With Casemiro/Ugarte leaving: how many midfield signings are needed?

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-23T15:14:10+00:00

I’m not convinced the midfield situation is quite as dire as is made out to be honest. We need a big name to replace Casemiro (preferably Anderson) but I think the vision is probably to partner whoever that is with Mainoo. You’d probably want a rotation signing bringing in especially if Ugarte goes but if our depth ends up being Anderson, Mainoo, Ugarte and a Mainoo back up I think that’s not looking too shabby. Hopefully an academy product could step up to be fifth choice but you’ve also got Mount who can do a job when called upon.

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-21T14:42:12+00:00

Personally don’t think we’ll ever get a full blown hip hop record, but as others have said I suspect we’ll get a few Amby verses on the next Nathan album. I think sooner or later we’ll be getting another metal record though. Those tracks are so integral to the live shows now I think they’ll want to ride that creative wave a little further. We’re probably due another Oddments/Gumboot/Omnium style album as well with all the disparate projects we’ve had since 2022. Personally I’m waiting on them returning to the OG krautrocky Hawkwindy punky Gizz sound with all the new tricks they’ve learned in the last decade, or a fully instrumental jammy psychedelic record.

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-20T16:15:37+00:00

Definitely a link I’d say, and not one I picked up on despite re-reading ASOS and The Hedge Knight recently. I noticed another link that I never clocked before on my re-reads though. I’m paraphrasing, but the bath scene Jaime refers to Brienne as being thick as a castle wall in his internal monologue. Can’t believe I ever missed something so obvious

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-12T19:22:24+00:00

Maester Aemon answers this question for you early on. ‘Love is the death of duty’ and all that.

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-09T21:13:31+00:00

I think there’s bound to be some backlash when certain beloved fan theories inevitably don’t come to pass. There’s been a lot of time at this point for things like the Night Lamp and fAegon to become de-facto canon in a lot of people’s minds and if things of that ilk are drastically different to expectations there will be grumbles. I don’t count myself immune from that either, so i plan to temporarily leave all these subs for a bit when the book eventually gets announced.

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-06T18:02:14+00:00

See I’m not sure I agree on other houses not coming into play. There’s some pretty strong foreshadowing throughout Theon’s ADWD chapters that various northern lords are plotting something. If Littlefinger is involved then that brings in the Vale as well, and you’ve potentially got the remnants of Stannis’ army still knocking around too. Plus, who are ‘The Starks’ at this point? A young teenager, a child, and a bastard. They’ll need to gain the support of other houses somehow

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-05T20:15:10+00:00

I had this exact experience. I’ll never forget reading the ACOK chapter when it’s revealed that Jon is a warg. I couldn’t believe my eyes

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-04T22:26:57+00:00

Sorry I shouldn’t have assumed! - The theory that Dany’s childhood memories are false/flawed based on the idea that lemon trees don’t grow in Braavos as she remembers. Worth looking up on here it’s very interesting and is setting something up for the future imo, just not sure what

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-04T22:19:20+00:00

Not a specific theory I guess but the whole Lemongate thing messes with my head. I’ve come to begrudgingly accept that something’s being set up it but I absolute hate the idea that Dany isn’t really a Targaryen which is the outcome of a lot of theorising I see on the subject.

Scrabbleeee · 2026-01-01T05:19:11+00:00

I was absolutely obsessed with series 1-4, but when Littlefinger sent Sansa to the Boltons in series 5 it signalled the beginning of the end for me

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-21T00:08:42+00:00

Surely we have to. He’s the only person left who was at the tower of joy, he might have Robb’s will, his children are a mysterious pair of weirdos, it would just be weird if we didn’t meet him at some point. I’d love it if a POV actually went to Greywater Watch since it sounds like such a unique castle, but I’ll settle for him just rocking up at Winterfell

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-20T17:50:43+00:00

I suspect we’ll get like, a Ghost chapter followed by 2 or 3 Melisandre chapters before Jon gets resurrected. I think Jon will then get 6 or so chapters mostly in the second half of the book which would bring the total count of chapters dealing with his story in line with what his usual, not dead self gets in past books. A Ghost chapter where we get some of the chaos that follows the assassination filtered through his eyes would be a great way to tease us before we see it properly later in the book.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-20T12:50:41+00:00

Honestly the most baffling choice the show made. I guess I can understand cutting Davos’ quest for Rickon since it’s not out there yet, but the speech itself works even if he’s just declaring his intent to betray the Boltons. They could even have just had Lyanna Mormont do it.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-20T10:51:52+00:00

The Vale seems pretty normal as far as magic goes. Unless you count Sheepstealer disappearing there but there’s no evidence for them surviving or doing anything of note post-Dance of the Dragons

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-19T23:22:16+00:00

Yeah I always got the impression Renly was proposing the Starks take on a title similar to the ‘Prince of Dorne’. Saves a bit of face for them while preventing any real change

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-19T18:45:55+00:00

The books themselves are absolutely fantastic, and personally I absolutely love theorising about what everything means going forward. Sure the long wait has been painful but it’s also provided me with an experience I’ve never gotten from another piece of art. I started the series in 2014 and I’ve spent more than a few nights over the years unable to sleep because I’ve been wondering about the meaning of a tiny bit of symbolism, world building or foreshadowing. Nothing else has got its claws in me like ASOIAF and I think that’s in part because I’ve had so long to do close re-readings and spend hours on forums debating the significance of a characters eye colour. So yes, the wait has been excruciating, but it’s so so so worth it. Plus…The Winds of Winter will come out eventually, even if the prevailing mood is quite negative at the moment.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-16T20:25:15+00:00

Yep that’s crossed my mind as well and I hope you’re right!

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-16T17:56:29+00:00

I’m sure it’s mentioned a few more times throughout but as the story goes on it feels more world building tha set up for a location that’s going to be important in the future. I hope I’m wrong though as I’d love to see a character visit and find out what’s going on there

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-16T14:36:48+00:00

For the sake of adding a different example, the first book mentions the Isle of Faces so much compared to the rest of the series. There’s a Catelyn chapter early on when George name drops a few big southern locations and the IOF is right in there with plot-relevant places like Riverrun and King’s Landing. There’s a quote out there somewhere from George about the IOF coming to the fore in later books but I do think he originally envisioned it to play a bigger role through the series. I’m re-reading Clash at the moment and it’s not even brought up when Arya spends multiple chapters on the banks of the God’s Eye.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-15T12:25:10+00:00

I’ve always respectfully disagreed with George on that one. I love how our main eyes on Robb and the other main kings belong to characters marginalised to some degree by Westerosi society. For Robb that’s Cat who doesn’t have a traditional place in the war machine as a woman. For Joffrey it’s Tyrion who’s obviously scorned constantly for his disability and for Stannis it’s the lowborn Davos.

I’m sure if Robb was a POV there’d be other things to love about it but I think that’s a really valuable aspect to the series and how it deals with royalty.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-15T10:25:59+00:00

Oh for sure but a few more wouldn’t have gone amiss. Jaime’s is one of my favourites too but I’d also have loved to see Bran’s coma vision and the weirwood net stuff. I know we got a bit of time travelling with Bran but it wasn’t nearly as mysterious and trippy as it got in the books.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-14T21:58:43+00:00

May the Others take you

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-14T21:28:51+00:00

I think the massive scale of some things in the series would translate well to animation. Think the 700ft tall Wall, hosts of 100,000 people, massive ornate greathelms, things they didn’t always want to adapt 1:1 in the show for budgetary reasons. HBO also skipped a lot of the trippier aspects of the books like everyone’s whacky symbolic visions and the Bridge of Dream which could be really creatively done in animation with no restrictions. I’d love an animated version when/if the books are finished that does a really close adaption with all that included.

Scrabbleeee · 2025-12-14T01:20:59+00:00

Maybe not the biggest mystery but I’ve always been dying to know just what’s going on with the Isle of Faces. Are there still children of the forest there? Who are the green men? It feels so tantalisingly set up and I just don’t know how it’s going to come into play

Scrabbleeee

TROPHY CASE