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Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. Cannoli Send a noteboard - 18/08/2011 09:33:57 PM
I've read through the discussion threads on the board so far and had some of my questions answered and had some things pointed out to me that whooshed right over my head in my reading (so thank you for that!)

1. People feel bad for Theon? THEON? Really?
It's called the PoV trap. People believe in the perspective of the narrator characters, regardless of objective assessments. We never get the perspective of the kids he skinned, so we lean towards sympathizing with him. For another example, see below your nicompoopery regarding Jaime's self-serving hypocrisy.

2. Was Dany miscarrying at the end there with all the blood? Or was this a more positive sign of some sort? I really don't know yet how literally to take the maegi's words to her and after this book think it could be more prophecy than doom.

3. I assumed Brienne's reappearance meant she had agreed to ZombieCat's terms and was luring Jaime back to ZombieCat to face her wrath.
Yes.
But I gather there are those who think Brienne did die and was brought back?
Then why bother having her say a word at the end of her last PoV. This is just more people inflating what happened in their own minds because they're magic sluts.

I am disappointed not to have gotten more of that storyline (though I did like the Jaime progression in this book, and liked how neatly he managed to do his duty to his family/king without breaking his oath to not take up arms against the Starks or Tullys).
Seriously? To the extent that he did do it, it was merely a case of following the letter of the law and trampling the spirit into the dirt. Did you forget his threats to launch Edmure's newborn child from a trebuchet? And his accompanying scorn for those who attempt to bluff with such threats? He only kept his oath because Edmure is a wimp who's as useless as the rest of the Tullys (except Brynden, who of course is the only one who refuses to breed more idiot Tullys into the world). Jaime's assertion that he has kept his oath is as ridiculous as his other lies. And even to the extent that he kept his oath, as I said, it was strictly the letter of the law. I am pretty sure that the Tullys undoubtedly consider "turning their ancestral family home over to the scions of their two worst enemy houses" to be worse than fighting against them.

And let's not forget the myriad other crimes blackening his name, even if he has managed to avoid being as bad as he could in this one particular case. Even by his own assessments, Jaime has been working to dispossess men he deems worthy of respect, in favor of their more dishonorable enemies. He has nothing by contempt for his own uncle, especially compared to Brynden Tully, and the same with Jonos Bracken and Tytos Blackwood, and in both cases, he deprives the one he knows to be good of lands and incomes and takes his kinsmen prisoners, in favor of the scumbag who's on his side.
And being Cersei's twin, he's incapable of the self-reflection necessary to think about what it says about his side and the cause he supports that he's allied to the grasping turncoats and dispossessing the honorable men.

I will be interested to see what happens with that.

4. Do you think Stannis is dead? I'm going with no, since it seems like when we find out about 'offscreen' deaths like that they tend not to have happened. Does Ramsay actually have Mance? It seems horrible to me that we'd have gone through the Mance-isn't-really-dead switcheroo only to have that happen, and it is possible that one or more of his girls was captured and Ramsay knows he was there that way. I'm really leaning towards taking that letter to Jon as a bunch of angry rambling.
He probably has Mance Rayder, which is how he learned enough of the details to give his letter authenticity. You're probably right about Stannis and the rest.

5. Speaking of Jon. Gah. GAH. I can't decide if I want him to be really most sincerely dead or not. Obviously prevailing opinion is that he's not. And yet. How much fun would that be?

Edit to add:

6. Are we ever going to find out what happened to Benjen?

Coldhands. Bloodraven seems to have a thing for Starks.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 17/08/2011 04:48:04 PM 1662 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 12:46:33 AM 1153 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 01:58:17 AM 1005 Views
Bran didn't recognize him because his face is always covered - 18/08/2011 04:28:55 AM 1040 Views
If his face is always covered, how can you say you know who he is? - 18/08/2011 12:14:18 PM 968 Views
I don't think anyone's saying they know who he is. - 18/08/2011 02:42:32 PM 1009 Views
The thing is we do not know how long you can be a wight - 18/08/2011 03:08:33 PM 1044 Views
Given that Martin doesn't seem to introduce characters like that, someone we know is more likely - 18/08/2011 09:36:50 PM 932 Views
And how developed was the Three Eyed Crow - 19/08/2011 04:27:32 AM 1073 Views
But the point is, they were introduced at least, and not brought in from left field. - 19/08/2011 11:36:41 AM 1004 Views
Well, it was sort of foreshadowed (in hindsight). - 19/08/2011 01:29:48 PM 1026 Views
That's true. - 18/08/2011 02:10:19 PM 952 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 01:22:05 AM 1048 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 02:10:30 AM 1127 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 12:09:13 PM 1005 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 04:41:10 AM 1009 Views
You know, that's a really good point. - 18/08/2011 02:07:50 PM 990 Views
Another reason Theon is sympathetic - 18/08/2011 03:13:12 PM 1239 Views
could you elaborate? - 19/08/2011 03:16:59 AM 1059 Views
Re: could you elaborate? - 20/08/2011 01:37:43 AM 1133 Views
Ok, I see part of that - 21/08/2011 01:10:47 AM 1167 Views
Do you mean - 22/08/2011 06:36:44 PM 1109 Views
Assuming the Quentyn, Dothraki sea, and Meereen pyramid parts are true... - 25/08/2011 07:33:10 PM 1066 Views
That's the other problem I have - 25/08/2011 08:12:01 PM 1456 Views
I would hope GRRM knows better than that - 26/08/2011 12:49:42 AM 999 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 06:28:03 AM 1000 Views
LOL - 18/08/2011 02:14:59 PM 1028 Views
Re: LOL - 19/08/2011 05:29:51 AM 1122 Views
Huge agree and disagree - 19/08/2011 02:06:24 PM 1122 Views
Re: Huge agree and disagree - 22/08/2011 05:58:13 AM 966 Views
Remember she also had her faced chewed off - 22/08/2011 02:25:21 PM 1025 Views
Re: Remember she also had her faced chewed off - 23/08/2011 05:14:04 AM 928 Views
I imagine - 23/08/2011 02:16:12 PM 1032 Views
Re: I imagine - 24/08/2011 06:41:39 AM 1053 Views
Yes. - 22/08/2011 06:39:43 PM 918 Views
Re: Yes. - 23/08/2011 05:42:04 AM 945 Views
Re: Yes. - 23/08/2011 02:19:55 PM 1089 Views
Re: Yes. - 24/08/2011 07:09:11 AM 1197 Views
Re: Questions I have after finishing ADwD. Spoilers of course. - 18/08/2011 09:33:57 PM 1161 Views
Ah. - 22/08/2011 06:27:10 PM 1052 Views
Re: Ah. - 25/08/2011 01:21:05 AM 1140 Views

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