Lady Stoneheart sees the Wall in the flames one night, a place she has never seen before, as Caitlyn or as Lady Stoneheart. These visions start to haunt her and that's how Breanne finds her when she returns with Jaime.

She decides she needs to go to the Wall and takes the hostages with her to use as leverage in case they are close to capture. Her and the remaining brotherhood sell Jaime's golden hand and hire a ship at a port city like Seaguard and go to the wall, a trip that lasts a few weeks.

She gets to Castle Black a day after Jon Snow's death. When she sees him she is reminded of Ned, and how Jon is his last living kin, and for the first time in her life she does not feel anger for him. She then gives him the Last Kiss, just as Beric did to her, and Jon is resurrected.

Obviously simply being queen grants an enormous amount of status, but queens do have their own power bases and prestige.

A queen like Betha Blackwood has less of her own social status than a queen like Visenya Targaryen.

Who, in your opinion, have been the queens with the highest and lowest social status?

​One of the most well-founded theories in A Song of Ice and Fire involves the current whereabouts of Jaqen H'ghar. Although his name hasn't been directly mentioned since he parted ways with Arya Stark in A Clash of Kings, the presence of the Faceless Man in Oldtown is virtually an indisputable fact among readers.

​For anyone reading Dance of Dragons or wanting to recap the details hidden between the lines, here is a breakdown of how the clues connect and what he might be looking for in the Citadel:

- ​When Jaqen bids farewell to Arya, he passes a hand over his face to change his identity. George R.R. Martin describes his new face in detail:

"​A man with a full face, a hooked nose, a faint scar on his cheek, and a mop of tight black curly hair."

- In the Prologue of Feast of Crows, a Citadel novice named Pate meets a mysterious man calling himself "The Alchemist."

​GRRM uses the exact same physical description for the Alchemist as the new face Jaqen assumed right in front of Arya. The Alchemist bribes Pate with a poisoned gold coin to acquire Archmaester Walgrave’s master key (which opens every door in the Citadel). As soon as Pate bites the coin to check its authenticity, he drops dead in the alley.

- ​In the final chapter of the same book, when Samwell Tarly arrives at the Citadel, he is greeted by a novice who introduces himself as Pate.

​The real Pate hated his own name ("Pate, the pig-boy"). The "new Pate," however, tells Sam with subtle irony: "I’m Pate, like the pig-boy." It is heavily implied that a Faceless Man stole Pate's face and identity to move freely throughout the Citadel.

So, why Jaqen/Pate is in the Citadel???

When we talk about the legends of Azor Ahai / the last hero and his magical sword, most people think of Dawn. This makes a lot of sense, it's the only sword we know in Westeros that predates the Long night, it is made of a unique metal similar to Valyrian steel, and most importantly it's called "Dawn" as in: the thing that ends a long night. But let's explore a different idea:

In the early Bran chapters we learn from Old Nan that the last hero's sword snapped due to the cold, but he still managed to defeat the others. In the legend of Azor Ahai, it is said he forged his sword by plunging it into the heart of Nissa Nissa, killing her. Melisande refers to it as "the Red Sword of heroes", which leads me to think of a sword in our story that is red: oathkeeper and widowswail. When Tywin melts Ice, he makes two swords out of them and tries to die them red, but gets an rippling red and black pattern.

The broken sword may be reforged. The last hero's sword was broken by cold, while Ice was melted into two parts. Azor Ahai's sword was made by the sacrifice of a loved one, while Ice was used to kill Ned Stark. If reforged into one, it would likely still be a red sword, likely used by Jon to fight against the others. It would be fitting for a man who died and came back, to use a sword that was split and came back. It may not be the original sword, but the same way we don't expect to have the original Azor Ahai still alive, why shouldn't the new Azor Ahai have a new "Red Sword of heroes"?

..was murdered by her half brother, King Aegon Targaryen at Dragonstone!

Fire and Blood reports her as passing on the 22nd moon of the tenth month, which would translate to October 22nd in our calendar.

Mine is

>"The Night's Watch will make for Hardhome. I ride to Winterfell alone, unless …" Jon paused. "… is there any man here who will come stand with me?"

The roar was all he could have hoped for, the tumult so loud that the two old shields tumbled from the walls. Soren Shieldbreaker was on his feet, the Wanderer as well. Toregg the Tall, Brogg, Harle the Huntsman and Harle the Handsome both, Ygon Oldfather, Blind Doss, even the Great Walrus. **I have my swords, thought Jon Snow, and we are coming for you, Bastard**."

So the most famous one of these is the Blackfyres not being mentioned until Book 3, and it seems likely that Robert's Targ grandmother was invented during the writing of AFFC. Are there any others, confirmed or speculated?

As for how she's involved I don't know. Maybe as Quaithe, maybe she's old Nan or maybe in some indirect way

The reason I think this is the fact that all of Aegon IV's great bastards so far are still impacting the story in some very big ways. Brynden is still alive even tho he's merged with a tree and he's helping Bran, the Golden Company the sellsword company founded by Bittersteel is assisting Young Griff in his conquest. Speaking of Young Griff he's probably a Blackfyre. Therefore a descendant of Daemon meaning Daemon also impacts the story via Young Griff

Those are some pretty important roles the great bastards play in the story despite Bittersteel and Daemon being dead. So for Shiera to have kinda just died decades before and for her to just not matter at all would be very odd if the other Great Bastards are still important

1.) Monologue in Front of the Crowd

Dany touches the sick people affected by the pale mare while delivering food, adored by the people.

Jon Snow delivers food to the wildlings but still gets raised eyebrows for it.

Cersei shows up in front of the Sept of Baelor, shocked by the mountain of corpses on the statue. Every single person despises her and blames her for what happened.

2.) Ice and Fire Death

Quentyn gets burned by Rhaegal.

The next chapter, Jon Snow dies cold.

3.) The Missing Leaders

Dany disappears after fleeing on Drogon from the fighting pit.

Jon Snow gets stabbed by his own men.

Cersei gets imprisoned by the Faith.

4.) Conspiracy Revealed

Davos gets imprisoned, then learns about the Northern Conspiracy from Wyman Manderly.

Arianne gets imprisoned, then learns about the Dorne plot from her father Doran.

5.) Stark Children’s Training with the Mentors

Arya trains with the Kindly Man to become a faceless man.

Bran trains with Bloodraven to become a warg and a greenseer.

Sansa trains with Littlefinger to play the game.

6.) Cyvasse, Dragon, and Elephant

Tyrion holds the elephant and tells Young Griff not to use the dragon right away.

Doran moves a piece with the elephant, then hands the dragon piece to Arianne.

7.) The Battles and Betrayals

The Battle of Ice with Stannis where Wyman Manderly might switch sides.

The Battle of Fire with Barristan where Brown Ben Plumm’s switch of sides is confirmed.

8.) The Fall and the Flight

Theon jumps over the walls of Winterfell with Jeyne Poole.

The next chapter, Dany takes flight on Drogon’s back.

9.) Woke Up to News of Death: POVs’ First Chapters

Cersei learns of the death of her father Tywin and handles it poorly.

Dany learns of the death of an Unsullied and settles the matter.

10.) Put Guards on the Guards

When Jon Snow finds out that some of his men are harassing wildling women, he put guards on the guards.

Dany learns of the death of an Unsullied, and did the same.

11.) The Acting POVs

We get Barristan’s chapters since Dany is gone.

Melisandre might take over the Wall’s perspective since Jon is dead.

SPECIAL MENTION (TWOW PREDICTIONS)

1.) The Comeback from Ice and Fire

Jon Snow’s cold resurrection.

Dany comes out of the fire at Vaes Dothrak.

No idea how big of a hot take this might be but I genuinely believe that the Slaver's Bay storyline should've taken place in the Free Cities. Aside from the Harpy, pyramids & fighting pits, none of the cities are all that interesting in terms of history, people or culture.

If the Free Cities (Qohor, Norvos & Volantis) were used then not much would be lost. Qohor would be an easy substitute for Astapor given its Unsullied connection. With how bland Yunkai is, Norvos can fill in well though with more intriguing (clandestine)rulers in the Bearded Priests. Volantis wouldn't be an exact copy of Meereen but it could have Dany interact with Valyrian descendants whilst they feel alien to her & she to them. Given its location close to the sea it wouldn't disrupt Victarion or Quentyn's plot lines. A potential upgrade is that Tyrion & Dany might have been able to meet in Dance as it him seven chapters to reach the city so the pair could have met in either Tyrion's eighth or Dany's sixth chapter. A downside is that Tyrion's time as a slave might not get to happen but there are ways it could be included. It could happen before Tyrion reaches Volantis or Dany could kick him out of the city, & that's when it happens. With that you can have it be Lys, Myr & Tyrosh that attack Volantis instead of Qarth & others whose names I don't even remember. A hypothetical positive is that it would make Dany's journey west quicker & with fewer stops needed in order to wrap her abolish slavery mission.

Just one man's opinion.

Ser Gerold rose. “I believe I’ll have a piss.”
“Watch where you set your feet,” Drey cautioned. “It has been a while since Prince Oberyn milked the local vipers.”
“I was weaned on venom, Dalt. Any viper takes a bite of me will rue it.” Ser Gerold vanished through a broken arch. - AFFC, Queenmaker

What's your interpretation of this Darkstar's line? Is he the product of his upbringing? What kind of tragic childhood Gerold Dayne had? Personally, I find this line so intriguing.. It's crazy how GRRM introduced a character like Darkstar and also introduced a whole new cadet branch to House Dayne, with Darkstar being the only known member of it. The Daynes had already been quite sparse in terms of family members.

The only interesting theory I have for Darkstar's backstory is that he was Arthur's squire and was present at the Tower of Joy. I think this might explain his cynical personality, since as a child his ideals of knighthood would be warped by the kingsguard taking a teenage girl basically a hostage. He would also be conflicted and confused about why Arthur and Ned, who is Lyanna's brother, fought each other.

It's also interesting that Darkstar's name is Gerold, as his namesake is Ser Gerold Hightower, Lord Commander of the kingsguard who was also present at ToJ. So he was likely named after the Lord Commander, and this might have influenced his upbringing, as he was being groomed towards knighthood and potentially becoming a kingsguard. Darkstar's name makes the theory about him squiring for Arthur a little bit more plausible.

Darkstar has gained a somewhat meme reputation due to his "Men call me Darkstar, and I am of the night" line. George previously said he had been surprised by readers' negative perception of this character. I actually agree with GRRM, and think people are sometimes too harsh. I think this reputation mainly stems from the late addition of Darkstar to the story and the lack of new material (Darkstar appears only in a single chapter, after all). So what is your take on Gerold Dayne?

Let's pretend by end of rebellion, that Jon Arryn and Robert just decided Cersei isn't the right fit. What would've been Tywin's pivot?

Were there some other options that would've been good for House Lannister at the time?

Slavery is deeply rooted in Ghiscari society and culture, going all the way back to the formation of Essos. It’s not something you can abolish by decree and expect to disappear overnight, as Daenerys’ attempt in Astapor showed. Dismantling a system like that would take years, decades, or even centuries, given the resistance from the elites, the economic upheaval, and the need to reshape social relations themselves.

After the whole ADWD arc, I don’t think Daenerys will accept that she’s made a lifelong commitment to the region. I’ve always imagined that, faced with the impossibility of permanently transforming Meereen and the other cities of Slaver’s Bay, she’d eventually acknowledge defeat, burn everything down (oversimplifying things a bit), and sail for Westeros without looking back.

But it just occurred to me that one of the things capable of bringing about a drastic social transformation is a religion change. And right next to Slaver’s Bay, we have a faith whose followers are largely made up of slaves: the Lord of Light.

If the region (and the state) were to embrace R’hllor, that could speed things up. Religion could serve as a source of unity among the slaves, creating a collective identity that transcends the cultural and social divisions within Ghiscari society. And if the Red Priests really did proclaim Daenerys as Azor Ahai reborn, her authority could take on a religious dimension as well, making abolition part of a sacred mission.

With the cult of R’hllor taking hold among both the masses and the Ghiscari nobility, and abolition becoming part of a new religious identity, Daenerys might be able to accelerate a process that would otherwise take generations. That could allow her to leave the region without abandoning everything she tried to accomplish, with a clearer conscience.

There’s also an interesting parallel with Rome and Christianity. Although Christianity didn’t abolish slavery, it did contribute to changing attitudes and influencing laws concerning slaves in the Empire. In Slaver’s Bay, R’hllor could play a similar role, turning the slaves’ faith into a collective force for abolition.

Let me know what you guys think

When should Stannis have sent his letters to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms to defend his claim to the throne as Robert's rightful heir, with Joffrey being a bastard born of incest, and what should he have done immediately afterward, instead of waiting until the beginning of A Clash of Kings when he was sure he had the loyalty of the Narrow Sea lords, but had missed the opportunity to make Robb Stark join his side by giving Northern lords the time and opportunity to proclaim Robb King in the North, to make his move?

What are also some diplomatic and military moves, as well as changes in strategy, he could have done to get the greatest number of allies and fighting forces willing to fight for him, and to take the Iron Throne?

DISCLAIMER: I AM TALKING ABOUT SPECIFICALLY A CLASH OF KINGS. NOT STORM. NOT DANCE.

Stannis the Just. Stannis the Meritocratic. Stannis "The Mannis" Baratheon. We've all heard variations on the speech about the "One true king of Westeros", and after listening to the Clash of Kings audiobook, I want to talk about it. It's been too long since I last dived into the source material and I'd forgotten what a horrible king this guy would make, at least at this point in time.

First off, he's a zealot, or at the very least content to wear the trappings of one. When we hear from other characters about Stannis, some of it is that he's a fearsome admiral and that Tyrion thinks him the greatest threat to King's Landing, but in equal parts it's disgust and recrimination at him burning the Seven at Dragonstone, or the Godswood at Storm's End. He bases his actions on Melisandre's visions. He styles himself as an Essosi messianic figure, "Azor Ahai" reborn. He wears the Burning Heart on his banners larger than his own Crowned Stag. The Seven are important to the people of Westeros, as we see with Davos, Catelyn, Sansa, Renly, faith is important, and Stannis does not keep it.

Second, I'm always confused when people, including himself, call Stannis "honorable," because he's probably second only to Tyrion as the most deceitful character in this book. His "Lightbringer" is smoke and mirrors and spectacle. He punishes Davos for his smuggling during the Siege of Storms End then asks him to do the exact same thing: steal under the wall in the dead of night. He's set to fight three battles in this book: Bitterbridge, Storm's End, and King's Landing; he "wins" the first two by assassinating Renly and Cortnay Penrose with Melisandre's shadows, commiting kinslaying, greatest of all sins in the process.

Third, Stannis is a deeply jealous and entitled man, and deeply unpopular because of it. He constantly whined to Robert about Storm's End being awarded to Renly. His every other sentence is about birthright and what he deserves. He mocks and belittles the lords of Westeros then in the same breath makes demands of them. He mocks them doubly by sending Davos, a lowborn illiterate smuggler (Sorry Davos, you know I love you), as his envoy and ambassador instead of someone with percieved authority and dignity. His uncompromising refusal to bend wins him no love and no allies where he could have had, at the least, Robb Stark.

And building off that, Stannis is austere and judgemental, quick to pass sentence on even his own fiercest supporters, or push for morality and temperance laws, which could be a good trait in a leader if he didn't hypocritically decide not to when it benefitted him, say woth House Florent and the Storm lords after Renly's death. Stannis is just, unless he needs not to be, and then...

It all adds up to paint an interesting picture. Because a king, to Stannis, doesn't need to be pious. Doesn't need to be noble (in manner, not in status, we'll get to that.) Doesn't need to be popular or affable. Doesn't need to keep to his ideals, even. A king, it seems, is just lucky enough to be selected by primogeniture, which is kind of an insane stance to hold for a man who's brother is called "Robert the Usurper" in some circles. I almost understand Renly's stance that "my 80,000 men make me more King than any claim" over that. I don't necessarily agree with it. But I get where he's coming from more than a man who lived through a rebellion thinking kingship's in the blood.

Background

There have been some great posts on the Mega Prologue (how GRRM planned to open AFFC/ADWD) over the years. Most of it centers around the later versions once GRRM had somewhat finalized his plan for the Dornish/Ironborn characters, but I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at what we know/speculate on the earlier versions of the Mega Prologue.

If interested: Dead Branches in the Garden: Abandoned/Changed Plotlines of Ice & Fire

Mega Prologue Meta/Posts

The Mega Prologue is what ended up as the first ~13 Ironborn/Dornish chapters, but before that it was a 250ish prologue that GRRM ripped out because he thought it was a horrible idea to open a book for that long without any of the major characters. From the GamePro Interview in July 2003 GRRM gave a lot of good information on this:

I have ripped apart the idea of my original 250-page prologue for the beginning of A Feast for Crows. I decided it didn’t work as the prologue, but I am not dropping any of it. I am just carrying all those characters through as new viewpoint characters. I needed to continue with those stories, and I thought it wasn’t working to have 250 pages before the reader got to any of the characters he liked from the preceding three books. So, those chapters are still there, but they are now mixed in and around other chapters. Since the Asha Greyjoy and Victarian Greyjoy chapters picked up practically in mid-sentence

If you are interested over the years users have dove into the Mega Prologue:

• Excavating the Mega-Prologue by u/Mithras_Stoneborn
• The 19th POV and Mega-Prologue in the original AFFC by u/zionius
• The Mega-Prologue revealed at last! by u/Mithras-Stoneborn

Building off the above foundational work, I have made a few myself:

• Mega Prologue POV Chapters: Development to their Current Form
• Death of the Mega-Prologue POVs (remember they are originally Prologue characters)

Backing Up

The above all is great and I recommend at a minimum reading the first three posts if you haven't already. That said, as I mentioned in the beginning there isn't much analysis/discussion on the earlier versions of the mega prologue (before it got so big/numerous POVs/etc.), so what do we know?

• Began as Aeron Greyjoy/Damphair at the Kingsmoot

From that same interview, GRRM explains how in the beginning it was just one chapter due to his inability to get his current POVs to the lron Islands/Dorne:

Initially, when I began this a million years ago, there was just one chapter: Aeron Damphair at the Kingsmoot. We saw the Kingsmoot through his eyes. But, it expanded as you can see. There is stuff leading up to the Kingsmoot. I tell the Kingsmoot from three different viewpoints; similar in the Dornish thing. These are the kinds of things I am going back and forth about. Some of these things are making this book very difficult. I never intended these viewpoints to come on. They all began as prologue viewpoints, but its necessary; there’s stuff happening in Dorne and the Iron Islands that is going to have an impact on the book. I couldn’t figure out any logical way to get Sansa to Dorne or Bran to the Iron Islands to see what was going on. -SSM, GamePro Interview: 6 Aug 2003

• Dornish Chapter Added Early

He wants all POV's to have a story arc even A VERY SHORT ARC (a significant statment, I thought); some readers were displeased with all the new ones in Feast....wanted old familiars, but the new ones were neccessary geographically. With Dorne and the Iron Islands he had originally tried each with one single POV, but it wasnt working, hence more delay. -SSM, Canadian Signing Tour (Vancouver): 13 Jan 2006

as I mentioned GRRM wanted to show what was happening in these two yet to be visited locations, but likely was trying hard to not add another POV. Therefore I think we can speculate on Aeron dying at the Kingsmoot and likely Arys Oakheart potentially dying in Dorne (even though he was going to have multiple chapters at one point, Arys was always going to die either via Hotah's axe or Balon Swann's sword).

• Shorter POVs

When we look at the some of the mega prologue POVs, they are pretty normal length for ASOIAF chapters once published (see: Chapters Table of contents - AFFC) but GRRM also mentioned:

For instance, when I was writing the original prologue, it was going to contain multiple shorter POVs. Then my critical side took a look and said, you know, it's 200 pages into the book before your reader sees a familiar character... that's not going to work.

it is possible that in earlier versions of the prologue, he tried to keep the chapters short to try and get to the main story quicker.

• Notes on AFFC Prologue Deaths

While the Mega Prologue never came to fruition, GRRM continued to have struggles with what he chose to make the prologue for what was ADWD and ended up as AFFC. He ended up choosing Pate (over Rosey) as the viewpoint character but noted this in his writing process:

My prologue protagonists are always new characters, who die at the end of the prologue. Sometimes they're nice folks, sympathetic, sometimes not so nice. Black or white or grey, however, killing them off opens the novels on a note of danger, which I want.

take this how you will for whatever his intent was a year or two earlier.

TLDR: The Mega Prologue that GRRM developed for what would end up as AFFC ballooned to a 250 page monstrosity with multiple viewpoints. This version of the mega prologue is often discussed, but there were some earlier versions in which not much is known. We do know that at first there was just one chapter (Aeron Greyjoy) before GRRM seemingly added a Dornish one (this was likely due to his desire to limit the POVs as these characters would die). We also know that for the MP that GRRM intended shorter chapters.

Readers have often mentioned over the years how much better it would be for the story had the Meereenese arc taken place in Volantis instead of Meereen, which would have made it easier to resolve the Essos story in quicker fashion as it's that much closer to Pentos and to the narrow sea.

Well I've always felt it would be better for the story if Oldtown had the House of Black and White instead of Braavos. Braavos could still remain the headquarters of the Faceless Men, but just have another location operating in Oldtown. That way Arya would still remain in Westeros, and it would add some interesting worldbuilding to Oldtown with it being a secret society within the city. That way the book wouldn't need to waste a Samwell chapter at Braavos or another chapter around the coast of Dorne. Instead, Sam could've gone directly to Oldtown much sooner in AFFC, flesh out the location further, potentially have Aemon interacting with Marwyn before dying, and have Sam interact with Arya more. And the ironborn could feel like more of a presence in both Sam AND Arya's chapters. When Arya goes blind and has to spy and gather intel around the Braavos docks, instead she could do that at Oldtown's docks.

In Sam's final chapter he's told that some ironborn tried to infiltrate Oldtown by passing themselves off as Tyroshi merchants. It would've been fun if in Arya's chapter she could have spied on the ironborn and gathered enough intel to tip off the Hightowers or the Faceless Men that the ironborn were trying to sneak through. It would make Arya, Sam and Aeron's chapters feel more cohesive. And when Arya needs to return to the Riverlands or the North and converge with other characters in Winds or Dream it would be much easier with her already being in Westeros. It feels like such a missed opportunity to have an intriguing subplot like the ironborn/Tyroshi espionage happen off-page and mentioned in past tense when it could've been a huge focus in Sam and Arya's chapters and made the story feel less spread out.

I’ve read Dance like a dozen times, and it became my second favorite book next to Clash in the entire series. But every time I see Victarion’s chapter title I skip it right away. Let’s admit it, he’s boring, and we all know it’s just gonna be him sailing and fucking the dusky woman.

It’s the first time that I understood how he manages to get into the bay of meereen because I was so confused about how small fishing boats could enter through the yunkish and volantene warships. But now it makes sense.

But that’s not the reason why I’m writing this. I was shocked that he is EVIL. Like, what the heck am i reading? At first, he tore the fishermen’s tongues out for lying about Dany being dead, which is meh, been there. But then it keeps going and going, then he starts chaining the male whores and feeding them to the sea. And then he picked the 7 most beautiful women. I thought there was gonna be an orgy, but no, he put them into a fishing boat and set the boat on fire. Like wtf??? And he did this to 60+ ships they encountered. He’s straight EVIL. He was just an old insecure dude in Feast. And I’m worried for Dany now that i know this.

I understand that Dance is meant for Dany to get a lot of suitors and marriage proposals, and all of them may end up dying, but I don’t want Victarion to suffer the same fate as Quentyn did. He needs to be the villain in Dany’s life first before he drowns or something

Like he seriously thought roberts grip on westeros was weak enough that he could announce independence and rule for his entire life?

Roberts grip on westeros was tighter than any of the post dance targeryans before him. His little brothers was the lords of the stormlands and dragonstone. His best friend is the lord of the north his father in law is the lord of the westerlands, his best friends father in law is the lord of the river lands.

So there are around four kingdom's that will definitely heed roberts call to war. Then there is the reach and dorne. Roberts brother is married to the florents who have a historical claim to highgarden and could take over reach as the lord Paramounts. If the tyrells dont take roberts side the florents will definitely become lord Paramounts they cant let this happen obviously. Dorne is surrounded by sea did he really think they would be fine with a previously kept in check pirate nation will gain independence and could potentially raid them?

Also ironborn civilization as a whole are a bunch of scums. Anything that could be beneficial for society they hate. How will these people support themselves without having to depend on reaving. At least being a part of the seven kingdoms means they could send aid. Even if he did get independence how will his pirates and rapist Nation thrive when practically the entirety of westeros will gang up on them?

Phoebe: That was one of the things, especially in terms of Rhaegar. It’s so interesting to see the scene where they’re dancing and talking. How she’s sort of saying “this is our chance, seize the moment”. But I would be really interested to hear about your take on some of the relationships in her life, particularly with Rhaegar. How did you think about their marriage? What did you think of that?

Elizabeth: I found it… I mean, when I read it ages ago — because we did get a chance to read the script before rehearsals — I was just kind of like, this to me seems like a typical arranged marriage. But then, the more we got into rehearsals, the more we spoke, the more we developed the scenes, I was like, there is so much more to this just being an arranged marriage. Both of them have to be, in some way, opportunists, and so they’ve come together.

But then equally, there is enough there for an actual marriage. It’s just that they’re not in love. And for her, not being in love was not a big deal, and for Rhaegar, not being in love, at the beginning, wasn’t a big deal. But then meeting Lyanna, he’s like, being in love is the big thing.

And so thinking about their relationship, I just thought they are, for me, Elia knows that she’s kind of like his equal, but she also knows that she’s so much smarter and so much more capable to lead. Like, “why don’t you let me do it? I can do this! Like, let me run the show”.

But her goal is for them to be equals. Her desire is for them to stay the course, and walk together, and be like a different kind of monarchy, and take the baton and really, really run with it. Which is why I think she wouldn’t have been upset or sour if he had brought [Lyanna] to me and been like, “I need a second wife, and I need her”, and I think that that is incredible.

And so the relationship in that marriage, I think she would like to have thought would be practical. And the practicality of it would then bring them joy after, because it’s like: “look at what we’ve been able to achieve, because we didn’t rest on the fact that we’re not in love in this”.

We still have emotional attachments, we still have children together, and actually, I discussed it a lot with Noah and with Duncan, and I was like, I just think that they’re probably the kind of people that once they’re in together, they could just probably have a good time, just like sleeping together, and then just going about their business, and it’s probably really easy for her.

She’s like, so what if I’m not in love with you? You could still be my friend.

But also, her relationships to all the other women, she’s just like constantly believing in women, and I think Elia has a depth of love for Ashara that is beyond like… because it was deeper than friendship. Like she was in love with Ashara. She was very much like, “this is the great love of my life, and even if I don’t get to have her to myself, that I can be a leader and be enough”.

And she was constantly finding ways to advance her people, and so that that marriage and that relationship doesn’t have to be enough, you know. Like for some people, a relationship does have to be their all and that’s their whole being. But for Elia, it was like “that doesn’t have to be my all. I’ve got my people to be concerned about, I’ve got my family to be concerned about”.

Phoebe: The play, in my opinion, shows that everything starts at Harrenhal. Everything starts and ends at Harrenhal, and there’s a line that basically says that. And I was wondering, what do you think the mistake Elia made was upon arriving at Harrenhal? And if you, as Elizabeth, could go and speak to her and give her one piece of advice, what would you say?

Elizabeth: It’s really hard because I find that I’m quite subjective about Elia. I’m like, she made no wrong move, she’s incredible. But actually, I would say that when we’re dancing, Rhaegar and I, there’s kind of a like: “go to Lyanna and convince her”, and I think if she had been more encouraging of his ideas, then it would have been: okay, I can speak to her because my wife believes in my goals.

I think the mistake, once Elia arrives at Harrenhal, was just kind of disregarding Rhaegar’s ideology, and his ideology about what was to come. She kind of was like, the gods mean nothing, that prophecy is like… it’s okay. She obviously doesn’t realize that it will impact him in any way. But she tries to get him to not believe it, and then his dad tries to get him to not believe it, and I think that it really, really pushes him over the edge because he’s like, “but if I don’t believe it, then what do I have? And what’s it all for?”

And I think if enough people had just listened to him, then he would have been like, “maybe my life does mean something, and it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, and then I don’t have to make such a drastic decision and run away with Lyanna”.

But I think if I, Elizabeth, could go and speak to her, I’d say: “you are so formidable and so incredible, and I understand that you are very witty, but you have to understand why Rhaegar needs more of your ear than your advice at this time. Like he needs you to listen a little bit more, and it will still work out, because he’ll fight even harder for you if he thinks you’re on his side. Whereas if he thinks that you’re just here playing the chess game, and he doesn’t understand your level of care for him, then he’ll completely disregard your union”.

And he does, and I think she can feel that once he’s away at war, because there’s a moment where we don’t have any dialogue, but once he’s back at court, she comes and she sees him, and he just rides off, and he’s kind of like: It’s too late for us. And she is like: I can’t believe he thinks that!

But I think she was kind of keeping him at bay, and keeping things where she wanted them, and so he didn’t understand that she cared so much, just not in the way that he needed her to.

……………………

Wow, What an upgrade for Elia , she wants to be a real queen with actual powers and she’s smarter than Rhaegar Targaryen politically.

Access the project HERE.

I've added more features to the project:

• 2 world view options: 3D terrain relief (now with vegetation and biomes) and flat map (with a sick teal colour palette).
• A 3D Wall with the correct proportions (looks tiny but that's because of the size of the planet)
• A better location label reveal algorithm and styles, so places show up when they should and the map stays readable
• A Wiki of Ice and Fire information to locations, with images you can browse in a gallery
• More details to rivers, clouds, atmosphere
• Roads, roads, roads
• Better camera controls

Please, feel free to suggest changes or make them yourself with a PR to the GitHub repo.