Poll: Will Brienne Be A New Hound?

[bent branch]

No.

[Shara]

No.

I think we're supposed to draw a comparison between Brienne and Sandor in as much as each assumes the role as would-be protector of the Stark girls. Perhaps there's something to be observed in that even though they take very different routes to arrive in that role ultimately neither is successful in returning the girls home. However, I don't think the parallel goes beyond that to Brienne becoming either a literal or figurative 'new Hound'.

Sadly, I don't think Brienne is much longer for this world either. I can only see one of them coming out alive from her and Jaime's visit to LSH and since I think Jaime's plot still has a way to go I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Brienne sacrificing herself in order to save him.

 

[Platypus Rex]

3 for to 13 against, so far.

[NonoNono]

I see it as much less literal, but very important:

The Hound was "loyal", very much so, to Joffrey, in the sense that Joffrey would do a lot of crap and the Hound wouldn't react against it; he was his dog, he did what he was told. A dog is man's best friend, and is expected to be loyal, even when hurt by their masters they still remain loyal to them. You could see The Hound as a very submissive friend to Joffrey, like Joffrey was the bully who still has a friend who follows him around and is always ready to do what the bully tells him.

But the Hound broke off, he dropped his loyalty. He stopped being "dog" at that moment, he chose to serve himself.

Brienne on the other hand has been desperately looking for a master. First it was Renly, then Cat, now Sansa. So she is figuratively turning into a dog.

And I think this is the whole point of her arc: to what extent is she going to be loyal and honorable? Will she stay so at any cost?

I think it's why GRRM is now putting the Hound, Brienne, and Jaime together with LS as the catalyst: Brienne meeting the Hound is really important because he is the one who can make her realize what choices she DOES have, and what the consequences can be. Just like Jaime, the kingslayer, Brienne is being shown that you can throw away so-called loyalty and honor, but what will support such actions?

The Hound on the other hand, he has no more master, but he is lacking a purpose, something Brienne could lead him to find.

So I think it makes a lot of sense for all three characters to be in the situation they are in, and I'm really curious to see what choice they make. Will Brienne become another figurative dog, or find her own way?

Now my guess about her outcome (it is purely extrapolation based how I feel about where various characters are going) is:

1- Brienne becomes Sansa's "dog", at some point in Winterfell.

2- Sansa ultimately marries fAegon (long story on why I think so), and Brienne is her queen's guard, because fAegon agrees that the queen should have a personal guard among the seven, if he keeps seven at all instead of just one for himself and one for the queen.

3- Jaime having been arrested for kingslaying fAegon's grand father is sentenced to be executed, and Sansa has to play along (again, long story on that).

4- And this is where Brienne is forced to face the ultimate choice: remain loyal, or not. I have no idea what she would choose, but I am certain she either refuses and dies with Jaime or agrees and executes him with Oathkeeper.

So I cannot say yes or no, because I truly believe that the whole point is we aren't supposed to know until the very end.

[Platypus Rex]

50 minutes ago, NonoNono said:

But the Hound broke off, he dropped his loyalty. He stopped being "dog" at that moment, he chose to serve himself.

Yes, "Hound", like "Dog", suggests loyalty.  But it also suggests hunting.  Remember Sandor's explanation for why he slew Micah?  He ran.  In that context, it is possible to draw a connection to Brienne's various oaths.

50 minutes ago, NonoNono said:

I think it's why GRRM is now putting the Hound, Brienne, and Jaime together with LS as the catalyst: Brienne meeting the Hound is really important because he is the one who can make her realize what choices she DOES have, and what the consequences can be. Just like Jaime, the kingslayer, Brienne is being shown that you can throw away so-called loyalty and honor, but what will support such actions?

That Brienne will take Jaime before Stoneheart is a very popular theory.  So popular that many regard it as fact.  Maybe I will poll it some day, after I run out of unpopular theories to poll, to find out if anyone (other than me) does NOT think Brienne is bringing Jaime to Stoneheart.

50 minutes ago, NonoNono said:

So I cannot say yes or no, because I truly believe that the whole point is we aren't supposed to know until the very end.

For the poll, are you willing to go 51% one way or the other?

[LordMarek]

No, it's not really in her character.

[NonoNono]

16 minutes ago, Platypus Rex said:

Yes, "Hound", like "Dog", suggests loyalty.  But it also suggests hunting.  Remember Sandor's explanation for why he slew Micah?  He ran.  In that context, it is possible to draw a connection to Brienne's various oaths.

That Brienne will take Jaime before Stoneheart is a very popular theory.  So popular that many regard it as fact.  Maybe I will poll it some day, after I run out of unpopular theories to poll, to find out if anyone (other than me) does NOT think Brienne is bringing Jaime to Stoneheart.

For the poll, are you willing to go 51% one way or the other?

Haha, well, ok, Sansa will be dog: she will execute Jaime with Oathkeeper, to keep serving Sansa.

[Haus Berlin]

I say yes.

 

Sansa's "dog" was called "Lady" and got killed. Pod calles Brienne never by her name but "Lady". And I think Brienne is dead too, but walking. Possibly her quest not only started by taking the sigils of dead people instead of her own (Lothston, then Duncan), but coming to death ends with herself as she were. So she has to become someone else. And that someone is a bitch. Please bear with me, I really try to keep that short.

Anubis is a man with a dog's head and connected to afterlife. In her last chapters Brienne is not only surrounded by dog figures (Rorge and then Lem wearing Sandor's dog helmet, also Dog and Hunt), but is called "bitch" in the face of her death. GRRM gifted his Anubis figures with a bad sense in matters of the heart, it seems.

In his talk with Brienne Thoros made clear that he is no wizard who just so brings back people, but tries to process himself for which purpose some people do come back no matter what. He depicts a world inhabited by dogs and rats, where latter always have to hide and become cynic in the process. Lem serves Thoros as perfect example. He hides his face wearing a dead men's helmet, not caring for what that man stood in life. Also Lem doesn't believe in the god's power to bring back people. But this is all he and Lady Stoneheart care for. No matter if still alive or dead, they are at the end of all wishes, cynics. Brienne though...

"I cannot die yet, she told herself, there is something I still need to do." This can easily be translated into Brienne's lasting wish to find Sansa. But only moments before those final thoughts Brienne wasn't all that sure what to do with her life. Her thoughts lingered at giving Jaime back her sword and whether he would comfort her should she weep and if it's that what men want... What we conceive to be her fever dreams tell quite a lot about what Brienne wants for herself and it culminates into being outed as "Kingslayer's Whore". Two times she says "you don't understand", but through the eyes of others she herself gains an understanding of the relation between her and a fellow knight.

Sadly, I think Hyle Hunt got it right and Brienne is doomed to die a maiden. Dead virgins is where the best legendary stuff begins. Or, as Jeyne Heddle put it, death doesn't mean so much as it used to. Jeyne might know it first hand since she took care of  Brienne, who one time floated above her own body and another time says a word while her body is strangled. We are supposed to think of it as a fever dream, but Thoros says to Brienne that dreams can lie. And Brienne certainly tries to make sense of all those ghosts around her in a dream that hurts...

Anput is the female version of Anubis, designed as a mother holding blades. Here is not the place to explicate how Brienne underwent stages of courtship, deflowering and marriage, all connected to swords. Of course she choose "sword" in the end. Other than the girl she once was, she desires safety over all. She cries out for the sword again and again. Looking for Sansa, a maid of ten-and-three, led Brienne back to the point when she was twelve and hoping for roses. Her quest showed her that there is no safe place; not for Sansa and not for herself. The last time we saw Brienne, she invited Jaime to see "the girl", but on his own - otherwise the hound would kill her.
Should Brienne ever wear the dog helmet, likely it's a turn to Anput. If she had her sip from GRRM's take on the holy grail, surely that could make Lem take off his cynic item, since Brienne died at his own hands. Let's not forget that Thoros provides one item that gets Brienne hanged: King Tommen's letter claiming that Brienne is doing his business. A king is just what the Brotherhood lacks now, Thoros told her.

 

Sorry if I wasn't able to give some insight why I voted "yes".