Mistaken PoV

[Good Guy Garlan]

18 hours ago, Renly's Banana said:

Yes? You can still have an objective perspective on a place and people even through the eyes of an extremely subjective POV. 

In fact I think only having Arianne's skewed perspective through that book would have made for an even better payoff at the end, when you realize she was practically wrong about everything and Doran drops his true plans. Hotah's super duper, mute walking tripod camera POV was not essential in the slightest. Seriously, what did you learn from Hotah that you could not learn from Arianne? That Doran is in pain a lot? That the Sand Snakes are shady and bother him? That Doran thinks a lot? That Mrs. Axe can cut through Arys good?
What did you bring to the table, Hotah? What did you bring???????????

Hey now, you know Hotah was unlikely to describe Arianne's huge and responsive nipples and that's an absolutely essential part of the books. Like, the whole series would make no sense if we didn't know the exact texture and diameter of Arianne's nipples, you know this. 

[Lady Blizzardborn]

On 4/18/2017 at 8:37 PM, Renly's Banana said:

Yes? You can still have an objective perspective on a place and people even through the eyes of an extremely subjective POV. 

In fact I think only having Arianne's skewed perspective through that book would have made for an even better payoff at the end, when you realize she was practically wrong about everything and Doran drops his true plans. Hotah's super duper, mute walking tripod camera POV was not essential in the slightest. Seriously, what did you learn from Hotah that you could not learn from Arianne? That Doran is in pain a lot? That the Sand Snakes are shady and bother him? That Doran thinks a lot? That Mrs. Axe can cut through Arys good?
What did you bring to the table, Hotah? What did you bring???????????

You can, but it depends on the POV character. We'd never get that from Arianne.

Sure it would be incredibly entertaining getting the whole Dorne story from Arianne's perspective, but I don't think many people would appreciate the payoff at the end of "everything you know is wrong" because that would strike some people as a waste of chapters, and a rather cheap trick. Unreliable narrator loses its savor if overused. 

Hotah is not a compelling and riveting character, but he does notice things Arianne doesn't. I think the reason GRRM went with him as opposed to Doran himself, or one of the Sand Snakes, is that he didn't want to give too much away. 

I will have to get back to you about things I learned from Hotah after a reread though because at this point in the day, after a largely sleepless night, I'm lucky I remember his name.

[Seams]

12 hours ago, Lady Blizzardborn said:

You can, but it depends on the POV character. We'd never get that from Arianne.

Sure it would be incredibly entertaining getting the whole Dorne story from Arianne's perspective, but I don't think many people would appreciate the payoff at the end of "everything you know is wrong" because that would strike some people as a waste of chapters, and a rather cheap trick. Unreliable narrator loses its savor if overused. 

Hotah is not a compelling and riveting character, but he does notice things Arianne doesn't. I think the reason GRRM went with him as opposed to Doran himself, or one of the Sand Snakes, is that he didn't want to give too much away.

Yes. Agreed. GRRM is playing an interesting game with unreliable narrators, and the Arianne set-up as the spurned-but-rightful heir would not have worked if we were dependent on her for all of the Dorne plot.

Hotah is part of a group of guard narrators as noted in a recent thread. Like Ser Barristan, he has stuck to his vows. He contrasts with Jaime, Ser Arys and Jon (the shield that guards the realms of men), who have broken or - at least - bent their vows. I agree with @LB that Hotah came about as a POV because GRRM didn't want to give too much insight into Doran's thinking at this stage of the game but I also think he represents an historic figure or is a parallel to someone else in the story. Reading his chapters should give us insight into some other character who is shrouded in mystery, if we can just figure out which one.

I think one of Hotah's purposes is to show that Prince Doran inspires great loyalty. His wife left him, so we might suspect that he is a feckless or bitter and unattractive man. But Hotah absolutely adores him, and not just because Hotah is a mindless slave who goes where he is told to go, I suspect.

As for the interesting question in the OP, I would LOVE to have a Littlefinger POV. What the heck is that guy up to? But I also enjoy knowing that Baelish's origins and motives are among the revelations GRRM will drop on us at a later stage of the series, so I will try to wait patiently.

What about a Ser Ilyn Payne POV? Now that Tywin is dead and Jaime has confessed all of his incest and treason to Ser Ilyn. Aside from being the "Lannister direwolf," I think Ser Ilyn represents the White Book, so it would be interesting to have a book speak to the reader.

Or how about an Old Nan POV? What must she think of these generations of "honorable" Starks growing up in their double-walled castle, away from the real world? Does she survive after Theon and then Ramsay take over Winterfell?

I would also have liked a Shae POV. Who was she, really? Why was she so anxious to see the pie at Joffrey's wedding feast? Why was she in Tywin's bed?

[LiveFirstDieLater]

If we could have gotten rid of the Sansa Pov that would have been fantastic... frankly I found even the Frog Martell arc more interesting. 

Littlefinger would have been a much more interesting view in the Vale or another Royce, or even Mya Stone... and frankly it's not a very interesting plot line for me. I know the vale still has a fresh army, but I'm just waiting for disaster to strike them. Besides Mya Stone I don't think there are even any other characters in the vale I like let alone care about. Maybe if I'd ever met Jon Arryn I'd care, but I didn't, and I don't. Dorne is the far more interesting player and seemingly way more tied up in the plot.

otherwise everything Sansa saw could have been seen through another Pov since she provides no interesting insights or observations... not to mention just being an incredibly pitiful and unlikeable character.

but number one wish for a PoV would be either Varys or Illyrio...

 

[Lady Blizzardborn]

8 hours ago, Seams said:

<snip

What about a Ser Ilyn Payne POV? Now that Tywin is dead and Jaime has confessed all of his incest and treason to Ser Ilyn. Aside from being the "Lannister direwolf," I think Ser Ilyn represents the White Book, so it would be interesting to have a book speak to the reader.

<snip

I would absolutely love that. The King's Justice has to have heard and seen many, many things and has no way to communicate any of it. His head could be a frightening place, but still likely a fascinating one.

8 hours ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

If we could have gotten rid of the Sansa Pov that would have been fantastic... frankly I found even the Frog Martell arc more interesting. 

Littlefinger would have been a much more interesting view in the Vale or another Royce, or even Mya Stone... and frankly it's not a very interesting plot line for me. I know the vale still has a fresh army, but I'm just waiting for disaster to strike them. Besides Mya Stone I don't think there are even any other characters in the vale I like let alone care about. Maybe if I'd ever met Jon Arryn I'd care, but I didn't, and I don't. Dorne is the far more interesting player and seemingly way more tied up in the plot.

otherwise everything Sansa saw could have been seen through another Pov since she provides no interesting insights or observations... not to mention just being an incredibly pitiful and unlikeable character.

but number one wish for a PoV would be either Varys or Illyrio...

 

Sansa gets better the further she is from King's Landing. She's really unsympathetic at first but her spoiler chapter from TWOW was pretty good. I like her better as Alayne.

Varys yes.

Illyrio no though. I don't like him when he's in other peoples' chapters, so chapters entirely from him would not be good...unless we're talking prologue or epilogue. That would work.