Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 116 - ADWD Davos III

Episode Date: February 12, 2021

All of White Harbor is a stage, but no one has given Davos the script... Thankfully, Davos Seaworth is a decent improvisor.  Battle inspiration from ThunderClap: http://www.whitehavenandwesternlakeland.co.uk/johnpauljones/raid.htm A thank you to the following for lending us their voices: PoorQuentyn of Notacast  (Davos) Maester Merry of Learned Hands (Wynafryd) Clint of  Learned Hands (Wyman) Amy Alison (Leona) and JoeMagician  (Theomore) Stay The Course by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5048-stay-the-course License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Bubbles & Streaming Water  --- 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

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon, A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 116, Davos 3 in a Dance with Dragons. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Yes, we are getting into the meat of some of these Davos chapters as it's ending, I guess, because it's the fifth book. Yeah, this is kind of it, huh? This is the end. Oh, this is our penultimate Davos chapter. Oh, it is.

We have started using that word more rapidly. Girls Gone Canon's penultimate chapter for Davos in a Dance with Dragons. Davos in a Dance. Oh, a Dance with Dragon Ball Z. Next in dance a dance with Dragon Ball Z next time on a dance with Dragon Ball Z that's what that was next time on a dance with Dragon Ball Z

Davos' journey does feel a little like that right like he's going all over the kingdom on a quest for the Dragon Balls well I'm very excited to be here in the penultimate episode for davos of his published chapters right i'm excited for the winds of winter and what blows our way eventually but speaking of things that have blown our way we had a few emails and messages come in over the last week we did and some of these are from last week, right? We promised you all, we said, you know, we got

quite a few, and also I think that these go better for this chapter, and I think you'll see why, because one of them literally is about this chapter, but we're going to start out with a message from our friend Thunderclap, who says at first of,

as Davos enters White Harbor, i thought this might be of relevance and gives us a quote from patchface's song and i particularly wanted to read this aloud because over the past week or so there's been a meme of like who would you cast that's x like ass off character and chloe was talking about how i she thinks i speak in riddles I don't know about that and that I'm very mysterious which debatable I'd like for people to think I'm mysterious but I don't think that they do I don't think that's really the

vibe I give off my vibe might be a little more like patch face when you think about riddles and puns so annoying is that what you mean I think so I think I come off more annoying than mysterious. I really do. I think there is a thin line between Patchface and Quaithe, and I think, Eliana, that you straddle it daily. That's kind of lewd, but. Well, stay tuned for more of that.

Oh, in this chapter? I don't know about that well it goes with hatch face i will lead it we will march into the sea and out again under the waves we will ride sea horses and mermaids will blow seashells to announce our coming oh wow wow i really love that oh oh oh that was very made it up it's very beautiful oh just like patch face says you know and on the spot or on the patch you could say oh and thunderclap draws some of those connections saying under the waves would be the flints of widow's watch sigil the seahorses are house valerian or or in waters in his pirate fleet, and that the mermaids are, of course, the Manderlys of White Harbor. Oh, yes. Interesting comparison. That's really, especially because there is another,

there's a few other Patchface things that lead up to this, right? Everything water-related that Patchface has been up to kind of comes round circle in some ways here, though I know they have probably a deeper prophetic exact meaning. I don't know what this could mean. If it's that, I think there's a part of me that keeps with the way that Patchface has been using some of this language of thinking that the waves and being under it could be about being dead. But I think it's an interesting interpretation, and I would love for House Valerian to play more of a role.

We all know that I love House Valerian. Thunderclap mentioned as well something from the last chapter from Davos. He could smell the peat smoke drifting off Seal Rock too. The sea stone dominated the approaches to the outer harbor, a massive gray-green upthrust looming 50 feet above the waters. green upthrust looming 50 feet above the waters. Its top was crowned with a circle of weathered stones, a ring fort of the first men that stood desolate and abandoned for hundreds of years. It was not abandoned now. Davos could see scorpions and spitfires behind the standing stones and the crossbowmen peering between them. It must be cold up there, and wet. On all his previous visits, seals could be seen basking on the broken rocks below.

Thunderclap goes on to mention that if a flint of Widow's Watch was on watch on a cold, wet night, they might be busy keeping warm than keeping watch. Very clever. Very clever. They also left a link to a really interesting battle, something with John Paul Jones, a raid that you guys have to check out. We've linked it below in the details. Yeah, and I do want to recommend to Thunderclap,

you know, this is something that isn't necessarily one of our strengths, has a little bit more to do with that war stuff, to send it over. Put a reminder on your calendar and be sure to remember to send it over to our friends at Nauticast in about, I don't know, four years when they eventually get to this chapter. Amazing.

Yeah, it's definitely not our specialty, that war stuff. We are but young women who know little in the ways of war. That is for certain. We also got another message, didn't we, Chloe? Yes, our friend Micah wrote in and said that he's finally catching up to where he can keep up and send emails with his thoughts, which are very many. Since the very legendary Davos 3, Davy 3 Adomita, Micah says, very clever, is coming up right now. He wanted to mention something about Jared Frey, and this is clever. This is a great catch. Jared Frey calls Davos a liar later in this chapter, and the only other time we meet Jared is

Catelyn IX, A Game of Thrones, where Lord Walder is talking about their response to Edmure's battle against Jaime. Walder claims they're going to march, and they're going to march, definitely, absolutely going to march, since their liege lost. He calls out Jared to march, and they're going to march, definitely, absolutely going to march since their liege lost. He calls out Jared to support him and back his intent. Jared says, it was on my honor. Jared was lying there, as Waldur was still pretty slow to react, as per usual. So, the two appearances we get from Jared in the series, George manages, manages keeps and enhances the trait of being a liar to the hand of kings huh that is a pretty good catch and you know fucking jared dude i'm glad he's a

dick actually him he's bad but raygar oh man fray is a piece of work a piece of work dicks i'm i'm pretty glad that he might have died i know that's like not cool to say probably but maybe it is i don't know but world's best pie it might be i mean i'm just putting it out there that he might be delicious and better in this form perhaps but maybe he would be have you ever considered that the phrase would be better fried french phrase or fried phrase french phrase hmm it's got it's it's a thought it's a thought either way i could just tell you that he would be better digested in that format for sure oh nice hired yes okay thanks so much for those emails, Micah and

Thunderclap. Love to hear from you. If you want to send in your own, girlsgonecanon at gmail.com or head to our Patreon, patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon. Hit us a message there or Twitter at girlsgonecanon. But

that brings us to our lightning round where we discuss what we missed between Davos 2 and Davos 3. Yes. Daenerys 3. Zara Zoan Doxos visits Daenerys with a thinly veiled threat, and Daenerys realizes that she cannot leave Meereen this way. Jon 4. Castle Black's stores are running out of food. Jon gives honest counsel to Stannis. Tyrion V. Identities are revealed aboard the Shy Maid, but Tyrion is swept below the Stoneman's waters before being given time to really speculate.

That brings us to Davos III. Davos attends a mummer's farce, but who is being fooled and on whose honor? Hoomst. That brings us to the chapter itself, which starts out with, His lordship will hear you now, smuggler. There's a knight who announces this in very fancy armor to Davos, and Davos asks to speak to his manager and is like, what's your name? Does this more than once throughout this chapter, and it turns out it's Sir Marlin,

Manderly, Wyman's cousin cousin and commander of his garrison. What an opening to a chapter. Poor Davos, he is once more a smuggler. Not a king's hand, not a lord. He is a smuggler. Sir Marlin Manderly is very interesting. I find his armor, no pun intended, extremely riveting. I find his armor, no pun intended, extremely rivening. Greaves and gauntlet inlaid with niello to suggest flowing fronds of seaweed. The helm beneath his arm was the head of the Merlin King, with a crown of Mother of Pearl and a jutting beard of jet and jade. His own beard was as gray as the winter sea.

So this description is quite obviously some overseas forging. This is not normal Westerosi forged armor, right? You can tell from Jet and Jade. This armor to be forged had to have some pretty fancy stuff shipped in for it, imported, etc. If it was made there. It reminds me a bit, and maybe this is because of our trip to Kohor recently in our Free Cities episodes on Patreon. It reminds me of Kohoric forging of some of Tobo Mott's work, right? because of our trip to Kohor recently in our Free Cities episodes on Patreon. It reminds me of Kohoric forging of some of Tobo Mott's work, right? Like Jon Arryn's in A Game of Thrones.

Wrought all in pale silver with a blue jasper falcon and a mother-of-pearl moon on the breast. It's probably not a piece by Tobo necessarily, though it could be, but I imagine that this fancy-schmancy armor had to have been acquired through trade of sorts marlin was actually written for a feast for crows and a dance with

dragons he was not before this so i do wonder if george thought about this at all as a fancy imported armor you know marlin i kind of wonder is his name supposed to be a play on the fish the marlin yes it's kind of like a swordfish or and to be a play on the fish? The marlin? Yes. It's kind of like a swordfish and a dolphin combined, but not at all. I'm not a biologist. That's true. I love you pointing out the armor here, because as you said, we've been doing some talking about Kohor, and it really drives home how White Harbor is this cosmopolitan place where a lot of cultures are meeting.

And also a lot of the other Manderlys, right, and the people in this court, they're dressed fairly nicely, probably because of that trade. And the word yellow, and you kind of called it out by picking this line. It's kind of interesting. Zionius has been doing some interesting work on, you know, comparing George's writing in between books. And the word yellow, I think, Zionius found it only really starts popping up in Feast and Dance. And then George uses it a lot. And it's just like black ink-ish thing being rubbed into or in the engravings of metal. But before, George would kind of say like, this thing engraved or etched with this color, right?

He learned. Yeah, I think that, because he also starts talking about coins more. My theory was that he just like read a book or something and was like, that's a that's a word I can use now. I could expand this. Pretty much. I could expand my whole series. You know, I was starting to Google it, and

that's pretty much all I learned is that's as far as I got, that it was for the inlay, right, for coloring the inlay, and it's dark. That's interesting, too, because then, obviously, it creates it in a meta version. No, this is just something George learned. But it also implies in the story, you know, that circulation of trade happening, right? Something in the background. Maybe George doesn't mean it intentionally, but it just makes me think of some of the trade and the things moving back and forth and like you said you see this all over the court wyla's hair right is dyed a garish green of the free cities uh that

that as we said last week it reeks of grandpa come on all the other girls have it in the port you have to let me dye it. You know, it's some teen rebellion going on and I love it, but they have the resources. Wyman Manderly also, he was in like, fine. I bet he was like, that's a great idea. You should totally do it. I bet he was supportive of the green hair. Definitely.

Cool, Grandpa. Rock and roll, Grandpa. He kind of is a little. So speaking of the timing of things in a meta sense uh our friend who again send send your thoughts to him in four years when he gets to this chapter jeff from not a cast uh was talking and said i just finished the episode on davos 2 and you talked about the davos and brienne chapters being similar and that maybe the same threads would work but they were separated out by all those years um and says did you know that davos 2 was written in 2003 originally for a feast for

crows oh that makes sense huh i mean i think it used to be one book you know we were all one book well and you can see that you can see the traces of that in the feastast for Crows appendix, right? That is where it's the most blatant. There are a lot of characters who aren't even really brought up in a Feast for Crows that get an appendix slot and in A Dance with Dragons. They're pretty prominent, and Marlin was that. Marlin is in the A Feast for

Crows appendix, but he's not in A Feast for Crows. He's technically Wyman's nephew, also. We hear of him in Theon 1, A Dance with Dragons, and we also learn he has a personal sigil, and it's three silver mermaids on a violet field. That's quite interesting.

You gotta be real special. You know, you gotta be real special or kind of weird to have your own personal sigil, like how Littlefinger has the mockingbird, and then a blackfish. Yeah, interesting. Really distinguishes himself, and especially that it's purple. We're definitely going to talk about some of that symbolism in the heraldry a little later because it feels like it's prominent in this side of town in the north.

But for right now, in terms of prominence, you know, Davos, he started from the bottom, from Fleet Bottom, and then he was all the way up there. Now he's back here. He's a captive again of some sort. And at least he has a fairly nice prison this time, you know, comparably. And during the time that he was in prison, right, we all read last chapter at some point in our lives. Dear Caso, Caso who was supposed to be his ride, waited for Davos for four days instead of the three. He's like, I'm going to leave after three days if you're not here. And he waited for four of them for Davos

before he decided to finally part. Bless him. I love that. It's so sweet. And in a microcosm, that's like that hope beyond hope. What happened to him the chapter before? That's that smuggler's luck rearing its head, right? Because what happened at Sisterton?

Lord Burrell let him go. and he said, you were never here. And then here even, Casso held out hope. Held out hope that maybe, maybe the smuggler turned hand to the king lord. Maybe he'll survive, and maybe a better

day could come for the north. For everything. Just like Solid or Sun, you know, like kind of, he kind of waited for him for a pretty long time. And like, I know that Davos lost four of his sons and that's incredibly unfortunate and unlucky, like definition of unlucky. But you were saying just now, like all these things, I'm like, damn, maybe Davos actually is more lucky after losing his fingers. If he had lost his fingers, maybe his sons would be alive. That's a thought. That's a thought to consider.

Davos's four fingers are literally his sons. You're so brilliant. Yes. So those four days, right, have been added onto this other fortnight, because it's been a fortnight since Kaso left, so Davos has been waiting here for like 18 days or so since last chapter,

which is, I think, an interesting timeline to give people. And as he walks, he's surrounded by guards in blue-green wool with tridents. They walk past these old faded banners and trophies. And he also walks past some of Fishfoot's smaller cousins. Yes, Fishfoot the statue's smaller cousins yes fish foot the statue has smaller cousins which is exciting to me that's amazing and you know he actually comes across some of like the figureheads that are like worm eaten too just like the the prows of the ship

that he saw outside so i love that this is again i really love coming to Newcastle. This is amazing. A parallel with the neck that I didn't even think about last week is that they carry tridents instead of regular spears. Kind of like how the reeds carry their frog spears, right? They're not exactly the same, but they have bronze frog spears closer to a trident. Of course, the Manderly's tridents are silver, right? Where the reeds are bronze, which kind of shows us that bit of White Harbor's wealth peeking through.

As well as the first madness of the reeds. Yeah. There's a bit of a shield hall vibe going on here as well, right? Broken shields, rusted swords, wooden, worn figures that once adorned the ships. When we consider the Manderlys and their thousand-ish or so year move to the north, they kind of keep their trophies on display,

right? Obviously, like very much so to prove their place and prove that they're players here. These are their swords. These are their stories. This is Davos's first time at Newcastle, much less the Merman's Court. All along the wooden planks are notched with different sea creatures, and the imagery here is so cool. The animals that decorate the planks are smaller creatures, so there's crabs, clams, starfish, basically bottom feeders amidst seaweed and bones. Around him, more closer to body level on the walls, are the predators. Sharks are painted, eels, octopods, and sunken ships. Then codfish and others swim around near the windows, and the surface of the water has cogs and the like, and then at the top are fishing nets hanging from the rafters. So quite literally, the merman's court shows us a food chain,

and it makes the person that has to walk the plank walk up these planks of animals. It turns you into a bottom feeder when you enter the court. Yeah, so physically, you are at the bottom of the food chain as you approach Wyman on his dais. So this brings back that Patchface quote, right?

Of under the sea sea the old fish eat the young fish he bobbed his head his bells clanged and chimed and saying i know i know oh oh oh that's what it reminds me of here the net at the top right because you're talking about you becoming a bottom feeder but at the top everyone's still trapped yep sucks the old fish eat the young but it is a trap right because that's what we're seeing for Wyman especially he's trapped right now but it's especially a trap for the phrase yes

well 4D chess I mean kinda it's at least 3D right with all these different sculptures-ish kinda. Davos hoped to speak to Wyman alone, but it turns out the Manderlys rule really deep.

There's like a whole entourage here of people, and interestingly, women outnumber the men five to one, and all of the men who are left over are all very old or very young, and there are nearly a dozen Freys, and they're all dressed as such as Freys, and they all look like Freys too, right?

And White Harbor is actually, I think, a really interesting contrast to the Vale, which we do get in Thies and Dorne, same, and maybe even the Riverlands, right, in terms of the devastation the war has taken. But the Vale and Dorne, in many ways, untouched by it, by the war. And last chapter, we saw all the people who were displaced by the war and Dorne, in many ways untouched by it, by the war. And last chapter, we saw all the people who were displaced by the war and how White Harbor is providing that refuge, which, in and of itself,

is, I think, kind of like a tip-off of where their loyalties lie, besides the fact that it shows that, you know, the Manderlys aren't completely heartless. And unlike the Vale, war has touched White Harbor heavily, right?

That's what the whole reason why one of the sons is dead and like another's hostage. But you, we can see that in the way that the women outnumber the men and who's left over. And it shows that really high toll that the Lannisters, the Freys and the Boltons have taken on White Harbor in general, because that means like all of those soldiers, a lot of their young men have died.

Right. And our friend Maddie had some really interesting things to say about this in our Discord. For example, about how the refugees are being housed in King Rob's what was once his royal mint. That's really loaded. Maddie says that coins in the medieval era were extremely associated with

the personage and authority of the king. That's why counterfeiting was such an extreme crime. It was as if you were making a fake king. Arroylement was crucial to the establishment of a monarchy. On the one hand, this is the result of northern independence, death, warfare, destruction, and displacement. People forced from homes and hold fast behind. Lord Wyman's city walls forced to squat in the remnants of King Robb's divine personage. That this is a sort of cruel joke. Maddy also says on the other hand though, it is still a place of refuge and that is the Stark legacy. Things can go really, really wrong. Wrong in ways we can't even imagine, but the Starks will take you in and do what they can to protect you.

And that's what happened to the Manderlys. That's probably how the Kings of Winter forged their realms, helping the crofters of the Wolfswood and clansmen of the Northern Mountain shelter amidst the hot springs of Winterfell. Like so much in dance, that mint is used to house refugees, and that's a ghost of Winterfell and part of the Stark legacy. as refugees and that's a ghost of winterfell and part of the stark legacy yeah maddie really really captures the duality of the situation in this because it you kind of get that feeling right like obviously wyman's playing this multifaceted he has different faces like we know ned has different faces right the lord's face of course cadeline sees him as her husband sometimes and of course, the kids also have that gentle father figure too, they once in a while see come out.

And Wyman is playing a lot of roles here. Right now to the phrase, he wants to seem demure and submissive while plotting his moves. But he's also not an asshole, right? He's not a complete asshole, as we learned, like he's kind of kind. But there's also this an asshole, right? He's not a complete asshole, as we learned. Like, he's kind of kind, but there's also this part of him that's kind when it benefits him, we see. And the mint, obviously, he could give two shits because he's being held hostage by the Freys in his old house right now. You know, like, he is straight up being held hostage. If he doesn't smile and say yes, mean this is you know they're in their house what they're just hanging out frays everywhere dude frays outnumbering the manderleys for sure

right now in their own house yikes so that's kind of in a way it's interesting because she kind of gets referenced a little bit in this chapter that That's sort of what's happening to Jane Poole, right? Because in a way, she grew up in Winterfell. That's her home. And she's a hostage in her own home and surrounded by enemies, too. Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, Wyman has a little more autonomy and agency than her in the fact that he's not like Jane to a tower, obviously. And obviously, he gets a chance at vengeance right like and my god i don't know who's gonna let those

fucking dogs out on him but i i don't know who's gonna but i hope they do that's all i care i just hope they do eliana holy shit i don't want those dogs kind of just find a new home i agree oh they're gonna come back as whites anyways yeah great thoughts from maddie all around and it's a great comparison with the veil again they're they're a skip hop away from each other right right uh blink and you'll miss it you could end up in the veil pretty pretty easy and it's definitely like you were saying it's it's bringing that south north they are when you get to white harbor it's different than every other place it's very much like a little southern getaway in the north interesting yeah you're a cosmopolitan excursion we're going to our northern house you know the cabins davos had learned to read these men's faces long before maester pilos had taught him to read

words on paper these frays would gladly see me dead he realized at a glance i i love that line i love that they call out davos's ability to understand people well but i also i'm like well too bad that the phraseves would gladly see him dead because we're gonna see them dead instead kinda allegedly oh god best world's best pie episode manderley also looks pretty unwelcoming right like he does not look like he's ready to entertain and davos notes his weight and also kind of notes his manspreading that's going on. Wyman looks half a corpse, he thinks, with pallid grayish skin. And then we have this line that kings and corpses always draw attendance, the old saying went.

I thought that was interesting, especially because, what, the... Had this been, of course, again again the same book as feast we kind of opened a lot of cersei's chapters up with the funeral of tywin oh yes and everyone coming up with their little roses to their noses little assholes and i'm gonna say something a little crazy too you know who is kind of corpse looking? I have no thoughts, Chloe. I have no thoughts of who's kind of corpse looking and might be associated with this. Huh.

Staniel Alvarathian. Gasp, pretends to look shocked. Yeah, man. What was that we heard about? His face? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. His whole head, like you can see his... Anyways, it's just a thought that he draws attendance.

Kings and corpses always draw attendance. Indeed. Good call-out. Well, Manderly's maester is not a corpse. He is fat. He is chubby cute with golden curls, rosy cheeks, thick lips, just chubby cute with golden curls, rosy cheeks, thick lips, which I totally didn't realize that little side of his thick lips and golden curls the first time I read through it, just scanned through, I'm sure.

But it's such a big call-out, right? Because this isn't just Maester Theomar, but he was Theomar of House Lannister, a distant Lannister kin. Now he's a maester. We'll talk more about him next week for sure, I know, but that was a huge telltale hint with those cheeks and curls and lips. Yeah, I love that that's such a great hint towards that in this chapter, and also because in this same book, right,

we get the speech from Barbary Dustin, who's all like, I don't trust maesters, you don't know where they came from before that. So it pairs well with this. And I think it is called out here too a little like that feels so pointed, the description of him. And that Davos keeps pointing also then to the Baratheon slash Lannister

children bastards and how their appearance is proof of their bastardy because they look only Lannister. Man, see, and if only he could have connected the two and been like, Theomar, if only he knew, right? I mean, you can't just go around telling people, like, you're real

blonde. I bet you're from one of the most noble families in Westeros. Right, right. But if you knew. Which, obviously, he does not in the moment. And you're not supposed to. But it's just so effing in the moment and you're not supposed to i think ironic yeah you're not supposed to that's the whole point of it and obviously that's like we'll talk about next week with like ethics when it comes to that but uh yeah it was right there

because davos obviously it's too bad he doesn't have some big book about the heritage of all the big houses and lineage in westeros that he could lug around with him. And also as we're about to get into his thoughts, you know, he's like, oh man, too bad I dumped Edric, my only proof. Like, what are you supposed to say? Yeah. I know, I'm sure that Stannis has told him about the book and been like, Davos, let me tell you about this book. Let me tell you about my history.

Oh man, it's a big read, Davos. Well, Sir Marlin joins Wyman's Rite, a place of honor, and then around Wyman sits many women and girls, as Eliana mentioned, including one with the green garish hair. No one introduces themselves to Davos' very poor manners until a maester announces Wyman. Lord of White Harbor and Warden of the White Knife, Shield of the Faith, Defender of the Dispossessed, Lord Marshal of the Mander, a Knight of the Order

of the Green Hand, he said. In the Merman's court, it is customary for vassals and petitioners to kneel. Davos, finally remembering his station, refuses to kneel and lists some of his own titles. Lord of the Rainwood, Admiral of the Narrow Sea, Hand of the King. Yeah, Davos, get it! Get it! Stand up for yourself, Davos. Stand up for yourself.

Yeah. Advocate. Yeah. I believe in him. And I guess that's the beauty, right, of seeing him do that after the journey we've been on with Davos. Because Storm was sort of that transitionary book for him, because you're like, so what is Davos's station right now? And in Clash, his sons had to keep reminding him, like, Dad, you're a knight. You're a knight. And Davos is using his position now, right?

He's claiming it very confidently, regardless of how he might feel, whether or not he's confident. He's coming off kind of like that, and it's probably helpful that now he knows that a bunch of nobles are full of shit. He's like, I know that none of you are better than me. And he reminds them of his positions here, right?

And I'm going to talk about the bad show for a second. Because like here, no one introduces Davos. So he has to do those introductions for himself and also his titles. Because no one here does that courtesy for him, which is it's meant to be very rude, not end along with that telling him he needs to kneel. And I think it's interesting when you think of that scene in again the bad show uh when davos pipes up and he lists john snow's titles when john meets denarius and takes that on for himself also the plump woman who is at manderley's feet and we'll talk about her more later uh calls davos an admirable an admiral without ships a hand without fingers in service to a king without a throne it's

actually really clever that was a very clever joke on her part and asked davos like so what are you a riddle and i think that the idea of davos being a riddle is very interesting and all of these contradictions that are in here which is so indicative of a lot of what we're seeing in stannis's court oh yeah the it turns out this is manderly's daughter-in-law it's lady leona manderly she was originally a wool field which it turns out a wool field uh is a house that's sworn to the manderlys and it seems it could be from like Sheep's Head Hills or Ramgate, you know, wool, sheep. Love it. Adorable.

And it seems they were written in for Feast Dance to kind of give some expansion to this area for the story. Her first appearance was actually in the Feast Appendix, like we talked about earlier. There's a lot of that happening here in this chapter. At the Citadel in Westeros.org so semi-canon i believe this was probably from elio and linda decided uh it's three wool sacks white on purple and a white border so sacks of wool i obviously that's why i'm like i think it's sheep's head because sheep's are known for wool uh that's my guess. But I think that's interesting. Like you said earlier about the women, there's more women. There's many more women than men. They're

all abandoned because their husbands and lovers and fiancés all died. Their promised to be's all died in the war, had that taken from them. And it's obvious that like, especially Leona, I'm pretty sure where it's implied as we go along that Leona was not in on it. She just happened to be so, you know, herself that it worked out. But of course she's going to snap out. They're terrified, dude. They're all terrified that they're about to have to get married off to these people that murdered their kin. And for her, it's that her husband is a hostage right

now so she's understandably very terrified and yep you know you were saying just now and pointing out more once again how the women are much more in abundance and i think we're going to see that maybe playing a role in west rose in the set in the penultimate book, allegedly. Allegedly, the sixth book will be the penultimate and the seventh book right after the war because, you know, a lot of the men die during these wars. Women too, right? And women suffer a lot of the brunt of the famine and the aftermath and the sexual and gender-based violence.

But, like, we kind of saw it at the end of the dance right and it's interesting that the dance ended up leading to less rights for women but a lot of the key figures in the what the hour of the wolf who made those big political decisions yep well sam fray a fray sam hightower yes and and what was her name sam samantha or sabbatha yes sabbatha sorry sabbatha fray sabbatha right yep and and the air black alley what was the errands named jane aaron all of the main houses and a lot of the pretty you know the pretentiously up there ones were involved in it. You know, you had everyone from Stark to Hightower to Arryn, you name it. I mean, everybody kind of got in.

Well, and that's another thing that we're seeing a lot in this chapter, right? Like with Wyman, yes, two-sided here. Like he's very much a decent guy, but also not unwilling to exploit yeah he's he's very shrewd and yes shrewd he makes an interesting comment he thinks that davos is an ill omen and insults stannis for not liking his answer and seems to insinuate that davos is less than for being a smuggler and he's like maybe you stole from me you probably stole from me davos because of that and davos is like well you know what i've paid enough i have paid not just stolen emphasizing the loss of his fingers and davos is like can we just like talk in private and he's

like no mander manderly says no and then davos tries to put the tactic of he's like you know really interesting that you would just hang out here with all of these frays who killed your son and then the frays just try to pin the whole thing on rob allegedly turning into a wolf and they say some shit about how wendell manderly sacrificed himself to protect walder fry. And I'm just like, what? Where do people get this shit? Wyman blinks back these tears. He's like, give him a Grammy, alright? Give him a BAFTA.

Because he's like, oh my god, Wendell was so brave here. And Davos is also just like, not comprehending. He's like, what the fuck? And he's like, how can all these people, how can they just go on the internet and tell lies and they're all smirking in his face about it too yeah it's pretty insulting and like wyman's choking back those tears and they're probably real tears because he's like i can't i fucking have to do this but also like like yeah i just can't i can't imagine someone you know hanging out with the people who were

pretty much responsible for their son's death yep yep well there's a lot else going on here though okay so um let's break this apart for a second. Jingle Bell was killed by Rob. Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Frey. Sorry. There's so much interesting stuff happening here because the Freys say

Jingle Bell was killed by Rob and Jared and Rhaegar obviously don't hold Jingle Bell was killed by Rob. And Jared and Rhaegar obviously don't hold Jingle Bell Aegon in such high regard because A, Aegon is a name of Rhaegar's older brother. Because yes, Aenys Frey

named him that. So funny, George. And it's a weird Frey family tree thing. So Jingle Bell's the second born son of Stevron Frey. Had he not died, he was, like, bloop, second, right? Right after his dad. So that's Walder's first-born son's second son.

And then Jared is Walder's second wife and Walder's fourth son. And Rhaegar is the younger brother of aegon bloodborne walder's third born son aenys's son so like i see why they regard jingle bell and call him jingle bell instead of aegon because they have another aegon is my guess from the brother thing so okay back to jingling all the way i think i understand why the phrase said this though. The phrase said Rob killed Jingle Bell when Rob did nothing, right? In Cat 7, let's compare it. Cat follows Edwin, realizes what's happening. Rob moves to block Edwin and gets shot immediately by an arrow and then a second arrow. Catelyn goes to run and she gets hit by an arrow in the back wendell rises to his feet holding a

leg of lamb and an arrow goes straight through his mouth immediately through his neck and he dies that's it so i mean they shot first right like we know they shot first uh we already knew that it's all premeditated but the jingle bell lie about Rob killing Jingle Bell, I can imagine the rumors of their very violent murder of Catelyn are not being accepted well. Right. And she gets hit before even thinking about killing Jingle Bell in retaliation for Rob's death. So I don't know if maybe this is just to take off the trail. Like, obviously, it's to take people off the trail. This is our story and we're sticking to it.

But this narrative is very interesting in what they choose to change it is interesting because i was wondering that and i think what you said makes a lot of sense because i was like why don't they just tell people like that catlin killed jingle bell because that's like what actually happened and that's like not great either right but i think what you said makes sense because yeah it's covering up the violent murder of cat because she was not supposed to die like that was their biggest fuck up in the whole plan was that cat was supposed to be a hostage you know she was supposed to go quietly be a hostage and then everything would be under control but because they murdered both of the big like fancy figureheads of the north

that you think about in the cut like who's in the north again oh the Starks they're so nice never hear from them though you kind of fucked up that's they're good oops we murdered Catelyn I wonder if they just like don't care right do they just not care about Catelyn they just don't

even think about her and don't even think about like they just hope that no one cares about women pretty much they just hope't even think about her. And don't even think about like... They just hope that no one cares about women. Pretty much. You know, they just hope they can just, you know, there's another one. There's another one. They have a second one. You know, her name's Sansa.

Politically, no one's really rallying around Kat's memory, right? They're rallying around the memory of Rob. So they're doing everything that they can to... Suppress sympathy. Rob him of that legacy you're fired you're fucking fired i've been fired in a while i've been so good i've been so behaved fuck out all right listen davos asks the phrase name and as we said this is jared because of course it is and he goes jared of house fray i name you liar so in a chapter where davos has

to give his own titles right and remind people that he's a hand and is being very cognizant of that i think it's really significant that he like he really just fucking dropped that sir out of jared's name he didn't call him sir jared and i think that's insulting in and of itself that is intentional you are no sir to me he was no true knight jared makes a really stupid onion joke and he tries to challenge davos to a duel that wakes wyman from his little like phase where he's just staring ahead he's like no no fighting no bloodshed only only later you know later not now. Not here. Jared sheathes his sword. He still wants Davos's blood, though. A woman at a stool on the dais howls, saying,

The Onion Knight stirs trouble, and I wish for him to be sent away before the throne finds out. Wyman comforts her, saying it won't come to that and that they'll be loyal to the throne. I do like the language here because it's very ambiguous on purpose. Lord Wyman says, It will not come to that good daughter. The Iron Throne shall have no cause to doubt us. And of course, back to Cersei IV in A Feast for Crows.

We hear in the council meeting, Just this morning there was another bird. Stannis has sent his onion smuggler to treat with White Harbor on his behalf. Manderly has clapped the wretch inside a cell. He asks us what he should do with him. Send him here that we might question him, suggested Meriwether. The man might know much of value.

Let him die, said Qyburn. His death will be a lesson to the North to show them what happens to traitors. I quite agree, the queen said. I have instructed Lord Manderly to have his head off forthwith. That should put an end to any chance of White Harbor supporting Stennis.

Well, well, well. Well, how the turntables. How the turntables indeed. Poor Cersei. She just doesn't even know what's coming to her. It's almost like it should be illegal how mean it's gonna be in the

end for her. It should. But at the same time, can't look away. Kind of deserves it. It's like a train crash. She's like a reality show. When we talk about people who need to get a job, Cersei was trying to get

a job, but no one would let her. Anyway, we digress. I wouldn't hire her. We do digress. Davos decides to mention that Tommen, you know, son of Cersei, is a usurper. And that Stannis is the rightful king

it's a really strong language for a little boy Maester Theomar says that Davos is wrong because Tommen is Robert's trueborn son and Wyman agrees and of course Theomar fucking says that Davos is like wait so you guys like really think he's trueborn? and he's like

he's a bastard and then one of the frys in the audience pipes up and says that Davos should be jailed for treason and Jared says Davos should meet him on the field of honor and it's going down Jared keeps hoping he will and Davos is like

what does a Frey know of honor and then everyone in the crowd goes oh it's that literally it's a couple what does a fray know of honor? And then everyone in the crowd literally goes, oh! It's that. Literally, it's a couple of things, right? Like, it's Mordecai and what's-his-face

from the animated show, but it's also the gif of all the dudes all like, oh! Yeah, pretty much. And then the guy being like, it's literally that. Yep. Yep.

That's it. It's seven memes. There are like 80 memes at that moment is, but oh my god, dude, that is a diss right there. That is... Yeah, and Davos, I mean, like, no one's allowed to, but you can tell they're all clapping on

the inside. They're like, oh shit. They're ready to, like, they're ready to give Davos everything, but they can't. Four Frays stand up. They're not ready to give him everything. They're ready to fight. They're ready to throw down, but Wyman haltsts him and says he will hear davos's proof first and davos is like fuck a sun did a way across the narrow sea it was edric storm so he gives the next best thing that he can think of which is not that great he's just like

you have king stannis's word and i'm like shit dude that's what you got nothing yeah you got nothing oh yeah no one believes him also like immediately uh the young handsome brunette that's behind wyman says men will lie to get their way as any maid could tell you maester theomore says stannis wouldn't be the first king to lie to win a throne dude Dude, right there. Tommen. Maester Theomore out here like, Stannis wouldn't be the first king to lie to win a throne. What, like your fucking 80th cousin, Tommen?

Yeah, I mean, Tommen's not lying, but everyone else around him is. That poor boy. Yeah, another story chance. He did it. The plump pink woman, Lady Leona, points a finger saying they want no part in his treasons asking him to quit pouring his poison here and davos knows something deeper has wronged this woman he asks the honor of having her name which is when she's introduced as willis's wife

lady leona the captured willis yeah so i thought this was interesting. We get another reminder at one point of Davos being like, oh, okay, yes, of course, Wyman Manderly's son is hostage. And he's kind of empathetic to that. And he thinks again of like, how would I feel if Devon were hostage? Right? And I'm like, why does this keep coming up in this book? And how could you be friends with anyways anyways i mean you know i i really hope devon doesn't die right but when i think about it i'm like i guess hands do have five fingers anyway hey on the other hand you have different fingers you know on the other hand, you have different fingers, you know? On the other hand, you have another five fingers. Well, Thomas has got to pop out three more kids.

Maria, that poor woman. Don't do it, Maria. Don't do it. Anyways. They're alone. Oh, my God. Truly. My grandma said that they walk out after six. I have no intentions of finding out.

I don't either. Not of six. Yikes. Well, there's this line here that I thought was interesting, right? When they ask Davos and talk about the religion aspect of Stannis' camp. And Davos thinks, He prayed no one would ask him to explain about the Sept of Dragonstone or the gods at storm's end he thinks if they ask i must needs tell them stannis would not have me lie and i actually misread that a little the first time on one hand i think this is davos thinking that stannis

would want him to tell the truth which yes stannis probably would but there was when i read it the first time i thought it was interesting thinking like, Davos wouldn't be willing to lie for Stannis. But that's probably not true. But it was an interesting thought that there's something that Davos would withhold and not give to Stannis in that way, in terms of his own honor. Yeah. Well, I'm sure we'll see some of that come along. It doesn't really matter, because I'm not sure he'll ever see him again send him a quick dm drop into the dms send a wave a facebook wave even or a poke

do you remember when you could poke oh my god realizing that leona is speaking from fear davos promises no harm will come to Lord Willis or any man in White Harbor Lady Leona calls this another lie and Davos ignores her saying Stannis means to continue on for justice in the north to carry out King Robb's war Wyman calls Stannis a begging cur come to beg at their tables but Davos argues he came to save the realm and lands from ironborn and free folk sir mayor sir marlin manderly snorts at this saying does stannis mean to defend us from snarks and grumpkins as well and lady leona pipes up that now stannis and davos mean to make us bow to their red priestess's god too i love that that's like very complicated lady leona

davos prays about davos prays they don't ask him about the burning of the weirwoods and leona says the seven defend white harbor and the prayers of godly men will shield them from their evil so there's a lot of things going on for Davos throughout this exchange, like in just a few moments, right? These brief moments. And I think, again, this entire book of dance, it really highlights just what an asset Davos truly is for Stannis' service, like in those past two chapters with all the different skills that we've discussed him displaying and that continues here because as a hand you know davos is representing stanis he's also a diplomat and we've seen quite a few envoys actually throughout this entire series who including ones that are asking people to plead for allegiance and it seems like it's never ever an easy situation to be in especially because davos knows that there's a huge risk for him here. But he proves himself to, again, be an incredible diplomat. And what's great for him is that he's had a little bit of service. He's had a lot of difficult situations, of course, right?

As a smuggler, learned to read men's faces before he learned to read letters. And he also had a bit of practice when he was on Sisterton as someone who definitely cared about his well-being way less. And I think in some ways that might have been even a harder sell for him he's balancing a lot of different asks here from his audience and fielding all of these different emotions from them from trying to make the case to wyman of like this is why you should plea pledge to stanis and also appealing to lady leona's fear and trying to sue that and also making this emotional plea. And he also has to deal with like the phrase lies and insults and just being like, what the fuck? And he does ignore Lady Leona like at one point, right?

But I think he also shows this great empathy when he realizes that it's fear for her husband that's driving her. And then he moves on to show her this compassion in the middle of everything that's going on, despite the fact that Lady Leona has not been very great to him. And then, you know, to contrast how he also acts towards the Freys and the kind of behavior that we've seen from other nobles, especially towards Davos throughout the series, Davos, I think, shows this really immense grace, especially grace under pressure and this patience, despite his king constantly being insulted, him always being insulted and put down and people questioning his honor. And these phrase, like, the phrase at any point, like, anyone says, like, one small word or thing, they're ready to fight. They're like, I'm gonna fight him for that. I'm gonna fight him for that i'm gonna fight him for that i want to fight they're very hot-headed which we've seen a couple of other nobles as well and i don't think it's a good trait i don't think it's a very smart trait

to have as someone who needs to be politicking and on the other hand davos has to he has to perform and represent his king uh and then on another side he also ignores all of these uh insults because he kind of has to right because at the same time he's denying him the pleasure he's denying them the pleasure of him feeling like rustled by it and also especially because he's lowborn he's expected to act kind of at a higher standard than the nobles because if he wants to be taken seriously by them i mean he can't get mad because otherwise they're gonna then just dismiss him as not having the right breeding or not having the right like attitude for it uh even if he does like any

sort of hint of even giving them the least bit of the same discourteous behavior that they've shown him it's this huge double standard and then um to add on to like what how well he's doing here he has this really great little like kind of rhetorical trick that he over and over when he's driving home the lannister best the lannister bastard he keeps saying tommen called baratheon joffrey called baratheon x person called Baratheon, Joffrey called Baratheon, X-Person called Baratheon. He always says it kind of like that. And it kind of makes me wonder if that's a bit that he picked or whipped up back then in Clash and delivered when he was

going around the realm and informing people and telling them about the Lannister bastards. It's just so clever that he does that. Oh, that's clever, yeah. Because he's pretty, I mean, that's the thing is it does feel very rhetorical, right? Like it feels practiced. What else was he going to do in the

belly of the ship? Probably too. Practice his lines. Yeah, he's definitely right. He practices his lines. And that adds to the farce of what this is, the Mumbers show going on that we're talking about too. The fact that these are his lines as well. It's not just

Wyman has lines he must read. The girls have lines they're reading. It's also Davos has lines to read. He does. He does. He's trying the best he can and he's giving them back, right? He's about to be at a point where he's like, line!

To quote Arya, you know your lines and I know mine. Exactly. Wyman pats Leona's shoulder lovingly and takes over, explaining what his past lieges have asked of him. He says Tywin offered me a pardon and the return of my son for 3000 dragons. Roose wants me to give up my claim to the Hornwood lands and swears that my other holdings will remain untouched. And Walder offers me a wife, sons, daughters. So what does Stannis offer me?

War and woe and the screams of burning men, Davos might have said. The chance to do your duty, he replied instead. That was the answer Stannis would have given wyman manderley the hand should speak with the king's voice so all of these gifts are poisoned that is another huge red flag that wyman's not really supporting the regime he says they're great terms but let's recap three thousand dragons give lands. Forced to marry Freys that are halfway down the bloodline with no worth. Which also promises Frey blood gets to

inherit the harbor eventually and have partial domain in the north. Though, I do want to come back and say, how he handled the Donella Hornwood situation and was like, oh, I better protect the Hornwood lands now that she's dead from Ramsay, you know, for safekeeping, haha. Suspect. Very suspect, Wyman. Not great. Maybe you deserve this treatment. No,

I'm just kidding. That's not nice. But while he's a decent guy in the face of this, again, it stands out. This is all detrimental to him. And while he's definitely a stark man, as we hear in the next chapter, still says to davos hey now that the curtain's pulled so what do you have and davos is like lol i really had nothing that was i wasn't bluffing like i wasn't kidding i have absolutely nothing and he's in it for advantages he is in it to exploit things for his nature which i understand i mean you're caught up in this shitty war you need some good stuff to happen for your people uh but we definitely see it more in the next chapter too right with wex's appearance and information and it kind of helps us predict his gray morality when it comes to rick and stark a child king yeah i mean like we said right

wyman's very shrewd he's smart about what he's doing he's calculated and he uses everything that he can to his advantage to advance his own station and as you said they're pretty shit terms that he's been given and he's kind of saying it you read it and you're like wow this is a bad deal

sounds great it's a shit sandwich bro he's pretty much explicitly kind of saying that to Davos and Davos doesn't quite pick up on this because it's kind of like how can you believe that he would want this and he lists all the things that he has to as you said give up to the boltons and lannisters and frays but it kind of feels like he's also kind of nudging davos in the direction of like if you want my loyalty here's

all the things that they're trying to take me promise that you can give me these things and i'm yours right he's asking for pardons right he says that he wants pardons he wants the hornwood lands and castles and he wants good marriage prospects for his children it's pretty laid out but davos does not pick up what he's putting down or maybe he thinks that it's no good like he just isn't able to do it and i do think that this is the one area where Davos is actually quite weak as a diplomat. Negotiation, which I think is really interesting because I imagine that that's kind of a big part of being a smuggler. It seems like an important skill to know. He doesn't know how to do that bargaining and he doesn't think about how to make those promises. Alistair Florent tried to do some of that bargaining and negotiation.

It obviously didn't go well for him. But we see this kind of promising and negotiation with Catelyn when she meets with Walder Frey. And we see all of the Lannister children do it to some extent. They're all adults now. But Tyrion does it a lot, a lot, a lot throughout the entire series. He does it quite heavily in dance, especially with the second sons. So it's interesting. He's very skilled in the entendre.

Absolutely. Yeah. It's just interesting that of everything, despite all of Davos's like incredible strengths, this is not one of his. It is a weakness, but it's's also like how could you understand that like you literally look like he he looks like he's betting with phrase you know i mean i could understand that the other thing is like how could how could you boldly understand that it's this like because even wyman here he knows that he can't be any more obvious than this like it's obvious to us the reader yes haven't you make it any more obvious? Haven't you heard?

Yeah, that's it, though. Like, it is, in those terms, to keep your singing on here, he can't make it any more complicated. Oh. Or less complicated. He's like, why you gotta go make things so complicated? I mean, we're in a complicated situation right now. complicated and i mean it's a it's a we're in a complicated situation right now for you know how like dogs can hear a certain decibel like in a certain pitch that we can't or something

i'm sure this exists this is a thing you've heard of this right in some manner or form i don't care enough to know the details so this is just very off the cuff but uh it's magic dogs are magic maybe the phrase can't hear anything above a certain pitch or below a certain pitch you know i do think that about a lot of them i'm gonna be real like dogs sir marlin in his very ornate silver armor asks if he can question the onion knight and wyman allows him he asks a few questions and says how many north men have joined stannis arnulf karstark marlin's like he's a castle and he's not a lord so doesn't really count what castles does stannis hold nightfort storm's end dragon stone maester theomar's like that's a non. Nightfort's not a real place, and Stormsend and Dragonstone

are lightly held at best. They're gonna fall any second now, which, yeah. Yeah, that does literally happen. Literally. And then of course, the last question, how many men ride with Stannis? And Davos is like, my best answer is not to answer. Haha. So yeah, it's not looking

great for Davos, is what I'm trying to say. things aren't great right now yeah there's a line here from marlon of your lordship asked the onion knight what stannis offers us let me answer he offers us defeat and death he would have you mount a horse of air and give battle with a sword of wind i mean he's not's not wrong. That's literally what Davos just thought. He's like, should I tell you you're going to have burnt men? Like, Davos is like, sitting here like, this sucks. I guess this is coming from a corporate relationship.

I can understand this, actually. Yeah, I mean, Davos does think that. You know, he's like, he and Marlin have kind of mind melded. And, you know, Marlin's kind of a huge dick in a lot of parts in this chapter, especially at the beginning. But I can't tell, I cannot tell if it's part of the act that a lot of the Manderlys are putting on or not. actually quite respectful, right? In the language that he's using for it.

And he's just kind of like trying to lay the case out for it of like why pledging to Stannis doesn't make any sense to them advantageously. And in that last line, he's like, this is what Stannis offers us. And as you said, it's what Davos thought. It's a smart thought. And he also then kind of lays the blame on Stannis and not on Davos in that moment. I thought that was kind of lays the blame on stannis and not on davos in that moment i thought i thought

that was kind of uh polite that is polite and i do think he has to be in on it like he is uh not young young you know he's older it's not old old but he's like a little younger than wyman you know he's technically nephew-ish so i i mean i think he's in on it especially because you know men get to know things in this story and girls don't well i mean some of them are you know how that goes we're emotional and they like war yeah but wyman's quite proud of that one in myla later oh god she well and how could you not be i know not be as we'll get to. Wyman asks if Davos has anything else to say to him, or if he can put an end to this mummer's farce.

Bow, bow, bow, bow. He said the thing. Pew, pew, pew. Yeah, it's very double-edged here. As we know, it's actually really referring to Lord Manderly's show that he's putting on for the phrase all the world's a stage and as sir roderick said in a clash of kings brand two he is fat but he is not stupid davos feels despair knowing that he's failing stannis and thinking that stannis should have just sent someone who was better equipped with words. Actually, Davos has really good words. Yeah, I do agree. I think

he's doing a really great job. And he does a great job in the next passage, which I'm very excited about this. We have a couple guest voices joining us. You may know them. You may recognize them. You may recognize them. Death.

He heard himself say. There will be death, aye. Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King's Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes if you doubt me. A blind man could see it.

What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours. For your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance. Yes, piped a girl's voice, thin and high. It belonged to the half-grown child with the blonde eyebrows and the long green braid.

They killed Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn and King Robb. He was our king. He was brave and good and the Freys murdered him. If Lord Stannis will avenge him, we should join Lord Stannis. Manderly pulled her close. Ryla, every time you open your mouth, you make me want to send you to the Silent Sisters. I only said... We heard what you said, said the older girl, her sister. A child's foolishness. Speak no ill of our friends, Afray. No!

One of them will be your lord and husband soon. I won't, I won't ever! They killed the king! The girl declared, shaking her head. Lord Wyman flushed. You will? When the appointed day arrives, you will speak your wedding vows, else you will join the Silent Sisters and never speak again. The poor girl looked stricken. Grandfather, please. Hush, child, said Lady Leona. You heard your Lord Grandfather. Hush! You know nothing.

I know about the promise, insisted the girl. Maester Thiamor, tell them. A thousand years before the conquest, a promise was made, and oaths were sworn in the wolves' den before the Old Gods and the New. When we were sore, beset, and friendless, hounded from our homes and in peril of our lives, the wolves took us in and nourished us and protected us against our enemies. The cities built upon the land they gave us.

In return, we swore that we should always be their men. Stark men. The maester fingered the chain around his deck. Sol and Wills were sworn to the Starks of Winterfell. Aye. But Winterfell has fallen, and House Stark has been extinguished. That's because they killed them all! amazing work amazing work i was so excited that we had some guest voices thank you to the wonderful maester mary up from under winterfell you may remember her when she joined us for a john snow chapter and also from learned hands podcast She was Winifred. Clint from the Learned Hands podcast, Laws of Ice and Fire

was Wyman. Joe Magician who was here a bit back back in John, joined us as Maester Theomore. Our friend and patron Amy Allison was Lady Leona and of course, the poor Quentin as Davos. A big shout out to

his Davos series. We'll throw a link below. You have to check it out if you haven't read it before. But he has covered A Dance with Dragons Davos pretty thoroughly. This was done on super short notice. So thank you so much, guys. That was something. Goddamn straight.

They did kill them all, Lila. They did. I love how she's just like, what the fuck? She also, like, Davos is like, am I, what am I, am i like what am i taking crazy am i going crazy yeah am i taking what the what the fuck what the she's just whispering what the fuck to herself 10 times a day she's like what the where did your spines go old people she's probably doing that like throughout this she's like dude just five minutes before this whole thing we were all talking shit about how we're gonna kill the phrase, what the fuck is going on here?

I'm literally holding a five iron. Come on, Grandpa. Yeah, that was definitely, that was a good one. Wyla's the shit. That was and great rendition, Eliana. Truly, I set this whole thing up because I just wanted to hear you be Wyla. Oh, okay. Thank you.

Not patch face? No. Oh, I always want to hear you be patch face, Eliana. Well, let's talk about this little vengeance speech Davos gave. I think this is a great bit of writing, right? Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your

brothers, for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers, for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance. You know, in this very book, in The Watcher, we get a very important speech from Ellaria. Oberyn wanted vengeance for Elia. Now the three of you want vengeance for him. I have four daughters, I remind you. Is that how it goes? Round and round forever?

I ask again, where does it end? And she goes on to say, I saw your father die. Here is his killer. Can I take a skull to bed with me? To give me comfort in the night? Will it make me laugh, write me songs, care for me when I'm old and sick? There's a lot of big Dorne imagery going on. It reminds me a bit of that, right? Especially with Wyman's politicking as we're going to get into. But it also brings the rise of vengeance in Lady Stoneheart right at the end there of the books that have preceded it. Catelyn. Catelyn who was murdered while just brought up in the speech.

Catalin, Catalin who was murdered while I just brought up in the speech. White Harbor is going to be the main source of resources for rebuilding the North, right? We have come to that. We get that. And right now, Davos is asking them for those resources to join Stannis in war and vengeance against the South and in the North for those who have stolen the North. And Wyman has already been building this vengeance right much like a friend we have in dorne doran martell wyman has been building his vengeance steadily even in a game of thrones eddard four eddard instructed them to have lord manderly know he needed to strengthen and repair his defenses at white harbor as soon

as the banners were called and in brand two II, A Clash of Kings, when Wyman visits, he says, Grant me the gold, and within the year I will float you sufficient galleys to take Dragonstone and King's Landing both. Now, who knows if that's where these galleys are really being made from. As we talked last time, it could be the Lannisters and Freys have given him some money to kind of get that going, but with what we know for Wyman's future, he's already chosen vengeance. And this vengeance is probably going to come at the price of his life, right? When we see him last, he's looking pretty gruesome, worse than he is now. He's the old man ready to go out into winter to save his family.

And he's aware of this. He knows what this cost is because we see him this chapter, especially playing this careful game on a slippery slope. Very much so. This reminds me of the sand snakes, right? Coming to Doran and harassing him saying, when are we getting our vengeance for, for our dad?

And Wyla here speaking out like, what are you talking about? The phrase we need vengeance, grandpa. They both are plotting it. Just wait. It's coming. and Wyla here speaking out like, what are you talking about the phrase? We need vengeance, Grandpa. They both are plotting it. Just wait. It's coming. That's such a great comparison to what's going on in Dorne.

And as you also called out, this is a fantastic speech from Davos. Davos is all like, I don't have good words. I'm like, those are fucking amazing words. You're doing amazing, sweetie. It's very compelling, right? He's's like i don't have anything to offer but basically justice and and as you said vengeance and those are strong motivators as we see in this series we see it working for manderley i will say you know wyman manderley he gets going on his vengeance really quick he's a doer and the way that doran was like i'm gonna i'm gonna wait

a long ass time and no one's gonna know my plans and everyone's gonna second guess him as we see in the next chapter and we'll talk about it more then wyman has had the good forethought that most of the people in that room that were manderleys were in on it uh wyla maybe was a little but obviously not enough because she was like i thought we hated them she doesn't say that fair i mean she's young also he has them right like he the the other thing is doran obviously had kind of a little bit of an advantage of being in doran right which is separate that's the one of the very few things that doran gets allowed to have and they couldn't really just come after him but it took him a while to get a lannister in his house let alone two although one isn't an important lannister

but uh let alone two i mean it took him a while to be able to have lions in his den and wyman unfortunately was belabored with the phrase with the towers of phrase much earlier than doran had the opportunity. Though Wyman, of course, is out there swinging and dealing for his life right now. Yeah, I mean, Wyman was willing. Life under the crown sucks. He knows the risks and he's taking it. He's like, all right, well, vengeance isn't going to come to me, so I'm going to go to it.

And he goes to Winterfell. He's like, I see a chance and I'm going to take it. And, you know, I'm not saying that what Doran's doing is wrong. I think he's right to think of the children, but I'm just saying that these are differences in the way that they approach this and how they desire vengeance, right? Like, they both feel it strongly. Absolutely. They've been sitting with this insult, right? How dare the Freys just come in and act like things are fine? How dare Tywin lie to the face of Doran and the rest of the realm when everything happened?

It's a strong motivator. Well, the Rhaegar Frey doesn't quite understand any of that. I don't know that he has real people feelings. He asks Wyman to allow him to reason with Wyla. And Rhaegar, of course, bears actually no resemblance at all to the late Crown Prince. He's wearing a gray and blue clothing of rich cloth, lambswool, and silk trimmings, lined with a bear and clasped with the towers of his house. And I'm going to just throw this out there.

All right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a very brief fashion corner of what does George have against people who wear Vare part four? Like, how many times have we seen people that George doesn't think well of wearing Vare? Or like that are Conan kind of wear? I don't know, Aliana. How many times? I don't know. Isn't Liza?

Liza Arryn wears Vare, right? She's one of them. Yeah, but i feel like that's kind of broad i think it's a barbary wears it and bran wears bear okay well that makes sense because he's a squirrel bran wears bear you got loki jr i mean redley wearing bear uh sir preston wears puts bear sorry around the queen. Hmm. Lady Tanda and her daughters wear Vare. Fat Walda, there's an idea of her wearing pink lace in Cape of Vare.

It's not a real thing. Sansa wears silvery satin trimmed in Vare. There's a Tully dress in Vare in the veil. It's the red and blue Tully dress. Then in Cat of the Canals, there is a bravosy purple cloak with Veyr. Oh, Darin. Darin, of course, is wearing Veyr. And then we get here. And the only other mention of Veyr is

Lady Dustin. Ignore what I said then. George has nothing against people who wear Veyr. Well, there's that Veyr again. Veyr it is. Veyr it is, once more. Rhaegar addresses lady wyla rhaegar such a dick he says he hopes her loyalty will be just as strong to little walder when they're married he tries to peddle some false propaganda that the male starks are dead and one of the girls is coming home to marry Ramsey and join their houses and reunite the North. Wyla is out there like, no, I hate that guy. He made

Donella eat her fingers, bitch. Yeah, she's right. And she should say it. And now that I think about it, besides the fact that that's so horrifying, do the Manderlys also just think poorly of anyone who makes people remove their fingers? I'm just saying. Putting it out there. These are interesting things to ruminate on, and I don't think I have to respond because I'm just gonna ruminate. I'm gonna do some intense ruminating on it, Eliana. Yeah.

To find the answer. We're gonna ruminate on that, but we're also gonna talk explicitly about something else here, right? Of how it's important that Wyla called out this part about Lady danella hornwood we are all on a reread once more we know what happens and that the manderleys here know about what ramsey really did and yes wyman does now have the hornwood lands and is being asked to relinquish them and he has asked for them before in a way. It's significant that we...

I mean, we do see that the Manderlys care about the Hornwoods in a couple of ways, right? A lot of the displaced people seeking refuge at White Harbor right now, they are from the Hornwood lands. And also, it's definitely insulting in a way in that, yes, Wyman, maybe it was

a little self-serving in him trying to marry Lady Danella Hornwood, and it was one of the implications, right, in Clash. Or maybe having her wed Wendell, but obviously that's not on the table anymore. But... Meat is off the menu.

Oh my god. But Lady Danella Hornwood's death isn't just, like, normally horrifying, right? Danella herself is a manderly. She is a cousin of Donella Hornwood's death isn't just normally horrifying, right? Donella herself is a manderly. She is a cousin of Wyman who has been killed by the Boltons. So that's another thing to add to the whole vengeance list. Things to get

vengeance for. It almost kind of reminds me a little of him, you know, being told to relinquish the Hornwood lands. In a way, it's honoring Donella. He gets them and he's kind of protecting them. And it kind of reminds me of Ned's bones in a way and how getting Ned's bones home is so important. It just from a narrative standpoint of just like Catelyn

wants them to go home. And now we hear Barbary is trying to block them from ever returning. And it's kind of like a big sin, right it's a big like oh if his bones don't get back that'll really show him and in a way wyman protecting this land feels honorific like that if that makes sense yeah yeah i i do i i think it's you know it's got layers like an onion oh my god a man is not just bad or good is what i'm saying there's a man wearing purple with crossed bronze keys clasping his cloak spears, affirming what Wyla says. Yes. Like Shrek.

Oh my god. This is presumably an unnamed man of House Locke. He has bronze keys, purple, that's House Locke. That's interesting. I'm kind of surprised he doesn't have a name because we've met men of House Lock, so it's just kind of like a... In the show that these books are based on.

No, but we do get House Lock earlier on. We get a handful of different people from House Lock that are named, so it's weird that this one's just not named. But something I find more interesting is the purple. there is a lot of purple on this side of the north uh royalty obviously is the first thing that springs to

mind of purple wolvesfield is purple marlin's personal sigil it has violet field as you get out of the main stark area of the north you get vibrant colors. The colors start to brighten up, especially on the east coast here of the north, like hornwood orange. It all brightens up from the gray and white. That is interesting. And especially on the coast, as you said, kind of a little more of maybe that southern

influence flavor. Rhaegar puffs up his chest because of course he does, saying that that's just what his enemies say about him and that Robb Stark was more beast than boy and he's like puffed up with pride and bloodlust he says Robb Stark betrayed us all

he abandoned the north to cruel mercies of the Iron Men to carve out a fairer kingdom for himself along the Trident. Then he abandoned the river lords who'd risked much and more for him, breaking his marriage pact with my grandfather to wed the first western wedge who caught his eye. The young wolf, he was a vile dog and died like one. How dare you, first of all. How dare you. How dare you. It's so. How dare you. How dare you. It's so rude.

It's really very rude. And it's also untrue. How could someone just go on the internet and spread lies like this? I know. It's the disrespect, Chloe, truly. Well, the court doesn't take it well, right? Like, the court goes really still for a second. And for one moment, Wyman looks like he's gonna deck this motherfucker like he's just gonna

go all out on him but instead he sucks it up and he goes yes mmhmm that sure happened thank the lords yep yep you're very right keep telling it this man I don't know how he did it dude I don't know how he he stomached this because

I would have decked the guy dude Wyman Manderly has so much patience like holy shit uh i love i love this moment though right that and davos noticing he's like the room just becomes like still and icy davos notices it because davos as we've seen throughout this chapter actually like has human emotions is very empathetic he's been good at this throughout again the past few chapters he knows that vengeance is what the Manderlys want and appeals to that. He knows what Boral wants. He's able to speak to that.

And that's because Davos, like, understands people and can read the room. Like, literally, when we say read the room, Davos can do that. And he said so explicitly. Part of me wonders, do you think that the Freys noticed? Do you think that they noticed that everyone in that moment was like, I want to kill you right now? I think they kind of have to know to an extent that like,

like yes, he's fooling them to an extent, but he's not. They are obviously wary of him, of his every move. I kind of feel like half of them are getting off on it. Yeah, I agree. Like Rhaegar especially is getting off on it. Like he loves this. Especially thisegar especially is getting off on it. Like, he loves this.

Especially this whole talking down to Wyla right here thing. Like, up next here. Oh, he loves mansplaining these lies to her. Oh, he loves it. Yeah, because, like, Wyla is not having it right. She fights back and she's like, that's untrue, those words are untrue. And Lady Leona takes her by her braid out of the room.

It's like young girls should be an ornament to the eye, not an ache in the ear. And Wyman seems to be apologetic for Wyla's behavior and Rhaegar's like marriage will soften her. Shut the fuck up. Punch him in the fucking nose, dude. I hate this guy. He says it in a way that kind of like really insinuates

that he thinks that her husband should beat her too or something. You know he's cool with that. Yeah, he like expects it. And Wyman responds to him. He's like, well, if that doesn't the silent sisters will. And then he turns to Davos and he's like, I've heard enough of the Onion Knight's

treasons. And he's like, you're still a smuggler. Come to steal my golden blood and take my son's head yes and we get this ending of you came into my city like a smuggler i say you are no lord no knight no envoy only a thief and a spy a peddler of lies and treasons, I should tear your tongue out with hot pincers and deliver you to the dreadfort to be flayed. But the mother is merciful, and so am I. He beckoned to Sir Marlin. Cousin, take this creature to the wolf's den and cut off his head and hands. I want them brought to me before I sup. I shall not be able to eat a bite

until I see the smuggler's head upon a spike with an onion shoved between his lying teeth. And the chapter ends just like the chapter ends before this in Tyrion, right? Tyrion and Davos are assumed dead. That's what we assume obviously it's a reread we know they're not dead bitches but

yep and kind of a specific thing to ask to ask someone and that he says that Davos has lying teeth when it's like everyone else as we saw in this chapter everyone else has lying teeth except for Davos that's a great point he's like damn i can't believe i have to go out here and tell lies

about this guy telling lies dude that is all he gets in the next chapter right he's like great now i have to go tell more lies and do more things i don't want to do for another guy who i'm not even loyal to this is bullshit i know it's totally like if you give a mouse a cookie and then everyone else is like asking for more shit it's like who is the mouse now how many people are the fucking mouse but yeah the chapter starts with them calling davis a smuggler he's reminded about it again and again throughout this chapter by the Manderly specifically, and especially here at the end. And I feel that that's very significant because first of all, I mean, yes, in general, nobles fucking love calling Davos a smuggler. But they especially love telling him that he was a smuggler right before they ask him to smuggle something like davos remember your resume

i'm gonna bring up all this work experience that you have could you do this thing for me again we saw it heavily in clash davos 2 the that that fateful episode that we split into two episodes which holy shit and stannis and melisandre kept reminding him that hey davos you smuggler davos you smuggler smuggle things and you smuggler. Smuggle things. And it's like, at first you're like, why are they being so rude to him all of a sudden? And here, at first, that's part of the fake out, right? You expect a potentially hostile house, which is how the Manderlys are being presented right now, especially because in Feast we're like, oh my god, they killed Davos. Maybe.

But of course it ends up acting as a sort of foreshadowing for what they're gonna ask davos again to do next chapter people are only ever asking davos to like smuggle people nowadays have you noticed and also i'm just gonna say in general this chapter is iconic no absolutely both of these last two both of these last two davos chapters are i really like his earlier chapters as well especially during the slow read but i think these four chapters are an amazing arc to read them all together i highly recommend it because there's so much in here that's rich as far as like white harbor especially uh setting the scene is somewhere new that's just so beautifully and

i mean let's face it it's like a circus in there. You've got crazy things all over the walls, and it's so much to look at and so much to read from George. That alone, and having that new wondrous setting with all these new ideas of trade and economic prosperity, but also war. Seeing it teeming on the edge and bubbling over, that is really a great setting to put Davos and to see him flex and do his thing in. Absolutely. I know it likes it sucks that George incorporating some of these new ideas, right? And that richness that you're discussing has probably not probably has definitely caused these books to be delayed. But it's also just really fun and and you know i'm excited to see how that's all gonna play out later yeah it sucks but i mean if we ever do a good reason yeah you know i wouldn't

love these books if it didn't have this teeming with richness from every corner you know like without this world but this is what makes george writing special, is that he had to screw around to figure out what to do with the Davos chapters, and it made Feast Dance split in half, and it made Feast Dance take 800 years to come out, and now he's taking a bajillion years on the next one, but you know what, that's okay, because it was beautiful when it came out, and it'll be beautiful when it comes out again. Yeah, but even more beautiful, I haven't talked about this in a while, while though even more beautiful are the friends that we made along the way especially in davos 3 where we made friends with all of the merman's court indeed except for those frays especially not ray garfray i wouldn't even eat you that's how much you suck right like someone's gonna get indigestion for that too i bet you don't even eat you, that's how much you suck Right? Like, someone's gonna get indigestion for that, too I bet you don't even taste good No, you're right, I think he tastes bad

Absolutely Still better to taste him tasting bad in a pie than actually talk to him, though It's wild that someone so salty would taste so bad, you know? He's very bitter, too You know the phrase, don't salt their food. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining us

in Davos 3, the penultimate Davos A Dance With Dragons chapter. I had a blast. I had fun. Eliana, did you have fun? Oh, I had fun. I'm sad that we only have one more.

And big thank you again to our friends that joined us early, too. Absolutely. Again, our beautiful friends that we meet along the way. Yeah, I'm sad that Davos is gonna be over, but I know that all of you and I know I am very, very excited to move on to a new

POV as well so bittersweet but we will be announcing that POV I guess next week in our final Davos, our ultimate Davos chapter yes well of course keep up with us

and maybe even that announcement right on social media you can find this at Girls Gone Canon, C-A-N-O-N, on Twitter, or again, shoot us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com. Yeah, make sure that you are subscribed to us on a podcast platform near you, so you get these episodes every Friday,

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That's the $10 tier and above. And we'll also be holding our Discord happy hour slash brunch. We do it every month over on Discord in our voice chat with patrons. We hang out, we chat. This month's Discord will be on Saturdayurday february 13th so if you're listening to this you may miss it just by a second but it will be saturday february 13th and we'll be having a galentine's day with some giveaways of some themed merchandise and some

other fun things happening as well as jackbox games so join join us on Discord. Yeah, I do love Jackbox games, so I'm excited. I'm pretty excited too. They're just fun. They're fun party games. Yeah. Well, as always, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I have

been another one of your hosts, Wileyana Manderly. Oh my god, you've been fired once more i couldn't believe that she could do it folks but twice in an episode and right at the end here she is i've just been doing too well you know i've been too good yeah your work performance has really not been suffering enough lately so i'm really glad i got to fire you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Kayalia, you want to get hired? I don't know. It feels...

It's interesting to be fired all the time. Goodbye. Bye.