This content is a retrospective analysis of Part Two of "A Dance with Dragons," focusing on key chapters and character arcs, particularly Theon, Tyrion, Davos, Daenerys, Jon Snow, Jon Connington, and Asha. It delves into plot developments, character motivations, and the author's narrative choices, highlighting strengths and weaknesses within these sections of the book.
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ground all right hello YouTube Welcome
Back to the gree comom YouTube channel
today's video we're going to be doing
part two of our Dance with Dragons
retrospective I'm glad you guys seem to
enjoy the first part it did way better
so far Than A Feast for Crows which
isn't that surprising given that I think
most people's least favorite book Is A
Feast for Crows which is unfortunate
even though it is mine as well not to be
hypocrite but it is mine as well but I
will I will say I actually made a little
bit of an oopsie that I don't think
anyone pointed out in the first video so
I'm glad people didn't notice um but I
actually forgot to do Theon one in the
first part I was going through my notes
and I was looking through I'm like wait
a minute I don't seem to have the number
of chapters that it says I'm supposed to
have and so I went back and I actually
missed Theon one or re one it's supposed
to be right in between uh the brand 2
chapter that we ended the last part on
in the Danny 2 chapter so I'm going to
start with that chapter even though we
are a little bit out of order once again
but we'll get back on track but before
we do get into the video thank you for
my patreons and members for supporting
this channel if you did want to become
one you do get videos early and also you
will be getting exclusive content in the
summer so let's get into the video and
let's talk about part two of a dance
dragons retrospective so given that
we're starting with Theon one this is
going to be a really interesting chapter
because you have to remember we haven't
seen Theon for two books right the last
we see of them is at the end of a Clash
of Kings and so there's nothing no
information about Theon in book three
there's no information about Theon in
book four there's alluding to that he's
dead or he's just not anywhere to be
seen and so when you come back to this
character and again we don't know it's
Theon right it's just reek who is this
character of reek and maybe if you were
in a maybe if if you were a very
detailed reader and you remembered you
would have remembered that reek was a
character that we learned a little bit
earlier on in book two Andor book three
so you might be thinking already okay
this is related to Ramsay so okay well
who is this character then and we see
that this character is is basically a
husk of himself he's starving to death
he's desperate looking for a rat he's
living in complete fear and we as the
character with big Walder and little
Walder find this character and realize
that this is Theon Greyjoy a character
that has lost fingers his hair is
turning gray he looks visibly aged even
though it hasn't been that long he looks
like an old man at this time as he's
malnourished it's a horrifying thought
and this chapter really is not like a
big plot chapter in terms of what
actually happens but but it's a huge
Revelation because us the audience you
know especially looking at the last book
where it kind of really develops into
that gray Joy plot line it kind of has
in the back of your mind what happened
to Theon well this is what happened and
so as a reader you're going to be very
conflicted in this book about how you
feel about Theon Theon is a character
that I think a lot of people do not like
in the first two books and when you come
back to him here you're sitting here
going I can't help but feel bad for him
nobody should have to endure what Theon
you know dealt with maybe Theon deserves
to be killed for his actions betraying
the Starks whatnot but at the same time
does he deserved to be tortured and all
of these things it's an interesting
little way that George plays with it
it's something I think it's very
interesting with Cersei as well where he
takes a character we really don't like
and puts them through the ringer to gain
them sympathy and we can understand that
character it makes us question our
feelings on a particular plot line or
character and so Theon during this time
really what mainly the focus is is he is
going to have to do this mission of
helping freeing up the north from the
ironborn at MOA we'll get into that at
the end of this video as his next
chapter is kind of towards the end of
this retrospective or the second part of
the retrospective but I did want to come
back and make sure we did do that
because it's a vital part of this
chapter it's it's a vital part of this
book and it's one of the best plot lines
and so I I apologize for missing that in
the last video if any of you guys did
wonder that so that gets us back on
track so we're back on with chapter 15
and Tyrion 4 to me is of the first four
chapters we get of Tyrion it's the best
one of the first four and something else
I want to point out as we're going into
this chapter you got to remember we're
only 15 chapters in that would point to
the idea that over a quarter of the
chapter so far have been Tyrion chapters
again it's George taking what people had
on complaints about Feast for Crows and
giving them it here right giving us the
main characters frontloading them quite
a lot in this book but in this chapter
we are introduced to some very
interesting characters notably septo
LaMore and young Griff we still see a
Tyrion is a very pessimistic and broken
person but he's being given more of a
role trying to actively figure out
what's going on here and so we have some
of that darker side of Tyrion but we
also have a little bit of that clever
side of Tyrion how he's going to be able
to manipulate things and how he's going
to be able to manipulate people he kind
of realizes something is just not right
here young Griff is getting a better
education and attention than most Lords and
and
Westeros why is that what is so
important about young Griff if he's just
some sort of cell swords kid just
doesn't seem to add up and so Tyrion
goes through this chapter trying to
figure that out and we see that his mind
starts to work when he plays a game of
Savas with Halen the half maaster and he
basically puts on the line that if he
wins he wants a secret well we know
Tyrion eventually wins and we find out
and he finds out a secret that we don't
know yet but there's a very cryptic
ending to foreshadow what Tyrion has
just found out as at the end they see a
great t a great Turtle of the rine
signifying the crowning of a king now us
the audience don't know what tyrion's
talking about here at this point in the
story it's very ult to conclude as us an
audience member that this is Young Griff
or some sort of
Targaryen and so Tyrion realizes that
and so we won't get the pay off of that
till the next chapter but this is a
really good chapter just to kind of give
Tyrion something to kind of work with
right I think one of the biggest
complaints of the first three chapters
for Tyrion is it's a lot of
contemplation in those first three
chapters for Tyrion and yes there are
interest really interesting Parts
between Tyrion and
yio but it's not like as focused right
there's not a lot of Focus to Tyrion in
those first three chapters this gives
him something interesting to develop
right us the audience want to know who
are all these people on board we want to
know why this cryptic ending and that is
going to help reshift Tyrion into what
is he going to do with this character of
young Griff is he going to help him is
he how does he feel about this so that
kind of really helps the character of
Tyrion I think to me it doesn't feel the
same as like Tyrion and Brienne because
Brienne goes on to have one of the
strongest Arts arcs of A Feast for Crows
whereas Tyrion he kind of has like the
first half of the book being pretty
middle of the pack to then some really
good chapters and then he really falls
off a cliff but it kind of feels like
that where there's finally some like
real Focus for the character of Tyrion
in this chapter specifically so that
gets us into chapter 16 Davos 2 so Davos
2 is a weird one right because Davos has
four chapters in this book and the first
chapter is him and sister ton it's
really a nice catch up of what goes on
after Storm of Swords nice
reintroduction to the character building
the world out in terms of how Ned once
came here during the Roberts Rebellion
era all that's really awesome and then
you have chapter three and four also
being fantastic chapters dealing with Wy
and manderly and the manderly as a whole
this chapter is kind of that middle
ground it's Davos kind of contemplating
his options he's arriving at White
Harbor but what does he do right he's
kind of arriving as someone that no
knows he's not with an Envoy he's not
showing up as like this Rich hand of the
king he's kind of showing up as a
Smuggler and really what this is really
what this chapter is trying to do is
build the atmosphere and analyze white
Harbor kind of showing what's been going
on here because we haven't been here
right the closest we kind of have been
here in reality on screen is in book one
catlyn comes with the manderes to Mo kin
but we don't see white Harbor we learn a
little bit about the manderes from that
chapter but it's not really enough in my
opinion so in this chapter we kind of
figure out what's going on here the
phrase have shown up to White Harbor it
seems like the two are forming an
alliance but there's also some tragic
things going on there like where is
Wyman's son is he he's a cap it's
presumed he's a captive of of the phrase
well okay then how is Wyman going to
support Stannis and so it's Davos kind
of rationalizing through all of these
things and it's Davos having to use his
smuggling skills learning about the
situation as it goes to ends and things
like that but by the end of the chapter
he realizes either way he has to present
himself to the gates and needs to speak
to Wyman again it's a good chapter it
builds up the plotline going forward and
it really helps those next two chapters
that Davos is going to have truly be great
great
chapters but the Fallout is you know not
a lot really happens in this chapter
it's just kind of a you know a basic
block chapter where you're building up
things to come there's not too much to
really talk about in this one and so
it's a good one but it's not great
really in any way number 17 is going to
be Dany 3 Dany 3 is a chapter that I
really think is good as well I think
Dany is a weird character in this book
because especially early on where I am
in my reread so about 400 pages in she's
definitely like a middle of the pack POV
like she doesn't have any chapters so
far that are like your best of the book
or any chapters that I think are like
terrible or the worst of the book she's
just kind of there in the middle she's
just there and so in this chapter it's
really focusing on if Danny will go back
to westos will she go to that place that
she believes is home as she receives Zar
zaro or zaro I'm not sure how you say
his name from quarth one of the 13 from
book two so nice fall back to her AR and
book two but he comes offering 13 ships
to take her home to Westeros and leave
slaver's Bay behind and for Dany to me
this doesn't really make sense because
13 chips is not enough for Danny to go
home you got to remember she has a ton
of unsoed uh any there people that are
still with her like cisar that she has
very small at this point but still any
of the people that want to come with her
to Westeros it's a struggle right that's
not enough ships so it kind of is
interesting in terms of does Danny just
take his ships what does she do with
them and it's great for building the
wars to come as the Yun Kish are already
marching on a on aapor and will continue
towards her and something this that I
think is very interesting and I one of
the reasons I don't really understand
Quentin's plotline in this book is
information like that we get here in
like a couple sentences or a paragraph
we learn about what's also going on in
Os or round slay Bay and so we don't
need things like Quenton I'm going to
talk about that when we get to Quenton 2
but I think that's important because
this chapter really focuses the
landscape of what is going on in the
world at this time or at least in the in
OS I would I'll say specifically but we
see that Danny really has no leverage
she's struggling to get any of this
economy going as she wants to trade with
K but again she has nothing to trade and
Garo tells her that but all in all Danny
must decide what to do stay and attempt
to rule with a people that dislike her
or leave for home where she is
presumably wanted but leaving her people
to be enslaved it's a really interesting
predicament that Danny's in it's the one
she's going to battle pretty much this
entire first half of the book because
staying is something that she personally
doesn't want it doesn't have much of a
benefit to her she's not well-loved here
but on the flip side of it if she leaves
she AB abandons her people she abandons
the people around her so she's kind of
split in half whereas personally what
was motivating her she wants to go
reclaim the Iron Throne she wants to go
back to where her presuma home is but
her moral conscience and what is holding
her back is the people she slaved the
people that she believes she's a mother
to and so this chapter is really good
because it paints that right there front
and center you know we're not shying
away from it it gives Danny an ultimatum
as to what she's going to do but I also
find something that is interesting that
George uses George uses viseris to
impact daenerys's thoughts all
throughout this chapter in terms of
going home in terms of what she should
be doing that is to her own personal
benefit how she thinks about him and how
she acts all is very present in this
chapter and I like that George does that
call back because viseris was such an
integral part of her story and why she
became aesi why she became the Mother of
Dragons all of that is vital to
understanding but in the end she decides
to stay to the anger of zaro who leaves
a bloody glove declaring war again Dany
has once again made more enemies she now
has enemies on all sides of her things
that will collapse in on itself as the
book continues to go on and it's
something that still has yet to be
resolved in Winds of Winter again I
noted that this chapter was not as good
as I think her second chapter but was
still very enjoyable had its own kind of
contained story and I really did enjoy
it and that gets us into chapter 18
which will be John 4 again this is
another good chapter for John as it's
his last with Stannis it's kind of the
breaking of the early John chapters
where JN has been a character that's
kind of been divided in things taking up
the time in his povs you know with the
Stana stuff with kind of other things
going on with the wildling plot with you
know the Sam Gilly aim and plot of
sending them uh South there's been a lot
of things that have kind of struggled to
focus Jon on like one thing at this time
and so here he's kind of trying to do a lot
lot
here because the chapter opens with the
issues of food right Jon goes down to
see their stores see what their reserves
are looking like for winter and it's not
good right Bowen Marsh even States this
we don't have enough food for all of
stannis's men all of these wildlings we
just don't have the food and Jon is
basically forced to make a choice to
start rationing the food another thing
that's going to lead to why people don't
respect him and or or why people dislike
him and are willing to kill him but on
the other side of that you also have Jon
who's not listening to Marsh they don't
have enough food with the wildlings and
Stanis here and the problem John faces
throughout all of this book is he's not
willing to tell the people why they are
doing things right he just does them and
expects people to just go along with it
one of the things if you want to look at
if John is a Targaryen that one of his
ancestors did really well is Jaris would
be someone that would sit down with
people hear their Grievances and explain
why he thought maybe that was not the
right course of action John consistently
in this book does not do that and this
chapter puts it on full display he
doesn't listen to Bow and Marsh and when
he does he kind just says a bland answer
and then just leaves like he says yeah
we'll ration the food but he doesn't
give a how do we fix the solution
rationing the food will help the
situation but it's not a solve we're
still going to have the same end result
we don't have enough food and whether
Jon doesn't have a solution to that yet
at all
already fine but you still have to
explain what's going
on that's where people will lose trust
in you and that's exactly what we're
going to see in this book but the second
part of this chapter is almost
completely on Stannis it's about what
Stannis is going to be doing in the
north Stannis is someone that realizes
he cannot stay at the wall forever the
longer he does the more he'll be
forgotten about and all of that and so
he decides okay maybe I should March to
the dread Fort a lot of people have been
suggesting that arnoff kstark being one
of those again we know this is actually
a trap but us as the readers don't know
that at this point but that is what is
going on and we again see that a lot of our
our
counselors agree to this right many of
them all of them are not from the north
they don't really know what the north is
like and it's a dumb plan think about
how long the March is to The Dread Fort
they're at the very top of the north at
the wall it would take a long time to
get there they'd be extremely lucky if
they went if they even got there without
being noticed and to dread the dread for
is a very strong Castle how were they
supposing they were going to get in even
if it is lightly garrisoned but also
moving that far south puts you right in
the crossfires of not only Ramsey's Army
at the time that's this far down south
and also roose's Army coming up from
moin and you could be thinking okay well
they hope the ironborn are going to be
able to hold mochin but Stanis is smart
enough to realize Mo kalin's going to be
attacked from the North and the South
it's going to fall very quickly and so
in that regard this is a terrible plan
and so Jon disagrees being the only one
really able to step up and tell him this
it won't work and instead he makes a
trade he wants to keep the wildlings and
tell Stannis of different men that he
can get in the mountain Clans and so
more or less we have a whole new plot
Stannis is going to head to deepwood M
after getting the mountain Clans and
that is where Stanis will go and this is
the end of the Stannis and John plot the
two will not see each other in this book
they may see each other in the next book
but this is kind of the end of the
Stanis plot for John now this kind of
has an interesting question and I want
to talk about this more when we get to
it but you as a reader then might be
thinking okay where are we then going to
get our Stanis POV Davos is in white
Harbor Mel is going to be staying here
and Mel wasn't even a POV at this time
anyway there's no one that's a POV
that's going to be with Stanis so are we
going to hear about these events are we
going to see them through theon's eyes
but it's going to be from the ramsy camp
we're going to definitely see that but
what is going to happen there and so you
also I think as a reader you don't
really realize wait who could be at
deepwood mod Asha and so when you get to
that chapter it all feels like it flows
perfectly well and some people might be
saying oh that's convenient you lose one
POV and you pick up another one for s's
camp but I'm going to explain when we
get there why it's not a plot
convenience it makes perfect sense
whereas something else we're going to
talk about with Quenton is a plot
convenience and I have a lot of problems
with that plot line but wanted to bring
that up here because it is important to
understand but again I think of another
really good chapter for Jon I think Jon
so far is definitely been one of the
stronger povs of the book and that'll
get us back to Tyrion and this is what
I'm talking about right like Tyrion is a
dominant POV this early in the story we
only talk about three povs after Tyrion
and we're already back to him with
Tyrion 5 but Tyrion 5 is definitely one
of my favorite chapters especially of
the early part of this book as again
it's Tyrion just in his element right
this is one of my favorite chapters from
Tyrion this early in the book as they're
continuing their Journey getting past
the Sorrows but more importantly we get
the reveal of who is in the party well
some of them anyway that young Griff is
Aon Targaryen the child of rhaegar and
Elia who was supposedly killed at the
end of R's Rebellion now we still don't
know if this is actually true but either
way this is a massive shakeup to the
entire story
and and that's regardless of if he even
is a Targaryen him being perceived as a
Targaryen is huge if he's at
Blackfire that has huge implications on
the story and so this chapter takes this
Tyrion storyline that's kind of been
somewhat muddied and really struggling
to get going and it just has an
explosion and you're sitting here going
whoa but then not only that but we also
get this is John conning
one of the hands of the king that had
been exiled to OS after his loss at the
Battle of the Bells a lot of interesting
characters are just revealed at this
part of the book for Tyrion 5 and when
you look back on it and you realize what
is to come next you understand why this
had to happen so quickly why we got so
many Tyrion chapters and I think you can
make the argument that maybe Tyrion one
and Tyrion 2 could have been combined
into one chapter maybe would have helped
the flow of this book and not having
five Tyrion chapters within the first 19
but you understand going forward why
there was so many because we need that
John con plot to get rolling we talk
about wins of winner how there's just so
many different plots and so much stuff
that George needs to get through well
think about if this plot had taken even
longer right now I would also argue that
the way you could have fixed this is you
would have given Tyrion less chapters
going forward and given more to John
Conan but but you know that we'll get to
that as we go later on with tyrion's Arc
but right after we get this huge reveal
Tyrion also reveals himself to the party
so no longer is Tyrion really playing
the role of being this bastard type he
is now revealed that he is Tyrion
Lannister at this though they are
attacked by ston men and this scene just
plays out very horrifyingly like these
ston men could get you in Ed just by
touching your skin us the audience have
no idea what is going to happen here
could this get young Griff killed or
John connington killed or any of our companions
companions
killed and we end up seeing Tyrion
actually pushing young Griff out of the
way so that he can get this Stone man
off of
him it shows the Tyrion does have some
semblance of a good morality now was the
done because Tyrion was trying to get in
good with young Griff possibly but I
would go away from that idea given the
fact that Tyrion kind of Acts just out
of instinct he does the same thing with
catlyn Stark it seems almost the same
right Tyrion has no real reason to help
either young Griff or Catlin but he does
so he acts and the chapter ends with
Tyrion falling and
drowning and the chapter ends with a
really interesting moment because it's
like it's kind of alluding that Tyrion
is going to die but I think us the
audience we know he's not going to die
Tyrion is not going to die by drowning
in a river it's just not going to happen
but the implications here are much more
dire Tyrion being dragged down is Tyrion
going to get infected with
grayscale could it happen What could
happen because of this dire moment
Tyrion going completely into this River
filled with the ston men possibly
infected in or cursed there's a lot
there and so this chapter does a great
job in terms of building the tension in
terms of having a huge plot twist that
changes up the entire story and to me is
by far tyrion's best chapter I think
probably in this book I when I wrote it
down I said best so far of my notes and
of these first two parts but honestly
reflecting on Tyrion in this book this
is probably his best chapter within the
entire book and that will get us into
Davos 3 now Davos 3 what can I say about
this it's not dav's best chapter of the
book but it's a good one because this
chapter I think of a lot of the chapters
that are in this book it does the best
to immerse you it almost puts you in the
story right because we as the audience
like the Starks we know what happened at
the Red Wedding we are kind of like the
overlooker of the world we know all the
information but when you go into this
chapter and you see Davos has become
more less a prisoner it's a luxury
prisoner like he's getting a nice sale
it's very similar like Sansa in book one
after Ned's coup like she has her own
apartments and all that but she's not
really able to go anywhere right that's
kind of where Davos is right now and so
he's awaiting audience with the manderly
and we see him interact with Wyman's
court and specifically the fry
and what is great here
is George makes us feel like we are in
this meeting we the audience are playing
the role of waa manderly because waa
manderly is the one that's like no we
shouldn't be you know going with these
phrase this is wrong the phrase suck
they killed Rob our King we should help
Stannis that's us as the audience right
we know that like that's what they
should be doing and we're sitting here
going why don't they do is why is Wy
manly believing the phrase but George
has already given us all those answers
he gave those answers to us in the last
chapter which is why this chapter flows
so well we already know all the
information we know that Davos is doomed
there's still that hope in us there's
still that wam manderly that feeling of
just we can't do anything the story is
going to continue with or without us and
that's what the beauty beauty of this
chapter it puts us in the minds of these
characters but we see how the phase
manipulate this game they say the Starks
win the wrong and Wyman seems to agree
with their reasoning as Rob broke this
vow to marry a fry girl he also turns
into this wolf and starts attacking them
during the wedding and so do the Stark
men painting the Starks as the bad guys
the arrogance of the phrase in this
moment but in reality when you think
about it there was I mean nobody was
there so nobody exactly knows what
happens again the phrase can kind of
spread this lie but we all know this is
[ __ ] at the same time but it all
sets up perfectly to the reveal we're
going to get in the next chapter because
all this makes sense Wyman is stuck in
this situation where his son is a
hostage the phrase have men here in
white Harbor to make sure that he is
loyal he has to play this game right he
can't straight out say that oh yeah I'm
going to back Davos the pH suck he has
to play this game and so we come to the
end of this chapter and Davos loses the
argument and is sentenced to death which
again lines up exactly with what we know
happens in Beast for crows and Feast for
Crows in one of cersei's middle chapters
we learn that yes Davos is killed at
White Harbor and that's what prompts the
phrase to release Wyman's
son now with this being said though
we're left with the conclusion of what
is to happen with Davos we don't see him
die on screen in this chapter he's just
being arrested but it seems pretty bleak
right like what can W manly really do he
seems publicly to be backing the phrase
he has a knife to his back there's not a
lot he can really do and it continues to
make Davos one of my favorite povs of
this book and that concludes it again
that is one of the best chapter of this
early part of the book I think I had it
in my top five if I'm not mistaken as of
right now it's not in my top five but
it's number six but it is one of the
best of this book by far we talked about
firstly Theon one or reek one in this
retrospective but now we're with Theon 2
and again this is a really good chapter
for Theon it kind of builds it takes
everything that was great about the
first chapter and just heightens it it
makes it more plot relevant it gives us
more time to expand theon's logic and
how he is as a person how is his mental
health at this time very awful at this
time we see that de we see that Theon is
being cleaned up for his role to play
his past self with the goal of taking Mo
Kalin still occupy the iron boore now
what does this setup already do it puts
us in the mind of reek trying to play
his former self so it's again him having
that split personality of of his younger
self of reflecting on his actions things
that he did the mistakes he made have
made or the people that he used to care
about but it also takes that part of it
it takes the Stark Side of him and it
also puts that in direct conflict with
his ironborn side as well as he also is
having to play the role of being the
prince of the ironborn taking control of
them and making them surrender offering
them generous terms it's a really great
chapter because it takes all these
things that are pivotal to this
character at this moment and puts it right
right
there but the beauty comes from I think
the psychological torture that Theon has
gone through even in this situation
where Theon could try and run he could
get himself killed let the ironborn kill
him do any of these things to escape
what he's going through he's still
scared he is someone that I think most
people are scared of what comes after
death right is there some sort of
afterlife is there nothing that's what
the end be feeling that you know even
though all these torture all this
torture is horrible you know that is
also another thing as the fear of the
unknown and Theon subconsciously wants
to die but at the same time he doesn't
do it and so you have a lot of things
that are very compelling for the
character of Theon but that kind of gets
Theon to remembering you know the last
time coming here with Rob and the
choices that he made again he recounts
basically the Catlin chapter of coming
to Mo Kalin of where all they were
situated in these towers and all the
20,000 men going south but at the same
time we see a bit of Theon come back as
he takes control and mo Kalin and
convinces them to leave the castle
unfortunately for those men they are
killed but Theon gets a reward and this
again shows the power Dynamic of how low
Theon is even when faced with as being
able to get a reward all Theon asks for is
is
wine and what does Theon get promoted to
not to a normal human but to a dog we
see the mental games Ramsay is playing
keeping Theon as this
pet that is completely damaged but we
end the chapter meeting Roose Bolton and
the phas but he also realizes that the
Arya that they have brought with them is
not actually Arya which US the audience
already knew this isn't really like this
big twist for us the viewer of us the
reader but it's a really cool twist for
Theon because we're going to put again
something that connects Theon to his
past we're going to connect him with
Jane P someone that he would have known
and so that's interesting but it also
unravels that well we already knew that
the boltons were planning to marry a
fake Arya and that gets us into chapter
22 John 5 in chapter 5 just like I
talked about chapter 4 it's kind of the
end of John's early book Arc it's a
chapter mainly used used to refocus
Jon's plot at this time we're going to
see Jon as he try as he tries to recruit
wildlings into the watch um not exactly
into the watch it's more like defending
the wall they don't have to say the vows
or wear a black cloak or any of those
things but he's trying to get the
wildlings to help him and help the watch
but he's also trying to give them food
and all these things so we see Jon
traveling to mol toown and again what is
the focus of Jon's story going to be
going forward it's going to be
integrating the wild Lings into the
watch but what he does is he doesn't do
anything he doesn't explain to the
people why this is an is a necessity us
the viewers are inside Jon's head we
know why this is a necessity and needs
to happen but others do not and again
this is a not a very long chapter for
John it doesn't have a lot in here that
really needs to be discussed but I find
this chapter good for exploring why Jon
is killed again it's not really
explaining or expanding on his reasoning
to Marsh or the watch into why they are
allowing the wildlings to help think
about what Jon is asking Jon is asking
for not only wildlings to be part of the
wall but
women well there's a big reason as to
why the watch doesn't allow women and
why that you're not allowed to take a wi
or anything like that because it's going
to shift your loyalties and so it puts
that to the test should there be these
Wilding women on the wall trying to
defend it should there be wildlings and
knights Watchmen together who who knows
they can't really trust each other and
an army that can't trust one another
isn't really an army so you're putting
two groups of people together and you're
just mashing them together you're not
trying to let each side understand why
this is necessary you're just kind of
mashing two brick walls together and
hoping they mix it's just not the best
way of going about things but again
really what I think George wanted to do
with this chapter is again integrating
starting that process of integrating the
wildings into the wall but also showing
Jon's lack of communication to be
crucial to his Arc now this gets us to a
very conflicting chapter for me uh
Tyrion 6 it's a really really weird one
because the first half I love I love the
first half of Tyrion waking up from
being saved by Griff and all that comes
with that but I really enjoy what we get
between young Griff and Tyrion because
it's Tyrion being at his best you know
manipulating people talking to people
and getting them to do what he wants
them to do and so we see young Griff and
Tyrion playing saas and Tyrion gives
young Griff some very interesting
lessons and things that are going to be
crucial going forward with the story he
tells young Griff that he should go to
Westeros again going to
C again going to Westeros is very
beneficial the realm is not United at
the time Cersei is basically in control
we see how that worked out in Feast for
Crow so we know Tyrion is right the
north is an open Rebellion the dands are
all screwed up at this time the
westerlands power has been completely
weakened during this time period the
dornish are ripe for Rebellion we know
that to also be true so Tyrion says take
this golden company Army and go Westeros
and we also see another rationale that
Tyrion uses to justify this if he goes
to Danny he's going to look like a
beggar he's going to be looking like
someone that is asking for her hand
they're not going to meet on equal terms
it's going to be kind of like the way
Quenton goes about asking for Dany and
so we see a lot of this play out but
what we end up seeing is that
Tyrion during this SAS game was also
lying to him trying to get young Griff
to do things like keeping his Dragon
away from his King so that he can beat
him in this game that's what ends up
happening we see that tyrion's point is
driven home trust no one because that's
how Tyrion thinks he doesn't trust
anyone he is a very pessimistic person
and I don't really think that's the
Outlook you should have in the world I
think you can trust certain people you
just need to be understanding of who you
can trust and who you cannot trust and
so Tyrion gets the better of young Griff
and young Griff has a bit of that
Targaryen fiery to him something that
people have speculated on in the future
of how young Griff is going to be young
Griff Griff basically rage quits he
knocks the board and the pieces to the
side he forces Tyrion to clean them up
very similar to the way Joffrey has like
Tyrion pick up his goblet during the purple
purple
wedding and all of this is very
interesting because it paints a lot of
what we could see between the characters
of Young Griff and Tyrion going forward
but the second half is where you get a
little eh not so good in this chapter
because it takes place in a town where
they are to get some information
on the political climate going on with
the war in Marine but more importantly
we see tyrion's dark side as he pays for
sex and even asks for the woman to kill
him as he is suicidal and there's some
really dark things that going go on here
in terms of really bad alcoholism in
terms of Tyrion you know raping this
girl in terms of just Tyrion being a
awful human being and eventually why I
say this is a mixed bag chapter not only
for those bad things that we see from
Tyrion but he is eventually captured by
Jorah starting probably the worst plot
line of the book I think it's like this
plot line plus Quentin's plot line are
probably the worst two of this book I
personally cannot think of a single
chapter I like of Tyrion after this
moment and so it is that point and
another thing I find
that's kind of a big problem I think
George has in this book
specifically it just seems like a really
big plot convenience like really out of
every single brothel that Tyrion could
go to he ends up going to the one with
Jorah in it and it's not one of those
things where you can point to oh well in
book one the same thing happens with
Tyrion and Catlin it's like no because
both were heading towards the crossroad
in and so it made sense it's a logical
Hub of where things would happen and
where you would go either to the West
the East the North to the South
this it just feels very random it feels
like very convenient and again that's
not bad to have every once in a while
that's not to say conveniences are a bad
thing but it's when you have a lot of
them that's when you start to like look
at these and go I don't know if that was
the best point here and the really I
think the difficult part George has here
is George had to come to an idea where
how does Tyrion now get away from the
young GFF group to go to
Daenerys that's the
issue and I think how would you have
willingly gotten Tyrion away from them
that could have been something difficult
now what you could have explored and
this could have be something interesting
that would have I think worked a lot
better is if we would have seen Tyrion
actually willingly leave young GFF
willingly leave our party and try to
search for TAA one of the big things to
see throughout this entire plot line is
Tyrion looking for her where do [ __ ]
go and he's not going to be able to
really find that with Danny and young
Griff so you could have his personal
motivations kind of getting through in
terms of finding love again so that
would have been something where maybe he
breaks off from their party and then
maybe while he's out at these docks
maybe we have like a this chapter the
second half of this chapter is just him
kind of wandering around in the city and
eventually he's spotted that way it
feels much more natural uh in terms of
like people would have known that there
was a dwarf going around and then maybe
Jor would have heard this and found him
it just doesn't feel as natural in terms
of just Jorah being in the same brothel
as Tyrion at the same time complete
coincidence it just doesn't really feel
right to me but I get why George did it
I just think it could have been executed
a bit better in my
opinion that gets us into chapter 24
Danny 4 again another chapter that has
kind of its strengths and its weaknesses
on one hand I really like the opening of
this chapter with the green Grace and
Dany it oozes suspicion something is not
really right here the green Grace once
again is talking down to Dany kind of
putting her in her place kind of knowing
information that it seems very
suspicious that she already knows before
Daenerys even tells her but not only
that but we also have reflections of the
past Dany trusting older woman or women
very similar to Mary it's very apparent
given that I just got done doing my
review of the Mir Mazer chapter where
she meets Dany it almost feels so
similar here but one of the things that
comes out of this conversation is that
the green Grace suggests the only way to
fix this situation is for her to marry
someone with old gusari blood someone
that the mar Marines people can get
behind and
so that leads to the his D plot but
before we get there I want to talk about
another interesting FL another
interesting moral question that is
brought up here the green Grace kind of
brings up they have host ages why don't
they kill them like why doesn't Danny
kill the hostages when there are people
dying free men are dying or people are
dying but she's not using these hostages
and it's a part of again Danny is
someone that is not a bad person she
tries to be a good person and she likes
a lot of these people a lot of these
young children that she's being given as
hostages she's starting to enjoy them
and that's the issue because it comes
back to this idea that Ned talks about
that JN and Rob try to kind of go with
or go through with don't be friends of
people that are your subordinates you
may have to kill them one day or send
them off to be killed especially in the
case of Theon Ned never got close to
Theon because Ned knew he might one day
have to kill Theon that's something that
Danny doesn't do and that's some advice
that she probably sorely
needs I like all that but on the flip
side I find the romance side of this
chapter which is the back half to just
be kind of boring
kind of repetitive it's just Danny has
so many love interests over the entirety
of the series she also is someone that
consistently thinks about Dar Dario
early on in this book it just gets so
repetitive so we see again Dany trying
to it's Dany setting up the terms of a
marriage with his daughter if he can
keep the peace no killings happen for 90
days she will marry him albeit she
doesn't really like him that much even
kisses him to see if there's any type of
you know thing there there isn't really
and so Danny just sees it kind of as a
win-win type scenario if he can give the
piece for 90 days well Le she saved her
people and it shows that there can be
some stability but on the other side of
it if again he doesn't it just kind of
forestalls stuff like the marriage for
now and then we get to see Dario and
Dario comes back and Danny's real
excited she's getting all dressed up and
then he just knows she can't be with him
you know he's a cell sword and so part
of this angers her but it also angers
her because Dario tries to give her
advice telling her to be a dragon
telling her to strike at her enemies
killing the Masters and that's not who
Danny is at this point Danny is someone
that's not morally bad she tries to be a
good person and so she struggles with
that it's something that the merin's
plot is pushing her further and further
to the edge of how does she again get
these people to respect her get these
people to stop killing each other and
bring order to to Marine how does she do
that and that's something she struggles
with a lot so I there are bits and
pieces of this chapter I really love
there's bits and pieces of this chapter
I really dislike and that's kind of
where I am with Danny at times in this
book but again I don't think it's a bad
chapter at all but I do think out of the
Danny chapter so far probably her
weakest but just as I say that this is
probably my least favorite Danny chapter
George once again seems to interslice
his chapters perfectly and I want to
just kind of look at the next three
chapters as they are the last year we're
going to be doing this retrospective for this
this
part we have a Danny chapter that's not
so good followed by a John con chapter
his first one one of the best chapters
of the book very highly rid for me and
is my favorite of the first
27 we then get a Quenton chapter one of
the worst chapters of the book the
second worst for me at this point and
then we're followed up by another Banger
in an Asha chapter it really does show
that I feel like George knows kind of
his weaker chapters and he follows them
up with great chapters to kind of hide
them a little bit in his book and so I
really love that because that's been a
consistent thing that I've seen in both
Feast for Crows and a dance of dragons
in this
book so John Conan one is a chapter that
I remember when I first started reading
this book did not know we were going to
get this POV I did not know that we were
going to have this but looking back it
makes sense right you can't really just
introduce the young Griff plot line and
then Tyrion leaves and then just have no
plot Point here or no POV here and so
John connington is the perfect POV
because he reminds you so much of Ned he
someone that reflects on the decisions
he's made in the past he someone that's
a very complex character that has
strengths and
weaknesses and we get a look into the
history of the battle of the Bells but
we see that John Khan is someone that is
highly untrusting of some of the people
below him as again Tyrion has been lost
something that would have been a very
valuable piece being that he is Tyrion
Lannister and he was lost but we see
John con and Co heading to the golden
company's camp we get to learn on their
history and Customs which is always fun
to reread given the uh context of the
Duncan egg novellas and what goes on
there it's just a really awesome chapter
that provides a lot of World building to
the lore of the black fire rebellions
and bitter steel and the golden company
as a whole how they operate really
fantastic chapter that I love we see the
military leadership and how it's changed
uh from believe it's black hearts to now
Harry um Strickland and I really love
that because this is kind of the reveal
of young Griff where young Griff comes
out looking like a prince he's not just
this you know Knight Squire or cell
sword Squire he's now looking more like
a Targaryen he's wearing rubies fine
clothing and we see young Griff kind of
reveal himself to the golden company now
what I find is interesting here is that
the golden company are quite frustrated
with the situation going on there's been
all these different type of plans first
it was viseris then it was Daenerys was
supposed to be they were supposed to
back Daenerys but then all those plans went
went
arai now we're here with young Griff and
young Griff steps up he takes this
chance this thing that we haven't seen
him do when he basically takes tyrion's
advice and uses it he tells them screw
Daenerys screw trying to get to Marine
cuz that's insanely difficult we've seen
that with Quentin's
chapter let's go to Wester it's ripe for
conquest and at this the golden company
realized they have a new leader they
realize is to be their King and to lead
them back home again this is by far my
favorite chapter of the first 27 I am a
big sucker for the Blackfire lore at
this time I love young Griff he's one of
my favorite characters going into the
next book I'll give you guys a a bit of
a spoiler for my other Series going on
right now my 100 top 100 characters of a
song with and fire young Griff is
unfortunately not on that list just
because we haven't gotten a lot with the
character but I'm really looking forward
to getting more of this character
personally um but yeah it's just this
awesome chapter it feels a lot like for
instance Rob Stark's King of the North
chapter where it's like Rob coming into
his own now it's very different because
Rob in that is not really declaring
himself as king that's his Bannerman but
here it's young Griff proving his worth
and them kind of making the him their
King it's one of those things it feels
very similar and so I love everything
this chapter does and it's very vital
that it's placed here because then we
get Quenton 2 and I'm going to have a
fairly big rant here about Quentin's
character so far and that gets us to
Quenton 2 so Quenton
is a chapter that it's slightly better
than the first one which isn't saying
much if you guys remember my rant for
Quenton 1 was a chapter that was
unneeded didn't make really much sense
for this plot line to even exist that
didn't change in this chapter again the
only reason this chapter is more
interesting is because we get more of
like the tattered Prince and we also get
like some battle stuff with aapor but
what do we really get out of this
chapter it's a somewhat long chapter
it's a chapter in which we learn that
asapur has fallen and some of the stuff
that we already learned with daenerys's
chapter in terms of yunai and
aapor it just doesn't matter I mean
nothing in this chapter really adds
anything to the story and this is why I
think one of my biggest complaints with
the early start of this book very
similar to Sam in in Feast for Crows
Crows
Quenton didn't need to be introduced in
terms of a POV if he wanted to until he meets
meets
denys he just doesn't because once then
he actually gets to Marine then you can
kind of explore his character the only
thing that I can see as to why George
put this character and gave him more
povs is because he dies at the end and
so you want him to be more of a
character we like so it hits harder and
give him more time to develop but the
problem becomes I find the character to
be every time he's a chapter he slows
down the pace it comes down all the way
down to a crawl and this chapter just
does not and this character doesn't
really have much going for him like
there's not much in terms of defining an
actual character like the best we've got
is he feels like he maybe is not worthy
of Daenerys he's not the most attractive
guy um and maybe some stuff in terms of
like honor right breaking
like that's something that could be
interesting to explore in this chapter
it's one of the only things I find
interesting in this chapter but like why
is this character here he's not
interesting there's no reason to have
this this character it's very similar in
my opinion to like Tyrion later on where
it's like we just don't need like nine
chapters or whatever it is of just
Tyrion being a slave and all of that it
just you don't need it
and so I'm not going to really explain
the CH too much but more or less what we
get is we see Quenton with the wind
blown how they've taken part in this
battle um with aapor and it was kind of
a Slaughter it wasn't really even a
fight all of this we kind of already
know from Danny's povs later on anyway
so like doesn't matter this information
doesn't really matter to me um we also
then see that the group is trying to get
out of the windblown
company whatever I mean it introduces
some interesting conflicts of having to
break Oaths and vows which are more
sacred um especially to hire born people
in Westeros which is kind of interesting
but they don't dwell on it very long and
also they give them a copout they give
our main like three dornish a or George
gives our main three dornish like a
point where they have to make a decision
you know if you go back to book one aen
with John it comes to every point in
someone's life where they have to make a
huge decision
here is that decision you would think
but then the story gives them a cop out
the story goes oh yeah the tattered
Prince goes yeah you guys are going to
basically start scouting and then we
want you to basically go over to either
the second Sons or the
Stormcloaks and then more or less be an
inn with
Daenerys and you're sitting here and you're
you're
going how convenient can we get like oh
wow the main conflict of our characters
story is instantly solved not because of
anything they did but because the tatter
Prince wants them to do it and I can
understand the tattered Prince's logic
it's not impossible right it's not like
not POS plausible at all I understand is
rationale but at the same time for it to
be out of like this group I think I
think it's like a thousand or 2,000 men
Quenton and the dornish as new recruits
are sent to do this Mission qu kind of
questionable I know it's because they
speak the common tongue but like okay um
it just seems too convenient that's what
I've been talking about there's been a
couple conveniences here and there
throughout this first part of the story
and this is the worst one because it
makes you kind of stretch what I would
believe the Ted Prince would do it makes
me question why did we even have this
whole chapter setup of oh you know will
we break our vows is that dishonorable
when are we going to break away from
this could be a huge danger to our lives
and then the chapter just resolves the
conflict for them they didn't do
anything to earn it and so I don't like
this chapter I don't like Quenton as a
character the story is very Bland for
the character um I don't know what else
to say this just isn't a very good
chapter and it's down there with Quenton
one at least this one has a bit more
Stakes to it there's more interesting
Concepts brought up it just doesn't go
anywhere and so I just did all of that
ranting right and what does George come
back and give us he gives us Asha one a
chapter that I have is my number four
ranked chapter of the first 27
chapters and it's a just a fantastic
chapter we get brought back into the
character of Asha and it's really
awesome because you you think about
Feast for Crows Asha kind of just
disappears off the face of the Earth you
know after the Kings moot we get I think
it's one more victarion chapter after
the Kings Moot and that's it right we
don't get a lot of what happens after
and so you almost forget about Asha and
what it's great is because this is what
an actual plotline looks like because
where I just talked about there was a
convenience with the Quenton stuff you
might be thinking oh well it's very
convenient that Asha becomes the new POV
for Stannis but it's not convenient at
all Asha makes logical sense would go to
deepwood mot she's nowhere that's safe
that she can stay in the iron Islands so
what does she do she could go to
deepwood m she could maybe flee and go
into kind of like an exile type
situation go become a merchant or a
pirate but she goes to deepwood M and
that makes I think a lot of sense for
her it's something that she's taken over
she can maybe kind of feel some sort of
safety there for now that all make sense
Stannis would take deepwood M because a
it's closer to the wall and two it gains
him leverage to say he's the one taking
out the iron born as well it's it's
close to where he is so it all adds up
into why this occurs in terms of
Storytelling and so let's look at the actual
actual
chapter the content that we get here and
how good it is as well so the only thing
I will say that kind of brings this PO
down for me is that we get a very
extended sex scene with Carl the maid
and Asha to the point where I'm just
like I get that that Asha had sex but do
we really need almost like two pages
worth of this like it feels like you're
reading like a I don't know what you
would call like a sex novel or like I
don't know what you would call it but
it's basically how it plays out in the
the two pages it's on more or less and
so I understand why it's necessary for
George to show that Asha is having sex
you can just do it in a better way just
like be like oh yeah they started in it
and then that's it cut it off right
there we don't need to hear the whole
thing but the point of what George is
trying to do with it is showing that
Asha feels all the pressures of the
world are are slowly drag are slowly
boxing her in she sees her life will be
ending soon as either the Northman will
come for her or if she leaves the
ironborn coming for her and euron she
sees her life is coming to a close and
so just for these few you know minutes
or wherever long they having sex
she's taken out of that she's able to
you know have a life and enjoy things
going on and so it's a point of that
it's trying to take away some of that
stress on Asha outside of that this
chapter is pretty perfect we see Asha
trying to figure out what to do as she
has fled the king the king's moveed for
deepwood M should she flee or fight and
we see Stannis along with the northmen
attack her in the middle of the night as
they try to sneak to the castle to the
open the gates but Asha has faced with a
decision she can either flee back to her
boats or try to fight them at deepwood
mot and her rationale is pretty sound
when she tried to take deepwood mot it
the castle didn't help them it wasn't
that defensible she was able to take it
pretty easily and so she comes to the
same conclusion she must flee to her
boats the only issue is the northmen
know these forests better than she does
and in the night they are caught up once
again by Stannis Stannis and the
northmen and St and Asha fights for a
while being able to kill many men along
with some of her companions but
eventually she is caught and she sees as
as the banner of Stannis comes upon them
and leaving Asha to an interesting fate
is Asha going to die or be captured I
think for any reader they know she's
going to be captured because we need a
POV for Stannis but it makes sense as to
why she would just be captured as Asha
is a very valuable hostage and that ends
Asha W for a dance Dragon so I personally love this last chatter we did
personally love this last chatter we did that we did in this part but that is
that we did in this part but that is going to be the end of part two thank
going to be the end of part two thank you guys all for watching I hope you
you guys all for watching I hope you guys all enjoyed subscribe if you
guys all enjoyed subscribe if you enjoyed the video if you got this far
enjoyed the video if you got this far these videos do take a lot of time to do
these videos do take a lot of time to do and I hope you guys all enjoyed them bye
and I hope you guys all enjoyed them bye guys
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