Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 96 - ADWD Jaime I

Episode Date: July 17, 2020

The final Jaime chapter: The end of the road in the middle of Jaime's journey where he's taken a lot of detours – emotionally but also physically. He settles a dispute between Blackwood and Bracken but not the one in his heart when he sets off to an unknown fate that we've all been waiting to learn for years.   ---   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 Intro by Anton Langhage

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon, A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 96, Jamie and a Dance with Dragons, Adowada 1. Adowada! vice of fire episode 96 jamie and a dance with dragons adobada one adobada i am one of your hosts chloe and i am another one of your hosts eleon it is ingrained within me that is it is adobada that is that is it i actually feel bad that we haven't been saying Adabada as often as we could have been. Or Afak, to be honest. Afak. Afak is what you should really mourn for. Ah, fuck. We haven't been saying it enough. That we have not been saying.

And shame on us, Bookshelf Stud, were he here, would also say shame on us. But Adabada, we are in adobada now we have a lot to catch up on it was really fun having guests the last two weeks during a feast for crows we had our friend kristen krt md on with us super jamie fanatic in the last episode and before that we had Don Willey on for Jamie Sixx in Afuk. Afuk. Afuk. No, we had Don Willey on and that was wonderful though. So the Blackfish encounter was Brendan the Blackfish.

It was very, it was, I felt like the 8-bit pixel shades were being lowered down on Brendan Tully's face. That's a meme. It's a YouTube video. I think that, yeah, it is a meme. I'm pretty sure I've seen it. Yeah, I used to love that YouTube video. It's to Muse. Yep.

Interesting. I could never get into Muse, but that's a different conversation for a different day. We have another song-related thing. So this week we said we are going to address some emails and tweets of note, and one of them we got from our patron Sir Flow of the Shelled Shield. That's actually very difficult to say.

Sir Flow of the Shelled Shield. The Shelled Shield is hard. I have a voice made for radio, so I don't think it's your fault, but I don't think it was that bad. I think it's me. I'm wrong. Anyway, so Sir Flow of the shelled shield says hey i just listened to your podcast on jamie seven and had an odd relation in my head i thought you guys might enjoy i couldn't help but think of mac miller's song perfect circle specifically the first verse and chorus when hearing your

discussion on jamie's dream in the chapter of course this was not intended so it is not a perfect parallel, but I felt the theme and some of the lyrics strongly tied together. The aspects of self-loathing, past mistakes guiding your future, and the line, you got options, what do you do? It might have been you ladies saying that phrase, but it stuck out to me and I just felt the need to share. If you are unfamiliar with the song, one of his best, in my opinion, says Sir Flo. First of all, I just want to say r.i.p mac miller yeah i uh i actually do like mac miller sam i just had a conversation with a friend this weekend about mac miller and i think it's actually stronger in jamie one a dance with dragons. Adowada. Yes, Adowada.

Yeah, I can definitely see that. And I mean, same. I do like Mac Miller as well. And I think I'm glad that Sir Flo sent this to us. Yeah, I know. I'm just saying things. Actually, this kind of works, especially in this chapter, not just in Jamie 7. There's this line in Perfect Circle.

Every devil don't got horns. Every hero ain't got capes. Opened up my eyes. Shit, I'm finally awake. Good morning. Yeah, good morning. And that, that's some Jamie 1. A dance, a do-da.

A do-da. How dare I disrespect the process. I know. That's a good one. I think that's insightful i come from a generation of uh myself for aol instant messenger away message lyrics same same yeah so i can't tell you how many times as a youngster back when i was 11 12 years old i had hawthorne heights i'm outside of your window with my radio you know blaring or whatever. So don't feel bad. I think this is really insightful, sir. Flow of the shell shield.

I think it's funny that you make it sound like it was only when you were really young. I was doing that well into my early 20s. Every now and then. Oh, I retweet different lyric bots on Twitter all the time. I can't help who I am. Yeah, there were lyric bots. But yeah, I have to suppress that urge constantly. But I mean, there are definitely songs that sometimes you're just like, wow, that definitely feels like something that's going on for this character. So thank you for that. I like this.

I like this idea of people sending songs. I know you and I actually just were talking the other day of like could we make playlists for patrons like mixtapes like spotify mixtapes i don't know i know game of thrones did that back then as one of their um yeah they made songs of like bubblegum pop like shoegaze electronica bubblegum pop like i was like what is like churches was the only good thing on that playlist anyways i'm just saying i could do better so back then when because i would listen to things but not always add them to my spotify library which i guess i should do but i ended up getting theon grayjoy i think as my as what they match me with and it was a lot of ell Smith and let that tell you about me what it needs

to. I spent the weekend singing Elliot Smith so again I'm feeling like this is very spot on to the AOL instant message away message experience I'm glad we're connecting so well thanks

so much for sending us an email Sir Flo of the Shelled Shield. Big shout out to our patrons. Thanks again. And our friend Brooke emailed us. They heard about us on Noticast. They equate Jamie to a jock who has to get a real job. Get a job.

And get over his high school sweetheart at the age of 35. The raw age of 35 the raw age of 35 and their spiciest take in their opinion was that jamie has an interesting fixation on ned stark it's interesting they both hold arthur dane in very high regard and also brooke said they're kind of into that jamie ned crack ship you know that that namey jed i don I don't know, Eliana, what rule you? What's the official name? I kind of like Jed. What about Jedderd?

Jedderd is good, too. I think they have the same energy. It's just one short for the other, just like Ned is short for Eddard, right? And I think that they're both interchangeable. I think it's good as a ship name. Okay, well, that's not the most important, though. Like, I was just kidding, but I think it's good as a ship name okay well that's not the most important though like i was just kidding but i think it's an important thing but they they said that most importantly they were wondering if john will be present for jamie's potential second king

kinslaying and they note that if the five-year gap which we often reference had happened They note that if the five-year gap, which we often reference, had happened, John would be around the age Ned was during Robert's rebellion. And they imagine that the Ned-alike would freak Jaime out. Hmm. So I think that's possible, and I think that's going to happen to John quite a bit. I don't know about Jaime, but I do just- not to change the subject too much, but I do think that it's something that John is going to clash with Jorah about.

I know that there was some tension in the show, but they didn't really play it up. But I do think it's something that's going to be a big deal because, I mean, Jorah's got some very deep-seated resentment towards Ned Stark. For Jaime, I think, I don't think Jon will be there when it happens. When Jaime does it. I don't think he can get south that fast. There's that, and I think it's something that just isn't... For me, personally, it doesn't feel like it's something that would relate to Jon's arc at the moment. It might be something he hears about, but I don't think it's something that he's going to be in the room for if anything i mean maybe he comes like right after but i it doesn't feel i don't know that it feels like that

i i think that it seems like it's going in a different the the streams right are going in different directions not like the story's going in a different direction like there's there's something else that's going on there narratively yeahdugly. Yeah and for me I always I mean I face theories logistically as well. Jamie's probably gonna spend some time in the Riverlands in at least the first half of The Winds of Winter right? We at the very end of this chapter that we're about to discuss and talk about in a while we'll chat Jamie's future for sure and brian shows up and they're in the riverlands and you know he says he's going to go to king's landing but he ends up sticking around the riverlands and i wonder if you know john's dead right we know john's dead

we did that last art last chapter pov if you recall it was a very long time, and I love Jon, but I'm very happy that we are moving on with our POV lives with Jaime, and then of course next week Aerys Oakheart, another Kingsguard. But, I don't know, I don't think Jon's gonna wake up with time to really join in with Jaime. I think

if Jaime has to go confront Cersei by halfway through the bookish to the end of the book, somewhere in that span, because the first half, again, possibly Riverlands in his first few chapters, Jon's got other fish to fry in the north. He's not going to go south for a bit. It feels like a storyline that's more entangled with perhaps Tyrion's and therefore Daenerys's, but not necessarily Jon's. for Daenerys's but not necessarily Jon's. And I think it's worth remembering, right, that in the books we have Aegon who might be playing more of that role

opposite Daenerys versus Cersei. Absolutely. I think that's a big thing to remember. Yeah. I think that the thought that Jon would be around the same age as during Robert's Rebellion is interesting, but I think that's a thing that again I feel is more pertinent to someone like Jorah's storyline but the idea of Jaime and John

meeting up I think that's something that definitely has to happen especially because it sounds like Jaime had such a huge impression on John back then and the way that their careers have kind of paralleled each other in many ways of like why don't i join the celibate order and then break my vows i i think it'd be interesting if if anything would john and jamie

connect right like them being like i the things that i have done the things that have happened to me are irredeemable i would even double down on that statement and say, Will Jamie, and this is if he survives Stoneheart, if he survives The Winds of Winter, this would have to be in A Dream of Spring. If there's any credence to the ending of Game of Thrones, which I would say that because the last episode made mostly no narrative sense when linked to the rest of the entire show that happened for eight seasons and however many episodes before it,

if that episode is so separate, it's likely that it was not their writing because it did not connect. And it's likely it was canonical. I'm just saying because none of it made sense. So if John's ending is similar, he would be a kin slash queen slayer, as we know. And if Jaime is going to participate in a second queen or kin slaying, and if Jaime's already had his initial king slaying,

I don't know. I think there's something more in that connection i think maybe they would connect on that but that's if jamie survives to that point and i think that's a bigger question to answer first yeah that is a question absolutely and i think some of the dreams sort of imply maybe something like that but i don't know i don't know okay we have one last comment to talk about from a patreon post from our friend dibbles and bits eliana take it away i love this name still dibbles and bits you know that everyone knows that dibbles and bits says the more you talk about tywin's neglect of infrastructure and building, the more I'm convinced either Jaime

or Tyrion will end the series as first builder to repurpose Night's Watch. Hmm. You know, that's a really good point. Now that I think about it, I didn't really think in that manner, but I don't know. I used to heavily buy into that

the theory that Jamie will be in the Night's Watch or possibly even the Blank's Lord Commander right like pick a number Lord Commander a lot of people have different theories about him going to the Night's Watch and I think that would be really great narratively compared to his white cloak you know turning it black and going to be a better man there and bring order to a good thing but like i don't know i don't again this narratively depends upon jamie's survival in the main story of a song of ice and fire and it would be nice if he survived i guess if i cared about him i would love it if he did, I guess, if I cared about him. I would love it if he did. I just don't think he will.

I don't think he will. I just don't. I don't know that I would love it if he survived. That would be attaching a very strong emotion to that. And I don't feel strong emotions about Jamie Lannister. You can quote me on that. But I would say that it would be a nice thing if he could survive. But I think that at the end of the day, he has a duty to fulfill whatever that

duty is, we're gonna learn. I mean, speaking on a larger level, right? Like if the idea of everything is very cyclical, I think that there's a possibility that we see a lot of people not not just Jamie, but you know, a lot of people from his generation, those who lived through and fought Robert's Rebellion die, not only as I mean, because there's going to be a war, it's going to be quite many wars

and very large and a very rough winter, theoretically. I think it will be in the books. you end up with... Odds are you answer against him yeah you end up with a there's that and you end up with something that ends up mirroring the state of westeros after robert's rebellion right where you're rebuilding and you have a bunch of fucking teenagers in charge of everything traumatized teenagers and you wonder why society sucks i mean it's hard i mean again being a teenager is already hard enough like my god and so i think there's that but if anyone were to be first builder of

the night's watch i think that tyrian would be someone who would be qualified for it but and this is a bit a personal opinion on my part it would bum me out if there was still a night's watch because like the whole point of the night's watch right especially if they address the threat of the others and that all gets figured out like the whole point of the night's watch was to protect against that and then it ended up evolving into something that just sort of like kept a bunch of people without any fucking rights for a long ass time so i don't know that the night's watch will really exist in that same way and if it does it would bum me out i wouldn't be surprised if it does but it would bum me out i expect there will have to be some sort of reform because it's a different foundation than keeping the people that are

different from us out right at the wall if the walls crumbled and civilization kind of dies in the north for a hot second which is what we all kind of expect will happen in this wintry snowy apocalypse i don't know i just maybe i'm just disillusioned right now with some of the stories with all the you know like at the end the hero becomes a cop forever like john snow Lord Commander forever or Jaime Lannister then gets to go north and be Lord Commander against snowy hills of nothingness and teaches men to make stew

of carrots I get it I get the humbled property of it all again maybe it's just because I'm watching Korra Legend of Korra and I'm just having a lot of war thoughts but I don't know I just think like the Night's Watch

still existing in that manner was definitely a cheap blow in the Game of Thrones endgame I know it was different like they all went back to go find their own home now the threat of magic was gone or evil magic but like and it was kind of like a cover for john anyway yeah it was absolutely a cover it was like a loophole yeah but i and i again i wouldn't be surprised if it

was dissolved in that like i get and and now that i think about it to dibbles and bits credit they did just say every purpose night's watch yes no absolutely and abolished and remade and i get that it just everything maybe just feels dismal right now is that me if any yeah if anything if anyone i think it would be tyrian would actually be qualified for it he peed off that wall that's true honestly i'm envious of that act. I'm not going to lie. Okay, well, something you're not going to be envious of is our monstrous lightning round. I don't know if we can even call this a lightning round. Yeah, thunderstorm.

That's what I was going to say. I think we're about to be thunderstruck by this. So here's what we did. There's one chapter from Jamie Seven, A Feast for Crows, ah fuck. And the end of A Feast for Crows, and that is Sam 5. We will talk about that in a second. And then the appendix. And then we're going to do something different where we summarize the entire character arc

for each character in a Dawada so that we can move the fuck on with our lives and get into Jamie. We're going to have to be fast. We're gonna have to be swift. I'm not talking Harris Swift. I'm talking fast talking swift. So keep up and let's do it. Lightning round, Eliana.

Are you ready? I'm ready. Oh my god, let's go. All right, a piece for- I'm sorry. Afik, Sam 5. Sam meets Marwyn the mage who most think is an old dud but is an absolute firecracker advising sam in life at the citadel get in and

get out or die trying or someone sews your face except like you're on zion's way so die trying uh appendix i have nothing to say about it so so we'll move on to Well, it starts out with Let's move on to Adabada the prologue Oh, all I wrote for this was to be sung to the tune of Lump by Presidents of the USA if you played rock band in the last couple

decades, you might recognize it Bump, she's bump she's bump, she's in your head Does no one else like grunge is it just me i didn't listen to that to them i know that people did but i didn't i'm sorry it's all right daenerys stalwart shield's body is presented to daenerys and so are the bones of a child as the warring mounts around her she knows the only way to protect her people, marry his Darzelorak.

But the marriage to his dark materials has chained the dragon and by book's end, Daenerys takes flight on Drogon in order to learn who she is and wake the dragon within. Very dramatically telling. I'm very here for this. Poor Quentin.

Quentin and his mates embark on an adventure, but war makes monsters of us all, or slaughter of some of us. Hoping to fulfill a pact made long ago with the Targaryens, Quentin fails his father, turning into a frog at the end

of the day. Well, frog soup maybe. Frog barbecue. Mmm Well, frog soup, maybe. Frog barbecue. Mmm. Fried frog? Crispy. Yeah. Crispy frog's good.

Barristan. Barristan must keep the peace when his queen flees, but hands seem to change like shifts of beasts in the night around Meereen. He does his best, but the power vacuum left in Drogon and Dany's wake leads straight to war. Jon. Jon's vows conflict with saving the north throughout Adawada.

Stannis' rejections, both current and impending, tend to complicate the political situation for Jon, who's already given too much to this king. John must use his lord face to save two princes at the cost of his friend's happiness. He brings justice to dissenters in the watch,

but his actions are seen by many as treasonous, and the men of the watch perform mutiny as the act closes. Bran. Bran and his party are led by cold hands to the act closes. Bran. Bran and his party are led by Coldhands to the last unicorn. The last green sea urn. Sorry, the unicorn is actually wrecked, my bad.

Where Bran is to learn and hone his skills in time to fulfill his role against the longest of knights, the Winter Solstice. So not longer than like an hour and a half on HBO, right? Anyways.

That's right, it was actually entitled Long Night, wasn't it? Yup, they did that. I tried not to think about it. Arya. With her own green sight returned to her, Arya takes on a new face, completing her first assassination.

Valar Margulis. New face who dis? Man, that's actually good. Davos. Davos travels through storms to make his way to White Harbor, where he'll vie for Wyman's tensions to win him to Stannis' regime. But what Davos finds is more valuable than White Harbor's allegiance. And more dangerous, too. danis's regime but what davos finds is more valuable than white harbor's allegiance and more dangerous too his task changes he must head into the treacherous waters surrounding skagos and

bring home prince rick and stark and the last unicorn oh my god i'm so i'm kind of sad you didn't get this one but i will perform it for you this is a performance it's okay thank you thank you chloe perform for me after you will have to guess where it's from. Dance for me, Chloe. Victarion. Victarion has always been put down by his brother, Yuren. Victarion is just as cute as Yuren. Victarion's just as smart as Yuren.

People totally like Victarion just as much as they like Yuren. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody? Because that's not what the Iron Islands is about. We should totally just stab Euron. Victarion Greyjoy headcraft. The Victarion chapters

are gonna be something. That was my Victarion Mean Girls act. Thank you. I was my Victorian Mean Girls act. Thank you. I appreciate it. Mm-hmm. I appreciate it. Dude, it was wild when I found out that the girl from Mean Girls was also in...

Eliza Thornberry? No, but that's wild to me, too. Which one? Eliza is Lacey Chabert, Gretchen Wieners. I was thinking Amanda Seyfried, because I just recently watched all of Veronica Mars. Oh, okay, okay. Whoa.

Anyways, Asha, failing to hold deep in Mott, it is now Asha Greyjoy's turn to put up with Stannis Baratheon. Theon, once lost as Reek Theon endures further torture at the hands of Ramsay Bolton and witnesses worse Jane Poole awakens Theon and he remembers his name

helping to bust her out of Winterfell and into the snowy drifts surrounding it Jon Conn long has Jon Connington awaited the moment he can avenge his silver prince praegor targaryen in league with illyrio and varys to promote agon targaryen the snake says the rightful ruler of westeros some stony shenanigans ensue and maybe some stony and salty and sandy shenanigans as well. Get it? Like the Dornish?

I do get it. I do get it. Speaking of Dornish, Erio Hotah. Norboshi, may I add. But Doran Martell reveals his slow burn plan for revenge against the Lannisters, dispatching the snakes across the country to do their damage, and Ariane to scout Aegon Targaryen's dick. Hota prepares to work with Obara and Balon Swann in finding and stopping Darkstar. Sure doesn't sound like he might die when they both turn on him after Balon Swann is killed. Can't see any of that happening at all.

Bummer, I kind of like Arya Hota. I do too, but I think it's a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Rip. melisandre melisandre reveals just a few of her secrets to us like some of her backstory and her morality but a lady never reveals her age and now for a lannister powwow which is is basically where we're going to highlight Cersei and Tyrion before we move into Jaime 1, Adowada. Cersei 1, we'll break it down chapter by chapter for her. Abandoned as a hostage of the faith, Cersei decides she's been betrayed by all of her counselors.

She refuses to believe Jaime betrayed her as well. She takes matters into her own hands as well as she can, confessing to some of her crimes. Her uncle Kevin answers her questions, though he's pretty pissed about the Lansel stuff. Jamie's disappeared with Brienne of Tarth, Harlet, Mace Tyrella's hand, Paxtor Redvine as Admiral, and Tarly as the Justiciar. Sellswords are appearing everywhere, they've lost a kingsguard aries okart and marcella lost an ear and this is cersei's big moment robert strong kingsguard 2020 and then we have cersei too they think that this will break my pride that it will make an end to me but they are wrong hair grows back it does that that did happen to samson in the bible people are really like it was

a big deal yeah like cersei's crazy like i got that and whatever but like cersei the wind's winner just think about it for a second yeah that's peak that's peak entertainment i cannot wait okay let's talk about tyrian i guess tyrian tyrian is smuggled off the narrow sea and into alirio mopadis's manse where alirio reveals his next new project he explains he's convinced the Golden Company to break their contract and put swords to Daenerys's side. Illyrio and Tyrion bond over dead wives. Tyrion parts from Illyrio, joining a man named Griff and his son, young Griff. Great disguises. Good job, everyone. The reveal comes that young Griff is Aegon, and tyrian helps instigate what will probably be the next civil war in westeros good job everyone doing good for shits and giggles that's

he was just like i'm bored why not start a war do crimes you know so we're gonna give you the jamie adowada one in overview in a second but before that we are going to talk a little about the surrounding chapters and jamie's last published chapter as of july 14 2020 we are recording this i'm trying not to think about things did you know that it's like what it was the ninth anniversary of a dowada this on july 12th 2020 we don't have to talk about it eliana okay i'm sorry we've gone to read other books remember we're feeling the holes which is why we're doing this reread podcast um so it comes after Tyrion X and before Jon X. Wow, look at all these tens. And in Tyrion X, Tyrion is sold into slavery along with Jorah and Penny, avoiding a sellsword who likely wanted to murder him for the bounty that Cersei has placed on his head.

Which, you know, by asking for dead or alive, a lot of people have died on account of this. It was not a great policy. But anyways, and landing in a wealthy man's care who wants them to perform their show. They perform for Yezen's guests, including Brown Van Plum and Tyrion Plays Savas, proving very clever at Pai's show. And Yezen announces that they'll play in the slaver pits. I feel like there are definitely some Jamie parallels popping out here, right? How it fits. It's kind of a Baron Maidenfair redux in the making, right?

Tyrion thinks right now that he can perform his way out of pretty much anything. The seeds are being planted, of course, for his freedom and the long game, but his fate in the shorthand kind of looks a little fiery when you consider those pits being reopened. Interesting. And I think we're going to see a lot of other parallels between their storylines soon, too. And

you know, they're both on very long extended trips and pulling away from their family, thinking about them all the time. Someone else whose storyline, as we personally feel, is wrapped up in Jamie's in a way, is in John 10, Melisandre

marries Alys Karstark and Sigurd at the Wall. John jails Cregan Karstark, who again, later on, I want to point out that he throws his frozen poops, which is honestly an act that must be commended every time

he does it to protect Allie's and takes her side of the succession dilemma a raven comes in the middle of the wedding feast from Eastwatch reporting a delayed hard home relief crew leaving this is like the time that my friend

got a fucking work call in the middle of the wedding. Not his wedding, thankfully, and he left with his laptop and went out into the lobby and took care of it. Anyways, the writer Glendon Hewitt is untrustworthy in John's eyes. Axel Florey presses John further about Val's disappearance, but before he can press too hard,

a horn sounds and Val has arrived back with Torment Giants Babe. You know, I think this chapter specifically fits well with Jamie, right? I feel like there are a lot of big political moves being made in this chapter. Like, in Jon's position as Lord Commander, should he be making all of these big decisions? Furthermore, should Jamie as Lord Commander of the should he be making all of these big decisions furthermore should jamie as lord commander of the king's guard be making some of the big decisions and threats and things he's making no because we all know that yes while he attended and called himself king's guard a lion still has claws he is a lannister or he's struggling with his lannister identity which we are going

to explore in this upcoming chapter great sandwich for it but john puts setting a precedent for female inheritance in the north in this chapter did you notice that that's true i didn't think about that until you brought it up hmm i wonder if it's foreshadowing. Anyways. Anyways. Jamie takes some hostages in this chapter and he hints at choosing a marriage himself for young Miss Bracken in the capital. And then of course, John and Jamie distrust Janos and Jonos, which we will talk about later. later. That's a good point of how it connects to Jaime making political moves. I think it's a discussion and I do, the roles of the Night's Watch and the Kingsguard are a little different.

The Kingsguard in many ways is absolutely a political tool used by the crown in many ways like either gifting spots or not or whatever Ares was doing to by choosing Jaime. So different things going on but for now you know we're gonna start off with jamie one jamie arrives at old raven tree hall where

moss grows amongst its square stone towers jamie of course thinks that square towers are good and all for looks, but they aren't really wise, right? They're built from the predated era. They were built before round towers were safe. So not a lot of research. It's old. It's an old place. It's set amidst a fertile valley, the Blackwood Vale, but no trees grow here any longer. Axes cleared them long ago, and now homes and mills and hold fasts have replaced them within the walls of the castle some

of the forest remained a god's wood a weirwood of colossal size jamie arrives amidst mud and ashes in the riverlands the orchards and fields that once surrounded burnt and wasted and the crops gone it's a really evocative opening as a lot of these scenes in the riverlands are and there's some like fantastic imagery right from the get-go that i feel reminds us a lot of the destruction in the riverlands and how that's described from jamie and brienne's feast chapters even aria's chapters in a clash of kings and i i personally think that the jamie one adowada chapter was written probably around the same time as many of the feast chapters but got moved to adowada because of i think timing and stuff but especially with the way that the desolation of the lands on the way to stand fast in the sworn sword or written the sworn sword

came out 2003 feast came out 2005 and you know it don't want to came out 2011 but anyway um but i think that you can see a lot of the same themes and language regarding the feud between cold mode and stand fast running throughout this chapter. We'll come back to some of the other ways that it does in a bit throughout all this, but you see it in a lot of the feuding, etc. And I want to come back first to some of the imagery that's here up top to once more show how George evokes the presence of Lady Stoneheart. She's kind of like a big deal in the books she's there in the books at all and she plays a really big part in how this chapter ends

and it's not said explicitly there as to what's going on but like we all know right we we know what happened from the east and it her presence is here right from the beginning like we opened the chapter with this line of like in that first paragraph moss grew thick between its ancient stones spider webbing up its walls like the veins in a crone's legs and i think that everyone thinks of spider webs like a thing that goes around with like old and dead shit like spooky shit in general yeah but this idea of the veins of a crone's legs like catelyn stark wasn't a crone but lady stoneheart is absolutely presented as one and then we have another line of like some of the trees in their godswood were said to be as old as raven trees square towers especially the heart tree a wherewith of colossal size whose upper branches could be seen from leagues away like bony fingers scratching at

the sky and from the heart tree slash you know the god's woods that we associate with the starks to the idea of those bony fingers scratching at the sky i think it just really recalls how the bony dead fingers of lady stoneheart in general and then her final act right when she was Catelyn of just scratching and clawing down her face, scratching at the sky. And then, you know, a lot of this is taking place in the area that's called Widow's Wash. Or by it, like, the setting itself is like,

I mean, Catelyn Stark was presented very much as a widow for a good while. I don't think that a lot of these are necessarily foreshadowing. I don't think I would call it that, but it's very intentional imagery. It's very intentional place setting that sets that stage and reminds us of, hey, Lady Stoneheart is part of the story. And this story specifically of Jaime's and you know it's starting to come forth from the shadows at the end no I'd argue it is foreshadowing I think that's kind of underplaying it because the end of this chapter comes as a complete like smack to the face right

like it comes as this moment like what what do you mean Brienne is here and all of a sudden she's taking Jaime somewhere and it's to find Sansa? It's a date. Right, like it's a date. Exactly. But at the end you're like, no, that's not true. It's not a date. Don't lie to me, Eliana, because you're like, where are they going to go? Last time we saw Brienne, Stoneheart was like, what are you going to do to save your life? And then now we see brienne and she's alive-ish and her face is healed brienne must have done something to save her own life huh wait a

second why is she coming for jamie lannister who is reportedly not friends with lady stoneheart on the internet they do not follow each other not mutuals not mutuals no like i think that's on a basic fundamental storytelling level i think this is so great because it is absolutely meant to kind of give you a petrified feeling right like that stone relation and it makes me wonder even more about its origin like if a weirwood is poisoned or cut down does it fossilize then and even further to take that a step further there's a lot of theorizing in the community of children of the forest or seers in general being one with the weirwood and when you have a book where bran is connecting with his seer powers super intensely and aria as well i don't know if the children of the forest

or the seers are part of the weirwood. Wouldn't that be skin changing? And if you're cutting down a weirwood or poisoning it, aren't you killing seers and magic? So like is magic dying? I mean it just awakened but you know what I mean. Like save the magic?

Is that a thing? I think it is but I don't know what it's going to be like. In the story, it's got to be something, somewhere, somehow. Hmm. We have this line of, Everywhere Jamie looked, he saw his father's hand. Even in the bones, they sometimes glimpsed beside the road so the last chapter we had jamie dealing with the whole admirer thing politically like being all oh i i did it smoothly

i've moved on but i think this is the chapter i actually see this big switch in now that i can look at it as an overarching experience, I think Jamie changes the most in this chapter because he travels into like, buckfoot Egypt, right? Jamie goes into this place where no one lives and he's like, wow, my father completely burnt this place down too. Like, this is the first time Jamie's taken accountability, kind of, with himself, that his father's shed enough blood in the Riverlands that Jaime doesn't have to continue shedding blood. And he does this entire chapter not in the name of his father, where the business before

was most definitely closing the Lannister loop in what Tywin would have done with Edmure. This here is more just. It's more fair. It's still shitty in some ways, as we'll discuss, but it's the closest thing to just a Lannister has done recently. Yeah, in many ways he's coming in and he is fixing some problems. He's actually able to end this siege in a less messy way than the siege that was kind of sieging at river run it was something something was happening there yeah he learned rhyme well

i mean rhyme and fray i thought he was doing something but yes he learned from there absolutely and as you were saying coming to terms with the sins of his father and things that were done in the Lannister name I think we see that a lot at the end when he gives his orders at Penny Tree yeah there are no hosts circling Raven Tree though before we get to Penny Tree and the siege Jaime has arrived to is much more intimate than Riverrun like you said this is a very different siege and Jaime feels perfectly confident in tackling it. Jonas Bracken is outside with 500 men. No siege weaponry. They plan to starve Blackwood out. It's been nearing half a year at this point. Raventry is the last hope, right? It is the end of the Young Wolves' southern southern kingdom once yielded jamie can go home to king's landing to the king he thinks and part of him thinks at the same time to face cersei

yeah he's just like to cersei and you know we're just such a far cry now in terms of that relationship from the jamie we met at the beginning of storm like his big driver was going back to king's landing because he wanted to be with cersei and now we see that as he thought last chapter about returning to king's landing back then he's like yeah i'm going because i want to go be back together with tommen and i need to be there for my kid right and now it turns out we see that it's not just that king's landing is tommen it's that king's landing has never ever stopped for him being about circe like right from the start i mean the only reason that he's been in king's landing for a long time is because he joined the king's guard to be with circe so this very city and his sister are absolutely wrapped

together in his mind and all these things that jamie is doing all these new goals and pit stops he's like oh but what if i went to this place on my road trip i mean what's a few more days what's what's a little bit more you know we can go take the long scenic route right and to stall his inevitable return home because he got his like 3am you up text and he's just like nope i never read that don't let your dick guide you idiot don't let your dick guide you but he does at the end in a different with a different person anyways different dick rection wait so that works on many levels and chandra's we get this little line. He would have to face her, he supposed.

Assuming the High Septon had not put her to death by the time he got back to the city. Little harsh, but the umbilical cord has definitely been totally cut. Like, they are not ankle to ankle anymore, eh? They are

not. He's like, eh? They are not. He's like, what if the high septum kills her? Hmm. Interesting. He's like, fuck, I hope so. Then I never have to reply to this text message. Honestly, relatable. It's a mood.

Circe's need for Jamie, though, was definitely real. He's like, well, I probably should go. But Jaime's like, I also know that she's guilty of pretty much every treason that's going to be laid against her. And he's like, I'm just not the knight to save her. Especially with one hand. It's just not me.

But she doesn't want I mean, let's be real. She did want him to save her. She's like, we're going to die together I mean, let's be real, she didn't want him to save her. She's like, we're gonna die together. Anyways, Jamie's column approaches and no one stops them. He finds Jonas Bracken's pavilion quickly on a low rise by the stream. It sears down the raven tree gates and matches the Bracken standard. It's brown. There's a red stallion flapping from a pole above.

Jamie orders his men to dismount and mingle, but keeps his banner bearers close. The guards outside the tent ask if he would like to be announced, and Jamie's like, nah, I'm gonna announce myself. I don't need an introduction. Jamie Lannister, he enters. Jonas enters as well.

He doesn't need an introduction into this woman repeatedly. Jamie's like, surprise! Oh my god, it is such a... It's a weird scene. It reminds me of the beginning of the story with Tyrion and him. Yes, I thought that same thing, but in Game of Thrones.

In the show. In the show, yeah. In the show that these are based off. Yes, absolutely. like when he shows yes absolutely uh and i think the no entry the uh the entry no pun intended in general is significant to how we are supposed to read this how we are supposed to kind of frame this right because the titus that we meet later not to be confused or maybe in a mad way to be confused with titus lannister uh he appears dignified on his own terms and he garners respect from jamie because of it like it's very apparent but jamie's introduction to

jonos is a horrible first impression it's indicative of jonos's character which reminds me a lot of someone else with inappropriate up up-jumped, reaching behavior. Janos. Slint. Not Jonos. Janos. Who Jon is dealing with in Adabada, A Dance with Dragons. But at the same time, the land that's being destroyed around Jonos is sad, right?

Like, he's a weasel, but his people, his son died. Whether he was his real son or not, he treated him as a son. And one of his daughters was assaulted by the mountain like he's not a horrible dude he's just looking out for his family yeah he just happened to choose to be on the Lannister side of the war and I think that that's something that maybe we should dig into in a bit we'll come back to it. But I absolutely agree with all of this. Jonos isn't great, but I do think, I will say at the very least, he is significantly more likable, in my opinion, than Janos Slynt. I thought it was interesting that Jaime notes that Jonos didn't recognize him at first until he saw the cloak and the gold armor. That was the language or something like that. And notie's face or hair

or anything because this time jamie's here as a king's guard and not as a lannister and he's bringing that facet of himself yeah it's very apparent he makes many references as we'll probably highlight to his cloak being white this visit and yeah last episode he dressed in Lannister cloak and Lannister leather uh it was very apparent he was on Lannister business and this does very much feel like it is Kingsguard business finally to keep the peace so Jonos Bracken is offended at first but he realizes that it's jamie lannister interrupting him fucking this woman and he sheathes his sword quote unquote jonos is muscled dick a little stockier than jamie with brown stubble and brown angry eyes he tells jamie that jamie took him unawares he wasn't told of his coming and jamie responds that he seems to have prevented jonos brackens is coming get it i do i was actually

it's funny i forgot that jamie has a clip right after because i was like coming that was like uh jamie lannister same wavelength i guess I guess. Obviously, George just wrote... He wrote a lot of really choice puns in these four paragraphs or something like that. So many layers. Onions. Comedic genius in those moments. But actually,

the woman in the bed tries to cover herself but unfortunately only has two hands. Must be so hard. Ask Janie. Yeah. Which she's like, oh no, with these two hands, I can only cover two things at once.

And Jamie probably envies this. He asks if all camp followers, though, are so modest. Projecting once more while he thinks about how Cersei's nipples are smaller and lighter. Are all camp is so modest, he wondered. If a man wants to sell his turnips, he needs to set them out. You been

looking at my turnips since you came in, sir. They're not for sale neither. But if they were for sale, it would be only on Sunday from 8am to 12.m so make sure to get the dodo code and come on by yep between the prices of what is it like 90 to 110 bills like yeah you're right i think it is 120 it's definitely been over 110 every now and then inflation inflation's a bitch. What the fuck?

Jamie apologizes, and he's like, hey, my brother had bedded many camp followers. I've only known one. Of course, he is implying Circe here. Yeah, you know, I want to come back to the turnips thing. I was thinking for a while, I was like, why does he call them turnips? I'm like, should I start calling them, like,

my breast turnips? Then I realized I do call the turnips nips anyway. And they relate to your nips. And that's why. Yep. Yes. And that's Jamie Lannister and I are on the same wavelength today. Anyway, regarding

Jamie apologizing and the camp followers, I, you know, again, as we reflect on Jamie's arc and how it's he's going on it it is interesting because back then he wouldn't let anyone bad mouth Cersei like in his first chapter he's like you're gonna talk about Cersei with courtesy or like

but now he's just like I'm gonna insult her all of the time inside my head yeah it's a it's a big switch right like this is the open time where he's like yeah fuck that girl she ruined my life well jonas bracken puts his clothes on backwards a couple times on and off and uh he calls the woman a prize of war an object he took from a blackwood sworn sword that he killed jonas tries to show this woman off to Jamie,

telling her to remove her modesty and show him the titty. Jamie ignores and instead calls Jonas out for putting his pants on backwards. Yeah, I don't know that Prize of War language. I don't like how Jonas is all like, yeah. But there are a couple of things in this chapter that remind jamie of tyrian but i think here's one that jamie doesn't know about but that the reader does and is reminiscent of it the the moment with shay and how tyrian and shay actually meet especially in the books and i feel like the taking of hildy is a little bit reminiscent of that uh except you know the guy that shay was taken from lived but whatever i could see that and in a way hildy the saucy attitude is very similar to shay in that aspect

i can see it absolutely hildy dresses in an oddly provocative manner jamie asks her name that's what she revealed it as hildy her face is almost as dirty as her feet. She has enough hair between her legs to pass for Bragg and sister, but there's something appealing about her all the same. She has a pug nose, a shaggy mane of hair, and does a little curtsy, asking if Jonos has seen her other shoe. Jonos is pissed, asking if she thinks him a handmaid, and he tells her to go barefoot if she must. In a few ways, a couple direct and a roundabout way, this completely reminds me of Brienne. There's, first of all, this descriptor about her bush,

which the last bush that Jaime thought about was, of course, Brienne's bush that he saw in Harrenhal, in the bathhouses. The ugly descriptor, though, of her, in a way, like the pug nose, those unconventional features remind me of Ygritte and the sass as well. And in that way, it does remind me of Brienne. Yeah, absolutely. And then she also laughs, like, does that mean the Lord won't be taking me home to pray with his little wife?

And then turns to Jaime, asking if he has a wife. And I think that's sass. As you said I also got like the same vibes of Ygritte especially paired with the pug nose thing and I like that comparison between Brienne and Ygritte

but I'm also just really confused about Hildy's portrayal in general. Yeah. It feels like a bunch of different things were just crammed into her in this moment. And I'm like, none of these feel like a consistent character or person. But, okay.

Yeah, no, it is something weird. And I feel like she was an asset to Jonas Bracken's plot in this moment at the most. Like, Jonas Bracken's not a dick, right? Like, I mean, he's not great, but we both just established, like, he fought for the North. He decided to join in on a rebellion for what was right.

He lost some family. He had some family assaulted and attacked by the Lannister regime he had plenty of reason to not go all out for the Lannister regime and it's weird that George reframes him as like a dick right like from the moment you meet him he's a total piece of shit and I guess you know there can be bad people on both sides I'm not saying like this is a bad people not on this side not on the Stark side but it's just interesting that he reframed him and i know it has to do a lot with the black wooden bracken feud which we will get into a little more soon but it's interesting yeah i think jonas bracken's an interesting he's kind

of a grayish character and all that but to healthy's question jamie thinks no i have a sister but responds asking what color his cloak is hildy knows that it's white but the gold hand is much more interesting to her she's like i like that in a man she asks what do you like in a woman and he responds innocence innocence you know before this passage brienne's naivety could be seen as innocence to jamie right the maid of tarth uh he's really quite obviously thinking a bit about brienne here her innocence her bush her unconventional beauty hmm her bush her bush that was second not third on purpose but yeah innocence is appealing to Jamie. I think there's a lot to dig into in that, and we'll get to it after this chapter.

But it's something that he's never going to be able to attain for himself. But then, you know, now Brienne is sullying her sort of innocence and good name by all the things that are going on but also she's betraying jamie in a way that when i think about it you know delivering someone to kind of their execution potentially potentially maybe more hurtful than finding out that your undefined fuck buddy that you never set clear boundaries with who who is also your sister, who might have been sleeping with other people. And, you know, with all that, I have a crazy thought. Is Brienne delivering Jaime to Lady Stoneheart, somewhat akin to, like, Shae incriminating Tyrion during the trial?

And I don't mean, like, in terms of morality, like, is it, like, as bad, but this sort of, like, parallel, maybe, that the story is trying to draw between the brothers there's something in that i don't know maybe i guess this is time to talk about what i think is going to happen in the future right and we will talk about this more when we get to the brienne stuff later but everyone knows the bad show's bad in season five game of thrones did this stupid plot where brienne went north and decided to be on a vengeance spree to kill Stannis. That was Brienne's closure of her plot.

She spent approximately one whole season waiting at the window for Sansa, watching for Sansa's first light, saying she's here to protect Lady Sansa to fulfill her vow to Catelyn. here to protect Lady Sansa to fulfill her vow to Catelyn, and the one day that Sansa put a light out in her rinky-dink tower where she was being tortured all the time, Brienne was busy killing Stannis. The very one time. So that sounds very silly because it was. That season wasn't real. It was awful. That's the biggest reason why everything sucks in life. Anyways, I digress, but there's something that, something I think was interesting about that was that Brienne chose her quote unquote show honor, right? Like killing Stannis in that situation over saving Sansa Stark. And it makes me wonder if her going to get Jaime and bringing him back to Stoneheart

instead of the Hound, if she doesn't have some sort of or if she's not trying to come up with some sort of plan while A. on the way back and B. I think Jamie and her are likely to fight their way out and I kind of have this little theory that they might

go run around the Riverlands together and skirt their duty and the show version the show version of them like so while they might have a hot lead on possibly saving one of the stark sisters whether it's sansa or whether it's aria and i think as some people might have read my theory about aria killing Lady Stoneheart, I think Arya might be left to end Lady Stoneheart, but I wonder if it's actually Brienne who has been looking for Sansa. After all this time, Arya is right there, under her nose. Arya's right across the river,

and during that time period while Arya has to kill Lady Stoneheart, Brienne's busy finally forsaking her honor with Jaime Lannister. He's making a knight of her. With his sword. If you know what I mean. I mean, sounds like you're saying that there's gonna be a long night. A long many nights. Are you calling his dick the knight? I meant actually just spending nights together

but no yeah that too like maybe some snuggling you know yeah anyway that's my little i don't know i just think that brienne has been so honor bound and after getting half of her face torn off and like being unable to trust nimble dick and seeing everything go to fucking shit in pieces in front of her maybe for a second she'll be like fuck the system, fuck my vows, fuck Jamie Lannister, I'm gonna. It'll be like her shorter version of what

Jamie's been doing for the past many years, right? But a little, at least a little bit more joyous. Yeah, alive. And I think that's going to be so special it is literally a joyride and I think that it may

end similarly in that the bad show did something with Jaime being you know afraid of commitment or whatever um and I think that's something true because we've seen how toxic this relationship has been for him and Cersei and that's been something for 30 something

years that he's dealt with so like I don't know if Jaime and Brienne will have something more than that but I do think that they will have some sort of foray in the riverlands yeah I mean too in his defense he made a big ass commitment it was called joining the king's guard that totally bit him in the ass so i could understand being afraid of commitment yeah if that's your story other commitments in jamie's life we have this line he thought of marcella i will need to tell her too the dornishman might not like that jordan martell had betrothed her to his son in the belief that she was Robert's blood. Not some tangles, Jamie thought,

wishing he could cut through all of it with one swift stroke of his sword. Oh, I get it. It's about the it's about the Miranese knot. The meta. George writing. I love that. And it's funny you say that because I was thinking of Joffrey

cutting up the book. That too. That too. I'm sure George wishes he could do that well he did do that but these two books literally logistically to me I just don't know that Janie's ever going to see Myrcella again

it's a possibility but I'm a firm believer in like, the sack of King's Landing 2.0, a yet unreleased theory by Liza Narber on Twitter, Tumblr, and the Girls Gone Canon podcast. This theory encompasses that

the Dornish will convince Cersei to crown Myrcella over Tommen, calling Tommen a lost cause to rebel forces, the Tyrells. Female secession, yada yada. They will have them open the gates

for the invasion of Aegon and the Dornish army and sack the Lannisters King's Landing. It will be a sack of King's Landing, 2.0, electric boogaloo, reverse it all. I don't know that Jaime gets to King's Landing in time for that, though, because I think that has to take place the end of the Winds of Winter. The Dornish are going to be in Cersei's chapters when we go back.

Whether they're apparent, I know Tyene Sand will obviously be hiding out with the Faith. We will see her in the background, but we're going to see some Dornish chapters when we get into the Winds of Winter. We'll see them in the background, but we're going to see some Dornish chapters when we get into the Winds of Winter. We'll see them appearing in Cersei's chapters. I think that Jaime will have a confrontation with Cersei, maybe one final confrontation, but I just

I don't know. With all of his stalling, like you said, I don't know that he'll get to King's Landing till the very end, at earliest. If not, I think Cersei could flee to Casterly Rock end it there yeah I mean I think Cersei has to go to Casterly Rock I don't think

I think that's something that's different from what happened in the show and she has to go back like and also it sounds to me like you're saying that you don't think that Jaime and Bronn go to Dorne and fight the Sand Snakes. You don't think that Myrcella and Ellaria Sand have a poison ivy moment.

I don't think that. No, Aliana. I think Ellaria Sands stays in Dorne. How's that for some thoughts? Wow. Wow. This brought to you by REN1 and 2 in the

Winter by Girls Gone Canon. Available for Stranger Tier patrons and above. This brought to you by our also upcoming POV Ari's Oak Card. But before then, Ari's Oak Card took a

vow, and Jamie tells Hildy that he had also sworn a vow. And she says no turnips for you. Mood. As she is told to leave by jonos she darts out half clothed good for her squeezing jamie's cock through his britches as she reminds him of her name hildy and i just wanted to tell everyone that i too for the first time in weeks since it was released i did not buy turnips this week i haven't bought turnips in like a month.

Yeah, I respect that of you, but... Thank you. Thank you. I knew I wasn't going to get a large spike this week, so I just didn't buy any turnips this week. Very forward of Hildy to grab Jamie's cock. It's not... Little much.

Don't think it's great. Probably unwelcome. Jamie was like confused, but. Don't think it's great. Probably unwelcome. Jamie was like confused but you know whatever I guess. She was like I said no many times. Guess George is just using it as a lark so we'll just move on. Jamie asks how Mrs. Bracken is to Jonos and Jonos

is like no clue. All she does is pray. When Tywin burnt their castle down, Mrs mrs bracken had decided the gods were punishing them yes and i don't know i'm like so lady bracken is going lance lannister here and jonas is doing the thing that jamie said that gatehouse amy would do i guess yeah i think the chapter really plays out like a varied version of the last three Jaime chapters in Afog, right? In slightly varied ways. Until the very end, the end's kind of a surprise.

I mean, it's like Jaime is political grinding until he gets enough XP to level up and leave Cersei for good. Or, as Ilyn Payne said, drags finger across throat, you know? I don't know. The conversation, though, shifts to the Blackfish, who Jonos heard had escaped. Jonos, of course, had respected and liked the man, but claims Brynden knows better than to come for the Bracken's aid, as they'd bent the knee, like he should have. And of course, he can't be at Raventree because he would have had

to pass the siege lines. Tidos Blackwood will yield soon enough anyway, as they're down to rats and roots within the castle. Jaime agrees they'll yield before the sun goes down, because Jaime means to offer terms to end the war. Jono shrugs in a bracken-themed tunic, asking if Jaime wants a horn of ale, but Jaime declines. This kind of reminds me of Guestrite, that Jaime's like, I don't want your ale, I'm just gonna pass it on. I don't want any of your brand of Guestrite, I'm not welcome here. He does look for a couple of things, I didn't think about it like that, but yeah, just like in a sort of courtesy way. Yeah, like he's not here to be friendly, he's not here to have

guests, right? He's here to do his duty and leave. Yeah, he's not here for a business lunch. Just to serve. Yeah, not writing it off on his taxes. Yeah, he's not. Jonas, though, asks, then, what terms do you mean to offer? And Lord Blackwood will need to confess his

treasons. That's some of the things that they want. Break his allegiance to Stark and Tully and swear before the gods and men to be a leal vassal of Harrenhal and the throne. Lol, Harrenhal. Right. I forgot that. So did Em and Frey.

They'll take a pot or two of gold and a hostage as well to keep the rebellion quelled bracken suggests jamie take blackwood's daughter as he has six sons but one daughter who can't be more than seven years old and he loves that girl bracken then asked what about the lands that they were supposed to receive there's the east bank of widow's wash just lists out like his fucking christmas wish list east bank of widow's wash all the islands in the stream grind corn mill lord's mill muddy hall ravishment battle valley old forage villages of buckle black buckle the cairns clay pool mud graves Mudgraves, Marketown, Waspwood,

Lorganswood, Greenhall, Honeytree Hives, and of course Barba's Teats, Missies, if you're a Blackwood historian fan. And I respect Jonos laying out there the things that he wants. I know he knows

he's not going to get it all. You're going to get negotiated down. I mean, that's always what happens when you ask for a raise. And interestingly enough, there aren't these are, a lot of these are made up places just for this chapter, but there is one of the mills, Lord's Mill. It was burned by

Vhagar during Dance of the Dragons, written by Aemond. I wonder if that's foreshadowing in some sort of way. Maybe Lord Bracken will later refuse to kneel and be burnt by some sort of dragon. And of course again, Amon Targaryen, so it was a green who

burnt him, so maybe it's Aegon's reign that will come down on him. But it could be Dany's. Yeah. Interesting. Some of the imagery from earlier on also reminds us of the blacks and the greens when they're talking about how the landscape looks so the dance of the dragons is in like civil war is big part of the backdrop of this chapter bracken has of course marked all the

things on his wish list, on his negotiation, visibly on a map for Jamie, and Jamie's like, this is a giant amount of land. You'd be increasing your land by 25%. Again, good for you, Jonas. Try and get that 25% raise.

Jonas says that these lands were once stolen from them, that the Blackwoods stole them. It does kind of suck that they're taking it from the Blackwoods, though. But, you know, in a vacuum. Jamie points out Penny Tree between the teeth. He's like, what about this one? Which was once theirs. But they're like, no, no, no.

That's been a royal thief for hundreds of years. Hey, that's Penny Tree, like Dunkin' Egg. We're going to talk about Dunkin' Egg later, for sure. Yes. Yes. Yes. Our first love. When we first fell in love. Talked about it.

That's true, our first date. Not when you took me to Lady Stoneheart. Oh my god. Later, later. Oh. I don't want that. Jonos says that Tywin promised him these lands as long as they subdued Lord Tidus but Jaime's like I don't really think he was subdued I saw Stark and Tully banners flying so maybe you didn't do your job

Jonas is like if I didn't have a skeleton crew I would storm the castle right now and send them to their graves and Jaime's like then your men that you are ordering to do so would be doing the subduing not you Jaime really is taking pride obviously in the fact that he's are ordering to do so would be doing the subduing, not you. Jaime really is taking pride obviously in the fact that he's been able to do some no bloodshed siege stopping. Jaime asks to keep his map and Jodos responds that this map

is Jaime's but the land on the map is theirs. A Lannister always pays his debts and they fought for the Lannisters. Yeah, again, I think Jodos isn't the greatest, but I do think that this is a good line. And it's lines like these that show you that he's

no Ryman Frey or Evan Frey. For sure. Jaime reminds Jodos that they fought against the Lannisters also. But Jodos says, I've been pardoned by the king and also by the way i lost a nephew and a bastard son that the mountain burnt and stole our harvest and lands and jamie's like well you know what whatever okay the mountain's dead now

and so is tywin and i'm not having any of these flippy floppies. And Jonas says, well, I bent the knee because I saw no sense in dying or spilling bracken blood. And Jaime thinks that some men may say that Lord Blackwood has been more honorable. Jaime's sympathies with Tidus Blackwood are a lot different from the sympathies his father did not have with a Tidus in their life, right? Like with Tidus Lannister, Tywin would have and did hire Jonas Bracken, who's a shady motherfucker. I mean, we see it here. Yes, there's some shades of gray behind him, but I think we're supposed to see him, a la George's word, as a shady motherfucker. Jamie has more sympathy for his Tytos, Tytos Blackwood, than Tywin did for his Tytos. And this is kind of the man Jamie wants to be, right?

Like he wants to be more like Tytos Blackwood. Honorable. Announcing that his father's dead is part of this too. He's retracting what his father did. He's saying like, curse my father's name. he's the one that did all this man he keeps seeing the destruction his dad has brought throughout this region and reiterating and reinforcing to people i'm a knight of the king's guard i'm the lord commander i am not a lannister this chapter specifically he is going strong on it yeah and I think it's interesting the things that you're saying, right, about who he has more sympathy for, Tytos,

and that he thinks of Lord Blackwood as more honorable versus Jonas, because I think that Jonas's perspective and what he did is perfectly understandable in the context of the losses that he's already suffered. What's the point of suffering any more of them right like the idea that jamie sort of puts lord titus blackwood on a pedestal for that for maintaining that loyalty and that jamie's heroes right involved brendan tully the blackfish and he doesn't seem to respect ednir very much but like this idea of honor and not bending the knee right away it's almost like jamie respects the people who don't like bend the knee to the lannisters right away or it it almost seems like he respects people in general who don't follow the Lannisters at all more than he does any of their vassals.

And I don't know what that says or means other than like, it shows maybe his shifting sympathies. But also he's so values that idea of loyalty in a way. And I wonder if it's kind of because he wasn't able to, to adhere to it I don't know or if it's like that loyalty to that person's initial

principles because that's something that he tried to do but then was condemned for it's a little of both maybe I don't know I think so Jamie says he'll grant Jonah some of the land since he subdued some of the Blackwoods. And Jono accepts this and then recommends some of his own council, which is about House Blackwood's treacherous history.

His revisionist history is about how the Brackens ruled before the Andal invasion and the Blackwoods were their vassals until they usurped and betrayed their crown. vassals until they usurped and betrayed their crown. He says this makes each Blackwood a turd cloak and that Jaime should remember this when sentencing them. So if we go back to some of the so-spake Martins that George has been quoted while doing interviews at conventions or doing emails with fans back in the day when that used to happen. In 2003 in a associate Martin, George said, the feud between the Brackens and the Blackwoods goes back to the age of heroes. Both houses ruled the Riverlands as kings in various times. They were also divided by religion. The Brackens went over to the new gods while the Blackwoods remained with the old. Of course, we know the publishing schedule very vaguely. George developed this a bit more within the time between Feast and publishing Dance, right?

In 2005, he detailed some of Agin the Fourth's bastards for Amoka's art. Brendan Rivers, an albino, Mylesa, Missy, Rivers' son. He wielded many things, but a weirwood longbow is kind of significant in this story, I would say. Brynden Rivers matches the description of his mother, Missy. He's slender, he's a little smaller than Daemon and Aegor, it fits. And of course, Bittersteel Aegor Rivers, son of Barba Bracken, came out with dark hair and purple eyes. This is where a lot of this feud has kept its more recent momentum from blood raven and bitter steel's feud is very prominent in this story absolutely and i think that's something that

we have to remember from all this and again especially because i i think it was written close to the time some of those feast chapters were and i believe that what the mystery knight close to the time some of those feast chapters were and i believe that what the mystery knight precedes the publishing of this as well so we get some of that blood raven tidbits and then we get to dig into like his current day family a little but in general you know it's lines and moments of this history like this and the history between Blackwood and Bracken that remind me of some of the way the issues are portrayed in this Sworn Sword, right?

They're like, well, we were kings of this and we own this thing and that kind of is what happens when Dunk is thrown into the middle of the issues between the Osgreys and the Webbers and Osgraves are like, for a thousand years before the conquest

we were the marshals of Northmarch a score of lesser lordlings did us fealty and a hundred knights then he like says this entire resume about why they are the rightful owners here very much like the Brackens and the Blackwoods and then Lady

Rohan Webber gives her own rebuttal and her own resume of like so it is, the river is called the Mander though the Manderlys were driven from its banks a thousand years ago blah blah blah blah blah blah and showing how the histories are a little different

but again, conjuring George was really interested in this idea of long, ongoing know, again, Conjuring, like, George was really interested in this idea of, like, long, ongoing disputes. Especially against the backdrop of the Blackfriars and the Targaryens. Yeah, it feels really relevant as we move forward, right? It's, uh, especially with Tyrion's plot, that remains important even in the Lannister plot. with Tyrion's plot that remains important even in the Lannister plot it's all

it's all driving towards that which you know comes forward in this book specifically and then you know one day I don't want to talk about it anyways we'll move on promises

yes some promises in the story jamie promises that of course he will choose a good punishment for titus blackwood and he makes his way to the blackwood ramparts to the moat in front of it there's this line that it is a deep trench lined with stone its green waters choked by scum and that is an absolute metaphor for the blackwoods being surrounded by i guess their very own phrase right the uh jonah's brackens of the world yes so bracken i guess did have a more successful siege true it's only six months only six months well they were james like don't know, they're probably down to rats and stuff soon, but anyways. He moves to command

Kenos to horn blow. He doesn't need to. Tidus Blackwood, a man of honor, has the drawbridge lowered and meets a mountain on a pale destrier. We have this line describing him. Very tall and very thin, the lord of Raven Tree had had a hooked nose long hair

and a ragged salt and pepper beard that showed more salt than pepper in silver inlay on the breastplate of his burnished scarlet armor was a white tree bare and dead surrounded by a flock of onyx ravens taking flight a cloak of raven feathers fluttered from his shoulders i just thought this was a great little passage describing his looks, his appearance, because it is kind of a significant costume. And it's funny that it stands out so much because back in 2005, George was quoted during a character writing panel at a convention saying, Titus Blackwood has developed a popular following, though he's hardly had any lines. And his main distinguishing feature is his raven feather cloak and his yellow and black armor.

non-character captures people's imaginations way beyond the creator's intent and it gets a cult following and that he still gets fan letters where people say i love titus blackwood can we get more info about him he absolutely called obrin martell one of his boba fat characters and i think that is very interesting and at the same time not to fear because we got more Tytos Blackwood between that time period, right? Like Feast came out, people were like, give us more Tytos Blackwood. And George gave us more Tytos Blackwood in Edomita. is it the boba fett effect but anyway um i think that's a really really good tidbit about uh how we ended up getting a lot more titus blackwood maybe maybe it was written later right i don't know what month in 2005 this came out but it's obviously something that he was thinking about during that year and it's so funny this is this is uh not related that the boba fett effect get he talks about it in relation to oberon martell who ends up later on in the tv show being played by pedro pascal the boba fett effect leads to the tv show right of course the mandalorian that everyone thought was gonna be

about boba fett but then it wasn't and he pedro pascal ends up playing the Mandalorian. Anyways, that's all. A literal Boba Fett character. It actually, literally, he is. Anyway. We came full circle. So Titus Blackwood has been expecting Jaime Lannister, and he's feeling both ways, right? He's angry, but at the same time, he's relieved. This siege has been going on

for a very long time. Jaime asks if he's ready to yield, and Tidus answers he is, but to the king, not to Jonos Bracken. Jaime, of course, understands. Blackwood's hesitant. He asks if he needs to get down right now and kneel in the mud before jamie amongst the hundred eyes watching but jamie's like no i'm not a dick you can kneel in your solar after we make terms so this actually recalls two things for me one is it reminds me of this scene at the very beginning of a game of thrones and ned's first chapter where we have this line of robert's queen cersei lannister entered on foot with her younger children the wheelhouse in which they had ridden a huge ball blah blah blah

um ned knelt in the snow to kiss the queen's ring while robert embraced catelyn like a long-lost sister so it's kind of like man i i mean like the the forcing someone to kneel is absolutely an exertion or demonstration of power and jamie's saving that helping titus save base for that but the others it really contextualizes to me the magnitude of what torin stark the king who knelt did by you know being the king who knelt uh after he was like hey everyone in the north we're going to go march south to fight the targaryens and then gets there and is like fuck and then just kneels in front of everyone after making them all do that it really shows that this is an incredibly humble move on his part and potentially embarrassing um but i i think about tor and

stark a lot in this chapter because along with titus being part of it i think it kind of runs through jonos bracken a little we've been talking about jonos a lot and his decision to be like i mean it doesn't make sense for me to just like let more of my people die we the starks lost and i lost people that i love my daughter was assaulted why keep that going and i think that's a big part right of the thought process that must have been going through torren stark's head when he was like what if we just know i mean catalan asks for it right catal up says, like, just make a peace, Rob. And at the same time, yes, that is absolutely honorable to save. And in a way, these are those two forces meeting, right?

You have the person that wanted to make a peace, and you have the person that is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the rebellion going to the last spark, kind of juxtaposed against each other in this chapter. And I think that's very gripping. I think they're two very different people. And it's very interesting that Jaime is more concerned with the latter and more meticulous with choosing the latter's quote-unquote punishment,

with connecting with Tytos Blackwood. He's more concerned with how this comes off to titus than he is to jonos in a way does it mean like that has jamie confused the definitions of honor and valor i think so in a way i would say that i don't know if it's just confusing honor and valor. I think it's rearranging his priorities, right? Before, he would have absolutely understood the worth in Jonos Bracken. At the very beginning of A Feast for Crows of Ahchak, he would have understood what using a man like Jonos Bracken meant. In fact, we see him working with men as shitty as Jonos Bracken in his shitty ways.

men as shitty as Jonah was bragging in his shitty ways and I think the fact that he has switched to understanding and sympathizing with Tytos' side in this chapter more like significantly more I think that speaks volumes

of the man that he is and the man that he wants to be I mean Tytos says the blackfish he's a good man he wants to be. I mean, Tytos says the Blackfish? He's a good man. And Jaime's like in his head, yeah dude, you right. You're right. Absolutely. And to this Tytos calls Jaime's act of mercy here. Shovelwrist beckons him into his hall and although it may not be luxurious, it is at least courteous. The keep is made of lofty timber, and a fire burns in the solar.

The solar is a high-ceilinged room with dark oak beams, wide lattice doors looking out to the godswood, and Jaime watches the godswood through the diamond panes of yellow glass. The weirwood is ancient and colossal, far bigger than the one in the stone garden at Casterly Rock, but it's also dead and bare, and we get the other side of the revisionist history that jonos gave us earlier the brackens poisoned their weirwood a thousand years ago and has not grown a leaf since the maester state will turn to stone in a thousand more years

because weirwood's never rot jamie asks what about the ravens and tito's response that they cover the trees like black leaves and they've been doing so for thousands of years because it's really fun because in this book we start to actually get and learn about why that happens why ravens would attach themselves to weirwoods yeah wow maze which does make me think like that means that blood ravens probably watching and brands probably watching what's happening and that also makes me wonder. So that means petrified trees you can still see from? If they're, I mean, I think it's like that the trees aren't there. So they found like a loophole, right?

They're like, we'll just put birds there. It's like the same fucking thing. Not really, but kind of. Well, put a bird on it. Oh my god so titus inquires how his liege lord edmure is for you know his honor's sake a horse's sake jamie explains he's going to castor the rock and that his wife rosalind will remain at the twins until the baby is born once the baby's born they'll join each other as long as edmure behaves he will live a long life. But

Tidus Blackwood doesn't really agree. Long and bitter, a life without honor. Until his dying day men will say he was afraid to fight. Unjustly, Jamie thought. It was his child he feared for. He knew whose son I am better than my known aunt.

He doesn't fucking let that go. Never never he's never gonna let it go he's like i am my father's son god damn it do the dna test but there is something in this jamie thinks it was his child he feared for about edmure a man without honor and the quote until his dying day men will say he was afraid to fight are these not things people are going to say about jamie when he dies it's things that they're saying about him now right like the blackfish calls him out on it yeah so i think that's a really good point it was his child he feared for yeah everything's for tommy right he keeps doing things in the king's name now because he has no other name to do them in jimmy doesn't want to

buy turnips tommy someday he'll learn play the the nip market jamie calls the choice edmure's and that brendan would have chosen blood they both agree and, and Tytos inquires after Brendan Tully. Jamie tells him the offer that was made. Surrender! Take the black! But he fled instead, can you believe? Smiling, Jamie asks if Tytos was hiding him by any chance. Tytos denies having the blackface. She then asks if Tytos would tell him if he were,

and then Tytos smiles this time. And then they're like, alright, let's talk terms. Tytos asks if he needs would tell him if he were and then titus smiles this time and then they're like all right let's talk terms titus asks if he needs to kneel now and jamie's like we can just say you did it's awkward they reach an agreement on the big stuff such as confession fealty pardon and gold and silver jamie shows him the lands that he will require and titus chuckles calling it the turncloaks reward jamie calls it a smaller reward than he imagines and titus names what he's willing to give up wood hedge crossbow ridge and buckle jamie pushes him saying you know you have to suffer a little bit for treason give up one of your mills also for tax purposes because jonas wants it and titus is like all right you can have Lord's Mill and Honeytree

he has relatives under the Cairns which Jamie had originally suggested and then the last thing a hostage Tytos looks stricken when his daughter Bethany is mentioned he offers his widowed aunts nieces nephews cousins but Jamie says no it's got to be a child of your own blood. Tito says, Bethany's eight. Gentle, full of laughter, sheltered, sweet. I know, very sad, very innocent. We know a lot of good sheltered sweet girls from the story that went to King's Landing and

shriveled up inside. Jamie says it would be good for Tommen to have a friend in her, but Tito kind of calls him out on that and is like, more like a friend he can hang if titus displeases him yeah and i i mean to be honest like titus is right to fear for his daughter after what we all saw happen to sansa and aria during their big city adventures and i don't know that titus heard a lot because it was kind of kept hush hush but

i'm sure there were some rumors like damn the stark girls are missing and i think that you have something interesting here that in jamie's chapter that contrasts with how this whole thing goes down with circe because jamie here knows what he's asking for he's like we want a hostage and then dresses it up in the packaging of like oh yeah there'll be a friend to the king a ward as opposed to circe who's asking tana like oh why don't you bring your son russell to court like he can totally play and like be friends with tommen and tana knows better she's like no that's how you end up in a hostage situation but circe like doesn't think about it like that but it totally would if she needed to i mean it really does not help that they had ned stark executed yeah on baylor steps and that sansa was beaten in front of court in front of like

the crown lands right and like a handful of different people from different courts that were there um word spreads fast and it does not help that situation whatsoever. Like these are incredibly smart ideas and terms. We see Jon using them simultaneously in A Dance with Dragons and Daenerys as well, right? Like they take hostages that they grow very fond of. And that, of course, as you and I have discussed, we're worried for those hostages. We're very worried for some of those hostages.

And it's probably fair to say that Hoster Blackwood and the Bracken girl, we should be worried for them. Probably. Yeah. Also, I will appreciate that his name is Hoster. Sucking up, right? To the extreme. Oh, not just that.

Because later on he's called hoss the hostage hoster hostage yeah no it's very illiterate i love it and just like coming and swords and i love that his father is named titus for oh wow titus is the same generation i mean a lot of that true true the nine penny kings generation yes so titytos asks Jamie to consider one of his sons instead of his daughters. Like Ben, who's 12, thirsty for adventure and he could squire. Jamie, of course, is like, I have so many fucking squires. He says, every time I take a piss, they fight for the right to hold my cock. I love that.

He inquires about his sons. He's like, I heard you had six sons, not four, so what's up with that whole revision? Tytos then explains Lucas was murdered at the Red Wedding, and Robert, my youngest, died nine days ago of

loose bowels, so no. Four sons, thanks for rubbing it in, Kingslayer. Sad. Jamie's like, I only have two, so I get it. Two kids. Now only one. Yeah, one. One son. Well, no, no, son. Sorry, sorry. I want to talk about

daughters this chapter. Again, interesting. Do you think that maybe it's setting a precedent? I think it is. I'm not sure entirely where it goes for Jamie specifically. Right, and how it's going to affect him internally.

I don't know that it's going to be quite like oh wow, my daughter's dying and my arm's on this boat coming from Dorne. Definitely not that. Anyways, the phrase hadn't returned Lucas's bones in Taito's comments that he'd like to bury him, which there's a lot of that going on in this book.

Brinton is his eldest, his heir, and then he comes to Hoster, who is a bookish boy, and Jamie says, you know what? There are a lot of books in King's Landing, partially thanks to Tyrion. I will take Hoster as a hostage. I love that he just was like, I mean, I wonder if

his daughter's name is Min- oh wait, it's Bethany, not Minissa. I'm like, did you just name them after Tully people? Tytos is relieved that Jamie is taking Hoster as his hostage. He hesitates though before boldly saying, hey, you know, you should make sure to take a female hostage of Jonos because he has all daughters and no real sons. Jamie's like, um, he had a bastard who died in the war. And Tito says, I don't know if Harry is actually his son. He was blonde and good looking. Jonos Bracken was not. There's definitely something here that like Jonos Bracken has a bastard son that doesn't look like him. Jaime has fathered a bastard son who doesn't look like his quote-unquote father, Robert Baratheon. I was thinking something else of like, he's not a bastard, but a Harry who's blonde and good-looking.

Yeah, like Harry the Heir. Yeah. Tytos invites Jaime to eat with him, but Jaime feels bad, stealing from starving people, and says he must head to river run and tito says river run or king's landing and jamie's like i have both i guess and he's stalling oh yeah okay he's definitely stalling but i do want to introduce a thought to the forefront i want you to think on it you don't have to respond now but like he pretty loudly said his goal next was king's landing right like he's like i'm taking a hostage to king's landing king's landings are direction he pretty loudly said his goal next was King's Landing, right?

Like, he's like, I'm taking a hostage to King's Landing. King's Landing's our direction. And when Tytos asks, Jamie says he has to go to Riverrun. So, like, was he really planning on going to Riverrun? Or was that some sort of lie that he just got caught in? Or, I mean, now he says he's going there is this a weird lie of sorts like is Tytos questioning the information for some sort of reason what I'm saying is is there a great Riverlands conspiracy theory interesting just

thoughts we'll come back to it interesting especially in the context of a Tyrion being told they're going one place before and going somewhere else back then hoster though is ready to leave within the hour he's gangly awkward taller than his father yet no older than 16 he introduces himself as hoss grinning kind of snarkily and he's like my friends call me hoss and jamie's like oh okay whatever sure and he's like does he think this is a game like we're not fucking bros i'm not gonna call you hoss and jamie's like oh okay whatever sure and he's like does he think this is a game like we're not talking bros i'm not gonna call you hoss and then hoss asks so who are the men accompanying him and hoss answers that they are my friends my brothers and jamie's like

i'm not your brother yeah he's like i'm not your friend guy it, he's like, I'm not your friend, guy. It goes on for a minute. He launches into this speech to Tytos, and he's like, I will send Hoster's head on a fucking platter to you, John the Revelator. Like, you will get it if there's even a touch of Riverland outlaws and rebels in Raventree Hall. Like, if you're housing Dondarrion, Sandor Clegane, Lady Stoneheart, any of these people, it's over

for the Blackwoods. He's like, I am not Ryman Frey, Big Burn. Tidos is like, I know who I'm dealing with, Kingslayer. You know how every interaction with Jaime has, he's like, he opens up and he's like, I'm getting vulnerable with you. And then he goes in public and he's like, you have cooties. I don't like you, new dad. Because he keeps adopting dads faster than Jon Snow in this fucking last two books. Yeah, also new

sons, even though he just tried not to get another one right now, but for sure, I mean, Jaime's like big Sundari mood here. He's like, I don't like you. Constantly, constantly shifting jamie says he wishes him good harvest and the joy of the king's peace and then off he fucks but not too far bracken awaits outside raven tree wanting the juicy goss not the hoss jamie tells him it's over and to go plant his brand new fields.

Then he tells him what he's won. Bracken mocks the hostage that Jamie took. Hossers saying that he is water for blood and weak. And I will say, for what it's worth, Jamie does have quite a few waters for blood. You might know them as Tommen or Myrcella. Oh, I didn't even think of that. Okay, that's true. And I almost like for a second, I was like, you mean hills?

But no, they were raised in the Crownlands, which is remarkably usually waters. So yes, he does have waters for blood. Great call out. Thank you. Thank you. Jamie asks how many daughters that Jonos has and tells him to pick one of the five to come to court and attend the Queen Regent, which he impresses upon Jonos, who's pissed, is an important job. So make sure, you know, you tell your daughter this is a very big deal. He spurs honor away and soon it's all in the rear view.

Night falls as they get near Widow's Wash and they ask Hoster where to camp for the night. Hoster shows them Missy's teats and Jamie's like, ah, Penny Tree is beyond there, according to this map. Hoster confirms and they decide to camp there for the night and maybe question some villagers about the blackfish. and maybe question some villagers about the blackfish. Yes, Jamie. But what if we made a scenic detour to this hot tourist destination and I'm totally not stalling, Lannister? You're not wrong.

He asks Hoster's take on the Bracken versus Blackwood dispute regarding the teats. Hoster says they used to just be the teats 100 years ago and he starts to explain what boobies are. And Jamie's like, kid, I know what those are. Please continue. And he starts thinking about the camp followers boobs, actually, speaking of. Honestly, this is character development.

Like, it is good that Jamie is thinking about unrelated boobies. Yes. Literally. Boobies that are not related to him. Yes. Jamie asks what changed, and we learn about agon the unworthy who took barbara bracken as his mistress many said she was buxom and when agon went hunting in the woods at stonehenge he named these hills for his mistress jamie doesn't actually know this

story but he knows how it goes immediately and guesses the next part. That Aegon later took a Blackwood girl as his mistress as well. Missy was said to be beautiful but slender, and Barba called her flat-chested. King Aegon gave Missy Barba's teats in exchange. Hoster says that it's written by maesters of both sides that in the Age of Heroes the Blackwoods were kings and the Barakans were petty lords who bred horses. They didn't want to pay their king, so they used gold to hire swords and cast him down. Hoster says this was 500 years to a thousand years before the Andals,

if the true history is to be believed, but it's fuzzy. No one knows when the andals actually crossed the sea some claim it was 4 000 years ago some too hoster has a great line though he says the clarity of history becomes the fog of legend and jamie immediately thinks that tyrian and hoster would get along and he forgets his bitterness toward tyrian for just a little while. Yeah, and you know, all this is just George by fire and blood R.R. Martin saying, wow, look, I love unreliable histories. That's my favorite thing. Mushroom, mushroom. Mushroom, mushroom, badger, badger, badger.

Jaime summarizes their fighting over a crown that someone took when the Casterlys had Casterly Rock, a kingdom that hadn't even existed for thousands of years. And he laughs, saying, some of it have made peace by now, and the host was like, yeah, they have, many have. They've sealed it with marriages, like, over and over. There's, like, Blackwood blood in every bracken, and bracken blood in every Blackwood.

They say that the old king's peace lasted half a century but the old wounds opened once more and his father titus says like that's how it always happened and there's this line of so long as men remember the wrongs done to their forebears no peace will ever last i love that line very deep very, very meta, very thematic. It is. It's a huge part of what this whole story is about, especially with the Targaryen and Blackfyre overtones going on with the whole sharing blood thing. But I kind of wonder, is it like a cautionary tale of what could have or could happen to Jaime and House Lannister what's probably going to happen to them to be honest and the risk of that unending enmity between

them and the Starks for like all these horrible things that have happened during this war and like leading up to the war too right before it and I think it's absolutely channeling what's happening at the end of this chapter with the Lady Stoneheart you know that she doesn't. It echoes in a lot of the, like, the North remembers stuff, which is presented and feels very much like a rallying cry after everything that's happened to House Stark.

caution of like is this actually a promise of justice and peace afterwards or is it just a promise of even further bloodshed and i think that's why for me bran stark you know i i think that he's same as in the show he's gonna end up forgiving theon and jamie and it is gonna be an act of mercy uh because i mean if anyone fucking remembers things it's bran stark right now he doesn't but literally his superpower is like things, it's Bran Stark. Right now he doesn't. But literally his superpower is remembering everything. It's both a gift and a curse. And for him to maybe yearn for peace, despite all the things that he sees and remembers, instead of asking for blood prices or hostages or more fighting,

I think that's big. And I think that's also a big part of why jamie feels like as a character hasn't quite completed the redemption arc maybe he's not going to truly do so maybe he's not on one um he's never going to completely be on the straight and narrow because i think that the point for me the point of mercy is that it isn't earned it can't be earned right like i think that in meeting brand again that's when jamie's going to have to come to a big transformation or it's going to be a big point in his story that is something that i think will happen again and he's likely going to be confronted with this great sin once more he's gonna probably be confronted about it with lady stoneheart

but like everyone else now is maybe they'll know maybe they won't I don't know of like wow you tried to kill fucking Bran Stark he was like a little kid I don't know maybe they won't know but like regardless the whole thing's gonna follow him just like being the Kingslayer has followed him this whole time right he's and then he's going to

have to decide again like whether like do I just give up and like never try to live up to anyone's expectations and do good again and just wallow and continue doing bad things because what's the fucking point or is he going to realize like that despite failing all of these things everything all the the tenants that i was supposed to live up to as kingsguard lannister person in general that he should try anyway and i think there's something really significant and bolded between him and hoster in these discussions right because they're discussing what their fathers would say and hoster is saying my father claims these wounds will never be able

to be healed fully and jamie's like well my dad used to say never wound a foe when you can kill him because dead men don't claim vengeance and Hoster's like you can't kill all of them and he's like yes you can ask the Tarbox the rains the prince of Dragonstone uh and he says this but it feels kind of like Sandor clicking to Sansa Stark when she's like, oh, look around you, you're surrounded by killers, you know, like you stupid girl. Jaime's not proud of his family in this chapter. I think that's really important. He's

haunted by it. That's why when Brienne turns up pretty soon, he says, yes, I will go with you, like in a heartbeat. He doesn't even question it because he is searching for a chance to restore his honor he's searching for anything that allows him to do it and you bring up sandra clagain that i think that's a big part of it right that idea that dead men don't claim vengeance and that idea of rebirth

figuratively right like the hound is dead so the hound can't claim vengeance so i i wonder if that's something we'll see in jamie's story like killing the boy maybe he's been a boy this whole time letting the man be born whatever hoster says that uh you know what sure maybe dead men don't claim vengeance but their sons sure do. And Jaime's like, yeah. And that's why Tywin Lannister does things like, I mean, you can ask the Tarbecks, the Reigns of Castamere about it, or the Prince of Dragonstone. And Jaime, the implication, of course, is like, oh, wait, you fucking can't.

And I think it's kind of ironic that it seems unlikely that House Lannister will survive past tommen's generation i've just kind of always gotten like a follow the house of usher vibes from jamie and cersei but house lannister probably not continuing god you know now that you say that like to bring up another house usher i kind of always felt let It Burn vibes from Jamie and Cersei. Yes. Different house usher, but... Jamie to the realm. These are my confessions.

Oh my god. She's got another one on the way. It's mine. My bastard child of incest. So red clouds roll across the western hills ahead of them, and they remind him of Rhaegar's children in their crimson cloaks in that moment. Of course, coincidentally, Hoster boldly asks if that's why the Lannisters killed all the Starks, right? If that's why, because it was easier to silence

them. But Jaime says, no, we didn't. The daughters still live. One has just been wed. The other... Brienne, where are you? Have you found her? If the gods are good, she'll forget she was a Stark. She'll wed some burly blacksmith or fat-faced innkeep, fill his house with children and never need to fear some knight might come along to smash their heads against a wall. The gods are good? his hostage said uncertainly. You go on believing that. Jamie let honor feel his spurs.

This was a cynical passage. It was, and I mean, as people have pointed out, not us, um, throughout the fandom, every time someone someone's like if the gods are good everyone's like well the gods aren't good in this story everything goes awry the opposite of what people think would happen when the gods are good i don't have much commentary on it but speaking of fandom analysis something that's kind of common grounds to analyze is this part about how if Sansa Stark is still alive, if she's lucky, she'll marry a fat-faced innkeep or she'll marry a burly blacksmith and fill his house with kids and, you know, live a good life.

What's up with that? Your gods are not good. I mean, what about Arya marrying a blacksmith? That's probably not happening either, but... Or Popeye. Wow. A baker. Whoa, I've never considered that love triangle before.

Oh my god. That's an idea. Better than season 8. Actually, though, it's an idea. So they arrive at Penny Tree, which is larger than Jaime expected. So they arrive at Penny Tree, which is larger than Jamie expected. And it's experienced the war as well as most of the lands they've come across in the Riverlands. But for every home they find destroyed, they find about three that have been rebuilt already. He sees fresh doors and new thatches, and he comes to the tree that gives Penny Tree its name.

It's an ancient, tall tall gnarled oak tree with hundreds of copper pennies nailed to it wow the tourist attraction jamie's really really going places on his road trip i kind of love it i know i just think it's so funny he's like wow let's go see the big rubber band ball and then peck asks like wait where are all the people and jamie tells him they're hiding the fires are all extinguished but smoke is still in the chimneys and not a soul was to be seen because they were hiding from them from the kingslayer he rides on her calling into the village's hold fast that they meant them no harm they're kingsmen and the villagers like that means fucking nothing to us

the faces appear at the wall above the gate calling down to him they're like you know it was kingsmen who burnt the village again it was some other kingsmen who took their sheep and then killed harshly Sir Ormond and then raped Lacey till she died

ugh it's awful this is the real thing right here. He was just distracted between the Bracken and Blackwood debate for a good whole day and now here he is in a village where these people have had their lives destroyed by his

family's men. Yeah. And now he has to confront all that, right? Like as you said earlier, he's wrestling and really coming face to face now with like, shit, this is the Lannister legacy. faction here of what's left of the Brotherhood is great. We know that some of the Brotherhood left behind aren't exactly fun or great, and that this is kind of a corrupted crew that's left, the good ones have kind of died or left for the most part, but they're supposed to stand for the little person, right? They're what's left to champion those little people, and when they are what's left and

they're already a little little cray cray right like on the little just on the side there you're like oh wow i don't want to mess with this crew that's what he's about to go confront yikes yeah big yikes well jamie calls back that his men will not do what those king's men did, and he asks if they'll open the gates for them, but they declare they won't until the king's men leave. Kenos is like, Jaime, we should just torch it or open it up ourselves, but Jaime's like, no, we probably shouldn't just kill them. They haven't really done anything wrong, you know?

They can shelter in the houses. He commands they don't steal anything because they have their own provisions, so they stake out. Jamie shares his wine with Peck and Hoster, eating dried apples and hard cheese, and he tries to count the pennies in the oak tree, wondering what they mean. He thinks about

asking Hoster, but he kind of likes the mystery. I'm realizing now, maybe this is another thing that is supposed to create more of another connection between jamie and tyrian's storylines the whole like in like a sort of cute easter egg kind of way he's like looking and pondering on these pennies and then tyrian is running around ss with a girl named penny oh okay okay i see it. That's it. Yeah, and I mean, like, he thinks about her as, like, a penny all the time.

In for a penny, out for a... The grout. Out for a... dragon? Jamie had left sentries at the village and sent scouts as well, and at midnight two men gallop in with a female prisoner. The woman had rode

in boldly, demanding words with him. This is it, our last Jamie passage. Shit! Until the wind's a winner, at least. We'll see. We'll see. Oh my god. Am I Jamie? Are you Brienne? Who's who? This is defining. I don't know.

I mean, I feel like you've been Jamie throughout this chapter, so... Okay. Who are we to change now? I guess you're right. Jamie scrambled to his feet. My lady, I had not thought to see you again so soon. God's be good, she looked ten years older than when I saw her last, and...

What's happened to her face? That bandage, you've been wounded. A bite. She touched the hilt of her sword, the sword that he had given her. Oathkeeper. My lord, you gave me a quest. The girl, have you found her? I have, said Brienne, maid of Tarth. Where is she a day's ride i can take you to her sir but you will need to come alone elsewise the hound will kill her first of all sandra cligain

would never do that it is something that i wonder in terms terms of Jamie's reaction to this, and maybe we'll see it in his thoughts of him being like, what? Because he was very big on the Sandra Clegane apologist-like thing to the rest of the people in the Riverlands. He was all like, Sandra wouldn't do that. That doesn't sound like the Hound. It's almost like he's giving in to this prejudice now because he's heard from people that the Hound is traveling with these outlaws of sorts, which the Hound is traveling with these outlaws, but not the Hound, as we know. So maybe he's just giving in to the details that he has. I think there's that, or he's just like, there's that, or he's so desperate to find Sansa stark yeah when it comes to his honor and also he's like wow brienne's asking me on a date amazing i want to go to the sadie hawkins dance brianna tarth that's jamie lannister right now so again cannot untie brienne and jamie's storylines

and here we're seeing some of those parallels now of Brienne is the one who's being forced to break oaths in a quite dishonorable way right the person that she'd sworn an oath to is demanding something unconscionable of her same as what happened to

Jamie and now Brienne is in the position of where she's betraying people she's sworn so many vows they make you swear and swear and now she has to lie and then she's gone on this quest and it comes back to jamie and she looks 10 years aged and i think there's uh something kind of being evoked there right of a sort of magical quest like she went off into wherever and there she was gone for 10 years even though we she was we knew she was gone for a book but it feels like this very magical thing especially because we're

about to have jamie step out of the world of just this political game of that's been going on in A Song of Ice and Fire and now he's starting to enter the magical plot so you have that converging here and in this quest right Brienne says she's found the girl and I think she has right she hasn't found Sansa

but she's found the girl Brienne that she was her innocence and that innocence is dying the hound has killed it it wasn't Sandra Clegane but that was a turning point for Brienne's storyline and it's

the equivalent of kill the boy and let the man be born that's happening for Brienne and we have to acknowledge it because it's going to affect Jaime just as Jaime has affected her I think it's a two-way street and losing her innocence though I will say I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing right I think that you can hold on to hope despite losing your innocence and I think that's the harder thing to do and I think that's very much at the core a lot

of what Jaime's storyline is how do you hold on to hope and trying to do the right thing despite having lost innocence that's something that ned stark struggled with as well and you know i don't know that we're going to read brienne is necessarily needing redemption for all of these things that are happening right brienne herself might feel the need for it but i don't think it's something that's gonna be like the reader demands it or feels that need from for her to make up or atone for something morally and i think there's so much to wonder for what jamie's role in that part of brand's storyline is going to be like he has to explain how he broke another oath uh to lady stoneheart especially one that he thought that he was keeping, one that Brienne is pretty sure that they are all keeping. But now things are all weird.

And I think that's part of why he yearns for innocence so much in a woman. It ties back to that oath keeping because I think he yearns for innocence fucking like anyone around him, right? Like the Riverlands are horrible right now all the a lot of the people that we've encountered in Jamie's storyline are horrible from like Bruce Bolton to the Bloody Mummers uh so few people in his own family have any innocence it's completely soaked in blood Lancelot even doesn't like he's trying to cleanse himself in a tone because he feels that his innocence is gone which is i think really sad davin lancer just wants to party and kill uh tyrian killed his dad circe's doing circe things and jamie just himself right he stopped even trying for

innocence so long ago and because he was like what was the fucking point he was always denied innocence from the start from the moment that he killed aries though he and after that explanation right the reader feels that he's innocent of that he's not innocent of what happened with bran stark but he wants innocence not necessarily in everyone else not necessarily in a woman but he wants innocence for himself yeah i think you're honest lying with the idea that brienne will want redemption for herself i think she'll feel terrible especially if any bits of my theory kind of come true with them spending extra time in the riverlands together and her maybe avoiding some of her own duty to lady stoneheart because i really i don't think that

they're going to go back to Lady Stoneheart I think something's going to interrupt them I uh because how are they going to get out of this wacky situation you know what I mean like that's kind of how it feels and I don't know I I kind of hinted at it last episode we chatted a little on it but maybe this is tinfoil or controversial. I think it's more likely that there's a Grand Riverlands conspiracy theory, and I wonder if there's something about it being hinted at in these Jaime chapters, especially this one, because we get this line from Tytos, he doesn't say anything when Jaime asks if he'd tell him if he had the black fish. He just smiles.

Tom of Seven Streams now has direct access to the Lannister army secrets. Dondarrion's dead. The rest of the crew is literally where Jaime's kind of heading. Red Wedding 2.0 is incredibly likely. Jane Westerling escape or death is likely. And then something was weird about the way that hoster agreed they should go to penny tree and came across all these men that are of course in the hold fest locking themselves in like could the blackwoods have led jamie into a trap or something that brienne could come find them at you know what i mean uh how interesting yeah kind of like they led them to Penny Tree which of course as we'll

talk in a second for Dunkin Egg is a very big place especially in regards to Jamie and Brienne but I mean the last spark of the rebellion ends at the Blackwoods and Tidos just says you know you're right I give in Jamie Lannister I don't know yeah and even jonas bracken is like that seems like enough i guess whoa that would be wild sorry the the brackens of the blackwoods teaming up just for this just for this i wish i wish that's part of the conspiracy that'd be interesting well we have a lot of penny tree stuff here right to talk duncan egg novellas sir arlen of penny tree if you all recall was born in penny tree saw the last dragon in king's landing as a little boy unhorsed lord stokeworth in 193 and the

bastard of harrenhal in melee at king's, and also Sir Daemon Lannister at Lannisport. He was defeated by the Prince of Dragonstone Baelor Targaryen at Storm's End, a tourney, and he chose never to joust again. Reminds me a little bit of Bonifor Hasty there and his story with Rhaella. Roger, Arlen's nephew, that's his squire, they fight in the Battle of the Redgrass Field, and Roger dies. Arlen sees Lord Hayford slain by Gorman Peak near him, and Arlen meets Dunk. He becomes his squire, Dunk learns from Arlen, and they do hired tasks for a time, like hanging outlaws, for example. outlaws for example he and dunk serve lord don darian against the vulture king and arlen dies of a chill on the way to ashford meadow and is buried on a western slope of a hill by dunk dunk claims arlen knighted him but most people i think you're one of these people don't believe

arlen knighted him i don't know i don't know. I kind of feel like, in a small sense, Brienne is obviously the Dunk comparison here, but I feel like we might get some Duncan Egg or Duncan Arlen-esque adventures with the very jaded, disillusioned Jamie Lannister and the naive,

innocent Brienne, who might not be so naive and innocent now, coming up in the winds of winter yeah definitely or i wonder if there's something that we could have gotten that like was going to be in the she wolves of winterfell that we're supposed to be the george had the hope to be released before the sixth book and it's like but what if i just focus on writing the sixth book which but yes um i'll leave it at that uh but i wonder if there's something that would have been there too and uh like you said foreshadowing from letting brian you know finally

finally like all of that coming together right like it does feel like it feels like there's something in george making that little like, no one knows if Dunk was actually knighted by Arlen or not, or if it counts. And I think that's something that's going to be big when it comes to Brienne, right? Like, no one knows if it actually counts or not for Ser Brienne. But I think it does. She's the truest knight Westeros has. think it does she's the truest knight westeros has absolutely just as dunk was a very true knight right and acting like it and that's a lot of what the dunk and egg novellas explore yeah a knight who remembered his vows his honor yeah and that's what i think jamie lannister has been working much more toward, right? We start these books off with him, just some jock dude who doesn't give a shit about his squirts of seed that have somehow taken the throne. And now we end it with Jamie hardcore searching for his honor. And I think that is a definite change in his arc.

Yeah. What if he loses his horse? Not honor. No, getting the car stolen. That's a big part of a lot of these road trip stories too. Something like that, you know? Yes.

These sorts of buddy movies. Jamie Lannister. I still don't like him. Because she loves him. I don't love anyone i still don't like him because she loves him i don't love anyone she doesn't like anything chloe is becoming the true sundarian that's how you know she relates to jamie lannister everyone thank you so much for listening to us cover jamie lannister throughout a storm of swords a feast for crows and a dance with dragons it has truly been a horse and honor to be with you for

this and we look forward to starting our new pov in the coming weeks here aries oakheart yes uh stay tuned for that and i think it's going to be fun a lot of we're going to do some some things to the tie back of course to the things that tie back, of course, to the things that we've discussed in Jaime's storyline, a lot of those themes. I mean, we are, of course, coming back to another White Knight, another member of the Kingsguard. So think of Ares as a palate cleanser, but at the same time.

Yeah, and you'll have a new POV announced as soon as we launch Ares Oakheart as well. So stay tuned for that. I know you're going to get a little whiplash, but yes, a quick POV to come right after that. And I think another POV right after that. It's crazy. really looking forward to discussing JB and I can't believe it's over. It was way faster than I thought it would be unlike the Jon chapters which were way longer than I thought they were gonna be. Jon chapters took so long and

I know that's a silly complaint because we haven't gotten anywhere near Tyrion, Dany, Arya chapters but damn. Yeah, so. Well, we will see you all when we get to Dorne. but damn yeah so well we will see you all when we get to Dorne

with Ares Oakheart but in the meantime you know where to find us check us out over on social media at girlsgonecanon c-a-n-o-n on twitter.com or if you want to send an email like some of our friends at the top of the episode did you can do so at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com or if you want to send an email like some of our friends at the top of the episode did

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More to come on that very soon. As always, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. I have been another one of your hosts honor no you're aliana i'm honor i'm valor no you're glory oh is it glory is that the fucking name yeah god damn it i fucked up it's a horse like i didn't even read these chapters it's like i didn't don't know anything goodbye everyone we will talk to you soon goodbye