Random Thoughts About ASOIAF

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

8 hours ago, Nevets said:

I suspect it is probably just the face.   When Jaqen changed for Arya, there were changes to his head and face, but nothing else was mentioned.  No changes in height or physique for example.  And when Arya got her face to kill the insurance broker, it was one suitable for her age and sex (and physique).  Also, being able to change the whole body would be too easy.  That's not really Martin's style. 

But that would mean that Jaqen was incredibly lucky that the senile maester's assistant, who could steal his key also matched Jaqen's own physique.

[SeanF]

10 hours ago, Crazy Old Guy said:

I'm talking 2000s here.

...Early 2000s, even.

I've been here since 2011, and I think @Lord Varysjoined at a similar time.  It's been a pity to see some old favourites disappear, but inevitable, unless and until we get TWOW.

[Lord Varys]

2 hours ago, SeanF said:

I've been here since 2011, and I think @Lord Varysjoined at a similar time.  It's been a pity to see some old favourites disappear, but inevitable, unless and until we get TWOW.

Oh, I started reading here shortly after the publication in 2005 and registered in early 2006.

[James Arryn]

This made me check when I joined: 2012. Bastards, I feel both old but behind in the race. 

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

4 hours ago, SeanF said:

It's been a pity to see some old favourites disappear, but inevitable, unless and until we get TWOW.

Yeah, there is much less activity here now than there was a few years ago, but I still think that the ASOIAF fandom is bigger now than before GoT premiered.

[LynnS]

18 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

Whatever happened to The Fattest Leech? 

I don’t know if he was ever on here, but BryndenBFish deleted all his accounts. I’m not sure what happened there.

Fattest Leech started her own project/website studying GRRM's earler works.

Here's an analysis by Fattest Leech that you may find interesting:

For A Single Yesterday- Transcribed (fattestleechoficeandfire.com)

BryndenBFish has been involved in the Not A Podcast weekly chapter re-read with Poor Quentin.  But he is away for a while; so PoorQuentin is doing some LOTR rereads until his return.

Not A Podcast ASOIAF Re-Read Podcast (podbean.com)

[Lady Anna]

I'm a relatively new user but I used to read the forums in around 2013/2014. I remember Apple Martini and tze (?). It seems they aren't around anymore.

[The Bard of Banefort]

I think people are underrating the likelihood that Jon comes back as a very cold and unlikable character. Maybe he’ll be “badass” in the sense that he’ll inherit some of Ghost’s wolfishness, but he was just mutinied by his own men, and has failed to save his “sister” from Ramsay. I suspect that he’ll be very harsh and bitter. This would also make sense for if he does kill Dany—by making Jon less human, it subverts the very icky idea that men need to kill their women to save them from themselves. (Of course, I’m not sure how a love story would even work between them in this scenario. Maybe that’s another one of the books’ hurdles).

[Groo]

On 3/24/2022 at 12:45 PM, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

How does knighthood work in Westeros? If any knight can make a knight, can't literally anyone claim to be one? Or is some sort of certificate needed?

You need to register at the local Sept but the lines are usually long and slow.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

22 minutes ago, Groo said:

You need to register at the local Sept but the lines are usually long and slow.

I completely forgot that knights can't register online through the weirwood network because they don't follow the old gods. 

[Groo]

On 3/28/2022 at 9:18 AM, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

I'm actually quite open to that possibility, but more for practical reasons. Tyene is the only of Arianne's best friends who isn't there for the Queenmaker plot. If someone in her party betrayed her, they probably would have been captured before taking off with Myrcella.

I think it was the Orphans of the Greenblood. Garin worked with the orphans to arrange for the boat to be waiting for them on the Greenblood. The boat where Aero was waiting. These would be the same orphans who were observant enough to have spotted Quentyn when he was quietly trying to arrange passage to Essos. The same orphans who had no qualms about breaking into Quentyn's room to try and read his papers. The same orphans who then blabbed about all of this and passed the information along to Arianne. It never occurs to Arianne that the orphans might have put two and two together about why she needed a boat for some super secret mission nor that they might have blabbed about that as well. 

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

1 hour ago, Groo said:

I think it was the Orphans of the Greenblood. Garin worked with the orphans to arrange for the boat to be waiting for them on the Greenblood.

I don't think so. Garin was punished for his involvement in the plot and most other Orphans probably don't have the authority to speak to Doran. 

 

3 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

But why would she rat out Arianne? What’s the motive?

Tyene wants revenge for Oberyn. Arianne starting a war with the Lannisters would have an uncertain outcome. If the Lannisters win, Tyene herself might perish. If Dorne wins it will take a long time and the Lannister line continues through Myrcella. Stealth is a quick and foolproof way to take out all the Lannisters.

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 hour ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

I don't think so. Garin was punished for his involvement in the plot and most other Orphans probably don't have the authority to speak to Doran. 

 

Tyene wants revenge for Oberyn. Arianne starting a war with the Lannisters would have an uncertain outcome. If the Lannisters win, Tyene herself might perish. If Dorne wins it will take a long time and the Lannister line continues through Myrcella. Stealth is a quick and foolproof way to take out all the Lannisters.

But couldn’t she have just told Arianne that? Arianne never mentions Tyene objecting to her plot.

[Groo]

2 hours ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

I don't think so. Garin was punished for his involvement in the plot and most other Orphans probably don't have the authority to speak to Doran.

I think Doran is much more in control and connected to what happens in Dorne than people give him credit for. As readers, we keep getting hit over the head by the Sand Snakes' and Arianne's unfavorable impressions of Doran and his rule. But look at what goes on without filtering it through their perspectives. Doran has the Yronwood's neck deep in the Quentyn plot but there's surprisingly little rumor or gossip floating around about it. Doran wants Balon Swann delayed and his bannermen quickly make that happen. Arianne's plot falls apart and Doran has no problem having the sons and daughters of bannermen quickly punished. For long stretches of the story Doran has had large numbers of troops gathered and assembled along the border with no pushback that we're aware of from his bannermen. That kind of effective control of your domain isn't possible unless you're closely tuned in to and informed about what goes on in your lands. I don't think some orphan needed to directly speak to Doran for word to get to him.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

13 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

But couldn’t she have just told Arianne that? Arianne never mentions Tyene objecting to her plot.

Arianne's and Tyene's objectives don't match. Tyene wants death for all Lannisters as revenge, while Arianne doesn't. She thinks Doran sidelined her, and wants Myrcella on the throne so she can get Dorne with her help.

Plus, deception is Tyene's entire shtick. She pretends to be innocent while being anything but, as we've seen in the Captain of the Guards chapter. We are reminded every 10 seconds that Arianne and Tyene are besties and she is the only one Arianne doesn't even remotely suspect, so...

Edited April 15, 2022 by Takiedevushkikakzvezdy

[James Arryn]

What did Stannis chop off himself for receiving smuggled goods?

[Groo]

On 3/27/2022 at 11:56 PM, The Bard of Banefort said:

Here’s another meta one: we all know there are parts of this fandom that care more about plot twists than themes and who have a theory for why everything written on the page is actually a misdirection for something much more convoluted

I'm always mystified by people who want to twist the story into anything but what they're actually reading. The main series is roughly 5,000 pages long. It has 158 Stark POV chapters, 76 Lannister POV chapters, 31 Daenerys POV chapters, and 21 Greyjoy POV chapters. That's who the story is about. Yet some people will grab a few random sentences and build some elaborate theory about why the story is really about some other incredibly minor characters.

The only thing I find harder to understand is the seeming masochists who intensely dislike most of the characters. If you hate the Starks then why are you reading all of this? It's like reading all the Harry Potter books just so you can write a 3,000 word essay about how much you despise Harry, Ron, and Hermione. 

[The Young Maester]

1 hour ago, Groo said:

The only thing I find harder to understand is the seeming masochists who intensely dislike most of the characters. If you hate the Starks then why are you reading all of this? It's like reading all the Harry Potter books just so you can write a 3,000 word essay about how much you despise Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

I’ve asked myself the same question. But I can never figure it out.

[EggBlue]

1 hour ago, Groo said:

I'm always mystified by people who want to twist the story into anything but what they're actually reading. The main series is roughly 5,000 pages long. It has 158 Stark POV chapters, 76 Lannister POV chapters, 31 Daenerys POV chapters, and 21 Greyjoy POV chapters. That's who the story is about. Yet some people will grab a few random sentences and build some elaborate theory about why the story is really about some other incredibly minor characters.

how have you missed the conflict between Patchface, Moonboy and Old Nan?... you know , the puppet masters of Baratheon , Lannister and Stark courts...

" Unbeknownst to all, it was the jester who ruled them now, an invisible king in motley"

[Groo]

1 hour ago, EggBlue said:

how have you missed the conflict between Patchface, Moonboy and Old Nan?... you know , the puppet masters of Baratheon , Lannister and Stark courts...

I feel like a fool for having missed that.