Dragonbinder the Hellhorn -a few questions

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
Dragon Horns

(Spoilers everything A Song of Ice and fire, books and shows and so on.)

In the fourth installment of A Song of Ice and Fire, Euron Greyjoy kindly introduced us to Dragonbinder, a magical plot McGuffin capable of controlling dragons.

“I know as much of war as you do, Crow’s Eye,” Asha said. “Aegon Targaryen conquered Westeros with dragons.” “And so shall we,” Euron Greyjoy promised. “That horn you heard I found amongst the smoking ruins that were Valyria, where no man has dared to walk but me. You heard its call, and felt its power. It is a dragon horn, bound with bands of red gold and Valyrian steel graven with enchantments. The dragonlords of old sounded such horns, before the Doom devoured them. With this horn, ironmen, I can bind dragons to my will.” -A Feast for Crows, The Drowned Man

This hellhorn has a strong and unnatural impact on its environment, that cannot be doubted.

“The man who blew my dragon horn. When the maester cut him open, his lungs were charred as black as soot.” – A Feast for Crows, The Reaver

“The sound it made … it burned, somehow. As if my bones were on fire, searing my flesh from within. Those writings glowed red-hot, then white-hot and painful to look upon. It seemed as if the sound would never end. It was like some long scream. A thousand screams, all melted into one.” – A Dance with Dragons, Victarion I

While there is absolutely no new information on this strange and powerful artifact, I still have a few questions that I’d like to ramble on about.

1. If dragon horns are so important for a dragonrider, why do we hardly see any signs of them being used?

We have not seen anything resembling a dragon horn in the show (as far as I can remember), but that is not evidence of there being no such thing in the books. It could simply have been lost in adaptation.

The obvious lack of contemporary dragonriders could be enough to explain why we don’t see any of them in a Game of Thrones and the following books. However, it doesn’t justify their absence in Fire & Blood.

If Rhaenyra Targaryen had access to any dragon horns (and if they actually worked the way Euron claimed) during the “Red Sowing” it would have been a good idea to use them in order to give dragons to her most loyal and promising candidates. Instead, she had to contend with such delightful allies as Ulf the Sot and Hugh the Hammer. She controlled Dragonstone and if House Targaryen still had any access to such artifacts or the knowledge of their creation, this is where it would have been kept.

With house Targaryen’s power so reliant on their dragons, it was crucial for their children to prove themselves as dragonriders. Many of them followed the custom of placing dragon eggs in their children’s cradles to encourage a bond. Others, such as Vaegon the Dragonless, failed to become dragonriders.

If sorcerous dragon horns were the key to their power, the elders of House Targaryen should have had no difficulty in matching single dragons to their children as soon as they were deemed old enough, unless this knowledge was lost long before their time.

At the very least, this indicates that dragon horns are unnecessary to control dragons, meaning they are either an instrument that helps to fine tune their communication with their dragon, or a tool needed by those who could not reign over dragons otherwise.

2. If dragon horns are necessary to control dragons, why would the rulers of old Valyria allow that information to spread?

Remember, the dragons were the backbone of the Valyrian Freeholds power. Without them, their ascent to a continent dominating empire would not have been attainable.

Valyria’s enemies were numerous. Any rich merchant would pay a fortune to own one a dragon horn. Many warriors would aim to capture or kill a dragonrider in battle. Desperate slaves would try to steal it from their masters, given the opportunity. It would be their only path to freedom.

So why on earth would they permit any outsider to know this?

The dragonlords of old Valyria had controlled their mounts with binding spells and sorcerous horns. – A Dance with Dragons, Daenerys X

Daenerys’s knowledge is limited to the tales taught by her brother, who was a child when he left Westeros, and the small number of books in her possession. Thus, if she knows about them, this information cannot be that uncommon.

Scholars may have uncovered Valyria’s magical secret after their rule, when they could no longer control the narrative. But then again, why would Dragonbinder, the hellhorn, be given such a fancy look, with instructions on it? That’s not how you keep a secret.

That night, for the first time, he brought forth the dragon horn that the Crow’s Eye had found amongst the smoking wastes of great Valyria. A twisted thing it was, six feet long from end to end, gleaming black and banded with red gold and dark Valyrian steel. Euron’s hellhorn. Victarion ran his hand along it. The horn was as warm and smooth as the dusky woman’s thighs, and so shiny that he could see a twisted likeness of his own features in its depths. Strange sorcerous writings had been cut into the bands that girded it. “Valyrian glyphs,” Moqorro called them. -A Dance with Dragons, Victarion I

“A true tale.” Moqorro turned the hellhorn, examining the queer letters that crawled across a second of the golden bands. “Here it says, ‘No mortal man shall sound me and live.’ “

Bitterly Victarion brooded on the treachery of brothers. Euron’s gifts are always poisoned. “The Crow’s Eye swore this horn would bind dragons to my will. But how will that serve me if the price is death?” “Your brother did not sound the horn himself. Nor must you.” Moqorro pointed to the band of steel. “Here. ‘Blood for fire, fire for blood.’ Who blows the hellhorn matters not. The dragons will come to the horn’s master. You must claim the horn. With blood.” -A Dance with Dragons, Victarion I

Of course, we have many reasons to doubt the honesty of Moqorro, as it is his objective to reach Daenerys. Victarion might simply be a means of transportation. The instructions don’t seem to be that helpful either. The conditions written on the hellhorn could, in theory, prevent most potential thieves from using it. There are people that are not exactly mortal though.

Would Lady Stoneheart be able to use it? Pyat Pree? Could Melisandre or Moqorro himself do it? Daenerys has already survived some serious heat.

The Valyrians should have restricted the use of the instrument to themselves. But at least some of them could have survived the Doom of Valyria if they were fireproof, like Daenerys.

Melisandre and her brethren seem to have no issue with heat, hunger or poison. If certain allusions to Melisandre’s age are correct, the Lord of Lights followers already lit their Nightfires when Valyria was at full strength. On the one hand, their obsessive devotion to fire would position them as allies to dragonriders. On the other hand, most of them were slaves bought by the temple. Regardless of their religious indoctrination, at least some of them should have held some deep resentment towards the Freehold’s rulers in their hearts. In summary, a population of magically empowered slaves, potentially capable of understanding and utilizing dragon horns, may have existed amidst the dragonlords. Despite their famed religious tolerance, this should have been a matter of great concern and rendered any magical protections against the misuse and theft of dragon horns useless.

3. If dragon horns are unnecessary, what else could their purpose be?

There is at least one simple answer — they are a death trap. If all your enemies are trying their best to identify the key to your power, why would you not provide them with a simple but deadly answer? Should any of them succeed at stealing a dragon horn, it will be to their detriment. If they blow the horn, they die. If they read the inscription, they will drive themselves mad in their attempts to find a safe way to use it (aka becoming immortal). Otherwise, they may simply give up. Either way, they’ll be safely distracted from whatever magic/trick dragonriders truly use.

It is also possible that sounding the horn will indeed bring any nearby dragons to you, but that doesn’t have to be a good thing. The sound could be especially painful, annoying, or rage inducing to them. Luring in nearby dragons without controlling them would be dangerous enough by itself. We have seen that dragons could be trained to obey specific commands, but I somehow doubt that Victarion’s foreign language vocabulary would be up to the task.

And, more specifically, which dragon would it control? We must presume that the object was created when dragons were common in Valyria. There could have been many dragons within hearing range. Would the caller control all of them, those that are not yet bound to rider, or just the first one that arrives?

We have never seen a dragon rider control more than one dragon, especially not at once. But if they could, why were there so many competing houses in old Valyria? One House would have tried to gather all dragons to themselves and toasted everyone else, eventually.

Or was the dragon horn designed for one specific dragon who is long dead?

A loudspeaker that could bring all nearby dragons to one location would have been useful when you need to coordinate the armies of old Valyria (or if you want to call your flame-throwning pets to dinner).

Regarding the potential plot of potential future books, a long distance dragon-attractor could at least be used to bring Daenerys back to Meereen, as she is currently somewhat lost.

4. If Dragonbinder is useless, why would Euron Greyjoy even bother sending his brother to Meereen?

It may be more appropriate to ask why he would give such a (presumably) valuable tool into the hands of Victarion, who was his strongest rival during the Kingsmoot. He could assume that Victarion is either too stupid or too loyal to use the instrument for his own gains, but it still makes little sense to send it with him. He doesn’t really need it to deliver a marriage proposal.

Still, if Victarion dies, either because his journey proves to be too perilous, or because his bedmate keeps poisoning him, it is a win for Euron. If Victarion tries to use the dragonhorn himself, he’ll likely die, and it is a win for Euron. If Victarion does exactly what he has been told to do and brings Daenerys to him, or at the very least establishes a diplomatic connection between them, it is a win for Euron. Even if the dragonhorn somehow ends up in Daenerys’ hands, Euron can still win because her death by mysterious magical object would remove a powerful player from the game board.

Sending a large part of the army away during a war to kill Victarion still seems excessive and unnecessary. But if he dies at the other end of the world, surrounded by his armies, no one can accuse Euron of kinslaying. Eurons’ sudden and unexpected arrival directly after Balon Greyjoys tragic and completely accidental death was already very suspicious. Should he plan to remain King for a long time, he may need to maintain at least a modicum of respectability, especially if he wants to interact with other political entities, such as Daenerys.

The fact that Pyat Pree and some of his companions from the House of the Undying have been Eurons’ unwilling guests for some time is also relevant, because Dragonbinder could have come from them. Unless we believe that Euron Greyjoy really traveled to Valyria.

The warlocks know that Daenerys is an inexperienced dragonrider, and very willing to look for magical solutions. After all, why else would she have entered the House of the Undying when all of Quarth seems to avoid it? Even the warnings written on the hellhorn might not deter her, as she already survived a burning pyre and could possibly consider herself semi-immortal. We should at the very least expect them to make an assassination attempt after she burned their Undying (but not fireproof) House down.

5. If dragon horns are not the key component of dragon-mind control, what is?

The dragonlords declared themselves to be kin to their dragons. An interesting tale that unfortunately explains nothing because our relatives don’t necessarily obey us.

Beyond that, the lore of Game of Thrones seems to give us two options. One of them involves simply training your dragons. Both the show and the books have proven that it is possible for dragons to obey simple commands. The dragon keepers shown in House of Dragons do rely on them, and many have theorized that the dragonrider Nettles gained the loyalty of Sheepstealer, the dragon, by buying him dinner over a long time.

This may be problematic in practice, though. Imagine the dragon and its rider flying high above their enemies and allies. The rider gives the code word for attack, though they probably have to shout to be heard across the wind. How does the dragon know whom to assault or what target to prioritize? Even if their rider pointed, they likely could not see that, because they don’t have eyes on the back of their head.

It could be possible for a dragon to react to the movements of their riders, the way horses can do, but I doubt that a beast as ancient and thick-scaled as old Vhagar would even notice if some puny human on its back tried to give them signals by kicking, punching or whipping.

The only alternative that the text has given to us is skinchanging, because if this method can be used to control a variety of animals and humans, why would it not work on dragons?

Throughout the history of house Targaryen, we see them demonstrate their ability to control dragons through some mysterious method. Furthermore, some of them, such as Daeron the Drunken and Daemon Blackfyre II, have strange and often misleading dreams and visions, riddled with animal symbolism such as dragons and eggs (both of which actually seem to represent people).

Beyond the wall we are introduced to the concept of skinchangers, capable of controlling a variety of animals, and greenseers, who experience strange visions filled with symbolism such as winged wolfs, or maidens with serpents in their hair. These dreams are also hard to interpret and often misleading. If the symptoms are the same, why do we assume that the disease is something different?

“Only one man in a thousand is born a skinchanger,” Lord Brynden said one day, after Bran had learned to fly, “and only one skinchanger in a thousand can be a greenseer.” “I thought the greenseers were the wizards of the children,” Bran said. “The singers, I mean.” “In a sense. Those you call the children of the forest have eyes as golden as the sun, but once in a great while one is born amongst them with eyes as red as blood, or green as the moss on a tree in the heart of the forest. By these signs do the gods mark those they have chosen to receive the gift. The chosen ones are not robust, and their quick years upon the earth are few, for every song must have its balance. But once inside the wood they linger long indeed. A thousand eyes, a hundred skins, wisdom deep as the roots of ancient trees. Greenseers.” -A Dance with Dragons, Bran III

There are some physical differences between Valyrians and Wargs beyond the wall. Jojen Reed and many gifted children of the forest are said to have a fragile constitution, while the Targaryens have often proclaimed themselves to be immune to illnesses. Yet, some Targaryen’s have died to illnesses while the known Warg, Brandon Stark used to be an active and athletic child before his fall. His siblings, who also show some signs of being skinchangers, have never been described as sickly either.

I will not speculate as to whether these two groups could share some common ancestry, as it does not matter. Useful adaptations often appear more than once in evolution. The same may be true for fictional evolution.

We furthermore see that while some skinchangers may be more powerful than others, it is ultimately a skill that needs to be learned and practiced.

He chose one bird, and then another, without success, but the third raven looked at him with shrewd black eyes, tilted its head, and gave a quork, and quick as that he was not a boy looking at a raven but a raven looking at a boy. -A Dance with Dragons, Bran III

While Bran can easily see through Summer’s eyes, he struggles to fully control the wolf. This, in theory, could explain why Daenerys has such a hard time with Drogon. She is a new dragonrider who has no one to instruct her and Drogon is gone from Meereen for much of her stay. Furthermore, her rule over Meereen seems to give her many sleepless nights. Being bedridden for such a long time could have been very beneficial for the development of Bran’s skinchanging abilities.

Most of the evidence for Targaryens being skinchangers comes from Fire & Blood and it’s adaptation, unsurprisingly, as it is only here that we see dragons and their experienced riders interact regularly.

Was the wounded dragon, with his half-healed broken wing, driven by some primal instinct to return to his birthplace, the smoking mountain where he had emerged from his egg? Or did he somehow sense the presence of King Aegon on the island, across long leagues and stormy seas, and fly there to rejoin his rider? Septon Eustace goes so far as to suggest that Sunfyre sensed Aegon’ s desperate need. – Fire & Blood, The Dying of Dragons

Despite his injuries and his lack of a GPS tracking system, Sunfyre managed to return to Aegon II. We can also be reasonably certain that he did not simply return to his birthplace, as the dragonkeepers and the residents of the castle should have noticed that. Instead, he remained mostly hidden from the population of Dragonstone until Aegon II was prepared to take the castle. Of course, if he had a mysterious and magical horn to bind Sunfyre, its strange sound could have brought his Dragon back to him. However, at that time he was traveling disguised as a commoner, and an expensive-looking horn, approximately six feet long, might have gotten him caught.

Arya still dreams of Nymeria while she is far away in Braavos, and Ghost could find Jon after they were separated by the wall. For a skinchanger, such a connection is possible.

The death of Lady Rhea Royce at the hands of her husband Daemon Targaryen in the show adaptation is another suspicious incident. Startling her horse by walking up to it, while hoping that it throws her, and that the fall injures her gravely, and that her frightened horse doesn’t kick him in the face, is certainly a long shot, as far as assassination attempts go.

The best part is all of this happening in line of sight of her castle. I suppose if someone had come to her aid, he could have just called his dragon and burned the castle full of witnesses while telling the world it was a tragic kitchen fire.

Daemon’s arrogance and recklessness have been highlighted throughout the series, so this idiotic ploy isn’t really out of character. Still, if he had some trick up his sleeve (such as being able to control the actions of her horse) the entire scene would make more sense.

The tragic death of Joffrey Velaryon, who was thrown off by his mother’s dragon Syrax, is another piece of potential evidence.

It was only when the watchers on the roof heard Syrax roar that the prince’s absence was noted. That was too late. “No” the queen was heard to say. “I forbid it. I forbid it,” but even as she spoke her dragon flapped up from the yard, perched for half a heartbeat atop the castle battlements, then launched herself into the night with the queens’s son clinging to her back, a sword in hand.

“After him!” Rhaenyra shouted. “All of you, every man, every boy, to horse, to horse, go after him. Bring him back, bring him back, he does not know. My son, my sweet son…” Fire & Blood, The Dying of Dragons

Rhaenyra knew that her dragon would reject the child. No Targaryen ever had more than one dragon, after all. Does this mean that despite being a dragonrider himself, Joffrey did not understand his own ability? If there was some ritual or magical instrument involved, he likely would have known as those may require his active participation.

To me, this implies that Joffrey’s connection with his dragon occurs subconsciously, without thinking. He does not know how it works because he never needed to. The Stark children don’t seem to be fully cognizant of their connection to their wolves, either.

But what would happen if two skinchangers are mentally attached to the same dragon.

Then he realized he was not alone. “Someone else was in the raven,” he told Lord Brynden, once he had returned to his own skin. “Some girl. I felt her.” -A Dance with Dragons, Bran III

Whenever two skinchangers meet, in any shape they may wear there seems to be a moment of instant recognition.

Their eyes met. Warg! Then the two rushed together, wolf and direwolf, and there was no more time for thought. The world shrank down to tooth and claw, snow flying as they rolled and spun and tore at one another, the other wolves snarling and snapping around them. – A Dance with Dragons, Bran I


We also know that it is possible to seize control of an animal already enthralled by another.

None of them had been as strong as Varamyr Sixskins, though, not even Haggon, tall and grim with his hands as hard as stone. The hunter died weeping after Varamyr took Greyskin from him, driving him out to claim the beast for his own. No second life for you, old man. Varamyr Threeskins, he’d called himself back then. – A Dance with Dragons, Varamyr

Some form of instantaneous confrontation may have taken place within Syrax’s mind, causing her erratic flight pattern. Regardless of whether Joffrey won this fight (though Rhaenyra may have forfeited it in order to save her child), it was too late, as he couldn’t hold on to the dragons back long enough.

It is interesting to note that Syrax does not return to Rhaenyra after killing its unwanted rider. If the queen had any way to call the dragon back, she’d have surely done so to join the search for her son. Instead, Syrax continues on in pursuit of Joffrey’s goal, the dragonpit. Maybe she was drawn by the violence, and maybe a part of Joffrey still lingered within her.

As to why the she-dragon didn’t stay in the air and rained fire on the insurgents from a safe distance, we don’t really know if rider-less dragons have ever acted in this manner at all. The deliberate destruction of entire cities or other structures from a safe distance is very much a human thing. A dragon left to its own devices may only attack those he wants to eat and those who have provoked or startled it. That is, if they act like other predatory animals.

If skinchanging is a skill based on some genetic predisposition, it could not be stolen by some foreign power and it explains the dragonlords obsession with incest based blood purity.

Still, if the gift of skin-changing is all that is required, some random Warg should have seized a dragon at some point. Jaehaerys I at least believes this to be possible.

“If those eggs should hatch, there will be another dragonlord in the world, one not of our own house.” -Fire & Blood: Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I

Dragons being a rare and endangered species, endemic to volcanic habitats, may explain why this has not occurred. House Targaryen reared most of their dragons at their Stronghold in Dragonstone, and denied outsiders access to them. The Rulers of old Valyria may have done the same.

Furthermore, the Valyrian Freehold ignored Westeros for most of their history. By the time House Targaryen was settled on Dragonstone, the Children of the Forest with all their skin-changers and greenseers had long been driven beyond the Wall, and the Andals had hunted down most of those who claimed to possess any of these rare gifts.

Even if, at some point in ancient history, there was a dragonrider far beyond Valyria, they may not have been able to start their own dynasty. Varamyr Six-Skins tells us that none of his children inherited his power, which indicates that it is not a dominant gene (insofar as real-world genetics can be applied to a fantasy setting). Furthermore, incest is a taboo among Wildlings (with the notable exception of Craster).

Though it is unclear what came first, an isolated population in the mountains of Valyria that resorted to incest by necessity, allowing the warg-gene to manifest in a particularly strong form, or the realization that their children were often incapable of dragon riding if their blood was intermixed with outsiders.

The text has indicated that all young Starklings may possess some degree of this talent. That would seem to contradict the presumed rarity of skinchangers, unless we remember that while the nobility of Westeros may eschew marriages between siblings, they regularly wed their cousins and the same houses intermarry repeatedly. Their gene pool is therefore relatively small. Though we have not been given any information on their lineage, House Tully is likely related to every other noble House in the Riverlands, including House Blackwood, a family famously associated with skin-changing. And both House Targaryen and House Stark have intermarried with them in the recent history.

Nonetheless, there is a possibility that the concept of dragon horns was added in the series at a later point in time to magically make up for changes in the timeline that could hinder the development of the skill for Daenerys and other potential dragonriders. Maybe.

Joanna Lannister: a dream or a clue

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
Joanna Lannister: Speculation about her purpose

We have always been told that Lady Joanna Lannister died giving birth to Tyrion, but then there is this dream sequence. (Obviously this is a fan theory, so spoilers everything ASOIAF)

That night he dreamt that he was back in the Great Sept of Baelor, still standing vigil over his father’s corpse. The sept was still and dark, until a woman emerged from the shadows and walked slowly to the bier. “Sister?” he said. But it was not Cersei. She was all in grey, a silent sister. A hood and veil concealed her features, but he could see the candles burning in the green pools of her eyes. “Sister,” he said, “what would you have of me?” His last word echoed up and down the sept, mememememememememememe. “I am not your sister, Jaime.” She raised a pale soft hand and pushed her hood back. “Have you forgotten me?” Can I forget someone I never knew? The words caught in his throat. He did know her, but it had been so long . . . “Will you forget your own lord father too? I wonder if you ever knew him, truly.” Her eyes were green, her hair spun gold. He could not tell how old she was. Fifteen, he thought, or fifty. She climbed the steps to stand above the bier. “He could never abide being laughed at. That was the thing he hated most.” “Who are you?” He had to hear her say it. “The question is, who are you?” “This is a dream.” “Is it?” She smiled sadly. “Count your hands, child.” One. One hand, clasped tight around the sword hilt. Only one. “In my dreams I always have two hands.” He raised his right arm and stared uncomprehending at the ugliness of his stump. “We all dream of things we cannot have. Tywin dreamed that his son would be a great knight, that his daughter would be a queen. He dreamed they would be so strong and brave and beautiful that no one would ever laugh at them.” “I am a knight,” he told her, “and Cersei is a queen.” A tear rolled down her cheek. The woman raised her hood again and turned her back on him. Jaime called after her, but already she was moving away, her skirt whispering lullabies as it brushed across the floor. Don’t leave me, he wanted to call, but of course she’d left them long ago.-AFFC Jaime VIII

Now, I don’t think that there is anything strange about Jaime dreaming of his mother. Or at least I wouldn’t If it weren’t for the fact that she goes out of her way to point out his lack of a hand.

This particular dream sequence takes place a while after Jaime’s funeral vigil.

At that particular time, Jaime was so exhausted and sleep deprived that any conversations he had might not completely register with his brain. Though I must admit that the likelihood of hallucinations was also increased. The fact that, rather than seeing Jaime hallucinate his mother’s presence at his father’s bier, which would not have been out of place, we see him dream about that day after some time has passed. That is suspicious to me. Converting a memory into a dream that takes place much later could be a way to disguise a scene that would have given too much away. The reappearance of reportedly dead characters is also very common throughout a Song of Ice and Fire. Joanna Lannister being alive could very well be possible, all things considered.

Of course, if she really is alive and well, the real question would be: What is the narrative purpose of Joanna Lannister in the story? These books are already quite long, so why waste pages on a character that does not add something vital?

1. The false myth of the great Tywin Lannister

The first option that I can think of would be the continued unraveling of Tywin Lannister’s myth, as that man valued his reputation and that of his house more than anything. That he died with a whore in his bed certainly means that Cersei’s belief in her father’s love and devotion to her long dead mother must be questioned.

Of course, the obvious proof of Tywin and Joanna’s less than happy marriage has been here all along.

His father’s mouth grew hard. “Your brother’s birthright?” “The knights of the Kingsguard are forbidden to marry, to father children, and to hold land, you know that as well as I. The day Jaime put on that white cloak, he gave up his claim to Casterly Rock, but never once have you acknowledged it. It’s past time. I want you to stand up before the realm and proclaim that I am your son and your lawful heir.” Lord Tywin’s eyes were a pale green flecked with gold, as luminous as they were merciless. “Casterly Rock,” he declared in a flat cold dead tone. And then, “Never.” -A Storm of Swords Tyrion I

Tywin’s persistent refusal to consider Tyrion as his heir (or son) must be noted. It does not matter whether this rejection is motivated by a willful denial of a child he considers his greatest humiliation or by his sincere belief that Tyrion is not his son.

Either way, every time he rejects Tyrion, he automatically questions Joanna’s fidelity. We don’t know when he came to this conclusion, or whether there is any truth to it, but it certainly means that things turned sour in their marriage. Was he so unable to accept Tyrion as his son that he forsook his wife? Was their marriage ever a love match?

Remember, Tywin’s father Tytos was still alive when he wedded Joanna and legally, he could have been the one to arrange his son’s marriage, as he did for his daughter Genna. Which automatically invalidates the following statement.

The scurrilous rumor that Joanna Lannister gave up her maidenhead to Prince Aerys the night of his father’s coronation and enjoyed a brief reign as his paramour after he ascended the Iron Throne can safely be discounted. As Pycelle insists in his letters, Tywin Lannister would scarce have taken his cousin to wife if that had been true, “for he was ever a proud man and not one accustomed to feasting upon another man’s leavings.” –A world of Ice and Fire Aerys II

There is some indication that Tywin was happy in his marriage, but of course this does not tell us anything about Joanna’s feelings. And any statement of Maester Pycelle, Tywins’ most devoted fan, should be regarded with some skepticism.

“Only Lady Joanna truly knows the man beneath the armor,” Grand Maester Pycelle wrote the Citadel, “and all his smiles belong to her and her alone. I do avow that I have even observed her make him laugh, not once, but upon three separate occasions!” -A world of Ice and Fire Aerys II

As Queen Rhaella exiled Joanna from court not long after her marriage to Tywin their marriage would have been a long-distance relationship, as Tywin’s duties would have kept him in King’s Landing for most of the year. This probably would not help their marriage.

“Jaime,” she said, tugging on his ear, “sweetling, I have known you since you were a babe at Joanna’s breast. You smile like Gerion and fight like Tyg, and there’s some of Kevan in you, else you would not wear that cloak . . . but Tyrion is Tywin’s son, not you. I said so once to your father’s face, and he would not speak to me for half a year. -AFFC Jaime V

If Tywin and Tyrion are truly so much alike, regardless of the degree of their relatedness, it could mean that they react to a betrayal similarly. Ask Shae what that means. Tywin’s fear of kinslaying (Joanna was still his cousin) could have been enough to save her life, in this scenario, but every other form of abuse would still be an option. Lord Tywin is not known to be gentle or forgiving and the more he truly loved her, the worse his reaction.

A divorce would have brought too much shame to House Lannister. Tywin would not choose this option. And Joanna would not have this choice. This means either Joanna left, fearing Tywin’s anger, (though it would not be easy for a woman to flee so shortly after childbirth) or he quietly exiled her from their home, possibly by sending her to the silent sisters, as he has done with other inconvenient women. There is also the suspicious timing of House Martell’s visit.

A queer time to come visiting. His mother had died giving him birth, so the Martells would have found the Rock deep in mourning. His father especially. Lord Tywin seldom spoke of his wife, but Tyrion had heard his uncles talk of the love between them. In those days, his father had been Aerys’s Hand, and many people said that Lord Tywin Lannister ruled the Seven Kingdoms, but Lady Joanna ruled Lord Tywin. “He was not the same man after she died, Imp,” his Uncle Gery told him once. “The best part of him died with her.” -A Storm of Swords Tyrion V

Did Lady Joanna request assistance from her old friend, the princess of Dorne. Was the timing of her pregnancy suspicious enough to endanger her? Joanna visited Kings Landing (and therefore Aerys) at some point in the year before Tyrion is born, that much is known. But Tywin was there as well. Did Aerys drunken remarks finally trigger Tywin to the point that he no longer trusted his wife (and made her life hell)?

Even if the Martells arrived too late to meet Joanna, this could still be a hint that she may have reached out to others or made preparations to leave. Joanna would have ruled the household at Casterly Rock during her husband’s long absences. Surely there would have been someone among her servants and relatives who would have been willing to assist her. All of this requires her to be somewhat prepared, though. Still, if she truly knew the man under the armor, she would have known his wrath too.

While all of this is largely speculation, Joanna’ survival undermines Tywin’s reputation in any case.

2. A+J=J+C

While the revelation of Joanna’s survival could have a profound effect on Jaime, it is unlikely to change his course in any way or have any particular effect on his personal arc. There is another theory, though, that would affect his sense of identity. The often-discussed A+J= J+C.

If the world of Ice and Fire is any indication, rumors about an affair between Joanna and Aerys must have been far spread. Otherwise Yandel, the Lannister lickspittle author of A World of Ice and Fire would not mention them at all. He only does so in a futile attempt to dismiss them.

Ironically, Jaime and his siblings may be the only ones who haven’t heart them, for the same reason that the Stark children have not heard about Ashara Dayne. Few people would want to tell their bosses children unsavory rumors about their parents.

Theories that involve the parentage of this character or that, are difficult to prove or disprove, as there usually aren’t many witnesses. In the absence of paternity test kits, Joanna Lannister would probably be the only truly reliable source of information when it comes to the parentage of Jaime, Cersei…and also Tyrion. So, if any of these theories are meant to be true, she needs to be alive in order to prove them.

3. Trouble with the faith militant uprising

The third option involves Joanna’s apparent position as member of the faith (or as someone who is pretending to be one). Cersei is not on good terms with the current High septon. Should Jaime return to Kings Landing, he’ll be drawn into the conflict. If either of them had access to knowledge or assistance from an insider, it might help them at a crucial time. It is unlikely that Joanna Lannister is currently close to the High Sparrow and his militant and radicalized followers, though.

4. Another valonqar…

There is another potential consequence of Joanna Lannister’s continued survival: She could have had more children. And thus, there would be more potential valonqars, for Cersei. It has already been discussed that the Valyrian language knows no gender, thus any new half-brother or half-sister would do.

The same for Inkpots, whose true name appeared to be Tybero Istarion. “Tybero?” said Tyrion. “That sounds almost Lannister. Are you some long-lost cousin?” –ADWD Tyrion XII

Tyrion seems to think that any name beginning with Ty- could be a Lannister name. While he is likely just joking around, it should be noted that most occurrences of such names are indeed within house Lannister, or among the admirers and lickspittles of this house. While I don’t think it that strange for a foreigner such as Tybero to have such a name, Tyene Sand is another matter.

And what of me?” asked Tyene. “Your mother was a septa. Oberyn once told me that she read to you in the cradle from the Seven-Pointed Star. I want you in King’s Landing too, but on the other hill. The Swords and the Stars have been re-formed, and this new High Septon is not the puppet that the others were.-ADWD The Watcher

Tyene Sand was born approximately three or four years after Tyrion Lannister. Her mother has been described as a Septa and not as a silent sister, but this distinction means little. The people of Westeros have no means to identify a traveling stranger, and any woman that dresses and prays like a Septa would be treated as such by the locals. Attending Tywin Lannisters funeral in Kings Landing would bring Lady Joanna (if it is her) close to many past acquaintances, thus the added layer of anonymity that comes with a silent sister’s veil would be necessary. She would need to permanently disguise her identity anyway.

Why would Joanna Lannister have any children with Oberyn Martell? (We don’t really need to explore Oberyn’s motivations in this scenario, or do we?) Who knows. Oberyn’s mother has been noted to be a close friend to Joanna, so they might have been in contact. And he can be very charming…

Tyene was raised by her father, though, and is currently headed towards King’s Landing pretending to be a member of the faith. Meanwhile, Cersei is constantly surrounded by Septas and novices, none of whom she knows well. Of all the many potential Valonqar candidates Tyene is the only one who combines the murderous intent towards Cersei (and her kids) with the necessary skills and the easy access. Moreover, Tyene’s preference for poisons means she is familiar with the tears of Lys…

“And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.” – AFFC Cersei VIII

Of course, Tyene’s Septa mother could simply originate from a lesser branch of house Lannister, but what would that add to the story?

Snow (the Show) or the problem with Bran 2.0

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
Another review of the show ending

A new show has been announced, starring Jon Snow…

Not much is known about it beyond the fact that it is supposed to be a continuation of Jon Snow’s story after the events of season eight somehow…

I don’t know anymore than anyone else, but I’m allowed to speculate wildly.

Personally, I think that watching Jon Snow patrol amongst the few surviving wildlings whilst traveling across vast areas of abandoned land could probably induce depression in its audience, albeit in a scenic way.

I don’t quite see how any show with such a limited scope would fit within a series that has always been so focused a politics on a greater scale as well the perspectives of many conflicting characters. It would only work if Jon Snow takes his wildlings South to bring down the wall, but that should probably already have happened within the main series.

And if the white walkers were to trouble Jon Snow again, this would carry dark implications about Bran. After all, if he told the truth about their motivation, any surviving Ice person would be compelled to hunt down Bran. In which case they can just walk through the giant hole in the wall in secrecy, bypass the whole north, and build a zombie army once they are near the ruined remains of King’s Landing, climb through more holes and deal with the king directly. Maybe they’ll have to wait for colder weather, but that shouldn’t be so hard. And if the king is so all knowing, he’d know about this threat too.

My weird next option is based on my previous post (that you may have to read because otherwise things won’t make much sense), that revolved around something being very off with Bran. To summarize it there may be multiple explanations to this. King Bran having usurped another, more suitably kingly body such as Jon Snow (dark, I know, but it would certainly explain why his character seems to be not quite there in later seasons) and the season finale being based on Bran’s self-serving interpretation of a vision/dream/prophecy (which would explain the complete lack of any sense or politics) are among them. A combination of these two is also possible. The others being Bran’s tools/allies is also part of it.

Should these scenarios apply, Snow would not really be a continuation to season 8, but a reset to whenever Bran’s plans fall apart or are otherwise revealed. This could be the Hodor moment or Jon Snow’s re-aliving. Or both simultaneously. Would that mean that much of the later seasons would have to be repeated with a mildly different spin? Not necessarily. Flashbacks are a possibility. At the very least, there would be much more politics. And Queen Cersei never made any sense whatsoever…

We don’t know how much information Bran truly has about the future. If he only has prophecies and songs, it won’t be much. Even if Bran truly has access to all information past and future simultaneously, he’d still have to digest all that information, sort through it draw his own conclusions. That takes time, and he might not have it. Not if the children of the Forest are his true enemies.

If the later parts of the show truly represent Bran’s interpretation of a vision/prophecy, it will probably turn out mostly wrong as there is no reason to assume that a young boy would not be fooled by something that seems to fool everyone, especially Melisandre. Interpreting these visions in a way that revolves around themselves, their fears and desires, seems to be a common theme.

The books seem to differentiate between at least two or three types of true (or false) visions. First there are greendreams or dragondreams, both of which seem to include symbolic imagery. Targaryens usually see dragons instead of their human counterparts, while Jojen Reed described his vision of Bran as Winged Wolf. If this was Bran’s vision type, he could have seen a winged wolf on the iron throne and assumed his own victory. But of course, if Jon is half-dragon, he too could fit the description. And Sansa is also associated with Birds/wings…

Melisandre’s visions seem to include real faces as well as symbols, but she too seems to fail at correct interpretations, regardless. We have no way of knowing if these visions were sent by the red god in answer to her questions or by another mage who is trying to guide her somewhere for his own purposes. For all we know these dreams could just be random ripple effects in the planets magical field (not the force, that name is already taken), caused by drastic events or magically powerful people, and received by those who are magic-field sensitive and/or have glass candles.

The third type of sight involves warging into an animal and seeing through its eyes. There may be implications that this can work across vast physical distances …and time too? Though maybe that only works if those animals were connected to the weirwood.net…

Of course, I don’t know what type of vision show-Bran’s journeys to Winterfells past and the tower of joy are supposed to represent. Warging into a past animal and ignoring it to save CGI money???No clue.

If Bran clearly saw a person upon the iron throne, this carries even darker implications, as he might not have seen his own body (that thing is too broken for the heroics he desires) but have simply assumed that it is a body he could take over at some point.

From a storytelling perspective, there are numerous reasons why a rivalry between Jon and Bran would fit. The first outline of the story supposedly already included it, but it was scrapped (are we so sure about that). Think about it. Bran is the boy who would love to climb the wall and fight great battles, and Jon is the one who actually gets to do that. Jealousy could certainly be a factor. Jon is also the one who stays at the wall while his family is out there dying (not exactly his choice, but still). And he’s also said this:

“I have no sister. Only brothers. Only you.” Lady Catelyn would have rejoiced to hear those words, he knew. That did not make them easier to say. His fingers closed around the parchment. Would that they could crush Ramsay Bolton’s throat as easily. – A Dance with Dragons Jon VI

As Bran is apparently a creepy stalker through time, there is no reason to assume he did not hear that. I know that many assume that it is Bloodraven who is spying through the raven, and that may be true, but this doesn’t exclude future Bran. Jon is trying to show a tough facade to his subordinates and trying to hide his doubts. Bran could believe his words, though. There is also that weird conversation:

“Oh, yes. Even a stunted, twisted, ugly little boy can look down over the world when he’s seated on a dragon’s back.” Tyrion pushed the bearskin aside and climbed to his feet. “I used to start fires in the bowels of Casterly Rock and stare at the flames for hours, pretending they were dragonfire. Sometimes I’d imagine my father burning. At other times, my sister.” Jon Snow was staring at him, a look equal parts horror and fascination. Tyrion guffawed. “Don’t look at me that way, bastard. I know your secret. You’ve dreamt the same kind of dreams.”

“No,” Jon Snow said, horrified. “I wouldn’t …”-A Game of Thrones Tyrion II

If Bran was listening to this, he may have believed Tyrion, especially if his resentment towards Jon was already strong. It could also explain show-Bran’s bizarre trust in Tyrion, of all people. At the very least, he would have considered him to be a useful ally in the destruction of house Lannister.

A weirwood.

It seemed to sprout from solid rock, its pale roots twisting up from a myriad of fissures and hairline cracks. The tree was slender compared to other weirwoods he had seen, no more than a sapling, yet it was growing as he watched, its limbs thickening as they reached for the sky. Wary, he circled the smooth white trunk until he came to the face. Red eyes looked at him. Fierce eyes they were, yet glad to see him. The weirwood had his brother’s face. Had his brother always had three eyes?

Not always, came the silent shout. Not before the crow.

He sniffed at the bark, smelled wolf and tree and boy, but behind that there were other scents, the rich brown smell of warm earth and the hard grey smell of stone and something else, something terrible. Death, he knew. He was smelling death. He cringed back, his hair bristling, and bared his fangs. Don’t be afraid, I like it in the dark. No one can see you, but you can see them. But first you have to open your eyes. See? Like this. And the tree reached down and touched him. –A Clash of Kings Jon VII

We don’t know what timeline version of Bran is contacting Jon here. On the surface level he seems to help Jon build his warging talents. There is no reason to assume that any version of Bran would not want to give Jon the option of a second life. It must be noted that the death smell here could indicate that this Bran may be at the edge of death, and would therefore try to hatch any plan to give himself another chance at life. And that may require a connection with Jon and/or his body.

Another thing to consider is that Ghost differs from the other direwolves. Jon could hear him at their first meeting despite Ghosts apparent absolute muteness. As many across the internet have speculated, this could indicate him being the direwolf-warg equivalent, in which case Jon may have the option to return to his (hypothetically) re-alived body. (Don’t ask me how, the internet is full enough of theories).This could be the thing that Bran didn’t expect. Ghost’s strong negative reaction here could also foreshadow a conflict between the three of them.

No matter whether Snow takes place in the future or resets to a past moment, I do believe the conflict between Bran and Jon has to be at its center.

Daenerys Targaryen: Mad or mislearned

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
Daenerys Targaryen: Mad or mislearned

(note: This obviously contains spoilers for the book and show and everything a song of Ice and fire in general. It’s also unbeta’d and english is not my first language, so prepare for some mistakes…sorry. Also, I am neither a stan nor a hater of Daenerys, I’m simply trying to understand her character arc. And why do I believe that it is even necessary to mention this.)

The sanity of Deanerys Targaryen is certainly one of the most debated subjects after watching the final episodes of the show. She suddenly burned a lot of people after making a considerable effort to spare the city before this point. Some may argue that this is not their Dany. Others may state that the signs of Daenerys being a mad queen are all over the series, and they certainly have many good points.

I don’t think that walking into your husband’s burning pyre is considered to be a sign of good judgment or mental stability by anyone’s standards. You may say that she somehow “knew” that the Dragons would hatch and that she might be some type of chosen one hero, but then I’d have to state that seeing signs and believing yourself to be divinely chosen are also not great indicators of sanity either. (Though to be fair, if I continue with this line of argumentation, I will probably end up declaring any person with a strong spirituality or religious faith insane, and I’d rather not go there.) As her husband and child died shortly before her walk into the fire, the possibility of a complete mental breakdown should be considered. Depressed and with no idea how to go on, a miracle may have been her only hope. If so, this does not mean that she is generally insane, but rather that she’ll break under specific circumstances.

Her increasing obsession with prophecy and betrayal is another concern, of course.

Her mental health is not the only issue to consider, though. The Daenerys Targaryen that we meet at the beginning of the series is still a frightened girl and not the far-traveled city sacking queen she will become. She continues to learn, grow and evolve all throughout the series. The show actually repeatedly has Daenerys thank her enemies (Mirri Maz Dur and Ducksauce) for the lessons they taught her. There is such an odd emphasis on these scenes…

So, I must wonder, what did she learn in these moments? Who are her teachers? What is her education in general..? GRRM has once stated that Dany would benefit greatly from reading Fire and Blood, his fictional history book, and to me that indicates that she has no access to any information inside this book…and that this lack of information is very important for her future.

Level of education

Well, Daenerys astutely summarizes it herself:

“I know less than I should of the history of my father’s kingdom. I never had a maester growing up.” Only a brother. -AdwD -Daenerys VIII

Though, there is one thing we definitely know for sure:

Whitebeard had been teaching her how best to count the numbers of a foe. “Five thousand,” she said after a moment. -ASOS Daenerys IV

…she can count reasonably well (despite what some TV producers may say).

When I think of Daenerys formal education, the first question I have to ask is: By what standards shall I measure it? There is no official lesson plan in Westeros, in fact most of its population is illiterate. So, I need someone to compare her to, ideally someone in a similar position. Someone who intends to rule. The first choice is obviously Aegon. We do know something of his education, at least.

The lesson began with languages. Young Griff spoke the Common Tongue as if he had been born to it, and was fluent in High Valyrian, the low dialects of Pentos, Tyrosh, Myr, and Lys, and the trade talk of sailors. The Volantene dialect was as new to him as it was to Tyrion, so every day they learned a few more words whilst Haldon corrected their mistakes. Meereenese was harder; its roots were Valyrian as well, but the tree had been grafted onto the harsh, ugly tongue of Old Ghis. “You need a bee up your nose to speak Ghiscari properly,” Tyrion complained. Young Griff laughed, but the Halfmaester only said, “Again.” The boy obeyed, though he rolled his eyes along with his zzzs this time. He has a better ear than me, Tyrion was forced to admit, though I’ll wager my tongue is still more nimble.

Geometry followed languages. There the boy was less adroit, but Haldon was a patient teacher, and Tyrion was able to make himself of use as well. He had learned the mysteries of squares and circles and triangles from his father’s maesters at Casterly Rock, and they came back more quickly than he would have thought. -ADwD -Tyrion IV

“The boy is bright. You have done well by him. Half the lords in Westeros are not so learned, sad to say. Languages, history, songs, sums … a heady stew for some sellsword’s son.” -ADwD Tyrion IV

That boys’ teachers and sponsors sure were overachievers. It would be unfair to compare his level of education to Daenerys, who unlike him actually lived in poverty, had no reliable protectors, and really was on the run (even if the Usurper’s knifes only existed in her brother’s head). Comparing her to somewhat more average young Westerosi nobles might be more appropriate.

While Jon Snow has never shown the great passion for scholarly learning that is exhibited by characters such as Tyrion and Sam Tarly, he has nonetheless experienced the same maesterly education that was passed unto his trueborn half-brother, the future Lord of Winterfell. We may therefore assume has he possesses all the information and skills that the Westerosi society expects to find in their leaders.

This includes reading and writing in the common tongue of Westeros as well as some knowledge of High Valyrian. An overall overview of Westerosi history and its most important figures and events (though without the details and analyses that a true scholar might indulge in). Numbers, accounting, some very basic economic insight and basic facts about religion. He may not be a follower of the faith, but he likely spent enough time with his siblings to have a basic grasp on the seven gods and their tenets. Laws, customs and military strategies would all have been a part of his curriculum. Beyond that we have the martial training that is a crucial part of a Westerosi nobles’ education.

For Daenerys the level of her formal education is hard to pinpoint, and this part requires a great deal of guesswork and reading behind the lines. We know she has lived an unsteady life moving from one city to another. Logically, her education should have been equally disjointed. Viserys, her unstable brother, would have been her primary teacher for the simple reason that he was always there. His own formal education was interrupted at the age of eight as he fled into exile. It is very likely that Darry’s chief concerns in exile were the protection of his charges and the acquisition of future allies. Although combat training is considered to be a crucial part of male noble education in Westerosi culture, we’ve been told that Viserys has no significant proficiency in this area.

His fingers toyed with the hilt of his borrowed blade, though Dany knew he had never used a sword in earnest. -Deanerys I AGOT

This indicates that his education certainly deviated from the norm. Another relevant question would be how much of his own knowledge Viserys would have passed on to Daenerys, who was after all only a young girl in a very misogynistic society. Beyond looking pretty and having babies, very little would have ever been expected of her.

When Daenerys is wed to Khal Drogo, she is given a particular gift:

“These are no common servants, sweet sister” her brother told her as they were brought forth one by one. Illyrio and I selected them personally for you. Irri will teach you riding, Jhiqui the Dothraki tongue, and Doreah will instruct you in the womanly arts of love.(GoT p.98)

There is one notable conclusion this gift leads to: according to Illyrio and Viserys, she would only need three skills for her future life. Nothing else was expected from her. If this is any indication for her overall education, it would mean that there was never a formal schedule to her learning. Whenever one of the nobles who sheltered Viserys and Dany throughout the years thought that she needed a particular skill, they would send someone to teach her. Their priority would have been her acclimatization with the language and customs of whichever city she resided in at that time. Her diverse language skills are likely the strong -point of her education.

When she was alone on the road with her brother, his half-knowledge and deluded fairy tales would be her sole intellectual nourishment.

Viserys had told her all the tales when she was little. He loved to talk of dragons. She knew how Harrenhal had fallen. She knew about the Field of Fire and the Dance of the Dragons. One of her forebears, the third Aegon, had seen his own mother devoured by his uncle’s dragon. And there were songs beyond count of villages and kingdoms that lived in dread of dragons till some brave dragonslayer rescued them.-ADwD-Daenerys II

Considering the age at which Viserys education was disrupted, his (and therefor Dany’s) education level may be closer to Bran than Jon.

But even if Daenerys was given no formal training by others, there is still the possibility of educating herself with books:

“Ser Jorah Mormont apologized for his gift. “It is a small thing, my princess, but all a poor exile could afford,” he said as he laid a small stack of old books before her. They were histories and songs of the Seven Kingdoms, she saw, written in the Common Tongue. She thanked him with all her heart.”-AGoT Daenerys II

“A queen must listen to all,” she reminded him. “The highborn and the low, the strong and the weak, the noble and the venal. One voice may speak you false, but in many there is always truth to be found.” She had read that in a book.  ASoSDaenerys I

“Bring me the book I was reading last night.” She wanted to lose herself in the words, in other times and other places. The fat leather-bound volume was full of songs and stories from the Seven Kingdoms. Children’s stories, if truth be told; too simple and fanciful to be true history. All the heroes were tall and handsome, and you could tell the traitors by their shifty eyes. Yet she loved them all the same. Last night she had been reading of the three princesses in the red tower, locked away by the king for the crime of being beautiful. -ASoS Daenerys IV

Dragons are fire made flesh. She had read that in one of the books Ser Jorah had given her as a wedding gift. – ADwD-Daenerys I

“One of them. All I know of dragons is what my brother told me when I was a girl, and some I read in books, but it is said that even Aegon the Conqueror never dared mount Vhagar or Meraxes, nor did his sisters ride Balerion the Black Dread -ADwD Daenerys VIII

The quotes above give us a few hints in that regard.

1. Daenerys is very willing to learn and therefor likes books

2. Her happiness at being given a bunch of old fairy-tale books indicates that she never actually owned any books and regards them as precious. (Viserys surely would have sold any books before his mother’s crown)

3. She shows a preference for fairy-tale books.

4. It is possible that all her book knowledge comes from Ser Jorah’s books. The “a queen must listen to all” quote definitely sounds like something that belongs into a kid’s story about Queen Alysanne the Good.

5. She considers her brother to be of equal value as a source of information, probably because she lacks alternatives.

6. She treats all her book knowledge as highly factual, even when it comes from kid’s books.

Another skill set whose lack should be considered includes all the abilities Sansa is known for. Sewing, singing, dancing, poetry and courtesies. I’d argue that she is a very polite and respectful person, however most of these skills are never mentioned in any Dany chapter. A lack of competence in these areas may seem completely unimportant for a ruler, but for her integration into Westerosi noble society these soft skills can be vital. Daenerys often maintains a strong facade as she fills the typically masculine role of a sole ruler. While this is understandable considering her background, it will also isolate her even further from her noble peers.

The real question is, of course, what’ll be the consequences of her lack of historical knowledge. Well, there are some possibilities here. She might not know what and how important guest right is. She may not understand how influential the faith of the seven is. She may truly believe herself to be immune to disease, even though the history of house Targaryen has disproven that. One could say that all those who don’t understand history will be condemned to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors.

Life experience

A character might live through an event that changes their perspective or teaches them a lesson. Daenerys has seen a lot more of these events than other people of her age. I will go through some examples and try to examine how these occurrences may have shaped her perspective.

1. Protecting the weak

For Daenerys, her failed attempt to save the slave girl Eroeh was likely a pivotal experience. She was temporarily successful by appealing to her husband for the girl’s protection. Khal Drogo agreed that she was not to be harmed. Whether he did so because Dany convinced him of the value of mercy or because he simply wanted to please his hot young wife is unknown to us. However, she did not convince the whole Khalasar and thus when Khal Drogo died the girl was raped to death, anyway.

How could this tragedy have affected her world view? She never directly tells us, so we must consider the options.

– She might have come to realize that the Dothraki culture is inherently brutal and cannot be changed by a few simple commands. A great deal of time and education may be necessary for them to understand her morality. If this were the lesson that she learned here, she would distance herself from her Dothraki companions or consistently try to educate them at least. She also would not recruit a Dothraki army for her future conquests as she knows they are overly violent and hard to control, or at the very least she wouldn’t let near any vulnerable civilians. (Remember, the Dothraki will leave their leaders to die if they cannot ride on their own, so if Daenerys should ever be severely injured or otherwise bedridden while the Dothraki are in Westeros, they will leave her behind and go on a rampage of vengeance. Their culture will not be changed that quickly.) -It is very unlikely that this was her takeaway message in this instance.

 What other lessons could she have learned here:

– There is no mercy for the weak in this world. So Deanerys must always be strong, shed no tears and let no one see her fear, lest she end like Eroeh.

– The world is cruel and full of savages who cannot make good decisions. So, Daenerys will have to be the one that makes all the decisions for them in the future, in order to protect the innocent.

– Power that does not belong directly to her can easily be taken from her. Without her husband’s authority, she was nothing to his people. If this was the lesson she learned here, her future self will be unwilling to depend on the claims and authority of her future husbands and allies. She will have to rule in her own right.

All in all, it is unlikely that she has learned anything positive here.

It would like to note that this event directly parallels Jon saving Sam from being beaten and tormented to his eventual potential death by Alliser Thorne. Jon Snow does the opposite of Daenerys though, and appeals to the mercy and sense of his companions; convincing, bribing or intimidating them one by one and actively working around the people in a position of authority.

One reason Jon Snow succeeds while Deanerys doesn’t is a shared sense of morality and culture between him and his companions. While Westeros is large and the north and south are often at odds in their history, all the Night’s watch men were raised on the same stories. Songs of knightly valor and courage. The strong protect the weak, and so on. Though many of these men are criminals, they none the less share the same basic concept of wrong and right with Jon Snow, which is why his arguments are heard and understood. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s very well spoken and persuasive.

What could Jon Snow have learned on this occasion?

-The vast majority of people, no matter how questionable or lowly their upbringing may be, can be reasoned with.

-People are capable of making good choices for themselves, even when the authority figures can’t.

-How to subvert authorities

2. The Birth of her Dragons

While most onlookers believed that Daenerys had gone mad and would burn in her dead husband’s pyre, she somehow knew that this was not the case. How could this event affect her future decisions?

– She was rewarded for following her dreams and instincts, ignoring all those who doubted her, and is therefore more likely to continue doing so in the future.

– Her belief in supernatural forces and her own special nature was likely reinforced. She may think of herself as a chosen one. Though, in truth, we have no idea what happened in that pyre, and neither does Daenerys.

– She has seen that magic can work. Despite her lack of understanding or the unpredictable nature of magic, she may be very willing to consider magical solutions, even if they include blood sacrifice and alienate her allies in the future.

3. Failed peace in Meereen

All throughout her stay in Meereen we see Daenerys make numerous sacrifices to maintain the peace. She locks up her Dragons because they endanger her people; she delays her return to Westeros indefinitely because she will not leave her freedmen vulnerable; she reopens the fighting pits to keep them entertained; she marries a guy who bores her to restore peace. Even the slavetrade is allowed to return, though that was everything she fought against.

And it was all for nothing.

We do not yet know what situation will await Daenerys when/if she returns to Meereen but we do know that she will see that her hard-won peace has failed despite her best efforts.

So, what could be the lesson she takes away from all this:

“The Wise Masters should follow their example. I spared Yunkai before, but I will not make that mistake again. If they should dare attack me, this time I shall raze their Yellow City to the ground.” -ADwD Daenerys III

“Yes, make it so.” Westeros. Home. But if she left, what would happen to her city? Meereen was never your city, her brother’s voice seemed to whisper. Your cities are across the sea. Your Seven Kingdoms, where your enemies await you. You were born to serve them blood and fire -ADwD Daenerys III

Well, here are some suggestions:

– Dany’s desires to protect her people and avoid destruction were exploited to pressure her into a marriage and many unhappy compromises. Future her might be unwilling to show any care or kindness for her people, so that they cannot be used against her.

– She could be a lot less willing to seek peaceful solutions if she believes them likely to fail and backfire.

– Daenerys spared the city of Yunkai before. She’ll regret having done so. In the future, she’ll leave no enemies alive because she’ll think that they’ll attack her the moment her back is turned.

– As her counselors and husband failed to maintain the peace in her absence, she may have less faith in her future allies and advisors. The fact that she will probably never truly know what exactly happened in Meereen (the survivors will accuse each other) could exacerbate this.

– She may realize that the Meereenese were never her people anyway, so it’s best not to get involved in the struggles of strangers. In this case, future her will be indifferent to the fate of uninvolved third parties.

– Daenerys may even consider Daario’s suggestion to kill off all the slavers at a summit to be an efficient solution, in retrospective.

Role models (or the lack thereof)

Dany would not lack for counsel -ADwD Daenerys III

…but she does lack for good counsel.

All human beings are shaped by their social environment to some degree. For better or for worse. So, the question is who are her role models, her counselors, her friends and her teachers.

Jorah Mormont: A Westerosi slaver in exile. He remains unrepentant and justifies his crime by having been a fool in love. His loyalty is built on his physical attraction to her. As a seasoned warrior and mostly rational thinker, he is one of her more reliable sources of advice and information. He is also a creep that has tried to manipulate her into a sexual relationship more than once. A desire to see her become a good and well-educated queen is clearly not his main motivation Considering his background, freeing slaves also isn’t that relevant to him. And then there is this great piece of advice:

“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her. “It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” He gave a shrug. “They never are.” -AGoT Daenerys III

He has successfully convinced her that Viserys hopes are delusional. So far, so good. But this stands in stark contrast to the fact that we know that there is a peasant rebellion/ uprising of the faith going on in Westeros. If Daenerys will not try to win the favor of the small-folk, due to the advice of a man so carelessly arrogant and elitist that he’d enslave poachers without regrets, then she is going to have a big problem.

Barristan Selmy: A highly capable knight with a great reputation. Unlike most of the queen’s court, he is not outright perving on her, but he’s still comparing her to his onetime love-interest Ashara Dayne (which is a little creepy). Daenerys thinks of him as a grandfather-like figure and often asks him to tell her stories about her family. She also tells him to shut up every-time he tells her too much truth about said family. Despite the great value he places on honor and loyalty (which usually means serve until death in Westeros) he has switched sides repeatedly while simultaneously being unable to gainsay or criticize his kings (because that is not his duty). Even if he survives the battle for Meereen he’ll probably never complete his stories about house Targaryen because Dany does not want to hear them. But if Aegon seems like a better king, he might switch sides again.

Daario Naharis: Amoral, but pretty and deadly. Another man whose (questionable) loyalty to Daenerys is built on his attraction to her. He has proven himself to be very capable of turning against his closest allies, and if his allegiance to her is truly based on her looks, and not some other hidden motive, then he’d logically leave her the moment he meets someone prettier. He consistently advises Dany to embrace her most violent inclinations and win her battles through violence and cunning. Definitely not a good influence.

Grey Worm: Loyal, devoted, and a competent soldier. He was enslaved as a child, forced to endure a training regime that killed the many of its participants. Mindless obedience has been drilled into him all his life. He will likely be a loyal and unquestioning follower to the woman who freed him. Outside of combat situations he has little experience, though.

Missandei: Her scribe and translator. Clever and (probably) loyal. As a former slave she is highly deferential and unwilling to criticize Dany, who views her as a child and will easily set her concerns aside.

Irri, Jhiqui and Doreah: These young girls who were given to Daenerys Targaryan as a wedding gift and have been serving as her handmaids and teachers ever since. Though Doreah died, the other two still remain in Dany’s service and have joined the search parties send out for her and Drogon. It should be noted that while they are young girls her own age, and Dany has freed them from slavery, they never function as her equals or confidantes. They are not well educated and filled with superstition.

Reznak mo Reznak: He represents a member of Meereens old elite whose presence helps to facilitate the transition between regimes. At least in theory, that is what he appears to be. His talent for staying in power and surviving the various regime changes that occur must be noted. Depending on what theory you prefer, he may be exactly as he seems to be, the Harpy or her co-conspirator, or simply a Littlefinger-like opportunist that plays all sides.

Skahaz mo Kandaq aka. The Shavepate: A Ghiscari noble who shaved off his hair as a sign of loyalty to Daenerys. He advises Daenerys to use violence, intimidation, and torture. After Hizdahr removed him from his post, he conspired with Barristan to remove him from power, thereby breaking the peace Daenerys sacrificed so much for. As for his true intentions,…who knows.

Galazza Galare aka the Green Grace: A Meereneese priestess whom Dany considers to be a valued adviser and a “voice for peace” in Meereen. According to numerous, highly believable, fan theories, she may the Harpy herself. It is suspicious that the attacks on the freedmen stop when Daenerys agrees to consider marriage to her chosen candidate, Hizdahr zo Loraq.

Quaithe: The mysterious, masked shadowbinder who was a part of Dany’s welcoming committee in Quarth. While Dany quickly saw through the overly helpful facades of her other hosts ( Xaro Xhoan Daxos and Pyat Pree), she was never able to determine Quaithe’s motivations or allegiances. She has repeatedly appeared to Daenerys (sometimes via. dreams or visions) and given her cryptic warnings about anyone who could be her potential ally, as well as nonsensical directions. I do believe that if Quaithe truly meant to help her, she’d speak plainly and explain herself. But if her intentions are less benign, she is doing a great job at confusing Daenerys and increasing her distrust towards advisors and allies.

Mirri maz Dur: A Lhazarene priestess and healer enslaved by the Dothraki horde. Dany prevents the Khalasar from murdering her and immediately has a great deal of respect for her advice and wisdom. That trust is quickly betrayed when her husband is turned into vegetable and her unborn child dies. Despite the fact that Mirri maz Dur lied to her, Dany nonetheless believes in her nonsensical curse/prophecy. It appears to me that Daenerys is especially vulnerable to these wise, mysterious mother-like figures. Her own lack of a mother, or any female role model, could be the cause of that.

Some may hope that Tyrion Lannister will arrive at her court and set things right, but I doubt this. Given his vengeance obsessed mentality all throughout ADwD it is improbable that he’ll be very focused on helping Dany to further her education or improve her skills at ruler-ship. He has a vendetta in Westeros, and that’ll overrule his concern for the stability of Slavers Bay. Whatever advice he gives her will be meant to move her to Westeros quickly.

While there are a lot of shady people at her court, there are some influences that are completely absent. There is no Donal Noye who will tell she is an idiot, when she is an idiot. There is no competent ruler by whom she could be inspired. There is no aspirational female role model for her anywhere in her life. Furthermore, there are no equals. She has experienced life as an agency-less almost slave, and as a revered queen above all, but never been part of a group.

Her personal mantra

If I look back, I am doomed, Dany told herself … over and over

On the one hand, this sounds like an attempt to build confidence, to focus on the future and not on the pain and loss of the past. On the other hand, she denies herself the opportunity to reflect on her mistakes and misgivings or to question the path she is following. Does she really want to be the queen of Westeros or is she simply following the path of her mad brother’s dreams? How did the peace at Meereen fail, truly? Could she have foreseen the betrayal of Mirri maz Dur?

Without careful analysis of her past mistakes, she may repeat them.

It is known vs. You know nothing, Jon Snow

It is known, that is a recurring sentence in Dany’s chapters, and it is often associated with superstitious nonsense. One may assume that it indicates a certain mentality within certain characters.

“You are foolish strawhead slave,” Irri said. “Moon is no egg. Moon is god, woman wife of sun. It is known.”

“It is known,” Jhiqui agreed-Daenerys III AGoT

I mention the Dunning-Kruger effect at this point because while it is usually associated with intelligence (or rather with the fact that unintelligent people constantly overestimate their intelligence) it is also associated with skill and competence. This means that an individual who knows only a little about a specific subject/skill (math, logic, knitting) will overestimate their skill-level. As their experience grows, they’ll usually realize how little they know and give a more appropriate estimation of their own skill. So essentially you need to know at least a bit about something in order to know that you know nothing.

With this in mind, Jon Snows personal mantra of cluelessness could actually show a certain level of experience and a willingness to question one’s beliefs and gather further knowledge.

And of course, I have to contrast this with Danys “It is known” theme. Because that would indicate the exact opposite, namely confidence in one’s own beliefs, even if true knowledge is absent.

Now, to be fair, it is usually Dany’s Dothraki companions who make that remark, and not her. She constantly questions herself and is very self-aware. This is her reason for staying in Meereen -to learn how to be a ruler, because (unlike many other nobles) she knows that nobody is born with that innate competence (though she still believes she was born with that innate right).

And yet Dany spends years living with her Dothraki companions, feels at home amongst them. She cannot help but absorb parts of their culture and worldview. Anyone would, Jon Snow certainly embraces the wildling perspective more and more.

GRRM has repeatedly been criticized for the creation of the one-dimensional Dothraki culture (and their amazingly hot soup), they appear as violent and ignorant, and not much else. But I think we have to consider the option that this was done somewhat intentionally. Being bad teachers and providing a negative cultural influence may be part of their purpose within the narrative. Supplying Dany with a convenient army is the other part of their job, of course.

We are all shaped by our environment to some degree -that cannot be helped. But even if Dany managed to resist the cultural influences that surround her — her own self- image would still be built in comparison and contrast to the people around her. This means as long as she less ignorant and narrow-minded than her Dothraki handmaids, she can consider herself to be reasonably well educated. As long as she is not as cruel or callous as the slavers and Dothraki, she can maintain the self-image of herself as a kind person. If she proves herself capable of defeating the wise masters and their allies, she can consider herself an accomplished leader. And yet, in Tyrion’s chapters, the leaders of Yunkai are treated as a joke due to their sheer incompetence. Not only is she surrounded by negative influences-they also set an incredibly low bar when it comes to the standards Daenerys can use to evaluate her own character.

Daenerys has proven herself to be to be an extremely determined leader all throughout the series. Neither her allies nor her enemies truly understood her desire to free the slaves. She has repeatedly ignored them and followed her own instincts. And we cheered for her when she did so. Considering the overall quality of her counselors, we can’t really judge her for ignoring them. That does not mean that their advice was always bad, Jorah Mormont certainly had good reasons to try to stop her from marching into a funeral pyre. It also does not mean that all her future nay-Sayers will be wrong.

When the Dragonqueen finally arrives in Westeros, she’ll be an experienced warlady, and her own mental self-image will reflect that. She will furthermore believe that she is coming home, when in reality Westeros, with its history and traditions, is just as foreign to her as slavers bay. But I believe she may not adapt to the change in her cultural and political environment as quickly and willingly as she did before.

Conclusion

In theory, many of her problems could still be remedied before her arrival in Westeros. She could still find a library of dry and factual history books. A trustworthy and competent counselor may still come to her court. And yet, considering everything that has happened to her so far, that seems unlikely.

If an author who is focused on character development continues to surround one (or several) of his characters with bad teachers and negative role models, and furthermore rewards them for irrational or violent choices (walking into pyres and city sacking), I have to assume that this is intentional. And I have to assume that he’s trying to make a point and will therefor continue to do so.

If you look at crime statistics or the background of prison inmates in real life, a large part of them were shaped by certain factors in their upbringing. They were often raised in poverty, are poorly educated and surrounded by negative role models. Many were the victims or witnesses to abuse, which has led them to normalize violence. A violent upbringing often results in violent adults. Of course, many of these factors also contribute to mental trauma, and can ultimately cause mental illness. If one can commit crimes in the real world without being truly mad or evil, I don’t see why Dany would have to be either of these in order to bring war and devastation to Westeros.

Daenerys Targaryen began her story as an abuse survivor who determinedly tried to help others like her:

Dany handed the slaver the end of Drogon’s chain. In return he presented her with the whip. The handle was black dragonbone, elaborately carved and inlaid with gold. Nine long thin leather lashes trailed from it, each one tipped by a gilded claw. The gold pommel was a woman’s head, with pointed ivory teeth. “The harpy’s fingers,” Kraznys named the scourge.

Dany turned the whip in her hand. Such a light thing, to bear such weight.-ASOS Daenerys III

“Unsullied!” Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bell chiming with every stride. “Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see.” She raised the harpy’s fingers in the air . . . and then she flung the scourge aside. “Freedom!” she sang out. “Dracarys! Dracarys!” .-ASOS Daenerys III

But all her idealistic attempts to avoid unnecessary bloodshed failed. The Wise men she installed as rulers in Astapor did not last long, the Wise Masters thanked her for sparing Yunkai by attacking Meereen, and the Meereneese peace, built on painful compromise, resulted in chaos and war. Ultimately, only one method will bring Daenerys her victory over Slaver’s Bay.

In the smoldering red pits of Drogon’s eyes, Dany saw her own reflection. How small she looked, how weak and frail and scared. I cannot let him see my fear. She scrabbled in the sand, pushing against the pitmaster’s corpse, and her fingers brushed against the handle of his whip. Touching it made her feel braver. The leather was warm, alive. Drogon roared again, the sound so loud that she almost dropped the whip. His teeth snapped at her.

Dany hit him. “No,” she screamed, swinging the lash with all the strength that she had in her. The dragon jerked his head back. “No,” she screamed again. “NO!” -ADWD Daenerys IX

And that is violence.

By the time she arrives in Westeros she will have learned how hopeless peaceful solutions are because she has always failed in this regard (though the reasons for this failure are complicated and manifold, but Daenerys won’t know this because she does not look back, and her counselors cannot be relied on when it comes to an objective error analysis), so why would she try it again in Westeros. And she’ll have learned how effective and inevitable violence is because she has always succeeded in her conquests (and earned the devotion of countless slaves while at it). She’ll furthermore rely even less on her advisors (whose opinions she already ignored a lot before) and follow her own instincts, for better or worse, she has been hardened to abuse and criticism.

She wanted to be a good ruler, but all her life has taught her is how to be a force of destruction. I cannot tell if she is insane or not, but I can tell that with all that has happened to her, she is very likely mislearned.

If her character arc was meant to show us the vicious cycle of violence (the abused becoming the abuser) it would still be painful to watch, but it would be a great deal more meaningful than spontaneous madness.

(or at the very least that’s what I think about this subject.)

A tiny theory: The blue rose and house Tyrell

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
Some random theory

The theory in short is this: BookDaenerys will marry Willas Tyrell, and the blue flower in ice wall vision she received in Quarth will be a part of her motivation.

“Then phantoms shivered through the murk, images in indigo. Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth. A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him. Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman’s name. . . . mother of dragons, daughter of death . . . Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies . . . Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . .” -ACOK Daenerys IV

This vision has often been analyzed and discussed in the fan forums. And whenever the readers of ASoIaF debate this subject, it is often assumed that this a hint of a future relationship with Jon Snow. There are several reasons he is associated with this image.

  1. Lyanna’s crown of blue roses: a hint at the relationship and potential secret marriage between Lyanna and Rhaegar, that may have resulted in the birth of Jon Snow. It could imply his legitimacy.
  2. The tale of Bael the Bard: a wildling tale wherein a stolen Stark daughter is replaced with a blue rose and later gives birth to a son. The son is adopted and raised as heir to his grandfather. Thus, the blue rose is connected to stolen Stark maidens and their children.
  3. The wall: it just so happens to be that Jon Snow is a member of the Night’s Watch and therefore associated with that giant block of ice.

These are often considered to be allusions to Jon Snow and his secret parenthood. And I agree with that. But the real question is –how would Dany ever know any of this. She hasn’t read the books. We often see her ponder the visions she received. Her actions and reactions are guided by them as well.

“A dead man in the prow of a ship, a blue rose, a banquet of blood . . . what does any of it mean, Khaleesi? A mummer’s dragon, you said. What is a mummer’s dragon, pray?” –ACOK Daenerys V

“Daenerys. Remember the Undying. Remember who you are.”

“The blood of the dragon.” But my dragons are roaring in the darkness. “I remember the Undying. Child of three, they called me. Three mounts they promised me, three fires, and three treasons. One for blood and one for gold and one for …”

“Your Grace?” Missandei stood in the door of the queen’s bedchamber, a lantern in her hand. “Who are you talking to?” -ADWD Daenerys II

“No. Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun’s son and the mummer’s dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal.”

“Reznak? Why should I fear him?” Dany rose from the pool. Water trickled down her legs, and gooseflesh covered her arms in the cool night air. “If you have some warning for me, speak plainly. What do you want of me, Quaithe?” -ADWD Daenerys II

“Ser Jorah urged her to go, but Dany remembered a dream she had dreamed in the House of the Undying. “They will not hurt me,” she told him. “They are my children, Jorah.” She laughed, put her heels into her horse, and rode to them, the bells in her hair ringing sweet victory. She trotted, then cantered, then broke into a gallop, her braid streaming behind. The freed slaves parted before her. “Mother,” they called from a hundred throats, a thousand, ten thousand. “Mother,” they sang, their fingers brushing her legs as she flew by. “Mother, Mother, Mother!” – AsoS Daenerys IV

When Reznak and Skahaz appeared, she found herself looking at them askance, mindful of the three treasons. Beware the perfumed seneschal. She sniffed suspiciously at Reznak mo Reznak. I could command the Shavepate to arrest him and put him to the question. Would that forestall the prophecy? Or would some other betrayer take his place? Prophecies are treacherous, she reminded herself, and Reznak may be no more than he appears. -AdwD Daenerys II

She is looking for some form of guidance or direction, and desperately hopes to find it in the vague words and images she has received. An unwise choice as we’re told repeatedly that prophecies mislead those that heed them.

 “Not that I would trust it. Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is . . . and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time.” He chewed a bit. “Still . . .” –AFfC Samwell V

“Prophecy is like a half-trained mule,” he complained to Jorah Mormont. “It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head. That bloody widow knew the ship would never reach her destination, she warned us of that, said Benerro saw it in his fires, only I took that to mean … well, what does it matter?” –ADWD Tyrion IX

The point I’m trying to make is that Dany does not have access to the same information that the audience has, and that the likelihood of her receiving this info upon or before her arrival at Dragonstone is pretty low. She will look for hints and signs all around her, then.

The tale of Bael the Bard is wildling lore, and Jon Snow first hears of it when he’s north of the wall. It’s logical to assume that neither the northmen nor the southrons have ever heard of it. The only way Daenerys will hear this story is either by meeting a lot of wildlings, or by somehow being told about it by Jon Snow. It is widely known that Rhaegar crowned Lyanna, and not his wife. But who will remember what flower that crown was made of?

So, the hints of Jon Snow secret parentage and his blue rose association are not common knowledge in Westeros, and the only way Daenerys will ever hear any of this is if GRRM goes out of his way and places the few right sources of information on Dragonstone upon her arrival. And when we consider how misleading prophecies are meant to be, that may be exactly what he won’t do, at least not until it is too late.

The next question is how will Daenerys interpret the blue Rose vision in absence of any hints about Jon Snow. Well, she might ask around a bit, and what is the first thing any southron would mention when asked about roses – House Tyrell. Of course, the Tyrell rose is not blue – but winter roses are, and as it will be winter then, she may simply interpret it as a reference to the season. I could also state that the show Tyrells seem to be wearing blue an awful lot. And then there is Loras first appearance:

“When the Knight of Flowers made his entrance, a murmur ran through the crowd, and he heard Sansa’s fervent whisper, “Oh, he’s so beautiful.” Ser Loras Tyrell was slender as a reed, dressed in a suit of fabulous silver armor polished to a blinding sheen and filigreed with twining black vines and tiny blue forget-me-nots. The commons realized in the same instant as Ned that the blue of the flowers came from sapphires; a gasp went up from a thousand throats. Across the boy’s shoulders his cloak hung heavy. It was woven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape. -GoT Eddard VII

Willas Tyrell could very well follow this trend and show up in all blue garments.

The last part of the vision is the wall of ice but Dany needn’t interpret that as hint at a person, she could instead consider it a location she has to go to with Willas Tyrell.

Of course, it’s another question whether and when he’ll show up at Dany’s court. But I’d argue that he may be one of the first Westerosi to seek an alliance with her. If the show (or bookCerseis issues) is any indication the Tyrell-Lannister alliance is unlikely to last much longer, and the breakup may very well result in the death of Margaery and Loras. Aegon might be considered the next best candidate, but it is unlikely that he’ll be willing to become the fourth husband to Margaery (if she is still alive by then). His advisors will be set against that. And the Tyrells have been aiming for a crown all throughout the story. Another point is Mace Tyrell, who is marching against Aegon and JonCon at Storm’s End. I have seen a number of theories that suggest he might die there, or at least be captured or humiliated. If so, there will be bad blood between the Tyrells and Aegon.

House Tyrell may be desperate for allies by the time Dany arrives, and they’ll almost certainly suggest a marriage. As Daenerys considers the Tyrells to be one of the few houses that maintained their loyalty to her father, she may be willing to indulge them. It doesn’t hurt that they are also one of the (food) richest houses of Westeros. Objectively Willas Tyrell will be one of the best candidates for a marriage alliance, especially when compared to someone like Jon Snow the bastard, oath breaker, and ruler of a poor, endangered and starving land.

It’s also worth mentioning that no marriage between Daenerys and Jon Snow ever happened in the show, for the dumbest and most absurd of reasons. If we assume that bookDany was already married to someone else, this makes a bit more sense. Of course, it’s also possible that ShowJon was merged with Aegon and so on. The show isn’t the most reliable source of information here.

So yes, I think that Daenerys will fall into the prophecy trap and marry a Tyrell. Don’t forget that house Tyrell was founded by a steward, and due to the flowery scent of roses, they can also be considered as perfumed.

Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal. – Daenerys II ADwD

Garth the Gross, a steward of house Tyrell, who sort of creates his own scent, may even be a perfumed seneschal twice over. And Jon Snow may also qualify. He is often associated with the blue rose and was a steward of the Nights watch, obviously. And then there is the entire crew of the stinky steward, including Tyrion and Jorah.

The perfumed seneschal could very well refer to a theme rather than an individual. All her Westerosi allies may be problematic. Going to Westeros really would be a bad idea for her then.

The future Lord Frey

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
A Frey Theory

To summarize this theory, Big Walder Frey has a plan (though it might not be entirely his own) to become the future Lord Frey. This plan is not entirely stupid or unrealistic and encapsulated in one word -marriage. The many Freys who are further ahead in line of inheritance are not his competition, only one of them truly is (or rather was) -Little Walder Frey.

Big Walder Freys great ambition:

 “We’re cousins, not brothers” added Big Walder, the little one. “I’m Walder, son of Jammos. My father was Lord Walder’s son by his fourth wife. He’s Walder son of Merrett. His grandmother was Lord Walder’s third wife, the Crakehall. He’s ahead of me in line of succession even though I`m older”.

“Only by fifty-two days”, Little Walder objected.” And neither of us will ever hold the twins, stupid”.

“I will”, Big Walder declared. “And we’re not the only Walders either. Ser Stevron has a grandson Black Walder, he’s fourth in line of succession, and there is Red Walder, Ser Emmon’s son, and Bastard Walder, who isn’t in the line at all. He’s called Walder Rivers, not Walder Frey. Plus, there’s girls named Walda.”

-Bran I ACOK

This sure seems like a big ambition for one small boy, though young boys in general are not known for realism.

When considering most of what we have observed of him, he seems to be the more intelligent of the young Frey boys. He’s also not as overtly brutish as Little Walder, or at the very least much better at concealing this aspect of his personality and befriending other people. His reactions to the death of his relatives and other people seem cold and apathic, to be sure. It seems strange that He’s the one proclaiming his determined intent to be the next Lord Frey, when childlike and socially inappropriate boasts like this seem to align more with Little Walder’s character.

Is there any chance he could murder his way to lordship?

Killing so many Freys, most of which are older and more experienced, may either require extraordinary skill, superpowers or an army. Or at the very least, the vast amount of money necessary to hire an assassin of some skill. For a family this large an army of assassins might be more appropriate.

Big Walder cannot expect to have any of these. And even if he had the means to murder all his relatives, he’d run into a logistical problem, the same problem that UnCat or Arya would run into if they were to try some Frey mass murder the way ShowArya did.

Simply put, House Frey is extremely large and far spread and it is almost impossible to get them all to be in the same place at any point in time. First there’s Emmon Frey and his progeny who have moved in with House Lannister in the Westerlands. Still, they might visit occasionally. We also know of an outlaw named Aegon Frey -good luck tracking that one down. The children of Garemy Frey are fostered in the vale. It is of course common practice to send one’s son to be fostered with another house, so we must assume that several young Frey boys are out of the house at any point in time. Then there’re boys in training to become septons or maesters that might not yet have sworn their vows. There are at least two Freys in Bravos. And where the hell is Alesander the singer. Has anybody seen him?

(I actually have a guilty pleasure theory that Alesander Frey was actually Symon Silvertongue. It is very common for singers to choose an artist name. And as House Frey was allied with Robb when he first appeared in King’s Landing, it would have been important to hide his identity. Then there is the fact that Alesanders father was named Symond and that character is associated with silver coins. In this case, Tyrion would have unknowingly started the beloved tradition of turning Freys into supper. Off topic -sorry)

And all the aforementioned are ahead of Big Walder in line of inheritance. If he plans to kill them one by one when they claim their inheritance, he’s going to be busy for a long while.

If Frey-mass murder isn’t an option, what else could he do?

There is a strange oversight in Big Walders count of Freys – and that is all the women in line of inheritance. Now to be fair, GRRM himself has stated that the rules of inheritance in Westeros are often unclear, and therefore the cause of much conflict.

“Well, the short answer is that the laws of inheritance in the Seven Kingdoms are modeled on those in real medieval history… which is to say, they were vague, uncodified, subject to varying interpretations, and often contradictory.”

A man’s eldest son was his heir. After that the next eldest son. Then the next, etc. Daughters were not considered while there was a living son, except in Dorne, where females had equal right of inheritance according to age.

After the sons, most would say that the eldest daughter is next in line. But there might be an argument from the dead man’s brothers, say. Does a male sibling or a female child take precedence? Each side has a “claim.”

What if there are no children, only grandchildren and great grandchildren? Is precedence or proximity the more important principle? Do bastards have any rights? What about bastards who have been legitimized, do they go in at the end after the trueborn kids, or according to birth order? What about widows? And what about the will of the deceased? Can a lord disinherit one son, and name a younger son as heir? Or even a bastard?

There are no clear cut answers, either in Westeros or in real medieval history. Things were often decided on a case by case basis. A case might set a precedent for later cases… but as often as not, the precedents conflicted as much as the claims.

GRRM, SSM 1999

And this:

“A daughter comes before an uncle too. If her brother is dead Karhold belongs to Lady Alys.”

-Jon X ADWD

We are shown repeatedly that daughters can inherit according to Andal traditions, as we meet a number of Lady’s ruling in their own right such as Anya Waynwood and Arwyn Oakheart, both of whom have adult sons. When you consider the fact that women, or descendants of the female line may be able to inherit, the top ten list of potential claimants to the twins by the end of ADWD could look like this:

1. Edwyn Frey – son of Ryman the hanged

2. Walda Frey -Edwyn‘s daughter -a girl of nine or ten

3. Black Walder Frey -Edwyn’s notorious younger brother

4. Perra Frey -daughter of the deceased Petyr Pimple –a girl of four or five

5. Walton Frey – third son of Stevron Frey

6. Steffon Frey -Walton’s son

7. Bryan Frey -Walton’s son

8. Fair Walda Frey -Walton’s daughter

9. Patrek Vance -son of Maegelle, Stevron’s daughter

10.Walder Vance -son of Maegelle, Stevrons daughter

Edwyn, the heir has exactly one daughter, but no son. We do not know why this is the case, maybe there are fertility issues, maybe his wife doesn’t want to look at his constipated face anymore, and maybe some of his kin secretly give them some contraceptive medication (I wouldn’t put it past them). But as nine years is larger than the usual age difference between siblings, some of his relatives might bet on Walda remaining an only child.

Based on all that we know it is conceivable for Walda Frey to inherit before Black Walder Frey. For the rest of the text I’ll refer to this girl as Walda the heiress (though technically she’s the heir’s heiress but that’s a tad too long) to differentiate her from all the other Waldas.

There are a several reasons why Big Walder might have made this big oversight:

1. The rules of inheritance are complicated, and he is a young boy with an incomplete education, so he simply does not know. Considering the very misogynistic society that he was raised in; it might seem logical to him that women do not inherit. Then again, someone as obsessed with the line of inheritance as this boy would probably figure it out.

2. He knows, but thinks that Black Walder will just kill Walda alongside her father as she is a weak young girl. Or he believes that the Frey’s will ignore the claim of any girl heiress anyway, because misogyny. This is another assumption that some would make, but it also carries an inherent oversight -Black Walder may have a formidable reputation, but he is only one guy and the Frey’s are many. Plus, there are household guards -I assume.

If you were a random member of house Frey, that is not completely braindead, who would you want to rule–the notoriously violent and unpleasant Black Walder Frey or a young girl who might feel indebted to you for your assistance. If Edwyn Frey dies Black Walder will probably be the prime suspect and he is not well liked by his kin.

3. He knows that Walda Frey will probably inherit the twins someday, but he does not want Little Walder Frey to catch on to this. Because it would give his plan away …and also because Little Walder might be his biggest competition.

Which heir would the old Lord prefer?

Another factor we must consider is the intra-house politics of house Frey. The line of inheritance is a big concern for most Freys, especially the old Lord Frey himself. He might not like to think about his demise, but he invested a lot of time in instructing his former heir Stevron on the value of family.

His father was querulous and stubborn, with an iron will and a wasp’s tongue, but he did believe in taking care of his own. All of his own, even the ones who had disappointed and displeased him. Even the ones whose names he couldn’t remember. Once he was gone, though …

When Ser Stevron had been heir, that was one thing. The old man had been grooming Stevron for sixty years, and had pounded it into his head that blood was blood. -ASOS, Merrett

It seems therefore likely that the old man himself has a marked interest in who Walda the heiress’s future husband might be, as they have a good chance at being his eventual successor. And arranging advantageous marriages for his progeny always was something of a hobby for him, anyway. If so, what factors would old Walder Frey consider when he is looking at his young great-great-granddaughter’s potential suitors:

– The creation of lasting political bonds is usually the primary concern when Westerosi nobles marry. Alliances with their neighboring Lords or Liege Lords are important, but marriages that create unity within their own houses also occur regularly. And Old Walder Frey must contend with a great deal of intra-house rivalry due to the sheer number of his offspring. It should really be his priority to end or at least limit this conflict. So, arranging a marriage between some branches of house Frey could be a really good idea.

– What age should they be? I have very little doubt that Walder Frey would marry any of his progeny to a 200-hundred-year-old soul-sucking Lich if he thought this would be helpful to his lineage, but he doesn’t have to do so here. There is no lack of young Frey boys, so he can afford to pick one of the appropriate age. That means that all boys between the age of eight and twelve are prime candidates.

– The schmooze factor. Old Lord Walder could be little bit vain. So, all the Frey’s who name their sons Walder might know what they’re doing. The idea that both the future Lord and Lady Frey are of his blood (and named Walder and Walda) might also appeal to him. Considering the old man’s opinion of Hoster Tully, the poor boy named Hoster Frey might no longer be a candidate for the same reason, though.

– Personal merit, skills and connections. As the most appropriate suitors are very young, it is probably too soon to say much about their talents. Connections are usually built by fostering children with powerful houses, though. The old Lord Frey tried to foster the two Walder Freys with Lord Arryn before fostering them with house Stark. And at that point he was still honest about the alliance. This means that he very much wanted Big Walder and Little Walder to have powerful friends. While it could be said that he is an ambitious and family-oriented man who will try to get the best deal for all of his offspring, it could also mean that he has a marked interest in the upbringing of these two.

We are told that the members of house Frey mostly only trust their full brothers and maybe their full nephews. Old Walder must pay attention to these allegiances if he truly wants to create unity within his house via marriage. So, we can divide house Frey into factions based on which of Walder Freys marriages they were born to, and we may be able to guess which of these factions would be the most useful to the future Lady Frey:

The Royce-Frey faction would include all of Old Walder Freys numerous descendants by his first wife Perra Royce. While this faction is large, it is also the most divided as Emmon and his sons live at Casterly Rock and Edwyn and Black Walder want each other dead. Even though this is Walda the heiress’s own faction it might not be an entirely bad idea to create some unifying bonds within this group.

The Swann-Frey faction. The second Lady Frey only bore two sons, a septon and a pie. Jared the pie didn’t have a lot of children and some of his progeny got axed at the red wedding. This branch is likely too small and unlucky to make good allies.

The Crakehall-Frey branch is the largest, with seven children being born, and all of them having their own kids too. Their Crakehall blood makes them notoriously tough and strong. Hosteen the best Frey warrior is likely the leader of this group. They’d probably be one of the most useful Frey factions. Little Walder Frey is from this branch.

The Blackwood-Freys are likely led by Lame Lothar Frey, castellan of the twins and by most accounts the most ruthless and cunning of this family. He arranged and planned the Red Wedding. Strangely enough, none of the beneficial marriages that take place after the defeat of the Young Wolf include members of his group, though we must assume that Lame Lothar would be able to demand some reward of his father. Big Walder Frey, son of Jammos, is of this branch. If he has any allies or co-conspirators in his plan to become Lord Frey, they’d be found here.

The Rosby-Freys are mostly young adults and therefore a relatively small faction (that includes Roslin).  None of them is close in age to Walda the Heiress. This faction includes some of the nicest Frey’s, some of whom are shown to have sympathies towards house Stark. Not something old Walder would consider to be ideal.

The Farring-Freys are children and therefore likely need support themselves. Furthermore, there are rumors that they may have been fathered by Black Walder and one of them is his squire. It is very possible that they would support Black Walder and not Walda the Heiress.

So Big Walder and Little Walder may very well have been the finalists of the Bachelorette, essentially. They tick more boxes than any other candidate.

Considering Big Walders youth it is entirely possible that he didn’t come up with this plan by himself, and if anybody helped him, it would have been Lame Lothar, his uncle. It just so happens Lame Lothar has four daughters, but no son who could marry the heiress. If he wanted to secure control of the twins for himself or his next of kin, helping Big Walder become the husband of Walda the heiress and therefor the next Lord of the twins would be in his best interest. He is also a notorious schemer who may very well be encouraging the rivalry between Edwyn and Black Walder. Should one of them die, the other could feasibly be tried for murder, and he could then rule through his young, indebted nephew and his bride. As castellan of the twins, he is in a very powerful position, too. He will be amongst the first to hear of the old Lord’s death and may therefore able to put his preferred successor into place.

And that might be Big Walder’s plan on how to become the next Lord Frey. It might also be his motive for killing Little Walder.

As a smart boy, he may have realized how suspicious Lord Manderly is acting. Most people present, did. And if that fat Lord turns out to be a traitor, the betrothal between Little Walder and Wylla Manderly is likely to be broken, making him the clueless chief competitor for Big Walder, once more.

Put alas, Little Walder was conveniently murdered, and now Big Walder (who is totally not the prime suspect) has to do only one thing: get the hell out of the north.

And one more GoT review…

Posted on By lateandlazybutterfly
Another review of the show ending

Because every fan blogger has to have an opinion on this.

The Game of Thrones finale. There must be something wrong-and it cannot just be bad writing.

It might not come as a surprise to anyone who is a part of the Song of Ice and Fire fandom that I have watched the finale of the show -and I got issues with it. Even a year later I still do. The internet is full of opinions and critique regarding the ending of the show, and the miserable implications that it carries for the books that might yet be released someday, and with this entry it’s even fuller.

While there are many things to be said about those final seasons I won’t bother with most of them. In my humble opinion there are two issues I cannot rationalize away with bad writing or budget and timeline problems. What the hell is up with that creepy King Bran and where is the bittersweet ending we were promised–because try as I might I can only interpret it as a bitterokay ending. The latter however is very subjective so I will not discuss it here and just focus on Bran.

What the hell is going on with Bran??

There is so much that feels wrong about this King Bran that I don’t even know where to begin, so let’s start with his election and how it does not fit with most of the world building done in the books.

While I believe that a peaceful election of a new king at the end of the series was the most realistic part of the finale (the background lore is already there) this Great council that they have given us is definitely the low budget version. There should be hundreds of lordlings, all of whom would want to have an input. This council is not only small, but it is also has an unusually large number of Starks. Who the hell gave three votes to the north, but only one to Dorne and the Iron Islands. Maybe this is meant to imply that the north will be in a powerful position at the end of ADoS, but it is still weird.

And what exactly is Davos Seaworth even the lord of. I remember book Stannis giving him some important title, but I’m also pretty sure some other lord (enemy of Stannis) was still sitting on that spot. He doesn’t seem to be powerful enough to belong to that small and eclectic selection of nobles.

Who the hell named Sam Tarly as Grand Maester. Two episodes ago he was a citadel drop out stuck in the north. Did Jon Snow just sit a decade in that dungeon waiting for his trial? Oh, nevermind, it is Sam Tarly…He probably just stole the Bossmaester’s robes so he could help his friend with his difficult trial. The real Grand Maester is now out there somewhere naked trying to get home.

We also have to consider that Bran Stark will probably still be a minor by the end of the series (under 16 years old) especially when we take int account the aborted five-year gap. And yes – we have had several underaged rulers in this series, so it is not impossible, but I should think that after years of war the present nobles may not want another untested youth in a position of power.

Great achievements or great Charisma could overcome the obstacle of Bran’s youth and the lack thereof is my point. Bran sits in his chair all day and talks to no one. His own family is put off by his strange and ominous comments (I may have to list them one day, but I would have to rewatch the show to do that). His only friend Meera Reed has ditched him because she thought he wasn’t himself anymore. Clearly he is the epitome of a charismatic and inspiring leader (not). If Bran were to inherit a title, this wouldn’t matter so much but for him to achieve a majority vote in an election…his social skills are vital (or at least they should be).

And as for his achievements -well who is this three eyed raven exactly and why should anyone care. It is important to note that most Westerosi nobles have been raised by their Maesters to be rational and critical thinkers and therefor will not believe in the existence of the others until they are beheaded by them. And as most southron armies have not contributed in the battles against the undead, most southron Lords will not believe that there ever was a threat. They would likely consider it political propaganda or believe the night king to have been an especially fearsome wildling chieftain.

As for his supposed supernatural powers, that is an even worse argument. You may remember that the faith of the seven is very strong in the south. While the show has somehow killed the entire religious uprising in one explosion, I doubt it will be that simple in the books. Many of the more pious citizens really don’t like any hint of sorcery or any other strange power. As a consequence of this, Tyrion’s entire speech would have turned many nobles against Bran.

Brand achieved nothing that could in any way be observed by anyone…so why on earth would anyone believe it.

Tyrion himself is the next issue. Like him or not, he is one of the most infamous characters in all of Westeros and widely considered to be untrustworthy. His vote of confidence for Bran should not be helpful at all. Choosing him as Hand of the King is also political suicide. (Though Tyrion still wants it very much, just like Bran obviously wants/plans to be King. They are both liars.)

It is also very questionable how many Lords would answer the summons to Great Council issued by foreign invaders who only recently had a kill all prisoners policy. Those few Lords present in that scene may well be the only ones willing to come, and most of them have strong connections to either Jon or Dany. If so, any ruler elected here would widely remain unacknowledged. And no matter how funny it may seem, Edmure Tully is a much better candidate than Bran. He is not too young and very mellow and kind. In conclusion, any election of Brandon Stark would have to include a lot of shady behind-the-scenes deals and some political strong-arming by his northern supporters. And once the north gains independence, he’d lose most of his support.

My next point is of course Bran’s overall suspicious demeanor and dialogue. Even if the showrunners had given him a wheelchair bumper that reads Bad guy Rollz, a mustache to twirl and random surges of cackling laughter- they really couldn’t give the audience any more hints that this is not supposed to be a good guy or even a halfway decent one. This might even imply a Sauron wins scenario for the series. There is something very shady going on with that character, and the showrunners refuse to spell it out to us. And if that’s the case here, where would that lead us.

For most of the story, it was always our own characters and their failures and mistakes that drove the entire plot. First there’s child-defenestrator-Jaime, that is followed by war-catalyst-Catelyn, then the-righteous-ruler-must-rule-regardless-of-consequences-for-the-stability-of-the-realm-or-safety-of-family-Ned.  And that’s just the first book. As readers or viewers, we might be inclined to perceive the characters as villains and hero’s, depending on how much we like them or emphasize with them. We are biased. It is however also possible that they are meant to be flawed characters with conflicted hearts who are at the heart of the conflict because they create that very conflict. (That sentence took longer than it should).

With that thought in mind it makes sense for Dany to be revealed as some type of a tragic, destructive antagonist (though it wasn’t that much of a revelation but I won’t go into that here) who in some form symbolizes the fire (desire) in ice and fire. We do have a problem though because if one of our main characters so obviously represents the destructive nature of humanity with a whole lot of fire it means that another must represent the destruction through ice. Balance and equal representation and all that. Regardless of his name Jon Snow is not a good candidate for destruction through ice as he’s not been shown to be particularly hateful or coldly calculating and hasn’t done anything that looks like large scale destruction/horror/evil (though he has his share of screw-ups too). Also, the entire point of his secret heritage is that he’s fire and ice both. And that probably leads us to Bran. How could the noble King Bran Stark be an enormously flawed and large scale destructive figure in this story? Well lets gather the facts.

1. The show has revealed to us that the others were created by the children of the forest, likely as a weapon of mass destruction against humanity. This information is never mentioned again and leads nowhere. This is either very bad writing or a very suspicious omission.

2. If the children of the forest created something as dangerous as the others, they should logically have the means to control them.

3. The children of the forest are notorious for their skinchangeing abilities. Skinchangeing/warging is essentially mind control. Would they also be able to control magical or dead things this way -that is unknown.

4. In a series that is defined by complicated characters with complicated motives, the others seem to have neither of these things. If they were only ever meant to be a weapon or tool controlled by another faction, this would make sense.

5. Bran Stark might be the most powerful warg ever.

6. The show has shown that Bran can control another body even if it exists at another point in time. Poor Hodor. Timey-whimeyness has therefore been confirmed in Asoiaf (like it or not). Once more the show does nothing with this ability though the implications of Bran controlling any body at any point in history could be massive.

7. Bran Stark is willing and able to take control over the body of another person. He is not limited to his own broken body. He will rationalize and justify it to himself as borrowing.

8. Bran Stark is a sad and bitter child, who likely has the power to watch his family die across the continent and timeline. No clear consequences to that have ever been shown. And there should definitely be consequences to that.

9. At least in the books Bran Stark is still a child that believes in fairytales and has a limited understanding of adult thought processes and politics. Considering the timeline of Asoiaf without the five-year gap and the fact that Bran is in a cave far away from most normal human interactions, this may never change, at least not within the timeframe of the series.

10. Bran Stark always wanted to be a knight and the hero of a story. His chapters in the books show him to be very aware of his own social status. There are some clear indications in the last episode that reveal him as someone who desires wordly power no matter how distant he seems to be.

If Brans story was truly designed to mislead the audience, then the divergence must have already begun as far back as the Hodor moment. No—I don’t mean door holding and the timey-whimey-warg-thing—those parts can stay. It’s the conflict that makes little sense within the context of my theory.

– If the others are warg-directed-tools with no agency of their own, they obviously would not be attacking Bran or the children of the forest.

-If any version of Bran, at any point in time, was controlling the others, at this point in time, he’d never harm Summer or Hodor. That makes no sense.

-Alternatively, the others, or at least their leader, may have gained or regained some form of independence or free will and are now pursuing those who controlled them, once. The situation would then resemble a slave revolt. Of course, they would seek to destroy the remnants of the children of the forest and all those who aid them, especially if it is a warg. Though this begs the question of why now. Why would they have been inactive for such a long time? Maybe they react to increased activity of the children of the forest. Or maybe they know that Bran is powerful enough to re-enslave them. That does not explain why they would hound the wildlings, or why they are building a massive army, though. It’s possible they’d try to grab some land of their own, but then again -why now.

– If neither option applies, then it is possible that the others are being controlled by the children or Bloodraven, but why would they attack Hodor. Well, first we’d have to know why the children would want Bran, or Bloodraven for that matter, to come to them. I may have some ideas:

1. The children of the forest are a dying species. Because of humanity.

2.The creation of the others was a desperate last attempt to defeat mankind. Without the others, they would not stand a chance.

3. Wargs are rare, powerful wargs are rarer. Even amongst the CotF.

4. If the overall population of CotF is small, the likelihood of them being a powerful warg is also small.

5.Wargs may be necessary to control the others. They may either need to be very powerful or very numerous to do so.

6.The reason why no invasions of the others have occurred for such a long time could be the Children’s inability to control their armies. Or at least to control a large enough army. In this case the pact between the first men and the children was broken a long time ago, and the Children of the forest would have been planning humanity’s destruction the whole time.

7. If they don’t have their own Wargs anymore, their only chance would be to find a willing—or unwilling—warg, elsewhere. They may have lured Bloodraven in and then bound him to that weird maybe-hive-mind-network-treething in order to gain some control over him. This would explain why the Others have only been noted to be active for some decades before the story. They plan to do the same with Bran, who is probably a much more powerful Warg and therefor capable of controlling a much larger army.

8. If this is the case, Bran may figure out what is going on and try some kind of escape plan. As his plans would likely involve Hodor and his other friends the Children may kill them to trap Bran. Alternatively, Bran may also gain control over, or form a pact of some kind with the Others. If the children notice what Bran has done, they may come after him and his friends.

9. Overall, Bran’s chances of ever leaving that cave physically alive in his own body would be almost zero in any scenario where the children of the forest are his true enemies.

There are so many hints of falseness and impossibility especially in the final episode. Brans comments, the logic defying election, Tyrion not being in a book about the war of five Kings. I believe this goes beyond bad writing. The show is giving us hints that there is something very wrong and deceptive going on behind the scenes.

And what could that be. Well, I came up with three possible conclusions.

Possibility 1: This was my initial thought when I first beheld the show finale. The show replaced King Doran Martell with King Bran Stark. Because one generally spaced-out wheelchair guy is totally interchangeable with another. This seems like such a show thing to do. The showrunners outright tell us that the wheelchair is of Dornish design. Doran Martell makes sense from an election via council point of view, too. He’s an experienced ruler and notoriously passive and peaceful. That would be very appealing for the Lords of a war-torn Westeros. He’s also not the youngest or healthiest, so the more ambitious Lords could hope to replace him soon with the next election. And then there might be a point to the entire Dornish plotline, because Queen Arianne the Great is probably not not it.

Possibility 2: If Bran becomes King it does not have to occur while he is in his own body. His body is young, frail and broken and he is stuck in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Survival and escape will not be easy…so Bran Stark may truly never leave that cave. And yet his power, his despair and his great ambition may grant him another way. There are several characters who he could temporarily or entirely possess. As GRRM is infamous for putting his characters and his readers through hell this would likely happen to someone we care about, such as:

-Meera Reed. She is in Bran’s direct vicinity and for some reason the show wanted her to look like Jon Snow. Maybe because she was meant to be the host of his brother..? There is also that Varamir Sixskins chapter where he tries to skinchange into the woman who cared for him while he was in need. That could very well be foreshadowing.

-Davos Seaworth. He is in the north. As potential guardian/caretaker for Rickon he may wield considerable political influence in the north, at least for a time, and could therefor be useful to Bran. He’s also done nothing much useful in these final seasons. It must also be noted that GRRM once told Liam Cunningham that he’d sit on the Iron Throne in the end. Nothing has come of that. So King Bravos Maybe.

-Theon Greyjoy. He is also in the north and in Winterfell. His confused, weakened state may make him easier to possess, and Bran wouldn’t feel too bad about that. Theon’s broken state and bad reputation would reduce his usefulness, though.

-Benjen Stark: He also exists somewhere for some reason, and as a member of house Stark he may have a claim to Lordship. If he plays his cards right.

-Jon Snow. There is this currently unused corpse lying around. Very convenient. He may also have powerful claims and innate warg powers. What happens when a dying warg moves into the body of another warg? Potential immortality. According to some sources, GRRMs early drafts included a bitter rift between Jon Snow and Bran Stark and this could very well be it. When you take Brans abilities into account, it is likely that he has been watching Jon Snow for a while (the raven)- and in his point of view he might have seen how Jon continually fails to help his family while having the adventures and martial success that Bran himself desired. And that could very well dampen his affections for Jon Snow. It also means that the very first Stark scene of the show showing Jon teaching Bran would be the most bitter to re-watch. So very possible.

Possibility 3: The final episode had a very surreal fairytale-like feel to it. And as dreams and visions are a vital part of the series that could actually be true. If this is the case we have seen into Bran’s mind, seen his plans, his hopes and his interpretation of whatever visions he’s seen. Remember, Bran is a little kid who believes in fairytales and who does not always understand the adults around him. If we are seeing history – or some vision of history filtered by Bran’s hopes and perceptions, it would explain why everyone is such an idiot. Because everyone in Westeros has to be an idiot in order for Bran to become King. And if this episode is based on a vision, it could also turn out to be very wrong. Prophecies and visions are notoriously misleading and hard to interpret in ASoIaF.

If this is the case, we may have seen some metaphorical version of the true ending. So Jon shanking Dany could imply a political or military betrayal rather than him murdering her while the ashes rain and a single sigh escapes her lips. The entire tone of that scene does not really fit with the gritty realism that GoT generally goes for. It could belong into a dream/vision sequence though.

As most visions and prophecies in the books are vague and open to interpretation, so is this ending. It was all just a bad dream is also the most hopeful opinion I can offer on that finale.

So now you know how much I have to analyze and reinterpret the ending in order to be somewhat okay with it. Have fun with that.

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