Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 174 — ACOK Bran III

Episode Date: November 18, 2022

Two's a dinner - three's a feast. (not that A Feast). Our friend Courtney joins us to break down the Harvest Feast (which we absolutely did not plan but yet it just so happens this is releasing in mid-November 2022). Visual aids can be found @ our Patreon: Courtney's produce hauls + Dayne-Reed Sigils  "Ancient Rite" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ------ 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  

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Reads A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 174, brand three in the Clash of Kings, featuring our friend Courtney. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Eliana. And yes, we have an exciting episode and we thought, what better way to prepare for the harvest feast here in North America than to bring one of the best harvesting, feasting people we know, Courtney, aka SoRefined. That's me. That's it. That's so much fruit for waiting us.

Yeah, fantastic photos, as we've discussed like of of these harvests courtney is our literal i was gonna say our harvest feast gatherer yeah she she posts these gorgeous photos of produce on the discord i i'm serious when i say i would yeah i would seriously sign up for that thing just based on that alone because they're just like very vibrant and maybe we'll have a special one to post on uh the patreon post for this or something for patrons maybe courtney will oblige us but we'll talk a little more about some harvest with courtney in just a moment first let's tackle a little bit of housekeeping up top uh last month for patrons in the stranger tier and above five bucks and up who get bonus episodes

they got an episode about the king's guard and this month we are going to continue with a little less of the dude's rock but mostly still dude's rock with the queen's guard i can't wait to talk about that with eliana and put that out that is available over at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon yes and for patrons in the thunder tier and above $10 and up we also have our discord which again you can get access photos of Courtney's Harvest there

as well as monthly brunches slash happy hours games and stuff go on I don't know if the games will happen at this upcoming one uh because every time i try to hold games like it goes awry and i will be hosting this time um you know uh chloe is going to be like king rob off fighting a war and i will be your you know wee bab holding the fort down you're just i'm just i'm just a your, you know, weebab holding the fort down. You're just a lad.

I'm just a little lad, you know, holding down the harvest feast. Sometimes if I let you go for too long, you come up with shit like this, and it just makes me really happy. Thank you. On Saturday, November 26th, it's just me. It's just me, and I will greet you, and you will all will all swear to me like mira and jojen coming in late because chloe's fighting a war i hope you know if you listen to our podcast that i fight a war every week first of all instead of you there are two wolves there eliana and everything that says stop.

Yeah. My god. It's true though. I am going to be an absent mother this week. Gonna cattle and stark it on out of there. And I will be busy with some friends visiting long distance so I probably won't be able to make brunch.

I think we have some traveling to do. We might pop over to the old beautiful NYC or something, but maybe I'll pop in still. You don't know. I might try to listen in. NYC you next Tuesday or Friday. But yeah, it's going to be a good time. Even if Eliana lets it go a little awry

and doesn't get to play any reindeer games, I hope everyone attends Eliana's Harvest Feast Saturday, the 26th, 3-4 ET. Where the Thunder tier patrons end up. Okay. Yeah. And, you know, we've got some other episodes coming out in the future. I know that we're both stressing and looking forward to the final season of His Dark Materials. If you are into the books, haven't watched or have watched the adaptation, get ready because you're going to have episodes weekly dropping.

For the two episodes, they're dropping weekly. Oh my god, they are putting out two episodes a week to get through season three, the final season of His Dark Materials. And they're barely advertising it. What does that mean? I don't know. Tell them to stop putting out. Right! And, like, put out slower. Build some

mystery. Yeah, tease. You know, where's foreplay? Yeah. There's no foreplay when they're crushing your heart with the last season, so I don't know. We will be foreplaying for you. You will have to listen up, check out those apps and we'll hear more soon

more soon on that now let's hear more about Courtney what I want to hear about yeah Courtney can you tell us a little about your farm share because I know we're like joking but it actually has become kind of a staple in the girls gone canon discord and it

kind of built a little food community everybody talks about their food more openly kind of because of you uh yeah so the farm share is just like a it's like a thing where you pay up up front at the beginning of the season and you get a certain share every week of whatever vegetables are harvested from this farm. And I've been doing it for about five years now. So to be clear, I am not growing any of the vegetables. I'm just taking my eyes. No one's ever proven this to me. I do know the farmers. They're very nice but uh i do not actually grow the vegetables i do try to arrange them attractively and then take a photograph of the important part uh yeah so that people on the internet will think i have cool vegetables

and it's worked here i am well it has worked we think you have very cool vegetables right well well okay yeah no imposter syndrome there i mean it's true you think you have very cool vegetables right well well okay yeah no imposter syndrome there i mean it's true you do what are the cool vegetables both this week during our harvest week and then for next week the real life harvest okay so uh this week we had fennel we had uh hawker eye turnips which are like small salad turnips. We had a butternut squash, a red onion, a bulb of garlic, a pound and a half of carrots. And they have the most amazing carrots. They're called Chantenets, which are French faties. They're very thick, delicious carrots.

Both daikon and black Spanish radishes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, a nap of cabbage and a head of tatsoi, which is sort of like if spinach and bok choy had a baby. So that's this week. Next week, they actually do a double share because of Thanksgiving. Wow. So, yeah.

So coming in next week's share is butternut squash, yellow onion, a half pound of shallots, five pounds of potatoes, a pound and a half of carrots, a pound either of rutabaga or watermelon radish. Unknown. I will probably pick rutabaga because I have some watermelon radish right now. Half pound of salad mix plus a half pound of spinach, a head of radicchio, which is actually my least favorite thing that they grow there. The dread radicchio. It's a little too bitter for me. Celeriac bulb, which is like the root part of a celery and they also for thanksgiving always give

you a pound and a half of their heirloom cornmeal oh cool and some fresh herbs which are probably going to consist of parsley sage thyme and dill so it'll be a lot this is awesome uh but fortunately a lot of that's yeah fortunately a lot of that stuff will last for quite a long time true true as winter vegetables tend to do and then the week after that is the last week of the share until oh it's bad you know what you're getting for the last no i don't know i don't know that yeah but that's a surprise probably honestly i'm also i think that's so awesome the half pound of shallots i love shallots i only ever buy like a few at a time but i i love the idea of getting a half pound of them they're really versatile yes i don't know much about cooking rutabaga though tell me about that it's pretty much like cooking any other root vegetable um it's a like a slightly sweet experience nice orange color actually in the song of ice and fire they're

referred to by as as neeps that's what uh they're called in i want to say ireland and then swedes in uh the in britain but rutabaga in the united states they are great in pasties highly recommend to chop them up and make your little pies with them. Yum. Those are like everything in your kitchen sink. Throw whatever it is. But if you have a rutabaga, definitely throw that in. Honestly, the thing I'm most excited about is the five pounds of potatoes, because usually for the Thanksgiving week,

they give you these potatoes that are called German butter balls. Name checks out. They're like very, very buttery and delicious potatoes. And I like to use them to make my Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Nice. Yeah. Very cool. Yum.

So we didn't ask this up top. You were like, that's me. But, you know, tell us a little about how you got into a saga of ice and fire. Where can the people find you? What do you like about Bran? Okay, well, I started watching the television show that these books are based on at the advent of HBO Now. So my experience is I watched the first five seasons of Game of Thrones all at once. And then between the fifth and sixth seasons,

I read all the books. Uh-huh. And then I watched the rest of the show and, you know. What an interesting time. No notes, all brilliant. To come into it during season five when, like, things, like, really diverge. Yes, it's very strange.

You know, like, I know, like, I think, I started right after, like, season two. I think, Chloe, you started around a similar time, right? Mm-hmm. Yep. But, like, season five, I think Chloe, you started around a similar time, right? Yep. But like season five, I think is a really, really interesting time to decide to start the books because that's, again, how did you feel about that? Yeah, that's the about the fifth season of Game of Thrones. Not great. Well, I don't know. I mean, you didn't know at that time, but like upon reading the books and

seeing like that huge divergence, like how do you how did that feel for you i think that like as a person who didn't read the books until somewhat late in the run of the tv show i feel like pretty confident in saying that certain things that i think went wrong with the television show were clear very early on even to me as a person who hadn't read the books interesting that's good um yeah and um i i love the books i'm i i i'm really glad that that the television show exists because i never would have read these books otherwise um because i can't read. But, all right. It seems that way sometimes.

I hardly ever read fiction. I should, maybe that's a better way of putting it. And I just am so glad to have like found these and love thinking about the characters, especially my child, Brandon Stark. Woo! And one of the reasons that I, one of the reasons that I like Bran so much is that from my perspective, he is sort of the, the beating heart of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Like he's the, like one of the most empathetic characters that we see maybe partly because he's such a small child. Like he doesn't have any reason to not like love everything all the time. And I think that he often feels overwhelmed by his positive emotions. Like when he's sent,

like for example, when he thinks about like, well, what if I just told mirror right now that i loved her and even though i'm like a middle-aged woman that's very relatable to me because i too have a lot of positive feelings about people sometimes and i'm afraid i will overwhelm them uh with uh how much joy they bring me. Stop talking about me out loud. So, you know, the books themselves are obviously like a very rich tapestry, but I'm so glad that we have Brandon Stark. And I know that, you know, Jon Snow has many fathers in this series,

but Bran Stark has many mothers in this family. In this series? So true, Bestie. So true. Tell them. I'm so excited. Oh god, someone to speak the gospel with me. I'm so happy you're here.

I guess I can't be Bran's mother. I'll be taking on his role. You're still about that. I think that we should mention that this is the all only child podcast here oh finally oh my god

yes I too I am one also well that's kind of obvious actually now that you say it out loud I know you generally don't want to be found online courtney but uh i know you're you're very active at the discord is there anywhere else so that eliana can be done with her question it's not even that i don't want to be found it's that i'm not there mysterious you'll really mostly only find me on the girls gone canon discord which is why you have to sign up for the Patreon immediately.

It's exclusive. If you want to see those vegetables. If you want to see. They didn't even. Our hosts here didn't even mention that I also post pictures of many of the things that I cook. This is also true. Which is a whole other thing. It is like a daily food post from you.

It's amazing. That's why I said you've created a culture of food in our discord i love that because that's something really dear to our hearts we love absolutely together yeah but yeah discord is mostly the only place uh that you'll find me so come join we're ready something i have to point out before we jump into the episode is that elianaiana, you've been traveling abroad, and I don't know if you saw this, but Courtney- No, I saw this. I just decided to, I was like, I pretend I do not see it. I pretend I do not see it. I saw it like also like, I don't know, five days after it happened. I was like, I can't deal with this. it happened and i was like i can't deal with this so there has been an ongoing discussion on this podcast about whether or not george rr martin is talking about corn in the beautiful yellow kerneled sense or barley corn when using corn in bran's plot infamously you may remember that eliana swears that it's barley and that chloe me, swears that it is the Colonel Golden type of corn.

Courtney has mentioned on Discord that in the annotated enhanced iBooks, there is a note that says, Like Tolkien before him, Martin's world is largely based on medieval Europe, but there are intrusions from the New World as well. In Tolkien's case, it was potatoes. In Martin's, it's corn. How official is this? No comment. I don't know. I don't know. I'm sorry, that's the definitive answer. Oh, it's official. Well, all right. Well, welcome. Thank you for joining us. Now your name is going to just have to be Courtney. Get it? Yes, these are author-approved notes.

And I guess one of the advantages of coming sort of late to this fandom is that these editions came out kind of late. And I gather not many people have read them because they have all kinds of footnotes in them that are some are just informational but some are just like hey hey this is what I meant so stop asking me like you can just hear the the argument on the other end um and he does also clarify in these that uh Catelyn did not want Tyrion to notice her when they were at the end of the crosswords crossroads crosswords so pew pew pew again a definitive i feel like it's kind of that one is so funny to me because i'm like i thought everyone kind of knew that

right unless you're just reading a totally different series i think there are a lot of people who don't want to know it. It's just so obvious. And that's all I have to say on that. But, you know, maybe it's not obvious. As for me, it's not obvious what kind of court it was, though. Interesting. No notes. Anyways, moving on. Thank you, Courtney, for bringing that to my attention.

It was very kind of you, selfless. Well, we don't just have Courtney's words in this this episode we also have some emails and tweets of note i i forgot to grab some tweets i'm sorry friends but we did get an email from our friend warren um who who has some great insights about bran i'm gonna bring up something else from warren later on this episode but warren sent us an email about how this harvest festival is reminiscent of some other fall festivals in a couple of different real world cultures such as for example all saints day and sawane and maven i'm hoping i'm saying that right because it's your tricksy and also the idea of how during some of these festivals the veil between the worlds of fairy folk and then tend to be permeable so that that magic been in a bit more oh that's so fun and reminds me a little

bit of what uh a lot of what pullman talks about right with the the secret comics exactly of of different beings and there's a little bit in this absolutely well let's find out what we missed between Brand 2 and Brand 3 in our lightning round. Starting off with Tyrion IV. Tyrion plays a very famous political trick on men that he suspects are not loyal to him. Sansa II. Sansa is surrounded by drunk men at least 15 years older than she is in King's Landing. Exciting. at least 15 years older than she is, in King's Landing. Exciting. And in Arya 5, Gendry unmasks Arya. Gendry is captured by Gregor Clegane's men.

Hot Pie panics in the rescue attempt and gets them all caught. And poor, poor Lami. Tyrion 5. Tyrion has an extremely fruitful day of being a productive member of the Small Council. He visits the Guildhall of the Alchemists, gets Robb's peace term from Cleos, and argues with Cersei about marrying Myrcella off to Dorne. And that brings us here to A Clash of Kings, brand three. The Harvest Feast begins at Winterfell, but no feast is complete without its final fashionable arrivals, the reeds come to Winterfell,

and that knight ran dreams of them in the godswood. So the second most important thing we're going to talk about in the chapter, the first being food, right? We've already kind of started with our food talk. You can expect this to be a food cast today. But the second most important thing is fashion. Dancer is draped in a snowy white wool with the gray dire wolf on

it, while Bran is wearing gray breeches and a white doublet, sleeves and collars trimmed with fair, a wolf head brooch of silver and polished jet. Bran would rather have Summer emblazoned on his chest rather than a wolf, but Roderick said no. This was so sad because he wants to use Summer as his personal sigil. That's kind of what I took that as. It makes me wonder if he will take Summer as his sigil eventually or some amalgamation of it. You know, I don't know what you guys think his sigil might be. A three-eyed wolf, maybe? My thought is a werewolf.

A werewolf. A werewood with a wolf's face. Maybe three eyes. Three eyes optional yeah i don't really know i wonder if it would be like you know i i know i said last last chapter the chapter before this idea of quartering it with the tully tully sigil right but i think that the werewood also makes a lot of sense replacing that concept of the the seven kingdoms but but maybe you know having something kind of uniting them as well i don't know i don't

really understand i i was like staring recently at a bunch of like different coats of arms and i was like i really should have learned about this more but i was like that's cool i'm glad that's there in real life it kind of comes back to the conversation what last week about the quartered sigils for the frays uh they have to rely on their mother's house or the grandmother's house to take a boost on their social standing side and I think that's an interesting idea like maybe he will do something I don't know similar to how they adapted the crown for viserys in House of the Dragon. They put all seven of the kingdoms

on the crown, even though he only has control of six. Instead of doing the seven stones for the seven, the rainbow stones on Jaehaerys I's book crown, which is fine. I'm still not bitter about that or anything. But you have to have one complaint about it, right, for such a great show.

I wonder if Bran would take from the Stark sigil and maybe cross it with his mob sigil, even. I think the Starks have to be seen here, though, specifically with the Stark wolf, which also sticks out to me. They have to be seen as feeding this insane feast to their bannermen, to their people. It's very important. The Stark sigil is what does it. people it's very important the Stark sigil is what does it and it kind of goes along with that idea of that's really prominent in Bran's chapters of sacrificing his own desires and needs versus the people and as he enters that oak and iron door he kind of realizes it right when he hears all the people shouting Winterfell and Stark and knowing that's not it's not about me it's about

House Stark yeah Yeah, absolutely. I don't know what Bran is going to do with his sigil in the future. I think he's very inextricably tied to the North and to his own house. So somehow I doubt he'll incorporate a Tully sigil, but maybe. I just think it could be good for a compromise to show in regards to tying it together in terms of, especially if the North secedes, it just doesn't look good

to be there as a Northern King and not to play up the symbolism of your ties to these Southern Kingdoms and that sort of claim of being part of the rest of i guess the leftover six kingdoms um i don't know it could be also something entirely different right you were talking about like the wolves and that might be something he wants to keep right especially in honor of his family with the the people that he's lost since we see that's a big

part of this chapter and and his storyline in general. But also maybe he could pick something else, right? He could be like, I'm going to pick a bird. Maybe a raven. Yeah, I mean, mayhaps he'll want to memorialize his departed dire wolf. Yeah. Or the winged wolf. Yeah, the winged wolf.

Yeah, I like that winged wolf. Plus a crown, just to make it really my little pony. Oh my god. The pegasus wolf that's a whole different road we don't have time on because i don't need to like explain who's fluttershy and not um uh but yeah as far as um you know sort of brand's description of how much he wanted to have summer depicted in on his brooch and uh he was told no there's actually a couple of times in this chapter when he describes how his surrogate parents roderick and lewin are really unyielding to his demands and to me that's just like you know we've already talked a lot we i say like i do talk to

the podcast when i'm listening to it but this time you can hear me you've talked a lot about how like Martin is already laying the groundwork for how eventually we're going to see Bran make this ethical breach that's a real intrusion into Hodor's consciousness and I think that when he describes Bran's frustration by saying pointing out all these times when he really wants to do something and he's supposed to be the Lord and he's supposed to be in charge, there's still all these adults saying, no, you can't do that. And eventually that frustration is just going to break into a pretty severe ethical breach.

But he is still just a child. I think he has less moral responsibility than, like, Varamyr. Yeah. There's, like, still time, right, for him. He could still come back from this a little bit. And that is part of the nuance of it. I mean, he is, in this chapter, we just learned that he just passed his name day. He's nine now, I think.

So it's kind of more growing and learning. And it's interesting when this is being portrayed against Joffrey right now as a boy king, right? And as a boy leader, how he should act. And yes, Joffrey is older than Bran. But then even, you know, we brought up neeps and turnips already today. Then you think of Tommen. Yeah, I actually was thinking about Joffrey as well and him sort of shouting commands down from the Iron Throne. And I think at the point where he becomes king, instead of really acting like his regents, they do promote the legitimacy of him as king.

They basically have to, Cersei basically has to be like, yep, this guy's in charge. We don't we don't need any anybody else like advising him so he pretty much is given absolute power to kind of do whatever he wants um without anybody really getting in the way of him especially when uh only cersei is there yeah that's a great point and and it's a it's a good reminder of why maybe children should not be given absolute power which i think is that's like actually an exploration of what's going on here, right? What happens when someone has these desires as a child, right? And as they grow and the means to be able to fulfill them, but also when you're talking about them being kids in regards to Joffrey.

in regards to Joffrey at a similar time as uh you know towards the beginning of this book you have those moments with in King's Landing where you have Myrcella and Tommen who are similar ages and they're like we're children we're supposed to be childish like this is normal like yeah putting them in that pressure cooker is like unfair yeah it doesn't add up well and as a very wise and not not at all immoral man once said boy lords are the bane of any house. Yeah. And look at what we just came off the end of in the veil, right? With Robert Aaron. He also has a little bit of that.

He was old enough to know that it was not truly him they shouted for. It was the harvest they cheered. It was Rob and his victories. It was his lord father and his grandfather and all the Starks going back 8,000 years still made him swell with pride. but also internal strength. You know, it's a very Pax survives kind of idea here of how he is finding strength in his family and from Winterfell in the same way that Sansa does when she thinks of the memory

of Winterfell. But I think there's also kind of maybe, you know, something else too on another level of reading it. Not saying that this is foreshadowing, but just thinking about how Bran literally does have that

connection with all those starks going back all of that time i mean we we went through that time like here's all the bazillions of brandons who existed when we were starting this pov um it's a little bit you know like whitney houston uh he's every brandon it's all in him but maybe kind of literally just because of brand special superpowers and in in regards to that very like magical chosen one-esque journey bran riding in is a little bit kind of like jesus riding in on a donkey yeah the cheering there have already been like two references to that moment in his plot how interesting is that how interesting. I think that besides all the stuff that you're talking about

with his broader connections to the Starks, to his own family, that this is really illustrative of how much Bran and Ned are alike. They're both second sons. They did not expect to have this cup passed to them, but nonetheless, it did. And, you know, Ned is sort of like, none of this was meant for me.

And Bran is like, none of this is for me. But, you know, I'm nonetheless the symbol of this house that people need to see. He takes on the role that he he has to even though it's not necessarily what he wants for himself which of course there's a lot of things he wants for himself that have now sort of been curtailed for him as possibilities yeah and i love that you brought up that i that the imagery right that's a little bit of like biblical language too with the regards of the cup passing but because brand literally does like hold his father's from her cup and he's like he's like my dad used to drink out of this cup too so it hurts it hurts me a lot i wish you wouldn't have said that well this is also hurtful like

brand forgets that he's broken he he thinks of himself as broken until he reaches the dais where all the eyes watch him getting unstrapped from his horse and then carried to his father's seat. Okay, I'm sorry that I have to bring down the room even more. But yeah, that's what I'm here for. But, you know, one of the things that I did in preparation for this was to reread the chapter that I think is this chapter's twin, which is, yes, the chapter in Edoida, I think it's called, the Prince of Winterfell, which is a Theon chapter, which has a very terrible wedding in it. Don't really want to talk about that part because it's real bad. But there is also a feast at Winterfell in this particular chapter. And there's just like so many parallels. But the thing that I kind of wanted to bring up first is that both Bran and Theon, who are both princes in Winterfell, obviously Bran is actually a prince in this chapter, but they're both sort of staged for these events to cover up the bodily harm that they've suffered. Bran by the Lannisters, although of course he doesn't know that, and Theon by the Boltons.

They both traverse the Great Hall of Winterfell, and that causes their infirmities to be revealed. Bran, of course, is lifted off of his horse and onto his father's chair. Theon, whose gait has been changed by the torture that he has suffered has a very like cramped walking style so he walks up this long hall and just like with Bran with all these people noticing these infirmities that they have people get real judgy about it which is something that like the North really needs to work on it's just hard for me not to think about these two chapters together, especially later on when we get to the behavior of our Stark and Winterfell brand versus the behavior of Roose Bolton, a very, very cool guy who's going to be sitting at the head of the table for that wedding feast. There's definitely something in how swift, and obviously they're under threat by the Boltons,

so I don't judge any of the people of Winterfell or Wintertown. In a way, just for a hot second, they really come to almost back Theon, because you know they might die if they don't. And then Ramsay swoops in to be the ultimate villain prince of it all. He's like, I'm now the prince of Winterfell, and I'm worse than Theon, if you can understand that. And it's interesting how quick they are to move on. Like, Bran is burnt, hanging.

Him and Rickon are hanging little burnt bodies, and Theon's like, well, you have to move on and love me because I'm the best prince ever. But then you get to Ramsey, and they didn't care about him as a prince either theon bummer yeah yeah i mean like as you're saying the cheering wasn't meant necessarily for any of them i guess yeah everyone does come back for that well up at the dais roderick is to bran's left beth is next to him rickon is to his right, his hair grown out past his collar.

He had refused to let anyone cut it since Cat left. He bit the last girl that tried. Rickon squabbles with Bran that he wanted to ride his horse up and he's a better rider for Bran and Bran's like, shut up, you're not. He hushes him. So this is actually kind of very annoying for Bran. I really felt for Bran when Rickon said that. Because I understand that Rickon is just too young to get it. But Bran riding his horse isn't something he's doing because it's fun. It's not a privilege for him. It's something that he's doing because it's making it possible for him to get around. Though I am also wondering, is riding the horse in actually part of the usual Harvest Feast ceremony?

I do not remember. I think it's Tywin-esque. Also wondering, is riding the horse in actually part of the usual harvest feast ceremony? I do not remember. Yes. So. I think it's Taiwan-esque, you know? Yeah. But it's similar, like, you know, he's making a grand entrance into the feast. But it's also different. Practical, yeah.

Like, there's a very practical aspect of it for a brand that's, like, different. And I'm just like, you know, it's one of those things where you see people and they're like, oh, we don't get to do this thing. It's like, well, the things that make the world more equitable for other people isn't like taking something away from you or a disservice to you. Thinking that makes you kind of a baby, kind of like Rickon, you know, that's some like immature baby brain shit. In fourth grade, I had a typing pad that I would type things onto because of my hands because I just couldn't write as fast as the other kids. So any of my notes, anything that I did, anything I had to write for classwork, it was like a mini almost computer with a very tiny screen. You couldn't see all of it. It just had like a small screen. But you typed and then you would go up to the teacher and she'd plug it in with the

USB cable and transfer all of the data onto her computer for me and print it out for me. And I would have my homework or whatever I worked on. And I remember kids were like, that's so unfair. Why don't we get to have a computer to type on? This is so unfair. This is so unfair. And I'm like, you motherfuckers can write like 800 words in two minutes. Like that's just not possible for me. It was very unfair. So I know this feeling. He wasn't doing it just to be cool it's also the only way that it can be a fair playing field for brand that he has the eyes of the people on him and that they respect him if he was walking in carried by hodor he wouldn't feel that he was garnering the same respect as a lord should garner yeah absolutely and the symbolic uh visual aspect of it is important to the sort of grand generosity of the Harvest Feast as a concept.

It's really symbolic. I mean, it's the time. They want to see who the Lord of Winterfell is that's keeping their land safe. These books are going to be so sad. Every single one of them. They just get sadder. Well, Roderick bellows for quiet. Bran greets his guests and raises his voice and bids them welcome in the name of his brother, the King in the North, and asks them to thank the gods, old and new, for Rob's victories and the bounty of the harvest. He raises his father's silver goblet to a hundred more and many more

cups follow in the crowd. Bran is drinking wine with honey, cinnamon, and cloves, stronger than he's used to, feeling his head swim. That's a mood. Roderick tells him he did well, that Lord Eddard would be proud, and Luin nods his agreement down the table. And then... And Courtney, I'm going to need you to lead us in on this, I think. The most important part will be that the food arrives. Yes, the food arrives. Such food Bran had never seen. Course

after course after course. So much, he could not manage more than a bite or two of each dish. There were great joints of oryx roasted with leeks, venison pies chunky with carrots, bacon, and mushrooms, mutton chops sauced in honey and cloves, savory duck, peppered boar, goose, skewers of pigeon and capon, beef and barley stew, cold fruit soup. Lord Wyman Manderley brought 20 casks of fish from White Harbor packed in salt and seaweed,

whitefish and winkles, crabs and mussels, clams, herring, cod, salmon, lobster, and lampreys. There was black bread and honey cakes with oat and biscuits. There were turnips and peas and beets, beans and squash and huge red onions. There were baked apples in berry tarts and pears poached in strong wine. Wheels of white cheese were set at every table, above and below the salt, and flagons of hot spice wine and chilled autumn ale were passed up and down the tables. Lord Wyman's musicians played bravely and well, but harp and fiddle and horn were soon drowned beneath a tide of talk and laughter, the clash of cup and plate, and the snarling of hounds fighting for table

scraps. The singer sang good songs, iron lances and the burning of the ships, and the bear and the maiden fair, but only Hodor seemed to be listening. He stood beside the piper, hopping from one foot to the other the noise swelled to a steady rumbling roar a great heady stew of sound okay first off just straight up because of the descriptions of the food this is the best chapter in all of a song of ice and fire that's it um that's all uh it's clever just because of of the food. That's it. But also, I do love how encouraging Brickin and Lewin are. They're fantastic.

Very supportive, very great, very honorable, gracious guardians. And also, while we're thanking people who are at the speech and the awards, I want to say thank you for the seafood shipment, Lord Wyman, the hero of this chapter and the story uh yes um the it is

quite a description of the food uh although actually one of my favorite parts of this whole thing is when when uh the musicians are described as playing bravely and well as if you'd ever need brave musicians huh ah there's a lot of foreshadowing in there i feel like yeah and only one person really listened and whose name is walter by the way um it's what could it mean what could it mean uh but again to bring down the room wyman manderley also amply supplies the wedding feast that we see in a dance with dragons that Ruth presides over. But the food is a bit more low rent.

It's not, we're not talking like red wedding levels. Like nothing is like something that you read and think there is no way in hell i would ever eat that um but it's it's like a much more low-key it's it's a casual barbecue it's uh it's mutton and ribs and cod cakes not uh luxury seafood like uh lobsters uh The pies were better, though. I bet they were buttery and flaky. There's some great language in the drowning beneath the tide

of talk and laughter and the clash of cup and plate, which I'm like, when is that book coming out? Sounds amazing. And I love the Iron Lance's Burning of the Ships and Bear and the Maiden Fair are the songs that get played. And I would say they all kind of have a little bit of a northern, they could be about the north in a few ways, right?

Like Iron Lances and the Great Iron, you know, Fist of the Glovers, for example. But the Burning of the Ships, while it's definitely about Nymeria, like I'm very much sure that song is about numeria it could also be about brandon right who burned all of his ships and then the bear in the main point yeah i forgot i forgot yeah yeah i feel like there's kind of a connection going on with brandon's ships and numeria's ships in a way uh numeria obviously has the more exploded story that we know about but brandon's ships really have caught my interest this time through because it's not dissimilar yeah is that because his face was described as being dreamy when when they were in the grips maybe you know i'm into a really sexy shit burner i'm like namaria or brandon makes no difference to me into sexy arson oh my god is this my problem? I am a fireside.

So Roderick and Lewin chat while Rickon screams happily at the Walters. Bran doesn't really want to be at the high table though, but Lewin reminds him that you're soon going to be family with them because Rob is going to marry one of their aunts and Arya one of their uncles and Bran is like, whoa, I don't think, I don't see

that ever happening with Arya marrying one of their uncles and I'm like whoa i don't think i don't see that ever happening with aria burying one of their uncles and i'm like it's like i do not believe and you know what aria also does not believe and to be honest i think brand should just disbelieve both because neither of it comes true yeah it works out really well for all of them everybody yeah everyone's so happy it's similar to what Arya says, though, when she hears that Sansa didn't get married, right? Or that Sansa married Tyrion. She's like, Sansa wouldn't marry Tyrion.

She's like, come on. Yeah, she's like, I don't know, sounds fake. The servers bring each dish to Bran first, who can take the Lord's portion if he wishes. But by the time they'd reach him, he's already pretty full of wine and food. He approves it with a nod, and if it's especially nice, he sends it to a lord on the dais as a gesture of friendship, which was suggested by Maester Lewin. He sent some salmon down to poor

sad Lady Hornwood, the board of the boisterous Umbers, a dish of goose and berries to Clay Kerwin, and a huge lobster to Joseph, the master of horse, who was neither lord nor guest but had seen to dancers' training and made it possible for Bran to ride. He sent sweets to Hodor and old Nan as well for no reason, but he loved them. Sir Roderick reminded him to send something to his foster brothers, so he sent little Walder some boiled beets and big Walder the buttered turnips i know that you love this i you've cited i think this passage many times throughout the course of this podcast chloe and i think it's i think it's cute that clay gets a dish also joseph you know being

he he's been doing a lot for bren i i appreciate Bran's thankful of that. But also, I will say, Joseph is unconfirmed as dead, but is probably dead. We more or less know that Hodor dies. Clay also dies. Old Nan is unconfirmed, but let's be real, she's probably going to die eventually during some point in the story.

So I'm like, does everyone that Bran sends a dish to in this moment at this feast die? Like, not all the Umbers die, but a good number of them seem to. Big Walder's gonna make it. He's gonna make it. Do you think Big Walder's- I don't know. I mean, I think both the Walders could die eventually. You know, I think that's the nature of a lot of what's going on in House Frey.

I think some will survive, but I think a lot of them will die. But yeah, anyway, I just did Bran poison the future of everyone here. That's the only reasonable conclusion. I mean, he was at the feast. I actually particularly like that he sent Lobster to Joseph. Of course, we'll see later some of his other dish choices but um you know since the starks don't live anywhere near the ocean um probably joseph has never seen a lobster because he's like the guy who runs the stables so this is like a huge luxury item that brand's like yeah i'm giving it to this guy

because he has facilitated me being able to get around in a way that i thought i wasn't going to be able to um and that's another reason that he is my child thanks our baby boy that's a good point they're very much in the very dead middle of the North. Yeah, that's a really good point. Yeah. About the honor that he's given. That's the kind of little kid he is. And I also want to say that I know that the fact that he sent beets and turnips to the Wilders is supposed to be some kind of insult because he didn't send them one of the fancier dishes. But beets and turnips are good. Fuck the haters.

I do agree. I want to ask that i'm gonna ask that i'm like george like you not like not have a good beaters i feel like that's a waste of a question like he obviously doesn't know i don't think it is i think in the context of like what this what a harvest feast actually is that like this is the last time we're all going to be able to like get together here i mean obviously in this, the problem is that a bunch of them are going to die. But like in a general sense, in a place like the North, you have a feast like this and then you don't see each other until the winter is over because travel becomes so difficult and you're not going to get any new food coming in. becomes so difficult and you're not going to get any new food coming in your your turnips and beets those are going to be last in you um for a long time but you're not always going to be able to

get lobster yeah the irony where you have tommen just being like i hate him which you know because he's a kid kids hate things because their taste buds haven't quite developed yet i hated things when i was a kid and now i'll eat anything i'm crazy but i mean to things when I was a kid, and now I'll eat anything. I'm crazy. But, I mean, Tommen obviously is a kid, but also look at the South, that they are so quick to say, gross. What do they know of winter, child?

What do they know? I love them. They are gonna find out. They are gonna find out. It does hit the whole country. Below, the men of Winterfell mix with small folk from Wintertown, friends from near Holdfast, escorts of their lordly guests. Some brand new, some he did not, but all of them kind of feel foreign to him.

He watched them as from a distance, as if he still sat in the window of his bedchamber looking down on the yard below, seeing everything yet a part of nothing. I liked this line it reminded me a little bit of a storm of swords in the aries six right the the last aries chapter in the storm as she's looking out upon marine and wondering from afar if all the gods feel so alone ran's about to be an old god watching a lot of things from afar but it that the isolation socially now has already really come in but besides the part where it has to do with him being on the days and also nine years old and therefore not great at small talk with adults,

which is understandable. Our friend Warren on Discord also pointed out that Bran's disability, like as a consequence, leaves him isolated and with quite a lot of time alone. George just said that all the stark children are wargs this is very evident with brand not just to respond with his wolf summer but his wolf dreams are incredibly vivid and the sensations he experiences therein are very real so there's a lot of things here that are kind of acting as these barriers for brand socially yeah i mean he's kind of a classic uh lonely child um uh with a lot of uh big thoughts

in his head can't relate yeah that's right it kind of is a little bit like you know when you're the only child at the social gathering with uh all the adults and i mean i guess rickens there he's much younger the wallers are there but they suck it is very, it is reminiscent of that. That's what makes it so special when our special guests show up later, you know? Like, because it's like the first people that are also fucking weirdos, right? Like, they're so fucking weird. And he's like, dude, you guys too? Thank God.

Thank God. Finally, some not normal people to talk to. Yeah, and I also think that this is sort of brand beginning to like carve his lord's face um in the previous chapter where they were feasting people at winterfell the previous brand chapter um it was like oh i went sorry when uh rob uh and his army were leaving it's like oh i'm trying to memorize know, the face of every single person. And now some time has gone by and he knows some of those people are dead. And he's just like, maybe I can't do that.

Maybe I'm going to be getting too close. Because some of these people are not going to be here next year. Sad times. Sad times. Osha serves the table ale. One of Leobald Tallheart's men tries to slide a hand up her skirts and she smashes a flagon on his head to what are roars of laughter in the background. Micken has his hand down a woman's bodice who's seeming to enjoy it. Farland teases his dogs with food. Old Nan plucks at a crust of pie, Lord Wyman attacks a plate of lampreys as if they were an enemy host, sitting in a special wide chair thanks to Roderick,

and he laughs aloud and often, so Bran likes him. I love the language once more is starting to come back, just like that great passage before of all of the sound. I love how essentially the din gets louder and louder and just grows to where it's just like all of these adults shit show drunk, just drunk out of their minds, you know, like what you'd imagine a bonfire, like they've just eaten all this great food, they're all getting fucked up. And once more, Bran is kind of separated in this world of a he can't participate because of many obvious reasons. His age, his abilities, etc. And B, he doesn't get it, right?

Like, he really doesn't get it. This is a whole different world. And I do love that language pointed out. A plate of lampreys as if they were an enemy host. A little clever wordplay from Lord Lamprey later as he's insulted by many. And especially because he's kind of pretending to be on the fray side later before pitting an actual internal attack on them, though, that stood out as if they were an enemy host. So I definitely think that Wyman, the seeds for his entire motives and his actions in A Dance with Dragons are starting to come out and clash yeah absolutely love that love that little like nugget there or not nugget i don't know lamprey fish stick fish

stick you're fired i haven't fired you in a while you're fucking fired i'm due i'm due but i i just i really like wyman's presence in these chapters as well like i like that bran is seeing that even though yeah wyman also has a special chair made for him which uh kind of like how bran has a special saddle made for him and you know eventually maybe one day someone will make him a wheelchair all right someone will make him something that gives him some autonomy bran sees that wyman is still finding joy in his life right and it's it's a good example for him to see but also funnily enough the because bran is so young right he doesn't quite understand the he doesn't quite understand the drunkenness aspect of it yet you know tyrian who's also not

able-bodied right for him drunkenness is actually a way that he he connects with people but for bran it's a divider well and bran is drunk this this poor kid is like yeah yeah uh it's got to be a real scene in his brain at this point so poor lady hornwood sits behind wyman though her face is a stony mask and she's just picking at her food oh i'm glad you brought her up so i think you guys covered this really really well last week and talking about like the absolute tragedy of danella hornwood and how she is entirely let down by this system of people just People just being interested in her as a conduit to get to this land that she holds title to. And I don't really have very much to add. It just really sucks that she gave her husband and her only child to this cause. And their response was, we'll figure out what to do with you eventually and then she dies

because they didn't figure out what to do with her and they didn't take any time to even really try to figure out what to do with her it sucks but they're trying to do the exact same thing to her that ramsey eventually does not in the sense of like starving her but in the sense of just being like you have no agency really about um who you're forced to share a bed with who is going to be coming onto your property who's going to take over that property after you die. You just have to hope that some guy is going to come along that's not going to treat you too terribly. And it sucks. It sucks what happened to her. I actually think the only other thing they really could have done in the moment was say, why don't you stay at winterfell until we uh

contact rob and get his wisdom about this or whatever that at least would have staved off any immediate attempt to take her over um but yeah that makes me so i'm getting mad you just talking about it is making me mad man i'm getting real mad all over again i'm like oh i'm getting mad because it's like the bureaucracy fucking failed her. Like, what is this red tape that they just couldn't cut through in time? They had time to do a couple of other deals last week on our episode.

I was there. And then it's funny because this only teaches Roose and Ramsay that they can go farther. Look at what they do with Jane and passing her off as Arya. They're like, oh, if it was that easy just to take those lands like it turns out fabricating claims is that easy in the north when there's no one ruling it yeah yeah yeah you could just lie yeah that's a great point um as you said they could have kept her in your fall though maybe she would have been

unlucky and been there for when theon gets there too would have sucked well yes that they really couldn't have anticipated that Theon was going to come back and take over Winterfell. But I think of like the possible outcomes that they could have thought would maybe happen in that moment. The best option that they had was to say, stay here. Even if that's just a pretext to not have her go back uh with just her very small and tired looking six-person guard yeah i agree and also i and this is something that chloe was saying in the previous episode and like upon listening to it again when i was at it yeah like as you said the bureaucracy killed her and rob should have empowered like the people who were ruling in his stead to to to to make these calls right i mean robert was well because what wisdom is he gonna have about it no offense rob yeah i mean like robert's a neglectful king right but robert maybe too much

to too much he's the other extreme he let everyone else like make all of these very big legal decisions for him right like ned was empowered to do that a lot of other people were as well not that roger was hand or anything but if he he and bran are ruling in that their stead right like they should have the power to fucking rule and to actually do it as as you were saying so i mean that's the problem right rob brilliant war mastermind uh in terms of the actual battles terrible actual strategist well and also lack of resources i mean that's the biggest thing right uh all of your manpower is down south you don't have resources up top you don't have political advisors that you have empowered and you don't have i mean if you can't trust them then what are you doing and uh and not just that but then thinking of like alice ann's woman court

in fire and blood right like that's why this portion of the rule was kind of important to have it was important to have someone in the background being able to do these kind of deals that you just didn't deem important or didn't make time for and and in regards to what you're saying about the manpower, right, that becomes painfully obvious, again, later this book when Theon comes and takes it. But I mean, they are stretched thin, they need to match the forces that are in the south that are being marshaled. It's hard, right? They're in a vulnerable position. But he's not the only one who makes that mistake, as we see with Storm's End and the Dragonstone. Yeah, it turns out labor is just really an issue in westeros and if only they would pay a living wage you know what i mean

you know what i mean well we have a solution for that it's called zombies so at the other end of the table the umber brothers are playing a drinking game slamming their horns together like they're jousting suddenly it's too hot it's too noisy we've all felt this way at a party they're all wasted brand's itchy in his clothes and he wishes to be anywhere but here that boy wishes to be at his bed with a makeup wipe removing it with his eyes closed putting some moisturizer on is what that boy wants no i'm just kidding he wants to go to the godswood which is basically i mean girl we've all been there right like just get me home away from humans to go be drunk in bed it is cool in the godswood now steam is rising off the hot pools and the red leaves of the weirwood are rustling the smells are richer than here and before long the moon will rise and

my brother will sing to it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Bran. Bran. Branual. What are you doing there? Branual. Branual.

He just kind of dissociated for a hot second. Huh? Little bloop. I'm in my wolf. Yeah, it's kind of, I think, the equivalent of, you know, now that, because we have felt this feeling as well. Scrolling, scrolling on social media instead of being present at whatever family dinner or party a bit yeah i i also think that the the skin changing experience uh if no one's there to like i don't know teach you how to do it which presumably most people don't have that

um i do think that moments of great stress uh kind of make those abilities come out and that's kind of the point that bran is at and like obviously eventually he learns way more and he becomes like very conscious of uh skin changing his wolf but um first, he has no idea what's going on. Roderick actually brings him out of that, right? He's like, why don't you eat my prince? And Bran's like, I'm full, which is, I mean, kind of true. But also he wants something else, I think, to satiate himself with. And Roderick then once more is like, you've done really well.

You're going to be a great lord someday, Bran. He thinks to himself, I don't want to be a lord. I want to be a knight. And he takes a sip of the honeyed wine, feeling the snarling direwolf on the cup press into his palm and remembering the last feast his father drank the cup at when Robert had come and summer had rained. Yeah. So this is a real bran as egg the fifth moment um another little boy who wanted to

be a knight and ends up becoming a king although i think egg and the fifth was also technically a knight but the point is that it wasn't his ultimate fate like he had no interest in sort of the family business of being a targaryen uh, and nobody ever thought he would be. But eventually, he did get roped into that. And I think that the whole like, story of like how Aegon V came to be king was actually revealed to us a few chapters ago, or at least earlier in this book, in a Jon chapter somewhere. It's such a, it's just like another dream of Bran's that he has had to put on hold maybe forever because of this thing that happened to him. And I do also want to comment that it really means something that Bran is talking about, like how amazing all of this

food is. And he's never been in a feast this amazing when the last feast he went to was literally they were, you know, fetting the king. These people really, they know how to party and they want to party with their own circle of friends. Hell yeah. We bring out the good wine when the North is here. You know what I mean? The king, he'll drink whatever. We know he'll drink whatever. We're bringing out the cheese wheels for this.

Well, I mean, also because everyone came and they brought stuff right they're like i don't really care that robert visited yeah robert if you wanted to feast well you should have brought good yeah i i love what you're saying here about about brand and those parallels with agan the fifth and great call on the structure of the book and and that being introduced the story the the oh i referenced this one way and then here comes the parallel amongst like one of our current characters i really like the way he threads that in and the chapters right around you know just bringing a couple stories that tie together because as we're about to see there's a lot of dane mentions coming in in this in this kind of area of the book bit by bit we're starting to get a trickle of it.

And I don't know. It's that gardening effect, I think. He's just sprinkling some seeds. He's like, let me just, a little bit in this chapter. We'll play it out for a while. I love it. Oh, huh. The Danes.

I can't imagine what caused them to come up. Oh, yeah. Azshara's daughter and son are in this chapter. You'll see. But I digress. Let me just bury the lead. So he remembers the royal family sharing the dais including marcella who had spent the meal gazing at rob and aria who

made faces at them when they weren't looking and sansa had listened to the high harpist who had been singing songs of chivalry and rick and kept asking why john wasn't with them at the table because he's a bastard, Bran had said. Good save here, Railroad, because I know you forgot to put Bran in at the Harvest Feast in A Game of Thrones. But, or sorry, at the King Robert welcoming feast in A Game of Thrones. But you wanted to make it clear. Yeah.

He was there, guys. He was there. I kind of forgot he wasn't there. I didn't notice. Yeah, that's a great point. Great catch. Maybe he just went to bed early. He really doesn't describe the food that they had at that feast not sure how well also a lot of it is from john's perspective right and john's like yeah at the other table and he's

like i don't know what they ate no one sent me anything dad bye he's like eat to live not live to eat and then he runs out in the middle of dinner. He's like, I'm emo. I'm a bastard. I'm more live to eat than eat to live. Sorry, John. We would never work. Yeah, that's why he joined the Night's Watch. He's like, I don't know.

Food's like, okay. Mids. Bran's pretty upset at all of this, though, because he's remembering that feast, and he's like, that was back when everyone was still here and not gone. He's like, everyone's gone or dead. Even Uncle Benjen. Lower on the benches here, though, new men of Winterfell have kind of started popping up.

Jory, Fat Tom, Porthor, Alan, Desmond, Holin, Harwin. All are dead or gone south, even Septon Mordain and Vae and Poole. He likes the new men well enough, but they're not the old Winterfell guard. He misses his friends. There's a lot of things that Bran's story is carrying, a lot of different themes. But one of those, I think, is seeing him as the story of survivors of the people who are left behind right especially because so much of his story might have to do with that sort of remembrance we see it happen with blood raven as he remembers his own family

we see it happen with amen remembering people and and there's sort of a survivor's guilt perhaps going on but also yeah is seeing all the people that you loved die and and it happens on a much shorter time scale for brand than it does for blood raven because like obviously when you live to like 100 something years old for amen people are gonna die right for brand it's a much more it's a much more condensed timeline well and i think also his world is so sheltered and so protected because that's something that ned has really strived for with his children the absolute shock of his father dying is just like even just his father dying not to mention all of these other people is how does a child even begin to understand that yeah i mean he painted him this whole entire

canvas of a world to live in and now he's gone how do you exist outside of that and that's not even sheltering that is that is how it should be right that is what it should yeah people aren't supposed to lose their parents at nine years old ideally like when they're beheaded in front of everyone and they're not supposed to lose all the people who were around them and who gave them that home and companionship and have to security face yeah a bunch of strangers in that time period like that's not that's not normal yeah i mean war it's maybe not good i don't know i don't know i don't know so he looks at all the faces on the benches they're happy they're sad he's wondering who would be missed next year and the year after

that because these are very normal thoughts for children to be having and he might have cried then but and then we have this quote of he was the he was the stark and winterfell his father's son his brother's heir and almost a man grown and like you're really not this you're really not but you're being forced to be yeah exactly yeah maybe this whole setup isn't good feudalism is great what are you talking about where they're like i mean okay well your father and your brother they're out right now so like you're just a little kid, but I don't know. You're in charge. How else could we do it? You're a little kid. You're in charge.

You're the boss. You're just not allowed to say a single thing. I want to change the tone a little, you know. I want to get a little happier. We were going down some dark alleyways, ladies. The door opens to the hall, distracting us from all of this depressing

ass shit and ale belly announces the lady mira of house reed and her brother jojen of graywater yes the crowd is going wild the basketball's on the court they They're dribbling. Is anyone else hearing this? Is it just me hearing this in my head? Boo-boo-boo. No? Okay. So, yeah, Lady Mira Reed, Dane Reed, and her brother, Jojen Dane Reed. I don't know. I feel like Howlin might be a hyphen kind of guy.

You know, my husband tried to do the hyphen. He's like, you want to do the hyphen? I'm like, no, we're not fucking doing a hyphen. I'm sorry. Did you mean your roommate? Sorry, the guy I live with? Oh, yeah. I told my guy that he was so welcome to take my name but i wasn't taking this i just felt like a lot of work to change all that i don't know literally everything is in my name

already oh my god it seems like a huge hassle i'm just not about it i i mean i i don't mind if people call me by his interesting Interesting stuff. There's something I just want to call out is that Lady Mira is announced, right? The eldest daughter, making her the heir to Greywater Watch? What are you getting at here? It seems that Greywater Watch would be passing down to the lady of the house is kind of how it's highlighted here that she is the lead she's the lady she is the respected is that a certain type of succession that they're following that's different than everywhere else because to me that almost sounds like dornish succession i mean could it just be that jojan knows he's not gonna make it to be the lord

i think it's both like i think it is i would not be surprised if the reeds do follow a different succession like a different form of primogenitor right like that that does seem like it could be in line for them but i will say also i mean they're not gonna have a choice right just to be an asshole about it yeah that's true too i don't know just seems interesting something seems fishy or froggy yeah i don't know very interesting very interesting probably not going to see any references to the danes coming up whatsoever certainly not in this chapter what does it mean what is is it? Why are they only brought up when he anyways, just thinking about nights. Bran hears little Walder mutter

frog eaters to big Walder and Roderick hurries to his feet to welcome the reeds to share the feast the harvest serving men hurry to lengthen the table and up they go, which I thought was great. to lengthen the table and up they go which i thought was great rickon is like who are they and little water says they are mud men thieves cravens with green teeth due to eating frogs okay first of all fuck these phrase fuck these phrase especially everything that he said is about them except they probably don't eat frogs because they have no palate and do not like food and all fractures taste like chicken and also uh it's george doing the showing right instead of telling the rivalry between the houses yes the squires of course we'll hear about the night of the laughing tree from the reed perspective eventually

but like i do wonder how is that tale being passed around at the twins? Probably not great. Probably not as good. They probably don't talk about it. They probably make themselves look like heroes because they're assholes. I just think they're like, this is a this is a terrible story. Let's just never talk about it. Like that was really embarrassing for us.

Bury it. Yeah. Lewin crouches beside Bran telling him he must greet these guests warmly they didn't expect them to show up but they did and also howland reed was a great friend to his father and these two are his children i you know again i i love that lewin and roderick are like they are very honorable they're very respectful and courteous to to the reed they they show them a lot of reverence and they're not like weird assholes about it bran watches the newcomers noting that the girl with oh and says howland reed was a great friend to his father and that these two are his children bran watches the

newcomers noting that the girl wears lambskin britches and a sleeveless jerkin covered in bronze scales she's near rob's age but she's slim as a boy with long brown hair and a woven net on one hip a bronze knife on the other and she carries an old iron great helm spotted with rust under one arm a frog spear and a shield strapped to her back this old iron great helm really stood out to me this time because it's spotted with rust under one arm uh where she's holding it she's like oh there's rust on it so what how old how old is this helm is it like i don't know 20 years old maybe i mean does iron rust after 20 years of no use it makes me wonder if it was howland's helm maybe he wore it at the tower of joy even i don't know i've really never thought about this helm, but it feels like a token of Howland's friendship and a secret. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about this and I wonder if it's supposed to be the helm that Lyanna wore when she was the Knight of the Laughing Tree.

I do think it's maybe important that the reads have some memento of Lyanna Stark. um memento of liana stark um because howland is one of the only people who knows the true parentage of john snow and you know maybe he and i kind of assume benjamin knows and ned had some sort of agreement to you know hey someday when we need proof this is what we're gonna do uh and that they may have preserved something of her memory and now here's mira showing up with this and i actually kind of think that later on when they explain the tale of the night of the laughing tree and brand's like what's this never heard of it mira was probably like well what are we supposed to do now he didn't no i i had the i had the hat ready to go we brought props uh and and this kid was just like oh wow cool story who's it about that's my new headcanon for sure and it has to be the helm that

she wore as night of the laughing tree possibly one that might be the one thing he gave to them, you know, because it was cobbled together from all sorts of bits they all had. Yeah, I love that. I love that theory that it's Leona's helm. I really like that. I also, I don't know, I'm like kind of nervous about it because I'm like, is Mira using this? Like, what are we doing with this? Like, tetanus?

They don't have tetanus shots. So I'm like, what's going on here? i'm legitimately worried oh my god i mean it's probably not jagged so they're probably not gonna cover themselves on it dangerous i think they're gonna be okay you know she carries a frog we know it's not gonna hurt jojen yeah some skeletons jumping out of the ground or what's gonna get him her brother is younger and he wears no weapons he wears green even his boots are green and his eyes are the color of moss though his teeth are just as white as anyone else's their sleight of build slender as swords scarcely taller than brand himself they're wait they're slender as swords yeah what kind of sword uh no i no idea

maybe one forged from the heart of a falling star dark sister who knows it could be anything kind of sword i mean mira wields dark sister is one of my it's true really want that to happen it's gonna happen only the very coolest people should be killing others and only the very coolest people uh if there's anyone you You're Sam's. You're Mira's. If there's anyone that gets a happy ending-ish, or at least gets to live, which might be a happy-ish or horrible ending, truly. What do you think about it? Because who knows the shit they're gonna

see in the next couple books, but I hope Mira is it. Before they give their amazing speech, fucking shining twin-ass, crazy, weird, alien homeschool-ass little fuckers i love them they're they just show up and they're so real you know like listen as a pisces moon aries sun virgo rising i don't really love small talk either i just get to the weird stuff right away so i really respect that. But back to how Jojen's described as green and weird and wonderful.

His eyes, there's something later on that'll come up where he talks about how he had a fever. He had the great fever. And when he woke his eye, you know, his eye was open. His big third eye was open. But there's a great theory, and i wish i knew who had made it it's old it's got to be from i don't know like 2013 or something but someone made a theory about his eyes turning from the fever and turning green and that beforehand they weren't that color so i thought that was really interesting i'm always a sucker for eyes changing color theories since

genetics really don't matter in this story like they only do sometimes and then they don't uh but the green eyes are really interesting because you know what they're tertiary colors green eyes you take a mossy green and just invert that shit it's purple and it's like why are they gemstone colors of eyeballs in this series that are the magical ones i guess we haven't really seen i mean we have aria who goes blind and has magic that way as well but purple eyes and then this moss green color of eyes are the ones that seem to come from some sort of magic in the world of ice and fire the crannog men of old most of them had the green sight most of them had their mossy mossy green very concentrated eyes and then you have the great empire of the dawn with their purple eyes as well

as the valyrian purple eyes uh so like his magic just show up only in beautiful dazzling eyes is this a thing george i mean maybe it's an indicator of a certain kind of sight maybe maybe so interesting though that it goes through the eyes with the sight. But if you take the Dane sigil and you just invert the colors on it, do you know what it turns into, folks, from the purple and gray-white? Turns into green and black. What could it mean? Interesting. Interesting.

Yeah, for that kind of mossy green, yeah. That desaturated version. Yeah, but who has a green and black sigil? Could it be a gator with its tail showing up in his mouth? Huh. Yeah. It could be. I don't know.

I don't know. I'm just saying that if Jojen and Mira Dane Reed took their own sigil, like Bran and the Freys like to do, maybe they'd want to invert it to be their mother's colors. With a white, a gray-white crannog, a lizard lion or a lizard. I don't know if it's a lizard.

Whatever the fuck they are. With a gator. It could be a dusky violet with a white-gray gator on it. Or they could go the opposite way, and it could be a sword violet with a white gray gator on it. Or they could go the opposite way, and it could be a sword crossed with a falling star, black on a field of moss green. Sword in the moss green could be interesting,

with fighting for spring, the dawn. Yeah. These are the swords that guard life against the war, it feels like. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, I'm really excited to be here and i was really excited when you guys asked me to come and talk about this chapter which i have mentioned in the discord several times is one of my favorites but but the true privilege the true privilege

is to be here at the moment when Hashara officially enters the narrative. Yeah, this is, I mean, it's the first part. Truly, you don't really get, I mean, you get mentions of Hashara in A Game of Thrones, right? And it's actually really peppered in A Game of Thrones. Cersei puts it at Ned and really is like, oh, guilt trip on Ned about it. But this is kind of where you actually get more Dane imagery in this chapter when it comes to Arthur. I mean, Arthur doesn't get a ton of explanation until Clash.

Oh yeah, that's right. They do bring in Arthur. That is interesting. Yeah, those connections are starting really early, right from the get-go. Or not get-go. Lizard lion. Sorry. And there will be more soon. Get ready. My lords of Stark, the girl said, the years have passed in their hundreds and their thousands since my folk first swore their fealty to the king in the north.

My lord father has sent us here today to say the words again for all our people. She is looking at Bryn realized. He had to make some answer. My brother Rob is fighting in the south, but you can say your words to me if you like. To Winterfell we pledge the faith of Greywater. They said together, Hearth and heart and harvest we yield up to you, my lord. Our swords and spears and arrows are yours to command.

Grab mercy to our weak, help to our helpless, justice to all, and we shall never fail you. I swear it by the earth and water, said the boy in green. I swear it by bronze and iron, his sister said. We swear it by ice and fire, they finished together. And Bran, of course, does not know how the fuck to respond to that. He's like, what the fuck is this oath? And he finishes. May your winters be short and your summer is bountiful he said he's like that that sounds good that's not good like you know that's

a that's a passing grade right there and yeah so i thought it was interesting that they come in and they say they're swearing fealty to the king in the north, and Bran says, like, that should be Rob, but they don't, like, really correct him or respond. So I'm like, did either Howland or Jojen already know about what Bran's fate is becoming king? Though not necessarily in the north, but a king who happens to maybe be in the true northern conspiracy this whole time. I love the breakdown of it, though, because, I don't know, I think, I mean, some of it's really obvious. You have some ideas like the earth and water representing the children of the forest, the bronze and iron maybe representing the first men, and then, of course, the ice and fire, which makes it sound a little bit like the pact of ice and fire right it feels like a huge overarching part of this entrance into his arc and we'll talk a lot about this in a storm of swords too it's really hard not to i feel like this chapter goes hand in hand with storm of swords too but howland went to the isle of Faces before the tourney at Harrenhal, right?

Meera tells him that Howland had wanted to know the magics of the Kranigs, and he wanted more than just here. So he traveled, which there are people who never travel. Kranig men do not travel that often. So he went out when he became a man at age 16, probably, and decided that he'd leave the Kranigs and visit the Isle of Faces. And Bran's like, no one's ever gone there. The green men, like, that's where they live.

No one just goes there. And she's like, yeah, he went there. He wanted to meet the green men. That's who he wanted to meet. And then back in A Game of Thrones, we have this tidbit from Luwin. He said, The wise of both races prevailed, and the chiefs and heroes of the first men met the greenseers and wood-dancers amidst the weirwood groves of a small island in the great lake

called Godseye. There they forged the pact. The first men were given the coastlands, the high plains and the bright meadows, the mountains and the bogs, but the deep woods were to remain forever the children's, and no more weirwoods were to be put to the axe anywhere in the realm so the gods might bear witness to the signing every tree on the island was given a face and afterward the sacred order of green men was formed to keep watch over the isle of faces uh their oath feels very rooted in the isle of faces haha rooted in those trees yeah i'm rooting

for them and i think there's so much more magic in howland's plot to come that maybe i mean it does seem that howland has seen a bit of what's to come in sending his children off to war i personally am of the belief that we will see bran probably meet howland at some point or speak with howland maybe not even meet him on the physical plane maybe the astral plane but interesting i'm yeah curious to see how that brand doing stuff on the astral plane that's that's something i want to see hey i ate your son that's uh yeah that's that's one way to like i ate your son i have a crush on your daughter hi it all i mean i do part of me really wants i want to say that i talked about this actually with uh the boys over at not a cast during this chapter but i think one of my kind of like head dreams is that maybe Bran takes Jojen's bones home

or comes to tell him. And I mean, he already knows. First of all, he's already seen it, right? He's like, go give your body to this boy king prince. But he knew. But I feel like it could be, oh my god, what a tragedy, right? Like, Meera coming home, empty-handed, no Jojen, and just, as they see her walk up finally and find the place once more

after they've probably moved again, they probably just see her walking up alone and they just know. Ugh, they just know. These buns were delicious. Oh my god, crispy or grilled? What if it's because of jojen's blood that if the bond i don't know spiritual plate that creates that connect i don't know but also i like the idea that they do meet in person they have to because like with john yeah it's true yeah i would actually

prefer i think that john should go see howland by the end of the series and i think that would be a great one-off chapter i think brand might speak to him in the physical plane but i would much prefer john because i do think if there was an ashara reveal to be had it would be there right like you wouldn't get you wouldn't actually get a full reveal george might be playful he might just be like and howland's little wife with her purple eyes what her laughing purple yes exactly because only he sees them that way yeah yeah them eyes gotta laugh um i mean the thing that i really wonder about the meeting between the reeds and bran is like you know what what does mira think about this like jojen it sort of seems like he accepts that this fate is waiting for him um but like i can't imagine

what because i don't have any siblings uh but i can't imagine what it would be like to be like, I met this kid and I know that my only sibling is going to die for this kid's cause. And I have to facilitate that. How could you do it? I mean, she does it. So somehow she knows that it's the thing to do. But man, I'd really be sizing that kid up. Yeah, actually, that's a great point. I wonder if that comes up later in the story, right?

Like, because a lot of the story is, like, other people forcing other people who are not themselves to sacrifice themselves. What if, like, Vera has sort of, like, it serves as a sort of response to that. It is, like, what if you, who are willing to sacrifice yourself, what if I do not let you or something like that i won't let you do this thing and give yourself up surgeon's like i mean that's fate

right and and that's a lot of what the story is to an extent as well right you have it with denarius and you have it to an extent with aria and and and with uh barakarrion, that idea of I'm not going to let you die. Also in regards to the bronze and iron, not just the First Men. The bronze was initially the First Men and then the Andals came with their stronger irons. It's kind of like is it like a

ruling thing, right? Ruling over the First Men and the new one came in later and I guess you know they don't bother bringing up the Rhoynar they're like I don't know that's later on water will cover that whatever I almost wonder

if this is the coronation like what's said at the coronation for the kings in the north of old and what was actually said maybe during when they were anointed because in the south we know there's a big anointing and you get seven oils and you have to swear your vows when you're king as well as like when you're a knight maybe this is the north's coronation vows yeah because they did eventually adopt of course that right like we see it in their crown yeah interesting

well brand bids them to rise because he's like this was very strange and awkward and introduces himself the boy steers at him which does not make it less awkward it says that they brought gifts of fish frog and fowl and bran thinks i'm wondering if he would need to eat the frog to be polite which just do it it's fine um and also i'm like you know with the significance of all of those elements and like those very distinct things earlier is this also significant somehow like a mixing of the elements like fishes and water frogs between both but the fowl fowls are like kind of like in between also ish you know they're not flying birds so it's not i mean the the earth the earth the sea and the sky but fowls don't like all

really fly that because i was like trying to look it up i was like are fowls a special kind of bird and apparently they are well i guess some do i think ducks are foul right those fly those fly Those fly. They're like a special shape of bird. Specific Borbier Borb. They're a little Borbier than your usual breed. They're maximally Borb. Oh my god. No, but actually.

And this kind of seems like their luxury too, right? Like this is the best that they can offer from the neck, from the Cranogs. Yeah, I think this is the best that they can offer from the neck, from the Cranogs. Yeah, I think this is their special meal. In, like, in the real world Cranog-esque, right? And when it comes to in the bayou area of Louisiana,

et cetera, obviously fish, probably, and frogs to some extent, but, you know, duck, right? Fowl. And by fowl, I mean, with the W, duck is delicious. It's a common it's a common food you'll see in some of their recipes we love duck we were talking about duck before the we started recording i mean maybe the idea is just that those three things you know encompass sort of the full range of what is on offer in the neck that that

we're we're not we're we're in the water we're in the skies we're on the ground we're doing everything we're all over yeah we're worldwide yeah exactly prestige prestige uh brand tries to remember what he knows of the cranog men that they dwell in the bogs of the neck their home bodies their poor fishers frog hunters they live in houses of thatch and woven reeds on floating islands in the depth of the swamp he remembers they're sometimes called a cowardly people that they fight with poisoned weapons and prefer to hide from foes rather than face them in open battle but at the same time he remembers howlin was one of his father's staunchest companions during robert's rebellion before bran was born he's really trying to

remember that's where he's like i feel like something comes up eventually but as we see by the loyalty shown by the reeds the kranic men really are not cowardly at all they're like all right we're gonna do it we're gonna cross the wall we're gonna do all the things they they just don't fit the norm of westerosi masculinity which which are a trap anyway and therefore people think that's craven okay but i don't see them hunting any lizard lions yeah i agree uh Alligators are so scary. Maybe step off. I had a bad dream about one just like a month ago. Yeah, it was. I don't even remember it now.

I think I actually put it in the Discord. I'll go look it up later. But I was very horrible. Like, it was a very real dream. They're scary, but they're also amazing. Yeah, I'm worried about like, you know, if you're ever down there, right? You got to be watch out. Like, you fall into those waters.

Like, they grab you. They spin you around ever down there, right? You've got to be watch out. Like, you fall into those waters. Like, they grab you. They spin you around. You know? Terrifying. They're smart. Yeah, they are. Once they get you in their mouth, there's not much getting you out. Though people who do have pet ones, you probably shouldn't have a pet alligator.

But the alligators, they can be nice, apparently. But, anyways. PSA from Eliana. I am not suggesting that you have a pet alligator but if you do i'd like to meet it i'm not saying you should have a pet alligator but i'm saying like having for example if you're demon bird alligator very cool for you very cool for you i think that would be very cool um also we we don't get the in-depth yet but they're talking about how the gray water watch right we know that it moves around and it is how's moving castle i i think this is a reference his name's howland it literally moves that's it yeah i mean

i actually just re-watched for this episode last night just for this purpose because I love it. It is Howl's Moving Castle. Jojen asks where the Direwolves are and Rikken says they're in the Godswood. That shagging was bad. Mira says Jojen would like to see them and Walder pipes up, little Walder, and he's like, well, you better hope they don't see you because they might take a big bite. And Bran's like, not if I'm there. He's actually pleased. He's very excited that they want to see them yeah i love that brand's excited that they want to see

the dogs uh it also reminds me to an extent it's a little different you know dogs your dead sister but it reminds me a little of ned being happy to hear that robert wanted to visit and see leonis crit everything reminds me i think that it's a i i think it's a nice little clue that um something's going on with these with these kids because it's not like there's any way they would really know that the starks have had these dire wolves i don't think they sent out a newsletter i don't think everyone knows to be like we've got new pets wait what if people what if people did that we should we should normalize that as a society when you get a new pet that you know how people send out we have a new baby you should do that with that i mean i've been doing i don't know what your issue is yeah that's true sorry sorry

uh it's a sign of respect right like they're respecting them which goes right back to that beginning of the chapter when lewin and roger were like no you you have to wear that's the stark dire wolf because that's who you are brand is super curious about that oh sorry that's why whenever i go to your place i'm like where are ally and jake i want to pet them. Show respect. Bran's curious about the reeds. He had never met a crannogman, and his father, he remembers Ned had sent letters to the Greywater Watch before, but they had never come to Winterfell. The hall is super noisy, so it's getting hard to hear anyone, and Bran kind of makes his final rounds.

He asks Roderick, do they truly eat frogs? And Rodrik's like, yeah, frogs, fish, lizard lions, all sorts of birds. Bran wonders if they don't have sheep and cattle there and he commands his serving men to bring the Cranog men oryx, mutton chops, and beef and barley stew, which they seem to like. The girl catches Bran staring and she smiles. he blushes and looks away so so him asking do they not have these and send them the things that are rare that reminds me of what courtney just said earlier of how joseph likely being very far inland has never really tasted lobster and him being sure to give people who are awesome it's great culinary experiences yeah exactly exactly just another just another take in the why is why is brand good uh box yep yep that's our boy check mark

later once the sweets are served and washed down with summer wine and food is cleared the tables are pushed back and it's time for dancing and let me tell you these people can party they're they're clearing off the bits of bone um so they can dance so you know they have had a hell of a time the music grows wild wilder and Hothir Umber brings forth this huge curved war horn banded in silver. And when the singer reached the part in the night that ended

where the Night's Watch rode forth to meet the others in the battle for the dawn, he blew a blast that set all the dogs to barking. Wow, what does it mean? Oh, by the way, speaking of footnotes in the iBooks enhanced edition of this there's a footnote here that's like hey guys we know the night's watch didn't

exist until after this okay but it's in the song yeah yeah very like I didn't screw up here okay this is just how they do it yeah the the warhorn bandit and silver that feels significant yeah it definitely feels once more like george playing with some of these ideas of what he wants to do in the future books uh it also reminds me of the hounds, right? Starting to fight, starting to scream. Not unlike, God, wasn't it, didn't Simeon Starise fight the hounds, the hellhounds? Or sorry, he visited the night fort where the hellhounds were fighting. It said in the old, you know, songs or whatever. So it makes me wonder, A, is this supposed to be

that at the night fort, the night that night that ended yes it's the watch going forward not simeon but very interesting and not only that but of course the horn what will happen with that horn will it crumble down the walls the old walls we just don't know and again there's so much in all of these songs and all of these moments where they're all dancing and the language is very different. Right. It's very like, oh, suddenly there's a euphemism about what could possibly be happening in our story, which I love. Love when George does that. Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I actually like the most about the way Martin writes is how it seems like he's doing all these things that are very, very subtle. And then like you go back on a reread and you're like, oh no, he was like

punching me in the face with this, with how much this is true. And, but now I get it. It's kind of funny. There's so much that sticks out now on second, eighth, 20th, whatever reads where I'm like, what? Wait, when did he say this? And I think it's clever, because it's stuff that you literally, your eyes gloss over, your brain glosses over purposefully. Two glover men begin a spinning skirl on bladder and wood harp.

Mors is the first to jump to his feet, seizing a passing serving girl and knocking the flagon of wine out of her arms. He whirls her, spins her, tosses her in the air. Clothes soon join in. Hodor dances by himself. Wyman asks Beth Castle to partner with him. He moves actually quite gracefully. When he's tired, Clay Kerwin steps in to dance with Beth. Roderick approaches Lady Hornwood, but she makes her excuses and takes her leave. So sad because then she dies.

Yeah, you know, I, sorry, I have to bring up Lady Hornwood again. But I, I think that this is sort of a comparison to how, as Rob is about to be crowned, we know that Catelyn is thinking, I failed. I tried to subtly suggest, don't do this because we're all going to be screwed if we do. But it has nonetheless happened. And now here we go. And I feel like Lady Hornwood tried to say, not just, I would like to slide into Roderick's DMs. But she, she i think subtly tried to suggest hey these guys are already trying to come in and take over my whole situation and i need something done about this now and she gets basically told how soon is now how about later i don't know sad times it's just sad to see what could have been.

Things like that. Lack of happiness. So Bran watches for as long as he has to in order to be polite. But he wants to get out of there, so he summons Hodor. He's hot, he's tired, he's flushed with the wine, and the dancing makes him sad because it's something he could never do. Hodor kneels for him to get in the basket, which Luan and Hayhead help with. Shout out to Hayhead. Don't see enough of Hayhead.

Some of the guests, some of the guests who've never seen this are more curious than polite. What a nice way of putting it. And Bran feels the stairs. They go out the rear of the hall through the lord's door that's what i call it too sorry i'm sorry oh my god uh find jesus both of you i'm sorry it's it's an innuendo filled passage. Something is filled and it's definitely a passage. The passage.

Something's coming in and out of that passage. We're worried. Not talking about anything sexual. Anyway, Bran comes across Joseph, the master of horse, who is engaged in riding not a horse, but a woman. engaged in riding not a horse but a woman hodor stops to watch and bran tells him to leave them be and take them to his take him to his bed chamber um the not a horse podcast sorry oh god there are there are just so many constant triggers though to get brand to remember what happened in the tower before he fell that's so sad but he doesn't need that now he's gonna put that away just put it away kid wait until therapy is invented in westeros and then you can start

talking about this uh but once upstairs uh he tells hodor to return to the feast but please do not go bothering joseph and that woman please just let joseph enjoy the lord's passage it is not november for joseph well you know yes you guys have discussed a lot, like, what exactly does Bran understand about, like, what sex is? And, like, he sees two people having sex. He knows something is going on and that he shouldn't just let Hodor stop and watch them. But he doesn't totally get what's happening. You know, what's kind of funny is that he gets it though when it's an animal. Probably because of his skin changing.

I'm not kidding. He probably on one level understands it, but doesn't on a human level. He doesn't understand fucking on a human level. Just on an animal level. Interesting. And maybe that's how it is also for a lot of us too yeah you know uh yeah do it like they do on the discovery channel he is too young for that eye to awaken

let me tell you the music drifts through his window and brands reminded of something his father told him once he had asked him if the Kingsguard were the finest knights in the Seven Kingdoms and his father said they no longer were. But once they were a shining lesson to the world. He asked Eddard if there was one better than all. And there was. Who could it be? Was it me? The finest knight I ever saw was Sir Arthur Dayne,

who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star. They called him the Sword of the Morning, and he would have killed me, but for Howland Reed. Father had gotten sad then, and he would say no more. Bran wished he had asked him what he meant. He went to sleep with his head full of knights and gleaming armor, fighting with swords that shone like starfire. But when the dream came, he was in the godswood again. Yeah, I remember when Ned Stark basically said that Arthur Dayne

was muscled like a maiden's fantasy. I'm just saying, it happened. Ned is hot for these men. He's like, damn, hot fighters. I get it. He loves chival get it he loves chivalry he loves chivalry just loves it that's his favorite passage to read up and down and left and right there aren't very many knights in the north and sometimes we just want what we can't have good for him you know if that's what he's into that's what he's into yeah okay beyond the uh beyond this beautiful beautiful relationship we're butting in our heads about them again it's tying the stories together right this is the accidental lord stark taking back the familial sword to the crying sister who threw herself into the ocean asterisk but

howlin reed was there this time a new flavor to add to the story. So now we have a mystical pact, a magical sword, and tragedy between two families? The tragedy of Jojen and Meera and Howland, that Jojen has these green dreams, much like his father had, that Jojen knows his own fate and marches toward it. And there's almost something to be said in that, right? And there's almost something to be said in that, right? That sadness, because it almost makes you wonder, what if Ashara Dayne knew that her brother was marching to his death too? And when they returned the sword, what if she had already kind of known?

That sadness in Howlin' and Arthur, how the small green boy somehow takes down Westeros' finest knight, and how Ned isn't impressed, he isn't proud of it he's sad there's so much unsaid in this story that I can't wait for it to unfold for example when we eventually find out that Howland Reed threw a Ned over Arthur Dayne and that's how Ned was able to kill him right that it has to be that bug catcher Howland oh my god bug catcher yeah maybe or like i don't know do you think he's like skin changed but i don't know if he's like able to do that he's probably not strong enough it's probably a net it's a net i mean he could have distracted him by forcing him to eat a frog but i feel like it's gonna be that would distract me too yeah

that's very difficult they're like very tricksy net start well and you're swinging a you're swinging a sword around and then suddenly it's like tangled up i'm just saying that this this i'm saying that the net is like uses an example of how these people are weak or uh cowardly or they don't know how to fight but like when the moment comes where it's like either i do something right now or my friend is dead yeah alan reed decisively goes for i'm throwing a net over this guy i'm sorry but this is how it has to be does he throw we're not having fun here could he like also set a trap with it right like the the nets because we hear that they're good at traps and sort of this guerrilla warfare style does he throw we're not having fun here could he like also set a trap with it right like the the

nets because we hear that they're good at traps and sort of this guerrilla warfare style of like fighting so but like i do think a net is part of it like i think there's something like good there like turning that idea of what seems like weakness on its head i mean in the next chapter literally they trap summer they trap summer with the net and summer's unable to get out in the very next chapter. So that's actually, like, I'm not even kidding. It's not just a shit post. It could have been a net. Well, yeah, and I think it's also an example of the idea of everybody has an ability that is useful.

You can't just throw people away and be like, you don't fit this specific thing, so there's no place for you. That net came in real handy at that moment and that's really relevant in brant's plot you were talking about uh ned you know bringing back arthur dane's bones well he doesn't right he buries them all there but like that idea of bringing back i guess arthur dane's sword's sword, whatever, to Azshara, is that maybe kind of like another Stark bringing back Jojen's bones too? Exactly, precisely. Well, and it's certainly a contrast

to the way Tywin Lannister behaves when he gets a hold of ice. That Ned Stark does an honorable thing. By rights, he could have taken that sword but instead he turned it back over to the danes because it was an important symbol of their family and like there's also some kind of mystical magic and like well who gets to wield this only arthur can pull that sword out of the stone you guys i'm sorry i mean that's literally the big joke about the sword right it has It has to be claimed. Sure.

Ned couldn't activate its magic, just like, as Eliana has pointed out, Stannis couldn't activate the magic glowing table. In Dragonstone. Yeah, apparently it's just candles. I was gonna say, is it like, you know, he doesn't choose to take the sword in the same way that, you know, Bran doesn't choose to eat the rest of the bones.

Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I mean, I think it's an illustration of like how how Tywin tries to front like, oh, well, when your enemies are on their knees, you have to help them back to your feet. But then he just like

cuts their legs out from under them. Whereas the, I mean, it's true. Those are just words. But in the case of Ned Stark's behavior, he's like, the war is over. We won, but I don't have to humiliate you. It's enough that you've lost this member of your family. Here is this important symbol to your family. I'm returning it to you.

Especially as someone who has felt the loss of his brother. Of course. Yeah. I mean, that's the kind of honor I think a lot of people, and maybe it's just like big brain like show shit has ruined us all. Any TV show has ruined us all. You know, like our brains are not meant to consume this much screen time. I don't think as we're consuming these days, but like, I feel like there's a lot of, you know, not very faithful chatter about Ned's honor getting him killed.

Like, no, this is Ned's honor. I think you're all confusing what his honor truly means, right? Like his honor is this kind of thing. Like you said, he could have taken that sword. He could have been like, I'm the sword of the morning. Look at me. I'm powerful. He could have, you know, sat the throne and ruled inbert's name cruelly yeah he could have i mean the advantage he did use it for

was actually doing the job better than most people would do so it's a different sort of honor not the horse kind not the horse kind so the smell of the kitchen drifts through brand's dream like he'd never left the feast and he prowls through the trees his brother close behind the howling of the man pack in the background making them restless he wants to run to hunt the rattle of iron makes his ears prick up and his brother hears it too they bound towards the still water at the old white one, smelling the scent of a stranger, man-smell mixed with leather, earth, and iron. The intruders push into the wood. A female, a young male, no fear on them, even at their white teeth.

His brother growls low, but they do not run. The female says, Here they come. And he whispers to himself, Mira? They comment on the size of the wolves, and Jojen says, they'll be bigger yet, his green eyes unafraid. Me, sneaking away to greet the dogs. This is very you behavior. We're gonna sneak, we're gonna find them. The black one is full of fear and rage, but the gray is stronger.

Stronger than he knows. Can you feel him, sister? No, she said, moving a hand to the hilt of the long brown knife she wore. Go careful, Jojen. He won't hurt me. This is not the day I die. The male walked toward them, unafraid, and reached out for his muzzle, a touch as light as a summer breeze. Yet at the brush of those fingers, the wood dissolved, and the very ground turned to smoke beneath his feet, and swirled away laughing, and then he was spinning and falling, falling, falling. I love that. I love, actually, as we kind of talked a

little bit about their relationship, that right there spells out the dichotomy of Mira and Jojen, right? Jojen reassures her, don't be afraid, sister. I won't die here. I know when I die. And she says, uh-uh, fuck no. I got my hand on the knife. I'm going to go into big sister protect mode on your ass. Very clear characterization of these two characters within their introduction right there there's no questioning there's just more to learn on them but no questioning who they are and what they kind of stand for yet and i also really love we talked a little bit in the last chapter of some of this like conversion of language between the weirwood and bran and like

and the wolves and how bran sees through the wolves and the things and the way his brain thinks and so i love their old white one is how they see the tree right old white one and how they hear the sounds of the man pack in the background of the people getting shit show drunk in the kitchen i think that's amazing yeah absolutely and you get like it's fun because you get similar language right right? When you get to the Varamyr chapters, man pack. And the fact that then Bran goes back to falling, falling, falling, just like he did when his third eye was first open. Like, I think that every step that he takes further into that sort of realm he ends up going back to the dream of falling and every flight beginning with oh yeah interesting yeah do you think he's

like still falling and hasn't i mean he hasn't really really flown yet right like do you think like that was just a brief moment in his dream, and it could still happen at any time. I mean, it probably won't because then we won't have a story. But isn't life falling, though, until you fly a little bit, and then you fall again, and then you got to fly a little bit? I mean, there's a lot of stop and go. Yeah. Yeah, I think he has to continually take these steps so that he can like level up before he reaches his final form. Yeah, he's farming right now.

Farming by falling. Yeah, he has to open more and more and more to really let that mystical, magical stuff in. Yeah. that mystical uh magical stuff yeah kind of like how john has to die before he can yeah you know deal with the dead i mean he'll get better i guess probably uh get well soon send them the card he can't read because he's dead thoughts and prayers he never even felt before he only felt three it wasn't that bad even that bad now he can't feel anything at all yeah certainly not emotional pain speaking of feeling uh i thought this was an interesting line from jojen along with like you know the gray is strong

stronger than he knows i'm like oh you're talking about bran actually like when he says can you feel him sister is he talking about bran like can you feel bran inside of the wolf but she's like no you fucking weirdo no she's she's a very nice supportive she's a very supportive she's like i feel the hilt of this knife that's great i didn't really catch that actually and i think you you're absolutely spot on there can you feel him sister this one is stronger why is it stronger oh because bran is actively in it yeah like i think he can feel bran's presence and i don't know if it's like when he touches bran it might just be like a recoiling in general that's why bran's like loses it and starts falling but or does can jojen like push people out right push things out of like

skin changing i don't know there's also something interesting with like not just obviously the wolf is summer but Jojen's own associations with summer as well right you're talking about the mossy green of his eyes and and how it talks about how his touch is light as a summer breeze so it's probably because he's a sweet summer child who's gonna die in like I don't know a minute not this minute i mean i kind of think that the the reason that brand because we see we see roderick do it too roderick touches brand brand comes out of the waking dream uh jojen touches summer and brand comes out of the waking dream or well the sleeping dream uh but i think that it's that the the connection between bran and the human world is restored through touch

and he has to come back to himself that's really interesting that is really interesting yeah especially because you know touch is in hands that's a big part of of what fucked him up but besides hodor right who he's kind of in a fucked up way sees an extension of himself he's not really having that sort of intimacy with any other people his parents aren't there to hug him rob's not there to hug him. Rob's not there to hug him. Yeah. You know Lewin is hugging. Lewin is hugging. He does seem like a hugger. He also is like a little hair

ruffler, I feel like. I feel like he often would reach over and ruffle Bran's hair and be like, good job, Bran. Give him a pat. Roderick, too. Roderick's a ruffler. They should have stayed in that cave, you guys, and that cave was the Great Hall at Winterfell. They should have stayed in that cave. But only, cave was the great hollow winterfell they should have stayed in that cave only like tonight only this night because as soon as they leave all the bad things start happening again all of them was a good party absolutely all of them

yeah and i'm gonna be honest the party wouldn't have been the same without your presence i'm so glad you could attend the harvest feast thisast this year, Courtney. That was... Thank you. Why do you think she came all this way? Oh, my God. Oh, God. You know what? I was actually planning on saying that. But you got it in first. So I'll just say

that it is difficult for me to leave my home, but for you two, worth it thank you we're so blessed to have had you for this feast thank you so much and thank you for sharing your thoughts and your produce with us

all the time that's I mean I don't know which is better truly the fruits yeah the things she produces or the produce she gathers thank you for gathering your thoughts so that we might harvest The fruits, yeah. The things she produces or the produce she gathers. Sick burn, Chloe. Sick burn. Thank you for gathering your thoughts so that we might harvest them.

Oh my god. And share them. Jesus fucking Christ. So that we may all feast upon your brilliance. That's what I'm here for. She came all this way. As she said. Yeah. Who has a better story than me who has a better story than you oh my god

it's true it's true and we will miss you next week when we leave the feast when we go towards some drama begins soon you know next week is a fun Bran and the reeds start to get to know one another next week and things get a little weird, you know, a little tense, but soon the story's about to take off.

I can't believe we're going to get to the end of this book, to everything that happens, and we have to leave Winterfell. Yeah, and by next week, we mean the week after because we actually are going to be at our own harvest feast and continuing that, and therefore we'll not have an episode but we will have our brunch slash happy hour on saturday uh november 26th yeah we'll be back in december you'll hear from us in december as winter has truly come and we'll be back on track for bran as well as those his dark materials

episodes we mentioned earlier yeah and if you want to keep up with whenever any of those episodes come out, you can by following us on social media at twitter.com slash girlsgonecanon, that's C-A-N-O-N or you can also always send us an email, as people do, at

girlsgonecanon at gmail.com And if you haven't already, please, please, please subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform where you listen to us dearly all the time or leave us a review eliana's fond of those you can find us over at spotify google play apple podcasts iheart radio pandora audible stitcher acast you name it we're there and of course you can always find us on patreon at patreon.com slash girls gone canon we are patrons in the five dollar tier and above the stranger tier and above do you still get one more episode this month the queen's guard yeah i'm so excited

to talk about the queens and their guard and like eliana mentioned we'll be having brunch for our thunder tier patrons and above the $10 tier and above. That, again, can be accessed by logging on at patreon.com slash girlsgonecanon. As always, I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I have been another one of your hosts, Eliana. And thank you to our other host, our guest here. I was here, too. I mean, we've got a feast without

a guest. True. Two is dinner, but three, that's a feast. Absolutely. That's a feast for crows. No, that's four. Thanks, everyone. Oh my god, good. Bye. you you you