Banana Scoop

The Crippled Boy Who Learned to Fly

I’ve compared Bran’s story arc very similar to Frodo and Sam in the Lord of the Rings series.  What they’re doing is important to the story, but there’s a lot more interesting things happening around them.  For the past 3-4 books, they’ve been on the road running, but it was finally in this book where they got to where they were headed.  And boy when they got there did things really start happening.

We were left off with Samwell Tarly handing Bran, Hodor, and the Reeds off to Coldhands, a mysterious soul who guides them through the perils of the lands beyond the Wall.  The story arc is depressing and seemingly hopeless.  Descriptions of the party’s failing health and aimless journey was very disconcerting for a while.  And us as the reader know scarier things are out in the woods that could easily end their journey.  Unlike other character’s story arcs whose end goal was fairly clear, we’re not entirely sure what this ‘Three-eyed Crow’ is and progress for the first couple of Bran’s chapters seemed to be going in no direction.  The only redeeming part was the instances showing how Bran could slip in the skins of others.

Until they came upon that cave.  In the final stretch of their journey, not only was the cold winds of winter against them, but the wights came out from the ground as though a final test for them to get into safety.  An exciting and heart pounding event [I truly thought Meera was going to die and I was beginning to get upset over it although it hasn’t happened] ended with their safety in a cave.  And that’s when things start to get really weird.

Bran meets the fabled Children of the Forest who seem to be like J.R. Tolkein elves which lead him to the Three-eyed Crow.  More tree than human, the mystical being shows Bran the extent of his abilities.  Being able to skin change into more than just his direwolf and Hodor, he finally takes flight into animals around him including a crow.  His training is accelerated when he skin changes into trees.  There’s neat philosophy here regarding how time is relative to trees in a different manner than it is to humans.  The scene continues to get even trippier when he essentially goes back in time.  It’s not all too well explained, but I’m hoping the Winds of Winter will go into even more extent of what this means for Bran.  Equally intriguing is how Bran perceives himself as becoming like the Three-Eyed Crow and what that means to him.  More to be resolved in the Winds of Winter…

The Sailing Bride Stealer

I didn’t much care for Vicatrion Greyjoy in the previous book.  He seemed like a less likable Davos Seaworth.  This ultraviolent pirate seemingly just complained a lot about all the wrongs and how unfortunate his life was.  Maybe it was because I didn’t like the idea of this sea scum snatching up Daenerys, but I truly didn’t like the guy.

At least until he became like Nightmare from Soul Calibur.  This kind of brings me up to how the priests of R’hollor seriously have something nasty up their sleeves, because whatever that Moqorro guy did to Victarion definitely had me interested.  He’s apparently a monster now, with an arm that is like hardened lava or something like that.  And with his ability to command ships and how quickly he’s taking over Slavers Bay, this could certainly turn out interesting.  Throughout his POV, he was constantly comparing himself to Euron Greyjoy, and I’d like for those two guys to get in a fight and test one peron’s magic vs. his magic.

And then it reminded me of the Dragon Horn he had.  Like I said, I didn’t really like his point of view until the end when he became some sort of monster and when it reminded me of the Dragon Horn that’s supposed to bind them.  They should definitely be shaking things up in Winds of Winter.

The Foolish Wannabe Dragon Tamer

In the last book, we learned that Doran Martell sent his son Quentyn across the sea to marry Daenerys Targaryen with the promise of Dorne.  We got to meet him and his crew in this book and it turns out that he was a fairly average boy with a big burden.  It was unfortunate that this convoy embarked on such a long journey only for him to get told to go back where he came from.  We were given a look at who he wanted to be vs. who his family expected him to be, and it makes Quentyn one of the more identifiable [in my opinion] character of the book.  Like I said, he’s a fairly average, plain looking boy who would rather of not sailed across all this way with such a huge responsibility, but instead lived a normal prince’s life in Dorne.  He’s faced hardship along the way and doesn’t believe they should die in vein, so in response of Queen Daenerys turning him away, he does something stupid.

He releases the chained up dragons.

Believing the blood of the Targaryens flowing in the veins would save him from being dragon fodder, he bravely but foolishly tries to tame not just one but both of the dragons chained up.  His motive was sound and was simply trying to fulfill the large duty his father laid upon him, but ultimately was for not.  He was burned alive.  I would’ve been more surprised, but Martin has completely taken the stigma of meeting and getting to know a character before killing him.  I’ve since then been careful about what characters to care for ever since the beheading of Ned.

Azor Ahai Reborn and his Loyal Onion Knight

I’m pretty pro Baratheon, so Stannis’s story arc was definitely one of the ones I was rooting for.  Unfortunately not much seems to be going right for the teeth grinding King.  His victory over the wildlings was definitely an awesome moment, but we get a sense that he’s still losing the entire war.  He has few numbers, little money, and has brought a company of southern nights to the north on the eve of winter.  Things don’t look to bright for Stannis and his company.

The one who claims him to be Azor Ahai is also given a chapter of Point of View.  We got to know Melisandre a little more and her motives.  She’s definitely a mysterious woman and I would’ve liked to read more about her.  Her powers are not to be taken lightly, as she does some pretty crazy predictions and face hiding [yess! Mance Raydar is alive!].  Her continual role will definitely be worth keeping a look into.

Which brings me to his loyal Onion Knight, Davos Seaworth.   In Feast for Crows, we hear from another perspective regarding his death, but even I was too keen for that.  Davos Seaworth doesn’t die easy, as he’s defeated not once, but twice already.  His story arc is fairly short, but it ties into well with where Rickon and Osha have been all this time.  Davos Seaworth is sent off to Skagos to go find them and will be rewarded for his efforts.  Not much is known about Skagos, so I look forward to seeing him go.

The Queensguard and the Kingbreaker

One of the only characters who has real insight to the world of Westeros before the beginning of the first book, I always like Barristan Selmy’s sections.  He only started getting them after Daenerys ran off with her dragons, but even before then when he would talk to her during her POVs, I always enjoyed their conversation.  He had opinions about the many Kings he has seen as well as the royal blood that accompanied them.  As an advisor to Dany, he’s fairly invaluable.  And let’s not forget that he’s also one of the most skilled knights in Westeros and possibly even Essos.

Essentially an old man trying to live out the rest of his life as a honorably as possible, there’s much to like about Barristan Selmy.  He’s not as slimy as other characters and not as completely blindly ignorant and arrogant as others [Cersei].  He reads his point of views very straightforward with his mind wrapping around how much he hates sneaking around and how he’s far more accustomed to fighting than playing politician.  Absolutely loyal and no hint of tretchery, Barristan Selmy might be one of the easiest characters to relate to.

I also loved that he’s taking on freed slaves as squires to make into knights.

The Soiled Queen

One of the series’ most hated characters, Cersei Lannister, got her fairly brief follow up to the cliffhanger at the end of Feast for Crows.   I’m sure I joined millions when I thought, “She finally got what was coming to her”.  While it was neat learning a lot about how she thought and what her motives were behind actions in Feast for Crows, the much needed humiliation that encompassed majority of her chapter was both jaw dropping and satisfactory.  I think Martin wanted us to feel pity for the very strong female character, with her insecurities on the line and such, and I personally did.  It was unfortunate to see any character we’ve grown to know go through that kind of humiliation, no matter how much they deserved it. And especially the way he it changed her afterwards will be something to look forward to in the Winds of Winter.  We saw a glimpse of her personality through Kevan Lannister, but she doesn’t always say what she thinks, which is the fun part about reading Cersei’s point of view.

The Maimed Knight

Jaime Lannister, who has since Storm of Swords, became one of my favorite characters didn’t get much love in this book.  He has essentially put Cersei behind him, but asides from that, he doesn’t have much motivation for anything anymore.  Unlike other characters, his motive or endgame is not as clear and I absolutely love that about his point of view.  He had purpose in Storm of Swords and Feast for Crows, such as getting back to Cersei and trying to atone for his sins, respectively, but as soon as he’s done with his business in the Riverlands, I tried to predict what would happen to him next.  His position as head of the Kingsguard might’ve entailed him doing something semi-important, but I had hoped that he would be caught into something more interesting before getting pulled back to Kingslanding.  And he did when Brienne of Tarth showed up at the last minute.  I absolutely loved the adventures of Brienne and Jaime in Storm of Swords and I can’t wait to read on their continued adventures in Winds of Winter.

The Spider

My sister who just recently started the series asked me if Varys was bad.  It was so hard to keep a straight face and tell her to keep reading.  In truth, Varys is definitely one of the more sneaky and slimy characters of the series [with probably only Little Finger besting him], but it legitimately seems like he doesn’t personally want to benefit from anything.  From everything he’s done so far, it’s to reclaim the throne to the Targaryens and possibly stop the realm from bleeding.  And his last minute appearance in Dance with Dragons is absolutely exciting and hair raising.  The fact that he called out Kevan Lannister competent in contrast to Cersei was also icing on the cake.

Can that possibly be it?  Is there no way to make Martin write faster?  It is said that it’ll take around 3 years to get this done and about a year has passed.  2014?  My goodness, he’s getting fairly old too, how on earth will we wever get to the 7th and final book?  I guess all we can do is wait.  Please please please open up this thread for discussion, I absolutely love geeking out with you all.

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