Information & degrees of separation between characters

[Alexis-something-Rose]

So one of the things I very much enjoy in the books is the way information is communicated and the degrees of separation between the characters who hold that information. I started tracking it because it's always good to know who knows what and see if the information will be passed on.

A few examples off the top of my head are these ones;

The Cinnamon Wind was in Oldtown when news of Robert's death came --> in Qarth in ACoK 27, Dany II --> Dany finds out about the deaths of Robert/Ned --> Dany tells the captain that Viserys has died --> the captain sees the dragons
The Cinnamon Wind is in Braavos in AFFC 26, Sam III --> Sam and Maester Aemon are told about Dany and the dragons --> Aemon spills all sorts of things to Sam that we readers known nothing of

The Sloe-Eyed Maid is in Qarth when Dany is trying to find a ship to take her to Westeros --> The ship sails to Pentos and the steward tells an oarsman from another ship about the dragons --> The ship crashes in the Bite per Gordric Borrell --> At White Harbor, Davos finds out about where the information the Sloe-Eyed Maid had --> Davos is Stannis's Hand and because this is happening at White Harbor, there's a chance Wyman Manderly has heard the rumors

Tyrion Lannister is outside of Meereen --> He knows what's going on in Westeros --> He knows Jeor Mormont has died (or missing) --> Jorah 
Tyrion has met Aegon, knows Jon Connington is still alive, he knows they have sailed for Westeros // Tyrion also met Jon Snow, but until the truth of his birth is revealed or the clues are put together by someone . . . 

Sam spilled his guts to Marwyn about everything that's happened --> Marwyn is traveling to Meereen (with Gilly???) --> He will have all the information with him about the Wall and what happened beyond and why Stannis is there

Alleras and the acolytes discuss dragons in Oldtown --> Lazy Leo who provides most of the information during the discussion is Mace Tyrell's cousin and his father, Moryn Tyrell, an uncle of Mace Tyrell's, is the Lord Commander of the City Watch --> Possibility that Mace Tyrell or Willas who is in charge at Highgarden is in possession of the information/rumor ???

Alleras and the acolytes discuss dragons in Oldtown --> House Hightower --> Might have been in possession of the information as early, if not before ASoS, Tyrion III since this is when the information first comes to King's Landing

More with House Hightower --> Humfrey Hightower is sent to Lys to hire sellsails to fight the ironborn --> Lynesse Lives in Lys --> The Golden Company traveled to Westeros via Lys

Sam and his information on the Wall --> arrives in Oldtown --> meets Marwyn and the gang --> his aunt is married to Leyton Hightower (if the Hightowers are in possession of a glass candle, they'll know exactly where to look, Meereen, Storm's End and the Wall)

So this is the general idea and as you can see, it's a long process.  I don't know if there's anyone interested in this, but I find it helps breakdown what people may know or what they're about to find out. 

[Mat92]

@Alexis-something-Rose Cool breakdown!

I never picked up on the names of the same ships popping up multiple times across books in different areas on my first read (unsurprisingly). I think we are at a point where we are about to see characters start to cross over and meet each other for the first time quite frequently starting with Winds, and I think the story will be slightly less dependent on these passages of information going forward based on that. 

It also seems like the majority of these examples are Dany related, or about/from characters that are poised to interact with Dany quite soon. So it seems as if George is using the method to really lay the seeds for preparing his characters for Dany.

 

 

[Alexis-something-Rose]

2 hours ago, Mat92 said:

I never picked up on the names of the same ships popping up multiple times across books in different areas on my first read (unsurprisingly).

I never picked up on any of that either, until I started writing the names of everything down.

2 hours ago, Mat92 said:

I think we are at a point where we are about to see characters start to cross over and meet each other for the first time quite frequently starting with Winds, and I think the story will be slightly less dependent on these passages of information going forward based on that. 

The story should start shrinking (should being the operative word here). 

What I find intriguing is the information some people have at any given time and the way they choose to use it.

For instance, we have Doran Martell who found out about the dragons I'm assuming sometime in ACoK, so he sends Oberyn to King's Landing to see what the situation is like there and find if they have friends/allies there, then he sends Quentyn to Meereen to bring Dany to Westeros.

At the other end of this, we have Mace Tyrell. Mace Tyrell marries Margaery off to Renly first. Then Littlefinger brings a marriage alliance between the Tyrells and the Lannisters which he accepts. 

Varys brings up the three-headed dragon hatching in Qarth during a small council meeting where Mace, Paxter Redwyne and Mathis Rowan are present. Tywin dismisses the whole thing.

But the prologue of AFFC makes me question what Mace knows. If members of his family know about these rumors, wouldn't he know of them as well? And if he knows, then what is he doing? 

2 hours ago, Mat92 said:

It also seems like the majority of these examples are Dany related, or about/from characters that are poised to interact with Dany quite soon. So it seems as if George is using the method to really lay the seeds for preparing his characters for Dany.

Those were just the examples I could think of at the top of my head. 

The Myraham takes Theon to the Iron Islands, gets stuck there because Balon will not allow any ship to leave his waters. When he dies, the captain sails away before anyone knows. He brings news to Catelyn, Robb and the others that Balon has died and that Euron has returned to Pyke.

With regard to Dany, I think that our author is laying the groundwork for her return to Westeros, but there's also the fact that information from Westeros is not getting to Dany because of circumstances. We know that the information does travel both ways. 

Arya for instance reports back to the kindly man about the ships Elephant and Goodheart, two Lysene ships that end up at Hardhome, capture wildling women and girls and are set to sell them on the slave market in Lys. Goodheart ends up in Braavos and that's how Arya finds out the whole sordid story. 

The last news Dany has from Westeros is the one that's been brought to her by the captain of the Cinnamon Wind, which was that Robert and Ned had died and Joffrey was the new king. As of now she doesn't about the Red Wedding or Joffrey's death. 

The reason she doesn't know more than this is because she has been cut off from the rest of the world by the blockade. I think her decision to stay in Meereen could have turned out to be a different one.

But Tyrion is outside the walls of Meereen and Marwyn should be arriving there soon enough and she will have a good enough picture of what's going on in Westeros. 

(I hope this isn't confusing. I know I have a very confusing way of writing)