Those Chapter Names...

Okay, time to talk about The Captain of the Guards.

The Captain of the Guards, unlike all the other titled chapters I've read so far, isn't just an identity chapter. To be sure there's a little bit of there, but it's playing second fiddle rather clearly to the politics in Dorne. It's like GRRM took what could have been two chapters and condensed them into one. Unlike the other identity chapters which also heavily have a focus on the politics of their respective regions (see The Prophet & The Kraken's Daughter) the choice of The Captain of the Guards is much less monumental. In The Prophet and The Kraken's Daughter, their identity and choices have a tremendous effect on politics and thus the politics are informed by the character's well, character.

Aero however isn't all that important in the grand scheme of things by comparison to Aerion and Asha. His biggest moment of having an influence is on how well he can follow orders at the very end of the chapter--a struggle which is really downplayed throughout the chapter to the point that it's unquestionable that he wouldn't.


Let's first talk about the identity portion of the chapter before we get into the politics going on in Dorne.


The Captain of the Guards is the role that Aero Hotah plays. When he is on duty he's rather vocal and even polices his thoughts so that he's pro-Dorne and 100% supportive of his Prince. He even makes a comparison between himself and Ser Arys Oakhart, about how he considers himself a loyal man to Dorne and Doran, unlike Arys who he believes still clings to his loyalty to the Iron Throne. One might question: well what's the distinction here? Well, recall that Aero is an immigrant, the youngest child of six who was sold to the Bearded Priests to be trained to wield his axe. That in the end he is little more than just his longaxe, well, as Aero would put it: "wedded to his axe"--which is done both to a physical axe, and the axe branded on his chest. I think that's a blatant Full Metal Jacket reference and joke, but it does explain his character. While on duty he is an axe in the service of protecting and obeying his Prince without question or doubt. A recurring mantra in Aero's head is "simple vows for simple men", and in his duty he maintains that simplicity.

While on duty Aero thinks about how Norvos is nothing to him, etc. However, as Doran falls asleep in his chair and is subsequently put to bed, our Captain of the Guards lets down his barriers a bit and suddenly his thoughts and memories are filled with Norvos, and he sadly recalls the sounds, the smells, the tastes of his home city, and his family (specifically his mother). He is an axe while Doran is awake and Aero is on duty, but when the Prince is asleep, Aero can be a man who misses his home despite himself. He may in his duties proclaim utter loyalty to his Dornish Prince, but in his human heart, he remains a Norvosi boy who misses home.

Further we learn that he has an almost fatherly regard for Arianne, but he puts his duty to her father above his affection for his "little princess".

That's about all we learn about Aero as a man and a character in his own right from the chapter. He's a simple-minded homesick man. Probably the closest real life/modern analogue you could get is an enlisted man in a professional army, who at once when on duty is all military, but when the day is done, is a human off duty.


Now for the political situation...

The image to take away from this chapter is that of the falling overripe oranges that fall to the ground with a splat. That is the metaphor that's thrown in our face the entire chapter, and knowing what the Dornish situation is through the rest of the book and in ADWD, it's a good metaphor for Doran's plans and Dorne in general. They've waited too long to move with their plans for vengeance and politics, and now their harvest is overripe and falling from the trees of their own accord. Think of Doran as the orange tree for an instant, and his family and their plots the oranges that are falling off of him because he waited too long to harvest them.

Aero thinks as he's falling asleep that he should have thought to have gathered up the ones that had fallen and eaten them, but simply contends himself to be satisfied with the imagination of him having done so. I think this likely is an extension of the metaphor that goes hand in hand with Aero constantly not knowing what to say to Doran or how to advise or console him in his troubles, so he says nothing--likely hinting that were Aero to know what to say that Doran might be able to gather up his overripe crop and try and make the best out of the situation by keeping them close--instead of letting the oranges fall where they may. Given what we got from ADWD and will likely get from TWOW, I think this is foreshadowing how Doran will lose both Quentyn (already confirmed) and Arianne (speculation), due to his having waited to long and leaving them to their own devices too much as they "fall" from his branches.

Aero does collect some "fallen oranges" or at least those oranges that threaten to fall (as we get those threats from the three Sand Snakes we're introduced to in the chapter), which provides for him the opportunity to use them to his benefit or harvest them before they fall away from him. It's likely from the Sand Snakes that Doran might get the benefit of his harvest, but this gets into speculation territory.

In any case that's my take on the Captain of the Guards as its own chapter. As for looking for echos/inversions/etc. I would say that what my mind jumped to while I was reading this was both the Night's Watch (and how they're a "sword in the darkness") but also the Kingsguard (who are also a "sworn sword"). There's likely parallels to tease out of both situations--and we're definitely meant to contrast Aero with Arys IMO--but that's the obvious contrast that GRRM is practically throwing at us.

Look for parallels with Jaime within AFFC, but I'd also suggest looking for a potential understanding of Robert's Rebellion and Gerold Hightower's story from Aero Hotah--especially as like Hightower (and Jaime), Aero is being sent on a quest away from his sworn King/Prince. As for the Night's Watch... there might be a bit of a comparison to make between Jon and Aero (both taking different routes in trying to "forget" their previous boyhood--Aero succeeding and Jon failing miserably), but on the whole I didn't notice in this chapter many parallels with Aero and Jon at all beyond obvious military issues both face and the vows that they're tied to.

I think the inversion that has the most potential is the Hightower one IMO, though the others I've mentioned should be considered.

Aero & Doran vs. Hightower & Aerys Mirror Ideas:

A plan that took too long to formulate vs. A plan that was too hastily committed to
A ruler being worth loyal to vs. a ruler not being worth loyal to
Trusting his children to fulfill his plans vs. Not trusting his son farther than he can throw him
etc.

Sorry this took so long to post, but Aero is a hard character to get a grasp on because there's so little there, and you keep questioning: is that really all there is to him? And the chapter is so obviously more focused on the political situation being played out in a "rule of three" iteration, and the vibe of the chapter steeped with a certain melancholia, that it's hard to motivate to contemplate everything without feeling something is missing or you're trying to swim through a veritable ocean of "feels".

Rhaegar's mirror would be Arianne in the situation I propose.

Doran        | Aerys = the ruler
Aero          | Gerold = the loyal man to the ruler
Arianne      | Rhaegar = the heir who plots against their father
Quentyn     | Viserys = the one pushing himself to be more than he truly ever can be, meeting a grim end
Trystane     | Daenerys = the young one no one suspected would go very far, until...

I like this very much. And we even have them going to Essos to look for a bride.

Maybe--but if anyone abandoned the cause, it was Arys Oakheart--not loyal to Dorne per se. Protecting the innocent girl who sailed on the Lady Lyanna for Dorne.

But Oakheart is more loyal to his love for the heir to the Dornish "throne"--Arianne. Making Arys an addlepated version of Arthur.

I'm thinking that if your metaphor holds, Aero might end up in a fight to the death, too. And lose--after Doran falls? Though Arianne didn't fall while Rhaegar did. . .

The inverse would be a boy within the Lady Lyanna :::

YUP! I stumbled on that bit of Martin's cutesy hints a few weeks ago. But yes--the handprint on my head is only just fading.

At times, it seems like he's just begging us to see it by putting it all in context. But we don't. And then,

Throw in that Myrcella goes with two Kingsguard and a de facto body double in Rosamund (which is such a weird detail to include, no?), and I'm recently starting to wonder who Wylla was. . . was she a servant of Lyanna's caught up in the mess? Maybe from White Harbor? Who looked like a northerner? Like Jeyne Poole???

Is that how they pulled off taking Jon and leaving Jon's "mother?"

Actually, could Asha be Cersei. She is older than Jaime by minutes and has certainly made the choice to be Tywin's daughter, etc.