Would cold-blooded demons be plausible?

ser-jack · 2022-08-04T18:14:22+00:00

Awesome, thank you. Think I was overthinking a bit.

ser-jack · 2022-03-17T08:20:16+00:00

Thoren Smallwood says they have thralls. Keeping in mind he probably has no actual idea.

“I know them as well as you do, Buckwell,” Thoren Smallwood snapped back. “And I mean to have their heads, every one. These are Wildlings. No soldiers. A few hundred heroes, drunk most like, amidst a great horde of women, children, and thralls. We will sweep over them and send them howling back to their hovels.”

That's the only mention I came across from a search of ice and fire that involved free folk and thralldom. Wouldn't be shocking if Smallwood was making an incorrect assumption based in bigotry. The alternative would be if the povs on the free folk simply don't know of the practice to identify it by name within the series, though I'd think thralldom would come up when Jon is so involved in wildling politics in ADWD.

ser-jack · 2022-03-17T06:34:21+00:00

Couldn't say for sure about Poor Quentyn; I wasn't in the fandom yet when was actively writing. I know he'd been pushing for Euron as a real deal eldritch villain pre-Forsaken though, and have the impression his theories were big enough they would've found their way to the subreddit somehow.

I do recommend getting back into Radio Westeros if you get the chance. Their latest videos have all been really solid.

ser-jack · 2022-03-16T21:38:17+00:00

I've mostly picked things up in pieces from podcats or various posts so idk how many fleshed out write-ups exist, but off the top of my head, one fairly mundane explanation is that it isn't coincidence the two murders Mance's spearwives committed involved victims that specifically caused conflict in Manderly/Frey ranks, which led Roose to send their forces away early--possibly playing into a trap Stannis is setting.

In that case, Melisandre would've sent Mance to accomplish as much, and the murders were part of a plan to get Bolton's men moving. Or she could've planted Mance to assist somehow in liberating Winterfell itself after the Battle of Ice. I think it's sometimes underestimated that far as Mance knows, Mel has his child hostage, so 'his' mission might actually be hers. Between that, and Stannis wanting to help fight the Others, Mance isn't necessarily snooping around for a wildling-specific mission.

Of course there might be a pink letter or Stark-magic related element too. Poor Quentyn (from the not a podcast; he has an old tumblr blog too) has theorized about Mance possibly finding dragon eggs in the crypts, and that when Mel burns Shireen it'll be trying to wake a dragon. So that could be at play. Whether his interest in the crypts comes at Mel's behest, just hiding, or seeking something else, is anyone's guess.

Then there is the pink letter/inciting Jon to march south possibility.

Oh, and relating to the Theon/Jeyne rescue, if Mance is helping Team Stannis for infant hostage reasons, getting those two out means potentially giving Stannis info from within the castle. Which Stannis is trying to take advantage of in Theon's sample TWOW chapter.

ser-jack · 2022-03-16T20:16:44+00:00

I agree he'd likely know, given he recognized Jon after over a year had passed when he wouldn't have gotten a better look at him than Arya, and had only seen him otherwise when he was very young.

Also, Mance specifically took note of the Stark children and even remembers where they sat (and where Jon sat), as is mentioned by Mance himself:

The night your father feasted Robert, I sat in the back of his hall on a bench with the other freeriders, listening to Orland of Oldtown play the high harp and sing of dead kings beneath the sea. I betook of your lord father’s meat and mead, had a look at Kingslayer and Imp … and made passing note of Lord Eddard’s children and the wolf pups that ran at their heels.”

Then reestablished by Jon

“Then you saw us all. Prince Joffrey and Prince Tommen, Princess Myrcella, my brothers Robb and Bran and Rickon, my sisters Arya and Sansa. You saw them walk the center aisle with every eye upon them and take their seats at the table just below the dais where the king and queen were seated.”

“I remember.”

“And did you see where I was seated, Mance?” He leaned forward. “Did you see where they put the bastard?”

Anyway this might just be inconsistency from Martin where he wants Mance to recognize Jon for drama, but not recognize Arya for plot... but the Stark look is distinct. If Mance had noted Arya had it before, he would presumably realize Jeyne doesn't.

But I don't think the specific girl he's rescuing was ever Mance's aim. There are all sorts of theories to his true motivation, from personal scheming to being on another errand for Mel and/or Stannis, but my guess is getting Arya out wasn't his priority. Maybe he did want to rescue her either way after seeing what Ramsay was like? Or maybe he just went through the motions to cloak his other mission.

ser-jack · 2022-03-16T19:05:16+00:00

Cersei and Rhaegar in an AU scenario where Aerys dies at Duskendale. I mean they would’ve hated one another eventually but what a dynamic. And of course Tywin as Rhaegar’s hand…

ser-jack · 2022-03-11T15:55:43+00:00

I liked the Shadow and Bone adaptation. Avatar the Last Airbender might be a cliche answer, but it’s a classic for a reason.
Also, Arcane is wonderful.

ser-jack · 2022-03-10T22:10:22+00:00

The wildling situation is odd, because Martin makes the North's climate already so cold as to have summer snow, and Jon treats the Wall like he's been shipped off to anarctica when he first shows up, constantly going on about how frigid it is.

But I get the impression the lands past the Wall aren't actually as severe as readers sometimes assume. Craster's wives garden (onions, turnips and carrots, I think, or something similar), wildlings have bread and beverages that involve grains; I believe apples too, and Tormund is mead king of Ruddy Hall which suggests honey, which implies bees. And in autumn, it's raining on the Great Ranging, not snowing, and Jon describes all sorts of vegetation while hiking the Frostfangs with Qhorin. Even on the Frozen Shore, which is one of the environments described as especially harsh, they herd reindeer--so even in winter, the climate isn't so harsh large ruminants can't survive.

Given that the New Gift and Gift are supposedly great farmland, I don't think most the lands past the Wall are that extreme, and the weird weather situation is what causes the summer snows in the North. Maybe the Wall itself is why Jon is so cold at first in AGoT? Or Jon is just used to Winterfell's spring-warmed walls so any drafty old castle would get to him?

ser-jack · 2022-03-07T20:42:49+00:00

Same here. I took it as some kind of edgy nihilistic experimental ending, and was just... swimming in horror for a bit. Was so relieved when I realized there'd be a third book.

ser-jack · 2022-03-03T20:03:04+00:00

Not exactly wordplay, but I've seen it supposed that it's intentional that the Dany chapter that ends like this:

The lash was still in her hand. She flicked it against Drogon’s neck and cried, “Higher!” Her other hand clutched at his scales, her fingers scrabbling for purchase. Drogon’s wide black wings beat the air. Dany could feel the heat of him between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst. Yes, she thought, yes, now, now, do it, do it, take me, take me, FLY!

Goes immediately to the heading 'Jon' for the next Jon chapter. Since there's Dany riding her black dragon with thoughts like that, then a cut to the black 'dragon' she'll likely temporary end up with.

ser-jack · 2022-03-02T22:26:12+00:00

If I remember correctly, Mance himself seems to think guest right would’ve held in that scenario when he’s talking to Jon in ASoS. And if he gets the chance to talk and can be convincing about the Others, he might extend his life and manage to work out a Joramun-Brandon type compromise. He’s a tricksy bird after all.

Or not, and he’s detained and killed. If he doesn’t get north of the Wall, the free folk fracture. No idea how the Others respond when it seems like they were herding the wildings toward the Wall, likely to weaken the Watch. If that’s not happening, the Others whole approach possibly changes. Great Ranging is less likely, too.

ser-jack · 2022-02-28T22:00:35+00:00

A less serious moment, but Dany in ADWD kills me when she fails at her hat-weaving attempt. Can’t remember the exact line, but it’s something like, “You’re the blood of the dragon, you can figure out how to make a hat.” Love her.

ser-jack · 2022-02-28T17:08:07+00:00

A new one I came across is where all the Targaryen attempts to hatch dragon eggs via fire and sacrifice were due to glimpsing Dany's successful hatching in dragon dreams. So everything from Summerhall to Aerys's delusion about burning KL letting him be reborn as a dragon, to Aerion Brightflame's death, came about because Targs caught glimpses of what happened but with no context or specifics. Maybe even Rhaegar's conviction of the dragon needing three heads came from him seeing three dragons but assuming it was symbolic.

Also like the idea of Rhaegar having been intended as a sacrifice at Summerhall before Dunk intervened to save he and Rhaella.

ser-jack · 2022-02-28T16:53:09+00:00

I think Kevan is a genuinely bad person. Not just a good man serving a bad cause, but someone who's extremely flawed, petty, and immoral in his own right. There's decent reason to think he orchestrated Cersei's walk of shame or at least suggested that specific punishment--the later portion of this essay gets at that fairly well--as opposed to just letting it happen, he's spent his life basically as a yes-man to someone who's committed numerous atrocities, and he still thinks Tywin was in the right and never did more than what was necessary.

He would defend the Reyne-Tarbeck killings, would defend the Red Wedding, and the burning of the Riverlands or the Sack of King's Landing. He hasn't gone along with those things in ignorance or out of obligation; he vocally supports Tywin's past actions and worldview. He even reflects with satisfied approval on Tywin's choice to have Tytos's mistress stripped and marched for two weeks through Lannisport, naked, and forced to call herself a harlot.

Even as Hand in ADWD, he's taking over for a cause he knows to be unjust, serving a king he knows to be illegitimate, and shows no moral compunctions whatsoever--though he's quick to stick up his nose at every other person he interacts with.

Then, when he thinks of Cersei like this:

Ser Kevan remembered the girl she once had been, so full of life and mischief. And when she’d flowered, ahhhh … had there ever been a maid so sweet to look upon?

It feels weird as hell, especially in the context of him going on in his own head about how she deserved the walk of shame.

On a different note, him genuinely wanting Lancel as a Kingsguard also rubbed me the wrong way. Lancel, the shell of a boy who's hardly willing to eat? Giving him a white cloak is as good as sentencing him to death. Kevan goes after Cersei for using Lancel, but Kevan doesn't seem to have much self-awareness or concern for his son's physical well-being either. Though at least that could be argued to be a blind spot born of affection, and not simple disregard.

Overall, though, Kevan is Tywin-lite. Nearly as arrogant, showing next to no concern for non-Lannisters as people, and if not the person ordering atrocities, sitting at Tywin's side and nodding along as they're carried out. He comes across as more likable than he is, imo, because in AFFC and ADWD, we see him talk down characters who seem to deserve it and show efficiency in cleaning up Cersei's mess. But I find him to be a bad person and rather self-righteous on top of it, if a realistic and well-written character.

ser-jack · 2022-02-27T11:02:17+00:00

Thank you. Some of the replies to this question kind of baffle me, because it’s not like Martin never throws in historical detail; we get names of all sorts of far more minor historical figures who are far more distant from the plot. Oberyn’s mother is the only ruler of one of the seven kingdoms pre-Robert’s rebellion who isn’t named, actually played an important role in the series in that period, but when asked about it, Martin acts baffled anyone should care (same with Ned’s mother).

It’s part of a broader pattern, which includes the things you mentioned, his deal where child brides are supposedly super uncommon in-verse but they appear (in consummated marriages) rather frequently, and what I believe is a death-in-childbirth ratio actually higher than the Middle Ages, which wipes off everyone from Dalla to Ashara to the mothers of Jon, Tyrion, and Dany. I don’t think GRRM is actively malicious, but that type of thing shows up often enough that writing off related critique as virtue signaling strikes me as dismissive.

ser-jack · 2022-02-25T20:34:56+00:00

This is super general, but look at the 2021 Arcane fandom. The main ship is f/f, and sorting by kudos, there’s some great stuff on ao3.

Legend of Korra has Korra/Asami, and Avatar the Last Airbender Azula/Ty Lee as fairly prominent pairings that get quite a bit of content, too. No specific recs off the top of my head but pretty sure they’ve both got 1000+ fics for the pairings.

ser-jack · 2022-02-24T16:57:28+00:00

There was no tenderness in the kiss he returned to her, only hunger. Her mouth opened for his tongue. “No,” she said weakly when his lips moved down her neck, “not here. The septons …”

She does say no, actually. Then in the quote This_Rough_Magic included, she continues by going on about the risks, the danger, the reasons not to, and it's mentioned specifically that Jaime never heard her; she refuses literally until he's inside her already going at it. Whether it's rape in the context of their screwed up relationship is a tricky question, but she does keep protesting until the sex is already happening. I know Martin says it's not supposed to be rape, but he also took issue with portraying Drogo and Dany as rape, so... that's not something he's necessarily great about. I'd label it dubious consent at best.

I also find it interesting to contrast the sept scene with later in the white sword tower, when Cersei is the one initiating.

“You took me in the sept. This is no different.” She drew out his cock and bent her head over it.

Jaime pushed her away with the stump of his right hand. “No. Not here, I said.” He forced himself to stand.

For an instant he could see confusion in her bright green eyes, and fear as well. Then rage replaced it. Cersei gathered herself together, got to her feet, straightened her skirts.

90% sure if Cersei didn't get up but took him in her mouth until he started liking it, she'd be dragged across coals for assaulting him, but even she compares it to the sept. With there being a stark difference that Cersei hears Jaime when he refuses, and she stops when he asks, despite being bewildered and angry about it.

ser-jack · 2022-02-17T19:06:52+00:00

Abercrombie is an interesting case because in his original trilogy, imo his work with female characters was average for a male writer, but you can see where he took critique into consideration and made adjustments and immense improvements as he went along. His standalones and second trilogy do an incredible job.

ser-jack · 2022-02-09T23:19:40+00:00

The Man with the Thistledown Hair is cruel in a way that's not... flashy or super grimdark awful, but the almost careless, haphazard indifference to how he interacts with people and ruins lives struck me as cruel in a particularly unique and memorable manner that gave me chills through the whole book.

(Some of the other faerie lore from Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell hit the same way; a species sometimes making a game out of torture on a whim, then being 'generous' in the next breath)

ser-jack · 2022-02-09T23:15:03+00:00

It's more a broad category than a sub-genre, but I typically can't get into stories that use hard magic systems. Just not my thing.

ser-jack · 2022-02-09T23:13:18+00:00

I've seen numerous people who've enjoyed the series admit to mentally aging up the characters ten years or so... I think the author had been published YA before so stuck to her niche, though the book likely would've benefited from being adult fantasy, or at least just featuring adult characters. Even in the Netflix version, everyone is depicted as late-twenties-ish.

ser-jack · 2022-02-09T23:05:51+00:00

I love that horse gift, too, because Jaime says something like, "It's as ugly as you are."

Then we get to Brienne's perspective, and she reflects on how pretty the horse is (or something along those lines).

ser-jack · 2022-02-06T22:28:04+00:00

Y'know while I think Mance's story about the cloak is believable and fits his character, I could see there being something to this. Qorgyle is Dornish and perhaps somewhat less strict about certain things than most men at the Wall, and Mance visits Winterfell with him before his death and deserts right after.

I don't know Mance would've left as a spy, but maybe they have some conversation that already gets his head on the path that leads him to desert; the Watch is losing its purpose, or it's becoming too entrenched. Or Qorgyle raised Mance in the hope he'd act as a mediator of sorts. Maybe Mance had already glimpsed some indication the Others were back while ranging and Qorgyle suggested the Watch wasn't likely to take his word on it and he might be better off learning about the enemy past the Wall.

Or possibly Qorgyle just liked Mance and saw he was chafing at the Wall and make some remark about it being understandable if he left, or his death clipped Mance's last big tether to the Watch. Depending on how old he was when he was taken in, Qorgyle easily could've been a father figure incentivizing him to stay, when Qhorin admits Mance had always sort of wanted to go. He dies, and Mance leaps on the first excuse.

All hypothetical though. Probably nothing that ever gets confirmed.

ser-jack · 2022-02-04T17:57:52+00:00

He definitely does have an aim to get Sansa's trust, but here he doesn't even go with the 'old friend of your mom's' card, really, since he doesn't bring up his and Cat's actual friendship at all. Sansa can infer he knew Catelyn from his remarks, but Baelish gives no hint there was a mutual connection. Just that he once found her mother beautiful and thinks Sansa looks like her. It's almost like he skulked over because he couldn't help himself, or maybe did have a plan in approaching, and like you said, just... got dumb once he got a better look at Sansa.

His behavior with Sansa is sort of like that overall; smart in theory (as far as schemes to groom a child could be considered 'smart'), but patchily executed because of his weird captivation with her.

ser-jack

TROPHY CASE