Page 398: Plots and Intrigue

Sam: His reluctance to becoming a Maester is somewhat puzzling. He hates fighting and has a clearly demonstrated thirst for knowledge and learning, which is exactly what being a Maester is about. Is it just the disdain that his father instilled in him from a young age? Or is he genuinely afraid of something? Other than that, it's a fairly normal Sam chapter; awkwardness, despair, childhood trauma. The only difference is that he didn't tell others to stop calling him Slayer. I question whether or not Aemon will survive the journey.

Jaime: As always, your chapters continue to be some of the most interesting. We see him clearly trying to do the right think with his uncle Kevan. Ironically, Tyrion was right about Lancel, but lied about killing Joffrey. I love Bronn's little act of defiance (mixed with homage, I presume). It's nice to see that it wasn't just Lannister gold that tied Bronn to Tyrion, though, clearly from how they departed one another that was certainly a major factor. Jaime is certainly displeased with Cersei's vicious streak. And I guess this is the chapter for weaving in larger plot elements, since they went exposition-happy in the scene with the Small Council. Lots of interesting larger context details. The Greyjoys have everything north of Moat Cailin, but how could they possibly hold it? Bolton is trapped at the Twins. I'd love if one of the title characters in Dance was Howland Reed, so we could finally get a viewpoint into the Crannogmen (who seem to be putting up a pretty good fight against the Ironborn). I love that Jaime confronts both Cersei's desire for power, and her unraveling all at once. I'm a little sad that Tyrion's voice about Cersei's affairs is still ringing in his head repeatedly. He's clearly conflicted by how he views Cersei now, and the love he had for her. Did anyone else notice the line when Jaime is talking to Loras Tyrell where Loras literally said he prefers books with less writing and lots of pictures? He really is a pretty fool isn't he? What is the significance of the "kingmaker" comment at the end the chapter? It ends with a kind of abruptness that suggests it should be a "dun dun dun!" moment.

Cersei: Even more plot exposition in this chapter, and some of it is disturbing. Cersei gets lot of gears in motion this chapter. Balon Swann is being tasked for something in Dorne, perhaps to retrieve Myrcella? She's cutting off money to the Braavosi, which I have to imagine will both piss them off, and create some interesting stuff to play with for Arya and possibly Tyrion if he ever makes it there. And by the way, where is Varys? Did he sneak off with Tyrion? I'm a little disgusted to see the Umbers join with the Boltons after what the Boltons did, especially given that the Umbers were the Starks' greatest champions. Perhaps that will change. The truth, after all, is still hidden. I guess we are getting news from the north, but precious little of it, and it's terrible. It'll be interesting to see how some of this stuff plays out first hand when we read Dance. Finally the first words about dragons are percolating in Westeros, and I'm not surprised that they are summarily dismissed. The plot to kill Jon and discredit Margery is interesting, but I don't see it working for a number of reasons. First of all, most of these kinds of plots are usually hatched off-camera. We only find out about them when they fail or succeed (and the track record for killing favored characters is pretty good, so, usually they come out of nowhere and succeed, a la Ned and Robb). The fact that we're being let in on the ground floor leads me to believe that it will fail. Plus, killing Jon would be disastrous, and I would hate Martin forever. Plus the Kettleblacks are morons. I think this will blow up in her face. I think a lot of what she is planning will blow up in her face. She's headed for a fall.

The Iron Captain: This one is Victarion Greyjoy. I'm pleased to hear that the crannogmen are giving them such a hard time in the swamps. Victarion seems to have pretty bad luck with wives. Not only did he lose three, but he lost the third one by killing her after finding out she cheated on him with his brother, who promptly rubbed the whole thing in his face. Euron sounds like a douchebag. Asha's exchange with Victarion is surprisingly delightful. She's certainly full of zippy dialogue. I was complaining a post ago about the novel spending too much time with the Ironborn, but now I have to say that I'm finding them surprisingly interesting. I'm actually pretty interested in seeing who wins between Asha, Euron and Victarion. Euron is the only one we haven't seen a lot of, except for what people have said about him over the last two books. Doesn't sound like he's a very well regarded guy. Victarion has a couple of odd qualities about him. He's not an arrogant jerk like a lot of the others, and has a thread of self-doubt or hesitance in him that someone like Asha, for example, totally lacks. But he seems a decent enough guy. I like his relationship with Aeron.

The Drowned Man: Aeron again of course. Very interesting to see people picking a king. It's like a modern election. They have their platforms, and some of it involves a cult of personality, some of it outright buying support, but perhaps the most important part is the underlying message. Victarion promises the north, Asha promises a small piece of the shore while discrediting Victarion and Euron throws the Hail Mary and says he can deliver the whole of Westeros with dragons. And this is told from the point of view of Aeron. His reactions are interesting, as he is both surprised by the reactions of others, and by his own reactions to what the captains say. But of course the most interesting part is the horn that Euron supposedly brought back from Valyria. Lots of stuff there too of course. The description of the horn certainly makes it sound magical. Euron sailed to dark places of the world, and it's not a surprise that he brought something like that back, though how he knew what to look for is another question. I have to wonder why no one has raided Valyria for goodies. And again, what the hell happened to Valyria! That's a story that needs telling at some point! Some big questions regarding the horn and how it might play out later in the larger story. Will the horn control the dragons over Daenerys' commands? How much natural control, as a Targaryen, does she have over them? Or can Euron steal them all away with that horn?

The power of horns is now officially a recurring theme. The Horn of Winter supposedly has the power to thrown down the Wall, and who knows what other powers. And this Horn now supposedly has the power to control dragons. I'm surprised that Martin hasn't done more with the power of voice, in the way that Frank Herbert did with Voice and the Bene Gesserit.

Hopefully some of these plots will get wrapped up here, and I won't have to wait for ALL my answers until Dance, but, I know I'll have to wait for some. Martin has already said that he's pushed back material to Winds of Winter in order to give us some answers to questions left behind in Feast. Hopefully I'll get those answers sometime this year.