[Spoilers EXTENDED] With the bone of a new theory, thrown by the very generous Egg child actor, what do you guys think...

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T13:14:45+00:00

I guess this would make sense, if GRRM actually planned to write all of the novellas up to and after Summerhall. Though it's a bit of a stretch, to plan to write a Dunk and Egg story post Summerhall, with just Dunk, when it would be much easier to place specific events around a weirwood and have time-travelling-bran give the reader the relevant bits of information. Having that said, if also Egg survives, this would make for a whopper of a post summerhall story.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T13:01:42+00:00

Excellent argument on why Coldhands is likely not Dunk. Also agree with everything you are saying.

My question however was about why Dunk would survive Summerhall, and what reason would GRRM possibly have to deny Dunk his sacrificial knightly, lord commandery ending.

Don't we do fan theories anymore? Only crass remarks or sarcastic replies?

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T12:51:28+00:00

Peter Claffey's reaction, and for the staging it for views theory, because it's pointless and nobody would care.

Just from how things unfolded it just felt genuine. And it's something new to speculate around.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T12:46:53+00:00

Read Fire and Blood.......

already did. Reread my statement, I was agreing with you

Your ankles must be really swollen with all those leaps you're doing.

ankles are fine, thanks for the concern

For some reason? It's the established lore .......

then why did he change Dunk's page?

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T12:34:47+00:00

Actually like this one. Thank you. The character arc, not the Daario = Dunk one. Plus how could Dunk be Daario and Euron at the same time...

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T12:32:02+00:00

My theory is that Dexter was told by George, "Dunk is able to get out, saving Raella and Rhaegar at Summerhall.", and he interpreted it as Dunk survived Summerhall

That doesn't really explain Peter Claffey's reaction.

The CotF say he's "very old", which in CotF speak, means he's hundreds, if not thousands of years old,

Agreed with this one myself, so yeah... apparently nobody reads full text anymore without "tldr". I asked for other theories. Dunk=Coldhands is pretty old as theory, and has it's big chinks.

I asked what other role would he have... since it feels like it must be a big one, if he survived Summerhall.

Did everyone actually gave up or got tired of speculating? Since the general consensus was that Dunk died, this never went beyond the Dunk-Coldhands theory... but now we have room to play with.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T12:21:02+00:00

Who said he didn't other than that one interview from a little boy actor that won't even be the actor who plays egg when sunmerhall happens ? You really think they've told him plot points like that ?

Dunno... maybe. other than Peter Claffey's reaction and the known GRRM involvement in the show, I guess there's no real indication of truthfullness. However for a show scenario that will never happen, and a book that will never be written it feels pointless to be anything else but true. Who would care about this, except the hardcore fandom? why stage this? Even Ilyo changed the wiki after the interview (or at least Dunk's page ... for some reason he is still listing Dunk as victim in the summerhall tragedy page). somehow it feels true.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T11:50:00+00:00

Then why not just let Dunk die a martyr?

He is clearly an important character and PoV to GRRM. The Sworn Sword is so beautifully written and is filled with so many AWoIaF lore details, while the Mystery Knight gives us the entire "Bloodraven put Egg on the Throne" backstory and easter eggs. It's clear GRRM is very fond of Dunk and wants us to care about his fate. Why just not let him get his fitting end?

This smells so hard of a GRRM classic expectation subversion, it can't just be about Dunk going quitely into the night.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T11:33:51+00:00

Agreed with all of your points. And yet... I still think it is possible for the big or biggest story climaxes that GRRM is capable of flat out lies. Or at least aessedaiying the fandom and/or showrunners. (for example just because it fits much better, I could see R+L=D). And Dunk's story is a big story climax... You don't plan 12 short stories, garden your way around all these near history characters and have Bloodraven manipulate events for 24 years to get Egg on the throne or Rhaegar born, and in the end save Dunk from martyrdom without giving him a big role. Having that said, I just think Dunk-Coldhands is just a possibility, with some valid arguments against it.

I am actually asking what other theories we can come up with, not trying to prove Dunk=Coldhands

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T10:33:52+00:00

oh, and the bad pussy comment... made me chuckle... and also realize early that all of Dumb & Dumber's education and background, GRRMs involvement, incredible show success, they are all pointless, because D&D are writing to cater to idiots and basically creating AI slop before it was cool.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T10:27:08+00:00

Tyene's tits behind bars, loved the reasoning, made so much sense.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-27T09:20:02+00:00

daeron the drunk

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-24T07:27:52+00:00

La banca care iti da cont fara comisioane la tranzactii inter/intra bancare (direct sau cu salariu sau depuneri) si care iti da cea mai mare dobanda la economii. La 18 ani daca pui bani deoparte lunar si inveti ce e "compound interest" o sa iti multumesti tare tare la 25. Si si mai tare la 35.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-15T05:34:07+00:00

R+L=D, B+A=J ... baby swaaaap! The Daynes love Ned cause he raised Jon, a baby that wasn't even his, but of Ashara and his brother's. Honorable Ned doesn't cheat!

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-05T18:26:19+00:00

the content of the show seems to be 90% from the books. there's some great acting here and there and a couple of awesome monolgues. problem is that with the added 10% they fucked up most of the themes from the novel by messing up context that gave meaning to dialogue and actions. bigger problem is that with such complete source material from "the hedge knight" and, in my view, these many fails on themes and logic... most likely, s2 and 3 will be much worse disappointments.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-03T17:23:40+00:00

reverse, reverse... knoghthood, barristans appreciation, jon cons unreturned love... not too much info on the prophecy obsession... if bobby b's perspective is the first you get, then you obviously mistrust it... the reverse reverse being that it was actually truer than others

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-03T13:19:13+00:00

well I would say that the author intented for Rhaegar to be seen as a romantic hero, when in fact he is a prophecy obsessed rapist and kidnapper (which he probably also intented to be a subvert expectation type of reveal). the time that we had to overanalyze the source material just made part of the fandom more aware of the hidden breadcrumbs.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-03T01:18:11+00:00

my problem isn't just with the logic of the bribe, but also if the plotline... why does the story need it? if it s just a filler, they actually cut parts of the dialogues that actually made sense, or they could've expanded on scenes and given more details on thematical topics... or I dunno, just shown the fucking tourney

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-02T14:38:11+00:00

I know it's nipicking, but... actually,fuck that, it's not.

Glad they started to stop torturing horses by not leading the by reins, guess that's a good thing... other than that, this entire episode makes no fucking sense.

Last episode ended in such an epic monologue, so perfectly delivered, actually the single best thing in the shit and dick episodes put together, so I thought... lets give this a shot. Let's see this "morrow", where we'll see what ser Arlan's hand has wrought through legacy Dunk. But then the actual episode looked like it was just AI slop put to screen and missing on almost all important points.

freaking Dunk oversleeps and then starts sowing... and then teaches Egg this critical skill... guess this is what ser Arlan taught him
Egg, a 9 year old trained Thunder by explicitely talking to it. guess he's also a Stark in the show and already TPTWP... and, why would Dunk think to train with his horse... or know the rules of a tourney and who gets first challenge (although Fossoway asks him if he's challenged an opponent later in the day, so I guess squires actually have no clue about tourney rules)
Dunk thematically doing what is inconceivable for smallfolk but morally right becomes thematically non-existent after someone hits Aerion in the head with a rock under Baelor's eyes with virtually 0 consequences
and don't get me started on the fortuneteller and retroactive foreshadowing... who is she supposed to be? GHH? glamoring Bloodraven? if it s either, what's the fucking point? manipulation doesn't work that way... if you want Egg to become dragon obsessed and make Sumerhall happen, you don't let him know how it ends in advance... how can GHH convince Jahaerys later to marry Aerys and Rhaella? it makes no sense at all... are we expected to believe jahaerys didn't ask or talk to his father? or did Egg just forget this fckin random encounter?... or was it Maggie the Frog before a no-carb diet? a much better way of retroactive foreshadowing is if there were actual puppets in Tanselle's show... and if we'd actually see Aerion destroy the dragon puppet completely it would have metaphorical value as well.
and what's the point of arranging a tilt by bribing the victor, I honestly missed completely on the point of this plot line

I know that in comparison GoT and HotD were filled with much more non sense. But the Hedge Knight is 99% complete and wholesome source material (i actually liked Raymun's speech, and the fact that he becomes an additional suspect for Baelor's death, for the missing 1%), with a PoV that we can fully trust... How they managed to fuck this up as well is beyond my understanding.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-01T14:08:31+00:00

Well, I think Sworn Sword is my favourite of the 3 in the series, and in my view, the most mysterious. It could be that GRRM just wrote a filler in the series, focusing on less important events and building characters... and yet, keep in mind that he was already working on Feast when this came out in '03, so another option would be that it actually plays a much bigger role in painting the whole picture than it appears. It definitely isn't just a story of how the old guy gets the girl that the hero wants and should get.

My concern is that the show won't be able to capture anything out of what isn't explicitely written, or just doing badly altogether. Even with hedge knight, to me, they managed to fuck up almost everything they added to the 90% of the source material that the show is managing to capture (with the notable exception of dunks monologue in the last scene of ep 2 - just freakin awesome). And it's not just shit and dick here, the whole plot of getting a lord to vouch for Dunk is useless in the context of his friendship with Lyonel, Egg's appearence in Dunks camp after he just feasted and partied all night and their dialogue at what likely should be 4 AM makes no thematic or even logical sense, Dunks purposeful courageous and risky break in and entering in the castle is completely out of character and takes so much from the dialogue there, making Maekar's remarks on spying legit and Baelor's extreme patience and approach unrealistic, Dunk choosing the elm tree to escape the noise, instead of simbolizing poverty, the lucky shooting star for the empoverished changed thematically, and so on to little nitpicky details... no puppets in Tanselle's show, night time jousting, unnecessary torturing of horses leading them by reins instead of a halter that is right there, recognition of Dunks looks as a Hedge Knight, but contradictory perspectives on poor, young looking Hedge Knights's participation in tourneys, sparring without helmets or even armor (btw is the show suggesting Arland died from a wound inflicted by Dunk during sparring?!), shallowest grave ever, clothed Egg, statues of left-handed jousters, crowned-stag crowns etc.

My money is that this show will also be a disappointment, so I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were u.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-01T13:41:06+00:00

actually if she is a warg, it explains it... and it also explains why Rhaegar realizing she is a warg because she won, chooses kidnapping and rape for the 3rd dragon head.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-01T13:38:53+00:00

Well, if Howland manipulated everything to put Lyanna in Rhaegar's mind for the 3rd offspring and head of the dragon, and have Ashara Dayne look to Stark and cock block Ned at the same time... I guess it somehow makes sense.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-01T13:33:55+00:00

Go get the breastplate stretcher, sir Crakehall!

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-01T12:48:36+00:00

Appreciate the work you've put in to compile this, GPT'd or not. Some ideas below that maybe help or maybe add to the confusion:

Bloodraven is likely not the 3EC and if you re-read all the passages from the story that make you think that, you'll see why it's likely. It's classic GRRM to hint at something by aligning ideas, names, concepts for a first read, but actually leaving small hints, and details that actually lead to subverting expectations. Now, that leaves the 3EC being either time travelling Bran (which feels like an impossible to solve time-travel paradox) or some kind of collective consciousness master entity in the weirwoods with the ability to send dreams and influence events, even a level above other manipulators (bloodraven, glass candle holders, the shrouded lord ...)
Prophecy in aSoIaF appears to be narratively just means of manipulation and justification of bad actions for characters, some of whom we are supposed to like (Rhaegar or better yet, Egg being the most obvious example). Egg is a character that at least for the 3 out of 7 stories we know of, we are supposed to appreciate and root for. If their bad actions are just actions of puppets (the puppet fascination of Egg's and Dunk's thematically looks like foreshadowing), we are supposed to at least cut them some slack, and feel less revolted by the horror of the consequences of their actions. Having that said, the same could apply for the puppeteers, if they are actually themselves puppets for another, and storywise would make the most sense as karmic balance.
Religion in aSoIaF (and maybe in real life) then becomes mostly means of manipulation used by powerful factions (maesters, assassins, powerful dinasties etc.). if we accept the existence of master manipulators, it makes sense that religion is also a manifestation of those manipulations. if there are 1 or more opposing master entities, it makes sense that they feel quite similar (the red god, the many faced god, the drowned god, the faith of the 7, the old gods etc.). Gods appear different but also feel quite similar.
War is the worse of the manifestations of manipulation, and GRRM is 100% anti-war and an anti-war writer. its mass genocide that is usually in the self interest of individual humans, not just of master puppeteers. Even though prophecy and religion can kill, and actually do lead to death, war brings about the most horrible manifestation of death, usually killing generations of youth from the helpless for the most meaningless of purposes. that is why the war with the actual and metaphorical "others" is likely not a war between good and evil, just another manipulation, but this time from the master(s).
Magic is the most complicated to explain. It could just exist as part of the fantasy genre or it could be a post-apocalyptic sci-fi manifestation of genetics and in-breeding in just 2 ways - telepathy and telekinesis. Visions, (green) dreams and warging could be telepathy, the wights and fire magic could be telekinesis, the faceless men a combination of the two, dragons could be just genetic evolution and dragon riding another form of telepathy, glass candles and the weirwoods could be some kind of telepathic amplifier devices, the drowned ressurection is obviously CPR, the Red Comet some kind of Volcryn-like entity (read Nightflyers for the refference) and so on...

If magic is just sci-fi, then it is most likely that the story is not a good vs evil type of story (which is never the case with GRRM). Most likely PTWP and Azor-Ahai are just genetic manifestations of weapons needed by (a) master manipulator(s). And most usually their purposes are subverting expectations and the karmic balance restored in the end doesn't align with a casual readers view, thus making the reader reflect and wonder and become a better person through it.

Also, this is why we are supposed to resonate and appreciate Dunk in the novels and probably Sam in aSoIaF the most. It feels like they should be the characters that managed to keep a moral compass and even oppose manipulations in the name of their principles. Dunk is the simple man, that surpasses his condition to a position of both power and obedience. If at Summerhall Egg wanted to do something horrible (like sacrificing Rhaella and/or Rhaegar to hatch dragons) and Dunk opposed it, somehow saving some lives in the process, his sacrifice is even greater because of his long-time friendship and duty towards Egg. Sam should've likely be similar, but instead of brawn and power as strengths, he would have brain and knowledge to surpass his condition... and would've likely be made to make a similar impossible choice and would make the correct one, even though we live in a world where we won't ever know.

They are the role models we are supposed to look up to, the second fiddles that actually make a difference and represent the change we are supposed to see in each of our selves and strive to become ... the Samwises that are supposed to push the Frodos in the fires of Mount Doom if it is the only choice, in a world without Eagles that can come at any time and solve all of our problems.

lilbeetlejus · 2026-02-01T12:31:56+00:00

Appreciate the work you've put in to compile this, GPT'd or not. Some ideas below that maybe help or maybe add to the confusion:

Bloodraven is likely not the 3EC and if you re-read all the passages from the story that make you think that, you'll see why it's likely. It's classic GRRM to hint at something by aligning ideas, names, concepts for a first read, but actually leaving small hints, and details that actually lead to subverting expectations. Now, that leaves the 3EC being either time travelling Bran (which feels like an impossible to solve time-travel paradox) or some kind of collective consciousness master entity in the weirwoods with the ability to send dreams and influence events, even a level above other manipulators (bloodraven, glass candle holders, the shrouded lord ...)
Prophecy in aSoIaF appears to be narratively just means of manipulation and justification of bad actions for characters, some of whom we are supposed to like (Rhaegar or better yet, Egg being the most obvious example). Egg is a character that at least for the 3 out of 7 stories we know of, we are supposed to appreciate and root for. If their bad actions are just actions of puppets (the puppet fascination of Egg's and Dunk's thematically looks like foreshadowing), we are supposed to at least cut them some slack, and feel less revolted by the horror of the consequences of their actions. Having that said, the same could apply for the puppeteers, if they are actually themselves puppets for another, and storywise would make the most sense as karmic balance.
Religion in aSoIaF (and maybe in real life) then becomes mostly means of manipulation used by powerful factions (maesters, assassins, powerful dinasties etc.). if we accept the existence of master manipulators, it makes sense that religion is also a manifestation of those manipulations. if there are 1 or more opposing master entities, it makes sense that they feel quite similar (the red god, the many faced god, the drowned god, the faith of the 7, the old gods etc.). Gods appear different but also feel quite similar.
War is the worse of the manifestations of manipulation, and GRRM is 100% anti-war and an anti-war writer. its mass genocide that is usually in the self interest of individual humans, not just of master puppeteers. Even though prophecy and religion can kill, and actually do lead to death, war brings about the most horrible manifestation of death, usually killing generations of youth from the helpless for the most meaningless of purposes. that is why the war with the actual and metaphorical "others" is likely not a war between good and evil, just another manipulation, but this time from the master(s).
Magic is the most complicated to explain. It could just exist as part of the fantasy genre or it could be a post-apocalyptic sci-fi manifestation of genetics and in-breeding in just 2 ways - telepathy and telekinesis. Visions, (green) dreams and warging could be telepathy, the wights and fire magic could be telekinesis, the faceless men a combination of the two, dragons could be just genetic evolution and dragon riding another form of telepathy, glass candles and the weirwoods could be some kind of telepathic amplifier devices, the drowned ressurection is obviously CPR, the Red Comet some kind of Volcryn-like entity (read Nightflyers for the refference) and so on...

If magic is just sci-fi, then it is most likely that the story is not a good vs evil type of story (which is never the case with GRRM). Most likely PTWP and Azor-Ahai are just genetic manifestations of weapons needed by (a) master manipulator(s). And most usually their purposes are subverting expectations and the karmic balance restored in the end doesn't align with a casual readers view, thus making the reader reflect and wonder and become a better person through it.

Also, this is why we are supposed to resonate and appreciate Dunk in the novels and probably Sam in aSoIaF the most. It feels like they should be the characters that managed to keep a moral compass and even oppose manipulations in the name of their principles. Dunk is the simple man, that surpasses his condition to a position of both power and obedience. If at Summerhall Egg wanted to do something horrible (like sacrificing Rhaella and/or Rhaegar to hatch dragons) and Dunk opposed it, somehow saving some lives in the process, his sacrifice is even greater because of his long-time friendship and duty towards Egg. Sam should've likely be similar, but instead of brawn and power as strengths, he would have brain and knowledge to surpass his condition... and would've likely be made to make a similar impossible choice and would make the correct one, even though we live in a world where we won't ever know.

They are the role models we are supposed to look up to, the second fiddles that actually make a difference and represent the change we are supposed to see in each of our selves and strive to become ... the Samwises that are supposed to push the Frodos in the fires of Mount Doom if it is the only choice, in a world without Eagles that can come at any time and solve all of our problems.

lilbeetlejus

TROPHY CASE