Subplots lead to more subplots and even more traveling in today’s update of A Dance with Dragons.
Really, this bit of the book should be called, “The Foreshadowing” since that’s all the characters seem to be good for right now. No one seems to be getting anywhere very fast as most of the proactive characters have either been killed off or gone into hiding. And if a character is going to go off and do something, we don’t getting the luxury of actually seeing it. Roose Bolton may be right when he told Theon that all that’s left to do right now is to pick up the pieces. This idea isn’t really a bad way to go, but we still have at least two more novels and, honestly, it’s getting kind of boring to same what really amounts to the same seen over and over again.
The biggest culprit of this is Dany. Her chapters basically boil down to: something bad happens, Dany is told she needs to do something harsh; Dany refuses and has a crisis of faith; some Meereenese noble comes and talks to Dany; Dany has another crisis of faith; Dany decides to do something that’s ineffectual and only a short term solution. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. She’s not the only one doing this; replace “Dany” with “Jon Snow” and “Meereenese” with “Night’s Watch” or “wildlings”, and you’ve pretty much got Jon’s down. But, the repetitiveness sticks out in Dany’s chapters mainly due to the facts that Dany is stuck in one location and just about all of her supporting characters have changed since she began.
Way back in A Game of Thrones, Dany was the only perspective character outside of Westeros. She was off doing her own thing; exploring and learning about the world along with us. It was interesting to see her pull herself up to become the Mother of Dragons and the Breaker of Chains. Now, however, she’s trapped in what’s increasing becoming a quagmire with no escape route. I guess it’s true what they say, it’s the journey that matters. Though, that might not be the case for every journey.
Tyrion, after a few detours, is now back on track for Meereen, and I get the feeling it’s going to be a long voyage. There’s not much to talk about in Tyrion’s chapters except for maybe Penny. I’m not sure what to make of Penny. Is she Tyrion’s new love interest? Is she just there to give Tyrion more guilt? Or a subtle clue as to how Tyrion can get into Meereen unnoticed? Unless is turns out that Penny is the long lost descendant of some great hero, I’m not really going to care about her right now.
Speaking of characters I don’t really care about, Melisandre gets her own chapter! I only mention her because her chapter mentions that she asked for Devan Seaworth to stay behind as a favor to Davos. I’ll admit, that is pretty sweet. Also this:
I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R’hllor shows me only Snow.
FORESHADOWING!!!!
But, I’m being too hard on Melisandre. I haven’t talked about her much; mostly due to the fact that she has been in the background so far. Her chapter does seem to go out of its way to humanize her a little, though. Apparently, she’s not as all knowing as she appears and a lot of her spells are complete crap. And yet, the glamour she put of Mance Rayder is real and her visions seem pretty real, so maybe she’s not a complete fraud. I just wish I knew what her end goal was, and for her to actually do something instead of giving out clues to the future at random intervals.
Luckily, Davos is still around to do something. As it turns out, Lord Manderly is just using the Freys to get his son back and then, he plans to double cross the Boltons and the Freys. In order for his plan to work, however, he needs Davos to go to Skagos and retrieve Osha and Rickon because I guess that’s where they’ve been all this time. Go figure. If Davos succeeds, Manderly and the rest of the North not under the Boltons will rally to Stannis. Davos, being awesome, accepts. And so, as one subplot ends, another begins. At least Davos isn’t dead.
Oh yeah, and Bran’s learning magic. It’s going really, really slowly.
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