Let's Read A Song of Ice and Fire

[TechnOkami]

Great guys. Now I'm imagining George R.R. Martin playing through the Elder Scrolls games with a desktop gaming setup. Way to make him even more awesome.

[LadyEowyn]

Regarding the prophecies and Dany's threes:

Spoiler: Three fires

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For life: Khal Drogo's funeral pyre, which birthed her dragons. For death: the burning of Astapor, Dany's first (and only, thus far) major use of her dragons to wage war. To love: ??? Drogo's pyre could also be the fire "to love", but I'm taking the lists as occurring in chronological order.

Spoiler: Three identities

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If this is how we read "three heads" - and it's a good idea in terms of interpretation, and one I hadn't thought of - they're already given at the end of the prophecy. "Mother of dragons, daughter of death...mother of dragons, slayer of lies...mother of dragons, bride of fire". There are visions apparently associated with each one. The deaths of her brothers Viserys and Rhaegar are matched with the title "daughter of death". With "slayer of lies", we see the Others, a cloth dragon (the "mummer's [false] dragon", i.e., Aegon), and a stone dragon taking flight from a smoking tower (waking the dragons on Dragonstone? as this is grouped with "slayer of lies", perhaps Mellisandre will put together some illusion of dragons being woken from Dragonstone). With "bride of fire", we have Dany riding her silver horse through the grass beneath the stars; a corpse at the prow of a ship; and a blue flower in a chink in a wall of ice.

Spoiler: Three mounts

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"To bed" - Khal Drogo. "To dread" and "to love" both haven't happened, unless it's non-chronological, in which Drogo could be "to love" and Daario could be "to bed". But I don't think the latter is likely. All of the threes should be important to Dany's life journey in some way, and Daario's just a fling. She also doesn't have strong enough feelings regarding Hizadahr one way or the other for him to qualify as any of the mounts. IF we associate the three mounts with the three images associated with "bride of fire", as many people seem to do, then we've got images associated with Drogo, Victarion (who is definitely someone to dread, and does seek to take her to wife) and Jon (assuming the accuracy of the idea that Jon is Rhaegar and Lyanna's child). I'm not keen on that, as it's incest-y, but it does look like the strongest interpretation currently.

Spoiler: Three treasons

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I'm virtually certain that the treason "for blood" means "for revenger", and is Mirri. It's a turning point in Dany's life, killing her husband and driving her to hatch her dragons. It's very hard not to regard the treason "for love" as being Jorah, given how much his love for her has been emphasized, but if so I don't think that treason has occurred yet in the book; his spying on her wasn't "for love". Another possibility is that "three treasons will you know" is referring to treasons Dany will commit or incite. In that case, the treason "for blood" could be against Viserys, or against Astapor (both cases where she wanted vengeance).

Spoiler: Child of three

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I'm not sure what this is supposed to me. The prophecies call her "child of storm" and "daughter of death", but there's not a third to go with those two.

[Sliver]

Spoiler: Mounts

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Couldn't Drogon be the mount to dread?

[Tris]

Spoiler: Mounts

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I seen the theory that the mounts are actual mounts. The mount to bed would be the horse she receives as a gift at her wedding. Drogon would be the mount to dread. That doesn't seem to fit as well though.

[Sliver]

Spoiler: Mounts

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It doesn't have to be all or nothing, though...

[LadyEowyn]

That's taking the prophecy far more literally than I would have thought, but it's an interesting idea.

[hamlet]

I honestly thought the passive voice thing was going to be far more interesting to you.

Also, I figured out what it is about Jaqen’s speech pattern that’s been making it simultaneously familiar and interesting to me. “A man sees. A man hears. A man knows.” I want to take a moment with the Old English equivalent phrases. “Mon siehþ. Mon hiereþ. Mon wat.”

Jaqen H’ghar’s speech is dominated by passive voice. And this is no exception. The construction “A man [verb]s” is a direct rendering of how Old English constructed the passive voice. A man sees. A man hears. A man knows. It is seen. It is heard. It is known.

I’ve been working on some issues of Old English translation, and rendering the passive voice in a clear yet distinct way has been one of the biggest challenges. Seeing the Old English passive used here, I’m convinced it can work. It feels passive in Jaqen’s mouth. More importantly, it will work on the grounds of allowing the translation to showcase some of the difference between English-then and English-now. Thank you, George R.R. Martin, you’ve just helped my thesis along.

Actually, keep this in mind when you get into book 4 and 5 if you make it that far. It becomes very interesting when you start to learn some new things.

As for Dany's visions . . . it's been a very long time since we first read about them. As of book 5, we're still not sure what the hell they mean half the time. Though there are some that we completely understand now. They're still shocking.

[Landis963]

As for Dany's visions . . . it's been a very long time since we first read about them. As of book 5, we're still not sure what the hell they mean half the time. Though there are some that we think we completely understand now. They're still shocking.

Ftfy. Prophecies are stupid that way. A well-written prophecy hints at meaning, but is meaningless at best and gibberish at worst.

[hamlet]

Ftfy. Prophecies are stupid that way. A well-written prophecy hints at meaning, but is meaningless at best and gibberish at worst.

I think that's one of the major points of the series, actually. Prophecy is a lot like playing the lottery.

[Sliver]

For the reader trying to figure it out, maybe. If it's about you? You aren't always happy if a prophecy comes true. Nor are you always a willing or even knowing of the prophecy...

[Landis963]

I think that's one of the major points of the series, actually. Prophecy is a lot like playing the lottery.

"If you attack a great nation will fall." "Oh. Great! Sound the attack! Wait, which nation will fall?" "NEXT!"

[SaintRidley]

A prophecy is partly what the character makes of it. Dany believes in the prophecy, ergo it will have meaning. Voldemort believed the prophecy and as a result made it true.

[LordRahl6]

I can't disagree with you guys on the prophecy as a gift horse that you should be wary of, and as a reader of the books to the very last page both the politics and prophecy are going to continue to be extremely convoluted with new stuff being added.

[Legato Endless]

A prophecy is partly what the character makes of it. Dany believes in the prophecy, ergo it will have meaning. Voldemort believed the prophecy and as a result made it true.

Ah, but this depends on the story. What if the prophecy isn't self fulfilling? What if the prophecy functions as a last warning which you hubristically ignore at your peril?

"If you attack a great nation will fall." "Oh. Great! Sound the attack! Wait, which nation will fall?" "NEXT!"

Heh.

Spoiler: Mounts

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I seen the theory that the mounts are actual mounts. The mount to bed would be the horse she receives as a gift at her wedding. Drogon would be the mount to dread. That doesn't seem to fit as well though.

I oppose this theory based simply on the fact that I don't want to see the third mount.

Spoiler: Mounts

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Couldn't Drogon be the mount to dread?

Only on the television show.

[Sliver]

Only on the television show.

I mean, Drogon the dragon...

[SaintRidley]

Let’s Read: A Song of Ice and Fire:
A Clash of Kings part eight! ~700-800!

The book is rapidly coming to a close and threads are beginning to intertwine more. There’s not too much to say right now. Next update will be for the remainder of the book, so a big 170 page chunk and a chance to reflect on the book as a whole before I move on to the third book. On to the fun part: the penultimate section of this book.

Tyrion: Two chapters in this section for Tyrion, and there are developments. He’s sent his mercenaries out of the city and is laying the groundwork for the defense against Stannis. His reaction to the fall of Winterfell is interesting in that it’s a nonreaction. Wildfire production is up, and apparently the existence of dragons increases the potency and reliability of magic. Interesting. Dany may have unintentionally given a gift to her enemies.

The second Tyrion chapter gives us news on Bran and Rickon – dead, as Theon reports. I’m just going to call that out right now as bull. Not happening at all – he’s just trying to cover his ass. I mean, first of all, duh. Second of all, Bran and Rickon are important enough to die on the page. So Theon’s just trying to cover his ass and make himself seem impressive, and it’s going to get his ass bitten ever the harder for his efforts. Tyrion finally stands up to Cersei, which presents an interesting shift in the dynamic. And clever ploy with the switch on Alayaya and Shae. Cersei gets cocksure and always thinks she’s right, which will help Tyrion keep the charade going. But the news of the Starks, that’s going to affect the way things go in various places, even when it comes out it’s not true.

Theon: Well, Theon went and lost the Starks (and the wolves, and Hodor and Osha, and “that bog boy and his sister”). Good job, Theon. One of the Walders joins the hunting party – I look forward to seeing that Walder taken out of his line of succession sooner than the other. No luck in the search, probably because the combined wits of Osha and Bran and the rest are more than a match for Theon. Then again, Hodor’s wits would present a suitable challenge for Theon. No luck, but Reek has a suggestion.

Also, Theon is really, really good at missing the point. He thinks his mercy is actually merciful, and he thinks that being only fairly horrible to the people of Winterfell instead of killing them all immediately is behavior worth rewarding. What a maroon.

Jon: On the other hand, Jon actually knows what mercy is. He lets Ygritte go free. With luck this might be of benefit to him down the line, because this and the other Jon chapter in this section set a pretty grim picture. Giants on mammoths, eagles, a ridiculous massing of the wildlings. Yeah, there’s no fighting that directly.

Ghost gets injured, but he should be okay. More important is that Jon has one of the wolf dreams, and seems to get some sort of message from Bran through it. I’m beginning to wonder if it’s not just Bran and Rickon, but perhaps Jon, Robb, and even Arya too (Sansa’s Lady is gone, but perhaps there’s something still for her on this sort of natural link).

Jon’s the third we’ve seen to recognize this link, and the oldest. If he can get the hang of it, we might see some great things as a result.

Sansa: Been a while since she’s checked in with the reader. If not for Catelyn’s reminders, a body would be forgiven if it had forgotten she was still around. She checks in with Ser Dontos, her foolish knight, but she’s losing faith in that prospect. He does hear things as a fool, though, so I wouldn’t say he’s useless quite yet – always keep an eye on a fool’s doings. And listen to their advice. Sansa, let Joffrey and Queen Cersei think you an idiot. It is indeed safer that way.

The rapport between her and Sandor Clegane is an interesting one, and one I’d like to give more thought to down the line. There’s something which almost resembles fondness there, as their completely opposing viewpoints work on each other. In a way, he’s helping her to recognize what’s around her, and she’s helping him to see what could be, perhaps.

Oh yeah, Sansa becomes a woman. And Cersei has a weird moment of almost maternal regard for Sansa. And then she kills it with her line about love as poison. I’m just going to say poison will probably figure in Cersei’s death and leave it there for now.

Catelyn: And here’s the first place where the news of Rickon and Bran gets to play out in an interesting way. Catelyn goes to visit Jaime Lannister. There’s a lot of talk, a lot of questions answered for Catelyn that the reader already knew the answers to. But there’s other stuff, good crunchy backstory bits. Like what happened to Brandon Stark and the reason Jaime feels justified in betraying his king.

Jaime displays a lot of bravado for a man reduced to using a bucket for a toilet. Jaime’s answers, though, give a bit. Catelyn now suspects that Tyrion might have been telling the truth about the dagger, which raises some new questions for her about Petyr.

The chapter ends with Catelyn asking Brienne for her sword. There’s the obvious implication there for me to infer, but like Cersei I’m not quite sure she would kill him.

Things of importance:
* Theon’s covering his ass by saying Bran and Rickon are dead. Regardless of its truth, the message will have consequences throughout the continent.
* Sansa’s had her period. Poor girl, to have it within a thousand leagues of Joffrey.
* Jon has the wolf dreams as well.
* Catelyn has reason to suspect Petyr.

Predictions pulled out of my ass:
* Catelyn won’t kill Jaime – just maim him a little.
* Bran and Rickon, still alive. Thank GlaDOS.


Dany’s Threes:
Three heads: Three identities. Mother of dragons and child of storms are obvious – the third, though… the one she seeks is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Too obvious, though. Not the third head.
Three fires: life, death, love. There’s the obvious fire of Drogo’s funeral – the fire of life. The other two will come. No predictions as yet.
Three mounts: To bed, to dread, to love. Drogo was to bed. She will have another to dread, and if the Jon Snow as secret Targaryen and match to her thing works out he’s the one to love.
Three treasons: For blood, for gold, for love. Viserys feels right for gold at the moment (the golden crown being a symbol for the power, wealth, and army he desired – yes it was also about his birthright and for blood reasons, but the end goal was essentially expressible in terms of gold), if a bit early. She appears to have implicitly trusted him before the story began, but that’s an interpretive question. If someone comes along who looks more likely for gold, I’ll change this. I think Ser Jorah might betray her out of love. For blood, Mirri Maz Duur is possible.

[Tris]

Uh, you posted Dany's threes again.

[SaintRidley]

Not a mistake. Continuing feature as I try and puzzle out my own interpretation of them.

[hamlet]

Interesting take on things. It's going to be interesting to see how you go through the last portion of the book and then book three. The first three are considered almost universally among fans to be the best three thus far with a lot of folks saying you should just stop there.

[Legato Endless]

Uh, you posted Dany's threes again.

This is a read through; not a sequential plot summary. Going back and mulling over previous bits is part of that.

[Tris]

This is a read through; not a sequential plot summary. Going back and mulling over previous bits is part of that.

I understand. I had just thought that they had accidently copied it from the previous post.

[don5ronio]

* Catelyn won’t kill Jaime – just maim him a little.

Must resist urge ...

[SaintRidley]

Let’s Read: A Song of Ice and Fire:
A Clash of Kings conclusion! 800-970!

Here it is. The end of the second book. I have an extra large update to commemorate the occasion, as well as some thoughts about the book as a whole and other bits and bobs as they come in.

I’m going to say, if Martin had wanted this to be a trilogy, this book wouldn’t have made a bad midpoint. It’s pivotal, and the last few chapters really put the excrement to the proverbial fan. A Game of Thrones was a large introduction, but this is where the story really starts. The distance the excrement gets flung by the fan, to belabor the metaphor, makes a trilogy pretty much impossible from the outset, leading us to our current predicament of wondering when things will wrap up. I’m glad for that, though.

Anyway, on to what happened and what I’m thinking about all of this. Enough viewpoint characters get enough chapters, however, that I’m going to go full on chapter-by-chapter so I don’t have things get lost in the process. So let’s begin with Theon.

Theon: Well, Asha Much-Cooler-Than-Theon Greyjoy is present here, so that’s helpful. And Theon’s nightmares don’t seem to be pleasant. Fear of the dead is unbecoming. Except they’re not really dead, and anyone with brains in their head (okay, only the reader and Theon really) knows that. Asha doesn’t, and even she thinks Theon made a stupid decision. I mean, she’s right about hostages. But that would only work if he had actually found them. Once again, covering his ass.

As a result of his capture of Winterfell and his idiocy regarding the Starks, Theon gets a group of reinforcements numbering ten. Ass. Nibbled. Big gain, that. He sends Reek off when Reek informs him he might be able to get two hundred more. Honestly, when I read this chapter, I too expected Reek to just bolt for it. That would have been the beginning of gnawing on Theon’s ass. But the real bite hasn’t happened yet.

Also, the reader gets clued in to the fact of Bran and Rickon’s survival. Good time to relieve that tension for the reader, at least.

Sansa: Our Lady of Stark has a brief chapter here where the main point is to get her in the same room as Cersei for the duration of the battle. There’s some prayer, and that’s all well and good. There’s some seeing the menfolk off to fight, and that’s fine too – Joffrey has Sansa kiss his sword, so we get our not terribly amusing phallic moment out of the way too. Sansa’s much more interesting when she’s talking to Cersei – they disagree so fundamentally. “No true knights,” Sansa says at the end of the chapter, would ever harm women and children. How little Sansa has learned from existing in these books that the stories about true knights and the actions they perform do not line up one at all.

Davos: Alas, we must bid goodbye to our good Onion Knight. I liked this guy. I thought he would be part of bringing Stannis down, what with what he had seen of Melisandre. Speaking of, her being left behind seems like a small detail here, but was very clearly important in a few chapters later on. She stays behind, where the bastards are – my theory feels good right now

Davos leads the charge for the fleet of King Stannis, and it is pretty much wrecked. Tyrion was smart – he gave up the pitiful little fleet Joffrey had and used it instead for wildfire kamikaze attacks. Good use of the fleet, honestly.

And the chain. A chain boom was not what I expected. For good reason – I’d literally never even encountered the concept until this chapter. Like, I’m looking at the Wikipedia article on booms right now and learning about them. Neat. And I have to say, probably the single largest individual contribution to the defeat of Stannis thus far.

Goodbye, Onion Knight. May your injuries cause as much tears as the laceration of one of your bulbous cargo does.

Tyrion: A short chapter, but worth noting for a few reasons. Tyrion protects his nephew, though Joffrey is hardly worth it. He orders Sandor Clegane back down to the banks. Bad idea. Tyrion has a strange habit of continually putting the Hound in places where fire is around. This is not the smartest move on his part. Lastly, he ventures down to lead the sortie himself.

Sansa: Sansa’s point of view, Cersei’s chapter, really. Cersei means to be found dead if her side loses, and every highborn lady around dead with her. She gives a pretty good speech on the weapons available to women, and then gives a bit of her life story. Lady Macbeth had penis envy, but even Lady Macbeth’s penis envy is envious of that of Cersei Lannister.

What’s interesting is that for all that envy of masculine modes of and access to power Cersei still operates within the constraints set forth for feminine behavior. She and Sansa are more alike than they know, because neither is as yet willing to cross that line. Arya is, and neither Cersei nor Sansa take that kind of transgression lightly. They’re actually the most ferocious guardians in the book of the dichotomy between feminine and masculine behavior. I wonder if Sansa will see this and recognize her similarity to Cersei, and if so when she might move to differentiate herself. She’s determined that she’d rather be loved than feared, but that’s not quite enough differentiation.

If nothing else, this chapter makes crystal clear why Cersei and Sansa have been kept close together.

Tyrion: Not terrible in battle, but still not where Tyrion is really at his best. The betrayal by Ser Mandon Moore came as something of a surprise. Not too much, seeing as how he’s part of Joffrey’s Kingsguard and there’s not a one of them who wouldn’t take out Tyrion if it were in Joffrey’s interest (or his mother’s interests for Joffrey).

Sansa: It looks like all hope for the Lannisters is lost in this chapter. Cersei leaves and Sansa’s left trying to comfort the frightened. She leaves to her chambers too and finds Sandor Clegane, who drunkenly asks a song of her. It’s not the one he wants, and she still can’t look at his face, sounfortunately for Sansa she doesn’t get taken to freedom with him. It’s implied he’d planned to rape her, but he doesn’t do that, at least. Ser Dontos, however, brings her news after the Hound has left – the battle is won by the ghost of Renly – Renly’s shade. I’m guessing the work of Melisandre, right now.

Sansa is surrounded by morons. Poor dear girl, it’d be a mercy for her to leap from a window or something and not have to deal with any of that any longer. But Sansa’s more about endurance, of constancy in the face of adversity – a very standard medieval characterization for the idealized woman. She’s going to endure. She might not be very quiet about it in private, but in public she will be like Griselda and, as Chaucer’s Clerk words it, “neither grucche ne stryve” in word or deed against the Lannisters and their thoughts.

Daenerys: Another day, another attempt on Dany’s life. How tiresome this must be getting for her. She’s convinced Mirri Maz Duur is the betrayal of blood. I’m not as certain as she is, but I’ll add her to my list and take Dany’s word for it for now. On the plus side for Dany, Belwas and Arstan have arrived and are willing to give her use of three ships.

Dany takes these for the sign of the three heads of the dragon. Again, I’m not so sure. I’ll put them in as her view, though. For one thing, we’ve still gotten nothing from Quaithe that I can determine. It seems off to me somehow. Just going to have to see.

Arya: The great escape from Harrenhal is begun. Arya gets to kill a guard, and she learns a little but not a lot from Roose Bolton. Most important, of course, is that Bolton will be leaving Harrenhal – and that means any protection his presence might offer Arya is going to leave too. She’s resourceful and clever and gets Hot Pie and Gendry to join her. With luck, Nymeria will find her and rejoin her in the next book.

Sansa: Arya’s direct action and Sansa’s indirect action are always pretty delightfully contrasted when their chapters are next to one another. Joffrey gets new members of his Kingsguard, Tywin takes the role of the Hand of the King, and one of the prisoners stands loyal to Stannis – quite loudly – until the end. Ser Loras of Renly’s Rainbow Guard joins Joffrey’s and Renly’s bride gets traded over to Joffrey as well. Poor Joff, it seems he only really gets the leftover loyalties of those loyal to Robert and Renly, and nobody who truly cares for him.

Sansa gets her wish, and Ser Dontos promises one month’s time until freedom. We’ll have to see about that – he hasn’t got much of a résumé for me to judge on beyond being a drunkard.

Theon: The ass-biting resumes in this chapter. While Reek returns and butchers the force massed to take back Winterfell, it’s not so good for Theon. Reek is Roose Bolton’s bastard, and he’s a right bastard about, well, everything. Theon’s Winterfell is sacked and all his men killed, even his horse. Him… well, nothing said for certain. Going to guess he’s held prisoner – the ass-biting I called doesn’t feel quite complete yet.

Also, Reek wants the Freys. Why I don’t know. Guess I’ll find out.

Tyrion: Not much here but a severe facial disfigurement, realization of the nature of the betrayal, and the conclusion drawn that he’s pretty much only got Pod for an ally now. Tyrion is not in a good spot.

Jon: Well, Jon’s freeing of Ygritte helps him out here, in that she helps ensure he’s able to do what Halfhand commands him to do – join the wildlings. What exactly he’ll be able to do among them is, admittedly, still a puzzle. He’s got to find something, or figure out what the something is that Rayder’s up to. Whatever it is, Halfhand seems to have thought it important enough that Jon had to be seen as a traitor to the Watch. This is not Jon’s best day.

Bran: Well, we end here at Winterfell as Osha takes Rickon and Shaggydog in one direction while Meera, Jojen, Hodor, Summer and Bran go in another. Safer that way, appearently. Winterfell has been sacked and abandoned, everybody dead – except Maester Luwin, who’s only mostly dead.

They hid in the crypts – clever. Bran has been gaining control over the wolf dreams, and he sent that dream to Jon. An interesting development, that. This’ll be the last we see of Winterfell for a while, and that’s probably a good thing for the structure of the story.

General Impressions on the book:

I’m still gripped by Martin’s prose. It can be a bit purple at times, but there’s a lot of good work happening in the prose. Despite the third person narrator, the narrative voice morphs ever so slightly to match the viewpoint character of any given chapter. I wasn’t entirely convinced of the chapter-by-chapter switching of viewpoints back when I started the first book, but now I have no doubts at all.

What’s interesting is the ways in which each viewpoint character’s story is developed, and how in some cases the viewpoint is less about the viewpoint character and more about another. Catelyn’s chapters are often the Robb Stark show, though not always and certainly less so in the end. It’s almost as if the narrative arc of this viewpoint is tied into the idea of power, motherhood, and kingship – can the mother of the king be a force of power in her own right? Catelyn believes so.

Davos the Onion Knight is a fascinating case in that he’s a viewpoint character who in his way embodies the values Sansa seeks in a true knight. He’s loyal and a good man. His death by wildfire seems fitting to the world, then, when nothing good lasts in Westeros.

A Clash of Kings is an action movie in prose form, and it works. As a story, it appears not to work as a standalone – with the exception of Tyrion’s rise and fall as Hand as the central pillar of plot. He has nearly twice as many chapters as any other character. Jon, Sansa, and Arya come closest, with any two of them in combination able to just exceed his chapter count. This story hinges on the deaths (and metaphorical rebirths) of several characters: Tyrion the Hand rises, falls, and will have to be born anew. Arya undergoes several changes of identity. Davos dies of wildfire. Bran is dead to the world. Theon is not dead – I think he’s just captured – but that all amounts to the same thing to his father. Jon has his second thoughts about the wall, and he’s now been put in the position of having to become dead to his brothers, to be reborn among the wildings.

That’s what this book really is about. Death and rebirth. As I said before, this book is where the story really begins. And it does a good job of keeping the reader engrossed in the action. Solid book.

Thoughts on the direwolves:

It occurs to me since Bran’s wolf dreams began, that the direwolves aren’t really characters in their own right, but extensions of the Starks. Their names really give us a lot about their human companions.

Grey Wind – Robb named his wolf Grey Wind, which is probably the most abstract of the direwolf names. The grey obviously refers to Grey Wind’s coat, but it also seems to refer to Robb’s own uncertainty that he is living up to his father’s example. The speed connoted by the wind also gestures toward his swiftness in battle.

Lady – Lady is an aspirational name for Sansa. Sansa has only ever wanted to be a lady. Lady’s death, of course, is a sign that the aspiration should also die. Sansa’s current predicament throughout the book further works to crush that aspiration. Sansa is resilient, however, and she will adapt to new realities.

Nymeria – I don’t remember if it’s been explained in the book so far, but I looked it up with my hands over my eyes so I could figure out where Nymeria’s name comes from. A warrior queen. Yeah, that’s Arya pretty much to a T. She’s all about being a woman utilizing traditionally masculine power for her own ends.

Summer – the second most abstract of the names, it speaks very much to Bran’s eternal optimism. It was also a good clue that Bran was going to wake up in the first place. Summer is always renewed. A winter is a period of dormancy and death, but summer brings back life after every winter.

Shaggydog: Shaggydog is on the one level very clearly the name a small child would give a direwolf. It’s a big, shaggy dog. Very straightforward, direct, and literal. Rickon doesn’t have much of a defined character at this point, but what he is so far is direct and straightforward. He tells you what he wants when he wants it. Shaggydog’s behavior, like Rickon’s, is also the least tamed and controlled. Rickon’s too small, too young yet, and as a result Shaggydog is barely tame. As Rickon grows older, however, Shaggydog will be perhaps the physical manifestation of Rickon’s anger and other feelings.

Ghost: Well, this one’s obvious in a few ways. Ghosts and Snow are white. Jon’s a bastard, a ghost within the Stark family. He and Arya alone look like Ned, as if they were his ghost alive in the flesh. Jon joins the Night’s Watch, effectively becoming a ghost to the realm he seeks to protect. And now he’s had to take up with the wildlings, effectively becoming a ghost even to the Night’s Watch.


Things of importance:
* Winterfell is done for now.
* Stannis is beaten, but not defeated.
* The Hound is out on his own.
* Jon has joined up with the wildlings.
* Joffrey has new marriage arrangements.
* The remaining kings and queen: Joffrey Baratheon, Robb Stark, Stannis Baratheon, Balon Greyjoy, Daenerys Targaryen.


Predictions pulled out of my ass:
* The Red Robin Wedding – Joffrey and Margaery. Some dying’s going to happen there.
* Melisandre needs the bastards to fuel her magical shadow births, maybe?
* Another viewpoint character will die in the next book – there seems to be a trend of that.


Dany’s Threes:
Three heads: Three identities. Mother of dragons and child of storms are obvious – the third, though… the one she seeks is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Too obvious, though. Not the third head.
She thinks: the three ships she’s naming after the great dragons. I class this as unlikely.
Three fires: life, death, love. There’s the obvious fire of Drogo’s funeral – the fire of life. The other two will come. No predictions as yet.
Three mounts: To bed, to dread, to love. Drogo was to bed. She will have another to dread, and if the Jon Snow as secret Targaryen and match to her thing works out he’s the one to love.
Three treasons: For blood, for gold, for love. Viserys feels okay for gold at the moment (the golden crown being a symbol for the power, wealth, and army he desired), and I think Ser Jorah might betray her out of love. For blood, Dany seems to have a good idea.
She thinks: Mirri Maz Duur for blood.


Around the beginning of March I should be able to get done with and give you the first entry from A Storm of Swords.

[TechnOkami]

Your theorizations are really interesting to read, even when I know what happens in the next (2? 3?) books.

[Landis963]

Your theorizations are really interesting to read, even when I know what happens in the next (2? 3?) books.

+1. Please don't stop. This Unsullied show-watcher demands it. Politely.

[Tris]

Spoiler

Show

* The Red Robin Wedding – Joffrey and Margaery. Some dying’s going to happen there

Spoiler: book 3

Show

This is what I thought too when I was reading knowing there was something called the Red Wedding. You're not completely wrong though.

[Seerow]

Summer – the second most abstract of the names, it speaks very much to Bran’s eternal optimism. It was also a good clue that Bran was going to wake up in the first place. Summer is always renewed. A winter is a period of dormancy and death, but summer brings back life after every winter.

Nitpick here: Bran didn't actually name Summer until after he woke up, so it couldn't have been a clue he was going to wake up. (Assuming you're referring to the period where he was near death after falling being thrown off the tower)

[SaintRidley]

Got my timeline a little muddled. Whoops. Thanks for that, Seerow.

[Legato Endless]

Bran: Well, we end here at Winterfell as Osha takes Rickon and Shaggydog in one direction while Meera, Jojen, Hodor, Summer and Bran go in another. Safer that way, appearently. Winterfell has been sacked and abandoned, everybody dead – except Maester Luwin, who’s only mostly dead.

They hid in the crypts – clever. Bran has been gaining control over the wolf dreams, and he sent that dream to Jon. An interesting development, that. This’ll be the last we see of Winterfell for a while, and that’s probably a good thing for the structure of the story.

It's also the beginning of the last ironic fulfillment of the Stark children's wishes.

Jon wanted to stop feeling like an outcast and join the Night's Watch.

Robb wanted to be treated as an adult.

Sansa wanted to go south and marry a prince.

Arya wanted to escape her noble obligations.

Bran wanted to go on an adventure.

Rickon wanted his father to return home.

Well, they got what they asked for.

[SaintRidley]

So they did. Nice.

Also, as with Stannis, I noticed that Theon's name has some meanings in Old English as well. None are quite as exciting as I found with Stannis, but his name could have been a verb meaning to "do, perform, or effect" something, or a verb meaning to "thrive, grow, flourish, prosper"; looks like his name, if there's anything to be said from this, is more ironic than direct.