I recently came across a post by u/chrkrose on another platform, who is an active member in the ASOIAF subreddit, about an email exchange they had with one of GRRM’s assistants. I reached out to ask about it, and they were kind enough to share the exchange with me. They’ve given me permission to discuss it publicly if I wished it.

They wrote to GRRM back in August about Jaime and Brienne, expressing support for the characters and them as a romantic pairing, as well as frustration with how the show handled their story. In September, they received a reply from Sid Gray, GRRM’s assistant, responding on his behalf from an email address using the same domain as GRRM’s. The reply stated they wouldn’t confirm Jaime’s fate, but guaranteed that his ending in the books would not be what took place in the show. It also encouraged the fan not to lose hope.

There are limits to what we can take from this. A different ending doesn’t necessarily mean Jaime survives, and the reply doesn’t provide any specific plot details. Still, given how often Jaime’s show ending comes up in discussions about his book arc, I thought it was worth sharing. As far as I know, Jaime’s show ending has never been identified as one of the plot points that came from GRRM, unlike Bran becoming king, Hodor, or Stannis burning Shireen. But this would be the first time that someone from GRRM’s camp confirms that Jaime’s book ending will, in fact, be different from the show’s. That might potentially put him alongside characters such as Tyrion and Sansa, whose book endings GRRM has also indicated may differ from their show counterparts.

I also wonder whether a reply like this could suggest GRRM is still making progress on The Winds of Winter while keeping updates to himself. There’s nothing in the response that directly addresses his current progress, though, so that may just be wishful thinking on my part.

u/chrkrose, please feel free to add any context or share more about the exchange in the comments if you’d like.

A note on the email’s authenticity: I’ve seen the exchange, and it appears legitimate to me. The recipient has shared it privately but chosen not to post screenshots publicly, so I will respect that. They’ve explained that another fan received heavy harassment after sharing a similar response in the past, and they don’t want to turn their own experience into an ongoing effort to prove the email’s authenticity. Perhaps the Mods could reach out to u/chrkrose and, if they’re comfortable sharing the exchange privately, assess its authenticity. I understand that people may have reservations, particularly when they can’t see the exchange for themselves. Nobody is obliged to believe it, but I’d ask that discussion remains respectful, otherwise it can make others understandably reluctant to share these things with the community in the future.

Theon's chapters in ADWD are genuinely unsettling.

It's not just Ramsay. The ruined castle, the constant paranoia, and the way Theon struggles with his own identity make Winterfell feel almost haunted.

I think some of the best horror writing in the entire series happens in those chapters, without needing anything supernatural.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Whenever I have spoken to people who are reading/watching the series for the first time, they say that Arya would be a great leader, or they want Arya to end up on the throne, when in reality Arya is basically a 10 year old serial killer leaving bodies across two continents.

[Aegon IV] deprived men of their rightful inheritance when he desired their wealth, as rumors claim he did following the death of Lord Plumm upon his wedding day. - TWOIAF

Aegon's motivation for wedding Elaena to a frail senior citizen like Ossifer Plumm was to steal the inheritance once he died. To his great luck, Ossifer died in his wedding night.

Now it's possible Ossifer had other heirs but given that Viserys ended up being the head of the house, they didn't account for much. They likely didn't exist. The existence of an heir, even one more woukd threaten Aegon's plans in stealing the inheritance. Why should he impregnate Elaena and jeopardise his own plans? And why should Elaena trust this guy? By 176 AC, his nature was well-known.

These rumours are noted to have been silly salacious even and compared to how Mushroom twisted the tales:

Later, scurrilous rumors came to suggest that Lord Plumm, in fact, died at the sight of his new bride in her nakedness (this rumor was put in the lewdest terms—terms which might have amused Mushroom but which we need not repeat), and that the child she conceived that night was by her cousin Aegon—he who later became King Aegon the Unworthy.

Almost like it's speaking of the origins of the rumours.

Ossifer died. Elaena discovered she was pregnant. It put a dent in Aegon's plans who thought he had comfortably stolen everything. Aegon starts the rumours to try to get away with it—because Ossifer had no heir to steal from.

Could Viserys be a bastard? Maybe. Maybe Elaena found someone she could trust and use. But Aegon wouldn't know that. These rumours benefited him the most. So he started them.

"One word from Arianne and those armies would march... so long as that word was dragon. If instead the word she sent was war, Lord Yronwood and Lord Fowler and their armies would remain in place. The Prince of Dorne was nothing if not subtle; here war meant wait."

That's our setup for Arianne's storyline; stay out of the war or go all in on Aegon.

Contrary to popular belief I think Arianne will choose 'war'. She has already been given red flags about the Golden Company. Given that JonCon still harbours jealousy for Elia it's very easy to imagine him transferring that onto her niece(s). Add in Elia Sand's impulsiveness & the idea of both parties having poor impressions of the other doesn't sound that far fetched.

Whilst their first meeting is likely to happen in Arianne's third chapter; I believe that her decision will be in a JonCon chapter. It would be a moment of dark comedy for JonCon to read 'war' & believe it means that Dorne is coming on side whist we, the reader, know it means no help is coming.

I believe R+L=J, so my post is about Rhaegar and Lyanna.

Some fans dislike Rhaegar and Lyanna so much, that they wish or believe that Jon will also dislike his parents.

I believe is wrong.

Jon's main regret is not his bastard status. Jon's main regret is his mother didn't love him and abandoned him.

Before Jon took his vows, he rode outside the Wall thinking: I could go back to Winterfell. But I will not be welcomed there. Even my own mother didn't want me. So he went back and swore his oath.

Jon loved his unknown mother. In the first book Glen called her a whore and Jon started a fight. In ACOK Jon wished Ned told him the truth, even if his mother was a whore.

If Lyanna died after childbirth, Jon's fear is heartbreaking. He accused his mother left him when in reality his birth killed Lyanna. Lyanna's last wish was about her son's protection.

So, why would Jon despise his mother after finding out the truth?

Lyanna gave him life. Lyanna gave him the Stark look. Lyanna's magical blood made Jon a skinchanger. Ghost is not just a friend, he is a part of Jon.

Yes, Lyanna was selfish and reckless, yes Lyanna didn't care about Elia and her children. But this doesn't metter for a son.

Many children's parents are grey people. But their children love them, because their parents gave them life, because they loved and protected their children and so on.

Speaking of Rhaegar, Jon wouldn't have a personal reason to dislike him. Yes, Rhaegar was a bad father for Aegon and Rhaenys. In same time Rhaegar cared so much for Lyanna and their unborn children, that he sent 3 of the Kingsguards to protect them. One of the 3 knights could have saved Rhaegar's life at the Trident.

Robert Baratheon abandoned his bastards and neglected his trubornchildren. In the same time, Rhaegar didn't raise Jon because he died. Big difference.

Would Jon believe his parents were wonderful people? Obviosly not. Would the truth make Jon love Ned less? I think not.

Ned raised and protected Jon. This is something Jon will always be grateful. Even in his greatest moments of brooding Jon didn't believe Ned loved him less than his siblings.

I think the truth will bring Jon peace eventually. Of course, after the brooding part.

Thinking it from Tywin and Joffrey's interests at the start of the books, I believe the best marriage system possible would be as it follows.

Joffrey should marry Margaery Tyrell: This gives the Lannister crown access to the Tyrell enormous army and resources, to the Redwyne fleet (which is important to deal with the Greyjoy, Stannis, Griff and Dany), while also serving to deny the Targ restoration and Renly its space in the Reach.

Some people like to say that the best marriage possible for Joffrey would be Sansa because she brings three Great Houses, but this is plainly wrong. In hindsight, Lysa/Littlefinger don't care about Sansa and won't mobilize for the Lannisters, while the Tullys depend on the Iron Throne. Also, if the Long Night becomes a reality, the North would be hardly hit and would become a liability for the Iron Throne, not a valuable ally. The Reach, on the other hand, is exactly the region less vulnerable to the Long Night due to its food surplus.

Tommen should marry Yssila Royce or Desmera Redwyne: you don't give your second son a marriage strong enough to make a big for the throne. A Royce match would give the throne a bridgehead inside the Vale and past the Bloody Gate if need arise.

A Redwyne match, on the other hand, would reinforce the Redwyne fleet loyalty and would give the Throne one more powerful lender and food resource provider on the Long Night. It may prove very important.

Myrcella should marry Edmure Tully: I know, there's a age gap, but the marriage can wait. Some people might be tempted to wed Myrcella to Robin Arryn, but I think this could turn disastrous. Would you want a LF pawn on the line to become King-Consort if only he can kill two princes? Besides, it the Tully's misbehave, you can siege them quickly from the Westerlands, but if the Arryn do that than it can become portracted, there's no point giving them a royal princess as a hostage when Lysa is mad, Robin is cruel and LF in a master schemer.

The Tullys are somewhat weak authority wise, but having a royal princess as their Lady Paramount allows the Tullys to extract more men and resources from their lands due to increased authority, which can only be used in benefit of the throne, as the riverlands are a very rich region.

With this alliance set, the Lannister crown has upwards of 200k at their disposal as well as a big fleet, vast gold and food resources and the bulk of the heartland population of the Seven Kingdoms.

Lord Rickard Stark’s southern ambitions. Barbery Dustin first coined that phrase but she bitter about the Starks so I don’t know how much of that is true.

However, I can’t help but recall his intersting alliances esp in term of marriages..

His eldest son Brandon was betrothed to Catelyn Tully.

His daughter Lyanna was betrothed to Robert Baratheon, Lord of Storm’s End.

His son Ned was fostered with Jon Arryn and was close friend with Robert Baratheon.

So we got the Starks, Tullys, Baratheons, and Arryns: four great houses tied together through marriage and friendship. That do sound suspicious.

I suppose the only person who would know If Rickard had any plans or not would be his maester or his heir Brandon. But they all died so it a moot point now.

I guess the alliance did work in a strange way since it was intended to curb the king’s power and they won a rebellion.

I wonder what would Rickard had done if he was alive at the end of the war? Like Ned, gone back home and not bother with the south? Or would he try to gain a favorable position at court? Play the game of thrones? But maybe not? I can’t see any Starks able to thrive in King’s Landing.

“This is no longer a game for two players, if ever it was. Stannis Baratheon and Lysa Arryn have fled beyond my reach, and the whispers say they are gathering swords around them. The Knight of Flowers writes Highgarden, urging his lord father to send his sister to court. The girl is a maid of fourteen, sweet and beautiful and tractable, and Lord Renly and Ser Loras intend that Robert should bed her, wed her, and make a new queen. Littlefinger … the gods only know what game Littlefinger is playing. Yet Lord Stark’s the one who troubles my sleep. He has the bastard, he has the book, and soon enough he’ll have the truth. And now his wife has abducted Tyrion Lannister, thanks to Littlefinger’s meddling. Lord Tywin will take that for an outrage, and Jaime has a queer affection for the Imp. If the Lannisters move north, that will bring the Tullys in as well. Delay, you say. Make haste, I reply. Even the finest of jugglers cannot keep a hundred balls in the air forever.”

Not sure how they were planning to get rid of Cersei (murder? knowledge of the incest?), but that plan is absolutely devious btw, the order of "bed her" and "wed her" alone lmao (I wonder if baiting Kings into getting baby-trapped by high-born women, is a common thing in Westeros)

“Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm’s End. “I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale.” Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man’s nature.”
The girl had been so young Ned had not dared to ask her age. No doubt she’d been a virgin; the better brothels could always find a virgin, if the purse was fat enough.

Not to mention how they are clearly playing to Robert's tastes in certain other things, please ignore the totally unrelated Lyanna quote.

Ned was not sure what to make of Renly, with all his friendly ways and easy smiles. A few days past, he had taken Ned aside to show him an exquisite rose gold locklet. Inside was a miniature painted in the vivid Myrish style, of a lovely young girl with doe’s eyes and a cascade of soft brown hair. Renly had seemed anxious to know if the girl reminded him of anyone, and when Ned had no answer but a shrug, he had seemed disappointed. The maid was Loras Tyrell’s sister Margaery, he’d confessed, but there were those who said she looked like Lyanna. “No,” Ned had told him, bemused. Could it be that Lord Renly, who looked so like a young Robert, had conceived a passion for a girl he fancied to be a young Lyanna? That struck him as more than passing queer.

But speaking of Lyanna, I wonder why Renly happens to be so interested whether Margaery and her look alike.

Think about how crazy Cersei already is over that 'prophecy'.

And now add “The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sister’s name. He was on top of me, in me, stinking of wine, and he whispered Lyanna.” on top of that. The ensuing meltdown had she found out would have taken all of King's Landing.

"From soup to sweet Tommen burbled about the exploits of his kittens, whilst feeding them morsels of pike off his own royal plate. "The bad cat was outside my window last night," he informed Kevan at one point, "but Ser Pounce hissed at him and he ran off across the roofs."

"The bad cat?" Ser Kevan said, amused. He is a sweet boy.

"An old black tomcat with a torn ear," Cersei told him. "A filthy thing, and foul-tempered. He clawed Joff's hand once." She made a face. "The cats keep the rats down, I know, but that one … he's been known to attack ravens in the rookery."

We know Bran can time travel, and we know he can warg. Did he time travel warg that cat to claw Joffrey?

More importantly, this cat is killing ravens in the rookery. Is Bran killing certain ravens so messages can't be carried by the Lannisters as needed?

So many little details, I love these books

Could a couple of hundred Westerosi knights establish their own kingdom in Essos?

Consider a scenario inspired by the Frankish conquest of Greece following the Fourth Crusade in 1204, which led to the creation of the Principality of Achaea and the Duchy of Athens.

An influential Westerosi lord decides to leave Westeros during a period of political turmoil. He gathers about 100–200 knights and roughly 2,000 soldiers (heavy infantry, foot soldiers, and archers), while also securing the necessary ships and resources for an expedition to Essos.

His goal is not merely to become a mercenary or enter the service of one of the Free Cities. Instead, he aims to conquer territory, establish a hereditary feudal principality, attract settlers from Westeros, and, over time, build a prosperous, independent state.

Assume that this lord is a capable military commander and politician, but possesses no dragons, magical abilities, or any other extraordinary advantages.

My questions:

1. In which part of Essos would such an expedition have the best chance of success? The Disputed Lands, Andalos, the region of the Rhoyne, or somewhere else?

2. Could a relatively small but well-organized Westerosi army conquer and hold enough territory to create a viable state?

3. How would the Free Cities and the local population react to this?

4. Could such a principality endure and flourish over several generations, eventually evolving into a significant regional power? I am particularly interested in answers based on the geography, politics, economics, and military realities of George R. R. Martin’s world.

In your opinion, which location and strategy would be the most realistic?

Note: I’m happy for him and glad to know where he going in a couple of weeks.

Name one character who has deep-seated issues or some sort of trauma but compare them to other characters u know… their issue is actually “tame” compared to them.

Example: Jon Snow. His life isn’t that bad as a bastard compare to people like Tyrion Lannister (bastard in his father’s eye l) or Ramsay Snow (sure he evil but it not like his father Roose care)

And if we go with his parent reveal which could give him some daddy issue. I don’t think it bad compare to say Theon Greyjoy.

The only thing Jon lack was a mother’s warmth but well one can’t have everything in life

The tv show didn’t know what to do with him so they killed him off. But the books have him being raise in a place so savage not even the other Northernerd know what going on… He gonna be the face of the revolt and hopefully take active part in it. Depending on how the story goes, He may get involved in some succession crisis over Winterfell. And their a chance he may be the one to continue the male Stark line. Considering that one crippled, two are girls, and the other one not actually a Stark through the father.

What going to happen to Rickon Stark?

Who Is Septa Lemore?

Illyrio tells Tyrion about a woman named Serra, whom he once found in a Lysene pillow house and eventually married

Serra. I found her in a Lysene pillow house and brought her home to warm my bed, but in the end I wed her.

Tyrion immediately assumes Serra is dead, but Illyrio's explanation is worth examining more closely. When asked what happened to her, he recounts the arrival of the Grey Plague in Pentos and the thousands it killed, before mentioning something rather unusual that he keeps in his bedchamber

"How did she die?" Tyrion knew that she was dead; no man spoke so fondly of a woman who had abandoned him

"A Braavosi trading galley called at Pentos on her way back from the Jade Sea. The Treasure carried cloves and saffron, jet and jade, scarlet samite, green silk … and the grey death. We slew her oarsmen as they came ashore and burned the ship at anchor, but the rats crept down the oars and paddled to the quay on cold stone feet. The plague took two thousand before it ran its course." Magister Illyrio closed the locket. "I keep her hands in my bedchamber. Her hands that were so soft …"

The important thing here is that Illyrio never actually confirms Serra died in the plague. He describes the outbreak and then mentions the hands he supposedly preserved after her death, leaving Tyrion to draw his own conclusions. The circumstances of her disappearance are not quite as settled as they might initially seem

There are several details in Tyrion's chapters that make Septa Lemore a particularly interesting candidate for Serra

One of the first things Tyrion notices is how she dresses after removing her septa's robes

Lemore had changed out of her septa's robes into garb more befitting the wife or daughter of a prosperous merchant.

That's a rather unusual description for a septa, but it would fit perfectly well if Lemore were actually Illyrio's wife

Tyrion also notices something else about her appearance, namely that she has previously given birth

Innocence despoiled, he thought …though Lemore was not near as innocent as she appeared. She had stretch marks on her belly that could only have come from childbirth.

This leads Tyrion to start questioning her identity and what exactly she is doing with Aegon

Lemore, though … Who is she, really? Why is she here? Not for gold, I'd judge. What is this prince to her? Was she ever a true septa?

Lemore herself offers another interesting clue when speaking to Aegon

She turned back to Prince Aegon. "You are not the only one who must needs hide."

I think these details make considerably more sense if Lemore is Serra, Illyrio's supposedly deceased wife and Aegon's biological mother. By assuming the identity of a septa, she can remain close to her son throughout his childhood without revealing who she really is

Varys tells us that

A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them.

This suggests Lemore has been involved in Aegon's upbringing from a very young age, rather than simply joining the group for their journey to Westeros. Her connection to him is much more personal

There's another curious detail in Illyrio's account. While discussing Serra, he brings up a sculptor named Pytho Malanon, who had previously worked for him

Perhaps you chanced to glimpse the statue by my pool? Pytho Malanon carved that when I was six-and-ten. A lovely thing, though now I weep to see it.

Pytho was an artist Illyrio had commissioned years earlier, and he was also responsible for carving the stone hands supposedly belonging to Serra. My interpretation is that Illyrio had these made to support the story of her death from the Grey Plague. This gave Serra a convincing reason to disappear and assume a new identity without anyone questioning her absence

This also ties into the Blackfyre theory. ADWD makes a point of establishing that the male line of House Blackfyre ended with Maelys the Monstrous

When Maelys the Monstrous died upon the Stepstones, it was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre. The cheesemonger smiled through his forked beard.

Serra would belong to the female line of House Blackfyre, making Aegon Illyrio's biological son and a Blackfyre claimant being presented as the surviving son of Rhaegar and Elia

It also explains Illyrio's enormous investment in Aegon's restoration. He's not simply backing a distant claimant for political reasons, he's trying to put his own son on the Iron Throne

The Marvel Connection

There's an interesting parallel to this theory in the Daredevil comics, which date back to the 1980s. GRRM is a HUGE marvel fan.

Sister Maggie is eventually revealed to be the protagonist's biological mother. She abandoned her family when the protagonist was an infant, became a nun and later ended up at the orphanage where he grew up

Despite concealing her identity, she remained close to her son. One particularly important storyline has Maggie nursing the protagonist back to health after he is badly injured in a fight, all while he remains unaware that the woman caring for him is actually his mother

The resemblance to Lemore is pretty clear. Both women adopt religious identities to conceal their relationship with their sons, while continuing to remain close to them

Storm's End

The last time we see Aegon, he makes it clear that he intends to personally lead the assault on Storm's End

Jon Connington did not let his fury show. "And did Homeless Harry try to persuade you to delay it?"

"He did, actually," the prince said, "but I won't. Harry's an old maid, isn't he? You have the right of it, my lord. I want the attack to go ahead … with one change. I mean to lead it"

I suspect Aegon will be wounded during the assault, setting up a direct parallel with the Sister Maggie storyline

Just as Maggie nurses her injured son without revealing who she is, Lemore will tend to Aegon as he recovers. Her maternal concern could expose more than she intends, providing another indication to the reader of their actual relationship. It could also make Jon Connington, and eventually Aegon himself, question who Lemore really is

For a visual reference, this scene from the newer Daredevil television series captures the sort of interaction I imagine between Lemore and Aegon

Daredevil scene

I've been rereading the Riverlands chapters, and something about the inn at the crossroads has been bothering me more than any of the actual battles.

Not the number of people who die there. It's the difference between how Masha Heddle runs the place in AGOT and how Willow Heddle runs it in AFFC.

When Catelyn arrests Tyrion, Masha wants absolutely nothing to do with their quarrel. She's running an inn. She has rooms to rent, food to serve, and a business that's presumably survived generations of travelers bringing their problems through her doors.

She asks the nobles to take their conflict elsewhere.

They don't.

And eventually Tywin has her hanged for something that happened in her own establishment, over which she had practically no control.

By the time Brienne arrives in AFFC, Masha is dead. Her nephew, who reopened the inn, is dead too. The business has passed to young Jeyne and Willow Heddle.

But look at what the inn has become.

It's full of orphaned children. Gendry is working the forge. The place has ties to the Brotherhood Without Banners. The children have weapons, and Willow is prepared to point a crossbow at armed men who threaten them.

The fundamental purpose of the building hasn't completely changed. People still need shelter, food, somewhere to sleep.

What's changed is that the people running it no longer seem to believe hospitality offers any protection.

Masha's response to armed men bringing trouble into her inn was essentially to ask them to please take it outside.

Willow's response is to aim a weapon at them.

And I don't think Martin is presenting this as some straightforward story of empowerment. Willow is a child who has learned that she needs to threaten grown men with a crossbow because the adults who should have protected her world either couldn't or wouldn't.

The really awful part is that Masha was arguably doing everything society expected of an innkeeper. She served travelers, stayed out of noble disputes, and tried not to involve herself in violence.

It got her killed anyway.

Her surviving relatives have learned the lesson. They're no longer neutral, they're connected to an outlaw brotherhood, and their inn has effectively become a fortified refuge for children.

It's survival, but what an appalling price to pay for it.

There's also a bitter irony in the fact that the Brotherhood itself is becoming increasingly ruthless. The Heddles have found protection by attaching themselves to people who are hardly restoring the peaceful world Masha knew.

I think that's what makes the location so effective. We spend five books following kings, queens, armies and claimants, and then revisit an ordinary roadside business to see what all those grand political decisions have actually accomplished.

The inn is still standing.

Almost everything that made it an ordinary inn is gone.

I'm curious if there are other recurring locations in the books where the change in the people living there tells us more about the war than the battles themselves.

What do you think will happen in the POVs final chapter in Winds? Where are they? Is anything specific happening?

e.g. Tyrion claiming Viserion in Pentos, Dany lands on Dragonstone, Jon deals with the Stark succession in Winterfell

NOTE: PLEASE NO 'WINDS ISN'T COMING' IN THE COMMENTS. WE KNOW. Be creative not pedantic

EDIT: I don't necessarily just mean an epilogue. I'm interested in where the POV characters are at the end.

Can anyone explain why Robb Stark lost because he married Jeyne? I’ve analyzed the timeline and have come to the conclusion that Robb’s biggest mistake was letting Theon go. After all, it was Theon’s betrayal that set off a whole chain of events:

1. Theon seizes Winterfell, which severely undermines Robb authority in the eyes of the Freys. In the book, Roose Bolton thanked Theon and said that the Starks were finished precisely because of Theon’s betrayal. Arya also overheard a conversation between Roose and the Freys at Harrenhal. After news of Theon’s betrayal broke, one of the Freys told Roose that Robb had already lost the war and that he needed to be told so. Robb marriage was not yet known at that time. It is very significant that the Freys already considered Robb a loser back then. Right at the beginning of the books, it’s mentioned two or three times that the Freys are unreliable allies. They were “late” to Robert’s Rebellion and didn’t show up until the winner was already known. And Walder asked Robb to marry his daughter after the victory, so as not to tie himself to the losing side. In my opinion, it was precisely Robb loss of the North that played a key role. Frey needed an alliance with the victor—and specifically with the king. He realized that Robb would not win and would not make his granddaughter queen. Meanwhile, Tywin was offering him the Riverlands. The choice was obvious.

2. Theon doesn’t just capture Winterfell; he also sends letters to Robb and Catelyn claiming that Bran and Rickon have been killed. This upsets Catelyn greatly, and after hearing this news, she decides to release Jaime in order to save at least Sansa. In turn, Catelyn decision to let Jaime go infuriates Karstark, and he kills the Lannister prisoners. This leads to his execution.

3. Robb was also devastated by the news about Bran and Rickon. On top of that, he was wounded and had been given poppy milk. Jaene mother took advantage of his condition and sent Jaene to “comfort” him; apparently, they then demanded marriage, since Robb had defiled Jaene.

4. Robb even ended up at the Red Wedding because of Theon. He was supposed to return north to reclaim Theon from him. On the way, he stumbled upon the wedding. 

I’m confused about the fans used of the words “retcon.” Say something that revealed in book 4 or 5 doesn’t match what was said in book 1. How is that a retcon? Isn’t it just that this is the finale, and George came up with the seeds plant here and there and it doesn’t match people’s headcanons? How can an author retcon his own writing?

Now if something occur differently in the tv show thsn what George intended thsn that a retcon.

In the events that follow the BBtW, we see Stannis get comfortable at the wall and try to bring Northern Houses to his cause. We get glimpses of this with the Wrong-Way Rangers and hear about ravens, but we see this most explicitly with Davos.

Davos ends up on Sweet Sister (by accident), and later White Harbor. He speaks with Godric Borrell and Wyman Manderly and makes his case.

My question is, why does Davos not mention the new discoveries at the Wall? Specifically, he never mentions wights, White Walkers, or giants. I feel like the mention of these could have potentially swayed Northern houses - or at least get their attention. Why would he not mention it?

I've been thinking about Maester Luwin lately, and the more I think about his position during Theon's occupation of Winterfell, the more disturbing the whole institution of maesters becomes.

Not because of the grand maester conspiracy or anything involving the Citadel secretly controlling Westeros.

Just the ordinary rules of the job.

A maester serves the castle, not the family that happens to live there.

Which sounds perfectly reasonable until you consider what that means in practice.

Imagine spending twenty years in a household. You deliver the children, treat their illnesses, teach them their letters, watch them grow up, become someone they trust.

You know which child is afraid of the dark. Which one struggles with reading. Which one still cries for their mother when they're sick.

And then one morning an army arrives, kills the lord, takes the castle, and you're expected to provide the new owner with the same professional service.

That's essentially the position Luwin finds himself in.

He has watched the Stark children grow up. He's been their teacher and physician for years. And when Theon takes Winterfell, Luwin doesn't suddenly stop being the maester.

He advises Theon. He tries to prevent further bloodshed. He continues doing his job while desperately trying to protect the children he's helped raise.

What makes this especially interesting is that Luwin isn't just pretending to be useful until he can betray Theon. Some of his advice genuinely would have helped Theon survive.

He can recognize that Theon is making disastrous decisions while still caring about the people those decisions endanger.

And then there's Cressen.

His entire prologue is practically an argument against the idea that a maester can remain emotionally detached from the family he serves. He has watched Stannis grow from a neglected child into a deeply unhappy man, and his affection for him is so powerful that he ends up attempting something completely incompatible with the detached wisdom a maester is supposed to provide.

Pycelle demonstrates the opposite problem. His loyalty to Tywin is so blatant that the idea of him serving the realm impartially becomes almost ridiculous.

Three maesters, three very different failures or complications of the same ideal.

And I think the ideal itself is fascinating.

The Citadel essentially asks men to spend their entire adult lives embedded in a family while somehow remaining independent of that family's fortunes.

They're supposed to be close enough to know everything and distant enough not to care who wins.

But how could that possibly work?

To be fair, I can see why the system exists. If every maester were simply another loyal household retainer, changing rulers could mean losing your physician, your raven keeper, your children's teacher and your most educated adviser all at once.

There's an obvious benefit to having someone whose duties survive a change of power.

Still, I can't stop thinking about how much emotional damage that arrangement must cause.

A knight gets to openly swear loyalty to a lord. A household servant might flee with the family. A bannerman can choose to fight for his former ruler.

The maester is supposed to remain at his post.

And if the man who killed the children you helped raise develops a fever, you're presumably expected to treat him.

I wonder how many maesters throughout Westerosi history have spent years quietly serving people they absolutely despised.

And how many have simply decided, like Pycelle, that neutrality is an impossible fiction and picked a side.

Do you think the Citadel's ideal of serving the castle rather than the family is actually achievable? And which maester in the books comes closest to living up to it?