Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 173 — ACOK Bran II

Episode Date: November 11, 2022

Before they can dig into the harvest feast, Bran and co. dig into the Northern political situation—and some of Bran's repressed memories.   --- 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 173, brand 2 in A Clash Of Kings. Gone canon reads A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 173, brand two, in a clash of kings. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. This is a fun chapter. Not only is it leading up to another one. Yeah, there's a lot. There's actually like a lot, a lot in this chapter.

It's chunkier than it looks. It's way bigger on the inside. It is. There's like there's like lord after lord after lady after lord showing up. It's just the this is just the pregame to next week for the huge party. Next week is I mean, it's a big deal. Brand three is it's actually one of my favorite brands and probably my favorite one in Clash. I know it's the Harvest Feast. It's I think actually one of your favorite chapters in general. It's up there. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. My weird alien homeschoolers show up next week. Oh my god.

They are kind of like that. But this chapter has like a surprising amount of character development too. Like I kind of, it's a slept on chapter. Bran is really coming into his own. And he's learning politicking in this chapter. And I don't always feel like we get a lot of time for these children to be learning politicking in the books, right? You only get a handful of chapters. So this is kind of a strong show of where he's going to learn some of these dynamics between the Lords of the North. Yeah, absolutely. And as you said, next week, next chapter is the harvest feast one of your favorite chapters and we're doing something a little special for that episode aren't we

yeah we are literally live cooking every food they eat oh my god no i'm just kidding that would be so fucking cool and eliana there is no one who i would actually want to live cook like that like if that was possible with then the guest we're bringing on. We're bringing on one of our friends, Courtney, a.k.a. SoRefined. She is going to come talk about the Harvest Feast with us, talk about Mira and Jojen and food. Absolutely talk about food. We are definitely going to talk about food next week.

It is given this is going to be a food podcast again. Yeah, we kind of actually timed this i mean we could have delayed because like you know some of this but then i was like no it has to be around thanksgiving like this episode has to come out around thanksgiving and as you said who better to go over this with us than our good friend Courtney who also like posts these amazing like harvest feast photos like harvest photos in general like in in the discord that we have and like it's a whole cornucopia of things not an actual cornucopia but it feels like it could I could like picturesquely put all of these things into a cornucopia I mean she has put some of them in cornucopias I've seen that got that idea.

Because it actually has happened. I didn't make that up in my head. That's amazing. Realistically, if you join our Discord, if you join our Patreon in the Thunder tier and up, you get access to the Discord and you will get access to these beautiful bountiful crops that she posts.

She has like a CSA farm share or something that she gets from, and it has never made me want one more. All of the beautiful, bright, enriched, saturated vegetables and foods. Oh my god. Woman's a queen when it comes to food, so we couldn't not get the queen of food. Absolutely. Absolutely.

And speaking of our Patreon, as Chloe said, we do have a Discord for patrons in the thunder tier and above but you don't have to join that maybe you just want bonus content you want bonus episodes every single month and for october patrons in the five dollar tier and above the stranger tier and above got a bonus episode about the kingguard, which is a new series. Dudes rock. We're making a series. Dudes rock.

But this month, we are continuing that series and talking not about the roles and responsibilities of the Kingsguard, but we're going to talk about some of the Queensguard in honor of Hot Tea having ended. Dudes also rock. It is actually still about dudes, but it's also about dudes and some not dudes the ladies they work for because in a true liberal society the queens of our monarchy

anyways so yes come for the kingsguard or don't come that might not be the house stay for the Queens. No nut November and that's why we're talking about the Queensguard. Yes. And the Kingsguard. No nutting. No nutting for us.

Don't worry. You're at the Harvest Feast in autumnal time so you'll get your nut in this episode everyone and maybe in the next too. Not that nut. Jesus Christ. No nutting. November. No. Bye fine it was a segue my god so make sure you check us out over at patreon.com slash girls gone canon like we said to get some of those bonuses and check out our different tiers and the different perks that will come your way from those tiers wait anyway before we jump into brand two electric

boogaloo we're going to read one email of note eliana's very hyped about this yes we got an email of note from our friend thunderclap if you send an email or a tweet of note after a clash of kings brand one and we didn't get it, we are recording this episode just a little bit early. So sorry if we missed it. We might come back to it. But we also might not. Depends on how I feel about what you said.

So anyways, Thunderclap shared with us. So apparently there is a coin called a silver moon worth seven stags. So my question is, one, semi-canon, two, canon, three, retcon, four, something else, secret third thing, is I think what Thunderclap is trying to express, a secret third thing. So Thunderclap pulls this quote saying, King Rob needs his own coinage as well. He declared, and White Harbor is the very place to mint it and then has a reference for the shower post.com slash product slash tom and moon and says that silver stags were used in the stormlands before agan's conquest whereas

silver moons were used in the veil p.s if hot D show had auto-paid the white worm 30 silver moons, it would have had the same value as a golden dragon. Then says, think of all the symbolism they missed out on. I know, the golden dragon. Wow. Oh, I just realized. Yeah, it is.

I get it now. It's a metaphor. It's a golden dragon. How did I not think of that? Anyways. Beautiful. Well done. Thank you, Thunderclap. I love this.

I actually, it's funny because George, you know, doesn't have all the time in the world and going into these kind of details and these finer points like tax policies and coins and blah, blah, blah in deeper detail. But I kind of love it. I grew up on like rpg sites you know like where you're like in chat rpgs where you're like pretending to be a wizard or whatever and like they have their own currency the storytelling aspect it's so fun uh but honestly i can see why there isn't anything finite out here because it's a lot to keep track of yeah i think also george just a cannot keep

track of it be obviously actual like economics is not his strong point uh boring too i mean he has other stuff he could write about yeah it could be exciting it could be fun but it's not something he's interested in and it's also as we learned when we saw him live in New York with Neil Gaiman, not his strong point into investment, not a strong point. He told a story about how he was all saying that he, in the 80s, with like one of the paychecks that he got or whatever, had some dollars and was going to invest in stocks. had some dollars and was going to invest in stocks and then thought, oh, I know sci-fi. I know what's around the corner in terms of what to expect for society. And therefore in the 80s invested in electric cars. And that did not pan out for him.

It's really funny because he was, he had us rolling laughing on next he was like well and i lost all my money all of it first money i ever invested invested it all lost it all just a little too soon he's like there was no tesla back then a better world a better world yeah i'm sure he's recouped it all since then yeah i think he's fine he's fine there were also some other very funny comments he made where he and gaiman were talking and he finally would be like these are rich people problems i'm glad that he like made sure to level set with that because he's like i'm sorry i'm not trying to like because some of it he was talking about not being able to get what one of the earlier prints from one of his first short stories and how it appreciated in value and

i was like doesn't george have like way more than that now he could buy it if he wanted anyways it's funny because it reminds me if you haven't listened and you're still listening right now if you haven't listened listen to the unleash the d episode featuring john picasso because he tells me about how excited he was that george was like well i want to to buy this, this, this, this, all these different original pieces that John had made for him for that calendar. It's a really cool story, and it must have felt so good.

It just warms the cockles in my dead heart when artists are supported. Yep. Well, let's talk more about George's stuff. Let's support George even more and do this lightning round. My God. This is a decent segue. Let's start with even more and do this lightning round. My god. This is a decent segue. Let's start with Arya 2, where Arya meets Jaqen H'ghar, and Yoren refuses to give Gendry to the Gold Cloaks.

Jon won. Sam finds maps for the ranging in the cellar. And in the courtyard, Jon speaks with Donald Noy. Later, Lord Commander Mormont explains who Maester Aemon really is. Really is. Where are you really from? If you're a Targaryen, why is your hair gray? Catelyn won.

Robb gives peace terms to Cleo Spray. Catelyn argues with Robb about some of his tactics, and later she discusses the war with her uncle Brynden. Tyrion 2. Tyrion has Janos Slynt sent to the Wall. Applause! The crowd cheers! Arya 3. Arya and company abandon the King's Road, and Euron laments they should have taken a ship. Arya sees a wolf pack in the woods. Trumpets, it's Davos I. The seven burn as

Davos tries to understand his king's choices. This could be literally any Davos. I know, right? Theon I. Theon's great homecoming is not so great. Daenerys I. Daenerys follows the comet with the khalasar into the red waste. She sends her blood riders to scout, and Jogo returns with strangers of Qarth.

Jon too. The Watch explores abandoned keeps, this time White Tree. Arya IV. Euron refuses to open the gate to amory lorch and battle ensues aria free some very specific prisoners before they bolt tyrian three stannis circulates absurd rumors that cersei's children are bastards of incest and tyrian gets a new chain designed lies and propaganda propaganda horribleaganda. Horrible. And that brings us here to A Clash of Kings

Brand 2, where guests arrive to Winterfell for the Harvest Feast. Clay Kerwin brings news of Stannis' claims, and Brand dreams of a golden man throwing him out of a certain tower. Hmm. Hmm. We open with a beautiful line. Had to include it

because it's just great imagery. Long before the first pale fingers of light pried apart Bran's shutters, his eyes were open. So I like that as this chapter goes, it's slowly revealed that Bran's awake at this time, not because he's excited about like the guests or anything in the way that it is for Frozen but because his dreams scare him it also makes this really great parallel with the end of the chapter where you have the poetry of his eyes being open at the start of this chapter and then being pecked out as his third eye is opened again at the end of this one yeah the imagery at the front and the end of brand chapters is almost always now going to be banging right like it starts with a dream ends with a

dream is usually george's favorite thing about brand's chapters it seems or ends with the the waking i love the language here with the first pale fingers of light prying apart his shutters because it's similar language to what we see used with gray mist around blood raven in brand's plot in other plots often associated with the three-eyed crow wiz the smith has theorized on this a lot i think over at westeros org too but and there's this great line it's from mystery night which is when Bloodraven arrives into the plot in Night of the Seven Kingdoms. Beyond the field, gray mist was rising, sending ghostly fingers up the pale stone walls to grasp the castle battlements. We get another gray fingers mention, not necessarily

Bloodraven, but I'm sure it is. That motherfucker be watching. Could be Bran. In Sam 3, A Feast for Crows, the mists of evening had begun to rise, sending gray fingers up the walls of the buildings that lined the old canal. Kind of starts to make you think that Bloodraven is able to kind of astrally project himself around the country without, you know, without necessarily needing a weirwood,

and it's probably something that Bran will also be able to do, to see through places or appear in different places. So the line really reminded me about that i feel like fingers are always involved with different mists in brand's plot theon's plot basically any plot where blood raven is a watching and that part where the crow is awakening him in dream later and here that he awakens from his dream there's something so very psychedelic about the way george writes these and there's this crazy line in John Dies at the End number one, the first one, which is titled John Dies at the End, by Jason Pargan that I really love and I was just rereading, and it's basically

a man who is seeing the future and the past and everything that ever is and was and will be at the same time due to a drug that he took, tells the main character what he dreamed the night before, and the main character what he dreamed the night before. And the main character is really skeptical of this guy. And he says that in your dream, you were with your ex and you come home and she's there with a big honking pile of dynamite, one of those big cartoon plunger detonators ready to blow. And you ask what she's doing and she says this and shoves down the handle and boom,

your eyes snapped open. The explosion in your dream became the clap of thunder outside your window and so the main character freaks out and he's like no that's not but it was like it absolutely was he's like how the fuck does this guy know this and then the next part the guy says the thunder came right as she hit the detonator in your dream your mind started the dream 30 seconds before the thunder clap how did it know the thunder would be coming at that moment to coincide with the explosion at the end?

And that happens to all of us, right? Like, have you ever woken up from a dream where something was about to happen and your alarm goes off? Happens to me all the time. All the fucking time. And it's like my brain was expecting something. My body knew. But he explains it in a really interesting way.

He talks about dreams and says you dream you're on a game show on tv wearing nothing but a jockstrap and at the exact moment the game show buzzer goes off to tell you you've lost the telephone buzzes in real life a call your mind couldn't have known was coming you see time is an ocean not a garden hose space is a puff of smoke a wisp of cloud and i really love the way that's explained because there's so many moments in Bran's dreams, right? Where he awakens right before something in his dream was happening. Or the crow is awakening him and suddenly he bolts up. How did he know?

How does he know that his eye was just opened and that he had to awaken in real life as well as in the dream? And I just like that, you know, time's an ocean. It's not just one stream bursting out in one line and bran is experiencing that in his subconscious like crazy already without understanding it there's a lot there a lot more myths i'm sure we'll we'll see it more throughout our coverage of brand but also as you said right that that idea it's interesting regarding time because it seems like it'll be a big part of brand story as well yeah i'm curious because we know the bad show did a lot with time ish or at least show well and i mean that's the difference right like

it's not necessarily time travel if time just is right like it is it is it might not have had happened already it might still be happening and still eventually happening but time just is and i think blood raven might explore some of that with him in the winds of winter before blood raven unfortunately is taken away because you know your jedi mentor's gotta die. I mean, let's be real. This guy's lived too long. Bloodraven? Yeah, I think he probably feels the same way, too. Winterfell is swelling with tons of guests. They have come for the Harvest Feast. This morning, competitors

tilt at Quintain's in the yard, where Brant once would have enjoyed this, now he does not. The Walders would tilt against Lord Manderly's squires, but Bran would have to play the prince in his father's solar. Luin instructed him to listen and learn what lordship is about, but Bran has always dreamed of knighthood, not being a prince. Now he has to waste his time listening to old men speak when he barely understands them. There's a quote of, because you're broken, a voice inside reminded him,

a lord on his cushioned chair might be crippled. The Walder said their grandfather was so feeble he had to be carried everywhere in a litter, but not a knight on his destrier. Besides, it was his duty. I love this because Bran isn't quite politically apt to understand that yes walder is so feeble that he's carried around in a litter but he's carried around yeah that's a great point uh and this is so similar to john thinking that he's been looked over when he's actually being groomed to rule as mormont's. I mean, Bran doesn't realize that the point is that they want him at the table. Yes, it sucks and you have to sit there on your little chair, but this is the room that everyone is fighting to get into.

The Walders out in the yard, they're going to end up killing one another over the idea of they want to be at the table. They want to grasp power. And Bran, you know, he's gonna realize eventually what the point of all to grasp power and bran you know he's gonna realize eventually what the point of all of it was but right now he's a kid he's eight nine years old and he wants to play on his game boy with his wolf which is understandable oh yeah and also what you're saying right of this is something that some people want bran is very much more of that idea of the reluctant ruler but not in in the King Robert kind of way, right?

He's looking at it as his duty. And he's trying. I mean, Lord knows that Bran is trying pretty well. He's engaged, right? He's kind of interested in some of what's being discussed at a pretty high level, considering that he's eight or nine years old and wants to be outside playing and i would say that as we get through this episode you start to see that change you start to see bran kind of get engaged and get interested and realize that this is what ruling is uh this is literally what ruling his land is like in the harvest feast he's doing

much he's much more accustomed to it, I feel like. You kind of see he's tired after Wyman, but then it kind of gets easier and he's like, well, this isn't so bad. I could do this. And he cares, right? He's starting to care about the people who come to their problems. I think Lady Hornwood's a really great example of how that starts shifting something in Bran, but he doesn't quite understand all of it, right? For example, he probably can't understand the impact of why do we really, really need to put away some of this grain for the future? Because he's never experienced a winter before. He's a weebab. Yeah, he hasn't had to learn his family's words firsthand yet, and he's about to.

First time, worst time. Maybe last big winter? Who knows? Roderick reminds him that he is the heir to Winterfell, the Stark in Winterfell, and of his brother that's holding court with his men. Lord Nanderly arrived two days past via barge and litter, and with him came a retainer of lords, knights, ladies, musicians, and even a juggler! First of all, this is horrible because Sansa's not there. It's so unfair.

She deserved this. This is what she would have wanted as a kid. And now it's happening and she's not there. Bummer. But also, more than that, the southern influence is so strong here with the Manderlys. You can see that you can take the Manderlys out of the reach, but you can't take the reach out of the Manderlys. The retinue they bring speaks to that, a juggler, musicians, ladies. You can see also from the way Wyman speaks and how he speaks about their house,

he's super proud of his name, his heritage, his people, and their abilities and what their strengths are, right, economically. You can see that this is really smart politicking, everything he gives to roderick throughout this coming conversation he knows how the game is played and he knows that he needs to offer something as well and he does so while also reinforcing hey i have some needs of my own to be met here and you can see how the other or the other northerners frown on him because of this and you start to really see that divide right between umber between manderley in this chapter especially of i mean they're opposite ends of the

map first of all they're very different men very different houses with a very different place in the north and what they're good for and it's also a proponent of why manderley like builds his own hope for a stark empire with rickon right? The Stark protection is very important to him. What he can offer the Starks and what the Starks can offer him is very reciprocal. Absolutely. And upon a reread, when you look at the things that

Lord Danderly's offering, I'm like, actually, this is brilliant. This is a brilliant idea. And it's not just like that he wants a puppet or Rickon or something, right? Obviously, yeah, he wants to be held in higher esteem he wants more power but like they're good ideas yeah this is a way he can strengthen the kingdom and and when you look at that right like the blend of cultures in the north it's interesting because there's the old way which we'll come to see with moors and hother but there's also a new way that

is good and if we join these ways you know manderly's not good at some of the things that the umbers are good at or the karstarks are good at they aren't good at some of the things he has strengths in his lordship there and his lands for some of them have better not just an economic standpoint but also like environmental standpoint because of the terrain of the north they're so far apart everything is so far apart and what's available for resources beneath the ground is like different for every single person so they do have to work together i mean to be a free north yeah the car strikes don't feel that way though yeah no modern part of the story yeah They're having issues.

They're about to have more. Winter's coming. Bran welcomes the guests from his father's stone seat, dire wolves carved into its arms. Roderick says he did well, and if that had been it, Bran wouldn't have minded, but that was only the first guest. Roderick tells him that this feast is a great pretext, but men don't cross leagues for duck and wine. I do. For duck and wine. They come for matters of importance, of their own.

Bran stares at the ceiling, hearing his brother and his father's words in his head. Don't play the boy. Winter is coming. You are a man grown. Bran is resigned to his fate through the morning when Hodor finally comes for him. They get dressed, brushed, and Bran dons his white wool doublet today with a silver brooch, chosen to make himself look lordly. Bran prefers to dress himself but has to rely on Hodor for pants and shoes. Bran tells Hodor, you would have been a

great knight if the gods hadn't taken your wits. Hodor blinks back at him and says, Hodor, you would have been a great knight if the gods hadn't taken your wits. Hodor blinks back at him and says, Hodor. So apparently all the foreshadowing was really just there, huh? It was just there the whole time. I don't know if it'll go exactly like some of the circumstances exactly the same as in the show, but I guess some of the broad strokes are probably there. I guess some of the broad strokes are probably there. Because, yeah, the gods took his wits. But by the gods, we mean how Bran becomes the old gods. Bran's the one who takes Hodor's wits.

And we've been talking about Bran and that cycle of hurt that perpetuates in how Bran uses Hodor's body by feeling entitled to use it and later on in the story it really creates a sense of irony that yeah perhaps Hodor would have been a good knight just as Bran would have been a good knight yet Bran is the one who inflicts that pain and is the one who ultimately ends up disabling Hodor and there's this really cyclical nature to it but also kind of a paradox right because it is a time thing in terms of timelines time travel-y thing and especially when it comes from bran in terms of him wanting to feel like a knight in that physical sense all the the cool like stun and stuff. But he ends up actually failing to live up to

the virtues of knighthood in terms of protecting the weak, protecting the innocent, obeying the laws, and respecting the gods, which are kind of him. But also, he breaks a lot of the taboos that you're supposed to not break in being a skin changer, and ultimately fails to live up to being a knight by taking advantage of hodor's body and i'm not saying this in order to absolve rand or say that like hodor doesn't matter on a story level because yes narratives culturally can perpetuate how things are perceived and those matter but also no one here is real i want to give that disclaimer but on a story level for brand's development and that theme of mercy we keep coming back to, we've been talking a lot about how Bran might learn to show mercy to Theon and Jaime

as someone who can learn to empathize and therefore truly understand what someone goes through and learn not to catch judgment so easily knowing the circumstances of someone's life and how they came to that decision. But I think there's also an aspect of judgment where it's learning that let he who has not sinned be the first to cast a stone or something, right? Or removing the log from your own eye before criticizing the splinter in your brothers to pull some stuff from the Bible. But it is interesting considering how many

people in this story seem to be missing an eye, which may or may not be magical. We're going to talk about one of them in this chapter. But anyway, Bran learning to show mercy to Theon and Jaime, who have both hurt him and his family very deeply. Yet he does the exact same thing to hodor right like the story is drawing these parallels between jamie and bran where you know jamie sins to bran and then bran sins to hodor not that things are equivalent in terms of the context etc or i'm not saying that people are like they're abusers or trying to justify things but it's just what the narrative is doing structurally in equivocating them yeah like bran has not he doesn't understand healthy consent when it comes to using other people's bodies

that cannot give consent and also because of what's been done to him it probably feels like free reign like this is the world i live in and And I will say, my one comment, I mean, well said, especially because when you're feeling limited, you do lash out in different ways. It isn't always in abusive ways. That's not always where it goes. But if you're feeling like that, you're feeling trapped within yourself and repressed within yourself, many people do go out against the exact same way opposite of doing that. I myself have done that before.

I mean, we're only human, my God. But the thing I really wanted to add was there's something interesting in another ruler who was very, very unlikely to rule. In fact, most people would never have guessed he would have been a king of the seven kingdoms, let alone a lord. He had someone who was sworn to him,

body, mind, soul, who tried to save him and his family and died, probably in supernatural influenced events. Who was that great, great unlikely ruler and duo there with this sworn knight? Who could it be? Who's that ruler? It's Dunk. It's Dunk. Yeah. Dunk. An egg, right? Like, he gives everything for egg.

I mean, he gives everything for that boy since that boy is, like, seven years old or whatever. Ten. Who cares? I don't know how kids are. But there's also something more, right? Like, being a knight is about, about yeah being a ferocious fighter and being brave but moreover it's about protecting the weak the poor women children and that's kind of how hodor is going to go in the end obviously you know are there no true knights among you hodor

is the truest knight there is in winterfell right now yeah i that, that's such a great point. And also, Hodor has agency and wants to some extent, you know? And I kind of will, when Bran is in Hodor's mind, like, see that. He's starting to see a little bit of Hodor's interior life, but it's a lot of Hodor, for obvious reasons, recoiling i'm curious now that's that's such a great point like will this be something that hodor chooses to do or not and but when you put it against ancestor dunk it's quite possible especially given i mean i don't know i think it's kind of not obvious but at this point there's just a lot of signs pointing to that egg was trying to do something maybe that might not have felt sinister to him but whatever he

was doing endangered a hell of a lot of people and could hurt them and he knew that and he went ahead with it and still did it and there is that parallel I know that's older Agon and that probably is you know fire it at a summer hall and everything but like for brand that's kind of his egg moment thankfully it's happening now instead of in 30 40 years i guess jesus fuck i don't know a lot of things have happened to him at quite an early age but trauma trauma trauma trauma we're gonna revisit some of it even this chapter but what you're saying there of egg trying to do something having the best of intentions and then it being magical and things going terrible that's that's a big part of the story right that's a big theme of you know sometimes you think you're doing something good that's especially stannis's story right but at what cost you know at what cost do you

do all of these things and what justifies all of that and i think that's something that brand that that's part of brand story right is he going to justify what he's doing with hodor and then realize wow what the fuck did i do yeah so hodor dons brand's wicker and leather basket and in Bran goes using the bars on his wall to swing himself into the basket, which you know, you were speaking about how people still carry Walder Frey and it really seems like Doran Martell slash Dorne is the only place that has ever learned to invent a wheelchair. I hope Sorella tells them about it. Right? I think Dorne is the only place where they figured that out somehow anyway hodor stands near seven feet tall and bran's head brushes the ceiling he ducks low as

they pass through a door once hodor actually got too excited about the scent of bread cooking below and ran to the kitchens cracking bran's scalp causing lewin to have to sew it up. Good for him. I think I remember was it in our Discord? I think I saw some people talking about that and be like, good for you, Odor. Gotta get one in before you go, buddy. Yeah. Mikan had given Bran a visorless

helm to wear just in case, but Bran never wears it and the Walders make fun of him. Maybe Mikan should have given him a fucking wheelchair. Anyway. Yeah. wears it and the walders make fun of him maybe micken should have given him a fucking wheelchair anyway yeah and some ramps install some fucking accessibility in winterfell that's actually a great point yeah they should make ramps maybe this is something obvious but there's something inferred here that's really sad because like any individual with a disability has different needs that protect them from their own being like actively betraying them right and a helmet can often be that especially like for epilepsy or head injuries and seizures but what's the worst here is they make fun of him for it so he doesn't wear it even though it's

something that's likely going to happen again that hodor's going to get excited about bread because ladies gays and days i get excited about bread all the. But he doesn't wear it even though it's something to help him, right? And something that's an aid and a tool for overcoming and combating a part of his disability that sucks, which is getting hit in the head because of Hodor. But because of that shame, right, of like society looking at him and everyone out there seeing him in it, he doesn't wear it, even though it could protect him from concussing himself it's sad i do that shit so i get you bran i feel you yeah it's very common what you're you're describing you know people in the shame of it right not wanting to stand out hiding it yeah they descend and bran listens to the sweet song of sword and shield, of Pokemon sword and shield, outside, deciding he'd like to have at least a small look.

He wished he could be one of them so badly his stomach hurt. The quintains in the yard were constructed of a post and spinning crossbeam with a red and gold shield and lumpy Lannister lions, a padded butt on the other end. They're already well scarred from the boys this is such a great and kind of sad detail, like funny but then also sad because they've literally painted their own knockoff Lannister shields which I'm sure that will help these boys

who are drilling these young soldiers in the making to easily tell their opponents apart from them on the field red and gold, kill them that's, I mean that's what this is and ironically they should tell their opponents apart from them on the field. Red and gold? Kill them. That's, I mean, that's what this is. And ironically, they should be looking next to them for the blue and silver, first of all. But it's also like a classic replay of a Game of Thrones, right?

This time in a Game of Thrones, we were in the yard with the Lannisters fighting with the Stark boys, completely jesting back and forth and being kind of assholes to one another. But now it's from the phrase. And this time it's kind of becoming a little more serious, like, because they've already kind of gotten off with a little

bad behavior and they know they shouldn't have been doing it, but now they openly don't give a shit. We have this line where everyone stops and they're staring at Bran, at least those who had never seen him before being carried by Hodor, and he thinks that he has a great view at Hodor's back towering over everyone, once more coming back to that one motif that keeps rearing its head,

of Bran being above them all. Ah, yes, yes. He watches the Walders mount up in fine armor from the twins, silver with blue chasings. Though with two different crests big walters was shaped like a castle little walters were streamers of blue and gray silk his sigil quartered towers of fray and the brindled boar of his grandmother's house as well as the plowman of his mother's cray call and dairy big walters sigil is quartered with the tree and ravens of blackwood the twining snakes of the pages. There's a line here of,

they must be hungry for honor, Bran thought as he watched them take up their lances. A Stark needs only the dire wolf. It's a good observation from Bran, though not like, he's missing a little color on the subject. Considering the political acumen though that he's learning in this chapter,

it's a great observation for him to be like, huh, they can't just use the phrase sigil. it's a good observation to show us they can't simply be phrased in the same books where catalan is praising the craig hall phrase for their strength and birthing stock and saying rob it could be that you know as the next one uh brand recognizes these boys have to fight for their spot in succession right right? Like this is the more heraldry you have, the more support you have. It's a miniature war that they're like, I'm the better fray. I have the better claim. I have the better armies behind me. It's what's happening in the war of the five kings right now. Their armor really stands out here too, compared to the North men that are

arriving at camp. The frays are kind of fashionable. They have new armor with inlays and designs where the umbers are later showing up in boiled leather with white bear skins and you know harsher clothing because they live here and they know what the fucking weather is like and what to wear i like what you're saying though about it being a mini war at the frays they're absolutely the crisis that's going to follow in a lot of westeros very soon. Not unlike Rhaenyra, right? She takes for her sigil, her mother's arms, the veil. She takes the seahorse of her dead husband's house, Laenor, her house Velaryon. She quarters that sigil house Targaryen to kind of show, I have power, bitches. Heraldry is power. It's what people see. It's what they believe. They go, wow, you have's what people see. It's what they believe.

They go, wow, you have those houses behind you? That's powerful. Realistically, there's also a little bit here that's kind of reminiscent of, like, Bittersteel versus Bloodraven. They're not bastards, necessarily. But, I mean, the great bastards have more fucking pull than they do, let's be real. But they both come from the same stock, and yet here they are at odds with one another and we see how yes they're at odds quietly with one another and they're fighting off others they're being an asshole to bran in this chapter you know they

have other other fish to fry but there's always that lingering resentment between the two there is and though comparing it to reynira's, right, there's something I think a little different as well with Rhaenyra quartering the sigil with both the Valyrian, putting the Valyrians there is a sign of respect and honor. And as you said, also a show of power. But there's something I think touching with including her mother's house, right? Something very beautiful and sentimental about it. And I kind of- So do you agree that the Waldalders including their mother's house is touching and sentimental i that's the thing i don't know if they are i think some of them could right some of the phrase could be right some of them have are nice there are indeed hashtag yes good phrase hashtag not all phrase

and they're a good two or three. Perwin, Alavar. Yeah. And there's there's would it be helpful for someone like Bran, right? If he became king of the Seven Kingdoms to quarter his arms, right? Showing both his northern and his southern roots, considering that especially if the north secedes, it would be necessary for him to play up that Tully side. That's very true. It's a rebellion boogaloo 2.0, right?

Whatever gives you that chair. Whatever gives you that chair. So much is happening. They're voting for him. So the boys meet on their dappled gray coursers, hitting the shields cleanly. Little Walder strikes harder, but Big Walder sits his horse better. Little Walder

rides up beside Bran and says of Hodor, Now there's an ugly horse. And Bran says, Right? I got mad just saying it. I cut my tongue out. And Bran says, Hodor is no horse. Big Walder joins in. He's like, Yeah, a horse is smarter than him.

The White Harbor lads laugh. And Hodor, oblivious to their taunting, horse big walder joins and he's like yeah a horse is smarter than him you shut the white harbor lads laugh and hodor oblivious to their taunting says hodor hodor hodor maybe hodor means i love you and horse it doesn't i speak horse and i know it doesn't so as has been reminded to us several times in several chapters, Hodor is a man and not a horse, not an animal. But I'm also realizing that Hodor is one letter difference away from the word honor. And I don't know if that means something or not. That's a good point. Actually, like, I mean. Yeah, no, I'm being very serious.

I don't know if that means something or not. Yeah. And I'm not saying, again, I'm not saying Hodor is a horse, right? But I'm like, feels... I don't know. Yeah, his, uh, Walder. Wait, his name's Walder too, right? It is also Walder, that's right. It is. Oh, that's so funny. I kind of forgot about that in the face that the Walders are fucking with Walder. How dare. How dare you.

He's one of you. He had, oh my god, He had your name first, bitch. I watched Recess, okay? And the Ashleys, if you have a name, yeah, if you have that same name, you have to join. They are bound to make their own little clique. And Hodor has to join, same as how Spinelli had to join. And it's just like, what was it? It's just like the better together with izzy

yeah yeah yeah the the in in doll doll face little esther doll face yes yeah that's what it was yes sorry it was in doll face little esther's role yeah izzy same thing same thing so bran using eliana's voice tells them to shut the fuck up, feeling his color rising, and Walder bumps Hodor with his horse, ready to up the ante in the fight. Bran threatens to set summer on him, and little Walder's like, I've always wanted a wolfskin cloak. Before the fighting can go too far, though, Lewyn breaks through, saying, enough. Bran doesn't know how much he heard, but he knows he heard enough to get-

He asks the phrase, is this how you behave at the twins little walter says if i want to and big walter kind of sits there like yeah what he said lewin says this is not how lady stark's wards are to behave at winterfell and he asks what the root of this is which is hysterical because i'm like oh he's out there asking for a root cause like these boys know what that means big walder says he's only joking i didn't mean to offend prince bran i was only trying to be amusing and little walder tags along agreeing yeah amusing yeah yeah he's like can't you take a joke yeah don't you get it old man good they don't make humor where you're from nobody has humor anymore nobody gets comedy

lewin's bald spot turns red and he's even more angry than he was before. A good lord comforts and protects the weak and helpless, he told the phrase. I will not have you making Hodor the butt of cruel jests, do you hear me? He's a good-hearted lad, dutiful, obedient, which is more I can say for either of you.

The maester wagged a finger at little Walder, and you will stay out of the godswood and away from those wolves or answer for it yeah what he said what grandpa lewin said we love maester lewin love him he turns sleeves flapping just imagine like Dramatic, beckoning Bran to meet Lord Wyman, and Bran commands Hodor to follow. As they get inside the keep, he begins to complain about the Waldors. Lewyn tells Bran that he was right to defend Hodor, but also chastises him for playing into the Waldors' game. He should have been in the keep, meeting Roderick and Lord Wyman,

who are already eating while waiting for him. And as I said before, Maester Luwin did not sign up for this job. He did not sign up for raising these kids in this way. But I mean, he's also kind of a teacher. So in a way, it's kind of his job, but also it's not. But regardless, I love him for it. I love Maester Luwin. Can't believe he's gonna die at the end of this book. I love that he stands up for Hodor and against the Fre phrase. He's just an absolute hero. And I also cannot tell the way that Lewin feels confident to punish the phrase and to speak to highborn people in this way. Has he just been in this job long enough that he feels

that he has the stature to do so? But I also wonder, was Luin once perhaps highborn? Because again, truly, bless him for not being afraid to stand up to highborn folk this way. That's interesting. I guess I've never thought about where he came from, right? Like not to sans it about Septimordane. Where the fuck did you come from? But like, I've never thought about that. I've never thought maybe he was a nobleborn or what. That's interesting, because he does have a really good handle and i took this a little differently interpreting this but like he seems to assimilate and do well with all sorts of different types of people coming to winterfell which could be a result of his environment at the citadel and the many different

people that he got to meet and work with there but he's in a really tough position he wants to throttle these motherfuckers. He's like, you kids are assholes. You can tell his bald spot is turning red. I mean, that is a surefire sign. I love him. Poor little radish, Lewin. But he has to kind of pretend slash care that he cares about these kids, right?

Like, he has to literally pretend he cares about them. And even in his position, he has to have the position that he thinks they're good kids he has to have the standing sitting position at zero peg zero they're good kids he has to always feel that way because they're cat's wards and they're hostages in a way and their alliance is very important to rob's cause right now in order for them to win against the Lannisters. As we see, it's what dooms Robb's cause. So like he knows he's in a rock and a hard place, but he also knows they're fucking assholes. And he just wants to literally throttle these motherfuckers. Like I, I feel for him. This is a really, like you said, when you said teacher, it reminds me of a couple of my friends that are teachers, like notably Alicia from Tiger

Wolf City. I know she teaches and it's like i don't know how they do it they're incredible because you literally have to maintain this middle ground between the children of like yes i know you're a prick but i have to pretend that i don't know you're a prick hard very difficult it's a great point that he has to do it on the pretense of rob's political alliances because these kids, I guess they're what? Theon turned up to 11? Because I mean, granted, it is for prestige, but they don't seem to realize being a ward is also being a hostage. Yeah, I don't think anyone likes them. There are no real consequences for them because there's like 80 others. Yeah, well, one of them dies. So yeah, I don't think anyone likes

them there at Winterfell. And they think that like they're very cool, but nobody enjoys them. Yeah, we've all been there. Me. Bran is ashamed and begins to admit what he truly wanted, to joust with the rest of them. And Luin knows that. He and Bran discuss the things that they can and cannot talk about. War, for example, is off the table.

Bran is to be courteous unless he has put on a question in return lewin promises not to say anything to sir roderick about the fray boys and so they set brand at the table in his father's oak chair with gray cushions roderick to his right lewin to his left armed with quills and ink pots to write down all that transpired you know we've been reading a lot of fire and blood stuff with the Hot D Show and all that. You know, we've been really in the realm of Fire and Blood. And this does make me think about the Maester's writings being used in Fire and Blood, right, to chronicle a history. And I'm sure, this is kind of a joke, that this will go into the Song of Ice and Fire book at the end of the story.

You know, I'm sure there will be a book made about everything by Sam or somebody. I mean, you have to chronicle what a book made about everything by Sam or somebody. I mean, you have to chronicle what happened during this great decade of war, basically. But I also think about the rulers coming back to Winterfell soon. Jon, Sansa, Arya, different people that might have leadership roles in Winterfell that might be able to read some of these scrolls and some of these decisions made during the Harvest Feast by Bran, by Luwin, by them, maybe it's something that'll be useful, right? Like maybe this will cause Jon to get back on the train for these ships, for the fleets, for example, or etc. The stuff that's talked about here might become important. That's true. Especially for figuring out how much green there is, for sure. I realized that so this armed with quills and ink pots thing it is kind of like

Tywin's line of some battles are won with swords and spears others with quills and ravens but not just the writing part not just the alliances part. Battles being one with ravens but maybe literally because we see how the birds help stall and attack some of the whites and the others north of the wall with sam so skin changing being a part of it but also being one with maybe ravens blood ravens, but also Bran's name means, yeah, it does mean prince or king, but it also sometimes can translate to crow or little raven. I think it's from Welsh. And so what if Tywin's line is also about Bran in the War of the Long Night? I love that. It could be.

Probably not, but I like the effect. Yeah. It's an interesting it could be a double entendre, but it could be something where George forgot that he wrote it just like with the Sansa wishing some hero would behead Janos Lint and the original actually having him

hanged. I think it's just a thematic piece. Yeah. I think it thematically just has worked out this time for you, Eliana. So I'm going to stamp it and say yes. Who knows? Who knows? Bran apologizes for being late. And Wyman says, no prince is ever late. Those who arrive before him have come early, that's all.

I love him. I just need you to know that this is a direct reference to Lord of the Rings, the very first chapter of the original three. Yes yes that means that i have read that chapter now i read it just in time for harvest feast congrats it's basically a perfect harvest feast chapter actually i highly recommend it it was fun bilbo's a bitch he's just really petty and i love that for him i love bilbo that's the only chapter that's the only chapter i've also read. I love it. I think we can finish the books now. We did it. We basically did.

We vandalized it. But the line in that chapter, this is a reference to that, Eliana. A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to. It is absolutely a direct reference to that line. Yes, I agree. That next week, I might have to go reread that chapter and even read the next one because next week will be whoa yeah read the next one too

i mean this is the harvest feast this is the north uh brand sam and john really do have the most tolkien-esque chapters he is kind of a wizard in some ways. Yeah, he absolutely is. Brand the gray. So Wyman has a booming laugh and outweighs most horses. He begins his visit asking Winterfell to confirm new customs officers for White Harbor because the old ones were holding back silver for King's Landing instead of giving it to the King in the North. Traitors. Traitors. instead of giving it to the keg in the north. Traitors. Traitors.

So our friend Lo has written a great essay. Lo has written many great essays, first of all, but also this great essay. Let's preface that. On fatness in a song of ice and fire and body normativity and its relation to gender norms and the perception of masculinity in Westeros. And in the essay talks about how fatness in Westeros is associated with laziness and stupidity and weakness, but George does a

great job of turning that on its head with characters like Sam and Lord Manderly and Illyrio. Also, fatness has a similar, but also different, but a related dynamic to how disability and masculinity are perceived in A Song of Ice and Fire. So I think it's really awesome that these early Bran chapters have him interacting with someone like Lord Manderly, who is navigating and turning all of that on its head for his own use. And it is a little reminiscent, of course, of Daenerys using how people underestimate her because of her age and gender. using how people underestimate her because of her age and gender. And then seeing how Manderly operates could really open up stuff for Bran in terms of seeing that there is more than one way to fight a war, right?

In terms of warships, etc. And it would have been really awesome if Bran ever met Willis Tyrell, who I imagine actually has a fairly similar trajectory to Bran, but who knows if they were will ever cross paths but it wouldn't it be surprising considering that of all places Willis was injured in attorney after all and the difference being like yeah we haven't met Willis but he sounds very nice and well adjusted from what we hear about him from his family members and i just realized oh i wonder if that was a moment of like big trauma for the tyrells when they saw the horse uh almost topple and like go awry with loris i don't know anyways they're like oh god not another one anyways and willis though when he was

injured the difference between him and bran had his family there. They seemed like a very great supportive family and technically the Starks are too, but they were literally there to be emotionally present. And also Willis had a clear life path regardless as the Firstborn. He was always going to be Lord. Bran doesn't have all that. He does not have a clear life path. He doesn't know what his purpose is because he's not the Firstborn son right now. That'll change, don't worry. His family is all gone, so he's now got the emotional distress of that isolation and dealing with his new disability on his own while also trying to be a good role model for Rickon. And he's even more isolated because of the kids at his own age. First of all, they're dicks, right? They're huge assholes to him.

And they're also not close with him in terms of the social stature. And he can't join their physical game. So Bran has no emotional support other than, I guess, like Maester Luwin and Ser Roderick and Mikan every now and then. It's interesting because Luwin is avoiding that emotional pain for Bran right? Like he wants Bran to go

like he knows there's nothing but sorrow in that path for Bran if he tries to stay at that pace and that for Bran he has to transform and he has to change. Yeah. Bran's role in life has to change so it's frustrating. You can see Luan's frustrated because he knows how Bran is feeling

but as an adult it's different because we know like rip the bandaid off it's frustrating. You can see Luan's frustrated because he knows how Bran is feeling. But as an adult, it's different because we know like rip the bandaid off. It's time to move on. Like you need to get on with your life or suffer in it, like wallow in it or move on. As an adult, those are your two choices, right? And Bran, I mean, these are his dreams being crushed. And Luan sees the path straight ahead for Bran. He's like, you're going to be a great political leader. You come from a great stock, great political leader.

I'm going to teach you what you need to know. I think we can rough it out. We can, you know, do a crash course on this for you, Bran. Like, you can win in a different way than those boys are going to try to win against you. And it's hard when you're a kid because you don't have that same view. You don't see the road ahead. You see things as they are. And then when you get old, all you can see is what was, right right all you can see is what could have been and what you did and what was

and there's a lot of that in blood raven as well as bran kind of moves to a new mentor next book after as you reminded me so crassly that lewin fucking dies me summer's gonna die i'm so mad you lewin dies me how could you uh also years to get to get used to that well you have years to get used to the next one too so you better start now i love the comparisons to willis he's gonna be the lord of the reach in the end i'm gonna put it out there right now i just believe that i don't think it's gonna be braun just so you know oh my god i forgot that they did that it's the stupidest shit i've ever heard of really really no it's gonna be lit it's gonna

be willis it's gonna be fucking willis so i hope i actually really hope they have some sort of meeting in the books that's a meeting i would really like i don't think about those what ifs much and i think they respect one another as rulers which it's rough because these fray kids not only are they assholes they prove they don't respect bran and they don't respect the crown that they are now sworn to they just see him as some kid yeah it's and that makes well for it's feeling even harder right because they're being such assholes about it and i love what you're saying about how maester lewin's trying to help Bran change and reorient his life.

But as you said, it's hard to do it as a kid. And it's also hard to do it because Bran's feeling, he's feeling useless. And Luwin is trying to show him you can still have worth. There are other ways that you can do these things. And also because he doesn't have his family there to help him feel like he can contribute to help him feel like he can contribute to help him feel like he he has use right and not that people need to be useful but like helping him feel comforted in that way he because he feels left behind yep that's really all it boils down to it's either demean yourself to be friends with

those assholes and they lose all respect for you as being a lord or a king, or find a different way. Yeah. If you're going to hang out with some frays, I bet Oliver and Perwin would have been so nice to Bran. But unfortunately, Bran got the shitty ones, the shitty frays. Wyman declares the King of the North needs his own minted coin, as we were talking about in that email earlier, and that White Harbor would be just the place to mint it. He also tells them that he strengthened the port defenses as well as mentoring the cause and proposes to build Rob a war fleet

as the North hasn't had ships since Brandon the Burner burnt his father's. With gold, he could give them a fleet to take Dragonstone and King's Landing. It's funny. Bran, don't burn your ships is what I've learned. Build your ships, Bran. Be the builder. Don't be the burner.

Make ships. Start shipping. Oh my god. Start shipping. A shipping war. We talked about this a lot in our 12th special Patreon episode, Northern Independence. I remember we did that. Yeah, it was uh you know northern

independence woohoo firecrackers going off there's a lot going on here rob is being looked at right now by the whole realm as a boy king pretender right he many of the southerners would look north or look to the riverlands right now and call rob a pretender without money without a fleet a poor king he is indeed, right? We watch the crown get starved out by the Tyrells in this book, and it's likely, had Rob escaped the Red Wedding with his health next year,

next book, the North wouldn't really have had an easy battle out of this. Without Umber's wood and his fleet, and the fleet being made, beyond the neck they'd be susceptible on all sides to reavings from the grayjoy factions as well as ships being landed on from the south right while keeping really heavy defenses up at the neck a new mint would help to generate trade with the

narrow sea fund this war fleet on top of the the just the wood needs manderley would obviously help with that avoiding taxes and paying the south for food stuffs with the fleets helping to supplement their inaccessibility to the land right their rough terrain it would help to start a new economy build new infrastructure build new defenses and make them a real country i mean this is a big thing that they're being offered by wyman yes it comes with a huge investment on their side right to invest in Wyman and to care about Wyman and protect him, but Wyman offering to mint coin only for Rob. I mean, right now they're being shot out of everywhere else. No one else is taking his money. This would help to make him serious and also to build himself real money to get behind. It's very similar now that I'm

realizing the dynamic of what Lord Banderly could offer them to the role that House of Elyrian plays for Rhaenyra's side of the war in terms of that economic backing, that naval backing, right? And actually pretty good thought processes. Yes, there's obviously a desire on their part for prestige, for more power. But I think what we've seen, especially from the Manderlys in those Davos chapters is they are loyal. Put it on their headstone. Put it on them. Hopefully he's not dead. I mean, he might be, but... Oh, that bitch is dead. He might not be. There are a lot of ways that people have said that maybe here are 10 ways wyman manderley lives through the winds yes but

actually that they couldn't cut deep enough so he could still be alive not for long rodrick promises to send the proposal to rob had anyone asked ran he was all for it which is so cute he's starting to get involved he's like oh i like this lubin sends for more food at midday and I have to tell you all what it is they dine on cheese capons brown oat bread sounds warm and delicious while tearing into a bird Wyman politely inquires after his dear dear cousin Lady Hornwood it's moose dear cousin i guess to you who was widowed he hints maybe when grief has had its run she'd like to become a manderly again wink wink nudge nudge because he is also a widower and it was time for him to take a wife as well or if he's too much she could always marry wendell his son who guards lady catalan down south he's valiant jolly and he could teach her to laugh

again oh honestly these options as well as the option of just marrying Roderick, these are very good options in terms of giving defense compared to what actually ends up happening. It gets me so mad. Like, I kind of forgot until I was rereading this chapter. And we've talked about this before. I don't know if it was Davos or Theon, maybe? It was Theon, I think, when we talked about this last. Probably. Just to refresh you all, this pisses me off so bad. Because sure, they all were like, yeah, we could marry her off to someone.

I totally have someone she can marry. But not a single one of them was like, how about you take 50 of my guards home with you until we can settle your inheritance? Not a single one of them are real men. None of them are real motherfuckers because none of them gave a shit about her. What they cared about was her hand, land, and vagina, right? That is her currency. That is her worth in Westeros. That is what she's worth. And I mean, as she'll say to us soon, she's past her age for birthing heirs. So the hope that they could have is that she wills it to them or to their line when she dies. That's a really big bet to take.

So none of them want to take that risk on. None of them are willing. They're like, that's so sad. Well, if you want to marry me, cool. Or my son. If you don't want to, good luck though, sweetie. Good luck. Good luck.

Not a single one of them. But also, the only safe option would be for house stark to provide that guard because of the other ones if you provide that card you end up guard you end up with the same issue of they can easily turn and then take those lands from lady hornwood so that's a risk on her part too and unfortunately roderick roderick i guess kind of can decide that but not really because rob would have to decide that and some of those guards might be. They might say these are better put towards the war effort. And that's the thing. It's a bad time.

The war effort is more important than her life. And it's so sad. Because literally she leaves here. And Ramsey takes her. She literally leaves here. And Ramsey takes her. And look. I know that they're busy.

But maybe Rob should just empower his middle managers on these things a little bit more. Because at this time, yes, Hornwood succession is really important. But when there's a way for you to care about the succession, when she's gone, it's fallen and it falls. At least if it were Roderick, right, it would be harder to do so politically. Even the Manderlys, it's harder to get away with it politically. And I think that's part of the reason why the marriage would have been important

and not just the guards. So speaking of sons, once dinner is complete, Manderly brings up the letter he received from Tywin, who offered to ransom his son Willis back to him. Without money, but just requesting that he withdraw his troops from Robb. He assures them, though, that Robb has no more loyal servant than Wyman Vanderley, but he would hate to watch Willis languish in the cursed Harrenhal. He mentions he doesn't

believe in curses generally, but also look at what happened to Janos Slynt. Raised up to Lord of Harrenhal by Cersei, cast down by Tyrion, shipped off to the Wall. And Willis is fierce as a Mastiff. He would hate for Willis to have to sit out the whole war. He's so practiced at politicking. He's showing himself, like you said, he's very loyal, but also reminding them, like,

his loyalty does cost a little money to him right now, and he has big costs. He has huge stakes in this game. He could easily turn to the other side if he really wanted his family back. The Manderlys are better as friends than foes, and that rings true in this conversation. His son, it's a pretty big deal. Pretty priceless thing for him. Yeah, Catelyn, wouldn't you say so? What about your daughters? What? At supper that night, a horn heralds the arrival of Lady Donella Hornwood.

She brings no knights, no retainers, just herself and six very tired men at arms with moosehead badges and orange livery. Bran tells her their sorrow at her losses. Her husband had been killed on the Green Fork, their son in the Whispering Wood. He tells her Winterfell will remember. She asks his leave to go and rest, and Roderick says there will be time for talking on the next day. Most of the next morning, though, is given to the talks of stores of harvest. When the White Raven flew from the Citadel, wise men put portions of their harvest away. How large the portion, though, was the big discussion.

Lady Hornwood was storing a fifth of her harvest. Luin recommended she raise that from a fifth to a quarter. was storing a fifth of her harvest lewin recommended she raised that from a fifth to a quarter she warns them bolton's bastard is gathering warriors at the dreadfort hopefully to join his father at the twins everyone says but when she asked him his intentions he said no bolton will be questioned by a woman and that kind of worried her and by kind of worried her it means i'm fucked absolutely fucked i'm in danger yeah i'm in danger ha ha she also mentions that he's a bastard right and really defines no bastard should speak to me in this way yeah she was like it's really weird that he's calling himself a bolton right now yeah suspicious

suspicious because he's a bastard it's funny because Bran actually does think of other solutions that do involve bastards because of Jon. But Ramsey's very much not like Jon, you know? Real different dude. Very different guy. None of the men know the bastard. He lived with his mother until two years ago when young, dumb Eric died, leaving Bolton without an heir. The bastard had a companion, a servant almost as cruel as he is, Reek, who never bathes.

It's said they hunt together, and not for deer. She says the bastard looks to her lands hungrily now that her husband is gone. Bran silently wants to give her 100 men to defend her lands. It's my boy. But Roderick promises her safety,

encouraging her to eventually re-wed. I am past my childbearing years. What beauty I had long fled, she replied with a tired half-smile. Yet men come sniffing after me as they never did when I was a maid. First of all, according to Roderick, she's a MILF. Second, it reminds me a little bit of Sansa's fate and how she describes the way that people are fighting for her hand in marriage and for her claim, right? Not the childbearing part or the maidenly beauty, because apparently people are very into that part of her too. But she says of how no one will ever wed her for love, only for her claim. Yep.

Yep. Hopefully she does come out of that succession crisis because I imagine this will be a big deal. So Lady Hornwood says that she will wed if King Robb says that she must, but she has complaints, though, about Mors and Manderly. Yeah, she says something about not being able

to imagine sleeping under Lord Manderly. And then we have this very innocent line from Bran of, Bran knew that men slept on top of women when they shared a bed. Sleeping under Lord Manderly would be like sleeping under a fallen horse, he imagined. I'm like, oh, interesting. Step one of unlocking a repressed memory. Ha ha ha. That's so great. We're so close. We're so close. Men slept on top of women when they shared a bed oh bran just like we talked about with manu a couple weeks ago right he claims he knows what sex is

oh baby boy who's gonna give you the talk but then i realized blood raven is basically giving him the talk now like can you imagine that blood raven giving you the talk he basically has already started with his you know brother i hated brother hated, brother I loved, sister I desired. Bran's like, what? That's what sex is about? Yeah, and he'd be like, here, let me show you. Goes into where we're like, this is this. This is this.

This is the time me and Shiera fucked. And this is the time she fucked Bittersteel. Isn't that fun for me? I thought it was going to be clinical. Like, he shows with different animals and then the people. Anyway. No. I went worse. i'm so sorry

i'm sorry for who i am it's okay is it is it though it is it's okay after she leaves they suggest that lady hornwood is into sir roderick this literally would have been a good idea he says that he's too lowborn and would die soon anyway how old is he he would have been fine leaving her in the same predicament however her being unwed leaves a crisis where many houses are going to vie for her lands through the female hornwood line such as toller flint carstark plus the glovers have harris's bastard at deepwood mott which also the boltons could invade that's also a possibility you also the Boltons could invade. That's also a possibility. You think the Boltons would invade there? Oh, I don't know.

I don't know. They discuss whether the Boltons actually have a claim to this land, which, because that doesn't fucking matter anymore. Let's be real. But they don't. But the lands adjoin, which Bruce doesn't mean, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a claim, right? When it comes to Bruce, let's be real. He's very old old school like that where if you just like kill people off you can take

their lands Roderick says that in these cases the liege lord should find a match for her a suitable match Bran's like why can't you marry her Beth would have a mom and you're not bad looking Bran's like you still got it Roder, you still got it, Roderick. You still got it. He does. Roderick's got it going on. And again, I know war's critical, but this feels important. Like it could have been taken care of somehow, some way.

I don't know. It could have been taken care of. And I think truly, I think Bran does have the right of it here. First, Roderick says, A kindly thought. I'm only a knight. I'm too old. I would hold her lands for a few years, but soon as I died, she'd find herself in the same mire, and Beth's prospects would be perilous as well.

Bran's like, what about Lord Hornwood's bastard? Thinking of Jon. Roderick says that would please the Glovers and Lord Hornwood's ghost, but maybe not Lady Hornwood, because the boy is not of her blood. Real Catelyn vibes as well. Luwin says it must be considered because Donella is no longer fertile, and if not their bastard, then who? This is great for the Stark situation. Absolutely. It's very reminiscent of Kat getting completely pissed about Jon and the Will. Also, Beth's prospects being perilous, that's reminiscent of Sansa's plight too, right? Like,

with Robb gone, I mean, her prospects are literally perilous. She's being married for her claim, and everybody is saying Tyrion wants to steal those lands. Tyrion wants to steal those lands, when really it's Tywin wanting to steal those lands. And what's sadder is that Roderick also knows he has nothing to give her, right?

He has his dick. But that, I mean also knows he has nothing to give her, right? He has his dick. But that, I mean, yes, and that would give her great pleasure, hopefully. But no land, no keep, no protection, no children that, you know, she can make her own. He can't give her heirs. That would cement her legacy in that house or cement their house claim right now and their succession. And worse is that he's the one that ends up finding her right in the tower when she's all chewed up. We're sad. We're having fun.

I forgot that it was Roderick. Yeah, how fucked up is that? I mean, you could have saved her-ish, but not. He really couldn't have. I mean, he's just one man. That's the other part. I still think he could have in that with his ties to Winterfell. I think it would have been better than nothing.

I don't know. Bran has to be excused hearing the squire's ring of steel below. And it's very sweet. Roderick and Lewin excuse him, telling him that he did well. It actually hadn't been as tedious as he had feared, and it had been much quicker than Lord Manderly. He uses his safe time to go see the wolves and the godswood in the last hours of daylight. Hodor and Bran enter the godswood, summer immediately emerging, and Shaggy too. He calls to Shaggy, but Shaggy's like, I don't know you.

He finishes back into the wood, and Hodor takes Bran to his favorite place, the edge of the pool beneath the heart tree, where his father used to pray. I'm weeping. Chloe wept. I love that that's his favorite place and i know it makes that vision in a dance with dragons a double that much prettier you know what i mean like that much sadder when he sees his father praying in that same place once more but this time it's for a different prayer actually that's really one of my favorite passages just the that sad, the, and let my lady wife find it in her heart to forgive. Forgiveness, can you imagine? Oh yeah, I don't know if she will without Stoneheart right now.

Oh my god. She's not on that forgiveness train right now. So ripples run across the water, reflecting a shimmering and dancing weirwood. But there's no wind to make that happen and for a moment bran's kind of confused but then osha explodes out of the pool even summer backs away snarling bran's amazed that osha can swim in this cold water and she's like i love the cold she's naked swimming to the rocks rising dripping water everywhere she says she had wanted to touch the bottom and bran's like i didn't even know there was a bottom, and she just grins and says, might not be. He stares at

her. She's different than his sisters or the other serving women he'd seen in the pools. She's hard and sharp, flat-chested, sinewy, loaded with scars, and she says each scar was hard-earned, and she dresses. Bran asks, did you get them fighting giants? And she says, no, I got them fighting men, black crows, more often than not. She had even killed one, she says, shaking out her hair, looking softer than the day they first met in the Wolfswood. Osha says she heard some gossip about him and the Freys in the kitchens, and she says that a boy who mocks a giant is a fool.

It's a mad world when a cripple has to defend him. I love that bitch so much. God, I love Osha. I love her. I love that she just like makes sense. She really does. She's great. She's pretty great.

I also can't wait. I'm sure she's going to have a much bigger role in the Winds of Winter because George said that he gave her a bigger role because he loved, what's her name? Natalia Tena's, right? Natalie Tena, yeah. Natalie T said that he gave her a bigger role because he loved what's her name natalia tenna's right natalie tenna yeah natalie tenna i gave her an extra a um but natalie tenna's performance so much so we're getting more osha yeah bran says hodor never fights and he definitely didn't know that they were mocking them and he remembers once going to the market square with septimordane and his mother and Hodor having come to carry things for them. Hodor had wandered away and

they found him in an alley. Boys were poking him with sticks, shouting and covering himself, but he never raised a fist to them. Septa and Shale said Hodor had a gentle spirit, but Osha says, yeah, with hands strong enough to twist a man's head off his shoulders, Yeah, with hands strong enough to twist a man's head off his shoulders, which is very interesting in terms of the idea of a headless knight and how Bran's using his mind, but also Bran making Hodor have to hurt people. Oh, yeah. Big sad. Damn. Leona's just here to hurt people today so osha warns brand that they ought to watch hoders back

around the walders the big one they call little is well named she said he's big on the outside but he's little inside mean to the bones and brand says they never dare hurt him especially with summer osha says he's not as stupid as he seems then she's pretty weary around the wolves herself having seen them tear up three free folk you know like it was nothing in the wolfwood uh she asked yeah her friends she was like wow they're gone she asks if brand's having more dreams and he lies saying no and she says a prince should lie better than that she laughs and says your dreams are your business, and I should get back to mine in the kitchens before Gage gets mad.

She leaves and Hodor carries Bran to his bedchambers, where he fights against sleep. But his sleep and dreams take him all the same. I have to know. I want to know, like, does Osha go full-out magic training with Rikken off page? Maybe, or just survival training. I don't know yeah it's her saying to brand that he has to learn to lie better than that is i think a similar point in time when sans is being told by all these people you gotta learn to lie better than that

girl yeah that's true that's true interesting parallels he dreams of the weirwood calling to him with its twisted mouth and the three-eyed crow flapping from its branches a pecking bran and crying his name in a sharp voice he's awakened by a blast of horns announcing more guests he pulls himself across his bars into his window seat to see a banner with a giant in shattered chains speaking of giants you know umbermen half drunk from the sound of them the gray john's uncles arrived with giant beards and bear skins we have this fun quote a crow had once taken moors for dead and packed out his eye so he wore a chunk of dragon glass in its stead as old nan told the tale he'd grabbed the crow in his fist and bitten its head off so they named him crow food she would never tell Bran why his gaunt brother Hothor was called Whoresbane.

There's some interesting vibes for this whole Mors eyeball thing. Yeah. Euron vibes for sure. Aemond one-eye vibes for sure. But also Bran vibes, especially because he later dreams of the crow pecking at his eye. And maybe this is part of why he dreams it, but unlikely, as we know also it's Bloodraven involved.

Maybe also was Mors one of those failed disciples of Bloodraven? I mean, he has a really traumatic past. First of all, so he gets, you know, taken for dead and the crow tries to peck out his eye, etc. His wife then dies in childbirth. Could be anyone in Westeros. His sons are killed during the Battle of the Trident in Robert's Rebellion. And then his only daughter gets abducted by the Free Folk in 270 AC.

So he kind of has this like deep, deep hatred of the Free Folk. And he's also always drunk. Like, always. free folk and he's also always drunk like always which kind of actually reminds me of darren the dreamer slash drunken from the night of the seven kingdoms and how he you know it's kind of obvious he's always drunk because he's warding off dragon dreams uh he's trying not to see his dreams so especially in a chapter where we have bran having these dreams and like you said he is avoiding sleeping because when he sleeps he dreams uh makes you wonder if he's also avoiding something with his drinking yes i agree it does seem like it's

interesting there's also that thing in theon in tiwau in the winds a winner so small spoiler for the winds of winter sample chapters but Theon remembers crow food. And we get a description. An old man, huge and powerful, with a ruddy face and a shaggy white beard. He had been seated on a garin, clad in the pelt of a gigantic snow bear, its head his hood. Under it he bore a stained white leather eye patch that reminded Theon of his uncle Euron. He'd wanted to rip it off Umber's face to

make certain that underneath was only an empty socket, not a black eye shining with malice. Instead, he whimpered through broken teeth. Unspoiler, unspoiler, you can all listen again if you didn't want to get spoiled on Theon and the Winds of Winter. We've covered that chapter a very long time ago actually now for our patrons And yeah, that's a nice creepy little thought of Euron's eye, of his eye filled with malice. And yeah, Umber here fits the build. I don't know, Eliana. I do think it never stood out to me before until like rereading this chapter, but I absolutely do think he's a failed disciple.

Our friends in the Discord, this is actually in regards to House of the Dragon, but I absolutely do think he's a failed disciple. Our friends in the Discord, this is actually in regards to House of the Dragon, but they're saying how Brando is listening to the audiobooks and said that Dany eating a horse heart popped out to her in terms of a crone saying that to close one eye to see the future of Danny's baby and that it's better to close an eye to see the future and how Brando wonders if Amon will be able to see the future in at all in House of the Dragon like maybe maybe not and Brando saying that maybe Alice like sees this ability in him and teaches it to him and I don't know if that's the case for for Amon or not but it is interesting considering Helena does have a prophecy about it

and it's pretty ironic that like literally somehow viserys's children that he doesn't care about are the dreamers yeah for real but i mean it's not always just about i guess having the dragon dreams right because darren the drunken he had dreams and turns out that was like really bad for him but yeah it's there's something about the one eye thing when the crone does it i don't know why it makes me think of the fates yeah the kindly ones and them all or the fates all sharing one eye but when it's about people like crow food and euron and i guess amemond and Bloodraven, it makes me think of Odin, right? Who loses one eye and hangs on a tree to be dead for a while in order to get like, I don't know, great, amazing knowledge.

And he's super wise. And that speaks to the ability to see into the future, right? And Bloodraven. And I'm kind of like, did Bloodraven just go around pecking out people's eyes or something? And it was like, if I traumatize this person by pecking out an eye, like, will that inspire something? Show your powers.

Exactly. And then later on realized, no, I have to go for a different kind of trauma. And it's like Bran's kind of trauma helps him connect to that because he so desperately wants to get outside, right? And this is a way for him to still be able to go around the world. And I guess losing an eye wasn't traumatic enough. I don't know. It's like, we must change our methods.

Amazing. I don't know. But I agree with Crowfoot. Interesting. I look forward to his role in T-Wow now. I'm like, damn. Wait. Okay, this is a spoiler, everyone.

So cover your, cover your, or, you know, fast forward 30 seconds or a minute or something. In the Asha excerpt, doesn't it say that they have Crowfood Umber's head on the, on a spike? Oh, yeah. So I don't know how early that is, though. We don't know how early in the book that is, but Crowfood Umber does seem to die. I think it is Crowfood. Damn, I forgot forgot about that and that actually kind of tells you that excerpt so that's why i know yeah and that means it has to be after the theon excerpt now that you say it out loud yeah damn god damn it rip we'll never know we'll never know well now we know we know we do know i mean kind of anyways so in a clash of kings

back back at the present once sat morse immediately asks if he can marry lady hornwood saying the umbers will be best to protect her lands lady hornwood meanwhile already said no uh uh roderick promises to bring that to the lady and the king and Mors moves on and says free folk are coming down across the Bay of Seals in ships, washing up on their shores, and not enough men in black at Eastwatch to stop them. They say they need longships, strong men to sail them, but their men are gone south and not enough remain for harvesting the crop for winter. Rodrik thinks on this and puts two and two together and says why don't you work with Manderly?

You have pine and oak and plenty. Manderly has money and sailors and shipwrights. You guys can make a deal. Umber calls Manderly a great waddling sack of suet. Lord Lamprey, he says, if you stuck him with a sword in his belly, 10,000 eels would wriggle out. Yo, wait a second, that happens.

Yeah, wait, also watch out in terms of the Lord Lamprey thing. That's what he puts in the pies. That's like a great two sentences of foreshadowing stabbing him in the stomach and eels don't come out and then uh lord lamprey but he doesn't get stabbed in the stomach right it's across the chin true it's throat which is why here's how lord manderly cancer oh my god well ro, Roderick agrees. He's like, yeah, he's fat, but he's not stupid. Mors will work with Manderly, or King Rob will hear of his refusal.

Bran is kind of astonished because Mors agrees, although grumbling that he will do so. I love this because it kind of shows the significance and the legitimacy of Rob's reign, how seriously they took that sentence. And at the same time, to me, to me i'm like oh so now you can speak with the king's word it's a really interesting thing i guess it's because like that's a little different right than the who gets what lands because that's a distribution thing yeah that's true but thankfully it won't matter soon so yeah the boltons get it the glovers arrive from deepwood mott the taller it's from Torrens Square. Deepwood was left in the hands of Robert Glover's wife, and their steward comes to court.

As Mrs. Glover's children are too small for the journey, and she was loath to leave them. We have a line of, Brand soon realized that it was the steward, not Lady Glover, who truly ruled at Deepwood Mott. I thought that was great that he notices and he understands the role of the steward there, not Lady Glover who truly ruled at Deepwood Mott. making sure coffers are full, we have food getting out, blah blah blah, we're pulling this thing out, we're making sure that everything is open for everyone to sleep in, the hearths are lit. You know, she's ruling the keep. And there's also, though, something about Catelyn in this to me, in that Mrs. Glover is being seen as staying behind for her small children, doing her duty to stay over the keep with them.

And where's Catelyn? She's with her dying dad. Yeah, that's true. Well, not yet true she does deserve that but but she will be no i mean yeah bran and rick and are here and i don't knock her for that like i think that rob needed someone but i also think at some point there was an umbilical cord that should have been plopped off yeah she probably should have gone back home to her kids but i also i don't know i kind of get her wanting to be there with her dad too the dad part is what changes it for me i think that had her dad not been fucking dying would have been a little different yeah and i mean we're not allowed to grieve right that's just not a thing women should do so they should do it quieter with

their kids also george needed i guess on a level, a POV to follow Rob as part of it because Bran's his own POV, but yeah, he needed one to follow Rob. And then you have, what, Catelyn in the South. And also, I guess he wanted to change things around too with her resurrection because even if she had gone back to Winterfell it still would have fallen as we know from the 93 letter that was just always going to be in the cards like even if she was there watching bran that's not why winterfell fell it did because george gets betrayed well george had a plot he wanted to follow yeah the betrayal of the start cause

yep so the steward is only setting aside one-tenth of his harvest because he's getting weather reports from a hedge wizard. And Rodrik is like, what the fuck? Lewin is definitely like, what the fuck? But Rodrik says, you've got to start setting aside one-fifth of your grain, okay? And then they talk about the hornwood bastard, Laren Snow. He's almost 12, and he's quite bright. Lewin says that, you know, Bran, you might've had a very good idea that, oh, that perhaps you would make a good lord,

Bran. But Bran doubts that. He's like, I don't think so. Especially because, wait, wouldn't this castle be Rob's place? And then his sons would be lords? Andderick says i mean maybe but also what if rob only ends up having daughters just like i did and also how about look at martin and jory's line those male heirs have all died out turns out anything can happen our wombs are very powerful yeah anything can happen there's not a lot of hedge wizards in the story and i forgot about this and i love that luin immediately is like that's bullshit that's fucking bullshit they're like knockoff maesters right it's like a hedge knight but at the same time they might actually just like a hedge knight maybe be a little more honorable or dishonorable just like a hedge knight it can be either

i mean this one did not this one did not. This one did not. Yeah, this is fucked up. They're more popular in the small folk. They're more affordable and accessible. Nobles don't usually employ hedge wizards. And if they do, they do so, you know, really randomly. It's not. I mean, this says a lot about the steward and that he needs help, apparently, ruling.

But you do learn Marwyn keeps the company of hedge wizards. For Crows, we talked about this in Sam, that there are rumors he keeps the company of hedge wizards and other social outcasts. They should have hired those hedge wizards instead of whichever bunk one he got.

Yeah. Davos sees one in White Harbor. He sees a hedge wizard when he gets in there that has set up business there's something interesting in that like i kind of actually like that they exist because they're undermining maesters as the only ruling you know medical consultants in the country and like when there are people that have the similar experiences as them i mean but this is where it gets tricky right so there's people that haven't and aren't passing themselves off, and then they hurt people. There needs to be some, yeah,

standardization of quality of hedge wizards. Okay, but right now it's like a monopoly of it. Like, maybe hedge wizards need to be taken seriously and allowed in, because it's a monopoly with the maesters. And I think that's a point, though. Like, I do think this is a point that's being made, because Marwyn hangs out with

them, Davos sees them creeping in and setting up shop in White Harbor in a dance with dragons. Here we see that they're being consulted. Like, sure, maybe they're like petty, like petty little fuckers that show up and try to take your money, but so are a lot of the maesters. I don't know if the maesters try to take your money so much as your soul, your livelihood, your life. to take your money so much as your soul your livelihood your life yeah they just try to you know uh prop up one other house that they may or may not secretly still have allegiances to which is that too barbara dustin says or some of them you know might just be like total simps for tywin lannister like well and in that same effect then so it's like sometimes maybe it's like these hedge wizards are more loyal than some of the other maesters, so you can see why they're becoming more popular. Yeah. I'm just saying

give them a chance. Some of them apparently should not be given a chance, like this hedge wizard with his terrible almanac, you know? Yeah. Absolutely stupid. I'm glad that Roderick tells him, like, okay, no, don't do that. Even if he wanted to believe this guy, it still makes sense. Like at the very least,

we should be cautious and set aside a fifth. Okay. So next day, we see Leobald Tallart. He shows up, he talks about the weather, he insults the small folk, he talks about Benfred, who wants to go fight. He wants to fight so much he started his own little group called the Wild Hares. That's quite a name. It's quite a name. It is quite a name. And it does come back. We see them again in Theon's stuff.

Oh, that's true. Yeah. Bran's like, oh, wow, that's so rad. I really love that idea. And Rodrik is like, we do not need this. And also they should just stay and fight in Torrin Square. And then like everyone else, Tolar brings up Lady Hornwood, how his former wife was also a Hornwood.

And like, maybe I should send my younger son to them so that she can foster him as her own. And maybe he would just take the name Hornwood as its heir, as, you know, a favor to the Hornwoods. And Bran immediately is like, this is a terrible idea and he jumps in and puts an end to all of it with this quote of Bran knew what to say thank you for the notion my lord he blurted out before Sir Roderick could speak we will bring the matter to my brother Rob oh

and Lady Hornwood Leobald seemed surprised that he had spoken. I'm grateful, my prince, he said, but Bran saw pity in his pale blue eyes, mingled perhaps with a little gladness that the cripple was, after all, not his son. For a moment, he hated the man. Could that not be an Aegon III quote right there? Oh my god. Oh, interesting. It would, it could actually, it very much seems similar. Maester Luwin liked him better, though. Baron Tallard may well be our answer, he told them when Leobald was gone. By blood, he is half Hornwood if he takes his uncle's name. He will still be a boy, said Ser Roderick, and hard-pressed to hold his lands

against the likes of Mors Umber or this bastard of Roose Bolton's. We must think on this carefully. Rob should have our best counsel before he makes his decision. I love that Bran copies what Roderick said. When Roderick didn't agree with Mors marrying Lady Hornwood he said, we'll bring the matter

to King Rob and Lady Hornwood. Yes. So Bran was like, oh yeah, and Lady Hornwood. Like, yeah, that's what he would say. And I love that Bran was like, this is so bad that I have this. I have to say something. And I'm also proud of him for that. That's a big move that he had been told, just shut the fuck up and let them deal with it. And he said, no, I can be a lord. I can be a prince. If it's this easy. And so he did it. He tried it. And they told him, they told him, you could be a good lord,

Bran. He's like, all right, I'm doing it. I'm lording. Yeah, that's a big change from the front of the chapter. This is a big change for him. And I think next chapter kind of cements that big change that he wants more. He's done with wallowing. He's done with this resentment right now, and he's ready for more. Yeah, he sees that he can have a positive impact.

Lewin says it could be about what's practical if Rob needs to seal Riverland's alliances. Bran says Lady Hornwood could have one of our frays. She could have both of them if she likes. I love that. Roderick's really amused, and Bran still hates his frays. Over the next few days, they get a bunch of RSVPs that come in with a no. Ramsay's not coming, darn. Mormonts and Karstarks are part of the war effort, so they won't be there. Lord Locke is too old to travel. Lady Flint's pregnant. Widow's Watch is

ill. No response from Howlin' Reed. They're just gonna show the fuck up. And no response from the Kerwins. Lord Kerwin is a Lannister captive, but his 14-year-old son does end up making it for the feast. Bran is fond of Clay Kerwin, who'd always been nice. He jokes about it with Bran. Clay's like, should I call you prince now? Everyone's a king or a prince anyways nowadays. He asks if Bran had gotten a letter from Stannis, who's been telling people Cersei lay with Jaime and Joffrey is a bastard of incest. Joffrey the ill-born, one of the Kerwin knights growled. Small wonder he's faithless with the Kingslayer for a father. True, no notes, no notes.

Aye, said another. The gods hate incest. Look how they brought down the Targaryens. For a moment, Bran felt as though he could not breathe. A giant hand was crushing his chest. He felt as though he was falling and clutched desperately at was crushing his chest. He felt as though he was falling and clutched desperately at Dancer's reins. His terror must have shown on his face.

Aw, Bran, you're having an anxiety attack because of your traumatic memory trying to eke its way out of repression. And it will a little towards the end of the chapter, but you know, for now, Bran, let's just push that back down again. Oh my God. Crazy that this is all like, literally how it's looped in is so smart because George

has the line about man and woman having sex when it comes to Manderly. Yes. And now Bran is learning that's what sex was. Wow, George. Golf clap. Good job. That's so good. And to add on to what you're saying, the other parts where Osha's like, haven't you ever

seen a naked woman before? And Bran's all like, yeah, I have. I've seen my sisters when we're bathing and also other things, right? And also, I guess, when he saw the Lannisters. I think she was clothed, but still. It's something that many people do naked. I mean, he's starting to notice, wait,

a woman's body is different than what it used to be to me. I want to suck on them titties for a different reason. Oh, my God. I'm sorry. It's no nut November. It's no nut November, Chloe. We got to make it to the end without nutting. He's too young.

All right. Because no nutting. George fucked up and there's no five year gap. Clay asks if Brand's OK and Brand's like, Rob will just be Joffrey too. He feels like he would have fainted if not for being strapped on his horse. That night, Bran prays to the old gods for no dreams, but instead gets a nightmare of a three-eyed crow saying, fly or die, then pecking. It blinds him and then bores into his skull, causing a great pain, and we close out the

chapter with this passage. The pain was an axe splitting his head apart, but when the crow wrenched out of its beak, all slimy with bits of bone and brain, Bran could see again. What he saw made him gasp in fear. He was clinging to a tower, miles high, and his fingers were slipping, nails scrabbling at the stone, his legs dragging him down. Stupid, useless, dead legs. Help me, he cried. A golden man appeared in the sky above him and pulled him up. The things I do for love, he murmured softly as he tossed him out, kicking into empty air. And that's Bran II in Clash kings holy shit that is intense i feel intense that's a crazy end for him now he knows or remembers the true memory remembers what happened he was thrown out of a tower by some golden boy yeah though he definitely i guess represses it again it does

speak to the fact that it says a golden man appeared in the sky speaks to that one vision of his coma vision right his his dream and that the golden man there probably is jamie in the next chapter is tyrian right it's tyrian and he's dealing i want to say it's when he's going and kind of playing politics with Pycelle. Tyria just goes to the small council a lot, but there's a lot of Cersei and the incest stuff comes up in this and some of the thoughts of if the rumors are true. So it's kind of a perfect- They are true. Propaganda, lies, slander.

Joffrey is a king. He's nothing like that drunken sod of a father. Wait, fuck. Out of the mouths of babes, Ned thought ned thought well one of the big themes in this chapter that comes up in the next two with the idea of having to pass off cersei's bastards is again that idea of like nothing actually matters power is power putting someone on a seat like the boltons can just take that land and no one can do anything against it right now they could can just take Donella Hornwood and take it

and say it's theirs and say they have a claim even if they don't, which is what the Lannisters are doing to Westeros right now too. Yeah. Plus oh, oh, earlier you were talking about the pale fingers, right? Of light and then Donella Hornwood's

fingers, which also opens the door a little bit to cannibalism as well yeah and wraps right around when we get to poor jane yep it's a good time things are going great my god my gosh well another beautiful brand chapter i can't wait to be back next week with you and with our friend Courtney to talk about The Harvest Feast, one of my favorite brand chapters. One of, I'd say top five. I'd put it top five, for sure. This one, ASOS 2

is my number one. I mean, come on now. Dance 3? And then, I don't know, there's a couple. I have to think about it. I might have to come back to this list and I'll tell you. I'll tell you the top five. I don't even know what happens in those.

So I'm excited to go through this journey and find out what happens again in those chapters with you. And why you love them so much. If you listening at home love brand chapters, you should tell us. Yes. love brand chapters you should tell us yes and you can do so on social media by tweeting at us at twitter.com slash girlsgonecanon though who knows anything could happen

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The theme is dudes apparently rock. We don't know what's happening in December, but we're going to tell you when we figure it out. And if that's not enough for you, we have events hosted at least monthly. We do a brunch slash happy hour. This month's is still to be announced, but you will have that date hopefully next week

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in that Discord. Getting ready for HDM, I'm sure. Everyone is doing trailer rewatches and discussions now, and the hype is building for that one, for the final season of HDM this year, premiering December 5th. December 5th. The final final season you'll hear from

us then too you really will we'll be out there we'll be we'll be posting you know what they say about women girls be posting i don't think they do but girls be uploading sure they really do be uploading well as always i have been one of your girls be uploading chloe my god uh you're not gonna say it are you i don't know i don't know if i can say it i am i've been another one of your hosts goodbye we'll be back next week with our friend courtney thanks for listening