Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 114 - ADWD Davos I

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

A storm blows Davos off course into the arms of the Three Sisters, without his friend Salladhor Saan. He gets some news updates from Godric Borrell and does some Hand-y things.  LINKS MENTIONED  - ...'The Night Lamp' by Cantuse - https://cantuse.wordpress.com/2014/08/28/the-night-lamp-revisited-the-wrath-of-the-old-and-the-new/  - 'Battle in the Ice' by BryndenBFish - https://warsandpoliticsoficeandfire.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/a-complete-analysis-of-the-upcoming-siege-of-winterfell-part-2/  --- Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/ Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor Chloe's blog: www.liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Panty, a song of ice and fire, episode 114, Davos 1 in A Dance with Dragons. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. And I want to offer a correction. I think that Chloe said the title of this book wrong. I think it's supposed to be pronounced Adowida? Adowida? It has been.
Starting point is 00:00:43 It was actually on the tip of my tongue. I will confess. It was hard. I hesitated a little because I did think of our dear friend Michael, bookshelf stud, who we had on back in the old Theon Reek days and our different comprehensions of the book titles like Akok, Asos, and Adowada, the classic rendering. Afak. But we have no Afak but we have no afak we have no afak chapters of
Starting point is 00:01:08 davos really i mean we do and we don't afak off yeah it's a little harsh i guess you don't have to afak off oh well no no a feast for crows yes this is a dance with dragons adowada affectionately adowada and it's just weird to say that we're back in a dance with dragons, a da-wa-da, affectionately a da-wa-da. And it's just weird to say that we're back in a dance with dragons. It's definitely feels like it's been a minute. I guess it's been a minute because Davos has a lot of chapters up through Storm. But we're back in dance and things are dark. Things are moody. Things are gloomy.
Starting point is 00:01:40 But you know what isn't gloomy is our friend Steffi, who sent in pictures of their dog mia in a little jacket yes it had a rather lovely message so a big thank you to stephy for sending that email i i'm not the dog person on the podcast right that's eliana i have a video in my phone of eliana talking to a dog outside back when we were allowed outside uh to a dog, just a random dog and making friends with it. And she is our dog whisperer. I'm the cat person, but a dog in a jacket that gets me every
Starting point is 00:02:12 time. Oh, absolutely. And, I mean, thank you for sending this to us. We love, I guess, by we turns out it means me. I love dog content and a couple people have been sending their animals to us, and I appreciate that.
Starting point is 00:02:27 We also got an axolotl, and that was exciting. Yes. Lots of animals in that one. There were a lot of animals going on there. Really appreciated that. Speaking of animals, though. I'm feeling a little goaty. You know, a little black goat of Kohori, if you will this month eliana thought we meant birdie but yeah there is there is a couple of animal-esque things coming up for you this month
Starting point is 00:02:52 yeah so kohor and the black goat but not just the goat yeah our patreon episode this month our special episode will be a song of ice and Fire themed for patrons in the Stranger tier, the $5 tier and above. That's over at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon. We are going to talk about Kohor, which it turns out there's a lot more going on kind of related to the plot we're talking about with Davos and Stannis and a lot of the different comings and goings in the north. So I'm excited to get into that. That is the first animal business we have for you this month in january yeah and then the next one also for patrons of our discord for thunder tier and above as we've said for the past few months we've been doing some brunch slash happy hours on the weekends not every weekend once a month on our discord and this month is going to be probably around
Starting point is 00:03:47 january 30th uh that weekend the last weekend of january and it is going to be burb themed yeah our friend cassidy one of our patrons over at the discord is having a birthday a name day so you're celebrating a birb day. Happy birb day. I think I made that joke last episode, but it's still not old. I'm so predictable. I probably shamed you for it, but, you know, here we are. So happy birb day to Cassidy. And basically what we're doing during brunch is settling down,
Starting point is 00:04:29 having a drink, non-alcoholic or alcoholic with each other in the voice and video chat on Discord. And a handful of our friends on Discord will be doing presentations that are bird themed. I've already seen some sneak previews of them in Google Slides. They're going to be good. And I know Cassidy will be bringing the most birdiest of them in google slides they're gonna be good and i know cassidy will be bringing the most birdiest of them all as a a bird expert a field agent of birds of burglary so come hang out with us on discord as you can tell we get up to a lot of shenanigans uh someone i don't know who but
Starting point is 00:04:59 somebody changed our movies channel to soviet recently. Who would do that? It's a lot of, it's Eliana. But a lot of stuff is just happening there. And we talk about food, a lot of food. It's made up of us, you, me, a bunch of bird brains. A bunch of bird brains. Well,
Starting point is 00:05:22 we're gonna talk about a bird brain in this episode. Actually, he's not. Davos is very smart. That's what happens a bird brain this episode actually he's not davos is very smart that's what happens a lot throughout this episode yeah he actually shows himself pretty well now we are getting to the last handful or handful if you're davos uh of chapters here in a dance with Dragons, right? And then we have to go to a new point of view character. And we're not going to talk about it this week. You're not going to find out yet.
Starting point is 00:05:57 You, the public, if you're listening to this on a Friday, breezy morning or afternoon, stretching, going for a walk, doing the dishes. I don't know what you do. Hopefully wholesome things. We're a wholesome podcast. We're we're very wholesome absolutely we're a family-friendly podcast yeah and but i hope that if you are listening to this you are sitting here yearning wanting to know who's next and we'll delve into those waters as we get to them. But patrons in the Thunder tier and above, same patrons who have access to our
Starting point is 00:06:30 Discord are going to find that information out very soon. Sooner than you think. It might be sooner than you think. It might be sooner than Eliana thinks. It could be closer than you think. You're just going to wake up everyone and you're going to have a post
Starting point is 00:06:45 that's just going to be snapped. Well, before we do all that, we're going to spend a few more moments with Davos in A Storm of Swords before we get to dancing, before we get to Adelida. And a little tinge of that acoch, just the tip of it. And
Starting point is 00:07:03 you know, dance, of course. We all know this. It begins a new arc for Davos, right? He's kind of been reborn again. And obviously we talked a little bit about that reborn sort of idea in Davos' story after the Blackwater. But if you consider his entire arc in A Storm of Swords, and that we kind of do think that he dies in Feast.
Starting point is 00:07:23 But like, I mean, I don't know if anyone really believed that, but, like, kinda. It was kind of like the effect that George was going for. But we've been laying it on throughout this entire read-through that Davos' story, it's really intertwined with questions about faith, and in A Clash of Kings, right, Davos still thinks of Stannis as a god. He even calls him as such, right? He's provided him with food, shelter, security, status, and he has a very blind faith. He's following anything
Starting point is 00:07:50 that Stannis asks of him, even when it comes to the potential detriment to himself and even to Stannis. It's shown by him helping with the shadow baby assassination at Storm's End. And of course, all of this later on culminates with the sacrifice to an extent of his four sons at the Blackwater. And quite fittingly, the Blackwater and the wildfire there is described as a demon, which kind of stands in contrast to the goddess Stannis. Storm of Swords then shows that Davos baptized in the waters of the Blackwater, he's reborn, he's renewed in his faith to the Seven, but he also comes back with quite a different religious philosophy around faith and duty when it comes to his king. That duty does not require unquestioning faith, but for those who would live
Starting point is 00:08:38 righteously to in fact really question and take action and in doing so strengthen uh their their sort of belief and davos again still exhibits faith and loyalty to stannis but he is a changed man who's listening to his own better angels rather than being tempted by stannis's demons and the davos in a clash of kings who kept silent when lords with more status captained his sons to death, that same Davos who rose Mel into the belly of Storm's End, he ends up going against another higher lord. He goes against Axel Florence's wishes to be hand. He disobeys Stannis in freeing Edric Storm. And so he has this new theology, right, where duty and piety require this really critical internal discourse with one's faith. But as Davos progresses in this new theology, it's interesting that a large part
Starting point is 00:09:30 of the Storm chapters actually have him arguing against Melisandre, because I think that you can sort of argue that they are similar in some ways when it comes to being faithful, right? Both believe that perhaps the wheels of fate or their own god's wills require a bit of a nudge on their part in order to make it happen as opposed to just like their gods are all powerful mel it's pretty obvious how that happens in terms of like i'm gonna just wave my hands and point to look at everything that she has done in the past few books and for davos it comes with his attempts to assassinate melisandre or freeing edrick of course it's a huge turning point for his character and for stanis's and both mel and davos
Starting point is 00:10:14 believe so fervently in their respective phase that they are willing to cross seas they're willing to just leave their homes for extended periods of time to do this mel of course is from essos we don't actually know though if she has any living family or a home per se and i assume we'll find out more about this in the winds of winter one day someday i too have blind faith in some things um and though we say that toho should go home we if we put his story side by side with melisandre, I think that we may be able to understand that part of the reason he doesn't go home, even though he should, is because of this religious calling he has to Stannis. It's beyond logic. It's belief and faith. It's religion. It's belief and faith.
Starting point is 00:11:02 It's religion. So how far are either of them willing to go for the will of their god, right? Dance very much sets the stage of that for both of them, right after Davos coming off of like, this is a line for me. And we see Melisandre's devotion for the first time in her chapter. And Davos, right? Like, it's very much real. And we're seeing that and are going to jump into that with this chapter. It's very much real and we're seeing that and are going to jump into that with this chapter.
Starting point is 00:11:49 Yeah, and that internal discourse that you kind of discussed that Davos is beginning to have with himself, it's interesting to watch him flip from doing maybe the wrong thing and going along with what's happening to now having the power and having that shift of power from becoming the king's hand and being able to kind of stand up for what he believes in much like we saw ned do and what we'll talk about with some more ned and davis parallels later and in this book he especially seems to be finally almost coming to grapple with the loss of his sons right like not only the loss of everything in the black water of their lives but also the loss of like fatherhood of losing the opportunity of parenting them of being able to be proud of these boys who have become so so skilled right in rising so high in stannis's group that died too young like davos is finally reckoning with that where he spent a lot of a storm of swords in denial. He's still in denial in this book, but he's charting his own course to find his own answers, it feels like. We'll see how his course comes along, being further away from Stannis. I think that comes maybe more in, you know, the Winds of Winter. Like, we'll dig deeper into that, but we're seeing the groundwork for that here.
Starting point is 00:12:44 And yeah, as you said, it's interesting. He's giving up that resignation when it comes to fatherhood. winter like we'll dig deeper into that but we're seeing the groundwork for that here and yeah as you said it's interesting he's giving up that resignation when it comes to fatherhood and it makes me think of crescent right who saw stanis as a son is there is there an aspect of davos that also beyond seeing stanis as a sort of figurehead for faith for him sees him sort of as a son i don't know and i think love is a way to describe all of these things too right he does love stannis like the brother that he didn't have and that he could have been for stannis he just wishes that when he was younger he was able to have fulfilled that role that stannis obviously didn't have fulfilled. And maybe, yeah, that's how Stannis feels about Davos. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:13:27 Maybe. And I think that's another way that their relationship mirrors the relationship between Robert and Ned. Yeah, big time. This chapter, if anything, does a lot to illustrate Robert and Ned and maybe some of that alienation they may have felt, you know, robert with this big war that was basically yes it was because of iris but also a little bit because of liana at some point you know at some point the rage happened because reygar took that girl you know what i mean a couple times
Starting point is 00:13:57 in that tower and out of the tower and back in the tower but i digress we don't need to talk about the fornications that happened in the prince's pass if you know what i mean because he made some passes at liana stark i wish you could see eliana's face what's happening but but so that's a big rift right like and also the way robert treated liana and like she was disposable like she was every other highborn lady you know just disposable for him and i think that that rift it's not the same as davos's four sons dying out at sea and possibly you know devon dying like it's not the same as that loss necessarily but it's similar in terms of the rift right like that ned felt this rift grow between him and robert and when they came back that rift
Starting point is 00:14:53 was obviously quite apparent and it wasn't just because of liana it was also because of the children and because he knew he couldn't trust his best friend in not killing the children to not kill kids yeah and i i mean that's where we are round circle or to not take kids hostage right and i mean that's something that we see is the case with sanis it's something that redley was like you know it's an interesting idea ned stark in the wake of the death of my eldest brother what if we took some kids hostage that sounds fun right it's just like a weird baratheon like family thing the seed is strong you know yeah feudalism is so fucked up anyway we've got a lot to talk about we're gonna talk about that and more family feudalism oh my god i have to write this down really quick, hold on.
Starting point is 00:15:46 Well, we're going to talk about all of this and more within our episode, but before we get there, ours is the theory. We have lots of lightning to cover, a big ol' lightning round, we have a lot to cover. We're going to cover a little bit of what you missed in Storm, Feast, and then of course get us to dance. So first up, John 10 in A Storm of Swords. Stannis and his men arrive in the north to save the Watch from a rather bloody fate. Cersei IV, A Feast for Crows. Queen Regent Cersei Lannister reports North has received a smuggler Davos was sent to White Harbor to negotiate with Lord Wyman Manderly She demands Davos' execution in exchange for the life of his son
Starting point is 00:16:34 Willis Manderly Cersei 5 A Feast for Crows Davos has been beheaded Or so we think Lord Manderly swears it And the phrase can burn it as well Jaime 3, A Feast for Crows
Starting point is 00:16:56 Jaime releases Willis from Harrenhal He boards ship from Maidenpool for White Harbor This throws us right on into Adawida. Adawida! First, we have the prologue, where Varamyr is dying, and he must seek and take another body.
Starting point is 00:17:17 Tyrion I. After traveling across the sea, Illyrio tells Tyrion of the three-headed dragon. Daenerys I. Petitions are brought in front of her magnificence, including the bones of a child, at her children's expense. Jon I.
Starting point is 00:17:34 Stannis' camp is demanding, and Jon must learn to juggle Stannis' demands, as well as the Free Folk's, all while heeding the warnings of Stannis' Red Priestess Melisandre. Bran I. Bran hunts through Summer's eyes, finding shelter for the group. Later, he fights a war with dead men of the Watch surrounding them. Coldhands makes them pig, and they continue their journey. Tyrion II. Smuggled along the Rhoyne, Illyrio spins Tyrion a tale of how
Starting point is 00:18:06 he and Varys infiltrated the Westerosi government! Tyrion opens up part of himself to Illyrio as well as they make their way through Andalos. The Merchant's Man. Quentin Martell and his most loyal men make for
Starting point is 00:18:21 Meereen on a grand adventure. John II. John must kill the man and let the boy escape. and his most loyal men make for Meereen on a grand adventure. Jon too. Jon must kill the man and let the boy escape. Wait, what? I don't know if that's right. That can't be right. It's close. It's close enough, right?
Starting point is 00:18:37 But what? Tyrion III. Tyrion begins to meet Griff's crew and promises to serve the queen loyally. And that brings us here to Davos 1 Adawada. The loyal Onion Knight says, Hallelujah, sisters! And is brought in front of Lord Godric Borrell, who doesn't quite seem lordly. Godric and Davos find common ground in shearing bread and salt,
Starting point is 00:19:04 and Davos is given a chance to save king stanis's cause this has been one of the most hunger inducing chapters we'll get there i know i i had to make sure i ate right before this but i'm already thinking about it i know i'm out watering same you know what else is delicious Absolutely delectable is the imagery, though. Because this chapter opens up, Lightning split the northern sky, etching the black tower of the night lamp against the blue-white sky. Six heartbeats later came the thunder like a distant drum.
Starting point is 00:19:39 Yes, Davos has marched across a black bridge. Beneath a rusting porcollis with green water surging below, they reach another gatehouse covered in green algae, and he's prodded to go up the steps and brought into a chamber with red-bear-mirrish carpet. The guard removes his cloak, and Davos repeats to courtesy, We find a lord that is alone, making a supper of beer, bread, and sister stew,
Starting point is 00:20:04 with twenty iron sconces lining the wall none lit uh two candles give a meager light against the lashing of the rain so as chloe said a lot of strong imagery opening this chapter up and i really love what it says here with the torches right it tells us what to expect of the people of the three sisters as we see them later on throughout this chapter that they're they're very i think thrifty people you know there's something to it uh this the fingers right what we see through sanza with little finger as they visit the fingers and how just like how it's kind of an ignored area of this super metropolitan you know slick place the veil where everyone is fashionable and lives on top of a fucking mountain and they have pulleys to get
Starting point is 00:20:50 them up like it's definitely seems like a very classist society especially because you have like later so you have the webbing right between the anyone from the three sisters might have the webbing between their fingers but like that's literally something that happens in evolution because you live somewhere where water levels keep rising oh i didn't know that i looked it up and learned a little bit about it because i was just so intrigued to see like that is interesting yeah so i don't know to me that kind of screams straight up global climate change like that's straight up like these people are getting fucked because they live on the outskirts of the veil that no one fucking gives
Starting point is 00:21:30 a shit about and it's like completely trash castle right like it's not upkept he's not you know the brushes aren't the rushes aren't being lit in every room and it's not some beautiful humble home welcome to our gorgeous castle mtv cribs like this is just like here's my big stone fucking keep and i have one light in this room yeah but they eat good they eat good well but that's all that matters right like i'd rather live in trash but eat good kind of i i do feel that way but like i'm just saying i i actually really like this next part i wish i would have read this chapter last week when we were talking about the last chapter in storm because i might have answered a couple of my own questions but it's a reread yeah it's a reread i'm answering my
Starting point is 00:22:18 questions as we go it's our podcast we're going through our own growth arc all right all the characters get to do it in this fucking story. We do too. I'm on a really good art where I keep hating Stannis more and more. And it's my podcast and I'm allowed to do that. Anyways. So we get this passage. My lord, said the captain.
Starting point is 00:22:39 We found this man in the belly of the whale trying to buy his way off the island. He had 12 dragons on him and this thing too. The captain put it on the belly of the whale trying to buy his way off the island he had 12 dragons on him and this thing too the captain put it on the table by the lord a wide ribbon of black velvet trimmed with cloth of gold bearing three seals a crown stag stamped in golden beeswax a flaming heart in red a hand in white so last episode we talked a little bit about the beast of the revelations and the whore of babylon and that idea of davos is coming with the mark of the beast right and there's a lot about seals in this book the pink letter is pretty prominent right that comes to mind you get the pink seal the the pink letter right that's the big deal ramsay's pink letter
Starting point is 00:23:25 and you get this seal right here and i didn't pay a lot of attention to this the first handfuls or two handfuls of times through but it is kind of like bringing the mark of the beast religiously you have this religion that's frowned upon uh stannis's seal and a hand in white and it's like these are not the traditional seals of the king uh Brienne with the Lannister seal right now going around, for example, right? Sleeps with lions. It's just not something you flash around always, but I thought that was interesting because we talked about the prophets and false prophets having the mark of a beast,
Starting point is 00:24:00 and Davos is out here, out here, shoosting Stannis right now, saying, hey, here he is. Here's his heart. Heart seal. Interesting, interesting stuff. I found my answer this week is all I'm saying. But I do want to come back to the storytelling and the mechanic being used here at the belly of the whale,
Starting point is 00:24:18 which is in the hero's journey, the final separation from the hero's known world and themselves so when the hero enters this stage of literally being in the belly of the whale or the belly of the beast they're showing willingness to undergo metamorphosis and Davos is still changing as we see often they get a minor setback when they're in this stage though so that is definitely something we see happen right as he gets to the mandalus and they're like here's your setback go to skagos we see this in a lot of other media book of jonah right the book of jonah mirrors a lot of davos's art across the story he refuses god's command to prophecy the destruction of Nineveh. And he tries to flee.
Starting point is 00:25:05 And a storm rises. And the sailors all blame Jonah. They're like, you did this. It is your fault for refusing God. It was kind of true. Yeah, I mean, it was. And he sacrifices himself, though. He tosses himself overboard.
Starting point is 00:25:19 And he ends up getting saved by being swallowed by a fish. And he commits himself to God over the next three days and then he's vomited on the shore to preach god's will so it's kind of davos right at blackwater he gets vomited on the shore somehow he survives he's spit out of the belly of the beast and once more here he is being spit literally out of the belly of the whale and there's even something in this that reminds me of pinocchio uh that's another really big telling of belly of the whale geppetto tries to save his son so like davos trying to give his sons a better life and geppetto goes out to sea but gets swallowed by monster the whale pinocchio ends up in the belly of the whale with him and he helps save his father from the belly of the whale
Starting point is 00:26:05 or from being consumed by the power of the whale pinocchio proves himself brave truthful and selfless by risking his life to travel these depths of the ocean and he gets rewarded with becoming a real boy which feels pretty i don't know pretty interesting as a parallel for davos because this whole plot is becoming a real lord instead of a smuggler right i'm a know pretty interesting as a parallel for davos because this whole plot is becoming a real lord instead of a smuggler right i'm a real boy i'm a real lord uh so there's something happening here like in an interesting play on maybe with devon i don't know i i'm pretty of the camp he's gonna die maybe that's what will unfortunately get davos to realize oh that sucks um i don't think that he'll know to be fair like i think it would be like an
Starting point is 00:26:46 after effect of him finding out but i'm pretty sure he like ned in the first book is pretty much disconnected from devon like ned and sanza but who knows or he could survive in the way that sanza was kind of used to get ned right to follow certain orders and survived. Devon could definitely be used that way against Davos as well. I kind of feel like he's other bait. I feel like the others are gonna... I just see Stannis' camp getting
Starting point is 00:27:16 ravaged by others at some point, I'm sure, in the winter, and probably losing people to them. Or Jon saves Devon. He's like, hey, look at this kid do you know this kid maybe he'll help davos see the light not that light the other light but the discussion about the belly of the whale i think is is definitely something and you know you were discussing how it signals a change it's a transformation it's a big part right of the
Starting point is 00:27:44 journey and their quest as they sort of sometimes it's a transformation, it's a big part of the hero's journey and their quest. Sometimes it's called descending into the underworld, right? And it's something, that phrasing specifically, is something that George seems to like when he's also bringing in a lot of that religious, that faith aspect into the story and with characters facing those trials the opening line of the forsaken which is an erin damp hair chapter and we all know he's a really religious character is it was always midnight in the belly of the whale so that's something he brings up yeah that's interesting especially because it's something that i like to follow with George. He likes to meet these characters that are already in their arc, right? Like Aaron Dampier, like his arc started a long time ago, and George fills us in on the backstory of what we've missed, you know, on his transformation, his rebirth into the
Starting point is 00:28:39 Drowned God. So that's a really great parallel here, since Dav has a lot of drowned god imagery happening here. And Davos is brought to us already in the middle of his hero's arc, like the next few steps are transformation, atonement, and return. So fitting that to the rest of the plot, we can kind of get a sense of where this might be going in some aspects. aspects. Yeah. And, I mean, who knows where it'll go, because I don't know that Aaron's, Aaron Damper's story, right, necessarily. I don't know if he comes out of the belly of the whale or whatnot. Yeah. I don't know if Aaron Damper
Starting point is 00:29:13 gets a full hero's arc, sadly. Exactly. I think he's gonna unfortunately drown at one of his stages. I mean, I think so. I don't know that he makes it out, but we... He's got two chapters. Yeah, sorry if we're giving too many spoilers, friends, but... When's winter one day?
Starting point is 00:29:34 I don't know, I thought he'd make it to Adas, you know what I mean, man? He could. I mean, he could. I just don't know he makes it out of the story alive. Will I make it to Adas? Also true. You don't know. That's a great that's a great point that's a good question and i mean that's a question davos has here right now right
Starting point is 00:29:52 he's wet and dripping his wrists have begun to chafe one wrong word and he'd hang from the gallows gate at sister tin but at least he's no longer in the rain although he feels worn thin by grief betrayal and storms yeah he's being like Jon Snow levels of drama this chapter is pretty good the lord wipes his mouth picking up the ribbon with the seals displayed upon it and
Starting point is 00:30:16 frowns at them Davos counts the steps before the thunder comes again he listens to the roaring beneath him the swirling that's going throughout the dungeons, thinking how lucky he is not to be down in the dungeons. No, he tried to tell himself, a smuggler might die that way, but not a king's hand. I'm worth more if he sells me to his queen. His queen, of course, who is Cersei. So we're beginning to see Davos feel a bit more comfortable
Starting point is 00:30:43 now in his position as Hand, while simultaneously still embracing his past as a smuggler as he thinks about the sisters and their history. And the way that he interacts with Lord Borel, I think this chapter is very interesting compared to Davos's previous interactions with many of the noblemen, especially the Reachmen. The Sister sister men though they are lords they haven't forgotten the roots which very much intersect with davos's own and though there's some politicking and barbs exchange we see that burrell actually seems to regard davos with quite a bit of respect especially compared to those other lords yeah as we traverse through the chapter, we almost see that Godric is who Davos could be if he doesn't take his side by now.
Starting point is 00:31:27 Yeah. You know, back in the Rainwood, just hanging out in his little house. This is who he could be. Truly, and he could eat well, probably. I hope so. I would hope that for Davos. He deserves sister stew. I deserve sister stew every night. I deserve sister stew. I want eight bowls.
Starting point is 00:31:47 So, Lord Godric Borrell was ugly, bald, with a lumpy nose, red with broken veins, and webbed fingers on his right hand. Davos had heard the tale of the three sisters and their webbed digits, but he had thought it was a sailor's story.
Starting point is 00:32:03 The Lord demands Davos be cut free and to display his hands to him he's cut free and the lightning strikes as he's cut loose outlining his shortened fingers across godric burrell's face any man can steal a ribbon the lord said but those fingers do not lie. You are the onion knight. Man, that's so dramatic and really convenient for everyone that there was a lightning flash at that moment. What is this, a CW show? I know, right? Riverdale. I'm waiting for Lord Godric Burrell to stand up with his ale and go walk to the fireplace and just drink slowly while he tells Davos the story of his history.
Starting point is 00:32:48 Yeah, pretty much. And then they're negotiating. One of them's like, let me tell you about the Black Hood. Also, he has to be the ugliest CW old man actor, which means he's at least a California 7. At least. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:33:04 Which is a better 7 than anywhere else in the country. That's like a california seven at least you know what i mean which is a better seven than anywhere else it's like a 10 i think yeah yeah that's like a 10 anywhere because of inflation and the cost of living okay the cost of living in california god the cost of being looks oh god drink burrell a seven in cal in California he's probably actually not but if this were Riverdale he would be at least a 6 speaking of appearances here though I think what's interesting
Starting point is 00:33:35 that was a decent segue Chloe it was good I laughed because it was good thank you I'll give you that one but yeah appearances and and i want to come back to melisandre's line of how a glamour can be spun from anything that has a strong connection to a person and i see it as very much meaning a strong connection to how a person is perceived right the symbols that call to mind that person such as how onions are strongly associated with
Starting point is 00:34:05 davos or how the sigils function with wolves standing in for the starks the finger bones of course are something that we all really really strongly associate with davos a lot of the chapters drive that home when he reaches for the bag of finger bones which is one of the examples right that melisandre gives of an object that can be used to make a glamour and we know from the same book in the aria chapters that glamours can actually potentially be seen through by someone who has a perceptive eye or you know in the case of amen and the false light bringer someone who does not only see using their sight their their eyes. Many take Melisandre's line to mean that she has a bag of finger bones and she's going to use that to glamor someone into pretending to be Davos.
Starting point is 00:34:51 But I think what we actually see in terms of how strong the association of the lost fingers are with Davos is that it actually works the other way around, right? Here, Borel demands to see Davos's fingers and that gives him the proof he needs to be like, yo, that's the Onion Knight, because he says that ribbons can be stolen, and I mean, technically they can also be forged. But we see that Wyman Manderly actually essentially does glamor someone without magic when he sends Davos's bones to Cersei. But instead of using that bag of finger bones, what he does is he cuts off the fingers from a man who looks like Davos and then has him dipped in tar. The Kindly Man describes the process of making glamours to Arya as weaving light and shadow and desire to make illusions that trick the eye. And I think that the desire is the most important part, not the weaving of the light and the shadow. It's that desire to believe so strongly
Starting point is 00:35:45 in the symbols standing in for the men beneath them it feels like there's a metaphor somewhere in here to know just putting that out there maybe to like politics uh to regimes and i don't know maybe anyways maybe maybe something about fairies you know maybe well i do want to say i think it's interesting that boral would rather look at the fingers because not only is it because ribbons could be stolen or forged but also because he doesn't value those ribbons the way he values the name or the word of the famed smuggler right that's true his fame is worth more to him as we'll talk about soon in money than anyone else's would be so i think that's really interesting just the way that uh it's very obvious especially here and we'll get
Starting point is 00:36:38 into some of the other veil houses as we talk about them and before there's a winner that they are they don't answer just to crown authority something else rules them and that something else is real money yeah i that's a that's a great point regarding where he's putting his faith it's it's in davos and i was just thinking when it comes to fingers right and wanting that as proof i mean as we'll see house burrell has their own kind of version of that right with their mark of how to tell who's a burrell and who's not yeah davos agrees though because he's been called far worse than everything burrell's been saying right like burrell's like you're the onion that he's's like, okay, true. Good job.
Starting point is 00:37:25 So what? They're delicious. I'm delicious. Caramelize it, bitch. Burrell's like, I did it. It's in your stew, bitch. Godric offers him some words that Davos has heard before, right? He calls him a traitor.
Starting point is 00:37:41 He calls him a rebel, a turncloak. And Davos bristles. He's like, I'm a king's man, never disloyal. And Godric says, yeah, but that's only depending on who believes Stannis is king, right? Like, if Stannis is king, who's he king to? And again, Jon vibes, right? Traitor, rebel, turn cloak, motherless damned damned so dramatic hysterically though john is having to deal with stannis at the wall and davos is cleaning up stannis's other messes so john probably doesn't think it's that hysterical as we've discussed john's tired john is a tired boy he's tired he's like I kind of like Stannis, but everything else that comes with him, he's like,
Starting point is 00:38:25 it's so emotionally draining. Stannis is great in a concept. I've been watching a lot of the final table, the cooking show, and everything is like, I conceptualized and minimalized this, that, whatever. And that's kind of how
Starting point is 00:38:41 this is. Davos is just able to compartmentalize, okay okay he does compartmentalize though he really does i mean how else do you just move on i mean maybe he's not maybe this is his very strange mourning process that's something we can discuss later on godric asks if he's returned to the old trade and dav, no, I am sent here as a king's hand to bring message to White Harbor and their lord. And Godric's like, you're in the wrong place. You're in Sisterton on Sweet Sister, where smugglers stay. Davos remembers this, of course, because he used to have his own smuggling days here on Sisterton.
Starting point is 00:39:20 He remembers it. He knows the scent. The scent is gross. It smells like pig fish rotting. Its streets are muddy and planks and they live in hovels with straw roofs and there are hanged men decorating the gate, the gallows gate. Godric is like, I imagine you have some friends here, Davos, as all smugglers have friends here on Sisterton. smugglers have friends here on Sisterton. It's like some fucking... It reminds me of a place in Bloodborne. I didn't play it, but I've watched people
Starting point is 00:39:49 play it, and that's what it sounds like. Godric even has his own friends here who are smugglers on Sisterton. And the ones that aren't his friends, he hangs and he strangles them slowly. You know, hot girl shit and yes like davos has come to sisterton if he means to make for white harbor and davos says storms there were
Starting point is 00:40:15 29 ships right so when davos started their journey there were 29 ships leaving the wall and if half of those 29 ships were still floating he would be shocked because there were black skies lashing rains and hounded them down the coast and oledo and old mother's son drove into sky ghost's rocks things are going well remember that it's that isle of unicorns and cannibals where even the blind bastard had feared to land uh that's how it's described and then the cogsato son went down in the Great Cliffs. And then the bountiful harvest rigging was ripped away, slamming into another galley and sinking it.
Starting point is 00:40:50 And the rest of the Lycene Fleet scattered across the sea. Went really well. Amazing time. Yeah. Salador's unhappy, but that's saying the least, right? Yeah. This wonderful passage, very colorful colorful so i'm very excited to include it salador the beggar that's what your king has made me salador san complained to davos as the remnants of his fleet limped across the bite salador the smashed where are my ships and
Starting point is 00:41:20 my gold where is all the gold i was promised when Davos had tried to assure him he would have his payment, Sala had erupted. When, when, on the morrow, on the new moon, when the red comet comes again? He is promising me golden gems, always promising, but this gold I have not seen. I have his word, he is saying, oh yes, his royal word, he writes it down. Can Salador San eat the king's word can he quench his thirst with parchments and waxy seals can he tumble promises into a feather bed and fuck them till they squeal yeah he makes some solid points i'd say i'd say uh paper socks so give me money paper. You know, that
Starting point is 00:42:06 yeah, he's like, what can promises buy me? It also reminds me a little bit of the speech. Who is it? Ellaria. Yes, the Could it fuck me, take me to bed? about the skull. Yes, about the skull and about vengeance. It absolutely reminds me of Ellaria's
Starting point is 00:42:22 speech, which is in the same book. But yeah, it feels very much like that. So, interesting. it absolutely reminds me of Ellaria's Petritch it's in the same book but yeah it feels very much like that so interesting Davos tries to persuade Salador to stay true to the cause King Tommen's not likely to pay Stannis' debts after all and
Starting point is 00:42:37 Salador's only hope then is Stannis winning but turns out Davos doesn't really have this lordly honey tongue that he needs he's just an onion knight and Salador is pissed on Dragonstone I was patient he said
Starting point is 00:42:53 when the red woman burned wooden gods and screaming men all the long way to the wall I was patient at east watch I was patient and cold oh so very cold bah Bah, I say. Bah to your patience. Bah to your king.
Starting point is 00:43:09 My men are hungry. They are wishing to fuck their wives again, to count their sons, to see the stepstones and the pleasure gardens of Lys. Ice and storms and empty promises. These they are not wanting. This north is much too cold and getting colder yeah to count their sons seems like good activity go home fuck your wife count your sons
Starting point is 00:43:34 uh but davos you should do it it's it's an interesting idea you know it's an interesting idea um you know he's known the day would come eventually and thought he was fond of the old rogue and he's like but he was never so great a fool as to trust him and i'm like but what if you did you know what if he had good ideas that's that's bullshit i'm sorry i'm sorry that's bullshit davos you are so far up your ass up Stannis' asshole in denial because Salador has done nothing but go out on a motherfucking limb for you. Who was there to pick your bitch ass up off of your new rock crab home? Who? Salador. Salador swung his ships around and said, go save that fucking fool who's hanging out on the ground.
Starting point is 00:44:22 Who? Who told him, like, like yo don't murder the red witch because you will die like they will find out and throw you in jail and he was like nah I have this and Davos kept going and he got thrown in Salador is always there and guess
Starting point is 00:44:38 what Salador is not gonna be there anymore Davos this is it because obviously Davos didn't hit rock bottom enough on that fucking rock in the clash of kings he needs to hit real rock bottom but Salador's not gonna be there anymore man he went out for you you're being a dick bag dude and he's like I always knew I couldn't trust him because he thought that Salador sold him out right he thought Salador sold him out in his like assassination attempt of melisandre and you
Starting point is 00:45:06 know i i don't know how it happened once again when it comes to this but you know solid or son you and me chloe we are solid or stans we are solid or stands i don't even like you but it's so true though because like he I mean you're right he went out on a lift for Davos quite a few times he's like you know what let's just like let's just leave you don't have to like stick around you don't have to stick your neck out for this guy right fuck your corporate
Starting point is 00:45:37 stint as Bezos overlord he's not gonna give you anything but grief and like he's done quite a lot and he's lost a lot on behalf of trusting his friend yeah i mean that's like yeah your friend gets you a job and then the job abuses the shit out of you and you're like i'm bleeding in an alleyway and can't keep going to work bro she's like i gotta leave bro come to work bro like what the fuck and i'm just like i'm not trying to like shit on davos here i'm just trying to defend solid or i am mad at davos though because it's like i don't want to be mad at him
Starting point is 00:46:18 i love the man to death and i get it everything i have i have because of stannis but it's like but you can have nothing yeah So like, you have nothing. You get that, right? That's what Salador is telling you is like, he's gone through all these battles alongside you. And Salador has not been rewarded for anything. He has no titles. He has no new fancy ships. He has no home.
Starting point is 00:46:38 He has no beautiful wife and children. Where is my beautiful wife? Where are my children? He has none of it. He's telling you, bro. He's standing next to you and saying, Davos, my man, my man with the plan or without the plan, I should say. You should jump and get out of the sinking ship. Like this company is going to fold is what I'm telling you.
Starting point is 00:46:56 And you're going to lose your job. And I don't know if it's like Davos has put all his eggs in this basket. I don't know if it's necessarily that or if it's like he's just gone in too deep. Right. He's already lost four sons so he feels as opposed to like that dissuading him and being like i've given up enough is it like a sunk cost fallacy right he's like i have to see this through or else my son's deaths are in vain yeah like why did i lose all of this and why did i do it i get it i know i i kind of wonder yeah that's that's one explanation for it but other the other explanation is obviously for the
Starting point is 00:47:32 plot um for the plot stab the plot's pretty important in you know in this book series so it's pretty important in the bridgerton book series. I just want to put that out there. I'm on book four. I read book three in one night last night. It's going great. I kind of skipped the sex scenes. They're a little too much. But it's just like, I don't want to read about you rubbing shit. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:47:54 It's just over it. I know how sex works. But not quite as good as Bridgerton, this series, you know? Gotcha. Yes, absolutely. For sure. you know? Gotcha.
Starting point is 00:48:02 Yes, absolutely. For sure. Well, Godric Burrell speaks so fondly of storms, right? Like a lover, basically.
Starting point is 00:48:13 And he's like, they were sacred here back before the Andals descended. They worship the lady of the waves and the Lord of the skies who made storms every time they fucked. He says Davos was delivered to him by the storms true and turns to his captain telling him this man was never here oh wow juicy there's a lot here that makes the storms right seem really perilous and they're really bad and it kind of is like so davos are you sailing on a doomed path as we've been discussing and I think it especially comes forward
Starting point is 00:48:48 in terms of the discussions we've been having of Stannis also as a storm same as all the other Baratheons before him and of course we have quite a few reminders here of storms and the origin of Storm's End it was the result of the Sea God
Starting point is 00:49:04 and the Goddess of the Wind they made love the result of the sea god and the goddess of the wind they made love they had a daughter elena who was kidnapped by during god's grief well not kidnapped i i think they they kind of just like eloped and that brought the storms to storms end here though it's like the lady of the waves and the lord of the skies a little bit of a gender flip you know fun stuff like that but yeah so got a bit of that going on davos requests his release to white harbor though as an act of friendship to his grace and godric thinks about it but offers that you know i could also just send you to a cold wet hell and then davos kind of fears the worst he thinks the three sisters were fickle bitches, loyal only to themselves.
Starting point is 00:49:48 Supposedly they were sworn to the errands of the Vale, but the Eyrie's grasp upon the islands was tenuous at best. Borel says that if Lord Sunderland knew he was here, he'd be forced to hand Davos over. The poor man needs the gold with seven sons all determined to be knights is is what lord cinderland has ah that was once davos right that's so sad but i think one of the biggest changes and one of the biggest progressions is that davos would never give someone up for the gold as we
Starting point is 00:50:20 see with him with edrick right for power some of the lore being expanded here with the three sisters is great it's expanded on much further in the world of ice and fire i highly recommend reading that if you haven't further details the history of the sisters and also shows the starks weren't kind of strangers to committing some some pretty pretty bad atrocities right the rape of the sisters was not great, and the Starks were too proud to let go of their conquered land, their coveted people, and instead they kind of consumed the land and destroyed it and made a mess of it while fighting the Vale for it, right? The Arryns for it. A thousand years went by, and interestingly enough, as the story goes i do love this the boltons were involved
Starting point is 00:51:06 as well belthazar bolton made a pink pavilion of hundreds of flayed men from the vale area and the northerners allegedly cooked children and men from the sisters in pots that's alleged who knows it could be dramatic uh but they executed thousands of warriors daily at the Hedman's Mount during everything that went on in the sisters. So kind of wild. And that being said, it reminds me of what the North is facing in a much lesser degree, right? Like, obviously, they're not flaying hundreds and thousands of people daily
Starting point is 00:51:41 or anything yet over at Winterfell but the situation's dire it could it could escalate so interesting that parallel comes in with the people that are trying to deal with the north going on and I think it's also laying a lot more not just for the north in that manner but also in the manner of another northerner in the Vale which is Sansa right Ned and the story that we'll learn soon about ned going through the sisters and going through sisterton it's interesting that we have someone else in disguise trying not to be seen in the veil right now it makes me wonder if sansa might go through there at all but we've already met a few sistermen in the sansa excerpt chapter the elaine excerpt chapter from
Starting point is 00:52:21 the winds of winter have a few different sister men so yeah we'll see where it goes some of them do kind of suck though but you know well you know i don't what is with the boltons they have like the worst fucking arts and crafts projects they're like let's let's play a bunch of men and then sew their skins into tents i'm like what why no one wants that literally no one asked for this a lot of work you could just like you could like make cloth out of fiber from a field instead a lot of work be like they could be normal you know not trying to, like, shame anything, but this deserves, I think, a bit of shaming. So, anyway. Davos thinks then, again, of his own seven sons, the four that were burnt, and says that by rights, you know, Davos should be handed over to Lady Arryn, as Lord Sunderland is actually sworn to the Eyrie.
Starting point is 00:53:23 Lord Godric gives him the news. Liza Arryn is dead, murdered by some singer. Fake news. Lord Littlefinger rules in her stead. Godric demands to know where the Lycenae pirates are. They had spied the sails when they were on Little Sister, but Davos tells him, you know what, he's at sea. He's returning south to trouble the Lannisters,
Starting point is 00:53:44 which is, that's also fake news. Yeah, alternative facts uh the lie was one he had rehearsed as he rode toward Sisterton through the rain sooner or late the world would learn Salador's son had abandoned Stannis Baratheon leaving him without a fleet but they would not hear it from the lips of Davos Seaworth loyal to a fault you know interestingly enough this reminds me of the situation with Catelyn on the way to the Eyrie with Tyrion when she was saying they were going north the entire time although it was obviously a lie alternative facts to to throw people off the lead right I don't know I thought that was interesting because a lot of this chapter is framed it's similar to Eddard's journey as we go through it, framed as Eddard, but also framed as kind of
Starting point is 00:54:31 Catelyn parallel as well. It reminds me of a storm of swords of Catelyn traveling through the rain and the drudgery and going to deal with Walder Frey, who's very shrewd and doesn't deal in the same way as the rest of the Westerosi lords, right? Godric Burrell has a lot of Walder Frey parallels going on in the beginning, and each moment Davos is worried he's about to be betrayed by the man until the mask is revealed. Yeah. And besides that, I think we also get, and we might probably see this more in the later chapters, some parallels with Quentyn's story. But we'll come back to that
Starting point is 00:55:05 later yeah right now davos is remembering his parting from solidor who had the decency to give him an open boat to shore solidor again had offered to take himself but davos refused saying that he could not betray stannis's trust bah the pirate prince replied he will kill you with these honors old friend he will kill you what does it mean hey eliana when saladore san in davos one a dance with dragons says bah he will kill you with these honors old friend he will kill you what was your textual analysis and your comprehension of that because i'm just really curious i couldn't quite find an analytical way to look at it in which to arrange my thoughts what does it mean i mean i don't know what what do you think it means what
Starting point is 00:55:54 what does it mean when solid war says this what does it mean when sanis sees a crowd in a fire consuming him i just i just don't know i have so many questions and i think none of them will be answered there are just no answers there's no way to read any of this godric borrell muses he's never had a king's hand beneath his roof wondering if stannis would ransom him davos wonders too he's like yeah he's poor so i wonder uh and davos thinks you know he has no gold or he'd still have salad or so probably won't don't come get me davos offers he's at castle black if you want to go ask him and burrell's like is the imp hiding there as well davos doesn't quite understand he's been out of the news circuit for a while he says i
Starting point is 00:56:45 thought the imp was awaiting his trial at king's landing godric's like oh god no the wall is last to know everything dear davos the dwarf escaped murdered his dad and the queen is offering a lordship for his head ha ha ha that's actually all of this is actually true. All of this is not fake news. And this is probably some of the most dramatic shit. We were all there. We've all read these books. Anyway, all of this, though, about Stannis paying Solidor with promises, and then the news that we get about Tyrion escaping, right? And of course, we get more of his own POVs in this book. It reminds me very much of Tyrion's own journey in adowada right because he like davos is now without some of the best like name brand security as in like he's probably worth more
Starting point is 00:57:32 ransom than anything else but now tyrian's just like i don't know people kind of just want me dead or alive and tyrian also secures the service of brown dunplum and his men with contracts and promises and there's i think a big question of like so is he really gonna be able to deliver all this like all this casterly rock gold that he's promised i don't know you got davos tyrian and john all doing a bro handshake making promises they certainly can't keep certainly cannot Tyrion might be able to he might not that's a question and I
Starting point is 00:58:12 change my mind on it like with each day it might not matter to a certain extent there might be three other winged motherfuckers that make good on Tyrion's words with their flames you know yeah that's a nice little easy plot point or if he doesn't want to be good on it there are still those three winged motherfuckers though one of them does seem to like brown ben
Starting point is 00:58:36 plum quite a bit yeah i mean i don't know his brother has a sword so we'll figure it out we'll figure it out davos is in disbelief about tywin dying i'm like you didn't see it coming someday all the villains die davos godric carries on about how back in his day by the way they drowned dwarfs but the septons made them stop just want to put that one in there colorful guy uh he's like this changes all and davos requests leave to go send a raven to Stannis. He's so hyped about it. He's like, I have to tell him. So I just like this detail there. We've been getting a lot of details about the Septons and the sort of service that they've done throughout Davos's chapters.
Starting point is 00:59:19 And this one's, I think, pretty good. You know, telling people, what if you stopped drowning your children born with dwarfism that seems bad or how they were feeding like impoverished people like davos as a child and davos is like yeah that was good so you can kind of see that like there's i think nuance to the way that the faith of the seven is right there's obviously a corrupt aspect as we see when it comes to the great sept and and the high septons um but you can also see why there's i think a lot of fervor and a lot of people who are are buying into the cause and will join up with the cause of the high sparrow yeah absolutely it's kind of like how i don't
Starting point is 00:59:59 understand how people like stannis but it's like only in a religiouser way yeah but like these people gave people food stannis has never given me food stannis wouldn't either like even if he had food he'd be like i don't know he'd look at us are great god rejects that request saying stanis soon will learn but not from either of them because he refuses to aid this war he is holy he is swiss he's like no way and he gives some background history he's like look the sunderlands dragged the sisters into the blackfire rebellions i'm not playing that game again and you need to sit down davos because a you look like you could fall over and you need some food so he requests beer bread and sisters stew for him
Starting point is 01:00:57 because he has a lot of monologuing to do to davos all of this is made by his daughter's daughter his granddaughter gala eliana do you want to do the food honors here because it would not be a girls gone canon podcast without a food description we do not skip the descriptions that's sacrilegious to those of you that skip past the three pages of food descriptions shame on you you're wrong legitimately the highlight of the chapter like this is the climax of the chapter it actually i'm climaxing thinking about it like it's so all right so yes there's beer and that's like that's a great touch on it too that they gave him like this nice brown ale so the beer was brown the bread black the stew
Starting point is 01:01:40 a creamy white she served it in the trencher hollowed out of a stale loaf. It was thick, with leeks, carrots, barley, and turnips white and yellow, along with clams and chunks of cod and crabmeat, swimming in a stock of heavy cream and butter. It was the sort of stew that
Starting point is 01:02:00 warmed a man right down to his bones, just the thing for a wet, cold night. Davos spooned it up gratefully. I would. I would spoon that up gratefully. Ugh, it sounds so good! I'm appreciative.
Starting point is 01:02:16 I'm grateful. I just- Do you want to read it again? No, I'm just kidding, but I'm not really kidding. I'm kind of like, do you? I've made this once. The, uh, Feast Feast, I've made this once. The Feast Feast, Device, and Fire book. The fan unofficial recipe book. I've made it once.
Starting point is 01:02:31 It's a good recipe book. I'd like to make it again this winter. Yeah. It sounds like such a good wintry dish and just So rich. Anyway, I'm just like sighing and being sad thinking about the soup uh the stew but godric asked davos if he's married and davos is like yes i am taken she put a ring on it and then godric
Starting point is 01:02:56 says it's a pity because gala is not and he's like holy women make the best wives he then comments that there are red crabs and spider crabs and conquer crabs in this really really intense stew and then he says that he doesn't actually usually eat spider crab because it makes him feel half a cannibal because you know his sigil is a spider crab white on a gray green field i thought that was interesting we're getting a lot of these nods towards Skagos, right? George is playing with us this whole chapter, mentioning Skagos, mentioning little things about it, like half a cannibal.
Starting point is 01:03:31 He's poking at us. He's having fun about what's to come. Earlier, I mentioned that there are some pretty strong cat parallels and how Godric is kind of like a Walder Frey parallel, but then he flips the switch and he's an anti-parallel. But here, especially when Davos says, is kind of like a Walder Frey parallel but then he flips the switch and he's an anti-parallel but here especially when Davos says I have a wife and Godric's like
Starting point is 01:03:49 what a shame could have married my daughter reminds me a lot of Walder in that aspect too like that and the salt in the bread as well are the things that block Davos from maybe being subject to his own red wedding suddenly right like he could have just gotten
Starting point is 01:04:05 shotgun married to uh not gala but to the other daughter yeah i mean if it were gala like would it be the worst marrying someone who cooks stew like that dude i would marry gala i know we're both like she wouldn't even have to touch me or see me if she wants like as long as we had that stew our love would survive i'm sure absolutely i think gela and i could bond over cooking but yeah um so i read too deeply it doesn't mean anything about these crabs and i was like trying to turn it over and over in my head i was like does it mean something and i don't think it does but like i toyed around with the idea of the spider crabs being fairies and
Starting point is 01:04:47 the mummer's dragon. And then the conqueror crabs as Daenerys. But I'm pretty sure I'm just making shit up. Also, I'm not sure that there is such thing as a conqueror crab. I tried to look it up. I was like, what is that? I want to eat that.
Starting point is 01:05:04 And I don't know that it exists I think that maybe these are supposed to be like king crabs I kind of uh I don't know I like that because it reminds me of Danny and Stannis in that regard that we're calling them conqueror crabs instead of king crabs right and even a marine like with with your magnificent stuff going on with Barristan and with the men still in the Myrnese port. I thought that was interesting. Reminded me a bit of that. Interesting thoughts about crabs, Eliana.
Starting point is 01:05:33 I'm really glad when you give me crabs. I'm glad it doesn't make you too crabby. A little itchy, but I think I'll move on with it. Well, let's claw our way forward through this episode. I'm just crab walking through. Godric says they heard rumor that Stannis burnt his hand,
Starting point is 01:05:56 and Davos thinks of Alistair, who had been strong and silent until the flames started licking up his legs and he screamed like the rest of them up and down the nation. Davos thinks it could have easily been me. I mean, it really could have, right? They both did crazy shit. Alistair was unlucky because his brother's- his brother really gets off on burning people.
Starting point is 01:06:20 And I mean, Alistair wasn't the worst dude. You know, we met him in the dungeons. He seemed a little savvy, you know? Like his problem was he was a florent I mean that was his biggest problem he overreached with his big fucking florent ears yeah but I mean he had some good ideas I mean I obviously Stannis doesn't like them but he was like
Starting point is 01:06:39 I don't see how we get out of this like this is how we're gonna secure our survival and then he just like cries when he thinks of how lost this cause is. But anyways. Yeah, he was obviously devoted. He's saying the things that Davos isn't. That Davos is thinking.
Starting point is 01:06:56 I mean, he wasn't wrong. Yeah, he's saying the things that people feel. You know? Obviously, what did he have to lose? His life? Yeah, I mean, he was already in the dungeon anyway. So whatever. He was just talking to Davos. that people like feel you know yeah i mean obviously what did he have to lose his life yeah i mean he was already in the dungeon anyway so like whatever and he was just talking to davos but the whole thing about the rumor of stannis burning his hand right along with a lot all the reminders of robert's rebellion at the end of this chapter it really does bring to mind aries
Starting point is 01:07:20 targaryen who was like you know what seems like a good idea today? Burning people. Burning my hand. Yeah, but Stannis is a good guy, Eliana. He's good guy coded. Well, instead Davos tells Godric, you know what? I did not burn. I, the hand.
Starting point is 01:07:41 If it didn't happen to me, it never happened. No, Davos doesn't think that at all he's just like shit i that just missed me anyways he changes the subject very quickly to you know what was really cold east watch it almost froze me and almost in response one of godric's daughters serves davos some hot fresh bread also amazing amazing things are happening in this chapter and then davos also notices the webbing in her fingers and godric calls it the mark and says that all the burrells have it and he's like this is my daughter's daughter but the other daughter and not gala and i'm like george
Starting point is 01:08:16 give her a fucking name yeah right i mean on one hand on onebed hand, at least Gala got a name. But on the other hand, without the webbing, Hagen's daughter and Godric's other granddaughter would like some representation. And I would like to fight George about this. I'm not going to, but I would just like to. I mean, I'd like to do a lot of things. Personally, I'd like to eat some cake right now. But, you know, instead. I'd like to eat a lot of things. Like sister stew.
Starting point is 01:08:45 God. Davos considers Godric is sharing his bread with him. He's like, huh, this must mean I have guests right. At least I'm going to live for the evening. Godric and the other sister lords do kind of have a black repute, right? And he thinks of Godric's full title, which is Lord of Sweetsister, Shield of Sisterton, Master of Breakwater Castle,
Starting point is 01:09:10 and Keeper of the Night Lamp. So, as we've mentioned countless times, you should know this by now, dear reader, if you're hanging out with us this far along, we don't do the battle sequences often. It's not like for us. It's not our thing. I don't analyze them because other people have done it way better, way smarter, more
Starting point is 01:09:30 concisely, better than what I could do. So if you haven't heard about it, you need to check out a few things. First off, the famed Cantus's night lamp theory. And of course, to enjoy that better, you should check out our friend over at not a cast brindan b fish he has two-part analysis on the battle of ice upcoming in the winter those things are great again they already did it so i don't have to i love that for me the gist is stannis is going to pull his own night lamp right we're hearing a lot about the night lamp in this chapter, and how it's used to draw people in, smash them against the rocks. And the theory goes, Stannis will pull his own night lamp. He'll create a false fire, burning a giant weirwood,
Starting point is 01:10:14 creating a night lamp, and drawing the enemies in with weakened ice because of catapult to catch them. Great theory. Check it out. Links, links, titles, titles, it'll be in the description below, so please do click through. But, I do think it's interesting that the Blackwater was kind of an inverse Night Lamp theory, right? That Tyrion drew them in and then dropped the chain with that same kind of idea with
Starting point is 01:10:38 the catapult weakening the ice, but he dropped the chain to weaken them, and then blew them up with wildfire once he trapped them. That's kind of the goal of the night lamp theory and opposite, I guess. Now that we're getting closer to mermaid territory too, the night lamp is kind of like a siren.
Starting point is 01:10:54 Right? Like a sea siren? Like Greek mythology wise almost? It reminds me of the sea and of Melisandre a little bit, I guess falls into that category with Stannis as well. Sirens lure nearby male sailors in Greek mythology with their enchanting music and voices and they basically shipwreck them in the rocks on some islands, basically. Sometimes
Starting point is 01:11:17 it's depicted surrounded by rocks, but the night lamp kind of seems just as much an analog for this kind of siren song idea in battle tactics, as well as a metaphor for Stannis himself and his campaign. Back in Davos 1 in a clash of kings, we had Salador saying to him, and this is again just a quote from Salador, it must not mean anything. Now do you see my meaning? Be glad it is just a burnt sword his grace pulled from that fire. Too much light can hurt the eyes, my friend, and fire burns. So, what I'm saying is that metaphorically speaking, Stannis is the Night Lamp.
Starting point is 01:11:57 Because he draws you in with his light and smashes you on the rocks below. Yeah, absolutely, and I think so. And what you're saying here, right, the siren thing is, I think, really spot on. We see that the people on the Sisters use a similar thing, right, to try and get some boats to crash there, and they're like, ooh, we're gonna get cool free shit. And that's definitely what's going on with Stannis too right the fire
Starting point is 01:12:26 and the power it's luring people like Axel like Godry firing people who think that they're going to get something out of it and following this siren's song but it's leading them to their destruction and Stannis himself right as
Starting point is 01:12:42 well he's looking at his own sword he knows where it all leads but he still is going towards that same light and fire. And turns out it's himself. He's the one on fire. And his daughter. Anyway, speaking of those things that people get from boats. Davos tastes richer spices in his sister's stew and ask godric if it was saffron remembering a feast on dragonstone where robert had sent half a fish down the table
Starting point is 01:13:13 to him i thought that was interesting brings us back to that brand chapter where he's sending things down to people that he likes so robert you know like davos enough it was like give him half a fish and it's an interesting reminder, especially because at that feast, I think Wyman Manderley was there. Godric says that it is, in fact, yes, saffron from Carth. He's like, we also have black pepper from Volantis, and he's very generous with the pepper. He's like, I've got 40 chests of pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and a pound of saffron. He's like, of course, just have some. Like, I didn't fucking pay for any of this.
Starting point is 01:13:48 He took them off of a slow-eyed maid making for Braavos, who had smashed up against the rocks of the sisters. There's something interesting here that I'm not, it's not a full-fledged thought, but I've just been thinking how interesting it is that we have the three sisters here in the Vale, and of course we have the three sisters in the Three Cities. The three daughters, the three sisters, and how that parallel of like they're all big trade cities that have these spices going back and forth. And we do hear of this ship before. Back in Dany, I want to say it's Dany 5 in Clash, the Slow-Eyed Maid is a ship she's trying to board to go to Westeros from Qarth, one of the ships she tried to board.
Starting point is 01:14:30 So in this chapter, we hear some of that fate of the ship, of what happened to it. But it comes up in the next chapter regarding Dany, and we learn the story about Dany being on it, and Davos thinks, oh, well, that's too bad because that ship crashed. So that girl took that one she's old news uh but I find it interesting because the only other use of slow-eyed in the story which slow-eyed is uh exotic dark-haired beauty with almond eyes you know very exotic which it really the slow is from the blackthorn plant which is really prominent with its dark berries and flowers native to europe and the
Starting point is 01:15:05 western asia but it's only used one other time to describe taina merryweather and i found that interesting with the mirror and the spices and the trade and everything i was just like interesting george that you kept its use in its uh two uses in the story yeah that is interesting every now and then george has interesting phrases for me some of what was going on there with uh the ship right between the spices that were on it and all this talk about the manderleys and the wealth of white harbor being this this big trade city and you know again me beating my dead horse about the importance of, like, this new money and the merchant class, these merchant kings and lords in the upcoming books, right? It's shown by Littlefinger's story in the Sansa chapters,
Starting point is 01:15:53 especially with that direct reference to spices like saffron there, the power of the Free Cities as Aegon makes his way there, and then, of course, again, White Harbor, which I think we're going to start seeing some of those fruits in this book. But we've kind of already seen them in the Theon chapters. But interesting stuff. Yeah, and it goes kind of hand in hand with this whole mask reveal of Godric kind of showing, hey, I'm not a total asshole.
Starting point is 01:16:22 Earlier we talked about how the saffron is worth more in its weight than gold, right? And in relation to Davos, it's absolutely an analogy. It's implying that the gold and the crown doesn't have the jurisdiction here. Money talks, trade talks for them. It's pirate rules, right? This isn't just you're on the king's road and you're paying your fucking taxes to the city watch. Like this is like you live out in the boonies and no one has law over you.
Starting point is 01:16:53 And this is kind of a little finger outlook, right? Like you're saying Godric is implying that Davos is rare like Saffron and more valuable to him than giving him up to the crown, giving him up to the Lannisters. And Godric indeed kind of reveals his hand to Davos he's being a little vulnerable here and showing him hey where do you think I got it haha that's how this place works and this also foreshadows Wyman right because he's going to come with the same shrewd outlook and reveal that the external did not match the internal he's going to lift the mask big reveal and just like the saffron that crashed against the wall for him to steal the saffron
Starting point is 01:17:30 davos doesn't really make it to his original destination from the first jump like this whole trip the whole point was that he was gonna go straight to white harbor and get their high five go back to stannis and now he's gonna end up going all the way to skagos the ship carrying saffron crashes into the wall and davos is going to go crash into the storms around skagos too yes there's gonna be a lot of going around big quests for davos ahead if you give a mouse a cookie a lot of things going ahead they keep asking for more and more and you give a mouse a king's blood pretty much king's blood cookie that actually sounds really gross not like sister stew with saffron in it fuck anyway davos watches godric laugh eyeing his teach some are yellow some are
Starting point is 01:18:18 decaying but all are there so that's i think an interesting it's an interesting indication of the sort of life that they lead, right? Like, it seems like they're thrifty, seems like they don't have too much, but if you look beyond the surface, they're living quite comfortably here if he has all of his teeth and the quality of their food, all of these things. He thinks on Godric's forebears, who had been pirate kings until, of course, the Starks came down on them and i just i just thought the detail about pirate kings is interesting because that's coming
Starting point is 01:18:48 forward in you know by the end of dance too with some of the stuff going on i think the stepstones yes absolutely with orain waters and with salador retreating and and you're on even yeah you're on absolutely absolutely especially with what we were talking about with the belly of the beast. Yes. Well, since those pirate kings, the sistermen left piracy to Salador's type, and instead the sistermen focused on luring and smashing ships and taking their goods, dooming captains on stormy nights. Godric says the storm did Davos a kindness, forirens. Sirens. southern lords until they overreached themselves and the starks had let them and their gold into the north and kept their religion davos doesn't understand though he's like didn't didn't the
Starting point is 01:19:50 frays and lannisters kill wyman's son yes he sure did and wyman was totally mad he was all like vengeance i'm gonna live on bread and wine which low-key a lot of bread and wine till which, low-key, a lot of bread and wine, till he gets that vengeance, but by day's end, he bent the knee. Yeah, so there's some tip-off here, that something's not adding up. We're gonna see that. I mean, this is a reread, you all know what happens.
Starting point is 01:20:19 Godric heard it from ships that go between the harbor and the sisters. The sisters sell over there. They export crabs, fish, and goat cheese. And the harbor sells wood, wool, and hides. And I mean, dude, they're just selling
Starting point is 01:20:33 crabs, fish, and goat cheese. It's so great here. Godroll says that Manderly is fatter than ever. Also that his word is garbage and that the Freys are bringing home the fat bag of his son's bones it's like broad chill he has no chill he's kind of mean and like i respect him real i respect it but i too am living off of bread and wine right now so you know like lay off well
Starting point is 01:21:00 he said he was gonna live off of bread and wine and then he's like then manderley gave that up real quick uh and i mean who's amongst us has not said we're just gonna only live off of wine and whatever and then been like i'm gonna i'm gonna take harder drinks eat more food so someone called that courtesy to bring a man his dead son's bones had it been my son i would have returned the courtesy and thanked the Freys before I hanged them. But the fat man's too noble for that. Godric is obviously separating himself from the likes of Walder Frey in these parts, right? He's declaring the Freys were shameful, that was an abomination what they did, that bullshittery that occurred. And it seems to be
Starting point is 01:21:43 the common feel in the North, right? Like most people agree that the red wedding was kind of bullshit except for like the boltons when catalan sends ned's bones on to be interred and they may be intercepted as we know as we find out in this book davos has no bones to bury he's lost his own bones, his son's bones, all of it. And I'm not saying that it was at all theoretically possible to get his son's bones, right? Like they, nobody even knew his sons. Half the people are like, who? Sorry, how do you pronounce it? Allard, you said? Like, I don't, I'm sorry, I don't know them. No one knows them. But like, it's not theoretically possible. But like, if it was possible, would Stannis have made an effort to get those bones for Davos? I don't know. I don't know about that.
Starting point is 01:22:35 He's not sentimental, is all. No, and I think it's an interesting question when you bring up their their bones right it's here godroll saying that it hadn't been my son he would have sworn vengeance it reminds me of the questions that jamie asked during his chapter he's like aren't i supposed to feel vengeful now that my son has died shouldn't i be tearing my hair out and weeping and interestingly be also i guess davos has that brief moment where he's like i'm gonna kill melisandre and that's his moment of like i'm gonna kill people because of my sons i'm gonna murder but after that you know he's kind of dealt with that grief or maybe he's just compartmentalized it here but he hasn't he's not trying to swear vengeance on the lannisters or anything right
Starting point is 01:23:19 uh nor is he trying to do so against stannis. So I think that's really interesting. Another thing that's going on, right, you talked about the way Godrel is separating himself from that Walder imagery here. I think that kind of explains a bit of why he's so clear about giving Davos that bread under his roof and doing guests right. They might not have a lot here on the sisters,
Starting point is 01:23:42 and they might be considered lower lords, descended from pirate kings, but at least on this, they have that honor. Yeah, and there's even something to it, again, yes, like, totally kind of pirate law. They're off the beaten path, right? Like, they are not a main city, they're not a main place. they are not a main city they're not a main place so i find that interesting in a way it is a little bit kind of like how the twins is and how it's like these vast big halls gray and dark and etc it's very interesting another interesting dinner not as red as it could be but probably gave godric some cause to be concerned is that he had had a supper with the Freys as they came to the north.
Starting point is 01:24:27 He remembers one of the Freys was named Rhaegar, who we'll meet. He had almost laughed in his face. Rhaegar had lost his wife and hoped to get a new one in White Harbor. I know a Rhaegar that was looking for a northern bride once. It seems a marriage pact is in order between the Freys and the Manderlys,
Starting point is 01:24:46 Godric supplies. Davos feels pretty shitty about this he's like ah fuck we're so fucked if this is true so fucked stan is doomed not the rest of the foreshadowing this is the first one davos says he's like i've never felt fear about our campaign this is the very first time in all of my chapters that i've ever felt worry about it. White Harbor was the mouth of the north to Winterfell's heart, and its position geographically and its climate and its silver was kind of crucial to surviving the winter through the north. Davos is like, fuck, I have to try. He begs Godric to help him reach White Harbor,
Starting point is 01:25:23 and Godric's like, e's like and starts tearing his bread trencher apart eating it and gives a little speech about his distaste for the northerners a lot of that distaste right stems from the rape of the three sisters which happened 2 000 years ago but sister tin never forgot which i think is actually impressive if you think about it 2 000 years ago is a long ass time ago like, like fucking Roman Empire time, and I don't know many people who still hold grudges from that time, but they were a
Starting point is 01:25:52 free people before, but they were forced to bend the knee to the Eyrie to get the Northmen out. Then for another thousand years, the Wolf and Falcon fought over the sisters till the flesh had all been eaten from the islands. And as for King Stannis, Godric isn't very into him either. Back when he was master of ships,
Starting point is 01:26:09 Stannis sent ships into the Sisterton's port without Godric's leave, which caused Godric to have to hang a dozen of his friends. He's like, they're actually men kind of like you, Davos. I'm just like, he should have gone to Salador. I mean, they were all men like of like you Davos I'm just like he should have gone to Salador I mean they were all men like him all of them he just happened to let Stannis chop his fingers off he's
Starting point is 01:26:32 just like the rest of them could have been him I mean Alistair Florent it could have been him this any of those men that could have been him the problem is that Davos thinks he's the exception to the rule when he is not the exception anyways Stannis had threatened Godric's life if he saw ships going aground due
Starting point is 01:26:52 to the night lamp losing light Godric says I had to eat his arrogance now he comes north humbled with his tail between his legs why should I give him any aid? Answer me that. Davos thinks because he's your rightful king and strong and just, but he can't say that. He studies Godric, wondering what he wants of Davos. Godric ends up mocking his wordlessness and Davos finds his words and says, the lion's dead. Who now rules the city? Godric responds that Cersei Lannister does and that that is the reason that Davos is still here breathing and not in chains
Starting point is 01:27:32 because were it Kevin Lannister, shit might actually get done. For real though. Sometimes. Turns out both Stannis and Cersei then, they're both bad at paying people. I also just kind of love this scene first of all i think davos being quiet right and being like everyone shut the fuck up i need time to think he doesn't say it but but that's how he feels and i relate to that i'm like everyone i need i need time to think about what i'm gonna say
Starting point is 01:28:00 but it also really i think it's a testament to just how quick davos is he's literally just learned a bit ago that tywin lannister is dead and that tyrian is no longer in king's landing which davos may or may not know tyrian but as we know tyrian was a big part of the brains behind the lannister operation again in the background of Davos' storyline. And Davos assesses his current situation, and he very much rightly deduces that, so this means that Kevin Lannister cannot be in charge. It all shows that Davos is just very, very good at politicking, even though before he used to think that he didn't know how to do it, right? He's just gotten this information a bit ago in a very high-stress situation where his life and his freedom many things are at stake and he's figured
Starting point is 01:28:49 out what this means for the overall westerosi political situation at the moment and then he draws on some of what he knows about reading people that he learned from his days as a smuggler right he's like what should i say to move godric and like i'm gonna tell you stannis would have been told him well you should do what i say because i'm your rightful king and just but davos is like that's not good enough here in his previous chapters we see that he reports to stannis what he saw people do with the news of the lannister bastards and what they cared about and who they supported and what he thinks that they might have actually felt, what that public sentiment might have really been. And he does that here with Godric and he takes a bet
Starting point is 01:29:28 on Godric's alliances by asking Godric to bet on him and to bet on Stannis. Yeah, he's definitely very hands-on right now, right? Like, hands-on, can't stand-on. But hired!
Starting point is 01:29:44 You're hiring yourself! what of it what of it but it's not it's definitely a different thing here because he's doing it in action without being under the watchful eye right like here he is truly speaking with the king's voice with his own voice for the king and it shows that he's progressed and that he learns very quickly about what angle he needs to approach godric with because he watches and he realizes godric doesn't want to lose he's prideful he doesn't want to be on the losing side and davos begins to kind of give the military repertoire to him he says stannis held storms and against the tyrells the red wines he took dragonstone from the last targs
Starting point is 01:30:25 he smashed the iron fleet the boy king won't prevail against him but godric says well the boy king has wealth he has castron rocks wealth high gardens power the boltons the fray but he remembers what ned stark told his father once very long ago in this very hall. He says, in this world, only winter is certain. Davos is surprised that Ned Stark would have ever come here, and Jon Arryn sent back defiance. Only Goldtown remained loyal to the throne at the time. Stark had crossed mountains, finding a fisherman to carry him across the Bight. But a storm struck.
Starting point is 01:31:06 The fisherman drowned, and his daughter got Eddard to the sisters before they lost the ship. To repay him, Eddard left her with a bag of silver and a bastard. Jon Snow, he says. Yeah. So, I'm gonna take a quick tangent here. Talk about R plus L equals J things. Obviously, we know that this isn't John's mother, right? We know this.
Starting point is 01:31:30 We're a podcast that believes that. And there are a couple of things here about that, right? When David and Dan answered George's question of who John's mother is, and it's later revealed and confirmed that they did in fact answer this question correctly. And that convinced George to allow them to agree to adapt these show, the show to his books. And of course,
Starting point is 01:32:01 when David and Dan answered this question to George, right, it would have been prior to the publication of A Dance with Dragons. So this very moment would not have been out in the public yet or it wouldn't have existed. They would not have read it. Also, the timing is off. Based on the timelines that many people put together, such as Jen Snow and Private Major and folks like that, Snow and Private Major and folks like that. John is born too late to be Ned's son by the fisherman's daughter, because John is
Starting point is 01:32:32 younger than Rob. And at this point, Ned has not yet married Catelyn to conceive Rob. Yeah, so it's literally, it's not possible. So mid-282 AC, probably like June, June July-ish our kind of world that's when John Arryn would have received Ares's demands right you have the tourney in the first quarter of the year right early fake spring John Arryn gets the demands middle of the year gold town battle at gold town is later on in 282 so Ned would have had to hit Sisterton probably in between mid-summer and autumn which
Starting point is 01:33:06 makes sense because the storms are really really bad in autumn in this area right and his marriage to catalan would have been early 283 ac with rob being born toward the end of the year and john after that so it's too early it's just not possible it can't be the fisherman's daughter but it's a it's a fun tale i i kind of wonder did ned plant this himself so i think that is definitely in there like i definitely think get ready the fisherman's daughter is a red herring what yeah yeah i was sitting on that one i was waiting for that one uh it's a red herring no it is though you've been waiting for us to get here for so long for so long because here's the thing is there's only one so like this would have been the end of the year right so it could have happened like he
Starting point is 01:33:58 could have knocked someone up but it's not likely for it to be anyone we know. Now, something that could be accurate, since, you know, we do have this quote saying that some characters weren't just bolted down to the floor during the rebellion. There is someone who is of an age with Rob and John, could be a month or two older than them, could have had the mom coming north, talking about Mira Reid.
Starting point is 01:34:30 I'm just putting it out there that it could have been Mira Reid's mother traveling north to go meet Mira Reid's father. Hmm. Holland Reid wouldn't have been there with them. If he'd be going north and if she went with him. Yeah. I think that could have been somewhere else, and I'd be going north and if she went with him yeah i think that could have been somewhere else but and i think you do yeah i do too it's just an idea i'm just saying that it could be i don't think it's here but but it would make sense timing wise this
Starting point is 01:34:56 is the only thing that would make sense timing wise for miri read anyways so just a thought just a thought well yeah i wonder if ned planted this i think it's a plant and i think that it's one of the many plants you know i mean you wanted winterfell talking about it he said don't ever talk about it again to me but also like he said it on purpose you need people to talk about it dude what if it came out with fucking blonde hair and purple eyes yeah what was he gonna do the seed is strong yeah it is motherfucker you idiot you're lucky the stark seed is that's what's so crazy to me about the entire all of r plus l equals j is that ned spends the whole first book trying to figure out the seed is strong and we spend the whole series trying to understand it when it really meant Jon Snow. Yeah. Anyways.
Starting point is 01:35:46 Anyways. Anyways. Anyways. I digress. Back to Davos. We veered off. We went off track. And I don't want to talk about the Sword of the Morning. We got hit by a storm.
Starting point is 01:35:57 My god. But I think we have a last speech from our Lord of Sisterton. Indeed. My father sat where I sit now when Lord Eddard came to Sisterton. Our maester urged us to send Stark's head to Aerys to prove our loyalty. It would have meant a rich reward. The Mad King was open-handed with them as pleased him. By then we knew that Jon Arryn had taken Goletown though
Starting point is 01:36:27 Robert was the first man to gain the wall And slew Mark Grafton with his own hand This Baratheon is fearless, I said He fights the way a king should fight Our maester chuckled at me and told us Prince Rhaegar was certain to defeat this rebel that was when stark said in this world only winter is certain we may lose our heads it's true but what if we prevail my father sent him on his way with his head still on his shoulders if you lose he told lord Eddard, you will never hear. No more than I was, said Davos Seaworth.
Starting point is 01:37:15 What a chapter end. Whoa. Whoa. It's an interesting chapter. It really is. And sets the pace for an interesting- I've seen a lot of people complain about it, saying it was unnecessary. I could see that. I can see the argument for that, I think. I can't believe you. I think it serves to give a lot of character exposition on Davos
Starting point is 01:37:40 and build him up and kind of show where he is. But I can see the argument for that. Interesting. I see where your loyalties lie and it's not to our one true king. Good to know. Who's our one true king? Stamos. Oh, Stamos.
Starting point is 01:37:59 Well, Davos does have his loyalties to his one true king and again, we're seeing his knack for politics and his appeal to Godric Burrell. And I do wonder to what extent when it comes to talking about one true kings, like in the speech that Burrell remembers and talking about how when Robert was fighting in the rebellion, he thinks that Robert fights the way a king should fight. Not that he rules the way a king should fight not that not that he rules that a way a king should rule but anyways he thinks that robert should fight the way a king should fight and that's why part of what convinces them to follow him with robert even though at this time robert was not actually campaigning for the throne right he was just fighting he was just fighting
Starting point is 01:38:39 because he loved to fight because aries wanted him dead. And also some guy stole his betrothed. And later on, they're like, let's just do it. Let's just make Robert the figurehead. But anyways, I wonder to what extent, with that memory, Stannis is actually benefiting from that legacy of fighting the way a king should fight, right? The legacy of that brother that he hated, the brother that he loved, and how much it's really giving him and Davos an edge here when it comes
Starting point is 01:39:10 to winning over Godric Burrell. Yeah, and we've talked so much about these Davos and Ned parallels, but the thing that sticks out to me the most this reread is that they're both championing lackluster kings, right? Kings that, yes yes they are better than the current tyrannical regime kind of but they aren't powerful
Starting point is 01:39:32 enough reasons on their own to be like this sparkling chivalric story of glamour and suspense right like if you're a normal person you're not going to sit there chanting king stanis king robert uh you'll see the flaws in them and realize wow the feudal system is fucked there might be some people that disagree with me that are out there listening and they're wrong and that's okay you know and uh it really shines through for ned i think was saving the children and i think that's what davos's plot will have to echo especially as we get into some of the Rickon things. But Ned's choice to save the children, even Joffrey, because of his own personal beliefs,
Starting point is 01:40:10 because of not trusting his liege to keep them safe, because they're not the ones who've done wrong. Right? Like, he believes that maybe they could make this better world where the sins of our father don't dictate the person we are and the person we become. Much like Davos. This all rings true for Davos. But it's the methodology that lacks. And it's interesting because it kind of reminds me of like, I don't know, people from our parents, for example's generation. I know our parents are similar-ish ages. It's like my parents are in their similar range.
Starting point is 01:40:40 But there's something about that whole generation that wants better and we see it with cattle and we see it with Davos they want better but yet they still cling to this system that has time and time again rejected them and hurt them and crippled them and used them and exploited them but they keep returning to it even though they do want better they're not bad people they just keep returning it in hopes it's going to help them and i know that i see some people from my parents generation that you know they really just believe that the system is going to help them and nourish them in some better progressive way like cadeline hoping that it saves her family while it's literally cannibalizing her and her
Starting point is 01:41:21 sons and daughters davos spends that whole last chapter in Storm undermining his king, but he's loyal enough to a fault that he's still out here canvassing for Stannis, right, for the cause, because he thinks he has nothing and is nothing without Stannis's gold. But that's the joke, because Stannis doesn't have gold. Stannis has nothing backing him up. Godric Burrell is kind of this vision of what Davos could become ifis doesn't have gold. Stannis has nothing backing him up. Godric Burrell is kind of this vision of what Davos could become if he doesn't choose a side, right?
Starting point is 01:41:51 He could be sitting at his own little shack just waiting for the war to happen one way or another. If he continues to dance this dance in the middle of supporting Stannis, but also rebuking what Stannis stands for, in the same breath that Davos is like, I'm loyal to Stannis, he's thinking about how Stannis' also rebuking what stannis stands for in the same breath that davos is like i'm loyal to stannis he's thinking about how stannis's campaign is broke how the people support it suck
Starting point is 01:42:11 and are all bad and how he can't trust his king to make the right choices like not burning a young child for blood magic uh something's gotta give here something got to give davos yeah and he's he's tied up in this idea and again maybe that's part of why he and stanis see eye to eye in some ways that stanis is the rightful king and he thinks that stanis is strong and that he's just but as we've said before yes stanis might be just but maybe he's too just, right? He's just also a man beyond just beyond being a just man. And you're talking about the parallels between Davos and Ned. And I think that that really comes through, especially in this chapter, when, as you said, Godric Burrell brings that up, right?
Starting point is 01:43:04 And it's the same plea right both of them are saying hey i know that this seems like a wild bet right but the other side isn't strong the other side isn't better and they can see that in them and i mean what ned says doesn't inspire much more confidence than what Davos necessarily does, right? But they're trying to say, like, hey, bet on us, we're the underdogs. But maybe the underdogs won in another story, but that story's over. This is a different one now. And they do and they don't in some ways, right?
Starting point is 01:43:43 Ned was the underdog in one in one epoch and then he lost his head in another yeah that's a great way to look at it i mean again it's it's getting into these arcs when they're already progressed right like davos wasn't at the start of his story when we started his chapters in clash he was well into his art ned was well into his arc he was in the mid end it's over for netty boy as we know uh and same with stannis you know like stannis you already had the transformation yeah nothing's changing buddy yeah and for i mean for Davos I think it's I think that you know it's obviously a fictionalized story of all of us can always
Starting point is 01:44:30 transform and change whenever we want because we're not storybook characters but for Davos it'll be interesting I think he survives oh yeah and his
Starting point is 01:44:45 his loss has to be something very interesting and meaningful it will be centered around children like you said as it was for Ned and I mean we'll see how it goes yeah I mean Davos is really a great a great way to look
Starting point is 01:45:02 at the Quentin or the quote from Quentin chapters's right of men's lives have meaning, not their deaths. Everything that Davos has done and fought against and stayed alive for in saving Edric and in trying to do the right thing in the face of all
Starting point is 01:45:18 that is scary and shadowy and terrifying, he has stayed true to his heart. Now he just needs to realize you know that he can fly he could be like a bird on his own and i think he's starting to we see him as a much more confident version of himself in this chapter or maybe just faking it till he makes it but he's been doing that and he's done it here right he he's successful and he's street smart in the way that you know talking about quentin martel quentin's not street smart and that's why he's dead davos is my stupid boy my stupid beautiful
Starting point is 01:45:53 boy he's a sweet stupid yeah davos has learned and he's continuing to evolve and i don't know i think uh i think we all should go away to a remote island of cannibals to find ourselves sometime. I thought you were going to say a remote island full of delicious sister stew, and I was like, sounds way better. Well, I mean, what's in the stew? Yeah, I mean, it's the crabs and the cannibalism, and why is it named sister stew? Why is it named fucking after people? Who knows? Well, my darling listeners, you're going to find out as we move forward. stew why is it named fucking after people who knows well at least it's not a bowl of brown you're gonna find out as we move forward in davos in a dance with dragons indeed but until then you know you can find us on social media let us know your thoughts find us on twitter at
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Starting point is 01:48:56 goodbye goodbye

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