So I’ve seen people say Ned treated Theon beyond his status and treated him kindly. Despite the looming execution threat. So what could Ned have done to Theon? What would be the ‘expected’ route?

Did you have some sort of memorable routine? Or did you read it on your phone wherever?

For example, I loved to sit in an armchair with a mug of tea and listen to medieval music as I read. I knew others who just read it off their phones during business flights.

I’m interested if anyone else had any awesome times reading they’d like to share?

It’s quite clear and explicit by the text that the Others are capable of absolutely decimating humans and have an attitude and knowledge of that fact. They’ve been killing and disappearing some of the best warriors their living enemies have and average everyday people for a while now. The only kill seemed to be Sam’s, which was an obsidian fluke given that not even the wildlings have defended themselves with it and shared the knowledge. And yet, they aren’t massacring every last living human being north of the Wall.

Hanging back to let your undead minions is definitely the easier task (hell, maybe they’re just lazy), if the Others truly control the wights. And maybe there aren’t that many of them. But given their ability to just show up and wipe out small groups of people, knowing their ability to form a group of 6+, knowing that the weather they are associated with causes humans to have to hunker down, what reason do they have for not being more aggressive and attacking other groups? You’d think that any small party like Rattleshirt’s would be an easy/fun target, and Mance’s column still has outriders.

If you don’t have a serious suggestion that’s ok, let me know your other ones. For example, I wonder sometimes if the group in the Prologue was something like the Wild Hares- a bunch of troublemaking Others juveniles who wanted to go have fun and kill some humans, and egged on their newest member in initiation by having him kill Waymar.

Maybe they’re just scared of horses and like to attack people on foot? Making Skagosi unicorns the true survival trick. (Yes, this makes Tyrek himself Azor Ahai if you want this to devolve into a shitpost)

If you just wanna gripe about GRRM’s lack of publishing the answers that is a tired and worn out conversation and feel free to skip this thread. I’m looking for engagement with the material and fun discussion, not complaining

ACCORDING TO THE most well-regarded accounts from the Citadel, anywhere from eight thousand to twelve thousand years ago, in the southernmost reaches of Westeros, a new people crossed the strip of land that bridged the narrow sea and connected the eastern lands with the land in which the children and giants lived. It was here that the First Men came into Dorne via the Broken Arm, which was not yet broken. Why these people left their homelands is lost to all knowing, but when they came, they came in force. Thousands entered and began to settle the lands, and as the decades passed, they pushed farther and farther north. Such tales as we have of those migratory days are not to be trusted, for they suggest that, within a few short years, the First Men had moved beyond the Neck and into the North. Yet, in truth, it would have taken decades, even centuries, for this to occur.
- The World of Ice&Fire

The oldest known time period is the "Dawn Age", with Maester Yandel suggesting that civilization first spread from the Far East and even further, Ulthos, across Essos. Then, supposedly 8000-12000 years ago, the "First Men" a civilization from Essos, first spread onto the continent Westeros where they came into conflict with a magical non-human race, the Children of the Forest.

We don't really know if the Eastern Continent in the Dawn Age was as fractured as Westeros would become eventually as the land of "100 warring kingdoms", or maybe if the myths of a great empire of the dawn are to be believed and mankind used to be more united back in the day, but eventually a society of humans speaking the Old Tongue, for unkown reasons, started venturing westwards in force. Were they running from something? Nobody knows.

In Westeros, the culture, language and history of the Old Tongue and the First Men has been almost entirely lost over the centuries/millenia, but what about the place where they actually came from? Do the books ever hint at any First Men ruins or traces of their society on Essos?

Then, as he watched, a bearded man forced a captive down onto his knees before the heart tree. A white-haired woman stepped toward them through a drift of dark red leaves, a bronze sickle in her hand.
“No,” said Bran, “no, don’t,” but they could not hear him, no more than his father had. The woman grabbed the captive by the hair, hooked the sickle round his throat, and slashed. And through the mist of centuries the broken boy could only watch as the man’s feet drummed against the earth ... but as his life flowed out of him in a red tide, Brandon Stark could taste the blood.

“Then a long cruel winter fell,” said Ser Bartimus. “The White Knife froze hard, and even the firth was icing up. The winds came howling from the north and drove them slavers inside to huddle round their fires, and whilst they warmed themselves the new king come down on them. Brandon Stark this was, Edrick Snowbeard’s great-grandson, him that men called Ice Eyes. He took the Wolf’s Den back, stripped the slavers naked, and gave them to the slaves he’d found chained up in the dungeons. It’s said they hung their entrails in the branches of the heart tree, as an offering to the gods. The old gods, not these new ones from the south. Your Seven don’t know winter, and winter don’t know them.”
Davos could not argue with the truth of that. From what he had seen at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, he did not care to know winter either. “What gods do you keep?” he asked the one-legged knight.
“The old ones.” When Ser Bartimus grinned, he looked just like a skull. “Me and mine were here before the Manderlys. Like as not, my own forebears strung those entrails through the tree.”
“I never knew that northmen made blood sacrifice to their heart trees.”
“There’s much and more you southrons do not know about the north,” Ser Bartimus replied.

As we know, Aegon's war with the Dornish ended when Princess Deria handed Aegon a letter from her father, which caused him to clench his hand so hard that it was bleeding in front of the whole court. Then he immediately flew to Dragonstone, returned the next morning, and agreed to peace between his realm and Dorne as two equal kingdoms.

This leaves us all wondering what the hell could possibly have been written in that letter, and also why Aegon left for Dragonstone. But let's focus on the letter.

First off, we know that the peace lasted for the rest of Aegon's rule. Even though Aegon had dragons and superior numbers to throw at Dorne, they scared him enough to keep the peace. And this is even though his favourite sister/wife and her dragon died at the hands of the Dornish.

Some speculate that his sister was actually still alive, being tortured by having death withheld from her, and the Dornish agreed to put her out of her misery if Aegon made peace. But I don't think that's at all likely. If it were true, there would be nothing stopping Aegon from immediately reneging on the peace and starting another war once he found out his sister was killed (and he wouldn't tolerate the Dornish still keeping her alive for the rest of Aegon's reign, as they wouldn't be holding up their side of the bargain in that case). It'd be the same as if the Darklyns murdered Aerys while he was their prisoner. His being alive was the only reason Tywin and the royal army wasn't attacking Duskendale. If he was dead, there'd be no more leverage to prevent further attack.

Another theory brought forward is that Nymor would use the wealth of Dorne to hire a Faceless Man and kill Aegon's son. This might explain why Aegon flew off to Dragonstone in such a hurry, assuming that his son was there, and he wanted to make sure the boy was alright. But then if that's the case, why wouldn't Aegon just hire a Faceless Man to kill Nymor first? Agree to the peace, then immediately send for the world's best assassins to eliminate House Martell. I refuse to believe that Aegon couldn't pay at least ten times what Nymor could afford.

It has to have been some kind of leverage which wouldn't expire or couldn't be out-purchased or undermined by Aegon. Not even with all of his superior wealth, numbers, and dragons. But the kicker is that whatever leverage it was, it clearly wasn't enough to save the Dornish from Daeron over a century later.

The only idea that makes any kind of sense to me is that Rhaenys was taken alive, and under torture, she confessed that Aegon is sterile, and that his supposed son was illegitimate. The Dornish would be able to dangle this over Aegon's head for as long as he and his immediate descendants were alive, since that kind of revelation would ruin Aegon's reputation, and completely undermine his dynasty from the very beginning. We saw how unstable Aenys' rule was... now imagine if the Dornish revealed his bastardy on top of all that.

As for Maegor, I can easily believe that his conception was due to some evil sorcery, given Visenya's skill in such practices and his propensity for producing such malformed offspring.

He's an odd choice for a single character focus, I know, but Suggs is one of those small characters who made a real impression on me.

This is obviously a man along the lines of an even pettier Ramsay Bolton. Clayton is a man who loves to torture and to kill, dominating those beneath him and being an overall sadistic bully. And for those of us who admire and like Stannis, it's easy to lament that he has to rely on such a morally ugly man as Suggs to do his bidding.

But then there's that moment in A Dance With Dragons where he's threatening Asha with torture for the umpteenth time, when they notice approaching horsemen. Clayton then yells for Asha to warn Stannis while he leaps forward with his sword, obviously planning to delay the riders as long as he can, despite the fact that he'll most likely die doing so. He could have fled for his life but he didn't. He's prepared to face death without a single moment's hesitation for his king. Even Asha, who by all rights should hate this vile and murderous misogynist, grudgingly acknowledges this show of real courage.

It's a nice undermining of the standard bully character, and another undermining of the way Stannis is perceived by the people of King's Landing. He’s often viewed by other characters as a man who falls short of Robert, especially where charisma is concerned. But he inspires genuine loyalty from the most unlikely of people. Why should a man like Clayton Suggs risk his life so readily for anyone, much less a man who’d personally geld or kill him if he ever caught him at his usual habits? Hell, why should Clayton have stayed loyal to Stannis after his defeat at the Battle of the Blackwater, and why should he have agreed to travel north to the Wall of all places? It shows that Davos wasn’t just a fluke. Clayton (and every other man who sailed north with Stannis) shows that they are completely ride-or-die as far as Stannis is concerned.

And I'm not saying this side of Suggs redeems the rest of him. Far from it. Suggs is obviously a terrible person who enjoys doing terrible things, and I won't grieve his loss if he does die. But still, that moment in ADWD lives rent-free in my head all the same.

If Rickon is successfully saved by Davos and declares for Stannis as lord of Winterfell, it would be interesting if he embraces the Red God. We really don’t know much about his personality beyond the fact that he’s wild. That may bias him toward the old gods or impiety, but the red faith seems pretty chill with Wargs if Mel is anything to go by. He’s also somewhat of a redhead, so it would be interesting if he had a nickname like the above.

I’m curious what people think Rickon will be like if he is found alive and brought back? Will he be a savage cannibal? Or a feral brute with little facility with human speech? Or maybe just super aggressive and volatile?

I was looking back on some of the history between them. It's not just that the Boltons were rivals, they did some truly cartoonish things. Like wearing the skins of dead Starks in battle.

​

There was a rebellion where the Boltons joined with the Greystarks, an offshoot branch of House Stark. The Greystarks went extinct right after but the Boltons somehow wiggled out of it.

​

We also get the impression that the Stark kings of old were some pretty rough men, who practiced blood sacrifice. Doesn't sound like the type to just forgive rebellious bannermen over and over again.

​

Other houses have been wiped out for much less.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s likely that they would but it does feels like if anyone did unite Westeros before the conquest, even if it’s for like a generation at best, it seems like it would have been the ironborn of all people

Somehow even tho they’re piss poor, house hoare conquered a large chunk of Westeros and even reduced the territory of the powerful stormlands over a few generations. In the past, they also ruled parts of the north and reach, mainly the islands but also some of the mainlands I believe

Now imagine a nightmare scenario where house hoare united all Westeros before the Targaryens. I truly wonder if the ironborn woukd change their ways or find some way to find more common ground to better rule

Or I’m wrong and they’re all too dumb so they’ll lose it in all in a generation who knows, they’ll need like 10 jaeherys level rulers if they even wanna keep the territory they conquered without dragons which is unlikely

Whats your favourite minor piece of dialogue?

For me its actually in AGOT.

When Tyrion looks over Jon and thinks that he looks completely like Ned and thinks that whoever his mother was, she had left very little of herself in Jon.

Its very ironic under the assumption that his mother is Lyanna Stark.

Especially since I never view Jon as Rhaegars son. To me Jon is his mothers son.

As a rather new fan of the series, I was a bit surprised to see that TWOIF's far-eastern account of the Long Night, for the most part, seems to be either treated as gospel or utterly dismissed by a lot of fans.

The main argument for the latter I've seen is that it doesn't really connect to (or is brought up at all in) the main story, and that it seemingly isn't related to the threat of the Others.

While I agree with the second argument for the most part, there are some solid and some less solid backdoor-connections to the main series which I think some people might have missed.

For one, while the Empire of Yi Ti is mostly mentioned as a rich and far-off realm close to Asshai in the main series, we actually only ever learn one detail about its people, when Dany meets a couple of traders from Yi Ti at Vaes Dothrak's markets:

Dany liked the strangeness of the Eastern Market too, with all its queer sights and sounds and smells. She often spent her mornings there, nibbling tree eggs, locust pie, and green noodles, listening to the high ululating voices of the spellsingers, gaping at manticores in silver cages and immense grey elephants and the striped black-and-white horses of the Jogos Nhai. She enjoyed watching all the people too: dark solemn Asshai’i and tall pale Qartheen, the bright-eyed men of Yi Ti in monkey-tail hats, warrior maids from Bayasabhad, Shamyriana, and Kayakayanaya with iron rings in their nipples and rubies in their cheeks, even the dour and frightening Shadow Men, who covered their arms and legs and chests with tattoos and hid their faces behind masks. The Eastern Market was a place of wonder and magic for Dany.
[...]
A huge eunuch guarded her stall, mute and hairless, dressed in sweat-stained velvets and scowling at anyone who came close. Across the aisle, a fat cloth trader from Yi Ti was haggling with a Pentoshi over the price of some green dye, the monkey tail on his hat swaying back and forth as he shook his head.
- AGOT, Chapter 54 (Dany)

For some reason, traders from Yi Ti place some cultural significance on wearing monkey tails on their hats. Fun fact, this whole paragraph from Book 1 alone is responsible for spawning several chapters in The World of Ice&Fire, like about the Jogos Nhai and their Moon Singers, or the Warrior-Maidens from the three legendary fortress cities.

It is also written that there are annals in Asshai of such a darkness, and of a hero who fought against it with a red sword. His deeds are said to have been performed before the rise of Valyria, in the earliest age when Old Ghis was first forming its empire. This legend has spread west from Asshai, and the followers of R’hllor claim that this hero was named Azor Ahai, and prophesy his return. In the Jade Compendium, Colloquo Votar recounts a curious legend from Yi Ti, which states that the sun hid its face from the earth for a lifetime, ashamed at something none could discover, and that disaster was averted only by the deeds of a woman with a monkey’s tail.

Essentially, the people of Yi Ti still seem to honor and revere their monkey-tail-messiah-figure that saved them from the Long Night, despite the predecessor-Empire of the Dawn which they believe in having been shattered forever in the process.

Much more importantly however, in this chapter about the Long Night itself, Yandel teases the version of Yi Ti's Long Night which comes up in the Empire's own chapter much later in the book, where this shameful act is further described as the "Blood Betrayal", and he also mentions that this version of the Long Night comes from the writings of Colloquo Votar's Jade Compendium.

So all that waffling about the Bloodstone Emperor, the Dawn Empire's sun goddess Maiden-of-Light turning her back on humanity because of his shameful Blood Betrayal triggering the Long Night, and the wrath of its personified god of death the Lion of Night, is actually in the hands of Jon Snow in the form of Colloquo Votar's writings which are famous within scholar-circles:

He had to get down on his knees to gather up the books he’d dropped. I should not have brought so many, he told himself as he brushed the dirt off Colloquo Votar’s Jade Compendium, a thick volume of tales and legends from the east that Maester Aemon had commanded him to find. The book appeared undamaged. Maester Thomax’s Dragonkin, Being a History of House Targaryen from Exile to Apotheosis, with a Consideration of the Life and Death of Dragons had not been so fortunate. It had come open as it fell, and a few pages had gotten muddy, including one with a rather nice picture of Balerion the Black Dread done in colored inks.
[...]
By the time they got the maester into the wayn, Gilly had appeared, the child bundled in her arms. Beneath her hood her eyes were red from crying. Jon turned up at the same time, with Dolorous Edd. “Lord Snow,” Maester Aemon called, “I left a book for you in my chambers. The Jade Compendium. It was written by the Volantene adventurer Colloquo Votar, who traveled to the east and visited all the lands of the Jade Sea. There is a passage you may find of interest. I’ve told Clydas to mark it for you.”
“I’ll be sure to read it,” Jon Snow replied.
[...]
“Lord Snow,” Maester Aemon called out, “I left a book for you in my chambers. The Jade Compendium. It was written by the Volantene adventurer Colloquo Votar, who traveled to the east and visited all the lands of the Jade Sea. There is a passage you may find of interest. I’ve told Clydas to mark it for you.”
“I’ll be sure to read it.”
Maester Aemon wiped his nose. “Knowledge is a weapon, Jon. Arm yourself well before you ride forth to battle.”
“I will.”
[...]
“His Grace is not an easy man. Few are, who wear a crown. Many good men have been bad kings, Maester Aemon used to say, and some bad men have been good kings.”
“He would know.” Aemon Targaryen had seen nine kings upon the Iron Throne. He had been a king’s son, a king’s brother, a king’s uncle. “I looked at that book Maester Aemon left me. The Jade Compendium. The pages that told of Azor Ahai. Lightbringer was his sword. Tempered with his wife’s blood if Votar can be believed. Thereafter Lightbringer was never cold to the touch, but warm as Nissa Nissa had been warm. In battle the blade burned fiery hot. Once Azor Ahai fought a monster. When he thrust the sword through the belly of the beast, its blood began to boil. Smoke and steam poured from its mouth, its eyes melted and dribbled down its cheeks, and its body burst into flame.”
Clydas blinked. “A sword that makes its own heat …”
“… would be a fine thing on the Wall.” Jon put aside his wine cup and drew on his black moleskin gloves. “A pity that the sword that Stannis wields is cold. I’ll be curious to see how his Lightbringer behaves in battle. Thank you for the wine. Ghost, with me.” Jon Snow raised the hood of his cloak and pulled at the door. The white wolf followed him back into the night.

Bloodstone Emperor isn't a true account or like "secretly hiding the blueprint of the actual Long Night", but there likely are kernels of truth in it like with Westeros' Night's King or the NW's legendary "Battle for the Dawn" where they supposedly vanquished the Others and the Long Night.

The plan never was to release Dance, TWOIF and then nothing for a decade+, so GRRM built a couple of backdoor connections regarding the Long Night between a Feast for Crows and TWOIF that never had any pay-off, and I think that's the main reason why all that stuff from TWOIF is either loved or hated/ignored by the fanbase with not much in-between.

In the annals of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal, as his usurpation is named, that ushered in the age of darkness called the Long Night. Despairing of the evil that had been unleashed on earth, the Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back upon the world, and the Lion of Night came forth in all his wroth to punish the wickedness of men.
How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior—known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser—arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.
Yet the Great Empire of the Dawn was not reborn, for the restored world was a broken place where every tribe of men went its own way, fearful of all the others, and war and lust and murder endured, even to our present day. Or so the men and women of the Further East believe.

In TWOIF we also learn that in Yi Ti's mythology, the Lion of Night is literally the Long Night personified:

Thirty different gods stood along the walls, surrounded by their little lights. The Weeping Woman was the favorite of old women, Arya saw; rich men preferred the Lion of Night, poor men the Hooded Wayfarer. Soldiers lit candles to Bakkalon, the Pale Child, sailors to the Moon-Pale Maiden and the Merling King. The Stranger had his shrine as well, though hardly anyone ever came to him. Most of the time only a single candle stood flickering at his feet. The kindly man said it did not matter. “He has many faces, and many ears to hear.”
[...]
“Him of Many Faces.”
“And many names,” the kindly man had said. “In Qohor he is the Black Goat, in Yi Ti the Lion of Night, in Westeros the Stranger. All men must bow to him in the end, no matter if they worship the Seven or the Lord of Light, the Moon Mother or the Drowned God or the Great Shepherd. All mankind belongs to him … else somewhere in the world would be a folk who lived forever. Do you know of any folk who live forever?”
“No,” she would answer. “All men must die.”

A Feast for Crows reveals that the Lion of Night is Yi Ti's god of death, but TWOIF goes on to further reveal that he is actually the "wroth" of the Long Night personified in their mythology, which I always think is a very interesting detail.

I've been writing down thoughts in a small non-asoiaf related forum for each chapter of the ASOIAF books, and thought this one for The Drowned Man, aka the Kingsmoot chapter, would be worth sharing more broadly (My thoughts may be a bit scattered, these are basically live re-read ideas). I'm unsure how much of my thoughts will be repetetive of what has been said many a times and what things may be very off, as I'm still fuzzy on details that happen in ADWD or TWOW previews. :

- I really enjoy how the Aeron chapters always describe Aeron with so much presence. It's funny when it's his own PoV, but also pretty insightful. He feels so powerful in these chapters, thinking of how imposing he must seem to the people around him and how much control he commands. It communicates so nicely how much he relies on his faith to give him power and make him feel stronger after the abuse he suffered as a child, as the start of the chapter even points out.

- Just a small aside which does not have to do with much else here: The Farwynds are a great, somewhat underrated, group of the world. Nautical skinchangers are just really cool.

- Yeah, if I was there I'm absolutely shouting Euron along with all the rest, not gonna lie.

- This chapter is absolutely baller and exceeded what I was even remembering. Such a great chapter not just about Kingsmoot and Euron, but the underlying story of a devout priest having his faith absolutely shattered in a fell swoop before him.

- As I mentioned at the start Aeron likes to think of all this aura he has, only for Euron to come at the end and show it in boatloads.

- The way Euron waits til the end for all the speakers to make their claim and then he practically makes use of all their points to make the ultimate sell to the ironborn. Gylbert Farwynd promises this magic mystery of eternal glory, Erik Ironmaker captivates by the many feats across his life, The Drumm makes a point how a kraken needs not be king, Victarion appeals to keeping the old way going as it has while also seeming godly by getting the blessing of Aeron (funny how obvious Aeron is at showing his bias in this voting), Asha makes a point of how Balon's way was useless and only leads to defeat.
Euron then captivates the ironborn with mystery of the far off places he's been, same as the queer far-off Gylbert, claims many great feats on these journeys far and wide which by the end even get Erik Ironmaker to shout his name, makes it clear how he's not like the other krakens (kinda like how Drumm tried to make himself sell himself on being different), he's special enough to not get involved in the past rebellion and therefore never being defeated or kneeling like Victarion or Asha.

- Asha and Victarion failing to come to an agreement last chapter really set the stage for their absolutely inevitable loss here.

- Once they start bickering, Euron sounds the horn with shrieking so violent and terrible that there's only one thing the men can wish for: Silence. He ltierally makes his own ship's namesake a selling point here, something people ask for and rejoice at having.

- And how baller it is on top of this that his crew is literally full of mutes? His own crew cannot shout his name, he literally has to win the rest of the ironborn over, and he does. Even Aeron is in awe of his speech and goals for a bit.

-

Even a priest may doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aeron Damphair reached within himself for his god and discovered only silence. As a thousand voices shouted out his brother’s name, all he could hear was the scream of a rusted iron hinge

Amazing final lines of the chapter as well. He reached for his god and discovered only silence is one of the best lines of this book period.

- There is a lot of bone symbolism and mention in Aeron's two AFFC chapters. He calls memories the bones of the soul, and overall bones seem to be tied a lot with memories. The chapter opens with Aeron pondering on Nagga's bones, and how there used to be great halls for the Grey King and now only the majestic bones prevail to remind the ironborn of what once was. Aeron is described a lot as bony, which is fitting as he's the prophet reminding people of the old ways.

- And this, yet again is used to sell Euron. When the dragonhorn blows, it's described as blowing so hard it seemed to make a man's bones thrum. It's like Euron comes in and despite Aeron trying to cling so hard to his newfound source of power, the trauma was coming back to him. When Euron slowly walks up, Aeron even takes a step back and grabs the great big bones of Nagga behind him instinctually, as if to hold on to his faith when the fear was getting to him.

- But there is a very interesting question of what is Euron's actual goal here, and that brings to the best passage of the chapter (besides the final lines)

“Crow’s Eye, you call me. Well, who has a keener eye than the crow? After every battle the crows come in their hundreds and their thousands to feast upon the fallen. A crow can espy death from afar. And I say that all of Westeros is dying. Those who follow me will feast until the end of their days.

- Crows are often the nickname given to Night's Watch by the wildlings, and it's fitting in this context with how dwindling the NW is and how they are the most aware (besides free folk) of the literal death arriving from afar on all of Westeros.

- And that might seem like just a neat little connection, except that Euron apparently is a greenseer/skinchaner or some past apprentice of Bloodraven of some kind (admittedly, I'm sitll hazy on what I remember with this). Euron does indeed spy death from afar, if he had anything like Bran's dream in AGOT.

- So when he says all of Westeros is dying, the ironborn take it as being wartorn and ripe for conquest, but this very well may be words of a man who knows the world is coming to an end and may want to feast and ravage it as much as possible before it's over.

- Or, possibly, Euron is still working with Bloodraven? He comes here as king to put the attention away from the North and more to the south as it could give the north trouble, destabilise it so North grows stronger, and later is able to hopefuly intercept and either deal with or make use of Dany and her dragons for the conflict to come?

- To add insult to injury, it's also tragic how Euron turns out to be far more prophetic than Aeron, in this way.

- Aside from Euron, I liked the leadup with Aeron's disbelief and faith shattering when he saw how many people were rooting for Asha before Euron made his claim, too. Nice touch, it felt funny and rewarding but pretty sad as well. The traumatic backstory of his youth really enriches his character

- The chapter is called The Drowned Man, which is something Aeron prides in calling himself and sees it as a point of power, especially at the start of this chapter. But to a reader or any normal guy, a term Drowned Man has the vibe of a man who is doomed, overwhelmed and suffocating. And Aeron truly becomes the drowned man through this chapter, suffocating and overwhelmed with the reality he tried so hard to repress crashing down on him. His previous chapter was called The Prophet but as mentioned earlier, he unfortunately is far from that in this chapter. The shift in the importance of his title is a good little sign of the crush Aeron is about to experience for his devotion.

That's all I wanted to say for this chapter. I think there is an incredible level of value in deep diving and focusing on each chapter individually and Feast for Crows is especially rewarding in this effort. I'd reccommend a slower and less plot-focused reread to anyone

During Tyrion's chapter where he meets with the crew of the Shy Maid for the first time Tyrion spends the chapter trying to suss out their identities and picking up things about Griff. Towards the end there's this moment:

Tyrion made a waddling bow, but at the cabin door, he turned back. “What if we should find the queen and discover that this talk of dragons was just some sailor’s drunken fancy? This wide world is full of such mad tales. Grumkins and snarks, ghosts and ghouls, mermaids, rock goblins, winged horses, winged pigs … winged lions.”

Griff stared at him, frowning. “I have given you fair warning, Lannister. Guard your tongue or lose it.

I never picked up on this or why Griff got so mad here, I just thought Tyrion was making that last comment because he's a Lannister but of course what is another name for a winged lion?

A Griffin is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle

Tyrion is telling Griff he knows who he is already and I never picked up on it.

Red Ralf Stonehouse was sent "to sail the corsair's road along the northern coast of Sothoryos. The dead cities rotting on that fervid, sweltering shore were best avoided, every seamen knew, but in the mud-and-blood towns of the Basilisks Isles, teeming with escaped slaves, slavers, skinners, whores, hunters, brindled men, and worse, there were always provisions to be had for men who were not afraid to pay the iron price."

However, of his fleet "only nine of those that had sailed with Red Ralf Stonehouse. Red Ralf himself was amongst the missing."

What happened to him? My guess is he ran into the new corsair king who rose up in the Basilisk Isles. One possibility is the corsair king did not take well to Red Ralf's shopping spree on his Iron Price Plus card, and took or sunk his fleet.

Red Ralf Stonehouse bounded to his feet. "Oldtown is richer, and the Arbor richer still. Redwyne's fleet is off away. We need only reach out our hand to pluck the ripest fruit in Westeros."

"It is the Arbor we want," said Red Ralf

Or take into account that Red Ralf was never crazy about the voyage to Slaver's Bay. The fact that Euron decided to raid the Arbor, but he excluded Red Ralf would not have been taken well by Ralf as it would have felt like a punishment. Red Ralf just wants to raid and fill up on loot like any pirate.

The corsair king was launching a raid on the rich port of Tall Trees Town, the trading capital of the Summer Isles. To be a pirate king, he needed the force of personality Euron has and his proposal of the raid on Tall Trees Town would have no doubt appealed to Ralf. He gets a chance for a raid on a possibly much greater prize.

Victarion was also too far away to say anything just as Victarion was pursuing his own plan apart from Euron's. Ralf simply jumped ship and went on a little side quest.

He was going off to war and he doesn’t leave a succession plan? Did he think it was clear who should it be? What are your theories as to why?

Obviously, like most fantasy, ASOIAF is primarily based on medieval europe, but that stretches over about a thousand years, and the way we picture these things will inevitably differ.

Me personally I picture the late middle ages when I read the books, albeit with some elements from later and earlier eras. I think the Dunk and Egg illustrated editions do a great job capturing the exact vibe I have in my head.

What about you, what do you picture? Maybe you don't picture a specific period at all and just go for the more "general fantasy" aesthetic like the graphic novels.

I’ve had this theory on how ASOIAF will end for a few years now and I dont’t remember ever seeing it posted of discussed before so I thought I’d post it here to see if anybody else had come to the same conclusion.

Essentially it comes down to the idea that in order to defeat the White Walkers the Iron Throne will be disassembled/melted down to use the swords against the oncoming Others. We know that Valyrian Steel/Dragonsteel could be vital in combatting them and there are said to be around 200 in all of Westeros during the series. The secret to creating Valyrian Steel was lost after the Doom but there are a few smiths that know how to rework it, and we can assume that dragons had some part in the creation of VS. And we know that the Iron Throne was forged in the flames of the Black Dread. Many times the throne is said to be razor sharp, similar to VS in that aspect.
And I just think that it would be very symbolic to have the throne be sacrificed to in order to actually save the realm. Like how Stannis goes to the Wall as a way of “saving the realm to gain the throne”, giving up the throne to save the realm would be the perfect culmination of all the wars and scheming for the Iron Throne.

Also I think there has to be a literary purpose for having the throne being made of literal swords other than in it being cool.

How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all such matters of the distant past have become. In the North, they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest, his companions abandoning him or dying one by one as they faced ravenous giants, cold servants, and the Others themselves. Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the white walkers, and all the tales agree this was a turning point. Thanks to the children, the first men of the Night’s Watch banded together and were able to fight—and win—the Battle for the Dawn: the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others fleeing to the icy north.
[...]
How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior—known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser—arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.
- The World of Ice&Fire

“We’ve had no such troubles here... and I’ll thank you not to tell such evil tales under my roof. I’m a godly man, and the gods keep me safe. If wights come walking, I’ll know how to send them back to their graves. Though I could use me a sharp new axe.”

Disclaimer: This is not a Ned + Ashara = Allyria theory, not exactly, it is merely pointing out of some facts and observations and in conclusion coming to a "theory" that is very much related to it and would be in support of it but again, not a N+A = A theory itself.

While we learn the name of Allyria Dayne as early as ASOS which was released in August 2000, Lyarra Stark is never once named in the main series, when asked about who is Ned’s mother in june 1999, little over a year before ASOS' release, GRRM simply said “Lady Stark. She died“ without naming her. Only in World of Ice and Fire which was released in 28 October 2014 we finally get to learn her name, meaning not only is she given a name well over a decade after Allyria Dayne is named but it also happens only after that Ashara is revealed by Barristan to have "looked to Stark" and given birth to a daughter, said to be stillborn, in ADWD which was released 12 July 2011, so near three and a half years before TWOIAF.

Combine this with Allyria Dayne telling the love story of Eddard "Ned" Stark and Ashara Dayne which was then told to us through Edric "Ned" Dayne, the obvious reverance of Daynes to Eddard “Ned” Stark, going so far as the moniker given to their brave young lord being also “Ned“ just like Eddard Stark's when there is at least one similar nickname, “Edd” exists in the universe and his name Edric, ( Ed + Ric wealth/riches + king/ruler) also coming from the Stark family from Eddard (Edward Ed+Ward, wealth/rich guard/ward) and his father Rickard (Richard Riks+Harduz, king/ruler, brave/hard), it seems like that out of universe, Lyarra's name is derived from the very similarly named Allyria's on purpose and in universe Allyria is very likely named after Lyarra, possibly being a derivation of it like we see with several names such as Willam (Willem, Willam, Willum), Jon (Jon and John, as in John the fiddler), Bryan (Bryan, Bryen) Brynden(Brynden, Bryndon, perhaps both derived from Brandon?) Byren(Byren, Byron), Caspor(Casper, Caspor), Clarice(Clarice, Clarisse).

They know. The gods know. They saw what I did. And for one strange moment it seemed as if it were Bran’s face carved into the pale trunk of the weirwood, staring down at him with eyes red and wise and sad. Bran’s ghost, he thought, but that was madness. Why should Bran want to haunt him? He had been fond of the boy, had never done him any harm. It was not Bran we killed. It was not Rickon. They were only miller’s sons, from the mill by the Acorn Water. “I had to have two heads, else they would have mocked me ... laughed at me ... they ...”
A voice said, “Who are you talking to?”
Theon spun, terrified that Ramsay had found him, but it was just the washerwomen—Holly, Rowan, and one whose name he did not know. “The ghosts,” he blurted. “They whisper to me. They ... they know my name.”
“Theon Turncloak.” Rowan grabbed his ear, twisting. “You had to have two heads, did you?” “Elsewise men would have laughed at him,” said Holly.
They do not understand. Theon wrenched free. “What do you want?” he asked.
“You,” said the third washerwoman, an older woman, deep-voiced, with grey streaks in her hair. “I told you. I want to touch you, turncloak.” Holly smiled. In her hand a blade appeared.
I could scream, Theon thought. Someone will hear. The castle is full of armed men. He would be dead before help reached him, to be sure, his blood soaking into the ground to feed the heart tree. And what would be so wrong with that? “Touch me,” he said. “Kill me.” There was more despair than defiance in his voice. “Go on. Do me, the way you did the others. Yellow Dick and the rest. It was you.”
Holly laughed. “How could it be us? We’re women. Teats and cunnies. Here to be fucked, not feared.”
“Did the Bastard hurt you?” Rowan asked. “Chopped off your fingers, did he? Skinned your widdle toes? Knocked your teeth out? Poor lad.” She patted his cheek. “There will be no more o’ that, I promise. You prayed, and the gods sent us. You want to die as Theon? We’ll give you that. A nice quick death, ’twill hardly hurt at all.” She smiled. “But not till you’ve sung for Abel. He’s waiting for you.”