A Dance With Dragons

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deni
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

Cant really figure that one and its connection to the other religions.

Any theories about it?
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Zeratul
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

We get the feeling that it isn't connected. It grew out of a lack. For the most part, those that die from it are the ones that wish to do so. This religion provides for that need in a peaceful way, so that the people do not need to use a knife/rope/etc. if they wish to die.

But it also appears that most the other religions do not really have that strong connections either. Many of the cultures have some hero like azor ahai, but they use different names (like "stallion that mounts the world").

Possibly the religion of the many-faced god preaches a sort of unity between the others, sort of like "all gods are one god", whereas others have different counts of divines. Asshai has two, westerosi has seven, northern doesn't have any gods, etc.

It would not surprise us if the one formerly known as Arya Stark of Winterfell eventually ends up killing some aspiring king or other.
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deni
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

There is always a connection when it comes to GRRM. I would like to see a consistent pantheon in the series and I think I won't get disappointed.

So far we know that The Seven of Westeros are the seven faces / aspects of the same deity. Makes it consistent of the Religion of the Many Faced God, as he is one god aswell worshipped under different aspects. Further, Westros' Stranger (the least loved aspect of The Seven) is a face of the Many Faced God. Makes the 2 religions consistent.

I cannot make the connection between R'hllor and The Other though. While it is all black and white for Mellisandre (and we know about R'hllor from her), R'hllor being the "good" God and The Other the "bad" one just does not fit. Especially given Mel's shadow births of black smoke that are black/blood magic.

The North has a religion - they worship the Old Gods through the weirwood trees. We have not heard much about them yet, but they definitely DO have power in the North. I am eagerly awaiting the continuation of the Bran story arc and hope we see more of the Children of the Forest and the Old Gods.


I think there is no doubt, that Arya will be send to kill to someone of Westeros' nobility. We have to keep in mind though, that the faceless men are not allowed to kill people they know (that explaines why the sailors on the ship that brought Arya across the Narrow Sea made her memorize their names). As Arya knows the people in Kings Landing as well as in the North, my bet is on Daeny. Daeny's scribe - Missandrei - kinda fits to have her face taken by Arya. But that's nothing more than speculation.
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Zeratul
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

True. The north worship "the old gods" but it has yet to be said just what they are. or for that matter, how many.

The religion with R'hollor & the Other is to us at least fairly black and white, but not in the modern Christianity-like view of good. Rather closer to the ancient forms when gods still had a more volatile aspect to them. If you need to kill to follow the will of god(s) then killing is justified. The ends justify the means. Its ruthless, but effective. Not particularly endearing, but it does accomplish its goals.

In order to make such connection as you mentioned, one would need to know much more about the Other. It could be that they are two sides of the same coin, it could be they are different sides of different coins.

Whether the faceless men can kill those that they know or not may be a rule, but it might also be a custom. Having such custom would make it easier to get others to help them.
Arya Stark of Winterfell knew a lot of Westeros nobility, but does the faceless (wo)man that once was Arya Stark of Winterfell truly know all that many? A good number of the nobility from then are gone (dead), while others are departed to other areas.

One thing that GRRM has accomplished with Daeny is to make her fairly naive. In the TV series she appears grown up, so its easy to forget she's only around 14-15 years. Having grown up in relative isolation, she's not truly skilled at understanding the world itself, and is only a mediocre player in the game. Unless she grows up more mentally, she will remain completely unsuited to rule.

The Bran story has got us thinking... Could it be that the being Bran is set to succeed is in fact one of his ancestors? Perhaps even Brandon the builder? Evidence indicates that there's been many Brandons in house Stark, and not all of them are buried in the crypts.
The magical powers that Bran inherited are powers linked to the children of the forests, so it could stand to reason that perhaps one of his ancestors were one of them. Nothing is really known about their lifespans, but it could stand to reason that they're very long.
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Mordack
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

Wyman Manderly turning out to be an absolute badass - didn't see that coming.
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Zeratul
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

Yes, he was a bit tricksy...
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deni
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

Mordack wrote:Wyman Manderly turning out to be an absolute badass - didn't see that coming.



I guess he found his taste for Frey's pie :P
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Zeratul
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

if one looks back on his previous behavior in earlier books, he has had a certain tendency towards saying one thing then covertly doing the opposite.
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

I'll wait till the last book comes out before continuing this series.
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And Loki saw every thing that he had farmed, and, behold, it was very good.
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The forces of Loki™ rush in full force, and inflict 1,086,054,534,340,000 damage on Pooop's forces!
It was confirmed that 12,620,737 of Pooop's forces fell at the hands of Loki™'s assult.

The forces of Pooop fought back with all they could, and managed to inflict 481,837,854,506,000 damage on Loki™'s forces!
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Zeratul
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

Loki™ wrote:I'll wait till the last book comes out before continuing this series.

another decade or so, in other words... Or is 10 years on two of the GRRM bricks too little?
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Loki™
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

Better to forget all that happens in the books than wait and wait and wait.
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Spoiler
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And Loki saw every thing that he had farmed, and, behold, it was very good.
Spoiler
George Hazard says:
thats what happens, HVE takes your soul and gives you an awesome high
when you leave, you can't live without it
ImageImage

The forces of Loki™ rush in full force, and inflict 1,086,054,534,340,000 damage on Pooop's forces!
It was confirmed that 12,620,737 of Pooop's forces fell at the hands of Loki™'s assult.

The forces of Pooop fought back with all they could, and managed to inflict 481,837,854,506,000 damage on Loki™'s forces!
They managed to eradicate 1,988,050 of Loki™'s troops.
Zeratul
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Re: A Dance With Dragons

true enough...
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"Great holy armies shall be gathered and trained to fight all who embrace evil. In the name of the gods, Browsers shall be changed to carry the internet out amongst the peoples and we will spread Firefox to all the unbelievers. The power of the Firefox will be felt far and wide and the wicked users of IE shall be converted to use the true browsers."

Curious about our color? Feel free to ask...
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