, and which are just going to be mysteries? 

I think I wasn't clear on what I meant by Tom Bambadil not fitting in. What I mean is that most things in LotR fit into a neat little schema, flowing down from Eru Eluvitar who definitely exists, down through the major supernatural beings (Morgoth and Sauron and the Maiar and Valar) down to the men, elves, dwarves, Hobbits, and even rabbits. Everything has a more or less explicit and well understood place in this scheme... except for Tom. Not even gandalf can explain it. And that's where he fits into the story - as an ineffable mystery. Iirc Tolkien did this consciously, because of his belief in divine mysteries. 

I don't think anything in ASoIaF will be like Tom, or the Angels in BSG, or the plot of lost. So, for example, I sincerely doubt that the red comet is going to be fully and reliably explained. But it probably did come because of reasons that exist in the books, and we can use textual evidence to narrow down the possibility frontier. It's not a complete mystery, to the extent that Tom is.

Other such unexplained but not inexplicable things include:

How to reliably awaken dragons

What the Ghost of High Heart really is

Why all six of this generations Starks were wargs

Anything having to do with Southoryos or far eastern Essos

Where Tysha went

What was the deal with Tobho Mott

The Nan-Hodor timeline and family tree

I don't think there are any "red herrings" because this just isn't that kind of story. Consider the Azor Ahai candidates - are any of them really red herrings? Is that all you make of Berric Dondarrion? For instance, I think a lot of the "Is X secretly Y" theories will never be explicitly resolved, but that doesn't make them red herrings. They're not misleading us, but rather simply encouraging us to more seriously consider the actions of seemingly "minor" characters. 

The only mysteries I'm confident will be explicitly resolved are Jon's parentage and the cause of the seasons. 

[Makk]

I think we will definitely find out Aegon is a fake and it will be integral to the story around Daenerys, also leading to her not trusting Jon.

[Bea Noleto]

I am sure there will be a lot of unanswered questions, but not these you pointed.

1. Jaquen and Arya's encounter is too much of a coincidence, isn't it? A FM worth of his title wouldn't be arrested by the kings's landing city guard. What was he doing there? Why on earth would a FM let himself be arrested and stay in the black cells? Why would he join Yoren's party? Why was he so interested in Arya's identity and her whereabouts? The reason for giving Arya the three deaths was really what he said it was? Why would the FM put up with so much from her? What is the meaning of all the spying they have Arya doing?

The FM are present to the central stages of this tale since the beginning, interacting with important characters. I think it will be a poorly written story in the end if we don't get a lot more insight about them.

2. The plan of putting (F)Aegon on the throne is talked about since AGOT, so I think it is important. And Dany is the slayer of the lies, she wil unmask the mummer's dragon or something of the sort, so it can't be just a matter of who is more military powerful.

3. I think valyrian steel will be fundamental to the defeat the Others. If not, why on earth would GRRM make such an strange, controversial (in this forum at least) arc to give Jon a valyrian sword. I think all the valyrian swords will be talked about later, will be searched for and some wil be found. I don't know if Dark Sister will be one of them, but it is likely, since it is connected to House Targaryen.

4. Lemore is intimately connected to Aegon, she is part of the mystery and her identity and how she met him will be revealed.

5. I think we will never know everything about the Doom, not with certainty anyway, but we have to learn more. Valyria is connected with slavery, with dragons, with the FM, which are connected with Arya and Dany. There must be another reason for Dany to stay in the Slaver's Bay, fighting the slavery that the valyrians of old were so partial to, than merely showing that ruling is hard or just waiting for whatever.

And Arya, is she learning the FM skills and secrets just to come back and kill people off? Really, her list is getting killed without much of her involvement and killing is hardly an unique ability in this world, they are just more efficient and discreet. It has to mean more. And if it is another faction purely, blindly playing the 'game', I will be very disappointed, considering that they have magical abilities and we get so much of petty politics already.

[ErasmusF]

Well I picked these because I thought they were topics that there were a lot of theories on. I don't think GRRM will ever ties things up so neatly. I think he wants the speculation. It makes for a better story. 

fAegon is a great example. Dany will "know" in her heart that fAegon has been sold a bill of goods. But no one will ever make that explicit. It's not like Varys is ever going to say "yeah, and he's a Blackfyre, so we win!" Short of that, they don't have genetic testing in Westeros, so I don't see how the mystery is revealed. Not revealing it to be the truth means the true believers can hold onto hope that he is the "rightful" king.And I agree that fAegon will contribute to Dany not trusting Jon, but that is a matter for Dany and her True Believers. It's not necessary to do a big reveal. 

I said before all this stuff is good for the fanfic angle. Someone pointed out that GRRM said he doesn't like fanfic. Well he likes it enough to go to all these comic book conventions and to write a book alongside two fanfic bloggers. So methinks the lady doth protest too much.  I think GRRM feeds the mysteries and "subverts the tropes" because it makes for a better story, and the way to measure that is by the amount of web traffic devoted to his books. Dan Brown don't get this kind of attention.