Post by voice on Jan 10, 2016 8:12:18 GMT
It's mostly Shaggydog that makes me think it's Rickon instead of Bran
- Shaggydog was currently chained when Jojen would have had his dream of the wolf who was bound by stone chains
- Rickon frees Shaggydog from those chains after having a dream, and the dream of the winged wolf had a crow (Bloodraven) pecking at the chains, and Rickon's own dream probably came from Bloodraven
- After Shaggydog is freed Bran declares that he's not made for chains and Shaggy is never locked up again
- Jojen wasn't sure who was the wolf, and only Rickon and Bran were Starks in Winterfell, so Jojen had to have some belief that it was Rickon before he eventually decided it was Bran (and generally when a character is sure of something is when I become skeptical)
- Shaggydog is the direwolf of the pack that is actually unique due to his colouring as unlike Ghost, who's an albino and thus his colour is the natural result of a pigment disorder, Shaggydog is black with green eyes while the rest of the pact is grey/brown with yellow/gold eyes
- Green eyes are one of the ways the old gods mark their chosen among COTF while regular COTF have golden eyes, and like mentioned above, Shaggy has green eyes while his brothers and sisters apart from Ghost have yellow/gold eyes
- Bran straight up asks Bloodraven if he's the crow and Bloodraven has no idea what he's talking about and thinks Bran's asking if he used to be in the Watch
- Bloodraven only confirms he's visited Bran in his dreams, but never how he visited him (what form he took)
- Bran has had 3 types of dreams: wolf dreams, crow dreams, and dreams featuring a weirwood. Bloodraven obviously isn't the wolf dream as that's just Bran warging Summer, but with two different types of dreams, crows vs weirwoods, it's possible that Bran is receiving two different dreams from two different people/entities
- Darkstar is the only Dayne we've ever met who looks like a Valyrian. He legitimately looks straight up like a Targaryen instead of some stray features like Ashara (purple eyes, but dark hair), or Edric (blue eyes, but grayish-blond hair). The other Daynes we know of are Daeron Targaryen (brown hair, no purple eyes) who's mother was Dyanna Dayne who must have given him those features as Aegon says he, Aerion, and Aemon all look like Maekar and not their mother, so therefore also had brown hair and no purple eyes. Basically, something's up with Darkstar's look
- Darkstar has very dark purple eyes. Rhaegar, Aerys, and Aegon have those exact same eyes. Viserys had light purple eyes
- Darkstar is the Knight of High Hermitage... but there is zero history behind High Hermitage. Zadda. Nadda. Nothing. At all. You can't find a single prior Knight of High Hermitage before Darkstar, or that High Hermitage ever even existed before Darkstar. Heck Arianne even says that Darkstar is actually a knight of Starfall when she introduces him to Myrcella meaning that he's not originally from High Hermitage. Darkstar is the sole and single KOHH that there's ever been. So why does he get his own castle and so many bannermen? Arianne mentions he could smash House Yronwood. Most definitely an exaggeration as Yronwood is the second most powerful house and HH is still subservient to Starfall as the AFFC lists him as Edric's bannerman, but still he doesn't just have some rundown keep with 5 servants like say Littlefinger. He's a major force in Dorne... which is just incredibly weird for Edric Dayne's random cousin. Darkstar should be lucky to be a household knight. He's clearly not the SOTM, so why is he set up so well?
Dany definitely worked her own magic, I'm just not sure it was her who birthed the dragons seeing as the HOTU showed the dragons coming from MMD. So for me, either MMD was the sacrifice that birthed them, and not the greater sacrifices of Drogo or Rhaego which seems odd, or MMD brought them forth herself as she is singing her own chant while this pyre's all going on
She climbed the pyre herself to place the eggs around her sun-and-stars. The black beside his heart, under his arm. The green beside his head, his braid coiled around it. The cream-and-gold down between his legs. When she kissed him for the last time, Dany could taste the sweetness of the oil on his lips.
Dany also pours the flammable oil over MMD's head personally, and thanks her, "I thank you, Mirri Maz Duur," she said, "for the lessons you have taught me."
I think Dany gained three lessons before she could hatch those three dragons.
The (cream-and-gold) first lesson was physical strength. She gained it by riding - both her Silver, and Drogo. Her painful thighs eventually toughened, like supple leather, and she found the strength to defy, and eventually strike her brother... this lesson is placed down between Drogo's legs.
The (black) second lesson is emotional strength. She fearlessly brought Khal Drogo out under the stars and made Rhaego. This lesson of emotional strength culminates in Dany eating a stallion's heart before the Dosh Khaleen... this lesson is placed beside Drogo's heart.
The (green) third lesson is magical strength. Like the others, while it was an obvious potential within her, it laid latent and dormant. She learns how to embrace this from the godswife. While it is easy to simplify MMD's lesson as mere treachery, it was far deeper than that. MMD told Dany there would be a cost for Drogo's life. Outside the tent, Dany went into labor. And, Dany learned how to truly pay for life - with the death of her child. This lesson opened Dany's mind, and she wrapped it with Drogo's braid.
All just my interpretation of course, but I think Rhaegal is the only dragon that can be associated with MMD's brow.
Probably not. Cersei and Maester Pylos both point out that Robert wasn't a very good jouster. The KOTLT defeated 3 champions, they had to have been fairly good themselves.
True, it's just the context of the bed of blood/bloody beds, as I believe it was WeaselPie who pointed out, all stem around kids dying.
- MMD talks about the secrets of the blood bed and how she's never lost a baby
- Rhaego then does die under MMD's attendance
- Aeron says that women bring forth short lived children from their beds of blood and that Quellon had sired 9 sons but only 4 had lived
So don't think we can just ignore that these words pop up around kids who died rather than kids who lived.
But, now I'm wondering if like Dany, Lyanna also had to forge a pact with a midwife, our infamous Wylla. Or, mayhaps the pact was with Ashara. There's still her mysterious suicide to resolve, and unlike MMD, Wylla seems to be alive.
- Jaime says that all his brothers were away at the end of the war, but he was kept close because Aerys didn't trust him and wanted Varys to keep track of him
- The logical follow through would be that Lewyn, Jonothor, Barristan, Arthur, Oswell, and Gerold were away because Aerys did trust them, and didn't want Varys to keep track of them
- Lewyn was taking command of the Dornish troops
- Barristan and Jonothor were taking command of Jon Connington's scattered troops
- Arthur, Oswell, and Gerold are MIA, but following the logic of Jaime's statement, and that the other 3 KG are away doing Aerys's work, doesn't seem a stretch that they are as well
- Nor do we ever hear about how Aerys was freaking out where half of his KG were
As to the wanting to die thing, I don't know about BC's ronin idea, but I do see
- they view Robert as a usurper
- they still declare loyalty to Aerys
- they won't bend the knee
- a seemingly pointless fight ensues
- Davos thinks that Penrose only challenged Stannis because he couldn't find a way to yield without tarnishing his honour and oaths to Renly, and thus decided that death was the only way to accomplish both task
Well, obviously Wylla herself cannot constitute a "they". I simply mean I don't buy that she was there and just hanging around, especially not if they were at the TOJ.
But yeah, I'm completely positive (if we are speaking of purely canonical sources) that Lyanna was not at the tower long fallen. The text alone makes it incredibly impractical, and it seems the fever dream SSM drives this point home. But alas, I think we already agree on this point. Moving on...
- Brienne is always called "Brienne of Tarth", and never given her full name which should be "Brienne Tarth" if she's Selwyn's legitimate daughter. "Of Tarth" is how you would call a commoner from Tarth, not the heir to the island
- Selwyn Tarth is a known womanizer, with a new woman every year. Thus creating the likelihood of having sired a few bastards.
- Brienne is not upset at all about all her siblings dying, nor does she mention that any of them ever died while she was there in Evenfall
- She does think however that Selwyn got stuck with her
- Brienne mentions being raised by a nurse, but never a mother as she says she can't remember her as she died while she was young. Selwyn however had two daughters after Brienne, so if Brienne's mother were Selwyn's wife, then Brienne's mother should have lived till at the very least Brienne was 2. Brienne's only 20, and as a 22 year old I can tell you that I do still remember some events from that age so I find it kind of weird that Brienne can't remember her mom at all
- There's also no reason to assume that Brienne's mom, if she were Selwyn's wife, died when she were 2. Both of Brienne's sisters are noted to have died in their cradles, but never that their mother followed them soon after. Which means that Selwyn's wife probably died later on, which again makes it likely that Brienne should remember the woman
- Look at all the men that Brienne was betrothed to, none of them are actually great lords or anything, despite the fact that as Selwyn's heir, whoever her husband is will rule Tarth. She's ugly, but a marriage to her makes her husband one of the great lords of the Stormlands. Instead she's betrothed to a younger son of Lord Caron (not even in line to inherit anything), Ronnet Connington, the Knight of Griffin's Roost's son (who House lost 90% of all their lands/incomes and their lordship in the Rebellion), and Ser Humfrey Wagstaff, the castellan for House Grandison who was 65 years old (and he's only minor nobility as well). She's ugly and likes fighting, but those are horrible betrothals for the heir of a great lord. All the Freys manage to get great marriages despite being ugly, so it's no excuse that Brienne ends up with the betrothals she did because of her looks.
- Selwyn offers up 300 gold dragons to the Brave Companions for Brienne's return, which Jaime says is the average bounty for an average knight... which is not at all what you expect a lord to pay up for the trueborn heir to his household. Tarth may be poor, but they're still one of the Stormlands major houses, so Brienne's ransom amount makes little sense. Unless that's basically only what she's worth: just your average Tarthian knight.
Kind of a bit of both
- Howland is single at Harrenhal
- It seems that in no more than a year later Howland is embroiled in Robert's Rebellion
- So Howland has to have married Jyana sometime between his return from Harrenhal, whenever that was, and his leaving for the war sometime in 282 (probably mid-282)
- Howland won't return until some time in 284
- Meera however is born in 283
- This doesn't really make sense as Howland is gone for almost all the possible timeframe to have impregnated Jyana (it's still doable, but less likely)
So given the above, either
- Howland isn't Meera's father and Jyana cheated on him and passed off a bastard as his daughter
- Howland is indeed Meera's father, but Jyana is not the mother. Howland had sex with someone during the war and brought the baby home and he and Jyana simply claimed the child was wholly theirs
- Howland is indeed Meera's father, and Jyana is indeed Meera's mother, but Jyana did not stay in the Neck during Robert's Rebellion and Howland had sex with her during the war
- Howland is indeed Meera's father, and Jyana is indeed Meera's mother, but they only got married during the war and not before it.
- Howland is indeed Meera's father, and Jyana is indeed Meera's mother, but there is no real person named Jyana, it's an adopted name, where either Howland met and impregnated "Jyana" before he left for war, or Howland met and impregnated "Jyana" during the war and brought her back as his wife
More or less Preston Jacobs view on it that the only way to keep Myrcella hidden was if no one knew, and that meant he couldn't know either. Given that he couldn't trust that, he had to know where she was, but then he could talk, so he gave himself away so that with his death no one would now know where she was.
Ah, I meant the ADWD theory. The one where people say that the north is all currently rallying together in a secret plot to dispose the Boltons/instate Jon as KITN. Not southern ambitions