Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Prologue • Arya

The prologue opens at Dragonstone, home of King Bob's brother and rightful king, Stan. Though that doesn't really make sense to me, because Bob had that blacksmith son right? Anyway, we meet Stan's ugly kid, his annoying clown, and his smuggler knight all through the eyes of his old maester. Cressen sees a big red comet in the sky, but he's not that worried. Why should he be? It's not like the comet is an omen of the return of a vengful princess with three newly hatched dragons or anything.

Stan does not have the men or resources to challenge the Lannisters, but he refuses Cressen's advice to seek allies and aid from the other declared "kings" like Robb. But Stan does have his very own Pocahontas, a "red woman" who is hot, magical, and fanatically devoted to her religion. To Cressen, a man of science, this can only mean one thing: that bitch is crazy. Naturally, the only solution is to assassinate her at dinner. But weak old Cressen oversleeps. He really should have told Pylos to wake him, but Pylos was probably busy doing things old men like Cressen can't do. What Cressen needed were some additional Pylos.

Cressen shows up late but still goes through with his plan to poison Melisandre. Both of them drink the spiked wine. But she isn't just an ordinary red woman from Asshair, she got some skills. Around her neck is a mint condition Mox Ruby, and depending on the set, she could ebay that thing for at least 500 bucks. The ruby somehow protects her from the poison, but rubyless Cressen is not so lucky. R'hllor 1, Citadel 0.
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Arya is traveling north with Yoren. This guy is either her guardian angel, or just someone who really, really likes boys. Yoren has to go all the way to the Wall with the dregs of King's Landing. I'm sure it makes everyone sleep easy knowing that criminals and orphans are standing guard against the ghosts with superpowers. The other orphans make fun of Arya, but she kicks one of their asses with a wooden sword, drawing a spanking from Yoren. Sometimes, it's easy to forget how young Arya is. At age nine, she has already seen so much. Her brother was crippled, her friend was murdered, and her father was executed. She's killed someone. But she's also a scared little girl who just misses her family. The road won't be easy, and the Wall is cold and unforgiving, but at least Jon will be there.

23 comments:

  1. The blacksmith kid is a bastard and is therefore denied any rights to inheritance. As Bob didnt have any children through his marriage, the crown passes to Stannis.

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  2. Erm... Bob had Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen through his marriage. But on Dragonstone Stannis is of course thought of as the rightful heir to the throne.

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  3. Or well, to correct myself (2nd message) Bob didn't have actual children, but the three are still officially his.

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  4. Is stannis claiming incest at this point?

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  5. Additional Pylos... made me lol XD

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  6. If I remember right Stannis doesn't claim that Robert's children were from incest, he claims that he should have been the rightful king ALL ALONG, since he is Robert's OLDER brother. (A bit odd claiming a "rightful" kingship of a throne taken by force, especially when it wasn't you who took it. I think since he's the honourable sort he's just trying to preserve his brother's reputation)

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  7. No no, the original theory is right. He's the heir because Bob's kids are all bastards or not his at all. Stannis knows and announces that in a letter he circulates.

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  8. Stannis knows the children are born of incest but hasn't formally claimed that as yet.

    Stannis is Robert's younger brother, with Renly being younger still. Stannis is one year younger than Robert and about thirteen years older than Renly. There are a couple of times when Stannis says he is the 'elder brother', but he means that only in relation to Renly. When Stannis is asked why he supported Robert but not Renly, he says clearly, "Robert was my elder brother, Renly is my younger."

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  9. Good ole Stannis,easily my favourite

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  10. Maybe you guys should stop speculating on events to come later in the book? This is the Bloggers first read after all. He's only read the Prolouge, so, no, Stannis has not done anything yet and mentioning what he or any character will do spoils the fun in reading this blog.

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  11. First off, you get mad props for the Magic: The Gathering reference.

    And second, hooray for Stannis. Easily one of my favorite characters.

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  12. Hooray! Now I can start checking this blog three times a day for no apparent reason!

    Stannis is awesome. One of the most complex characters in the series in my opinion.

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  13. I love that you've started this up again. Melisandre, she got some skills. About the funniest comment I've ever seen regarding that particular character and I didn't think anything about her could make me smile.

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  14. Yeah. Funny thing - I'm actually rereading Clash right now, although I'm further into it - already at the Big Naval Battle. Which is, for the record, one of the most EPIC moments of the whole sequence so far.

    Also, you might've mentioned Davos. He doesn't have a big part in the prologue, but he's a kickass character, one of my favourites.

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  15. Did anyone read GRRMs last Not a blog entrys???

    "nuff said" ......

    Seems he is succesfully whacking on the "meerense knot" and did another Jon Chapter at least. It feels like there could be a Dance this year.



    Nice work again Jason. Just one wish... read/write faster ;)

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  16. yeah i saw it, no one likes an ambiguous twat

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  17. Have to say, "What Cressen needed were some additional Pylos" was probably one of your top 10 jokes on this blog. I'm excited you're back into reading ASOIAF and I look forward to all the good stuff you'll see (and relate to us in an amusing manner) in CoK. :)

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  18. Good to see the blog diving into "A Clash of Kings", my favorite of the saga. Like friend Xinemus said, mad props for the Magic: The Gathering reference.

    Stannis knew of the incest, as Eddard discovered when visiting Tobho Mott, the armorsmith in King's Landing; Stannis was with Lord Jon Arryn when they were unravelling Cersei's sinister secret.

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  19. I dont understand the pylos thing? maybe my english needs work. Help?

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  20. The additional Pylos refers to the game Starcraft. One of the Protoss race's catchphrases was "You must construct additional pylons!"

    Funny though. I never caught that in the blog entry until one of the Anons pointed it out.

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  21. I'm just finished reading these 2 parts of Clash of Kings (and no further). Is the "bull", one of the boys Yoren is taking to the Wall Robert's bastard that Ned went to see? It mentioned he was polishing some horned thing.

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  22. Stannis did know that the children were result of incest. Ed Stark announced that in the throne room when Janos Slynt and Littlefinger betray him. And the letter the former Lord Stark sent with an messenger (one of his men) did arrive to him. Renly knew too, but if he told his elder brother or not we do not know...

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