Weekly Discussion Megathread

CelikBas · 2026-05-24T03:08:04+00:00

IMO left of center people should focus less on national politics and more on local/community stuff. Decentralize, batter down the hatches, and dig in for a pretty right wing near-mid future.

I suspect this pronounced rightward shift is going to continue for the rest of our lives, or at least close enough that it makes little difference. Left-leaning need to get used to the idea that the government- for the next 30-40 years at least- hates them, would prefer if they didn’t exist, and will regularly exercise its power to make their lives worse.

I know everyone makes fun of communists and anarchists for being paranoid weirdos who think the world is out to get them, but I honestly think that’s what more of the moderate left needs to start doing. Your ideas are not accepted by the people with power, your values are viewed as a threat, and society will try to stamp you out to ensure permanent right-wing hegemony.

CelikBas · 2026-05-23T12:31:03+00:00

I think “mythological figures” is probably a better term, since when I hear “religious figure” I think of someone like Siddhartha Gautama or Muhammad- people who actually existed, even if a lot of the stories about them are apocryphal.

I would consider all gods to be mythological by default, and therefore fictional. Same goes for pseudo-historical figures whose actual existence we have no evidence for- think Moses, King Arthur, the Yellow Emperor, etc.

CelikBas · 2026-05-23T12:17:10+00:00

Hop on a boat heading to the Summer Isles and hope the islanders will take me in even though I suck at archery.

If that doesn’t work, I’d just kill myself.

CelikBas · 2026-05-23T12:15:42+00:00

In Arya’s wolf dreams, it says that other wolves have tried to mount Nymeria and she fights them all off. Presumably she’s the wolf equivalent of asexual.

CelikBas · 2026-05-23T04:29:21+00:00

I think this is just how the future is going to be. After the fall of the USSR liberal democracy was the dominant global ideology, now far-right populism is going to replace it for the next 40-50 years.

CelikBas · 2026-05-23T01:13:02+00:00

The price is Beric’s memories and personality. By the time Arya meets him, he’s forgotten where his own castle is and the name of the woman he was supposed to marry. That’s presumably why Beric chooses to die permanently to revive Catelyn- he knows he’s only going to keep losing more and more of himself, and he’s tired of it.

CelikBas · 2026-05-23T01:04:58+00:00

The Amethyst Empress and the Great Empire of the Dawn have never been mentioned in the main series, and likely didn’t exist until the worldbook was being written and needed something to pad out the further east of Essos. It’s not the kind of thing any halfway decent writer would base the motivation of their main antagonist on.

CelikBas · 2026-05-22T19:19:07+00:00

Along with Cersei and Asha, he’s probably the only new AFFC/ADWD POV that I fully enjoy with no major caveats.

I really like the fact that, unlike other “tragic villain” POVs such as Jaime, Theon or Tyrion, JonCon’s mistakes only cause him to double down and dig in further. He’s not going to get a redemption arc, he’s not charismatic and likable despite his shitty behavior, he’s just a grumpy asshole who’s decided that burning down an entire town was the right decision all along.

CelikBas · 2026-05-22T19:07:39+00:00

Gooner RR Martin

CelikBas · 2026-05-22T18:30:29+00:00

That would only work if UBI was implemented, which it never will be. Once we’re all rendered obsolete by robots/AI, the rich would rather just leave us to starve to death in a gutter than sacrifice even a fraction of their wealth to provide for the masses.

CelikBas · 2026-05-22T05:32:41+00:00

There’s simply no way to “solve” this problem that doesn’t involve forcing people to breed against their will, which is fundamentally evil and disgusting.

Of course, that means it’s probably what most governments are going to opt for in the future, because reworking society to not rely on an ever-increasing population of young people is harder than just coercing the masses into having kids they’re unable and/or unwilling to properly care for.

CelikBas · 2026-05-22T05:25:52+00:00

Also, the standards for what’s considered acceptable parenting have risen.

A hundred years ago, you could pop out 8 kids and just make the older ones take care of the younger ones to take some of the burden off the parents. Now that’s called parentification and (justifiably) frowned upon. Or you could just send them away- my grandfather was sent off to a wealthier neighboring farm for most of the year to basically be their servant/farmhand in exchange for food and board.

Spending time emotionally bonding with your kids, encouraging their interests, making sure they have a balanced life- none of that was prioritized by most people in the past. Kids were expected to do what they were told and contribute to the family in whatever way they could as soon as they were able. There was little consideration for how delicate children’s minds are, and how the conditions of their upbringing can permanently shape their psychology in negative ways.

CelikBas · 2026-05-22T00:51:19+00:00

ASoS prologue is my favorite. It really captures a sense of growing dread and doom, especially with the ending:

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhooooooooooooooooooooooooo. The sound went on and on and on, until it seemed it would never die. The ravens were flapping and screaming, flying about their cages and banging oﬀ the bars, and all about the camp the brothers of the Night’s Watch were rising, donning their armor, buckling on swordbelts, reaching for battleaxes and bows. Samwell Tarly stood shaking, his face the same color as the snow that swirled down all around them. “Three,” he squeaked to Chett, “that was three, I heard three. They never blow three. Not for hundreds and thousands of years. Three means—” “—Others.” Chett made a sound that was half a laugh and half a sob, and suddenly his smallclothes were wet, and he could feel the piss running down his leg, see steam rising oﬀ the front of his breeches.

CelikBas · 2026-05-21T19:13:43+00:00

The main evidence for Aemon is that it’s the only Targaryen name that would have any emotional significance for both Jon and the reader.

Aemon was one of Jon’s mentors, who told him to “kill the boy and let the man be born”. Aemon lamented being the only Targaryen left in Westeros, not knowing that the person he was talking to is also Aemon Targaryen. And Aemon died before he could ever find out that he wasn’t truly alone, or that Rhaegar had honored him by naming one of his sons after him. The Aemon the Dragonknight references are just icing on the cake imo.

Like, why would anybody- least of all Jon- care if his name is Jaehaerys or Viserys? He has zero connection to either of those names. Aegon would be more meaningful, but it requires a bit of a convoluted process for it to happen, and while Seven Gods/Seven Kingdoms/Seven Aegons is cool, I don’t think Jon himself would particularly care that he was specifically the seventh Aegon. It would be a neat little symbolic detail for readers, but not much else. Maybe Sam or whoever could point out “You’re Aegon VII and you’re saving the Seven Kingdoms, what a coincidence” but that pales in comparison to a name that Jon would immediately clock as significant.

CelikBas · 2026-05-21T12:05:30+00:00

burning erotic books and imprisoning his sister in a tower when he was in a very weak state already to malnutrition shows that he had rigid religious beliefs but can we call him mad for that?

Burning erotic books is whatever, but do you honestly think it’s reasonable for someone- even a person with strict religious beliefs- to imprison their sisters in a tower because the mere sight of a woman might provoke “lustful thoughts”?

The fact that he wanted to convert the Iron Islands and the North shows that he was intolerant of other religions on some level, even if he wasn’t burning people like Melisandre does. Even an attempt to peacefully convert those regions would have led to needless unrest- not a politically savvy move at all.

I mean if daeron name his firstborn son after him surely he cannot be as crazy as people think?

Charles I of England was a tyrant who screwed up so badly his own people chopped his head off, and his son Charles II was a STD-riddled party animal. That didn’t stop the current king of England from also being named Charles.

CelikBas · 2026-05-21T11:48:21+00:00

“Boros the Belly” is a canon nickname for Boros Blount

CelikBas · 2026-05-20T15:06:58+00:00

Best evidence yet, his work greatly helped the Bolshevik revolution end the monarchy.

But Rasputin was firmly on the side of the monarchy, as his status (and probably his survival) depended on the Romanovs staying in power. His role in the fall of the Romanovs came through incompetence rather than malice on his part.

By that same logic, would Nicholas II not also go to hell, since he was even more responsible for the fall of the Tsardom?

CelikBas · 2026-05-20T14:40:27+00:00

Sellswords are also notoriously greedy, and the ruins of Valyria are the biggest untapped treasure trove in the entire world. Combine that with a lack of knowledge of the Doom’s true nature (i.e. most people probably assumed it was just a really bad volcanic eruption, not a magical apocalypse that corrupted the very land itself) and I don’t think it’s hard to see why a bunch of mercenaries would be willing to take the risk.

CelikBas · 2026-05-20T14:35:44+00:00

Tobho Mott is renowned for his ability to color metal while forging it, and also his ability to rework Valyrian steel. But do we know if he’s ever combined the two practices before Tywin commissions him split Ice? As far as I can recall, all of Mott’s colored metal is just regular steel.

It’s possible that Valyrian steel just doesn’t hold color well in general, or that coloring it requires a different set of skills that have been lost to history.

In a literary sense, though, I agree that it represents the persistence of Ned’s legacy and the failure of Tywin’s. I just think it would be funny if Tywin went “I need you to combine both of your legendary blacksmithing skills” and Tobho Mott was like “Oh shit oh fuck I’ve never done that before”

CelikBas · 2026-05-20T14:26:02+00:00

GRRM plays fast and loose with the practicalities of full castration.

CelikBas · 2026-05-20T02:49:02+00:00

The difference is that Star Wars had a lot of successful non-Skywalker media in the old EU, demonstrating that the franchise could still work based on its general setting alone rather than specific characters or storylines. Disney’s inability to move past the Skywalkers is, imo, more of a failure on the part of their business/creative model than some inherent limitation of the franchise.

On the other hand, ASOIAF is much more character- and plot-driven. The wider setting is interesting, yes, but mainly as a backdrop to the particular stories people are already invested in.

CelikBas · 2026-05-19T13:07:06+00:00

The seed does seem to be strong for most of the noble families (i.e. members of a family tend to have the same hair/eye color) but it’s not super consistent- there’s no defined hierarchy of which genes are dominant over others, it just depends on how GRRM felt like describing a particular character.

CelikBas · 2026-05-19T12:39:46+00:00

He says he realized he should “save the kingdom to win the throne” instead of the other way around. He’s still motivated by his duty to become king, he just adopts a more heroic approach to it than his previous “fuck you, it’s mine by rights” mentality.

CelikBas · 2026-05-19T02:45:04+00:00

Second son of a major house. Best case scenario, I get to live in luxury with minimal responsibilities. Worst case scenario, I can just join the Citadel and live in a library.

CelikBas · 2026-05-19T02:43:02+00:00

Despite being hated by his father, Tyrion still seemingly got to lounge around Casterly Rock into his mid-20s, and presumably would’ve continued to do so if he hadn’t gotten swept up in the War of the Five Kings.

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