A Thread for Small Questions VII

[AndreaDraco]

Hi folks, this is my first post here! :)

A bit of introduction: I'm an Italian fan and long-time reader who recently decided, in anticipation of A Dance With Dragons, to re-read the books in English. I'm actually a pretty fluent reader - I'm used to reading in English because... well, let's just say that the Italian publishing houses are not very kind toward the genres I like - and the few words I can't understand from the get-go are easily explained by a good dictionary. However, in Daenerys wedding chapter in AGoT, I've encountered a word whose meaning I wasn't able to find. I'm talking about sandsilk.

In the Italian version of the novel, the (terrible) translator used "gilet dipinti a mano," which can be translated in "hand-painted gilets." However, this is obviously nothing like sandsilks and even Google has baffled me. So I hopefully turn to you guys: what are these sandsilks the Dothraki are giving to Dany?

Thanks :D

[Snow White]

Hi folks, this is my first post here! :)

A bit of introduction: I'm an Italian fan and long-time reader who recently decided, in anticipation of A Dance With Dragons, to re-read the books in English. I'm actually a pretty fluent reader - I'm used to reading in English because... well, let's just say that the Italian publishing houses are not very kind toward the genres I like - and the few words I can't understand from the get-go are easily explained by a good dictionary. However, in Daenerys wedding chapter in AGoT, I've encountered a word whose meaning I wasn't able to find. I'm talking about sandsilk.

In the Italian version of the novel, the (terrible) translator used "gilet dipinti a mano," which can be translated in "hand-painted gilets." However, this is obviously nothing like sandsilks and even Google has baffled me. So I hopefully turn to you guys: what are these sandsilks the Dothraki are giving to Dany?

It's not an English term, AFAIK. I had to look it up:

Other gifts she was given in plenty by other Dothraki: slippers and jewels and silver rings for her hair, medallion belts and painted vests and soft furs, sandsilks and jars of scent, needles and feathers and tiny bottles of purple glass, and a gown made from the skin of a thousand mice.

Going by context it seems to be a luxury item of some kind. Possibly something scented, since it seems to be paired with 'jars of scent.'

I would just chalk it up as 'something exotic.'

[AndreaDraco]

I may have find something. Here it says:

In Dorne, painted sandsilk is worn. It is used in tunics, robes, and the veils the Dornishmen use to protect their faces when crossing the desert. Sandsilk is a form of rough silk that is “sandwashed;” it is heavy, but with a smooth finish.

I don't know if the source is reliable, though.

[Snow White]

I may have find something.

Good work. Further searching in AGOT turns up:

She was arranging the last of his gifts-a sandsilk cloak, green as grass, with a pale grey border that would bring out the silver in his hair-when Viserys arrived, dragging Doreah by the arm.

ETA: And from AFFC:

Obara was the eldest Sand Snake, a big-boned woman near to thirty, with the close-set eyes and rat-brown hair of the Oldtown whore who’d birthed her. Beneath a mottled sandsilk cloak of dun and gold, her riding clothes were old brown leather, worn and supple. They were the softest things about her.

Which seem to confirm your link.

[Jon Lannister]

I'm portuguese, and I'm reading the HarperCollins edition of asoif. So, I was wondering, what's the meaning of "gutter"?

[Mara Jade]

I'm portuguese, and I'm reading the HarperCollins edition of asoif. So, I was wondering, what's the meaning of "gutter"?

There are many meanings but the main ones:

• a channel at the side of a street for carrying off rainwater.• ( the gutter) used to refer to a poor or squalid background or environment : only moneyed privilege had kept him out of the gutter.

[Mara Jade]

In A Game of Thrones, when the letter is sent to Jon about Ned being a traitor, it's mentioned in his pov that Sansa's and Arya's wolves are dead and missing. Do we just assume that Jon read about it in a letter from Robb or someone? Do we know how he knows that?

No we don't know how he knows this.

It's a common question, I had it myself. Lady hasn't returned yet, Mormont controls what Jon hears about, telling him only life or death news. Other elements of their lives they left they're meant to leave behind. Whenever there is communication it's usually very important as GRRM makes great pains to show. So I don't think Jon is casually getting letters. Others disagree and think Robb is writing him often. This is a valid point, I just thing it would have been mentioned earlier.

[Mara Jade]

After Lady's bones arrived back in Winterfell some traveller could have brought the news to the Wall to Jon, but we don't hear about that explicitly.

And I haven't double checked but at this point in the novel I don't think Lady's bones had arrived back in Winterfell yet. There is plenty of gossip in the North between the Night's Watch, the Wildlings, Winterfell and the other houses. But I think it would only spread once Lady returned to Winterfell since she was traveling faster than I think gossip travels from the Trident to the Wall.

[Snow's Ghost]

It's not an English term, AFAIK. I had to look it up:

Going by context it seems to be a luxury item of some kind. Possibly something scented, since it seems to be paired with 'jars of scent.'

I would just chalk it up as 'something exotic.'

I believe them to be silk "pants" that allow the skin to breathe easily in the heat... I'm not sure it is purposely paired with the jars of scent, though - just another item in the series. I could be wrong - I just envisioned Daenerys in silky, flowing pants...

[Sera dy Relandrant]

First timer here as well!

I'm curious about something: what happened to Maester's Aemon's nephew and niece (the feeble-witted daughter and the infant son) who were 'passed over' when they decided to choose his little brother, Aegon, as King? Did they just 'conveniently' disappear?

[Ran]

We don't know yet. The Targaryen family tree due to be published at some point in The World of Ice and Fire guide that Linda and I are co-authoring with GRRM may provide more information, however.

[Lord Pounce]

I'm sure this question has been asked and answered several times before but where exactly is Vaes Dothrak and the Dothraki sea?

[Huan]

We don't know yet. The Targaryen family tree due to be published at some point in The World of Ice and Fire guide that Linda and I are co-authoring with GRRM may provide more information, however.

Will The World of Ice and Fire contain family trees for other houses that go back far enough to include the characters in the Dunk and Egg series, such as the Grey Lion and Laughing Storm? I'd love to see that.

[Ran]

That, I don't know. The Targaryen one is the only one that we've definitely talked about.

[dcon]

And I haven't double checked but at this point in the novel I don't think Lady's bones had arrived back in Winterfell yet. There is plenty of gossip in the North between the Night's Watch, the Wildlings, Winterfell and the other houses. But I think it would only spread once Lady returned to Winterfell since she was traveling faster than I think gossip travels from the Trident to the Wall.

We don't see her body being brought back but we hear about it from Bran maybe. Not sure. I also don't know at what point in Jon's story that would have happened, either.

[bottle cap]

That, I don't know. The Targaryen one is the only one that we've definitely talked about.

any ETA on this publication?

[Doom of Valyria]

I've noticed quite a few people with "quotes" from ADWD in their signatures here on the forum. If some of them weren't totally ludicrous, I would think they were real (for example, one I saw with Maege Mormont seems plausible). Is this some sort of meme among forum goers or something - made-up "spoiler quotes" just to mess with people that don't know better?

[Zizoz]

They're all real. Just to mess with people, I believe. Not all are from ADWD; I think the idea was to mess with show viewers who haven't read the books.

[mummer]

I'm sure this question has been asked and answered several times before but where exactly is Vaes Dothrak and the Dothraki sea?

There haven't been any official maps in the books so far that show those eastern locations - although we've heard that there may be one in A Dance with Dragons, and the HBO viewer guide site has a partial one that seems to be based on that. There are various fan-made world maps in the gallery section of this site (which I find incredibly hard to navigate, so you're on your own there unless someone else can come up with a link). All are more or less in agreement that the Dothraki Sea starts east of Pentos, at roughly the same latitude as King's Landing, and covers a pretty large area - say if Pentos were on the western shore of Turkey, the Dothraki Sea would make up a large portion of central Asia. Pentos is close enough that the Dothraki could've looted it if they weren't already paying tribute.

Vaes Dothrak is, well, somewhere in there. One could assume it's sort of centrally located, since the Dothraki need to touch base there on a semi-regular basis and they also like to lug a lot of large trophies there from conquered lands.

[Kaitscralt]

I've noticed quite a few people with "quotes" from ADWD in their signatures here on the forum. If some of them weren't totally ludicrous, I would think they were real (for example, one I saw with Maege Mormont seems plausible). Is this some sort of meme among forum goers or something - made-up "spoiler quotes" just to mess with people that don't know better?

I've noticed it as well. Not only is it annoying, but I'd call making up parts of a fake chapter a form of fanficcing, which Martin does not allow.