Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 209 — ASOS Arya II

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

“Harwin, it’s me, don’t you know me, don’t you?” --- 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 209, Aria 2 and A Storm of Swords. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. And are you ready for the bannerhood, the fucking brotherhood without banners? Shut up. The bannerhood. Oh my god.

Yeah, I like that you're sticking that in now. You're never going to get caught ever again. I know. Eliana's like, my pants are up, god damn it. Yeah, I'm never going to forget ever again, even though apparently some people really thought you really got them last time. Yeah, I wanted to really get y'all last time,

though. It was fun. It was a very fun opening for us. We don't do cold opens ever. That was, oh my god, it's like our Game of Thrones season seven up in here. I don't even remember that far away, Jesus. Well, speaking of remembering far away, I'm gonna pull an Eliana segue here and tell you that we're time traveling, dude. We are coming to you from the past in the future. If you're listening to this as it drops, it is that holiday season, that time of year, time of cheer, Yule, gay, all those exciting things, mostly gay. And we are recording a little ahead. So if you're sending in some emails around this time, we will absolutely either try to get back with you or you know, throw it in a later

episode and come back to it in retrospect. But just a warning that we're out here in the atmosphere, you know. We're bending time and space right now. We are. Yeah. Yeah. We're like Bloodraven. This is a... We are. This will be recorded right now where we are and it'll be released probably in about

three weeks, and it's gonna get a wider gap from there. So we'll let you know the gap of time travel that's going on, because we want to keep you informed on our whereabouts here. But, you know, it's November, you'll get this in December, and... Eliana, I heard a little rumor about you. Okay, that could be anything. I heard a rumor about you that you are going on Sanri Scribbles.

I am. The rumors are indeed true. I'm going on Sanri Scribbles. I escaped from Riverrun. Oh my God. I was set free. Sexy. And am going along the stream, right is a stream it will be on twitch

and it is going to be if you're listening to this it's going to be very soon in uh just a few days it'll be december 3rd sunday december 3rd at 7 p.m et aliana time misleading but Eliana time and it will be on Sanrixian's twitch channel and you know I think we have a couple of fun things I know that we talked about it back then when Mallory came on for an Arya chapter yeah and so full disclosure if you haven't watched one of these streams or if you don't know who Sanrixian is I don't know who you are but if you haven't watched one of these streams, or if you don't know who San Rixian is, I don't know who you are. But if you don't know, San Rixian is amazing. She is an artist in the community and does amazing art of her own, as well as a Song of Ice and Fire fan art. She has amazing merch on Threadless.

You have to go check it out. And I got to go up. When I went on, actually, I did a somewhat GGC theme. I did a feast for crows with them and we drew a bunch of food. Yeah, just because I fucking love food and we love food. It made me think of you, believe it or not. Tear. But I'm really excited to see what you guys doodle.

It's a really laid back time where you guys just chit chat. You can chat about a swap or other stuff, right? Like you can talk about many different things and uh the co-hosts egg and emily they are great they're really fun so you're gonna have a really good time i can't wait to tune in and i hope you guys all tune in this weekend if you catch us in time we will be posting about it on media keep your eyes peeled for a link yeah i remember when you went on you talked about the roman empire and that was how i learned about that meme later on but yeah so we're gonna talk probably about memes as well and come join us hope to see you there with that uh if you're listening to this now in december you hopefully will have heard last month's patreon episode for stranger to your patrons in that five

dollar and up tier yeah it is in the lost lands which is a gray alice short story part of a series that george never actually wrote the second short story for so but it could still end up becoming a series now as a cinematic adaptation. It is going to, I mean, it's coming to the silver screen soon, as George says. Yeah, Mila Jovovich is supposed to be in it, right? It's supposed to be her shindig. And I don't know, I like that. alice herself i i'm excited to see that i think it would be really edgy and fun yeah i also just love mila jovovich so me too her character in dazed and confused actually is me that's me in high school i was the girl with the guitar i'm

sorry am i admitting this out loud jesus christ i'm the girl with the guitar. So you're the Thomas Sevenstrengths. Oh my god, I was I was Mary as shit too. I really was. Well, new episode this month for December. And I'm excited about this one. We kind of talked about this one privately a couple months ago. And recently, a book made its way to the silver screen as well by Suzanne Collins, the prequel story for The Hunger Games, the song Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I never get that one right. I can only get one song series right, and we know what it is. A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the Coriolanus Snow story. And oh my gosh, it's a great prequel. And I'm actually seeing the movie like two days from recording and seeing it opening day. So I'm really excited. I can't wait to tell you guys my thoughts on it.

Probably next month we'll mention it. But we're going to talk a little bit about the first book and the first movie in the series, The Hunger Games. And just chat about it. Got a little reread action going on. And who knows, it might become a series. We might talk about some of the other books. And we'll see what we get up to in that episode this month. But again, you can get bonus episodes every month, like The Hunger Games or In the Lost

Lands, by heading over to our Patreon at patreon.com slash girls gone canon, C-A-N-O-N. We really appreciate every single one of you that supports us. It makes it possible for us to give you weekly episodes and to time travel. It's kind of expensive. So thanks for your money. Time traveling. I really hope they think we're time traveling for real, for real, you know? Well, if you think about it, all of us are always traveling in time just a little.

It's just, you know, we only go in one direction. Forward. The band? Oh, yes. Also that. Oh, my God. know we only go in one direction forward the band oh yes also that oh my god i have speaking about the passage of time i have a cousin who's much younger than me she's like you know solidly solidly gen z and she was i think during karaoke singing a song by one direction or harry styles or something and one of my other younger cousins did not know the song and she was like you don't know one direction i was like do you feel old chrissy chrissy's only 18 or something like that oh my god the other younger cousin did not know one direction i was I was like, welcome. Welcome.

That's my roommate's favorite. One of his favorite Simpsons jokes is when Grandpa Simpson is old and he says, you know, it'll happen to you one day. You know, you'll get old and you'll stop being with it and it'll stop being with you. All that stuff. It's a very funny quote. I don't know it by heart. He does. He's not out here right now.

He can't tell you the quote. So you guys know the whole thing. It's a very funny quote, but that's it by heart he does he's not out here right now he can't tell you the quote so you guys know the whole thing it's a very funny quote but that's literally what you just said out loud it's amazing it's gonna be like that but you know where we're not quite time traveling where we are doing time together with everyone at the same time like jail during our yes sugar french slash happy hour separate happy hour which this month is

going to be a little bit early because you know as much as we think that all of you think of us as like

your family that you are obligated to spend time with you and we all actually do have

family we are obligated to spend time with so we are doing an early patreon brappy hour this month it'll be saturday september 9th 2 to 4 p.m and chloe can you tell people how they can do that oh my god yes if you're in the thunder tier and above you too can get how was it you just put eliana that uh you also have real family you have

obligatory family time we're learning so much it's only been five years everyone listening and listen to everything you're learning about eliana uh yes you can log on and become a thunder tier patron thunder tier thunder tier thunder tier huh i'm sorry have we never done that i don't know what that is what thundercats oh yeah okay sorry um okay yeah you can become a thunder to your patron over at our patreon thunder to your patrons ten dollars and up get some little perks like some early release and access to the discord and access to discord events like brappy hour can you hear the pain in my voice when i say that i hope everyone at home hears the pain we play games we chat this one uh it might be a little casual we might be on the run so we might

not have access to reindeer games but we had some great thanksgiving reindeer games which now there's that thanksgiving uh horror movie coming out or whatever and i'm like aha reindeer games yeah look it up but we'd love to see you there on december 9th it's a saturday 2 to 4 p.m et that's uh coming up fast if you're listening to this. Yeah. Well, life comes at you fast when you're listening to Girls Gone Canon. We got some emails and tweets and notes. You just got your job back. I don't know why you're acting out so much today.

I don't know. She's bold. Hubris. Hubris. We got an email from one of our patrons, and I love this patron. They're my buddy. They boosted our Discord. That's so fucking cool.

This is our friend Sunflower Solace on Discord, and I actually really like this fucking email, so get ready. Buckle up. Sit up. You know, pay attention. Hi, C and E. Also also they use the c and e i want you to know like you know with the ampersand like that's our thing we sign off that way so thanks cute i was listening to this week's aria episode and thought about the dark sister discussion

i'm not sure if there would be enough text for it but maybe a future patreon episode could be discussing what we know of valyrian steel and its various uses in the story. You know, like all the named swords, Euron's armor. Valyrian steel swords come to be tied to house identity for the houses that wield them. We see ice being melted down as a nail in the coffin for House Stark. Okay, maybe you see it that way, Sunflower Solace. And Sansa's understandably upset reaction to seeing it at Joffrey's wedding is notable. There's also something Tolkien-esque, the ring

books, as Chloe has called them, and the ability to forge new Valyrian steel being lost after the Doom, and only a few smiths left who know how to rework it. Tolkien's books deal with that theme of the weakening of magic over generations and current generations not able to match heroes of old. Just some thoughts. Thank you for reading. P.S. Rip Mengon Canon 2023 to 2023. I can't even get through saying that out loud without bursting into laughter. Thank you for that. That was juicy.

Perfect. Perfect. R.I.P. Meng men gone canon very short-lived run the the critics panned they were like we like the original no more spinoff series you hear that snow go snome okay but i love how this is true that's different it is different i was about to say things about tokens but now series one's like we cannot get started we do not have time for that we do not have time um we we do not have time uh this was this is an interesting idea i also do wonder if there's enough text for it i think a lot of people have like made stuff so maybe there is as i said before i just wish i want to see like the Valyrian steel spoon. Okay.

Or like the Valyrian steel dinner fork. Where is that? And that matters. Oh my God. I will say there, there are like a big amount in CK3. In Crusader Kings 3, there are mods that play with the valyrian steel you can get valyrian steel artifacts so i mean i think it's possible for you first second off i don't know if i would say losing an ancestral sword is the nail in the coffin for how stark

being as they will survive thank you thank you Thank you very much. Starkaganda on this podcast. But no, I love the idea of the identity and tying your identity to it, right? Because we had that email a couple chapters ago talking about Jarian and Brightroar. Remembering how a lot of his hubris, Eliana, since you'll understand this, a lot of his hubris, you know,

in trying to like bring that back in the identity of the house like and how much like identity that the Lannisters place in that the time and places in him not having a sword and then in turn taking a sword and melting it down and creating that there's a lot about that a lot about that yeah I mean i think we've discussed this before turns out like i i don't think i realize that the melting down of the sword it does get split up into two swords not necessarily in the on the coffin for house stark but more of just the splitting of the lines right especially if it does follow along the lines of the television show you have widow's whale right which um you know how stark in carrying on in the north as with a queen in the north and then bran becoming king of the southern southern part

of western whatever's left yeah i uh i like that I like that two duality. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I don't know. I don't know if they'll ever get the ability to forge it again back, but it is interesting. And maybe they won't, right? Because it is inspired by Damascus steel, which they say that people are making new ones, but I don't think it's exactly the same.

Or I don't know. I've heard that that might be just a recipe that's lost. I mean, it's kind of inference that Tobo Mott has some knowledge of it in a way, right? To my knowledge, he has great knowledge, including some of Valyrian steel, or at least some of the magic for steel. And I would think, you know, Gendry is an obvious candidate in that to be able to wield and forge and obsidian as well. So we'll see what happens there.

But I imagine that he'll be able to make at least obsidian weapons. Yeah. Tobo Mott's applesauce. My God. Well, thank you, Sunflower Solace. You rock. And long, long rest the bones of men gone canon

I thought you were about to say long live men gone canon it's like fascinating I'm a M G C R A now what rights activist yeah took me a while to get

it's okay I had to spell it for a second there we got there uh with that in mind thanks for your email sunflower solace like when you had gossip girls gone canon gg exactly this is getting out of hand between magical girls gone canon etc oh and hey we did just put out a magical girls gone canon episode uh. We're back with Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1. Right? Part 1 of the movie here. So, now we're holding out. We're ready.

Yeah. Cosmos. I need to know. Who knows? Maybe it's been announced by now. It's gonna happen. Pray for our time traveling. For this coast. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's hop over to the lightning round. And we'll kick it off with Tyrion 1, where Tywin denies Tyrion Casterly Rock. Wow, how dare.

Davos 1, Davos is rescued by Salador Sansa. Sansa 1, Sansa sups with the Rose's Court. Jon 1, Jon meets Mance. When John met Mance. Oh my god. Romance. Romance! Oh! That must mean something. You've got Mance. That just sounds like a disease. I think.

Oh. Daenerys one. Arstan may not be who he seems. Jorah kisses his queen and somehow lives. Gross. Bran learns to open his eye at will in the Tumbledown Tower. Davos attempts to assassinate Melisandre, blaming her for the death of his sons instead of stan- Blaming her for the death of his sons, sorry. Jaime too, on the road in the River riverlands we get a huge dump of info about the rebellion

a huge dump great play on words there eliana thank you thank you tyrian too many of tyrian's policies and laws are undone before his very eyes by his papa once more he cannot bring himself to part with Shae that brings us to Arya too team Arya meets some of the brotherhood without banners and ends up at the inn at the crossroads where Arya spots a familiar face one of if her papa's mad? Oh my god. Arya is grubbing for vegetables when she hears a man singing with a wood harp. Off to see gold town to see the fair maid.

Hi ho. Hi ho. I'll steal a sweet kiss with the point of my blade. Hi ho. Hi ho. Oh. I like how you made a tune for that just now. Thank you. Thank you. My many talents

include being Tom of Seven Streams. Though, interesting. Interesting. The first paragraph here, even just reading that on its own, it actually makes me think a lot of Sansa. Because that's Elaine's backstory, right?

When she gets to the Vale later on, a bastard raised by the Faith in Goldtown. And then the second part, I'll steal a sweet kiss with the point of my blade, Sandor. And soon, it's very Brie-my, right? You got the Brie andie sexy sword fight that we had our good friend gene on for yeah and you know the alleged unkiss sansa stark made out with a hot dog that was one time oh my god that's pretty funny um but yeah it does actually give sansa vibes i was thinking that too and i couldn't like put my finger on it so a couple of those things in those this chapter hot pie also hears the song though and then aria sends him to go wake gendry quietly uh chloe placing the song i'll make her my love and we'll rest in the shade. Hi-ho, hi-ho.

I keep wanting to retrofit it into the song of the Seven Dwarves in Snow White, but it doesn't work. I know, and I'm trying not to think about it because I'm trying to hold my tune, so don't ruin it for me. Okay, no, I'm just kidding. I'm sorry, I won't ruin it. I have to record this in a studio this week. No, I'm just kidding. Hire me. Are you feeling better about our Robert's Rebellion musical yet? Because I mean, I'm proving myself every day on this podcast. I really think we have a lot of potential. So there's nowhere to hide. There are villas at the river and reed beds,

but everything is pretty painfully open they're really fucking hungry also they ran out of food six days ago aria tells hot pie to take gendry and the horses behind the cottage that she'd hide by the tree and kill him if it comes to it and then like i think what hot pie drops the cabbages or something i'm like my cabbages and avatar the garden and the houses right there like and then they were tempted to go in and they do and it was because it had food

there and I don't know something about it kind of makes me think of Garden of Eden stuff again you know like this this innocence that she's trying to return to which makes sense life's been pretty fucking hard you know life comes at you fast when you're Arya Stark and and this desire for providence and we even see you

know gardens come up a couple of times people longing for that again like in Daenerys's story I also appreciate that Arya is like you go hide there turns out you know they were still the ones who got caught but whatever but she was trying to kind of put her own safety at risk and do what needed to be done to protect her friends in that moment and even though she has she has done actions that have endangered other people like at heron hall these happen mostly out of naivete, right? Like, she clearly has the potential to learn and does want to try and protect people. Yeah. Everything she did, she did as a nine-year-old, dude.

I'm not going to begrudge that. She's ten now. They said her age is ten sometime, like, last chapter. I'm like, when did her name day happen? Like, they didn't even tell us. Arya Stark is four years old. Why would we not celebrate? She's not allowed to be 10

but yeah i guess she's 10 you right you right we moved on well i was just like what i just think it's interesting that they just told us that but there's never really like any fanfare around their name well they're all mostly like prisoners of war right now to be fair it's true but then how does she know anyways so she misses needle the sword that she's wearing is far too big for her it's a long sword but she can kill with it which is good enough for her she moves to the willow praying to the gods as the singer grows near that he doesn't hear her but a horse wickers and she knows that he's heard she hears hears a new male voice. Join, the very first one, and then possibly maybe a third, someone referred to as Archer, means to drop

arrows behind the wall and find out who's back there. What if it's some honest man back there, though, or some poor woman with a little babe at her breast? An honest man would come out and show us his face. Only an outlaw would skulk and hide

okay first quick question do you think that aria praying to be hidden like she doesn't get seen until she comes out do you think it worked do you think there was magic there that actually camouflaged her from praying yeah because she was hidden like by the trees or something right like i don't know. I mean... Praying to the old gods. You believe in the old gods, bro? Yeah, they're fucking real. They're down there feeding Bran other people.

I know they're real. Bro! They're just not the way that we thought they would be. They're kind of just like us, but with more magic and a little different. I'm a little agnostic, but you're real I didn't know you were so spiritual. I'm sorry. You're very religious.

We literally see them. They're like, hey, Bran. Come eat this soup. Come eat this soup, bro. Can't ever escape Catholicism, man, because the rituals. You're so like the rituals you know like you're so into the rituals they're so nice eat the soup don the robe sacrifice the babies my god they've got cool clothes if you're you know high up enough they got some pretty cool clothes i looked at some stuff in the museum yeah man i just i know there's a higher power in westeros, and I believe it's there. I just don't know that it's any one, man.

Blood Raven's technically an old god. Bran's becoming an old god. It's not nice to say that about people's age. Anyways. Young god. Young. Y-U-N-G. I just think she's good at hiding.

That's probably true. She is also little. Anyway. The whole idea that an honest man would come out and show us his face only an outlaw would skulk and hide all these things in aria and her friend's defense this is the same logic that amory lorch was like yeah if you like weren't guilty if you were innocent you would come out and you know what look at where he got them yeah look at where he got them killed not them

specifically but a bunch of people they cared about also i'm like these guys are outlaws and they're not skulking and hiding so why would they assume anyone skulking and hiding is an outlaw anything other way around what's interesting is i think they definitely already knew they were there um obviously which is why on guy is shooting the arrows off and saying i guess i'll just throw it They definitely already knew they were there, obviously, which is why Aangai is shooting the arrows off and saying, I guess I'll just throw it behind this wall where there must be more people. But also, I think they knew, because you start to get kind of the first glimpse at this kind of guerrilla-style understated warfare with them, right? That, like, they walk around broadly.

Like you said, they're the ones that are just out, proud, singing. It's their land. This is their territory right here they have scared enough people out of it and they've protected enough people in it and as they stroll around with their merry band uh they like i mean i think that aria hot pie and gendry were again kind of out in the open there isn't a lot of hiding. There's some willows, a couple trees, but it's a very flat, open area of the Riverlands. I think they knew, because they know the lay of their land. I really do think they knew, which is

interesting compared to, like you said, Amory Lorch and the Mountain Men. They were very busy. It's their night time. They were, like, fucking off. They were drinking. They were gonna torture some prisoners and drink and have a great fucking night and I'm serious that is their plan

yeah that's their like great they're like let's go torture some people these guys are strolling around looking for trouble in their lands and just protecting the area making sure shit's good and that they aren't you know don't have Lannisters in the lands and that if somebody's hurt they can help them they uh it's very interesting

very different yeah slash rob them do you pronounce it Ingi Ingi I'm an On-Guy On-Guy I don't know if that's it but that's how I hear it

I don't know so I'm asking yeah On-Guy is natural sounding to me but that's how I hear it. I don't know, so I'm asking. Yeah, Angai is natural sounding to me, but that's just me. You can believe whatever you want. Angai. I'm like, Angus? Angus Steak? Anyways.

Before they can lose their shafts, Arya springs to her feet, shouting, Don't! And shows her sword. There are only three men. She thinks that Hot Pie and Gendry together with her are like, Maybe they could take him but then again they were men travel stained mud specked one is a singer small and about 50 cradling his wood harp to his chest beside him is a man who's about a foot taller a soldier with a black iron

half helm shaped like a cone and of course a hooded yellow cloak that drew the eye and last a skinny youth with a long bow red haired and freckled they get such an intro with all their descriptions like you know that they're gonna they get to be fully named characters like in a tv show sometimes you can tell by the camera you're like that person's coming back yeah and it's interesting because you got like the one that draws the eye of course the hooded yellow cloak that draws the eye he's big that's lamb lemon cloak right or should i say richard lawnmoth uh i don't know i should because it's true but i love the call out of his actual i love the description we got because i don't feel like we've gotten as many descriptions lately.

A lot of these men are like true, just rando soldiers in rando soldier gear. So this is really great to actually get like these really descript Thomas seven strings. He's small, about 50 years old. He's got his wood harp. And then behind him or beside him,

you have Lem who's with his black iron half helm and his hooded yellow cloak and then the skinny youth with a long bow red haired and freckled like that really does paint a picture of what you're seeing on the road it reminds me a little bit even of uh canterbury tales you know or a knight's tale it is very much that you get the vibes there from this group you meet on the road. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. The men command the boy to put the sword down, quote unquote, boy. And Arya defiantly says, I'm a girl.

The singer gives his pardons and Arya tells them to go and keep singing. So she knows their location. She won't kill them. Can you imagine like a 10 year old little girl just like coming up to you with a sword and saying this? Keep moving or I'll kill you. It's pretty hilarious. It's very hard not to just like put your hand out on the forehead, you know, and just like, OK, go run. It's like this small frog in Baldur's Gate that kept going. Did I already tell the story?

I don't think so i kept going kill kill i do not think you did i do not remember this onomatopoeia coming out of you kill and i was like kill me but you're the size of my boot and then after that the frog's like i'm gonna attack but otherwise like the frog and i were copacetic and i was like why are we fighting why am i fighting a frog it's literally that anyway uh this is that they have a good laugh at this with one another though right like they laugh too they're like okay shrimp uh they tell her to put her sword up and they'll get them to food and safety gendry starts to pop off though at this uh hot pie shows up too with their horse

in chain mail with a sword in his hand. Arya remarks that he looks almost a man grown and even dangerous? Hot Pie? Hot Pie looks dangerous. They probably also knew immediately that Gendry was one of Roberts. Let's be real. Isn't that kind of funny? Maybe they don't realize

it but Brienne realized it immediately and spent a ton of time around Renly so I'd kill to find out what they're thinking in this chapter some POV I wonder if like they know because you know Brienne's also like huh weird and maybe it's just like you know I confuse a lot of actors with one another so I'm like maybe maybe they're like hmm so interesting that these people look alike but i guess it must it must stand out well also it depends like i think thomas seven strings would have known what robert looked like well there's a possibility right i forgot he was that much older

richard lawnmouth maybe but ingai would not because his image of Robert, he's much younger, is the Robert that we see current day, who does not look anything like Gendry. Yeah, that's true. But, you know, I think of like, the other guys, I guess, would be the ones like Beric and Thoros. I don't know. I don't know. They're pretty far gone, I guess, when they finally would meet Gendry, but... Thoros, maybe. Thoros, maybe. That's what I was thinking.ic barrick's gone yeah but thoros was also drunk a lot during that time you know who would totally know gendry on site probably catalan yeah too bad too bad she's far gone too god jesus oh so interesting aria reminds us again about like that concept that she learned from syria farrell you know syria's lessons keep coming up again and again about seeing versus

you know really seeing because she notices that tom is distracting them but angie angie is angi is the real threat guy is angie is that what you're saying his his name is the real threat. Ingi is Ingi? Is that what you're saying? His name is the real threat for me. Wow. Yeah. My God. Anyway. I love that, though.

That's true, because he's, like, the smallest. Yeah. He's the one with the weapon. Good aim. This theme is very much coming more and more prominent each chapter in Storm where she's constantly seeing. And we're constantly seeing her see through things and be guarding herself against other

things. Hashtag growth. Every day. Every day a little more. Every day just like all of us as we time travel going forward. So Aryria asked for their names like honest men and hot pie tells them he's hot pie and then they're like okay cool great of course uh are your friends mutton chop mutton chop and squab and gentry growls that uh they should name themselves first now i'm just like oh hop high and i do like that the name that aria chooses she's like sure fuck it i'm squab

hilarious but also squab also known as a little bird just like oh i don't know another stark but squab is more referring to the meat just like the term mutton in english not in french means both the sheep and the meat but anyways squab little bird interesting she's her own little bird and it's interesting in like the context of intrigue oh true because we've been talking about her like a master of whispers she is actually a children's yeah bye she's a she's a kid to the job you know what the way that loans are from the citadel these days like she's never gonna get to go to college if she doesn't start saving now

she has no parents they didn't leave her shit right now her house burned down my god that's true she didn't even get what the insurance money from someone burning her house ramsay laundered the shit out of that. Oh my god. So we're introduced to Tom of Seven Streams, Lem Lemoncloak, and Ongai the Archer, but Arya and Gendry refuse to give their names, calling themselves Squab and the Bull. Tom remarks

you must have escaped from Bolton's kitchens, and Arya's like, what? And then he's like, the sigil on your shirt, little one. Which she hates being called that, by the way. Yeah, I like that Arya pushes back. back she's like we're not kids which is not true you're 10 years old and it's a little bit of what you've been talking about in the past few chapters for aria you know being forced to grow up but also i do think it's nice that tom says that that's true. You would not be children having had to work for the Bolton household because

it really, I think validates the difficult experience that they've had. Like really, you know, kind of says to them, that's true. You went through something very traumatic and that would force you to grow up.

Yeah. I think that is nice because then, you know, there's that question and this is an interesting question in the riverlands especially since we know they're the same thing at this point are you lion cubs or bolton's ilk and it's like bolton isn't that much more honorable as we learn and things aren't black and white they're very gray especially for them who then they reveal we're king's men by the way but like they're like yeah king's men we support the king the king and aria's like joffrey fuck joffrey but then it's revealed not that king

yeah hashtag not my king for joffrey and gendry reacts to this by saying that old drunk he's dead respect your father first of all respect your dad gendry i'm just kidding uh don't respect that guy he you do not have to hand it to robert baratheon by the way you do not have to hand it to robert everything else was handed to him uh like his parents death that was probably handed to him in a scroll ouch that's not nice it's not nice robert never mind maybe maybe we give him like one percent sympathy but my god okay but like other kids parents died too and they don't beat their wives yeah yeah that like that's that's parents died too and he wasn't out here beating his wife so i mean for all of our desperate housewife watchers at home, like, how could he treat Gabrielle Solis this way?

You know what I mean? Anyway. One of these days, I'm going to start that show. I promise everyone I'm going to start it, and I do intend to. Sounds like a fun time. I'm just going to keep asking you live to make sure. Eliana, have you started it yet? Eliana?

I actually do. Like, that one, I'm like, I am motivated to watch Desperate Housewives, though I'm so sorry I am not as motivated to watch Doctor Who anyways we have a passage from this book we read fight me I don't have time or energy to fight you anymore I lied said Tom Sevenstrings and more's the pity. He plucked a sad chord from his heart. Arya didn't think they were kingsmen at all.

They looked more like outlaws, all tattered and ragged. They didn't even have horses to ride. Kingsmen would have had horses. Well, Arya, there are many types of birds, just as there are many types of outlaws. Arya, that was like, these people are scrubs. I probably asked them how to get to Riverrun, and Arya is ready to murder him for asking that. Tom tells them it's a long way upstream.

Maybe they'd lick a hot meal at the inn before they leave. Arya is hungry, but she doesn't trust these men. She thinks not everyone who spoke you friendly was really your friend. Her and Sansa are learning the hard ones lately, man. Yeah, so true

for all the Starks. Two miles upstream lies the inn and an innkeep named Sharna, who is fond of little girls despite her fierce eye and sharp tongue, as well as her husband and this orphan boy they took in. There's fresh bread, ale, meat awaits them, and whatever they stole from the cottage, remarks Tom, while Arya argues that they didn't steal. Tom sadly remarks, yeah, well, we buried old Pate, who lived at this cottage, so

I know you're not his kin. I know that you stole his shit. And in my head, I'm like, he's dead, bitch. The archer draws an arrow, sending it into the willow behind her and drawing another one immediately. Arya thought she knew fast from her time with Syrio, but she was being proven wrong. She tells Anguy that he missed his second arrow and he tells her, no, they go where I i send them there are at least a dozen steps between the archer and aria's sword and they have no chance she realizes she wishes she had a bow that maybe she could use and lowers her sword yeah so essentially aria and her friends just come across a dnd party you got the bard, you got a fighter,

you got a ranger, essentially, I think. So, it's a D&D party. It really is. I'm just gonna believe you. At this point, I gotta just believe you on it. Yup. Old Pate, he was good. I love an Ace Swath Pate.

It's such a great little theme. Right? We should do an a-swap pate episode sometime i'm not kidding uh oh interesting putting it claiming it claiming that episode now other a-swap creators if you hear this if you take my idea on pate lore i swear to god i'm coming for you coming for your throat that's how you claim things on podcasts that no one will hear uh in the ace waft universe all dudes that bear the name pate generally are named after spotted pate who was a kind-hearted pig farmer who was perceived as a simpleton but surprisingly always managed to beat the odds and save the day all of his heroic feats usually involved defeating lords knights and haughty

septons god we love an underdog leading to a favorable outcome for himself in some of the stories he even manages to end up sitting on a high lord's seat or win the heart of a knight's daughter so um this is what dnd wanted for braun in game of thrones for example they wanted him to be a spotted pate they were like you deserve highgarden for no reason. But no, I'm just kidding. Dunk the Lunk, for example. Very pate-coated, right?

Very pate-coated. Yes, that's a great point. And doesn't he, he hates a pate, right? Like steely pate or something? Steely pate. And yeah, but that's a great point that he's following the Westerosi archetype of that character. of that character and even like you know very much rags riches kind of character in some way but you're right that is maybe what dnd were going for with braun which he's pate the pig boy i knew it i knew they read the book that was fucking silliness fucking silliness oh my god and yeah a paid episode could be fun a paid episode

paid paid rion stop oh my god that's even better somehow i love it that's what we're gonna call it nobody take it nobody take it we claimed it all right we have trademarked copyrighted it in the way that taylor swift tried to do that with the term this sick beat it's ours she did not succeed everyone just so you know um anyways so regarding aria she says like twice here she's like dang i really wish i knew how to use a bow i don't know she's actually going to learn to do archery or she does she's not going to be as good at it as she is with the sword like maybe if there had been a five-year gap you know she'd not going to be as good at it as she is with the sword like maybe if there had been a five-year gap you know she'd have time to like really learn more about ranged weapons

maybe george will find a way to just weave it in ranged weapons do seem nice for a rogue class character but i just don't think it's something she's going to end up doing like the sword is really going to be her bread and butter yeah Yeah, I don't think she has time, and I actually could see Bran even learning, because it's something that you can do stationary. Yeah, on a horseback. And it makes me think of Brandon Snow. Yeah, exactly, on horseback with the saddle

that Tyrion designed, and it makes me think of Brandon Snow with his, exactly, on horseback with the saddle that Tyrion designed, and it makes it look like Brandon Snow with his weirwood bow. Or even like, yeah, Theon. Theon was their archer there for a sec. Yeah, but for Arya, I don't think, I just don't see her mastering it.

Yeah, it could be like a thing she, again, dabbles in for a second, but it's more of like a, we're gonna shoot 10 arrows and hope one of them fucking hits she's like me she has a lot of hobbies girls just love hobbies yeah too many hobbies aria does have a lot of hobbies murder is mostly most of them yeah yes um which again why would chloe not if you were my friend we would be committing murders together as a hobby that's a whole different podcast anyways uh that's a true crime podcast we don't have time for this

they concede and say that they're going to go to the inn telling the men walk in front of us and we'll walk behind she tells hot pie to bring the cabbages and carrots and off they walk pretending at first to stay very separate from the other group, but as time moves on, they end up kind of clumping into one group anyway. Road trip, road trip with the brotherhood. Tom asks if they know any songs, and Ari's like, singing is stupid, it makes noise. They could have killed them because of how loud they are. And Tom's like, there are worse things than dying with a song on your lips. Lem says that they would know if there were wolves or lions running about anyways,

because these are their woods. They know everyone in these woods. I love right here this quote from Tom. There are worse things than dying with a song on your lips. It kind of has that same poetic feel to it, like Ruby's flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water, and with his last breath murmured a woman's name.

It makes me think of that very heavily, of the House of the Undying of Rhaegar. Very much so, especially here, where it kind of was nearby. They're not far from where it would have taken place yes absolutely it it really does evoke that i was i was thinking that too and romance you're right it actually is close by everything as we read this like everything i'm i'm straight up in rebellion world my like rebellion lens is on for these chapters. Cause I'm like, here we are where it all went down. For these chapters and for our musical extravaganza.

Yeah. I'm really invested in this project right now. Uh, yeah. So it's Thomas seven strings. He's inspiring me. Yeah. Gendry counters that they didn't know that three youngsters were afoot,

but Tom says sometimes a man knows more than he says. Hmm, interesting, interesting. Like you said earlier, that's the theme for Arya's plot, right? Like sometimes a man knows more than he says, don't give away more than you need to, and people perceive you how they see you. And again, I think Tom knew that they were underfoot underfoot true but not as much as harwin does later set it up so she can tee that one in uh hot pie pipes up and he's like i know the baron the maiden

fair and so he starts singing and he actually has a really good voice and sings really well. Arya's really surprised about this. She's like, you have a talent? One I didn't know about besides baking? It's a good reminder, right? Arya just moments ago was like, fuck singing. It gives you away. But this is a great moment for her to recognize Hot Pie,

who, by the way, has risked his life for her and gone along with her plan when he could have had, you know, a Cedia. He could have stayed semi-comfortable at Harrenhal until the mountain shows back up and kills everybody except Ben Blackthumb again. But he's not just like a caricature, but he's a real person with emotions and experiences, right?

He might not be a warrior, but he's really displayed strength and bravery on this journey, in my opinion. And he has other talents. Beyond survival, he sings, he bakes, he kind of actually appreciates beauty in the world. Like he's always very thoughtful, despite his childhood, probably and current struggles from the whole being sent to the Night's Watch and then Harrenhal. And now this here, he still somehow has heart. His soul is still in there. And it's interesting that Arya is remarking how much she hates music, right? Thinking of Hot Pie, he's really reminiscent of Sam and Sansa in some ways, right? He's kind of a dreamer. He loves songs. He likes some of the

more softer, beautiful things in in life music and the arts and in book one aria kind of has that little sister jealousy going on of sansa's musical abilities of basically sansa's any abilities right she thought she'd never have any skills of her own that sansa had taken them all uh and maybe after this maybe she'll grow to like music right to appreciate some of these songs she's heard on her travels especially now that she has her own hobby that she's excelling at right with needlework kind of like the anti-marillion problem

going on here right where for Sansa all the songs are a nightmare but maybe Arya could enjoy the music yeah you don't have to be a music maker to be a music appreciator and I really love the way that you characterize Hot Pie here because i haven't thought about it before but yeah like he he's this embodiment of kind of like this hope aspect

right of humanity of actually living beyond survival because do we need songs as a people as a humans in general no but singing songs they're they're something they're an expression they're they're emotion and it's something that gives life color and also like you know later on he's going to criticize the bread and bread doesn't fucking have to be good right food does not have to taste good but when you have the ability to to have food that tastes good right and to be able to actually savor suck the marrow out of life and and that's exactly what hot pie is he's he's a character who has never lost hope despite as as you said everything that's gone on yeah i mean uh what i love what you just put it like that like after there you still have to live for something you still have to have something good he doesn't

just survive like at the end of the day he also has hopes and dreams and shit even if they seem simple like when he decides to stay behind sure that might be silly to some that he's staying behind but like there has to be something more to live for than murdering all day long. If we didn't have music, if we didn't have storytelling, if we didn't have folklore. If we didn't have food. If we didn't have food, especially. You and me, this is a food podcast. But if we didn't have all of these things as a society, if we hadn't started doing this, not even as a society, as humans, if we hadn't started recording these histories and telling these stories and singing these things to one another, all we'd do all day

long is murder one another until we had bigger houses or more resources. And it's like, there's this faction of the world that is doing that right now. They're just murdering people so that one civilization can survive better than the others. And when you become a soldier like Arya has, already a child soldier, I mean, for her, it's survive. It's survive, kill anyone who tries to kill you and get to the next day. There is no hope.

There is no dream. She's fighting so hard to get to Riverrun just to get to her family, to have some semblance of hope at life beyond all of this death and carnage. So having Hot Pie around who still has some of that hope even amidst all of it that's really inspiring that's really great that's good characterization for him i mean hot pie as you said he's lost a lot too like who was his fucking

family why was he even sent to the wall what did he even do hot pie is innocent hot pie is innocent. Free him. Free him. Let him sing and free him. Yeah. So, Hot Pie. Actually very important. I mean, we knew that. He's a beloved character, but I hadn't really thought about how he really just resembles a life

worth living, and you're right. That's kind of what he tries to do. He's like, I don't need anything fancy i just want a life i can enjoy and he tries to build that and help other people build that ain't nothing wrong with that glossing over my impassioned hot hot pie speeches today i don't know i don't know what got in me but he had some love you know like i just thought he was really he stood out to me this chapter a lot same george had fun i i forgot that he could sing you know yeah and we contain multitudes i love that i love that i love hot

pie i'm so glad that him and uh tom have a little banter and fun you know and it is kind of fun uh we're gonna gloss over a few of the things but as we get on the road here to the inn, the men catch a duck. There's some banter between Lem and Ongai and Tom. Very fun. Great dialogue from George here, actually. Ongai's like, I wonder if Sharna the innkeep has lemons in her cellar, and he reminisces on a Dornish girl who once cooked him duck with lemons. And the singing does make the miles shorter and make them go by faster. They arrive at the inn. It looks pretty much like an inn. You know, standard. Friendly.

Smoke curls from its chimney, surrounded by stables. It even has an arbor in the back and a dock. With a boat, notes Arya. Arya nudges Gendry about that boat, saying, We could sail the way to Riverrun. Gendry's like, Okay, but we'd be sailing against the current. Also, we don't know how to sail. Also, it's not our boat. These are just the three biggest issues I see about this

situation, Arya. Just put it out there. Arya chews her lip and she says nothing in return and thinks, well, we could still take it. Would not be very nice of you to do. And she accuses them of being outlaws. She's like, what if we stole their boat? are you settle down they're just all kind of outlaws i mean and at least they give an iou like she doesn't even offer an iou to anyone when she steals her stuff and like settle down are you that's true and i think that's part of like i don't know it's it's a combination of a couple of things right like so so rewinding a second i think we can really see a contrast in how this inn, the inn of the kneeling man, is, is run compared to how, for example, the nobles who took over Harrenhal had been running it, right?

Like, I mean, the inn feels taken care of. Is it perfect? No, but it feels cared for. There are people using it and trying to make it fucking livable right whereas we see like heron hall was only really livable for what like a very few people and used mostly as a military base because the nobility just didn't care they see the small folk as pawns as little ants who help their fucking like building work they have no investment in the riverlands whatsoever and neither does this helicopter that you know i'm

sorry if i have a lot of helicopters in the back of my audio today everyone um but yeah the nobility don't have an investment in the riverlands or in this community or building it. They're just siphoning what they can from it. And, you know, that kind of stands in contrast to the Brotherhood who, yeah, some of them, like, they are, some of them are from houses or in higher classes. And they're also not the best. They're definitely gray. And Chloe, I think, is going to dig into that more. But to some extent, they are trying a little, right? And are they a little deluded and self-righteous about what they're doing? Sometimes, just a little.

But the lack of an allegiance to nobility for its sake kind of shows they're not doing it for that. They're willing to ransom Arya in order to, I don don't know maybe make money that they can use for the people they're not just swearing just cuz and you have to an extent a semblance of people who are looking out for each other and creating a community within this brotherhood versus how like the hierarchical systems that make up most of Westeros destroy the solidarity. We see that in how a lot of the people who were in the households of Harrenhal both under the Lannisters and under the Boltons so easily turned against one another. They weren't looking out for each other except for, I don't know, I guess Amabelle was trying to look out for Arya then was like, fuck you, because aria wasn't wasn't into building community at that time and then i think you're gonna see

lady stoneheart come back in take over some of the the stuff with the brotherhood towards the end and in a way i think kind of recreate some of those systems we saw at Harrenhal, right? Using the Brotherhood as a pawn for her goal of vengeance and becomes this like very hyperbolic encapsulation of the idea of nobility sucking the systems dry because it does feel different from the Brotherhood that we had known here in Arya's story. And you kind of see that that difference in the feeling of I have a right to this thing I'm going to take what I can fucking get from this land sucking those systems dry versus the people who have an investment in it because Gendry's like I don't think we have a right to that boat okay it belongs to the inn and Arya partially because of the

pragmatism she's been forced to learn from surviving as a 10 year old child in very difficult circumstances but i think maybe maybe a little bit little bit as an artifact of that noble entitlement of like i don't know i'm gonna just take the boat yeah it's interesting because when the way the way you just talked about it it really shows like what happens when the government abandons an area right yeah and that's what's happened i mean they've gone laissez-faire they're not touching there's no relief aid coming for the people that are living here in the river lands there's nothing coming for them the brotherhood have taken that upon themselves and they can't do it in at first obviously it all changes every war makes monsters of everybody but uh at first the goal was you know take care the Riverlands, fight the people off that are trying to burn it down. And it becomes help the small folk the best you can, you know, putting the government closer to the people's hands and saying, this is how we're going to be able to distribute food. This is how we're going to find shelter and find hiding places for people. It's a really introspective look at that.

introspective look at that. Yeah. It's an interesting kind of like little experimental community for them, right? Yeah, it could be the future of Westeros, you know? It has flaws, but... But it's also got heart.

Just like Hot Pie. Arya comments as they arrive at the inn that someone should stay to watch the horses, but Tom's like, there's no need. Gendry's like, okay, I'm gonna stay anyway, and after you've eaten, Arya, come get me. Arya keeps her hands close to the dagger hilt, just in case, but inside the common room, she's accosted by Sharna, who's not sure if she's a little boy or a girl, for standing in the way.

Sharna accosts the men for being muddy, to be fair, and takes the duck off their hands. She calls for her husband to come hang the duck, and Angai says, hey, do you got lemons? Lemons? And where would we get lemons? Does this look like Dorne to you, you freckled fool? Why don't you hop out back to the lemon trees and pick us a bushel? And some nice olives and pomegranates, too? She shook a finger at him. So I don't know why, but the dynamic that Sharna has with her husband reminds me a little bit of Miracle Max and Valerie from The Princess Bride. I don't know.

I just imagine her going coming out and like screeching at him I mean obviously husband is not at all like Miracle Max and I'm like should I be as upset about husband not having a name as you know Hagen's daughter and stuff but I'm like that is literally his name in other sources just husband his name

was he born named husband like fucking squab or mutton chop like what's going on with this man sometimes i call my roommate that for fun you know sure but is that what his name would be in the wikipedia page about him probably look it up no it would be roommate oh that's funny as fuck. I didn't even think about it. I'm just like, as he should be named,

husband. It's good enough. I'm like, no, his name will be roommate. This is Sharna's roommate. Yeah, this is Sharna's roommate. Maybe she has more than one roommate. We don't know. Oh. They got a different society. Yeah. We don't know. Oh. They got a different society.

Yeah. Roommate sexual. She says they won't eat the duck for a few days. It needs to hang. But they can have rabbit while they wait. Aria offers carrots and cabbages to her, telling Hot Pie to hand them over. And the woman asks, where's the hot pie? And Hot Pie's like, me, I'm the hot pie.

This is Squab. I'm Hot Pie. I could see why that gets confusing.na says not under my roof you're gonna need real names to distinguish you from the dishes that i cook she tells them to wash the vegetables and that the boy will bring drink while she doesn't usually serve beer to minors they're unfortunately out of cider milk and the river tastes like death slash war great awesome love that for them and also i i appreciate that they tell the innkeep like yeah i mean if you served a cup full of flies i really do think aria would drink it that's what they tell her and i'm like she really might

she's like new bug to eat new bug just dropped so tom tom unslinks his harp and begins a new song um chloe please give give us a tune along the inn on a forest road the inn keeps life was plain as a toad beautiful amazing that could be that could be a real song thank you and lem tells tom to shut up or they won't get fed aria leans close and asks hot pie if he can sail it's a whole hey can you say imagine the Hey, hey, do you know what I'm saying? But before you can answer, a thick-set 15-year-old boy appears with ale, and Guy raises up a glass to his grace, saying, seven saved the king,

while Lamb mutters, all 12 of them. I fucking love this. I was cackling. The dialogue is great in this chapter there's such great banter i'm like george is proving that people that talk to themselves like me everywhere have a chance at writing good dialogue uh all 12 of them it's also a great multiplier with bruce in the chapter before last being like oh four kings that's even better that's easy mode i love when there's four kings meanwhile

sharna's roommate comes back mentioning there are weird horses in the stable and tom's like better than the horses that we gave away recently and the husband is annoyed he's like i didn't give them away i sold them to buy the skiff the one that aria wants to steal and that the men were supposed to go get the horses back and And Arya immediately puts her hand on her dagger. She's like, I knew they were outlaws. Yeah, they are. I mean, in the full technicality,

you know, dictionary.com defines it as... Yeah. Yeah. Well, husband and the men go back and forth, chatting that they didn't have support to go after the horses here from the inn, and due to one of the men's dicks impregnating a local girl, they don't have the staff to keep an eye out. There's a comical exchange, because there are many in this chapter, where Tom is blamed for knocking up the local girl due to his harp,

and Tom then instead blames Angi with his fancy bow and arrow um rebellion lens real quick I love that because it's almost like a little Rhaegar Lyanna nod right knocking up the local

girl because of his harpist skills in the riverlands yeah yeah local girl absconds with Prince Snow but it actually does girl because of his harpist skills in the Riverlands. Yeah. Yeah. Local girl absconds with Prince. No. Jesus. But it actually does absolutely feel that way. It really does feel like another nod.

Yeah. It's funny because in my head, I'm hearing a song play, but it's not actually a harp or whatever, and it's not Rhaegar. It's just Epic 2 two from hadestown but i'm just hearing they sing like and it's just very romantic so as soon as i read the line i'm like oh my god harp noises music in my ears it's rhaegar and liana love except it's not love it's like this This is A, you know, and B, you know, but beyond that. Beyond that. Besides all the A's and B's.

Yes. Past all that, beyond that. Either way, the husband blames the men for losing the three horses. And he's like, well, there were three people. How would they have fought three? And Lem's like, one was a woman, the other in chains. And the husband's like, yeah, a big woman. And the one in chains had a look in his eyes.

And I'm like, oh, I know that look. It's a look of a man who was just freed a couple nights ago and put on a horse by a weird, crazy, maybe horny widow. So I know exactly what happened here. That's Brainy on the run. And it's interesting that they don't realize it's Jamie. Right? I think there's something really clever here going on.

Arya's here. They don't know it's Arya, obviously. Jamie, with his disguise, where he shaves his head real quick. His disguise, fucking up his hair, works well to them. Which is funny, because then there's also, I mean, yeah, then you have Jane. Then you have all these other identities. But then you have Gendry in the camp right there too. So there are a lot of interesting little nods going on at this camp.

Lots of secret people around. No one realizes that this is Arya Stark until Harwin shows up, right? Despite the Stark look. Her and Jaime's disguises are subtle, but people see what they want to see. That's a great point. They really, these people are not the best at seeing. They come across a lot of nobles, it sounds like, and just let them all go and just don't really pay attention in that way. But they got, I guess, other things that they're taking care of.

And yeah, Jamie, i don't know they they were like he had a look in his eyes and i'm like that's the look of a man who's feeling horny for someone that isn't his sister for the first time and anyway aria meanwhile is enjoying the ale which tastes phenomenal not like flies the smell from the kitchen is making her mouth water but she can't stop thinking about the boat she's like sailing it will be harder

than stealing it and the serving boy brings them bread and Hot Pie makes a face because it's lumpy burnt on the bottom and he says it's bad he's like you're not getting any Michelin stars for this bread but Lem says it's better when there's stew to sop it up and angie says no it isn't but you won't break your teeth on it the husband says you can eat it or go hungry saying he'd like to see

him make it better and hot pie's like hold hold my beer i could make it better you over kneaded the dough that's why it's hard and it's like let him cook let hot pie cook he sips the ale and starts to tell them all about baking various treats and aria rolls her eyes and tom sits across from her and giving her a piece of parchment i love this because tom slides in and he's just like you know i gotta steal your horses right kid even though she was all like well i guess in in his defense she's all like what if i stole a boat yeah i do love how like torn up she gets and then i'm like you've been trying to steal their boat the whole time but she learns here at least that she can leverage as we're about to get to um i also love that like

aria and hot pie are like these are my hobbies to talk about aria's like i want to learn about boating i need a new hobby an 80th hobby on top of murder what about boating and then hot pies over here like well let me tell you all about my hobby which is baking bread and i'm like i enjoy these two so much they're just like me very me coded it's it's so cute and i realize now that aria being like i gotta steal boat, but I don't know how to actually sail it. Is it the equivalent of like scenes in, I don't know, every now and then in movies

you have a kid who's like, I'm gonna steal the car. And is like, doesn't know what to do once they're in it. I don't know how to drive the car. I can't reach the pedals. You know, on a semi more serious note though, interesting here that she's so about the boat. I mean, obviously the goal is get a boat because it'll go faster than on foot.

But I do think that's interesting that we have a little nod at Arya being very interesting and interested in sailing. Yeah. It could be a thing. I mean, a boat was what was supposed to get her home the first time around. Well, she's going to learn. God damn it. She's ready. Tom gives her an an iou how hard can it be i mean anyone could do it a monkey could do it my god not i'm just kidding it's not true maybe i mean that's another story

google it maybe the parchment is that tom hanser is an IOU for three gold dragons, not big dragons, small ones, because they're going to be stealing those horses. And Arya's like, they're our horses. And Tom's like, oh, so you stole them yourselves? He's like, there's no shame in that. War makes thieves of us all. Besides, I'm paying you a handsome price, way more than they're worth. But Hot Pie looks at the parchment and he's like, but there's no gold. It's just paper.

It's just a paper shield. After the war, Tom says he means to make good on it, but Arya's like, you're robbers. And Tom's like, true robbers don't pay, not even in paper. It's for the good of the realm, for the fights that need fighting. Would she deny the king? Yeah.

She was fucking there when he died he when after he died her dad died anyways so the whole i'm paying with paper thing because i don't really have money but i'm definitely gonna pay you back maybe kind of reminds me of tyrian in book five he does start like doing a couple little iOUs to people oh interesting I forgot all about that actually I think he does that he does that with um brown ben plumb right yeah aww that's kind of sweet see

Tyrion is a sweet boy even in book 5 all of you you know point and boohoo at me but very sweet boy even with his dark edges yeah yeah he Tyrion writes 60 documents, you know? Like, I'm gonna give gold to all these people, and I'm like...

Aww. Tyrion invented the credit card. Kind of. Well, he's gonna change so much about Westeros' economy when he gets back. Just you wait. He's gonna make even more money. Well, we've met kings's men they steal from the

poor give it to the other poor you know i love that for them no in all seriousness introduction to some of the brotherhood and i mean they are basically robin hood and his merry men right that's a pretty obvious comparison probably to them. Throughout The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, we have themes of brotherhood, family, redistribution of wealth all explored. Robin and his band of outlaws are bound together by their common status, and they fearlessly fight back against corrupt rulers and other men by reclaiming the wealth that was unjustly taken from the poor and redistributing it to those in need. That was unjustly taken from the poor. And redistributing it to those in need. You know that novel specifically portrays. Some of that importance for standing up for what's right.

In the face of those in power. And it made me start thinking about. Some of like who in the brotherhood would be what. You know of the merry men. And I was thinking like friar tuck. Right you have friar tuck. And I think that's very Thoros. At least before Thoros. Sob poor Thoros.

You know, religious, a little chubby, once happy. He's just like me for real, minus the religion. We love Friar Tuck Thoros. And then you have, for Tom of Seven Streams, Alan Adale, the roaming minstrel character. Very much match up. And Gilbert Whitehand and Ongai, I think, are very similar. They're both skilled archers and they win

archery contests and I was thinking about who Lem Lemoncloak would be and I think Little John might be a good comparison because they both have like semi not I mean not ironic I guess for Lem but they have little like silly names Lem Lemoncloak he's named for his cloak, but he's also probably in disguise. He's not who he says he is, maybe, right? And then Little John is small. He's actually small instead of big, a misnomer. You know, they both almost have misnomers. But Little John is Robin Hood's lieutenant and later stories kind of depict him as a huge man who joins the band after fighting Robin with quarter staves over a river. Gendry kind of becomes the tinker, you know, the mender and tinker of the group. And Hot Pie is almost like the cook or fire pan, but he's not known as a fighter. But you know, everybody kind of fits in into the little merry band of men that

stay there around the Inn at the Crossroad. You get the picture. And Hot Take, I was talking to my roommate about who would be made Marian in this situation. I was like, ah, Mother Merciless. And we were like, oh, that's horrifying as a made Marian character. But I was thinking maybe a better version of the retelling. But I actually hot take think Brienne is the made Marian of the group. Interesting. And not in the romantic interest, right?

Because she's known as robin hood's romantic interest but originally she actually and this gets a little mary magdalene right uh she was separate from the robin hood tradition she was in the medieval french play joe de robin it's a marion telling the story of a shepherdess named marion and a knight named robin unrelated to robin hood completely like straight up the canons just got crossed at one point because the medieval archetype of Marion becomes associated with English and Scottish May Day festivities and then later into Robin Hood. And she becomes the protagonist of the ballad Robin Hood and Maid Marion and appears in

other stories like Robin Hood and Queen Catherine and Robin Hood's Golden Prize. But in the original Maid Marion tale, she joins the Merry Men after getting into a fight with Robin, both in disguise. But in Victorian literature, Marian was actually portrayed as a passive noblewoman and Robin's love interest. And then later on, kind of 20th century, she gets portrayed as a cross-dressing tomboy

and a skilled fighter. Like the 1952 film, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men, the 1952 film the story of robin hood and his merry men the tv series robin of sherwood and the 91 robin hood prince of thieves so maybe that's more of a meta on our society and culture and what's kind of changed with how we portray characters but uh even in the comedy it's a kid's comedy tv series made marion and her merry men she's the leader of the group and lastly in 06, we had the Robin Hood series. She is working as a double agent, providing Robin with crucial information about the sheriff.

So lots of fun little tropes going on, whether they're associated with that medieval archetype or later in our media. But I could see Brienne as the Maid Marian of the group, especially after Feast. I think that's, yeah, that's a really interesting idea. And yeah, I mean, like the whole idea of Maid Marian is this very passive noblewoman and being reduced to Robin Hood's love interest, right? It's a medievalism, perhaps. Yeah, I'd love to talk to Shiloh on that.

Yeah, and, you know, you erased another famous retelling of Robin Hood, the 2018 movie starring Taron Egerton. And I don't think anyone watched this movie other than me. Unfortunately, I did. I forgot how great his depiction was. I did. I like Taron Egerton. I mean, Ben Mendelsohn as the sheriff is fucking inspired, to be fair. I love him in that.

I actually forgot the rest of the movie, so it might not have been that good. Isn't Jamie Foxx in it? Yes. And I think the guy from Once Upon a Time who plays the sheriff in Once Upon a Time. Who is he? Dornan. Jamie Dornan. Isn't he Fifty Shades of Grey guy? Yeah. Fifty Shades of Grey guy.

I think of him as Once Upon a Time guy but I think he was in it too. I watched it once so you're not alone. But yeah. I wonder how like Riyadh would come back in but we got two more books for that i guess we know

should they literally approach her at the very end to an extent kind of yeah so i don't know we'll see we'll see anything could really happen anyways all of them are watching arian she knows that they'll take the horses no matter what she decides she doesn't want paper. She wants the boat outside and wants them to teach her how to sail it. Yeah, teach the kids to drive cars. The men all grin for a moment and laugh. Arya wants to scream at them, but instead she smiles a little until Gendry shouts that riders are coming, slamming into the room, saying that they're soldiers, a dozen of them. Sharna tells them, that's no cause to spill ale and to chill out and eat some rabbit. They're with the king's men now.

They'll be kept safe. Yeah, I love this, like, change, this sudden change, right? That the kids are the scared ones and the adults are like, eh, it's fine, eh, it's fine. And then you look at what, like, the fourth book when there are riders in Brienne's plot, and it's not great. These are bad riders you know the

safety is gone so the brotherhood here is still like young and happy and innocent and oh no one can take our land oh womp womp womp Arya reaches for her sword but Lem grabs her wrist saying ah we'll have no more of that, twisting her arm until her hand opens. Arya realizes it's happening again, like it did with Chizik, Raph, the mountain. They're going to take their weapons away. They're going to turn her into a mouse again. She smashes him in the face with a tankard.

Go, girl. Busting his nose, splashing ale into his eyes, screaming run, but Lem has her very quickly, very easily, dangling her while blood runs down his face. Gendry moves to help, but Tom blocks him with a dagger, and it's too late to flee. The sound of men's voices echo in at the door, where a Tairoshi man, bigger than Lem, enters, and behind him a pair of crossbowmen helping a wounded man in. Behind them is the most ragged band of men aria's ever seen but nothing's ragged about the weapons they carry as they enter they stare at her curiously but no one really says anything about the small child being hoisted in the air and the

fight that they're obviously breaking up behind them comes another archer a spearman and a lion helm, an old man with a limp, a bravo C-cell sword, and Harwin? Beyonce? Whom? Harwin? Beyonce. Harwin. Under the beard and the tangled hair was the face of Hullen's son, who used to lead her pony around the yard, ride at Quintain with John and Rob and drink too much on feast days.

He was thinner, harder somehow, and at Winterfell he had never worn a beard, but it was him, her father's man. Harwin! Squirming, she threw herself forward, trying to wrench free of Lem's iron grip. It's me! Harwin, it's me! Don't you know me? Don't you? The tears came, and she found herself weeping like a baby,

just like some stupid little girl. Harwin, it's me! Harwin's eyes went from her face to the flayed man on her doublet. How do you know me? he said, frowning suspiciously. The flayed man. Who are you? Some serving boy to Lord Leech? For a moment, she didn't know how to answer. She'd had so many names, had she only dreamed Arya Stark?

I'm a girl. I was Lord Bolin's cupbearer, but he was going to leave me for the goat, so I ran off with Gendry and Hot Pie. You have to know me. You used to lead my pony when I was little. His eyes went wide. Gods be good, he said in a choked voice. Arya Underfoot? Lem, let go of her. She broke my nose. Lem dumped her unceremoniously to the floor. Who in the seven hells is she supposed to be? The Hand's daughter. Harwin went to one knee Arya Stark of Winterfell. Scene. Scene.

Sobbing, screaming, crying up. Finally, she found someone she could trust. You know, it was. And honestly, you evoked something for me to understand, like, how she must have been feeling. Because first of all, A plus, you soggy subtitle voice from the 90s. You really channeled your inner baby there I was like oh my god she's so sad your baboo sweet baboo

but I mean it is like she finally chose someone to trust because she couldn't trust she didn't know who to tell and here she is finally she's like Harwin I can trust Harwin absolutely it's actually it is very emotional right She's like, Harwin, I can trust Harwin. Absolutely. It's actually, it is very emotional, right? There's a lot of fucking emotional scenes in Arya's chapters. My God.

She's just a wee bab. It makes sense, right? So first of all, this is happening at an inn. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Catelyn, you know, calling on people to swear she reveals her identity. It wasn't really her choice to do that. But this is an identity reveal and someone's swearing nonetheless. But a lot of this chapter we see, like, from the beginning, it's about Arya becoming hardened.

She's like, fuck it, I'm going to just have to kill them. If we see them, I'm just going to have to kill them. It's the only way. She's wishing for more weapons for protection. She's like, I should really learn to use a bow. Is that like her being like, I should learn to use a gun? that like her being like i should learn to use a gun i don't know wanting to steal boats aka cars and like you know just really really going all in on that and for just a second finally finally as you said like there's a friendly face from her childhood and she can she can be a little girl again. She is fucking crying. When was the last time we saw Arya cry? Yeah.

That's true. She holds it back. Like, even two chapters ago in Bolton's Solar, right? The Solar at Harrenhal. She's like, she holds it back even though she wants to cry so badly when she hears that Branric and her dead. But she holds it in and she tells herself to be calm as still water. And she

finally for a moment is allowed to be calm as still water. And she finally, for a moment is allowed to be a little girl and cry for the first time in forever. Not the song from frozen. Try getting that out of your head though. Sorry. Finally, for a moment, she gets to ditch that survival that,

you know, that moment that they're all at the door going, well, there's writers coming. We're going to die. She feels safe. She can be safe a little. And it makes her very vulnerable, right?

Like, on one hand, there's the vulnerability of being revealed as nobility, but also very emotionally vulnerable. Yeah, very emotionally. She's had to pretend to be like a hardened boy and like no one's gonna get one over on me so sometimes it's okay to just be vulnerable you know sometimes we want to be vulnerable sometimes you want to be as soft as like marshmallow fluff you know that's you know it's the experience yeah i love marshmallows that sounds great i love a marshmallow hot pie hot pie he's he's a great example of softness, but we love him for that. Yeah. I enjoy our troubled children every week with you. I'm really worried about these kids.

I really think they got a lot of moxie that they're going to make it through. Hot Pie has an incredible baking career ahead of him. I hear he's going to be on great Westerosi bake-off next week so tune in and not just a great baking career maybe also a mixtape coming out it's called an EP no I'm just kidding

it's called a playlist nowadays I don't even know like what are they called this is his TikTok snippet thing so oh man well we will return next week for you with aria 3 i think we'll probably close out aria 4 for uh you know the year i believe that's our guess yeah we're gonna hit aria 4 before the year's up and hopefully next week we will have a little bit more for you on our holiday schedule we will be out a couple weeks uh we should probably have some episodes going up courtesy of

our patrons. They sponsor a lot of episodes over there and we're stealing some from the patron vault at some point to bring to you. So get excited. You're like the brotherhood. You're going to get a taste of the action stealing from our patrons to give to you. Yeah. And if you want to keep up with that holiday schedule, you can by following us on social media you can follow us at twitter.com slash girls gone canon that's c-a-n-o-n or also find us on blue sky which we also keep updated and we will get to your emails but if you want to send us some for example mourning the loss of men gone canon. You can at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com. It turns out the email was already taken.

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fun, and you won't regret it. Well, that's a wrap on Arya 2 and A Storm of Swords, and soon to be a wrap on 2023 with you all. I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I have been another one of your hosts, Eliana. We'll be time

traveling to a platform near you next week. Yeah, just like all of you traveling again through time with us, like Hot Pie and Gendry together with Aria. Yeah, that is exactly how it is. Goodbye.

Goodbye. Goodbye.