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(Spoilers) ASOIAF Books Discussion (All Books Read Edition) (Spoilers)
- Thread in 'General' Thread starter Started by rexanglorum,
- Start date
Varys the most dangerous man in westeros
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I think this is spot on myself. Plus Jon's sword is Valyrian Steel which is supposed to be able to slay the Others as well.
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^ thats probably the best case scenario for everybody 
but who knows what GRRM is thinking, the dude loves to throw curveballs and change **** up
but who knows what GRRM is thinking, the dude loves to throw curveballs and change **** up
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K guys, this thread has been dead for a bit but I just wanted to drop a bit of news/ speculation.
Neil Marshall, who directed season 2 episode 9 "Blackwater", is returning to direct episode 9 of season 4. Many speculate that's the Battle of Castle Black. Also, Alliser Thorn and Janos Slynt are confirmed to be returning also.
With that in mind, seems like the final scene might be Jon Snow winning the election of Lord Commander. (Really hope Janos' beheading will be thrown in there somehow but that happened in ADWD)
I'm really hoping we get a LS epilogue.
Neil Marshall, who directed season 2 episode 9 "Blackwater", is returning to direct episode 9 of season 4. Many speculate that's the Battle of Castle Black. Also, Alliser Thorn and Janos Slynt are confirmed to be returning also.
With that in mind, seems like the final scene might be Jon Snow winning the election of Lord Commander. (Really hope Janos' beheading will be thrown in there somehow but that happened in ADWD)
I'm really hoping we get a LS epilogue.
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I think they'll also save it for ygrette dying personally
I think they'll also save it for ygrette dying personally
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I've started reading the series, currently almost done with the first book. I just wanted to come in here and say thanks to all the posters who start their posts with random characters so we don't get spoiled from the homescreen. I'm excited to revisit this thread once i've at least caught up to the show.
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
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***que gif where dude is holding his chin and the camera circles***
season 3 episode 4. lady olena threw a very sly undercover comment about joffery possibly dying . when she was talking to cersi about sons yearning to hit the grave
***que gif where dude is holding his chin and the camera circles***
season 3 episode 4. lady olena threw a very sly undercover comment about joffery possibly dying . when she was talking to cersi about sons yearning to hit the grave
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Excerpt from a short piece of fiction GRRM wrote about The Dance of The Dragons
http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/07/dangerous-women-george-r-r-martin-excerpt
Excerpt in spoiler:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/07/dangerous-women-george-r-r-martin-excerpt
Excerpt in spoiler:
We are very excited to be able to preview Dangerous Women, a new anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, and featuring 21 new stories from some of the biggest authors in the science fiction/fantasy field. The anthology is available on December 3rd from Tor Books!
Every morning until July 30th, we’ll be previewing excerpts from the stories, returning you to the world of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere, and even Westeros itself. Keep an eye on the Dangerous Women index to keep track of them all.
In “The Princess and The Queen, or, The Blacks and The Greens,” George R. R. Martin gives us a Westerosi history lesson on the Targaryen Civil War. Read on, then join Bridget McGovern for her review and analysis of the full story.
“THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, OR, THE BLACKS AND THE GREENS”
Being A History of the Causes, Origins, Battles, and Betrayals of that Most Tragic Bloodletting Known as the Dance of the Dragons, as set down by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown
((here transcribed by GEORGE R. R. MARTIN))
The Dance of the Dragons is the flowery name bestowed upon the savage internecine struggle for the Iron Throne of Westeros fought between two rival branches of House Targaryen during the years 129 to 131 AC. To characterize the dark, turbulent, bloody doings of this period as a “dance” strikes us as grotesquely inappropriate. No doubt the phrase originated with some singer. “The Dying of the Dragons” would be altogether more fitting, but tradition and time have burned the more poetic usage into the pages of history, so we must dance along with the rest.
There were two principal claimants to the Iron Throne upon the death of King Viserys I Targaryen: his daughter Rhaenyra, the only surviving child of his first marriage, and Aegon, his eldest son by his second wife. Amidst the chaos and carnage brought on by their rivalry, other wouldbe kings would stake claims as well, strutting about like mummers on a stage for a fortnight or a moon’s turn, only to fall as swiftly as they had arisen.
The Dance split the Seven Kingdoms in two, as lords, knights, and smallfolk declared for one side or the other and took up arms against each other. Even House Targaryen itself became divided, when the kith, kin, and children of each of the claimants became embroiled in the fighting. Over the two years of struggle, a terrible toll was taken of the great lords of Westeros, together with their bannermen, knights, and smallfolk. Whilst the dynasty survived, the end of the fighting saw Targaryen power much diminished, and the world’s last dragons vastly reduced in number.
The Dance was a war unlike any other ever fought in the long history of the Seven Kingdoms. Though armies marched and met in savage battle, much of the slaughter took place on water, and... especially... in the air, as dragon fought dragon with tooth and claw and flame. It was a war marked by stealth, murder, and betrayal as well, a war fought in shadows and stairwells, council chambers and castle yards, with knives and lies and poison.
Long simmering, the conflict burst into the open on the third day of third moon of 129 AC, when the ailing, bedridden King Viserys I Targaryen closed his eyes for a nap in the Red Keep of King’s Landing, and died without waking. His body was discovered by a serving man at the hour of the bat, when it was the king’s custom to take a cup of hippocras. The servant ran to inform Queen Alicent, whose apartments were on the floor below the king’s.
The manservant delivered his dire tidings directly to the queen, and her alone, without raising a general alarum; the king’s death had been anticipated for some time, and Queen Alicent and her party, the so-called greens, had taken care to instruct all of Viserys’s guards and servants in what to do when the day came.
Queen Alicent went at once to the king’s bedchamber, accompanied by Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Once they had confirmed that Viserys was dead, Her Grace ordered his room sealed and placed under guard. The serving man who had found the king’s body was taken into custody, to make certain he did not spread the tale. Ser Criston returned to White Sword Tower and sent his brothers of the Kingsguard to summon the members of the king’s small council. It was the hour of the owl.
Then as now, the Sworn Brotherhood of the Kingsguard consisted of seven knights, men of proven loyalty and undoubted prowess who had taken solemn oaths to devote their lives to defending the king’s person and kin. Only five of the white cloaks were in King’s Landing at the time of Viserys’s death; Ser Criston himself, Ser Arryk Cargyll, Ser Rickard Thorne, Ser Steffon Darklyn, and Ser Willis Fell. Ser Erryk Cargyll (twin to Ser Arryk) and Ser Lorent Marbrand, with Princess Rhaenyra on Dragonstone, remained unaware and uninvolved as their brothers-inarms went forth into the night to rouse the members of the small council from their beds.
Gathering in the queen’s chambers as the body of her lord husband grew cold above were Queen Alicent herself; her father Ser Otto Hightower, Hand of the King; Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; Grand Maester Orwyle; Lord Lyman Beesbury, master of coin, a man of eighty; Ser Tyland Lannister, master of ships, brother to the Lord of Casterly Rock; Larys Strong, called Larys Clubfoot, Lord of Harrenhal, master of whisperers; and Lord Jasper Wylde, called Ironrod, master of laws.
Grand Maester Orwyle opened the meeting by reviewing the customary tasks and procedures required at the death of a king. He said, “Septon Eustace should be summoned to perform the last rites and pray for the king’s soul. A raven must needs be sent to Dragonstone at once to inform Princess Rhaenyra of her father’s passing. Mayhaps Her Grace the queen would care to write the message, so as to soften these sad tidings with some words of condolence? The bells are always rung to announce the death of a king, someone should see to that, and of course we must begin to make our preparations for Queen Rhaenyra’s coronation—”
Ser Otto Hightower cut him off. “All this must needs wait,” he declared, “until the question of succession is settled.” As the King’s Hand, he was empowered to speak with the king’s voice, even to sit the Iron Throne in the king’s absence. Viserys had granted him the authority to rule over the Seven Kingdoms, and “until such time as our new king is crowned,” that rule would continue.
“Until our new queen is crowned,” Lord Beesbury said, in a waspish tone.
“King,” insisted Queen Alicent. “The Iron Throne by rights must pass to His Grace’s eldest trueborn son.”
The discussion that followed lasted nigh unto dawn. Lord Beesbury spoke on behalf of Princess Rhaenyra. The ancient master of coin, who had served King Viserys for his entire reign, and his father Jaehaerys the Old King before him, reminded the council that Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood, that the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens, that hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.
But these words fell on ears made of stone.
Every morning until July 30th, we’ll be previewing excerpts from the stories, returning you to the world of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Brandon Sanderson’s cosmere, and even Westeros itself. Keep an eye on the Dangerous Women index to keep track of them all.
In “The Princess and The Queen, or, The Blacks and The Greens,” George R. R. Martin gives us a Westerosi history lesson on the Targaryen Civil War. Read on, then join Bridget McGovern for her review and analysis of the full story.
“THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, OR, THE BLACKS AND THE GREENS”
Being A History of the Causes, Origins, Battles, and Betrayals of that Most Tragic Bloodletting Known as the Dance of the Dragons, as set down by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown
((here transcribed by GEORGE R. R. MARTIN))
The Dance of the Dragons is the flowery name bestowed upon the savage internecine struggle for the Iron Throne of Westeros fought between two rival branches of House Targaryen during the years 129 to 131 AC. To characterize the dark, turbulent, bloody doings of this period as a “dance” strikes us as grotesquely inappropriate. No doubt the phrase originated with some singer. “The Dying of the Dragons” would be altogether more fitting, but tradition and time have burned the more poetic usage into the pages of history, so we must dance along with the rest.
There were two principal claimants to the Iron Throne upon the death of King Viserys I Targaryen: his daughter Rhaenyra, the only surviving child of his first marriage, and Aegon, his eldest son by his second wife. Amidst the chaos and carnage brought on by their rivalry, other wouldbe kings would stake claims as well, strutting about like mummers on a stage for a fortnight or a moon’s turn, only to fall as swiftly as they had arisen.
The Dance split the Seven Kingdoms in two, as lords, knights, and smallfolk declared for one side or the other and took up arms against each other. Even House Targaryen itself became divided, when the kith, kin, and children of each of the claimants became embroiled in the fighting. Over the two years of struggle, a terrible toll was taken of the great lords of Westeros, together with their bannermen, knights, and smallfolk. Whilst the dynasty survived, the end of the fighting saw Targaryen power much diminished, and the world’s last dragons vastly reduced in number.
The Dance was a war unlike any other ever fought in the long history of the Seven Kingdoms. Though armies marched and met in savage battle, much of the slaughter took place on water, and... especially... in the air, as dragon fought dragon with tooth and claw and flame. It was a war marked by stealth, murder, and betrayal as well, a war fought in shadows and stairwells, council chambers and castle yards, with knives and lies and poison.
Long simmering, the conflict burst into the open on the third day of third moon of 129 AC, when the ailing, bedridden King Viserys I Targaryen closed his eyes for a nap in the Red Keep of King’s Landing, and died without waking. His body was discovered by a serving man at the hour of the bat, when it was the king’s custom to take a cup of hippocras. The servant ran to inform Queen Alicent, whose apartments were on the floor below the king’s.
The manservant delivered his dire tidings directly to the queen, and her alone, without raising a general alarum; the king’s death had been anticipated for some time, and Queen Alicent and her party, the so-called greens, had taken care to instruct all of Viserys’s guards and servants in what to do when the day came.
Queen Alicent went at once to the king’s bedchamber, accompanied by Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Once they had confirmed that Viserys was dead, Her Grace ordered his room sealed and placed under guard. The serving man who had found the king’s body was taken into custody, to make certain he did not spread the tale. Ser Criston returned to White Sword Tower and sent his brothers of the Kingsguard to summon the members of the king’s small council. It was the hour of the owl.
Then as now, the Sworn Brotherhood of the Kingsguard consisted of seven knights, men of proven loyalty and undoubted prowess who had taken solemn oaths to devote their lives to defending the king’s person and kin. Only five of the white cloaks were in King’s Landing at the time of Viserys’s death; Ser Criston himself, Ser Arryk Cargyll, Ser Rickard Thorne, Ser Steffon Darklyn, and Ser Willis Fell. Ser Erryk Cargyll (twin to Ser Arryk) and Ser Lorent Marbrand, with Princess Rhaenyra on Dragonstone, remained unaware and uninvolved as their brothers-inarms went forth into the night to rouse the members of the small council from their beds.
Gathering in the queen’s chambers as the body of her lord husband grew cold above were Queen Alicent herself; her father Ser Otto Hightower, Hand of the King; Ser Criston Cole, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; Grand Maester Orwyle; Lord Lyman Beesbury, master of coin, a man of eighty; Ser Tyland Lannister, master of ships, brother to the Lord of Casterly Rock; Larys Strong, called Larys Clubfoot, Lord of Harrenhal, master of whisperers; and Lord Jasper Wylde, called Ironrod, master of laws.
Grand Maester Orwyle opened the meeting by reviewing the customary tasks and procedures required at the death of a king. He said, “Septon Eustace should be summoned to perform the last rites and pray for the king’s soul. A raven must needs be sent to Dragonstone at once to inform Princess Rhaenyra of her father’s passing. Mayhaps Her Grace the queen would care to write the message, so as to soften these sad tidings with some words of condolence? The bells are always rung to announce the death of a king, someone should see to that, and of course we must begin to make our preparations for Queen Rhaenyra’s coronation—”
Ser Otto Hightower cut him off. “All this must needs wait,” he declared, “until the question of succession is settled.” As the King’s Hand, he was empowered to speak with the king’s voice, even to sit the Iron Throne in the king’s absence. Viserys had granted him the authority to rule over the Seven Kingdoms, and “until such time as our new king is crowned,” that rule would continue.
“Until our new queen is crowned,” Lord Beesbury said, in a waspish tone.
“King,” insisted Queen Alicent. “The Iron Throne by rights must pass to His Grace’s eldest trueborn son.”
The discussion that followed lasted nigh unto dawn. Lord Beesbury spoke on behalf of Princess Rhaenyra. The ancient master of coin, who had served King Viserys for his entire reign, and his father Jaehaerys the Old King before him, reminded the council that Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood, that the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens, that hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.
But these words fell on ears made of stone.
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He should write a lot more of these in-between writing the books.
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just finished sworn sword. next mystery knight. not bad stories so far
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He needs to hurry up. I need Cersei sitting behind him berating him when he takes breaks
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I know everyone here is reading ASOIAF
please please read the prequeals, with Ser Duncan the tall
I think there is a real big Easter Egg in the last one The mystery knight,
I'll put in a spoiler tag for those who have read.
please please read the prequeals, with Ser Duncan the tall
I think there is a real big Easter Egg in the last one The mystery knight,
I'll put in a spoiler tag for those who have read.
All the talk of the red grass battle against the Black Dragon and the Red Dragon fractions of the Targareyons, could that be a thing to come for Daneyeras and the boy....... ?
and the end of the book having the Dwarf that stole the egg (Tyrion easter egg possibly????)
and the end of the book having the Dwarf that stole the egg (Tyrion easter egg possibly????)
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Are these the Dunk and Egg novels?
After Detox comes out
yea the Ser Duncan the Tall, "Dunk and Egg" novels.
lol @ After Detox
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This...I hope they don't leave out the Sand Snakes and do a good job casting them. Red Viper's daughters sound like they'd be bad in real life.
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Just finished the Dunk and Egg novellas. Good reads and not too long. Gives some good insight into the Targaryen/Blackfyre dynamic. Also good to see some of the histories of the Houses, and I think it alludes to some possible future events.
I may be wrong but didn't Jaime mention Dunk when he was reading through the book of all the Commander's of the Kingsguard?
I may be wrong but didn't Jaime mention Dunk when he was reading through the book of all the Commander's of the Kingsguard?
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That is correct, Even Old nan was about to tell the story of Dunk to Bran before bran said he wanted something scarier.
I think we may get another Targaryen Blackfyre dynamic...
and someone who stole that egg at the end may be u know who at the end of it all
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I think the whole dunk and egg thing was to set up future blackfyre reveals.
I might have mentioned it in here before that possibly conningtons boy being a blackfyre. Forget his name at the moment
I might have mentioned it in here before that possibly conningtons boy being a blackfyre. Forget his name at the moment
TipsyMcStagga
formerly kod843
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Can someone point me in the right direction for the Dunk and Egg novels?
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Young Griff aka Aegon I believe. Yeah it's hinted at with the Golden Company essentially being Blackfyre outcasts. Plus Martell's daughter is going to see if he's legit in the next novel.
And I was just thinking, maybe the Dunk and Egg novels are foreshadowing?
Egg aka Aegon the Unlikely, went around with Duncan as a hedge knight, and wasn't brought up like a typical spoiled lord or prince that thinks that it's his right to rule, since it was so unlikely that he would reach the throne (hence his nickname).
Now think about what Varys says to Kevan Lannister before he ends him, about how Aegon is right for rule because of how he was brought up and what he has learned. I think that could be some heavy foreshadowing into how everything ends.
Now think about what Varys says to Kevan Lannister before he ends him, about how Aegon is right for rule because of how he was brought up and what he has learned. I think that could be some heavy foreshadowing into how everything ends.
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Every time I see this thread pop up I think there's an update on TWOW release.
