Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 191 — AFFC The Drowned Man (Aeron II)

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

It's election night in the Iron Islands. Also the Ironborn Met Gala. Waves of people have come to vote. Euron launches a misinformation campaign. We demand a recount.   Background music:    "Procession of the King" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/     ---   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 191. The Drowned Man in A Feast for Crows. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Wow. This is... what a quick sprint. This has been a quick sprint with Erin Greyjoy. Yeah, it's the King's Boot. I think I, like, mistakenly was like, did we see that before? But I guess it was just, like, in the memories and stuff of other characters. Obviously, here it is. You did say that last week, and I didn't want to be a bitch and be like, you should have just done it. I'm keeping all this in. and we're still learning, folks.

That's what we want you to take from this. Welcome back to the only podcast out there that frequently says fuck while covering POVs from A Song of Ice and Fire, POV by POV character. Did you mean F-bombs? Thank you to the person. I'm so sorry. I can't remember who left that comment anymore. Who's like, I like this podcast

because one girl drops F-bombs like no other it made us question our entire friendship for at least four weeks so which one of us is it we know which fucking one it is do we i don't know anyway huh well we've got a lot popping off now that Eliana has graced us with her presence. And here's what's happening. We're joining our good friends, A Thousand Eyes and One, on their channel on June 20th to talk about everyone's dreaded favorite topic, the Red Wedding. Yeah, we're joining them for their live stream 30 Tuesday series. We'll put a link to their channel in the show notes. So please make sure to subscribe to them and check them out. We had them on I think you'll

remember we had them on for one of the late brand chapters. I think it was dance brand three. It's not that I don't remember them coming on. It's that I don't remember all the brand numbers. Yeah, it was a blast we actually got to hang out with them in new york a bit ago which was so fun oh my god that was oh god that was so fun i haven't had i hadn't had a fun night like that in yeah in a long time i felt young again they made me feel so young yeah they really did they were full of mischief full of mischief those ladies rock. I'm excited to hang with them for the Red Wedding.

Yeah, the Red Wedding is going to be a blast because it's going to be these equal parts of disgust and horror and sadness and also equal parts hilarity. And I have to shout it out that somehow we found a way to be involved with the Red Wedding during Not A Cast's Red Wedding month. Not A Cast is covering the Red Wedding all month. It's all Red Wedding in this household right now. Everything is Red Wedding all the time. So

yeah, get your Red Wedding on. Really embrace the horror of it all. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm excited because I would not relive that pain for just anyone. And there's more horror to come. Yeah, more horror this month. That's not the only live thing that we have going on this month.

Not the only horror, either. We actually have some really exciting stuff coming up for patrons, right? Our patrons over in several of the tiers at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon get special access to a couple of things. First off, bonus episodes. So if you're ready for horror, get ready for The Forsaken. Stranger Tear and above, five bucks and up. Get access to The Forsaken and the Winds of Winter,

where Aaron Greyjoy continues his story after the drowned man in A Feast for Crows. Excited to cover that with you, Eliana, who you have a pretty exciting story about that that I'm sure you'll tell us then or now. I will tell it any time anyone asks me. That is part of the horror of The Forsaken, in which you are all trapped in this Sisyphusian nightmare, which I totally fucked up saying,

which I tell you all the time about how I was there when George read the forsaken lot for the first time she was folks she was and if that wasn't you know

horrific enough an exciting horror for you to be holding why not try out our patreon in the thunder tier and above where you get access to our private Discord server, with fun channels like Respectful Thirsting,

Food is Good, The Good Show, The Bad Show, you have to guess what that means, and many, many, many more. But, the horror there, the live horror, is that you also get a chance to hang out with us once a month if you're on that discord

yes that is among the horrors that occur in the discord where once a month we have our brunch slash happy hour and this month it is going to be on Sunday June 25th 3pm ET Eliana time

actually though this time. I look forward to our brunch every month, our brunch slash happy hour. I enjoy it. I enjoy hanging with the people, chatting about the shows. Previously, the last few brunches have been succession-focused, which just finished up.

And, you know, the following brunches, who knows, maybe they'll get Sailor Moon-focused as we get back to Sailor Moon and A Song of Ice and Fire. They're always Aeswaf focused. Let's be real. Yeah, and always all roads lead back to Aeswaf, you know? The same castle. Yes.

But not the same moon. That'd be impossible. Eliana, it has come to the end of the road. Okay, not yet, but soon. For Aaron Greyjoy, at least for the published chapters of Aaron

Greyjoy and Aeswath. And do you know what happens when we reach the end of the road for a character in A Song of Ice and Fire when there's nothing left to cover for them. Well, you have to set yourself on fire. Yeah, you do have to set yourself on fire. So, we talked about the red medic earlier and how, you know, we're reprising it one more time, but let's talk about something else that's red.

It's red and terrible and red. Hmm, what could that be? it's just red around the corner ain't that right chloe yeah a lot of people don't really like when we have commentary on rhetoric but i'd rather do and i have commentary on this rhetoric eliana we've really held out on this one for a while, but it's time for us to cover Melisandre next. Her one-off, one chapter, her one-and-done, not a one-hit wonder, we hope, right? We hope to hear more hits from Melisandre in the winds of winter, but I look forward to covering Melisandre in A Dance with Dragons. Melisandre 1 with you. Yes, I agree. I agree.

I can't wait to cover Melisandre, and you should keep your eyes and ears peeled to hear that episode out in July. So we will be taking a week off in June, but you'll hear us come back hopefully at at the end of the month, with Sailor Moon Season 2 of Sailor Moon Crystal, which I'm very excited for Magical Girls Gone Canon to return, hopefully with our friend Chika

with us to talk about the episodes in Season 2. It's a lot of Magical Girls, you know, coming up soon, right? We got Magical Girl Melisandre, Magical Girl Usagi, and... Ooh, Melisandre's transformation, though. Kind of, actually, though.

And I don't know, I'm excited because I'm telling y'all, like, the reading order makes sense, okay? The reading order, it makes sense. I need you all to trust the process. Trust the process. there's no twist except for when chloe misleads her patrons and i and i'm like yes yes go cheering her on but because um you know we are still getting back in the groove of things chloe and i want to spend a little time together and by that i mean you might be expecting another like sort of buffer episode in which Chloe and I just talk about some of the things that we've been doing a sort of quarterly report. You know, it is it is month six of this fiscal year. We're halfway through this fiscal year, but it's not the fiscal year just this year because the fiscal year starts in April. So whatever.

just this year because the fiscal year starts in april so whatever q1 q1 report q1 fiscal year 24 23 you explain this to me chloe at some point and yeah we're gonna give that report out girls boss gone canon oh my god wow well as always thank you for listening in thank you for supporting us especially a big thank you for listening in. Thank you for supporting us. Especially a big thank you to our patrons and friends over at Patreon. And let's jump into the Drowned Van now that you've gotten all of the updates. And the first way I think we should jump in is with a Storm God round. I mean a Lightning round. Shun the Nonbeliever.

Shun! Candy Mountain, Charlie. Charlie. We start our lightning round with the captain of guards. Dorne craves vengeance, but Dorne holds to his patience.

The Kraken's daughter, Queen Asha, prepares for the Queen's boot at Ten Towers. The soiled knight. Oh, I'm getting all my faves. Sir Ares Oakheart visits his favorite princess. Guilt-stricken,

he agrees to do a little treason as a treat. Just some light treason. A little treat. Snack, snack. He's a little snack, though. You know? Yeah, yeah. We some light treason. A little treat. Snack snack. He's a little snack though, you know? Yeah, yeah. We love a himbo. Absolutely.

Gets a little chop there at the end. So that brings us then to the Iron Captain, which as many of you might remember, we did this a bit ago. Balon was mad, Arryn is madder, and Euron is maddest of them all. And Asha's perfect. Hallelujah, sister.

Yeah, that throws us on into the Drowned Man in a feast for crows. Welcome to the Queen's moot. I mean, King's moot. I mean, this is a biased statement, I'm sorry. Crow's moot?

No, get out of here. It's not a crow's moot? What if we really did just crown a bird? That'd be fun. Bird! Once he's become comfortably numb from the cold, Aaron struggles back to the shore. He ran from the crow's eye,

but the water reminded him he was a new man now, not that weak man. Yeah, so we get a lot of that language of rebirth, which we've talked about throughout our different POVs before, this idea of resurrection and being a different person in baptism, of course,

in Aaron's story, and in other characters, and I think you can kind of see that also play out in Aaron's story in the way that like he's constantly rebirthing himself right reinventing himself each of his chapters have a different title you have the prophet the drowned man the forsaken trying on all of these different identities and religion is such a core part as we have discussed of Aaron, that faith, which is part of why we thought Melisandre would be a great follow-up. But I think someone else that I really see as similar to Aaron is Lancel. right was uh you know some people not everyone agrees but i think there is an argument to be made that like cersei did take advantage of him in his youth um in regards to that incest and power structures and it did really hurt him and then he ends up turning to religion as a way to sort of i

think find his identity again through it. To find purpose. Yeah. To find a reason to fucking go on, dude. Yeah, that's... Especially with that weird connection between Lannisport and between the Iron Islands, you know, with him having been a prisoner of the Westerlands. And when I think of kind of areas of Westeros

that interact the most with the Iron Islands, I think obviously of the North, where they reave often, but also yeah, the Westeros that interact the most with the Iron Islands. I think obviously of the North where they reave often, but also, yeah, the, the Westerlands are a really common place for the Iron Islanders. I like what you've called out here about rebirth. Very Kendall Roy of you.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Kendall Roy, Aaron, Aaron Kendall Roy, trying to run into the water. Wow. Wow. Wow.

No mortal man could frighten him no more than the darkness could, nor the bones of his soul, the gray and gristly bones of his soul, the sound of a door opening, the scream of a rusted iron hinge. Oh, chilling. And it's such a great intro to a beautiful chapter i have to say that this chapter

is prose and some of the gorgeous scenery described in the world building going on in the lore it i don't know i don't think i can even do it justice like this is a great reread this chapter i've cut out so much in this outline of moments from the chapter that should have been kept in. Like I know maybe some people might listen to us as a reread podcast. This is one I think you should reread because it does so much to bring the drowned God, the beliefs of the iron men, their culture, just understanding them as a people.

It brings it in front of your eyes and they become so dimensional in this chapter, right? They're, they're so dimensional in this chapter, right? They're not just flat, comic, cartoon, make America great again guys. They're way more dimensional than that. And I think there's a lot of kind of ruckus of, you know, Dorne and the Iron Islands take up space in A Feast for Crows, and it's space that we're not with, and the pacing doesn't work. But I don't agree with that, and I think this chapter alone buys its space and more i mean this chapter really fucks this chapter fucks it's a pivotal chapter too like not only as you said right there's great world building and it does come really together with showing how the king's boot ends up going the way that it does

it all comes together and this part though i think is funny in terms of the imagery i like they they talk later about unfurling the flag behind victorian and then i just hear like you know horns like but not that kind of horn like of a high bacteria in that imagery. Yeah. Well, Aaron, I don't know, should wash his clothes. His robes are stiff with salt. The wall is clinging to his chest.

And he fills his water skin and strides across the strand toward a drowned man murmuring his name. He puts his hand on this man's head blesses him and moves along listening to the waves to the tireless sea which he hopes to be like that man needs antibiotics honestly well i don't know does the seawater disinfect sometimes i'm like does it but then also i'm like i don't, all the fishes like pee and poo in there and die. I don't know, Eliana.

I just know that man needs a shower. Maybe a band-aid. I don't know. Would he let you give him a shower? I think he'd be like, well, no fresh water for me. Fuck. He knows one medical activity and it's CPR. Eren reaches Naga's bones, 44 ribs from the earth.

Naga was the first sea dragon. She ate krakens and leviathans and drowned whole islands, but the Grey King had slain her, and her ribs became the beams and pillars of his long haul. His jaws became his throne, and he ruled stone and salt from here, wearing a crown of Naga's teeth. The hall was warmed by Naga's living fire, which the Grey Kang made his thrall. The hall decorated with silver seaweed, thrones carved from mother of pearl. Now, men were lesser, smaller, with shorter lives. The storm god drowned Naga's fire after the Grey King died.

The tapestries, chairs, thrones all lost or stolen to the sea. The roofs and walls rotted. So I guess Naga ate whales and calamari all the time is what it sounds like. Me too. Okay, we don't have to spend too long on this but what do you think about naga like do you think that she was in fact like the first sea dragon or do you think she was a dragon who happened to like live by the sea especially because like all these other things are missing and i'm like what what what about the fire part what do you think yeah we talked a little bit in victorian chapters right as this came up and oh it definitely feels

that was so long ago i can recap for you it there's a couple things at play here like it reminds me a little bit of daenerys right as the last dragon with that big kind of historical position as she is the last dragon the last of the dragons but it definitely felt very nisa nisa to me right like it felt very much like another nisa nisa piece of legend or lore whether this was true or not it felt like maybe even a translation of the nisa nisa legend that's true yeah i see that especially because what she provided them a bunch of stuff she's like i don't know she was like if the giving tree were a dragon yeah it's gaia it's mother earth it's gaia it's kind of a creation myth right yeah an ironborn creation myth but actually it

literally is a creation myth of the ironborn that's absolutely true like it's their creation myth for their culture because interestingly there aren't that many creation myths i think in a song of ice and fire there's like i don't know maybe we're all moon is a egg that's like the only one that i can really think of other than we maybe live in the eye of a giant oh like a simulation yeah they're that's one of them like that we live with kowski sisters yeah oh i was thinking the little marble inside what is it frank's like collar i forgot what it was in men in black yeah yeah which is like amen's eye you did it yes or macumba um well what do you think about n Well, in regards to it being a creation myth,

well, I told you what I think in regards to, like, is it a dragon? But in regards to it being a creation myth, it really makes it clear, like, no wonder why the Ironborn voted for Euron at the King's Moot. It really shows you their cultural narratives about their heroes and their kings who just, they just plunder. They only care about riches right like you know to germ about it for a moment right like where do we hear any of the legends

about the lives like and how you know the gray king made shit better right like what was his tax policy we don't know all we know about what he did for the people was that i mean we don't know what he did for the people only that the warriors got to feast at lavish tables inlaid with pearl right and like that makes sense because none of what asha promises that the king's mood is it's none of it is baked into the cultural values of the ironborn this is the kind of story that's passed down all this time like there's nothing about whether the great king's reign was a time of prosperity for everyone were the crops watered not that there are any crops here apparently were the people fed in full i don't know was was there justice was he clever like land the clever literally none of that like nothing even

of like seeking freedom like how would the roynars you know and and dorn like that's part of their kind of cultural creation myth with nymeria right or saving people's lives all that this is about is how fucking rich we were back then and you're right that's exactly why euron embraces that and wins and they're so stupid not to have seen it that that's what mattered right there oh you're so stupid to have seen it. To have not seen it, sorry. So stupid not to have seen it. I say that every day in my real life without meaning to. You're so clever to have seen it. I say it to my roommate every day.

You say it to me all the time. You say it to me a lot. I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, that's so true. You're so clever to have seen it. God damn it. Sometimes I change it. Sometimes I put it to like normal talk of like, oh, honestly, you're so smart to have noticed that or called that out.

Wait a second. You just rephrased it. I'm pretty sure I said that this podcast. You just remixed it. Anyways, so here's the remix to Naga's Bones. So Naga's bones, all this time, have endured. It is enough, Aaron thinks. He hears the power of God below the waves and decides to pray.

He prays God's people will receive the wisdom to choose the rightful true king and shun the false. He prays all night, needing no sleep, and in the morning when color stole into the world. Ooh, I love that line, George, how dare you. When color stole into the world, he stood to behold the king's mood so me walking back all the stuff i said at the end of last episode about aaron being moses last time though i don't know i mean maybe some of it is still like kind of holds true from the analysis point of view but also here i'm now coming back to the other side right of like maybe he is aaron brother of moses the other the priest in that he did kind of lead everyone on the iron islands to erect a false

idol um the golden calf of euron even though he definitely did not intend to do that and that is not what he wanted to do at all but but he did it right especially like the language here of everyone leaving their homes to come here kind of like an exodus i love that especially when you consider his dream right of the ironborn attacking the land and it's almost an exodus of itself but of war yeah that's interesting too actually now that i think about it in the context of the horns and jericho which was like you know the end place they're kind of where they got to and then we're like we're gonna take the city with horns there's a lot of biblical shit in the ironborn is really what i'm seeing like more and more a lot of biblical shit it's funny because you'd think the seven is very one one when it comes to galacism or some of george's you know with religion. But the Ironborn are more deep about it and really into kind of, I mean, that's what's

fucking beautiful about Catholicism, right? It's like Catholics, yeah, we crazy. I was raised Catholic, ex-Catholic, recovering Catholic. But like, also, like, it's all about the ritual. And it's all about that prominence and that, like, it's important we do this thing, we behold it so highly, and, you know, the incense swinging, and the entire chamber, and the singing, and the music, and the prayer, and it's just, like, it's a whole thing. And the Ironborn actually really care about that shit. Like, they care about that ritual. It's interesting, because I don't know if they care about the ritual so much as like the guilt the being seen with the ritual yeah the the well

yeah catholicism exactly what i'm saying being seen doing the ritual like no one cares about the ritual it's doing the ritual so other people see you doing it it becomes important by that. I mean, my God, if you don't go up and take the Eucharist. My God. Yours too, yeah. Yeah, then they're like, wait, what do you mean? You didn't. During the Inquisition, weren't they like, I didn't even see them look up at the Eucharist.

Heathen. Cute. Fake, so. The silver fish of Botley, the bloody moon of Winch, the dark green trees of orcwood warhorns leviathan sights everywhere krakens great and gold thralls and salt lives gutting fish to prepare breakfast for the captains of the kings and men wake drinking deep from horns the sea stirs, too, waves crashing on the long ships. The drowned god wakes, thought Aaron. It's like the drowned god was saying,

no godless man will sit my sea stone chair. The drowned men beat driftwood cudgels against one another as they head down the hill, and kettle drums are beat as well boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom a war horn bellowed then another i wasn't sure what direction you were gonna go with that like wasn't gonna sound like a wolf because that's thank you i wanted to be a horn did i do the horn i think you did you did thank you like a foghorn you know resounding maybe add a little echo and post on there you know really something about the dragon gone wakes i don't know why it makes me think of that love

crafting shit like bulu sleeps in really i'm butchering those pronunciations i know that you're supposed to say them like all like you're hawking a loogie so the the beating of the driftwood cudgels it's described as the sound of trees pummeling each other with their limbs and that also kind of makes me think of like the old gods i guess fighting each other also great but also like does make me think of like is george kind of channeling a little bit of the ents right from lord of the rings like inspiration oh my god no i'm usually i like to like look down on the things you say about lord of the rings since i'm a lord of the rings reader and you're not i'm a show my god Since you're unsullied and I'm not.

I'm golem-coated. You are golem-coated, you little rat. I don't have time to expand on all that. But, yeah. Actually, yes, there's a lot of Lord of the Rings in this chapter. I'm actually going to call something out soon enough, so stay tuned. Oh, interesting. Yeah, buckle up, cowgirl.

Everyone congregates at the bones of the hall erin sees cheerful sigri stone tree andric the unsmiling the knight sir harris harlaw lord sexy motherfucker baylor blacktide and his sable cloak stood beside the stone house in ragged seal skin so we have a real mix of people here at the king's mood and i guess a lot of them don't get a fucking vote i don't know maybe if they shot loud enough who will know who will know but you got thralls you got salt lives as well right um and then erin calls out how you have like the ironborn who are too influenced by the green lands and they got maesters and singers and knights. So again, it's really

hitting home for me during these Arryn chapters of how the Ironborn are at this inflection point and it's not as homogenous as its most traditional members, the Greyjoy men, would have you think. Amongst them is Victarion, who's looming above everyone in his full armor allegedly looking very kingly and that kind of reminds me a little bit of like Jon in a Game of Thrones seeing Jaime and be like wow that's what a king looks like and it also makes me think again of like you know people who look like kings right but then end up not becoming I don't know they do and they don't king like the dance civil war or like the Blackfyre civil war with black damon black fire or you know the upcoming second dance with aegyn having all the trappings of power right or also like you know

in regards to falling and then doubting just because someone looks like a warrior even though i guess victorian really is a warrior but i would argue so is Asha. Euron, interestingly, I don't actually think he's a warrior. Agreed. He buys his warriors, you know. Yeah. I don't know if that man knows how to fight. He's got Littlefinger but on bath salts vibes. Yeah.

Euron gives a speech. A rousing speech, get ready. A rousing speech. Get ready. A rousing? We were born from the sea, and to the sea we all return. The storm god in his wrath plucked Balin from his castle and cast him down. Yet now he feasts beneath the waves in the drowned god's watery halls. Balin is dead. The Iron King is dead. The King is dead.

Yet what is dead may never die, but rises again harder and stronger. Balin has fallen. Balin, my brother, who honored the old way and paid the iron price. Balin the brave. Balin the blessed. Balin twice crowned,

who won us back our freedoms and our god. Balin is dead, but an iron king shall rise again to sit upon the sea stone chair and rule the isles. A king shall rise. He shall rise. He shall. He must. But who? Who shall sit in Balin's place? Who shall rule these holy isles? Is he here among us now? Love that he calls out the he of that, by the way, like already automatically disqualifying Asha before she can speak. He. Is he here? The king? qualifying asha before she can speak he is he here the king yep and that really comes through this chapter and he really just does not like women i mean nothing no part of his life actually

has has to do with anything with them true who is calling balan these things like no one you made those nicknames up there's an interesting rhyming i think with balan twice crowned and then the others like you you were talking about like the thrice drowned thing last last chapter also when they say like iron king i think that's kind of funny because like there is like an actual iron throne but i assume this is more of george just being really into the accursed king series and i just think it's kind of funny the whole like the king is dead long live the king you know kind of vibe going on there also a seagull like apparently squawks in response speaking of the imagery this is also a very oral chat a lot of like audio stuff going on and i'm not sure if i'm supposed to feel in awe like oh my god a seagull squawked in response like i think it would be very cool if it were a hawk but not a seagull feels like rats with wings by the sea but um rats with wings you know we've been watching

uh well we watch always sunny all the time and the new season's great so far but always sunny is like to me that's the the Victorian brothers. The Victorian brothers. The Greyjoy brothers. Always Sunny is the Greyjoy brothers with like Sweet D as Asha. You know, like that's really the, that's a sweet spot. Rats with wings by the sea. I see that. Aaron asks who will be their king, wondering if Euron's impatience will have him speak first.

him speak first but instead comes gilbert farwind of lonely light who aaron thinks are a queer folk holding lands on the western shores of great wick and the isles beyond it was an eight days sail through seals sea lions and gray oceans some say the far winds were skin changers able to take the form of sea lions walruses spotted whales and sea wolves interesting i did think that was interesting like first of all anyone who has ever participated in a public event like where there's voting by public cheering knows that this is literally the worst way to determine the winner aaron is right whoever goes last wins's bullshit. That's why after you pick the last person, you have to come back around to some of the other people, you know, just to be sure. The whole thing about the Farwinds, I know a lot of other people have talked about this already

and analyzed them in the context of Selkies and Kelpies, but it does sound like that, you know, the skin changing, especially in regards to seals and walruses but also that they might be like sea wolves and maybe whales it harkens back a little bit to i think inuit folklore right with the oculut um which is an orca wolf composite they're wolves on land wolf orca hybrid in water you know wolf in the sheets whale in the streets hmm mm-hmm yeah I do know how that goes I do no actually though I think there's something in like the selkies and the kelpies and something going on with the far winds right because even in his speech of all of the non gray joys he's the only one making somewhat sense but not even that much sense but somewhat which says a lot

and Arwen claims he's going to build 10,000 ships like Nymeria did and sail their people beyond the sunset where everyone will be a king and a queen and his men spill offerings of seal skins and walrus tusks and whalebone arm rings warhorns, banded and bronze

lesser men start to help themselves to the gifts that are spilled across the kingsmoot slash queensmoot. Eryn thinks his eyes are mad. Fools eyes, a vision created by the storm god to lure the ironborn to destruction. I wanted to point out something. The irony in his name, right, being Farwind. So, okay, a little one-one there.

Farwind. He wants the winds to take him and his men far away west beyond what they know, right? Like Nymeria did with her people to Dorne. Sail his people beyond the west, that flat, flat flat flat earth that they live on you know uh and i gotta say i think this is kind of the early seeds of george playing with

alissa farman in fire and blood because you have far wind here at lonely light the far west moment of the iron islands far wind versus far man so you have men going far far man and far wind wind taking man far clever right very clever wordplay there and i don't know there's something great about lonely lights isolation out in the west away from the ironborn kind of right like it's it's the last the last call as you go west i'm sure alissa farman went by that before i'm sure i'm sure i like that that she probably like had to stop by there on her travels or something yeah that's the last light it's like the high tower in a way it's it's the high tower out there in the west of the water it's the last thing you see before you keep going yeah and refuel maybe some

went on the same trip as well we're like they're like that sounds cool that sounds like a fun trip yeah i like i like what you're saying of i think there is some gardening here those seeds and i mean speaking of lonely lights alissa farman i don't know i don't know if i can say that she was lonely or not but um her ex was poor rain she ran off yeah after she ran off with those dragon's eggs well honestly the far winds technically what the far winds are offering is not that different than your ons it's just It's just, you know, no vision. I mean, it's not great that they're like, let's go make, let's go like conquest, colonize this place. You can say colonize, we don't know.

I don't know if they have that kind of capacity. But, similar, but no one has vision. Anyways, only a select amount of the Farwinds and their supporters cheered, and a lonely gull screams above them. See, the gull is sad. Gah! Next comes- That was the gull. Gull.

Gah! Mine? Mine? Gah! Next comes Eric Ironmaker. He's 90 years old. He's heavy, cloaked in white bearskin. He's 90 years old. He's heavy, cloaked in white bearskin. His grandsons struggle to carry him up the steps, but they set him down all the same, and he argues that he is Eric the Just, Eric the Anvil Breaker, and asks one of his champions to raise his hammer for them to see. Man, that many names, you know? You really know you made it if you have that many names. Yeah. Yeah. For real, though. yeah yeah for real though a monstrous thing it was it's haft wrapped in old

leather this is the hammer by the way not his cock it's haft wrapped in old leather its head a brick of steel as large as a loaf of bread eric's hammer what kind of bread bread comes in different sizes

george have you never seen a bread okay anyways so the chapter starts again with that story of naga's bones and the great king from the age of heroes and like how that how the age of heroes for the ironborn is just very gone right uh they're just still like clinging on to this glory of people from the legends of thousands of years ago. But I mean, Westworld actually kind of had its own legends, right? Just a few decades ago, as Bran and Sansa show us and how they like recite all this stuff about the Knights of the Kingsguard, like of the modern Kingsguard and just the generation before.

And of course, the legends of King Robert. the modern Kingsguard and just the generation before and of course the legends of King Robert and I as the text says like Eric is someone who really could have been king 60 years ago Aaron really believes that and I mean he's the kind of king kind of warrior like guy right like who's seen as just and strong and booming charismatic with a hammer and a good name he's the kind of man that you would king years ago just like maybe you would king someone like oh robert baratheon a few years ago he's the kind of king for a different time but not for right now like they're a dying breed past their prime not just in body but in in cultural value yeah like not at age 90 not at age 90 not when you're i mean whatever the fuck robert brathen was going through there's something

interesting too about like showcasing his children against him and how his kids help him carry him up almost like walter fray right he has a litter this is a litter why aren't any of his kids running for king you know this is some logan roy shit because he's not dead yet dude succession eric recounts smashing many thieves hands with his hammer some stan his shit crushing many with his anvil and his deeds but he's old and strong and has plenty of heirs. His grandsons and great-grandsons take up the call, cheering him, dumping silver, bronze,

steel arm rings, collars, daggers, dirks, throwing axes at the base of the bones where they are snatched up by a few captains. I think you should do this. Asha shouts his name, stepping up against the lowest step as the wind and waves break about them,

and she tells Eric to stand up. She says, Stand the fuck up, Eric. Maybe then she would follow him if he only stood up. Man the fuck up. Mam up, Eric, is what Asha shouts.

Mam up. And he struggles. He can't mam up up not on his own and euron kind of laughs at him eric calls out interrupting and says who shall be king let us move past this embarrassment basically is what he says i do feel bad for eric i mean why are you propping up this 90 year old and i don't have time for that conversation but why are you you know like why are you propping him up like i want the kind of confidence eric has you know in gilbert all these people who are just like i'm just i'm just me i want to believe in myself the way that they believe in their in themselves and here is where eric has made a

punishment for asha right for both of them um fulfilling a punishment for Asha, right? For both of them. Fulfilling a whim for control over Eric's support. I mean, every person that had the balls to step the fuck up during this and try to be Kang that wasn't a Greyjoy, Euron is taking notes. He has a whole notepad scrawled of like, all right, kill this person, steal this person, do this from this person.

Eric is one of them. He had decent support. And for him to bend to Euron, there had to have probably been some certain thumbs ups going back and forth on deals of what he gets for supporting Euron. To embarrass and humiliate Asha specifically, though, I mean, she humiliated him here in front of everyone. And Euron has to reward Eric for his support as one of the most respected of the island. So Euron gets to choose to humiliate them both.

Both Eric and Asha, not just Asha. That's a great point. I never realized that in raising and, you know, respecting Eric, it kind of shows how it's that sort of, like, political move against Asha. It's a very political chapter, actually. Is it? Yeah. The election? I think

so. I think so. America does decide in this episode. America decides. New Selena now. There's this great bit next where the Merlin, we talked about the Merlin last episode, and I just want to say, I didn't just imagine it. Last episode, I mentioned that he was like an Iron Islands Wyman Manderly.

Do you remember this line that I said to you? Yes, yes. I used this on you, this line that I used on you. That's how I feel every week. I'm like, I use these lines on Eliana. So here, the Merlin calls for Victarion to, quote, make his claim and be done with the mummer's farce.

I told you, he's just Wyman Manderly, dude. Yep. He is. In his velvets and mer outfits. Mer outfits. As mer outfits. Victarion interrupts him and he's like, I'll make my claim when I'm ready. And Aaron is like, good, good. It's better that he waits.

It's better that he waits. And I love how this is kind of a performance under the kettle, right? That everything's simmering. It's like it's all important about where you poke and prod and where you let things peak. How you keep things moving in this performance. It's a total political performance. It is. It is.

No wonder people are annoyed. I'd be annoyed if i were perlin i'd be like just why are we here get it done with so next comes house drums claim climbing the hill on his two legs with his valyrian sword red rain upon his hip his champions were sons they're good fighters dennis and donnell and between them is andrethian smiling with arms thick as trees it spoke well of drum to have a man like him standing for him and he gives a speech asking where is it written that a kraken must be the one ruling him and reminds them that it is great wick that is the largest isle harlaw is the richest and old wick is the most holy drum speaks of history he says the black line was consumed by

dragon fire and the ironborn gave the primacy to vikin grayjoy but as lord not of the king he speaks on red reign's history the sword and how it passed hands for hands 800 years through many battles when he's called, to spill the contents of his champion's chest, he spills out bronze upon bronze, which everyone is like, that is a cheapskate move. That is cheap. None of us actually like you.

Yup, the cheers die down. He's a cheap bitch. And Aaron feels that. Aaron feels the crowd fizzle out, and he gets kind of back into hype mode, trying to get Victarion to feels the crowd fizzle out and he gets kind of back into hype mode trying to get Victarion to get the crowd going again and so he goads them a little he's kind of like an emcee at a stand-up comedy show on a Tuesday night you know it's not really great but what else are you gonna do so or an or a wrestling gig maybe he's emceeing a wrestling

gig and he's like nine sons left the wombs but only one was strong enough to kick eternal ironborn ass. Who shall it be? And Victorian Greyjoy makes eye contact. And he nods and he comes over and he's blessed by Aaron at the water, which is a great political move for those looking to become the king of the ironborn. And Vic and his men stand strong ralph the limper red ralph stonehouse newt the barber stonehouse unfurls the grayjoy banner gorilla radio style and the captains and kings all shout viction's name.

Victarion waited till they quieted, then said, You all know me. If you want sweet words, look elsewhere. I have no singer's tongue. I have an axe, and I have these! He raised his huge, mailed hands up to show

them, and Newt the Barber displayed his axe, a fearsome piece of steel. I was a loyal brother. When Balin was wed, it was me he sent to Harlaw to bring him back his bride. I led his long shifts into many a battle and never lost but won.

The first time Balin took a crown, it was me. Sailed into Lannisport to singe the lion's tail. The second time, it was me. He sent to skin the young wolf. Should he come howling home, all you'll get from me is more of what you got from Balon. That's all I have to say. With that, his champions began to chant,

Victarion! Victarion! Victarion King! Victarion King! Below, his men were spilling out his chests, a cascade of silver, gold, and gems, a wealth of plunder. Captains scrambled to seize the richest pieces, shouting as they did so, Victarion! Victarion! Victarion! Victarion King! pieces shouting as they did so victorian victorian victorian victorian king yeah i find him in this chapter so interesting after we covered him like he's very tough a great political figure he's not very emotional which is good they like that uh strong the most popular candidate right you have ashley you're on in him and those are your main three

it makes it obvious that the first few candidates are there to just validate those candidates that are there in the beginning are just there to validate the whole process right and let democracy feel real because victorian has great backing at the King's Moot. And you think about his internal dialogue that we got in his various chapters, his insecurities, none of that is bleeding through here. He's the man's

Iron Man man. He comes forth with a strong presence and has a popular candidate for the chair, and I think this confidence in his place and his masculinity is so interesting and his supporters it makes for this huge fall for ash coming up here right like it really it really makes the fall that much easier for her and i do want to also point out i love this line he brought alanis from harlaw to the iron islands to wed balin

much like euron is now asking him to bring his bride-to-be back to Westeros. That's a great point. I forgot, I forgot that parallel. And yeah, you know, like he's got like you said, he's got the backing, right? Drom didn't have that super pack,

but I mean, Victarion's the establishment candidate, you know? Boom-ba-doom-boop-, boom ba-doom-boom, baby. Aaron watches Euron wondering if he'll speak now or wait but Euron's not the one who puts an end to this. It's Asha. She whistles and cuts through the crowd, pushing past and I think it's

really telling how this wording comes through in Aaron's interiority. It goes like but it was not Euron who put an end to the shouting it was the woman and i imagine like it in the same tone as like when chifu reveals mulan and it's like a woman and the italics around the woman right in in that quote i think really just show the disgust that erin has He doesn't even say, like, it was Asha. He says, the woman.

Especially for trying to undo the patriarchal norms of the Ironborn and, like, even her whistle gets the word shrill assigned to it, which, as we all know, it's a misogynistically coded word. Shrill? Shrill? Shrill is pretty misogynistic.

Ask Amy Bruckheimer. Exactly. word shrill shrill shrill is pretty misogynistic ask amy brookheimer exactly exactly exactly they said you were shrill oh my god is she an amy sorry i'm thinking about amy in this first wait but who's selena i don't know she's anyway she's both um anyways uh you're on like you know you're on gets a name right like you're on who sexually like assaulted and raped erin gets a name but asha doesn't and like if anything's a farce it's that you stole this from asha because you gave this stupid fucking parable last chapter erin about like a man gives his son the sword what does that mean well fucking balan gave the sword and the fucking islands to asha fell on your deaf ears and you know what great job you crowned your on because of it i'm never gonna let it go you this, whether you think you chose it or not. You did.

Your non-action chose this. Congrats. You did this. You biffed it. Womp womp. As she pushed past, the cheering died away. She was Baelin Greyjoy's daughter, and the crowd was curious to hear her speak. It was good of you to bring such gifts to my queen's moot, nuncle, she told Victarion.

But you need not have worn so much armor. I promise not to hurt you. Asha turned to face the captains. There's no one braver than my nuncle. No one stronger, no one fiercer in a fight. And he counts to ten as quick as any man. I've seen him do it, though when he needs to go to twenty, he does take off his boots. That made them laugh.

He has no sons, though. His wives keep dying. The crow's eye is his elder and has a better claim. He does! She's right and she should say it. No. Ah. Oh wait, this is the red oarsman shouted from below.

Ah. But my claim is better still. She's right and she should say it. It's true. It's true. Yeah, so Ralph the Limp-er shouts that he only sees Balin's little daughter and she asks if she should show them

her tits she is a woman and they and she's like well I'm a woman and you might not have seen any of those since you've been weaned to many of them got him got him and she goes kind of she goes kind of back and forth with them right like she's trying to earn their respect through these japes about her womanhood versus leading them versus them being like, fuck women.

And she draws a dirk from her titty, which is very me coded. I put things in my boobs at all times, all the time. I'm always putting shit in there like, you know, squirrels in their mouths. Be with my tits. And she presents her suckling babe and be with my tits and she presents her suckling babe and then her axe and then she presents her champions carl the maid tristopher botley harris harlaw who carries the valyrian sword nightfall also fame showing yeah it shows legitimacy right to her cause that she too has a sword not not just house drum. Asha tells them they know her,

but some of the men in the crowd are like, I want to know you better! And she's like, go the fuck home and know your wife. She tries to continue to make her speech without being interrupted by sexism for at least five seconds, and she offers them real freedom. Not just being given widows from war, or their families raped and murdered like when Robert came, not like what her father gave them in his rebellion.

Lucas Codd's like, are you going to give us knitting? And she's like, yeah, I'm going to knit your ass a kingdom. We need to take a lesson from the young wolf, which everyone doesn't like. And Victarion's like, he's not a kraken. Like Invictarian's like, he's not a Kraken. Which, again, I just want to call out that none of these speeches were up for debate until now. Like, Invictarian's speech, no one questioned it. No one had a Q&A section during it, right?

The speeches before that, House Drum didn't get a Q&A section. So I don't know why Asha's speech is up for a Q&A section. Not sure why. I don't know if that has anything speech is up for a Q&A section. Not sure why. I don't know if that has anything to do with who she is personally, but there's something going on there where everyone else's speeches happened uninterrupted. I just can't put my finger on it. I just really don't know. I'm not sure.

I'm just not sure. I just really don't know. I wish I knew. We'll just never find out, you know. Just like we'll never find out what would have happened after she offers them the both of Stoney Shore and not just Boat Cailin, Deepwood Mott,

Torrens Square, and Winterfell. An avalanche of pebbles comes forth, smooth pebbles, gray and black, pine cones from Deepwood and yellow turnips, the gold of Winterfell. She calls out that many had lost men at Winterfell for these riches, like Harman's sharp son, Herig, for example. She says she'll give them land, Sea Dragon Point, Stony Shore,

trees enough to build actual fucking halls. And the Northmen will be their friends and stand with them against the Iron Throne. Crown her for peace and for victory. Or crown her nuncle for war and defeat. She asks what they'll have, and Roderick shouts, Victory! Because, um, we love Uncle Roderick, even though he stole the place from his sister but she never lets him forget and baylor blacktide echoes asha asha queen which is totally too bad because he's really hot and he dies for that one you know yeah gotta you gotta be sad about that

and they're shouting they're stamping their feet the people are speaking they want asha so many fucking people are stomping their feet tris botley the harlaws the good brothers even lord merlin all of them are shouting for asha fucking gray joy yeah have you ever watched an election be stolen uh yeah it was called success no i'm joking it was called sam tarley and a kettle and some birds is what it was called. Honestly, you know, she gets pretty good support. That's why everyone's, like, in such a ruckus and everyone's getting ready to fight, right? Others, like, they hold their tongs and mutter to their neighbors, like, Victorian supporters.

And then someone throws a pine cone and then everyone, like, at her head, right? Which, again, is part of the great imagery in this chapter. And then, like, everyone loses their shit after that. here's my random hot take not really hot take whatever aaron thinks that the storm god is sowing discord and i think he's thinking of euron to take advantage of it all but what if what if aaron's actually the one who's a storm god i mean he did survive a storm right and he's the reason all this crazy shit is happening right now let's be real no i think there's there's something in that i'm gonna revisit this because there's something in that but and maybe there's not maybe there is but i mean he did create the storm he's the one

running around yelling for a king's moot and then saying i won't support anyone and not using any of his ties to help get that support ready before and then he's like mad that Euron gets elected and I'm like well bitch like I anyway but what did you think was gonna happen sir and I will say like

this is why Asha's approach fails too right Asha fails she relies on making a point using satire, sarcasm, and irony, which I personally am all for, but I'm also not the president of a

people, right? Like, I just want to put that out there. Just at this podcast. Yeah, just the president of the podcast, but, no, I'm just kidding. But it does, it's like, it's what makes Euron's mocking of her so infuriating that the point she's making is that we the ironborn are chasing the wrong thing but it flies over their heads and euron's like aha i have two moments to make asha sound dumb and feeble like

she doesn't understand you and your failings and there's even something in it about like you know women wanting to be taken seriously as a fellow woman who makes inappropriate jokes all the time to cover up like i don't know real life conversation like i do that all the time like that's just who i am and asha has never been taken seriously like at her word for what she says that's why the scene she has with tris in her own chapters is so intimate and so vulnerable. It's such a good scene, even though we hate Triss. Or like why her and Carl scenes and her memories of him are so vulnerable.

She doesn't get to be taken at that value of her word because she is a woman in this society. And it's unfair that the speeches preceding this got 100% attention. It's unfair that the speeches preceding this got 100% attention, and her speech is the one that gets the jibes and the catcalls and, you know, the actions like no one's paying attention, the pinecone thrown at her head. No one dared throw a pinecone at Victarion. But her approach doesn't help. Like, these are a folk that don't understand that satire when they're in this heated moment. It doesn't help.

There's something almost about that fire and that flashiness that's within her that reminds me a lot of her counterpart in this story arianne right who are their father's heirs taking their destiny and agency back from men who want to do it with their style versus their style and she misses the mark yeah yeah she does and then ends up becoming a prisoner she's not in the tower but she's like princess in the tower kind of like Arian even Aaron's kind of like

Arian and I mean crown maker king maker queen maker plots and then it all blows up in their face and then they're imprisoned um but yeah it is really sad like that asha's approach doesn't work and that you're on throws it all apart like you said no one throws a pine cone at her head like i know that they throw a pine cone at her

head no one did it for fucking gilbert and that man like everyone thought that man was a joke right or for drum no one like threw the bronze back at him it was like you fucking cheapskate and she has just as much legitimacy she has a valyrian sword on her side she has even more legitimacy i mean she has like she has ships right she has the gray joy name yeah yeah she's a fucking gray joy of course she's better than house drum or than eric she was literally the air she was literally the air first of all balin intended for her to be the air and you know you were talking about like how how they all laugh at her right and i don't know that it's like a misstep but i understand why it doesn't work like her speech as opposed to kind of as you said right she sells them on a real fucking campaign promise like a real platform with a real policies that

could work but she also leans into the whole like roast aspect of it right and there's a kind of there's different ways that like social power and charisma can work and especially when it comes to leadership and there's a couple of like four traits that people talk about but we'll simplify those to like competence and warmth other people use the use the the framework of like presence power and warmth whatever but likeability and social power how much people like and respect you right warmth is super important for people to trust you when it comes to trust as a leader right but it doesn't necessarily mean that you have people perceive you as competent or as having authority. And sometimes people who like are seen as competent and have authority are seen as very cold and untrustworthy. I think an

example of that is Stannis. And often women are relegated to the role of only having warmth, right? But it's very difficult for women to be perceived as having competence when it comes to leadership they're not seen as authoritative as men right and humor is a way that you can you can get warmth when it comes to that social power right it's It's why we're so hot. So warm. You're so sexy, snap. Or do we only think that I'm laughing and I crack myself up? Are you making jokes in the sudden analysis that you had going on

in order to, you know, provide warmth and to make connections with our audience and listenership? But especially, honestly, sometimes it gets edited out, but I do shit just to see, just to get a rise out of you. You know this. Oh my god. No, that's true, though, and, you know, I think there's a lot of-

It's true, we're powerful. You know, for Aaron, well, yeah, we're powerful, but no, I think for Aaron especially, right, like, he faces this really difficult journey in what masculinity means to him and what his life has represented right so when you look at Asha who's a woman who's allowed to speak at this great event and nag his bones with all this lore preceding it you know of course he couldn't dare to support her why would he oh absolutely not and that's actually interesting when you bring aaron into this framework he's he's seen as having both

i think partially the religion gives him some of that warmth right and obviously people seem as competent yeah asha asha tries to do the warmth thing right she tries to show she's one of the guys with these jokes and that she can she can throw it back they're great jokes good job great open mic night here at the king's moot um and again the hard facts of like why you should vote for her but i don't think it the jokes don't make people think that you have followed through her command and especially not in that ironborn culture like she doesn't command respect especially especially because she's a woman but she's also offering them peace right in the real life when a lot of the ironborn have been taught over the millennia to to lust for glory and plunder right a good half of them the ones who are not i guess marred

by the greenlands um they don't care that their wives and children are dying they really they really could give a shit like they're just like whatever i'll just capture and rape new ones like they want violence because like in the war and violence they get to exert power over like literally anyone else like fuck being a king on your own ship you can be a king fucking anywhere just by taking the life of anyone like they want the glory not legacy or they've conflated the two because that's what their cultural narrative with the gray king who's like yeah i fucking killed a dragon and then like made a home out of it or something give and treat it um that's their that's their story and like you know on one hand i do wonder like if she had offered them more glory

if she had given like more language of glory and maybe if she like had threatened the men that could have definitely backfired on her though um in a bad way but if she had like threatened them instead of humiliating them i wonder if that could have it's a gamble i wonder if it could have been successful but it's it's not what she represents but also like we see we see erin's disgust again like you know as as you were calling out like at the end of her speech because he's astounded language says again he's like i can't believe that they would cheer and then italics like for a woman and it's clear why not like erin he doesn't even see asha like as balen's daughter right victorian is at least like was like

is she my sexual object or is she balen's little girl right the only two things women can be for for him like for erin women are essentially like socially equivalent to animals and i think he needs that like he desperately needs it to be that way because that way he's not at the bottom of the pyramid as like euron's victim a hundred% that. That is how he tries to contextualize Asha in his life and how he contextualizes like rejecting her as a ruler. And I think there's a lot in her speech of how women must rule compared to men, right? How we must satiate men

while also ruling with a strong fist where we're the winners. I love how much this encompasses it. But you can listen to our Asha chapters. They're done. All published Asha chapters at the time of 2023 are out. And this is not Asha's chapter. This is Erin Greyjoy's chapter still.

So before Erin can do something real, a horn splits the air uh one of euron's mongrels blows the horn he's a monstrous man with a shaved head rings of gold and jade and jet glistening on his arms his chest is tattooed with a bird of prey the talons dripping blood and the horn is shiny black twisted taller than a man bound with bands of red gold and dark steel and ancient glowing valyrian glyphs i'm pretty sure this is a cobra kai character interesting is this analysis maybe it was a wall of pain and fury that burnt the ears and aaron covers his own wishing to smash the horn to silence but it goes on and on he wants

to scream that it's the horn of hell but no one would hear him the man blowing the horn looks like he may burst his muscles twitching making his bird tattoo look like it might rip and fly off his body again have to plug john dies at the end series of books they have some crazy shit like that gotta recommend it it rings and rings until it fills the whole wet world and finally it ends the man staggers and almost falls, caught by Orkwood of Orkmont, while Lucas Codd takes the horn from him. Yes, smoke is rising from the horn. You know, Victarion gave us a little flashback of these, but anyways. And blood and blisters bloom from the man's lips.

Even his chest tattoo is bleeding. Very metal. And Euron climbs the stage you know it's his turn that open mic night standing at the doors of the gray king's hall and turns his smiling eye to the crowd to address them euron begins to read them the talking points of his resume he boasts his blood first he's the eldest son eldest boy eldest son living son of Quellen with the blood of the Kraken and Lord Vickin

no one gives a shit about Lord Vickin in his veins he boasts his travel it's farther than any of you going east to go see wonders to sail to Asshai you know it would be better if Nicki Minaj was wrapping his resume I do

think so. I was thinking that. I was thinking that. Like, eldest living son of Quellen, like, 50k no album out. You know, like, I'm just waiting for it. I'm waiting for it. You're on the mumble rapper. Is that something? I mean, he is a monster, right? Noted bloodsucker.

Fat motherfucker. Now look who's in trouble. That was his speech. That's so true. Carl the maid heckles the performance. He's like, go back to the shadow! But Euron perseveres. And apparently this is what

Gandalf says to the Balrog. I told you I had Lord of the Rings for you. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Gandalf tells the Balrog to go back to the shadow. But here we are. So a little Lord of the Rings for you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Gandalf tells the Balrog to go back to the shadow, but... Interesting. But here we are. Yeah, so little Lord of the Rings action coming back in. Interesting. He then says his little brother would finish

Balin's war. His sweet niece wants peace in pinecones, which isn't actually what she said. Fake news, false flag, but whatever. But the crow's eye has the best eye of them all, and that's what they call him, the crow's eye. He wants to give them exactly what they want, and he lays it on thick. Lannisport, Highgarden, the Arbor, Oldtown, the Riverlands, the Reach, the Kingswood, the

Rainwood, Dorne, the Marches, the Mountains, the Moon, the Vale of Arryn, the stepstones. He wants to give them all of Westeros. And with a glance to Aaron, he adds on quickly. All for the glory of the Drowned God, to be sure. Yeah. Brilliant. Brilliant. Aaron is in shock.

He has dreamed his dream. Big lame is. When first he'd seen the red comet in the sky. We shall sweep over the green lands with fire and sword. Root out the seven gods of the septons and the white trees of the northmen. It's like, well, how did we have the same dream? Yo, hot take. Was this dream implanted by Euron?

I'm just saying. I mean, maybe it's sick to say out loud, but truthfully, how much of Aaron's faith is actually attributed to Euron's manipulations in his dreams? Like, we know Euron can probably enter dreams. Was this a dream that was given to Aaron? That's so sad. I think after what we've been talking about with Victarion, I don't think it's out of the picture, right? That's kind of how I feel. I feel like their lives

are being puppeted by him. And we do see Euron kind of inducing visions in a way. Spoiler, spoiler. Not from afar there, but yeah. He forces Shade of the Evening on Victarion.

Let alone, we'll talk more in the Forsaken for Patrons, but... But he didn't, right? Victarion's like, I'm not getting dosed today. No, he spits it out of his mouth, but he definitely had it in his mouth. Let's be real. Like, you know that hits still. Like, listen, if you put an acid tap under your tongue... No, he didn't drink it.

But if you put it in your mouth, which he did for a moment... But he didn't. It goes into your bloodstream within 60 seconds. He put it to his mouth until he didn't drink it. But if you put it in your mouth, which he did for a moment, it goes into your bloodstream within 60 seconds. He put it to his mouth until he realized it was it. I'm just saying he probably had a little bit of a trippy night. Yeah, it's like when you rub it on your gums. If it touches your bloodstream, yeah.

They go straight in there, dude. Not that we've ever done drugs. This podcast is drug-free, thanks. Alright, listen. So, the haters and the losers, Asha and Victarion, call out that they probably can't do all this. And Euron's like,

Aegon conquered, you fools. Why can't we conquer? And they're like, yo, Aegon had dragons, but then guess what? Euron's like, we're gonna have dragons too because my fancy horn is from Valyria.

It's named Dragonbinder and it's used to bind dragons to your cause and euron's like there are dragons back in our world right whether the haters and the losers want to believe me or not and he's gonna give these dragons to the iron men for the glory of the drowned god do you hear me yeah honestly how did everyone believe him so quickly about the dragons that actually thoughts that actually kind of makes me like suspend i don't know disbelief a little because a lot of people are like uh no there aren't any fucking dragons and westeros all the time yeah and they get like crazy about it right like their shouts are like you're on you're on king and the mutes and the mongrels throw up in

his chest and that doesn't discourage them right because it's full of gold and various fun goodie bag things right like this is what the celebrities go to award shows and come back with but these are just normal innocent men so they're all like yay we get the stuff like real humans the captains of the kings are like shouting his name and they're filling their hands with gold and the shouts are rolling up Naga's hill like the storm god rattling the

clouds yeah you make the king's mood sound like the Met Gala I mean it kinda is it's the ironborn Met Gala actually I mean I would throw a pine cone at your. I mean, it kind of is. It's the Ironborn Met Gala. Yeah. I mean, actually, I mean, I would throw a pine cone at your head. I mean, Victorians very dressed up.

So even a priest made doubt. Even a prophet may know terror. Aaron Greyjoy reached within himself or his god and discovered only silence. As a thousand voices shouted out his brother's name, all he could hear was the scream of a rusted iron hinge. Oh, that line of only found silence basically as a god. Yo, it's dark, isn't it it this is what you wrought this is the ironborn that you wrought oh hey you know like wrought iron hey yeah i did i got it i got it thank you thank god you're here to validate me yeah that's devastating it's literally devastating

that he did nothing and got nothing as a result he should have taken it for himself or crowned Asha. But if he really didn't want Asha, I mean, you want something done right, Aaron, you gotta do it yourself. Hey, we come back to what we said last week about Aemon, right? And not taking it and his whole legacy downfall and that's happening

here. And I want to talk about Dragonbinder real quick because we talked about Dragonbinder a little bit during Victarion's chapters so maybe we're going to cross over to Victarion here I have to say but it seems

like bullshit Dragonbinder seems like bullshit right off the bat we've seen Targaryens and they've never needed a horn to bond with their dragons so with their bond usually coming from like birth or intimacy and vulnerability as a child, right? Having an egg in your cradle, for example,

that certain intimacy to bonding with the egg. Maybe Euron thinks this is a cheat code to get a dragon, but I don't know. All that we've seen of the horn so far is that it burns this dude up and makes his tattoo bleed. It starting to think that this horn is really going to do something else or nothing at all. Right. Like the horn of Joramun in the north is the real big bad horn boy that's going to do real things.

Maybe bring down the wall. But all we've seen this horn do is kill people and also we've seen this horn have people agree to do its whims oh interesting yeah like uh not a possessed kind of thing i don't know like uh you know you're attracted to the element you're attracted to the totem you want to do the totem's bidding like this man erupts his body while blowing on the horn and the ironborn keep cheering while this guy bleeds in front of them and they're cheering and cheering for Euron like maybe the term dragon binder is kind of loose here like is it more of like an enslaving tool

because dragons are no slave is the first thing that makes me think about but like I mean they blew the horn and now all these guys are cheering for euron including guys that were cheering for asha and victorian that's actually really interesting now that now that you like put it together like that first i want to throw out there this idea that is george gardening the horn because i had recently heard that maybe like you know the glass direct the glass candles he didn't really know what he was doing with it and had a couple directions he wanted to go before he settled on one. So, like, when he wrote this, I'm not convinced George knew yet. He was just laying seeds.

Like people becoming susceptible to that person's whims because, you know, George came up as a writer during the time of writers like Asimov, right? It makes me think of characters with powers kind of like the Mule who had the ability to influence people's emotions at a large scale and kind of like fucked up the entire course of Harry Seldon's grand plan. Yeah, think about mutants, right? George came up in that Marvel Universe kind of era fucked up the entire course of Harry Seldon's grand plan. Yeah, think about mutants, right? George came up in that Marvel Universe kind of era for comics. And then I think about a lot of his dream songs, the different stories and dream songs and some of the totems that represent themselves. Yeah, yeah. I'm interested in Dragonbinder for that purpose.

I don't think it's really to bind dragons necessarily and I don't think it's going to get it's day against dragons like I don't I mean imagine blowing that at Drogon and what would happen what do you think would happen if you blew that horn in Drogon's face

I think he'd be like I don't know cool story bro I do think you're on well he might get a dragon like I don't think it's out of the question but you're right that I don't know, cool story bro. I do think you're on he might get a dragon, like I don't think it's out of the question, but you're right that I don't know the horn has to do anything with it. If it does, I think it's an enslaving device and you know, this

is maybe a little post to miss, like this is maybe like I should have brought it up during Victarion, but I was thinking about horns in literature, right? And Shakespeare loved horns, but he loved them to signify cuckoldry? Okay, left field, right? Like, I know I just took you on a turn right there.

But think about, like, Much Ado Nothing. Much Ado About Nothing, right? Where Don Pedro is like, In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke. And we see men get horns sprouting from their head when their wife has cheated on them. And Euron has given Victarion this horn. A cuckolded man will grow horns on his head

that he cannot see, but everyone else can see. Very much representing the cuckoldry. And then that Euron gave him this deadly horn that's going to bring about some sort of fate or some sort of prophecy or some sort of event, some sort of binding and slavery

I don't know interesting, interesting yeah because George has played with that before too right even with Cersei and Robert the boar, she wants him horned. The boar, but also the stag is a horned... I mean, the stag is literally a horned creature, right? And that is something he was playing with.

So I like that alternate, subtle interpretation of the horn as that sort of symbol as well. And that could become a very literal manifestation manifestation somehow but still not yet sure how maybe one day we'll find out in the far winds of winter it feels far off i'm gonna be real it's been far it's been a long time my crops are not watered you know skin is dry if we started worrying about it then you all should worry is all i'm saying like we're not worried about it so you shouldn't be either it'll come when it comes no i i've i've been worrying it for years we're the two different sides the two the two genders i'm so excited that we have finished Aaron. Oh, it's actually kind of sad. I'm not trying to get weird about it,

but we have, we only have like a handful or so of chapters left. We're at what, like six, seven? We don't have a lot of chapters POV wise left. We have a lot of chapters left. We've got a couple a lot of chapters left. We've got a couple years of chapters left but we're getting towards

the last leg of our journey. We're hoping that there will be chapters out for us. The last tentacle there will be more chapters to come. We don't know how we're going to handle that out loud to you all yet. It'll come when it comes and we'll be happy when it happens.

And we're glad you're here for the ride until then. Absolutely. And if you want to keep up when those, when our episodes come out, because such a good segue or a little loosey goosey right now, you can find out on social media by following us on twitter.com slash girls gone cannon. That's C A N O N.

Or you can shoot us an email at girls gone cannon at g twitter.com. Slash girls gone canon. That's c-a-n-o-n. Or you can shoot us an email. At girlsgonecanon at gmail.com. Make sure you subscribe to us. On a platform where you get all of your podcasts. Whether that's at our Patreon. Whether it's at Spotify. Google Play. iTunes.

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where patrons in the $5 tier and above get access to bonus episodes because this is not in fact the final Aaron chapter there is one more and it is the best Aaron chapter I'm not gonna lie it might be one of the best chapters in general this is not me being like sarcastic it is it's true it is it is one of the wildest song of ice and fire

chapters so don't miss it totally agreed it's worth the five dollars subscription again check that out patreon.com slash girls gone canon we can't wait to have you back in july when we cover melisandre one in a dance with dragons before we move on then again to a new pov such an exciting summer i hope yet your summer is popping off and that you're having a blast and things are good thanks for listening as always i have been one of your hosts Chloe and I have been another one of your hosts Eliana the drowned girl gone canon

get it? bless her with salt bless her with water bless her soul goodbye goodbye