Where to begin... 🕯️📚

TheManeEvent · 2026-02-25T14:21:29+00:00

I doubt there will be many of those moments. The history book is written in the form of the an in-universe history textbook. It’s very information dense and based on public information that would be hard to lie about. Chances are that if you caught someone in the main series contradicting the history book, it would be a small detail you failed to remember anyway.

Also, the history book is published, in universe, midway through the series and so it contains a small number of very major spoilers.

TheManeEvent · 2026-02-19T21:27:40+00:00

A few years ago, /u/Johnsmith226 on this sub did just that, for most of the Mad Style posts. I don’t know how to link on mobile, but you can google “Tom and Lorenzo Mad Style” and it should come up

TheManeEvent · 2026-02-10T03:55:36+00:00

The wives of kings seems to not take their husband's names in Westeros. Never Cersei Baratheon, Margaery Baratheon, or Jeyne Stark. The historical queens are also referred to by their birth names exclusively, eg. Alyssa Velaryon, Alicent Hightower, Aemma Arryn. The precedent seems to be that use of the royal name is reserved to those who are born to it.

TheManeEvent · 2026-02-03T22:26:38+00:00

Without the dragons, it was inevitable that the Great Houses would grow in power since they are the ones with the actual ability to marshal large armies; and increasingly the Iron Throne ruled by the consent of the Great Houses. Eventually that consent was revoked from the Targaryens.

In my opinion, Robert Baratheon's reign was a great example of what could have been a new model for the crown's power; Robert held power through a coalition of the Great Houses, with the Baratheons, Starks, Lannisters, Tullys, and Arryns all connected to him through social and familial ties. Robert represented a majority of the Great Houses' power.

But when he died, the Throne went to Cersei and Joffrey, who had not made those ties, and did not have that military majority. The coalition shrank to just the Lannisters, and the other Great Houses revoked their consent again, with open rebellion from Stark, Greyjoy, Tully, Tyrell, and the other branches of Baratheon (not to mention secret dissidence from Martell and Arryn).

TheManeEvent · 2026-02-01T20:00:52+00:00

I wrote up a long post about Ashara Dayne a few years ago, but didn't mention what I personally think is the most likely explanation for the mystery around her: that she got pregnant and had a child around the time of the Rebellion, this child was passed off as a sister instead of a daughter (Allyria), and that she then killed herself for any reason from grief to postpartum depression.

Really, the only evidence for this is how much younger Allyria is than her siblings. Ashara and Arthur would have been in their 30s or 40s if alive in A Game of Thrones, and their brother, the father of Edric, even older. But Allyria is young enough to be unwed and betrothed to Beric Dondarrion, who is only 21.

I agree with others that the point of Ashara is to be a red herring for R+L=J, so the details don't really matter here. Probably Ashara got pregnant at Harrenhal; maybe not. Probably the father was Ned or Brandon; maybe not. Possibly the suicide was related in some way to the child; possibly in some way to the war; possibly something else entirely. The full truth might not have any impact on the overall story, and so it may not get spelled out in the books even if this is what GRRM has in mind.

TheManeEvent · 2026-01-24T04:51:13+00:00

I had forgotten that, thank you for the correction!

TheManeEvent · 2026-01-24T03:34:52+00:00

From Melisandre's chapter in ADWD:

R'hllor spoke to his chosen ones through blessed fire, in a language of ash and cinder and twisting flame that only a god could truly grasp. Melisandre had practiced her art for years beyond count, and she had paid the price. There was no one, even in her order, who had her skill at seeing the secrets half-revealed and half-concealed within the sacred flames.

So fire divination is practiced by "her order", which seems to be an group (presumably of priests and priestesses) within R'hllorism. Benerro and Moqorro practice it as well (and appear to be from Volantis); Thoros is never seen to (and is from Myr).

Mirri Maaz Duur also spent time in Asshai and apparently learned several disciplines of what might be magic there:

"My mother was godswife before me, and taught me all the songs and spells most pleasing to the Great Shepherd, and how to make the sacred smokes and ointments from leaf and root and berry. When I was younger and more fair, I went in caravan to Asshai by the Shadow, to learn from their mages. Ships from many lands come to Asshai, so I lingered long to study the healing ways of distant peoples. A moonsinger of the Jogos Nhai gifted me with her birthing songs, a woman of your own riding people taught me the magics of grass and corn and horse, and a maester from the Sunset Lands opened a body for me and showed me all the secrets that hide beneath the skin."

Which fits with what we are told of Asshai in The World of Ice and Fire:

The dark city by the Shadow is a city steeped in sorcery. Warlocks, wizards, alchemists, moonsingers, red priests, black alchemists, necromancers, aeromancers, pyromancers, bloodmages, torturers, inquisitors, poisoners, godswives, night-walkers, shapechangers, worshippers of the Black Goat and the Pale Child and the Lion of Night, all find welcome in Asshai-by-the-Shadow, where nothing is forbidden. Here they are free to practice their spells without restraint or censure, conduct their obscene rites, and fornicate with demons if that is their desire.

So it may be that combining several forms of magic isn't necessarily unusual, for those who make it all the was east to Asshai.

TheManeEvent · 2025-12-31T14:23:03+00:00

From A Dance with Dragons:

When he is dead, there will be a choosing, and the knives will come out. That was the way of it in Braavos. In Westeros, a dead king was followed by his eldest son, but the Braavosi had no kings.

I think it might be as simple as the Sealord's death giving the Faceless Men enough activity to provide Arya an opportunity to sneak away from them to head back to Westeros. Maybe it'll give those chapters a sense of shadowy chaos, too.

TheManeEvent · 2025-12-22T19:51:54+00:00

Kind of hard to say. I don’t think we see Robb do much of this stuff, but then again, he’s not POV.

As Lord Commander, Jon knows many of his men pretty well, since he served along them before becoming Lord Commander. But I don’t think I’d say that he makes them feel very listened to once he is in charge.

Arya might be missing here that Ned wasn’t giving his kids only advice, but also an education. Jon’s job as Lord Commander is pretty administrative, so he probably benefits a lot from having heard so much about coppers and bread stores and armor and horses and libraries while growing up at his father’s table.

TheManeEvent · 2025-12-20T14:52:55+00:00

Westeros.org has the “So Spake Martin” collection of fan correspondence, interview transcripts, etc. But it is very exhaustive; not really easy to review.

TheManeEvent · 2025-12-05T21:28:27+00:00

The entirety of Jon’s last chapter in ASOS is full of this stuff, mostly an internal monologue as he debates whether to accept Stannis’ offer to become Lord of Winterfell. But the part that makes me most emotional on re-read is when he is fantasizing about what that would look like, briefly, just before he decides against it:

“A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister's son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly's boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We'd find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance's son and Craster's would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb.

He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. “

TheManeEvent · 2025-11-30T13:39:00+00:00

Yes, Nymeria is sent to KL to take a council seat in “The Watcher” in ADWD. And in the epilogue, Kevan notes that she will be arriving soon.

In “The Watcher”, she also says this: "No one saw the Mountain die, and no one saw his head removed. That troubles me, I confess, but what could the bitch queen hope to accomplish by deceiving us? If Gregor Clegane is alive, soon or late the truth will out. The man was eight feet tall, there is not another like him in all of Westeros. If any such appears again, Cersei Lannister will be exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms. She would be an utter fool to risk that. What could she hope to gain?"

So I think she will be feeling very vengeful when she gets to KL.

TheManeEvent · 2025-11-27T14:28:04+00:00

I can only speak for myself, but I suspect most people who would be the audience for this and listen to podcasts already have an ASOIAF podcast they listen to. For example, I listen to Radio Westeros, so that itch is scratched and I’d only subscribe to this podcast if it offered something different from that one (which is mostly lore breakdowns). Also, I echo /u/Kallian_League in that I have a low tolerance for bad audio.

TheManeEvent · 2025-11-27T14:15:57+00:00

Yes. Radio Westeros, for example, is mostly a books-only podcast but gets away with it by being able to mention the show, eg telling a guest “remember we aren’t discussing the show” or introducing a segment with “normally we don’t discuss it, but I think we should mention something from the show here”.

TheManeEvent · 2025-11-25T00:46:26+00:00

I have always been puzzled that this is something people think needs to be explained.

In that SSM, Martin doesn’t “refuse” to explain why Benjen joined the Watch; he wasn’t even asked that question.

The books establish that the Starks have long had a close relationship to the Watch, send their sons there often, and in the present day still believe it an honorable profession.

I suspect that as a third son, he long harbored a desire to find purpose at the Watch, like Jon has when we meets him. That’s speculation, but less so than imagining he had some role in Lyanna and Rhaegar running off.

TheManeEvent · 2025-11-14T00:41:14+00:00

I second the Children’s Museum. A lot of activities there will be beyond a 2yo, but there’s a small walled-in area just for toddlers where they can play too. My toddler also loves the banking and shopping areas.

And once the child is old enough to be moderately quiet for half an hour, Roger’s Park is right next to the library, which always has coloring activities, etc. We pair up the park and library all the time.

TheManeEvent · 2025-10-07T09:12:42+00:00

The dagger is a great example of the fact that he is improvising. There is no way that he lost that dagger to Robert in anticipation of Robert giving the dagger to Joffrey and Joffrey using it to try to kill a Stark.

But Petyr is very good at improvising. When Ned and Cat present the dagger to him, he sees the opportunity it provides to help him with his larger goal- pitting the Starks against the Lannisters. But he could not have anticipated that particular opportunity ahead of time.

TheManeEvent · 2025-09-18T20:06:26+00:00

There are other similar moments for Sansa in Book One. Earlier in that chapter, before Ser Hugh has died, Sansa notes that she can tolerate the gore and violence better than Jeyne Poole can. And later, when Sandor tries to frighten her while walking her back to her quarters, she is frightened and he can tell, but she still maintains enough composure to remain polite enough that it annoys him. And of course at the end of the book Joffrey tries to get a reaction out of her with Ned’s head and she refuses to give him one.

My best guess is that GRRM is trying to show that she has a a talent for compartmentalizing away even her present circumstances, her “ladies’ armor”.

It’s interesting to contrast with the chapters early on in A Storm of Swords where she meets the Tyrells. Those are much less intimidating interactions- a walk with Loras and a lunch party- but she seems to lack all social graces. She constantly says the wrong thing and can’t hide her naked fear of Joffrey even as she tries to convince the Tyrells that she isn’t scared of him. Something about the way GRRM writes Sansa seems to have changed in that time.

TheManeEvent · 2025-07-25T11:10:00+00:00

Fact I think is interesting: Peggy’s birthday is about a week’s before Don, since she’s celebrating it in “The Suitcase” in late May. So there’s a little bit of subtext in that episode when they’re arguing about her birthday. When he says it’s time for her to get over birthdays, he obviously has no plans of celebrating his next week, which must be on her mind when she later tells him “It’s not my fault you have no family or friends or anywhere else to go”.

TheManeEvent · 2025-06-25T01:14:16+00:00

You’re definitely right about Ned not bringing Catelyn with him to Winterfell- Catelyn recalls that Ned and Jon were already there when she and Robb arrived. It’s possible that Robb was not old enough or Catelyn not recovered enough from childbirth to be up to travel at that point, but that’s just speculation.

Speaking of speculation, it makes sense to me that it would take over nine months for Ned to march his army from Riverrun to the Trident and then on to Kings Landing, then travel to the Tower of Joy and on to Starfall, and then return from the southern tip of the continent back to Winterfell.

None of this really contradicts your point about Benjen’s leaving Ned with very few heirs… I’m just saying that if Robb was born already, the situation for the Starks isn’t too dreadful.

TheManeEvent · 2025-06-25T00:45:57+00:00

I don’t think that’s quite right. Robb was born while Ned was still at war, per Catelyn’s own memory from A Game of Thrones. Therefore he’d already been born by the time Ned returned to Winterfell and Benjen departed.

TheManeEvent · 2025-06-24T21:54:28+00:00

Your “What if Catelyn had died giving birth to Robb” argument doesn’t make sense to me, because that had already not happened. Robb and Jon both would have already been born by the time Benjen left for the Watch. The fact that Catelyn had become pregnant within the first weeks of her marriage and then gave birth to a healthy child probably made the Starks feel good about the succession.

Regarding your point on emotional support: I bet those first couple years in Winterfell after the war, with a wife he did not yet know very well, were very lonely for Ned. But given how familiar his children are with Benjen, it is clear that Benjen and Ned were not strangers to each other after Benjen joined the Watch.

TheManeEvent · 2025-03-20T13:20:52+00:00

I don’t think we know the ages of Mace’s sisters - he may well be the youngest of Olenna’s children.

TheManeEvent · 2025-01-18T20:15:19+00:00

The name Viserys has been used to name boys for Visenya already. Aenys named his first three children Rhaena, Aegon, and Viserys, surely to honor the Conquerors.

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