So Soars, Times Like These...I fucking hate short chapters.

 

I tried. I really did. But enough is enough. I'm dropping So Soars, the amount of stupid is just freaking amazing.

Apparently Ned, Robert, Stannis, Paxter and Denys are all too dumb to do simple math and come to the conclusion that they are missing two senior Greyjoys until letters arrive reminding them that Victarion and Euron are still in the game. Funny thing, Robert already made peace and declared stability has returned to Westeros.

Oh yeah, one more thing. House Greyjoy will still rule the Iron Islands. So much bullshit.

I'm done.

 

Better to just squash the Greyjoys, eh?

Still, the author is doing something right; the last few pages of this thread were almost all about So Soars.

 

Would that be enough though? No, it would be a far better thing to put all to the sword, all who live on the Iron Islands to be killed, whether they were men, women or children.

Would it be a monstrous thing to do? Yes. Would it help save lives in the future? Yes.

Like it or not, honor, justice, lawfulness... it's never these things which keep the peace, but fear of retribution, fear of punishment should one err so grievously.

The Iron Islands serve no purpose whatsoever. Do they provide ships for the royal navy? Do they protect the Seven Kingdoms from pirates? Then why bother sparing them?

The same thought occurs to me whenever I'm reminded of the Stark-Bolton enmity, of how the Boltons goaded and rebelled against the Starks in the past, using cadet branches of their family to stir up things. And despite the cadet branches being wiped out, the Boltons don't seem to have suffered much at all. Perhaps a loss of land, execution of whoever was the then-current head of the family. And that's just me speculating.

Maybe this will be elaborated upon in that A World of Ice and Fire book that's coming out this autumn.

 

Yeah, deterrence definitely has no diminishing returns, nor does it have any side effects. Hell, while we're at it, just make the penalty for every crime the death penalty, because that will totally stop all crime.

 

I was obviously talking about things on a grander scale that impacted the Seven Kingdoms.

We aren't exactly talking about children stealing a loaf of bread so that they might not starve.

 

And plenty of people before you realized just why you have to calm down and not be a "hard man making hard choices" type caricature: not all wars have one side dominant, not all parties will support one side exterminating the other and once you break down the idea of peace and make wars existential matters you turn every conflict into a potentially never-ending one.Or one fatal to yourself. See: Aerys.

When Tywin Lannister believes in accepting peace from his enemies and being merciful and you don't you should look at yourself.

 

Ah, but Atri, the Greyjoys are pretty much wiped out. Let's forget for a moment about Victarion and Euron. Why are Greyjoys still allowed seniority over Iron Islands? There are other noble Houses there that could pick up the slack. And no, I don't mean to kill Theon and Asha. But Theon could be sent to the Wall and Asha to Silent Sisters. Not everything has to be dealt with a sword.
Heck, they could marry Asha off to someone in few years and be done with it.

Leaving House Greyjoy in power pretty much tells the ironborn: Well, we had our hurray. Greenlanders came and suppressed us but a Kraken still rules the Iron Islands! What is dead may never die!

It doesn't make sense. Period fuckin' dot.

Yeah, the author did something right. There are even flashes of great writing in this fic and he updates often. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of random things happening. Some characters even had idiot ball hotglued to their hand.

 

Hmm...yeah, I can understand that leaving your enemies in charge is a bad idea. I remember I read the other story of that author - the one where some Starks are sent back into their past - but I gave up after a while. I don't even know why.

Well, if you guys want a different take on the whole Greyjoy thing: I've been writing an ASOIAF story myself, if you're interested to check it out. At this point, the Greyjoy Rebellion is over.

Apart from that, are there any good recs right now? I'm in the mood for something epic...

 

Oh joy, another Lyanna/Rhaegar story of love, where Robert gets trashed senselessly. I'm starting to wonder if generally authors are incapable of deviating in the slightest from that shitfest. I have to ask now though, why would Lyanna not at least leave a message which would reveal with whom she eloped? Why did she think that Elia would accept her presence in court? Why did she think that running from her betrothal would have no serious consequences? Why did she, who was oh so bloody wise (Love is sweet etc.), think that life was a song?

No, seriously, I ask this questions (perhaps not literally in same form/shape) from many authors that put Lyanna/Rhaegar in their stories as a love-based relationship, yet I've not received one reply so far.

 

Wait, what?

In my story, at least, she went with him willingly at first, but then tried to go back. There are many reasons for a young girl in Lyanna's position to do so (charming prince, pressures of her position, lovesick fool) but then realized that reality wasn't so nice. I really don't get your problem. IC, she was always a rash girl.

 

Did she? I'm on Chapter 10 now, and have yet to read anything implying that, only Ned's supposition that she might have wanted to come back to prevent further bloodshed, but those are his thoughts, mere theory and speculation, no confirmation whatsoever whether Lyanna would have come back.

Also, you're already pushing magic into the story, way too early IMO, with that Cersei and Melisandre shit. Are they going to make a Polyjuice potion with Jaime's lock of hair?

 

Huh, interesting. You really are pretty focused on Lyanna, aren't you? In the end, it really doesn't matter, does it? I mean, whether it was a love story of the songs or something much darker. Both Lyanna and Rhaegar are dead, after all...

 

Very much true. Beyond them being dead, it shouldn't matter, but people tend to make Robert retroactively into something that he became after only many, many years of married life with Cersei. It's like they can't envision him being different in the slightest. If they read about him liking to drink and fuck when he was young, they immediately assume that meant he drank in the same excessive amount that he did later in life, during the ASOIAF books, and left dozens of bastards in his wake, when in truth there was only Mya Stone.

Lyanna, overall, is irrelevant, but I dislike the forgiving nature of authors towards her actions when they write her up in a certain manner. That's all.

 

I've been following it on SB from the start. I feel it is a little "timeliny", but I like the divide between Stark and King Robert, also not having Benjen join the watch. Some pretty interesting ideas overall.

What about you HP crossover, is that dead?

 

Well, I can understand that.

My head-canon is pretty much this: she didn't want to get married to Robert and was pretty much a rebellious teenager, and suddenly there he is: the handsome prince promising her the world and more. Being as rash as she is, she goes with him, and for a time the world is really so great and beautiful as he promised. Then come the consequences. She hears of the fate of her family, realizes that she made a mistake and tries to go back. But her prince wants to keep her and suddenly it's no fairy tale anymore.

Yeah, the HP crossover is pretty much dead. It started with a single idea but I have no motivation to write anything more for it right now.

 

See, that I find perfectly acceptable. That she should actually experience true regret, genuine remorse for her rash action, some lasting consequences in the aftermath is another thing I'd like to see, but that's only possible in fanfics where she lives.

I've encountered maybe one or two fics where Rhaegar won on the Trident and Lyanna lived to be his second wife, but she also regretted it immensely. I think one of them was "Stranger's Children". Or maybe not. I could be mixing it up with something else.

I like to think that's how Rhaegar lured her in, with tales of love and what not, but when things started turning bad, when she heard of her brother's and father's deaths she might have wanted to go and sort that shit out, but wasn't allowed to, because Rhaegar didn't want to risk the Visenya he thought was growing in her womb. Hell, he might have even taken her forcefully, after she learned of Brandon and Rickard's fates, if she wasn't already pregnant at the time. How long did the Rebellion last again? I forget.

 

To me, she always came across as foolish and young. Really, a lot like a wilder Sansa. And which girl at that age doesn't dream of a handsome prince? It probably helped that he was pretty much the opposite of Robert.

But that she wasn't affected by her brother and father's deaths at all? I'd like to think that she wasn't so selfish and at least partly took the blame for that.

 

Interesting fic, overall. I have to say that the North/Dorne marriage surprised me, really came out of nowhere.

Greyjoy rebellion... hmm, an interesting take on it, that's for sure. Makes me wonder where Theon and Asha have been 'misplaced'.

But this latest event, with Robert asking for a Stark to be fostered in King's Landing... that's going to prove tricky to write. I mean, I can't imagine that the child will have a great deal of freedom, what with Melisandre there, who had already in her first appearance said that the Northmen were servants of the Great Other. And really, calling your supposed 'savior' "the Harbinger" isn't really that comforting.

I'll keep reading the fic, decent way to kill time at the very least.

 

True, it's gonna be tricky. He's gonna have a few very interesting years in King's Landing, the poor dear.