Welcome back to A Read of Ice and Fire! Please join me as I read and react, for the very first time, to George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.
Today’s entry is Part 15 of A Dance With Dragons, in which we cover Chapter 25 (“The Windblown”) and Chapter 26 (“The Wayward Bride”).
Previous entries are located in the Index. The only spoilers in the post itself will be for the actual chapters covered and for the chapters previous to them. As for the comments, please note that the Powers That Be have provided you a lovely spoiler thread here on Tor.com. Any spoileriffic discussion should go there, where I won’t see it. Non-spoiler comments go below, in the comments to the post itself.
And now, the post!
Chapter 25: The Windblown
What Happens
Frog, aka Quentyn Martell, hears from another mercenary named Dick Straw that Daenerys is supposed to be moving on Yunkai’i, and the Windblown are moving north to meet her. Per Gerris’s idea, Quentyn, Arch, and Gerris had signed on with the mercenary company in Volantis, and Quentyn is pretending to be the big man’s squire so that Arch can more easily protect him and make sure he gets to the dragon queen. The more he hears about Daenerys, though, the more terrified he becomes of meeting her; the Yunkai’i and the other mercenaries claim she is voracious in her appetites both for sex and for blood, and that she regularly practices human sacrifice and is as insane as her father was. Quentyn wonders if he will still be obliged to marry her if she is as bad as they say.
He is glad to be leaving the horrors of Astapor behind them, though. The company moves out, along with the Old Ghis infantry and the Yunkai’i “Wise Masters” and their slave soldiers, each of which are more bizarre and awful than the last. The other mercenaries are contemptuous of them, and uneasy about the prospect of facing real Unsullied at Meereen, not to mention dragons. Quentyn knows that the slaughter at Astapor had not been a real battle, but it had seemed so to him, who had never seen real action before.
He and Gerris discuss the next part of the plan, which is to abandon the Windblown and get to Meereen and Daenerys before they end up fighting on the wrong side. Quentyn is uneasy about betraying their oaths, but also impatient to go. Gerris advises to wait until they get to Yunkai’i. Both are worried about the hunters the Windblown’s captain will no doubt send after them once they desert, but it turns out they don’t have to worry. Two days later, the Tattered Prince calls twenty of the Westerosi-born mercenaries, including Quentyn and his companions, to his tent.
He tells them that he has been ordered to send troops out to kill or drive off the hordes of diseased and starving Astapori refugees flooding the countryside, and he wants them to use this as a cover to go find the queen’s mercenary companies and go over to them instead. Hugh Hungerford asks if the Tattered Prince is aiming to change sides, and the captain’s lieutenant Denzo D’han says he is “keeping all roads open.” They are to be commanded by Pretty Meris, a Westerosi woman who genuinely frightens Quentyn. The mercenaries are doubtful of the plan, but the Prince assures them Daenerys will buy it, and all of them being from her homeland will help seal the deal.
“When should we leave?” asked Lewis Lanster.
“At once. Be wary of the Cats and any Long Lances you may encounter. No one will know your defection is a ruse but those of us in this tent. Turn your tiles too soon, and you will be maimed as deserters or disemboweled as turncloaks.”
The three Dornishmen were silent as they left the command tent. Twenty riders, all speaking the Common Tongue, thought Quentyn. Whispering has just gotten a deal more dangerous.
The big man slapped him hard across the back. “So. This is sweet, Frog. A dragon hunt.”
Commentary
…So now the epithet chapter titles are not even limited to describing the actual point of view character? What is this I don’t even.
I mean, I know Quentyn’s no longer “The Merchant Man”, which was what his first POV chapter was called (and yes, I had to go look that up), but if we must stick to the epithet scheme, then why not call this chapter “The Mercenary”, or “The Squire”, or even “Frog”? You know, something that is an epithet for the actual character and not the group he happens to be part of at the moment?
I’m sorry, but titling what is still a singular third person tight POV chapter with the name of an entire collection of people makes no sense to me. The whole point of the chapter titles throughout the series (including the epithet titles) has been to tell you whose POV the chapter was from, and this breaks that pattern. It doubly breaks it, actually, because unless I’m mistaken (and I obviously could be) up till now the epithet titles also indicated that the POV was going to be a once-off—that we were going to be in that character’s head once and then not again—but here we are in Quentyn’s head for the second time. I kind of feel like if he’s an important enough character to get multiple POV chapters, he should get to be called by his name, you know? Why not just call both chapters “Quentyn” and be done with it?
Bluh. I’m probably making too much of this, but this feels like such an arbitrary and unnecessary deviation from a heretofore solid and practical narrative structure that I find it more annoying than it probably actually is. Whatever, moving on.
So this was Gerris’s cunning plan? Well, it was… pretty cunning, actually. Except for the part where it meant that they had to help sack what’s left of Astapor, because that was some imagery neither Quentyn nor I ever needed in our lives. Good grief.
Caggo was the one who finally cut him down, fighting through the king’s protectors on his monstrous warhorse and opening Cleon the Great from shoulder to hip with one blow of his curved Valyrian arakh. Frog did not see it, but those who did claimed Cleon’s copper armor rent like silk, and from within came an awful stench and a hundred wriggling grave worms. Cleon had been dead after all. The desperate Astapori had pulled him from his tomb, clapped him into armor, and tied him onto a horse in hopes of giving heart to their Unsullied.
Like that, for instance. Ye gods.
And ha, the Tattered Prince is trying to have his cake and eat it too, is he? Well, I can’t say I can muster much disdain for the idea of betraying the Yunkai’i, because no people have ever deserved being stabbed in the back more than these yutzes. Hopefully for once what looks like a golden opportunity for Quentyn really is a golden opportunity and not a way for things to go horribly south, as is far more the usual in this series. I’m seriously rooting for Quentyn to get to Dany and un-Daaaaario her brain, stat.
I was startled, for some reason, that Quentyn was so freaked out over the ridiculous rumors swirling around about Dany, but then I realized that really, from his point of view, they may not be all that ridiculous. She is a Targaryen, and they are occasionally deeply nuts, so what evidence has Quentyn got to say that they’re wrong?
Well, except for some of the ones that are so whacked-out that they’re physically impossible:
“One of her captains comes of a line where the men have foot-long members,” he told them, “but even he’s not big enough for her. She rode with the Dothraki and grew accustomed to being fucked by stallions, so now no man can fill her.”
Um, ow?
(Let’s just say, my Google search history now includes the phrase “average length of horse penis,” how is this my life, and all I have to say is that had BETTER be physically impossible. Jesus H.)
I also feel I should tell you that I came up with like fifteen more jokes and/or comments in response to this quote, but I nobly deleted them all (well, except for the above one), because I love you all and should therefore probably refrain from scarring you for life. PROBABLY.
Children fighting over half-cooked puppies.
And anyway, why should I bother when Martin is perfectly happy to give us all the mental scars a girl could ever want! Boo! Hiss!
*throws the Popcorn of Disapproval in author’s general direction*
Speaking of that phrase:
“Hacking off some boy’s stones with a butcher’s cleaver and handing him a pointy hat don’t make him Unsullied. That dragon queen’s got the real item, the kind that don’t break and run when you fart in their general direction.”
*bursts out laughing* Oh my God, was that a Monty Python reference? If so, this just might be the most disturbing context for a Monty Python reference ever. WOW.
His soldiers were the tallest that any of the Windblown had ever seen; the shortest stood seven feet tall, the tallest close to eight. All were long-faced and long-legged, and the stilts built into the legs of their ornate armor made them longer still.
What. This is the most bizarre image. And how in the bloody hell can you fight in stilts?
These people have a serious case of the cray-cray, let me tell you. Maybe it comes from centuries of believing people can be property. OOH BURN
Also, this just in: slavery sucks! Film At Eleven! Moving on some more!
Random things:
[…] golden-haired Lewis Lanster, the company’s best archer.
*raises eyebrow* Lanster, huh. Okay.
When the Tattered Prince was three-and-twenty, as Dick Straw told the story, the magisters of Pentos had chosen him to be their new prince, hours after beheading their old prince. Instead he’d buckled on a sword, mounted his favorite horse, and fled to the Disputed Lands, never to return.
I feel like that was probably the appropriate response, there. *nods*
Chapter 26: The Wayward Bride
What Happens
At Deepwood Motte, Asha Greyjoy receives a message from Ramsay Bolton that Moat Cailin has fallen. It is written with what he assures her is the blood of ironmen, and enclosed with it is a scrap of leather; the letter says “I send you each a piece of prince,” and Asha thinks she would have rather that her brother was dead than subject to this. She burns the scrap, and Tristifer Botley points out that Torrhen’s Square will be next, then Deepwood. Asha thinks that her father would never have let Moat Cailin fall, but that Euron only cares for hunting dragons. She realizes her men have given up hope of victory, and are only hoping for a good death in battle. She is determined to have the same.
She goes up to her room, and her lover Qarl the Maid follows her. She pretends to resist his advances and he pretends to force her, and they have vigorous sex. She thinks that she is wedded and bedded, but not by the same man. She remembers with shame how she had let Rodrik the Reader convince her to flee after the kingsmoot, and how she had later learned that Euron had married her to Erik Ironmaker in absentia and named him regent of the Isles while Euron is away. She cannot go home, therefore, but she thinks she cannot stay here much longer either.
She goes down to find food, and Tris finds her and argues with her over whether they should go before the Boltons get to them, and where they should go if they do. Tris thinks the idea of joining with Aeron in his rebellion is folly, and points out that they cannot claim the kingsmoot unlawful the way Torgon the Latecomer did. Asha had forgotten that story, but when he reminds her she kisses him ardently. Before she can explain why, Hagen’s horn sounds. They go down to the bailey to find that northmen scouts had tried to infiltrate the keep. Asha determines that the mountain clans have been united by someone, and decides to try to make it to the ocean and her ships rather than stand and fight.
The ironborn set off in the night as the northmen begin ramming the opposite gate. They stop for a rest near dawn, and are ambushed by the northmen. Asha and her men fight furiously, but are cut down one by one until Asha is left standing alone. She fights a huge northman who traps her against a tree and goes to cleave her skull with his axe.
She twisted, lost her footing, and the axehead crunched against her temple with a scream of steel on steel. The world went red and black and red again. Pain crackled up her leg like lightning, and far away she heard her northman say, “You bloody cunt,” as he lifted up his axe for the blow that would finish her.
A trumpet blew.
That’s wrong, she thought. There are no trumpets in the Drowned God’s watery halls. Below the waves the merlings hail their lord by blowing into seashells.
She dreamt of red hearts burning, and a black stag in a golden wood with flame streaming from his antlers.
Commentary
Well.
Bye, Asha?
I thought she was dead at first, because axe blows to the temple don’t tend to be the kind of thing you shake off, but now I’m not sure.
The main reason I’m not sure is because of the set-up earlier in the chapter re: Torgon the Latecomer, and Asha’s revelation (I’m presuming) that if her brother Theon really is alive, then she (or Theon, I guess) can make the claim that the kingsmoot was unlawfully called and oust Euron. She can’t exactly do anything about that if she’s dead, after all.
On the other hand, a point was also made of emphasizing that a piece of Theon (lovely, Ramsay, please die in a fire) was sent to each of his kin, not just Asha. So she could be dead, and it might be Victarion or even Aeron who realizes the same thing and acts on it.
So, in conclusion, dunno.
Good fight scene, either way. She acquitted herself in damn fine style, and I’m not even going to bother to pretend I don’t love it when a lady kicks ass. I was actually sort of rooting for her to get away, which is probably the first time I’ve ever rooted for an ironborn anyone to win anything. (Unless I also rooted for her during the kingsmoot, which I probably did, but it doesn’t count when everyone involved is ironborn.)
I have to laugh, though, because I’m pretty sure this chapter immediately proves wrong my assertion in the previous commentary that epithet chapter POVs are always once-offs, because I’m sure we’ve had a POV chapter from Asha before. Well, 95% sure. I’d go check but whatever, I still disapprove of the last chapter’s title anyway, nyah!
The other thing this chapter tells me, kind of obliquely, is that apparently I underestimated Stannis’s ability to make nice, ‘cause it sure looks like he’s got the mountain clans up and running under his banner. Four for you, Stannis Coco! You go!
*shrug* Of course this means next he’ll be up against the Boltons, and God knows that has “giant clusterfuck” written all over it in letters of merde, so I guess he should enjoy this victory while he can. That said, I hope Stannis kills them. I hope he kills them A LOT.
On the mock-rape scene: I’m… not going to say anything against it, because the “mock” is the operative word there. It made me uncomfortable, but Asha clearly enjoyed it, and as long as consenting adults are involved I try not to judge other people’s sexual kinks. Sometimes I fail at that, because I am only human, but I try.
Tris Botley said that the Crow’s Eye had used a seal to stand in for her at her wedding. “I hope Erik did not insist on a consummation,” she’d said.
It took me a second to realize that “seal” here meant the barking and clapping variety, rather than the kind that has coats-of-arms on them. Cognitive dissonance, woo.
Also, that such a “marriage” could be held up as legal and binding is alone proof of how terminally fucked up the ironborn are. Not that I actually needed more proof on that front, but hey.
And that’s the post, you sons and daughters of a silly person! Now go away until I am ready to taunt fictional characters a second time! Ni!
Re: “The Windblown”. It might just be me, but I got the impression that as a faux-member of the Windblown, the title of the chapter was, in following the path of “The Merchant Man”, utilizing his fake identity. Since, as a member of the Windblown, you would be known as The Windblown. Fits in with the way that Quentyn is keeping his identity secret and is taking on one persona after another in order to get to Dany.
Re: Asha’s sham marriage. Well, I don’t know that I’d put this on the Ironborn culture, as arraigned marriages have been made throughout the series and in its backstory between people who aren’t always consentual. Like, for example, how Tyrek Lannister (the kid who’s been missing since the Bread Riots) was arranged to marry a toddler.
And, anyway, I’m not sure if that whole scenario is more “The Ironborn Suck” or “Euron’s really crazy and no one wants to say anything that will anger him or the killing starts again”.
The summer after I graduated high school, we went horseback riding while on vacation (something we commonly did) and I had my first experience seeing a horse in an aroused state and yeah…kind of traumatizing ;) My friend that was with me teased me about it for months.
Perhaps Quentyn is one of ‘The Windblown’, so he can be a considered a Windblown, in the singular? But I agree with you that the new naming convention for the chapters is a little weird and I am not exactly sure where it is coming from and, if he had thought of it beforehand, would he have used it in earlier books? It makes sense for some of the one off characters, and also for the characters with assumed identities…but I find it odd in some cases.
– Lewis Lanster
Also, “how is this my life” is going to somehow be incorporated into my next facebook status. I’m not sure how yet, but oh yes, it will be incorporated.
@1 – that i s true, Quentyn does have assumed identities, so I can see where it makes sense there.
Also, didn’t they force a marriage with Ramsay and Lady Hornwood? So unfortunately the Ironwood don’t have the monopoly on that.
Also, interesting fact, but in my geneaology, I have some ancestors (great-great grandparents, maybe) that are listed as having been married ‘by proxy’. For whatever reason they weren’t in the same place and so they both said their vows but I think somebody else stood in for the other person in each case. I’m really not sure how that works or if this is ever done anymore (it was presumably a Catholic wedidng and I have never heard of it outside of this situation) but…there you go. That said, I don’t think there was any coercion, rape or murder involved…
The Arya chapters from last book all had different epithet titles as well, so Leigh’s theory goes out the window.
Edit: I just went back and checked and there was only one Arya chapter that was renamed. Color me surprised.
Huh, I guess this is not as rare of a thing as I had thought. And, technically still allowed by canon law (and also done in secular situations as well, although the legality differs by jurisdiction).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_marriage
There’s bizarre, and then there’s just plain bloody stupid.
Granted, there are always crazy ideas that seem to bubble up during wartime, and also conceding that sometimes they are crazy enough to actually work, but stilts are so bloody stupid as to feel completely out of place here. This is on the level of the Tsortean and Ephebian armies building long lines of wooden horses opposite each other in Terry Pratchett’s Pyramids, except that was played for humor.
Moreover, there is actually a long real-world history of slave soldiers and slave armies, and they were often incredibly effective. In many instances, they were the only truly professional soldiers in the field and outclassed the conscripts and volunteers around them. I just don’t understand what the stilt guys are ddoing here.
I think “Windblown” works for Quentyn in more than the literal sense. Even though he technically has a goal, when you read his chatpers you get the sense that he’s sort of just drifting and doing what he’s told because he can’t think of anything better to do. He doesn’t even really strike me as thinking he’s got much of a shot–he’s just doing it because, well, what else can he do?
*cue Katy Perry song*
Love the Monty Python reference, I actually had the same reaction when I read this chapter.
I don’t have a problem with “The Windblown” as a chapter title, but then again, I don’t have much of a problem with the epithet titles in general. While “The Windblown” refers to a whole mercenary company, it can also refer to an individual member of that company, at least as I read it. So “the windblown” = Quentyn.
Asha’s rapeplay scene was icky, but it actually seems that like Dany, she likes bad boys (though outside the roleplay, I’m not sure how “bad” I would consider Qarl, at least relative to other Ironborn).
I always assumed that the archer Lewis Lanster has some Lannister blood in him, especially since he has golden hair. We’ve read before that there are a lot of offshoots of House Lannister in Lannisport, including Lannys, Lannettes, Lannells, etc… So it sounds like Lanster is just another obscure offshoot branch of the Lannisters.
I am really drawn to this series. I love the discussions it raises! I am currently reading The Cerulean’s Secret by Dennis Meredith. It’s a different look at science and biology, it’s a very decent read.
Wasn’t there more than one Areo Hotah chapter?
Regards “The Windblown” I can’t think of a better term for Quentyn right now – being pushed around by the winds, forced only to go wherever they blow him, completely out of control.
Lewis Lanster interests me. It’s possible he’s one of our two missing Lannisters – either Tyrek, Robert’s other squire (alongside Lancel) who went missing during the riots in Clash when Myrcella was sent to Dorne, or Gerion, Tyrion’s favorite uncle who disappeared many years before the books when he went to Valyria to search for Brightroar, the ancient (and very lost) Valyrian steel sword of House Lannister. He could also (and this is the more likely option) be some distant relation of the Lannisport branch of House Lannister.
Regarding the recruiting of tall soldiers in a special formation, this reminded of the Potsdam Giants Regiment of the Prussian Army.
The Potsdam Giants was the Prussian infantry regiment No 6, composed of taller-than-average soldiers. The regiment was founded in 1675 and dissolved in 1806 after the Prussian defeat against Napoleon. Throughout the reign of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (1688–1740) the unit was known as the “Potsdamer Riesengarde” (“giant guard of Potsdam”) in German, but the Prussian population quickly nicknamed them the Lange Kerls (“long guys”).
The original required height was 6 Prussian feet (about 6’2″ or 1.88 meters), well above average then and now. One of the tallest soldiers, the Irishman James Kirkland, was reportedly 2.17 meters (just under 7 ft 2 in)
The king—who was about 1.6 meters himself—needed several hundred more recruits each year. He tried to obtain them by any means, and once confided to the French ambassador that “The most beautiful girl or woman in the world would be a matter of indifference to me, but tall soldiers–they are my weakness.” He gave bonuses to fathers of tall sons and landowners who gave up their tallest farm workers to join the regiment. He recruited tall soldiers from the armies of other European countries. Foreign rulers like the Emperor of Austria, Russian Tsar Peter the Great and even the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire sent tall soldiers to him in order to encourage friendly relations. Several soldiers were given by Tsar Peter I as a gift in return for the famous Amber Room. If the man was not interested in joining the regiment, the king resorted to forced recruitment and kidnapping—his agents kidnapped tall priests, monks, innkeepers, etc., from all over Europe. Once they tried to abduct an Austrian diplomat. He even forced tall women to marry tall soldiers so they could breed more tall boys. If some regimental commander failed to inform the king of a potential tall recruit under his own command, he faced royal displeasure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Giants
So, some people were at least half as mad as the characters in GRRM’s work. They did recruit tall people for no special reason other than they liked it, but they didn’t put their soldiers in stilts. And the Potsdam Giants, as a specific regiment, never actually went to battle. It was more something to appease the King’s particular tastes.
I just assumed somewhere there is a real life historical example of stilt soldiers, since HRRM tends to borrow many zany historical oddities to slip into these books.
Even if not, i think the stilt soldiers are just to show how inept at real battle the Yukai are. It is mentioned many times they breed bed slaves, not soldiers. The different yunkai generals each having their own flair indicated they are more style than actual skill.
Marriage-by-proxy is recognized within the US military (I think it is used mostly in the Navy given the time and isolation of Sailors at sea). Although I do seem to recall there being issues in some instances if the servicemember dies prior to the marriage being consummated that some death benefits don’t go to the surviving spouse because the agencies that administer the benefits don’t recognize the marriage. I’ll see if I can find the applicable regs when I have the time.
@7 I’ve only read about slave-soldiers during Islamic times: Mamluks, Janissaries and, arguably, the Black Guard of Morocco (but these latter were more hereditary soldier caste of foreigners owing fealty to the Sultan, not necessarily slaves). When the Almohad Muslims from North Africa invaded Spain, at the bequest of the Andaluzian Muslims Lords, they brought with them black slave-soldiers as well, who were chained near the caliph’s tent. The coat of arms of Navarre has several chains because the king of Navarre and his guard defeated these slave-soldiers in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.
It’s interesting, because slave-soldiers seem completely absent in all other times in history (and in all other religions). The Mamluks and Janissaries were efficient, at least for a time (in the 19th century they were seriously outmatched).
What’s interesting is that the Mamluks actually took the power in Egypt, forming their own dynasty, and the Janissaires had the same influence as the Pretorian Guard in the late Roman times for a time in the Ottoman era. In the Varys riddle of why should a soldier obey a king, a priest or a merchant, sometimes in our history the slave-soldier also asked himself why should he obey the master instead of being the master, since he was the one who had the weapons.
In Brazil, sometimes a conscripted man sent his slave to fight in the army instead of himself, especially if he was rich. This happened during the Paraguay War. But most of the army was not made up of slaves, and they weren’t professional soldiers, but conscripted men. I think the slave got his freedom after his service ended, but I’m not sure.
I have laughed out loud over “Daaaaario” again. How silly am I?
And whoa Leigh, good catch on Asha’s idea to denounce the Kingsmoot. That went over my head both times I read the books, and I only got it when I read Torgon Greyiron’s story on WOIAF.
You are still going to become a Mannis fan, Leigh.
Chapter 25 – The Windblown:Quentyn continues heading towards Dany and listening to gossip as he goes. Along the way he has all sorts of fun as he helps sack Astapor (nasty) and engages in Monty Python skits.
(In addition to the “farting in their general direction”, the Knight who says Ni is sometimes played by an actor wearing stilts in Spamalot.)
As someone who is currently rehearsing Spamalot, I can tell you that they also throw livestock at you. I get porterhoused every night
As long as Google isn’t giving you ads for horse condoms now?
I also thought “The Windblown” could be used in the singular. In any case, I wish he had gone with this chapter titles earlier, so we weren’t always just getting the same names over and over again.
I. just. don’t. get. what Dany likes about Daario.
I had a sneaking suspicion that Asha wasn’t really dead as well, but not for any plot points, but because I feel that he’s generally very explicit in this deaths. Like, when a main character has been killed, you KNOW they’ve been killed. Here it’s left vague, so I figured she wasn’t really dead. That’s my speculation anyway.
Meh.
remember, this is the series with a seven hundred foot tall wall of ice that is man-made.
Also, huge giant buildings like the citadel which are absurdly high and structurally NOPE. Also, the Eyrie.
Not to mention the seasons thing, and how they have normal wine as a common drink and as something widely produced despite that being logically just about impossible with seasons like that.
@22 I’ve heard that said before about the wine, but I haven’t heard the explanation. What is it about making wine/grapes that requires seasons?
Multiple characters in AFFC had more than one epithet title.
Aeron: The Prophet, The Drowned Man
Victarion: The Iron Captain, The Reaver
Arianne: The Queenmaker, The Princess in the Tower
Also, “The Windblown” could refer to Quentyn in the singular.
Sure, the Mamluks and the Janissaries were effective soldiers. On the other hand they were an institution in and of themselves. The Mamluk “slave soldiers” had a prestige attached to them that made them that could appeal to common men and even nobles to a degree. They pretty much evolved from slave soldiers to a semi warrior caste. And as I recall the Janissaries were disbanded after they were no longer effective, or that they became too much like the praetorians…
Either way, the thing to keep in mind is that this slaver coalition just sacked the city that was known for its slave soldiers. What is Yunkai and the city of New Ghis known for regarding their armies…, the latter has standard “legions” and should be one who should be calling the shots but it seems that the Yunkish are the leaders of this coalition.
If I’m going to fight over a puppy, it had better well be a fully cooked puppy. None of this half-raw nonsense.
So I guess he listened to Lord Commander Jon Snow’s advice instead of attacking the Dreadfort.
Yeah, this Quentyn chapter is a giant pile of UGH. Aside from the laughably-ridiculous Yunkish “armies,” whose flamboyance puts Daario to shame.
“One of her captains comes from a line of men with foot-long members.” Is that a reference to Brown Ben Plumm, whose legendary ancestor Ossifer supposedly had a six-foot cock?* If so, the tale has…er…shrunk in the telling.
I’ve long had an admiration-envyhate mental relationship with Asha. She’s an asset to the story – a kickass woman who’s also smart, reasonable, ethical, and sassy, attractive without being exceptionally beautiful, happily in control of her sex life. Yet I wanted to be her – a true daughter of a maritime culture and religion, happiest aboard a ship, able to fuck anyone she wants and fight anyone she doesn’t want. But I started reconsidering by the end of this chapter, because battles are nasty. And I love forests, and wouldn’t want to hate and fear them as she does.
The mock-rape scene is a bit controversial, partly because it was written as a perhaps-unnecessary fakeout. We may get upset, thinking a favorite character is getting raped before our eyes, then – haha nope, it’s consensual and therefore sexy! But it’s also been called the best sex scene in the series. YMMV.
If I had to miss my own wedding, I would be honored to have a seal as a proxy.
“OK, so you get a piece of flayed flesh from your thought-to-be dead brother…and then immediately go bone Qarl the Beardless Wonder. That’s dirty.” — Kyle (Bonus: he pronounces Quarl like “coral.” Teehee).
@11: There’s only one Areo chapter in AFFC. ////And another in ADWD.////
*Because Ossifer’s wife got pregnant after his death and insisted he was the father, so he must’ve impregnated her from six feet under.
I read a theory (spoilers in the link, don’t click it leigh) that the title of a chapter in AFFC/ADWD depended on whether a character was a player or a piece, in reference to cyvasse.
Players get their own name and pieces get epithets. There were a few exceptions and caveats, so maybe it’s dead wrong, but it was interesting.
More interesting than the reason being authorial fiat/GRRM’s advancing dementia, anyway.
@29 It’s an interesting theory (read the post) but I still don’t agree. There are a lot of people who don’t quite fit under those rules, and you still have to ignore books 1-3 to make it work.
Frankly I just think GRRM made the titles the way he wanted them to be, without much thought beyond that. I’m sure it’s a combo of identity crisis + passive vs active, but I don’t think he’s a stickler about it, since so many times it doesn’t follow.
It’s funny too on my first read through I barely even noticed the chapter titles and epithets – meaning I didn’t think much beyond “that’s different”.
(But then I’m terrible about paying attention to chapter headings. I missed so much in the Name of the Wind series titles before the reread, and I miss a lot in Sanderson’s… and well any other author who’s a clever bastard and puts way too much thought into their chapter headings :P)
But now I kinda commiserate with Leigh. Since she’s pointing them out, they do seem rather random and unnecessary.
@15: My own take was that the various colourful regiments of Yunkai are based on various orientalist myths about asian soldiers. Certainly I know that Roman accounts claimed that Persian infantry fought chained together, like the soldiers of the clanker lords (actual Sassanid foot, though not as good as the aristocratic cavalry, were a match for their Roman equivalents, though that wasn’t the compliment it used to be) and although I’ve never heard of troops on stilts, it wouldn’t surprise me to find ‘and this idiot put all his soldiers on stilts’ or ‘and this girl chose her soldiers for how hot they were’ in the pages of some classical account or medieval chronicle without necessarily being true.
I also thought that the Qarl the Maid scene was GRRM trolling the readership over all the flak he’s gotten over the rapeyness in the previous books.
@22/AliroztheConfused
Grapes are not problematic when the growing season is too long. They’ll certainly be scarce in winter, but why would they fail to grow several times over during an extended summer? And why is it necessary to assume that the plant biology of Westeros is identical to that of Earth?
The city is Yunkai, not Yunkai’i. The latter is a demonym.
There are demons in Yunkai?
@15 – The guys on stilts goes into the evidence that the Yunkai are just playing toy soldiers with flesh and blood action figures.
Marriages by proxy were real things for political marriages, though having a seal stand in for the bride would be a calculated insult.
“A piece of Prince” is one of those phrases which sticks in your head and in a similar disturbing manner as “sing your screams” is in TEOTW.
some of the above have touched on this, and the link danielrixy posted says it outright, but as that is spoilery, I’ll try to make it more plain.
The epithet chapters are named based on the identity that the character sees themselves having at that moment and give a deeper insight into the their current mindset….for instance, the “Alayne” chapters or “Cat of the Canals” shows just how deeply the Stark girls have bought into their assumed personas. “The Kraken’s Daughter” shows a much different Asha to the one we get here in “Wayward Bride”. I like the artistic effect of it, but it is jarring going from one to the other so I kinda wish he had done it from the beginning for everyone or not at all.
As for Quentyn…..he is in fact “windblown”, physically and emotionally. He is not moving of his own impetus but rather at the whim of his father, his companions, and even the Tattered Prince. He is not traveling directly to Dany, but this way and that as they sneak around. And emotionally, he is a (probably pampered/spoiled) noble youth facing the harsh realities of the world for the first time…..unsure about how he feels about what he is experiencing and unsure what that unsureness says about him.
As for the Pieces vs Players idea, I like it, but with the way this series has gone it is difficult to be sure who are what in the long term
so having come just from the Sanderson reread I know you don’t like to be corrupted yadda yadda … but you do know there is a whole industry and several words around horses and women … and then there is that whole Catherine the Great thing right …?
Also – note what she dreamed off, more reason to think she is not dead? Where have we seen stags before … and the horn was out of place ….
Also missed you last week hope all is well!
Hi guys. Sorry I was tied up yesterday.
Ah, the Windblown. Yes, refers to Quentyn personally, as well as to the whole company. And I never realized before but love the express imagery of a Frog on a dragon hunt – hard to see how that possibly could go well, but we’ll see.
I actually could envision a benefit of a group of warriors on stilts, such as if they are fighting behind a barrier and use lengthy weapons such as spears to kill before others get close.
I’m also curious about the Tattered Prince and his Pentos connection and whether Illyrio knows him (presumably yes) or has secret dealings with him (Hmmmmm). If so, he may well have a secret Illyrio-supported alliance with Dany as a long range plan.
Re Asha, I enjoy all of her chapters and hope she isn’t dead. To my mind it is ambiguous what particular piece of Theon was sent to her and others but I fear it is not merely part of a finger. (Ouch). Yes, Tris tees up the concept that Theon may have a role in taking back the Seastone Chair from Euron, even if it seems unlikely.
And, yes, it sure looks like Jon’s cunning suggestions for Stannis to “head to the hills” and then “go west young man” have borne fruit. Go Team North (and Go Stannis, I guess).
I’m assuming Asha lives, because the sounding trumpet is almost certainly a signal to stop fighting. Saved by the bell (or, more specifically, the horn).
Asha is one of my favorite characters. She’s right up there with Dany and Arya in my book. In fact, one of the problems I had with the TV show was that I don’t like TV!Asha nearly as much as I like Book!Asha. It could be the actress, I don’t know. Maybe it’s something else.
However, I don’t care for the ironborn. It’s just hard to believe they could exist at all. Their lifestyle, their culture, their fleet of longships, and their army numbers simply stretches imagination. The logistics involved are difficult to explain.
Quentyn’s chapter was interesting for the imagery and the introduction of the Tattered Prince, one of the more well-developed tertiary characters. But Quentyn himself comes across as very bland. Every single character around him is more interesting, even one we’ve only just met.
The rumor mongering reminded me of the Wheel of Time. Just ask Gawyn.
@34 There are many demons in Yunkai, and they are referred to as Yunkai’i. Because they are from Yunkai. Those demons are humans, though. Mostly.
I’m sorry, but titling what is still a singular third person tight POV
chapter with the name of an entire collection of people makes no sense
to me.
It made perfect sense to me, it has a double meaning. It’s the name of the mercenary company, yes, but it’s also an indication that Quentyn has no real agency right now, and must go where the plot blows.
Can’t believe you’ve forgotten Brown Ben Plumm!
And yay for consensual sex. I don’t see why what’s been done to Asha is any worse that what was done to Sansa, so IMO, I don’t see that the Ironborn are any worse in this regard.
No no. “Demonym” means that Yunkai’i is what demons call Yunkai. When demons have a name for something, that’s a demonym.
I had viewed The Windblown purley as a way to refer to Quentyn as a singular member of the Windblown, but I really like the explanation that it has a double meaning regarding his own lack of a plan. I hadn’t thought of that before but it makes perfect sense.
Chapter 26 – The Wayward Bride:The simulated rape was short enough that you get to pretty quickly figure out that this is what they are in to and so, hey whatever they like.
Good fight scene. It is unclear if Qarl is dead–Asha “lost” him and others but things were confused. I don’t buy for a second that Asha is dead here.
It seems like Stannis took Jon’s advice and it is working out well for him so far.
I’ve always assumed some of the chapters lacked the name of the POV character in order to make it a bit more exiting, as you can’t use the table of contents to look ahead, knowing that Asha can’t have died in chapter 26, since the TOC has another Asha-chapter closer to the end (just an example, as I don’t have the book in front of me and can’t check the TOC).
Probably not the only reason, but seems like something that might be considered. He does like to kill of a lot of characters…
@47:Actually, he hasn’t killed very many POV characters. Ned and the Ser in Dorne are the only actual POV’s killed that I can think of. Catelyn was killed, but it didn’t stick.
@48: there was that Frey in an epilogue, iirc. but that was a one-off, so might not count.
I know not too many of them actually dies, but there’s for example Arya at the Red Wedding, Asha now, Tyrion when he went in the river a few chapters back. They might not die, but it appears like it.
I think the Vision Asha saw as she fell was Stannis himself. Red Heart banner flutter ing in the breeze. Antlered Helm. Faux Fire Sword alight. Head throbbing in pain from a concussive blow probably made him look ethereal. I sure the trumpet was a call to stand down.
@@@@@ 47
My version of the books don’t have a table of contents (pocket books 1-3, UK hardback for 4, US hardback for 5). Do yours?
@51: I have the Kindle editions, and they do have a table of contents. The first four are a list of names (Bran, Catelyn, Daenerys, Eddard, and so on), while the fifth book only shows Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and so on.
If the other books don’t have a table of contents, my point is kind of moot though…
@17 I believe the Confederate States Army also took slaves in lieu of their master at some point.
@48 Prologue characters tend to have very short life expectancy.
@53:Prologue characters are the red shirts of ASoIaF.
This was a common claim by devotees of the Lost Cause, and you can find it on the internet, but it didn’t happen.
@55 You were there?
As I understand it, some men took their slaves to war with them; someone, after all, had to cook and clean.
As for whether slaves fought or not, the Confederate Congress passed a law authorizing it on 13 March 1865. But I doubt any actual units were formed and fought before the war ended.
Even if you don’t fight, stilts are only practical on hard stone ground. On a muddy battlefield they would get stuck.
I don’t have to be a time traveler to know history.
There is no evidence, other than anecdote, of slaves fighting for the Confederacy. Sure, some officers took slaves with them as servants, and slaves were used for construction work, but not fighting.
Kind of sad that Leigh bothered to express her discomfort with the fake rape scene here, and not a word on her favourite character Tyrion’s actual rape of a slave a couple of chapters ago.
I gather a number of colonial empires also recruited slaves into their armies and militias. Google West India Regiment, for example.
Of course, they had to be freed in exchange for their service, otherwise why would they fight?
And before Lepanto the Christian commander had the shackles removed from Christian galley slaves, and promised freedom to all who fought well. It seems some took their chance if it came up and ran for it, but others really did head into the fray with battle cries along the lines of “Today we earn our freedom or die!”
Really, getting slaves to fight for you was just like getting free men to: the important thing was to give them a reason to do what you wanted. That was the Confederacy’s problem, of course.
First of all, thank you so much for your summaries and comments on the chapters. I have been following your posts since A Storm Of Swords and it is great to finish every chapter and read what you write.
It is funny and it always points out things that I miss in my readings. Thanks for that.
I promise myself last Summer to re-read or read all the books before Winter Comes (12th April) and I am quite proud of myself since I am in the last book now.
In my country, each book is divided in two, so I am now in book 10 (circa page 300). Only around 250 pages to finish the ASOIAF saga. I think I will do it before season 5 begins.
Sadly, I am now ahead of your posts and I miss them a lot. I cannot wait to read them. Keep up the good work.
@59, She did talk about it. She called his behavior utterly gross and pathetic.
@11: There’s only one Hotah chapter in AFFC, yeah. My theory was always that the chapter was originally written from Doran, but then Martin realized Doran would have been thinking certain stuff that he couldn’t let the readers know yet, and so he changed to Hotah for that reason despite not having much to say from his POV.
I am delighted you read these two chapters in tandem as they offer many opportunities for comparisons and contrasts. Of course they each touch on other storylines as well. For instance, when I first read The Windblown, I immediately likened “Frog” to “Egg” – both are princes posing incognito as squires serving very large knights. Will “Frog” receive a kiss from a princess that will turn him into her Prince?
If Martin gives a wink to Monty Python in The Windblown, he gives two winks and a full nod to LoTRs in The Wayward Bride. For example:
· “The woods were on the move, creeping toward the castle like a slow green tide. She thought back to a tale she had heard as a child, about the children of the forest and their battles with the First Men, when the greenseers turned the trees to warriors.” –Ents creeping up on Saruman
~~
· “Grimtongue was counting the northmen as he killed them, calling out, “Four,” as one went down and, “Five,” a heartbeat later. ” –Grimtongue, Saruman’s minion; also a shoutout to the rivalry between Legolas and Gimli for numbers of kills
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@62/Aeryl – yes, I saw that. I wouldn’t describe a rape as “gross and pathetic”. I would use stronger terms than that. It made me think Leigh didn’t see it as a rape.
@67, Well there is much discussion to be had about Tyrion this week.
@65: Ha, I was actually thinking of Macbeth during that seen. But good call on the Huorns.
I haven’t paid as much attention to the chapter titles as I should. They do appear layered in meanings, especially as Martin explores the theme of identity.
The Windblown
* The Windblown describes both Quentyn’s current identity and his circumstances. He is tossed and turned at the whims of fate and decisions beyond his contol, now having to reach Meereen from Volantis because Dany did not move as expected.
* The Astapori are likewise windblown at this point. Those who were not butchered or captured have been scattered to the winds seeking refuge. The lofty pyramids of Astapor have been burned by the Windblown company and reduced to ashes floating on the winds three miles away.
* Arch describes himself has having been windblown – blown off his horse by the wind of startled herons fleeing what they thought was a dragon.
* The Windblown can also segue into the second chapter to describe Asha (and her crew) as she struggles to find a direction to turn. She is buffeted by bad news, political failure, and impending attack from northmen. She considers going to go die in battle because the alternative, she thinks morosely, is: “In the end, all winds blow me back to Euron.”
The Wayward Bride
* This describes Asha’s current identity having fled the fallout of the kingsmoot and her proxy wedding. She is less the formidable Kraken’s daughter we met earlier and more the unwilling wife on the run.
* Looking back to the previous chapter, one could argue that Dany is also a wayward (prospective) bride, having failed to advance to Volantis – leaving (prospective) bridegroom, Quentyn, to enlist in the Windblown.
From The Windblown: “His right arm and his left. Something major was afoot.” lol
These chapters contain interweaving of words, imagery, and ideas.
* It is interesting to compare Quentyn’s innocence with Asha’s worldliness.
* There is a stark contrast between Pretty Meris and Asha, two women who are in leadership positions in fairly ruthless company.
* One chapter has a Quentyn Martell; the second has a Quenton Greyjoy (who does not survive the chapter.)
* Both chapters feature someone referred to as a giant, first the Captain of the Cats and second, Erik Ironmakeer.
* Both protagonists have an ancillary character who seems more educated to influence decisions. Tris (and the Reader) reminds Asha of the possibility of negating the kingsmoot. Gerris seems to direct most of the decisions for Quentyn.
Other things of interest:
* Asha’s ship “Black Wind” reminds me sadly of the direwolf “Grey Wind”.
* Euron has a seal stand in proxy at Asha’s wedding; Asha says seals are smarter than men.
* I thought it of note that Quentyn thinks of his father as “Prince Doran”. I suppose that comes from being fostered away from home for so long.
It seems to me like the slave soldiers of Yunkai are the product of centuries of peace in Slaver’s Bay. Most societies with a warrior aristocracy (or an aristocracy who used to be warriors) develop certain rituals around their military: dress uniforms, parades, palace guards who must not react to anything, things like that. During an actual war, they drop the ceremony and do what’s necessary to win. But it’s been centuries since the cities of Slaver’s Bay fought an actual war. They spent a long time under Valyrian rule and were spared the chaos of the Century of Blood because the ruins of the Valyrian peninsula cut them off from the Free Cities. They quickly settled on a policy of paying off the Dothraki and acting as a market for slaves captured by the Dothraki, so they faced few threats on that front. And so those military rituals completely overtook the fighting part of the military, so that now the Yunkish army is composed entirely of ceremonial regiments.
We see the same thing in pre-Dracarys Astapor. The city was organized around training and equipping the best soldiers in the known world, and then selling them to anyone who could pay. When Daenerys wanted to buy all the Unsullied at once, the Masters were worried about how long it would be before they could sell Unsullied again, not the fact that the city would be undefended in the meantime. Clearly they weren’t expecting the other cities in the area to capitalize on their military weakness.
Well, what if Windblown is in singular? Like Windblown one?
And not only Asha and Quentyn, but also Arianne had non-name chapters, as had Theon’s uncles. Error may come from the fact that such characters happen very late. And the fact that Doran Martell’s and Myrcella’s bodyguards both had only one chapter in AFFC.
‘Tattered Prince’… is that a King In Yellow reference?