Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 166 — AGOT Bran II

Episode Date: September 9, 2022

A fall from innocence... but also from the top of the broken tower when Bran literally gets thrown off.  --- 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 166, A Game of Thrones brand two. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Once again, we are coming to you live, and by live we mean not live. I mean, not live for you, but live for us. Most things are live for us. We are together. We are in the same room. Actually, we're really close to each other. Just like Jamie and Cersei, yeah. Oh my god.

If you aren't keeping up with our House of the Dragon weekly episodes that are coming out to the public Tuesday mornings and patrons Monday nights over at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon. If we can. You know what? So far, three out of three, though. Three out of three. Absolutely. I just don't want to put that on you ourselves i don't want to put that on you for our patrons i will work on the hot tea all night i'm sorry god if you're not keeping up though we are hanging out this month the uh pretty much the first half-ish of the season eliana and i are together in love romantically romantically on the east coast i don't know about that but

it's we are we are here we are here and yes we are as you all know we just started a new it's a new season for so many reasons right a new season of Girls Gone Canon and Game of Thrones. I know. I know, but it is, it is. And like, you know, new POV. It's literally turning fall as we speak, right? Are you saying summer is over? Summer is over. See, I told you last episode.

Leave the fuck alone. We're not doing this episode anymore. Eliana, I didn't even say this last episode to you but i just want to remind you about the last hero because you know his dog died his horse died his why did you ask the horse what the fuck is wrong with you i just want to you know feel something maybe i should fire chloe now on it's fire and blood season yeah to contrast fire and blood season we are going full winter on it with bran right as we leave summer go into fall in real life and in the story i'm excited to jump back into bran or jump out of a tower or whatever

happens yeah i mean this chapter we didn't even plan for all of these to coincide. Things got delayed this summer on Academy. It all worked out like, yeah, it was Kismet. It's fine. It's fun.

This is fun. Well, later this month, we will be putting out a Patreon episode for our patrons in the Stranger tier, the $5 tier and above.

We do bonus episodes every month. Last month, we talked about the Mothers of the Dragon in Fire and Blood and in do bonus episodes every month. Last month we talked about the Mothers of the Dragon in Fire and Blood and in true Girls Con canon spirit it has become a multi-part series. That said we'll let you know when to expect the next part. We actually end up we stop right before Alysanne. Yeah and I think that if you think about it it always kind of had to be a multi-part series.

Because one day, Fire and Blood Volume 2, and maybe 3, depending on how George feels about things. One day there will be a Fire and Blood Volume 2, and we would have had to split it anyway. It's true. It's true. If we continued it, which we would. We know us. We would. This month we don't really have an idea yet to stay consistent we uh we've tossed a couple around yeah we don't have it yet yeah now that said by brand three next week or likely by hot d episode four i'm sure you may hear something about what we're gonna do, just give us a few more days and we'll figure it out. But something else that we know for sure and have nailed down is of course our

discord brunch once a month. Patrons, we gather everyone for brunch slash happy hour. It's more of a brunch and by that I mean I drink a lot of water. This month it'll be on Sunday, September 18th from 2 to 4 p.m. Chloe, what do people do at brunch? First of all, I want to put out there it's Eliana time, E.T. That's the most important part of that statement you left off. I know it feels weird calling it your time. It's your time, girlfriend. It's like the hour of the Eliana.

The hour of the wolf. No, it's the hour of the rat. There is, I think, an hour of the rat. Is there not? Well, every hour with you is the hour of the rat. All right, all right, all right right we have a blast at brunch you can hear banter like this at brunch live i don't know lately we've been using it kind of as a hot d stomping ground or you know you were out of touch for a little bit you were traveling abroad alissa farman style and I had to hold down court and let me tell you we all just kind of like bitched about inequalities in the world and we got really political and everybody just talked

about how much I hate the U.S. government because most of I mean it was when Roe versus Wade was overturned so um yeah anything could happen sometimes we play games like discord games we do uh we do jackbox games sometimes everyone to play something that was kind of like telestrations or something i don't know what i don't remember there's a board game kind of like it but it's like telephone but oh yeah you played the telephone yeah yeah that was fun it sounded like i was jealous actually i i like these little fun internet games but we like to do those or we just like to hang out and bitch and that's fun that is fun we have a really good group over at discord i i can't say it enough and our thunder tier patrons and above at patreon.com slash girls gone canon they in the ten dollar tier and up have

a really cool advantage because i'm gonna be honest it's a lifetime tier if you pledge to us in that tier and you come hang out at Discord and get your private access, you're not going anywhere. You're going to stay there forever. If you can't afford it, I don't care. You're a Thunder Tier patron for life because it's really not about money for us. It's just about, I don't know, hanging out. We have a really good time and our friend Maddie, actually, a bunch of our friends at the Patreon Discord have really stepped up to just like make it their own house. Our friend Pete ran these great, great discussions about His Dark Materials, Series 1 and Series 2, which we'll be covering in the fall when it comes back for Series 3. And Maddie has stepped up.

She stepped up and taken the bat and she's doing a House of the Dragon weekly discussion on Fridays at 2 p.m. ET. a House of the Dragon weekly discussion on Fridays at 2pm ET. So not only are we doing a monthly brunch happy hour constantly but Maddie is leading a discussion every week where we hang out and just talk about what's to come next week for the new episode and what happened

last week. And not even just that but without even clocking in, she's also been hanging out and discussing it right after the episode with friends. That's been crazy. A lot of people have been joining right after the episode. Voice chatting all night.

I'm going to bed at that time. Yeah. Eliana's leaving my house and she's like, goodbye. I must walk home and sleep for eight years for work. Yeah. There are people who join. It's cool. It's cool and i love watching it i love seeing everyone just community build yeah i love them don't tell them but i love

them i'm gonna edit it out no you're not you're not editing i'm not but yeah come be a part of our little community you know we have a blast with them every week every day it's my my first thing is i track my messages you know in the morning i go oh what's the discord fam up to we've got tons of different little discourse the discord discourse tons of little message boards to join in on and growing constantly we can't wait to see you there yeah and of course let's talk about some emails and tweets of note we haven't done emails and tweets of note in so long this is so exciting to me because we have some really good ones we have actually we

have some really good emails and tweets of note that i knew were going to come to us like there are a couple faces that i feel like we're going to see in our inbox throughout this season of the girl's got some aisle of faces that we're going to see throughout. Aisle of faces. Well, our first one is from our friend Brandon. But not that Brandon, but maybe that Brandon. Who knows? Do you think that's why he emailed you? Secretly.

So my theory, Brandon, I'm sorry. My theory is that you wrote in specifically to celebrate us starting a Brandon POV. I'm going to be honest. He actually says in his email that's why he's writing. Not that his name's Brandon, which is what you're theorizing, but in general, he's writing to celebrate. I am reading the subtext. I see you, Brandon.

Maybe through the trees, maybe not. Eliana, whose best theory is known as Ned stark warging into the pigeon that became little pigeon that became little pigeon oh wait no that part is my theory yes that's true i thought i was like i can't take credit for that i can't take credit for that genius um we are drinking an evil genius beer right now by the way chocolate pumpkin porter and you are i'm enjoying it i don't know i don't know but brandon says to go forward we must go back aha he gets it he sees why we did it old stories are like old friends she used to say you have to visit them from time to time brand two in a storm of swords or as he says asos that is actually literally what it is i always think of it as

asos like the clothing store but yeah it's also a sauce a sauce a sauce i'm sure this means we'll continue to go back with a reread of sansa next oh my god yeah he gets it he gets it but afterwards he wants more catalan he says and he wants to know you know more back analysis like what are her exercises they must be intense because catelyn carried the first three books on her back amen hallelujah brandon yes brandon yes hallelujah but i will say catelyn is just so recent that i feel like i need to change as a person before i go back to those episodes does that make sense no that does make chapters yeah it's silly to say but like yeah we did a lot of these characters four or five years ago we're different humans now I was gonna say we have different life goals I don't

really know what I'm doing still it's still different you know like it's yeah I know even less five think about the five years ago think about skyping about less. Four years ago. Five. Think about the five years ago. Think about Skyping about Dunkin' Egg five years ago. Anyway, so. Old. Very old. Not seven. Not like Bran. Yeah, I think I'd need like at least another year before going back to Catelyn.

But. We're not going back to Catelyn right now. I just want you to know. We're not. I'm just talking about if we did. This is the worst. Anyways, so thank you so much for the email, Brandon, for bringing out the worst hypotheticals

in Eliana all night long. Can't wait to hear this. Alright, so, speaking of our Discord discourse, in response to the very first inaugural Bran episode, our friend Warren, who is super excited for us to start Bran, left

this very strong comment about something we should be looking out for in Bran's arc, which is the overriding theme of the loss of innocence. Warren says, George introduces it really well-framed in a strong storytelling chapter where we are also given Bran's view on some of his male role models. Why is Bran here with this group? As Ned said, he'll be a man grown soon. He's eight! Screaming emoji, screaming emoji, screaming emoji. Agree, agree, Warren, I agree.

And winter is coming. The saddest thing in these early chapters is the glimpse we get of the childhood Bran has that is cruelly snatched from him as events take over. It's not just Jon Snow who needs to kill the boy and let the man be born. But just as it's not- do you want to do it, Chloe? Kill the boy and let the man be born. Leaving all of this in.

Just as much as it's not just Bran who understands northern justice after this chapter, also what I've really taken from this week's cast is Bran's connection and understanding of mercy. Like all the current Starks, he is emotionally smart and inherently kind. It's interesting as the story develops and the Starklings face their challenges that this kindness causes them difficulties in different ways. Bran clings tight to it though. And yes, absolutely. And I wanted to call this out because these thoughts have kind of inspired, you know, something that we'll come back to at the end of this chapter, right? After we've looked at all this regarding that loss of innocence.

Yeah, I'm excited to hear what you have to say, because I know we went through a lot of this with our other series we cover. I thought you were going to say that we went through a lot of loss of innocence. We've lost a lot of innocence together. I wouldn't be surprised we're pretty old. Oh my god. Anyways. Can we get through this episode without having

an emotional romantic connection? But no, I'm excited to hear especially in lieu of how we've discussed some of our other series and just the idea of innocence and loss of innocence and what it means in the formation of life very early. However, God,

this feels really good to say. I'm like, I haven't gotten to say this in a while with you. I really want to do a legitimate, official, original, very much OG. What is she going to say?

Lightning round with you. We haven't done like a real. We haven't done a real one in so long. Our prologues were a little off the wall. I went a little, I got a little rogue in those. I was a rogue princess about those ones, you could say. Yeah. But we're back.

I really want to do a lightning round with you. So here's what we missed between Bran I and Bran II in A Game of Thrones. Catelyn I. Catelyn brings Ned word that his pseudo-father figure has passed away and his BFF the King is on his way to Winterfell. Dang, these are some early chapters. These are exciting, this lightning round. I feel young again.

Daenerys I enter the House of Gucci. We have to watch that. I know. Enter the House of Gucci where the only thing that could bring it down was the House of Gucci itself. Eddard I the king arrives to Winterfell and makes a proposition to join House Stark

and House Baratheon. John won. Wait, no, I'm sorry. I would read this, but no, Chloe has to do this. Bastard. Motherless. Damned. Catelyn too.

Catelyn's sister sends word that makes Catelyn believe something more is afoot about John Arryn's death. She and Ned decide he should go to King's Landing to investigate. Arya 1. Arya hates needlework and chooses to watch a very different needlework in the yard where the boys are at practice. That brings us to Agat, Bran 2. Bran loves to climb. He knows Winterfell better than anyone living within it. He knows its walls, its tunnels, its caverns, its secrets. Which is likely why it's a bit of a nasty shock when he's thrown down a tower into the abyss. Only a little bit. Only a bit.

And that starts off Bran 2, where we open with the king taking Joffrey, Robb, Uncle Benjen, Jory, Sir Roderick, Theon, and Tyrion on a hunt for Bor, leaving behind Bran, Jon, the girls, and Rickon. Right off the bat, the thing that stood out the most to me is that Jon is left behind. That's so interesting. And it's kind of like how earlier in Jon's chapter, Jon is seated very far away from the royal dais, right, during the feast. Yeah. chapter, Jon is seated very far away from the royal dais, right, during the feast. Yeah. And it really makes you realize, was Ned putting Jon very far away from the king, just in case he glimpsed any likeness to Jon? Knowing what's in Ned's heart, you know, because I know Ned, we're friends. And knowing what's in his heart, bummer what happens to him, but sorry for that guy.

I miss my friend. I do miss my friend, Ned. But I know him and I know what's in his heart. And like, he had to be shitting himself every moment, right? Snow Ned. He's like, oh God, keep Jon away from the king. What if he, that guy loved Lyanna's memory. What if he remembers his memory around Jon?

Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. I do think that's a big part of why Jon's not allowed to go or isn't going. I mean, there could be other stuff too, but I think that's one of the biggest drivers. I'm just also kind of excited about this because I'm coming off of the previous Royal Hunt, which aired this week in House of the Dragons, season one, one episode three second of his name but i guess maybe this is what six or seventh of his name depending on what canon or whatever you're going by this this agon sosh john in reaction to that episode our friend on twitter rhymes with fleek tweeted about how george rr martin was actually really disappointed with the portrayal of these royal

hunts right because it was portrayed as like I don't know a couple of dudes going hiking in the woods as opposed to what we saw in House of Dragon which it would be a huge affair everyone's glamping uh which apparently also our friend Alicia on Direwolf City discussed I mean because that's what it is but it is interesting that Cersei and Jaime are plotting about Robert during this hunt. And then Cersei is the one who's kind of plotting about Robert the next time there's a hunt around the White Heart over in King's Landing. And I mean, like, you know, Robert, he just loves the hunt. He loves the chase. Yeah, it's interesting.

There's two big hunts right in the first book that take place. Three, if you count Arya being hunted by all the group with her wolf, you know, trying to find her, I guess. True, true, true. And impromptu. Impromptu. In the hunt for Daenerys that Robert's like, what if we hunted the little girl? It does make me think Robert might be an Ares. I mean, we love the chase.

Wait, that's so interesting because also... And he's mad. Yeah, Padmé, I see also dethroned Ares, but But he is an Ares. Interesting. Interesting. No, because we're all about the chase and we're really mad all the time.

Like, all the time. And like, the second you actually show us the real interest that you hold within your heart, we're like, okay, Anne, move on. Next chase. Next chase. We love impossible things and i mean it's how he felt about liana yeah exactly exactly he loves to hunt and that's

why he's like ned let's go back let's just like leave and go chase things and go to the narrow sea and fight yeah something is him being an aries like how cersei's a leo probably and oh my god it's us anyway we're cersei and robert that's terrible oh i love our relationship brittan feels like john is angry at him but also john's kind of angry at everyone right now and he doesn't know why i'm like it's because he's emo he's going through it he is well i will say like there's a lot once more this chapter is specifically tied at the front to john just like bran's first chapter it does make you think that this intrinsic link between the two of their plots already from the start like yes they're siblings we're gonna see them in each other's plot but it really i mean even john being

at his bedside when cadeline was there and like that's john's biggest fucking fear right is having to deal with her in an intimate setting where she can say anything to him that hurts him so like that his plot even to that extent he becomes that linked with bran makes a lot of sense if their plots in the end game of thrones are. Yeah. It's a great call. It's a great call out. And especially, you know, we even see them touch again, right? Over in I think it's the Clash of Kings, right?

When Jon's third eye thing gets reopened, gets opened. So Bran saw it from the beginning too. He saw that his eyes were open from the start. Oh my gosh. God, in next see that. He saw that his eyes were open from the start. Oh my gosh. God, in next episode we get to do the anyways. And probably it'll come back obviously like in wins, right? With the ghost stuff.

I mean, that is one thing. Obviously the show adapted it in a way that we got to see the parentage through Bran's eyes, but I think it's likely we will see that parentage come through Bran's eyes. Bran has the most connection to possibly being able to see that. You know, there's a line in this chapter, I don't remember it exactly right now,

but it's like, you take one of the passageways, and then someone was saying that you might be flung off the wall or things like that. And I was like, oh, interesting. Because now that you're bringing up these connections, I'm like, maybe that was more significant than I thought. There's a lot. I mean, it's very funny. The whole first book does have all these strong themes that tell you some broad strokes of what George was playing with,

or at least who's important and who the main players are in the story. Yeah. John was planning to join the Night's Watch with his Uncle Benjen. Bran thinks it's almost as good as going south with the king and robs the one they're truly leaving behind. It's kind of cute that he's like, he doesn't get what Jon's giving up. Like, to him, he's like, I would be a Kingsguard

if someone breathed at me. I would do it right now, today, for glory. You know, I want to be like them. And Jon is doing such a very honorable thing and he gets to choose this great thing, but it's like, oh Bran, sweetie, it's not really a choice. He doesn't have anything. And the Night's Watch is like

as we know now, right? It's where they send all the criminals. It's completely different from being dubbed a Kingsguard, which is like one of the highest honors that you can get. It is interesting that for the North, who doesn't have a Kingsguard in that manner

and doesn't have their own king yet, or queen yet, but for the North, like, the Night's Watch is seen as how the people of the South view the Kingsguard. The Kingsguard are just seven guys that sometimes do their job,

first of all. Especially after Jaime Lannannister definitely a sometimes they're phoning it in they quiet quit the king's guard is quiet quitting uh every day but like the north sees people that take the vows of the night's watch and again people that take the vows not people forced into the vows etc like they see that as honorable brand understands to an extent i don't think he understands why it's honorable in full yes he will by the end of the story but the people that do choose to take those vows they they are giving up something of themselves in order to do what

starve um get eaten by a zombie they were having fun until that part maybe but not really i don't know but it's also like it's it is similar right there's celibate orderish and like serving the realm but i will say other than that maybe it is alike right in that they both ended up having the same amount of exciting and by that i mean emotionally damaging Everyone who went to the wall and went to King's Landing was emotionally damaged. It was the same. It's not too far off. Everyone's fucked up. Brandon is excited to ride down the King's Road on a real horse, not a pony.

His dad was to be the hand of the king and they were going to go live in the red castle. Right? That is made by the dragon lords. And it is full of ghosts according to old nan dragon heads on its walls and i like that he still calls it just the red castle and not the red key because he's like doesn't really know entirely yet it's really great to to hear like the rumors what he knows about king's landing and what he thinks because Bran has a totally idealized view ironically we see at the end of the chapter

that this view he has of all these great Kingsguard members for example is like that's very true I mean he was warned a little but anyways it's like instead of kill your heroes it's like heroes kill you oh how exciting how fun

heroes kill you in Sovietviet west roads heroes kill you so actually that could be the that actually really might be the plot of brand's story with the knights not the knights king sorry with the others etc i mean yeah that this great idea evolves and kills you yeah he's you know he shivers a little just thinking of all the dragon heads on the walls, but he's not actually afraid because his father will be there, right? And then he's like, the king will be there. He's a good guy.

The knights, the sworn swords. Also, your dad's not gonna be there that long. Sorry! Welcome to childhood! There's this little bit he's like, how could i be afraid the king's guard and the sword swords will be there and i'm like damn george don't gotta do that to a guy like talk about innocence lost as warren said this is a chapter to smash bran's dreams he says he hopes to be one of the Kingsguard one day. He knew

all the stories. Oh, Bran, but you don't know them yet. You will. It's also interesting because Bran from what we see in these early chapters, he's not even training much in the sword yard or any of those things, right? Like,

he hasn't really shown himself to be particularly, particularly like great at any sort of like athletic well not not true that's not fair he's amazing at climbing he's amazing at climbing but he's not great at take it back martial martial ability take it back okay i take it back because i i realized i can't climb no no i realized that was wrong immediately when i was like wait climbing is pretty incredible like his climbing skills are great he's got obviously great grip strength because he saves his life for like two seconds before you know he gets thrown off um upper body strength oh even then it's like because he trusts we'll get to that um but like we don't see and i guess that's the thing right he's about to start

doing his horse skills and in the in the show it was a cute scene. Whether or not it's canon, I don't care. Where Arya makes the shot and Brin's struggling. They let her do the arrow. Yeah, he's struggling. It's not fair though because he's seven. Again, he's a babby. He's very babby. He's still, you know,

again, he'd be cuttharing right now. I agree, but it doesn't seem like he's excited about pretending to fight in the way that we hear rob and john's memories with playing each other with each other were to be fair like aria is his john interesting in a way right yeah no that that is true that is true rickon's too young this is the time they would be starting to do that and they're separated too early and we have this passage just to argue with eliana more about what bran wants to do with his life

their names were like music to him sir win of the mirror shield sir ryan red wine prince amen the dragon knight the twins sir eric and sir eric who had died on one another's swords hundreds of years ago when brother fought sister in the war the singers called the Dance of the Dragons. The White Bull, Gerald Hightower. Sir Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. Barristan the Bull. Two of the Kingsguard had come north with King Robert. Bran had watched them with fascination, never quite daring to speak to them. Bran had watched them with fascination, never quite daring to speak to them.

Ser Boros was a bald man with a jowly face, and Ser Meryn had droopy eyes and a beard the color of rust. Ser Jaime Lannister looked more like the knights in the stories, and he was of the Kingsguard too, but... Robb said he had killed the old mad king and shouldn't count anymore. The greatest living knight was Ser Barristan Selmy. Barristan the Bold, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. Father had promised they would meet Sir Barristan when they reached King's Landing, and Bran had been marking the days on his wall, eager to depart to see a world he had only dreamed of

and begin a life he could scarcely imagine. Oh my god, and now he has to live it through the weirwood instead this is so unfair holy fuck it i'm really that was an organic upset reaction i'm so sorry i'll get myself together everyone i mean it's just heartbreaking heart-wrenching he's brought face to face with this famous kingsguard member in this chapter. And then that Kingsguard flings him out of a tower. This is all Bran wanted. I mean, this is all Jaime Lannister wanted. He wanted to be Arthur Dayne. Yeah, right. He says, I had become the smiling knight. What happened along the way? You know, I've become the villain, which Bran, as we know, now in published, you

know, order, he's kind of he has some has some tendencies he's exploring that could be villainous if he explores them too much and too often. I will also add, this is the first mention of the Dance of the Dragons in the whole series. I didn't, I forgot, it was so early. So far back, meaning since the 90s, George knew what he wanted from the dance. meaning since the 90s George knew what he wanted from the dance well there's some there's some intricacies if you listen to our hot d and it's the dragon patreon episodes there are some intricacies we explore like he did have some changes like Rhaenyra's husbands and lovers and all sorts of things but all that said George imagine the dance this early yeah that's really interesting it kind of shows you the

direction he was always going to take it even though as far back as the 93 letter right interesting too because it also adds another layer right because bran is younger than sansa if sansa was named the heir to the north, or Bran had a larger claim than the North, how would that work? Yeah. Or even like, even if it were Arya and not Sansa, because remember like in the 93 letter,

they stress that Arya stays in Winterfell. Yeah. Et cetera. Interesting. And. Either or I'm like, oh, different note being added to these starts.

And it's not, I mean, it's not that deep, but interesting. But one day maybe it could, I'm like, oh, different note being added to these starts. And it's not, I mean, it's not that deep, but interesting. But one day maybe it could, I don't know. Where brother fought sister. Yeah. And we also have this line of like the world he'd only dreamed of in Gin's life. He could scarcely imagine.

First of all, I would not imagine having a life where I skin change things. So I feel that. I would not imagine having a life where I skin change things so I feel that but also a world he only dreamed of green dreams you know I see seeing the world through those dreams that's valid

I mean that's literally I read that and I was like oh you're oh you're stuck dreaming of everything you once wanted that's your life now. Just like Bloodraven says, right? That he thinks about the brother he loved, brother he hated, the sister he desired.

I mean, that's also, I mean, speaking of loss of innocence, is that not growing up? A different life than that of which he dreamed, right? It is. Brienne tries to grow up. He attempts to say his farewells while the hunt is out, wandering through the castle with his wolf. Old Nan, Gage the cook, Miccon the smith, Hodor, the stable boy, our first Hodor mentioned. And the man in the glass gardens gave him a blackberry when he visited. Hold on, I want to stop, and I love that. I love that little detail that he's like, I want to thank the man who gave me a blackberry.

Kind of like when he gets cakes from the Lles yes exactly exactly i know you love i know you love the harvest scene so he's a good boy he went to say goodbye to his pony but now oh my god i'm gonna cry now it wasn't his pony anymore he's getting a real horse and he just wants to cry too he runs off before anyone can see his tears or my tears and that's the end of his farewells he gets to his pony and he can't say goodbye and it's even worse for i guess with dancer in the next book but when he has to say good and then he's forced to say goodbye to dancer like that yeah yeah And then they also have to kill his friend the elk, right? And eat him. I hate these chapters.

I can't. I'm not even looking at you right now because it hurts too much. Yeah. No, Chloe's eyes are completely closed. Her face is turning red as she deals with the sadness. Is it really? Yes. Wow, different. So, what's fun for me about these paragraphs is that I feel so much. What's wrong with you so much me last

last episode summer is gonna die you right now what's fun for me is bran has to ruin his childhood yep yep well i mean like we were talking about this right with some of the house of dragons stuff in adolescence growing up changing saying goodbye and that's what this is right we're seeing a moment in bran's life where he has to say goodbye to the people that he feels he would have to be leaving behind to have taken care of him. Turns out that doesn't happen because seven years old is not adulthood. But anyways, yeah. That's true.

Whoops. He spends his morning trying to teach his wolf to play fetch in the godswood, and he fails. He fails. He fails even though he swears that his wolf is definitely smarter than any other dog in Winterfell. Yeah actually there's some very obvious signs that Summer is better than Summer throughout this entire book. You know what I mean? Like Summer is like... For example, John Dies at the End, the series, not A Dance with Dragons, but a different book series called John Dies at the End by Jason Pargan. There's like a dog that like, you know, like an animal that's smarter than they seem.

That's like a constant trope in things. And this book, it's like a cosmic horror sci-fi series. I've talked about it before. It's awesome. It's like dick jokes and acid. You should all read it. It's really fun. There's three books, fourth coming out in the fall but uh there's a dog that like has some you know not necessarily just a dog also like a spiritual being that can help

ferry you between the places you need to go and that is summer literally right like obviously that is the dire wolves but there are some definite signs here of his dog being smarter than everyone else's dog being a little bit cooler and that poor oh my god teaching his dog to fetch his wolf to fetch is like it's such a it's funny because it's indicative of his nature with the king's guard of how he's like i'm gonna be a great knight someday but just like you said he's not a fighter yet. Bran's strengths lie in climbing and being quick and small. And he's not necessarily there yet. And his wolf's strengths don't lie in that either. And there's also something interesting that, like, all the other siblings have chosen their dog names at this point.

Right? But he has not. Which reminds me of the free folk tradition of not naming your kid right away. Yeah, waiting two years. And then he names it Summer when he wakes up, which is even interestinger. It really adds to those Northern themes, in my opinion. It does. That is really interesting.

I'd always thought that, like, not always. I'd have thought that the Free Folk don't do that because the two-year mark is right like when they could be turned but it is interesting that he waits that time i mean part of it is he's waiting for the right name to come to him which will happen john already got the good one yeah yeah the quiet the quiet doggo that doesn't say anything just like the weirwood yeah also his uh direwolf as you all know is white and like brand's like dang it that was the best name but i know my direwolf doesn't really match that but it was the best name yeah i mean gray one got gray you know like now he can't name it gray i don't think that was the like a great name it it's okay it is okay i think it works because of how rob is fast his speed and

like you know and the swiftness of his brain i would just never name my like a pet graven unless they were like i don't know racing horse they have like weird ass names like secretariat or american pharaoh right like it's got that sort of energy you wouldn't even have a dire wolf this isn't even a conversation you can have you're not from here from the north that's true i am i would have like a tiny ass dog so like the pug from house of the dragon yes another inbred animal i love that dog um brand tires on the fetch game and decides to go climbing it's his favorite activity he hasn't climbed the broken tower in weeks and this might be his last chance

because he's going to leave allegedly. He runs across the godswood past the frightening heart tree where he tells his wolf to go stay. He goes up the low branches, getting himself halfway up the tree. His wolf then begins to howl, staring up at him with yellow slitted eyes.

And then he stops. Bran has a chill go through him. He scolds his wolf, saying, You're worse than mother, and up he goes. You're worse than my mother. I mean, he should have listened to Summer.

Summer obviously knew something was off. I mean, Kevin's the only one here who seems to listen to any of the wolves, so. And she knows that, as we discussed during Cat, you know, Kevin's the only one here who seems to listen to any of the wolves. and she is that, as we discussed during cat, you know, that's like Sandra,

you know, prophetic, cat Sandra. And gosh, I mean, summer knew something was up. Cat hates that he climbs. She often would say he could climb before he could walk when he was a baby.

And Winterfell was such a labyrinth to explore it had grown over the centuries like a monstrous stone tree maester lewin had once said its branches were gnarled and thick and twisted its roots sunk deep into the earth that felt really significant in terms of like obviously trees the rearwood trees etc are such a big part of the story and the magic of it but it also made me wonder like is is winterfell like built like off of a tree or something and also the tunnels right we've discussed the tunnels with like gindel and gorn or something before but it also makes me think like what if winterfell is a little like ithaca you know where odysseus uh odysseus's home yeah yeah with the tree in the middle and i don't think like it's only just a

tree in the middle it obviously seems much more intense than that i really like that like the symbolism of the tree the heart tree necessarily being the literal heart of all of this. Because, I mean, the island of Ithaca really, overall, is home. Right? Like, it symbolizes home. That's where Odysseus gets to share his life with his wife and son and finally rest because he's off on this huge mythic trek never to come home, which is kind of what Bran embarks on. Yeah, they're all on a huge mythic trek. to come home which is kind of what brandt embarks on oh yeah they're all on a huge mythic trek literally every character a long outside they have been as got like gone pretty

much as long as odysseus by now if you think about it 20 years i don't want to think about it so when he was perched at the sky brandt could see all of winterfell in a glance it spread out beneath him, only birds overhead. He could perch for hours among the rain-worn gargoyles that stood over the first keep. Seeing the men with wood and steel in the yards, the cooks sending the vegetables in the glass gardens, and the girls gossiping by the wells. So that line about him being among the rain-worn gargoyles,

that kind of makes me think of Tyrion a little, just because Tyrion is described as a gargoyle a couple of times by the books. And also, this moment where you're finding out this is what Bran likes to do when he climbs shows how he might become quite accustomed to being in the Weirwoods for a bit, right? Like, because what he loves about climbing is exactly what the Weirwoods for a bit right like because what he loves about climbing is exactly what the weirwoods and skin changing gives him access to which is you know just watching brandon like reality tv shows i think little voyeur he loves love island i think he would i really do talk about odysseus's home love isle of faces um my god talk about a circle um i i do think there's something with the gargoyles but

there's also something that brings to mind that like every early description we get of any of these great keeps have gargoyles on them all of them have gargoyles george fucking loves gargoyles god damn george gargoyle lover does he like the animated show gargoyles i love i bet i bet george likes that show i mean it's 90s late 80s right or early 90s i don't remember i'm not gonna look it up i don't want to feel old we don't feel it we're not doing that tonight being on top of the castle looking out like this made Bran feel like the lord of the castle in a way Rob couldn't even know, he thinks. And he knew all the secrets of Winterfell this way. Even some things Luwin didn't know.

And it's cute to watch kind of Bran's, just the people that have raised him. You see old Nan and Luwin brought up so much in his chapters. And yes, Ned and Cat raised him. But Luwin and Nan are who raised him let's be real those are the two that spent the most time shaping who he is and we'll get into that so much more as we get to clash true true there was a covered bridge that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower across to the second floor of the rookery brand new about that and he knew you could get inside the inner wall by the south gate,

climb three floors, run all the way around Winterfell through a narrow tunnel in the stone, and then come out on ground level at the north gate with a hundred feet of wall looming over you. So you had mentioned, Eliana, the idea of, you know, Gendal and Gorn and all these different little secrets about Winterfell. This felt so significant when I read it. This felt to me, I'm like, oh, so we're going see this in the Winds of Winter, or in A Dream of Spring, or maybe we've already seen it, but during the Long Night, I feel like they're gonna really use this passage. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. This feels, first of all, this is very much still an exposition chapter. It's giving us a layout of Winterfell, but that feels like setup or something significant.

That's a lot of detail, and I know George loves detail. Thank you for this Mario Kart shortcut. It's totally that. It is, or Crash Bandicoot side quest. Yes. Yeah. And even here, Bran can see all of Winterfell and its secrets. Secrets many other people don't know. So when he gets access to the Weirwood, like you said, as he starts to, you know, develop that power,

those secrets are going to be wider and bigger everywhere. Yeah, Bran is just like us, being like, did Harry Steffles spit on Crispine or did he not? What happened during Don't Worry, Darling? I still don't know what it means. I don't think he did. Anyways, so. That's a whole new podcast. That is, oh my god, I'm sure people are covering that. That's its own

movie, to be honest. Kat was terrified Bran would slip, understandably, fall, and kill himself climbing. No matter what he told her, she once made him promise he'd stay on the ground, and he kept that promise for like a fortnight until he climbed out his window when his brothers were asleep. He confessed his crime the next day and Eddard ordered him to the godswood to cleanse himself.

Guards were posted at his door that night to make sure he reflected on his actions, but the next morning he was nowhere to be found until they found him asleep in the upper branches of the biggest sentinel. Ned was mad, but he also thought it was hilarious mood he made bran promise just don't let your mother see you climb this scene was so fleeting that i almost like didn't think about it but a it reminds me of when the girls fall asleep with ned praying and the gods was absolutelyaying for Bran and praying for their family. Oh, so sweet and sad. But it also makes me think that his punishment was to sleep in the same area as the Weirwood. So when we sleep, we're very subconsciously different than when we're awake, right?

Like, it's like it's nourishing a whole different side of us, mind and body full. Bran's given a blatant connection to the Weirwood immediately. It's spiritually interesting. He has to remain in the very quiet of the Weirwood where that Weirwood can see and hear his sins. Like a forced confession, right? Like he's going to confession where his priest is saying nothing because this priest is a tree. You can't hide from its a tree you can't hide from its roots you can't hide from its branches it sees everything it's like that huge hard drive

you really can't you know you can't get out of there without it knowing and seeing you and seeing the things you've done so that connection right there i mean that's yes all the children spend time by the weirwoods but to be silently spending that time with a weirwood and for it to be called out right like those dreams like as you're saying regarding being asleep i mean dreams were a big part of the whole thing so very interesting very interesting what does it mean what does it mean well cat has an idea of what she thinks some of these things mean she turns to the others like old Nan to stop Bran, who tells him tales of bad little boys being struck down by lightning while climbing,

and how crows come to eat his eyes. Sometimes Bran would actually take corn up to the tower where the crows nest, and they'd eat from his hand, and none of them would eat his eyes. That is like... all the crows? Who do you think is in those crows several eyes at once maybe a thousand of them even they all like corn as we find out from his dream

corn corn they're into it corn corn I love that the language here I just want to go back to it bad little boys being struck down by lightning while climbing and how crows would eat their eyes. Euron? Atop the high top?

Well, even atop when he fell. Literally atop anywhere. Atop anywhere. It's a Euron line. Again, I do think Euron and Bran's plot are pretty connected, right? Yeah, yeah. There's this guy, I don't know if you guys know him, his name's Porquinton from the Not A Cast podcast,

and he has a blog. Tell me more. I don't want to. He's written extensively, though, about Euron kind of being like, you know, a failed Jedi kind of situation. Like, you were in training. You were in training. You were the chosen one, Euron. And that, like Euron

says, I dreamt I could fly and I fell. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And then the crow's eating his eyes. I mean, that might be the little boy on the tower who fell, struck down by climbing. Interesting. And, yeah, no, absolutely, that's all going to come back one day. I mean, Bran is definitely the connection there for Euron. They have the same, you know, boss. That's all going to come back one day. I mean, Bran is definitely the connection there for Euron. They have the same, you know, boss.

That's his ex-boss. That's his boss. It's just like, I think I've literally said this before. It's just like Kung Fu Panda. It is Kung... Anyways. No, but we... I'm pretty sure we've had that discussion.

Anyway. At one point, Luin makes... Oh my god. Luin makes a pottery version of Bran, dresses him up, little wig, throws him down in the yard to demonstrate what could happen to little boys. Catelyn's propaganda has gone too far. I see why people don't like her. Bran laughs but says he's not made of clay and he never falls, which is important considering this chapter. I just thought that was so funny.

First of all, never say never, Bran brand because that's how stories work next i just love that lewin's idea is like let's make a little clay figure and dress him up like him like who do you have scary who did he go to who did he go to he's like can you make me little brand clothes just like a workplace you know he went to micken first and micken was like this is literally not my fucking job like at all he like went to someone he's like or can i get a little bit of clay I just I love Maester Luwin I love Maester Luwin for doing this and then like can you imagine he's like

come here come here watch he just throws the little doll off that's the comedy I need the guards would chase Bran to get him down but none of them could climb as well as him, so they never won.

He loved this, like a game with his brothers, almost. He loved to take off his shoes and go barefoot, get into the crevices stone by stone. He loved the feeling afterward, the sweet muscle ache he'd get. Yeah, no strength. I see Eliana. Interesting. No, that wasn't what I was saying.

I was saying he just doesn't practice martial ability much well that boy does eliana he loved the way the air tasted he loves the birds the crows the sparrows the ancient owl atop the armory he knew them all what a good lord of the birds his favorite favorite place was the Broken Tower, though the tallest tower in Winterfell that had once been a watchtower before it was struck by lightning instead of fire. That seems significant based on what we just heard about the little boy climbing and then being struck by lightning. What does it mean? It had collapsed inward, never being rebuilt.

So, I get it. I get it now, now right of course he's thinks of himself as brand the broken and it's the broken tower it's him just like him not dead it's broken but maybe not hopefully he learns to you know maybe brand the broken will be brand the rebuilder oh that's a good name i like that better others in the fandom have pointed out this imagery of the lightning on the tower and even possibly people being thrown from it reminds them of the tarot card the tower often interpreted kind of as crisis and destruction but maybe even liberation sudden unforeseen changes to come which that is that is literally this that is this chapter a second part though that feels important is i think the tower itself even the symbolism of the

tower this one specifically is generally depicted in tarot as having a crown at the top of it which resembles kind of ambition or holding power and the card itself shows people being flung down away from power and ambition which might be a big part for bran right like his story is about not to quote game of thrones the climb you know the climb or miley cyrus yeah so to me though the tower itself does also feel like a reference to the Tower of Babel, which I know we've talked about a little bit here and there. But Genesis, the origin myth ideology that comes from this is that the beautiful Tower of Babel holds the united human race that speaks kind of a single language. And these people end up trying to migrate eastward.

They come to a land and agree to build a city and tower with its top in the sky close to God. But Yahweh, seeing their city and tower makes it so suddenly they can no longer understand one another's language. So they've come this far. They've united this far because we're all stronger together. And God sees it and says, oh, hell no. Oh, no. So they get scattered across the world, disallowing them from uniting altogether. And then from there, their job is to rebuild it, which is not unlike Tikkun Olam. You know, the idea that the world is full of us and sparks and all the sparks were scattered from a tree of souls.

And all of us must go find these sparks and repair the world and put the sparks together that we each have a spark. You're one of mine, buddy. But I think there's a couple of readings of the Tower of Babel thematically in stories, and some of them are more charitable than others. Right. Like one is punishment and pride from God's eye that people dared to rise so high to heaven however the other is putting things back together which not unlike the starks not unlike these different people of westeros i mean after all this war and suffering and several books they'll need to bring things back together and there's even another element of that idea of the the hammer of the waters right striking below the neck and separating the south from the north and the idea that this tower is the tower of babel

even looking north looking at the others and the free folk for example who were separated from the north i mean are the free folk that different no they're the same people they just live on the other side of the wall they're just sparks that were scattered to the wind and separated so i think this tower holds so much imagery and you know it also brings to mind that there are other towers in this story there's a certain tower i mean this is a tower where you could say bran has his real birth right he's thrown off this tower and it leads to him becoming alive and being able to see everything but john's born in a pretty broken tower himself right the tower of joy very true very true that is interesting all those connections between the towers and and seeing it as yeah a symbol of both pride right there's a little bit

of pride right the brand story here right he's he's got a feeling that he could never fall and hubris yeah he does because he's like but what if i just hung upside down in this gargoyle and peered in the window and i'm like never in a million years would that be me but absolutely and uh you know you're saying you're talking about these ideas of hubris and reaching too high obviously flying is going to be eventually something that comes up in brand story i wonder if there's something we will eventually see of like the story of icarus right that's something also about being struck down from getting too close to the gods and what you were also saying

about neuron fly too close to the sun. There are a bunch of towers there. That's what Pike's made up of. There and elsewhere, there are a bunch of towers, like, in the Reach. Like in Old Town. Yeah, and I do think he's going to reach there at some point. Chloe's over me. I'm over you.

Sometimes Ned would send Ratters in to clean the nests of rats out of this tower, but no one ever got to the jagged top of the structure except for Bran and his crows. You could only get in by climbing up the side of the tower, where the stones are super loose, or start from the godswood and cross over the

armory and guards hall, leaping roof to roof barefoot so the guards don't hear this puts you at the blind side of the first keep the oldest part of the castle covered by gargoyles that you could swing from one to another and really stretch really pull yourself into the broken tower we have a couple great lines here and he says he always took off his boots and went barefoot when he climbed it made him feel as if he had four hands instead of two i have to say four hands instead of two like a wolf yeah like not known for their climbing but no no literally not but but definitely like felt

wargish right to say absolutely and and i mean just to to real life popular culture it there are things like vibram five finger shoes right uh the whole idea of running barefoot yeah yeah running barefoot being closer to nature and it's the the natural way our feet are made to run you know or hot yoga or whatever bullcrap people do that are healthy good for you i'm not i'm sorry i'm suffering but whatever people do to be closer to like nature and like wholer healthier hailer what you talking about that reminds me of you know george is a fan of the lord of the rings right and i've heard that i have heard that and many ways wrote this in reaction to it and the hobbits the hobbits walked around barefoot though i i guess you know

the four hands thing because i was like trying to think about it i was like i guess brand doesn't really know what monkeys are and we just we just all know way too much we know too much in this day and age. Bran was moving from gargoyle to gargoyle, as you were saying, over the path himself when he heard a voice. He'd never heard voices in the First Keep. And unfortunately, these are real voices right here, right now. A woman's voice says, You should be hand.

Oh, she has been trying for so long, so long to get this man to take this job. While a man's voice responds lazily that it isn't an honor he'd want this conversation then turns to the king and the woman says robert loves the man like a brother to which the male voice responds that robert can barely stomach his brothers but the woman says stanis and runley are one thing and eddard stark is another robert will listen to stark and i will say do you love jamie's joke about sanderson redley it slaps it's hilarious pretty funny i mean it's true and i will say like i love

that george puts these names in in these conversations and because bran has no fucking clue but we like if you're a sharp enough reader you go wait a second aren't those names i just read about it's very formative to put in our brain who these people are yeah and we do we meet renly soon enough in this book yeah it's it's really well written like everybody complains how many characters there are right or things to remember but to me i think it's maybe it's adhd but like the way he reiterates them throughout the story, I feel confident in it. You know, like I feel like I know who each person is. I do respect that.

He does a great job of weaving all these names in. I don't know if I do or if I don't, but I don't. It doesn't bother me at all. All right, let's keep going. Yeah, people. I've always hyper focused on like some of the smaller people enough that I'm like, oh, that's an interesting plot, enough for me to remember, you know? There are some tiny characters I don't, but I think he does a good job of that. The man says they should count themselves fortunate.

The king could have named one of his brothers, or Littlefinger, as hand. Ew. Christ. Get a job. He continues and says, give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones brand realizes suddenly oh my god they're talking about father dad no dad no he tries to inch his way closer the woman continues on but the man grows bored of the conversation she's trying to puzzle out does lord eddard seek to move against us and the man actually defends Eddard's actions.

They move to talk about Jon Arryn and his wife, Lysa Arryn, who is Catelyn's sister. We learn that she fled King's Landing when Jon Arryn died, even though the Lannisters agreed to foster her son. George wrote this so well in vague, like I said, and you don't really know whether Cersei and Jaime are innocent or not like it does give you suspicion so it's such a great reveal in Asos in A Storm of Swords when you learn oh shit it wasn't them because you spend the first three books thinking they're villains just in time for them to turn into their own POVs in reality they're acting really blasé about this

so it wouldn't affect you if you haven't read this story and just thinking about it. It's something that I think, after you've read the story a few times, you start to think about it more. But it really shows a lot of our understanding of these characters until we can get to their real POVs. Absolutely. It's, as you said, really well done. And on first read, right, like knowing what you know from those catlin chapters it does feel like they're guilty i'm like oh they're guilty but when you reread it it doesn't make sense that they're like i don't know who cares like especially jamie he's like why should i worry i'm innocent and i'm like jamie jamie do you not know about planted evidence all right do

you not know how the justice system works as someone who's been accused by it this whole time? Anyway, so yeah, it turns out they were afraid of Liza having no proof all along when it turns out it was Liza who did it! It also sucks because as you're starting to see, right, especially this reread, a lot of the pieces of the puzzle were there. Liza and see, right, especially this reread, a lot of the pieces of the puzzle were there. Liza and John, right? That is the reason that Eddard is going south.

They don't realize it. And it's kind of funny that they speculate upon why would Ned go south? And they suggest, I don't know, duty, honor. And those are Tully words, as we know, but also Arryn words, right? High as honor. and those are Tully words, as we know, but also Aaron words, right? High as honor. When in a way, what makes him head south really is that other Tully word.

It's family. It's both, as he was convinced, for the station of his children, but also for, again, the family that Ned chose, which is Jon, Aaron, and Robert. He goes to learn what happened to Jon and to protect his brother, and he kind of fails in both, but it's okay. We love him anyway.

Interesting how much weight, that's true, but interesting how much weight those family words really hold for both of them. High is honor. Family, duty, honor. Like Jamie said, I would rather have an honorable foe than an ambitious one

yeah i mean turns out the ambitious one is the one that does everyone in yeah the man says mothers are all mad oh jamie if only you knew and the woman who is identified as this man's sister says the king loves her not the man says with Eddard he sees a man who would sooner die than betray his king, but the woman disagrees, reminding him the man in question betrayed one king already. What happens when Robert dies and Joff takes the crown? And the sooner that comes to pass, the safer we'll all be. My husband grows more restless every day. Having Stark beside him will only make him worse. He's still in love with

the sister, the insipid little dead 16-year-old. How long till he decides to put me aside for some new Liana? I do feel bad for her and all that. I'd be pretty annoyed if someone were like, what, 15 years, as we've discussed

before, stuck on like a dead 16 year old didn't even like you back when i was younger i think it was such a more romantic concept for robert and now that i'm an older wiser not that much wiser now that i'm just old now that i'm an old bitch it's grosser then like it's sadder in a pathetic way and in a sad way. It's both. I was just sad before. Now I'm sad in a pathetic way for him. And it is the second mention of Liana that we get in the story. Our first mention is just a couple chapters ago at Eddard 1.

We'll get another Bran and Liana reference in Bran 7, but I thought it was great that he gets to hear this in passing and he doesn't put it together. Again, this is so sharp that it's from this seven-year-old's POV because he doesn't put together that this Liana they talk about is his Aunt Liana. You know, also because of the trauma, right? Because he gets flung out of a tower. I also find it really interesting that Ned and Bran both have their chapters

early on revolving around the tower yeah yeah you mentioned that before and i mean their their storylines are tied and likely it seems like bran might be the one who who brings up what happens in the tower right that is what happened in the show right now now, though, Bran is suddenly frightened. He wants to go back the way he came to find his brothers, but he has no clue what he would even tell them. He has to get closer, and Bran can hear the slap of flesh on flesh and laughter from the two.

And then he pulls himself up, crawling onto the roof next to a gargoyle to hear the rest of their conversation. And he, like, you know, hangs down from the gargoyle and again would not do that he doesn't hear much more of the conversation because now he's just hearing you know wet sounds soft sounds kissing and sees two naked people in the room the woman tells the man to stop but doesn't push him away and her eyes are closed moaning bran thinks she's being hurt um and bran realizes the

woman with the golden hair is, whoa, wait, that's the queen, and he must have made a noise because everything happens so quickly. She suddenly opens her eyes, sees him, screams, and he begins to fall, but suddenly he's caught by a hand, by a man. The man and woman go back and forth with, he saw us! And the man asks how old he is. And, you know, we've been through all this with the Jamie chapters before. Cersei didn't necessarily want to murder Bran. That was, that was Jamie. We find out in his POV because he was mad that his lovemaking got interrupted. But Cersei is mostly right. You know, like Bran has no idea what he saw. The danger really is in what he heard uh because he's

like oh god this is about my dad and george has before said that his heart most difficult pov to write is bran because he is so young and getting into that mindset but it is interesting how he uses bran being able to understand or unable to understand what sex is, right? And he's seeing it as a way to show Bran's age. But again, that means like, Bran had no idea that what he was witnessing was so taboo, that this is treason because, you know, Jaime does not pull out, and that siblings slash twins having sex is bad

because he doesn't know what's happening. His concern, again, is more around the fact that the queen and her brother are conspiring against his father yeah i mean he thought she was being hurt and she was in a good way in the you know that good dickin well we were still even in the fingering part we weren't even in that yeah exactly exactly and there's also something interesting in what he says when he pulls him up the first thing Jamie asks is how old are you almost showing you kind of on that deeper level Jamie's trying to understand Bran as the only child he would understand how like

Joffrey at that age or Tommen who's's about that age, right? Like, that's probably what's running through his head is, how old are you? Like, in his head, like my son's age? Damn. Yeah. Because he's not allowed to touch his sons. Well, and that's what that goes to show you in the next frame, that he's able to fling it so much from him

because he's not able to do that with his own bastard children. You mean he wants to fling his bastard children? Maybe. I mean, he wants to fling his bastard children. Maybe. I mean, he might. Have you met Joffrey? Jesus. Yeah, true. But he's more like Tommen's age, and Tommen's great.

You know, everyone's like, we love Tommen. I mean, I think that echoes later when you see how he treats Tommen. He's like, just go away inside, buddy. I'm sorry. Yeah. I don't know what else to tell you, but what I did. I mean, I think maybe he does think about Bran, though George makes a very conscious decision to never bring Bran into his thoughts.

He does, again, only once in his first chapter. And then he's like, that is actually not a regret. That is not a regret that I have at all. Other than regretting that it made things difficult between me and Cersei, but otherwise not a regret for him whatsoever. So Bran says he's seven, right? And we'll go into this classic passage right after this, before we close it out.

But I will say there's something about the way Bran feels seen by the queen. Like, and this might be a little bit of like the show seeping into my memory. But there's also something about the way Bran and Daenerys's chapters end up in these metaphorical visions, or even one to one visions with what's going on in the world. Bran can see kind of the past, the present, the future. Dany can see versions of it, rightations of it. But when they're in these visions, no one seems to see them while they see everyone else, right? Bran and Dany's visions are, you know, they're able to

see other things and see ideas, and those ideas don't really seem to see back. And, you know, it's like the Spongebob episode where Spongebob goes through everyone's dreams, right? Oh my god god but the language here that she sees him it reminds me of like even the white walkers in the show when bran is marked

and they can see him suddenly um while he's physically being seen it just reminds me of him connecting into the weirwood and being seen by others. Even Bloodraven. Yes. That is really interesting. And yeah, I do think, I don't know. I don't know how it's all going to play out. And maybe it will be like that SpongeBob episode. Exactly.

I mean, that's the wins winner. Bikini bottom. And he loves watching things. And that's what we're going to, I mean, we're going to explore that more. And I, I mean,

the next chapter, the next chapter really, really, we're doing acid for the, no, I'm just kidding. We're not doing it. I mean,

I don't know what's going to happen to you. If we do like you and your speed racer, you know, it was one time, two times. that I've molded into one time. That's what acid does to you. So we close out the chapter with... His fingers had dug deep gouges into the man's forearm. He let go sheepishly.

The man looked over at the woman. The things I do for love, he said with loathing he gave bran a shove screaming bran went backward out of the window into empty air there was nothing to grab onto the courtyard rushed up to meet him somewhere off in the distance a wolf was howling. Crows circled the broken tower, waiting for corn. It's a feast for crows! Corn! Corn! Corn! That's the real feast. So the chapter revolves

around Brynn, thinking that he has to leave his childhood behind as he enters this new chapter of his life, and by that I don't mean chapter two. You mean this coma? Yeah. By that I mean not even chapter three because it does not come to pass in that way. And his reluctance to leave it behind, right?

He's excited to go off, but he also turns out afraid to say goodbye to all these people and memories. And that makes sense. That makes sense that you don't want to leave childhood behind because you are seven years old. And I do not ask that of literally any seven-year-old. Coming back to what our friend Warren said up top

in regards to Bran's story and the loss of innocence. I mean, this is a chapter that is about change, right? It's about skin changing. Wait, no. But it is about change. And it starts with the introduction, like Bran's storyline in chapter one starts with the introduction of brand storyline in chapter one starts with the introduction of death and duty right through the beheading that is a loss of innocence in its way

and then the next chapter transitions into brand seeing sexual intercourse for the first time like with the beheading he does not look away even though he probably should have which leads to you know again all of all of this shit and it's the loss of innocence as he suddenly sees that well does that mean that the good queen isn't good if she's against his father and that the knights in the stories can't be heroes if they throw little boys out of towers well welcome to a song of ice and fire anti-heroes anyway um so again coming back to what warren was saying about mercy and loss of innocence i i think maybe that's the thing right like all of us have to grow up or or we should yeah clearly robert has not done a great job of that but people grow up they get older and the loss of innocence happens to all of us you know we all make mistakes we all have our sins

right and mercy is about understanding that all of us are guilty and showing kindness anyway and also you know as as you said we i have been thinking a little bit about the loss of innocence and it's the way it's reframed in stories especially in the wake of having wrapped up historic materials and maybe because someone posted on the subreddit like what do you think the themes of historic materials are and a bunch of people commented with the we're not doing your homework for you read the books they're like so you wanted us to write your essay for you and that was literally like half the comment was it really i need to look at that i saw it today actually i did see it yeah okay i love that it is though it is totally that reframing of innocence innocence innocence, loss. And I don't know, there's something. I'm on my Nisa Nisa kick these days, you guys. I'm all about that Nisa Nisa. And there's something in the way that Jamie takes, you know, he feels relaxed when Jamie says, how old are you? Because that's like a thing adults ask you when you're a kid, right? They say, how old are you? How old are you? Trying to relate to you to understand, ah, when I was that age,

this is the kind of being I was. So I will treat you as if you are that being as well. So like, Jamie asks, how old are you? And Bram softens and lets go of his arm, ungouges his arm and trusts him and looks to him trustfully like, oh, this person will not hurt me. And he says, I'm seven. And Jamie goes, huh, throws him out of a window. And he trusted him almost like a sacrifice, right? Like almost like a blood sacrifice in a way that in his trust, in his full big eyes looking at him, Jamie throws him to the ground and he dies, but he rises, magically rises, right? Like, because of the sacrifice of Catelyn later

that she fights off the motherfucker. Yeah, yeah. And Summer. And all of these little things about Bran's little death here in a way. But not that. Not that, not the masturbation one. Yeah, like Jamie's lack of little death. Sorry. Yeah, lack of little death for Jamie. My God, no little death for any involved. but not that not that not the masturbation one yeah like jamie's not that innocent sorry yeah lack of little death for jamie my god no little death for any involved um i would love to see the

escape scene actually for jamie and cersei from this tower truly but that feels like a magical spell right like a protection like he that's why he rises the way he rises like there was pure innocence in the way that he gets thrown to the ground he had no you know aries had it coming that's a big take i'll put out there today aries targaryen had it coming absolutely brandon not no this is his tower you guys were fucking in it like get the fuck out yeah well that's interesting because as you said right he's trusting jamie and how that all comes back to him first of all i think seriously james were like well that killed the mood that's part of the escape from this time they're like that's a boner killer um and jamie feeling like he does not care anymore about what he does to Bran,

as we see in his chapters, that ties to his own loss of innocence. Because you said, yeah, Ares had it coming. Jamie did too until Bran stopped in. Jesus. It being as it did. Yeah, you had the little death. Bran's little death interrupts Jaime's.

Whoa. We'll talk about that little death a little more next episode in Bran 3, which is wild. Yo, Bran 3 is really, like, I know we're not doing acid for Bran 3, but if we did, it would be for movie Bran 3. Or House of the Undying. Yeah.

But we're not gonna. No, I think that would be a really bad episode brand 3 or house of the undying yeah but we're not gonna no i think that would be really that would be a really bad episode if we put that out bad episode in multiple ways i promise that that would be a bad trip for all that listen yeah and not just the kind of bad trip that brand has just now i don't know i think that uh you know we'll see him next fall oh oh oh I'm elbowing Eliana right now I'm elbowing her I've never gotten to do that while we made a bad joke together that was fun we should do that more often

we should make more bad jokes more often well we can't wait to make more bad jokes with you next week for brand three in a game of thrones our 167th Asylum of Ice and Fire episode and that's being vague next week for brand three in a game of thrones our 167th asylum by some player episode whoa and that's being vague i moved on other episodes yeah we also have again a bunch of other episodes both on our patreon and regarding his dark materials and if you want to keep up with all

the episodes that come out be sure to subscribe to our social media you can find us at twitter.com slash girls gone canon that's c-a-n-oN. And maybe you have thoughts to send us. Maybe your name is also Brandon and you would like to celebrate the advent of your chapters. You can send us an email at girls gone canon at gmail.com. And if you're not already, make sure you subscribe to us on your favorite podcast streaming platform, whether that's Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Podcasts, Acast, Stitcher, iHeartRadio. We are on a bunch of them, and I guarantee you'll find us wherever you search. Mostly.

And you can definitely always find us, though, on our Patreon, patreon.com slash girlsgonkannon, where we do, again, have those bonus episodes for patrons in the Stranger tier and above, the $5 tier and above, as well as events, weekly events, monthly events for patrons in the Thunder tier and above,

where you get a lifetime access to our Discord. That is the $10 tier and above at our Patreon, including hot D discussions weekly, including monthly brunch and happy hour. As always, I have been one of your hosts. Chloe. I forgot my name for a second.

She's skin changing. She doesn't know who she is right now. And I have been another one of your hosts Eliana We'll be back next week to trip Balls and brand three You're not that kind of trip But basically

Yeah it's a little of both It's a little of both Goodbye