Supreme Court of Westeros, ruling 12

Thursday is court day!
Welcome to the Supreme Court of Westeros! Every week, three pressing questions from the community will be answered by the esteemed judges Stefan (from your very own Nerdstream Era) and Amin (from A Podcast of Ice and Fire). The rules are simple: we take three questions, and one of us writes a measured analysis. The other one writes a shorter opinion, either concurring or dissenting. The catch is that every week a third judge from the fandom will join us and also write a dissenting or concurring opinion. So if you think you're up to the task - write us an email to stefan_sasse@gmx.de, leave a comment in the post, ask in the APOIAF-forum or contact Amin at his tumblr. Discussion is by no means limited to the court itself, though - feel free to discuss our rulings in the commentary section and ask your own questions through the channels above.
One word on spoilers: we assume that you read all the books, including the Hedge Knight short stories, and watched the current TV episodes. We don't include the spoiler chapters from various sources in the discussion, with the notable exception of Theon I, which was supposed to be in "A Dance with Dragons" anyway.
And now, up to ruling 12 of the Supreme Court of Westeros! Our guest judge this week is Sean T. Collins, blogger at All Leather Must be Boiled, co-author of the "A Game of Thrones Annotated Edition" for Subtext with Elio Garcia and co-host of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour with Stefan. He also blogs at Attention Deficit Disorderly and freelances for numerous sites, including The Rolling Stone.


What will Dany and Jon's interaction be like? When and where will it occur?

Main Opinion: Amin
If Dany and Jon interact, it will likely be first at the Wall, at Winterfell, or at least somewhere in the North. I don’t see Jon travelling somewhere to the south to meet Dany. Dany will probably arrive in Westeros sometime late in The Winds of Winter, but may not meet Jon until the following book. It is hard to predict the physical and mental state that Jon will be in that time. The nature of their interaction may largely depend on whether Jon’s true heritage is openly known and out on the table. Dany might yield before Jon’s superior claim through Rhaegar, but she may be quite used to ruling and she also has her own dragon enforced claim, so perhaps not. Many people have interpreted Dany’s visions at the House of the Undying to suggest some sort of romantic relationship will form between the two, with a subsequent betrayal. If Jon is the third mount then something like that will happen, but in a typical Martinesque fashion. Only one of them will survive the end of the books, if that.

Dissenting Opinion: Stefan
I don't see Dany and Jon fall in love. This seems just strange, given the change they experienced at the end of "A Dance with Dragons"and, most likely, the beginning of "The Winds of Winter". I am confident that Jon will be the third head of the dragon, but I don't see a cartoonish love relation between them developing just to fulfil the trope. In my eyes, they'll work together to prevent the second Long Night, and one of them at least won't survive. I'd be surprised if they'd much interaction at all. Since I don't believe that Jon will assume a claim to Iron Throne, the relationship with Rhaegar shouldn't really be relevant for the two. It's importance seems to be in making Jon a Dragonseed.

Dissenting Opinion: Sean
Am I alone in hoping that it's love at first sight? Or perhaps even some more emotionally (and narratively) cataclysmic variant thereof? While it's possible they may not meet until the final book, I full expect a mutual recognition of their shared prophetic destiny to factor into their intellectual, political, and emotional assessments of one another. I also expect them to fall in love, fuck, and die. Call me a fatalist.

Final Verdict: Whatever happens, they won’t live happily ever after.

Do you think we will see unicorns, krakens, or even other dragons in the rest of the series?

Main Opinion: Amin
Unicorns exist on Skagos. There may not be anything particularly magical about them, they may just be another interesting creature like lizard lions or zorses. We may very well see them directly on screen at Skagos, we’ve already seen them described indirectly. Krakens probably exist in some form as well, but are just similar to giant squids. I suppose they could be skinchanged, which would be interesting. There are no other dragons left in Westeros or most of Essos. Possibly they could exist in the East, but I am not sure if they would ever make an appearance. Just the three right now are enough for the story and enough to have another Dance of the Dragons if even one of them was stolen away.

Dissenting Opinion: Stefan
I always thought of lizard-lions as crocodiles, and zorses a zebras. So, no unicorns and krakens. Bad news for Liam Neeson, but they are all Red Herrings.

Concurring Opinion: Sean
Unicorns certainly exist, though not the white horses with nice little spiral horns of your Lisa Frank notebook covers, as we've seen via Bran. I get the sense that krakens exist as well, as they do in the real world, though in the world of Westeros they probably actually live up to their fearsome medieval reputation instead of being the product of tall tales by drunken sailors. I expect to see at least one in action. Dragons...you know, it's tough to figure out how to reconcile Bran's vision of dragons in the far far east with the narrative necessity that Dany's be the first, last, and only dragons in the world. Then again I'm open to the idea that flightless dragons are responsible for the ancient carnage at Hardhome, so who knows.

Final Verdict: The world is full of strange creatures, and we will see unicorns and krakens at least.

When do you think Nymeria will make her appearance again? Will Sansa or the other Starks be able to warg her? (Obviously Bran can)

Main Opinion: Amin
I think we will continue to hear of Nymeria’s wolfpack in the background description of events in the Riverlands and that general area. I am not sure if she will make an on-screen appearance again, although it is certainly possible. I don’t think Sansa will be warging her, only Bran or Arya will be doing that. By the end of Jon’s current ordeal he may have the conscious ability to do so as well, but I don’t think he’ll be in the position to do that or have the idea to look for Nymeria.

Concurring Opinion: Stefan
And why would he? Nymeria is just a big wild direwolf, and even if Jon crosses paths with her and even if he recognizes her, what is he to do then? Cool, he can warg into her - perhaps. I don’t think she’ll take it kindly, and he lacks the training besides Ghost. For Sansa, we have seen no warging ability whatsoever yet, and Arya has yet to do more than use the eyes of a beast. And Bran has better things to do then to chase after the feral direwolf of a sister presumed dead.

Dissenting Opinion: Sean
I think Nymeria's wolfpack will indeed be seen again, and play a pivotal role in some riverlands-area battle in the remaining two books. It seems as though she's acting in ways that are broadly congruent with Arya's wishes, so I don't think an out-and-out act of warging is even necessary to marshall her and her group to the cause, should it come to that.

Final Verdict: They may play a role again, but Sansa or Bran will not have anything to do with it.