@avclub-b3d29f8f22c60a4b2c5fc2b1691c1d62:disqus  Too bad it's just the Starks, Lannisters, Greyjoys, and Targaryens who go in for those metaphors, because this shit could get hilarious.

Oh yeah, I understand that. It just appears that his army composition is based around at least five halves.

@avclub-ca6cb47da12090ffd2470daf51f71be1:disqus Hopefully they'll go further down the creepy watery route now that they've merged Patchface with Shireen.

So let me get this straight - half of the Northern forces are sworn to the Karstarks, half are sworn to the Boltons, and then there's an absolutely huge amount of Frey forces thrown in as well…

IF SLAVER'S BAY HAD AN AOL NEWS COMMENT SECTION:

Peter Dinklage and Sophie Turner would be a fairly decent Tom Bombadil and Goldberry team. You know, if Peter Jackson decides to add them into the Hobbit series and ruin everything forever.

That scene in A Dance with Dragons where Melissandre meets up with the Dragonstone Court again and she - a shadowmonster-birthing pyrodule from a land where dragons ain't nothing but a thang- finds Patchface to be FREAKY AS SHIT is worth it all.

"BUT THEY'RE SO DUSKY, MR. MARTIN! THEY'RE SO DUSKY!"

Let me clarify that point - I didn't have Oona in mind while reading, and had not heard of her prior to her casting, but she so closely resembled the image I had in my head for Arianne that it kind of spoils the casting of anyone else.

Characters that haven't already been cast?
Clive Owen doesn't really fit many of the remaining roles. Maybe Crow's Eye? Dark, sexy pirate dude?
Hugh Laurie would be a great Jon Connington.

I was thinking of the Greyjoys and the Boltons (who I guess became a major house now that they are the new ruling house of the North and historically were the Starks' major -sole?- rivals to that position).

I could totally hear Ramsay saying, "Now is not the time for fear, Theon - that comes later!"

So, even more heroic? Because killing Freys is just pest control.

@avclub-e1b3fa16446b9e167870f5d13062d444:disqus Hypothetical event I'm looking forward to most in the next two books: A certain huge gravedigger on the Quiet Isles hearing about Sir Robert Strong, jumping on Stranger, and riding out to redeem his house once and for all. Both Cleganes can't have a death-and-rebirth…

"Nevardoolb spelled backwards is Bloodraven!"

"Lord Bolton…I have heard reports, the nature of which intrigue me as a man of medicine, and may interest you as a student of human sensation, good and ill. In King's Landing, there is a boy whose manhood is so utterly anomalous and pleasurable that prostitutes refuse to take his money…"

Also, every single line delivery from Littlefinger is so unctuous and rapey. I always read him as much more likeable on the surface and only vaguely off - his smile just a little bit forced, his motives vaguely slimy and suspicious, but nothing you could quite put your finger on or call him out on.

I have no idea what a "Fool of April's Bane" is, but that phrase is so evocative.

Bran is literally making like a tree and leaving (his body).

"The sight of their arousal was arousing."