Character choices

So I just finished playing the first episode of "The Walking Dead: Season 2" (the game, for anyone possibly confused) and it got me thinking.  Throughout the game (and the past episodes in season 1), you make choices and rarely if ever are they easy or simply or right or wrong.  Some aren't even choices.  In a striking moment in the first episode Season 1 (of the Walking Dead game), there's a poignant quote that, paraphrased, states that sometimes we don't choose, we just "do."  It made me think about the paths of our heroes (and perhaps those who even aren't heroes) in A Song of Ice and Fire.

We've got a ton to choose from, but before I continue, I'm going to throw this out there, because I love you and it's for your own good:

SPOILER ALERT!  I'm going to be discussing characters and character events through A Dance With Dragons.  There will be major plot points discussed and I do not want to ruin them for anyone so please, do not read further if there is potential for things to be ruined for you.  Thanks! (no spoilers for A Feast for Crows or A Dance With Dragons) 

 The first character I want to look at is Arya.  Now she is a firecracker and there's hardly anyone who reads the books who doesn't like her.  She's a solid fan favorite and, when you look at it, is tailor-made to be so.  She's fun, has teeth, there's "action" to her and she's very likable overall.  But then we look at her character closely and it breaks your heart a bit.

Arya is a child.  I think sometimes we either forget that or ignore it or for whatever reason we just lose it under all the other things.  The age just doesn't make itself present and front-and-center the way other flashier aspects of her character do.  Knowing that, think about where her character is and what she's gone through.

She was present for her father's public beheading.  Whether or not she saw it, that's still incredibly traumatic.  She was on edge in King's Landing to begin with, just having moved to an unfamiliar environment, but once she left, her life has been a chain of struggles.  As her journey progresses, one of the most noticeable aspects to her character becomes her list.  The list of names she repeats over and over and over and over, ad infinitum.  This is, really, a choice, and a rather extreme one.  She chooses vengeance.  Raw, red, bloody vengeance.  She devotes her time and energy to this idea and we can see her heart change.  She goes from this sweet, albeit mischievous, girl, to a jaded, hardened person.

Her identity changes so many times, yet the core aspect to her character that keeps her grounded is her singular firm goal of putting every name on her list in the ground.  It's interesting to think about how her life would be had she not chosen this outlook on her life or those who've impacted it.  What if she simply decided "You know what?  King Joffrey?  Queen Cersei? Ser Gregor? The rest?  What am I really going to do to them?  I can't lay a finger on them.  They're where they are, I'm where I am.  I hate them, but the best I can do for myself is try to scrape up what I can of my life and better myself.  I need to get back to the north.  I need to get home, no matter what, and stay there and try to start life over again."  To a point, that's what she was trying to do and we watch it fade more and more until she takes that iron coin and cashes it in.  She pays for her ticket to a place where they train some of the most lethal, cold individuals there are.  This is a path that she's on because she chose to seek it out and, sadly, it's hard to see a bright outcome at the end of her dark, dark road.

(no spoilers for A Dance With Dragons; vague discussion mainly relating to actions taken in A Storm of Swords)  Another character who interesting to look at in terms of choice is Daenerys.  When it comes to her, she does a lot of decision making, both publicly and internally.  What's interesting too is that she originally began her journey without any real choice or agency at all.  It was a slow buildup and then Drogo died.  She had nothing invested in her own life until she loved Drogo and when he died, it in many ways lit a fire under her.  The birth of the dragons and the inferno in which they were born also forged Dany's identity and set her on a path towards greatness.

As we watch Daenerys travel, she runs into many peoples.  She sees things she likes and more things she doesn't.  One of the main things we see is an overt anti-slavery sentiment and a deep-seated perspective of hers to be pro-freedom.  What we also see is a series of choices she makes that have far reaching consequences.  An example of this is when she visits Astapor to get her Unsullied army.  Here she gets a first-hand look at what slavery and that kind of environment can yield.  A few in power using those beneath them to generate profit.  We hear about how the Unsullied are created and trained and it is truly chilling.  We actually see that their masters have no problem doing what is required to deaden the souls of each Unsullied, to create a mobile statue capable of perfect obedience.  In the face of any danger, they do not move.  In the face of bribery or seduction, they stand dead to any offer.  They follow their master and that is simply all they know.  This and the other things she sees in the region of [aptly named] Slaver's Bay sets Dany on a course she chooses.

She goes to the slave cities and wreaks havoc.  She, in her own heart, decides that the way of life down there is not acceptable and goes about trying to change it (to varying degrees of success).  Here is one of the times where we see what George R. R. Martin wanted us to see in these books; that being in power and being what many would consider a "good" person, many times is not enough and the road to ruin is paved with the best of intentions.  Freedom is a grand and lofty idea.  To those who are privileged, the idea of being bound and restricted is galling to say the least.  But Dany, rather a while after setting her massive wheels in motion, starts to see other things her decisions have done.

She beings hearing about individuals who actually still want to be slaves.  Sure there are free men, but they have to find their own food.  They have to find their own housing.  They have to make their own way in a way that they are not at all accustomed to.  This is something that can be crippling to someone who's only known a life of slavery for decades.  One day, this silver-haired woman rolls into town and goes "ALRIGHT EVERYONE; YOU'RE FREE!  YAY!"  The slavers and slave masters are killed or done away with.  The slaves now are suddenly without work, lodging, food, and the life that they were used to and many were fine with ("ignorance is bliss" situation perhaps) is now upended.

This action, taken en masse, has huge, far-reaching consequences.  The news of what she is doing reaches across the globe and destabilizes a large economy on the world stage.  Without slaves, all of Slaver's Bay doesn't function and there are large amounts of trade that depends on everything that goes with the slave trade.  It's not just the slave trade itself, but also the labor it provides.  None are arguing that slavery is a good thing, but this is an example of an idealist choice and set of actions that can engulf an entire portion on the world in turmoil, and it all goes back to Dany and her quest to be the best queen.  It also leads to moments where we may, perhaps, ask ourselves, if Dany being queen is really as good an idea as we initially thought.

(A Dance With Dragons Spoilers to follow) One final character to look at is the character of Jon Snow.  At the end of A Storm of Swords we see him assume the mantle of Lord Commander of The Night's Watch.  All along we've seen him groomed and trained for this and when he gets the job, it's hard not to do a little fist-pump and a "YESSSSSSSSSSSSS; GO JON!" in our heads.

Then we open A Dance With Dragons, read it, and go "Crap."

This is not even to say that he does a "bad" job.  We see a lot of Ned in the decisions that Jon makes and there are positive and negative things about that.  Ned was an idealist in a lot of ways and as we've been conditioned through the series to understand, that doesn't always work out.

The choice Jon makes is a simple one, and that is to be a hard-ass.  It sounds harsh but really, it is exactly what he does.  This is because of this one last bit of advice given to him by Maester Aemon (this quote is pulled from A Wiki of Ice and Fire):

"Allow me to give my lord one last piece of counsel. The same counsel I once gave my brother when we parted for the last time. He was three-and-thirty when the Great Council chose him to mount the Iron Throne. A man grown with sons of his own, yet in some ways still a boy. Egg had an innocence to him, a sweetness we all loved. "Kill the boy within you," I told him the day I took ship for the Wall. "It takes a man to rule. An Aegon, not an Egg. Kill the boy and let the man be born." You are half the age that Egg was, and your own burden is crueler one, I fear. You will have little joy of your command, but I think you have the strength in you to do the things that must be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born."

Maester Aemon meant, I believe, that Jon will need to make some hard decisions and to steel himself for those; to let go of things that are boy-like and to be a leader and model for the rest of the men to follow.  Jon takes this to mean that he has to let go of things that make him happy; things he feels are boy-ish.  In choosing this way of thinking, he sacrifices the thing that aided him most in his life on The Wall.  His friends.

As Lord Commander, Jon estranges himself, staying away from his friends and fully assuming the role of (as Bran would surely put it) "Jon the Lord."  He commands and takes no guff from anyone.  He makes decisions and demands those beneath him fall in line.  This leads him to making decisions that may actually be good decisions in themselves, but are done in such a way that they put off those under his command.

The main decision was that to ally themselves with the Wildlings.  So many of the men of the Night's Watch have this view of the Wildlings that is very much akin to racism.  Due to their differences, they should not be trusted, worked with or aided.  Some men view their duty as purely to keep Wildlings north of the wall, not really putting much stock in "Grumpkins and Snarks."  This perspective leads to unrest.  More and more, chaos north of The Wall brews and the pressure is on.  Jon, with added pressure from the presence of Stannis and Melisandre, makes heavy decisions, supplementing the Watch with Wildlings.  This makes many of the men angry, and Bowen Marsh, Lord Steward of the Night's Watch even speaks to him about this on multiple occasions.

In these instances, Jon is very much like Stannis, taking on a "my way or the highway" mentality.  Make no mistake, this was a choice.  Perhaps one that was ill informed; perhaps one that was prompted by misunderstood advice; perhaps one that could have gone differently had he read more books like Sam always went on about; but it didn't.  Jon made the calls.  Jon was as hard a man as the Wall and drove forward into the night, doing his best to save all he was sworn to protect.

In the end, it cost him his life, at the hands of the men under his command.  Now, the circumstances under which the death of Jon Snow occurred are of major discussion and I think that theories about that occurrence are a matter worthy of its own post altogether, but that it happened is huge.  We're talking about an assassination of the Lord Commander by the Nights Watch itself.  A brotherhood, ages old, turning on itself in its darkest hour.  It doesn't bode well for Westeros and it leads one to examine how choices that ring in a very personal way for our heroes can end up having repercussions that can quite literally impact the world at large.

With dragons in the east, the cold rising in the north, rebellion fermenting everywhere you look; there is danger brewing.  Many who we've come to know and love will die; and at the end of it all, there is no choice; Winter is here.

Song of Ice and Fire New User Guide

"Why the heck should I read these books?" One might ask.  "There's this TV show on HBO that has ratings through the roof, the books are long and there aren't pictures.  What's so good about them?"

Well, someone might ask something like that at any rate.  It's a pretty common theme nowadays, at least as far as I've seen, that many people seem like they're not keen on reading.  Some are even proud of it, shocking as it might seem.  I saw a quote today that said:

"Sometimes people write novels and they just be so wordy

and so self absorbed.  I am not a fan of books.

I would never want a book's autograph.

I am a proud non-reader of books"

                                                                    ~Kanye West

That kind of blew my mind a bit but then I thought about it and thought "Why not make a little guide to talk about what makes these books great?"  The ironic thing is that one would have to read the guide in order to get the info.  ;)

A Song of Ice and Fire is a series packed with all the things that make the best movies and television shows what they are, apart from a visual component.  There's massive action, deep drama, sex, huge set pieces, layered plots, "real" magic and some of the best character development you'll ever see.

Action: You want fights, we've got 'em.  You want explosions, we've got those too.  Battles?  Check.  The perk of having a book is that there is literally zero budget for the scale of mayhem you want to create.  You can, with a pen stroke, put tens of thousands of troops on a field.  You can lay waste to cities with fire.  You can have naval battles with ships splintering and smashing into each other.  A Song of Ice and Fire has action in spades and all of it has weight.  Every time you see it, there's something behind it, so it at no point has a feeling of "fluff" to it.

Drama: The interactions in the story drive everything.  The story is massive and far reaching.  Each plot line has significance and the play between characters has very real gravitas, while at the same time having a startling level of wit and comedy.  There are times where I find myself laughing when reading the books and it's often in the midst of what would otherwise be some very heavy material and that's what makes it great.  The drama draws you in; you get invested and once you do, it grabs you by the lapels and doesn't let go.

Sex: The books are filled with it.  What's interesting, though, is that it is not often, if ever, for the mere point of titillation.  The books, at their very core, are about the pursuit of power, in all of it's forms including what it is, how one gets it, and what one does with it once they have it.  The sex in the novels tends to generally have something tied to it in terms of gain for the characters involved; it is often a way of making a deal or achieving an end.  What is oddly refreshing too is that it is treated with frankness at most instances instead of through a fog of steamy bad-TV romance.  Like everything else in the books, it's got weight.

Huge Set Pieces: This is what puts A Song of Ice and Fire on the map.  This is what made HBO decide to invest close to $100 MILLION on each season of Game of Thrones.  These are the moments that grab you, hit you like a Mack truck, send you reeling, and pull you back in and ask if you're ready for another one.  Sometimes they're literally huge moments like battles, other times they're plot twists and crazy things.  These are the things that get you to make a blog to talk about these amazing books.

Layered Plots: The plot lines in the books are some of the most interesting I've ever seen.  In an interview years back, George R. R. Martin mentioned how he was telling the story and I don't think I've ever read a story that did quite the same thing; and that's this: He's telling two stories at once.  As you read, you're going forward in time.  You're seeing things happen in a chronologically normal way BUT, as you're doing so, you hear characters talk and you hear these small nuggets of story that are relayed by the characters all through the series.  This causes the story to be told in two directions, forward and backward.  This leads to many theories about what things happened to cause current events to take place, questions about how we perceive what we're reading.  Having re-read the first 3 books about 5 times and making my way though a collective re-read of books 4 and 5, I can certainly say that I find new things each time I read.  It shows tremendous planning, thought and imagination on the part of the author and creates a story worthy of constant discussion even 15+ years after the publishing of the first volume in the series.

"Real" Magic: Lets face it.  Magic, in TV shows, movies, heck, even other books can many times be treated laughably.  It can come off as hokey, disingenuous, ridiculous and just not plausible, even within the fiction built by the story surrounding them.  A Song of Ice and Fire is written in such a way where things feel grounded.  The world seems palpable and rich and very real.  This, in turn, makes magic, when it does rear its head, also very real and very serious.  When magic happens or is "on screen," you pay attention and it's the kind of thing that changes the game.  It's magic that gives you those "Oh snap..." moments; and every once in a while, a straight up "OH SNAP!" moment.

Character Development: This is the crown jewel, in my opinion, of the whole series.  The characters are incredible, all.  There is the sense of reality to them where you feel, generally, like they're real people, dealing with real problems and they are relate-able on a very deep, human level.  You also see character change.  I was going to say character "growth" but, as in real life, not all characters get "better" or move towards the light side of the force.  Some go dark.  Some take roads perhaps best left alone.  Each step of the way, you pay attention to these characters and you care about them and what they go through.  There's an incredible sense of attachment you feel and much of the impact the series has stems from this wonderful wonderful thing.

Finally, it comes down to this.  Yes, they are books.  Yes, they require imagination.  Yes, they are long.  They are also masterpieces.  They paint pictures in your mind with a brush that can conjure wonders.  Even if you're not a "reader," it is worth it to make an exception to your rule and enjoy a story that is captivating millions as we speak.  I think even Kanye might like these. :)

Jamie Lannister and Changing Perspectives

SPOILER ALERT: This post discusses plot points dealing with the series across all 5 books and will most likely contain at least a few major spoilers.  If you have not read the books, read 'em and come back.  You've been warned.

Through the books, we come to understand characters.  Through their perspectives we come to know their thoughts, both about the things around them and about other characters, some who have their own POV chapters and some who we only come to know through the perspective of POV character(s).

One wonderful thing about putting us behind the eyes of a character is that there is very little time needed to become acclimated to their feelings and it is almost immediately engaging.  That helps us feel strongly about many things and makes things all the more interesting.  One of the times at which this is most interesting is when it is used to create in us a feeling, expectation or understanding that is later completely changed.  One of the greatest examples of this is the character of Ser Jamie Lannister.

Jamie Lannister begins, in our eyes, as a villain and the most reprehensible kind of person imaginable.  We find, very shortly into the very first book that he is having an incestuous relationship with the Queen herself.  Immediately after we learn this shocking fact (through the eyes of a child, no less) we also learn that he is willing to throw a child from a tower window to his death; with the express intention that it be to his death.  On top of this, comes the memorable quote "The Things I Do For Love."

We see this and the ensuing fallout from this situation through the reactions of everyone around; wondering what happened, hoping Bran will be alright (or hoping he won't), sadness, frustration, sometimes even desire for some form of aggressive retaliation, somehow.  At this point we are being well and truly conditioned to hate Jamie Lannister.

Fast forward through the story and through certain events and through time, this, somehow, changes.  We see him captured at The Battle of the Whispering Wood, where Robb defeats his host in the dead of night and takes the Kingslayer prisoner.  We lose sight of him all throughout A Clash of Kings, where he's held prisoner (Save for the instance when the four men Tyrion planted attempt to smuggle Jamie out, killing several guards, but achieving nothing more than getting Jamie thrown into a worse cell in Riverrun and getting his would-be liberators hung off the walls of Riverrun).  The last we see of him is in a rather frank discussion with Catelyn, Brienne standing by, about his attempted killing of her son and a look into the depths of a man we hate.

Then a funny thing happens.  We start reading A Storm of Swords (book 3).  We read the prologue.  Then, we turn to the beginning of the first POV chapter and it is from Jamie's perspective.  I remember, personally, that this surprised me.  I certainly wasn't expecting it and for the first while that I was reading it, I wasn't really sure how to feel.  I was in his head now.  I was seeing his thoughts.  I was interested and I didn't know how I felt about that.

Through Storm, we learn more about him.  We hear the back story of the Sack of Kings Landing and when he earned the name "Kingslayer."  We hear, for the first time, how the act that he is most vilified for is actually the most honorable, the most human and, arguably, the best thing he's ever done.  Aerys II Targaryen, "The Mad King" was going to burn everything and thanks to Jamie, that doesn't happen.

We travel with Jamie, Brienne and Cleos Frey on their journey back to Kings Landing, hoping to exchange Jamie for Sansa and Arya.  On the way, Jamie develops a relationship with Brienne.  At first it was insulting with the tiniest grudging respect but with time, the insults fell off and the grudging respect became not so grudging (and that was true for her as well).  

Then, the big even happens.  On the road they meet Vargo Hoat and The Brave Companions and Jamie loses his hand.  It is at this moment where we can see a palpable shift in his personality.  He was always incredibly self assured.  He was certain in who he was because of his powerful family, his good looks and his more-or-less unrivaled skill with a sword; that last one being the biggest.  His identity was tied to that hand and it was gone and it lead him to question everything.

From then on, we see him go through struggle after struggle, leading to his changing feelings about Cersei, his choosing to defy his father and establish himself as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and to make decisions to be a different and, arguably, better person.

After all of this we realize that we like Jamie.  We might not agree with all the decisions he's made in his life.  We may not think that he's a paragon of any kind, but we transition from viewing him in the light of an evil, child murdering bastard into a man with a soul; a soul that has been under the weight of many pressures his entire life from family and his king and his position.  We see a man that we learn not to hate and learn to understand and feel for.  We see him change from a brash young man who doesn't think, acts rashly and pridefully into a man who has humility, who acknowledges those above him or better than him and respects them for it.  We see a man who looks at the qualities of his younger brother and finally sees the value in those qualities and visibly incorporates those into himself.  We find that we don't hate him as much as we once did.

This is one of the things that makes A Song of Ice and Fire so good.  This is why GRRM has the following he does.  The ability to do this, believably, allowing us to feel how we will about things and have it come about naturally instead of telling us outright "you like this guy" and "you hate this guy," is remarkable.  I wasn't told to hate Jamie.  I wasn't told to like Jamie.  I just did, as the story progressed.  It shows a mastery over storytelling and a mastery over some of the inner workings of the human heart and that is why this story is the best.

What do you think?  Do you think Jamie is redeemed at this point in the story?  Do you think he ever can be?  Are there any other characters you think went on a journey like this?  Be sure to hit up the comments and share your thoughts!

Jon Snow's mommy and daddy issues

One of the largest (or at least best known) questions with theories attached to it in A Song of Ice and Fire is the question of the parentage of Jon Snow and that is what we will be discussing in this Note of Ice and Fire.

SPOILER WARNING: As a fair warning, much as I love to encourage reading of the posts, theories tend to be rife with spoilery content.  Should you choose to read, know that you will be venturing into that dark territory and once you've entered, when you come out, you will not be the same....

When we begin reading A Game of Thrones (book 1), we meet Jon Snow, the Bastard son of Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark of Winterfell.  We learn that he is Ned's son, but not Catelyn's, and thus, very early on, we're presented with this simple mystery.  How strange is it that Ned, a character of such moral repute and high standards, such lofty character, would have a bastard son; and *after* he wed Catelyn on top of that?  This becomes a question that stretches over many books and to this day remains unanswered, though many believe that the answer may actually be there (or might as well be) if you look hard enough.

A few names come up when looking into these theories: Ashara Dayne (sister to Ser Arthur Dayne, The Sword of the Morning), Wylla, The Fisherman's Daughter and Ned's sister, Lyanna Stark [these names are available at awoiaf.westeros.org].

The Ashara Dayne theory rises from the remembrance that Ned was in love with Ashara Dayne.  According to the books (and A Wiki of Ice and Fire) they were all at the Tourney of Harrenhal together.  During the tournament, she is reported as having slept with one of the Starks during the tournament, getting her pregnant.  Later she killed herself by jumping from the Tower of Starfall, some say out of grief; others say more specifically over grief related to Ned.  There are a few characters who believe this is true but when Catelyn brings up Ashara's name to Ned he refuses to even discuss it.

Wylla was a name I'd heard mentioned, both in the books and the show but honestly it was one of the names that had slipped by me.  According to AWOIAF, she was the wet nurse at Starfall.  We remember Robert Baratheon trying to remember the name of "...your bastard's mother." Ned says her name was Wylla, but speaks no more about it.  When Cat first met the baby Jon Snow when Ned came back from the war, he had a wet nurse with them.  This, it's thought, is most likely Wylla.  Ned would have gone back to bring Ashara Ser Arthur's sword Dawn (which is a family sword).  As we found earlier, during Robert's Rebellion, Ned, Howland Reed (Jojen and Meera's Father) and some others faced off against some of the Kingsguard who were not in King's Landing; Ser Arthur Dayne among them.  Having slain Ser Arthur Dayne, he would have given the sword back to Ashara.  This would have told her that her brother was dead and pushed her to a point of grief, causing her leap.  The baby would have been brought back with them, along with the wet nurse, Wylla, for the baby's sake.

There is a Fisherman's daughter that is mentioned having seen Ned across The Bite into The North and there is a rumor that Ned her pregnant.  Knowing Ned, this seems unlikely.

The final one is the biggest and most widely accepted theory by readers and that is the idea that Lyanna Stark is Jon Snow's mother.  This would make sense for a few reasons.  First, it would make the inconsistency in Ned's character (how would someone so honorable go and have a bastard son?) finally make sense.  If the child is his sister's, him wishing to protect her and her blood, being so honorable he would, ironically, sacrifice his own honor to do the right thing.

Along with this comes a few other issues, including not only who Jon Snow's mother is, but who his father is.  It is thought that his father is none other than Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.  Early during the rebellion, it is believed that the Prince and Lyanna disappeared to the Tower of Joy (named such by Rhaegar, down within the region of Dorne). Rhaegar left the Tower, a pregnant Lyanna waiting there for him, to lead his father's armies in the rebellion, eventually to be killed by Robert on the Trident.  It was at this location where Ned, Howland Reed found Lyanna, as well as three of the Kingsguard (Gerold Hightower, their Lord Commander, as well as Oswell Whent and Arthur Dayne).  According to AWOIAF, the reasons for their presence and the fight between the two groups is unknown but if Prince Rhaegar's son was in there, it would make sense that the Kingsguard would be there, protecting the baby.  The circumstances under which a lot of this happened are still a mystery.  We also know that Ned recalls her saying "Promise me, Ned..." in a "bed of blood" and passing away.  The specifics of this meeting is also covered with story fog, but one can guess what that promise could have been.

There are other pieces of evidence for this as well but not wanting to simply parrot the wiki and information that's been heard from other sources, I will let the you do some research into the specifics and come to your own conclusions.  It does feel as if the evidence is tilted strongly in one direction and, for the plot, it does hold a lot of weight.  I believe it may be one of the large mysteries over the books that may possibly be close, if not completely, solved.

Please feel free to talk in the comments; post any thoughts and discuss what *you* think about where Jon Snow might come from and what that just might mean for the rest of the story!

Also, a big thank you to A Wiki of Ice and Fire; it's a fantastic resource and a place to go to find all kinds of great information.  These are huge books and remembering all the details is next to impossible.  The link for the page on Jon Snow's Parentage is: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Jon_Snow/Theories

Introduction

Greetings to all who visit here and welcome to Notes of Ice and Fire.  This is a blog dedicated first and foremost to George R. R. Martin's acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire, and also, at times, to HBO's Game of Thrones.  In the posts to come, I will discuss myriad topics from the books, from in depth character examinations to theory discussion or even chapter recaps, if that is something that seems desired.

A note about SPOILERS: I am writing this from the perspective of someone who has read the books multiple times over and, perhaps unfortunately, cannot write truly as one of the Unsullied, though I can try.  Please feel free to read but understand you may tread upon spoilers.  I will do my level best to note in each post if there are spoilers, but know that you read at your own risk.  I will also say that Martin does an exquisite job of using our expectations and preconceived notions about how things should go in a story and flipping them on their ears, which makes spoilers all the more painful, because it inhibits your ability to get swept away as much as you would have otherwise.

All that having been said, I want to say thank you for visiting and here's to the exploration of an adventure many of us have been enjoying and some have yet to experience and to the joy of reveling in the story that has twisted our hearts and stomachs in knots and kept us on the edge of our seats and will continue to do so until the cold winds rise and winter does, indeed, come at last.