Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 172 — ACOK Bran I

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

The prince trapped inside the tower, escaping through dreams into the wolves that are trapped behind the dead man-rock.   ---   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 172, Bran and A Clash Of Kings, chapter 1. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. I love Clash. I'm so happy. This is such a great book and I just like feel someone has to give it love, the love it deserves, and it's gonna be me.

I'm gonna love you, A Clash. And it's going to be me. It's going to be you. I'm going to love you at Clash of Kings. It's going to be you. I think that at the very least, like I feel like Bran's chapters really benefit in Clash. Not every character does, but like Bran's chapters in Clash, a lot. There's a lot. The front of it, he is so resentful. And the end of it, it's a different kind of awakening. Also, that kind of moment as a pre-teen

where you're like i knew i was right i knew the world was bullshit uh i love that part of brand's chapters it comes early for him right because we don't i guess get that five-year jump he's just like and also i mean a lot happens to him at that age right a lot a lot well before we jump into bran a little bit of housekeeping up top we just recorded a patreon episode on the king's guard it will be out for all patrons in the stranger tier that's the five dollar tier and above this month october was when that was for and then this this new month if you're listening to this it is most definitely november we will be recording another special patron episode for you which will be about the queen's guard and i'm a little excited for that one the king's guard was fun i had fun with you on that but not to be biased

it was hard because we kind of kept slipping into things that are queen's guard related with with uh that episode but yeah november we'll be focusing a little bit more on the queen's guard before we start digging into like the bazillion people who were king's guard you think there would be like not that many because you know it's a very prestigious institution there's quite a few it's a dangerous job it's also a dangerous job that's true lots of health risks like death and not great health benefits i can tell you that and no life insurance would you believe well i mean i guess the theory is you don't have any family after that so who are you going to support no one i mean yeah that's

that's the goal if you're doing the job right westeros is destroying the family as we know it here in America and we at Girls Gone Canon and Applebee's UA okay anyways that is not all the fun that we will have this month we want to give a very special thank you to our friend Maddie who has hosted some amazing House of the Dragon

discussions over at our Discord for patrons in the Thunder tier and up that's the $10 tier and up that's the 10 tier and up and besides our hot d discussions which were a blast and we can't wait for season two glad for a break had a blast covering it with you all but ready uh ready to get back to bran but we do a monthly brunch slash happy hour this month november's has not yet been announced it will be announced hopefully in the next couple weeks for you and patrons alike but patrons in the thunder tier and up get access to discord and to all these little events and things popping off there

digitally which it's a blast it's really fun we got to meet a few patrons this week too this past week and that was a blast yeah new faces fun time fun time i don't know if we have like too many emails and tweets of note we did get one from our friend dog plus one asking if this is not brand related but i liked it so we're gonna talk about it asking is a white claw tall boy can like should it be called a long claw yay or nay oh a long what do you think chloe i i mean i'm for it yeah i said i like it yeah i approve now i want long claw but made out of white claw it's just a white claw tall boy yeah oh you mean you want to like do it yeah do you remember you remember like people would do that challenge you know

they chug a bunch of beers and like make like a wizard staff with them yeah I was saving franzia boxes for a very long time because I wanted to make boxed wine armor I'm serious when I say now I want a long claw that could be you made out of white claw that could be you this could be me this could be you

absolutely so that that's a tweet of note that we got. Thank you, DogPlus1. We also got another email from now Brandon the emailer, because who said that is the best title that they've gotten so far? We did it. We did it. That's what I've got for you right now.

Thank you, Eliana. Thanks. That was Eliana on the emails and tweets of note, everyone. And now for the weather. Now for the weather. And you know how it's looking in our weather, Eliana? It is looking stormy and full of lightning because

we're going to jump into our lightning round. I was like, that's next book. It's very, it's clashing outside. It's clashing. We have a big storm on our hands here. Not a storm of swords, but a storm of lightning round because we need to finish off a Game of Thrones. When we left off with Bran, we had a handful of chapters left.

So back after our last Bran chapter in a Game of Thrones, Sansa 6, Joffrey shows Sansa the heads of traitors in King's Landing. Daenerys 9. Daenerys tries to revive Drogo, of traitors in King's Landing. Daenerys 9 Daenerys tries to revive Drogo, but by morning, he's gone, and she must help him to go. Tyrion 9 Tyrion must act as Hand of the King. Jon 9 Though determined to desert, Jon is brought back by his brothers and given a new goal to go beyond the wall by Mormont.

Catelyn 11. The King in the North. Daenerys 10. The knight comes alive with dragonsong. And we are clashing our way into some kings and clash kings in the prologue where on Dragonstone, omens and portents light up the sky, Maester Cressen must choose between enabling the son he loves or giving him some hard truths. Hmm. Arya I. Arya travels north in disguise as a little boy, going to join the Night's Watch.

And Euron reveals her father was actually supposed to have taken the Black. Sansa I. Sansa is settling into her new life in king's landing where joffrey celebrates his name day trying to drown a man in wine who hasn't done that at least once on their name day let's be real tyrian one tyrian has his first day at the new job and boy does it suck that guy wants a brontosaurus burger when he gets home. He is done. That leads us to Bran I in A Clash of Kings, where the Red Comet is hanging over Winterfell and Bran ponders its meaning. He's resentful of being stuck in his body, stuck in Winterfell,

much like the wolves who've been caged up as well. He's learning to play, okay, somewhat nice with the phrase, but his dreams take a lot of that emotional capacity, whether Lewin can try to turn them off with a sleeping drought or not. Yes, and the chapter opens with Bran preferring to sit in the cold, hard stone window than his feather bed. The walls are pressing in on him when he's stuck in bed, and he feels that Winterfell feels like his prison. when he's stuck in bed and he feels that Winterfell feels like his prison. So you very much now have a prince, because he's a prince now, stuck in the tower, right? Imprisoned by his own body, but also kind of by the people who love him. And we see that more and more as the chapter progresses. It started towards the end of the last book. It kind of reminds me a little bit of Arienne

being imprisoned by some of the people who love her because, you know, Ariane was up to foolishness, as we know. But also at the same time, you get this great parallel between Bran and his sister, Sansa, who is currently also imprisoned and another princess in a tower, but in King's Landing. There's a lot in this chapter. And it really funny because for for my favorite pov characters to be them and a couple of other povs right people that i really really like to read from in this series i don't really think about them as similar and this chapter is where it starts to come out the parallels with rick and aria and sansa and bran and their duty and the way they're supposed to behave and being caged right in the face of these trappings of power.

I really, I feel it in this chapter and some of that similar story that they're both traveling on. Mm-hmm, absolutely. Even the call. They've got a lot of similarities in the way that they kind of long for the songs too and are stripped of the notions of those in different ways. They just want their family. Outside Bran's window, the world is alight.

Candles and fires glow in the windows across the keep, and he loves to watch the stars and listen to the wolves sing. He dreams of them. Often, lately, he can almost understand their howls when they sing. Not quite, but almost. Like a language he once knew, but had forgotten. but is kept from it and he's he's only experiencing it through again those lights across the windows reminds me a lot of stories that george has shared of his own childhood growing up in bayonne where he feels really trapped uh by that small town i don't know how small it was like i've i've

been like us to jersey city i'm like there's a lot of things here. But there were presumably less things, I guess, when George was younger. But he felt very trapped there. And stories were his way of escaping it. But also he likes to share that anecdote of he would look across the river, right? At the lights on Staten Island and imagine that it was some magical place across the river, which is absolutely hilarious when you hear him tell it because you're like, oh, Staten Island and imagined that it was some like magical place across the river, which is like absolutely hilarious, you know, when you hear him tell it because you're like, oh, Staten Island. But yeah, it really evokes, I think, George's own childhood here.

Just for context, in 2020, they had about 70,000 people living there, give or take. Like a lot or a little? living there give or take like a lot or a little i mean it's if it's grown since then so like like they own census come to me google they own census 1970 just for fun god i guess that was when censuses like started yeah it turns out that's crazy oh great yeah i mean like social security is much newer than we all think, you know? It is smaller. I mean, so I grew up in a town that it was, the city was like probably about 50,000 people to 60,000 people when I was living there. But then when I grew out of that, when I moved out probably five years ago, they're now at

like 100,000 people. So they grew, but realistically, Bayonne had about 70K, somewhere in the range of 70,000 people. So they grew, but realistically, Bayonne had about 70K, somewhere in the range of 70,000 people. Yeah, so... No, like, even in 1970. Okay. I mean, that seems pretty sizable, in my opinion. I don't know.

It's a medium. It's a medium. But I get it, though, because there aren't... I mean, that is still very small. Like, for context, we're currently both in a city of like 2 million people. That's nothing but a drop in the bucket, right? Like, there are so many people and stories and opportunities here. And it does get tiresome in the same place with fewer opportunities.

Sometimes it's nice and sometimes it's good to embrace, but... Yeah. There was probably, I guess, less to do at that... I don't know, less to do at that time. It was presumably smaller as well. The wallers may be scared of summer, but Bran is a Stark of Winterfell with wolf blood. Old Nan said so. So he's not afraid.

Instead, he feels that summer's howls were long, sad, full of longing and grief. But shaggies were savage. They echo through the yards, sounding more like a great pack than two wolves. And we have this quote. Two where they had once been six. Do they miss their brothers and sisters too? Bran wondered. Are they calling to Greywyn and ghosts to Nymeria and Lady's Shade? Do they want them to come home and be a pack together?

It's so sorrowful, especially up against the end of A Game of Thrones, which in a lot of ways, the dragons being born feels almost triumphant, right? In the face of the hardship that Dany has had to face her entire life. So having the dragon song, the night be filled, the song of the dragons, the music of them in her last chapter after she has lost so much. Drogo and Rago. And then here the magic begins seeping through every single chapter that we've touched in some way or form so far. As we get to Bran's chapter, it's the wolves that are howling their mournful tune.

It is interesting. their mournful tune. It is interesting. It sounds like the song then, what you're saying, like, in general, no matter what it is, it is a song of loss from all of these different magical creatures. Mournful. So when Bran asked Roger Cassell why the wolves howl,

Cassell says, who can know the mind of a wolf? And I'm like, hmm, a skin changer. I have this answer. Where will we find one? Where will we find one? North of the one north of the wall i think his name is veramere that's who we need here uh yeah we can't look anywhere else nowhere else roderick had been named castellan in cat's absence and wasn't really up for answering questions he was like yeah whatever kid i'm gonna move on farland kennel master, says that the wolves howl for freedom.

They don't like being walled up. They belong in the wild. Gage, the cook, agrees. They want to hunt. They probably smelt prey. Lewin disagrees. He thinks they're howling at the comet, that they think it's the moon. Stupid dogs.

It's not the moon. Osha laughs and says that, no, no, no, the wolves are smarter than lo and they know truths that he has forgotten he asks what the comet means then to her and osha says blood and fire boy nothing sweet quite frankly i'm always destined to just agree with osha she knows some shit you know she's the kind of person that if if i saw her on a trail and she's like i wouldn't go that way if i were you i'd be like you're so right turn it around turn it around that bitch knows things and coming right off the prologue just a couple chapters ago she's not wrong right it means blood and fire and what's coming uh that said there was a line where we left off in that last brand chapter, right, where Luin warns Osha against filling Bran's mind with lies that has such similar language to

another maester that we've already visited in Clash of Kings before now, in Crescent's prologue, that he says about Melisandre and Dalla talking to Shireen. Ill enough that she's filled the head of the mother with her madness must she poison the daughter's dreams as well he would have a stern word with dala warn her not to spread such tales interesting that we have these children being told that this magic's not real but now it's beginning to come true in front of their eyes in each chapter word in regards to oh she just seems to know things and that's kind of funny like all the all the maesters i mean i get it right like they they think that this is right

it makes sense this is what they're taught the truth is especially because they actually did try to find magic they if anything like they were the ones who wanted to believe it the most and crescent as opposed to maester lu, definitely thinks that there is kind of like existent magic to Melisandre, and that's what scares him. For Luwin, he's just like, nothing, there's nothing. Unfortunately, life just kind of, it's just what it is, mundane. It is interesting that Osha, I mean, who told her, right? The Targaryen house words, backwards. I think that's definitely my favorite of the comet interpretations that we hear, though,

that she's like, that's blood and fire. That's's what it is because that is kind of what a comet is not in real life but yes not the blood part but it's basically just a hurling you know lit up disc in the sky yeah of ice i guess actually it is literally ice and fire if you think about it because it literally is like a hurtling chunk of what space ice that's going so fast it's burning up um we're gonna get to like one of my the the interpretation i think is fun in a second when bran asked sept and chale like what he thinks as they sort through the scrolls taken from the library fire i would love to read those scrolls i just have to say i'm like are they? I think Tyrion wanted to read them too right? Yeah I want to read them now.

I'm getting real antsy about it. So Chael says it is the sword that slays the season. He replied. And soon after the white raven came from Oldtown. Bringing word of autumn. So doubtless he was right. The old man did not think so. And she'd lived longer than any of them.

Dragons she said. Lifting her head and sniffing. She was near blind and could not see the comet, yet she claimed she could smell it. It'd be dragons, boy, she insisted. Bran got no princes from Nan. No more than he ever had. Hodor said only, Hodor. No more than he ever had. Hodor said only,

Hodor. Actually, fun fact, George has said, technically the comet is still there in the sky and he could bring it back at any point in time if he needs to just suddenly end the books and be like, and the comet crashed into the world and it all blew up.

So that's always still a possibility for the book ending, according to George. I will say there's something kind of fun about old nan and osha giving sort of complimentary descriptions of what the comet is even though they're like not really communicating but also that like they're far away from daenerys right so old nan feels kind of maester amony here like how does she know how does she know about the dragons but also sept and chael his answer is kind of interesting too about like the sword that slays the season it's kind of fun when you think about like the long night and

light bringer yeah and there's definitely something about old nan having possibly met dunk and possibly met egg egg and five coming up here in the she wolves of winterfell maybe or something along those lines some sort of meeting. It seems that they would have known one another. But I love the line that, and it really just, it opens it up wide that you see that now that Bran is a prince, there are different things happening in this chapter.

And there's the part, Bran got no princes from Nan, no more than he ever had. She was never going to call him Prince Bran. Which makes me think of Aegon the Unlikely, though. Because if Aegon and Dunk had visited up there, it's just an interesting put line. Bran got no

princes from Nan, no more than he ever had. I bet she probably called him Aegon or called him whatever else name that she knew him by. She wasn't gonna call him Prince. Fuck Aegon. She was like, you're just a kid she could have even met amon also you know on his yeah on his way to the wall right because that's a pretty long journey they gotta stop it's interesting that her and osha both have the same

stories about beyond the wall it is it is they both believe the same things well if she's related to hodor slash walder right and he's got some giant's blood it could be from north of the wall maybe so or have family from there i loved the sword that slays the season it very much so brought the long night imagery to mind for this yeah that's definitely my favorite part of it it makes me think of winter but like not in that way not in the long night way, but like in terms of like the sword, that's sleigh's the season, but like S-L-E-I-G-H

instead of sleigh. Oh, like sleigh bells ring-a-ling, ding-ding-a-ling-a-ling too. I think it's just because it's around the corner. So. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. I do feel that way. So the direwolves continue to howl,

and everybody complains of sleepless nights, but Bran doesn't mind. Shaggy had bit little Walder Frey, so Roderick confined him to the godswood. And Bran's like, sometimes Winterfell played tricks on him as if he could hear the godswood right below his window, which isn't right at all.

And I'm like, no, you're just in your wolf buddy. Like you are just listening through your wolf. i thought that was such an obvious line of he's like there's no way i could be hearing this it must be the echo in the yard that is yeah that's absolutely what it is it's like getting closer and closer each time it's almost there at his consciousness yeah he can see the comet hanging in the outside window and the gargoyles black shapes against the dusk each time makes me wonder like is this like a remnant but i don't think so because i think by now george would scrap 93 with tyrian anyways watching over the first keep brand remembers running along them but does not remember falling just having fallen also he had almost died when

he sees the gargoyles now, he gets a tight feeling in his belly. He can no longer climb, walk, run, sword fight. And now he would never be a knight. Summer had howled the day Bran fell, and for long after a while he recovered, Summer mourned for him, Robb said. Shaggy and Greywyn joined in too. The wolves knew when Ned had died as well and howled then. Greywyn joined in too. The wolves knew when Ned had died as well and howled then. But who are they mourning now? Bran wonders. Had his brother, the king of the north, been slain? Or his bastard brother, Jon, fallen from the wall? Or his mother? Or his sisters? Or was this something else? What do you think? I mean, like, so all of these people kind of die. I'm hoping none of, like,

his sisters do. it doesn't seem like they will based on uh the show that these are based off of but are they like seeing the future what do you think is going on there is something interesting there in the order of things right his brother the king in the north his bastard brother john his mother or his sisters i used to a long time ago be like a aria dies person but i really don't think she will and i used to though really think hard into it like the needle and the you know you know like when winter's done yeah they'll find you frozen with a needle between your fingers as you know like i have different thoughts about a song of ice and Fire than I did eight years ago. I mean, shit changes. You change as a person.

But I don't think it foreshadows some, or I don't know, as far as on a meta level, I think it's obviously, there's a little bit of foreshadow and play from George to Polka Dots. I do think it's the supernatural elements. I don't know. I think something about, I mean,

the birth of magic feels prominent. They could be mourning Khal Drogo. He does seem like such a nice guy. I mean, I'm just saying if they're singing along with the dragons, I mean, they could be. Yeah. I mean, they're all in tune to the same magic is what I'm thinking, or the same like wavelength.

Yeah. It could be any of these things. It's interesting to think that this is a foreshadowing of a bit, right? And then maybe some of it is like a red herring because like, yeah, the king of the north does die. John does die, but he does come back. His mother does die, but she does come back. And I feel like there's a little bit of that foreshadowing for John throughout. I mean, I mean, this entire fucking book, to be honest, like even in the last chapter,

I mean, I mean, this entire fucking book, to be honest, like even in the last chapter, the idea that like his brothers have to bring him back and save him from his demise, which would have been deserting the watch. But then the next time he deserts the watch is when his brothers kill him instead. So it's more just poetic. I mean, it's how George writes these things. Plus it says like, or was it something else? And when you say, oh, or was it something else? And I'm kind says like or was it something else and when you say oh or was it something else and I'm kind of like it was something else. Well and it's like George leading us to the fucking water like or do you guys think of your

own idea? I'm not gonna say it in case you. He's such a little teacher. He probably doesn't even know what it is himself. No he's just like fucking with us. So Bran thinks if I were truly a dire wolf i would understand the song he thought wistfully in his wolf dreams he could race up the sides of the mountains jagged icy mountains taller than any tower and stand at the summit beneath the full moon with all the world below him the way

it used to be oh bran! Bran cried tentatively. He cupped his hands around his mouth and lifted his head to the comet. Ow! Ow! Ow! He howled. It sounded stupid.

High and hollow and quavering. A little boy's howl, not a wolf's. Yet, Summer gave answer, his deep voice drowning out Bran's thin one and shaggy dog made it a chorus brand harood again and they howled together last of their pack oh god what the hell someone call an ambulance please call 9-1-1 if you're listening to this episode call 9-1-1 tell them chloe's house seven days ago or a year ago or whenever you're listening safety time travel your time traveling now through the weirwoods to save

chloe oh my god it's a choose your own adventure it is sad though like also but i'm like is it are you the last sleep pack anyways right but i i also just love this because it is just such a relatable little kid thing to do in my opinion the the harooing with the the dogs as someone who still does it as an adult i recently tried to see if i could get our dog friend strike to howl with me i was like the strike howl and so i'm just howling and strike is not howling so some dogs do you know uh not strike anyway he likes to sing you got to get him to sing i maybe he just like couldn't hear me you know because like i i know that like huskies tend to like to sing so that's why i was like why is he not you have to actually sing with him though oh it's

he likes to real song. Like, he likes, like, if you just sing a song to him, like, strike. Yeah. And he'll be like, ow, ow, ow, ow. They'll try to sing along. They like to sing. They're beautiful. But I guess, I mean, some dogs will respond to just howling.

They'll be like, oh, yeah, we were doing this. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. For those of you wondering, we are talking about a famous dog. This is Strike, Zach from Game of Owns Dog. talking about a famous dog this is strike zach from game of owns dog he is a famous dog in my opinion i think it's famous i know a lot of dogs but that dog is fucking famous yeah celebrity so there's this line in this right it opens up with like if i were truly a dire wolf i would understand the song and you were talking about the dragon song earlier and i'm like okay so yeah as you're saying like they're

all hearing the same song like is this you know what he understand like is there a chance that brand by learning wolf speak can hear the song of ice and fire yeah maybe that's the part he's forgetting the forgotten language oh I could sing the song of a heisenfang maybe maybe hey head one of the guards hey head

I don't even know this man I forgot about him I believe he dies in fact oh big son let me just confirm. He is injured in the capture by the ironborn. We don't actually know what comes of him. I would imagine since he doesn't come back up and Ramsey,

well, maybe, I mean, maybe George is saving him to come back, but who knows what has happened to Hay Head. But Hay Head, one of the guards peers in and he's like, what is this? My prince? Why are you just yodeling into the distance? Hay Head, one of the guards, peers in and he's like, what is this, my prince?

Why are you just yodeling into the distance? And Bran, first of all, Bran hates being called prince, even though he was Robb's heir now, the king in the north. Which, uh, it kind of reminds me of Lucerys in House of the Dragon. There's that great moment in an episode where he says he doesn't want to be

the lord of Driftmark, because that means everyone's dead. The guardsman retreats and Luwin returns in place saying he should be asleep and the wolves make enough noise without his help. And Bran's like, well, I'm talking to them. So you don't actually get to tell me what to do if I'm a prince, remember?

Luwin says he can have Hayhead carry Bran to bed, but Bran resists saying i can do it myself micken had hammered a row of iron bars into the wall so brand could move about the room with his arms if he needed without anyone it was slow it was hard it made him ache but it meant he didn't have to get carried around his room i was really happy on this reread to remember that micken installed those bars yeah giving him some sort of freedom because this chapter more and more becomes about how he feels trapped and how even that little line, you know, in our other series that we have covered, His Dark Materials, there's something that happens to a main character where they lose a magical-ish ability and they can get a magical ability back in a way. They just have to work 800 times as hard to do so and it becomes something you have to really work towards and for bran that's this we

don't always think of our limbs as being fucking magical but they are the way that bone and body and marrow and flesh all forms together and muscle to let you like move it is kind of a magic and now i love that it makes him ache but it means freedom for him right like it is a worthwhile pain to build i like what you're talking about there where you're learning to build those other muscles right um and that is something that happens you know you'll see people who who do rely more on their upper body uh when they can't use their lower body as much or vice versa, right? Some people who learn to become dexterous with their feet.

And he's going to be so swole on like, I guess, the upper parts. But also there's something that's interesting with like how Micken is using the, you know, hammers iron bars into the wall. And that becomes the way, as you were saying, that Bran can escape that prison in a way uh from from his bed and iron bars being that freeing aspect when there's a lot of times iron bars are associated with prison in general right you you think of

the image of the iron bars on like the or the windows, and those are the cells. So there's something fascinating going on there in which it's turned on its head and becomes that sort of key, that element of freedom. Yeah, and there's even, I mean, if Bran is the, you know, wonderful king in the south of Westeros in the end, yada yada yada, Fisher King, yada yada yada, and Game of Thrones, if Bran as king is a thing. There's also kind of a Westeros metaphor in there, right? Because everything they do moving forward for Westeros and what his rule will probably be a lot of isn't going to be an easy rule. It's going to be sewing together a nation and it's going to be painful and it's probably going to be hard and it's probably going to make an easy rule. It's going to be sewing together a nation, and it's going to be painful, and it's probably going to be hard, and it's probably going to make everybody ache, but it's probably going to be worth it, right? So I think there's almost a metaphor for the future of

Westeros hidden in there too. Interesting. So then there's another line that Chloe strongly relates to. Tell us about this line, Chloe. Anyway, I don't have to sleep if I don't want to, which is the ultimate Chloe line. That is, if I'm ready to just not go to bed for the night and fuck off and play video games, I have been heard to say, I don't have to sleep if I don't want to. Lewin tells him, though, that even princes must must sleep which sometimes my husband says even princesses must sleep which I don't agree with that either and Bran says do wolves dream Maester Lewin? Lewin says well all creatures dream Bran but not like we men do and Bran then says do dead

men dream? Thinking of his father Lewin says some say yes some say no but there are no answers Yeah, he's like, they're remarkably silent on telling us whether or not they dream. But I think from what I've heard of studies that people have done, it sounds like, yes, mammals dream. It's less clear like it's less sure that like fish dream you know or like reptiles like those might not stream yeah absolutely and you i mean you'll see it with dogs right you'll see like dogs switching being like while they're sleeping which is very fun i will say as to whether or not dead men dream, we're told by Beric that he doesn't dream. Melisandre hardly ever sleeps, so presumably she does not dream. But we don't know very much about the ice whites, so it's possible that they do.

They retain memories. Are they driven by one other person's dream is interesting. Like, are they driven by, like, one other person's dream is interesting. But it also makes me think of this idea of, you know, do dead men dream? In a way, yes. In the aspect of how people can carry on the dreams of the dead and continue them to manifest the visions of the people who live before you. Like, for example, Chloe likes to talk about Ned's dream of settling the gift um and whether or not sansa could be able to fulfill that or even like we think about this this idea that was introduced

in house of the dragon but was kind of hinted at strongly as friends of ours such as joe magician like have theorized even before that show came out etc that aegon uh could have had a vision of the need to unite west rose against the others right and it is called aegon's dream right this his dream of the song of ice and fire and how this dream is sort of dictating everything like years and years later and and that idea i love that because then you have some of those things that are put down on john snow from j or mormont for example uh as well as corinne halfhand as well as any man that's basically his father in this story and you have that famous line right of rhaegar that it does not do to speak of roads not taken talk of my return, different dreams for the realm,

different dreams for legacies that can't be completed just in one lifetime. Exactly. In the dark crypts below Winterfell, a stonemason was chiseling out his father's likeness in

granite. I pointed this out because I know we were talking about it last week. We were like, what fucking happened to that stonemason? And they did. This guy is chiseling at the whole chapter. Interesting we don't know anything about him before now. I would have liked him to be named just for fun.

George, can you go edit it in the very beginning? Just give him a name? Because that would say to me that we know him. But I'm gonna hope that he knows what ned stark looked like yeah does he die i just like to see some credentials you know what i mean yeah i mean does he ever finish they'll find out you know like if it's bad they can at least get another block of like granite right and start over as opposed to remember that that uh portrait of christ that some old lady was

like yeah i'm totally qualified and next thing you know it looks like i don't know it looks like a fuzzy worm is that not what jesus looked like not like that kind of fuzzy worm how do you know um exactly anyways so so brandt asks do trees dream do robots dream of electric sheep and lewin says no but bran argues that he's dreamt of a weirwood that calls to him though he says that the wolf dreams are better where he can smell things and taste blood i'm like oh do trees dream i'm like look it's foreshadowing oh my god lewin is like tugging on his collar sweating profusely. Right now he's like, what the fuck did you just say to me?

Because Bran's like, I like my dreams better. The wolf ones where I eat people and things in the forest and, you know, taste blood, which I love. We love the blood part. Luan's like, oh my god. Luan's like, what does this mean? He's like, he means like steak tartare, right? Like that's what we're talking about. Poor Luan because he is like what does this mean he's like he means like steak tartare right like that's what we're talking about

poor Lewin because he is like blood sausage he's like this is not what I fucking signed up for when I came north this is not at all what I signed up for he's like this is way way beyond the things that parents should be dealing with not me Lewin says to him

maybe you should go play with the other kids more cause that's gonna normal him out then you should go play with the other kids more. Because that's going to normal him out. Then he does, and he chooses the reeds. Ha ha ha. As if this is going to change our weirdo, ritualistic, cannibal prince son from eating people in his wolf dreams, right? Or in real life. Bran reminds Luwin, I commanded you to send the fray boys away. And Luwin's like, you know I can't fucking do that that they have to be fostered here per your mother's last email and i cannot expel them if

i turn them out where would the boys go and brand's like i don't give a fuck yeah right first of all he's like i don't care second of all they have houses they have a house they can go home to the twins away from winterfell is where i want them to go to be fair that is that is the benefit of having a home you know being like if you don't want someone there you can tell them you need to get the fuck out i'm gonna leave my fucking house yeah there's nothing better than that it's a great feeling get the fuck out of my house i'm going to bed with you gone lewitt says that neither he nor the phrase asked to be attacked by the wolves by the way and brand reminds him that okay but it was shaggy dog who attacked them not summer who is an angel and has

done nothing wrong in his life uh he's like summer never bit anyone that totally brings to mind the trident in the last book with uh sanza and aria Lady never bit anyone. Lady never hurt anyone at, uh, Derry. And like we said earlier, I can see where Bran is trying to balance being trapped in, like, his own prison. Not like Sansa's gender prison slash

King's Landing prison. And the anger that Rickon and Arya live by, right? They have different rules that they get to live by in their life than Sansa and Bran get to live by. Sansa and Bran are doing their duty. Bran has to be the Prince of Winterfell. He has to be lordly. He has to welcome

people. Rickon gets to run around with his wolf biting people and screaming all the time and it's appropriate. It's like, that's just Rickon. He's wild. He's four. And it's what makes the next bit so compelling as Bran starts to get so resentful and losing himself to howling, right,

for all to hear in Winterfell. He's like, here's your baby fucking feral prince, your tiny lordling. Do you like him now? Do you like what I am now? Like, why can't I just do this? I'm the prince here. Also, he's like eight years old, nine years old, and I'm like, yeah, that seems normal. Yeah, absolutely. Again, as a person who does this at my age i'm like yeah that seems normal

am i rickon are you bran i guess so i mean you are younger and yeah i i really like the parallels that you've drawn here between sansa and bran, right? I mean, if their storylines go the way that we think that they will, then it makes sense for us to start seeing ways in which they resemble one another. But absolutely. And yeah, I mean, Rekin's just running around doing whatever. And Bran feels responsible for him, right? Like, he's like, I'm very young. Why am I also raising my younger brother?

I'm so sad and alone. And Lune's also like, yeah, I'm trying to, like, not raise a cannibal. He's like, one out of two is enough, okay? Yeah. Bran's like, Summer's innocent innocent and loon's like well summer saved your life though but by ripping a man's throat out and i'm like whatever happened to context which i think is a big part and theme of these books right like in general like yes what like was this a bad thing now like look at it in context was this a bad thing for example

jamie lannister killing aries everyone's like this was a super bad thing that he did as a kingslayer and then you're like oh but aries was gonna blow up the city you're like was that still a bad thing and i think that's kind of what's going on here with summer which is kind of funny and ironic considering that brin is like this because of jamie anyway it's funny you say that because then it's like was it so bad if he had just done it if he had just done what blown up king's landing anyways okay well who was visiting that day you know i mean yeah i mean he was like this is my house get the fuck out of my house yeah this is where it could be exactly i don't know i mean brandon

aries they're like the same it's the same picture. Is that what you're saying, Chloe? It seems like that. It's not what I'm saying. Why are you putting these words together? Bran wargs into Ares in the past and that's why Ares is the way he is. I said Bran was the Night King. What didn't you hear? Eliana, I'm getting very mad

with you. Yeah, Bran says maybe we should just put the walders in the godswood and then the dogs can come inside this is a great idea yeah he's also kind of annoyed that like he's the prince and no one's listening to his demands even though his demands are ridiculous which i guess that's your flip side right look at the sansa chapters and the tyrian chapters and you have a king who's being fucking ridiculous and everyone's listening to them like bran if everyone listened to you it would probably not be great right now no you see that it doesn't always go well it's a good idea oh my god lewin says the wolf's wood is full of danger bran had wanted to go ride his

horse out he wanted to take Dancer out to the Wolfswood and Luin's like the Wolfswood's full of danger last time you were there that should have told you like we can't you can't go out right now Summer would save me Bran insisted stubbornly princes should be allowed to sail the sea and hunt boar in the Wolfswood and

joust with lances oh that's some Ken Rockbridge shit yeah yeah I was gonna I was gonna say that that like oh my god what happened last time we hunted boar in a wolf's wood bad not great and joust with lances

I mean he wanted to do the melee I guess and Cersei was like yeah do it interesting idea go ahead and do it sail the sea or well she didn't say do it interesting idea go ahead and do it uh and see and or well she didn't say do it she said don't do it right because that would make him want to do it even more and then that you won't yeah sailing the sea that's what he wanted to do with going east yeah yeah yeah damn that's great interesting stuff but as we're seeing the more power that you have i guess that i mean let me

look at it in the context of robert now i'm seeing like you know on one hand brand's autonomy is being stripped away both due to his age but allegedly for his own good right they're saying like oh because of the way that your body is you're not allowed to do these things he's being denied his desires like hanging out with his wolf but also he can't even leave and go outside. No one's willing to like accompany him so he can like at least see some of the world. He has no power over even who he spent his time with. He has no power over even being able to run away and go see his wolf. But then now that you see it, like it's almost that

idea of power is a prison, right? Now have this idea he's like the lordling and therefore has to be protected just like at that comparison right with robert robert also more and more is like imprisoned by his position absolutely he never even really wanted it any of it he really didn't and like not in like a cool like oh my god he didn't want it but in a like he really didn't want it and she got someone else but no one else really wanted it either i think except for i don't know stannis but that didn't make well and that's the bigger issue with eris dying right is like people don't obviously know that aries was about to blow up the city except for me and i stand by no i don't stand by what i said but people don't really know what

aries's true goal was so jamie murdering aries blows up the succession crisis where everyone's like sure why not just put robert on the throne who cares at this point nothing's real anymore but everybody else looks at it that way they're like how could you have done this horrible thing it kind of no one liked the guy when you say it like that it kind of makes me think of like would jamie ascending the throne actually have gone a little differently than we think right because like i mean he has some morality if he's like well let's not blow up the city would jamie being someone who wanted the throne have been interesting considering what we keep saying of like well i mean sometimes the people who want the throne they want it because

they have good ideas like would it have been a like a much grayer aspect than we think it would have been i mean less like syrian yeah tyrian has a lot of that thomas cromwell energy right of like manipulating and trying to keep things going certain ways to keep things afloat and just like keep the city from being murdered uh so there's almost that vibe there as well that i'm like i just can't see jamie's character it might have been given to james and targaryen yeah i think it was split up a little bit between the two yeah yeah well lewin reminds brand that you're only eight you're not a man grown and that's part of why you're not allowed to go, along with all the other things.

And he says, and then Bran says that he would rather be a wolf, living in the woods, sleeping when he wants, saving his sisters, and fighting beside Robb like Grey Wind. But I'll be a wolf fighting alongside him. He's like, I'd tear out the Kingslayer's throat with my teeth. Rip, and the war would be over, and everyone would come back to Winterfell. It's a good thought it's good not that uh you know ripping out the kingslayer's throat would actually fix anything as we find out i thought that was interesting that it's the first time that he really references jamie yeah like in his thoughts like this he's coming back to that compartmentalized bit of jamie

and obviously he knows that the Kingslayer is warring against his brother so that's bad but he still hasn't come out of it obviously. He won't until I'm sure what Tiwau will get a great reveal from him of him finally understanding the world as he beeps into the tree.

I feel like it must be in Winds, right? Yeah. He begins to howl. Ow! And Lewin gives up the fight and leaves him to his howling. After a while, it's less fun to howl alone, so he stops resentfully and thinks, I did welcome the Walrus.

In fact, it was Rickon who had wanted them gone. Rickon had screamed that he wants his mom and his dad and Rob, not these strangers. Soon had screamed that he wants his mom and his dad and Rob, not these strangers. So Bran had to welcome the phrase and offered them meat, mead, and a seat at the fire. Lewin said he did well. You know, that is before they played the game.

Not that game, that'd be lost. Oh my god. Damn it, Eliana. I knew you were gonna say that too. I had a feeling. I thought about it all day. As soon as I read it in the book, I was like, this bitch is going to say the game. Absolutely. The game was played with a log, a staff, a body of water, and a great deal of shouting. The water was the most important part, though. You could use anything to cross, and you didn't have to shout. But without water? No game. But without water, no game.

So they made do instead with one of the poles in the godswood, which the Walders had never seen before. They're like, I don't understand this hot water that's bubbling in the ground. But they thought that actually makes it even better. Both are named Walder Frey. There's Big Walder and Little Walder. And there are actually tons of Walders at the twins, as we all know. They're all named after their grandfather. And fantastic line from Rickon, who goes, We have our own names at Winterfell.

Rickon told him hotly when he heard that. Funniest shit in the world. Because I'm like, okay, Rickon, grandson of Rickard, and Brandon number 5,423. With your own names. Whatever, Rob slash Robert. I'm like, they had, just don't make fun of them for differentiating. Waltier, Walder.

Okay, Brandon, Bran, Rickard, Rickon. At least the girls have like what seemed to be their own names for a while, right? Yeah, they have real names. Those are real names. So they lay a log on the water. One player is Lord of the Crossing and has a stick. And when the other players come to him, he must say, I am the Lord of the Crossing. Who goes there?

And then the other must make up a speech about who they are and why they should be allowed to cross. And the Lord can make them swear oaths, answer questions, and they don't have to tell the truths, but their oaths are binding unless they say mayhaps. The trick is to say mayhaps so the lord doesn't notice, and then you can try to knock the lord into the water, but only again if you said mayhaps. Or you were out of the game. The lord gets to knock anyone in the water whenever he pleases, and is the only one who gets a stick. So in the out of the game. The Lord gets to knock anyone in the water whenever he pleases and is the only one who gets a stick. So in the end, the game is about shoving and hitting people and lots of arguments. Right off the bat, there's so much to be gleaned

from that passage alone about the Freys. A, their politics, and how they teach their children politics. Someone came up with this game likely a older generation of fray children of walter fray's kids came up with this game maybe god who knows you know it could be uh one of the maybe like walter rivers it could be black it could be any of these guys that came up with it but it reminds me a little bit of succession i won't go into details but the idea of the kids there is a conversation about one of the kids getting locked in a fucking dog

cage I thought you meant boar on the floor no boar on the floor too this could be it but that's also it though like it is literally a game a demeaning humiliating game where one person gets to be role playing as Walder and hitting the rest of them with a stick until

they say the right things that they get to pass. And it is teaching them like the politics of the land they could possibly someday own as well as them beating the shit out of everybody else in the succession so they can own it is really what the game is like that's straight up the game it's very cruel it's like screwing your neighbor basically and you can see why all of these children all of walder frey's children his grandchildren their cousins their blah blah their blah whatever their kin all of his kin that's why they're mostly bloodthirsty because that's how they were taught they're taught that if you want it you need to get those scraps don't just sit there and beg for the scraps make the scraps happen even if you have to lie for it yeah exactly exactly that i mean that's that gives them merit and you can see why they little walder yeah merit fray you can see why little walder is and big walder both are like

so obsessed with their place in succession because that is where they have what they've been taught like from the moment they knew any of the words of their house their parents have been drilling in them you're this number you need to be this number can you imagine that's an immense amount of pressure to be born into that family i cannot imagine it is a very big family and i literally cannot imagine and yeah it's it's also like just so as you said right there's like no camaraderie at all everyone's pitted against each other I can see like the kids of Winterfell being like huh what a weird fun game like where we throw each other in the water but like if that's what you're taught is the culture of your family like

then that's a different thing as you said like very competitive yeah and also as a kid like it's the worst kind of game it's overtly physical and like i sucked at any games as a kid that were overtly physical i didn't have great motor skills i they like did not develop for me in time for that so i was like embarrassed at recess i didn't play those kind of games except for Foursquare I fucking loved Foursquare I was the king of Foursquare anyways but you know Bran I mean it's embarrassing the next part of like he doesn't even get to play right he he's the judge how many times I played a game where I since I wasn't physically fit to play it they were like you can just judge it you could just be the judge. That's the ultimate, like,

we don't really actually know what to do with you or want to play with you or figure it out. So you just be the judge. It's a horrible, humiliating thing. And we're seeing, like, Arya. Arya's getting bullied, right, amongst the boys on the road on the way to the Night's Watch

for her lumpy head and because she's the smallest. Poor Bran. He doesn't even get like straightforward obvious bullying. He just gets ignored. Yeah. Damn. In his own home. Yeah, in his own home!

Where he's the prince. Yeah, prince. Yeah, excuse me. That's treasonous. He's the prince of Winterfell? Yeah. Also, obvious foreshadowing with the mayhaps now. Probably not if you're reading it for the first couple times but uh you know you didn't say mayhaps simon didn't say exactly it is very it's a mix of like simon says and i don't know throwing people into the water

little walder was the lord uh i guess more often than not his name is a misnomer of course he's tall and stout red-faced big-bellied while big walder was sharp-faced skinny and a half a foot shorter little walder says that big walder is 52 days older than him but he grew faster they're cousins not brothers which i mean yeah that would be unhinged if both of their children were named Walter. But, I mean, not saying that, like, someone would never do that. Someone would never name both of their kids the same name. But anyway. Agen. Agen.

Oh, you're talking Rhaenyra and Alicent? Or Lyanna Stark? Oh, I was thinking Rhaegar naming. He's like, oh, Agen and Agen. And I think, I actually do think it's possible that he did that. But anyways. I believe it. Big Walder was the son of Jamos,

whom I haven't heard much about, but he's got a great name. He's a son of Walder's fourth wife, the Kraykhal, who has good hips. And of course, little Walder is Merit's son. Y'all know Merit. And they're not the only walders sir steverin has black walder who is fourth in line and then there's red walder emin's son and

then there's also bastard walder who isn't able to inherit walder rivers and then there are also the girls walda also there's waltier gets corrected as like, it's a tier, Wal-tier, not Wal-der. And they're also just like, I don't know, Wal-tier doesn't really matter even if he's older because for some reason he's like not in the line of succession. They explained it in the chapter, but I didn't feel like capturing it. And also I love this passage now because it is a perfect way of showing that all of these succession laws, they are all very confusing, right? It's so hard to keep it straight, especially with the phrase, but they're just like an exaggerated example to really show that it's all hodgepodge. And it's also all bullshit. Yeah, I love how easily it

shows that they're like, well, I have exactly this many steps I have to get ahead in order to win. Basically, it's like, here's how many cheat codes I need to do. And they're just like recanting it out loud. They're like, here's how well they're like here's how anyways can i memorize this one yeah exactly and not only that but then you have the more collected version of this in a feast for crows with little finger and sansa with the eerie right and like the long winding explanation there's something interesting in that that passage is more like a big gotcha reveal about harry the red herring where this one is kind of more of a like ah gotcha this is just how the phrase are yeah and also i mean with all the different things and it changes so easily right with just like one letter for example when rob is like um

so yeah i guess if bran is theoretically dead that would make sansa air even though otherwise it would mean that bran was air but if he's not there it's sansa and he's like but i we don't like that she's married to a lancer so let me just write a letter and now john is air right like everything's just it's all gravy yeah roderick had allowed the boys to share john's old bedchamber which Bran also hates he is forced to watch while the Walders play with Turnip the cook's boy and Joseph's girls Bandy and Shira as Bran gets to be the judge but as soon as they start playing they forget all about Bran yeah so I'm like oh interesting that they make him the judge who decides, like, who gets to be the lord, maybe?

Which is very much what a, oh, I don't know, maybe a lord or a prince or, I don't know, a king gets to decide? Eliana, you goddamn beautiful bitch. I'm just going to plant a big old kiss on your head through the camera. Please do not. I'm kissing you through the camera. do not i'm not right i'm kissing you through the camera get out of my house you're just so smart you're so smart god damn it god damn yeah that's great that's a perfect position for him to rule from he might not like it for the moment but maybe he's a reluctant ruler oh my god just before long the noise draws all the children in winterfall out and they're all ignoring bran getting muddy and laughing and he thinks if i had my legs i'd knock all of them into the water no one would ever be lord of the crossing but me

oh well you're gonna get some wings instead so let's see what happens then can you imagine like the birds come and they just schwap people into the water like the tulapi uh that's i was thinking that actually that and the harpies i can't wait for this his dark material shit to happen this year finally rickon comes running in wanting to play and shaggy dog follows bran had told shaggy he has to stay behind but little walder smacks rickon with the stick and in shaggy goes flying to stay behind, but little Walder smacks Rickon with the stick, and in Shaggy goes, flying over the plank, attacking Walder. Woo! Good boy. Good boy.

There was blood in the water. The Walders were shrieking, Red murder. Interesting. Yeah. Lots of good, lots of good foreshadows to come. It is interesting. Red murder. Yeah. Redrum. Rickon is, is of course cackling in the mud

and chloe feels that this reminds her of the time she actually wasn't there but it's a story i've told her but when i was standing at a bus stop once cackling after i ghosted my cousins and i was very drunk and i was like i did it and I'm just cackling at the bus stop by myself. And Hodor lumbers in saying, Hodor. And after that, though, Ricken actually likes the Walders, right? He's like, this was fun. They never played Lord of the Crossing again, but they did play other games like Monsters and Maidens or Come Into My Castle and Rats and Cats. And with Ricken, they'd plunder the kitchens for pies and honeycombs they'd play with the pups

they'd race around the keep and even train with Roderick on wooden swords definitely lots of great stuff in the games there because I'm like rats and cats so they're the rats we're the cats well I was like they're the rats kind of like the rat

king and the rat cook and like the guest right stuff eating, but also cats, funny enough, because of Arya. Oh, and here I'm thinking of Cat D'Lynn with the rats and cat, the other phrase, and killing cat, and monsters and maidens, and come into my castle, which is played generally after a wedding. I was gonna say, which is played generally after a wedding. I was going to say, which is played generally by what, Peter and Sansa? Hey. Anyways,

there's also something like, even though he's a babby and he's not quite developed yet, Rickard reminds me of his uncle Brandon so much, just that he has the wolf blood, right? He's wild. He's really, he likes other people he's kind of outgoing where Bran has that certain quiet sadness and depth to him of Ned not on the age factor obviously but just in the personality factor well that's kind of nice that

like Rickon is the one who's more like Brandon even though Brandon shares a name right you see it with the Walders that it's this idea that just because you have a certain name doesn't mean that you have to be this kind of person, right? The names are, sometimes they're just names. You are who you are regardless. Like John. Yeah. Motherless, bastard, damned.

Rickon takes it a step too far, though, when he took the Walders into the sacred vaults beneath Winterfell where Eddard's likeness is still being carved and that pisses Bran off he shouts that Rickon had no right that this is a stark place but Rickon doesn't care it's so sad because it's like Bran is obviously upset and it is a little fucked up

you don't just take the phrase you don't just take the phrase down to the fucking crypts. Like that's a special place. But I mean, to him, it's like you're leaving him now too, Rickon. Like he can't keep up. You're going ahead and you're going away. And again, to quote House of the Dragon, isn't there anyone left in winterfell on brand's side

my god he's alone isn't there anyone left and also like why is everything being taken from me even in my own home like my freedom my family all the things that are sacred you know he has no power over it yeah like what's the point of being a prince if you can't fucking do anything he's being promised a crown he's being wings, and none of them are giving him anything for freedom. Absolutely. My poor son. Maester Luwin comes into Bran's room with a green jar, and Osha and Hayhead come with. Osha scoops him up and Luwin says he's made Bran a sleeping drought with, which Osha says will stop his dreams.

Bran drinks it. It's thick, chalky, but there's an aspect of this that's kind of, I don't know. With the wanting to not dream, it reminds me a little bit of Dany in Daenerys Nine, right? In her grief when it comes to Drogo. And she says to sleep, to sleep, and not to dream, which is a sort of flip on Hamlet's to sleep to sleep perchance to dream. So I don't know. I'm kind of wondering if there's something there

regarding Bran also feeling his own grief, right? Which would make sense. Especially he gets no reprieve. That's for sure. That's true. He doesn't. He's just left alone with his thoughts now. Yeah, even more intensely, it seems.

And Osha's words here kind of seem like they might drive him to that because she tells him i've seen you speak to the heart tree maybe the gods are trying to talk back and you should listen they are and they are like you can't just drown them out with this green fucking drink though i i thought this was great that at the very front of A Clash of Kings, we have Bran drinking this green juice. When at the very near dance, like his chapters in dance at the end of the story so far of what's published, we have him drinking something else, right? Something red. Some red juice. So it will be.

So here, this is something that's meant to stop his dreams and their tracks, right? Like they're trying to suppress the wolf within and there's even a line that jojen says in this book he says and this is just of green seers in general because the color green also i'm like wow you're giving him a green drink so he doesn't have green dreams will it work is it reverse psychology what's in it i gotta know uh Jojen says on Greensight metaphorically, It's given to a few to drink of that green fountain will still in mortal flesh, to hear the whisperings of leaves and see as the trees see as the gods see.

Most are not so blessed. But then, of course, Bran actually does that. That was a metaphorical drink. The real drinking comes in A Dance with Dragons when he has the weirwood paste. What is it? A paste of weirwood seeds. Something about the look of it made Bran feel ill. The red veins were only weirwood sap, he supposed. But in the torchlight, they looked remarkably like blood. He dipped his spoon into the paste and hesitated. Will this make me a green seer uh the journey to being a green seer right it starts in this book it does i mean i you know what you're saying about the this green drink which first of all what is it is it like green machine by like naked juice

you know is it is it kale is it spinach like what's in this you know people have green drinks all the times nowadays started with this chapter actually brandon's a trendsetter and it does kind of feel like this green drink does start to unlock those green dreams right i mean i'm kind of like is it the combo of the singing together and the whole like them saying it will like keep you from having any of your own dreams. And therefore suppresses his own voice and clears the way then for the wolves to connect. Yeah. And the comet. And the dragon's birth.

I mean. Yeah. Things are aligning. Things are aligning. Absolutely. Well, Bran's drowsy already when the sleep takes him he once more finds himself in the darkness moving beneath the green gray trees their gnarled oaks i'm walking he thought exulting but part of him knows that it's a dream but it's better than the truth of his bedroom

it's dark but the comet lights his way he's moving on four good legs. They're strong, they're swift, and he feels the ground below. The smells fill his head, alive, intoxicating. The hot pools, the rich, rotting earth, squirrels in the trees. The squirrel reminds him of blood and bones, cracking in his teeth. He had eaten half a day past, but there was no joy in dead meat even deer uh concerning um his brother elopes the walls a familiar scent it's strong it's earthy it's black as this coat they search for prey for a way out for his mother his litter mates his pack and never finds them and i thought that was kind of funny the the searching for his mother, right? Because it's a double entendre when it comes to the wolves. On one hand, it's searching for the mother that was killed,

you know, on the side of the wall, right? With the stag's horn. So in a way, it's also kind of looking for Ned. You know, we know that they were looking for Ned in that one dream in the crypts, but also they're kind of looking for their mother, who's not here, Catelyn. As well as also looking for the

wolf mom that is dead. Yeah. Yeah, it's very sad. And the pack, in the dream, that he's like, but they never find them. Big sad. And he thinks it's a dream, but it's just real life. Behind the tree rises

dead man rock, caging them, moss-spotted, thick, strong, and tall. His brother stops at every hole, bearing his fangs in rage, but the dead man-rock stays closed. He had already done so his first night himself. Bran had in his dreams searched through this wall. And we end the chapter with this. The world had tightened around them, but beyond the walled wood still stood the great gray caves of man-rock. Winterfell, he remembered,

the sound coming to him suddenly. Beyond its sky-tall man-cliffs, the true world was calling, and he knew he must answer or die. Yo! The call! Bran got the call! Yes! The call of the journey the call for the

journey of the hero ring ring brand time to be a magical little fucker that too it's happening it's coming for brand he's about to embark on his hero's journey and i know i know george thought he was clever there he's like answer or answer or die. Fall or die. Beautiful. What a way to tell a story with this character. It is so classic, but simultaneously he's giving his own spin on it. I love it. And there's also

something I have to point out here. The language, again, coming back to that double entendre of speak through the wolf but through Bran, the language about Manrock, that the great gray caves made from man rock, that they're looking at the marble of Winterfell as man rock. So I wonder if the wolves, when they see dragonglass, if they would say it's dragon rock or something else.

Oh, that's funny. Yeah. It's sky tall man cliffs, right? They're man-made cliffs to these doggos. That's what they're seeing through their eyes. And it reminds me of the John Dies at the End series. There's a POV chapter from a dog, and it calls its owner Meat Smell

because of how proud it always is that its owner's breath always smells like meat. And it's just the most dog shit ever like maybe someday we will get a pov from a wolf from a doggo a ghost chapter that'd be cool but this is this is pretty close right here this is pretty close to a wolf pov yeah it i mean i think it is i do think we will get a wolf chapter one day and also like the dead man rock is fascinating because it's like, because they're no longer in the earth, therefore it is dead.

Right. And that the songs are no longer in the rocks and there's no spells in them, which is kind of interesting when you think about how, like what allegedly there are spells woven into the wall, into storms and et cetera. So I'm wondering if there's like a difference there. It makes me also think of,

I don't know if it's this series. I might be confusing it with the other one. I might be confusing it with the Greenbone Saga and the idea of, you know, it being alive, but also, you know, not that I know much about the series again. Lord of the Rings, right? Like the idea that you can sing to the stone,

that it's alive and therefore it like responds and does things back. But this stone doesn't do that because men have killed it like they've killed everything else oh yeah cutting off that mystical connection and now it's just man-made now it's just dead rocks a castle right but yeah i mean that dead man rock can be it can be alive too one day when everyone returns, when the wolves return. They keep talking about dreams, you know, this chapter, and they're like, do dead men dream? And all those things, and it makes me think of, of course, a dream of spring. Yeah.

The wolves will come again. They allegedly will. The saddest part of this wolf dream though is that summer is trapped just like bran and that is what bran is experiencing every night he is in the wolves minds watching them go and pace back and forth at this wall trapped just like him within the walls of winterfell but soon they'll be burnt out of winterfell and they'll miss being trapped you know i'm just i guess well i mean they'll just move out of Winterfell and they'll miss being trapped. Well, I guess. Well, I mean, they'll just move to being trapped, I guess, underground.

And. Yeah, I mean, I think that's what's so well done about this chapter, right? It opens with Bran's feelings of being trapped and then ends with that brilliant parallel with their wolves also feeling that same way. Yeah. Reminds me. brilliant parallel with their wolves also feeling that same way yeah it reminds me and and of course comes right back to sansa right that she wants nothing but home nothing but her wolf after it's all torn from her yeah loss of innocence is coming man well it's coming home is whenever they awoo home is wherever they awoo oh i'm burped instead of uh sleeping in my bed that's okay now i'm sad now a sad moon is on the rise uh well thank you for joining us for our first Bran and a Clash of Kings chapter.

I am excited to get through these chapters, but sad because they get sad, they get cool, they get weird. We have a guest or so coming on in the next book here. We have what? We have one Clash guest at least who is going to be really fun. So I look forward to that. Yes, we have a couple eventually throughout our brand coverage. But yes, we have another one coming up soon. It's in theme for a lot of things going on. Very excited.

We'll have to figure out our schedule for some of these things. Because, you know, end of year. I mean, I'm sorry that everyone like this year has just been so erratic for us. But, you know, it's been a little bit of a crazy season and i know we're now getting a little bit back in the swing of things and holidays are coming up we'll have some traveling back and forth but you will hear from us you absolutely will and if you want to keep an eye on where to hear from us you can always find us and keep up with those news on our social media. For example, you can find us on twitter.com slash girls gone canon. That's C-A-N-O-N.

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happy hour that this coming month November's date will be announced in the following weeks. Until then, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. I have been another one of your hosts, Eliana. Ow! Ow!

Ow! Ow! Ow! Goodbye. goodbye you you you you you you you Thank you.