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Wow, I never noticed that v.16


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Hmm... The first time Sansa's character speaks, she does so to her sister, "her voice soft as a kiss." Poetic, no? But an odd simile, no? Like a purr, maybe? Ignoring everything else we will read about Sansa in future chapters, and as her arc unfolds, doesn't this first bit make Sansa appear condescending, along with Beth Cassel (poor Beth) and Jeyne Poole (poor Jeyne)? And that she does so with a kiss... hmm... Why does the author use a kiss from Sansa to introduce the reader to the relationship between Arya and Sansa? 

But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? Luke 22:48

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23 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Why does the author use a kiss from Sansa to introduce the reader to the relationship between Arya and Sansa?

Swords kiss. Every kiss is a blow - think of Ned kissing Arya as he tells her that her future role is to be someone's wife. Doesn't mean any evil intent.

ETA Come to think of it, why would a kiss, or a blow from a sword, be soft? What have the books got against softness anyway? Never seems a good thing.

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6 minutes ago, Springwatch said:

Swords kiss. Every kiss is a blow - think of Ned kissing Arya as he tells her that her future role is to be someone's wife. Doesn't mean any evil intent.

ETA Come to think of it, why would a kiss, or a blow from a sword, be soft? What have the books got against softness anyway? Never seems a good thing.

Swords kiss, yes, and combatants dance. But that doesn't mean one combatant is evil. That they are opposed is sufficient. 

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Wow, I never noticed that Winterfell itself is a heart tree...

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To a boy, Winterfell was a grey stone labyrinth of walls and towers and courtyardsand tunnels spreading out in all directions. In the older parts of the castle, thehalls slanted up and down so that you couldn’t even be sure what floor you were on. The place had grown over the centuries like some monstrous stone tree, Maester Luwintold him once, and its branches were gnarled and thick and twisted, its roots sunkdeep into the earth.

Bran II, Game 8

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Arya III, Game 32, when Arya overheads the conversation between Illyrio and Varys. This chapter is filled with Arya and blindness, which is something I never paid much attention to during my several reads, but it's this part about how Varys might die that's interesting.

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"What if a wizard was sent to kill him?"
"Well, as to that," Desmond replied, drawing his longsword, "wizards die the same as other men, once you cut their heads off."

Varys beheaded, perhaps?

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37 minutes ago, Widow's Watch said:

Arya III, Game 32, when Arya overheads the conversation between Illyrio and Varys. This chapter is filled with Arya and blindness, which is something I never paid much attention to during my several reads, but it's this part about how Varys might die that's interesting.

Varys beheaded, perhaps?

A girl can hope. 

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“You fret too much. Lysa Arryn is a frightened cow.”

Bran II, Game 8

Oh so that's why Rakharo never bedded Lysa. 

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When Daenerys returned to her pyramid, sore of limb and sick of heart, she found Missandeireading some old scroll whilst Irri and Jhiqui argued about Rakharo. “You are tooskinny for him,” Jhiqui was saying. “You are almost a boy. Rakharo does not bed withboys. This is known.” Irri bristled back. “It is known that you are almost a cow. Rakharo does not bed with cows.”akharo does not bed with cows.”

Daenerys VI, Dance 36

And Jon Arryn was no Rakharo...

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“That frightened cow shared Jon Arryn’s bed.”

Daenerys VI, Dance 36

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Ser Barristan Selmy raised his pale blue eyes from the table and said, "Your Grace, there is honor in facing an enemy on the battlefield, but none in killing him in his mother's womb. Forgive me, but I must stand with Lord Eddard."
Grand Maester Pycelle cleared his throat, a process that seemed to take some minutes. "My order serves the realm, not the ruler. Once I counseled King Aerys as loyally as I counsel King Robert now, so I bear this girl child of his no ill will. Yet I ask you this—should war come again, how many soldiers will die? How many towns will burn? How many children will be ripped from their mothers to perish on the end of a spear?" He stroked his luxuriant white beard, infinitely sad, infinitely weary. "Is it not wiser, even kinder, that Daenerys Targaryen should die now so that tens of thousands might live?"

 

 
Oh, Pycelle you grey rat.
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Here is another odd simile... The George describes Needle's soft gray leather scabbard as "supple as sin" when Jon gives the bravos blade to Arya. Why that simile? I am thinking that the George is suggesting that one or both of them will find it easy to take a dark road along their character arc? 

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In all of ASOIAF, there are only six characters, and one collection of characters, identified as having forked beard... Illyrio Mopatis, Moreo Turnitis, a Tyroshi armorer in The Hedge Knight, Daario Naharis, Arnolf Karstark, and an unspecified number of swordsmen among the Brave Companions.

Only two of those seven were definitely not Tyroshi... Illyrio and Arnolf. Arnolf was named castellan of Karhold when his nephew, Lord Rickard, and Lord Rickard’s sons marched south with Robb Stark during what became called the War of the Five Kings. During the war, Lord Rickard and two of his sons were killed, leaving his only surviving son Harrion as the nominal Lord of Karhold, but Harrion was held captive in the south, and Arnolf entered into a secret alliance with Ramsay Snow. Presumably, Roose Bolton would have Harrion killed, leaving Alys Karstark as Rickard's only surviving child. Arnolf intended to wed the girl to his son Cregan, so Cregan could claim her birthright, but the girl fled to the Wall, and Jon Snow sent word to Stannis of Arnolf’s duplicity.

Moreo Turnitis was duplicitous as well. As the Tyroshi ship captain fingered his forked green beard, he suggested an inn up Visenya’s Hill for Catelyn. He then sold the information to Petyr Baelish, who had Catelyn brought before him.

The Tyroshi armorer with the forked blue beard was nothing more than a background character in The Hedge Knight. He was merely one of the many merchants and tradesmen who had set up shop at the Tourney of Ashford.  

Daario Naharis, another Tyroshi, has a three-pronged beard. When we meet him, he dyes his beard blue. Later, he dyes his beard purple. @Lady Blizzardbornsuggests that Daario might be hiding something behind that purple beard that makes his blue eyes seem almost purple...

Among the Brave Companions, Arya describes “swordsmen with fantastic forked beards dyed green and purple and silver.” We can assume these men are Tyroshi since Catelyn tells us in Catelyn IV, Game 18, the "Tyroshi loved bright colors, even in their facial hair.”

So, what might this tell us about Illyrio? He is certainly duplicitous. Clearly, he is playing Daenerys false. I would go so far as to suggest that he is betraying Daenerys for blood, blood of the black dragon. And that would explain the possible suggestion of a connection to Tyrosh.

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The magical alloy known as Valyrian steel almost surely contains dragonbone...

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Lord Eddard Stark dismounted and his ward Theon Greyjoy brought forth the sword. "Ice," that sword was called. It was as wide across as a man's hand, and taller even than Robb. The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke. Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel.

Bran I, Game 1

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"The man died well, I'll give him that," Ned said. He had a swatch of oiled leather in one hand. He ran it lightly up the greatsword as he spoke, polishing the metal to a dark glow. "I was glad for Bran's sake. You would have been proud of Bran."

"I am always proud of Bran," Catelyn replied, watching the sword as he stroked it. She could see the rippling deep within the steel, where the metal had been folded back on itself a hundred times in the forging. Catelyn had no love for swords, but she could not deny that Ice had its own beauty. It had been forged in Valyria, before the Doom had come to the old Freehold, when the ironsmiths had worked their metal with spells as well as hammers. Four hundred years old it was, and as sharp as the day it was forged. The name it bore was older still, a legacy from the age of heroes, when the Starks were Kings in the North.

Catelyn I, Game 2

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Tyrion curled up in his fur with his back against the trunk, took a sip of the wine, and began to read about the properties of Dragonbone. Dragonbone is black because of its high iron content, the book told him. It is strong as steel, yet lighter and far more flexible, and of course utterly impervious to fire.

Tyrion II, Game 13

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Aegon the Conqueror died of a stroke onDragonstone in the thirty-seventh year aftertheConquest. His grandsons Aegon and Viserys were with him at his death, in the Chamber of the Painted Table; the king was showing them the details of his conquests. Prince Maegor, in residence at Dragonstone at the time, spoke the eulogy as his father’s body was laid upon a funeral pyre in the castle yard. The king was clad in battle armor, his mailed hands folded over the hilt of Blackfyre. Since the days of old Valyria, it had ever been the custom of House Targaryen to burn their dead, rather than consigning their remains to the ground. Vhagar supplied the flames to light the fire. Blackfyre was burned with the king, but retrieved by Aenys afterward, its blade darker but elsewise unharmed. No common fire can damage Valyrian steel.

The Sons of the Dragon

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36 minutes ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

The throne room of the dragon kings contained 19 skulls when Robert overthrew them. 

The Qur'an teaches that there are 19 angles guarding over hell. 

Very cool.  I've been infatuated with the fact that the winterfell crypts are described in a very similar way to where the dragon skulls are kept in the red keep.  I forget the name of the room....  but the description comes during the Arya chapter when she overhears Varys and Illyrio.  The winterfell crypts are directly suggested as being a gateway to hell.  Sorry for not quoting the text...

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I've been re-reading some of Cersei's AFFC chapters, and there are some small details that help convey just how erratic she is. In Cersei VII, Qyburn informs Cersei and the others about Euron's pillage of the Shield Islands:

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"Their new king." Qyburn stood with his hands hidden up his sleeves. "Lord Balon's brother. The Crow's Eye, he is called."

On the next page, Cersei mentions the possibility of an alliance between Stannis and the Ironborn:

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Cersei's mouth was dry. I need a cup of Arbor gold. If the ironmen decided to take the Arbor next, the whole realm might soon be going thirsty. "Stannis may have had a hand in this. Balon Greyjoy offered my lord father an alliance. Perhaps his son has offered one to Stannis."

Despite having just been told that Euron is Balon's brother, Cersei has already forgotten and refer's to him as Balon's son. The lack of knowledge regarding the Greyjoys was also noted earlier in the book, in Cersei IV:

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"Balon Greyjoy is dead, I had heard," said Ser Harys Swyft. "Do we know who rules the isles now? Did Lord Balon have a son?"
 
"Leo?" coughed Lord Gyles. "Theo?"
 
"Theon Greyjoy was raised at Winterfell, a ward of Eddard Stark," Qyburn said. "He is not like to be a friend of ours."
 
"I had heard he was slain," said Merryweather.
 
"Was there only one son?" Ser Harys Swyft tugged upon his chin beard. "Brothers. There were brothers. Were there not?"
 
Varys would have known, Cersei thought with irritation. "I do not propose to climb in bed with that sorry pack of squids. Their turn will come, once we have dealt with Stannis. What we require is our own fleet."

Assuming that Euron pulls off whatever he has planned out west, I suspect this dismissal with come back to haunt Cersei.

Later on in Cersei VII, we see her speak with a man who claims to have brought her Tyrion's head:

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"The Imp is no longer my brother, if he ever was," she declared. "Nor will I say his name. It was a proud name once, before he dishonored it."

Then after seeing the severed head, she says:

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"That is not my brother." There was a sour taste in her mouth. I suppose it was too much to hope for, especially after Loras. The gods are never that good. "This man has brown eyes. Tyrion had one black eye and one green."

 

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In Clash of Kings prologue were hints on Littlefinger's connection to Strangler poison:

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With fumbling hands, the old man lit a candle and carried it to the workroom beneath the rookery stair, where his ointments, potions, and medicines stood neatly on their shelves. On the bottom shelf behind a row of salves in squat clay jars he found a vial of indigo glass, no larger than his little finger. It rattled when he shook it. Cressen blew away a layer of dust and carried it back to his table. Collapsing into his chair, he pulled the stopper and spilled out the vial's contents. A dozen crystals, no larger than seeds, rattled across the parchment he'd been reading. They shone like jewels in the candlelight, so purple that the maester found himself thinking that he had never truly seen the color before.

and again:

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The chain around his throat felt very heavy. He touched one of the crystals lightly with the tip of his little finger. Such a small thing to hold the power of life and death.

Such a small man hold the power of life and death?

Does "never truly seen the color before" hints that true Littlefinger's color is purple?

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33 minutes ago, Pukisbaisals said:

In Clash of Kings prologue were hints on Littlefinger's connection to Strangler poison:

and again:

Such a small man hold the power of life and death?

Cool!

33 minutes ago, Pukisbaisals said:

Does "never truly seen the color before" hints that true Littlefinger's color is purple?

Baelish has, for as far as a quick search has turned up, not been associated with purple directly. However, Baelish is of Braavosi descent, and the Braavosi ships are known for their purple sails, so there might indeed be a connection.

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