Delusion-Elle

I'm terrible at making predictions. It's not so much the act of predicting that seems to trump me, but rather my reasoning behind making the picks. I don't listen to my gut instinct, and that's a problem since what semblance of logic I do possess seems to be rather idiotic. Throw in the fact that I'm overly emotional, and you've got a recipe for "horrible prediction making". That all being said, I'd like to predict what I think is going to happen in the sixth instalment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

"But why?" you may be asking yourself, "why would you want to predict what's going to happen?" The long answer is that it's been some time since I got caught up in reading that series and I really do enjoy trying to put myself in George R. R. Martin's shoes and guessing what will happen next. I mean, I do that that while I read, anyway, partly because I know that I will be wrong. Being wrong about these sorts of things is strangely satisfying in its own sense. Maybe it's because it shows how awesome the author is at constructing a twisting and turning plot that is not predictable. Maybe it's because I am secretly a masochist who enjoys getting the rug pulled out from under me. Regardless, I love being wrong, although there is some satisfaction from being right, too. Oh, and the short answer is that I happened upon another blog which had predictions for the fifth book in the series. So sue me.

And just to warn you right now, there will be LOADS of spoilers for any and possibly all of the books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series already published here on out. You can't say that I didn't warn you. Also, if you haven't already read any of these books, nothing that I predict is going to make any sense to you.

Predictions for book 6, The Winds of Winter:

• Jon Snow is still alive, but he gets held captive.
• Samwell Tarly fails at becoming a maester multiple times, but finally does get his chains. But he never meets up with Jon again.
• Sansa Stark continues to be her usual "Yes, my lord" self. Which means that shit is going to get so weird with Littlefinger. And I don't want it to, but he is being super creepy to her, and I think that this will only continue until...
• Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish dies.
• But only after his plans for killing little Robert Arryn come to fruition.
• Brienne of Tarth, who apparently found Sansa and we heard was reunited with Jaime, goes to rescue to Sansa. *crosses fingers* She is successful. And Jaime becomes the most honourable Lannister of all!
• Arya Stark continues with serving the House of Black and White, but she does something that causes them to kick her out permanently. And so she heads back to Westeros.
• We see Jaqen H'ghar again.
• Cersei Lannister is killed.
• Tyrion Lannister becomes one of Dany's dragon riders... eventually.
• Khal Jhaqo does bad things to Dany.
• But it's okay because she perseveres. I think that GrrM is secretly rooting for her.
• Daenerys Targaryen and Mormont are reconciled.
• Aegon Targaryen's real identity is revealed to the realm, and this re-ignites the war (since it's kind of petered out...)
• Stannis Baratheon dies.
• Aegon dies. (I mean, come on, this boy is SO GREEN.)
• Ramsay Bolton gets his comeuppance. The little shit. I hate him so much. His dad is terrible for having a hand in orchestrating the Red Wedding, but oh, Ramsay is even worse! I think it'd be pretty sick if Arya kills him. Fingers crossed.
• Bran Stark foresees something that changes the entire GAME OF THRONES and so he realizes that he has to leave his little forest nest. Because he is a Stark! And Starks have honour!
• Rickon Stark meets up with his mummy, because honestly, his storyline is like... nothing. He is never mentioned. But there is something kind of terrible about him. There's a weird kind of dark side... At least, I *think* there was some sort of terribleness mentioned about him. I dunno, either way, I remember him as being a really bratty kid for some reason.
• Catelyn Stark-- I mean, Lady Stoneheart continues being some sort of zombie. I'm a little confused as to where anything is going in terms of her storyline, as well. I'd really like to hear more about her time with Brienne post-zombification.
• Barristan Selmy dies. Which is a shame because I quite like him. But honestly, he's not cut out for this sort of ruling thing.
• Victarion Greyjoy never finds Dany. Then he dies.
• Theon Greyjoy continues to be insane.
• Asha Greyjoy is killed.
• Ser Davos never completes his quest. (WHICH IS A SHAME BECAUSE I QUITE LIKE HIM.)
• Lady Melisandre remains creepy. She might have another shadow baby.
• The Tyrells don't do much of anything, but they continue to gain control over the throne. UNTIL THE TARGARYENS PRESENT THEMSELVES. Ha-ha!
• And the Martells... hell, I have no idea. They seem really irrelevant right now. Let's just say that they all die.
• Jon Snow continues to know nothing.

Aaaaaaaaaand that's a wrap! I know that there a few chapters from The Winds of Winter already floating around because they were released via GrrM's website and/or he read them out loud at conventions, but I haven't read these yet. The fact that they've already been released signals to me that they don't tell us much of anything. I really don't know how GrrM plans on ending this series in just two books. With the introduction of the Aegon storyline, it's like a whole new dimension of potential has presented itself. The only thing that's certain is that these final 2 books are going to be one helluva ride.

I've neglected this blog again for far too long. I've finished the BBC Languages course on German, and there really wasn't much to it, but I intend on reviewing some of what I've learned in future blog posts.

German learnings aside, I'm also tutoring two high school students in Math and English now. Perhaps when I'm in the mood to rant about the sad state of English, I'll discuss them further, but for now, I want to sound off and, more generally, sort out my feelings regarding something I just read.

As I'm on a co-op workterm right now, I have a lot more free time than I would have during a regular study term. This free time has resulted in my inner bookworm being awakened, which is fantastic. I've missed reading a lot, and so this brings us to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Most folks probably know this series as the "Game of Thrones books", which, in all fairness with regards to the HBO TV adaptation, is not untrue. I won't delve too much into the story, but before I go on about the particular scene I want to discuss, I will give a teensy bit of back story (though goodness knows, if you aren't familiar with the story, it is not going to help you with the rest of my post and I am warning you to turn back now).

Also, spoilers. Massive amounts of spoilers. You have been warned...

On the continent of Westeros there was a dragon king. The dragon king was betrayed by his guard and most of his family was killed, leaving his two youngest children alive, but exiled across the sea. The throne is taken by Robert Baratheon, who takes Cersei Lannister as his queen. Their children are not in fact theirs, but rather are products incest Cersei committed with her twin brother Jaime. In the north, the Starks live at Winterfell. After Ned Stark becomes King Robert's right hand man, he is beheaded upon learning the truth about Cersei's children. King Robert also dies as the Lannisters plot to take the throne and Joffrey Baratheon, product #1 of twincest, takes the throne -- the little git! This sends the kingdom into turmoil as Ned Stark's son claims himself to be King of the North and Robert Baratheon's brothers claim the throne for theirs as well. This essentially brings us to book 3, A Storm of Swords, the book that I'm currently in the middle of.

The scene in question is called... the Red Wedding. What happens in this scene is that Lady Catelyn Stark née Tully and her son, Robb, attend the wedding of Lord Tully, her brother, to a girl of the house Frey. The Freys were previously scorned by Robb Stark as he refused to marry any of the Frey girls (instead choosing some pretty thing he met on a military campaign), which not only put a damper on the social relationship between Starks and Freys, but also the military relationship as the Freys are a large house with control of a certain geographical pass. Despite the ill will expected from Lord Frey, Catelyn maintains that the rule of hospitality will keep them safe. Lord Frey throws a great wedding feast and has Robb apologize to and dance with his daughters and granddaughters. His behaviour seems extremely kind and this tips off Catelyn Stark, and she begins to notice that a few Freys (who had been especially loyal to the Starks) are missing. Upon confronting a Frey about this, she, her son, and his guard are attacked. The Freys murder them and thus two of the Starks die. Just like that.

I knew that Robb Stark would die -- there was a lot of foreshadowing experienced by several characters about it -- but somehow I didn't think that it would happen like this, and I really have to give kudos to George Martin (hereafter known as 'GrrM') for providing plenty of hints, and yet still managing to pull the rug out from under me. I mean, wow. I'm going to go a little bit more in-depth so unless you've read until the Red Wedding in A Storm of Swords, I cannot guarantee that any of the following will be understandable.

The foreshadowing. Yes. It was there. And somehow I disregarded it. That's the beauty of GrrM's writing, I think. You get caught up inside these characters -- and after living chapter after chapter in their skin it's hard not to -- and while you're seeing things through his or her point of view, you can't help but want the best for this character, because they are so real and human. Robb Stark was going to die, but I didn't think it would be at the hands of the Freys (craven folk that they are!) nor did I think it'd be at this uncle's wedding! I think the bit about him leaving his wife behind at Riverrun was just another thing that threw me off. There were clearly defined hints that something bad was going to happen at Riverrun from the Arya chapters, and when I read that Queen Jeyne would be left there, I thought that she would be killed, and with Robb and Catelyn at the Freys', that would result in some grief on Robb's part, but already that was bad enough. I wasn't expecting the whole lot of them to die. That was just cruel.

Another aspect of the Red Wedding which made the slaughter all the worse was that Catelyn was already grief-stricken, thinking that her other children were dead. We were so close to seeing her reunited with Arya, so so so very close that we could almost taste it. Quite literally, Arya was just outside and maybe five minutes away. But alas, there are to be no happy endings for Starks.

It was really just so very craven of the Freys to do that. Granted, I adore the Starks for their strong belief in honour, but Catelyn's words about being protected by some hospitality rule had convinced me of their safety there as well. And even when Lord Frey's behaviour was uncharacteristically kind, I convinced myself that it was nothing. Nope, nothing amiss here. Just impending slaughter.

The thing is that I'm not the only one so devastated by this scene. If you search for 'a storm of swords red wedding' online, you will find many posts by horrified fans who were caught just as much off guard as I was. Everyone loves the Starks. They are the first family that we are introduced to and, for the most part, they are the only folks who concern themselves with trying to be "good", just, and honourable. We spend so much time with the Starks as narrators that it is hard not to love them. And as we love them, we know that we are resigned to having our hearts broken, a fact first hinted at with the Stark words "Winter is coming", and on to Ned's beheading. We want them to win, and we want them to persevere.

As one of my friends said, "You must keep reading if there are still Starks who live!"