Rare Words and Expressions

[Corvo the Crow]

GRRM loves to play with words, drawing parallels, adding foreshadowings, hiding things in plain sight, so I’m opening this thread to help solve those mysteries. What are some words, expressions etc that were only used a few times? since it was with the breath mingling parallelism that @kissdbyfire brought to attention this idea came to my mind, I'll give her a  thanks.

I’ll start with two such:

Breaths mingling used only three or four times.

breath of man and horse mingling

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The breath of man and horse mingled, steaming, in the cold morning air as his lord father had the man cut down from the wall and dragged before them. Robb and Jon sat tall and still on their horses, with Bran between them on his pony, trying to seem older than seven, trying to pretend that he’d seen all this before. A faint wind blew through the holdfast gate. Over their heads flapped the banner of the Starks of Winterfell: a grey direwolf racing across an ice-white field.

 

Hoster's breath mingling with the rain though I don't know if it should be added as it's the sound of them here

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When the girl had gone, Catelyn turned back to her father and smoothed the thin white hair across his brow. “An Eddard and a Brandon,” she sighed softly. “And perhaps in time a Hoster. Would you like that?” He did not answer, but she had never expected that he would. As the sound of the rain on the roof mingled with her father’s breathing, she thought about Jeyne. The girl did seem to have a good heart, just as Robb had said. And good hips, which might be more important.

 

Jon and Val's breath mingling as she departs to find Tormund

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“He may not heed your words, but he will hear them.” Val kissed him lightly on the cheek. “You have my thanks, Lord Snow. For the half-blind horse, the salt cod, the free air. For hope.”

Their breath mingled, a white mist in the air. Jon Snow drew back and said, “The only thanks I want is—”

Alys and Magnar's breaths mingling.

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The Magnar all but ripped the maiden’s cloak from Alys’s shoulders, but when he fastened her bride’s cloak about her he was almost tender. As he leaned down to kiss her cheek, their breath mingled. The flames roared once again. The queen’s men began to sing a song of praise. “Is it done?” Jon heard Satin whisper.

Of note here are the latter two. Jon sends Val, their breaths mingle. Two chapters later Alys marries to Magnar, their breaths mingle. That chapter ends with horns announcing Val's return. Next chapter Val arrives, with plenty of wedding symbolism going on.

 

Anon:

Used only three times, all of them in Jon chapters, all of them regarding dance. Two are in the same chapter, same conversation in Alys' wedding. before giving the quotes wiktionary gives these as meaning for anon, note one in particular, "then":

1)(archaic) Straight away; at once. 

2) Soon; in a little while. quotations 

3) At another time; then; again.

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And Melisandre said, “Let them come forth, who would be joined.” The flames cast her shadow on the Wall behind her, and her ruby gleamed against the paleness of her throat.

Jon turned to Alys Karstark. “My lady. Are you ready?”

“Yes. Oh, yes.”

“You’re not scared?”

The girl smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. “Let him be scared of me.” The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled.

“Winter’s lady.” Jon squeezed her hand.

The Magnar of Thenn stood waiting by the fire, clad as if for battle, in fur and leather and bronze scales, a bronze sword at his hip. His receding hair made him look older than his years, but as he turned to watch his bride approach, Jon could see the boy in him. His eyes were big as walnuts, though whether it was the fire, the priestess, or the woman that had put the fear in him Jon could not say. Alys was more right than she knew.

“Who brings this woman to be wed?” asked Melisandre.

“I do,” said Jon. “Now comes Alys of House Karstark, a woman grown and flowered, of noble blood and birth.” He gave her hand one last squeeze and stepped back to join the others.

....

When Owen the Oaf began to dance with Patchface the fool, laughter echoed off the vaulted ceiling. The sight made Lady Alys smile. “Do you dance often, here at Castle Black?”

“Every time we have a wedding, my lady.”

“You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon.”

“Anon?” teased Jon.

“When we were children.” She tore off a bit of bread and threw it at him. “As you know well.”

“My lady should dance with her husband.”

Alys' wedding, notice her appearence also, Winter's lady.

 

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On and on the wildlings came. The day grew darker, just as Tormund said. Clouds covered the sky from horizon to horizon, and warmth fled. There was more shoving at the gate, as men and goats and bullocks jostled each other out of the way. It is more than impatience, Jon realized. They are afraid. Warriors, spearwives, raiders, they are frightened of those woods, of shadows moving through the trees. They want to put the Wall between them before the night descends.

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon.

"Dance with me anon" Remind you of anyone? A snow flake danced upon the air. Then another. or maybe an Other? It should remind none other than Ser Waymar Royce bravest man the Watch has ever seen. We shall never see his like again.

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Ser Waymar met him bravely. “Dance with me then.” He lifted his sword high over his head, defiant. His hands trembled from the weight of it, or perhaps from the cold. Yet in that moment, Will thought, he was a boy no longer, but a man of the Night’s Watch.

what are some others?

Edited March 6, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Craving Peaches]

'Fratricide' used only once. When Maester Cressen is trying to convince Stannis not to kill Renly...

[Corvo the Crow]

10 minutes ago, Craving Peaches said:

'Fratricide' used only once. When Maester Cressen is trying to convince Stannis not to kill Renly...

Interesting! Certainly belongs to the thread in it’s rarity but can’t exactly draw parallels being used only once… Aha! I found it, Stannis is a leader unparalelled!

[Corvo the Crow]

Y so dark almost X  y and x are colors Only used 6 times and there are some variations even then, but of particular not is so grey so dark almost black.

 

Grey so dark almost looked black:

Jon's eyes

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“No,” Jon Snow said quietly. “It was not courage. This one was dead of fear. You could see it in his eyes, Stark.” Jon’s eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast.

Valyrian swords

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Tyrion wondered where the metal for this one had come from. A few master armorers could rework old Valyrian steel, but the secrets of its making had been lost when the Doom came to old Valyria. “The colors are strange,” he commented as he turned the blade in the sunlight. Most Valyrian steel was a grey so dark it looked almost black, as was true here as well. But blended into the folds was a red as deep as the grey. The two colors lapped over one another without ever touching, each ripple distinct, like waves of night and blood upon some steely shore. “How did you get this patterning? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Is Jon a Valyrian? Oh what a shocker!

 

Blue so dark it looked almost purple:

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He doesn’t like Ned. The squire seemed nice enough to Arya; maybe a little shy, but good-natured. She had always heard that Dornishmen were small and swarthy, with black hair and small black eyes, but Ned had big blue eyes, so dark that they looked almost purple. And his hair was a pale blond, more ash than honey.

Violet-blue or blue so dark almost black:

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Through the indigo murk, she could make out the wizened features of the Undying One to her right, an old old man, wrinkled and hairless. His flesh was a ripe violet-blue, his lips and nails bluer still, so dark they were almost black. Even the whites of his eyes were blue. They stared unseeing at the ancient woman on the opposite side of the table, whose gown of pale silk had rotted on her body. One withered breast was left bare in the Qartheen manner, to show a pointed blue nipple hard as leather.

 

So dark it was almost black, no color given.

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But only if he was there by sunset with the gold. Merrett glanced at the sky. Right on time. He needed something to steady his hands. He pulled up the waterskin hung from his saddle, uncorked it, and took a long swallow. The wine was thick and sweet, so dark it was almost black, but gods it tasted good.

purple so dark almost black

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Tyrion left the fat women to their loaves and kettles and went in search of the cellar where Illyrio had decanted him the night before. It was not hard to find. There was enough wine there to keep him drunk for a hundred years; sweet reds from the Reach and sour reds from Dorne, pale Pentoshi ambers, the green nectar of Myr, three score casks of Arbor gold, even wines from the fabled east, from Qarth and Yi Ti and Asshai by the Shadow. In the end, Tyrion chose a cask of strongwine marked as the private stock of Lord Runceford Redwyne, the grandfather of the present Lord of the Arbor. The taste of it was languorous and heady on the tongue, the color a purple so dark that it looked almost black in the dim-lit cellar. Tyrion filled a cup, and a flagon for good measure, and carried them up to the gardens to drink beneath those cherry trees he’d seen.

 

[Corvo the Crow]

Radiant only used four times:

King's feat in Winterfell

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His half sisters escorted the royal princes. Arya was paired with plump young Tommen, whose white-blond hair was longer than hers. Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon’s vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister’s hair and his mother’s deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall.

Jealous Jon.

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“Jon says he looks like a girl,” Arya said.

Sansa sighed as she stitched. “Poor Jon,” she said. “He gets jealous because he’s a bastard.”

Edmure's wedding, Catelyn remembers how Lysa looked.

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“I believe she liked me. Why was she crying?”

“She’s a maid on the eve of her wedding. A few tears are to be expected.” Lysa had wept lakes the morning of their own wedding, though she had managed to be dry-eyed and radiant when Jon Arryn swept his cream-and-blue cloak about her shoulders.

Jaime when asked about Cersei

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“Kevan should be the Warden of the West. Or you. It’s not that I’m not grateful for the honor, mind you, but our uncle’s twice my age and has more experience of command. I hope he knows I never asked for this.”

“He knows.”

“How is Cersei? As beautiful as ever?”

“Radiant.” Fickle. “Golden.” False as fool’s gold. Last night he dreamed he’d found her fucking Moon Boy. He’d killed the fool and smashed his sister’s teeth to splinters with his golden hand, just as Gregor Clegane had done to poor Pia. In his dreams Jaime always had two hands; one was made of gold, but it worked just like the other. “The sooner we are done with Riverrun, the sooner I’ll be back at Cersei’s side.” What Jaime would do then he did not know.

Reznak and Dany.

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Dany had wanted to ban the tokar when she took Meereen, but her advisors had convinced her otherwise. “The Mother of Dragons must don the tokar or be forever hated,” warned the Green Grace, Galazza Galare. “In the wools of Westeros or a gown of Myrish lace, Your Radiance shall forever remain a stranger amongst us, a grotesque outlander, a barbarian conqueror. Meereen’s queen must be a lady of Old Ghis.” Brown Ben Plumm, the captain of the Second Sons, had put it more succinctly. “Man wants to be the king o’ the rabbits, he best wear a pair o’ floppy ears.”

...

To rule Meereen I must win the Meereenese, however much I may despise them. “I am ready,” she told Irri.

Reznak and Skahaz waited atop the marble steps. “Great queen,” declared Reznak mo Reznak, “you are so radiant today I fear to look on you.” The seneschal wore a tokar of maroon silk with a golden fringe. A small, damp man, he smelled as if he had bathed in perfume and spoke a bastard form of High Valyrian, much corrupted and flavored with a thick Ghiscari growl.

 

Daenerys is probably not related since as ruler she is addressed as Radiance, so it's an apt compliment I guess.

The rest of the three are all about sisters, one is a woman on her sister's wedding, the other two are brothers, one who is jealous that his sister(who is actually not a sister but a cousin) is with a handsome man, the other, well, is a man who went all Targ-Aryan on his sister.

[Corvo the Crow]

Although not at all rare in the books, it is so rare in Jon's book you may have thought he didn't have it in his vocabulary at all. He has only used the world lovely three times, all in ADwD

Twice in same chapter, looking at Val in the tower where she's held.

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He thinks this is all some game. Jon wanted to shake some sense into him. “Waggle your ears all you like. It’s your tongue waggling that makes the trouble.”

“I’ll see that he’s more careful,” Grenn promised, “and I’ll clout him if he’s not.” He hesitated. “My lord, will you sup with us? Owen, shove over and make room for Jon.”

Jon wanted nothing more. No, he had to tell himself, those days are gone. The realization twisted in his belly like a knife. They had chosen him to rule. The Wall was his, and their lives were his as well. A lord may love the men that he commands, he could hear his lord father saying, but he cannot be a friend to them. One day he may need to sit in judgment on them, or send them forth to die. “Another day,” the lord commander lied. “Edd, best see to your own supper. I have work to finish.”

The outside air seemed even colder than before. Across the castle, he could see candlelight shining from the windows of the King’s Tower. Val stood on the tower roof, gazing up at the Wall. Stannis kept her closely penned in rooms above his own, but he did allow her to walk the battlements for exercise. She looks lonely, Jon thought. Lonely, and lovely. Ygritte had been pretty in her own way, with her red hair kissed by fire, but it was her smile that made her face come alive. Val did not need to smile; she would have turned men’s heads in any court in the wide world.

All the same, the wildling princess was not beloved of her gaolers. She scorned them all as “kneelers,” and had thrice attempted to escape. When one man-at-arms grew careless in her presence she had snatched his dagger from its sheath and stabbed him in the neck. Another inch to the left and he might have died.

Lonely and lovely and lethal, Jon Snow reflected, and I might have had her. Her, and Winterfell, and my lord father’s name. Instead he had chosen a black cloak and a wall of ice. Instead he had chosen honor. A bastard’s sort of honor.

Once upon her return with Tormund, seeing her emerge from the woods with Ghost

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"Did you follow me as well?" Jon reached to shoo the bird away but ended up stroking its feathers. The raven cocked its eye at him. "Snow," it muttered, bobbing its head knowingly. Then Ghost emerged from between two trees, with Val beside him.They look as though they belong together. Val was clad all in white; white woolen breeches tucked into high boots of bleached white leather, white bearskin cloak pinned at the shoulder with a carved weirwood face, white tunic with bone fastenings. Her breath was white as well … but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

 

Oh how surprising, all three are on Val!

Edited March 6, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Aejohn the Conqueroo]

Jon's first impression of Myrcella is that she's insipid (Jon 1). Cersei refers to Lyanna as the 'insipid little dead sixteen year old' (Bran 2) and then the word doesn't get used again. A rare word that gets used 2ce in the first 8 chapters and then dropped for the remainder of the story. Were there lines being drawn between Lyanna and Myrcella or was this just a word that Martin decided he was already overusing and deliberately dropped, or was this completely innocent/ unconscious and nothing should be read into it?  

The mingling breaths reminds me of the sometimes used description of Robb with 'snow melting in his hair'.

 

[Corvo the Crow]

11 minutes ago, Aejohn the Conqueroo said:

Jon's first impression of Myrcella is that she's insipid (Jon 1). Cersei refers to Lyanna as the 'insipid little dead sixteen year old' (Bran 2) and then the word doesn't get used again. A rare word that gets used 2ce in the first 8 chapters and then dropped for the remainder of the story. Were there lines being drawn between Lyanna and Myrcella or was this just a word that Martin decided he was already overusing and deliberately dropped, or was this completely innocent/ unconscious and nothing should be read into it?  

The mingling breaths reminds me of the sometimes used description of Robb with 'snow melting in his hair'.

 

The word caught my eye while posting Radiant and was going to check but forgot. I think parallels were going to happen somewhere between the first draft and the first book but ultimately got dropped. It always struck me as odd Robert wanted a Joffrey Sansa betrothal but not a Myrcella Robb one. 

[Mourning Star]

Some permutation of "the crow calls the raven black" is used in every book of the series and in Dunk and Egg.

"I hope not. I'm sick of looking at those ears of yours."
"Ho," said Pyp. "Listen to the crow call the raven black. You're certain to be a ranger, Toad. They'll want you as far from the castle as they can. If Mance Rayder attacks, lift your visor and show your face, and he'll run off screaming."

A Game of Thrones - Jon V

"You are a cruel man, to make the Grand Maester squirm so," the eunuch scolded. "The man cannot abide a secret."
"Is that a crow I hear, calling the raven black? Or would you sooner not hear what I've proposed to Doran Martell?"
Varys giggled. "Perhaps my little birds have told me."

A Clash of Kings - Tyrion IV

"Once they were mighty," Xaro agreed, "but now they are as ludicrous as those feeble old soldiers who boast of their prowess long after strength and skill have left them. They read their crumbling scrolls, drink shade-of-the-evening until their lips turn blue, and hint of dread powers, but they are hollow husks compared to those who went before. Pyat Pree's gifts will turn to dust in your hands, I warn you." He gave his camel a lick of his whip and sped away.
"The crow calls the raven black," muttered Ser Jorah in the Common Tongue of Westeros. The exile knight rode at her right hand, as ever. For their entrance into Qarth, he had put away his Dothraki garb and donned again the plate and mail and wool of the Seven Kingdoms half a world away. "You would do well to avoid both those men, Your Grace."

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys II

"Littlefinger is a liar—"
"—and black as well, said the raven of the crow."
Lord Tywin slammed his hand down on the table. "Enough! I will have no more of this unseemly squabbling. You are both Lannisters, and will comport yourselves as such."

A Storm of Swords - Tyrion III

"I saw him perhaps a dozen times . . . from afar most often, standing with his brothers or riding in some tourney. But every man in the Seven Kingdoms knew Barristan the Bold." He laid the point of his sword against the old man's neck. "Khaleesi, before you kneels Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, who betrayed your House to serve the Usurper Robert Baratheon."
The old knight did not so much as blink. "The crow calls the raven black, and you speak of betrayal."

A Storm of Swords - Daenerys V

"You are welcome to try. Until such time you must mistrust them all . . . and a little mistrust is a good thing in a princess." Prince Doran sighed. "You disappoint me, Arianne."
"Said the crow to the raven. You have been disappointing me for years, Father." She had not meant to be so blunt with him, but the words came spilling out. There, now I have said it.
"I know. I am too meek and weak and cautious, too lenient to our enemies. Just now, though, you are in need of some of that leniency, it seems to me. You ought to be pleading for my forgiveness rather than seeking to provoke me further."

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

"Go," the Reader had urged, as the captains were bearing her uncle Euron down Nagga's hill to don his driftwood crown.
"Said the raven to the crow. Come with me. I need you to raise the men of Harlaw." Back then, she'd meant to fight.
"The men of Harlaw are here. The ones who count. Some were shouting Euron's name. I will not set Harlaw against Harlaw."

A Dance with Dragons - The Wayward Bride

"I suppose that means I'll have to take the throne, then. I would much rather be teaching you to fiddle."
"You're drunk." And the crow once called the raven black.
"Wonderfully drunk. Wine makes all things possible, Ser Duncan. You'd look a god in white, I think, but if the color does not suit you, perhaps you would prefer to be a lord?" Dunk laughed in his face. "No, I'd sooner sprout big blue wings and fly. One's as likely as t'other."

The Mystery Knight

[Aejohn the Conqueroo]

3 minutes ago, Mourning Star said:

Some permutation of "the crow calls the raven black" is used in every book of the series and in Dunk and Egg.

"I hope not. I'm sick of looking at those ears of yours."
"Ho," said Pyp. "Listen to the crow call the raven black. You're certain to be a ranger, Toad. They'll want you as far from the castle as they can. If Mance Rayder attacks, lift your visor and show your face, and he'll run off screaming."

A Game of Thrones - Jon V

"You are a cruel man, to make the Grand Maester squirm so," the eunuch scolded. "The man cannot abide a secret."
"Is that a crow I hear, calling the raven black? Or would you sooner not hear what I've proposed to Doran Martell?"
Varys giggled. "Perhaps my little birds have told me."

A Clash of Kings - Tyrion IV

"Once they were mighty," Xaro agreed, "but now they are as ludicrous as those feeble old soldiers who boast of their prowess long after strength and skill have left them. They read their crumbling scrolls, drink shade-of-the-evening until their lips turn blue, and hint of dread powers, but they are hollow husks compared to those who went before. Pyat Pree's gifts will turn to dust in your hands, I warn you." He gave his camel a lick of his whip and sped away.
"The crow calls the raven black," muttered Ser Jorah in the Common Tongue of Westeros. The exile knight rode at her right hand, as ever. For their entrance into Qarth, he had put away his Dothraki garb and donned again the plate and mail and wool of the Seven Kingdoms half a world away. "You would do well to avoid both those men, Your Grace."

A Clash of Kings - Daenerys II

"Littlefinger is a liar—"
"—and black as well, said the raven of the crow."
Lord Tywin slammed his hand down on the table. "Enough! I will have no more of this unseemly squabbling. You are both Lannisters, and will comport yourselves as such."

A Storm of Swords - Tyrion III

"I saw him perhaps a dozen times . . . from afar most often, standing with his brothers or riding in some tourney. But every man in the Seven Kingdoms knew Barristan the Bold." He laid the point of his sword against the old man's neck. "Khaleesi, before you kneels Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, who betrayed your House to serve the Usurper Robert Baratheon."
The old knight did not so much as blink. "The crow calls the raven black, and you speak of betrayal."

A Storm of Swords - Daenerys V

"You are welcome to try. Until such time you must mistrust them all . . . and a little mistrust is a good thing in a princess." Prince Doran sighed. "You disappoint me, Arianne."
"Said the crow to the raven. You have been disappointing me for years, Father." She had not meant to be so blunt with him, but the words came spilling out. There, now I have said it.
"I know. I am too meek and weak and cautious, too lenient to our enemies. Just now, though, you are in need of some of that leniency, it seems to me. You ought to be pleading for my forgiveness rather than seeking to provoke me further."

A Feast for Crows - The Princess In The Tower

"Go," the Reader had urged, as the captains were bearing her uncle Euron down Nagga's hill to don his driftwood crown.
"Said the raven to the crow. Come with me. I need you to raise the men of Harlaw." Back then, she'd meant to fight.
"The men of Harlaw are here. The ones who count. Some were shouting Euron's name. I will not set Harlaw against Harlaw."

A Dance with Dragons - The Wayward Bride

"I suppose that means I'll have to take the throne, then. I would much rather be teaching you to fiddle."
"You're drunk." And the crow once called the raven black.
"Wonderfully drunk. Wine makes all things possible, Ser Duncan. You'd look a god in white, I think, but if the color does not suit you, perhaps you would prefer to be a lord?" Dunk laughed in his face. "No, I'd sooner sprout big blue wings and fly. One's as likely as t'other."

The Mystery Knight

Do you think that the name Kettleblack is in anyway related to this? If the setting were different I would assume they're all potheads (because the pot calls the Kettleblack) but I wonder if it isn't a callout to the blatant hypocrisy of KL or something a little subtler. 

[Corvo the Crow]

Star Eyes

 

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“Symeon Star-Eyes,” Luwin said as he marked numbers in a book. “When he lost his eyes, he put star sapphires in the empty sockets, or so the singers claim. Bran, that is only a story, like the tales of Florian the Fool. A fable from the Age of Heroes.” The maester tsked. “You must put these dreams aside, they will only break your heart.” - AGoT Bran VII

"True knights would never harm women and children." The words rang hollow in her ears even as she said them.

"True knights." The queen seemed to find that wonderfully amusing. "No doubt you're right. So why don't you just eat your broth like a good girl and wait for Symeon Star-Eyes and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight to come rescue you, sweetling. I'm sure it won't be very long now." -ACoK Sansa V

Bran wasn't so certain. The Nightfort had figured in some of Old Nan's scariest stories. It was here that Night's King had reigned, before his name was wiped from the memory of man. This was where the Rat Cook had served the Andal king his prince-and-bacon pie, where the seventy-nine sentinels stood their watch, where brave young Danny Flint had been raped and murdered. This was the castle where King Sherrit had called down his curse on the Andals of old, where the 'prentice boys had faced the thing that came in the night, where blind Symeon Star-Eyes had seen the hellhounds fighting. Mad Axe had once walked these yards and climbed these towers, butchering his brothers in the dark. -ASoS Bran IV

 

"The younger four all being sons, brothers, or bastards of the King in the North. Tell me something useful. Tell me of our enemy."

"The Others." Sam licked his lips. "They are mentioned in the annals, though not as often as I would have thought. The annals I've found and looked at, that is. There's more I haven't found, I know. Some of the older books are falling to pieces. The pages crumble when I try and turn them. And the really old books . . . either they have crumbled all away or they are buried somewhere that I haven't looked yet or . . . well, it could be that there are no such books, and never were. The oldest histories we have were written after the Andals came to Westeros. The First Men only left us runes on rocks, so everything we think we know about the Age of Heroes and the Dawn Age and the Long Night comes from accounts set down by septons thousands of years later. There are archmaesters at the Citadel who question all of it. Those old histories are full of kings who reigned for hundreds of years, and knights riding around a thousand years before there were knights. You know the tales, Brandon the Builder, Symeon Star-Eyes, Night's King . . . we say that you're the nine hundred and ninety-eighth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but the oldest list I've found shows six hundred seventy-four commanders, which suggests that it was written during . . ."

"Long ago," Jon broke in. "What about the Others?" -AFfC Samwell I

 

"The Others." Sam licked his lips. "They are mentioned in the annals, though not as often as I would have thought. The annals I've found and looked at, that is. There's more I haven't found, I know. Some of the older books are falling to pieces. The pages crumble when I try and turn them. And the really old books … either they have crumbled all away or they are buried somewhere that I haven't looked yet or … well, it could be that there are no such books and never were. The oldest histories we have were written after the Andals came to Westeros. The First Men only left us runes on rocks, so everything we think we know about the Age of Heroes and the Dawn Age and the Long Night comes from accounts set down by septons thousands of years later. There are archmaesters at the Citadel who question all of it. Those old histories are full of kings who reigned for hundreds of years, and knights riding around a thousand years before there were knights. You know the tales, Brandon the Builder, Symeon Star-Eyes, Night's King … we say that you're the nine-hundred-and-ninety-eighth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, but the oldest list I've found shows six hundred seventy-four commanders, which suggests that it was written during—" -ADwD Jon II

 

"Wylla." Lord Wyman smiled. "Did you see how brave she was? Even when I threatened to have her tongue out, she reminded me of the debt White Harbor owes to the Starks of Winterfell, a debt that can never be repaid. Wylla spoke from the heart, as did Lady Leona. Forgive her if you can, my lord. She is a foolish, frightened woman, and Wylis is her life. Not every man has it in him to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight or Symeon Star-Eyes, and not every woman can be as brave as my Wylla and her sister Wynafryd … who did know, yet played her own part fearlessly. ADwD Davos IV

 

 

 

 

Jon makes first contact and it just got ugly. Blue burning stars

 

Quote

 

Jon had no time to be afraid. He threw himself forward, shouting, bringing down the longsword with all his weight behind it. Steel sheared through sleeve and skin and bone, yet the sound was wrong somehow. The smell that engulfed him was so queer and cold he almost gagged. He saw arm and hand on the floor, black fingers wriggling in a pool of moonlight. Ghost wrenched free of the other hand and crept away, red tongue lolling from his mouth.

The hooded man lifted his pale moon face, and Jon slashed at it without hesitation. The sword laid the intruder open to the bone, taking off half his nose and opening a gash cheek to cheek under those eyes, eyes, eyes like blue stars burning. Jon knew that face. Othor, he thought, reeling back. Gods, he’s dead, he’s dead, I saw him dead.

Catelyn praying, Stranger's face.

Quote

And the seventh face … the Stranger was neither male nor female, yet both, ever the outcast, the wanderer from far places, less and more than human, unknown and unknowable. Here the face was a black oval, a shadow with stars for eyes. It made Catelyn uneasy. She would get scant comfort there.

 

 

A literal blue star eye,

Quote

“The way’s easy. Look for the Ice Dragon, and chase the blue star in the rider’s eye.” She backed through a door and started up the winding steps. -ACoK Bran V

 

When they lost their way, as happened once or twice, they need only wait for a clear cold night when the clouds did not intrude, and look up in the sky for the Ice Dragon. The blue star in the dragon’s eye pointed the way north, as Osha told him once. Thinking of Osha made Bran wonder where she was. He pictured her safe in White Harbor with Rickon and Shaggydog, eating eels and fish and hot crab pie with fat Lord Manderly. Or maybe they were warming themselves at the Last Hearth before the Greatjon’s fires. But Bran’s life had turned into endless chilly days on Hodor’s back, riding his basket up and down the slopes of mountains. -ASoS Bran II

At the north window, he leaned against the sill for a breath of the cold night air, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mad Prendos raising sail, but the sea seemed black and empty as far as the eye could see. Is she gone already? He could only pray that she was, and the boy with her. A half moon was sliding in and out amongst thin high clouds, and Davos could see familiar stars. There was the Galley, sailing west; there the Crone's Lantern, four bright stars that enclosed a golden haze. The clouds hid most of the Ice Dragon, all but the bright blue eye that marked due north. The sky is full of smugglers' stars. They were old friends, those stars; Davos hoped that meant good luck. -ASoS Davos VI

Song on Robb's victory

Quote

She took a late supper in the Great Hall with her garrison, to give them what encouragement she could. Rymund the Rhymer sang through all the courses, sparing her the need to talk. He closed with the song he had written about Robb’s victory at Oxcross. “And the stars in the night were the eyes of his wolves, and the wind itself was their song.” Between the verses, Rymund threw back his head and howled, and by the end, half of the hall was howling along with him, even Desmond Grell, who was well in his cups. Their voices rang off the rafters.

 

Bright blue eyes shining like frozen stars

Quote

His garron screamed and reared and almost threw him as the bear came staggering through the snow. Sam pissed himself all over again. I didn’t think I had any more left inside me. The bear was dead, pale and rotting, its fur and skin all sloughed off and half its right arm burned to bone, yet still it came on. Only its eyes lived. Bright blue, just as Jon said. They shone like frozen stars. Thoren Smallwood charged, his longsword shining all orange and red from the light of the fire. His swing near took the bear’s head off. And then the bear took his.

 

Not exactly star eyes, but ghost's eyes drinking stars

Quote

 

"He found Ghost atop the hill, as he thought he might. The white wolf never howled, yet something drew him to the heights all the same, and he would squat there on his hindquarters, hot breath rising in a white mist as his red eyes drank the stars.

"Do you have names for them as well?" Jon asked, as he went to one knee beside the direwolf and scratched the thick white fur on his neck. "The Hare? The Doe? The She-Wolf?" Ghost licked his face, his rough wet tongue rasping against the scabs where the eagle's talons had ripped Jon's cheek. The bird marked both of us, he thought. "Ghost," he said quietly, "on the morrow we go over. There's no steps here, no cage-and-crane, no way for me to get you to the other side. We have to part. Do you understand?"

 

Stars staring like eyes

Quote

 

Thunder rumbled softly in the distance, but above him the clouds were breaking up. Jon searched the sky until he found the Ice Dragon, then turned the mare north for the Wall and Castle Black. The throb of pain in his thigh muscle made him wince as he put his heels into the old man's horse. I am going home, he told himself. But if that was true, why did he feel so hollow?

He rode till dawn, while the stars stared down like eyes.

 

Blue stars

Quote

His fumbling fingers finally found the dagger, but when he slammed it up into the wight's belly the point skidded off the iron links, and the blade went spinning from Sam's hand. Small Paul's fingers tightened inexorably, and began to twist. He's going to rip my head off, Sam thought in despair. His throat felt frozen, his lungs on fire. He punched and pulled at the wight's wrists, to no avail. He kicked Paul between the legs, uselessly. The world shrank to two blue stars, a terrible crushing pain, and a cold so fierce that his tears froze over his eyes. Sam squirmed and pulled, desperate . . . and then he lurched forward.

eyes like blue stars

Quote

As the sun began to set the shadows of the towers lengthened and the wind blew harder, sending gusts of dry dead leaves rattling through the yards. The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan's stories, the tale of Night's King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night's Watch, she said; a warrior who knew no fear. "And that was the fault in him," she would add, "for all men must know fear." A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.

Tommen

Quote

She could have throttled him. Perhaps I need to command Ser Loras to allow Ser Osmund to unhorse him. That might chase the stars from Tommen's eyes. Salt a slug and shame a hero, and they shrink right up. "I am sending for a Dornishman to train you," she said. "The Dornish are the finest jousters in the realm.

Star painted over eye

Quote

"Well, then, m'lord," said a different sparrow, a huge bald man with a seven-pointed star painted over one eye, "you won't want to bother your cousin at his prayers."

eyes on a pummel, rubies shining like stars

Quote

Another of the outlaws stepped forward, a younger man in a greasy sheepskin jerkin. In his hand was Oathkeeper. "This says it is." His voice was frosted with the accents of the north. He slid the sword from its scabbard and placed it in front of Lady Stoneheart. In the light from the firepit the red and black ripples in the blade almost seem to move, but the woman in grey had eyes only for the pommel: a golden lion's head, with ruby eyes that shone like two red stars.

Wight's eyes glowing like pale blue stars

Quote

Two, three, four. Bran lost count. They surged up violently amidst sudden clouds of snow. Some wore black cloaks, some ragged skins, some nothing. All of them had pale flesh and black hands. Their eyes glowed like pale blue stars.

Eyes that are two red stars, shining in the dark

Quote

Jon let out a white breath. "He is not always so …"

"… warm? Warmth calls to warmth, Jon Snow." Her eyes were two red stars, shining in the dark. At her throat, her ruby gleamed, a third eye glowing brighter than the others. Jon had seen Ghost's eyes blazing red the same way, when they caught the light just right. "Ghost," he called. "To me."

The direwolf looked at him as if he were a stranger.

 

There's a whole lot of Symeon Star-Eyes. There are two for red eyes, one rubies on a pummel and one for Mel's eyes. The rest, if given color, are all blue stars. three refer to the Ice Dragon constellation, one is Night's Queen and the rest being wights.

[Mourning Star]

1 hour ago, Aejohn the Conqueroo said:

Do you think that the name Kettleblack is in anyway related to this? If the setting were different I would assume they're all potheads (because the pot calls the Kettleblack) but I wonder if it isn't a callout to the blatant hypocrisy of KL or something a little subtler. 

The Kettleblacks don't appear until Clash of Kings, but it's hard to ignore that connection.

"Certainly, if such is your wish. However, you had best know that your sister means to name Ser Gregor Clegane as her champion, in the event of such a trial."
The bitch checks my moves before I make them. A pity she didn't choose a Kettleblack. Bronn would make short work of any of the three brothers, but the Mountain That Rides was a kettle of a different color. "I shall need to sleep on this."

There is also a Robin Potter in Feast.

Brienne curled up beneath her cloak, with Podrick yawning at her side. I was not always wary, she might have shouted down at Crabb. When I was a little girl I believed that all men were as noble as my father. Even the men who told her what a pretty girl she was, how tall and bright and clever, how graceful when she danced. It was Septa Roelle who had lifted the scales from her eyes. "They only say those things to win your lord father's favor," the woman had said. "You'll find truth in your looking glass, not on the tongues of men." It was a harsh lesson, one that left her weeping, but it had stood her in good stead at Harrenhal when Ser Hyle and his friends had played their game. A maid has to be mistrustful in this world, or she will not be a maid for long, she was thinking, as the rain began to fall.
In the mêlée at Bitterbridge she had sought out her suitors and battered them one by one, Farrow and Ambrose and Bushy, Mark Mullendore and Raymond Nayland and Will the Stork. She had ridden over Harry Sawyer and broken Robin Potter's helm, giving him a nasty scar. And when the last of them had fallen, the Mother had delivered Connington to her. This time Ser Ronnet held a sword and not a rose. Every blow she dealt him was sweeter than a kiss.
Loras Tyrell had been the last to face her wroth that day. He'd never courted her, had hardly looked at her at all, but he bore three golden roses on his shield that day, and Brienne hated roses. The sight of them had given her a furious strength. She went to sleep dreaming of the fight they'd had, and of Ser Jaime fastening a rainbow cloak about her shoulders.

House Spicer has three black pepperpots on their sigil.

Robb beckoned the other strangers forward, each in turn. "Ser Rolph Spicer, Lady Sybell's brother. He was castellan at the Crag when we took it." The pepperpot knight inclined his head.

All of these three are examples of lies and betrayals. From the Kettleblacks working for Cersei/Tyrion/Littlefinger, to Robin's false words to Brienne, to the Red Wedding.

But, while we are speaking of pots and kettles, this scene also stands out to me:

"Well, that's so," said Yarwyck. "Anyway, now that I'm standing here, I don't recall why I thought Slynt would be such a good choice. That would be sort of kicking King Stannis in the mouth, and I don't see how that serves us. Might be Snow would be better. He's been longer on the Wall, he's Ben Stark's nephew, and he served the Old Bear as squire." Yarwyck shrugged. "Pick who you want, just so it's not me." He sat down.
Janos Slynt had turned from red to purple, Jon saw, but Ser Alliser Thorne had gone pale. The Eastwatch man was pounding his fist on the table again, but now he was shouting for the kettle. Some of his friends took up the cry. "Kettle!" they roared, as one. "Kettle, kettle, KETTLE!"
The kettle was in the corner by the hearth, a big black potbellied thing with two huge handles and a heavy lid. Maester Aemon said a word to Sam and Clydas and they went and grabbed the handles and dragged the kettle over to the table. A few of the brothers were already queueing up by the token barrels as Clydas took the lid off and almost dropped it on his foot. With a raucous scream and a clap of wings, a huge raven burst out of the kettle. It flapped upward, seeking the rafters perhaps, or a window to make its escape, but there were no rafters in the vault, nor windows either. The raven was trapped. Cawing loudly, it circled the hall, once, twice, three times. And Jon heard Samwell Tarly shout, "I know that bird! That's Lord Mormont's raven!"
The raven landed on the table nearest Jon. "Snow," it cawed. It was an old bird, dirty and bedraggled. "Snow," it said again, "Snow, snow, snow." It walked to the end of the table, spread its wings again, and flew to Jon's shoulder.
Lord Janos Slynt sat down so heavily he made a thump, but Ser Alliser filled the vault with mocking laughter. "Ser Piggy thinks we're all fools, brothers," he said. "He's taught the bird this little trick. They all say snow, go up to the rookery and hear for yourselves. Mormont's bird had more words than that."
The raven cocked its head and looked at Jon. "Corn?" it said hopefully. When it got neither corn nor answer, it quorked and muttered, "Kettle? Kettle? Kettle?"
The rest was arrowheads, a torrent of arrowheads, a flood of arrowheads, arrowheads enough to drown the last few stones and shells, and all the copper pennies too.

[Aejohn the Conqueroo]

16 minutes ago, Mourning Star said:

The Kettleblacks don't appear until Clash of Kings, but it's hard to ignore that connection.

"Certainly, if such is your wish. However, you had best know that your sister means to name Ser Gregor Clegane as her champion, in the event of such a trial."
The bitch checks my moves before I make them. A pity she didn't choose a Kettleblack. Bronn would make short work of any of the three brothers, but the Mountain That Rides was a kettle of a different color. "I shall need to sleep on this."

There is also a Robin Potter in Feast.

Brienne curled up beneath her cloak, with Podrick yawning at her side. I was not always wary, she might have shouted down at Crabb. When I was a little girl I believed that all men were as noble as my father. Even the men who told her what a pretty girl she was, how tall and bright and clever, how graceful when she danced. It was Septa Roelle who had lifted the scales from her eyes. "They only say those things to win your lord father's favor," the woman had said. "You'll find truth in your looking glass, not on the tongues of men." It was a harsh lesson, one that left her weeping, but it had stood her in good stead at Harrenhal when Ser Hyle and his friends had played their game. A maid has to be mistrustful in this world, or she will not be a maid for long, she was thinking, as the rain began to fall.
In the mêlée at Bitterbridge she had sought out her suitors and battered them one by one, Farrow and Ambrose and Bushy, Mark Mullendore and Raymond Nayland and Will the Stork. She had ridden over Harry Sawyer and broken Robin Potter's helm, giving him a nasty scar. And when the last of them had fallen, the Mother had delivered Connington to her. This time Ser Ronnet held a sword and not a rose. Every blow she dealt him was sweeter than a kiss.
Loras Tyrell had been the last to face her wroth that day. He'd never courted her, had hardly looked at her at all, but he bore three golden roses on his shield that day, and Brienne hated roses. The sight of them had given her a furious strength. She went to sleep dreaming of the fight they'd had, and of Ser Jaime fastening a rainbow cloak about her shoulders.

House Spicer has three black pepperpots on their sigil.

Robb beckoned the other strangers forward, each in turn. "Ser Rolph Spicer, Lady Sybell's brother. He was castellan at the Crag when we took it." The pepperpot knight inclined his head.

All of these three are examples of lies and betrayals. From the Kettleblacks working for Cersei/Tyrion/Littlefinger, to Robin's false words to Brienne, to the Red Wedding.

But, while we are speaking of pots and kettles, this scene also stands out to me:

"Well, that's so," said Yarwyck. "Anyway, now that I'm standing here, I don't recall why I thought Slynt would be such a good choice. That would be sort of kicking King Stannis in the mouth, and I don't see how that serves us. Might be Snow would be better. He's been longer on the Wall, he's Ben Stark's nephew, and he served the Old Bear as squire." Yarwyck shrugged. "Pick who you want, just so it's not me." He sat down.
Janos Slynt had turned from red to purple, Jon saw, but Ser Alliser Thorne had gone pale. The Eastwatch man was pounding his fist on the table again, but now he was shouting for the kettle. Some of his friends took up the cry. "Kettle!" they roared, as one. "Kettle, kettle, KETTLE!"
The kettle was in the corner by the hearth, a big black potbellied thing with two huge handles and a heavy lid. Maester Aemon said a word to Sam and Clydas and they went and grabbed the handles and dragged the kettle over to the table. A few of the brothers were already queueing up by the token barrels as Clydas took the lid off and almost dropped it on his foot. With a raucous scream and a clap of wings, a huge raven burst out of the kettle. It flapped upward, seeking the rafters perhaps, or a window to make its escape, but there were no rafters in the vault, nor windows either. The raven was trapped. Cawing loudly, it circled the hall, once, twice, three times. And Jon heard Samwell Tarly shout, "I know that bird! That's Lord Mormont's raven!"
The raven landed on the table nearest Jon. "Snow," it cawed. It was an old bird, dirty and bedraggled. "Snow," it said again, "Snow, snow, snow." It walked to the end of the table, spread its wings again, and flew to Jon's shoulder.
Lord Janos Slynt sat down so heavily he made a thump, but Ser Alliser filled the vault with mocking laughter. "Ser Piggy thinks we're all fools, brothers," he said. "He's taught the bird this little trick. They all say snow, go up to the rookery and hear for yourselves. Mormont's bird had more words than that."
The raven cocked its head and looked at Jon. "Corn?" it said hopefully. When it got neither corn nor answer, it quorked and muttered, "Kettle? Kettle? Kettle?"
The rest was arrowheads, a torrent of arrowheads, a flood of arrowheads, arrowheads enough to drown the last few stones and shells, and all the copper pennies too.

I never even thought of that big black potbellied kettle. Nice grab.

[Nadden]

Quote

A shadow emerged from the dark of the wood. It stood in front of Royce. (AGOT, Prologue)

Foreshadowing 

[Daena the Defiant]

On 3/6/2023 at 1:47 AM, Craving Peaches said:

'Fratricide' used only once. When Maester Cressen is trying to convince Stannis not to kill Renly...

Deicide was used also, as one of the charges leveled against Cersei.

[Craving Peaches]

7 hours ago, Daena the Defiant said:

Deicide was used also, as one of the charges leveled against Cersei.

And I think regicide was another uncommon word also used then.

[Sandy Clegg]

"Hey-nonny"

This is sung only by one character, Marillion, as Sansa is being threatened by Lysa near the Moon Door. It's part of the lyrics to a song called The False and the Fair. The only other mention of hey-nonny is by Nimble Dick when Brienne is asking him about the fool who has booked passage across the Narrow Sea. But the words are repeated three times in the Sansa scene.

Partial lyrics for the song are here:

The lord he came a-riding upon a rainy day,
hey-nonny, hey-nonny, hey-nonny-hey...
The lady sat a-sewing upon a rainy day,
hey-nonny, hey-nonny, hey-nonny-hey.

Hey-nonny, hey-nonny, hey-nonny-hey.

The lady lay a-kissing, upon a mound of hay,
hey-nonny, hey-nonny, hey-nonny-hey

A pretty standard bawdy medieval song, with a lord and a lady taking a 'roll in the hay'. Nicely juxtaposed with the horror of Sansa nearly plunging hundreds of feet to her death.

So, as George is a music fan I wondered whether there might be any rock songs featuring these odd words, and sure enough there is one very famous 80s/90s band - Violent Femmes - who have a song called Hey Nonny Nonny on one album. The name of that album?

Why Do Birds Sing?

Well, this is probably just delicious coincidence. Sansa is the 'little bird' who 'sings' for The Hound, after all. But let's look at the rest of the track listing on that album. Again, I am almost 99% sure that this is all coincidence but it's a wonderful little coincidence all the same, considering the chapter's POV and contents:

1.  "American Music"  
2. "Out the Window" 
3.  "Look Like That"  
4. "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" 
5. "Hey Nonny Nonny" 
6. "Used to Be"  
7. "Girl Trouble" 
8. "He Likes Me"  
9. "Life is a Scream" 
10. "Flamingo Baby"
11. "Lack of Knowledge"
12. "More Money Tonight"
13. "I'm Free"

More Money Tonight ...? well Littlefinger does technically get richer once Lysa is out the way, I suppose ... 

Yes, ok - this is probably nonsense. It would be nice to think this is a deliberate sneaky easter egg on George's part, but the chances of that are just so extremely slight. But it's amazing how one can pull connections out of seemingly nowhere with books as rich as these, even if it's just to amuse.

Edited September 9, 2023 by Sandy Clegg

[Seams]

On 3/6/2023 at 1:25 AM, Corvo the Crow said:

Anon:

Used only three times, all of them in Jon chapters, all of them regarding dance.

...

“You could dance with me, you know. It would be only courteous. You danced with me anon.”

“Anon?” teased Jon.

...

A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon.

This seems important. A word repeated three times in ASOIAF is a clue about something magic, I suspect -- Mormont's raven often says things three times.

It struck me as likely that the "me anon" combination was carefully engineered by the author. So what could "me anon" refer to or hide within its rustling skirts?

How 'bout this word that appears only once in the books:

Quote

"If the gods are good, they will grant us a warm autumn and bountiful harvests, so we might prepare for the winter to come." The smallfolk said that a long summer meant an even longer winter, but the maester saw no reason to frighten the child with such tales.

Patchface rang his bells. "It is always summer under the sea," he intoned. "The merwives wear nennymoans in their hair and weave gowns of silver seaweed. I know, I know, oh, oh, oh."

Shireen giggled. "I should like a gown of silver seaweed."

"Me anon" and "nennymoan" as one of GRRM's almost anagram clues? It feels like a thematic match, with the mysterious merwives and the mysterious Alys Karstark involved in a dance or in weaving gowns or adorning their hair. We see Sansa tricked into a fitting for a wedding dress made by Cersei's dressmaker - maybe the woven silver seaweed gown in the Patchface scenario is a wedding gown. (Although I've also pondered the "wise red leaves" clue in the silver seaweed - it could express the desire to be a weirwood.)

Add in the mysterious Shireen wanting a silver seaweed gown for another layer of cryptic girl mojo.

The dance with a snowflake could also be a clue to the hidden meaning: what if GRRM wants us to decipher the Latin word "anno"? Maybe Alys and Jon coming together in a dance is a way of changing the year; changing the season. 

But there might just be a clue about the symbolic marriage of Jon Snow and Alys Karstark here. Alys has planted the idea with an anagram that Jon is the Magnar: with me anon = I'm now thane. Once he says the entire phrase, maybe he is symbolically married to Alys, who is an important allegorical character. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Seams

[Seams]

Beric Dondarrion explains to Arya that he must sell her for a ransom because:

Quote

Too many of my men ride rounseys, drays, and mules against foes mounted on coursers and destriers.

ASoS, Arya VII

But the only person in the books who is physically shown to the reader as riding a rounsey is Podrick Payne. 

Quote

... she spied a skinny boy on a piebald rounsey.

... a broken-down old piebald rounsey with a skinny boy upon his back

 

Brienne trotted up behind him and gave the rounsey a whack across the rump with the flat of her longsword.

The horse reared, and the skinny boy went flying, his cloak flapping like a pair of wings. He landed in the mud and came up with dirt and dead brown grass between his teeth to find Brienne standing over him.

 

"That rounsey may be the most hideous horse I've ever seen," said Ser Hyle of Podrick's mount. "I am surprised that you're not riding it, my lady. 

 

All from Brienne POVs in AFfC

Piebald is somewhat rare, but a few characters ride piebald horses. Pod is the only one with a rounsey.

Interesting that hitting the horse with a longsword causes Pod to fly. Flying is an important power in ASOIAF. 

Is there a clue in Ser Beric saying that his men ride rounseys and Pod eventually showing up on a rounsey? Is Pod a symbolic BWB member?

 

[Tyrosh Lannister]

Cerseis "one good night for one good knight" is one of the most underrated lines in the story ... Although the kettlrblack she spoke to is slow so I don't think he understood 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Tyrosh Lannister