The name comes from an account of we he dismembered a male whoever while studying at Oldtown.

1. Personally, I think, based on what we know about the Umbers it's a weird move

2. He should be literate

3. He stills signs letters with a crude giant rather than his name like a literate person

Why?

Perhaps literacy is seen as weak (ala Iron Isles)?

Perhaps this is not the most well known story and it benefits him to feign illiteracy?

Perhaps it's on behalf of Umber men who wouldn't recognize a signature but can clearly see the giant?

Any ideas?

I feel a bit stupid but this just dawned on me today. I feel like with Muppet Tullies it should be obvious.

Mushroom, Rhaenyra's fool, is an allusion to Princess Peach and Toad, isn't he?

I mean, it can only be more obvious if he sprang out from behind Syrax and told Daemon his princess was in another castle.

House Lannister- good looking, blond hair, green eyes. recessive

House Tully- auburn hair, and blue eyes. More dominant genes as we see with most of the stark kids

House Stark- long faces, black/brown hair and grey eyes. recessive

House Baratheon- tall, hairy, black hair, blue eyes, muscular. Tends to be dominant genes.

House Florent- big fucken ears. Very very dominant

house targaryen- silver hair and lilac eyes. highly recessive

House umber- tall, and strong, dominant genes

House bolton- pale eyes, dark hair

house frey- look like weasels, fertile, pretty dominant genes, as we see with Gemma's kids.

house tyrell- good looks, brown hair, brown eyes

House nymerios martell- "salty dornish features" olive skin and black hair

house clegane- big and strong

house dayne- black hair and violet eyes

house mormont- fit, strong even in old age, and tall

house reed- slender, brown hair and green eyes,

house manderly- Fat

None of the others seem to have distinct traits

UPDATED

House Blackwood- tall and slender

House Bracken- plump

Greyjoy -
-Tall (both Quellon and Victarion are Robert sized, Aeron is tall, Asha seemingly also is(for a woman) Balon is just slightly smaller and Theon and Euron we don't know.)
-good looking (likely due to forcefully assimiliating some of the most attractive saltwifes over millenia, ngl)
-Dark haired
-Dark eyed
-prominent noses

So, after the purple wedding Jaime returns to KL and talks to Tywin showing him his stump and Tywin is enraged.

"Lord Tywin pushed himself out of his chair, breath hissing between his teeth. “Who did this? If Lady Catelyn thinks—"

He was no doubt about to deliever some threat or something but at this point; Catelyn is dead, Robb is dead, Edmure captured, Blackfish beseieged, and Sansa fled. Poor Tywin was ruled by force of habit it seems

I haven’t read the WOIAF. And I’m wondering if there are any creation myths?

I saw a fanart of Aegon II, Helaena, Aemond and Daeron and had the thought of "where do they rank in my favorite group of siblings in westeros?"

The most obvious answer are Ned and Catelyn's children + Jon. But thinking about it, other contenders appeared: Egg/Aemon/Daeron the drunken, Jaehaerys and Alysanne's children, Robert/Stannis/Renly, Mace Tyrell's children.

Who is it for you?

In ASOIAF the Three-Eyed Crow is one of the most mysterious characters that is important to the story. We don’t know who this character is, or what its motivations are. What we do know is that this bird isn’t Bloodraven. In his dreams Bran sees a weirwood tree calling out to him, when Melisandre receives a vision of Bran and Bloodraven Brynden Rivers takes a similar form, that being a tree. The dreams with the Three-Eyed Crow however are described as nightmares, with him even appearing in weirwood dreams separate from the weirwood. When Bran finally meets Bloodraven he also seems confused when referred to as the Three-Eyed Crow, despite the Three-Eyed Crow’s continuous encouragement for Bran to fly. Ravens are different from Crows, and as Old Nan says, “All crows are liars.” We now need to answer who the Three-Eyed Crow is if it’s not Bloodraven.

At one point I thought that it could be Euron, however I now don’t think it’s that simple. I also don’t believe that the time travelling Bran theories are accurate. When we see Bran attempting to contact Theon in TWOW sample chapter he attempts to use ravens to contact him, much like we’ve seen Bloodraven do when rescuing Sam and Gilly from the Wights.

I think the most likely explanation is that the Three-Eyed Crow is a messenger, herald and agent of the Old Gods. Much in the same role that the Mouth of Sauron plays in Lord of the Rings, and Nyarlethotep plays for the Outer Gods in H.P Lovecraft’s writing.

The Old Gods are in reality the collective consciousness of every greenseer soul that has been absorbed into the weirwood.net. This entity is close to omniscient and omnipresent, meaning all-seeing and present everywhere at once. The only limitation they have is time, they can’t see the future and they can’t see areas where weirwoods have never been planted. However this entity is made from the collective soul of every greenseer, and no longer possesses a single individual consciousness. Its thinking is unknowable, and so vast that it’s beyond human comprehension. It’s for all purposes an insane, idiot god incapable of making plans at all. It sees all of human history simultaneously across time, and experiences everything happening everywhere at once. The only thing that entity desires is to survive, it has a sense of self-preservation. If it didn’t then the Children of the Forest wouldn’t have fought to defend the weirwoods when the First Men attempted to destroy them.

With the Old God’s collective consciousness being so vast it can’t actually interact with the material world. If they attempted to send dreams to a single individual it would shatter that persons mind, it would be like 10,000,000 Three-Eyed Crows attempting to contact Bran simultaneously. In order to influence the material world the Old Gods carve out a section of their vast consciousness to serve an agent, and distinct personality capable of making plans. That entity is the Three-Eyed Crow.

Both Lovecraft and Tolkien have characters along these lines. Nyarlethotep and the Mouth of Sauron. When human characters are facing off against incredibly powerful magical entities, whose mere presence can’t be comprehended different characters are used as human level messengers. Nyarlethotep is able to hatch plots on behalf of the Outer Gods on Earth to plot their return, with him delighting in causing madness and suffering. Human emotions that are too insignificant to be contemplated by the Outer Gods or Great Old Ones. The Mouth of Sauron fufills a similar purpose, with him being capable of deceiving and communicating with people on behalf of Sauron when Sauron has yet to achieve a physical form that can communicate with the material world.

I think this explanation helps us understand what the Three-Eyed Crow is, and his significance for the greater story of ASOIAF.

Ok, so by Medieval science standards it makes sense that Ned Stark puts it together that Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen aren't Robert's children because the book of lineages states that Baratheons are always black of hair and he knows of Robert's black-haired bastards.

But how does he put it together that it was the queen's own brother of all people who was the father? King's Landing surely abounds with handsome blonde lords, lordlings, knights, squires and even common folk. Ned would have been no stranger to the concept of incest because he overthrew Aerys who was married to his own sister but for Lannisters to practice incest would have been pretty unbeliavable. I guess you can claim that there had been rumors about the incest which Tyrion and Littlefinger knew about but Ned didn't seem to know about these rumors or we would have read about it in his thoughts.

''Oh, but Ned also suspected that the Lannisters have killed Jon Arryn and Bran''. Ok, sure but Jon Arryn dying for knowing the truth doesn't mean Jaime is the father. It also doesn't have anything to do with Bran. Maybe Ned put it together that Bran caught the queen cheating with another man but that man might have been anyone, not necessarily Jaime.

so, there is this exchange in DWD, "That seemed to amuse the lord of cheese no end. He slapped a meaty thigh and said, "You Westerosi are all the same. You sew some beast upon a scrap of silk, and suddenly you are all lions or dragons or eagles. I can take you to a real lion, my little friend. The prince keeps a pride in his menagerie. Would you like to share a cage with them?""

Could this be because during the age of heroes they actually "were" lions/eagles whatever? they had the ability to warg but lost it with the dying of magic/coming of the 7?

The lannisters can warg lions or the blackwoods can warg ravens or the brackens can warg horses

The umbers have giant blood

or manderls have merman blood?

People keep saying that Rhaegar asked Jaime to protect Elia and her children before leaving for the trident hence implying that he cared for them and didn't annul his marriage to Elia

However, if you read the entire dream sequence, it's clear that Jaime isn't recalling real conversations since the kingsguard berate him for not keeping Elia, Aegon and Rhaenys safe, and about killing Aerys, those conversations never actually happened

[You swore to keep him safe," said Whent. "And the children, them as well," said Prince Lewyn. Prince Rhaegar burned with a cold light, now white, now red, now dark. "I left my wife and children in your hands."]

Hi all! I’ve been thinking on this topic recently (I just finished my second read of the novels) and was wondering what everyone else’s opinions were on it.

Do you think Sansa will eventually become a warg? She’s the only POV Stark child without any hint of warging abilities, not even dreams. But there’s so much bird symbolism and imagery associated with her, I’ve always loved the idea of her eventually bonding with a bird. In the Prologue of A Dance of Dragons, Varamyr remembers something his warg mentor told him about those who bond with birds: “I’ve known skinchangers who’ve tried hawks, owls, ravens. Even in their own skins, they sit moony, staring up at the bloody blue.” I feel like there’s a lot of Sansa in that, having her “head in the clouds” and being naive, especially at the beginning of the novels. Also the color blue and the moon are both big symbols of the Vale of Arryn. Is there any other evidence to support this?

Hello this is my first post Here.

I decided to reread the Epilogue of Dance today and something about the events leading Kevan's death struck me as particularly odd.

He might have said more, but the dark-haired novice with the round cheeks returned to say, oy below. Grand Maester Pycelle begs the favor of the Lord regent's presences at once

The messenger was a boy of eight or nine, so bundled up in fur he seemed a bear cub. Trant had kept him waiting out on the drawbridge rather than admit him into Maegor’s. “Go find a fire, lad,” Ser Kevan told him, pressing a penny into his hand. “I know the way to the rookery well enough.”

Supposedly, this boy was sent by Varys to lead Kevan to the rookery. This boy is evidently one of Varys' little birds. Which means he cannot talk, since Varys mutilates the tongues of his little birds. Which begs the question: if he couldn't talk how was he able to tell Trant or the Novice Septa that Kevan is to go to Pycelle urgently?

I think it's possible that

1. Varys disguised himself as Boros Blount or Trant and he delivered the summons to the Novice septa himself (which would mean he was hiding under Cersei's nose in plain sight). 2) The Novice is in on it which could mean that Varys and the faith might be working together.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

"Some whorehouse? Damn your eyes, Robert, I went there to have a look at your daughter! Her mother has named her Barra. She looks like that first girl you fathered, when we were boys together in the Vale." He watched the queen as he spoke; her face was a mask, still and pale, betraying nothing.

This is how Cersei learned of Barra, and in COK she sends guards to have Barra and her mother murdered. Ned unknowingly just signed Barra's death warrant and gave her location away too

The second is after Ned informs Sansa and Arya he is shipping them to winterfell, sansa storms off, and Septa Mordane rises to follow her but ned stops her. Sansa had gone to Cersei to inform her, had septa mordane followed her, sansa would never have got to cersei

I always used to think that Rhaegar deserved to die because he fought for his father and Aerys is maybe the worst person ever.

But I thought about it. Joffrey isn't Aerys, but he's also an asshole and I never blamed Tyrion and Jaime for fighting on his behalf technically. They didn't have much of a choice, especially Tyrion.

I still don't like Rhaegar, but Robert wasn't gonna stop until he'd killed him, so Rhaegar really doesn't have much recourse

If Stannis is victorious, what is the plan for his succession?

In a Winds sample chapter >!he orders one of his knights to travel to Essos and hire sellswords, and to support Shireen if Stannis dies.!< But is that a genuine succession plan, or is it more of a final backup if his campaign fails?

Stannis must know about Rhaenyra and the Dance. If a dragon-riding adult woman from a well established dynasty can't become Queen, how is he expecting a literal child with grayscale to inherit after a civil war?

Is he planning to have a son with Selyse? If so, he doesn't seem to be making much of an effort for that to happen. Selyse is in a different castle for most of the story. And even if he has a son after claiming the Throne, that leaves the problem of an heir who would be even younger than Shireen.

Or is the idea to marry Shireen to someone who can strengthen her claim? In that case, who? I had a theory that he planned to marry her to Sweetrobin, but that deal would have died with Jon Arryn. Tommen could strengthen the claim, like Aegon and Jaehaera after the Dance, but I doubt Stannis would let his heir marry an "abomination", especially when Tommen has already married Margery.

So, what is Stannis's plan for his succession?

The timeline of the Long Night and the Andals is confusing, we know that history was written by the perspective of the Andals after they came to Westeros, so it makes them the suspicious ones, because they had the power to manipulate history in their favor. With that said the World of Ice and Fire did give us many instances of how things might've been different. This is a mix of comparisons, how i interpret it and ofc theories on why it was written that way. I'm sorry for the length, but the book had many things i wanted to include.

Sum up of the topics:

1. The Pentoshi Legend  
2. Church of Starry Wisdom   
3. Lorath  
4. the Long Night/Children of the Forrest and were there any connections to the Andals during this time?   
5. Andals described their history differently than what the Maesters know by now, trying to make it more about destiny/faith rather than what actually the motives might've been.   
6. It's not really clear how the Andals held up against the Valyrians, while the Rhoynars history was clearer.  
7. The sevenpointed Star wasn't the only symbol used by the Andals back than and what could that mean? 

1. Anytime someone mentions that the Faith of the Seven is the only Religion where there are no human sacrifices, i always think about this ancient Legend (I'm not saying it's true, but wanted to mention it):

An old legend told in Pentos claims that the Andals slew the swan maidens who lured travelers to their deaths in the Velvet Hills that lie to the east of the Free City. A hero whom the Pentoshi singers call Hukko led the Andals at that time, and it is said that he slew the seven maids not for their crimes but instead as sacrifice to his gods. There are some maesters who have noted that Hukko may well be a rendering of the name of Hugor.

2.There is also the Church of Starry Wisdom, which i find is comparable to the Faith of the Seven, like an evil version of it:

Many scholars count the Bloodstone Emperor as the first High Priest of the sinister Church of Starry Wisdom, which persists to this day in many port cities throughout the known world.

-High Priest= High Septon,    -Church of Starry Wisdom= Faith of the Seven at the Starry Sept (before Baelor),    -persists in many port cities= Oldtown, a port city

And if it is connected to the Bloodstone Emperor, the one in the Legend who practiced dark arts, necromancy, cannibalism, etc, then yes it's dark dark.

3. The story of Lorath:

For a time the isles were home to a small, dark, hairy people, akin to the men of Ib. Fisherfolk, they lived along the coasts and shunned the great mazes of their predecessors. They in turn were displaced by Andals, pushing north from Andalos to the shores of Lorath Bay and across the bay in longships. Clad in mail and wielding iron swords and axes, the Andals swept across the islands, slaughtering the hairy men in the name of their seven-faced god and taking their women and children as slaves.

Many Andal Kings ruled their against each other for thousand of years until Qarlon the Great came and wanted to beKing of all Andals. He made the mistake to attack Norvos and Valyria bathed them in flames for it, leaving noone behind.

Up until now is everything Andal in Essos, now it's a mix of their history on when they crossed or how the story might've changed there.

4. I find it interesting that the Andals might've already been in Westeros when the Long Night happened. In the written history it was only when Valyria rose into power after the Long Night, that the Andals sailed to Westeros. But i have seen many theories, also parts confirmed by Martin, that the Long Night wasn't that long ago as it was believed to be and that the Andals (at least part of them) already might've been there for it as well. But why was it never documented or was it erased?

How the Maester put together this story:

But the First Men proved too powerful, and the children are said to have been driven to a desperate act. Legend says that the great floods that broke the land bridge that is now the Broken Arm and made the Neck a swamp were the work of the greenseers, who gathered at Moat Cailin to work dark magic. Some contest this, however: the First Men were already in Westeros when this occurred, and stemming the tide from the east would do little more than slow their progress.

So the Maester says that the drastic act was to break the connection between Westeros and Essos and the question is why would they need to do that when the First Men were already there? Like completely ignoring the story later on when the Andals came and were exactly that, the greater threat for the Children of the Forrest and the First Men. Only that this time the Andals couldn't be stopped by a flooding or as said above were already there to spread around and it was too late.

Part of a theory was also what Old Nan said about the Others:

Old Nan nodded. "In that darkness, the Others came for the first time," she said as her needles went click click click. "They were cold things, dead things, that hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every creature with hot blood in its veins.

and what did the Andals bring with them:

Sweeping through the Vale with fire and sword, the Andals began their conquest of Westeros. Their iron weapons and armor surpassed the bronze with which the First Men still fought, and many First Men perished in this war.

5. In their own holy text from back than, The Andals also erased the story that they learned to forge Iron from the Rhoynar, they made it a theme of how the Andals were the chosen ones to be taught this by the Seven themself:

The fact that the Andals forged iron has been taken by some as proof that the Seven guided them—that the Smith himself taught them this art—and so do the holy texts teach. But the Rhoynar were already an advanced civilization at this time, and they too knew of iron, so it takes only the study of a map to realize that the earliest Andals must have had contact with the Rhoynar.

Also writing about how they were destined to conquer land and that's why they did it, instead of why they actually did it:

In the oldest of the holy books, The Seven-Pointed Star, it is said that the Seven themselves walked among their people in the hills of Andalos, and it was they who crowned Hugor of the Hill and promised him and his descendants great kingdoms in a foreign land. This is what the septons and septas teach as the reason why the Andals left Essos and struck west to Westeros, but the history that the Citadel has uncovered over the centuries may provide a better reason.

The reason being stated to be Valyria and to save themself from them, but that wouldn't be so great to write down right? Like the Rhoynar made it even possible that they survived so long and the Rhoynar stayed longer than they ever did, so that wouldn't be the best version to tell.

6. Maybe i misinterpreted what was said, but the Maester only theorizes how the Andals fought against the Valyrians or when they might've fled. The only information we get later on is the story of Qarlon the Great, but there was said to have been no survivors.

But the truce between the Rhoynar and Valyria and how they faught against them is documented. So pretty interesting how everything Andal wasn't clearly documented or known, but how the Rhoynar fought back was known. Makes it unclear how long the Andals were at what place yet again.

7. Also the symbol of the sevenpointed Star wasn't the only one connected to the Andals. If there were like two groups of Andals and the first one used another symbol than the other, it might explain why the Axe was seen carved with the sevenpointed Star but than later left out completely.

Archmaester Perestan notes the importance the Norvoshi give to the axe as a symbol of power and might and proposes that this is proof that the Andals were the first to settle Norvos, [...] As he argues, next to the carvings of sevenpointed stars, carvings of a doublebladed axe appeared to have been the next most favored symbol of the holy warriors who conquered the old Seven Kingdoms.

Etched in Stone by Archmaester Harmune contains a catalog of such carvings found throughout the Vale. Stars and axes are found from the Fingers into the Mountains of the Moon, and even as far into the Vale of Arryn as the base of the Giant's Lance. Harmune supposes that, with time, the Andals became more devoted to the symbol of the seven-pointed star and so the axe fell by the wayside as an emblem of the Faith.

Why did the sevenpointed Star remain as the only symbol for the Andals back than? Maybe the axe was the lost side of the Andals that they wanted to get rid of in history, in Essos they lost against Valyria, in Westeros they might've lost against CotF, First Men and possibly the Others? Could that be connected? Were only the Andals with the sevenpointed Star successful in conquering Westeros and that's why everything before isn't that well documented in the perspective of the Andals?

Ever since the Targaryens conquered Westeros and united it, the Seven Kingdoms have been very shaky. There have been constant civil wars, plagues, famines, religious schisms and so on. So why have the Free Cities never tried to capture it?

The most common answer to this is that Westeros is just much poorer compared to Essos. But even then Westeros with population of around 40 million is an ample source of slave labour or even it's wealth of natural resources would be ripe land for conquest. Even one region or outpost in Westeros could be highly valuable.

The highest form of military actions that the Free Cities did against Westeros have been limited to the Stepstones, and aside from The Ninepenny Kings which have been put down pretty quickly they never amounted to much of anything, especially compared to the resources available to the Free Cities. If the Guild of Spicers and the Tourmaline Brotherhood with their 2000 ships could effectively run a naval blockade on the whole of Westeros, why is there even a contest to begin with? It seems to me that if the Free Cities wanted to, they could easily stomp Westeros, especially with their fractured political nature.

Sons are his, right? Like, GRRM has written an entire setting obsessed with blood right and bastards and patriarchy, and Aenys and Maegor are clearly not legitimate, right?

Because I swear there was commentary in Fire and Blood about how long it took for Aegon I to produce an heir at all and then how long it took Visenya to get with Maegor and how much Rhaeyns spent time with singers and poets and such. So all the Targaryens, and the supposed magic Targaryen blood, is very much a lie / carried down the female line and Westerosi culture being as patriarchal as it is is the downfall of the Targs and dragon riding, right?

It just makes so much sense thematically, with Good Queen Alysanne actually being the reason that whole reign functioned, and then the Dance happening because they didn’t want a Queen, and in the main series Dany being the “prince” that was promised. It just all points to GRRM hammering home at every point that the men really aren’t something special. Like, if you’re going to subvert genre expectations that’s the biggest thing to subvert - that the entire house of Dragonriders who base their entire right to rule on this one guy who conquered everything 300 years ago isn’t actually the patriarch of the dynasty and everyone after him is a bastard.

The Reach is probably the best kingdom. It has the best geography, the largest population of all the kingdoms, and can field the greatest number of soldiers. Some of the most powerful lords, such as the Hightowers and the Redwynes, are based in the Reach. The Hightowers control the wealthiest and second-largest city in the realm, while the Redwynes possess the largest fleet in the realm, consisting of 200 warships and a thousand merchant vessels.

"For Jaehaerys and Alysanne, however, the death of their beloved daughter must have seemed especially cruel, for it struck at the very heart of the Doctrine of Exceptionalism. Princess Daenerys had been Targaryen on both sides, with the blood of Old Valyria running pure through her veins, and those of Valyrian descent were not like other men. Targaryens had purple eyes and hair of gold and silver, they ruled the sky on dragons, the doctrines of the Faith and the prohibitions against incest did not apply to them…and they did not get sick."

At this point Aegon died of a stroke, Aenys died of an illness that aged him decades, Visenya died of old age, Maegor had several stillborns.. and again Aenys was sick. (unless jaeherys believed visenya poisoned him)

But seriously why would jaeherys believe targaryens do not get sick

So a few days ago I made this post;

"He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi," the Lysene girl said. "Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return."The two Dothraki girls giggled and laughed. "You are foolish strawhead slave," Irri said. "Moon is no egg. Moon is god, woman wife of sun. It is known."

Dragons return at Drogo's funeral pyre. Drogo calls Dany "his moon" and she calls him "her sun and stars." so at the funeral puyre the moon drunk the fire of the sun and the dragons returned.

But, I think I just found textual proof GRRM did it on purpose. Immediately after Doreah talks about the moon being an egg. Irri says this, "The two Dothraki girls giggled and laughed. "You are foolish strawhead slave," Irri said. "Moon is no egg. Moon is god, woman wife of sun. It is known."

And later in the book, Drogo and Dany have this interaction. "Khal Drogo did not want to hear it. "We will speak no more of wooden horses and iron chairs." He dropped the cloth and began to dress. "This day I will go to the grass and hunt, woman wife," he announced as he shrugged into a painted vest and buckled on a wide belt with heavy medallions of silver, gold, and bronze."Yes, my sun-and-stars," Dany said."

"woman-wife" is only used twice. The first being with reference to the moon, and the second in reference to Dany. Dany also immediately follows up by calling Drogo her, "sun and stars."

Maybe Valyrian magic is symbolic, with human figures being sacrificed as metaphors for heavenly bodies.

Let’s say that Old Nan continues on, immortal and unaging, and lives to the year 400. She’s now helping raise a small child (could be a Stark, could be a Bolton, could be a wildling child) and she’s telling tales about what happened in the years 280-301. We don’t know what human society looks like at this point, maybe it’s simply a child in a dark cave during the 101st year of the Second Long Night.

#Write an ASOIAF plot from the tale-telling perspective and style of Old Nan, and see if the rest of us can guess!

Warm it was, in the days where the sun shone bright in the sky and food and joy were plentiful. But Winter was coming, and it stalked in the cold shadows beyond the Wall and commanded death for man and beast alike. All those with warm blood in their veins were at its mercy. Death came first for the children; the hellhounds’ bite was fierce. Abandoned and powerless, the direwolves descended into kinslaying. It is always the pups who fall first to the Winter, and with that first cold sharp bite of ice the fall of their House began.

Happy Thanksgiving!

While I do believe that Aegon is a blackfyre, I do not believe he's Illyrio's son like most supporters of the blackfyre theory

Why would Illyrio let his only child with his beloved wife go on a mission where he might die (plausible enough since Aegon intends to lead his men in battle)? Also, why would he give up his only child to be raised by Jon Con when the kid's just five? Why would he let Aegon grow up thinking he's an orphan his when father's right there? He doesn't seem to think very highly of iron throne or westeros anyway...

Only reason I can think of is Serra asking him to do so on her deathbed but she spent most of her life in a lysene pillow house, abandoned by the golden company, I don't see her wanting her son to reclaim the throne for her family

I am completely behind the blackfyre theory except for this part

This is speculation inspired by introductions in AGOT, where Sansa’s chapter on the journey south introduces a couple of characters with references to the seven. However it talks about other books without direct references.

Sansa’s chapter in AGOT:

Ilyn Payne: At first, Sansa did not notice the third stranger. He did not kneel with the others….Sansa could not take her eyes off the third man. He seemed to feel the weight of her gaze. Slowly, he turned his head. Lady growled. A terror as overwhelming as anything Sansa Stark had ever felt filled her suddenly.

Then immediately into

Sandor Clegane: She stepped backwards and bumped into someone. Strong hands gripped her by the shoulders, and for a moment Sansa thought it was her father, but when she turned it was the burned face of Sandor Clegane…”Do I frighten you so much?” He did…though it seemed to her now that he was not half so terrifying as the other

Ilyn’s referenced as both stranger and other in his introduction; Sandor rides a horse named stranger but is associated with ‘father’ (and, much later, Sansa remembers him as being champion of her father’s tourney)

What I find interesting is Ilyn is referred to as being one of three strangers. Of course, Sansa is literally speaking about him in relation to two other knights but is this also foreshadowing 3 faces of death? If so, who could the three metaphorical strangers be? Ilyn himself is similar to Sandor, both are described as having gaunt faces and wisps of hair, and both inspire horror while generally never being the instigators of violence - they perform it in service of those seen as purer, better, more beautiful etc.

So that’s something linking:

• Ilyn: stranger/other

• Sandor: stranger/father

Sansa herself seems like she could easily be the maiden, however I’d say that there’s a case for her to be the mother too: when Sandor comes to her room it’s the Mother’s Hymn that she remembers and which calms him. Before then, however, and before even any specific trauma bar the loss of Lady, she develops a fascination with death - as unmoved as both Sandor and Ilyn. From the hand’s tourney: Sansa sat with her hands folded in her lap, watching with a strange fascination. She had never seen a man die before. She ought to be crying too, she thought, but the tears would not come

Side note: one thing I noticed on re-read is how Sansa is repeatedly told that she is not behaving like a Lady, and this starts well before she loses her direwolf as Septa Mordane rebukes her for feeding ‘dogs’ at her table (with explicit reference to rough licks & honey - which would be a whole other post about maidens & bears)

Side note to the side note, because I love Sansa: I don’t think Sansa having a placid, biddable, tame, pet direwolf is a reflection of her being particularly tame or biddable herself. I think she’s young, I think she’s scared, I also think she grew up in the unsentimental North and so her obsession with courtly tales of the romantic south indicates more defiance than compliance. And I think Lady’s nature indicates that, out of all the Stark/Snow children, Sansa’s the only one with the ability to calm a wild beast. She brings peace.

So now:

• Ilyn: stranger + other

• Sandor: father + stranger

• Sansa: maiden/mother + fascinated with the stranger?

I haven’t got that far on my re-read yet, so a bit more shaky on direct text references but there’s potentially 3 people who will maybe ‘become’ death:

• Arya: maiden (+ stranger via FM training)

• Catelyn: mother (+ stranger assuming Stoneheart)

• Jon: warrior (+ stranger assuming a possible resurrection but it would depend - Jon never shows the indifference to death or dissociation others display. Even if he were brought back as per Stoneheart I’m not sure he’s a bringer of death himself)

Then there’s:

• Brienne/Jaime: warriors but not certain that there’s stranger references

• Cersei: mother but, actually like Catelyn, she is a mother without necessarily embodying the qualities of The Mother. I still think Sansa’s a better fit.

• Dany: mother (of dragons) technically a crone (she should be with the crones of the dosh khaleen & she is barren)

• Gendry: smith

I’m not saying this is necessarily where GRRM is going with it, but I guess I’m interested in which characters best fit the archetypes of the seven and what that may mean for future dynamics

I know it sounds like a simple question but I've been a book reader for about a decade now and a theory hound for about 8 of those years. All I use YouTube for are ASOIAF theory/discussion channels and for a few years I was always pretty active on the subs.

I was just listening to a Michael Talks About Stuff Wall theory video (which I love) and I was kinda wondering if there have ever been any theories presented on how exactly WW came across the ability to reanimate hundreds of thousands of corpses? I realized I never really thought about it, just kind of assumed "Yea they just have that power."

But the deeper I dig into ASOIAF I realize that you shouldn't really assume anything, and that there are layers and layers seemingly behind everything, and the magic in this world seems to serve a very specific purpose.

The closest discussion I can really think of is when people talk about "R'hllor" reanimating the dead (stoneheart, beric) they just assume "The Great Other" can do so as well. Rhllor creates shadows with fire magic, and WW may be the Ice version of that. Which on the surface sounds good enough, and for me that's been good enough for years.

But today I just thought "Hold up, that doesn't seem very GRRM."

I mean if you assume there is ice fire and magic fire and they mirror eachother, why is Rhllor able to bring back beric and he's still beric (albeit a bit less each time) and Catelyn as Stoneheart - two characters - and WW can reanimate hundreds of thousands of hive mind zombies, seemingly with no memories of their past selves? Why the difference?

I know there are countless WW theories and theories about ice magic and fire magic but I just kinda wanted to ask the question "Where do white walkers get the power to reanimate an army of wights?" and see if there are any interesting theories out there.

I know it might just be like, the way it is. "White Walkers can just do that." is a fine answer at this point in the series, I'm just wondering what everyone thinks or what the consensus is, or if anyone can point me in the direction of a theory on the matter.

Title. I really love the idea of Euron/Victarion claiming a dragon, but considering there’s only 2 books left and a billion other conflicts to settle before the end, that story beat will just blow up the scope even more and make the series impossible to finish at that point. Would love to be wrong but it’s 1000% more feasible that fAegon or Jon will claim a flying flame lizard than the Greyjoy boys

“Lord Mace Tyrell and his entourage had been housed behind the royal sept, in the long slate- roofed keep that had been called the Maidenvault since King Baelor the Blessed had confined his sisters therein, so the sight of them might not tempt him into carnal thoughts.”

Dude what the actual fuck….. no way it’s real right? Baelor the guy im thinking is supposed to be the holiest Targaryen is doing shit Maegor couldn’t even.

This always really really frustrated the heck out of me every reread of storm, and I literally have noone IRL to vent to about it so I just let it go. Am I the only one that thought the wise Masters were really stupid for trading an army for a dragon, trading anything for a dragon let alone unsullied I mean I'd take the eggs instead all day though... But my point is what's to stop Drogon from immediately flying away haha not even back to his mother flying away anywhere cuz hello dragons have wings and Danny said it best dragons are not slaves. Long story short I think it's crazy how the wise Masters or even white beard,or ser

So, who are your guesses for the Council Members right after the Rebellion? We know Littlefinger came as a new Master of Coin, and Renly was still young to take his post as Master of Laws, so who do you think occupied those posts?

Are there any official art with Elia Martell in them?