Tanselle's insult

[Bowen Marsh]

What was Tanselle thinking when she mocked the dragons in her show?   Innocent mistake or subtle insult to the Targaryens?  How would Stannis, Randyll, Doran, Tywin react to a puppeteer mocking their house?

[The Sunland Lord]

Did she do it on purpose? Wasn't Aerion overreacting?

[Damon_Tor]

1 hour ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Did she do it on purpose? Wasn't Aerion overreacting?

This. She was telling a story that happened to be about a dragonslayer. She had a specially crafted dragon puppet for it and everything. There's no reason to believe it wasn't simply a popular story, and Aerion read political commentary into something totally benign.

[Ralphis Baratheon]

3 hours ago, The Sunland Lord said:

Wasn't Aerion overreacting?

Plus it was a ridiculous reaction coming from Aerion of all people. Aerion Targaryen, who's mother(Dyanna Dayne) and grandmother(Mariah Martell) were both Dornish. Aerion who's blood(Dayne and Martell) did more to fight against "the dragon" than any of poor Transelle's ancestors. Maybe he hated himself so much that he hated all Dornish people.

[James Fenimore Cooper XXII]

How would the other lords react to Tanselle's puppet play?

1. Stannis  would be severe if he felt his family was being insulted.  No less than what Aerion would do.  This man loves to burn people.  Tanselle gives a play where the stag is butchered badly and Stannis will react to this.  
2. Randyll would also give severe punishment to any puppeteer who poked fun at his family.
3. Doran would deliver a strong cease and desist order.  No further consequence as long as Tanselle complies.
4. Tywin would have had her flogged and possibly thrown in jail.  Her wagons and goods will be confiscated.  It won't be pretty.  Say if Tanselle were to give a show where the lions are killed by brave men, yes, Tywin would not react well to that.  

Aerion may be overreacting but the Dragon is the symbol of his House and no other house.  

[Julia H.]

Does that mean that in the Seven Kingdoms there can be no puppet plays that include hunting in their plots because any animal can be the sigil of some noble house which might get offended if the animal is killed during the hunt? If it's so, can people still eat stags in the Stormlands or on Dragonstone ruled by Stannis? How about eating trout in the Riverlands? Is it a capital offence?

[Megorova]

Egg has watched that show prior Aerion, and he liked it, and had nothing against Tanselle, and didn't thought, that she in some way mocked House Targaryen, by playing that puppet-show. Aerion saw it as a personal insult, because he was crazy.

[Adam Yozza]

3 hours ago, James Fenimore Cooper XXII said:

How would the other lords react to Tanselle's puppet play?

1. Stannis  would be severe if he felt his family was being insulted.  No less than what Aerion would do.  This man loves to burn people.  Tanselle gives a play where the stag is butchered badly and Stannis will react to this.  
2. Randyll would also give severe punishment to any puppeteer who poked fun at his family.
3. Doran would deliver a strong cease and desist order.  No further consequence as long as Tanselle complies.
4. Tywin would have had her flogged and possibly thrown in jail.  Her wagons and goods will be confiscated.  It won't be pretty.  Say if Tanselle were to give a show where the lions are killed by brave men, yes, Tywin would not react well to that.  

Aerion may be overreacting but the Dragon is the symbol of his House and no other house.  

Not really. Don't get me wrong that's probably how they'd each react to someone mocking their house, but none of the four would violently (or at all, really) react to a puppet show that featured their sigil being defeated. Aerion reacted as he did because he is an unstable psycopath. Later years Aerys might react the same or Maegor but most people would just see it for what it was...a show.

[Canon Claude]

3 hours ago, Julia H. said:

Does that mean that in the Seven Kingdoms there can be no puppet plays that include hunting in their plots because any animal can be the sigil of some noble house which might get offended if the animal is killed during the hunt? If it's so, can people still eat stags in the Stormlands or on Dragonstone ruled by Stannis? How about eating trout in the Riverlands? Is it a capital offence?

I feel like that scenario opens up the possibility for an anecdote about a crazy lord of House Tully who forbade the consumption of trout. Maybe call him Gonzo Tully?

[Kandrax]

She didn't insult anyone, Aerion was overacting. It would be equal to say that a non-US film featuring a dead eagle is insulting  to Usa

4 hours ago, James Fenimore Cooper XXII said:

How would the other lords react to Tanselle's puppet play?

1. Stannis  would be severe if he felt his family was being insulted.  No less than what Aerion would do.  This man loves to burn people.  Tanselle gives a play where the stag is butchered badly and Stannis will react to this.  
2. Randyll would also give severe punishment to any puppeteer who poked fun at his family.
3. Doran would deliver a strong cease and desist order.  No further consequence as long as Tanselle complies.
4. Tywin would have had her flogged and possibly thrown in jail.  Her wagons and goods will be confiscated.  It won't be pretty.  Say if Tanselle were to give a show where the lions are killed by brave men, yes, Tywin would not react well to that.  

Aerion may be overreacting but the Dragon is the symbol of his House and no other house.  

1. Stannis doesn't like burning people alive. Remember "pray harder"?

2. How can you make fun of House that have sun and spear using puppeets?

4. Your Tywin's punishment would be light by his standards.

5. How would Roose and Walder react?

[Damon_Tor]

2 hours ago, Megorova said:

Egg has watched that show prior Aerion, and he liked it, and had nothing against Tanselle, and didn't thought, that she in some way mocked House Targaryen, by playing that puppet-show. Aerion saw it as a personal insult, because he was crazy.

Right. It would be like if a Russian guy stormed out of a movie where a bear mauls a guy, convinced it's political commentary on US/Russia relations.

[Tai Pan]

Aerion over reacted.  He sure did.  But let us remember the times.  The pesky Blackfyres were a looming threat to the family.  The dragon could not afford to show any weakness nor tolerate even the slightest hint of disrespect in public.  Aerion is an ass.  We know that.  His nature is such as to take offense where none was intended.  But on the other hand, we should consider the Blackfyre threat and the Targaryen's need to always appear strong.

[Rufus Snow]

What colour was Tanselle's puppet?

Quote

The Sworn Sword

Red or black? was a dangerous question, even now.

 

[Seams]

GRRM has deliberately withheld from us the full plot of the Florian and Jonquil story, on which the puppet show is apparently based. We know that it involves a love story between a knight/fool and a maiden who was spotted while bathing. I suspect it is related to the legend of Maidenpool involving Ser Galladon of Morne and the maiden of the Seven Gods. The story involves a giant and a sword fight. We also know that the story has a sad ending.

There is a popular song about Florian and Jonquil, so it seems odd that a puppet show would stand out as offensive while the song is allowed to be performed at events where the highborn are present. Maybe the song leaves out the part about the dragon or maybe Aerion was the only Targaryen who ever saw it as an insult to Targaryen honor.

A re-read of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms this year led me to suspect that Tanselle is a symbolic version of Bloodraven. The conflict between Aerion and Tanselle foreshadows the struggle over Targaryen succession where Bloodraven will play a key role in manipulating circumstances to favor Aegon V (who hates his brother Aerion with every fiber of his being).

A few details about the dragon puppet are important in symbolic ways, I suspect. The "blood" that pours out of the severed neck is red sawdust. That sawdust can be put back inside the puppet and the head secured again to the body for the next show. We know that GRRM does a lot with death and rebirth symbolism throughout the books, so this is just one more example that Aerion fails to understand about how the dragon can be "reborn".  But sawdust is made of . . . wood. What does it mean that the life blood of the puppet is made of wood? Is it an acknowledgement that Bloodraven's maternal ancestry is Blackwood? A hint for us about an "Old Gods" bloodline running through the Targaryen family heritage? Isn't dragon blood supposed to be black?

Note that Tanselle's uncle (not introduced in the story) makes the puppets and Tanselle just paints them and helps to put on the show with the fat Dornish woman. I think the uncle, Tanselle and the Dornish woman are another of GRRM's magical trios - we see Tanselle and the Dornish woman, but never meet the magical puppet maker directly. (The toymaker who gives carved wooden toys to the young Clegane brothers is similarly mysterious.)

It might also help to consider the dragon puppet alongside the fancy helmet decorations and personal sigils of the Targaryens in the tournament. We are told specifically that Dunk damages the flames on Aerion Brightflame's shield. Prince Baelor borrows the fancy helmet that belongs to his son, Prince Valarr, featuring a three-headed dragon. At the end of the Trial of Seven, "the scarlet dragon on his helm had lost a head, both wings, and most of its tail." (I am also noticing that Prince Baelor says his "fingers feel like wood" as he asks for his helmet to be removed.) The death and rebirth of Tanselle's dragon puppet seems to be part of this larger series of dragons involved in life-and-death competition and combat at Ashford Meadow.

In terms of temperament, Aerion Brightflame seems to have some things in common with Joffrey. We know that Joffrey will cruelly punish a singer who makes up a song comparing the boar that killed Robert to Queen Cersei. Cersei will also punish some puppeteers who make up a story about lions eating people, with the lions subsequently killed by a newly-hatched dragon. The latter puppeteers will become some kind of ingredients for Qyburn's makeover of the headless Gregor Clegane / Ser Robert Strong.

To me, the question isn't so much whether Aerion was right to be insulted or to punish Tanselle; the more interesting question is why the author included that conflict in the story and how it fits in with other, similar details and themes of the series.