Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 225 — ADWD The Ugly Little Girl

Episode Date: April 26, 2024

Ugh. Can't believe it's over. Join us as we cover the final published Arya chapter, "The Ugly (Crying As We Say Goodbye To Our) Little Girl." A girl gets her first assignment, echoing other chapters and mentors, taking on a new face—as do we, with a new POV to follow. 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 225, The Ugly Little Girl in a Dance with Dragons. I'm one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. The beautifulest little girl. Nope, that was weird even for me. Nope, that was weird. That was weird. Yeah, walking it back.

Welcome to The Ugly Little Girl. Tragically, these chapters get weirder, you know? The other existing published Arya chapter is pretty fucked up as well. So I think I'm just in theme, on point, you know? Being a weirdo. Yeah. Are you ready for Arya to be over? Good job.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm not ready. This is the last published Arya chapter. Fuck'm not. I'm not ready. This is the last published, published Aria chapter. Fucked up. Sorry. This is a big fucking POV that we just got through in more than just the sense of the size. It's big in character and big in heart and soul and brevity of A Song of Ice and Fire, right?

Like, this is George and paris you know they they talk about aria together they say ha george you can't kill aria ever i'll kill you and he's like yes dear like this is like that was a perfect encapsulation of his voice that's fucked up thank you i don't know if it was that good but i appreciate you i appreciate you yeah aria man i am gonna miss her i feel like i got a lot out of this read through, though, especially the magic and the history of the Faceless Men. It actually almost makes me wish we were doing the prologues all over again. Oh, yeah.

Come back to that. Yeah, true. I feel like I'd feel differently about the prologues and the faceless magic and faceless men. You know, they're prerogative. They're prerogative they're prerogative yeah and i mean like even how it ties together with some of those sam chapters i think i don't know i'm gonna miss these chapters a lot like as you said i got a lot out of it i always do after every pov but i think i really got to more of the aria really is just she's really just a girl she's just she's really

just like you know this child who wants family and i think we know that but that yearning really came through this read through and how how lost aria feels in the world other characters are like do you even yearn aria is for sure yearning she wants home family but also she's stubborn and willful right like the the wolf's blood definitely reflects in her just like it did for liana and a lot of her plot and a lot of those parallels with liana really shined through this this read through of the pov for me especially you know not going back home and running farther instead yeah true true and there's a lot about it that that plays well with other povs of like feeling as though there's nowhere in the world that you belong. Because I think a lot of A Song of Ice and Fire is about those kinds of outcasts.

Absolutely. She could have gone anywhere. Yeah, we could have put Arya anywhere. That's actually really indicative of her outgoing personality too, right? Like Arya can fit anywhere in the story and out of the story. In any city, any place, she's gone to a wall, she's still going. So, you know, we, just like our next POV that we will tell you about after we do a little housekeeping. Yeah, we just talked about how this is the last published Arya chapter. But as many of you know, there is one more left. There is the Mercy chapter that's

in the Winds of Winter. And do not worry, everyone. We will be covering it. It won't be Mercy, but it's okay. It'll be April C. Mercy April. Maple C. Wow. Yes, patrons will get a bonus episode

at the end of this month, April. It'll be Mercy and the Winds of Winter. That's $5 and up tier. They get bonus episodes every single month. We've got lots to come. Eventually, we're going to get to the free cities. We do have Braavos and Volantis left and we do want to do Braavos, but we are not sure when it's coming, so. Sorry. Keep your passport updated. Yeah. Yeah. We're just like Arya. We don't know where our journey's gonna take us. You know? Well, in full transparency, we do have a lot coming up. We do. Hot D season is on the rise, and we're

gonna do some revealing of our Hot D schedule in just a minute, but first, if you're listening to this, I think you already missed Brappy Hour this month, right? Brappy Hour was on 420, please it. It was a blast. Sorry. I'm guessing. I think it was probably good.

It usually is. It was, as you said, 420. And we, as of yet, have not determined the date for May. But keep your eyes and ears peeled for that. That'll be coming soon. Now, the next POV that we're about to do is only going to be two episodes long. I know a lot of our friends on Discord were kind of speculating that it would be a shorty. Some are, some aren't though. Some really think that we were going to do a long POV next, right? There were a lot of Tyrioners out there. They thought Tyrion

was next. They always think Tyrion is next. I know. They always do. Tyrion can also fit anywhere, though. Tyrion's POVs are so tied thematically to the other ones that we could really put him anywhere. For sure. And this leaves

us what after our next pov i mean before we announce it we have what five left one two three four five wow we are at the last five published povs so our next pov is only going to be those two episodes like i said and when that ends we will be putting out a George R.R. Martin novella story that we have covered for our patrons, so watch out for that. That'll be coming mid-May. And then comes Hot D, right? Hot D's starting up in mid-June,

but we are going to be leading up to Hot D with the critically acclaimed podcast that critics around the world have been waiting for to come back with a new limited season. This is going to be a bit of a split season, right? Because you're going to have the actual Hot D in the middle of the Unleashed D. You're going to have a D sandwich.

Yep. There's just going to be a whole lot of D flying around. There's going to be a whole lot of d flying around and unleash the d the primer series for house of the dragon by girls gone canon will return season two will return uh featuring a special guest host eliana will be joining me as my special guest host for the season yeah i was a special guest host for one episode last time in Unleash the D. Thank you for the honors. I for a second thought that I was promoted. I thought I was promoted to co host for Unleash the D but that is not the case. I am still special guest host.

Yeah, you know, we really want to just survey and corporate actually said that this is a trial period. So hopefully next year you will get a promotion to series regular, but I don't make the rules. Yeah, she doesn't make the rules. Sorry, everyone. So as long as my contract exists, I'm here as a special guest host for Unleash the D. Yeah. And like Eliana said, we are going to have three episodes in the first half of the season of Unleash the D. We will have a mid-season finale that will air the week before Hot D starts up. And then weekly, you're going to get us covering House of the Dragon. Right now, how it's looking to shape up is we will be recording Mondays, the day after the episode airs. And we will get that out for

patrons Tuesday night, likely, and Wednesday morning public release. Yeah, that's probably what it'll be. We're all we're just gonna also have to see like, what our bodies can handle. You know, I'm Lady Stoneheart age now. And I'm Catelyn Stark age now. She's Catelyn Stark age now. So holy fuck, we're doing the best we can. It's fucked up.

Yeah. And as some of you, some of you might remember last hot d season i threw myself down the stairs so this year we're hoping to avoid that and we will not be doing the pov podcast during that time yes so keep in mind your fridays you will not have an episode dropping to your feed that will only be for eight weeks and then we will return with a brand new pov to start off with in the autumn yeah summer autumn some autumn along with you know our our sanity we also want to make sure that what we're putting out for all of you is of good quality and this allows us to be able to like focus and give you i mean like you know our our better insights as opposed to

trying to like phone it in just to get it out there for you. We want to make sure that you have something that you enjoy. Yeah, to us, this is art, not content, you know? Fascinating. Interesting. This is why I'm just a special guest host. I don't have the vision. Me during hot D season probably talking about Damon's dick drunk. It's art! It is art. of chloe's character development since fire and blood like it's tv damon is different it's matt smith uh he did so

good he did so great as everyone everyone did such a good job no i can't like i'm actually very excited for hot d that's the other thing we are are passionate about the Hot D. It's fun. House of the Dragon is fun. When you've already lived through the Game of Thrones wars, nothing hurts you anymore. And you can just have fun. And I think that's what season two is going to be about for me is are we having fun? Me standing over the bones of all the dead children and dragons. Are we having fun? Me channeling Tyrion as I do every episode. Look at all the fun we're having. I love that line. One of the better things the show gave us. Every once in a while, you know. Broken clock.

Here we are at the edge of the world. We're making broken clocks. We actually did not announce the new POV yet. I really wanted to keep you all hanging on. As we say farewell to Arya, we come into a new POV yet. I really wanted to keep you all hanging on. As we say farewell to Arya, we come into a new POV. I guess, do I just tell them? Do I just say it? I mean, I mean, this, this is another POV that also has a little bit of playing with identity, if you will, has been going by a different name for a while. It's it's John Connington. It's John Connington. Wow. Wow. I did it. I said it. Oh my god. Does it feel

good to get it off your chest finally, to be able to just finally tell the people? It's not just that like also I think I said this years ago, and I've felt it every single time, I've always been very excited to get to the John Connington chapters, because this is one of the storylines that I'm looking forward to the most in Wins. there are a ton of themes right off the bat that you associate with Arya and John Connington, but I think there really are, right? You have two hands of the king who were spirited away possibly or about to be, Ned versus John Conn, and Ned's teachings and how they affected Arya versus John Connington, who is wrapped up in vengeance, right? And Arya and mercy, mercy, mercy. I think those are really interesting to contemplate when you think of Stoney Sept, right? When Arya went to Stoney Sept and learned the history there. I think we're moving flawlessly from that to Jon's failure at Stoney Sept. And, you know, Jon versus Aegon or Aegon versus Aegon, who really fucking knows. But you have kind of the plot of the fake Targaryen, quote unquote, and location, right? Exiled out in Essos with Arya being in Braavos. We get a little feel for some of what they've experienced in traveling. And of course,

coming back to identity, fake Arya and fake Aegon, right? You have what's real, what's fake, what's the truth, what's deceit. And that kind of centers around Arya's plot. And for John Connington, he really represses a lot of that, but it's there within the margins. thinks that that guy's dead you know like where has he been and i joined some sort of i mean like the salesword companies aren't like a murder order but they are a little like that too you know like guns for hire just like just like aria and i think i don't know i'm just i'm excited it's also i think it shows a lot. It fits perfectly right before Hot D in terms of the amount of chapters. But sorry. It is kind of weird. We did not necessarily plan it that way,

but we did shape it that way with a few of the releases we've put out. That is kind of- Like the Mystery Night. The Mystery Night, yeah. That was amazing. We did put out the Mystery Night the week that the Mystery Night casting was announced.

We're incredible. We don't know how we do it every time. We just don't know. We also, you know, there was the 20-year anniversary of Ella Enchanted recently. We do have a Patreon episode on that. Thought that was crazy. We're out here every day just getting clairvoyant by the second. I'm excited about JonCon.

I think you kind of get to see what war does to a person, what they get spit out of. Getting clairvoyant by the second. I'm excited about Jon-Khan. I think you kind of get to see what war does to a person, what they get spit out of as, right? What being shamed in public as a failure does to you. And I'm excited about that. That's something I'm excited to explore. I'm excited to explore his relationship, if it was as one-sided as it seems, with Rhaegar and a lot of the other characters. And I don't know, it makes me excited for the day we do Tyrion chapters. Yeah. It's also like, you know, they don't fit necessarily. We will obviously talk about this more in the episodes, but there are ways in which both characters don't always fit within what

people expect of gender norms and sexuality when it comes to west rose so so excited our gay only child pov and i'm so excited about that i'm so excited you're the only child yes he is oh wow he's just like don't worry you're all gonna hear about it in the john intro i have a whole spiel oh my gosh well that will be coming for you so exciting we are down to the end we have four POVs left after John Connington and it's not going to go fast it's still two years you're still fucking stuck with us but hopefully T-Bow comes out and you'll be stuck with us longer

so well for those of you who enjoy being stuck with us we got we got a comment we got a comment on the podcast on I believe it was apple podcasts but it doesn't show up always on itunes because this is from across the pond this comes from marcus 14 i like to think of it as a coup like a like a pigeon coup coup marcus i think he actually is the person who did a lot of the stats for A Song of Madness, like fun statistic tweets for Davos Fingers.

So he said, Fantastic podcast covering the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, which is based on the TV show A Game of Thrones as the hosts make clear. Goddamn right. That's right. The podcast covers the books in a different style to other podcasts, taking the story one character at a time, going through all of their chapters. The hosts do a great job providing different perspective on the events, characters,

and style, going through an entire arc, and it allows an in-depth discussion of each character, their motivations, and the events that shape them. I'm currently catching up on the series, having only started a couple months ago, and I'm just finishing off the Catalan episodes. Damn work! I have to say, the balanced view The spinoff book series. What a guy.

Yeah, yeah. He gets it. I included it because he gets it. You know, if you know, you know. I'm honored about that cat comment thank you so much and yeah that's us the host

spin off book series but again we are going to be covering soon a book that they adapted a tv show of wild absolutely wild the shit we say on this podcast we just say shit sometimes just two girls saying

exactly to each other we just say things all right our last aria lightning round and this one is condensed i know i'm sorry for now this is spoilers spoilers if you're not on the Patreon. Go to patreon.com slash girls gone canon and you'll find out this month. Anyways, here's our last published Arya lightning round. Gonna be a little different today. We're gonna cover Theon Jon and Jon-Khan and we have a little condensing of some chapters and I'll start us off with a ghost in Winterfell and Theon I. After a string of mysterious murders theon prays in the godswood later theon hopes to squirrel aria away get it to squirrel her away quote unquote quote unquote quote unquote uh thank you thank you well done well done that brings us to you know john john 10 john 11 and john 12 these sound like

biblical chapters alleys and sigour and mary john negotiates with the free folk but his fellow brothers feel betrayed later the free folk pass through the wall i love it you know your lines and so do i man the griffin reborn john connington seizes his ancestral homes and other castles in the stormlands and agan hatches a plan thank you you're such an easy sell every time uh well done well done i don't know if i'm funny or if you like it or uh oh my god I'm so excited yes sorry they're gonna be fun those are gonna be fun chapters

the daughter storyline if only it didn't all get fucked up anyways here we are new POV who dis the ugly little girl Aria gets down to business in the house of black and white

getting a mini promotion and also experiencing someone else's body horror. Yeah. Question mark, question mark. Crazy chapter. We open it up with 11 of the many-faced god servants gathering beneath the temple. They arrive through secret passages and tunnels,

interesting, more than Arya's ever seen at once. As they take their seats, they reveal the faces they chose to wear that day, sitting on the ebony and weirwood carved seats. One acolyte serves, pouring wine if someone looks to them and is thirsty. Not many do. Arya serves the water, standing still as a statue as if carved by stone the priests speak brevosy but sometimes they switch to high valyrian first of all it was like 11 i wonder how many servants there can be at any time because it's like 11 stood out with the amount of you know moons in a year in theory and the cup bearing Arya here she is cup bearing again and using the skills that she learned when she was at Harrenhal and I just thought that was a great sort of recurrence in her

storyline and also I like the usage of the word servants for the people who are at the house of black and white the the faceless men because they're the ones who are being served. There's something there that I thought was like really interesting in the tension of that. And then also Arya thinking, I am carved of stone. I was like, wow, wow. Just like Elaine Stone.

That's great call out because it is very, there are a lot of little parallels in the Feast chapter, specifically between this chapter and the last chapter for both of them uh it has that porcelain ivory steel quality to it as well very elaine stoned of her and it also is that cadeline quote you know my heart had turned to stone which is literal because she becomes stone heart yeah kind of tells us where she is on her mental path right like she's going down a probably not a great mental path. She's compartmentalizing. It's not great.

I do like, though, that she, when she says this, that she's carved of stone, she then thinks about, like, being a statue, right? Like, the statues that line the canal, the heroes from the canal. And she thinks about how she would be just as big like them if she was that she'd be a big old statue and it kind of even reminds me of quentin around the same time in dance with the dragons you know him being very small against the dragons and her being small against monolithic huge statues yeah i thought you were gonna like, the statues that are in the crypts of Winterfell or something, too. Oh, I love that. I don't know what it means, but I thought that's what you were gonna say. Yeah, no, but now I am. Also, the chairs. Remember last couple weeks when we've

been talking about Weirwood and Ebony? i am like floored these chairs are crazy they are carved with faces in them just like a weirwood like the weirwood chairs have ebony faces that are carved in them and the ebony chairs have weirwood carved in them that's cool um just like yeah it's really interesting really cool and it i don't know it speaks to me about a couple things like it's like the front door, obviously, but it's inside. So now everything we talked about with that door, just like copy paste it here, please, in your head, everyone. It was just a couple weeks ago that you listened to it.

Like, come on, you're doing great. It's weird to see the old gods so present. Oh, true. Right? Like, why is there a Weirwood face? That so stuck out to me. It's interesting to see Arya's gods, her family's gods here, a god of many faces carved into the Weirwood. What does it mean?

And I'm going to come back to this today because I'm starting to think that this is a point towards seers and wargs and skin changers. They're welcome here that is really interesting because if you think about it in a way the old gods are a many-faced god in that there are many faces that make up that one the old gods yeah i think we talked about it in brand's chapters i was like i don't know you guys the old gods are real they're just your ancestors and shit they're there chilling in the trees seems like or not ancestors they could be like the little boy whatever you know you know interesting that's a that's a great point i wouldn't have even thought about the fact that like yeah you have the weirwood carved faces which is something that we see a lot in this story and i don't know these chairs just sound cool i want one i think just as a piece of furniture

maybe that's like not it would not be as cool to have a carved face in your own home. Anyway. They speak in low voices, but Arya understands a little. One priest says, I know this man. Another repeats his words. And a third one says, I do not know him. I will give him the gift. And as many people have pointed out over the years, it means that you are not allowed to kill someone you know, is why everyone on the boat is like you're gonna fucking remember me right little girl and

we're delivering you to this place to become a murder assassin please remember me please remember me and i think that you know it it we've discussed it also in previous chapters of arias but it has to do with the risk there's too much risk about maybe disclosing yourself i think if you have a mark that is someone you know like they might be like oh very weird of them to say that very familiar thing but also it's the same reasons that the king's guard and the knight's watch have the oaths they have right to not have connections to other people so that it's easier to do the job so you don't end up with someone being like hey jamie lannister why don't you go out there and kill your dad it's uh to prevent these kinds of dilemmas and i kind of like the scene and how we're watching the get the jobs

get distributed i guess they just what pull out a name. They're like, who's going to take it? And it's the first person to volunteer who doesn't know the mark. They get the job. I love that they start to go through each one by one. They're like, all right, will you kill this man? And they're like, no, I know this man. Won't be me, homie. Yeah, it's interesting, especially like thinking of capitalism

and how we're stuck within it and its walls in its prison like fucking barbed walls um it's very much like work structure once again aria is in a place where there is a organizational structure going on here of who does what who gets what it's a little looser in some aspects and there's definitely bureaucracy there is a faceless bureaucracy in front of us you might be you know sparkled by the magic and swept away of the faceless men uh but it's interesting that george starts this chapter this way instead of having the magic at the front it's a build-up to the magical part of the chapter that will come due and the mask is kind of pulled off right like you don't just have

this magical you know society this secret guild there's also like a way you have to upkeep it like it doesn't just exist on itself uh you need them to have these meetings to have these point team calls that they're on you know to walk away yeah this is microsoft teams oh god i just found out my company's moving to microsoft teams i want to kill myself for you i really do i pray for me it's horrible it's literally just sorry to any of you using microsoft teams i've lived that life and i pray to never go back guess i'll quit um you know terry pratchett plays with a lot of this like magical bureaucracy thing in disc world uh like in going postal number 33 which is a the first of a handful of books in a series it's kind of a little more steampunk fantasy in my opinion

but the protagonist is moist von lipwig yes he me? Yes. He is a recovering con man. And he's also a total unreliable narrator. And he survives getting hanged. He gets pulled down and gets offered a chance at another life being a postmaster for basically an all but closed post office in this town. And yeah, in the next couple books, there's some golem attacks. It gets more fantasy. But like, in the next couple books, there's some Gollum attacks, it gets more fantasy, but like, it's a whole thing. But it plays into that idea of like, what I think George really meant with his Aragorn tax policy comment people like to come back to of like, you know, no one

wants to see the insides usually. And that's what makes this chapter so effective is that we haven't seen how they interact as a full society in a meeting together. I wouldn't want to see every chapter the daily grind of this magical bureaucracy, and I wouldn't want to see that for most magical settings in high fantasy storytelling. It would get old, and that's what makes this reveal of behind the curtains, the office meetings where they're assigning action items and point people. That's effective. We don't need to see the secret society meetings now. We thought they'd be cooler and edgier, but now we see it's a business. And this business doesn't just run on blood,

it runs on money. And it runs on the backs of these people. Yeah, it does. I mean, there's a reason that they keep talking about price, price, price. And you're talking about this setting of capitalism and the running on money, like that's literally a big part of what happens with the mark that Arya receives later on this chapter. And I'm sure we'll dig into that a bit more. But yeah, I like what you're saying. I mean, we do see the inner workings. I think I actually would kind of like to see

more of the magical bureaucracy stuff, like how in, what is it not the secret life of pets zootopia zootopia with the sloths at the dmv um that's cute i was like what is chloe doing you don't see it but she's she is acting out slowly miming the the role of the slobs on the dmp yeah i've got a face made for podcasting thankfully but like if you guys were here you'd know she's she's yeah she's got a face made for streaming she is lying um not not podcasting well yeah i think uh i do think though if you overdo it it gets boring you know you don't want, unless like, unless your story is built around that.

Like, unless literally your story is taking place at a magical post office, for example, like that's different. You're going to see the monotony. That's part of the character's daily life. But this is also a special event. It kind of seems, right? Arya hasn't really met these people or been involved in it yet. So this is a first for her showing she's moving up the corporate ladder.

Yeah. This, this corporate call. i'm also thinking of salee you remember salee with the weird little tablet things in evangelion this is like that call yes yes because they also just all have their numbers you know i mean they do sometimes show their faces whatever but they're wearing anyways anyways they leave they leave only the waif and the kindly man remain behind as well as the third priest so does everyone get like a fun nickname? Is that how they identify each other? Like, you're the waif, you're the kindly man Arya's gonna be the girl

lefty, yeah right lefty, left, right baldy, curly you can't call them that because what if they change their hair? they have to go buy something else. Tiny for the big guy. I'm just like thinking of the seven dwarves now. But anyways.

I'm like, give them misnomers. This brother would like words with her. And so Arya sits. The bloody, sore-faced man. See, the bloody, sore-faced man who is not going to always be like that ask who she is and aria answers no one but he's like no you're aria of house stark who bites her lip and cannot tell a lie and then they ask her why are you here liar and suddenly i'm now reframing the way that this has been put forth to aria this whole time because when you say why are you here

liar suddenly i'm like oh wait of course she's a liar they're all fucking liars like that's been put forth to aria this whole time because when you say why are you here liar something like oh wait of course she's a liar they're all fucking liars like that's that's their job but they are supposed to be liars i'm like maybe it's actually good but every time they tell her you lie and because we've been confused all right i edit these episodes so i've been like mulling over you know us being confused like i don't understand why she got promoted for that. And she's being promoted because when they say you lie, that is the point. And so I'm like, you're supposed to. Yeah, I'm like, hang on. Have I been misinterpreting it this whole time? It's not a reprimand. Every time they tell her you lie. When she says she is no one. They're like's the point i don't know maybe maybe i'm missing the point also but i think there's a little bit of both in that i don't know that it's as cut and dry and we're gonna come to that in a minute but it seems like you know they're they're shocking her into lying right correctly like i think the problem is getting caught in the lie it's not

just good that you lie it's that they can tell that you're lying yeah yeah i mean so they're saying like you lie but they're just like just lie fucking better yeah exactly like you need to tell the truth you need to well and it's interesting and not to spoil much of mercy if you haven't read it but you should um it's it's no the know your role the idea of like let it it's a method acting like she's jeremy strong in succession you know like she's that's what they want her to be they want you to be like in your role so deep that everybody believes your role and it brings you back to sansa right king's landing they're all liars here and better than you well she had to level up she had to mana grind a little bit before she could really level up in king's landing and

now she can lie like the best of them yeah and i think that as she gets better like they still keep telling her that to like steer her but she is getting better and we can see it in the in the narration of this and we'll come back to that yes we've kind of been watching that progress the third priest tells her she cannot kill for her own pleasures, and then he slaps her, saying that she has the eyes of a wolf and taste for blood. She thinks of her prayer and she keeps silent. He offers to restore her life as cat of the canals. She thinks he means to send me away, and she tells him, I have no heart, only a hole. She could kill him if she wanted to.

Maybe it would taste sweet, she says. Coming back to what you were saying earlier, right, about those Lady Stoneheart vibes. And honestly, finally, they offer her a job that makes fucking sense. Last time I was like, why did they offer her all these jobs that she doesn't want? Cat of the Canals. Solid job. Solid role in life. That was a blast. I wish i want to be yeah right there's

something interesting in the language right that i could kill you if i want would that taste sweet to you she did not know the right answer maybe she says that part right there that she did not know the right answer she's like accidentally become an assassin. Like this whole time, the only reason, like- I just fell into it. The only- Yeah, she literally just falls into it. Like, because they're like, she's doing it out of fear, right? Like, it's out of fear of rejection.

It's out of fear of having nowhere to go. And I'll talk about it in a bit, a little more, I think, because there's some other stuff in here, but there's so much standing out in this chapter that's like, she didn't know the right answer. She didn't want them to kick her out. So she said yes, or she said no. Somewhat coercive, I guess, in some aspects, but it's interesting. So put pause on that, but we'll come back to it.

Also, she is getting slapped a lot lately. So that's why I kind of argued with you a little a minute ago. Because I'm like, I don't know, they do slap her here. Which is interesting, right? Because she had that line when she first got here, like when she was working in the kitchens with Emma. And she's like, well, you know, this place is kind of crazy, but she doesn't get slapped as much here. And I'm like, I don't know, I kind of am starting to feel like you're getting slapped all the time. Yeah, but now I just don't know. I kind of am starting to feel like you're getting slapped all the time. Yeah. But now I'm, I just don't know.

I'm like, is that part of the indoctrination? Like, and therefore shows she's getting deeper because I'm like, I don't understand why she gets promoted for some of these things. So I don't. You. Well,

and I think it comes back to like the cult conversation, right? Like that we had, it's almost Pavlovian. Yeah. Right. They're like indoctrination, slap, indoctrination slap indoctrination slap

uh a little brainwashy yeah i mean it's absolutely the cultish stuff and i mean you come back to aria being like where where could i go where in the world could i exist and i think that you have the radicalization aspect in which you look at it in the real world and granted this is not necessarily radicalization per se because i mean it isn't it isn't but she's not pushing any certain like political philosophy this is just her very intense job and but essentially like it has to do with like that isolation and being like this is the only place you could fit in and belong right with us we get you and accept you just like what little fingers doing to sanza grooming scary yeah yeah at least here i guess you know i don't know they give her an out a lot of times i guess guess. They're like, you want a cool job as cat of the canals? So, yeah, I mean, they tell her, like, she does not belong here, that she's too proud to serve, and asks if she's willing to pay the price.

And we have this line where they say, I think this is, is this the bloody sore-faced man? Okay. Yeah. Who must be, like, the next upper management. Like, he's the EVP? I don't even know if they have one. And do you think the next upper management like he's the evp i don't even know if they have one do you think the kindly man's like the director maybe they're like all a council again like sailing you know i don't really know how it works yeah and they go the price is you the price is all you have and all you ever hoped to have we took your eyes and gave them back next we will take your ears and you will walk in silence you will give us your legs and crawl you will be no one's daughter no one's wife

no one's mother your name will be a lie and the very face you wear will not be your own you know there's something about i mean i love that passage first of all like in total like i just think it's like such a cool creepy like we took this we gave it back then you'll give us this and we'll do this and da da da da really interesting but there's something about the rhythm of it that reminds me of ned and aria's conversation in eddard 5 in a game of thrones even just rhythmically when Arya says, a knight of the Kingsguard, can he still be a knight about Bran?

And you have the, no, he'll do this. He'll raise castles. He'll do this. And then she asks, can I be a king's counselor and build castles and become the high septon? And he says, you will marry a king and rule his castle and your sons will be knights and princes and lords. And yes, perhaps even a high septon. And it's like, almost similar in the way that they are telling her like, if you give us all of this, you can do XYZ. Where before her dad said, no, you can't do anything. I don't know, there's something like equivalent exchangey about it, right? Like, death can pay for life and life for death you know yeah

absolutely absolutely there is something there about that and again that payment thing the price sink that's going on throughout this entire story yeah you can have freedom but it will cost you this this this this we will give you the freedom and and this might be because i'm like hades town minded right now because i saw it last night but it also does remind me of the fates in some way and how you can't like bargain with fate you know making a trade for your life and for fate is kind of usually messy and doesn't work out for the most part for one reason or another yeah you know like bargaining with the devil here or even the idea of like is the idea of this price of this payment a fallacy because you know like we see what happens with only death can pay for life when it happens in denarius's storyline we're gonna see it more and more as you know zombies

and shit happen throughout the storyline but then you also have questions in in like stanis's storyline especially of like at what cost right, and what did it cost you? Wait, no, that's a different thing. In Stannis' storyline of shit, of at what cost, right? It's like, what is the life of one bastard boy against the kingdom? It's like, is that actually, like, how fucking a deal works? You know, like, is that really a bargain bin thing? Like, sale where you got a whole kingdom for the life of one bastard boy? No, I don't think it works

like that. Yeah, you're just convincing yourself at that point. I'm like, there are a lot of other lives that are going to be trampled in order for that to be true first, not just the bastard. Yeah. So I don't know. There's some interesting stuff going on here with the questions of payment and currency. There's also a lot going on here with the questions of payment and currency. There's also a lot of really great and this is throughout all of Arya's chapters and all of these chapters. Obviously, there's some great fantasy and sci-fi influence. I see a little dune here, right? The litany as usual throughout Arya's plot. Arya, I mean, Arya of the knife. When your body's become a burden and nothing's left and only you remain right at the end of everything you will remain they could take all these things from her but

she would still be Arya deep in her soul they'll take every part of you for you to be a part of this greater hive this greater being which kind of makes me think of a song for Leia interesting that we put out for public a little bit ago yeah in some ways in the skin, the collective. Interesting, because they are all just piles of skin. And recently, I have been Ursula Le Guin pilled. I am Earthsea pilled. I'm very into The Wizard of Earthsea and the series. I'm on the third book. Congratulations to me. Thank you. I agree. I just need Eliana to get into it now. I intend to. I've always wanted to be. I've read the first two so fast. They're so good. I'm like so in it's all I can think about. So ready. There's a lot though. Of course, for

those of you that have already read them, you could already tell there's a lot of that in these stories. Aria and Bran are basically I mean, Bran is Earthsea book number one and Arya is Earthsea book number two. There's a temple based kind of like underground and dark. And there's a lot going back and forth here, especially in the tombs of Adaman. That reminds me of Bran and Arya. And it makes me think of that line of, you know, darkness will be your cloak from Bran's chapters of Bloodraven. Your shield, your mother's milk, darkness will make you strong. But I have to read the beginning of chapter two.

Oh my god, darkness is your ally. Chapter two, the beginning of chapter two from the Tombs of Edywan, the second Earthsea book. As she grew older, she lost all remembrance of her mother without knowing she had lost it. She belonged here at the place of the tombs. She had always belonged here, only sometimes in the long evenings of July as she watched the western mountains, dry and lion-colored in the afterglow of sunset. She would think of a fire that burned on a hearth long ago with the same clear yellow light. And with this came a memory of being held, which was strange,

for here she was seldom even touched. And the memory of a pleasant smell, the fragrance of hair freshly washed and rinsed in sage-scented water, fair long hair, the color of sunset and firelight, that was all she had left. The character in question has given all of that up. She has become nameless basically she has become what they call the eaten one arha a-r-h-a oh huh interesting she has stripped her entire identity

away to become a priestess interesting i mean that's kind of interesting the priestess thing and also because you brought up that line earlier from ned saying aria you can't become high septon but maybe your son could because like this is her joining as a religious order and being you know she's not a high septon but acolytes but she's being one right now she's being whatever she wants and whoever she wants oh that's actually really interesting now that i think about it that i hadn't considered in regards to aria's storyline this wish fulfillment thing of like obviously being able to kill the people that you want the seeking of the vengeance but also being able to be whomever be whoever you want

here she is doing it interesting what can i say i say? I love to inspire you. I live for it. I'm excited for this Earthsea series. Oh my god, once you finish the first book, I'll send you screenshots of everything I have highlighted about this one. I have a hard copy of, I think, some of the short stories from it somewhere. But I don't know if they'd make any sense to me yet without reading the rest. I just happen to have it. So, anyway. One recommendation

I'll give about it, what's great, something Ursula does really well, is in between books she's able to create a passage of time without feeling like you've missed out on things. Like, she does a great introduction and you don't need the story in between. So almost like Dunkin' Egg,

you know, novella style, that their adventures can be piecemeal. And I think that's great. Yeah. cool big span of time you know like it spans over a lot of time and like each book starts out a little different so far yeah and i think i'm pretty sure we've talked about the ones who walk from omelis on this podcast before yes yes yes yes i like in this line as well the you'll be no one's daughter no one's wife no one's mother that we've been kind of glomming on to here for a moment in that it also makes me think of the transformation of a person into a weapon you were discussing earlier that line from that and there's something to be said of the transformation of a person into a vessel when it comes to gender roles and girls

and women in Westeros but here they're transforming her into a weapon. And because it makes me think of how Asha describes her dagger and axe as her suckling babe and husband, right? Or Arya Hotha calling his axe his wife, and her being no one's wife, no one's mother, no one's daughter. And as I go down that line of thinking, there's something there that actually makes me see Hota as a great comparison to Arya as both being sold into these religious orders that are about, you know, killing, martial stuff, and also having to lose your sense of self to do so. You have to lose your personhood to do so. And we discussed in Arya Hotar's chapters like that.

Once upon a time, he was part of a family. They were like, sorry, not anymore. We don't have room for you. And so suddenly a place of no belonging versus how Arya has come to be at the house of black and white.

Hmm. Yeah, I love the idea of their weaponry as an extension of them in a way. Or them as the weapon. Not just that, but a stability. Yeah, I mean, they become the sword, right? They are the usage, the instrument. Well, that's what Syrio says to her. You are a sword. Yeah, exactly. Interesting.

Arya thinks about the many names that she's had, and she swears to him that she can pay the price. She asks for a new face. He asks her to give a stranger the gift on the morrow as Cat of the Canals, and then they will see if she's worthy. So another test to pass. The next day, she returns to Brusco and his daughters as cat of the canals and she sees the man that she must kill later in the morning he's old he's probably you know in his 50s which to aria she's like you're 107 how could you be here i'm like 50 that's not it's not old aria she tries to reason with herself thinking why should he have so many years and my

father had so few? She peddles her goods, trying to sell to this man, but he has no courtesy. He's not even playing polite. He has a pinched nose, thin lips, small, close-set eyes, and gray hair, with a pointed beard that's dyed black. One shoulder is slightly higher than the other. That night, she declares he's an evil man with a villain's beard please george how do you feel about pointy bearded characters uh do you hate littlefinger can you tell us i'm not sure pointy bearded characters of bravosi descent nonetheless whoa wow he's xenophobic gosh i love that one of the justifications that aria gives herself as to why this man like she's like i guess he could deserve the gift is he has no courtesy his face

is hard and mean and that's just because like what he doesn't smile at her and i just found that as a very sansa-esque thought being like oh he has no courtesy i'm like aria were you not just traipsing around last chapter telling people about camels yeah that's true but that's uh wow i guess that's friendly exactly maybe if he had talked to her about camel cunts yeah she's like oh dang can't kill him now oh damn there's also that line there the how should he have so many years when my father had so few? Again, like you said, with the justifying, with telling herself that it's fine, he should die, he should die. But using her dad to leverage it is sad. Yeah, she's kind of using that as her point of comparison throughout this whole thing.

That memory obviously has impacted her, comes back later this chapter. The kindly man says that he's a man like any other with light and darkness in him. And then he looks at the audience and says, this is the point of the story. And then comes back and says, it's not for her to judge. Some gods have judged him, but the many-faced God doesn't weigh souls. He gives his gift to the best and worst of men and then he goes elsewise good would live forever and i'm gonna this is gonna kind of date when this episode is being recorded but like reading that line just kind of like hit hard this week the

gift goes to everyone right we all die that is the one truth of our lives unless one of you out there who's listening knows something that i fucking don't i also watch vampire diaries so i don't know it just hits hard because like what a big a titan of the song of ice and fire community passed away this week steven atwell, and like, like, damn. Yeah, especially when you have people that have done such great things like Stephen Atwell, not just in A Song of Ice and Fire, in labor rights, in academia and totality. I mean, he was one of the best academics around. And it's that thought, it's unfair. Why couldn't it have been someone else? Why couldn't it have been someone else why couldn't it have been somebody else who wasn't doing such good for the world and the bargaining

it's when you lose someone that's one of the first things you kind of think about the bargaining part right and even not even like should it have been so it's just like why not more years right like why why not more years he far too there were just so many years left so yeah so much left to do there's that line where he's like god does not weigh men's souls and i'm like okay but you guys do you decide who can die based on how much money you're assigning how much dollar value you assign to them yeah hmm i guess like to their credit as i thought about their pricing system it's not always what it's like have you sacrificed enough you know like of yourself and your life because i guess technically if you don't have a lot you could as long as you give enough of what you have you can

buy it but it's like yeah but who are they to then play god while saying in one sentence that god doesn't yeah no i agree i'm like i don't understand the system hypocrite ass fucking cold something interesting is gonna go on there and i look forward to seeing how that like unravels in aria's storyline as she starts to question and be like what wait what did i get myself into because i mean that'll also make her a great parallel as well to jamie's storyline john's storyline who oh sorry um as they question the orders that they're in right and be like wait what the fuck are those that i swore holy shit yeah i mean even that passage where he says you know we'll take your eyes we gave them back da da da that reads like kingsguard vows that reads like the night splotch vows yeah the next day

she decides that the man's hands are the worst part of him because they're constantly moving and they're bony. The gift will bring him peace, she tells herself, and then also the priest. She says, when I kill him, he will look in my eyes and thank me. And the priest says, if he does, you will have failed. It would be best if he takes no note of you at all. I just think it's so interesting as you watch aria coming up with all of these ways to justify killing this man to herself because she's trying to convince herself he deserves it and that's not your job aria you're an assassin you're a hitman it's a twisted way for

her to obtain the justice that she so badly wants for what's happened to her her family for the people she loves she often is going out of her way to think they're going to get rid of her so she chooses to obey them and go against kind of her nature she's doing something just by killing these men she's telling herself she's majorly coping yeah like yeah this guy's a prick and he's doing shitty stuff so like killing him i guess is justice because he no longer will be doing that shitty stuff. But in reality, someone else is going to rise up and take his place and do shitty stuff. Yeah. There's a market for it here.

It's not it's a systemic issue. Right. He's just a part of the system here. Like, I mean, the whole city is full of crime on the streets we see. And everyone's like, yeah, Arya, come work for us. You know, you can stab people. Normal. Like, that's what they're hiring for.

It's private security in a way. She's only doing this because she's convinced that they won't want her if she doesn't and that they'll reject her and send her away. So she's really doing it out of desperation and survival and coercion. Absolutely. I love that you called out that she thinks this is justice or that's why she's looking for the reasons this guy sucks but i mean someone could have a hit on them for no fucking reason other than like someone felt like it i i'm sorry i'm thinking about the wild story that you told me that they've gotten more details on now about the development of the three

body problem on netflix which is being produced by, I haven't finished watching it yet, but I have read all the books, Benioff and Weiss. And on the side of like the Chinese production company, what was it like one of the executives just like off the other guy and he didn't there was no reason he was like, I watched Breaking Bad and it seemed like fun so i thought i too would poison people and kill them and i was like what yeah true sociopath shit and then he was like i will try and do it again and again and then like other people that he worked with reported that they had been sick because he they were probably being poisoned by this guy yeah it's very nutty and i do think that it was probably over the rights in the long

run you know some murder over the rights but like hold to the having the three body problem and etc but it's also the guy himself in question owns a video game company kind of that they you know he he was owning rights tangentially it's all it's very interesting we'll find the article and link it again because i was mind blown by it but as more has come out as more has come out i was like this is only more bizarre yeah but yeah someone could be just killed for some random ass petty reason well and i think of assassins like leon matilda the professional in that movie, you know, there's this bit where Matilda is pretty much lucky to be alive, right? Spoilers. But, you know, there's some members of a place that she knows called family that get just kind of shot to pieces at one point.

And she should have been there. Like, the whole movie kind of revolves around that she wasn't. And then she goes and learns assassin life. Like, the whole movie kind of revolves around that she wasn't, and then she goes and learns assassin life, and it's like, the whole point is, like, it's not, surviving this way isn't good. Look at Sandor, it eats you up. It eats you up, and you become a shell, and you don't live that way unless you really have to, and unless it's the only way you can or know how to live. Yeah. Well, this guy. This guy. This guy. He's some sort of merchant she concludes after watching him spend his days in a soup shop with onion broth there's a lot of soup shop onion broth stuff here i was like oh are we supposed to be reminded of davos anyways oh i don't know

he's conducting his business meetings his microsoft teams meetings with captains and merchants that paraded in to see him it's not really like Teams at all because it's an in-person meeting. handed to the captain or he'd shake his head and shove the coins back to the person angrily and the other person then would also get angry or scared and then the priest tells cat that the man is writing a binder he's selling the ship's insurance basically that if their ship is lost or taken he will pay them for its value a sort of wager that captains hope to lose and there's something about this action and the giving of the piece of paper right stuff with tyrian uh offering a bunch of ious to people within the same book and a dance with dragons that really just stands out to me yeah and it's kind of explained in passing that it's not illegal or like being looked down upon necessarily because obviously you're stupid if

you go for it because most of these people will never make enough like they if it gets killed like it's not going to be having been worth the money etc like and this most of the time won't happen to people and also most of the time you're not fucking alive to come collect the money so it's an easy scam right like it's like some people have a little street smarts about it and they're like, nah, I'm not going over there. That guy's, you know, evil. But some people get taken, which doesn't really, you know, just because they're an easy mark doesn't mean that they're bad people. You know, like everyone's fallen for a scam just because maybe you don't have the street smarts to avoid it. Like you're still a victim of this crime,

but it's interesting how he gets away with it, right? And it's like, you know, it's, I worked at OfficeMax a very long time ago when they still existed. And I was a technology sales manager and we'd have older folks come in with their computers and they'd have viruses on them, right? And I'm talking like FBI virus, you know, where it locks your whole computer and it's like,

put your credit card in and we'll unlock your computer. You were looking at horrible degenerate porn, you know, or whatever. Like it shames you. And because it shames you, even if you weren't, spoiler, they send that to the degenerative porn watchers and they also send it to the non-degenerative porn watchers. So like it's a scam. It says nothing about your character if you fall for it.

But it locks your computer up, right? And, like, we'd have so many older folks that didn't use computers often enough or understand it that, of course, they had given them their card and, you know, et cetera. Like, really sad, really terrible. I would help fix it for money, basically. So it was a blast. But like that right there, like, I would help fix it, the company I worked for would profit off of it. They would profit off of the older folks

that are at risk of being exploited by this technology or by something that, you know, sounds good or doesn't sound good, but by something they think is going to fix it after they've already been exploited by the initial scam. It's just layers of scams. And I feel like Braavos is kind of thick with that. That's true. That's part of their economy, just like it's part of America's economy. Because guess what? No matter how many viruses you get, there's always going to be someone charging too much money to get rid of them. Yeah, it's kind of interesting because we're introduced to Braavos as this place that is a free city that was founded in response to the slavery of the dragon lords, but we're seeing that it's also just so...

Corrupt. Yeah, exactly. That's's it that's the word it's corrupt interesting stuff you guys even got a chloe lore anecdote you're so welcome everyone the core well what the fuck are we talking about the office oh right right i'm sorry i thought we meant i was like what is chl? Holy shit. Sounds, uh... Chloe lore. It's Chloe lore. The Chlor. The Chlor.

C-H-L-O-R-E. Maybe we should have a whole thing called Chlor. A book of lore? For both of us? So we have a line of A sad smile touched his lips. It is one thing to write such a binder, though, and another to make good on it.

Cat understood. One of them must hate him. One of them came to the House of Black and White and prayed for the god to take him. I love that slow unraveling and reveal of how horrible this guy is, by the way. Especially as you pointed out, you know, you have that,

oh, Arya will kill him and he'll be thankful for it that's how she's going to get away with it turns out he does suck you don't have to make up excuses because the guy just fucking sucks yeah uh and then i love this evolution of the faceless man story the faceless man lore and how aria is kind of picturing it right someone coming in pleading praying for the gift from this man who hurt them so much, who must have ruined people, taken everything they owned and built and shattered it. Of course it's easy to buy in right in that moment. That's a taste that's satiating her thirst, right? That's like the little bit of good that I can do in the face of this guy.

Yeah, I'm guessing it's like someone who I guess they lost their ships and the guy wouldn't pay out pay up for them yeah right she's romanticizing it she's like someone must have come and prayed for the god to take him and it's like no someone came in and sacrificed a huge probably amount of money and was like fuck this guy up uh it just like looks nicer and is more ritualistic on the outside but it's not necessarily like that much different, you know, bunch of rough jacks gonna take him in an alley and break his knees. No, it's more elegant. He'll get the gift via a coin. And of course, Arya is killing con men, right? I love that. Like, no, I don't love the child violence. But yes, kill the con men, Darren. And now this guy, get him, Arya. I had like a random tinfoil of like, what if the person who wants this guy dead was one of the people whose slave ships got taken? And he's like, why won't you pay up for the slave ship? The Lyseni stealing. Yeah. I think I might have some of the details wrong about that, though.

So maybe not. But random thought. Interesting, though. Random thought. But yeah, she's killing con men. I mean, it's absolutely this child soldier thing. She's buying into the whole thing. The Darren stuff is interesting because I guess it is her therefore judging, right?

She is exacting justice as a king's justice in a way. For the Night's Watch. Yeah. And they're like, we don't do that. We don't really need you to do that, sweetheart. Thanks, though. Stop killing for free, Arya. Stop killing for free.

Yep. If you're good at something, never do it for free, babe. I would teach her. That's literally what the kindly man is saying cat's been asking a lot of questions and the priest is like look if you can't do this i'll do it and she's like no no i will i will she just has to figure out how to get around his guards because he has two guards she realizes the man must know he must be afraid that someone's gonna kill him or suspect because he has two guards she plans

to kill both the guards but the priest is like no you can only give the gift to those who are chosen so she understands and she makes a plan this is great she's learning more creative ways to kill than stabby stab stab which is how she's been doing it it's good to diversify she's really just like opening up her skill set. I love the line here that the kindly man, AKA this priest says to her, say the word and I shall lift this task from you. And he's like, if you don't want to do it,

you really don't have to do it, but you got to leave. And I'm not entirely sure if this is meant to feel religious, but maybe it is because he's a priest, but the language is constructed really similarly to that line that you and I were talking about a few weeks ago when we were just complaining about how they changed all the lyrics in general to Catholic mass. And, you know, the line that was like, Lord, I'm not ready to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed, which is now, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should enter

under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. Anyways, the say the word stuff feels a little like that word and my soul shall be healed anyways the say the word stuff feels a little like that and your soul shall be cleansed you do not have to be part of this order again all these opportunities for her to leave before saying any o's but also there's language here that sounds a little like when we spoke long long long long long long ago about ned at the beginning of the series um sounding a little like jesus praying in the garden of gethsemane um and asking that the cup be taken away from him you know there's there's kind of very much religious undertones in the way that this line is written so i appreciated it i love that you called that

out and it's very rhythmic yes right like it's very like very rhythmic it reminds me a little bit of yeah yeah where's the frankincense where's the myrrh yeah where's the give us some wine i mean they actually do have a lot of cups you can drink out of here now that i think about it never mind never mind well and you had them serving the water and the wine true yeah and the poison it is a mass it is a mass this gathering you're right it kind of is huh yeah the first half like their meeting was a mass aria practices her finger knife and three days later she announces she'll give the gift on the next day the kindly man tells her the many faced god is pleased but she must take a different face to do so for For Cat is too well known. It would bring trouble on Brusco and his daughters. Instead, she will become an ugly little girl. So as you said, we've been kind of

watching the change in the narration for Arya's chapters. I love when you called out a few chapters ago of how she stopped calling him the Hound and started calling him Sandor. And we're seeing that sort of language happen here, right right the narration has been calling her cat during this segment of the chapter but then after offering her a new face it goes back to just calling her the girl which is what she had actually been called in the narration throughout earlier of the chapter she's never called Arya anymore when Arya does get referred to it's as like some far away thought of like oh that's what aria a girl named aria would have done or it's in dialogue of you are aria blah blah and but you can

see that she's now really starting to think of herself as the girl and then they offer her a face interestingly like because it is ugly they're like everyone's gonna notice you people are gonna revile you and hate you like it doesn't allow her anonymity they're like it's really ugly everyone's going to notice you. People are going to revile you and hate you. Like, it doesn't allow her anonymity. They're like, it's really ugly. Everyone's going to notice and recognize you. And anonymity has been such a big part of her storyline so far. She's been able to fly under the radar. This doesn't let her do that.

It's actually very Sandor-esque. And therefore, in a way, like, don't fuck up, Ary aria don't do anything that makes you have to keep this face that everyone will notice you in yeah when we get to to mercy patrons will get to kind of hear a little more about this but to give you a tease like mercy is intense because there's not a hint of aria in it it's gone so last chapter in the chapter before, you have kind of that mix of Arya of the blind girl of Cat of the Canals, where it's in and out, she's blind Beth, and she's Cat of the Canals, or no, suddenly she's Arya in her thoughts again, and wolf dreams and everything. And here you don't have that. Mercy, she definitely seems to balance it though, a little bit, but there is no mention really of aria she is not aria anymore and the

progression chapter to chapter is so interesting to see like we were at 50 and we're pretty much close to zero now zero percent aria yeah that is interesting the progression will be really interesting to see as well in uh the winds of winter it seems a lot of people remember their name in the winds of winter huh allegedly allegedly he takes her down to the inner sanctum where she's never been through a heavy iron door she counts the steps on the way down which i love that it shows her training and she's memorizing it um makes me also think we're definitely gonna see like a final escape from the house of black and White, perhaps, in Pitch Black, since she has to memorize

its layout. It's like the show that these are adapted from. Yes, but maybe better. Different. Would be funny if it was pretty much the same, though. Lady Stork is just going to be there waiting for her. Also, Tombs of Atawan by

Ursula Le Guin. it's something in that as well is that the main character is counting in the dark the doorways and her steps as she tries to get around in the pitch black so made me think of that as well yeah it will be interesting and i just remember you know they for no reason made her in the waif like enemies and i will say i do think it's kind of weird though now that i thought about it that they were like oh yeah the waif and aria are friends because i'm like the waif is maybe a little older than me and i'm not friends with any 12 year olds just saying there was something that i really liked in the in the language here as well of the description

of the inner sanctum they're like oh they're like black wormholes and this probably is just it's probably just description but i was also like oh interesting wormholes like fireworms i actually love that because it does feel like all of the story of the faceless men coming to life yeah right the the rumors of fireworms that we heard about uh in of course the praying and the the gift and understanding the process and the story the the myth has come to life so i kind of love that also like a sitch from uh a seatch from dune yeah i mean i i liked your bermstein joke the other the other one when the earthquake happened thank you i think i like showed i was like everyone's like made a funny joke did you see i have a new display name on twitter i think i might not

have i'll have to look again i only subtly change it every month so you'll never notice it's different but it is different it's a lead baby sandworm and dune messiah since it's been greenlit true true true okay okay maybe i'll grow up we don't know we have this passage here light washed over the walls around them a thousand faces were gazing down on her they hung upon upon the walls, before her and behind her, high and low. Everywhere she looked, everywhere she turned. She saw old faces, and young faces. Pale faces and dark faces. Smooth faces and wrinkled faces. Freckled faces and scarred faces. Handsome faces and homely faces.

Men and women. Boys and girls, even babes. Smiling faces. Frowning faces. Faces full of greed and rage and lust. Bald faces and faces bristling with hair. Masks, she told herself. It's only masks.

But even as she thought the thought, she knew it wasn't so. They were skins. Do they frighten you, child? It is not too late for you to leave us. This is truly what you want. Arya bit her lip. She did not know what she wanted. If I leave, where will I go? She had washed and stripped a hundred corpses. things didn't frighten her they carry them down here and slice their faces off so what she was the night wolf no scraps of skin could frighten her leather hoods that's all they are they cannot hurt me do it she blurted out hmm we got a little slip there of aria uh finding a blip and the night you can really start to see the broken man themes come through in aria's storyline as well of where will i go if i leave where will

i go and this idea that there is no place in the world for me. So I will just get rid of myself. And. And you know. Just removing the self of fear entirely. Removing the self of. Conscience. To an extent right. I think that's what we see happen a lot. With the broken men.

So. Sad to see it. Yeah. Broken baby girl. Doesn't have quite the same ring it's got a ring i just don't know how i feel about it um while reading that and i don't have anything genius to say but i definitely was thinking of ramsay with all the the flayed. Okay. Also a little bit of Repo the Genetic Opera. Highly recommend. Anyone that hasn't watched it, watch it.

You had me watch that video the other week. I was like, oh my God, what is happening? It was wild. Oh my God. Repo's so good. Repo's so good. The whole idea is, you know, like your body can get repossessed. Maybe if you need new parts, you know, you just buy new your body can get repossessed maybe if you need

new parts you know you just uh buy new parts and they can repossess you if you don't pay it you and i will watch it together this summer i'm ready i'm so ready i also wanted to point out and highlight men and women boys and girls even babes yeah even babes and so we know that i mean i know that we all know they kill whoever but even babies even children probably many children there are many probably historical children that might have died by faceless man in a suave history i'm also thinking of like have you heard of every now and then in history they unearth a mass grave of babies because um maybe someone was unable to to have an abortion i'm like is that some of these babies might be that some of them might have just legitimately been ill like do you think that

they go around looking for like this baby didn't make it past a certain time because also there was a high infant mortality rate in general with the way that health things are you trying to justify no i'm just saying do you think they go around and they scavenge kids like they they're like oh look i found one i found the little kid's body and then they just like are like you heard it first faceless men not that bad says eliana defends faceless men's child murders saying that well actually no you're right smoke and mirrors from girls gone canon host do they have to do it while they're alive i didn't even consider that oh shit how are they getting these faces murder local podcaster defends child murder oh my god i didn't you can quote me on that everyone i didn't know come back for more

and i just let you go on child murder and haughty um can't wait fuck them kids um yeah i don't know it just stood out those lines just stood out to me i'm like oh yeah y'all love killing babies huh stabby stabby fucked up fucked up stop them they must be stopped what the fuck so so the kindly man commands her to sit and tells her this will hurt but that's the price of power it's quick the blade sharp and it's warm against her face not cold and her is like that's weird she feels a warm river of red wash down her and when it reaches her lips the taste is copper and salt hate that taste hate the taste of blood as i've mentioned many times on this podcast

again price stuff as we've been talking about only death may pay for life but it also ties in with some of i think what we saw in melisandre's chapters of feeling pain in exchange for the power and visions right she thinks about oh the ruby was about to just like burn through my throat but i did it i fucking did it good job me and i am telling you all i have no doubt in my mind that this was inspired by the award-winning movie face off which actually i did not make it is an award-winning movie no i mean that's true and i think you're right actually like i do agree i think george was definitely inspired a little by face off and repo the genetic opera um but yeah this is uh there's a lot of brand stuff too that kind of ties in here, and we'll come back to that. But this is such an interesting look we're getting at the process. Like, it's gross. It's not easy. It's body horror, and we're going to jump back into it.

And then he presses a tart drink into Arya's hands and he's like, drink this. And I'm really interested in all of the Alice in Wonderland style drink this is going on in this, these two books, right? She's, yeah, like the bread and milk for blindness and unblindness. And now this for forming your face reminds me of like in the Avengers in Wonderland. There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate, a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes. This time, she found a little bottle on it, which certainly was not here before, said Alice, and tied round the neck of the bottle was a paper label with the words DRINK ME beautifully

printed on it in large letters. What a curious feeling, said Alice. I must be shutting up like a telescope. And so it was indeed. She was now only 10 inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door in that lovely garden. Of course, this is much happier than aria's experience because she is merging another face into her face almost like an implant they're implanting the face upon her i i love that comparison because it absolutely is it's it's the changing of the body as well as they take the little potion hmm so there's another line afterwards. Oh, she drank it down at once. It was very tart, like biting into a lemon. A thousand years ago, she had known a girl who loved lemon cakes.

No, that was not me. That was only Aria. Sorry. So sad. I literally had nothing to say about it. I just wanted to include it because it was sad. That was it. There's so much connecting them. That always makes me sad. That line makes me those girls. I mean,

that, that right there points to their reunion someday being maybe a little bitter in some, some capacity, but I think more sweet than bitter. Oh, I like that, that their relationship it's,

it's like the lemon cakes. It's sour, but sweet. Like a, like a sour patch yes they really are sour patch kids though just like me for real interesting um first they're sour then they're fascinating the kindly man tells her mummers change their faces with artifice sorcerers use glamours but what we do is deeper the face that she dons will be true and solid like the face she was born with. I refer to this line frequently. I used to talk about this like all the time when I was very active on subreddits because it really stood out to me.

It tells me that there are kind of like these three tiers of kind of tools or whatever levels or whatever that they use amongst the faceless men. In regards to you have level one, disgu level two glamours slash magic and then three this much deeper magic of the actual like face changing stuff and i love this line of glamours using desire to work right it's about using suggestion and it plays into various saying that people see what they want to see it has to do with like the reliance on specific signifiers in order to instill the idea that people see what they expect right and that glamours are just a magical extension of that and also the idea that glamours can be seen through or even not seen through in the case of Eamon and it makes me think then that what Arya saw Jaqen H'ghar do why Jaqen needed Pate's face to enter the citadel is because I mean even though some of the maesters are kind of whack they are also people that would be expected to be

sharp-eyed they are learned people who are probably smart and studious and would therefore be able to see through a glamour because they'd like look at something strongly be like uh uh did i what the fuck did i just see so he needed like an actual meat face to get into the citadel and he took pates partially because it's one that is allowed in there. And so I think that the face that Arya saw Jaqen H'ghar change to at the end of book two was a glamour, not a true face changing, which actually requires a med spa, as we've seen in this chapter.

Roose Bolton, come over. It's funny you say that because we just put out the mystery night, right? And there's that great bit where Maynard Plum like blurs. And then he almost sees Bloodraven in the rain. So I kind of feel like it's kind of like that in a way. I'm like, I wonder if I can find that. I'm like, rain, Maynard Plum. Here we go.

Dunk world through the rain. All he could make out was a hooded shape and a single white eye. Here we go. So it's interesting, and I like the way you've kind of trifled, broken it out this way, too, So it's interesting, and I like the way you've kind of trifled, broken it out this way, too, because when you're on the go, now we know that he can craft faces on the go, right? When he's not at home with the faceless wall downstairs in Braavos, he can craft faces on the go. So if you're skilled enough, you can do that he could do glamours and there's almost something about like these three different kind of ways to disguise yourself magically or you know for show if you master all of them then you can master all illusion yeah and and you have people that can do some of it and people that can do faces you have people that can do glamours you you know like you have people that can do some of it and people that can do faces. You have people that can do glamors. You know, like you have a little bit of all of it.

But I haven't seen anyone do all three yet. So Arya, I think, might be our first character we get to see doing all of them. Yeah, I mean, I assume all the other people who were at that board meeting can do it. But we just haven't seen them do it. It's an elite few. Hell, you have Varys, like you said, you know, too. He is able to glamour with yeah he's a master of disguise he's not like doing magical glamours but like that's the thing

those are the three tiers disguises physical disguises that we know of med spa yeah oh my god uh that's that is uh ruse bolton's favorite micro Microneedling with PRP, Roos Bolton. Actually, though. Vampire facial. So the new face is tugged on. God, someone tell Roos about this. Her blood soaks into it, and then it makes it soft and supple. And for a moment, fear overcomes her, and she

cannot breathe, feeling stony hands at her throat, choking her. But the kindly man calms her through the blinding pain while a face floats in front choking her. But the kindly man calms her through the blinding pain while a face floats in front of her. It's a fat, bearded, brutal, his mouth twisted with rage. She heard the priest say,

Breathe, child. Breathe out the fear. Shake off the shadows. He is dead. She is dead. Her pain is gone. Breathe. Oh, it's a birthing ceremony. Got it. Oh, she is born

as something new. I just realized that. Ooh. Ooh. Okay. Going back to what you were saying, someone should tell Bruce. Isn't this actually, like, the proof of Bolton, the theory, in a way? Yeah, I mean, they don't take off hers.

They put it on the over. Not for reuse, though. So, you know. Yeah. I'm like, this is bolting on a new face. Bolt on. You have to say it with the on and the motion. On.

Bolt on. Bolt off. So, I don't know. I mean, I'm like half joking. I'm like, actually, like, I feel like they were onto something there. I know, somewhat. I mean, I'm like half joking. I'm like, actually, like, I feel like they were onto something there. I feel like there's some real good proof in the pudding here that this right here, like she's experiencing the memories. And it's giving skin changing, literally, she's literally changing skins by putting this face on. It does make me wonder, like, maybe you do have to have some sort of openness or sensitivity to warg and seer capabilities to do this. Like, not everyone can accept the face, right? Not everybody gets this far. The waif hasn't gotten this far, it seems, in training, right? We don't know. I don't know.

We don't know, I guess. We don't know. But this is, she's getting farther up and only the select people can actually do this. And it makes you think that those people are chosen maybe on their skin changing capabilities, because I don't know that normal people would be able to really control or feel or become this. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. We don't know. We literally don't know because this is it. This is the last Arya chapter that's published, quote unquote. This is the last Arya chapter that's published, quote unquote. But are they like, I don't know, like this is, it's giving Varamyr six skins, right? The hatred that he felt when he was trying to go into Thistle's body and the pain and hatred and the skin changing. And it makes you think like, is this a type of skin changing maybe lost to the common seers across centuries? Maybe, you know, like we've talked about same pool of magic different translations and coming back to the chairs with

the faces right like interesting connection there especially when we think you know you mentioned that melisandre chapter and the brand visions uh the the brand visions him tasting copper and blood like she was tasting the blood rolling on her face. And I think of that copper sickle and the sacrifice in front of the tree. This person's sacrifice and their being beat and killed in their real life as we start to learn about their history. You know, like, you're feeling that. You're experiencing that all over again. You're experiencing their death.

And Bran seems to be able to experience these things through the tree yeah i kind of wonder like do they always experience that person's i don't know this might be this person's death maybe they do just take the corpses and they don't take the live bodies and because i was like is are we experiencing the og ugly little girl's death and i i love that you've tied it to skin changing it absolutely is like that as you said it's like the veramir chapters and veramir himself also has experienced multiple deaths right and and bran as well right like as he as he enters hodor so it's interesting yeah the hatred and the pain and the the tang and the biting of the tongue the biting of the tongue like that there is when you put on the face there's someone else here you're not fucking alone all right and him hushing her she's dead

child she's gone it's just you but it's like uh she was there girlfriend was in there ugly little girlfriend was right there also like the face remembers and now i'm thinking it has to do with like the north remembers like like the faces of the tree remember yeah exactly exactly so interesting the trees remember so interesting and also i this line stood out to me as well of like no one was choking her no no one was hitting her. I'm like, what does that mean? Like when they use no one in that way, is it herself, right? Something is reacting as you put on the face. Just no one. Like, is that your own self rejecting the new face as you put it on or is it like in a meta way is it like that this person from whom identity and life has been stripped they are the no one like that's what it means to be known i don't know there's a lot of ways that can be interpreted i suppose yeah i think like especially because i think it's supposed to

be interpreted as like it's okay no one is actually choking you right now. Like you're good. You're fine, sister. But like also at the same time, I think it's the double entendre of no one and her memories and her life and her existence is choking her. Great job, George. GG. Wow. I mean, honestly, I actually kind of almost forgot what happens in this chapter until I like reread it. And I'm like, Oh yeah, that happens. It's gnarly. It's a little brutal.

I don't even remember like this book that well, but I don't know if you read it, this like children's book called the ear, the eye and the arm, but it reminds me a little of some of the gnarly scenes in that. But I also read that when I was like in, I don't know, the single digits of my life.

So I only remember so much. Yeah. That was ages ago it's a little dark though yeah that's kind of sounds yeah nancy farmer i mean the second book that she had the the house of the scorpion i think that i also read it's not her second book but it was the second book of hers that i read was about cloning and like taking harvesting body parts and stuff so that was interesting anyway aria studies herself and feels her face and says um i don't know it feels the same which is interesting because we know that

she played the feely game with the wave but the kindly man asks are you certain and she's like to her maybe but to others her nose and jaw are broken her cheekbones shattered half her teeth are missing and he warns her that she may have bad dreams the ugly girl's father beat her so brutally and often she was never free of pain and Arya asks well did you kill the father and the kindly man says they killed the girl who asked for the gift okay so there we go she asked for the gift so it's not the moment of her death never mind I should have known that it's in this chapter sorry everyone um but she goes no you should have killed him. And he tells her death came for him in the end.

Like it will for the man she must kill tomorrow. Focus, Arya. Focus. Interesting that Arya feels it and it doesn't feel like it to her. So it still is a form of trickery, right? It's real, but for others. So it's still a trick of some sort of artifice even though it's fused and looks real that's interesting to me that she can feel who she is still through it

which is also kind of like in a meta way she still feels herself through it all exactly but of course there's that echo in there of you should have saved my mother right she she asks if they killed the father and thinks you should have killed the father uh you should have saved my mother right she she asks if they killed the father and thinks you should have killed the father uh you should have saved my mother yeah yep that is the right thing to do but that is not what they did unfortunately sleep is not easy that night she sees the empty eyeless faces when she closes her eyes and she even sees her father's face on the wall her mother and below her three brothers because these books are adapted from season five of hbo's game of thrones which that was a huge marketing scheme they did the hall of faces the black singer the stable boy she killed with needle the squire at the crossroads the guard

at heron hall the tickler all of them their faces all are on the wall that was the marketing that one season yeah they even did it at SDCC. They had an actual hall of faces. Yeah, they did that for the pop-up bar too. So you have this comparison. No Sansa, by the way. No Sansa. So they have this comparison here between...

So I think that the book has these two moments very, very close to one another because we're supposed to compare the ugly, broken girl's face retaining the memories of pain and also Arya's dreams of her own trauma. just face, right? If that even keeps these memories so deeply and the painful ones, especially, and that skin cannot forget who she is, how could a living, breathing person, right? Like, Aria, how successful are you really going to be in trying to forget who you are? And I think that's the part of the lie of the faceless man, right? You're never going to actually be able to forget truly who you are because again dead skin can't do it how can you and the idea of people being a part of you yes right yes the ghosts that you carry the pain i also kind of wonder if like part of the memory slash task is that you remember all of the deaths that you inflicted onto other people all the people you killed each time you take a new face or something,

or the deaths that you experienced. A repentance. Yeah. Is that part of the price of only death can pay for life? I don't know. I just made that up. Yeah. Well,

but it's like a penance and it's like, there's something about it of like, you don't just get to be God and put on a new face. You have to give something to equivalent exchange. You have to give it your pain. Not just the physical ones, the emotional ones as well. Oh. It's like art.

Yeah, because I feel like she didn't say that it hurt that that much when they sliced her face. But now we have nightmares. Something interesting with like the deaths and memories and them not being allowed to kill someone they know i wonder if that coincides right like maybe it affects the magic of the face if you know the person and you transfer your properties and thoughts into it or something oh that'd be weird um and affect the way yeah i don't know something about that stuck out to me and because why else would there be such a rule i mean i know why because what if what if something went wrong there but it's also not unlike warging and skin changing

in that right of like you transferring those properties and thoughts and again i feel like there's a little bit of song for leah here with the flesh the big hive of skin going on yeah yeah and also now now that you've i don't know pointed that out it also makes me think of like the the whites right they are just dead dead things but they retain their memories apparently john snow looking guy way more royce looking guy yeah kill kill sorry no that was lady stone hard it goes uh so when day breaks it's great it's overcast it's a good day for death unbidden her prayer comes to her lips here is our updated prayer sir gregor dunstan raf the sweetling sir illin sir marin queen cersei she mouthed the name silently. In the House of Black and White, you never know who might be listening. She chooses ugly clothing to match her ugly fucking head. She palms her finger knife and takes the long way to Purple Harbor.

She thinks, I wonder if I'll see Talaya, one of Briscoe's daughters, at the Isle of Gods, but it's too early and too cold, so she's not there. but it's too early and too cold so she's not there she walks by the statue of the weeping lady of lease and she ends up coming to the gardens of galena where a gilded tree with leaves of hammered silver stands a hundred feet high for interesting statues in particular meeting lady of lease like liza and the alice's tears and the tree obviously i mean the tree's fucking obvious i like the language here of how aa chooses the clothing to go with her new face. It goes, The vaults were full of old clothing garments claimed from those who came to the House of Black and White to drink peace from the temple pool.

Everything from beggars' rags to rich silks and velvets could be found there. An ugly girl should dress in ugly clothing, she decided. So she chose a stained brown cloak fraying at the hem, a musty green tunic smelling of fish, and a pair of heavy boots. And it makes me think of in A Feast for Crows, Elaine 1. There was a gown of purple silk that gave her paws and another of dark blue velvet slashed with silver that would have woken all the color in her eyes. But in the end, she remembered that Elaine was after all a bastard and must not presume to dress above her station the dress she picked was lamb's wool dark brown and simply cut with leaves and vines embroidered blah blah blah blah she has a bunch of jewels too

and she doesn't choose them so very parallels both have to choose below their station here to fit in and continue the ruse. The ruse? The ruse? He's here. He's here. She passes the Lord of Harmony's torch-lit wooden hall and the butterfly decorated glass windows, pretty, remembering when the sailor's wife had walked with her and told her about the stranger gods of the city. Yeah, I don't know. These are just interesting things she's passing by.

The butterfly windows make me think also of transformation. That's literally what she's kind of done here. Yeah, it's fun that he's adding a little more color and a little more detail on the world around us. We've already seen a lot of these places on the trip in when she was coming up the canals on the way in, but now we're seeing them, a few of the different ones that we hadn't seen before like the three-headed treos three-headed trios with the three turreted

tower the first head devours the dying and the reborn emerged from the third i don't know what the middle head's supposed to do interesting it really calls to targaryen imagery with the three dragons. The reborn emerges from the third, Jon and Dany. Yes. Reborn. And, you know, the dying dragon, the first head devours the dying. The third head is the dying. So interesting, whether that's Ares and Rhaegar or whoever you want to symbolically put into these roles. I just felt like it's very Targaryen and it always can be cyclically representing the Targaryens. It doesn't have to even be these Targaryens.

I was thinking that middle head weeps. I was thinking of Tyrion's nightmares of, oh, I have another head. I was like, does the middle head, does the middle head mourn the dying? His melee is the monstrous middle head. Yeah. Yeah. I mean mean just in general this god yeah then there's also Penny right Penny recalls to Tyrion an elderly dwarf was once cut into three parts and pushed into the mouth of Trios at the temple in Tyrosh

yeah it's fucked up as hell I forgot that happened it just comes to mind I'm just in the Tyrion chapters every day of my life don't mind me what does it mean? What does it mean? We also have the stones of the Silent God

and the entrance to the Patternmaker's Maze, which we talked about a little in our Lorath episodes. We also have the Temple of Aquan, the Red Bull, maybe inspired by Red Bull the Beverage. Sponsor us. No, I'm joking. Not at all. I don't drink that energy drink every to the

13th day his priest would slit the throat of a pure white calf and offer bowls of blood to the beggars i will say when i first read it it reminded me of the temple of adawan it's spelled similarly but with a t instead of a q but i do think that since it's so close to to the pattern maker's maze it's definitely a little grecian right with the bull being having people sacrifice to the bull the minotaur interesting there's also the brother gods simosh and soloso they have twin temples on opposite sides of the black canal linked by a carved stone bridge it kind of reminds me of the phrase right you have the the twins and the crossing

yeah you're right and like the bridge thing interesting interesting so she crosses that bridge to go to Ragman's Harbor there they are our friends Ragman's Harbor past the drowned town and past the happy port she comes upon Kat's old friend

Tuganaro and Kaso Tuganaro doesn't recognize her but but Kaso does, clapping his fingers. She hurries on her way. There's something interesting about the animals recognizing her even when she's someone else. The cats recognized her earlier when she was Kat again. I wonder if this will come back later with Nemeria or Dire Wolves. Yeah, I like that. I think that's way warmer than what I was thinking,

which was just like it meant that any skin changer could therefore see through her disguises while in an aminal i think there's something though there that like the animals can see through it it's not actually as strong as we thought it was you know while it's the most concrete of the disguises it's still not real they can see through it just like it's it's kind of like how with the glamours right like they can see through it because it's about sight and what people expect to see because she can still feel her own face but maybe she still smells the same smell like fish aria it's like a two-way mirror that's right she hates taking baths interesting i wonder what her bath schedule is like now

poor poor she reaches the purple harbor and the man and his guards are in the soup shop haggling with a captain the harbor is busy with workers even though the weather is shitty and a little before noon she spots her prey falling in behind the ship owner who has done business with her target before and cuts his purse open stealing his gold he shouts thief thief thief and chases after her but she kicks out the bad the man's bad leg fuck dude and spins out of the way of being caught by the innkeep as well. She leaps across the alleys and canals, hiding, waiting, and making her way to the rooftops. Back at the temple, the ugly girl brings a golden dragon to the kindly man, who tells her the faceless men are no thieves. But she didn't steal, she says.

She replaced the coin with one of their own. The kindly man realizes he paid the man with the coin. The kindly man realizes the man was paid with the coin. And soon after, the original target, his heart gives out. He tosses the golden dragon into the pool and he accepts her completion of the mission. She did much better than Mr. andrs smith in their mission in new show i still have to finish i'm like on episode second to last episode of that season i'm enjoying the show in case anyone's wondering i love it i haven't gotten done with it yet but i'm working

on it too i'm halfway through our time and so that brings us to the end of this chapter that night they gave her back the face of aa Stark. They brought a robe for her as well. The soft, thick robe of an acolyte, black upon one side and white upon the other. Wear this when you are here, but know that you shall have little need of it for the present. On the morrow, you will go to Isimbara to begin your first apprenticeship. Take what clothes you will from the Isambaro to begin your first apprenticeship. Take what clothes you will from the vaults below. The city watch is looking for a certain ugly girl known to frequent the Purple Harbor,

so it's best you have a new face as well. He cupped her chin, turned her head this way and that, nodded. A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own. Who are you, child? Now what? She replied. That is the last

Arya chapter in A Dance with Dragons. Whoa. Whoa. Big, big pate energy. Right there. Yeah. But not pate. Jockate jock and you know this is like jockin whoever alchemist actually technically this is the alchemist i guess now that i can't keep up i can't keep up with him he's constantly changing uh this comes at some really great

moments of the book right you have cersei too which is a big climax of her walk and the end result. You have Tyrion 12, you have the King breaker, you have the dragon tamer rip. That's a misnomer. If I ever fucking heard it, you have John 13, which goes exactly the same way as the dragon tamer,

except with more emotion behind it that we know about. Because we don't know what Drogon's siblings were really thinking when they roasted Quentin alive. We know what the Night's Watch was thinking when they stabbed Jon. Yeah, that knife was cold, not warm. You had the queen's hand. Unlike the one that Arya experienced. Yeah. Only ever felt the cold.

The queen's hand. You have Daenerys 10. The banger. The more she ate, the more she shat i had poison food poisoning last week and that was me the more i drank the more i shat and then the epilogue with kevin right wild and then the appendix which we always love let's be real we love a good appendix and honestly i'm not saying we'll do this but i've always wanted to do an appendice appendices i want to do an appendix episode

on all of the appendixes and things that change and like what to look out for in different storytelling but keep that in the hat for patreon i feel like you've mentioned that to me before and i forgot so i'm unlocking a memory now when i was a younger more ambitious girl when we first started when we were young ambitious girls gone canon and now we're like lady stoneheart and catalan age i think i really wanted to do it then and i was like thinking we're gonna include it in the structure it's a pov so maybe it's a bonus pov maybe it is maybe it is interesting interesting yeah oh man wild this is i mean what a great place to end aria's arc on in the published in the published books because i mean cliffhanger you know things are ramping up i will say i do see

and we'll talk a little more about this in our mercy episode on patreon but i do see where mercy could have kind of come in and completed the arc a little bit and given you like that great end of book feeling because this doesn't necessarily to your point doesn't feel like an end of book chapter even though it was completing her arc and i think that also has to do with being split between feast and dance to be fair yeah yeah feast and dance and also it was intended as one arc they were like we let's just fucking put out dance and so they cut about like what was it 100 something pages 130 or so pages from dance into the winds of winter i think presumably the mercy chapter is one of them and i guess it's for the best though like it still works it still ends on a great note but yeah i just mercy is crazy

mercy's fucking crazy do yourself a favor if you're not a patron and you have a little extra cash banging around in your wallet you should become one just for this chapter because it's going to be the tiwa chapter of a lifetime um we have been covering the winds of winter chapters at the end of a pov if they have a winds of winter published chapter uh this is oh my god this is our last POV chapter from T-Bone. No, no, no, we have two more. We have the Tyrion. Yeah, we have the Tyrion ones, but I don't know if those are full.

Which one's a partial? Yeah. I haven't read those yet. I think one's full, one's partial. Oh, shit, I have read them. I read Mercy when it came out on George's site, but yeah, I have not read the Tyrion ones yet. It'll be an experience.

Exciting. Exciting for me. Oh my god. Yeah. Yes, I forgot. Yeah. This'll be, that'll be our last T-Wow, though, when that happens.

Dang. Someday. Could be soon, could be late. Unless, unless Wins comes out before then. Anyway, no T.O.O. chapters for Jon-Khan, but I'm sure we will be talking a lot about the wins a winner with Jon-Khan.

And Eliana, since we're at the end of Arya, what do you think's gonna happen in the wins a winner for her? Honestly, I don't know. I guess it could still be more training. Maybe, as we've discussed throughout these chapters maybe she learns to fucking shoot a bow and arrow which i had not thought about but like presumably though we had sparser aria chapters and they

were distributed between the two books right between both feast and dance i assume aria is going to get a lot of chapters in wins like as like as much as she did in Storm and Clash. So Wins definitely has the Storm feel for chapter load for some of those characters. Yeah. And I feel like, you know, we've discussed like, is she going to take part in some of these bravosy politics, pentoshi stuff like Lysini, right? We were talking about her learning the dialect. So I think we could see maybe a little bit of that come into play and i'm curious about like more of how that personal dilemma is going to come because she's she's gonna have a moment that is quite like what happens to john at the end of at the end of dance right we're gonna

get a great contrast between how these two siblings handle um desertion yeah because i don't see her staying there for more than three or four chapters i don't know but also when is she going to learn to shoot a bow and arrow i don't know either maybe she has to go home for that or the riverlands true maybe she can meet back up with on guy i mean i'll be also discussed like it could even be theon that would be yeah that would be too cute though that'd be too nice you know george would never do that for us you're fucking right uh how about you what do you think is gonna happen i mean we we know she's killing her mom yeah yeah besides killing her mom that's in there besides that that's like well and that's what i think about like not to be an annoying stickler but i think about the the shape of the story right so if you have that towards the end of her the

winds of winter plot so maybe in the end of the book or in the last you know the grand finale of the things happening in westeros i assume there's going to be a lot happening right t wow uh is going to have some i mean i think you'll have what it personally king's landing will be I mean, I think you'll have what, personally, King's Landing will be sieged, probably, and taken by Arianne and Young Griff at the end of the book. Yes. Cersei fleeing, maybe. Some crazy shit with King's Landing. There's some other stuff that I think might happen, but that's for another POV another time.

We'll come to that. But if that's happening there, and you have Stannis shit happening at the Wall, maybe sacrificing Shireen. You have Arya killing her mom. You have mom you have you know like there's all this i could see it all going off at once and being such an explosive maybe pun intended maybe question mark book i look forward to seeing how it plays out but for her yes i think returning to westeros uh finishing up with the faceless men we know what happens in mercy those of us that have read it. So no spoilers there, but I do feel like she's coming to the end of her like Jedi training plot. The next chapter that she has that Tiwau chapter, she's definitely finessed a lot of her skill. And I think that when it gets to stasis, like it's time to move with the story.

So conflict is coming for her in bravos uh and then maybe she's gonna jump on a boat go west find her wolf and have some sad reunions and maybe like part from each other once again and maybe kill her mom yeah or maybe meet jamie and brienne as we discussed in cat of the canals she might steal a boat i really hope she does if she doesn't steal a boat what was it worth it what was the point of it all if she didn She might steal a boat. I really hope she does. If she doesn't steal a boat, was it worth it? What was the point of it all if she didn't hijack a boat? Oceans 11. Arya Stark. Oceans I'm 11.

Oceans I'm 11! And that is a perfect note. A perfect note to end the chapter on and to end Arya Stark's POV on. I've enjoyed Arya. I look forward to JonCon though. I pov on i've enjoyed aria i look forward to john khan though i feel like it's gonna be a great like little palette cleanse to check out something new but also something similar in some ways yeah i mean you talked about a little bit of what to

expect in wins right with arianne and young grip and i'm excited to dig into that with these john khan chapters i've been waiting for the POV since, like, fucking the first year that we did this podcast. I can't believe it. Six years. I have been so jazzed with the JonCon chapters. Well, you're going to get your wish. Yeah, but I just wish I didn't have to pay the price of Arya.

Jon Connington. Oh, my God. Well, only death can pay for life when it comes to POVs. I know, right? Well, we will return with john connington thanks for listening to aria stark on girls gone canon we are no longer ready are you not ready to do aria stark uh we will miss you now you know aria but we'll be back we'll be back with aria eventually i know it i feel it the winds they're rising look under your chair

look under your chair it's already out um if you want to keep up though with the rest of our podcast you can find us on social media at girls gone canon that's c-a-n-o-n on twitter or you can send us an email at girls gone canon at gmail. Yes, we'd love to hear from you. And our patrons sponsor every episode we put out. We are able to stay ad-free because of our patrons. A big thank you to them. And they're going to tell you where you can subscribe to us, listen to us, stream us, and leave reviews on there as well. You can catch Girls Gone Canon on any of the following streamers.

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Come by, join the community, it's a lot of fun, and you won't regret it. Yes, our patrons are the backbone. Thanks guys for putting that together, telling everyone where to go. You can be one of them like they said at patreon.com slash girls gone canon we'd love to have you as always i've been one of your hosts chloe and i've been another one of your hosts eliana dang wow are you ready to say goodbye so sad we're not going home not really that's not you you're ready to say goodbye. So sad. We're not going home.

Not really. That's not you. It's me. Wait, that's not me. It's me, Dario. Oh my God. We've broken them. They're broken.

The girls have broken. And the girls break. And then the girls break. Goodbye. Goodbye.