Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 189 — ADWD Victarion I

Episode Date: April 14, 2023

Join us to wave farewell as Victarion sails off into the sunset (at least for now).       The following music was used for this media project: Music: Jet Fueled Vixen by Kevin MacLeod Free download: https://t.co/jN2uEw5mjj License (CC BY 4.0): https://t.co/8QvmmY3zTK ---   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 189, Victarion 1 in A Dance with Dragons. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Yes, it is Victarion 1, but also in a way kind of Victarion 2. If you think, you know, it's a little of both, just like how all these ships are like multiple things and you know. It gets me confused every time. Every time I got to think about it, I'm like, wait, this isn't really a Victorian one, but it kind of is, but it isn't. Yeah. Yeah.

It's the end of Victorian for now? Question mark? Ish. Ish? This was a quick little hit and run, huh? That is kind of what they do, but not really, right? Because they also take, you know, they're ship jacking over here. A lot of hit and run huh that is kind of what they do but not really right because they also take you know their ship jacking over here a lot of hit and runs on them ships yes today we are gonna say

so long and farewell to our good buddy victorian uh it was nice getting to know you for a brief stint don't want to see you for a couple years so we'll come back to you buddy but it's not the end of victorian ha ha ha it's not it's not honestly i actually did find myself enjoying this read-through which really surprised me you know love that for me but also yes if you want just a little bit just a teensy more bit of victorian as a treat you can get that on our patreon where we are covering tiwo wins sample chapter victorian one for patrons in the stranger tier and above yeah that's over at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon where you will get a bonus episode just for you in the Stranger tier

and above over there. So make sure you subscribe to that feed and check out, I mean, we've got like 50-something episodes. There's a backlog of episodes, so if you just can't get enough, that's your next step. And we will chat about the partial Victarian chapter from the Winds of Winter.

It's definitely missing some stuff, we think, but we will chat on that there. And that isn't the only thing that we have for patrons. If you're a patron in the Thunder tier and above, you have a few other perks like early access or early POV reveals. Yes, that's right. You will be hearing this in the past, patrons listening to this episode, because you will already know about that POV reveal. And we also do some fun things at our private Discord for those Thunder tier and above patrons.

Lots of fun little events, rewatches, chats, hangouts, and Discord Brunch and Happy Hour, a monthly event that we will be announcing for you in the next week or two for our next brunch. Yeah. So you talked about, you know, getting glimpses into the future,

seeing a little bit, some prophetic stuff, which leads us into, what is our next POV? Well, the next POV is Sailor Moon. Oh my gosh. Well, actually, actually kind of. It kind of works, yeah. That does have actually a lot of, yeah,

that does have a lot of time travel going on-ish or seen to the future. Yeah, we're doing a little prophecy over there with our sailor moon episodes coming out once a month end of the month on sailor moon crystal this month we're gonna have a guest i'm so excited for that guest oh my gosh yes yeah chica is joining us uh and if you are listening to hot d podcasts at all you may have checked out chica guesting on the castle black podcasts and live streams over on youtube i caught a bunch of those yes i'm really excited to have chica from shoujo sunday joined because chica is an expert yes on on shoujo manga shoujo anime as well but just in general so i is it kind of cheap that

we're doing this to her like she is a real expert like she covers obscure and like lesser stuff stuff that you know i mean she covers the classics too but is this like asking someone to come on and do game of thrones no i mean i know some i know some of the things i i know some of the things she's talking about because you might not know this chloe but i oh my god you're the biggest nerd i'm a big loser well not not chica's very cool somehow despite like being into all this please fix whatever i just said yes i am a giant nerd this is actually probably to the surprise of no one but yeah I remember like Chika and I talking about I was getting some recommendations from her because there are some

overlaps in like some of the series that we have been into it is my I love well they're covering Oran High School I think or just wrap that up but at the same time i never watched that anime i did read the manga for a while but i never finished but also i want to say shoujo sunday has the best have you listened have you listened to their intro song i have listened yes it's very catchy it's the best it's the best intro song it's no offense to any of you all no offense anton cup of coffee oh yeah that's like number two sorry or or any of the other kevin mcleod ones that we're constantly using in our other stuff we should do a cover track of each of these you know just acapella

an acapella cover we do it for hdm i think this is the next one that's true well excited to have chica on keep your eyes and ears peeled for that episode to show up in your feed but i guess we have to reveal the pov you know like like you alluded this pov is also very prophetic a little mystery there's some magic you know i think we felt exploring magic and exploring some of these themes from victorian were uh we're still necessary as we stroll on through the story and i think that i think we've explored a really deep side of victorian or shallow, of some of this toxicity he's surrounded by and that he partakes in, right? So, I mean, Eliana, I think it's only fair to show the other side of that sort of culture.

Yeah. Our next POV is none other than the Prophet, aka Aaron Greyjoy. Literally one of his POV chapters is called The Prophet. Damp hair himself. Yeah, we, I guess this is probably one of the easier picks. You know, we don't like always being basic bitches about it. But I think that this was a natural place. You have to have them close enough to one another. These chapters echo so well together. I've been doing a lot of reading of both of them. I don't think it's basic. I think like, you know, we do a chapter order that makes sense to us. And that also helps us bring out different things in the POVs. And I don't know that this would necessarily bring something different. But I do think it is they go well together, right? They seamlessly go well into one another and really help us analyze these chapters well

side by side and also in conjunction with some of the other chapters and you know our our trajectory forward and i can't say much more i'm gonna get a look that says don't say anything else but just trust the process like the big picture right here there's a run that's about to happen that i think is gonna kick ass i think it's just a boom boom boom boom boom it's gonna be in your face you're all trust the process just just trust us on this one yeah i just don't think i think erin like i said it makes sense after and don't overthink it yeah don't overthink it sorry not to be mean y'all wait are you saying it ain't that deep um it depends on if we're talking about victorian or erin and what aspects of their

character well we will be talking about erin like we said so uh tba when you'll expect that one in your feed, but you'll hear from us on it soon. Yes. Yes. This one made, we are, we are still figuring out some of our schedule and that release date, but you know, keep your eyes peeled,

drink some shade of the evening. Maybe you'll find out, you know, when, go, go juice yourself. What's wrong with you? So much,

so much. Well, I'm excited for Aaron. That'll be a quick jump in the water. Put our toes in. And that means we'll eventually get to talk about, of course, The Forsaken, which again, everyone, I was there for that. Oh my gosh. We did, as we're outroing Victarion today, we did get a lot of great comments, reviews, messages, emails, all about Victarion or different things about, you know, about these chapters. So we want to highlight some of the fun ones we got in the last couple weeks, starting with Thunderclap. One of our good friends said Gunwhales and Roses about, is that the Reaveraver was that in response to the reaver or the

suitor oh i i want to say the suitor but i'm sorry i don't remember i didn't grab the date but i just thought it was fun i it really tickled me we love it i love it i do love it oh wait it must have been um it must have been for the reaver right with the lord sary or sorcery my bad well this one actually predates victorian i think a little but i just thought it was fun and i wanted to acknowledge this this apple podcast comment this apple podcast review from silverwing flyer it's entitled long time listener says fun podcast appreciate the so very sullied a song of ice and fire especially loved the coverage on philip pullman books that they also did so thank you so much silver ring flyer long time listener yes thank you so much i i like our philip pullman coverage too i think about it a

lot i kind of wonder if this was like in reaction to our very sullied, you know, especially during Hot D, right? We had the very sullied D. That D was out. We whipped the D out. Every Monday, you and I would record and whip the D out. Every time. Okay, we got a comment

from She's Peg Bundy who said, I think a Barristan redo is a great idea, but still two chapters and maybe also i get so sad every time you talk about redoing sansa because i know you're joking but i want it we know we do also want it but you know love is the death of duty duty is the death of honor honor is a horse so honor is a horse so in response to last episode i love this this tweet that we got from sabrina mclean aka briny mclean on twitter that says the part where victorian said he had to kill his wife or people would have laughed at him, reminded me of Theon saying something similar about the Miller's boys in The Ghost of Winterfell. I love this.

So insightful. That's so great. It shows a lot about that kind of being ingrained in those characters. Yeah, and I just thought it was such a great parallel of these really deep-seated and internalized ideas about performance of masculinity and power that even Theon who hasn't been an ironborn in a while like has but also maybe it comes to him from northern culture as well but he's performing it to an extent for the other ironborns so I thought that was so good we grabbed an email from our friend Leslie who said long time listener first time caller and is emailing in after one of the last Victarian episodes they have been consuming a lot of succession content

lately same same Z's and they pointed out that when we made the argument Victarian's not actually that stupid like as stupid as he's perceived Leslie said that it made them think of this interview with Matthew McFadden in the old New York Times where he says Jesse Armstrong had to remind him regarding Tom Lomskans, great character from Succession, he's running a billion dollar wing of this company. He's not a total moron. So Leslie isn't saying that they're very alike besides the whole bootlicking tendency, but some of those similarities between the Greyjoys and the Roys pop out with family infighting and abuse and trauma. And then Leslie goes on to ask who is the Tom Lombsgans of Westeros, pointing out that Littlefinger has that striving outsider from flyover country energy, but also is a sex pest in a way that Tom really isn't, unless he's worried about your ovaries. Hashtag Shiv Roy. But talking about, you know,

the comparison that Littlefinger was headed for financial crimes and only married Liza for power, where Tom kind of wanted to be in that inner circle of the Roy empire in a legitimate way through his marriage to Shiv, who he did slash does love? Question mark, question mark. I do like that. I like, I like the idea of Wamsgans as a little finger. I do think you're right that he's got a little bit of a heart, a country boy heart deep below. Right? I think that's really interesting right because because you're kind of tapping into there that old narrative that george is actually that george is even drawing off of where little finger's a little bit inspired by the great gatsby

and and so like tom wamsgan's very you know america like like they're supposed to be you know american values or whatever kind of thing over at uh waystar roico and with tom so i thought that was really interesting but also i was just like oh what what an interesting email that has been specially made for chloe i know usually i'm so excited for you to get your emails, but this one was for me and I loved it. I didn't know I was going to love it. Yeah, I didn't know that such a perfect email for you could, like, exist. And I thought, you know, this was really great. Thank you, Leslie.

Everyone should just send me succession emails, especially after, no spoilers, but especially after the thing that happened this week. Maybe I'll believe that. You're the artist here. All right. And next we have an email once again from our friend Warren, who says, hi, moms. This, this is actually from a few weeks ago during this Victarian stuff of, I can't believe I'm still waiting for Aria. While I wait, I'm looking forward to lots of our flag means death themed jokes as we meet victorian

i'm sorry i did not think to to do those my bad i i only have watched that series through once clay i don't remember if you've watched clay i don't remember if you've watched that yet yeah so and all these pirate jokes and warren wanted to share a story from celtic mythology that we might like to consider as we assess our favorite one-armed pirate. And then Warren does raise a good question. Aren't they supposed to be one-legged? The story of a seldom-mentioned Tuatha Dé Danann god, Noiddu. When the Tuatha Dé Danann first came to Ireland,

Noiddu was their leader, and he and the Tuatha Dé Danann challenged the ruling Firbolg. In what is known as the First Battle of the Moetora, Noiddu was injured losing his arm. While Noiddu and the Toa Dedanen are victorious he is deposed as king due to his disability deeming him unfit to rule which is according to Warren a little bit

harsh and ends up replaced by Brez who is a cruel selfish and thoughtless leader Noadu has a silver arm made so there's some Jamie links there too, points out, by John Kecht, and when

Bress is ultimately deposed, he is returned to his leadership role, and therefore deemed whole again. Warren had also mentioned on the Discord, along with our other patron Brandilyn, about Victorian parallels, and also included a link to this article that we can

share it's from wikipedia thought that was really interesting i love that and the one thing i will say is like if you're on get slayed i don't feel like viction will still be alive at that point. I think Victarion will be very long dead before Euron dies. Rest in pieces. Maybe literally. Maybe. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah, I just don't see Victarion making it out of the story alive.

That's for sure. I don't see him making it out of Slaver's Bay alive either. Yeah, I'm not sure. Like, I don't think the odds are great for him there. But I mean, he could surprise me me he surprises us a lot besides actually to be honest who had a better story than victorian grayjoy any of them even the cook look at me quoting stannis thanks warren you know we got to meet that guy it It was kind of cool. He's an alright fella. That was a weekend and a half. It was a great meeting.

I was very excited. Thank you, Warren. Thanks, Warren. We had a good, fun time. We hit the city with some GGC friends on the East Coast and got to meet a handful of you and had a really, really good time. And I think there's tons more to come of that because I feel like such great beautiful bonds were made it was like i don't know beautiful

yeah it was beautiful and shit here we are let's have a little storm god oh my god storm god before we get to the drowned god the nemeses the storm brings the drowning i don't know i don't know let's jump in water's warm tyrian 11 tyrian talks brown ben plum into letting them join the second sons over a game of civas john 12 free folk pass through the wall and hardhome seeks help the discarded knight barriston holds down the fort at court and counsels the dornish men to leave in the face of an alleged poisoning at the fighting pits. Alleged. Quote unquote. The spurned suitor, the Dornishmen meet the tattered prince and crew who demands pentos as his prize for helping them steal a dragon. The griffin reborn. John Connington lives and within him lives vengeance. He lives! The sacrifice.

Things are hashtag bad in Standis' camp, but a couple of familiar faces arrive at camp. That wades us into the waters of Victarion I in a dance with dragons, where Makoro's presence is off-putting to the ironborn. Victarion continues to sail for Meereen, finding new ships to covet and other treasures along the way. Like a tinkle hopper. Oh my god.

Like... They find their prey between the Isle of Cedars and the Astopori Hinterlands, per Makoro's direction. Longwater Pike yells down, I thought it was really interesting how we go from these ships that they take being like prey and then becoming prizes throughout the chapter, that transformation but also that hunting language and then suddenly you know the the yeah prize language you know what it reminds me of my cats i'm not kidding it's like when cats hunt toys but at the end of the day it's just toys like or like that famous line of you know the dog chasing his own tail but what's he gonna do when he catches it he usually lets it go and or he's like, surprised. He's like, oh my god, it's me. Your prey should be your kill, but you're keeping it as a trophy. What does that say?

Yeah. And it's also not like they're even getting more men. That was also part of the problem, right? Of losing all the ships. I mean, they are and they aren't. They're all like, welcome, congratulations, you're free, you're rowing for me now. And I'm like, anyway, we'll get there's no loyalty there we'll get back to that yeah lamentation comes alongside the prey splintering her oars and the monkeys oh yes the monkeys are here chattering in the room as the dawn began to wash over the broken pyramids when the captain is delivered in chains to victorian he tells him that the ship's name is giscari don out of new geese returning there by way of young guy and trading at marine the captain only spoke a guttural giscari which victorian thinks is ugly makoro translates his

words and they learned that the war for marine was won and the dragon queen was dead allegedly and a giscari man named his doc now ruled i found it interesting how he calls him his doc instead of his dar maybe it's like a common maybe he just misheard it i don't know is that just a throwaway or what from this giscari man i assumed it was like now that you say if that's what he actually heard from them from that man i can't tell if it's like victorian being racist and mishearing it also especially because it's only one name and we know that they have like multiple like they usually say them with like the whole name or something right that or is it like a a like telephone thing you know game of telephone where the name gets mangled that's kind of what i was wondering and it wondering. And it could be... Got another rumor mill? Yeah. It could be intentional, or it could be completely whatever.

Telephone? Huh. Interesting. Nasdaq. Nasdaq. Aflac. Victarion had his tongue ripped out for lying and threw the man overboard. Makoro assured him that Daenerys was alive, seen in the flames of R'hllor.

He was a sacrifice to the drowned god. He promised Mykoro, though, that the red god will have his due. Mykoro tells him there are no other gods but R'hllor and the Other, whose name can't be said. Interesting that the last Ironborn chapters are all really dominated by R'hllor in this book, right? Theon and Asha in Stannis's camp and here with Victarion that is a good point there is a lot of R'hllor R'hllor in those um yeah and Stannis actually comes up in this chapter too so that's a great point especially because I guess Stannis is like a decent naval captain maybe that's not the right term captain i'm not a fucking military whatever also that i've never considered this does makoro like do the red priests know the name of the great other they

just say like whose name can't be said but like do they do they know it is it like part of their teachings i assume because they refuse to say it they know it but now that you put it out there i mean do they know it i always kind of thought that they didn't know it but now that he says it like this i'm like maybe they know it i feel like and maybe when we reread melisandre's chapter someday someday um but maybe when we reread it we'll think differently but to me i think it definitely seemed to fall into that category of like erasing the actual name of it takes the fear out of it even though it doesn't really i don't know i don't know yeah i don't know the things i wonder late at night that will be something i will think

about yeah well macquarie's entered a new phase of his goth era and he's now dressed in all black with golden thread on his cuffs and collars. There is no red cloth on the Iron Victory, but he couldn't just keep wearing his salt-stained rags. So Victarion commanded Tom Tidewood to sew new robes for him. And Victarion even donates his own tunics. He's so generous. He's so giving. There's a lot to explore right here. First of all, interesting that Victarion is so motivated by having Makoro assimilate and having people accept him, especially because it's kind of

an extension of himself, right? By giving him these tunics, it's in hope that he will imbue part of his rulership and leadership into this man's kind of display to his boat and that they will respect both him and Makoro. And they do neither. But we'll come back to that. There's also something really interesting,

even exploring some of that gender dynamic for the Ironborn that here, sewing is seen like as a fine thing. It's not a problem. Like he has someone that knows how to sew on board, and he requires it. In fact, it kind of seems like throughout the story, we see sailors specifically having somewhat basic sewing skills in order to, you know, survive on the sea where they can't just get a new wardrobe. Even obviously he's young, but like Jon in a Game of Thrones looks down on sewing as something that only girls do. And we even see like warriors in Yunkai with copper discs sewn on their dyed cloaks.

It just seems some other cultures do value sewing and value the importance of having clothes that aren't like rotting from the sea and maybe going to give you like a fungal infection. Like they put value on that yeah that's a that's a great call it and it kind of makes sense because not only would they need to know it for clothes because i mean if you're only ever getting clothes off of your slain foes then you have to tailor that if you want to look very fashionably like you have to tailor that and and sales yeah you know you want to look very fit and fine when you pay only the iron price for everything but exactly sales is a big part exactly like they i mean no sales no wind right yeah i think that's probably i think that's literally actually the biggest part of the sales so but and by sales we don't mean a sale on these great new

uh tailored men's clothing we mean the stuff on boats yes yes victorian hopes that they'll accept makoro if he's in the grayjoy colors but now he just looks more sinister than ever and everyone starts to shun him more even the vole had asked asked Victarion to give him to the waves. We have a passage. But Makoro knew these strange shores in ways that the Ironborn did not, and secrets of the dragon kind as well. The crow's eye keeps wizards, why shouldn't I? His black sorcerer was more puissant than all of Euron's three, even if you threw them in a pot and boiled them down to one.

The damp hair might disapprove, but Arryn and his pieties were far away, so Victarion closed his burned hand into a mighty fist and said, Giskari Dawn is no fit name for a ship of the Iron Fleet. For you, wizard, I shall rename her Red God's Wrath. His wizard bowed his head as the captain says. So I just find this really interesting seeing, as

you said, right, makoro is like an extension of him and and how victorian's really like very invested in having makoro around maybe because makoro's saved his life but now i'm like is makoro controlling him anyways um now but also i'm kind of like i love that Makoro just does not give a shit. He's like, as my captain says, you know, he's like, I don't care that you need this boat after me. But it's also kind of a Qyburn-esque relationship here, too, with the carrion and Makoro. There seems to, I mean, Makoro is getting a free ride and free clothes out of this, and he's not dead yet. And I don't think he could be.

That's interesting. Unless you really, really try, you know like with barrick did you really try uh victorian has shown that he is like easily pliable mccorrow has already seen that you can see that mccorrow speaks to his pride constantly and the things he says in this chapter speaks to you know things happening because of victorian not because of other things that victorian's the chosen one definitely some mel stannis and some uh kyburn as kyburn cersei shit even going on here a little bit exactly very interesting okay is this because can someone like enlighten me and maybe Chloe? Like, is this a middle child thing? Is that why it's, like, working on Victarion so much? Hmm.

Because Stannis is middle child. So, I don't know. I don't know. That's it. You and I. Hmm. Interesting. Middle child.

Yeah, I just don't understand it. No. So that's why we're putting it to you, the audience. Anyway, we're back to the numbers game. The Iron Fleet has grown to 54. Good job, team. The next day, the storms that Makoru had predicted

come. What a wonderful meteorologist. Oh my god, give Makoro a job here. And they lose three more ships. Victarion is confident that if they float, they will meet again. And Makoro had assured him that their ships were not lost. We know that we re-find these ships in a little bit. But I do have to say, I would be so...

Like, every word Makoro said, I would be like, what do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? Because this guy is vague as a motherfucker, and he's like, you'll meet again. What kind of vague shit is that? Like, if they're alive, do we necessarily want to meet again? What state will these people slash ships be in? I don't know.

Victarion's, like, way too easy to trust, and I would have questioned a lot of that but he just says yes good my fire's good good good i actually see that as a positive about makoro in that he says i think that's mostly all makoro knows he's like yeah you're gonna see each other again he doesn't embellish upon it and try to make assumptions in the way that melisandre does right she melisandre would have like told john like you're definitely going to like you know see these ships again and have victory or whatever right they or like i saw three ships they must be yours in the way that he she does when she's like who else could the girl on the dying horse be that must be aria coming here and macquarie was like you know i literally don't know what's going on with the ships but you're gonna see them again he just tells what he sees and then that way he can't he can't be wrong you know you can't hold it against him when he goes too far and see that's

the problem is i as a crazy ruler would like to be able to hold someone else accountable for the consequences of my actions so with that said i choose melisandre as my red priest interesting i i think i choose none of them but makoro again seems like a way more dependable meteorologist so i mean i might do it for that what should i wear tomorrow makoro it's gonna snow uh and then you just have to like critical think from there and that's a lot for me is all i'm saying like good for you aliana i'm just cutting that shit i wouldn't ask him anything else anyways uh i also want to add he throws people overboard you know for the drowned god and then he names i thought you were gonna say for the fun of that too for fun uh but then he names the ship for the red god and it just makes me wonder like isn't that a little sacrilege you know i think that is only one like the least of the many sacrilegious things

that happen in this chapter well it's just weird because i feel like everything he does cancels shit out right like i don, I don't know. Aren't gods, like, prideful and shit about being their number one? Like, isn't this smiting? Isn't this, like, flipping them off by being like, ah, I have seven religions now. Yeah.

It actually makes me think a lot of, like, though they are on different sides of the wisdom spectrum, it makes me think a lot of like king solomon who was supposed to be you know really all about that that one single god and then was like you know what let me just make a i'll sponsor you know we can have a bunch of other temples here and and allowing idolatry uh sort of to appease his wives yeah exactly that and like the idea that you could just buy off the gods by a sacrifice to

one of them whenever you feel like it doesn't that make you unserious as a worshiper like doesn't that i don't know like i mean he is a little unserious you know well he is yeah okay let's be for fucking real victorian you right but but at the same time i get it right because he strongly believes in of course the god because that's the dogma that he's been raised in but at the same time i feel like as it is for a lot of the the people that we see right for example the brotherhood without banners you're gonna fucking follow and believe the guy who saved your hand that is now stronger than ever and on fire, yet somehow usable.

Well, and I guess coming back to like Stannis, right? What does he say about trying a different bird? Trying Red Rally? Yeah, it's kind of that moment, I guess. It's just interesting to me. Very interesting. That's all. That's all.

Yeah. That's all. It isn't there's a lot there's that's a thing victorian chapters surprisingly interesting and like few of them which rocks because then it doesn't get dragged out it's like the perfect that's true you know what i mean like you have just enough of victorian you don't get sick of him you're like all right that was good enough it's over Victarion, for all that interesting shit. I can't wait to think about it. It's funny because I do, I think, feel sick of his, I felt sick of his chapters when, like, it was my first read through, you know?

And, like, reading through them, I'm like, ugh, I don't want this chapter. I want a different chapter. Yeah. Anyway. But now it's like, yeah, now I now i'm together especially i think they read really well yeah yeah one block one block an interesting mini story and maybe that's why i'm liking the george novellas that we've been reading right like because yeah yeah we read some of these chapters that way great point thank you thank you each night the sorcerer priest lit a fire and would stalk the flames and sometimes victorian

thought the flames were dancing on his face on his tattoo too i think they are i think they are too it's kind of some cool optical illusion shit yeah i i want a gif of that whoo that would have been some rorschach oh my god yeah that too if only someone had adapted this holy yeah i agree if only you know it's it's really cool that george thought about this um after you know and thought to add this into the story after it was on tv victorian keeps drowning people who speak out against makoro starting to cause a little tension back at the old boat makoro tells him that his lost ships are coming back off the isle of yaros he calls them lost lambs and victorian's like well they fucking better because my people want me to kill you so you better hope that you're right the iron victory takes another ship northwest of astapor a mirish cog named dove

that was making its way to yunkai with carpets sweet green wines and mirish lace her captain also had a mirish eye two lenses in a series of brass tubes and victorian takes this of course i'm sure he has no clue how great of an object it is. I'm over here like, this is a great wonder you have come upon, Victarion. I think he knows. That's why he took it. He's like, whoa, this is actually like super useful. It's like burning ants with it. Well, wouldn't he use it?

It's like a telescope, right? Yeah. That's why I don't think he's 100% sure what he can do. I think, I don't know. Seems useful for a captain. Maybe. Maybe. He renames the cog Shrike and decides to take her crew for ransom.

Neither slaves nor slavers, but a third secret thing. Free mere men and sailors. They would be good coin. Wait, but if they're free, how are they coin? Can we just... Hmm. wait but if they're free how are they coin can we just hmm i know ransoming is considered different but there are other moments in this chapter where i'm like this is not this is not a different thing dude this is not a different thing i will say every time shrike comes out this is a total

non-sequitur i think of like that one season of agents of shield and the next um you have you have this ship right it's named dove which as you all know is a borb and then it becomes a shrike which is another bird which is also known as the butcher bird so i thought that was kind of fun to go from like how it goes from like a peaceful bird to i don't know murderous one but also the way all of these ships get new names and are transforming it becoming something else as victorian takes them i thought was really fun with some of the things that we see are going on in the story like how victorian's hand transforms but also how we're seeing a lot of these other chapters these characters that we know their pov chapters and names transforming as well actually that is weird that this one's the first Victarion, now that I think about it.

He's transformed from those things into himself, finally, as he takes his destiny into his hand. Into his rocket hand. Oh, it just... Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm serious, though, when I say that. That's what I think. No, I know.

Because I really think, like, especially last chapter, at the end of the chapter, he chose to break those shackles off of him those tentacles ain't no tentacles on me you know yeah he's finally doing kind of what he wants right now he's far away yeah it's interesting and then also whereas you have the other pov characters right like theon who's been reek for a while and then you know the ghost at winterfell he's about to become theon again in like two seconds because we're in dance but or like his niece being the sacrifice you know going from asha to the sacrifice yes wayward bride all of these uh transforming chapter titles i love that

yeah boats and it even has some harpy-esque qualities to the idea of the actual bird of the Shrike. It's almost similar to mythology. Oh, that's it. I don't know much about the Shrike. That makes sense. That explains why they might have chosen that bird for that season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Oh, there you go. There we go.

So, they don't have any news from this boat, so he asked Makoro what he sees. And he wonders aloud if there's more rain because it smells like it. But Makoro says, gray skies and strong winds. Behind come the tigers. Ahead waits your dragon. Victarion likes the sound of that. So, of course, he's saying behind come the tigers, which is probably the tigers from Volantis, I think.

Right? That's what we're referring to here. Ahead waits your dragon. behind come the tigers which is probably the tigers from volantis i think yeah right that's what we're referring to here a head waits your dragon uh oh i don't know a head waits your dragon that could be any of the dragons this doesn't bode so well i'm telling you that could mean anything those pigs are gonna get roasted and so is he delicious even the way that victorian like likes what he says like there's definitely something here that reminds me of psychics telling people what they want to hear and people believing it right that's a very common a lot of people find themselves you know some psychics are not actually powerful and gifted and they just like google some shit about you before you come for your psychic

thing and they're like ah yes i'm sensing is you come for your psychic thing. And they're like, ah, yes, I'm sensing. Is there someone new in your life? And it's like your last time Instagram posts were pictures of your date. You know, I don't know. There's something like that here for Victarion going on with Makoro because Victarion's like, oh, there's going to be rain. I can smell it. He's relying on his physical lived memories and experience to be like

ah the rain's coming this is what it's like and makoro's like no no close gray skies and strong winds it's very interesting yeah and because makoro knows like the climate here better yeah so educated guesses with the weather sometimes i'm like is Makoro predicting it? Or is he just, like I said, a very gifted actual meteorologist? And yeah, but some of the things like he's saying, I think they're true, right? He just says kind of like some of the things he sees, he'll pepper it with a little stuff. But then mostly it's really up to Victarion to be like, love that for me. It's his only friend, so. That's actually kind of true and very sad.

He had Newt, but then Euron took him. Newt! Victarion wants Mikoro to tell him something he doesn't know. This has become a slumber party. I don't know, Mikoro. Why don't you tell me something I don't know?

Mikoro, truth or dare seven minutes in heaven and that's when you put your head underwater and you see the drowned god's watery halls for seven minutes um lately the crew has been calling makoro the black flame stefar stammerer couldn't pronounce his name so that's kind of what they started calling him by any name the priest had powers i did think at first name, so that's kind of what they started calling him. By any name, the priest had powers. I did think at first, I was like, that's kind of rude of Stephar. And then I realized that maybe Stephar has a stammer or stutters. And then I was like, oh.

Stephar Stammerer, yes. He's the only one who's allowed, I guess. Mikoro tells Victarion about the coastline and where to find two more galleys. So, yes, this priest is powerful. Like, does have powers. That's nice of him to be able to use them a little here. Ralph the Limper sees them all first. The galleys are too fast, so Victarion sends off the fastest ships, the Iron Wing, the Sparrowhawk, and Kraken's Kiss.

It lasts the best part of the day, but they're finally taken. Yeah, so the ships have no supplies, but they do have legionaries to replace the people who had died of the pale mare slash bloody flux going over to Meereen. And the captains again say that Daenerys is dead. So Victarion immediately beheads them with his axe for that lie. And I just thought it was just really honorable of Victarion, you know, to behead these people and enact justice himself. He's just like Ned and Jon. For real, for real. So honorable. He puts the crews to death as well very honorable and then he frees the slaves

they are now free to row for the iron fleet what an honor for them he says the dragon queen free slaves and so do i um hmm one of these things is not like the other just putting that out there what daenerys does is still a little different than what he does. Yep. Don't know what else to tell you on that one. Those are not the same things. These are not the same things. It's really not because it's like, well, where else are they going to go like on a boat? I'm like, they're literally, they are stuck there. You are free to row for us uh bruh yeah it's uh it's really weird that he just can't seem to

differentiate between them but that's alright he'll be dead soon enough I mean it's just cause he thinks he's got the best culture right he thinks he's got the best words and that's why he renames the galleys Ghost and Shade. Yeah, well, these ones he's renamed to Ghost and to Shade. Because, again, he's really just like John.

They're so much alike. And the names are inspired so that the ships will haunt the Junkishman. That's his vision, right? His idea. He tells this idea to the Dusky woman after he finishes raping her again. And then there's this line that I thought was really weird because it's in the middle of this paragraph and it can be referring to a couple of things. It says, they were close now and growing closer every day.

And I can't tell, like, is this referring to how he perceives his relationship with the Dusky Woman? Or is this referring to how close they are to Slaver's Bay slash Meereen and towards Daenerys? I'm unsure. But if it's about his relationship with the Dusky Woman, it makes me think of, like, those studies where, you know, men and women, like, on straight dates, right? Where men think that a date went really well if, like, he got to talk a lot, especially about himself. Even if the woman shared nothing about herself, he'll be like, yeah, I thought that was a really good date.

And this is just like that. I really think it was about the dusky woman, but it feels unclear, right? It's unclear. And for me, it means, honestly, I think that that could have been edited a little better. Yeah. Unless, and hear me out on this, is he hoping that it goes for both or doing one size fits all sentence because it's like it could be both and it does make me think that perhaps Euron definitely is in the dusky woman and he's feeling close to her for like weirder like it's a weird connection kind

of thing I'm not sure I'm just not sure it could it could be both about like they're close to the to marine and he and the dust he thinks that he and the dusky woman are close but then like i'm not sure i see like the literary benefit of that ambiguity right like there are some lines where like that ambiguity is great it is just like when i was confused about the dog being alive or dead that's all i'm saying schrodinger's dog but dog is alive schrodinger's dusty woman ship yes exactly also literally just like that for now weird ambiguous line well he wonders if this is how Aaron feels when serving God, feeling the waves are made for him. He also feels the red God tonight in this Chili's. And it's interesting how he's like the powers coursing through him.

He's like, I have a huge boner of being a leader. And I find it really weird. He compares it to Aaron, right? Because this is not who Eren is anymore and maybe when Eren was a little wilder before he quit drinking and he found God and all that but this

sounds more like how Euron feels with his behaviors right of like taking women against their will employing wizards very anti-Eren things to do like right now his plan is very Euron, even though he thinks he's doing something so great and different and mighty. He's really just measuring success by what Euron would measure success by. That's a really great distinction

in terms of like how people are approaching this religion, right? Like, or religion in general, Aaron approaches it from the perspective perspective of i serve god right as opposed to this idea of providence in which everything was made for me god made everything for me yeah yeah yeah i that's a that's a cool distinction there yeah because erin's like real granola bar now you know he doesn't do any of this shit yeah he's like i i love to serve god he's like high sparrow but fish it's actually very much when cersei leaves the high sparrow and she's like i'm such a fucking good ruler the first yes look at me i just okay there's a lot of there's a lot of similarities between them. They should fuck. Interesting.

So, Victarion's arm looks a little bit like Chicharrona's. Like, he says it looks like crackling pork, you know, from elbow to fingertip. So that's what I think. And when he makes a fist, the skin sometimes splits and smokes, but the arm is stronger than before. Mmm. Yum. Delicious. the skin sometimes splits and smokes but the arm is stronger than before and then delicious we have i picked a hangnail drunk drunk this weekend and it looks just like that just so you know wow amazing we have this line from victorian of two gods are with me now he told the dusky woman no foe can stand before two gods.

Then he rolled her on her back and took her once again. And, I don't know, it's just horrifying. How he just, like, I don't know, uses this woman emotionally, physically, in every way. And I feel so bad for her. And also she's being skin-changed by Euron. I feel, I don't know, even feel so bad for and also she's being skin changed by euron i feel i don't know yeah even even more exponentially bad for her meathouse man she's nothing but uh being handled yeah whoa yeah the dusky woman meathouse man connection is there for sure

god read meathouse matt i mean meathouse man by joe magician God. Read Meat House Man by Joe Magician. So, just like Mikoro predicted, they find the ships off the coast at Yaros, and he gets a golden torque as a reward. Now Victarion has a choice-ish. Risk going through the Straits or take the fleet around the island. He's a little traumatized from the time Stannis kind of beat his ass and took the Iron Fleet from the north and the south, trapping them in the channel between Fair Isle and the mainland, but sailing around would cost them precious time. Then again, shipping might be really heavy in the Straits, less Yunkish warships until Marine. So he does what any good religious person does to decide. What would Euron Greyjoy do? W-W-E-G-D.

And then he's like, I'm gonna sail the straits. Oceans 11. Yeah, I mean, it's hilarious. He literally does ask, what would Euron do? As opposed to what would Aaron do? You can really start seeing

that flip. And I wonder if Victarion, first of all, side thought, I wonder if he takes inspiration from Stannis' thing during the Great Droid Rebellion and squeezing them in through that strait and how Stannis defeated him for that hammer and anvil thing that Barristan is really jazzed about

in that Barristan wins chapter when when the iron fleet shows up it's also what stannis does at the black water or tries to do you know in theory it was a good idea but they did not have the god on his side yeah well it's because he's like because he's the storm maybe because baratheon i don't know yeah yeah and then the fire instead yeah dang dang cannot catch a break that man middle children you know i don't anyways i really don't sorry that's right we don't know we don't someone tell us what we do know so i feel like you know we're talking about how victorian is becoming more and more like euron whether or not he realizes it he's trying to emulate euron's thought patterns and what he would do um even if he doesn't always realize it.

Here he explicitly does and it kind of reminds me a little bit of like Cersei in trying to emulate a ruler or what she thinks ruling is and kind of mimicking even some of Robert's behaviors with all this this drinking and not really ruling and some of the stuff with Taina or even like also Tyrion becoming more and more like Tywin and thinking like what would Tywin do with all of these wells you know Tyrion becoming more like his abuser and and that repetition of cycles with and Victarion is kind of doing that it's he's like seeking to defeat Euron by becoming more and more like Euron and he's losing himself as he's losing his hand oh I'm just about to talk about all the Lannisters apparently and just like Jaime's story right he loses a hand which ends up losing a part of his identity and that for him this was probably

good psychologically it makes him you know it was a part of him. He's losing that Kingslayer more of aspect of his identity. Whereas for Victarion, he's really shedding that ironclad adherence to the ironborn structure, not just by taking on a wizard. But, you know, he's taking on men in his crew from Essos, just like Euron. He's using magic and sacrificing to foreign gods, just like Euron. And it all starts with him deciding to be like I'm gonna want what Euron wants now uh which is Daenerys and dragons but mostly Daenerys he's like I don't know dragons could I don't even think he's thinking about dragons there's almost like a nice guy quality to it like I've been the nice guy for too long he thinks that's kind of funny to say oh my god

he's relatively right though in in gray joy household he's been the nice guy and it's almost like one of those kind of nice guys tm that's like i've been the nice guy for too long and now i'm gonna start winning by being like the the bad not nice guys that's really what he's doing but he actually literally is like that right that's that's his thought process around like especially his his salt wife that he murdered because he's like i was such a nice guy and i loved her so much and my brother the chad took her and so i had to kill her which talks a lot about like you know the violent misogyny around like that incel nice guy mindset yeah and that competition right of winning yeah yeah and that he's i mean he's really not that nice he's he

really thinks that he is because he's like i'm so nice i freed all these people i'm like you didn't yeah and it comes back to that prize versus prey mentality that we talked about at the top right of like he's now living in a society where he's looking at things like their prey but then he's also looking at them like their prizes yeah there's like no society around too i mean there's kind of the other ironborn but he has like all this power here so he's just kind of as you said So he's just kind of, as you said, unleashed. Victarian. Unleashed. Unleashed the V.

Oh, I don't want that series, I think. It's too late. We're finishing it today. You're right. This is the series. Finishing it. Finishing it. Oh. Sexually. I don't want to. They take three more prizes before Yaros is gone from their sight,

ending up packed with trade goods, wine, silks, spices, rare woods, and scents, but the chips are the biggest prize. They catch a fishing catch, but it takes two ships to bring fishermen to heel, and finally they get some truth about Daenerys. She's gone, flown away on her black dragon beyond the dothraki sea victorian asks where it is so he can sail it only to be mocked because it is grass there's no sailing on grass that is the joke so he strangles and slams the youngish man to death normal reaction and then he has longwater pike and tom tidewood throw the youngish man over as an offering to the drowned god first i wanted to say that the yaros name kind of just makes me laugh because it makes me think of yara yara grayjoy that's that that's mostly what i had to say but also you're welcome and yeah he hates being mocked and laughed at again.

Kind of reminds me a little of Tywin. Yeah, can't abide laughter. Mm-mm. Pride. So then we have this exchange between Makoro and Victarion of... Your drowned god is a demon, the black priest Makoro said afterward. He is no more than the thrall of the other, the dark god whose name must not be spoken. Take care, priest, Victarion warned him.

There are godly men aboard this ship who would tear out your tongue for speaking such blasphemies. Your red god will have his due, I swear it. My word is iron. Ask any of the men. The black priest bowed his head. There is no need. The lord of light has shown me your worth, lord captain. Every night in my fires, I glimpse the glory that awaits you. Those words pleased Victorian Greyjoy mightily, as he told the dusky woman that night. My brother Balin was a great man, he said. But I shall do what he could not. The Iron Islands shall be free again,

and the Old Way will return. Even Dagon could not do that. Sorry, I had to kick it back to Chloe for a second. You know, sometimes that voice takes over and that's just who I am. You're being skin-changed. Oh my god, I'm finishing the episode in the Victorian voice. Ready? Oh god.

I like what Makoro's saying here, and it comes back to some of the things that we read from mel in the series right that that the gods the gods are battling above right they uh they're battling a different battle outside of what these people are battling below them and it reminds me a little bit of american gods if y'all have read it or watched season one and quit in season two uh read it though if you haven't it's a great great great read and it's pretty swift read in my opinion really well paced but there's like kind of this idea of the gods being able to be enthralled to others or uh you know these gods like all fighting wars and fighting for things they believe

in and then there's also a plot from the show run of the magicians it reminds me of which again highly recommend that of gods being in service to other gods or gods eating and killing other gods to like harness that power and it makes me wonder if that's that's a behind the scenes kind of a idea if there's anything similar that George is thinking. Yeah, I kind of wonder that. George doesn't really go over any of these theological aspects that much, to be honest. Which I kind of wish he did, but he doesn't. And, like, I know he says, like, that the gods don't exist at all, which is fine. I just kind of want some of the philosophy behind some religions don't there's not just a nerd i know you are a little bit of a nerd you you like

history and shit too you're such a little weirdo do i sometimes you like the way it like is affected by culture and stuff you're a little freak about that yeah i don't even know me me you're a little anyways go ahead um no but yeah not even that so much right it's just like we get the mythology of a lot of this stuff like the azura high story the last hero uh all these mythos and all these little you know the moon is egg moon is silver millennium stuff i mean that's where bunnies come from yeah that's what i know it makes me feel like some of those mythos have more anchor to the real world and some of those legends will be coming to life and playing out so with the gods maybe we'll get a bigger understanding of them yeah yeah and it's

also it is a little interesting how like the, the Drowned God and Storm God, like, that dichotomy between them is a little kind of like the R'hllor-Great Other dichotomy. Yeah, and ice and fire. Yeah. But I guess Storm and Sea? I don't know. Here, it's almost compared and presented by Makoro, right, previous pov about the idea of the the words what is dead may never die like if the drowned god is a thrall of the other like seems pretty interesting to really like play up the idea of like yeah we should undead things yeah it feels like a uh a tributary of the religion yeah or yeah Or, yeah, yeah, or a thrall. We get some worldbuilding about how a century has passed since Dagon had sat the Seastone Chair, the Salt Throne,

but people still speak of him. Westeros had been ruled by a weak king, so Pyke, Lord Dagon, tried to take the Sunset Sea, defeating the Lannisters and the Starks, but could not beat the dragons. Victarion would have the Dragon Queen, though, who would bear him sons. Anyways. He just does not care about the dragons.

I just really- It's so fascinating. And he really thinks that betting Daenerys is going to happen slash that easily, that one gets me too. Yeah, I agree. He's just like so fixated on, I don't know, possessing women that he just is like, who gives a shit about, yeah, exactly. He's so fixated on the trophies as opposed to the dragons, which is, again. Daenerys is his prey and his prize. Yes. Well, little does he know People are prey for dragons

She's no one's prize yeah Sorry dragons eat squids day after day I eat squids Me too it's not that fucking big of a deal Now that you say it out loud damn Move over Victarion So anyway They're now up to 60 ships

They're north of Yarr, close to Yunkai, and the coast between there and Meereen will have tons of merchant and supply ships to raid. They sail to deeper waters until they can't see land, deciding not to let any ships escape to warn foes. We get a check-in on the color of the sea. It is green, so I'm sure Victarion's happy and the sky is gray. And the sky is gray. And the sky is gray.

Victarion went out to sea. On this autumn's day. It's autumn now. We should have written this before, yeah. We never do. All of these are freestyled all of our great hits

all the hits all the hits all the hits now that's what i call girls gone canon volume 189 actually that's actually this is not a bad idea anyways t-shirts uh getting sued anyways so i like the way so the chapter starts with the sea is black, right? Then later on, they say that the sea is blue. Here, the sea is green, and the sky is gray. And I like how George is using the color of the sea as a way to tell the reader that time is passing in this chapter, right? And really showing not just that, but also how they are traversing into different areas. And it's really similar to how he uses the phases of the moon to show the passage of time in Bran's chapters, right? It's less exact than having phases of the moon, but

it's a way that he's showing and like moving that story forward. And I think it's just a really smart device. I really like that you pointed that out. I was kind of paying attention to the sky color and I love and the watercolor, right? Because especially since we pointed out how he hates the water if it doesn't look right. So I've been paying attention. It's looked wrong a lot. It's looked real bad.

Yeah, because different means wrong. If you go to the Victorian Greyjoy School of Hard Knocks. Well, I'm just like, does this not mean storm? But maybe it doesn't. You know, I'm not a fucking sailor. I don't know how to tell the weather. That's for sure. I'll just open the little app. Grief, Warrior Wench, and Iron Victory capture a slaver galley just north of the Yellow City,

and they find 20 perfumed boys and four score, 80, girls, who are going to be trafficked to pleasure houses of lease on this ship, the Willing Maiden. Victarion kills the slavers, frees the chained rowers so that they can row for him, and the girls are divided up amongst the captains because Victarion has now saved them from being sex slaves so that they can be salt lives. The boys are all thrown into the water with chains on. Victarion thinks they were unnatural creatures and the ship smelled better once cleansed of their presence. Victarion, as we've kind of talked about, can't deal with any sort of presentation of homosexuality or of his gender being altered in any way that he thinks societally normal to himself.

And coming back to that first Victarian chapter, like, is it from his younger brothers being weaker targets that he feels so strongly about this? And because of Euron? on uh because something within him he's not quite drumming up but he hates gay pretty boys which i they probably smell great victorian yeah and he only hates that the ones that are like the victims of it because he hates that they express as you said like what he perceives as femininity which is meant to be a role of submission as opposed to dominance like there's no problem with like the men who are raping the boys or anyone else like that's still an expression of masculinity to him which is very strange very interesting but maybe it's not necessarily strange i think there are there are cultures that do perceive it that way in our own real world

yes and it actually i it's interesting that you thought it might be like born out of his childhood because for me it actually made me think and kind of solidified for me that he doesn't know what happened to aaron and to yuri to uragon because it makes me think that he might have actually even though his his uh brothers were would have been victims slash our victims makes me think he might have actually even though his his uh brothers were would have been victims slash our victims makes me think he would have rejected them for being assaulted in that way interesting i'm still on the opposite side of that if there's one thing we're not going to come to terms on this entire victorian pov interesting this is i mean i think it's good it's good for us to have you know we're not codependent you and i

yeah no it's good i like to disagree with you i feel like yeah as you said we healthily do so so it keeps things spicy for us in our relationship victorian chooses for himself seven girls all with different hair or eyes or something else like nipple and clit piercings because he like george is a boob man oh no he calls out one of the women has like really big boobs apparently yeah yeah he's a boob man he's a titty guy no other guys exist in george's world no i'm serious no i know you are okay this is ass erasure but fine george ass guy erasure

they're all trained in the way of the seven sighs but he only wants the dusky woman until denaris he thinks no man had need of candles when the sun awaited him this is a horrible mangling of lorce's really nice line about renly of like you know when the sun is set no candle can replace it but yeah whatever victorian i also kind of forgot the nipple and clit rings apparently exist in this world nipple rings make sense i guess clit rings do exist in this world. Nipple rings make sense. I guess clit rings do too. Very interesting. You know, revisiting this idea that he only wants the Dusky Woman until Daenerys, or until he gets to Daenerys, I thought that was really interesting that the only woman that he wants at the moment is one that was gifted,

even though that's horrible to say, to him by Euron, as he becomes more and more like Euron and gets closer to him. His gifts are poisoned. Yeah. That he doesn't seek other ones. I don't know. That he chose seven girls to sacrifice. Again, what god are you working with here, Victarion?

Yeah! Seven, isn't that a holy number because of the seven and he doesn't even think about that which is so fascinating you know he just were there only like very seven very choice girls or something i don't know and this is moreover what i'm saying i'm like now you're just doing random shit for random gods and hoping something sticks like anyone can play rou, but you're not going to win money that way. Yeah, and it's just, like, I don't know, really horrible that, the whole thing is horrible, right? Like, that, he is killing, like, a lot of these men and these captains, but just the way that then, like, I mean, everyone that he captures is being objectified in a different way. Like, as we discussed in Meat House Man, right?

The way that bodies are used. He's not freeing anyone, right? And he's acting like he is. But if you're not bringing, like, equity to the table of how you're freeing people, and that some of them now get to be salt wives, and some of them have to row for the rest of their lives whenever you say so, and some of them have to row for the rest of their lives whenever you say so and some of them have to die just because just because and this whole group of them have to die just because

like what that's not freedom that's not liberty that's not justice none of that is none of that is no and like if you cannot be like literally used by victorianist crew whether that's as manual labor or as sexually then you are disposed of like these like the the perfumed boys right which is just so sad and then also here with the these women that are being used uh to for what for the gain of allegedly wins of wins yeah ah look under your chairs yeah he's just making shit up he is he is well he renames this galley slaver scream which i don't know i don't i don't know what to think about that maybe it'll impress his new girlfriend when he gets there, right? That's what he hopes, I guess.

And then she's gonna be like, this is literally not what I meant. Like, this is so fucking insulting. I wonder if she, you know, I think that Daenerys, like, has this really clever way, but actually of, like, turning punishments on their head to some extent i wonder if she would do that to victoria and be like oh um i've captured you but i'm freeing you to do x thing which would be i think really really interesting oh and command him may as well yeah she's very clever yeah well and it's also like will she even see him that is also a good point he might already be dead yeah yeah we'll find out now there are 61 ships counts going up making them stronger but the way forward will be harder and full of foes like war ships he tells the ironborn as they prepare to enter mirin there will be ships from the three slaver cities like also some of the ones that we don't know or haven't heard much of like tolos

and illyria but y'all have heard of new geese and karth he pointedly leaves out the green galleys of old volantis so there might be some there he says that the slavers are free and that every one of these ironborn is worth 20 slavers because they are made of iron and he says no mercy make sure that they bleed essentially and then he takes the seven girls that he chose kisses each of them on the cheek, and tells them about honor in words that they do not understand. And then he puts them on the fishing catch that they captured, drops it in the water, and sets the catch ablaze.

He gifts them, in quotes, to both gods to either be reborn in light and thus made pure, which is like so fucked up. They didn't choose this life. Or they can, or he is like, you will be going to the watery halls to feast, dance, and laugh until the seas dry. Yeah, there's a quote, near the end, before the smoking catch was swallowed by the sea, the cries of seven sweetlings changed to joyous song shrike action it seemed to victorian grayjoy terrifying terrible yeah it really does not do that but like oh my god bewildering and i do think i do think it is a little interesting though that like ralorism and the drowned god like a lot of these religions they very much seem inspired by Catholicism and Christianity just because George is imbuing so much of his own childhood and his

own experiences with religion into these I mean obviously you know there's there's other parts of them that are reminiscent of like Zoroastrianism and maybe I I don't know, Norse myth, Norse religions too, which do have, like, human sacrifice. But anyway, the, with the Christian influence and stuff, I do think that the constant usage of human sacrifice, especially in, like, Rilorism is, like, I don't know, it's interesting considering that there's this really, really, really big plot point in all three of the, the most mainstream Abrahamic religions that human sacrifice is really, really, really big plot point in all three of the most mainstream Abrahamic religions that human sacrifice is bad, actually. Big plot point.

Anyway, again, comes back to, like, that King Solomon losing his way to idolatry thing. You know, not to get Old Testament on your asses, you know, but that was a big thing in the Old Testament. It was a big thing. It was a big thing. They were all about a big thing it was a big thing they were all about sending them down the river back then yeah only kill lambs not the people not lambs of god just lambs yeah except for that one time except for that one time never but that was also technically

god so it wasn't like in that's only in one of the religions. And that was, God did it himself. So it wasn't as bad. What we're saying is, if you celebrate, I hope you had a happy Easter. No, I'm just kidding. Nailed it. Wait. It actually is that time, isn't it?

A great wind comes that sails them north toward Meereen. We have a very classic line. On wings of song I fly to you, Daenerys. The Iron Captain thought. That was my best work yet. Thank you. Thank you. I think it was. It was. I've been preparing for that one.

Bafta. Bafta, wow. Wow. Look, I know we've covered this, but I just need to come back to this that like he doesn't understand that taking slaves that are being trafficked and setting them on fire or drowning them is not freeing them I know this is rhetorical but what hmm I was kind of reading the next chapter after this which is the aa chapter where she gets her first kill. And she kind of argues with the kindly man. And there's something about how she was trying to act tough and trying to tell the kindly man what they want to hear and about giving someone the gift and she gets it wrong. Right? She talks about the person that she's supposed to give the gift. And she says, he must be full of fear.

The gift will bring him peace. And he's like, the gift brings all men peace. And she's like, when I kill him, he'll look in my eyes and thank me. And the kindly man's like, no, you have it completely fucking wrong, child. Like, that is not it whatsoever. That's not what we do. The gift is not that. And Victarion's kind of similar here, right? Like, oh, they're going to look in my eyes and thank me for the freedom I'm delivering to them with my smoking fist. But they will not.

That is not what it's about, Victarion. Yeah, literally no one will thank you for any of the things that you have done here. Honestly, is Victarion going to get Jon Snowed? But like, actually not just like in the like is with all of the blasphemies he's doing and all the slaves that he has now accrued does he have a mutiny on his hands at some point it's coming for him i think that could be the way he goes and it would be very funny yeah again just like john snow Just like Jon Snow. Chloe's shaking her head like, why am I here? Every week, why am I here? So that night, Victarion takes out the dragon horn that Euron found in the ruins of Valyria.

It's a twisted, six foot long, shiny black and banded with red gold and dark Valyrian steel. Someone should make this into a dildo. Strangely warm and smooth. Someone should. They've got a lot of interesting Game of Thrones specifically themed dildos. Where is Dragonbinder? Yeah, Minero and

AK are experts on this. Yes. They just have discussed these a lot. self-heating dragon binder did dildo you know so yeah i mean like it is right like it is a little foul because like the horn is warm and smooth and reflects a a like warped victorian back like that's how smooth it is and the valyrian glyphs are written in its bands and much of it and there's a lot written on it including some of these words say i am dragon binder so um

it speaks in first person victorian tells makaro that he's only heard the horn ever once when one of euron's crew blew it he was a large man with jewels and a hawk tattooed on his chest. And when he blew the horn, the sound that it made burned and Victarion felt like his bones were on fire and his flesh was singeing. And then the glyphs glowed red and then white on the bands and the sound felt endless and like an endless scream. But also it sounded like 1000 screams all in one, which kind of makes me think of I don't know, some song for Leah shit, but also some like, Fullmetal Alchemist philosopher stone shit too. Yeah, it was giving me the ring from the Lord of the Ring vibes from the series,

the Lord of the Rings. Oh, interesting. Tell me more about tell me more about it. I'm actually like over halfway through the book now the first one so congratulations chloe congratulations chloe thank you uh you know the the ring it makes me wonder especially with what's to come with this and that shot of him seeing his reflection in it you know the ring is a powerful it has power the ring of power you know the lord of the ring of power like the show that the books were based on that show oh my god i never we could have been making it for such a long time that that joke yeah it uh you know like frodo when he handles the ring or bilbo it possesses you it takes over so it makes me wonder if this horn is going to really take over in Tiwau for Victarion right like if this is going to drive him if the um the sweet siren lure of Dragonbinder is going to take over his every waking thought and

if it will ruin him that's interesting because like Victarion also is not a Frodo figure, right? What if he, so we had that tweet earlier that Lycan and compared Victarion and Theon, but what if, because like Theon's transformation is kind of, you know, a little inspired by Gollum. But what if, what if that becomes Victarion's storyline? He's like becomes this Gollum-esque figure. victorian's storyline he's like becomes this golem-esque figure because he's like seeking power i mean he's seeking the ring of power here that's true he wants magic he's like oh this this could make me powerful if i do it and we learn so we learn the hornblower dies blisters on his lips and on his bird tattoo every feather drips blood and his insides but maybe that was part that part was a rumor and mccoy was like, no, no, that, that was true.

That's true. He translates some more of the writing to a Victorian. No mortal man shall sound me and live. Do you think, and maybe this comes to the idea of like Magor, right? We've likened it a bit to the idea of maybe he got Magor and he went in the tower.

He came out dead and alive, you know, who knows? Maybe heart stopped for a minute. Makoro was like, magic, here you are. But could he survive blowing that horn? You know, does that make him different and special? Isn't he already different and special?

Well, okay. And okay, I want to have that with a counterpoint immediately. Counterpoint, will he think he will live because of his hand and because of that blood magic that was done and then die hysterically? I'm just saying that he's the chosen one. That's why all the waves

are for him, and that's what makes him different and special. He's according to Victarion. But anyway, no, I agree. Like, it can go one of, I mean, it can go either one of those ways I I wonder though that he listens to Makoro on everything so far so he still might not blow it but at the same time like you said right did he get Maegor'd or like you know again that that theory that Brennan B. Fish had of like yeah was he resurrected as you said maegor and yeah but it does make me really think though could

someone who was resurrected do it like like undead john or makoro or or you know but it also like the way it's written speaking of lord of the rings right is it some sort of like aoin twist thing but at the same time if it's written in valyrian of like no mortal man shall sound me and live i don't remember like how david peterson interpreted like would have interpreted this in uh the way that he's built out the valyrian language but of course as we know darylaros air is a gender neutral like term oh interesting i don't know i don't know question that's a good question put that on your list of david peterson questions i mean i think i could look it up probably probably but or i could ask i don't know who knows and there is something interesting in that you know quay

whether she does or does not tell danny this we hear her tell danny this one way or another so even if it's yeah mind who knows what's going on in the mind palace but all i know is the information i've been presented in a dance with dragons and that is that quay says the following thing to danny she says that soon comes the pale mare after her the others crack in and dark flame we're on a boat with them right now right lion and griffin they're on another boat not too far off honestly. We're on a boat with them right now, right? Lion and Griffin. They're on another boat. Not too far off, honestly, but they're on another boat. But going further away.

Yeah, a little further. Going further. They're going the opposite direction. Sun Sun and the Mummer's Dragon. And then, remember the undying, beware the perfumed Seneschal. So, the Sun Sun has died, right?

She tells her don't trust any of them. The sun's son has died. Is there a pattern in that the kraken will die? Probably. And all on his own, just like the sun's son does? That is interesting if all of the ones that Quaith said are coming, like, die. Yeah, and I don't think it's all of them, right? Like, maybe Makoro will last for a while and get out of there.

The lion is Tyrion. I don't think he's going to die. That's just personally. But Griffon will, right? Like, Lord Connington will die. Yeah. One out of every pairing will die. Like, in this one, it'll be the Kraken. The other one, it's the Sun's son.

In the other, it's like... Well, Johnny Coddington's probably going to die, and so will Aegon's. Never mind. I don't know. Whatever. And the perfumed Seneschal, if you think it's Varys, I mean, he's probably dying at some point. The undying, they gotta die, because you gotta kill them. The undying are dying.

I mean, actually, though, they are, but... Didn't they say, isn't part of the prophecyying or dying i mean actually though they are but didn't they say isn't part of the prophecy like defeating death too or something yeah exactly vanquisher of death uh destroyer of death interesting lots of thoughts yeah i do think makoro is like i mean he's just hitchhiking he's just hitching a ride to get to Daenerys like I do think he's gonna support her maybe you know he gets there and finishes his mission right and maybe that's the difference like uh Victarion you know gets there and won't complete his mission and dies Quentyn obviously got there couldn't complete his mission died in his mission so maybe that's more over it maybe Makoro will complete his mission and then die yeah because his mission is get to danny or no i mean it doesn't matter like i think

mccorrow's already died before you know he's yeah i think one of those like resurrected as we see like a lot of the red well we don't know that at the red priest are but a lot of people think melisandre's one of those and i mean probably. Let's end with the horn once more. Bitterly, Victarion brooded on the treachery of brothers. Your aunt's gifts always poisoned. The crows I swore this horn would bind dragons to my will, but how will that serve me if the price is death? Your brother did not sound the horn himself, nor must you. Makoro pointed to the band of steel.

Here, blood for fire, fire for blood. Who blows the hell horn matters not. The dragons will come to the horn's master. You must claim the horn with blood. Ooh. Ooh. Scene. Wow. Wow. Wow. What could it...

What does it mean, Eliana? What do you think? What could it mean? No, literally, what does it... I do not know what it means because we do not have the Winds of Winter. Well, I will say that the language on the horn is very Dany, right? Blood for blood, fire and blood, bride of fire, daughter of three. And it's almost reminiscent of Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa language, like speaking of sacrifice. And to throw in on that, you know, we kind of somewhat know that Valyrian steel likely requires some sort of blood sacrifice, right?

So it reminded me a little bit of that in a way, of like the idea of like it's spell forged with dark magic. And a lot of dark magic generally needs blood for the blood gods, right? Yeah. I mean, it seems similar with what they're asking here it's dark magic right to make that bond to do that dark magic you need blood you need a sacrifice for it uh just how does it work i want to know right like in some shows you'd what like take a blade cut your hand and like smear it on a fucking magic rock right but this is not i don't know what this is so so simple it just doesn't seem good enough you know or like what if like blood is you know oh okay what if this is fucked up what if it's aaron right because he

keeps they kept saying like we're both balan's blood hmm okay interesting i don't know like some family member because like stanis right with edrick and then maybe with shireen like that he realizes what blood is more powerful yeah but like when it's your own family i guess because that's what because you were talking about the nisa n Nysa thing. I don't know. Do you think he'll kill the Dusky woman for it? And then it won't work? Thinking like he has to get rid of her before Daenerys instead? Maybe, but it's just like, I don't know. I don't know if like, that makes me sad, but. I know, me too. I don't know that she makes it out either, but also I don't think Victarion makes it out.

Yeah, I worry that a lot of people on this boat maybe will die. On all 61 of the boats. And I don't know if we'll have 61, you know, to deal with. They'll go down. Well, maybe if he had 69 boats, I would have a little more faith in him but he doesn't there's something really interesting of daenerys coming back with part of the iron fleet but no ironborn leading it and how that could be looked at by westeros if she lands in westeros with the iron fleet but there is no grayjoy captain on the iron fleet especially because now yeah all these boats are full of slaves and concubines so she will be freeing them from the gray joys yeah each of them like a little

mini astapor a little like mini yunkai and marine because it's just like yeah not just like no ironborn captain no no victorian but like literally no ironborn yeah they're all they'll all be gone to your point of like will they desert him i was really feeling it last chapter when we brought up some of the makoro stuff like they really are hating the way things are going it would be interesting if his men all died and deserted yeah or like i mean would they i don't think they would defect to denarius is the thing like yeah which is fascinating because the dothraki are also a very highly patriarchal society right to the point that like if your husband dies you're gonna get like i don't know shunted off to the retirement home and yeah and like you know same as same as with um ironborn

this like polygamy but mostly like bigamy thing. So I don't know. Like, why do we think that? Because the Dothraki we see follow strength. The Ironborn, they just follow masculinity. Some might like to follow no fire. You know what? It's not a bad idea.

They might be like, please don't roast me alive, ma'am. Mrs. Dragon, ma'am. Yeah. I'd be remiss if I don't mention it. There are other people that have done some great write-ups on it. But when Fire and Blood came out, there is the epic part of Fire and Blood where Arya Targaryen goes on a little road trip with Balerion and she comes back. She's got worms. All right.

She's got tiny little worms and they don't deworm her in time and she kind of gets all charred up inside you know she dies it's not really good it's really pretty disgusting and fucked up and nothing like they've seen before and it's really not dissimilar from cragorn the guy who blew the horn when When he's cut open, his lungs are black and charred, which isn't unlike kind of what Arya is described as. And Vic's arm isn't dissimilar either with some of the R'hllor magic that's gone on on it. I want to read this little, this cute little bit here as we talk about, you know, that language of the horn and we've been getting into the destruction of Valyria lately.

A lot of this all seems wrapped up similarly with these, some of these themes and some of the language used. So in Fire and Blood, all the maester's arts were powerless against her fever. If indeed we can call such a horror by such a commonplace name, the simplest way to say it is that the poor child was cooking from within. Her flesh grew darker and darker and then began to crack until her skin resembled nothing so much, seven save me, as pork cracklings. Thin tendrils of smoke issued from her mouth, her nose, even, most obscenely, from her nether lips. By then she had ceased to speak, though the things within her nose, even, most obscenely, from her nether lips. By then she

had ceased to speak, though the things within her continued to move. Her very eyes cooked within her skull and finally burst like two eggs left in a pot of boiling water for too long. Okay, now that you've read that, everybody, and you've heard that, you're probably feeling a little grossed out. I'm real sorry. You know, I didn't write it, so get over it. Victarion's own arm is compared very similarly to this. The arm the priest had healed was hideous to look upon, pork crackling from elbow to fingertips. Sometimes when Victarion closed his hand, the skin would split and smoke,

yet the arm was stronger than it had ever been. Chicharrones. Sounds so good. Stop. Sounds delicious. George, you gotta quit describing these like this. But it stands to reason, like, why did he describe both as pork cracklings, right? Like, something's very similar there. It fits in really well with all the exposition we're getting on the Doom of Valyria in the last chapter, and bravo to George not just

on that, but the other travelogues in dance, right? Tyrion, Victarion, Quentyn, all of these places as they travel east are painted really well, and some of that history starts to get hammered home for us. In fact, I think I understand dance enjoyers now. I like dance, but I'm a feast enjoyer, personally, and honestly this slow read of Victarion's chapters helps me to kind of understand that there's something structurally really nice in the magic for dance versus the political exposition given for feast. I feel like feast has really strong political themes and dance has them too, but also has really strong magic themes on top of that. And if you marry them, you get one whole book, obviously, once upon a time. But they really tell that story of what

we should be expecting in The Winds of Winter, you know? Yeah, I think that's a great contrast. Yes, Feast is the political stuff, which I think is part of what you and I love about it. But yeah, as Z's pointed out last episode of how around this time in the books, you start getting a lot of that really dark stuff that dark magic coming through and yeah there's something there there's something there with the whatever's going on with aria area yeah i meant area targaryen sorry y'all and victorian yeah something about their little wormy arms yeah it's like is there where but we know that they like did like chimera kind of stuff in old valeria so like did relorian yeah keep any of that well and that means that dragon binder has

that spell possibly a valerian spell upon it is what i'm thinking you know if this is all described in similar language what happened to him what happened to victorian's arm what happened to all described in similar language what happened to him, what happened to Victarion's arm, what happened to Aria once they had some sort of, you know, interaction with Valyria, whether through magic or through physical. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.

Very interesting. It's weird. You don't expect that Victarion chapters are going to give you such an introspective look into magic, but they actually harbor. Yeah. They harbor a lot of magic in them a ton of magic every single chapter there's just sprinklings of it it's amazing yeah and you know what it's a perfect again it's a perfect way to lead us into i mean i guess the

erin chapters you don't see it but like the forsaken right um it's it's a great lead-in to our next pov i am so excited for you all to come along with us to erin grayjoy i know it's a quick hop over and it'll uh it'll be pretty quick you know still buckle your seat belt and all but just be ready to get out of the car The fuck? Leave me alone. Yes. Absolutely. TBA on the release of that Aaron 1 episode, The Prophet. But if you want to see, you know, whenever we prophesize it will come out, be sure to follow us on social media at Girls Gone Canon. That's C-A-N-O-N over on Twitter. And of course, maybe you have thoughts for us.

You can send us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com. We are accepting succession submissions. Chloe deserves emails too. Wow. Chloe deserves emails. Wow. It's the final season, y'all. Oh, I thought you were about to start busting on the...

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And, you know, there's other stuff always happening on the Discord, so keep your eyes peeled. I know for you Star Wars fans, there were some little live action things going on from our patron Brandilyn and Pete. They were covering some of the stuff they learned from Star Wars Celebration about the new shows recently, so if you're into that kind of stuff and rewatches of different media,

come through. Wow. As always, we're pulling our anchors up. Oh. Sail away. Come sail away. Come sail away with us. Well, oh yeah, because Sailor Moon. I've been one of your hosts, Chloe.

Oh my god. I get it. I i've been one of your hosts chloe oh my god i got it i have been another one of your hosts eliana we'll be back with erin bye bye you