#house plumm

[targsource]

TARGARYEN PORTRAITS: PART 7

by riotarttherite on twitter

featuring: Ser Jon Waters (1), Lady Jeyne Waters (2), Lord Ossifer Plumm (3), Lord Viserys Plumm (4), Lord Ronnel Penrose (5), Lord Robin Penrose (6), Lady Laena Penrose (7), Lady Jocelyn Penrose (8), Lady Joy Penrose (9), Ser Michael Manwoody (10)

[ophelias-lamentation]

Princess Elaena Targaryen, daughter of Aegon III Targaryen and Daenaera Velaryon, wife to Ser Ossifer Plumm, Lord Ronnel Penrose, and Lord Michael Manwoody, mother to Jon and Jeyne Waters, Viserys Plumm, and Robin, Laena, Jocelyn, and Joy Penrose. Elaena was one of the sisters who was locked in the Maidenvault by her brother Baelor the Blessed. She was not a pretty girl, with her crowning beauty being her hair, when her brother locked her up she cut off her hair as protest.

[thetorturedlover]

House Plumm

[nanshe-of-nina]

Posthumous Characters GIF Sets → Elaena Targaryen

Elaena outlived her siblings and led a tumultuous life once freed from the Maidenvault. Following in Daena’s footsteps, she bore the bastard twins Jon and Jeyne Waters to Alyn Velaryon, Lord Oakenfist. She hoped to wed him, it is written, but a year after his disappearance at sea, she gave up hope and agreed to marry elsewhere. She was thrice wed. Her first marriage was in 176 AC, to the wealthy but aged Ossifer Plumm, who is said to have died while consummating the marriage. She conceived, however, for Lord Plumm did his duty before he died. Later, scurrilous rumors came to suggest that Lord Plumm, in fact, died at the sight of his new bride in her nakedness (this rumor was put in the lewdest terms—terms which might have amused Mushroom but which we need not repeat), and that the child she conceived that night was by her cousin Aegon—he who later became King Aegon the Unworthy. Her second marriage was at the behest of Aegon the Unworthy’s successor, King Daeron the Good. Daeron wed her to his master of coin, and this union led to four more children … and to Elaena becoming known to be the true master of coin, for her husband was said to be a good and noble lord but one without a great facility for numbers. She swiftly grew influential, and was trusted by King Daeron in all things as she labored on his behalf and on that of the realm. The third marriage was one of her own choice, after she fell in love with Ser Michael Manwoody, a Dornishman who had attended Princess Mariah at her court. … Elaena wed Ser Michael, apparently with Daeron’s blessing, not long after her second husband died. Elaena said, in her later years, that it wasn’t his intelligence that made her love Ser Michael, but his love of music. He was known to play the harp for her, and when he died, Elaena commanded that his effigy be carved holding a harp, and not the sword and spurs of knighthood as is common.

[highgardenart]

Lord Ossifer & Lord Viserys Plumm

“Her first marriage was in 176 AC, to the wealthy but aged Ossifer Plumm, who is said to have died while consummating the marriage. She conceived, however, for Lord Plumm did his duty before he died.”

[sarcasticsweetlara]

Houses and Families

192 AC

Rhaena had arranged for Viserys to court Lady Agatha Plumm.

Agatha Plumm was the granddaughter of Lord Albert the first cousin of the late Lord Ossifer Plumm.

Lady Agatha had been a witness to Viserys' training, good capabilities as well as his mine management, she had her own castles as a courtesy of her distant uncle, and she had also been a lady in waiting to the Princess Daenerys Targaryen.

The match of Agatha and Viserys was a good one, it would help both House Plumm and House Targaryen, and remove any stain of distrust the Plumms had.

Now, they only had to wait two months for Viserys to turn six and ten in order to marry them.

Rhaena was helping in all she could with aid from her cousin Laena Velaryon while they were in one of the solars in Plumm Castle. Laena was looking at the costs of the wedding and Rhaena the decorations and accommodations for the assistants, the wedding was being made in the Westerlands and Viserys helped Laena and Rhaena understand the customs of the Westerlanders.

"So, they want a luncheon in front of the sept?" Laena, who was sitting at Rhaena's left side and reading the petitions of Agatha's household, asked and Rhaena nodded.

"Yes, and Agatha wants her maiden cloak to be made of linen, not silk, same with the marriage cloak"

As Agatha and Viserys belonged to the same house, there would be need of two cloaks bearing the sigil of House Plumm to symbolize Agatha would leave her father's branch of the family to now and henceforth be part of Viserys' branch.

"Had they been born in House Targaryen or Velaryon there would not be a need for cloaks ; they only would have to wear clothes in our houses' colors alongside dragonglass jewelry in the shape of dragons or seahorses or they could simply have just a Valyrian ceremony."

"Yes, but they are Plumms, and that removes a Valyrian ceremony or House clothing and jewelry out of the question."

"Yes, you know, Viserys and Agatha are already close so I hope they have a good marriage." Laena grinned at Rhaena.

"Let's hope so, and if not, we need to remind Viserys about the marital treatment his wife deserves."

At that moment Elaena appeared in front of them standing next to the open door and as Laena's grin dropped Rhaena smacked her forehead mentally, she should have foreseen Laena would not like being near Elaena, even if she was helping in her son's wedding.

Laena was still mad at Elaena for having had an affair with her father during her mother Baela's last days and continuing it after she died before Alyn got lost in the sea.

"Elaena! What are you doing here?" If they quickened whatever Elaena wanted to discuss they would not fight.

"I wanted to check how you are doing, and if there is a problem with Agatha or Viserys." Elaena spoke as she tried to have visual contact with Laena but Laena immediately dropped her gaze to the parchments in her hands.

"There is none, everything is going well, or do you have any doubt in our efforts?" Laena answered curtly.

"No, there is no doubt Laena, but I wanted to thank you for helping my son on his special day."

"How could I not? After all, Viserys was fostered by me during three years under Rhaena's guiding, it's the least I could do for my best friend's nephew."

Small and subtle jab, Laena was surely clever. Rhaena wanted to answer but Elaena beat her to it.

"I thank your concern for my son, he likes you a lot" Elaena replied as she tried to get closer to Laena without her noticing it and exploding. "His siblings are glad to know you are helping him."

"That's nice of them" Laena replied back and a strand of silvery-white hair fell from her loose bun shielding her face from Elaena.

"Will your brother come to Viserys' wedding?"

"Well, my brother from my mother's womb will come I can assure you, his family and him developed affections for Viserys when he was at High Tide, why the question Elaena?"

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to have Jon and Jeyne sitting with you."

That made Laena lift her gaze and glare at Elaena, and Rhaena witnessed a pair of furious pastel purple eyes staring into the hopeful lilac ones.

"Why would you think that?"

"It's been a long time since they last saw you all and they just want to spend some time with their older siblings."

"We know they exist and have already accepted them as my father's children, they do not need to ask for more from House Velaryon."

Rhaena knew Elaena was well aware of that already; Rhaena had paid the Velaryons in gold the weight of the twins when they were born, and as Rhaena had planned to help Elaena raise them and building a sept of their own for Jon and Jeyne, Laena asked her to first spend a whole year in Driftmark overseeing the construction of new properties for her Velaryon cousins atoning for what they deemed a betrayal, Viserys being a squire for them was also a condition the Velaryons had set in order to forgive the Targaryens.

"As I told you, they just want to spend time with their siblings, they haven't seen you in ages, please Laena, it's for the best of us."

Laena clenched her jaw and placed her fist under her chin as she pondered, displaying her famous clawed scar that laid in her left arm since her monstrous dragon-like wyrm had attacked her, and Rhaena was silently praying Laena would no longer harbor such a deep hatred for her half siblings. Whatever had happened between Elaena and Alyn did not need to affect the relationship between their children.

"They may" Laena sighed and Elaena gave her a small smile as Rhaena was secretly grinning for Laena seeing the light. "They will be seated two seats away from the great-grandchildren of Daemion Velaryon though, and they will have to address us as my Lady and my Lord and they can not wear House Velaryon's colors."

"I will make sure of that, thank you Laena." Quickly Elaena left and Rhaena felt she could breathe again.

"I have to admit… I didn't think you would accept, why did you do it?" Rhaena snickered.

"Does accepting your nephews in their own brother's wedding bother you?" Laena's attention was back at the parchments.

"No, but since you are helping with the organization of the wedding and your siblings will attend I didn't think you would want to sit near Jon and Jeyne."

"Those kids have Velaryon blood, I will not deny it, but I can not forgive their mother for having laid with my father while my mother was sick, she disrespected her and those kids are the proof of that."

While it was true Alyn had not been exactly a faithful husband, he had gone back to Driftmark to bury Baela and before Alyn left for his not yet known last voyage he said he needed to be in the sea to clear his mind. Elaena had hoped to marry Alyn after he returned but he never came back, and Laena refused to talk to Elaena after that and refused to help in the funds for the raising of Jon and Jeyne.

Rhaena thought that was because it was far easier for Laena to hate Elaena than blame her deceased lost in the sea father for having cheated on Baela.

"Are you finished? It would be good to rest a little for you Rhaena?"

"No, I want to make sure everything is in order once again."

"More work for Rhaena The Pious Targaryen then?'' Laena snorted, sputtering Rhaena's sobriquet that the smallfolk gave her. "How is it you gained that sobriquet?"

"Well, just when I became a septa I stopped a fight between a septon and a mass of smallfolk who did not want to pay the taxes that man was asking."

"How did you stop him?"

"I told him the gods would not induce such heavy taxes on people who work hard every day to bring food to their tables."

"Ooh! That's my bad girl!" Laena chuckled and Rhaena rolled her eyes.

…

Days later Viserys and Rhaena were joined by the rest of the royal family having a celebration dinner to wish Viserys the best as he would marry Agatha and wanted to meet the maiden who would be Viserys' side.

Rhaena felt a wave of nostalgia as she saw Daeron's children who she had helped raise now with their own wives and children; Maekar and his wife Dyanna Dayne -a lovely maid who had been Maekar's friend since childhood- had had a baby they named Daeron in honor of the King. Rhaena was happy Maekar got to marry for love, as he had always been dutiful and self-demanding, he deserved to be happy.

Rhaena already had organized her nephew's wedding but she still felt that Viserys was a little boy who asked her to sing him before he slept and now he was getting married.

"Aunt Rhaena!" Rhaegel shouted drifting from his wife Alys Arryn who was barely showing her pregnancy.

Rhaena loved spending time with Rhaegel, he looked so much like his father Daeron and was the calmest prince as well.

"Rhaegel! How are you?"

"I've been fine, Alys is pregnant and I can't wait to meet our little dragons"

"Dragons?"

"I think we are having twins."

"That's wonderful! Congratulations Rhaegel."

Rhaena sat by Rhaegel's side and they continued talking as they ate, relishing in their stories.

"... And you won't believe it, the other day I saw the ever-serious Maekar laughing to one of Dyanna's japes." Rhaegel laughed and Rhaena widened her eyes as she chuckled. Maekar was famous for being serious, but it seemed married life had made him way happier than what everyone expected.

"Well, that's certainly a miracle." Rhaena snickered.

…

After dinner finished Rhaena went for a walk in the gardens where she found her soon to be good-niece sat in the godswood dressed in a black coat, her dark cinnamon brown hair was let loose.

"Agatha" The young woman looked over her shoulder and smiled at Rhaena.

"Hi Rhaena" she said.

Something that Rhaena liked about being a septa is that she no longer had to worry about formality.

"Does it bother you if I join you?"

"Of course not, no one can deny how peaceful the godswood is."

"Yes, it's true" Rhaena said as she sat next to Agatha.

"You know, there are stories told by the bards that say we Plumms actually come from the Age of Dawn, I don't really know if it's true but if it is then I am grateful we still worship the Old Gods from time to time as the First Men did."

Agatha showed Rhaena the book she was holding which pictured a Child of the Forest and one of the First Men.

"Do you think Viserys won't mind if I still pray to the Old Gods?"

"Agatha, you know Viserys, as long as you are happy he will not have any problem, he may believe more in the New Gods but he will always respect you if you don't do it."

"Thanks, I'm nervous, I hope our marriage will be a good one and that Viserys will be a good father."

"Viserys' father may have died long before he was born" As they all said it happened when his biological father had actually been the deceased king that was now remembered as the Unworthy "But my sister raised him well, he will be good to any children you have."

"I'm not saying everything will be perfect, but I know you will overcome any obstacle that may appear."

"Thank you, I hope I can make him happy."

"You will."

Rhaena gave her a smile that Agatha replied and in that moment Rhaena was no longer afraid for Viserys and Agatha.

…

The wedding was a grand event.

There were bards and singers, flowers brought from the Reach, certain jewels made of dragonglass were also on display and many Lords and Ladies had come to attend the wedding.

Rhaena was in Agatha's room where her maids were finishing her make up and being careful not to damage the delicate braid they had made, Agatha's hair looked lustrous as they had applied many oils and it complemented her ivory wedding gown that carried diamonds and rubies that was covered by the cloak of House Plumm.

"I think that's all, thank you, you all can leave" the maids curtsied and left at Rhaena's command.

"How do I look?" Agatha uttered

"Like a princess" Agatha scoffed but chuckled at Rhaena's jape, neither Viserys nor Agatha had looked at each other during the last week and the nerves were gnawing them but now in this very day they would be married and would spend the rest of their lives together.

At that moment they heard a knock and as Rhaena opened the door she found her sister Elaena and Lord Albert Plumm who slowly entered the room. Elaena smiled at Agatha and joined their hands to squeeze them.

"I have a gift for you" Elaena got her hand in the pocket of her gown and revealed a necklace made out of yellow diamonds that carried an amethyst, Rhaena knew Elaena was doing it to show House Plumm she would not interfere with Agatha's ruling as the Lady Plumm more than she already did and to show her loyalty to the Westerlanders.

"It's a lovely necklace, thank you your grace"

"I am to be your good-mother, just call me Elaena."

As soon as Elaena put on Agatha the necklace Lord Albert sighed and hugged his daughter, once they both pulled apart, they all walked out of the room to go to the sept where Viserys waited.

Viserys looked handsome too, like a knight out of a fairytale and was beaming radiantly once he looked at Agatha in the sept. Lord Albert walked her to the dais and removed the maiden cloak so that Viserys could now cloak her thus symbolizing Viserys and Agatha would now form a new branch of House Plumm.

Rhaena let herself look her surroundings: Jon and Jeyne were sat near their siblings, Elaena and her husband Ronnel Penrose were sat with their four toddlers, the copper brown haired Robin and the platinum haired Laena, Rhaena was sure Elaena named her second daughter like that to regain their cousin's esteem, who both had sparkling purple eyes, and the dark silver haired Jocelyn of light brown eyes while the dark red haired Joy had deep wine-purple eyes; Rhaena also had noticed her cousin the King Daeron and his family were attending the wedding too.

Rhaena could now let herself smile, everything was well.

[rosaluxembae]

I was thinking about Arianne wanting to return to absolute primogeniture to crown Myrcella and thought "what if she applied to retrospectively instead" was a fun idea.

A few minutes on AWOIAF led me to Viserys Plumm being the "rightful" King after Baelor (the Blessed) and his sisters. Unfortunately we don't know enough about Viserys' descendents to trace the line of succession further.

If the eldest Plumm son was consistently the eldest child for the next 80-90 years, then Lord Philip Plumm would be answer of who to crown and idk it being a mid-tier Lannister bannerman is kinda funny to me. That's a fairly big if tho and we just don't know who any eldest daughters married so it really could be anyone.

[nulnoildrinker]

Forget the Blackfyres and Brightflames, House Plumm is (allegedly) the best Targaryen offshoot.

Which House Has the Best Words? (Round One)

[slvttyplum]

HIII PLUMM this is gonna be weird as hell but the grapefruit technique on gojo.........,,,,, sorry I'll leave 😔😔😔😔

the bedroom for you and satoru was something magical. over the years, the both of you have tried almost everything, and i mean everything. it wasn't until your close friend started talking about grapefruit and what she did to her man with it. at first, you were disgusted and confused as to why someone would want wet, cold fruit on their dick, but then you did some extended research on it.

"grapefruit method." 

"how to do the grapefruit method?"

"is the grapefruit method safe?" click.

all of those put into your search engine as your eyes scanned over the computer screen, curiosity killed the cat in an instance when you came back home with five grapefruits and an eager mouth. when you told satoru, you thought that maybe he would be against it for his own health and sanity, but he was ten toes down for it. he was excited to see what it was all about, and after a while, so were you.

after doing your extended research, you were ready for it, cutting a hole in the middle and sliding it down his length, putting your lips on the tip of his dick, and slowly sliding your tongue over. satoru placed his hand on your head while the other one grabbed the sheets. he didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't that. it wasn't cold but a little warm, just like your mouth. the feeling of your mouth on his tip while having the grapefruit go up and down had his head spinning.

pushing the grapefruit up and down as you lower your mouth down on his length working with it, the taste of sweetness mixed with tartness mixing in your mouth as you ran your tongue over and around his dick, his eyelashes fluttering as he feels his leg cramping from how surprisingly it felt. his teeth digging into his lower lip as he tries to keep his focus on you, but he really couldn't; he underestimated what it could feel like, and now he was about to finish, and you barely started.

squeezing and adding pressure to the sides as the juices flowed out, mixing with his cum that was slowly sliding out past his tip and leaking down your throat. the taste was immaculate, only driving you to do it more, and that wasn't a joke.

by the end of the week, a house that was barely filled with grapefruits was now filled with ten, of which half were used by the end of the week. it was too fun for you to stop; the taste alone sent you to want to keep doing it, and you didn't just stop when he finished; you would keep going until there was no more juice left that was slipping and leaking out onto his dick.

juice was sticky on your hands, but you didn't care. satoru was so deep into enjoying it that he couldn't do anything but whimper; he couldn't say any full sentences. sometimes it would get so much that tears were rolling down his face and his throat was sore from all the whining and moaning.

he didn't expect for this to make him go off the rails, but it did; it had his throat clenching up and his body doing things he didn't even know were possible. every time he saw the juices running down your mouth and finishing in your mouth, he went crazy.

this was a good bedroom find that you didn't even expect to find. you thought the stickiness and mess would throw you off, but the good outweighed the bad, especially when the taste of satoru's cum and sweetness of the fruit mixed together, which only made you crave more.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

hello, I've sort of migrated here from Twitter. If you have the time I was wondering if the things I got from twitter/tiktok are correct.

In the books valyrian's are the only people in world who can bond with dragons?

In the books Targs are immune to heat/fire and sickness because their blood is magic?

Hightower's tower was made with dragon fire despite it predating Valyria?

There are other buildings around the world in asoiaf which also used dragon fire but also predate Valyria and their dragons?

Someone told me on tiktok that the OG asoiaf dragons went extinct and Valyrian magicians bred other magic creatures together until they got their version of dragons?

thank you for any help 🙏. I want to get around to reading the books but it's kinda daunting because there's so many of them and they're long and I'm a slow reader 😭

Hey, welcome to Tumblr! (Hope you survive the experience.) Sure, I can answer your questions (certainly better than tiktok and twitter lol sigh), but I do definitely recommend reading the books! Some people find it easier to go with audiobooks (I personally don't, since auditory processing isssues make me tune out in five seconds, same with podcasts, sigh), and that might be a big help for you? But anyway, answers below...

1. Yes... um... it's a question. It's stated that Valyrians are the only ones that can bond with dragons, and furthermore, only ones from the dragonriding families of Valyria. (This is part of the "Doctrine of Exceptionalism", which I'll describe later.) The "dragonseeds" who rode dragons during the Dance were supposedly bastards or descendants of bastards of Targaryens (I'll get to the details in a moment), and we have the example in the current books of Brown Ben Plumm, who Dany's dragons adore, and he is an extremely distant (by like 120 years) descendant of Elaena Targaryen and Aegon IV Targaryen.

However, the dragonseed and dragonrider Addam of Hull, per the histories a bastard of Laenor Velaryon (son of Rhaenys Targaryen), was almost certainly actually the bastard of Corlys Velaryon, and the Velaryons were not a dragonriding family. Though it's possible that one of the pre-Conquest Targaryen ladies married into House Velaryon, so it's not that exceptional. The greater problem is the dragonseed Nettles, of no known background, called out by the narrative as looking distinctly un-Valyrian (she's brown, and note the Velaryons are white in the books), who tamed her dragon by feeding it sheep until it started to like her. Many theorize that while Valyrian blood makes it easy to bond with dragons (due to likely blood magic/genetic bonding with dragons in ancient times, as they claim to be descended from dragons), it is still possible to create that bond the hard way, as the early Valyrians were once a mere tribe of shepherds who discovered dragons nesting in a local chain of volcanoes. The full answer is one of the greater mysteries of ASOIAF, and will hopefully be resolved in later books. (Along with whoever the riders of Dany's other two dragons will be.)

2. Per GRRM, Targaryens are not immune to fire, but they do have some heat resistance, and enjoy things like hot baths and hot weather. The only one actually immune to fire was Dany, and specifically only during the miracle of her dragons' birth. (During her taming of Drogon right before she rode him the first time, she received burns on her hands.) Many Targaryens have died or been injured by fire, including Viserys Targaryen (Dany's brother and his "golden crown"), Aerion Targaryen (he drank wildfire because he thought it would turn him into a dragon. It didn't), Rhaenys Targaryen the Queen Who Never Was, Daeron "the Daring" Targaryen, Aegon II Targaryen, and Rhaenyra Targaryen.

As for illness, the "Doctrine of Exceptionalism" was a religious precept that King Jaehaerys I worked out with the Faith of the Seven, to give the Targaryens an exception on the Faith's anti-incest stance. It stated that Targaryens were different, exceptional, special people, closer to gods than men, because of their unique silver-gold hair and purple eyes, because they alone rode dragons, and because they never got sick. "There was fire in the blood of the dragon, it was reasoned, a purifying fire that burned out all such plagues." However, only a few years after Jaehaerys made this agreement (and married his sister Alysanne), their 7-year-old daughter Daenerys died of the Shivers, a severe-flu-like epidemic. (This put great doubt in their heart, but did anyone do anything about it? lol no.) Their daughter Maegelle later died of greyscale, and their son Baelon died of appendicitis. Later Targaryens have died of other epidemics, of the pox, of tuberculosis, and other diseases.

However -- some Targaryens have shown surprising resistance to illness. Aegon III sat with many victims of the Winter Fever epidemic, and never showed any symptoms. Dany herself cannot recall ever getting sick. (She is not immune to being poisoned, though.) There may be something specifically connected to being a dragonrider (though Baelon was one), or more specifically being a potential Prince That Was Promised? Again, this is connected to the greater mysteries of ASOIAF, to be resolved later.

3 & 4. The base of the Hightower -- not the tower itself, but its first level -- is an ancient fortress made of fused black stone, which is similar to Valyrian construction made by melting stone with dragonfire (such as the castle of Dragonstone, the walls of Volantis, and the Valyrian roads). However, it predates the Valyrian empire by millennia, and is plain without decoration, unlike how the Valyrians would twist the melted stone into artistic forms. There are also other ancient structures in the world, the Five Forts on the eastern border of Yi Ti, that are also made of this fused black stone in this plain style. Some maesters also think the Hightower fortress's labyrinthine design is similar to the Mazes of Lorath, also ancient structures, made by a vanished giant not-quite-human species (called the Mazemakers) in pre-history. GRRM has said "there were dragons everywhere, once" (there are indeed records of dragons in Westeros before Valyria, and dragon bones found in far distant places in the world) and the truly ancient Asshai'i histories claim to have taught the Valyrians the secrets of dragons, so there's a theory that there was a dragonriding culture long before the Valyrians who left behind these fused black stone structures. (More on this in the next answer, and you can see an older theory post of mine on the subject here. Also note I am certain this culture was not the Great Empire of the Dawn, they're unrelated.) One more great mystery!

5. Yeeahh... this may be true. Or it might not be. Septon Barth (Jaehaerys's Hand of the King, and a great researcher into the origins of dragons, with theories that made maesters call him crazy and the Faith burn his books) apparently theorized in his Unnatural History that the Valyrian dragons may have been created via bloodmagic, possibly by breeding wyverns (flying reptiles that do not breathe fire), possibly with firewyrms (wingless/legless earth-boring creatures that do breathe fire). There's also (as I said above) Valyrian legends that claim they found dragons nesting in the Fourteen Flames, but ancient texts from Asshai claim that dragons first came from the Shadow (the mountains around Asshai), and an ancient nameless people brought them to Valyria and taught the Valyrians the magic needed to control them. And there's a myth from Qarth that there used to be another moon that cracked open like an egg and millions of dragons came out. We do not yet know the true answer.

GRRM recently said "Septon Barth got most of it right", but what is "most"? Was there an incredibly ancient vanished species of dragons that the original Valyrians re-created? Did these Valyrians somehow breed these new dragons with themselves to make them easier to control? What we do know is that occasionally Targaryens have had monstrous dragon-like stillbirths. We do know that very rarely a dragon egg has hatched a "broken thing" that dies quickly, or a monstrous wingless wyrm that attacks its cradlemate, with no known reason why. We know that in the ruins of Valyria since its Doom, there are apparently mutated creatures that can lay eggs containing "worms with faces" and "snakes with hands" in human flesh, a horrific experience witnessed by Septon Barth that sent him on his path. It's a great great mystery, and there will apparently be an answer one day.

BTW, many of these huge mysteries were introduced in The World of Ice & Fire, if you want to read just one book. However, TWOIAF is not a story like the actual books, it's a history/geography book, and if you want more than lore, if you want addictively enjoyable characters and amazing dialogue and a truly excellent story, again I highly recommend reading the main books. The lore and the mysteries are very interesting, sure, but they're not what's really kept me in this fandom for 13 years now, you know?

[duxbelisarius]

The Dragon has Three Heads or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Believe That Young Griff is the Real Deal

Before going any further, I want to warn anyone reading this analysis that it will contain spoilers for A Dance With Dragons, so proceed at your own risk.

This essay came about from an 'epiphany' I had while reading ADWD on break at work, specifically chapter Daenerys VII. In this chapter, Quentyn Martell and his companions present themselves to Daenerys and offer her a marriage alliance with Dorne. This being the day of her wedding to Hizdahr zo Loraq, Dany refuses and makes note mentally of Quaithe's earlier warning about not trusting "the Sun's Son." The identification seems simple enough, with House Martell's sigil featuring the sun and Quentyn being the son of Doran Martell, Prince of Dorne, but there are serious problems with this conclusion.

The issue with labeling Quentyn Martell the Sun's Son stems from how Dany reaches this conclusion; for starters, this is the original quote given by Quaithe in Daenerys II:

"No. Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal."

And this is how Dany identifies Quentyn as the Sun's Son in Daenerys VII and VIII:

Something tickled at her memory. "Ser Barristan, what are the arms of House Martell?"

"A sun in splendor, transfixed by a spear."

The sun's son. A shiver went through her. "Shadows and whispers." What else had Quaithe said? The pale mare and the sun's son. There was a lion in it too, and a dragon. Or am I the dragon? "Beware the perfumed seneschal." That she remembered. "Dreams and prophecies. Why must they always be in riddles? I hate this. Oh, leave me, ser. Tomorrow is my wedding day."

...

The pale mare. Daenerys sighed. Quaithe warned me of the pale mare's coming. She told me of the Dornish prince as well, the sun's son. She told me much and more, but all in riddles.

George has talked about the fickle nature of prophecy in the books and publicly, citing the Duke of Somerset's death at the Battle of St. Albans in Shakespeare's Henry VI as an example of why the literal or easiest interpretations are not always the most reliable. While Dany's conclusion that Quentyn is the 'Sun's Son' seems straightforward, she bases it solely on Barristan's description of the Martell arms. Her reasoning is mainly to justify marrying Hizdahr by dismissing the Martell offer, as Dany herself barely remembers Quaithe's warning and bemoans her 'riddles'.

Assuming that the 'Pale Mare' refers to the 'bloody flux' that the Astapori refugees bring to Meereen, and that the Kraken, dark flame, lion, griffon and mummer's dragon refer to Victarion Greyjoy, Moqorro, Tyrion, Connington and Young Griff respectively, the sequence of Quaithe's warning makes no sense with Quentyn as the 'Sun's Son.' At the end of ADWD, Tyrion is outside the walls of Meereen while Victarion and Moqorro are en route with the Iron Fleet, and Connington and Young Griff are in Westeros. If Dany's return to Meereen from the Dothraki Sea is followed by her journeying westwards, then this sequence makes sense. Victarion will likely destroy the Slaver's fleets and is seeking Dany's hand in marriage, while Moqorro is with him for the purpose of acknowledging her as Azor Ahai and encouraging her to free the slaves of Volantis. Given Tyrion's association with Varys, Illyrio, Jorah and now 'Brown Ben Plumm,' and his family's role in Robert's rebellion, it makes sense that he would not immediately seek out Daenerys on her return to Meereen. Connington and Young Griff await her in Westeros, but Quentyn as the 'Sun's Son' precedes all of them, breaking Quaithe's otherwise sensible sequence. If Quentyn were the 'Sun's Son' he could just as easily have been paired with the Kraken, since both are sent by the heads of their houses to offer her an alliance, while Tyrion and Moqorro travel together on the Selaesori Qhoran (the 'Perfumed Seneschal') and Connington and Griff are in league with Varys.

The far greater issue with Dany's interpretation is that we have access to Quentyn's POV, and there is nothing to suggest that he seeks to betray Daenerys. His purpose was to approach Dany with a marriage alliance, to assist her in reclaiming her crown; his party was even sent by Tatters to scope out the situation in Meereen for a possible double-crossing of the Yunkai'i, specifically to aid Dany. The only thing close to untoward that he does is attempt to claim one of her Dragons, and this was a desperation move driven by his insecurities and his fear of returning to his father empty handed, which would mean that his fallen companions died for nothing:

"What name do you think they will give me, should I return to Dorne without Daenerys?" Prince Quentyn asked. "Quentyn the Cautious? Quentyn the Craven? Quentyn the Quail?" (The Discarded Knight, ADWD)

Volantis, Quentyn thought. Then Lys, then home. Back the way I came, empty-handed. Three brave men dead, for what?

...

His father would speak no word of rebuke, Quentyn knew, but the disappointment would be there in his eyes. His sister would be scornful, the Sand Snakes would mock him with smiles sharp as swords, and Lord Yronwood, his second father, who had sent his own son along to keep him safe … (The Spurned Suitor, ADWD)

Disqualifying Quentyn as the Sun's Son leaves us with only three options, of which only one really works. Trystane is the only other son of House Martell aside from Quentyn via Prince Doran, and given his limited roll in the story thus far I think it's safe to cross him off the list. Doran could theoretically work as the 'Sun's son,' as his mother was Princess of Dorne before him; given that Quaithe describes the figures as going to Dany, Doran's limited mobility and poor health would disqualify him. This leaves us with only one 'son of a sun,' that being 'Young Griff,' aka Aegon VI Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell, Princess of Dorne.

This association of Aegon with the Martells via his mother fits with the copious amounts of imagery linking him to the Rhoynar and to 'Egg' aka Aegon V of "Dunk and Egg" fame, specifically that character's travels in Dorne. Tyrion finds him living on a pole boat in the Rhoyne River, home of the ancient Rhoynar culture that Dorne descends from. The Shy Maid is operated by Yandry and Ysilla, so-called 'orphans of the Greenblood' which are another allusion to Dunk and Egg's travels on the Greenblood River in Dorne:

A poleboat had taken them down the Greenblood to the Planky Town, where they took passage for Oldtown on the galleas White Lady.

...

When they’d been poling down the Greenblood, the orphan girls had made a game of rubbing Egg’s shaven head for luck. (The Sworn Sword)

In Tyrion IV of ADWD, a massive horned turtle appears in the river by the Shy Maid, an obvious reference to the Rhoynish 'Old Man of the River,':

It was another turtle, a horned turtle of enormous size, its dark green shell mottled with brown and overgrown with water moss and crusty black river molluscs. It raised its head and bellowed, a deep-throated thrumming roar louder than any warhorn that Tyrion had ever heard. “We are blessed,” Ysilla was crying loudly, as tears streamed down her face. “We are blessed, we are blessed.”

Duck was hooting, and Young Griff too. Haldon came out on deck to learn the cause of the commotion . . . but too late. The giant turtle had vanished below the water once again. “What was the cause of all that noise?” the Halfmaester asked.

“A turtle,” said Tyrion. “A turtle bigger than this boat.”

“It was him,” cried Yandry. “The Old Man of the River.”

And why not? Tyrion grinned. Gods and wonders always appear, to attend the birth of kings.

When Tyrion and Haldon visit the Painted Turtle inn to find information about Daenerys' whereabouts, we have an interesting description of the inn from Tyrion:

The ridged shell of some immense turtle hung above its door, painted in garish colors. Inside a hundred dim red candles burned like distant stars. (Tyrion VI, ADWD)

We once more have Rhoynish symbolism in the turtle, while the 'garish colors' are reminiscent of Young Griff's hair, which is dyed blue in the Tyroshi fashion. Tyrion's description of inside the 'Painted Turtle' is one of dim red candles burning like stars, which can be seen as an oblique reference to the red rubies on Rhaegar's black breastplate, thereby associating the red of Targaryen heraldry with the cultural symbols of the Rhoynar.

The 'Dunk and Egg' imagery goes further, with both Egg and Aegon wearing distinctive straw sun hats, and being accompanied by their Hedge Knights from the Stormlands, both of whom have titles derived from their own simplistic personalities (Duncan the Tall, Rolly Duckfield). Moreover, Egg's journeying to Dorne ends up giving him refuge from the Spring Sickness that ravages Westeros, while Aegon's time in Essos serves as a refuge from Robert's spies and the chaos of the War of the Five Kings. While these similarities might be viewed as a doomed attempt by Varys to recreate Egg through Aegon, I think the purpose of these parallels is to establish both princes as following similar trajectories: both are sons of a Targaryen prince (Maekar, Rhaegar) and a Dornish noblewoman (Dyana Dayne, Elia Martell); become King of the Seven Kingdoms through unexpected circumstances: and if George plans to end ADOS with a mini-Dance of the Dragons, I would expect Aegon VI to meet a fiery end like Egg did.

If Young Griff is actually Aegon VI Targaryen as well as the 'Sun's Son,' this leaves the 'mummer's dragon' without any clear identity. Part of this is due to the conviction that Dany's identification of the cloth dragon from the undying visions with a 'mummer's dragon' or puppet dragon must be correct. In truth, there are countless cases from ADWD alone that show us that a mummer's object is not necessarily a puppet, but more broadly means something which is not as it appears:

I know one stands before me now, weeping mummer's tears. The realization made her sad. (Daenerys III, ADWD)

"Not here," warned Gerris, with a mummer's empty smile. "We'll speak of this tonight, when we make camp." (The Windblown, ADWD)

"My lord, I bear you no ill will. The rancor I showed you in the Merman's Court was a mummer's farce put on to please our friends of Frey."

...

I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter … but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer's farce is almost done. My son is home." (Davos IV, ADWD)

His reign as prince of Winterfell had been a brief one. He had played his part in the mummer's show, giving the feigned Arya to be wed, and now he was of no further use to Roose Bolton. (The Turncloak, ADWD)

Fat Wyman Manderly, Whoresbane Umber, the men of House Hornwood and House Tallhart, the Lockes and Flints and Ryswells, all of them were northmen, sworn to House Stark for generations beyond count. It was the girl who held them here, Lord Eddard's blood, but the girl was just a mummer's ploy, a lamb in a direwolf's skin. So why not send the northmen forth to battle Stannis before the farce unraveled? (A Ghost in Winterfell, ADWD)

Mummer's tears and smiles are obviously false emotions, being affectations put on to hide what someone truly feels. Wyman Manderly is engaged in a mummer's farce wherein he pretends to be loyal to King Tommen and Roose Bolton, but in truth is scheming to restore the Starks to Winterfell and assist Stannis against the Boltons. Roose Bolton, Petyr Baelish and the Crown have in turn engaged in their own mummer's farce by sending Jeyne Poole north to wed Ramsay Snow in the guise of Arya Stark, "a lamb in direwolf's skin." If the 'mummer's dragon' is in fact a dragon that has been made to appear as something else, then Jon Snow more than fits this bill. By birth he should be a Targaryen, having been fathered by Rhaegar Targaryen upon Lyanna Stark; instead, his fortuitous Stark features inherited from his mother, and Ned's claiming Jon as his bastard and raising him amongst his children at Winterfell, has allowed Jon to hide in plain sight from those who would kill him for being Rhaegar's son.

The significance of Dany, Jon and Aegon being the three heads of the dragon is due to their mirroring a less conspicuous triad in George's World: elemental magic and it's connections to the Long Night. We are aware of three forms of elemental magic in the story, being pyromancy, cryomancy and hydromancy. Pyromancy is the most obvious, being the control and use of fire as we see with followers of Rhllor, and also tied to dragons. Cryomancy or ice magic appears in the powers of the Others and in the Wall separating the Seven Kingdoms from the lands beyond. Finally we have hydromancy or water magic, which was used by the Rhoynar against the Valyrian Freedhold and by Nymeria's Rhoynar settlers to support their communities within the deserts of Dorne. Company of the Cat has an excellent video discussing these three 'schools' of magic, but to summarize what she's said: Blue, Red and Green are the colours commonly associated with Ice, Fire and Water/the Sea in ASOIAF; in addition to being featured on the arms of ancient houses such as Massey and Strong, these elements are in turn associated with three magical items in the books. The first, The Horn of Joramun, can raise and lower The Wall (Ice); Dragonbinder, a horn that was likely used alongside similar horns to control the volcanoes of the fourteen flames in Valyria (Fire); and the 'Kraken summoning horn' which is most likely the Hammer of the Waters, since the Hammer raised the seas to swamp the 'Arm of Dorne,' which would have filled the seas fill with corpses of the dead and 'summoned' krakens, which would have fed on the bodies of the drowned.

The Valyrian, Northern and Rhoynish heritage of Dany, Jon and Aegon ties them to these three forms of magic respectively, and by extension to the Long Night. We are given three accounts of the Long Night between ASOIAF and TWOIAF, which I dub the 'western,' 'far eastern' and 'near eastern' versions. The 'western' account concerns the First Men, the Night's Watch, the Last Hero and the Others; the 'far eastern' account covers the 'Jade Compendium' and the Yi Tish account of the Blood Betrayal; and the 'near eastern' or Rhoynar account in which the children of Mother Rhoyne sang a song to return light to the world. Aegon is tied to the Rhoynish account through his mother's heritage, with references to the Rhoynish account in the 'Old Man of the River' appearing in ADWD and Dany's vision of Rhaegar talking about Aegon's 'Song' (that of Ice and Fire):

The Rhoynar tell of a darkness that made the Rhoyne of Essos dwindle and disappear, her waters frozen as far south as the joining of the Selhoru, until a hero convinced the many children of Mother Rhoyne, such as the Crab King and the Old man of the River, to put aside their bickering and join in a secret song that brought back the day. (TWOIAF: Ancient History: The Long Night)

...

“Will you make a song for him?” the woman asked.

“He has a song,” the man replied. “He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.” (Daenerys IV, ACOK)

Jon's connection to the Northern account is obvious given his Stark lineage and service in the Night's Watch, as well as his dreams in ADWD:

Burning shafts hissed upward, trailing tongues of fire. Scarecrow brothers tumbled down, black cloaks ablaze. "Snow," an eagle cried, as foemen scuttled up the ice like spiders. Jon was armored in black ice, but his blade burned red in his fist. As the dead men reached the top of the Wall he sent them down to die again. He slew a greybeard and a beardless boy, a giant, a gaunt man with filed teeth, a girl with thick red hair. Too late he recognized Ygritte. She was gone as quick as she'd appeared.

The world dissolved into a red mist. Jon stabbed and slashed and cut. He hacked down Donal Noye and gutted Deaf Dick Follard. Qhorin Halfhand stumbled to his knees, trying in vain to staunch the flow of blood from his neck. "I am the Lord of Winterfell," Jon screamed. It was Robb before him now, his hair wet with melting snow. Longclaw took his head off. Then a gnarled hand seized Jon roughly by the shoulder. He whirled … (Jon XII, ADWD)

Finally, Dany is directly referred to as Azor Ahai in the books while her visions from Daenerys IX of AGOT connect her bloodline to the Great Empire of the Dawn. The eye colours of the figures she sees match the titles of four of the eight emperors of the GEOTD, Opal, Jade, Tourmaline and Amethyst, with the Bloodstone Emperor killing his sister the Amethyst Empress and causing the Long Night. Azor Ahai and the Bloodstone Emperor are themselves connected, and I recommend David Lightbringer's Nightbringer series and "Azor Ahai the Bad Guy" video for a concise explanation. It's worth noting that David is well within the Faegon Blackfyre camp, but I think his theories here more than fit my own conclusions also.

Aegon being one of the three heads also fits in with the symbolic relationship between water, fire and ice and the green, red and blue colour scheme. As Company of the Cat points out in her video about the magic horns (timestamp 26:52), green is a secondary colour made from a 'cool' and a 'warm' colour, placing it in the middle of the spectrum while red and blue are polar opposites. Similarly, fire can melt ice back into water and water in turn quenches fire, situating Aegon at a middle ground between Jon's ice and Dany's fire. Whereas Jon's only aspect of himself that ties him to House Targaryen is his father and otherwise he is firmly associated with his mother's house, Dany is tied symbolically to her Targaryen identity in the books, being a product of Targaryen incest, the first to hatch dragons in over a century, and her ties to fire through her 'rebirth' on Mirri's pyre under the Red Comet. While Aegon's physical appearance and his father tie him clearly to House Targaryen like Dany, the support of his mother's family alongside his Rhoynar lineage and symbolism place him in a similar situation to Jon, besides their being half-brothers. This also calls to mind the three accounts of the Long Night: if Jon is the Last Hero leading the Night's Watch and Dany is Azor Ahai driving out the darkness with her 'lightbringer' (ie her dragons), Aegon is the unnamed hero who rallied the children of Mother Rhoyne to sing a secret song which brought back the day. To quote alexis_something_rose's essay about Young Griff, "I can wager who will be bickering and who will tell them to set their differences aside and join together in a secret song that will bring back the day."

Whether or not all three or some combination of them will play a decisive role in defeating the Others, or if that will be Bran's part to play, I believe strongly that Dany, Jon and Aegon will be the 'three heads of the dragon.' If 'Young Griff' is truly Sun's Son, Aegon son of Rhaegar, his joining with Dany and Jon represents a unification of the three Dawn Age narratives of the Long Night and it's eventual end. Uniting the icey North, the dragon lord's fire and the songs of Mother Rhoyne would make the endgame a true 'Song of Ice and Fire.'

[asongoficeandfancasts]

Tags continued: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

DAENERYS APPRECIATION WEEK 2023 ↳ Day 7: Theories & Speculation → The Dragon has Three Heads

“The dragon has three heads,” she sighed. “Do you know what that means, Jorah?” “Your Grace? The sigil of House Targaryen is a three-headed dragon, red on black.” “I know that. But there are no three-headed dragons.” “The three heads were Aegon and his sisters.” ... The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters. ... "The dragon must have three heads," he wailed, "but I am too old and frail to be one of them. I should be with her, showing her the way, but my body has betrayed me."

[queensend]

HOUSE TARGARYEN ♔ the maidens in the tower

Daena was wild almost from birth. She was strong, beautiful, and willful. She was an expert horsewoman and also a hunter and a fine archer with her short recurved bow. She had a a fearless “I’ll dare anything” smile. During her time of confinement at the Maidenvault, Daena escaped several times and had an affair with her cousin Prince Aegon, despite his marriage to his own sister-wife Naerys. When she became pregnant she refused to name the father and became known as “Daena the Defiant.” Rhaena was the second daughter of King Aegon III Targaryen and Queen Daenaera Velaryon. Two years younger than Daena, Rhaena was just as lovely as her sister, but hers was a softer, sweeter, more feminine beauty. Where Daena was willful, wild, and adventurous, Rhaena was dutiful, meek, and passive. She loved lace and gold trim and often embroidered depictions of faith on her clothing. Rhaena, unlike her two sisters, never chaffed at her confinement. She was almost as pious as her brother Baelor, and eventually became a septa. Elaena lived a much longer life than her sister Daena, and a much more tumultuous one than her sister Rhaena. Although Elaena had three husbands during her lifetime, the great love of her life was her cousin, Lord Alyn Velaryon. She gave birth to two bastard children by him, the twins Jon and Jeyne Waters. Elaena had hoped to marry Alyn, but he was lost at sea. She would go on to marry three times, first to Lord Ossifer Plumm who died on their wedding night, then Lord Ronnel Penrose. He sat on the king’s small council as master of coin; but it was widely known that Elaena was the one performing the duties, as she was shrewd and intelligent with money. King Daeron trusted her with many important matters of state, and she grew influential. Elaena birthed Ronnel four children: Robin, Laena, Jocelyn, and Joy Penrose. Not long after Ronnel’s death, Elaena married once more, for love and by her own choosing. With King Daeron II’s blessing, Elaena was married to Ser Michael Manwoody, a Dornishman who had attended the court of Mariah Martell.

[agentrouka-blog]

Cersei is very much like Tywin. She is as dumb as he is (by that I mean, they are not actually dumb but blinded but their own faults and insecurities) the only difference between them is that he was a man so he was trained to be a good administrator and she had no training.

(post referenced)

Let's also remember that Cersei lost her mother at a young age. That's the person who would have been best suited and most responsible for educating her daughter in administrative matters, and after her death Tywin neither remarried nor likely paid that much attention to Cersei's specific education. It was enough that she was uncommonly beautiful and reasonably obedient to him.

We saw how she treated Tyrion's nursemaid. While she may have treated her Septa Saranella with more basic poiliteness, I doubt she felt the same deference that Sansa did for Mordane, especially given her resentment of the differences in her education compared to Jaime.

The queen's face was hard and angry. "Would that I could take a sword to their necks myself." Her voice was starting to slur. "When we were little, Jaime and I were so much alike that even our lord father could not tell us apart. Sometimes as a lark we would dress in each other's clothes and spend a whole day each as the other. Yet even so, when Jaime was given his first sword, there was none for me. 'What do I get?' I remember asking. We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently. Jaime learned to fight with sword and lance and mace, while I was taught to smile and sing and please. (ACOK, Sansa VI)

Sansa seems to have been taught alongside the boys at least for part of her education, given she knows she is better at reading and writing than any of her brothers. No such recollection for Cersei. And note the emphasis on fighting for Jaime. Doubtlessly, he was taught by very experienced and competent teachers in everything pertaining to matters of warfare and knighthood. But he's not exactly a bright light when it comes to history, politics or the art of administration either. (Unless it's his special interest The Kingsguard.)

Cersei herself is hilariously aghast at his ignorance at one point.

"And Ossifer Plumm was much too dead, but that did not stop him fathering a child, did it?" Her brother looked lost. "Who was Ossifer Plumm? Was he Lord Philip's father, or . . . who?" He is near as ignorant as Robert. All his wits were in his sword hand. (AFFC, Cersei III)

Tyrion knew what he was about when he emphasized the importance of books and independent reading.

Alas, I was born a Lannister of Casterly Rock, and the grotesqueries are all the poorer. Things are expected of me. My father was the Hand of the King for twenty years. My brother later killed that very same king, as it turns out, but life is full of these little ironies. My sister married the new king and my repulsive nephew will be king after him. I must do my part for the honor of my House, wouldn't you agree? Yet how? Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large enough for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind … and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge." Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. "That's why I read so much, Jon Snow." (AGOT, Tyrion II)

If Tyrion had been born able-bodied he might be as much of a "dumb" disaster as the rest of his siblings. As opposed to the clever disaster he is now.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

TWOW: Tyrion I (summary)

Don't worry, it will be over quickly.

Chapter opens with Tyrion and Brown Ben Plumm playing cyvasse and listening to the Yunkish trebuchets throwing corpses over the walls. They have a lively conversation, with Tyrion discussing how you can tell which trebuchet is launching based on its sound. Tyrion seems to be in much better spirits and back to his old, insufferably witty self.

x

For the second chapter we joined Tyrion playing cyvasse with Brown Ben, while they wait for 'Ser Grandfather's' army to sally forth and try to break the siege of Meereen.  These two share banter with other of Brown Ben's staff about what's the worst thing about waiting for the battle to start, punctuated by the sound of the trebuchets as they fling more plague corpses into Meereen.  

Oh boy, I can hardly wait to read this. I can already feel the laughter bubbling up inside of me.

+.+.+

Brown Ben muses that the two dragons are wild cards which could attack anyything on either side during the battle. 

🚩🚩🚩

Uh oh! UH OH.

That is the second time that prospect has been mentioned, essentially guaranteeing it will happen.

They will come, Ser Barristan might have said. The noise will bring them, the shouts and screams, the scent of blood. That will draw them to the battlefield, just as the roar from Daznak's Pit drew Drogon to the scarlet sands. But when they come, will they know one side from the other? Somehow he did not think so. - The Queen's Hands, ADWD

Can't wait to hear the excuses when the Unsullied and "freedmen" are caught in the crosshairs.

+.+.+

Tyrion (while slowly beating him at cyvasse) floats the idea of Brown Ben returning to Dany’s service and freeing Daario and the other hostages. Brown Ben seems very concerned with the money the Yunkish lords are wasting and doesn’t immediately reject the idea. 

x

They assume Dany will return on the third dragon and speculate about rescuing the three hostages - Daario, the eunuch and the horse boy - and delivering them to Meereen thereby changing sides a second time but claiming that they only pretended to change sides before so as to learn the Yunkish plans.  

Of course he's winning.

We learn two things:

Daario is still alive. No trebuchet.

Tyrion and Brown Ben are probably going to rescue him.

+.+.+

Tyrion thinks any skepticism about this will be outweighed by gratitude that he killed Dany's most dangerous enemy - Tywin. 

How hard will I laugh when Tyrion Lannister talks circles around this girl, and eventually convinces her to accept him as an ally? God, how embarrassing.

Anyway, she seems poised to misidentify the lion from Quaithe's warning, just as we all anticipated.

+.+.+

Someone spots sails on the horizon and they think the Volantenes have arrived, but Jorah Mormont spots the Krakens on the sails and says they are also flying dragon banners.

x

Just as Tyrion is about to win the cyvasse game Jorah bursts in with news of black sails in the bay (ironborn ships) flying dragon banners.

🚩🚩🚩

Everyone stop everything, it's DRAGON BANNERS.

Tyrion I dramatically ends with Victarion's fleet entering the battle, proudly displaying dragon banners atop their masts. It's like he already knows her love language.

Why might this be important?

We must go back!

Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. A cloth dragon swayed on poles amidst a cheering crowd. From a smoking tower, a great stone beast took wing, breathing shadow fire. . . . mother of dragons, slayer of lies . . - Daenerys IV, ACOK

This vision from the House of the Undying is almost always assigned to Aegon VI Targaryen.

Why?

"A dead man in the prow of a ship, a blue rose, a banquet of blood . . . what does any of it mean, Khaleesi? A mummer's dragon, you said. What is a mummer's dragon, pray?"

"A cloth dragon on poles," Dany explained. "Mummers use them in their follies, to give the heroes something to fight." - Daenerys V, ACOK

Because of Daenerys.

Despite mummers never making an appearance in that chapter or having any connection to the vision, Daenerys concludes that a cloth dragon swaying on poles is referencing stunts performed by mummers.

This becomes even more convoluted when books later Quaithe actually does warn Daenerys about a mummer's dragon.

"No. Hear me, Daenerys Targaryen. The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare, and after her the others. Kraken and dark flame, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Trust none of them. Remember the Undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal." - Daenerys II, ADWD

As a result, many connect Quaithe's mummer's dragon to the cloth dragon swaying on poles from the House of the Undying. It's all Aegon, everything is Aegon.

I don't want to get too deep into this, because we've already covered Quaithe and the HotU extensively, but I will say I think there's a lot of problems here.

Reaching a conclusion that largely relies on Daenerys' interpretation of any vision is a bad idea.

I believe the "mother of dragons, slayer of lies" group of visions are interconnected through the concept of Azor Ahai being a lie, which has nothing to do with Aegon.

The author consistently portrays engaging in a violent pursuit of the Iron Throne as inherently immoral, and that will have to include Aegon (I'm sorry). It's hard to imagine a scenario where common folk rally to an invading army causing mass devastation, and starvation.

The vision perfectly complements Daenerys' cult of personality, and messianic complex.

Finally, and this is the most crucial thing to note, anyone following the story closely should recognize it's Daenerys who is fixated on the idea of people supporting her cause under the symbol of her dragon banners.

"They are your people, and they love you well," Magister Illyrio said amiably. "In holdfasts all across the realm, men lift secret toasts to your health while women sew dragon banners and hide them against the day of your return from across the water." - Daenerys I, AGOT

x

Dany rode close beside him. "Still," she said, "the common people are waiting for him. Magister Illyrio says they are sewing dragon banners and praying for Viserys to return from across the narrow sea to free them." - Daenerys III, AGOT

x

"When the day comes that you raise your banners, half of Westeros will be with you," Whitebeard promised. "Your brother Rhaegar is still remembered, with great love." - Daenerys II, ASOS

x

"Tell me, then—when he touched a man on the shoulder with his sword, what did he say? 'Go forth and kill the weak'? Or 'Go forth and defend them'? At the Trident, those brave men Viserys spoke of who died beneath our dragon banners—did they give their lives because they believed in Rhaegar's cause, or because they had been bought and paid for?" Dany turned to Mormont, crossed her arms, and waited for an answer. - Daenerys II, ASOS

x

I ought to have a banner sewn, she thought as she led her tattered band up along Astapor's meandering river. She closed her eyes to imagine how it would look: all flowing black silk, and on it the red three-headed dragon of Targaryen, breathing golden flames. A banner such as Rhaegar might have borne. - Daenerys III, ASOS

You are more than welcome to believe that vision is Aegon, there's not a lot of evidence either way, but I'm going to stick with the girl who spends five books fantasizing about dragon banners and the people's adoration.

In conclusion, I don't know if Vic's dragon banners are the cloth dragon banners, but I haven't come across a more convincing alternative.

Final thoughts:

48 down, 1 to go. PRAISE BE.

Next chapter: Barristan II (summary)

-> return to menu <-

[witchthewriter]

𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐈𝐀𝐅 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞

From the lovely @agameofclothes. I thought I'd give it a crack - if anyone wants to reblog with their answers or make a separate post is all good! I would love to see your answers!

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦? 

I have no idea, honestly. Probably wouldn't be from one of the big Houses :'). Let's just say that I'm one of the main characters ... so I'd want to be from House Targaryen, a long lost cousin.

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟓 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 (𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐛, 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲, 𝐉𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐲, 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐭𝐚���𝐧𝐢𝐬) 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫? 

... None. They're terrible for the role as leader. They're all ... old mean men. Except for Renly and Joffrey. Renly is young and quite hopeful but has no ambition. Joffrey is young and awful.

However, if I were asked who I was loyal to - I would just say whoever, depends on where I am.

��𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫? 

Cannot and will not choose just one. I love Sansa Stark so much. Her character development is absolutely admirable. From being a close-minded, manipulated young girl, to an adult who knows how the world works. It's amazing.

Dany Targaryen is the main character in both the books and tv series for me. She's the most interesting. From practically being a slave herself, she turned herself into a loved Khaleesi, and worked her way up from there.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤? 

A Dance with Dragons. Characters have already been fleshed out, and now it's very plot driven.

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬? 

Okay so I found this here. Looking it up, somewhere it says it's semi-canon. But I believe it's real and I fcken love it.

House Plumm - Come Try Me

𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐒𝐞𝐚? 

Well, with the South being Beyond the Wall and the North being cold as fck. I choose across the Narrow Sea.

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝? 

Dany deserves it and I genuinely think she should sit on the Irone Throne. Not because her ancestors created the title and united the lands, but because she has known pain, she wants people to be free -not to be slaves. She wants to liberate.

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐲𝐝𝐨𝐠, 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫, 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲, 𝐍𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭? 

GHOST! He is the MOST loyal?

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡? 

Abso-fucking-lutely not. It's full of awful men???

𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫? 

Like the other question; I couldn't pick one favourite character, so I definitely can't choose just one I dislike. And so this will be in bullet form:

Obviously Ramsay, what an awful dickhead.

Joffrey, the little shit.

In the book, Euron Greyjoy is a big big bad. Very scary. Cruel. Not like in the show where he's kind of funny and amusing. No, Euron in the books is a villain villain.

The Mountain? Disgusting.

Walder Grey and all those who participated in the awful act of the Red Wedding. Terrible.

𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐬𝐢 𝐨𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧? 

Both... but her true name is: Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms, the Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt, the Breaker of Chains.

If it means for me, than I would rather be a Queen than a Khaleesi. I want a pretty crown and to have influence over the whole realm ... (I'm very humble...)

𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬? 

...dragons. I think that's pretty obvious... Imagine being a descendant of Old Valyria and being able to BOND with a DRAGON. A freaking DRAGON. A beast that would have your back no matter what???

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐠𝐨𝐝(𝐬) 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨? 

The Old Gods of the Forest.

To me, a witch, this religion relies on believing in the world around you.

An excerpt from the GOT wiki page: "nameless spirits of each tree, rock, and stream worshipped by the Children of the Forest and later by the First Men."

It seems the most pagan-like, and I would be very comfortable with following this religion.