chandraReborn

I like Penny as well. She's a lot like Brienne in some ways--naive, dead brothers, but takes care of herself even though society views her as freakish--and like Brienne, she serves as a mirror for a Lannister brother in their journey. Jaime sees in Brienne the kind of youthful faith in chivalry that he lost--in Penny, Tyrion realizes how much worse his life could have been.

I think the idea behind Moon Tea is more that it wasn't the kind of thing noble girls were really told about. Girls like Asha, who are more traveled, and Cersei, who is older and more cosmopolitan, know that it's a fairly reliable way to end a pregnancy. But girls like Lysa and Jeyne Westerling don't really realize they're being dosed with it, likely because anyone who could tell them about it is discouraged from doing so. It's the Westeros version of the girl who thinks it's impossible to get pregnant before getting married and winds up a teen mom.

I think the reason Jeyne Westerling was thinner when Jaime saw her was because she'd lost weight. The detail is there to show us that she hasn't been eating much since Rob died--along with how she tears her clothing on purpose.

I'm of the opinion that Lyanna had a major crush on Rhaegar and didn't particularly like Robert, so she decided to lose her virginity and render herself un-marriageable. She ran off with Rhaegar probably because she figured there would be no repercussions--her father would probably demand the head of whoever 'abducted' his daughter, unless they were the Crown Prince. But she didn't know (and who could blame her?) that the Mad King would be crazy enough to execute her father. And I'm also of the opinion that Rhaegar had given the order not to tell her about her father and brother's death, since he feared the news might cause her to lose the baby.

Yeah, I never saw Xho as a joke--maybe I was just missing things? He seemed to be in a pretty similar position to Viserys.

On Harma . . . at the end of ASOS, one of Stannis's knights cuts her head off and sticks it on a pole (it's just mentioned in one sentence, so you might have missed it). You could call it . . . karma.

They were part of anthologies he'd been asked to contribute towards. It's a pretty standard thing for writers to do.

shimpy, do you plan to read the excerpted chapters from book six after book five?

On the mention of Catherine of Aragon, I always got the feeling she held out so long for her daughter's sake. An annulment would have meant declaring Mary a bastard, thereby ruining her marriage prospects and her future. So while Catherine may have lived out her days in relative comfort, she chose to sacrifice that (and really ruined her health) for the well-being of her daughter. She was also a devoted Catholic who likely believed that agreeing to an annulment would be sinful. She and Catelyn Tully could have some good conversations...

Yeah, the sex scenes are rarely sexy, but I appreciate that about them. It makes them more realistic. If I wanted porn-y stuff, I'd just go watch porn.

As an author, I think it's more of a middle ground. When you sell someone the first book in a series, you're making a promise to write the rest. Not a contract for a pound of flesh, but a promise. In the terms of ASOIAF, it's the honorable thing for an author to do, finishing what they start. If a bestselling author took the money made for the first two books in a series and moved to the Bermudas, all the while shouting "SUCKERS!" at their fans, the fans would have every right to be upset. But Martin's working as fast as he can, and there's no reason to be mad--especially not if the rumors hold true and TWOW comes out soon.

You know, I didn't even think about it that way, but you're right--Kevan has plenty of reasons to blame Tywin's kids for his death

I think it could even be

I think the reason people speculate about the younger, more beautiful queen is that Margery in the show is shown to be scheming directly against Cersei, but in the books, Margery's behavior is more ambiguous.

Yeah, such as Keep an open mind where the High Sparrow is concerned. Also,