She might be, or at least be in line to be – if, unlike in the show, Myrcella outlives Tommen, for example. 

But in terms of the Iron Throne, I think it will go:

 Tommen -> Aegon -> Dany ->???

poorquentyn:

racefortheironthrone:

poorquentyn:

racefortheironthrone:

Yes. Mance was supposed to be his advance man in Winterfell destabilizing the Boltons ahead of the Battle of Ice. 

Do we know this for sure? At the time Stannis burned “Mance,” the king’s plan was to march on the Dreadfort, not Winterfell. Moreover, when Mel dispatched Mance, her plan was for him to meet Arya by Long Lake, since Mel thought she was the girl on the horse fleeing her marriage (of course, that turned out to be Alys Karstark). It came off to me like Mance came up with the “infiltrate Winterfell” plan all on his own.

I may need to rethink this when I get to ADWD, but it would be a big move for Melisandre to make with what to me is insufficient motive. Moreover, even if Stannis was planning on marching on the Dreadfort, Winterfell was still the ultimate objective – hence his offer to Jon Snow at the end of ASOS – so if Mance could pull a Theon in Winterfell…

But there’s no one even occupying Winterfell upon whom to “pull a Theon” (a nice turn of phrase) when Stannis burns Rattleshirt or when Mel dispatches Mance. Roose’s initial plan is to hold the wedding in Barrowton; it’s on the basis of that information that Mel and Jon dispatch Mance, and again, they dispatch him to meet an already-escaped Arya at Long Lake, not infiltrate Winterfell and rescue her there. 

Yes, it’s true that Winterfell isn’t occupied, but Winterfell’s symbolic importance remains. If the Boltons hadn’t changed their plans and Mance had raised Stannis’ and the Starks’ banner over the walls of Winterfell, that would have struck at the heart of the Bolton’s political coalition. 

opinions-about-tiaras:

racefortheironthrone:

At a minimum, to steal that book about dragons.

At the maximum, something about Euron’s grand scheme, maybe? Wouldn’t be the first time that Faceless Men have brought magic-using slavers down. 

This assumes that the Faceless Men aren’t in it with Euron.

The timing of Balon’s death has made me think for years that it was something more than just a simple business transaction. (To the extent that anything involving a cult that treats killing as a sacrament van be a simple business transaction.)

Euron’s timing on that had to be perfect. Balon had to die while 1) Euron was at sea, and 2) while Asha, Aeron, Theon, and Victarion were all absent from Lordsport. If Euron makes port a day early and Balon dies the night after the Silence docks, everyone and their duck are going too be all “the fucking Crow’s Eye murdered his brother to claim the kingship.” If Asha is in-residence she probably gets to the Seastone Chair before Euron and has the smarts and the guts to smack him down. Theon is a weak reed who Euron can wrap around his finger, probably, but Euron doesn’t know that. And Aeron and Victarion hate Euron.

So either Euron is the luckiest son of a bitch in the novels, he was coordinating with the Faceless Men somehow to time everything just so, or the Faceless Men weren’t actually involved in Balon’s death and Euron has literal magical storm-calling powers.

Coordinating in the sense of probably bringing a Faceless Man within swimming distance of Pyke, but I highly doubt it’s a long-term working relationship. 

opinions-about-tiaras:

racefortheironthrone:

I think some sort of revelation about Ashara Dayne, Ned Stark, Jon Snow, and Lyanna Stark during Gerold “Darkwing Duck” Dayne’s last stand at Starfall. 

Pedantry: High Hermitage, not Starfall, yes?

Also, Gerold WISHES he was Darkwing Duck. Darkwing Duck is at least self-aware about being a drama queen. Gerold is “I’m the goddamn Batman” but is trying to play it absolutely straight. 🙂

I think Gerold will end up at Starfall. Remember, High Hermitage is the second-best Dayne holdfast, so I imagine Gerold would see seizing Starfall with some goons for a glorious last stand as part of a defiant assertion of his “rights” blah blah unfair blah blah I am the night blah blah. 

As for Darkwing Duck, I was more thinking about how DD aims at being the Scary Batman type, but his monologues are never actually scary. 

poorquentyn:

racefortheironthrone:

Yes. Mance was supposed to be his advance man in Winterfell destabilizing the Boltons ahead of the Battle of Ice. 

Do we know this for sure? At the time Stannis burned “Mance,” the king’s plan was to march on the Dreadfort, not Winterfell. Moreover, when Mel dispatched Mance, her plan was for him to meet Arya by Long Lake, since Mel thought she was the girl on the horse fleeing her marriage (of course, that turned out to be Alys Karstark). It came off to me like Mance came up with the “infiltrate Winterfell” plan all on his own.

I may need to rethink this when I get to ADWD, but it would be a big move for Melisandre to make with what to me is insufficient motive. Moreover, even if Stannis was planning on marching on the Dreadfort, Winterfell was still the ultimate objective – hence his offer to Jon Snow at the end of ASOS – so if Mance could pull a Theon in Winterfell…

Yes. Mance was supposed to be his advance man in Winterfell destabilizing the Boltons ahead of the Battle of Ice. 

Probably the next lord of Storm’s End. 

It’s not about Jaime’s arc, it’s about hers. 

All Brienne has wanted for some time is to live up to the highest ideals of true knighthood, by selflessly giving her life to save her charge, just like Aemon Dragonknight, etc. Twice she has failed (Renly, Catelyn) for reasons entirely outside of her control, so following the third, she will go down swinging heroically in a judicial duel witnessed by the gods. 

As with Syrio Forel, that’s her version of a beautiful death. 

At a minimum, to steal that book about dragons.

At the maximum, something about Euron’s grand scheme, maybe? Wouldn’t be the first time that Faceless Men have brought magic-using slavers down. 

I certainly think Tyrion is going to seize Casterly Rock and make himself the head of House Lannister by force, so that his kin will have to bend the knee or die.