Unconventional opinions dumpsterfire of a thread

[Nagini's Neville]

26 minutes ago, The Wolves said:

Uroslin can live until Edmure’s baby is born, than she can die.

why? what did she do? We don't know anything about her, before the RW. She seems to be fond of Edmure, despite her family's "attitude"-says a lot IMO. I don't think Edmure would be okay with her death.

[The Wolves]

9 minutes ago, Nagini's Neville said:

why? what did she do? We don't know anything about her, before the RW. She seems to be fond of Edmure, despite her family's "attitude"-says a lot IMO. I don't think Edmure would be okay with her death.

She’s a Frey and I need them all dead. No it’s not fair that the innocent ones should die and they don’t deserve it. But when has ASOIAF been about fair and what people deserve? I need them and everyone involved with the Red Wedding dead and wiped out. 
 

Disclaimer: If this was real life I would be so against killing the innocent Freys. I don’t believe in an “eye for an eye” or the death penalty but I will make an exception for fiction. 

[Nagini's Neville]

23 minutes ago, The Wolves said:

She’s a Frey and I need them all dead. No it’s not fair that the innocent ones should die and they don’t deserve it. But when has ASOIAF been about fair and what people deserve? I need them and everyone involved with the Red Wedding dead and wiped out. 
 

Disclaimer: If this was real life I would be so against killing the innocent Freys. I don’t believe in an “eye for an eye” or the death penalty but I will make an exception for fiction. 

Alright! Love the honesty and self-awareness  Guess nothing wrong with just wanting, what you want in fiction, especially, if you're self-aware about the reasons and don't make up weird ones.

Tbh that's kinda what fiction is there for sometimes right? To be able to wish a whole House to go extinct without having to feel bad lol 

But I think Edmure will still be sad though  And poor dude has been through so much already. Even though was still only a ONS up until now lol

 

[corbon]

9 hours ago, kissdbyfire said:

Craster doesn’t worship the Old Gods, but the cold Gods...

ACoK, Jon III

“For the baby, not for me. If it’s a girl, that’s not so bad, she’ll grow a few years and he’ll marry her. But Nella says it’s to be a boy, and she’s had six and knows these things. He gives the boys to the gods. Come the white cold, he does, and of late it comes more often. That’s why he started giving them sheep, even though he has a taste for mutton. Only now the sheep’s gone too. Next it will be dogs, till . . . ” She lowered her eyes and stroked her belly.
“What gods?” Jon was remembering that they’d seen no boys in Craster’s Keep, nor men either, save Craster himself.
“The cold gods,” she said. “The ones in the night. The white shadows.”

 

Thanks. I could feel something was off in what I wrote but couldn't pick it.

[kissdbyfire]

19 minutes ago, corbon said:

Thanks. I could feel something was off in what I wrote but couldn't pick it.

Yeah, all that awful incest w/ his daughters and getting rid of possible future competition/lads who could oppose him is very anti-OG and what the FF believe... 

“It wasn’t Longspear, then?” Jon was relieved. He liked Longspear, with his homely face and friendly ways.
She punched him. “That’s vile. Would you bed your sister?”
“Longspear’s not your brother.”
“He’s of my village. You know nothing, Jon Snow. A true man steals a woman from afar, t’ strengthen the clan. Women who bed brothers or fathers or clan kin offend the gods, and are cursed with weak and sickly children. Even monsters.”
“Craster weds his daughters,” Jon pointed out.
She punched him again. “Craster’s more your kind than ours. His father was a crow who stole a woman out of Whitetree village, but after he had her he flew back t’ his Wall. She went t’ Castle Black once t’ show the crow his son, but the brothers blew their horns and run her off. Craster’s blood is black, and he bears a heavy curse.” She ran her fingers lightly across his stomach. “I feared you’d do the same once. Fly back to the Wall. You never knew what t’ do after you stole me.”

 

[M.Alhazred]

11 hours ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Yeah me too. 

Ah, I am not alone.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Arya, not Sansa, is the maid that will slay Littlefinger, the savage giant.

[The Map Guy]

On 4/21/2020 at 6:35 PM, Hugorfonics said:

Why does the seed is strong have to do with non Baratheon looks? Wheres the connection between that and magically weak female genes?

I believe "The seed is strong" is a general theme for ASOIAF. Even though it was originally applied to Robert and Joffery ... it also thematically applies to Robert and Joffery (assuming A+J=J&C).

The Iron Throne in the Red Keep = Blood Throne of the Targaryens. Blood is made of iron and is colored red. The general theme I believe for A Game of Thrones is that whoever sits on the Iron Throne (not as a Hand) must have Targaryen blood.

Robert Baratheon has female Targaryen lineage. His supposed son Joffery is not of his own blood, as he is pure Lannister through Jaime & Cersei. The Game of Thrones is broken ... BUT WAIT!!!!! A+J=J&C makes Jaime & Cersei half Targaryen by male lineage ... but that also makes Joffery, Myrcella, and Tommen half Targaryen by male lineage too ... thus keeping the Targaryen blood theme on the Iron Throne in the Red Keep.

Even after Jaime king-slayed his real father King Aerys, Jaime temporarily sat on the Iron Throne too ... which is a nod to preserving the Targaryen blood theme on the throne.

Themes are important! Don't be like D&D!

On 4/21/2020 at 6:35 PM, Hugorfonics said:

Even if thats true, (why do you think that?) Mances son was born a prince while Gillys baby was not born under the Unworthy. The blood is diluted now, although if its Crasters family maybe not..

The male Targaryen lineage runs like this for Gilly's baby:

• AEGon the Unworthy
• Bloodraven
• Craster
• Monster

Remember, just like A+J=J&C ... even J=R+L ... DNA does not care about royalty or bastards. DNA is DNA. The child of a man & woman that had a one night stand HAS THE SAME DNA as a child of the same man & woman in a lengthy marriage. Just ask Arnold SchwarzenEGGer. He has trueborn kids with the "royal" American Kennedy family ... and a bastard kid with an ordinary maid. The funny thing is that his bastard son looks more like Arnold than his trueborn sons. DNA is DNA ... one night stand or lengthy marriage.

Anyways, the point I was trying to make is that Monster's king's blood is not diluted. It is actually really strong through the male Targaryen side ... stronger than Baratheon blood ... perhaps strong enough to be sacrificed into a fire and raise someone from the dead ... like Jon.

Also this makes Gilly a Targaryen princess.
He went to Gilly. "What we did . . . if I could take a wife, I would sooner have you than any princess or highborn maiden, but I can't. [...]
{Samwell IV AFFC}
Awwwww my sweet Sam ... you know nothing about Lady Gilly.

Also the specifics of Craster being Bloodraven's son is another theory I have to write. I have a lot of evidence and themes. Some I can talk about, and some I can't talk about. Let just say that this father & son duel only makes sense if they were the bad guys in ASOIAF. Their treacherous master plan is called the Dark Sister Rebellion (just like the Blackfyre Rebellion, but from Beyond the Wall). In this evil evil evil plan, Bloodraven aka the three eyed crow wants the Iron Throne in King's Landing. (And suddenly D&D look more like idiots when they misinterpreted GRRM's Yes and No. Yes and No.)

Some preview of the Dark Sister Rebellion:

Spoiler

 

"These are bad times to dwell alone in the wild. The cold winds are rising."
"Let them rise. My roots are sunk deep." Craster [said] [...]"
{Jon III ACOK}

Seated on his throne of roots in the great cavern, half-corpse and half-tree, Lord Brynden seemed less a man than some ghastly statue made of twisted wood, old bone, and rotted wool. The only thing that looked alive in the pale ruin that was his face was his one red eye, burning like the last coal in a dead fire, surrounded by twisted roots and tatters of leathery white skin hanging off a yellowed skull.
{Bran III ADWD}

Didn't GRRM said he decided to do a twist in TWOW that the TV show couldn't do? The twist had to be "organic". Wouldn't Bloodraven (aka the three-eyed crow) secretly wanting the Iron Throne be an awesome organic twist? Especially after realizing the plot of TV Bloodraven and TV Bran made NO SENSE and did absolutely nothing to push forward the story. I'm sure most of you guys would want the Dark Sister Rebellion to happen in TWOW to cleanse the BS left by the show.

 

Also I have a separate theory involving Mance and Craster. I don't believe Mance has a secret identity like Rhaegar or Arthur Dayne. But I believe Mance has a secret lineage. I believe Mance is a Bracken, since Bloodraven & Craster are Blackwoods ... and oh boy did the Bracken baby boy Aemon Steelsong and Blackwood baby boy Monster share Gilly's teats!
 

[frenin]

King's power has absolutely nothing to do with Targ's blood but to the men's believe that a king's blood is powerful, unless the Targs have been the only dynasty in history of the world, the notion seems so too ludicrous and egocentric to be taken seriously

 

31 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

Don't be like D&D!

And i feel those two are more often than not used to be a defense for the tinfoilest theories,

[kissdbyfire]

42 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

• AEGon the Unworthy
• Bloodraven
• Craster
• Monster

Nah, you tripping. 

[The Map Guy]

On 4/21/2020 at 6:37 PM, corbon said:

50%++ because it has to be recognised that Monster's chances of surviving Mel are significantly better than Aemon Steelsong's, given that in time, earlier if necessary, Jon can just tell Mel about the swap and her interest in Monster drops back to your putative 0 value.

As a Commander, Jon is responsible for both Monster and Aemon Steelsong.
Arguing that one person/baby's odds have decreased while ignoring that the other's have increased is not looking at the whole picture. 

I don't want to keep arguing about this, but I see you want to justify Jon's actions to Gilly. That is your opinion.

Because I am a father myself, and Jon has never held his own child in his arms (What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms?) ... I know that is an impossible thing to ask a parent to let go of their own kid to save a stranger's kid. You would literally have to threaten me with death to take my son away, and best believe I would die trying to stop it. 

What does that make the person making threat? What does that make of our heroic Jon? Jon Snow knows nothing ... especially about being a parent.
And if you think Jon is going to tell Mel about the baby swap so she doesn't burn babies ... how is that working out for our dead Jon Snow?

[The Map Guy]

14 minutes ago, frenin said:

King's power has absolutely nothing to do with Targ's blood but to the men's believe that a king's blood is powerful, unless the Targs have been the only dynasty in history of the world, the notion seems so too ludicrous and egocentric to be taken seriously

I believe Targ blood and Valyrian blood has magical properties. Once those blood types are used, R'hllor magic is stronger.
 

19 minutes ago, frenin said:

52 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

Don't be like D&D!

And i feel those two are more often than not used to be a defense for the tinfoilest theories,

I use them as an example because D&D don't believe in themes.
I believe in themes. I believe in story arcs. They make the story better.
Some of the theories I write are theme driven and story arc driven ... and not about what I want to happen.

13 minutes ago, kissdbyfire said:

56 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

• AEGon the Unworthy
• Bloodraven
• Craster
• Monster

Nah, you tripping. 

Tripping on a root! Oh wait, no ... those are you guys and D&D. I ain't falling for Bloodraven's trick!
 

[corbon]

4 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

I don't want to keep arguing about this, but I see you want to justify Jon's actions to Gilly. That is your opinion.

Jon's actions were being condemned, as a Commander. Because of Reasons, as a Parent. Thats illogical.

4 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

Because I am a father myself, and Jon has never held his own child in his arms (What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms?) ... I know that is an impossible thing to ask a parent to let go of their own kid to save a stranger's kid. You would literally have to threaten me with death to take my son away, and best believe I would die trying to stop it. 

Did you wait three years to name your son?

This is a different paradigm. 
It doesn't mean people love their kids less, it means they have a different attitude to and understanding of risk. they know, and understand the implications, that a huge proportion of kids don't make it past 3 years old even in good times, let alone 'interesting' times. And a deliberate, planned, understood, different development of parental affection ties.

4 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

What does that make the person making threat? What does that make of our heroic Jon? Jon Snow knows nothing ... especially about being a parent.

A commander. 
He's not making these decisions as a parent. Thats why I critiqued your rationale for criticizing the decision in the first place.

4 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

And if you think Jon is going to tell Mel about the baby swap so she doesn't burn babies ... how is that working out for our dead Jon Snow?

He's dead is he? 

I don't think he was making decisions on the basis of him being dead. Nor do I think he had perfect future-vision. Nor are his decisions necessarily good ones just because he made them.
Having said that, both Monster and AS are currently alive and well, so... there you go.

 

[frenin]

4 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

I believe Targ blood and Valyrian blood has magical properties. Once those blood types are used, R'hllor magic is stronger.

Well, it's evident that they have some sort of magical properties, they are no different from the Starks on this subject, but that's not King's power, king's power is a magical power tied to just kingship and the believe and faith men put on kingship. The weird idea that only  apply Targs suggest that the Targs are indeed the only dynasty in the history of planetos. 

 

9 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

I use them as an example because D&D don't believe in themes.
I believe in themes. I believe in story arcs. They make the story better.
Some of the theories I write are theme driven and story arc driven ... and not about what I want to happen.

They sure do, just not the ones you may like. Or I may like.

 

 

 

[The Map Guy]

13 minutes ago, corbon said:

Did you wait three years to name your son?

This is a different paradigm. 
It doesn't mean people love their kids less, it means they have a different attitude to and understanding of risk. they know, and understand the implications, that a huge proportion of kids don't make it past 3 years old even in good times, let alone 'interesting' times. And a deliberate, planned, understood, different development of parental affection ties.

What was the risk for Gilly and her son before Jon threaten the Baby Swap? Now what is the risk after?

15 minutes ago, corbon said:

A commander. 

Is Gilly a soldier?
What kind of commander forces a civilian mother to give up their baby when they are not in harm's way?

If Craster does it, he is evil.
But if Jon does it, he is a hero huh?
Does Gilly think Jon is heroic?

22 minutes ago, corbon said:

Having said that, both Monster and AS are currently alive and well, so... there you go.

And that would make some good story telling and heavy drama in TWOW once Jon Snow wakes up from his death to find out Monster was burnt to resurrect his sorry butt. Conflict with the heart like GRRM says ... the best type of story telling. Lucky bastard Jon Snow theme .... always his friends saving his butt.

 

23 minutes ago, frenin said:

Well, it's evident that they have some sort of magical properties, they are no different from the Starks on this subject, but that's not King's power, king's power is a magical power tied to just kingship and the believe and faith men put on kingship. The weird idea that only  apply Targs suggest that the Targs are indeed the only dynasty in the history of planetos. 

Well I believe Mel assuming King Mance has king's blood is a dead end. There is nothing magical about it.
From her ADWD POV, she is unsure with a lot of things.
When first she supported King Stannis, he happens to have a little bit of Targaryen blood, female lineage.
Now at the Wall, she is with Jon Snow, not a king, but has Targaryen blood, male lineage ... and she feels stronger.

There is fire in the blood of Targaryens, magical dragon fire ... and R'hllor is a fire religion.

28 minutes ago, frenin said:

They sure do, just not the ones you may like. Or I may like

lol ... but themes and D&D

 

[frenin]

58 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

There is fire in the blood of Targaryens, magical dragon fire ... and R'hllor is a fire religion.

You're conflating two things, magical blood and king's blood.  `Perhaps Meli is referring to magical blood when she says king's blood but their treatment is different enough we can tell which is which.

 

58 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

Well I believe Mel assuming King Mance has king's blood is a dead end. There is nothing magical about it.
From her ADWD POV, she is unsure with a lot of things.

Perhaps because the whole King's blood idea is bs?? Perhaps because the wildlings don't see Mace's kid as a prince. Or perhaps she is right and it does have a power, who knows.

She is unsure of a lot of things but King's blood is not among them,

58 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

When first she supported King Stannis, he happens to have a little bit of Targaryen blood, female lineage.
Now at the Wall, she is with Jon Snow, not a king, but has Targaryen blood, male lineage ... and she feels stronger.

Or maybe because they are fit to be AA. Blood does certainly not distiguish between female lineage and male lineage, that's a draw made by men, i find the assestment rather curious.

 

 

58 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

lol ... but themes and D&D

Huh, i stand corrected then.

[The Map Guy]

10 hours ago, The Wolves said:

ALL. THE. FREYS. DESERVE. TO. DIE. I don’t have any attachment to any Frey to think otherwise. 

Unconventional Opinion:
Believe it or not, I want Walder Frey alive.
I want all the other male Freys to die. Innocent or not.
I want Walder Frey alive and castrated.

He would be alive knowing his whole lineage has ended and the Frey name will disappear in history.
It is a terrible punishment, perhaps he may even take his own life.
It would reciprocate Catelyn/LSH feelings & her presumption that the male Stark lineage was wiped out with Robb's, Bran's and Rickon's deaths.

[The Map Guy]

11 minutes ago, frenin said:

Or maybe because they are fit to be AA. Blood does certainly not distiguish between female lineage and male lineage, that's a draw made by men, i find the assestment rather curious.

Another Unconventional Opinion:
I don't believe Azor Ahai is a single person. I believe "Azor Ahai" is a surname, a blood lineage ... and I believe it is the Targaryen blood lineage.
Every time "Azor Ahai" is reborn, it means another son or daughter is born from a Targaryen father and mother.

Now the ultimate goal is find the "Azor Ahai Reborn" that produces Lightbringer.
For example, Azor Ahai Reborn could not produce Lightbringer when it was tempered into a lion's heart.
I believe this means the magical Lightbringer cannot be created by a Targaryen/Lannister offspring(s).

Anyways, I believe Mel got lucky with King Stannis and her concept of "king's blood"
Stannis does have the Targaryen lineage, a little bit of "Azor Ahai" and the blood does have some magic ... but Jon Snow has more.

I believe this world that GRRM created, "The seed is strong", establishes a Targaryen lineage rule that the male (seed) lineage is stronger than female (egg) lineage ... when it comes to magic.

[frenin]

1 minute ago, The Map Guy said:

Another Unconventional Opinion:
I don't believe Azor Ahai is a single person. I believe "Azor Ahai" is a surname, a blood lineage ... and I believe it is the Targaryen blood lineage.
Every time "Azor Ahai" is reborn, it means another son or daughter is born from a Targaryen father and mother.

Now the ultimate goal is find the "Azor Ahai Reborn" that produces Lightbringer.
For example, Azor Ahai Reborn could not produce Lightbringer when it was tempered into a lion's heart.
I believe this means the magical Lightbringer cannot be created by a Targaryen/Lannister offspring(s).

Anyways, I believe Mel got lucky with King Stannis and her concept of "king's blood"
Stannis does have the Targaryen lineage, a little bit of "Azor Ahai" and the blood does have some magic ... but Jon Snow has more.

Well, it's unconventional so there's that, you see rather fixed with the Targ blood.

Azor Ahai is an Ashai tradition however and at all related with Valyrians and he was supposed  to exist more than five thousand years ago and a time where the Valyrians didn't have magical blood and were still spherds.  

 

7 minutes ago, The Map Guy said:

I believe this world that GRRM created, "The seed is strong", establishes a Targaryen lineage rule that the male (seed) lineage is stronger than female (egg) lineage ... when it comes to magic.

When has Martin, or anyone in planetos, have made any distinction between male and female and their strenght when it comes to magic?? The ones who have made such distinction are men when it comes to politics.

[Megorova]

18 hours ago, Nagini's Neville said:

I mean Dany is really young and had no education at all in politics. She is too young, too uneducated, but for that she is doing a good job IMO. She isn't intellectually stupid, I'd say she is rather smart and also has emotional intelligence.

I'm saying that she's stupid, because of things like this (this is the whole scene in a spoiler, for how long her stupidity lasted, and below I quoted relevant parts, cut-outs about her slippers):

Spoiler

Quote

“Cleon the Great sends these slippers as a token of his love for Daenerys Stormborn, the Mother of Dragons.”

Irri slid the slippers onto Dany’s feet. They were gilded leather, decorated with green freshwater pearls. Does the butcher king believe a pair of pretty slippers will win my hand? “King Cleon is most generous. You may thank him for his lovely gift.” Lovely, but made for a child. Dany had small feet, yet the pointed slippers mashed her toes together.

“Great Cleon will be pleased to know they pleased you,” said Lord Ghael. “His Magnificence bids me say that he stands ready to defend the Mother of Dragons from all her foes.”

If he proposes again that I wed King Cleon, I’ll throw a slipper at his head, Dany thought, but for once the Astapori envoy made no mention of a royal marriage. Instead he said, “The time has come for Astapor and Meereen to end the savage reign of the Wise Masters of Yunkai, who are sworn foes to all those who live in freedom. Great Cleon bids me tell you that he and his new Unsullied will soon march.”

His new Unsullied are an obscene jape. “King Cleon would be wise to tend his own gardens and let the Yunkai’i tend theirs.” It was not that Dany harbored any love for Yunkai. She was coming to regret leaving the Yellow City untaken after defeating its army in the field. The Wise Masters had returned to slaving as soon as she moved on, and were busy raising levies, hiring sellswords, and making alliances against her.

Cleon the self-styled Great was no better, however. The Butcher King had restored slavery to Astapor, the only change being that the former slaves were now the masters and the former masters were now the slaves.

“I am only a young girl and know little of the ways of war,” she told Lord Ghael, “but we have heard that Astapor is starving. Let King Cleon feed his people before he leads them out to battle.” She made a gesture of dismissal. Ghael withdrew.

“Magnificence,” prompted Reznak mo Reznak, “will you hear the noble Hizdahr zo Loraq?”

Again? Dany nodded, and Hizdahr strode forth; a tall man, very slender, with flawless amber skin. He bowed on the same spot where Stalwart Shield had lain in death not long before. I need this man, Dany reminded herself. Hizdahr was a wealthy merchant with many friends in Meereen, and more across the seas. He had visited Volantis, Lys, and Qarth, had kin in Tolos and Elyria, and was even said to wield some influence in New Ghis, where the Yunkai’i were trying to stir up enmity against Dany and her rule.

And he was rich. Famously and fabulously rich …

And like to grow richer, if I grant his petition. When Dany had closed the city’s fighting pits, the value of pit shares had plummeted. Hizdahr zo Loraq had grabbed them up with both hands, and now owned most of the fighting pits in Meereen.

The nobleman had wings of wiry red-black hair sprouting from his temples. They made him look as if his head were about to take flight. His long face was made even longer by a beard bound with rings of gold. His purple tokar was fringed with amethysts and pearls. “Your Radiance will know the reason I am here.”

“Why, it must be because you have no other purpose but to plague me. How many times have I refused you?”

“Five times, Your Magnificence.”

“Six now. I will not have the fighting pits reopened.”

“If Your Majesty will hear my arguments …”

“I have. Five times. Have you brought new arguments?”

“Old arguments,” Hizdahr admitted, “new words. Lovely words, and courteous, more apt to move a queen.”

“It is your cause I find wanting, not your courtesies. I have heard your arguments so often I could plead your case myself. Shall I?” Dany leaned forward. “The fighting pits have been a part of Meereen since the city was founded. The combats are profoundly religious in nature, a blood sacrifice to the gods of Ghis. The mortal art of Ghis is not mere butchery but a display of courage, skill, and strength most pleasing to your gods. Victorious fighters are pampered and acclaimed, and the slain are honored and remembered. By reopening the pits I would show the people of Meereen that I respect their ways and customs. The pits are far-famed across the world. They draw trade to Meereen, and fill the city’s coffers with coin from the ends of the earth. All men share a taste for blood, a taste the pits help slake. In that way they make Meereen more tranquil. For criminals condemned to die upon the sands, the pits represent a judgment by battle, a last chance for a man to prove his innocence.” She leaned back again, with a toss of her head. “There. How have I done?”

“Your Radiance has stated the case much better than I could have hoped to do myself. I see that you are eloquent as well as beautiful. I am quite persuaded.”

She had to laugh. “Ah, but I am not.”

“Your Magnificence,” whispered Reznak mo Reznak in her ear, “it is customary for the city to claim one-tenth of all the profits from the fighting pits, after expenses, as a tax. That coin might be put to many noble uses.”

“It might … though if we were to reopen the pits, we should take our tenth before expenses. I am only a young girl and know little of such matters, but I dwelt with Xaro Xhoan Daxos long enough to learn that much.

Hizdahr, if you could marshal armies as you marshal arguments, you could conquer the world … but my answer is still no. For the sixth time.”

“The queen has spoken.” He bowed again, as deeply as before. His pearls and amethysts clattered softly against the marble floor. A very limber man was Hizdahr zo Loraq.

He might be handsome, but for that silly hair. Reznak and the Green Grace had been urging Dany to take a Meereenese noble for her husband, to reconcile the city to her rule. Hizdahr zo Loraq might be worth a careful look. Sooner him than Skahaz. The Shavepate had offered to set aside his wife for her, but the notion made her shudder. Hizdahr at least knew how to smile.

“Magnificence,” said Reznak, consulting his list, “the noble Grazdan zo Galare would address you. Will you hear him?”

“It would be my pleasure,” said Dany, admiring the glimmer of the gold and the sheen of the green pearls on Cleon’s slippers while doing her best to ignore the pinching in her toes. Grazdan, she had been forewarned, was a cousin of the Green Grace, whose support she had found invaluable. The priestess was a voice for peace, acceptance, and obedience to lawful authority. I can give her cousin a respectful hearing, whatever he desires.

What he desired turned out to be gold. Dany had refused to compensate any of the Great Masters for the value of their slaves, but the Meereenese kept devising other ways to squeeze coin from her. The noble Grazdan had once owned a slave woman who was a very fine weaver, it seemed; the fruits of her loom were greatly valued, not only in Meereen, but in New Ghis and Astapor and Qarth. When this woman had grown old, Grazdan had purchased half a dozen young girls and commanded the crone to instruct them in the secrets of her craft. The old woman was dead now. The young ones, freed, had opened a shop by the harbor wall to sell their weavings. Grazdan zo Galare asked that he be granted a portion of their earnings. “They owe their skill to me,” he insisted. “I plucked them from the auction bloc and gave them to the loom.”

Dany listened quietly, her face still. When he was done, she said, “What was the name of the old weaver?”

“The slave?” Grazdan shifted his weight, frowning. “She was … Elza, it might have been. Or Ella. It was six years ago she died. I have owned so many slaves, Your Grace.”

“Let us say Elza. Here is our ruling. From the girls, you shall have nothing. It was Elza who taught them weaving, not you. From you, the girls shall have a new loom, the finest coin can buy. That is for forgetting the name of the old woman.”

Reznak would have summoned another tokar next, but Dany insisted that he call upon a freedman. Thereafter she alternated between the former masters and the former slaves. Many and more of the matters brought before her involved redress. Meereen had been sacked savagely after its fall. The stepped pyramids of the mighty had been spared the worst of the ravages, but the humbler parts of the city had been given over to an orgy of looting and killing as the city’s slaves rose up and the starving hordes who had followed her from Yunkai and Astapor poured through the broken gates. Her Unsullied had finally restored order, but the sack left a plague of problems in its wake. And so they came to see the queen.

A rich woman came, whose husband and sons had died defending the city walls. During the sack she had fled to her brother in fear. When she returned, she found her house had been turned into a brothel. The whores had bedecked themselves in her jewels and clothes. She wanted her house back, and her jewels. “They can keep the clothes,” she allowed. Dany granted her the jewels but ruled the house was lost when she abandoned it.

A former slave came, to accuse a certain noble of the Zhak. The man had recently taken to wife a freedwoman who had been the noble’s bed-warmer before the city fell. The noble had taken her maidenhood, used her for his pleasure, and gotten her with child. Her new husband wanted the noble gelded for the crime of rape, and he wanted a purse of gold as well, to pay him for raising the noble’s bastard as his own. Dany granted him the gold, but not the gelding. “When he lay with her, your wife was his property, to do with as he would. By law, there was no rape.” Her decision did not please him, she could see, but if she gelded every man who ever forced a bedslave, she would soon rule a city of eunuchs.

A boy came, younger than Dany, slight and scarred, dressed up in a frayed grey tokar trailing silver fringe. His voice broke when he told of how two of his father’s household slaves had risen up the night the gate broke. One had slain his father, the other his elder brother. Both had raped his mother before killing her as well. The boy had escaped with no more than the scar upon his face, but one of the murderers was still living in his father’s house, and the other had joined the queen’s soldiers as one of the Mother’s Men. He wanted them both hanged.

I am queen over a city built on dust and death. Dany had no choice but to deny him. She had declared a blanket pardon for all crimes committed during the sack. Nor would she punish slaves for rising up against their masters.

When she told him, the boy rushed at her, but his feet tangled in his tokar and he went sprawling headlong on the purple marble. Strong Belwas was on him at once. The huge brown eunuch yanked him up one-handed and shook him like a mastiff with a rat. “Enough, Belwas,” Dany called. “Release him.” To the boy she said, “Treasure that tokar, for it saved your life. You are only a boy, so we will forget what happened here. You should do the same.” But as he left the boy looked back over his shoulder, and when she saw his eyes Dany thought, The Harpy has another Son.

By midday Daenerys was feeling the weight of the crown upon her head, and the hardness of the bench beneath her. With so many still waiting on her pleasure, she did not stop to eat. Instead she dispatched Jhiqui to the kitchens for a platter of flatbread, olives, figs, and cheese. She nibbled whilst she listened, and sipped from a cup of watered wine. The figs were fine, the olives even finer, but the wine left a tart metallic aftertaste in her mouth. The small pale yellow grapes native to these regions produced a notably inferior vintage. We shall have no trade in wine. Besides, the Great Masters had burned the best arbors along with the olive trees.

In the afternoon a sculptor came, proposing to replace the head of the great bronze harpy in the Plaza of Purification with one cast in Dany’s image. She denied him with as much courtesy as she could muster. A pike of unprecedented size had been caught in the Skahazadhan, and the fisherman wished to give it to the queen. She admired the fish extravagantly, rewarded the fisherman with a purse of silver, and sent the pike to her kitchens. A coppersmith had fashioned her a suit of burnished rings to wear to war. She accepted it with fulsome thanks; it was lovely to behold, and all that burnished copper would flash prettily in the sun, though if actual battle threatened, she would sooner be clad in steel. Even a young girl who knew nothing of the ways of war knew that.

The slippers the Butcher King had sent her had grown too uncomfortable. Dany kicked them off and sat with one foot tucked beneath her and the other swinging back and forth. It was not a very regal pose, but she was tired of being regal.

 

She was given jeweled slippers as a gift from Cleon of Astapor, and she wore them, even though she herself noted that they are too small for her, that they will fit a child's foot but not hers, nevertheless she wore them. Because they were lovely. And for more than half of that day she was suffering, while wearing shoes that were too small for her.

"Lovely, but made for a child. Dany had small feet, yet the pointed slippers mashed her toes together."

"By midday Daenerys was feeling the weight of the crown upon her head, and the hardness of the bench beneath her."

"In the afternoon a sculptor came,"

"admiring the glimmer of the gold and the sheen of the green pearls on Cleon’s slippers while doing her best to ignore the pinching in her toes."

"The slippers the Butcher King had sent her had grown too uncomfortable. Dany kicked them off and sat with one foot tucked beneath her and the other swinging back and forth. It was not a very regal pose, but she was tired of being regal."

 

If she wasn't stupid, she wouldn't have worne shoes that were too small for her, or at least she would have took them off, when they became uncomfortable. But no! she was bearing with it, FOR HOURS! because those shoes were oh so lovely, golden and with pearls

Isn't that stupid?

And then she got tired of being regal. Double stupid.

And there were other small things like that. And not small things. Like her relationship with Jorah (what she allowed him to do - for example she allowed him to enter into her cabin on Balerion, while she was naked, which resulted in him kissing her and intending to do more than that), her relationship with Daario, her marriage with Hizdahr, her neglect of her dragon-babies which led to them preying first on cattle and then on people, while she was playing being regal. Etc., etc., etc.