It must have been because I spent so long reading that book that I wasn't able to keep track of things. I'm probably the least observant reader ever! And names really kill me.
Arstan=Barristan was definitely not completely obvious.
And Alec, I completely agree. ADWD especially suffers because of editing/pacing problems. I still think the books get a much worse rap than they deserve, though.
Wait wasn't it completely obvious? I'm not the most observant reader but when "Arstan" showed up I was like oh that's what happened to Barristan Selmy.
Maybe it's just because I read the first two books pretty slowly (especially the first), but I completely didn't catch onto that. I also forgot he sat in on council meetings being the Lord Commander, so I didn't realize he would even know about Daenerys to begin with. (Yeah, I know he objected to her assassination with Ned, but I completely forgot about even that by that point.)
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"One toot on this whistle will take you to a far away land." -Toad, SMB3
I assumed Arstan was just a new character. In retrospect yeah the names are similar, but I think it's pretty easy to miss if you weren't expecting him to be someone important.
Sansa: The aforementioned suggestion that the Queen of Thorns was the killer came up. Marillion, the cowardly singer that accompanied Catelyn to the Eyrie in book 1, tries to have his way with "Alayne," but Lothor Brune comes to the rescue. Then it turns out that Lysa is still CRAZY (she even yells out "my precious" during sex for f***'s sake), and wants Sansa to marry her developmentally challenged cousin. She also is under the impression that Petyr is her true love and totally not doing this because he sees something in it for himself. Riiigghhhttt.
Jon: Jon and co destroy a turtle. Yay. Then he comes down to sleep only to be woken up and taken to our two favorite douchebag Black Brothers, Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt, who I am disappointed to see is in some position of authority. Janos "jowls" Slynt has the gall to suggest that Jon is a traitor (look in a mirror pal), and decides to hang him, despite the fact that there are ~30000 goddamn wildlings at the gates. SMART MOVE THERE. Prediction: Ghost will come back and kill Janos, and maybe wound Thorne or something. No way is Jon dying here, that would be way too lame.
Tyrion: Shae's a traitor too! I'm actually pretty surprised, I did buy her actually liking Tyrion, as I thought the point was him being so damaged that he could never believe someone would love him for who he was. But she was just after his money after all! After that Tyrion has another "confession" remarkably similar to his Eyrie confession, and chooses Prince Oberyn Martell as his champion.
"You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." Oberyn Martell starts off by informing The Mountain of who he is, and says he will have a confession before he kills Gregor. "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." The Dornishman cannot be touched, and soon Gregor starts to get angered by the constant accusations. "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." He also starts to slow, and before long The Red Viper has pinned him to the ground with multiple grave wounds, and comes in for the kill. "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children." Alas, they don't call him The Mountain for nothing... he informs Oberyn that he got the order wrong, and proceeds to smash him to oblivion. "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children.... and killed her brother too."
I have to say I was expecting Oberyn to win this one; he seemed like a character that would be around for a while. I have no idea how Tyrion's going to get out of this.
Dany: Meereen is captured. Yay. We finally hear that Dany's conquest is not all sugar and rainbows; a new monster is ruling Astapor and enslaving the old ruling class, and Yunkai is readying for revenge. Dany forgives Selmy, but is so angered by Jorah's refusal to beg for forgiveness (having the gall to try to explain his actions instead I guess), as well as the fact that he was talking to Varys as late as their visit to Qarth, that she exiles him. I'm sure Jorah will be back, but whether it'll be in a chapter or a book or two I can't say. Maybe he'll go to The Wall like his dad wanted.
-- No I'm not a damn furry. Looney Tunes are different. - Guiga
so angered by Jorah's refusal to beg for forgiveness (having the gall to try to explain his actions instead I guess),
It's not so much trying to explain his actions (Selmy did that too), but he refused to accept any responsibility for his actions. And that's how Jorah's always been, when you think about it. Everything was always someone else's fault for everything that has happened in his life, whether it be his wife for having rich tastes or Ned Stark for upholding the law as he was sworn to do. The mere fact that he stopped reporting to Varys should have been proof enough that what he was doing was, in some part, his fault and his decision, but he treats it as another thing that he had no other choice but to do.
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"One toot on this whistle will take you to a far away land." -Toad, SMB3
Hmm yeah I'm probably being a little unfair to Dany here; there are valid reasons to dismiss him. But it seems to me that the primary reason she wants him gone is the kiss.
-- No I'm not a damn furry. Looney Tunes are different. - Guiga
I didn't interpret it that way either. I think the big issue to Dany, even more than Jorah being stupid about is, was that he was stupid about it publicly. If one of a leader's vassals commits treason, and that vassal goes "yeah I paid my dues come on already" right in front of everyone, the leader can't forgive them without seeing weak, especially a new leader like Dany.
Jaime: great chapter. There is apparently some fake Arya Stark being used to earn Roose Bolton control of Winterfell, and Gregor is suffering from the effects of Oberyn's poisons. Stannis has sailed from Dragonstone, and Tywin fears he may be intending to forge a Dornish alliance. Jaime refuses to give up his spot in the Kingsguard to be with Cersei, and realizes Joffrey sent the assassin after Bran. But it was apparently Robert that inadvertently planted the idea in psychokid's head! Goddamnit Robert. Then he has Loras bring in Brienne, who Loras now sort-of-maybe believes about the shadow. He gives Brienne his Valyrian steel blade, and tells her to name it Oathkeeper; I was apparently right that the blade (as well as Joffrey's) were reforged from Ice. He then sends her off to find and safeguard Sansa Stark. But the best part was Jaime's internal dialogue; he knows that Joffrey deserved to die, and that if Sansa killed him as he suspects, that she was justified. Jaime is quickly climbing the rungs to be a top character; I could see him breaking into my current top 3 of Eddard, Tyrion and Arya soon.
-- No I'm not a damn furry. Looney Tunes are different. - Guiga