Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 206 — ACOK Arya IX featuring BWord of Kissed by Fire Podcast

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

New people get to Harrenhal—and new guests are here at GGC: BWord aka Beth of Kissed by Fire Podcast joins us to talk about this new turn in Arya's storyline, Jaqen, and Roose's leadership.  Where to find BWord Kissed by Fire Podcast — https://rss.com/podcasts/kissedbyfire/  Beth's Twitter — https://twitter.com/b_petersen85  Kissed by Fire's Twitter — https://twitter.com/kissedpodcast  Kissed by Fire Patreon — https://www.patreon.com/user?u=80234533  Kissed by Fire merch — https://kissedbyfire.threadless.com/  ------- 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: liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Reads A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 206, Aria 9, In a Clash of Kings, featuring B-Word. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. And yes, this week we are joined by the elusive B-Word, aka Beth. Depending on how we feel this episode, she's a woman of many names, you know, just like our girl Aria here. Thanks for having me, guys.

We're so excited to have you here. Thank you putting up i mean recording with us this evening my god it's like statler and waldor for like ernie and bert is really what's happening here uh i view us like ernie and bert but i don't know which is which we can figure that out through the episode i think you're bert the shock the shock okay wow uh glossing over all that we're so excited to have you on b word has a wonderful wonderful podcast beth has a podcast kiss by fire where she and her co-host steph are talking about a song of ice and fire and it's really exciting because it's not necessarily pure like you know like what we do where we're reading a chapter and like pulling every line and going through it it's actually very fun you guys have a lot of fun

and i really respect any other podcast that can go for three and a half hours talking about like reina targaryen i'm with good people today is what i'm saying yes we do love reina we're covering uh fire and blood right now we are just into the reign of jaharis now so chapter by chapter yeah yeah i think it's cool because i haven't seen like many people also just going through fire and blood and i think it's kind of a it's kind of a necessary thing right there's so much to dive into and having that sort of guide it's fun it's very i like it maybe right now maybe it's just because it's new more than the main series. But yeah, I don't think a lot of people really did.

I think when it came out, a lot of people were mid-project. And so people did brush overs of it and they glossed through the book and it was consume it fast and get it out there. And so Steph and I are sort of doing the opposite and we're really going through it really slowly. Fine tooth combing, probably annoying to some people, but we pick it apart. We have a lot of fun with it. And Steph loves Targaryen, so that's fun too. Yeah. And hates the bitchy maesters. And hates the bitchy maesters. Fucking hates those maesters. I was dying. You two are funny. You can find this podcast at a lot of places actually now. I know it's on a bunch of different

host sites now, but we will link below the rss feed where you can listen directly before you listen on your favorite streaming device tell us you know what what's coming next do you have any big ideas other than fire and blood i know you guys have started doing a couple little bonus things here and there we do bonus things for patreons we just talked a little bit about dunkin egg and the patreons just because obviously that's new and we'll do that i don't know what we'll do next because we're still so early in fire and blood um but i kind of want to do duncan egg of course but i feel like we're kind of working chronologically instead of starting depending like not in release order but yeah you got it so time yeah so we're starting with the prequel stuff so i think probably duncan egg will be after, but it'll be a long ways away.

Yeah. Keep reading, as George R.R. Martin would say. Keep reading or keep listening in this scenario. And you guys just started a Threadless store. Actually, I have my eyeball on a tote in that store for all of my books and things. Amazing. But that's so exciting.

Or a coffee mug. You guys could go on Threadless to kissedbyfire.threadless.com and you could snag a coffee mug with both Beth and Steph on it and the amazing Sanrixian work that she labored over for us she's the best

a fellow Arya sister a fellow kissed by fire too love her well a little bit of housekeeping for us Arya's sister. A fellow kiss my fire, too. Yeah. Love her. Well, a little bit of housekeeping for us before we dive into more of A Song of Ice and Fire with Beth. This past month, patrons in the Stranger tier and above, $5 and up, had access to a bonus episode we just dropped. I wish you all could see my brand new sunglasses. We just did The House That Went Away.

They're bat sunglasses in honor of this episode, the house that went away all about house went and Heron Hall as well. Lots of fun was had doing that episode and coming this month, we'll have another bonus episode for patrons in November. Keep your ears and eyes peeled to find out about that. TBA. And of course, something else that's fun that is currently still ongoing is we also recently released for the end of October as our Trick or Treat episode, a fun little snack. And by that, I mean, we covered a little bit of Neil Gaiman. You know, we gave you a king size candy candy bar of an episode with your trick-or-treat with our friend Shiloh Carroll, who many of you may remember from our coverage of the Brienne episodes. Shiloh is a scholar in medievalism, not in medieval studies, which you can learn more about the distinction between the two in the episode

where we also have a giveaway. Yes. And what can you win in that giveaway? Well, you can win a signed copy of Shiloh Carroll's new book. The Medieval Worlds of Neil Gaiman. Yeah, you can win yourself a copy. And how can you do that, Aliana? By listening to the episode and following the instructions in the episode.

Yeah, those instructions are up top in the episode. So to enter. We will disqualify you if you do not follow them. But we will also tell you so you can correct yourself. Because we are kind of benevolent rulers. That giveaway is ending in just two short days if you're listening to this upon public release. This is out on November 3rd for public a little earlier for patrons in the right tiers. So what do you have to lose? Go listen to that episode. Shoot us the proper entry and hopefully you'll

win. That'd be cool. And otherwise you can just get a copy of the book online and buy it. And that's cool too. I think that's good. Support good support shiloh honestly we had a really good time talking about the sandman with shiloh it was a interesting experience getting to watch those episodes and i learned a lot about the sandman from you guys and my roommate and etc so a lot a lot a lot lastly we do have our Discord brunch slash happy hour as Eliana affectionately calls it, brappy hour. Uh, this month,

November. November 2023. We are having it on Sunday, the 19th, 3pm ET. Be there or be square, Thunder Tier patrons in the $10 tier and above. And just a reminder that our episodes are sponsored by our patrons over at patreon.com slash girls gone canon.

Without them, none of this would be possible. So thank you very much and check it out and join up. Now, speaking of Patreon, this week, we are doing some emails and tweets of note next, but we wanted to share a Patreon comment that we got from our friend Clara. Go ahead, Aliana. Since you have a new understanding of it, I think you should do it. I don't know. And Clara left a comment on one of our recent episodes that says, Nightmare blunt rotation Aswath, Stann stannis bow and marsh and dot dot dot so it

leaves it open to fill in the blank of who should be on the nightmare blunt rotation i have my pick i think the next name on that nightmare blunt rotation would have to be vargo hote i know it's uh topical it's relevant but mean, think of the spit. There'd be spit all over that blunt. Oh my god, you're right. I didn't even think about that. Oh, I did. Juicy.

Not that I would know. No, I don't want a juicy. I don't want a juicy blunt. What about you guys? What, Beth, Eliana, what do you think? Who's your nightmare rotational character here? I have to, like, do a fire and blood poll and be like,

Rogar. Yeah, real. I do not want to. Real. I do not want to spend any time with that man. Oh, and you know he would boast about having really good pot, too, even though it's probably not that great. It's probably, uh... It's probably not... It's probably, like's probably not it's probably like lace fucking

sticks and seeds is all it is it would just yeah it would be bad it would just be like not even oh no wait he grows his own worse i guess he could yeah i think mine would be i don't know i was thinking either roger biter probably maybe maybe even just biter, you know, and after you said the Varga Hote and the saliva thing, I was like, biters would be interesting, right? Because maybe they they would you know reveal that they have you know maybe a calmer demeanor come out of them but i was also thinking ned would be a very nightmare blunt rotation person especially in this scenario oh that's interesting like with his anxiety yeah and that's mean that's mean to say but like i'm not putting the blunt to his head. Okay. I didn't make him smoke. I feel like Ned would go really bleak. Yeah.

He'd just stare out and be like. Dark and serious. Man, you ever think about how nothing really matters? Yes. And Stannis would look at him and be like, everything matters, Ned. Or it would have if my brother loved me instead of you. That would be so terrible if everyone was there yeah together especially right like who together would be bad that's a like and bow and marsh is just sour so i don't know

yeah i don't know jorah mormont not fun yeah jorah mormont gets inappropriate when high oh wait he's just always inappropriate yeah it's like multiplying by one yes my god okay Clara that was a good one I'm gonna think about this the entire time the entire time I just think it's so interesting I haven't like I don't know I haven't thought about blunts in a while usually it's not

part of my rotation I have other I have other means. So I was just like, it's been coming up a lot in my life lately, people talking about Blunt. So thank you, Clara. Thanks for bringing it back. All right. Well, it's time to jump into our lightning round, into what we missed between Arya 8 and Arya 9 in A Song of Ice and Fire, A Clash of Kings.

We'll start off with Catelyn V. The Silent Sisters bring Ned to Riverrun. Daenerys III, led to Qarth by a comet. Daenerys seeks alliances. Tyrion IX, King's Landing riots. Davos II, Melisandre births a shadow. Jon V, Corrin Halfhand returns to camp and chooses Jon to go ranging with him

Tyrion 10 Pre-war tensions run high for Tyrion Catelyn 6 They're winning the war, but Catelyn is afraid Maybe Catelyn could also be on the Nightmare Blunt rotation No, she needs a blunt She needs it, but maybe not with me Bran 6

Bran hopes to defy Theon's rule over Winterfell. And that leads us into Arya 9, where Arya sees an opportunity to tip the scales as new rulers settle in Harrenhal. We open with, There's ghosts! I know there is! Hot Pie was kneading bread. His arms flowered up to his elbows. Pia saw something in the buttery last night. Aria made a rude noise.

Pia was always seeing things in the buttery. Usually they were men. Aria, it's not kind to slut shame, first of all. However, this is one of the funniest fucking passages in all of the Aria chapters. And it just reminds me how clever she is. Like, she's very matter-of-fact. It's not even like she thinks about it much more. She doesn't really need to know more than that.

She's like, ugh, Pia's always seeing men there. It's just very funny. Like, shit kids say. Shit kids say. Yeah. Hot Pie channeling Peta in this. His arms full of flour. Arya asks Hot Pie for a tart,

but he needs the tray of tarts for Ser Amory. Arya says, well, we should spit on him. And Hot Pie looks around nervously, even though all the cooks and Skullians are asleep, and he's like, even if we could, it would be someone else getting whipped for it. Then Arya shouldn't be here,

he says, in the black of night. Even though it's truly never night in the kitchen someone is always working hot pie is worried that pink eye knew weas who just dropped found if he found out they'd be in trouble but he's passed out drunk so aria's really not worried she'd always wait until he's snoring to climb the servant's stair making darkness her friend like sirio had taught her aria thinks that if she had the moon and stars to see by, that's enough for her in regards to the darkness. And it makes me think of

learning to navigate ships and stuff by the stars, which she hasn't learned yet, as far as I know. But she could. And once upon a time, Chloe's famous for having said that Arya would return to westeros

on a boat and being able to navigate by the stars is helpful for that i don't know if she like mans the boat or not but i also think it's interesting like this phrasing about the moon it could be also a little bit about having a sense of self too right like how ned says that aria and sans are like the sun and the moon but more if he says they're as different as the sun and the moon but whatever anyways you know like if if aria knows who she is if she has a good sense of self she can always find her way back like mulan yeah yes i don't think that was in there but it was to me flower that blooms in adversity the rarest and beautiful most beautiful of all she's also so real in that part who doesn't want to spit on the tarts of someone who pisses you off yeah she's funny she's rambunctious not just

her age it's just real i just love her she's petty well she has nothing else to do she's mad that's true. She's right. I don't think he would have been able to taste it. Yeah, it's more of a crime against the tart in the end, though. And a hot pie is nothing if not an artiste. Won't someone think of the tart? True. Won't someone think of a hot pie?

Hot pie thinks of a hot pie. Don't worry. I was just rereading the next couple chapters and just let me tell you don't worry. Hot pie's thinking of hot pie.'t worry i was just rereading the next couple chapters and just let me tell you don't worry hot pies thinking hot pie they begin to talk about escaping and then a horn goes off and someone was going like out or in the gates hadn't been opened since tywin left and i don't know this horn stuff and especially because they're like it's two blasts it feels reminiscent of the wall just because i associate those horn blasts with the wall

especially with all this talk of darkness obviously other people use horns for fucking alarms or whatever but anyway hot pie would rather stay happy making his bread oh and doesn't want to go see aria steals a tart and off she goes i have to say now that you mentioned eliana this is kind of like with all the horn stuff going on at the wall right and john defecting to go to the wildlings is kind of like with all the horn stuff going on at the wall, right? And Jon defecting to go to the Wildlings soon. Kind of makes me think of that too with searching for the horn. The horn is present. It's very present right now.

They just found one a bit ago. The little cache of them. The dragonglass and the horn. Yeah. Yeah. Something's horny here. Something's horny here. Something's horny here. Eating Amory's tart made Aria feel daring. Barefoot, surefoot, lightfoot, she sang under her breath.

I am the ghost in Harrenhal. Aria's so talented. Aria was writing songs in Harrenhal at the age of 10 what were you doing yeah truly aria's tour um the aria's tour the aria's tour i want to steal hot pie starts too no they sound so good I want a pastry so bad right now just a little like even like a I mean sometimes when I'm feeling real low Dunkin Donuts does a seasonal

croissant with chocolate in it and it is I mean I can get real pastries I can just walk out and do that too but something about them is so flaky and warm I want that I want that I could just walk out and do that too. But something about them is so flaky and warm. I want that. I want that.

Yeah. Beth, what is your favorite pastry? Well, we don't have Dunkin' Donuts up here. That's not a thing north of the wall. I didn't know that. We have Timmy's. Tim Worms. Miss him. Timmy's.

So from Timmy's, probably, I'm lame. It's just like an old-fashioned plain donut and tea and i'm a happy girl oh that's comfort that's comfort though it's comfort yeah i want a little tea hose ham sandwich is what i want it's so good they're little ham sandwiches they are good i love their soup they're the best oh their soup it's so it's actually so different though here to there not that we should yeah anyways it's probably is it's probably way better very well i had them in michigan so i was close you know i'm sure we were inspired you know yes i went there like every day that was my life the one in ohio was like vastly oh yeah well ohio is vastly different let me tell

you yes it's a true that it's a place that people go through to get to other places. Absolutely. It is a place. So Arya starts to take a lot of risks this chapter and the next one too. So I think maybe, you know, Jaqen helping her has given her a little confidence, a little inspiration. She's no longer really a little mouse. She's making some bold choices and she's starting to do risky things, right?

really a little mouse. She's making some bold choices and she's starting to do risky things, right? Like even though she knows somebody will get whipped for tarts being missing, she takes one because it's like a little act of defiance of after being kind of locked up and not being able to be herself and not being able to do the things she likes to do. And she's tired of it in these chapters. She wants to affect change. change yep she wants this conservatorship over she's doing naked videos on instagram this is this is aria's version wow of this is the free aria movie wow aria's gonna put out her own book soon yes the ghost in me yes oh i do kind of want to read that book not aria's britney's and i. Yeah, you can definitely see that throughout this chapter. She's awakening. She's bolder. She's growing bolder. There's a lot of

good... She's not a girl, not yet a woman. Stronger than yesterday. Oh my god. Exactly. Both of you. Yes, you get it. There's something of that uprise too of Sansa's chapters in the Vale versus Arya at Harrenhal and that beginning of getting confidence and that beginning of like starting to prowess and progress at the things that she does

like fighting and also intrigue as we're going to see in this chapter and next. Her intrigue skill is high. Very high. The horn stirs the rest of the cattle and Arya watches several ox carts full of plunder enter as well as men on zorses, and a huge black bear. Stay tuned, that bear comes back later. Silver plate, weapons, shields, flour, hogs, dogs, chickens. Arya's thinking about how long it's been since she had pork, but then she saw the first of the prisoners. She thinks it's a Lannister at first, but then sees his sigil, a silver fist on red. His wrists are bound, his ankles tied to the man behind him, and all captives shuffle along

wounded. If any halt, they're whipped by a rider. Arya loses count of how many there are by the time she counts to 50. There were at least twice that. Yeah, so I thought this little detail about Arya losing count actually goes to show that she still has room to grow as a spy. I think we kind of are like, wow, Arya is so naturally talented at all of these things. But she's not, right?

A good scout knows exactly how many men or the troops or whatever there are. Even in warfare, yeah, in general. Not just for, yeah, that's interesting. And this description alone in that moment and with like the tarts for example and these little pieces of things that are like they sustain your life a little right like pork she's like i haven't had pork in so long for wait for a moment i'm like this could be good like this could be good that they brought back pork kind of that slide into complacency of like how working for taiwan you know what it's like to work for taiwan like maybe

suffering is okay when you get these little bits of happiness and frivolity and she has to remind herself as well as hot pie and gendry like just staying for that same evil both ways in this chapter in the next chapter isn't worth it it's not worth it to have a little pork when you have no freedom yeah she's like you guys I used to have pork way more often. Maybe when I returned, you can have pork a little bit of sometimes, but I can have pork all the time. Yeah.

Well, and that's the bigger problem. No, but that's it too, right? No, but that's actually like the point. Like that,

then now it's about making sure they can have pork as much as she can. That's part of the step is getting them out. The next step is hoping that she can get them some sort of equality in the world and misunderstanding that she can't really always do that no but what she can do a little bit is begin to recognize some of the sigils that she's seeing so just house fray house karstark house kirwin oh these are northmen. Dun, dun, dun. The mummers dismount and a noise brings Amory Lorch out. Terrible. Fargo reigns below him, telling him in his thick, slobbering voice that Roose Bolton had tried to cross the river, but they cut the vanguard to pieces.

Or is it just because he cannot cross moving water? Thoughts, thoughts. No, I'm joking. Lord Glover is their commander and Aenys Frey is behind him. Boo. They both stare one another down. It's not exactly friendly with one another when the man with the mailed fist on his surcoat speaks, saying they were promised honorable treatment.

Vargo screams, Silence! at him, and Ser Amory addresses the prisoners, saying, It doesn't matter what Vargo promised. Amory has been made the boss by Tywin. Amory commands they be held in the cell under the Widow's Tower, saying anyone who doesn't want to go can die here instead. Arya sees Pink Eye emerge from the stairs, and she makes herself scarce,

not wanting to be seen. She slips off, unseen, where the castle is greatly deserted, and thinks about how the sound's kinda strange here now that everyone's gone ghastly echoes funny sounds this bothered hot pie but not aria she's quiet as a shadow she can flit around the castle the garrison was no more than a hundred men guarding a thousand doors lost amongst heron hall and the hall of a hundred hearths and many of the lesser buildings had been closed off sir amory resides in Kingspire, the castling's chambers, and Arya and the rest move to the cellars beneath him. It isn't quite foreshadowing, I would say, but seeing what happens to Harrenhal once the Lannisters, you know, amongst the Lannisters after Tywin leaves kind of gives a little bit

of a glimpse of what happens after his death, right? They just barely had a functioning operation here at Harrenhal while Tywin was leading, you know, while he was managing everything, but he, I guess, didn't really invest in any good leaders or any sort of organizational structure.

He just hired, like, the most brutal fucking people and was like, you're a leader now. So when Tywin leaves Harrenhal, no one knows what they should be doing and it all goes to shit. And everyone's like, I don't know where I'm actually supposed to be posted. And it's kind of the same as how he raised his family, right? He just like strong-armed them into things and didn't really bother teaching them to do anything. And now House Lannister is falling to chaos. Now his children are all like doing

willy-nilly shit like killing him yeah there's i feel like there's also like very ruse tywin parallels there too like i don't you explain that as tywin but ruse is really similar he's maybe a bit more involved but he just doesn't pay attention to what he needs to be paying attention to and obviously that ends up with yeaha. Roose is like doing what she does worse, right? Because he sees it and he just doesn't give a shit. He just is like, yeah, whatever. Like Arya learned so much. She does such a great job.

She like kind of becomes almost a confidant here back and forth for him in the castle and doing jobs like so much so that he even when she speaks up to him when she shouldn't he like kind of is a muse he's like all right that's cute kid you meant my lord though yeah exactly like oh don't get cute with me though kid once is enough but like yeah that that eventually like ruse like

doesn't believe in investing in his workers and taiwan doesn't either is really the big thing like taiwan doesn't invest in infrastructure ruse doesn't invest in his people i think is the biggest yeah well in the chaos between their kids right like ruse knows exactly what ramsay is he just doesn't give a shit or do anything to try and rein him in really he has no control over him and tywin doesn't either that's so real tywin thinks he does and he tries but yeah that's a great point ruse is like i don't know this is what i got this is what i got to work with and he's just he's just investing in his skin care yes for him he's in his chloe era say i don't know winter's coming along air's getting drier i'm older than catelyn starkage now aria passes the armory where gendry is hard at work the hammer is like an extension of his arm and she watches

his muscles and then slithers through the window where he tells her oh shouldn't you be in bed and asks about the commotion out front all the same and aria tells her about her father's men and asks him to help her get him out from the widow's tower cells and help them to escape and gedry tells her there are too many guards leave me alone but aria says that there are at least a hundred northmen maybe more we can definitely do it and they just have to get them out then they can take the castle and escape and gedry's like where would they go where would we all go and aria's like tofell! My mother will surely let you stay!

The irony, I mean, eventually Gendry does stay with her mom. Yeah, Catelyn loves bastards so much. She must fucking love that one. She's like, he makes good swords!

Chocolate! I didn't even realize oh my god what the fuck it's Catelyn right now nightmare plot rotation I didn't even realize that like if she were not undead she would absolutely see Gendry and be like

that's Robert's kid I know that boy and that's one of Robert and be like, that's Robert's kid. I know that boy. That's one of Robert's kids. Oh, yeah, that's true. She would have known. Yeah, that's for real. But now she's busy being whatever you were saying, chocolate. Even from SpongeBob.

Is that her? Oh, I was like, is this like her nightmare blood rotation munchies? Maybe. No, it's like in spongebob the dot in in the wheelchair the dying little like sea creature woman that like and he tries to sell her chocolate and anyways it's a spongebob episode people will get it i'm funny it's staying hey listen i'm in a spongebob era right now last night there's a little bit of did you did you yeah my instagram story i was like i know this did you see the instagram story of me singing sandy cheeks's texas song was gone today yeah that's there's a reason for that it was taken down by the sober police which is me

i don't know why i thought it was normal to do that but i did i don't either but i was like, Chloe's drunk. I was like, the first image, the images before this were the bar. And then we got this. Yes. So we have a back and forth with Gendry and Arya. A little teasing. Would my lady permit?

Could I shoe your horses for you and make swords for your lordly brothers? Sometimes he made her so angry. You stop that! Why would I wager my feet for the chance to sweat in Winterfell and place a Harrenhal? You know old Ben Blackthumb? He came here as a boy. Smith for Lady Wendt, and her father before her, and his father before him, and even for Lord Lothstan, who held Harrenhal before the Wends. Now he's Smith's for Lord Tywin. And you know what he says? Yeah, poor Arya.

She just doesn't get it. She just does not get that she's so good at pretending to be a commoner, but she's not one. She doesn't understand that Gendry and Hawt Firebolt is just happy to work and have security. They don't give a shit. They just want to do that. It's like the big theme in the story. The small folk don't give a shit who sets the iron. They just want stability.

And that's what Gendry feels he has here. Yeah, when you take it all away from them, like, and then you feed them little bits of pork here and there. Of course they don't give a shit. They're just happy to not be touched. I mean, the people that do survive at Harrenhal here saw horrors like Ben Blackthumb

being alive right now after Gregor came through, he survived by keeping his fucking head down and just doing his job and saying, you know, yes, my lord, no, my lord, and just doing what he had to to survive. And he saw shit here, not just now, back in the Lodstins. He probably saw some shit throughout the entire career leading up to Robert's Rebellion. Not exactly known as a bloodless war, I hear. And they have no reason to believe it would be any different anywhere else because it's never been any different anywhere else so why would winterfell be any better than here yeah how does winterfell change the fucking world for us exactly well they're gonna my god i believe in those goddamn kids they're gonna they're like the the light

nepo baby light of westeros you know like they're they're the nepo babies that you're like, oh, you deserve the part. You're okay. I mean, they're absolutely nepo babies. They're all, you know, it's what you do with your responsibility as a nepo baby. Yeah, exactly. And when Sansa Stark resettles the gift. So,

Arya says the queen will catch him, but he says, it's likely not even me they want. Sure. He says he'll stay and one day be a master armorer, and Arya says put mule ears on your helm next time instead of bull's ears, cause you're being an idiot. She leaves before she starts hitting him, and thinks he's the reason they were caught at the village anyway. And then she thinks of Lami, of all for Joffrey, of being a sheep, a mouse. Jaqen made me brave again. He made me a ghost instead of a mouse.

There's a great bit in King's Landing right now with Sansa, right, where she's about to get scurried out of King's Landing, next book. She lands in the Vale under Gaius is a bastard, and she kind of becomes more confident and sure and Arya and her both are ghosts, right? They're ghost stories. They're gone. They're disappeared. You don't know what happened to these two girls. Arya was never seen again after King's Landing quote unquote. And

Sansa is said to have disappeared with her wings of a bat after casting a spell. Yeah. Absolutely. They are both ghosts. And there's an empty space blank space where where they could be and also in terms of fairy tales like i think that the language is eerier here like i was sheep and then i was a mouse and then i was a ghost and but the construction of it of how aria becomes these different things

especially through the magic of jackan is very much the same as a cinderella story right like you know cinderella just a stepsister scullery maid but for one night she got to be a princess thanks to her fairy godmother but when the clock strikes midnight and she has no more wishes she's just cinderella just like aria when she uses up that last wish she's no longer the ghost in here at all she's a mouse but instead here the mice are like not horses it's it's a little convoluted when it comes to the animals i'm just you know pro gus gus gus gus stan we love gus gus over here we love gus gus carrying that fucking corm just carrying it no i used to always carry you know, pro-Gus Gus, Gus Gus Stan. We love Gus Gus. Over here. We love Gus Gus. Carrying that fucking corm. Just carrying it. I know! I used to always carry

stuff like that as a kid, just because of Gus Gus, man. My heart broke for him when, like, all of it I've been there. Oh my god, the scene in the candle? He's sweating. Scared. Oh no, is that Jack? Aw, they're so stupid cute.

How could anyone hate them? love mice uh i love to to that cinderella story it goes right back for sansa right because she loses her shoe when her aunt dangles her out of the window and turns her into a bastard where is that fucking shoe anyways glossing over that where is the show where is it i'm a history student so for me it brings some history stuff to mind because a lot of the time with women especially if they were high worn they would be discredited with something akin to witchcraft and so her sansa tursey into a bat is very witchcraft aria being the ghost is very witchcraft to ask right so it leans into that for me too yes especially in the bloody castle yeah love that yes yeah and i mean that that's been happening a lot to all the women who held this castle right like

danelle was reina my reina was she just a bad reina alice shella yeah exactly woman Exactly. Woman. Women are witches. Chloe, you're just channeling the meme. I just think that women, and little women, yeah. Yeah. So, she had been avoiding Jaqen since Weez had died. Chizwik, that was super easy, right? Falling off a walkway. She was like, anyone could have done that.

But dogs turning? Big yike. Jaqen must have had some sort of power. But Arya didn't return, not wanting to get the wrath of Pink Eye, so she does go towards the godswood. She loves the smell, the feel of grass and

dirt on her toes. The sound of the wind, a steam rides through the wood, and she searches for her hidden sword. She had made it by breaking a broom apart. It's too light, it has no grip, but the sharp jagged end is nice. She would steal away to water dance and practice her drills when she could. Sometimes she even climbed the trees to dance on the upper branches.

I love these bits in the godswood for her in Clash of Kings. I love these bits in the godswood for her in Clash of Kings. On reread, you can also really feel Bran and Bloodraven probably watching her. And even her dancing in the godswood, there's a lot of echo to that vision that Bran sees of Lyanna in the godswood with Benjen. And fighting with him and saying, stupid. Yeah. There is. and fighting with him and saying stupid yeah oh there is and also i don't know you can really just see the visual like this would be a little training montage break here in erin hall but also the thing like she's practicing jumping from branch to branch and i'm like is this what

howland reed does when he runs on leaves oh maybe We've been trying to figure this out for a while, Beth, that we've been trying to sort out in Brand 2, A Storm of Swords, you know, in the story Mira tells about her father, it said he could run on leaves, which we don't think is that impressive. Like, I can run on leaves. Yeah. This is the perfect time of year, in fact, to go do that.

I was just going to say that. I literally did that this morning. Yeah. Exactly. So maybe this is time of year, in fact, to go do that. I was just gonna say that. I literally did that this morning. Yeah. Exactly. So maybe this is what it means. That's impressive. Move over, Hellwind. That, um, the tree branch stuff also reminds me just of Bran, and he was the climber. Yeah. Climbing the Wyrmwood trees in the Godswood. Yeah. Yeah. Dang. Really shoving it in his face there, Aria. A little sad here.

So, read the room. I will read this beautiful thing. I really wanted to pull this passage out because it's just so, like, vibes. It's beautiful prose and it's beautiful action of Aria and just I really wanted to read it. If that is okay with you, Eliana. Yeah. Okay, good yeah it's your podcast too up in the kingdom of the leaves she unsheathed

and for a time forgot them all Sir Amory and the Mummers and her father's men alike losing herself in the feel of rough wood beneath the soles of her feet and the swish of sword through air. A broken branch became Joffrey. She struck at it until it fell away.

The Queen and Sir Illyn and Sir Meryn and the Hound were only leaves, but she killed them all as well, slashing them to wet green ribbons. When her arm grew weary, she sat with her legs over a high limb to catch her breath in the cool, dark air, listening to the squeak of bats as they hunted through the leafy canopy she could see the bone white branches of the heart tree it looks just like the one in winterfell from here if only it had been then when she climbed down she would have been home again and maybe find her father sitting under

the weirwood where he always sat. Oh, it's fine. That was a hurtful passage. This is honestly getting a little sad. Guys, let's steer it back into some dick jokes or something. I don't know. Shit. Back on the ground, Arya stares into the face of the weirwood, its mouth twisted,

its eyes full of hate. Is that what a god looked like? Could gods be hurt, the same as people? I should pray, she thought suddenly. Arya went to her knees. Yeah, she prays to help the men, to take her home, to make her a water dancer and a wolf, and to make her not afraid. And the language that Arya uses in this prayer and and also she kind of prays a little bit for like revenge kind of in a way too um or like freeing the men it reminds me of Bran seeing the pregnant woman in the pool before the weirwood at Winterfell praying for a son that would avenge her and then you have

this idea where she wonders can gods hate or like she sees an expression of hate on the Weirwood's face. And it makes me think of the Others as well, right? I mean, maybe it speaks to, I don't know, the show's assertion of how the Others were made from the Children of the Forest, which, again, meh. But, like, the Others are portrayed as the gods in specifically Craster's story, right? They are the gods to whom he sacrifices his sons, which are introduced in the same book. It's not given explicitly, but the idea is put forth. And then again, you also have this discussion of power in the whole storyline and in this book and this like equation of rule some rulers to godhood right like we see it in denarius's story and she wonders if all gods feel so lonely while she's her nursing

also her own many hurts and aria is wondering can a god be hurt and i think the answer is just because you have power over others over what happens doesn't mean that you cannot still feel hurt and still feel hate that kind of goes into what's going on with godhood here yeah personifying the gods i like that and it feeds into like when she goes and feasts to bravos obviously and the many-faced god and becomes kind of more like more tangible right of a theory and of an idea in her life than just what do we say to the god of death yeah exactly and then it comes back to that line from jojen right if ice can burn then love and hate can mate and that that feels like it has to do something with

like you know the elemental stuff and again the others somehow but also georgian like i really really love robert frost yeah that too especially that yeah great time yeah for real that passage is also so just it's so sad you see just sort of how vicious and violent she's become she doesn't even think twice about murder anymore and obviously she's complacent in it through the through these chapters and she's had to be in other ways but it's just and we see her have to at will jack and makes her get her hands dirty soon so it's just sad it's sad to see her getting so twisted and then it's almost like she repents in a way it's just i have to come back to the gods and come back to being on my knees and

yeah asking it's almost like it's almost like that asking for forgiveness for those thoughts right even though that's not it resembles it to me yeah it her praying in the godswood and her like on her knees and then her working with her makeshift sword is like that's her repentant that's her penance that's her repenting that's a really good call out especially because what syria would also show her not in a bad way but punishment you know like if you make a wrong step you get slapped not that he slapped her but they were learning to sword fight the consequences i mean learning consequences yeah yeah exactly aria gets angry remembering though that the gods didn't help ned and then scolds the tree for not saving him

and then she is interrupted by jack and hagar who tells her that the gods are not mocked. Don't say the old god's name in vain, girl. Old god. Don't call him old. That's so not nice. That's so incorrect. I know.

It's rude. You can't just ask a tree its age. Oh my god. You can't just count how many rings are on its neck. Jesus. Yeah. What if they're older than Catelyn Stark? Jaqen comes to get her third name but aria wants to know how he made the dog kill weas i know how uh basilisk blood but that's because i read the

books she asks if rorge and biter are demons that he's brought from hell if jackan is even his name. Jaqen tells her some men have many names, and he names her name. Weasel. Ari. Aria. She backs away, against the heart tree, pissed off, thinking Gendry told. But Jaqen says, a man knows, calling her my lady of Stark. I don't know, Aria, could it have been when you begged him in the last chapter to take you to river run right like i don't know maybe that could have been it or like you walking around town yelling winterfell winterfell in battles uh i she's so right i'm like come on girlfriend you're still new at this you're still a beginner and something about the idea that jack and is super all-seeing. Like, yes, some of it, sure, he has some magic and some deeper knowledge, but also, like, it doesn't stick right with me that he somehow would just know.

I think you've also given it away. It's like Melisandre and her spells, right? Like, people believe what they want to see when you show them it. Also, she's like a little kid, right? She's like, oh my god, he knows through magic. But I think it's definitely what you said right like anyone who has been paying attention to the news in winterfell and not in winterfell to the news in westeros pieces together little girl saying take me to river run and winterfell winterfell absolutely definitely definitely probably her i don't know some other possibilities could be like would jack and have

maybe like seen her at king's landing as aria stark before that he was imprisoned and she like didn't pay any attention to him or notice him because you know was he like some other guard or like household or small folk member or maybe he had a different face that's possible too but i also think it's like as you said like anyone with like two brain cells would have put it together but she's like nine years old. Well, Yoren too. I mean, Yoren protected her and Gendry over everybody else and had gives. Like he had total tells that like Arya was treated differently. Even if he loudly would like say things to make it look like she was being treated the same.

She was treated differently. And he had been with them since King's Landing since they left. Do you think he knows who Gendry is too? Maybe. I wouldn't. I don't know if I would put it past him. I don't they left. Do you think he knows who Gendry is too? Maybe. I wouldn't, I don't know if I would put it past him. I honestly don't know. I don't think he cares, though. No. No. He might, he might, just cause like,

they, it's not his mission, but also they, their job is like, kind of knowing secrets. Yeah, cause we see Arya gets trained in that later on. But, I mean, it's also piecing together like what is the point of why did Yoren bring a little girl

and disguise her as a little boy when they were fine taking on two year old girl as a two year old girl so something else is happening here also her name Ary sounds a lot like I just can't figure it out her name, Ari, sounds a lot like...

I just can't figure it out. This girl has a very stark look on her face. Yeah, I guess unlike in Sansa's chapters, right, where she goes for privacy and she's like, no one can hear us here. Turns out the godswood is not that here in Harrenhal. The godswood is where people just come and sneak up on you and they're like I know everything I've overheard

all of your prayers that's for fucking real it's interesting but it is pretty private I'll give her that like she is for the most part besides Jaqen which yeah this is her Dantosi line here with him Arya tells him

about freeing the Northmen, that she wants his help, but he tells her he can kill a guard for her. The third name is Oed. And Arya's like, that's not what I want. I want you to save the Northmen. Like, I saved you. But three lives is three lives,

Jaqen said. The gods are not mocked. Arya considers and asks if she could name anyone a man a baby a woman his father the high septon anyone jack and dad is dead he says but yes anyone i love when he talks about the gods and coming back to kind of our conversation back and forth a couple chapters ago of you know what does he worship and he's more present and uh more you know he just understands each god is its own thing but he says by all the gods of sea and air and even him of fire so that's uh even him of fire

even the last one that i don't really like interesting so not a not a real or fan that implies doesn't worship it yeah i got the sense that maybe like i don't know the the religion of the faceless men is do they all just think every god is just another aspect of the same god of death kind of like how in some forms of hinduism right like there's a bunch of different deities but each one's also like actually manifestation or avatar of just the same one god yeah but i also thought it was really weird that he was like yeah if you named my dad I would definitely kill him you gotta step up Jamie Lannister

but also you know like maybe it's about the owing of the god because I thought that was interesting since faceless men cannot take a hit they can't take like a job with a hit on someone that they

do know so maybe like that's why since this doesn't fall under i don't know that form of work yeah but also she made him swear in front of a weirwood as well so i was like is that binding is this a very legally binding contract i don't know yeah yeah i like it was remind me because it's been a while since i've read the earlier chapters of this book but wasn't jackan almost taken by fire didn't he almost burn yes and that's when she saved him so it is funny that he doesn't even him a fire i don't really believe in him oh but i almost died by fire not that long ago, so thanks for that. That's interesting.

But he didn't, so maybe that's why he doesn't believe. Saved again. That guy's got nothing on me. How much power can he have if this little girl can- Yeah, this lumpy head. Lumpy head. Arya puts her lip to his ear and whispers jack and hagar and jack and is a taken aback he's like a girl is joking and she says the gods heard you swear got him

are you straight up got him a knife is in his hand now whether meant for her or him she couldn't say and he tells her a girl would weep without her only friend. Yeah, then she responds to me, like, you're not my friend, a friend would help me, and it's like, help me what? Kill a bunch of people, which even Gendry, who's actually her friend, did not agree to.

I'm like, yeah, Arya, baby, you emotionally blackmailed that man, you go girl. I think I raised her myself. Oh my god. If you emotionally blackmail that man you go girl i think i raised her myself if you cared about me you would kill all these people for me i grow up so fast that's my girl that's my baby if you loved me you would commit murder or even more um i said that's my baby and i'm proud of her mass murder yes oh boy she says she may name another name if jack and helps her jack and makes her unsay his name calling her an evil child she thinks in her head she's like i'm not an evil child i'm a darwolf

and the ghost and harrenhal oh the usage of evil child here kind of reminds me of the children of the forest in a way of how they were probably named by many. I'm sure many may have said they were evil depending on, you know, what actually happened in the old past that I'm sure we'll get all the reveals someday on, but

also reminds me of the ghost of High Heart later who says, I see you, wolf child, blood child. I thought it was the Lord who smelled of death. You're cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summer Hall. I need none of yours. Be gone from here, dark heart, be gone.

So it's definitely not the first ominous time she's been called like an evil child in a way of things or a dark child. I thought that was interesting. I love how she's also like, an evil child in a way of things or a dark child i thought that was interesting i love how she's also like i'm not evil i just aimed you to kill yourself and i'm the ghost in her hall because you made me the ghost in heron hall but still it's totally fine yeah it's like she doesn't she doesn't realize how much or i think she realizes it but she just will not acknowledge how much she actually relies on him for his power. It's not his friendship, it's his power.

Absolutely. Yeah, it makes her powerful in turn. But I like what you said, right, of, like, he made her this. I mean, she could have refused, but at the same time, he kind of did. I kind of like what you said there. There's that transformation aspect. And I do really like the idea of him like grooming her for being a faceless man like after we talked

about that a little bit I think with Mallory uh Sanrixian but I really like that idea now in context of everything like seeing like not only that but not only does he want her to be complicit in it but he also wants her to learn like he won't always be able to be

there he can't do this job and teach her everything yeah very serial very this is your next mentor yeah exactly yeah yeah yoren yoren was recruiting for two organizations and he didn't even know it he thought he was recruiting people for the black, but it was for the black and white. Oh my god. She puts her broom back in its place and follows him out to Heron Hall, which despite the hours, pretty lively. Vargo's arrival threw all routine out of place. The bear cage

is in the center of the yard, hanging from the bridge, attached with heavy chains. Some boys from the stables are tossing stones at the bear, rude, hearing it roar. Wrong animal. Yeah, wrong, exactly. some boys from the stables are tossing stones at the bear rude hearing it roar wrong animal yeah wrong exactly but I feel like that's kind of a reflection of Arya she's feel like she's

getting stones thrown at her and she's a caged wolf about to wreak some havoc yeah I like that that is exactly that's actually a perfect reflection how she feels especially with the stones and yeah I mean you know we've been talking about Taylor Swift that's actually a perfect reflection of how she feels especially with the stones and yeah I mean you know we've been talking about Taylor Swift

but it's a little bit like what is it is it Lindsay Lohan or Miley I think it's Miley's I can't be caged um but also like the imagery here in a different way also makes me think of J.R. Mormont you know precarious position

surrounded in a ring of fire but I think it'sr mormont you know bear precarious position surrounded in a ring of fire but i think it's more of like as you said a reflection of aria's emotional state yeah i like the reflection of aria and that because it makes me think of bran as the winged wolf right and him with his chains and getting rid of the chains and because she starts uh working and skin changing a lot more in these chapters and it starts becoming really obvious when she does in her sleep especially she's finding that in herself more and more

it's interesting because she doesn't know like Bran obviously gets the magical like the Jojen as his little Jedi Yoda guide for a little bit and then he moves up to Bloodraven to the big leagues Yoda guide for a little bit and then he moves up to Bloodraven to the big leagues. So he has a little bit of help as he tries to

parse through it. It's weird because Arya has this magical mentor but she doesn't really know what's happening to her yet. She doesn't understand it and so she doesn't really get to ask him if he knows anything about it. Yeah. She thinks she's having weird dreams. The barracks hall is lit up with men drinking and eating and

aria realizes pink guy would have sent for her and realized she wasn't in bed she hopes that he's too busy pouring for the brave companions and sir amory jack and begs aria to unsay one name and say another so that they can cast this madness aside but she says she will not like i can't help but be like but but why like if he had just how did she know that he wasn't gonna just kill himself if he had just pulled out a knife and stabbed himself what would she have done then like and also what would the faceless men have done then like do they have a backup plan do they expect that their soldiers will fall and they have a way to find out and resettle this new the plan that he's actually supposed to be on like so many but wise yeah like i don't think that the uh and okay like we learn right

that like aria goes out and she kills people she's not supposed to necessarily right and she gets quote-unquote punished but also it's like further training question mark lesson uh with going blind but like she gets scolded for having killed people not on the agenda. So it makes me think that maybe this is off the agenda completely what he's doing. It's not something they're supposed to do for people. Like you're not supposed to give common little girls you met on the road, three wishes to kill people like that's usually not in the faceless man agenda, I don't think. So that's something that I think is really interesting about it.

To me, I'm like, I think he's going off them like a little rogue when it comes to her in general and then him doing this and like freeing the Northmen which again we'll talk about it but it's very funny because it was gonna happen anyway but like freeing them is like way off his schedule way way way he's like I don't know if I really have time slash should be doing that like ethically like who's getting his money his time his money you know right and again like what what if he had just killed himself then what what was our well and that's why i'm like it's not bound to anything then is what i think that proves right like it was a personal payback of what he was doing it was personal what he's doing and he's not magically bound to do it, but because he has a certain code of honor, he would do it, but he just knows slash thinks she's going to take it back. I think maybe he admires her cleverness too, right?

What a clever thing to do to make me do this. We'll go along with it. No, I think you're right. He does admire it and does think, oh, how clever. What a precocious little child.

What a precocious little evil child. Just like me when I was a child. So cute. I want want her i want her to be one of us she wants to kill me isn't that what friends that's what friendships like i guess uh maybe i just don't know maybe i just don't have good enough friends chloe why don't you go murder eight people with me i'm not gonna answer that for legal reasons i have two lawyers that would say they're not my lawyers thank you very much and they would definitely tell me not to answer that for legal reasons i'm not going to put this on record so yeah i don't know like honestly it's a strange flimsy plot and i think george is like what can

i do to make this work yeah i just have to move it forward but you're right it is kind of silly like what what if he did just was like oh my god she's right it's me i have to die now and yeah that he could like i guess argue it part of me is like you know i'm ret retconning into the canon the idea retcanoning, you know, that is this part of how they recruit people usually. You know, maybe they can go off script to be like, you know, they'll be like, oh, this person seems as though they would be really

comfortable with the idea of putting out hits on people. Let's give them three names and let's see. It sends potential in this young pad one. Yeah, yeah. I feel like this person could be really into the idea of killing people for whatever reason. Yeah. Could be.

Could be. Settled to their fate, Jaqen tells her she must obey him. He directs her to run to the kitchens and get broth from the boy in the kitchens. Wait until he comes for her. She runs to meet Hot Pie, where everyone's working and awake, and the chief cook asks what she wants. She tells him her lord wants broth, he wants it fucking now, and he points at the

kettles hanging in the fire. She says she has to wait here until it's done, and he commands her to wake Pia up so he can get butter and cheese going. She goes to get Pia, who's moaning beneath a mummer. Poor Pia. Pia fills six baskets with crocks of butter and wedges of cheese. Arya tells her to hurry back or Vargo will chop her foot off,

and she runs before Pia can grab her and make her help. Dang. Also, though, I think it's valid for the cook to be upset, because if I were the cook, I'd be very confused. I'd be like, what do you mean you fucking want broth now? Do you not know how broth works? That's at least three hours, depending on the kind of broth we want.

Sometimes it is more than three hours, depending on what animal we are using, especially if we want a good broth. We do not have Instapots in Westeros. We don't! I was like, they don't have pressure cookers! Yeah, that's kind of fucked up. They don't have little bouillon cubes.

They should. They should. They should get it together. Yeah. Or freezers. I mean, that would also mean back stuff. Yeah, salt does get old after a while, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, he didn't stockpile, stock a bunch of stock in his little quart things and put it in his freezer for whenever he needs it. Isn't that the greatest irony

that the wall has the perfect preservation system built within it for the Night's Watch, but they have no food? Yes. Because they're poor. No, I'm just kidding. That's not nice. That's terrible. Being poor. No, I'm just kidding again. The Night's Watch. My god.

Someone please donate to them. Oh my god. You can adopt a Night's Watch. My god. Someone please donate to them. Oh my god. You can adopt a Night's Watch. I don't want to. I think we've actually advertised that before. Yeah, actually, I think we might have. This is not the first time. This is, in fact, a program you can do through Girls Gone Canon.

And you just have to send an email with your blurb about your Neil Gaiman piece. Oh, wait, that's a different thing. Wait, don't give away the instructions. On the way back, she wondered why none of the captives had their hands or feet chopped off. Hmm, maybe Vargo Holt was afraid to make Rob angry. Soon, though, he'll be very angry

and he'll take it out on Jamie Lannister, so don't worry, don't worry. Arya returns to the kitchen and helps Hot Pie with stirring the kettles, thinking about telling Hot Pie the plan, but then remembers the village and thinking, maybe no, maybe we don't tell Hot Pie the plan. He could just be surprised.

They're all interrupted by Rorge, who demands the bloody broth be done. And Arya, in dismay, realizes that Jaqen added Tweedledee and Tweedledum to the plan. Rorge threatens the cook gets him to relent although the broth still really isn't done jakken commands weasel to help and they lug the kettles across the yard passing the guards at the widow's tower and heading to the dungeons aria counts eight guards who smell the broth they're like oh what's in that me uh the guards

argue it's about time they eat and ask where the bread is and bowls, cups, spoons. Rourj says you don't need any of that and he heaves the kettle at the guards, as does Jaqen and Biter, raining out soup on the captains and guards. Rourj begins cutting throats. Biter begins cracking necks. Jaqen dances with his own sword, eventually turning to bring it to Arya's heart, wiping the blood on her shift. A girl should be bloody too.

This is her work. Ooh. Ooh. Interesting. Kind of. Yeah, definitely some Littlefinger Jaqen vibes, right, with wanting to make sure that Arya and Sansa are complicit in the murder and complicit in the work. I'm

interested to see where Jaqen's grooming overall really takes her since she's already in essos now getting trained to become a faceless something or other yeah this line also for me it makes me think of that the theme of sacrifice this deed was for you and sort of that relevance of heart's blood i don't i didn't look it up but i don't think it actually comes up all that much in the series and for me one of the parts where heart's blood really stands out is in maester lewin's death when he bleeds into the weirwood into the roots of the weirwood when he dies sad why would you why would you do this thing it's very sad oh sorry we forgive you it is sad yeah some of aria's roots though are in this deed

these deaths are hers interesting and it kind of makes me think of the horse heart that danny eats in a way just for aesthetics not really for any actual deep reason but i'm thinking of like heart's blood i'm like oh the horse heart that was bloody but that really isn't a phrase used often yeah heart's blood makes me think of heart's pain yeah i was thinking of heart's pain but i mean this really was like the it's really her thing, you know? It's like, I didn't even want to do this. This is for you. Because I am your best friend.

I deserve best friend status now, Aria. Put me on your top eight. Yeah, put me. Dating myself here. Jaqen's like, I expect a really good Christmas present for this show. Yeah. I mean. Damn good Christmas present for this shit. Yeah. I mean. Damn. Not a gift of mercy. He probably

since he like believes in all of the gods existing, he probably celebrates so many holidays. That man probably has a great PTO. That's true. Right? Yes. The faceless men probably offer some really good PTO and benefits. I'd be interested. Anyways. They actually might anyways you add campaign

they really might free makeup if you think about it roger claims the key to the cell opening it up and freeing the captives robert glover first the captives strip the weapons off the guard darting up the steps with steel in hand and the others following barehanded. Glover commends the plan and he's like, was it Vargo's idea? And Roarge just laughs. Biter, meanwhile, is eating a dead guard's hand. Robette realizes...

Yeah, really normal. I thought that was important to include. Sorry. Very normal behavior. And I'm glossing over it to him like, anyways. Well, they gotta eat, right? Robette realizes they're- They had pork right there. All the broth is gone.

Yeah, that's true. He wants to make his own broth. Coppery. Bullet brown. Glover realizes that these aren't people from the Brave Companions, and Jaqen's like, now we are, and introduces themselves. Jaqen then motions to Arya who quickly interrupts and says I'm weasel not wanting Rorge and Biter to find out who she is

the same predicament she keeps becoming into north men run across the yard and the barracks hall bursts open with a screaming wounded men fighting starts around the gatehouse and Jaqen asks if she understands the goat has no loyalty. A wolf banner will be hanged here soon, but first, she must unsay his name. She takes it back and asks if she has a third death yet, but Jaqen says he has more than paid this debt by now. Besides, now a man must die. Arya's very confused, and then shit gets weirder.

He takes his face off and reveals a new one a hooked nose a scar on his cheek fuller cheeks and a cap of black curly hair yeah way more confused now she's like oh my god how did you just do that begging him to show her and he's like if you want to learn you have to come across the narrow sea with me. So I'm usually like more of the scully person where I'm like not tinfoily and I don't really lean into the stereo is Jack in. But when he does this right in front of her and he, you know, I know there's reasons for him to know stuff better

because she's not subtle. But it does make me wonder if she did see or if he did see her before as somebody else. Because why would he show her that right in front of her? Because he has to like, well, and I don't even know if it's like if he's Because they're best friends. I don't know if he's like

someone she's already, like that maybe she talked to. Maybe he was a servant for a while. Like Aliana was saying, maybe he was somebody in the castle even for a bit. Right? But I would imagine he's able to see through disguises really well just from the skill itself and from having to pay that attention so i don't know maybe he's trying to see how she reacts

to it to like see if she would be right for for the cause to join join the house maybe there's even like an echo of like brandon blood raven being able to kind of watch CCTV through the Weirwoods, right? Like, does he have some sort of way to do so? I know, obviously, he wants to go have a way to do so in Old Town with a glass candle. But I don't know, I'd be interested where the lengths of the training for faceless men take you magically. The extent of his capabilities. men take you magically the extent of his capabilities hopefully that's part of the benefits you get free vacations you get free trips all over the world yeah we're i mean working trips but yes yeah that's true yeah and then it also brings up the question like was old town really his original next step or did it change yeah and like how would he know if it did yeah

aria says that she has to go home and he says well we must part he presses a coin of great value into her hand telling her it's not for buying horses give it to a man from bravos and say valar morgulis to them she begs him not to go but he says jackin is as dead as aries yeah so aria she bites the coin when she first gets it which you know gets a little call back in her first assassination when she finally decides to enroll in killing school jackin is as dead as ari is what he says and you know it's it's very much this idea of changing your face and who you are that that's a very literal thing with the faceless men but i think it comes back again to this very central question within the whole story of whether a person can change i think it's a fundamental

question in a song of ice and fire and leona stark posits, one form of it saying, love is sweet, dearest net, but it cannot change a man's nature. But the story argues both for that and against it in a couple of different ways, right? Like, and also, you know, is the old you dead, right? Once you change and become a different person, or does that version of you still live on just different and and i think that's just something that the story explores in different ways whether it's through arias growing up to be evil child or you know john going through a lot of trauma just like his dad his daddy ned and catelyn going from catelyn to lady stoneheart or even you know jam, Jaime, Theon, Sandor. Yeah, you think on like these alternate almost timelines, right? That like, Ahri was a kind of a different timeline that Ahri had. She lived and now she's disposed of being Ahri. So it's like, did Ahri actually exist?

Like if you made something up that's fake, like if you've made a fake persona up does it cease to exist does that once that person ceases to exist does it matter because it never really existed you know yeah you'd have more thoughts on this if you actually watch doctor who eliana oh also interesting it's been a while sorry doctor who's aria biting the coin too isn't that doesn't um jack and do that to pate he knows he's gonna bite the coin i kind of wonder if he was inspired by aria biting it and he's like oh i mean he was that's so beautiful they are good friends besties you inspire me all the time chloe just like aria does to jackan you guys are so cute

we're something go murder some guards with stew all right ernie needs to settle down over here on her podcast aria and jackan good friends share one final valar margulis and then aria is alone with dead men thinking they deserve to die. She returns to her bed of straw repeating her prayer. There's a kind of childishness there too with Arya being like they deserve to die. I'm like did those men deserve to die? Not really. I mean obviously they were not part of a great structure and regime right but like I don't know that like necessarily they did anything worse than

X other people, right, throughout this whole story, and it's very much like, is it easier to tell yourself that fairy tale of they deserve to die, to, like, assuage your own conscience and your own desires? It's also, like, I mean, Beth, earlier you were saying, like, you know, Arya's just getting to a point where

she's becoming desensitized. She's like, yeah, murder is normal to get what you want. murder is what I need to succeed. Yeah, murder is what she needs to succeed, especially when you decide that they deserve to die. That's kind of a godhood thing, too. You get to decide who

lives or dies, who is moral and who is immoral based on who lives. And I think that even like, it makes me think of Stannis, you know, Stannis is all like, hmm, those people deserve to die or whatever was coming to them. And it's kind of how we justify some things about like the death of Renly, for example, later in this book. Yeah, they were just dudes that worked there, you know, they just survived the recent rounds of firings. Yeah, that's true. They survived the layoffs rounds of firings yeah that's true they survived

the layoffs oh boy there were some layoffs not great not great yeah it's like it's hard to hear her say these strangers that i probably have never spoken to deserve to die yeah you know yeah she's going through it she's going through it the slay-offs the slay-offs I'm gonna scream so Pink Eye and the others return by dawn one boy is killed in the fighting later Pink Eye goes to see

how everything had turned out and Harrenhal has been taken the mummers kill some of Amory's men in their beds and they kill those at the table, the dinner table with them. So, of course, mini Red Wedding foreshadowing going on, Roose and his many betrayals, right? You're parading the captured around,

parading the animals around and all the things you've stolen from them, killing people during a meal. Arya actually kind of puts her own little betrayal into place, as we know. And it's kind of funny, because Arya really thinks that she just did all this so that this is the blood is on her hands and all of it. But Roose loses the battle and gets the northerners captured intentionally because their plan was always to retake Harrenhal. That's why Robette says, Oh, did Vargo do this? Was this his plan? Arya just quickened the entire plan and for somewhat hashtag wholesome question mark not wholesome but you know for for reasons that are

way different than ruse's reasons right but she gets the castle retaken for friendship which is magic yeah a little less tactical than ruse's plan yeah yeah hers was kind of in earnest you know yeah to take the north yeah aria vote i'm doing my brother a favor yeah for winterfell because everybody in the lordship of winterfell and surrounding is good right everyone in the north is good every single one of them of course all of them i mean to a child yeah to aria yes yeah and also like she doesn't like you know that catelyn kind of knows the measure of men we we learned that about her yeah from spending time with them but aria is a young girl she didn't

have the training that that rob had she didn't meet with the people she didn't see the personalities of them she would have been but with the women she wouldn't she wouldn't really understand but she she does because she still doesn't tell ruse who she is so she still reads people really well even though she doesn't know that he's not yeah but he could be a safe person she doesn't trust it yeah and the whole entire revealing yourself thing especially like sansa and her obviously both have that in their plot now heavily but like it's so sad because every time she could almost do it somebody's there she doesn't trust yes it's also like an interesting thing right like she's you know

a lot of her stories about how she sees things in this very black and white morality way right these men deserve to die because they were on the other side these other men deserve to live because they were Northmen they are therefore good and she's starting to get to a point where that's complicated because as you said she doesn't tell Ruth who she is

she's like hashtag not all northmen and yeah doesn't disclose but it's sad if she'd been able to tell glover he probably would have tried to see her home safe but ruse never would yeah ruse would have married her off to ramsay he'd be like we did it my plan is coming true yeah that's a great point because that's literally what's about to happen with j. Maybe she inspires him when he realizes he's been outloved. Just kidding.

Huh. Was that that Arya girl, maybe? Maybe I should marry Ramsay to one that looks like her. I do think if she could get a hold of a sword, I do think she could take Ramsay in a fight. Interesting. Because Ramsay's not trained. Interesting. Yeah Ramsey's not trained. Interesting.

Yeah, after what she pulls next chapter, when she's all, oh no, I dropped my coin! They're both pretty savage. They're both pretty opportunistic. It'd be an interesting fight. Yeah, I don't want it. Save her.

Add that to your brackets, everyone. Everyone's always making all these brackets. Add that to your brackets everyone everyone's always making all these brackets add that to your brackets rimsy v aria the new lord speaking of he's northern he's gonna arrive by the end of the day and he's said to be a hard one pink eye tells them all no tomfoolery or he'll whip the skin off their back looking specifically at aria and she's like no he won't he's soft all morning she watches the mummers strip the dead Shagwell hacks two heads off and makes them talk while he dances. Oh, the coincidence of the whipping the flesh off when that's the Bolton sigil is the flayed man. Ha ha.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Good call. That would have been really impressed a new boss. Should have done it, pink guy. Shagwell makes the heads talk to one another and one head goes, what did you die of? And the other head goes, hot weasel soup.

And all I can think in my head is girl dinner. Hot weasel soup is just girl dinner. Evil little girl dinner. Evil child dinner. Yeah, shit. Yeah. Evil child dinner. Evil child dinner.

I mean, there was even like the little bread and cheese too. So it really. Girl dinner. It kind of child dinner. Evil child dinner. I mean, there was even, like, the little bread and cheese, too, so it really... Girl dinner. It kind of fits the bill of girl dinner. Arya mops up dried blood all the while, and no one speaks to her, but she gets some weird looks. Interesting. Realizing rumors must have spread about her involvement. She wants to tell Shagwell to shut the fuck up with his playing, but she was scared.

Yeah, I mean, Shagwell's pretty scary. Having heard that he's once gone mad and killed someone for not laughing at his jokes. That's me. Oh, you think that's our dynamic? I'm Shagwell and I would kill you for not laughing. Oh, interesting. Anyway.

Interesting. So we're both Shagwell. Wow. Well, now I'm terrified. Thanks for having me here. Well, and Beth is Biter. The B stands for Biter. B word stands for Biter. Yes. wow well now i'm terrified thanks for having me here well and beth is beth is biter the b stands for biter b word stands for biter yes of course or you could be roared if you'd like you could but you could be biter doing very normal things like gnawing on a man's hand in the background i think i need to change my name can i be brianne instead you know but like i don't know i like chicken feet right like and i just imagine g. I like chicken feet, right? And I just

imagine gnawing on chicken feet. Would it be similar? I guess it's uncooked. Anyways. Well, no, it's steamed. The hand is probably steamed. Well, this hand is probably steamed. That's a good point. Not seasoned enough to my taste. Lots to think about.

Lots to think about. I'm getting hungry. I think I might... Am I just hungry? I am. Oh my taste. Lots to think about. Lots to think about. I'm getting hungry. I think I might... Am I just hungry? I am. Oh my god. By evenfall, Roose Bolton arrives, wearing black ring mail and a spotted cloak. His squire shouts for everyone to kneel to him, and Vargahot gives him hair in the hole. Robit Glover and Anus Frey

join him. They're bathed and clean in fresh clothing, and they lead them to Rger and biter to get thanks for their part in the super day do you think they had a sexy bath really good clothes maybe no oh in the suit i mean yeah those are some big tubs as we know i mean what do you think they just tried not to do eye contact the whole time. Yeah, right. Two dudes in a hot tub sitting six inches apart. Because we're not gay. I like the soupening.

Thanks, Chloe. The soupening is great. Shagwell pounces on her, dragging her across the yard, saying, She's the weasel who made the soup. Bruce asks how old she is and responds, Ten. Which he corrects with, My lord.

Asking if she's fond of animals. She responds and she's like, some kinds, and he's like not lions, nor manticores it seems. But he never thinks to ask her why. It just kills me. It goes back to that idea of Arya not really understanding why Gendry or Hop.

I combined the two names there. Wouldn't leave with her roost just dismisses aria exactly the same you're lowborn why doesn't matter i have what i want blows my mind yeah just ask her why yeah he doesn't ask why he's like more amused again back to roost he just doesn't care he's so lackadaisical complacent ascetic he doesn't give a shit it's kind of. And this right here is also like just looking at this, like she immediately gets put with Bruce, which

she doesn't ask for. But you know, you can understand why Gendry and Hot Pie kind of aren't happy with her in the next couple chapters. They're a little cross with her, a little sore. They're like, okay, so you turned the entire castle and now you're the assistant to the manager like hmm but also like okay we don't know why you

just helped us kill these guards and take the castle but let me make you my cup bearer because you seem like a super trustworthy person yeah yeah that's actually a great point. Yeah, he thrives on chaos, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Chaos is a ladder. Chaos is entertainment. Well, I think some of it is sexism on Russo's part, though, too, right? Because, like, the next part, he instead, the things he does ask her, he's like, what did your mother name you? Weasel won't do.

And she, like, thinks for many names. And she's like, my name's Namaria, but my mother calls me Nan. And he then tells her, like, you'll address me as lord when you speak to me nan and are you afraid of leeches and she's like they're only leeches my lord but like that's what he asks her and i think maybe he like it's like what uh brienne's mastered arms tells her right like people will look at you and see what they want to see when they see you he looks at you and sees a scrawny tiny 10 year old girl who could do nothing but girl things like girl dinner like weasel soup girl dinner it's true and actually you're right the the cooking part the cooking element also is a very feminine thing to have to have used for a weapon but also so is

poison just saying yep and it kills just as well woman's weapon it's also interesting that like i don't know he doesn't even think it's weird that she knows how old she is. A lot of lowborn people don't know how old they are. So that she has a straight answer. I thought. Sometimes I think about what the show did with that where they flirted with the understanding

of does Tywin know? Does he not know? And it's interesting because both with Roose too, they flirt with it in the show and it's interesting because both like when with ruse too they flirt with it in the show and it is like there's so many tells that like she has to be someone right maybe it was more convenient for him to like have her not be ari he's like i've got this much more pliable person i guess i don't know yeah i like how he's like is she afraid of leeches she's like they're only leeches my lord and it's like, they're only leeches, my lord. And it's like Arya.

I'm thinking about Arya being like, why? Should I eat the leech? Like I ate the worms or threatened to also eat other worms? She loves worms. Or is she just like new worm? Yeah, that's also girl dinner. Oh, yeah. Girl dinner is to come in this podcast.

Trust me. Arya's got some big girl dinners to have. That's actually true. And yeah, what I can tell from this is, you know, the way that Ruse presents the leeches, he's just really into PRP skincare treatments. Oh my god. Oh my god, the vampire facial. Yes.

Where they use a little bit of your blood and platelets. Ooh. Yeah, they take a bit of your blood out. They like, I don't know, throw it into a centrifuge to separate the plasma from your blood, then use microneedling to put it back into your face. There's also foreskin skincare. Ooh, I didn't know that. Tell us.

Human growth hormone in a lot of medical-grade skincare lines come initially from the source of a baby's foreskin. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, stem cells, too. Stem cells, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. The stem cells make sense, but the,

the foreskin, it's kind of messed up. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of. I was like, no, I don't think I will buy that product.

I don't think I want a baby penis face as much as I'd like to look younger. Yeah. No, that's very strange. Bruce would use it. Yeah. Botox. Yes.

Baby penis face. No, Bruce would use it. Yeah. Yep. No, Bruce would use it. At least with baby penis face no bruce would use it yeah yeah no ruse would use it at least with like prp you know it's like it's your own blood so you're consenting to like this procedure and what's being happening to someone but yeah because like for those that are listening and don't know as you age your face loses collagen and elasticity and you look old as you age and um bruce is definitely that one guy that was viral that's like look he look pays however much money he's paul rudd yeah paul rudd

uh but that viral guy though that was like he spends like bajillions of dollars to look 40 and he doesn't even look that good i'm like damn just go live bro yeah oh that guy yeah that's bruce yeah uh ruse would be into the needle the micro needling i've done that it's fun it's kind of weird now imagining ruse would like the gua sha ruse gets like a subscription box every month with fun stuff in it i just like me he's just like me for real he's a girl's girl and hydrophage yeah oh yeah yeah yeah yeah laser treatments too he also reminds me a

little bit of frank from always sunny in philadelphia there's an episode where frank douses himself in hand sanitizer and then he crawls around out of a couch and he's like i have to be pure yeah that's ruse that's ruse but someone tell him leeches are out unless he is actually doing prp it's about snail mucin not leeches snail mucin and slugging and all sorts of things yeah delicious i don't get the leeches i'm obsessed with it i want to know more about it i don't get it though yeah they're interesting right because they're supposed to take out the bad blood, etc. You know, medically. They were often used medically. And it's funny because I think about like... On burn victims.

Yeah. They're usually even burn victims, aren't they? Yeah. That's right. And I'm like, boy, your skin is fine. Settle down. You know, like Ruth is probably one of those motherfuckers that has too many eyelashes, you know. You ever meet a man that has so many eyelashes and you're like, why the fuck do you need those eyelashes? Give them to me it's bullshit

I feel that way all the time but I don't know you'd think leeches are a negative connotation right but it almost is like detox like it's representing detoxification again I want to be pure have to be pure Frank Reynolds but then like I think culturally

and I was trying to think of like what George would have read or the things about leeches that would have been big for him and i'm sure other fantasy and other like medieval-esque pieces maybe but like stand by me in 1986 has a very different leech symbolism right it's like youth and like losing youth which might not be too dissimilar for what bruce is having here he's like i don't want to be past cattle and stark age uh but and i'll link this for you all it's very interesting there is a memoir slash essay by rebecca gigs called the leech barometer and it has a bunch of really interesting like leech information but it's

written through a little bit of prose and a little bit of just like narrative and inner dialogue and she wrote to be consumed by leeches is to be vital to be animate though it is also to be reminded you are something else's prey and therefore porous and mortal and i thought that was like that really struck me and made me think about ruth's a little bit of his like yeah and stannis yeah true like that they constantly you know they want immortality but also they want to be seen as vulnerable at the same time like you know that they love being little spoon he loved bruce bolt he just wants his cute chubby little wife to spoon him that's so real he just wants to fuck her and get spooned that's all he

wants in life just imagine though so bruce at the end of the his leeches are done whoever's taking them to get rid of them and they're standing there just talking and they're like i don't know what it is about ruse bolton and they throw the leech in the fire wait i love that i love that idea oh my god oh that's funny there's one other interesting thing I want you to know from this memoir essay. Leeches are hermaphrodites throughout their life. So they're born with two sets of nascent genitalia and their sex organs mature sequentially. So first they're male, then they transition into being female. So they transition and switch and the female consumes the inward male.

So they transition and switch and the female consumes the inward male. Yeah. So Rebecca gigs writes that perhaps this process is less like overpowering, less like predation, a gentle subsidence, a giving away. It's really cool. Really creepy.

I love it. Like really interesting. It was amazing. Yeah. I'm like, let's like really, really, I didn't know that about the leech. I'm like,

damn, you live those leeches live life more than Bruce Bolton does. How do they procreate? Carefully. I don't know, actually. What does Rebecca Giggs have to say in her very beautiful prose about the leeches? It was actually the first entry on Google, by the way, as soon as I started typing how do leeches. It literally was like, reproduce.

Because they have both male and female sex organs, like the earthworms, they have a clitellum, which is only obvious during the reproductive period. So they have reproductive periods where they intertwine their bodies and each deposits a sperm into the other's clitellar area and they all can get preggo. Like leopard slugs. Have I have I ever made you sit down and watch leopard slugs reproduce yet because it's beautiful i have a feeling it will come for me in time as they do for one another if you were my best friend you would kill people and watch slugs mate uh you know what my two lawyers would also tell me not to admit to this one either, but more for social purposes, not for legal reasons. This is an intense book.

Yeah, agreed. The leech reminds you that you are porous and mortal. It's okay. You gotta read this later, I'm telling you. It's very interesting. I might. I think I really might. It's one that, the article itself actually made me think of you,

because you always said the interesting ass articles. It's one for the books, for sure. That and Wishbone. Wishbone. Bruce tells Arya Leach's purged the bad blood and that she will help him from now on and be his cupbearer, serving him in table and in chamber. Bruce is here. He's very excited about this past weekend and the 1989 bad blood, Taylor's version. Arya knows better now than to talk back even though she does say

your lord at one point and then ruse commands someone to make her presentable to make sure that she can pour the wine without spilling which actually that's probably someone should probably train aria to do that and then tells lord hote to change the banners on the gatehouse and you know ruse just comes in and he's like a fantastic examination of what power looks like, right? Because I think that's really what Arya wanted by having that last name. Roos with just a word, a name, can make anything happen, including this HGTV Harrenhal special. He comes in and he's like, we're redecorating. We're redoing the whole place.

And that's all Arya wanted, just to feel a little bit of power through jacket yeah isn't it the beginning of this chapter maybe last chapter where she thinks about how she wants the banners the stark banners to be rolled down and i'm like oh she does but maybe not like this yeah not like that like that not. It needs to be designed differently. The whole place needs to be redesigned and by redesign I mean be Winterfell. Yeah, and then all the indentured servitude maybe go away.

Yes. Yeah. Well, the last passage in this chapter, I shall read it for you now. You are welcome. You are very welcome, Eliana. Thank you. She's like, I won't kill it for you now. You are welcome. You are very welcome, Eliana. Thank you. She's like, I won't kill someone for you.

Myself. Four brave companions climbed to the ramparts and hauled down the Lion of Lannister and Sir Amory's own black manticore. In their place, they raised the flayed man of the Dreadfort and the direwolf of Stark. place, they raised the flayed man of the Dreadfort and the direwolf of Stark. In that evening, a page named Nan poured wine for Roose Bolton and Vargo Hote as they stood on the gallery, watching the brave companions parade Ser Amory Lorch naked through the middle ward. Ser Amory pleaded and sobbed and clung to the legs of his captors until Rourj pulled him loose and Shagwell kicked him down into the bear pit. The bear is all in black, Arya thought, like Yoren. She filled Roose Bolton's cup and did not spill a drop.

Boom. Arya Stark out of the frying pan and into the fire. Arya Stark has entered the game of thrones. Love that last line, the reminder of Yoren. She feels like she got a little justice or revenge for him. Yeah, it's good, actually, because even though this plan would have transpired without her, maybe not this exact plan, but this would have happened without her, she still gets that, I did this for Yoren at the end of the day. Yeah, she was still able to affect that little bit.

And that's a little piece of power. Yeah, exactly. The more she stays here, the more she realizes, I want that. Agency. She gets an elevated position. She gets to be in the room where it happens. Yeah. Yeah.

A player. A pawned player at the table. Well, B-Word, I know that you're an Arya fan. And obviously, we talked about what chapters to do. And you went with this one. What was the biggest reason why you chose an Arya fan. And obviously we talked about what chapters to do and you went with this one. What was the biggest reason why you chose this chapter? It's more just, it is Arya. It's roots. These are Arya's.

It's really her coming into where she is going to go the last time we see her here. I mean, it starts obviously with Tiswick. So yeah, I feel like it's, yeah, it's her start into where we know she's going to go with the Faceless Men and, you know, her parting with Jack and it's another mentor down, number three now, I think.

So, I don't know. I just like it. I don't know. I just, she's my girl and I like her and this is sort of a chapter of her creepy little agency fierceness and finding her way. What do you think the future holds for Arya Stark? I think that she is going to give mercy to Mother Merciless. That's my big Arya's plot. I've heard this. Pivotal moment to me. That's what i think she'll end up

doing yeah yeah give the gift of mercy she kind of gotta i mean her mama yeah it's better she does it i think so i think so too that's so interesting i i had because like okay so we've talked about that but like when you said it something just clicked for me with Arya being like, Jaqen, would you kill your own dad? Ooh, that and then mirroring to could you bring back a man with no head? No, but you know what I can bring back. Ha ha ha. Murder mommy.

That does have a head. Murder milf. Yeah. Barely. She's like, I don't want to make a Harry Potter reference but she's kind of like nearly headless on and off that thing is yeah man

just gross makes me also think of like Beetlejuice with the hole in the neck anyways for the guy smoking the cigarette and the hole in his neck in the waiting room always makes me think of that too yeah well beyond that uh beth thank you for joining us would you please tell everyone at home where to find you and uh

where they should be listening to kissed by fire yeah well first thanks for having me you can find uh kiss by fire we're on patreon kiss by fire on patreon.com we are kiss podcast on twitter i think it's just kissed pod on blue sky but steph just set that up like two days ago so don't quote me on it but i'm sure you can find us that way for the podcast for me i'm b underscore peterson 85 on twitter because i didn't know that handles meant something there but on blue sky i am just b word uh at b word at blue sky that's me oh and the podcast you can find it on apple podcasts and Spotify and the usual places we are working on getting onto YouTube.

And as you guys mentioned earlier, we have cool merch from our cool Sanri design, so feel free to check that out and see what we look like in cartoon form. I know what you look like. They don't get to. Ha ha ha.

Ha ha ha. Because I'm a you look like. They don't get to. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Because I'm a total mystery online. In the live action for the live action adaptation. Of Girl Scum Cannon. Of Sanri. Oh, I was thinking. Oh, yeah. Like our joke.

Kiss by fire. I get it. Yeah. The, you know, you guys have a podcast based off of the artwork of you. Oh, of course. Beautiful. Yes. Ah.

Yes. Well, thank you again for joining us. We will be back with, oh my God, we'll be back with Aria 10 in Clash next week. And then from there, oh my God, we will keep on moving and get into Storm of Swords. It's all happening. I feel like it's going a lot faster than we thought it would. I feel like when we started, we were like were like this is gonna be 80 years from now but i feel like next

spring you guys will be ready for a new pov and we're running out of povs which is awesome so keep speculating on who is next i know eliana knows you do not i do yeah both of you just say eliana knows sometimes i do sometimes i don't uh i'm not sure i thought i knew and then i i looked at today and i was like maybe i don't know anyway i was like i thought i knew so with that if you want to keep up with when those next few episodes come out be sure to follow us on social media. You can find us at Girls Gone Canon, that's C-A-N-O-N, over on Twitter or on Blue Sky with the other, like, you know, fun blue sky things that come afterwards, the little dots that I'm not going to say for you. And, of course, you can send us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com and maybe we'll read it aloud. And also be sure to check out our latest episode

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You can catch Girls Gone Canon on any of the following streamers. word from our patrons. You can catch Girls Gone Canon on any of the following streamers. On Podbean, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Acast, Spotify, Overcast, Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, Audible, and Amazon Podcasts. You can also join us on Patreon, where if you join the Thunder tier or above, you have access to a Discord, and monthly happy hours, and things like that. And by joining the Discord, you get access to a bunch of great channels, including but not limited to memes and shitposting channel, Fashion Hour. There are multiple channels for Historic Materials, A Song of Ice and Fire. There's a pets channel, which I think is probably

the most important channel of all. Respectful Thirsting, because there's a channel for that. Come by, join the community. It's a lot of fun and you won't regret it. Ah, what a time to be alive with Arya Stark. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week. As always, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I have been another one of your hosts, Aliyahna. And yes, thank you, of course, again, to our other other host this week. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

I was your other other other host today. B-word. B-word. Now she's going off. She's going to go, like, wipe her hands over her face. Oh, my God. Yes. she's going off she's gonna go like wipe her hands over her face oh my god yes she's going to change and then leave the episode yeah and i melt away she's gonna hand us a little coin i hope it's a big coin that's what she said

goodbye folks goodbye goodbye