ASOIAF- A Dance with Dragons p. 811-904

Today in A Dance with Dragons, we find out where a couple other characters have been, and discuss just how hard it is to be Stannis Baratheon.

The later half of A Dance with Dragons seems to exist just to remind me of characters that were supposed to be important at one point or another. Case in point: Victarion Greyjoy, a man who seemed important in A Feast for Crows but who has only been mentioned in passing in the last 800+ pages of a very thick book. We’re reunited with him and Moqorro. Do you remember Moqorro? I didn’t! I had to look him up! He’s the priest Tyrion was hanging out with before Tyrion and Penny were sold into slavery, by the way.

Victarion is a bit like Stannis in a way. On a technical level, he should be in charge of everything, but is always overshadowed by more charismatic and powerful opponents. Also, like Stannis, Victarion is on some crazy quest that will probably end badly for him even though he now has a red priest with magical powers. So yeah, Victarion is back in the picture. Will his entrance be in anyway important to the last approximately 150 pages I have left of the novel? I’ll be mightily surprised if it is.

But, let’s get to the main problem I’m having right now called Stannis Baratheon. Like I said in the previous paragraph, the only thing Stannis has going for him is that he’s the only opposition against the Lannisters on currently on the field. If you don’t like the Lannisters, then you’re forced to join up with Stannis. However, ever since Aegon Targaryen and Jon Connington entered the picture, there’s now someone who’s slightly more interesting to invest in, and I don’t think Stannis has a chance.

Forget the fact that Aegon may or may not be a real Targaryen, he has one thing Stannis lacks: likability. If there is one thing this series has made positively clear, nobody likes Stannis Baratheon. Even Davos Seaworth, the best character in the series, has his doubts every so often about Stannis. He’s too proud, too strict, and doesn’t have the charisma to inspire anyone. The only reason he’s made it this far is through Melisandre’s sneaky shenanigans and luck. Aegon, on the other hand, is a good kid. A little bland, but he seems to be able to inspire the troops and he has a sad backstory to woo over the masses. Plus, he isn’t related to any of the noble houses that have brought the Seven Kingdoms into ruin and debt.

Though, I’m not going to count Stannis out just yet. The group from Deepwood Motte has arrived to provision Stannis’s army and to bring Theon and Jeyne to them. Whether or not Theon is going to tell anyone that Jeyne isn’t really Arya is up for debate, but I think he will. If he doesn’t, he’ll just end up in the same position as he was when she married Ramsay. The marriage would be a sham and not conducive to keeping the northmen happy. Especially if Davos is successful in bringing Rickon back.

We’re almost done! I’m going to marathon the last 150 or so pages and give you guys my thoughts on the book as a whole. Then, I’ll be back with a post about the series as a whole to wrap everything up. After that, who knows, I’ve had a few ideas that should hopefully come to fruition soon. I’ll see you later!