Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 218 — ASOS Arya XI

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

In which Arya tries to literally gatecrash her uncle's bloody wedding so Sandor clouts her on the ear. Art by DR3ADlady https://x.com/DR3ADlady/status/1757315916004569281?s=20 https://x.com/DR3ADlady/status/1755601978376552494?s=20 --- 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

Hello and welcome to Girls Gone Canon Reads A Song Of Ice and Fire, episode 218. Aria 11 in A Storm of Swords. I am one of your hosts, Chloe. And I am another one of your hosts, Aliana. And are you ready for, I mean, not much. It's a very short episode. I mean, a lot happens, but still. Very short chapter.

Yeah. Last time we were here, we kind of talked about how this will probably be a brief episode. It will be short. It might be our shortest episode yet, but we'll see. We'll see. It's yet to happen. For Aswath, yeah. Yeah. The ink isn'tcanon, you get bonus episodes every month in that tier, the $5 and above tier. This month, we actually last month just finished up The Hunger Games, the first novel. We will move on to Catching Fire later this year, but we are taking a quick break from our episodes on The Hunger Games to jump back to a place.

I'm excited. We haven't come here yet. To a free city. A free city. We have only, what, two free cities left? And this is one of them. Yeah, we really do. I mean, they're both big ones, right?

They are both very prominent within the main storyline right now. And this one is, of course, I mean, we're following Arya this spring break over to Braavos. Yeah, I mean, you can probably guess when volantis could come out i guess when i actually don't know i actually have multiple okay maybe not timeline but pov wise pov wise pov wise you might be able to guess there's a couple povs that we could talk about volantis during and you're gonna have to wait till them whenever they happen but today finally we're announcing recovering bravos recovering quentin all over again he's still alive i'm just kidding but yeah so we're back in our journey that's exciting i kind of missed the free

cities we haven't done one of them in a while yeah i don't know what your favorite is i loved um i think tyrosh was probably one of my favorites it's a mia dario that was a favorite that one was good i think for me i don't know which one was my favorite i actually think i don't know if it was my favorite but i thought the lorath one was interesting just because it's such a mysterious place and we don't actually have very much information on it so i actually remember doing lorath quite well i don't know why i think a norvos would be my next pick for the weird off of the trail one. Yeah, I like Norvos too, but I like Lorath a lot. We actually found, I think, some fun stuff

while we researched that. Yeah. So, I don't know. It's just interesting. Yeah. It's fun to dissect them, so excited to go there. Alright. Discord brunch last month was, of course, a blast. A Galentine's blast. But this month, in March 2024 for the historians

is gonna be march 24th a sunday two to four et we're gonna hang out play games giveaways get to know yous whatever who knows uh we're just gonna have a blast it's gonna be fun we're gonna vibe and if you're a discord patron a patron in the Thunder tier and above, you got access to come on in Discord. It's pretty much lifetime access. Let's be fucking real. You come, your family, come in. We want to hang. So come hang, come chat.

There's lots of good chat these days. Lots of good music chat. Lots of good movie chats. I actually think we have a very refined Discord group, in my opinion. Don't prove me wrong, everyone. Oh my gosh. Yeah, come join the discord you can see i don't know you can see about a lot of people's different there's varied

crusader kings accounts nowadays several different playthroughs going on not just chloe's chloe does share about her sims playthrough i share about my desperate housewives watch through so there's a lot going on guillotine electric chair for tom scavo have you ever seen a post pinned more quickly in the discord than that one by the way i don't know me and maddie were in the background just cheering finally i'm like finally some of my tweets will make sense to eliana only on season like two electric chair for tom so electric chair electric chair desperate house rises we gotta make a channel for that we gotta so here's a quick little behind the scenes every now and then we share things that go on in the in the back workings of girls gone canon so chloe and i of course we record in two different places under two different moons and and you know we seclude ourselves in a room because that's how

recording works that's how recording sound works of course you don't want background stuff but every now and then you know people can hear you through the walls and stuff and my partner just texted me because obviously he can't come in here because otherwise i'll have to edit it out with did i hear an, are you ready? She's a genius. I guess he has not heard me say this every single episode. Wow, he's a fake fan. Yes.

I can't believe your partner is a fake Girls Gone Canon fan. This is insane. This is insane. I'm going to say that to him, too, next time I see him. He's an individual Chloe fan, an individual Eliana fan, but not necessarily, you know the the tm not the trademarked girls gone canon band oh because i'm like together we also caused some trouble so i could see where your partner may not appreciate fans of us causing trouble as well just you know you know the mischief we do cause trouble you know i'm

foreshadowing it i hope you're all here oh foreshadowing it. I hope you're all here. Oh, my God. Eliana, Chloe. I hope you're all hearing the foreshadowing that sometime this year there will be trouble once more and it will be made double. Yes. Prepare the world for devastation. Wow. I'm really literally with this chapter.

Wow. Literally devastation, though. All right. though all right before we jump into emails tweets of note i want to call out one of our buddies duncan aka the valkyrist from youtubes and the internet uh you might know him from the westrose forums you might know him better known as in my opinion from vassals of kingsgrave which i am a big fan of we love the vassals of kingsgrave and also his YouTube has tons of dramatic readings and theories and tons of stuff that like I'm talking about. It's been around for a decade,

right? He's been in this fandom for a really long time. He's putting out a book, a book on his writings about A Song of Ice and Fire. It's going to be called, I know I'm like, holy shit, someone putting out a book and I love that.

But no, this is actually, and i've now read this book for the most part unless he's changed some things since i read it but notes from the citadel the philosophy and psychology of a song of ice and fire it's coming out this april 2024 april 16th i read it recently i got to be an advanced reader by the way i'm an advanced reader and some of the things I thought were most relevant to you guys that if you get this book, you should check out. These are some of my

favorite chapters I enjoyed from Duncan's book. A Thousand Faces and None, The Depersonalization of Arya Stark, which is a great read for everyone listening to these chapters. The Acorn is the Oak, The Eternalist Philosophy of the Three-Eyed Crow. You know I love that shit. And of course, I have to eternalist philosophy of the three-eyed crow you know i love that shit

and of course i have to shout out one of the last couple chapters when life gives you lemon trees evaluating the conspiracy mentality of the ice and fire fandom and i will tell you spoiler duncan does point out that we are not all okay so it's good it's fun it is fun though it's like it's a great read. It's great to reflect on all of his experiences in the fandom and his thoughts about the series. And I think especially for someone who's like been here for a while and has kind of seen the fandom maybe. So if it's peak with Game of Thrones and through the long winter that we've been waiting, it's a good it's gonna be a good read. So get it on your list, your buy list, right?

Get it in your wish list and get ready to buy it for April. And here's Duncan telling you a little bit about it. G'day, listener. My name is Duncan, better known as Valkyrist in the Ice and Fire fandom. And I have an exciting announcement to make. I've written a book. It's called Notes from the Citadel, the philosophy and psychology of A Song of Ice and Fire. It represents

over a decade of writing and talking about this series, having grown out of conversations in forums, podcasts, and fan conventions, as well as my own background in literary analysis and research. The book covers a range of topics, from George R.R. Martin's postmodern approach to the fantasy genre, to the effects of patriarchy, feudalism and war upon his characters. The phenomenological significance of the Others, the metaphysical implications of the Three-Eyed Crow, and the epistemic skirmishes of the Ice and Fire fandom are also investigated. The analysis combines academic scrutiny with a fervent adoration for Martin's work. While the night may be long and the wait between books grueling, these essays offer a wealth

of new insights, granting veteran fans a fresh appreciation and understanding of Martin's story, characters, and writing. Notes from the Citadel will be released on April 16th and is available in both e-book and paperback. You can find it by clicking the link in the episode show notes or by searching Notes from the Citadel on Amazon. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you and on with the show. Well, thanks, Duncan. Very much looking forward to this book and the essays that you called out, Chloe. I mean, I think it's, I don't know, I think like evaluating the the philosophy and psychology like these kinds of themes right this kind of analysis of the book series is something that obviously

you know i gravitate towards like you know we can spin our wheels about what's gonna happen yeah so i'm it's the kind of thing that i enjoy it people can enjoy stories in all sorts of different ways so not knocking on that it's just something that i personally enjoyed i'm looking forward to so this spring yeah i figure that this is like you know these were some of the chapters after taxes yeah buy it these are a couple of the chapters i really liked you know like and there's many many more it's a decent chunky book i think you all will like it but those are the chapters that i liked and i think that they reflect stuff you will like personally um and i know a guy i can get you that book eliana just so you know it's okay i can use my tax return on it so all of you if you would like to use your tax return on uh on duncan for those of you not down under like duncan then you should uh you should use your u.s tax return on

that yeah i don't actually know how australian tax returns or their tax a thing worked so i really don't me either they have spiders so i just like think those huge spiders that are venomous that they have i feel like they should just get money i just tell people about drop bears that are not real it's just i mean i've seen kangaroo jack yo kangaroos are scary like videos of kangaroos i'm like okay and their muscles yeah bro it's so interesting because obviously the ancient egyptians did not see kangaroos but when i look at a kangaroo i'm like that's a nubus that's what i have if i saw one in real life up close like that i would say the same thing though let's be fucking real they're fucking jacked usually it's nuts yeah it's nuts yes scary anyway we got a tweet of note that i would like to call out this was from a few weeks ago in response to our aria 9 chapter

our storm swords aria 9 chapter with our friend lost wolfling slash mira but this comes from dread lady saying good to know i'm not the only one who laughs a lot at this chapter smiley face the knight's honor bit is so good laughing emoji and the fact that he feels compelled to actually lecture people about this night thing even as he's robbing them is hilarious on another level first of all is it robbing or is it foraging questions yeah referring to Arya 10 it's foraging it's foraging yes yeah I love that he's just out here like and that's why you're

getting robbed because you're a dumb bitch and you believe in knights just like I used to you idiot it's hysterical he's not a knight yeah and I do have to shout out if you haven't checked out Dread Lady's art Dread Lady has some fucking phenomenal Sandor

art I'll find my favorite pieces for you guys below don't worry don't worry I'll hook it up I'll hook it up yeah so thank you for that and now um to one of like our briefest lightning rounds for one of our briefest chapters

Catalin 7 not my hair Ned loves my hair that's all the emotion I had One of, like, our briefest lightning rounds for one of our briefest chapters. Catalin, seven. Not my hair. Ned loves my hair. That's all the emotion I had. Out, out, brief candle. Well, that brings us here. Two.

Arya, eleven. Outside the castle, chaos ensues. Arya tries to run to her family, but is stopped by Sandor. Just so you know, you all don't get confused about what happens there at the end. We want to call it out now, spoil you a little, you know, this is a reread podcast. Yeah, Arya survives. Yeah. Arya lives, thank god. And this is

like the shortest chapter in Aeswaf, right? It's tied, actually, I think it depends on, like, if you compare the two prints, but Bran 3, A Game of Thrones, is short as fuck. I think it might be technically shorter, but compare the two prints, but brand three, a game of Thrones is short as fuck. I think it might be technically shorter, but they're like neck and neck. Interesting.

And then after this, there's a whopping 12 chapters between this chapter and the next chapter. Are you 12? Oh, George is amazing. Like George, you fucker, right?

Like he's so, he's so clever and he knows it because that is like, it's perfect. It speaks to the rhythm, the melody, everything of the song of the story where you have all these arcs kind of peaking going off. You have Bran at the night for it. You have Sam meeting Bran at the night for it. John at the wall.

And then you have this where everything is going down. And it's funny. I was like thinking about it very, very visually. Right. I like to visualize shit i like graphs and shit i like spreadsheets and motherfucking fucking shit i love you know think about the arcs though like close your eyes and think about a storm of swords and where the peaks are and then put it down to just like a pov right like aria's chapters and where the pov she's

closing her eyes thank god she told me to close my eyes it's important so think we're like aria's chapters peak and it's not the same as the book necessarily but it supports the book's peak and how the music all comes in and i don't know it's really interesting i like to visualize like this pov is like just a vibes chapter this pov is vibes this pov is some shits going down yeah it's a different shape than the whole story but it fits so well into the story like a jigsaw piece so i think that the rhythm of this and the peaking of the arcs is wonderful and the way george has kind of interchanged some of these chapters to play off one another and bring all of the drama just speaks to his uh you know his masterful use of the pov system for sure and i mean yeah it this happens quite like in the middle of the book, you know,

and there's still like a lot to go. I love that you pointed out there's 12 chapters before the next Aria one. And that's not even the last Aria. Yeah, that's not even the last Aria chapter of this book. And because there's so little between this and the previous Aria chapter, and I mean mean you know the really big thing happens in this in that in between it creates like such good tension on the heels of that catlin chapter and creates this it's a fantastic use of dramatic irony right because

like we know like oh fuck shit's going down because it's the red wedding aria doesn't sandra doesn't they're starting to understand so like there's there's this tension of like, what is going to happen to Arya? Who is right here? Is she going to share the same fate as her family? Is she not? We all know this is a reread. Yeah, thank God we know. Yeah, I can't imagine like, I mean, I just remember, you know, so many people that flip forward, right? Like, so like, what are you? you because also it's like playing on emotions at the time you're so raw you literally just watched everyone fucking die and then the next chapter george is like bonk i don't even remember yeah i don't even remember how i reacted to the end of this chapter because i think it because as we talked about last last episode you and i were

just like oh we gotta we gotta know what happens and just kept like probably reading and i don't know i might have just been like oh bruh and then just turn the page to the next one after this well we launch the chapter and aria and sandor are moving past the feast tents torches shine against the wet chain mail and helms the castle isn't closed aria realizes like the sergeant said and the porticolus is actually being drawn upward as she watches. Arya is kind of swept up worrying about getting in, but Sandor spots it first. He shoves her down. Riders begin pouring out of the castle, fighting.

Men and mounts in heavy armor with torches and axes, long axes, bone-crushing blades, real fucking war and battle has come to the castle. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's pretty heavy shit. Out of the castle. Yeah, right? And there's some language that I really like here of, like, it was only then that she heard the riders pouring out of the castle gate in a river of steel and fire. The thunder of their dust years crossing the drawbridge almost lost beneath the

drumming from the castles and it's just good stuff it's good stuff look at all those d sounds with the thunder dusters drawbridge drumming like george is really hammering home the i mean as you were talking about earlier right like the rhythm using those dental sounds to to create that beat here and it also kind of feels like some sort of fucking nightmare apocalyptic imagery right with the steel and the fire and all these like disastrous imagery as well coming together and really bringing home the sensations of the sounds and the drums which strings it together well with aria's mother's chapter yeah the war drums are like the one constant being heard in the background, right?

You can't always hear the music exactly, but you can hear the percussive beat of the war drums and that bass, that rhythm that, you know, it's like in a dance, you dance to the beat. You don't dance always to the melody. You don't, yeah, you try to dance. Okay, listen. If you are a dancer, unless you are very, very skilled or unless you are very, very bad,

you likely dance to the beat, not to the harmony, not to the melody, to the beat of the song. And the beat of the song is there to keep you on track, just like bass, just like rhythm. The way I like to think about it, the first song I ever learned on a bass guitar was the Gorillaz Feel Good Inc. song I ever learned on a bass guitar was the Gorillaz Feel Good Inc. So you have the bass, you have that beat, that and that harmonic. And through this heard. You know, all you hear is that percussive beat in the background. That is the song that I associate with this chapter. So true. Bestie. It's not, but yes, yes, it's absolutely going through this. Somewhere far off, she heard a wolf howling. It wasn't very loud compared to the camp noise and the music and the low ominous growl of the river running wild, but she heard it all the same. Only maybe it wasn't

her ears that heard it. Its sound shivered through Arya like a knife sharp with rage and grief. What a great blink and you miss it line right there maybe it wasn't her ears that heard it maybe it was her memory maybe it was her wolf maybe it was her siblings wolf maybe it was a different wolf that she heard it through but she was in another mind when she probably heard that yeah i mean like you said blink and you miss it because i'm not sure i've noticed that line until you called it out maybe it wasn't her ears that heard it dang that's so good just like the dream that aria had the night before that she doesn't remember what is it i wish we knew i so i've been thinking about it since you even said it i like wish we knew interesting

yeah i'm like also wondering which wolf was this who heard it so curious almost makes you sad and think that she's hearing this through yeah i mean like is she hearing well or is she hearing nymeria hearing through like the astral plane gray when dying you know yeah so many things more riders emerge four wide with no end there's knights squires free riders and one of the feast tents has collapsed and the flames are licking it up and the other two aren't far behind the the three tents and then the third one collapsing this is foreshadowing that we're once upon a time there were going to be three more books but now there's only just going to be two more ahead of us this is a lie okay says who i made this up i made this up just for this episode. I have arguments against this, but wow.

The second tent is hit by flaming arrows, and there are screams overpowering the music. Arya realizes it's a battle, and she knows the song that's coming out of the castle because lo and behold, Tom of Sevenstream sang it the night they sheltered with the brothers in the brew house. And you know the song. You know this fucking song. It's on every westerosi radio station you turn it you're like fuck this song i want to hear a different song guess what it's on that one too it's the reigns of castamere so

meanwhile fray riders have spotted sandor and aria and sandor cuts stranger loose mounting him wheeling towards the combatants getting getting rid of the wane. In the background, of course, during this, the reins of Castorin begins to play, adding on top of those drums and bass and rhythm we were just talking about. And it's an expert use, right, of having it throughout the background. We see the lyrics in italics throughout the chapter, dictating kind of the betrayal as it's happening, especially against the buildup of last chapter where we're able to see what's happening before our protagonists are necessarily seeing it yes yes and as you said right like we we all know what the song is and that it carries through and i do think it's interesting that i mean this shows us again how young Aria is and despite how she feels so old, like, she's not- she has the knowledge of this song, but not the wisdom that comes with things yet, right?

She recognizes this, but unlike Catelyn, doesn't understand yet its political significance or the context of why this song might be playing and what it means that this song is playing here and i i do think it's really interesting because in aria's storyline i think that the reigns of castamere takes on a very different meaning or the lyrics of it do not the context right like obviously this is fucking lannister victory song you know but the lyrics of a cat like who are you right and then also like a cat and then of a different coat and a different color like especially as as aria becomes a cat in a bit right and then the idea of being able to change your coat's color like what you look like and that's literally what aria learns to be able to do

and of course you know the sharp claws she wields like actual fucking pointy things but i just think it's so interesting that she doesn't know what this song means for it to be playing here as well yeah she has absolutely no back knowledge of what this song means so it's a great point like it's also interesting because you think back to the brotherhood and how they acted with her and they almost protected her from knowledge and didn't tell her everything like you were saying something last chapter in aria 10 about how she doesn't necessarily know her brother's even a king no one tells her this shit nobody explains to her hey by the way this song yeah the Lannisters once

they drowned their enemies out of pride anger and jealousy and out of fear of like being seen as weaker and lesser and here they are again because that's what this battle is right like it's not like it's not like they're like this is what happens when you're betrayed it's pride more than anything right like being shown up by rob stark by the young wolf by what the starks stand for it's the starks challenging the lannisters and their rule and what they stand for in totality for their freedom and it's different it's something that the lannisters really can't pinpoint themselves i find that interesting like the lannisters battle and why they do this is to end it and to maintain control and maintain pride and show in front of everybody that they're the bosses.

They ain't. It doesn't do that. It creates a martyr. Yeah, actually. I mean, I can see the logic, I guess, that he thought was going to happen, but it creates a martyr. It creates, like, a zombie, you know, all sorts of shit happening. Not to talk about the expanse but it's so laconian oh my god anyways i'm just thinking of the statue so i'm like not sure i completely

understand i'm thinking of lacone and like his sons and the twisting you don't snakes in the statue we'll get there okay but also that i guess like it is that too though oh that's true anyways wait actually literally because it is like that dad and then the snake so apparent and then the kids dying alongside wow damn fucked up anyways we have a line of aria had prayed a hundred hundred times for the hound to die but now there was a rock in her hand slimy with mud and she didn't even remember picking it up who do i throw it at i love that for so many reasons like cute but also like sad and also like everything you've been taught is a

lie and in actuality it all is playing out way differently like these are the people that your family would say well they're assholes but we have to go to their dinner party because you know we're all a big family and aria's like what do do? I thought the Northmen liked these motherfuckers. Sandor sucks. I'm confused. Life is harder than it looks. Yeah, and I'm eight years old. What is this?

Sandor takes on three men, which I'd love to watch. And Arya thinks he's sure to die. She thinks of Micah, and then she sees the third rider come her way, moving behind the wane while the sound of drums and warhorns and pipes and stallions and steel plays in the background. She thinks fear cuts deeper than swords. I love this so much that it's become like a, do I kill him or not? What do I do?

I'm so confused as she has the moment and she's stepping forward, but yet it's all falling apart around her. She can't. So a fray rider with long ax mounted on a horse comes to her and she really doesn't understand. She's like, the frays are our allies. A fray is marrying my uncle. When the rider charges, she throws a rock at him.

Like when she threw the apple at Gendry I'm glad that there was practice for that and also that she thinks of Micah a second before because that comes back this chapter I mean it's always coming back but it comes back this chapter I do find it interesting how like Arya's storyline progresses

especially when compared to Sansa's and her being like, I'm not sure I understand what's happening here. The Frasar are allies. What the fuck? And because Sansa learns the very hard way, right, that there are no true allies for her. She has no friends she can depend on. She's very isolated. And even the ones who are nice to her she knows she keeps them all at an arm's length she's like no allies no friends and compared to that like aria's story has a lot less political maneuvering because she's not amongst those leaders right she's much more of an on the ground pov and so aria's idea of allyship is the same as friendship and she makes friends

on a very personal level she has these deep connections with these mentors with like the people that she thought were her pack but then turns out they actually need paying jobs and you know you compare that with sanza who understands like yo your allies are not your friends all of these things are very fragile. And that's, that's part of what her storyline is teaching her, right? And I don't think it's wrong for either of the girls to like think this, to think that allies are friends, etc. I think it's very foundational and necessary for their society to function, right? In the same way that that's why you have like these taboos like guest right? Because without it, there's an erosion

of trust and therefore you can't like, you can't sign peace treaties and shit like that. But anyways, it's something that the adults in their world don't know, which is why we have this red wedding. But anyway, it's just interesting the way that it develops differently for those sisters. It's interesting how she's forced to choose the man she hates as an ally. That's true. That's a great comparison in how it leads leads to that i'd be like fuck not my friend i guess but it has to be right now yeah and i think that's a lot of what's to come too right of people in the face of hardship being forced together that maybe wouldn't necessarily

normally be forced together we look look at Brienne and Jaime as an unlikely duo in this, you know, to start, but later on, too, when the Long Night comes. Oh, the Long Night's gonna come. Okay. Oh, it's gonna come, alright. Alright, so the rock is good, by the way. The rock that she throws breaks the Frey

guy's charge. It lets her retreat a little. It puts the wane between them. He follows her. she outruns him he's like you can't run forever but he's caught off by sandor clegane who hits him with an axe that he's randomly acquired she's like how'd you get the axe he's like killed someone for it i do love that she's literally like she's like where did he get that axe she's like i need to level up like this wow yeah where'd that loot drop come from? Did you just respawn?

No, that's your mom. Dying. Dying Beneath Stranger is one of the other fray riders, and the third man is unmoving, a broken sword in his throat. Sandor tells her to get his helm. It's stuffed in a sack of apples, and she upends it and throws it to him. I love this. I love that the helm has been the hiding like hiding in the sack of apples

for the helm. That's a great place for it which I don't think it's an actual reference to knowledge and Eden but in a way I'm like interesting that the helm is in the apples and he has to get in there into the forbidden fruit and get it because it is forbidden fruit, right? The the helm gives you away it makes it so you can no longer rely on what people think they see uh which is all about the plot with aria and sandor out here

in the game they've been playing and he's waiting for the right time to put it on especially when aria's been waiting for the right time to reveal herself right that's a theme that keeps coming up and aria herself is like when do i get to reveal myself to the right northerner in hopes of taking me home? And here, Sandor is revealing himself. He's using the legend and the lore, something we'll see come back in Arya 13 when they're at the inn with Palliver, Tickler, and their squire. But at this point, there's nothing to lose.

Invoking the hound could only protect them or damn them at this point, even if it's a lie, even if the image of the hound actually invokes Lannister support and the Westerlins. It's something that maybe could live as a figment to keep them safe from either way this goes. Unfortunately, it could always go the opposite. People would be like, oh my god, not the hound. Fuck that guy. But maybe it could scare them off just a bit to provide a bit of protection

and to get out and it of course is interesting in the face of all the stuff we talk about with brienne already in the past and the hound's helm and the symbolization behind it uh and him choosing to don it and disguises right which becomes such a constant when you have jane or fake aria john agan all these people who are something else. Yeah, it is really interesting. And something about the way that you're phrasing it. I mean, it is a little forbidden, right? Like reaching for that persona. It feels like, I don't know, it feels like a transformation sequence, whether it's like for a supervillain or for a superhero or like, I don't know know the mask or something like putting it on is like that superhero reveal of like oh my god yeah it's

that guy holy shit and then like then he's able to do all of these things so really interesting yeah the way that's yeah absolutely the day he donned the cowl. And that is it. That is it. Yeah. And then we have another line here of, I mean, there's a lot of action here. All right. Probably because there's a battle going on. I don't know. Some people are dying.

So he snatched it one-handed from the air and lowered it over his head. And where the man had sat, only a steel dog remained, snarling at the fires. My brother! Dead! Do you think they'd slaughter his men and leave him alive? He turned his head toward the camp. Look! Look, damn you!

The camp had become a battlefield. No, a butcher's den. I love that line. I love that it's described as a butcher's den um it makes me really think of again like it's it's another beat that reminds you of micah right comes up earlier there micah's been just going throughout like all of these things right ari has not forgotten him and she's making sure that not just like sandor but the readers remember him and and so you have that butcher's den you have them like as swineherds they've been here with the salted pork

and the feet like what do you fucking think butchers do you know they they deal with like cut up animals and the meat and then he's gonna come back again later on in this chapter so love that the flames the flames from the tents

reach halfway up. The sky and the barracks tents are burning, too, as the song continues. Wow. Fire track. Both inside the hall and out. A catapult crashes into the burning tents and bursts apart. Come with me.

Come with me. Okay. That's not how it goes. Come with me. Sandor Cle. That's not how it goes. Come with me. Sandor Clegane reached down a hand. We have to get away from here. And now. Stranger tossed his head impatiently, his nostrils flaring at the scent of blood. The song was done.

It reminds me of that, like, really dramatic Sansa line where she was like i thought my song was beginning that day but it already ended when she leaves winterfell so dramatic i love that little teeny bop i like it reminds you of the black water because there was fire and shit there too oh and the song was then done and yeah she gave it and he was like big sad there but now he's like oh she never gave it i took it now well it's okay we're not there yet sorry we're not there yet he's got a different song he doesn't need sansa song there's another song playing it's the reigns of castamere he doesn't need the fucking mother's song oh my god hey but you know what not a song but a different piece of media that i want to bring

up here well you've seen terminator right one. It was a really, really long time ago. I was very young. Okay. Highly recommend the Terminator series. You know, they're great. I actually love all three of them. And I rewatched Terminator 2 Judgment Day last week, actually. And I'm literally bringing this up.

And can I just say something without you guys making fun of me? I think this is a real thing. I think this is inspired by the terminator like envision it for a second that sandra clangane is reaching down his hand there's war and flames and like catastrophe around them to little aria and going come with me it's come with me if you want to live that's literally what this is like that's the line he's like if you want to live come with me which that's a pretty big beat for their plot. Saving her,

protecting her, saying you can live to fight another day instead of going and spending all of your vengeance in one go. Something kind of strong for his art. Interesting. Come with me if you want to live is said in every single Terminator movie. BT dubs, every single bit of Terminator has this line.

But I specifically am referencing Terminator 2 Judgment Day here, which has an alternate timeline. Okay, so like Sarah, John Connor is born to Sarah Connor. His father dies nine months before protecting Sarah from time traveling Terminator. So Sarah gets shot and captured. She is trying to blow up a computer factory. So Sarah gets shot and captured. She is trying to blow up a computer factory. John Connor, her son, gets placed into foster care and is like gaslit about his mother's history. OK, they're like, no, she was delusional and crazy.

And you have to understand everything she told you is a lie, kid. So then he's getting into trouble all the time with his foster parents. Shit's bad. Life's hard. And a T-1000 that's programmed to assassinate him from the future shows up but then at the same time a T-800 then shows up who's programmed to protect him so of course

the T-800 shows up at the right time and he extends his hand to save John Connor and says come with me if you want to live and I'm not saying that Sandor is necessarily a time traveling cyborg I'm not actually saying that like I don't want you to take that but i'm saying that uh i'm not saying he isn't by the way either so if he is like just call me but i was right or i wasn't right is what i'm saying but moreover like there's something to say about these different time streams that

the terminators come back from and like someone in the future is fucking with time and trying to save people and like etc and this all gets revealed throughout the entire series in different ways and also retconned in different ways but you know that's just how long-standing ip goes so but also like that he comes back to save the day or ruin the day right like so think of sandor in a game of thrones killing micah sorry that's a bummer it's kind of a buzzkill downer, but think of that, right? Think of Sandor killing Micah. God! So, like, the T-1000, though, like, he's here

to kill. He's here to, like, have a bad time with everyone. He's here to fuck shit up. But here, then, you have the T-800, Sandor, who's changed through his interactions. Our friend Warren, in our last episode for Aria, actually talked about this in his email, right? Like, that Sandor is influenced and changed after his interactions with Aria. He's influenced and changed after his interactions with Sansa. Terminators change. Sandor has changed, bro,

based on these different outcomes and effects of the different time streams. Like, this is him changing in front of our very eyes. Yeah, I really love that connection that you've drawn. And I mean, there's a couple of things that I think does really work. First of all, like, I don't think that it's crazy to think that this is inspired by Terminator because I do legitimately believe that the hermaphroditic nature of the dragons is inspired by Jurassic Park. Yeah. I literally think that's canon.

That's like not even me being sarcastic. So I do think that there's merit to what you're saying as well as like, I literally think that's canon that's like not even me being sarcastic so I do think that there's merit to what you're saying as well as like I mean Sandor has this like ability to just keep going you know which is very Terminator-esque and and also that what you're saying about this time the time traveling thing and like all the different time streams like that is very much a bit of what's going on in the background of the story too so i'm not saying again i'm not saying yeah i'm not saying that there's a type of cyborg either but like what you were saying of like that's yeah i mean there is skynet in this story like to that effect like i mean look at fucking cold hands cold hands is literally a terminator sent out from skynet yeah really wait yeah yeah literally interesting interesting

yeah okay but i really know i don't think it's one-to-one but i think emotionally it is because that is like one of the themes of terminator 2 judgment day is that like it is like people can change things can change you can protect people and like finding the heart in terminator in general i don't know i just think there's something there. I definitely think George is like, come with me if you want to live in this moment. And I do think that, as you were saying, like being able to change, it's a big part of the story. And we've like talked about it a few times,

but you know, every now and then, I just want to repeat things and hammer it home. Like Lyanna Stark, I used to think she was right. I think she's wrong. Love is sweet, dear Ned. And it can change a man's nature. Interesting. I'm somewhere in between the two of you i don't know about like what whatever was going on with robert but like i do think that's a big part of this and as you're saying oh my god yeah yeah

judgment nature versus nurture we've talked about it with joffrey i think that's a great example of it too oh true true true true true so back to aria off the terminator aria argues with sandor her family is just in the castle we have to get my mom the gates are open and sandor's like you stupid little bitch telling her he's not going and that if she goes in there she won't come out again protecting her he says maybe fray will let you kiss your mother's corpse wait wait a second what kind of kiss are you saying like a kiss of you know what hang on to all this till we get back to aria 12 is what i'm trying to say okay okay interesting interesting something big's going down here something big okay well there's this line here that also like stood out to me it's

just a few lines earlier like the song was done there's only line here that also like stood out to me. It's just a few lines earlier. Like, the song was done. There's only one solitary drum. It's slow, monotonous beats echoing across the river, like the pounding of some monstrous heart. And I'm like, wow, rivers, monstrous heart, like a zombie heart, like Lady Stoneheart. That's it. Ooh. Ooh. This is a hint to what Chloe's going to talk about.

Foreshadowing. I'm laying down. This is my threefold reveal for Chloe's thing. Oh my god. Monstrous heart. Sandor tells Arya he's not done living yet. He tells her to stay or go, live or oh ice or fire hmm you're gonna have both water wow well heart uh air fire no that's that's sandra's never gonna pick fire um

i'm like we went between captain planet a Stark, and then we even got a little Avatar in there. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, we could, you know, we do have Sandor, aka Fire Lord Zuko with us today. Here he is. Here he is. So here's that to the chapter.

Let's close the chapter, Eliana. Give it to us. All right. Well, the chapter, Eliana. Give it to us. Alright, well, the twins are also closing. Um, the poor Cullis was coming down, but slowly I have to run faster! The mud slowed her, though,

and then the water. Run! Fast as a wolf! The drawbridge had begun to lift, the water running off it in the sheet, the mud falling in heavy clots. Faster! She heard loud splashing and looked back to see the stranger pounding after her, sending up gouts of water with every stride.

She saw the long axe, too, still wet with blood and brains. And Arya ran. Not for her brother now, not even for her mother, but for herself. She ran faster than she had ever run before her head down and her feet churning up the river she ran from him as micah must have run his axe took her in the back of the head florence the machine plays this oh my god the end of aria no just kidding wow we're done okay oh the dog days are not over yet though the dog days continue in the next two chapters yes uh top fake out nayswaft right like we have the miller's sons being brandon rick in recently uh we've got what davos's death in the blackwater

is a great fake out as well as his death by the Manderlys yes yeah to come and how we perceive it as a reader we have ghost being attacked by a rel's eagle and Tyrion and the Blackwater there are so many great fake outs but I think this one is the most emotionally predatory of George on all of us because we're all exhausted we're all crying we're all devastated from the chapter before if you're reading this a to z like normal motherfuckers do instead of A to C and then C to H and then H back to B. And if you're normal, you've probably read this in a normal fashion, which we have to, to be fair. And it's just so emotionally exhausting that the fake out works so well, because as mentioned at the beginning of this episode, there's a whopping 12 chapters after this. And George wants you to

forget and wants you to be fucked up. And even that like horrible tension of, I mean, she's in the middle of a battle. Your senses aren't at their best. It's I mean, look, I get anxiety from making phone calls. Okay, child soldier in the middle of a battle where your family's being murdered. I mean, I don't weigh anything compared to that. That's a huge, huge difference, right? In attitude and anxiety. So I can't imagine being in that fight or flight, having your heart pounding in your chest alongside that rhythm of the drum and the battle of the axes and everything. I mean, you can kind of see her trauma come into play a little bit too, where she feels like everyone's an enemy. She feels like she has to she has to flight she has to get away from sandor she's not safe here she's not safe with him and you have that great line his axe took her in the back of the head and we don't

know what happens because we've never read these books we've just kidding we know she's fine she's fine never she's going yeah to bravos even with his helm on right like you start to think oh him putting the helm on means he's back to his old ways bug bunny meme he really is a bad dog and invokes his hound's helm right his ways of crime but that's not what it means yeah i mean he tells her right he's like Like, okay, well, I'm fucking going and you can stay or you can go, right? Which is, again, Blackwater. Blackwater vibes. And he was like, I'm gonna fucking go. And it makes me really think then of what Mira was saying about the Blackwater and Sandor being like, why did I leave that decision of whether or not to escape to a child?

Why did I do that? And he's like, oh my god, I did it do that and he's like oh my god i did it again and he's like oh i'm not about to make the same mistake twice this girl's about to fucking jump into the river because i mean she is about to jump into like i don't know the moat or some shit like to her death and the poor call is her call is coming down like this this girl's not gonna fucking make it she's gonna get stuck and like fucking she's about to be impaled he's like yeah i can't let the little girl do that. Or if she's not impaled, I can't let her become a hostage, which is what has happened to Sansa.

Right. And and so he so he's like, you know, I'm going to just smack her in the back of the head. I've been telling her if you try to escape or you try to do crazy shit, I'm going to hit you. And I guess he does it. That's the clout in the ear. Speaking of Dunkin' Egg. But anyways. do crazy shit i'm gonna hit you and i guess he does it that's the clout in the ear speaking of duncan egg but um anyways the desperation and aria just running and she's like running as fast as she can like it's just so sad right she's just caught between what is she doing she's just running she's

just running like a wolf you know she's running to she's running from she's running she has nothing to run to yeah she's caught between it's this strange it's so interesting right it's this limbo she's running she's running she's spinning her wheels it's the hamster wheel uh on youtube and um where is she where is she going it's this terrible limbo of she keeps trying to get home and can't she keeps trying to get to her family stays in the same place and i don't know there's also this like desperation she's like sandor sandor we have to save my mom like we have to go there and like it's interesting she doesn't say rob necessarily i mean partially probably because sandra's like dude he's fucking dead but also

maybe she believes that rob can handle himself but i don't know it's also like we have to save my mom i lost one parent i can't go through this again uh worse about what's gonna happen um but yeah right not even just that but like and the idea that like her mom was supposed to have survived they were supposed to keep her alive she wasn't wrong necessarily like she doesn't know it but she wasn't wrong yeah I mean maybe she there was part of her that was like I don't know maybe she'll live because she understands the idea of like hmm hostage hostage

right as someone who has been almost a hostage several times yeah ugh man Arya no aria no that's what makes it so fucked up if she does have to kill her mom dude yeah that's why it's like it's right there because it's like this is so fucked up this is so fucked up and that's so fucked up that's so fucked up it's like a perfect circle it oh my god i just realized it actually kind of parallels with tyrian's storyline

because yeah with his dad here because he's about to kill him yeah i mean like not only does tyrian kill his father but like in doing so he's like really fucked up about it because tyrian desperately wants validation from his father and then killing his father he completely blocks his ability to ever get it he was never going to get it but he like takes that away from himself in that way right aria desperately wants her mother's validation as we can see she wants her mother to accept her and like she's terrified of losing that and losing her mother's love and so there's something there about all that too but maybe she'll get validated by like i mean, if her killing a bunch of people is going to make anyone proud, it's Lady Stoneheart. My little murder baby, you did it.

I don't think that. It's going to be like that. Oh my god. Every time you do it now, it's my new favorite. I can't wait until we finally get to some Stoneheart. I know. You know, some epilogue ass. You can do her voice.

Fuck. Wow. Yeah, you know, I'm pretty emotional still about this chapter. It's still pretty emotional, everything that's just happened. I didn't cry, which is fun for me it's not like our second hunger games episode where i definitely don't cry i actually didn't think you cried this one so fascinating i didn't not once she didn't i didn't see it yeah just like how i never cried in j never mind anyways but i think this is a pretty devastating and chapter 12 you know is a

not too long not too much as we get on the road of you know oh sand orc lagane getting an infection in the hound dying but we'll get there we'll get there i'm i'm not anticipating i'm sad i'm very. Very sad. So. Sad. I don't know what I'm feeling, but there's a lot. Something. Something. Eliana, where can everyone tell us what they're feeling? Wow.

Just don't. No, I'm joking. You can find us on social media. Let us know what you think about this chapter and Arya storyline by you can send us a tweet at girls gone canon c-a-n-o-n on twitter or a skeet on blue sky also a girl's canon that is what they're called okay and you can also send us an email at girls gone canon at gmail.com they're not actually called that someone made it up and we all ran with it. It's real. You know, every episode we do is sponsored by our patrons.

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A blast to the back of Aria's head, unfortunately. I have been one of your hosts, Chloe. And I've been another one of your hosts, Eliana. We'll be back with Aria 12 in a storm of swords and finish

out Storm soon with a special guest. Can't wait to announce it. Keep your ears peeled. Finally Arya can be like, I'm 12. Shut the fuck up because I'm 11. I'm one of your hosts, Chloe. And I'm still one of your hosts, Eliana.

Goodbye. Goodbye. Wow. Oh.