Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 256 — ACOK Daenerys V

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Daenerys decides it's time get out of dodge aka Qarth (for now) and meets the main character of the story: Strong Belwas. Links from Lo: https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/allegories-four-continents ---- 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 and Fire, episode 256, Daenerys, 5, and A Clash of Kings. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. Yeah, it's the last A Clash of Kings chapter for Daenerys, which is pretty surprising. Like I don't think I realized how brief her storyline is in this because I feel like she's such a big part, A, of this book, but also of any of the books that have her chapters. Yeah, she really gets a significant chapter increase from this in Storm and then Dance subsequently.

But Clash is kind of mysterious, right? It kind of keeps her on the other side of the world and keeps us from catching up with her. I was noticing it in the lightning rounds, right? There were so many chapters in between her chapters. It was wild. Yeah, and I mean, even a game of Thrones has so many chapters of Daenerys, so like it's just really surprising. Interesting choice, but you got to convey a lot with Little maybe with her plot in this one. And I guess the focus is kind of like the aftermath of Robert's death, which does, you know, we'll talk a little bit about here, as well as the War of Five Kings and Blackwater. Oh yes, lots of Blackwater is going on during this. Well, housekeeping up top before we get there, this month we will have a Patreon bonus episode out for patrons in the Stranger Tier and above at

patreon.com slash girls gone canon. This episode will be on Catching Fire Part 1. We will have our friend Ara, ie Zebra, joining us. Really excited to have her over and look forward to this one. We love Catching Fire. We love Catching Fire, but most importantly, we love Aura, so very excited. Yeah, that too. Not gonna lie. Yeah, I'm really excited.

Yeah, something else that we love is hanging out with all of you. So of course we have our other parts of the Patreon with the Thunder tier and above you get access to our Discord where once a month you can join us for brunch slash happy hour, Brappy Hour, which is going to be this coming weekend on Sunday, June 29th. And yeah, yeah. That's available for patrons in the Thunder tieroon above. That's $10 and up. All right. We got some emails, some tweets, some comments of note from the last couple weeks we had something from our friend Lo. Yeah.

So, Lo, I think the, the letter sets the context, so we'll just read it. Just listen to your episode with Grey Area. And I really liked your discussion about the woman being fucked and eaten as a metaphor for Dani. I don't think I've heard that before. I've mostly seen people see it as a metaphor of Westeros being fucked by the War of the Five Kings, which is kind of gross tbh, but using a woman as an imagery of a country is hardly new. Like you often hear of countries being called the motherland and various countries refer to their countries as mothers, e.g. mother Russia.

Sweden is referred to as Möder Svea. In art, she's often portrayed as a shield maiden, which is an example of how nationalists like to draw on an imagined past in their BS propaganda. Vergini and Lo did do a whole episode about this sort of nationalism and propaganda recently. Yes, Ragman's Harbor, and I mean, hell, Statue of Liberty. Yeah, that's true. There you go. There you go. And Lo also says, but another thing that image of men fucking a woman as a metaphor for the war in Westeros reminds me of is how whole continents have been depicted as women by colonizers. This type of artwork was

popular during the Renaissance and later and exists in various versions, but typically any non-European continent slash woman is depicted as wild, promiscuous, savage. Well, Asia is more depicted in an Orientalist way as this place of opulence involved, but still sexualized and racist. A lot of this artwork was created during a time of European colonization, so there's also something there with conquering continents that are personified as women, racist and misogynist. And then Lowe includes a link where people can read more about this kind of artwork in an article published by the Met Museum called Allegories of the Four Continents. Lo also included, importantly,

photos of their mother's cat as well as their mother, which kind of touched me. I was like, wow, we're really part of each other's lives. Tickled us a little. Yeah. Sweet. Good photos of both the cat and Lo's mother. Lo's in there in those photos too. But this email also did come with images of the artwork and examples of it being discussed in this email. Beautiful email. Thank you, Lo. I love a Lo email because it's always packed with like photos and links and it's like it's a great way to debrief in an email like, oh yeah, I'll get down a rabbit hole, let's go. Thanks, Lo. Yeah, I like this. And also, that's true. Like, I don't know. Unfortunately, George kind of, I don't know, like, if it is about Westroast or not. But if it is, like, unfortunately, George is not innocent. Sorry, everyone. And this was published back then. And like like he kept that in The Forsaken but I yeah I had a lot of fun discussing it in the context of how Daenerys doesn't get to belong to herself so glad that Loam put that. We had a comment on Patreon from

Hannah I love this thank you Hannah. Hannah says that they completely relate to my Midwest specific childhood field trip denied cow milking trauma. That there was a big third grade field trip in a class where they would go have a pioneer experience and milking the cow was like the pinnacle part of the experience, but their teacher didn't want to travel all the way to that specific place. So they went to a lesser pioneer experience and they had to milk a latex glove. Oh. Hannah says, I will die angry about it.

Yo, that's so real. I wouldn't have been able to do that. I'm allergic to latex. Oh, wow. Since we're all getting so intimate with each other's lives. We are getting intimate. Yeah. I wouldn't even be able to milk the glove.

That's so sad. I'd be doubly mad. At least you weren't doubly denied. But like, I just don't think it would feel the same. I think it's like a different, it's a different kind of like tension also. I've felt gloves before. Yeah.

It's also just like kind of interesting because we're talking about your cow milking trauma here and being denied that experience. Yet somehow later on in this chapter, they're gonna talk about like some sort of potion made with virgin's milk. So I just wanted to call that out. There's like, there's a thematic tie. There's some congruence going on here. Yeah.

Were you all? Thank you, Hannah. Yeah. Did everyone go on? It's a Midwest thing. I think so. I wasn't brought on one, which maybe is good so that I would not have been denied this, so I didn't know I was missing out on it. Oh, but you are? No, because I had a different experience with a different animal in adulthood.

Oh, yes. And I made a very funny joke, and the guy, even though he didn't speak a lot of English, understood enough of my lewd joke, and he was like, that girl's very funny. He thought it was very funny. Sometimes you are very Arya coded, you know? Yeah, well- Walking around talking about camel cunt. It was actually in a similar- it was in a similar kind of vibe in that, you know, I milked the goat. It was fine. My partner did as well. And apparently he was a natural at it. And I was like, yeah, he's got a lot of practice, huh? And everyone thought that was

so funny. Lude jokes. Amazing. Thank you. All right. Here's our lightning round for today. Here's how the lightning round is going to go. There's a lot of fucking black water going on, so we're all just gonna embrace it and jump in, starting with Tyrion 11, which is lead up to Blackwater, baby. Yeah, that could be a good song. Theon 4, hunting the storks down, baby. Wow.

She's- John 6. John's supposed to kill his captive, but she's kind of cute, baby. I never use this word a lot. Sansa 4, lead up to Blackwater, baby. This is good for you, you know, really warm to the- Practice. John 7, John learns more about mants, has a prophetic wolf dream, retreats with

Quorin's group after being spotted by a skin changer and Dalbridge stays behind by time. Rip. I never call people baby unless they're actual babies. I do it a lot. Sometimes I'm like, is it inappropriate? I also don't say babe, you know, like it's the, it's like a personal thing and I don't like being called

as such, so. We're giving you all too much power over me just now. Tyrion 12. Tyrion learns of Brandon Rickens deaths, clashes with Cersei over Sansa, varies in battle plans and is secretly relieved when she wrongly punishes Alaya instead of Shay.

Oh Tyrion, I can't wait to see you soon. Hmm. Ahhhh, Catelyn VII. Catelyn calls for Brienne's strap. I mean Brienne's sword. She calls for Brienne's sword in Dungeon after having dungeon sex with Jimmy Lannister. Dungeon. Dungeon Mesh. This is what happened and this is not misinformation.

Theon five. Theon refuses Asha's advice to abandon Winterfell, sends Reek for reinforcements, and dreams of the Stark presence haunting his seat. Hmm. Sansa five. More black water, baby. Davos three black water, baby. Wild card. Wild card. Same energy, same exact energy. Tyrion 13 black water, baby.

Sanza six, drunk, searcy, black water, baby. Blackwater baby! Sansa 6. Drunk Cersei Blackwater baby! No more hand motions. Radical. It really made it so good too. I wish you all could see it. Tyrion 14. Knocked out during Blackwater baby!

Sansa 7. Unkiss Blackwater baby. Sons of Seven. Unkiss Blackwater, baby. You'll get to watch me go through the journey of experiencing using the term baby. This is good for her. I think we're really fixing Eliana, you know? Or breaking her. Or breaking her, making her worse. I don't know. I don't know. her making her worse. Oh that brings us to Daenerys V in a clash of kings where Dany wants ships but Zaro wants dragons it would never work out. Also there are

like other reasons why not but that specifically. Later she survives yet another assassination attempt made by a sorrowful man thanks to Illyrio's agent strong bell-boss and arson white beard, and then decides to leave Karth to seek justice in Westeros, right? Uh-huh. Right? I could be, I could be this like, hmm, trolling stare. Anakin Padme.

Anakin, yeah. Anakin Padme meme, yeah. Yeah. Uh. We open this chapter with a passage. She was breaking her fast on a bowl of cold shrimp and persimmon soup when Eerie brought her a carthene gown, an airy confection of ivory sami patterned with seed pearls. Take it away, Danny said.

The docks are no place for ladies' finery. If the milkmen thought her such a savage, she would dress the part for them. When she went to the stables, she wore faded sand-silk pants and woven grass sandals. Her small breasts moved freely beneath a painted Dothraki vest, and a curved dagger hung from her medallion belt. Xiqui had braided her hair Dothraki fashion and fastened a silver bell to the end of the braid. I've won no victories, she tried telling her handmaid, when the bell tinkled softly. Jiqui disagreed.

You burned the Meiji and their house of dust and sent their souls to hell. That was Drogon's victory, not mine, Dany wanted to say, but she held her tongue." This is one of those examples again of men writing women and girls. If you have small breasts, yeah, they're not moving freely below the Dothraki vest. Like all the artwork of the Dothraki vest is super cropped and tight, so I don't think they'd be moving freely, but I will say, like, I understand what he means is that no bra, no panties, freedom, liberation of the boobs. It could shave like depending on like the texture, but I'm just I'm like, but also like just based on the age she is and the fact that it's small breasts, I'm like, they're

not moving. They don't boo-boob-ly. Yeah. You know, that's okay. Today, you know, they've got to be free today because it's like all about boob-boob-ly. Yeah. You know, that's okay. Today, you know, they've gotta be free today because it's like all about boob liberation today, slavery tomorrow. I mean, I stopped- this is TMI- I stopped wearing a bra a long time ago, so yeah. Yeah, if I have a bra on it really means it's for social conventions, you know?

Yeah, and it- like only in some circumstances. Uh, as- I mean mean Chloe knows this about me. Yeah. Boobly boobly. So I like this line of if the milkman thought her such a savage she would dress the part for them. It really ties well together with again Tyrion's storyline of when he tells Jon, you know, other important Targaryen that Daenerys gets there the point, as George has said. He tells Jon, never forget what you are, for surely the world will not make it your strength,

then it can never be your weakness, armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you. I don't know why I read that aloud, because you all already know it by heart, I'm sure, because we talk about it all the time on here, but also it's like one of those lines that everyone already knows. So sorry to mansplain that quote to you, everyone. But I like that this is one of the ways that she does it, right? Like by digging into this idea of, you know, I would dress the part of savage for them, like this is what they think of me, horse girl, right? And then she does this again in the next book, really builds on that idea as she starts to use that, like, you know, I am but a young girl and a little in the ways of war. And, you know, I presume that she realizes the reputation that

she's gained so far. She's going to learn to use it even more. She does so a little bit here. In regards also to being a mother, right? And how she plays into that with that Slaver's Bay arc. But also when she goes to Westeros later, I think she's going to realize at some point like, oh, they see me as a conqueror, right? Like I am here with all these same like trappings of the story of Egen, I might as well lean into what does it mean to be a conqueror? And it's going to be hard to do so, right?

Because people don't think of women and girls as conquerors. It's harder to portray that as opposed to her playing off the conceptions of being a young girl. So like these two notions and narratives that she has to work with politically, it's gonna be very difficult for her to thread that needle. And so I'm really interested in how that will go, especially because like, you're playing off of how she's being perceived by all these people who don't interact with her, but when she is talking to people, when she is in front of people, I think Daenerys is incredibly charismatic and that's very overlooked. Like, she knows how to read the stories

again and use them, it's part of why she seeks the counsel of the Graces in Meereen, and also, you know, she's leaning into wearing the bells here amongst the Dothraki. So she's kind of, again, playing into those narratives and using them for herself. But I also thought this was kind of interesting, the way that she thinks that was Drogon's victory, not mine. Especially because last chapter we discussed how Drogon and Daenerys, like you and Grey did a great job of showing they're tied together, right? Like in that skin changer kind of bond, like the way that Drogon reacts is in reaction to Daenerys's fear. and I think, you know, her playing down like that wasn't my victory, I think is...

It speaks to me in terms of like the way women and girls have imposter syndrome that she externalizes and she's like, no, no, it wasn't me. But I mean, it was her to even get to the point of the House of the Undying to make it to the point where she actually encounters the real versions of them and like faces them to be able to defeat them. Like again, I would have died as our friend Shiloh said in the Patreon chat like Eliana would have been eaten by the Gru. Yes, you would have been eaten by the Gru. Shiloh's absolutely correct. And I like what you're saying here about the girly pop, uh, imposter syndrome, you know, like Danny mother, you are mothering girl. You are mothering girly pop. Keep going. Slay.

Slayer of lies. I have to throw myself off a building. Slayer of lies. I have to throw myself down the stairs now. Excuse me. I have to throw myself down the stairs now, excuse me. Uh, especially like thinking of the bond between the wolves and how their fates are tied kind of to the Stark children. Like John, when John is unable to sense ghost, he feels pretty listless. He feels disconnected.

When Dani later locks away the dragons, her connection, you know, Drogon's gone and her connection with Drogon is not dissimilar then as Jon and Ghost was around now, but even locking her dragons away, what that does to her and how that makes her feel, right, it's such an influence and she's not at all in tune to it yet. She doesn't realize it yet, but she will be. And I like that we start with Dani kind of assimilating into another culture, right? Into the Dothraki culture and taking that on, wearing it, right? We see her wearing it and her becoming a part of their culture and her kind of

mastering it. And she's already had to do that in the first book. In Carth, she shows up and she's told that she needs to assimilate into their culture now in order to win and be given what she needs to do to go to Westeros. The first time she did it, it didn't work in the long run. The second time she did it, in Carth, she got nothing for it and burned him down, right? So when she heads to Slaver's Bay, it sets up this ultimate, ultimate like proving the be yourself. That's the best thing you can do kind of plot. Because for Danny, why would she do it again? Right. For better or for worse, she she doesn't want to play these games.

But then by end of dance, there she is back with the floppy ears on. Right. And playing those games before Drogon comes and liberates her from that. And I love this against Jon right now who he's for the first time kind of now he assimilated into the Night's Watch and he became kind of you know this is normal this is a new norm for me and now here he is trying to kind of put himself into the free folk culture to look the part and play that espionage act out. It's different for him too as well because like he's being perceived. I was a boy, even just for a day.

Oh, sorry. Oh, I was thinking like he's being perceived, but he's not in a position of leadership in the same way like Daenerys has to like balance all of these different ways and represent those cultures. So like, yeah, yeah, it's interesting to see how they there to storylines go. How they dance the dragons, how they dance. Oh, I never thought about it'd be cute if they danced if they ever had a chance to dance together. Oh, especially because like when it's like when it's a girl you like and Sansa told them, hey, when you see a girl you like you should do this. Aw, anyways. She's never danced. Daenerys has never really- Jon's gonna tell Daenerys that she has a pretty name.

I didn't even think about that. You're welcome. That's cute. I bet lots of fanfic writers have thought about it. I'm just- Dude Sansa would get major ladies. Sansa, girl my ladies Sansa Girl, you know how to speak to us. Eliana. You kind of have a very beautiful name. Did you know that? Very cute It's pretty. Yeah, I think this about your name too

Dance we could dance. We've actually you and I have danced a lot Not a couple we have danced a lot actually I have danced a lot. We're not a couple. We have danced a lot, actually. We have danced a lot. Alright. her to the waterfront. It's a poorer part of the city, which we haven't really experienced at, which is fun. There are fewer horses and camels, but the streets are full of children, beggars, and dogs. They know who I am, and they do not love me, she thinks. Jorah would have had her hidden in her palanquin, but riding makes her feel like she's finally getting somewhere. She's been kind of holed up and carved going nowhere. She didn't seek the waterfront by choice necessarily, of course.

She is seeking the waterfront to flee. Her whole life had been one long flight, it seemed." It's a nice quote, but also, um, yeah, I guess they don't love her for destroying the house of the undying mostly, but like, what were they even doing for you, everyone? Like, chill. What were the undying even doing for you other than being like, other than pizzazz? Undead? Yeah.

Eating you? Um, anyway. No, but it's the disruption of the norm, right? That's true. And it's what she starts to do in Storm as well. She starts to come across that same thing in a way, a different way, obviously. But like, she's disrupted the flow of the city. That was how they lured people and stole their riches. That's a great point.

There's that and I think maybe like in some way they kind of took pride in it, right? Like this is part of our culture, which makes sense. Like that makes a lot of sense. But also I'm just like, they were just doing goofy fun house shit. Um, Daenerys' story in regards to like her whole life had been one long flight, it seemed. Daenerys' story in regards to her whole life had been one long flight, it seemed. She's learning to turn from flight to fight in the face of danger. We started that arc in A Game of Thrones, and I think that's really interesting when you look at the way how someone reacts when they're pushed up in the corner, especially

when she stands up to Viserys. But it also plays into that whole messianic story playbook thing. Well, at least when it comes to Jesus's story, right? Like we have a reminder of how Robert was sort of this King Herod character looking to murder Jesus. And we remember like that Dani has always felt like her life was in danger. I'd love to think about it like you said, you know, at the beginning like flight or fight or fight, but also fly or die. Oh, like, like brand. Mm hmm. Put it exactly against the three eyed crow.

Choose, choose now, fly or die and all must choose. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. And I don't like us sometimes. We have too many jokes. We've been doing this too long. Too long. Make an end. But I love the actual journey that she references, that her entire life has been this one long flight. It's true, and it is like you're saying, like it's almost like Messianic right? It's it's

Legend like her flight to Dragonstone or flight from Dragonstone East place to place, but also it leads up to this great Point of her birthing the dragons and then later in dance her becoming a dragon rider, right? Which is kind of her biggest flight Yeah, like her literal biggest flight. Like it is all leading. Like it's already kind of cute. Like when George is like, oh, the tent flaps were like dragon wings. LOL. I'm like, hahaha, that's so funny, George. That's so clever. You're so clever. And this is clever too. Like this is like her whole life was one long flight. It's all leading up to this big flight. It's coming. Get ready.

When you put it like that, I start to realize that when it comes to the dragons, flight and fight can often be one and the same thing. And I think that's kind of fun because as we see with Annie's story in the House of the Undying prophecies, she's a character of contradictions, all living in one. So for it to be melded. Yeah, she's daddy, but she's also like petite baby. Mommy, oh. Mommy too, yeah. Mother. Mother.

Mothering. Stop, the Slayer of Lies, I'm literally in shambles. I'm in shambles over that. That's canonical, like what do you want me to say? Slay. Her and Sam, slayers! Oh true, aw. Don't hate the slayer, hate the game.

Thrones? You were talking about fly or die, Daenerys has a run or die that she thinks, and Zaro had heard that Piat Pree- apparently everyone says Piat, is that how they say it in the show? I'm not gonna change the way I say it, I like the way I say it, but Piat. Is that how they say it in the show? I'm not gonna change the way I say it. I like the way I say it. But Piat Pree was gathering the surviving warlocks to work ill on her. She laughs at this, asking, did you tell me warlocks are useless? It sort of looks troubled. It says the glass candles are burning in the house of Urethon Nightwalker, which like, brr brr brr, fun stuff. I feel like we've talked about Urethon Nightwalker in probably a Patreon Bwawbwawbawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawaw w some tortoises because- Not Urethane Nightwalker?

I honestly thought you were gonna do that, so. I didn't really think about it, but I will tell you what poor Quintin said, February 16th, 2017 on tumblr.com. Wow. Wow. That's probably how I thought about it, because of him. Because that's like his only mention in the story is right here. And so realistically, I think it kind of makes sense if it is Euron probably.

It could be like a name for Euron, you know, a second name. Somebody, Keefe73Blog asked poor Quinton, do you think Eurothan Nightwalker is an alias of Euron? Thanks. Probably, yeah. Both halves of that name fit him perfectly, and there's the later connection between Euron and the Carthene Warlocks. Spoiler the forsaken.

Pree. And generally speaking, A Clash of Kings is where George starts laying the groundwork for the Crozai, mentioning him as reputation in the Silence and Theon's chapters, introducing the shade of the evening in Dany's chapters, and sending ghosts to uncover a certain horn in Jon's chapters. Wow. Thank god. Emmett did the work so I don't have to. We love 2017.

We love 2017. I think all that sticks though. Like I do think that's fair. It's literally- we don't hear anything else about Earth on Nightwalker, just that he's maybe like an inhabitant of Carth. So it's kind of interesting when you think about the place that has all of the fucking liquid blue acid that everyone's taking and you have the warlocks that have all this magic. Like yeah,

it would make sense to me if Euron was somehow connected to all that. I mean he has to get his supply from somewhere. Yeah, I think if I'm not mistaken, wasn't there also someone who had pointed out that George had made a mistake, right, with the Forsaken where, or like one of those other chapters and uses both Aurathon and Auragon like interchangeably in regards to the brother Yuri? Yep, Uragon and Yuri, yep. Yuri. Mm-hmm. Yep, Yuri gone and Yuri. Yep. He like he missed a mistake there. So I that's like a fun easter egg. But yeah, I Earth on Nightwalker is interesting. Plus you have like what the Age of Heroes fellas. I mean, the idea of the glass candles waking up and like the magic all being awake and glass candles in general, the first like big mentions of them, especially that she just heard about this from Quaife. Yeah. beware, and to beware, and then her visions did have some slight Uron, yeah right, ultimate Uron vibes, but Uron is scarred. But like, I don't know, that does to me kind of feel like

he was setting also Uron in her path in some aspects too, you know? Like in those visions and how to? How to train your visions? How to train your visions. I picked up what you were putting down. Okay, I'm coming back to the Phantom Tortoises now. Yeah, okay, so Phantom Tortoise, give it to us. Yeah, so I think that like this is just a thing that I'm bringing it up not because

like I'm very into it, because but I think that George is very into the idea of like phantom tortoises. We know that he loves turtles, right? And we know that turts like play a big part in his inspiration for becoming a writer. He would make all these plots but never one of his like little turts would die. And he finally got to have someone bring that vision to life in Elden Ring, okay? Because there are a couple of areas where there's like a puzzle and you have to find like the Phantom Tortoises and then you get memory stones from it and you can learn more

spells which is a slightly different convention than it was in some of the previous Souls Born games where you had to level that up. But anyways, so I'm happy for George that someone was able to do this for him, and like, if you need help finding the Ghost Turrets at those towers, hit me up. I will help you out, but it's also all online. This is also a great time, now that I'm talking about Elden Ring, to bring up the insight that I did not bring up last chapter in order to save time, but also because there's a lot to go down in terms of a Shai. We were talking about a Shai and how nothing grows there and like how did it get to be like that and it made me think of when we were talking about it last time and like the way that there could be conflict that sort

of led to that in terms of world building. I thought of Millennia, Blade of Mykola, and Radahn, but specifically Starscourge Radahn, not Promise Concert Radahn, and Elden Ring. I mean they're both kind of the same, but we're not going to dig into that. And so the area of Kaerlyd is like this terrifying place in the map, if you ever play that in Elden Ring, and's like that because Millenia, she released the Scarlet Rot which made it so that things would no longer really grow there and corrupted all of A, not only Kaelid, but B, Radahn's mind driving him crazy and it looks like a scary place especially when you're there but also in order to like really harness and use that power, Millennia exacerbated the Scarlet Rot within her own body. So as she destroyed this place, also her own body was being eaten away and continues to be as such. So anyway,

interesting way that this power is, of course, like a sword without a hilt. That's all. I'm really glad that you told me this because I would never know, because I will never get this far in Elden Ring, apparently. It could happen, but you're gonna have to come over for that to happen. Millennia's blade, which you get when you defeat her, the Hand of Millennia, is a... it is a sword without a hilt, but that's because it's put into her prosthetic arm that has been eaten away by Scarlet Rot. Hmm. Well it symbolizes her victories I guess. The Phantom Tortoises carrying messages back and forth? That's really slow going, right? That's true, I didn't think about that. Well okay, there's one, the Phantom Tortoises in Elden Ring, for some reason, one of them is up in a tree, like sideways on the trunk of the tree, so maybe the Phantom Tortoises can go fast.

One of them is flying in the air. I'm just giving away spoilers. One of them is flying, floating up there. He's big. He's a big boy. Massive turtle in the air. So maybe these phantom tortoises can fly. Yep yep. Yeah. Basically some disc world shit. Oh maybe. Could be related. Turtles all the way down. I think there's a little of that too. Yeah. Well many other superstitions are all suddenly happening, basically is what Zaro is saying to Dani. He's like, oh, all these things are coming true, so it's best you leave, but I give you one last parting gift. Let me knock you up and we can sail around the Jade Sea together. Oh my gosh. It's interesting and also I love that there becomes an equation here, whereas he says like give me a son, it starts to really, you realize he means give me a dragon, right?

And it starts to show the way that Daenerys perceives the dragons as her own children. Yeah, and that like disparity and emotion about it, right? Because he sees it as an army, he sees it as war, he sees it as a means to something. And it's kind of fun because people in this story, especially the men that she's dealing with, are equating her dragons and her as kind of ornamental, like a trophy and something special. But they also at the same time are seeing her dragons as tools, as weapons, as a means to conquest and to win riches. So, A, what's the truth? So they're underestimating her though at the same time.

And that is really what's letting her win every single time is that they're underestimating her and her dragons. They're like, oh, her little half-bred lizards on her shoulder? No, they burned down the entire house of the undying. Yeah, it's kind of interesting too, like that they... if there's anything that you should not underestimate, it's a dragon. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Seems kind of silly. It's like your funeral, bro. Or pyre. Funeral pyre. Whoa. So Dani says that she won't wed Zaro, and he tells her to leave again, but where is the big question for her, right? Like where the fuck do we go now? Her khalasar was plump and rested again, but also a little unruly.

She thinks that they're warrior people, not meant for cities, and we have a passage. Perhaps she had lingered in Qarth too long, seduced by its comforts and its beauties. It was a city that always promised more than it would give you, it seemed to her, and her welcome here had turned sour since the House of the Undying had collapsed in a great gout of smoke and flame. Overnight the Qarthene had come to remember that dragons were dangerous. No longer did they vie with each other to give her gifts. Instead, the Termaline Brotherhood had called openly for her expulsion and the ancient guild of Spicers

for her death. It was all Zaro could do to keep the 13 from joining them. But where am I to go? I'm sure it was all Zaro could do to keep the 13 from going after her. I'm sure. The, the ancient go the Spicers is interesting. When I think of Sybil Spicer. I'm very interested in that. Yeah. Yeah.

That's what I had mentioned, uh, after the Dune, you know, like I'm like, I think it's like a Dune reference, but I also am like, I do think there's something there with Sybil Spicer and her having her roots over here. Yeah. Hmm. I don't know what. I'm curious. Something too that like wraps in with like Duskendale, right?

With the Lace Serpent in some way with Mere. Right. Some sort of coalition of these women with roots. It'd be also like, it'd be fun to explore in a thematic level too with the, you know, what we get of Sansa's storyline as it's unfolding in the Vale and like, I'll be all the spice you want, but like, not like that, you know what I mean? Oh my god, Aeswaf spice.

Yeah. Oh my god, Aeswaf spice rack, what an episode. Spice up your world spice up the world okay um people in a swap are we having a good time we're not no one's having a good time um no that's true elena tell me of your thoughts of this passage yeah so of this passage i really like the language of a city that always promised more than it would give you. It feels like the way that that line is written just feels so short story, George, since we've

been, you know, covering a bunch of those in our Patreon episodes. And it's a line that like gets, I don't know, it feels like one of those lines that gets repeated like the Grey Alice kind of stuff. And I do think there's something interesting here as well of like, you were talking about, they seem to forget that the dragons are not pets, but weapons also, everyone, like they're like, it's not just an ornament and a lot of the language or this part of Danny's storyline, I don't know, some of it, the language is just fine.

It like feels like a fairy tale of like the night he asked her to leave, Dani had begged one last favor for him. It makes me think of Scheherazade's 1001 Nights, you know, just like, and that last night. I don't know. It's fun language here, George. Like it was, it was... Boob Liberation Front. Yeah, it's so great, Alice though. I was like, oh damn about the the city that promised more than it would give you. It's very short story by George and I do love the the fairy tale thing, especially because you have it come back where he leaves his glove and dance, right? Which is also fairy tale. It's like he's leaving his shoe behind. Oh yeah, kind of like a Twisted Cinderella thing. And he starts playing with that more. But I mean, Grey Alice too, like, you know, you were saying

it felt like that as well, like, it does feel a little fairy tale-esque as also, like, especially because I think he was gonna expand on it more, so. Yeah. the movie does not feel like a fairy to everyone. No, the movie feels like Furiosa meets Paul W.S. Anderson. Speaking of which, I haven't watched it yet, but um, I don't know if I get, is it out? I don't know, but I'm excited for 28 years later. Not, not a PWS Anderson, but it is a zombie movie. So I assume. It's not for me, but I'm excited for you. Are you not a fan of the 28 insert passage of time?

They don't really do it for me. It doesn't do it for me. Wow. I'm learning new things. I'll watch it, but it just doesn't do it for me. Wow. You gotta really keep romance alive. for me. Wow, you gotta really keep romance alive. So Dani thinks that they could go east, like Jorah had proposed, or maybe they could go settle in Vase Taloro while her dragons grow. She asks Zaro for one last favor, a ship. He offers her a trade, one dragon, ten ships, and she's like, no, he's not very impressed with that response. She's like, would you ask a mother to sell one of her children? And he responds, why not?

They can always make more. Mothers sell their children every day. Ella Mayo, Ace Waf. But not the mother of dragons. She won't sell them, not even for a hundred ships. Yeah. She's like, would you ask a mother to sell your child? It's like, oh yeah, duh. I did it like two times already today. Right. It's like, what? Like, it's hard.

Um, it's a great transition though into the next part of Daenerys' story as they discuss, again, like parents selling their children, it becomes a really big thematic tie to the Slaver's Bay arc. I mean, we see it even from Aryo's storyline, right? Arguably he was like a priest, so it's parents selling their children, it becomes a really big thematic tie to the Slavers Bay arc. I mean, we see it even from Aryo's storyline, right? Arguably, he was like a priest, so it's like, allegedly a little step up, but it's not. You were a slave. It's not. At all.

It's not. But also, like, on a sort of different way, not just like the literal parents selling their children into slavery, which does happen, and we see it in the way that the highborn parents of Westeros, right, they're constantly selling their children into alliances or wardships into marriage, so yeah, absolutely. That's the cost in Westeros, the flesh. Yes. The flesh. Danny asks Zaro again, in a different way, nicer, to just grant her one ship. Just one of his many great barges, his ships, his luxury boats, his cruise liners, everything this man owns.

She's like, how many ships are there in the East? Slowly but surely she starts to kind of break him down on costs and negotiating because she understands how cost and negotiating works now and it's a really good job she's doing. She says surely you know to set a price on what a dragon's worth it would be at least one third of all the ships in the world. And I thought that stood out to me that line because I'm like oh a third of all the ships in the world, you know who has a third of all those ships? The Iron Fleet. Well, not anymore after that horrible Dance of Dragons. They lost a bunch of them.

But you know what I'm saying is one third, like does that mean, is this a nod to the Ironborn in the future for Dani? No one knows. Would she trade a dragon for their fleet? Might be interesting, but I don't think she would. Yeah, I didn't think about her trading one to them. I don't think she would either. I don't think she would ever trade a dragon for anything. You don't

really need to. Also, that's not how they work. Yeah. Because a dragon's not a slave. Yeah. But also, like, I don't think you need to anyway. Like, you couldn't, like, she doesn't need to trade one for the Ironborn fleet by that point. They'll be big enough to be like, well, but what if I yoinked it? I will say, like, I think that's another big recurring theme we're seeing, right? Of Dani taking a husband who, just like the Carthene way, all of these cultures seem to have that the husband gets a gift too, engraved into the contract, you know? His daughter thinks that he has special privileges, not necessarily the dragon, but special privileges. Not if we kill him. Not if we killed Victarion.

Yeah. Which we should. Yeah. We will. I just… With hammers. Still. We're gonna kill Victarion with hammers.

As we've discussed. Me and all my friends. Oh my god. Multiple times. I just want to see it for the comedic effect. The Victarion-Denarius interactions. Someone with an IQ of 150 versus someone with an IQ of buttered toast. So Zaro calls Denarius mad for being like, I think one of my dragons is worth like a third of all the ships in the world, which to be honest, true. Yeah.

Yeah, she's fucking right. If even that. And he says that the Palace of Dust and the warlocks that must have made her mad. She thinks it's definitely time to leave. And yeah, the line here is like, did I not warn you not to enter the Palace of Dust? This is the very thing I feared. The whispers of the warlocks have made you as mad as Malorawin's wife. And I'm like, first of all, we learned about Malorawin's wife, like a few paragraphs

ago, right? It sounds to me like she's freed herself from the system and she's running outside naked, which like honestly good for her, couldn't be me, I love clothes. But like, there's this idea of being made mad, right? Like she's seen visions of her destiny and what it's told her is that she and her dragons are worth more than Zaro. They're worth more than anything he could hope to give her, And he knows that. He's known this whole time and he's trying to play her. And that's the whole thing, right? They'll call it madness when you demand your worth. When you say, hey, I'm better than what you have to give me. They're going to call it madness to try and cut you down. Absa-fucking-lutely. I love that. When you start setting boundaries, when you start...

The way that she just broke down and valued out what her dragons are worth and like did it carefully and itemized it and made him agree like, oh yes, they are very fancy. They're fancy. You know, like the way she backs him into a corner on the negotiation is also a reflection of herself, right? She's not just saying that the dragons are worth this. She's really saying she's worth it. Yeah, she is worth it. I appreciate that, you know?

And it's something for all of us to remember about ourselves and to take into our everyday lives, but for real. Yeah, you're worth it, Aliana. You're worth it. What commercial am I thinking of? It's not Maybelline. There's a- You're worth it. Yeah, what? Yeah, maybe it of? It's not Maybelline. There's a- You're worth it. Yeah, what? Yeah. Maybe it is.

It's maybe. She's worth it. Yeah. It's maybe. When she had this memory, of course, we did a little recap dive back in because she hasn't seen him since all this. Each message since their very bad last convo was brought by his seneschal and each is colder than the last and he no longer is feeding her and her people so she's like yeah we really gotta get out. She puzzles over the riddles from the house of the undying. The warlocks of course had whispered up treasons for blood, gold, and love and she starts theorizing

just like we did with Grey last chapter. She thinks the first traitor was surely Miriam Asdur. Could Piat Pree and Zaro be number two and three? Somehow she didn't think so. Piat Pree made for gold, and Zaro really didn't love her. They had called her child of three, daughter of death, slayer of lies, bride of fire, so many threes, fires, mounts, treasons." So many threes, they make you count and count. We're beginning to see the grip that prophecy is going to have on her though, and you know,

that's sort of interestingly contrasted with Circe, right? Because Daenerys is always wondering. She doesn't have all the pieces of the puzzle, and she doesn't come to this with the same sort of like, certainty that Circe has. She's like, I know what it means. I know what the fucking Valoncar is. It's Tyrion. I'm like, but girl, is it? But also, I mean, what of it? Anyways, there's a difficulty with Daenerys' storyline and the challenge of only knowing it partially, only having half answers, only having five out of seven books. And like I too would have anxiety, like if I were hurt. Like I already have it now with a sort of fucking partial answers that I have.

Like there's always wondering when's the other shoe going to drop? And I kind of wonder like maybe that's the real reason people said don't enter the House of the Undying, right? Like that wasn't, that was a poisoned gift. Yeah, it is a poisoned gift because it's giving you like something that you could try to subsume and like live on, right? Like a piece of nutrition for your soul that you were missing. But like it'll drive you mad trying to puzzle it out like prophecy in general. And I love this line from Egimamnon, It's from Cassandra in Agamamnon. Have I missed the mark or like true archer,

do I strike my quarry? Or am I a prophet of lies, a babbler from door to door? Because that's the unknowing, that's the worst part. Not knowing is the worst part. That will eat at you the rest of your life. And that's where she's been living in between for these first 13,14 years of her lives. And it's kind of like the knives chasing her, which we're probably going to talk about in a

little bit after another assassination attempt. Because whether it's real or not, she has to be prepared for every outcome, which is like emotionally exhausting. Like even if there's no threat coming after her, it's been proven that she's almost been assassinated like three times so far in this series that we've seen. So just like the prophesying, she has to live in like this state of mind where she's just, yeah, the prophecy of just like, she's got to be prepared for every outcome. We're both talking about this. Like this is, this is what anxiety is, but also at the same time, like hot take, you

know, regarding all the imposter syndrome and knowing your worth, bringing it back to real life. Being born an assigned female, like the danger of, or like being a woman, even if you're not, like just being a woman out there in the world. It is fucking anxiety inducing. You're always in danger. It's so exhausting. You're always like thinking like, wow, is it safe to walk in front of this group? Is it not? Whatever, you know, you know, anyways, um, riding to the waterfront, Daenerys asked Droy if he knows what

the dragon has three heads means and Droyah's like no, I'm stupid. And he says it's the sigil of her house and that Aegon and his sisters were once the three heads though, Visenya and Rhaenys, and she says well, I'm descended from them. And Jorah interrupts asking why are you worrying about the warlocks whispers? That they only wanted to suck the life out of her, but she murmurs that there were things that she saw. sucks the life out of her, but she murmurs that there were things that she saw. A dead man in the prow of the ship? A blue rose? A banquet of blood? What does any of it mean, Khaleesi? A mummer's dragon, you said. What is a mummer's dragon, pray? A clothed dragon on poles, Dany explained. Mummers use them in their follies to give the heroes something to fight.

Pew pew pew, George R.R. Martin. Yeah. I, how does he not know this? Like you've been here long enough, bro. Like, what do you, what do you mean you don't know what a mummer is? What are you doing for entertainment? Twiddling your thumbs, thinking about how like you hate Ned Stark. Jacking it to Danny.

Yeah. Right? Like, what are you doing? Like, improve yourself, dude. Work on yourself. So we obviously think that, you know, not only is the Mummer's Dragon, like, in regards to, like, Varies, a Mummer, and Aegon, especially now that it's been garden into the story, but also, you know, on a meta level, right? The Mummer. The Mummer is George giving Daenerys

something to fight upon returning to Westeros because mummers they're performers, they're artists, they're bards and that's what George is as a storyteller. Yeah, but unfortunately the people love their mummery. I mean, so do we. That's why we have a whole fucking podcast with 256 episodes about it. Breads and circuses, baby. You're at the circus.

Welcome to the, I don't know. Jorah frowns but Dani doesn't really let the topic go and she's like I'm certain I saw Rhaegar and his harp and Jorah's like all right Rhaegar had a harp and he had babies and a wife that's true you're on to something but if Aegon had been the prince that was promised, he had been killed. They had murdered Rhaenys too. There was no Visenya, but the dragon has three heads, she repeats. She asks Jorah if he knows of the song of ice and fire, but he's like no I've never heard that song before bestie. There are people in the street since morning, Aggo shouts so clear the way, Jorah sniffs

suspiciously saying he smells the poison water and the dothraki distrust the sea, but Dani had braved their sea and now they are gonna brave her sea. And fun fact about me, I just love the smell of the sea, it's weird and fishy and salty. It's just kind of fun, it's comforting, right? It smells bad but good fun. It's so comforting. No, it smells amazing. So comforting. No, it smells amazing. Karth had one of the greatest ports, full of color, clanger, and smell. And home to an amazing marketplace where selling and buying went on all night, and goods, while they were of suspicious origin, were bought at a fraction of the cost.

The air smells like salt and fried fish, tar and honey, incense, oil, and sperm. Why is everything like always smelling and tasting of sperm in Danny's Carth storyline? Rubbery and tangy, dude. Is this like a boobin boobily thing too? Like I don't know. Anyways, I think it's like of the sea, like like a sperm whale. Oh, okay. Then that makes more sense to me.

Maybe not, I don't know. I don't know. So this isn't special to Qarth, since most of the cities that we visited, especially in Essos and also especially in Braavos, they have things like the many-faced god, or like based off rock with all their scavenged sculptures, but they have altars to all these several different gods.

And it kind of makes me think about this idea of heresy and sinfulness, right? That's around Karth. We've been talking about how Daenerys could return here as a sort of vengeful god because they they just didn't really treat her very well here. And all the temples here make me think of the idea of King Solomon, right? Building temples to all these many false gods instead of Daenerys here. I mean, it's pretty it's pretty straightforward There's also like other aspects of like King Solomon's storyline like, you know with the Queen of Sheba that I think could intersect But across many different characters with Dany's storyline like herself being Queen of Sheba, you know with these riches but also being

Sort of tried to seduced by someone who fits that like with uh Zaro and uh resisting. But anyways, I'm not gonna dig too far into it. It was just a fun random aside thought. So yeah, it makes me even see her as that like in dance, especially there are some good moments of that. Yeah, the way she and the other people are like, are exoticized. Something to think about. Yeah. Riddles and gifts, baby. Riddles and gifts. That's what it's about. Tittles and bits, but riddles and gifts.

Boobing and boobily. So Ago buys a skewer of honey roasted mice. Jogo buys some fat white cherries. And they also even see dragon eggs, which look suspiciously like painted rocks. And they pass the stone quays reserved for the Thirteen, where they see chests of saffron, frankincense, and pepper offloaded from Zaro's vermilion kiss, and casks of wine, pallets of hides, bales of sourleaf that are loaded onto the bride in Azur. And again, I just love that we get so much exposition and scenery here. Finally getting a sense of the rest of the city, whereas like the past few

Carthene chapters, right, Dany's been very much holed up or hidden away in the Palenqueen. And like hidden away from the truth. Oh, true. I mean, here, like you're seeing the actual wealth of Car. Like, the literal blindfold has been pulled off of her eyes. This means nothing. Like, the economic world building, obviously, we know isn't there in some ways. So like, to drag you through a little fun exercise, if a wooden trunk of saffron measuring like 27 and a half inches

by 13 and a half inches by 15 inches. Like that could hold maybe 41 kilograms of loose saffron threads, loose, assuming full capacity. Today's market rate is like $15 for two grams. So that's like retail value of anywhere from $82,000 to $250,000 in the U in the US depending on quality and origin and Like if George has basically said one gold dragon is a hundred dollars ish give or take and passing so like

820 to 2500 gold dragons. Yes a lot of gold dragons and Again, this means nothing, we don't actually understand the economic rooftop in this world that has not been explored. Nothing is like, it's not laid out. There's no real translation. But this is probably enough to fund a war chest, right? Or bribe or rent an army. And the bigger part is that we're seeing through Dani's eyes that she's like awakened to the wealth in this city and the wealth that they get and the means that they're getting it through, right? Like she's watching slaves

being sold at block here at the port and realizing there's a place she could fit into this equation, liberating slaves, stealing the market away from assholes who shouldn't have it and abuse it. That's really what's happening here is she's realizing all of this wealth is up for the taking. I really like the way you've tied all that together. I didn't really think about that. Especially the fake math I had to put together. Yeah. I mean, like, also what you said of her doing the math here, like I didn't really like think about or notice that, but very true. Farther up, a crowd is around the Spicer

Galley. Hmm. Sunblaze.ze, bidding on slaves from Astapor in Slaver's Bay, and she knows she's not going to get any help from them, so she rides on past out to where the ships from the Summer Islands, Westeros, and the Free Cities dock. She has Ago and Jogo guard the horses while her and Jorah speak to captains. She hears some Valyrian again, and the common common tongue and the workers all make way for her, not knowing what to think of the silver-gold-haired girl in Dothraki garb and a knight by her side. She gets a lot of no's and laughter from the captains and crew that she asks. They're like, yeah, fucking sure. When she tells one man that she's Daenerys Stormborn, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, he's like, I'm fucking Tywin Lannister

and shit gold every night. Well, Ha! Soon enough. Yep. The silken spirit fears her dragon setting their rigging on fire. Honestly, a valid concern. Lord Pharaoh's belly wouldn't take the Dothraki. Quicksilver and Greyhound are the- Is this just like a reference to the bus? Um, I mean, like, it's probably also like the dog, obviously, but like, I kind of wonder is George like having jokes here? I forgot if like Quicksilver's a brand for anything that could fit. Anyways, offer them a glass of wine, but their price is too high. Pinch bottom petto and slow-eyed maid are too small. Bravo is bound for the Jade Sea and Magister Manolo Blonix doesn't look seaworthy.

Wow. Quicksilver also X-Men reverence, you know? Oh yeah, that too. Is Greyhound the one? So it might be a Marvel thing for him. Is Greyhound? I don't remember. You're the one who knows X-Men much better than I do. I don't think so. I don't think so. I'm just an X-Men Evolutions enjoyer. Well, then you pretty much like X-Men. That's what it's all about, the good stuff. Yeah. As they make to leave, Jorah tells her quietly they're being followed and he guides her towards a booth with brass work. We have a great action scene back and forth that we're gonna go through and he's like, oh the noble work

it's so nice and they lift it up so they can see the reflection and they watch. And Danny mutters that she sees a fat brown man and an older man with a staff and asks which one is following her. And he's like both of them. Ever since we left the Quicksilver. Meanwhile, the Brassworks owner is trying to rip them off and Danny's negotiating very loudly with him as they survey those two men. She wonders if the warlocks had sent them or someone else, and after she's done negotiating with the merchant, she glances at them as they leave. Only fools would stare so openly if they meant me harm, she thinks. I feel kind of bad for this merchant. I mean, he gets a pretty

good deal in the end, but at the same time, he goes through a fucking lot right here. Almost dies. I think it's interesting that as she thinks of these men who are following her and why, she wonders about like the usurper's reward of a lordship for anyone who killed her. Because we went over this already. Like she knows that Robert is dead. So it's either that she believes that Westeros still has that bounty out for her, which I don't know, yeah, I can see why she would think that, but it's also been such a reality that as we're talking about anxieties and stuff, it's hung over her head for years

and that the trauma still carries her to the point that she doesn't ever forget about it, right? So I think that's kind of interesting. It could also be that George like didn't edit this great, like that's possible too, but like, it's just, it stood out to me. No, I think your perception is correct. I think Viserys taught her paranoia since she was old enough to pronounce it, you know? I think he saw knives in every mirror.

He saw knives in every reflection that he passed by and whether they were real or imagined, he passed that on to her. It's a reality that they lived with in their youth. Yeah, that's true. She's still in her youth, but you know what I mean. Yeah, and I mean, like, she's not wrong, right? Like now definitely with dragons, people are going to be coming.

I mean, it keeps happening. It just happened right now, like a bit ago. Yeah, she's not wrong. Like, also, I forgot to remark upon you calling the dragons very fancy. Like, what if we just stopped calling them dangerous, right? And like, we just called them fancy every time we wanted to describe them. That's all. Oh, fancy. They're so fancy. Yeah, I think so. They are. Dani tells Jorah that the old man wears no sword, but Jorah says, well, that doesn't matter. They are. Dani tells Jorah that the old man wears no sword, but Jorah says, well, that doesn't matter.

He could crack a skull with his hardwood staff. Meanwhile, the merchant's following them around, offering the product for four honors now. The old man pretends to linger at a potter's stall while the brown man has eyes on Dani. The merchant has now come down to two honors. Dani's like, please pay him before he kills himself. A carthene, however, steps in their path, and he's like, mother of dragons for you,

and thrusts a jewel box out to her. Within it is a green glittering scarab. Oh, green, the color of traitors carved of onyx and emerald. And before she can finish thinking about how this would pay for her passage elsewhere, the man says, I am so sorry, and the scarab unfolds with a hiss." That's true about the colors being very greens coated. I like that. The scarab, which we're gonna find out in a bit, is a manticore, has an almost human face, which feels so Sand King's coded. Oh, I love that with the human face.

Yeah, human face on bugs. That's it. It's interesting because she immediately thinks this was probably Piattpree's work, but I don't think it was. I think it was more likely Zaro's work, which is kind of funny and ironic because like that he'd be willing to pay for the stuff that he like talked down so much about publicly like, Oh warlock, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he's paying for a magical assassin, a poisonous manticore assassin, but also. I mean, softer tinfoil could even have been Illyrio because it kind of feels like the

last one was also Illyrio. Oh, like Illyrio doing it and then having Barristan save her to like, build trust in the way that it was last time. Yeah, to bolster the relationship. Yup. That's interesting. He's a one-trick pony, right? I guess so, yeah.

He's got so many- Oh my god. It's all Illyrio. That's interesting. It could be. It feels so Illyrio. That's interesting. It could be. It feels so similar to that. But you're right.

Like, she thinks it could be Piotr Pry, as you said. I think it could be Zaro too, in the way that, like, even though he's not interested in her, and because we know that he's got, like, he's got a different sexual orientation, but like- But men love to kill when they get rejected. No, that's exactly what I'm saying. I agree. It's pride.

Why not a little murder when you get rejected? It's just like, we're talking about earlier women having to think about the anxieties and dangers around them, even just like walking the street. Men get weird and violent with rejection. So I agree. I think there's merit to that. The box flies from her hands, a pain suddenly twisting in her fingers, and the merchant

shrieks, a woman shrieks, again, I feel bad for this merchant. People are just slamming around. She stumbles to one knee, hearing the hiss again, and the old man drives his staff into the ground, then Ago rides from an egg seller's stall, aww, vaulting from his saddle and Jogo's whip cracks overhead. Chloe has a note here which says, wait they're kind of like sailor scouts, I love it. Yeah. Senshi. Activate. I do think that about the sand snakes as we've discussed I think. Absolutely. Your grace, a thousand pardons. The old man knelt. It's dead. Did I break your hand?

The old man's super apologetic. Her blood riders threaten to kill him for striking her, but she's like, no, please release him. Look at the bottom of his staff. You'll see the proof of my safety. But Jorah Mormont shows up with a steel beard and he's like, no, Khaleesi, there's only room for one man that loves you unconditionally and will protect you with his sword.

But she tells him, please put your sword away. They're defending her. They aren't like a problem. Please stop, Jorah. And she tells them the carthene meant her harm. This guy was a sorrowful man. Honestly, like the way she pieces everything that happened like together very fast, it's very, very impressive to me as well as knowing that this was a manticore. I wouldn't know! We don't know what a manticore...

where did she learn what a manticore looks like? That's all I wanna... that's what I wanna know. I've really blacked out the show, obviously, in my mind, but I'm pretty sure the show implies it's Piat Pree as well. Yeah, but they imply a lot of dumb things. Well yeah, but why I'm saying this is the Game of Thrones birthday rap and I quote- Oh yeah! Piat Pree, you better come- hold on, I gotta get there in my mind in the rap. Hold on. I got dragons bitch, sorry, I'm nothing but a shady older brother and a pentose pentose

Fucking like dogs in public. You know the savages had three dragon eggs ate a horse heart took it down to go It's all staying in the episode Smothered his ass and built a funeral pyre Whatever it's like Piat Pree better come at me with more than a manticore if you're trying to Gat me or something. Yeah, but it's really good. Game of Thrones birthday wrap, you know, that's my medieval fun time. It is. It is. Yeah. The other one that I don't I know we both love. We've talked about it a few times already.

The high school of Thrones. School of Thrones. School of Thrones. It's just School of Thrones. I don't know. Fake fan. Fake fan. It's not my favorite. It's not my, you know. I love School of Thrones. Oh, I don't know. Fake fan, fake fan. I'm just kidding. It's not my favorite. It's not my, you know. I love School of Thrones. I do like it.

It is silly. Sounds like a start made out with a hot dog. That was one time. That was a fun time in the fandom. That's all. So much creativity. She gives a silver to the injured brass merchant who thankfully wasn't stung and asks who to whom does she owe her life and we are introduced to a man who is

totally arson whitebeard and also his BFF Strong Bellwass aka The main character of course introduces himself as Bellwass. So these are now Bellwass POVs He's covered in scars from the men that he has slain because he lets all of them get one in before he kills them, and then Belwas reveals that he had been sold from Meereen to Kohor, then to Pentos, and then to the fat man with sweet stink in his hair who sent them here with white beard to serve them. They were sent by Illyrio. They apologized for causing any alarm. They had expected someone different than her. Like, what do you need to expect? And she goes, maybe Regal. And she laughs, right? Because she has no dragon with her and she looks pretty Dothraki.

Yes. Beware the perfumed seneschal. That feels real strong here. Like the fat man with sweet stink in his hair. Yeah. And she should be weird. It's also interesting that in Tyrion we get sweets. Who's also like, you know what I mean? Like I'm like, oh, look at all the different little herrings that George has peppered in here. Yeah. No one knows. It definitely could be Illyria because I do think, I mean, you do gotta look at it. That's another one.

Excited for Daenerys to encounter many people, but... Oh my god, she's gonna roast his ass. Drogon's gonna have the biggest dinner yet. Well, it's gonna be so, I don't know, we've already discussed it in the Tattered Prince episodes I think, but like... It's all set up, it's all there. Baristan, why did we do this? Illyrio's my friend and she's gonna go there and be like, we can't do what the Tattered

Prince wants and she's gonna be torn between it and then she's gonna be like, oh wait, oh my god, no, fuck this guy. Yup. Eat him. So, oh yeah, eat the cheese. So Danny notes that- Business. Danny notes that Arstin speaks in the common tongue, and he's like, yes, I was born in the Dornish Marches, part true, and was a squire in my youth for Lord Swann's household, but now he squires for Belwas. Damn right.

Jorah says he seems a bit old to be a squire. Shut the fuck up, Jorah. But Arstin says not too old. In fact, he knows Lord Wormott. He's seen him battle before. Jor is like, I'm no Lord, bare eyelid was taken from me." It doesn't go on about why. So I love that like, you know, Arson just going through a career change right now, you know, like I'm not you're not too old to go a different direction in your life, inspiring. But also that

he says, you know, he's strong Belwas's squire. And like, I just want you all to understand, we've probably discussed this before, but what that like really means, right? Because we know he's Barristan Selmy. So for him to be squired as strong Belwas means like strong Belwas must be exceedingly, just exceedingly amazing at his craft. So yeah, he's a Jedi master. He is. That's why Barristan is just the Padawan. Agreed. We just need to understand this everyone. So we're just power ranking here. Um, also I like that. I feel like this is a little dig where Arstin, AKA Barrison says, like, I'm not too old to serve my liege, which like Jorah doesn't understand as a person who went

against his liege, Ned Stark. And so I think there's that, but also he says all these things, right? And like that he's seen Jorah. So this is Barristan obviously testing to be like, so like, do you remember me? And then realizes like, oh my god, no, this man is so dumb and like not in a fun himbo way. Absolutely. And like, it's interesting because they haven't seen each other in a while. So it also says like how much Barristan has caught up on where people are supposed to be in political like, maneuverings and understanding things and he knows where Jorah's been. He like drops all these facts of like I remember you doing all these things and it's like dang this man's much older with a much better memory than you Jorah like come

on. Sharper, sharper than he looks. This is the real reason Lin-Es didn't like you because you're my god because you're a stupid bitch. Well and then there's something really like, I don't know if this is cohesive at all, so please just bear with me. Ha! Bear with me. Bear! You have this great bit about like, Barristan being recruited by Illyrio to do the spying

on Dany, right? And pushing her to get things back on track. And Jorah was trying to clear his name with Robert and get a royal pardon. So we get that great back and forth of if one hand can die, arguably Barristan is more trustworthy and means well, he's a good man, but he's been co-opted here by Illyrio, right? Like he is here at Illyrio's urging. It's fun to imagine kind of like what must have happened

with Barry getting sent over here. That conversation, maybe like a Varys and Barristan scene. Right, like could you imagine? Because it makes me think of the Ned chapters where Ned is a little dense. And him and Varys go back and forth. I'm like, imagine Barristan. Barristan and Varys, that's a scene

that I would kill to have read. But I don't know, Barristan being sent as their spy without him really realizing it, like, he was probably sold this as it being necessary, that like, we need her checked on because she's so important. But in reality, they're freaking out because she wasn't supposed to have dragons and she wasn't supposed to like have her own will and move around the frickin chessboard on her own. And now they're double dipping on Aegon already and they need them to get married to basically fix their mistakes, the worst romcom of all time. And it's interesting of them selling Barristan as a new obstacle for her to like somebody

who holds this knowledge about her family. Like we talked about with the prophecy, like we talked about with like being afraid of the knives chasing you, whether they're real or not. Barristan holds knowledge, the direct truth about her family. He's someone who could feed her, nourish her on these memories of her family. And sometimes that might make you want to stay in one place, listening to those memories of your family and not moving forward, Which is what Illyrio and Varys really want. That's true. Yeah. It's, uh, Baryson is, he's an interesting choice to send to Daenerys, but for all the

reasons that you said, but now that you've like discussed the Varys and Baryson like scene, which would be very fun. I'm like, I'm imagining now like, very is being like, Oh my God, like, he's like freaking out. He's like, Oh my God, we had a whole plan. We were going to send Ned like we had like a whole one hand or like, you know, or bring him over for Egan or whatever. And then all of a sudden, like, Barristan fucking quits and runs out and like, can you imagine various just being so like excited to be like, Oh my God, you guys, you're never going to guess. You're never going to guess who I got.

Like this. I didn't even plan this. We have another guy. Old school loyalist. Right? Like, Oh my gosh. So a lot, a lot of comedic gems that could have existed here. So Arson says that he is but a knight and Dianne corrects him. He's like, no, you're a knight of my Queen's guard. She welcomes him. She's just, no, you're a knight of my queen's guard. She welcomes him and- Wow, she's just handing that out these days. What? Yeah.

I mean- That was pretty easy. Honestly, like for him to have done all that and like with that aim with the staff, I probably I'd be like, wow, impressive. That's fair. I would have given him that job too. I'd be like, this was the greatest like job interview I've ever seen in my life. Hired.

Hired. No, for real, hired. Maybe if he had made a pun, like for sure. Anyways, she welcomes him and Strong Belwas and then introduces them to Ago and Shogo. We've got Horse Boys! Belwas green toothly. Belwas has killed many horse boys in the fighting pits. They jingle when they die.

Ago's a rock leapt to his hand. Never have I killed a fat brown man. Belwas will be the first. "'Sheath your steel, blood of my blood,' said Dany. "'This man comes to serve me. Belwas, you will accord all respect to my people, or you will leave my service sooner than you'd wish and with more scars than when you came." Yeah. Boss bitch, you know, like she like laid down the company rules really easy there.

Happy for that. I'm glad she stopped that upfront. HR. It's great that she could do that, but it is also interesting that she's going to be massing all of these armies that are very different from one another culturally, are very different from one another in many other ways, and there will be in-fighting. VB- Honestly, like, this was not the best entrance on the Strong Val was his part, but that's what we love about him.

He's like, I don't- I'm just such a badass, I don't need these niceties, whatever. STACEY- He's just swinging his dick around a little, don't you ever want to just swing your cock around a little? VB- I'm sure he has thought that, he's about that before as he did. I think about it. Yeah. Yeah true true. His proverbial cock is swinging. His B-D-E. B-D-E! Got that big dick energy! Oh. Belwas scowls at this in confusion. He's like, if not fightable, why make them fightable shapes? But Dani gives a smile and she's like, what does Magister Illyrio want?

And he's like, dragons were sent to bring you back to Pentos and then to take Westeros because it's bleeding without you. Illyrio gave three ships for his queen, Sedulian, Summersun, and Jozo's prank. But Dany has three new names for them. Yeah, I love that the concept of like, or like what the three names are, like these confused Belwas, he's not caught up in the lore, you know, like, we end with, Vhagar, Daenerys told him, Meraxes and Balyrian, paint the names on their hulls in golden letters three feet high, Arstin. I want every man who sees them to know the dragons are returned."

And like, I don't know that it's supposed to. Maybe it is. And maybe this is just me, but it's giving Nenia Pinta and Santa Maria. I don't know why. Boats and hoes, boats and hoes. You know, Step Brothers when they rap about the boats and they're like, the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, Catalina Weimm mixer bitch. Oh my god. That's not what you meant when you wrote that though. No, but I like it. I'm about it. It's giving Columbus. Well, I like that you got Step Brothers out of it.

I get Step Brothers out of everything. It's my like toxic trait. I do love Step Brothers. I do too. That's why we, that's why you guys. It's one of the funniest comedies. Are we the Step Brothers? Every week we interview as a team almost every week

on this podcast. Oh, I love that though. It is giving. Wait, they interviewed as a team. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And we do that every week. Yeah. Okay, okay, okay.

Yeah, every week. In a tuxedo. This chapter is a little underwhelming on re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read because the buildup's nice, like when you don't know that the twist is that it's Barristan, it's great. You're like, oh, somebody once more came out of nowhere to save her from being assassinated. Cool. And now they're new mysterious people and we're gonna have to find out who they actually are.

And then like, the actual reveal, oh, it's Barristan, wow, but also like it was obviously Barristan. It's an underwhelming end to Dani though, considering like the last ending chapter in Game of Thrones. Yeah that's true. I mean I guess he's like you gotta you gotta kind of like have some down songs you know like they can't all be bangers you gotta mix it in. Yeah especially considering that we're like in the middle of the end of Blackwater. Yeah the Blackwater I guess is more of the focus of this book, but also like, I think George was fortunate in that for the most part he had so much written out already for those first three books, that's why they all came out in pretty rapid succession comparably

with the other ones. And so like, it makes sense that there are less here and that this, I think, segues nicely into A Storm of Swords. Because all of these themes become a little bit more complex than Storm, I feel like. Double the chapters to work it out, double the cast. Oh, true, double the cast, yeah. A lot of new dynamics to play out between Jorah and Arstin and Dani. Yeah, and she's just like, why is this happening?

What the fuck? And we're getting a new cast member, right? We'll get Missandei. True. Yeah, we do. You're right. Her cast really does start expanding more in these books. Yeah, and as we get closer to the end of Dani's arc in Dance with Dragons 2, I think a lot of these characters start to get a lot more flesh, right? They start to really turn into characters. Iron Maid flesh. They start to have more habits that are discernible and keep them as distinct individual characters,

which is nice! Because I do feel like the first two books, like I still can't tell you too much more of Ago and Jogo and Rikaro at this point of what they're doing. Yeah. I think we like, they told us a little like Rikaro is like the young, the young one, Jogo's got the wit. Yup. Ago is the headstrong one.

True. So yeah, it's, it's a good transitionary chapter, I think, and... Yeah. It closes it up softly. Yeah, the highlight was House of the Undying, which, like, to be fair, I guess, was pretty jam-packed. How do you follow that, to be fair? Like, it's not fair for me to judge now that you put it that way. Like, you need a soft come-down. This is a come-down after the fuckin' trip. Like, the day after you do Blue Acid, you're not gonna go crazy balls to the wall partying again, you gotta come down and relax

and unfry yourself. Yeah, and I also feel like I didn't know, but I think a lot of people speculated in you I guess that Arstin right from this chapter was Barristan. I didn't. That's it. I didn't know, I don't think right away, but in the beginning of the next book, I knew. I think I read these also so fast after one another that I wasn't like even like really theorizing. Does that make sense? Like I was just like going through, I gave myself to the story and- Well, in how many years was it publish wise between the two again?

I'm only about like two to three because like I think it's what 96 for a game of Thrones Clash of Kings 98 mm-hmm 2000 first storm of swords So the rapid succession release means that the plot was available for you to keep going and figure it out easily Well, yeah, I mean like for me also, like these were all out clearly when I picked up the books. So we were like, two years old. I mean, negative two even. Even.

And on that, thank you for joining us in Daenerys in A Clash of Kings. It's been a wonderful book. We will return. We'll return on July 11th for Daenerys 1 in a Storm of Swords, barring any crazy circumstances. Have a good week off, catch up on the old episodes, and we will be back. Yeah, Chloe's gonna go on her pleasure barge. I am, I'm going on her pleasure barge. I am, I'm going on a

pleasure barge. She actually kind of is, but not like in the weird way, just like a normal kind of pleasure barge. No, it's just like a boat. I'm going on a boat. I love a boat. Boaty McBoatface. Yeah, that's another thing she could have named her boats, Boaty McBoatface. Boats Boatily. Yeah, Boats Boatily. So if you want to make sure that you remember when we do return, you can by keeping track of us on social media. We are on Twitter at Girls Gone Cannon. That's C-A-N-O-N. Also, same thing, we are also on Blue Sky.

Daenerys is the storyline, taking her into the big blue sky someday. And you can also send us emails of your animals. And I mean, like, I guess your family members if you want, but like that might be a little too intimate for some of you so just your animals I mean animals are part of our family too anyways you can at girlsgoncannon.gmail.com make sure you subscribe to us on your favorite platform so you never miss all of the fun that we have every week except for next week. You can subscribe to us and my patrons, my dear, dear friends and patrons are going to tell you where at. You can catch Girls Gone Cannon on any of the following streamers on Podbean, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher,

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You don't even have to worry about checking on your other podcast streaming devices because it'll be there for you early if you're a patron in the thunder tier or above. So that's exciting. All that said, thank you again for listening. I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I have been another one of your hosts, Eliana. Goodbye, boo-booboo-ly away.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. That's like kind of relatable. I think I just, I'm like, I'm so sorry. Right. Because like, are they sorry about the actual thing or are they sorry because they had to do like, why? I really respect that. No, they're just like, I am so sorry. And I'll never know. I'll never know is the craziest part. Okay.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye.