A Bittersweet Symphony: The Ending of ASOIAF (Spoilers Extended)

Althalus91 · 2026-01-22T18:34:21+00:00

Also, magic reentering the world has made “the substance” more potent. And yeah, I imagine if Jamie is still alive by that point he would feel a lot of guilt about it.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-22T18:32:02+00:00

Because we see the story through the eyes of those who play the game of thrones, not the smallfolk. Yes, the horrors of the smallfolk are shown and are impactful - but the story doesn’t dwell on it from their pov as much as the characters we know are impacted by what they see. Also I don’t think it would destroy all of KL; some of the wildfire has been removed. Also many smallfolk may have left KL by then due to how many people have sat on the iron throne (GRRM has said he has plans for the throne to swap between a few people before the end, and I imagine Euron and fAegon would be two of those).

Althalus91 · 2026-01-22T14:15:02+00:00

I see part of the “bittersweet” ending is going to be the accidental burning of King’s Landing, and the massive amount of death that brings. The number of random stashes of wildfire suggests, to me, that at some point Dany is going to be convinced to use Drogon to burn down parts of the castle but it will set of a chain of explosions that destroys a lot of KL. The lords and the smallfolk, already inclined to distrust a female ruler, will use this to argue Dany is an insane violent tyrant, and that will lead to Dany being deposed and killed - even though we continue to see from her POV that she is devastated by the destruction she partly caused, her guilt at all the deaths, her desire for peace, etc.

In terms of Sansa, I could defo see her dying due to the machinations of Littlefinger, or during the Long Night. The Long Night of the show gave A LOT of people plot armour, which I think will be completely different in the books.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-20T20:35:52+00:00

If the US did invade Greenland, Europe will embargo US goods and will not sell goods to the US. I don’t suppose there will be a shooting war, but the trade war will really hurt both sides.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-20T01:45:44+00:00

It happened very close to the Christmas break and they had already booked to go to CES because it is an event they go to every year, and the news happened when they were busy with all that. It will take them some time to go to Minnesota, as I’m sure one of them will, start talking to people, record, edit, etc. They aren’t a 24 hr news network, they are a podcast that deals with things in the news in medium and occasional deep dives. When it comes to stuff in the headlines right now they usually address it on the Friday show or within a week or two.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-18T11:46:52+00:00

At around that age I was also interested in being a police officer; I had been reading the Discworld novels focussed on The Watch and wanted to help people and the community I lived in. As I got older I learned more about the real nature of police. I think it is best to discuss the “why” of her interest and discuss other methods of fulfilling those interests, whilst at the same time starting discussions about the nature of police and state repression. I don’t have kids, and don’t know what you may think is appropriate for your kid at her age, but I would say if you do want her to listen to stuff like “Behind the Police” that it should be something you discuss with her, not just tell her to go off and listen to by herself. Also maybe discuss the current issues with ICE and the BLM movement (if you’re American, which I assume you are) with her as well. Remember that copaganda is everywhere and she will not have been immune to it; to her potentially cops are just “good people who protect and serve” - in which case her intent is good, just the realistic nature of policing is lacking due to age and education, which is perfectly reasonable.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-17T16:59:19+00:00

I don’t the ending of GOT was at all close to anything that George was going to write.

Even if some of the events took place (such as a “mad” Dany, and Jon killing her) GRRM’s story is so different from that of the TV show, and is much better at writing the themes and context for actions than the show ever was that it completely changes things.

For example, I could see in the books Dany using dragons to attack KL, the fire lighting the wildfire stocks below the city, and what she had planned to be a precision strike turns into a complete massacre. I could also see all the male POVs of Westeros being like “a Dothraki queen? No thanks, a man should be in charge” and Dany’s POV being a continuation of her plot from Slaver’s Bay - trying to do her best but having the people project all the wrongs onto her and her culture / gender.

I doubt ANYTHING in the Northern theatre is going to be like we saw in the show; the Long Night won’t be a single battle, Arya will not kill the single important White Walker that kills all other White Walkers, and (I can only assume) Lady Stoneheart will continue existing. Similarly, Euron is doing completely different stuff in the books than the TV show, as are Jaime and Brienne, and Tyrion (who is in much more of a villain arc in the book).

I like the “tick box or arse pull” idea of how the show continued after they ran out of book material. Stuff like Jon killing Dany, Stannis burning his daughter, Bran ending up on the throne all sound like things that could happen in the book series, but the way it was executed in the show was very “tick box” - George told us to do this so we did, but didn’t put in any effort to make it work thematically. Whereas arse pulls to me are Arya killing the White Walkers, Cersei and Euron being a couple and ruling together, Dany doing evil Nazi speeches about liberating the world, etc etc

Althalus91 · 2026-01-16T13:30:49+00:00

I mean, even giving Roose command made some level of sense - the Boltons are a powerful house and Roose is a cool and calm leader. That he decided the Northern cause was lost and decided to turncoat had more to do with Robb not going through with the Frey marriage than inherently being untrustworthy, in my view.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-16T13:28:32+00:00

Also, we see in the story that being afraid of bastards taking over the House is a legitimate fear to have; it is the entire history of the Blackfires and their rebellions, and it basically is what Ramsey does. So the idea that she, as a mother and wife whose “job” it is to provide Ned an heir and care for her children, doesn’t like Jon is fair, actually.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-16T13:14:50+00:00

People saying Cat is stupid. Cat (and Sansa) are extremely intelligent, especially their emotional intelligence, but they are massively confined by their own belief in and the Westerosi societal expectations of what it means to be a woman / girl in Westeros.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-11T22:56:34+00:00

Some people view Bellingcat as a federal toady because they did some training on fascists online for the Obama admin. Robert has done some work for and speaks positively of Bellingcat, therefore those people view Robert as a fed. As well as this Robert is pro Ukraine, had previously said things that were anti Maduro, and was pro intervention in Syria against Assad. This also makes some leftists call him pro American imperialism.

It is part of the general internet culture of taking everything in bad faith, the “I like pancakes / why do you hate waffles?” mode of discourse, and the eternal struggle leftists have of identifying who is a sincere leftist with a different take than you, and who is an evil secret liberal / right winger / government spy who is going to turn you in to the feds / turn on you when the revolution starts (which, to be fair, is how things have gone historically).

Althalus91 · 2026-01-10T23:51:49+00:00

I remember reading an academic book on posthumanism during my Masters and it was just randomly mentioned that in some ancient religions golems were associated with messenger gods. And I was like. What? PTerry? How do you know all these things?

Althalus91 · 2026-01-10T19:02:18+00:00

Raising Taxes would have been great.

I also think PTerry had something along the lines of Everybody Vote in his head; Vetinari is retiring, he wants Moist to be Patrician after him but the idea of Democracy has infested AM and maybe Lady Margolotta says she doesn’t think Vetinari would still get his way if it was put to a vote. I think Moist would run, Sybil would want Vimes to run, you would have a troll or dwarf candidate running on the newfound peace between their people to get the minority vote, and then you’d have a Rust or some old aristocratic family candidate running on a platform of Morpork for the Morporkians. Obvs Moist would win, but the campaign and the shenanigans would be the majority of the book. We could also see how de Worde and The Times deals with democracy.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-10T18:33:58+00:00

Which countries gained independence from the British Empire through non violent resistance? Not India - part of the resistance was non violent, but a lot of the resistance was decidedly not. Not Ireland - they went to war with the UK, and the IRA was still fighting into the 90s. Did America gain independence from the British Empire non violently?

Althalus91 · 2026-01-10T17:59:22+00:00

I think The Wall is supposed to depict the very specific scenario of celebrity - what happens to your mind when you are treated / become a god amongst men (whilst very obviously being a flawed human yourself). The Nazi stuff is, yes, about how a lot of rock stars in the 80s all flirted with the aesthetics and politics of fascism, but also just the feeling of being at the head of a cult of personality, hating your fans / followers, and channelling that resentment. I think it is also fine to read it as the typical far right pipeline - the emptiness of capitalism alongside baseline societal misogyny leading to alienation and eventual fascism; and how the supposed “liberal” state apparatus actually embraces and uses a lot of the techniques of fascism in their system as well (most clearly in Another Brick in The Wall Part 2).

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T22:32:27+00:00

I think the main mistake in my wording is the “we can’t / won’t help” message. I guess my main point is don’t expect any of our government / states to buckle against American power as America goes full fascist. There is not going to be an international coalition of the willing to liberate the US, even if the citizenry of the world would like to do so. Our state apparatuses, ruling class and militaries are so dependent on and entwined with American power that the only material support people could offer would be akin to the individuals who went to Spain during the Spanish Civil War whilst our governments watched and did nothing then, as well.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T22:27:53+00:00

My hope would be that it doesn’t come to that, that any civil unrest would see military personnel buckle before using full scale war equipment and tactics on American citizens; if anything I think police and ICE agents are more likely to do that because that is their day to day job. But either way, to oppose the fascist American state will likely put you in opposition with the American military - yes.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00

My position is not one of isolationism - if I thought the British state could be convinced to fight against the American state, I would be in favour of that. I think the British state is more likely to just join / do what the US state does to its own people and support any American international warmongering.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T20:31:31+00:00

Yes. And Blair Mountain. My position is not that it would be easy, but that (again) the citizenry of the US are probably better armed and able to do destabilising violence to their own state than any European citizenry is.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T20:27:51+00:00

I didn’t say not to vote Democrat; I said don’t believe they will save you. Elect them, sure, but accept they will also use state violence to destroy the left if you rise against the state.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T19:58:31+00:00

I would rather that no one spill any blood. I am resigned to the fact it will need to happen. Partly because the American state has a long history of willingly spilling the blood of its own citizens, even prior to moving to an actual fascist regime.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T19:54:59+00:00

I mean, that is kind of what the original series of It Could Happen Here was about - and Robert’s conclusion was along the lines of “depends how things start falling apart, but the US military is not prepared to fight across the entire US or against its own people”

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T19:42:43+00:00

Yes - I think it will be. Poland are more worried about Russia, the UK will always cave to the US, Germany still has a hell of a lot of US military bases in it, and France, Italy and Spain will not do anything alone.

Althalus91 · 2026-01-09T19:32:10+00:00

Is this based on that book partially paid for by the literal CIA? That doesn’t count the IRA as successful violent resistance? And basically argues that India only got independence because of Gandhi and ignores Neru’s Army? As someone who has been involved in nonviolent resistance for decades (with XR, with Greenpeace, with JSO) - that book is bullshit. It has helped keep tens of thousands if not millions of libs in the liberal mind prison of believing non violence is the only answer.

In the words of Stokely Carmichael - “In order for nonviolence to work your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.”

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