#revisiting chapters

[turtle-paced]

Revisiting Chapters: Tyrion V, ACoK

Once you get to a certain level of management, it's all meetings, all the time.

The story so far…

With so many armies in the field against the Lannisters, and King’s Landing just kind of…sitting there, like some sort of duck… Tyrion’s attempts to plan the defence of the city take a turn to the unorthodox.

Overripe Fruits

The chapter begins with Tyrion freezing in the Guildhall of Alchemists, holding onto a hand grenade. In this pseudo-medieval world, it is in fact a clay pot filled with magic napalm. The danger of these objects is quickly made clear through background details and exposition. Tyrion was told to wrap up warm to avoid shivering. Hallyne the pyromancer carries a sealed glass and oil lamp rather than a torch, and that very carefully. The pottery containing the wildfire is roughened to help prevent slipping. Then we’re told that this stuff can’t be quenched with water and will seep into wood, leather, and steel - still burning. And it only gets more dangerous with age. From the safety mechanisms Hallyne describes (devices to smother the lab in sand), the only thing that works is cutting off oxygen.

We also learn quickly that the Alchemists have fallen out of favour in recent years. They enjoyed more favour with Aerys. Favour enough that Aerys insisted on making the wildfire jars in the shapes of fruits, the sick fuck. Strange thing, but they lost track of a lot of the stores made for Aerys when a whole bunch of the previous leadership was murdered during the Sack of King’s Landing. Just last year a cache of two hundred unstable dynamite/napalm grenades was found beneath the Sept of Baelor! Nobody knows how they got there.

Tyrion cuts off this anecdote, much as he cuts off Alliser Thorne’s explanation about the walking dead. He’s here because he wants to know how much of the stuff the Alchemists have on hand. Cersei commissioned ten thousand jars; the Alchemists believe they can fill the order. Tyrion wants to be sure the order can be filled safely. As Hallyne tries to reassure him:

“The substance flows through my veins, and lives in the heart of every pyromancer. We respect its power. But the common soldier, hmmmm, the crew of one of the queen’s spitfires, say, in the unthinking frenzy of battle…any little mistake can bring catastrophe. That cannot be said too often. My father often told King Aerys as much, as his father told old King Jaehaerys.” “They must have listened,” Tyrion said. “If they had burned the city down, someone would have told me.”

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Tyrion also recalls what he knows of the alchemists, mostly from Jaime, who has indeed passed a few stories on to his little brother about Aerys burning people alive.

But Tyrion does at least take the safety seriously. He asks for spare pots (which we will learn are for practicing with, stepping up from paint to lamp oil to wildfire). Then he departs.

As he leaves, the reader’s view goes from the damp, cold cellar to a grand marble hall lit by wildfire torches. Tyrion notes that the torches were lit that morning and aren’t staying on a minute longer than his visit - wildfire’s expensive and the Alchemists hard up. The author’s led with the danger, not the mystique - and he’s also been careful to make the mystique itself ridiculous. Just as Tyrion lampshades the economics behind the lamps, so he points out how the alchemists use titles, when all they can really do is make magic napalm. There’s also Hallyne himself, his name-dropping, and his palpable eagerness to be back in royal good graces. Tyrion is not caught up in the pretty green flames. He sees a hazardous substance and he takes it seriously.

Alas, Tyrion has too much on his plate, and he can’t waste the time digging into the history of the order or just how so many high explosives came to be stored under the Sept of Baelor of all freaking places, where they have absolutely zero buisiness being at any point.

Outside the Walls

As Tyrion leaves the Guildhall, he’s accosted by Bronn with two competing demands for his attention - more on that later. For the moment, we’ll just follow Tyrion down to the Gate of the Gods, where the markets are usually held. Ser Cleos is there with Robb Stark’s peace offer.

Tyrion gets a secondary report on matters in the Riverlands from Cleos too. Everyone’s burning everything - the Riverlords are burning their own crops, Tywin’s men are burning villagers and putting smallfolk to the sword. And here we see a profound limitation in Tyrion himself.

That was the way of war. The smallfolk were slaughtered while the highborn were held for ransom. Remind me to thank the gods that I was born a Lannister.

This is just how it is, per Tyrion. His response is not to address the unfairness but to show gratitude for the benefits he enjoys. The idea that everyone should have those privileges does not cross his mind. It’s a way in which he’s like Cersei. Though again, and as usual for the Lannister siblings, this is also a product of an abusive home. Tyrion’s only protection against the various injustices he faces in life due to his disability come from being a Lannister. The idea that everyone should have Lannister-level privileges is a threat to him - which in turn is a belief born of despair that of course everyone will hate him for his disability, and this can never change.

But going back to the terms. Robb’s asked for “half the realm”, the hostages the Lannisters have taken, and his sisters returned to him. It’s clearly an opening position. Cleos asks if Tyrion will trade Sansa and Arya for Cleos’ brother Tion plus Willem (another cousin). On its face that one is not possible, and Tyrion says so immediately - without letting Cleos know that the Lannisters do not have Arya to trade and therefore can’t make good.

Cleos also offers some analysis of the situation. Since Robb has allowed the Riverlords to scatter to defend their own lands (one of his worst mistakes), Cleos thinks Robb is afraid to face Tywin in the field. At the same time, Cleos also tells Tyrion that he doesn’t think Robb will yield easily, noting that Catelyn’s the voice for peace in his camp. Tyrion, who’s spent more time with Catelyn, says that Catelyn wants her daughters. He will be proved right on this.

Tyrion gives us an internal monologue on what he hopes to achieve here. In short, to stall. These peace negotiations are not good faith but a delaying tactic, meant to occupy Robb while Ser Stafford trains new Lannister armies.

Now if only Robert’s brothers would be so obliging…

The problem with this is that Tyrion has ignored what he’s been told: Robb does not want peace. Tyrion’s right that Catelyn’s principal motivation is getting her daughters back. It does not follow from that fact that Robb is the driving voice behind peace. Tyrion’s missed the part where Catelyn’s agitating for peace as a means to get her daughters back. He’s missed Catelyn having developed plans, a fuller agenda, not just “woman want family”. In spite of the fact that Catelyn has outsmarted him already! If he allows here that Catelyn has “plan to retrieve daughters, step 1 negotiations”, then he maybe doesn’t fall into the trap of thinking that Robb’s the one after peace and truly is afraid of facing the Lannisters in the field. Maybe he doesn’t assume that a man is the driving force behind any given political action. In this, Tyrion is very much a product of his society.

Needless to say, Robb is not going to be so obliging. What Robb does next, what he’s got in motion now, is going to shape the circumstances of the siege Tyrion’s anticipating.

There’s more on the broad strategic situation when Tyrion catches up with Cersei. Cersei asks plaintively what Tywin is doing. Tyrion outlines the waiting game Tywin’s engaged in, hanging out at well-defended Harrenhal, waiting for fresh levies to be trained and Renly to make a move on King’s Landing. Once anyone moves, Tywin will swoop.

Since Tyrion's spelled it out for us, that's definitely how it's going to go down.

Within the Walls

We learn during the pyromancer visit that Tyrion’s banned feasts until the war is won. The order was issued in Joffrey’s name, but it is most definitely Tyrion’s order.

Pretty much as soon as Tyrion pokes his head above ground, we see that he might not be the most popular man in King’s Landing. He’s got the full guard - Burned Men, who Tyrion chose specifically because they scare the smallfolk of King’s Landing. Tyrion needs someone to keep the "rabble" off his back because there was another food riot three days ago, one that Joffrey dispersed by having his guards shoot at them and telling them to eat the dead. We see the problems further as Tyrion heads to the Gate of the Gods, usually packed with farmers selling vegies, now deserted. Tyrion orders that Ser Cleos and his men are not to be allowed inside the city so they don’t see what’s going on here and how desperate the food situation is.

As Tyrion heads back towards the Red Keep, he almost runs into a crowd in the streets. The people of King’s Landing are listening to a prophet in Cobbler’s Square, a man preaching of curruption in the Lannister regime. The incest is a rumour prevalent enough to be shouted in the streets, and Tyrion himself is depicted as a “twisted little monkey demon” pulling Joffrey’s strings. Tyrion, critically, ignores this. Not just the depiction of himself, which leaves him deeply vulnerable as a scapegoat when things go wrong, but the increasing religiosity of the people.

How Tyrion interacts with Cersei and her political influence is also a strong theme in this chapter, and is even before Cersei appears in person. Cersei ordered the wildfire; Tyrion makes those orders effective without involving Cersei herself. Cersei orders Tyrion to attend her immediately; Tyrion decides to let her stew because that makes her mad, and mad makes her stupid. Tyrion instead heads to the edge of the city where he’s clearly made some arrangements to intercept Cersei’s own guests. As we see with Ser Cleos and his message, Tyrion yoinks it right out of Cleos’ hands.

“I was told to bring the message to the Queen Regent,” Ser Cleos said as the door shut. “I shall.” Tyrion glanced over the map that Robb Stark had sent with his letter. “All in good time, cousin.”

This incident tells us something about Cersei’s handling of information - she doesn’t consider the logistics. She doesn’t conceive of information as something with labour attached to delivering it, she assumes that information will be brought to her as directed in a timely fashion. It is a small lack of imagination and a small manifestation of her belief in class superiority. So Tyrion, who does understand that someone has to physically carry messages, gets loyal people at the gates and goes to meet the message as it arrives.

And then we get to Cersei herself. Like Tyrion anticipated, she’s fuming that Tyrion left her on read for a few hours. What she’s mad about is Tyrion’s offer to Dorne with a marriage for Myrcella. Combined with events of previous chapters, this tells Tyrion that Pycelle is the one going straight to Cersei with information.

Tyrion’s ready in a heartbeat to justify the offer on solid political grounds, reiterating to the readers that Doran has recent, good reason to hate the Lannisters. Tyrion puts it in those words, too: “every cause to hate us”. He does not beat around that particular bush. What he’s hoping is that a hefty bribe and some wedge politics with Doran’s Reach-hostile bannerpeople will sway Doran in favour of accepting the offer. We get our first impression of Doran’s personal character here, as Tyrion observes that Doran’s a man of honour who won’t kill a child out of spite. Especially not when Tyrion’s offered Gregor Clegane as well.

The reasons for this dysfunctional approach to power in King’s Landing are manifestly apparent as Tyrion tries to justify a reasonable decision, while Cersei insists he’s overstepped his authority and offered Doran too much. What’s her alternative? She doesn’t have one. What’s Tyrion doing to assuage her concerns? Misogynistic attacks on Cersei. (And yes, asking her if she was planning to use “that hole between her legs” is misogyny - he could have left it at “what would you have offered” for exactly the same point.) Which results in Cersei outright hitting Tyrion and threatening his life. This is not a pair of people who can work together effectively. There’s a long and toxic history here, and the pain of it is apparent when Cersei starts to cry, overwhelmed by fear for her life, fear for her children’s lives, and fear for Jaime:

Awkwardly, he took a step toward her. When your sister cries, you were supposed to comfort her…but this was Cersei! He reached a tentative hand for her shoulder. “Don’t touch me,” she said, wrenching away. It should not have hurt, yet it did, more than any slap.

Cersei genuinely hates Tyrion. Tyrion does not hate Cersei. So while Cersei is out there like a wrecking ball, Tyrion’s position in his thoroughly abusive family means he both has to work around her and with her. While also dealing with the heavy feelings.

As we might expect having read AFFC, though, Tyrion gets a lot further with Cersei when he’s buttering her up. When he turns to reassurance, when he explains to Cersei what their father is planning, and offers her the token of Robb’s peace offer (which he’s already decided on an approach to), Cersei’s resolve softens instantly. This is someone Cersei hates and who she believes hates her speaking, and she’s gone as soon as they show the slightest amount of deference. Not for no reason does Tyrion end the chapter believing he’ll be able to wrangle consent to the Dornish marriage out of her, with the bonus knowledge of who’s feeding her direct, high-level information.

Chapter Function

GRRM here is showing Tyrion preparing for the imminent siege of King’s Landing. This is an immediately important thing to do. Since the Lannisters are going to win this battle at the end of the book, the author needs to put in the work showing how it’s possible. This is even as the characters principally involved think they’re more likely to be fighting Renly than anyone.

On a character level, Tyrion’s entire storyline in this book shows us his resilience and creativity in the face of some severe adversity. The creativity is on full display in this chapter, both in his approach to securing wildfire and ensuring his side could make practical use of it, and in his outthinking Cersei. It also shows us some of Tyrion’s more profound limitations - his lack of appreciation for his public image (since he came in with the belief it’s a lost cause) and his lack of empathy for the common people of Westeros (again, a reaction to his deeply internalised belief that they are always going to hate him).

As discussed above, this is also important prep work for Cersei’s future action and character development. She’s watching Tyrion work around her - even if she doesn’t know how to stop it or the full extent of his manipulation, she knows that he’s doing it, resulting in outcomes she’s not keen on. Her hatred of Tyrion isn’t going away. While from Tyrion’s PoV this is an obstacle to his goals this book, it’s also the basis of her accusations of regicide next book, and feeds into her AFFC and ADWD plot later still.

Combined, the chapter inches Tyrion and Cersei ever closer on their collision course. Tyrion's trying to stave off this conflict out of love for his family - and Cersei's just making a longer and longer list of reasons for her to hate Tyrion.

And longest term of all, the reason we get to see this particular visit with the pyromancers and not, say, a meeting with the smiths making Tyrion’s chain across the harbour? It’s set-up for both the reveal of Jaime’s motivations for killing Aerys, and foreshadowing for the missing wildfire that remains underneath King’s Landing. It’s right up front of the chapter that Aerys was a wildfire enthusiast and that improperly stored caches have been found. Tyrion’s just lacking the context, because he was a child a continent away when these decisions were made. The dramatic irony is the fact that Jaime could have told anyone, at any time…

Miscellany

Cersei’s attitude to gender roles and her family comes out in a quote near the end of the chapter.

Cersei sniffed. “I should have been born a man. I would have no need for any of you then. None of this would have been allowed to happen. How could Jaime let himself be captured by that boy? And father, I trusted in him, fool that I am, but where is he now that he’s wanted? What is he doing?”

Patience is for weak women. Hell, misfortune and the consequences of one’s own actions are for weak women (‘weak women’ being redundant terminology, if you ask Cersei). At the same time, we’re seeing Cersei perceives that every man in her life has failed her. The AFFC attitude does not come from nowhere.

Also in Cersei-related miscellany, that slap was not nothing. She hit Tyrion so hard her nails drew blood.

Clothing Porn

Tyrion wears heavy quilted breeches, a woolen doublet, and a striped shadowskin cloak far, far too long for him.

Food Porn

Banned by order of King Joffrey.

Next Three Chapters

Eddard X, AGoT - Sam V, AFFC - Tyrion IV, ASoS

[ruporas]

… and it all came flowing to his brain, three years of his youth. (ID in alt)

[sun-e-chips]

Your fake husband sneaks some kisses while you cross the resort catwalk

Sun logic: It’s not PDA if there aren’t any resort and park guests around to see it~

^^ This was the cursed artwork that I had to recreate from memory because medibang paint decided kisses were illegal

(this exists now only because I really needed the reference of how I drew Suns rays from this angle)

[playtheshadw]

Nostalgia

[so-i-say-no-to-status-quo]

so i am going to need everyone who enjoyed the librarians: the next chapter and the house of cards to watch edgar allen poe's murder mystery dinner party by shipwrecked comedy (available on youtube here!)

have you ever wondered what a dinner party hosted edgar allen poe and attended by great literary authors like emily dickinson, mary shelley, charlotte brontë, oscar wilde, george eliot, louisa may alcott, ernest hemingway, hg wells, and fyodor dostoevsky would be like? well no more! it's an excellent series that answers that very question!

it was written by sean and sinéad persaud (who wrote this episode!) and they also star in it as edgar allen poe and lenore the lady ghost respectively. it is not only hilarious, it's heartfelt. it is such a labor of love for everyone involved and that shines through. and this series is one i cannot recommend enough.

i hope i have convinced you to visit this masterpiece! i am off to rewatch! <3

[paynomindtotheinsanity]

Why are they so stupid

[felidaeng]

been thinking about it

[sophie-laurel]

silly goofs 😭💖

[marypickfords]

Details from a hand-colored scrapbook about Mary Pickford made by her sixteen-year-old fan Janet Esme Vernon of Buckinghamshire, England in 1921.

[turtle-paced]

Revisiting Chapters: Bran II, ASoS

Happy new year! Have a story.

The story so far…

Having made their escape from Winterfell and deciding to head north beyond the Wall, it’s now a matter of travelling for Bran and company. Lots and lots of travelling.

The Northern Landscape

The land is the first thing we’re hit with this chapter. Trees with autumn colours have given way to evergreens, the Wolfswood to flint hills into grey mountains. The land is scattered with long lakes and devoid of roads - game trails only, as we find out later. And it’s cold. Bran, Hodor, Meera and Jojen are heading north, following the blue eye of the Ice Dragon constellation, going up and down and occasionally getting turned around for short amounts of time.

Bran is not loving it.

But Bran’s life had turned into endless chilly days on Hodor’s back, riding his basket up and down the slopes of mountains.

Meera is also not loving it, or maybe she is. She has mixed feelings about mountains, which she tries and fails to explain to Bran. Jojen has the more poetic take that opposites, whether it’s fire and ice, marsh and mountain, or love and hate, aren’t so different after all. The land is one, he says. Meera replies that the land's too wrinkly.

Weather and food both are becoming issues as the group travels. Game is scarce. The temperature is cold. They get caught in a sleet storm, which sounds incredibly miserable. Bran wants to go to the Kingsroad, but Jojen says it’s too dangerous. They’ll be spotted.

That said, Bran soon points out that they’ve already been spotted. Summer’s seen them. There are people in these hills. Sometimes Umbers - usually to the east and usually in summer. Wulls to the west, Harclays to the south, and around where they are now there are Knotts, Liddles, Norreys, and Flints. Bran’s maternal grandmother was a Flint - distant family.

The concerns about witnesses are proven valid when rain drives the group into a cave with a Liddle man. No names are exchanged. Lots of helpful information is. Bran asks how far to the Wall; he’s told it’s still a decent journey if you can’t fly over the hills. They’re warned off the Kingsroad:

“When there was a Stark in Winterfell, a maiden girl could walk the kingsroad in her name-day down and still go unmolested, and travelers could find fire, bread, and salt at many an inn and holdfast. But nights are colder now, and doors are closed.

More immediately, the ‘Bastard’s boys’ are on the road. They’re paying silver for wolfskins and maybe gold for walking dead (no, not the zombie kind). The way the Liddle puts this leaves little doubt that he knows exactly who Bran is. Ramsay’s people also know full well that Bran and Rickon escaped. The news that Bran and Rickon are alive cannot be hidden indefinitely. There are just too many people who know. A bit later, the party circles back around to what happened at Winterfell. They noticed a lot of dead Ironborn and no dead women. The immediate conclusion is that it wasn’t Theon who did the killing.

The Liddle also warns Bran off heading towards the Wall, where Sam’s ravens without messages have at least effectively communicated that some deadly serious shit happened north of the Wall. Which tells Bran and company that at the very least, they’re not likely to find meaningful help at the Wall. Perhaps not even safety.

But they can have sausage and oatcakes instead.

One day there would be Starks in Winterfell again, he told himself, and then he’d send for the Liddles and pay them back a hundredfold for every nut and berry.

This is just about the power of small kindnesses. What follows that is more empathic landscape - a bit more sun, a bit smoother a slope. Just a little bit more bearable all round. And with that, it’s easier to tell stories.

The People of the Crannogs

It’s overshadowed by certain other things this chapter, but it’s definitely worth getting into how much we learn about the residents of the crannogs in this chapter. First we see Meera hunting (and Bran’s developing first crush). She’s a lord’s daughter, but skilled at both hunting and spearfishing. Quite what this says about food security in the Neck, or various recreational pastimes, or gender roles, isn’t clear.

In one of the most hopeful moments of the series to date, Jojen promises the Liddle that he will not be left with ghosts - the wolves will come again. He’s dreamed it. “There are dreams and dreams,” he says. Without more of a sample size you wouldn’t like to say that the crannogpeople culturally have respect for true dreaming and perhas the associated mysticism - but Jojen is confident in referring to those dreams as authoritative. He’s not afraid of sounding ridiculous, he’s used to the idea that dreams can give foreknowledge. Given that Meera refers to “the magics of my people”, it seems that there's a level of respect for magic within their society.

Bran asks for stories after a while. Stories about knights! Jojen tells him there are no knights in the Neck. Meera corrects him that there are no knights above the water - lots of dead ones below, though.

“Andals and ironmen, Freys and other fools, all those proud warriors who set out to conquer Greywater. Not one of them could find it. They ride into the Neck, but not back out. And sooner or later they blunder into the bogs and sink beneath the weight of all that steel and drown there in their armour.”

Thus speaks Jojen. Which is another very informative passage about the people of the crannogs. They have a very different fighting tradition, even to the North. The armour the crannogpeople seem to prefer, it seems, are shirts sewn with bronze scales, plus a leathern shield; the weight is not the best when fighting in the marshy ground. Even their greatest castle is camoflauged or otherwise hidden, which again doesn’t seem to invite the whole siege and straight fight. Instead, the crannogpeople seem happy for their enemies to charge around carelessly and get themselves killed. We’ll see in future books that this isn’t the end of their strategies, but even from this admittedly partisan viewpoint, this seems like a brutally effective strategy.

We get some more details by implication as Howland Reed himself is introduced in the story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree:

“He grew up hunting and fishing and climbing trees, and learned all the magics of my people. […] He could breathe mud run on leaves, and change earth to water and water to earth with no more than a whispered word. He could talk to trees and make castles appear and disappear.”

Another point for hunting and fishing being appropriate for the upper strata of crannog society. And a good hint at Howland’s moving castle.

The Knight of the Laughing Tree

With spirits a bit higher, the party starts swapping stories. Meera nominates the tale of the Knight of the Laughing Tree. Oddly, Jojen says that Bran must have heard that tale a hundred times. But no, Bran hasn’t heard it even once.

Since it’s Meera telling the story as it was told to her by her father, it starts with Howland Reed (not named within the tale). Howland Reed, who wants to see a bit more of the world than just the crannogs, and who goes to find the Green Men on the Isle of Faces. After a productive winter visit, he heads off when spring arrives, and wanders right into the Tourney of Harrenhal. Meera doesn’t use family names, but the identities of the attendees are clear: King Aerys, Rhaegar, all the Kingsguard, Mace Tyrell, Robert Baratheon. Tywin’s had a spat with the king and didn’t show, but there are a lot of Westerlands lords there.

But women also attend (though Bran asks with suspicion if this is going to be a love story - there’s no other reason for women tot be present in a story except romance!). Elia Martell counts as a fair maid, and she’s brought a full dozen lady companions, with the men flocking around them.

But almost no sooner has Howland Reed shown his face than he’s set upon by vicious Walders. As Jojen says, “sometimes the knights are the monsters.” Squires or not, all of them are bigger than Howland Reed. Howland marks their faces as he’s being beaten - but even as that happens, a “she-wolf” arrives and sends all of the squires packing with a tourney sword. Lyanna Stark insists Howland come with her, first to meet the other Starks (explicitly noted in this is that Brandon’s the leader), and then to the feast.

Throughout the description of the action, Meera uses heraldry to identify the characters, rather than names. While this makes sense - did Howland know those names? What’s easier for the audience hearing this story spoken aloud? - It does mean a little piecing together is needed for the reader. Among the more important interactions are Lyanna crying at Rhaegar’s beautiful music (and then pouring wine on Benjen when he laughed at her), and Brandon asking Ashara Dayne to dance with Ned. Tragically, the woman the readers already know committed suicide is described here as having “laughing” eyes - a good bit of writing that implies the terrible things that happened to her over the course of Robert’s Rebellion.

Central to Meera’s story, though, is Howland spotting the Frey squires at the feast. Benjen offers to find Howland a horse and armour, but Howland is conflicted. He has his pride, and he knows jousting isn’t his forte. He doesn’t want to embarrass himself or his people more than he already has.

“You never heard this tale from your father?” asked Jojen.

At the jousting the next day, a mystery knight shows up, sure enough. Bran thinks the knight was the crannogman - they were short, in mismatched (obviously borrowed) armour, and the small crannogman fits the bill. The knight, named in the story for the device on their shield as the Knight of the Laughing Tree, challenged the masters of the squires. They won the jousts, demanding that the knights discipline their squires for the return of their horses and armour. Afterwards, at the feast, others swear to unmask the mystery knight (including Robert Baratheon), with King Aerys sending Rhaegar out to unmask the knight. But though Rhaegar returned with the shield, the knight vanished into thin air.

Bran thinks the story is…okay. Look, he’s got some opinions about what would be dramatically satisfying here. They needed to commit to making the knights the bad guys. There needs to be more violence, with the knights killed at the end. And for all that Bran complained about love stories, he wanted that romance subplot in - and resolved. (Though this does tell you a bit about how women are perceived as standard rewards in the in-universe fiction. The bloody eight year old has bought into it.) Meera tells Bran that Lyanna was indeed named the Queen of Love and Beauty: “but that’s a sadder story.”

“Are you certain you never heard this tale before, Bran?” asked Jojen. “Your lord father never told it to you?”

Because what Bran hasn’t realised is that this isn’t a far off tale of times long gone. This happened less than twenty years ago. This is his family’s recent past - part of events that shaped his family and the politics of the world he lives in profoundly. What Bran misses is right there for the readers.

Chapter Function

This chapter mostly exists for Meera’s story and the promise that the wolves will come again. The rest of it’s mostly walking.

There are very few ways we can get insight into these key events of the backstory with all these child protagonists who weren’t even born when these Big Deals happened. The mechanism of a story for children is actually a really good one, since it tells us about another culture, another time, and two different families.

In writing terms, it’s also an excellent way of showing the readers what’s important through the implications of what’s not told. Meera’s main narrative is about Howland’s experiences, so the ‘camera’ glances at Lyanna, at the interactions between the Stark siblings, at Rhaegar and Aerys, but doesn’t focus on them. They’re unmistakeably there, but they’re not gone into, which leaves room for speculation and mystery and the certain level of ambiguity that GRRM's stories thrive on.

Even more than this, there’s the in-universe meta-level of what’s not told. Ned’s been dead for a book and a half, and we’re still learning about him just for knowing that he couldn’t bear to tell his own children this story.

And why can’t Ned tell this story? Lyanna. Lyanna is the hero of this particular story, even more than Howland Reed. From the very beginning she’s an active presence. This is a story Lyanna drove, first by rescuing Howland from the Freys, then by taking him into the Stark tent, then by avenging Howland’s honour when Howland could not avenge his own. What we’re shown is a girl with both physical and moral courage. She’s daring, ready to fight squires, stand up for her father’s bannerman, and defy social convention to joust in the lists herself. Even in this little story for children, Lyanna’s a memorable character.

Through this, more than just telling us about Lyanna, GRRM shows us the effect all this had on Ned. The pointed, grief-stricken silence is palpable even as the implications fly over Bran’s head. It keeps Ned’s character and his silence in the reader’s view. Which is going to be important when at the end, GRRM has to talk about Ned’s character, his grief, and his silence - again relating to Lyanna.

Miscellany

This chapter is far more about what’s going on around Bran than his internal experiences, but even then:

He followed it with his eyes, wondering what it would be like to soar about the world so effortless. Better than climbing, even. He tried to reach the eagle, to leave his stupid crippled body and rise into the sky to join it, the way he joined with summer. The greenseers could do it. I should be able to do it too.

That said, it’s worth noting that Bran flips back to explicitly preferring knighthood at the end of Meera’s story. Acceptance is a process. Bran's going through it.

The internalised ableism continues strongly. And on that note, mind Bran’s interaction with Hodor. Hodor likes stories about knights, Bran says. Hodor doesn’t like love stories, Bran says. Are these Hodor’s preferences, or is Bran using Hodor as an excuse? On one level it’s childish behaviour from a child…but on another, it’s Bran using Hodor’s voice for his own ends.

Who doesn’t love Jojen’s shade about “Freys and other fools”?

It’s flagged that Howland Reed did meet the Green Men, “but that’s another story.”

We also learn in this chapter that not-yet-Ser Barristan entered a tourney as a mystery knight when he was ten.

Clothing Porn

The Liddle man wears a squirrelskin cloak with a pinecone-shaped clasp in gold and bronze.

Food Porn

Bran fantasises about the eel, fish, and hot crab pie that Osha might be eating at White Harbour. Later, there’s actual blood sausage and oatcakes. Oatcakes with pine nuts and oatcakes with blackberries.

Next Three Chapters

Tyrion V, ACoK - Eddard X, AGoT - Sam V, AFFC

[plum-petals]

Don't tease us like that Rosie! I'm so feral for those dragons! I want any chapter in any dragon pov.

Except for maybe dragon sex, I guess I'm not that feral lol. No judging though. But I'd rather read the resulting frisky riorgail

Too small for a one-shot? Make it a half a shot. Just post it here 😇😈

I will probably post it on ao3 eventually but I'd want to write it out a bit more (later, since I finally moved back to the main fic) and probably re-read both regular Threshing and Xaden POV for reference lol I had it all figured out in my head at the time but that was months ago

Here's a sneak peak of the first half (~1k words) because I'm excited to be writing again now that my wrist is feeling better!

Spoilers, obviously. I'll probably return to finish the second half of what I have written eventually since I only worked on this for like an hour! We haven't even gotten to the best part.

Tairn POV of Chapter 21 of life of spies or Threshing!

‘Come and stay with the golden one until Threshing is concluded,’ Sgaeyl demands. 

Tairn holds back a sound of complaint that will get him in trouble. ‘Why must I attend to her whims when you are already in the valley?’ he asks, even if he is already rising and preparing to take to the sky. He had stayed close, knowing that the young dragon is likely to push her luck after petitioning for the right to enter Threshing. 

Sgaeyl’s answer is more of a snarl than anything else, and Tairn admires the sound as he takes off. His mate is the most fierce she-dragon in the sky and he is in awe of her every day. Even if her taste in bonded ones leaves something to be desired. 

‘Because, my dear mate, I am limited by having a rider in the field and there are humans who would seek to harm her.’ 

Tairn growls and flies faster. ‘Who would dare?’

‘A weak human posturing during Presentation,’ she responds tartly. ‘She is flying in your direction.’

He sends a wave of agreement. Sgaeyl knows she doesn't have to ask Tairn to protect the young dragon they help care for. ‘While you complete patrols?’ 

Sgaeyl sighs tiredly. ‘While I deal with my bonded, who is turning out to be more emotional than expected. I fear he will not calm down until he sees a flash of silver in the skies.’

The black dragon huffs in amusement, having heard about his mate's recent struggles with her rider’s obsession. He uses his superior senses and spots a flash of gold in the distance as Andarna draws closer, nearer to the valley floor. 

‘Is the little human bothering you?’ Tairn attempts. ‘I will help rid you of him if you’d like.’

Happily. 

‘Tairn,’ she snips warningly. 

‘It was just an offer,’ he continues innocently, adjusting his path to meet the small dragon on the ground. 

‘One I will reject,’ she adds. ‘He is simply taken with a human girl. While pathetic, it could prove beneficial in the end.’ 

‘How?’ he asks in disbelief. 

Sgaeyl’s emotions are a flood of uncertainty and pride. ‘His chosen… she is interesting.’

‘An interesting human?’ 

A rare commodity, to be sure. None of the cadets who have crossed the parapet have called to Tairn in the years since the one who came before, and he doubts they ever will again. Not after all that he has lost. 

‘She spies on Navarre, though her motivations are unclear,’ Sgaeyl reminds him. That could be considered interesting. He has heard talk of the girl for years, when the elders predicted her rise as the next Head Scribe. How does a girl training to be a keeper of faulty history end up in this valley, spying on her home country?

Sgaeyl continues. ‘Her body may have been crafted weaker than most, but she does not balk in the face of a dragon.’ 

‘Is that all?’ Tairn asks quietly, sensing there was more to the story. False confidence fills cadets in droves, and many of them do not balk in the face of a dragon simply because they are too stupid or prideful. 

Sgaeyl is quiet for a moment. ‘During the Presentation, when one of the humans threatened Andarna, the silver one he’s obsessed with… she threatened his life for his transgressions.’ 

Tairn considers his words carefully. ‘Perhaps your rider is not useless, if he has chosen an honorable partner.’ 

His mate just scoffs. ‘Perhaps if they were not waiting to claim each other like foolish humans, he would be more bearable. We could not have made it simpler for him.’ 

‘The offer still stands,’ he chuffs in amusement at the reminder, feeling Sgaeyl’s answering wave of annoyance before she retreats from the bond.

Tairn lands by Andarna where she had settled to drink from a lake and greets the small dragon with a press of his wing.

‘I do not need you to watch me,’ she complains fiercely. ‘I am not a hatchling!’ 

The larger dragon pushes back his inconvenient feelings of affection towards the golden feathertail. Ever since the orphaned dragon had forced herself onto him when she was a hatchling, he had become protective of her. She may not have come from his line, but she is still his. 

‘I am not watching you,’ Tairn argues. ‘I am watching everyone else.’

He knows better than most that it’s foolish to trust a human.

Andarna sighs with the weight much larger than her mere four years. ‘Fine, but you must follow me,’ she says, voice dripping in her typical impertinence, and guides him towards a nearby cave entrance. 

‘You said you wanted to watch the proceedings,’ he reminds her. Andarna sends him a wave of annoyance that feels far too much like a human eye roll. He mourns her lack of respect, even as he has no plans to do anything about it. The golden one merely must become a strong enough dragon to justify her impudent and unruly disposition.

Tairn, child of Murtcuideam and Fiaclanfuil and descended from the cunning Dubhmadinn line, follows the small dragon as instructed. 

‘We are going where we must be,’ she says stubbornly and gallops ahead into the dark cavernous space. Tairn sighs tiredly, ducking down to fit through the entrance and following Andarna deeper inside. 

‘We must be in a dark cave with stale air?’ 

Andarna turns to look out into the woods through the cave entrance. Dragons, with their superior senses, can see easily through the trees and shrubbery and they can discern the presence of two pairs of footsteps running in this direction.

An approaching flash of silver through the greenery captures Tairn’s attention and holds it. 

‘Yes,’ Andarna answers. ‘This is exactly where we must be.’

Tairn looks down at the feathertail suspiciously. He is a wise and seasoned war dragon, but even he cannot tell of the future. 

‘And you are… certain about that?’ 

‘I am,’ she answers decisively. ‘Let us retreat into the cave.’ 

Tairn glances at the flash of such an unusual color, belonging to a girl who is so clearly running for her life. ‘Is this about the silver one that Sgaeyl speaks of?’ 

‘Let us retreat into the cave,’ she repeats. ‘Be patient and you will come to see what I see.’

Tairn sends a warning to his mate as he listens yet again, but not before snapping his teeth at Andarna warningly for having the nerve to accuse him of impatience. 

[nixotinix]

the nixverse locations part one: Ivy's Hideout

An abandoned bar in the old Amusement Mile that Poison Ivy has since refurbished into her hideout. It's the Sirens' favorite place to lounge around and plot their next schemes. To her knowledge, she has gone undetected by the Batman. So far.

[jaeyunjakesim]

Now why tf did I just get a HATE comment on ao3….. the jobless behavior of it all

[trixree]

The brain worms are ON ONE tonight folks I am thinking about Cody/Maul/Obi-Wan post order 66 living on tattooine together

like what if Maul sought out Obi-Wan's Commander shortly after O66 to get obsessive freaky closure about how Obes died (feels robbed of the kill, generally mentally ill about it, etc.) and is like "he is useless to me with all this fucking Imperial programing in the way" and does Force Stuff to break Cody's chip and what if Cody Wakes Up and goes "I can use this fucked up little guy to get to my General, who I believe survived, and then I'll just kill him easy peasy and live happily ever after with my husband" so he tells Maul that Obi-Wan is probably alive, actually, and cue a really violent road trip of them retracing Obi-Wan's steps in the hours after O66 via Imperial intel and hyper competence on both of their parts and

OH NO WHAT IF THEY START TO FALL IN LOVE like the forced proximity of it all...LISTEN TO ME. the intimacy of fighting alongside someone and having a functional partnership that's turned Dependency on both of your part's because you were both Traumatized in surprisingly similar ways (raised as a tool of violence for someone else's purpose, same guy actually!) and also have a similar goal via your mutual obsession with this one guy and actually, he's not that bad for a sith/clone, and by the time they get wise to Luke's existence and gun it for Tatooine, Maul is like "if I kill Kenobi this is going to upset Cody. That is Unideal. Can i live with not killing Kenobi?" and Cody is like "I cannot kill him afterall, I like him too much, how the FUCK am I going to explain this to Obi let alone any of the mind control & sorry i tried to kill you shit"

and what if Obi-Wan kept Luke because Reasons and is just so goddamn thankful for some extra childcare help (Luke's in his terrible 2s and he's force sensitive -- Obi's more sleep deprived than he ever was during the clone wars) that he really doesn't give a shit at all that it's his ex that tried to kill him for some mystery reason and motherfucking Maul on his doorstep. help is help 🙏 and they bang and stuff of course okay I'm only human

[a-bear-with-a-pencil]

i rlly like. . . .how this doodle came out

[valsvonvalentine]

Considering that Chapter 3 + 4 are actually on the horizon, I felt like I should post these almost-a-year-old concepts I made for my own take Chapters 3 + 4 because I still like them and I don't want them to rot in my gallery.

+ There's some info in the alt text teehee