She wondered what Daario was doing. Was he restless as well? Was he thinking about her? Did he love her, truly? Did he hate her for marrying Hizdahr? I should never have taken him into my bed. He was only a sellsword, no fit consort for a queen, and yet …
#asoiaf #adwd #twow #georgerrmartin

Will Daario betray Dany?

He is a man of the Night’s Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince.

But Ashara’s daughter had been stillborn, and his fair lady had thrown herself from a tower soon after, mad with grief for the child she had lost, and perhaps for the man who had dishonored her at Harrenhal as well
#asoiaf #affc #adwd #twow #georgerrmartin

Is the song about Ashara?

Only his life’s blood could pay for his crimes, your laws said, and Stannis Baratheon is not a man to go against the law … but as you said so sagely, the laws of men end at the Wall. I told you that the Lord of Light would hear your prayers.

“There he stands, Lord Snow. Arya’s deliverance. A gift from the Lord of Light … and me.”
#asoiaf #adwd #twow #georgerrmartin

Does Stannis know about Mance?

“I have seen you in the nightfires, Victarion Greyjoy. You come striding through the flames stern and fierce, your great axe dripping blood, blind to the tentacles that grasp you at wrist and neck and ankle, the black strings that make you dance.” “Dance?” Victarion bristled.

Will Victarion live long enough to face Euron again?
#asoiaf #adwd #twow #georgerrmartin

And Joramun blew the Horn of Winter, and woke giants from the earth.
...
“The Horn of Joramun?” Melisandre said. “No. Call it the Horn of Darkness. If the Wall falls, night falls as well, the long night that never ends."
#asoiaf #adwd #twow #georgerrmartin

Can the Horn of Joramun bring down the Wall physically?

But Ashara’s daughter had been stillborn, and his fair lady had thrown herself from a tower soon after, mad with grief for the child she had lost, and perhaps for the man who had dishonored her at Harrenhal as well. She died never knowing that Ser Barristan had loved her.
#asoiaf #adwd #twow #georgerrmartin

Is she still alive?

So I know most people are sold on the Young Griff is a Blackfyre business, but the two quotes are super interesting because of what GRRM does with them.

Chett mocks Jon by telling Gilly that he is brother to kingS. He uses the plural. And the thing is, this is actually true when we take Aegon into consideration and it's not the 1st time we'd get a Robb/Aegon association in the text vis-à-vis Jon. Robb has been crowned the King in the North and we have to wait for #ADwD to see Aegon.

New article: A list of chapters in which two or more POVs appeared and other interesting POV statistics (through A DANCE WITH DRAGONS).
https://towerofthehand.com/blog/2023/02/15-intersecting-povs/

#ASOIAF #ADWD

“No man could have asked for a worthier son,” Griff said, “but the lad is not of my blood, and his name is not Griff. My lords, I give you Aegon Targaryen, firstborn son of Rhaegar, Prince of Dragonstone, by Princess Elia of Dorne.”

This quote has had me convinced for a really long time that Jon Connington is very aware of Jon Snow's existence. #ADwD #ASoIaF

New guest essay: Queers of Ice and Fire

Wadege looks at the many queer characters in ASOIAF to see if they defy the negative stereotypes that fantasy stories typically give such characters.

https://towerofthehand.com/blog/2023/01/03-queers-of-ice-and-fire/

#asoiaf #adwd

#ASoIaF Something I forgot to mention with regard to this. While Mance ends up in a cage at the end of #ADwD, Gerrick Kingsblood also comes in at the end to replace Mance as "king of the wildlings." Him being identified as such by Selyse & her gang of dummies doesn't bode well for Gerrick or his son who is a hostage of the NW. Early on in ADwD, Jon talks about the rumor that to wake the dragon, Melisandre intended on burning Mance, then his son, so that both die kings.

#ASoIaF Bookending Mance Rayder in #ADwD. Rattleshirt as Mance started out in a cage. Jon in his thoughts wishes they had allowed him to have his black and red cloak. In the pink letter we are told that Mance is in a cage at Winterfell for the north to see, wearing a cloak made from the skins of his 6 spearwives. "Mance" started out in a cage without a cloak. Mance ended the book in a cage wearing the sort of cloak skins.

Here we go! I had always taken it at face value that Young Griff is not who Varys & Illyrio claim he is, that the sword mentioned in Tyrion's #ADwD sample chapter was Blackfyre, bc this is the conclusion I kept seeing across the fandom. So I gave that sample a look & started comparing the draft to the published version & came away with a different conclusion. The most important thing in Illyrio's chest is the armor. That's where the groundwork has been laid. #ASoIaF

https://alexissomethingrose.wordpress.com/2020/12/18/is-the-reference-to-sword-really-about-blackfyre/