The Stone Dragon of Skagos

[Platypus Rex]

2 hours ago, Syl of Syl said:

The explanation for the return of these magical abilities and wonders seems to be that they coincide with the return of dragons to the world. If that is the case, then having a dragon exist who has been here the entire time contradicts this as magic would never have died either.

Dany's dead eggs hatching, and possibly other stone/greyscale dragons, being awakened by way of blood magic, is what allegedly coincides with the magical upsurge in the world.

A dragon born less than two hundred years ago (or perhaps even as much as 300 years ago), being still alive, does not necessarily require the same sort of magical explanation.

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It could be that Cannibal lived some time after the Dance. It is made pretty clear that Sheepstealer and Nettles were living in a cave in the Mountains of the Moon after the Dance. But they don't seem to be around anymore.

How can you tell?  These regions are VAST.  Sailors, commoners, mountain barbarians and island barbarians, are not believed by urbanites, castle-dwellers and academics.

If it is okay to use the "argument from silence", then I can as easily counter with "they don't seem to have died, either".

Meanwhile, the burnt men are still getting burnt; and Skagos is still avoided for fear of "cannibals".

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For the glass candles to be extinguished for a hundred years, I would think that Cannibal and Sheepstealer and Silverwing would all have to have died at least a hundred years ago.

Or not.  Obviously, this assumption is not an airtight conclusion by any means.

 

[Syl of Syl]

6 minutes ago, Platypus Rex said:

Meanwhile, the burnt men are still getting burnt; and Skagos is still avoided for fear of "cannibals".

The Burnt Men burn themselves now tho, where before they were burnt by Sheepstealer. If Sheepstealer was still around in the Mountains of the Moon, the ritual of braving the dragon's cave would not have become a ritual as it is now.

Cannibalism and Skagos are quite clearly referencing the idea that the Skagosi eat other humans. Cannibal was known as Cannibal because he ate other dragons. I don't see how this connection comes from between the supposed Skagosi cannibalism which predates Cannibal by hundreds of years at least and Cannibal himself who would have been feared because he was a dragon, not because his name is Cannibal (which by the way, there is no reason to believe the people of Skagos would know Cannibal well enough to name him).

 

[Platypus Rex]

1 hour ago, Syl of Syl said:

The Burnt Men burn themselves now tho, where before they were burnt by Sheepstealer. If Sheepstealer was still around in the Mountains of the Moon, the ritual of braving the dragon's cave would not have become a ritual as it is now.

I'm not sure the ritual makes sense no matter how you look at it.  But even if Sheepstealer were still alive (and bigger and hotter) there would be safer ways of burning yourself than getting roasted by Sheepstealer.

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Cannibalism and Skagos are quite clearly referencing the idea that the Skagosi eat other humans.

As related by who?  Were there friendly anthropologists who actually participated in the cannibal feasts, in the interests of science?

Possibly, all that is really known is that people disappear on Skagos.  And perhaps, when any inquiries are made, local Skagosi point to the hills and say "cannibal".  And, perhaps, even if the local, Skagosi specify that this 'cannibal' is a fire-breathing monster, maesters at the citadel will of course scoff it as a mere legend embellishing a more mundane truth. 

Of course, it is one thing to suppose that some Skagosi warriors roasted and ate the hearts of their defeated enemies.  That at least is credible.  It is another so suppose that the Skagosi sailed over to Skane and devoured the entire population in a single feast.   That's a bit more extreme, and is perhaps more suggestive of a different kind of monster.

In any event, a large mountainous island overrun by goat-like herbivores is an ideal place for a dragon to hang out.

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Cannibal was known as Cannibal because he ate other dragons.

Sure.  

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I don't see how this connection comes from between the supposed Skagosi cannibalism …

See above.

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… which predates Cannibal by hundreds of years at least ….

I'm not sure I've ever seen any clear indication of that in the text.  But I could be wrong.  When, exactly, was the "Feast of Skane"?

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… and Cannibal himself who would have been feared because he was a dragon, not because his name is Cannibal …

He would have been feared no matter what his name was, even if his name was "cannibal"; and even if the Skagosi knew his name.

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(which by the way, there is no reason to believe the people of Skagos would know Cannibal well enough to name him).

Well.  Westerosi sailors, shipwrecked on Skagos, could know the name of the monster that has infested Skagosi shores.  And perhaps the Skogosi would then punish them, by sacrificing them to "Cannibal".  

[Syl of Syl]

15 minutes ago, Platypus Rex said:

I'm not sure I've ever seen any clear indication of that in the text.  But I could be wrong.  When, exactly, was the "Feast of Skane"?

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Sam talks about this in a Feast for Crows. It is supposed to be the reason why Skane is uninhabited. The Skagosi sailed to Skane, ate all the men and took all the women with them. One of the possible explanations for Hardhome having been destroyed about 600 years ago is that cannibals from Skagos were involved. True or not, both these tales indicate that the idea that the Skagosi practice cannibalism predates Cannibal the dragon.

19 minutes ago, Platypus Rex said:

He would have been feared no matter what his name was, even if his name was "cannibal"; and even if the Skagosi knew his name.

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Right. But why would tales of a dragon have anything to do with tales that the Skagosi eat human flesh? It's just a bit of stretch. Maybe Cannibal spent some time on Skagos, but I don't see how he would have anything to do with the stories told about cannibalism.

21 minutes ago, Platypus Rex said:

I'm not sure the ritual makes sense no matter how you look at it.  But even if Sheepstealer were still alive (and bigger and hotter) there would be safer ways of burning yourself than getting roasted by Sheepstealer.

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Why burn yourself at all? People do things that don't make sense - always have and probably always will - particularly when a ritual is involved. Thing about rituals is there is usual some catalyst. The origin story given in the world book makes sense to me:

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Most of these clan names have some meaning, however obscure those meanings might be to us. The Black Ears take the ears of men they defeat in battle as trophies, we know. Amongst the Burned Men, a youth must give some part of his body to the fire to prove his courage before he can be deemed a man. This practice might have originated in the years after the Dance of the Dragons, some maesters believe, when an offshoot clan of the Painted Dogs were said to have worshipped a fire-witch in the mountains, sending their boys to bring her gifts and risk the flames of the dragon she commanded to prove their manhood.

If you want to dispute that story, go ahead. It just seems like a decent enough explanation of the origin and fits with the idea that Nettles and Sheepstealer were hiding out in the Mountains of the Moon after the Dance.

 

[Lady Anna]

I like your theory OP although I'm not sure a living dragon would work. Perhaps there are stone eggs like Dany's? Good take though 

[kleevedge]

4 hours ago, Syl of Syl said:

Dany's three dragons herald the return of magic to the world. We see glass candles being lit again for the first time since the last dragon died. We see the kiss of life suddenly working for Thoros as it never worked before. We hear from Hallyne the pyromancer who says that their spells are more effective than at any time since the death of the last dragon. The explanation for the return of these magical abilities and wonders seems to be that they coincide with the return of dragons to the world. If that is the case, then having a dragon exist who has been here the entire time contradicts this as magic would never have died either.

I consider the others to be magical, they seem to have been active before Dany's dragons hatched. Mance was already gathering his army at the start of Game of Thrones so the others must've been active for awhile. We also know the skinchangers and Children of the Forest were active before Dany's dragons, I'd consider them magical too. Bloodraven was still greenseeing as well. To me Dany's dragons strengthened the magic, but I don't know if it exactly "woke the old powers".

[kleevedge]

44 minutes ago, Lady Anna said:

I like your theory OP although I'm not sure a living dragon would work. Perhaps there are stone eggs like Dany's? Good take though 

I just feel there is no reason for Dragon Eggs now, It's too late in the books for them to be of any use since they would still need to grow. Also dragon eggs wouldn't explain what Summer saw at Winterfell.

[Lady Anna]

Just now, kleevedge said:

I just feel there is no reason for Dragon Eggs now, It's too late in the books for them to be of any use since they would still need to grow. Also dragon eggs wouldn't explain what Summer saw at Winterfell.

Ok, scractch the dragon eggs. But I don't think Summer saw a literal dragon at Winterfell, it's where you and I differ. I think it's impossible for an actual dragon to be flying around anywhere in Westeros (Skagos included) and no one seeing it. 

[Platypus Rex]

1 hour ago, Syl of Syl said:

Sam talks about this in a Feast for Crows. It is supposed to be the reason why Skane is uninhabited.

"Supposed to be" seems to be the key phrase.

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The Skagosi sailed to Skane, ate all the men and took all the women with them.

That's the story.  I would guess the facts forming a basis for it, were that Skane was discovered to be mysteriously uninhabited, with a lot of cooked/burnt human bones lying about.

And again, cannibalistic practices (such as ritually devouring a man's heart) are not necessarily unrealistic.  Cooking and eating an entire human is a bit more extreme.  Devouring the entire male population of an entire inhabited island in a single night is REALLY extreme.  Something tells me that whoever told this story, was not actually present.  

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One of the possible explanations for Hardhome having been destroyed about 600 years ago is that cannibals from Skagos were involved.

Sure.  That's a theory.  There are other theories.  But the bottom line currently seems to be that you know when the destruction of Hardhome occurred, but you do not know when the "Feast of Skane" occurred.

IF they both occurred at the same time (and that's a big IF) then perhaps they were caused by the same dragon.  But that's another dragon theory, not involving Cannibal.

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True or not, both these tales indicate that the idea that the Skagosi practice cannibalism predates Cannibal the dragon.

Not necessarily.  Some legends arise 500 years after the events they describe.  In any event, the "cannibal" theory is only one of several explanations for Hardhome, and one that may have arisen after the Feast of Skane, which, for all we know, may have been 450+ years later.

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Right. But why would tales of a dragon have anything to do with tales that the Skagosi eat human flesh?

Well, for instance, because there is more than one possible explanation for an uninhabited island with lots of cooked/burnt human bones lying about.  Also because a Skagosi locals trying to explain about the dragon "Cannibal" might be misunderstood by the rare travelers.  Also because the local term for "maneater" might be incorrectly translated as "cannibal".  And finally, even if the traveler were to correctly understand the reference, Maesters and academics like to "rationalize" the stories they hear, while scoffing at the ridiculous things sailors and commoners will believe.

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It's just a bit of stretch. Maybe Cannibal spent some time on Skagos, but I don't see how he would have anything to do with the stories told about cannibalism.

Well I keep explaining how, but you don't like it.  Okay, sure, maybe it is a "stretch" of some sort.  I don't know.  But authors have been known to stretch now and then.  And mystery writers have been known to be a bit "unfair" with their misleading clues.  So I don't think you've shot down the theory.

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Why burn yourself at all? People do things that don't make sense - always have and probably always will - particularly when a ritual is involved. Thing about rituals is there is usual some catalyst. The origin story given in the world book makes sense to me:

If you want to dispute that story, go ahead. It just seems like a decent enough explanation of the origin and fits with the idea that Nettles and Sheepstealer were hiding out in the Mountains of the Moon after the Dance.

I'm not disputing that story at all.  I'm not saying that ritualistic behavior has to make sense.  I'm saying that you cannot conclude from their ritual behavior (that does not have to make any sense) that Sheepstealer is dead; nor even that Sheapstealer is no longer in the Mountains of the Moon.

[kleevedge]

1 hour ago, Syl of Syl said:

Right. But why would tales of a dragon have anything to do with tales that the Skagosi eat human flesh? It's just a bit of stretch. Maybe Cannibal spent some time on Skagos, but I don't see how he would have anything to do with the stories told about cannibalism.

Stories tend to be misconstrued over time, A sailor saying he seen Cannibal flying over Skagos, Can easily become Cannibals at Skagos, which turns into the Skagosi are cannibals. Misinterpreting things is actually quite common in ASOIAF, think of visions, prophecies, battles, songs, and even other stories. While that doesn't necessarily mean the rumor of cannibals on Skagos come from a dragon, It could easily be northern propaganda since the Starks often warred with the Skagosi, or it could just be truth. It's open for interpretation since we don't actually have first hand accounts of Skagos.

[Syl of Syl]

33 minutes ago, kleevedge said:

Stories tend to be misconstrued over time, A sailor saying he seen Cannibal flying over Skagos, Can easily become Cannibals at Skagos, which turns into the Skagosi are cannibals. Misinterpreting things is actually quite common in ASOIAF, think of visions, prophecies, battles, songs, and even other stories. While that doesn't necessarily mean the rumor of cannibals on Skagos come from a dragon, It could easily be northern propaganda since the Starks often warred with the Skagosi, or it could just be truth. It's open for interpretation since we don't actually have first hand accounts of Skagos.

 

57 minutes ago, Platypus Rex said:

Not necessarily.  Some legends arise 500 years after the events they describe.  In any event, the "cannibal" theory is only one of several explanations for Hardhome, and one that may have arisen after the Feast of Skane, which, for all we know, may have been 450+ years later.

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Except that the story of Hardhome is 600 years old and the story of the Feast of Skane is even older. We are given a source for the story of the Feast of Skane from the World book which dates to the time of when Osric Stark was commander of the Night's Watch which was 640 to 700 years ago. The stories of cannibalism as it relates to the people of Skagos are much older than any possible association with the dragon Cannibal. We don't know the truth of Hardhome or the Feast of Skane, but the fact is that stories of cannibalism were believed of the Skagosi in ancient days. It's not a new thing that could have arisen through a misconstruing of Cannibal sightings over the past 170 or so years.

1 hour ago, Platypus Rex said:

I'm not disputing that story at all.  I'm not saying that ritualistic behavior has to make sense.  I'm saying that you cannot conclude from their ritual behavior (that does not have to make any sense) that Sheepstealer is dead; nor even that Sheapstealer is no longer in the Mountains of the Moon.

You can surely believe that Sheepstealer is still around if you want. But we've been in the Mountains of the Moon. Twice. Once with Cat and Tyrion and on the way back with just Tyrion. We've met the Burned Men too, yet we haven't heard any rumors of dragons from either trip or any of our interactions with the mountain clans.

The reason why we suspect that Sheepstealer and Nettles were in the Mountains of the Moon in the first place is because of this account that an offshoot of the Painted Dogs were worshipping a fire-witch who had a dragon at her command. Maybe the Burned Men are the descendants of this offshoot clan and maybe they aren't (it makes more sense that they are), but if we believe that they are and that Sheepstealer is still somewhere up in the mountains, one wonders why they still don't worship that dragon?

The Mountains of the Moon are vast, but it seems unlikely that there would be no hints that there's still a dragon up there. Sheepstealer would have to be eating something or someone. Considering the Targaryens hunger for dragons, they surely would have chased any rumor of a wild dragon somewhere in Westeros.

Maybe Sheepstealer and Cannibal are still alive and have been very cleverly hiding themselves (nevermind that they'd have to both be older than Balerion ever was), but the more likely story is that they've been dead for at least a hundred years.

 

[Platypus Rex]

1 hour ago, Syl of Syl said:

Except that the story of Hardhome is 600 years old and the story of the Feast of Skane is even older. We are given a source for the story of the Feast of Skane from the World book which dates to the time of when Osric Stark was commander of the Night's Watch which was 640 to 700 years ago.

Fair enough.  It must have been another dragon, then. 

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The stories of cannibalism as it relates to the people of Skagos are much older than any possible association with the dragon Cannibal. We don't know the truth of Hardhome or the Feast of Skane, but the fact is that stories of cannibalism were believed of the Skagosi in ancient days. 

Like I said, eating your enemy's heart, as a ritual custom, is fairly credible custom.  I'm not suggesting there was never any truth to the rumors.  

However,  devouring the entire male population of an inhabited island in a single fortnight "feast" is a bit much for any creatures that can still be regarded as human.

And, as a reminder of how little the Maesters really know about Skagos … they have never truly confirmed the existence of Unicorns, and apparently some still scoff.  No live specimen, or even skeleton, was ever obtained.

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You can surely believe that Sheepstealer is still around if you want. But we've been in the Mountains of the Moon. Twice. Once with Cat and Tyrion and on the way back with just Tyrion. We've met the Burned Men too, yet we haven't heard any rumors of dragons from either trip or any of our interactions with the mountain clans.

Well, I've been to the ocean twice, and I've never seen any whales.  So there you go.  Whales are mythical.

Okay, okay, maybe that's not quite a fair comparison.  The ocean is a bit bigger than The Mountains of the Moon.  But the Mountians of the Moon are still pretty large, judging from the maps I have seen.  Seems to me, that a dragon could have a lair in the mountains, and a 50-mile radius hunting range, and still not ever go anywhere near the barely-passable pass leading to the Bloody Gate, or any other passable pass. 

Your "argument from silence" also proves that the dragon witch in the Mountains of the Moon never existed at all, because otherwise we would have heard of her, right?  Except that the World Book eventually did come out, and then we did hear of her.  So much for the "argument from silence".  I guess we don't know everything after all. 

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The reason why we suspect that Sheepstealer and Nettles were in the Mountains of the Moon in the first place is because of this account that an offshoot of the Painted Dogs were worshipping a fire-witch who had a dragon at her command.

Sure. 

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Maybe the Burned Men are the descendants of this offshoot clan and maybe they aren't (it makes more sense that they are), but if we believe that they are and that Sheepstealer is still somewhere up in the mountains, one wonders why they still don't worship that dragon?

It is never stated that they worshipped the dragon.  It is said they worshipped the fire-witch.  Anyway, I don't know why you are wondering.  We are told that the dragon was there, and we were never told that it died.  It might still be there.

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The Mountains of the Moon are vast, but it seems unlikely that there would be no hints that there's still a dragon up there.

Why ponder such imponderables?  Before the World Book came out, we had no such hints (HARD FACT).  Now that the World Book has come out we have at least one such hint (HARD FACT).  Telling GRRM exactly how many hints he should have given us is silly.

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Sheepstealer would have to be eating something or someone.

Mountain Goats?  Mountain Sheep?  Unfortunate Clansmen Youths?

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Considering the Targaryens hunger for dragons, they surely would have chased any rumor of a wild dragon somewhere in Westeros.

So why didn't they?  Why didn't they send an expedition to the Mountains of the Moon?  Did they not read the passages in the master histories that appear in the World Book?   Are you trying to prove that these rumors did not exist and that these passages were never written?

Perhaps they were more interested in hatching their own dragon eggs, of which they still had hope, than in approaching a fully grown wild dragon and getting themselves eaten, after having scaled impassable mountains, and having half their expedition slaughtered by mountain clansmen.

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Maybe Sheepstealer and Cannibal are still alive and have been very cleverly hiding themselves (nevermind that they'd have to both be older than Balerion ever was), but the more likely story is that they've been dead for at least a hundred years.

I know of no evidence from which one could conclude that Sheepstealer or Cannibal would be more than 175 years old.  Balerion was much older than that IIRC.   And most dragons never reached old age.  What mostly killed dragons was warfare, not hiding in a cave in the frigid mountains and flying out every 3 days to eat some sheep.

[Syl of Syl]

1 hour ago, Platypus Rex said:

Well, I've been to the ocean twice, and I've never seen any whales.  So there you go.  Whales are mythical.

The ocean is a lot bigger than the Mountains of the Moon (that's an understatement), and your two days at sea amount to a lot less time than the hundred or so years the mountain clans have been roaming about said mountains without a rumor of dragons were previously there were rumors. And to take this little analogy further, despite the fact that you haven't seen whales, you have to admit that you've heard of many others who have. I'm not asking for a personal testimonial to Sheepstealer's existence, just a rumor of a rumor of a sighting, but we don't even have that.

And call it an argument of silence if you like, but dragons have been one of the main subjects of these books. It's not like I'm saying we haven't seen an Aurochs in a while, so I don't think they exist anymore. If there was a rumor of a dragon, it'd be strange that no one has mentioned it in all the times various characters have been discussing dragons and the fact that they haven't been around for quite some time.

1 hour ago, Platypus Rex said:

I know of no evidence from which one could conclude that Sheepstealer or Cannibal would be more than 175 years old.  Balerion was much older than that IIRC.   And most dragons never reached old age.  What mostly killed dragons was warfare, not hiding in a cave in the frigid mountains and flying out every 3 days to eat some sheep.

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 Dragonstone’s three wild dragons were less easily claimed than those that had known previous riders, yet attempts were made upon them all the same. Sheepstealer, a notably ugly “mud brown” dragon hatched when the Old King was still young, had a taste for mutton, swooping down on shepherd’s flocks from Driftmark to the Wendwater. He seldom harmed the shepherds, unless they attempted to interfere with him, but had been known to devour the occasional sheep dog. Grey Ghost dwelt in a smoking vent high on the eastern side of the Dragonmont, preferred fish, and was most oft glimpsed flying low over the narrow sea, snatching prey from the waters. A pale grey-white beast, the color of morning mist, he was a notably shy dragon who avoided men and their works for years at a time.

 The largest and oldest of the wild dragons was the Cannibal, so named because he had been known to feed on the carcasses of dead dragons, and descend upon the hatcheries of Dragonstone to gorge himself on newborn hatchlings and eggs. Coal black, with baleful green eyes, the Cannibal had made his lair on Dragonstone even before the coming of the Targaryens, some smallfolk claimed. (Grand Maester Munkun and Septon Eustace both found this story most unlikely, as do I.) Would-be dragontamers had made attempts to ride him a dozen times; his lair was littered with their bones.

I bolded the notable lines.

For Sheepstealer and Cannibal to be just 175 years old in 300 AC, they'd have been born in 125 AC, making them just 5 years old at the time of the sowing. When Jace and his dragon went down, Vermax was definitely older than 5, probably more like 15 or 16 years old and described as just barely of fighting size. For a couple of 5 year old wild dragons to be described as they are above, particularly Cannibal who was largest and oldest doesn't match up with 5 year olds. There is plenty of evidence that they were much older than you are assuming.

[Platypus Rex]

1 hour ago, Syl of Syl said:

The ocean is a lot bigger than the Mountains of the Moon (that's an understatement),

There are also a lot more whales in the sea, than dragons in the Mountains of the Moon.

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and your two days at sea amount to a lot less time than the hundred or so years the mountain clans have been roaming about said mountains without a rumor of dragons were previously there were rumors.

Irrelevant, since we have no data on how many times people from the Mountain Clans have seen this dragon.  Your argument was based on specific characters being to a specific part of the Mountains of the Moon on two occasions.  Since you now seem to have abandoned that argument, in favor of another one, I assume you understood my point.

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And to take this little analogy further, despite the fact that you haven't seen whales, you have to admit that you've heard of many others who have. ; 

Yes, but I've also heard of the dragon in the Mountains of the Moon.

I would not expect to hear as many times.  For one thing, I spend more time in the real world than in GRRM's imaginary world.  For another, I live in a world where technology has made the world small; whereas Westeros is a medieval-style world where dragons may indeed truly hide on the borders of maps, and where one would not reasonably expect to know what happens hundreds of miles away in the middle of a vast, uncivilized mountain range..  

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I'm not asking for a personal testimonial to Sheepstealer's existence, just a rumor of a rumor of a sighting, but we don't even have that.

Why are you pretending we have not heard of the dragon in the Mountains of the Moon?  We heard that it was there.  We never heard that it died or went somewhere else.

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And call it an argument of silence if you like, but dragons have been one of the main subjects of these books.

And you conclude from this that more cannot show up?  Seems like a non-sequitur.

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It's not like I'm saying we haven't seen an Aurochs in a while, so I don't think they exist anymore.

It seems rather like that to me.

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If there was a rumor of a dragon, it'd be strange that no one has mentioned it in all the times various characters have been discussing dragons and the fact that they haven't been around for quite some time.

A maester discussed a rumor a dragon which made it into the World Book.  We've also seen maesters scoff at unicorns, which we've more-or-less seen directly.

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For Sheepstealer and Cannibal to be just 175 years old in 300 AC, they'd have been born in 125 AC, making them just 5 years old at the time of the sowing. When Jace and his dragon went down, Vermax was definitely older than 5, probably more like 15 or 16 years old and described as just barely of fighting size. For a couple of 5 year old wild dragons to be described as they are above, particularly Cannibal who was largest and oldest doesn't match up with 5 year olds. There is plenty of evidence that they were much older than you are assuming.

5 years makes them 2 years older than Drogon's current age.  So I don't see this "plenty of evidence" that they must be "much older". 

And I'm not assuming anything.  I'm saying I see no proof that they are older than 175 years old.  I see no proof that they are necessarily that young either.  If GRRM later tells me they are 250 years old, and still healthy and active, I will have no trouble accepting it.

So fine, let's go with your preference.  Maybe they are 10 years older than my minimum.  Okay.  That would make them 185 years old.  So what? You want them to be older?  Add another 10 years?  Okay.  That makes them 195.  Still, so what?  Some dragons are smaller than others, and some dragons live longer than others.  I don't know that "fighting size" necessarily says anything about a dragon's age.  And have we not already heard, from Dany's experience, that dragons grow faster when allowed to run wild?

Balerion was at LEAST 208 years old, and no doubt an unknown number of years beyond that, at the time of this death.  He might have been 220 or 230.  And there is no indication that Balerion represents the absolute limit of dragon longevity.

[Guest]

Love talking about Skagos. it actually makes me wanna get another Dunk and Egg story over anything else. I would love to see some more light shined on the Skagosi rebellion that took place a little before they're time. The causes and aftermath. If those two are headed North, we'll probably get insight on that in their next story. Just like the Mystery Knight was necessary to foreshadow the Jon Connington/Golden Company plot in ADWD, I feel like a Dunk and Egg story taking place in the North and revealing the consequences of that rebellion will be necessary to foreshadow Davos' arc on Skagos. probably a lot of anti Stark feelings up there.

This is a long shot, but maybe Sheepstealer or Cannibal were involved in that rebellion. The Skagosins getting their hands on a dragon and possibly thinking it'll help them could've been what triggered the rebellion. And its defeat (possibly from both sides taking it out) may be the best kept secret in Westeros. 

But I don't want another dragon in A Song of Ice and Fire. that would lessen the factor of Dany's  3. I like the idea of Stone Dragons being Volcanoes though.