Amph A Song of Ice and Fire (Spoiler Thread) - mask spoilers for TWOW

1. Coldhands is also dead. Benjen, such as he is, may not want to further traumatize Bran. After all, the younger Stark doesn't even know Benjen went missing.

2. Coldhands is probably not the same person he was when he was alive-- e.g. Catelyn and Beric, although they were actually brought back to life. He may not care about Bran as family and may not even remember him. He could just have some sporadic memories, reflexes (call Sam "brother") and knowledge.

3. Coldhands refuses to show Bran and co. his face. This could be because his face is extremely decayed and would be frightening or it could be because he knows Bran would recognize him.

It's criminal that we only got 3 Bran chapters in ADWD. I wanted to see more of his adventures beyond the Wall.

There is never anything criminal about reducing the number of Bran chapters.

Alright, well those are possible explanations for his motives, but not the elves. I'm also pretty skeptical about the "traumatizing" element of death if the person is in fact still with you and interacting. I mean, he still has a real physical body and everything. What does it even matter? That's like how Daredevil is blind but his superpowers allow him to "see."

Like I said, he may not be the same person. And he's still a corpse. I wouldn't be so happy if that happened to my uncle.

I thought the only rightful queen in your opinion was Dany...?

Jello, what made you think (before Aegon was 'revealed') that Daenerys would make a good Queen? OTHER than birthright. That is bs in this universe, because as original Aegon seized control of the Seven Kingdoms by force, so did the Baratheons. So isn't birthright null unless your family is on the throne? If you can seize it back that's all well and good, but birthright means nothing.

What's this business about being second or third in line making somebody irrelevant, especially in a dynasty like the lately-made-scarce Targaryens or in a story like ASOIAF? The Targs gotta work with everything they have.

Why was all that stuff about Stannis and Renly in the books? About who is more fit to be king? Because it sets up a greater, repeating occurrence of this thematic mainstay for later on in the series. Writers do it all the time. Aegon or Jon Snow may have better claims, but one of them falls very potentially into the "conqueror, not a ruler" category and the other doesn't he even know he's got the bloodline (IF he even does, at that). On the other hand, you have Daenarys who is actually learning to rule in the giant experimental lab that is Mereen. And she is a proven conqueror with an elite and disciplined trained fighting force (not this mercenary company of Aegon's), with three superweapons called dragons. Dragons are basically the equivalent of nukes in the Westeros universe. Except dragons can be used more than one time. Dany has three; no one else has any.

Oh, and Caedus, I think you need to read ADWD again. Maybe some of you found Dany's chapters the utmost height of boring, but I'm sorry they didn't have the razzle-dazzle entertainment factor that watching rulers like Joffrey or Robert or Cersei provided...

The fate of Jon Snow is one of the most interesting to me. Did he die? If so, did he warg into Ghost? Will Melisandre immediately resurrect him? Does she even know how or that it's possible (Thoros did it by accident)? When he's back, will he still be a member of the Night's Watch? Will he use the fact that he died as a weird technicality to get out of his oath? If he regains control of the Watch (which is a possibility since he is the only one who could command any sort of loyalty from the Wildlings), will he just be an LC again? Or will he be a sort of new Night's King so he can fight the Boltons (although Stannis wouldn't be too happy with him, assuming Stannis lives)?

Dany needs control of her dragons before they're any sort of "superweapons." I think Jhoqo's Khalesar may help her with the defense of Mereen (for what reason they'll decide to help her I don't know). Victarion is essentially bringing the dragon horn to her-- at the head of a large invasion force, so who knows how that will turn out.

I'd be hugely surprised if Jon wasn't resurrected by Melisandre in the next book... though I'm not sure about "immediately". We'll probably get several Jon!Ghost chapters, first.

He'll probably come out the other end of whatever ritual brings him back with white hair, too.

Another thing I find interesting is the fate of Jamie and Brienne and the whole Lady Stoneheart plotline. I really have no idea what will happen to the first two.

I like the rather crazy idea (given the geography and logistical problems) that Jon Snow will somehow be the one to kill Lady Stoneheart for good, though I admit it doesn't seem to have a good chance of happening. What's the significance of the Lady Stoneheart plotline? Is she just there to serve as an antagonist to Brienne and Jamie? Is she going to end up destroying the Freys somehow? It doesn't seem likely, given her personality and who she is (was), that she'll be able to gather a lot more men to her and be able to form a larger, more formidable force. The whole thing is weird. She doesn't seem to have much in the way of larger importance so far (in the ASOIAF world), but Catelyn was a viewpoint character... and so was Quentyn "Extra Crispy" Martell, so I guess viewpoint doesn't necessarily mean important in the long run.

There's also Samwell's storyline. It seems mostly straightforward, but a Faceless Man (was Jaquen at one point) took the guise of someone at the Citadel. Why? Who is he there to kill? Sam? Who would want to kill a lowly member of the Night's Watch? Could the Faceless Man be there for another reason other than to cause someone's death?

Oh, right, that one dude went to Riverrun. I forgot about that.