Chekhov's Armory

[Zar Lannister]

There's another Gun around from aDwD, and it belongs to Tyrion it's

those mushrooms he grabbed at Pentos. He used them on Nurse, but he still has some available

[SillentRegrets]

Ranger from Shadow Tower, Stonesnake. We last have seen him as parting from Jon and Halfhand, since then no info. He can be out there to play some role in conflict with Others.

[stormblast]

I should add Gendry.

I second that, and I would add Robert's bastard daughter Mya Stone.

The animosity between Blackwoods and Brackens. That's been mentioned far too often and in great detail to be just "enriching the world".

Coldhands comes to mind ( sorry if someone has already mentioned that ).

Greywather Watch - Howland Reed's moving fortress. Yes, THAT Howland Reed.

Mormont's talking/annoying raven.

Arya's training to become a ninja.

Northern/river lords who were not present at the Red Wedding.

And my personal favorite: Bronn.

[A song of rice and fire]

Benjen?

[Ice Turtle]

Howland Reed

graves of three KG members in Dorne

Willa the wetnurse

Ned Dayne

[Ice Turtle]

Benjen?

Agree here, I really hope he is alive and not Coldhands. Or that we never find what happened to him.

speaking of Benjen:

Those direwolves beyond the Wall he mentions but we never see. He is only one ever mentioning them, not even wildlings seem to know anything about them, wouldn't Varamyr wrag at least one if they were nearby?

[Howlin' Howland Reed]

I can't believe no one mentioned Littlefinger's tapestries yet. :)

Also, Sand Snake No. 9, if you feel like it, you could edit your OP and remove all the spoilers (and add stuff that others have mentioned).

Off-topic: Dunk's descendants being Brienne, Hodor and the Clegane brothers would be fascinating IMO.

[assjfjgjsgjljljglgjfjsduar]

I like the idea of the Night Fort stories being part fables, part Chekov's guns. We've already sort of seen that with the Rat Cook and the Frey betrayal. I have a pet theory that has Stannis becoming a new sort of Night's King, with Melisandre and R'hollor standing in for the wight wife and the Others. Jon's, uh, incident could harken back to Mad-Axe (brother-on-brother violence). No idea how Symeon Stareyes' hellhounds thing could show up, but it's cool nonetheless.

[GreenHand]

The name of Winterfell (Every time a noble seat has no connection to the Family name I take note!)

The reported Kraken attack near the Fingers, pulling down an Ibbenese Whaler

+

the Kraken Horn on Crab Isle with House Celtigar

Euron/Victarion's Dragonbinding Horn

The Targaryen cache of Dragon eggs

Summer's glimpse of a Serpent spewing fire

Ser Shadrick/the Mad Mouse, a hedge knight looking for Sansa

Spoiler

This gun has fired though the bullet has not yet struck in ADWD as Ser Shadrich reappears at the Vale in Littlefinger's service.

The Isle of Faces (Nobody goes there or mentions it despite its proximity and centrality!)

And the Order of the Green Men

(In an SSM when asked about them in future books GRRM says +- "Boy, I can't slip anything by you guys".)

The Sorrowful Men and Warlocks of Qarth sworn to vengeance against Daenerys

Leyton Hightower (& his daughter) researching spells after a decade inside his tower

[Pompeius Magnus]

Gendry's a huge one for me, especially as I'm not sure it was ever satisfactorily explained why people were looking from him in CoK when he was heading north with Arya, Yoren, et al.

And I'm sure he's already been mentioned, but Howland Reed surely has a role to play down the line (even if R+L=J isn't true).

[Zaydan]

Gendry's a huge one for me, especially as I'm not sure it was ever satisfactorily explained why people were looking from him in CoK when he was heading north with Arya, Yoren, et al.

And I'm sure he's already been mentioned, but Howland Reed surely has a role to play down the line (even if R+L=J isn't true).

I thought it was obvious that the soldiers (crimson/gold cloaks) were chasing after Gendry in ACOK under the order of Queen Cersei because, well, Joffrey was now King, and Cersei wanted to extinguish any remaining blood ties to Baratheon. What Ned knew of Robert’s bastards (Gendry, the baby in Littlefinger’s whorehouse) I’m sure Cersei knew also, so she swiftly had them killed. Other bastards, such as Edric Storm and Mya Stone, were too far removed from her to do anything about or she had no knowledge about.

And I’m not sure about Gendry’s importance. He’s well-built and a talented armorer and had the making of a fierce warrior, sure, but without anybody to corroborate that he’s indeed a late King’s bastard or any King to legitimize him, what kind of claim could he stake? If he’s a Chekov’s gun, then the most I can see for him is for him to become a rebel group leader or Arya’s future lover.

[Gillio]

also, what happens when there isn't a "stark at Winterfell"

[Catastrophe]

Ranger from Shadow Tower, Stonesnake. We last have seen him as parting from Jon and Halfhand, since then no info. He can be out there to play some role in conflict with Others.

He is Cold Hands.

[Pompeius Magnus]

I thought it was obvious that the soldiers (crimson/gold cloaks) were chasing after Gendry in ACOK under the order of Queen Cersei because, well, Joffrey was now King, and Cersei wanted to extinguish any remaining blood ties to Baratheon. What Ned knew of Robert’s bastards (Gendry, the baby in Littlefinger’s whorehouse) I’m sure Cersei knew also, so she swiftly had them killed. Other bastards, such as Edric Storm and Mya Stone, were too far removed from her to do anything about or she had no knowledge about.

And I’m not sure about Gendry’s importance. He’s well-built and a talented armorer and had the making of a fierce warrior, sure, but without anybody to corroborate that he’s indeed a late King’s bastard or any King to legitimize him, what kind of claim could he stake? If he’s a Chekov’s gun, then the most I can see for him is for him to become a rebel group leader or Arya’s future lover.

Aye, I suppose it could well be that simple. Still, I would have thought sending Gendry to the wall was enough to get him out of the way, and even if Cersei wasn't thrilled with that, I can't imagine it'd be that hard to have an "accident" befall him at the Wall, since we're oft reminded that the Night's Watch is made up of little more than murders and rapists these days.

I don't imagine him being a contender for the throne, or anything of that ilk; he is indeed a bastard, and while it's not hard to identify him as Robert's son, I think the only one of whom we're aware who's put it together is Arya, who isn't exactly around to tell him about it. We've seen a lot of him, though, and it seems odd that he would be relegated to a behind-the-scenes role after his apparent significance in the first few books. It's not that I expect big things from him, it's just that I expect something from him.

[voodooqueen126]

Doubtful. It's served its purpose.

Dawn was forged from a meteor yes, it was not Valyrian, but it could be seen as equal or greater in prestige, so it is often mentioned with them

If it had served it's purpose fully it would have been left in Kingslanding. Instead Sansa carefully put it in her pocket.

She is now being sexually abused by a man who told her aunt to poison her husband and frame the Lannisters, told her mother that Tyrion sent assassins after Bran, betrayed her father when he held a knife to his throat, and put her best friend in a brothel and then handed her to Ramsay Bolton.

Now tell me that the hairnet has served it's purpose?

I did not know that, thanks! Four! Our Dunk was busy! I don't see him as an ancestor of the Mountain and Sandor, unless all Dunk's "nice" genes got severely scrambled somehow.

Well the story of Dunk and Egg is very much about knighthood, even though Dunk like Brienne and Sandor is not truly a knight.

The story of the two Clegane brothers is very much about the knighthood too: Gregor who is annointed as a knight, but is a monster, and Sandor who refuses to be anointed as a knight but acts much more like a knight then anyone else in the Kingsguard.

[LuisDantas]

I don't think Arya realized that Gendry is Robert's son, although she came close at one point in ASOS. Maybe she figures it at a later point.

His being targeted by Cersei's men at ACOK shows how ruthless Cersei is (a general behavior pattern; she was equally reckless when she dismissed Ser Barristan, for instance. As IIRC Tywin points out to her later, that was a counterproductive move).

Killing Gendry, or any other of Robert's bastards, is of course more trouble than it is worth. They have little hope of ever being considered for the throne, and their deaths only bring undesired attention to their resemblance to Robert and lend credence to the claims of her adultery and incest. But Cersei is just like that; she has been denied so much that she can't help but exercise her power when she can get away with it. Also, she despises Robert and killing his offspring has some personal value to her. I believe AFFC elaborates on her motivations for those killings.

[LuisDantas]

also, what happens when there isn't a "stark at Winterfell"

The natural assumption would be that one or more of those upstarts claimants that seem to arise spontaneously everywhere would present themselves as new Lords of Winterfell.

A good and certain enough reason, to be sure. It is a matter of time until the Boltons make such a claim - and from what I understand of ADWD's general plot, at least some movement in that direction is already happening.

It is of course possible, but not really necessary or implied, that other, more esoteric or even mystical reasons exist. Maybe Starks are needed to care for the Godswood, or something. But I doubt it; we had plenty of Bran POVs and we know that Robb named him the Stark representative way back in AGOT, yet Bran doesn't seem to be aware of any other reason why some Stark presence is always needed.

[Pompeius Magnus]

I don't think Arya realized that Gendry is Robert's son, although she came close at one point in ASOS. Maybe she figures it at a later point.

His being targeted by Cersei's men at ACOK shows how ruthless Cersei is (a general behavior pattern; she was equally reckless when she dismissed Ser Barristan, for instance. As IIRC Tywin points out to her later, that was a counterproductive move).

Killing Gendry, or any other of Robert's bastards, is of course more trouble than it is worth. They have little hope of ever being considered for the throne, and their deaths only bring undesired attention to their resemblance to Robert and lend credence to the claims of her adultery and incest. But Cersei is just like that; she has been denied so much that she can't help but exercise her power when she can get away with it. Also, she despises Robert and killing his offspring has some personal value to her. I believe AFFC elaborates on her motivations for those killings.

I'm 90% sure that there's one PoV character who makes the Gendry/Robert connection; I'm certainly of the impression it was Arya, though only having read the books once there is certainly room there for misremembering.

As for the rest, you're almost certainly right; it just seems to me that Gendry's been too developed as a character for us to have already seen the last of him.

[LuisDantas]

We've seen a lot of him, though, and it seems odd that he would be relegated to a behind-the-scenes role after his apparent significance in the first few books. It's not that I expect big things from him, it's just that I expect something from him.

Gendry played a very useful role, more than one in fact.

Besides being an exposition device for Robert's bastards, and by extension Jon Arryn's and Ned's findings about same, he was also useful in exposing Cersei's actions (as commented two posts ago); he is someone for Arya to sympathize with at a time when trust came hard to her. And I found the incipient, somewhat contradictory feelings that Arya had for him cute in their own way. They brought some very welcome levity to Arya's chapters, which are often borderline depressing.

I don't doubt that he will return at some later point, perhaps even reforging Ice from Widow's Wail and Oathmaker (it was his mentor who reworked Ice into the two blades, after all). But it is hardly like he did not earn the focus he got already.

[LuisDantas]

I'm 90% sure that there's one PoV character who makes the Gendry/Robert connection; I'm certainly of the impression it was Arya, though only having read the books once there is certainly room there for misremembering.

Ned was a POV character in AGOT, and we learned that connection through his eyes. Much later, Cersei also became a POV character, and we must assume that she knows as well.

There may well be a third POV character who knows, but I'm not yet aware of any.