Game of Thrones 5.07 "The Gift" 5/24/2015 [Show Discussion]

My impression is that only nobles and their male bastards have surnames, period. Apparently female bastards don’t count. Except in Dorne.

Anyway, has there ever been a non-noble given a two part name? I can’t remember any. Maybe they add a functional identifier if their are two people in the area with the same name, like “Tall John” or “Joe the Miller”, but otherwise they all seem to have just a single name.

So with the High Sparrow’s ‘we are the many’-speech, I can’t help but wonder if we’re not in for some more drastic political upheaval in Westeros than which ass happens to warm that iron chair… It goes against the thrust of the main narrative, but wouldn’t it just be the ultimate reversal of expectations if in the end, it’s the monarchy itself that falls? I mean, if there’s one thing that is generally unquestioningly assumed in all fantasy worlds, it’s that the form of government is some kind of monarchy/oligarchy, so to uproot that would in a way be very fitting for the series’ way of screwing with expectations… But I still think it’s unlikely.

Huh, interesting point. We’ve met non-nobles from Essos, specifically from Braavos (Syrio Forel and Jaqen H’ghar), with first and last names, but I’m darned if I can think of a single Westerosi example that wasn’t from a House.

Since we know that female bastards in Dorne carry the last name ‘Sand,’ I think we can extrapolate that female bastards throughout Westeros carry the bastard last name of their region; it’s just that we’ve only met male bastards from the other areas in the course of the story.

Janos Slynt was not a noble until he was bought and he had a last name.

Okay. Hmm. Well, it wasn’t like he was a peasant at that point. Maybe the rules are different when you start wearing a sword :wink:

Actually, that kind of makes sense. Most people seem to live in tiny villages and don’t travel much, so the re-used names wouldn’t be a big problem. But in a military group, especially one sited in a city, you’d need an easy way to specify exactly which of the five guys named Joe you are assigning to guard that gate.

I interpreted that as her getting tired of watching and waiting for him to start feeling the effects of the poison so that she could start gloating, so she decided to get his blood pumping to spread the poison throughout his system more quickly.

I hadn’t thought of that, but I bet you’re right. That was a pretty damn sexy Teenage Dornish Ninja Sand Snake.

Great to see Cersei tossed into a cell just like Margaery. Sauce for the goose etc.

Myrcella mentioned that she had been in Dorne for “years.” How long has it been, anyway? She’s grown up quite a bit since we last saw her on the boat sailing out of King’s Landing at Tyrion’s bidding.

Hope Brienne will come to Sansa’s rescue. Ramsay needs a serious pounding.

Jorah is a badass. Dany should pardon him and welcome him back. She needs him.

I’ll be interested to see what becomes of Stannis, his wife and daughter.

I have to admit I’m rooting for Littlefinger… a little.

Gendry is apprenticed to Tobho Mott, is Tobho Mott the noble smith of Flea Bottom? Or does “mott” have a special meaning?

Cersei is really bad at schadenfreude. She was so gleeful back when Tywin announced he was going to force Tyrion to marry Sansa against their wishes. Then she found out he was going to do the same to her and Loras. Whoops!

Though he does have a highly contagious diseases which either kills you, or turns you into a violent, grey savage. It’s basically leprosy meets rabies (or the Rage virus).

She doesn’t know that, though! And we can’t be sure that it turns you into a savage. Those guys might’ve become brigands just because there was nothing else for them to do.

5.08 thread