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According to the World Book, Lyarra Stark, the mother of Ned, Lyanna, Brandon and Benjen, had two cousins named Brandon and Benjen Stark, both of whom had issue. That means that, depending on how old those two were, there were at least two or three kids with the name Stark around, maybe even around the time Ned grew up. Yet, we never hear of them and/or their descendants, they don’t show up to claim WF after it falls or are part of Robbs council or anything. Do you have any idea why?

I think GRRM hadn’t made up his mind when he was writing AGOT through ASOS. He’s said since that there are Stark cousins in the North, but you’d think Catelyn would have mentioned them before the folks from the Vale when it came time for Robb to make a will. 

Today I realized: Theon Greyjoy is the Kylo Ren of ASOIAF

Seriously: whiny teen-ager who chooses the wrong father figure, makes horrible decisions, everything goes to hell. 

And that got me thinking….

Ned: “Theon, take the viking helmet off at the dinner table!”

Theon: “You’re culturally oppressing me and you’re not my real dad!”

Theon: “Show me again the power of the Old Way, and I will finish what you started.”
Force Ghost Quellon: /facepalm.

Theon in disguise: “I heard Theon’s got an eight pack…and he’s hung too.”
Ros: “Naw man, Theon’s a punk ass bitch.”

Waiting for Willas

poorquentyn:

“Not the least bit oafish.”

“Willas has a bad leg but a good heart,” said Margaery. “He used to read to me when I was a little girl, and draw me pictures of the stars.”

“Willas is heir to Highgarden, and by all reports a mild and courtly young man, fond of reading books and looking at the stars. He has a passion for breeding animals as well, and owns the finest hounds, hawks, and horses in the Seven Kingdoms.”

“I see why they name you Garlan the Gallant, ser,” she said, as she took his hand.

“My lady is gracious to say so. My brother Willas gave me that name, as it happens. To protect me.”

“To protect you?” She gave him a puzzled look.

Ser Garlan laughed. “I was a plump little boy, I fear, and we do have an uncle called Garth the Gross. So Willas struck first, though not before threatening me with Garlan the Greensick, Garlan the Galling, and Garlan the Gargoyle.”

“In Dorne of old before we married Daeron, it was said that all flowers bow before the sun. Should the roses seek to hinder me I’ll gladly trample them underfoot.”

“As you trampled Willas Tyrell?”

The Dornishman did not react as expected. “I had a letter from Willas not half a year past. We share an interest in fine horseflesh. He has never borne me any ill will for what happened in the lists.”

"My son Willas is an able lad,” the man replied, refusing to take her perfectly good hint. “His leg may be twisted but he has no want of wits.”

Goddamnit GRRM give us your pure kind brilliant stargazing book-and-animal-loving Good King already

I cannot wait until he teams up with Sam and Sarella to save the world in ADOS

Give him to me now

Yet another reason why I don’t think Euron wins in the Reach. Because there’s a lot of interesting character set-up that would go to waste if the Reach is viciously sacked. 

How does it work when a Lord Paramount like Tywin or Jon Arryn is given a long term royal appointment (Hand, Master of Coin, etc). Do they have someone back in the Westerlands or Vale running the show for years on end? Does it harm their relationship with their vassals if they’re not considered ‘present’? Or are they just expected to make trips back home as often as possible?

As often as possible is a bit much, but frequent trips are a part of the deal. Tywin very much commuted between King’s Landing and Casterly Rock (especially since his wife wasn’t welcome at Rhaella’s court after a point) and even “worked at home” for about a year. 

But in the main, there’s two things you need – one, a strong castellan to rule the roost back at home and keep your bannermen in line, and two, lots of patronage both in terms of employment but also as invitations to come hang out at court, so that you can bring your bannermen to you. 

And that’s the kind of push-pull thing about long-term jobs. Yes, it means you’re away from home, but it also means you have lots of royal goodies to hand out, which means your bannermen have more reasons to be on your good side. 

WOIAF

Your thoughts on the WOIAF? On one hand it fleshes out certain characters and time periods and has some great art. On the other hand it sometimes seems contradictory and sloppy and certain areas (ie. 3rd Blackfyre Rebellion) have been completely skipped, leading me to the feeling that GRRM’s rough notes from the upcoming “Fire and Blood” were sold to us with a new title slapped on it.

Well, I won’t say that there isn’t editing that needed to be done. 

But the wealth of knowledge that is included is, as you can see from the podcasts I did with @unspoiledpodcast and my own analyses, incredibly rich, allowing us to understand far more about the historical development development of Westeros and Essos than we did before.

That being said, there are some omissions – we don’t know a lot about the North post-Andal invasions through to Torrhen Stark outside of their war with the Arryns, we know almost nothing about the Riverlands pre-Andal invasion, we know almost nothing about the Vale between the Dance and Robert’s Rebellion, there’s some significant gaps in the history of the Iron Islands from the Blackfyre Rebellion to the present, we don’t know what happened between the reigns of Garth the Painter and Mern IX in the Reach, other than Lyonel’s Rebellion we don’t know much about the Stormlands between the Dance and Robert’s Rebellion, and we don’t know much about Dornish history outside of its various foreign wars. 

My hope is that a lot of those blank spaces will get filled in through Dunk & Egg, Fire and Blood, and the like. 

Simon Rumble Asks: New Season Rumors

I have been hearing some crazy stuff about the new season like:

  • Euron showing up for a few episodes only to die at Theon’s hand
  • Littlefinger crushing the Boltons somehow
  • Bronn fighting Areo Hotah in the Riverlands (I know it sounds stupid but when has that ever stopped DnD before)
  • Tommen dying after the Sparrows take over Kings Landing and Trystane marrying Margaery Tyrell to take the place of fAegon storyline

What do you think?

That does sound pretty bonkers. LF crushing the Boltons I don’t think is likely given footage and reports from sets. Tommen dying would fit the prophecy, although Trystane as fAegon would be really weird. 

Bronn fighting Areo Hotah isn’t so much stupid as pointless. 

I would actually kind of love it if Theon kills Euron and he’s a complete waste of time, because Euron’s bizarre fandom would lose their minds.