Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 41 - Reek ADWD II/III

Episode Date: March 1, 2019

Game of Thrones Board Game of Thrones Tournament Survey ---->   https://goo.gl/forms/NsxeiaGoi1v2lt6p2 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 41, Reek in a Dance with Dragons, Episode 2 and 3. I'm Chloe, one of your hosts. You may know me from the internet as Liza and Arbor on Twitter and Tumblr, or from my blog at lizanarborgold.com. And I'm Eliana, another one of your hosts, and you might know me as GlassTableGirl from the Song of Ice and Fire subreddit, the Mason Rundley podcast, or as Arithmetric over on Twitter. As a quick warning, we are, of course, doing the Reek chapters, so we are going to be discussing, once again, issues of abuse in all sorts of forms, as well as sexual assault. in all sorts of forms, as well as sexual assault. Yes. Turn back now, ye who enter. That's how I feel.

These chapters are really rough. They are. I think they're a little, I think, easier to get into after having just gone in after that first chapter. Dipping your foot in. Yeah. But it's so, it's so dark. We'll talk about this talk about this later but like it just gets very macabre yeah need to lift me up after this one absolutely i'm like some some vitamin c some sun i don't know something we might have an early spring this year according to the groundhog who you know is a licensed meteorologist oh my god is he a uh what's the house oh i don't remember

blount is it oh god he's a blount oh no anyways oh no we did get an email from one of our friends amin over from a podcast of ice and fire check them out if you have not. He has emailed us asking if we knew anyone that might be playing the Game of Thrones board Game of Thrones. He has a survey to gather statistics from such players in support of a tournament to be run by the game designers, and he just wants to find out if there's player interest. I know a lot of people do love the game. We play it at Ice and Fire Con every single year year i personally have not played it you know me i'm a crusader kings junkie so my time is very limited these days uh but if you're interested hey there's a link in our episode description please click it check it out we'll tweet it from

our twitter account as well do the little survey if you'd be interested in something like that an official tournament run by the game designers, that'd be awesome. So this is super exciting. Eliana, you have tons of experience with this game. I have a non-zero amount of experience. I've played it a few times. I'm not an expert or anything. Having just not played a lot of those games

that require the conquering of various things. But I tend to describe it as it's like risk but game of thrones but i don't actually know if that's true or not but it's it's a fun game it's it's one of those games also that is a large time commitment but i think say time consuming yeah but i think that's fun it's it's a great way to spend an afternoon with your friends. And it has interesting art. I found out recently that apparently it might have come out before the show. I didn't know that. And that explains everything to me as to why the cards use the artwork from the Fantasy Flight games.

So that's pretty fun too. Yeah, I'm not a huge board game person. There's a bunch of people that play them at Ice and FireCon and it's not I just don't play them. I just never do. So we should totally get down on that Ice and FireCon at night or something. When we're

in the middle of the night looking for something to do. They have a whole tournament there too, right? At Ice and FireCon. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't ever think about playing them. I live in a two-person household. A lot of games aren't as fun with only two people. Not as far as board games.

I enjoy board games. They're not my strength. They're not my strength. They're not. And also, I'm probably even worse at them when drunk, which is what I tried to be that entire weekend. Absolutely. Yeah, right.

I'm bad at games. I'm, like, very bad at games, but I still play them. I love them. Yeah. It's just I'm very bad at them. I do play a mean Rainbow Road in Mario Kart. I learned that this week that I am unstoppable on Rainbow Road. It's my only superpower, Eliana.

Wow. No, that I am unstoppable on Rainbow Road. It's my only superpower, Eliana. Wow. No, that's great. I picked up Dark Souls again, and I'm not very good at it. I think most people aren't good at it, but... I've heard it's very hard. I have heard. Not just, like, you're not alone. Yeah, it's fun.

I think that what it turns out I am good at, probably because I'm so invested in the Saga Vice and Fire fandom, is figuring out the lore. Oh. I don't know how much lore there actually is, but... It's that history nerd inside of you in there, trying to find out about all these different cultures and dark souls. Well, there's that and piecing together the story of what is happening in the game,

even though that doesn't actually matter because you just go around and you kill things, which is... Oh, that's the true matter. That is the true story for all of us in life, maybe. No, never mind. But that is the story maybe for Ramsey moving into... Speaking of sneaking around and killing things.

Our chapters. Yeah, lightning round. Last episode, if you guys did not listen, I don't know what you're doing here. Turn around, go back to the last one. It's important. It had an amazing guest. We had Bookshelf Stud, Michael, on. We discussed Reek 1.

So we did miss some chapters now as we enter Reek 2. And we are going to talk about those chapters real quick for you yep brand two the party arrives at the three-eyed crow's cave and they're ambushed by whites jojen has grown weak and the party is famished cold hands and brand both defend the group and cold hands leaves them to meet the last greenseer. Or is it? Tyrion IV. Ignored by Griff and done watching young Griff's lessons, and L'amour,

Tyrion plays a game of Savas and wins an important prize, information. Lame prize. No, it's a good prize. Hey, whoa, whoa, knowledge is power. Can't eat it. Davos II. Davos arrives, whoa, knowledge is power. Can't eat it. Davos 2.

Davos arrives at the merman's court, noting that they are not raising banners in support of the king. Capital K. Daenerys 3. Zorro Zoandoxos flatters Daenerys while getting his message through. Marry him, flee, or

there will be war. Marry, fuck, kill. John 4. Kill, kill, kill. John 4. John counsels Stannis on the north while Stannis tries to make him a lord. Tyrion 5.

Tyrion reveals himself on the Shined Maid but is swept into the sea at the stone men's attack. Davos III. Lord Manderly calls for the traitor's head. Reek II. Reek is allowed to live as Theon for a day as he rides toward Moat Catelyn under a peace banner. The Ironborn surrender to Ramsay and Theon, and Theon meets Lord Bolton and

Ramsay's new wife, Arya Stark. Week two begins with him being allowed to dress like a lord for a day. He is given warm clothing, soft lambswool fur cloak, and then Daemon dances with me, threatens him, as

Theon saddles the horse. Something I noticed lately is that like 90% of the daemons in the plot, right? Like daemon, daemon, daemon, daemon. They're all written as like villainous characters or sexy badass assholes or some shit, right? Like daemon Targaryen, daemon Blackfyre, daemon Dance with me. And our buddy Jeff Brennan B Fish over at Nauticast pointed out that Damon from Fever Dream another piece by George also fits this trope so who hurt George named Damon like who was it yeah who did this is it supposed to be like the word

demon I don't know yeah uh yeah I'm guessing that's another thing I liked the daemons in the trailer dropped today for the His Dark Materials series yes yes I did hear that and did you notice that Lin-Manuel Miranda I didn't know he was casted in it I thought that was interesting

I was like oh okay he's there for like a whole series like good for him I didn't realize he was actually committing to branching out into television acting. So, yeah. Good for him. Sorry. Got sidetracked, everyone. Yeah.

Back to Damon dancing me. So, Reek is afraid this is another jape on the Bastards, Boys, and Ramsey that they're going to chase after reek once more for sport the stot they had given him was a wretched thing knock-kneed and half-starved he could never hope to out-distance the fine horses lord ramsey and his hunters would be riding and ramsey loved nothing more than to set his girls baying on the trail of some fresh prey oh okay yeah he's thinking about running but he knows there's nowhere for him to go. He's outnumbered. He has a pretty shitty horse.

If he tried to go, it would be stupid. He would just be punished horribly and then meant to live through it, which is awful. So he settles. He knows he has to bring Ramsey, Moat, Caitlin. To go forward, you must go back, Reek. That is a lot of his storyline though it actually is it really is it's him getting a do-over of well not really but he gets nothing something or it is something yeah i wish i wish he could have just a do-over just say let's just rewind

try it all over again pal he remembers the last time that he visited Motekalen, but then he stops himself because those memories belong to Theon, not to Reek. His name was Reek. He had to remember that. Reek, Reek, it rhymes with leak. When that other man had come this way, an army had followed close behind him. A great host of the North riding to war beneath the gray and white banners of House Stark. Reek rode alone, clutching a peace banner on a pinewood staff. When that other man had come this way, he had been mounted on a courser, swift, spirited. Reek

rode a broken-down stot, all skin and bones and ribs, and he rode her slowly, for fear he might fall off. The other man had been a good rider but reek was uneasy on horseback it had been so long he was no rider he was not even a man he was lord ramsey's creature lower than a dog a worm in human skin and so yeah it's very sad oh Oh. This is like the man is broken, the broken man. He is that. This is him, completely broken. This is the bottom man. We're really seeing Theon struggle between the duality of those identities

throughout this chapter, those peaks of Theon coming through on the Reek side. And we see him wrestle with all of these ghosts as he passes through the different northern lands. He's remembering the last time he was here, the men he rode with, but now he's an animal in this world that is no longer his to be in. He's been reduced to Haldan and starts

wearing a collar like it by the end and that's because Ramsay tells Reek that he can be his dog if he completes this task which um i don't know that doesn't sound very fun we find out then that theon has actually been losing body parts like his fingers he's down three fingers so he'd obviously rather be a dog uh than continue to lose fingers i mean yeah i i mean when i was a child i wanted to be a dog when i grew up it's not great i think in this context you know i wanted the good parts of it and not the what are the good parts of being a dog, Eliana? Please tell me. Okay. You get treats, and you get to hang out with your master.

You get treats. And then you get to play and run, and then you get petted, you get belly rubs, and then you're adorable and fuzzy. Okay. You don't have to live that long, either. I mean, I was four years old. I only had another, theoretically, what, ten more years.

Then perhaps that would have been better. I love four-year-old Eliana. She's my real G right there. She gets me. Four-year-old Eliana wanted to be a dog, also a horse, so. Also a horse. Still kind of wants to be a horse. Yeah. Reek knew the cost. Seven,

he thought. Seven fingers fingers a man can make do with seven fingers seven is a sacred number he remembered how much it had hurt when lord ramsey had commanded skinner to lay his ring finger bear so at the same time as we go through these reek chapters in a dance of dragons in adowada so we call it it that's right that is what we call it now a dauda that's what we call it uh as we pass through a dauda it just feels good to say it's better than this chapter this chapter hurts as we pass through a dance with dragons we're also reading davos's chapters and this little passage kind of has some interesting parallels to a lot of what we read in the davos chapters because davos almost seems to regard stannis as his god, as his religion,

as we've kind of been reading since the Clash of Kings. And of course, we also are reminded of the way that Lady Donella Hornwood was forced to eat her fingers in the tower, and no one heard her real pleas, which is where Reek is now put. He's kind of our prince in the tower with that, right? Eating his own fingers off. Yes, exactly. output he's kind of our prince in the tower with that right eating his own fingers off yes exactly um it makes you wonder so they frame it as danella having starved and eating her fingers but you kind

of wonder well is it both that when reek gets his flake he wants to put it in his mouth to ease exactly so it's like so people thought but he was really flaying her fingers probably and she was probably in the end eating his it might have been a little column a little column b i think it was all three yeah i think it was all of them but yeah i like the way that you framed it as you know discussing how davos is thinking of stannis as his god and all of these ideas of the gods coming back in human flesh, which is what a lot of those messianic stories

in A Song of Ice and Fire are touching on because there's a lot of warped religious stuff. We're talking about the number seven not being associated with the faith, but in one of these chapters, Theon is thinking that theon's dead and reek was born in the dungeons you know he's a different person it's that idea of like being

born again which is very much core to some sects of christianity and you can see that kind of being played with in the song of ice and fire because people are literally coming back from the dead but reek is so terrified of ramsay he's like worships him he's a cruel god and being born again in ramsay's image as reek uh it's all some very uncanny and unnerving versions of that idea yeah it really dials back to what we were discussing with bookshelf stud last episode with the uran and aaron analogs that get brought up here that ramsey is definitely theon's uran in this situation uh it's definitely just you know where you were you praying to get chosen or praying to get passed over and it's reek praying that his god doesn't smite him for making the incorrect decision in his eyes.

Yeah. And it's interesting also with that whole idea of like people becoming the gods, especially with all that mythology we get to see with Azor Ahai. And especially, as we know, with the Stannis plot, obviously Davos and Stannis' finger-taking is a lot different, though. Absolutely. Yeah, that was... He passes the log and plank road that the Starks had laid

when they had come through here, and he sees the towers. The Drunkard's Tower, the Children's, and the Gatehouse. The Karstarks took the Drunkard's Tower and the Umber's the Karstarks took the drunkard's tower and the Umbers the children's tower, he recalled. Rob had claimed the gatehouse tower for his own. So it is kind of funny because as we discussed last episode, the lords that are right next to

Ramsey haven't been identified yet, but those are the lords who are here who took each of those towers, the Karstarks and the umbers i thought that was just an interesting um i mean just like when we went through the veil with sansa and the veil lords this is the feast for crows here you know this is the northern lords assembling trying to grasp at straws of power and so it's interesting that the last time he was here it was those same people yeah of course a twisted sister version of it now you know it's like the complete opposite haggard awful i mean even the way they're described in reek's first chapter they're described as you know like just gross looking

people like the florence or whatever who easily switch between who they have they have no loyalty necessarily theon is who did all this you know the boltons are the salvation of the north the boltons are the salvation and ruse is trying to hold it all together and ramsey is like threatening to throw it all over just for funsies every few seconds just because you know chaos is a ladder yeah it's all uh his ruse it's definitely an intentional naming i'm pretty sure i don't think i came up with that pun i'm just saying it's a good one though i'm pretty sure george did that and so it is not my fault it is not my fault you're not fired okay thank you uh reek thinks that he can see the banners in the wind if he closes his eyes but it's all gone now

when he looked up he caught a glimpse of pale faces peering from behind the battlements of the gatehouse tower and through the broken masonry that crowned the children's tower where legend said the children of the forest had once called down the hammer of the waters to break the lands of Westeros in two

I thought that was so interesting that right there, that's like a really good call-out line, that break the lands of Westeros in two. So that's obviously referring to the pact and kind of gives more heed that, A, interesting children of the forest line, B, the crannogs being related to the children of the forest in some sort of way, I just think is obviously kind of being hinted at, like the Marsh Kings

probably descend from the Children of the Forest, etc. Then, you know, the Cranog descend from the Marsh Kings, and this makes sense because we're in the neck. We are right smack dab in the neck, and I'm very excited about that because we get some really cool nexposition.

I would like to call it. Maybe you should be the one who's fired. What is this role reversal? I will literally apply for unemployment. You can't hire me. No, I'm proud of you. Like, you are hired, in fact, for that. Oh, my God.

Don't hire me. I quit. Oh, my God. Chloe, good job. The only dry road through the neck was the causeway, and the towers of Moat Caitlin plugged its northern end like a cork in the bottle. The road was narrow, the ruins so positioned that any enemy coming up from the south must pass beneath and between them. To assault any of the three towers, an attacker must expose his back to arrows from the other two,

whilst climbing damp stone walls festooned with streamers of slimy white ghost skin. The swampy ground beneath the causeway was impassable, an endless morass of suckholes, quicksands, and glistening green swards that looked solid to the unwary eye, but turned to the water the instant you trod upon them. The whole of it infested with venomous serpents and poisonous flowers and monstrous lizard lions with teeth like daggers just as dangerous were its people seldom seen but always lurking the swamp dwellers the frog eaters the mud men fen and reed peat and bogs cray and quag greensgood and blackire. Those were the sorts of names they gave themselves. The Ironborn called them all Bog Devils. Um, okay, but like Ironborn, you guys are like Black, Ralph, Rageface.

Yeah. With an axe. Like what? They're literally named Cod. Okay, they have names like that. Because of a fish. You just added a D on the end. Yes.

And there are other names that i'm like that's not actually that cool of a name dude speaking of names though i do want to zero in on the name blackmire okay speaking of damon blackfire earlier like did damon blackfire just steal this name and then jay gilletter is it other way around? I am asking the important questions on our podcast. Like, what is this? Maybe it's actually Daemon Blackfyre the Seven. And he's been hiding underneath

our noses this whole time. Blackmyre. And he's going to come forward and be like, yo, that's my cousin, when he sees Fagon. Yeah, in A Dream of Spring. Yes, exactly. In the ninth book of the series. And then Aegon's going to be the king in the north. Whoa.

Yeah. Because he'll be like, look, he's also a crannogman. That's what was in the will that Howland has. Okay. I also appreciated the imagery here, like that whole jutting out of

the damp stone walls, and they're sl slimy and the way it's all described is just because people like to think about it. It's very Lovecraftian. But anyway, Yeah, the ghost skin. Yeah, that the the strange like ruins of towers coming from the water. And it's more of that oily black stone people like to think about. Yeah. And discuss. it's more of that oily black stone people like to think about um yeah and discuss i love when there's a line where cian walks over the road uh in the beginning there the chapter and he walks over the planks at moat caitlin and he sees them they look oily and black in the night yeah exactly yeah it's very interesting especially because we spend a lot of time in places like the crown lands where you know it's just flat land it's nothing interesting, especially because we spend a lot of time in places like the Crownlands, where, you know, it's just flat land. It's nothing exciting.

I mean, maybe there's some hills. We don't really hear much about what the world looks like outside of King's Landing, though. That's true. So, really good world building here. And, I mean, I do think we are going to, and you obviously think this, we're going to come back to the neck at some point in our lives. Yeah, I think so. Get more of it.

But while we're here though reek passes some dead bodies and he realizes that the garrison's never gonna recognize him as theon because now his hair's gone white and he's missing fingers so he's like trying to pretend that he didn't yeah i love the connection that theon has with the weirwood later but of course even here his coloring has become super symbolic of it, right? It'll become a lot more apparent when we have him, you know, crying on his knees at the Weirwood, but

it's just like Ghost with his white fur and red eyes. Reek has the white hair, and then of course well, blood. Red in skin. Blood. But the horse's name is Blood, I mean. But is he paired to the white horse named cheese a voice rings out it tells theon don't come any closer he tells them he's not here to hurt them

that he's unarmed and inside he's thinking a quick death would be better than returning to ramsay the gatehouse door swings open an arrow shoots, and he's pulled towards the voice, which is a one-armed Iron Man. Yes, after playing the quote-unquote prince, he learns that the one who's been put in charge is Ralph Kedding. And turns out the water is poisoned, because of course it is. uh he's speaking to that he should be giving the dead to the flooded cellar then instead of just leaving them like here in the doorway in the fucking living room and give them to the drowned god but the ironborn man says like well there aren't any drowned gods down there that's we're in a different area b all that's down there are like rats and water snakes which that's something you know maybe give it to the rats rats and water snakes, which that's something, you know,

maybe give it to the rats and the water snakes. Maybe they would appreciate that. But instead Reek thinks of the rats in the dread fort and the taste of its blood. So we all remember and how, if he feels he's going to be stuck eating and chasing warm bellied rats forever. We get that peak in his duality.

Once more here, he outwardly has to portray prince theon right noble son of balin in an attempt to get back moat caitlin for not just ramsey but also for of course his prosperity i mean like so he doesn't you know die or get flayed some more or you know abused some more but inside he's freaking out from trauma and stress and anxiety over that and there's more from this as well later we learn he takes down the flag the banner from the iron islands the squid flag and replaces it with the bolton banner which is really rough symbolism right like that's very sad with a lot of those sansa parallels we've been talking about this point of his captivity where he's suffering and he's just accepted his fate is a bummer. It reminds me of when Sansa thinks, they have made me a Lannister,

bitterly. He is so thoroughly convinced Theon that he is Reek. And Reek learns that very few of the ironborn who are here at Moat Cailin and were sent to take it, have been left alive, and some of them have actually begun eating their dead. Lots of A Dance with Dragons themes. Cannibalism is obviously a strong one with winter being here. Yeah, and it's definitely going to just keep happening. Reek thinks that Moat Cailin has fallen, but none of the people who are here holding it seem to have realized that it's fallen. Sad. Yeah, Reek demands to speak with Kenning, but the Iron Man reveals he doesn't even know if Kenning's alive.

He says he'll take him where he would be, all the same. Ralph Kenning lay shivering beneath a mountain of furs. His arms were stacked beside him, sword and axe, male hoberk, iron war helm. His shield bore the storm god's cloudy hand, lightning crackling from his fingers down to a raging sea, but the paint was discolored and peeling, the wood beneath starting to rot. Ralph, of course, is also rotting. He's been shot by a poisoned arrow. The description of Ralph Kenning is just a lot. He's like half his body is just swollen

and then he's like leaking pus from an eye and I'm like I feel bad for him. It's the saddest situation. And just like that they weren't able to do anything for him and they just kind of left him but also at the same time the state of the Iron Men at Moat Cailin

like their physical transformation and how broken they also seem being there it's definitely a mirror for theon's transformation also and his brokenness oh definitely a direct yeah there's also i think because i think about i guess rivers or some shit uh and that moat kalin I don't know if it's really a moat or not, but it's kind of like a river. It's a swampish area. That idea of a man cannot walk in the river twice because it's not the same man in the same river.

And that is what's going on here, I feel, with Theon's storyline. He's no longer Theon, he feels. He's Reek. He's just so changed. I really like that. That was a very great addition. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Reek commands the man to kill Raph, but he gapes at him instead. Reek tells him if he'd put a dying horse down, he should put Ralph down. The Iron Man comments he never had a horse, but Reek remembers just for a moment having a horse. He thinks of Smiler and then ushers the thoughts away. Reek never had a horse. Can I just butt in quickly?

And this whole Ralph Kenning thing, you know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of your essay about mercy and Arya and the hound and those lessons of what mercy is. and the hound and those lessons of what mercy is and I mean of course you'd put down a horse you know if it was dying oh putting the dog to sleep oh god there's a lot of dog things

alright we can come back we can revisit that story later later on it's funny it's not the first time I've thought of Sandor Clegane today oh I'm sure it's funny it's not the first time i've thought of sandor clagain today oh i'm sure uh it's all your fault everyone uh check out if you haven't for some reason check out chloe's essay chloe yeah yeah i wrote it it's really good it's it's uh second place in the best ofs if you wanted to know about it thanks everyone yeah yeah we'll Okay. We'll link it. We'll link it.

Reek presses his sword into Ralph Kenning, letting out black blood, pus, and a horrendous smell, which, frankly, like, reading this, I could almost smell it through the pages. It, like, makes me gag. He, like, talks about the grave worms inside of him. God, it's so, like, this is, it almost really, you can see how this is a mercy yeah oh yeah you can you can smell how it's a mercy through the pages for ralph kenning theon uh sorry not theon reek asked to see the rest of the men and he is taken to the hall and then a memory from that other life that I almost said sorry everyone comes to him and also I'm going to apologize once more that I cannot do a

spiegel voice so yeah me either I'm not even trying if you didn't notice there was where I sat the last time I was here he remembered Rob was at the head of the table with the grey john to his right and Ruth Bolton on his left the glovers sat next to Helman Tallheart

Karstark and his sons were across from them. All the Tallhearts. This hurts. It's sad. It's really... I'm sad. It's like, it's warming me up for that Ghost in Winterfell chapter for sure. That's what these chapters are for.

These aren't ghosts. Where, you know, our hearts are broken. Yes, exactly. where you know our hearts are broken yes exactly and it reminds me of that scene in the Fox Anastasia movie where she sees all the ghosts during the once December scene like that's what I want

I want like Fionn like walking through these lands just seeing all these ghosts doing a musical number it is a very sad song like that would work fix it D&D you cowards we deserve a musical episode i challenge dnd to do a musical episode a lot of a lot of fantasy shows have that one musical episode and we deserve it

magicians it is called a song of ice and fire everyone i want five versions of j's song, all dubstep. Okay, that's a mood. It's a tall hard order. We see Theon doing a lot of compartmentalizing during these chapters in order to survive mentally. Like the whole, I don't have

a horse. That was another person that had a horse. And now, of course, he's seeing these memories and he keeps saying at the end, no that's not me though not anymore that's not me it's not me it reminds me of the language when aria is in affic and she's all like remembering a girl from another life once upon a time there had been a girl who liked lemon cakes. Exactly. Anyway, it's all just sad. There are two dozen ironborn left in the hall drinking at the tables

because what else is there to fucking do in this place? Reek asks, who's now in command? And they retort, who asks? He responds with Lord Balon's son because he cannot even bear to use the name theon or else he tells them that lord ramsey is prepared to show them mercy if they yield though they claim that ironborn do not give up and i love this quote it reminds me of all those points

amanda made two episodes ago when she joined, when Crowfood's daughter joined us and discussed ironborn and yielding. Tell that to my father. Lord Balin bent the knee when Robert broke his wall. Elsewise, he would have died, as you will if you do not yield. He gestured at the parchment. Break the seal. Read the words. That is a safe conduct written in Lord Ramsay's own hands. Give up your swords and come with me and his lordship will feed you and give you leave to march unmolested to the stony shore and find a ship for home. Elsewise, you die. So a lot of different echoes of just this idea of letting people bend the knee, letting them go.

Echoes of, you know, like Rob's plot with Catelyn telling Rob, you know, you won't be the letting people bend the knee, letting them go. Echoes of, you know, like Rob's plot with Catelyn telling Rob, you know, you won't be the first to bend the knee of the kings in the north. And of course, Lewin telling Theon to yield as well comes echoing back. And although he knows better with how Ramsay is, he is hoping they yield. He thinks like, you have to please. So he can show mercy to them. Because he's been suffering at Ramsey's hands for so long now. Like, he knows how bad it will be for them if they don't just give him what he wants. Yeah. I mean, they die either way, but it's, I guess, the difference between, what, a slow, horrible death or a quick one.

But when you bring up these parallels, it also reminds me that this is kind of what Theon brought to his father at the same time. He was saying, pledge to Rob, give up your swords, come with us. Yeah, he wanted a crown of his own. He didn't want to report to the young 15 year old wolf boy. Which I mean, I know, I'm like, that wasn't a wrong feeling. Here's Eliana with Balan did nothing I don't think Balan did nothing wrong I'm just like I too would not want to report

to a 15 year old this punk ass little bitch coming up in my iron eyes I feel it with his bitch mom just kidding Catalin's done nothing wrong in her whole life the ironborn still don't want to yield and Theon's with his bitch mom. Just kidding. Catelyn's done nothing wrong in her whole life.

The ironborn still don't want to yield and Theon's Prince Theon speaks while Reek thinks no, please, you have to listen. The thought of what Ramsay would do to him if he crept back to camp without the garrison surrender was almost enough to make him piss his britches. That would have been a sight for

while treating with people. Oh my god. They want to stick with what Victarion ordered them to do, but Reek tells them Victarion's never coming back for them. They were the ones left behind to die. These were not kin of famous captains, nor the blood of the great houses of the Iron Islands. These were the sons of Thralls and Saltwives.

It is kind of sad that the idea that the sons of thralls and salt wives wouldn't be worth coming back for yeah they're just looked at as nothing yeah and reek gives them once more insurance like if you yield you can walk away everything intact your life will be great. Dagon Codd calls him a liar, and he says, like, why should we believe a turncoat? Interesting bits, of course, about how the Codds are not respected. Ironborn come up in this chapter,

how all of the people here in general are just weak and piteous, which Theon himself is broken, but he's being sent to end the people. Like, Aliana was kind of saying that all these people represent Theon he's weak how is he supposed to end anyone i mean they're not even people anymore they're at the point of death and they need help and theon is the person that has to offer this to them this you know gift of death a la house of black and white style this is theon saying it's okay like put your swords down, you can fight another day. And they're pulled to the slaughter. Their lambs led to slaughter

and Theon had to lead them there. Yes, Theon is a wolf in sheep's clothing at this moment. Yep, absolutely. Theon tells them that he did his job, he brought Ramsay's message and now they plan to feast. Dagon Codd begins to talk back, but as he does, the one-armed ironborn who saved Reek from the arrow

throws an axe at Dagon. The man says he means to live. When the one-armed man slid the throwing axe back through his belt, Reek knew he had won. He almost felt to man again. Lord Ramsey will be pleased with me. He tells the prisoners, leave your weapons here, gather up. And he gathers up the injured and broken group and makes their way north. We actually

finally get to learn the name of the one-armed man, by the way. It's Adrak Humble. And Adrak Humble deserved better. My new campaign motto during this episode because he did he was it's very sad it's very he was just trying to hold shit together and was like i don't know dude this is my life i'm just somehow the only person that's lived through this bullshit he's like i gotta watch the door

a column led by a riswell appears reek takes small quiet pride in hearing that the ironborn kept pushing back at the northern men but then chides himself for it he is reek not a prince we are ironborn he thought with a sudden flash of pride and for half a heartbeat he was a prince again lord balin's son the blood of pike it reminds me a lot has those vibes the uh i'm not your daughter i'm you know lord uttered and lady catalan's daughter the blood of winterfell yes like something he's in there somewhere he's in there baby boy baby squid boy find him we're gonna find him again it's gonna be such a we obviously have to address it it doesn't take place in these chapters but it's the best moment he's in there and... We obviously have to address it. It doesn't take place in the chapters, but...

It's the best moment. He's in there. And I mean, you have to remember your name. It's pretty much the best moment in all of Adobada. So it's just the strong themes, and once you get to that exact moment, and even the moment with that grin, and the...

So good. So in this moment, though, they make their way to camp, and Ramsey, of course, appears. A few of the ironborn muttered thanks before they shambled off toward the cook fires in the center of the camp. One of the cods even tried to kiss Lord Ramsey's ring, but the hounds drove him back before he could get close, and Allison took a chunk of his ear.

Even as the blood streamed down his neck, the man bobbed and bowed and praised his lordship's mercy yeah yeah that mercy anyways uh the chapter does a lot of work showing us the numbers of the ironborn men which is interesting because i'm like i didn't read this book to fucking math uh and that comes back into play later in this chapter because we're going to see of course the that this is a betrayal and it's what balon and all the other gray joys and all the ironborn feared most from him and why they were like super skeptical about him and the scene here kind of clues us into that betrayal occurring before it happens because

i mean we've been in this book series right this is a reread we all know that ramsey is a villain and he's the one doing the betraying right but the scene evokes i feel this skirmish in the garden of jesemany right after jesus has prayed to like take this cup away from me and accepting that he's the one who's going to be betrayed and this impending crucifixion and And what happens is that when Jesus is leaving the garden, Judas and the Roman guards appear. Judas goes in to kiss Jesus to signal that, hey, this is the one that you're all supposed to arrest. Much like this, one of the Cods goes in to kiss Ramsey's ring. And then the disciple Peter attacks the Roman guards trying to defend Jesus by, I guess,

attacking a slave of the high priest. And Jesus is like, that guy had nothing to do with anything. But anyways, cuts off his ear. And this is the same that Allison does to Cod, that Cod. And in the end, it's the Ironborn, of course, who are betrayed, not Ramsay. Not yet. Hopefully, maybe. But again, it creates that atmosphere of betrayal by hearkening to this story and setting that stage for that reveal that's going to come shortly that's a great catch on that biblical comparison my parents were really into jesus reek gives him moat cait as promised, delivers it to him.

Ramsey calls them stubborn foes and orders Damon and Alan to feed the Ironborn to their heart's desire. As soon as they're alone, Ramsey grabs the back of Reek's head and pulls him close, kissing him on the cheek. Yeah, gross. Which, there you go, there's that betrayal reversed again, because eventually we do get Reek betraying him. He cannot believe that the ironborn thought Reek was Prince Theon, and he calls them fools. So weird, so interesting. This chapter is just such a structurally necessary follow-up for that first chapter and introduction to Reek, because so much of that chapter is private.

As we discussed last episode, basically the the chapter is a guy goes upstairs and it's so much about his isolation and him being in the dark and reek whereas this chapter forces uh this character to go up against those who represent that other part of his identity that before time as well a lot of the subsequent chapters and it shows us how even when he's quote-unquote acting as theon in public reeks refusal to call himself theon shows how deeply ingrained ramsay's abuses and how he feels like a different person and it's interesting that when you finally let him have that air and go out to be with those ghosts of his past, how that facade and that face just start to slip. That whole mask does start to slip.

And he has to stop himself and put himself back in that mindset from the abuse where, you know, we're close to getting somewhere. We're close to getting somewhere by having him around these ghosts. Yeah. these ghosts yeah ramsey asks what reek wants as a reward and reeks doesn't want to over over indulge and ask for a skin of wine then to serve ramsey and ramsey says okay you'll get it and now you get to sleep with the dogs instead of with the rats and the kettle master says he'll make a collar for Reek. Man, every single time that I, like, turn the pages in these chapters, you're like, there's no way this could get more ridiculous and awful. And then it does. Like, he's like, oh, you're going to get a collar. And he's not kidding.

Like, he's literally making him sleep with the dogs now and giving him a collar and serving him dog food. Like, that's literally what's happening in this plot the dog food is preferable to the rats oh absolutely that's what's worse it's that's the bar was just so low god later that night reek has not only a collar and a skin of wine but half a chicken as well he has to fight the dogs to be able to eat it, but it'll do. It'll work. He even has a ragged blanket to lay under. He gets super drunk on a sour red wine, and he drinks until he pukes,

and then he drinks again. Yes, this is what I was taught is called a boot and rally. Oh, I didn't know it had a name. This is what someone called it for me once when i did that same thing not that i would have ever done something like that wait you mean that girl that was supposed to come back to hang out with me at a festival i was at but then she got too drunk with her family and then she died because she was possessed by a booze see that's the thing that's a different girl now because the girl from before could have done that, right?

Got destroyed and then vomited and still made it out with you. But now I'm just weak and I- You're weak. Yes, I'm weak. Now I vomit and that's it. That's the end of the night, you know. He wakes up in the middle of the night to a dog eating the vomit out of his beard. And I don't know how to feel about the scene.

I know it's supposed to make us feel gross. But I'm also like, is this almost good? Is this affection? Also, he's grown a beard. I didn't realize that. He's. Christ. I wonder if it's also white.

White? Yeah. I'm like interested to see. Have you read any, like, deep dives on that whole white hair thing and what causes that? No, I have not. I know it exists, I've just never... I guess it makes sense that he has this beard because... From the stress?

Yeah, I think that's why, but I don't know how that works with new hair. I don't know. And, I don't know, it kind of makes sense that he has a beard because they keep talking about in the next chapter like we got to get him clean and shave him i'm like oh yeah yeah that does make sense it's just weird because you just don't think it and i know the bad show has poisoned us to like see elfie allen so it's just weird to think i think it's also just something that maybe you and i as these as girls go on canon you know we don't think of because i'm it might be something that maybe you and i as these as girls go on canon you know we don't think of because i'm it might be something that men would have been like oh yes and not really and just assumed

the next morning ramsey sends riders to alert roost that the road is clear the bolton banners now hang where the squid banners once flew along the road built by the starks now wet rotting 63 wooden stakes are driven into the ground. Red, bleeding, dripping, dead. And of course, Theon sees one that has a one-armed

man at it. It's really interesting the way it's written, right? Like, they don't tell you explicitly who it is. It's just intimated and you're like fuck they they trot off all those 63 lambs yeah oh they're gonna go get rest the horror is in not saying it aloud and letting you fill it all in and be like oh shit a drac and that truly is the best way to write horror is to do that to not fill it in to let the reader fill it in that is the best way to write horror, is to do that, to not fill it in, to let the reader fill it in.

That's the best way, because we fill it with, you know, I mean, the mind killer, with fear. It's also what you were saying about Theon compartmentalizing. He's not even really addressing it. He's not even really looking at it. He can't. He wouldn't be able to. Yeah, because he's just Ramsay's monster now. Three days later,

Rus' vanguard makes its way through the ruins of the Neck, and Hostine and Aenys Frey leave the vanguard with their men making up most of it. The Northmen follow behind. Two in ten men came back from the war with Robb. So why did they not just say one in five questions? I know, they should really simplify their i know they really should we had to do math earlier and now they're making us do it again here george stop no one's making

us do this true true i mean the people the people oh yeah you know they made us do it 20 000 had set out with Rob originally, though. So that's what? That's 5,000 left? Yeah. No. So one in five. So 20 divided by five.

So 4,000? 4,000 are left. 4,000 left. I don't know math. I do it every day for hours on end. I don't. Back where the press was thickest at the center of the column rode a man armored in dark gray plate over a quilted tunic of blood red leather. His rondels were wrought in the shape of human heads

with open mouths that shrieked in agony. From his shoulders streamed a pink woolen cloak embroidered with droplets of blood. Long streamers of red silk fluttered from the top of his closed helm. No Kranog man will slay Roose Bolton with a poisoned arrow, Reek thought when he first saw him.

Damn, that's a figure. I know, this is an outfit. The Roose is loose. Truly. But, maybe it's because he's not the one who has to wear this outfit, I don't wear this but it's a lot he probably actually wears this though yeah like he

he's this kind of extra he's all about that though that's what's nuts to me this is literally this is what Roos wants to dress like this is why Ramsay dresses the way he does though now that I think about it he's getting his fashion advice and tips

from his dad. His dad dresses like an anime character villain. So does Ramsey. They both do. That makes sense. That does make sense. Ramsey makes for the rider in the bloody armor, his dad, but Roos emerges from a covered

wagon instead. Oh, Jean Parmesan, sorry sorry everyone oh my god it yeah switch a ruse prince it was a it was it was a ruse wow it was a ruse we figured it out that's where the name comes from it really is the ruse is lose the ruse is loose oh my god we figured it out that was the ruse eliana that was it this is the podcast oh god we don't we could just end a dance with dragons now we did it yeah we figured it out it's a ruse it's a ruse i quit I'm telling you, George came up with this, not me. George is honestly one of the best writers of our time, and here's 12 reasons why the ruse is why.

That's the reason. That is number one. That is, in the countdown, the best. So, Ramsey is super enraged that his dad tricked him, right? Like, he's so stupid that he's like, is this mockery? Like, you traveling in the wagon but having some man dressed as you which i don't know ruse is just being smart he's making

sure that no one fucks his shit up like he's kind of public enemy in the north right now you know like you either love the guy or you hate the guy depending on what information you actually know about the guy and this idea is of course introduced back at Blackwater with Garland as Renly, Tyrell as the Renly Baratheon. So it's nice to see it pulled back in. It also tells you a lot about Roose's style and his wits, right? Yeah. He's just like, this is literally not about you, Ripsy.

This is not meant to insult you. This is just trying to keep me alive, okay? But everything's about Ramsay. What are you talking about? Oh, of course. Once a boy called Theon Greyjoy had enjoyed tweaking Bolton as they sat at council with Robb Stark, mocking his soft voice and making japes about leeches. He must have been mad. This is no man to jape with. You had only to look at Bolton, to know that he had more cruelty in his pinky toe than all the frays combined. I just like this term, tweaking.

Me too. Tweaking Bolton. What a term. It just reminds me, like, is he playing with his nipples? What's happening? I know. I'm also curious.

I'm like, this is a strange choice of words, but. I don't know. A lot of people are like, you know, I know some thramsy shippers, obviously, and that's kind of odd but Throos, have we talked about Throos? That's the OTP I think I'm a Throos shipper

That is a Throos Ramsey was, you know, his stepping stone to get to Throos, oh my god Oh, he's a loose man He's loose Sexual moral Throos, it rhymes with loose oh god

think about the leeches in that threesome um oh so he's about the sucking that's why they were talking about suckles earlier in this chapter all right oh my god two women follow ruse from the wagon the first is chubby and pink faced and none other than the wonderful walda fray bolton she is wonderful ruse is like kiss your stepmom ramsey kiss her hand it's like what the fuck is this ruse like knows that ramsey is like crazy and psycho and probably gonna murder him but ruse is like this is fun for me oh he is he's just enjoying it the second of course is the lady aria stark ruse introduces ramsay to his betrothed oh god the girl was slim and taller than he remembered that was only to be expected girls

grow fast at that age her Her dress was gray wool, bordered with white satin. Over it, she wore an ermine cloak clasped with a silver wolf's head. Dark brown hair fell halfway down her back and her eyes. That is not Lord Eddard's daughter. Arya had her father's eyes, the gray eyes of the Starks. A girl her age might let her hair grow long, add inches to her height, see her chest fill out, but she could not change the color of her eyes. That's Sansa's little friend, the steward's girl. Jane, that was her name, Jane Poole.

Lord Ramsay, the girl dipped down before him. That was wrong as well. The real Arya Stark would have spat in his face. I pray that I will make you a good wife and give you strong sons to follow after you. That you will, promised Ramsey, and soon. Ugh.

Christ. Leave Jane alone. She's been through enough. So, going along with Theon's outfit as prince earlier and playing the role, we get Jane Poole dressed in a gray and white dress with a wolf's head clasp. It's what the Northern Lords need to close their eyes to Ramsay's, you know, torture and ruse's plan and give their stamp of approval for now. Yeah.

I mean, it's literally the same thing that they did with the Miller's boys. They're like, let's just put a pin on it. And everyone's going to be like, yeah, that's a Stark. I kind of think going away from the topic of Ramsay and Theon for a second, it is funny, this line of a girl her age might let her hair grow long, blah, blah, but she could not change the color of her eyes because a girl Arya's age, literally Arya, is going to learn to do exactly that. I do love that.

That is a great catch. Yeah, that's exactly what Arya's doing. She's changing her face currently. Yeah. Lots of irony in that sentence. And I mean, it's also interesting because even though the bad show played with the idea of Sansa as this fake Jane role or this fake Arya role as Jane, Sansa is exactly what he's speaking about. You know, a girl can change her hair.

You know, she can grow a little taller, you know, get some boobs, but she can't change her eyes. Well, that's what we're looking at with Sansa, too. She can't change who she is. She can dye her hair. Yeah. But Arya can. But speaking of Sansa being unable to change who she

is that's what we're going to eventually see coming to the forefront slowly painfully in theon's storyline well we'll jump right into our lightning round for what we missed between reek two and reek three in John 5. John makes common cause with 63 wildlings. Stannis' host leaves. That's an interesting number based on what happened in this chapter. Yeah, 63 ironborn, 63 wildlings.

That is really weird how they have the same exact number, George. Why this number? This is not like, it's not like 69. I don't know. Why this number? This is not like, it's not like 69. I don't know. Why this number? 69. Nice. Tyrion 6.

Tyrion dreams of his father as the Shrouded Lord before being pulled back aboard the Shy Maiden treated for possible greyscale. Daenerys 4. The Green Grace poses a match for Daenerys and Daario returns. The Lost Lord. After losing Tyrion, Jon Connington dwells on his past and present and shows Aegon around the Golden Company's camp. I thought he was dead. No, he's a Blackmyre cousin. Oh, a Blackmyre.

Aegon Blackmyre. I figured it out. Exactly. The Windblown. Quentyn and his friends choose the out. Exactly. The Windblown. Quentin and his friends choose the perfect cover and join the Windblown. The Wayward Bride. After fleeing the Isles at Euron's election, Asha takes up residency at Deepwood, celebrating her new quote-unquote marriage with an old flame.

But of course, the fucking eventually leads to fighting. Did you appreciate that one? I did. I did. Tyrion VII. Tyrion and Jorah have been captured and begin their long journey to the Dragon Queen. Jon VI. Jon receives a raven announcing Arya's marriage. Melisandre is, once more, foreboding and very, very strange.

I mean, am I wrong? She is. Davos IV. more foreboding and very very strange i mean am i wrong she is davos four the north remembers and the mummer's farce is almost done yes there's nothing else that needs to be said for that chapter i don't think yes i think we all know i yeah though i do like the line what is it false friends and foes around me that whole chapter i can That whole chapter, I can't wait till we do Davos. Yeah, that whole speech. So, where are we? Okay, Daenerys V. It's been 26 days since the Queen has lost

men, but there's a new challenger approaching. The bloody flux and the toast as the poor refugees. She chooses to think like a queen and makes a very difficult marriage decision. Melisandre I. Devon Seaworth learns what the Red Woman sees, much and more. She magics a champion, glamored as Rattleshirt,

to bring Jon Snow's sister home and reveals the champion to Jon. It's Mance Rayder. Reek III. Ramsay returns from seeking out the Freys and comes back empty-handed. He must then face his lord father, Roose Bolton, and receive his own punishment. Ramsey returns home, and Reek hears the girls first. His chains

inhibit his movement, but he readies himself to serve Ramsey all the same. The fray boys and the bastard boys come pouring through the gates, returning from their hunt. The dogs collide with Reek. They have grown to like him. I just want to point out, like, these nice moments between Reek and the dogs. Is this a happy moment in A Song of Ice and Fire, Eliana? This is literally the only good thing that happens

in any of these three chapters that we read, okay? In these first three Reek chapters, this is the only good thing and i will treasure this moment of theon and the doggos cuddling together and i will hold it close to my heart even share suffer you deserve this they do okay this is it's fucked up because it's because theon is being treated as a dog but at the same time I will I will take this moment uh there's Helicent, Red Jane, Maud, Sarah, Willow, Allison,

Jez, and Grey Jane and later on there's also Kyra as we hear so say their names first off yes there has to be something there in that like jane dogs like the red jane and gray jane dogs right like there's something there like i don't know if she gets that show sansa ending somehow or i don't know the dogs with dion i don't know something but those dogs being named jane is a little like on the snout you know what i'm saying it is i also wonder if it's just that there's a lot of janes i know that that's something that george wanted to do having a lot of characters with similar names in order to give his world a sense of realism but also does that mean like what one is a red dog one is a

gray dog or were they in life where each of those janes like redhead and one of them was called the yeah or or had a dour like this was i don't know also why does he have a thing for girls named jane in life where each of those Janes Redhead and a gray hair? Yeah, or had a dour disposition. I don't know. Also, why does he have a thing for girls named Jane? I think it's just like a common name. Well, I mean, she is a common girl, technically. They probably all are

because he was saying, what, that these are from before he was legitimized, right? Yeah, so it's all common girls that he raped and murdered and, you know, for funsies. The riders get off their horses, and it looks like the hunt was unsuccessful. We learn they were searching for something. Later, we find out it was for a missing phrase.

Ramsey had been forced into courtesies with the Griswels and the Dustins around, so he's walking around like all psycho smiles. We learn this later, but of course Bethany Griswels, dead from a fever, had been Roose's first wife, the mother of Dameric. Of course, Ramsay is rumored to have killed Dameric in 297, right before

the Harvest Feast and Clash by two years, which is bullshit because ramsey is such a good lord and he would never do something like that but oh never our lord ramsey but yeah barrowton is obviously not really fond of ramsey to paint this chapter out oh but he's so he's so good you know he just loves people so much like how he loves Reek and says he can smell him from across the yard. And the Walders also decide to join in, mocking Reek.

And Ramsay, you know, again, being the giving lord that he is, has brought back a gift for our Reek. He throws it to him. It's a severed head. You shouldn't have oh honey

he throws it on him and Reek obviously cannot catch it well because like he's missing fingers and stuff yeah he has Reek then tend to his horse which his horse's name is Blood in case you were confused because Ramsey's a villain

did you know? Because his horse is named Blood. That's our next Patreon tier level. We will send you a severed head branded with the Grillskunk logo. $50. $50 a month. You'll be in the Blood tier. You'll get a severed head.

Yeah, the Blood horse. Above Zorse's, you know. Above Zorse's, yeah. Zorse level, watch watch out coming from your gold little walder commands reek to see to his horse as well as big walder's big walder's like it's okay i can do it myself little walder had become lord ramsay's best boy and grew more like him every day but the smaller fray was made of different stuff and seldom took part in his cousin's games and cruelties my son i love you big walder oh big walder who's like small but small and murderous

and big small big walder i love him yeah he's a little murderous reek softly asks big walder who the man with the severed head was big walder says he was no one just an old goat herder who the man with the severed head was. Big Walder says he was no one, just an old goat herder who called Ramsey Lord Snow, so he killed him. I feel like this is major Joffrey vibes, again, with that whole conversation on transitional villainy. This is if Joffrey had grown up to keep living and heard the rumors of people calling him a bastard. You know, that's exactly what this is. Oh, totally oh totally and again it's another one of those things like this is literally the same name that john's being called throughout this book like in the other chapters that are surrounding these chapters lord snow but you know he's not going

around severing heads for it yeah reek asks if they found the free cousins though the ones who are missing that search party and walder's like no no i never thought we would they're dead lord wyman had them killed that's what i would have done if i was him i love the obvious analog between like anise and hostine and big walder and little walder like that they get brought up in the last chapter that you know theon thinks anise was the commander not a but you know, he was the smart one, and that Hastin is like the big, the brawn, you know, of the situation. And that's exactly Little Walder and Big Walder's thing going on, except Big Walder is actually, you know, smart and small, very Aenys. It's something that he likes playing with in general.

It's all those other phrase that you mentioned, but it's also... Yeah, like Blackwalder and rivers and... Oh, I was thinking Jaime and Tyrion. Oh, absolutely. The jock and the small nerd. Yeah. Is, I guess, something that George seems to be exploring. Rick keeps his mouth shut because he can't trust anyone enough to give his opinion.

And it turns out that search had gone on for 16 days. There's a lot of time passing through these chapters. That's what that makes me think about. Because otherwise, like, the 16 days went between the last chapter and this chapter yeah it's almost a that's more than a whole fortnight oh my gosh ramsey orders a feast to celebrate his return again joffrey vibes there they stay at harwood stout's keep who cannot refuse them though he's plainly getting pretty irritated and put out at their consumption an ox was slaughtered and that night as the sun went down the empty-handed hunters ate roast and ribs barley bread a mash of carrots and

peas washing it all down with prodigious quantities of ale it's so indicative though of what's happening in a song of ice and fire like the lords of course playing their high game and eating and like dairy is going to really yeah who's going to really suffer for it when winter comes but yes as you said dairy's keep or like when joffrey was wandering around and just shows up at random places like feed me yeah it's uh not a lot of thought on the other end of that you know obviously that's what they're used to. That's their status. Yeah. Well, Ramsey wasn't used to it.

But now he is. He's taking advantage of it. Yeah, now that he has it. Little Walder is cup bearing for Ramsey while Big Walder has to fill the rest of the high table's glasses. Reek is chained up outside the doors so his odor doesn't sicken the guests. He gets to eat scraps later that Ramsey sends,

which, look, I'm sorry, even if I was like a little like redneck hick, right, and weird and had like a weird family situation going on, if I came to your house party and you had a smelly dude in chains outside the great hall, outside your kitchen, like locked up, I'd be like, um, is this like a weird BDSM party? Or like, what's going on?

And then like all these lords are just sitting there eating. Like, this is fine. What? Yeah. And then what happens next is even weirder. Like Maude and Grey Jane fight with Lord Stout's hounds over a meaty bone and they kill one of the dogs. Yeah, I felt really bad. They were like, this is Lord Stout's hound.

And he was like too old and he wouldn't be able to like keep up with the two other dogs i was like dude if i were lord stout and we don't get his perspective obviously i'd be like what the fuck these people eat all of my food and then they kill my dog like who does that ramsey and his men, his merry men. Yeah, or, you know, different thing, but the Unsullied being forced to kill their dogs, like... That puppy, yeah, that sucks. Oh my god.

Anyway. Reap doesn't watch the fight. He keeps his eyes on Ramsay, and he thinks of Ben Bones, the kennel master, telling him how the dogs were named. They were named after the girls that Ramsay hunted. But only the ones who gave him good hunt got named. The ones who wept and

begged didn't get to come back as a bitch. Reek suspects that there's a Kyra that's gonna come out of the kennel next. No. Yeah, I know. Leave her alone. She did. Nothing wrong. She did at least stand up for herself as she was going out, but like, shit, she shouldn't have to have to do that yeah because he's a psycho yeah ben says that the

dogs are being trained to kill wolves he knew which wolves the girls were meant to kill but he had no wish to watch the girls fighting over his severed toe oh god that's a um now that we know there was a note though in the script for i think the name of the episode right is the lion and the rose that the purple wedding episode from germ about creating that setup for a fight between wolves and dogs i find that interesting and then also of course george r martin has said that you don't hang a wolf pack on the wall unless you mean to use it not like the wall the wall but like referencing Chekhov's gun wall

because that is ambiguous George you know you have a fucking important ass wall you can't just make us think you're going to hang wolves from the wall that's silly and absurd anyways you can see all those pieces being laid out yeah servants clean up the bloody mess and the room grows silent ramsey

smiles a greasy smile and he's like father ruse orders everyone out of the room but softly after gazing around at the whole thing that he sees and this is such a i can't believe what a disgrace you're being in front of our guests right now don't you know how to be diplomatic you psycho ass fuck right like this is exactly what ruse is thinking it's like such a macabre family affair the boltons are dysfunctional to the extreme and it shows right here but ruse later reminds us he doesn't go for this public dysfunction like this is this is too much yeah i mean i would be disappointed if my son were ramsay too even as ruse bolton ramsay orders reek to then be

enchained and taken and ruse is like no leave him we want him here which i think is interesting because it shows ruse as a different kind of more subtle kind of torturer or punisher because ramsay takes joy in that humiliation of reek in in what you're saying that public dysfunction parades him in front of everyone he wants everyone to see what he's done. Like, look at my thing. But Roose narrows it down. He makes it a much more, I think, personal punishment in that way because he wants Theon to see him humiliating Ramsay because what he's doing is essentially scolding and humiliating Ramsay in front of, like, his dog. Yeah, he expresses disappointment at Ramsey not finding the missing phrase.

Like that was his only job, which Ramsey comments the world won't miss a few phrase, which, you know, true. We get the full. It's not the only thing to be disappointed in Ramsey. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, honestly, this is probably the best thing your kid could have said. So throw up, Bruce. But we do get the full story. Wyman Manderly had said that the phrase rode on ahead of the party to get to Barrowton to see their kin before the wedding. But Bruce and Ramsey both don't really believe that.

Not whatsoever. Yeah, and it is interesting considering that Davos chapter revealing everything that comes before this. So we like know that they're not wrong. during that Davos chapter revealing everything that comes before this. So we like know that they're not wrong. Yeah. And it's, we get a lot of that exposition of ruse,

you know, knowing dude, we are on borrowed time here. Like we don't, you marrying Aria is what's keeping us here. And spoiler alert, it's not even Aria, you know, I mean,

we have a very weak hold. We are on thin ice. It's our, our ruse is perhaps also loose our ruse is loose all the different meanings of the word ruse our ruse is loose today everyone

Ramsay expresses irritation at ruse not throwing the welcome feast for his return it should have been in Barbary's keep but ruse reminds him Lady Dustin isn't fond of you and she's not yours to command. She hates you. Ramsey's face darkened. If I cut off her teats and feed them to my girls, will she abide me then? Will she abide me if I strip off her skin to make myself a pair of boots? Roos Bolton seated himself across the table from his son. Barbary Dustin is my second wife's younger sister,

Roderick Riswell's daughter, sister to Roger, Rickard, and mine own namesake, Roos, cousin to the other Riswells. She was fond of my late son and suspects you of having some part in his demise. Lady Barbary is a woman who knows how to nurse a grievance. Be grateful for that. Barotin is staunch for Bolton, largely because she still holds Ned Stark to blame for her husband's death. Staunch, Ramsey seethed.

All she does is spit on me. The day will come when I'll set her precious wooden town afire. Let her spit on that see if it puts out the flames god he's obnoxious yeah he really is um ruse goes on to tell ramsey to a shut up b we have frays and lannisters for now but what happens when a stark son comes back reek begins to freak out he thinks Ned Stark's sons are all dead. Robb was murdered at the twins and Bran and Rickon?

We dipped the heads in tar. He tries not to think of anything before he knew his name as it's too terrible to remember. Yeah. I guess Roose was in on the plan. He was in on the Roose. I'm so sorry, everyone.

Ramsay says that there is no issue. We slew both the Stark boys at once and we would do it again as well. But Roose is all like whoa. Hang on. Theon is the one who slew the boys. Alright? And it needs to stay

that way or the North isn't going to fucking follow us. You idiot. He goes on to tell ramsey that stories are being told of him and they're not good ones you got to start acting like a bolton right now now that you're legitimized and people fear him and he's like no that is literally not what we want ramsey's like no this is good and bruce like, no, this is good. And Bruce is like, no. Yeah, Bruce says, no tales were ever told of me. Peaceful land, quiet people.

That is my rule. But, um, I'd just like to make a couple comments, Bruce. One, lol the red wedding. Like, you know the only reason all these lords are gathering over these scraps and trying to figure out where the power is, it is because you killed the Starks. The murder, murder, but Red Wedding did it.

You did it. You did. But not all of them know that. Right. But like, yeah, I'm just making sure that he knows peaceful and quiet people um yeah Bruce well now they are

quiet right because they're dead Chloe murder murdered did it did that Ned loves hair. Loves cat's hair.

You're on Greyjoy vibes. Quiet ship. We keep a peaceful, quiet ship. Is this why you left Lady Dustin and your fat pig wife? So you could come down here and tell me to be quiet? Oh, I love that line. That's like some age 20s angst right there. Or like late teens, whatever he is. I think he's like 18, I guess.

I guess I could find out. He's like 282. Yeah. So he's like 18. He's 18. Yeah. He's like. Teenage angst.

I know. He's all like, I'm an adult now. Okay. Then maybe you should move into your own keep now ramsey yeah move out of your dad's basement ramsey yeah move into winterfell ramsey move out of yeah exactly the dreadfort so of course this is not why ruse left his beautiful chubby bride he left walda and lady dustin behind because stannis is on the march and he's taken deepwood mutt and he's restored it to the glovers which is great but

turns out Ramsay also wants to take the deepwood and Roose won't let him until after he's wed alright you gotta get hitched first but Ramsay is sick of waiting and says alright well we've got a fucking heart tree here tonight and I'll just impregnate her now and Roose says no

we're gonna do it at Winterfell. No, we're doing it live. Oh, gosh. It's like, I'm not trying to have you elope. I'm trying to make this like a fucking thing. This is an event. This is a royal wedding. This is huge in the symbolism of Ramsay marrying a Stark.

Ruse obviously knows this. He needs to marry the Stark girl dressed in gray and white with the dire with clasp in the Winterfell gods would in order to hold Winterfell. He's trying to set his son up for success in the family biz, but Ramsey is obviously not that smart. It's very much. So what I would imagine from older Joffrey and Tywin, what could have been.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. That's the same vibes, same energy. ramsey is unhappy about all this he reminds ruse that wait remember we burnt down winterfell and ruse is like oh my god you idiot no theon burnt down winterfell even ruined and broken winterfell remains lady aria's home what better place to wed her bet her her, and stake your claim? That is only half of it, however.

We'd be fools to march on Stannis. Let Stannis march on us. He's too cautious to come to Barrowton, but he must come to Winterfell. His clansmen will not abandon the daughter of their precious Ned to such as you. Stannis must march or lose them. And being the careful commander he is,

he'll summon all his friends and allies when he marches. He will summon Arnulf Karstark. Rue's constantly having to remind Ramsay about keeping up this line, being like, no, no, no, we didn't do that, okay? We didn't kill the Stark boys. It was the Ironborn who did that. The Ironborn ruined Winterfell.

It kind of reminds me of little finger teaching sansa how to be elaine very much so he is definitely the you know that that kind of role to ramsay yeah teaching him how to make a ruse oh my god also i'm gonna play this joke out till it's dead. I'm editing it out every single time. It's okay. Also, at the end of Adobada, Totally throws a ranch and- not ranch, fuck. Throws a ranch dressing.

Also, at the end of Adobada, you have Theon's escape totally throwing a wrench into all the plans that Bruce has laid out in this chapter. Like, by escaping with Jane Poole, there is no incentive or bait now for stannis to march on winterfell and also this whole thing about arnulf carsark whom we know is like in league with the boltons like theon reveals all that probably and ramsay shows that well i wanted to hunt down stannis anyway so they lose that that uh high ground or like that home

territory whatever advantage that i think ruse was hoping for yeah and john's already also kind of ruined that alliance as well stannis isn't going to turn towards arnulf as we learn because they have alice and they know the whole story now. They know he's in league with the Boltons. Yeah. Roose unfolds his plan. They march to Winterfell in three days after inviting the lords to accompany them, and then they will wed. An invitation will accomplish the same thing.

Power tastes best when sweetened by courtesy. You'd best learn that if you ever hope to rule. The lord of the dreadfort glanced at Reek. Oh, and unchain your pet. I'm taking him. So that power tastes best when sweetened by courtesy. Also, it goes back to at least Roose knows that fear is not the way you rule people. And that reminder in Sansa chapters of people loving you, that idea of courtesy being necessary to even maintain power. But there's this line here that I think is interesting where Roose is when Roose is taking Theon. You know, Ramsay's obviously mad that Roose is taking his pet and

Roose reminds Ramsay that everything he has is because of him. This is, I think, a get-a-job moment. The last name that Ramsay has now, his lands, his money. But he also says something that I think is interesting. Like, as for this, Reek, if you have not ruined him beyond redemption, he may yet be of some use to us. Get the keys and remove those chains from him before you make me rue the day that I raped your mother. Which is, you know, that's a line. But before we get to that, I want to focus on, I think it's interesting that if you have not ruined him before redemption,

because there is, of course, that hope for many people that Theon is not ruined beyond redemption, that he will find a way to redeem himself later in his arc. Ramsay, maybe you have not done that. Ramsay unlocks Reek's chains and moves in closely, threatening him, as he does, telling him not to tell Roos anything or else. He tells him he'll take another finger from him

when he gets back, and Reek begins to beg and sob. Ramsey slaps him, says to take him, says that he disgusts him. Like, all this is so dark. Like, who is directing this arc? Is it Tim Burton? No, it is not. It's George R.R. Martin.

George R.R. Burton? I don't know. Indeed. George R.R. Martin. All right. Lord Bolton offers Theon a horse. He asks him if he's able to ride. The horse moves away from Theon's stench as he

tries to mount it. Bruce asks Theon what to call him, but Theon tells him Reek. Bruce finds his stench appalling as well, which Reek apologizes for, but Bolton doesn't let him. He says it was his son's doing, not Reek's. I knew the first Reek he stank, though not for want of washing. I have never known a cleaner creature, truth be told. He bathed thrice a day and wore flowers in his hair as if he were a maiden. Once, when my second wife was still alive, he was caught stealing scent from her bedchamber. I had him whipped for that. A dozen lashes.

Even his blood smelled wrong. The next year, he tried it again. This time he drank the perfume and almost died of it. It made no matter. The smell was something he was born by the curse, the small folk said. The gods had made him stink so that men would know his soul was rotting my old maester insisted it was a sign of sickness yet the boy was otherwise as strong as a young bull no one could stand to be near him so he slept with the pigs until the day that ramsey's mother appeared at my gates to demand

that i provide a servant for my bastard who's growing up wild and unruly. That nothing helped, I guess. I gave her reek. It was meant to be amusing, but he and Ramsey became inseparable. I do wonder, though, was it Ramsey who corrupted reek or reek Ramsey? I can't believe you stayed in that voice for almost that entire passage. That was honestly... Give yourself

a round of applause. Pat your own back. That was... Do you really think that? I was like, is it... No, you commit to the do you really think that i was like no you commit to the bit and i think that has earned a lot you good for you good for you i only remembered later i was like shit we should have been doing ruse's voice as a whisper i know i tried to just do it like softer than what i would usually do and slower but like i just wasn't committing you committed i'm impressed i just want to tell a tell everyone again my fan casting for ruse bolton was uh the guy who plays doug stamper in house of cards i can see it

he he does the weird like soft voice yeah i can see it actually i might uh i'm gonna try to imagine that with some like crazy red pink cloaky shit you know what i mean i don't think anyone yeah i don't think anyone makes sense in that outfit to be honest but i did You know what I mean? I don't think anyone, yeah, I don't think anyone makes sense in that outfit, to be honest. I did, you know what, I did see some really cool fan-modified Photoshop photos of Michael McElhenney in the show, only with

a dark red leather, and the Bolton sigil painted on his stuff, and the leather tinted pinkish red, and it was really interesting. I would, uh, 8 out of 10, I'd be interested to see what this person pinkish red. And it was really interesting. I would, eight out of 10, I'd be interested to see what this person could do. And if it was like a dusty rose kind of pink,

you know, like a faded pink. True. Maybe it is. I mean, it must be more of that. It's not like magenta. It's dirty.

And the sun and the weather. And yeah. Bruce asks Reek what Ramsey said, but Reek is too afraid to tell him. So he guesses and yeah. Yeah. Roos asks Reek what Ramsey said, but Reek is too afraid to tell him, so he guesses and he guesses correctly. Reek is to not give Roos info on Ramsey and his doings, but Roos already knows Ramsey's doings. He did give Ramsey his own men, after all.

He tells Reek of how he met Ramsey's mom, how he exercised the old rite of the first night, even though Jaehaerys had abolished it. He says that the North keeps different gods and they don't answer to the Southern. Where the old gods rule, old customs linger. The Umbers keep the First Knight, too, deny it as they may. Certain of the Mountain Clans as well, and on Skagos, well, only heart trees ever see half of what they do on Skagos. Love that line. Pride unicorn.

Chloe and I are about to disagree. Yeah, we need to warn you guys about this disagreement. And your moms still love each other. You know, I think that's the important thing to take after you listen to what's about to happen. Yeah, and ultimately, you know, at the core of our relationship, it's about respect. And if Eliana's wrong, I mean, that's her opinion, man. She's not. And I mean if eliana's wrong i mean that's her opinion man

and i mean if chloe's wrong which i mean you do have like things that back you up in terms of other canons so yeah anyway so things that i do think were wrong like i do think that the show got it wrong the idea of who is actually the true scary villain in the larger context of the narrative because i think that yes ramsey is absolutely a terrifying villain and he's an extremely personal one whose horror we get to see through reek and through jane pool and it's very visceral and on the page how much of a looming presence he is in the story, especially for Reek. But I do see it as like, Roose Bolton scares Ramsay.

And like, Roose Bolton scares Arya, and has been in the narrative earlier, and is a big part of that Red Wedding, which was a turning point in the story. And we see that like, Roose is smarter than Ramsay's very explicit cruelty which ramsey struggles to hide and ruse is quiet because he knows that it isn't smart for people to fear you in the way that like little finger is also just hiding but the show i think this is my opinion was invested in that cinematic violence that you can see on the screen when it comes to Ramsey. But I find it that like Ramsey is in many ways, a monster that's created by the system, this feudal system returning again to that dark mirror Theon who was abusing his power, he felt entitled to it, because of the social hierarchy that and feeling like he can and because he was given that power. Whereas I see Rus as like this larger

villain. And in many ways, he's not the monster birthed by the system, but he is that system, like his cold eyes and that icy nature. A lot of that evokes the imagery of the others who are very much a metaphor for, again, that feudal system of lords treating their vassals as just things that they can use, those slaves who are theirs to control while they're in the middle and protected and it's like ruse and the miller's wife and keeping with like these old gods customs and i'm just saying that unlike in the show i think that ruse actually outlives ramsay well interesting i hear your opinion eliana um let me just clear the airways uh i'm gonna put this one out here so i hope you appreciate this

i like what you're saying however i think you reek what you sow and ramsey is you can yeah you can i fire you i would fight now i mean i again i still like maybe she should be hired for this, though. Yeah, maybe you should. You're promoted for that. We're only doing positive things nowadays, you know. Only hiring. Well, no, I think that's what makes us different, you know.

We differ on these opinions. You fire me for puns. I hire you and give you a raise for your puns. That's how you can tell your mom's apart um yeah i think that this is the monster that roost has created though by shoving him away by you know raping his mother shoving him away and you know giving a servant that he feels guilty and thinks might have poisoned him. And as we're going to come up upon, of course, in a little bit, there's a passage where Bruce tells Theon all about like, you know, this is why Ramsey's so

fucked up. He tells him about the reek stuff and then he's like and then he killed his brother. And it doesn't matter what you tell me. Like, I know that's what happened. Obviously, it's really freaking obvious. And he's like, and I'm not not gonna have any kids because he's gonna kill all my kids like he knows and he thinks you know a cursed is the kin slayer you know but he's gonna be kin slain i mean walda is gonna bring kids into this world and ramsay's not gonna be having that he can't have that and ramsay's fucking crazy. And direct analog, look at Tyrion killing Tywin. I mean, this is obviously Ramsey is a bit more extra than Tyrion somehow. I never thought I'd say those words about a character.

But yes, he is more extra than Tyrion. And he is a little psycho. And he's getting obviously pretty tense and pissed at his dad. All the murdering that's going on in A Dance with Dragons and Adowada. I can see Ramsay coming straight for Ruse. It's going to happen. That one's straight from the books, my friend. Scene and all.

I just, I'm just not sure if it's like one of those things where like, you know, how the directors loved Indira so much that they kept her around and had her kill Doran and kind of take on the role of ruling Dorne and stuff and they did that because obviously like because they liked that actor and the thing is like they liked even Rian

so much as Ramsay in his performance and found that audiences obviously responded to Ramsey's cruelty. You know he auditioned as Jon Snow first right? Oh I did not know that. I mean I loved him in Misfits. Close enough. See him? I could see him as uh Jon. I mean like it was before. He was I guess a little old for the role maybe. Anyway. I like to laugh at the way the show portrayed it because you know Wyman Manderley in the show during the King in the North speech for John's yells out, you know, he avenged the Red

Wedding. No, actually, Ramsey avenges the Red Wedding in the show. He kills his father. He kills Walda and her child, you know, her newborn child, which is in the show red wedding that's pretty much you know same thing that's he'll rob his mom and uh his uh his wife with baby and belly in the show talisa my favorite character from the canon and that's the irony of it that ruse conducted this wedding this was not selling ramsay actually had a hand in right right Ramsey was laissez-faire when it came to the red wedding but Roose helped orchestrate that and Roose wanted to slide into this powerful position and take where the Starks were this is what he gets he's getting killed off by his bastard son I can see it in like and I see your point of how it parallels

Tyrion killing off the other orchestrator of the Red Wedding. But for me, then I'm just like, what? It can go two ways. Like, on one hand, yes, it can be like that strong parallel between the two, or it can be Roose doing the opposite of what Tywin did. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know that he would kill Ramsay, but like it's,

is it too on the nose if both of them? Roose's battle is with Stannis. So if one of them stays or goes, we find out then. But I think Ramsay's battle will be with Jon. I don't think it's going to be a battle of the bastards per se, but I do think that Jon has to have some sort of involvement in getting his sister back.

Yeah, and going up against Ramsay. I just see like Ruse as maybe what? Like, I don't know that things get wrapped up that neatly in A Song of Ice and Fire, and they don't. But of course, it would be interesting if there were a lady stoneheart confrontation but george doesn't give us the things that we want in yeah and i really don't see lady stoneheart making it north i know the outline obviously had catalan dying north of the wall but that's

plainly changed as we know um so i just don't see her getting that much farther north than where she is right now on the riverlands I just think that I see that I see that Roose is framed similarly to the way like Varys and Littlefinger is right and that they are quite initially unsuspected characters and underestimated and

as opposed to Ramsay yeah but it kind of goes with that whole transitional villain idea too that Ruth isn't, you know, the transitional villain between the Joffrey to Euron kind of thing. He is Ramsey. So I guess we'll wait to see. We'll find out in next week when the book comes out.

Yeah, and I mean, as we said, like I think that your case is very strong in, like, all the things that you said and, of course, like, the show actually has that happening. Yeah, and I do think that's one thing that it's just and maybe it's, I mean,

Bruce has to die, so there's no reason for it to be, yeah, I mean, they all do. All men must die. Well, the Bolt's no reason for it to be. They all have to die. They all do. All men must die. Walda Bolton specifically. Yeah, fuckers. Yeah, except for Walda Bolton. Oh, except she's going to die. Yeah, she is, but they deserved.

Yeah, absolutely. Walda, Gatehouse Amy. I hope Gatehouse Amy survives. I hope somehow she's the only heir to the House of Frey. That would take a lot of fucking death. But I hope Anne- amory is somehow the lady of house fray in the end i mean gatehouse amy being the lady of the gatehouse yeah i'd be into it so ruse says a year later that the miller's wife came to his doorstep with a gross ass little red baby ramsey in her arms after he fucked her. And he was forced to accept Ramsey was his because of their matching creepy ass eyes.

He claims the woman poisoned Ramsey with ideas of his birthrights. And Roos kind of talks about how he thinks Ramsey is a weak bitch, which again, underestimating him is probably not a good idea in this scenario, but I digress. Reek defends him, and he says Ramsey's not afraid of anyone, and Roos says, well, he should be. Roos mentions Reek should tell Ramsey he should be more afraid of the northern lords, but Reek is like, I can't, what are you talking about? Like, he'll, he'll, and Roos is like, I know, I know, the guy's psycho, Like, he'll, he'll, and Roose is like, I know, I know, the guy's psycho, and we should have leeched him. Or correct Theon, which, like, okay, first off, it's a little late for that.

Yeah, you should have leeched him. Like, I don't think that'll get the bad blood out, dude. I don't think it, I don't think leeching him would have done anything, but, you know, that's a thing that you could have chosen to do. You're still standing here like the little bitch you are, so, you know. Yeah, when Roose says that Ramsay should have fear, it does make me think again of Ned Stark. Because it always does nowadays. And I'm like, oh, the good people have fear and they face their fears anyways. Yeah, and that's the thing is obviously Roose is garbage and he's horrible. However, compared to Ramsay, he's like a walk in the park.

I mean, if you're on his good side, yeah. You're not, you know, a Stark or, you know, like he I would choose him over Ramsey any day. I'd be like, yes, Roos, daddy. What up? Like, I'll marry you. Yeah. And I mean, all you have to do is, I guess, be enthusiastic in bed and he'll be like, yeah, I could be fond of you. That's you know what?

Hey, I've had worse relationships. Oh, my God. All right. Reek says to Roos, whoa, Ramsey is your only son. And Roos is like, for now. And also, lol, foreshadowing again. Like, there's just all these little bits that are like, ah, what's going to happen? There's obvious tension being built with dad and Ramsey.

Roos tells him that story of dumb Eric that we talked about earlier and how dumb Eric was basically everything you want in a true born son. I mean, he was, he was a good boy. Yeah. He could outrace anyone. Even Rickard Stark's daughter, my girl. Oh, is this a, is this RLJ? Yeah, RLJ. She was half a horse herself. Wow. Which there half a horse herself. Wow. Which there is a line here.

It's a little tag basically nod toward what a lot of people use in the Night of the Laughing Tree explanation, which is, you know, she was half a horse herself. And then to be good in jousting, which dumb Eric was rumored to be, you know, he'd be great and be able to enter the list soon. To be great at jousting, though, you needed to be a good horseman first and foremost. So jot that down, because Night of the Laughing Tree is Lyanna Stark.

It is. It is. Yeah, dumb Eric served in the Vale as a squire to Lord Redfort. He was Lady Dustin's page for a time, and he knew the high harp and songs, and he read histories. Ramsey sought him out. Is he like Rhaegar?

He's basically like Rhaegar. Dumb Eric would have been such a northern heartthrob had he been allowed to, you know, live. Yeah, but I guess we can't have nice things. Dumb Eric, putting the dumb in the Eric, sought out Ramsey because he wanted to meet his only brother and then he came up with a sickness of the bowels and he died. That's the end of Dumb Eric. I've never heard of someone having a sickness of the bowels and being assassinated before.

Killed by his enemies. Poisoned. Now his bones lie beneath the dreadful with the bones of his brothers who died still in the cradle. And I am left with Ramsey. Tell me, my lord, if the kinslayers are cursed, what

is a father to do when one son slays another? Or when son slays father. Which is a theme this story explores. But it could explore the other- we haven't explored the other way around. That could be a thing. I'm just saying.

Ruth, sitting on a toilet, looking up as Ramsay's there with a crossbow. The Ruth's loose bowels. That's what we have for all of you today. Oh my god. Reek says that Roos has a new wife to give him sons and Roos says

eh, knows that they're not gonna live because Ramsay would never allow that and Reek is kind of wondering why Roos is having this midlife crisis

at him and asks what he wants with him which is some very people just confessing random things to sons of Ives. Yeah, absolutely.

Why is this why are they telling me these things? And Roose says that a bath is going to make you sweeter. And offers him some clothes, some fineries, velvet clothing that, you know, things that he used to like and wear often. But Reek cannot disobey Ramsay. And I think he's also just ashamed of his body and that people are going to learn what else has been taken from him if they dress him yeah absolutely it's killing me too because all these people are looking at him all these northern lords and they're like what the fuck theon turncloak what the fuck what's wrong with this motherfucker but they're doing nothing about it like you know it's him and you see what's happening to him and like it doesn't matter if he was the turn cloak like are there no true knights among you no because there aren't any knights in the north chloe oh that's true for jorah yeah absolutely

also like there are none anymore because they all died in war also true but they don't do that shit left they don't do that shit up there yeah so ruse does the weirdest thing which is he thanks reek for taking down the north and reeks like what the fuck and ruse is like i mean you no harm and reek is like what the fuck stares at the camera what the fuck like just whispering at the camera and they arrive at barrow hall finally ruse leads them to a keep where lady dustin and the late lord dustin's arms fly they climb the stairs to the hall, Reek's legs weak all the while, to see Lady Dustin.

Lady Dustin is highborn, and she's showing some small signs of aging, but she stands tall and unbent and handsome, and she immediately asks where the boy is, worried that Ramsay refused to give him up until the realization dawns that this is it! Here is the boy! This thing that I brought you this week! This is Theon!

Here's the pair of larvae. Yes! This is it! And they begin to go back and forth and she's like, what the hell happened to him? Roos is like, oh, you know, he was with Ramsey and he's missing a few bits. She's like, is he

mad? And Roos is is like i mean maybe maybe but does it matter reek could hear no more please my lord my lady there's been some mistake he fell to his knees trembling like a leaf in a winter storm tears streaming down his ravaged cheeks i'm not him i'm not the turncloak he died at winterfell my name is reek he had to remember his name it rhymes with freak oh oh like a leaf in a winter storm tears streaming down his ravaged cheeks such good imagery the prose the imagery all of it in these chapters the construction of these chapters are perfect it It has this like heart wrenching sadness and disgust and we're not even through it yet. And I'm already sentimental at this journey. You know, I'm already getting really emotional

about it because it breaks my heart to see kind of what his plots devolve to on the TV show compared to where we know he's going in the book, because his story is so gripping and terrifying and upsetting. And it's a bit watered down because now we want him to get this redemption we've watched him suffer at length chapter by chapter we want him to get to safety to go to a home a place he can be home a place to be safe these ones are kind of like the worst most grueling ones because it's literally torture but the payoff in the last couple chapters of his are really really good like the weirwood scenes and i'm ready it's just like that this ends with like just him he he can't break it and i i i'm also just thinking like ruse bolton and lady dustin are just like in the room like looking like surprised pikachu because i'm always gonna think about that

meme constantly and they're just like, what just happened here? What is wrong with this dude? Oh my god, I did not. Oh god. What is wrong with this kid? How are we going to fucking pull this off? Yeah, absolutely. I need a cigarette.

These are some heavy chapters. I don't even smoke cigarettes, but I need a cigarette. Dude, it's downhill from here before it goes back uphill you know we gotta wait we gotta wade through it we have like all of those things with Jane still yeah that's gonna be awful

it doesn't get better at this I hate this stupid podcast we do yeah but we're gonna keep doing it we'll be back next week for episode 42 uh just for you guys just for you guys yep and you know stay tuned with when we put out that next episode we have our social media where you can subscribe to us on twitter at girls gone canon or shoot us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com hey make sure you're subscribed to one of our many ways to listen to us.

We are available to stream on Spotify, on iTunes, on Google Play, on Stitcher, and on Acast. Sure. And of course, we have a new Patreon episode this week. It's our February Patreon episode, which is talking about the closing out ending not closing out which is talking about the end of the dance of the dragons we have parts one and two up on our patreon right now and all subscribers who are five dollars plus will get those episodes you'll definitely get it if you're a Blood subscriber. A Blood level?

Christ. Absolutely. The new tier that we came up with. It's not Blood Riders. It's literally the horse named Blood. No, just Blood. Yes, Blood. You will get a severed head and a Patreon episode.

Yes, that is the level. Thanks so much for tuning in. As always, guys, I'm Chloe. Find me on the internet as at Liza Narber. And, of course, I am Eliana. you might know me as glass table girl probably goodbye goodbye