Random Thoughts About ASOIAF

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

19 hours ago, ladyinblack said:

Remember all of them.

Yeah, the fandom hasn't really been the same without BFish, IMO.

[The Bard of Banefort]

1 hour ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

Yeah, the fandom hasn't really been the same without BFish, IMO.

I wonder what happened to him? At first I thought he got cancelled, then I heard he had decided to quit social media. There was also a rumor that someone with inside knowledge told him that Winds will never be published, which prompted him to quit the fandom, but that’s probably bunk.

[Odej]

I always wondered why there's no mention of the Tullys at the Tourney of Harrenhal. Most of the great houses were there: Baratheon, Stark, Martell, Arryn, Tyrell. Tywin and Aerys broke up so the Lannister weren't there, but what about the Tullys? The were the Lords of the Riverlands they are supposed to be there.

Edited July 7, 2022 by Odej

[Loose Bolt]

4 hours ago, Odej said:

I always wondered why there's no mention of the Tullys at the Tourney of Harrenhal. Most of the great houses were there: Baratheon, Stark, Martell, Arryn, Tyrell. Tywin and Aerys broke up so the Lannister weren't there, but what about the Tullys? The were the Lords of the Riverlands they are supposed to be there.

I assume that they were doing same thing that they did during 2nd Blackfyre Rebellion. Or forces loyal to Targs included a dudette in skintight black armor. But none Tullys.

Quote

From Maidenpool had come Lord Mooton, from Raventree Lord Blackwood, from Duskendale Lord Darklyn. The royal demenses about King's Landing sent forth Hayfords, Rosbys, Stokeworths, Masseys, and the king's own sworn swords, led by three knights of the Kingsguard and stiffened by three hundred Raven's Teeth with tall white weirwood bows. Mad Danelle Lothston herself rode forth in strength from her haunted towers at Harrenhal, clad in black armor that fit her like an iron glove, her long red hair streaming. The light of the rising sun glittered off the points of five hundred lances and ten times as many spears. The night's grey banners were reborn in half a hundred gaudy colors. And above them all flew two regal dragons on night-black fields: the great three-headed beast of King Aerys I Targaryen, red as fire, and a white winged fury breathing scarlet flame. Not Maekar after all, Dunk knew, when he saw those banners. The banners of the Prince of Summerhall showed four three-headed dragons, two and two, the arms of the fourth-born son of the late King Daeron II Targaryen. A single white dragon announced the presence of the King's Hand, Lord Brynden Rivers.

The Mystery Knight

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

On 7/8/2022 at 2:38 AM, Odej said:

I always wondered why there's no mention of the Tullys at the Tourney of Harrenhal. Most of the great houses were there: Baratheon, Stark, Martell, Arryn, Tyrell. Tywin and Aerys broke up so the Lannister weren't there, but what about the Tullys? The were the Lords of the Riverlands they are supposed to be there.

In fact, no house from the Riverlands was present at the tourney.

[Nevets]

1 hour ago, Takiedevushkikakzvezdy said:

In fact, no house from the Riverlands was present at the tourney.

They aren't mentioned as being there.  It doesn't mean they weren't.  The only accounts I can remember are Meera's story and a brief bit in the World Book.  Neither account is about the Tullys so there's no reason to mention them.  Given that Hoster's wife, who is the mother of the Tully children, was a Whent from Harrenhal, I would expect they were there.  Just not important enough to the story to be mentioned.

[The Bard of Banefort]

I’m finally doing the combined Feast/Dance read, and I never realized how many references there are to crowning Myrcella in both books. It makes me think that she will briefly follow her brother on the throne before the city falls to Aegon.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

10 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

I’m finally doing the combined Feast/Dance read, and I never realized how many references there are to crowning Myrcella in both books. It makes me think that she will briefly follow her brother on the throne before the city falls to Aegon.

Oberyn talked about crowning Myrcella even in ASOS.

[Adam Targaryen]

On 6/8/2022 at 11:41 AM, Lady Misery said:

How come that the whole of Westeros speaks only one language? Like, shouldn't a continent of that size have more variants? Yes, the Andals brought their language with them when the conquered the South but that was millenia ago and did not extent to the North and the Iron Islands and certainly not to the Lands beyond the Wall. So why does everyone speak Common? I mean, Germany and France don't have the same language either and all that seperates those countries is a river, instead of the 1500+ miles between Dorne and the North. 

It would make a lot more sense if there were three or four (maybe more) different languages strone across the continent, with some overlap in the border regions. Particularly since some of the kingdoms are fairly isolated. Dorne is cut of from the Stromlands and the Reach by the Red Mountains. The Vale has the Mountains of the Moon and the North has the Neck. Even if all the kingdoms had at one point spoken just one language, it should have evolved into different variants over the several millenia we know Westeros has been inhabited. 

Yes, that is a very good point. I have also thought about that sometimes, but since one half thinks about Westeros as a version of Europe and half thinks about it as a version of Britain, and since it's written from an English-speaking English/American perspective, one doesn't really think about that.

It would make sense for at least the North and possibly the Iron Islands to speak the Old Tongue, since they are First Men. I guess that somehow the Andals' language, the Common Tongue, slowly and gradually took over all across Westeros, but yes, precisely, that really doesn't make much sense. There isn't even that much trade between The North and the other kingdoms. But maybe the few great all-Westerosi things such as the Night's Watch and the maesters actually are a decent reason for that. If the maesters all were trained in Oldtown, the center for education of the entire contintent, like some specific universities were in Medieval Europe, then the Common Tongue of the Reach would have spread with the maesters and if the lords relied heavily on their maesters, then over time they would begin to speak more of the common tongue with their maesters, and then with the lower servants and smallfolk of the keep, and so forth... But yes, it's still strange.

------

A reasonable version of the three or four different languages across Westeros, like you mention, based on its history and geography, might look something like this:

The North - The Old Tongue/The Northern Tongue. (The "true"/most original version of the Old Tongue, since it has been in isolation the most and retained the culture of the First Men.

The Iron Islands - The Iron Tongue. (A slightly different version/accent of the Old Tongue, somewhat influenced by the Andals that came into the Iron Islands, maybe with some few specific loan words from thralls and so forth.)

The South (The Vale, The Riverlands, The Westerlands, The Reach, The Stormlands) - The Common Tongue. (The Andals' language, with some distinct accents/dialects for each kingdom, but still similar enough to be considered one single language. This is due to significant trade and the lack of strong geographical boundaries, the center of education around Oldtown in The Reach and so forth.)

The Hill Tribes of the Vale - The Mountain/Hill Tongue. (The First Men hill tribes, as the last isolated population of First Men remaining in the South, would probably have their own distinct dialect of the Old Tongue from several thousands and thousands of years ago and retaining it due to their relative isolation.)

Blackwater Bay - High Valyrian. (Not necessarily that impactful, due to the very small population of Valyrian noble houses, but still, considering the status of the language it might have spread throughout Dragonstone, Driftmark, Claw Isle and so forth, and especially in King's Landing if at least a few of the Targaryens would speak it to a certain degree at court and it could spread to courtiers, traders, dragonseeds and among the common smallfolk of the Blackwater.

Dorne - The Common Tongue & Rhoynish. (Maybe like 70 % of the population, especially the stony and sandy dornishmen speaking The Common Tongue, but many of the salty dornishmen still speaking Rhoynish.)

...

(Even within this, there would also be a few further specific languages and dialects within kingdoms and so forth.)

Edited July 17, 2022 by Adam Targaryen

[Eternally_Theirs]

I had a thought last weak.

Spoiler

Rhaegar is Jaqen. He, Tysha and Arya were all recruited for him for the same purpose: destroying Tywin Lannister. This explains everything. They knew that Arya never got rid of Needle all along, and they let her get away with that, because they wanted her to keep that reminder of her identity, when the time came. That's also why they demanded that their acolytes surrender something precious to them, so that they can get them to remember their identities with the aid of that precious thing, when the time came.

Rhaegar's body was never found, and no one ever wondered why? I think he simply waited until everyone present went elsewhere, and then just left. Either that, or he was found by another FM who helped him to escape in exchange for becoming one of them.

But why would some FM do that? Well, Rhaegar's wife and kids were killed on Lannister orders. Specifically, Tywin Lannister's orders. And guess who else was killed because of Tywin Lannister? Well, the Reynes. My guess is that the head honcho of the FMs of this generation is a Reyne, who recruited Rhaegar and later Arya, two fellow victims of Tywin Lannister's machinations. They could have recruited Tysha for the same reason.

I know that this sounds silly, but it could also be plausible.

[Haus Berlin]

On 3/7/2022 at 6:36 PM, The Bard of Banefort said:

I bought the AGOT and ACOK graphic novels (gotta feed the addiction) and the illustrator for ACOK made Ygritte look suspiciously like Cat and Sansa. I find that hilarious, since there’s that joke that Jon’s attraction to redheads stems from his mommy issues with Catelyn 

And then there is Melisandre.

[Haus Berlin]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:21 AM, The Bard of Banefort said:

Is Dunk’s appearance ever described, beyond his height? I don’t think we’re ever told his hair or eye color.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Duncan_the_Tall#Appearance_and_Character

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

There is a theory that Taena Merryweather's son is a bastard of king Robert, which is why she doesn't want to bring him to court when Cersei suggests it. I don't know, it's one of those that's way more plausibe than it maybe should be.

[EggBlue]

On 7/20/2022 at 3:32 PM, Eternally_His said:

I had a thought last weak.

  Hide contents

Rhaegar is Jaqen. He, Tysha and Arya were all recruited for him for the same purpose: destroying Tywin Lannister. This explains everything. They knew that Arya never got rid of Needle all along, and they let her get away with that, because they wanted her to keep that reminder of her identity, when the time came. That's also why they demanded that their acolytes surrender something precious to them, so that they can get them to remember their identities with the aid of that precious thing, when the time came.

Rhaegar's body was never found, and no one ever wondered why? I think he simply waited until everyone present went elsewhere, and then just left. Either that, or he was found by another FM who helped him to escape in exchange for becoming one of them.

But why would some FM do that? Well, Rhaegar's wife and kids were killed on Lannister orders. Specifically, Tywin Lannister's orders. And guess who else was killed because of Tywin Lannister? Well, the Reynes. My guess is that the head honcho of the FMs of this generation is a Reyne, who recruited Rhaegar and later Arya, two fellow victims of Tywin Lannister's machinations. They could have recruited Tysha for the same reason.

I know that this sounds silly, but it could also be plausible.

err...Rhaegar's body was found.

[The Bard of Banefort]

The other day, I saw a picture of Megan Fox and thought, “Huh, Megan Fox is a Baratheon. She has black hair and blue eyes.”  

[Loose Bolt]

4 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

The other day, I saw a picture of Megan Fox and thought, “Huh, Megan Fox is a Baratheon. She has black hair and blue eyes.”  

Uzumaki Kushina (Naruto) and Yang Xiao Long (RWBY) have Valyrian eyes. Besides in the east there seems to be an island Ulos and that island is very similar than ancient home of Uzumakis Uzushiogakure. Or nobody lives there anymore since that village was raided and destroyed and only thing left are some ruins

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

6 hours ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

The other day, I saw a picture of Megan Fox and thought, “Huh, Megan Fox is a Baratheon. She has black hair and blue eyes.”  

Also, Kit Harrington looks more like a Baratheon than a Stark.

[EggBlue]

are we next suggesting that Elizabeth Taylor was actually Rhaenys Targaryen for her purple eyes and dark hair?

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

11 minutes ago, EggBlue said:

are we next suggesting that Elizabeth Taylor was actually Rhaenys Targaryen for her purple eyes and dark hair?

GRRM actually said that Elizabeth Taylor didn't have Valyrian heritage, as far as he knew. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by Takiedevushkikakzvezdy

[The Bard of Banefort]

11 hours ago, EggBlue said:

are we next suggesting that Elizabeth Taylor was actually Rhaenys Targaryen for her purple eyes and dark hair?

She may have been a Dayne.