Episode 82: A CLASH OF KINGS, DAVOS I: "The Stuff of Heroes, Part 1" with Special Guest Frank B SHOW NOTES (Patreon)

Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish. 

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn.          

Welcome to the eighty-second episode of the Not A Cast, titled: “The Stuff of Heroes, Part 1: An Analysis of ACOK, Davos I,” in which the humbly-born moral compass of Westeros bears witness to the ascension of gods, kings, and his own uncertain fortunes. 

Emmett intros Frank

Hello! It’s an honor and a pleasure to be on this episode with you guys. Your listeners may have a different take. I suppose the three of them who thought there was insufficient Stannis content on this here NotACast… POOOODcast, are pretty happy! For the rest of you, I’d say I was sorry for what’s about to happen but mayhaps starting off with a lie isn’t the best idea for a leal Stannerman.

This episode is brought to you by our Small Council: 

• Hand of the King WolfmanZack 
• Grand Maester Timbob
• Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N. 
• Lord Travis, Master of Ships and Warden of the Waves
• Ser Keith J, Master of Whisperers
• Lord Philip the Merciful, Master of Laws
• Jancy O, Lady Commander of the Night’s Watch
• Lord Gene, Master of Coin
• Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes
• Ragged Michael, Warden of the North
• Nelson the Hammer, Prince of Dragonstone
• Scarlett the Other Red Woman and Mistress of Whisperers
• Lord Baby the Onion Baby
• Lord Blackheart the Defiant, Master of Zorse 
• Lord Micah: Warden of the West and the Kraken’s Bane
• Lord James: the Jim that was Promised
• The High Bearded Priest
• The Blue-Ringed Octoling
• Lord Jake, Assistant (to the) Hand of the King
• Lady Xena Valyrian
• Hedrigal, Captain of the Air Ship Arrogance
• His Grace’s High Inquisitor Frank (heyooooo)
• Lord James Stormborn, Warden of the World Wide Weirwood
• Ser Jasper the Cruel, the King’s Justice
• Laurence, Prince of Dorne
• Richard, Sealord of Braavos
• Kelly, Warden of the East and Mistress of (Old) Bay of Crabs
• Steven the Steadfast, Master of Hounds
• The Blue Winter Rose Knight of Highgarden
• Lady Stephanie
• Lord Wryinn

Spoiler warning: All published books - 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!

Question

Ser Anthony P, a Sworn Stannerman sent us a really great email last month. This isn’t a question, but we figured it was an excellent point worth responding to:

GRRM spoke previously about the connection between Stannis and Tiberius as portrayed in “I, Claudius”.  That particular connection lies squarely in the realm of personality and history, but it sparked me to think about how similar Stannis and the Romans viewed the public practice of religion as transactional (Goddamn, Anthony, amazing connection).  We all agree Stannis will end up burning Shireen, but what must precede that will be a spiritual conversion - metanoia- towards R'hllor or at the very least least a belief in his strength and power. 

As Stannis moves down the path towards conversion he goes from avowed atheist, to skeptic, and by the end a possible devote. But between atheist and skeptic, he enters a phase whereby he emulates the ancient Roman approach to religious observances, “do ut des”. “I give so you might give” captures the practical approach of both he and the Roman people who would carry out ritualized public worship in exchange for the favor of the gods: victory, a good harvest, purification health, etc. Rituals like the sacrifice of the bull on the taurobolium come to mind.  This transitory phase isn’t by any means a new topic, but I hope the comparison to Rome is.

Stannis partakes in public and private acts of sacrifice in the burning of the Seven, the leeches, or the execution and sacrifice of Alester Florent to solicit a favorable action, but not out of filial love or devotion to his new god, but strictly in an exchange for benefits.  S2, E3 in a debate with Melisandre,she presses the King to give himself to the R’hllor.  Stannis responds, “I've said the words, damn you. I burned the idols.” The King feels he has done his part and now it is incumbent upon R’hllor to hold up his end of the bargain. The King would treat and negotiate with the divine as an equal.  Even if he lacks a conversion of the heart, by participating in the public rituals, he expects gods or R’hllor to return the benefits for worship offered. 

This dovetails really well with point I intend to make later on, when we get to the WINDPROUD (airhorns) about how Stannis views the notions of duty and obligation as so powerful and compelling that even Gods must submit before them. They have to, as Emmett said in the fantastic Prologue episode (which had half the run time of this episode), because otherwise Stannis will shatter into a million pieces and/or slowly transform into a corncob. Because that’s what happens when you have to justify your parent’s deaths and then your father figure and brother treating you like such utter garbage.

Said notions of obligation and compulsion don’t really work in a monotheism that has a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. You’d have a better chance of commanding the wind. (Ixnay on Euron-ay) But not really Ixnay because Euron is absolutely one of the characters that understands, perhaps better than anyone, the possibilities and nature of divine or eldritch transactions. 

But if Gods are more capricious and can be bargained with, whose favor can be earned not by conversion and acts of faith but by transactions, then this makes sense. Blood for the Blood God and really, so far there doesn’t appear to be an ostensible deity in ASOIAF that doesn’t respond to blood. The Seven don’t count, but then again, maybe they have such little power because nobody’s tried blood sacrifices to them in awhile!

All of which is the perfect setup for Stannis to see Melisandre’s demonstrations of power not just as evidence that she’s more than a huckster (or, at the very least she may be exaggerating but she can get results). He can see working with Mel as an immortal, demon-conjuring middlewoman who, if he provides X will get him the Y he intends. … Which will inevitably lead to him getting Z when it’s Shireen as the offering. Because while the Gods of Planetos can help people cheat death, command nature, and gain all sorts of other powers, even the Gods can’t stop playing painful jokes on our large, poor, sad adult son, Stanny.  

If you’d like to ask us questions that we’ll answer here on the NotACast pod-cast, please consider joining us on patreon as a Sworn Sword or higher at patreon.com/NotACastASOIAF where you can ask us questions, get ASOIAF and Fevre Dream bonus episodes, get show notes, hang out in our slack as a High Lord/Lady or small council member and receive patreon-only posts

And we continue to inch forward in achieving our stretch goal of having one thousand patrons. When we get there, we will release a special episode all about “The Forsaken.”

But enough about patreon and Anthony’s excellent Stannis insight, let’s now turn our attention to the synopsis for ACOK, Davos I which does not feature Stannis at all.

Synopsis

Davos watches as the seven aspects of god represented as not-at-all-Catholic statues that George was not exposed to against his will for his child and teen years go up in flame and smoke. The old wood and paint disappear into the blaze or as Davos puts it “a fierce hungry light.” Gotta love a good overlooked Dadvos line!

The gargoyles behind the flames blur in Davos’ vision, making Davos think that the statues are crying stigmata-style which, again, is not at all Catholic. George, I see you, George. Allard, one of Davos’ sons, thinks that this is a pretty shit move to burn the statues, but Davos tells him to shut it. 

“Remember where you are.” His sons were good men, but young, and Allard especially was rash. Had I stayed a smuggler, Allard would have ended on the Wall. Stannis spared him from that end, something else I owe him …

Hundreds of men and women bear witness to the statues going up in flames belching an evil smell into the air. Even Davos, not exactly the most religious guy to ever grace the pages of ASOIAF, thinks that this is awfully sacreligious. And it becomes ever more wrong as Davos watches as Melisandre circles the statues, praying in the foreign tongue of Asshai before switching to Valyrian to finishing in the Common Tongue of Westeros.

“R’hllor, come to us in our darkness,” she called. “Lord of Light, we offer you these false gods, these seven who are one, and him the enemy. Take them and cast your light upon us, for the night is dark and full of terrors.”

Queen Selyse, standing next to Stannis, chants the words, but Stannis? He’s in his Sunday best, but stands there, jaw clenched. 

Davos gives some backstory about the Dragonstone sept. It was where Aegon the Conqueror had prayed the night before he made his way to Westeros. But that was nothing to the Queen’s Men who stormed into the sept to break shit with war hammers. The septon had cursed them, but it was Ser Hubard Rampton and his three sons who came in hot. They killed four queen’s men before they were overwhelmed and tossed into jail. A lord by the name of Guncer Sunglass “the mildest and most pious of lords” decided that enough was enough. He was done supporting Stannis. Do not pass go, Guncer. Go directly to jail.

The other lords had gotten the message. But Davos? Well, again, like I said: not much of a believer, but he made offerings to Warrior before battle, to the Smith before sailing the Sea and the Mother when his wife got pregnant. He’s not feeling too hot right now … terrible pun. I resign. (Can't resign, Emmett and I vote for impeachment and dismemberment.) But he’s not feeling well, and it ain’t just all the smoke in the air that’s causing him to get sick.

Maester Cressen would have stopped this. The old man had challenged the Lord of Light and had been struck down for his impiety, or so the gossips told each other. Davos knew the truth. He had seen the maester slip something into his wine. Poison. What else could it be? He drank a cup of death to free Stannis from Melisandre, but somehow her god shielded her.

Hm, not sure that Cressen could have freed Stannis or whether Stannis is even trapped by Melisandre, but I digress … for now.

Davos would have killed Melisandre, but he knows he doesn’t stand a chance. A maester had failed, and he was only an upjumped smuggler. 

Davos of Flea Bottom, the Onion Knight.

And though the smoke is awful, the sacrilege worse, Davos does recognize the beauty in the flames as they burn red, orange and yellow. But still! The gods had been carved from Aegon’s ships. And we’re burning them? Of course, we’re burning them, Melisandre told Stannis. They are beautiful and their beauty will make an all-the-more-wonderful offering to R’hllor. The historian in me is screaming internally. 

The Maiden lay athwart the Warrior, her arms widespread as if to embrace him. The Mother seemed almost to shudder as the flames came licking up her face. A longsword had been thrust through her heart, and its leather grip was alive with flame. The Father was on the bottom, the first to fall. Davos watched the hand of the Stranger writhe and curls as the fingers blackened and fell away one by one, reduced to so much glowing charcoal.

Yikes.

Nearby, Lord Celtigar was coughing while his Myrmen were joking around, enjoying the warmth of blasphemous fire while Lord Bar Emmon was going gray. And Lord Velaryon only watched Stannis. Davos wishes he knew what everyone was thinking, but he knows that he’s in the wrong frat. These Mu Epsilon Lambda bros would never talk to someone like Davos who had pledged Sigma Tau Alpha Nu Nu Sigma. You get what I’m saying, right? No? Okay …

They scorned his sons as well. My grandsons will joust with theirs, though, and one day their blood may wed with mine. In time, my little black ship will fly as high as Velaryon’s seahorse or Celtigar’s red crabs.

But only if Stannis sat the Iron Throne.

Everything I am, I owe to him.

It was Stannis who raised him to his knighthood, gave him a real ship instead of a smuggler’s skiff. And his two oldest sons were ship captains, his middle son was an oarmaster on Stannis’ flagship Fury, Matthos was with Davos on Black Betha and Devan was Stannis’ royal squire. His youngest boys were with Marya on Cape Wrath in Davos’ own small keep where Davos could go hunting.

All this he had of Stannis Baratheon, for the price of a few finger joints. It was just, what he did to me. I had flouted the king’s laws all my life. He has earned my loyalty.

You really do get the sense that George REALLY wants to drive home why Davos is so loyal to Stannis here. We will definitely talk about this more.

Davos touches the pouch around his throat -- the pouch containing his fingerbones. And this is something that Davos will never do again … Ahem. Davos thinks that his fingerbones are his luck, and man, #TeamStannis needs some luck now. 

Pale flames and dark smoke rise up into the gray sky, and a wind picks up and blows the smoke into the masses.

A taste of things to come, thought Davos.

Oh boy, Davos. That’s a line.

Melisandre, adorned in not-ominous scarlet satin and even-less-ominous blood velvet with red vampire eyes and that massive fire-red ruby at her throat. What I’m saying is that she is RED, you guys. She starts talking about how in Asshai, there’s a story of Lightbringer, Azor Ahai and how Azor Ahai will come again to banish the darkness. And that person is Stannis. So, Azor Ahai, come forward and get your burning sword.

Stannis goes marching forward, lol, to get the sword with Devan Seaworth. Devan puts I guess an oven mitt over Stannis’ right hand as Bryen Farring, another of Stannis’ squires, puts a, uh, is that an apron around Stannis’ neck. Bells start ringing behind Stannis. Uh oh, the bells. Patchface starts talking about blue, green and black flames bubbling under the water. I know, I know, oh, oh, oh. And Stannis reaches into the fire, clenching his teeth probably not because it’s hot. Because it’s Stannis.

He went straight to the Mother, grasped the sword with his gloved hand, and wrenched it free of the burning wood with a single hard jerk. Then he was retreating, the sword held high, jade green flames swirling around the cherry-red steel. Guards rushed to beat the cinders that clung to the king’s clothing.

All the queen’s men start hooting and hollering like Ohioans when a single slice of white bread is placed on the dining room table, yelling about how Stannis’ sword is a sword of fire, and that the sword is burning which, y’know, I guess they have the gift of vision. Melisandre proclaims Stannis Azor Ahai again and how Stannis is the warrior of light. But then, y’know, Stannis’ oven mitt starts smoldering, and the king throws the sword into the earth while beating out the flames on his leg. What I’m saying is that this is a comedy scene.

Melisandre calls on R’hllor to give them light, and the queen’s men chant about the night being dark and full of terrors. Davos wonders if he should say the words too. He’s a loyalist after all. Instead, Davos feels his shortened fingers twitch. 

Stannis dumps his oven mitt onto the ground as the gods essentially burn into unrecognizable form. Melisandre starts singing in Asshai’i again. And Stannis unties his apron in silence with Lightbringer next to him glowing hot with the flames dwindling and dying against the blade. Metaphor.

Once Melisandre stops singing, Stannis is done with it all. He marches back to Selyse, taking her arm and escorts her back to Dragonstone. Devan and Bryen roll the blackened Lightbringer up as Melisandre and Davos has thoughts about all this:

The Red Sword of Heroes looks a proper mess.

I just love Davos, man. I just do.

Some of the nobles stick around to talk amongst themselves, but they get good and fuckin’ quiet when Davos looks at them. 

Should Stannis fall, they will pull me down in an instant.

Davos realizes he isn’t a part of the king’s men, but he’s not a queen’s man too. He’s got no team besides Stannis himself. The fire around the mess of gods dwindles as Melisandre gets gone with the sword, and Davos tells Dale and Allard that Devan did well by not dropping the sword. But Allard is curious about the sigil that Devan was wearing. It ain’t the Baratheon sigil. It was a fiery heart. What’s up with that, Dadvos? Well, a king can have more than one sigil, Davos explains. Like a black ship and an onion, Dale says with a wink. Regardless, Allard is still pissed about burning the gods. Davos, curious, asks what Allard knows about the gods, and Allard’s all like daaaaaaad, you’re a damn knight who took vows. C’mon. But Davos isn’t interested in smack from Allard. They will support Stannis and not question him. Hm, not question Stannis, Davos? 

We get some conversation about the water casks the boys have to take for their ships, and Davos says that he’ll talk with Stannis about it, realizing that they don’t know how to talk to a king. They’re kinda smallfolk, kinda not. 

When they look at our banner, all they see is a tall black ship flying on the wind. They close their eyes to the onion.

Davos heads down to the crowded port near Dragonstone with all its ships and people looking for drinking, gambling and, um, companionship. Yeah. That. In a scene which I swear to God is pastiche of chapter one from Fevre Dream (now available on our patreon! Chapter two available soon for all $5/above patrons!), Davos admires all the tall ships before deciding that he, himself, has a thirst. Not a red thirst, because this isn’t a Fevre Dream episode. No. He just wants a drink. 

Outside of the inn, Davos sees an old, weathered gargoyle, pats his head for luck and heads in. Inside, he sees his old friend Salladhor Saan eating grapes like he’s a character inside a fantasy novel. When Salla sees Davos, he offers him a seat and some grapes.

The Lyseni was a sleek, smiling man whose flamboyance was a byword on both sides of the narrow sea. Today he wore flashing cloth-of-silver, with dagged sleeves so long the ends of them pooled on the floor. His buttons were carved jade monkeys, and atop his wispy white curls perched a jaunty green cap decorated with a fan of peacock feathers.

Again, Salladhor Saan is a character in a fantasy novel. Who knew.

Davos makes his way over to Salla, thinking about how Salladhor styled himself a prince given his wealth. Davos, himself, had gone over to recruit Salladhor to Stannis’ cause. He asks Salladhor Saan why he wasn’t there to watch the gods burn, but Salla’s all like, dude, burning shit is like every other Wednesday in Lys. It’s fucking boring, bro. Sure hope Stannis gets bored with the burning though, amirite!? Yeah, unfortunately you are right, Salla.

Salladhor proceeds to talk about how one of his ships made a call at King’s Landing, and that kids are going hungry in the streets. He reports that Tyrion is Hand of the King now, and that he’s fired Janos Slynt. He does all this while squeezing grapes until they burst in his fingers of course with the juice, running down his fingers. Again, FANTASY CHARACTER.

Davos orders some beer and asks how well the city is defended. Well, as to that, it’s not great news. The walls are high, defenses are being constructed. But maybe it’s not all bad. Who knows if the gold cloaks will actually fight to defend the city. And they’re too few. They should attack immediately. If they do that, they can make Tyrion into the court jester, and Salladhor Saan can go have some hanky panky with Cersei. You see, Salla’s been away from his “wives” for way too long. He needs to get laid, man. And he also needs to get paid, man. He’s only been paid in promises. Davos says Salla will get paid when they get to King’s Landing, and that Stannis is good to his word. But as he says it, he thinks:

This world is twisted beyond hope, when lowborn smugglers must vouch for the honor of kings.

Salla complains about how he’s heard all this before. But they really should get moving. The city is ripe to be taken, just like his grapes.

Davos’ beer arrives, and he talks some sense about taking King’s Landing. Sure, they might take the city, but they couldn’t hold it for long while Tywin was nearby in Harrenhal. And then there was the terrorist mastermind Renly to consider. Salla has some news on Renly, and it ain’t good. He’s on the march from Highgarden with Margaery and making his way to King’s Landing as they speak. Well, this is the first that Davos is hearing about Renly getting married, and he wonders why he’s bringing his new wife. But Salla doesn’t know. Davos says they need to inform Stannis, but Salladhor has already seen to that -- and all this despite the frowns Stannis gave him.

“Do you think he would like me better if I wore a hair shirt and never smiled? Well, I will not do it. I am an honest man, he must suffer me in silk and smite. Or else I shall take my ships where I am better loved. That sword was not Lightbringer, my friend.”

Davos feels uneasy at the conversation turn, and Salla continues on about how people tell him shit.  And Salladhor Saan proceeds to tell the full Azor Ahai story to Davos which for time purposes I won’t get into here, because we are sure as shit going to get into it at the end of this episode.

At the end of the story, Salladhor Saan says that Stannis’ Lightbringer just ain’t, but when they will they go a-sailin’? Davos thinks it’ll be soon if Stannis’ god wills it. This piques Salla’s interest. Davos isn’t a R’hllor guy?

Davos sipped his ale to give himself a moment. The inn is crowded, and you are not Salladhor Saan, he reminded himself. Be careful how you answer. “King Stannis is my god. He made me and blessed me with his trust.”

Salla says he’ll remember that, but now he needs to go get some grub. Minced lamb, roasted gull stuffed with mushrooms, fennel and onion. And they’re so totally going to be feasting in King’s Landing soon, right? Eek. Well, regardless, Salla wants Davos to let Stannis know that the tally of debts is going up by the next new moon. Maybe Stannis shouldn’t have burned the gods. They could have fetched some cash money, y’all. But if he gets to go to bone town with Cersei, Salla will forgive this debt Stannis owes him. And with that Salladhor Saan, fantasy character, exits stage right. 

Davos stays to drink for a while thinking back to being with Stannis at King’s Landing and the tourney for Joffrey’s nameday. He remembers Thoros of Myr and his flaming sword and the spectacle of it all. And he knows there was no real magic with Thoros of Myr then. Yes, very true Davos. Then. Bronze Yohn Royce made quick work after Thoros’ sword went less bright.

A true sword of fire, now, that would be a wonder to behold. Yet at such a cost.

Davos thinks about Nissa-Nissa and imagines that it being Marya his good-natured, plump wife but with a nice smile, the best woman in the world. He can’t imagine putting a sword through her heart.

I am not made of the stuff of heroes, he decided. If that was the price of a magic sword, it was more than he cared to pay.

God, I love Davos. And that is part 1 of the synopsis for ACOK, Davos I!

In a So Spake Martin from all the way back in 2003, George RR Martin commented on why he created Davos as a POV character

George said that at first he was just going to use the original POVs from AGoT for the entire series, then he realized that he needed to see what Stannis was doing, but didn’t want to use Stannis as a POV. So he created Davos. Davos was his first added POV. The rest followed.

So, what do you all think about Davos as a POV character and this chapter?

Depth

• D A D V O S
  • Davos is the consensus best POV--pretty much everyone sings the praises of his chapters, and for good reason: so much amazing shit happens in them!
  • Later in this book, we get Courtnay Penrose, some of Stannis’ best dialogue, the shadowbaby under Storm’s End, and of course, the Battle of Blackwater
  • In ASOS and ADWD, we get even more incredible dialogue scenes, my absolute favorites in terms of the themes of power Clint tackled so well last week
  • All the way through, Davos acts with remarkable courage and clarity in speaking truth to power and seeking to both fight for right and save the innocent
  • His only rival for the title of Best Person among the major-ish characters of ASOIAF is Brienne of Tarth, in many ways his equivalent in Renly’s camp
    • (Though that’s also Ser Courtnay, for sure)
    • Difference being Davos is in the right camp and Brienne is, for understandable if still treasonous reasons, in the wrong camp.
    • True, though Davos is in Stannis’ camp because of the direction his life took after Storm’s End, not because Stannis is Robert’s rightful heir
    • Of course, Emmett, but this chapter is woefully bereft of opportunities to shit on Renly as a treasonous little git. And if I don't mention that at least once per podcast appearance, I lose a bet. 
  • It’s a relevant debate, though--the core of Davos’ characterization is how his personal and political motivations mix, how they both harmonize and conflict
  • You could argue that it’s Davos, more than any other character, who makes the politics of ASOIAF interesting. Gotta quote Steven Attewell in full here:
    • Keep in mind that every single POV character in A Game of Thrones was, however else they may be affected by sexism or ableism or social prejudice, a noble. Here for the first time, one of the smallfolk is given room to speak on both the political conflicts he is at the very heart of, but also of his own life experience and his own hopes and dreams – because for Davos Seaworth, the two are inextricably linked.
  • “Room to speak” being the key phrase there, because again and again, Davos is compelled to make the case for what he believes, what he’s chosen to make of his life, and the king for whom he keeps putting it on the line
  • You can see that right away in this chapter with Stannis’ letter: the peasant risen to knight is the first to evaluate the rightful king’s declaration of intent
  • That will continue at Storm’s End, upon his return to Dragonstone, and in his sojourns to Sisterton and White Harbor and presumably Skagos as well
  • As Jeff said, Davos began life as a camera on Stannis Baratheon; I think there’s an interesting parallel to Sansa Stark, in that both characters evolved well beyond their initial confines, and so there is a meta-arc shadowing their arc
  • This is not just the story of Davos Seaworth, it is the story of George RR Martin discovering Davos Seaworth, and communicating that process to the reader
  • That works especially well given that Davos is an outsider turned insider; it’s as if George himself was the recipient of one of Davos’ great admonishing call-to-arms, and realized how important his most prominent non-noble could be
  • I think Davos’ role as Jiminy Cricket to his Oh So Complex And Tortured king sometimes results in him getting reduced and even caricatured as a character
  • Davos thinks of himself as a simple man in a complex situation; that’s still often taken at face value, in spite of him being so well fleshed out as we go
  • Coming back on reread, it feels so strongly to me that the “I’m just a simple country smuggler, but” stuff is a defense mechanism, Davos’ way of avoiding getting the bends from how quickly he’s risen and how far he could fall
    • I am but a young girl who knows little of the ways of war analogue
  • In truth, Davos has never been an ordinary man. He was the most notorious and elusive smuggler in the Seven Kingdoms! Imagine the absurd heroic gall it takes to pilot those onions into Storm’s End during the siege! Mediocrities don’t do that!
    • Through hundreds of Redwyne ships, navigating the treacherous coastline of the stormlands -- the same treacherous coastline and waters that killed Stannis’ mother and father. I wonder if that’s at play in Stannis’ admiration of Davos.
      • (In awe of this catch/analysis right here)
  • What makes Davos different from Melisandre (or Salladhor Saan) isn’t that he’s led an average life, it’s that he’s not pretentious. He doesn’t get ahead of himself, and he doesn’t think of himself as superior; as we see especially in ADWD, he never forgets where he came from, and that’s crucial to his ethical perspective
  • In other words, he would never think of himself as Azor Ahai. He claims to lack “the stuff of heroes,” but in truth, possesses a greater quantity of it than Stannis
  • He’s a figure of legends and song without even wanting to be
    • (coughs)
    • What? Look, I know that Davos absolutely possesses the stuff of heroes but more than Stannis, I don’t… Y’all brought me on to make you both look more reasonable on Stannis and this is a perfect time for my extremism to shine through! Okay, fine, I’ll wait until we get to the foreshadowing and groundwork. 
  • You guys mentioned last week that second chapters are often where we get to the thematics of these characters in Clash. And that’s true. But here, in Davos One it really has more in common with those second chapters in that you have rich thematics and just the sheer smorgasbord of literary meat. There’s more significant events here than points the Browns had against the Ravens, in Baltimore, on Sunday. 
  • Because this is really the second STANNIS chapter after the prologue. And George, despite not knowing about Davos when he sat down to write his pitch letter or even Game of Thrones itself, is clearly inspired with this chapter for both Stannis and Davos himself. 
  • Davos is at his best written when his principles are in conflict. As much as the conflict between his smuggler and “lordly” self, for Davos the big question is how do you fight for “right” and save the innocent, as you said Emmett, when doing the former means sacrificing the latter? That tension is arguably the best personal, inner conflict in all of ASOIAF, shared by arguably its two best PoVs: Daenarys and Davos.
  • Davos becomes, and STAYS, a noble based on his skill, much of which he acquired long before his fateful run in with Stannis. So it’s not just that he is a smallfolk, he’s not just a POV from the Riverlands or one of the Meerenese freedmen we might have profited from being given, but that he’s a smallfolk raised to the rank of noble and stays there (rising even more swiftly after reaching as low as he can go in Storm) because he is so much better at the job of being “lordly” than the actual Lords (Ned, Daenerys and sweet, poor damn Edmure excepted). 
  • Which is as damning a critique of the entire feudal structure as the corruption which Stannis abhors. It’s bad enough the Lords are corrupt, it’s that they’re corrupt and bad at their jobs. For someone like Stannis, these are twofold sins he cannot abide.
  • Stannis wants Edric to hold next to the Lannister kids and go “SEE THE DIFFERENCE,” which absolutely works for a largely illiterate society more familiar with families and hair color than letters and treatises upon rights of succession. That many can’t or won’t see what he’s telling them, (his pure cold water of truth) will infuriate him to no end and get him to the point he starts to sound like a revolutionary in Storm. 
  • But what really starts to radicalize Stannis against his fellow nobles is holding up Davos against the lords (regardless of loyalty) and going “SEE THE DIFFERENCE?” Davos is also the perfect juxtaposition with Littlefinger in this regard as well. Raised from modest means, but what did they do with being raised up?  
  • As Stannis himself will tell Davos’ son and his personal squire, Devan: “You have a passing clever father, Devan," the king told the boy standing by his elbow. "He makes me wish I had more smugglers in my service. And fewer lords.” 
  • (Now, he says this right before he ignores Davos’ clever advice which is… always a bad path for His Grace but let’s not get bogged down minutiae.) Thus, Davos is one of, if not, the best arguments in favor of Stannis not just as the rightful King but the RIGHT King. 
  • Few, if any, of our other PoVs have someone to tell them when they’re wrong (Catelyn does this for Robb with mixed results) but almost none of our PoVs actively seek out such persons. Stannis does and gives Davos, as Attewell says, not just “room to speak,”  but room to be HEARD. Further, Stannis recognizes the value in Davos’ advice. Even when he disagrees he engages with Davos.. Because Davos, as we see in this chapter, is quite reluctant to stick his neck out. He chides his sons when they express displeasure of the burning of the Gods:
    • “"When did you grow so devout?" Davos said. "What does a smuggler's son know of the doings of gods?"
    • "I'm a knight's son, Father. If you won't remember, why should they?"
    • "A knight's son, but not a knight," said Davos. "Nor will you ever be, if you meddle in affairs that do not concern you. Stannis is our rightful king, it is not for us to question him. We sail his ships and do his bidding. That is all."
  • But it is not all, is it? Davos rises so high and becomes his best self when he DOES question Stannis. First at Stannis’ invitation and then on his own initiative. Does Stannis always listen? No, and oft does Stannis’ suffer for it. But when Stannis’ does listen… ah, when he does he becomes the King Who Cared, who is, as the word of God said: in spite of everything, a righteous man. 
  • Davos, “I’m just a simple smuggler,” is a form of false modesty but it doesn’t feel false because we can see and read that Davos’ doubts are real. It’s almost a species of Imposter Syndrome. He knows all about his accomplishments and we do too. But, much like His Grace, it’s not enough, never enough to dispel the whispers in his head that he doesn’t belong. I think that also contributes to Davos’ popularity among the fandom.
  • His doubts about the future are why he keeps pretending his record from the past isn’t that impressive. But if you made a movie on Davos’ life alone it’d be damn compelling.
  • Mediocrities don’t find out that the guy whose ass they just saved from one of the worst ways imaginable to die, yea, THAT guy intends to mutilate them and respond “I served my nickel, you come and take me yourself!” (Sorry, I know Pylos is John Mulaney, but it fits here)
  • Davos, perhaps the single best point in Stannis’ favor in-universe, is also the single best meta argument for GRRM’s gardener style. We know that Stannis doesn’t appear in the original (1993??) pitch letter and we still get him. But then GRRM decides he doesn’t want us in Stannis head, as Jeff said earlier, for a variety of reasons and so he invents a camera PoV and gives us Davos, again a top PoV in the entire series! He meant to give us Areo Hotah and instead we get Han Solo! 
  • Davos isn’t actually one-dimensional; he struggles constantly to reconcile all the conflicting aspects of his self, his various loyalties. Compare this:
    • "So many vows...they make you swear and swear. Defend the king. Obey the king. Keep his secrets. Do his bidding. Your life for his. But obey your father. Love your sister. Protect the innocent. Defend the weak. Respect the gods. Obey the laws. It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or the other."
  • To this:
    • I was a better smuggler than a knight, he had written to his wife, a better knight than a King's Hand, a better King's Hand than a husband. I am so sorry.
  • But Jaime is Byronic and melodramatic, obviously complicated in the way that Stannis is obviously complicated; Davos’ deeper currents are more subtle
  • For a character defined by his willingness to speak up, how ironic is it that this is his first line of dialogue in his first POV chapter: 
    • “Silence. Remember where you are.”
  • Davos will always remember where he is; every second of every day, he knows he doesn’t belong, forever sure he’s about to be kicked out of the halls of power
    • If Stannis falls, they will tear me down in an instant.
  • His greatest fear, of course, is that they’ll kick out his sons along with him
  • As supporting characters to a supporting character, Davos’ elder sons are broadly drawn, and I do wish we’d gotten to know them better
  • After all, they are the most prominent casualties of the Battle of Blackwater on the Baratheon side (in a character sense, not a political sense)
  • Yet they serve their purpose, which is to cement the stakes for Davos and throw his divided identity into sharp relief. My favorite line from any of them is this:
    • "A lord can choose more than one badge," Davos said.
      
      Dale smiled. "A black ship and an onion, Father?"
  • As the eldest, Dale knows his father best, and realizes that when Davos talks of Stannis’ duality (crowned stag and fiery heart), he’s really speaking of his own
  • This is a great cultural transition on Dragonstone, and no one there knows great cultural transitions better than the onion knight, because he wasn’t born this way
  • With Arya, we see the painful transition from one world to another in real time; with Davos, it happened years ago, and he carries it with him like his fingerbones
  • So if he doesn’t have as explicit and urgent an identity crisis as the Starklings, it’s because a fish doesn’t know they’re wet. His whole life is an identity crisis.
  • But Davos does perhaps the best job of any character in reconciling his many warring identities. He reconciles the fact that his loyalty to Stannis will mean more innocents will die because “One king means peace.” And he also comes to recognize not only that “One king means peace,” but that peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the presence of justice. And he affirmatively makes that case, not in flowery philosophical prose but in a deeply personal, eloquent burst of near-blind-through-tears rage in the Merman’s Court in Dance.
    • "Death," Davos heard himself say, "there will be death, aye. Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King's Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!" 
  • Stannis offers you all-caps VENGEANCE against the Lannister regime. But why Vengeance? Because Vengeance is the only recourse against the Lannisters. Why? Because there can be no true peace with the Lannister regime. The Lannisters, to paraphrase Tacitus, make a desert and call it peace. What else would we call the Riverlands even before the Red Wedding, if not a desert of bones and blood?  As you guys pointed out last week with your amazing guest Clint: what justice can possibly flow from a regime that has Tywin, Joffrey, and Cersei in positions of high power?  
  • The one big nagging gap in the reconciliation, though, is R’hllor. Davos pulls one hell of an end-around in ASOS, preventing the sacrifice of Edric Storm and putting Stannis on a better path that still fit Melisandre’s overall goals
  • But his ADWD plot opens with the memory of Alester Florent burning instead, and Salla telling him “he will kill you with these honors, old friend. He will kill you.”
  • Davos affirms his loyalty to Stannis’ best self, but is Stannis’ worst self worthy of his service? Is Davos sacrificing his family rather than protecting them?
    • Said sacrifice, really, is fitting given who he’s sworn to.
  • Again, that letter to Marya: his reconciliation has come at such a price. As he admits to himself in ASOS, he bears responsibility for helping start the fire here.
  • The stakes of Stannis’ story are both grandiose and intimate: the fate of the kingdom and world v. the fate of one striving family. One against a million…
    • And to get back to the stuff of heroes and undermine my point from there: Stannis must choose whether to sacrifice one child to the flames to save a million from the dark… Davos will sacrifice FOUR to the flames… and will keep going to save millions not just from the darkness of the Long Night, but from the shadows of power wielded by unjust men against him, his family and where he comes from: the smallfolk. 
• Melisandre’s ceremony on the beach
  • The chapter starts by focusing on the burning of the Seven to create “Lightbringer” and the declaration of Stannis as Azor Ahai Reborn
  • We’ll talk about the metaphysics and monomyths involved later in the episode
  • Again, this chapter is so layered, there’s plenty to talk about putting all that aside
  • Melisandre, too, is attempting to speak truth to power...whilst also lying!
  • This is such a complicated scene coming back on reread, because you know that Melisandre is sincere about the end times and also that “Lightbringer” is bunk
  • Coming off last week and our discussion of Varys’ riddle with Clint, it’s so clear that Melisandre’s character is all about “the trappings of power,” as she puts it
  • She has an overall goal--set fire to the ice demons--and will stage-manage whatever is necessary to convince people to get on board with her god
  • Melisandre is a peerless stage magician, and it turns out that the stage magician’s toolbox isn’t much different from the political influencer’s toolbox
  • So on the one hand, Melisandre of Asshai becomes the first person in the series to warn a large powerful group of people about the approaching apocalypse
  • On the other, she uses fakery and factionalism to win them over, because she knows they’ll initially flinch at what she really wants from them: fire and blood
  • People love bright shiny swords (why else is fantasy a thing), and plenty of ambitious and/or sadistic folks will jump on the chance to wear the boot
  • But “throw your children into the flames” is going to give (almost) everyone pause, so Melisandre has to win them over with tricks before making that ask
    • Re-reading ADWD, Tyrion VII, have a similar scene with Azor Ahai Reborn being revealed not as Stannis but as Daenerys. And we see some interesting parallels and differences between Melisandre’s ceremony on the beach and Benerro’s sign of “darkness and doom” at the Red Temple.
      • Similarities 
        • Melisandre and Benerro use High Valyrian 
        • They use a fire magic ritual to awe the audience (flaming sword vs Valyrian fire glyphs in the sky)
        • Melisandre has Stannis pull a literal sword of fire from the flames while Benerro preaches that a sword of fire hangs over Volantis (Dragons, boy)
      • Differences
        • It’s fascinating that Melisandre is preaching to maybe a few dozen true believers on beach while "In Volantis, thousands of slaves and freedmen crowd the temple plaza every night to hear Benerro shriek of bleeding stars and a sword of fire that will cleanse the world.” 
        • While Melisandre has the queen’s men at her side, Davos notes that they’re minor lordlings, knights and Selyse: the minority. Hence, the need for some sort of “Moses burning the golden calf” ritual to symbolize the triumph of R’hllor over the false gods of the Seven. Benerro, for lack of a better term, is preaching to the choir -- the already-convinced as TWOIAF puts it: “[Outside of the Black Walls of Volantis], the red god R'hllor is favored by many, especially among the slaves and freedmen of the city.” 
        • Symbolism. Though the sword of fire features prominently in both tellings of the Azor Ahai Reborn story from Mel and Ben, I get the sense that Melisandre is hitting the “idiot people of Westeros” over the head with the message she’s preaching -- the fiery sword plunged directly into the heart of the Mother that Stannis has to literally draw. This is “Drogon spreading his wings behind Daenerys’ in S08” levels of symbolism. Benerro simply can tell the story, and the slaves and freedmen of Volantis get it without the over the top symbolism. The people of Volantis know that Benerro is talking about dragons. He doesn’t have to have mummers waving fire-breathing dragons over their heads for them to understand.
    • Ultimately, though, differences and similarities of R’hllorite practices between Melisandre and Benerro are interesting in a worldbuilding sense and in possibly illuminating Melisandre’s status within the whole R’hllor world, but children burning is the endstate -- Stannis’ child in Shireen as microcosm for Dany’s children, King’s Landing, Westeros.
  • She admits it to Davos in ASOS: she hasn’t crossed half the world to sit Stannis on the Iron Throne, that’s only a means to a larger and more supernatural end
  • Melisandre is (as always) a parallel to Varys, who will also feign loyalty and string people along as he works to save the world, even at the cost of the children
  • You can see the ambiguity in the mixed response to her ceremony: some are offended, some are swayed, some are unmoved, some don’t know what to think
  • Is this a call to action to save the world, a response to the threat we saw in the opening pages of the story...or is it an invitation to descend into hell?
  • Tis both of course! Because Melisandre “knows” (I wish your listeners could see my finger quotes) that the only way to save the world is to descend into hell. Fortunately… Unfortunately… she’s found the perfect receptacle to pour that message, drip by drip, into: Stannis Baratheon.  
  • But Stannis Baratheon is not a man to be bent so easily. He will find ways to stave off this descent as long as he can. His surprising political flexibility, his willingness to be told hard truths first by Davos and then by his-I-hate-him-my-sweet-baby-boy Jon, and above all his military genius, he will employ all of it to stave off the apocalypse for an ungrateful Kingdom. But then the Wall comes down, there Melisandre will be with torch in hand, telling him, just as Mirri Maz Duur told Dany “You knew the price." And Stannis will pay it, Maester Aemon’s the one man in 10,000, and it will be horrific 
  • The ambiguity is baked into every element: on one hand, Davos is as viscerally repulsed by the disrespect shown to the Seven as his sons. On the other, he admits the gods never meant anything to him beyond habit, an inherited custom
  • On one hand, this is an act of religious intolerance and repression by adherents of the new faith, destroying sacred items of tremendous beauty and history
  • On the other, the Seven worshippers are the ones who kill people (not statues) in this chapter, and their ancestors did the same damn thing to the First Men…
  • ...who did the same thing to the children of the forest. Back and back and back
  • That’s why George weaves an invocation of the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror and the: it is the same as it ever was, the new tearing down the old
  • Every time the fire returns, it burns hotter. The First Men fought the children, but then lived in harmony with them. The Andals negated that deal, but were outmatched by the Targaryens with their Field of Fire. And even the Targs adopted the Faith of Westeros rather than setting it afire as Melisandre does.
  • Give her credit, she knows how stage a ritual! This scene contains metal-album-cover imagery at its absolute best, I love it on a pure visual level
  • “The morning air was dark with the smoke of burning gods,” the gargoyles seemingly stirring in response, Melisandre’s scarlet satin and blood velvet…
  • George’s shock-and-awe tactics reflect Melisandre’s shock-and-awe tactics; it’s all a glamour, a shadow on a wall, an image of destiny, divinity, power
  • The Prologue was a staredown between her and Cressen; this is Melisandre as she plays it to a crowd, and the effect is impressive (and terrifying) to behold
  • This is how the Targaryens looked to the Andals, how the Andals looked to the First Men, and how the First Men looked to the Children; now it’s R’hllor’s turn!
  • Just as the statues were repainted Valyrian masts, this is another sedimentary layer of history; hence Mel singing in Valyrian and Common as well as Asshai’i
  • I’m not trying to excuse Melisandre’s crusade so much as put it in context; she’s just the latest crusader come over the horizon with fire in their hands and eyes. Dany is next. Stannis and Melisandre are stand-ins, placeholders, Targaryen cosplayers casting Magic Missile at the darkness. It’s all a ritual; it happened before, it will happen again. The wheel is time, and it cannot be broken.
  • Davos is right to resist her atrocities, yet George does not frame the Faith side of things as being pure and noble, sullied by the uniquely awful followers of R’hllor
  • Above all, this scene is about transformation (Seven into R’hllor, Stannis into Azor Ahai, a political cause into a religious one), but Davos sees only destruction
  • Initially, the drawing of Lightbringer is very dramatic...but as you say, Jeff, it quickly turns to comedy as Stannis curses and beats at the flames
  • The flaw in Melisandre’s stage management is the centerpiece, Stannis himself
  • As he admits in ASOS, both Robert and Renly would have a far easier time getting everyone behind them to save the world; R’hllor should’ve chosen them
  • That’s sympathetic given that Stannis does eventually try to do the job anyway…
  • ...but it’s not manifesting that way now. Stannis isn’t trying to be a better charismatic warrior-king, nor is he really on board with this apocalyptic model
  • Convinced that he will always be rejected, he promptly resents that projected rejection, and undercuts the ceremony with his brusque, impatient attitude
  • Melisandre is trying to make this resonate as a point in spacetime around which the fortunes of all orbit, and Stannis just will not stick to the goddamn script!
  • For all the somber, tragic themes in his story, the concept of Stannis is a joke (on him), and so Davos presciently notes that “Lightbringer” looks like crap 
  • So we’re being shown both the image and the reality, shadow puppet and shadow caster, the vivid red curtain and the bleak burnt reality behind it
  • This big question of this scene: are we witnessing the rise of the hero or the rise of the villain? Davos has to keep reminding himself why he’s backing Stannis:
    • Everything I am, I owe to him … He has earned my loyalty.
    • Had I stayed a smuggler, Allard would have ended on the Wall. Stannis spared him from that end, something else I owe him...
  • As he says, his family’s fortunes rest on Stannis’ rise, because to borrow from Roose: there are pardons for the Robb Starks (or Stannis Baratheons), but not the Vargo Hoats (or Davos Seaworths). Only King Stannis keeps him at the table
  • Yet he can’t help but feel affronted, and wonders if this is the price of loyalty: 
    • Should I speak the words as well? Davos wondered. Do I owe Stannis that much? Is this fiery god truly his own? His shortened fingers twitched.
  • Davos in many ways is attempting to do what Varys told Tyrion:
    • "The storms come and go, the waves crash overhead, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling.”
    • Davos is, as befitting a lifelong sailor, actually just as good at this paddling as Varys! But whereas Varys knows when to batten down the hatches and go to ground like at the end of Storm, Davos knows that sometimes the best way to beat a storm is to sail right through it. Which is precisely what he does in… Storm. 
  • But as any good sailor knows, you have to know exactly what kind of Storm you’re dealing with before you plunge headlong into it. And that’s why Davos’ powers of observation are so critical to his success as a character and so enjoyable as us for readers.
  • We see, through him, the beginning of the King’s men and Queen’s men split. He correctly assesses who is where, who will wind up where and squirrels that information away so that by the time Pylos tells him outright that he’s always had these skills, he uses them to the fullest in putting together his Ocean’s Eleven heist of Edric Storm.
  • So even as Davos reminds his sons to remember where they are, he’s not just chiding them to shut up, he’s telling them to read the room. Something he excels at despite constantly thinking he can't. He knows when to stay silent but he also knows when to speak up. And it’s a damn good thing he does! It's not an understatement to say that Davos' willingness to speak truth to power will literally save Westeros.
• Introducing Salladhor Saan 
  • Davos himself starts off as mostly just a supporting character in Stannis’ story, but the most prominent supporting character in his story is Salladhor Saan
  • As with his sons who see only the ship and blind themselves to the onion, Salladhor represents one side of Davos’ identity struggle--the smuggler side
  • He feels completely out of place in Stannis’ camp; as he notes, everyone else is grimly devout, and no one else talks so openly or eats and drinks so indulgently
  • If anything, Salladhor would make more sense in Renly’s camp, what with his flamboyance and love of fruit. Renly would probably welcome a fleet with open arms, given that Cersei is preventing him from drawing on the Redwynes’
  • Renly’s all about bright colors (look at the Rainbow Guard), and lo and behold, Salla mentions his ship Bird of a Thousand Colors. They’d get along great!
  • Compare what Salla says to Davos here…
    • “Are you sure you will not have a grape? Children go hungry in the city, it is said." He dangled the grapes before Davos and smiled.
      
      “It's ale I need, and news."
      
      "The men of Westeros are ever rushing," complained Salladhor Saan. "What good is this, I ask you? He who hurries through life hurries to his grave." He belched.
  • ...to what Renly says to Stannis at Storm’s End. It’s practically identical:
    • “Would you like one, brother?" Renly asked, smiling. "From Highgarden. You've never tasted anything so sweet, I promise you." He took a bite. Juice ran from the corner of his mouth.
      
      "I did not come here to eat fruit." Stannis was fuming.
      
      ...
      
      "A man should never refuse to taste a peach," Renly said as he tossed the stone away. "He may never get the chance again. Life is short, Stannis. Remember what the Starks say. Winter is coming." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
  • So why is Salla on Dragonstone? Because Davos, his old friend, recruited him
  • This is Davos’ material contribution to Stannis’ cause, and it’s honestly more than anyone else bothered to muster! And yet, it wins him no acclaim among his peers
  • That’s because the only reason Davos was able to win over Salla is his connections from his smuggling days, and that just isolates him further
  • It proves to Stannis’ noble-born vassals that Davos “stank like fish and onions,” that he’s as much an outsider as Salladhor, even if he doesn’t flaunt it as much
  • He can’t win playing their game, and Salla is someone who won playing his own:
    • When a pirate grows rich enough, they make him a prince. 
  • Salla moved up not through assimilation to the pure dutiful image of feudal power a la Davos, but by his mastery of the more muddled and corrupted reality
  • If Davos (like Mance) is able to blend in anywhere, hiding an uncommon heart and mind behind a common appearance, Salla (like Tormund) deliberately stands out and exemplifies the most over-the-top tendencies of his culture
  • If Davos separates himself by spurning ostentatious and flamboyant trappings (much like His Grace) then every drop of flamboyance is instead poured right into my man Saaldhor.
  • But note GRRMs subtle subversion of a fantasy trope: while some pompous and flamboyant characters (the armorer who snivels at Tyrion's chain, Janos Slynt, all of the Florents... God do we ever just hate the Florents) all of them are basically useless, if not actively harmful to Stannis’ causes both secular and metaphysical. 
  • But Saaldhor Saan got his flamboyance by being well traveled and so he not only knows the mythology Mel and Stannis are trying to invoke, he knows why it's wrong.
  • As Clint--a full fledged lawyer instead of the training-cycle version--could have told you last week, it often takes more knowledge to correct an argument than to make one. And here, Salladhor knows so much about this culture that Mel’s importing, he can spot the flaws. Selyse can’t, the Queen’s men can’t, and Stannis won’t. 
  • Again like Tormund, Salla’s not exactly dead set on doing the right thing, but he still has a lot of decency in him and a dislike for conquerors of all stripes
  • As the wildlings know more about the Others than the Watch, so too does Salla understand Azor Ahai better than anyone else on Dragonstone
  • Again, we’ll get more into this later, but it’s worth noting that Salla is presenting this cautionary tale at all; Davos notes the abrupt shift in conversation
  • Salla is trying to warn his old friend that this coalition is headed in a dangerous direction, that they better hope Stannis bores of this whole narrative quickly
  • So we see the stakes set up clearly: Davos hinging it all on his lord-self for his family’s sake, but his smuggler-self is warning him of where this is all headed
  • Davos, again, doesn’t know enough to weigh Melisandre’s burning of the Seven against his pal Salladhor’s critique of it. All he has is the “the mute protest in [his] bones” that this can’t possibly be right. But Davos squashes that feeling because speaking out risks himself, his sons, and all he’s gained at the cost of his fingerbones. But when Davos realizes that no, his best services involves giving voice to that mute protest, is when he truly comes into his own not just as Stannis’ “true and honest liege man” but as a Lord and a truly just man in his own right.    

Foreshadowing/Groundwork

“Many and more would burn before this war was done.” Oh Dadvos, if you only knew!

Speaking of the Battle of Blackwater, Patchface sees it coming: “Under the sea, smoke rises in bubbles, and flames burn green and blue and black.” 

Lord Sunglass and the Rambton men will return to the narrative when Davos returns to Dragonstone in ASOS...and learns they’ve been sacrificed to the god they defied

“The Lord of Casterly Rock has sent his dwarf to see to King's Landing. Perhaps he hopes that his ugly face will frighten off attackers, eh? Or that we will laugh ourselves dead when the Imp capers on the battlements, who can say?”

Welp, people will indeed die when Tyrion performs at the Blackwater, Salladhor. 

But more ominous for Kings Landing than Tyrion wrecking shit there: “Bells start ringing behind Stannis. Uh oh, the bells. Patchface starts talking about blue, green and black flames bubbling under the water.”  

Man, it’s almost like bells are super ominous in this series. But nah, can’t be.

Theory/Discussion

Azor Ahai and Lightbringer: what’s the deal and why should we care?

Azor Ahoo and Dietbringer? Oh, right. Yea, there’s no deal and no one should care. Thanks for listening to the NotACast Podcast! … Oh, y’all meant in the books, I was talking about the show just now. 

In terms of mythology, it’s a compelling narrative. And what George does here is pull a sort of “Biblical Flood” move. There’s evidence of many cultures, not just the Christian Bible, describing a sort of great flood. There’s obviously some pseudoscience involved here and these cultures are most likely not discussing the same event. But a “great flood” or “deluge” myth does exist in many cultures. 

Some more… daring…  people argue it’s evidence that the Biblical Flood actually happened. Regardless, the cultures all TALK about it and have some commonalities which are interesting. But with Azor Ahai, it’s far more specific because well, GRRM is not beholden to such silly and vexatious notions as “geology, paleontology, biology and time.” 

On Planetos, every culture appears to have some version of this Azor Ahai figure, connected to throwing back some form of the Long Night. Look at how The World of Ice & Fire talks about the Long Night, after briefly talking about differing myths:

“The fact that some cataclysm took place many thousands of years ago seems certain.”

In Westeros, you could easily connect Azor Ahai with the tale of the Last Hero, which you guys have covered previously. For different cultures we have:

The Rhoynar: 

“According to these tales, the return of the sun came only when a hero convinced Mother Rhoyne’s many children--lesser gods such as the Crab King and the Old Man of the River--to put aside their bickering and join together to sing a secret song that brought back the day.” 

For the Asshai’i, which Mel is clearly drawing from: “It is also written that there are annals in Asshai of such darkness, of a hero who fought against it with a red sword.”

In far Yi Ti, the Ancient Chinese analogue: 

“a curious legend from Yi Ti, which states that the sun hid its face from the earth for a lifetime, ashamed at something none could discover, and that disaster was averted only by the deeds of a woman with a monkey’s tail.”

So really what this means is that Mel done fucked up trying to give Stannis a red sword and should have, instead, turned him into a woman and given him a monkey’s tail.

Less jokingly, even in Yi Ti, that’s not the only legend regarding this particular figure:

“How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior--known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion and Eldric Shadowchaser--arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout.”

This is the Hero with a Thousand Faces which George is clearly aware. But adapted to fit the various cultures of Planetos. And this is what makes Mel’s vision so seductive. We all know and, at some level, like some version of this story. Especially if we’re that last hero. The thing is though, what do you do when the survival of millions rests on you actually being that hero? 

As everyone has pointed out, dozens of characters in ASOIAF have acted out this part or that part of the Azor Ahai-Nissa Nissa-Lightbringer myth. I think what is being suggested there is not “it’s all of them” or “it’s none of them,” but that the myth is completely pliable as far as the morality of one’s actions are concerned. The capital-c Classic hero is an image of power, wonder, lore--not necessarily a superhero in the sense of a role model you’d want to show your kids. The archetype can apply to characters as different in their actions and beliefs as Davos Seaworth, Daenerys Targaryen, and Euron Greyjoy because that’s how archetypes work. They’re not actually instructive, and you shouldn’t venerate them. But their power is real, and you might find yourself re-enacting them without even realizing it. That’s the whole idea of collective unconsciousness and tropes crossing cultures, and I think we’re seeing that play out. Azor Ahai is both hero and villain depending on how you frame it, how you write his character.

And the truly relevant takeaway in terms of Team Dragonstone is that Melisandre left the Nissa Nissa part out. Davos had to learn it from Salla; had that conversation not occurred, the red woman would’ve effectively silenced the truth of her narrative. Truth not in terms of whether it happened, or whether it went exactly like that (who knows?) but in terms of how she’s writing it. The reification of myth is our focus here, rather than journeying back to its murky origins.

Conclusion

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