Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 214 — ASOS Arya VII

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

Dead man walking and hanging the Bloody Mummers. A dog returns to beg.  Chloe's "girls rock" anthems for Arya:  Comeback kid - sleigh bells Wolf like me - tv on the radio Abraham’s Daughter by Arc...ade Fire Fangless by Sleater Kinney Human Behavior by Bjork Listen to more from her playlist, "I am a Direwolf, and done with wooden teeth"  Background music:  "Past the Edge" 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: liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello, and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Reads A Song Of Ice And Fire, episode 214, Aria 7 in A Storm Of Sw of swords i am one of your hosts chloe and i am another one of your hosts eliana are you ready for the return of sandor again i'm i'm so ready for who let the dogs in it was me yeah the dogs in he left but who brought the dog back yeah i'm excited for sandor as always i i hope that i didn't go too ham last week on sandor you know i'm trying to effectively budget out my sandor obsession across the next several chapters rationing it yeah we're rationing out in this place. But I'm excited.
Starting point is 00:01:07 I'm excited that we're so close to you not saying, are you ready? That's going to be a time for me. What if I keep it for forever? All right, well, we'll workshop that offline. That's a compromise we can make. Welcome back. We are excited to jump back into A Storm of Swords,
Starting point is 00:01:27 into another chapter with the Brotherhood with Aria. But first, housekeeping. Get ready, patrons in the Stranger tier and above. Five bucks and up, because you will have, at the end of the month, a brand new bonus episode. And that episode will be, of course, on the Hunger Games. As I've annotated in our personal notes hungy games uh yeah part two of our hunger games episode on the book the hunger games by
Starting point is 00:01:55 suzanne collins some respect on that name she's wonderful miss collins i'm having fun with these we're actually getting pretty deep into them. I think we'll finish up this probably next month. I'm sure we'll want to get to Braavos at some point. It's been a while. Ooh, Braavos. Interesting. Sounds nice in this crisp January
Starting point is 00:02:17 we're having on the East Coast. Yeah, a return to our Free Cities series. I'm also, I mean, I think everyone can hear it if you've listened to our first Hunger Games episode. We are hype. We are hype. More like the hype games.
Starting point is 00:02:33 Hyper games. Nope, hyper is its own word. But it's like we never left the arena. Wait, I don't know. Wait, that is one of the themes. That is, no, that's literally one of the themes. Okay. Anyways.
Starting point is 00:02:47 Anyways. Speaking of other things on Patreon, patrons in the Thunder Tier and above, $10 and up, get access to our special Patreon Discord, which comes with fun channels where right now there's a hop in conversation on CK3. Also. It is hopping. It is hopping. It's so far I've come to the realization that CK3 might be like MySpace top eight, unsure.
Starting point is 00:03:13 But Chloe can provide more insight. We also have, of course, our monthly happy hour slash brunch. Yeah, y'all are gonna have to excuse us if we just burst into ck3 right i feel like it's just been real one of our patrons and friends alex has joined up in the chaos they've been playing ck3 they had this run i think as rhaegar or as a targaryen during robert's rebellion and i think they had like 107 children many of them bastards or some it's crazy it's wild we're all having fun posting our little screenshots you know uh the history of westeros group they do a lot of the ck3ing a game of thrones mod
Starting point is 00:03:50 crusader kings 3 game of thrones mod and it's a blast we're all sharing mods in our server too i'm sure you'll if you're in the discord you'll probably see us stream it at one point i'm sure we'll jump on and play at the same time fucking nerds i don't know we've just been having a lot of fun it's. It's a silly game, but it's a very fun way to embrace a world that you love, right? Westeros. And kind of play around with some of the dynamics
Starting point is 00:04:13 and places, and it's beautifully done, the mod is. So, big high five to them. Yeah, our Discord brunch in February. You just missed our January, but you can sign up for February. It's coming. February 17th. a little belated Galentine's Day activities. I'm sure we'll probably play some reindeer games or something on there. Some Jackbox games.
Starting point is 00:04:34 I don't know. But 2-4 ET, you can come hang with us. Indeed. So look forward to all of that. And of course, more Aria episodes. But before that, our first emails and tweets of note of 2024 yes speaking of our
Starting point is 00:04:52 friend Alex with the 107 bastards um from CK3 they sent us an email and they're always a traveling they've been catching up on some Patreon episodes and some other episodes they've been commenting up on some Patreon episodes and some other episodes. They've been commenting in the Discord on it and keeping us updated as they progress.
Starting point is 00:05:08 But they said, After several starts, stops, and a fuckton of flights, I've caught up with the main cast episode. Rip, Men Gone Canon, 2023-2023. You lasted longer than Arya's innocence, but shorter than her murder list. Truly gone too soon. If there's one thing we love, it's validation. We did love Men Gone Canon. It was truly a podcast that we loved.
Starting point is 00:05:30 Alex has been enjoying the Arya coverage. Comparing her stint in Harrenhal with a corporate American job was inspired. Alex has always thought Arya was one of, if not the easiest Stark to enjoy in POV. Not as esoteric, but still a little magical, like Bran. Feminine, but not overtly feminine like sansa's plot martial but not brooding or angsty unlike john aria has catalan's ferocity and speak truth to powerness but isn't directly clashing or challenging the holders of her systems of power and more popular characters aria has ned's starkness, but without the acedia and keeping her head thus far.
Starting point is 00:06:05 Yeah, that's true. Arya is action-oriented, insightful, and though she doesn't always understand the world that she's inhabiting, the adult world that she's inhabiting, even when she's pushed to the background, she's active and precocious. And of course, she becomes a death cult's murder ninja assassin spy while still retaining and growing her warg powers. So my easy question for you both today is if you had to envision the most horrific and tragic end that makes you weep for aria what would it be and why what the fuck alex why would you attack so xoxo your loyal zorse gossip girl wow and there's a bonus question that's way happier but i want to hear first from you eliana
Starting point is 00:06:45 what's your horrific tragic ending for aria i think for me the most horrific and tragic ending for aria would be like just completely losing herself and staying at the house of black and white like yeah for me that's what i think would be saddest we Or going back to it. Yeah, yeah. Or like, just just never leave. Yeah, going back to it or never leaving. Like for me, that's saddest. Mending for Arya. Yeah, that like her going back and trying to get in it reminds me a little bit of Bitterblooms. Even of her going back trying. Yeah, check out our Patreon episode on that. I really like that episode. Bitterblooms. Yeah, I love that. I like that episode bitter blooms yeah i love that i love that story that was awesome that germ novella you guys got to check it out if you haven't but there's a character that gets basically cast out of a certain eden in some ways that she
Starting point is 00:07:34 thought was evil and then goes back and tries to get back in because you know life is fucking meaningless so that's just the long short really there's a lot more depth in the actual story i think you should all listen to it but yeah her going back for it would make me so sad. And her dying, like in general, I really am an anti. When I was like younger, you know, a young girl and knew little of the ways of war in Aeswath, I really thought that all that silly foreshadowing was there to say Arya's gonna die, needle in hand, frozen, do-do-do-do. And I actually think that would be stupid and tragic. And I don't know, that would make me weep. Like, I'd be like, really sad about that. I don't think that George would be allowed to do that because Paris would murder him. But I just think that it would be a very sad, yeah, I don't know, going back is probably more tragic and horrific. I don't know if I even have horrific. It's just like a dumb ending. So that's not really sad. For me, like, it depends on how she dies. Like if for me, like if she dies out there fighting, but she's herself, she's Arya. For me, that's somehow like less sad than her living all this
Starting point is 00:08:36 time as basically a broken man. You know? Mm hmm. Agree. I want her to have somewhat of like, at least a sweet-ish, like bittersweet, sweet, sweet yeah bitter bloom sweet yeah I don't know I used to be very like on the Arya's gonna die stupid ass train and now I'm like no that girl's gonna live it's all gonna work out my poor girl I think it's what we've been discussing right like she this idea of Arya right that identity might die in the way that the hound is dead. Yeah, she kills off her murder baby identity. And I want healing for her, you know, my ultimate ending. I don't mind the show ending. I know that's very controversial to say, since no one talks about that show anymore. But I don't mind it in a way because for me, it's like it's a good way for her to go adventure,
Starting point is 00:09:21 not necessarily off in the West, you know, Farman style, but for her to go off and like find herself and be able to do that and explore who she is and be allowed to do that with no societal, you know, like blockers in her way and no big war in her way. I think that would be good for her. Yeah, I think essentially, like, I'm about to spoil fucking the ending of the Shadow and Bone books, but just the original trilogy. But essentially that sort of idea, right? Being able to just live a life of anonymity and, as you said, healing, I think is something that would be good for her. I just think that the show executed it really stupidly. Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely and as you said not necessarily exploring out in the west but this idea of just yeah what the ending is of just the original trilogy of shadow and boat i know like it expands and other things happen um that one day i'm gonna get to those books i've
Starting point is 00:10:16 started but you gotta finish them they're so good i know i know i i need to but i have so many things on my list i say that about every book i'm'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. That's what our friendship is built on, I think. I'm here to guilt you to finish books. Don't workshop me. It does. Write it down, folks. Okay, let's talk about the bonus question Alex gave us. This is a fun one. You know I was excited when I saw this. In fact, like, I read the entire email, and it was a great email, but this is what stuck out to me and it's all i thought about for like two days bonus question what girls rock anthems do you think aria listens to while she practices her needlework um i didn't think hard enough about this question i kind of forgot there's a bonus question you go first wow
Starting point is 00:11:01 there are two types of hosts on this podcast guilt breaks on me holy shit there are two hosts well you're lucky eliana you're lucky for me because while you may not have thought very hard about this question i've made it so you don't have to because i have a very carefully curated aria stark playlist on spotify we'll link. You can look it up and find it. It's A-S-O-I-A-S colon I am a dire wolf and done with wooden teeth. Curated for Arya Stark. There's a lot of bubblegum kind of
Starting point is 00:11:34 you know, Riot Grrrl pop rock synth, hyper rock ballads. Some of the highlights I would say include which are my, you know, Arya's little ballads. Things I can kind of imagine her i don't know like in the riverlands fighting with needle seeing her dance around water dance around i can hear her doing that with this playlist in a lot of songs but uh comeback kid by sleigh bells
Starting point is 00:11:57 is that one for sure very you know it's actually kind of upbeat peppy uh wolf like me tv on the radio okay interesting abraham's daughter by arcade fire okay yeah i know there are some dudes i'm sorry dudes sometimes do rock and we have to let them rock but they don't really have much of a place here but there's more fangless by sleeter kinney and uh human behavior by bjork and these are all just songs when we think of aria but comeback kid by sleigh bells like, was my number one first thing I thought of. Because it's just very, you can just see her going around stabbing to it, you know, and I know that's maybe, maybe that's not your definition of girls rock, but it's mine. give me some time to think about this I need to think about this deeper because obviously I'm going to come back maybe something will come to me throughout this episode
Starting point is 00:12:50 while I scroll through Spotify and think about things but yeah don't have to you owe us a song at least okay thank you Alex for this email love hearing from you thank you
Starting point is 00:13:06 and yeah spurred some good conversation we have another email from our friend lo who always has bangers speaking of bangers yeah our friend lo sent us an email about aria 6 and wanted to send in some thoughts and of course disclaimers that low points out they're not one-one comparisons to you know real events and fiction's not real life right like we get that in fiction we understand why characters do bad stuff we enjoy reading about characters who are immoral yada yada yada real world etc so coming back to aria 6 in a storm of swords at this point in time the brotherhood without banners listing the names of Lannister men have killed, hit me even more than before. All of these people we've never heard of before, but who someone remembers and wants justice for. Sandor might rightly wonder who the fuck they are and why he's accused of their deaths, but like Beric says,
Starting point is 00:13:57 they were people. Innocent people being slaughtered in a war that they have nothing to do with. It hit me even harder this time around. I think that's probably because for the past few months, social media has been filled with images of wounded and dying people, and it feels powerless to stop it. Sharing lists of the dead, boycotting companies, joining protests, I write letters to politicians, but it still feels like they don't give a shit. Tens of thousands of people are dying right in front of our eyes, and those in charge do not care.
Starting point is 00:14:22 I don't know anyone personally affected, but if you're in a situation like that and the people you love are being killed, you feel powerless. You might even feel like you have to try to do something, punish someone. So yes, the Brotherhood goes after Sandor, even if he's not to blame for these specific deaths or the Westerosi military-industrial complex. But he represents that for them, and many of them are desperate to punish someone. As readers, we get that Sandor already lives in hell, but to people whose families have been killed and feel like no one cares, he's just a Lannister dog. The beauty of fiction is we can understand these sides, and we can sympathize. In real life, the stakes are higher. We can't both sides it.
Starting point is 00:14:57 I wish the Brotherhood would put the Lannister regime on trial instead of Sandor, but unfortunately, Westeros doesn't have a version of the Hague. So while this trial is suboptimal, I get why they do it, why they want to do it. So I was really glad that Lo sent this email after that episode because I know we didn't dive that deeply into it. I thought it was like a really great explanation of, even though we made fun of it, there is absolutely a human desire behind why the Brotherhood Without Banners does put Sandor on trial for that. And there is, I think, something really poetic also about the reading a lot of the names. And as Lo said, right, like these people who are not real, but like in real life, you know, this kind of thing is like, there are real people who matter and who are human behind all of that. And it makes sense to want to do something,
Starting point is 00:15:53 to want something tangible that feels like justice in order to feel as though you are doing something in the face of being powerless. I think power is the ability to do. That is what power is in many ways. The ability to do, the ability to have choice choice and i think that calling out that sandor is put on trial for all these things you know as as low says right like he's not to blame for these specific deaths or the westerosi military industrial complex and yeah they don't have the hague i think the fucking westerosi government would be put like on trial or something in general but you'd have to just start all over like control out the whole country dude you just have to um but like sandor is scapegoated in this moment right he's being made to stand in for these crimes that he has nothing to do with and i think that's
Starting point is 00:16:41 something that i love that low called out because I think that's something that George is definitely exploring in this book, that very human desire to want to have control over a situation and then scapegoating someone for it. Like Sandor is one here for the brotherhood without banners standing in for things. We see it with the way that Catelyn can't, doesn't have the power or doesn't feel like she can blame Ned for having a bastard and scapegoats Jon. Like, Jon
Starting point is 00:17:12 ends up standing in for all of those issues and crimes and for threats against her family and all bastards, right? And then you also see it even with, like, I mean, speaking of someone standing in for the crimes of something that they didn't do and for a regime, Sansa, in the throne room being beaten. So I think like it's something that George is definitely exploring that, you know, calling out that this is our human impulse to want this, to want justice and power over our lives and taking it out on other people. I think it's important because I think that's definitely what he's saying, right?
Starting point is 00:17:50 Thematic scapegoating. I mean, it's set up throughout this entire book, the epilogue, right? It's set up later with Stoneheart with the phrase. This exact trial and scapegoating is kind of paralleling that. The trial that is being given to the phrase that are being found across the Riverlands. I mean, we meet pathetic Peter Pimple, who, I mean, let's be real, was he the number one Lannister and Frey conspirator, would you say Peter Pimple? pimpel he's just a he's not the mastermind right i even think about on a smaller scale right they lay with lions the women that are hanged that we come across later this this kind of unraveling of justice and what justice really means and what it stands for in the riverlands during this time were those women who fucked lannister men were they fucking the lannister soldiers should they
Starting point is 00:18:43 have been hanged and put on trial for that I mean it's a very complicated world of where there's no longer really one law even in Westeros when you hit a real trial right and there's two trials here to bring up for Tyrion one Catelyn taking him for his brother's crimes really right takingion. And then of course, that trial, I wouldn't say is very fair, that trial by combat. And then his next trial in Westeros that is supposed to be a real trial put on by the kingdom, put on by the fucking government in front of all of gods and men and whatever. And it's stacked with lies. And it's not fair at all. It's not a real trial. This trial, just like those, it's spectacle.
Starting point is 00:19:26 It's not really justice, right? It's zealous grandstanding to please those people in a way and to keep them happy. And I feel for the small folk because what else do they have that is even tangible that's anything of justice? They don't have food. Everything they have has been destroyed. Why not put it on Sandor? And it's interesting to like bring it into an idea of his actual crimes, right? Like what is he on trial for? These people's deaths, sure. But as Arya shouts with her little voice, like he did do a crime. He murdered Micah.
Starting point is 00:19:56 That is a crime, right? Sandor was not brave enough to stop and step out of this code that he adheres to and following the Lannisters to not kill a child. Like that 12 year old boy is representative of little Sandor. That's how old he was when he had his face pressed into the embers by his brother. Like Sandor, that's you. That's you you just killed. You murdered a kid that had no chance of surviving in life and you could have helped him. That's a crime. That's a real crime he should have maybe been trialed for you contrast it against this chapter we're about to read white right with the with the attack on the mummers there is no trial the mummers are bad we know that and they're murdered they are run down they are burnt out and they are murdered i find it very
Starting point is 00:20:40 interesting the uh spectacle of trial even here by people that, let's be real, as we listen to Beric and Thoros talk in this chapter, I would say they are more than capable of putting on a real fair judicial trial. Yeah, I think that's great that you've called it out as a spectacle because that is what is happening, right? It's basically, you know, it's the five minute hate for the Brotherhood Without Banners. But as you said, right, the mummers are, they are guilty. And I think that's why it's great to also have this email in this chapter, because is this the best version of a trial? No, but it does feel much more just to put the mummers on trial for these things because
Starting point is 00:21:18 the mummers have directly been terrorizing all of these people and these lands. Those crimes are there, tangible. And as you said, Sandor does have actual crimes to be laid at his feet. I think it would even be fine to try him for you supported a traitor's house or something, right? You serve traitors, speaking of the Lannister regime, but not necessarily for like those specific people's deaths. And I mean, because he did, right? He was complicit in that system for a long time, same way as again, like as we brought up last time, like we judge Barristan Selmy for being, for supporting Ares, right? Or the other Kingsguard for standing by while Ares, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:04 did all of his terrible crimes. And it also, you brought up like Tyrion's trial, right? As you said, like that trial, especially that parallels this one in the, in the veil, that one was an absolute farce. But like, if Tyrion were the one who was on trial here against the Brotherhood without banners, I actually think, in my opinion, I'd be like, that might hold a little bit of water to me because I'm like, Tyrion, even if he did not directly, you know, kill these people, he's part of the family that is directly benefiting and mandating all of these crimes. And I'm like, actually, like Tyrion could be the one put on trial here in front of the Brotherhood Without Banners for those deaths. So yeah, look, Sandor, of course, is my baby boo-boo kitten.
Starting point is 00:22:48 We've been over this. But yeah, it was probably not good that he murdered a kid. And it was probably not great that he stayed working there, though I don't know how you're supposed to quit the king's service, to be fair. But he did. You can. He did do it. You can.
Starting point is 00:23:02 It's just then you're an outlaw and wanted by all sorts of people. And then you get put on a trial that's totally unfair that traumatizes you. Anyways, PTSD. Anyways, but um, to catch up with where we are in the book. But yeah, like, yeah, it's not good. But take him for the crimes that he's actually accused of for sure. And Tyrion, same thing. My other boo boo kitten, you know, I mean, I won't protect him. He does his own crime. He can, you know, serve his own time, but also properly, properly charge him. Yeah. And I will say, like, you know, I think this line that, um, from those email, like, as readers, we get that Sandor already lives in hell, but to the people whose families have been killed and feel like no one cares, he's just a Lannister dog, which is true. And I think it's not even just about the readers knowing that Sandor is already punishing himself, already lives with a punishment for doing these things. I think I just have this visceral reaction to holding someone accountable for the crimes of a group in general because I
Starting point is 00:24:07 think that, not to slippery slope this, but it can get to that. That's how you end up with things like prejudice or hate crimes. I think of how when I go on the metro, or like any sort of public transportation, I don't stand next to the train anymore, you know, I sit down, or I make sure my back is against the wall. So no one can like, push me and like the ways that I've changed my way of living around that. So I think that's just something that I like, like, wait, wait, how is Sandor responsible for all of these things? And that's just something that i like like wait wait how is sandor responsible for all of these things and that's just something that i react to viscerally but i think it is fair to say that sandor is slash was very complicit in that system and as you said he has actual crimes
Starting point is 00:24:58 and and then it goes to systemic like the system in general like you like i said though how does he quit like obviously he quits and then he's a wanted man. And if he shows up anywhere, there's nowhere that's really, I mean, even as we see by the end of the chapter, there's nowhere for him to go. Where does he end up? The quiet aisle, the only place in the fucking universe left for him to go without going, you know, across the narrow sea. And it's like, it gets into a whole entire conversation of the
Starting point is 00:25:26 rehabilitation of people too right like the dehumanization as well of all humans when you start thinking of people as a number you begin to dehumanize them you know above your brain with dunbar's number you can only hold up to a certain amount of people in your brain and sympathize and empathize for that many people that's just how we're built as a human being. That's okay. That's a theorem. But you know, the whole point of the story in the face of the others, I think, you know, to the dehumanization, and some of the reanimation as we're talking about this chapter, and later on in the book when we reanimate mommy dearest i mean to your point is what you're saying like making sure that people don't just become a number that's same as what low is saying
Starting point is 00:26:11 right like of yeah that's why it's such a powerful moment even though like what's happening to sandor is unfair that what happened to all these other people and the people that they lost those names like that's unfair too and yeah i think that there's a lot of like complexity in these scenes and with these two chapters and definitely indicative of like the unraveling of the brotherhood without banners that would come for sure too you know this was the peak this was the peak of their knighthood and then soon the schism comes yeah so i think this was like a really this was a great response to and like unpacking of that scene from low so thank you yeah thank you low and thank you all for listening to us chat about
Starting point is 00:26:51 this because honestly it spurred a lot of conversation in the past day with us i was and i'm not even kidding i was like oh my god yes we were going at it we were just like messaging with all these thoughts and concepts and ideas and it it made us think. It was a thinker, a navel gazer, if you will. And I think it's a good scene setting for this chapter as well. And last, we have a comment on Patreon from our friend Clara, who I thought this was really cool in response to some of what you were saying last chapter about the Wizard of Oz, because I'm learning that I guess I don't know very much about the wizard of oz but oh i mean i've watched the movie several times but like yeah this is great from clara this is really great because especially because some of
Starting point is 00:27:38 it is kind of what i didn't get into so i love a comment as you all know, and Clara said, So some thoughts on The Wizard of Oz and the Aswath Middle books, Riverland plots. I reread the first Wizard of Oz chapter the other day, and I forgot how absolutely bleak Dorothy's life in Kansas is. Aunt Em slowly goes gray and forgets how to laugh. Uncle Henry is obviously constantly working, seemingly alone, and they all live in total poverty. Honestly, it sounds like a medieval surf life, or at least a modern perception. Maybe there's some comparison there between Kansas and the people of the Riverlands, impoverished and forgotten. There are obvious parallels between Aria and Dorothy as they're both unexpectedly pulled into adventures. Dorothy's are much more
Starting point is 00:28:20 fun, with plenty of color, magic, etc. but both girls just want to get home yeah absolutely some great comparisons with the people of the riverlands in there with the impoverished and forgotten especially with the land and some of the battles outside of oz that are outlining and then you know i mean the whole idea of aunt m and uncle henry and the home and living in total poverty and it being taken away by the wicked witch in real time as well as in the subconscious dream that is into the land of Oz. I think that's so interesting. I definitely see a little bit of it creeping in. And I don't see as much of it in this chapter. I definitely think George is just playing around with that one. Because I really don't think we call Beric Scarecrow ever again after that. But
Starting point is 00:29:04 Oh, yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. of that one because i really don't think we call barrack scarecrow ever again after that but oh yeah interesting yeah yeah but great points with aria and dorothy right being pulled into adventures and i love the comparison of color and magic in this other world where right now she's in a world with no magic but when she goes to bravos right i would say bravos is a world filled with a little bit of magic and color not necessarily necessarily the House of Black and White, but around it. True. And dog. And dog. What?
Starting point is 00:29:29 Dorothy has a dog. It's true. Yes, it's true. Well, thank you, Clara. I love this comment. Yeah, maybe we gotta reread this after all. Us last week. It's not our thing.
Starting point is 00:29:38 Us today. Maybe we'll reread it. You never know. What, The Wizard of Oz? Yeah. It's not that long. I've never read it. You haven't? No. You should read it. You should read everything. That's what the wizard of oz yeah it's not that long i've never i've never read it you haven't no you should read it you should read everything that's what i was saying list yeah i don't know much about it okay open up your your story graph or goodreads or whatever you got
Starting point is 00:29:55 and i guess we're rereading no it's just my head oh that's scary yeah right it's scary i don't even use bookmarks did you know that i just open up the page and i'm like yeah that's where i left off oh yeah wow i'm afraid of you there are two types of podcast co-hosts wait what do you use what do you use a bookmark i e-read but i usually will use a bookmark if i'm paper reading yeah you read myread and I bookmark I bookmark my e-read I let the the little doodad you know keep my place but with physical books I only read like at night a lot like sometimes during the day I'll really get into it but like I'm really good at reading at like 1 a.m 5 a.m 7 a.m those are great times for me when I wake up randomly and I can't go
Starting point is 00:30:41 back to bed insomnia is what I'm saying. And like, that's when I do my best reading. I'll get I'll knock a couple hundy pages out, I'll be like feeling good. But I also pass out sometimes reading. So like, often I'll fall asleep, and I'll realize I wake up and like, totally no clue where I am. Maybe the last few, you know, etc. So I try to bookmark like the last bit of consciousness that's left, I try to put bookmark down. For me, sometimes I end up restarting something and I'll realize, oh, I might have already read these. But I think I find that useful because I'm like, well, clearly, if I remember it that well, then that means I didn't really internalize it. So I just like do it. I just let my, I just let my, I don't know, soul tell me where to open the book.
Starting point is 00:31:22 You're learning a lot about you today so there's that you know you never stop learning about each other in a marriage yeah that's true do all right we gotta jump into this lightning round before we get to the lord of lightning the lord of lightning round yeah here's what we missed from last time to this time cadlyn for hoster's funeral hangs over Riverrun. Hangs? Rob gets word of Duskendale as well as Winterfell. Not great. Not great. Davos IV. Davos is brought before the king and rises a lord and his new hand.
Starting point is 00:31:58 Stannis uses king's blood to doom three usurpers. Jaime V. In the bathhouse at Harrenhal, Jaime reveals the truth of his nickname to Brienne. Later, they dine with Roose Bolton. Hmm. Tyrion V. The Red Viper arrives in King's Landing, causing waves.
Starting point is 00:32:16 Sexy, sexy waves. And here we are at Arya VII in a storm of swords, where, after a bloody, fiery battle at the Sceptre, thoros and beric lay down some philosophy gendry becomes a knight of the hollow and a dog returns to beg so we open with the mummers posting guards around the building but the brotherhood falls on them one by one yes i love this description i have to call this out he tumbled bonelessly down the steep slate
Starting point is 00:32:46 pitch oh man i was in ribbons just giggling about this one this week bonelessly no bones no bones day forever at cons that was a thing do you remember that ever did you ever witnesses at a convention there was a thing where you can i learned it at a con maybe it was not maybe not maybe not maybe i went elsewhere you go to hug someone and then you say no bones and you just fall to the ground and take them with you no i don't remember that i don't think i know no bones uh you can only really do it with people you really know it's probably pretty fucked up i don't know people no people will you know how anime conventions were people would do that with people they didn't know probably yeah all the time so i like that they're fighting the mummers it's a fun detail i think considering that last chapter i
Starting point is 00:33:34 mean it's not a detail it's pretty important for the whole chapter but whatever considering how last chapter standard was all like you fucking brave companions so i thought that was fun also thinking like thinking cap on maybe i already said this a few chapters ago but i don't remember 2023 was so long ago aria is aria a bloody mummer not with like the capitals like going along with the group but i just mean like literally like in a troop you never know you never know you never know this is kind of like the last time we see the mummers as a somewhat unified front zolo dies kyle and waddy i think your swick is still on the run though and we might see him in sam chapters later in old town who knows but interesting exit
Starting point is 00:34:18 and i like what you've called out here about how sandor kind of made fun of them the last chapter and it was like oh such brave fucking companions, when they are trying to do some good. Oh, the Brotherhood? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And I mean, technically, the Brotherhood are, in fact, companions who are brave. Just lowercase.
Starting point is 00:34:37 Same as Arya as a bloody mummer, but lowercase. It's not their fault that the mummers have co-opted that group name already. Yeah, they trademarked the terms. No one owns words, okay? I do hate when that happens, you know? Remember when Taylor Swift tried to trademark this sick beat? I did not. I forgot about that, but that's very funny. LMAO. We love Taylor Swift's music on here.
Starting point is 00:35:00 Very funny. LMAO. We love Taylor Swift's music on here. Arya watches the battle from her horse on the crest of a wooded ridge overlooking the septry and the little town. The trees are bare and she has a clear view. She hates being left behind like a child, but Gendry was left back with her too. So she feels a little better about that. The very beginning of this battle is written, and I think Nautica has talked about this,
Starting point is 00:35:24 so sorry, parallel thought. The beginning of this battle reminds me of Cat, right? Watching from Whispering Wood, watching overhead. There's an interesting line from our budding child soldier saying, in battle you had to obey, which is another very Catelyn line, too, when you think about it. She's obeyed her whole life. She's obeyed her whole life. Oh, that's true. That's a great comparison between Arya and Kat. And yeah, there's parallels with earlier chapters. I was also thinking like, we talk about Arya leveling up in skills for later on in the story. And I think this is actually really interesting
Starting point is 00:36:02 for her lessons and development. Being with the brotherhood without banners and watching them do this like raid or whatever because it teaches her the kinds of like military or strategies and tactics of leading attacks especially doing so in darkness and also attacks that start with stealth and you know these guerrilla warfare and like group attacks and then also as you called out right like needing to obey when it comes to doing those sorts of group attacks because so far she's been doing most of like her fighting solo she's been drafting the plans yeah who let her draft the plans like when they killed the guards the uh yeah the bolton
Starting point is 00:36:43 guards yeah at heron hall it was sloppily done at the end of the day and she knows that because she thinks that she's like they'd figure it out soon enough but oh well because of who has access where and what she had access to but now she's learning to your point that's great she's learning all these different stratagem and she's gonna learn a lot more when it comes to the house of black and white and her training trainings there those are yeah and like those are like individual right but these are like group the group which is kind of fun yeah and then she learns to how to operate within a group because of that the rain threatens to fall morning mists have taken its place and flaming arrows are the weapon of choice as the
Starting point is 00:37:21 brotherhood break in killing axemen and other guards as they enter on guy has arrows made of bowed kittens as well as broadheads aria decides she's going to learn to shoot a bow seeing the good in being able to shoot arrows from afar there's that bow foreshadowing that you've brought up it uh it comes up once more yeah i still like don't know i'm like is it gonna happen but as you pointed out it's come up so many times now that I'm like, I guess it must happen eventually. It could still happen. I mean, there's all that stuff about Long Night. Yeah, there's all that stuff about Weirwood bows that like would definitely suit her. And we've been talking about Master of Whispers stuff and Bloodraven had one and he was a Master of Whispers and like, I don't know. It's just one of those things that again, is more plausible with like,
Starting point is 00:38:03 the five year gap time span, but we can shoehorn it in there. And I think it's also kind of funny because the show, our very first introduction to Arya in the show adaptation, sorry, not adaptation, in the original version of this story that was the show, Arya comes in already knowing how to shoot a bow right like she shows up bran interesting yeah she's already practiced by then well maybe they knew something we don't know does she shoot a bow at the show i don't remember i mean later on and oh later no absolutely not no she has her dagger and she has needle i I don't remember what happens later on. What a fever dream. Yeah, I don't think she shoots at all later on,
Starting point is 00:38:50 but I could see during the long night it would be very useful to be able to shoot flaming arrows, probably. Well, being able to shoot terrifying ice demons from afar and take them out in general seems useful. Yeah. And, yeah, trebuchet some burning babies. And to that same point you know i mean
Starting point is 00:39:08 oh right that's that's what relore would do that's what relore would have us do but like you said she's learning a lot about different weapons in the arsenal and different ways to operate within a group outside of a group solo and all these different strategies and she'll probably have to perfect some other weapons as well yeah so you never know it could happen she's perfecting poison no she is she literally is so sanza that was her storyline um true oh sisters perfecting poison together I actually love that. Amirish crossbowman pokes his head out and gets a bolt out, and then he ducks. And Arya hears fighting at the stables,
Starting point is 00:39:51 the scream of horses and steel, and she thinks fiercely, kill them all, biting her lips so hard she tastes blood. Eventually, they start to smoke the men out of the sceptre with flaming arrows, and out comes two Ibnis mummers, behind them a Dothraki with a great curved iraq
Starting point is 00:40:05 and behind him three valentine sellswords with face tattoos barak shouts and the rest of his men come pouring in steel in hand arya sees lem's yellow cloak flapping as he rides after a man and the battle continues she spots ned dane fighting at barak's side and she thinks it's unfair he's only a little older than her she She should be able to fight too. So my hot take here is that when you're that age, like the two years age difference or however many years of age difference
Starting point is 00:40:34 between them and experience on the field does probably make a big difference in something like this. Also, he can probably actually fucking shoot a bow. Aria. So range attacks. But also she's a hostage and a very friends in something like this also he can probably actually fucking shoot a bow aria so range attacks but also she's a hostage and a very valuable one and you don't just go out there fighting with your most expensive shit it's interesting because he's basically he's a squire
Starting point is 00:40:53 he is now a squire for barrack where he grew up cup bearing he was sent to be his cup bearer if i remember and we'll get into that next episode i'm not going to go too far into dane stuff today you know we've got a lot to cover still that's next episode because y'all know are you eight is coming up get some ashara dane mansion get some but but yeah like she's a hostage though like that's the other thing so like he's been training for years with barrick and he's supposed to. He was given to Beric as like part of a, yeah, fair deal. You marry Illyria and here's Ned. He's going to come with you and be your little squire, your cupbearer, then your squire and you know, your page boy and deal with him. That's our little, it's our little family familial exchange going on. Uh, he's already expected to be on the field and fighting,
Starting point is 00:41:42 but Arya, they can't risk that. She's worth so much money. They're not going to get money by returning Ned. This is literally what, as you said, this is what Ned's supposed to do. This is his career path. This is his internship. He's interning, getting on the job experience out there right now. But that said, like, it sucks
Starting point is 00:41:56 because it's Westeros, obviously. So societally, this isn't a thing. Girls get exchanged as hostages and they get to go like do their needlework and play and whatever. But why can't the more you know the women that want to go into battle the kids that want to go into battle or learn swordsmanship and martial education you know like why can't they go get it i think like so for example during granted times were different during the dance of the dragons you had women fighting right and they could and that would be fine i think it's partially it's for the most part it's like her age and the
Starting point is 00:42:29 hostage status because like you know even brienne is like no you're a fucking hostage you're not gonna fight jb don't be silly yeah it's really hot because that's such a big problem if something happens to her right like that is the money that's the money aria because then word gets out that they had aria stark as a hostage and then they lost her and she's dead which is what the lannisters are currently freaking out about having happened that's true i mean like a they would be like wow that really sucks that's big sad but also they would be like the money yeah yeah and then also like the starks would probably come down upon them once they learned no one has to know they don't have to know oh my god all right well when the battle's won the
Starting point is 00:43:11 companions that are left either die or throw down their swords two dothraki manage to flee but only because barak lets them saying they can carry word back to harrenhal they search for captives in the burning town and they find a septon and brown brothers about eight of them the septon is not a new character to us it's septon ut who wails i have sinned aria remembers shagwell saying that ut always wept and prayed for forgiveness after he killed his latest boy and sometimes made the mummers scourge him being Ugh. Being, like, reminded of his crimes slash seeing more of them firsthand in this chapter is awful. You know, pedophile, murderer, the fact that it's a repeat
Starting point is 00:43:52 offense, like his latest boy. He's killed many boys that he's sexually assaulted. Like, many, several. Also, George, can you remind me how you feel about organized religion really quickly? I just can't remember. Yeah.'s a it's a really actually great exploration of as you said the the flaws of that organized religion and the idea of like oh if i just scourge myself then i'm
Starting point is 00:44:17 cleansed it's cool yeah we'll be interesting theologically with some of the other things we discussed this chapter yeah barrick slams his sword into its scabbard killing the flame and commands them to give the gift of mercy to the dying and bind the rest for trial the trials themselves go quickly the various men come forward to tell them the crimes of the brave companions burning crops sacking villages raping and murdering women maiming and torturing men we We have this line of, I mean, again, coming back to like the fucking disgusting nature of Septon Ut, a few spoke of the boys that Septon Ut had carried off. The Septon wept
Starting point is 00:44:51 and prayed through it all. I am a weak reed. I pray to the warrior for strength, but the gods made me weak. Have mercy on my weakness. The boys, the sweet boys are never meant to hurt them. Septim Ut soon dangled beneath a tall elm, swinging slowly by the neck as naked as his name day.
Starting point is 00:45:14 Good fucking riddance. Good riddance. True. God. Jeez. I just felt like it was such a focal horror point of the chapter that George puts it in. He's like, anyways, moving on from that horror. Thanks, George.
Starting point is 00:45:29 One by one, they put the brave companions captured on trial. Each are stripped, bound, and hanged. Tom of Seven plays a dirge for them on his wood harp. I imagine it's in like... It's probably really funny, actually. While Thoros implores the Lord of Light to air fry them, Arya watches them dangle from what she calls a mummer tree, engulfed by flames, and watches the arrival of crows to the death.
Starting point is 00:45:57 They immediately arrive. I thought that was great. For crows. She had not feared. It's a feast for crows. Not yet. Not yet. Get ready, though. i can't wait oh my god we get to do feast again oh yeah i love the aria feast chapters a lot
Starting point is 00:46:13 oh it's gonna be fun she had not feared septon ut as much as rorge and biter but she's glad he's dead all the same she can't fathom that they didn't kill sandor though in fact they healed him they treated his arm gave him his sword and horse and sent him on his way that is after they stole his gold which aria doesn't have a great concept of so she doesn't get that part's kind of a problem that's true she still hasn't really internalized the concept of money has she she's never had to wait no you're right like all this time like even though she's struggling for like food and stuff she'll like hunt pigeons or whatever but she still hasn't really understood the concept of money and like having it or where it comes from and what it does for you oh my god i've not noticed
Starting point is 00:46:56 that until now yeah i'm like yeah they really hooked him up except they took all that money that would have provided him his only way to have a free life. Yeah, fascinating. So the septry collapses in on itself in smoke and flame eventually. And the Brown brothers who lived there watched in resignation. They tell the group that they were 44 men before the war and that this place was full of life. They had cows, they had vineyards, they had beehives, they had an apple arbor. Honestly, it sounds fucking sick.
Starting point is 00:47:24 I love it. And then came the lions who raised it all septon had been one of the monsters who came to steal from them but there was one worse before him they had given this man all their silver but he was certain that they were hiding gold so his men killed them one by one to make the elder brother talk this is so terrible and of course it elicits immediately you know who it was right is there gold in the village how much how much keeping i think it's great too it keeps tickler and polyvert in our minds as we get physically closer to them on the road right because we're not too far behind meeting them again in their trail with aria and sandor so it's great that george is bringing it back up right now.
Starting point is 00:48:05 Yeah, good point, good point. Sprinkling seeds. Thanks, thanks, babe. The elder brother tells them he's ashamed that he broke down and told the men where the gold was, but Thoros comforts him saying the only shame was not telling them immediately. I actually love Thoros saying this,
Starting point is 00:48:21 that the gold is not worth more than their lives, even though obviously the gold is very important to them. But also like it speaks to this idea that what the elder brother did for the survival of all these people is not shameful, right? Giving up that monetary, like that worldly possession. And I mean, like there are things that people might do out of survival or like claimer for survival that are like not excusable obviously but i think this is a good example of one that is and like for example like cold hands feeding brandon company a pig or you know in real life when people like cope using maladaptive strategies or whatever which you know people should work on unlearning and healing but i also
Starting point is 00:49:03 understand like why some of the other brothers slash this one didn't do it immediately because you know there's also no guarantee that if they tell them where the gold is like are they going to just be fucking killed anyway would it be in vain because it definitely was for the other tickler victims right like they would just like give up the information and then the tickler would kill them anyway so it's like a pretty it's a pretty difficult gamble yeah i mean it's a very specific kind of device used usually right where you have like uh i mean any book has some sort of torturing in in the face of giving away something and it's like by giving that away are you giving up your soul and are you ethically like should you hold out
Starting point is 00:49:42 and die instead of giving this thing away? But it's just gold. It's just fucking gold. You can't take it when you die. Yeah. I mean, I guess they could have used it to take care of the other people, but, like, you can't do that if you're dead. Well, and it's interesting having this be the focal point in the front half of the chapter and then having Sandor's gold being the focal point in the second half of the chapter and him trying to chase back with gold. Good point. They don't give him his gold back poor fucker literally um literally that night they stay in the brew house by the river and they eat a very simple supper from their hosts oat bread onions and a watery
Starting point is 00:50:18 cabbage soup with a very faint garlic taste aria soup has a carrot floating in it and she considers herself very lucky that's so beautiful though they don't have anything to give and yet they still give yeah the brothers don't ask for their names but aria thinks they must know how couldn't they know who we literally are like look at the men around us so they fucking know obviously they know and like aria points it out by like observing the symbols the sigils right and then also the actions these all kind of create a narrative and a story that lets people know who exactly they are without them even having to give their actual names and then i think that's really
Starting point is 00:50:57 interesting when you look at the flip side of that of like what happens when you let the symbols stand in for a name because of what happens with the hound's helm later on yes yeah that's a great point like symbols versus people yeah and then we have this like interesting back and forth that one of the brothers is like don't pray to your false god under our roof and lem is like excuse me like my god is way better than your god your god the smith can mend a sword but not a broken ass man and i'm like is that true though slash gestures wildly at the quiet aisle story just grave digging just grave digging but i honestly actually it's kind of interesting as
Starting point is 00:51:40 a question because i'm not sure that i'm not sure that relore actually does do much to heal broken man like a broken man in the soul like i'm not sure like their religion probably has the capacity to do so maybe unsure i i'm not like super yeah it doesn't seem like it heals a soul considering catalan did not come back very soulful. because of R'hllor like literally that's how he's gonna start getting there and then I don't know you also have like the faith militant like they're not necessarily made up of like all broken men though probably a lot of them are they're on a path to religious extremism so yeah again like there are people for whom religion does offer that path of healing because again quiet aisle shit mending from brokenness but it's also kind of like, is that person open to change?
Starting point is 00:52:46 So the smith can heal you. At the very base, you have to be open to that change and empowering yourself too is the more important part. And like coming to that point where you're ready to see that. And, you know, it's funny because Beric's men don't take his side there on that. But Beric takes the side of the faith and he says, yes, we'll honor your house wishes. And I like that. I really appreciate in this chapter,
Starting point is 00:53:09 especially, I think it's such a great introspective look at Beric and Thoros because they are more figureheads that aren't speaking in the last couple chapters. And you have Jack be lucky and Angai and Lem really speaking up and like voicing the personalities that they have are what you're thinking of when you're thinking of the brotherhood. Because you don't know much about Beric or Thoros yet. And here Beric shows that he's a leader, right? That he has a different agenda and view than his men do.
Starting point is 00:53:35 And it's why Sandor does get let go despite his crimes in the eyes of everyone else. Beric does or did stand to do some good. does or did stand to do some good. And I think there's also more to be said about, you know, Beric, especially finding that common ground between religion and finding that way to coexist rather than eradicating every other religion in favor of what your own beliefs are or are not. I think there's something to speak to like the character of a character like that of someone who's able to balance some of those ideas like Beric, who's leading this rogue group of men, but also trying to bring some sort of justice and balance and some sort of life to the Riverlands in many ways I guess bringing life to the Riverlands yeah I think that's a great point
Starting point is 00:54:15 because it shows like how much of a difference the leadership in the philosophies of the leader can like have on that group and I I mean, Beric and Thoros, they, they seem like they're very gracious in, in this chapter. Like you, they're inspiring because I mean, they're pretty fucking level-headed and I even appreciate like Thoros'
Starting point is 00:54:37 faith in this and being like, yeah, I mean, you know, R'hllor's like, it's so strong that he's like, we'll be fine missing a prayer or two. He's like, a small lapse in dogma does not supersede the spirit of, like, our faith, you know?
Starting point is 00:54:53 And I thought that was a pretty good example of that, as opposed to, again, the extremism happening elsewhere. Right. It's like Thoros has seen it so he believes it and a lot of these other people believe in the miracles the the jesus of the riverlands that's here in the riverlands he's bringing uh and they've grown so much in number as we saw at the hollow hill and i think that as a leader too they have a very slippery slope and it's what leads up this boiling pot up before the schism of the group before they break apart and before the Stoneheart situation kind of gets a little more, a little riled up in the whole group. Like any moment, and even with Sandor's trial, Sandor's trial had to happen because this could turn into a mob, an unruly mob at any moment of people that have lived under disparity, that are hungry, that are sick, that have that have no home right that are unhoused
Starting point is 00:55:47 in the riverlands like this has led to like all of this boiling pot that any minute it could all rip over this scene right here and their men that follow them even lem like lem is a little shitster this entire story you know he's kind of rowdy he likes to be like oh yeah he's like the amos the expanse amos. He's ready to fight. And Boros and Beric have to keep a steady head, which seems to be hard for Beric. He's always losing body parts here. But they have to keep that because it could boil over any minute. There's also something that you said about Thoros as well.
Starting point is 00:56:32 And the way that he's doing his religion that made me realize like thoros is doing this kiss of life thing do you think do you think thoros how would he feel about the idea of sacrificing people i don't know that he would be i don't know i'm not sure that he would be that open to it right like doing the fire burning sacrifice maybe like i don't know in front of him right now like in order to stop the others maybe in order to stop the others i don't know you're right maybe he would because he'd be like there's no shame in you know that one thing yeah i think he's like down to sacrifice for the greater good that's true okay i don't know for others we'll see i mean i wonder if he'll be put in a position to make human sacrifices at some point. Yeah, I think there's going to be a little, there's probably a little extremism coming with R'hllor in some aspects, I guess, now that you say it. I mean, we're already kind of there, I think, with the way that Selyse is leading everyone.
Starting point is 00:57:23 Yeah, exactly. It's heating up, no pun intended. Or pun intended. Or pun intended. Are you ready for the puns? Arya notices Beric doesn't eat, and nor does he sleep. She watches him sleeping, quote unquote, in his breastplate, though he opens his eye immediately when he's spoken to. That's me.
Starting point is 00:57:41 That's so me, for real. His armor hides his wounds wounds but nothing hides his head it's all caved in at the temple or his missing eye or the shape of his skull beneath his face described like stannis there eh uh dance stannis he seems to fear uh he seems to sense fear in him though he seems to sense aria's fear in him though and he's like do I frighten you oh very Sansa Sandor she tells him no but she thought the hound had killed him for a little bit there Lem tells Arya that Thoros healed Beric there's never been a better healer than Thoros there's been a lot of better healers first of all because I think Thoros is literally
Starting point is 00:58:23 he's literally not a healer. Like, I think healing someone is not the same as just, like, hitting continue on the fucking video game screen. Yeah. Healing is restorative, and what Beric is does not seem restorative, especially after this description from Arya. And I think it's interesting that Beric knows that and understands that. And he also thinks it's so weird that Lem would say all that and believes it because Lem is lying to himself. Yeah, to make it feel not weird.
Starting point is 00:58:57 Yeah, well, no, I mean, Beric's like, no, it's fucking weird. Let me tell you. Yeah, because Lem seriously is probably saying it to make himself feel better that he follows a fucking zombie that won't die and just keeps coming back but each time he comes back he's worse he's not better honestly there's no shame in following like if you saw someone come back six or seven times as you said last last chapter like oh my god that would that would fucking convince me yeah i'd be like all right maybe this guy knows something i don't but right like i don't really support the other leaders we have but you know
Starting point is 00:59:30 if that happened maybe i'd be interested come on now i mean that's what happens for denari's storyline right she goes in the pyre and everyone's like oh my god she didn't die there's fucking three dragons okay i'm convinced the unburnt fuck yeah boros has brought barak back six times each time gets harder a seventh death he says could be the end for both of them barak then showcases hmm right what a member barak showcases his many wounds the spot above his left ear where his temple caved in was from sir burton crake hall the black bruise around his neck, which is not an OPA tattoo from The Expanse, by the way, but a mark the Manticore made at Rushing Falls after seizing a poor beekeeper and his wife,
Starting point is 01:00:11 who he confused for Beric. He hanged all three of them anyway. And then the red pit of his eye is thanks to the mountain. He's died three times at the hands of House Clegane now. He says that you think he'd have learned. It's a joke, Arya realizes realizes but it's a joke that no one wants to laugh at I do love that Beric jokes about it though even though no one else finds it funny I don't know if I have a good day of explaining it really other than like I don't know he feels
Starting point is 01:00:36 the need to make light of something heavy like what do you fucking do if you've died six times yeah you're whatever whatever he describes is happening next like what else do you do but make a joke of it exactly that's all you can do because otherwise i mean what happens with the seventh yeah he put a hand on lord barrack's shoulder best not to dwell on it. Can I dwell on what I scarce remember? I held a castle on the marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend?
Starting point is 01:01:20 What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass, in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros? Arya stared at the mirrish crease, to all shaggy hair and pink rags and bits of old armor. Grace double-covered his cheeks and the sagging skin beneath his chin. armor. Grace double-covered his cheeks and the sagging skin beneath his chin.
Starting point is 01:01:49 He did not look much like the wizards in old Nan's stories, but even so. Could you bring back a man without a head? Just once, not six times, could you? I have no magic child, only prayers. That first time his lordship had a hole right through him and blood in his mouth, I knew there was no hope. So when his poor torn chest stopped moving, I gave him the good God's own kiss to send him on his way. I felt my mouth was fired, breathed the flames inside him down his throat to lungs and heart and soul. The last kiss it is called, and many a time I saw the old priest bestow it on the Lord's servants as they died. I had given it a time or two myself, as all priests must, but never before had I felt a dead man shudder as the fire filled him or seen his eyes come open.
Starting point is 01:02:36 It was not me who raised him, my lady. It was the Lord. Relore is not done with him yet. Life is warmth, and warmth is fire. And fire is gods and gods alone. Arya felt tears well in her eyes. Thoros had used a lot of words, but all they meant was no. That much she understood. Oh. Oh. Just the words? Yeah, I agree, Arya. He said a lot of stuff there just the what's yeah it's pretty terrible but you know what aria you just buckle up baby girl they're gonna hook you up on the other side of things um you know we just love a girl who has unresolved mommy issues, don't we, folks? Yes. He does, though. That's George being, you know, gender egalitarian. You know, he...
Starting point is 01:03:31 Fuck. He... Well, he really does more so in, like, Fire and Blood, which I love. But, like... Oh, yeah. He explores daddy issues a lot. But this is our time for mommy issues. Yes.
Starting point is 01:03:43 Gotta shout out to my girlies uh this is a lovely speech obviously it's one of the most beautiful passages of this kind of section of the book george outsold are you my mother is like the most fucking holy shit like just all of it is just like so unsettling and sad like it's like he respawns like he's in a video game you know he dies he wakes and he's like wow i've been born for the first time except maybe not the first time terrible but also it's really fucking funny in this speech because he's like i don't remember the chick i was supposed to marry when her nephew was like right there and then also we don't know aleria dane his betrothed's hair color because
Starting point is 01:04:20 george himself hasn't told us so how is george gonna sit here yeah george is sitting here and he's like i don't even know the color of her hair i'm like that's because you haven't told us. So how is George going to sit here? Yeah, George is sitting here and he's like, I don't even know the color of her hair. I'm like, that's because you haven't told us, bitch. George is projecting. George is projecting. He doesn't know. It was kind of funny. Like, will you tell me though? You could tell me, George. Please tell me. Please. Eventually, maybe. Probably. At least she has a name. Fuck. True. I don't know. I'm just going to say this line again like i say all the fucking time because i never shut up about it and that's basically what the speech is about of look to your call and see what life is worth when all the rest is gone
Starting point is 01:04:54 so yeah very much that line from mary but also i thought this was interesting from thor's the life is warmth and warmth is fire especially contrasted with Maester Aemon's Fire Consumes but Cold Preserves line. Yeah, it's interesting, especially like there are two views of fire across the landscape of Aeswaf, it seems, of it either consuming or being a life power. Yeah, exactly. It's a weapon that can get out of hand, that's for sure. It's probably, I mean. It's probably kind of both, right? Fire is literally not great, but it is both life-giving and very scary. Beric tells Arya that Ned was a good man. Harwin told him enough for him to know that.
Starting point is 01:05:38 He'd forego the ransom in Ned's name, but they really need the Arya Stark gold treatment here. Arya kind of understands this. She had already watched them give the hounds gold away to send Greenbeard and the huntsmen south of the Mander to buy provisions for the small folk and for themselves. Just learning what money is. You can really tell that Beric was ahead of House and the Lord of Lands before all of this
Starting point is 01:06:02 because the way that he's, you know, Arya observes him distributing things and all these resources and thinking about what they need and all these logistics, like, that's exactly what a lord would or should do to make sure that the needs of his people are met. Yeah, and you can even more so tell he's a young lord because he still cares. Oh, true.
Starting point is 01:06:22 Because he had to become, he probably became a young lord or he became a lord younger than you know expected even he's like you mentioned last chapter he's young 20s so for him to have been head of house and had to have like kind of immediately taken all that on his shoulders he's taking it seriously yeah it's kind of interesting because he is younger than sandor he's like what the fuck is this old man of 27 28 doing god oh my god sandor is younger than i am i'm gonna shoot myself when did that happen younger than us for a while okay maybe not a while a couple years yeah for me it's been a while sorry it's only been a couple years for me i'm older than peter bailish and terrier too i'm also oh okay great i'm also i'm just kidding
Starting point is 01:07:11 uh aria asks what if my brother doesn't want to ransom me she tells them she's messy she's dirty she's uncouth she ruins dresses she can't sing or sew why would her family want her back oh rob wouldn't care about that probably but her mother would lady catalan always wanted her to be just like sansa to sing and dance and sew and mind her courtesies just thinking of it made aria try to comb her hair with her fingers but it was all tangles and mats and all she did was tear some out oh aria she argues it's so sad she argues gendry about having blacksmith's hands it's a very cute exchange actually and thoros is laughing about it and he's like of course your brother is going to pay for you all he has to do is look at you i know right oh and i think it's kind of funny because like first of all i'm like aria
Starting point is 01:08:03 your mother would be so proud. She would be so proud of all of these crimes you've committed, all these people that you've killed, probably. Worried baby is also a word I would use. Yeah, yes. She would probably be worried. I mean, I would be worried, too, if my child was all like, I've killed so many people. Also, Catelyn already, as we've mentioned in the past, previous chapters,
Starting point is 01:08:26 gave up a priceless hostage just for like the hope of you. Not even the guarantee, just the hope. And Rob legit might not do it, but I think that Beric is kind of right that Rob would do it. He would pay,
Starting point is 01:08:39 especially if Arya was right there. And if it were like only for gold, if the price is only gold, because I think it's too dishonorable slash unchivalric, but like too dishonorable to not buy her back. Like that's just bad PR. He can't afford for his men to see her not buying her back. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:55 That's just bad PR. Yeah. And I also love this detail where she's like, I don't know. My mom said I have blacksmith's hands and Gendry laughing. Like, what the fuck do you mean? You are too soft to have blacksmith's hands. I'm like, girl, you don't even my mom said i have blacksmith's hands and gendry laughing like what the fuck do you mean you are too soft to have blacksmith hands i'm like girl you don't even know what money is
Starting point is 01:09:08 it's also like something that i could totally hear catelyn saying and it reminds me of my mom just saying like stupid ass shit like that where you're like what no i don't like it's a total yeah it's just funny the standards that mamas put upon their children sometimes yeah so it makes me giggle ha ha ha is that what it makes us giggle i don't know it's the girlies with the mommy issue so if rob does not take her back, Beric said that he would send her maybe to the Lady Smallwood or maybe even to his home, Blackhaven. But it won't be necessary. He can't bring her dad back, but he can get her back to her family. She asks if he swears and he says on his honor as a knight.
Starting point is 01:09:58 Well, well, well, let me tell you, you can't really get her back to her her family but you can bring her family back to her right like i love that the line there is specifically about returning her to her mother's arms and i'm like oh uh yeah part of me wonders if that's like why he did it besides the part where you know barrick's probably just like i'm so tired i'm so tired. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that too. I think he knew he owed it to her, to that little weasel. Yeah, right. So the rain pours down and later Lem returns to the brew house. Anguy and Jack be lucky, play dice, but Jack has no luck. Tom strums his wood heart, playing...
Starting point is 01:10:41 He plays a whole set here. He goes, the mother's tears when willem's wife was but lord heart with an e so maybe that lord lord heart wrote out wrote out on a rainy day these are all part of his playlist but then he plays a song that we know and love hate very well the rains of castamere y'all know this one. Sing along, you know. I mean stream Reigns of Castamere. I was like, this is not my best singing voice this week. You don't have to sing it
Starting point is 01:11:12 Eliana. That's okay. We don't have to actually sing it. We know it. Y'all know it. Put on Sigur Rós, you know. Let it stream. Let it play in your ears. That's who wrote the song. They wrote the song. They were there when the brains died like who came up with the melody for this probably them maybe someone else did but i think they
Starting point is 01:11:31 might have i don't know i don't know how that works i wasn't there in those uh those conversations yeah i don't really know how production for like the melodies of these things work i love that tom is just playing his favorite rainy day spotify playlist that he's curated he's just like me for real for real yeah he's like and i have a playlist it's called rainy day his day list uh this is the third mention of the reigns of castamere okay so third mention love the way that george was introducing this song in a storm of swords the first mention is a tyrian chapter a bit ago when they hear of rob and jane getting together referencing tyrants tywin's wrath and vengeance on the rains uh we have that line the crag is not so far from tarbeck hall and castamere tyrian pointed out you'd think the westerlings might have ridden past and seen the lesson there
Starting point is 01:12:16 then the second mention is jamie three that chapter passed and it's of course a threat shall i sing you a verse of the reigns of Castamere? The goat won't be quite so brave when my father gets a hold of him. And even a reminder of his father's wrath, because he also says, a noose is kinder than what he'll get from my father, which is very thematic for this chapter. We have a lot of talk of nooses and hangings when it comes to the brotherhood, and what they say to Gendry later, right, about, you know,
Starting point is 01:12:44 you may end up with a noose around your neck. Be careful, boy. And now we have this third mention, which is a really interesting spin, right? Because it's being played as that rainy day medley from Tama 7, especially considering the brotherhood has set out to bring justice to the Lannister regime's crimes using their own song against them. Right? I thought that was interesting.
Starting point is 01:13:05 It's just like an interesting, aha, all sides hear this song. Honestly, though. What a banger. Yeah, what a banger. I mean, you can't, it's a bop. It's a classified, certified gold bop. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:13:15 For real. Golden bop. Honestly, a couple of these songs did stand out to me in title because they're new hits that we haven't heard. Yes, Lorde Heart. It's Lorde's fourth album, Riding Out on a rainy day oh my god no i it's the opposite of solar or whatever solar power yeah solar power it's or whatever it is sorry sorry sorry i'm gonna try you for
Starting point is 01:13:38 your crimes i'll have a lore right now holy fucking shit um i wonder this is interesting so there are a handful of hearts in the story they're sworn to the baratheons i wonder if this is about lord heart in the dance of the dragons because he was arrested this goes back back in princess and the queen he was one of the people that were arrested for supporting renera and beheaded for it and had put on spikes at King's Landing. Yeah, which I thought was interesting because obviously we didn't have fire and blood at this point. George had the princess and the queen working. He has the hearts, even in this book, though, they're sworn to the Baratheons. So it's also a nice meta echo, right, of the differing loyalties happening across Westeros for Joffrey Baratheon quote-unquote uh for the hearts in the story
Starting point is 01:14:26 supporting Rhaenyra who had the Baratheon support etc so I don't know just interesting a nice little meta echo of just playing with some of these houses that are still players in today's game yeah that's really interesting because now it makes me wonder if like obviously we don't get too too much detail yet in the books but like maybe it's something they would expand upon like maybe it was raining in the show yeah because we know the storm at shipbreakers bay storm's end and the sky you know it sounds like it was probably raining around then very interesting interesting which is funny because storm of swords where everything is just a rain literally every episode is raining yeah uh speaking of not raining today it's threatening but yeah then there's when willem's wife was wet that could be about anyone
Starting point is 01:15:11 and i'm gonna guess it's attributed to a name because it's not like lord willem it's or it's not like the house willem there is a house willem but i'm just gonna pass on this one because it's not like attributed it's just like what willem could be anyone his wife could have been anyone and she's wet dude yeah anyone's wife can be wet that's good for willem you can make your wife wet right now wife could be wet yeah yeah happy for them yeah good keep her keep her going you know hydrate so you can keep your wife wet rainy day um for them so eventually tom runs out of rain songs and aria stands on one leg and listens to the others chatter and merit complains about his horse throwing a shoe and gendry pipes up he's like oh i could chew that horse for you and in fact gendry can do a lot for the brotherhood
Starting point is 01:16:00 if they'd have him gendry gets on one knee before Lord Beric and is like hire me! He offers his services to smith for them. It won't be glamorous like Riverrun won't be, but all Gendry wants is a forge, food, and somewhere to sleep. What an interesting job interview. And Arya realizes that oh that means he's leaving her too. i'm also realizing that despite aria feeling this abandonment right now gendry probably also feels like aria is leaving him speaking of like other people's emotions and motivations like ladies don't just hang out with blacksmiths aria like even if he did come along and was employed by her family like you know she's getting sold back like that's all that's happening he also just might not be able to come along she's leaving even if he could be a blacksmith at river run like she couldn't just stay there and hang out all day in the smithy with
Starting point is 01:16:55 him you know like he'd have to work he has to work to now she doesn't understand that he has to work to earn slash money at his place well yeah in his place in this world like he isn't just allowed to be in high society she will be welcomed back by her family he has no family to welcome him back and her family has no reason to welcome him that is not true gendry has family to welcome him back they just might also burn him beric is surprised that gendry would be willing to give up a life where he could work for a lord instead, and is like, okay, but why? Why do you want to be here?
Starting point is 01:17:30 None of us want to be here. At the Hollow Hill, what you said about being King Robert's men and brothers, I liked that. I liked that you gave the Hound a trial. Lord Bolton just hanged folk or took off their heads. Lord Tywin and Sir Amory were the same. I'd sooner smith for you. I just thought that first line was
Starting point is 01:17:52 kind of funny of what you said about being King Robert's men and brothers. You're not his brother, but you are his man in a different way. You're definitely his man. From his seed. His seed created this man. His seed.
Starting point is 01:18:09 It is strong. He is pretty strong. Gendry is pretty strong. Yeah, he's a strong boy. A strapping, very strong boy. Jack reminds Beric that they do have mail to be mended, but Lem calls Gendry a lackwit and reminds him that they're outlaws.
Starting point is 01:18:23 First of all, rude. Most of them are lowborn scum. you won't be stealing kisses from a princess i mean he could or ride in turkeys and stolen armor goes you'll end with your neck in a noose or your head mounted up above some castle gate as you were talking about earlier yeah noose noose noose noose coming back that does happen as we see right people uh i think of podrick and brianne yeah jamie and such sword i do wonder if that's foreshadowing i also love it's like kind of worded almost similarly to aria's needle foreshadowing line as we talked earlier about aria's death in the plot but you'll end with your neck in a noose so your head mounted above some castle gate but also i'm wondering if it's foreshadowing because of your head mounted up above some castle
Starting point is 01:19:12 gate we talked a little bit about the bull helm as gendry's sigil if he takes a sigil if he becomes a ruler in some sort of way yeah worse than dying now you serve and rule part of westeros interesting i wonder if this is foreshadowing to him being a lord of something storms end i think you're right i think it is and honestly though now that you said that like the sigil above the castle gate like that i'm like this is a ranch when you think of the imagery of the bulls horns above the the baratheon ranch. Yellowstone. Oh my god. And yes, yes, absolutely. Also, like, as you said about Podrick and Brienne, I mean, like, you know, whose head hasn't been, like, a little bit in a noose in the story at least once, you know? Are you even a character
Starting point is 01:20:01 who had been threatened with a noose once and as you said like is it a fate worse than dying like it's interesting because gentry swearing himself to the brotherhood without banners honestly he's kind of getting the life that robert wanted and never got to have robert was like ned let's just run away away and live our lives and be free and- Fucking fight. Yeah. I think Gendry, despite it all, he kind of has the freedom that his father never had. His hammer kind of gives him a little bit more flexibility in that.
Starting point is 01:20:40 And being anonymous gives him that flexibility in the way that being anonymous gave Arya freedom., like, then they knew she was Arya, then suddenly she was a hostage, right? That gives them freedom to build the life that they want. Instead of, like, I don't know, Robert's hammer. Like, Gendry's hammer, it builds things and it builds protection. Robert's hammer, like, only destroyed, only killed. Yes. And through it, he ends up building something. He builds himself a cage of the Iron Throne.
Starting point is 01:21:09 So I think that's interesting. Wow. Wow. No, that was so good, Basti. Holy shit. Like, because his hammer is a war hammer, where Gendry's is a smith's hammer. And we talk about the smith in this chapter.
Starting point is 01:21:22 Oh, true. Right, in general. We did. In general, the smith is the patron saint. That's the aspect of the, that's their aspect they follow of the seven at that septry. Healing. Healing. The smith can, in fact, heal.
Starting point is 01:21:35 Oh my god, Gendry is healing. Gendry is positive masculinity, though. Gendry and nature are healing. Wow. Wow. Also, Gendry joining, I will say this last thing the brotherhood without banners that's a more informed decision than john made when john was like i'm going to join this militia yeah i think john would have loved to do a little googling now that he's there you know he's like
Starting point is 01:21:56 damn should have done a little more research should have looked at the about page on this company first he's probably like still better than my bitch stepmom. Oh my gosh. No one likes me. Speaking of mommy issues. Yeah, there's some major issues for him there. Gendry's happy with this idea of smithing and everyone's happy with him as smith. They close the deal
Starting point is 01:22:17 and Beric asks for his sword which he hands over. This time the lightning lord did not set the blade afire but merely laid it light on Gendry's shoulder. Gendry, do you swear before the eyes of gods and men to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to protect all women and children, to obey your captains, your liege lord, and your king, to fight bravely when needed and do such other tasks as are laid upon you, however hard or humble or dangerous they may be.
Starting point is 01:22:50 I do, my lord. The marcher lord moved the sword from the right shoulder to the left and said, Arise, Sir Gendry, knight of the Hollow Hill, and be welcome to our brotherhood. Wow. Wow. But that moment's interrupted. Sandra's like, people are graduating. Oh my god, imagine Thomas Seven playing that on the harp as this happens.
Starting point is 01:23:21 From the door comes a growling, rasping laughter. The hound has returned this is a fucking maleficent coded shit he's returned the hound has returned to laugh about beric making yet another night saying that oh he should kill him for that one and sandor is as expected pretty pissed that they left him with zero gold to live on like they could have left him a couple of stags as chloe says she's like damn guys this is her notes and the argument begins the brotherhood says be thankful we didn't kill you and sandra in his head like sandra in his head is like bitch i wish i was dead it's true of course they're like we're
Starting point is 01:24:00 not giving you any gold back we sent it south of the the Mander. And Gendry speaks up. He's like, it's to feed all the crops you burnt. I would like to add a contextual community note. Sandor Clegane did not burn any crops. Yeah. First of all, last person to be burning anything. Sandor Clegane, the man who afraid of fire. This is false propaganda. He was not there.
Starting point is 01:24:24 He did not burn crops. He would never do that again. It's actually fascinating that they do that because they've literally seen, they've literally seen him be terrified of the fire. He literally cried 12 hours ago in front of them. Like, what more do you want? I'm small babby. I'm burned.
Starting point is 01:24:43 Fascinating. He asks if they're going to knight the eight-year-old girl too and aria lies all these things i'm 12 and i could be a knight if i wanted and i could have killed you if lem hadn't taken my knife there's some like old vine that i used to love that was like how old are you anyways nine first of all i'm 10 so shut the fuck up the girl responds it's like i'm the boss and that's literally what this is. I love that. She's such a little fucking opportunist. She's like,
Starting point is 01:25:08 Ooh, this is a great time to trick them all into thinking I'm 12. So maybe they'll let me be a squire too. You're right. That's all she's thinking about. It's kind of funny because like, if anyone's like birth date is chronicled somewhere, it's literally Arya Starks.
Starting point is 01:25:21 Yeah, for real. If anyone's birthday is like written down. Of this group. yeah so there's a back and forth between between i mean barracks also but yeah yeah uh we have a back and forth complain to them not me and tuck your tail between your legs and run do you know what dogs do to wolves next time i will kill you i'll kill your brother too no his dark eyes narrowed that you won't i do know what dogs do to wolves because i've read several fanfics about it we don't have to talk about it that's a different story sure sweetheart and whatever you say eliana but also so sad that you won't you won't kill my
Starting point is 01:26:09 brother because that's his kill he plans to make that kill guys he does not plan to let aria make that kill yes more arguing everyone draws their swords sandor finally sulks out internally wounded as fuck looking like he's memorizing the face of every man in the building, and he disappears into the dark, pouring rain without a word. So moody. I know, I love him. He broods. That's my man's. I was so excited when he showed back up. I don't
Starting point is 01:26:36 even care that he's Maleficent as shit. It's absolutely, like, Maleficent shit. I was not invited to this birth. So there's this interesting line where Sandor says that the lord of light says he was guiltless so just like fucking give it to me and thor's corrects him saying the lord of light gave you back your life which i think is like an interesting like theological but also legal distinction between how the trials function within the system because turns out the trial by combat isn't actually about conviction right it's not about like whether someone is guilty or not
Starting point is 01:27:11 about the crimes but the trial of combat even though it's called a trial is actually about sentencing right it's kind of like this justice versus mercy idea and then it kind of then says that under this idea of relore but also maybe this justice system like none of us are guiltless as well which is i think what christianity would also say about us like none of us are guiltless therefore you live by god's will allegedly like relore's will and that's why they keep saying like there's probably still a purpose for your life and i think it's more of like an if you would choose to make a purpose for your life, but whatever. So I just thought that was really interesting that Thoros clarifies, no, you're still guilty.
Starting point is 01:27:53 You're just allowed to live. And I think it's also interesting that Sandor, as a side note, doesn't seem to get a good look at Gendry, but maybe he's just like hung over during the times that he does but also i'm like i don't know like sandor did spend a lot of time around robert though now i'm like maybe he mostly spent time around like later robert who probably looks real different from the version of robert that gendry looks like yeah i definitely think that's probably like the more in-universe answer to that because technically, so Sandor joins the Lannister army, you know, probably 15-ish, 13 to 15 years old, somewhere in that range. So he's only been there like 10 to 15 years, but to your point, he should remember Robert, but like 10 years of Robert is pretty much probably what he saw. So probably the last 10 years where he's been a little ascetic. Yep. Also, to your point, very hungover.
Starting point is 01:28:50 Does not give a shit about that boy. Yeah, and right now he's probably just like, whatever. Who's this fucking kid? One track gold-minded man. Yeah. Harwin says he better go check on their sentries and see if Sandor killed them. Lem wonders how Sandor got that much gold anyway, and Ongai's like, oh, he won the tourney in King's Landing.
Starting point is 01:29:05 Ongai had won money too. Yeah, right? Everyone knows that. Ongai had won money too, but he laughs because he had met Dancy, Jade, and Aliaia, who taught him what roast swan tastes like and how to bathe in arbor wine. But he did buy some nice boots and a dagger, he says. Jack jokes he should have bought land and made one of those girls an honest woman, raised a crop of turnips and sons. Thoros ignores all this banter and he tells them Sandor's lost more than just gold. He lost his master, his kennel.
Starting point is 01:29:34 He can't go back to the Lannisters. The young wolf won't have him and Gregor sure won't take him. You know, in like past reads, I've been like, you know, Thoros, he's okay. He's an interesting dude, I guess. Whatever. But I'm really starting to appreciate him more. Like, I just, I appreciate Thoros' display of sympathy here, right? He's not absolving Sandor of anything, but I think, like, you know, it makes sense for
Starting point is 01:30:00 him to be like, yo, that's probably all that man had to everyone else and setting that sort of perspective because I don't think you have to go through war to become a broken man, though Thoros did fight in some wars, as we know. But it sounds like Thoros was a broken man, right? Like right alongside Robert, in regards to that alcoholism that he was going through alongside drinking buddy Robert. And so I love that he brings that that he was going through alongside drinking buddy robert and so i love that he brings that sort of perspective and compassion to these things yeah it makes me think a lot about aaron right when we covered aaron we talked about some of their similarities but very much like aaron they both broke before they were able to kind of find religion and find
Starting point is 01:30:41 something that put them on a path that was better than where they were actually it was not too far from them he always joked about it right like what was the joke that he became a red priest because the robes hid wine stains and he loved that but i don't know he was born a mere given to a red temple at a young age he had no real choice in it he actually was sent to like wasn't he sent to like try to proselytize and convert Ares? Yeah, they were like, that man likes fire. Maybe we have a chance to convert him. If anyone is able to give any sympathy or empathy to Sandor, it would be him. True.
Starting point is 01:31:16 If anyone understands fire, it can be scary. Waddy the Miller comments that Sandor would come back to kill them in their sleep. But Beric says, no, Sandor would kill us all gladly, but never in our sleep. Dogs have more honor than that, you know, just saying. they think they could control that horse okay uh barak refuses saying sandor won his life from the lord of light and they will not rob him of it the lord of light is not yet done with joffrey's hound it would seem yeah a man with absolutely nothing left sure kill his horse that'll go really well for his debilitated mental health let's just do that motherfuckers i'm glad that barak thinks sandor has more to finish in this world and lets him go because this isn't easy for Sandor to do. Do you know how desperate and broken and with nowhere to go, directionless you'd have to be to go back to the place where the guys that took your money and beat you up on a trial just to hope that you can maybe intimidate some of your money back out of them?
Starting point is 01:32:23 Think of that for a minute. just to hope that you can maybe intimidate some of your money back out of them. Like, think of that for a minute. You have to go to a, like, septry inn area full of brotherhood who have weapons and hidey holes, and this is their terrain. And Sandor, a man who is afraid and it lets him be brave, comes back to try to get anything back. Like, the sheer desperation. He has nothing.
Starting point is 01:32:41 His horse is literally all he has, his horse and sword. He has no home. He can't go home. He has no castle. No one will hire him. Not a single place he can go. It actually reminds me of the beginning of the Hedge Knight, right? Where Dunk, when Arlen has died, if you recall, he's pretty desperate. I mean, had he not actually come into the Targs, the whole tourney was like, this is going to save his life. Winning that tourney was like, I'm going to have money and a job and et cetera. And that's what Sandor was promised by winning the hands tourney, right? Like you're promised riches and glory and being a knight with valor. Had the whole fiasco dunk fell into another trial, if you recall, not happened, he wouldn't have survived. He had his horse and his armor and that's like one
Starting point is 01:33:25 of the biggest themes right you have to ransom your armor and horseback and with what money i thought that was really interesting yeah and something else coming to mind in this is like right before we have oberon's entrance in that tyrian chapter as mentioned earlier tyrian in that last chapter has this back and forth with oberon and he's so consumed with like coming back to some of our earlier comments of like scapegoating and kind of like the image that is portrayed. Tyrion is so consumed with Oberyn and the Reach
Starting point is 01:33:51 being enemies and his whole like the rumors of him and Willis and everything that happened in tourney and Oberyn himself is like things aren't always what they seem bro. Willis and I are buddies like we message we text bro and Beric here is showing us he's like sandor's not our enemy you guys like i don't know i don't know it's not our enemy yeah and also i think part of
Starting point is 01:34:13 it is i guess their religion tells them to just let that let that man go yeah right and he's not their enemy and also he's like he's just a sad man yeah that's what thor said he's not their enemy, and also he's like, he's just a sad man. Yeah. That's what Thoros said, he's like, that's just a sad man. Hurt people hurt people. And I'd even add, you know, like, that's Beric's favorite fruit, letting that man go. That actually is
Starting point is 01:34:38 true. So, no one rests easy that night. Arya curls up, holding her dragon coin. You know, some people have plushies. She has her murder genie coin and thinks that he left her. Hot Pie left her.
Starting point is 01:34:54 Nogentry is leaving. She's like, Lami, Yoran, Syrio, and her dad, they all died. And Jaqen just gave her a stupid penny and vanished. You know? And she whispers her prayers to her coin and sleep takes her at last and she wakes in the night though when the fire has burnt down and hears wolves howling they're so close that there's so many they sounded as if they were all around
Starting point is 01:35:16 the stable dozens of them maybe hundreds i hope they eat the hound she remembered what he'd said about wolves and dogs. Come morning, Septon Ut still swung beneath the tree, but the brown brothers were out in the rain with spades, digging shallow graves for the other dead. Lord Beric thanked them for the night's lodging and the meal and gave them a bag of silver stags
Starting point is 01:35:38 to help rebuild. Harwin, likely Luke, and Wadi the Miller went out scouting, but neither wolves nor hounds were found. As Arya was cinching her saddle girth, Gendry came up to say he was sorry. She put a foot in the stirrup and swung up into her saddle so she could look down on him instead of up. You could have made swords at Riverrun for my brother, she thought. But what she said was, if you want to be some stupid outlaw knight and get hanged, why should I care? I'll be at Riverrun ransomed with my brother. Oh.
Starting point is 01:36:15 Aw. Thanks to Derry Hours from Raya. But also, I just realized that there was no rain that day. And I'm like, oh yeah yeah cause the rains of Castamere comes a different day so she spoke yeah that's very sad their paths have diverted
Starting point is 01:36:36 I hope they stay good friends in the long run you know I mean they will I don't know if, like, good friends, but George has basically confirmed that they will meet again. Well, duh. I mean,
Starting point is 01:36:51 Featherbed, come on. I mean, they have their cute little song. Oh, yeah. Bro? Cute little Featherbed. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Goodbye, Gendry. Goodbye, Gendendry good luck with the ranch
Starting point is 01:37:08 good luck with the dutton ranch yellowstone 1980 whatever 1890 whatever good luck with aria's mom sorry yeah good luck with her mom you thought aria was a piece of work wait till you meet her mom gendry dude he's met both of her parents he's basically in that's true now that you say it yeah wow well oh my god we'll be back next chapter when gendry pops the question after getting approval from lady stoneheart and dead ned no i'm just kidding the question is will you kill your mom will you kill your mom will you aria stark murder your mommy for me romance well yeah what a fucking chapter thanks for listening i'm like i feel like barrack i'm like i feel like i've been brought back to life 80 times through that chapter that's a fucking roller coaster we just went on wow big evanescence hours bring me to life i love doing that part though like
Starting point is 01:38:08 yeah absolutely absolutely eliana where are people gonna find us on the internet well you can find us on the internet you can find us on social media at twitter.com slash girls gone canon. That's C-A-N-O-N. Or by looking up girls gone canon on blue sky. We are on blue sky. Or you can tell us some of your thoughts. You can send us an email at girlsgonecanon at gmail.com. Yes, yes.
Starting point is 01:38:39 And of course, thanks to our wonderful patrons who sponsor pretty much every single episode we put out. Yeah, it wouldn't happen without them. Thanks as always. You can sign up at patreon.com slash girls gone canon in a tier to your liking. And our patrons are going to tell you where else you can find us and what to look for. You can catch Girls Gone Canon on any of the following streamers. On Podbean, iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Acast, Spotify, Overcast, Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, Audible, and Amazon Podcasts. You can also join us on Patreon, where if you join the Thunder tier above, you have access to a discord and monthly happy hours and things like that. And by joining the discord you get access to a bunch of great channels including
Starting point is 01:39:32 but not limited to memes and shit posting channel, fashion hour, there are multiple channels for historic materials, a song of ice and fire, there's pets channel, which I think is probably the most important channel of all. Respectful thirsting, because there's a channel for that. Come by, join the community. It's a lot of fun and you won't regret it. We'll be back next week with the House Dane Power Hour to talk in Aria 8 about Ashara Dane for eight years. Just kidding. Thanks so much for listening. I've been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I've been another one of your hosts,
Starting point is 01:40:14 Eliana. See you next week. Goodbye. I'll bring songs next week. I'm sorry, everyone. I did not do my homework for this week. Sorry, Alex. Sorry, Alex. Sorry, Alex.
Starting point is 01:40:28 Let the dogs out. Ooh, ooh, ooh. But that's a Sandor song. Goodbye.

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