Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 34 - AFFC Alayne I

Episode Date: January 11, 2019

Alayne finds herself playing the dutiful daughter to the Lord Protector of the Vale, but the Lords Declarant threaten her father's reign.  Intro by Anton Langhage 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: www.liesandarborgold.com   

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon, episode 34, Elaine, A Feast for Crows 1. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. You can find me on the internet as at LiesInArbor or at LiesInArborGold.com. And I'm another one of your hosts, Eliana, and you might know me as GlassTableGirl on the Asang of Ice and Fire subreddit or on Maester Monthly. Hello, everyone. Hey. I guess people have sent us messages, but we're going to just highlight one this week. Yeah, we got a good comment of note. A Podbean comment of note.

This one comes from Loran Timmons. It says, Hey, ladies. Love the podcast. Just thought I'd leave a pod bean comment for Eliana's happiness. Keep up the wonderful work. And it did make me happy. And I just wanted to share that with all of you. I grinned when I saw it. I was like, ah, ah, people send us in like things about the story. But you know, we do things for my happiness here. Yeah, we do have a couple

emails sitting there. We'll we'll get to some we'll get to some we have a good one. Yeah, we do have a couple emails sitting there. We'll get to some. We'll get to some. We have a good one. I think we could save one for next week, maybe. For sure. Man, well, what about our lightning round? I guess let's jump on in. Yeah, we've moved on to our next POV. But before we talk about what's happening there, let's talk about what's happening in the other POVs, starting with the Kraken's daughter. Asha's supporters assemble for the Queen's Moot. Thank you very much. It is a Queen's Moot. I will not be accepting any constructive criticism.

In Cersei 3, Tommen and Margaery wet, and Cersei brings down the Tower of the Hades. And then we have the Soiled Knight. Ares Oakheart is forced to choose. Crown or lose your princesses? Both? Both of these princesses? In Brienne 3,

Brienne is forced to reckon with the cruel ghosts of her past, and she meets another new companion on the road. Samwell 2. Maester Aemon helps Sam understand Gilly's grief in their voyage to Braavos. Truly sad.

Jaime too. Jaime has a bad day. He fights with his uncle, with Cersei and Loras, and he even gets some really bad PTSD from the Kingsguard thrown on in there. Speaking of Cersei, Cersei IV. Cersei and her new small council deal with matters of state, such as the Dornish Unrest, or perhaps even the Veil's Matter of Succession, the entire North in general, and of course, finding a good match for her good daughter. Yes, for Margaery. The Iron Captain. Victarion attempts to broker an alliance for victory in obtaining the Seastone Chair.

The Drowned Man. A king rises from the deep. I feel like my voice at least makes some of these sound more ominous and dramatic right now. Yeah, absolutely. Very, like, shadowy. Crackety. From the deep. Brienne IV. From the deep. Brienne 4.

Brienne learns she can no longer trust while trading out one companion for a lesser, annoying, bullying, and awful companion who's the worst. And I hate him. And I get to say what I want because it's my podcast. Fuck Isle Hunt. For sure. That's what I said. Agreed. Next is The Queensmaker. After convincing Ares to become her own Kristen Cole, whom we've never discussed on this podcast before, Marcella suffers disfigurement because someone told, someone always tells.

Much like her sister, Arya is working hard at losing her identity. She's thrust out into Braavos, taking the name Kat, which is much like one half of her mother's name. While Elaine takes the other half. And so we meet a new character today. She is 14, bold, and apt. Elaine Stone has spent her years living in a convent until one day her father the lord protector of the veil question mark question mark peter bailish sends for her tonight they spin a web of careful lies and truths to the other lords and elaine learned some very valuable lessons what a great new character in a great new place yeah feast is full of new characters yes elaine awakens in the

maiden's tower of the eerie gretel fetches her bedrobe and a log for the fire her new chambers are much larger than the apartment she kept when lady liza was alive and judging by the wardrobe these are liza's chambers we got some really good, like, eerie world-building porn here. Like, I don't know. It's just beautiful. There's marble and stuff. The stone was cold beneath her feet, and the wind was blowing fiercely, as it always did up here. But the view made her forget all that for half a heartbeat.

Maiden's was the easternmost of the eerie seven slender towers, so she had the veil before her. Its forests and rivers and fields all hazy in the morning light the way the sun was hitting the mountains made them look like solid gold i love just that there's this great connection between this is there's seven towers and the andals are of the veil of course now that's at two one and that's the veil and of course there's this line of maidens was the eastern most of the towers of the seven. And the maiden is, of course, kind of what we associate with Sansa the most. Yep.

And that's where she's staying. You can also see, in my opinion, some of Sansa healing here. Definitely reading too much into it. But she talks about how the sun makes everything look like it's all gold and it's splendid. And she's no longer associating gold to be so awful like that of the Lannisters. Yeah, it is very nice. It's pretty. It's a nice morning. Sansa, along with that nice morning, is watching the giant slants and Alyssa's frozen tears there's a

lot there's a lot of uh landmarks here and a blue falcon soars overhead and Sansa thinks that she wishes she too had wings very on the nose veil imagery here though right like a blue falcon soars overhead maybe that's Jon Arryn and he died, he warged into a bird. Are you sure it's not Marillion? I mean, after all, Lysa did give Marillion that falcon. Yeah, he's a songbird. He's the little bird. But now he's like a big bird.

Oh my god. She watches out into the Vale, seeing the camps of the Lord Declarance stir. If only they were truly ants, she thought. We could step on them and crush them. Because... Just because Chloe and I called this out now, again, calling the people of lower classes than you

insects or ants, what are you doing? Chill out. I wonder to what extent it's little fingers influence getting to her here especially since some of that imagery of them being smaller and beneath them is how it would feel if one were a giant but also i mean like i guess this isn't the first time we've seen someone of the noble class is doing that so completely like sad so you can't just call people ants yeah and then think about stepping on them but people probably did look like ants from there you know what i'm saying oh for sure they get this passage with a ton of exposition young lord hunter

and his levies had joined the others two days past nestor royce had closed the gates against them but he had fewer than 300 men in his garrison. Each of the lords' declarant had brought a thousand, and there were six of them. Elaine knew their names as well as her own. Benadar Belmore, Lord of Strongsong. Simon Templeton, the Knight of Nine Stars. Horton Redfort, Lord of Redfort. Anya Wainwood, Lady of Iron Oaks. Gilwood Hunter, called Young Lord Hunter by all and sundry. gilwood hunter called young lord hunter by all and sundry lord of longbow hall and yon royce mightiest of them all the redoubtable bronze yon lord of runestone nestor their declaration made no mention of the lord protector but spoke of misrule that must be ended and of false friends and evil counselors as well i wonder if that phrasing is going to come back uh in sansa's arc in a dream of spring you know false friends evil counselors vowing to end misrule reminds me of the language

when uh stannis is all like foes and false friends all around me lord davos or something like that that's a subtweet if i've ever seen one they make little finger sound like he's fucking jafar and i mean i'm not saying little fingers not yeah to prepare for the lord's declarant coming sansa heads back inside and she's deciding on what to wear we learn about a bunch of the differenta heads back inside and she's deciding on what to wear. We learn about a bunch of the different clothing choices that she has. She's inherited a lot of Liza's clothes but not everything fits her as well because you know Liza was many years older than her and like had a child. I guess Liza was also petite because Sansa at age 13 is basically as tall as her aunt was at 20 so

it's a good thing she had all that nutrition Sansa decides to choose a gown that is in the tully red and blue and pins back her hair that she has recently re-dyed but she has to keep dyeing it regularly as the red roots come back in very quickly and she wonders how much longer is this dye gonna last i mean we had to get it shipped in from tyrosh it's a lot and they're obviously being cut off right now from other supplies let alone hair dye i like that this language kind of suggests of course the illusion is fading her carriage has turned into a pumpkin or maybe her hair has turned into a pumpkin. Or maybe her hair has turned into a pumpkin, I guess. It's the riches to rags or rags to riches thing that came back, right? Sometime in the future, I expect her to pull out her glass slipper,

which, like we talked about last couple episodes, she lost it in that last Storm of Sword episode, and use it to save herself. Heading to breakfast, Sansa thinks about how quiet it is in the Eyrie. And it's quiet because there's no one training, there are no hounds barking, there are no horses, just the howling of the wind. And I think it's left unsaid, but the quietness also implies that there's no singing. Right.

As well. Breakfast isn't quiet, though. Sweet Robin complains that he wants eggs and bacon, but no porridge. Of course, to get food, the Eyrie depends on someone like Maya Stone to bring fresh food from the valley. But the Lord's Declarant are camped around the base of the castle, and they're keeping her from coming up with the food. It's basically a political siege. They're starving the rich out from their lifestyle to hear the other nobles message which is we don't want little finger which is also in fact everyone's

message forever since he was born and existed like his dad was like go away hoster toly was like go away brandon stark was like go away cersei was like go away yeah no one really wants him around yeah i get a job and he's just like no i'm gonna just bomb in my dead wife's house whatever god he's trash that's really what he's doing sansa tries to coax sweet robin into eating his porridge and she's like oh look at how tasty it is. I, too, am eating it. I've definitely tried that with my dog before. Does it work? No. Well, actually, with the dogs, yeah, kind of.

It's so sad. Poor Sansa. Right? Like, yay, my next husband is so great. I love marriage. Like, crib life. Sweet Robin says, no, I'm not going to eat the porridge because, firstin says no I'm not gonna eat the porridge because first of all I'm not hungry I'm incredibly tired because Merlion's singing kept me up all night

it sounds like there was no singing I would have heard it Merlion's dead yeah so is is he dead or what because it's almost like this could be a lie that they're telling him and they're still keeping him alive because the Lord's deck around obviously wanted to meet him and see you know the story and the whole nine yards so did they just tell Robert that he was dead? What happened there? I get the sense that Marillion

is either actually dead or Sansa at the very least also believes that Marillion is dead I mean or Sansa at the very least also believes that Marillion is dead. I mean you could have some blue bard thing happen to him but earlier in that chapter she is again thinking about how great it was that she had this wonderful night's sleep and that it's very very quiet in the Eyrie and I think that sort of description is meant to contrast with how like annoying and horrible it was last chapter where we had to listen to all of Merillion's very, very sad songs. And, I don't know, that silence and the description of that nice morning here feels just a lot lighter.

Yeah, they go back and forth for a while, kind of how kids do, right? Littlefinger comes in and he tries to order Sweet Robin to eat porridge. Maester Coleman agrees. And through this, we learn the Bannermen are coming up and nobody wants them to be there. And I get this, especially like I remember that anxious, awkward, dreadful teenager feeling, right? Of knowing and feeling something's wrong and you're going to get in trouble and something bad's going to happen. But it's kind of more than just that for sansa here yeah and she's also like i don't even know what they want like leave us alone what

did we even do wrong just send us eggs and bacon yeah but i mean i get it from their perspective little finger's done a lot i get it sansa doesn't exactly have the most stable savior right now. He's not very liked by anyone. Yeah, even though George says he's supposed to be. But I get the sense that, especially amongst the people in King's Landing, it's not that Littlefinger's liked. People just think he's harmless and trust him. Fly on the wall. Yeah.

We get a lot of information now about someone else who's coming up with the Lord's Declarant, and that's Lin Corbray, who's a very scary and dangerous man, especially on the battlefield. Which leads to this whole info dump on the Corbray brothers. The actual Lord is Lionel Corbray, and his brother is Lin Corbray. And Lionel Corbray supports Peter Baelish. Allegedly, Lin Corbray does not, but I mean, like, this is a reread. All right, you all know what happens in this chapter. You know

what's going to happen, and that Lynn Corbray, we're going to find out in like a minute, is in fact also supporting Peter Baelish, kind of. But Lionel is apparently very salty because when their father died during Robertbert's rebellion lionel got the castles and the lands and the money the title he got everything that like any of the first sons get but he didn't get the sword because lynn corbray was like super good on the battlefield which like i this has never happened before in a song of ice and fire i've never heard about this happening in westeros ever in my life there are actually so many parallels with the Corbrays here. There are like three different branches of Corbrays.

There's a lot of Corbray history. There's Leowyn Corbray. He was protector of the realm for a hot stint in Egg Three's reign. And his younger brother, Corwin. Corwin married Rhaena, Baelas' sister, and he commanded an army under Lord Rowan after Jane Arryn died to settle the matter of secession between Joffrey Arryn, the Chosen heir, a cousin, and Ser Arnold Arryn and Ser Isambard Arryn, who was the head of house. Corwin protects the heir and imprisons Isambard and Arryn, and he executes Ser Eldrick Arryn, Ser Arnold's son, but Ser Sir Arnold escapes to Runestone, the Royce seat. Kind of interesting. And of course, interesting enough, we also have in history Sir Gawain

Corbray, who was master at arms for Maegor on Dragonstone. And he had quite the opposite problem. Maegor did, right? His brother gave him the sword because he was bookish and would never use it. him the sword because he was bookish and would never use it. And he was, of course, known as deadly like Lin. Lin just like, he showed up and he killed a bunch of Dornish men and his dad high-fived him and was like, here's a sword. Good job.

And Lionel's like, Dad, love me. I tried to be perfect for you. And Lin's who killed Luwin, by the way, if you remember that. Yes. Yes. That is also in this info dump. Yes. So keep that in mind it's just if you ever want an example right uh cough cough the black fires of someone being gifted a sword and it like just being like i gave this to you because you seem to like this thing you seem to like

killing but someone else is gonna do the ruling like this is it everyone the sword is not the kingdom Liza uh got pretty pissed the Corbrays asked Liza to take Sweet Robin as a ward we learn and she thought the Corbrays didn't truly love her so she was pissed about it which like of course that was her weakness right when uh you get that whole speech from Cersei to Sansa, like, Sansa, do you want to be loved? Lysa wanted to be loved and love is a poison. Right? Right? And Littlefinger knew that.

He knew that about Lysa. I mean, in Lysa's defense, I wouldn't foster my kid with the Corbrays either. I'd foster him with the Royces. That'd be fine. We'll get to that. Yeah, the Royces seem cool. I would send him like elsewhere, elsewhere. Like, I don't know, Dorne.

Dorne seems okay back then. Yeah, they were gonna send them to live with Stannis, and I guess that could have been... Weird. I mean, it wouldn't have been any weirder than breastfeeding at eight, so... It's a step up. It's a step up. You go, Sweet Robin, with your bad self.

Speaking of Sweet Robin's to step up you go sweet robin with your bad self speaking of sweet robin's eating habits everyone's still trying to get sweet robin to eat his goddamn porridge because this is my podcast also and we're gonna do it everyone i want to quote this line and i want you all to imagine this scene right yes imagine Yes, imagine it as in the veil, in the eerie, but also imagine it as a sunny, suburban family morning. And the minivan outside is like, it's getting started, and everyone is on the verge of being late, school, work, everyone's super stressed out, okay? And then sweet Robin is over here just like,

I do not let my porridge fly! This time, Robert flung the bowl porridge and honey and all peter balish ducked aside nimbly but maester coleman was not so quick the wooden bowl caught him square in the chest and its contents exploded upward over his face and shoulders he yelped in a most un-maester-like fashion just imagine all of this in like slow-mo to just see the the porridge flying across oh my gosh across what a mess but like he goes into one of his shaking spells really badly obviously that's like what he does it is sad and it lasts like a few paragraphs of the story everyone's trying to help uh make it pass for sweet rabbit and we realize how weak he is how bad his state has really become he sleeps for 12

hours a day the masers struggle to figure out how much medicine they can give him without you know like killing him saying yeah me since 10 by the way yeah, and the fact that there's so much space allotted to this shows you how relevant this is probably going to be to the story and Speed Robin's life. It's just a wee bab, but kind of, not really. Yeah, he's still small. He's wee. He wee. He's wee. He wee.

Sweets are decided upon to deliver the drugs to Sweet Robin, so they give him sweets, the pinch of sweet sleep in them to mask the taste. When everyone's gone, finally, Elaine offers her father some porridge, but her father hates porridge and asks for a kiss to break his fast. Gross. Glossing over it like, wow, get a fucking job. Give him a fucking Hershey kiss. Don't touch that man. Don't touch that man!

Don't talk to strangers. Stranger danger. Little finger is like, that was so beautiful. And then gives her some other duties that she needs to do to prepare for all of their guests and that includes mulling the wine and ensuring that they offer bread and cheese also sansa you're the one who's going to greet our guests yeah because no work from little finger there's that i think he wanted to like yeah he wants her to learn shit he wants her to learn

shit but i think there's a slight power thing going on here like you can't just come out and be the one to greet them right away you know you gotta send like someone else i guess to answer the door show well look at tyrian with dorn not very powerful but yeah yeah peter then tells her that she has to change her clothes because she looks like a tully uh it would be insulting also for his bastard daughter to just like come out and dress up wearing, you know, Liza Arryn's clothes who just died and don't wear the Arryn colors either. I know it may seem monotonous, but Sansa is really expressing her stewardship skill through this montage, right? It's kind of like how Arya's living her kind of psycho citadel lifestyle where she's learning scholarly things like healing and fighting, transcending your body,

culture, learning languages, courtly intrigues of her own environment, and Sansa is learning a good amount more of that, yes, as well, but she's also putting to use the things she already knew and learned in King's Landing, right? She's being given a chance to fly, so to speak, believe it or not, you know, like Little Bird. Exactly. Taking those first flaps. Oh, that was not the best metaphor. But first she's starting and practicing to fly in the nest before she really goes out there. Sanso, though, she's still scared, right?

She's still a little afraid to fly. She shares her concerns with Littlefinger that you know, Bronzion Royce, I've definitely met him multiple times before. He's come to our house and Littlefinger says, nah,

he's not gonna remember you. That's unlikely. You were just like some girl who was there he had other things to concern himself with oh okay you're just like some girl who's there also unlikely he says there's no way bronzio would know who you were sansa don't worry about it never never it's not like he's like portrayed as super smart or anything never Littlefinger says to tell Maddie to ready the solar which is where he'll receive his guests and they would be probably pretty pissed if you receive them from the high hall because you know that's pretty close to the seat of the Arans. It's disrespectful like we talked about. And Littlefinger then gives Sansa this little mini tutoring session where she tries to understand how he's not on the same par as the other lords in terms of pedigree.

She's sitting there thinking, wow, he's the lord of Harrenhal and he now basically has the veil, like they should be, you knowing him what is happening and he says well i'm well loved in gold town and i have a few lordly friends which of course we will meet them soon as you have said eliana they don't have brand recognition i don't know some of these names who are you well it's true though there are a couple of these people that like the only record of them in history is the battle of the seven stars they fought on a side and other than that there's no known like templeton and a couple other places will no known people in these houses like no names so george has some writing to do for the

winds of winter oh god he's gonna flush that out you know absolutely these veil chapters are gonna have lots of good info dumps in them, even in the Wind's Winter. So Sansa then says, but like, what if you just went back to Harrenhal and were lord of Harrenhal? Like, that seems like a perfectly decent place to be lord of as well and important. Right, like it's

only huge. It's a mansion. It's only the whole Riverlands. It's only the biggest fucking castle there is. Yeah, instead of dealing with the biggest fucking castle there is yeah instead of dealing with all of this bullshit right like it just seems like a lot of work she says yeah exactly uh turns out though little fingers like i have no intentions of ever going to that castle first of all he says it's a shitty castle for all of these other reasons and then he's like also it's cursed oh oh it's really shitty but also it could be cursed and sansa says curses are only in songs and stories

which i think is actually interesting that she's the one who says that like excuse me little finger you believe life is not a song sweetlingling. Yeah, she's like, weren't you the one who told me this? You weak bitch. So we see that she's growing and understanding from her own experiences, obviously, that songs and stories, that's not what life is. And that's especially in the context of

her thinking, how great is this silence? How great is this quietness, everyone? Yeah, ever since she's come to the eerie like you know a god's will without gods as empty as me like she's just very stoic now lady stark you may survive us yet go to fucking harrenhal dog get a job at your own keep yeah little finger jokes about giving the castle to cersei or the Freys and Sansa's like, no, no, no, not to Cersei. She's evil. And what if she finds out where I am? So Littlefinger, of course, says, then I might have

to remove her from the game sooner than I'd planned. Provided she does not remove herself first. Peter teased her with a little smile. Ew. In the Game of Thrones, even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own. Sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them. Mark that well, Elaine. It is a lesson Cersei Lannister still has yet to learn.

Now, don't you have some duties to perform? Oh lord, she coming, y'all! Elaine Stone is coming! The best part of that is, like, sometimes they refuse to make the moves you've planned for them. Stares into camera. Absolutely. And, like, a lot of this is, of course, George having that background in playing chess. Not that, you know,

chess pieces move really on their own because this is not wizard chess but it could be there is magic anyway sorry one of the best parts of the series um and of course this is likely one of the lines that provides a lot of inspiration for that title of that pawn to play your thread yes absolutely which are on westeros if you haven't checked them out there's a lot of good stuff there santa goes off to get everything ready and we follow her learning to run a household and prepare to receive guests and the thought process behind why she does some of the things she does for example when she's telling the cook to bake some bread she says to also make enough bread for 20

in case there are more men than we expected because of that sacred bread and salt guess right thing and she thinks about you know the phrase did break all that when they killed my mother and my brother but bronze yawn royce would never he wouldn't yeah this is actually incredibly smart i don't feel like we see enough praise for this because this is like a really smart, like, good job, Sansa. We need a round of applause here. She did something Kat did with the phrase. And Lord Royce isn't stupid enough to do what the phrase did, right?

Like, not in this political climate. In this economy, no. With what everyone thought of the phrase, no way. She's protecting her and Littlefinger and Sweet Robin. She's keeping them safe by doing this yeah but it also now that i think about it is some good character work and setup that inkling that bronze john royce takes guests right seriously for what's to come in the solar sansa thinks carefully on the arrangement of the chairs and the table and she's thinking

ahead also to the needs of this meeting if the conversation ends up going too long they're going to need candles and so she has some she has some scented beeswax candles from lord waxley yeah it's brought up and i mean yeah i mean like it's not any worse than i guess lord red wine having wow wine but still like waxley i mean there are a lot of characters let's give george a break but also way to ruin a clever little passage with a nudge, a wink, and a chortle, George. Like, what is that? It's no plum. But also, I guess it's your book. Good for you. Yeah.

Yeah, like how we're like, this is our podcast. We can do whatever we want. George is definitely like, this is my book. I can put in giants and... Ice spiders and mirage swamps. I was talking about giants the the football team giants and the dallas cowboys that's the other one whatever they are whatever these are but yeah coming back to this passage a lot of this shows some great planning on sansa's part because we see how women and these sorts of meetings are such an important role in creating

those alliances we see it a lot in fire and blood and women playing a role in that like creating those conditions where important things can be discussed or even partaking in those discussions themselves and for sansa to be thinking about that protection of guests right as you said chloe or you know who sits next to whom or even how the room is set up. Like, this is important even nowadays in meetings. You can't, like, put people who hate each other next to each other. And creating that seamless environment for them to keep talking, even if it goes on late, ensures that the Lord's declarant can devote more of their time to discussing and make sure that there aren't going to be any gaps in the conversation that way everyone can try and talk and get a solution faster more seamlessly

whereas like a bad experience uh not having candles for example could be taken for bad hospitality or rudeness could reflect poorly on her and on little finger and just like disintegrate the entire deal yeah they're really trying to come in peace on this and really make themselves look like, hey, we didn't do anything wrong. We are the good party. Yeah, we tried, I guess. So Sansa makes sure that everything is going well, that the whole everything is going to be great, and she goes to get her dress on. There was a gown of purple silk that gave her pause, and another of dark blue velvet slashed with silver that would have woken all the color in her eyes, but in the end, she remembered that Elaine was, after all, a bastard,

and must not presume to dress above her station. The dress she picked was lambswool, dark brown and simply cut, with leaves and vines embroidered around the bodice, sleeves, and hem in golden thread. It was modest and becoming, though scarce richer than something a serving girl might wear. Peter had given her all of Lady Liza's jewels as well, and she tried on several necklaces, but they all seemed ostentatious. In the end, she chose a simple velvet ribbon and autumn gold. When Gretchel fetched her Liza's silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Elaine's massive dark brown hair. Lord Rice will never know me, she thought.

Why, I hardly know myself. Who is she? Who is she? We talked about clothes a little bit earlier. We're going to do it again. Yes. We do that here. That's what we do.

We do that. We do that. Sansa goes through quite a few clothes options here because, I mean, who doesn't do that? You know, go through like a million things. We do that. Yeah, everyone does that. This is like a normal thing. Dark blue velvet, of of course and silver silk

as she says would make her prettier which i don't know there's that whole spiel from cersei on like yeah you gotta use your women's weapons sansa but of course she doesn't want to stand out too much she's not the one who's part of the conversation here plus as discussed earlier with little finger it is too close to the erin colors which are definitely off limits that would be very rude and the gown of purple silk is gorgeous which kind of actually reminds me of denarius's dress in that first chapter where she's gifted that for her wedding i'm not saying it's the same dress i'm just saying it reminds me yeah and purple could be too royal though i don't know that we're necessarily given indication in a song of ice and fire that purple is a fabric that's associated with royalty like it's obviously associated with

royalty because like purple eyes amongst the valyrian blood yeah but it's also when it comes to sigils and stuff like that it's associated associated with houses like, I don't know, House Plum. Maybe House Redmine. House to House Dane, of course. Yes. But regardless, purple is still like an expensive dye. And silk and velvet are expensive fabrics. And it's just above her station.

Like they're trying to evoke humility. As Littlefinger pointed out, they don't have the power right now to go up against the Lord's declarant. We can't pull the same sort of power outfits that Liza did with Sansa. It would be very gaudy on us. So Sansa decides, yeah, I'm gonna wear this brown dress that is described

as modest in becoming, though scarce, richer than something a serving girl might wear, which is definitely... That's definitely humility. And that same thing, I think think goes for the jewelry she chooses or she chooses not to do any jewelry she picks a ribbon instead and i think we're kind of also meant to see this description of liza's jewelry being too ostentatious as a knock on liiza's taste because that idea that it's too ostentatious means that Liza might have had tacky taste because as we all know she struggled to hold back

she struggled she's the she's the person who mixes too many elements right yeah she's a bit much she is my opinion readings or stories that talk about taste modesty and richness when it comes to jewelry i would recommend the chapters of astrid in the crazy rich asians trilogy because i can make these recommendations here interesting interesting they're a fun read i think that the movie is better than the books when it comes to the main character who actually has a personality in the movie and is nothing like she's has no personality in the books but okay okay so the lord declarants alive sansa has studied their sigils because she doesn't know everyone's face so she isn't sure if she'll know them so just like in history in jane aaron's secession jane the maid i wonder if we can find a pattern to who supports ro versus Harry back in that

succession. I think we're going to see something a bit like this, right? Like the dance of the falcons. We have Lord Redfort. He has a red for Don is short of stature with a neat gray beard and mild eyes. He supported Joffrey Arryn, the chosen chosen heir so i'm curious if he'll support robert then you have lady anya waynewood and she is interestingly the only woman amongst the lord's declarant and she wears deep green mantle with the broken wheel which uh a broken wheel that's like the dragon eating its tail yeah i just think it's hilarious now i i'm just i think it's a great one she was team uh harry of course as we know so i'm uh there's nothing in history that suggests otherwise of what house waynewood did sadly lord belmore who has six bell purple he's pot-bellied lots of chins and a gray beard. He was not in that secession crisis from after the

dance, so he is out of this one. Simon Templeton has a black and pointy beard like Peter, and his nose is like a beak. He has icy blue eyes, and his sigil is nine black stars on gold salt hair. He wasn't in that secession crisis either, and I like to make the reference, obviously, between the Battle of the Seven Stars. So this is just kind of a fun reach or a fun veil, haha, I guess. And then we have young Lord Gilwood Hunter, which his sigil is five silver arrows fanned, and he became Lord super suddenly. His dad died abruptly after he had ruled for 60 years. The rumors were that he hastened his inheritance. He supported Joffrey Arryn in the secession for Jane the Maid.

So I guess we could probably expect him to support Robert, especially per Littlefinger and what he owes Littlefinger. Sansa, though, I think this is interesting about Gilwood Hunter who we learn later on probably didn't kill his father that was his brother clear his name justice for Gilwood Hunter justice for Gilwood free Gilwood I like how they call him young Gilwood Hunter

now that I think about it because he's not that young he's like 50 or 40 but anyway Sansa notices that Lord hunter's cheeks are very red which apparently means that he likes drinking so sansa makes sure to fill his cup often but i do like this detail because it shows that sansa is learning to be perceptive and understands you know what kind of person someone is or what they want just by looking at them and how to accommodate those needs because i mean right now that makes her a good hostess but later on i think it's going to

serve her quite well when it comes to negotiating like you see with peter and nestor oh yeah she's definitely absorbing she's a sponge in these chapters yeah in walks lynn Corbray, shoulder-length brown hair, three ravens clutching a heart in their talons. Anime. He does feel that way. Yeah, he's, uh, what's, what is he? What's the, the archetype? Eliana, you know these things. Oh, I don't know if they have names for those. Well, I mean, like, Sundari and... Those are, they, we only have names for cute girls.

Oh, we don't have actual boys thank god for japan um i'll have to think about whatever we call that good but he's like he's like the vegeta you know but actually vegeta had a redemption arc so he's not quite like that never mind yeah no redemption for lynn finally the lord royces come down, Nestor and Bronzion. You know Nestor, but here's Bronzion. He's enormous, he's solemn, and Sansa thinks back on all the time he spent at Winterfell, and she briefly thinks about revealing herself to him, but she remembers Bronzion didn't fight for Robb. Of course, we the reader know that lives have kept them well out of the war. Sansa might not realize or know all of that.

He never fought for Rob. Why should he fight for me? The war is finished and Winterfell is fallen. But there is a hint that Bronze Yon Royce might recognize her because he asks, do I know you?

When she's wearing his cup though that's laid aside very quickly for now by nestor royce i love that uh that line why should he fight for me because he's gonna duh yeah because valiant ned's precious little girl duh and like you said liza was the one keeping them out of the war because little finger told her to stay out of the war otherwise the veal lords were raring to support the north they want to support the north they wanted to support ned dude ned grew up there that's their boy yeah we have um that memory of sansa thinks about the time that bronzezion Royce was at Winterfell and how he was wrestling with Ned and Sir Roderick.

Yeah. They're bros. It's kind of obvious that Bronzion is going to figure it out. He's gotta. That's his bro's little girl, dude. And then, while we're at it, talking about that, everyone starts talking about, like,

oh, Peter's bastard daughter. Are you a virgin? I mean, they didn't say it like that, but that's basically what was happening. That was the conversation. You know, being a girl is really fucked up. Yeah, Lady Wainwood agrees. She's like, what the hell is going on here, everyone? And asks them, is this what passes for courtesy at Hart's home?

and ask them, is this what passes for courtesy at Hart's home? Anya Wainwood's hair was graying and she had crow's feet around her eyes and loose skin beneath her chin, but there was no mistaking the air of nobility about her. The girl is young and gently bred and has suffered enough horrors. Mind your tongue, sir. Grandmama, I love you. Please be my grandmama. To be said like anastasia in the movie anastasia by fx i was just thinking about that movie again recently i was like she like when

she like gets the music back she's like oh grandmama i always think about that once upon Once Upon a December is a song that I could definitely see in Sansa's storyline. But just the way that Anya Wainwood phrases all these, and you know, we know, we know that there's a later betrothal to Harry in the next chapter. But like here, in this moment, it just feels like Anya knows, right? I kind of was thinking about it she has to know like this whole gently bred suffered enough horrors i don't know and the only other thing i could imagine she has to know from those like if she didn't know what she struck a deal with little finger about harry like being an heir or something since he has no heir? I don't know. She has to know. It's there. She knows. They know.

At least two out of what? Six? Seven? No. Arguably some of the strongest, like, you know, important lords in their realm, too. Yeah. Arguably. But anyway, whatever. Hors d'oeuvres are done and so

they head to the solar to go meet with peter and everyone goes in and they take a seat at the table except lynn corbray who's like i'm alt i'm gonna go stand next to the hearth instead then he smiles at lother brun and sans is like i guess lyn Corbri's hands him for an older dude, but there's something really off and weird about his smile. And so the meeting begins, where Peter throws everyone off by agreeing that yes, we need to protect Robert Arryn. He's all, we're done, right? And they're like, nah, we're here to take you down, little finger, and they try to convince him to leave. They're like, you need to go take care of your riverlands. That's where you live, and those are your people, and it's a shit show there. And he's all, I'm gonna stay here with my stepson. Yeah, Bronzio and Royce is like, you really don't

need to. Sweet Robin can stay here, and we're gonna just raise him at Runestone. It's gonna be great. He's gonna learn all the things that a young lord ought to learn such as the art of war or matters of the spirit or the magic of friendship he literally says the art of war matters of the spirit um little finger also says but sweet robin has all of these things here with his companions with my daughter elaine they get along great though maybe we would like to have an older boy around that he can look up to. Wow, Lady Anya Wainwood. What about your nephew, Harry Harding? Yon Royce is like, sure, they can be friends when he comes to Runestone.

It's a pretty good comeback on jan royce's part it really was because he doesn't seem very quick otherwise because he's just like this big solemn man yeah this is a great this entire passage though we're just gonna say is in this entire chapter with all of the dialogue it's a great way that george showcases his screenwriting right his writing for television skills because a lot of the information comes out by a dialogue yeah he's a great dialogue writer so bronze yone says give us lord robert no one gets hurt you can leave unharmed and that like turns the conversation little fingers like is that a threat and then lady wayne was like no no okay You have to understand, Lysa Arryn wasn't an Arryn.

She was Lord Arryn's wife. And you are a rando who just happened to marry her. You don't go here. And then Lord Hunter says, yes, she was already kind of out of line disposing of us. But you, you really have no right to do that. Nestor, of course, uses this moment come to peter's aid to white knight him because of course that gift of the gates of the moon is just hanging out back there bronzione says robert aaron is john's son and that he belongs to the veil and of course these men think they are of the veil templeton this time raises the matter of armies and again Peter's like oh

is that a fucking threat? So Lin Corbray's all like I'll show you a threat and he takes out his sword a Valyrian steel sword Lady Forlorn and he's like yeah let's fight for Robert Arryn. And I'm just like whoa what just happened just happened? This party went up to 100 and Peter's like, I am unarmed! And Lin Corby says, then you should get a sword from Lothar Brun or, then he says,

or draw that dagger. I'm like, oh, yes. That dagger. This dagger that Peter Baelish has. Daggers in Peter Baelish has. Daggers in the dark, more like. Yes. I want to point out, though, that it feels noteworthy, at least on one level for literary purposes,

that, you know, Lin Corbray's threat, it's that third one, after Peter asks twice already, is that a threat? Because it establishes a pattern for readers to recognize what kind of meaning this is but also i wonder if peter what gave lynn instructions to like wait for me and is like wait for them to threaten me twice or ask if something is a threat twice before reacting because then again it makes it a pattern and it shows that escalation yeah peter doesn't want to implicate lynn here he wants the other lords to implicate themselves first and for lynn to sweeten the deal at the very end yeah he's the cherry on top that hot-headed lynn corbray was

ready to rumble you know definitely lother brun is ready to reach for his sword when Bronzion is like whoa whoa whoa are you a corbray or a fray we are guests here and with that the guest right is broken which gives Littlefinger the moral high ground something I never want to say ever again in a sentence well it's quote unquote moral high ground right Ugh, I just feel dirty saying it. Like, I need to take a shower, you know? Yeah. Littlefinger was moral. Now, the Lord's Declarant, by way of Lynn Corbray, have broken the peace and they have to make amends. So he says, fuck your declaration.

Give me a year. I'll make everything right. And none of us want war. If in a year everything still sucks, sucks well then you guys can have the veil yeah well they all just go yeah right yeah it's not that easy absolutely not so yeah peter gets his year and bronte on royce is like we're not all fooled which yeah i mean yeah though little finger has played them all in this and they

quite a few of them know it he's come to this like it is a game right and he made sure to catch them all off guard from the moment that they came into the room and he's like yes I agree with this declaration because they all expected to have that advantageous position and they thought that they had made that first move in the declaration but it was

Peter's counter that wiped the board clean for him to just make all of his moves. A feast for falcons! There is a feast after. Yes, a feast for falcons! Not all the guests stayed. At this feast, though, Bronze Yon Royce

left, and so did Lynn Corbray, to keep the charade up. The food's humble, and Sansa later thinks Littlefinger had to have bewitched the lords. She heads to his solar to make him deconstruct what just happened. He is winning wars with a quill when she walks in. He's writing at his desk, and she asks him what is going to happen in a year, and so he thinks. Redford and Wainwood are old. They could die. Gilwood will be murdered by his brothers, probably by Harlan, who he reveals really killed the father of House Hunter. In for a penny, out for a stag, he says, which kind of makes me think that's a little mini

Renly, Stannis, Robert-y jab there. Yeah, I could see it. I could see it. I don't think I really understand the saying. I'm going to be honest. In for a penny, out for a stag. You made more money off of what it, like, you paid a penny for it, and now you're getting a stag for it. Got it. Okay. Okay.

It's like the stock market. Yes. Investing. I understand now. He's investing in Gillwoodillwood and harlan got it and i guess he also plans on what buying belmore befriending templeton what's he gonna do just be like hey templeton wanna go out to the bar grab some drinks yeah i'll buy you a glass of arbor gold yeah he's gonna do it what he did to Nestor Royce, whatever. He thinks that Bronzion Royce, though, isn't very much a threat on his own.

I feel like that's a huge mistake, right? Like, Bronzion isn't a threat on his own? He's a pretty powerful vassal in the Eyrie, and with the knowledge he knows and the closeness he has to the North, I mean, these are people that could turn on little finger at any moment yeah agreed but of course the hook line and sinker of why this chapter is such a great phenomenal chapter is this last passage the candlelight was dancing in his eyes sir lynn will remain my implacable enemy he will speak of me with scorn and loathing to every man he meets, and lend me his sword to every secret plot to bring me down.

That was when her suspicion turned to certainty. And how shall you reward him for this service? Littlefinger laughed aloud. With golden boys and promises, of course. Sir Lin is a man of simple tastes, my sweetling. All he likes is gold and boys and killing. Part of why his downfall is inevitable is this pride he takes here in Sansa learning and matching her wits to his. He's absorbed in himself to the point that he doesn't really realize the student is going to become the master in the end, and she's going to take his weaknesses and exploit them. He thinks he's being really clever, and Sansa is this pliant girl to tell him so, the one Kat would never have been,

and the one that Liza was. But Sansa isn't quite so doughy as Liza in that, and it's even worse for Littlefinger because she's learning. Yeah, she's learning because Littlefinger is ensuring that she's in the room and is learning all of his strategies and his moves and how he plays. He's the one who's underestimating his pieces here, not just

Circe. Littlefinger's not a better father than Ned was to Sansa. He's not her dad first of all, and he's being extremely predatory and but ned was afraid to have sansa in the room for like major decisions and discussions like when it came to politics he didn't want her in the courtroom at king's landing when people were making appeals and even though it was like good because sansa herself would have to make an appeal at court a few chapters later but here you know sansa's getting the chance to learn by

doing and she's seeing how the game is played because she gets to be in the room yeah she is in the room where it happens and it's a good sense of world building this chapter right in the last few chapters it makes the veil it's an expansive place it feels like we're diving into a whole new pocket kingdom right a smaller scale king's landing for sansa to really flaunt her stuff in practice yes this is one of the reasons of course that we've discussed before like the veil chapters are something i'm really looking forward to in wins they're gonna be extremely special in the Winds of Winter. I'm excited because just like from

all the setup and like we said last episode, the powder keg that is the veil, they're all stationed ready to blow both sides. So... And Elaine 2 just gets better. It does. It ends on a killer passage

as well. Both of these chapters really have. Joining us for Elaine 2, discussing these great passages next week, is a very special guest. Yeah, Ashea from History of Westeros. I'm really excited to have her on. That is going to be fun. It will. As always, you guys, you can follow us on social media at girls gone canon on twitter you can send us an email if you want at girls gone canon at gmail.com yes and maybe you just

want to listen to us so be sure to subscribe you can find us on itunes on google play on podbean where you could apparently also comment Stitcher, Acast, and Spotify. And hey, if you have a chance, check out our Patreon. Our tiers start at $1, and $5 and up members get a cool episode every month. This

month's episode that is special to patrons is going to be about Sansa Stark in The Winds of Winter, in her Elaine 1 sample chapter, and just to be about Sansa Stark in The Winds of Winter in her Elaine 1 sample chapter and just the future of Sansa in the books. Anyway, thank you everyone very much. Yeah, thanks for listening, you guys.

This has been a blast. Thanks for joining us for our 34th episode. Wow. Here's to 35. I know! We're kind of just chugging along. Wow, we're going to change, like, we're going to move up a census group in a second. I was just telling Eliana this, but our 50th episode is actually on the week that we started, if we don't skip any from here on out. So we aren't allowed to never do a podcast again until May.

What have we done? What have we done? But yeah, our anniversary, you guys, guys our 50th is the week that we started the first week of may so golden soon so we come with the golden company a golden company the the bitter steel the bitter steel i that is a great it's a great motto it really is it's a i want more layers like i can't wait for part two of fire and blood. Oh, I can't believe I said that.

Okay. You guys, this has been fun. Thank you for listening. I, as always, I'm Chloe. You can find me on the internet as www.liesandarborgold.com or at lies and

Arbor on Twitter and Tumblr. And I'm Eliana. You can find me as GlassTableGirl on Reddit or as Arithmetric over on Twitter. Have a great rest of your day, guys. Goodbye.