Feb 18, 2011
Episode 38: Jelly Belly
Episode 38 for the week of February 13th, in which we bring you a belated Valentine’s Day present in the form of our dulcet tones. We review chapters 64 and 65 of A Game of Thrones, open the Heir to the North theory to listener comments, and discuss fermented mare’s milk. Matt was our guest host for this week.
If the intro baffles you, that’s just Mimi counting to ten in Mongolian, in contrast to the numbers given in the Dothraki vocabulary guide. It made sense at the time. Sort of.
22 Comments, Comment or Ping
Ashley
just want to say, that banging around the 40 min mark was my farrets, they bang the cage for attention and then got distracted by a bell toy.
Feb 18th, 2011
Tom
On Dragonstone: it is volcanic. Davos mentions it when he was down in the dungeons.
Feb 18th, 2011
Anonymous
it was septa mordane (not old nan) who “was done away with” at the same time as ned
Feb 18th, 2011
Sam
Regarding pronunciation, I don’t see the big deal with Ser being prounounced ‘Saire’. I always assumed that if it was meant to be pronounced as ‘Sir’ then George would have written it that way. It may have been simpler to just say ‘Sir’ for TV though.
Feb 19th, 2011
ranjitb
The big deal is that it’s pretentious as fuck.
Feb 21st, 2011
Zeyik
I reread Bran’s last chapter in Clash of Kings and came to three conclusions.
1) Old Nan has not been confirmed as dead.
2) Biter is actually Benjin Stark(there was a Stark in the tomb named Benjin the Biter)
3) Rickon and Osha will either heading to the Umbers, or White Habor. (Those are two of the places that Maester Luwin advises and Osha said they would take the Kings road for a ways. Doesn’t Davos “die” @ White Harbor in AFFC?)
Feb 21st, 2011
DaAlCh
Really good episode. You guys kept me entertained on a long car ride home.
As for Old Nan, I believe she was taken to the Dreadfort with the other Winterfell survivors at the end of ACOK. As for the TV show, I’m guessing that they’ll just have the character pass away between seasons, just to give Bran another reason to angst.
Feb 21st, 2011
oxmix
Okay, here is the nub of why the Jeyne-is-alive-and-pregnant story line works, besides the whole hips thing.
Maggie the Frog was a Magi known for her love potions and fortune telling. Sybel, the Magi’s granddaughter, may have learned the recipe. (And yes, “sibyl” means a woman who can foretell the future.) Robb suddenly fell madly in love with the great-granddaugter of a woman who was famous for mixing love potions. Love potions, by the way, are central to the medieval romance Tristan and Isolde. Perhaps this is a coincidence. But if you’re thinking that this is a coincidence and that the hips thing is a mistake, its kind of a dis to the author.
If you think that it’s not a coincidence, and that Sybel the sibyl slipped Rob a mickey, the obvious motive would be revenge against the Lanisters for the Magi.
And where is Ser Reynald?
Feb 21st, 2011
Tom
How does Robb getting date raped take revenge on the Lannisters? Tywin is clearly aware of this happening and pleased with it. So they get revenge on the Lannisters by expediting the murder of the Lannisters’ biggest foe? What am I missing here?
Feb 22nd, 2011
oxmix
Yeah, good question. When I wrote “obvious motive” I really should have written “weird, obscure motive.” My idea is Sybel the sibyl knows that the Starks are ultimately going to prevail over the Lanisters, so this is her chance to be on the winning side while fooling Tywin into thinking that she is a Lanister loyalist. It only makes sense if Sybel is magic.
Feb 25th, 2011
Tom
Ok, so she wants to be in the Starks’ good graces? She does this by conspiring to kill their king?
Feb 25th, 2011
oxmix
Just because she magics Rob into impregnating her daughter does not mean she conspired to kill Rob. Tywin wants Sybel to get Rob to break his contract with Frey. Sybel, who fears Tywin and does not want to be the next Castamere, says, “OK, Tywin. And, I’ll make sure my daughter does not get pregnant, so you won’t have to kill her.” Meanwhile, Sybel the sibyl knows that Rob’s baby is going to be the Wolf that Mounts the World, or some such thing, so she gives Jeyne fertility drinks (and yes, they are fertility drinks). Then when the Red Wedding goes down, Sybel swoops in with a substitute Jeyne. You know, just some Jeyne Doe from the Jeyne pool. Then she waits around until Cersei is killed, and yells out “Grandmother, thou art avenged!”
Or maybe not.
Feb 25th, 2011
oxmix
I just came across this in Dune, and I thought it made an interesting parallel. It’s a bit of dialogue between Paul Atreides and the head witch.
Paul: You talk about my father as though he were dead. Well he isn’t!
Witch: If there were a thing to be done for him, we’d have done it. We may be able to salvage you. Doubtful, but possible. But for your father, nothing.
Feb 28th, 2011
oxmix
And the stuff about Mongolia was cool.
Feb 21st, 2011
DaAlCh
I know, that little diversion had some of the most interesting stuff in it. Not that the rereads are bad, of course.
Feb 21st, 2011
FaBio
Yo, Podsters,
Old Nan is certainly not dead. She holds the secret to Hodor’s bloodline, which is supposedly something special. So I can’t see her as dead-at-Dreadfort.
(Though … it is Martin. So … yeah.)
As to Jeyne Westerling… it was Catelyn who noted she had decent “child-birthing hips,” (whereas she noted Edmure’s little Frey wife did not) and when Jaime saw “Jeyne” she was exceedingly slim.
I subscribe to the theory that Jeyne Stark escaped, possibly with the Blackfish (though you could argue that the swim might be risky, what with her pregnant). I don’t think Sybel gave her moon tea at all. I think the slim girl Jaime saw was Jeyne’s younger sister.
Maegi have long memories. And magic is coming back…
Feb 26th, 2011
oxmix
Maybe Old Nan is the Tom Bombadil of Westeros.
Feb 26th, 2011
burningtime
Holy shit. that just blew my mind. I hope so. She’s probably chillin’ in the Wolfswood telling trees to go to sleep.
Feb 27th, 2011
easttexasdirewolf
Are you serious about Hodor’s bloodline being special? I haven’t heard about that.
Mar 1st, 2011
Chase
His name is Walder. That’s about it.
Mar 1st, 2011
PaulS
Hey.. cant remember this was the right episode.. but the reference to Skull Island that GRRM was talking about when writing was a reference to King Kong, as he’d been referring to “tackling Kong” and whatnot. Skull Island is where they found him.
So yeah, not specific ASOIAF reference.
Mar 13th, 2011
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