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Why do you think Roose Bolton isn't really invested in securing his House's future or stability after he's gone? Does he not care about what happens after he dies, or does he feel House Bolton's future is a lost cause because of Ramsay (and, for that matter, because of Roose's own actions in betraying his liege lord and turning most of the North against him)?

Yes.

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But we never see high born women doing these things to Jaime. He didn’t suffer any consequences from Aerys beside the ones he made it his head.

Jaime's line about pails of shit is a bit figurative, using Catelyn's actions as a stand-in for everything else everyone's said about his honour over the years.

Besides, just because the consequences are in his own head doesn't mean they're not real.

Imagine the best thing you've ever done. That fic you worked on, that art you're proud of, that grade. Maybe you've helped someone in some way that meant a lot to you as well as to them.

Then imagine everyone you meet knows what you did and they think you're a shitty person for doing it.

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Does Jaime hate himself like Tyrion and to a lesser extent Cersei do?

I believe so.

Jaime stood. "I am tired of having highborn women kicking pails of shit at me, Father." Jaime VII, ASoS "Men shall name you Goldenhand from this day forth, my lord," the armorer had assured him the first time he'd fitted it onto Jaime's wrist. He was wrong. I shall be the Kingslayer till I die. Jaime III, AFFC

Both these quotes show some awareness on the not-very-introspective Jaime's part that there are reasons people hold him in contempt. A great deal of his arc is driven by his realisation that he doesn't actually like the person he's become.

And me, that boy I was... when did he die, I wonder? When I donned the white cloak? When I opened Aerys's throat? That boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead. Jaime VIII, ASoS

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So we know that Jon Arryn talked Robert out of murdering Dany and Viserys but why did Tywin never have them killed before Illryio took them and it would have been easy? We all know Tywin has no issue at all with murdering children, Robert would not have punished him for it, and they could be a threat to his grandchildren getting the Iron Throne.

It would not have been easy! You'll find me saying this a lot, but murders are not as simple to arrange as all that.

Tywin lives on the far side of Westeros. Dany and Viserys were in Essos, and for a period of that time, they were moving around. Even if Tywin had contacts in the Free Cities (we don't know either way) there's a huge amount of time lag. He can't be sure even what city his targets will be in. Which makes hiring an assassin very complicated indeed, let alone having an assassination carried out.

Like everyone else, Tywin just contented himself with the knowledge that two impoverished children stuck in Essos were unlikely ever to be able to muster the resources to threaten Tywin's grandchildren.

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Is Ned right in his assumption that Jaime is a coward? Who only killed Aerys when it was convenient and the war was almost over instead of when Aerys was killing innocent like Ned Brother and father?

I could be missing something, it's a big series, but I cannot find a reference to Ned thinking of Jaime as a coward. It's clear Ned holds Jaime in contempt and believes he's a vicious (right) power-hungry (wrong) asshole (right); it's not so clear to me that Ned thinks Jaime lacks courage. If anyone's got the quote, please leave it in the comments?

Personally, I would say that Jaime is generally a brave person, particularly in the physical sense, but his courage fails in one respect: his abusive father. As a boy and a young man, it's pretty clear Jaime did not want to think on what sort of person Tywin was - the kind who'd order the deaths of a toddler and an infant. It's also clear he knuckled under when Tywin ordered Jaime to lie to Tyrion about Tysha. In those instances, Jaime did not have the courage to see Tywin for what he was or the courage to tell Tyrion the truth.

The parental abuse was working as intended on Jaime, but in those two cases, other people were hurt. Jaime's faltering isn't the cause of that hurt, but he squandered chances to help (in Tyrion's case, he made the damage worse) and he knows it.

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sooo, what could/should rolph spicer do with his title as lord of castamere? clean the ruins and rebuild the castle? is it just an empty honor?

These things aren't always empty honours, as we can see with Littlefinger's title of Lord of Harrenhal. The title is a social lever, even without the cash to renovate the actual castle.

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why did loras tell Sansa not to say queen of thorns? I thought Olenna would’ve loved that moniker

For context:

"The Queen of Thorns, she's called. Isn't that right?" "It is." Ser Loras laughed. He has the warmest laugh, she thought as he went on, "You'd best not use that name in her presence, though, or you're like to get pricked." Sansa I, ASoS

We don't have the insight into Olenna to know why she doesn't want to be called that. There are a whole bunch of possibilities up for the headcanoning - maybe she does like the name, but doesn't like the warning to others. Maybe it doesn't match her self-image, remembering that Olenna was not born a Tyrell. Maybe she just thinks it's rude to call her by a nickname. Go nuts, pick one!

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What do you think George’s plans are regarding Sansa and the hound? Theres definitely is romantic undertones to their relationship and sansa seems to have feelings for him (the unkiss) but I personally hope it doesn’t lead to any explicit romance between the two. If it not romance though I dont know the purpose of their relationship

Sansa's first serious experiences with sexual and romantic attraction are important to her coming of age story, whether or not any actual romance happens.

Beyond Sansa's own individual arc, her relationship with Sandor is an intentionally problematic relationship, meant to raise all sorts of questions about power dynamics in the whole knight-and-lady thing. So there's themes here too. Who protects Sansa from her protector?

The series of sketchy and/or unsuitable men who claim to work in her best interests, with results from mixed to downright exploitative, I think are a big part of Sansa learning how to best use her skills to protect herself. As well as when and why to use those skills.

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What would you say was Cersei’s biggest blunder making Aurane her admiral because he looks a bit like Rhaegar or letting the Faith arm itself despite them directly and harshly condemning incest?

Beefing with Margaery in the way that she did and to the extent that she did - it underlies a whole bunch of her other stellar decisions. That's the thing that blew up on her first, but honestly, Cersei found a whole bunch of cartoon bombs with fuses of variable lengths and lit them all.

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OP commented on yesterday's post:

Still pretty entitled of him. Sansa was forced to marry Tyrion with a knife at her back. Tyrion is actively a part of the House/regime that has made Sansa's life hell. Plus he at one point outright threatened Sansa ''How well they are treated depends of them''. So even within Westeros society Tyrion has a lot of gall to consider Sansa to be false and be angry at her for escaping.

Perhaps it is entitled. But I personally think that a simple word is not enough to capture the intersection of patriarchy, ableism, the particularly toxic class privilege, and abuse Tyrion grew up with. What created that entitlement?

Tyrion has spent his life learning that women are passed into the ownership of men on marriage and thenceforth owe their new legal family their allegiances. He saw his own uncle benefit from exactly this sort of arrangement. Tyrion has spent his life hearing that Lannisters deserve all sorts of good things because they are Lannisters.

Tyrion's got neither of these things due to his disability. So he incorrectly attributes Sansa's unwillingness to be a full participant in their forced marriage as due to his disability.

Nor do I think analysis of this situation that ignores the fact that Tyrion's a victim of both emotional and sexual abuse can ever be sufficient.

It's also telling that these are Tyrion's feelings only. They're not coming from great places. But they stay inside his head. When Tyrion is asked to act, to denounce Sansa:

Yet wherever Sansa was and whatever her part in this might have been, she remained his wife. He had wrapped the cloak of protection around her shoulders, though he'd had to stand on a fool's back to do it. "The gods killed Joffrey. He choked on his pigeon pie." Tyrion IX, ASoS

Sansa herself will think later that Tyrion tried to be kind to her, in a situation that heavily incentivised him not to be kind. More than Sansa ever knew, because she didn't have that abuse context and she's not thinking systemically about patriarchy and ableism.

GRRM wants us to approach both characters here with compassion. What are the barriers to Tyrion fully understanding Sansa's position? What are the ultimate sources of his darker thoughts? Without knowing these, they can't be treated. "Entitled" just doesn't pass muster as analysis.

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In Dance Tyrion thinks of Sansa as being false. How was Sansa false she never pretended to love or like Tyrion, hell she made it very clear to Tyrion that she would never love him at their wedding?

None of this stops Tyrion from desperately wanting romantic love. Nor does it erase how he's a member of a society that says wives belong to their husbands, that they owe their husbands support and fidelity etc etc.

And Sansa was concealing her involvement in a plot that ultimately ended up with Joffrey dead and Tyrion in prison, sentenced to death.

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Posts may be a little sparse this week but the chances of a full chapter recap are good.

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Did Jaime have to kill Aerys after finishing with the pyromancers, could he have not restrained Aerys instead? Was he acting out in rage/revenge over the things he witness Aerys do over the years/attempting to kill his Tywin?

Jaime felt that killing Aerys was necessary in order to prevent him issuing orders to others. (Jaime V, ASoS)

I'm as anti-violence a writer as you're likely to find in this fandom and even I think Jaime's actions are reasonable when you take all the circumstances into account. Jaime is still a teenager, he's basically been a hostage of Aerys himself, he's been forced to witness Aerys commit a bunch of violent crimes, the city's being sacked, Aerys poses an imminent and Jaime believes ongoing danger to hundreds of thousands of people, Jaime knows there are still pyromancers in town who could set off the caches, and Jaime has to make a decision now.

Maybe not everyone would have made the same decision, but given what Jaime went through... maybe he was angry, but it's an important thing for the character that on this occasion, he thought about others and did his best.

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A sad day.

I don’t have a lot of words right now but Steven Attewell, who you all reading this probably know as @racefortheironthrone , just passed away. He was a very great writer, friend, and person, and it’s a horrible loss.

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I have a serious question: what’s your favorite food description in the entire saga?

If we're talking an individual dish, the sister's stew in ADWD, a description so good you can taste it.

If we're talking a spread, I've compared the Purple Wedding to the Winterfell harvest feast before.

The Purple Wedding is food as art. There are circumstances where on a smaller scale this would be an amazing experience. You've got skilled professionals using ingredients you don't see every day and pushing the boundaries of their medium in ways you rarely get to see. But the thing with the Purple Wedding is that nobody in PoV view is having fun. There's too much of it, in a city where people "would kill for a radish". It's an event that hasn't been put on for love of food but for love of power. There's no joy of discovery here, no appreciation of the cook's creative work (let alone the various efforts of the people who produced and supplied the various ingredients). People are literally waiting for the host to die. Of poison, in his drink, served to him as one of the focal points of the whole event - there's themes going on here.

The Winterfell harvest feast, by contrast, is food as community. A large point of this event is to celebrate the work of the people who contributed to the meal. It's a rare event in ASoIaF where most of the people present are enjoying themselves.

So the food descriptions at the Purple Wedding might be interesting, but as a cook - it's the harvest feast that gives me all the vicarious pleasure.

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I'm sorry for asking this, but it's been a while since I've read ADWD and honestly don't remember: Who is the grieving lover among Jon's assassins?

Alf of Runnymudd, who's unusally distraught when a watchman named Garth dies on patrol in ADWD. Jon sends him to bed with wine, a consideration not usually afforded simple comrades...

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In F&B if immediately after Viserys died a great council was called to solve the dispute of Rhaenyra vs Aegon for the throne and without any of the murdering in the aftermath (looking at you Aemond and Daemon) what do you think would have occurred?

We'd still have the Dance of the Dragons because all the personal relationships there are shot to hell and one faction is losing out. I am not seeing how some of these people (looking at you Aemond and Daemon) negotiate the situation without the murdering.