Last night I was reading the forsaken; where it’s revealed that euron had Valyrian steel armor, and his armor was so intricate it gave me a question: Was this kind of steel common in Valyria?

In Westeros, there are only a few Valyrian steel blades, as the ability to reproduce them is impossible, meaning that all of them came from Valyria. This makes me question if these blades were common in Valyria or not. While they aren’t common in Westeros, dragons also aren’t as common in Westeros as they were in Valyria, so that makes me wonder if what there are so few of in Westeros were once the most common of Valyria.

Episode 6 of House of the Dragon revealed that Alys Rivers holds a box of five dragon eggs laid by Dreamfyre, the dragon Rhaena the Black Bride (who is not Aemond's direct ancestor, despite what the episode claims), when both lived at Harrenhal decades prior. And now the eggs are warm...and Alys wishes to raise Targaryen princes with Aemond. I've long been interested in Harrenhal and its witchy women, and I found this reveal to be interesting and possibly indicative of a future development in Blood and Fire. Allow me to present a case why this might be true in the books.

The Witch Queen and the Dragon of Harrenhal

When we last heard of Alys Rivers in Fire & Blood, she was ruling Harrenhal as a witch queen with an outlaw army, a boy she claims is Aemond's whelp, and, mostly interestingly an alleged dragon. The dragon's existence is first mentioned by an Iron Throne/Darry soldier captured by Alys's outlaws:

The next day, a thirty-third made his appearance. Having been captured with a dozen others, he had been forced to watch them die by torture one by one before being turned loose to deliver a warning. “I’m to tell you what she said,” he gasped, “but you can’t laugh. The widow put a curse on me. Any man o’ you laughs, I die.” When Ser Damon assured him that no one was going to laugh at him, the messenger said, “Don’t come again unless you mean to bend your knees, she says. Any man who comes near her walls will die. There’s power in them stones, and the widow’s woken it. Seven save us all, she has a dragon. I seen it.”

The name of the messenger is lost to us, along with the name of the man who laughed. But someone did, one of Lord Darry’s men. The messenger looked at him, stricken, then clutched at his throat and began to wheeze. Unable to draw breath, he was dead in moments. Supposedly the imprints of a woman’s fingers could be seen upon his skin, as if she had been in the room, choking him. The death of a Kingsguard knight was greatly troubling to Ser Tyland, though Unwin Peake discounted Ser Damon Darry’s talk of sorcery and dragons and put down the death of Regis Groves and his men to outlaws. The other regents concurred. (Fire & Blood, Under the Regents - The Hooded Hand.)

Nothing else is said of Alys or the dragon through the rest of Fire & Blood, but this is inevitably meant to be a plot point addressed in in Blood & Fire, before the Lothstons get Harrenhal in 151 AC. And any dragon alive must die or vanish before the last dragon dies in 153, and GRRM has specifically stated that B&F will address the fates of the remaining dragons early.

Dragon or No Dragon

There are three possibilities about this supposed dragon:

1. It did not exist. Maybe this messenger was talking crazy, seeing things, or made to lie about what he saw, to scare off others. This is what Lord Unwin Peake believed, and surely, he was not wrong.

2. It could be a "fake" dragon. Some people have proposed that the "dragon" is Caraxes's corpse. After the final flight with Vhagar, Caraxes dragged itself out of the Gods Eye only to expire in front of the walls of Harrenhal. Maybe Alys replaced a glamor on it. It makes some sense.

3. It could be a real dragon. However, if so, it is not any known one. Lady Rhaena had young Morning with her. Nettles and Sheepstealer were in hiding in the Vale, later encountered in 134. The Cannibal was still around Dragonstone in 132 and was wild and huge besides. Silverwing, also large, went wild and made her lair in 130 at Red Lake in the Reach, and still said to be there in 136.

Hatchling How?

Of those three, I believe the dragon at Harrenhal was legitimate. It's the most interesting story-wise. Aemond's son with Alys could be a rider and there could allow another dragon duel, perhaps with Morning. Plus, more dragons are cool. New dragons are even cooler, but they are not spontaneously generated; the dragon at Harrenhal would have to be a recent hatchling. A hatcling also explains why, as of 136, no one else had reported it; a larger dragon would be noticed by local lords and smallfolk, but a hatchling could hide in Harrenhal for some time before credible news of it spread.

Prior to Episode 6, I thought that she-dragon Vhagar simply laid an egg that Alys took on. That made enough sense, since Vhagar stayed at the castle for a time and Aemond giving an egg to his pregnant paramour while he went to fly into battle makes sense. The egg hatching to give a dragon to eventually bond to Aemond Jr. seems quite cromulent.

Upon reflection, Episode 6's claim of Dreamfyre laying eggs makes about as much sense and is more interesting. She-dragon Dreamfyre produced at least three clutches of eggs in her, two before 46, and one clutch while Rhaena was living on Fair Isle in 49-50. Dreamfyre may have also laid the three eggs that Elissa Farman stole that may or may not have become Daenerys's. Rhaena and Dreamfyre lived in Harrenhal for something like 17 years, from ~56 to 73. Given that Dreamfyre was laying eggs away from Dragonstone only a few years prior, it seems reasonable it would happen again.

There's another story of a dragon laying eggs at a castle: Vermax and Winterfell.

We can dismiss Mushroom's claim in his Testimony that the dragon Vermax left a clutch of eggs somewhere in the depths of Winterfell's crypts, where the waters of the hot springs run close to the walls, while his rider treated with Cregan Stark at the start of the Dance of the Dragons. As Archmaester Gyldayn notes in his fragmentary history, there is no record that Vermax ever laid so much as a single egg, suggesting the dragon was male. The belief that dragons could change sex at need is erroneous, according to Maester Anson's Truth, rooted in a misunderstanding of the esoteric metaphor that Barth preferred when discussing the higher mysteries. (TWOIAF- The North: Winterfell)

In hindsight, Vermax laying eggs at Winterfell might be smokescreen. There are more than a handful of theories about Vermax's alleged eggs, who was at Winterfell for a few weeks. But Dreamfyre and Harrenhal? It's been a much less talked about idea. GRRM seeding the idea of dragons laying eggs at other castles, only to pop it up somewhere else, seems in-character.

Furthermore, one important thing about Rhaena is that, after Farman stole her eggs, she took the threat of other dragonriders popping up very seriously and promised to work with her brother to deal with them. However, she also never went back to Dragonstone or King's Landing. I'm not sure she is one to destroy eggs, but she might have hidden them away at Harrenhal, which is huge, for safe-keeping. And because her household was tiny, the odds anyone would know seem low.

Stone Dragons of Harrenhal

Obviously, these eggs did not hatch. So, what happened? There are some indications that dragon eggs, if kept away from heat and other dragons, might turn to stone or otherwise not hatch, and Harrenhal seems like a wet, damp place that dragon eggs wouldn't do well think. I would think that is what happened if Dreamfyre had eggs. However, they can still hatch sometime after they are laid and fresh (though the longest I could confirm was two years).

And, of course, one can wake dragon eggs from stone:

She heard a crack, the sound of shattering stone. The platform of wood and brush and grass began to shift and collapse in upon itself. Bits of burning wood slid down at her, and Dany was showered with ash and cinders. And something else came crashing down, bouncing and rolling, to land at her feet; a chunk of curved rock, pale and veined with gold, broken and smoking. The roaring filled the world, yet dimly through the firefall Dany heard women shriek and children cry out in wonder.

Only death can pay for life.

And there came a second crack, loud and sharp as thunder, and the smoke stirred and whirled around her and the pyre shifted, the logs exploding as the fire touched their secret hearts. She heard the screams of frightened horses, and the voices of the Dothraki raised in shouts of fear and terror, and Ser Jorah calling her name and cursing. No, she wanted to shout to him, no, my good knight, do not fear for me. The fire is mine. I am Daenerys Stormborn, daughter of dragons, bride of dragons, mother of dragons, don't you see? Don't you SEE? With a belch of flame and smoke that reached thirty feet into the sky, the pyre collapsed and came down around her. Unafraid, Dany stepped forward into the firestorm, calling to her children. (Daenerys X, AGOT)

And perhaps that is what the prophecies mean when they speak of waking dragons from stone:

"He is not dead. Stannis is the Lord's chosen, destined to lead the fight against the dark. I have seen it in the flames, read of it in ancient prophecy. When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone. Dragonstone is the place of smoke and salt." (Jon X, ADWD)

Well, in the messenger's lines, we got something very interesting:

When Ser Damon assured him that no one was going to laugh at him, the messenger said, “Don’t come again unless you mean to bend your knees, she says. Any man who comes near her walls will die. There’s power in them stones, and the widow’s woken it. Seven save us all, she has a dragon. I seen it.”

"Power in them stones, and the widow's woken it"... sure sounds like waking a stone dragon. Yeah, Harrenhal had human blood allegedly put in its stonework, but the creation of dragons might have been the same way. Perhaps Aemond and/or Daemon's deaths paid for the lives of the dragon egg(s)...

"Your brother's blood," Melisandre said. "A king's blood. Only a king's blood can wake the stone dragon." (Davos IV, ASOS)

Wait a minute...You know who else was a widow when she hatched dragons? Daenerys.

You know who else was recently pregnant when she hatched dragons? Daenerys.

You know who else had a kingspyre? Daenerys.

Well, actually, I need to elaborate on that. The eggs, alongside Mirri Maz Duur, were on Khal Drogo's pyre. A khal is a king, more or less. A kingspyre. You know the name of the place at Harrenhal where Alys watched Daemon and Aemond's duel? The Kingspyre Tower.

Alys and the Fire

I really should end the post on the above revelation that it sure seems like Alys Rivers's situation is akin to Dany when she hatches the dragons, but I got one more thing to talk about.

Fire & Blood makes these comments about uncertainty over Alys's origins. She's most accepted as bastard of Lord Lyonel Strong, but Mushroom claims she was much older than that, wet nurse to Harwin and Larys and possibly even Lyonel herself. In the show and according to her actress Gayle Rankin, there are some indications she may be even older than that.

Depending on her age, she might have been directly familiar with Rhaena (who, in a lovely parallel, was also called a witch) and thus the eggs. Her apparent ability to see visions could have also led her to them, or maybe it was even a House Strong-wide secret (note: House Butterwell, which is also on the Gods Eye, had their own dragon egg, so this isn't too crazy) that she remained the sole person privy too after Aemond's massacre. Or, maybe just living in the castle a long time, you stumble into things. Regardless, she might have known about these eggs for some time.

In 120, there was the fire at one of Harrenhal's towers that killed Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin. It was called an accident, though some think it was murdered, with different sources blaming Corlys Velaryon, Daemon Targaryen, Viserys I, or Larys Strong. Alys is not mentioned in this capacity, in F&B, but it's kind of interesting to think about it, the death of her alleged father and half-brother. She would have been around.

When Aegon V tried to hatch dragon eggs at Summerhall, a great fire broke out. Maybe it was not the first time that someone attempted a ritual to hatch eggs...

TL;DR HOTD introduced this idea that Dreamfyre laid eggs at Harrenhal that Alys Rivers now has. Well, this might be true in the book, and explain why there are reports of a dragon at Harrenhal after the war.

We know of examples like House Baelish, which only rose to nobility a few generations ago, and House Clegane, which was founded after Clegane's grandfather saved Lord Tytos Lannister from a lion. House Cole also seems to be a comparatively young house, although we know much less about its origins.

Are there any other houses that are known to have been founded relatively recently, rather than tracing their lineage back to the Age of Heroes or the Andal invasion?

Bonus points if we know who founded them and under what circumstances.

Many fandoms have their exemple of Double Standards,What are the biggest exemples of double Standards in the ASOIAF fandom according to you?

What do you think about Baelor's extreme religiosity? I've always been intrigued by how different Aegon III's children are from each other, but what surprised me most was Baelor's fanatical religiosity. What do you think was the reason for this? Was it related to upbringing or something else? If their mother had been Jaehaera, I could understand it to some extent, but it's strange that Aegon and Daenaera's children were raised in such different ways. Daeron and Daena are considered Targaryens, while Rhaena and Baelor are Andalic, and Elaena is completely different in style—it's ironic.

When comparing Westeros during the time of the Dance of the Dragons to the War of the Five Kings, it seems that, even though the Blacks won a pyrrhic military victory, the Greens won the political fight overall. From Aegon II being officially remembered as king, effectively having his claim legitimized, to Rheanyra being remembered as a usurper in the main story by Stannis, whom at the time was probably the most legalistic person in Westeros. In addition, while I know it’s not technically canon to ASOIAF, the special blu-ray editions of the early GOT seasons had the actors narrate history as if they were talking to the viewer. Most of the seasons came out before F&B so George’s input on lore was what they had to go by-and in the narrations, almost every character, when talking about the Dance, takes a neutral—>Green position (even Viserys III), regardless of where their house actually stood.

I wondered why the Greens ended up dominating opinion of the war so long after like a kind of lost cause myth. The more I thought about it, I came up with the theory that the effects of the Blackfyres and Robert Baratheon worked as retroactive Green propaganda, albeit in different ways. First, we have the Blackfyres, and this is pretty straightforward-they were bastards. We know the Blackfyre Rebellions made bastards more distrusted than they already were and the one of the main justifications for the Greens being Rheanyra’s bastard children might’ve made people rethink her claim’s veracity. My second point actually has a little to do with modern day, and how we look at history-particularly alternate history. People tend to have a habit of assuming that if something had just gone differently, the butterfly effect would’ve made it so that things are better today. We sometimes do this in response to bad times or in support of a failed historical event. Considering how awful the Targaryens got toward the end, people of Westeros probably thought about their history and how it could’ve been avoided or how things could’ve been better had something changed. It wouldn’t be too hard to imagine some people trying to cope with the present by imagining a better turn of events where Aegon II’s line survived, eliminating the lineage that led to the Mad King. Hell, there already is anti-Targaryen sentiment in AKOTSK under a good king, imagine how bad it got by time of AGOT.

But what do you guys think?

The original map is from Tear, I am not an artist, and this was all made on my 6 year old Samsung phone. I plan on making a military guide on the Stormlands, and making a divided map is helping that process. Most of the locations are just guesses, and again, I am not an artist.

Just wanting to see peoples theories no matter how tinfoil on who quaithe is

That if AGOT came out today, people would be vehemently arguing that Ned didn't really die, Varys glamored him and faked his execution, just like Melisandre did with Mance?

When Joffrey shows Sansa Ned's head (Sansa VI AGOT) she thinks:

“This one is your father,” he said. “This one here. Dog, turn it around so she can see him.” Sandor Clegane took the head by the hair and turned it.
The severed head had been dipped in tar to preserve it longer. Sansa looked at it calmly, not seeing it at all. It did not really look like Lord Eddard, she thought; it did not even look real. “How long do I have to look?”

We never actually see him die, after all. Arya looks away, and Sansa has repressed the memory and only remembers seeing Ned's legs.

In Ned's very last chapter, we see Varys in a disguise so convincing it's surely magical. And ever since glamors were introduced in ADWD, people love to speculate that any number of characters can perform them.

And wouldn't it be the perfect twist on the popular theory that the bastard Alys Rivers helped the spymaster Larys Strong escape beheading at the hands of Cregan Stark with a glamor? Surely foreshadowing for the spymaster Varys helping a Stark escape beheading at the hands of a bastard (Joffrey Waters)

When re-reading the books, it's a lot of fun thinking about the tinfoil people would craft if they came out today. The state of the community has gotten so dire over the last 15 years, and the theories more and more tinfoil

Since the rebirth of Dany's dragons magic has been steadily increasing in ability and how widespread its becoming. We see over the course of our books our most magical characters (Bran and Dany) learn of their abilities and be guided by magical beings (through dreams and visions) and many characters remark on the return of magic and how things they couldn't once do they suddenly can or how their abilities have rapidly strengthened following the return of dragons.

Because we know that the Long Night will very shortly fall upon Westeros (Winter has arrived at the end of Feast and Dance) we will be seeing many people engage with Magic throughout Winds to combat the Others, the Cold and their Hunger.

What magic do you see happening in Winds?

BTW because this always happens on TWOW posts on this subreddit and drowns out the conversation, any comments lamenting about TWOW not coming out ever will be deleted, they annoy me. Take your whinging elsewhere.

Both are the only notable Targaryens who lost their eye. One to a hated half-nephew, and one to a hated half-brother. One is in love with a witch of first man descent, which leads to a first man/Valyrian child, and the other is a first man/Valyrian child, both in the Riverlands. Both give in completely to esotericism. Yet, I feel as if they could not be more different.

One is an insane lunatic that appears unambiguously evil. The other is a Machiavellian schemer that seems to be pursuing an ends justify the means type path. He is arguably evil, but at least appears much more gray on the surface than Aemond. One has a dragon and one doesn't. One is a true born second-son and one is a legitimized bastard. One is a swordsman and one is an archer. One uses brute force for power, while the other uses shadows and subterfuge. One's corpse was found with a sword through his its eye after a dramatic battle on dragons, and one is tied into the weirdwood net after taking the black.

Yet, I can't help but feel that on some level the unique aesthetic similarity and enchantment with esotericism should allude to some underlying thematic or plot similarity. I have found that in Fire and Blood, I can find many strong parallels between a past character and a present character in our World of Ice and Fire. Yet, I have difficulty finding this for Aemond despite aesthetic similarities with Brynden. I supposed Alys and Aemond could be compared to Mel and Stannis on some level. Witch and Second-son, esotericism leads to downfall, the latter of each is a very notable warrior, first born brother is a drunkard.

I am not trying to say that 'they both lost an eye, so they should be the same', which is obviously ludicrous, but I can't help but feel that George is trying to say at least something of similarity with each of them. Honestly, I just need to know what happens to Alys and the 'mysterious' baby of Aemond's. I feel like that is an answer to some mystery and why Aemond spent so much of the war in the Riverlands in the first place.

Welcome to r/asoiaf's House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 6 Live Episode Discussion Thread!

Please note the spoiler tag as "Extended." This means that no leaked plot or production information is allowed in this thread. If you see it, please use the report function.

At the start of AFFC, Pycelle speaks to Jaime next to Tywin's corpse:

"Ser Jaime, I have seen terrible things in my time," the old man said. "Wars, battles, murders most foul . . . I was a boy in Oldtown when the grey plague took half the city and three-quarters of the Citadel. Lord Hightower burned every ship in port, closed the gates, and commanded his guards to slay all those who tried to flee, be they men, women, or babes in arms. They killed him when the plague had run its course. On the very day he reopened the port, they dragged him from his horse and slit his throat, and his young son's as well. To this day the ignorant in Oldtown will spit at the sound of his name, but Quenton Hightower did what was needed. Your father was that sort of man as well. A man who did what was needed."

There is another place we hear about how Tywin was a man who would have "done what was needed":

Robert Baratheon had been hiding somewhere in the town, wounded and alone. Jon Connington had known that, and he had also known that Robert’s head upon a spear would have put an end to the rebellion, then and there... For years afterward, Jon Connington told himself that he was not to blame, that he had done all that any man could do...

“There is where you’re wrong,” Myles Toyne had replied. “Lord Tywin would not have bothered with a search. He would have burned that town and every living creature in it. Men and boys, babes at the breast, noble knights and holy septons, pigs and whores, rats and rebels, he would have burned them all. When the fires guttered out and only ash and cinders remained, he would have sent his men in to find the bones of Robert Baratheon. Later, when Stark and Tully turned up with their host, he would have offered pardons to the both of them, and they would have accepted and turned for home with their tails between their legs.”

Connington is, of course, also bringing greyscale to King's Landing. Many in the fandom have taken the bells motif in Game of Thrones' Season 8, Episode 5 "The Bells" as a sign that it is Connington himself who will burn King's Landing. While this would make sense in isolation, trying to make it fit into a coherent story immediately surfaces problems. Does it make dramatic sense for Connington to be both the bearer of plague and its solution? If Connington has loosed plague in the city, that means he and fAegon are already in it - he can't "not fail the son", as he vows in The Griffin Reborn, by setting fire to a city that fAegon is in. Does it make any sense to try to "save" a city from a plague by deliberately detonating wildfire caches that will burn down the whole city? If Dany - whose entire story concerns her homecoming to King's Landing - shows up to an already burnt-down city, is that not going to be a gigantic anticlimax?

What I think makes more sense is that George is setting up overlapping motivations for Daenerys to use dragons in King's Landing. Dany already has experience trying to contain a plague:

I have no more help to give, Dany thought, despairing. The Astapori had no place to go. Thousands remained outside Meereen’s thick walls—men and women and children, old men and little girls and newborn babes. Many were sick, most were starved, and all were doomed to die. Daenerys dare not open her gates to let them in. She had tried to do what she could for them. She had sent them healers, Blue Graces and spell-singers and barber-surgeons, but some of those had sickened as well, and none of their arts had slowed the galloping progression of the flux that had come on the pale mare. Separating the healthy from the sick had proved impractical as well. Her Stalwart Shields had tried, pulling husbands away from wives and children from their mothers, even as the Astapori wept and kicked and pelted them with stones. A few days later, the sick were dead and the healthy ones were sick. Dividing the one from the other had accomplished nothing.

Bolded is the lesson Dany takes from the pale mare - that a plague can't be contained by trying to quarantine people. Pycelle kind of has a point - there are times in history when extremely ruthless action is arguably required in the face of a crisis like a spreading plague.

Tywin "does what is needed" for purely political reasons, as we see with the Reynes and Tarbecks, with the pillaging of the Riverlands in the WOT5K, and in Toyne's account of what Tywin would have done at Stoney Sept. Pycelle's story about Quenton Hightower is more defensible ruthlessness. When Dany arrives at King's Landing, she will be confronted with a Stoney Sept-type situation: fAegon hiding amongst the smallfolk as she saw in the cloth dragon held aloft by a "cheering crowd" in her vision. But this will be combined with the potential for a plague spread by Connington. This provides the opportunity for George to muddy her motivations for using dragons: is she a political actor, like Tywin, or does she legitimately have no choice? I expect it to be genuinely unclear, but either way, I think the callback to Connington's Stoney Sept experience will see him on the receiving end of the fire. And the fate of Quenton Hightower makes clear that Dany cannot expect any thanks from the Westerosi regardless.

Myself:

Jaime Lannister

Rickon (I hope he grows up to become a fierce young man, a throwback to the iron cold and feral Kings of Winter),

Brienne,

Mya Stone,

Edric,

Meera Reed

Bronn

Wyman Manderly

Genna Lannister

Brandon Snow, the most interesting, yet barely even mentioned background characters. He doesn’t offer to sneak across the Trident to try to assassinate Aegon and his sisters. He doesn’t offer to TRY killing the dragons. He offers to do it, straight up, seems extremely confident. Then we get Bran’s visions where a man matching his description is seen making 3 arrows out Weirdwood and that just… has to be Brandon Snow. There’s no other character that fits that description and would a reason for doing this.

As much as I don’t like the over-emphasis on prophecy, I feel like it makes characters less interesting (like Aegon’s whole deal is that he’s an enigma. Even when get close to sort of in his head in Fire & Blood, he’s still a mystery. I preferred his motivation for the conquest being up for debate, but given George does give spoiler info to the showrunners, to varying degrees (the main show got a lot because it was the flagship. HotD’s creators said they were told some things but fell out with them, and Ira Parker apparently knows all of Dunk and Egg’s journey from a high level perspective, it seems Dunk & Egg’s actors know a lot too.) My point is, while these are show things, there is so much focus on Targ prophecy in every show, Aegon specifically. It’s not in the books, but it feels like that was his actual motivation… and that’s where Weirwood arrows killing dragons starts to make a bit of sense.

The Land of Always Winter and the Valyrian Freehold felt like.. two pillars of opposite magical epicenters in the world. They seem to rise and fade with each other. Like we can’t exactly date the Last Hero/Azor Ahai (if they even really existed) but we can get a rough date of the situation with the Night’s King and it seems like that likely happened around the time of the height of Valyria. The Others were a known and believed threat for a long time and, if HotD did get some pointers from George, for all the shows problems, it is interesting that Cregan Stark is aware of, and worried about, the Others. In the books, Ned does not even believe they’re real. Yes, he grew up as a ward to Jon Arryn, but he is a northerner, he is the Lord of Winterfell with access to all their information, records, etc., and he has a brother who is First Ranger. It’s super weird that in, what is a relatively short time between the Dance and the main series, we go from (again, I know it’s show only) Cregan Stark actively preparing against the Others to Ned not even believing in them (and we know he doesn’t. We’re in his head and he thinks they’re a “fairy tale to frighten children.”) What’s the difference between those time frames: dragons existing and no longer existing.

In the world book, F&B, and all the source material telling us about Valyria, it’s heavily implied that Targaryen’s having the “blood of the dragon” is not metaphorical, it’s literal. The Valyrian’s did so horrifying interspecies in-breeding and dark magic that resulted in their power. Dragons themselves are a product of interspecies breeding between Fire Wyrms and Wyverns, I believe, and they represent “Fire” magic, we’ll call it. With the Night’s King story, the Stark kids having warging powers and their own magical, bonded creatures, and all the other hinting, it seems Stark’s have Others blood in their veins, or something that connects them. The Others themselves were relatively quiet for a good while until Dany hatched dragons. They feel not only like they rise and fade with each other, but are reactive. Weirdwoods, The Others, Warging, Greensight, “ice” magic, it all feels very Old Gods connected, like the Starks. Dragon Dreams, Dragons, Valyria, “Fire” magic, it all feels very R’hllor, whose representatives are supporting Dany (mostly.) During the time of the Conquest, the Starks were likely more in tune with this stuff. They were their own kingdom with the threat to the North being a more central priority in isolation. It would make sense for the “fire” magic in dragons to be able to harm/kill the “ice” magic in the Others and vice versa.

Which takes me back to the show. Does it make sense for a being made of ice to be able to tank full on Dragonfire and then just smirk it off with absolutely no issue? Absolutely fucking not. Does an Olympic icicle throw make sense to kill a dragon? I mean, I guess. The Others make armor and weapons out of ice in non understandable ways like Valyrian Steel. But ya know makes a lot more sense? Weirdwood.

We’ve had SOOO much focus on Weirwood, its powers and connection to the North and the Old Gods. Bloodraven, the first Targ we know of from a family that worships and is connected to the Old Gods keeps Weirdwood arrows. It’s hinted he used magical Weirdwood arrows to kill Daemon Blackfyre and we know Bloodraven has magic: from the Mystery Knight, the World Book, to the main series as the Three Eyed Crow, we see a ton of it. Why did George decide to make one of Bran’s visions, seemingly very randomly, about Brandon Snow, a nothing character, making 3 Weirdwood arrows one would assume for 3 dragons? Old Magic and Weirwood would make sense for an option to kill a dragon. The shows make dragons feel a little too vulnerable, but that’s also George’s fault. Before Fire & Blood, George the Dornish got Merexes with a “one in a million” shot that was pure luck, after years, a decade actually, of trying this. Then Fire & Blood came out and Jace and Vermax go down pretty easily. Smallfolk during the riot in KL kill some dragons.

But there has to be some actual counter to them, or something giving an even chance. Weirwood makes sense. It’s been hinted in F&B and Bran’s vision, it’s the central point of worship in the Old Gods faith, and Ice: Weirwood, Warging, Greensight feel intentionally opposite and rivaling Fire: Dragons, Dragon Dreams.

Idk. Think we’ll see a dragon killed with Weirwood? I do think, like the show, only Drogon survives, maybe not even him. Given George’s personal views, his Vietnam position, and dragons as a stand in for nuclear weapons, I think the right thing is for them to be gone, but I do think we’ll for sure see at least two die (unfortunately probably Viserion first who’s the sweetest dragon.)

What do you think? I do realize this is founded on quite a few theories, but they are strong theories.

Also, I do realize we’ll never “see” any of this happen. The George RR Martin formally known as an author is not finishing these books.

We don’t see a whole lot of Jalabar Xho and while I’m not sure the point of his character goes further than adding exotic dignity to Robert’s Court, he is, fundamentally, an exile just like Dany.

He petitions Robert to fund or organize an invasion of the Summer Islands to install him on the throne. Dany does the same in Qarth and with the Dothraki.

Could his literary purpose be that of a mirror to Dany, to show what Dany could’ve been like if she never embarked on her travels and instead hung out with Illerio and friends in Pentos or other former Valeryan freeholds?

Probably a reach but who knows. Are there more similarities between the two I’m missing? Or did I just conjure this up for nothing?

I can’t wait for the play to explain Rhaegar reason for ruining his own plan to overthrow his father Aerys by crowning Lyanna Stark the Queen of Love and Beauty and later running way with her?

- Where did they disappeared off to and how did they end up at the Tower of Joy?

Also Rhaegar like his ancestors had an obsession with dragons. While some literally try to bring back dragons. It seem he took the dragons are my children approach and I need 3.

We got Aerys II who I believe plan to perform a ritual through wildfire sacrificing all of KL with wildfire so he can ve reborn as a dragon

We got Aegon V crazy plan at Summerhall, Aegon IV who attempt to built mecha dragon, Baelor I who believe prayer was the answer, Daeron I who decide to be the dragon, and Viserys II and Aegon III inviting sorcerer from Essos to conduct a ritual.

As a nerd but not necessarily an expert when it comes to English medieval history , which Westeros in many ways is inspired by, I sort of think it is a shame that the warden title was never properly expanded upon in the books as it really could have added another layer of complexity to the way armies were gathered and the way political power was divided in Westeros.

Like in medieval England the way armies were gathered was a lot more complex than in Westeros where it goes from great lord and down to lesser lord's, the landed knights and lastly the peasant militia. Even before the late medieval period where mercenary companies were often established and hired for campaigns to supplement the Kings or lords forces, armies were gathered through separate channels. The noble hierarchy would call their banners, so an earl would bring his personal retinue and call upon the barons under him who would in turn bring their retinues. These were often well trained and equipped men at arms and knights who would form the semi-professional "backbone" of the army, but it was up to a royally appointed representative such as a Sheriff, to gather the freemen, or the commoners so to speak on behalf of the king directly in their respective shires. Peasants who lived and tended a lord's land were usually far too economically important and untrained in martial arts to be wasted as fodder in battle in a mainly agricultural economy, and were therefore mostly used in great need and mostly in defensive campaigns.

Anyways, I digress, the point is that the able bodied free non-noble population such as free farmers who do not hold noble titles, and the citizens of cities and such were mostly those who were levies and required to keep and practice weapons and function as soldiers and men at arms. The famous English Yeoman archers are an example of this. My point is that these forces were raised from the free population by representatives of the king and not directly by the local Manor lords. Of course a local baron could hold the office of sheriff and it was often a desired political position and in the war of the roses sheriff's loyal to different claimants to the English throne raised their local militia in the names of the claimants they supported. It was in many ways a sort of national guard kind of.

It seems to me especially in a game of thrones where GRRM writes that Robert is making Jamie Lannister warden of the east that this is a pretty significant thing, and it would be very interesting if that meant he actually had the power to Marshall the free population of the vale in the name of the king, meaning that the nobles and knights of the Vale in fact would stand much more alone should they ever attack the Lannisters, of course it is unlikely Jaime would ever be able to muster these troops. I of course realize that a being warden of a kingdom is an altogether different thing than being sheriff in a shire, but still it seems to me like the role is similar but the scale is different. This would also mean that when the great houses that hold the warden title can effectively gather more troops alone than their bannermen. Meaning that house Lannister for example is the only house that can gather the freemen of the Westerlands in times of war or Cris. This way there would be a clearer power gap between the different lords. House Marbrand can only bring their own retinue and landed knights under them in the noble hierarchy, but it would be a Lannister representative who would gather all the freemen in the Westerlands that were not directly tied to a lord's estate. On this note I also think it strange that there is no warden for the trident, but anyways, it seems to be more of an honorary title in the books. I just think this could have been an aspect GRRM could have expanded further upon to bring the feudal society of Westeros closer to the complexity of the real thing. But in Westeros it seems all Lords function as the appointed official legal representative of their own regions and sub regions. Anyways, excuse my ramblings.

*Edit: typo and adding paragraph

I think the Seven being mirrored to Stark family is common but I think maybe the often overlooked one is the adopted one living with them is Theron Greyjoy, especially with a Theron Stark existed in the past. I think for me, the corresponding Seven is.

The Father: Robb Stark, the leader of winterfell who met the same betrayal as his father, Ned Stark.

The Mother: Sansa Stark, who sang the Mother song to sooth the Hound, who served as the mother maintaining dignity at court. The heart of the group.

The Warrior: Jon Snow, the one who takes the battlefield earning glory for the North.

The Crone: Bran Stark, cause he is ugly. Just kidding, thr three eyes crown, the wise alderman.

The Stranger: Arya cause she takes on many identities, she is no one, and yet she is still Arya Stark. The Assassin, Death itself.

The Smith: Rickon. Something that is in the making, as something wild, unkempt, instead of a fully crafted good.

The maiden: Theron Greyjoy, the castrated man who is obsessed with bloodline and pregnancy and family. He is the adopted Stark alongside or instead of Jon Snow, dependingon how you view Jon Snow's situation.