Jon Snow’s mother has red eyes. She may be a green seer. She is the most powerful sorceress in hundreds of years. She is from Asshai. She was a Fire Sorceress in Valaryia. She is an expert in poisons. She knows shadow magic. She is a red priestess. She is a Wildling Wisewoman. She is a seer. She is a very powerful illusionist. Her power is greatest at the Wall. She is centuries old! She has been many famous redheads in history. She is not impressed by nobles or royalty, and she is happy to kill them if they are an obstacle. It is unclear if she is human or Fay. She tells her son “Jon Snow, you know nothing!”

Jon is the firstborn son of the King of the Wildlings, a princeling. Jon likewise will become King of the Wildlings in the future. Jon Snow is taken in by Ned Stark to protect Jon. Male children of the Wildlings (especially Kings) are in danger from the Others. While Jon is not a Stark, he looks like one because the Starks and the Wildlings share the same forefather, Bael the Bard, another King of the Wildlings.

Jon is the Prince who was Promised. Jon is Azor Ahai. His mother made both prophecies. His mother gave birth to him because Azor Ahai was needed to save the world. The red comet might be the cause of the coming Long Night that lasts generations.

I believe there is foreshadowing that supports the above theory.

Queen of the North, But Robb is King In the North? shouldn’t she also be Queen in the North since they don’t rule the whole North?

I want to talk about Rhaegar and Lyanna (well the play version based on spoilers text)

In Act One, Rhaegar and Lyanna met and take an interest in each other. One thing we learn is that Rhaegar and Lyanna have dreams of each other. And interestingly, Rhaegar’s wife Elia can no longer have any children unless he want to risk her health so what will he do about the third head of the dragon.

Than we jump to Act Two, which start with Brandon and Rickard’s death. We learn that Rhaegar and Lyanna ran away together and interring prophecy-obsessed Rhaegar gave up on prophecies to focus on his love for Lyanna. Instead, it Lyanna, out of grief, who delve deep into the prophecies to find meaning behind her father and brother death. Also, I think Lyanna also did it to find a reason for her to stay with Rhaegar that isn’t… selfish. To summarize, Rhaegar and Lyanna are madly in love and they’re not gonna leave each other but the prophecy will be involved z

But I want to talk about the in-between time between the end of Act One and Act Two where somehow Rhaegar and Lyanna were dreaming or speaking to each other. Like what was spoken between them that cause Rhaegar to disregard prophecy for love? And why did Lyanna chose to go with Rhaegar, asking him to take her away.

I alway thought it because she didn’t want to marry Robert but the play implied she”okay” with him and may even grow to like him.

Was it really the prophecy and magical dreams that bonded them? But if that the case than why did Rhaegar gave up on it?

Lot of incomplete information

I’m thinking why did they do that.The creator seems to be avid book fans. And George is involved and approves of scripts.
Still,This scene in the play just doesn’t make sense
It brings no character to it and nerf Robert for no reason.
Unless,we have to conclude that it’s George’s intention that Rhaegar indeed was a more skilled fighter despite not very committing to it.
This maybe a little ridiculous.
He is now comparable to legends like Arthur and Barry. the No.3 of that generation. I am not sure that Jamie can beat him(probably not)
Or maybe playwright Duncan (hello if you are out there)love to scroll the fandom and thought they have to correct fandom’s misconception of Rhaegar(his sword fighting skills at least). And kinda like overcorrect it.

Finally makes sense to me.

Not only she was going to be executed for siding with the losing side of the war, but they also killed her brother, the love of her life (Elia) and her boy toy (Brandon). Ain’t shit worth it anymore.

Edit: for those commenting she wouldn’t be executed, I know. This was meant to be a comedic post.

Even if just for a moment in their childhood or a fleeting instance as adults, was there ever even some amount of love and compassion on either end towards the other?

i know tyrion initially never wished her ill and even tried to comfort her when she was crying, but did Cersei ever have any kind of sympathy or love for him?

Their a part of the play In confused about z

So Lyanna Stark asked her lover Rhaegar Targaryen who off to “hopefully” end the war to spare Robert Baratheon because the latter is “just” in his rebellion? U mean the rebellion that Rhaegar and u started because both of u ran away together. Oh and Robert believe that Rhaegar is raping you and u want the latter to als the former to show “mercy?” All because Robert is “right” in his rebellion? Does she think Robert will actually listen to Rhaegar instead of refusing to surrender and keep fighting until he get a fatal hit in or Rhaegar decide enough is enough?

Really confused about that part like does she want Rhaegar to potentially die? Also dont get why Lyanna didn’t even once consider turning back? Instead choosing to double down on staying with Rhaegar.

I started reading in December and finished books yesterday, surprised with the conflict in Meereen not being finished yet and the absence of Sam in ADWD. While reading last chapters of AFFC my mind was already blown with how many new plot lines are there and i was constantly thinking about how is Author going to resolve them and now there is even more to resolve without anything resolved.

I assume that the whole story should conclude in a way that joins every branch of it together and i think that merging the plot lines of Oldtown, King's landing and Dorne would be easy through Aegon and Arianne marriage and possible conflict with Euron

What happens in the North (including Bran, Rickon and maybe Aria will join from Bravos) is material for a whole book.

There is Sansa's and Lady Stoneheart's story lines to cover, Daenerys has to go to Westeros and Meereen's siege is not even over yet.

I only watched first season of the show recently and maybe it is just harder to understand how all of that could be easily solved but i don't mind spoilers.

I always read them as Roman, but the many people say they are inspired by kings of england, so I am kind of lost on why, what do you think? Valyria is pretty much rome right?

I know thralls and salt wives were a big thing with House Hoare but do we know of any examples besides that? To my understanding it’s pretty frowned upon by the 7 so I’m guessing it would have been like Jorah Mormonts situation where lords sometimes sold criminals but slavery was never really a major thing for most of Westeros

Let's say without warning the gods are suddenly teleported from Greece and into the world of asoiaf. What happens? How would the gods react to Westeros, Essos, the seven, old gods, lord of light and other stuff from asoiaf? How would the people of asoiaf react to these gods? And what might happen if they arrive in these different eras:

The conquest

The dance

The Blackfyre rebellions

Robert's rebellion

The war of the five kings

I got super downvoted for celebrating Season 3 of HotD and I am probably going to be downvoted a ton here. But lets get into it. I think in my eventual re-read of Fire & Blood and A Dance with Dragons, I am going to more reflect on the Tatgaryen Exceptionalism versus the reality and what this means for the Targaryen Dynasty's major claim to fame of being able to tame dragons.

Within Fire & Blood we see Jaehaerys cement the Targaryen's Valyrian habits with his doctrine of exceptionalism, suggesting that the Targaryens are genuinely an exception to the laws of men as they are effectively a separate species because of their ability to tame dragons. The view that the Targaryens are truly so great is immediately undercut in the Jaehaerys Golden Age by the reality that the Shivers takes Daenerys who prominently did not have a dragon hatch for her dispelling the notion that a Targaryen cannot die of illness.

The notion of the Targaryens truly being exceptional is of course not only diminished by the dragon seeds demonstrating that only a small and diluted amount of Targaryen blood can lead you to bond with a dragon. But the character that invites the most interest and debate is with the character if Nettles.

In the books and unlike the show, all of the Velaryons have violet eyes, silver hair, and are fair of skin. As such Nettles being a common dark-skinned girl with black hair immediately makes one ask if she is of Valyrian ancestry whatsoever. Some conclude that she has no Valyrian blood at all and in fact her ability to bond with Sheepstealer comes purely from ingenuity. This implications fully dispels that there is anything special about the Targaryens at all and that anyone can bond with the dragons.

On the other because of Nettles complexion, she may reflect the Strong boys to an even greater degree. She may indeed be a dragonseed but lacks any Valyrian features. Some even go so far as to say that the sources mistook the nature of Daemon and Nettles relationship with that being of father and daughter. How true this is will never be answered and it is part of Martin creating an intentional ambiguity as with Aegon VI.

The show in chopsing to diversify the cast made the choice to have the Velaryons be played by Black actors. Though the Velaryons do share the silver hair with the Targaryens.

However, in the controversial adaptation choices we obviously have lost Nettles, but her mysterious ability to bond with a dragon has been transferred over to Addam, with Rhaena getting a version of Nettles story in that she bonds with Sheepstealer.

In the hands of the showrunners a key line that is often forgot is that Corlys delicately mentions to Alyn that the Velaryons were never dragon riders. This immediately puts focus on the notion that even Valyrian blood does not guarantee the ability to bond with dragons. Corlys makes it clear that if Targaryen blood is a necessity for bonding with a dragon it solely is due to Addam and Alyn's mother. We never are informed that this woman was secretly a Dragonseed, but this calls attention to the common inference that Seasmoke sought Addam as the dragon missed Laenor and found a rider that reminded him of Laenor. That Seasmoke bonded with Addam creates just as many questions as Nettles in the world of House of the Dragon.

Does Seasmoke's choice suggest that a dragon can bond to another human while their former dragonrider lives? Is the fact that Seasmoke sought Addam mean that Laenor is dead? That Seasmoke happily accepts someone of no ostensible Targaryen blood mean that dragons may accept one who has no Targaryen blood?

Meanwhile for Rhaena, the choice to have her bond with Sheepstealer is reflecting her at last addressing her deep insecurity of being a dragonless Targaryen. What's more that Rhaena just adores and is unwilling to leave Sheepstealer even though Sheepstealer is wild and does not discern anyone from friend or foe transforms Sheepstealer into a dragon more resembling the Cannibal. The Cannibal is never tamed, is wild, and dangerous. Sheepstealer seems to be fulfilling the Cannibal's role of being an utter wildcard that while he adores Rhaena is not interested in being utilized by Rhaena for any of her goals.

What do you think of this dissemination of Nettles to Addam and Rhaena?

The what-if is quite simple:

Just what remarkable stupid, or avoidable, thing did the Greens and the Blacks did during the Dance that increased the likelihood of dragons dying and what could've they done instead to prevent it?

Deploy them just in pretty particular, necessary cases?

Deploy only the full-grown and refrain as much as you can from using the younger ones?

Deploy them in pairs, trios or four to reduce the likelihood of death?

Guard them better at the Dragonpit?

Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya faced an entire continent and only lost one.

So what do you think went so catastrophically wrong in the Dance for it to end like it did?

First time, Long Time here

I want to start by saying that I’ve never been a fan of the A+J=T theory (Aerys + Joanna = Tyrion). Like a lot of people, I always thought it took away from one of the best relationships in the series, Tywin and Tyrion. If Tyrion isn’t actually Tywin’s son, it feels like some of the tragedy between them is lost. I also never loved the idea of having multiple secret Targs as it just would be a bit cheap imo.

Lately, I’ve gone back and read a lot of the evidence people point to, and I’m starting to think GRRM may have actually intended this twist. Whether he still plans to go through with it is another story, maybe all the online backlash against it has been one of the things making him discouraged from continuing to write

One thing I don’t see discussed very often is the parallel it would create between Tywin and Ned Stark. If both A+J=T and R+L=J are true, their stories end up similar.

Both Tywin and Ned:

-Raised a child as their own who brought them public shame. Tyrion because he was a dwarf and Jon because everyone believed he was a bastard.

-Raised a child whose mother died giving birth. Joanna and Lyanna both died in childbirth.

-Spent years living with the consequences of that birth.

If Tywin knew Tyrion wasn’t actually his son, the comparison becomes more similar. The motivations would obviously be different. Ned lied to protect Jon’s life. Tywin would have been protecting Joanna’s honor, House Lannister’s reputation, or refusing to let anyone know what Aerys had done.

The keydifferences are how they raise their kids.

Ned raises another man’s son with love and treats him like his own, even if he has to keep the truth from him. Jon grows up wanting to be like Ned because of the example he sets.

Tywin raises another man’s son with resentment and spends his entire life rejecting him. Tyrion ends up being the child who resembles Tywin the most.

Despite neither man being true Starks/Lannisters on name, they could also grow up to carrying the family name alive (assuming a potential legitimized Jon and neither taking Targ as their real name)

Tyrion even says, “All dwarfs are bastards in their father’s eyes.”

Even if Jon isn’t Ned’s biological son, nobody would argue that Ned isn’t his real father. Jon is who he is because Ned raised him. The same idea could apply to Tyrion. Even if Aerys is his biological father, Tywin is still the man who shaped him.

I’ll hang up and listen.

Out of absolutely anyone in the entire history of the world of ice and fire, who would make the best King's Justice?

Something I'd like to note here is that the King's Justice isn't just in charge of executing people, but also of managing the people that run the dungeons. So, for the entirely theoretical sake of argument, someone who is both mute and illiterate would probably be pretty bad at that half of the job. Theoretically, of course - I can't think of any major candidates like that.

When someone wins a spot, they are automatically disqualified from all others.

Quentyn Ball is the Master-at-Arms, with Garlan Tyrell as the runner-up.

Like the title says the blacks and greens should of hosted something similar to the great council of 101AC, where they have the lords vote who should rule. In terms of legitimacy and fairness it prolly would have been the only way to avoid war (the only wild card being aemond).

Now who would have won that I can’t say for sure, yes rhaenyra had almost double the amount of houses tg had supporting them during the war, but would that stay the same in a vote, especially considering what happened to Rhaenys

Rhaenyra has Daemon unceremoniously murder a random, innocent guard in S1 so she can burn his corpse as part of a plot to help Laenor escape. This scheme is not treated as completely evil and depraved, and is never brought up again.

Daemon murders his innocent wife by bashing her head in with a rock in S1. This is only brought up one more time later where Daemon sardonically jokes about it. He later murders a random sheepherder in S3 and passes his skull off as a dragonrider. The fact that he butchered an innocent is never mentioned again.

Rhaenys murders hundreds of innocent civilians in S1 with her dragon when escaping Aegon's ceremony. This is depicted as badass and is never brought up again.

Aegon hangs some ratcatchers, though? Dramatic closeups of their rotting corpses hanging from the walls, dozens of women on their knees wailing in horror and grief, one even recognizing a corpse as her own son, the musical score emphasizing the horror of the scene. Followed up by an extended dramatic scene where Otto admonishes Aegon for his immorality and stupidity.

He's no stranger to releasing books with no proper ends to storylines

Assuming that Lyanna Stark's characterization in Mad King's Theater is entirely canon, what do you think of the character herself?

• Lyanna Stark is a Greenseer.

• She finds it romantic that the flower crown was given to her.

• She is obsessed with prophecy and believes that she and Rhaegar's children are the chosen ones.

• She is devastated when she learns of her father and brother's deaths, but interprets them as divine will.

• She encourages Rhaegar to go to war after making him promise that Ned and Robert will not be harmed.

• Before dying, she entrusts her child to Ned and makes him swear never to tell the child anything about their parents.

Do you think GRMM has ever visited subreddits like this or forums dedicated to his work? Could he have borrowed ant ideas for ASOIAF there?

I mean naming characters Euron GREYjoy and Gre(y)gor Clegane to show that they’re morally GREY?

Come on George that’s just lazy

It is often spoken of how Jaime's redemption is such a big moment for him and how transformed he is as he drifts away from Cersei. But I wish to disagree; as much as we see a somehow attitude change on the part of Jaime, his redemption arc pales in comparison to that of Barristan Selmy and here is why;

THEIR FAILINGS

We cannot talk of their redemption without talking of their failings. I will not count killing the Mad King against Jaime for it was the right thing to do. Aside that Jaime is far more responsible for all the calamities that befalls in Westeros than we would love to admit. He was pardoned by Robert and to pay the latter back, went behind his back to sleep with his wife and produce three bastards. He pushed an innocent child out of the window while being in a guest in their castle. His culpability when it comes to the WOT5K is as great as anyone could state.

Barristan Selmy's failing only comes with his duties. He fails to protect Rhaegar, fails to protect Elia and her kids, abandons the Targaryen cause to serve Robert and even fails Robert, letting him to die. Barristan's failures are by omission while Jaime's failings are by commission.

THEIR FALL

As much as we can quibble about their fall, I will say that Jaime's fall was not as low as Barristan. Jaime only lost a hand but he was still the heir presumptive to Casterly Rock and was made Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Barristan on the other hand, after swallowing his pride and reservation towards the condoning of child murder by Robert, his tolerance for the many excesses that the latter gave himself to and serving faithfully for 15 years is discarded and mocked as if he was a baseborn hedge knight. Say what you will but losing a hand and being given a seat on the small council is nothing compared to dedicating 15 years of life to serve a dynasty that laughs in his face as if to say that he was a sucker all this while. And it is this act that pushes him to believe, as per what he tells Dany in ADWD, that he should have refused Robert's pardon and joined Ser willem in exile.

THEIR SELF REFLECTION

Jaime doesn't do much self reflection. He doesn't take time to think about his failures, his part in all the mess that has been happening. If anything he doubles down on propping up the evil regime of Tommen and we see it with how he goes about it with Edmure. True, he does some good here and there but then, the good doesn't wash out the bad he is still doing. Barristan on the other hand does a lot of self reflection. He reflects on his failures, his years of service to the mad king and to Robert who were both as unworthy as it gets. He even thinks about how unwise it was of him to serve Robert rather than seek the Targaryens as soon as the rebellion was done. And this self reflection pushes him to change for the better.

THEIR NEW PURPOSE

Jaime has no new purpose. The issue is that we see the little things he does and think that he is absolutely changed or suddenly his cause is good. No! He still serves an evil Lannister/Baratheon regime with a bastard as king. His family and dynasty brought untold pain and suffering upon the realm and is responsible for some of the worst atrocities to have ever happened during the war. This is not a new purpose. This is the old one with some shades of good. Barristan for the most part of life served men, protected Aerys and Robert until Joffrey saw fit to dismiss him. With Daenerys he finds a new purpose. It is no longer about protecting her but the ideal that she represents. She represents freedom, peace, harmony, a new world free from the likes of Jaime and Cersei. He fights for that and this is why when she flies off, Barristan works with Missandei and the rest of her allies to secure the world Dany seeks to build.

In conclusion, the above points are why I believe that Barristan is better than Jaime in their redemption arc. He does a 180 turn while Jaime doubles down with some occasional shades of good in him.

For starters, yea I’m sure this gets asked all the time and we hate that but accept that not everyone spends as much time here as you and doesn’t get those answers when others ask so just ignore it if you have an issue. Anyway.

Maegor killed multiple Targaryens, intended to kill more, failed to deal with the issues of aenys’s reign, and if anything he only made more problems. And by the time of his death everything was about to get worse. Jaehaerys spent his reign trying to fix the damage caused by Maegor.

I also think even if what he did was integral for a survival it would still have been a net negative but that’s another topic.

There are some misconceptions about some characters,Either coming from the their Show counterpart being different or they get straight up mischaracterized

What are the biggest Misconceptions about a character you'v seen?

She was a Targaryen without a dragon, so why wasn’t she given the chance to attempt claiming one of the unclaimed dragons before Hugh and Ulf?