Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 103 - ADWD The Sacrifice Featuring TheWendyNerd

Episode Date: October 2, 2020

The girls are joined by friend Wendy, who - unlike Stannis - takes no prisoners in the Crofter's Village. Things look bleak for the King's (Queen's) men, but there's an inkling of hope for Asha that arrives by Chapter's End. Wendy's Twitch  Wendy's Twitter  Wendy's Blog  The Night Lamp Theory by Cantuse  --- Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/ Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor Chloe's blog: www.liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage Background Music:  The Descent by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4490-the-descent License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon, A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 103, A Dance with Dragons, The Sacrifice, featuring our good friend Wendy, who is the sacrifice today. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Yes, today we will be sacrificing Wendy. Wendy, do you have any last words? Ed, fetch me a block. I don't know. My instinct is to go just shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. But I love it. I think that is solid, too. And you know what?

We will get some last words from another character today in this chapter that I think we're going to highlight. So think about that for now. But Wendy, we are so glad to have you on. Thanks for coming on. You might know Wendy from Twitter, the Wendy Nerd, or over on her Tumblr where she wrote a ton of A Song of Ice and Fire character analysis on Sansa and Catelyn

and the Stark girls in general, the Stark kids. WendyNerdWrites.tumblr.com And I hear, Wendy, you are getting into Twitch now as well. Twitch.tv slash Wendy Nerd. I am starting to stream playing sims 4 streaming ck2 i'm going to be doing the actual the song of ice and fire mod i'm not doing ck3 right now because i tried

ck3 for about two hours and i got really bored of it because you can't do as much with ck3 as you could ck2 so i'm just waiting for some expansions to come out i also stream um arkham city and uh vampire the masquerade blood uh lines bloodlines 2 is going to come out. I also stream Arkham City and Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. Bloodlines 2 is going to come out at some point. Oh, also I'm streaming Skyrim as well. So Monday, Tuesday, and Friday evenings are what my schedule roughly is right now. Yeah, we'll have to drop a link there for sure. I've been watching a lot of Twitch streams. We've been playing a lot of video games. I've been very deeply into a Stardew Valley play. Two plays, actually. I have two plays at once now. It's getting

very crazy. I have two husbands right now. I am juggling. Oh, good for you. Thank you. Juggling husbands on my farm. Yeah, I am going great. So I'm really excited to watch you play some Sims. Right now, I have a nice little Jewish family called the Silverman Levens. One of them is a movie

star. The other one is an ace journalist, and they've got a daughter named Rose. In CK2, I usually play, shockingly enough, as Sansa. So if you're a huge Sansa fan and you just want to see her take over everything and reform religions and make money and collect artifacts, then hit me up. I love the ace swath mod for CK2. It is a blast. I had a good Sansa play for a while. It is so good.

More fun than regular, in my opinion. Just saying. There's a season eight sub mod that came out, but it does not work for me. So I've just been playing from like the Winds of Winter sub mod. Well, you know who else is also playing something along with the CK2 mod? Something that is also, but within the confines of the story, right? Trying to get all the territories of Westeros? No.

No? Are you talking about Stannis? Yeah. But, you know, we're going to look at Stannis from a different angle. Right now we're looking at Stannis from Osh's POV. But maybe we'll look at Stannis from another POV. In our, as we announce, a next POV. Wait, are you talking about a new point of view on Girls Gone Canon?

Why, yes, yes, you have to be, because this is the last published Asha chapter currently. It wasn't even technically an excerpt. Anything is an excerpt. If you don't feed a dog for years, anything is an effing excerpt, Eliana. Okay? That might not even... When people are hungry hungry they'll eat anything eliana we're gonna talk about that this chapter too it might not even end up in the books you know he could have deleted it from wordstar since then but yes we do have a new pov

chloe do you want to tell us who who we might be sailing along with next. You want me to tell everyone to come sail away with us and Davos Seaworth on Girls Gone Canon next. You guys seem to be having a theme right now of like people who are sane in a world gone mad. Those are the characters that you're covering these days. Kind of. Maybe. I know that maybe the Eryohotah might not stay sane for long.

I'm sure he's gonna break your bend soon, but- No, he's not. Ari's- Ari's Oakheart, that boy, he nutted once and then he couldn't ever live after that. Ever again. But Asha to Davos is exciting. I think both are great commanders at sea, and I think they both offer really interesting perspectives on stannis so going from how we've seen stannis during asha is going to be a big flip going to davos yeah but

we're not going to spend all of davos only talking about stannis so we kind of can't get away from it because that's like a big part of literally davos's whole storyline we're not going to only talk about stannis in this chapter but But I thought it was a good segue. Someone clap for me. Yeah, no. Are you guys ready to make my boyfriend angry? He'll live. I think if you're listening to this podcast, you know our opinion on Stannis.

I think that Asha's point of view is a lot different than what we've seen with Davos's point of view. And I think that the other important thing is how we're going to see Stannis' relationship to Davos. But it's still through Davos's eyes. We don't really focus on Stannis having rights as a person in the story as much, in my opinion. We focus on Davos. Davos existing in the story so I'm excited for that that's what I'm excited to see is the way that Davos views him and the things in Davos's life uh kind of that have brought him to that we're gonna spend a little time talking about Stannis's conscience right and as we get into that today it won't quite be as complex as when

we get into it with Davos. And that's an interesting relationship. It really is. I don't think in the end that both will be near each other when Stannis meets his demise. That will be a big component, right, of Stannis probably going down. So we'll talk about all that and more soon. And it'll be a nice little parallel too, with another character that shows up with a character that shows up in this chapter when that happens. Yes. Well, let's get get into it let's start first with our lightning round which is where we summarize and speed through what we missed i'm just isolating a couple chapters today so we start with eliana yes eliana's pov chapter

woof woof woof woof Oh that's ghost It's not wrong But we are actually starting off with a different POV A ghost in Winterfell That is also a wolf though But the other ghost in Winterfell Mysterious murders continue in the north And Abel's washing woman Brings Reek to meet Abel

At last Theon won Theon and Jane take a leap to faith. And the Iron Suiter. Mokaro shows up on Victarion's trip to Meereen, and he offers him a hand. And that brings us, from my POV, over to Wendy's sacrifice. That's it, we're covering. But actually, the this sacrifice.

Osh's chapter. Tensions between the North and South are rising at an incredible speed in Stannis' camp, and cannibals are given to R'hllor amidst the northern blizzard. Asha is spared a sacrifice for now, but by chapter's end, a new player with king's blood enters the camp. I thought you'd like that. And remembers his name. I was really excited, I was like... It's the best part of the whole story.

Honestly. It actually, no, the whole story, I think, maybe. It's one of my top five favorite moments in the entirety of A Song of Ice and Fire. We'll talk about Theon and the Winds of Winter toward the end of the episode, I think, because that'll give people a chance to bow out on any major spoilers, right? But, uh, I, I imagine most people have caved and read Theon 1, hopefully, by now.

It's a very good chapter, but I was reading it today and I got a little misty-eyed. I was like, when you get towards the end, oh god, god, we'll talk about it later. It's technically in, it's technically published with A Dance with Dragons, right? At the end of the book. Yeah, that was the first one, right? So it doesn't matter. Everyone should have read that. I consider it A Dance with Dragons.

I mean, I didn't. I didn't read it till like years later. But yeah, we've already discussed that before. But yes, yes. Okay, well, let's jump on in. I know, Wendy, you wanted to talk about some of the big thematic notes in this chapter. So take it away. Artifice, zombies, cultural comparisons, and toughness. Oh, my. Like, those are some they don't, which I'll go in there and then go into that. And yeah, Artifice, everyone's just frontin'.

Everyone's full of shit. The Starks are fetish objects at this point. By Dance of Dragons, the Starks aren't even the Starks. None of the Starks are the Starks. Arya's across the sea. Bran is slowly becoming a tree. I'm just generalizing. Sansa is now Peter Baelish's daughter.

There, I threw you one that's also way too simplistic and kind of shitty uh you know Jon is the Lord Commander and also spoilers dead I guess and you know no none of the Starks are the Starks and the only person with the name Arya Stark is in fact Jane Poole this and everybody yeah the Starks are fetish objects they're not even real they're not even real anymore really yeah State of the union not great not looking great on the night of your sacrifice wendy yeah but when we when we burn wendy uh maybe things will get better oh my god maybe yes the red god i don't know i'm gonna sacrifice my dignity for this joke as we get to the actual sacrifice that is not wendy i am just putting that out there in an all serious

tone about the episode right now we are not burning our friend are you gonna try and say that i'm asha grayjoy because i'm okay with that no you're one of the peace burning men no no you would have been the weeping dying boy is actually yeah what we were saying i know but you're the sacrifice when yeah that's what we've been saying okay anyways anyways but we're saying. I know, but- You're the sacrifice, Wendy. That's what we've been saying. Okay, anyways. Anyways, but we're saying right now for all, you're not the sacrifice, Wendy. You could maybe be Asha for now. Wendy has rights. Wendy rights. Allie Mormont is someone

else who I think has rights. We're going to talk about her in this story. And we open the chapter with her and Asha actually talking to each other. And Allie is telling Asha she does not want to watch these men be burnt. She's like, you don't want to see this. And Asha's like, I'm going to, though. And she thinks Asha

Greyjoy was the Kraken's daughter, not some pampered maiden who could not bear to look at ugliness. I thought that the language here was really interesting, especially with the pampered maiden part, because we're going to see a lot more about what this means to not turn away from ugliness and stare at the death uh these executions a little later in this chapter but

asha's insistence on watching these executions feels again reminiscent of the starks not as the symbol but of the story that we've experienced through them like bran at the very very very very beginning of a song of ice and fire being warned by john, don't look away, you have to watch this man be beheaded, owing it to look them in the eyes. But also, of course, Sansa during the enhanced tourney, watching Ser Huweth of Vale die and not looking away, but also later when she's forced to watch her own father's beheading, this thing that's much closer, more visceral. She's thinking this while interacting with Allie Mormont. Like, it's not like, the Mormonts are literally, well, not literally, but they're she-bears.

Like, what about Allie Mormont is pampered? It's really good fortune, like, just how bad this gets. Just in case she didn't think things going on in Westeros, and particularly the North, were gruesome and bleak enough. Well, here we go. Like, in a few seconds, she's actually watching it, and she's like, oh, wait, maybe I do want to look away. I kind of want to look away now.

Oh, my gosh. It's something interesting George is playing on, I think, especially with Alisane's character. Like it's something with the prejudices Asha and Alisane have against each other. Right. Asha and Alisane, both in the last chapter, talk to each other about like, oh, well, you're a squid and you're a traitor. And oh, well, you're a bear. And Asha's people reaved and raided here. Asha can't make that right she can't make decades and years and centuries of like horrible things happening

to these people right but it also isn't well i would say it isn't but ash has also led raids that have probably affected them in her time uh their culture has unfortunately not been great to these people so it's a learning experience. And I think it's interesting that by this chapter, by the time we land here, all day people have been trying to fish and they're starving and they're just men, right? Everyone's just men now. You're all men. You're just a number.

Except for the fish. Yeah, there's no fish. Allie's like, I don't want to see this. I don't want to see people die. But she's still this warrior woman and she's still a strong woman and i think how it's incorporated is really interesting you brought up sans earlier and like you know people think of her as the pampered maiden and she looked death right in the face so it's not like this is biases right there and it's so funny because alice didn't actually have so much in common too they they have more in common than some of these men have right because you have godry faring who's controlling this camp right now

aliceane is like please just don't watch this asha so that i don't have to watch it because i have to be wherever you are i have to guard you right now and godry faring is setting up everything and he's telling the men that are watching he's like ah the lord of light protects you and giving them this big speech about how they need to do this setup to burn these four men as if it's some big religious spectacle that's about to happen but as we know everyone is just they're all just men that are trying to live in this horrible blizzard right now they're kind of sucking at it too as we find out like and because and i think part of it is also like because a lot of these guys are in fact Southerners. And then there's also the separation between the North and South.

We'll get into that later. I'm sorry. I'm getting ahead. And, you know, back to the idea of the looking of a maiden. I feel like I didn't bring this up and I feel like it's wrong of me to not bring it up on my own podcast. Like, how could you say something and not bring up Sandor? Sansa looking at Sandor. You know, I mean, he's a horrific beast of a fire burnt thing so similar

thought there as far as maidens like settle down Asha not all women okay god Asha I'm not like other girls in fact I don't think there is a single female character who looks away from death when they're confronted with it in this series we get some more from Ardos Flint in Big Bucket Wool glad to see them back in the plot they're scoffing about this southern god they're like confronted with it in this series. We get some more from Ardos Flint in Big Bucket Wool. Glad to see them back in the plot. They're scoffing about this southern god. They're like, the old gods rule here. It's the old gods being angry for what you've done. There's the line from Big Bucket Wool that I love. He says, Red Ralu means nothing here. You'll only make the old gods angry. They're watching from their island. There's a subconscious acceptance of that, despite what Stannis and his men say to the contrary.

That's in part, I think, why they're cutting the eyes of the old gods out, even if they don't even completely realize it. Whether they realize it or not, I think it's like, you know, they just think they're doing it because they're cutting down icons of the unbelievers, just like they did with the icons of the Seven. Yeah, they're angry down icons of the undulators just like they did with the icons of the seven yeah they're angry absolutely and you know trying to sort of lessen and impose their own culture on the northern on the northerners right it's something that uh has been respected for a long time within the west rose that there are very many different religions and cultures

i will say it's kind of funny though the idea that like the old gods would be angry according to Big Bucket Bull because I'm like I don't know technically Bran's like one of the old gods right now and I don't know that he'd be like he'd definitely be upset at the burnings but I don't know that he'd be like angry and offended that it was in the name of another god he would just be angry maybe that it was happening at all but he'd also be like like, I don't know, whatever, at the moment, like, uh, who is a non-believer, right? And John. To see the worshippers of the Red God is worse than these POV characters who aren't bought into R'hllor's religion as worse simply for the practice of sacrificing people, which, yes, is bad. We've said that several times throughout this podcast. Yet, we come to realize, as Bran's own

chapters and story deepens, that maybe this is actually something that isn't so easy to cast judgment upon either because it seems that the sacrificing the old gods was also a part of their own culture and religion as well when he starts going way way way way way back into the weird woods all pretty bad and it was it's so interesting that like they're gonna cast judgment but like rolar is a god like a fire god I know he's the lord of the light but he's

like his main instrument is fire and right now we know that the old gods have these like deep connections to the others it's really like ultimately both of these forms are pretty destructive to humanity and in fact the old gods very likely awakened the

threat the oldest threat that is coming back now. And Roller's instrument, or this worshipper's instrument is fire, which will be the element that combats that. So it's really interesting where you've got this complicated back and forth of what's worse and how both sides kill people horribly, but one of them is creating an overarching man-destroying threat. Yeah. sides kill people horribly but one of them is creating an overarching man destroying threat yeah even though the eyes are being torn out and even though violence is being done onto it like fire consumes ice preserves right and what we see we're going to get into some of the talk of in a second frozen blood uh this has some really interesting language basically about the weirwoods they're sitting at this crofter's village uh and there's weirwoods right and with that blood flowing asha calls it frozen blood and that is what it looks like it looks like blood but like it seems like they're all sacrificing to some sort of power right and

i think that's the bigger thing is that like bran doesn't mishandle it or understand it he doesn't for example he doesn't understand what he's doing which i think eliana can definitely speak to in a second um but it's power they're all trying to sacrifice for power but sometimes it's not really this majestic power like this godly power as we learn later some of these men think they're gods and claim they're gods but they just want to take land like that's what they want they want power and control and land. That's not exactly a godly power, right? changing into Hodor, we see that this idea of sacrifice doesn't just have to be death, right? You can sacrifice someone else and put your

own needs above theirs without having to kill them. And Hodor reacts so poorly when Bran's skin changes into them. So it kind of makes you question is it R'hllor that's so bad? Is it the old gods are good? Or is it the people and what they're

willing to do in the name of that religion that is more of what's being discussed here and more of what we should be questioning? There's a quote that Asha thinks to herself. It is only sap, she told herself, the red sap that flows inside these weirwoods. But her eyes were unconvinced. Seeing was believing and what they saw was frozen blood. A lot of the language here reminds you of theon 5 back in clash when he's on the run mercy he sobbed from behind came a shuddering howl that curdled his blood mercy mercy when he glanced back over his shoulder he saw them coming great wolves the size

of horses with the heads of small children oh mercy mercy blood dripped from their mouths black as pitch burning holes into the snow where it fell every stride brought them closer theon tried to run faster but his legs would not obey the trees all had faces and they were laughing at him laughing and the howl came again he could smell the hot breath of the beasts behind him a stink of brimstone and corruption. The old gods definitely do feel angry here. I know that it was more of a jest, right? Not really a jest, but it was more like, oh, the gods are angry. You southerners really ticked them off. It's their punishment. This chapter actually comes after a more recent reference, I guess, to frozen blood too,

that involves Melisandre, right? Melisandre said to Jon, ice, daggers in the dark, blood frozen red and hard, and naked steel. We're going to get into some more Bran stuff way later on, because as we learn from Theon in The Winds of Winter, Bran is kind of there, and it's confirmed from him hanging over the story, whether it's mist hanging over the story, or trees or ravens quirking. The southern men and northern men begin to blame the snow on each other and each other's gods and are interrupted by Godry

commanding Clayton to bring forward the sacrifice here I am here she is she's got king's blood that's why she's wearing a crown today as we record this episode you may i don't know if we brought this up at the beginning of the episode uh oh i thought you

were taking it off to make yourself less conspicuous as a sacrifice just now no no i want everyone to know if i'm gonna be sacrificed i want everybody to know why okay like that's just it's her king's blood so someone else who might one day be a sacrifice is Asha and we get her take on those who are doing the sacrificing Asha did not like Sir Clayton where Farring seemed fierce in his devotion to his red god

Suggs was simply cruel she had seen him at the night fires watching his lips parted and his eyes avid it is not the god he loves it is the the flames, she concluded. He's basically the tickler. That's interesting. Yeah.

Stannis has his own tickler. Yeah. I mean, I think that there's definitely attractive stuff about Stannis, right? There's Stannis. It's a tragic character. I mean, it is a very tragic story. People that don't believe it's a tragic story are the ones that are fooling themselves. And that's the problem but like when you do the math it all kind of adds up especially seeing it

from this point of view from asha sugs is garbage there is nothing redeeming about this guy except his ability to fight asha later notes and it's apparent it's like the lengths people will go to to defend that these are just stannis's men he has to keep them to lead and take over westeros but then the people are like do you not hear take over westeros like do you why why why why like why do you think that's gonna make this this nation better i just have to know i also noticed a lot of people people that won't extend the same uh won't extend the same courtesy to daenerys and she and her people nearly as bad. The worst one she's got is probably Daario. I'd say it's a shave paint.

Daario, he seems like he's kind of skeezy, but I think he's probably more loyal than most people and he's probably going to die for her as a hostage. He's still probably the worst, like the most morally questionable of her close confidants. And that's at worst.

And Clayton's not like a bad egg I saw some post on reddit that I wanted to just scream like I was screaming internally just staring straight ahead at the screen where they were like who are some other bad guys who are some other guys that have a bad rep but aren't actually evil as we're about to learn Justin Massey tells Asha that Clayton likes to torture people like for fun he helps the torturers on dragon's dome when he's just chilling outside of wartime like that's not bad egg that's like joffrey ripped open a cat for fun remember and everybody shits on joffrey like that was for science

yeah yeah that was for science exactly there you go eliana like this was for fun this right here is recreational torture especially if they're female like that that's i don't know that's pretty shitty they're already like screwed their whole life because they're in dungeons of a higher lord's dungeon like you gotta just add insult to for fun yeah it's gross shitty shitty guy shitty guy he's not great not great something that i thought was interesting in this language was the way that uh the scene is actually described rasha says she sees clayton slugs at the night fires watching and he's watching these fires and it's described as his lips parted and his eyes avid and that sounds so much like the

description of cersei watching the tower of the hand burn and i think cersei and clayton are obviously quite different but obviously cersei's become quite associated with the torturing of some people she doesn't quite like watching it nor does she like hearing it because she's like this is annoying to me but the the i just thought that was startling the that the language and description are similar there circe separates herself from the torture as much as possible even as she orders it like even as like the the blue bard or whatever hallie's called as being tortured she's like marjorie you made me do this like and it's like girl oh my god hey stannis has a little of that too right during this we'll talk about it he's

pretty despondent he's not really involved none of the stuff that ash is learning during this time is surprising her because everything is freaking cold and awful and she's just like this sucks uh everything sucks for her right now they're on day 19 sucks everything sucks right now they are on day 19 of a three-day, a hundred leagues from deep wood, Matt to Winterfell, 300 miles is the Raven flies. We get the repeated mantra and the storm is not letting up. It's like ready to bury the long haul.

They don't have food. They have meager sustenance from the woods. Fishing is not working as we discussed and the Kings, Knights and Lords have been having the lion's share of the horse meat. So little and less remain for the common men. So Asha is also not surprised that the common men are being found eating dead people. Like, it's not surprising because they're hungry. What's weird about, like, a lot of Asha chapters is we get a lot of a background when it comes to her family,

but this is a woman who's been, like, who's traveled and raided and stuff like that, and there's not as much on that like like not as much as like what the thing she's done more about the stuff she's come from and or what where she's come from not so much um she's done how much of this has she seen before i doubt she's seen cannibalism before i don't think she has i think this is like just an obvious like no shit because she commented so heavily on the food last chapter so I don't it didn't didn't sound great not a lot of nutrition going on so I feel like that one's obvious but it's interesting because her voyages some of them seemed like she's seen some action from the way it's talked about and we spoke about this a little last episode that

like we have to like make up you know some of that in our brains of what she actually did in voyages she did in ratings there's no finite details but then a lot of the different trips she took in her late teens and like mid-teens sounded like they were just pleasure barge hangouts with carl you know what i mean so it's like when obviously the reading that happened in the war of the five kings but it feels like it's maybe it's more it's newer than we think, you know, maybe that's an early 20s thing. Yeah, I don't know. We get some idea of how far Asha might have gone. Right. Later in this chapter towards the end. But hopefully it's something George feels out more.

Hopefully it's something George fills out more, and there's always the possibility that has George not included it in Asha's chapters? A, because he didn't think about it, because he doesn't always, or B, is it like an intentional choice on his part to make Asha more sympathetic to the audience? Possibly. I think because she is the sympathetic Ironborn. We're going to talk about Victarion later in full. And that's going to be fun. Oh, you don't think he's sympathetic? later in full uh and that's gonna be fun oh you don't think he's sympathetic yeah i do obviously i know i'm just kidding stannis jr on the sea no i don't feel like victorian's very sympathetic uh it's also he's way worse than stannis yeah oh yeah god yeah oh yeah no he is he is yeah he's definitely worse i was about to say i know we're i know we're gonna be picking on stannis but i don't think he's as bad as victorianion. Stannis is at least smart. Victarion is not.

Four Peaseberry men. Let's get on these Peaseberry men. Okay, we're not gonna. We're not gonna. But they were found butchering Lord Fel's body. This is the spectacle. This is the whole thing we're talking about. Asha thinks that these guys are not the first.

They're just the first to get caught eating people's dead bodies in this camp probably this week and she doesn't believe in her lore but she hopes this is the god that can fix some things this burning right here she's like fingers crossed this is the one because mama's got queen's blood mama's got king's blood you know like she is not not doing so hot not great queen's blood and a bad ankle well she's not doing so hot yet Not great. Queen's blood and a bad ankle. Well, she's not doing so hot yet. Hopefully she never does hot. Hopefully she never does hot. And, you know, yeah, she's like, hopefully that these four men are the ones who will appease Barry, the red god.

Nailed it. Nailed it. Sorry, sorry. Yes, yes. So what's going on here I find really interesting in terms of the logic that's being exemplified because it's really quite the catch-22 when you think about it. The line is, Asha Greyjoy put no faith in the Red God,

yet she prayed they had the right of that. If not, there would be other pyres, and Sir Clayton Suggs might get his heart's desire. And so, it's kind of weird, because on one hand, of course there's hope that the blizzards stop, right? That makes sense, because yes, that would slow the burnings. But then again, if the storm stops, then

wouldn't that just kind of prove that the burnings and relore, this power, works? Leading to, therefore, more burnings and sacrifice? And I know that Stannis, he says of the leeches and that the burning sword, he says he doesn't believe Melisandre's religion, yet he sees these as miracles or proof of that power without really a question of whether or not

Melisandre actually caused the kings to die by throwing the leeches in the fire, or is it maybe that she saw it and then burned the leeches? But either way, right, that there's one action and then you see the follow up leads people to believe that there is a connection and that causation. And so this is, I think, very much a question that George is asking around faith, because I think that the logical conclusion of the storm continuing, despite them burning people would be that wow maybe the burnings don't work and they should stop right yet the queens men take it rather as signs that they should continue and

burn more people if it doesn't work that they should follow up on the sacrifices and i think stannis thinks the same as that too because he's like what the fuck are we doing justin massie's also clearly like what the fuck are we doing um and Massey's also clearly like, what the fuck are we doing? And it's the same. It's again, that same idea of what we've been saying over and over throughout like every episode, because I'm a broken record of the power of religion beyond just the magic and miracles and the power that's rooted in people's own faith, especially with the seven. But here they would continue, right? They're just going to sacrifice more burn and pray harder and with characters like clayton slugs we see how that religion gets perverted in terms of power but

especially to serve their own personal power these guys are not a threat right like it's just like we'll talk about this later but when the three folk cross the wall like they're not actually this violent awful group they are naked these men are naked weeping and they're begging they're just men and the oldest of the group is the sergeant and he is spitting venom at the rest of the rvps and ceos the guys in suits out there you know ready for this burning clayton and co and he's like i wish i could have eaten your it's really good eliana wants us actually to read it she really likes it it's really good they're like the best last words anyone could ever have just like shitting on everyone around them fuck you all and fuck your red god too he said

you hear me theron giant slayer i laughed when your fucking cousin died godry we should have eaten him too he smelled so good when they roasted him i bet the place was nice and tender and juicy a blow from the spear that drove the man to his knees but did not silence him when he rose he spat out a mouthful of blood and broken teeth and went on the cocks the choicest part all crisped up on the spit of that little sausage even as they wrapped the chains around him he raved on corliss penny come over here what sort of name is penny is that how much your mother charged? And you suck, you bloody bastard, you!

It's so good. Yes. The cock being the choicest part. I have to believe that that's not just a joke. I have to believe that that is a reference to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, or Her Lover, which is this amazing movie in the 80s with Helen Mirren. And in it, at the end, the thief of the title kills her lover and he had sworn that he would kill

his wife's lover and eat him so she actually takes the corpse of her lover and fries him up and then tells him why don't you try the cock first she force feeds her lover to her husband and she's like why don't you try the cock first and uh and I have to imagine that's a

reference to that please Georgeorge that has to be it's too it's absolutely too specific to not be and george is really into his references yeah yeah he really likes movies yeah and he likes things that are quite like that george george dm us to confirm i i am i like my references too but i like my references to not be like reference here we can go through too far. Like we know this because scary movie exists and all the movie movies exist. But I like my nerd references too. Well, unfortunately, Wendy's favorite guy, the sergeant, gets his throat slashed to shut him the fuck up.

The youngest boy is there and literally boy is what he's called. A weeping young boy and he's shaking and sobbing i'd imagine he can't be more than 14 to 16 asha notices this boy's ribs are sticking out from how malnourished he is oh yeah this is like not monsters only men and that's like a big that's another giant theme here like nearly every character of the book at this point the book is just a person in a desperate situation and it's really interesting because this is the first book this oh not this is all but like a feast for crows was the last book and it was like the first book to have circe's pov where and she was like a monster to the audience so much and then we learned she's a person and her most

humanizing moment happens in this book too yes and she's one of the biggest monsters or villains in the story so i just thought that was really interesting. Leon, you know, had been villainous for a long time. And then, you know, well, he's... Unfortunately, I don't think that's gonna work for Stannis, though. You know, I feel like for him, he's just gonna tumble down the hill and trip over himself pretty soon. But he's not considered all that monstrous by the fandom. No, that's true. That's true. Well, yet. I think we shall see that. But Asha thinks the sergeant had a great approach,

goad them into killing him. And she's like, I better take notes on this just in case I have to do that when they kill me. And they work quickly. They douse leaves with oil to combat the falling snow. And Stannis is kind of his watch tower watching from time to time some of them were insisting he was calling out for lady melisandre and asha agrees he's lost he clearly needs help because they're just kind of at a standstill here in this crofter's village we then learn that the only help that has come for stannis in this time as they set up the fire uh was arnold karstark recently with his son his three grandsons 400 spears two score archers a dozen mounted lances

a maester a cage of ravens and enough provisions for only his own people asshole useless like that was the first sign in my opinion and i think we're gonna get some really interesting stuff here with him because that was the first sign, in my opinion, and I think we're gonna get some really interesting stuff here with him, because that was the first sign that you should have looked out for. Arnold Karstark, is this BYOB? Not a real lord. I brought enough B just for us. He's not even a real lord! Yeah, that's true, he's not a real lord. He is only a castellan, so.

You know, the real lord, right, remains captive of the Lannisters, which is quite interesting. We get a description of Arnulf Karstark. Gaunt and bed and crooked, with a left shoulder half a foot higher than his right, he had a scrawny neck, squinty grey eyes, and yellow teeth. A few white

hairs were all that separated him from baldness. His forked beard was equal parts white and gray, but always ragged. Asha thought that there was something sour about his smiles. Yet, if the talk was true, it was Karstark who would hold Winterfell, should they take it. Interesting.

So we don't really get the payoff for the Arnulf Karstark appearance until Winds of Winter. Sorry, some spoilers in the Theon's theon chapter but it's fun structurally within this very book and it leads to a lot of i think dramatic tension and irony uh because stannis leaves john at the wall yeah just before alice car stark can appear and reveal arnulf's treachery which we also know from theons reek chapters themselves right that we know that

arnulf carsark is a jerk uh in multiple ways and is trying to trying to trick stannis but it's also interesting for the carsark to be here in a way it gives another uh nodding towards asha's own predicament with the great uncle as opposed to an uncle whatever right forcing the heir of a house to wed against her will a a girl fleeing her marriage. That is definitely, as we've talked about, there's a lot of weddings going on. And so we have some language. Speaking of that, there's this language about

where they start chanting, Gaudry Farring is chanting and doing his beautiful songs to his love, R'hllor, and Stannis had allowed them to begin the burning. Asha is wondering if Karstark is watching because he wants to see R'hllor's power or if he's surveying them because he is kind of at Stannis's side up there and we get this line from Godry. We thank you for the stars that watch over us by night and pray that you will rip away this veil that hides them so we might glory in their sight once more. And there's a lot of other language but that struck out in me so hard because

of veil and i was just thinking of like how often we actually hear the word veil in the story besides the actual veil of erin and in dance specifically we hear of veils during denarius's plot tyrian's plot theon's plot asha barison and quentin's plot, and all in different uses. In Theon, we hear it as a veil of falling snow for Daenerys's wedding, her actual veil, and the veil of smoke from Drogon later on in Dance, and a veil of tears from her in the sand. In the epilogue of Dance, we hear of a veil of ragged clouds across the full moon, and we even have george using this language in the sworn sword which was another veil of smoke by the king's crown and as we've talked about extensively whenever there's gray mist in the story it is bran or blood raven checking in right uh so it's

interesting wordplay using the veil to tie it in using a veil to tie in the snow and this wedding because it's a wedding of fire with these bodies right and they use that term we saw a wedding of a lore wedding with alice and sigourn but uh it's a wedding of fire and body there's not a lot of veils in the actual weddings in nostros i'm pretty sure it's denarius the only one with a veil at a wedding yeah and that's a myrna style i think but yeah there's a cloak their coats the wedding cloak yeah but there's no wet there's no veils yeah that is interesting i didn't notice that it's just because they like have cool scarves i guess and marine they're like might as

well use with the continuation of his prayer i thought it was like really interesting is that like he goes accept the sacrifice and show us the way to winterfell that we might vanquish unbelievers and that is so freaking funny to me they that we might vanquish unbelievers. And that is so freaking funny to me. They talk about vanquishing unbelievers, but none of the people of Winterfell that are actually supposed to be Winterfell, in fact, the people that they're supposed to be fighting for for Winterfell, are believers either. None of this really involves unbelievers.

Like, the men sacrificed aren't being killed for lack of belief. And the problem with people at Winterfell is now not lack of belief. The unbelievers of Winterfell, like, if it wasn't this point in the story, the unbelievers of Winterfell would be Ned or Arya, Bran, Sansa, Cat, Jon. All these people, they're not, these are not R'hllor people. They are, you know, Faith of the Seven and Old Gods. And in fact, Jon rejected Stannis' offer. He was very much an unbeliever.

But Stannis still didn't burn Jon, even though Jon rejectedlar stannis and winterfell and religion here is just a basically a reason for conquest and then like that's re-emphasized in this prayer they wanted to install another unbeliever like they would they're supposedly also going to be fighting for the starks and we're going to go into how empty that is too they're unbelievers too bran or sansa or aria or any of the other starts would be any more willing to you know know, burn down the gods would especially not Bran and Sansa would be willing to burn down the gods would any more than Jon would. That's something that's so interesting with Sansa, right? Because she respects both of the religions she practices and worships for both like she believes in both but she's kind of trying out the new gods and trying to get her mom Seven more into it. out the new gods and trying to get her mom Seven more into it. These children would accommodate people of other religions. Winterfell was accommodating of Catelyn in the end in her sept and Stannis and his people don't, they don't really take well to other religion at all, do they?

No. Sansa literally sought out the godswood constantly. It was where she found a refuge. It was where she plotted her escape from King's Landing. And then even after she escaped, she seeks out a godswood again and rebuilds Winterfell in the godswood. And she grows closer and she still prays to the seven, but she grows closer and closer to the old gods as time goes on. There is no way the girl who like rebuilt her home in the snow under a godswood would be willing to burn the godswood in her home. And, you know, and then of course Bran's Bran.

We don't even have to go into that because it's a self-explanatory. Arya, if anybody, is probably like the least connected to the old gods at this point because you know but she wouldn't do it either because she's so connected to her heritage and it's so funny because as much as we want to see the boltons get their asses kicked it's not because they're unbelievers yeah yeah it's about titles it's about power and right now the weeping boy that's getting burnt it's so sad because he's like screaming and he's like they found him dead we were hungry please and it's not like they did not commit this evil sin to be treacherous they were hungry and

again i cannot emphasize enough that like he's a boy it reminds me what's the language in the broken man speech and then some lord yells and says you're all mine like some of these common folk that are following stannis and a lot of people like to say it's yas king he has all the common folk it's not it's because some lord just put his sword in the air and said i'm the king i'm the true ruler you follow me now and they didn't have a choice in the matter it was do I'm the king. I'm the true ruler. You follow me now. And they didn't have a choice in the matter. It was do or die. And now for those guys, it was do or die. I mean, the ribs were outlined

for a reason. We're supposed to pay attention that this is a young boy who was hungry. It doesn't feel like a righteous act to me. And it's like, you know, they emphasize like he can't be more than like 15 or 16 and like Bran who commits cannibalism by proxy kind of um as we find out later on i mean i say by he does it through summer but like he eats mail yeah yeah oh i wasn't referring to jojo

oh i was talking about the other time that cold hands was like hey guys i found some pig yeah isn't that interesting sure doesn't seem like a pig yeah but like he's even younger he's like almost half that age there's like a common thing in the fandom where they seem to think that like stannis is going to ride for winterfell and then i don't know sansa probably is going to ride with the knights of the veil to winterfell and they're gonna take the North together and they're gonna set up this big alliance just like Ned wanted to and no no he's not gonna be the ally to the Starks of the Wads that that you think he's going to be in fact quite the opposite. The North is gonna be real lucky when the only kingdom that has really constant food

left somehow joins on to their problems soon but when sansa frees up that grain and it's the most coupled with the most religiously tolerant leader prospective leader that you could possibly have like yeah and and i get that stannis it's like pride right stannis will break before he bends he will refuse hungry and whatever but we're not not going to break. I mean, the siege right at Storm's End, that is the biggest foundation for all this. This is once again, Stannis deciding what's worth it. This burning is not the last burning of this book, right? In the very next chapter, we have one other humorless, naively gifted middle child doing some burnings of his own with another red wizard.

We have Victarion. He would feed the red god too, Makoro's fire god. The arm the priest had healed was hideous to look upon, port crackling from elbow to fingertips. Sometimes when Victarion closed his hand, the skin would split and smoke, yet the arm was stronger than it had ever been. Two gods are with me now, he told the dusky woman. No foe can stand before two gods. This is literally what stannis is surrounded with as well with melisandre who often says no one can withstand relore's instruments or flames as in stannis being that instrument and i think there's a definite use in other powerful men being

described as no one could withstand him like gregor clegane who's also cloaked in fire and Euron who's cloaked in psychedelic ass blue crazy ice fire crazy ass whatever LSD tripping balls pirate who knows uh Victarion though in this next chapter he does something similar he burns someone as well he burns seven women actually he takes a slave ship from Yunkai it was on its way to lease to sell boys and girls to a pleasure house he chooses seven of the choicest girls ew they're very diverse george spends a very long like little passage saying like each one is very diverse with their different looks we love a diverse king yes victorian yes king uh but the way that victorian takes this ship reminds me of stannis back at the wall in the john chapters with

how stannis puts these circumstantial freedoms on the table for the free folk as long as they get rid of their dingy weapons and their religion and when you think of potter cotter pike's message of dead things in the water there are so many more important things that stannis is not chasing like stannis's time at the wall was not well informed he did not chase the things he should have when you look at the contractualism between a people and between their government, if he is going to want to expect these small folk, these men that followed him into this barren north where it's nothing but snow and hunger and death and cold, he expects these low-born people to just be happy and go along with it and does not feed them. No expenses paid, and there's nothing to eat.

And no, he's not eating like a king should right now. Stannis isn't. But what he is eating is still better than what they're eating. So this burning, I mean, Jon had to make peace with Tycho and send him to find Stannis, right? Because Stannis set out ready to go right his wrongs and be a king. But a king in common theory should be facilitating that kind of networking and infrastructure. Stannis' goal has been to win and defeat Robert's ghost. There's been no and then afterwards. No

what comes next. No Aragorn's tax policy, if you will. Win and I'm king. That's not a platform. That's not what caring for hundreds of thousands of millions of people across the country means. And Stannis didn't come with a plan for that infrastructure for a place that quite obviously needs infrastructure because it's been ignored for decades, like the wall, for example. Vote Baratheon no matter who, though. Just saying. Yeah, well, I think that's like really an intrinsic theme here. And like, you know, hilariously, this is also a Cersei parallel. You know, she's miserable, and she's horrified, but she kind of likes Stannis. But she also has all the power. She's the Queen Regent. And while she's facing a lot of obstacles, too, Tyrion says of Cersei, like, she wants power, but has like no idea what to do with it. It's same freaking thing with Stannis here, unfortunately. do with it it's same freaking thing with stannis here unfortunately like no that's a great thought though because they're both chasing ghosts right they're chasing the ghosts of what they should be

and uh the next chapter with victorian is interesting because it's punctuated by makoro he ends the chapter and this is honestly put into context this is probably what stannis hears every night when melisandre speaks to him when they're together obviously not right this moment but when melisandre's around she's there to say to him what mccorrow says to victorian in the next chapter uh and this is in context of the horn however for melisandre and stannis it's in context of him as azor ahai mccorrow says your brother did not sound the horn himself nor must you hear blood Here, blood for fire, fire for blood. Who blows the hell horn matters not. The dragons will come to the horn's master.

You must claim the horn with blood. Every night, Melisandre gives him his little lullaby and his glass of warm lemon water, right, and says, Stannis, sweetie, you're the chosen one. You must claim it. We must birth another shadow baby. You must do a sacrifice. We need king's blood. You're the chosen one. You must claim it. We must birth another shadow baby. You must do a sacrifice. We need King's blood.

You're the one. And we see Victarion being nursed by that very idea. And it does seem in this chapter with Stannis, you know, with his gaunt skeletal looks, that he is conflicted. He is at this point of no return. He's about to pass some sort of line eventually because it's a lot different than the siege at Storm's End. You know, people talk about like shit all over Dany for screwing stuff up,

and she totally does 100% screw things up. But at least she's like trying to do things. And people are undoing the things she's doing. That's the other thing is like under, it's like having a toddler walk around behind you. Yeah, exactly. Half the time, it's her own counsel. It seems here like Stannis is really trying to please his counsel and not the people that he's trying to win over.

Right. Like this burning is for his queens men. The queens men wanted the burning. Stannis didn't want the burning. Stannis literally just said there will be no burnings. Pray harder. And this was to appease Barry. And it was stupid.

Appease Barry them. And it's like really obvious. Really obvious. And the people he should be trying to win over right now are the Northerners. And the Northerners are pissed. But I think that might be why Stannis relented to

this one, right? Obviously they were breaking one of the big taboos in Westeros. There are, I think, what? Four defined ones ones and they're like incest and that one's obviously been broken kinslaying guest right and cannibalism oh no it's not cannibalism it's slavery sorry it's slavery but this one's also in a way like kind of one in general and he relents it is a taboo he relents to it because it's not one of the northerners because once you cross that line of being like, we're burning people for

being non-believers, then he suddenly starts having a real hard problem in his camp. I keep thinking about the punishments to the old gods, because you just brought up Guess Right, and it reminds me of the rat being turned into rats to force to eat your people and everything.

It just reminds me of that. Cannibalism isn't so much a taboo as it is a punishment, actually. It's almost like you are forced to endure cannibalism. Forced to turn to cannibalism for some kind of sin, but these guys didn't have any sin. They didn't break any taboo. Really hungry.

Yeah. It asks, where is the line for taboo for this? It's something that's been asked throughout the series. All of the time, the line's pretty clear. Here, it's not. Well, the queen's men are singing against flames, and the shrieks drown them out. The air is thick with burnt flesh, and the screaming stops. Stannis takes his leave.

For more fire. Yep, to go stare in his night fires and arnold tries to follow him but richard horb is like no no stops and was like you don't you don't follow the king man when he's going to his night fires we just let him you know this is where stannis is gonna stare out the window think about proud wing stare in the fire think about how he'll never be better than his brother and think about melisandre's pussy and that's about how he'll never be better than his brother. And think about Melisandre's pussy. And that's about what he's doing right now. Think about the void, right?

So Richard Horpe takes Arnulf and he's like, let's go to the long haul. You just let Stannis be. All right. Fire can be multiple things, right? It's obviously giving life in many ways, right? They kind of fucking need it, especially when the others come. But here we're seeing it used in a destructive way. It's hard. Things are hard. Things that

are also hard, you know, survival, having food, nutrients, and that's why cannibalism is coming to the forefront of the story here, right? Part of it is winter, and winter both literally within the story, but also metaphorically. And it's a specter that's actually hung over

Stannis' story, I would say, since we first really get to know him. We hear those legends of him during the Siege of Storm's End and that they didn't cross the line then, but they came pretty close. You're like, let's just eat this leather. Which, I mean, that's a thing.

People really do that. It kind of makes you think, is it Chekhov's cannibalism? But anyway. Besides the Peaceberry Men, if we look at cannibalism more metaphorically and thematically same way as we do with Winter I think we kind of see it arise in Stannis's story a few other ways in terms of what it means to do something in terms of consumption not just the literally eating another body and I think that there's something kind of like the concept of sexual cannibalism, which I'm some of you may know, if you're like, I don't know into bugs and shit, like praying mantises do it red widow spiders, it's really common amongst bugs, bugs love this stuff. And the female of the species will mate and then consume the male

either before or after sex, which you know, you know, that's not a choice for their species. That's actually how they work in the context of Stannis and Melisandre's relationship. I think you can kind of see that come through a little. There's already a lot of other Freudian readings when it comes to vaginas, right?

And it's the mouth, it's so hungry. Vagina dentata, right? The mixture, that complication of desire. and it's the mouth, it's so hungry. Vagina dentata, right? The sarlacc. That mixture, that complication of desire. Yes. Whoa. Whoa. That's lewd.

Anyways, the life force, though, I think you can see this idea of sexual cannibalism coming through with Stannis and Melisandre as his life force ends up becoming devoured during their copulation in order to create the shadow babies. And then I think there's another way we can kind of interpret it in the context of Greek mythology. There's that famous myth of Cronus or Saturn, depending on if you

want to be Roman or not, devouring his own children, same as his father did before him. You know, this is just like a weird thing that they do in the family. It's normal. Traditions. And of course, many already liken Stannis to Agamemnon because of his impending sacrifice of Shireen. But I think that there's also really a thematic aspect of it. The candy red of Stannis kind of being like

Cronus in terms of that act of sacrifice and cannibalism. As the one like Peaseberry Man yells, right right the ones that they were devouring for their own benefit that they might survive those people were already dead okay like the flesh the flesh roasting and smelling like pork as described in sam's chapters like even when it's being burnt for like oh we can't let we can't let these come back to life or even here where it's being burned for like we need the storm to stop right it makes you wonder how far is the step of burning these

men and their flesh for sacrifice that scent of rose pour wafting through the camp how different is it really to burn someone for your own personal benefit and the survival of others versus the act of devouring someone else's flesh i i totally like when you brought up cronus i was like that is exactly what i was thinking about because so cronus eats his children because he's afraid they're going to do to him what he did to his dad yes castrated his dad you know and just normal he's's like, oh, that's all shit. Right. That's all shit. And he ate them out of fear that he would lose power. Basically, that's the biggest point. And I think that's interesting because as Wendy kind of mentioned earlier, we have had cannibalism in this story.

Obviously very often already, but recently in the fray pies, which is very much coming to life. And to bring it back to Wyman Manderley and his rat cooking, reminds me of atreus and theastes of course because they wanted the throne theastes seduce atreus's wife later on revengey stuff happens atreus broods and plots and he ends up serving theastes with his son uh takes the platter off displays their heads and with the the idea that like these men burning here did not eat lord fell for power they did not burn they're not being burnt for power either like stannis i can tell you he knows that this is not going to clear this blizzard uh but this isn't revenge this isn't

for power they ate him for survival out of hunger and fear and for a simple reason they aren't gods they aren't they aren't stannis they aren't cronus they aren't atreus they're just men but how can a self-proclaimed god decide to pass this judgment onto them or judge them so furthermore stannis is sitting back here at this burning right letting his men do it and the man who passes the sentence should at least swing the goddamn relore torch right originally stannis had actually mentioned he wanted to execute these men and the men push him to make it a sacrifice make no mistake it's not a sacrifice to relore it's a sacrifice to his queen's men a sacrifice so that stannis could keep his southern men happy make a message to the northerners like, look, we don't allow this in our camps.

A sacrifice, just like eating your six kids to maintain and keep your power as king of this camp. He's using his pound of flesh to stay in power, quite literally. They were using the pound of flesh to stay alive. We're talking about like Stannis eating, sacrificing and eating his kids, but you know what's going to happen with Shireen.

She has King's blood and it's, she's got the blood of, she's the blood of the lamb, basically. It's a big Jesus thing too. This sacrifice isn't going to be anything. And he thinks, and by the time like, by the time that this happens with Stannis, it's likely he's going to think he has to do it

to save people, just like Jesus was sacrificed to save us all. Not really, but. And that's the difference, right? Because there are parallels also to Abraham with either Isaac or Ishmael, depending, once more, on which book you believe. But the difference is Jesus went into it willingly, right? Shireen is not, and that's what's so horrible about what these men are doing,

what Stannis is doing, that they would force someone else into the position of being sacrificed. Someone else is paying the price instead of themselves. If Stannis has king's blood, if he wants everyone to survive, he should get on that pyre, right? That's how that idea of heroism and self-sacrifice works. But then he doesn't get to be the king, Eliana. Right. I mean, no, he doesn't.

That's the whole thing. Yeah. He doesn't. And I mean, there are interpretations where people would argue that Stannis is in ways doing quite a bit of self-sacrifice, but I'm not. Fuck that. Right now. Yeah, we're not going there right now um yeah we're not going there right now but i would say that like i mean even just

the scene for it to be a proper sacrifice they took the clothing off the men brought them out naked and put them on the pyre is that what's going to happen to shireen that's going to be a gruesome sight can't yeah she can at least keep her clothes on, right? I hope. I don't know. Will R'hllor accept it that way? It might not be pure. I don't know how religion works. Just thoughts. Like, that's pretty fucked up. I should add that to my list of questions.

Should add that to my list of questions for George. Well, no, in general, do people need to be naked to be sacrificed to R'hllor? A question. Along with, George, will you fork your beard? During various inquisitions and witch burnings and things like that, historically, they would shave the heads of the people being burned and shift-

Not necessarily burn them naked, they would strip them down to shifts, though. Shifts is fine. I don't know. A shift. It'll probably be a shift. Because she babby. Are they gonna shave your head? That's fine's fine i mean the burning part is not it's gonna have to be wild he's gonna have to be so like he's already kind of out of it like right now he's already like stares off into the distance for three hours straight until someone says stana's time for your water with lemon in it but like it he's gonna get worse and worse and worse i don't think he's gonna last

i mean i kind of think he'll last till the third quarter of the wins a winner but i don't know yeah it's gonna be hard i mean well i'm kind of reminded this this kind of reminds me of argela durandin too the storm queen oh yeah uh if if serita is in fact pulled out naked in front of the crowds. Yeah. Yeah. In chains, yeah. Yeah. Huh. Wow, that's a I didn't think about that. Sorry, I

ad-lib a lot. Alright, well, speaking of awful, Sir Clayton Suggs! Clayton Suggs. Clayton Suggs. Clayton Suggs, bitch! Speaking of people who should fucking burn, he's harassing Asha while we've been sad about Shireen and horrified. And Clayton Suggs has been harassing Asha,

asking if the Iron Cunt enjoyed the show. She thinks he has pig eyes and that they match his little house sigil. And he tells her the crowd's going to be even bigger when it's her squirming on the stake. And he's not wrong. The wolves don't love the ironborn or the centuries of awful stuff they've done. Or Dion's crimes or her crimes. And we get this passage, which is the best passage. It is the entire mood.

I have kept it in here just because of it being the entire mood. Every time Suggs spoke to her, it left her yearning for her axes. Asha was as good a finger dancer as any man on the aisles and had ten fingers to prove it. If only I could dance with this one. Some men had faces that cried out for a beard. Sir Clayton's face cried out for an axe between the eyes. Ah, mood. Amazing.

Asher writes. This is very relatable content. Such a mood. It kind of reminds me of dudes that say girls wear too much makeup and then they have really thick beards that cover 40% of their faces. I don't know. I don't know. And then when we don't wear makeup they tell us they look tired.

Pretty much. Pretty much. Also, why would you say that about pigs? Pigs are adorable. I would be slinging your pigs in their eyes like that. I know, pig eyes are great. Wendy, anecdote. When I was 7 years old I went to an Amish countryside and I kissed a pig. Oh, wow. an Amish countryside and I kissed a pig oh wow

it's a challenge a kiss a picture yeah probably I put a little bit of pretzel between my teeth and I walked up to like a baby pig and it was cute it was actually not as gross as you'd expect it to be I imagine it's way better than Clayton Suggs apparently it's like a challenge thing to prove how tough you are among the Amish or something oh it's way better than Clayton Suggs and we should not slander pigs like this. Asha wrenches herself away from Clayton, who is worse than a pig, and then he digs his gloved

fingers into her arm, which is horrible, and thankfully Alicene comes and defends her and tells him, you need to heed Lady Asha's request. Do not touch her, alright? Don't, what are you doing? She's not for burning, all right? And then Clayton calls her a demon worshiper, saying that she will burn.

And Justin Massey shows up with an easy smile and pink cheeks. He says that the king has other plans for the prize captive. And none of us know what those plans are, by the way. Clayton argues that she has king's blood, though, and Melisandre would say there's power in king's blood. He doesn't think that four lowborn men will matter that much to R'hllor, but Asha would. And then Allie butts in asking, fine, then who do we burn after Asha

if the snow's still falling? Which, great question. Going back to what we were saying earlier, then Asha's like, I can't hold my tongue anymore. She responds with, Sir Clayton, maybe maybe R'hllor wants a faithful man to sing his praise while the flames

lick at his cock. And everyone else is amused except for Clayton's side. You dropped this queen. You dropped this queen. Everyone else is amused. Clayton tries to come back with another empty threat and then shoves off and then Asha thanks Justin for the valiant rescue

then Alisanne's like that rescue's not gonna win you any more friends and asks him what about your own faith to R'hllor and Justin's like you know I haven't just lost my faith in R'hllor I've lost it in a lot of other things lately but not in dinner and then invites everyone to come eat with them you know massey's like the only one who acts like he has a soul anymore and yet he's the one who's lost his faith i almost

want to be controversial and i don't think he ever believed in brahlor yeah i don't probably not i don't think he did either he makes that retort to richard horpe and i think horpe and massey seem like they're close yeah i think horpe is maybe horpe similar in my opinion in that like there's a bunch of men here of the southerners i think so are pretending that they are full-on relore fanatics because it puts them in the queen's favor and puts them in the king's favor by proxy and keeps them in high status and i think that massey definitely was just trying to use opportunity as he could here and he didn't join for real or he actually joined to follow at least yeah some you know some

land not some money not for religion justin's in it for himself but at least i think he's honest about that yeah he didn't join to go to church you know what i'm saying he wants them to come eat and they're like no we do not have an appetite. And he tells them, well, you should anyway because we're down from 800 horses to, oh, you know, 64 horses. Oh, even the northern horses have started to starve, by the way. 8%.

They've lost 92% of their horses. Don't give your horses other horses to eat, probably. Yeah, no, that's an abomination. They've actually probably started doing that. you that's how you get mad cow i'm just i'm just thinking it that's such hypocrisy that is such hypocrisy you guys are gonna feed horses to the horses but then you're gonna fucking burn men alive for eating other men don't you know what tuna is It's I'd be an abomination.

I love Lilo and Stitch. Yes. I will fight to reference Lilo and Stitch. Well, you know what? At the end of the chapter we're going to get an Ohana moment so just hang tight. The chapter that actually comes after Wendy's sacrifice

is completely kind of the opposite situation. We have an exiled storm lord, John Connington, trying to get back his home. He barely loses anyone. He loses only four people, where Stannis and co. are on 80-something in the cult count. John Conn, because Stannis is outie,

slips back into his house like he never left. His homecoming is easy. Stannis is trying to take something that isn't his, he's having a hard time john con knows this john con uses stannis's exit for his benefit and most people think he's leading sellswords for stannis he uses that he's like yeah yeah yeah sure believe that in a way stannis's battle of the bells was probably blackwater right but john connington does a lot of thinking about how he kept going after the wrong thing at the Battle of the Bells, Robert, and how it got the better of him.

And he was cast down by Robert because of it. Stannis is chasing the wrong thing, Robert's fucking ghost and glory, and is gonna probably be cast down because of it in the end. Yes. Both of them have revolved their lives around Robert the same way Robert

revolved his life around Gregor and Leona. Cast down like Circe, again. Wow. Circe also pursued Robert's power, interestingly enough, and she was cast down. Just like Saturn and his dad. Okay. Cronus, whatever. Depending on

who you are. But we have a question. At least he didn't eat his children. He's just like, I'm gonna make a million babies. Or even Zeus, who also devoured them. He ate his first wife, Metis, and thus at one point Athena was in his belly, flew up to his head

and then sprung forth from his head. There's a question regarding the horses. There are many questions regarding horses in general, but this one, Asha's wondering, but what did they need horses for? Stannis was no longer marching anywhere. The sun and moon and stars had been gone so long that Asha was starting to wonder whether she had dreamed them.

There's no light in the darkness anymore. Ironically, the people serving, the camp serving the Lord of Light, there's no light in the darkness. Maybe the light is inside of us oh the stars are going out the stars are going out that's what it feels like soon it will be the longest night asha takes his advice to eat but aliceanne doesn't wish to accompany them justin takes responsibility over the prisoner and they had to eat. Guards are flanking the door and the room's big it's big enough for 50 men so 100 men naturally are packed in at the tables with smoke coming out of the roof hole

and a fire trench in the middle of the room. The southern men are on one side the wolves another. This right here reminded me a lot of a line I think it's in dance actually where the Lannister Guardsmen are on one side and the Reachmen are on the other. And the line is very obviously drawn, the green versus red. I felt that here. The southern versus the northern men. Very separate.

Is this a sports reference? It probably is, knowing George. I mean, I don't know. Isn't isn't the green isn't green the giants yeah but like the way that they're split up is that like how sports stadiums look no not necessarily like i say this is somebody who's been to a lot of hockey games and a lot of college football games it tends to be kind of scattered. Sometimes fans of the visiting team will buy a block together. I thought I was onto something,

but I don't know sports. What I do know is that the Southerners seem sick and gaunt, red, wind-scarred. And the Northern men are like, yeah, I don't know, healthy and ruddy. Asha thinks, you know, they're probably also hungry and cold,

but they definitely wear it a lot better because they have fucking the bear paws and gerunds and aren't being idiots in the cold. They've lost hardly anyone and the southerners are just like having a horrible time. They're like all walking in the same places. They probably would be in Winterfell by now

if everyone followed the Northmen again. I mean most of them like live during the long summer but a lot of these guys have lived long enough to remember the other winters. That's true. They are older. And, you know, like, there's just so many themes of, like, toughness in this chapter, and, like, Asha, like,

thinks, like, she has these horrible shooting pains in her legs, and it's because of that's also a thing, and, like, she's trying to, like, restrain herself. herself like there's all these things like I'm tough enough to do this I'm tough enough to do that and she's like trying to hold herself like apart from

everyone but she's there's these little allusions to how she's similar to the northerners because it's sort of like her similarities with Alisane and like you know and then also she's probably wearing she's wearing it a little bit better but she's you know kind of caught in the middle uh between like how they're handling the cold yeah

she broke her ankle back in i want to say it was in wayward bride and the deepwood moth scuffle so she is still definitely reeling from the after effects of that of trying to walk miles and miles and do things with a broken ankle, because there's no healthcare right now in the middle of this blizzard, that's for sure. And it is interesting to see kind of the ironborn hold themselves against the northern kind of culture

as well. Like, these are the two toughies, and the southerners are definitely the complainers. There's no not- there's no care. Yeah. Well, while Asha lets her feet thaw justin fetches them supper for maybe one of the least romantic first dates anyone's ever had there's ale and chunks of horse meat a smaller portion than last time she gives sir massey her thanks and he's like please call me justin down the table will foxglove gossips that stanis has seen victory in the flames

and they'll be marching in three days justin massey chimes in that the cold count reached 80 the night before they'll die by the hundreds if they march and they won't be able to take winterfell because how the fuck are they gonna do it with exhausted cold hungry men which is all they have which is a question i've been wondering for chapters now well actually just one other chapter i don't know how they're gonna do this humphrey clifton says it's better than the thousands they'll lose by staying in the village and sir ormond wilde says they should wait till the weather breaks sir ormond wilde gets described as a cadaverous old knight here that he's like old and unfun and i think this is really funny because we later get fire and blood and we the character we

learn from in fire and blood morgan wild's daughter uh is cory and wild and in fire and blood aliceanne and jaharis marry against everyone's will alissa and rojar seek to undermine them separately al alissa dispatches maids for aliceanne to dragon stone but basically uses some of these maids to maybe try to break up Jaehaerys and Alysanne in different ways or et cetera, and spy on them like they do with different maids. It was a great way for Alyssa and Rojar to actually strengthen their Stormland alliances,

which is something we see. They send some Celtigars. They do send a couple Tullys and a Septa, but we actually get three girls of noble birth, one from the Vale, the Stormlands, and the reach sent there genus of house templeton corianne of house wild and rosamund of house ball roger and alissa uh end up pushing it roger uses it for himself we actually have in fire and blood of

course you have the rando narrator of was it mushroom says this and so and so so the book that came up out of this is a book about all of this by many names the most frequently named is a caution for young girls or uh if you're brinda beefish it's a cautioner's tale for young girls corian wild is met by a baratheon either boris or rojar the tale goes depending on who you listen to, and instructed basically the summation of it she's told to seduce Jaehaerys. What's funny is we've been talking about Asha a lot in the framework of Rhaena, and the story of A Caution for Young Girls is being told next to Rhaena and Andrall Farman's tale at Fair Isle in Fire and Blood, so I think that might leave a little credence going on

to that framework. But returning to the current Lord Wild we know cory and wild has some crazy adventures that get discussed some lewd adventures in stannis's camp this lord wild is cadaverous and all these men are betting when he's going to die that he's gonna die next so i think it's so funny because george is like house wild the person you know from house wild is an old man that could die at any minute. And then he's like, fire and blood. House Wild. Sex. Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying that Ormond Wild here hasn't been on some crazy adventures. This is a crazy adventure. It's just gonna be his

last one. Yeah, that's for sure. He's gonna die. Yeah. He might die waiting for the weather to break, like he's advising. Yeah, I mean, maybe he won't. Maybe he'll surprise all of us, right? Like everyone's saying. Or maybe he'll come back as a white.

You know, the whole cadaverous imagery. Yeah. Maybe he's the prince who's promised. In the group. Okay. I'm interested. That's about it. That's the furthest I've thought. Asha has better thoughts, right? She's wondering how much

the bet is on her dying next and she's like can i can i get in on the vetting pool interesting for my death i mean oh it's a death pool okay anyways um wild insists that there are fish and lord peasbury says yes but there are not enough fish and there are too many fishermen lord peasbury is quite gloomy which is you know only natural after his own men have been burnt for being caught as cannibals and some of the men in the halls have been gossiping that you know peasbury must have known what was going on maybe he even partook too uh noseless ned woods is one of the scouts from Deepwood Mott. He's a Graves Peasbury, and when he

speaks, even the proudest southern lord pays him attention, because he's quite respected. He tells them that they've made the frozen lakes look like cheese, with all of their holes. That they fished out all the lake. And that's kind of funny, you know, cheese

and mice and rats, You were all talking about the Rat King earlier on. Cannibalism. But anyways, Humphrey Clifton insists, like, this is why we have to march. March or die. It sounds like they're gonna march or die regardless. Anyway, just Massey tells him to die how he wishes, but he would

like to see another spring. Peasbury implies that it is a craven way of thinking and Justin responds, better a craven than a cannibal. Everyone's fighting. Got him. Than a cannibal. Justin with like the spicy takes here. But yeah.

And then there's like this point where they say like, press on and die, stay here and die, fall back and die. They're literally the walking dead. They're the walking dead. Not like the walking dead that show, but like, there's a lot of dead men walking here. No matter what they do, the walking dead they're the walking not like the walking dead the show but like they're there's some there's a lot of dead men walking here no matter what they do they are dead and so we all have like multiple armies of walking dead uh going towards winterfell which is so great isn't it and of course we did bring up that the lake was full of holes from their ice

fishing i think later on we'll mention it in passing again but the night lamp theory is probably one of the biggest theories about what's going to happen with Stannis' battle. Brynden B. Fish and Cantus from Reddit over there, they have chatted about it. We'll put some links up in there. It's not our thing. I don't really, it's hard for me to get excited about stuff that I don't see. I'm a visual person. I get it. I get it. But so the holes, you know, they're hoping the frays are gonna fall in those holes is what the whole theory kind of starts, and there's some other stuff. We'll talk about it. But I digress.

I subscribe to it, but we're not gonna talk about it, and also I'm not gonna do a good job of describing it, and I just think people should read it because it's a classic. Yeah, no, I can't describe it. So. Just read it, and it is not an exhibit of military analysis. I generally don't like talking about battles anyways. Like, yeah, same.

Yeah, I just like knowing what happens like afterward. That's what I prefer. It's just my thing. Everyone has a thing. Yeah. What are the key points that actually matter other than a pile of corpses? Yes, that is. Unless there's romance in the middle of the battle. I love when the two

people that I ship fight together and defend each other. That's what I want out of my battles. I want metaphors for fucking. You need to read Girl Genius then. Like, one of the first major battles in that story has the main character and her

first love interest fighting back to back. Yeah, it's in comic form too so you get to see it yeah i'll link you guys later there's a storm king there's a storm king legend in uh that story too yeah and there's a big battle for power that everyone's after and uh a lot of love just like history well but we're interrupted right now by Richard Horpe. He is also interrupting them. And he says that death is part of war and snow is melting in his hair, which kind of makes me think about the snow melting and all the different Starkling's hair that we've talked about before.

There was snow in Godry's hair as well earlier when he was singing to R'hllor and it feels significant, but for other reasons, like what meant what Wendy just mentioned that these monsters might not come back. These monsters might actually be slain. We'll see. We'll see. He says that those too weak to march may stay, but should fend for themselves if they stay.

Those that march with Stannis will have a share in the glory, quote unquote, that they take back from the Boltons, and they'll send food from Winterfell when they can. It's just funny to me. Justin argues they won't take Winterfell and Arnulf Karstark is cackling and laughing he's like no no they're going to

they're going to and he stands up like a vulture from its prey clutching his son's shoulder. We'll take it for the Ned and for his daughter. Aye, and for the young wolf too, him who was so cruelly slaughtered.

Me and mine will show the way if need be. I've said as much to his good grace, the king. Much, I said, and before the moon can turn, we'll all be bathing in the blood of Freys and Boltons. Men began to stamp their feet, to pound their

fists against the tabletop. Almost all were Northmen, Asha noted. Across the fiery trench, the southern lords sat silent on their benches. The daughter he's referring to is Arya, because they think Arya's in the Clutches and the Boltons. It's not really Arya. But Arya's not even really Arya because they think Arya is in the Clutches and the Boltons. It's not really Arya. But Arya's not even

really Arya right now. She's trying and going, she's futilely trying to shed, or pretending to, she's going to shed who she is and become no one. She, we, like, none of the Starks are the Starks themselves right now. And what's so funny

is he mentions Rob, but Rob is the one who killed Lord karstark at the first it's such fucking bullshit it's amazing how the starks have become these fetish objects these like ideals to fight for but like they don't give a shit about the starks that's why like for example what we know now about what arnold karstark is really doing there and what we learn obviously from the alice karstark stuff going on and we're like wait a second isn't this guy isn't he kind of a jerk from what i've heard and then you realize looking back at the speech what does he say he says for the young wolf who was so cruelly slaughtered no he didn't give a fuck

that he was so cruelly slaughtered he's like uh almost like the walter frey of this situation his grandson and sons are there and justin is actually pressing this conversation he's like so what are you gonna do when you get to winterfell like what are you gonna do snowball them you know just throw snowballs at them and the grandson and sons are like we'll cut trees to make rams and ladders and justin's like no logically you'll die in the cold or they'll kill you by then and justin here is actually calling them out on all of this because he's like this sounds really nonsensical you guys do you hear yourselves talk and they're like no no it'll be fine arnulf was cackling the text says they're in on a joke that

we're not in on is what it is they obviously are in on a joke we're not in on and it really shows when you look back he's like uh he's got like it's the dark version of Big Bucket Wool's speech it's a perversion of it and we again we already know that Arnolf is a traitor it's also a counterpart to Wyman Manderly's speech right

because Wyman Manderly also delivers a speech that seems alongside the interests of those that he's with and then he has his own little inside joke right just as arnold carstark does here as we know he's a traitor to stannis's cause but hey you know as you were saying right with the starks and what they've become the speech shows how easily the quest for glory and vengeance on behalf of the starks it's being perverted, right? It's being used against the interests of many of these Northmen.

They've become this sort of symbol detached from who they are. What I find interesting about Justin's character, as Chloe was saying, he's being like, what is going on? Crazy pills. Are we all taking crazy pills? What are you eating? Right? I thought

we were eating horses. Okay, not crazy pills. And that's why he's so disliked by many of the men characters like we see from other men and from some of the men's POVs. He's not very much liked by any of them, whereas he is quite liked, it seems like well well enough, right? By Asha and even Alisand Mormont, who is not amongst those who are stamping and shouting for glory. She's not even in the hall right now, right? Justin's not motivated by this glory, and neither are Asha or Alisand. We see throughout the story that this desire for glory at any cost

is really wrapped up in ideas of toxic masculinity throughout Westeros. Justin, though, is more motivated by survival and self-preservation, and maybe self-preservation too far, right, as we see in his exchange in Theon's Winds of Winter chapter with Stannis, and it can come off as really distasteful and really slimy at times, and that's what the men see of him as opposed to this pragmatism. There's both, right? But we know that he's right here because we've been in Winterfell through Theon's chapters. And again, we know

that Karsark is setting a trap because of Jon's chapters. And so Justin ends up actually being the voice of reason here, not only against the Northmen's fervor, but also when it comes to this crazy southern wanton burnings as well. And he embodies in a way i think and echoes balin grayjoy's advice to asha that you know it's better to surrender and live

another day to rise again but it was balin's hunger for glory that did him in and it's something that asha had questioned because after all that appeared that appeal to glory and power that carsark is channeling here and again it's a dark version of some of those other speeches, Big Bucket Bull's speech, and is very much the same strategy that Euron used to win the Kingsmoot over Asha. Yeah, well, speaking of the Kingsmoot, actually, Justin is actually Asha in this case. He's Asha in the Kingsmoot because, you know,

Euron shows up and he's like, I'm going gonna get you this and this and this and this and then we're gonna get we're gonna score these bitches and we're gonna get money you know fuck bitches we're gonna be great and then you know like victorian's like i'll get you everything balon will get you which is actually jack shit which is seriously one of the funniest moments in this whole entire series by the way it's like that's like one of the things that makes me laugh so freaking horrible whatever you had with bail on you can expect from me oh great yeah that's awesome uh and then asha shows up with her with her chest filled with like pine cones and turnips and shit and rocks and

she's like here this is what you're gonna get you're gonna fucking get like if you keep listening to these idiots this is the same goddamn thing so yeah we get a confrontation between richard horp and justin massey uh because justin massey speaks out and says are all you karstarks mad and horp reminds him hey we only have one god here he says gods be good and horp is like excuse me we only worship one red demon god here just kidding uh we worship one god and everyone else's demons and he says that only the lord of light can save us now wouldn't you agree and justin basically says i my faith runs as deep as your own you know that and he says it's not your courage it is your courage i question justin not your faith because justin he says has been preaching defeat since deepwood mott justin turns red and he angrily leaves after

his faith has been questioned saying he won't stay here and be insulted and he runs off and guess who also ran off after a speech questioning everybody's dreams of glory asha yeah because she's like wow i'm not gonna stay in the room where everyone hates me and the one person who doesn't just left oh she's like peace out and as just yeah as she leaves

there's this great line of imagery that I wanted to call out because I think it's a perfect way to encompass everything that's happening in this chapter and even some of the previous chapters. And that line is a blast of cold air blew through the hall, raising ashes from the fire trench and fanning

its flames a little brighter. And that's exactly what's happening here, right? Like the winter storms coming through the camps, it's fanning the flames of anger between all the different factions that make up Stannis' army even brighter against one another. It's also fanning the flames of anger between all the different factions that make up Stannis' army, even brighter against one another. It's also fanning the flames of desperation among the southern men who won't just fucking put on the bear paws.

And it's fanning the flames of bloodlust among the northern men who are so blinded right now. And as these chapters make clear, it's also very much fanning the literal flames of R'hore and people seeking a sign that their faith is going to be rewarded asha thinks broken quick as that my champion is made of suet yeah it's toughness again by the way that's what she's judging yeah yeah like it's toughness again she's judging a lot of people on their toughness in this chapter which is really freaking funny because like you're not tougher than a lot of these people in fact you in fact you fled from your home asha yourself after giving a speech wondering if everybody has gone completely netso to be fair she has nothing else to do but judge people right now she has nothing else to do but judge people right now. She has nothing else to do with her life, okay? I'm just saying.

Yeah, she's on the DVD commentary just going, he was a bitch, he was a bitch, he was a bitch. This is how she's conserving her energy, you know? She's trying not to burn too many carbs, so she's just quietly judging people. That doesn't take that much. Yeah, this is her hobby now. That's all she has.

Speaking of DVD commentary and the meta I do sometimes wonder when Sanus looks in the flames is he is that him staring into the camera for hours I think so yeah like what is happening that or out the window but right now Asha also again she's rising

she's putting on her own cloak and saying peace out everyone goodbye follows Justin out into the blizzard within 10 yards she's like fuck i'm lost in the blizzard now she calls out for justin gets no answer hears only interestingly a horse wicker off to her left she pulls her cloak tighter stumbling back to the village and passing

the corpses and the chains on them had cooled which is great i guess but it's still wrapped around the burnt flesh and a raven is perched upon one of the bodies eating oh wow it's like a feast for crows, but ravens. She watches the snow thinking that the old gods mean to bury them and that this was not their work. the worst shows up to ruin her already shitty day and he's like you look real pretty when you're roasted do squid scream squid roasted is good anyways uh and she thinks god of my fathers if you can hear me in your watery halls beneath the waves grant me one small throwing axe the drowned god did not answer he seldom did that was the trouble with gods. So real. So real. It's so real.

God. But the trouble with gods thing is like, that's basically exactly what's being debated from this chapter too. Like, gods aren't answering. Even if they're real, they don't care about your shitty problems right now, Stannis.

Yeah. They have bigger issues. Yeah. In fact bigger issues. Yeah. In fact, you're probably pissing them off. That's true. They'll be like, what are you doing? This is not what I wanted! But... You are an idiot sandwich. If only there were a god of throwing axes, though,

when, like, horrible men were around. The rest of the the passage is perfect because you get him coming after all of a sudden and this is again what it's about it's that toxic masculinity because she asks if he's seen sir justin and he goes that prancing fool what do you want with him cunt if it's a fuck you need i'm more a man than massy and she thinks cunt again it was odd how men like Suggs used that word to demean women when it was the only part of a woman they valued and Suggs was worse than middle little when he says the word he means it yep yep this is like a serious indicator there are some men all allowed

to speak to me right like only a few and Clayton Suggs would not know one of them the difference with like middle little like middle little is mad respectable he reminds me of Strax from Doctor Who Wendy you might know that reference I don't know do you like Doctor Who yes I I liked a few seasons of Doctor Who I have fallen off the Doctor Who wagon I barely remember any of it I am not caught up right now but there is a character named strax who is a santaran a santaran nurse who like he straight up is always like it would be my greatest honor to defeat you in battle someday on the field and like he does not care about anything you do but he does want you know respectably to defeat you in battle and that's that's mad respectable that's

what ash is into middle little's like hey he did, you know, but a battle's a battle. And she's like, yeah, true that, Middle Little, true that. And I really like that, but I don't like Suggs. No. He would not be allowed to speak in my presence. Not if anyone likes him. Maybe Godry Farring, but I'm not convinced that Godry Farring actually likes Clayton Suggs. No, he's just a big mean bully.

Asher reminds Clayton that Stannis actually gelts men for rape and he chuckles at her. He tells her Stannis is half blind from staring into fires. Staring into the camera. But that she shouldn't fear because he's like I won't rape you because then I would have to kill you

afterwards. What? What? Because that's a fucking rational thought I'd rape you but I'd have to kill you for a good guy like Clayton Suggs sorry yeah it's basically I enjoy a good kill after a rape

so I get it you know I understand we are being so hashtag problematic right now to me Asha interrupts Clayton's wonderful prose that he's speaking to her, right? His poetry that he's giving her. And she's like, do you hear that noise? And he's like, what noise? It sounded like a horse. Actually, more than a horse.

She listens and she's trying to hear it against the snow and he's like, this is some squid game! Until suddenly, he hears it and he's like, it's riders! Does he... Sometimes I'm like, does he really think she's a squid? Like, he keeps calling her a squid. Like, should we just call you pig all the time?

Clayton sucks, but anyway. All the Westerosi think they're their sigils, Eliana. Yeah. I will say something that I love about this scene is that it shows us how experienced Asha is as a warrior, right? Because her senses are actually trained to be ready.

She's honed them even to an extent in this kind of weather, or like when there's a lot of noise in general, it's difficult to figure things out probably because of waves and shit. So she notices the sounds of horses, and she's like, that's pretty weird. Whereas Sir Clayton Suggs is so busy doing, I don't know, some dumbass shit right now that, and probably has done most of his killing in dungeons or something

like that or after battle right and not an actual battlefield most of his seducing too right so he doesn't notice the horses at first i'm like asha who's like wait shut the fuck up you idiot what is happening she doesn't say that but yeah in her heart, she did. And I love that he literally didn't believe it until they're upon them. Like, shut up. Shut up, Clayton. And so Northmen emerge. They're bulky by their furs and their swords and their axes and war hammers. And she can't really make out any of the shields, the arms on them.

And she feels naked, she thinks. She says, for all her layers of wool and fur and boiled leather, Asha felt naked standing there. A horn, she thought naked standing there a horn. She thought I need a horn to rouse the camp. That's funny since Victarion also is working on a horn in the next chapter. Horny chapter. Horns again. There's lots of horns.

Like there's the dragon horn. It's a dragon horn. We're horny. There's the horn of winter. Yeah. So horny. It is finally. It is a horny chapter.

Once again, Clayton. horny it is finally it is a horny chapter once again clayton clayton calls her a stupid cunt and tells her to run and warn the king that lord bolton's upon them uh and he gets out in the snow ready to face the enemy and it turns out though that he's wrong because the enemy actually isn't there to fight there's too many to be scouts too few to be a vanguard and two are dressed in the blacks of a night's watch. Asha calls out, asking who they are, and hears a familiar voice respond. It's Tristopher Botley, saying that they looked for them at Winterfell, but found only crow food umber beating drums and blowing horns. He takes a knee, saying the maid is here as well. And all six of her men, Krom unfortunately died of of wounds so they're no longer the ragged nine

Clayton doesn't understand how the ironborn got loose from the dungeons and Triss explains Sibyl Glover was given a very handsome ransom for their freedom in the name of the king also the ironborn likes the northerners are made of different stuff I'd just like to put

that out there Clayton yeah another cultural similarity there. Because they have First Men roots. They all have First Men roots, too. You know what? Ironborns suck, but no one sucks as bad as Clayton. Yes.

Though I do wonder if the idea where Asha thinks that he's a courageous asshole facing the enemy, is that supposed to sort of harken back to Waymar Royce, who is not, not nearly as bad as Clayton Suggs, not even like bad at all. Just like spoiled,

whatever. But anyways, I think that. Yeah. But still dance with me then still the same thing. He was ready. Exactly. And I think we're getting that supposed to come through in that theme.

But yeah, as you said, the ironborn, like the Northerners, made of different stuff. And it's because the Ironborn, right, put faith in their leader in Asha, just as the Northmen put their faith in – they put it in the Starks, though they have become – their image and name has become perverted, right? Because leaders like the Starks or leaders like Asha, they were willing to self-sacrifice. Asha, when they're all first captured, is willing to sacrifice herself for their safety. And they have faith in that leadership, whereas part of, now I'm realizing, the burnings that are happening here from

the Queensmen are because they don't have faith in Stannis. They're looking for anything to have any light any faith in this storm and they're turning to real lord because they don't believe that stannis can take care of them yeah clayton's uh conversation made that really apparent for me reading that like clayton quite obviously does not give a shit about stannis as ruler he just gives a shit about his position while stannis is ruling absolutely and that's part of why he's like i can't imagine why anyone would pay for sea scum and the man who paid for them steps forward he's tall thin long-legged and queerly halted it's queerly hattedatted. It's Tycho Nestoris, and he

explains that he was looking for an escort, safely, to the king, and he must speak to the king at once. And I will say, Mark Gatiss did a- he was fine as Tycho Nestoris. My casting would be Joel Stouffer, aka Enoch, in The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Suggs asks, Who in the seven stinking hells

Who in the seven stinking hells are you? Who hells are you? What do you mean the humble servant of the Iron Bank of Braavos is here? And Nosh is like am I taking crazy pills? What is happening? Her reaction is basically

kind of laughing at there being an Iron Bank of Braavos person there and it harkens back to Jon a little bit because of the way he handles an Iron Bank Braavos person there. And it harkens back to Jon a little bit. Because of the way he handles the Iron Bank. And how he uses the fact how ill-suited these guys are

to being there to his advantage. And there's not a lot of respect for them. Despite how much the Iron Bank is needed. Because the Iron Bank really does loom large over everything. But no one takes him seriously at the same time. Yeah. The actual men of it, and it's really interesting to see that.

Because they show up like absurd fairy godmothers in the middle of blizzards, and everyone's like, whoa. Hello? What are you doing here? In the middle of this storm that they didn't seem to have that much trouble getting through.

This is where you get a sense of how far Asha has traveled, because she recognizes Tycho's hat is from the Free Cities, from when she herself has been to Tyrosh. So we're like, oh, she's been there. All right. Yeah, she advises the Braavosi. She's like, well, Stannis' new seat is at the Watchtower, and Clayton! Clayton's gonna leave! He's gonna go with you to him i love that she gets her power back like as soon as this happens and i know eliana i think

he's gonna talk about this later like she gets her groove back a little she's like okay well some of my boys are here some of them are dead but some of my boys are here and she's like clayton go suck off over there and he thanks her and he's like you must be Lady Asha of House Greyjoy she responds I'm Asha of House Greyjoy opinions on my ladyhood differ and he smiles and says that he has a gift for her that he found at Winterfell with Morse Umber a girl and an old man thought Asha as the two were dumped rudely in the snow before, the girl was shivering violently even in her furs. She had not been so frightened. She might have been pretty through this trip of her nose was black with frostbite.

The old man, no one would ever think him comely. She had seen scarecrows with barf flesh. His face was a skull with skin, his hair bone white and filthy, and he stank. Just the sight of him filled Asha with revulsion. He raised his eyes. Sister, see, this time i knew you ash's heart skipped a beat theon his lips getting back what might have been a grin his half his teeth were gone and the half of those still left to him were broken and splintered thea he repeated my name is thea You have to know your name.

It's so good. I had like tears in my eyes when I first read it. So I was just like, oh God, I forgot how emotional it is. It's so emotional, right? It's the biggest fist pump moment in the whole story. It's been building up to this moment for a whole book. Something that got me emotional though, other than Theon and that, was that Asha thought Jane could have been pretty. They all said I was pretty.

They all said I was pretty. I'm so sad about both of them. That did her in. She's okay. That's it. That's the last Asha Greyjoy chapter that has been published yet that wasn't taken from

an enlarged screen capture on George's word star it's an excerpt it's not an excerpt anything's an excerpt you know what was an excerpt? those four men that ate the guy's body Lord Fell's body, that was an excerpt okay you know what was an excerpt those four men that ate the guy's body lord fell's

body that was an excerpt okay eliana god it's an excerpt if i say it is asha grayjoy asha grayjoy i don't know i've got some thoughts on uh asha grayjoy and i don't know let's open the floor to some overall end game and wins a winner kind of thoughts about asha there's kind of an open book ahead of us right what if stannis is looking at her not as a potential sacrifice in the respect of killing her. He doesn't have a son. Alright. What if he's looking at her because she, being a wanted bride is kind of a thing that keeps happening to Asha as well. Not just in terms of, like,

her forced marriage, but also because, like, at one point in Victarion, when she talks about ruling beside him, he thinks that she means to become his queen. And, like, her being a pursued bride keeps coming up with her uh there's also Christopher Botley and I can't help but think about that it might strengthen his own blood there's gonna be the blood of two kings in an heir they make together it just popped into my head what if that's gonna be a thing I think it's an interesting idea and I kind of like it it might be something that he's thinking I I do agree I think it's an interesting idea and I kind of like it it might be something that he's thinking

I do agree, I think that's an interesting thought and it makes another way that Stannis is living in his brother's shadow, right? Because wasn't there a threat of Renly trying to put aside Robert's current wife in order to

set up another marriage so I think that's really interesting i just don't think that stance is gonna have any time to think soon just because like i mean something that what if he's already thinking of it yeah maybe he's thinking of it because we'll never know right we don't get his actual direct thoughts but he might actually be thinking that that might be what he's thinking or worrying that fuck i've gotta set her aside and do this but that's the other thing is I don't think these southern men would be okay with that necessarily a lot of them came in support of House Florent in support of Stannis not all of them obviously a lot of these are

Stormlanders but I just know there's definitely some support for Selyse because she is I mean look at the what their face isarrick what's his face in the wall with his redhead kid that he gets married off and salise is like look i made a marriage at the wall teehee i now rule all the free folk uh i think that he i just don't i don't know i don't know i also don't know if having a kid right now like is his first thought like maybe for after the war and everything. But I also don't think he thinks he's gonna win again. You know what I mean? Like, I don't think he thinks he's gonna win this. I think at this point, he's like, fucking we'll try or we'll die. We were talking about, like, you know, what it's so up in the air when he wants to actually do with Asha. It really, it genuinely is, I feel like. He, I feel like if he wants to keep her, obviously he's thinking of her as a hostage right now, too.

Potentially valuable in that respect. And it, like, it's kind of up in the air with what she's doing and also like the way she keeps thinking of herself that as much as strong as she is and as tough as she is she keeps being reduced back to potential bride that's why you know she's the wayward bride one of her first thoughts in this chapter is i'm not a pampered maiden who blah blah blah i'm not like somebody who just who just gets married off or anything like well she doesn't say that but you know she's not like i'm not just a pampered maiden. It emphasized how much of a warrior she is and everything, but she's still being reduced to that by like everybody around her. So often might be something that just keeps happening to her, no matter like how strong she is, no matter how smart she is,

no matter how worthy she is. I think that's the dilemma, right? For Asha, for all of us here today, as women, but I think what you're saying about her being reduced to that wayward bride is really interesting it's something that when you reflect upon the titles of asha's chapters in this book it's so different from and even in the feast for crows right despite all of the power that Asha feels that she has, despite her being able to navigate the realm of men in a way that's equal to

them for the most part amongst the Iron Men, the titles of her chapters are never Asha Greyjoy, right? They're never just Asha. They're always in relation to other men. The Kraken's daughter, right? Not her herself being the Kraken. As you said, the wayward bride.

Then the king's prize. What value she holds to this other man. And then finally, the sacrifice. What do the queen's men want of her? And what is a common term for a bride, like a wanted bride? A marriage prize. Yeah, so I think that's a really astute observation about the the big problem that that ash is having and it's something that her aunt has struggled with

as we see um maybe even her own mother as uh her mother tries to figure things out and it's something that happens to all the women within A Song of Ice and Fire are trying to gain that sort of agency, that sort of control over their own story. We see Cersei really trying to get that herself and Asha as well. But she's sort of calmer about it.

Not calmer. She's got a little more agency herself. That's a parallel with Sansa, too. Yes. By her own father, by her captors, by the people who are gonna help her, by the guy who saves her from King's Landing. You know, she keeps

being bopped around as a marriage prize, and I don't think that's gonna end for her, either. I think that's gonna keep happening, and I think it's gonna keep happening for Asha. And it's just fucking miserable. I will say that the prospect of an Asha-Stannis marriage alliance from her own cultural standpoint and from the standpoint of as we see the Greyjoy family trauma and the trauma of the Ironborn, I'm not sure how well it would go over because of the history from the Greyjoy rebellion. The Baratheons are seen as this menace that looms over their society

as these people who came, who destroyed everything for them. And Theon's still traumatized. But I think Asha thinks that through in her POV. We see her think like, this isn't an advantageous marriage alliance for me. And I think she would consider that. Out of the Ironborn, she's probably the most politically astute. True. Like I said, I don't think it's going to happen. I think it's going to be proposed, though. Yeah, I'm not sure how they'll be able to backtrack with like the idea of burning Theon and then marrying, like the proposal of like, why don't you marry Asha? I think it's going to be one or the other just for time's sake. I think the next as we know, the next big thing is, that's what's going to happen. But it is an interesting concept. And,

you know, especially when you bring in some of the parallels with the North and with Asha and Theon, I think that the parallels between Theon and Asha and Jon and Sansa in this have been so strong with Jon and Theon being undead, right? And their names being basically erased. Theon is reek. Asha and Sansa are these unlikely female leaders whose claim keeps getting sold out beneath them, as you mentioned, Wendy, for a culture that has never accepted a female leader before. And I think that's why their endgame might actually be very similar and dissimilar in important ways as we go through the books. And there's a lot of merit in what we've been discussing with Reyna versus Asha. Asha's thoughts of never being a queen again in the last chapter were really significant. I don't think the people who follow Asha wish to be ruled over by a direct king or queen,

but her leadership and command has been unparalleled and inspiring in this story. So most of the male POVs we encounter, I mean, they're struggling to keep power and Asha still has this ragged band of people who are like, nope, she's got the right way. She's the way for our people. Reyna and Asha both commanded a considerable team for not being true queens of everything, right? They were black brides under Maegor's reign, Euron's reign. Reyna has a court that welcomed her as a queen in the West, much like Asha with ten towers. And it just feels really significant. I mean, their biggest differences is

what like Reyna's really way more gay than Asha is you know that's about it canonically and Asha I think might actually end up joining the northern territory I think she has a lot of similarities with the northerners that we're meeting uh her relationship with Alysanne feels very prominent for a reason Sansa's camp is starting to look more and more female for the end game of thrones right the Mormonts Alys Karstark Willa and Winifred the list goes on and on and like all the close allies she's getting in the Vale are female yes Miranda Royce Anya Wainwood uh really good really good alliances and the future of the north is looking pretty female but there's something that i think

is worth to discuss that sea dragon point as asha pointed out it has the same opportunity as the new gift no one lives at sea dragon point it's a wasteland and the new gift is the same way if john and sansa their focus is going to be settling the new gift if dion survives i don't think he will uh asha at at least, I would say, will likely maybe settle. See Dragon Point for herself and her people. I could see her ruling justly and righteously under the North there.

And I think it would also close the loop and tie together kind of what the Ironborn owe the Northerners that they raided for so long of off of right there, off of Sea Dragon Point. As Alysanne has been telling her, like, do you not get what your people have done to my people for ages here at Sea Dragon Point where I live? You guys came to our house, to our homes, to our land

and raided and raped and murdered us. And I think that Asha could make a difference in the way that the Ironborn live and how they live and peacefully live in Sea Dragon Point and start a whole new little mini society for them and i could see that being possible with kind of the respect that could come from theon and asha between the ironborn and the starks right yeah and i i will point out that regarding aliceane right and and their discussions of the sins that asha's people have committed against her it to asha's, she never gets defensive about it.

She's never like trying to justify it. She's like, wow, you're right. I really understand what you're saying. She never says it aloud, but she accepts like, of course, this is why they don't like us. And it's something that I am sure Asha understands from what's happened to her own people. And I think that creates a great common point for both of these people to meet, to eventually perhaps have a sort of treaty, build a sort of peace in the future

that they can see eye to eye that like, yes, there's bad blood between us. Much of it might be caused by our raids, but it becomes a place of respect to jump off from. Just settling bad blood is just the thing that's going to have to happen. Because really, Stannis is not that he's coming in and i know he's not raiding technically but he's coming in he's asking the northerners to shed like one of the most important parts of

their identity does he's planning on burning shit and ash has been from the very beginning trying to settle some kind of understanding perhaps or cooperation perhaps like even from the very beginning when she was in perhaps at the height of her power in the north she was trying to do that and it's going to come back most likely a leader that she's going to meet up with are john and sansa who both know a lot about negotiating and settling cooperation between keep with bad blood between them since the north is going to have to accept the wildlings and if they're going to have to accept the wildlings there's not going to be a lot of justification

for at least on a like purely political level it's not going to be a lot of justification for not accepting help from the ironborn yeah and i think that's part of what you were saying right that's something that would make a marriage alliance with asha on stannis's part quite desirable that

they have a fleet but uh yeah stannis is coming in trying to get people to lose part of their culture and i mean i will say part of what made the targaryen so successful in their conquest of westeros besides the whole dragon part is that they didn't do that they didn't ask people to shed their cultural identity they were the ones who assimilated and converted. As opposed to Stannis, who's like, what if we just burned all of your other religions and beliefs? Anyway. Something else that's interesting in this chapter that... Alright, everyone.

If you haven't read the Theon Winds of Winter chapter, we are going to get into deeper spoilers from that chapter now. So if you don't want to hear that, I don't know, skip forward I'm going to give a guesstimate, five minutes who knows probably there's a lot of ramifications for the Ironborn that suddenly arrive in this chapter

besides just Theon reappearing and being like, whoa, shit Theon's alive, another player enters the game, right? Because before Asha was a mere prisoner here in Stannis' camp, right? She couldn't meet with Stannis or advise him in anything. She met him once, shot her shot, fucked it up

a little by bringing up Robert. But now suddenly she has more power because she has her own followers and men here and they are all capable warriors, nonetheless. So with Theon's arrival, there's another who also has King's Blood, not just Asha, and that blood is something,

it's not just King's Blood, that blood is greatly wanted by the Northmen, who are like, what if we got revenge on this guy? This guy right here, something showed up. And so Asha has found herself now, all of a sudden, in a position to bargain, and we see her use it to try to protect her brother, Theon, from the fate

that the Queensmen wanted for her, which is the burning, now that she has her own not a Queensman. And she tries to ransom her brother from Stannis at first, in Theon's chapter. And then she tries to do what the Peasebury man does, the Peasebury sergeantant and goad stanis

into executing theon via beheading in the fashion of the north rather than burning him because she's like that that wasn't a cool way to go that that was actually really terrible and this time she's smarter in the way that she does it whereas before she unintentionally kind of angered stanis by appealing to the memory of his brother this time she uses that sort of anger and annoyance she's starting to like catch on right and she's more skillful and to the memory of his brother. This time she uses that sort of anger and annoyance. She's starting to catch on, right? And she's more skillful and channels the memory of, well, Ned Stark would have done it this way. And she realizes, oh, Stannis is really jealous, maybe,

of Ned Stark. So Ned would have done it like this. Maybe trying to get Stannis to do that. And that dynamic between Asha and Theon and that tension between sacrifice and that Asha suddenly has the means to exercise diplomacy, because now she has power. As, first of all, her men, as we said earlier, are more seasoned fighters, probably, than many of the men in Stannis' camp. They're also doing better in that they weren't starving for like several weeks as opposed to the southerners

they came notice that the queensmen the queensmen are the current queensmen are deflating and her men they've been deflated they're deflated and Ash's queensmen have arrived

which I think also serves my theory, by the way. Yeah, so they're- One queen replacing another. They're not as starved, and they also got here way faster because they had the guidance of the Night's Watch. We're like, whatever. It's a fucking snowstorm.

My job is literally riding through blizzards all the time. And now she can use that in her position to change things in the camp. And also that means that we are not going to have Clayton Suggs probably cornering her alone anymore. lizards all the time and now she can use that in her position to change things in the camp and also that means that we are not going to have clayton sucks probably cornering her alone anymore not unless he wants to die which you know i'm fine with that could happen and i'd be like super jazzed you know to circle it back around to what we were talking about in the first ash episode with arian and ash's similarities this reminds me a little bit of arianne arianne is going to marry agon and get a seat at the table right uh she's going to use that pussy to have her seat

at the war table because as we know from this next john connington chapter he does not think very highly of dornish princesses right like we know he's kind of a racist asshole um and arianne's gonna have to marry she's gonna have to marry to get that seat at the table. And Asha got lucky, her men showed up, and now she gets that seat at the table. And I hope it's enough, right, to avoid a sacrifice for either of them. I think it's pretty clear Theon will not be sacrificed by Stannis because Bran will have to at least somehow intervene. He already is in Theon 1. In Theon 1, we hear in the Winds of winter uh the ravens the maester's

ravens are hopping around and flapping in their cages and they say the tree one squawk the tree the tree the tree and the second one screams theon theon theon and theon smiles and thinks they know my name no they're bran we know that's bran let be real. It's worthwhile to mention that Stannis is going to be plagued by Stark children until his bitter end in the next book. First, it's going to be somehow Bran is back, probably, or Rickon is back, or Sansa's here. Every time Stannis is like, I'm finally the king of everything and the North is mine and they follow me, it's going to be a new Stark interrupting and Jon comes back to life and takes his thunder from him. Hell, he's sending a crew to Braavos where Arya is.

Damn it, Stannis, every corner you turn, you're plagued by this last name Stark. And that's the other thing from Theon I we learn is that they know where Stannis is now. The Northerners know where Stannis is and they're coming.

Like I mentioned earlier, I won't go into the specifics of Cantus's theory about the night lamp that he builds off of a lot of stuff that brin and b fish has also talked about but stannis definitely has to have a plan uh the idea is that they're going to make kind of a commotion and burn down the big weirwood out on that little island with the holes in the pond around it and he also talks about how stannis might possibly do something that he doesn't even know has been done already in his own kind of world and switch and burn arnulf disguised as theon or burn

possibly the cadaverous ormond wild disguised as theon since theon kind of looks like a little old man right now and smuggle theon out i thought those were kind of some interesting options i had never really thought of that that he could pull a switcheroo. But it'll be interesting in general. Like, Asha's going to end up being our lens for a lot of this stuff. So will Theon, but we know that Asha will as well. So it'll be- And Asha's going to be better equipped to actually notice things anyways.

Yeah. Yeah, because the Winds of Winter chapter with Theon is layered in eight layers of ptsd we have covered it before on patreon kind of want to do it again we keep talking about doing it again because there's so much to glean in between kind of yeah the ptsd written pages that theon is you know every other passage he's freaking out about ramsey being called bastard you know but there is information between that, but it's very sad. Like, very sad. Yeah. And, yeah, Asha is following along with all of this and, as you said, more astute, ready to observe things

and probably, actually, possible. While Theon is a bargaining chip, Asha is a better bargainer. As we could say, she's gonna go for pawn to player. Yeah.

She knows politics. Again, she's not weak at politicking. She knows them very well. Yes. Yes, yes. And, you know, we see her, as we kind of discussed, she actually reads the books in her uncle's layer

of books where arianne gets trapped in a tower with books and does not i mean i will be okay so i'm torn because on one hand i would have read the books because i would have been bored out of my mind but i understand being a spiteful child and not doing the thing i was told to do purely out of spite. I could see that. I only liked reading. So if you put me in a room with a book, like that's fine. That's what I would do. But I spent so much time on the toilet as a child. As a child.

Well, that wraps up Asha Greyjoy in A Song of Ice ice and fire wendy we are so glad you got to come on with us today thank you so much for bringing us your wonderful insights i know that times suck because of the old pandemic and we don't get to see each other as much now and don't have fun con time or visits in your city so thank you for hanging out with us and please tell us where we can find you on the internet for everyone to click click click and download your stuff okay well you can find some of my old meta under the meta repost project

on wendynerdwrites.tumblr.com you can find me shitposting on twitter on twitter.com slash the wendynerd and you can find me cursing a lot on Twitch, on Twitch.tv slash WendyNerd. My email, if you want to shoot me an email, is TheWendyNerd at gmail.com. And yeah, that's pretty much it.

I'm not much on Reddit. So yeah, so Twitter.com slash TheWendyNerd, TheWendyNerd at gmail.com, WendyNerdWrites.tumblr.com, and Twitch.tv slash thewendynerd, thewendynerd at gmail.com, wendynerdwrites.tumblr.com, and twitch.tv slash wendynerd. No the there. Awesome. Well, we will talk with you soon. Thanks again.

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And hey, this month we are releasing an episode on the free cities like we've been doing for a song of ice and fire. This episode is on lease. So please head on over, check out Eliana's lies and my lease. And that's going to be on patrion.com slash girls gone. Canon for our patreon special

episode this month as always i'm chloe one of your hosts and i'm eliana another one of your hosts thanks for listening very much everyone thank you wendy for joining us