Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 197 — AGOT Arya V

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Dad, no... !!! (Again.) Perpetual stew links pending.  Check us out on Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/girlsgonecanon.bsky.social Music credits:  "Dark Times" 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 197, Arya 5 two girls gone canon reads a song of ice and fire episode 197 aria 5 in a game of thrones i am one of your hosts chloe and i am another one of your hosts eliana this is our last aria chapter in a game of thrones are you ready for not only the last chapter but like this is this is a big chapter a lot of things happen why what happens oh it's fine but are you ready for anything yeah mostly dad dying yeah mostly dad's dead that's a bummer that's a bummer and i want to bring the energy back up yeah a bummer for all i want to bring that energy back up before we bummer for all I want to bring that energy back up before we get to the bummer for all of dad being dead

and I want to talk about our Patreon episode this month which you guys if you haven't already check us out at patreon.com slash girls gone canon we've got a couple tiers over there and one of them is the stranger tier the $5

tier and above who gets bonus episodes every month. Sometimes they'll be A Song of Ice and Fire themed, right? Like The Winds of Winter, or maybe even George themed, maybe a novella or novelette by George R.R. Martin. Sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're shows. and sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're shows. Last month we talked about road trips in A Song of Ice and Fire and out of it in all other media

and books and different things we like. And this month we're coming to you with something truly blessed. Something truly truly amazing. In honor of Leo's Everywhere for Eliana's birth, in my opinion. We're coming to you with a fun

movie. Eliana, what's the homework what do they got to watch all right everyone we are going to be doing the netflix original movie revenge do revenge which i don't actually know of anyone in this i'd have to check everyone's signs um is a leo but it's got that energy but also it fits in with a song of ice and fire and we're going to talk about why in just a second do revenge it's a comedy on netflix by director jennifer caton robinson and here are some of its stars camilla mendez whom some of you may know from riverdale fame i have fallen behind on riverdale, but I got pretty far. I got at least season, I don't know, four or five.

And Maya Hawke, who is of fame because both of her parents are very famous, but also Stranger Things. Oh, yes. Nepo Baby fame. Yep, Nepo Baby fame. She looks just like both of her parents.

Somehow. There's also Austin Abrams. If you watched Euphoria, you'll know him. He was Ethan, I think, in Euphoria season one and two. Yeah. Talia Ryder, who is a Leo. We did it. Have you been looking up everyone's birthdays after i said that yeah

and then of course there's an actor in it most of you probably know sophie turner and she's fucking hysterical in it she plays very funny very funny yeah this is her calling i think comedy as uh i've been telling chloe but besides the fact that sophie turner is in it like has some absolutely i think show-stealing scenes hilarious hilarious in it i just feel do revenge the idea of doing revenge it's a very aria stark esque yeah idea yeah the summer of Arya can continue. The summers, the many summers we're about to have of Arya Stark can continue

with it. It is based on two girls who want to be doing revenge against someone. So they join up while doing their said revenges. And it is their said revenges. Yeah, wait, what is it? What should we call ourselves i don't know what

about something like the revengers the revengers yeah they become revengers yes uh yeah it is not a marvel movie and even though i guess sophie turner was in the marvel movie technically not from mcu well it's not marvel mcu but it is from Marvel Comics. I really look forward to covering this movie, chatting about it. It should be a fun episode. And I look forward to whatever we throw at you next month. You know, we want to do something fun for the summer. But as we get to the autumn, it begins, the summer's ending. We'll find something good.

Keep your ears peeled. Why do you always say keep your ears peeled? Because usually it's keep your eyes peeled, do you always say keep your ears peeled because usually it's keep your eyes peeled but you can't keep your eyes peeled because it's a fucking podcast and we say things to them something else that's happening is august 27th for patrons in the thunder tier and above you can join our august happy hour slash brunch or brappy hour brappy brappy hour she's trying to make it happen stop trying to or brappy hour. Brappy. Brappy hour. She's trying to make it happen.

Stop trying to make brappy hour happen. Yeah, our brunch happy hour in August is going to be on Sunday the 27th at 3pm ET. So come around for that one. Or if you can't make that one, check it out in September. It's going to be September 23rd saturday 3 p.m et and uh shenanigans will ensue i am sure and of course we are back with sailor moon this month and we are covering season three the best season yes yes and we will have uh outer senshi just to spoil the season a little but you know what the storyline's been out since basically the first book that i gave my throat so you know it's kind of fucked up that

i was sitting here and i was like yeah almost 30 years and i'm like no it's been more than 30 years they've celebrated yeah it's been more than 30 i know well yeah so i'm sitting here like damn yeah so anyways that's that's happening i too have celebrated my 30th anniversary oh my god we're seeing if we will also potentially have any outer senshi with us as well yeah fingers crossed we can uh bring an outer senshi on in well some of you have written in we're saving it till next week we've got a lot going on today i I don't know if you know this, but our dad is dying. Yeah, actually. So we were like, maybe not yet.

Sorry, but we got some good emails. We got some really good emails. Stay tuned. Yeah, stay tuned. But until then, let's hop into our lightning round, starting with Sansa 4. Sansa can't stand the idea of going home to Winterfell. Chain reactions are caused by this. Jon 7. Jon saves the Lord Commander from a wight.

Bran 6. Osha tells Bran that the true war is in the north, but Rob marches south anyway. Catelyn 8. Catelyn and Brynden meet Rob at Mount Cailin, where war plans are revised. They must win or die. There is no middle ground. Oh my god.

Tyrion 7. Tyrion arrives safely with his guard of Valeclansmen to the Inn at the Crossroads to meet his father. Sansa 5. Sansa begs for mercy for her father. Eddard 15. Varys comes in Eddard's final hour to tell him about all of the mistakes that he's made. Big sad final hour! Okay. Catelyn 9. Catelyn negotiates crossing the Green Fork with

Walder Frey so that, you know, they can get there faster to save Ned. Jon 8. Jon receives a Valyrian steel sword from Jeor Mormont. Aemon reveals his identity to Jon. Tyrion VIII. Tywin has been tricked at the Battle of the Green Fork. Tyrion meets Shae. Catelyn X. Jaime Lannister is taken captive. And that brings us here to Game of Thrones thrones aria 5 dad no wow here we are you know yeah we just read through all those little lightning rounds and i'm like damn we've done most of those

actually what could be next yeah we've done almost all those yeah so dad no dad no we open up the chapter with aria stalking through the street of flower we get a lot of great exposition and world building down on the ground in king's landing aria's chasing a pigeon breaking its neck lots of pigeon chasing going on like me playing uh my medieval dynasty game pigeons were easier than cats she, and a passing septon stares at her, and she tells him, this is the best place to catch pigeons. She's catching pidgeys, and I will say she is

basically only one year away, right, from being old enough to go on a journey to become a Pokemon master, so this is great training for her. And we were discussing, like, I mean, how good of a swordsman could she really be? She had to cut her lessons off early, but, you know know she's finding other ways to keep her skills sharp in very practical ways right like i i think that hitting a pigeon it seems very hard it seems like it requires a

lot of accuracy which is great because you got to stick them with the pointy end her sword is not a slashing sword we also have this line here that i that stood out to me because i thought it was like a fun line then i thought about it a little more it says compared with catching cats pigeons were easy and I'm like oh catching cats like Arya is hard but pigeons little birds easily caught just like Sansa who's caught after this chapter

oh that's great that's a really good catch good brain you're lagging for me that's all yeah well her pokemon journey is going to start a little earlier than planned right she ties her pigeon to her belt she starts down the street a man with tarts blueberry lemon and apricot tarts oh that sounds so fucking good he wheels his cart through and she's like hey can i have a lemon mister lemon tart or you know anything and he's like three

coppers after looking at her she offers her pigeon for trade for barter and he's like no for a moment she looks with her eyes and she kind of surveys him and sees oh i could really outmaneuver this guy and she starts thinking about grabbing a tart and running, but he stops her, and he's like, you better keep your hands off, the gold cloaks will deal with you if you try anything. And of course, two gold cloaks do decorate the mouth of the alley, and they look kinda serious.

Arya hurries off the sight of them alone, tying her stomach into knots. Two things. One, that this man could look at like a starving kid and be so cruel like he he judged her and chose how much to charge her based on what he saw that's true right and that he's so cruel like it is a starving child right now yes it's aria stark but he doesn't know that it's just a kid that is living on the streets, fucking living in burnt out barns right now starving. So he just give her one dude, just give her one. Okay, first, but then second, I love the Arya grew up in a

family that has given her so much privilege. She's like, Hey, can I have one? Hey, can I have one of those? You know, I think that's so funny. I'm like, Arya, you can't just go to a man who makes his life and business off of this shit and think you can just have it. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think I caught that he did. It seems like he did raise the price based on Arya's appearance, right? Because he definitely was just like, I don't want this kind of clientele, is pretty shitty and but i also like kind of see the latter part of what you were saying too right like point two because i mean she does have a pigeon which is arguably probably more nutritious than a fruit tart because i'm like you know a fruit tart all that sugar all that butter flour that is like a luxury right like i

don't know if this man can just afford to just give out a luxury dessert to every starving kid because there's probably a bazillion of them at in flea bottom he gives out one like you know how does he decide like to whom to give it out like this is his living it's possible he has like two kids also or more kids i don't know that are aria's age that he needs to also keep from starving but also as you said right she's like can i just have a tart and then is thinking about just stealing from this man and i don't know kind of feeling entitled to that tart and i don't know i think i'd be more empathetic to it if i were if aria wanted to like steal an apple right and had absolutely nothing

and i'd be like oh my god just give her like the sustenance or a banana not that they probably have bananas but you know how much could one banana cost but it is full of potassium very very nutritious even though i have mixed feelings about bananas um talk about them another time there's always money in the banana there's always money in the banana stand but There's always money in the banana stand. But I guess the guy could have at least agreed to trade for a pigeon, which again, probably pretty nutritious. Sounds like it was a really good pigeon. But it's like, what is he going to do with it though right now? He can eat it.

He's in the middle of working. It's raw. It's dead. And he has all these beautiful fruit tarts. Like, that's not not gonna help him right now and just what is he gonna do turn around and put it in his mini fridge i don't know he can what is everyone else doing he can go salt it go bring it trade it for a bowl i don't know he can do something with the pigeon but you're right actually that that is another great point what is he gonna do with the pigeon you're right this was a useless trade on ari's part um she's never had to worry about this she's

never had to worry about money before um ever yeah not once yeah and like that's why it's like elf this is literally just like oh god it is a little like elf but you're right like that you're right that probably wasn't a good trade so in terms of you know street smarts and survival skills i think she's learning she's learning but also this man who has had to who has not had probably as privileged of a life as aria maybe he was a starving kid once he knows how to not look like an easy mark because he sees that aria is ready to like just steal things and he knows that look he's like i'm not an easy mark so anyway i'm just i feel like his life has probably been harder than aria's was up until now that he had to learn all that but also none of this is in the text about this man he

really could be an asshole and i just made up all this shit about this man he's really not that cool and i don't know why i talked about him so much he's not important i guess in the large scheme of things no i think it's fair though because this is the beginning of her arc with you know class consciousness in general a clash of kings I mean this is the kind of person she is amongst and they capture her in

disguise not as Arya but like they capture her just the same as they capture all these sorts of people who don't comply when you know levies and taxes and cruelty is really being waged against them for no fucking reason so i think he is kind of important like we don't know this guy's life but context clues to me say that right now he's carrying a fucking cart in the middle of the road of kings laney and to your point if he gives one tart out well how many is he gonna have at the

end of the day how many is he gonna keep handing out there's just a lot of hungry kids it's no one's one job yeah it's like a shitty system and like you know this guy's obviously not in charge of it it's uh it's the other people right like who are of the same class as aria now that i think about it so you know what it's a bad system is all I'm trying to say. Okay. The man has somehow become important again. Yeah. So...

Alright, alright. Anyway. So, Aria had stayed away from the Red Keep as much as possible, avoiding it, but even from here she can see the decaying heads on spikes outside of the keep keep and crows are flying overhead it's pretty gritty pretty gross literally the gossip is all over over literally oh my god most things do go over her head she's very short the gossip is kind of all

over about what's actually happened and so what aria has figured out so far is for true the gold cloak sided with the lannisters some say her father killed king robert or that renly killed him and fled or the king was killed by a boar hunting or that he died eating a boar died at table or he was poisoned by varies or a pox or choked on a fish bone one way or another the king is dead the king is dead and the info about the gold cloaks in janos slint though it actually is incredibly accurate which i think is the story showing us about how information works in a song of ice and fire and kind of telling us teaching us about you know what aria's storyline is going to be about later on in the house of black and White with learning things, but also ties in well with Davos' storyline and other parts of Arya's storyline

that both show about how to get accurate news and, I mean, even varies as plots with the little birds. Yeah, there are a few more things we'll come to here, but it stands out really well who actually has the correct gossip and that the correct gossip is there before maybe some of the other people can even get it.

The bells ring for a day and a night. Arya wants to go home, but King's Landing is not really easy to leave. Gold cloaks are everywhere, talk of war. She sleeps in Flea Bottom on rooftops and stables, and soon she also has fleas. There's this one phrase that I just really liked when they're talking about the bells, all the bells ringing for Robert. It's like the thunder of their grief. And I just thought that was some really clever language there from George to talk about the passing of a Baratheon. Oh, I love that. I didn't even realize.

I really love that. It's just nice. Arya would visit each of the seven city gates daily. The dragon, the lion, the old, all barred and closed. Look at all this exposition. So good. It's world building, the mud gate, the gate of the gods. Those ones

are open, but only for those who are entering the city. Those who were allowed to leave could take the king's gate or the iron gate. But there are Lannister men guarding the gates. They're searching wagons, belongings, and questioning passersby. And Arya thinks about, you know, swimming the Blackwater Rush, which is really interesting.

But it's too fast and deep. She has no coin to be taken across. And it turns out her dad never taught her how to steal. Wow, crazy. And she was really starting to wonder why. And it's okay, Aria. You'll have a coin to be taken across much bigger waters and deeper waters in two more books. Yes, indeed.

It really stands out, all of her art being etched out here, right, of what he wants for her. George being he, he being the artist here. what he wants for her george being he he being the artist here but like the george you know wants her to travel on ships maybe and wants her to go over to places like bravos and to learn some of these different things um just all these bits that are scattered through this chapter is so nice how he connects it throughout the next couple of books food small folk all of it and i do have to point out it's kind of cool to read this chapter while being focused on aria i don't think before this reread i'd ever really read this chapter and thought anything like a to z in a linear way when i'm just reading the books normally yeah i mean it's a chapter about ned usually i think

when you read it because you're in the throes of all these chapters leading up to war versus the lannisters and catalan and rob are calling the banners and sansa is you know pleading in court and everything's about ned everything's about ned leading up to this moment where ned is fucking dead um and i guess just it happening here it really takes you out of it usually but this is really nice to actually not really give a shit about it only for ned it's nice yeah it's a nice thing yeah you're right like it gives you a lot about aria and also it's like it's just a fantastic world building chapter as well tells you a lot about the other people who inhabit the lands of

ice and fire i would also venture to add real quick, I'd say, like, it's probably the most we get to spend in King's Landing outside of the Keep. I think so. This chapter. I actually think it is because I was wondering that earlier. I was like, is this like the best view that we get of Flea Bottom thus far? Which, yeah, I think so. Other than, you know, what we were given in the House of the Dragon. Yeah. other than you know what we were given in a house of the dragon yeah well now

that Arya was able to take down birds with her sword great leveling up she wasn't quite as hungry but she does worry that the pigeon is making her sick especially because she ate some of them raw oh no Arya baby what is you doing what is you doing what is you doing

I am uh I'm a little what a bummer that she's eating that of course you're gonna feel sick but also like yeah where are you gonna cook it right now everyone is looking for you you're getting chased we'll learn out of places like you're just a kid

where the fuck are you gonna go cook this at she can literally just throw it in a fire and roast it but except turns out because she's a rich girl she has no a kid where the fuck are you gonna go cook this at she can literally just throw it in a fire and roast it but except turns out because she's a rich girl she has no and and she's a child a lot of children don't know how to but she literally just does not know how to cook nor apparently how to start a fire so okay which and she's she's going for the pigeons because of course they are free low cost option which i do understand the logic behind that too because i found out that i could get rice and wheat for free in tears of the

kingdom and i was like what the fuck why have i been paying for anything why was i buying these things when i could have just been making it myself for free. So I understand Arya's industriousness here. And I have to say, I also do because I got my computer back. It's been broken and I got it back today. So I maybe played Medieval Dynasty for like two hours or so just to, you know, get her back together, get the gang back together. And I was really far from my resources and I had no food except for raw meat bird meat raw meat and I ate it I got poisoned because of it but I cured myself after but yeah I ate that shit because my guy was hungry if your guy's hungry you gotta eat and that's IRL too if you're hungry you gotta eat

I think like if it were a clean bird she could have been fine but these are like pigeons you know hanging out amongst a lot of waste not just human waste a lot of different kinds and garbage so unfortunately you know pigeons rats of the sky. brown and at these pot shops as they're called which is not what I think of when I think of pot shops but at these pot shops they'd even crisp the other half of the bird for you if you de-feathered it already so there's that. Arya really wants a cup of milk and a lemon cake but the bowl of brown isn't so bad there's barley, carrot, onion, turnip, apple and unfortunately like a film of grease swimming on top of it but like you know what are they they're not like michelin chefs i'm gonna skim the fat off the top for you they got other things to do she just had to not think about whatever the meat is and

remembers that once she had gotten a piece of fish a piece one piece a single piece there's something standing out to me here with like the cannibalism, obviously, of those that are completely starving being forced to eat, right? And that to feed a country that is starving, that has no money because the money's being hoarded at the top by corruption to do all that, right? All that stuff. stuff there's definitely something with that kind of you know introduction of class and having to eat poorly in order to stay alive and cannibalism and being driven to that in order to eat kind of hanging out and lingering in this chapter of not you know knowing what that pale meat you have in your bowl is and of course later in that house of black and white as well where i definitely think there's a connection yeah there's that's really interesting with um the connections in the house of black and white and yeah it it really comes up throughout the books in a couple of people's ways and i hadn't thought about it in aria's plot so much so that's interesting we usually think about it in brands it's also interesting as it's tied to

for example like micah right and thinking about seeing the people and people's bones just looking like animal bones because you know we are animals you know they we do it like they do on the discovery channel and my god i will say speak of actual tastier things um shops with really old bowls around or like soups that are like years and years old and just like keep going yes the perpetual stews apparently like that might have been speculated to have been common during like medieval times they'll be called like you know a potage or probably like a pot of foe um like a pot on fire or whatever but there are like real ones there are real ones that you can have today maybe they are not hundreds of years old um i don't think i guess aria said they were hundreds of years old but whatever

decades old especially like in southeast asian countries like i know i've definitely seen on a couple of like travel like food shows or whatever, a couple of them in Thailand. There's apparently like maybe one in in Japan as well. And like, you know, the, the soup, it's just like constantly cooking and in like there and then you know, the heat kills the bacteria, even though it's there for forever and then like they'll just keep replenishing it and i don't know sounds very cool i'm obsessed with them and i've been like watching a lot of videos on them for the last couple years too just out of this obsession yeah they're so amazing there's actually they're a bunch of tiktok people that actually like live stream it too which is cool their own perpetual stew that's cool like it's kind of neat you'll have to send you some but i love food send us some we'll link we'll link a couple of our fave videos and by our i mean a couple of chloe's fave videos yeah the show also to go with dad dying i want to add that yeah dad's death and with that pigeon stew uh there's also in Bushwick right now, in New York, in Brooklyn,

there is a perpetual stew that's been going for a couple of months now. And you might have seen it maybe like on the New Yorker or New York Times. Sorry, not New Yorker. I have not. You might have seen it in the New York Times. Yeah. Well, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the people listening to me.

Eliana. Of course. I'm just kidding. Wow. To my friends, my friends my fans yes yes uh but no it's great they keep it vegetarian every week they meet like once a week on a sunday i think or someday a weekend day and they like meet in a park and people come and they give out and ever it's become big like people are donating stuff all the time and there's so many ingredients being donated now that they're like, well, you might see your ingredients next week when we bring it out. But they've been cooking it still in the apartment during the month. That's so cool.

Yeah. Big stone soup energy. Yeah, they started on June 7th this year. Okay, that's not that long ago. So anyway, you too can experience this bowl of brown, but not with a pigeon because it's vegetarian. Maybe for the better. Maybe for the better. Yeah.

Well, the pot shops. No people, Jesus, that we know of, I guess. People stock. The pot shops she visited were always busy she could feel everyone's eyes on her and she had actually been followed out into the alleyway and chased a few different times but no one would catch her yeah there's this line here of also like some when aria feels them watching her she can also like feel sometimes their eyes trying to get underneath the leathers right and again um reminding everyone of of the excerpt that lo had sent us from sarah

ahmed and about uh the again the whether or not someone accepts the assignment of womanhood and how accepting the assignment can be dangerous to be recognized as a woman in regards to aria feeling those eyes trying to get under her lovers but also Lo reminds us that there are Lo reminded us in discord um in response to some of the stuff last week that there are dangers when people reject womanhood right as we see with Arya in clash and how people try to reinforce and re reassign I guess um people to that task and also with Brienne's storyline. And I'm sure that this has been discussed already by Sarah Ahmed, but arguably, I mean, I would say that there are psychological dangers to rejecting womanhood as well that we see in Arya's storyline, even in A Game of Thrones,

in terms of how Septa Mordain... Basically, I mean, it affects Arya very deeply on an emotional level when Arya has to reject some of those facets of womanhood so this is probably not a novel thought yeah pointing it out we especially see it at the end of this chapter right even when she is for protection going to be transformed before our eyes into a boy for everyone to see instead of a girl right with the idea of like yoren grabbing her hair and cutting it off uh it's a very violent moment and it's like the first of many from here on out that she experiences yeah right and we received a great email um talking about that and this assignment um as well from from a listener which we will come back to next

week because dad is dying. So anyway. Aria's silver baby bracelet was also stolen like the first night she was out of the castle. Her good clothes were also stolen all while she slept in a burnt out house in Pig Alley. And they left her the cloak she was in and the leathers on her back. Her wooden practice sword and thank God needle was below her so nobody could steal it. Yes, no one can take her family from her but also i kind of think of you know was losing the silver baby bracelet is this like in a way could be interpreted as aria's stolen childhood yeah i mean it echoes

last week right when it was all spilled on the ground like all of her innocence just fucking destroyed when she found it right all of her chances and hopes and dreams. So yeah, throw it in there. Throw it in. In the stew. The perpetual stew that is our podcast. Wow. Wow. Is that what the Feast for Crows is?

Oh my god, a feast for feasts. It's us. The perpetual stew of all podcasts. That might be our new tagline. It could be. The perpetual stew of literature podcasts. I'm doing do revenge this one everyone we threw that into the stew stew revenge stew revenge uh anyway we'll let you

all stew on that a little longer since then aria's kept her cloak draped over her arm concealing the blade at her hip she keeps her wooden sword in her left hand to scare off robbers but some of the men in the pot shops wouldn't have been scared even if she had a battle axe because, you know what? Hard to be scared sometimes of a child. Needless to say, she lost her appetite. It was easier to go to bed hungry rather than risk the stairs later on. And outside the city, she planned to forage for fruits, remembering seeing them on the

King's Road and roots that are in the forest. Maybe even rabbits. And in the city, the only things to run down were rats and cats and scrawny dogs. The pot shops would give you a fistful of coppers for a litter of pups, she'd heard, but she didn't like to think about that. Me either, dude. I don't like to think about that. Oh, I just remembered remember just like the beginning

of this book oh the litter of yeah i get it with the yep the pups the litter of pups i see it now i see it and think about that they would give you a fistful of coppers for a litter of pups so three coppers for a tart three coppers for a tart is interesting to think about a fistful of coppers so how many coppers do you think that is 50 cents 25 cents like you mean like poppers inside one fist i don't know i'm trying to i'm i'm looking at my hand i am making i am fisting right now and how many do you think you could hold? Like, I don't know. 20. Yeah, I don't know. 20 coppers

is like not a lot of coppers when she just bought a tart. He tried to sell her a tart for 3 coppers. I'm just saying, like, a litter of puppies for 20 cents compared to 3 cents for a tart. Inflation's bad down here. Yeah, I mean, obviously, also, as you pointed out, he seems to have upcharged probably, but I don't know. But the 20 cents for a tart inflation's bad yeah i mean obviously also as you pointed out he seems to have upcharged probably but i don't know but the 20 cents for a dog is more for

more than one dog is more where i'm like damn that's fucked up but it makes sense and just learning the economy yeah i'm also like that's all i mean maybe it's more more than the fifth than 20 but i don't know like one dog one dog? Yeah. For a whole tart? Like, dang. That's quite the trade. Yeah. That's a really luxurious tart, but anyway. Well, it's a puppy. The Street of Flower was a maze. Aria had learned to stay to the center

of the street to avoid being pulled into alleyways or walking near buildings where you could get dragged around. Even if you had to run away from the horses and the wagons, it was much better that way. She watches a gang of children go past, and she starts to miss the easy times she and her siblings could run around to. She had even tried to befriend some of these kids,

but they only wanted to steal from her and call her names. Arya had to whack one on the ear who tried to steal her boots that were on her at the time. Interesting. A lot of stealing of boots in Arya's story now that I think about it. Oh, yeah, that's true. A boots for crows. A boots.

Puss in boots. Ah. It's Canadian. I was thinking cats in boots. Puss in boots, who is a swordsman and a fairy tale but also in Shrek what came first who can know who can possibly know

there's that moment of Arya watching the children getting to play with resentment I feel really parallels Sansa watching the girls and the Tyrell like the Tyrell crew getting to be little girls and how Sansa watching the girls and the Tyrell crew getting to be little girls and how Sansa

pities them and envies them, their joy and their innocence. This great resonance between the sisters. Oh yeah, I love that. There's also, this kind of surprised me, right? Catching it this time that

it really shows how Arya is an outsider kind of anywhere in some ways and later on has to learn to masquerade as an insider anywhere later on because I think that a lot of people talk about Arya having an easy time making friends and we see that in other chapters but I don't think it's necessarily actually an inherent trait of hers. Like, it's not actually true as I reread this moment. Like, she doesn't always naturally always get along with people in the lower classes, right? She does so better than other people in her same social class. But we really see that gap here with her inability to make friends with the other kids yeah that um i think it also stems too from like her as an outsider there like that's interesting especially

with some of the stuff with gender being an outsider but then also like class being an outsider doesn't really belong and that kind of i think plays into john's storyline too as we'll see right he's an outsider as a bastard not really part of like what's acceptable amongst the upper classes. But then when he tries to, you know, get along with the other people who are from lower classes in the Night's Watch, they're like, you're being a huge asshole. go as far to say then like this is similar because she goes with the Night's Watch and she gets some of that same assimilation after this chapter in Clash with Yoren and everyone I mean that's some of the most

she's gotten along with kids in a while and then they find out that she was born female and that really makes her a big outsider in the Night's Watch as Lo reminds us of the Ballad of Danny Flint so hard to be an insider in the night's watch with that fuck so aria makes her way to flea bottom she's watching a goal she's

thinking of the sea she wonders if maybe that's the way out she thinks about the stories that old nan used to tell her of adventurers riding on trading galleys. And for a moment, Arya thinks, maybe Arya could do that too. Oh, that's a very interesting line that really stood out to me. Of Arya's dreams of adventure. Yeah, it doesn't say to me Sunset Sea or like going to what's west of westeros per se even though we do have the alissa farm and stuff but it does feel like you know adventure feels corley's corley's esque right especially because aria does learn a little bit of salesmanship at some point

i would say in terms of like uh cockles. Yeah, and learning all the secrets of the people down there, as well as kind of listening on her boat there. I mean, she was very interested. She's a very curious child, and I think that's really interesting. Very earnest and eager to learn. Yeah, that's true. Good thing. I think she gets along with adults in a way. Like when I was a kid, I was very Arya-esque in that she was always curious and asking questions of the adults and more interested in like the real people of the world and what they were doing

i was very much like that my mom said that i would just talk to people all the time and that she thought i was gonna get kidnapped someday and i was like no they would have returned to me don't worry i would ask too many questions and they would have given me back annoyed as shit yeah oh uh half the stalls are empty and fewer ships are docked than normal and it's very quiet down in flea bottom and at the port she makes her way along the river and she sees guardsmen on a pier wearing gray and white she almost cries thinking about the stark colors and realizes this was the boat that was supposed to take them home she can't read the names on the trading galley docked here it's in a different language maybe bravosi or high valerian she just can't tell she asks a passing longshoreman who tells her

it's the wind witch she thought the wind witch left ages ago but it's still waiting sirio's voice though echoes in her, reminding her to look with her eyes, and she sees that she doesn't know any of these men, and she knows all of her father's men. The men here in gray and white aren't her father's men. The guards ask what the boy is doing there. They were looking for a girl, not a boy. She decides to play the boy,

asking if they want to buy her dead pigeon. And they tell her to get out of here. So she runs back to flea bottom to the stink of the pig sties of stables of Tanner's sheds. She doesn't even realize she's lost her pigeon until she smells a bowl of brown coming from a pot shop. And she wants to cry again. The way you said that just now of they miss Aria. We're looking yeah for uh for a boy and not a yeah they were looking for a girl and not a boy etc but makes me think of denarius and the prophecy the princess who was promised i thought about it as soon as i fucking said it i was like oh interesting oh fucking interesting oh well the bells begin to ring and locals shout to

one another asking oh wait, wait, did the boy king die now? Not yet. But a man responds that it's only one tower that's ringing. So it's a summoning bell. It's not all of the bells. That's what happens when a king dies. And then this woman in the doorway jokes about bringing this man's bell.

And it makes me think of, oh, George is just recycling his old innuendo with Gendry's storyline and Bella. Oh, he likes that line, huh? I wonder if someone used it on him or if he's used it before, because I get that. Well, it's a euphemism. That's true, it is. It's like a normal, yeah, rigging someone's bell.

Anita Ward. Oh, Anita Ward song, yeah. That's George's time. Yeah, absolutely. It is kind of older slang. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It is kind of older slang. Yeah. Older slang. It is.

People start to run past, scurrying towards the keep, and Arya follows two of the boys who tell her they're taking the hand's head off. There's like this brief moment where for some reason we get someone's name, because this person gets a name, but Hagen's daughter does not. But this person is named Boo,-u-u and i'm like wow majin buu is here in this storyline with us too i'm dragon ball z uh anyways aria trips in a rut scrapes her knee it's actually like really sad you know she's like she smashes her fingers her finger is covered in blood and like half her thumbnail is like torn off and then someone shouts to make way

for my lords of red wine and then we have the like two red-haired lordlings horace and hobber they ride through and jane and sansa used to call them horror and slobber but they don't look very funny now and you know like aria almost gets run over even though she's already injured and it really just you know plays up the cruel indifference of the nobles as Arya must scurry away to keep from getting run over yeah I love that the second half of this chapter is very much trappings

of power coded right everything is about what they're wearing and who they are and I love this passage because who the fuck cares about them? Like Sansa and Jane were right. They were jokingly calling them horror and slobber, right? The OG left and right here, the first left and right before we get the next left and right. But they're just big old gingers.

Who's going to be afraid of them? They carry their goofiness around all the time. They're just big hulking dudes. Well, when they're all made up in their trappings of power on war horses that are decorated in red wine banners um yeah they look a little scary yeah but then don't be like doesn't like shit go bad for them too later on right aren't they like essentially glorified hostages yeah absolutely they uh get theirs for running down aria don't worry oh yeah well no i do remember i'm like i remember these boys

i feel bad for them for some reason they actually try to get out of the city and they bribe someone to take them out and uh various catches the scheme during Feast for Crows and Adabada, because they're alleged as part of the Margaery banging. Oh, that's right. Dang. Cersei's so wild. I love that girl. You're wild for that one, Cersei. Arya limps along in the crowd, heading towards

Baelor's sept. The people surrounding her are all gossiping about the king. And Arya tries to defend Ned the crowd, heading towards Baelor's sept. The people surrounding her are all gossiping about the king. And Arya tries to defend Ned, but, like, no one cares. She gets talked over and kicked over as they all keep moving. Damn. Nobody fucking cares. Yeah, so coming back to kind of what you were talking about with the flow of information earlier, the small folk knew Ned's fate before Cersei even did, right, in this gossip. And I think that's so interesting that even though there's, you know, like, Cersei even did, right, in this gossip. And I think that's so interesting that

even though there's, you know, like Cersei planned that they were going to let her take the Black or, you know, take people as prisoners, etc. There was no kill Ned plan. And Joffrey really holds the wild card there, obviously. But the small folk figured out what was going to happen easily that this guy who doesn't give a shit because the small folk don't actually fucking care as we've talked about they're like you know just fucking make sure i don't starve to death and do whatever the fuck you lords want the small folk are like yeah they're gonna kill that guy dude they're gonna kill that guy of course they're gonna kill the hand he's a traitor and lo and behold he was right the new king kills ned yeah i like i mean it's not even like it's an information that they gleaned

or that leaked or something, right? Like, it's just... Wisdom. It's wisdom. Like, why else would they all be called? Like, the whole point is it's a spectacle. Joffrey knows it's a spectacle. Littlefinger, Varys, they all know it's all spectacle. And they're like, yeah, of course, he's going to be killed.

Even though Varys, I guess, did not know he was going to be killed at that time too he's like wait what about my plans I had plans too for this hand uh anyway um Arya trying to tell everyone no he's a good guy you have to listen to me it's just like Mulan trying to tell everyone you don't understand the emperor is in danger the Huns are still alive and no one listens because she's a woman, but for Arya, it's mostly because she's a kid and now a nobody. No one cares about your political opinion. Random child.

Especially when you're a child. Especially when it's for this traitor, quote unquote. Yeah, they're like, we don't care, we're here for drama. When they reach the street of sisters, they're packed shoulder to shoulder a human current they're in the tin can that is king's landing

the bells clang loudly and Arya tries to see around all the people she can't really find a good spot so instead she climbs up the statue of Baelor the blessed the septon king she remarks she wedges herself into his feet and sees Eddard held on the high septum's pulpit between

two gold cloaks. He wears a gray velvet doublet with a wolf's zone on the front, a gray wool cloak trimmed with fur. He looks thinner than Arya had ever seen him, and the cast on his leg is gray and rotten. I like that, you know, there Arya is, wedged between the king's feet,

so Arya underfoot. Get it? Yes, yes, she is underfoot. Get it? Yes. Yes. She is underfoot. Literally. George. Oh George. You and your bells. Oh George. Every day he just gives me a case of the giggles. You know what I mean? Clever man. Coming to

the spectacle, right? Like you said, this is all spectacle and Ned's outfit, I mean a wolf sewn I think it's sewn in pearls they say this is nicer than he would wear every day on the rag right like this is not what he would be wearing he's a more practical man it's meant to be a performance and display uh it reflects too on that idea of cersei not wanting him dead and that basically no one except for Joffrey wanted him dead. They wanted him broken. They wanted him as a puppet.

And Littlefinger. And Littlefinger. They wanted to show the king's grace and forgiveness. Like, this is what's possible from the crown if you play our game. You can have nice clothes. You can still be fed. You can keep your head. But they wanted to make an example of him right in front of everybody.

And Joffrey decided to take the example a little more seriously that's a great point i didn't realize that with all of his clothing and that you can retain all these things if you bend the knee right that was the lesson that actually they learned from robert lift men up when they're gracious yeah and uh honestly at least if he was gonna go out he was in some nice clothes, you know? Oh my god. I don't want to die in something hideous, but probably will. I probably will.

I think by that time I won't care. Hopefully, you know, I'll be so old I don't care. I mean, you'll probably shit yourself anyways, so who cares? I wouldn't want to die in Chanel. Well, everyone does shit themselves, because your body releases everything when you die. Exactly, so that's why I'm like, why would you want to shit your best clothes i guess you can't take them with you great point yeah it's just gonna be his head atop one of those spikes with the crows i think i'm like going for a dragon death still like i think like light me up incinerate me scatter me somewhere

because nothing fucking matters but at that same point at the same moment you don't want to die burning i have the opportunity i have not burning i mean like afterwards i mean how to deal with me yeah yeah cremate the shit out of me but like what i'm saying is part of me you know a big part of me wants to go for that but there's this other part of me that's like deck me out head to toe gucci prada fendi like just fucking let me look magnificent I want to be in there with marabou coming off of my coffin you know I want to look good you can do both you can do both you can do that and have your showing and then be cremated in that same in that same outfit I've been to a lot of cremations recently I don't't think so. I don't think that's creepy.

I said greedy, but I like the creepy too. Okay. I don't. All right. Much to parse through. You know, by the end of this podcast, hopefully we'll. We'll have Will drawn up. You know, like the next.

Oh, Will. So everyone else's steez is out. The septon is here. He's wearing his gold and crystal crown, and all the light is coming through and shining around and blinding motherfuckers, you know? Because you shouldn't be just wearing gold and crystal like that all the time. And the thing's huge. Like, it's described, and it's a monster.

At the doors of the Sept are a group of nobility and knights, Joffrey prominent among them in crimson, silk, and satin, patterned with prancing stags and roaring lions a crown on his head cersei stands next to him in a black morning gown slashed with crimson a veil of black diamonds in her hair no yeah speaking of what to wear like i know i shouldn't in this moment but like that fit cersei fit. The veil of black diamonds in her hair, like, an icon. I mean, no, you should. You absolutely should. Never say you shouldn't if Cersei is wearing a fit like this.

Like, we should all bow. She has a lot. She makes mourning and death so much sexier than it already is, right? So, Coture, it's incredible. And there's almost something here too of like cersei is standing here all kocher and then the next time she has to go for a very big walk around king's landing it's not great for her in a dance with dragons for multiple ways but that ned's plot in a game of thrones ends with his great spectacle and her plot in a dance with dragons

ends with her great spectacle is very interesting the last published book may i add what do you mean the winds of winter it's out now oh my god look under your chair and yeah i mean she has a lot of great outfits in general but you know you were talking about the spectacle and like performance like she's pretending she's out here pretending she is mourning Robert's death. She did not have a very big hand in it. She's playing up that trope of widow who killed her husband

and she's killing it. How could they have done this to my husband? Looks good. I loved him. So the hound wears his dark armor with a snowy white cloak. Chloe's having a great time. There's four Kingsguard

around him. Varys is in a patterned damask robe and slippers and then Arya sees a man with a silver cape and pointed beard and she wonders like, oh, is that the guy who fought a duel for her mom once? Yeah, true. What is he doing here? Get that man out. In their midst, it's sansa

and sky blue silk her long auburn hair washed and curled silver bracelets are on her wrist and aria scowl is wondering like why is she here looking so happy see sansa lightning round she thinks things are gonna go great yeah but both these girls about to get a really bad lesson um a line of gold cloaked spearmen are commanding the crowd and the bells cease their tolling it brings quiet to the square drama drama eddard is pushed to speak i am eddard stark lord of winterfell and hand of the king and i come before you to confess my treason in the sight of gods and men. No.

Below her the crowd began to scream and shout taunts and obscenities. Filled the air Sansa had hidden her face in her hands. Her father raised his voice still higher, straining to be heard. I betrayed the faith of my king and the trust of my friend Robert. I swore to defend and protect his children, yet before his blood was cold, I plotted to depose and murder his son and seize the throne for myself. Let the High Septon and Baelor the Beloved and the Seven bear witness to the truth of what I say. Joffrey Baratheon is the one true heir to the Iron Throne

and by the grace of all the gods, lord of the seven kingdoms and protector of the realm. I did not think about this before, but then he says, let the High Septon, Baelor the Blessed, and the Seven bear witness to the truth of what I say.

Eddard doesn't fucking believe in the Seven. Not a fucking damn moment does that man believe in the Seven. That is not his religion. Come on, somebody use your fucking brain out here. He's sitting there and he's like, which would be so cool if any of them existed. Yeah, he's like, only the old gods. Anyways, someone throws a stone at Eddard, very rude, and then blood runs down his forehead. Eddard Stark died for our sins.

Okay. More stones follow. The Kingsguard step in front of the Queen and Joffrey, shielding them. And then Arya prays for the gods to keep Eddard safe. This one is a, you know, vague gods. Arya is from a multicultural home. Truly any god at this point. She's like, please fucking save my dad.

Yeah. The High Septon knelt before Joffrey and his mother. As we sin, so do we suffer, he intoned in a deep, swelling voice, much louder than father's. This man has confessed his crimes in the sights of gods and men, here in this holy place. Rainbows danced around his head as he lifted his hands in entreaty. The gods are just, yet blessed Baelor taught us they are also merciful. What shall be done with this traitor, your grace? A thousand voices

were screaming, but Arya never heard them. Prince Joffrey, no, King Joffrey, stepped out from behind the shields of his king's guard. My mother bids me let Lord Edder take the black, and Lady Sansa has begged mercy for her father. He looked straight at Sansa then and smiled. And for a moment, Arya thought that the gods had heard her prayer until Joffrey turned back to the crowd and said, But they have the soft hearts of women! So long as I am your king, treason shall never go unpunished.

Ser Ilyn, bring me his head! The crowd roared and Arya felt the statue of Baelor rock as they surged against it. I think that was a new Joffrey voice for me. I loved it. No, I loved it. We finally found it. It was almost very Bart Simpson. Thank you.

You're welcome I'd like you to now imagine Bart Simpson as Joffrey in your head he is golden if you think about it or the color of piss it could be either it could be so this line blessed Baelor taught us

that they should also be merciful right and here is aria at the statue of baler at the feet of mercy and aria's story and mercy that's so clever and it's so true bestie uh thank you i've been thinking a lot about ballor and the role of this taking place at his statue right and the gardening of baylor like on a meta note i don't think george had everything shaded out about baylor at this point uh just from the progression of what he puts into books and when uh like for example in clash tyrian thinks at one point when he's fucking shay he's like i'm fucking her so loudly i could wake baylor in the tomb and like in today's modern a song of ice and fire many years later after that's been published we assume that you know most targaryens die by fire

or after their death i mean their bodies are usually cremated right that's a good point it could be his ashes in the tomb that's fine i'm not trying to nitpick i don't give a shit what george says he can say whatever he wants and i'll just believe it every time but we know that's changed a little right so we know who knows what's going on there i also think the septon king stuff is so interesting and it's only stood out a couple times on reed uh he has called him a septon king even as recently as the world of ice and fire in 2015 well uh and it's interesting that it's implied that he became a septon after he dissolves his marriage to diana obviously because you can't be a septon and have a wife and kids and he asks the

high septon to dissolve his marriage so that means like he had a very brief window of time that he became he decided to become a septonin because he comes he he dies at like age 27 uh oh he's just like kurt cobain and amy winehouse wow very depressing um yeah he dies amy winehouse is one of those yeah the 27 club it's just crazy that he he did slang for four years in his 20s, and that's what he's remembered as. I'm like, what? I'd love to hear more about his septic-ingness, and obviously he's more associated with the good he's done

or the small folk slash the faith slash etc. Yes or no good, we won't ever know. I think we will get more information. That's actually one of the things i'm looking forward to getting more about in fire and blood 2 baylor the blessed and of course yes his sisters i really really want more about his sisters fuck all i care about are the maiden vault girlies we love

the main vault girlies they should fucking have statues not this man um that would be so much better uh it would be so much more girl boss if Eddard Stark could be killed in front of a statue of Elena and Diana and Reina I would love that so much more girlboss goddammit goddammit Chloe yes it would though

no Balor is interesting and as you said right like we don't know the truth of what happened with him just like all these people do not know the truth of what happened here with Eddard Stark. Yes, that's a great point. Because I do think George has something more in mind with these connections. And, you know, I started to kind of think of some of those connections, like marriage proposals gone wrong, right, when it comes to Dorne, and the torturing of amen and baylor like walking across the vipers to save him and that he should have died but somehow he lives and uh ned doesn't survive this walk across the vipers unfortunately because they you know poison him to death by taking his head off yes he does not he does not survive that and i mean like what baylor did a

lot of things that were weird to try and secure his power, kind of like Joffrey is too, you know? Very suspicious things. And I will say, sometimes I get a little confused. This is one of the moments where I get confused with the show and the books. And it is a moment that I kind of like from the show that Eddard does at least see his daughter. His other daughter by the last time. Obviously he sees Sansa, because she's right there thinking like I did it good job team

um he did it reddit if he got to see Arya then it would be like not only did in his last moments he almost see Catelyn he almost sees Lyanna yeah so he doesn't here but like you know in the show right he calls out Baelor to Yoren

so that Yoren will find and take care of his daughter. But anyway, that doesn't happen here. Sansa's falling to her knees. She's sobbing. Ser Ilyn climbs the steps of the pulpit. Arya wiggles out into the crowd, drawing needle. She really thinks she's about to do something. Um, the gold cloaks fling Eddard to the and aria bowls pass kicking at shins climbing backs but there are too many people and she still hears sanza screaming yeah quite

obviously this is a very traumatic moment it's about to be made even more traumatic and everything is just ringing in her ears right everything feels surreal as you're reading this and this is not the plan her diving out into the crowd, drawing needle, like what was she going to do exactly? But it's interesting because it spurs this whole entire journey of her wanting to kill the people who have tormented her and her family and do revenge against them as we've so- Whoa, whoa.

This is not an ad. This is not an ad for do revenge. We are doing this of our will. whoa whoa this is not an ad this is not an ad for do revenge we are doing this of our will um but yeah it it's especially if my you know little theory we've talked about ever comes true of her and her mommy having a little meeting with her mom and her sending cat to the afterlife right because here she just wants to get to that stage of this performance and kill everyone on that stage you know to get to her dad and save him she just wants to do anything to get to him and then she goes through the next few books wanting to kill these people and avenge her family and

then yeah which i mean makes a lot of sense you look at doran martell nursed that desire for revenge for a long ass time um aria actually witnessed it yeah and also knows it was wrong like i get it i do love that there's something interesting like joffrey instigating this and no one else being involved it makes me wonder back when george originally kind of thought about that 93 outline for example rob versus joffrey this would instigate the north absolutely so if joffrey wanted that fight with rob this would be a great way to get it but of course alas that has been pruned away it's not a thing yeah it is uh it does later on serve to contrast when rob does his own beheading right for also like was this the wisest choice for you to do

as well and you know creates this contrast between them and how they rule but yeah very interesting sir illin raises a huge sword it's ice father's sword, and her tears are streaming down Arya's face, blinding her. A hand shoots out and closes around her arm, wrenching her off her feet, and a thick voice snarls at her not to look. Close your eyes, boy. The man's fingers dig into her arms. Look at me,

he snarls, saying, remember, boy? The smell of sour wine does remind her. It's Yoren. Close your eyes. Blue eyes, green eyes. Eyes are closed forever. Yeah, I totally got the order wrong, but that's okay. It's not canon.

Whatever. I mean, it is. It is canon. What are you talking about? Anyways, the difference in... Actually, that's so interesting that it's the smell you know she's learning how to do the her senses right like that it's the smell that tells her who this person is she's like who the fuck um anyway besides the difference in the lesson that

you know neither of the girls learned about northern justice from ned by getting to see Ned execute someone for breaking the law, right? Instead, Sansa and Arya learn about vengeance because it was someone close to them and it was unjust what they saw. And that's the difference also between Bran. He's told by Jon, he's like, you have to look. Father will know if you don't look, all right? He'll know if you look away. Versus a different brother of the night's watch telling

aria don't look because i mean this really isn't something that she needs to see and like steal herself for right the way that it is for bran you know and administering justice like what she's seeing is very much a different thing even though garrid was kind of right but whatever yeah i like that you've drawn that comparison of the boys having to stare at death and the girls being sheltered from it and it obviously it's not some seeing your dad be killed compared to somebody you don't know is a very different thing maybe possibly probably traumatizes you in a different way but to go back to you know those ideas like did they hear

Eddard Stark's real last words well not really Baylor you mean Baylor uh yeah and also like you have that contrast I mean with Bran right he watches them die and then later on

he becomes them as they die wow wow you're just full of it today aliana you're killing me i'm always well am i killing you don't look everyone oh my god yorin commands the boy to come with him and keep his mouth shut the plaza begins to empty and aria moves along, desolate, numb. Yoren shoves her into a doorway and takes her hair in one hand, a blade in the other. As the blade flashed toward her face, Aria threw herself backward, kicking wildly, wrenching her head from side to side. But he had her by the hair, so strong she could feel her scalp tearing, and on her lips the salt comparison of Yoren being similar to Sandor in a lot of ways physically. He has dark hair, gruff, stanchy wine-smelling breath. I mean, that's like the sour wine smell is always on their breath. this shit's going haywire. Clock you with an axe.

Come on, kid. That's similar to the abrupt ending of this chapter, right? In a way that you're like, some man just grabbed Arya and cut all her hair off with a knife and flashed a knife at her, and for a moment, you're almost scared until you're like, oh, Yoren should be good. But the action, the violence against her, all of the way it's written is

also very similar to Sandor with the axe. Now, it's not just similar, though, to Sandor with the axe in Arya Asos 13. I actually feel like this is very similar to Sandor in Sansa. The knife, right? Pulling the knife against her. Look at me. The roughness.

The sour smell of wine. The language is actually really similar to, I think it's Sansa 7, A Clash of Kings, right? When he comes to her bedroom and holds the knife against her. I should know that. So I think it's sansa seven a clash of kings right when he comes to her bedroom and holds the knife against her i should know that so i think that's what it is i do not know i was like yeah you should know that it's one of those fucking chat we haven't done those chapters in a while and sansa is next so thank god is the next pov uh and the other thing that it reminds me of is the language is similar to Catlin's death as well, right? He had her by the hair so strong she could feel her scalp tearing.

On her lips, the taste of tears. Very reminiscent of the way Catlin dies. Don't cut my hair. Ned loves my hair. As the tears streamed white down her face. And I love that you've tied it to Catlin's... I mean, that is actually catlin's death but the language there because i mean i think you can really see the similarities right between the desperation

of catlin doing anything in order to try and save her son she's like what i mean what is catlin gonna do right what is catlin of all people just one of her gonna do against this entire party literally uh hellbent on killing her son same as aria right like what what is she gonna do what is one little girl gonna do against a crowd that wants this death or against the king of westeros and you know his very experienced guardsmen who many of whom have been in war or someone like Ilan Payne, who seems like a very good fighter, you know? Yeah, and you're in here kind of serves as that, you know, that one point of like, it's not too late, you can't cut your way out of this. And doing so would only mean your death. So to cut yourself out of a mob at Kang's landing,

and still die, like like is it worth it at the end of the day to get your vengeance against these people or is it worth it to save it for another day or maybe even get over it and do something more productive right um yeah which is this i mean that's the question for her plot right for the next several books going forward that's what she is going to be finding and looking for the answer to that yeah and to make sure you know he makes sure that she doesn't get caught right because for her she's like she's ready to do anything to to stop this from happening and even though because she was not going to be successful for all we know joffrey's gonna catch her and be like yo let's kill her too while we're at it because she hurt me and i hate her look the stark traitor it's in her blood

she's right here and then sansa too exactly exactly well i do think that like you know if they had aria i don't know she would have survived in king's landing because she would have pissed joffrey off too much but yeah i don't know like there's it's it's a chapter where based on everything that you know right about the fantasy tropes you're like she's it's it's a chapter where based on everything that you know right about the fantasy tropes you're like she's gonna make it she's gonna make it there to the front we're gonna save dad and then we don't save dad but we don't even see him like really die you know like that's a moment that's cut off we know it happened there in the background based on everything happening, but...

It is interesting that this is the only chapter we get to see Ned's death from and we don't even get to see it. Yeah. I mean, we know that it happens because of Sansa's chapters, right? Like, it's off-page, but it's not off-page. And what I'm saying is he could still be alive

in one of these pigeons. He is. In every pigeon that has ever existed. Look up in the sky. There he is. That's Ned Stark. Here for our sins. If you see a pigeon, just know that's Ned.

Who did indeed die for our sins. Yes. That's Ned. Fucking Christ. Right there. Jesus Lord. Yes, Christ. It is Jesus Lord.

That is what we are likening Ned to Jesus Lord. Yes, Christ. It is Jesus Lord. That is what we are likening that to right now. Oh, man. What do you think of this last act? I'm opening up a whole other can of worms. What do you think of this last act that Arya sees of her father, whom she's always seen as this, like, upstanding guy who's always, like, there showing her morality? The last thing he does being a lie that he lies it's interesting right because to her it's not it is a lie it's probably a bold-faced lie but to her it's like her dad just sold out on a stage and she doesn't know the dimension of how

and why he sold out right and the protection that it was for for her sister for her uh not just for them but for john the true heir to the throne who he's been lying about his whole fucking life right what's one more to lie about if it means keeping the children safe and keeping them from dying yeah exactly it's i think it's like a really powerful thing for aa to witness, but unfortunately she doesn't know the gravity of it yet. I think we'll definitely get a little more of that when she gets reunited with her siblings, right? I'm expecting a lot more of some of those moments of understanding about her family to come to her then. Because right now she doesn't really have time or need to think about those things. All she wants is her

family back and she's nine yeah that too that's the other thing is like also it's true right to her she wouldn't understand the irony being right like she just immediately joins up with robert's bastard who looks actually like robert um yeah the great beautiful irony she doesn't understand the context of like john bastard bastard bad oh no what if i look like bastard but she still loves john but she knows it's wrong but not really the why you know she's not at the point in her life where she understands the why and so to her i mean joffrey is the king right robert's dead and joffrey is the heir she knows joffrey's evil so to her she probably also was like fuck

Joffrey he's a dick and uh I can't believe he made my dad say that stuff yeah well absolutely I mean all those things are true about Joffrey and like yeah part of why she was able to love John so fiercely is part of why she's like I don't understand why we give a fuck about Joffrey like who cares he's a loser and should not be king even though he's the king we should not respect him i will say i just realized that you know maybe sanza and aria's really great lying skills turns out it's not just something that they learned maybe it is a little innate because they got that really really strong liar's blood in them because turns out ned actually when you put it like what you were saying earlier

fantastic liar ned is probably one of the best fucking liars in the whole series and no one knows right tyrian's all like oh we're all liars here all of us better than you and it's like not no ned stark the best liar of all time yeah he had to keep that to himself for so long so so so so long this last act look at all these people who fucking bought it you know amazing bafta it's interesting when people kind of say that ned was a bad player because he wasn't playing, is the thing. He didn't want to play that game. He was playing a completely different game. So, I don't know, maybe get on his level and play that game next time.

He was playing 7D chess. You know, Littlefinger isn't even at 5D yet. Ned's not playing, I don't know what Ned is playing. He's playing the game you're playing, medieval whatever. Or he's playing that game you're playing medieval whatever or he's playing medieval dynasty dynasty or he's playing stardew valley and all of you are playing chess and ned's like whoa

i'm not sure that those are the comparisons but we can workshop them for next week we'll work on it uh thank you so much for listening into Aria 5 in a Game of Thrones where Ned Stark died for our sins. Yes. It was wonderful covering his death once more. I'm looking forward to not having to cover his death

much more. I think we have what Tyrion is the only other one to really cover cover his death. That is like real time ish yeah I guess Dany we get a couple off comments but not death she's really far away yeah she ain't

there you have Cersei um thinking about Ned later but yeah so I guess Tyrion would be our next someday some year keep your feelers on that one who knows when it could be we'll cover Ned's death once more

the final time I guess but this is really like this is the time yeah no it is it is well my god we'll be back next week we're gonna jump into a clash of kings and I'm going to enjoy that.

I love Arya and Clash. I'm going to really like those chapters and getting to know the road, the lay of the land with you. Yeah, Arya's got some great worldbuilding chapters. Mm-hmm. Eliana, where can the folks find us? Well, you can definitely find us probably on social media on Twitter, I said probably because now I'm not so sure Twitter slash X, we are currently on Twitter.com

slash Girls Gone Canon, that's C-A-N-O-N but now you can definitely find us on Blue Sky they've got complicated handles, but you can find girls gone canon on blue sky i'm not going to type it out it's in our show notes and somewhere that you can send us some thoughts that we will cover is at girls gone canon at gmail.com we did just recently get um i did not see it in time for our preparing for this we we did get someone who sent us, I believe some animals, some animal pigs. I saw him.

I saw him. But I'm sure we'll talk about it another day, but I saw him. Thank you for doing that. I'm always looking at animal pigs. That's my secret. Same. Well, here is a quick note from our patrons on where else you can subscribe to us. You can catch Girls Gone Canon on any of the following streamers.

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