As Tyrion and company continue their trip towards Dany they now encounter a creepy fog that seems to stick to everything and muffle the world around them. The others insist that the fog is enchanted and not natural and as I read the chapter I became inclined to believe them. They pass by several ruins of once beautiful cities and I wonder if a similar fate awaits them and their plans.
As they arrive at the Bridge of Dream we are introduced to the Stone Men and we get more information on greyscale, the disease that afflicted Stannis' daughter. Apparently, it is so named because it slowly turns a person's extremities numb, grey, and cold, like stone. It would start in the extremities and work its way in until it did the same to a person's internal organs and caused death. It sounds like a fantastic way to go. There is a fear as they approach the bridge because they do not want to be attacked by these Stone Men. It is at this point that we are given our first (hopefully of several) big reveals of this book. Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, grandson of the Mad King, and nephew of Daenerys, is frickin' alive! At least, we are told that he is alive and now going by the name of Young Griff. I've learned not to trust Martin completely though I suspect this is the real deal. Now I get why Young Griff was being tutored so heavily. I guess he won't be a lackey to Tyrion after all. Of course, this raises many other questions such as "how did Aegon escape death when Kings Landing was sacked and who was the baby who was presented to Tywin?" Varys is definitely involved here. I'm certain of that. It certainly paints the events of that day and of the last 20 years in a very different light.
If Varys was the one who switched the real Aegon with a fake Aegon to be killed, then he and Illyrio have been deeply involved in the protection of the true Targaryen king this entire time. While Varys served Robert and his "sons" he was secretly keeping the Targaryen king alive and preparing him to reign. Is that why Varys allowed the attempts on Dany's life? Because he knew that she is not the true heir to the throne after all? What does all of this mean in regards to how Varys and Illyrio handled Viserys and Dany for all of those years? Have they been keeping Dany as a backup or have they been guiding her to a secondary purpose? She is not the heir any longer, but she could be the queen still if she were to marry Aegon. That wouldn't be out of the question within the Targaryen family. It's just strange now that Dany isn't the queen as I've been rooting for her to take back Westeros for so long!
I'm now even more excited for this group to get to Dany. Before I just wanted to see Tyrion and Dany together, but now I want to see what happens when they introduce Dany to her long lost nephew. Will she be able to submit to him or will there be problems? I also want to know if Doran Martell knows about Aegon. He is his nephew as well so the Martells are now/still connected to the Targaryen in an even more serious way.
Good point about Aegon being Doran’s nephew. I had not remembered that. Remember in AFFC, Doran was telling Arianne of his plan for her to marry someone but his head was smashed against the wall or something like that, so I would likely think that Doran has not been involved in this plan to hide Aegon.
ReplyDeleteSince Ageon is still alive, I can't help but think that Dany will not make it through this war she has probably brought upon herself.
Oh yeah...I did forget about that conversation. So maybe Doran doesn't know unless he was being very careful to hide it from Arianne as well?
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