stannis baratheon Archives - History of Westeros

The Five Year Gap (Con Panel Audio)

A great panel from Con of Thrones 2018, featuring Ash, Joe Magician, Bookshelfstud & JoannaLannister. Why scrapping the five year gap was a great idea, why GRRM planned it in the first place, and how many of the characters might have turned out if he hadn’t.

“It’s a lot harder [in real life]. Sometimes in my own life, I wish I could play a montage of my life. I want to get in shape now. So let’s do a montage, and boom — I’ll be fifty pounds lighter and in good shape, and it will only take me a minute with some montage of me lifting weights and running, shoving away the steak and having a salad. But of course in real life, you don’t get to montage. You have to go through it day by day.” – GRRM.

“It worked for characters like Arya and Dany but not so much for the adults or those who had a lot of action coming. He was writing chapters where Jon thought, “Well, not a lot has happened these past five years, it’s been kinda nice.” And Cersei chapters where she thought, “Well, I’ve had to kill sooo many people the last five years.” So he ended up dropping it. He said he would have done it sooner if he hadn’t told so many fans about it. And there is no gap anymore. “If a twelve-year old has to conquer the world, then so be it.” – SSM.

House Manderly: Part 2 – Winter is Coming… To White Harbor

This one starts with recent Manderly history and ends with thoughts on starvation, human sacrifice, cannibalism, fear and prophecy. You can find part 1 in this series here. Special thank you, as always, to Michael Klarfeld for the maps and video intro.

Manderly Images

While tearing apart a bird with fat fingers, Lord Wyman made polite inquiry after Lady Hornwood, who was a cousin of his. “She was born a Manderly, you know. Perhaps, when her grief has run its course, she would like to be a Manderly again, eh?” He took a bite from a wing, and smiled broadly. “As it happens, I am a widower these past eight years. Past time I took another wife, don’t you agree, my lords? A man does get lonely.”

Tossing the bones aside, he reached for a leg. “Or if the lady fancies a younger lad, well, my son Wendel is unwed as well. He is off south guarding Lady Catelyn, but no doubt he will wish to take a bride on his return. A valiant boy, and jolly. Just the man to teach her to laugh again, eh?” He wiped a bit of grease off his chin with the sleeve of his tunic.” – Bran II, ACOK.

House Manderly: Part 2 – Winter is Coming… To White Harbor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2LsZUmDuds)

History on Blood and Fire w/ Daniele Bolelli

A special episode! This is a collaboration with Daniele Bolelli of the History on Fire podcast. We chat about a wide variety of real world historical influences on A Game of Thrones/ASOIAF.

“The Wall comes from Hadrian’s Wall, which I saw while visiting Scotland. I stood on Hadrian’s Wall and tried to imagine what it would be like to be a Roman soldier sent here from Italy or Antioch. To stand here, to gaze off into the distance, not knowing what might emerge from the forest. Of course fantasy is the stuff of bright colours and being larger than real life, so my Wall is bigger and considerably longer and more magical. And, of course, what lies beyond it has to be more than just Scots.”

History on Blood and Fire (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pMXb0FkGM)

ASOIAF Dreams and Dreamers, plus Q&A

An episode dedicated to all kinds of ASOIAF dreams and dreamers, whether mundane or magical. Green dreams, wolf dreams, dragon dreams, dreams of guilt, fever dreams… and an accompanying Q&A to go with it, answering all the burning (and freezing) questions sent us regarding the last episode.

Credits

Our introduction, and the awesome new Essos map were created by Michael Klarfeld (Klaradox). Dutchmogul created the cyvasse pieces. Martin Lewis of Echoes of Ice and Fire did the quotes.

“There’s different kinds,” he said slowly. “There’s the wolf dreams, those aren’t so bad as the others. I run and hunt and kill squirrels. And there’s dreams where the crow comes and tells me to fly. Sometimes the tree is in those dreams too, calling my name. That frightens me. But the worst dreams are when I fall.” – ACOK, Bran V

Starks

He knew nothing of his mother; Eddard Stark would not talk of her. Yet he dreamed of her at times, so often that he could almost see her face. In his dreams, she was beautiful, and highborn, and her eyes were kind. – AGOT, Jon III

That night Sansa dreamt of Joffrey on the throne, with herself seated beside him in a gown of woven gold. She had a crown on her head, and everyone she had ever known came before her, to bend the knee and say their courtesies. – AGOT, Sansa IV

They are children, Sansa thought. They are silly little girls, even Elinor. They’ve never seen a battle, they’ve never seen a man die, they know nothing. Their dreams were full of songs and stories, the way hers had been before Joffrey cut her father’s head off. Sansa pitied them. Sansa envied them. – ASOS, Sansa II

Dreams & Dreamers (mild TWoW spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOJ_7qIzahg)

Dreams & Dreamers Q&A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyxjRgAzGnE)

She had no time for sleep, with the weight of the world upon her shoulders. And she feared to dream. Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night. She would sooner sit bathed in the ruddy glow of her red lord’s blessed flames, her cheeks flushed by the wash of heat as if by a lover’s kisses. Some nights she drowsed, but never for more than an hour. One day, Melisandre prayed, she would not sleep at all. One day she would be free of dreams. Melony, she thought. Lot Seven. – ADWD, Melisandre

Religion & Magic: Part 4 – Night’s King (spoilers)

Apart from Night’s King, topics include kinslaying, the blue eyes of the Others & Wights, Night’s Queen, and the Lands of Always Winter. Plus we talk about Coldhands, Stannis, Bran, Melisandre, Roose Bolton and Jon Snow. Listen to the rest of our Religion and Magic series here.

After his fall, when it was discovered that he had been sacrificing to the Others, all records of him were destroyed and his very name was forbidden.

“Some say he was a Bolton,” Old Nan would always end. “Some say a Magnar out of Skagos, some say Umber, Flint, or Norrey. And some would have you think he was a Woodfoot, from them who ruled Bear island before the ironmen came. He never was. He was a Stark, the brother of the man who brought him down.”

This was where the Rat Cook had served the Andal king his prince-and-bacon pie. Where the seventy-nine sentinels stood their watch, where brave young Danny Flint had been raped and murdered. This was the castle where King Sherrit had called down his curse on the Andals of old, where the ‘prentice boys had faced the thing that came in the night, where blind Symeon Star-Eyes had seen the hellhounds fighting. Mad Axe had once walked these yards and climbed these towers, butchering his brothers in the dark.

“This Nightfort is the place my husband has chosen for our seat, and there we shall abide.”

Night’s Queen

The legends say that the Night’s King was a warrior without fear, and when he saw a woman atop the Wall with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars, he chased her and loved her though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.

The oldest of these tales concern the legendary Night’s King, the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, who was alleged to have bedded a sorceress pale as a corpse and declared himself a king. For thirteen years the Night’s King and his corpse queen ruled together.

Religion & Magic: Part 4 – Night's King (spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6h1bV2mmWA)

The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Ice Part 3 (mega spoilers)

In this episode, Aziz is joined by guest Jeff Hartline (Wars and Politics of A Song of Ice and Fire) for this three part series on The Battle of Ice.

Though there are a variety of ways the Battle of Ice could play out, there are only two possible basic results, a Bolton/Frey victory, or a Stannis victory. Given that, we only have two paths to chart out. We’ll be following them both as far as we can reasonably (or unreasonably!) go. Of particular importance will be the effect of the battle on the Northern political outlook, the series itself, and what it will mean for a host of different characters. We also discuss how a possible battle at Winterfell itself might play out.

Stannis

I think a lot people suspect Stannis won’t last the series. Losing to the Freys in the midst of a snowstorm isn’t exactly a popular guess for how he’ll go out. The feedback we’ve gotten on parts 1 and 2 of the series definitely back this up. Most of us expect Stannis to win the Battle of Ice, and for his end to come in some other way, or not at all. Only a few predict Stannis to sit the Iron Throne by series’ end, but it remains possible.

Other possibilities range from villainy to heroism, casting him as Night’s King come again, or ponder the notion of Lord Commander Stannis Baratheon, leading a reformed and regrouped Night’s Watch at conclusion of ASoIaF, manning the Wall in force. That is, if there’s even a Wall to man, but that’s another topic, not directly related to Stannis winning the Battle of Ice.

So this episode will have a Stannis-wins bias in terms of how we spend our time. We expect Stannis to win so we prepared with that in mind…

Quotes

The king stood outside his tent, staring into the nightfire. What does he see there? Victory? Doom? The face of his red and hungry god? His eyes were sunk in deep pits, his close-cropped beard no more than a shadow across his hollow cheeks and bony jawbone. Yet there was power in his stare, an iron ferocity that told Asha this man would never, ever turn back from his course. Lord Manderly had brought musicians from White Harbor, but none were singers, so when Abel turned up at the gates with a lute and six women, he had been made welcome.

“I am sorry that our good friend Stannis has not seen fit to join us yet, as I know Ramsay had hoped to present his head to Lady Arya as a wedding gift. We shall give him a splendid welcome when he arrives, a welcome worthy of true northmen. Until that day, let us eat and drink and make merry … for winter is almost upon us, my friends, and many of us here shall not live to see the spring.”

The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Ice Part 3 (mega-spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zwzarmwQyw)

Wyman Manderly

“White Harbor might prove troublesome should Lord Wyman survive this coming battle … but I am quite sure that he will not. No more than Stannis. Roose will remove both of them, as he removed the Young Wolf.”

“Lord Manderly had brought musicians from White Harbor, but none were singers, so when Abel turned up at the gates with a lute and six women, he had been made welcome.”

The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Ice Part 2 (mega spoilers)

In this episode, Ashaya and Aziz are joined by guest Jeff Hartline (Wars and Politics of A Song of Ice and Fire) for this three part series on The Battle of Ice. Here are parts 1 and 3.

The Battle of Ice is coming, and Stannis is ready. He’s confident, he’s experienced, and even the ravens seem to be cheering him on. On the other hand, his army is snowbound and starving while the army the Lord of the Dreadfort has sent against him is fresh, well supplied and better equipped. While Stannis’ force was marching through Westeros’ largest forest during a seemingly endless blizzard, the Boltons, Freys and their allies sat comfortable in Winterfell’s hot spring-fed warmth while Wyman Manderly’s endless stores kept their bellies full.

It would be a mistake, however, to think that the battle hinges on such standard factors. Though better armor and fresher horses surely matter, there is much about the Battle of Ice that requires a somewhat unconventional thought process. A Song of Ice and Fire has seen many battles, but we haven’t seen anything like this.

Part 2

In part 1 we analyzed the politics and power situation in the North, but even the genial and affable Renly knows that will only get us so far.

“The time for talk is done. Now we see who is stronger.”

and so we will. Now comes the time of troops & commanders, now comes morale & strategy, now comes blood and controlled chaos. Now comes the Battle of Ice.

Whatever doubts his lords might nurse, the common men seemed to have faith in their king. Stannis had smashed Mance Rayder’s wildlings at the Wall and cleaned Asha and her ironborn out of Deepwood Motte; he was Robert’s brother, victor in a famous sea battle off Fair Isle, the man who had held Storm’s End all through Robert’s Rebellion. And he bore a hero’s sword, the enchanted blade Lightbringer, whose glow lit up the night.

The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Ice Part 2 (mega-spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRKK76AgHHA)

“Half my army is made up of unbelievers,” Stannis had replied. “I will have no burnings. Pray harder.”

“The map is not the land, my father often said.”

“If I had me a nice goose quill and a pot o’ maester’s ink, I could write down that me member was long and thick as me arm, wouldn’t make it so.”

“Wolves, she thought, they howl like bloody wolves. The war cry of the north.”“

The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Ice Part 1 (mega spoilers)

In this episode, Ashaya and Aziz are joined by guest Jeff Hartline (Wars and Politics of A Song of Ice and Fire) for this three part series on The Battle of Ice. Here are parts 2 and 3.

Part 1 is dedicated to unraveling the complex political situation in the North. There are Houses with compelled loyalty secretly plotting revenge, while loyal armies face the winds of winter. Each house of note is discussed, as well as the key players from each side.

In an epic series filled with surprises, plot twists and defiance of convention, there is little we can predict with certainty. One item on that short list is Winter. We knew it was coming…the Starks told us after all. We had glimpses of it throughout the earlier books, especially at and beyond the Wall, but also in dreams that often seemed prophetic. Sure enough, by the end of ADWD, there is a massive, long running storm.

Another certainty in ASOIAF is war. We have certainly not seen the last pitched battle. With those two items in mind…does it follow that we should expect pitched battles in winter?

The Battle of Ice is just that. A struggle in which resources are scarce, the cold is literally enough to kill, and time is on no one’s side. Winter has just begun after all, and we know what the next book is entitled. Before we can Dream of Spring we must brave The Winds of Winter.

The Battle of Ice

Well, not we, them. The armies of two extremely formidable and determined men, Stannis Baratheon and Roose Bolton, facing off while a ridiculous winter storm rages.

This three part series goes beyond a single battle, however. Even our love of detail is not enough to make 3 episodes out of that. We’re dealing with a campaign for the North and it has major implications for the plot and for so many of our favorite characters. In part 1 we’ll explore the motivations and goals of the various players in the North, what they want, which side they’re on, who they want to kill, and how they’ll accomplish any of this without freezing.

The Winds of Winter: The Battle of Ice Part 1 (mega-spoilers) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syFM7936yMs)

We are five thousand strong as I write, our numbers swelling every day. And word has come to us that Roose Bolton moves toward Winterfell with all his power, there to wed his bastard to your half sister. He must not be allowed to restore the castle to its former strength. We march against him. Arnolf Karstark and Mors Umber will join us. I will save your sister if I can, and find a better match for her than Ramsay Snow. You and your brothers must hold the Wall until I can return.

Boltons and Freys

He needs an end to this. The castle was too crowded to withstand a long siege, and too many of the lords here were of uncertain loyalty. Fat Wyman Manderly, Whoresbane Umber, the men of House Hornwood and House Tallhart, the Lockes and Flints and Ryswells, all of them were northmen, sworn to House Stark for generations beyond count. It was the girl who held them here, Lord Eddard’s blood, but the girl was just a mummer’s ploy, a lamb in a direwolf’s skin. So why not send the northmen forth to battle Stannis before the farce unraveled? Slaughter in the snow. And every man who falls is one less foe for the Dreadfort.

The Frey men wore the badge of the two towers, those from White Harbor displayed merman and trident. They shouldered through the storm in opposite directions and eyed each other warily as they passed, but no swords were drawn. Not here. It may be different out there in the woods.

Plots: Religion & Magic Part 3 – Weirwood Tour (spoilers)

This episode gives detail on every weirwood in Westeros while adding new theories and background. Apart from the Heart Trees, there’s a lot on Ravens, the Others, the magic of genetics and the weather, the Children of the Forest and the Nightfort. Throughout the tour, Ashaya and Aziz make several predictions and point out some eerie parallels. Be sure to watch our first episode on weirwoods.

The episode features themes of blood and ancestry, as weirwoods tend to be inextricably tied to the surrounding area, both physically and culturally. Given the broad scope of this topic, quite a variety of related subjects come up. Heart tree-murdering Melisandre makes an appearance or two, the Wall is discussed as well as several members of House Stark and some very out of the way places you’ve barely heard of.

We go from Beyond the Wall to the far south, considering not just where the weirwoods are, but where they might have been in the past. Given that there are so many places left unseen in the story, we make educated guesses where other trees might be. This isn’t just about where the trees are, though…the absence of weirwoods can be as conspicuous as the most grotesque Heart Tree face.

Quotes

When they died, they went into the wood, into leaf and limb and root, and the trees remembered. All their songs and spells, their histories and prayers, everything they knew about this world.

Men live their lives trapped in an eternal present, between the mists of memory and the sea of shadow that is all we know of the days to come. Certain moths live their whole lives in a day, yet to them that little span of time must seem as long as years and decades do to us. An oak may live three hundred years, a redwood tree three thousand. A weirwood will live forever if left undisturbed. To them seasons pass in the flutter of a moth’s wing, and past, present, and future are one.

Religion & Magic: Part 3 – Weirwood Tour (spoilers) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzc0Qy229Kk)

There were nine, all roughly of the same age and size. Each one had a face carved into it, and no two faces were alike. Some were smiling, some were screaming, some were shouting at him. In the deepening glow their eyes looked black, but in daylight they would be blood-red, Jon knew. Eyes like Ghost’s.

Plots: Religion & Magic Part 1 – The Comet (spoilers)

The Red Comet

History of Westeros’ series on Religion & Magic kicks off with the great red comet, a sign interpreted by many and seen by all. Was it sent by the gods or is it a sign that magic and dragons have returned? Whatever the meaning, there will be blood and fire. Ash and Aziz give an overview of what to expect in the series while asking a bunch of tough questions. Particular attention is paid to parallels between various supernatural elements found throughout the books. Listen to the rest of our Religion & Magic series here. Our YouTube channel is here.

Quotes

The comet’s tail spread across the dawn, a red slash that bled above the crags of Dragonstone like a wound in the pink and purple sky.

Dany looked and saw it, low in the east. The first star was a comet, burning red. Bloodred; fire red; the dragon’s tail. She could not have asked for a stronger sign.

It is my comet, Theon told himself.

Religion & Magic: Part 1 – The Comet (spoilers) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVxAJ7t6W4)

That night she lay upon her thin blanket on the hard ground, staring up at the great red comet. The comet was splendid and scary all at once. “The Red Sword,” the Bull named it; he claimed it looked like a sword, the blade still red-hot from the forge. When Arya squinted the right way she could see the sword too, only it wasn’t a new sword, it was Ice, her father’s greatsword, all ripply Valyrian steel, and the red was Lord Eddard’s blood on the blade after Ser Ilyn the King’s Justice had cut off his head. Yoren had made her look away when it happened, yet it seemed to her that the comet looked like Ice must have, after.