Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 152 — ASOS Samwell II

Episode Date: February 4, 2022

Surprise, Craster! It's a boy! But that's not as surprising as the mutiny that takes his life and that of the Old Bear.  --- Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/ Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor Chloe's blog: www.liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage

Hello, and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Reads A Song Of Ice And Fire, episode 152, Sam 2 in A Storm Of Swords. i'm one of your hosts chloe and i am another one of your hosts eliana and yes here we are still in the north with samwell last time we were here it's the front of the month we took last week off for his dark materials and we're back to sam 2 last week we had uh or last episode we had yoke boy on with us which was wonderful radio westeros actually just put out their samwell tarly episode if it's shane's you want i haven't listened to all of it yet i know eliana did you get through it yet no i'm going to do so by the next episode, but I've been wanting to really give it my focus.

And I'm excited. I'm excited to see what they've said. And I know that you're trying to make sure to keep pure, right? You're trying to be first half of the story, Samwell. I'm trying to be second half of the story, Samwell. We'll meet in the middle. We'll meet in the middle. Yeah, in terms of um yeah our purity so oh my god I don't know what that means but it was a blast having Yolk Boy on and I'm so excited about our guest for next week for Sam 3 in a storm of swords we are having on our friend Noah you might know them from Twitter as at Samantha Tarley. I think they were at Grun Pip or Pip Grun

before. I think it was Pip Grun. We love a good Pip Grun in this house. We do. Noah has actually has an essay called If It's Chains You Want, Samuel Tarley, Gender and War. And it is amazing. We will link it in the description of this. I know that they are working on, I think, other essays in the future. They go to school. They're very busy. They have busy lives. But really good. Really excited to have them come on. They have such great views and just like on the gender expression around Samwell Tarly and the relationship with Randall. relationship with randall there's a lot of like good sam stuff coming out now you know between yeah noah and radio west rose finally diving into his storyline so i'm i'm just excited this is a good time for us to be doing sam content and also even like in the and we'll probably talk about this more in later chapters like in the our song of ice and fire subreddit best ofs there was a really great essay about Sam's development and maybe where Sam's story is going to go as like

sort of like this archer figure so again I think we're going to bring that up later and there's just a couple of other stuff too it's a good time good time for Sam Sam fans Sam stans swimfan92 I forgot what the actual username was. Sam Fan, I don't know.

I have to say, though, that's such a great concept because that does play... Swimfan? No, archery. Plays such an important part in, you know, your sigil become you, that kind of thing going on. Speaking of Swimfan92, I will say, one of the biggest reasons I'm excited for noah to come on

is that noah asana vice and fire shit posts like the good days like when when a swath was so fresh and new and happy to me it noah makes me feel alive you know when they shitpost about Aswath online. So I'm excited for that energy. Exactly. Shitposts are what it's about. It's part of what drew me to you in the first place on Twitter. I was like, I like this username, Queen of Love and Booty on it. Amazing. Like your style. I do. I do. And also, I mean, you know, shitposts, you were talking about polishing turds prior to us recording this. And I was like, I don you were talking about polishing turds prior to us recording this and I was like I don't want to hold the turds

so it all comes together but no I'm I am really excited I've been really looking forward to us having Noah on this episode I mean like their essay is like very incredible so yeah and I just

feel like on a meta level they have very good understanding of the story flow and the fandom they seem to understand what the people want what the people don't want what the people should want and next week they're gonna tell us all about that but you know what the people want what the fans need oh my god i'm not signing off on this okay eliana the fans want discord access maybe they do you know and if you are a fan who wants discord access you can find it over on patreon patreon.com slash girls gone canon in the thunder tier and above you get access to our discord where again we have happy hour slash brunch once a month people get together sometimes do presentations play some reindeer games this time not actually literal

reindeer games that was december only but also some other people are doing some fun stuff lately on the discord yeah so our brunch slash happy hour where we do those reindeer games is going to be this month on the 20th uh the 20th of february will be the next brunch happy hour no theme yet tba we'll be putting that out there for patrons soon so keep an eye on your feed and the reason why it is going to be a sunday two months in a row is because our very good friend pete has been running a his dark materials rewatch discussion a dust discussion if you will over at our discord where everyone's jumping on voice chat once a week to talk about an episode uh Last week was exciting. It was very new, very fun. We rewatched season one, episode one.

We came having watched. The first half of the discussion was spoiler free and the second half was dusty, very dusty. We talked about the spoilers for the series and the book and kind of just covered everything together. And that was just really fun. It was a couple of hours. So this week's episode

is the idea of north uh we will do that i believe saturdays at 1 p.m is when pete is hosting that eliana standard time i think the first one was like super great great success so thank you pete for hosting those other things that happen on our patreon is every single month, patrons get a bonus episode if you are in the stranger tier or above. This past month, you know, we overcame, you know, we were brave. We were a little afraid, right? Because we did our Norvos episode. And even though we were feeling a little Norvos, we did it anyway. Oh my god.

It was bad when I said it, but now you're saying it and I'm hearing it and I know that it's bad. You know what I mean? I'm glad you're like a mirror. You're a mirror, Eliana. Thank you. Thank you for showing me.

We're not doing mirror. We've already done the mirror episode long ago. Yes, our Norvos episode, hella nervous, is up for patrons in the stranger tier and above our $5 tier and above and we're visiting all the free cities right we are

roaming around the free cities having a good time we have the last two Volantis and Braavos are all that's left so those will eventually come out for patrons over the next handfuls of months and I don't know, maybe we'll roll them out to public someday,

but if you want to check them, check them there. Yeah. And then of course, something else very exciting happening is February is we are starting the Sear CPOV. Oh my God. Not that Sear CPOV.

Am I ever going to get tired of this joke no i think we've done it like five times now it's still not way more but so we're going to be reading cersei by madeline miller madeline miller also wrote the song of achilles. We covered that. Oh, just what a month or so ago. And now we're going to Circe, which is a great, great book. I really love it. I'm excited for Eliana's take on it. There are definitely some Circe parallels to Aeswap. So we'll probably talk about that. I know we did talk about parallels to literature that we love and have read when we did The song of achilles so we'll come back to what these vibes are too but i encourage you to read along with us you know get reading it'll come out end of february little valentine's date with cersei not that cersei

indeed indeed not a cersei i'm not a cersei we have a lot of fun together you and I a lot of fun so other things that are fun are so last month yes we did have a His Dark Materials episode at the beginning and at the end this month

we are resuming having the last week's episode be a His Dark Materials episode yes at the end of each month you'll be a His Dark Materials episode. Yes, at the end of each month, you'll get that His Dark Materials episode. We are just driving, driving home the long fucking and winding

road here for little Miss Lyra Balacqua. So listen in to His Dark Materials if you're into that. The Amber Spyglass. Only five-ish episodes probably left then we'll move on and probably come back we'll move on yeah his dark materials and then come back to his go forward you must go back yeah yeah hey before long we'll be at that new pov

after sam right this is a short sprint through the books but it's a good one. It is. It's a really good one. I'm really enjoying these Sam episodes, Sam chapters. I know we just started, but I'm already enjoying it. I've already started, crafted our little outline for the next episode already with Noah. So I actually feel like I'm time traveling back in time right now. Wow. Wow. Crazy.

Crazy. I have the best job in the world. Just like Branon the show i'm trying to do the eye thing but y'all can't see it it's hard i've tried it before as a child i can't um so other things that we're seeing right are these emails and tweets of note so we've gotten a few messages and i have to get back to some people. I really enjoyed some of the messages that we've received recently. But I also want to call out this week, a tweet that Chloe brought to my attention. Yes, we got a tweet from one of our friends. Actually, sorry, it's very important I read

the screen name. It's Kawaii thug life that feels important to this in my opinion it makes it so much better but they tweeted and said i've named two of my best nine tails in pokemon go after you beautiful hostesses eliana is a perfect nine tails chloe is a lucky nine tails chloe's a fire type which is strong against Eliana's ice and fairy type. Chloe fires Eliana. Amazing. 10 out of 10. Eliana, explain the joke to us. Okay, alright, so

as you all may or may not know, if you've been keeping up with Pokemon lore, when Pokemon released the Alola region, which I believe is Gen 7, Gen 7 Pokemon Sun and Moon, they brought in Alolan forms of some of the Pokemon. One of those Pokemon is Vulpix, and many of you probably know Vulpix as a fire type, a fire fox, right? Vulpix evolves into

fire Pokemon Ninetales. Well, in Alola, Vulpix is an ice type, and when Vulpix evolves into Fire Pokemon Ninetales. Well, in Alola, Volpix is an Ice-type, and when Volpix evolves into Ninetales, Volpix becomes an Ice and Fairy-type. Alolan Ninetales. Well, when Kawaii Thug Life says that my Ninetales is a perfect, it means that of the three IV stats, Attack, Defense, and HP, which are your three IVs in Pokemon Go, all three are 100. They are all 15 out of 15. So

I am a Hundo is what they are called. Unfortunately, I am not a shiny Pokemon, which would be called a Shundo. So I am a Hundo. Chloe is a lucky Pokemon. So I believe this means that Kawaii Thug Life received this Ninetales, this Fire Ninetales in a trade, a lucky trade which means that it takes less Stardust in order to power up this Ninetales

which is actually very, very good and exciting. Am I a lightweight? Is that what this means? No, you're like just a very good learner. Very advanced. It takes little for you to advance in your combat power. That's the nicest

thing anyone's ever said about me. Thank you so much, Kawaii Thug Life. I really loved that tweet. It actually did make my day. And thank you, Eliana, for Eliana-splaining that one to me. I was curious. I'm like, I don't get a cool name for mine. You're the Hundo,

but whatever. I think Lucky, no, actually, I don't know if Lucky's have a name. I mean, they're just Lucky, which is very sought after. I am very sought after. Thank you. You are. Thank you for understanding. You know who's sought after all the characters whose chapters that we don't read during this right that's a sought after thing thank you uh

that's a sought after feature yes and i gotta say i'm gonna be denying some of those today. I've altered. Whoa. I've altered the basic fundamental foundation and, you know, just absolutely molecular structure of the lightning round today. I have removed Catelyn, Tyrion, Jaime, Dany, Sansa. They don't matter right now. I mean, they matter. They all matter in my heart or whatever. But they don't matter right now. I mean, they matter. They all matter in my heart or whatever. But they don't matter right now.

We're gonna check out Arya, Bran, Davos, and Jon only in this lightning round right now. I will say I take umbrage with the removal of the Dany chapter. Well, but it's okay. We'll touch on it enough in this episode. Yes, okay. Okay. Let's kick it off with Arya 4, whereria meets the ghost of high heart gasp brand two brand hears stories of a tourney long past as they seek shelter in the north davos three davos gets a new fellow prisoner alistair florent hooray john three john must part with his wolf as he prepares to mount the wall with the free folk Arya 5

the mad huntsman acquires a prisoner that we read me know and love woof woof John 4 the climb unfortunately proves fatal for some of the group Ygritte is dismayed that they did not find the horn of winter For the climb, unfortunately, proves fatal for some of the group.

Ygritte is dismayed that they did not find the Horn of Winter. Throws us right into Sam 2, where it's a gender reveal party at Craster's Keep, and you are all invited. Is that why it's so dangerous? Because it's a gender reveal party? Yes, yes, exactly. Those are deadly that is that's what i've heard so that's it felt fitting it fit it fit all right so sam 2 kicks off with a woman giving birth noisily above the loft and a man below is dying by the fire and it's just we love chapter openings here at girls gone canon because this one is especially it's just, we love chapter openings here at Girls Gone Canon, because this one especially, it's an interesting juxtaposition with that larger overall idea of only death can pay for life being a part of the whole series, but also how later on in Sam's chapters, right? He learns a lesson about death being part of that cycle, but also learning to celebrate the life that was lived.

that cycle but also learning to celebrate the life that was lived i'm so glad that you like caught on to this because i was thinking that there had to be some sort of metaphor in the whole baby thing happening and i'm like birth birth and i'm like magic and shit yeah yeah yeah magic and shit but that made me think about davos and melisandre like in that same notion it reminds me so much of davos melisandre and of course the shadow baby um yeah oh so much of that yeah a shadow baby being born in some aspects here attracting the others it's like a star is born yeah shadow baby born that would be a product that i would market i really wanted a baby born I never got it because my mom said that the milk in the bottle would mold. Probably. Because you know they pooped and stuff

those dolls and their hair grew or whatever. I forgot. Yeah, those dolls were nuts. They don't make that shit for a reason. But yeah, my mom was like, they'll mold the poop and the food molds. And you have to clean the doll inside and out. It's not worth it. Just like a real baby.

A shadow baby born might be more economical. That's true. You probably don't need to clean it as much. There's a couple of things that are very reminiscent, though, of Melisandre and Davos in this chapter. This is the chapter where Sam eats the onion. I was thinking that as well. The onion. The rot. as well the onion the rot and

that he cut it away and it was still good and i think that's really yeah like i mean we believe that the chapter too right right now if you that's how the night's watch is viewed at crasters they look down if as if the onion was all black and then there was a lot of rot in Craster's Keep at that time, after. Yeah. They cut the wrong part of the onion out. I mean, it's also kind of the philosophy, right, to an extent of some of the people, not all of them that go to the Night's Watch. You know, some of them, they're sent for punishment or whatever. But how do you learn to grow the good parts, you know?

Especially in a frozen tundra when there's no place to do so oh i meant people's hearts but yes that too yeah but that's what i mean it's not like your environment is actually like helpful that's true yeah this is the worst place to try and learn to be good it's also the worst place to try to be alive that is how i feel about the winter time in general absolutely uh bannon is dying right bannon is dying and they have him covered in furs they're stoking the fire but all he's able to continue saying is i'm cold please i'm so cold he won't swallow the very thin feeble onion broth being fed to him craster says he he's as good as dead. It'd be kinder to kill him. Giant, who's a man who's no more than five feet tall, also known as Bedwick,

is begrudging Craster's shitty advice, saying, food and fire, that's all we asked of you, and you grudge us the food. Craster says, be happy I didn't grudge you the fire. Yeah. It's just like the epitome of like, go on, give them nothing to Craster right here.

He's a thick man, brings smelly sheepskins. He's got a drooping mouth and a missing ear. He's got gray hair and strong enough fists. He spits, saying he didn't need their hungry crow mouths either that crows never

bring good to a man's hall and you know what i would take umbrage with that small paul would also debate that sam continues taking care of the ranger who fiently says that he is cold a maester might have known how to save this man but they unfortunately had no maester kedge would i did his best you know he took bannon's foot off nine days before this day it was gouty and like full of puss and then i'm so cold repeats bannon a ragged score of black brothers are all crouching around the hall squatting drinking cups of thin onion broth and chewing hard bread some are wounded worse than bannon forneo biome brown benner had brought bags of different healing herbs mirrish fire onion broth, and chewing hard bread. Some are wounded worse than Bannon. Forneo, Biome. Brown Benner had brought bags of different healing herbs.

Mirrish Fire, Mustard Salve, Ground Garlic, Tansy, same book, ah, Poppy, King's Copper, even Sweet Sleep. But Brown Benner had died on the fist. No one thought to bring the medicine. Yikes. Yikes. And the only person that would have like understood

how to do any of it would be hake who knew herb lore but hake was lost on the fist he was one of the men that were lost and you know you talk about how craster has no ear right he's missing an ear reminds me of vargo haute right speaking of assholes that get their ears taken off. He also sucks, that's true. Yeah, he also sucks. This is kind of one of those moments we need one of our friends, Micah, here. You know, he knows these names. He knows all these names by heart.

I feel like George is having a very fun time with all these names because there's just so many new people, so many background names. He has 41 characters to name, name you know so he's not naming all of them but he named a good handful somewhere in this chapter there's even more but a good couple or few that he's only named a couple times or is naming for the first time here yeah yeah absolutely and every time you come across another one you're like oh hake another one i gotta learn yeah hake goes back though i'll give him that. He's an Agot boy. Hake's been here for a while. Make no Miss Hake about it. But I mean, yeah, I agree. There's so many names in these. But I think what's interesting about this moment where they're struggling so hard is it really goes to show how lacking in knowledge that the Night's Watch is right now, right? We've been given a sense of how bare bones the functions and operations are because so many people are missing on those basic levels. But here, this is survival.

like some of the other towns that aren't the Night's Watch, just like any town in general. And this kind of knowledge would have likely been passed down by, you know, village healers, hedge witches, right? Septons, etc. People who knew that Urplore, like Hake, within families. But these people have been separated from their families, etc. And I think it really drives home the desperation of the Night's Watch for a maester and how that becomes important in Sam's storyline. And also that this lack of transfer of knowledge between generations, like it's not just that they lost that knowledge about dragonglass from fucking like centuries or thousands of years ago as

Mormont laments. But again, even these like, basic necessary survival skills that are relatively, I think I would say commonplace, not like super common, right? But enough. Yeah, it shows what emphasis that Westeros really puts on that too, like, not just watch, but you know, before they came here, what they know. And yeah, it does make me think that some of the free folk women at crafters had they brought that medicine and had they somehow you know been able to make it out with them the free folk woman would probably be able to some yeah help yeah they seem to really know their way around i mean they cook they clean they put up with crafters shit i mean if and if so many of them are giving birth all the time they have to know some sense

of i think herb lore medicine in order to yeah help each other recover they obviously they're very much playing midwife roles in this episode for gilly in this chapter for gilly so i found that kind of interesting especially juxtaposed against them against the guys being like what we don't know we couldn't we didn't think we had to run yeah they were like we have very specialized roles but steward builder put us in the ass ranger

it turns out sectioning people like that is not smart i don't know i mean it's like probably okay maybe they should involve it in the basic training not just fighting you know if everyone learns basic fighting it should be part of that like curriculum which is kind of like the whole metaphor if you kick someone's ass or like if you get hurt you gotta know how to clean it up you know oh interesting yeah yeah clean up your mess well the surviving stewards did have to care for the injured and dying and again they can do very little

because I mean I guess at least currently they are dry as opposed to when they were in the snow but they are still hungry and they are running out of food Clubfoot Carl claims that Craster must have had a hidden larder somewhere and Garth of Oldtown did too

and all of this was of course outside of the hearing range of jay or gormont uh yeah sam thought about begging for more food for the wounded but he just thinks i have no courage for that i can't be strong enough to do that whenever craster looks at him sam's hands twitch as if they want to curl up into fists. He wonders if Craster knows that he spoke with Gilly and he thinks maybe he even beat it out of her. Oh, Sam, I love you so much, Sam. Craster obviously is reminding him of his father in probably the menacing, threatening, intimidating way.

You know, he's mean, he beats his kids, he's cruel, doesn't seem concerned about higher education. Yeah. Willing to kill his sons. Yeah. But I guess he doesn't know that yet, but kind of. He kind of does know that. He senses it.

He kind of gets that sense from Gilly being like, we got to get the kid out. But yeah, I also am like, oh oh so he wants to curl his hands up into fist i'm like sam you're angry that's good and you know that repetition again right of sam saying he has no courage but yet when craster complains about the night's watch being here at his keep sam is the first one to stand up and to argue against Craster to his face. Agreed. It's really brave.

I think that's really brave. He's the first one to even do something. The other guys are doing things for themselves, but Sam's the only one that's trying to do something for someone else. He calls out that injustice, and that's it's for some Sam finds a strength when it's for someone

else yeah believe in yourself sam sometimes that's the the first step yeah sobbing sobbing so sam is freezing cold right now and he knows he needs sleep but when he closes his eye all he sees are the dead men with blue eyes and black hands besides he's currently being accompanied by the soundtrack of gilly giving birth the call of push echoing from her sister's mouths and the sobs echoing down the hall craster calls up and he's like i'm sick of her cries have her bite into a rag or I'll come beat her. Fucking Christ. Craster had 19 wives, but none interfere if he goes up the ladder. None did two nights before. The brothers had been upset, but they knew it was his roof, his rule. Craster's a friend of the watch, Ronald Harkley said.

A friend, Sam thought, listening to Gilly's muffled shrieks. He was brutal. He sneered at them, called them frozen crows when they came in from the whites. But he did give them some hot wine and fire and space to lay. He fed them, but very meagerly. We are his guests, Sam reminded himself. Gilly's his. His daughter.

His wife. His roof. His rule. his his daughter his wife his roof his rule the first time sam had been to craster's keep as you'll all remember from the john chapters gilly had begged him for help he had given her his black cloak to conceal her belly also when she went to talk to john yeah he remembers that and thinks about knights and how they're supposed to defend women and children, but not all of the Black Brothers are knights. They all say the words, though, Sam thinks. I am the shield that guards the realms of men. A woman was a woman, even a wildling woman.

We should help her. We should. This aligns so well with the following chapter. This aligns so well with the following chapter. I love that, again, Sam's taking that bravery in others, in trying to help others. And in the next chapter, Arya comes across with the Brotherhood, and they speak on how some of them were once knights, swineherds, etc., while Sandor is sneering at them and questioning their idea of being a knight. We're brothers here, Thoros of Myr declared.

Holy brothers sworn to the realm, to our god, and to each other. The brotherhood without banners, Tom of Seven Strings plucked a string. The knights of the Hollow Hill. Knights? Clegane made the word a sneer. Dondarrion's a knight, but the rest of you? Sorriest lots of outlaws and broken men i've ever seen i shit better men than you i love that i love just the talk of knights between them and that entire chapter right after this chapter is just all about knighthood and broken knighthood and the brotherhood and there are actually kind of a handful of memories of the brotherhood scattered through this chapter too you can kind of see them influencing some things like we talked about melisandre and davos with the idea of gilly giving birth but it also

reminds me of them like birthing lady stoneheart or barrett coming back to life you know giving life and that's this book yeah that is this book there's a lot of stormy stormy sorty themeys yeah i mean it's there's a lot of things that hold together well in this book right and i i really like the way you've called out this thing about knighthood because yeah while some of the the brothers are knights not all of them regardless as is revisited throughout this chapter there's that idea that well aren't they supposed to protect the realms of men like anyone and i think it's so important that we get sam's perspective like of his memories meeting with gilly right not just when we saw it in the Jon chapters, because even before Jon

goes on this adventure, Sam saw the humanity of the free folk, even those who would be considered abominations, right? By people like Stannis. I mean, he calls Gilly and her child abominations. And I think Gilly's really in a double bind here, maybe triple, maybe quadruple. gilly is in a bad place this is a bad place and also like socially right because the night's watch first of all they already dehumanize the free folk and see them as savage they use that term later on and as and even later like we kind of get the sense that they see the free folk in a way as sort of inhuman and then of course the Night's Watch come from Westeros a very deeply extremist patriarchal

society I mean of course some of the free folk tribes are too but as we see there's a little difference in that agency and like I mean obviously the Night's Watch probably like they could they obviously can't even care less for free folk women not to mention they definitely don't care about a free folk woman who is born of incest that they know is frequently raped by her father.

Because they're like, wow, she's devalued in their eyes, right? And then on top of all of that, where her own father also devalues her and then has forbidden her any humanity and the ability to speak to the Night's Watch. So they're like, oh, that's off limits, right? That property thing. And they don't care about the suffering of Craster's daughter wives. I mean, maybe some of them kind of scoff at it and are like, this is terrible. And they might voice that, but not enough to do anything. Right? Jon wasn't even willing to do anything, but you have Sam here and Sam recognized Gilly's humanity from the beginning. Who even before John's excursion, when John like meets and gets integrated into Free Folk Society, Sam comes to that same conclusion that they are human and deserve protection as much as anyone south of the wall without even having to like go through that like and meet any of them he just knows it already from the beginning and believes that and decides that gilly as a person deserves protection even from other people not just from the others not just from the whites from other

people and you see him trying to talk himself out of it right like this instinct of his that is so good um you know he's trying to see her through the lens of Westeros or Craster. He has that, like, he's reminding himself, she's his daughter, his wife, his, his, his, Craster's property, not her own person. And I will say that when we get to it, like in the Feast chapters, I love how Gilly reappropriates that phrase later on to claim her own power. that phrase later on to claim her own power but in this moment sam is trying to justify that it's crassers rules this lawless land even though he knows deep in his heart that like some things they're right or wrong whether or not there's a law and i just think it's a fantastic chapter when contextualized within the fact that this is our first sam chapter after a storm of swords danny three which is the one where she leads that slave uprising in

Aspor, and how Sam, like Daenerys, recognizes the humanity of people who are being oppressed. But it also, we end up getting this really good contrast we'll talk about later between how the mutineers act here compared to the way the Unsullied and the Freedmen act. Yes, absolutely. The language alone is such great comparison and especially as we consider like the slavery that's happening inside the house for these women but also then in how craster trades his child his other children his sons and enslaves them to that life that's so strong uh and even in a sense that like by the end of the chapter gilly's mom we actually get to meet which i'm excited to talk about but it's almost like she's

giving her away right in a very horrible ice wedding of run get the fuck out with your child and run while you can and letting her go to like a different life where the front of the chapter is all about his rules right and how craster values people or devalues them and sees them as currency which sam of course is so used to in his life because everything with his father is just seen as a currency right people are money especially with what we saw in brienne's chapters like you said i i think there's just like a lot there and we'll get into it in a bit yes gilly is frightened for her child she's scared it's gonna be a boy no boys survive craster's keep gilly says he gives them to the gods sam prays for gilly to have a daughter

while gilly screams above bannon dies below cold. Sam tries to keep the fire going for him. Craster, meanwhile, is gnawing on a sausage. Sounds delicious right now. What kind of sausage? It's probably one of those blackened little garlic ones, and it sounds delicious. You know, the ones that are good once you chew on them for a while. Yep, yep. We discussed them last episode a little.

I'm thinking about it, like some beef jerky stuff going on, you know, some hard sausage, some shark to the cootery. Man. So Craster's gnawing on a very delicious sausage, apparently. And he's very annoyed at the wails of his birthing daughter wife. Sausages for him, sausages for the wives, but nothing for the watch, George writes. I love that line, it's very fun. It's very dark, but nothing for the watch. Craster crudely talks about how he had a fat sow that was quieter during childbirth than Gilly.

He says, God, it was near as fat as you, Slayer. He laughs, and Sam stumbles out, upset, sick of Craster's shit, exiting through the door of the keep. The deer hide flaps into the cloudy day. Yeah, I mean, just Craster does not hide at all that he thinks of his daughter-slut's wives as like animals. He's like, yeah, I had a sow like this. I'm like, what the fuck? Also, that was probably bad of him to remind everyone about his sow. Now that I think about it, it comes up later on in this chapter. They're like, what about the pigs?

Anyway. Foolish step there, Craster. Don't remind them about your pigs. The storm had passed. The days weren't as bitter cold. They still suck. Sam can hear the icicles melting, steadily dripping, and he looks around. To the west, Olo Lop hand and tim stone feed and water the

horses downwind brothers are butchering and skinning animals that aren't able to go on spearmen and archers stand guard behind the earthen dikes surrounding craster's keep in the distance axes are at work in the forest harvesting enough wood to keep them warm through the nights because nights are the bad time the dark the cold time they hadn't been attacked by whites lately which was weird and craster says well that's because i'm a godly man your swords and fires won't help you when the white cold comes only god's help then you better get right with white zombie jesus i mean craster's really selling it you mean Lady Stoneheart? Jesus right

she was dead three days I'd like to speak to the manager fuck no I don't want to I mean it is kind of crazy though I can just hear it in my head like nah listen here son y'all better get right get right with your gods

are you just channeling the fucking Eli's gemstone? Misbehavin'. Gilly had told them of the offerings Craster made to his gods and Sam had wanted to kill him when he heard. There are no laws beyond the wall, though, and Craster

was friend to the Watch. Allegedly. And, you know, again, bringing it back to that ASOS Dany 3 chapter, the complacency of the Night's Watch. I mean, they just, like, think it's none of their business

and that this is just how things are at Craster's. And they just accept these injustices very much like how Barristan and Jorah give advice to Daenerys, right? Daenerys refuses to accept that system of slavery, even though Barristan thinks that, oh, it wouldn't affect her, just turn away from this,

don't do anything about it. Whereas Jorah's like, you know what would be really good for your cause and beneficial to you? Buying slaves! Right? Maybe, you know, it is a little bit like how Jeor, right, is benefiting from craster's hospitality i mean it's not it's not exactly like a one-to-one also but right and also jr's not benefiting that much but allegedly no but it is hard because it's like obviously he's barely barely straining

to like recover and he knows that all these men like they need to get the fuck out because turns out craster is much more of a dick than he remembers right he's like wow it was unbearable in years past but now it's really unbearable holy shit yeah yeah and yet they're still like well this is just how things are you know yeah sim hears a shout from behind the hall and pulls himself through the muddy slush to go check it out there's a lot of just like landscape and walking through landscapes in good or bad ways sam's chapters some of his brothers are loosing arrows at a butt of hay and straw olmer who had been in the kingswood brotherhood in his youth, pulls an arrow from his quiver. It's now gray and stooping, and he claims that he had once put an arrow through the white bull's hand to steal a kiss from a Dornish princess. He stole her jewels, too, and a chest of golden dragons, but her skin was the biggest boast.

So he shoots an arrow now, right next to Donnell's arrow. Yeah, he's like, I still got it's arrow yeah he's like i still got it motherfuckers i've still got it i uh i actually thought that was so funny and i i can't remember whose chapter we hear it through later i think it might be barriston or jamie that we hear like a re a similar thing about this that ellia was there so it was ell obviously, that was the Dornish princess that he kissed, quote unquote. But he's also known for telling tall tales, Ulmer is. So very interesting that, like, you know, he remembers kissing her.

Maybe that's his unkiss. Maybe he didn't really. Maybe he didn't really. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Interesting.

Yeah. It's a good little tall tale to have. I mean, also, you know, it basically, it just says that the white bull was defending princess Elia, you know, at the time that he took an arrow through the hand only. And that's, that's, I think, yeah, that's it. So I think it's a tall tale, Ulmer. I don't know if you stole a kiss. I doubt Elia would want to kiss you.

Maybe she did, though. Maybe, I mean. Maybe she did and he didn't steal it at all, which. It's the unkiss all over again. The unkiss. Elia and Ulmer. Amazing. Amazing.

I actually like some of this talk we get, though, because it's a good mini exposition. Not a lot of exposition, but just a little bit of a remember the kingswood brotherhood uh olmer tries to tell his tale one more time of them and they all kind of shut him down but of course sam listening thinks of simon toyn and the smiling knight oswin long neck the thrice hanged when did the white fawn fletcher dick big belly ben and all the rest so sweet donnell uses sam as an excuse to ignore this tale asking him to show them how he slayed the other and then sam of course turns red saying it wasn't with an arrow it was with dragon glass besides he knew it would happen if he took the bow and he just like would rather not embarrass myself. I know that feeling. There are many things that I'm like, but what if I

didn't? So the men egomond with mocking smiles, mean chess. You gotta throw it back to them, Sam. That's how I get it out of these situations. But Sam tries to leave instead. That is, until his boot, unfortunately, sinks into the mud.

Embarrassed, though, with all that suction and the sticky mud, his boot ends up coming off and then the snow melt, like, gets through to his toes. It actually sounds really terrible. It sounds so uncomfortable. He feels very useless and thinks that his father was right. He's like, I have no right to be alive when so many brave men are dead. Oh, Sam. Yeah, he's having a hard go of it like nothing's worse than getting your foot wet in

the snow i grew up in michigan you know what i mean i know how that goes that sucks and it's interesting this whole conversation about the outlaws are coming in the kingswood brotherhood is coming in because the mutineers kind of go outlaw outlaw right at the end they kind of go outlaw country rogue as fuck they're like we're slitting throats we're eating stuff from the cellar we're raping chicks it's wild it's like a vice city mixed with a i don't know grand theft night watch it's uh a little violent and i mean you have the brotherhood in the very next chapter who isn't necessarily doing those things right like they're still against violence mostly on most levels i think but also they try sandor clegane in the next chapter on like total rumors right and put him

through their justice system and he passes because again amen but praise be to he but praise you to he praise be to he why did i snort because i'm pretty funny but like they are obviously bordering on getting a little crazier that brotherhood without banners and i don't know maybe that's just red wedding 2.0 crap but it's interesting the parallels being drawn between the kingswood brotherhood going a little nut nut and then here this brotherhood is about to go a little bit nut nut here at the wall i should say you know it does make me wonder i love this name name, Oswin Longneck the Thrice Hanged. We don't get shit about him, but it totally makes me think of Beric and Stoneheart because of, you know, hanging. But just hanging out. But the Thrice Hanged makes me think that motherfucker must not die.

It does sound like that, right? Or he has like a similar legend around him. Funnily enough, his name Long neck makes me think of the land before time and the long neck dinosaurs oswin could not fly eliana no no you don't you don't think he'd be like a dinosaur you don't think he'd love those tree stars i mean no i was quoting ducky so i said oswin could not fly os Oswin cannot fly. No, no, no. Oh, no, no, no. Well, I think that what you're saying here regarding all of these different brotherhoods is very spot on.

And I am curious to see how that's going to develop later on. And it is interesting that we get so much of that exposition here so far away from the room for books yeah it's showing the same thing kind of happening throughout the nation

and out of the nation currently yeah and also that lore that backstory on the Kingswood Brotherhood and what war does to dudes and doodads Gren is tending the fire pit when Sam arrives and he jokes, ah, others got your boot. And Sam's like, too fucking soon, Gren, too fucking soon.

It's been like 10 minutes. He calls him Slayer and Sam's like, please don't call me that. It's just a different way of calling me a coward. Like how they call Bedwick, a giant. Gren is like, you're being ridiculous. You slayed an other. I get scared too, youwick, a giant. Gren is like, you're being ridiculous. You slayed an other. I get scared too, you know, he says. He even says that he used to be afraid of Jon.

Sam's in his head like, used to be? Everyone's afraid of Jon. Jon was fast, quick, and fought like he meant to kill him. I never said though. Sometimes I think everyone's pretending to be brave and none of us really are. Maybe pretending is how you get brave. I don't know. Let them call you Slayer. Who cares? I love that line from Gren. It's true. It's like big true. Everyone is pretending, dude. Everyone is suffering all the time, Sam. Yeah. I mean, that's why some of them call him Slayer.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It makes them feel better to have that little nickname. And Sam protests. He's like, well, you didn't like being called Orox, Gren. And Gren's like, yeah, but I don't care about my friends saying it because I am big and strong. Like, wouldn't you rather be the Slayer than Sir Piggy? And Sam finally sits down on this wet log and he's like, why can't I just be Sam Tarly? And if that's not the epitome

of Sam's plot. Yeah. I mean, for a lot of these characters, right? Isn't that that's what being a teenager is about. This is what Euphoria is about. Why can't I just be Sam Tarly? No, I'm joking. That's not what Euphoria is about at all.

Sometimes. That's just what teenagers are about. shows look none of those girls are concerned with higher education right now except unless it's like higher education you know what I'm saying like drugs well the only drugs that we have here right now

are I don't know magic undead resurrection but when it comes to this whole like concept of sam being called the slayer or not i do think for once both sides do have points as gren points out i mean context does matter right when you're called something there is like you can redefine what a name means again just as Gilly does later on when she insists that

she is not a lady and she says I'm Craster's wife and Craster's daughter and she proclaims that and gives that a different definition but I also think Sam has a point right he isn't just a story he's not Sir Piggy and he's not just a slayer

whether it's said mockingly or not he is Sam and when does he get to define what that means for himself and for others to see it when does he get to really say his own narrative and not the ones that others have written for him and the names that they have given him yeah, when does he get to write his narrative?

Well, when you get into the Citadel University, Sam. You can write the A Song of Ice and Fire. I can't wait. It's gonna be just like the show based on the books that have already come out. This is the book that Sam wrote.

In that show. Sam needs to put out another one because I'm gripped. I'm fucking gripped. Not Gren and Pip, which is the ship name, but I am gripped in that too. So Sam really doesn't like being called Sam the Slayer because he claims the dagger did it, not Sam, which is the stupidest shit I've ever heard. Many of the guys didn't believe him, right? They'd accused him of being a liar, but Diwen listened, and Ed, and then Sam and Gren told the Lord Commander what happened,

and Jaor started asking all these questions, and then asked Sam for all of the dragonglass that he had left, which is not that much. He thinks about the cash john buried beneath the fist it makes him want to cry copious amounts of daggers and spearheads at least 300 were there john had made daggers and spears and given out arrowheads to gren mormont and sam but now they're running out all they have is mormont's dagger the one sam gave gren 19 arrows and a tall hardwood spear with a dragon glass head so sam feeling regret and like hopelessness when thinking of the daggers Sam gave Gren 19 arrows and a tall hardwood spear with a dragonglass head.

So Sam feeling regret and like hopelessness when thinking of the daggers and the arrowheads makes me also feel very sad. Yeah, and it reminds me, you know, the big thing of the Jon chapter a couple before this is Ygritte being sad they don't find the Horn of Winter. Yes, yes, it does have a very similar energy. Similar reasons. Similar reasons.

Yeah. Well, Mormont had divided the arrows between his best bowmen, Muttering Bill, Garth Greyfeather, Ronald Harkley, Sweet Donald Hill, and Alan of Rosby and Ulmer. But soon enough, they'd be down to fire arrows,

because at the Fist, if you'll all remember, they loosed hundreds of fire arrows. But the wights just kept coming. Crasher's defenses were only mud and melting snow now, not enough to slow the wights, and they had easily swarmed the ring wall at the Fist. And there had been, of course, 300 brothers to fight them last time, and now there were only 41.

Things are going great. And nine of those are also too badly hurt to fight. Things are going really swell. Gren and Sam wonder why the wights haven't come to finish them yet. This is very suspicious, and they ponder. Is it the cold that brings the wights? Or the wights

bring the cold? Gren thinks it doesn't matter they come together I mean yeah he's got a point who cares your shit's bad I do love that like something feels suspicious but nobody has figured

it out yet like why are the defenses this bad maybe they're afraid of them yeah I mean it's like you kept bringing up last episode horror story shit well they're like oh maybe the whites and the others are now finally afraid of the night's watch and their deadly dragon glass thanks gran and sam wishes that that were the case i don't know if you're, I wish it were like that, but I don't think it is.

He has a feeling it is not. I relate heavily to that sentiment. And he thinks of, it seemed to him that when you were dead, fear had no more meaning than pain or love or duty. And there's something about the sentiment

that really strikes me especially after the chapter is the night's watch for men like omer right it's this sort of like rebirth or second shot at life whereas for men other men like darian it very much was an unjust punishment and as we've brought up in the past you know of course the whole construct of the night's watch and like sending people there in this penal colony it's all very problematic but we've talked about that before so we're going to just glaze over that there's obviously

discussion about resurrection in this chapter because as you know it is a big part of the last two chapters of Sam it's a very big part of the story there are whites and also I think some interesting nudges about John but again in the context of the story. There are wights. And also, I think, some interesting nudges about Jon. But again, in the context of the Brienne chapters, this idea of broken men, right?

They're as men who have lost joy in life and duty and pain and love, right? We've seen in Brienne's chapters some broken men who are, I would say, resurrected, right? And I don't mean Lady Stoneheart. I mean, people like Septon Maribald and the Elder Brother, they are resurrected in a way through a god. It's not the old gods or the cruel ones of the others or R'hllor. They're resurrected through the Faith of the Seven and this idea of, again, being undead, rebirth, but through faith yeah I think the broken men theme is

like as we've been saying this whole entire time so far it's coming up for this episode more than I really expected it to for this chapter I did not expect to see so much broken man kind of the broken man lore episode going on and it does

harken back to it reminds me of two things both same chapter same relation but maester amen right and in that same token as maester amen ned and of course that we get a quote talking about pain love and duty and fear having no more meaning than pain or love or duty after you died and been reanimated. And there's a specific line where Eamon's talking about the men of the watch, right? Not just, you know, not talking about other people, men of the watch in general, or a man of certain caliber saying, so they will not love, for love is the bane of honor, the death of duty. The Night's Watch aren't supposed to love right

they're supposed to choose their duty and choose their death and choose the wall and choose the ice and choose the order of the north but it also harkens right back to ned to the ned part of amon's speech the ned part yes what is honor compared to a woman's love what is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms or a brother's smile and sam uses this chapter as a stepping stone to actually encompass all of these themes of conquering his fear right to be brave for gilly and to get gilly out of this place where she's suffering this place that he's been in inside himself and in real life with his own father of pain and abuse and uh that duty can be feeling a newborn son in your arms as well it's not just choosing one right he can choose the newborn son a brother's smile going back to the wall getting them back um i think sam has is going

to really find a way to encompass all of these things that he loves in the end, hopefully, and conquer his fear. I think I want that for him. But I think this is a step towards that, with helping Gilly and surviving the slaughter in this chapter, because that's un-fucking-believable. In that he's experienced love from all these different places. He might not have gotten it from

Randall, but he's, as you said, experiencing love and different kinds of duty in different contexts um in very i think healthy mostly healthy ways right like and so i i yeah i think that's a great call that he'll probably find a way to incorporate all these yeah just the the structure of the sentence in general really made me think of the aim and speech and i don't know i think there's a lot of aim in this chapter in some aspects of that too like just of you know everything he said about men of the watch and of their you know how how they deal with things at the wall and what being a man of the watch

really truly means and what he said to Jon. I think Sam's embodying a lot of that speech. And like you said, for Ulmer, this is a rebirth, right? And for Sam, it might not feel that way right now, but it is also a rebirth for Sam. I mean, this is his second chance to like, he's realizing I'm not a coward. Like, I can do some things i can kill another i can save this

chicken or baby yeah and i mean in regards to faith right like it was a religious faith that helped bring back septon maribold and the elder brother but for sam i don't think it was that kind of faith it was sort of a faith in himself that was inspired by, as we discussed last episode, right. Inspired by Jon Snow, you know, knowing that someone else believed in him.

And I think that's part of like, you know, Jon's obviously a big motivating factor for, for Sam, right. He misses Jon. He's like, Jon wouldn't have called him Slayer,

but unfortunately, as we all know John is off now with Khorne half hand and they have had no word of him and we have this line of he had a dragonglass dagger too but did he think to use it is he lying dead and frozen in some ravine

or worse is he dead and walking for real and some would call this maybe a subtle stab at the future one could say you know a very subtle stab just a little knifing toward the future uh given mormont's death right in this chapter at the hands of his brothers his sworn brothers and of course with what's happening we're seeing them rise because mormont is trying to like uphold a little bit of honor and a little bit of duty right and do the right thing which i mean again we see that happen traditionally with rob and catelyn in the same exact respect too that

they're all trying to do the honorable thing mormont says stop it like don't be fucking like we hate this guy but you can't just be an asshole. You have to wait till we leave. We can shit talk him forever not knowing, obviously, the poison seed has already been planted. That's an interesting thing regarding do the right thing and honor because Sam's storyline

really, I think, walks that line, tiptoes that line between what's lawful and what's honorable and what's right mm-hmm yeah navigating it and also what's lawful honorable and right to different people yeah his dad versus J.R. versus Eamon versus John John J.R. was not a dad to Sam. Yeah. Only to John. No, that's very true.

And J.R.'s very tough love, as we're going to see in a minute here. Real gruff. And, I mean, still nicer than his father was to him. But, you know, it's not really hard to do. So I don't know what I'd brag. I don't know what I'd brag don't know that i brag about it i mean he drove one kid away you know uh just saying jr i mean do it being nicer honor is very interesting and the men dying for their honor and it is jr is in some aspects the the figurehead of

the kind of like i'm ned for the night's watch i I'm your new daddy. But way different. Does die for honor in some aspects. Along with Corrin. And yeah. Along with all your other dads. Pick one. So Sam thinks why the gods would take Jon and Bannon instead of me, craven, clumsy me, I do not know.

He could have died in the snow on the fist or or in the woods, if Paul didn't carry him. He daydreams about becoming a white himself, waking up on the fist with his brothers, even John and Ghost, or waking up not a white, being at Castle Black, going to get a bowl of Hobbes cream of wheat and a pad of butter melting in the middle of it, a dollop of honey,

oh, that sounds good, it makes his stomach rumble. Is the cream of wheat like an oatmeal? Yeah, it's softer usually than that. Okay. It's similar. It's like ground instead of oats. It's ground oats.

Alright. I'm learning today. You'd like it. Sometimes it gets these cute little clumps that are flavor bombs. I love them. I like how you called them cute. It's like polenta. It's like a warm, soupy polenta almost. Interesting.

I do like polenta. On the other end of the digestive system. So in this moment, Sam says that he had pissed himself three times I guess when the whites attacked the fist. And I just want to say, I think I need to reread that first chapter again, because I only remember Sam pissing twice, not thrice.

Oh, that's interesting. I'm the unreliable narrator. But it works. Maybe George is just thinking about Sam. The un- unpiss. The unpiss. That too. But also maybe he's thinking about the horns. And maybe that's why he's thinking of it.

Maybe he just accidentally was like, yeah, three, like the horns. Maybe, maybe. George, George, George. When you pee once, that's for rangers returning. Next week, please tell me please update us on this one if you reread it and you realize if it's a little mistake

because we're just gonna have to ask him about that one yeah another thing is like it is so sad to see Sam constantly think he's not worth life or like dealing with the survivor's guilt and then again

using that to kind of be down on himself but i do love how this scene shows us what sam dreams of or daydreams of right like the place that he'd rather be last chapter with the oak boy we saw sam saying that if he died he wanted it to be alongside his brothers. He sees them as his brothers now of the Night's Watch. And here we see those daydreams. Like, he's with John and Ghost, or he's back at Castle Black. None of these are Horn Hill. And I think it's because thanks to John and his friends,

Castle Black has very much, like, this is cementing it, that Castle Black is his home now, which I think makes it doubly hurtful. Now he's settled, he's found a home, somewhere that he's comfortable, when Jon sends him away in A Feast for Crows. Obviously, we'll come back to that in a few weeks. Yeah, that is going to be kind of gut-wrenching, right? Oh man, I don't want to have to watch it from that aspect. It's sadder.

John girl-bossing was more fun from his POV. Girl-bossing too close to the sun. He thought he was doing the right thing, you know, but who knows? Now he's dead. Rip that bitch. I'm cold, just just like bannon that's how we know

oh my god uh in a ravine somewhere mormon's raven circles the fire then murmuring snow and beating his big wings and if there's ever been a chapter where blood raven is more vibing between the margins than this one, I have to know. Because it's so obvious he's just chilling. He's, like, spying. He's like, corn, sun, snow. You know, he sees you when you're sleeping. He knows if you've been nice.

It's gotta be, though. Like, this fucking Raven is out of control. Absolutely. Absolutely. He's got so many words this chapter. It's all very ominous. And the Lord Commander

emerges not long after, on his horse, conversing with Ronald Harkley that their time at Craster's is coming to an end. He wants them to return to the wall ASAP. Mormont then sees Sam and bellows to him, telling him to shut his mouth and follow him. We have a line of

The words tumbled down in a squeak. Lured Commander Mormont gave him a withering look. You are a man of the Night's Watch. Try not to soil your small clothes every time I look at you. Come, I said.

Sam has only peed three times. his life at all allegedly yeah according to him i sam hurry okay this was like i felt bad for sam in that because it's very much so not dissimilar to how his dad spoke to him you know a little condescending a little rough like all right mormon we get it all right leave sam be you know he's gentle he's fragile like me i'm fragile i couldn't deal with that i'd cry but ever soft yeah sam does try to keep up he's like all right fine whatever he tries to keep up jr starts to discuss the dragonglass daggers with him and sam says we need to get dragonglass to arm the men with i love that he really starts to explain to sam the context at the wall and past the wall that like this is not this wall is not

real like it's a real wall but it's like it was not made for the purposes everybody shuts their eyes and pretends it was made for sam you don't build a 700 foot wall to keep savages out it's made to guard us from something much darker for the realms of men not against the realms of men which is what the free folk are they're men he says but now the true enemy's at their door and the Night's Watch doesn't know how to fight it. I really respect that Mormont gets it. Like, at least he lets on finally. Hey, you know this is like, everything's kind of a lie in Westeros about what we do here and this all just is confirming it, all these zombies. The Free Folk

were just born there, right? right like they aren't like some evil magical horrible people they were born on the other side of the wall that was erected they're not monsters no more than the westerosi men here at craster's keep right that are going to show their true colors very soon he it really says that like had mormont made it back maybe he would have been able to do some of the similar decisions that Jon does and maybe better decisions. Maybe because of who he is, they might have happened a little better, been integrated a little better. I don't know. I think it's interesting that through all the stress of battling north of the Wall like this, only when you've witnessed it firsthand, this out war right that the free folks life is a

nightmare they spend every day trying to tend the fires making sure their family isn't murdered in the dead of night by ice zombies or they sacrifice their family to keep them away like craster which is just as heartless and there's that whole metaphor of like birthing a child then having it torn from your arms to raise it into an army of unfailing cold ones to continue that trend to raise more of those children into the industrial human to other war slavery pipeline. And a lot of what you're talking about with Danny's plot, right? And meeting the unsullied and having them torn from their mother's breast. And it's just like a, it's rough. Like you can see that the life out here for the free folk is not great.

The wall between them hasn't really helped that. Maybe they deserve access to resources. Maybe it's not good. You know, there's like two terrible choices. And Craster obviously is also very much a minority among the free folk they're all like that person's a weirdo we're not like that man and um but what you're saying right about this parallel of what we're being told might be happening to crasterers sons and and um the slavery plot line in danny's story i mean i think you're absolutely spot on with like the way that that pipeline is sort of like being developed

in both and and what's being hinted at right like i think danny's thing is kind of set up it's priming us to figure out like what is happening in this chapter as we start like kind of getting little little tidbits yeah and it's priming these characters right like each of these characters seems like they're going like the front runners sam danny they're going to be crucial in trying to figure out maybe a chance at a life different than this you know in westeros i think they're going to be critical characters involved they're going to be really critical to the team to be involved on a daily basis I'm going to need you in meetings from 9am to 5pm Danny and Sam

if only that'd be great talk policy, come on Selena I mean, you know, in terms of like as everyone knows I love Medieval Land, Funtime World and that is the show that I wish I had like legitimately I really wish I had.

Like, legitimately, I really wish I had that show. And Sam's going to write this book. Oh my god. Absolutely. Mormont asks if the dragonglass is truly made by dragons, and Sam says the maesters say it comes from the fires of the earth and it's called obsidian and jr's like uh nerd jr first of all is like yeah i don't give a shit he's like you're fucking nerd what they call it and he tells them that john had found more on the fist but trails off and sam tells jr that know what, Jon had found more in the fist, but then chills off because turns out it doesn't really do them much good to reach the fist without the weapons that they would need to defeat everyone to get to the fist in the first place. I felt this feeling in video games sometimes, and they're just going to have to find dragonglass elsewhere.

Darn, too bad they don't have any dragons around to make the glass and the dragon you know i'm just kidding time to sacrifice some kids oh my god if i were stannis baratheon uh yeah at least like trade shireen for something good stannis god not for a fake fucking throne that won't matter someday. Um, dragonglass feels like it would matter. I'm just kidding, don't trade her at all. Especially not for flames. I think that there's so much in dragonglass becoming important in the story, it's starting to rise. And not just dragonglass, but also in the chapter directly before this, the Tyrion chapter. It's the chapter to deal with Valyrian steel, because ice gets melted down into two. The sword was lighter than he

expected. As he turned it in his hand, he saw why. Only one metal could be beaten so thin and still have strength enough to fight with, and there was no mistaking those ripples. The mark of steel has been folded back on itself many thousands of times. Valyrian steel? Yes, Lord Tywin said in a tone of deep satisfaction. At long last, father. Valyrian steel blades were scarce and costly, yet thousands remained in the world, perhaps two hundred in the Seven Kingdoms alone. It had always irked his father. None belonged to House Lannister. So, ice has been melted down to the glory of House Lannister

in the last chapter to Oathkeeper and Widow's Wail. We have the big theme of the Obsidian becoming really crucial for them north of the Wall, and a sword tempered with dragonfire seems like it may or may not spoiler, it will, as we know uh be crucial

right in the north like very critical to survive the fucking ice zombies with some sort of magical sword yeah i didn't realize or piece together that that was literally the chapter right before this one it does feel significant that convinces me more because i know like after the show i was like i can't just be valerian steel right like that's that's me that's because i know like after the show i was like i can't just be valerian steel right like that's that's me that's how i feel that's my voice um yeah it is actually i will say that's one of my biggest show complaints is i mean the magic and lore is obviously to be fucking desired right like everyone craves some actual real lore and magic in that show and they obviously just don't

know how to best do it or didn't give a shit about it and thought they could do it without it, you know, water it down for the other nerds that aren't actually nerds. But, turns out people like it. Like, the Valyrian steel, I thought we were gonna be fucking manufacturing Valyrian fucking

steel as soon as those Westerosi you know, dragons appeared. Like, as soon as those westerosi you know dragons appeared like as soon as we got some dragons from the east come on in gendry's out there he's got his axe to grind he's like let's go i'm turning everyone and we got spears or whatever i think there were spears now that i say that they had they did make obsidian spears yeah but like where was the aria got her thing yeah well i guess it might also, we've talked, I think, before, and many people have chatted about ideas, but I think it might also take blood, blood

magic, now that I say that. There might be a blood sacrifice need to be made to forge a sword like that. So, let me wind down on this. Let me wind down on this. Let me just calm my shit. No more killing. No more murder. I take it back no more valerian steel

yeah no more polish that turd chloe i thought there was something there about like jor being like i don't give a shit what it's called it's important and it kind of feels a little bit then coming back to sam be like i want to be called this thing and again another counter argument of like doesn't matter the name as long as the essence is there but I do think names have power so anyway it's part of that discourse in this chapter yeah

Sam says the children of the forest use obsidian they would know where to find it and Jorah's like okay smartass they're all dead so don't know how we're going to do that. Meanwhile, we know that's not true. They were killed by first men with bronze blades and Andals finished that job with iron, he says.

He's going to continue, but Craster emerges, proudly announcing he's father to a son. Pew, pew, pew. It's the gender reveal party. The Raven Crows, son, son,ows son son son and jr congratulates him and craster's like i don't really think this is a genuine congratulations yeah he's like why didn't we have a baby char um but you're talking about blood raven being here i'm just like damn rude blood raven why would you rub it in right now everyone knows what it means well

craster says that he'll be glad when the men leave and that it is past time and that he should just JR should just kill those who are too wounded to travel and be done with it and craster also says he's given them all that he can spare but winter's coming and now they have a new mouth to feed and sam then squeaks out they could take him and crasher spits on sam's foot asking what the fuck he means by that that this is his son his blood and instead of backing down says sam says he only

thought to help because of course he has no sons and he just leaves them in the woods and i'm like wow sam's just like spilling everything right now and mormon says that sam has just gone too far and tells him to go inside and mormon follows him calling him a fool for saying such a thing you are boo-boo the fool sam and that they need a newborn babe as much as they need new snow which is not at all let alone pissing crass her off yeah mormont did get me on this when i was cackling a little he's like do you have milk to feed him in those teats of yours those big teats of yours or did you mean to take the mother too which like yeah yes the whole fucking plan yeah and you know it's funny though again coming back to someone that we've been bringing up sometimes nedley bringing dear old dad back

into this just makes me think how did holland and ned get home with that baby. With baby Jon Snow. Fresh baby Jon Snow and no mother. Or no woman who had recently birthed another child. Fresh baby. Mirroring its mother. Interesting. I'm just saying. I don't know.

But I also think, metaphorically speaking, I mean the baby yeah he wants to save the fucking baby it's wonderful do it for the kids Ned Stark do not fuck them kids in a very literal sense I guess for Craster also anyway um Anyway, I want to emphasize that in this moment, again, Sam has stood up and Sam saw humanity in that child, right? example you gave of ned it reminds me a little of davos again in the same book sam risks his place at the night's watch and he actually even risks the entirety of the night's watch and their reputation because again what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom everything it's rather uh i'm noticing a lot more of these parallels of Davos and Stannis and Sam John. As we get through here, let alone Robert, I guess, in a way, too. Oh, that's interesting, too. BFFs.

Your best friend is the king. It's hard. Slash the commander, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And I guess John is I mean he is also kind of the king in some ways but he doesn't know yet

it's hard and he does fucking outlaw babies you know he's like babies are outlawed at the night spot because of Stannis yeah I mean it's not entirely his fault he's like I guess babies could be here then he's like babies are not safe here they are in danger Sam's too sweet.

I really got to sell this shit. I really got to make sure he knows I'm cross. Yeah. He becomes Lord Snow. I mean, he becomes that narrative, right? Lord Snow. We'll talk about that in a few weeks. Sam says that Gilly begged him to come with them.

And Mormont says that, all right, you know what? I've heard enough. Sam, you were supposed to stay away from Craster's daughters Mormont commands Sam to go check on Bannon and leave his presence and just stop fucking things up and so he does right but

big sad Bannon is dead when he arrives and instead his brothers sit they pull a cloak over Bannon saying that you know he was cold and they hope it's warm there and and sam hears them go back and forth talking about craster and some argue that craster starved them to death especially starved bannon to death is what they think and some argue that craster starved them to death and especially they argue that craster has starved bannon to death and others

argue that i mean craster has his own daughters and mouths to feed. So they all manage to split their differences to bury Bannon at sunset, heaving him into Gren's bonfire. At Castle Black, usually the dead were buried with due ceremony, but they are beyond the Wall, and you know what's a big risk? Corpses reanimating! So the ceremonial process has gone out the door because we just do not want things to come back to life mormon speaks asking where bannon came from and then nods and gives a speech he came to us from white harbor never failed in his duty he kept his vows as best he could rode far thought fier fought fiercely. We shall never see his like again.

And now his watch is ended, the black brother said in solemn chant. And now his watch is ended, Mormont echoed. Ended! Ended! Ended!

You did such a good bird voice in Historic Materials. Thank you. I was kind of summoning some of it here, you know, not quite. I was trying to make it a little different because, you know, your Mormont had so much personality. I could feel it. You know, I could really feel the man pain going on as he watched another one of his men die in your voice.

I just, I'm exposed to a lot of man pain all the time so i love how george presents kind of this meta argument going on in the text right between the night's watchmen like he wants us to think and wonder about the situation, right? Like Craster does have all these daughters and wives that he sired out of greed, pride and protection, but they're going to be hungry all winter too. understand into his home who have taken an oath of lifetime fucking solitude to the night's watch in a frozen winter where there's no food and now all their friends have died around them in the snow so these groups of people are desperate these desperate men tend to be predisposed to you know leaning towards the broken end of the spectrum right and i think there's something interesting that like the guy is killing craster and turning on jay or uh janos is being sent to the night's watch to you know disrupt things as of the last chapter so literally tyrian's like that's a great place for that

fucker you're surrounded by some men that want good and want to turn over this leaf and actually kind of enjoy their solitude and enjoy being at the watch olmer right he's found kind of somewhat of a decent life there but then you have these men that show up like janos who are going to be bitter and ruin it for everybody right and it really makes you think that maybe just sending people who have done something wrong or something that society hasn't accepted or you know bad people or whatever society thinks of them maybe sending them into an icebox at the very end of the fucking world and society to fight ice zombies is kind of fucked up and now they're starving like what do

you expect is going to happen of course they're going to do like of course you're dangling carrots in front of them and saying they can't eat them yeah some of these people were people who are like you know what's a good first option violence what do you think they're gonna pick here for real for real yeah i think there's something there but i also think like you know coming back to the part about crass's situation, I think what you said, right? George is saying that it's a hard situation, but I also think that he's also pointing out that what Craster's doing is still wrong.

Everything Craster's doing is wrong. He's withholding these resources and aid for selfish reasons. Allegedly, he's a friend of the Night's Watch, but that is not what friends do right friends i mean we've seen what friends are supposed to do friends wait for you in the snow when ice zombies are chasing you friends carry you on your back even though maybe that

was for a bird but i don't know even when it imperils their own life. Hey, he got the bird in death. That's true. That's true. Craster also only has, like, one chair, and I'm like, that's a weird... I guess he thinks it's a power move. I don't know if it's as much as he thinks it is. Yeah, it's a total flex. Yeah, but I'm like, this is not as big

of a flex as you think it is. But, like, he's doing it kind of to force everyone to be below him right on those benches and it has a lot to do with what you called out earlier of how craster is like randall right craster is like a small-hearted man who wants to exert his power in any way possible especially over others and i mean the men of the night's watch there aren't they aren't wrong to call craster out on on how terrible he is. But what sucks is that they only do it because of their own suffering.

They didn't do it for Craster's wives, daughters, or the bazillions of dead sons or the turned sons. And I think there's also something there of like... I don't know. The men of the Night's Watch. I find it interesting that this chapter follows that Dany 3 chapter, and that is the contrast, right? Like, what they end up doing with this mutiny. I mean, it's allegedly in this lawless land now, right? They've ridded themselves of this man who had power over them, but also they don't use that power to do good. they don't use that power to do good they use it to hurt Craster's daughter

wives and to gorge themselves on Craster's food all except for Sam who helps Gilly and like they're pushed to this edge just once in their lives I mean it was obviously terrible and traumatic but how many times were they

insolent in the Freedmen so much was stolen from them it's different yeah and there's also and the freedmen like so much was stolen from them right it it's different yeah it's absolutely and there's also like something to that he's making it his only personality point you know of like these are my daughter sister wives this is their life don't worry about where the boys go and it's cool and it's fine and it's fun that we do this and it's the norm up here because i have the power and i can do it and it is like a total like what are you going to do about it

this is my house thing there are no laws as sam keeps repeating there's no law there's no law to stop it from happening yeah and it's i think think, a great demonstration, same as, like, again, with Danny's storyline. Just because the law doesn't say, whether it's, like, that the law doesn't exist or the law upholds it, that doesn't make it right. Yeah. Like, and that both Sam and Danny are, like, I don't know about that. Truly. And all of this is a lot right it's just a lot

to have to take in for Sam there's a lot this chapter yeah they have no power I mean there's a lot last chapter there's a lot in both of these chapters it's rather sad and dark I'm like yeah

yeah a lot happens to Sam right now he's sick from the smoke of the fire and the smell is absolutely terrible because it is delicious all right it smells like roasted pork and he wants to jump in the fire and eat his friend so instead he goes and he throws up in the ditch afterward and ed asks him are you digging for worms or are you sick? And Ed's like, oh, you know, we should have sliced carved a slice off of Bandit as he died. But unfortunately, they had no applesauce and pork is best with applesauce. And I'm going to be real. I've never tried pork with applesauce.

So I feel like we should add that to our list of things. Chloe, have you tried pork with applesauce? I've eaten it like with um pork is like the main dish and like it's on the plate together and i think the flavors get what i can i can understand with applesauce yeah it's similar to like you've had apple with smoked bacon right and you have that slight tinge of apple and you have that smokiness to it you have to i don't know if i have well it's good i'm missing out i'm missing out i will tell you weirdly enough applesauce with like corn it's really good like accidentally

getting a little corn in your applesauce something about the flavors work try it out next time she's swimming on your plate you're not a weird plate person are you what do you mean like your foods how do you how do i not pay attention to this you don't mind your foods touch touching or do you mean? Like, your foods? How do I not pay attention to this? You don't mind your foods touching, or do you? Oh, well, okay, I get over it, because sometimes there's only so much you can do. But as much as possible, I would like to keep... It depends on the food. It depends on the food. I've gotten better over the years, but I do kind of like them.

Buy the sectioned-off paper plates for next time Eliana comes over. Well, I mean, sometimes I'll combine, depending on what the food is, obviously the food is meant to be combined, but I will combine it for each individual bite. I don't want it all pre-combined. Okay, I get it. You want to assemble it. You want control.

Yeah, I take, I think, great pleasure in crafting what I feel is each time the perfect bite. Oh, pleasure. Okay. Yeah, actually, though. I think the only savory thing that I've had applesauce with is, like, latkes. You see, and I think that's where it might-

That's very much not pork. No, no. But you know how pork can be kind of docile in some aspects? Like the animal? No, I mean the flavor. The flavor can be quite, you know, calm can be kind of docile in some aspects. Like the animal? No, I mean the flavor. The flavor can be quite, you know, calm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why I'm like, I think it would work for you.

Anyways, I digress. We'll try it sometime. Definitely, we'll get back to you. That'll be a feast for feasts right there. But Ed makes to pee near him, right? And he's like, you know, Sam, you better not die because you just might be too fucking delicious. I might finally get there. I might slice you up. You have more crackling on you than Bannon

and I can't resist crackling. Yeah. Yeah, I do feel that way about it. You need a nice marble. I get it. Crackling, yeah. He goes on, he's like, we're gonna be riding at first light, sun or snow, we're gonna get the fuck out. Well, some of us will have to walk, but we're gonna be riding at first light sun or snow we're gonna get the fuck out well some of us

will have to walk but we're gonna get out he says later craster hears this and he starts to become almost amiable like he's almost like bearable for once and he's like i'll feast you well kind of feast you farewell and you can eat the horses that you had to slaughter nice eat some bread have some beer the wives and daughters cook and serve. Nice. Eat some bread. Have some beer. The wives and daughters cook and serve, except for Gilly. Some are old, some young, but most are his daughters as well as wives. All look somewhat alike. They speak to each other softly, but they never speak to the men in black.

Craster sits in his chair, the only chair, the rest sitting on log tables and benchesches clad in a sleeveless jerkin with his wiry white hairs on his arm mormont sits to craster's right at the top of the bench and the brothers crowd in around them knee to knee the horse meat drips with grease smells amazing but he thinks of bannon suddenly and he knows if he eats he'll puke how could they eat the horses that carried them so far finally someone's asking the good questions he does eat an onion while they're out roasted one side of his is black with rot and he cuts it away eating the good half there's bread but only two loaves ulmer asks for more but the women all shake their heads and that is when the trouble starts. Trouble, trouble.

Yeah, there it is, the onion moment. And I do want to call out something here that I know has been called out before by many other people. I'm definitely sure I've read this on the subreddit a couple of times, but in case for some reason you've missed it, between the smell of Bannon and the stuff here about horses and eating the friend that carried you. There's a lot of parallels about what's to come with Bran's story, especially one of them that's more explicit is the eating of the elk.

But anyways, there's also, I think, a little bit of foreshadowing for Sam having to face white small Paul in a way soon. Yeah, absolutely. Clubfoot Carl is complaining and Mormontont's like accept what's given to you be thankful we're not eating snow carl doesn't flinch though and he keeps standing up to him and says i'd sooner eat what craster is hiding and craster doesn't like that he narrows his eyes he's like i have woman to feed and dirk's like aha you admit it you have a secret larder and carl's like you're a cheap liar. And Garth of Old Town says,

There were pigs last time we came. He has ham, bacon, all hidden. Sausages, probably hundreds of them hanging. Barley, corn, oats. How much stuff do they think he has? But you know what, I'll say, I guess they were right. When I read these before, I was like, that's an exaggeration. I don't think that Craster...

There's no way Craster could have that much amazing food hidden here. No way. But, you know, I was wrong. Yeah, I guess he just has a shit ton of great food. Yeah, he's kind of a prepper, obviously, since he lives in Zombieland. Yeah, he is! Oh my god. He's prepping for the day his gods like you know ignore him he's prepping for the day he hands them a baby boy and they're like nah nah yeah

he better get some doors if he's that big of a prepper though is my thing because like those cowhide flaps i mean that must be the easy access door for the others, right? They must just, like, pop right in. Hey, you got that baby out back? Cool, see you later. Yeah, and I mean, obviously, whatever he was doing, I guess, is working for a bit. But not that much longer. Mormont tells them to stop their folly, and we've got this raven cawing. Cawing! Cawing! Cawing! Cawing! stop their folly and we've got this raven calling, calling, calling, calling, calling in the background, but Clubfoot Carl does not plan to do that.

Mormont commands him to be quiet and it seems that Carl is finally about to sit, but then Craster stands. You know, we almost had a solution here, but Craster he fucked it all up. He fucks up a lot of things. Like all these lives. lives anyways the big steel axe

that mormon gave him as a gift is in his hand he says that these people have insulted him will no longer sleep beneath his roof or eat at his bode and kicks them out saying that they have to sleep in the cold with empty bellies and he jabs the axe at them and Garth curses calling him a bloody bastard and he does not like that, you know, big big Gramsci vibes and this causes Craster to sweep his arm across the table across the meat and the wine cups

why is he wasting the food? I thought that was the whole fucking problem here anyways, he lifts his axe with the other and there's this whole tussle that ensues between Craster, Garth, Orphanos Carl, Serbiah, Dirk Worldstar shit some of the women are trying to attack the men to defend Craster

Craster bleeds out after Dirk then slits his throat and Mormont stands over him saying the gods will curse us all for murdering a man who brought us as a guest into his hall. Eliana, do you think this means anything?

I don't know. Could this mean anything in the series? I don't know. Do you think it means something? Are there broad themes going on in this book? This is like baby red wedding, right? Like this is as soon as the phrase. This is a white wedding.

Yeah. Oh my God. It's a nice day for a white wedding. As soon as the Freys are like, you know, here's some meat and mead, hehehe, wine run red, hehehe, they should have fucking run. Jesus. Yeah. I mean, they felt it. They were like, something's off.

Listen to your heart. When it's calling for you. Yeah, it's calling for you yeah it was calling well these brothers have gone totally rogue dirk has taken a wife by the arm and has a knife at her throat commanding her to take them all to the hidden stores of food so she does the lord commander stands up to him but garth and olo step in his way blades in hand and Olo shoves a knife into Mormont's belly. Then the world went mad. I have to say, I love that George puts this line, the world went mad, and we skip a big amount of time, right?

Because we're avoiding saying that somehow Sam survives all of this. George just says the world went mad. Because, I don't know,. Like Sam, I love him to death, but he would just get in the way. He's sitting there holding J.R. I could see these guys being done with his shit and having wanted to, you know, stab Aronian up for a long time. So I'm just surprised he survives, but I'm glad he survives. I don't want him to die. And that said, the other thing about this skirmish that I'm really interested in, setting aside that entire show-invented mutineer scene that kind of shows what we see at the end of this chapter here, we don't hear or think of these men pretty much ever again in POVs. see that they're you know the mutineers were out there once and most people think it's implied as Eliana did mention we're gonna get some brand stuff coming in here that the mutineers are the

pork cold hands feeds brand but even that isn't technically canon and it could just be he raided the stores but I doubt that but but I mean it probably is right you get the line Mira turned the meat to cook the other side Hodor was chewing and swallowing, muttering happily. Only Jojen seemed aware of what was happening as Coldhands turned his head to stare at Bran. They were foes, men of the Night's Watch. You killed them. You and the ravens. Their faces were all torn and their eyes were gone.

Coldhands did not deny it. They were your brothers. I saw. The wolves had ripped their clothes up, but I could still tell. Their cloaks were black, like your hands. Coldhands said nothing. Who are you? Why are your hands black? So, interesting there that it might have been the men.

Maybe it was the pork, right? You don't know. Maybe it was actual pork, since we now know that Craster had some piggies. But that said, oink oink, as we're about to see them like eating and fucking and not caring that Sam's alive, they don't really seem concerned about burning bodies through all this. Like, they are not thinking about that. And maybe it's because the brightest aren't left there that care or give a fuck

about burning bodies but yeah that's true I mean obviously some people make it back right like Ed and Gren and stuff but some like you said you never hear about them again and I think maybe they're gone before Sam summer reanimated summer

pork nice nice maybe it's uh yeah no i definitely think some of them are our pork i i think we'll find out one day right like when we when we get the wind's winter if anyone has become zombies and i hope sam tells someone to go get all this food i mean they're probably gonna stop by there yeah and then maybe we'll get those answers to like more explicitly about what craster was doing like we obviously get some of that at the end of this chapter but like not you know not the full reveal oh we might get it when uh george finally adapts it and they do the chains around the the ice dragon yeah i think that's definitely one point where it could come up they probably stay at crasters yeah i think i actually like i'm kind of half kidding but yeah i'm half kidding obviously

because i i don't think they're going to go to Crest. No, I'm just kidding. I do think maybe they will go back now that you say that. I don't think they're going to put chains around an ice dragon and, you know. It'd be interesting if they return to Crest and Gilly is part of that. I think that'd be interesting, especially if Sam returns to Horn Hill, right? Like, Gilly returns also to the place where she came from and has to confront that I I know she doesn't have to right people don't

always have to return to the places where they were like traumatized but I think Gilly has definitely come through a different journey towards uh what she's endured than Sam yeah well later Sam finds himself cross-legged on the floor and mormon's head is in his lap barely clinging to life it's actually a very tender moment um in a tender scene and he doesn't remember much of what happened after jr was stabbed gartha greenway killed gartha old town it's chaotic raleigh of sisterton fell and broke his neck after trying to climb and rape one of Craster's wives Gren

had shouted and slapped Sam and then he ran away with Giant and Ed and some others and four men in black remain eating chunks of horse meat while Olo rapes I guess the sweeping wife on the table and the blood is dribbling from the old bear's mouth and he flatly tells Sam to make for the table and the blood is dribbling from the old bear's mouth and he

flatly tells sam to make for the wall and to find them and tell them all tell them everything that happened on the fist about the free folk and then the dragon class and finally he says tell my son jorah tell him take the black my black. My wish. Dying wish. Wish? The raven cocked its head, beady black eyes shining. Corn? The bird asked. No corn.

Tell Jorah. Forgive him. My son. Please. Go. I will not do this thing for you, J.R. Mormont, because I do not forgive Jorah. Mm-mm. I don't care what you do.

I wish. I love when he says, no corn. That's what I'm going to say to my cats in the morning when they're climbing on me. No corn. No corn for you, cats. He and the raven are friends. That's so sad. Eliana, that's his demon i know except blood raven is possessing his demon that's even worse this is a crazy his dark

materials plot i was not expecting uh what a cheap version of the original plan right like a watered down guess we're here still and we should all do it of the plan chet's in the afterlife and he's going yeah boy fuck yeah my longest yeah boy ever um my god i love like looking at who we had in the prologue. We had Chat, Dirk, Softfoot, Olo, Sweet Donald Hill, Lark the Sisterman, Raleigh of Sisterton, Clubfoot Carl, Maslin, Small Paul, and Sawood. That were the mutineers in the original in the prologue. have left which is dirk alo lapan grubs garth of greenaway alan of rosby raleigh of sisterton still monty clubfoot carl orphan os muttering bill um very interesting very interesting just to see like what we've been reduced to and who's left and coming back to kind of tyrian's chapter there's some interesting things coming up with likeen Marsh in the last chapter sends the letter saying he thinks the Lord Commander is dead. Right?

Because they all went out on the fist and no one had heard from them. Unfortunately, coincidentally, he is dead. Bowen Marsh, you were right on accident. And Marsh had feared the Free Folk killed him, that the wall itself could be attacked next which yes that is that's coming soon stay tuned and it wraps up really well for Tyrion's chapter with those thematics of like Tywin and Tyrion's relationship especially over the sword over the Valyrian steel and there's something really impactful considering that tyrian is the son that tywin hates and wishes he was dead right and samwell is not dissimilar for his father but

tyrian's the product of kind of turning bitter and cold and cynical in that environment of being forced to remain with somebody that hates you your whole life and where sam instead after being turned loose is fearful and scared and worried and you know feels downtrodden and i really think the the swords stand out especially through these couple chapters because long claw of course is very much so in mind when we think of failed sons in the eye of their fathers you have long claw going to john instead of jorah and heartsbane for sam right like sam dreams last chapter he dreams about heartsbane slicing off some pork in this chapter ed jokes about slicing off pork and it's not fun it is not a good dream randall's not really a big picture guy, right? Like, Sam would have been useful not at the watch,

he's gonna be great at the watch. And he's doing a great job, in my opinion. But how is Randall so full of arrogance and pride and just like, total disdain at his son, that he didn't send Sam to the Citadel and capitalize on having a maester son that can spy on another house for him and help funnel info or you know like look at Willis right like Mace doesn't treat Willis like he's broken just because of his leg injury and because of his different nature right like he likes books and he's still a great leader and he can still be the heir to the house he's not less of a man there was use in him yeah I mean I think it's what you said right like randall for some reason

has gotten it into his mind you know his sense of masculinity is like he's like oh people men can't be maesters it makes them terrible i'm like excuse me but like you said right willis is certainly accepted and oberon martel right he didn't become a maester but he went to go study at the citadel for a bit and got some of his chains and no one's like you know who seems dumb over in martell they're all like wow that's a respectable scary man yeah they're like that guy fucks and he fucks up yeah with his spear yeah exactly yeah it all does boil down to how randall doesn't like to be viewed or how he wants himself to be viewed and his family to be viewed he's just a duty head yeah he also doesn't seem to like he seems very much so pure attack pure offense and doesn't understand like where tywin

at least has some sort of understanding of you have to have a defense right as well as an offense um and he kind of has more sleuthful moves when it comes to war a little more i don't know subtle moves where randall is just like he is power and power is what he cares about yeah i mean tywin cares about that but like you know it manifests in a different way he has this like sort of push and pull with Tyrion, and Randall's only like, push, push. Yeah, that's true. I mean, both of them are toxic in different ways. Absolutely.

But also similar, but also different. Well, Sam whispers that he would rather stay with J.R. Mormont, that he isn't frightened frightened of anything but a woman's voice says that he should be Gilly is bundled up between two of Craster's wives standing over him and Sam says that he can't speak to them he has orders but the women are like that's over now he best leave before the blackest

of crows return from their free meals in the cellar they have two horses left and they've secured them for Sam and Gilly and also Sam you promised to help gilly so you better do it and i i will say you know in this moment where sam he says he's not frightened it's also the time that he's saying no right john was going to help you and sam's not stepping up yet so he isn't being brave yet because he isn't frightened yeah and i think earlier him mouthing off saying they'd take her in front of craster was very brave like that was a lot of bravery for one episode for sam and he does remain brave you know like he does actually

i mean he he braves up a little bit to get Gilly out of there. And I think there's something like being frozen from that, right? With that patriarchal Westeros vibe. You were talking about this a little at the front, actually. Like how he equates Craster with his dad and how, you know, he still is approaching kind of that he has to request from Craster. Because Craster is like he owns property, not not daughters it's his assets that he owns and sam has to kind of like he thinks it has had how to approach a man like his father you know like a man like his father who sees only value in numbers and people so it's such a bummer because he just gets frozen, I think, at all of it. It's a very big task.

And Jaor feels safe, right? He'd rather just leave Jaor's warm, bleeding head in his lap and hide and die there, he thinks. That's the thing, right? He's, like, ready to give up. I don't mean that, like, Sam's not being- It's, like, as you said, he becomes brave and continues to be so. But, like, in this moment, he's, like, ready to give up. And when you're not feeling that fear like that said yeah the adrenaline that pushes you to action yes yes and

yeah he's reserving his stores he's you know resting for his hyper beam he is getting back into it and for solar beam even his there you go, his solar beam. Yeah, he's gonna shine, baby. He's gonna shine. And oh, going back to the free folk woman. Sam's like, No, I promised john would help you. Fuck, fuck. This was not supposed to happen to me. Because they're just like, you promised you'd help Gilly.

And he's like, No, no, no, no, john was gonna help Gilly. This is not my forte. I just write the scrolls and attach them to the ravens i'm i'm the brains he's the brawn and he's not here so we can't do this sam closes jay or his eyes he tries to think of a prayer but then all he can say just like in chapter one over and over is mother have mercy the woman tell him the mother can't help him none but he can take jay or sword his fur cloak and his horse and get out of here it is sad jay or dying in his lap and again we see sam turning to the mother and the seven and and chanting that right not the old gods when he said he had converted and it's kind of funny because jay hart doesn't even worship the

seven right like it's one thing if this was like you know one of the people from further south jay or is not he's a mormon he's a northman but also this is the second man to die in sam's care today and sam is like just he is not having a good day this is a very bad day he's had many bad days but this is an especially bad day for sam that is kind of like i mean sam is a healer right like that is a strength of his and that's something he wants to explore he wants to kind of explore some of those theological practices and understand divinity between the body mind soul all that shit a little bit more so like that is something for doctors for nurses that's very hard and very emotional in their job is losing patients right so when you think of it

with that aspect and as sam as a healer that has to weigh on him that has to hurt his soul very much yeah it does it's not your fault sam you're doing the best you can babe he really is well we come towards the end of this chapter It's not your fault, Sam. You're doing the best you can, babe. He really is. Well, we come towards the end of this chapter. The girl don't lie, the old woman on the right said. She's my girl, and I beat the lying out of her early on. You said you'd help her.

Do it, Ferdy says, boy. Take the girl and be quick about it. Quick, the raven said. Quick, where asked Sam puzzled where should I take her someplace warm the two old women said as one that's us the two old women we would actually be considered old I I mean, there probably are. We're the old lady twins in Avatar, The Last of Us. What is it? Something in, what are their names? Ember Island. I forgot.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gilly was crying. Me and the babe. Please, I'll be your wife like I was Crassus. Please, Sir Crow. He's a boy, just like Nella said he'd be. If you don't take him, they will. They, said Sam, and the raven cocked its black head and echoed,

They! They! They! The boys' brothers, said the old woman on the left, crass their sons. The white cold's rising out their crow. I can feel it in my bones. These old bones don't lie. They'll be here soon, the sons. Spooky. Spooky. I love that we get to actually hear from some of the other wives, right?

Just for a hot second. Yes. Any sort of relationship for gilly and her family it's not very sentimental but i'll take it i said earlier it's almost like they're giving her away right to some strange man of the night's watch this is her her wedding farewell go off be wed to this man be safe and it's so sad because, you know, she immediately is offering like, please, I'll be your wife, Sam. All she knows is that. That's the only thing that she feels that she can offer to the world. And it's why Sam and Gilly have such a great bond and have great chemistry on page together because they've been told they were nothing since they could move.

Both of them. Right. Like they've just been told they amount to nothing and are nothing forever since as long as they were born so there's so much like pain that develops from that that i know they can understand about each other and to see them get paired off together to kind of go grow as characters and explore and find better parts themselves i i really look forward to hopefully seeing more of gilly and t wow absolutely and i mean it's exactly like you said right that's that same line stood out to me and as you said like that's what she thinks she all she is right and you know in regards to them giving gilly way it's also a

little bit of sam stealing her as we know that's very much how the marriage rights work in amongst the Free Folk. Well, some tribes. Again, everyone's like, that crass person, we don't claim them. Exactly what I was thinking about, though it is like that. It's very much Bail the Bardi, right? We're stealing

Gilly. And, you know, it brings me back to later at Winterfell when Theon has Jane. You know, it's very similar to Springing Jane with the Free Folk washerwomen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Free Folk women fucking rock.

Yeah, they do. Great track record. Fucking awesome track record. Well, we're gonna see more of Gilly being great in the next few chapters but i mean i think i i'm happy to call it here for sam too yeah i'm happy to call it here we have tons of good stuff coming for next week's episode sam three with our friend noah who you can find at twitter at samantha tarly noah is wonderful and has a great essay about sam that you can find at Twitter at Samantha Tarly. Noah is wonderful and has a great essay about Sam that you can find on their Twitter. It is in

the pinned post, and we'll post a link below for that this week and next week when they're on with us. We look forward to that. Yeah, and of course don't forget, if you listened to last week's Sam episode, Sam 1, be sure to check out Radio Westeros' coverage of Sam's

character as a whole. You can find that on RadioWesteros.com where their episodes are. Of course I can. So, everyone, as we said, we are, we have a few messages that we'll get to in the upcoming

weeks, but if you have any thoughts for us, please be sure to let us know on social media or email you can find us at girls gone canon at gmail.com that's c-a-n-o-n or over on twitter at girls gone canon or if you'd like be sure to follow us to keep up with new episodes yes and if you want to keep up with those episodes and you have a podcast streaming platform of your choice you should head over there and click follow on us we are all over we're on google play itunes spotify stitcher acast audible amazon you name it pandora i think you'll find one just google it just give it a google yeah and of course you can always find us on patreon patreon.com slash girls gone canon

as you said earlier patrons in the stranger tier and above do get bonus episodes yes and patrons in the thunder tier and above also get a quick chance at Discord events as well as Discord chat. As always, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I have been another one of your hosts, Eliana. We'll be back next week. Yeah, we're being reanimated.

I wish someone would stab us with dragonglass. See you next week! Bye!