Friday, August 23, 2013

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, part 39

I still have no internet. I could murder the company guys. So I still can't post regularily.
This is the thirty-ninth article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right.
Prepare for part 39. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously. 
What happened to Pyat Pree?
After Dany killed the Undying in their aptly named "House of the Undying", the sinister sorcerer (or glittering sharlatan, depending whom you ask) Pyat Pree tried to kill Dany, was fended off by her guards and then vanished, swearing revenge. Since Dany thwarted the attack with the scarab back at the Qartheen docks, nothing has been heard of the warlocks, but then, they expected Dany to go to Pentos, not to Astapor and Meereen. If Pyat Pree and his collagues entered a ship to Pentos after she left, learned there that she conquered Slaver's Bay and want to return then, they might arrive just in time for the events that began in the closing chapters of "A Dance with Dragons". However, I don't really think the warlocks will play a huge part in the things to come. I can't pinpoint down exactly why, it's one of these narrative hunches again. Dany certainly doesn't lack for enemies at the present and hasn't even started to go fight her real foes in Westeros yet, so letting a seeminly beaten adversary like the warlocks re-enter the frame doesn't seem to serve a real purpose. I expect that we will hear of these guys again, if only in a throw-away sentence like "oh yeah, and Pyat Pree murdered Illyrio Mopatis" or something like that, but I doubt they will become a major plotpoint again.

What happened to Gerion Lannister?
He died. Gerion Lannister is one of the red herrings Martin likes to throw in the mix. He sailed into the Smoking Sea, of which it is by now established not many re-emerge again, so it's a safe bet that he and his crew simply died like many before. Just because Gerion was a Lannister doesn't make him invulnerable or subject to special treatment by destiny. He is a more apt example of the old saying that "all men must die". Some sooner than others, I guess. Oh, and yes, I guess he fathered the blonde whore that Arya encounters in the Braavos brothel, but there's nothing more to her than the eye can see, neither. Martin also loves these little references, nods to those who read closely, but one shouldn't overinterpret them. The pure mass of references rules out that everyone becomes an important plotpoint, and after the reveals of Aegon and Tyrion's possible Targaryen ancenstry it seems to me that a surviving Gerion Lannister, leading a band of magically enhanced pirates in the Smoking Sea or something like that, would be a littlebit too much. 

Does Duncan the Tall have descendants?
Why, sure he has. We already met two: Hodor and Brienne. Both obviously have ties to Duncan the Tall, and I believe that they have some of his Flea-Bottom-vintage in their veins. We saw Duncan and an unspecified woman (Old Nan?) in Bran's vision in "A Dance with Dragons", when he fast-forwards through Winterfell's bloody history, and Hodor is unusually big and strong (and thick as a castle wall, as the saying goes). Tarth, on the other hand, had a visit of the big knight where he left his shield, or else Brienne couldn't have found it in the armory as a child (and felt a strange connection to it *wink* *wink*). Perhaps Dunk visited Tarth just before he became a kingsguard? When the message reached him there, he might have gotten one last fuck or something. I guess we will learn more about his exploits in forecoming Dunk&Egg-tales, but I bet that both references mentioned above weren't brought in by pure happenstance by Martin.

13 comments:

  1. Hi, silent new reader here...
    I really enjoy your takes on ASOIAF theories (but why "conspiracy?")

    I've been wondering about Gerion every since he first got name-dropped. I agree, he probably won't be an important factor in the future. Still, I really hope we will get another hint about his story. I would love to know how far he got and where/how he died. Especially since we know so little about the Smoking Sea region.

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    1. It started out as conspiracy theories, but I quickly expanded the scope to, well, all theories. Perhaps I should change the name.

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  2. In AFFC its mentioned that Euron supposedly has three warlocks that he captured held aboard the Silence, I bet one of them is Pyat Pree

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    1. That's one nice theory. I like that. Could also mean that even the Crow's Eye is being played, although given the nature of Maqarro's prophecy, not likely.

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  3. Euron captured 4 warlocks on a ship coming from qarth, so it's quite safe to assume pree is among them. Euron fed one of them to the other three and probably got info on daenarys from them. He also got shade of the evening from them which he's been taking since

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    1. This isn't super relevant, but do you think Shade of the Evening is a Dune reference? It turns part of your face blue and opens new perceptions...

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    2. Might be, but blue is the color to go from red if you want to mark a drastic change, so it might not mean anything.

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  4. Heartsbane of HornhillAugust 24, 2013 at 6:48 AM

    Doesn't this capture somehow coincide with the warning xaro gives Danny when he sees her in Slavers bay? I thought he mentioned Pyat Pree coming after her from the spot we find out That Euron accquired his warlocks from.

    Re: Gerion, this is 100% Speculative but there is a Lannister sounding name(Lanster or Lanisport) /golden haired member of the sellsword group Qwentyn and the boys join. Probably nothing but...ya never know.
    How pissed will he be if he gets back to westeros, house in shambles, Tywin made two vs swords so his mission was pointless. But oh those swords are not in Lannister hands. Or does Tommen have Widows Wail?

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    1. Judging from what we know about Gerion, he would laugh about it.

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  5. When Jaime said to Brienne "Bitch, are you thick as a castle wall?" (or some such), I had a picture in my mind of George RR Martin holding up a giant sign, reading "HINT" ;)

    Good job, conclusive answers, as usual.

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  6. Tommen gave Ser Loras "a jeweled sword" before he went to take Dragonstone; I'm guessing that was Widow's Wail.

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    1. I think Cersei would have caught up with Tommen giving away the Valyrian sword of kings.

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