Yes but there was no point where he recognized or expressed his realization of the identity of the knight. Tyrion had no "aha" moment that would explain his shift. Sloppy editing would be my bet.


And my point was that reaction should change. Particularly with the added press of the TV show, it is getting a little tiresome hearing people rhapsodize about how "No character is safe! Ned's death puts you on notice that Martin is not going to be predictable." Hence my reference to the internet. Martin is WAY predictable, you just need to get a feel for his rhythm, and just about everyone who makes it into a second book or is not a -logue PoV character is safe.

Read again the chapter where Brienne learns of his death, and pay attention to the description of the brother digging the grave in that same chapter. He's not dead. Even if he does stay out of things from now on, however, I think he has still fulfilled a purpose in illustrating the need for a cause and meaning, and how you need a reason to fight, rather than simply being good at it. Kind of an interesting arc to accompany Arya shortly before she goes off to become an assassin with her teacher constantly reiterating that she must forego all those reasons and causes and make herself into a neutral instrument of death. That's more or less what Sandor was - he struck and killed as his masters bid, while raging against the hypocrisy and futility of his profession, as he saw it.

Probably a ploy by Ramsay to get his captives back by bluff.

No, I meant that I doubted he was dead. Badly phrased.

She is not 'evil' she IS evil. And, yes lots of them are, but they are seem as morally ambiguous at best. Not many are on the level of an eager applicant to a cult of hired assassins who pride themselves on their indifference to any moral issues or reasons for their killings.


Yes. Also, there is no indication that Varys is after anything other than restoring the one House that could truly unify the realm. His goals are purely political. Also his confession to Tyrion about his hatred of magic rang a little too true for me to accept that he's operating on that prophecy.

You're operating under the mistaken assumption that this unification is a good thing. It might be fine for the Riverlands and West and Reach and Stormlands who are so culturally similar that they are effectively one nation, even when they were divided into separate kingdoms, but why should the North, the Iron Isles and Dorne not be allowed to go their own ways? They are different cultures and geographically discrete, so why should they and their people be forced to bow down to a foreign king simply because he has the Westeros equivalent of nukes?

Which brings me back to the same answer I give whenever someone brings up the teenage girl excuse for a character's deplorable behavior - if a teenage girl can't help it, she has no business being put in charge of so much as a Chinese fire drill! I once supervised a store that paid minimum wage, which meant most of our workforce was composed of teenage girls, and you could barely trust them to straighten up the shelves properly. I have no problem accepting the premise of their emotional instability and vapid mentalities. But I also live in a country that sensibly requires its head of state to be twice as old as any teenage girl in order to take office. Fine, Dany can't help herself anymore than Tyrion can help being short, but that means Tyrion doesn't get to play basketball or joust, and it means Danerys should not be allowed to rule squat.

So she is qualified to rule seven kingdoms because her attempt to rule a single city has been a case of epic fail?! I can see someone won't be applying for the link in his chain that denotes mastery of logic anytime soon.