| Yeah, for me these books are THE fantasy books of the modern era. To be a lover of fantasy fiction and not to have read this should be a crime punishable by jail time. Damn, they are that good.
Westeros.org is the shit for discussing them too, lots of nifty info there, spoiler chapters from A Dance with Dragons, little tidbits and teasers from the man himself all compiled in one place.
And to add to your original spoiler text, Nehrak -
I think the question of Rhaegar and Lyanna all comes back to the Tower of Joy and what happened there when Ned Stark and Howland Reed fought through the three greatest knights of that era to get to Lyanna. Like, why the hell were Gerold HighTower, Arthur Dayne, and I can't remember the third one now for the life of me, guarding Lyanna Stark in the middle of nowhere on the north edge of Dorne, when Robert was smashing everything and taking over the kingdom? For God's sake, they left the King with Jaime Lannister and Rhaegar by himself to get killed by Robert. They had to be down there for a reason - and the only thing I can think of was that Lyanna was carrying Rhaegar's child. Or, wouldn't this be evil, his father's child. The Mad Targaryen was a crazy sick son of a bitch.
What really happened at the Tower of Joy is the key to Lyanna and Rhaegar and Jon Snow -- well, one of them, there are a few other feelers out there -- and the only person who knows that is Howland Reed (and possibly Reed's two kids who are with Bran north of the wall). We know Howland Reed isn't going to ever be a viewpoint, but remember, Maege Mormont got sent to see him by Robb Stark before the Red Wedding, so we might see Howland Reed sooner rather than later. And Bran could find out too; the Reed kids seemed shocked that he didn't know more about Lyanna and Rhaegar and Robert and the tragedy that led to.
God, I can't wait for the next one. It is such sweet blissful torture. |