Random ASoIaF Thought (Storm Spoilers)

[lightofdaye]

Sorry, Tam, this came to mind from your other thread but is probably from beyond where you are. Don't read. Comments are ranging over all the books really.



So is Garlan Tyrell a genuinely good person?

He sticks up for Tyrion: Twice! When he doesn't have to. Praising Tyrion as good husband to Sansa when she gets married to him, and then again Garlan tells her how much Tyrion helped win the Battle of King's Landing at Joffery's wedding.

We don't see much of the Tyrell's scheming but he doesn't seem to be at all involved. So he and Balon Swann, possibly by virtue of extremely limited page time could genuinely be one of the few actually good guys in the series.

On the other hand, why was he trying to get on Sansa and Tyrion's good side? Could he be in on it? Good the Tyrells be trying to get Tyrion and Sansa on their side to under cut the others and try and secure their position?

Or am i being too paranoid? It's made pretty moot by later events of course.


In unspoileriffic news, my very slow GoT rewatch has hit episode 3 and my computer restarted the episode where i left off the last time I watched the dvd, A few minutes into Sansa, Arya and Bran's audio commentary. They just reacted with false shock to Jaime swearing. ("What's the saying? 'The King shits and the Hand wipes.'?" No that's not the saying not the one from the book anyway >:( )

eta: now I'm in a dilemma. They changed some dialogue when Old Nan's talking to Bran. Only they change it from a reference to Bran the Builder to Ser Duncan the Tall. Ser Duncan is the star of 'The Hedge Knight': an asoiaf short story set 80 years before the main series that was in the Legends fantasy anthology and is the story that got me to read ASoIaF in the first place. I love references to that story in AsoIaF. But i hate changes from the book. So.. Dilemma. lol.

Comments

[tiberiusirius.livejournal.com]

I would be wary of any of the Tyrells. They are clearly an ambitious lot and powerful as well given their bountiful lands. I don't know why Garlan would want to get on Tyrion and Sansa's good side though, and even if he was trying I don't think it matters now given where GRRM left off with Sansa and Tyrion, of course I could be wrong and often am.

If we are talking speculation I'm more interested in where the hell Benjen has disappeared to. I refuse to believe that he's dead or that he's Coldhands. I know he disappeared in the first book and its unlikely that he still lives but no body no death in the ASoIaF world, and even then its questionable as in the case of Bran and Rickon.

[lightofdaye]

It does seem to be more the Ladies that are the schemers though. i'm not sure if even Loras was entirely in on it. (and if we're talking, dead people with no bodies. How about him?)

Benjen. I don't know. Some his party are confirmed dead and it seems likely it was his cloak buried at the fifth. The coldhands theory sort of works for me. But it could just be something the characters never get to find out.

Another random thing but one assumes Howland Reed will have to turn up at some point, considering he's the only one who knows what really happened with Lyanna.

[tiberiusirius.livejournal.com]

Women do always seem to be the schemers, though in their defense what else can they really do? Its they only way they can assist in helping to elevate their family or protect them. I think Loras had an inkling of the scheming, but only in so far as he would do what he was told to keep his sister safe from her betrothed

You really think that was Benjen's cloak? The fist was an outpost for years, and I'm assuming the horn they found with the dragon glass is the horn of winter so I always just assumed it had been there for years. Though it being Benjen's does explain how ghost found it. If it was him he was probably trying to hide the horn from the Wildlings.

Yeah I'm actually really excited to meet Howland Reed. His kids are certainly interesting. Hopefully he doesn't die before he meets Jon.

[lightofdaye]

Oh, I'd never thought about that. I'd always assumed Mance had found the horn before advancing. You think he got it from the fist then? it was weird how they left most that stuff behind.

Ha! you've jinxed poor Howland now. But seems to be the only guy who can reveal what happens so he has to meet at least one pov to tell it too before popping his clogs. And there's Maege Mormont and Glover on their longboats unaccounted for.

[tiberiusirius.livejournal.com]

I always thought the horn and dragonglass had been there for hundreds of years and ghost just stumbled upon it. But if Benjen buried it there it was probably because he knew the wildlings were looking for it, found it somewhere before them, and then buried it at the fist hoping some one of the watch would come across it or no one else would find it. I think Sam carried it with him to Oldtown right or did it get left at the fist?

I better not have jinxed Howland :/ I would be beyond sad.

[lightofdaye]

I think they only a tiny amount of the dragonglass is there. Sam talks it over with the Old Bear than they'd need all that dragonglass that they don't have to get back the fist of the first men to get the dragonglass.

They had a spear head about a dozen arrowheads and three knives. (The Old Bear's, Green's and Sam's) But they'd let like hundreds of arrowheads and more spearhead and knives behind.

Yeah I hope we get some good Howland stuff at some point, he sounds badass just from Ned's recollections in the first book.

[mayorhaggar.livejournal.com]

How many of the Dunk & Egg stories have you read? I loved the first one (Baelor Breakspear FTW!), but couldn't be bothered to even finish the second, instead skipping on to read some of the other short stories from that Legends anthology. I haven't read the third yet.

I don't trust any of the Tyrells, except for maybe Willas. And I'm sure if we ever actually see him "on-screen", he'll be revealed to be the worst of the lot. That would be a GRRM thing to do.

[lightofdaye]

Yeah I've only read The Hedge Knight. I've never managed to find the second Legends anthology, I'm not even sure what anthology has the third one.

Haha. That does sound what he does. It's sad becaue I really liked what little I saw of Garlan. I sort of wish he wouldn't turn in to GRRM Bastard. I see him like a Jon or Davos. Essentially decent.

[luna-plath.livejournal.com]

I think the Tyrells in general are less bad than the Lannisters, but I also don't think they're necessarily good. I'm sure that Garland is in on what Margaery and his grandmother are doing. He does seem less involved somehow, but I'm pretty sure that George said Garland and Willas "do things" in later books, which implies a degree of scheming.

[lightofdaye]

Oh, they're definitely not good. As Stannis would have it, they declared first for Renly who has the weakest claim to throne. They knew he was an usurper they just wanted power.

Makes me sad to think of Garlan as a full on schemer given his niceness to Tyrion. But he has gone from a second son to a powerful Lord holding the Florent lands. So he's obviously got something out of it all.