Small Questions v 10017

[coil]

I've just read the prologue to A Feast for Crows, and in it Pate complains that the Maester he serves always calls him Cressen. Is there any back story for this?

The immediate answer is that Maester Cressen took care of Walgrave's business years before.

I don't think that there's anything particular behind it, but I'll throw whatever I can think about^^

-By ACoK's prologue, we know that Cressen is "almost eighty", which tells us that Walgrave isn't just old, but ancient (I'd assume that if Walgrave and Cressen would be of the same age, one wouldn't be the other's attendant).

-Now that you made me recall this fact, I wonder what was Cressen thinking when the white crow came to Dragonstone, since most likely he had taken care of all of them in the past!

-Walgrave's rod and mask are made of iron - the wiki states that they are about mastering warfare.

I wonder if Walgrave's teachings were the reason why Cressen was sent to Dragonstone, but since Steffon Baratheon had nothing to do with Robert's rebellion, I doubt there's anything particular going on.

I think it's just a note to tell us what was Cressen doing at the Citadel, which is nice.

[RumHam]

-Walgrave's rod and mask are made of iron - the wiki states that they are about mastering warfare.

Another wiki error, as the book makes it quite clear that black iron is for ravencraft.

Everyone said that Walgrave had forgotten more of ravencraft than most maesters ever knew, so Pate assumed a black iron link was the least that he could hope for, only to find that Walgrave could not grant him one. The old man remained an archmaester only by courtesy. As great a maester as once he’d been, now his robes concealed soiled smallclothes oft as not, and half a year ago some acolytes found him weeping in the Library, unable to find his way back to his chambers. Maester Gormon sat below the iron mask in Walgrave’s place, the same Gormon who had once accused Pate of theft.

[Iona]

And in that same chapter Sam says

"The boy was Mance Rayder's son and Crasters Grandson, after all."

Curious, hes no blood to Craster at all I thought. He's not blood to Gilly??

This one has been bugging me as well... Dalla/Mance kin to Craster? Woot?

[coil]

Another wiki error, as the book makes it quite clear that black iron is for ravencraft.

Thanks a lot for the correction!

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

And in that same chapter Sam says

"The boy was Mance Rayder's son and Crasters Grandson, after all."

Curious, hes no blood to Craster at all I thought. He's not blood to Gilly??

This got me thinking as well. I think Sam means that Gilly will act as the boys mother, and Gilly is of Crasters blood. So the baby will have Mance's blood, the blood of a fighter, a brave man, and will be raised by Gilly, who was hardened already by living with Craster.

For as far as I know, Dalla and Val are in no way related to Craster. Dalla and Val used to live in a small wildling village, which Mance passed on his way back from Winterfell (when Robert came to visit) back to his own home.

I've just read the prologue to A Feast for Crows, and in it Pate complains that the Maester he serves always calls him Cressen. Is there any back story for this?

Cressen was an old man, and Walgrave is an old man. Yet the fact that Walgrave, who's been forgetting a lot of things according to Pate, like the way back to his own chambers, calls Pate by the name Cressen, simply referst to the fact that Walgrave and Cressen were, at one time, at the Citadel together. Either as equals, or Cressen was doing the work Pate does now. Perhaps Pate has similar looks to Cressen, which is why the old archmaester is so confused.

[Ser Leftwich]

Another wiki error, as the book makes it quite clear that black iron is for ravencraft.

Surprisingly, the wiki entry is correct about black iron and ravencraft. Is it just confusion that the mask in that passage, worn by Gormon, just says "iron"?

[RumHam]

Surprisingly, the wiki entry is correct about black iron and ravencraft. Is it just confusion that the mask in that passage, worn by Gormon, just says "iron"?

I hadn't actually checked the wiki, now that I have I think Coil just didn't realize there were two types of iron a maester can wear on his chain. I suppose

Gormon takes Archmaester Walgrave's place beneath the iron mask to judge those attempting for the ravencraft link.

on Gormon's page should be changed to black iron to avoid confusion.

[Iona]

This got me thinking as well. I think Sam means that Gilly will act as the boys mother, and Gilly is of Crasters blood. So the baby will have Mance's blood, the blood of a fighter, a brave man, and will be raised by Gilly, who was hardened already by living with Craster.

But wasn't the boy supposed to be Sam's bastard?

[The Crow's Third Eye]

But wasn't the boy supposed to be Sam's bastard?

Only in the South, to Randyll Tarly and his Wife and suchlike

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

But wasn't the boy supposed to be Sam's bastard?

Gilly has to tell Sam's family that the boy is Sam's son by her, so they'll get a place to grow up safe. The boy isn't related to either Sam nor Gilly, if we look at blood. But it's an "honourable lie" Sam is telling, as Jon puts it I believe. That's why the boy is supposed to be Sam's bastard.

[The Crow's Third Eye]

Incidentally, wouldn't it be incredibly ironic if the lie Sam tells his father to protect Gilly's son (or Mance's son as it happens) ends in his father gelding him for breaking his vows? :blushing:

[Lady Gwynhyfvar]

Incidentally, wouldn't it be incredibly ironic if the lie Sam tells his father to protect Gilly's son (or Mance's son as it happens) ends in his father gelding him for breaking his vows? :blushing:

:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Mini Ghost]

Do you guys think that the Old Gods planned for Bloodraven to be at the Wall then the cave?

[Lost Melnibonean]

Do you guys think that the Old Gods planned for Bloodraven to be at the Wall then the cave?

Not a really a small question, is it? I've read on this board that GRRM has suggested in interviews that none of the gods in ASOIAF are "real" but that there is magic.

[Lost Melnibonean]

In the first Theon chapter in Clash, was his cloak ever described as "flapping?"

[yolkboy]

wheres the quote about Bran staying too long inside his wolf?

[Sansa_Stark]

roose bolton sent robbett glover to Duskendale just to screw with robb's power right?

[Lost Melnibonean]

roose bolton sent robbett glover to Duskendale just to screw with robb's power right?

He sent him there to get rid of the forces under his command most loyal to Stark and to cozy up with Tywin who had just won the Battle of the Blackwater and secured an alliance with House Tyrell.

[Sansa_Stark]

He sent him there to get rid of the forces under his command most loyal to Stark and to cozy up with Tywin who had just won the Battle of the Blackwater and secured an alliance with House Tyrell.

Ah thanks.

[mindchap]

wheres the quote about Bran staying too long inside his wolf?

This is fairly long so I'll put it in spoiler tags:

The dark place was pulling at him by then, the house of whispers where all men were blind. He

could feel its cold fingers on him. The stony smell of it was a whisper up the nose. He struggled

against the pull. He did not like the darkness. He was wolf. He was hunter and stalker and slayer,

and he belonged with his brothers and sisters in the deep woods, running free beneath a starry

sky. He sat on his haunches, raised his head, and howled. I will not go, he cried. I am wolf, I will

not go. Yet even so the darkness thickened, until it covered his eyes and filled his nose and

stopped his ears, so he could not see or smell or hear or run, and the grey cliffs were gone and

the dead horse was gone and his brother was gone and all was black and still and black and cold

and black and dead and black...

“Bran,” a voice was whispering softly. “Bran, come back. Come back now, Bran. Bran...”

He closed his third eye and opened the other two, the old two, the blind two. In the dark place

all men were blind. But someone was holding him. He could feel arms around him, the warmth

of a body snuggled close. He could hear Hodor singing “Hodor, hodor, hodor,” quietly to

himself.

“Bran?” It was Meera’s voice. “You were thrashing, making terrible noises. What did you see?”

“Winterfell.” His tongue felt strange and thick in his mouth. One day when I come back I won’t

know how to talk anymore. “It was Winterfell. It was all on fire. There were horse smells, and

steel, and blood. They killed everyone, Meera.”

He felt her hand on his face, stroking back his hair. “You’re all sweaty,” she said. “Do you need

a drink?”

“A drink,” he agreed. She held a skin to his lips, and Bran swallowed so fast the water ran out

of the corner of his mouth. He was always weak and thirsty when he came back. And hungry too.

He remembered the dying horse, the taste of blood in his mouth, the smell of burnt flesh in the

morning air. “How long?”

“Three days,” said Jojen. The boy had come up softfoot, or perhaps he had been there all along;

in this blind black world, Bran could not have said. “We were afraid for you.”

“I was with Summer,” Bran said.

“Too long. You’ll starve yourself. Meera dribbled a little water down your throat, and we

smeared honey on your mouth, but it is not enough.”

“I ate,” said Bran. “We ran down an elk and had to drive off a treecat that tried to steal him.”

The cat had been tan-and-brown, only half the size of the direwolves, but fierce. He remembered

the musky smell of him, and the way he had snarled down at them from the limb of the oak.

“The wolf ate,” Jojen said. “Not you. Take care, Bran. Remember who you are.”

He remembered who he was all too well; Bran the boy, Bran the broken. Better Bran the

beastling. Was it any wonder he would sooner dream his Summer dreams, his wolf dreams? Here

in the chill damp darkness of the tomb his third eye had finally opened. He could reach Summer

whenever he wanted, and once he had even touched Ghost and talked to Jon. Though maybe he

had only dreamed that. He could not understand why Joien was always trying to pull him back

now. Bran used the strength of his arms to squirm to a sitting position. “I have to tell Osha what I

saw. Is she here? Where did she go?”