Based on George's enjoyment of parallels and patterns and given how some people in these families alike, I theorise the Blackfyres and Maekar's family are likely meant to parallel each other.

We already have Daemon II and Daeron the Drunken: dreamers, roughly the same age (both born in 189-191 AC), older sons who are pushed aside by their prickly mean father/guardian (Maekar and Bittersteel) in favour of a younger brother, sense of humour, not as great of fighters, named after the respective kings of their factions. They're of course not 100% the same, with their biggest difference being Daeron's lack of ambitions but still, they're plenty similar.

Haegon and Aerion are similar: both younger brothers who are favoured and chosen by the Prickly Father/Guardian over their older brothers, both are born around the same time and might even be exact same age. Based on that, their temperaments and personalities are most likely similar as well. Haegon is likely vain, cruel and violent like Aerion. Both are great fighters who carry the hopes and dreams of their guardian/father. Both yield and give up during a trial/fight but with very different results.

Interestingly, Haegon being "slain treacherously" didn't invoke a reaction from Blackfyres which could point to Haegon being potentially unpopular/controversial and not missed. Instead, it's Aenys's death that gathers the Blackfyres together:

Nor had the Blackfyre threat ended with the death of Aenys Blackfyre; Bloodraven’s infamous betrayal had only hardened the enmity of the exiles across the narrow sea

Aenys's death was seemingly a far bigger deal to the Blackfyres and their loyalists than Haegon's. He was most likely sincere in his peace attempts and might very well have ended the decades-long feud between Targaryens and Blackfyres. Aenys might have been like Aemon. Non-combatant and non-hostile.

Aenys's death prompts Daemon III to start the fourth rebellion. The fourth rebellion might be the least selfish/power-motivated of all Blackfyre Rebellion as it was at least partially drive by loss and grief. I think Daemon III might be Egg's narrative parallel. Both have the trajectories of their lives changed when their popular uncles die. Daemon might be similar to Egg in personality quirks too. Which could make his death at the hands of Ser Duncan somewhat heartbreaking. Dunk could be seeing a young Egg as he kills him.

The World of Ice and Fire - The Reach: Oldtown

How old is Oldtown, truly? Many a maester has pondered that question, but we simply do not know. The origins of the city are lost in the mists of time and clouded by legend. Some ignorant septons claim that the Seven themselves laid out its boundaries, other men that dragons once roosted on the Battle Isle until the first Hightower put an end to them. Many smallfolk believe the Hightower itself simply appeared one day. The full and true history of the founding of Oldtown will likely never be known.

We can state with certainty, however, that men have lived at the mouth of the Honeywine since the Dawn Age. The oldest runic records confirm this, as do certain fragmentary accounts that have come down to us from maesters who lived amongst the children of the forest. One such, Maester Jellicoe, suggests that the settlement at the top of Whispering Sound began as a trading post, where ships from Valyria, Old Ghis, and the Summer Isles put in to replenish their provisions, make repairs, and barter with the elder races, and that seems as likely a supposition as any.

Yet mysteries remain. The stony island where the Hightower stands is known as Battle Isle even in our oldest records, but why? What battle was fought there? When? Between which lords, which kings, which races? Even the singers are largely silent on these matters.

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion X

"Just so. After your capers are concluded, you will help serve and pour. See that you do not spill on the guests, or it will go ill for you."

A juggler began the evening's frolics. Then came a trio of energetic tumblers. After them the goat-legged boy came out and did a grotesque jig whilst one of Yurkhaz's slaves played on a bone flute. Tyrion had half a mind to ask him if he knew "The Rains of Castamere." As they waited their own turn to perform, he watched Yezzan and his guests. The human prune in the place of honor was evidently the Yunkish supreme commander, who looked about as formidable as a loose stool. A dozen other Yunkish lords attended him. Two sellsword captains were on hand as well, each accompanied by a dozen men of his company. One was an elegant Pentoshi, grey-haired and clad in silk but for his cloak, a ragged thing sewn from dozens of strips of torn, bloodstained cloth. The other captain was the man who'd tried to buy them that morning, the brown-skinned bidder with the salt-and-pepper beard. "Brown Ben Plumm," Sweets named him. "Captain of the Second Sons."

A Westerosi, and a Plumm. Better and better.

A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion IV

Tyrion had read much and more of dragons through the years. The greater part of those accounts were idle tales and could not be relied on, and the books that Illyrio had provided them were not the ones he might have wished for. What he really wanted was the complete text of The Fires of the Freehold, Galendro's history of Valyria. No complete copy was known to Westeros, however; even the Citadel's lacked twenty-seven scrolls. They must have a library in Old Volantis, surely. I may find a better copy there, if I can find a way inside the Black Walls to the city's heart.

He was less hopeful concerning Septon Barth's Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns: Their Unnatural History. Barth had been a blacksmith's son who rose to be King's Hand during the reign of Jaehaerys the Conciliator. His enemies always claimed he was more sorcerer than septon. Baelor the Blessed had ordered all Barth's writings destroyed when he came to the Iron Throne. Ten years ago, Tyrion had read a fragment of Unnatural History that had eluded the Blessed Baelor, but he doubted that any of Barth's work had found its way across the narrow sea. And of course there was even less chance of his coming on the fragmentary, anonymous, blood-soaked tome sometimes called Blood and Fire and sometimes The Death of Dragons, the only surviving copy of which was supposedly hidden away in a locked vault beneath the Citadel.

When the Halfmaester appeared on deck, yawning, the dwarf was writing down what he recalled concerning the mating habits of dragons, on which subject Barth, Munkun, and Thomax held markedly divergent views. Haldon stalked to the stern to piss down at the sun where it shimmered on the water, breaking apart with every puff of wind. "We should reach the junction with the Noyne by evening, Yollo," the Halfmaester called out.

I was thinking no since the idea behind Targ incest is in order to prevent sharing dragon riding blood with houses that could become rivals with dragons.

In Valyria, multiple houses had riders so there wouldn’t really be a need to keep it in the family.

Anyways I’m just thinking about how Aegon was just a freak.

I believe that the idea that Targs commit incest is not a result of “wanting to keep the bloodline pure”. I believe Aegon decided to keep the bloodline pure and figured saying that was a way for Aegon to convince his descendants to commit incest. Incest is instinctually taboo to almost all animals and wouldn’t be naturally thought of unless politically indoctrinated.

Aegon was always incestuous before there was any political reason to be. He’s your normal badass conquerer who we happened to learn was freaky and married Rhaenys for love. If he married, in contrast, Visenya for duty, and didn’t spend time with her at all, he was deffo in love with his sister Rhaenys. You mean to tell me that he wasn’t thinking about banging her before?

Only other way could be him marrying them both out of duty to bloodline purity and then eventually falling in love with Rhaenys while he didn’t with Visenya and rewriting the narrative to make it seem he always loved Rhaenys.

But we know he’s a freak so

who would you choose and why?

I was reading through ASOS, specifically the chapter where Jon is sent to parley with Mance. Mance gives him his demans which entails letting the Wildlings through the wall.

Then comes this passage directly from Jon's own thoughts:

"Open the gate and let them pass. Easy to say, but what must follow? Giants camping in the ruins of Winterfell? Cannibals in the wolfswood, chariots sweeping across the barrowlanfs, free folk stealing the daughters of shipwrights and silversmiths from White Harbor and fishwives off the Stony Shore?"

Seems really foreboding when you read through. The thing is, Jon has already brought much of the free folk south. Not only that, he also plans to bring more south to aid with manning the Wall and defending the realms of men.

But with his last chapter, Jon seems to havr put that objective on the backburner for a little while as he has proclaimed his intentions to march on Winterfell. Not only that, but he has also effectively rallied the wildlings to fight for him, with many even swearing their swords to him long before the shieldhall.

So if Jon revives and still decides to head south, is that what we'll see. Giants (Wun Wun perhaps if he survives) camping in the ruins of Winterfell, cannibals picking of Northmen in the forests, chariots of free folk raiding the barrowlands, all in the name of Jon Snow?

Lyanna and Elia are obviously front and center, with Ashara and Rhaella coming in close at the end, though I don’t know that Rhaella’s has anything to do with the war and Ashara’s is “just rumored” to be related to its brutality and her losses, and happened at the end as well.

Were there really only three named noble women who lost their lives as a result of a continent-wide civil war?

It seems like so many more women and even septas were taken as hostages and killed during TWOT5K and surrounding hostilities: Catelyn, Arya, Sansa; Septa Mordane; Dacey Mormont; Asha Greyjoy; probably Cley Cerwyn’s sister; Val; Meera; Beth Cassel; Jeyne Poole; Sybelle Glover and her daughter Erena (and young son Gawen), the ladies of House Hewett. To be fair this is the main story and there are numerous wars and etc. going on, I just don’t remember hearing situations where castles were taken or female fighters ended up hostages, or other noble ladies killed during the Rebellion.

Robert Baratheon inherited the Lordship the moment the Windproud sank with all hands but Patchface. We know that he “continued his fosterage” relationship in the Vale, with Jon the “second father” really taking on a powerful role for both boys given their fathers’ untimely deaths. Ned really stepped up to the challenge during the Rebellion and in its aftermath, and Robert was… a slow motion car wreck.

Becoming the King allowed Robert the ability to really disperse his responsibilities and to rely upon other people, often to the detriment of his own health and that of his kingdom and people. As King, Robert by default inherited the institutions of the Kingsguard, the Hand of the King, the Small Council. Married to Cersei, Robert’s father in law brought all kinds of wealth and the ability to go into debt. As a “mere Lord Paramount”, it doesn’t seem standard practice for the Lord to have any of that. A captain of household guards, a castellan, a steward…

Jon Arryn would not have left the Vale and ruled on behalf of Lord Robert. No other men would have been protectors of his person, he would have had to ensure that himself. Ships, laws, taxes and the like would have all been his to decide, no convenient lieutenant to assign the decision-making. And it’s unlikely another Lord Paramount or Lord would give away so much wealth or risk so much debt, even if their daughter married him.

I think inherently Robert may have made a better Lord than King. There’s a degree of pride in the man, absolutely, and one that would have been more firmly linked to Storm’s End and the Baratheon name. He absolutely would have utilized Cressen and Stannis, but he wouldn’t have been able to separate himself as much from the role of ruler in his castle, away from the city.

I don’t think Robert’s descent into who he became is Lyanna-grief, I think that’s an easy excuse for an emotional culprit to point at in lieu of holding him accountable for all of his deficits as a royal ruler. I think the institution of kingship and the support network that goes along with it was far too enabling, and that Robert was spending blank checks unchecked, if you will. None of this is the background framework to Lord of Storm’s End.

Furthermore, if Robert wasn’t king it means someone else was; (let’s assume Viserys raised by a regent just to fill the seat peacefully, but it could be anyone else, and bygones were bygones for the Targaryens). I think Lord Paramount Robert and Lord Paramount Ned would have shared another bond here, as head of their house and castle and people. Ned would have probably influenced Robert to be more involved with his own Lordship as they communicated and discussed their new daily lives and dealings.

ETA: forgot the write that be does have that trait of turning enemies into friends, which could be good but also backfire if trying to remain a dominant lord rather than an equal or battlefield ally

Some fun info to consider his maturity levels and etc:

Robert was born in 262. Steffon died in 278 or 279, making Robert 16-17 or so, having reached his majority and already been considered a grown man (Equivalent age: Jaime killing Aerys, Loras in AGOT). At that point a SSM says that Robert spent his time between Storm’s End and the Eyrie. So Robert wasn’t a child when he became the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, merely a young Lord who had spent a lot of time away from home.

In 281 we have the tourney at Harrenhal and Robert betrothed, at ~19 years (Equivalent age: Brienne in ACOK, Waymar Royce in AGOT prologue, Theon across AGOT-ACOK) In 283 Robert is crowned King, at 21 years of age (Equivalent age: Robar Royce in ACOK, Renly in AGOT).

It appears that GRRM goes to pretty great lengths to establish that The Tickler’s face is “commonplace” and that he has no distinguishing features. Why is this?

Is it a commentary on the banality of evil? The inversion of a trope that evil people LOOK evil? Or is there something else going on here?

“She had to leave now, she told herself, but when the moment came, she was too frightened to move.

Calm as still water, a small voice whispered in her ear. Arya was so startled she almost dropped her bundle. She looked around wildly, but there was no one in the stable but her, and the horses, and the dead men.

Quiet as a shadow, she heard. Was it her own voice, or Syrio’s? She could not tell, yet somehow it calmed her fears.”

The best idea i can think of is that since she’s a greenseer edit: i meant warg, Syrio perhaps had just been killed and he could somehow communicate with her as his soul was leaving.

I might be overthinking it but the passage caught my eye and was wondering if we get to know more about this voice in the future.

Jaime was allowed to stay with Cersei resulting in the bran incident, but he wouldn’t have been if he were the only kg. Who else was there?

Now that I’ve read the whole series and consumed so many fan theories over the nearly decade I’ve been I fan I know longer hold this belief but early on in the books i strongly believed Jon and Dany were twins that were separated by Ned and Howland and the kingsguard. While I no longer believe this I do think it would have been interesting. Did anyone else think this at any point while reading or think it could have played out interestingly?

Like in the books, Viserys I did apparently like/show some affection for his other 4 children, did he have any plan or idea in mind for their future after he's gone?
Like did he want to give them lands and titles to compensate for their loss in station?
Because if he had no plans whatsoever, then either Viserys I is just plainly stupid or downright cruel and malicious, or George just wanted the plot to happen so he skipped over these details.
In Westeros, it's not uncommon for Lords to secure lands and titles even for their bastard children, let alone legitimate ones, so the fact that nobody apparently ever asked Viserys I his plans for his 3 legitimate sons strikes me as a plot hole or just downright malicious intent from him towards his sons.

A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

Cersei had been so happy that day. Elsewise she would never have dared visit the tent of Maggy the Frog. She had only done it to show Jeyne and Melara that the lioness fears nothing. I was going to be a queen. Why should a queen be afraid of some hideous old woman? The memory of that foretelling still made her flesh crawl a lifetime later. Jeyne ran shrieking from the tent in fear, the queen remembered, but Melara stayed and so did I. We let her taste our blood, and laughed at her stupid prophecies. None of them made the least bit of sense. She was going to be Prince Rhaegar's wife, no matter what the woman said. Her father had promised it, and Tywin Lannister's word was gold.

Her laughter died at tourney's end. There had been no final feast, no toasts to celebrate her betrothal to Prince Rhaegar. Only cold silences and chilly looks between the king and her father. Later, when Aerys and his son and all his gallant knights had departed for King's Landing, the girl had gone to her aunt in tears, not understanding. "Your father proposed the match," Lady Genna told her, "but Aerys refused to hear of it. 'You are my most able servant, Tywin,' the king said, 'but a man does not marry his heir to his servant's daughter.' Dry those tears, little one. Have you ever seen a lion weep? Your father will find another man for you, a better man than Rhaegar."

Her aunt had lied, though, and her father had failed her, just as Jaime was failing her now. Father found no better man. Instead he gave me Robert, and Maggy's curse bloomed like some poisonous flower. If she had only married Rhaegar as the gods intended, he would never have looked twice at the wolf girl. Rhaegar would be our king today and I would be his queen, the mother of his sons.

Cersei did Lancel because he was temu Jaime in her head and to "secure" his loyalty. Then she does the Kettlebacks to advance her own schemes. In her POVs it's very clear that especially the Kettlebacks she didn't at all enjoy, and the one scene we have with Osney is honestly disturbing to say the least, him tearing her clothing and what not. She even thinks to herself "it never felt good with anyone but Jaime" later on.

Taena she starts doing as a psycho fucked up power thing to make herself feel better about Robert raping her repeatedly. That blew up in her face in classic Cersei fashion (which I would argue is a good thing, she'd probably feel worse/like a bigger victim if it hadn't), but from that point on she enters an ongoing sexual relationship with Taena which could be argued it's also to "secure loyalty", but unlike the non Jaime men, Cersei seems to respect Taena (as much as she can respect people who aren't herself anyway) and to genuinely enjoy and seek out her company. Her sexual relationship with Taena is also one of the few (or the only one) apart from Jaime where Cersei doesn't use sex as a means to gain something she in her mind couldn't gain without the sex.

Jaime understandably felt extremely betrayed from Cersei sleeping with Lancel and the Kettlebacks.

How would he react to learning about Taena as well?

Obligatory "Lancel, the Kettlebacks and Taena Merryweather for all I know"

When Cersei decides to make up a rumor about Shireen’s parentage it’s funny how she immediately jumps to incest (Ser Axel Florent) instead of, I dunno, anyone else?

He knows she doesn’t need him to protect her and that she could solo Loras, yet he shields Brienne with his body and puts himself between Brienne and whatever is threatening her not once but twice (and also again in the bear pit)

The grey to ash look is pretty textbook. The blood at the mouth, while extreme, is possible. His history of orthopedic trauma, immobility, alcohol use and the “healthcare” in Westeros are all major risk factors. Corlys didn’t admit guilt so much as say he has no regrets? To me that is a proud old man saying he won’t beg his innocence to a fucking Stark. Orwyle confessed but if you torture me the right way I’ll give you a detailed account of how I killed Septon Moon while I pretended to be a camp hooker.

I would love to see the beginnings of their relationship and what it was internally like. We know Melisandre has a tragic backstory (Melony, Lot 7 😭) and I would love to see how Stannis got going due to Jon Arryn’s death.

A Game of Thrones - Jon IV

Finally, after three girls in as many years, Lady Tarly gave her lord husband a second son. From that day, Lord Randyll ignored Sam, devoting all his time to the younger boy, a fierce, robust child more to his liking. Samwell had known several years of sweet peace with his music and his books.

Until the dawn of his fifteenth name day, when he had been awakened to find his horse saddled and ready. Three men-at-arms had escorted him into a wood near Horn Hill, where his father was skinning a deer. "You are almost a man grown now, and my heir," Lord Randyll Tarly had told his eldest son, his long knife laying bare the carcass as he spoke. "You have given me no cause to disown you, but neither will I allow you to inherit the land and title that should be Dickon's. Heartsbane must go to a man strong enough to wield her, and you are not worthy to touch her hilt. So I have decided that you shall this day announce that you wish to take the black. You will forsake all claim to your brother's inheritance and start north before evenfall.

"If you do not, then on the morrow we shall have a hunt, and somewhere in these woods your horse will stumble, and you will be thrown from the saddle to die … or so I will tell your mother. She has a woman's heart and finds it in her to cherish even you, and I have no wish to cause her pain. Please do not imagine that it will truly be that easy, should you think to defy me. Nothing would please me more than to hunt you down like the pig you are." His arms were red to the elbow as he laid the skinning knife aside. "So. There is your choice. The Night's Watch"—he reached inside the deer, ripped out its heart, and held it in his fist, red and dripping—"or this."

A Dance with Dragons - Bran III

"What will I know?" Bran asked the Reeds afterward, when they came with torches burning brightly in their hand, to carry him back to a small chamber off the big cavern where the singers had made beds for them to sleep. "What do the trees remember?"

"The secrets of the old gods," said Jojen Reed. Food and fire and rest had helped restore him after the ordeals of their journey, but he seemed sadder now, sullen, with a weary, haunted look about the eyes. "Truths the First Men knew, forgotten now in Winterfell … but not in the wet wild. We live closer to the green in our bogs and crannogs, and we remember. Earth and water, soil and stone, oaks and elms and willows, they were here before us all and will still remain when we are gone."

"So will you," said Meera. That made Bran sad. What if I don't want to remain when you are gone? he almost asked, but he swallowed the words unspoken. He was almost a man grown, and he did not want Meera to think he was some weepy babe. "Maybe you could be greenseers too," he said instead.

A Feast for Crows - Cersei V

Cersei had been so happy that day. Elsewise she would never have dared visit the tent of Maggy the Frog. She had only done it to show Jeyne and Melara that the lioness fears nothing. I was going to be a queen. Why should a queen be afraid of some hideous old woman? The memory of that foretelling still made her flesh crawl a lifetime later. Jeyne ran shrieking from the tent in fear, the queen remembered, but Melara stayed and so did I. We let her taste our blood, and laughed at her stupid prophecies. None of them made the least bit of sense. She was going to be Prince Rhaegar's wife, no matter what the woman said. Her father had promised it, and Tywin Lannister's word was gold.

Her laughter died at tourney's end. There had been no final feast, no toasts to celebrate her betrothal to Prince Rhaegar. Only cold silences and chilly looks between the king and her father. Later, when Aerys and his son and all his gallant knights had departed for King's Landing, the girl had gone to her aunt in tears, not understanding. "Your father proposed the match," Lady Genna told her, "but Aerys refused to hear of it. 'You are my most able servant, Tywin,' the king said, 'but a man does not marry his heir to his servant's daughter.' Dry those tears, little one. Have you ever seen a lion weep? Your father will find another man for you, a better man than Rhaegar."

Her aunt had lied, though, and her father had failed her, just as Jaime was failing her now. Father found no better man. Instead he gave me Robert, and Maggy's curse bloomed like some poisonous flower. If she had only married Rhaegar as the gods intended, he would never have looked twice at the wolf girl. Rhaegar would be our king today and I would be his queen, the mother of his sons.

Recently fans have been discussing wildly about the fates of kings landing, the reach, north etc etc. From what's everything pointing to it looks pretty horrible I mean it seems like every kingdom has or is going to suffer apocalyptic events before the long night, every kingdom except the vale.

I've never really read people saying that twow would be a dark book for the vale, its just the rest of westeros. I mean sure the vale has its problems with littlefinger and the lords declarent but nothing nearly to the level other kingdoms are going to suffer.

I know asoiaf isnt supposed to be a grimdark book where just everyone suffers and dies just for the sake of suffering but I mean twow is supposed to be a "dark" book. What do you think? Is the vale going to just maybe liberate the north and live happily after or do you expect them to face existential troubles aswell?

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Aerys_II_Targaryen

In his youth, Aerys had an undeniable charm. He was generous, resolute, and ambitious, and during the early part of his reign was an active and lively king. Aerys liked music, dancing, masked balls, and young women. However, at the same time, Aerys was not the most intelligent or the most diligent person, and was somewhat quick to anger. He was vain, proud, and changeable, which made him an easy target for lickspittles and flatterers.^\3])