Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 144 — AFFC Brienne II

Episode Date: November 12, 2021

Brienne continues her adventure, learning a history lesson about Duskendale and its extinct houses. She gets her shield repainted to a very familiar image: a shooting star at sunset above an elm tree. After, she adopts a kid.  Links Mentioned:  GGC talks the Dance of the Dragons civil war with Direwolf City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v2crex206U   Alicia Kingston (aka the Lord Commander AK) on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AliciaKingstonWatch    Ashaya on History of Westeros: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHistoryofwesteros    JoeMagician (Matt's) YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/JoeMagician  --- 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 Canyon Rita's Song of Ice and Fire, episode 144, Brienne 2, and A Feast for Crows. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Yes, we are making our way through the Riverlands. Downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I'm home. We're in the Crownlands. Where is is sansa stark i don't know i'm not gonna go in the right place uh but actually in this she basically does say if i could fall i would walk a thousand miles you know she basically does say that in this chapter so you could also give it to uh you know if she could walk 500 miles and you know 500 more yeah

I feel a playlist you know I know the show meme the bad show meme was like Gendry rowing was the meme right but I'm out here like Brienne and her horse. Just clopping. Clopping, if you will. No, clop. Hey, everyone. We're so glad you're here. We're glad to be here.

I love this chapter. I'm going to tell you about how much I love this chapter today. Chloe really loves this chapter. She just kept saying, like, every single day she would message me and be like, I love this chapter. I love Breanne so much. And I was like, okay, cool. Happy for you.

Y'all were here for MILF summer, MILF spring, but now we're getting into Tall Girl Autumn, Tall Girl Winter. Here to stay. here to stay here to stay okay before we jump into all that before we unravel all of that today we gotta do some housekeeping patreon episode this month patrons in the stranger tier five Stranger tier, $5 and above at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon, C-A-N-O-N. And above, we'll get a very special episode this month with some of our very favorite people that have been on the show before, actually. But this will be for patrons. And Eliana, will you do the honors? It's your favorite thing. Is it my favorite thing? I don't know.

The way you like to say it okay yes i do have a specific way that i would like to talk about this episode we are going to do november all right where we're going to talk about nymeria with our good friends ak and ashea yes i'm excited to have both back ashea was last on back in Sansa? Oh shit, yeah, I think you're right. And then, yeah, and AK was on with Asha. Which is actually longer ago now than I thought it was, because it turns out I don't understand how time passes.

Shit, even Jamie was a while ago. It was a while ago. Who were we? It was like 2020, and then, yeah, I mean, when we were reviewing our dance episodes recently because speaking of joining people if you haven't checked it out we recently guested on direwolf city we had a wonderful time to talk about the dance of the dragons that was recorded and we did those episodes in 2018 oh my god yeah through 2018 to 2019 and i'm sure we remarked heavily like i'm not the same

person i was one year ago then too so we were annoying then too and you can find those at patreon.com yeah slash girls gone canon as well yeah you can we talked a little bit about a few some expectations for house of the dragon and uh for this nymeria episode we might talk a little bit about some expectations for House of the Dragon. And for this Nymeria episode, we might talk a little bit about there have been some rumors swirling about a potential Nymeria television adaptation. I don't know if that's true or not, but I know that Ashea is passionate about it. Yeah, Ashea over at History of Westeros is super passionate about Nymeria. And AK, you can find her YouTube, we'll link that below as well. you can find her YouTube we'll link that below as well but Alicia Kingston the Lord Commander is always

passionate about pretty much any of the fucking great female characters of Aeswap right I mean but specifically I know AK's excited for Nymeria too so I'm excited for November please come check it out and we'll drop

the link for our hot D discussion with Direwolf City please come check it out and we'll drop the link for our hot d discussion yeah with dire wolf city some hot d's in that house speaking of other things in housekeeping in this house specifically in this hot d this hot d so hot discord indeed indeed our discord is hot um you can also access our discord on patreon for patrons in the ten dollar tier and above thunder tier and above and not only are there many channels for people to enjoy and talk with one another there is also once a month a discord brunch slash happy hour i love brunch i love brunch and happy hour it is a time to kick back you know get your get your wig loose well last

month specifically last month was halloween themed oh you had a wig that's right yeah i was wearing a wig i was i was getting a little little hot d up in that house i had a little raniera outfit on you know cute little raniera outfit it was a fun time we had a really good time played some uh silly jackbox games and laughed and talked about a swath and books and whatever and this month we're doing something on november 21st it's a sunday i'm not good at days. I already got it wrong twice today, so I'm getting with it. Sunday, November 21st from 1 to 3 p.m. Eliana time. We'll be doing a Harvest Feast themed potluck PowerPoint presentation. Say that three times fast.

Where patrons will submit three to five slides of the Harvest theme. So whatever you want to talk about harvest themed submit them over at girls gone canon if you are a patron in the thunder tier and above and have access to discord and we're gonna do a little fun presentation some giveaways some overall autumnal love before the holidays happen for us in the u.s. and, you know, life gets busy. Holidays are happening soon. People have families or friends or whatever. There are going to be holidays like right after that episode. So we are trying to meet with this family first

before people meet with their other families if they are. So, you know, bring the harvest. And yeah, we haven't done apoint potluck in a while so i'm pretty excited to see what people bring this time that's always it's always really fun to learn from folks so looking forward to that yes and of course one more thing for november as you all know we also cover the his dark materials series and once a month we do a his dark materials episode around the books this month we will be covering an episode we are past the halfway point now we are well into this book the amber spyglass the third of its kind uh the third of its name

and i i don't know i'm very excited it's book. You all, you motherfuckers like sad shit. Yeah. You're on here every week. You're listening. You like the sad shit. So come listen and read His Dark Materials. And truly, I think it's a good starting point. We're going to be covering some really fun books in the future.

No spoilers right now, but get fun books in the future no spoilers right now but get get your books and ready and out you know get that library decked out deck the halls with lots of books because we're gonna read other shit he are gonna get sad about other shit yeah oh are those sad okay okay all right oh i mean we've already got plans. They're literally sad and gay. We've already got plans, so... Hmm. Well... Let's just get sad about Brienne first, right? We're here

in the Riverlands in A Feast for Crows. We can start it all off with a lightning round. Yeah. Coming at ya. First is Sam 1. Jon sends Sam to the Citadel to learn and become a maester. Arya 1. Arya journeys to Braavos, arriving at the House of Black and White. In Cersei 2, Cersei attends Tywin's wake and Kevin reveals he knows her secrets.

Like in Pretty Little Liars? Yes yes and in in true true roy family fashion she says fuck off that's pretty little liars right it's the same thing right logan roy it's like the same idea just capsuled blaine cox a legend and that brings us to jamie one jamie stands vigil over his father's body and that brings us to Jamie 1. Jamie stands vigil over his father's body. And that brings us to The Hedge Knight, where by chapter's end, Dunk has- I'm so sorry, let me just back that up. That was us.

I fumbled it, I- Welcome to Brienne 2, which is literally an ode to The Hedge Knight. This is an ode to The Hedge Knight. Brienne 2 is, in my my opinion one of my favorite chapters in probably all the books one of my top 10 at least uh for the duncan egg parallels alone for the sadness the lore how rich it is with lore every corner we're about to turn is just like it's luring over us and you know for brianne's bravery and perseverance to do the right thing i love you brianne so much oh my god so let's get on the horse and ride so dusk and dale's

gates are closed and barred when brianne arrives she gets in line behind wanes and ox carts waiting for the city to open and when daylight breaks the line is about a quarter mile long what concert are they going to wrong answers only this fiasco i intended yeah uh you know what else is very long this chapter there's a lot in this chapter so long i was surprised i was like this is clearly an ending point you know because we're rereading i'm like this seems like a good ending point for this if we've covered a topic then it's like no there's another topic and yeah there's a lot one of the first topics is that the farm folk around her give her curious looks and she feels very shy speaking to strangers as she always had felt but pushes herself in the name of sansa stark

i find myself doing that all the time personally pushing, pushing myself in the name of Santa's story. You do, actually. And this is just this idea of having to push yourself to talk and being shy about talking to strangers is a great start to the chapter. It tells you a little about Brienne that we've kind of really known, but get to see more of that insecurity. And it's going to come full circle and pay off at the end. I'll let you know when we get there. Yeah. and it's gonna come full circle and pay off at the end i'll let you know when we get there yeah she uh the end is actually like like you said like oh it's a very abrupt ending you think about it but when you get in here it's thick to get to that ending so on our way brienne asks the turnip cart woman in front of her have you seen my sister and she shakes her head no and her husband says i wager she has no maidenhood

now okay thank you for your asks yeah right like hmm glossing over it brienne he asks brienne if the sister has a name and brienne starts to make one up i really feel that she's like yeah and she's about to make one up and then then she's like, no, no, no name. Got nothing. He actually specifically responds to her with the roads are full of nameless girls. And his wife says that, of course, the graveyard is far fuller. Yeah. That's a bummer.

You know, that's for all dead girls outlining. Bummer for all outlining the chapters is just dead girls and nameless girls. But we actually get the POV of some nameless girls, right? Like Arya and Sansa, and we even get to see firsthand Jane, who now is Arya. She's nameless. They're littered throughout this chapter in mentions, not just by name, but also by themes. And Brienne's quest is revolving around all of them yeah it is and and constantly reminding us right of someone's looking for these girls right for

sanza but how many people aren't looking for those girls but perhaps even brienne at this moment is somewhat of a nameless girl because she is trying to fly a little bit incognito on this quest except for every now and then she has to bust out Tom and Seal but I also kind of wonder I feel like giving a false name when you're trying to look for Sansa Stark I don't think it would help that much anyway because then like you'd be leading people astray in your search

you know people would get confused so it's not that helpful and unfortunately I think she kind of thinks about it at some points right but she can't get away with it yeah she is a uh a known figure you know even to some of these folks indeed indeed guardsmen appear at dawn down from the parapets opening up the gates to the town and loads of fruits and vegetables are displayed beyond her place in line. Wealthy townsmen on palfreys farther back, and even a

skinny boy on a piebald roundsy even farther than that. She glances and does not see the merchant, nor Sir Shadrach. As she nears the gates, they halt her, asking her purpose, and linger on her shield, her Lothston shield, calling them arms of ill dispute. Regarding the Lothsten shield, obviously this got brought up last chapter, but it is interesting that it comes back again. And Chloe gave us a much more in-depth look at the Lothstens last episode.

But I do want to briefly just say that the small folk, I mean, it's interesting that they still remember the Lothstons at this point, because they have a memory for the Lord who treated them so terribly. And that's why the Loston shield and the symbol even now is still so terribly regarded and still seen as dangerous and ominous and bad luck. It's only one of actually the three extinct houses we're going to discuss this chapter a lot of extinct houses this chapter and the public attitude that towards the darklands is also

kind of interesting because it contrasts quite a bit i enjoyed kind of looking into some of that history as far as the darks and the darklands and the hollards and just understanding the area more yeah while reading about this chapter I think on first look this chapter is a navel gazer you go through it and you're like alright but once you've read the series and you've read the outer works and I'm not saying that you should need to be able to do that

to enjoy a story obviously but I digress it's just like really enjoyable on a reread of how all of these themes are kind of mushing together in a sandwich and some of the stuff with fire and blood with the darklands and understanding their place in the targaryen faction and it's it's great that we get to come here because so much of the history does happen in duskendale and also i mean just last last pov we kept being like damn those people just got sent to Duskendale a completely

different place than would have been strategic yeah yeah well Brienne comments about this arms of ill dispute and says that she does mean to have the shield repainted okay it's just like a hand-me-down that she

picked up and the captain then points her to the painted doors across from the seven swords and he's like my sister does this kind of work i love the painted doors that we see in the series we don't have like a lot of really really significant ones he details but i just love picturing them and we do get another one and we'll go over in just a little bit when we get the description what is on these painted doors but the other one that comes to mind is from a place we have been but we don't see them from brienne or from jamie we see them from aria at the end of the kneeling man the painted sign above the door showed a picture of some old king on his

knees inside was the common room where a tall, ugly woman with a knobby chin stood with her hands on her hips. This is truly the only like painted door we see. It's very special. And we don't see anyone come back to this inn. We don't hear anything of this inn either. So it's like, you know, in our terms, this is like the hole in the wall bar, you know, the dive bar that you love and no one knows about and you go there and you get your you know your your 350 with inflation pbr and no one bugs you and it's a beautiful door to a weird hole in the wall bar i just i would go to this inn i would definitely go to this inn absolutely and i i

think i would go and think that it was obscure but maybe everyone else would actually know about it and then you'd post an instagram and bitches would flock to it you're a ruiner you're an influencer and you're a ruiner don't think that many people follow me um i'm not an influencer but I will say I don't even follow you speaking of painted doors also the red door that's painted that's it that's all I had I did think of that

I did think about that as the only painted door everything else is a sign yeah or like I mean I thought about the house of black and white and I was like no the wood is that color it comes that way yeah it's part and part right part weirwood part part wood ebony what oh wait a second is that door part weirwood part the trees from the fucking yeah i thought so but what if it is it says ebony but it could be. I mean like the tree we don't

know that it's ebony wood. So it's ebony. Black barked. They just know it's black barked. So I'm just saying. Yeah. Yo. Okay. Anyways. I don't think we don't know that like for the shade of the evening it's basically probably ebony. We just know they're ebony barked trees. They're probably

basically ebony. But we don't have like a Yeah. I mean they just don't specifically have a special tree name is all i'm saying yeah exactly exactly i mean they are a special tree i'm not eating fucking paste made from the fucking leaves on it i don't have energy for that anymore when i was 25 i would eat anything that grew in the ground okay i? I'm a different woman. Same. I don't know about 25. And you can keep that in.

Yeah. I'm going to keep this up. So that man gestures to the guards, saying to let Brienne pass, because it's a wedge, so whatever. And then she enters the market square, where everything from grain to armor armor is being sold and the armor and wares are sold cheaply they are also still caked in blood from battle second hand she knows many of the badges the white sun the double-bladed axe the moose the mailed fist also the red and green apples one of of my favorite houses. The thunderbolt to lay good. Trappings with Ambrose Prince and the Tarly Huntsman as well. We have a line of friend or foe, the crows care not.

Caw caw! You know, I was thinking of you a lot in this chapter because of the shield stuff going on and because of your Foss away boy getting his shield repainted in the old Dunkin Egg. I was thinking about you. Full circles. Like an apple. That's a circle. Kinda.

Ish. Brienne quits her window shopping and she heads past the shops after considering a couple of the cheap pine shields, but she thinks that the oak after considering a couple of the cheap pine shields but she thinks that the oak shield jamie gave her gave more protection oak gave you better protection she thinks if you were strong enough to bear its weight she's so strong i know she is strong and he knew you know he knew her power i love, this line about trees from the hedge night from Pate. The elms alive.

Pate pointed out, see how green the leaves are. Summer leaves for certain. And I've seen shields blazing with skulls and wolves and ravens, even hanged men and bloody heads. They served well enough. And so will this, you know,

the old shield rhyme, Oak and iron guard me well yes oak is it oak is lit and oak is it it is feels so feels real intentional duskendale is built around its harbor and north of the town you can see chalky cliffs built around its harbor, and north of the town you can see chalky cliffs, south a rocky headland shielding ships at anchor, and the castle overlooks the port with a square keep and large drum towers. Brienne finds it easier to walk than ride in the crowded streets, so she stables her mare, her bedroll and shield tucked and slung across her back. She finds the captain's sister at the Seven Swords, the town's largest inn. The inn is a four-story structure with double doors, again, painted gorgeously.

I do love, I just love it. It's beautiful. Double doors, a castle in an autumn wood, trees in gold and russet, ivy up the ancient oaks, and acorns as well. But when she looks closely, she notices that there are creatures there's a red fox there's two sparrows on a branch and the shadow of a boar hanging over a certain part of it wow what great symbolism i love that george is so into that that he's just like what if we just added a couple details for for the bitches at home and i'm bitches in this scenario uh the shadow of

the boar is robert's kingship right lingering over the court and over the story the two sparrows are the religious conflict that's heading straight towards king's landing we obviously just had the last chapter where we saw them doing so the sly red fox could be little finger it could be uh the dornish faction. I don't know, you know, red, just spitballing. It all feels like symbolism. It feels important. It does feel important. Yeah, I definitely thought that about the sparrows and maybe the boar.

I'm still not sure about the fox. But, you know, what does the fox say? No. Let's see. I mean, maybe. Could be, what does the fox say? But it sounds like such a gorgeous door. And like, as you were saying earlier, such an awesome inn to visit.

Brienne compliments the door, same as we are, when a-haired woman opens it to her the woman says of the castle that it's meant to represent all castles and she's actually only ever seen the dunford by the harbor and that she made them up in her head and she explains like yeah i could paint a castle i've never seen a dragon obviously or a griffin or a unicorn in a very cheerful disposition and brianne shows her the shield and when she does the woman's face darkens because as we've discussed this is not a not the greatest symbol not the most

popular symbol around here but I just like this exchange right and how the woman says that it's representative of all the castles yet isn't one at all and really I think speaks to that idea of fantasy right and the power of stories that this is very much what brienne's arc is about and of course a song of ice and fire is kind of about and also that power of imagination right not to be like too cheesy but in regards

to the dragon griffin and unicorn having to draw that out and bring that to life for people from inside your head like that's very much what george has to do right as a writer but uses words instead of pictures and to an extent this thought of like i mean i've never seen a castle but i'm making one now it reminds me a little bit of egret constantly wondering is this finally a castle john snow oh that's a great thought you know the the real or not yeah and i love that it like levels it too i mean for egret that never mattered for these people that never mattered what does it matter i'm not fucking going in that castle yeah she's like as long as people understand it's a castle and it means something to them that's what that's what's important yes yeah and it is something for

her to be proud of you know coming from a place that had that because it also represents you know like dreams and shit that the shit could get better than just living in bumfuck off the fucking beaten path at maiden pool motherfuckers yeah i know kids that you know lived it lived that shit you know like lived off the beaten path of maiden pool and man they would kill to get out but if they had a cool bar i mean they'd love that shit you know like lived off the beaten path of maiden pool and man they would kill to get out but if they had a cool bar i mean they'd love that shit i've been it sounds like a really cool bar and also so cool like cheap ass drinks like really good and if you made friends with the bartender you know that she'd like you know hook it up yeah hook it up indeed all right she i actually really love the inclusion of this it reminds me this bar really does remind me of like doing stand-up in the middle of nowhere back

in 2014 yeah just just so you know it reminds me of doing stand-up driving like an hour and a half in michigan on some fucked highway you know middle of nowhere of nowhere, and getting to, like, a biker bar. You had no clue where you were going. You show up, you're like, oh, I guess this is the night. This is what we're doing. Gonna tell jokes about anal, you know? All right. Let's see what happens.

Anal Targaryen. That's what it reminds me of. And here Brienne is. She's about to do a tight five. All right. She talks to the woman, and the woman tells brienne her mother used to say giant bats flew from harrenhal on moonless nights carrying bad children to mad danelle loxton for her cook pots again catalan's presence is reminded in this story

right like every chapter there's a little reference to remind us of her and her loss and her eventual comeback but the shield artist specifically reminds me of tansell too tall from the hedge knight the puppeteer and puppet painter who paints his shield it is let's be honest with each other it's an obvious right like i it's a one-one like it's being purposefully included that the shield artist has this dark hair so luckily for the shield artist she doesn't hair so luckily for the shield artist she doesn't have to flee for her life from assholes right like tnl kind of had to do at least not today we don't know what happens to her in the future i hope she doesn't have to but shit isn't great out here right war has hit these lands i love uh that dunk's shield right still

bore the arms of its last owner a hanged man swinging grim and gray beneath a gallows tree and here brienne has the lobstons omened now just like in the last chapter and there's also something interesting in having your own shield and reclaiming your name right reclaiming who you are as we move forward with this chapter brienne has a lot of guilt uh survivor's guilt over renly especially right and guilt at not being able to perform in the way she wanted to and it's time for a change obviously for her you know she she can't keep walking around with a loxton shield and some of this change feels like it's out of control for her much like dunk doesn't

feel at home with arlen's shield although it's's a great shield, it just doesn't fit him. And both Dunk and Brienne, they've felt this way their entire lives. Brienne specifically, too, with the mismatched armor and swords and never having clothing or, you know, things that fit her in the way she preferred. The black, gray, red sword she's getting and the armor and garb that Jaime gives her, you know, versus Dunk getting these things from the Targaryens that we haven't seen quite yet in full on page. I'm sure that's a thing. You know, I'm sure that's a little bit of a similarity between them. Absolutely.

That's a great point. Being known as a killer of kings. And as you said, right, like the reminders of everything like in Brienne's story kind of like coming up here. And I like that it's coming up in those symbols. And really tying together the future of her story with her family past, of course. So, yeah, it's really something about the gallows. So she asked Brienne, what do you want in its place? And Brienne thinks of the arms of Tarth were quartered rose and azure,

bore a yellow sun and crescent moon. But so long as men believed her to be a murderess, Brienne dare not carry them. Your door reminded me of an old shield I once saw in my father's armory. She described the arms as best as she could recall them. In love with the way that he doesn't tell us, right? You have to hold out for the second half of the chapter. George, that's so tasty. Thank you.

Thank you for doing this to me. Edging with the shield. Oh my god. Much like Sansa has become a bastard brunette in the Vale, and Arya's becoming no one right as we sit and breathe Brienne's kind of being forced to discard her identity right as Maid of Tarth ha discarding her maidenhood

since she's already you know penetrated with her sword to most people's thoughts I mean it is really interesting yes it is kind of like that right right? If we're talking about the sword as a, you know, the hammer is the dick. Brienne pegged Renly. Yeah. Is what people think. That is what they think. And it's also like, I like what you pointed out here of her discarding

her identity as the Maid of Tarth as well, because obviously that was bad for her last chapter, but it feels like the Maid of Tarth is something that was put on her, and now she's trying to figure out and define her own identity. I also know this sounds crazy, but Brienne choosing these arms, right, they have the-

we all know what the arms are going to be, okay, because this is, again, a reread podcast, and we are assuming you've read Dunkin' and the hedge knight because that is also the first thing that we did together but like you don't have to have read it because we did it together but we just assume maybe you have i don't know because you're here and anyway the arms have a star slash falling star right shooting star and besides the whole like dunk in the tall stuff like the whole imagery of it all just kind of gives me like fuzzy magical girl anime feelings because of like also the sun and the moon stuff on like the the tarth arms and like how in sailor

moon there would be like transformations and obviously the moon is part of it and the sun right those are symbols and like power comes from those two in sailor moon but in the transformations later on they move on to like star power or they call in like the stars to protect them but it also reminds me a little bit of card capture sakura when like i don't know if any of you remember to like kind of just spoil it but the cloud cards right the cloud cards originally draw powers to an extent from the sun and the moon from like hirobaros and ua but then later on she has to turn it all into like sakura cards and they take their magic from sakura's star so anyway magic knight brianne

like she was the actual source of the magic she She is the magic. She's her own shining star. She's my shining star. Oh my god. And to bring it back to purely A Song of Ice and Fire, Azshara Dayne is a magical girl, right? In that exact same logic you just had with the falling star motif. She is. So falling stars, that makes her a magical girl.

And I do co-make the rules with you. Yes, you do I will be stamping my approval on that Brienne of Tarth, Azshara Dayne there's a handful the woman at the inn nods and says alright I'll bring you the shield in the morning

and Brienne hadn't meant to stay the night but she honestly has no clue if her plans to see the castle's lord are going to work out so she thanks her and crosses to the inn where an emblem swings and there are seven wooden swords beneath an iron spike with cracked and peeling whitewash and we have a line of they stood for the seven sons of darklin who had worn the white cloaks of the king's guard no other house in all the realm could claim as many and i'm like wow seven a very obviously important number in general but also of the king's guard it's very symbolic and and there so there are five in the story that are officially

named right robin davos roland stephen and robert donald of duskendale served for darren targaryen and aries one we actually meet him in hedge knight He escorts Targaryen princes to Ashford. There are two randos, like I said, that we don't know. Robin Darklyn was under Aegon I. Davos Darklyn was under Maegor. He was slain by Karl Corbray by Lady Forlorn, actually. Good for him. In battle, beneath the god's eye. And Stefan Darklyn was under Viserys I, and also Rhaenyra I.

Sorry, I don't agree with history and its erasure, so I would like to put out there. Also served under Rhaenyra I. And he tried to ride a dragon and gets burnt during trying to mount during Dragon Seeds, if I remember. He was like, oh, I could do it. He got on and his dumbass died. I like this man, though, because he stole V the series' crown to bring to Rhaenyra. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Stefan was a real one.

He gets props from me. He's what we call a ride and die, you could say. So full of guys! Stefan Darklyn is a ride and die. There was also Ser Harold Dark who was also kind of a ride and die not in the

same way he warned raniera to hide in the veil uh but then they arrived and got ambushed by agan 2's crew and he gets his head split open bummer for all robert darklin gets named to ag three's kingsguard but then unwin peak you know steps in he's like you're 12 he can't be your king's guard all of his machinery so interesting uh i don't know interesting there are a lot of a lot of darklings and it i kind of actually rather like that we don't get an up close view of them besides dantos and that they're all dead you know that's very ease of access for me so i have to want more of them and can't, literally cannot have them. Literally, there is no way I will have them.

Literally, they are all dead, as we're going to learn today. All dead. Except for Dantos, who's also dead. Dead. That is true. Dantos is in fact dead. That's actually pretty sad, again. And...

Dead. The House Darkling is like, House Darkling is like the state of Virginia, right? Who's like contributed what? Eight presidents. They've contributed seven Kingsguard. I mean, Kingsguard have significantly less power than a president, but similar idea. So are you saying Virginia should get? Never mind.

No. Yeah, Virginia is a great I never would have thought of it and I know you have personal Virginia experience that's the only reason I fucking know I'm not quite that close with her I also just want to throw this out is this something

we're just going to start throwing things at the wall is this something Darkling Darkling Duck I think it's possible. I really do. I feel like this is a costume. Like, Dark Wing

Duck, Dark Lin Duck? Does it not already exist? You should do it. Someone should do it. Someone should do that. It's a good idea. I don't have the energy of the time. Someone do Dark Lin Duck. Dark Lin Duck would be such a great crossover. If you do it, whomever, please send us a picture.

Yo, you could do the Seven Darklands of the Kingsguard and then you could have DuckTales. I don't know all the words. Wait, are any of them? That's okay. No, none of these are Huey, Dewey, and Louie.

So there goes that theory um anyways i thought it was like maybe even though you just went through all of them i was like did i miss one that had a name like that but no george are you influenced by ted osborne please respond eliana back to the story back to brienne brienne gets a second story room and a bath and also a history lesson from the woman who pours her bath she asks if there are any darklands left in dusk and dale and the woman says that she is a dark d-a-r-k-e and that you can find the darks dark wood dark goods but no Darklands. Lord Dennis was the last. She also explains

that the Darklands were kings before the Andals came, and jokes that she and her kin have royal blood. She asks if the water was hot. It isn't. Which is kind of sad. And then she'd bring more. She also says but a girl the size of you would just

slop over, Brine fills the tub and brianne thinks like only a cramped small tub the heron hall tubs were huge and it fit her and jamie and i'm like damn brianne she's she's been living large lately not not because of her height but being wined and dined in nice places now she's picky about her tubs okay listen i'm gonna defend her everyone heard chloe say she wants a five-star guest for the next month she's a five-star bitch is what i'm gonna say to you brianna tarth is a five-star bitch and she deserves no rich bitch cold got a rich bitch cough um okay first of all what about men the size of her what where do they bathe i i was wondering that i was like

yeah she's really tall for a woman but like they're definitely men like but exist i've heard allegedly in the known world in Westeros George has made it pretty clear men could exist and we've allowed him to have that concession you know I was taking the note again no but

I'm just saying it was just I didn't think about it until you said this out loud and I'm like yeah wait a second a girl the size of you

because George has said she's not actually like a freak like she's just like a dude size you know like a freak like she's just like a dude size you know like a normal like run-of-the-mill eats oats shits in the street kind of dude you know like a six three to six five she's not like sandor size he says like sandor is bigger but she said the cynos is big martin but she is big or but she towers over some men especially

because like what she actually got like nutrition growing up yeah that's probably why she ate a lot of spinach yeah and goat's milk maybe and raw eggs don't get me started oh you're right it is protein it's a lot of she she yeah she had access to protein so yeah exactly and she's got most of her teeth that we know of i mean they haven't fallen out from no protein which is surprising considering how many fights she gets into. But I guess she wears her helmet. Well, the books aren't over yet, sunshine. Actually, that's true. Buckle up.

She's gonna lose some stuff. Listen, as a tall bitch who can't have a nice bath, this is bullshit. Make your fucking baths bigger. Why should tall bitches have to we don't we've already had a hard enough life being so long my body is like you know in willy wonka when they put violet beauregard into the taffy puller uh vaguely i only really remember the blueberry scene that one was traumatic well they put her in the taffy

puller after spoiler alert and they stretch that bitch out and i'm just saying that like try to put that stretchy motherfucker in a bathtub you can't so make bigger bathtubs that's that's my psa yeah it's a hard life i haven't taken a bath and so i take a bath only like at a hotel if they have a nice bath i don't have a bath and that's been what yeah they have a nice bath. I don't have a bathtub. And that's been what? Yeah. One in a couple. I have one. I only have a shower. You've seen my bathtub.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that bathtub's not a bathtub. You know? You've seen it. It's like a, it exists, but who's gonna bathe in that? It's so small. The cats. How do you fit?

I'm gonna be so upset. All right. The next part about this bath shit that we gotta get to is that she starts to think about jamie naked yeah uh and then she pulls up some some lye soap and tries to wash the thought away and she tries to think of renly's face the exact thought is jamie had come walking through that mist naked as his name day looking half a corpse and half a god first things first what a fucking quote you know like if brienne didn't have a hard-on for jamie i would say that george had a hard-on for jamie he was what a king should look like you know like

here he was half corpse half god okay george yeah george is into that no i think he literally is um into that sort of imagery and stuff so very interesting um i'm gonna spray this girl with a water bottle in fact when when pod shows up in this plot i'm gonna be like podrick every time brienne thinks about jamie especially naked you need to spray her with this water bottle just pav loves it you know um i just i find it so interesting uh here we get kind of that view that renly was perfect because he was untouchable in a way right like he was a figure to worship that she could never have, especially because her whole life she's been made to feel that she is unworthy to love and unworthy to like have a positive human interaction and that she is not worth others giving her the time of day that she takes up space that she's a waste of space like these are just feelings that she obviously is feeling but Jamie. but Jamie Jamie's a scary thing for her right because it turns out she could have him I mean that that's scary they they fucking naked bathe together she had the kingslayer at his most

vulnerable she got kingslayer tramp stamped on her back like I'm just kidding she didn't do that at his most vulnerable right like he was very vulnerable in that bath. And I mean, more, he wants to give her swords. You know what that means. I mean, that's like the most intimate thing that I think Jamie can do probably like fight someone. Yeah. And I'm gonna come back to like what you're saying here right now about like the distinction between how she feels about Renly and Jamie more towards the end of this chapter, because this is not the first time that she thinks about the two of them in this chapter and it's not going to be the last time even in the whole all of her chapters in her whole rest of her feast arc. Brienne finishes up dressing in plain cloth and her sword belt hoping to look tame at the Dunfort and not make the

mistake of being too armored. She shouts at the Dunfort and not make the mistake of being too armored. She shouts at the Dunfort to speak with their lord, but the guards that attend her laugh, saying that Lord Riker went off with Randall Tarly, duh, Rufus Leak is the castle in now, and looking after the lady and the children, she gets escorted to Rufus Leak, and I'm like, his last name sounds delicious. He's an older man who stands for his maester to read her letter but the maester is very irritated because he's like how many of

times have i had to tell all you people this you were the 21st person to ask after him and then he's like who are you that i should tell you anything do you have any idea and she procures like i have this letter from the king i know last person that you like actually spoke to had a thing from tywin but this is bigger but anyways um the maester finally releases it and some info that dantos was a boy when he left duskendale and then he gives her a history lesson too saying that the darklings were kings once and that the hall lord served them and even during the defiance of duskendale in more recent times and brienne uh is like yes i recall all of this her own maester had told her that this is when aries went mad

i love this line that that brienne is basically only getting exposition in the bath about aries targaryen she's only learning about aries and his true nature in the bathtub at Harrenhal she learned the truth of what he'd become right yeah and but here she's going backwards in time and she's learning why he became that way to an extent you know like she's learning the opposite of what Jaime already told her like she somehow cheat coded her way to the end of jamie and got that info out of him far earlier than knowing this part of it but we learn of course and we've talked about this back in jamie back in barriston that lord dennis of duskendale was married to lady sarala the mirish lace serpent uh and he of course says if only she he had wed a Staunton or a Stokeworth.

A lot of people always being like, if only they had wed this person. Yeah. But I think Brienne's really cracked the code behind the hot tub time machine, is what I'm hearing from you. I'm shutting my laptop. You literally interrupted me to say that. First of all, that's Brienne and Alice in parallels. Alice and my cat who does the hot tub time machine. That's so true. She does.

Out of the hot tub time machine, which truly you could call the pools at Maidenpool a hot tub time machine today too. There's a lot of hot tub time machine and we're about to do, but he goes on to say Ares was held within the walls while tywin sat outside with a mighty host and he had sufficient strength to storm them but lord dennis sent word that at first sign of assault he'd kill the king so i think this is such a testament of george's unique pov arrangement that and his writing in general and his gardening strategy quote-unquote strategy uh how he grows the Duskendale plot

and foreshadows Tyena's possible betrayal to Cersei, right? Who has a little bit of that paranoia akin to Aerys' going on. Who wouldn't? She has a very high pressure job. Do you know what it's like to be a woman in business? Leave her alone. Shiv Roy, let her live. Anyways, Cersei in Jaime 2 is kind of reassuring Jaime that she and her sweet serpent Tyena are

playing Margaery Tyrell uh and I don't I don't know it works I guess in this aspect we would have heard more over that from Lord Dennis right like don't worry don't worry Lady Sarella and I have this we have this and this is the king it didn't work out for them though is what we're about to learn it did not work out for them it's probably not gonna work I don't know if it's gonna work out for Chivroy either

it's not gonna work out for Chivroy but I'm gonna watch her girl boss around until it doesn't it's very entertaining anyway not to spoil the most recent season the succession but anyways um yeah and like you said we've already talked a lot about the lace serpent getting like her tongue torn out and her female parts print alive and and yeah they feel a little bit like a lady mcbath scenario and yeah she gets done with all the blame

and it's a mix of xenophobia and misogyny, and blaming the whole thong of the house on her, and not on Ares for killing everyone. But I will say, something that I didn't really think about until now is, it's interesting that Tywin gets a whole ass song for having killed

two families, yet Ares never got a song for it. He also killed a whole ass oh my god that's the concert that she was going to hear at the front everyone was in line to hear the aries targaryen tribute concert you nailed it that's what it was he nailed it with his very long nails at the end um mine are getting long it kind of rings a little crazy that he doesn't get a song because all the songs are about the Targs. Like, damn, that's the day the music died. Yeah, I just don't know why.

Nothing? When Ares did it, why were they like, ooh, we don't like it that Ares did that. But when Tywin did it, everyone was like, ooh, very cool. Very subversive. And I'm like, because they were close, you know, like for a brief moment there, they were friends. Maybe they're going through kind of a dry spell like we are where they don't have true musicians left. You know, like, where are the true knights? Where are the true musicians?

I mean, all we have is Ariana Grande and Hot Chip, you know? That's enough. All right. That is enough. She does. You know, that's why her ponytail is so big big because it helps hold up the rest of the world on her shoulders you know we actually also talked about this in our mirror episode

at length our patreon mirror episode yeah I think that's where we talked about it now that I think about it in the most length that's why Eliana's like I'm done talking about this I'm done playing with this toy but I have a new toy song for aries songs uh someone

on their toy write us a song about aries you know a good one make it good god damn it make it good or fuck off the hollards were of course destroyed after this. The maester who's telling her all this was forging his chain at the time, but had read all of the accounts of the trials and punishments. Everyone was extinguished, save for Dantos who Barristan asked mercy for. Dantos was taken to Squire and he never came home. He never returned. And why would he?

He had no lands, no kin, no castle. He says, if Dantos and this northern girl helped murder our sweet king, it seems to me they would want to put as many leagues they could betwixt themselves and justice. Look for them in Oldtown, if you must, or across the narrow sea. Look for them in Dorne or on the wall. Look elsewhere. So there's

something kind of poetic about Brienne chasing after Ser Dantos and learning about him here in Duskendale and also in the Riverlands as she's trying to find Sansa. By the time that we meet Ser Dantos, it's not the little boy that Bairston saved,

but he's kind of like a lecherous old drunken fool. And you like almost feel bad for him that he does something creepy. Then I'm like, I'm scrounging up my sympathy. I feel it. But I'm also like, what are you doing, sir? Literally, sir. But his story is very much also fitting for the theme of broken men. That of course is in Brienne's storyline and just as a great reflection of both sansa and brian's stories and i don't know maybe even danny's is the whole like last of his line thing because he is the sole survivor saved only by a wish of sir barrison and that means he's basically raised in king's landing right we learn here that he never has returned

to duskendale and i'm like why would he he had like no childhood there no friends no family it's probably just full of ghosts him he's like that place is really sad my whole family was murdered there and he's isolated and has like no roots in anywhere it's unsurprising that we get a hopeless version of him by the time of a clash of kings who then turns to alcohol for like comfort or joy or for like anything and i'm just like listening to his lonely life it's also interesting to see that he chooses to help sanza who thinks that she is the last of her family left and i mean as far as serdantos knows and like she does for the most part it's mostly true it's not as we've established during catlin's chapters but you know everyone thinks so and yeah dantos like mostly does it for the money like but for a moment he i think really does believe that

he could be her florian and help her and he sees a better version of himself through that story and in that moment again I think it's interesting that Brienne's retracing his steps to find where he could have gone which through this investigation gives the reader a deeper insight into his history because Ser Dantos was trying to pattern himself off a song, but he's never gonna get a song, even though he was, like, a fool slash bard. But at least, like, through all these people trying to find Sansa, people are gonna learn about him, his life, and his death. And, you know, again, he tried to live up to being a knight,

as Brienne has kind of hoped to do and you know maybe her journey that includes serdantos's past it's what's going to help her realize that life is not a song that's so well put because her story is like chock full of all these really miniature versions of her story but failed versions right like it's all these little variants of like failed knights, failed men that tried to be knights and threw all their honor away over it, or didn't quite make the grade

for reasons like trauma, or reasons like other things. Like your whole family was killed off, and now you have the whole weight of your line on your shoulders. It's hard to be your house's only hope, but it feels like a lot of the characters that we're following have that weight on their shoulders. It's hard to be your house's only hope, but it feels like a lot of the characters that we're following have that weight on their shoulders. For Dantos, who isn't quite a POV for

us, but we do spend a tiny bit of time with him, you know, not first person. I think not knowing makes him that much more effective when you do get to this story. And reflecting on the songs, right? It's all about the songs this episode whether it's iris's rock opera or florian and jonquil dantos grew up with those stories in his own backyard right like this is a couple miles away down the lane he was not born far from here he didn't live far from here from maiden pool and where florian saw the ladies bathing so it wasn't just like rob and john i'm ryan redwine i'm sir amon the dragon knight sure sure i mean for for john you know at least he's kind of related but it's closer than that

while the kings of winter forebear down on the stark children and the boys specifically are having these haunted dreams of the crypts. You know, Jon and Theon, the other Stark child. Theon. This is the legacy Dantos had to live up to. He was supposed to live up to be something great. A Kingsguard member, as we see. A knight.

His own Flory and the Fool. But the stories are just ashen. You know, you see especially later when Bririanne chooses the the ruins to hide within and shelter for the night yeah it's just broken it's broken how's he gonna carry a whole redemption arc for like an entire family it's not very fair well and i mean that's how a lot of other characters are sitting in this story right look at Piyad Danny how Jamie

how should they have to carry these things yeah with no good parenting around them I mean we don't know we don't know who raised Dantos like who cared for him who took care of that boy some fucking knights dude some fucking knights for four years it was you know

knights I mean it doesn't seem like it was baristan even though he asked to save that kid's life because we don't get it in his pov maybe maybe we will maybe george will hear me ask about this in this episode and write it in um he's here he's listening he's with us always in our hearts the george is with us and also with you a reading from the holy gospel according to Brienne well the maester parts from them and Brienne heads back to the inn cause Sansa was not here

was she in old town? no no Brienne I think she's like probably not thank god and she thinks on what brella told her in king's landing yes brella had told her that both sanza and renly were traitors and no lord since they had turned traitor would touch her so now she only washes for the sex workers but

she does tell brienne what she had told Lord Tywin. That Sansa was always praying. No one just, every time I read that, I was just like, Kasha? She kind of was. It's a similar vibe. It's a similar vibe. I mean, have you seen, there are music videos to that. It's good. It's so good.

Not happening. With Sansa Stark clips. I mean, it is a Sansa Stark song. Praying by Kasha is actually a Sansa Stark song. Just going to put that out there. Have a great day, everyone. Get sad at your own disposal. Yeah.

Sansa was always praying. She's always out there praying. That's an interesting, what is that word? Clue. It's not enough Brella explains that Sansa would light candles in the sept but then at night go to the godswood that does seem like a very devout person Brella says she's gone

north to where her gods were and Brienne doesn't know where she'd look in the north because it's like really big she's like maybe she would seek her kin she still had an uncle and a half brother at the wall and edmure was captive at the twins but brendan blackfish had river run and liza's in the veil uh she might have gone there and she's like but which one and i'm just like i don't know brianne like you're going around the riverlands and it seems real dangerous and you know that the lancer's around it so So I just feel like it's easy. Like we could just really roll out Riverrun.

I feel like she really had the right of it, right? Like that Sansa would have gone to her aunt. She's a young maid. She wouldn't have gone to her uncles or the wall. The wall's too far. She's so close. And she even thinks she's like, the Eyrie will be simpler. And she realizes I've come the wrong way.

And she comes across a woman and some pigs and asks which way the inn is the woman's pretty you know a little on edge because she's a giant woman with a you know well she's wearing plain cloth today but she's a giant woman out of nowhere that she doesn't know uh and she's highborn it does show even if she isn't conventionally how you'd expect her to be she goes to turn that way but walks headfirst into a scrawny boy the collision puts him on his ass in the mud she offers a hand but he squirms away he looks no older than 10 to 12 and he's wearing a chainmail and a long sword he seems really familiar to her and she's like do i know you and he's like

no no my lady and he runs off she doesn't really feel like chasing him but but she's like do i know you and he's like no no my lady and he runs off she doesn't really feel like chasing him but but she's like i've seen this guy somewhere yeah and again i love brienne but she is not she's just like not private investigator material she's like maybe strong like jessica jones but not not the detective part like this is a great example because like she were really good detective she would remember where the suspicious boy looks familiar from she's just like hired pikachu detective pikachu i love that movie detective pikachu would have solved this in a heartbeat i agree i love that movie he would have he would have figured it out he figured it out Yeah. Bria's just got a lot on her mind, though. You know, like Catelyn.

Catelyn never figured shit out because she's busy. You know, she's wearing a lot of hats. They're wearing a lot of hats out here. And there's a there's also something in this that as she's thinking about Sansa possibly going to the Vale, she takes

a wrong turn. And the quote, she found herself in a dead end. Is that not? That's it. That's the arc. I love my himbo daughter. She is our himbo daughter. I will say, like, going back to what you said about her as a PI or a detective and how Pikachu's better, agreed.

And I would think that beyond some of the great stories we talked about with Shiloh last week, some of the medieval influences, Don Quixote is very much Brienne. I mean, Dunk the Tall is also him. You know, Brienne is Dunk, Dunk is Coyote. Anyways, I find it really interesting. He's obsessed with chivalry. From the books he's read, he decides to take up

Lance in Sword and defend the helpless. He gets a squire, Sanjo, who bears the brunt of his frustrations on the road. Although he promised him, you know, I'll give you a wealthy aisle someday. It's all yours. And they go out on horseback on their first expedition. He's like, I'm going to be a knight and do the best things in the world.

And he fails. He fails horribly. And he goes out on his second expedition and he starts actually having to kind of compromise parts of himself. And he becomes a bandit. You compromise parts of himself and he becomes a bandit you know he's not really just a knight anymore he starts kind of riding that line of not really being a savior anymore he starts stealing from the people and acting out because of threats to his knighthood and even ends up abandoning a little boy in the hands of an evil farmer that he like is very sure is evil and he's like this guy doesn't seem right

but he says he's fine so i'm just gonna leave this kid here and like he leaves and he's like feels great feels good it's not good and all along his goal is to find a woman who he envisions as a princess but she's actually a peasant and on his way he's also mocked for kind of his flamboyancies and how uh how he looks and how he presents himself and his desires to live as a knight, but he perseveres through them. And there's even kind of this presence in Don Quixote having women fall in love with him everywhere he goes without realizing it. Because I mean, when you think about it, Shadrach was hot for her. Shadrach was like, oh, you're a hot motherfucker. Yeah, he was.

He was kind of smarmy about it. He was like, you sure? Because I could run up in there in those legs. I'd get lost, but I'd find my way. And Jaime, obviously, very much so likes her. Heil Hunt. You know, you have all these suitors that she just like is like, go the fuck away.

You're annoying me. And she doesn't quite realize oh they were in love with me yeah i don't know it's very much so i mean she has the very obvious don quixote plot in the story and there's even from the story something i love while this was going on there came up to the inn a sow gelder who as he approached sounded his reed pipe four or five times and thereby completely convinced don quixote he was in some famous castle, and they were regaling him with music, and the stockfish was trout, the bread the whitest, the wenches ladies, and the landlord the castlin of the castle.

And consequently, he held that his enterprise and Sally had been to some purpose, but still it distressed him to think he had not been dubbed a knight for it was plain to him he could not lawfully engage in any adventure without receiving the order of knighthood hmm interesting it's not a real knight not a knight so yeah do with that what you will eliana it is really i i really like this comparison that you made with her and Don Quixote and like this whole chasing after like knighthood thing, right? And I do, I feel like, I feel like she's more pure than Don Quixote. But yeah. And like, that's a great also.

He's also like a 40s dude. Yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah. Sancho's pod. Absolutely. That's, that's a great also comparison to Sancho Ponce. He's also, like, a 40s dude. Yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah. Sancho's pod. Absolutely. That's really fun. And the whole, like, yeah. I mean, pod's kind of a mini Dantos.

Yeah, also. And she doesn't quite know what that's going to really mean yet, but she will. She'll find out. I can't wait till she finds out she adopted a child and she then almost gets him murdered cool cool cool brian i'm calling services oh my god well before we get to the adoption which will be soon she goes to the seven swords where the common room is crowded with four septas in a corner and locals scattered around them, eating hot crab stew with chunks of bread. It actually sounds really good. A man, not quite five feet tall, with a bulbous,

vain nose and a sour-leaf reddened smile stands, offering his seat to her. Very nice of him. She declines, saying that she can stand, but he notes that, I don't know, your head is much closer to the ceiling than mine. And he's coarse but courteous, and Rian notices the crown of his scalp is shaved. Scepter Rowell had told her that many holy brothers were tonsured to show they had nothing to hide from the father. There's something interesting in that, like, at first I was thinking of Tyrion, who had almost become a holy brother, so I can just see him kind of monked out with his little ring of hair but also it reminds me of Jamie shaving his head oh in a way he didn't obviously tonsure it like it wasn't a tonsure it was completely shaved but it was also rickety and

it reminds me kind of of some of the the people of the faith with shaved heads we're seeing on the road as well uh and almost as an act of faith, like believing in himself, believing in Brienne, a leap to faith and believing in Brienne. There's also something here. Look, nine out of 10 of the things that Brienne thinks are wrong with herself are

literally because of Septa Rowell. Yeah. Like I'm just putting this out there because she has this memory where she had asked Roelle can't the father see through hair about how tonsuring makes people you know more more holy and she thinks a stupid thing to say she had been a slow child except a Roelle often told her so um like it's literally true though. Fuck off, Rowell. Yeah.

Yeah, the father can see through everything. I think it's kind of like how dentists can tell if you suck dick. Oh, I didn't know that. I thought you were going to say if you haven't been flossing, even when you say that you are. Oh no, they know that too, but well well they also know when you suck dick I've never had one tell me I've just read about it interesting so keep that one under your holster

good for me good for me well yeah Satoru all sucks and how are you going to tell people, like, Satoru-Ola was wrong. Briannisters for so long and because of like i mean obviously things have like just gone terribly around her so she's like yeah i must be stupid and how we see brienne just beating herself up about failing runley and then a little bit maybe about the death of Kat and so I have literally just finished reading Dying of the Light today by George R. R. Martin which I have read to do a like

sort of semi maester monthly reunion with the homies Matt aka Joe Magician and Michael Bookshelf Stud over on Matt's channel like on Joe Magician's channel at some point soon, coming out at some point this month, and there's this concept put forth in Dying of the Light that I thought was really interesting and it's this idea that when you name something, you kind of will it to exist

or you impose a will or you know, when you say that something is so it makes it come true and there's a character, not to spoil too much, who tells another character something kind of like, you actually aren't that weak, but also no one has ever told you that you're strong. And like the character at first is like, I think I'm insulted until that character realizes, wait,

no, this is meant to be a compliment because what they're saying is like how can you be strong if no one's ever told you that you're strong like and and that's so much of i think brienne's story here too like how can you become something if you've only ever been told you're something else how can you see yourself like outside the lens that the world told you to look through when all they tell you is like this is who you are and you just think you're wrong if you don't fit that and and this idea of like you are what you're named or like what people tell you you are like and and just meant that when you're told that story enough like you end up believing it even if it's not true like you're weak or you're the monster who killed your

mother or you're stupid when it comes to sansa and brienne so george is still i think a little interested in that yeah and he may not have actualized it to its furthest extent yet maybe we'll see george get to new bounds maybe we'll get some named mothers that die maybe we'll get some like people have some arcs of happiness no there's not going to be they're not there's like one woman character in this story and out of like a million like men so i was like okay so this is this has been a pattern and i don't know that he's gonna like flesh out this concept too much in this story because he's already done it in that one I'm gonna be honest you know woman didn't really actually exist until 1983 right oh my god really wow I'm so glad that like I'm alive and that's the female perspective

for you guys there it is so Brienne tries to make conversation uh with this man that she's met who offered her his seat she takes his place and asks if he serves a holy house in duskendale he says closer to maiden pool but the wolves burnt them out they rebuilt and then sell swords came he could not say whose men they were but they took the pigs and killed his brothers he squeezed inside a hollow log yeah it's fucked up but others were too big so they couldn't fit in their own and at the end it was only him that was left he it says it took me a long time to bury them all but the smith he gave me strength when that was done i dug up a few coins the elder brother had hid by and set off by myself first mention of the elder brother in that awful sad tale

we get a little mention of him a little look at him to come and not just in that in his actual naming but also we get the line he could not say whose men they were just like in the elder brother speech of and then the men you know go on you're mine now the lord says after they break to the side just a sad way to hide and watch your friends die and

I also think it's likely this was the mummers or the remnants of the mummers they're haunting the margins of this in totality. And we're about to actually, I think, get a Shagwell mention is kind of what's about to happen. But it sounds just like the town where Jamie lost his hand outside of Maidenpool.

Yes, that's a great point. It absolutely is the mummers. I never noticed that. It is sad alright I like this man Brienne gets to tell her tale she's seeking her sister and she's offering gold if anyone will help her find her

this means like I don't need gold I just need soup and also unfortunately he cannot help her he's like yeah I might know a couple of fools but no pretty maids. He remembers one fool who was clad in rags and dirt and made in pool, but beneath those, he had motley on. And Brienne's like, I guess no one really ever said if Dantos were wearing motley.

And I'm like, oh, Brienne, you should ask that question. You should have gotten your notebook out and written every single detail you could about Dantos. But anyway, she's like, was thisos but anyway she's like was this him and she's like what were he and sansa separated but this guy doesn't know much more of the fool just that he saw him at the docks and again at the stinking goose and in slash bar and maiden pool that housed many sailors even in lord tarly's rule that's's so good. Shagwell wears green and pink or gray and pinkish motley. Yeah.

It's so in there. And I don't know that I realized that until this read. I mean, and I've read these books too many times. I only realized it because I was looking things up again. I was like, who is this?

But yeah. Damn. I didn't think about the motley too wow what a motley crew actually they really were literally uh yeah well the fool that he speaks of not not dantos the fool he speaks of was seeking passage for three not two and she's like who the fuck did they pick up the imp uh the man says days later a man boasted he had fooled a fool and had the gold to prove it but the fool was nowhere to be found nor his companions oh his brave companions yes but of course this man was nimble dick the one that fooled the fool yeah and he she was so close she was really close and you know

why i am like why did she only ask about the nose like not the body type for dantos you know like shagwell looked is like real scrawny right yeah dantos is not we were so close. She has no clue what they look like. No clue. Anyway, I guess she could have found like... Brienne buys... Could she have not like found someone who like knew their likeness or his likeness? I don't know. I think every time she got close, she got crossroaded.

Yeah. Right? Like Britney Spears crossroads. Oh my god. Well, Brienne buys him a bowl of soup and a cup of wine as well and she starts to ponder sansa's disappearance while forgetting to eat her own food and he finishes that food for her and says a big woman like you needs to keep your strength up and should eat more before going on the perilous road again after he's fucking eaten her soup it is kind of a fucking power move i do love that it's very cute i don't know why i would i think

because i would do that i'd be like oh man you just gotta eat more eat your food while i'm eating anyways you should really eat more well she does get very close, right? Because interestingly soon she's like, oh, huh. The bloody mummers took me and Jamie on the same road. And Jamie even tried to kill me on this road. But that made no matter because Rorge and Shagwell would have raped her half a hundred times if Sir Jamie had not told them she was worth her weight in sapphires. And I'm like, it's right there. It's's shagwell there's the shagwell reminder like you said anyways

that's it we won't be fooled we will we're the fools i am fool are you florian and i'm jean-claude what's happening oh what is happening oh that's a sexy couple's costume we could do it you know i'm the tall one so yeah just kidding i guess i'd have to be anyways the man notices her sadness and offers her strength for thoughts of her sister and he says the crone and the maiden are with you, but I must leave you. I'm going to King's Landing on foot. Ugh. The crone and maiden are with her, so Sansa and Sansa's mother and Arya are with her,

when you think of it that way. The girls are with her and the crone. Deadass Catelyn Stark. Indeed. Rip. She is not resting in peace. She's busy. Catelyn Stark is not resting in peace.

But this guy, this dwarf, is currently resting in peace. He's killed for a bounty from Cersei. It's him. The guy with the bulbous nose that she kills because it's a dead ringer that he's not Tyrion. He was sweet. I feel really bad. Me too. I actually really liked him.

I liked him a lot. He had a nice, gentle, like, atmosphere, and he was like, oh, you should sit. You're gonna hit your head on the roof. I'm like, that's so nice that you would say that and i also just like his inclusion because like in another life where this chapter is in the same book as a dance with dragons yeah you probably get him introduced in like the general vicinity of like penny being introduced and i think just think that they also serve as like great contrast to ty to Tyrion's just, like, misanthropic nature.

Which is understandable because his family's, like, super mean to him. And, you know, that's good, in fact, to include many characters from a marginalized group so that no one has to represent the whole group. Especially because, like, this man is super chill and seems so at peace with himself. He's, like, just stealing her like just you know what he uh he really reminds me he reminds me of again to come back to tyrian of his alternate life of like yes he wanted to be a holy man right at one point because you know he would get to learn and do things he liked and read about philosophy and read about history and learn to heal people and you know i always actually complain in my head about tyrian chapters when we get to them

eventually but now i'm like you know some of that stuff is very sweet of his view and it reminds me of that like this is what tyrian could have been had he been allowed to pursue what he wanted had he been encouraged to yeah he's like living like one of Tyrion's dreams you know the other one was like and then he would die yeah I mean we all die two of his dreams dying dying that's true he considers that one for a little bit yeah he uh even his smarmy attitude though so it's interesting because it's almost like you know Brienne's just meeting these variants of the Lannisters along the way. Yeah, but his smarmy attitude is like, you know, it's wholesome, you know? Cute, yeah.

Tyrion's is like hurtful. Which makes sense because he's been hurt a lot in his life, but anyway. Brienne stays at the table. She doesn't often drink yeah she literally thinks she finds that wine settles her belly and i just have to say i'm concerned about her appetite we talked about how she probably eats a lot of protein and veggies in the beginning of the chapter last chapter she drank like a whole thing of goat's milk and then she ate goat roast and then she thinks wine settles her belly what maybe this is just like coming from like i grew out of lactose allergy as a child which i never really grew out of it it's just you know my body whatever but what like

that's a lot of goats girl and then on top of that today later you're gonna learn she has three eggs in a glass of milk dude her stomach's so strong like it's not just it's not just her like all of this i'm like holy shit what on her is not strong that's so true her heart no her detective skills her self-esteem also that also that and yeah no i don't understand how wine is settling her belly after all of this like that's fucking wild oh man well brianne's pondering where to go next to nip maiden pool for nimble dick and the stinky goose or the town was desolate when she last saw it it was burnt and empty with corpses in the water and feral dogs skulking.

Totally, totally a great appetizing place it sounds like to go. But she does have remember, Jamie singing Six Maids in the Pool and laughing when she begged him to just shut the fuck up. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, that's cute.

Uh, feral dogs skulking didn't think about that but there you go biter oh rorschagwell those are your feral dogs and eventually the actual dog helm it's in ipod like the the description of like how desolate the place sounded kind of reminded me of the beginning of the sworn sword that place it does right and you know there there really are that in the very beginning of like we just heard from uh from the man of the faith digging the graves of course yeah is hedge knight the very beginning of the hedge knight it really has a great alignment and something ge George has kind of backwritten, I guess you could say, is Jean-Claude Dark. Yes.

Right? Kind of comes up here. We talk about the six maids in a pool in Duskendale. And the Scarlet Shadow Jean-Claude Dark in Fire and Blood, George writes Queen Alysanne almost being assassinated uh at the pools of maiden pool and jaharis hires his very own brienne jonquil dark half sibling to lord darkland to guard aliceanne so another king's guard in my opinion uh she becomes the scarlet shadow to her always near and she also was a mystery knight she showed up at the golden wedding and she won a favor with the small folk for winning she was the favorite so brienne being right back here where dantos grew up hoping to find and save her

own queen alessandra for example it's just really well done i will say if you haven't read fire and blood very enriching yeah very enriching i'm a fan overall fan overall Scarlet Shadow Pokemon Red versus Brienne Pokemon Blue Ruby Red actually yes Ruby Red and Sapphire Blue those were actual also Pokemon games right?

holy shit it's all about Brienne Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire there we go that is what this is about it was foreshadowing amazing Brienne thanks Amon Sapphire. There we go. There we go. That is what this is about. There you go. Yep. It was foreshadowing. Wow. Amazing. Brienne thinks she may hit Maidenpool and then go north

and tears at her bread, eavesdropping on the remaining tables. Most of them speak about Tywin Lannister's death to different responses, and they're like, murdered by his own son, the vile little dwarf. And of course the responses of the king is just a boy who will rule us. Some say

Tywin's brother, Lord Tyrell or the kingslayer and I'm like, ha ha. Cersei slash no one. No one's ruling you. You're all on your own. This is what you get and you're gonna have to like it or die. And it's gonna get worse.

It's gonna get worse it's gonna get worse we have this little quote not him declared the innkeep not that oath keeper he spat into the fire brienne let the bread fall from her hands and wiped the crumbs off on her breeches she'd heard enough she dreams of renly's tent later that night and she dreams of trying to protect him, but her limbs are stiff and frozen, and when she gets to the Shadow Sword slicing through the steel, the dying king isn't Renly. It's Jaime Lannister, and she had failed him. Yes. you talked about this earlier in the chapter right with um brienne willing renly's memory when thinking of naked jamie and uh you know what what that all means etc and later this chapter she kind of projects a little on sanza is like i want to do all this for you but i think she's kind of

doing that with renly too she's kind of interesting considering what we've said about Robert, because I'm trying to be like really equitable here. And, you know, as you were saying earlier in the chapter, right? Like Jamie's scary because he's real, right? He's not unattainable. She doesn't have to really, really worry about Renly. Renly is though, for many reasons. We've discussed some of them last chapter with Shiloh,

but especially because he's dead, she doesn't really have to worry about getting rejected in that way, but I almost feel like, again, because I'm being equitable here, she's kind of done something to Renly that Robert did to Liana and her memory. She's turned

Renly into this symbol of perfection and courtesy. He's like the perfect gallant king and she would have been the knight to protect him and she's just shaped this like false narrative of him for her stories but as we know she like never really knew Renly right we see that from what Laura says to Jamie of how Renly really thought of Brienne but also from our own insight into Renly from his interactions with Catelyn and Ned and also we know like we know that Renly had his secrets that obviously he couldn't like share

with everyone in Westeros in terms of his sexuality and being gay and Brienne uses this illusion of Renly as a shield at this moment against her memories with Jamie. Because as you said, Jamie's someone that she actually does know, like, fully better than probably most people ever, because it was just contrasted with how everyone else, like, they're the ones who have an illusion of Jamie. Their own fabricated narrative where he's like the villain and the kingslayer. But she knows all of his flaws, right? She knows that, yeah, I mean, he's into killing kids, I guess his flaws right she knows that yeah i mean he's

into killing kids i guess but she also knows that he he's got a heroism to him versus friendly and she's she's living up with these fairy tales about him and her own role in those songs yeah absolutely i mean awful it's the world that's awful, I'm honest. Same thing Sandor says, beauty and the beast and beauty and the beast. And I will say, at this same time that she's freaking out, thinking like, how could you say this about my Jamie

who I failed earlier at the bar, like, you know, dumping her bread down and then in her dream she's like, no, I failed Jamie, who I failed earlier at the bar, like, you know, dumping her bread down. And then in her dream, she's like, no, I failed Jamie, girlfriend. At the same time, he's writing in the white book and he's going, return safely to King's Landing by Brienne, the maid of Tarth. You didn't fail him, babe. You made it into the mentions. You made it into his live journal. You were tagged.

You were added. He's also like, yeah, you can totally hit me up for a job reference of course brian i will write a reference letter for you you've literally been written in bitch you got this uh yeah interesting because that is i mean he unveiled the most of him he's ever unveiled to anyone, like from zero to 100, like in a day. He was like, well, since we're now on this horrible final destination hell trip together, and I got my hand chopped, I guess I should just pass out in your arms and tell you that, you know, I saved the world, but I could never tell anyone. Yeah. And that's real. Not not again like this renly that she she's put on a pedestal yeah and i don't know that's not like this read you and i have kind of unveiled maybe like we're more nuanced on renly than we thought uh but not to her like i mean their relationship she never knew him she didn't she didn't he was her perfect knight and king who stood up for her that one time and then she made an entire story about him which that's what children do i like

don't fault her for doing that as a child but she's not anymore i remember idolizing like dudes or making up stories in my head oh yeah it was some whatever more romantic situation than it was when like now i look back and i'm like i don't know he drove you home from the library and you had a crush on him dude you were like 10 yeah you know 16 i don't know what ages are i've never been one but and she's again we'll get to this later she's kind of doing that with sanza now too right she's yeah she is a bit there's a i mean she's trying to though she's kind of like she's like the mishami meme you know like hello fellow students um yeah she is she's rolling up with her sword and her bedroll and she's like i could be cool she she's like this is the story

right this is what i'm supposed to do and this is what you want me to do right and hello i mean we'll see what sansa's thing is gonna be like i definitely think it's not gonna be like in the show i can say that but but it'll be interesting how that all plays out right she has this idea of who sansa is based on catelyn's stories i mean even aria right now has a very different idea of Sansa than who Sansa is now. I do think that, to an extent, like, there will be that aspect of, we don't actually need you. Yeah. You know, like, thanks, but we're good.

We're Gucci, and I think she'll have to probably earn her, like, she'll probably have to earn her place in some aspects there. Yeah. Emotionally. Those girls aren't gonna trust anyone for like at least two decades i feel i would feel bad for brienne if that happened but i also think it would be really good for brienne personally to be told that because then she has to like go be like i have to be my own person now i mean it's davos style right davos going to look

for rickon and it's like no, you need to just break off. Go home to your wife. Hug your remaining children. Live your own life. But Brienne doesn't have that. Brienne doesn't have that. But she does have, in the morning, someone waiting for her.

And she's waiting for this person as well. The captain's sister. Oh. Right? And yeah. She's drinking a cup of milk and honey with three raw eggs mixed into it and i'm like why don't you just bake it at this point brianne that doesn't bake it and make a cake yeah i don't know this beverage this is like fucking this is a

gaston you know like he eats like a dozen eggs roughly the size of a barge that's brianne He eats like a dozen eggs, roughly the size of a barge. That's Brienne. Don't egg me on here. Oh, is this the egg in the Dunkin' Egg? This might be. These are eggs that have been dunked. It's not Podrick. It's the raw eggs that Brienne consumed.

That's Aegon. These eggs have been dunked. Oh my god, that's why there are three raw eggs. The three raw eggs symbolize the three dragons. Of the dragon. Yeah, wow. Yeah. Wow.

Amazing, amazing. We cracked it. That's a sacrifice in fire. We cracked the egg. Oh my god. Hey, you gotta break a few eggs to make an egg on. You know, I will also say, does that make Jamie the Prince Darren, right? Because he's like, I dreamed of you.

It does. Just saying. It does. Kind of. Kind of, yeah. Yeah. And I mean- Ooh, are there dunk Darren?

Are there- Oh. Do they exist? Oh, yeah, I'm sure. They have to, right? No, I'm very sure they do. I believe it exists. I'm very sure they do i believe it exists i'm very sure it exists there's no way it doesn't it absolutely exists this has to be in my heart i

know what what do you know also guest on from listening in too um he is from beauty and he's uh red ron at heil hunt anyways um, I'll look for this on my own time. Not on company time. But if you have Dunk x Darren stories to share. Memories from your experiences with Dunk and Darren. From the internet.

You can find this at Girls Gone Canon. It has to. Shoot us a DM. Or at girlsgonecanon. No photos. At gmail.com. C-A-N-O-N. Oh my god. Alright.

We have the shield. We gotta talk about the shield. Yes. Because it is just beautiful. And how we're gonna talk about it is I'm going to read to you this passage here. And then I'm going to relate it to something completely different. Get ready, but it's actually still the same. Okay.

Absolutely the same, though. Okay. Get ready. It was more a picture than a proper coat of arms, and the sight of it took her back through the long years, year 19, to the cool dark of her father's armory. She remembered how she'd run her fingertips across the cracked and fading paint over the green leaves of the tree and along the path of the

falling star and of course from duncan egg we have the field should be the color of sunset he said suddenly the old man liked sunsets and And the device. An elm tree, said Egg. A big elm tree, like the one by the pool, with a brown trunk and green branches. Yes, Dunk said. That would serve. An elm tree, but with a shooting star above. Could you do that? The girl nodded. Give me the shield. I'll paint it this very night. Have it back to you on the morrow. And of course, when he finally gets it back, she had made a better job of it than he could ever have hoped for. Even by lantern light, the sunset colors were rich and bright, the tree tall and strong and noble. The falling star was a bright slash of paint across the oaken sky yet now that dunk held it in

his hands it seemed all wrong the star was falling what sort of sigil was that would he fall just as fast and sunset heralds night oh brianne what trouble have you just brought by getting this shield painted? What kind of sigil is that? The star is falling, Brienne. It's just such a pessimistic way of looking at it. Because for me, when I think of it, I'm like, you make a wish on a falling star. It makes wishes come true. And that's what Brienne's trying to do. Yeah. star it makes wishes come true and that's what brienne's trying to do yeah that is a very sweet and serene way to look at it eliana and i love that about you i'm the fool

and i'm jean quill and i'm a cold cunt and i'm here to tell you some shit's gonna go down because again adventure number two for Cody was not great I'm worried I'm real worried about my daughter Brienne of Tarth I am worried I'm worried about yeah but you know I'm also worried about that I'll never know what happens well she pays the artist the second half of her commission then buys some cheese and hard bread and flour from the cook and then she's off again on the road passing the worst part of where the fighting had been between the north the westerman the stormlanders and the knights of the reach the men who had died here were taken to the tombs beneath the sets of Duskendale. But the Northern dead, which were far more numerous, were buried in common graves by the sea, marked by a wooden sign.

Here lies the wolves. Brienne says a silent prayer for them, for Catelyn Stark, for Rob, and all the men who died with them because why were they at Duskendale that's what Rob wants to know she's praying she's shaking her magic 8 ball she's like these were

Glover men yes her magic 8 ball says outlook good these were Glover men more than likely especially because car starks had likely gone home yeah bummer real bummer uh she she remembers the night that catalan learned brandon rick and died she had said i have no sons but rob as they sat there in the inn brian had reached out to give her comfort uh she had thought to to hold her hand but stopped herself fearing catalan would flinch from her instead catalan had thought to to hold her hand but stopped herself fearing catalan would

flinch from her instead catalan had done the opposite because people just love to get vulnerable with her she showed her hands to her hurt the scars in her hands and talked about her daughters sansa a miniature lady and aria willful and likely dead how heart-wrenching is that anyone who doesn't flinch from her eliana like she was like i should just oh wait she might flinch from me that was her first thought she's so used to people flinching from her that she has to guard herself and she thinks she's the problem when they are the problem they're not you b the problem when they are the problem. They are the problem. Not you, Brienne. Agreed. They are the problem.

Her vulnerabilities, right? And Jamie and Kat being the only ones that don't flinch from her. And even more so of Kat being this mother-type figure in these moments for her before sending her off. And Brienne wanting, you know, to comfort her and also to please her. To make her proud. To do her bidding. But here we kind of see she's becoming more like Catelyn in A Clash of Kings. Back then, Brienne ate methodically, especially during that scene that's brought up.

But now she's eating her food more absently and listening to conversation and becoming more hollow. Like Catelyn said, I am become a sour woman i take no joy and meat nor mead song and laughter have become suspicious strangers to me that that is brianne's arc by the end of this book right what does she say to nibble dick sorry i couldn't trust you i don't know how to do that anymore like catalan says i am a creature of grief and dust and bitter longings Brienne's adventure is tearing her apart a little bit and if it doesn't then others will ow that's such a that's that's a great comparison of how how even as she eats right as you said it's absently like Catlin and yeah the adventure it the quest it's taking something out of her how much is it going to take

I mean we have a statement here right but I mean she's losing herself because she's trying to fit some person from the songs and not her right she's trying to be what other people want her or need her to be instead of who

Brienne needs her to be and we see that kind of or need her to be instead of who Brienne needs her to be. And we see that kind of ominous idea of what we have just been talking about when she's like, Sansa, though, I will find her, my lady.

Brienne swore to Lady Catelyn's restless shade. I will never stop looking. I will give up my life if need be. Give up my honor. Give up all my dreams, but I will never stop looking I will give up my life if need be give up my honor give up all my dreams but I will find her don't do it

sigh god that line is kind of haunting right swore to Catalin's restless shade yeah boy you don't know it is restless it's not a shade it's very physical she throws a lot of shade that is what ladies that's for sure yeah yeah and again she's projected a lot on sansa

and i'm like this is unhealthy brienne this is unhealthy this is not a good road and speaking of not good roads beyond the battle, the road runs beside the shore. There are other travelers on the road, fishing villages and fisher folk often took this road. This road is actually probably fine. She rides past a fish wife and her daughters and she asks her question. They take her for a night at first and then they shake her heads and giggle behind their hands when they find out that she's a woman. And so after that, she keeps her helm on beerfoot boys run beside her in the first village and they offer to sell her clams crabs and one of

them offers to sell his sister i love this because it just makes me think of aria right clams crabs and one their sister muscles cockles clams as she wheeled her barrow through the ragman's harbor even if it's not specifically stated the feast plots are being drawn into this pov yeah it's pretty sad though when she that guy selling his sister yeah that's also sad it's uh it's kind of like half cute but then you're like oh, that kid's serious because they need to eat. So when Brienne leaves the village, it's raining. A storm's on the way and her ears are ringing, but she'd rather be on horse than on a boat. She's not about the boat life.

Oh, I want a scene of her on a boat, like maybe with Sansa or something. That could be fun. And her being like, this is terrible. Her retching. Yeah, that's great. Or her with Davos. That davos that would be there you go that'd be very fun her with someone on a boat it's gonna happen we're gonna see brienne hurling from motion sickness uh she comes to a fork in the road again another time this episode a pile of stones marking a ruined castle the right fork goes up towards cracklaw, full of bogs and

pine barrens, and the left goes to Maidenpool. She dismounts, taking shelter in the ruins of the castle. Part of the main keep still stood, its triple towers gray granite like broken walls, their merlin's yellow sandstone. Three crowns, she realized as she gazed them through the rain three golden crowns this had been a hollard castle sir dantos had been born here like as not iron hinges remain rusted in the doorframe but the roof's still sound it's dry otherwise within and she looks for dry food around seeing what there, until she hears a horse on the road and hides in the shadows. She does not intend to be captured on this road once more. The rider's small, and she wonders if it's the mad mouse.

Maybe he thought she was easy prey, because she was a woman. Yeah, Brienne was all like, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you can't get fooled again. That's what she said about this road. Can't get fooled again. Fool me one time, shame on you. Fool me twice, you can't get fooled again. That's what she said about this road. Can't get fooled again. Fool me one time, can't get fooled again. Yes.

Lord Grandison's castling had made the error of thinking she was easy to prey, because she was a woman. Humphrey Wagstaff, age 56, with a hawk nose and a spotted head. The day they were betrothed, he warned Brienne that she would have to be a proper lady when they wed, or he would be forced to chastise her. Brienne was 16 and no stranger to practicing in the yard.

And somehow, she summoned the courage to say she would only accept chastisement from a man who could outfight her. So reluctantly, Wagstaff agrees. He dons his armor to teach her her proper place, but you know what? He gets put in his place!

Motherfucker. They fought with blooded swords, and still she broke his collarbone, two ribs, and their betrothal, and Got him. Agreed. He was her third prospective husband, and her last. We'll find out about some of the other betrothals later throughout this, but dude, fuck this guy fuck this guy i'm glad she beat him up so much

it's so good her father did not insist again damn right damn right he didn't that's what i thought selwyn you better fucking stand down motherfucker yeah i bet not uh brian doesn't intend to partner with shadrich if this is him as she starts thinking how she could defeat him uh she she would have reach and strength she is as strong as other knights and quicker than any woman her size had any right to be sir goodwin her master at arms used to say and she had stamina, a noble gift. Victory in fighting with sword and shield was granted to men with most endurance, and Brienne had been taught to fight cautiously, conserving energy and strength and baiting her foes to waste theirs. Goodwin had said, Men will always underestimate you, and their pride will make them want to vanquish you quickly,

lest it be said a woman tried them sorely. She learned the truth of it once she went into the world. Even Jaime Lannister had come at her that way, in the woods by Maidenpool. If the gods were good, the mad mouse would make the same mistake. He may be a seasoned knight, she thought, but he is no Jaime Lannister. a seasoned knight she thought but he is no jamie lannister yes again like we talked about last chapter i mean he thought damn this bitch is getting me i'm exhausted i am exhausted is what he thought when she was attacking him yeah uh and i have to say that line men will always underestimate you armor yourself in it and it will never be used to hurt you. Yeah, this is the good way to do that.

This is the smart way to do that. A literal woman's weapon. Yes. With weapons. And also the vanquish you quickly. You know. They always do. They come quickly. They come early. Ask Jamie. I think that's what this is about but um oh my god it's about sex it kind of when it's about them it is um her whole arc though in feast besides besides the sex part

and this like pursuit of what seems like a fruitless quest and really fucking difficult i speaking of stamina like that's that's a kind of stamina too to be like yeah i'm committed i'm gonna go everywhere in west rose if i fucking have to and to not give up until you've fulfilled it that's that's also a kind of stamina because i'm sure many of these other bounty hunters right have given up not sir shadrick right the horse arrives it isn't him probably because sir shadrick actually like is making progress bummer and it's in fact the boy who bumped into her at duskendale and the same boy that she saw in rosby so now she's piecing it together she jumps on her mare and goes after him as he passes by never looking back once until she trots up and whacks the horse's butt with her flat of her sword the boy goes flying once more landing again in mud a hard week for pod in general she

asks his name we know it because it's reread and he's he does stutter it out he's podrick pain and she feels a rush of sympathy for him i love this this memory that comes rushing to her yeah it's very relatable she like instead of being mad and instead of attacking him she thinks this memory she remembered a day at evenfall and a young knight with a rose in his hand he brought the rose to give to me or so her septa told her all she had to do was welcome him to her father's castle. He was 18, with long red hair that tumbled to his shoulders. She was 12, tightly laced in a stiff gown, its bodice bright with garnets. The two of them were of a height, but she could not look him in the eye, nor say the simple words her septa had taught her. Sir Ronan, I welcome you to my lord father's hall it is good to look upon your face at last

but that's all we get of that for now because you know you gotta piece the rest together it's a reread we know what happened i love her gown that she had rubies in there ruby red uh garnets sorry is what she had just beautiful bright red and those garnets are a i'm sure they were supposed to complement ronit's hair i'd guess or be symbolic of that but i'm sitting here and i'm like red interesting are those lannister red are they think of the symbolism i do think the way that we actually see her comfortable in clothing later like the clothing that jamie's people fit her with this line is interesting someone had dressed her in woman's clothes again but this dress fit much better than the hideous pink rag the goat made her wear and she later says

septa donese padded out the bodice to give it that shape so obviously her dress and her septa it's a stiff new gown it doesn't sound like it had been padded out for her or you know built built in to fit her body right interesting how she feels in the two separate outfits about herself absolutely and of course how she feels like in i mean in the armor, right? Yeah. Now I'm going to have to think about that a little too. How free she is, surprisingly. Yeah.

But also if she's hiding herself too much in it, you know, because she pulls down the helm because she doesn't want people to laugh at her. Because this is what she's been taught to expect, right? Embarrassing situations all the time. People laughing at her. If she just beat them up more no one would laugh beat everyone up fight every battle in your mind brianne at once and anyway so podrick explains that he's the hand squire he fought with him in battle and he shouted half man half man about-man about it. And I'm like, why doesn't he just say Tyrion, right? Because at first she's like Tywin and he's like, no, the other one. And I'm like,

I get that this is supposed to be poetic and descriptive of what happened. And I- I- for me it just feels unnatural as dialogue because again, it's like way more words to say than for a kid- like a nervous kid to just spit out and say Tyrion! Like, you know his name, you know your employer's name but anyways at the beginning of the chapter we talked about brianne feeling shy when talking to strangers and here it is coming full circle as she feels sympathy for this kid and thinks about her own past a A nervous boy, Pod, not great at speaking to strangers, as we can see. So, here it is. This is her chance to be strong for Pod,

and to give Pod a place to, you know, develop himself, like she so terribly wanted and desired and needed. Yes. And they share a similar interest, interest right they both are looking to find lady sansa because that's what he tells her he says i'm here to find her lady sansa he says you're looking for her brella told me she's his wife not brella lady sansa so i thought if you found her his face twisted in sudden anguish i'm his squire he repeated as the rain ran down his face but he left me he's crying oh he loved him poor pod poor little 12 year old pod i Pod. I know. Sancho. I mean Egg.

I mean Pod. Oh, fuck. So sad. Poor Pod. You know, we're going to get a refresh on Pod's character next chapter, so we're not going to keep you today with it. But I will say I'm much more closely drawn to him during this reread. Like, how sad. and what a strong boy.

Oh, following the end. It hasn't been safe and it hasn't been easy. And he's been very alone. Like since the ripe age of four, he's been alone. And in a lot of ways, he is pretty parallel to Dantos.

As we kind of mentioned earlier that he is, you know, kind of a, he's a lower cousin he's not actually like a main pain he's like a sub pain wow getting dirty and he was raised by people that he didn't even know you know he had no real family growing up and wasn't even raised really as a family member he was raised more as a servant than anything so and when he gets yeah i was landing like his closest family member is like not literally not someone he can like have a conversation with

quite literally quite literally uh you know i i want to close this out with this thought on this, this bit between Sancho and Don Quixote, where they're discussing. Peace, said Don Quixote. Where hast thou ever seen or heard that a knight errant has been arraigned before a court of justice, however many homicides he may have committed? I know nothing about omessals, answered Sancho, nor in my life have i had anything to do with one i only know that the holy brotherhood looks after those who fight in the fields and in other matters i do not meddle and i feel like that's the heart of this chapter right we got the faith we got true knights we got a true squire we're on our trip our knight errant on an errand goes on rides on indeed indeed but now with a plucky sidekick oh pod indeed happy i'm just happy he's here now i am

but i'm not because i'm worried for him too yeah i'm really getting worried about them really getting worried about them you know every look they say after the first 24 hours that someone's gone missing, they're dead. And it's been like a decade under the influence. Oh my god. So. Don't say that. These motherfuckers are dead. No, you're right.

What if Pod dies? What if Lady Stoneheart, Brienne saves him, obviously, because Dunk would do anything for Egg, but like. But he survived in season 8 of Game of Thrones. Yeah, but I mean, maybe he argued a really good contract. No, you're right. It's anyone's game. Of Thrones. And with that, that wraps up

Brienne 2 in A Feast for Crows. Indeed, indeed. And again, if you have memories of Dunk and Darren that you would like to send us. Oh my god. You can find us on social media at Girls Gone Canon on Twitter. You can send us a tweet, shoot us a DM, or you can send us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com a03.girlsgonecanon

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Goodbye. See you next next week on the road again