Though the harpies specifically targeted Dany’s supporters in the past, they have also killed indiscriminately in a frenzy during the opening of the Great Pit of Daznak.
So, I agree, the mass murder of civilians isn’t out of character, and it made perfect sense that a larger group of the harpies was at the gates during the attack of the slaver fleet; I assume that they tried to gain control of them to let attackers into the city.
But it’s still awfully convenient that so many of them decided to leave the city and expose themselves at the one place where an onslaught of a Dothraki charge made any sense at all when fighting an urban insurgence.
You’re right that the show is consistent in its spelling - though I think, it would have been a nice nod to the history buffs in the audience if they had shown different spellings in documents within the show.
Shakespeare was spelled Shakesspere, Shakysper, Shaxpeer, Schakespeire, Shackper, Shexpere, Shaxkspere and Shakspeyre in Elizabethan times and the bard himself wasn’t to consistent when he scribbled his name on documents (though, I think, we only have a handful of likely authentic examples).
Anyway, yes, you’re correct, technically, but do we need to make such a fuss?
I didn’t mean to imply it is, it just would have been fun if they had at one time or another “simulated” the random spelling of the past, just like they simulate clothes and habits from different eras and regions.
Good question. We see Sansa’s name on screen written by her own hand when she adds the seal to the letter addressed to Littlefinger. I have some vague memory about at least one other document in earlier seasons, but, no, we haven’t seen many examples of written names within the narrative of the show.
As I recall it, it was a list of Robert Baratheon’s ancestors, every single one of which had black hair. That was the clue that tipped off Ned, and Jon Arryn before him, that Joffrey wasn’t a Baratheon.
Neither the opening nor the closing credits give the characters’ names, only the actors.
We have not seen the names of most characters spelled out on the TV show. You cannot deduce the spelling merely from watching the TV show. You would have to consult other sources for that.
Based solely on watching the show, Jamie and Jaime are equally valid spellings, as are Ramsey and Ramsay.
Did the show ever explain how ravens work? Whose Raven did Sansa use to send the note to Littlefinger, and why would they even have a raven that could fly to the Vale? And if they already had a means of communicating to the Vale, why wouldn’t have Jon have tried to ask for help directly? I’m sure that he was aware of the Vale’s robust army and the alliance of the Stark and Arryn houses.
Also, it occurs to me that Littlefinger will have to make a power play real soon. All this time, he’s pretended to be Robin’s advocate, while furthering his own cause. While he was able convince Robin to send the Vale army to “rescue” Robin’s cousin, how can he now seize any more power? He wouldn’t be able to convince the Vale army to eliminate the Starks; that’s who they came to help. If Robin marries Sansa, he’s hit his glass ceiling. While he may just want to continue to be Robin’s puppet master for now, that would surely change once Robin and Sansa are a couple.
Carrier pigeons are a real thing and the way it works is that pigeons are bred in select locations and swapped around between them when fully grown so that you can send messages back and forth quickly when needed. I guess Mr. Martin thought ravens were cooler, and I can’t entirely blame him.
Robin is a sickly boy. When Littlefinger incited Lysa to poison Jon Arrin, she became ruler of the Vale. Littlefinger might try to revisit the plan that proved to be so beneficial to his ascension. If Sansa turned to the dark side, she might become his accomplice; though she might also become an unwitting tool once again.
The ravens that are trained to carry messages through the Seven Kingdoms are usually controlled by a maester.
Which reminds me how much the Order of the Maesters simulates the role, the Catholic Church played in the preservation of knowledge but also its scarcity, its manipulation and obliteration.
We’ll never know how many achievements of the classical world were not forgotten but erased but we do know that the church started to rewrite past and present early, even before the Roman Empire fell.
The Maesters control access to knowledge almost completely; they are also the gate-keepers of the fast communication system within the Seven Kingdoms.
We know that the Maesters’ influence is an underlying theme in the books; when Sam was headed toward Oldtown, I was looking forward to learn more about the role they played in establishing the status quo.
But now I wonder if this whole sub-plot will be cut?
I assumed that they flew between two specific places, which is why I asked the question. But wintertime’s post suggests that they’re programmed to fly to anywhere in Westeros.
I don’t believe that’s possible. More likely the larger castles would have pigeon connections with their vassals as well as the other important castles, while vassals might only have connections with their liege lord and the closest castles around them.
IIRC, most ravens can only fly to one castle, but there are some that know how to carry messages toward two locations. There is also a special breed, the White Ravens, that are used to communicate the change of seasons when the conclave has agreed on the interpretation of the signs. They fly from Oldtown, though I don’t remember if they can fly to more than one location.
Of course, the series shows so few ravens that they might be more versatile than their counterparts in the books.
Those are the “other sources” I was talking about. You would have to go and look them up. You can’t derive the spelling of the names if your only source of information is watching the show.
And there’s no particular logic to the way the names are spelled. They are arbitrary and erratic. There’s no reason Robin Arryn’s name should be spelled that way, and not Robyn Arrin.
