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So I was reading TWOIAF and noticed this image. Anyone else think he resembles Moon Knight (or I think it was his peaceful version or something I think)?

What your thoughts?

I mean look at that COA!

"Because Trant had armour, and a big fucking sword."

The King should decide who gets a Dragon, obviously, but what is the best option for House Targaryen.

Do only the King and his heir get Dragons? Do most of his sons?

What about a princely House Targaryen? Let's say that Summerhall is given to a second son of Houee Tqrgaryen and he establishes a "Princely House Targaryen of Summerhall", do they become a house of Dragonlords?

What is the best long term option for the good odds House Targaryen?

Excluding Victarion as he’s the obvious pick, which characters go under the radar as just being not that intelligent? I would also say don’t pick the stark kids because at the end of the day they’re just children. So basically of the adult characters, not Victarion, who is dumbest? (No prologue or epilogue povs)

And then on the flip side, who is the smartest? This one is a bit easier, the answer is probably Tyrion unless I’m forgetting someone super obvious.

As much as Tyrion is a fairly nasty character post ASOS, he is undoubtedly very clever, so that would be my pick.

In A Game of Thrones, as Robert lays dying.. Ned summons littlefinger and tells him that he knows Cersei's children are bastards and he means to crown Stannis king. Littlefinger tells him the following after mentioning the downsides of crowning. Stannis:

Now look at the other side of the coin. Joffrey is but twelve, and Robert gave you the regency, my lord. You are the Hand of the King and Protector of the Realm. The power is yours, Lord Stark. All you need to do is reach out and take it. Make your peace with the Lannisters. Release the Imp. Wed Joffrey to your Sansa. Wed your younger girl to Prince Tommen, and your heir to Myrcella. It will be four years before Joffrey comes of age. By then, he will look to you as a second father, and if not, well.. four years is a good long while, my lord. Long enough to dispose of Lord Stannis. Then, should Joffrey prove troublesome, we can reveal his little secret and put Lord Renly on the throne.

Do you think it is a solid plan. Would it have worked. What would have been Littlefinger's price?

Was just rereading book one and it occurred to me that when Robert wants to join the Melee he is incredibly drunk and Cersei opposes it. we know that Robert and her hate one another though and Cersei wants him dead (Wich is why she has Lancel get him so drunk during the hunt). Is it possible that she got him drunk (or just took advantage of the fact that he was) and then taunted him about the melee so he would do it to spite her hoping he would get himself hurt or killed in it? Obviously this wouldn't work but Cersei isn't exactly smart so I'm curious if this is some sort of early murder attempt?

The Valyrian steel circlet of Aegon the Conqueror fame was worn by ATC, Maegor, Aegon II, and Daeron I. That’s four people.

Jaehaerys’s crown was worn by him, Viserys I, and Rhaenyra. Three people of varying builds.

Aegon IV’s huge dragon crown was worn by him, Daeron II, Aerys I, and Aerys II. Four different people again.

Can someone tell me how these crowns that get passed down through the Targaryen family line fit all of these people’s heads?! If I tried to wear a crown my father wore, it would be around my neck. Am I stupid?

Make your choices!

Reply with:

• Where would you want to live (anywhere on the map)

• What do you want to happen here? A wedding (of your selection), a feast? A quiet meal over wine and ale? A jousting tournament?

• Who would you want to be seated with?

• What question would you want to ask this character?

• Any skill you would like to acquire from this character? (Sword training, manipulation, business, leadership, etc.

• A tricky one but, would you plot to kill/imprison/use this character for political bargain while you're at this place with them? If so, how?

They would have already lost most of their adult male population from casualties in the war.

This with the addition of countless civilian deaths from Lannister raids and indiscriminate slaughter, plus further deaths from famine during the winter and whatever conflict is to come in the next two books.

Is anyone there going to be alive by the end of the last book? And how much of their total population will have been lost?

After years of being a beer drinker I have tried to get into wine but so far my palate isn’t refined enough to pick up on the different flavors/notes of different wines… So for the far wine experts here what wines would you say match the descriptions of wines in the books? Dornish, Arbor, other wines of Westeros and Essos?

Did the cotf skin change into dead people/creatures to create the Others ? So I’ve been watching/reading a bunch of asoif theory stuff. One theory I’m interested in is that the cotf created the Others in order to fight back against the Andals, then the Others broke free of the control of the cotf and that caused the Long Night. I had the thought that maybe the cotf used some form of ice magic concerning preservation, and skinchanging into dead people/dead creatures, or something along those lines, to actually create the White Walkers. Is there a theory like this out there already ?

Jaime abandoned his boyish ideals of chivalry when he realized that the legendary knights whom he idolized were enabling and supporting torture, spousal rape, and murder. He “went away inside”, as he puts it, and adopted a callous, sardonic, and nihilistic edgelord persona. But then he met Brienne, someone earnestly embodying the things he once believed in, and then he started to believe in those old ideals again.

Problem is, Brienne has been compelled against her will to lure Jaime into a trap. I have no idea how he’ll survive this(Lady Stoneheart isn’t exactly going to grant him a trial by combat, and even if she did, he’s unlikely to win one against even a mediocre opponent) but we know for story reasons that he has to(Valonqar, for one). My question is: will he understand that she had no choice, or will Brienne’s betrayal hurt him so much that he regresses completely(as he does in the show) and abandons whatever growth he’s done? I like the idea of Jaime knighting Brienne, as we saw in the show, but it seems too good to be true that they’ll both survive their encounter with Stoneheart and emerge with their relationship intact.

What if Tywin had given Kevan the task of going down to King's Landing to rule as Hand in his place instead of Tyrion? How would the story transpire from there?

I'm reading through a Brienne chapter in AFFC and I thought it was incredibly funny and in character than when she saw Gendry, a boy who looks kind of like Renly, she spends the next half a page describing what Renly looked like.

I was thinking that if, for example, Tyrion saw someone that looked vaguely like Tysha, it's unlikely that the next half a page would just be a description of what Tysha looked like, because how Brienne thinks about her love interest and how Tyrion does are vastly different and the writing styles of their chapters reflects that.

Another example is when Davos walks into the Manderly Mermans Court he spends a good paragraph or two describing the different ships, seacreatures and sea monsters on the mural, using the proper terminology and all. If someone like Daenerys walked into the same hall we probably wouldn't get more than a "there was a mural of various boats and sealife"

I know this is pretty obvious to point out and I have noticed it from the beginning of A Game of Thrones, but these examples stood out to me the most. Are there any other interesting examples of this?

People criticize AFFC and AFFC for not moving the plot much forward, but leading into TWOW, every POV feels like they’re at least positioned to do something that will ultimately prove important to the larger story and the endgame. It’s as if each POV is a tributary of a larger river(the Second Dance of Dragons+the War for the Dawn) and while they haven’t linked up yet, one can easily imagine how they can and will down the line. The only exception for me is the plot thread of Areo, Obara, and Balon hunting down Darkstar to “beard him in his den”. I can’t think of a single way in which this could prove significant and consequential to the finale. This storyline feels more like a stream guttering out into the desert.

Stories shouldn’t just be efficient plot machines-I understand that. Atmosphere, mood, and characterization are some of the greatest things about ASOIAF. The problem is that here we have three characters about whom we know little hunting a character about whom we know nothing(beyond that he’s “of the night”). It feels like an absolute sideshow, and it’s coming at a time when the general movement of the story should be consolidation, not further branching. I understand that AFFC/ADWD in general are criticized for this reason, but again, one can at least speculate how each thread introduced in those books could prove relevant eventually.

For this one, I’ve got nothing, beyond that we’ll probably learn more about House Dayne and maybe we’ll see the sword Dawn. Before anyone says it, yes, I know that House Dayne was probably more important in the Five Year Gap version of ASOIAF, and that this storyline probably represents GRRM trying to salvage some of those ideas.

Let’s assume George has some kind of vague plan for this plotline. Can anyone conceive of ways that it could prove impactful and consequential to the bigger happenings starting to unfold(Faegon, Euron, Long Night, etc.)? Will we learn some secret or something? Does Darkstar somehow know about R+L=J because of his Dayne connection(very unlikely)? Anyone want to hazard some guesses here?

Saw a post the other day about characters that look the least like the people portraying them on GOT and HOTD. So let's do the reverse of that.

Which characters from the show most closely resemble their descriptions from the book?

I'll go first. Sansa Stark.

Aside from being imo one of the best surprises in the series…

Is Stannis’ attack/victory over the wildlings at the end of ASOS proof that the NW tactic at the Fist of the First Men would have worked?

Or did they still not have enough men?

So far they're at 6 in about two years

Robert

Renly

Stannis

Joffrey

Tommen

(F)Aegon (some at least, probably most by the end of Winds)

In terms of their fealty swaps that are essentially just treason, i.e. going from one king to another who was not the previous kings heir you've got

Robert -> Renly

Stannis -> Joffrey

Tommen -> (F)Aegon

Only two books left to go, but I have faith in my boys hitting 8 kings in ~3-4 years minimum, they definitely have it in them.

Most people I've heard (especially after my article yesterday, regarding the best House to be a part of) claim that the Iron Islands is unequivocally the worst kingdom in Westeros to be a part of. With it's harsh conditions, lack of fertility, and seemingly unending desire to be a nuisance to any and all neighboring kingdoms, it's not hard to see why.

However, that begs the question, which is regarded as the second worst? Is it Dorne, with it's brutal deserts, mixed in dangerous wildlife, so brutal that not even Aegon the Conqueror himself could take it? Is it the Riverlands, who are constantly caught in the middle of everybody's wars? Is it the North with their constant snows and their proximity to the Lands of Always Winter? Or maybe the Vale, with it's dangerous mountain clans and the mountains that they inhabit?

Could Rhaegar be a POV character in the TWOW prologue chapter? I know it is common to assume he is dead. But the last time we've heard of him he was heading towards Barrowton. Personally, I would like him to get a chapter as he fits the pattern of minor morally bad characters for prologue POVs.

I remember in one of his pre-AFFC fan letters, someone was saying that George shouldn't have killed Oberyn because he was such a cool character or something like that and George replied, "If you think Oberyn was cool, wait till you meet his daughters!"

But then we met his daughters and they're possibly the corniest characters in the series, about on par with Darkstar.

And speaking of Dorkstar, GRRM clearly meant for him to be a ~cool badass with his badass lines about being of the night and shit. But he became a meme instead.

And then there's Doran. The reveal of his "master plan" at the end of AFFC is supposed to make us feel like he's a legit player on the level of Varys, Littlefinger, etc, but then we find out that the extend of his plan, such as it was, was sending the most mid dude ever on a near-impossible mission to woo a dragon conqueror, with no armies, no fleet, no money, no contacts, nothing. And I don't think that subversion was intentional. The way the reveal is written in AFFC indicates that we're really meant to think of Doran as this great, sneaky player, even though he's essentially just a dollar store Manderly.

In general, I think Dorne was a bunch of tell and not show. We're told the Sand Snakes and Darkstar are cool and badass, we're told Doran is a master player, we're told Dorne is going to matter eventually only to end up getting blue-balled at every turn when every subplot ends up in a "oh so subversive" dead end, whether it is the scheme to crown Myrcella or Quentyn's mission. It's all a lot of telling about how Dorne is cool and interesting and relevant but not a whole lot of showing. In fact, what GRRM does show, like Hotah's POV, make it look anything but.

I’ll just like to say beforehand, that this is not a post about Robb Stark being the bastard son of Brandon Stark.

“For just an instant Robb sounded more like Brandon than his father.”

This is pretty straightforward. The narrator is establishing a definitive difference between Brandon Stark and Robb’s father Ned. The narrator relates this information from the perspective of Catelyn since it is her POV chapter and relays her thoughts, experiences, and emotions to convey all information in the chapter. And if Brandon and his father are not the same person, Brandon cannot be his father.

"I gave my maidenhood to this solemn stranger and sent him off to his war and his king and the woman who bore him his bastard, because I always did my duty."

I will admit that the difference between maidenhood and maidenhead in terms of the use of it is a little strange. Maidenhead is synonymous of losing one’s virginity, while maiden hood is more or less just being an unwed woman. She could be referring to both, or just the notion of marriage, but that's BS. But they can be used interchangeably, meaning both.

“It hurts so much, she thought. Our children, Ned, all our sweet babes. Rickon, Bran, Arya, Sansa, Robb… Robb…”

Again, Catelyn says “Our children, Ned” and includes Robb in that thought process. It is straightforward and doesn’t require you to look in to a possible double meaning that is meant to dupe the reader. Robb was being murdered in front of her and her reaction is to think of the children her and Ned had together. If Robb was Brandon’s that should have been reflected in her thought process. But it wasn’t.

Catelyn watched a breeze stir his auburn hair, so like her own, and wondered when her son had grown so big. Fifteen, and near as tall as she was. Let him grow taller, she asked the gods. Let him know sixteen, and twenty, and fifty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms. Please, please, please.

Yes, another point of contention. Ned is cited as not as tall as his brother was, and Cat mentions the age of twenty, the age that Brandon had died. But, aside that Ned's likely above average height (roughly 5'10), it can simply be seen as a worried mother wanting her son to stay alive.

He looks like a Tully, she thought, yet he's still his father's son, and Ned taught him well.

It's been mentioned how Robb is very much Ned's son. He's honorable as him, in spite not having the Stark look of dark brown hair, grey eyes and a long face.

But, this is about the similarities between Robb, his father and his uncle. Unlike his father and like his uncle, he was the heir of a prominent house and was supposedly being groomed to eventually take over, as Brandon was supposed to. Robb is quite charismatic in the atypical way that his uncle and Robert Baratheon seemed to be; Robb is an empathetic friend to his many men. Even in the beginning, when Robb is overseeing the execution of Gared, we can get a little insight of his character when he makes his observations of him. It demonstrates, that like his uncle, that he's charismatic and easy to love if prone to making some poor judgements. The main example at that point in saying that Gared, a veteran of numerous ranging's, was rather brave in facing his execution but doesn't question why he had deserted in the first place.

As Robb grows into his crown, he plays with staginess and deception. He uses Grey Wind to scare Ser Cleos before sending him to King's Landing and tells Catelyn he'd send the Greatjon to Renly to get her to leave so his army can depart for the Westerlands without knowing her opinion. While this comes across as "theatrical deception", a.k.a misdirection, this is something that seems to be wholly his own in an effort to deal with war to make himself seem more intimidating and less of a "green boy".

Although, this could be seen with Ned, in the way he has lied about Jon Snow's heritage, in using his honor as a show of it and the way he coolly replies to Robert about Jon's mother; "Wylla". In terms of his leadership, Robb is too willing to represent the will of the group rather than asserting superior judgment over his men. Robb would not have accepted being crowned had he been alone and had time to think it through better. This seems to make him quite like his father, as he was trained to be a lord paramount, not the king that he had become.

In terms of narrative parallels, we definitely see some thematic similarities between him and Brandon the Wild Wolf. Naturally, they're both young, fairly hot-headed and brash. But Robb also has a deeply empathetic side, especially where he is connected to his family and mother. He seems very outgoing and driven to succeed, particularly due to his sense of duty and love. While we don't know much about Brandon's relationships with his brothers, he's heavily connected to his sister Lyanna. Robb is most connected to Jon, to whom are constant comparisons between their physical appearance and personality. Unlike his uncle, who can be easily described as moody with his rages brought on by his "wolf's blood", Robb had learned to cool his head and temper. His experiences in war actually make him quite like Ned in some ways, as Catelyn notes how lean and hard he's become, his eyes looking colder and his face left with little softness of youth.

Brandon had been described by GRRM as the "fighter" of the Stark Family. Ned himself is surmised as an above-average fighter. And he'd have to be as he's a veteran. Robb is described as a skilled swordsman in his training days. Jon comments that Robb is better at using a lance than him. But his biggest strength was his tactical mind and leadership skills at war. He was much like Ned in that aspect, but he was likely growing in his skill like Jon was in his time in the Watch.

Thus, my analysis concludes. So, what was Robb to you? His father's son through and through? His uncle Brandon come again? The perfect blend of the two? His own man? Comment your opinion respectfully.

I don't think it is the show solution because thus far, the Others have no Leader or King, so there's probably not a mega Other who is the self destruct button

But how do you think in the books, the Others will be dealt with?