Join the Vassals for a spoiler-filled discussion of the latest teaser chapter from George R.R. Martin’s The Winds of Winter: Mercy. Duncan (Valkyrist), Bina (Bina007), Zach (Alias), Eddie (Teddard), Michal (inkasrain), and Nadia (in all worlds!) discuss bleeding out, aging up, moral culpability, psychotic breakdown and other cheerful happy endings.
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Edited by Bina007 and Valkyrist, with music excerpts from the amazeballs Elvis Costello and Talking Heads.
Update: A cleaner version of the audio has been uploaded 🙂
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Links:
Mercy (chapter text)
VoK 61: The Winds of Winter (Preview Chapters)
Vassals of Kingsgrave 
Loved reading the chapter and then listening to your take on ‘Mercy’. I agree that Arya is suffering from PTSD but her training with the faceless men has just standardised her role playing as you say into different compartments in her mind. I’m sure she believes she is simply meting out justice when she kills. After all everyone else she knows does the same, how is she going to know any different? I think Arya is going to finish the play, then retrieve Needle from it’s hiding place and then leave the faceless men. Hopefully she meets up with one of the Westerosi envoys and makes it back to Westeros soon so she can meet up with Nymeria again, maybe then she’ll start to become Arya again. Also I wonder how much damage a huge wolf pack can do when the white walkers invade?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I find it interesting that there’s a certain category of person who goes through trauma but emerges stronger eg Jaime, and then characters like Arya which I believe are irreparably damaged. I just wonder which side of the coin Jon will be and also Tyrion. Can they pull it back?
Also listening again to Alias’ comments on the influence of Bran reminded me a lot of the Maiar in Lord of the Rings. You can read the story not knowing and it’s fine, but once you realise there are these secret influencers it’s hard not see their impact everywhere.
As I think I said, it’s hard to rule either way on how much of an influence Bran actually has on events or if he’s merely a passive observer. It’s just one of those interesting things like you say, where you can go back and notice his eyes everywhere from the very beginning of the series. I always love picking up on little clues authors put in that don’t really come to fruition alter and Bran (or Bloodraven’s) watching eyes is one of the most pervasive ones.
I would be very upset if Arya doesn’t spend at least a quarter of the book with the Faceless Men. It’s just like Duncan(I think) said, what’s been the point of the last 2 books if she immediately leaves them.
It would make her chapters in FeastDance like Brienne’s, but without the connection to the people/places.
First, when Mercy inventories her pockets, she has a key, which I take as a key to the locked theater box, which I take to mean one of the people in the boxes was the original intended victim. The other question is did Arya kill Mercy & took her face a la Pate? Other I think the faceless men are more than just assassins, who would have paid to kill Pate, whereas was he killed for a key to a box of a archmaester, Also Arya would have been taken dead bodies, cleaning them, so there would be this disconnect regarding the body and sexuality.
In the podcast it is mentioned that a Hightower is going to Braavos to meet his sister Lynesse Hightower to hire sellswords. That is not correct. Lynesse is not in Braavos. She is in Lys. See here: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Lynesse_Hightower.
Thanks for the catch. I was so sure she was in Braavos.
Thanks for the catch ASOIAF fan! It wouldn’t be a VOK without a shocking lack of knowledge!
I just started listening so no comments yet other than:
SO PSYCHED FOR THIS PODCAST!
and
Yes you would be dead in less then a minute if leg artery is cut. Unfortunately I know this for sure. 😦
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