#IronMaking

[mysteriouscam]

[tsic-tata]

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[cosmicfates]

"Ooooooooohhh Husband~" / for gajeel. sorry wife has been away to war.

Who knows when the Dragon will next let her leave.

"Hello to ya too, my flower, did ya miss me as much as I've missed ya?"

He knew she had of course, Gajeel would always know his wife missed him. He'd lean forward and press a gentle kiss to her cheek, her other cheek, her neck, behind her ear, both her cheeks again, before grabbing her face and kissing her properly. Once he was done kissing her he's picking her up into his arms, and walking into the living room at their house to sit down holding her.

"Hopefully ya ain't plannin' on tryin' to escape for a while cause I ain't 'bout to let ya go, Rav."

No, she was very much going to have a very large Dragon following her through the house, probably clinging more to her when they slept too. He missed her and he was going to make that HER problem.

[dyannawynnedayne]

Terros' Next Top DILF: Round 1

Erik: art from A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, AWOIAF Page

Ned: art by amuelia, AWOIAF Page

BRACKET LINK

[crimsononiarataki]

Casually noms on arm.

Referencing this ; He's going to stare at her.

"If you're hungry I could just make ya somethin' to eat, sugar,"

He's just casually judging her, not too intensely, but it was kind of amusing to him that she was playfully biting his forearm as she was. Did he taste good or something? He'd likely move his arm away from her before leaning in and pressing his fangs into her skin briefly. The bite would be released faster than it taken.

"Careful ya don't give me the wrong idea now, Ravyn."

[2maegor2cruel]

i've spent the last year getting my degree in genderbent theon studies so lemme say some shit real quick. i'll probably make a seperate post about The Themes, but this is about the logistics, babeyyy 🫶

"thea" vs. asha: pick your hostage

from the get-go, whether it is theon ("thea") or asha who is taken hostage, the intent would be to 1) shore up the power of the loyal regions in mainland westeros, and 2) "neuter "the iron islands. a northern or riverlands match is the best option, as both lack any significant fleet (which is bizarre in and of itself, but that's what grrm went with), balancing out the reach's naval superiority with the redwyne fleet.

in canon, we don't get any in-depth explorations of how women experience the hostage system. we know of dorna swyft, who was given to house lannister as a hostage until house swyft could pay off its debts. dorna would later marry kevan lannister, which tyrion describes as ser harys swyft's "greatest accomplishment". tyrion is naturally biased, but a relatively minor vassal getting to marry into the ruling house IS a serious step up. however, this is only one case, with it's own unique circumstances.

which brings us to my original question: would asha or "thea" be taken? asha is the obvious choice in a two-greyjoy-daughters scenario, as she's the legal heir, but asha is also a lot less malleable. she's around 13 by the end of balon's rebellion, and though women's opinions or identity wouldn't be given much weight or consideration in this context, the intent of a marriage pact would be to build a working alliance and mend rifts between regions. that's a lot more difficult when the conquering party doesn't have a mostly blank slate to work with.

also, theon was balon's last son and legal heir, but even he was essentially written off as dead in canon. i imagine a daughter would be regarded as similar to a salt wife, taken from her family by conquest due to her male relatives "weakness"/inability to protect her. it would be too much for balon's ego and sense of ironborn masculinity to bear, so i don't doubt he would consider her "as good as dead" as well, even if the conquering party (robert baratheon & co) couldn't have anticipated this.

most importantly, as we see AFFC, "the laws of the green lands" do not count for much on the iron islands. so let's get into it.

to start, the greyjoys themselves are relatively new major lords, having ruled for only 300 years (compared to the starks' alleged thousands of years of kingship). and, as we can intuit from the kingsmoot, the greyjoys do not command unquestioning loyalty from the ironborn. dunstan drumm, gylbert farwynd, and erik ironmaker all put forth their names at the kingsmoot, and some receive a levels of support that is surprising to the greyjoys in attendance, particularly aeron, who has a very skewed perception of balon (and therefore an overly rosy view of balon's legacy).

if it had been asha who was taken as hostage-bride, i honestly don't think any tully-greyjoy or stark-greyjoy children (who would have been ~9 years old MAX at the time of the kingsmoot in canon, assuming asha was forced to have children immediately after the rebellion) would have stood a snowball's chance in hell of inheriting. euron would likely have them killed in some clandestine way, and victarion, should he win, would be pressured to neutralize them in a less kinslay-ey way (though he could potentially take a male child on as heir, given his own lack of progeny).

all of this to say, the greyjoy line of succession is inevitably thorny. in my predominately vibes-based opinion, in the absence of a clear male heir like theon and knowing the ironborn's lack of deference to "green land law", "thea" might be taken over asha. i imagine lords like ned stark or hoster tully would be afraid that an asha match would basically be throwing their grandchildren into the greyjoy succession meat grinder, when asha/"thea" still have so many living and powerful male relatives.

anyway, thank you for coming to my female theon succession and hostage logistics tedtalk, and please tell me how wrong i am in the replies/reblogs 🫡

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Considering all of the nods to Lovecraft, do you think the seat of House Codd on the Iron Islands would basically be a medieval Innsmouth?

For those who may not know, Innsmouth is a fictional seaport town in Massachusetts that appeared in HP Lovecraft’s 1931 story The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Innsmouth was once a thriving town isolated from Newburyport by salt marshes, but hard times forced it to sacrifice citizens to the Deep Ones in exchange for fish and gold; in addition, they also had to mate with the Deep Ones to produce half-human offspring (that would look human until adulthood and then slowly transform into a Deep One) that would eventually settle into the nearby underwater city of Y'ha-nthlei to live forever (they never die except by accident or violence).

We don’t know much about the Codds (not even what island they live on), but there’s not a lot that points to devotion to the Deep Ones or sacrificing others in exchange for gold/fish. A Codd is named Dagon (reference to Innsmouth’s cult god, Father Dagon), but that’s a common ironborn name (there’s two Dagon Greyjoys, a Dagon Ironmaker, and a Dagon Drumm). We know that they have a low reputation, with the men as thieves/cowards and the women reported to commit incest, but that’s the opposite of what the Innsmouthers do (humans mating with Deep Ones to produce terrifying hybrids is usually seen as a metaphor for Lovecraft’s disgust with interracial relationships.)

If there’s any ironborn House that has the most similarities to the people of Innsmouth, it’s House Farwynd of the Lonely Light:

Aeron knew some Farwynds, a queer folk who held lands on the westernmost shores of Great Wyk and the scattered isles beyond, rocks so small that most could support but a single household. Of those, the Lonely Light was the most distant, eight days' sail to the northwest amongst rookeries of seals and sea lions and the boundless grey oceans. The Farwynds there were even queerer than the rest. Some said they were skinchangers, unholy creatures who could take on the forms of sea lions, walruses, even spotted whales, the wolves of the wild sea.

Lord Gylbert began to speak. He told of a wondrous land beyond the Sunset Sea, a land without winter or want, where death had no dominion. "Make me your king, and I shall lead you there," he cried. "We will build ten thousand ships as Nymeria once did and take sail with all our people to the land beyond the sunset. There every man shall be a king and every wife a queen." His eyes, Aeron saw, were now grey, now blue, as changeable as the seas. Mad eyes, he thought, fool's eyes. —AFFC The Drowned Man

A secondary island grouping lies eight days' sail to the northwest in the Sunset Sea. There, seals and sea lions make their rookeries on windswept rocks too small to support even a single household. On the largest rock stands the keep of House Farwynd, named the Lonely Light for the beacon that blazes atop its roof day and night.  Queer things are said of the Farwynds and the smallfolk they rule. Some say they lie with seals to bring forth half-human children, whilst others whisper that they are skinchangers who can take the forms of sea lions, walrus, even spotted whales, the wolves of the western seas.

Strange tales like this are common at the edges of the world, however, and the Lonely Light stands farthest west of all the lands known to us. Many a bold mariner has sailed beyond the light of its beacon over the centuries, seeking the fabled paradise said to lie over the horizon, but the sailors who return (many do not) speak only of boundless grey oceans stretching on and on forever. —TWOIAF The Iron Islands

The Farwynds and their smallfolk are isolated from the even the rest of the ironborn, and are the farthest west of all permanent inhabitants of any known civilization, just like Innsmouth is isolated from the rest of coastal Massachusetts by salt marshes. There’s rumors that they lie with nonhumans to create hybrids, just like the Innsmouth people and the Deep Ones. Gylbert Farwynd has unusual features with his different colored eyes, as the Deep One/human hybrids have features that gradually become less human as they age, including bulging eyes that can’t close. Then there’s this fabled paradise beyond the Sunset Sea that only the Farwynds seem to have seen where nobody dies, and it could be that, just like the Deep One city of Y'ha-nthlei, it’s beneath the water and really only reachable to those who are wargs. The Farwynds are more strange than evil or violent (Gylbert doesn’t suggest they conquer the Sunset Sea Paradise, but flee there like Nymeria; there’s no hint they sacrifice others to appease a Deep One, at least no more than the Drowned Priests), but the isolation, potential nonhuman features, and speaking of a fabled paradise of immortality does seem similar to the people of Innsmouth.

[windriverdelta]

Asha will probably outlive Theon in ASOIAF, and future political development of the Iron Islands

So, as of the released TWOW chapter Asha and Theon are together Stannis' prisoners. They are both POV characters, and Martin has said that the number of POV characters in TWOW will decline - as in, many will die. Given that Asha and Theon are unlikely to be separated in the future (there is no reason for Stannis or Bran to separate the two), one of them is likely on the chopping block.

Unlike many others, I think that Theon is on thinner ice than Asha, however:

Theon's character arc - from jerk to Reek to redemption - is done as soon as Stannis captures Winterfell and Ramsay dies (probably at Theon's hands). At best, we could see a further family reunion with Alannys Harlaw, or a Stark-Greyjoy reunion. Asha's arc however goes from being Balon's heir to making her own claim at the Kingsmoot to learning in captivity why it wasn't sufficient. This is a longer-term arc that probably ends with her becoming the actual leader of the Iron Islands, most likely after the War for the Dawn.

The Theon TWOW chapter is setting up both Theon's execution by Stannis and a probable encounter between Bran/Bloodraven-speaking-through-weirwood-trees and Theon/Stannis. However, even if Stannis and the Northerners are convinced to spare Theon after this conference, his bad health isn't going to go away.

Asha has probably spoiled the "Theon Latecomer" plan by spelling it out in detail. There is no dramatic tension if she discusses a precedent and then recreates it exactly. And while Aeron in his TWOW chapter thinks that only Theon and not Asha and Victarion can overthrow Euron, he also thinks that no godless man can sit the Seastone Chair and yet Euron did.

In my assessment this translates in Asha and not Theon surviving and ruling the Iron Islands.

Importantly, events in AFFC and ADWD have set up a scenario where Euron's viceroy in the Iron Islands (Erik Ironmaker) might be overthrown by Asha through force:

Euron and Victarion have withdrawn armed forces and supporters from the Islands and going by Aeron's TWOW chapter Euron probably doesn't care about them anymore.

The Iron Bank's delegate Tycho Nestoris has ransomed Asha's gang for reasons unknown.

Dagmer Cleftjaw's troops in Torrhen's Square are unaccounted for and apparently still around.

Rodrik "The Reader" Harlaw split from Euron at the Shield Islands and might be able to negotiate a withdrawal of his forces with the Reach.

Stannis and Justin Massey have discussed Asha's marriage probably as a prelude to advancing a claim to the Iron Islands.

If Euron is Bloodraven's rogue pupil Brynden might ask Bran/the North/Stannis for an intervention.

And oh yeah the "smoking tower" vision in Dany's House of the Undying is foreshadowing Euron's demise at Dany's hands.

I find it quite likely that in TWOW or ADOS Asha will assemble a coalition that will take the Iron Islands by force, overthrow Euron's lieutenants and remaining loyalists and install her as ruler.

Credit to @poorquentyn, @turtle-paced and the Redditor every-name-is-taken-2 for some references.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

TWOW: The Forsaken (Aeron Dam-phair)

It's one of those chapters.

It was always midnight in the belly of the beast. The mutes had robbed him of his of robe and shoes and breechclout. He wore hair and chains and scabs. Saltwater sloshed about his legs whenever the tide came in, rising as high as his genitals only to ebb again when the tide receded. His feet had grown huge and soft and puffy, shapeless things as big as hams. He knew that he was in some dungeon, but not where, or for how long.

Believe it or not, this is not Theon Greyjoy.

Quick note, this chapter is going to span several months, so it might be a bit tricky following the timeline. I'll do my best to make things easy to understand, but just know this chapter covers the following:

The aftermath of the Kingsmoot on Old Wyck

The attack of the Shield Islands

The initial stages of the Arbor attack

+.+.+

The night they moved him, he had seen the moon floating on a black wine sea with a leering face that reminded him of Euron.

Moon imagery for squid and dragon, love that for them.

+.+.+

When he slept, the darkness would rise up and swallow him and then the dream would come … and Urri and the scream of a rusted hinge.

You ever notice that of all the recurrent POV characters, it's the two religious fanatics, Melisandre and Dam-phair, who have had the most traumatic childhoods?

(Please pretend Areo Hotah doesn't exist for the sake of my interesting observation.)

+.+.+

Sometimes, Euron came himself. Aeron would wake from sleep to find his brother standing over him, lantern in hand. Once, aboard the Silence, he hung the lantern from a post and poured them cups of wine. "Drink with me, brother," he said. That night he wore a shirt of iron scales and a cloak of blood red silk. His eyepatch was red leather, his lips blue. 

Did you know the way we dress can greatly influence how others perceive us? First impressions are often based on appearance, and dressing in line with expectations can help create a positive image.

+.+.+

"What can you offer me that I have not had before?" Euron smiled. "I left the islands in the hands of old Erik Ironmaker, and sealed his loyalty with the hand of our sweet Asha. I would not have you preaching against his rule, so I took you with us."

The man's got brains, what can I say?

He may be a total fraud, but he dodged the dumb Greyjoy genes.

+.+.+

Euron grabbed a handful of the priest's tangled black hair, pulled his head back, and lifted the wine cup to his lips. But what flowed into his mouth was not wine. It was thick and viscous, with a taste that seemed to change with every swallow. Now bitter, now sour, now sweet. When Aeron tried to spit it out, his brother tightened his grip and forced more down his throat. "That's it, priest. Gulp it down. The wine of the warlocks, sweeter than your seawater, with more truth in it than all the gods of earth."

[...]

Aeron hawked and spat. The spittle struck his brother's cheek and hung there, blue-black, glistening. Euron flicked it off his face with a forefinger, then licked the finger clean.

+.+.+

And when the Damphair slept, sagging in his chains, he heard the creak of a rusted hinge. "Urri!" he cried. There is no hinge here, no door, no Urri. His brother Urrigon was long dead, yet there he stood. One arm was black and swollen, stinking with maggots, but he was still Urri, still a boy, no older than the day he died.

Hey, Victarion's got one of those too.

+.+.+

"You know what waits below the sea, brother?" "The Drowned God," Aeron said, "the watery halls." Urri shook his head. "Worms … worms await you, Aeron."

You might also find Euron and Victarion down there.

+.+.+

When he laughed his face sloughed off and the priest saw that it was not Urri but Euron, the smiling eye hidden. He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered round his feet and a forest burned behind him.

"The bleeding star bespoke the end," he said to Aeron. "These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits." Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him. "Kneel, brother," the Crow's Eye commanded. "I am your king, I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest."

"Never. No godless man may sit the Seastone Chair!"

"Why would I want that hard black rock? Brother, look again and see where I am seated."

Aeron Damphair looked. The mound of skulls was gone. Now it was metal underneath the Crow's Eye: a great, tall, twisted seat of razor sharp iron, barbs and blades and broken swords, all dripping blood.

Impaled upon the longer spikes were the bodies of the gods. The Maiden was there and the Father and the Mother, the Warrior and Crone and Smith … even the Stranger. They hung side by side with all manner of queer foreign gods: the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat, three-headed Trios and the Pale Child Bakkalon, the Lord of Light and the butterfly god of Naath.

And there, swollen and green, half-devoured by crabs, the Drowned God festered with the rest, seawater still dripping from his hair. Then, Euron Crow's Eye laughed again, and the priest woke screaming in the bowels of Silence, as piss ran down his leg. It was only a dream, a vision born of foul black wine.

God, I don't know. I'm so tired.

He showed the world his blood eye now, dark and terrible. Clad head to heel in scale as dark as onyx, he sat upon a mound of blackened skulls as dwarfs capered round his feet and a forest burned behind him.

Not sure why it's called his blood eye, when it's black. That's a great way of tricking your fanbase into writing hundreds of Euron x Bloodraven metas.

The scale as dark as onyx might be the Valyrian steel armour he'll rock later in this chapter.

Euron Crow's Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was [...]

As for the mound of blackened skulls, I'm going to go out out on a limb and say they represent a significant loss of life on a large scale, caused by fire.

The dwarves are similar to Daenerys' dwarves from the House of the Undying.

In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. - Daenerys IV, ACOK

Most people believe those dwarves symbolize the four kings tearing through Westeros in pursuit of the Iron Throne, and it wouldn't be a bad guess to assume they represent the same thing here.

These dwarves will pop up again later in this chapter,

Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed …

and all signs are pointing towards Daenerys and Aegon, two new claimants of the Iron Throne.

That leaves the burning forest behind him. I've seen people speculate it's the Kingswood, Horn Hill, and a few other locations, among other guesses.

I personally believe it's one of two options: 1) The forest represents the Old Gods - in this same vision we see the death of all deities, or 2) It's symbolizing the Citadel (Oldtown) - books, books are burning.

"The bleeding star bespoke the end," he said to Aeron. "These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits."

Daenerys aka Azor Ahai aka Fate's Fumbler aka Destiny's Dud.

The Volantene waved a hand. "In Volantis, thousands of slaves and freedmen crowd the temple plaza every night to hear Benerro shriek of bleeding stars and a sword of fire that will cleanse the world. [...]" - Tyrion VI, ADWD 

What I especially love about this is that Dam-phair's learning that the comet's meaning is the opposite of what he initially believed. Initially, it was a promising sign, he interpreted it as a harbinger of triumph and glory for House Greyjoy and the ironborn.

The priest had dreamed the same dream, when first he'd seen the red comet in the sky. We shall sweep over the green lands with fire and sword - The Drowned Man, AFFC

Now, he is confronted with the revelation that the comet actually points towards an apocalyptic end.

Isn't that fascinating? Isn't that super interesting? I wonder if other priests are going to be forced to come to terms with the fact that they misconstrued certain prophecies.

Then Euron lifted a great horn to his lips and blew, and dragons and krakens and sphinxes came at his command and bowed before him.

Christ, more horn. There is a horn that some claim can command krakens.

Lord Celtigar had many fine wines that now I am not tasting, a sea eagle he had trained to fly from the wrist, and a magic horn to summon krakens from the deep. - Davos V, ASOS

I have no clue if it matters at all, or if any of these bloody horns actually serve any real purpose.

As for the sphinxes, I associate that with the Citadel.

The gates of the Citadel were flanked by a pair of towering green sphinxes with the bodies of lions, the wings of eagles, and the tails of serpents. - Samwell V, AFFC

The sphinx is the riddle!

Now it was metal underneath the Crow's Eye: a great, tall, twisted seat of razor sharp iron, barbs and blades and broken swords, all dripping blood.

Iron Throne!

You're welcome.

Impaled upon the longer spikes were the bodies of the gods. The Maiden was there and the Father and the Mother, the Warrior and Crone and Smith … even the Stranger. They hung side by side with all manner of queer foreign gods: the Great Shepherd and the Black Goat, three-headed Trios and the Pale Child Bakkalon, the Lord of Light and the butterfly god of Naath. And there, swollen and green, half-devoured by crabs, the Drowned God festered with the rest, seawater still dripping from his hair.

Euron pushing his separation of church and state agenda.

Later in this chapter we'll learn he's collecting holy men who represent some of these faiths. Fun!

+.+.+

Mingled with the distant roar of song and celebration coming up from the beach, he'd heard the faint creak of longships settling on the strand. He heard the keening of the wind and now whines. He heard the pounding of the waves, the hammer of his god calling him to battle. And there and then, the Drowned God had come to him once more, his voice welling up from the depths of the sea. "Aeron, my good and faithful servant, you must tell the Ironborn that the Crow's Eye is no true king, that the Seastone Chair by rights belongs to … to … to …" Not Victarion. Victarion had offered himself to the captains and kings but they had spurned him.

Aeron is now recalling the moments that followed the Kingsmoot.

Notice that stutter? Notice how both the Drowned God and Dam-phair struggle to arrive at a definitive answer? It's almost as if this God merely reinforces Dam-phair's own beliefs.

+.+.+

Not Asha. In his heart, Aeron had always loved Asha best of all his brother Balon's children. The Drowned God had blessed her with a warrior's spirit and the wisdom of a king – but he had cursed her with a woman's body, too. No woman had ever ruled the Iron Islands. She should never have made a claim. She should have spoken for Victarion, added her own strength to his.

She tried. Unfortunately, she's surrounded by idiots.

"Then let my nuncle sit," Asha said. "I will stand behind you, to guard your back and whisper in your ear. No king can rule alone. Even when the dragons sat the Iron Throne, they had men to help them. The King's Hands. Let me be your Hand, Nuncle."

No King of the Isles had ever needed a Hand, much less one who was a woman. The captains and the kings would mock me in their cups. - The Iron Captain, AFFC

+.+.+

It was not too late, Aeron had decided as he shivered in the sea. If Victarion took Asha for his wife, they could yet rule together, king and queen. In ancient days, each isle had its Salt King and its Rock King. Let the Old Way return.

Oh my god. Hahahaha.

Well, I'll say this, that has more chance of happening than Daenerys with Aegon/Jon, or Sansa with her uncle by marriage.

+.+.+

Aeron Damphair had struggled back to shore, full of fierce resolve. He would bring down Euron, not with sword or axe but with the power of his faith.

I think you're probably going to need the axe.

+.+.+

"And who are you, child?"

"Falia Flowers, Lord Hewett's natural daughter. I am to be King Euron's salt wife. You and I will be kin, then." Aeron Damphair raised his eyes to hers. His scabbed lips were crusted with wet porridge. "Woman." His chains clinked when he moved. "Run. He will hurt you. He will kill you."

She laughed. "Silly, he won't. I'm his love, his lady. He gives me gifts, so many gifts. Silks and furs and jewels. Rags and rocks, he calls them."

"The Crow's Eye puts no value in such things." That was one of the things that drew men to his service. Most captains kept the lion's share of their plunder but Euron took almost nothing for himself.

"He gives me any gown I want," the girl was prattling happily. "My sisters used to make me wait on them at table, but Euron made them serve the whole hall naked! Why should he do that, except for love of me?" She put a hand on her belly and smoothed down the fabric of her gown.

"I'm going to give him sons. So many sons …"

[...]

"Gone?" That was the cruelest blow of all. "Gone where?"

"East," she said, "with all his ships. He's to bring the dragon queen to Westeros. I'm to be Euron's salt wife, but he must have a rock wife too, a queen to rule all Westeros at his side. They say she's the most beautiful woman in the world, and she has dragons. The two of us will be as close as sisters!"

Sisters?

I don't have the strength or desire to properly comment on any of this.

+.+.+

That night, when the tide came rushing back into the prison cell, he prayed that it might rise all night, enough to end his torment. I have been your true and leal servant, he prayed, twisting in his chains. Now snatch me from my brother's hand, and take me down beneath the waves, to be seated at your side.

Very on brand for a Greyjoy to be wishing for his own death.

This is how I know Victarion murder-suicides.

+.+.+

"It was me who taught you how to pray, little brother. Have you forgotten? I would visit your bed chamber at night when I had too much to drink. You shared a room with Urrigon high up in the seatower. I could hear you praying from outside the door. I always wondered: Were you praying that I would choose you or that I would pass you by?" Euron pressed the knife to Aeron's throat.

There's no reason for me to include this, but it's necessary if you want to get the full Euron experience.

+.+.+

"Not even you would dare," said the Damphair. "I am your brother. No man is more accursed than the kinslayer."

Somewhere in the world, Victarion's ears are ringing.

+.+.+

"And yet I wear a crown and you rot in chains. How is it that your Drowned God allows that when I have killed three brothers?" Aeron could only gape at him. "Three?" "Well, if you count half-brothers. Do you remember little Robin? Wretched creature. Do you remember that big head of his, how soft it was? All he could do was mewl and shit. He was my second. Harlon was my first. All I had to do was pinch his nose shut. The greyscale had turned his mouth to stone so he could not cry out. But his eyes grew frantic as he died. They begged me. When the life went out of them, I went out and pissed into the sea, waiting for the god to strike me down. None did. Oh, and Balon was the third, but you knew that. I could not do the deed myself, but it was my hand that pushed him off the bridge."

Am I supposed to be thinking about Sweetrobin?

Take a second to compare the above with whoever the hell this is:

Wild, right? Of all the characters they fucked up, Euron has to be the worst.

Anyway, Euron's gotta meet his end at the hands of a brother. It's just the way it has to be, plain and simple.

+.+.+

He stepped back and sheathed his dagger. "No, I'll not kill you tonight. A holy man with holy blood. I may have need of that that blood … later. For now, you are condemned to live."

Ouu a sacrifice! Do holy men have special blood?

Good thing Melisandre is at the other end of the continent. We wouldn't want her to get a taste of sweet, poetic justice.

+.+.+

It was in the second dungeon that the other holy men began to appear to share his torments. Three wore the robes of septons of the green lands, and one the red raiment of a priest of R'hllor. The last was hardly recognizable as a man. Both his hands had been burned down to the bone, and his face was a charred and blackened horror where two blind eyes moved sightlessly above the cracked cheeks dripping pus. He was dead within hours of being shackled to the wall, but the mutes left his body there to ripen for three days afterwards.

Last were two warlocks of the east, with flesh as white as mushrooms, and lips the purplish-blue of a bad bruise, all so gaunt and starved that only skin and bones remained. One had lost his legs. The mutes hung him from a rafter. "Pree," he cried as he swung back and forth. "Pree, Pree!”

Perhaps that was the name of the demon that he worships. The Drowned God protects me, the priest told himself. He is stronger than the false gods these other worship, stronger than their black sorceries. The Drowned God will set me free.

In his saner moments, Aeron questioned why the Crow's Eye was collecting priests, but he did not think that he would like the answer.

Some people collect coins and stamps, and then there's Euron Greyjoy.

Yes, that would be Pyat Pree's little band of warlocks.

Euron drank deep from his own cup, and smiled. "Shade-of-the-evening, the wine of the warlocks. I came upon a cask of it when I captured a certain galleas out of Qarth, along with some cloves and nutmeg, forty bolts of green silk, and four warlocks who told a curious tale. One presumed to threaten me, so I killed him and fed him to the other three. They refused to eat of their friend's flesh at first, but when they grew hungry enough they had a change of heart. Men are meat." - The Reaver, AFFC

x

"Not all your enemies are in the Yellow City. Beware men with cold hearts and blue lips. You had not been gone from Qarth a fortnight when Pyat Pree set out with three of his fellow warlocks, to seek for you in Pentos." - Daenerys III, ADWD

It's so sweet how he kills all her enemies for her.

Side note, it's a bit interesting that Euron had access to a red priest from R'hllor, when the horn he gave Victarion feels like it might have a connection to that faith.

+.+.+

When Euron came again, his hair was swept straight back from his brow, and his lips were so blue that they were almost black. He had put aside his driftwood crown. In its place, he wore an iron crown whose points were made from the teeth of sharks.

That's kind of cool.

+.+.+

"Your victories are hollow. You cannot hold the Shields."

"Why should I want to hold them?" His brother's smiling eye glittered in the lantern light, blue and bold and full of malice. "The Shields have served my purpose. I took them with one hand, and gave them away with the other. A great king is open-handed, brother. It is up to the new lords to hold them now. The glory of winning those rocks will be mine forever. When they are lost, the defeat will belong to the four fools who so eagerly accepted my gifts."

My poor Vicky. Please throw your toy in the sea.

+.+.+

Euron pulled his head back by the hair and forced the vile liquor into his mouth again. Though Aeron clamped his mouth shut, twisting his head from side to side he fought as best he could, but in the end he had to choke or swallow.

The dreams were even worse the second time. He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea. He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles. Beside him stood a shadow in woman's form, long and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire. Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed …

He saw the longships of the Ironborn adrift and burning on a boiling blood-red sea.

Wouldn't be Euron if he wasn't sailing on a sea of blood.

"Only their shadows," Moqorro said. "One most of all. A tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood." - Tyrion VIII, ADWD

In a previous chapter, Melisandre also had visions of a blood-red sea, which seemed to hint at the imminent destruction of Oldtown.

Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. - Melisandre I, ADWD

x

I saw towers by the sea, submerged beneath a black and bloody tide. - Melisandre I, ADWD

I'm sure I don't have to point out the Arbor is right beside Oldtown.

He saw his brother on the Iron Throne again, but Euron was no longer human. He seemed more squid than man, a monster fathered by a kraken of the deep, his face a mass of writhing tentacles.

Greyjoy kraken things.

Beside him stood a shadow in woman's form, long and tall and terrible, her hands alive with pale white fire.

Four popular candidates.

Melisandre:

The mist rose from her pale flesh, and for a moment it seemed as if pale, sorcerous flames were playing about her fingers. - Jon VI, ADWD

Popular theory solely because of that.

I can't understand why. She's at the Wall, and Euron is more likely to sacrifice her than join forces with her. Honestly, what is it about these chapters that is giving people the impression Euron gives a shit about what a red priestess has to say?

Cersei:

Terrible, tall, pale, and often associated with fire. Can't totally dismiss it, because of what transpired on the show. Plus she wants a fleet as badly as Daenerys does, and would be dumb enough to ally with a Greyjoy to get one. We love Cersei and Daenerys parallels!

My problem is, I don't think Euron wants or needs Cersei Lannister.

Daenerys:

Not long or tall, but certainly terrible. Notable fire lady, and the woman Euron is after. Need I say more?

As much as I love Storm x Storm, Daenerys Targaryen is nobody's sidekick, and it's not going to take much time before these two end up in a war.

Viserion:

The shadowy pale white intersex dragon, who breathes pale golden fire.

But as Brown Ben was leaving, Viserion spread his pale white wings and flapped lazily at his head. 

I lied before, Euron's not after Daenerys. This is what Euron truly wants.

If it is Viserion, it would explain why the show felt compelled to give Viserion to a character that doesn't even exist in the books. It would also explain all the foreshadowing that suggests two of Daenerys' dragons will clash.

I'm not completely convinced about this theory, but if any of those dumb horns actually have an effect, my money's on Viserion being the target. And if there's anyone who'd snatch up one of Daenerys' dragons, it's most likely going to be Euron.

Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed …

Tyrion and Penny.

Kidding. Aegon and Daenerys feels like a safe bet.

+.+.+

Aeron dreamed of drowning, too. Not of the bliss that would surely follow down in the Drowned God's watery halls, but of the terror that even the faithful feel as the water fills their mouth and nose and lungs, and they cannot draw a breath. Three times the Damphair woke, and three times it proved no true waking, but only another chapter in a dream. 

Is it Dam-phair who is drowning? Or is he experiencing Euron's death?

I'm a bit lost on the three times he woke.

+.+.+

They dragged him up more steps, down a torchlit gallery, and into a bleak stone hall where a dozen bodies were hanging from the rafters, turning and swaying. A dozen of Euron's captains were gathered in the hall, drinking wine beneath the corpses. Left-Hand Lucas Codd sat in the place of honor, wearing a heavy silken tapestry as a cloak. Beside him was the Red Oarsman, and further down Pinchface Jon Myre, Stonehand, and Rogin Salt-Beard.

"Who are these dead?" Aeron commanded. His tongue was so thick the words came out in a rusty whisper, faint as a mouse breaking wind.

"The lord that held this castle, with his kin." The voice belonged to Torwold Browntooth, one of his brother's captains, a creature near as vile as the Crow's Eye himself. "Pigs," said another vile creature, the one they called the Red Oarsman. "This was their isle. A rock, just off the Arbor. They dared oink threats at us. Redwyne, oink. Hightower, oink. Tyrell, oink oink oink! So we sent them squealing down to hell."

We've now reached the Arbor.

As you can see, people are dead. More will join them.

+.+.+

"Your curses have no power here, priest," said Left-Hand Lucas Codd. "The Crow's Eye has fed your Drowned God well, and he has grown fat with sacrifice. Words are wind, but blood is power. We have given thousands to the sea, and he has given us victories!"

"And krakens off the Broken Arm, pulling under crippled galleys," said Valena. "The blood draws them to the surface, our maester claims. [...] - Arianne I, TWOW

Bruh, is this part of his plan? That's crazy, surely not.

Is it??

A tangle of roots and limbs poked up out of the water as it came, like the reaching arms of a great kraken. - Arya IX, ASOS

x

"In the Seven Kingdoms, there are tales of dragons who grew so huge that they could pluck giant krakens from the seas."

Dany laughed. "That would be a wondrous sight to see." - Daenerys I, ASOS

x

The next storm could sink or scatter us, a kraken could pull us under . . . - Daenerys I, ASOS

x

The eunuch drew a parchment from his sleeve. "A kraken has been seen off the Fingers." He giggled. "Not a Greyjoy, mind you, a true kraken. It attacked an Ibbenese whaler and pulled it under. - Tyrion III, ASOS

x

On the crown of the hill four-and-forty monstrous stone ribs rose from the earth like the trunks of great pale trees. The sight made Aeron's heart beat faster. Nagga had been the first sea dragon, the mightiest ever to rise from the waves. She fed on krakens and leviathans and drowned whole islands in her wrath [...] - The Drowned Man, AFFC

Bruh.

🎨 antoniothailan

PLS GEORGE I NEED IT.

+.+.+

"Count yourself blessed, Damphair," said Stonehand. "We are going back to sea. The Redwyne fleet creeps toward us. The winds have been against them rounding Dorne, but they're finally near enough to have emboldened the old women in Oldtown, so now Leyton Hightower's sons move down the Whispering Sound in hopes of catching us in the rear."

Euron appears to be controlling the wind again.

"Do I command the winds?" the Crow's Eye asked his pets.

"No, Your Grace," said Orkwood of Orkmont.

"No man commands the winds," said Germund Botley.

"Would that you did," the Red Oarsman said. "You would sail wherever you liked and never be becalmed."

"There you have it, from the mouths of three brave men," Euron said. - The Iron Captain, AFFC

I wonder if his red priest had something to do with that.

Euron is fully aware of what the Hightower and Redwyne fleets are planning, so they have no hope at all. Even if he were unaware, they still wouldn't stand a chance. Who the hell is Paxter Redwyne? Exactly.

+.+.+

Euron Crow's Eye stood upon the deck of Silence, clad in a suit of black scale armor like nothing Aeron had ever seen before. Dark as smoke it was, but Euron wore it as easily as if it was the thinnest silk. The scales were edged in red gold, and gleamed and shimmered when they moved. Patterns could be seen within the metal, whorls and glyphs and arcane symbols folded into the steel.

Valyrian steel, the Damphair knew. His armor is Valyrian steel. In all the Seven Kingdoms, no man owned a suit of Valyrian steel. Such things had been known 400 years ago, in the days before the Doom, but even then, they would've cost a kingdom.

Euron did not lie. He has been to Valyria. No wonder he was mad.

I bet he looks better in this armour than any pigment-challenged, scrawny, inbred, mole rat-esque Targaryen ever has. How could she resist? He's Drogon in human form.

I'm still on the Reader's side: I don't believe Euron has set foot in Valyria. No clue where he got that snazzy outfit, though. Although, someone ought to let him know that wearing armour on a ship is asking for trouble.

+.+.+

"Your Grace," said Torwold Browntooth. "I have the priests. What do you want done with them?"

"Bind them to the prows," Euron commanded. "My brother on the Silence. Take one for yourself. Let them dice for the others, one to a ship. Let them feel the spray, the kiss of the Drowned God, wet and salty."

[...]

They bound Aeron Damphair tight with strips of leather that would shrink when wet, clad only in his beard and breechclout. The Crow's Eye spoke a command; a black sail was raised, lines were cast off, and the Silence backed away from shore to the slow beat of the oarmaster's drum, her oars rising and dipping and rising again, churning the water. Above them, the castle was burning, flames licking from the open windows.

When they were well out to sea, Euron returned to him. "Brother," he said, "you look forlorn. I have a gift for you."

He beckoned, and two of his bastard sons dragged the woman forward and bound her to the prow on the other side of the figurehead. Naked as the mouthless maiden, her smooth belly just beginning to swell with the child she was carrying, her cheeks red with tears, she did not struggle as the boys tightened her bonds. Her hair hung down in front of her face, but Aeron knew her all the same.

"Falia Flowers," he called. "Have courage, girl! All this will be over soon, and we will feast together in the Drowned God's watery halls."

The girl raised up her head, but made no answer. She has no tongue to answer with, the Damphair knew. He licked his lips, and tasted salt.

I continue to have no words for Falia Flowers. Sad stuff.

Looks like Euron is planning a massive blood sacrifice featuring a pregnant woman, and a bunch of priests.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Daenerys sacrifice an unborn child, and a priestess of the Great Shepherd of Lhazar to wake the dragons? Just saying.

Final thoughts:

I'm not convinced anyone on the brink of death could survive being tied to the prow of a ship, but given there wasn't a speck of blood in sight, my guess is we'll be seeing Aeron Dam-phair again.

Next chapter: Theon I

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[rjzimmerman]

As a native of Gary, Indiana, and a former "summer employee" at U.S. Steel (to pay for my college education), I'm obviously invested in what happens to the Gary Works of U.S. Steel. This story answers several of my questions, and puts me on the "no" side of this proposal. Excerpt from this story from Grist:

U.S. Steel, once the world’s largest company of any kind, can take substantial credit for the growth of American industrial power in the 20th century. But in recent decades, it’s been shuttering mills and shedding workers. Now, the iconic Pittsburgh-based manufacturer is set to be acquired by a Japanese steelmaker, Nippon Steel — if the federal government allows the deal to proceed.

Earlier this month, reports emerged that the Biden administration is preparing to block the nearly $15 billion merger on the grounds that it presents a threat to America’s national security interests. The United Steelworkers union opposes it, fearing future layoffs and weaker labor protections under new ownership. So do both major candidates for president, who are vying for votes in the Rust Belt. Supporters of the deal, like the Washington Post editorial board and the nonpartisan think tank The Atlantic Council, have cast the politicians’ opposition as election-season pandering, and argued that the national security rationale on which Biden may block it is flimsy. But one area, in which the question of whether the merger goes through could be particularly consequential, has gone largely unremarked upon in the conversation: what it means for the climate.

Some environmentalists say the deal could slow the crucial progress that the steel industry must make in order to decarbonize. Their argument stems from the fact that both U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel have been slow, compared to industry peers, to adopt the most impactful decarbonization technologies, even with federal funding available in the U.S. to do so.

The most common process by which primary steel is produced is massively carbon-intensive. The reasons for this lie in chemistry. Steel is made from iron, but the form in which iron ore occurs in the Earth’s crust is mostly iron oxide (similar to rust). In order to get usable iron from it, one needs to remove the oxygen. For centuries, iron-makers have accomplished this by using coke, a fuel made from coal, which is heated alongside iron ore in a blast furnace at such high temperatures that the iron melts into a liquid while the oxygen bonds with the carbon in the coke and produces carbon dioxide.

Blast furnaces are responsible for the lion’s share of carbon emissions from steelmaking, and the inextricability of carbon emissions from the ironmaking process is a large part of the reason why, overall, steelmaking is responsible for 7 percent of global carbon emissions, and a quarter of industrial carbon emissions. These percentages will likely grow as other sectors of the economy are decarbonized. In the U.S., demand for steel is also expected to grow dramatically over the next decade to provide the raw material of the industrial growth sparked by the Inflation Reduction Act and the planned buildout of clean energy infrastructure and transmission lines. For these reasons, the task of decarbonizing steel is as urgent as it is difficult and expensive.

Fortunately, there is a solution on offer that has recently become viable due to new technological advances — and one that the Biden administration has sought to heavily subsidize: replacing blast furnaces with a process called direct reduction, and using hydrogen as a reducing agent in place of carbon, ultimately discharging water rather than carbon dioxide. “The chemistry is sound, it’s being built, it’s been piloted and demonstrated,” said Yong Kwon, a senior advisor with the Sierra Club’s Industrial Transformation Campaign. “The question is now: Will industries adopt it?”

There are eight operating steel mills in the United States that make “primary” steel (newly created steel, rather than the generally lower-quality “secondary” steel produced from scrap metal). Three are owned by U.S. Steel. Cleveland-Cliffs, the owner of the other five, has also made an offer to buy U.S. Steel and has been much more proactive in making the shift to greener production. “The Department of Energy has made available a great deal of money to do partnerships with industry to demonstrate the value of decarbonized projects,” said Todd Tucker, director of the industrial policy and trade program at the Roosevelt Institute. Both Cleveland-Cliffs and U.S. Steel have availed themselves of such funding to embark on decarbonization programs. U.S. Steel has partnered with the Department of Energy on carbon capture projects at several of their steel mills, and funded research and development of hydrogen-based ironmaking technology. The company also plans to install a carbon capture program at a blast furnace at its steel mill in Gary, Indiana, which it says will turn up to 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually into limestone — a tiny fraction of that facility’s overall emissions. But critics note that U.S. Steel has yet to take a step as ambitious as its rival by actually replacing one of its blast furnaces with direct reduction of iron.

The stakes of the potential U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger are perhaps best illustrated in the city of Gary, Indiana, which was built in 1906 by U.S. Steel to house workers at its Gary Works steel mill. That mill is home to the country’s largest and most carbon-emitting blast furnace — and it’s nearing the end of its lifespan. This situation hypothetically presents the furnace’s owner with an ideal opportunity to switch to a cleaner technology, with federal funding on the table to do so. But in August, Nippon Steel announced its prospective plans for Gary Works, which include a $300 million investment in relining the furnace to extend its lifespan for another 20 years. With this announcement, Kwon said, “Not only have they back in Japan not pursued solutions that we feel are responsible; they’ve now explicitly come out and said that they’re not going to pursue the solution that is on the table for reducing the climate change and public health harms that are currently produced by the iron-making process.”

[gender0bender]

Steel closets : voices of gay, lesbian, and transgender steelworker by Anne Belay, available on the Internet Archive

Transcript:

Miles began working in a steel mill in 1999 as an out lesbian, but he quit about eight years later because of repeated shoulder injuries and general exhaustion. He says it's not really accurate to say that he transitioned while working at the mill, since "we never really have a transition. We'll always be transgendered because our past experiences and history go along with us. So I'll always consider myself transitioning." I met Miles at the Cornwall Iron Furnace just outside of Philadelphia. It's a National Historic Landmark, pre- serving a nineteenth-century ironmaking complex and documenting the ironmaking process, as well as its effect on the area around the furnace and the workers' lives. Miles had suggested this meeting place, noting that he had always wanted to see the exhibits. He was curious about the history of the steelmaking process, and tickled by seeing his huge, powerful, mascu- line job echoed within this seemingly fragile incarnation made of bricks, and described for us by local elderly ladies.

For example, once the iron in Cornwall was molten, it was poured into one central branch, from which it flowed into a row of troughs pressed into the sand, which we were told resembled baby pigs nursing a sow-hence the name "pig iron." Miles noted that his job used many of the same tech- niques, since "I was a spruer. Parts will come out of a didion [a brand of metal separating equipment], which shook off the sand, and my job was to break the pieces apart. You see them come out on that long bar, they were lying them into them troughs, that's called a sprue tree, OK, as it goes down along, now in modern times, we have machines that press sand blocks together if you're work- ing on small parts. 'Cause we don't work on really big stuff, we work on cou- plings so it was smaller stuff. It would come down and this didion would spin it around, and little stars inside would clean off the material, but it still wasn't fully clean. It put them down on this table, which would shake up and down, and they were split in half, and the stuff would go and be remelted and what we wanted to keep for good pieces would go down and be cleaned and checked. I would stand there with a lead hammer and whack those pieces off the sprue tree. Separate the sprue tree from the good stuff." Seeing the shape of the sprue tree pressed into sand on the floor in front of a gigantic, prehistoric ladle made this whole process more comprehensible to me. And though the scale was much smaller than that of the big production mills still in op- eration, it was nonetheless vast-the blast furnace was about three stories high, with tap holes at the bottom from which the finished product ran.

The human component of steelmaking similarly remains fairly constant. After we examined a replica of a nineteenth-century steelworker dressed for work, Miles showed me his respirator, noting "The kerchief on the man's face? This would be more of a modern version of the kerchief." He also showed me his leather apron, adding that "they still use the [wooden] shoes, by the way. Nothing has really gotten up to date I guess you'd say. It's really an old art form. I would call it an art form." His burn clothes are made of Kevlar but oth- erwise duplicate the old patterns. This continuity is part of the cultural and historical context crucial to understanding how masculinity gets defined and shifted within the mills. The work remains the same, even though the larger culture's definitions of gender and masculinity are shifting. Count- less published accounts document the struggles of steelworker families when the man of the house is laid off and the woman has to find work. Though this shift occurred well after second-wave feminism, when most American women were in the paid workforce, the consistency of steelwork, and the corollary consistency of steelworkers' gender roles, made it hard for these families to adjust. Miles attributes his fascination with the consistency of mill work and mill workers over time to his experience with occupying both genders while working in the mills. Though he became a man, he did not change his tasks, his garments, or his self-presentation at work-he had always been masculine. Which parallels the "enormous struggle within the gay male community to come to terms with the stigma of effeminacy. The most strik- ing result has been a shift from effeminate to masculine styles" (Newton, Mother Camp, xiii). An exaggerated masculinity linked, if only rhetorically, to working-class culture, reinforces traditional gender roles, even as it sug- gests that only one gender is really worth doing.

[mysteriouscam]

[cocoalover1956]

I made a list of 200 potential Valyrian steel weapon names for various houses, listed by region. * indicates a canon name. Brackets indicate previous owners according to my headcanons.

Crownlands (32)

Targaryen: Blackfyre (bastard sword)*, Dark Sister (longsword)*, Ash Heart (longsword), Nightingale (dagger)

Bar Emmon: Judgement (longsword)

Blount: Safeguard (sword)

Brune: Misfortune (sword)

Buckwell: Able Might (sword)

Bywater: Bereaver (sword)

Cargyll: Satisfaction (sword)

Celtigar: Scarlet Hold (battle axe)

Chelsted: Glory (mace), Honor (dagger)

Farring: Nemesis (longsword)

Follard: Bright Sage (sword)

Harte: Fortitude (sword)

Hogg: Battle Hunger (sword)

Landward: Despair (sword)

Mallery: Due Trust (sword)

Manning: Pride's Protector (sword)

Massey: Diligence (longsword)

Rambtom: Dominion (sword)

Rollingford: Red Spring (sword)

Rosby: Stranger's Touch (sword)

Ryyker: Grievance (sword) [House Darklyn]

Staunton: Soaring Virtue (sword)

Stokeworth: Good Faith (broadsword)

Sunglass: Starlight (greatsword)

Thorne: Torment (sword)

Wendwater: Resilience (sword)

Velaryon: Maelstrom (longsword), Riptide (longsword)

Dorne: (19)

Martell: Heaven's Eye (spear),

Allyrion: Omen (sword)

Blackmont: Vengeance (sword)

Dalt: Sour Edge (sword)

Dayne: Dawn (great sword)*, Dusk (longsword)

Fowler: Ascension (sword)

Gargalen: Mother's Tears (sword)

Jordayne: Fate (sword)

Ladybright: Brilliance (sword)

Manwoody: Eternity (sword)

Qorgyle: Venom (sword)

Santagar: Constancy (battle axe)

Toland: Spiritcaller (sword)

Uller: Hellfire (longsword)

Vaith: Desolation (sword)

Yronwood: Black Guardian (sword)

Wells: Paradise (sword)

Wyl: Bonecutter (sword)

Iron Islands (18)

Greyjoy: Sea Devil (longsword) [Essosi sailor]

Blacktyde: Challenger (sword) [House Charlton, Riverlands]

Botley: Anguish (sword) [House Payne, Westerlands]

Codd: Infamy (sword) [House Deddings, Riverlands]

Drumm: Red Rain (bastard sword)* [House Reyne, Westerlands]

Farwynd: Wayfarer (sword) [House Vance, Riverlands]

Goodbrother: Screamer (sword) [Essosi sailor]

Harlaw: Nightfall (longsword)* [Dalton Greyjoy <- Essosi sailor]

Ironmaker: Bloodsurge (sword) [House Osgrey, Reach]

Kenning: Nagga's Daughter (longsword) [Essosi sailor]

Merlyn: Torrent (sword) [House Waterman, North]

Myre: Battlelover (arakh) [Essosi sailor <- Dothraki khal]

Orkwood: Fishfeeder (battle axe) [House Shawney, Riverlands]

Saltcliffe: Upsurge (sword) [House Goodbrook, Riverlands]

Sunderly: Seawhisper (cutlass) [Essosi sailor]

Tawney: Blight (longsword) [Essosi sailor]

Volmark: Valor (sword) [House Oakheart, Reach]

Wynch: Moonshard (sword) [Essosi sailor]

North (20)

Stark: Ice (great sword)*, Thought (dagger), Memory (dagger)

Ashwood: Glad of War (sword)

Bolton: Honesty (flaying knife)

Cassel: Perseverance (sword)

Cerwyn: Fine Point (sword)

Condon: Resistance (sword)

Dustin: Barrowkeeper (sword)

Glover: Fidelity (sword)

Hornwood: Frostbite (sword)

Ironsmith: Deathforger (sword)

Karstark: Cold Glory (claymore)

Lightfoot: Steady Foe (sword)

Locke: Hoarguard (sword)

Manderly: Merling's Wrath (trident)

Mormont: Longclaw (bastard sword)*

Ryswell: Nightmare (sword)

Tallhart: Evergreen (sword)

Umber: Giant's Tooth (great sword)

Reach (40):

Tyrell: Rose Thorn (longsword) [House Gardener]

Ambrose: Endurance (sword)

Ashford: Clarity (sword)

Beesbury: Stinger (sword)

Bridges: Unity (sword)

Bulwer: Red Kiss (sword)

Caswell: Father's Justice (bastard Sword)

Chester: Malice (sword)

Cockshow: Remembrance (sword)

Cordwayner: Principle (sword)

Costayne: Last Love (sword)

Crane: Sentry (sword)

Cuy: Joy (sword)

Dunn: Sacrifice (sword)

Florent: Cunning (sword)

Footly: Solitude (sword)

Fossoway: Pleasure (sword)

Graceford: Piety (sword)

Grimm: Misery (sword)

Hewett: Melancholy (sword)

Hightower: Vigilance (longsword)*

Hunt: Mastery (sword)

Hutcheson: Splendor (sword)

Kidwell: Eternal Bond (sword)

Leygood: Intuition (sword)

Lowther: Legacy (sword)

Meadows: Poppy Blossom (sword)

Merryweather: Plenitude (sword)

Mullendore: Revival (sword)

Pommingham: Perdition (sword)

Redding: Fortune (sword)

Redwyne: Bloodthirst (sword)

Rhysling: Warden (sword)

Rowan: Passion (bastard sword)

Roxton: Orphan Maker (longsword)*

Serry: Massacre (sword)

Shermer: Proven Will (longsword)

Tarly: Heartsbane (great sword)*

Webber: Spiderbite (sword)

Wythers: Vitality (sword)

Riverlands (18):

Tully: Devotion (longsword)

Lord of Harrenhal: Lifedrinker (scimitar) [House Hoare <- Essosi sailor]

Blackwood: Peacekeeper (sabre)

Blanetree: Amber Charm (longsword)

Bracken: Willbreaker (sabre)

Butterwell: Rumination (sword)

Cox: Riverguard (sword)

Darry: Mourning (bastard sword)

Frey: Toll Taker (sword)

Mallister: Mercy (broadsword)

Mooton: Champion (broadsword)

Paege: Bloodbond (sword)

Piper: Maiden's Kiss (sword)

Roote: Liberty (sword)

Ryger: Remorse (sword)

Smallwood: Harmony (sword)

Terrick: Steel Screech (sword)

Vypren: Prudence (sword)

Stormlands (24):

Baratheon: Fury (great sword) [House Durrandon]

Bolling: Defiance (bastard sword)

Buckler: Security (sword)

Cafferen: Bloom (sword)

Caron: Silencer (sword)

Connington: Griffin's Bite (sword)

Dondarrion: Sure Strike (bastard sword)

Estermont: Wisdom (sword)

Kellington: Influence (sword)

Fell: Moonshadow (sword)

Grandison: Long Sleep (sword)

Gower: Undoing (sword)

Horpe: Blessed Memory (longsword)

Lonmouth: Wraith Lover (longsword)

Mertyns: Seer (sword)

Morrigen: Phantom Queen (bastard sword)

Penrose: Achievement (bastard Sword)

Rogers: Mystery (sword)

Selmy: Warrior's Triumph (longsword)

Staedmon: Heavy Heart (dagger)

Swann: Swansong (great sword)

Tarth: Twilight (bastard sword)

Trant: Hatred (sword) [House Toyne]

Wylde: Raindancer (sword)

Vale (22):

Arryn: Talon (broadsword)

Belmore: Deathtoll (sword)

Coldwater: Vigor (sword)

Corbray: Lady Forlorn (longsword)*

Donniger: First Blush (sword)

Egen: Expanse (sword)

Grafton: Crone's Light (sword)

Hersy: Overflow (sword)

Hunter: Decimation (sword)

Lipps: Praise (sword)

Lynderly: Snakebite (sword)

Melcolm: Balance (sword)

Moore: Humility (spear)

Pryor: Eclipse (sword)

Redfort: Ruby Rage (bastard sword)

Royce: Lamentation (longsword)*

Ruthermont: Shadowsteel (sword)

Sunderland: Fang (sword)

Templeton: Reverence (sword)

Upcliff: Sorcery (bastard sword)

Waxley: Beacon (sword)

Waynwood: Threadcutter (bastard sword)

Westerlands (20):

Lannister: Brightroar (great sword)*

Algood: Justifier (sword)

Banefort: Corpsemaker (sword)

Brax: Silver Promise (longsword)

Broom: Loyalty (sword)

Crakehall: Tusk (broadsword)

Estren: True Majesty (sword)

Farman: Sunset's Call (sword)

Hawthorne: Ruination (sword)

Lefford: Golden Grace (sword)

Lydden: Deepgrave (sword)

Marbrand: Cinder (bastard sword)

Plumm: Gilded Trust (sword)

Prester: Willpower (bastard sword)

Serrett: Smith's Pride (sword)

Turnberry: Sweet Victory (sword)

Vikary: Crimson Courage (sword)

Westerling: Purity (sword)

Yarwyck: Reckoning (bastard sword)

Yew: Conviction (longsword)

[dyannawynnedayne]

Terros' Next Top DILF: Round 1

Hello Friends and welcome to our next poll, Terros' Next Top DILF!

Here we will vote to determine who is, in fact, the hottest dilf in all of Terros/Planetos/etc.

As you'll be able to tell, the definition of DILF got looser as I worked to reach the coveted 64. So, the actual definition of father may be looser, and they may be younger than what we would consider a 'DILF' but they all are, at a minimum, someone who is considered a father by someone. The seed here was based off AO3 stats (ie, I searched every character and ordered them based on how many fics they featured in, then seeded from that).

Poll will probably open tomorrow, June 26th. Unsure on what time for now!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop in. <3

Much love,

August

Erik Ironmaker vs. Eddard Stark

Alaric Stark vs. Corlys Velaryon

Samwell Tarly vs. Unwin Peake

Cregan Stark vs. Daemon I Blackfyre

Greatjon Umber vs. Bronze Yohn Royce

Jon Connington vs. Orys Baratheon

Jason Mallister vs. Rickard Stark

Garth Greenhand vs. Rhaegar Targaryen

Aenys Frey vs. Robert Baratheon

Laenor Velaryon vs. Maron Nymeros Martell

Styr of Thenn vs. Tormund Giantsbane

Duncan the Tall vs. Kevan Lannister

Dalton Greyjoy vs. Wyman Manderly

Myles Toyne vs. Steffon Baratheon

Harwin Strong vs. Tygett Lannister

Davos Seaworth vs. Stevron Frey

Tywin Lannister vs. Vickon Greyjoy

Harrold Hardyng vs. Paxter Redwyne

Lothar Frey vs. Viserys I Targaryen

Maester Cressen vs. Hoster Tully

Aegon V Targaryen vs. Jeor Mormont

Doran Nymeros Martell vs. Harren the Black

Borros Baratheon vs. Mace Tyrell

Gerold Lannister vs. Oberyn Nymeros Martell

Stannis Baratheon vs. Orton Merryweather

Howland Reed vs. Tytos Blackwood

Roose Bolton vs. Jonos Bracken

Mance Rayder vs. Rodrik Cassel

Balon Greyjoy vs. Randyll Tarly

Otto Hightower vs. Rogar Baratheon

Selwyn Tarth vs. Robett Glover

Daemon Targaryen vs. Jon Arryn

[fireflyhwufanficwriter]

(New Dr. Stone fanfic chapter on AO3!) Chapter 36: Lab Assembling

FANFIC TITLE: No Stone Unturned (40,000+ words)

—

FANFIC TITLE: No Stone Unturned (40,000+ words)

FANFIC SUMMARY: (Senku/Kohaku.) How did the scientist fall in love with the lioness? A friendship- and science-focused retelling of Dr. Stone from Senku’s perspective.

FANFIC LINK: (I’ll put the AO3 link in the notes/comments :D)

PERSONAL MESSAGE: Hello and happy reading, fellow Dr. Stone fans! ^_^

—

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 36:

“…Senku turned to see Kaseki approaching him.

"Yeah - we're not nearly done yet, but with enough materials and hard work, we'll make one of the most important buildings in the kingdom of science."

Kaseki came to a stop next to him and nodded. "From its size, it does look like it will be a very important building. Will you be building it like your tall furnace?"

Puzzled by the question, Senku turned to the old man, about to ask what he meant - but then he figured it out.

The people in this village don't have mortar. Because they don't know the formula, the closest they could get to it is by using just clay from the river, without mixing it with anything - but that would wash away after the first harsh rainstorm. I haven't been inside the village, but from the deliberate holes in some of their roofs, I can guess that at least some of them cook inside with fire pits made of stone, but that might be the extent of their use of stone when it comes to their houses. They don't have any stone structures at all; not if the village's best craftsman doesn't know how to use stone like that. The ironmaking furnace must be the first structure he's seen that isn't made of wood, like their houses, or clay, like the glassmaking furnace. And since he joined us recently, he doesn't know that the "tall furnace," as he put it, is for making iron. We should give him a tour of the place.

Senku nodded.

"We'll be combining those stones together using a thick, liquid substance called mortar, which is made from seashells, sand, and clay. Unfortunately, we don't have time to make enough bricks for a building this size, so we're going to use stone…”

---

TAGS: dr stone, ishigami senku, senku x kohaku, senhaku, kohaku, dr stone kohaku, kohasen, dr. stone, dr stone fanfic, dr. stone fanfic, dr. stone kohaku, drstonefanficnostoneunturned  

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[doc42]

“We don’t need any more Dark Lords.”

We don’t need any more Dark Lords, we don’t need any more, ‘Here are the good guys, they’re in white, there are the bad guys, they’re in black. And also, they’re really ugly, the bad guys.’

— GRRM, 2011

“I thought him evil at first, a dark king leading his people into ruin, but watching him… he is ruined already, hollow, empty. He feasts on the lives of your people because he has no life of his own, not even a name that is truly his. Once I wondered what he thought of, alone, all those days and nights in darkness. I know now that he does not think at all. Perhaps he dreams. If so, I think he dreams of death, of an ending. He dwells in that black empty cabin as if it were a tomb, stirring from it only at the scent of blood. And the things he does… it is more than rashness. He courts destruction, discovery. He must want an end, a rest, I believe. He is so old. How tired he must be.”

“Julian is old, Abner, old. The thirst … he has not felt the thirst in years… hundreds, thousands of … years… that was why the drink… had no effect. I never knew, none of us did. You can outlive the thirst, and he… he did not thirst… but he fed, because he chose to, because of those things he said that night, you remember, strength and weakness, masters and slaves, all the things he said. Sometimes I think… the humanity of him is all hollow, a mask… he is only an old animal, so ancient it has lost even the taste for food, but it hunts on nonetheless, because that is all it remembers, that is all it is, the beast. The legends of your race, Abner, your vampire tales… the living dead, the undead, we bear those names in your stories. Julian… I think with Julian it is the truth. Even the thirst is gone. Undead. Cold and hollow and undead.”

— Fevre Dream, Chapter Twenty-Eight

“We shall have no king but from the kingsmoot.” The Damphair stood. “No godless man—”

“—may sit the Seastone Chair, aye.” Euron glanced about the tent. “As it happens I have oft sat upon the Seastone Chair of late. It raises no objections.” His smiling eye was glittering. “Who knows more of gods than I? Horse gods and fire gods, gods made of gold with gemstone eyes, gods carved of cedar wood, gods chiseled into mountains, gods of empty air … I know them all. I have seen their peoples garland them with flowers, and shed the blood of goats and bulls and children in their names. And I have heard the prayers, in half a hundred tongues. Cure my withered leg, make the maiden love me, grant me a healthy son. Save me, succor me, make me wealthy … protect me! Protect me from mine enemies, protect me from the darkness, protect me from the crabs inside my belly, from the horselords, from the slavers, from the sellswords at my door. Protect me from the Silence.” He laughed. “Godless? Why, Aeron, I am the godliest man ever to raise sail! You serve one god, Damphair, but I have served ten thousand. From Ib to Asshai, when men see my sails, they pray.”

The priest raised a bony finger. “They pray to trees and golden idols and goat-headed abominations. False gods …”

— A Feast for Crows, The Iron Captain

“I think the Damphair’s dead. I think the Crow’s Eye slit his throat for him. Ironmaker’s search is just to make us believe the priest escaped. Euron is afraid to be seen as a kinslayer.”

“Never let my nuncle hear you say that. Tell the Crow’s Eye he’s afraid of kinslaying, and he’ll murder one of his own sons just to prove you wrong.” Asha was feeling almost sober by then. Tristifer Botley had that effect on her.

“Even if you did find your uncle Damphair, the two of you would fail. You were both part of the kingsmoot, so you cannot say it was unlawful called, as Torgon did. You are bound to its decision by all the laws of gods and men. You—”

— A Dance With Dragons, The Wayward Bride

When Euron came again, his hair was swept straight back from his brow, and his lips were so blue that they were almost black. He had put aside his driftwood crown. In its place, he wore an iron crown whose points were made from the teeth of sharks.

“That which is dead cannot die,” said Aeron fiercely. “For he who has tasted death once need never fear again. He was drowned, but he came forth stronger than before, with steel and fire.”

“Will you do the same, brother?” Euron asked. “I think not. I think if I drowned you, you’ll stay drowned. All gods are lies, but yours is laughable. A pale white thing in the likeness of a man, his limbs broken and swollen and his hair flipping in the water while fish nibble at his face. What fool would worship that?”

“He’s your god as well,” insisted the Damphair. “And when you die, he will judge you harshly, Crow’s Eye. You will spend eternity as a sea slug, crawling on your belly eating shit. If you do not fear to kill your own blood, slit my throat and be done with me. I’m weary of your mad boastings.”

“Kill my own little brother? Blood of my blood, born of the loins of Quellon Greyjoy? And who would share my triumphs? Victory is sweeter with a loved one by your side.”

— The Winds of Winter, The Forsaken (Aeron I)

Mr Writer has said, “no more Dark Lords! What we need are edgelords.”