Jaime And Brienne In ASOS And AFFC

Jaime and Brienne in ASOS and AFFC

Jaime’s great-grandmother Rohanne and Brienne’s great-grandfather Dunk in “The Sworn Sword”

It meant a lot to Soren.

“What about here?” Soren asked.

“Here?”

“The castle,” Soren said, gesturing around. “Do you like it here?”

Corvus considered. “I’m not used to it yet.”

“Do you think you could get used to it?”

“Maybe.”

“Join the Crownguard!”

“Soren, I—”

“Jooooiiiin...” Soren waved his hands, his voice singsong. “…the Crownguard!”

Corvus folded his arms over his chest. “Ezran put you up to this.”

“Yes,” Soren admitted. “And also no. I suggested it, and he told me to ask you.”

“You suggested it?”

“Yeah, when Ezran told me how much he liked you. And trusted you. And wanted you to stick around, even though you’re more at home in the forest—and the trees, and whatever. Especially after everything that’s happened, I think—I think that matters a lot to Ezran.”

Corvus gave him a long, thoughtful look. Soren blew a strand of hair out of his face and would not meet Corvus’ eyes. “It matters a lot… to Ezran.”

“To the King, yeah.”

There was a flicker in Soren’s eyes—something dark and pained and wounded, something that he kept well-hidden behind his grin and the gleam of his armor. Corvus knew that darkness had not been born in the shadow of the Storm Spire, but it had deepened there.

It occurred to Corvus that he had never asked Soren how he felt about what had happened. With his father, Lord Viren. With his sister.

With anything, really.

So much had changed, and still Soren tried to smile.

Corvus cleared his throat. “The Crownguard?”

Soren nodded.

As plainly as he could say it, Corvus said, “Alright.”

Soren’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

Excerpts from the official Dragon Prince short story "Changing of the Guard".

“Arya had named her after the warrior queen of the Rhoyne, who had led her people across the narrow sea.”

I love that this is the first detail that we get about Nymeria from Arya’s perspective. The show made Arya’s icon Visenya, and while I’ll agree it was a good opportunity for a lore dump, I feel like Nymeria gets to the core of Arya’s character in a way Visenya just doesn’t. Yes, Nymeria was a warrior. Yes, she and her people eventually fought against Valyria, but the thing Nymeria is known for is her ten thousand ships:

“Legend tells us that Nymeria took ten thousand ships to sea, searching for a new phome for her people beyond the long reach of Valyria and its dragonlords. Beldecar argues that this number was vastly inflated, perhaps as much as tenfold. Other chroniclers offer other numbers, but in truth no true count was ever made. We can safely say there were a great many ships. Most were river craft, skiffs and poleboats, trading galleys, fishing boats, pleasure barges, even rafts, their decks and holds crammed full of women and children and old men. Only one in ten was remotely seaworthy.” -TWOIAF

This is the most blatant historical parallel of the pack mentality that Arya holds dear to in she entire story. It didn’t matter if the ships were seaworthy, it didn’t matter who was in them; the Roynar were her people and she was getting them out of there.

Like,

“Gendry and Hot Pie were city-born, and in the city smallfolk walked. Yoren had given them mounts when he took them from King's Landing, but sitting on a donkey and plodding up the kingsroad behind a wagon was one thing. Guiding a hunting horse through wild woods and burned fields was something else.

She would make much better time on her own, Arya knew, but she could not leave them. They were her pack, her friends, the only living friends that remained to her.”

Of course Nymeria is Arya’s hero!!

Yes, the name of Arya’s wolf does show her gender non-conformity and her rejection of a traditional “lady’s” role. However (and imo more importantly), it shows that, to Arya, “warrior” is synonymous with “protector.”

Maybe on the morrow she would tell him about the cat that had followed her home last night from Pynto's, the cat that was hiding in the rafters, looking down on them. Or maybe not. If he could have secrets, so could she.

A Dance with Dragons, The Blind Girl

"He had the Princess Myrcella on his arm. She was a wisp of a girl, not quite eight, her hair a cascade of golden curls under a jeweled net. Jon noticed the shy looks she gave Robb as they passed between the tables and the timid way she smiled at him. He decided she was insipid." - Jon I, AGOT

This scene made me giggle why is jon being catty