Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 236 — AFFC Cersei VIII

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

Cersei ate. (So did Chloe.) --- 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 236. Cersei ate in a feast for crows. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. And it's not just me today. We have several other co-hosts. They are the birds that are in the background. For a couple of these episodes, we have various little birds.

They are part of the episode, and they are listening and partaking, and there's really just nothing I can do about them. You know, Eliana is traveling east of Essos, where all the birds live. To Lys, where Varys's little birds are from. Maybe, yeah. You went straight to the source. You did your research for this episode. I really respect that. Real journalism. Real Cersei Lannister journalism. It's crazy. We had guests, two amazing guests, back to back, Maddie and Rowan, and now it's just us. We must fill the void, and boy does this chapter fill the void. This is a great chapter.

I was into this chapter today. I was like, damn, that is a good chapter George wrote. So I'm hyped. I'm ready. I was in search of a song of ice and fire on the browser. I was like, I'm gonna find quotes. I got all this juice in my brain. I'm ready, y'all. I'm ready. I forgot how much of a banger this chapter is. Every Cersei chapter is kind of a banger. That's true. That's true. So Very excited to get into it. I mean like even before just like the dream stuff a lot of it is pretty Yeah, pretty good pretty telling so Before we get jump into it. We got we got a couple of things to talk about Yeah, housekeeping patreon episode this month coming out

Gossip girls gone cannon episode 2 the first Thanksgiving. It's not our second patreon episode, but it will only be for patrons I'm thinking we might release it eventually for public as we get through Gossip Girls Gone Cannon so Very excited new series every year. We're gonna be covering a season Thanksgiving Gossip Girl episode this is is season one episode nine, Blair Waldorf must pie. Amazing for so many reasons and we'll talk about that in that episode. You can get bonus Girls Gone Cannon episodes over at patreon.com slash girls gone cannon, C-A-N-O-N.

You can subscribe for free and just get updates here and there and chit chat with us. We've got community chats, we've got posts, we've got collections, we have a huge girls gone canon guide to every episode we've done, whether it's a Patreon episode or whether it's an Aeswaf episode or His Dark Materials or Hot D or whatever is your thing.

Your pleasure. Your vice. So come by. You can even subscribe to our private RSS feed and load it into your favorite streaming platform. Indeed. And that first Thanksgiving episode is just how we are kicking off this year's holiday season.

We're gonna have a little bit of an unorthodox schedule for the rest of the quarter, because I love saying quarter. It's my toxic phrase. Yeah, if you were interested in corporate girly, if you were interested in coming to brunch in November, it already happened. But if you become a Thunder Tier patron, you can come Brappy Hour with us, brunch slash happy hour as acclaimed by Eliana. You can come do that in December on December 28th at 2pm ET.

We'll be hanging out playing jackbox games with our Thunder Tier and above patrons over in our Discord. We do that every month, honestly. We hang out on Discord with our friends and patrons and we enjoy it. Sometimes there's real life meetups too. A bunch of us were in New York last month and that was really fun. It was really nice to see everyone. It sounds like it was a blast. Could not make it this time, but I think there will be other times in the Big Apple. And also, well, let's talk about other parts of the rest of the year. We are going to continue, of course, our coverage of Seer Seed, but not necessarily on all the days that you think.

Seer Seed 10 in A Feast for Crows is going to be our last A Song of Ice and Fire episode of 2024. Seriously, 10 in A Feast for Crows is going to be our last A Song of Ice and Fire episode of 2024. We are going to return in 2025 with two more Back to Back to Back to Back to You amazing guests. It's going to be so good to cover dance with these guests. They are ready. I know it.

They're so ready. We're so ready. Banger chapters. guests. Like, they are, they're ready, I know it. They're so ready. We're so ready. Banger chapters. Banger chapters. I don't know, I guess I'm not ready. I need the rest of the year to prepare. Um.

That's why it's happening next year. You, me, anyways. We'll still have a couple episodes coming out for the public this year. We talked a little bit about our Patreon bonus episodes that are available for that Stranger Tier $5 and above, but we're going to release a couple of those episodes for you. One of the episodes we will be releasing is The Hunger Games, Episode 1, Act 1, The Tributes. This is a Patreon exclusive series,

but we want to give you a little taste of what we are cooking with that episode, so keep your eyes peeled for that to come out over the holidays. And we'll be back a couple weeks into January, like Aliana said, with our guests. You might get another Patreon episode released for public. We'll see what happens there. Honestly, I think our first Hunger Games episode, it bangs. You should all listen to it. It's our passion project. So be hyped for that. We will continue that series soon, as well as our folding in Dorn name still TBD in anticipation. And Free Cities.

Yeah, and Free Cities. But the Dorn one I feel is just a little more pressing because they're releasing even more little trailers of A Night of the Seven Kingdoms. I mean, it would obviously be a better series if we had Fire and Blood 2, but... Blood and Fire, you mean? Sorry, fake fangirl. Get it right, fake fangirl. I miss you.

Yeah, and they actually announced, or there's been some insider info released of some other people that are on the show, some other characters we might see this season, whether they're from the books or not. I saw that floating around, so the Night of the Seven Kingdoms hype is beginning. We'll see what happens there HBO marketing and fans with fucking droids or drones droids fans droids Fans with drones capturing shots of the set and actors lots of fun stuff out there. Maybe the droids are like

actors, lots of fun stuff out there. Maybe the droids are like, they're also our listeners. I could see C-3PO being a fan of Girls Gone Cannons. Are you saying our listeners are bots? Oh my god. Oh, no, no, I'm just saying that, you know, the computers are people too, and by that I mean please don't kill me when our robot overlords take over. I'm always sucking up to Siri. I always say thank you to my phone assistant if I use it.

I do too! Yeah, I say please and thank you. Alright, well, here's some stuff from our listeners who are not droids or robots. Did you know we get comments on Spotify now? Honestly, I did. I have no idea how to find them. You can't because it's attached to on Spotify now. Honestly, I did I have no idea how to find them You can't because it's attached to my Spotify account. Oh, that makes sense But we are in we're in a family account everyone Chloe and I are a family She remembers that the family really is your 30 something year old You remembered to put in my address

You are not the only one I'm not losing it. I'll go the extra mile if it means we're going to socialize our... Never mind. Spotify, don't listen to this challenge. We have comments on our Spotify. We live together. We are in the same household, Spotify. The same house, Spotify, if you're listening. Who hosts this podcast sometimes or helps people stream. I live in her heart. I live in her heart. My heart is my home Anyway, we have fucking comments on our Spotify feed So Eliana take us away. All right, so from ha Clara Godwin study We have

This is very recent. What do you think of the idea of seriously? Sending the Sparrows to the Wall or to settle the new gift? Gets them away from her? Could be a holy calling, would piss off Sanis. She could even get Orraine to take them to Eastwatch to test out her new ships. Ooh, I do think that Orraine is busy betraying her and playing her like a fiddle. But otherwise, yeah, like otherwise, yes, she could do that. I don't know, this is kind of a smart, this is

very smart, especially since she's already sending people to the wall. But unfortunately, sparrows are like insects. If you have only a couple of them, you probably have an infestation. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, I guess birds could be an infestation. I know I'm really, I gotta think about birds more. Bird squatter rights. It could be. I wonder if it would be Cersei or someone else or, I don't know. Kevin would have maybe. Well, is George gardening something with, I kind of wonder like what of maybe well is George like gardening something with like I know the stuff that Maddie pointed out regarding the dance

There but I do like the idea and also like Sticking them on Stanis, but I think the whole point we saw in the last few episodes is like They're not falling for the trick of like but Stanis doesn't believe in you and they're like, yeah, well, you don't fucking believe in us either, so. Real. Real. Even ground. They're on even ground. It's interesting. It's refreshing. I have never thought about that, ever. Yeah. Yeah. And I've thought a lot of Aeswaf thoughts, unfortunately. Oh, I thought you were gonna say, I thought, I've thought a lot about the new gift, which you have. You have thought a lot about the new gift. I have thought about the new gift a lot. Who is that here? It is one of my special interests. It's new!

It's new, perfect! I don't know, it's just like, new gift, new girl, there's something here. George, hire us for the Roberts Rebellion play to turn it into a musical. We got another comment from our friend ToonWorld. This is fun. It says, I've been really living this past month with the Cersei kneecaps. I love that. Slitting! Um, living! My favorite current thing is how she casually laughs off the fact that her family owes money to the mafia lol lol.

No one has a steelier spine than her, like she's not even worried about her kneecaps, I love her. Yeah, in my um, after finishing the season of the Penguin, um, I also really appreciate this, that's all. Oh, yeah, okay, okay. Riel, some Falcone shit is what you're saying, I haven't watched yet but I'm guessing. Kind of, I mean I guess it's not quite like that. That and some Elgual.

Yeah, one day I'm gonna finish, I'm gonna watch Kind of. I mean, I guess it's not quite like that. That's some out-duel. Yeah. One day I'm gonna finish. I'm gonna watch the Sprintos and finish it. You did really good. You watched a couple episodes when we were on a recent holiday. Yeah. That was very cute of some of us. Yeah.

Very sweet. Very sweet. Friends are good when they're together. Toon World, thank you for your comment. I appreciate this because also, yes, her family owes money to the mafia, but also her family is the mafia too. I was thinking that too because I know that you have talked about that. You and your roommate have also discussed that.

Who? To me. Sometimes I get private shows. Not like that. Not like that. Not the testing couch. Oh my god. Interesting. It's a fun, fun like that. Not the testing couch. Oh my god. So it's a fun, fun irony there.

She was raised to not be afraid of that. She was raised to be above it. Fascinating. All right. We got an email from our friend Zainab, and this is really funny because she titled it, and this is so silly because it is no way this, but she said, weekly rowan report, dollar store version. Girl, I did crack up. I had to laugh, but it's a great email.

So no derogatory in parentheses. This is a great email. Hi, Chloe and Eliana. That's us. I figured this was a good opportunity to send an email because there's no rowan report this week since she was on the episode. I loved the analysis as always and had a great time listening. So many important points that you all made, but one that stood out to me in particular

was Jaime's lack of empathy when it comes to the abuse inflicted on Cersei by Robert. Due to him being in the King's Guard and grappling with the Kingslayer moniker after the Rebellion, I get that Jaime felt his hands were tied when it came to dealing with Robert, but he also never expresses regret for not being able to protect Cersei unlike with Rhaella. He's always consumed with jealousy that Cersei isn't his. He doesn't take time to reflect on how she feels being in such a position. George writes Jaime is a more sympathetic character than Cersei, but this aspect of his character is often overlooked by some, where the fandom at large is quick to point out Cersei's faults.

You'd think a man struggling with upholding chivalric ideals would take a second to consider the feelings of the woman he claims to love, but instead his jealousy is at the forefront. A line from the bad show unfortunately sums up the attitude very well when he says he'd go to war with Robert to win Cersei in what the singers would call the war for Cersei's cunt. All this to say, the Lannisters always deliver when it comes to rich characterization and maybe we'll get to see or hear more soon monocle emoji hoops amongst us could possibly know. In the meantime, I'm happy to continue

supporting both women's rights and wrongs as Cersei Seizing continues, and my favorite podcast, Girls Gone Cancelled. Hallelujah, sister! Hallelujah, sister. I love that those are the favorite in the Canse folder spelled with the British spelling. Look at the little extra U and that L. Thank you, Zana, for for stepping in as a substitute for the Roland Report substitute teacher. Substitute professor. T.A. T.A.

I don't know. T.A. Oh! Tits and ass at Searcy College. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. No, no, don't be sorry. I don't know. Unless Zana wants you to be sorry I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. No, no, don't be sorry. I don't know, unless Zayna wants you to be sorry, then I don't know. I'm like, Zayna, I mean this affectionately. Affectionately. Yeah, I absolutely agree with everything in here, and I really like the insight of tying it back to the war for Circe's cunt, that is kind of how it feels regarding the

attitudes towards her and yeah, he doesn't really express any regret for it. Yeah, just like Bran. I mean, you know, fuck them kids, right? Like, he only, I think, regrets that the Bran stuff, like that what, that brand didn't die um in the words of what is it is it rihanna um don't tell me you're sorry when you're not baby you know you're only sorry you got caught uh yeah pretty much because you put up quite a show really yeah me going really had people going um honestly i want to say like the first time i heard that line in that Jamie chapter that really stood out to me was, what was it, I want to say it was an Atwell analysis, even, maybe.

So thank you, Steven Atwell, truly. But yeah. Um, Zaynab, I agree that Jamie isn't shit. Thank you for writing in. Is that not what was said? Because that's what I heard. Yeah. Jamie ain't shit.

Thank you. Thanks Zaina for your report. I give it an A+. You're definitely gonna graduate. You're definitely gonna get your PhD. TA. Come loud. Oh god.

I'm going to jail. get your PhD, TA. Come loud! Oh god. I'm going to jail. So, between the last chapter, Cersei VII in A Feast for Crows and Cersei VIII in A Feast for Crows, there were three chapters we are going to hit a lightning round and tell you about them, starting with Jaime V.

Jenna tells Jaime that Tyrion is Tywin's son, not him. Cat of the Canals. Arya has trouble becoming no one, and is given a magical potion to help her along the way. Oh, interesting. Potions throughout these two chapters. Samuel 4. What mad cruel god would give a man eyes and tell him he must forever keep them shut, and never look at all the beauty in the world? Only a monster god, a demon of the darkness. And that brings us here to Circe 8, cause she ate. Um, anyways. This chapter 8.

It wasn't that funny, but it was. I'm glad that I can still bring you joy, girl whose home is my heart. I'm glad! Managing the Court of King's Landing is hard work, but seriously, girl bosses her way through it before taking a trauma break to recount to us the story of Maggie the Frog and the girls that once visited her tent. Different girls to us, the story of Maggie the Frog and the girls that once visited her tent. Different girls from us, by the way.

The weather has been keeping Marjorie locked in the maiden vault with all of her hens listening to the blue bard who has just dropped his most recent mixtape and or EP. Mixtape? And or EP. Uh, you're gonna hear that on TikTok, there's a little snippet soon. Uh, I like that the, that the weather here echoes the beginning of the book's Circe chapter, slash especially that second Circe chapter where it's raining at Tywin's funeral.

That's really it. Yeah. It's great cause there's a little structure somewhat like Catalan and Storm with the rain and the weather as well. Yeah, true. And we're going to come to some other structural bits about this chapter that bring you back to other books, actually, very soon. Indeed.

Cersei's day is similarly grim, but when evening arrives, Orym Waters returns on the sweet Cersei to request an audience. He informs her the Drag Dragon Stone is hers. The red wines conceal to fight the ironborn and Euron Crozai, and Loras is also seriously wounded, having turned a mere victory into a massacre. A thousand men are dead, most of them their own, allegedly. Seriously feigned sorrow for Tommen and the small small folks loss, asking Orraine to recant the news in private with wine and a charcuterie board so Margaery would hear it from a stranger. She can really just be there to soften the blows.

Orraine smiles wickedly, calling her kind. Cersei observes him noting that he shares only Rhaegar's hair, but up close he's nothing like him. You big uggo. no, I'm joking. She thinks that he has hair that looks like Rhaegar's, but so do half of the women in Lys, the sex workers in Lys, which I love that because it also is giving a little nod at Sarah, right? And also, not just Sarah, but Young Griff foreshadowing, right?

This is very plainly reminding you it's not a new thing, like men have the Targaryen look, the Valyrian look in Leis. This isn't like, it's foreign to Westeros in some aspects, but it's really not that foreign. Anyone, anyone could show up looking slightly valerian sometimes people are just blonde you know yeah I was born blonde and then it changed oh I was not had bro yeah I yeah you told me cool though I would have been interested but yeah I just don't see it I don't interested, but, nah. I just don't see it. I don't see it.

But I don't know, maybe you don't see it. I have dark hair. Naturally now, it just darkened over time and shit. You know? Melanin. I got a lot of that. So, ready to deliver the news, Cersei interrupts Margaery and her cousin's game night in the maiden vault. She informs Margaery that her brother is a hero, which Margaery isn't surprised by and recounts how Loras rode into the dragon's mouth. Mega Tyrell sobs, asking who killed him, and Cersei replies that no man has that honor. Loras was struck with a mace, shot with a quarrel, and badly wounded, though Cersei

stops her for giving full details. Margaery insists that she continue, since Cersei reveals that the horse was also doused with boiling oil and is badly burned, though the maesters are doing what they can. So not to come back to Clash, but it's almost reminiscent of when Tyrion put out stories to several parties in Thrones and Clash, and, kind of reminiscent of that idea of him like narrowing down who believes what or who said what. And there's something going on here that maybe three years ago I didn't give a fuck about, okay?

Like I want to like, this is a plot I wasn't maybe into. I think House of the Dragon has brought a lot of it back and fire and blood of maybe caring. House of the Dragon has brought a lot of it back and fire him blood of maybe caring, but it does seem with the language that we're about to point out that Loras maybe flipped sides mid siege. First of all, they've done this trick before in the Blackwater. They had a ghost night. They had Renly's armor paraded around.

The language here from Cersei, no man has that honor. He went straight into the dragon's mouth. His body is burnt. Beyond recognition, huh? Interesting. That's really interesting. Quintin's a lot- no, I'm just kidding. Loras is alive, though.

How fucked up is that? Quintin's not alive secretly, but Loras is secretly alive? Wow. And not just that, but I think of Eric and Arik, I think of Loras like waiting at Dragonstone possibly for the Dragon Queen and to switch sides or to Aegon or however he's gonna do it. Something here and the language around it is really pointing out. Something's going up. And the fact that like there's 80 wounds that are killing Loras, whether it's the coral in the thigh and the burning oil

and struck with a mace. It's giving Sandor Clegane rumors, right, that the Hound is eating people alive and shit. It's giving that, it's giving Sansa rumors. Something's amiss here. Something's absolutely amiss, and I do think he's going to switch sides. Yeah, I like that idea. I don't know where he'll switch sides. I don't know what he's

doing. I really don't. But yeah, I am curious where his plot is going. I've not invested a full amount of thinking other than I think that boy's alive. It's just suspicious. Him having died and also that they were like, oh yeah, we lost a lot of our hosts and a lot of them were like – basically, they were sworn swords, especially the trained knights, so much more highborn. I just think that's weird and suspicious. It's either did he flip sides or I don't know, I had this random ass thought. I was like, did he just abscond with a bunch of the ships to go fight the ironborn? Or like, oh my god, but if Loras is actually the pirate king and not Orraine, which is like the most left-field

Random thought that I had. That would be cool. I don't think so, but it'd be cool No, I don't think so either like it doesn't he's not qualified for that or like is he like running around in Renly's armor now? He's like I've grown more I can fill it out. I don't know. It's interesting, because it means either Oryn did a ruse bolt in here, being like, yeah, so I just let a bunch of our hosts, our trained hosts, die. Which is, I guess, possible. Or the things that we saw in regards to what led to the Triarchy splitting apart with like so much of the other Free Cities host dying, but I like the idea that, I don't know, Loras is flipping sides or, I don't know, he's got some weird plot. I'm so, I've convinced myself so much that he's gonna wait for Dani.

And I think that, cause when she comes back, I think he'll kneel and give over Dragonstone and say, I'm in your debt. But all of his family is going to die supporting the Greens, supporting Aegon, right? Most of his family is going to die supporting Cersei and Aegon. So from the Eric-Arc angle, like something about it is very, especially because he's like very handsome and young, right? So if she also if Barristan maybe doesn't continue on because of, you know, death, Dani is often, you know, she, she feels closeness to Dario, who's younger than some of her advisors.

She feels closest to Missandei. She feels closest to Eerie. Uh, having a young, handsome, powerful, skilled knight at her side. I mean, Loris is an interesting choice for that. Also, very Mona Lisa and Jean Ralphio in Parks and Rec when they're like, we're dead because of the insurance money at the end and they're like, don't act suspicious. That's very Loris and Marjorie right now. Oh, I was about to say Loris and Orrain.

Because what would make Orrain, like is Orrain covering for Loris? Or are they going to join up random other, the other Targaryen, Young Griff? What if they support Young Griff? Because if Varys has Edric Storm for some fucking reason. And the Friends in the Reach. Yeah, and he's like, well, this kid was, I don't know, Renly's successor in a way, but not, I don't know. Yeah, I do think the Kingsguard angle though, especially with Rhaenyra, is gonna be very

interesting to see if it plays out. I think there's something there. And him being the lone ranger from his family, right? His entire family is like, stuck in place with the Lannisters, and they don't want to be, but they are. And then he's in a Sansa role being like, please don't kill my family. Almost like you'll see the Joroseum or the, yeah. Yeah. We really just made up a whole other storyline in this five minute interval. Your move, George.

Your move. I think of the Yu-Gi-Oh. Your move, Yu-Gi-Oh. Like the US version of the thing. Not the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I mean, that's what they have in the show. Cersei holds Margaery, her sister, right? Her sister. She tells her, Laura's safe, the round, dear sister, his deeds will be in the White Book because of my dear brother, fucker, Jaime. And then she tastes Margaery's tears, oh, I love this, and Marjorie wrenches out of the embrace, like she does not want to be in this.

She declares dying is not dead. And Cersei says, I only want to spare you. And Marjorie interrupts her and says, I know what you want, and commands her to get out. Ooh, struck a nerve. Yeah. Damn. I do think there's something very real here that I like of the way that Margaery's emotion of denial and bargaining in regards to hearing of a loved one's death is portrayed

in that line that dying is not dead, which true, that is true. But also, it's a great mirror to Daenerys' desperation and grief when trying to bring back Drogo. Oh, I love that! I didn't really think about that. And it also comes back to like Clash when Jaime gets taken. And you see Cersei and Tyrion's chapters and her desperation and anger about him being taken too. I think there's a mirror there as well.

That's a good point. I forgot that that boy was taken. He was straight tooken! Yeah. I mean, that's only like what happened for a lot of his chapters. It's only when he started getting his POVs, so whatever. It's the sexiest part of the story. It does start, actually, with the sexiest part where he and Ketlin had dungeon sex.

Dungeon sex. He's like, I've never had a pussy that's not my sister's. Anyways. Could be interesting. It could be interesting. There is a passage. And it says, Now you know how I felt the night my Joffrey died. She bowed, her face a mask of cool courtesy. Sweet daughter, I am so sad for you. I will leave you with your grief.

Lady Merriwether did not appear that night. Cersei found herself too restless to sleep. If Lord Tywin could see me now, he would know he had his heir, an heir worthy of the Rock, she thought, as she lay abed, with Jocelyn Swift snoring softly into the other pillow. Margaery would soon be weeping the bitter tears that she should have wept for Joffrey. Wow. Deep, deep shit, Cersei. I'm worried about you, girl. Indeed, indeed. I like that cool courtesy thing.

Coming back to the icy, the icy language for Cersei. Cersei... That's mean. Yeah, Cersei's got some plans to support local artists and raise a statue of Loras for Tommen, the Tyrells, and the smallfolk when he dies. I love this because she's like, making statues to own the libs, right? She's like, I'm really gonna show them by putting a statue of Loras down. What? What? You're gonna show them, Cersei! Get em! Uh, by memorializing him. Uh, yeah, you know, I get it. Some of it's said in anger. So, you know, rage takes us all. As the sun rises, Tyena reveals that she had stayed with Margaery overnight, consoling

her. And Margaery is hopeful still of Loras's survival and plans to send her own maester to check on him. Cersei tells Tyena they'll light candles for Loras and Baelor's Sept the next day. Then she asks Dorcas to fetch her her new, lighter crown set with emeralds. Yeah, I don't know if I remember her commissioning this crown, but it is a good detail about her being like, I'm just gonna get a random new crown for like shits and giggles, when, you know, Cersei completely refused to pay off their debts recently, and people are starving and she just told a bunch of people she's like fuck off with this like money request. So as Toon World said, just telling the mafia no, I'm gonna buy a crown. STACEY They hate to see a girl boss winning, you know? STACEY Yeah. It's like I need accessories.

STACEY I feel that, I do too. STACEY So Osmond reports four new potential imps, including Just Ahead. Cersei hopes the head will bring her peace. Perhaps because it is the seventh holy- oh, this is incredible, you guys. You guys, Chloe wrote this wonderful pun in the doc. It says, perhaps the seventh holy imp-poster. I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry. the doc says, perhaps the seventh holy imp poster. I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry. When I saw it in my head, I was like, I gotta say it. I gotta say it. It's so good.

Imp poster. If you're listening to this episode, like now's the time to squat that username on like, I don't even know what platform but like, Blue Sky, which we're back-ish at. Which we're back-ish at. I have to figure out my login information. I'm just like, perhaps I should just not have a presence in general. But anyways, imposter. Now's the time.

Really good. Thank you. Yeah. And the Tairoshi man that brought this imp-poster, he unnerves her. He reminds her of Varys and I find that fascinating because Varys is who's in the walls as we kind of Chatted about last week. Yeah with us. He's in the walls like a little rat just like Eliana No, and birds. Oh my god and birds. That's them. Oh my god Varys is everywhere. He's with us. It's like the Holy Spirit. Oh no.

The Tyroshi man calls Tyrion Red Hands and says he's guilty of kinslaying both his father and, if some believe it, the mother. Cersei's like, yes, yes, outwardly. She's like, you're so right. Red Hands, who killed his mother and father and inside, she's like, well, that's fucking nonsense about the mother. She's that's so that's interesting she's like whatever I appreciate how externally she has to be like yes you're so right but actually internally she pretty much she yeah she's like exactly everyone at court but then she leaves and in her head she's like well that was fucking dumb all of them are wrong so she understands when things are wrong versus correct.

I do find that fascinating. And Red Hands is a crazy cool name for Tyrion, like very hardcore. Congrats. But a lot of interesting points there, right? Like you have Golden Hand as Jaime and Red Hands as Tyrion. Uh-huh. And this name is probably going to be made very ironic at some point for the things he does or the things he tries to prevent from happening, whether in Essos or King's Landing. If he's known right now in Tyrosh as Redhands, what

will happen when he and Dany come west through Essos with fire and blood? That's a good point. This name is gonna stick. I mean, I guess that's true. I haven't really thought much about how the word hand operates both in Jamie's and his storylines like a lot. A lot. I mean, even like that song, the hands of gold are always cold. But a woman's hands are warm. Both of them. A brother's love. Yeah, uh. Oh, well, yeah. Oh, interesting. That's, that could be, like, I mean...

Words of wind. Move over, Red Hand, Stannis Ship. Oh, okay, I thought that's where you were going. Oh, well there you go. Wow. I wasn't, but... Wow. Um, yeah.

I... There's a lot of variations on the Red Hand name, too. It's kind of funny. It's like Redbeard but Hand anyways. Um, spoilers, Mercy, Sample Chapter, but you know, the Bloody Hand is the name of the play in Braavos. That's, you know, the very exaggerated biopic about Tyrion. And it's gonna be referenced in the second. Yeah, he's in New Mark Zuckerberg.

It's also interesting that Cersei promises lordship to this person, if it is like Tyrion, but thinks to herself the titles are cheaper than dirt, and I'm like, well, that's an interesting thing to think to yourself, Cersei, because then what about all of your titles? Right. Are those cheap to get to? Because you were just handed those. Yeah, so you admit it. And now you're struggling to keep them. So you admit it. It all means nothing. That's it. When they open the cedar travel chest, the dwarf head is once more very clearly not Tyrion.

His eyes are glass, brown, his age and appearance are wrong, and his nose is clearly cut off. Cersei's first instinct is to strangle the man, but she orders the Tyroshian man be taken to Qyburn, which is maybe worse? And that the head is removed from her sight. LOKI Yeah, I do think it's kind of funny that she's like, this is not my brother. When she opens the box or thinks about it, yet moments ago she literally just told this man that Tyrion is no longer my brother if he ever was. STACEY Wow, isn't it crazy?

She doth protest a lot, and it's crazy how much their chapters revolve around hating each other, but also secretly loving each other. Yeah, no, low-key, I kind of, I've started talking myself, like, into thinking that you're against the Valonqar. I mean, I think we'll come around every five years, right? Yeah. Ask me again in ten years, Aliana. Yeah, it's likely Jamie, it's just been so long, but I just really think it could be interesting if she were right and it really fucking is Tyrion. She made this happen.

Well, in thinking of some of the Targaryen stuff we've delved really deeply into in history, there is something in Tyrion's chapters that someday, whenever that someday is, we're gonna cover Tyrion, you just never know when it could be. All must choose. All must choose. But in a way he feels like this rejection and like even an ownership, right? Just like Targaryens with their incestual ways of like why wasn't I good enough to be the brother she wants to fuck like Bloodraven and Shira and Bittersteel and

These dynamics like I think there's something really interesting in that because Cersei is so torn between whether she hates her brother or whether he's her brother or not and He is that way about her too You almost have to wonder if not for this prophecy, would she have loved Tyrion? Or would she have just been way nicer to him? Maybe not loved. I don't know if that's just not within the real house. Yeah, no, but familiarly accepted him as a person that exists.

Right, but then they would have gotten along way better. She could have treated him almost as well as, I guess, Jaime. But then again, did like try to twist off his penis as a baby but that might have been close to when he was born and like or that might be close to when she got the prophecy I mean yeah and also when you look at good excuse and when you look at Tommen and the way she treats Tommen right you know it's not unlike that well it's not unlike as we've been discussing like very possible this is how unlike that. Well it's not unlike that as we've been discussing like very possible this is how Tywin treated her but I'm just like wow I mean like it's very

possible that if not for the prophecy Shinterion they could have been I mean they could be pretty powerful together possibly. He's the brains, Jaime's the brawn and she's the power. That's a man who did want to be fucking Hand of the King you know like yeah that man would have said yes to being Hand, probably, because he did want to. In a heartbeat if she asked him. He probably would have saved her life, unfortunately, here. Because it's gonna be over for her, I hate to say it. And then we probably wouldn't have happened. Anyways, it's interesting. Interesting to consider. We'll get there. Well, not there.

Much, much to consider. Anyways. Osmond brings the other three informers, but they're all equally useless. One claims Much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, Which I get, play on Bonobo. And the third is a hermit in the Riverlands who lives in a hill and Circe orders them to lead her knights to the dwarf. But when they are vaguely threatened, they're like, well, you're right. You might have actually just seen some other man resembling Tyrion. Ha ha ha. My bad. And I guess that third one is the Ghost of High

Heart. They really are just like, wow, all these people are the same. They literally said that. I love that there's, that this is like equal three parts of storytelling. So you have the Ghost of High Heart probably as the Riverlands, like you said. You have Babono in Braavos as not a Tyrion. And then Old Town is interesting, like do you think this is George gardening? Because the Afeast for Crows prologue had like 80 versions, right? It had Rosie, it had Pate, it had Alaris, I think. It had all these ways he tried it,

so it makes me think that George tried to put someone there, and then it doubly makes me think about Penny in Tyrion's plot. Oh, okay. But I have to come back to Tyrion. She tells Tyrion that her father was also a little person and that he was sold to a slaver when he was three, but he grew up to be a famous mummer and he traveled to the Free Cities and also to Westeros and he had a nickname in Old Town. They called him Hot Bean. Whoa, oh my gosh.

Yeah. Whoa, that could be fucking Hot Bean. Whoa, oh my gosh! Yeah! That could be fucking Hot Bean. That's Hot Bean, bro. Name, holy shit, speaking of cool names, Hot Bean's Strong Name Game. Oh my god, not strong. Oh my gosh. I do think that could be

maybe what was gardened out or taken out, I don't know, but I definitely think each of these is a person, you're right, a person we've met. Very clearly George is playing with that, he's having fun with it. Yeah. I mean, Cersei's all like, how are there so fucking many? Lantana's like, I don't know, there's less now, but it's kind of funny. But not funny at all. With you on the case, don't worry, Cersei. Jesus. Yeah, it's pretty fucked up. Anyways, Cersei's saying that her knights have no patience for chasing shadows. I was like, hmm What a choice of words because Tyrion is described by Makoro in that one

I guess vision as being a shadow snarling in the midst of all those dragons fighting So I was like, oh, Tyrion's actually a shadow that must be chased. Woohoo. Hoohoohoo. I love that. Almost choose. Almost choose. What does it mean, you guys listening at home?

What does it mean? Cersei, like you said, complains about how many dwarves there are, and they move on. Tyena really changes the conversation fast. She's like, I don't really want to talk about that. That seems rude. And she moves on and she's like, maybe you should just, you know, play hooky. But Cersei says that while Robert was a fool, he was right about one thing. Working for the crown sucks. It fucking sucks. But Cersei doesn't trust her hand of the king to handle of the king things, and…

You're on your roll today. Thank you. Fire me, hire me, whatever you want. Promote. Tyena is like, come on, let's go dress up as serving girls and hear what the small folks say about Dragonstone. I know the inn where the blue bard plays when he is not singing attendance on the little queen.

In a certain cellar where a conjurer turns lead into gold, water into wine, and girls into boys, perhaps he would work his spells on the two of us. Would it amuse your grace to be a man one night?" "'If I were a man, I would be Jaime,' the queen thought. If I were a man, I could rule this realm in my own name in place of Tommins. Only if you remained a woman, she said, knowing that was what Taina wanted to hear. Strap. Um, Strap is what I have to say about that. Strap, that passage is about the Strap. Uh, a lot going on in this.

You have Rohan's spirit in the room with me. Yeah, say it three times in Rowan. If you say strap into a mirror three times, Rowan will appear. This just feels so much like, I guess, the Raspberry Swirl stuff she was saying. This is, this is though. No, absolutely, and we're gonna get a little more of that in this chapter, actually, like more with Malara, which I think is maybe where some of that awakening actually really came from.

Interesting. Interesting of of if I were a man I would be Jamie, but yet she realizes and feels in some aspects that that's still being trapped, right? Being Jamie isn't great right now. Being Jamie is also being trapped, and there's of course that bit that she used to play serving girl in Wench and dress up for Jamie, right? So it's interesting that that kind of brings this back to mind. I also thought that alchemy line is interesting there. That whole lead into gold, water into wine, girls into boys. That's interesting, someone practicing some interesting

transmogrification in King's Landing and living forever like old she's afraid of aging so Mm-hmm. That's true. At some point everyone can turn from young into old Well, unless you die first. It's happening right now. Yeah Yeah I like I like what you're saying about the like the transformational aspect in the changing because we even see that like you talked about Young Griff earlier turning like what turns a duck an ugly duckling perhaps or whatever you know the Griffin into a dragon or turning a red dragon into a black one oh I thought you meant ducky roll duck Raleigh field another duck though that you turn into a Kingsguard

oh yeah and to a swan he's now a swan, yeah. Oh. Yes, you're right. You're 100% right. Also you, there's something going on here. There's some fun alchemy. And we do get the intro in this book to alchemy, right? In Feast for Crows, so the prologue. Don't we technically get it a little with the... Yeah, that's true. I was also thinking even with... Oh, that does tie in really well with this. I was thinking with the pyromancers, right? Yeah, Haline and Poe, yeah. They're technically alchemists.

Yeah. But they just have a specialization. They had a little concentration or something in their major. Yeah, I don't know. I've kind of been mulling this whole idea of if I were't know, I've kind of been bullying this whole idea of like if I were a man, I would be Jamie. If I were a man, I could rule this realm in my own name in place of Tommen's throughout our read-through and the analysis of our wonderful listeners. I'm starting to think kind of yeah, but also no in regards to ruling the realm in place

in her own name in place of Tommen on like on a literal sense because like, you know, unless Cersei had been a Baratheon or Targaryen or like born within the Baratheon or Targaryen line, like she just really doesn't have a claim to the throne. Like she would have had to have been crowned post rebellion or like instead of Robert or after him somehow. Like she just really doesn't have a claim. The claim passes through her children who also technically really just don't have a right to the claim either because they are not Brafians.

Good for her. Fuck the monarchy. Jamie doesn't have a claim to the throne either, so I think it's interesting that she puts those two thoughts together. This is one of those things that makes me think sometimes like this is a little nod to my pet little theory that in the 93 letter where Jamie becomes king, George actually took that storyline and made it Searcy's storyline instead. Yeah. I like it. I do.

I added something. I kind of think he might have even given Jamie Searcy's storyline as well in terms of humanizing that character that is initially a villain. I kind of think that he swapped them a bit. STACEY Interesting. I like that. That's interesting. STACEY Yeah. I don't really have anything to add to that. STACEY Then you know my feelings. It comes straight back to Damon and Raniera is really what it comes back to. That is absolutely their vibe. What does season eight Jamie say?

STACEY Chuck and Blair. STACEY I love the hateful women. I love the hate- yeah, it's Chuck and Blair, Damon and Raniera, some of the greatest hateful ships out there, you know? I mean, that's what makes good fuckfuck, right? Like, a little hatred. Just a little hatred in the bottom. Are we? Yeah.

I'm not saying no, but- Whomst did it have amongst us, as our friend Zaynab would say. Whomst amongst us. Oh, it's got cancelled for saying all this. Anyways, so, all right, getting it out of the way and just being very frank and honest about it, yeah, Cersei doesn't really have good ideas about ruling the realm. We have all acknowledged this. There's one thing later on where I'm like, actually, it's not like a bad idea, and we'll get to that. But I actually legitimately think she's right,

that she would rule better if she were a man. And I'm not like saying men are better at it, but I'm saying that when people automatically give you respect, even if it's unearned respect, solely based on your gender, doors open for you and they make it easier for you to accomplish whatever your goal is and they make it easier for you to accomplish whatever your goal is, they make success easier, and nobody would be telling her that, oh, your place

is somewhere else or whatever, like not as easily, right? And they would just assume competence of her. They wouldn't assume incompetence because of her sex, and like she's right, people served Robert for doing fuck all and they won't serve her, right? They serve Joffrey for doing fuck all and they won't fucking do it for her and maybe part of it was like Tywin and Joffrey but whatever, shut the fuck up. She'd have competent people who are willing to fawn and like appease her over people who are only incompetent now being the only ones willing to like fawn over her and to do her bidding,

right? And like she wouldn't dismiss every rebuttal as solely being because of her gender because every now and then like, drawer imagined regarding the rebuttals being only because of her gender because like if she were raised having had a non-zero amount of respect as a man, you get people who sometimes agree with your good ideas and so you become better first at learning to discern what's a fucking good idea and what's not, right? And therefore, she would be open to hiring better advisors and taking better advice and not just yes men because she'd be raised to hiring better advisors and taking better advice and not just

yes men because she'd be raised to do it through the passive cultural reinforcement and like slash conditioning. And like yeah, she might still end up appointing foolish people. But Jaehaerys the first made rhyme red line, his hand to the king ones. And everyone's like, wow, that man was so smart, right? And he did all this crazy other shit with his kids, okay? And also Tywin was willing to serve Ares, notably bad king, for a while there. And also, people still followed Aegon IV. So I'm just saying, I'm just saying. AGREED. I mean, I've worked with people before that are like, they can't, and this is maybe more Cersei's problem in a lot of ways too, they can't let things go, they can't delegate. Cersei doesn't trust other people. She's willing to hire idiots, but then she's not willing to give them any real

work, and she saddles herself with all the work, and then she complains about it. She complains that she has all this work to do and how hard it is to run a realm solely because she's made all these concessions for every one of these people she hired because she hired them to fix things like a band-aid problem. Like easily. Like, oh, there's a scratch. Put a band-aid there, we'll deal with it someday. Except she never will because it's going to implode.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And like, she's doing it all on her own because she hasn't been able to rely on other people to do. Because she wasn't raised to do it. And again, I'm not saying Cersei is remarkably competent or that she would be—she might still be the same person with really bad ideas, but so were a bunch of other kings. I'm just saying. STACEY Look, the one downside I'll say is that Amy

from Veep is about to show up to Cersei and say, this is why'll never have a female president again and then Dani has to come to town, okay? Yeah, but I mean, but then we had Laura Montez, and then Selena even got elected. Yeah, she even got elected. So it's still fucking, I'm just saying. I'll never forget, my favorite line is straight up when they're like, Selena, you and Kemi should be on a ticket and she's like, oh my god, the American people don't deserve that. That's horrible.

An all female ticket, that's Cersei, like to the extreme. Oh my god. That's Cersei being like, a female running mate? My god, that's cruel to them. They don't deserve that. Oh my god. I love how much Cersei and Selina Meyer hate women. It's just amazing.

They're like, they're the same if one was a comedy. I mean, not that it's… They're both comedies. Anyways. Yes. Okay, but also a tragedy. But comedy and tragedy in the line between, as we know, is very thin. Who's Gary? Is it Jamie? Is it Qyburn? Is it like, who's Gary in all this? Gary is all of her handmaidens into one. Oh, interesting. Dorcas, Jocelyn, Sunel. Giles is Mike McClintock. Useless, fucking useless. Okay, yes. And Harris Swift is... I mean, honestly, Andrew is fucking Robert. Yeah. He's a... Oh my god, I hate Andrew. Anyways, we gotta work on this. We gotta workshop this. We'll come back to you all with it.

We still have a lot of chapters left. Yeah, that's true. We have a lot of this fucking chapter left, actually. So all this sounds like fun, but Cersei cannot put trust into Hera Swift, so she has to get up and go rule again. Because she can't delegate, because she doesn't have trustworthy people to delegate to. So we have a bunch of petitioners. First is Jalabar Sho, splendidly dressed, begging for Men in Arms to regain his red flower veil, and she turns him down, telling him maybe next year, like Robert always did. Then we have Lord Holline, the pyromancer, asking, if we find dragon eggs, can we hatch

them from Dragonstone? Can we try it out? And Cersei's like, if any eggs remained, Stannis would have sold them. And in then, in her head, she thinks, this is mad. Ever since the last Targaryen dragon died, all such attempts had ended in death, disaster, or disgrace. Yes. I don't know what I think necessarily as far as Cersei Sept, Cersei Wildfire, Cersei King's

Landing go boom boom. I don't know how it works yet because George hasn't written it yet. However this line really stood out to me on reread that Cersei is thinking about how there is a ritual where you can sacrifice and make dragon eggs hatch. We know that this happened with Aegon V. I mean, let's not fuck around, let's not shit ourselves. We know what was happening there. He wanted to hatch dragon eggs, and it got out of control.

And he fucked up and lost people. Like, we don't need a book for that. That's just read between the lines at this point. We're past this. We've evolved. We've ascended. But I don't know, maybe Cersei tries to hatch eggs. Maybe she, I don't know what she does, but it's crazy that right here she's like, oh, that would be terrible. The Targaryens were insane for it. And I'm like, girl, you just burnt down the Tower of the Hand with wildfire like just a bit ago for nothing, for nothing, not even dragon eggs. Like, she's willing to do it. And because as this magical plot keeps surrounding her, I'm like, what if, bro? Like, what? It's a price she is willing to pay.

Especially when she has nothing to lose anymore. That's true. Yeah, I don't know, it could be interesting for her to try to get dragons. I mean, like, also, she might be like, yo, that girl has dragons, why not me, also, girl, have dragons? Maybe she'll date Euron, like, in the show. I'm just kidding. Maybe he wants dragons or she'll help him, I don't know. It's not impossible, I know, like, there's some interpretations of the forsaken that suggest it, but anyways. Um, yeah. That would be so funny if it's true. Oh my god, people'd be so funny if it's true. Oh my God.

People would be so fucking mad. That'd be so funny. It'd be so fucked up. Yeah. So merchants beg for help with their debts to the Iron Bank of Bravo's who are refusing new loans and looking for money. And Cersei thinks that she should start the Bank of Lannisport when the throne is more secure.

And first of all, I want to quickly come back to American politics for a second, American government, and say, Qyburn is actually Dan Egan. Listen. Oh my god, American government. Qyburn is Dan Egan, all right? He's just willing to do weird things, slimy things. So I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

Like you'd fuck him once, but but after that like maybe never again. Yes. Also regarding the Bank of Lanarkspore, it doesn't have to be a Bank of Lanarkspore but just in general her being like, what if we establish the West Rosey Bank? I think this is not actually like a bad idea. This is what I was saying. It's not a bad idea. I don't know if it's a good one or not, but it is a very interesting one and this is of course a big part of what Alexander Hamilton from the play, the musical, was advocating for. He didn't do it in the musical, but this is what his character was about.

He did advocate somewhat in the musical. Somewhat. I don't have it memorized, right? I didn't internalize the whole thing. I was just like jams, jams, like a seed. Also another example of what you were talking about, Chloe, a few episodes ago of how Circe has been taking a lot of bullying inspiration from the Free City. I actually think that this is not a bad idea on Circe's part. No. Right before Rob's rebellion kind of fell, that's what White Harbor was

planning to do, right? Yeah. They were planning to start a mint. That's right. And you also think about White Harbor being such a big trade port for the Free Cities. I mean, Wylah Manderly gets hair dye from Tyrosh, right? She dyes her hair. So interesting that they both were taking kind of these glimpses from the Free Cities

and also trying to become independent in their wealth for their people. Yeah. Not bad. Yeah, exactly. The Faith sends her old friend Septin Raynard and six warrior sons dressed with shields that hadn't been seen for centuries. A rainbow sword shining bright on a field of darkness. Oh, that stood out, right?

Like that's A, it's kind of like the Dane sigil in some aspects. B, reminds me of Lightbringer. C is the faith chasing their own version of the prophecy, but religious, right? Like you think of creation myths, right? Azor Ahai is a creation myth, Lightbringer is a creation myth. Maybe the faith has their own version because this kind of shows that, right? A rainbow sword shining bright on a field of darkness. It's funny because actually this is something that I take up with in regards to the religions

that George made. They don't really have any creationists. They all kind of come back to the whole fucking like long night thing in some aspects, like that's their flood archetype or whatever. But they don't have like actual creation myths other than like, I don't know, Macumber and fucking the Eye of the Giant and stuff. And I mean, they kind of do a little bit with like the faith but not as much. And Agree, like there's something interesting going on here with the sigil that I've never set out to me before like do they have roots similar to? You know similar reactions the long night Mm-hmm making the watch is that maybe they have I am the sword of the darkness Exactly, like maybe the faith exactly is it is exactly

Like, maybe the faith is exactly. But also like on another level, is it talking about, you know, each of the different aspects of the seven, how like all of the people have to come together against the long night in some sort of, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ubu way. Like when all of the sailors said she get together to defeat evil. No, literally. But not just them. More like Spirit Bomb.

I'm thinking Dragon Ball Z Spirit Bomb. Also I kind of liked this detail about the kite shields being what they're using and how they're saying that these haven't been seen since the conquest so Really? I found that fascinating right especially because you have Maegor and all the faith stuff and Aenys and the faith stuff So they're saying they haven't seen these shields since before then before the faith was kind of off kilter because of you know Targaryens murdering them and we might have another conquest coming soon So and another religious king of the Targaryens. Aegon.

Oh yeah, that boy. The faith on his side. The grift. That boy. Who the fuck are we talking about? That young grifter. Yeah, no, for real. As the boys would say.

For real. As the boys would say. You know, I gotta shout them out. Those Natacast gentlemen have put out a really cool episode. It just came out for patrons today and it's their version of adapting Beast Dance into Game of Thrones. So really fun and something we've all talked about for ages and like they put it all in an episode. Go check it out, patreon.com slash Natacast ASA-F. And that's all the men's rights I have time for this episode. One.

All right. Men are done now. Some of the men. Speaking of men. Men are done now. Some of the men that are joining the warrior's sons are highborn, like her cousin Lancel, who has recently forsaken his claims to join up. The High Septon had sent Reynard and company because he's too busy fighting wickedness for

the faith. Cersei points out he's actually preaching chastity in front of all the brothels, and Reynard is like, well, the acts that are being paid for there are sinful and against what the mother and father preach about having babies all for the procreation of the gods." And Cersei is like, in her head, Reynard loves the street of silk. So interesting. This was his punishment. Come preach against it. She argues, sinners feed the royal coffers and bring trade to the city. Otherwise, you'd have to go other places for trade. King's Landing would not fucking matter. So it also helps keep the peace in some aspects and the High Septon promised he would help to keep the peace. I thought this was a really interesting approach that he sent Reynard. Kind of a threat without a threat and it also is like pushing to see.

He's pushing, right? He's seeing what Cersei does. And he's like, if you give a moose a muffin, he wants to see how far he can really get in and piss her off. And this is a test, right, about her. This is a test about the sanctity of the religion for her and what her beliefs are and her morality. And if she is just going to not allow him to be at the street of silk preaching or if she shows distaste, I mean, these are just all little points towards war. That's a good point, but also like the little psychological warfare of like, you thought this was your man, this is not your man.

Yeah, and it's his penance, right? This is Reynard's penance, making him go do this when you know he loves sex workers. He has at least a handful of them. Cersei says that he knows. He's a supporter. He's a sellout now. Supports sex workers' rights. Yeah, but not anymore. Wow. Men are done. So we told you men were over. Yeah. I okay, I'm about to take this one line, as I like to do and just stretch it out. Do it. Yeah, comprehension. And I like this line of Raynard asking Circe, if sinners speak, why should the righteous listen?

Like, why does he phrase it like that? Why doesn't he just say like, why are you listening to these fucking bravo owners, right? But the fact that it says and like makes it this vagueness of if sinners speak, why should the righteous listen? And I feel that this actually has great significance to the story because the series is inherently interested in exploring the greatness of people and their morality, and so the answer to this

question, besides seriously being like, well, to fucking keep the peace, there are multiple answers that all kind of go together, and I'm gonna get a little circular in my logic here, but whatever. A. The series asserts that we are all in fact sinners, okay? We must all be in confession doing penance. No, that's not what it says. But we are all sinners. None of us perfect. I mean, yeah, it's true though. And B, that we benefit from listening to people's different experiences and their mistakes, aka their sins, and learning lessons ourselves in practicing empathy because see, you know, in regards to what we discussed last episode slash chapter

with Rowan, like, there is a need for that complexity in perspective, life isn't black and white, because again, we are all sinners to that extent, and life is complicated. There are oftentimes no right answers. And that is why if sinners speak, the righteous should listen because there are no fucking righteous. Also in the context of the story itself, regardless of whether or not it is bravo owners, and don't support people who are exploiting other people. For example, Littlefinger, that man should burn.

Yeah, inhale. Rust and piss. in every fucking way. When it comes to the stairs and the righteous, a king protects all his people, not just the righteous. Even Felice Stokeworth, unfortunately. Even Felice Stokeworth, whom we did not protect, as we all find out. I suppose that my brand of feminism also covers Felice Stokeworth. But not Searcy's now. Not Searcy's brand of feminism, I mean. No, that's for fucking misandry and misogyny. Yeah, yeah, it is not feminism. But anyways, It's not feminism. But anyways. Yes. Miss Ageny, is that you?

Felice. Navidad. Oh my god. Wow. We are entering. We are in the season. Tis the season to torture her. Fa la la la la. Felice Stokeworth. I'm on it today, I told you. I had that cup of glasses of wine and I'm in. It's too. Turning it into a Christmas Carol. Giles Rossby, aka Eliana, would have attended this entire court, but Pysel appears instead and is like, bad news.

Giles is sick. He is a bed. Like fallen sick in his bed, maybe won't get up sick. He's like, he won't make it long. Cersei's thinking, she's like, fuck, if he dies I get saddled with Garth the fucking Gross, the farting man again. And she tells Pycelle that this cough has been around for years. Giles coughed through Robert and Joffrey's reign, notably very long reigns. She wonders if someone wants him dead and she starts to hint

when Pysel's like, oh like his heir and she's like, no like you. Like you. Are you poisoning him? Or the little queen or her grandmother or father. So she's looking for all sorts of ways to implicate bitches tonight. She even accuses Pysel like I said who is like, you must be japing and he's like, I bled him, I treated him, I gave him sweet sleep, but and he's like, I bled him, I treated him, I gave him sweet sleep, but now he's literally hacking his pieces of his lungs up. Literally, pieces of his lungs are coming up. Yeah, I mean, pieces of lungs are not coming up for me, but for real, as you said earlier,

like, this is that mean, me, Charles Rossby, shaking hands. That's you, yeah, you've been sick, girl. Like, I'm sorry, everyone. Not good. It's in her chest. She's like a Victorian child. It is in her chest. I think it is. I think it is. I was talking to some coworkers about like... That's why we sent you east, to get some air and some water, you know, and hopefully that will fix you. I think at some point, like, if this continues, like, gotta look into some of those, like, I don't know, medicines for fucking steroids or some shit. Gotta call Pysel. Pysel. No, he's dead now. I can't know, medicines with fucking steroids or some shit. Gotta call Pysel. Yeah.

Pysel? No, he's dead now. I can't. I love this line from Cersei though. She goes, be that as it may, you will return to Lord Giles and inform him he does not have my leave to die. She's so real. Would that say maybe?

Maybe. Every petition that she hears is more boring than the last, and at supper she tells Tommen that he is so lucky, he's like 10, his realm sucks to rule, it's super hard, and he's really gonna hate being an adult king. And he's like, but what if I didn't? Yeah, I think he probably, well, he's never gonna find out, nevermind. We got a line of, they peck at her like a murder of crows and probably... Well, he's never gonna find out, never mind. We got a line of they peck at her like a murder of crows and things like that. She's like, everyone

wants a piece of your flesh. And I just thought, what pointed wording in the context of Circe's story where she is using that flesh as payment coming back to some of the lines during that street of silk stuff and also like both her own and the other people that she's when it comes to the flesh right that everyone's packing up. It's her flesh, it's also the people that she's sucking to kyburn. Literally their flesh. So. Ha ha ha. Felice Navidad. Um. So. VB- Literally. And Jane. ST- Yeah, that girl too. That girl too.

VB- Not to bring the mood down, sorry, but Jane Poole. It's okay. I was just like, how do I transition? Fully stop you talking. Well, I got you. I'll just make it sadder. Yeah. Tomin says, sad in his grief about Loras, that maybe he would like to go to court to listen to the people.

And he's like, well Margaery says, and Cersei cuts him off and is like, she says, a deal too much. And then she says that she'd love to have Margaery says, when Cersei cuts him off, she says, a deal too much. And then she says that she'd love to have Margaery's tongue out. But Tommen is not having that. We get a passage where Tommen is a little upset about that. You leave her tongue alone! Don't you touch her! I'm the king, not you!

She stared at him, incredulous. What did you say? I'm the king! I get to say who has their tongues torn out, not you! I won't let you hurt Marjorie! I won't! I forbid it! Get her!

Get her ass, Tom and you get her ass! Little boy! Wow! Get her! I'm on his side! What? That was great. I'm so proud of him. I know. I mean, honestly, standing up to your parents, it's kind of hard.

I'm gonna welcome Tom in standing up to parents and stuff here. Well, he only has so much time until he gets fucking murdered. Yeah, that's true. He's like got a sped up puberty, he's got a sped up adolescence. Parentified, kingified child. Oh my god, kingified child. To crown him is to make him a parrot? I don't know. To crown him is to kill him. I don't know. Maybe. Anyways, I kind of feel like Cersei probably used to make these kinds of remarks about people's tongues being torn out. I don't know, same kind of vibe in front of Joffrey, and then Joffrey was like, hmm, hmm, hmm, interesting, interesting. But Tommen, for obvious reasons, takes it literally and not figuratively, and I guess, actually, to be fair, I guess Joffrey also took that literally

and not figuratively, but he's not like Joffrey, Tommen isn't, because he hates Saithi and like Joffrey, who's like, hmm, aspirational. It's an interesting time, I think, for him to assert his power, and also, as him to assert his power. And also, as we've discussed in previous episodes, probably in pre-reading for Cersei to know that, yeah, her own child, who is literally a child, does in fact have power over her by virtue of his sex. Right? This is something that Catlyn wrestles with to an extent in her chapters, but she's a

little more accepting of her lot. So what she does in response is she psychologically abuses Tommen while physically abusing Pate. She drags him by the ear to serve Boros Blount at the door and commands Boros to take Tommen to his room and to bring Pate and that Tommen will whip the boy himself until Pate is bleeding from both cheeks. And if Tommen refuses, Qyburn must then remove Pate's tongue. And uneasily, Boros agrees, and off they go. And so, speaking of Tywin's heirs, and seriously seeing herself as Tywin's heir, this actually

literally is Tywin-esque behavior. This is like forcing Tommen to be the one to whip Pate, slash the person he cares about. That is an exact parallel to Tywin ordering the gang rape of Taisha and then forcing Tyrion to participate and do it also himself to Taisha. Interesting that this is also similar to what D&D made Joffrey do to the sex workers, right? Made them beat each other. So I'm like, again, they did read the books, they just don't understand them. Also call back to Gaemon and Aegon III, chronologically, historically speaking. Historical chronology. You know what I mean. Gaemon and

Aegon III and having Gaemon pale hair be his whipping boy and tasting boy. And then there's also some Rhaenyra and Viserys in there with the cutting out tongues and maybe even a little Simeon, right? A singer with his tongue cut out. I just think of Scad from Davos Fingers Cosplaying as Simeon one year at Ice and Fire Con. It's all I can think of right now. He had the Rolling Stones lip like style necklace like flavor-flav style clock necklace, but it was lips around his neck. Giant lips.

Incredible. Incredible. Poor Simmy in Silverton. No, for real. All that man did was make jams and keep them company. God. Yeah. Well, at the Red Keep, Dorcas and Jocelyn tend to searce these fires.

Dorcas comments on the darkness of the night, and searce things of darker places in the castle, like the Maiden Fault, Dragonstone's Lures, or even the dungeons, you know? Where Felice is. Or was. Not dead. She's still there. She's still there, we're gonna find out. Physically. Yeah, she doesn't know what brought Felice to mind. Stokeworth had reported Lady Tanda died of a chill in her chest, and Mollys was now Lady Stokeworth, with Ser Bronn as her lord. There's this line of, Tanda dead and Giles dying, it is well that we have Moonboy or

the court would be entirely bereft of fools. But it's really interesting that she thinks this right after she's like, why did I think about Felice? I wasn't gonna think about that. She like told herself to put that thought away, and it's really interesting that she thinks this right after she's like, why did I think about Felice? I wasn't gonna think about that. She like told herself to put that thought away. And it's interesting because you start to see that unraveling of guilt, because then she goes from Felice being basically tortured, probably sexually, physically, mentally, in all manners of the word. And she thinks about it kind of guiltily.

Like, I think we just saw her feel guilt almost. So she immediately changes paths. She's like, no, no guilt. But then we go into Cersei's fever dream from here, which also is maybe a little more guilt in certain aspects. And there's a lot going on in this fever dream. Between storm and feast, we've had a lot of fever dreams to comment on. You have the

Jaime, Brienne, fever-y dreams going on several times, in the Riverlands especially, but there's something going on here with Cersei. A couple chapters ago we talked about her own tourney experience with Rhaegar when she was younger and how a lot of the language mirrored the tourney at Heron Hall very one to one. And here, if you pay attention to Cersei's big reveal fever dream about Maggie the Frog, the language is identical to Ned's Tower of Joy fever dream. And I'm going to break some of that down for you. Before we jump into it, there's the idea of Ned being taken in the streets and Cersei being taken by the Faith in the streets. Then of course their plots revolving

around bastards, Ned in a Game of Thrones revolving around bastards, Robert's bastards and Jon, and Cersei of course having her own. And then in a way we see Cersei kind of become Ned. She's trapped in an almost impossible position that no one's ever solved really about the faith without fucking their siblings with dragons. And somehow she has to retain power to do what she sees as righteous. I think of Ned sitting on the throne commanding in Ned VII. Folks go to the Riverlands and bring justice to Gregor Clegane. Cersei has the faith and she has to somehow manage that and sit in place of the king. Well, she doesn't have to, but you know what I mean.

And of course, she must. Nevertheless, Cersei persisted. Oh my god, she does though. You know, Aliana, a couple weeks ago my daughter came up to me and she said, Mom, I want you to know that I would write Cersei Lannister's name in on the ballot when I vote. And I said, my god. Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was a joke. So Cersei has been sleep deprived the last few chapters. And actually, since her first feast chapter, she's really not been sleeping well. She's been walking through her life as a dream and Ned does the same right towards the end of his

arc. He can no longer tell the difference between waking and sleeping. In this chapter as well we find that she calls for Pycelle in a bit for a dreamless sleep and he thinks he wanted to drift off to a dreamless sleep in his own bed with his arms wrapped tight around his lady Catelyn. Cersei's had similar thoughts of that. So, when we start this fever dream, we begin with the queen smiled as she lay her head upon the pillow. When I kissed her cheek, I could taste the salt of her tears. She dreamt an old dream of three girls in brown cloaks,

a waddled crone and a tent that smelled of death. Well, what comes in Ned's dream? He dreamt an old dream, of three knights in white cloaks, and a tower long fallen, and Lyanna in her bed of blood. Tent that smelled of death, Lyanna, bed of blood. Yes, let's cook. And of course, we're cooking, get stirring, get the, you know, don't let it stick, the sauce, the sauce is cooking. They were three in the dream as they had been in life, Cersei thinks. They were seven, facing three, in the dream as it had been in life, Ned thinks. Yo.

In Cersei's dream, the dream was different. In the dream, the pavilions were shadowed. The knights and the serving men they passed were made of mist. In Ned's dream, they were only shadows, gray wraiths on horses made of mist. I mean, this is 1-1. This is literally 1-1, what George did here with Cersei's fever dream versus Ned's fever dream. Oh my god.

It is the same. You're welcome. Wow. Wow. Chloe ate. Chloe Cersei ate. Cersei ate. Chloe ate.

And there's more, right? Um, we have this bit of Cersei didn't want to go into the tower, but then or now. Like she thinks, I didn't want to go in there then or now. And I'm sure Ned was probably scared of what he would find as well. Cersei thinks that Jane Farman hung back, but Malara was bolder and prettier in a freckly way, which also made me realize, oh, she loved her. She loved Malara. Malara betrayed her by loving Jaime. She killed Malara. She loved Malara. Malara was her like first Tyena. Like, oh, like I get it now. As soon as you look at the way she looked at Malara, that she was pretty in a freckly

way and tall and bold, and that she kind of was like, she pressured herself into this for her. To impress her, yeah. To show, yeah, to impress her, to show she was the boss. Very interesting. By the time they find the tent, the torches are guttering out. Cersei's watching them and her dream and whispering go away, there's nothing there for you.

But no words come out and in they go. The tent smells of cinnamon and nutmeg and light comes from a basilisk head, a dim green light. Cersei thinks, had it been that way in life as well, and she can't seem to remember, not unlike Ned remembering the blue rose petals scattering against the sky, right? and she can't seem to remember, not unlike Ned remembering the blue rose petals scattering against the sky, right?

These kind of intense images that the dream has transformed you into. In the dream, Maggie slept and they waked her to get their fortunes told. Cersei reflects Jane was the smart one because now she's married, living on Fair Isle with one of her father's bannermen and a dozen kids. Which is interesting, right, compared to Cersei that was bred and sold to perform her marriage duties where Jane Farman gets to live at home with some bannermen of her father and having kids and being happy. Yeah.

Oh, that's all it really takes. I think that's literally the answer that Qyburn gives her and she just doesn't get it. But anyways, we have this line I'm going to interject of, um, the old woman's eyes were yellow and crusted all about with something vile. In Blenisport it was said that she had been young and beautiful when her husband had brought her back from the east with a load of spices, but age and evil had left their marks on her. She was short, squat, and warty, with pebbly greenish jowls. Her teeth were gone and her drugs hung down to her knees. You could smell sickness on her if you

stood too close. And when she spoke, her breath was strange and strong and foul." Arthur! Sibyl Spicer, right? Related to her or something? Yup. She is absolutely related to Sibyl Spicer. So we got that going on here a little, so that's interesting, but also- Which is great with the Westerlings kind of tied to the Starks-esque. Exactly. Yeah, this whole like, I don't know, the Agent Evil had left their marks on her, which is like, not great.

Again, Cersei being like, age and Maggie's faded beauty, whatever. Watch out, girl. That could have been you, Cersei, if you didn't die earlier. So Maggie tells the girls to be gone, thrice, but the girl with the golden curls commands the foretelling or her father will whip her for her insolence. And I'm just saying regarding Begone, you have the ghost of High Heart who, you know, got a little shout out earlier this chapter. Says to Arya, you were cruel to come to my hill. Cruel, I gorge on grief at Summerhall.

I need none of yours. Begone from here, Darkheart. Begone. So I'm just saying, eerie prophetic women love saying, begone. It's just a tagline. I also think like, and as we get to the Qyburn of the chapter, it's like all of them went to the same school together. Oh, true. You know what I mean? Like, Qyburn's like, oh, you know that goes to High Heart? Oh, you know Maggie, Maygee, I know her.

I know her, we all drank with Marwen. Yeah, we studied with Marwen, yeah bro. Like- We sat together at the Mean Girls table. Like, but not as Mean Girls. Oh my God, we all did necromancy together. Yeah. Oh my God.

That's actually kind of interesting and scary in its own way. Like, oh yes, we had our group and then something caused us to disband. And that all of them are split up amongst our protags and antags in the story. Like everyone has one right now. Hmm. So in the room, Maggie the Frog says that some have no future here. Cersei decided she didn't fear her.

A lioness does not fear a frog. She should have gone. She should have listened. She should have run away. Instead, they give Maggie their bleeding fingers and they are given three questions they're allowed to ask. Bleeding fingers, red hands, that's it. Oh, shit, she was Red Hands, girl.

Yeah. Cersei's three questions. When will I wed the prince? Never. You will wed the king. I will be queen, though. Queen you shall be. Until there comes another younger and more beautiful to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.

Will the king and I have children? will the cast you down and take all that you hold, dear? Will the king and I have children? Six and 10 for him and three for you. But of course, while Cersei thought she was done and she had her three questions, Magi the Frog continues on. How could that be? She wanted to ask, but she was done with her questions.

The old woman was not done with her, however. Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonkar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you. What is a valonkar? Some monster? The Golden Girl did not like that foretelling. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Gold shall be their crowns. Gotta crown them to kill them. We got two more to go. Yep. Two more to go. Tom in first and then Marcella. I'm telling you, I'm calling it here on GGC. Girls gone canceled.

Tom in first, then Marcella. I really am curious what the dynamic will be like for the Marcella one, especially if there is a continuance of pressing Marcella's claim against Cersei. She's gonna abandon her, dude. She's gonna realize that there's no saving it. And also, that's your younger, more beautiful queen, holy shit. I'm thinking of Garry telling Catherine, your mother doesn't think so, but I think you're beautiful. But I do. When he's sick, yeah, doesn't think so, but I think you're beautiful and so pretty.

But I do. When he's sick, yeah, when he's sick. Oh my god! Catherine, Marcella, why is that your hair? Okay. No, literally, though. If you want a glimpse, if this, Cersei and Tommen gives you a glimpse of how Ty treated maybe Cersei, if you want a glimpse of Cersei and Vysalad's relationship, I assume it's Selene and Catherine.

Kite Literally. Kite So, Malara gets three questions too. Will I marry Jaime? No, her maiden head is for the worms tonight. But Cersei splashes a thick potion in the seer's face and in real life they flood because of Maggy yelling at them, but in the dream, her face dissolves, melting away into ribbons of gray mist until all that remains were squinty yellow eyes of death. Yes! Yeah, hypnotode shit.

Frogs. Um. There's this end passage, right? The hands emerged from the mists of her dream and coiled around her neck, thick hands and strong. Above them floated his face, leering down at her with his mismatched eyes. No! the Queen tried to cry out, but the dwarves' fingers dug deep into her neck, choking off her protests. She kicked and screamed to no avail. Before long she was making the same sound her son had made. The terrible, thin, sucking sound that marked Joff's last

breath on Earth. She woke gasping in the dark with her blanket wound about her neck. Oh. Cersei wrenched it off so violently that it tore and sat up with her breasts, heaving. A dream, she told herself. An old dream and a tangled coverlet. That's all it was. He dreamt an old dream. Oh, that's another good parallel, the old dream. Mic drop.

No, I'm not throwing my mic, but mic drop. Yes, the mics are expensive, but yes. Not the Mike McClintock's. Oh my God. So anyways, amazing job. That was, I've never seen those Tower of Joy and Circe parallels. I kind of wonder what it means about like,

you know, what happens at that Tower of Joy stuff, but like, dang, well done. I haven't broken a good one out in a while, and honestly I wrote it and I was like, holy shit, we're so back, we're so back. T-Wow's coming out tomorrow, it's under your chair. Look under your chair, everyone. Those parallels between Robert's wife and Robert's male wife.

Wow. Wow. I'm just out there saying crazy shit today, sorry everyone. No, I love it. We're so back. We're so back. It's so Jover. Jover.

It's never been more Jover, bro, soon enough. So Dorcas sleeps next to Circe. Taina consoles Margaery this night and Circe wakes, telling her to find Pycelle. Soon she returns with them. She asks, how old are you? Which is fucking rude. He says 84. She tells him a younger man would please her more and he begins to give his history. When the conclave called him at 42, recanting the history of the great maesters, but she interrupts his lesson and tells him she needs something to help her sleep dreamlessly. I'm like well good news Cersei you won't have a choice but you are gonna get a younger maester soon When I saw you wrote that I almost pissed myself laughing by the way it was very funny

I'm glad I'm glad that I could bring you joy this day You still got it So Cersei asking for this dreamless sleep, it also is another echo, again, of that Dany chapter with her Magi, right? Before she kills Drogo, she goes to sleep to sleep and not to dream in a game of Thrones, which is a twist on Hamlet's to sleep to sleep. Her chance. Yeah, which is pretty different, but this desire for dreamless sleeps I think and the magi thing in it's a interesting parallel also that's seriously has no dreams so kind of in the insinuation that she has no hope but

Yeah, those there's a couple of other things that remind me of the same Danny chapter and a bit but anyways almost choose He has a case myself hesitate He hesitates. Pysel hesitates. But she tells him if he doesn't do it, she'll call Qyburn to do it for him. That makes him do it. Respect. Nothing like a little corporate rivalry.

Just a friendly competition between two girl bosses, Qyburn and Pysel. She tells him to close her door, and in the morning she breaks her fast with Tommen, and we get some wonderful food, some fried eggs, fried bread, bacon, and blood oranges from Dorne, which I thought were an interesting nod, showing that trade with Dorne is very open, because of the relationship they're quote unquote building with the crown, right? You're getting things from Dorne, because I think that is something interesting, like you look at the Vale, right, and the getting things from Dorian. Because I think that is something interesting, like you look at the Vale, right? And the Vale having some of these luxuries other places don't have right now

because they're openly freely trading with people. Where when there's war, that doesn't always work out. As Cersei watches Tommen's cats frolic about his feet, she feels a little better. She thinks, no harm will come to Tommen while I still live. Oh, were we not? A lot of harm. A lot of harm. Yeah, he's gonna die, girl. Like, you said that and now he's gonna die.

She would kill half the lords in Westeros and all the common people if that was what it took to keep him safe. Huh, wow. She sends him off with Jocelyn. She sends for Qyburn, and she does ask him, is Lady Felice still alive? And he's like, yes, she's just not very comfortable. She basically then asks, is like, could she be a dummy puppet to take over Rosby?

Because I don't like what's happening with Rosby. And he's like, probably can't fake rule Rosby for us. No, she's not really capable of that. Yikes. It's better if she dies, Cersei told herself. She would not want to go on living without her husband. Oath that he was, the fool seemed fond of him." Is this, again, Cersei guilt?

This feels like a little guilt, like this is as much as she can give us that she's like, Oh, I feel bad they loved each other and I murdered them, basically. It's guilt, is it giving a little envy? Yeah, that anyone loves them, but no one loves her. Yeah, that anyone loves them but no one loves her. Because you can't live without that. That loneliness is what kills you. This is just the beginning of other characters' ends when you look at it. The isolation, no breathing.

Loneliness and the lack of love, again, subtle but I think it'll become very obvious whenever we get to the end of the books. But as we we read more of George's stuff absolutely central to the series And that's what really ties together Why some other things are probably gonna happen and play out? Loveliness big sad Circe brings up her dreadful dream and casually tells him about have you ever heard of this person? You know Maggie the Frog, you know, just casual gossip. And Cameron's like, oh yeah, oh yeah, Maggie, I'm sorry,

did you mean Magi? Is she calling herself Maggie now? No, I'm joking. I love that. I think it's so fucking funny. I think that's amazing of this that much, as a 10-year-old girl, you wouldn't have understood that or gotten that. Yeah. Well, also, especially because everyone else is calling her fucking Maggie, like how are you gonna get from Maggie to Maji? Like I, if you don't know that word in another language. Well yeah, right, like it shows that she came to Westeros from another land and she also had to compromise her name and who she was and sell herself for short compared to like

everything. Oh my god. Maggie also. Yeah. Yeah, we Asian Americans will also claim her. Yeah, she's one of yours. Philippines mentioned. She's one of ours now.

Her American name. So, Cersei tells Kybert, I had to like reorient, I was like where am I in this fucking chapter, what am I saying? Cersei tells Kybert that Maggie practiced blood magic and he responds that blood magic is the darkest, subjectively most powerful magic there is. Interestingly, he does not say, it's what we're doing. Yeah. He's just like, oh, blood magic. Anyways, she tells him that Malara had just died that night actually, accidentally, of course. I was the accident anyways. Chloe's trying

to be like, monocle emoji right now. Circe tells him that Maggie told her about the younger and more beautiful queen, but she leaves out the younger and more beautiful part. You can't give everything away. God, you gotta have some secrets. Anyways, he asks if she wishes to forestall the prophecy and we have some secrets. Anyways, he asks if she wishes to forestall the prophecy. And we have this exchange. More than anything, she thought. Can it be forestalled? Oh yes. Never doubt that.

How? I think your Grace knows how. She did. I knew it all along. She thought. Even in the tent. If she tries, I will have my brother kill her. Knowing what needed to be done was one thing, though. Knowing how to do it was another.

What a great reveal about her killing Malara right there. Like, I knew it all along, even in the tent, the only way to stop Malara was to kill her. So she thinks, I have to fucking kill Bill. Marjorie, it's over. Like, you're gonna die, bitch. I'm sober. But also the fact that Qyburn doesn't actually gratify her with how to fix this. He says, I think your grace knows how and lets her feed into that very paranoid thought that she needs to kill Margaery somehow? Right. Like, it's fascinating that that's how she jumps to the conclusion and like all

this and then like, okay, so you admit it, she's more beautiful than you, right? She would have to admit that for it to be the case but also might not be Margaery and also like technically she does know how to forestall the prophecy But like she doesn't you know, like I think she does what? Malaria told her about forgetting the prophecy. I legitimately think That would it like that. Yeah, like just live Yeah, it no exactly just live just live. And don't let it control your life. She lets it become a trap. And also, it's funny that as she's thinking of it, knowing how to do it was another in terms of

knowing how to kill someone. It's funny that she considers, if it's a knife, a pillow, blah, blah, blah, but that she considers the pillow as a weapon because of, again, that Daenerys chapter that is reminiscent with, again mage eye so rip Drogo Rest in piss but Yeah, there's the whole idea of like her right here getting this from kyburn of like him basically pushing her to fulfill her own self prophecy Right and prophecy in general and I must, this is coming off of me finishing Wicked, the Wicked Witch of the East, Gregory Maguire's book from the 90s. I'm a little

behind the times, but I had to read it because I'm re-wicked-pilling myself for the movie. It's embarrassing. I'm gonna embarrass myself. I, a cinephile, will be seeing that movie with my mom. Part one of Wicked. I don't care, you can judge me. I don't really think Ariana Grande's gonna be great in it. As Glinda, I just think she's not cast right and she's reserving herself, but I do want you to know that I will be there.

I will be humming the songs to myself. I will probably sing every line to myself in my head. I'm ready to see it. And I did read Wicked. I have a new pet name for Elphaba, by the way. It's Elphabit. I just call her Elphabit because my phone auto-corrects her to Elphabit. So Elphabit, the Wicked Witch, there's something really great.

This book has been out for like 30 years, so if you haven't read it, you should go read it, because I did, and look at me. There's something great about a spell cast on Elphaba and her companions, her sister and Glinda, by someone who's terrible and evil named Madame Morable, right, who tells them you can't speak to each other and your destinies are locked up in this and I've cast spells to make it so and this is your destiny and a spell is now on you and you can't say shit to each other about it. And when Elphabit links back up with her sister and her friend, she's like, yo, do you remember when that evil witch headmistress was like, your life is over because of my spell and

they were like, oh yeah I kind of remember that but you know it's just not worth it to us. Like we went on and lived our life and Elphaba is so like she has all this pain because she didn't. She didn't. She let it wash over her and she worried about it and like whether or not they were controlled by this prophecy these two other girls. They just live their life and we're happy with their lot. So who's to say if they were controlled by a prophecy or a spell, but they still lived their life and you get this total disdain and this like very deep level of Elphaba like. And this very deep level of Elphaba resentment, this resentment in her that she's the only one that remembers it, she's the only one that quote unquote fought against it, but

actually they fought against it. They lived their lives happily. They chose what was the right, you know, live, live, not die. Dying does not mean dead, as Marjorie said at the front of the chapter, and my roommate, poor Quentin, has mentioned this novella from the early 1900s, which is when he was born, I think he's asleep, he probably didn't hear me, when he was born, from Henry James, the beast in the jungle, to novella, and basically a man, John Marger, reconnects with a woman that he knew a decade earlier in Italy, and she kind of recalls his strange belief that

his life was always destined for a catastrophic event. He talks about there being a beast in the jungle, and the woman, intrigued by this, moves to London with her inheritance and spends her days with him, awaiting that fateful moment that he anticipates is coming, that valon car coming for him around the corner. And he's so convinced that he's meant for this fate. He refuses to marry her. He like fears that anyone he married he would curse with this. So they share all these activities together they love. They go to the theater, they go to dinners, but he keeps her at a distance. And as the years finally pass, it comes to a point that he's neglected his life and her

love only to realize that too late, his true tragedy was that he squandered his chances for happiness, driven by an irrational fear of hatred. Right? An irrational fear. Oh, I was just stressed. That was me snapping, but not snapping. Thank you. an irrational fear of hatred, right? An irrational fear. Oh, I was just stressed that was me snapping, but not snapping. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. I'm so lucky. And if this isn't your speed, this novella, if you're a Sylvia Plath fan,

hey, where my depressed girlies at? She has a sonnet called An-Wi, which is another piece that comes to mind with this prophecy that is also referencing this novella from Henry James. And this sonnet is, Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe, Designing futures where nothing will occur. Cross the gypsy's palm and yawning, she will still predict no perils left to conquer. Jeopardy is jejun now. Naive knight finds ogres out of date and dragons unheard of, while Blase Princess's indict tilts at terror as downright absurd. The beast in Jamejinn Grove will never jump, Compelling heroes dull career to crisis,

And when insuciant angels play God's trump, While bored arena crowds for once look eager, Hoping toward havoc neither pleas nor prizes Shall coax from doom blink-door lady or tiger." Wow. Wonderful job. Cooking, thank you. In regards to, I mean, this is literally the way that like, Cersei could have gotten out of the prophecy. Like, and this is what she has subjected herself to. And it's fun that you've tied it together with the kid. Is it like, is the movie only part one? I don't know. VB- Yeah, and they're not advertising it. It's only part one.

It's just like how they like kind of hit it with Dune originally. VB- I had no idea. I thought we said originally. I had no idea. It's a new thing. I mean we all knew but also yeah no it's totally just part one because it is kind of a long story and the musical is long like it's a three hour musical so like it makes sense I think it's like a little over hour and a half runtime. When are they gonna release part two? A year later. I'm actually really impressed with that. Again I'm sorry that I'm wicked-pilled but they're releasing A year later. I'm actually really impressed with that. Again, I'm sorry that I'm wicked-pilled, but they're releasing it November 25. I think they filmed a lot of it at once. I mean, you kind of have to. Oh my god, I had no idea that it was only

fucking part one. I hope you're happy. Is her name pronounced Elphaba in the play? Elphaba? Yeah, it is. I've only read the book. It's one of my new voices, unfortunately, in my household, by the way. I was, um, when I was waiting for you, I was singing it, but Emmett's probably poor Emmett. Poor roommate. He's gonna really get sick of it, but I now have a Kristin Chenoweth voice. Oh, okay. Alphaba. Alphaba. Popular. Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I Let's face it. Who isn't less fortunate than I my tender heart tends to start to weep Now when someone needs a makeover, I really have to be cover. I know I know I don't read the book and I pronounce her name is Elphaba

Which alphabet it's giving Elia but but anyways, oh yeah, no it is I've been calling you Elphaba to Emmet by the way every day. Oh Elphaba Elphaba The Eliaba so deep cut it's a deep part of a girl's gone canon lore Maybe one day you too can learn it on a jackbox gamers only jackbox gamers only So and the 40 thieves. Okay, we're gonna talk about the prophecy because we kind of fucking have to. Specifically with regards to Eliaba. Yes, in regards to me and me eight years ago. Okay, so I used to have really strong anti-Maggie's prophecy feelings, and so I'm gonna just like pull up an old

reddit comment of mine, but I'm gonna just like preface it all with like, I don't know, it's been eight years and so I've softened on these anti-feelings a bit in that like, I don't know, maybe like it really is a good gardening edition by George, but I'll never know because we don't have the payoff, and I say gardening edition because apparently if you look at some of those drafts of A Feast for Crows, like A, like I think the sample chapters and B, like I think if I'm not mistaken some of the drafts from the Cushing Library do not in fact have any reference to the prophecy in those Seer C chapters. So this is actually a later edition that George put in. And like, I don't know, I see the vision and that like

he's kind of going for like a Greek tragedy sort of prophecy thing, like as you were saying, Chloe, the self-fulfilling prophecy. And like, I don't know, maybe it sucks, maybe it's like a really good idea on George's part, but like without the payoff of the rest of the books in terms of like how it's executed, I just can't know. I can't judge it fully. And so for me right now, as it stands, it is a little weak, but maybe it's going to be really good. But I think that unfortunately, this is something where George is kind of like, you know... So funny.

Sorry, George. You kind of cut yourself off at the legs here with this. You just, well, because you can't judge how it's gonna pay off without the fucking payoff, right? And anyways, here's a comment from like eight years ago. Who is she? Who is she? This is like pre-GGC. BGC. If you put BGGC. But also- BGGC! BC before I met Chloe, IRL. Completely different era of mine in the fandom. So we just got a little nostalgic.

And Eliana said- Yeah, maybe all of these thoughts are wrong. I don't know. Who knows? But we've had no payoff since even eight years ago when I had these thoughts, so whatever. Yeah, anyways, so my biggest critique about Maggie's prophecy is I feel as though it doesn't really add anything to Cersei's character that isn't already there. Like I'd say that what it does is it reveals how many bastards Robert had, which to an extent like that's kind of pointless to the story because Cersei already had a lot of them killed, you know, go off queen.

But that's because of the gardening. But the prophecy doesn't really add to Circe's complexity, it arguably could detract from it. And again, maybe I'll change my mind when we get more stuff, but in regards to, for example, marriage and the younger, more beautiful queen, like I don't know that it adds like a more beautiful queen. It doesn't stoke anything about Circe's jealousy. It's always already been in her, like Circe killing Malara is caused by visiting Maggie the Frog. If it had been caused like in a different way, we would already know that Circe, she's just always been like this.

She's just always been the kind of person willing to kill her best friend for like thinking about fancying her brother. And we just don't need a prophecy to drive Circe into jealousy. She's got already enough, as we see, internalized misogyny to hate women who aren't her or who challenge her in any way. And then like the golden crowds and shrouds part, like about her children, even before the prophecy, like we see that she's furiously protective of her children, arguably because they're extensions of herself, and the prophecy kind of... It doesn't do anything here other than highlight the danger to Circe's life if her children die, and that as each one dies, the countdown to her death comes closer.

But in this common, I argue, wouldn't that have been better executed by playing to Cersei's desire for power instead? As each child dies, she loses another hold on being the queen, not to mention how it would affect her pride, which would be hurtful to a mother losing her children, as we see with Catelyn. And losing that hold of power becomes more urgent. It does for Tywin, right? Like to once again use her as a pawn in order to cement the Lannister legacy. And then finally with the Valoncar thing, we see that like even without Tyrion there, without the prophecy, Cersei's already like pretty paranoid of everyone around her. And the prophecy does echo in her chapters. She already like mistrusts a lot of the people around

her and not the people that she should be wary of, like Teyana Merriweather. She's already, I think, kind of naturally paranoid, and the prophecy didn't make her that, especially if she constantly thinks it's in reference to her youngest brother. I mean, she could have hated Tyrion without the prophecy, though as we discussed earlier in this episode, now I'm like, would she have fucking loved Tyrion without the prophecy? I don't know. But Tywin does already fucking Logan Royett and pit his children against one another, even without the prophecy. All of that was kind of right there. I mean, it's Roman and Shiv. Yeah, it's Roman and Shiv. Absolutely. Yeah. And Oberyn Martell illustrates for us, she did all that weird shit to Tyrion

as a baby, which again, could have been in the timing after the prophecy, so who knows. That was already there, and then Tyrion's threats towards Cersei's children, if you read it in a context outside of Tyrion's point of view, it was like, yeah, of course she would fear him. He's being a huge asshole threatening to kill kids. Constantly. Constantly. Constantly. No wonder everyone's like, I don't know about that Tyrion guy threatening to kill kids. Constantly. Constantly. No wonder everyone's like, I don't know about that Syrian guy threatening to kill kids. So anyways, I was

just saying that like as a character, Cersei already had enough driving her to become a complex and interesting villain and that the prophecy cheapens it and excuses Cersei rather than giving her more humanized motivations for her actions. But like, I don't know. Maybe I don't think that anymore. It's been eight years. I don't fucking know. But there's a part of me that still kind of thinks that, and it's a part of me that doesn't, you know? I'm large, I contain multitudes. I think you've evolved a little on it, and I think it's okay to think like part of it

is a little cheap. I do think that of the gardening, it works really well. For me, I'm not everyone, this is subjective. I just think it's well added. I think that it- not that it adds a justification, but that it just adds a lower level of detail to why she's doing these things. And because it comes in in Feast, I think that he gets a little bit of a pass, because Dance is really pulling the young griff work, right? So like, if we can establish more on a character that's already existed, then I'm not as mad. I don't know, for me it works, and I think it like layers really well, especially because I think it's introducing more magic element to her story to come, but... which I that's true. Which I never believed till now, truly, like until like this POV rerun that we're doing.

I really didn't think that. The magic part is interesting, especially when you tie it into like the Sybil Spicer's storyline. Yeah. But also, I mean, I think there is an argument of like, did he just not try hard enough to incorporate all these aspects of her characterization through characterization and instead of leaning on the prophecy. So I don't know. I don't know.

As far as how it's introduced though, I will say I love the structure that we're needled with it, right? Like you get a little bit in the first chapter, a little bit in the second, and all the way until the eighth is where we wait for it to all fall into place. And that's when it falls into place and you start realizing oh Okay, I think that's really well done Also, I wouldn't have gotten your wonderful analysis of how it parallels with Ned's Tower of Joy dream if it wasn't here So there's that there's a prophecy one Eliana not no, I'm just kidding, but he needed he needed you

He needed you to make it good. Oh my god, he needs me in the words of Olive Oyl. He needs me. Oh my god. He needs me, he needs me, he needs me. Well, you know who we don't need? Jamie fucking Lannister, fuck that guy. Jamie can't be relied on, seriously, thanks. So he's out of this murder plan she has for Marjorie.

Also, Marjorgaery 16 and healthy Which makes it very hard to kill her without it being suspicious and there are swords around her all day So Cersei begins to conjure up an idea of getting her lovers to confess Margaery's lovers and Cersei's lovers like Osmond Kettleblack the next day she goes to find him. Question, well, she's loved him. Oh, sorry, this is Cersei's, not Margaery's. Sorry, I got confused. And, well, no, also Margaery... Well, what are you saying? Margaery has slept with Osmond

and it's disgraceful. Sorry, sorry, my bad. Of course, of course, so true Chloe. Jesus. And Cersei feels the same as I do because she actually takes Osmond and is like, hmm, so is a kettle black thrice as good as any other knight? Like, hmm, if so, I'm gonna need you or Ozni to step the fuck up. And by the way, you may have to fight Boros Blount. How do you feel about that? And he's like, well, he's like 40 or 50

he's fucking old. How do you feel about that? He's like he's half drunk all the time. He's fat. Even when he's sober if he ever had a taste for battle, he's lost it. But why? Has Boros done some treason? And then she goes, no, but Osnie has. That's the end of the chapter. It's only treason if you come inside her. Don't be a dummy! Come on that tummy! Oh my god.

Talk about come loud. Oh my god. Oh my god. What if we did just end the episode there? I'm sorry, I have one more point. That would have been a really strong ending though. A strong ending? A strong ending? With the kettle blacks? Yeah.

Yeah. Huh. Huh. Huh. Okay, I just had one last point, which is, so as you all know, because you read this chapter, slash, her does talk about it, Teyna and Circe interact in this chapter, and yet, throughout the entirety of it, even in, like, when they're talking, nowhere in Circe's interiority does she at all think about what transpired last chapter between her and Taina. It's literally that echo of that line of, it never happened. In her head, she's just like, never happened.

So I thought that was a great detail in terms of the writing of this chapter. That's so interesting. And it's also interesting when you consider Taina left her for a night to go be with Margaery and console her. Like two nights and also, Teina even like kinda hints at it being like, oh, would you like to be the man? And then seriously like, I don't know, unwittingly flirts back of only a few people woman and yet no reference to that at all. Already having happened. Yeah, yeah, and like Teina being like, so this is like a thing that you're in TNT? I don't know what you're talking about.

What are you talking about? Yeah. Taina spending two nights away from her is really interesting after it immediately happened. Yep. Making a contingency. Mm-hmm. That's interesting. Well, you may have enjoyed Cersei 7... 8. And that's because 7, 8, 9, which is next week.

Whoa! So true. Thank you, thank you. Counting. You thought you were here for the alphabet, but you're here for numbers. Not alphabet. Alphabet from Wicked. Well, that's the reference. I was bringing it all together. I was bringing it all together, Chloe. And who can say if Cersei changed for the better? Ah yes, Alchemy.

Because we knew her! I'm gonna be real with you, clearly I only know the song Defying Gravity. That's okay, for good. I mean, I sang a bunch of this in choir in high school, so sadly I know all of it. I only know the book, and that was a really long time ago. I had a little solo in popular. Ah, I could see that. We're really working on my Kristin Chenoweth voice these days. It's gonna get there. I just, I don't know about Ariana, girl. That girl is like, she's not hitting it, so I'll come back with my review, don't worry.

We'll do a review! I'll give you guys a review when I see it with my mom. I'm gonna go see it with my mom. Well, I've been working on my trials for Osby, so I'm gonna come back. Hopefully not doing that fucking next time, Jesus. Hopefully a little bit of fresh air by the sea will fix her. Dude, I don't know. The salt will get her disposition. I've been thinking that the humidity would fix me, and I don't know, maybe it doesn't.

Maybe it doesn't? I don't know. Mucus is a little looser, which can be good or bad, I'm sure. In case you all wanted to know how my health is doing in gruesome detail. Maybe that should go to the verse. health is doing in gruesome detail. And if you want to come back next week and learn about Eliana's health, we highly think that you should, because we'll be back for Cersei 9 in A Feast for Crows next week. We'll be finishing out 9 and 10 in A Feast for Crows and come back with the Dance with Dragons, wow, in the new year, and a new POV, and a bunch of other motherfucking

tricks up our sleeves. We're so excited to have you aboard. Thanks for listening. Yeah, and of course, if you want to find us, you can by, uh, on social media, where we are Girls Gone Cannon, on, I don't know, Twitter and on Blue Sky, that's C-A-N-O-N, and if you want to send us an email, perhaps you have your own report from your own university, And of course, every episode that we put out is sponsored independently by our patrons. Yes, you've heard it here first. Our patrons.

Fuck. In all senses, they're figuratively, literally, however you want to put it, they're the fucking best. Very lucky to have them aboard. They're going to tell you where you can listen to us at. You can catch Girls Gone Cannon on any of the following streamers. On Podbean, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Acast, Spotify, Overcast, Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, Audible, and Amazon podcasts. You can also join us on Patreon, where if you join the thunder tier above, you have access to a Discord and monthly happy hours and things like that. And by joining the Discord, you get access to a bunch of great channels, including but

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We'll see you next time, thanks for hanging out. Wow, yeah, indeed. Thanks for hanging out! Wow, yeah, indeed. I hope you're happy now-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e- Defying gravity. See you next time. Goodbye. Well.