Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister; the ties that bind

Potential Spoilers Below

Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister 

the ties that bind

Tyrion and Daenerys

ASOIAF:  Where we left them

“The carcass was too heavy for him to bear back to his lair, so Drogon consumed his kill there, tearing at the charred flesh as the grasses burned around them, the air thick with drifting smoke and the smell of burnt horsehair. Dany, starved, slid off his back and ate with him, ripping chunks of smoking meat from the dead horse with bare, burned hands. In Meereen I was a queen in silk, nibbling on stuffed dates and honeyed lamb, she remembered. What would my noble husband think if he could see me now? Hizdahr would be horrified, no doubt. But Daario … Daario would laugh, carve off a hunk of horsemeat with his arakh, and squat down to eat beside her.

Drogon

Meereen

Hizdahr

Daario

As the western sky turned the color of a blood bruise, she heard the sound of approaching horses. Dany rose, wiped her hands on her ragged undertunic, and went to stand beside her dragon.

That was how Khal Jhaqo found her, when half a hundred mounted warriors emerged from the drifting smoke.”

“Or dead dwarfs,” said Jorah Mormont. “We are all like to be feeding worms by the time this battle is done. The Yunkai’i have lost this war, though it may take them some time to know it. Meereen has an army of Unsullied infantry, the finest in the world. And Meereen has dragons. Three of them, once the queen returns. She will. She must. Our side consists of two score Yunkish lordlings, each with his own half-trained monkey men. Slaves on stilts, slaves in chains … they may have troops of blind men and palsied children too, I would not put it past them.”

Ser Jorah Mormont

Yunkai

Unsullied infantry

“Oh, I know,” said Tyrion. “The Second Sons are on the losing side. They need to turn their cloaks again and do it now.” He grinned. “Leave that to me.”

Leaders of the Second Sons

In the TV show the two have already met but for this we are going the route of the books.

TWOT: Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag and Matrim Cauthon – what binds them?

Matrim or simply Mat is a ta’veren.  Ta’veren are people around whom the Wheel of Time specifically weaves the Pattern with all surrounding life-threads.  While taking refuge in Shadar Logoth with Rand and Perrin the three ta’veren’s encounter Mordeth who offer them treasure and then attacks them.  Mat takes the ruby hilted dagger which infects him and he almost dies as a result of it.  His connection to the ruby hilted dagger also leaves holes in his memories and he forgets a lot of the events after he encounters Mordeth.  The connection to the dagger is removed when he is taken to Tar Valon and the Aes Sedai save his life.  While in Tear he is told about the twisted red doorframe there which turns out to be a ter’angreal.  This door leads to the land of the Aelfinn.  The Aelfinn will give you the answer to 3 questions asked.  One thing he learns when he goes through the door is that he is fated to marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons.  Mat is bestowed with luck, because of his ta’veren nature, that makes him almost unbeatable at games of chance and life in general.  The luck also warns him when something dangerous or important is about to happen by having the sound of dice rattling in his head and stopping when the event is imminent.   Mat goes through another twisted red doorframe at Rhuidean which leads to the Eelfinn who grant 3 wishes.  Mat not knowing this starts asking questions thinking he is speaking to the same creatures but they don’t answer.  Frustrated he starts making demands.  One thing he unknowingly asks for is to have the holes in his memory filled.  The Eelfinn oblige by giving him the memories of great generals dating thousands of years back.  Mat enters the world of the Finn once more when he enters the Tower of Ghenjei.

Perrin - Rand - Mat

Shadar Logoth

Mordeth

Ruby-hilted dagger

Twised Red Doorframe in Tear

Twisted red doorframe in Rhuidean

Rhuidean

The Tower of Ghenjei

Tuon is the second and favorite daughter of the Empress of the Seanchan empire. 

“Behind her veil, she was merely the High Lady Tuon, of no higher rank than many others of the Blood, but in her heart, always, she was Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag, Daughter of the Nine Moons, and she had come to reclaim what had been stolen from her ancestor.” 

Her people the Seanchan have crossed the Aryth Ocean and are in the process of re-conquering the lands that were once held by Artur Hawkwing.  The Seanchen are formidable warriors. 

It is said of the Seanchan that they come from the Islands of the Dead from which no ship returns.

Mat and Tuon stories come to a head when he is in the process of fleeing Ebou Dar.  At the stableyard, Tuon confronts him and he grabs her.  Egeanin and the others arrive and she names Tuon the Daughter of the Nine Moons.  Mat stunned and talking out loud names her his wife three times.  Mat not knowing what to do takes Tuon with them as a captive when they leave the city.  Egeanin tells Mat the following after they leave Ebou Dar:  

Bayle and Egeanin

“You named her your wife three times that night in Ebou Dar,” she said slowly. “You really don’t know? A woman says three times that a man is her husband, and he says three times she’s his wife, and they’re married. There are blessings involved, usually, but it’s saying it in front of witnesses that makes it a marriage. You really didn’t know?”

Mat knows because of the answers he received from the Aelfinn that one day she will speak the words to truly make her his wife.  Tuon was told by a truth speaker that she would one day marry the man that remembers Hawkwing’s face.  Since Mat was given the memories of great generals he remembers Hawkwings face.  Mat and Tuon undergo a strange courtship during their travels.  Months later the Seanchan Banner-General Furyk Karede arrives after searching for Tuon, Mat decides to let her go with him back to Ebou Dar.  Tuon stunning everyone says the words that Mat is her husband three times completing the marriage ceremony.

Banner-General Furyk Karede

“All those battles with the flaming dice rattling away in his head, all those skirmishes and raids, and they had to stop when she said a few words.”

ASOIAF:  What I believe will bind Tyrion and Daenerys?

First of all I have already posted a blog that shows how I believe that Tyrion is the Mat character from TWOT.  Click on the link below for the details:

Tyrion Lannister is Mat Cauthon

In TWOT Tuon is kidnapped by Mat and that brings then together.  In ASOIAF Ser Jorah kidnaps Tyrion and that is what will ultimately bring Dany and Tyrion together.

Both book readers and show viewers know that Tyrion was almost killed because of the dagger that was used in an attempt to kill Bran Stark.  That dagger was said to belong to Tyrion and kicked off the War of the Five Kings after Catelyn Stark takes him prisoner.  To me that dagger is a homage to the ruby hilted dagger from TWOT.  Had it not been for what I believe his luck and knowledge that he obtained through reading, which I see as Mat’s memories being filled with great generals dating back thousands of years, he would have been killed also.

The dagger used in the attempt to kill Bran
Notice that it has a ruby-hilt like that in TWOT

War of the Five Kings

Catelyn Stark

“I must do my part for the honor of my House, wouldn’t you agree? Yet how? Well, my legs may be too small for my body, but my head is too large, although I prefer to think it is just large enough for my mind. I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind … and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. “That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.”

King Robert

Robert and his warhammer

Jon Snow

Those who have read the ASOIAF books know that when placed in situations where Tyrion has to fight he has shown himself to possess a keen mind for strategy, as is evidenced in his research in defending against sieges and successfully conducting the defense of King's Landing during the Battle of the Blackwater. Tyrion prides himself on his ability to read people as easily as he does books, and he has on many occasions easily gotten the better of not just Joffrey and Cersei but also experienced players such as Littlefinger and Pycelle.

King's Landing

Joffrey

Cersei

Littlefinger

Pycelle

Daenerys to me is the Tuon character from TWOT.  This description to me of her makes her the Daughter of the Nine Moons.

“She had been born on Dragonstone nine moons after their flight,”

Dragonstone

She like Tuon was the second daughter of Aerys and Rhaella if you count Shaena who was stillborn.  The other miscarriages and the gender of the children were not known.

Aerys

Rhaella

Like Tuon she also is trying to reclaim her families title and lands; which she perceives as being stolen from her.

Valyria where the Targaryen’s came from is now known as a place where ships who travel to almost never return.

Valyria

Like Mat going through and receiving answers to his questions; Daenerys was provided the same in the House of the Undying:

House of the Undying

“I have come for the gift of truth,” Dany said. “In the long hall, the things I saw . . . were they true visions, or lies? Past things, or things to come? What did they mean?”

. . . the shape of shadows . . . morrows not yet made . . . drink from the cup of ice . . . drink from the cup of fire . . .”

Where in TWOT the twisted red doorframe is tied to Mat, it is tied to Daenerys in ASOIAF.  Those who are familiar with the books know that the “Red Door” is mentioned numerous times within the 5 books, nineteen times to be exact.  I believe that this will be extremely important as the story evolves because of its importance within TWOT.

If you have followed my blogs you also know that I believe that Tyrion is also a Targaryen which you can see for yourself in my blog:

Tyrion Lannister is Mat Cauthon

Daenerys said the following:

“She had always assumed that she would wed Viserys when she came of age. For centuries the Targaryens had married brother to sister, since Aegon the Conqueror had taken his sisters to bride. The line must be kept pure, Viserys had told her a thousand times; theirs was the kingsblood, the golden blood of old Valyria, the blood of the dragon. Dragons did not mate with the beasts of the field, and Targaryens did not mingle their blood with that of lesser men. Yet now Viserys schemed to sell her to a stranger, a barbarian.”

Viserys

Aegon and his sisters

I think she was partially right.  She is going to marry her brother only she got which brother wrong.  Tyrion and Daenerys like Mat and Tuon are fated to marry.

There were three Ta’veren within TWOT.   I believe that it was simply replaced with the word Targaryen in ASOIAF.  I see Daenerys, Jon Snow and Tyrion as the three Targaryen’s and I see Bran as the Pattern.

TWOT:  Mat’s Band of the Red Hand

Mat’s Band of the Red Hand consists of members from 5 nations.  They are members of Tear, Cairhien, Altara, Andor and Murandy.  His banner consist of a red hand on a white filed with the motto “It’s time to toss the dice” below.  The men in the band are personally loyal to Mat because of his ta’veren charisma and because of his reputation of never losing a battle.  Mat in the beginning of the story is never really taken seriously because he is always in trouble. 

It's time to toss the dice

“Yes, that is Mat,” Egwene sighed. He had been the most irresponsible boy in Emond’s Field, maybe in the Two Rivers. “But if he gives his word, he keeps it.”

When Mat is about to make a decision that could end in life or death he usually utters the words “It’s time to toss the dice” in some form or another.

Mat likes to gamble, drink, is a ladies’ man and is constantly flirting with women.  His smile and his humor his greatest assets.  After he is married he still looks but justifies it by telling himself he is only looking to setup his friends with the women he sees.  I remember one saying that I believe relates directly back to ASOIAF:

“How could he talk to a woman if he could not try to make her smile?”

ASOIAF: Tyrion’s Band

Tyrion’s first command consisted of the Hill Tribes which consisted of 5 groups.  They were The Stone Crows, The Burned Men, The Black Ears, The Moon Brothers and The Painted Dogs.

Tyrion with some to the Hill Tribes

There was something interesting said about Timett that to me is a direct tie to TWOT:

Timett

“And even the other Burned Men feared Timett, who had put out his own left eye with a white-hot knife when he reached the age of manhood. Tyrion gathered that it was more customary for a boy to burn off a nipple, a finger, or (if he was truly brave, or truly mad) an ear. Timett’s fellow Burned Men were so awed by his choice of an eye that they promptly named him a red hand, which seemed to be some sort of a war chief.”

Another tie between the two stories is the fact that Mat chooses to give up his own left eye in order to save the world.  The Aelfinn told him the following: “To give up half the light of the world to save the world!”

We know that people don’t take Tyrion seriously because he is a dwarf.  Tyrion isn’t quite a ladies’ man but he frequently visits whore houses.  He tends to overindulge in food, drink, and sex in part to self-medicate for the terrible treatment he's suffered most of his life. Tyrion may be considered untrustworthy, because he is a Lannister, but he also never goes back on his word because like the words of his house “A Lannister always pays his debts.”  He also uses humor to deflect other people seeing him only as being a dwarf.

Tyrion also when in life or death situation utters the phrase “It’s time to toss the dice” in some form or another:

And now to roll the dice, he thought with another quick glance back at Bronn. “Where to begin? I am a vile little man, I confess it.  My crimes and sins are beyond “counting, my lords and ladies. I have lain with whores, not once but hundreds of times. I have wished my own lord father dead, and my sister, our gracious queen, as well.” Behind him, someone chuckled. “I have not always treated my servants with kindness. I have gambled. I have even cheated, I blush to admit. I have said many cruel and malicious things about the noble lords and ladies of the court.” That drew outright laughter.”

Bronn

“Know?” Tyrion squatted awkwardly on his stunted legs to build the fire. “I tossed the dice. Back at the inn, you and Chiggen helped take me captive.”

“Everyone tells me that.” Tyrion glanced up at the sellsword. “Did I offend you? My pardons … but you are scum, Bronn, make no mistake. Duty, honor, friendship, what’s that to you? No, don’t trouble yourself, we both know the answer. Still, you’re not stupid. Once we reached the Vale, Lady Stark had no more need of you … but I did, and the one thing the Lannisters have never lacked for is gold. When the moment came to toss the dice, I was counting on your being smart enough to know where your best interest lay. Happily for me, you did.” He slammed stone and steel together again, fruitlessly.”

The Vale

“Oh, I imagine they’ll be here long before it comes to sleep.” The smell of the roasting meat made Tyrion’s mouth water.

Bronn watched him across the fire. “You have a plan,” he said flatly, with a scrape of steel on stone.

“A hope, call it,” Tyrion said. “Another toss of the dice.”

“With our lives as the stake?”

Tyrion shrugged. “What choice do we have?” He leaned over the fire and sawed a thin slice of meat from the kid. “Ahhhh,” he sighed happily as he chewed. Grease ran down his chin. “A bit tougher than I’d like, and in want of spicing, but I’ll not complain too loudly. If I were back at the Eyrie, I’d be dancing on a precipice in hopes of a boiled bean.”

“And yet you gave the turnkey a purse of gold,” Bronn said.”

“When dawn broke, he found he could not face the thought of food. By evenfall I may stand condemned. His belly was acid with bile, and his nose itched. Tyrion scratched at it with the point of his knife. One last witness to endure, then my turn. But what to do? Deny everything? Accuse Sansa and Ser Dontos? Confess, in the hope of spending the rest of his days on the Wall? Let the dice fly and pray the Red Viper could defeat Ser Gregor Clegane?”

Sansa

Ser Dontos

The Wall

The Red Viper and Ser Gregor Clegane

Also Tyrion makes the following statement in the TV show which I believe is a direct play on words  to Mat saying: “How could he talk to a woman if he could not try to make her smile?”

“But who needs wealth when you can make a woman laugh?”

TWOT: Plot to kill Tuon

Semirhage, one of the Forsaken, confronts High Lady Suroth and offers to make her Empress if she will kill Tuon:

Semirhage

The Forsaken

High Lady Suroth

“Great Mistress, if Tuon really is alive, then…then killing her will be difficult.” She had to force those words out. To kill the Empress…. Even thinking it was difficult. To become Empress. Her head felt as if it might float off her shoulders. “She will have her sul’dam and damane with her, and some of her Deathwatch Guards.” Difficult? Killing her would be impossible in those circumstances. Unless Semirhage could be induced to do it herself. Six damane might well be dangerous even to her. Besides, there was a saying among commoners. The mighty tell the lesser to dig in the mud and keep their own hands clean. She had heard it by chance, and punished the man who spoke it, but it was true.

sul'dam and a collared damane

Deathwatch Guard 

ASOIAF: Plot to kill Dany

King Robert, Ned and the members of the Small council meet as Robert directs the topic of conversation towards killing Daenerys

Ned with members of the Small council

“Robert, I beg of you,” Ned pleaded, “hear what you are saying. You are talking of murdering a child.”

“The whore is pregnant!” The king’s fist slammed down on the council table loud as a thunderclap. “I warned you this would happen, Ned. Back in the barrowlands, I warned you, but you did not care to hear it. Well, you’ll hear it now. I want them dead, mother and child both, and that fool Viserys as well. Is that plain enough for you? I want them dead.”

The other councillors were all doing their best to pretend that they were somewhere else. No doubt they were wiser than he was. Eddard Stark had seldom felt quite so alone. “You will dishonor yourself forever if you do this.”

“Then let it be on my head, so long as it is done. I am not so blind that I cannot see the shadow of the axe when it is hanging over my own neck.”

TWOT: The Tower of Ghenjei and the twisted red doorframes

Matt went through the Tower of Ghenjei and both twisted red doorframes and received what he needed to play out his part in the Last Battle.

I won’t cover it again but to see the similarities between Mat’s journey through the  Tower of Ghenjei and Dany’s journey through the House of the Undying see the link below:

  

A tour through the House of the Undying using the Tower of Ghenjei as a guide

“In some of those memories from other men he was white-haired, in some only a few years older than he really was, and everything in between, but there were none of childhood or growing up. What were the odds of that, if they had just stuffed him with random bits and pieces, likely things they considered rubbish or had done with? What did they do with memories, anyway? They had to have some reason for gathering them beyond giving them away again.”

ASOIAF: The House of the Undying and the Red Door

Daenerys has already gone through the House of the Undying and received answers and possibly has been given gifts that she us unaware of.  The “Red Door” however is what I will focus on right here.  Dany has focused on the “Red Door” so much why is that?  Has she been to the world where the Undying Ones of Qarth reside prior to her entering the House of the Undying as a child?  Where Mat was given memories to offset his missing ones but none concerneing childhood; was she given memories of childhood and the rest taken or augmented to make her forget?  Mat believed that they gave him those memories for a reason and that they were always connected to and observing him.  Will we find out the same about Dany?

Undying Ones of Qarth

“Khaleesi,” Cohollo said to her, in Dothraki. “Drogo, who is blood of my blood, commands me to tell you that he must ascend the Mother of Mountains this night, to sacrifice to the gods for his safe return.”

Dothraki people

Mother of Mountains

Only men were allowed to set foot on the Mother, Dany knew. The khal’s bloodriders would go with him, and return at dawn.”  The bloodriders are equivalent to the Deathwatch Guard for  the Seanchan Empress.

Drogo's Bloodriders

This now leads to where Daenerys is right now.  She will kill Khal Jhaqo and Mago if he is there with Drogon’s help and some others in the khalasar and the rest will bow before her.  

Dany surrounded by a khalasar from the TV show

I believe that she goes back to Vaes Dothrak which is the Rhuidean equivalent in ASOIAF.  While she is there she will ascend the Mother of Mountains and return at dawn, making her TWOT equivalent and be “She Who Comes With the Dawn.” 

Khalasar returning to Vaes Dothrak

I believe that when Dany ascends the “Mother of Mountains” she will again encounter the “Red Door” and be once again taken to the land of the Undying Ones of Qarth.  I think she will remember what was taken as a child and learn to speak with her dragons as was mentioned when she went through the House of the Undying.  This will be Mat’s equivalent of receiving 3 wishes/gifts from the Eelfinn.

“A willful beast,” laughed a handsome young man. “Shall we teach you the secret speech of dragonkind? Come, come.”

Where Mat received fluency in the Old Tongue, Daenerys will receive the ability to speak with dragons.

In TWOT Rand al’Thor went to Rhuidean with Mat and they both returned at dawn.  Years prior to the event an Aiel Maiden returns from the Blight with a message to stand ready for “He Who Comes With the Dawn” for the Aiel people.

Aiel Warriors
the Aiel are equivalent to the Dothraki and Wildlings in ASOIAF

When she returns another of the visions she has seen in the House of the Undying will come to pass:

“Beneath the Mother of Mountains, a line of naked crones crept from a great lake and knelt shivering before her, their grey heads bowed.”

A crone or dosh khaleen with Dany

She will now be more than a khal and take on the role of “The Stallion Who Mounts the World.”

The Stallion Who Mounts the World is a prophecy in the Dothraki religion. According to the prophecy, the Stallion is the "khal of khals" who will unite all the Dothraki under his single khalasar and ride to the ends of the earth. The prophecy states that "he will be the khal of khals, and all the people of the world will be his herd."

The Stallion Who Mounts the World is equivalent to the Car’a’carn in TWOT.

The Car'a'carn ("Chief of chiefs" in the Old Tongue) is the Aiel term for the one who will lead all Aiel, in accordance with the Prophecy of Rhuidean.

ASOIAF: Tyrion returns with the Second Sons

Tyrion has been trying to get the Second Sons to see reason and turn their cloaks yet once again back to Dany’s side.  Brown Ben Plumm seeing that they are lost otherwise agrees and now they will again be under her command.  Tyrion most likely parlays with Ser Barristan Selmy and it would be ironic if he picks up a white flag that has bloody handprint on it and waves it as a sign he wishes to surrender/talk.  It’s time to toss the dice, he says under his breath.

Barristan Selmy

ASOIAF: Daenerys returns to Meereen

After bringing the Dothraki into her fold she will fly back to Meereen on Drogon and will be able to control Drogon to an extent.  The Dothraki will be on her heels and will clean up the mess in Astapor heading towards Meereen.  She will encounter Victarion Greyjoy who has the Dragon Horn that his brother Euron Greyjoy gave him to take to bring the dragons to heel and also bring Daenerys back to be his bride.  Victarion will have his three servants blow the Dragon Horn but with her newly acquired gifts after going through the “Red Door” the Dragon Horn will not work as it should because of maybe a dragon medallion that she receives as a gift from the Undying Ones of Qarth. 

Astapor; city where Dany got the Unsullied

Dragon Horn

Mat received a fohead medallion which negates the flows of the One Power.  Maybe Dany receives a gift that negates the effects of magic in their world to an extent.  This gift could negate the effects of the Dragon Horn.

Foxhead Medallion

ASOIAF: Daenerys and Tyrion meet

Daenerys comes back to Meereen in full glory and power.  She meets up with Ser Barristan Selmy, Grey Worm and Missandei who give her a full report of what has happened since she flew off on Drogon’s back.  She meets Tyrion and just like in the show and asks why she shouldn’t just kill him like she does in the show.  He tells her something similar and she doesn’t kill him out of hand.  She then approaches Ser Jorah Mormont and asks the same of him.  Tyrion interjects the same as he does on the show but this time instead of banishing him she give him one of the gifts she received when she entered the “Red Door” on the Mother of Mountains.

Grey Worm

Missandei

Mat when he went through the twisted red doorframe the second time received an “Ashandarei.”  It is a long spear with a curved blade.

Ashandarei

Before Daenerys first walked into Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre she promised Ser Jorah the following:

Khal Drogo's funeral pyre

“Ser Jorah Mormont,” she said, “first and greatest of my knights, I have no bride gift to give you, but I swear to you, one day you shall have from my hands a longsword like none the world has ever seen, dragon-forged and made of Valyrian steel.”

I also believe that one of the gifts that she receives will be a Dragon-Forged longsword of Valyrian Steel.  Whether Drogon helps forge it remains to be seen.  She will then present it to Ser Jorah.

TWOT: Mat sums up the battle in minutes

“Rand stood staring after Mat long after the tent flaps had fallen to hide him. “I only heard the last bit,” he said finally. “Was it all like that?”

“Very nearly,” Lan replied. “With only a few minutes to study the maps, he laid out close to the battle plan that Rhuarc and the others made. He saw the difficulties and the dangers, and how to meet them. He knows about miners and siege engines, and using light cavalry to harry a defeated foe.”

Rhuarc

Rand looked at him. The Warder showed no surprise, not the twitch of an eyelash. Of course, he was the one who had said Mat seemed surprisingly knowledgeable about military matters. And Lan was not going to ask the obvious question, either, which was good. Rand had no right to give the little answer he had.”

ASOIAF: Tyrion sits in on Dany’s Council Meetings

I believe that Daenerys will start making plans to take the Iron Throne in Westeros and she will slowly start to trust Tyrion and invite him to her council meetings and he like Mat will within minutes sum up what they have spent days working on as easy as that.

Iron Throne

She will begin to start seeing his worth along with the rest of her councilors.  Tyrion will then be given a place of honor on her council.

TWOT: Mat’s worth

“What is he doing?” Tuon said, frowning. “He can’t think to sneak this many men out of Altara even if he knows where every last soldier is. There are always patrols, and sweeps by raken.” Again they took their time before answering. Perhaps she should try speaking very fast.

A raken in flight

“We’ve seen no patrols in better than three hundred miles, and no—raken?—no raken,” Edorion said quietly. He was studying her. Too late to stop his imaginings.

Edorion

Reimon laughed again. “If I know Mat, he’s planning us a battle. The Band of the Red Hand rides to battle again. It’s been too long, if you ask me.”

Selucia sniffed, and so did Mistress Anan. Tuon had to agree with them. “A battle won’t get you out of Altara,” she said sharply.

Selucia and Tuon

“In that case,” Talmanes said, “he’s planning us a war.” The other three nodded agreement as if that were the most normal thing under the Light. Reimon even laughed. He seemed to think everything was humorous.

Talmanes

“Three thousand?” Toy said. “You’re sure?”

“Sure enough, man.”

“Sure enough will do. Vanin can locate them if they haven’t moved too far.”

“Tuon looked at him, squatting there by the map, moving his fingers over its surface, and suddenly she saw him in a new light. A buffoon? No. A lion stuffed into a horse-stall might look like a peculiar joke, but a lion on the high plains was something very different. Toy was loose on the high plains, now.

She felt a chill. What sort of man had she entangled herself with? After all this time, she realized, she had hardly a clue.”

“Tell me, General,” Tuon said. “What is your assessment of our consorts abilities?”

“I don’t know where you found this one, Greatest One, but he is a diamond of great worth. I have watched him these last hours as he rescued the forces of the White Tower. For all of his . . . unconventional style, I have rarely seen a battle commander as gifted as he.”

Tuon did not smile, but he could see from her eyes that she was pleased.”

ASOIAF: Tyrion’s worth

I believe that Tyrion will be allowed to start making battle plans and Dany and her advisors will be extremely impressed by his cunning.  I also believe that the metaphor of Tuon seeing Mat/Toy as a lion loose on the high plains will take shape to what Dany saw in the House of the Undying.

“A white lion ran through grass taller than a man.”

I believe that this will translate into Tyrion’s military prowess.  Will he put together a plan using dragons to rescue the Citadel which is the White Tower equivalent?  That would be ironic as I believe we will be shown that the Maesters in the Citadel were responsible for the eradication of the dragons so long ago.  A maesters chain is the equivalent of a Aes Sedai shawl.

The Citadel

A maester wearing his chain of office

Members of the Blue Ajah wearing their shawls

TWOT: Mat rides a raken

“The wind whipped at Mat as he clung to the saddle of a winged beast hundreds of feet in the air.

Oh, blood and bloody ashes!” Mat yelled, one hand on his hat, the other clutching the saddle. He was tied in with some straps. Two little leather straps. Far too thin. Could they not have used more? Maybe ten or twenty? He would have been fine with a hundred!

Morat’raken were bloody insane. Every one of them! They did this every day! What was wrong with them?

Tied into the saddle in front of Mat, Olver laughed with glee.

Olver

Poor lad Mat thought. He’s so frightened he’s going mad. The lack of air up here is getting to him.

“There it is, my Prince!” the morat’raken, Sulaan, called to him from her place at the front of the flying beast. She was a pretty thing. Completely insane, too. “We’ve reached the valley. Are you sure you want to set down in there?”

“No!” Mat shouted.

“Good answer!” The woman made her beast swoop.

“Blood and bloody—”

Olver laughed.”

ASOIAF: Tyrion rides a dragon

“When he was still a lonely child in the depths of Casterly Rock, he oft rode dragons through the nights, pretending he was some lost Targaryen princeling, or a Valyrian dragonlord soaring high o’er fields and mountains. Once, when his uncles asked him what gift he wanted for his nameday, he begged them for a dragon. “It wouldn’t need to be a big one. It could be little, like I am.” His uncle Gerion thought that was the funniest thing he had ever heard, but his uncle Tygett said, “The last dragon died a century ago, lad.” That had seemed so monstrously unfair that the boy had cried himself to sleep that night.”

Casterly Rock

Gerion Lannister

Tygett Lannister

I think Tyrion will most likely ride Viserion.  Viserion is described as having a roar that would send a hundred lions running.  Viscerion is also known as the “White Dragon.”  Because I think Tyrion is the metaphorical “white lion” that Daenerys sees while in the House of the Undying I think it only fitting.

Viserion

Tyrion however will enjoy riding Viscerion where Mat did not enjoy riding the raken.  I guess dreams do come true.

ASOIAF:  Tyrion and Daenerys grow close

Over time the two will come to rely upon one another and will begin to realize that they truly care for one another.  They start taking daily dragon rides together  Missandei even notes to Daenerys that she seems to be happier when Tyrion is around.  Dany responds simply with “he is only one of her councilors.  Missandei counters with “is he not a man also, my Queen?

TWOT:  Tuon meets Rand

“Mat felt sorry for this poor fool caught sneaking into the palace. Maybe the man was an assassin, but he could just be a beggar or other fool looking for excitement. Or he could be . . .

. . .  the Dragon Reborn.

The Dragon Reborn

Mat groaned. Yes, that was Rand they led along the path. Rand looked older, more weathered, than the last time Mat had seen him in person.”

“Anyway, seeing Rand in person was different. It had been . . . Light, how long had it been? The last time I saw him with my own eyes was when he sent me to Salidar after Elayne. That felt like an eternity ago. It had been before he had come to Ebou Dar, before he had seen the gholam for the first time. Before Tylin, before Tuon.

Mat frowned as Rand was led up to Tuon, his arms bound behind his back. She spoke with Selucia, wiggling her fingers in their handtalk. Rand did not seem the least bit worried; his face was calm. He wore a nice coat of red and black, a white shirt underneath, black trousers. No gold or jewelry, no weapon at all.

“Tuon,” Mat began. “That’s—”

Tuon turned from Selucia to see Rand. “Damane! Tuon said, cutting Mat off. “Bring my damane Run, Musicar! RUN!”

The Deathwatch Guard stumbled backward, then ran, yelling for the damane and for Banner-General Karede.

Rand watched the man go, nonchalant though he was bound. You know, Mat thought idly, he kind of does look like a king. Of course, Rand was mad, most likely. That would explain why he had strolled up to Tuon like this.”

“What is this?” Tuon demanded.

Mat spun. “I . . . Really, it’s just . . .”

Her stare could have drilled holes in steel. “You did this,” she said to Mat. “You came, you lured me to be affectionate, then you brought him in. Is this true?”

“Don’t blame him,” Rand said. “The two of us needed to meet again. You know it is true.”

Mat stumbled out between them, raising one hand either direction. “Here now! Both of you, stop. You hear me!”

“Daughter of Artur Hawkwing,” Rand said to Tuon. “Time spins toward the end of all things. The Last Battle has begun, and the threads are being woven. Soon, my final trial will begin.”

Tuon stepped forward, Selucia waving a few last finger-talk words toward her. “You will be taken to Seanchan, Dragon Reborn,” Tuon said. Her voice was collected, firm.”

“You have delivered yourself to me,” Tuon said. “It is an omen.” She seemed almost regretful. “You did not truly think that I would allow you to stroll away, did you? I must take you in chains as a ruler who resisted me— as I have done to the others I found here. You pay the price of your ancestors’ forgetfulness. You should have remembered your oaths.”

“I see,” Rand said.

You know, Mat thought, he does a fair job of sounding like a king, too. Light, what kind of people had Mat surrounded himself with?”

“Tell me something, Empress,” Rand said. “What would you all have done if you’d returned to these shores and found Artur Hawkwing’s armies still ruling? What if we hadn’t forgotten our oaths, what if we had stayed true? What then?”

“We would have welcomed you as brothers,” Tuon said.

“Oh?” Rand said. “And you would have bowed to the throne here? Hawkwing’s throne? If his empire still stood, it would have been ruled over by his heir. Would you have tried to dominate them? Would you instead have accepted their rule over you?”

“That is not the case,” Tuon said, but she seemed to find his words intriguing.

“No, it is not,” Rand said.

“By your argument, you must submit to us.” She smiled.

“I did not make that argument,” Rand said, “but let us do so. How do you claim the right to these lands?”

“By being the only legitimate heir of Artur Hawkwing.”

“And why should that matter?”

“This is his empire. He is the only one to have unified it, he is the only leader to have ruled it in glory and greatness.”

“And there you are wrong,” Rand said, voice growing soft. “You accept me as the Dragon Reborn?”

“You must be,” Tuon said slowly, as if wary of a trap.

“Then you accept me for who I am,” Rand said, voice growing loud, crisp. Like a battle horn. “I am Lews Therin Telamon, the Dragon. I ruled these lands, unified, during the Age of Legends. I was leader of all the armies of the Light, I wore the Ring of Tamyrlin. I stood first among the Servants, highest of the Aes Sedai, and I could summon the Nine Rods of Dominion.”

Lews Therin Telamon

“Rand stepped forward. “I held the loyalty and fealty of all seventeen Generals of Dawn’s Gate. Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag, my authority supersedes your own!”

“Artur Hawkwing—”

“My authority supersedes that of Hawkwing! If you claim rule by the name of he who conquered, then you must bow before my prior claim. I conquered before Hawkwing, though I needed no sword to do so. You are here on my land, Empress, at my sufferance!”

Thunder broke in the distance. Mat found himself shaking. Light, it was just Rand. Just Rand . . . was it not?

Tuon backed away, eyes wide, her lips parted. Her face was full of horror, as if she had just seen her own parents executed.”

“Green grass spread around Rand’s feet. The guards nearby jumped back, hands to swords, as a swath of life extended from Rand. The brown and yellow blades colored, as if paint had been poured on them, then came upright—stretching as if after long slumber.

The greenness filled the entire garden clearing.”

“Do you deny my right?” Rand demanded. “Do you deny that my claim to this land precedes your own by thousands of years?”

“I . . .” Tuon took a deep breath and stared at him defiantly. “You broke the land, abandoned it. I can deny your right.”

Another thing to know about Rand is that he at times would create a fiery sword simply from using the One Power.

“Wings beat in the air above him. Snarling, Rand raised the fiery sword; the One Power burned in him, and fire roared from the blade. The stooping Draghkar exploded in a rain of burning chunks that fell into the darkness below.”

Draghkar 

ASOIAF: I missed a point I wanted to make

This is a little re-write to my blog Is Jon Snow Really Dead? 

My theory evolves as I go through my notes and I totally missed a big point as Dany saw something that applied to Jon that I didn’t place it under my notes for Jon.  I won’t re-write the entire thing just fill in the point that I forgot.

The dreamlike imagery fades as does the faces of his mother and father.  Jon opens his eyes.  He sees the face of a woman with red hair, who is she he thought to himself.  She looks at him and gasps.  He could hear the wildlings talking about his eyes.  Why were they talking about his eyes he did not understand?  He sat up and thanked the woman for saving his life.  As he did a huge beast padded over and licked his face and he grabbed and hugged the direwolf’s neck, Ghost he yelled.  The woman tells him she believes that Ghost probably had more to do with saving his life than anything that she herself had did.  She tells him that when she found him he was dead.  He rose to his feet and the lady bowed and called him my lord.  He helped her rise and proceeded to walk giving orders for a man there to bring a heavy hammer to his chambers.  He didn’t know why but he knew that man would obey his orders.  He entered what he knew to be his rooms without saying a word waiting until the hammer arrived in silence.  When the hammer arrived he took it from the man and started to pound at a wall within the room.  The man and woman continued to look at him not knowing what to think.  A hiding place within the wall appears and he reaches in and pulls out a sword.  The sword seemed to come alive in his hands and heat radiates from the blade.  In that instant it all came flooding back.  My name he thought is Jon Snow, no, that wasn’t quite right; my name is Jon Targaryen, the Sword of the Morning.  Melisandre drops to her knees and exclaims “Azor Ahai has come again!” 

Wildlings

Ghost

Melisandre

Azor Ahai

Jon walks over and picks ups a mirror.  He understood the talk about his eyes now.  Looking at his own reflection his eyes; they were now bluer than blue.

ASOIAF: Daenerys meets Jon

          Grey Worm enters the Queen’s audience chamber and tells Khaleesi that a man claiming to be Azor Ahai demands audience with her.  Tyrion thinks what a fool this man must be to demand anything from the Queen of Dragons.  Or he could be…

Dany's Audience Chamber

… Jon Snow.

          Seeing Jon like this was different.  How long had it been?  The last time he had seen him he had gone to Winterfell to help his brother Bran.  That had been a lifetime ago.  It had been before he had been taken captive by Lady Catelyn, before he had killed his lord father, before Shae, before Daenerys.

Winterfell

          Jon approaches and stops short of the steps that lead to where Daenerys sat surrounded by her Unsullied.  He casually unsheathes his sword and raises it into the air.  His eyes were blue.  Tyrion thinks back to what Daenerys had told him about one of her visions in the House of the Undying.  How she saw “Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow.”  By the Seven he does look like a king and he cast no shadow.  How did he pull that off in a room full of light?  What was that armor he was wearing, Tyrion had never seen its like before.

          Daenerys, Tyrion began.  That’s-

          Who is he?  Daenerys demanded.

          Tyrion looked at Jon and then to Daenerys.  He is the …

          “The Bastard of Winterfell”, your Grace, Jon said.  Seemly not even a bit uncomfortable surrounded by the Unsullied as he was.

          You know him? Dany said to Tyrion.

          His father was Ned Stark, Tyrion said.

          Then you are the friend of the man who killed my brother and usurped his throne.  Why should I not kill you where you stand?

          Daughter of Aerys Targaryen, Jon said to Dany.  The world sits on the precipice of destruction and you gather your forces against those who would save it.  By what right do you claim the throne?

          He even sounds like a king, Tyrion thought.

          By the right that my father was the true king of your Seven Kingdoms.  The blood of the Targaryen’s and Old Valyria flow through my veins.  I am his only legitimate heir.  Aegon the Conqueror forged it with the fire of dragons.  And now I will do the same!

          Then by your own argument, your Grace you are proved false.  My claim supersedes your own and in more ways than one.  Do you deny who I am for I hold the Red Sword of Heroes?

Ser Arthur Dayne holding Dawn
I believe that Dawn is the famed Red Sword of Heroes

          You claim to be Azor Ahai, Dany said; but any fool can hold a glowing sword and make a claim.  Shall I have my Unsullied kill you with your own blade?

          Almost if not hearing what Daenerys had said Jon sheathed his sword.  He spoke now with the authority of a king, Tyrion thought.  During the Age of Heroes I walked the land in the hopes of saving the world.  I happened a chance encounter with the Others who told me that I would one day free their people from tyranny.  It was there that they bestowed upon me with the Red Sword of Heroes.  They taught me to fight and become the greatest swordsman the world had ever known.  The blade can not be used against them. 

Others

          As he spoke Tyrion noticed that the room seemed to grow cold and it was not just him.  Everyone seemed to notice the cold, even the Unsullied seemed to be shaken at this.  Jon continued to speak.

          They told me that throughout the millennia that I would be reborn again and again until I was needed to set them free and face the growing darkness that would once again threaten the world.  I walked this world and helped Brandon the Builder raise the Wall.  I helped to setup kingdoms and taught men how to govern.  They wanted to name me king but that was not my destiny.  I taught the first members of the Nights Watch how to fight.  I am the sword in the darkness, the shield that guards the realms of men. Thunder crashed amidst a darkening sky.

Brandon the Builder

          It was then that Jon brought his hands together towards his chest and a sword made seemingly of ice more majestic than any Tyrion had ever seen formed before their very eyes.  Jon slammed the blade point down into the steps leading to Daenerys and ice spread into the whole of the audience chamber.

Time spins toward the end of all things.  The world approaches another breaking.  Your brother Rhaegar, my father, knew the truth of what was to come and gave his life for this hope of salvation.  So I ask you, your Grace where do you stand?

Daenerys sat there eyes wide staring at Rheagar’s son; her face full of fright.

Summary:
I believe that in this point in the story that it will be made clear that the true enemy will not be the Others but the Children of the Forest.  Bran will have proof of this and I will show this in my next blog.  Dany is being fed her information by the Children and when Jon confronts her and asks her where she stands he is referring to this truth. Tyrion and Dany will most likely already have married and the truth of Tyrion's parentage will have been revealed also to them via the Children of the Forest.

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the idea’s of others.  Most believe that since I present my idea’s as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.