Mark Antony Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Rhaenyra's first husband is not Lyonel Strong. Used to be in an earlier iteration, but in the course of looking over the notes he had for the world book, he came up with something a lot more interesting.Rhaenyra's second husband is probably the most remarkable, and maybe infuriating as well, Targaryen who ever lived since Aegon and his sisters. I suppose you'd call him an adventurer. That said, I'm not strictly sure that "The Princess and the Queen" will do him justice. You kind of need to know a bit about him from before and after the point which this novella will cover to really get the full measure of the man. Rhaenyra's first husband has changed, BTW. He's the son of another rather remarkable person of the era, instead of Strong. Though you'll be hearing plenty about the Strongs, come to think of it. :eek: Can't wait to meet these guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Flame Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 http://www.tor.com/s...-martin-excerptRead It Now! :read: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The hairy bear Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Some more thoughts:One of the things that has really surprised me is that Aegon didn't want to be king. This confirms that the Dance of Dragons was not about preserving Andal customs, but about the Hightowers and their associates keeping their status. Surely Rhaenyra wouldn't have kept Otto as athe hand, and others at the Small Council my lose their posts too. They wanted a weak king that they could control.The age difference between Rhaenyra and Aegon II is increasing with every new batch of information. In the old AGOT appendix it was one year. In the descriptions for the Amok portraits, she was "almost ten years older than her half-brother". Now, she has to be much older: When at 111 they had a Tourney to celebrate the fifth aniversary of the king's marriage to Alicent, Aegon could be 4 years old at most, while Rhaneyra already dressed "dramatically" and had champions wearing her favour. It seems the age difference is closer to 15 than to 10, now.At 105 hundred of lords and knights had done homage to Rhaenyra. That was before Viserys second marriage. I'd bet that this was just after her brothers died, and Viserys had all the lords of the realm swear that they would accept Rhaenyra as the future queen.Perhaps some of those "would-be kings" that the maester mentions would be lords paramount trying to take advantage of the targaryen conflict to regain independence. The Greyjoys would be obvious candidates.ETA:Following on Aegon II's age, I find this interesting: Assuming he was born the year after his mother married Viserys (107), he would be 24 when he died and the Dance of Dragons ended (131). Right after the war, Aegon III was married to his daughter, who couldn't be older than... 10? This explains why the couple never had offspring. Probably, the poor girl died giving birth to a stillborn son at a very early age. By 137 Aegon III was already married to his Velaryon queen and fathering Daeron I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldhand the Just Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Looks awesome. Would rather have She Wolves but I am still pumped. Thanks for posting link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lost Lord Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 These characters are writ large: dragon-blooded titans plotting and clashing on a grand scale as the narrative swoops gleefully from high drama and intrigue to the basest folly and butchery. Both sides suffer horrific losses and stunning reversals of fortune, and time and time again we’re allowed to follow individual characters just long enough to get attached before some violent calamity befalls them. It should probably be noted that if you have problems with Very Bad Things happening to men, women, children, and dragons, lining up some potent unicorn chasers in advance might not be a bad idea. Be prepared for a body count that makes the end of Hamlet look like Care Bears on Ice. The Dance seems much bloodier than we knew. I suspect it led directly to the maesters' plot to kill the remaining dragons -- for the good of the realm. The Targs could no longer be trusted with such destructive power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Godric Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Haven't had time to read the excerpt yet, but I'm excited to hear that it's an account of a Maester. That should be interesting. Also, is George calling the World book the GRRMarillion (on his not a blog) or is he going to do a different book with more Maester-styled stories like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Winters Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Also, is George calling the World book the GRRMarillion (on his not a blog) or is he going to do a different book with more Maester-styled stories like this?The GRRMarillion (I love that name :)) is a separate book to TWOIAF, because there's some stuff that would spoil things for us he's kept that info back and after the series has ended he'll release it in the GRRMarillion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JungWheats Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 That excerpt is tight. I like the historical account feel to it. Although, it makes me afraid to get the anthology because it seems just the thing to put into the World Book, which also seems to be based on accounts by Maesters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illrede Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The Dance seems much bloodier than we knew. I suspect it led directly to the maesters' plot to kill the remaining dragons -- for the good of the realm. The Targs could no longer be trusted with such destructive power.The plot could have easily existed beforehand, I don't think it would have been possible otherwise. No Dance of the Dragons and it's a completely different Westeros at 298AL, going by the trends now shown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History of Westeros Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 On the dragon-bonding thing:Maia, I was blowing in your horn for years, saying that Valyrian incest came up as practice due to the fact that Valyrians had to find a way to bond their dragons permanently to the family. If they wanted to inherit them to their children and grandchildren, this was necessary. At least that's the theory.In a Freehold like Valyria incestuous marriages are a very stupid idea. You cannot assemble more and more power and wealth through marriages if you only marry into your own family, so the benefits have to outweigh the losses, and the benefits have to be connected to the dragons.That shouldn't have mattered in Valyria, since everyone who mattered power-wise had dragon-bonding blood, they could marry outside of their family and still bond with dragons.I am betting the incest started after the Targs fled to Dragonstone in advance of the Doom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMysteriousOne Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 That shouldn't have mattered in Valyria, since everyone who mattered power-wise had dragon-bonding blood, they could marry outside of their family and still bond with dragons.I am betting the incest started after the Targs fled to Dragonstone in advance of the Doom.No, incest was a Valyrian tradition.ETA: The forty dragonlord families of Valyria all struggled and fought for power, so it makes sense (sort of?) that each of the families would keep to themselves in order to gain more power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 "The Princess of the Queen" is a shorter version of a rather longer and more detailed account of the Dance, trimmed down by focusing very tightly on the titular characters. The World of Ice and Fire draws on the entire account, distilling it down to key point and events... including things that TPatQ barely touches on, or doesn't reference at all.So they're definitely a bit different, even if they share some commonalities due to shared content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMysteriousOne Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 "The Princess of the Queen" is a shorter version of a rather longer and more detailed account of the Dance, trimmed down by focusing very tightly on the titular characters. The World of Ice and Fire draws on the entire account, distilling it down to key point and events... including things that TPatQ barely touches on, or doesn't reference at all.So they're definitely a bit different, even if they share some commonalities due to shared content.In the WOIAF will we get to know what transpired at the ball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Yep. You'll learn plenty about the origins of the conflicts between the Greens and the Blacks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMysteriousOne Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 How many dragons were left after the Dance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Winters Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 "The Princess of the Queen" is a shorter version of a rather longer and more detailed account of the Dance, trimmed down by focusing very tightly on the titular characters. The World of Ice and Fire draws on the entire account, distilling it down to key point and events... including things that TPatQ barely touches on, or doesn't reference at all.So they're definitely a bit different, even if they share some commonalities due to shared content.Quick question, how many pages does it have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 The story? I'm not sure how many pages it is, but it's about 33,000 words, according to Garder Dozois, and it's the longest single piece in the anthology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Winters Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Thanks, 33,000 is good, and being the longest piece is as well. I just wondered how brief it will be about the events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maia Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 Aw, why all the trimming and distilling?! Why not publish the complete account somewhere, in all it's uncut glory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted July 30, 2013 Share Posted July 30, 2013 It will be, along with other material George has that couldn't really fit into TWoIaF, at some future date. :)TWoIaF is getting to be a very large book presently, and there's a practical limit to how much can fit in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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