Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 223 — AFFC Cat of the Canals

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

New POV: Cat—but not that Cat. It's Cat of the Canals, and she's got a temp job. There's also some girl named Arya who kills a guy and takes his boots. Check us out on Bluesky! https://bsky.app/profile/girlsgonecanon.bsky.social --- 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 223, Cat of the Canals in a Feast for Crows. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Aliana. And yes, we are starting a new POV today. It's Cat of the Canals. And are you ready for meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. That's how it ends. Meow, meow, meow, meow. And then the next chapter is a little more meow, meow, meow. It is amazing that you open the chapter and she's like, I'm selling fish and I'm being trailed by tons of cats. I'm like, what a life.

I wish that was me so bad. No, it's a blast. I love being in Braavos like this with Cat of the Canals. Cat-aria? Cat-aria? Yeah. Cat Aria, Cataria. Yeah, Catara. Catara. Wrong series, wrong series.

Wrong series. But yeah, I'm loving being on the ground with her. Excited to jump in today with you to more of Braavos' waters. Yeah. And as a reminder, this month, our Patreon episode is going to be Meow-cy. I really tried to make that work. The Mercy Chapter, the Winds of Winter Mercy Chapter. That's available for patrons in the Stranger tier and above.

$5 and up. Wow, Stranger, different kind of Stranger, though, but also same kind of Stranger. Whoa, whoa. Yeah, Stranger tier. You can check that out and above. That's patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon, C-A-N-O-N. And, of course, if you're a patron in the tier Thunder and above, you can sign up for that, get access to our Discord,

where we have tons of channels to check out with other fans and friends, as well as the Hot D channels, which are starting to come to life and you also get access to monthly brappy hour which is brunch slash happy hour uh it will be happening next this month in april on april 20th from 2 to 4 et pm so that's thunder tier at patreon yeah and of course as you all know we started another series the hunger games and so we wrapped up the first book last month if you want to take a quick listen to that and we will be returning with the second book catching fire at some point but you know got a couple of other things along the way by the time you've gotten this like because we're doing a little time traveling here right by the time you get this we'll already have figured it out but soon we're gonna let you know a little bit more about our plans leading up into hot d season that we've

been we've obviously been thinking about this for a while i'm actually really looking forward to the series so you're like it's here the release date we woo we woo yeah in real time like full disclosure we are maybe one day away from finding out the release date hopefully question mark i think a new trailer is coming the day after we record this episode uh so we will be able to finalize some hot d plans and let you in on all the steamy action to come yeah i'm excited i know i'm actually really fucking excited i don't no one can take away my dragon show from me this one's fun i'm having a blast with it and i know i know a lot of what happens so you know yeah nothing shocks me and if it does it's cool yeah yeah yeah i'm excited uh well we'll talk more about that next time so keep your ears and eyes peeled

for that but until then we did get an email from our friend thunderclap the other day and i really actually liked this email i was inspired by what he had to tell us yeah so thunderclap says last episode when Sandor was fighting in the inn, it had some similarities to origins of House Clegane. Sandor has a badly wounded leg, and three of Gregor's dogs died in the form of the squire, Poliver, and the tickler. The original Clegane was a kennel master at Casterly Rock and saved Tidus Lannister from a lioness, losing a leg and three of his dogs. He was rewarded with lands and a tower house and his son was placed in Tidus's service as a squire, thus birthing the sigil of the three dogs he lost saving Tidus on the yellow of autumn grass. The elder brother from the Quiet Isle could have had to amputate Sandor's leg to save his life if it was gangrenous. We have

Thunderclap quotes, I buried him myself. This is not the voice of the elder brother. I'm sorry, everyone. I buried him myself. I can tell you where his grave lies, if you wish. I covered him with stones to keep the carrion eaters from digging up his flesh. And the elder brother also says, flesh, not body. So it might just be Sandor's leg. interesting i never thought about that either i just don't think about flesh enough well i do just not that way that's weird i was like yes i do not that way not that way oh anyways uh thunderclap quotes where a brother bigger than brienne was struggling to dig a grave from the way he moved it was plain to see that he was lame and then how only visible from the waist up a wooden leg wouldn't be visible a brother's full length robes would also hide this and amongst them

the big grave digger they encountered on the hill who walked with an awkward lurching gait of someone who is half crippled and then thunderclap also says the only character i could find with wooden leg is spare boot and then quotes stout old kegs as slow as ever spare boot hopping along briskly on his carved wooden leg interesting interesting it's kind of funny because a long time ago i wrote some meta on sanza and sandor crickets um i wrote look it's 2024 not 2014 but it's funny because we're covering some of this in the hunger games right where we're also pretending it's 2014 that we're doing on patreon but yeah no it's 2024 i'm not going to talk about sansa and sandor but it's interesting because it

makes me think of when which is a connection in that meta that I wrote back in 2014. You know, we don't have to talk about it. That she thinks about Willis, how she could learn to love a lame man, she thinks. And there's that line, sometimes she would whisper his name into her pillow just to hear the sound of it. Willis, Willis, Willis.

Willis was as good a name as Loras, she supposed. They even sounded the same a little. What did it matter about his leg? Willis would be Lord of Highgarden and she would be his lady. Now, it just reminded me of Sandor's leg and at the time as an interest in her life, as an element in her life. Interesting.

Interesting about the legs coming up with those two. But we really don't have a lot about people with you know missing a leg or having some sort of tool implement in place of their leg in this story i've totally forgot about the wooden leg there i mean pita you know speaking of the hunger games also missing a leg wow hope i didn't spoil anyway those books have been out for a while biggest biggest franchise in the world for a while anyways yeah i'm trying to think of who else i can think of who is missing a leg besides them in my head yuran does have a pirate hook for a hand but that's in my head that's not from the book um differently abled king you're on he's different he's really different and i'm trying to think of other people but i can't none come to mind right now but regardless regardless i this is very cool

very interesting you and i already called out we're like oh yes flesh flesh not body interesting Interesting. It's very Ned being like, Jadish my blood, you know, kinds of wordplay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, the flesh thing is really that was blew my mind. Thunderclap. Thank you. Didn't even think about that. Like that could be what's in the grave, which would be because you know, he then he had the helm on there and the helm's been stolen. Like all of it's kind of been false. had the helm on there and the helm's been stolen like all of it's kind of been false yeah exactly and good catches also i i like the connection as well with how it goes back to those the three the three dogs of the clegane sigil mind blown seriously i just like don't think of this this is not like a dig on this the squire poliver and tickler as dogs just because dogs are just much purer. Ramsey's dogs don't know what they're doing.

They're just animals. They're just girls. They've never been taught better. They're just girls. They're just girls. He does call them his girls. They're just girls. That's all. They can't be dogs. They're not pure and cute. That's all. I'm just like, they can't be dogs. They're not pure and cute. That's it.

That's it. Thank you, Thunderclap, for your email, as always. If you guys want to send in any emails about the episodes, you can send that over to girlsgoncanon at gmail.com. Indeed. Indeed. C-A-N-O-N. One N. Well, two Ns in total, but really.

Separate Ns. The Ns are separate. Only one hump on the camel. Camel. Camel's cunt. We're going to talk about it today. one end well two ends in total but really separate ends the ends are separate only one hump on the campbell camel camel's cunt we're gonna talk about it today whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa boy no i'm just kidding all right let's get into our lightning round eliana all right let's start off let's get into it let's do it elaine one elaine meets the cast in the veil of erin and she learns some of their secrets. It makes it sound like an interest song.

Cersei 5. Cersei makes a lot of great decisions for the wonderful nation of Westeros. Cersei wants to trowel kittens, what the hell? Well, I'm not wrong. Brienne 5. Septon Meribald guides Brienne's crew to the Quiet Isle, and they speak of broken men. Samwell 3. At the happy port, Sam punches Darian in the face. It's awesome. Jamie 3. Jamie trains with Illyn Payne. Jamie drinks his respect Brienne juice. Cersei 6. These have been really good lightning rounds lately, Chloe. Thank you.

Cersei 6. Cersei visits the Septa baler and feels that she has triumphed over the sparrow. The Reaver. Victarion agrees to his brother's mission with the goal that he shall do the cucking this time. Jaime 4. Jaime learns some of the truth of Cersei's infidelity from Lancel.

Brienne 6. The Quiet Isle serves to reinvigorate Brienne on her quest to find the Stark girls. Cersei 7. Cersei claims Taina's body through her right as queen. Quote, unquote, quote, unquote. The views on this podcast are not endorsements yes jamie five davin and jenna tell jamie who he takes after and it's not tywin whoa and that brings us here to our new pov cat of the canals a feast for crows cat of the the Canals works her day job, storing secrets by night.

We open with Cat, our new POV, awakening in a room that she shares with Brusco's daughters. She helps the girls get ready, and then she jumps on the boat with Brusco and Sons to the fish market. Reading these in order of, you know, Arya's chapters, it really is hitting home now that, like, she's sleeping in the same bed as this guy's daughters right these two sisters and is working alongside their whole family the sisters and the and the sons like two daughters and what is it also like three sons right and obviously that's ignoring you know and she's like the john kind of of the family in a way but, in a way. But, like, in a way, it's just her kind of living, to an extent, this, like, miniature fantasy of being part of a family. This sort of mimicry of her own. But also there's something that kind of struck me a little, of her being that child in the nest of another family,

their orphan that they brought in. Makes me think of the cuckoo bird, which is a bird that lays an egg in a different bird's nest and then like ends up, you know, being raised there, sometimes taking food from the other birds. And for some reason, the bird like parent is never like, well, this one baby that I have is really strange looking, does not look like the other species of my baby. Wow, weird. looking does not look like the other species of my baby wow weird but some people have actually discussed this in the context of sweet robin robert aaron and a little finger whether or not that's the case i only call this out because just the whole like cuckoo bird mockingbird thing it just makes me think of aria and her sister sansa that's all it's all over this chapter too

like everything is like oh that's very elaine oh that's very cat oh that's like back and forth especially with elaine one and now very interesting and i appreciate you explaining more of this um scenario with this bird because i only know the bird from the clocks cartoons when the bird comes out and goes cuckoo cuckoo so uh yours is a way more fun explanation but it also reminds me of like all those memes of animals where you have like a dog and a cat getting along or a family of dogs and like a cat's in the middle just like cuddled with them and like it's normal with those yeah i'm obsessed with those ideas but also that's where this i just love inter-animal friendships okay i this is where the term cucking a cuckold right comes from the cuckoo bird so yeah there's

there are theories right from people that ro that Robert Aaron might actually be Littlefinger's child by Liza. But I don't really know if that's the case or not. Maybe, maybe not. Could add some irony. Could not. It really might be John Aaron's kid. I mean, the kid's, like, obviously not the strongest kid. And he didn't have, like, apparently the fastest swimmers.

So, I don't know. I like it either way way i think it's a fine theory if it happens it happens if it doesn't it doesn't it doesn't really for me it doesn't change the dial you know his story's not about him so i'm not invested in it it's just a theory i know exists so yeah yeah yeah it's now all you know so the girls tell aria that oh you're making noise in your sleep again how embarrassing i would hate that for me cat of the canals thinks that she should not be having wolf dreams because she's not aria stark but she can't rid herself of aria stark try as she does or of her wolf nymeria who leads a pack in her dreams she can't get rid of the two-legged dreams either where

she's constantly stumbling looking for her mother through a wasted land of mud and blood and fire, stopped by a monster with a dog's head who's like, you can't save your mom. She really couldn't have done it, though. What could it mean? What does all this symbolize? I just don't know about this dream. Eliana would tell you it means you have anxiety, probably, by the way. That's what she tells me about my dreams. It probably does. Probably. She probably does. You're right.

Many things can be true. It could also be a symbolic dream meaning something, Eliana, you unfun person. We'll talk about it in a second. So, of course, there's that symbolism of what she was doing in the Riverlands, where she was basically treading through a wasted land of mud and blood and fire being stopped by a guy with a dog's head telling her not to go after her family. Like that's pretty much just what she did the whole last book. But I'm also struck by the language and how it reminds me of the Trident and of King's Landing and what could possibly

happen later in King's Landing. There could be a big party, you know, a big blast or two. You just never know. And the Bad Show did something where Arya was in the vicinity. I don't know if that would happen in the books. I don't know how she'd get all the way back down from the north, but maybe she would. They make dragons and ships. But it is giving Riverlands war. war and something also that's really gripping me especially here is how often cat quote-unquote is kind of fumbling here to to you know be cat and very often it passes back over to aria in the pov

right like it's like cat did this cat did that aria can't figure out why she's having this dream. So she's still not no one. She's still Arya Stark at heart. It's interesting, like even with the cuckoo bird you're looking at, she found a way to find a family to have that found family all over again. No matter where she goes, she's gonna Arya Stark. And it starts to get a little stronger her bond with being no one like in the blind girl. There's only a handful of aria-isms that pop up. But no big spoilers. You'll hear about this in our Patreon episode if you're over there this month. But for the Winds of Winter chapter, she's very immersed.

There is no slippage in the name and the nomenclature of what she calls herself in that chapter. So really interesting progression. And I really love that we just keep getting these openings with language about her and her mom, whether it's a dream, whether it's, you know, her feelings, just all these connotations with the other cat, big cat. And also that Nymeria is still so connected to Catelyn in the Riverlands, right? We're seeing what Nymeria sees pretty often,

but also we're probably seeing what her dead mom sees. Yeah, it's also actually very cool that she's strong enough to maintain that connection from overseas, right? People used to have to pay big money to make those overseas calls. Well, and you think of Bran in the Wall and Jon in the Wall, right?

And their wolves and visions. True, true, true. Yeah, right? And their wolves and visions. True, true. Yeah, so it does work across big distances. And yeah, there was something that you said about her being with this family and stuff. And I do wonder, at the end of the chapter, does she resign? Does she give them a letter of resignation? Or does she just completely ghost and never show up to work again? Like, how does this...

Anyway, she was sleeping in the same bed as these girls so going off of that dream more though like it's just really sad you know there's this line of in that dream she was always weeping like a frightened little girl cats never weep she told herself no more than wolves do it's just a stupid dream and i guess cats don't weep but wolves do howl i can assume cats just meow meow meow a lot when they're sad anyway they howl out of loneliness and out of wanting to play out of boredom out of sadness no really though jake does it every day i'm not kidding i think i've heard every day yeah he'll howl like bloody murder to get our attention to come throw a scrunchie ball down the stairs so he can chase it and bring it back up play with me he'll do that for hours dude

hours it's the most important thing in his life it is it is because he's a cat jake is always weeping and aria and these dreams are weeping and it's just as true these dreams are just as true as the wolf dreams they're just kind of different it also makes me think of i mean tyrian starts having kind of similar dreams right now at this time right he dreams of himself kind of looking a little like mealy's monstrous he's got a second head and he's like oh i'm really angry and then he looks at the head on his shoulder he's like oh that head is weeping what. And then he looks at the head on his shoulder. He's like, oh, that head is weeping. What could it mean?

And I'm like, what could it mean, Arya? And it's essentially revealing her other self, right? Not just the Nymeria self, but Nymeria's other true nature of like, she really is just a child who wanted to save her mother. And she's just been scared this whole time. But she keeps repressing it with fear cuts deeper than swords. And, you know, she was just a frightened little girl like weasel. Yeah.

And, you know, Kat's final moments, she was weeping. Yeah. Blood. It was very metal. That was a joke. She was scratching down her cheeks, but also weeping. Yeah. Yeah.

Kat wept. Jesus wept. Oh, my God. Yeah. Three days later, here she is. as a joke she was scratching down her cheeks but also weeping yeah yeah cat wept jesus wept oh my god yeah three days later here she is brusco and his family take the boat along the long canal to the fish market in silty town inspecting the morning catch buying the best shellfish they load up the boats and cat uses this time to set out on her task. Learn three new things, secrets in Braavos, the city of fog and masks. Yeah, so apparently every single morning, the Titan of Braavos howls to wake everyone up. I remember one time someone made a joke about the Titan of Braavos being a

mecha and like both and people like piloting it. I want to say it was supposed to be davos and stan is piloting it like in like the yeagers in pacific rim that's what i have but i also have a new thing for all of you of is the titan of bravos like that giant sphere thing in las vegas right who is yellow has a face and like it wakes up and is very sunny sunny demeanor in the mornings so this is what i brought for you all as listeners i like that though um is you too gonna play i play? I don't... I don't know. I'm just kidding.

You know, I've really soured on them since they, you know, forced all that music on our phones that one time. Do you remember that? I'll never forgive. No, that was funny. That was weird. Like, why would they do that? That was so bizarre.

Never forgive. Brusco inspects each day's couch, right? And he can tell, like, is this shellfish worth buying today based on just, like, he just knocks the barrel and, like, checks it and stuff. And I love those videos of, like, sushi chefs going to the fish market and being like, yes, this is a good one and choosing the fish that they're going to serve each day. And it speaks to just, like like in-depth knowledge, right? Like really learning, learning to see, learning how to feel what's good. It takes all of those

senses to become an expert in this. And that's very much what Aria is learning in general throughout her training. I love that. That's like exactly what Syrio started her with, you know, it's come around circle. And it's like they're useful skills for like any, a lot of different kinds of trades, right? This is what it means to be in depth and to truly like, be in the moment and understand things. Also, like earlier, you know, discussing the family dynamics of Bresco's family and Brea and Talia, these sisters who are close in the number of children in the family, like, I'm kind of like, are they, in a way, mirrors of Aria and Sansa? Like, not really in terms of personality, but the fact that, like, hey, here are these sisters, and they get to fucking be together, essentially. Yeah, I definitely felt like, also with all the boys, right? Then all the boys in the family, um, what is it, nine kids or something, though? It's so many kids. I guess it's not, it's nine kids, so it's not exactly the same but whatever it's not exact but no but it's

definitely a parallel i mean she grew up in a big family right we don't understand yeah i have no clue i'm just making this shit up no i i work with someone you know my dad has like eight siblings and that's a lot my grandma popped them all out you know that's a lot. My grandma popped them all out. You know, that's a lot. But I met someone at work this week whose mother, and so this woman's probably in her 40s or late 40s, early 50s. Her mother, just turned 80, has 15 siblings. No! Yeah. 15 siblings, all from the same, like, no several parents. It's pretty big.

So that's kind of crazy. Are any of them twins or like triplets did she just have to like pop them all out like holy shit i guess i didn't i didn't ask or she comes from a family of 15 no i'm sorry she comes her mom comes from the family of 15 but either way it's so many kids how did all the kids like did they just like i hope there were some twins or maybe i don't. I don't know. I don't know. It's a lot.

It's insane. I'm like, that's crazy. So, but big families are a possibility. They are a thing. And I also, coming back to her kind of sticking out as the odd one, like, you were talking about, right? Like, that she's lumped herself into this family. She has, like, the dangerous job, did you notice? That she's the one that has to get the boat

off the dock she's the one that has to jump between the docks and like swiftly run and make it onto the boat showing a couple of things right like confirming her position as outsider he doesn't have his sons do that he doesn't have his daughters do that he has her do that he thinks ah i need a small life person that's able to run like this and jump like this but it's also showing some of her agility and some of those improvement on her skills right of being able to run jump and quickly and swiftly get between the boats and between the docks and jump into the boat and go yeah which is i mean it's a pretty important skill like imagine her like having these skills with the boat being able to like run and jump for it right and then you contrast that with the time that she was on the

boat in that like flooded riverlands town and she had to like stay off the top of the deck because like she had no skills at all so it's really interesting to see that sort of development interesting when you think about how she wanted to get steal that boat back at the god's eye oh my god actually she is sorry honestly aria could steal a boat now i actually have faith in her being able to steal a boat now yeah not only steal but be able to like direct it absolutely and do something with it i mean again interesting off the yeah off the dock all the time so for sure oh my god definitely interesting how much the boat is coming back not just the grand theft auto grand theft mariner yeah she can steal a boat okay so you

know how you're always like and by you're always i mean during this fateful weekend in uh chloe's life someone asked her how do you think aria is gonna get back to Westeros? And she goes, on a boat. And is Arya gonna, like, is she gonna steal the boat to go back? Or is she gonna, like, I don't know. Or commandeer it. Yeah, exactly. Mutiny. Lead a fucking mutiny and be like, we're taking the boat now. Little pirate witch queen.

I love her. I hope so. Oh my god. Those are thoughts. Was I actually accidentally right? I love this for me. Well, you were always gonna be right about her taking a boat, but now she's going to be taking a boat.

Could you go back and just say again real quick the you were always going to be right part? You were always going to be right. Thank you. Thank you so much for saying this. Finally, someone is listening. All right. Let's get back to Bravo's history real quick.

We could have me being right any day. Okay day no but really though she could steal a boat the nine free cities are the daughters of valeria that was the kindly man taught her but bravo says the bastard child me who ran away from home we are a mongrel folk the son of slaves and whores and thieves. Our forebears came from half a hundred lands to this place of refuge to escape the dragon lords who enslaved them. Half a hundred gods came with them, but there is one god,

all of them shared in common. Him of many faces. Yeah, and then he tells her that all men must die and return to him of many faces. And I don't know, I just want to know like what do the faceless men think about resurrection i just want to know because they tell aria they're like yeah i mean you don't know anywhere that the people live forever right

and i'm like i guess not as far as i know but i don't know like what if that's what's going on i don't know i also am curious what aria is going to think about when she sees lady stoneheart right like what is that going to mean to her on this not only very personal level and she's like oh my god my mom's a zombie but also like on that religious level depending on how much she like how deeply she will internalize those beliefs of like yeah everyone's supposed to die. Like, is she going to look at her mom and really strongly feel like abomination? Abomination.

Abomination. No, really though. Really though, I do think that's part of it. What she's learning in Braavos is administering the gift, right? And is the gift mercy? Is it murder? That's up for debate. That's the big debate for her, for the Braavosi, for the Kindly Man, all these people to talk

about in their chapters. But for us, the reader, to think about, like, I do think that's an important part of her journey, right? Learning mercy starts there in the first book, really, even her first kill and understanding the difference between the two and what she's learning here with the faceless men. I'm sure that she'll look at her mother and realize what to your point abomination this is no one should live this way yeah pretty much no one should be forced to live like that man it's not a real life yeah it's pretty wild whatever is going on there it's a half-life you know you're not living a real you're living a ghost a shell a zombie no

a zombie a ghost is a different supernatural phenomenon oh my god so aria shares her learnings of the day blind becca's secret hot sauce ingredient which i too want to know give us the secrets they shouldn't have chili peppers yet by the way just throwing it out there but they might from dorn i don't know the blue lanterns mummers plan to perform the lord of woeful countenance while the mummers at the ship plan to answer it with seven drunken oarsmen when's the release date and a bookseller lotho lornell sleeps in the house of tradesman and captain Moreto Pristine whenever the honorable tradesman captain is away on a voyage and moves out whenever the vixen comes home interesting right so that implies that someone's fucking someone is what I'm hearing maybe that's just me I feel like do we even get like a like a a reveal on that later? Does he ever come back?

I don't know. I think we only get him in Cat of the Canals, but he deals old books and scrolls. So maybe he could come back up. Oh, yeah. Maybe he could come back up. He really actually could. That could be cool. Yeah.

I feel like these are definitely characters coming in T-Wow. Especially because the Prestanes are like wealthy and powerful right in the story and they have tall towers it sounds like right the tall towers of the mighty yeah the green the golden thunderbolt turning on its spire on the sea lord's palace like all these places they have tall and grand uh tall and grand towers so very interesting i'd like to see what comes back from them if anything else comes back up and i feel like there's a hint at it in mercy actually now that i say that so we'll come back to that yeah and i mean it could be interesting like i it wouldn't be surprising if tyrian you know was like we're gonna gonna want to swing by the bookstore. Or, I mean, who knows? Maybe, like, Arya steals this fucking guy's boat.

I mean, it seems unrealistic that Daenerys herself would end up back here, obviously. Like, with all the places in the Free Cities she should slash won't hit already. But it makes me wonder if her books, if that's where they go to ask questions about her books or something yeah you know those books she got for her wedding gift yeah thoughts thoughts the kindly man asks aria who she is she tells him no one and he says you lie and bids her to sleep and serve on the morrow aria serves the many-faced god three days every month, washing the dead, tending to the household tasks. The other days she spends in Ragman's Harbor with the strange smells and the noise and all of the inbound ships. Shout out to our friends at Ragman's Harbor, a new podcast out there.

Go check it out. I really love this harbor and I love this journey through it. And I really love this harbor and I love this journey through it. I totally understand how George was like, I could write Arya novellas for years because it's just so rich and colorful. And it also shows Arya with all the weirdos and all the normies and like the people on the streets, even more so than, you know, A Storm of Swords was kind of like the book for Arya's on the ground in the Riverlands and Clash Arya's on the ground in the Riverlands. But honestly, there's something interesting about her falling in with the mummers, the sex workers, the queers, the traders and sailors, that she's able to fit in with all these different people, learn their secrets, chat with them, whether she's spying or not, fit in with them and make friends with them. And even about class consciousness, right, of her hanging out with the different classes of workers in Bravos on all levels there's such a great opportunity in real life of like meeting people from different walks of life and you learn so much from being engaged with these kind of

groups of people that maybe are nothing like you or your interests we i think that's like aria finessing some of what she's learned in the Riverlands now in Braavos right as she's matured to you know her people skills she's finessing all this yeah I really love that and she is learning all those it's always been I think a big part of Arya's story of kind of that idea of just acceptance right and understanding where people are coming from no matter where they're coming from which i think also makes her a great again compliment to brand storyline like we see her even doing that like that's i think part of what's important about her her journey with sandor right she's like dang we were really at odds but now i think i kind of get it and and this is also just a great

evolution of you know her now she knows what a brothel is now she really knows as opposed to like when she was at the beach yeah yeah that's interesting yeah she's even just in one book she's a completely different character now yeah she's like oh that's a brothel and now she like knows about like the best ones you know she's got recommendations if you asked her and she's got her faves i also love the symbolism of how aria serves on the three days when there is no moon you know the days that the moon is there in the sky it's when i feel like i don't have to explain to all of you how the moon works, but like the moon changes every night, everyone like it has a changing face. And so on the days that the moon is in the sky, Arya, the moon is always there, obviously, but like on the days that you can see the moon, Arya has a face that is shown to the world, right?

Or has to play the role. has a face that is shown to the world right or has to play the role it's uh on the days when there is no face and therefore no one no moon that they all gotta serve that's it yeah the moon feels big in this too like it's very important i feel like magic like the big orb in the sky it's true you know the moon is big um i'm like i don't know do i explain to them how the moon works aria starts to learn uh also these trade tongues and interact with sailors from all over the world and all sorts of social graces to what chloe was saying you know she's really getting to learn a lot what it's just this is like your favorite line in all of a song of ice and fire i feel like you love this passage so much i thought of you as soon as i read it i was like oh i mean you talk

about it a lot once in a while you always say the camel cunt line is the best i love when she says i've never said that i didn't even remember her ever saying that until this was rereading this you definitely have said before you like it so maybe i just a long long time ago and i must have also thrown that out that must have gotten caught in some filter when i needed to clear up some memory space on my head my computer couple gigabytes here a couple gigabytes there like the time i accidentally deleted my audio and somehow magically recovered it on google drive that was bad bad memories it's been six great years so we have a passage a famous passage those sailors were the ones cat liked best any man who bothered her was apt to see the fig or hear himself described as an ass's

pizzle or a camel's cunt. Maybe I never saw a camel, she would tell them, but I know a camel's cunt when I smell one. Once in a great while, that would make somebody angry, but when it did, she had her finger knife. She kept it very sharp and knew how to use it too. Uh-oh. I con.

I love the trope of child cursing around i don't know so funny imagine just imagine maybe i never saw a camel but i know a camel's common like she doesn't even know what that means and she's out here saying that it's so funny oh yeah what is the hell is a pizzle i don't know anyway we have this little thing here too about the finger knife kind of fun makes me think you know here's george really really digging into that dnd rogue class thing not that dnd dungeons and dragons rogue class and i don't know i'm like thinking about the finger knife for some reason makes me think about the finger dance none of these things are that connected and then from there like little finger and i don't know i almost feel like something's happening here

but maybe not quite yet the fingers i'm thinking that the pizzle must be penis it must be it must be but also yeah like fingers and stuff especially because like that guy's fingers that don't move are coming up in a sec oh it's definitely a penis i have found okay we're here we're still here on the fizzle yeah something with fingers though is coming up right in her plot interesting yeah just more ties to elaine's dude she befriends a bunch of people on the wharves and spends her time learning from them how to catch eels perform magic tricks and make up body farces and i don't know i like how there's a line here it's described as like people telling her true tales about bravos but lies about their lives and i thought that was really interesting

that people are so open about this history that they've all kind of agreed upon it's easier and even then like people don't always agree on different interpretations of what happens in history but here people uh that's how she's seeing it they're giving her facts about how bravos came to be and what it's like living here and the lies about their lives part stands out in terms of what is going on here in a song of ice and fire and having this pov structure where you really get to see into the minds of the characters i remember a friend of mine who's like a therapist speaking with him once of like about delusions right um things like schizophrenia and he's like everyone lives with delusions right he's like everybody has delusions

it's just how intrusive they are to your life and in that context it makes me think of like aria is also living with lies herself right she's got lies about her own life and sometimes people don't even know that they're lying to themselves like aria telling herself all the time she's like i'm not afraid i'm not afraid but her dreams tell us different she is afraid she's terrified she's got nowhere to go she's got no home she's got no friends i mean she has friends they just needed jobs and and yeah and also i don't know she's learning about people's magic tricks she's watching like street magic stuff it's cute and she's like that's not magic when he pretends to swallow the mouse and i strongly believe aria's like you're full of shit because i think that if dared aria could do it aria could swallow the whole mouse she would

she would make it happen you know eat the worm eat the mouse and that's what i have for you in cat the cat house oh my god she probably would try it if she was dared she was like the kid that would eat you know how at lunch like some people in a cafeteria setting as a student might put all their gross stuff together and that happens like make a thing yes yeah i've seen it on tv i've seen it in real life like of course the kids are gonna put their gross shit together like aria would drink the chocolate milk with all the gross shit yeah like she would do it on a day yeah she would absolutely do it or like there was a kid what were we doing we were dissecting something in class i want to say it was the fetal i got out of that i don't remember what it was it might have been it might

have been frogs who knows but there was something in the formaldehyde and this kid was like who's gonna dare me to eat it who's gonna give me money to eat it? Who's going to give me money to eat it? And we're like, no. And I think he wanted to do it, but someone stopped him because it's fucking preserved in formaldehyde. I think the teacher caught me and was like, don't do it. I didn't have to dissect shit. I got out of all that. I'm not against it.

I don't even remember how. It's just not for me. I, okay. out of all that i'm not i don't even remember how it's just not for me i okay here's a new insight about me that i realized watching a show about i don't know doctors my like this k drama it finished this week i don't think i could be a surgeon i would faint seeing that blood but oh yeah no way there wasn't that much blood from what i remember when it came to like dissecting stuff for school because it's's dead and preserved. Dead. Yeah. But still. The blood is hard for me, but I don't know. I'm just like, the blood should be inside you. I faint when they draw blood for me if I

haven't had anything. My blood pressure drops too much, I'm like, it should be inside me. Yeah, they also have to use the butterfly needle on me because like my veins will collapse because i'm just so delicate yeah oh when you think of me everyone listening i hope you think of me as such a delicate flower she is she is she's the most beautiful delicate flower blooming now here in the springtime it is april happy airy season cat peddles her seafood at all of the ports, but she always finds herself coming back to Ragman's Harbor. Cats start to follow her mood and her seafood. Sometimes a dozen would be trailing after her by day's end. She'd throw an oyster back to see which cat wins the prize. Oh, that's not nice. And often the prize, though, would go to runty small cats. Like me,

she'd tell herself. Her favorite, though, is a scrawny old tom with a chewed ear that reminds her of a cat she chased in Westeros. Or wait, she didn't chase that cat. She's Cat of the Canals, not Arya. I just had a random thought because of the basilisk's blood thing that

happens later in this chapter, and her learning about it and tying it back to Weez and the dogs thing, and we've been learning about it and tying it back to wheeze and the dogs thing and we've been talking about dogs and ramsey this isn't going to be about dogs it's going to be about cats but is it possible i'm sure someone else has thought of this already and not just me for her to do some sort of basilisk's blood thing using cats to ram Ramsey? Not to Ramsey necessarily, but with cats, especially if she's so good at like... Well, let's come back to that.

I don't know. It's just a random thought. Let's come back to that, because I think there's something in it, and I think we'll be able to talk about that this episode. Okay, okay. Still. It's a weird throwaway thought that just suddenly came to me. I also want to add the scrawny old Tom with a chewed ear. Oh, like Sandor.

Oh. I didn't think of that till now either i'm like oh right sandor scrawny chewed ear also he's not scrawny but i guess it was kind of an ear right also with a brienne it's more of her cheek yep yes so new ships come every day bringing new men this time the brazen monkey different different animal the ebony's whaler two pentoshi cogs a green galley from old volantis they're all parked cat of the canals attempts to sell them some grub with middling results but a guy from the volantis ship eats a dozen oysters telling her that lysine pirates led by solid or son attacked them in the stepstone six oysters that's nothing um another sailor asks what there is for entertainment and are you recommend some of the mummers or you can like

go to see some eel fights which is interesting i'm curious or the moon pool where the bravos duel at night but what he really wanted to know was where where are the women? She recommends Mary at the happy port. But the young sailor, Watt, I can't, I'm sorry, I can't get over the names. Watt. Watt. Watt really wants to know how to find the courtesans. And shipmates think that he's crazy for this once he's like, courtesans are expensive. They are out of your pay grade.

They are for lords, not for sailors. Yes, we get a passage of the courtesans of Braavos. They were famed across the world. Singers sang of them. Goldsmiths and jewelers showered them with gifts. Craftsmen begged for the honor of their custom. Merchant princes paid royal ransoms to have them on their arms at balls and feasts and mummer shows. And Braavos slew each other in their names they're influencers gifts i don't know i i it just came to mind because i was editing an episode where we're talking about get ready with me videos uh aria tells them about her oh just like derrick aria

tells them about her run-in with the black pearl who's descended from dragons they say the first black pearl was rumored to be a pirate queen and her taste for hot sauce on oysters the current one the current black pearl um which is a professional move as as chloe points out and aria thinks she's like i think i gotta start carrying hot sauce with me when i sell oysters because like what's his name becko becko does it and he gets way more business and i'm like yeah aria you should you should care she's a great employee in this chapter like she's very constructive she figures out what other people are doing she comes back she's like listen kindly man listen brusco here's what we're gonna do here's what the competition plan yeah yeah she's like whether i work for you whether i work for you something's got to change in this city yeah and it's hot sauce the people demand the hot sauce man when aria had told the kindly man she met the

black pearl he says oh her mother was named bellaera, but the first black pearl was a Belagier. So a little history there. I'm sure we'll come up to that in Braavos for a bit, because we know some of those roots and where they lay, and you might even bring up some of those roots today. But Kat knows that the men don't care about any of that history, though. And instead, she goes, so what's up with the war in Westeros? And the men who are from gold town tell her well the little lord has kept us out of the war just like his

mother did except as they tell her the lady lysa is dead murdered by her own singer farther down the dock taganero sits next to casso the king of seals they buy muscles from her and try to poach her from brusco saying i'll pay you far more and you won't smell like fish yeah we have a line here of he had been looking for a new partner ever since the drunken daughter put her knife through little narbo's hand and brief thing the lack of finger discussion makes me think of the random other throwaway thought that i had about theon teaching aria how to use a bow and arrow i'm like dang what if that does hold water but also just in general like the finger is not really working here it makes me think of other like characters in these two books such as theon and jamie and you know this guy's got to get a new a new livelihood now right and

this whole idea of you got to start a new job you got to start afresh with a new life thing just what diana and jamie got to do jamie keeps trying to make his current job work though makes me think of cat and john's hands too and the stiffness in them post attack for cat and then john of course um i don't know how you couldn't think of that since every other thought is that he's flexing his hand just kidding except i'm telling the truth john flexed his hand john flexed oh no i'm oh my god i just don't know i'm like aria are you gonna drive the boat or are you gonna learn to bow and arrow i feel like okay i think she could steal the boat now it didn't even take her that long you know to learn how to how to ride a boat it might not even take her that long to shoot a bow

and arrow she doesn't have to be like i mean how good she gotta be like she's got great aim great decks right now she's got good aim when she threw that one knife at the tickler how the apple yeah yeah she's getting better like she's got good hand-eye coordination as far as we can tell like maybe it won't be that hard she's just gonna be like a prodigy at it just like everything else well and through the power of george r martin's pen slash word star anything's possible that's what i'm trying to tell you yeah definitely thought there was something interesting in narbo the boy also has a dream of getting out now that his hand is no longer really working for his job

and now that he's given his body to capitalism and bravos um he has a dream of working on a boat just like aria so i'm like oh he has a dream he could get out aria you too you too yeah that's actually true this is more like what rowing though as opposed to Arya's which is like I'm gonna own the boat well not own it sorry I'm going to take I will take the boat I can't believe she's gonna steal a boat I can't believe this is gonna happen Eliana called it I called it and then Eliana called it i don't know together george get writing together we have come to the new heist movie oceans it's not oceans but it's like the sea the narrow sea 11 oh she's 11 my god we're 12 oh she's 11 oh my god oh she's 11 oh she's 11 that's the new movie

there's something really interesting about class in braavos and how every street Arya goes on has the same people working the same jobs, but like different levels, right? You have a little discussion here of sex workers who are from a lesser district and people automatically in conversation treat them like they're less. And you see that they have to struggle and that people exploit their bodies. less and you see that they have to struggle and that people exploit their bodies and like one of these men says oh well you know so and so uh i hear they murder people there that visit there and i'm like okay well it's probably that that guy assaulted that person and they were protecting themselves but glossing over that uh that's the narrative right that's the narrative that's put around but then on the other hand you're oh, but the lovely courtesans on their rafts who sell the fantasy, right? They sell the fantasy to everyone of this is what you could

have. And I'm the fantasy on your arm. Like, it's very interesting that these are two different classes of workers in this city, and they're being treated that way. And it's not just for the sex workers. It's with the bodyguards too, right? In Bravo's, you have the Bravo's, the cut purses, you have people that pickpocket for a living and then stabby stabby when it gets crazy like Narbo. Assassins are the higher class, right? You have high paid assassins out of the black and white temple, the house of black and white going on. And they're regarded as like the top class level, you need a shit ton of money to pay them for that. But is it really that different from the guy on the street that's walking around stabbing

someone for someone else? Like it's not different. The only difference is that one is regarded as higher class and the other is regarded as not because of location. I don't know. It's interesting. Like Arya could go work for Taganero, who basically is the mob, right? He's the mob of Braavos is what it sounds like.

He's like, ah, you wouldn't smell like fish if you came and worked for me and kept your pocket knife there, your finger knife sharp. Matilda style, for those of you that have watched Leon the Professional. She could just make far more money doing that probably with dirty money than working for Brusco,

which obviously that's not why she's there. She's there for the secrets, but the job, than working for Brusco, which obviously that's not why she's there. She's there for the secrets, but the job, her working for Brusco, like that's looked at as lesser too, right? She's being looked at. He's like, ah, you could be working for me, kid. You could come work for me and be the best person on the street to pickpocket and stab around. I don't know. It's interesting that you have such ritualism involved with some of the what's looked at as the higher class, higher risk jobs, and just that class dividing line. And, you know, both of these scenarios show people that survive, right in this city, they survive and they make money to live. Interesting to watch how Braavos is kind of

capitalized on. It's like a world of dreams, but you have to make your dream lest you land in a nightmare. And I don't know, there's also something that's like, you know, at least some of these lower class assassins steal money after the person's dead, right? Or steal money from them while they're alive, sure, but the rich steal it from them while they're alive all the time. Like, at least some of the lower class cup purses have honor you know it's an honest trade honest trade the rich are just getting duped by the rich and the rich are duping the poor too so i don't know it's interesting it is interesting and you can kind of see that a little even in the story of how the waif came to be there at the house like that kind of speaks to it as well when you're talking about like the rich doing it while alive and

i guess part of it is like it's just buying the illusion of legitimacy right because the house of black and white i mean i i guess at the very least like you pay for everything it's just like what are you willing to ascertain it? Because, like, my understanding is no matter what, they're going to get the job done, I guess. No one will necessarily know it was you, except for them. But also, like, they're embedded into the system. You're buying, I guess, yeah, legitimacy. Because, I mean, the bank.

They have a whole bank like how do you think banks fucking work everyone well and it's like the godfather series right so in the beginning of the godfather for those listening that need to know uh the whole idea is that like the mob is trying to become legitimate right how do i take this and make it legitimate for the next generation how do i make it so my son, his sons have a legitimate job? Like the whole point is there's a character that ends up, you know, trying to get into government so that he can help legitimize this business and have that. And so it's interesting to watch those trials and tribulations across the three movies,

but it's like that, you know, like the mob was a very big thing. It's still a thing, but the government's kind of the mob too is what i'm trying to tell you they looked at something and capitalized on it right a lot of the free cities have done this and you even look at even in westeros jane right jane was trafficked by cersei and littlefinger and then trained to pleasure to pleasure, to pleasure people, to give them pleasure. Yeah. The Lysini and the seven sighs, right? And being trained in the seven sighs is something that's looked at as exotic and luxurious. And sometimes it probably is.

And sometimes it probably isn't. It can be both things. And it's interesting. I'm about to start on Fever Dream. I'm not in it yet. I've been waiting. Nauticast, Emmett over at Nauticast is just finishing up the book for patrons soon, I believe. So check that out if you're into that ever all the noise you can like feel in the culture you can feel on the streets and just like it's new orleans you know but then you can also tell that he would love to have stayed there

like george could write 80 years of the novel in new orleans and fever dream like he just like bravos he would love to just keep writing about them. Yeah, it's beautiful. It's bright. It's loud. Something's always happening. And there's this passage that I was shared by my roommate. My roommate shared me this passage from Fever Dream of a sex worker that is upstairs in New Orleans. And you get kind of this scene where the next day someone finds like the man that had gone upstairs this woman dead in the hall I believe and uh one of the characters says what the hell happened to him and the other guy says Bridget probably woke up clubbed him and took his money she's a real darling I believe she's killed at least four men with that little knife of hers she carves notches on that heart he grimaced when it comes

to bloodshed abner my people have very little to teach your own so interesting that george goes into a little more detail in some of his other works uh obviously not as much here yeah aria's pov i'm realizing now there's no sort of like really gold cloaks or law enforcement though now that i think about it in bravos because something different that you have um between bravos with their class right and the lysine pillow houses is that uh the people in bravos are at least not trafficked they are not sex slaves they are sex workers and you can see it in the way that they act there you can see it in the way that aria describes the dynamics in each of those houses and really just shows that they have they have life right as opposed to

the sex slaves that Tyrion encounters in his in his travels and so I think that's interesting but also like I'm like what happens when people die what does happen because like the Braavos are just killing each other out by the moon pool having their duels right what happens there no one's mad when someone's at the pillow

house not the pillow house at these brothels uh in bravos kills someone really i'm just like yeah that just happened so i am kind of interested and curious now i'm like how does this work in bravos and i think we start to see a little more of the upper echelon of city management and private security kind of appear in the winds of winter mercy right and not to spoil start to see a little more of the upper echelon of city management and private security kind of appear in the Winds of Winter Mercy. Right. And not to spoil, but we see a little bit more of the outline of how that works. So, but I think the Winds of Winter, we're going to see at least a little bit more of that. But it is kind of like private security free for all.

Yeah, I think people are kind of amongst the bravosi themselves. There seems to be like a lot of, I think, cultural trust within it. They have a strong sense of identity, cultural identity within Braavos. It's just but it's also interesting because they have people from all over come there, too. Mm hmm. Fun place. Another fun place is Happyport, where Arya reaches. another fun place is happy port where Arya reaches

and the mummers come down for oysters telling her about their seven drunken oarsmen performance and how they're down two players she tells them to try to get little Narbo and they send her on her way to find Mary and the girl for oysters Mary sits with her eyes

shut listening to Darian play his wood harp and Lana who has fine golden hair age 14 always asked for the singer to play stupid love songs what's wrong with that also obviously there's there's rumors of who she could be right is she tearing child or someone's child i don't know i don't know if that matters oh yeah it could be another fun little wink nod whatever from george but definitely seems to be a lannister bastard possibly it does feel a little that way but a little hill i mean lana hill as as we feel about robert aaron i don't know maybe maybe not i have no strong strong feelings

darren of course is a crow but he's been transformed into a peacock. The only black item left on him is his boots. He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the

ones who killed her prince, and the singer should be on the wall. Slip it out in there aria uh i really do think this is that one song that she hears that i'm 99 sure sounds like it's about ashara dane and potentially her dad or maybe not it could also be i guess helena would be another idea oh yeah and the or jahara but that doesn't count yeah interesting um i think it's probably about i guess they're supposed to be about ashara just because i don't know george gardened that far yet with helena but also it came up in aria's story so i'm like aria

are you like is she like me and she's just not good at remembering the lyrics of songs like i can listen to a song and know what it's about you know like people love to talk about pumped up kicks i know obviously what it's about before anyone else because i had listened to it before got big but anyways i do think it's really interesting how everyone in all of these stories when they reach bravos just kind of gets turned into a prince right earlier we heard about the black pearl and we're like yeah you know the black pearl from back then her lover was a westerosi prince and i'm like he was a king right this was agan the fourth so how does he go from being a king to a prince but he

here in the story if this is about ashara which i'm pretty sure it is ned who is a lord in the story that everyone in westeros knows and this rumor that everyone in westeros has peddled goes from a lord to a prince. Everyone just gets turned into a fucking prince. Oh. Because they go to Braavos and they're no longer in Westeros, maybe? I guess it just makes, are they like, it's a better story when they're a prince, but also now that I'm thinking about it and everyone just gets turned into a prince,

it makes me think of Aemon being like, we were looking for a prince when we should have been looking for a princess i don't think that actually ties into here but i just think it's interesting it makes me think of you know like danny and viserys as well going to bravos or raniera selling her crown in bravos true and making her no longer a queen in a way because she sold her queen crown her father's ground all it takes to make someone i mean i guess that's the question that the story is asking anyway yeah well it's a very transformative city where you can become anyone it turns out is what i'm saying oh you

actually literally could that's that is aria's storyline if you give enough the sailors oh god oh god if you give enough of your body enough of your soul. Oh, God. Oh, God. If you give enough of your body, enough of your soul, here it comes. You could be anyone, kid. When Darren first arrived, Arya had asked him to take her back to Eastwatch, but he declared, I'm never going back. And the woman in Braavos are far too beautiful, which he tells that to every woman, by the way, each and every one of them separately that she had heard of she's like oh yes he says this to every girl individually cat wishes she had been there the night the fat one quote-unquote hit him thinking about it uh when the sailor's wife suddenly appears to praise darren's good looks and his music she thinks he is fair of face and foul of heart thought aria but she did not say it you're goddamn right aria you're a good judge of character in that i'll tell you this much

fair of face and foul of heart all the good ones are or the bad ones i do love this resentment though she should be the one writing bars i'm in good one she could be a poet too on top i know right she's so talented that's our girl i do love how angry she gets it's like very resentful it's almost like watching someone be a false idol or pray to a false idol right it builds about him um that even though she doesn't really know how john has been at the night's watch whatsoever like just putting that out there she doesn't really know how john has been at the night's watch whatsoever like just putting that there she does not know what's happened at the night's watch and what john is up to but she has this idea in her head this ideal that john is being put against

that he's a good man who chose to go to the night's watch he was a boy that was like i have no other options fuck it um and he's doing his duty at the wall. And Darren's a bad man who has abandoned the watch. And she feels that there's inequality in the situations, which there is. But hysterically, at this moment, if you glue the books back together, John is currently tossing around the idea of abandoning his post and getting the watch into a battle because of drumroll, please. Arya, because of Arya, because of the memory of the little sister that he loved, Arya. He is currently thinking of abandoning his watch and deserting. Yeah, so true, it is Arya's fault.

It's all her fault! No, I'm kidding. No, no, but I love that. I love how you've tied these together, and you're right, she really doesn't know how it's all been going, and as you said, the inequality of the situations, right? Taryn's a bad man who has abandoned the Watch. I know we discussed this much more in depth during the Samwell chapters.

I mean, like, it was super shitty that he didn't help out when Maester Aemon was dying and sick. But also it was super shitty that he fucking got sent there at all. But also it was super shitty that he fucking got sent there at all. And this is very much Arya's black and white thinking, right? And her not really being able to see the circumstances behind either Jon or Darian. And she's just like, well, you joined an order, Darian. You can't just abandon it. The penalty for deserting the Night's Watch is death. And I'm like interesting

Arya I'm not sure if you know this but you've also joined an order and uh what's gonna happen if you're like I don't think I wanna do it anymore I think I would like to have a different life and job than the one in this order that I have joined maybe I will not

give my body blood soul life to this order it's it's a little i don't know i think she's gonna get to a point where too late i don't know if they have oaths i wonder how the oaths work the oaths are like don't tell anybody and change your face a lot yeah don't tell anybody yeah i don't really know i don't know how it's gonna work out yeah it's interesting there's a lot of like idolatry about you know the king's guard and the night's watch and some of that like you know that propaganda that you're born with in westeros when you come to a new place you're looking at it as if they were the best in the world but yeah

yeah they're all she knows yeah they're not the not the best. I mean, Jon is a good man. He is a good man. He's a good boy, yes. Just doing a bad job. Yeah, because he's a boy. Yeah, that's true. He's just a boy. He's just a boy.

Well, so... The sailor's wife, who is not just a boy, has a specialty. She would only sleep with men who married her. And Darian had once wed her. Damn it, Darian. What are you doing? Hey, commitment's important. He's like, all these vows, they make you swear and swear.

The happy port sometimes has like three to four jolly, loud, drunken weddings each night performed by a wine-soaked red priest or septic and sometimes they're like oh my god we can't find any any religious leaders right now we're just gonna get a mummer and then we have this line of whenever cat happened by with her barrow the sailor's wife would insist that her new husband buy some oysters to stiffen him for the consummation she was good that way and quick to laugh as well but cat thought there was something sad about her too oh i love that because especially since we've kind of talked about you know they're they're all all these people are working on similar levels whether they live on one street

or another in many ways right they have the same jobs um cat sees tons of people every day and she can see sadness from some of her new skills right i mean hopefully she can see sadness before but now especially she's seeing more of what's inside and also i love that the sailor's wife here is um you know kind of stimulating aria's economy that's amazing exactly she's she's that's feminism yeah no but actually, she's, uh. That's feminism. Yeah. No, but actually, though, she's like, all right, we're bringing in business for all these people. That's capitalism feminism. Feminist capitalism. Yeah. We love Ravos.

The sailor's wife visits the Isle of Gods on certain days to pray for her lost husband, and her fellow sex workers think that it's, it's probably for the best that her love never returns, because we're pretty sure he's dead. Like, oh, interesting. So sad. Interesting that you don't think, yeah. Also that, like, now she gets married if somebody's gonna bang her. If somebody is going to sleep with her, she gets married.

She makes them marry her as her schtick, but she's truly grieving the loss of someone she loved. Yeah, I thought we were going with, they're like, it's probably for the best that he doesn't come back because he's dead and the implication that he would be a zombie. And I'm like, oh, tying in, of course, with the Lady Stoneheart stuff. Oh, I'm over here shedding a tear for love. I mean, I am too, just in a different way. And you're like, zombies. It's her love about her her zombie mom that's sad too

that is sad too darren and lana spend time together at happy port cat leaves with a purse of coins and darren leaves to sing at the end of the green eel so they begin to walk together darren starts to boast about his future success and ambitions and he mentions his brother who was once supposed to sail on the lady usha nora they all were by lord snow's command actually i told sam leave the old man but the fat fool would not he says cat nods she's like i don't know who the old man is i kind of know who the fat fool is but no clue who the old man is don't know usha nora doesn't say anything about lord snow believe it or not. Interesting. Doesn't make

any face. She's learning. Yeah. Instead, she just says, just so. When she returns to Brusco, she has a new pair of good black boots. Too small for Brusco. The moon will be black tonight, she reminded him. Best you pray, then. Brusco shoved

the boots aside and poured out the coins to count them.ar dohyrus she thought all right nothing's cooler than that cut though right like that sudden cut from aria not her cat nods saying just so and then anyways back to brusco blink and you miss it right if you're not immersed in the chapter you wouldn't realize she murdered darren's annoying bitch ass but the signs are all there nodding listening to him rant because she knows she's gonna murder him anyways soon so real and then the black boots she's been eyeballing as the only black things on his body as a night's watchman being returned to brusco for for a little coin that is a great cut cleverlyly written. Bravo, C. George.

Oh, yeah, and also is it like because it's not Kat doing it, it's Arya. It is Arya. It's a different person, so we don't see it happen. Hmm. Hmm. Now we're thinking. Yeah, maybe. I don't know, but I mean, we're still gonna keep calling her Arya because Arya returns to the house

of black and white, changing into clean clothes and getting food from the kitchens. She helps the waif prepare potions, including sweet sleep. She's also shown the Tears of Lys, basilisk blood paste, which causes madness when eaten. Love the sweet sleep mention, since that's in Sansa's, sorry, Elaine's plot in the Elaine of the Cat. The Elaine of the Catalane.

That's going on with Elaine, but cat the Elaine of the cat Elaine that's going on with Elaine but also the tears of Lise also the Elaine reveal that just happened and the basilisk blood paste which you brought up right we got the basilisk blood reveal with Jack and Lise and the dogs and I don't know if it'll necessarily

come back with Aria's plot but I do love I know there's like a really extreme theory out there of like, the cats, Tommen's three cats will get fed the basilisk blood and maybe scratch him up and kill him, which is interesting. forgot that is a thing that was a theory i was just thinking could aria just do something fun with it just there was no end goal just aria and cats hanging out doing murder i do think though like it's gonna happen in king's landing because all of the all the cards are falling into place right you have basilisk blood paste is in pie cells um Maester, you know, pill cabinet. So you have that scene there when Tyrion goes in for the poison. And then you have Tyene as a septa and able to get into places that maybe others might not be come the winds of winter, right? She's going to King's Landing and she's going to be a septa. And then it comes back up in Cersei's plot, something about Maggie the Frog's tent has an iron brassiere shaped like

a basilisk head oh that's interesting yeah and she she actually does know how to make poison even if she doesn't access that she's pretty knowledgeable about it so interesting yeah I don't know but it's gonna come back like especially with those yeah like because of where it's been mentioned and because of where the pieces are falling like because tyene is going to king's landing it just makes me think it's connected since she's good with poisons you're right yeah i forgot about that theory oh but especially like the maggie the frog tent like that freaks me out the basilisk head what a cool brassiere i want that yeah but now i'm just sad about i don't know that sounds like a terrible way to go it's unfair it's really sad i'm like not the two cute ones not the good ones i know right joffrey didn't deserve to die either for what it's worth

yeah probably not i well i don't know i don't know capital punishment you know it's a it's a whole it's not my thing yeah it's not my jam it's for the the big wigs that get paid a lot more to think about not me yeah i'm just a podcast i'm just a girl we're just girls for me for your like i don't know anyway you want to hear lawyer takes go listen to the lawyers not us go listen to learned hands they know they have opinions they are learned and they are hands i am i'm gone i'm girl gone we're gone fuck are you asking the basilisk case speaking of animals would work on dogs and the wave confirms that it's going to work on any animal with warm blood so not not on wait what is what constitutes as warm blood like because okay i'm sorry would it work

on dragons well no because like would it work on oh i thought this was like this meant mammalian oh because i'm like are dragons reptiles would it work but any animal yeah so i guess warm because they're dragons but then i'm also like so not on lizards not on fish not on sharks anyway definitely cats and dogs yes aria slapped by the waif she's like what the fuck was that for she's like are you aria stark because aria stark's the kind of person who chews her lip when she thinks and aria's like, are you Arya Stark? Because Arya Stark's the kind of person who chews her lip when she thinks. And Arya's like, oh shit. The wave then tells Arya a little bit about her past and how she became a servant of the many-faced god. Somewhat.

There's a little bit of truths and lies in it. She claims that she was the only child of an ancient house, her father's heir. Her mother died when she was little and at age six, her father wed again. Her stepmother was pretty nice to her until she gave birth to her own daughter, and then she thought that the waif should die so her child could inherit all of the wealth. The stepmom sought favor with the many-faced god, but was unwilling to actually, like, go through with the whole sacrifice. So instead, she tried to poison the waif herself, but she did not die.

When the healers in the House of the Red Hands told my father what she had done, he came here and made sacrifice, offering up all his wealth and me. Him of many faces heard his prayer. I was brought to the temple to serve, and my father's wife received the gift. Something about this story, like, from the very beginning,

just sounds like the Dance of the Dragons, right? Yeah. only child of an ancient house that doesn't work quite but you know of that yeah age of that time her father's heir her mom died when she was young at age six her dad weds again her stepmom's kind until she gives birth to her own daughter and then wishes the waif would die so something like that comes up like princess and the queenie yeah very twisted cinderella story i don't know about the house of the red hands how come they got such a fun name for their uh their hospital fun names i mean that's like bloody i'm like oh that's what makes it fun oh my god so aria's all like wait is it true maybe the waif's like there are lies in there as well there's an untruth and also an exaggeration and aria guesses correctly that oh the many-faced god didn't take all of your father's wealth just two-thirds of it and the waif agrees she's like

you got it and they almost start to bond because she's like wait what was the lie the waif was like the lie was the lie uh and she's like, wait, what was the lie? The waif was like, the lie was the lie. And she's like, wait, really? And then they get interrupted by the kindly man who wants his daily debriefing with Arya. There's a lot in here with the waif, and I liked this interaction a lot. I like the use of untruths, right? They remind me a little bit of Sansa with the unkiss with Sandor, with her believing that she kissed Sandor, whether it happened or not. And it seems like most people point to not because, you know, at the time it was not.

And we were there. Just something about it connects. She's literally wondering about this in the veil. You know, I mean, it comes to mind. She's thinking about it. So interesting. about it so interesting when sweet robin's in her bed uh in that elaine one i think she thinks you know about when he's in her bed about how she's like oh get him or no i'm sorry in the last couple sansas even she's like get him out of here and she thinks about the hound uh kissing her because

sweet robin's trying to kiss her and it's very much not like the kiss she imagines from sandor very much not like the kiss she imagines from Sandor. Usage of waif is interesting with the backstory in mind, right? 14th century French origin for the word waif. It also, it's kind of referring to unclaimed found items was the original usage of it or something that's gone astray. And of course, it became the root for the phrase to waive, like waiving rights. I didn't know that. became the root for the phrase to wave, like waving rights. Oh. Mm-hmm.

I didn't know that. It was basically, yeah, it became used to describe throwing away stolen goods and later on stray animals and people. And then in the late 20th century, it started to be used to describe like an unusually thin and young woman. So the waif we see today, but with her story, very much thrown away, away discarded unclaimed found items you know not not wrong not wrong interesting i did not know that about the origins of that word and yeah i i love that she's an embodiment of both of those things what's interesting is in

children of doom there's a character described as a waif as well which is kind of what made me think of it because i'm like oh interesting that herbert as a waif as well, which is kind of what made me think of it. So I'm like, oh, interesting that Herbert wanted to use it as well as like a... Herbert adapted this from George. Just kidding. But yeah, it makes me think like, oh, okay, this is interesting to use for the story. Made me want to look it up a little bit now, especially because I was like, oh, shit, we're recording this today. And something that you pointed out, the three serving days and the moon and the non-moon there's another rule of three here right not the same moon obviously there's another rule of three

two-thirds of her father's wealth the waif says and aria says so two out of three specifically so i thought that was interesting there's like one third one third one third and it kind of brings up like the triple moon symbol hekate right uh the triple goddess of the moon and the idea that each represents the maiden the mother and the crone and i don't know i just kind of thought that was kind of you know kind of interesting to bring that back because you're looking at like artemis selene and hakade as all three faces and you have cadeline has now kind of become the crone in a way where she was the mother and the maiden the mother the crone like cadeline's been all

three of those as a cycle of life birth life and death you know that's the cycle of the three and now aria is kind of going through those she's becoming somewhat similar to the crone in the way she's becoming close to the stranger, right? That's true. She is. She's becoming, I don't know, kind of all of them. Absolutely. Especially when, you know, people discuss Arya as being this very gender fluid character as well. So I love, though, this idea of her as being all three of these like triple, I mean, she's absolutely changing faces and all three at different times. It's like to conquer life and death, you have to embrace those three phases, right? Yeah. And we definitely see these in other characters as well, right? Like,

I know that there's a lot to discuss in Daenerys' story about the triple goddess. Yes, yes, yes, yes. The kindly man asks Aryria to share three new things speaking of threes she has learned she mentions darian's death and little narbo wants to be an oarsman now that his fingers will not bend quentin lalocco fought and left the ship but she thinks that they're going to come back he's like think or are they going to come back and then there's the final one about the black singer who slept at Happyport is dead. She goes, he was really a deserter from the Night's Watch.

Someone slit his throat and pushed him into a canal, but they kept his boots. Good boots are hard to find. Just so. She tried to keep her face still. Who could have done this thing, I wonder? Arya of House Stark. She watched his eyes, his mouth, the muscles of his jaw. That girl.

I thought she had left Braavos. Who are you? No one. You lie. She says as much like that she was trying to test it and see what would happen, but I do think it is interesting that she confesses because she's just like, what's gonna happen? What are you gonna do? What what are you gonna do and she's trying to figure out

the rules of this whole place in this new life that she has she started to like mirror language back to them which i think is amazing yeah right because and he mirrors back to her but it's like andy bernard in the office he's a big proponent of a person that does this. He mirrors personalities back on people to get ahead. And she's doing that here, you know, by saying the same stuff he would say, just so. That's what he said to her several times. Interesting. She answers it trying to keep her face still. Though also when she says, just so, in my head, all I can hear or see is my own cat

making like a sneering face at me when I try to tell her to do stuff. So I'm just hearing her like, just so. But also he repeats her own line back to him, right? This is what she said to Brusco when she brought the boots. She said, good boots are hard to find, even if they're too small. So that's what he says back. He's like, oh, interesting. Good boots are hard to find they say they being you

he already knew right like i think that's so interesting that he knew what she said and like also that she says the just so again like i think that's such a good call i didn't realize that i was like huh that line that's the same as earlier but i didn't realize he was saying it back to her and it kind of speaks to him asking her like are, are you sure that Quentin and the Lockwell are going to go back to like the boat? Do you know this? Or is this just something that you think? And the fact that he kind of knows that she would say that speaks to what the sorts of skills it takes to become a faceless man. Like to imitate someone someone you have to get to know someone so well that you can predict what they would do which we see ends up like pate pate quote unquote pate but not pate

the not pate says things that we know pate would never say but you have to like get to know someone so well to play them oh that's interesting actually i didn't think about that with pate that's like a good point well that's why I thought it was interesting that you called out the kindly man said that he knows Arya so well, to an extent that he knows what she would say. I mean, I think it also is lending to the idea that he actually knows what she said, whether it's from people spying on her, or whether there's some sort of collective hive mind that he's able to see things through. I don't know, but it seems that something's afoot there. Interesting.

Well, the kindly man says, all right, well, you're going to go to bed with some warm milk from the waif and be in the chapter with the following. I mean, Aria was like, I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't expect fucking milk. That night she dreamed she was a wolf again again but it was different from the other dreams in this dream she had no pack she prowled alone bounding over rooftops and padding silently besides the bank of a canal stalking shadows through the fog when she woke the next morning she was blind oh nimeria's lonely nimeria doesn't have her pack yeah but, but this isn't Nymeria, right? Because we're on rooftops?

Like, maybe Nymeria's like, wow, I'm lonely because finally my brain's fucking quiet. Maybe, right? Some sort of disconnect, yeah. Yeah, I assume, like, this is a cat, and I'm like, I don't know what it feels like, the quiet brain, but not in, like, a cool, like, way. Yeah, maybe. Please clear it. Unless she's on rooftops you know Numeria might be on rooftops

honestly what was it what was that line there was a line from back then nope that was juggling not climbing a tree sorry John D like I would love to see ghosts juggle that would be great I don't know

I thought it was like i would love to see some wolf climb a tree then i was like nope that was juggling never mind anyways aria cat cat of the canals drinking milk at the end because drinking milk is associated with cats even though you're not supposed to give cats milk it is you're not supposed to give them milk supposed to but it's that and then also i don't know makes me think even of like Mother's Milk as we talk a lot about the Lady Stoneheart stuff. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I didn't think about that for Mother's Milk, but I love it. And interesting that as Eamon is about to die blind.

Oh, yeah. We have her blind, but awakening. I don't think it's like a real pass off, but it's an interesting just parallel going on around the same time. And of course, and this is the most widely debated conversational topic in Arya, right? Of like, so the blindness is a gift and not a penalty for what we know. If you're trying to get promoted in the House of Black and White, this is the next step. She's not being punished having her vision taken away this is the next part of the training so aria is being rewarded

for deliberately not following the rules what does it mean um right and i mean i have so many ideas racing in my head i don't think there is any, you know, known answer necessarily. But this is the part of Arya's plot I find so fascinating. It could go in literally either direction, because the Faceless Men, one, know who she is, two, are letting her break the rules, and three, are rewarding her internally in their society for breaking the rules. in their society for breaking the rules so i mean maybe that's based on you know to come back to cults we've been talking a lot about cults and at the beginning sometimes in order to get someone in to break them in you need them to believe that it's okay or that it's different we come back to that idea of like little finger you know making sansa complicit in murder and that's why she stays but you have to have a reason to get so wrapped up that you stay, right? So maybe encouraging her poor behavior is to get her to be, you know, signing a lifelong contract, quote unquote, with them. Who knows? But I don't know. I'm very interested. I want more answers to this. What you're saying about them showing

leniency and being like, it's okay, right? Like, the idea that it's okay to falter and, like, instilling faith makes me think even of, uh, John being like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna desert. I just did my vows, but I gotta go. I gotta go. And then his friends

all bringing him back. And everyone knows that he tried to desert. So I'm like, is it supposed to be like that? But it's pretty different because she didn't, I don't know. She didn't not kill Darian. So. Yeah. I don't know.

Like that was not on the record for the day, you know? But then maybe, do they think like, oh, that was good? Because. And then she comes back with a trophy which is weird not a thing you're supposed to do or are they like that's why we recruited her we saw a lot of talent in this one she's just so good at killing right and then it comes to leverage over like they have a daughter of a great house here yeah true and we see you know with people of great houses coming over to westeros in general um princess sarah targaryen right ending up in essos and not wanting to come home and being happy of what she had built and being an asset to them for having a targaryen on deck i mean

yeah or the waif oh god what if she has to steal Lana's face and be like, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna go infiltrate the Westerlands. I mean, that is like. That makes no sense. I'm just saying, I'm just improv-ing random shit. I mean, who knows if the waif, like, what part of her story was a lie. Obviously, we don't

actually know what the lie really was. Like, they joked and became kind of almost friends over it, but we don't actually know the lie, us readers, so like they joked and became kind of almost friends over it but they don't we don't actually know the lie us readers so like maybe she is a child of an ancient house maybe they collect children of ancient houses there's the theory of tyrak having gone there being a boy that we see there with curly blonde hair right possibly taking the gift but like i don't know how much i believe that but you know like maybe they are collecting great house people yeah or i mean like because the waif makes sense because they're like wow really sucks that that happened to her but how valuable for us a person who looks like a child

all the time really useful for our purposes whereas aria if they have very few i guess women or like you know people assigned female at birth as well like those kinds of bodies at the house of black and white or they're like what a great asset we don't have any one who can do this right now and it would really get us into some other places so i don't i don't know i don't know and maybe we'll have a little more to think about next week with the blind girl and the ugly little girl as we get to dance and as we get closer to finishing the chapters. That sucks. Because, I mean, I didn't read the next chapter yet before this on reread. I'm still, I stayed here.

I wanted to have a finite place to look. So we shall see. Next week we might have new thoughts about it all and change our entire belief system around you just don't know yeah actually you really might so anyways it's i don't know it's fun i reading these aria chapters is really interesting like in a row and like starting to really unravel bravos and seeing where george is writing about certain parts of bravos and where he's holding back. Yeah, actually. It gets me a little invigorated for the Winds of Winter again.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. I want the Winds of Winter. I love the Winds- I love Aeswaf again. Oh god, who knew? Yeah, and as you said, she and the Waif almost became friends. That was something that I hated that they did in the show.

They made a show about this? Um, no, this is based off the show. Um, so I'm really glad that george had ari and the waif becoming friends because in the show you know they were enemies because girls can never be friends i don't know if you know this well that's why we're not friends yeah that's why we're not friends free both of us you can free us both not by doing this but if you wanted to keep up with the next episode you can follow us on social media girls gone canon on twitter that's c-a-n-o-n same thing

on blue sky or maybe you have thoughts that you would like to send us you can send us an email at girls gone canon at gmail.com we also always get comments from our friends at patreon.com slash girls gone canon feel free to leave comments on the episode there we would love to hear from you and you know speaking of those patrons of ours those wonderful patrons of ours who sponsor every single episode that we put out you wouldn't be getting them if they didn't exist uh big thank you to them. They're going to tell you where you can subscribe to us to hear our beautiful voices

come ringing through every week. 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 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 shit posting 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. Thanks for joining us.

We'll be back with the end of Aria, of Published Aria. No! I know. End of Arian Galleon. I have been Arian Galleon. I've been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I've been another one of your hosts, Eliana.

See you soon! See you next camel cunt I guess we should talk more about the shellfish that is like a pretty important part to both the chapter and our lives I mean look I don't mean to be shellfish but I don't want to share that with everyone whoa

goodbye