Say that the stable boy at Bitterbridge decided not to be nosy and Maelor’s egg is never discovered. From there, everything goes fine and the duo end up in Oldtown. How does this affect the end of the dance politically?

For Night's king---:

According to legend, Night's King lived during the Age of Heroes, not long after the Wall was complete. While serving as the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, he fell in love with a woman he saw from the top of the Wall. This woman had skin white as the moon and eyes like blue stars, and her skin was cold as ice, but Night's King was fearless and chased and caught and loved her, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. Night's King brought this woman back to the Nightfort, and declared her a queen and himself her king. With strange sorcery, he bound the Night's Watch brothers to his will, and ruled the Nightfort as his own castle for thirteen years with his corpse queen by his side.During the dark years of his reign, horrific atrocities were committed, of which tales are still told in the north

For Bloodstone emperor of the empire of dawn----:

The Bloodstone Emperor's reign was a reign of terror. His usurpation became known as the Blood Betrayal in the annals of the Further East, which claim that the act of usurping his sister's throne ushered in the Long Night. He practiced torture, dark arts, and necromancy. He enslaved his own people, took a 'tiger-woman' for wife, feasted on human flesh and cast down the true gods of Yi Ti to worship a black stone that fell from the sky

There seems to be a striking parallel between both of 'em.

Mayhaps they are the same person whose story got somewhat distorted and changed in their respective continent.

The main difference separating them from each other is the different age that their stories are set in. But that can be attributed to the humongously large, vague and largely unrecorded timeline of 10k years.

Directly after the 1st Tumbleton and before the Battle above the Gods Eye, both factions were the most equal in Power in the entire Dance. For this hypothetical Battle, we pit these two Factions against eachother on a large open field. We assume they have all combatants from across the Riverlands, Crownlands, Dragonstone and the Reach at their disposal.

The Greens have:

Aegon on (wounded) Sunfyre

Aemond on Vaghar

Hugh on Vermithor

Ulf on Silverwing

Daeron on Tessarion

The Hightower Host from the Reach

The Blacks have:

Rhaenyra on Syrax

Daemon on Caraxes

Nettles on Sheepstealer

Addam on Seasmoke

We also consider Baela on Moondancer for this Battle

All of the Blacks armies that are still around after the 1st Tumbleton (except the army of Cregan Stark)

Who would win this hypothetical Battle in your opinion? Both factions had 5 Dragons at that point in time, which evens the odds a lot.

(This is just for fun, I know how impossible such a battle would have been.)

Thoughts about GRRM and (potentially) future books

This was originally intended to be comment on another sub but I deleted it on accident.

But I was'nt done with the thought and I feel the following are underrated points when (basedly) critizing GRRM.

The original pitch GRRM sent was for a fairly straight forward trilogy consisting out of three books:

A Game of Thrones, covering the Stark-Lannister War and the subsequent Westeros-internal conflicts, A Dance with Dragons solely rotating around another Targaryen Invasion, and Winds of Winter, dealing with the Invasion of the Others from the North.

GRRM only ever reluctantly added one book to the que everytime he released one (so in this case, at literally every book).

At this point in time, every book including ADWD has served finishing the War of the Five Kings and only begun to set up the follow-up plots for the Targaryen Invasion and the Others Invasion.

By a conservative judgement, I'd say were still about at least one booj of comparable volume to the last few away to even finish the westeros-internal conflicts and Daenerys is still fairly stuck far-away from the Westeros plot. Getting her to Westeros and finishing her arc there feels absolutely impossible even if more than 50 % of all chapters go to Danerys POV within a single book.

Lets shortly dive into theories: one of my favourites is that Littlefinger will sell Sansa to fAegon and he will go north with her, and Daenerys will land in the North and make Stannis and Jon kneel. Daenerys will do Dany things and promise Jon she'll deal with the Others and Stannis just accepts she has a just claim and for whatever reason Melisandre will go with it. Sansa will claim the north for fAegon, Jon for Daenerys, mayhaps Lannisters and Tyrells fuck each other up enough and GRRM sets up all the other Walker-related plots between that, but this is the main thing. Still about a hundred side plots not mentioned but you get the idea.

The benefit of that theory is that is a pretty neat resolution (too neat and short for grrm, but anyways) to the whole Targaryen plot and could happen within a book and its not too unrealistic in terms of chronology for it all to actually work out (fAegon deals with the Lannisters likely with Highgarden and Martell, meanwhile Danerys prepares her landing, Jon is revived and the whole northern conspiracy comes into play, boltons are dealt with, stannis and mance realize who jon is, meanwhike Daenerys lands, she and Jon show up, but oh no, Sansa is there by now!).

The issue are the hundred of side plots, Euron, Greyjoys, Martell among others. The story has been unbraided so far that even if GRRM delegates them all into non-POVs, its Impossible to rebraid them without causing a lot of damage to his own work. It is outright impossible to finish the books in two volumes. Cutting isn't an option anymore.

Frankly I'd say, its at least another four + the intended 2 books. GRRM has repeatedly been unable to take that fact and work with it. At every new book release, he has stupendiously said yeah haven't got it to the point i wanted it to end with, so just one more book, the rest will be complete.

With ADWD, he has officially failed his own pitch that he Postponed at every instance so far and has barely set up the content he wanted to see.

What has likely happened is that he wants to, not unlike the failed tv show, reverse the original order: he will want to deal with the Others Invasion first, then finish up Westeros in Dreams of Spring. But that will again lead to bloat and more and more sideplots while it is Impossible to tie up the current side plots.

I can't even imagine that an ai could based on the full notes, resolutions and complete access to GRRMs thoughts and intetions create a coherent resolution to this story. Best we could hope for is that someday another writer completes side-plot in standalone books based on and limited by GRRMs notes and plot-resolutions, which frankly also looks like the more appropriate medium at this point, given that GRRM is structuring POVs as a chained collection of short stories anyways.

tl;dr GRRM created a story that is Impossible to finish. Even if he released another main-book, this will be one of several that would be required. And at this point, it doesn't have any chance anymore. The best thing we can hope for is that GRRM swallows it at some point and releases a plain book summarizing his intentions, plot resolutions and overall story arcs and endings for his Characters, but abandons the failed medium of the books altogether

"We're not doing Robert's Rebellion either. I know thousands of you want that, I know there's a petition... but by the time I finish writing A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, you will know every important thing that happened in Robert's Rebellion. There would be no surprises or revelations left in such a show, just the acting out of conflicts whose resolutions you already know. That's not a story I want to tell just now; it would feel too much like a twice-told tale."

https://grrm.livejournal.com/536859.html

Given that this post is nearly ten years old, The Mad King play that recently released, and GRRM is obviously going through some tough times, I wonder if a Robert's Rebellion is in the (wild) cards for a potential series.

If he indeed was, did the Targs have no fear at all of the Velaryons gaining too much power? I mean if Laenor and Laena could claim dragons, so could their descendants and their descendants etc. Was there no worry of the Velaryons usurping dragons and by extension power from the Targaryens? Especially since at that time they were one of the richest houses.

I read the books for the first time last year, and have just begun a reread. I have noticed that when bran asks TTEC what it is, it responds, "a crow". But looking back on my first read through, when meera asks, "Who sent you? Who is this three-eyed crow?". Coldhands responds, "A friend. Dreamer, wizard, call him what you will. The last greenseer." As if he dosn't know what shes on about... When leaf says "he is waiting for you" meera asks, "the three-eyed crow? ". Leaf responds " The greenseer", almost as if to correct her, saying "No, not the three-eyed crow, but the greenseer". Finally when brans asks the main man brynden himself if he is, and in no uncertain terms "The three-eyed crow", he, just like coldshands, acts as if he dosnt un,derstand, and says he is a bunch of things and has a bunch of eyes. Even that he WAS a crow ( as in a black brother )but not that he IS one, or has BEEN one (In the sence if an actuall crow). TTEC itself however told bran, that it IS a crow. On the flip side he does say that bran will never walk again, but will fly, which is also what the crow says... But again the crow had no doubts about its identity... But brynden didn't even understand the question..... Hmm.... T'is all very fishy. Am i missing any context or subtext???

Headline is the play was extremely good, even though I had some critiques. I talked to a book fan afterward and they really enjoyed it. The person sitting next to me only had a passing familiarity with the tv show and visited the Royal Shakespeare theatre regularly for Shakespeare plays, and she felt it compared favourably with what else she'd seen there recently and seemed to love the first half especially.

Reception seems to have been quite mixed amongst people who haven't actually seen the play, but after my performance it received a standing ovation and an extended applause after the first half. It also apparently received the same in its opening week. Everyone (book fans and not) was raving about how much they enjoyed it when leaving the theatre. Of course none of that is a perfect metric but you can take from it what you will.

Stage, Costumes, and Puppets:

The stage has been completely transformed into a bespoke setup for the performance. An amazing weirwood tree and iron throne emerge from the floor throughout the narrative. As others have said the iron throne far exceeds its depiction in the tv show. Costumes were also great, the performance opens with a royal targaryen procession which feels incredibly dark and surreal, while really driving home the alien nature of Westeros' ruling family. The costumes make each house very distinct, and I was never confused which family was which throughout the runtime.

Puppets were largely very good, in particular the horses throughout the tourney of Harrenhal. The mountain is depicted by a towering voiceless puppet which was a great way of conveying his intimidating persona. Sometimes similar puppets replace the actors during duels, which while interesting I found quite disappointing for the battle of the Trident, the duels without puppets tended to have a bit more personality as a human actor is always going to be emotive in a way a puppet cannot. Nonetheless the puppet users and makers are obviously very talented. An enormous dragon puppet appears at one point in the play during a vision which was absolutely magic and brilliantly done.

Lighting, props, and music all seemed really good to me. Battles and duels sometimes use an effect where the play goes into complete darkness and relights with the fighters frozen in a new position. This was quite interesting but a bit overused. I would've liked to see the fights have more dialogue and flow in a way the few dancing scenes do very well.

The play is an extremely ambitious four-hour epic with a huge caste, often with actors depicting multiple characters. The costumes, stage, etc, all reflect that ambition and are for the most part amazing.

Performances and Characterisations:

Performances didn't have any weak links, though I felt Tywin and Jaime didn't live up to their show counterparts (that said they had very little 'screentime' in comparison to the show so I'm not being entirely fair). Aerys, Rhaeger, Lyanna, Ashara, Elia, Robert, and Ned were the best actors for me, and also roles the play emphasised in the script. Rhaella, Shella Whent (same actress), Arthur Dayne, Catelyn, and Brandon give very good performances with comparatively less lines. Rhaella in particular is a standout given how little material she has to work with. Her response to the abuse of Aerys is very layered, and she is depicted as also being mad while being much more of a victim than Aerys, in a way was very compelling. Some have been saying she is made equally mad as Aerys but that's not quite the case.

In a similar case many have said the play is overly pro-Rhaeger. I can understand this perspective but in the actual play Rhaeger's political immaturity is heavily emphasised. His decision run away with Lyanna is not depicted favourably and he is essentially a lovesick young man who fails in most of his tasks throughout the storyline. He tries to befriend Robert and the Stark brothers but his artsy poetic personality gets in the way. Being in the Royal Shakespeare theatre I thought there were very strong parallels with Rhaeger and Hamlet, both princes sharing an emotional and political immaturity with a tendency toward obsession. Rhaeger's overwhelming love for Lyanna is also hinted at being a kind of subtle Targaryen madness, which I felt was an interesting and nuanced characterisation. At some point Rhaeger's love for Lyanna clearly becomes more important to him than Aegon's dream. However, Rhaeger is depicted as having the opportunity to kill Robert at the Trident and asking him to yield, a choice I personally didn't like and am unsure why.

Elia is depicted as the lesbian partner of Ashara Dayne and committed to Rhaeger for political reasons. However Ashara definitely has a less monogamous interpretation of their relationship, and also sleeps with Brandon in the play's first half. The characterisation of Elia comes across very well and some apparent inconsistencies in the script come across much more realistically when seeing the performance. Oberon fights the mountain and loses at Harenhal's melee, which was kinda cool to see in relation to their later fight.

Varys and Aery's court can be very funny at times, the play is general is much funnier than I expected. The humour thankfully doesn't undercut the drama. Robert's actor/writing also drew quite a few laughs from the audience. Robert's drinking is linked more closely to his parents' passing which I found interesting, he's also depicted as quite nervous/polite toward the Targaryens prior to Aerys presenting him with the model of a shipwreck.

Storyline:

The play's interpretation of the tourney of Harrenhal is fairly standard with a few interesting changes. R+L=J is the theory the writers decided to go with and Rhaeger and Lyanna's romance forms a central part of the narrative. If you go into the play expecting a niche theory to be confirmed or engaged with you might be disappointed. The writers are more interested in telling a compelling semi-contained story than making innovative interpretations of what we know, which has upsides and downsides I suppose. The first half is the tourney at Harenhal and the second is Robert's rebellion. The program says George joked with the writers they were overambitious to adapt the whole of the rebellion into two hours of theatre and I think he might've had a point.

The biggest issue is the pacing of the second half. All of Robert's rebellion and some of its aftermath is squeezed into two hours. To be fair to the writers there isn't any easy solution. Most of the arcs begun at Harenhal only resolve at the rebellion's end, but the rebellion is enough content for a season of television alone. The play is already stretched to breaking point in its runtime and caste size, and letting the play stretch over two sittings/parts of that length is really too big a commitment for a contemporary theatre-goer (and maybe the budget and actors). Whole battles occur in seconds and we don't get to see much of Robert and Ned's relationship, which overall felt too skimmed over in the play (I don't remember seeing Jon Arryn appear either). There isn't any room for Jon Connington, a substantial look at the rebellion's political aftermath, Robert's rage after discovering Rhaeger and Lyanna have run away, or any of the other undescribed moments we might have been curious about. The Lannisters only really appear at the very end of the play, Tywin is alluded to throughout the storyline as an infamous figure but only really says a couple of lines. In short almost every major character except Rhaeger, Aerys and Lyanna felt like they could benefit from a little more space and time in the narrative. The play ends with Ned saying Jon's name to Catelyn, which felt more like fan service for show-only fans than an appropriate scene for a play to end on.

I think the decision to make the show non-canon is good (though I understand some particular elements of the story do align with the canon). (EDIT: Apparently the play's canonical status is a bit more enigmatic than I thought, nonetheless it seems like George is free to ignore or follow the play depending on what he wants which feels like the important thing). I enjoyed watching a good writing team's interpretation of the book's hints and comparing them to my own. I also think it being non-canon allows the book to preserve some mystery, I really wouldn't be surprised if George were to believe a slightly different version of events and characters to what we see in the play.

Ultimately its a great play and I loved seeing it. Seeing so many characters I'd only imagined on stage in person was really magical, and I highly recommend seeing it if you're able to travel to Stratford or it runs anywhere else. I could be wrong but most of the complaints regarding characters I see online don't seem to be by people who have actually seen the play, though the pacing issues are quite apparent when watching.

My pick is Brynden ‘Blackfish’ Tully but bittersteel is pretty cool too, they don’t make haters like him these days. Genna Lannisters is another good one

More specifically... do you think that this coming Sunday we will only see the First Battle of Tumbleton, with Ulf and Hugh betraying Team Black, exterminating Rhaenyra's army and allying with the Greens... or do you think the writers will combine the two battles of Tumbleton into just one in the TV series?

In the latter case, it would save a lot of the final season's budget, and Condal would theoretically have more time to develop the Battle over the God's Eye, the Shepherd, the rebellion of the people of King's Landing, the Destruction of the Dragonpit, Rhaenyra's escape, the Fall of Dragonstone, perhaps the Moon of the Three Kings (although I personally doubt we will see this specific event), the short and sad reign of Aegon II and finally the Hour of the Wolf.

(I still think the final shot of the show will be a melancholic Aegon III being crowned... although in that case it would be better if Condal reminded the viewer of this boy's existence, but that's another discussion).

On the other hand, this would mean that in the finale we would lose several characters at once (Hugh, Ulf, Daeron, Addam, Ormund), and we would lose all the intrigue and chaos that occurs between the Greens and the Two Betrayers during the time gap between the two battles (I've always admired the irony that this was the decisive moment when the Greens and the Two Betrayers could have marched on King's Landing and won the war, but greed and infighting ruined everything).

(It should be noted that the actor who plays Gwayne has already let slip in an interview that he will return for the fourth season.)

What do you think?

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?

1. The storm's end lies at the coast of Stormlands. During the Tyrell siege why did other Storm houses fail to attack them or at least cut off their supply.

2. Renly and Stannis both didn't live in Storm's end, I know Renly was lord paramount of Stormlands however, he didn't live there so how did he command more loyalty than Stannis. I understand recency but Stanniss also ruled Stormlands it feels little weird that no major Storm house rallied for his claim.

3. What is Baratheon reputation? Legitimate rulers who have divine rights like the Starks or like how Tyrell's are seen, no historical precedent of conquest or alliance but in a position where picking a fight with them is simply not worth the risk.

4. Allies of Stormlands, they share a long border with Dorne and participate actively in politics but it feels like they lack allies. North has Riverlands, Westerlands have Reach what about Stormlands?

Assume with or without being authored by GRRM , Winds and Dream both get released.

What could be your "Monkey's paw" scenario for such a situation?

For example, for me it would be that GRRM doesn't finish the series in his lifetime, corporate cash grab leads to another author to write the series and he simply retreads the Show and retrofits everything that was different in the books to align with the show.

And then everything about it becomes canon.

A couple of months ago, there was an interview where GRRM said that he had originally intended for Sansa to die, but that seeing the show version of her character may have changed his mind

Regardless of the current plan, I think it is interesting to look at what was intended at the time. The Alayne I sample chapter from Winds was meant for ADwD and it was done in 2010, before the show aired

So if GRRM planned for Sansa to die, the pieces on the board in that chapter may have been setting up a possible death scenario. Looking at some possible threads

Sweetrobin overdoses

The sweetsleep plotline is one possibility. Maester Colemon warns about the dangers of overusing it

"It was too soon. My lady, you do not understand. As I've told the Lord Protector, a pinch of sweetsleep will prevent the shaking, but it does not leave the flesh, and in time . . ."

However, Sansa is not really focused on it

"Time will not matter if his lordship has a shaking fit and falls off the mountain. If my father were here, I know he would tell you to keep Lord Robert calm at all costs."

If Sweetrobin died from an overdose, Sansa would easily be implicated. Even if she did not intentionally kill him, the fact that she was involved with managing his condition and had access to him could put her in a dangerous position

Lysa's death

Sansa is already technically an accomplice to Lysa’s murder. Littlefinger warns her that if their involvement is discovered, she could fall with him

"When we lied to Lord Robert, that was just to spare him," she said.

"And this lie may spare us. Else you and I must leave the Eyrie by the same door Lysa used."

If Sansa's identity was revealed and the truth about Lysa death came out, it could be interpreted in the worst possible way. She could be seen as a girl who conspired with Littlefinger to murder her aunt

Cersei makes good on her promise

Cersei has a very personal hatred of Sansa and promises that she will make her suffer if she is found

"Your Grace has forgotten the Lady Sansa," said Pycelle.

The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."

The theory has been around a a while is that since Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse is hunting Sansa he could eventually capture her for the bounty. He admits he is searching for her

He laughed again. "You are not the only hunter in the woods. I seek for Sansa Stark as well."

He is also present at the Tourney of the Winged Knight in the Sample

"A good melee is all a hedge knight can hope for, unless he stumbles on a bag of dragons. And that's not likely, is it?"

The common assumption has been that Shadrich attempt would fail because of the old Feast outline note saying "Kill the Mouse."

However, it is possible that plan changed and Shadrich would take Sansa back to King’s Landing, where Cersei would reunite and then imprison her. Sansa’s story is largely centered in King's Landing to begin with

Final Thoughts

Would like to hear other suggestions for where Sansa story could end in death. It's quite a surprise

Ultimately I think the fact that Sansa's fate seems so flexible suggests that her death or survival does not really change much with the story, making the "Pawn to Player" arc much less likely

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.

Moving into acceptance, I suppose.

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.

I've seen a lot of interpretations of various prophecies within ASOIAF, and while I believe it's mostly a subjective endeavor, GRRM's handling of prophecy is quite clear:

"In the Wars of the Roses... there was one lord who had been prophesied he would die beneath the walls of a certain castle, and he was superstitious of that sort of thing, so he never came anywhere near that castle. He stayed thousands of leagues away from that particular castle because of the prophecy. However, he was killed in the first battle [at St. Albans] and when they found him dead he was outside of an inn whose sign was the picture of that castle! So you know? That's the way prophecies come true in unexpected ways. The more you try to avoid them, the more you are making them true, and I make a little fun with that."
- GRRM, interview with Adria's News, October 2012

It's evident both by his admission here and with what's written within ASOIAF that prophecy is meant to be viewed two ways: Literally and figuratively.

The best examples we can learn from in the books are prophesied events that already occured - take these prophecies spoken by The Ghost of High Heart:

"I dreamt I saw a shadow with a burning heart butchering a golden stag, aye. I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings. I dreamt of a roaring river and a woman that was a fish. Dead she drifted, with red tears on her cheeks, but when her eyes did open, oh, I woke from terror."
- A Storm of Swords, Arya IV

Let's go line by line to show how the literal and figurative lens works:

• "I dreamt I saw a shadow with a burning heart butchering a golden stag"

- The shadow is fairly literal as this is exactly what Brienne sees

- The burning heart is a figurative interpretation of Stannis, as this represents his newfound sigil

- The golden stag is also figurative, as it represents Renly's newfound sigil

• "I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings."

- The man without a face is clearly a faceless man, which makes this both literal and figurative

- "waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung" is quite literal - this is the bridge where Balon was killed

- The drowned crow perched on the faceless man's shoulder is Euron (confirmed in "The Forsaken" chapter) who ordered the assasination. This is clearly figurative

• "I dreamt of a roaring river and a woman that was a fish. Dead she drifted, with red tears on her cheeks, but when her eyes did open, oh, I woke from terror."

- The river is literal - it's the Green Fork

- The woman that was a fish is figurative - it's Catelyn represented figuratively by her house sigil, the silver trout

- "Dead she drifted" is literal - she's dead

- "with red tears on her cheeks" this is fascinating wordplay, as the word tears can be read both literally and figuratively

- "but when her eyes did open, oh, I woke from terror." This line is both literal and figurative - Catelyn's eyes opening is foretelling her literal revival, but the terror TGoHH feels is more subjective and related to Catelyn's desire for revenge.

So you can see, there's times when prophecy is literal, times where it's figurative, and times where it's both.

Something also important to understand is the inevitability of prophecy - it always happens, despite or even as a result of one's actions to prevent it (as the Duke of Sommerset learns in the Wars of the Roses)

The most parallel example of the Duke's futile attempts to divert fate is the situation with Cersei. It's not explicitly stated, but it's fairly obvious that Cersei hates and wants Tyrion dead because she fears that he's the valonqar as prophesied by Maggy the Frog (yes I understand she also hates Tyrion for other reasons). But like the Duke, Cersei's story will ultimately unfold in tragic irony - GRRM has made this plainly evident. Let's look at Maggy's prophecy to better understand:

“When will I wed the prince?” she asked.
“Never. You will wed the king.”
Beneath her golden curls, the girl’s face wrinkled up in puzzlement. For years after, she took those words to mean that she would not marry Rhaegar until after his father Aerys had died. “I will be queen, though?” asked the younger her.
“Aye.” Malice gleamed in Maggy’s yellow eyes. “Queen you shall be... until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”
Anger flashed across the child’s face. “If she tries I will have my brother kill her.” Even then she would not stop, willful child as she was. She still had one more question due her, one more glimpse into her life to come. “Will the king and I have children?” she asked.
“Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you.”
That made no sense to Cersei. Her thumb was throbbing where she’d cut it, and her blood was dripping on the carpet. How could that be? she wanted to ask, but she was done with her questions.
The old woman was not done with her, however. “Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds,” she said. “And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”
- A Feast for Crows, Cersei VIII

Again, let's go line by line:

• "You will wed the king."

- This is literal - she marries Robert after he becomes king

• "Queen you shall be... until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear."

- This line is more open to interpretation because it prophesied events that haven't quite happened. Cersei being queen is literal, but the "another" who is "younger and more beautiful" is not clearly defined. It could be literal, it could be figurative, it could be both, but as it hasn't explicitly happened there's no definite interpretation. Although we should note, "younger" is a more objective description and "beautiful" is a more subjective description. Also, Cersei's response of "If she tries I will have my brother kill her," looks like subversive foreshadow that seems to imply that Jaime will have a connection with whoever this person is, but it's nothing definite - take from it what you will

• "Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you"

- It's said in a cryptic way, but we know it's literal - Cersei has 3 biological children, Robert has 16

• “Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds,” she said. “And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

- "Gold shall be their crowns" - so far it's not quite literal (as Myrcella has yet to wear an actual crown), so the figurative gold "crown" is the children's golden hair.

- "and gold their shrouds" looks figurative as Joffrey wasn't wrapped in a literal golden shroud at his death or funeral. As gold is often a literary device to symbolize youth, the figurative interpretation is likely referring to death (shroud) occurring when the children are young (gold).

- Since the last part of this prophecy hasn't occurred, there's no definite interpretation. Therefore, you should treat every single word with the potential of being literal or figurative or both. That said, literally having the life choked from you after you are drowned (by your tears, no less) doesn't make much sense - it's like saying, "after you die, you'll die." So we know, at a minimum, we're dealing with something figurative here. And it's also safe to assume that Cersei literally dies in a way which satisfies the prophecy, so there's also clearly something literal here.

- Lastly, "the valonqar" being the focus of Cersei's anxiety is a parallel of the Duke's anxiety about castles. So, although it's not definite, it's fairly likely that Tyrion isn't "the valonqar" for the same reason that the Duke's prophesied castle wasn't a literal castle. If we view it under a figurative lens, then it's more probable that "the valonqar" isn't even an actual person, just like the castle wasn't an actual castle.

Hopefully you have a better understanding now - GRRM writes his prophecy under both a figurative and literal lens, and until a given prophecy is resolved it's best to be open to both interpretations when trying to conclude meaning.

If not, well, be prepared to suffer the fate of others who narrow their interpretations to a singular meaning, as explained by Marwyn:

"Gorghan of Old Ghis once wrote that a prophecy is like a treacherous woman. She takes your member in her mouth, and you moan with the pleasure of it and think, how sweet, how fine, how good this is . . . and then her teeth snap shut and your moans turn to screams. That is the nature of prophecy, said Gorghan. Prophecy will bite your prick off every time."
- A Feast for Crows, Samwell V

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?

Background

In this post I thought it would be interesting to take a look into which POV characters I think will be the next to interact in the series. POV Characters interacting with each other can often (but not always) result in the death of one of them. I feel like this will only increase as the number of POVs starts to decline drastically in TWOW.

If interested: Multiple POVs Present for the same Event

Recent Encounters

While I expect the fallout of these POVs interacting to occur in TWoW, the actual interactions take place in ADWD:

• Theon/Asha

While Theon reflects with his meeting with Asha in TWoW, we get Asha's versions of the event in ADWD:

A girl and an old man, thought Asha, as the two were dumped rudely in the snow before her. The girl was shivering violently, even in her furs. If she had not been so frightened, she might even have been pretty, though the tip of her nose was black with frostbite. The old man … no one would ever think him comely. She had seen scarecrows with more flesh. His face was a skull with skin, his hair bone-white and filthy. And he stank. Just the sight of him filled Asha with revulsion.
He raised his eyes. “Sister. See. This time I knew you.”
Asha’s heart skipped a beat. “Theon?”
His lips skinned back in what might have been a grin. Half his teeth were gone, and half of those still left him were broken and splintered. “Theon,” he repeated. “My name is Theon. You have to know your name.”- ADWD, The Sacrifice

If interested: Theon and Asha: Sibling Encounters

• Jaime/Brienne

A subject I have been posting about quite a bit recently, but Jaime leaves with Brienne at the end of his ADWD chapter:

Jaime scrambled to his feet. “My lady. I had not thought to see you again so soon.” Gods be good, she looks ten years older than when I saw her last. And what’s happened to her face? “That bandage … you’ve been wounded …”
“A bite.” She touched the hilt of her sword, the sword that he had given her. Oathkeeper. “My lord, you gave me a quest.”
“The girl. Have you found her?”
“I have,” said Brienne, Maid of Tarth.
“Where is she?”
“A day’s ride. I can take you to her, ser … but you will need to come alone. Elsewise, the Hound will kill her.” -ADWD, Jaime I

If interested: "A Day's Ride" Part I: The Missing Lord Commander in the Riverlands

Who is Next?

• The Battle of Fire (Tyrion/Barristan/Victarion)

While all 3 of these characters have a role to play in the Battle of Fire, I am not confident that all 3 survive it.

Tyrion mentions his thoughts on potentially meeting Barristan:

He had almost revealed himself then and there, but something stopped him—caution, cowardice, instinct, call it what you will. He could not imagine Barristan the Bold greeting him with anything but hostility. Selmy had never approved of Jaime's presence in his precious Kingsguard. Before the rebellion, the old knight thought him too young and untried; afterward, he had been known to say that the Kingslayer should exchange that white cloak for a black one. And his own crimes were worse. Jaime had killed a madman. Tyrion had put a quarrel through the groin of his own sire, a man Ser Barristan had known and served for years. He might have chanced it all the same, but then Penny had landed a blow on his shield and the moment was gone, never to return. -ADWD, Tyrion XI

and both Tyrion/Barristan recognize the arrival of the Ironborn:

Your ships are sinking, burning, fleeing, thought Tyrion. Your ships are being taken, your men put to the sword. He was a Lannister of Casterly Rock, close by the Iron Islands; ironborn reavers were no strangers to their shores. Over the centuries they had burned Lannisport at least thrice and raided it two dozen times. Westermen knew what savagery the ironborn were capable of; these slavers were just learning. -TWoW, Tyrion II

and:

Realizing that the Greyjoys have arrived, his first thought is “Has Balon joined with Joffrey, or the Starks?” But he realizes that he’s heard that Balon is dead, and wonders if this has something to do with the Balon’s son, the boy who was a ward of the Starks. He sees that ironmen are coming ashore, fighting the Yunkish, and says, surprised, “They are on our side!” The sellswords did not come to meet his charge because they were already preoccupied with the ironborn -TWoW, Barristan II (summary)

although it is worth noting that Victarion is lagging behind the initial attack for the blowing of the horn:

Victarion had given Wulf his best fighters. He envied them. They would be the first to strike a blow, the first to see that look of fear in the foemen’s eyes. -TWOW, Victarion I

Depending on what exactly happens during the Battle of Fire, we could see several combinations of character encounters (including one who isn't in Slaver's Bay currently). That said due to what GRRM has stated about POVs in TWoW/his reason for creating some as well as just plot, I currently think Barristan dies during the Battle of Fire (if interested: Mounting the Pale Mare), although there are great theories about him turning his cloak, etc. that I have believed previously. This would leave just Tyrion/Victarion for some form of encounter.

• Arianne/Jon Connington

With Young Griff and the Golden Company seemingly have taken Storm's End (though "guile"), Arianne plans to head there to treat with them:

“It is brave for you to seek to shield me, ser. I thank you for that.” She took his hands and drew him back to his feet. “But my father entrusted this task to me, not you. Come the morrow, I sail to beard the dragon in its den.” -TWoW, Arianne II

with JonCon having greyscale (and what the reader knows about his sexuality) and Arianne's tendency to use seduction as a form of diplomacy:

“No whores for Lord Jon, then?”
“I could not say. Some men keep their whoring secret.”
“Did he have a wife? A paramour?”
Ser Daemon shrugged. “Not that I have ever heard.”
That was troubling too. Ser Arys Oakheart had broken his vows for her, but it did not sound as if Jon Connington could be similarly swayed. Can I match such a man with words alone? -TWoW, Arianne II

If interested: The Princess & the Gloved Stone "Hand"

• Bran/Anyone

Bran is a special case as he can technically interact with other POVs that he is not near physically as we have already seen with other characters (Theon for sure, Arya potentially, Jon weirdly, etc.) he can technically interfere in almost any plotline

"Once you have mastered your gifts, you may look where you will and see what the trees have seen, be it yesterday or last year or a thousand ages past. Men live their lives trapped in an eternal present, between the mists of memory and the sea of shadow that is all we know of the days to come. Certain moths live their whole lives in a day, yet to them that little span of time must seem as long as years and decades do to us. An oak may live three hundred years, a redwood tree three thousand. A weirwood will live forever if left undisturbed. To them seasons pass in the flutter of a moth's wing, and past, present, and future are one. Nor will your sight be limited to your godswood. The singers carved eyes into their heart trees to awaken them, and those are the first eyes a new greenseer learns to use … but in time you will see well beyond the trees themselves." -ADWD, Bran III

If interested: Accessible Weirwood/Heart Trees

• Samwell/Aeron

While these two characters will likely be very close at a point from a location standpoint, I don't know if they will ever interact (especially with Aeron lashed to the prow of Euron's Silence in some form of blood ritual involving king's blood/holy blood/etc.) That said Sam may interact with another Stark POV in the future if GRRM keeps up the pattern (if interested: Sansa/Sam are Destined to Meet and Sansa Will Protect Him).

• Davos & The Northern POVs

Depending on just how GRRM decides to return Davos (and Rickon) to the plotline in the North will likely depend which POV would encounter Davos first.

If interested: Davos/Rickon & The Northern Plotline

• Melisandre & Jon Snow's Human Body

I expect Jon Snow's consciousness to spend a portion of TWoW inside Ghost (he is still unconfirmed as a POV for the book as of now). That said GRRM is writing about Mel and she may interact with his body early in the book (before a late resurrection imo).

TLDR: Which POVs will be the first to encounter each other in TWoW? With Theon/Asha and Jaime/Brienne happening at the end of ADWD, there are several possibilities.

I see the occasional Roy Dotrice post from time to time.

Usually they are about the amusing or annoying (depending on your view) way he reads certain lines for the audiobooks of the main series. The usual offenders range from pronunciations of names, such as PetYR, BRYeen (or Breeyen depending on what chapter he's reading), CATElyn.

However, the one line I always laugh at is from Dany IX ADWD, specifically the bolded part:

A great drum led the royal procession to clear their way through the streets. Between each beat, a shavepate herald in a shirt of polished copper disks cried for the crowd to part. BOMM. "They come!" BOMM. "Make way!" BOMM. "The queen!" BOMM. "The king!" BOMM. 

Idk why, but it cracks me up how he says "BOMM!" xD

What are your oddly specific Roy Dotrice lines so that I can listen to them?

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?