If you haven’t read the books, don’t read:
[spoiler]The kids being incest babies has been talked about in the non-spoiler threads? Even if so, it hasn’t been revealed.
This is hard to keep track of for sure.[/spoiler]
It seemed to me that people had been putting two and two together enough that it wouldn’t be a spoiler anymore, and it’s not like I directly said what was what. But still, twick’s edit was for the best.
And now we should stop talking about it.
-Joe
Agreed.
IMO this scene made no sense. It’s been weeks since Bran was pushed out the window and didn’t die; why should she get mad about it now? Didn’t the Maester say Bran would likely survive even before they left Winterfell?
And they didn’t really have an option about silencing Bran; reporting their incest would be just as damaging to them as reporting their attempted murder. So they had to try to kill him at the time, and they had to try to finish the job when he survived the first attempt.
He said he was through the worst part of it. In no way does that necessarily mean he’d ever talk or think again. He could have remained unconscious until he wasted away.
“The guy in the coma might wake up and finger us” is a whole lot more abstract than “The guy who was in the coma is awake and might finger us.”
-Joe
This wasn’t quite clear but it’s actually been months, Cat mentions that she had been praying to the gods for over a month before Ned left Winterfell and the trip back to Kings Landing takes at least a month too. After that long it wouldn’t be uncommon for someone to just stay in a coma for good.
I’ve read the books, but have totally forgotten the precise details of how this resolves, so I’m (consciously, at least) purely speculating… the only evidence we have that this dagger is in fact recognized and unique is Littlefinger’s word. So any possibility of:
-he’d never seen it before, made up a lie on the spot
-he recognized it, made up a lie on the spot
-it in fact used to belong to him, but he lied about giving it to Tyrion
are all quite possible.
I certainly feel like “that murder weapon the anonymous assassin was carrying is recognizably one that once belonged to influential and famous and very intelligent person X” is so corny that no one should believe it for a moment… either the people in the story or the audience. “Hey, evil guy, here’s 100 gold coins, go smother a young boy” “well, I’d like to, but I don’t have a dagger to defend myself should someone see me” “here, take mine!”.
I’ve read the books but I can answer as though I hadn’t. Bran doesn’t have any reason to keep Jaime and Cersei’s secret. If he’d seen someone he cares about doing something bad, he might keep it to himself, to protect them.
Plus, he might not understand that what they were doing was bad. A kid his age isn’t going to know about the incest taboo. So yeah, I think he’d tell, but in a matter of fact way, not “You’ll never believe what I saw queen and her brother doing!”
I’m continually impressed by the Wall and the costuming/armour is starting to stand out more for me, especially from the Kingsguards (it’s not white, but close enough). Anyone seen any yellow cloaks yet? Another question…who was the Kingsguard member who was bantering with Jaime and Robert about killing? It’s been years since I’ve read the book.
Was it an old man? The only kingsguard I can remember other than Jaime at this point is Barristan Selmy.
Yup, that’s the name.
I assumed she just got a raven (same as Ned and Jon) telling her that Bran was awake and still intelligent enough to be speaking, and now she’s flipping out that he’s not dead and not brain-damaged. It was probably easier to be sanguine about it while the kid was in a coma. But now it’s possible he could remember and talk.
So the wall is both a penal colony and front line. Is it in the north of Winterfell?
If so, does the Stark family have any control over it or is it separate from their lands?
The Wall is to the North of Winterfell–which is to the North of the rest of Westeros. The Night’s Watch try to remain independent of any conflicts between the great houses of the land, but The Starks have always had a special relationship with them. I wouldn’t use the word “control.”
The Wall is the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. Everything north of it is wildlands with no official government.
I wouldn’t call it a penal colony either, a lot of criminals do end up there but it is considered honorable service.
And winters last for years and don’t come in regular cycles, is that right? Or does the year have cycles but the winter’s they’re referring to (that Arya has never seen) more like a miniature Ice Age?
Yup, they’ve actually had a very long summer and winters following long summers are supposed to be brutal. Hence all the “winter is coming” warnings. Although Arya IS from the north which is still fairly cold and snowy even in the best of times.
I don’t think even SANSA has actually consciously experienced a winter. I think it’s been established that the world was at the end of an unusually long Summer in the first book (at least 10 years worth).
How would that work, ecosystem-wise? I’d imagine there would be a lot of extinctions.