DeadlyViperQuill

The Quill writes where the Quill falls.

[deadlyviperquill]

Code Geass Liar's Dice Chapter one is out now

In case you missed it yesterday.

The first chapter of Code Geass Liar's Dice is now up online for everyone to read at the following sites:

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[creativepromptsforwriting]

How to become friends

Here a some ways on how your characters could become/could've become friends.

"School & Childhood" Friends

Sitting next to each other on the first day of class

Being assigned as lab/project partners

Having the same teacher and complaining together

Sharing school supplies

Being the only two people who don’t know anyone

Riding the same school bus

Getting seated alphabetically near each other every year

Being in detention together

Letting the other cheat off of them

One person defending the other from bullying

Meeting at recess or on the playground

Competing on the same academic team

Being roommates in college

Always sitting next to each other in the library

Staying up late talking in the dorms

Helping each other study before exams

Meeting during orientation week

"Family Connections" Friends

Their mothers/fathers being friends

Being cousins close in age

Growing up as neighbors

Family friends who vacation together

Parents arranging playdates

Siblings introducing them

One family helping another during hard times

Their families attending the same religious or community events

Becoming friends because their kids are friends

Meeting at weddings or family reunions

Dating each others' siblings

"Neighborhood & Everyday Life" Friends

Living in the same apartment building

Seeing each other walking dogs every day

Sharing a fence/backyard

Helping shovel snow or carry groceries

Meeting at a local park regularly

Frequenting the same café

Running into each other during morning commutes

One person helping after a car breakdown

Being regulars at the same store

Sharing a laundry room in their apartment building

"Work & Professional Life" Friends

Starting work on the same day

Complaining about the boss together

Working late on the same project

Covering shifts for each other

Sitting beside each other in the office

Traveling together for work

Bonding during training sessions

Accidentally getting trapped in endless meetings together

One mentoring the other

Quitting the same toxic workplace

"Shared Interests" Friends

Joining the same sports team

Playing in the same band

Meeting in an online game

Joining the same fandom

Taking the same art/music/dance classes

Going to the same gym

Meeting through cosplay or conventions

Attending book clubs

Participating in hobby communities

Posting in the same niche online forum

Volunteering for the same cause

Meeting in a run club

Following each other online

"Through Other Friends" Friends

“You two would get along”

Becoming the last two awake at a party

Mutual friends inviting both people repeatedly

Being added to the same group chat

Becoming friends after a breakup divides the friend group

One friend “adopting” the quieter person

Meeting through double dates

Their two friend groups mixing with each other when two people start dating

Becoming roommates through mutuals

"Random Coincidences" Friends

Missing the same train

Being stranded somewhere together

Wearing the same outfit or shirt

Reaching for the same book in a library

Accidentally texting the wrong number

Dancing next to each other at a concert

Sitting together in the airport during a delayed flight

Sitting next to each other on the train/plane

Getting stuck in an elevator with each other

Meeting on holiday together

One person dropping something and the other helping

Surviving an embarrassing moment together

Laughing at the same thing no one else noticed

"Funny & Unexpected Situation" Friends

Mistaken identity leading to conversation

Fighting first and later becoming close

One stealing the other’s seat

A shared hatred of the same person

Both pretending to understand something they don’t

Meeting because of a lost pet

Becoming friends after a minor car accident

One person overhearing the other say something unhinged and agreeing

Meeting through a heated conversation in a comment section

Accidentally attending the wrong event together

Competing against each other and gaining each other's respect

More: Friendship Masterpost (Prompts & Advice)

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[turtle-paced]

Tyrion when he talks to Aegon tells him that Cersei is greedy for power, honor, and love. Cersei certainly wants power and wants honor in a sense that she wants to be honored, but love? Cersei has a Tywin like attitude toward love she only loves herself. Why would Tyrion think Cersei wants love?

For anyone looking up the quote, it's in Tyrion VI, ADWD.

Cersei was willing to risk everything to maintain her relationship with the sexual partner she chose. She defended Joffrey to the hilt and transferred a great deal of that feeling to Tommen - in AFFC Margaery devastatingly points out that Tommen will never have a wife Cersei doesn't hate (because that means Cersei won't be the central pillar of her son's world).

Cersei wants to be loved, not necessarily to love others. She doesn't want or see the need to be widely loved. We're not talking about anything healthy here. But she does want to be the focus of the love of the people she feels strongly about. She cannot have enough of Jaime's love or the love of her children. Indeed, she cannot cope with Jaime doing things like acting on his love for Tyrion or trying to do his job properly, because both those things lead Jaime to not privileging her desires over everything else.

And yes, Tyrion knows this about Cersei because a) he's known Cersei intimately for a long time and b) this is also what he's greedy for.

It's almost like their father left them a shared deficit in their emotional lives and neither have been able to sort through the damage...

[turtle-paced]

Do you think Cersei was serious when she told Jaime to kill Arya? Even for her it’s an incredibly stupid idea, it would mean Jaime loses his head and Tywin starts a war he would lose.

Two issues.

One, did Cersei think through the risks all the way? I doubt it. She's almost as much of a hothead as Jaime in her way.

Two, if she did think through the risks, did she believe these would be the consequences? I also doubt that. As is pretty common for Cersei, it's misogyny and empathy issues. Cersei doesn't see much value in Arya, a little girl who's not even conventionally pretty, and therefore struggles to understand why anyone else would value Arya. Cersei's experience of father-daughter relationships is her own father valuing her not for who she was but what she could do for him politically, and so she struggles to understand that Arya's father might love Arya just because she's Arya, and politics doesn't enter into it.

Then she compares the lack of value she sees in Arya and goes "but I'm the queen." A bit of a mental hurdle.

So yes, I think she was serious. Not risk-aware. But serious.

[deadlyviperquill]

Monthly Update

Monthly update out now on DeviantArt, see my thoughts on Alpha Protocol The Wire Season 3/4. Along with the demo for UnmaskedTruth by Unmasked Truth.

Monthly Update 31/05/2026 by DeadlyViperQuill on DeviantArt

Monthly Update 31/05/2026 — a journal by DeadlyViperQuill on DeviantArt. Published: 2026-05-31 · Likes: 0 · Views: 29

[reesewestonarchive-deactivated2]

No author is entitled to comments, to interaction, to reblogs or likes or reviews or anything, but in a community where you’re essentially a bunch of indie writers, that’s the lifeblood that keeps people *posting*. Writing doesn’t necessarily stop, but when someone feels like no one gives a shit whether you’re sharing or not, you quit sharing.

[hellenhighwater]

In the simplest possible terms: creators aren’t entitled to your support, but you’re also not at all entitled to their creations.

If you want content, support content creators.

[seek--rest]

Even better: stop viewing your fellow fans creating things as content creators. We are not on YouTube and we do not get money for this.

Support your fellow fans by letting them know— human to human— that you enjoyed what they did. If we stop putting people who create on pedestals, maybe we can kill the influencer culture that’s invaded fandom.

[heywriters]

How to survive the phase of shitty writting? I know i can't skip it in order to grow, but realistically, how to not give up? I already tried to quite completly, but i still feel that call,nbut when i try to write it feels so pointless. How to keep going knowing everything i create is worthless for now and i don't even feel i'll ever progress? I’m trying to come back after quite long time of not writing, i was writing for years before but never got any good, so obviosly i wont come back to write a masterpiece right away, i never aimed for a mastepiece in fact, i just want to make it any readable and i know i need to practice but i’m worried it can never get better.

I get asks like this every now and then, and they always contain the same problem.

Your writing is not shitty. It is not worthless.

Bloggers using these terms to describe early writing are often being either glib or depressing. Ignore their advice if it is making you feel bad.

Do you write for pleasure or for praise/accomplishment? If the latter, then you are simply in the practice stage. Practice is inherently worthwhile and no effort in this regard is a waste.

If you write for pleasure, then everything you create fulfills its purpose by being entertaining to create. A small child does not drop the crayon when it realizes its drawing will never be in the MoMA, does it? No, they don't care they just like drawing stuff. Adopt that mindset. Just write to get words on the page and ideas developed because you want to.

My advice for the insecure writer:

Stop re-reading your own work; you're a very biased critic right now and that in itself is holding you back.

All improvements are for later drafts. Trust me, you'll have whole new ideas by draft three so put off the nitpicking and focus.

Avoid outside opinions, writing advice, and blogs like mine for a while; we tend to inadvertently make you feel like you've done everything wrong and need to start over.

Stop starting over. Stop deleting your early drafts. Save all of it (this was the best advice I ever received).

Read and watch books and movies for motivation, and to analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

Do. Not. Compare. Yourself. To Other. Writers—your art is about you and what concerns you, other creators have nothing to do with it.

Remind yourself dumber people are doing it wrong confidently. Copy their confidence.

When you feel self-doubt creeping in again, tell it to take a hike, you've got a story to write.

Whatever you write, no matter the quality, take pride in being a writer at all. Lazy suckers just use AI.

There's nothing wrong with making a mess. How are you supposed to learn from constant perfection? Scratch out dumb sentences, leave afterthoughts in the margins, and side tangents in brackets. If the writing isn't going well, write ROUGH DRAFT in big letters at the top to remind yourself it's just a sketch of what you had in mind, not the finished product.

"...i’m worried it can never get better" I have great news for you! This fear will only be realized if you quit. Since you feel the pull to write there's clearly no point in quitting, your brain already knows writing is the answer. Ideas don't like to wait, and life will keep trying to interrupt you with bigger things, so there's really no time like the present. Go write!

—

Please review my pinned Ask Policy before sending in your ask. Thank you.

+ If you would like to support this blog, please visit my ko-fi and Buy Me A Coffee!

[luna-azzurra]

Tips for Writing Injuries! (AGAIN)

Your action hero just got shot in the shoulder, stitched it up in a motel bathroom, and is now running through a forest. I need you to know that a shoulder wound severs muscle, nerves, and sometimes bone, and the human body's response to that is not "mild wincing followed by full range of motion." here is what injuries actually do to peoplee...

⊹ Adrenaline is REAL and it does allow people to do extraordinary things immediately after injury, BUT it is a loan, not a gift. you borrow the function and you pay it back later with interest. Your character might genuinely be able to run for twenty minutes after being stabbed. and then the adrenaline drops and everything the body was delaying arrives all at once. the collapse is NOT weakness. it's biology collecting its debt. write the debt collection. it's more interesting than the heroic sprint anyway.

⊹ Blood loss changes cognition before it drops you. you don't go from "fine" to "unconscious." you go through a whole middle stage of confusion, poor decision-making, emotional dysregulation, a strange calm, tunnel vision, difficulty forming sentences. Your injured character making a bad call, saying something they normally wouldn't, becoming suddenly and inexplicably gentle--that's blood loss. use the middle stage. it's dramatically rich and almost nobody writes it.

⊹ Recovery has a timeline and the timeline is long and boring and inconvenient to plot. a broken rib takes six weeks and during those six weeks sneezing is a genuine emergency. a concussion means no screens, no reading, no bright lights, and symptoms can persist for months. a stab wound to the abdomen means weeks of infection risk, limited mobility, and a specific kind of exhaustion that has nothing to do with sleep. Your character being sidelined and frustrated and useless for a long time is not a narrative problem. it's the story.

⊹ Pain also affects personality in ways writers skip. chronic pain makes people short-tempered and then guilty about being short-tempered. it makes concentration difficult. it makes intimacy complicated, both emotional and physical. a character who was patient and warm before their injury and is now snappy and withdrawn is not a character regression. they're in pain. pain is exhausting in ways that don't show on the outside. the people around them noticing and not knowing how to help is a whole story in itself.

[luna-azzurra]

I genuinely cannot explain to a non-writer what it feels like when a chapter suddenly clicks. it's not satisfaction. it's not relief. it's this horrible specific feeling like you just remembered something you never knew. like the story was already there and you finally stopped being in the way of it. i don't know what to do with that feeling. i just close the laptop and stare at the wall for a bit.

[turtle-paced]

is Ned the only person Robert loved?

I think Robert loved Jon Arryn too. But that's it.

Robert is the story's first notable rejection of the idea that love alone can fix emotional problems. Robert himself thought love would fix his personal issues, fixating on Lyanna as the representation of his ideal wife and ideal life - and never truly appreciating that he already had people who loved him and were trying to do the right thing by him. And, consequently, that the problem was him.

Robert's big fatal flaw is laziness (not his only flaw, of course, just the specific one that dooms him). He was not willing to commit to loving other people as a practice and a discipline. Easier to pine over what's already lost than to try and build something new. Easier to reminisce with Ned over Lyanna than it was to face up to his responsibilities for Ned's sake (and the realm's sake). Robert did not want to do the work of reciprocating.

Ned's love for Robert was as real and selfless as you can get. (And no less for being platonic!) What he wanted from that relationship was for Robert to be the best version of Robert. Nothing more. But also nothing less.

Robert did not see the value of that love and wasn't willing to put in the effort to return it in kind. The feelings were there, but the commitment wasn't. If you only get out of a relationship what you put in... well, Robert wasn't putting in anything. Little wonder he wasn't getting the returns he wanted.

[turtle-paced]

Revisiting Chapters: Tyrion IV, ASoS

This one's a long recap since the chapter is a veritable grab bag of issues. The sheer scope of what this chapter does is kind of amazing.

The story so far…

Tyrion is settling into his new job as Master of Coin and his married life with Sansa. He’d probably rather be doing anything else, except maybe planning for that upcoming royal wedding.

Child Abuse

Our chapter begins with Tyrion really not having a great day of it. His job’s miserable. His home life is worse. This is because he’s been married to a child hostage bride, and shocker of shockers, she’s not happy about it.

Sansa’s misery was deepening every day. Tyrion would gladly have broken through her courtesy to give her what solace he might, but it was no good. No words would ever make him fair in her eyes. Or any less a Lannister. This was the wife they had given him, for all the rest of his life, and she hated him.

And yeah, this is creepy as fuck, especially when it’s followed by Tyrion’s blunt internal monologue: I want her.

Let’s break this down a bit because there’s a lot going on here.

First, this is a passage about the patriarchy hurting men too. What Tyrion wants is not Sansa in particular - he barely mentions anything about her specifically in that paragraph - but emotional intimacy and romantic love. Sansa just so happens to be the person that Tyrion’s father has handed off to him and Tyrion’s society says is the proper outlet for romantic feelings. And she’s a twelve-year-old hostage, so Tyrion’s running up hard against the fact that he’s not going to get that romantic connection from her.

Second, we cannot have a paragraph about the patriarchy hurting men without the spectre of the patriarchy hurting women in the background. Even as the focus of this bit right here is the effect on Tyrion, critical readers are going to go “well yeah, she’s a twelve-year-old hostage, Tyrion doesn’t deserve those feelings from her and was never entitled to them in the best case scenario.” Critical readers are going to note the fact that Sansa has been treated like an object and that Tyrion doesn’t seem to bat an eye at the fact that Sansa is a literal child. Our PoV character has thoroughly normalised the sexualisation of a pre-teen girl and that is extremely goddamned uncomfortable.

Third, there’s the extent to which ableism comes into play. We can see from the “or any less a Lannister” comment that Tyrion’s intellectually aware of the fact that there’s solid reason for Sansa not to be mad keen on marrying into his family even if he was able-bodied. But his attractiveness is his first thought, and it’s his attractiveness he comes back to, bitterly and ironically wishing to be “as tall as Jaime and as strong as Ser Gregor the Mountain too”. I think it’s fair to say that this is the part that Tyrion really feels. Unlike being a Lannister, his disability is something Tyrion actually hates and would change if he could.

Tyrion’s relationship with Sansa comes back at the very end of the chapter, as Tywin admonishes Tyrion for not raping her. Tyrion protests that Sansa is too young (which she is!). There is absolutely no compassion in Tywin’s reply.

“She is old enough to be Lady of Winterfell once her brother is dead. Claim her maidenhood and you will be one step closer to claiming the north. Get her with child, and the prize is all but won. Do I need to remind you that a marriage that has not been consummated can be set aside?”

Aside from being straight repulsive, a) Tywin’s referring to once Robb is dead, as though it were an inevitability, and b) this is here to set up the fact that annulments are available in Westeros, and might be available in Sansa’s specific case.

Fraud

So like I mentioned above, Tyrion’s job is miserable. The other thing going into Tyrion’s ‘black mood’ is the state of the city. Including the bits just outside of it, which Tyrion goes to see in person. Nothing but “mud and ashes and bits of burned bone.” Before the Battle of the Blackwater it was a commercial centre, one of the biggest ports in Westeros, so it’s going to need to be rebuilt. Which means money. Money that the new Master of Coin will have to find someway, somehow. Tyrion’s due to talk to the guild masters.

The people of King’s Landing are none too friendly to Tyrion as he makes this in-person inspection. Tyrion needs Bronn’s protection here, and Tyrion’s mixed attitudes to the people in return is on full display.

“Remind me to tell Ser Addam to post some gold cloaks here,” he told Bronn as they rode between two of the trebuchets. “Some fool boy’s like to fall off and break his back.” There was a shout from above, and a clod of manure exploded on the ground a foot in front of him. Tyrion’s mare reared and almost threw him. “On second thoughts,” he said when he had the horse in hand, “let the poxy brats splatter on the cobbles like overripe melons.”

It’s not that Tyrion’s wrong to be upset. He wasn’t at fault for the battle itself. In this particular incident, potentially being thrown from his horse is dangerous. But instead of blaming those specific children throwing dung at him, Tyrion’s immediately like “no public safety measures for you as a class.” An inherently mixed character, is Tyrion: instinctive compassion for children, which he is capable of withdrawing immediately when his pride is stung.

The results of the field trip are discussed with Tywin later on in the chapter, but I’ll deal with them here. Tyrion ends up with a whole long list of infrastructure repairs need doing. Tywin says:

“You will find whatever gold is required.”

Tyrion pushes back on the idea that money grows on trees, with a second list of the bills the crown needs to pay (seventy-seven bloody courses! A thousand guests!) and though he accept Tywin’s argument that extravagance has its uses, he suggests that if it’s his father’s political needs they’re catering to, the money should come from Tywin. Tywin says:

“Don’t be absurd.”

It turns out that Tywin literally only looked at the ‘income’ section of the balance sheet. Not the expenses. All he knows about the crown’s finances is important number go up. Behind all this is what Tyrion points out: the expenses are up as well, and it’s a real struggle to keep up with the usury on various loans. Why were those loans taken out? How was the usury set? Who knows these things! (Petyr Baelish knows.) And more to the point, Tywin Lannister dos not care.

“I will have the wedding and the waterfront. If you cannot pay for them, say so, and I will find a master of coin who can.”

The prospect of being sacked is too much for Tyrion, and he promises to find the money somehow. The money’s not there to find, though, and Tyrion VI will imply strongly that it was stolen long ago. But that’s a story for Tyrion VI, in conjunction with Eddard IV AGoT - something for readers to piece together bit by bit.

Extortion

Tyrion’s not in town just to check out the harbour. As he rides through the city he starts keeping a closer lookout for Varys’ people. This is because Tyrion’s main purpose in coming down here is some surreptitious business of his own. He heads into a “dismal” wine sink, empty at the morning hour, and goes into a back room where Symon Silver Tongue, bard, is waiting for a payment of thirty dragons.

A fortune, for a man like him.

By implication, fairly small potatoes to Tyrion.

But what’s this about anyway? Symon isn’t exactly subtle in introducing it.

“My sweet lady Shae tells me you are newly wed. Would that you had sent for me earlier. I should have been honoured to sing at your feet.” “The last thing my wide needs is more songs,” said Tyrion. “As for Shae, we both know she is no lady, and I would thank you never to speak her name aloud.”

Symon here knows about Tyrion’s relationship with Shae. Now Tyrion’s here to negotiate prices. He mentally upbraids himself for not being harsher, sooner: I threatened him before, but nothing ever came of the threat, so now he believes me toothless.

Tyrion starts with an offer, however. Escort to Duskendale to take ship to the Free Cities. Symon’s counter-offer is a song - and getting the song in is arguably the point of this entire interaction. On a political level, it is clearly about Tyrion’s affair with Shae and tantamount to a threat to expose it if Tyrion doesn’t up the offer. On a literary level it’s here to tell us about one of Tyrion’s core issues:

And a chain and a keep are nothing Compared to a woman’s kiss.

Recall that Tywin threatened to hang Tyrion’s next illicit sexual partner (back in Tyrion I, ASoS). That on top of the fact Symon’s hit on a major emotional vulnerability.

Tyrion slid his fingers from his cloak, empty.

Tyrion had thirty dragons in a pocket of his cloak. So we can read this as: Tyrion is no longer prepared to offer anything.

Symon is oblivious to this. He insinuates that he’ll go to Cersei or Tywin with this information - but if Tyrion should land him a gig at Joffrey’s wedding, he’ll hold his tongue. This is a freaking ridiculous demand. Sure, Tyrion will get Symon the gig at the biggest venue in the land, that’s something he a) can achieve without comment (which Tyrion points out) and b) does not open him up to further extortion in future. Symon’s unbothered and suggests that Tyrion makes a slot open up, suggesting as a close that should Symon be called up to sing in the meantime, he has an absolute banger he might want to test drive in front of the court.

“That will not be necessary,” said Tyrion. “You have my word as a Lannister, Bronn will call upon you soon.”

Alas, Symon does not understand that he will soon be murdered. Tyrion gives those orders to Bronn almost as soon as they’re out of earshot. And that's the end of that subplot.

Public Sector Corruption

I know! There’s barely a public sector in Westeros at all, and most of it is just a way to spread out the corruption a bit further! But ater all that with the harbour, Tyrion’s work day isn’t done yet. Whatever his flaws, sloth is not amongst them.

Tyrion walks in on his father in the middle of dealing with some stolen goods. Cherrywood scabbard, lion’s-head studs in pure gold (enjoy fixing those when they get scratched), rubies for the eyes. There are some things money can’t buy and damned if taste isn’t one of them. Tyrion approaches at Tywin’s invitation to see that the sword is made of Valyrian steel. Which is strange:

Valyrian steel blades were scarce and costly, yet thousands remained in the world, perhaps two hundred in the Seven Kingdoms alone. It had always irked his father that none belonged to House Lannister. […] Thrice at least Lord Tywin had offered to buy Valyrian longswords from impoverished lesser houses, but his advances had been firmly rebuffed.

What we know and Tyrion doesn’t is that Tywin got the steel by melting down the Stark ancestral sword. And something in the sword itself appears to remember. Though Tywin ordered the armourer to work Lannister crimson into the blade, the steel would not take the dye. The swords made from Ice now have blades like “night and blood upon some steely shore”. Literal lumps of metal have better taste than Tywin.

No sooner than Tyrion says “there is no other sword like it in all the world, I should think” than the armourer reveals a second sword, “if not twins, the two were at least close cousins.” Naturally, the sword Tywin intends to give to Jaime is bigger, I.e. Uses more of the valuable Valyrian steel.

Speaking of, Tywin says to Tyrion’s face:

“It is meant for my son.”

As if Tyrion’s not also Tywin’s son. Again: you cannot buy class. When Tyrion calls him on it, Tywin says “if you have need of a dagger, take one from the armoury.” Another rebuff, as Tywin resists the idea that he would ever gift Tyrion anything

There’s also a throwaway bit of Red Wedding foreshadowing in this chapter too, all slowly but inevitably building up to the main event.

Tyrion placed Jaime’s sword back on the table beside Joffrey’s, wondering if Robb Stark would let his brother live long enough to wield it. Our father must think so, else why have this blade forged?

With that bit of misappropriation of goods unjustly seized by the state done, Tyrion’s actually here to talk about the budget, like I discussed above. After that, we move on to the other political affairs of the realm: Tywin’s unsuccesful attempt to arrange a Tyrell marriage for Cersei, for one. Mace was initially all in before Olenna “unmercifully” bullied him out of it, an interesting insight into Tyrell family dynamics and when and how Olenna’s voice is listened to. It’s clear that the only tie the Tyrells want with the Lannisters goes through the throne. Otherwise they’d prefer to stay disentangled.

Also important is that Tywin promptly throws the entire affair down the memory hole:

“It is better for all of us if the offer was never made. See that you remember that, Tyrion. The offer was never made.”

Someone can’t handle rejection and failure. There are no lessons learned here on Tywin’s part. He’s just editing it out of his personal universe, never to be mentioned again, the reasons never to be considered and factored into future plans. It just didn’t happen. And we know it’s that, and not concern for Cersei’s feelings, because in Jaime VII he’s plotting to marry Jaime to Margaery as if this little incident really didn’t happen.

There’s one last issue for Tyrion to watch Tywin deal with today - the Night’s Watch. Pycelle interrupts, bringing a message from Castle Black. It’s not the first message, either, but it might be the last. It’s one reporting that Jeor Mormont and all his men are missing beyond the Wall. But Bowen Marsh has made a critical mistake: he has addressed his plea to all five kings.

[Tywin] was annoyed. “There is one king in Westeros. Those fools in black might try and remember that if they wish His Grace to heed them. When you reply, tell him Renly is dead and the others are traitors and pretenders.”

He wrote the name on the address wrong. That’s far more significant than, you know, the northern defences of the realm going missing, possibly its entire strength destroyed. No, once this faux pas is cleared up, what the Night’s Watch is going to need is a new leader! Tyrion isn’t pleased when Pycelle suggests Janos Slynt (and Pycelle knows Tyrion will be pissed, too).

“Lord Slynt is new to the Wall. I should know, I sent him there. Why should [the Night’s Watch] pick him over a dozen more senior men?” “Because,” his father said, in a tone that suggested Tyrion was quite the simpleton, “if they do not vote as they are told, their Wall will melt before it sees another man.”

An entirely reasonable approach to the northern defences. Install this toady or we will starve your organisation.

Tyrion’s anger flashed. “Lord Janos is a hollow suit of armour who will sell himself to the highest bidder.” “I count that as a point in his favour. Who is like to bid higher than us?”

It’s just flat out corruption. Terrible governance.

And it’s not some small scale NGO, it’s the northern defences. Even if you don’t believe in White Walkers, the Free Folk are real enough. As is the fact that the previous Lord Commander apparently went missing, with all the men he’d taken, in hostile territory. Hello? Is anyone in command here listening? Or prioritising? Do they think Jeor Mormont got lost on a walk in the woods?

Even Tyrion gets sucked in, unfortunately, and his last thought of the chapter is that he should have had Slynt killed too.

Chapter Function

After experiencing the wedding itself from Sansa’s PoV - a choice that is very much GRRM putting Sansa’s fears and vulnerabilities centre stage - we get Tyrion’s PoV to show the secondary effects. Just this short part of this chapter goes a long way to showing Tyrion’s deep-seated issues with romantic love, the lack he feels, how that manifests in how he thinks about and interacts with women (and girls, in Sansa’s case). It also gives us a sense of the raw emotional pain that will eventually lead to Tyrion dropping his brother like a stone after Jaime reveals the truth about what happened with Tysha and to murdering his own father.

This is also one of the reasons the subplot with Symon is here. Symon isn’t all that important in and of himself. What the incident does show us, directly, is that Shae is a serious political liability for Tyrion. Unexamined by Tyrion himself in the moment is the fact that Symon apparently learned of Tyrion’s arrangement with Symon from Shae herself. I doubt it’s malicious on her part - more likely that Shae, who’s about nineteen at this point, just said a little too much in casual conversation - but it’s certainly demonstrating the fact that Shae’s not keeping as quiet about her relationship with Tyrion as Tyrion might want or need.

That, and Symon’s song is outright telling us about Tyrion’s emotional vulnerabilities. You can’t do that with an ordinary extortionist - it would be way too blunt and telling-not-showing to have someone go “hey Tyrion, I know you’re actually in love with Shae despite your better judgement, what’s it worth to you to keep it quiet”. This preserves a tasteful artistic distance.

Alas, we cannot be sure whether the song actually is any good.

Other political plots advance by crucial inches. Littlefinger’s efforts as Master of Coin lurk in the background. There's some Red Wedding foreshadowing. Purple Wedding planning is in full swing. Ice reappears in a different form. The Lannisters and Tyrells continue a tug of war over power. The Night’s Watch is in trouble. All of these things will come back later, bigger, and badder.

Behind this incremental progress is an underlying character dynamic that is also incredibly important for the end of the novel. The back half of the chapter is Tyrion and Tywin interacting. And Tywin is a prick. Even when he has what he wants, his belittling of Tyrion is awful to witness. That “my son” line, just a terrible thing to say. Tywin calls Tyrion’s (good) ideas absurd and treats him like an idiot for his (reasonable) suggestions. Tywin is not just an abusive father but an abusive boss. We see Tyrion try to make himself heard and then back down in the face of Tywin’s unrelenting personal awfulness. This is just not sustainable. One way or another, Tyrion’s got to break. Tywin wants Tyrion to break in the direction of just doing whatever Tywin wants. The readers know Tyrion will go in another direction.

This personal awfulness is, not coincidentally, a big part of why these problems will all come back later. We’re seeing Tywin at work for the realm here, and his priority is the Lannisters. That prioritisation directly results in him ignoring the realm’s dire financial straits and pushing an unqualified toady for a vital Night’s Watch position.

We also get to see the conditions of the common people in King’s Landing, however briefly. The harbour is destroyed (and with it a lot of livelihoods and trade) and won’t be rebuilt anytime soon. Prices are “shockingly high”. Tyrion notes various people described as “gaunt”, “haggard” and “ragged”. This isn’t just about setting up Tyrion’s general unpopularity, but setting up the popular hatred of the Lannisters that will start to become extremely relevant in future books.

Miscellany (and jaywalking)

Worth noting that Kevan’s prioritisation of his own family is evident here, as he’s been wiped out by the news of one son’s murder, in a situation where another son is also a hostage and his eldest son is still recovering from his Blackwater/Cersei-related wounds.

This chapter contains some excellent posthumous characterisation of Robert Baratheon. As Tywin tells us, Robert received sword after sword and dagger after dagger as gifts during his reign - but the only blade Robert ever used was a hunting knife Jon Arryn gave him as a boy. Tossed offhandedly to us by Tywin, it nevertheless shows us that key sentimentality of Robert’s.

Clothing Porn

Bronn wears oiled black mail. In a rare example of describing the clothing of commoners, Symon Silver Tongue wears a doeskin jerkin with bone buttons.

Food Porn

None.

Next Three Chapters

Bran III, ADWD - Theon I, ACoK - Epilogue, ASoS

[captainkirkk]

What they don't tell you about writing is that as you write, you discover scenes and entire plots that you hadn't accounted for that need to be written. So you can spend two hours writing and editing only to realise you're further away from the finish line than you thought you were when you started

[turtle-paced]

How do you think Littlefinger was planning to kill Tywin? It seems to me that he had to get rid of Tywin so that Cersei would take charge and ruin the Lannisters already shaky position.

I don't think Littlefinger was planning to kill Tywin... himself. By which I mean I don't think he personally had active plans on the go towards that end. After all, Littlefinger already lobbed several grenades at the Lannister regime.

Cut for length!

First, he'd rigged the slow collapse of the crown's finances, something that even in ASoS could only realistically be staved off (not fixed at root cause!) by the Lannisters forgiving at least some of their loans to the crown.

"Don't be absurd." Tywin to Tyrion, on this topic, Tyrion IV, ASoS

That's money straight out of Tywin's pocket. Who do we think is receiving some of that usury Tyrion's struggling to cover?

We can see the sort of impact that has in AFFC clearly. Cersei's making it worse than it might otherwise have been, but even under the best of circumstances Tywin would eventually be forced into making some tough financial decisions. Pay the Iron Bank? Pay himself? Pay for mercenaries? Pay to rebuild the commercial districts of King's Landing? We can only pick two? Wait, we can only pick one now? Each carries its own negative consequences.

Second, Littlefinger arranged for Joffrey's death. Joffrey's rule meant chaos, yes, but Joffrey was also nearly an adult by Westerosi standards. Tommen is not. Littlefinger put a weak boy king on the throne and brought home the prospects of several years of de facto King Tywin to all Tywin's political enemies. Of which there are many, post-Red Wedding.

Third, Littlefinger framed Tyrion for Joffrey's murder. Not in a huge overt way, but he did make sure that there was a major public insult to Tyrion at the wedding itself. Which he could be reasonably sure Tyrion would not remain poker-faced about. Hey look everyone, it's a motive! A motive right here! And everyone in attendance got to see it for themselves, right down to any serving staff working that night.

Tyrion is arguably the most competent Lannister in King's Landing - the only other sound Lannister ally who might have the skills needed to handle the various crises of the realm is Kevan. It's also no secret that Tywin and Cersei both hate Tyrion's guts.

So framing Tyrion drives a dagger into the heart of various Lannister personal sensitivities. It does not take a huge leap of logic to realise that Cersei in particular would fixate on Tyrion as the most logical suspect of the murder of her favourite child. Littlefinger's prodded the Lannisters into tearing themselves apart. This takes up their time and attention, and reduces their available skills as a unit.

And all this takes place against a backdrop Littlefinger helped engineer: the end of the War of Five Kings. Tywin had plenty of enemies at the start of the series. The Red Wedding only made him more and more dedicated enemies. Oberyn Martell is coming to town, for instance. Littlefinger's already had a good look at Tyrell ambitions and their willingness to murder a king for them. Varys is up to something, Littlefinger might not know what exactly, but he can know it's a big deal.

Littlefinger has read the room, basically, and concluded that the Lannisters were facing severe problems they'd struggle to navigate at the best of times. Shaky authority, ambitious rivals, more deadly enemies than you can shake a stick at. He'd spent years developing the crown's dependence on him personally and created another crisis of his own - a financial crisis that would absolutely hamstring all but the most popular, authoritative, competent, and creative of regimes.

Then he kicked a few supports out and left.

Under these circumstances, even should Tywin survive his enemies, he might well not be able to do anything about Littlefinger's schemes until it was too late.

Littlefinger doesn't need to do anything else to the Lannisters now. He can sit back in the reasonably certain knowledge that Tywin's enemies (and even his allies) will accomplish those ends for him, preserving Littlefinger's own resources for the next challenge.

[turtle-paced]

Do you think Dany is going to accidentally blow up Kings Landing? Wouldn’t that invalidate Jaime killing Aerys and everything he went through as a result?

Short answers: yes to the first, no to the second.

Long answers below the cut.

First question:

Why I think King's Landing will be blown up: the author is unlikely to put magical dynamite underneath King's Landing in the first act and not set it off in the second.

Why I think Dany: it's her dad who planted the dynamite underneath her long-term objective.

Why I think accidental: Dany sure does not read to me like the sort of character who would do it deliberately. It's not everyone's take, but it's mine and I think it's a very supportable view.

Between that and the themes of Dany's storyline about family legacy and justified violence, and the whole series' questions about monarchy and fights over the throne, I think there's more scope for character development and thematic discussion when Dany's responsibility for something so terrible lies in a moral grey area. When she's the one bringing violence to the city, who acts knowing there's a risk to the lives of the people living there, and then sees her actions literally blow up in her face. The consequences are then hers to face up to. This is a worthy dark night of the soul for one of the series' central characters, right as she needs to turn her attention to the apocalyptic crisis in the north.

The alternative is her blasting past moral grey right into "decided a million civilian deaths were worth it for the throne." We saw how well that worked in the show.

Second question:

No more than Walton Steelshanks killing the bear invalidated Jaime's decision to jump into the bear pit to save Brienne. No more than a tsunami wiping out the King's Landing would invalidate those choices, no more than someone's cow kicking over a candle and setting off the same explosive chain of events. The narrative's point is in the choices Jaime made - and the choices he may have to make again, if Cersei decides to try and take everyone down with her - rather than the extent of his successes.

No, Jaime saved the city that day and nothing and nobody can take that away from him.

Part of the tragedy here is that he then acted like someone could, and kept quiet about his own heroism. Jaime turned his "finest act" into one of his many dirty secrets. Jaime should be proud of what he did and shouldn't have such a visceral negative response to basic questioning about how he did his job, but his first response was instead to flinch away resentfully from the judgemental stare of a fellow teenager who didn't know what he walked in on or what he was looking at.

It's such a perverse outcome and once again you can put it down to the horrible beliefs about family superiority Tywin inculcated in his family and the emotional abuse he inflicted on them. Where questions and even possible disagreement are personal attacks and slights on family honour, Jaime does not feel free to defend controversial actions he undertook in good faith. Actions that saved countless lives. Tywin's created a model of Lannister power where "fuck you, Jaime keeps his job because he's a Lannister" is a preferable response to "Jaime was faced with an unprecedented crisis and made a very difficult choice in order to save the entire city - sending him to the Wall for saving King's Landing isn't fair."

You can see that there's a lot to talk about and to keep talking about. And blowing up King's Landing for real gives us more to discuss with Jaime's actions.

Man-made disasters never have just one cause. There are always multiple reasons, multiple failures. Jaime's silence is only one contributing factor in any future King's Landing explosions. Jaime did not know the consequences of keeping quiet. He could not reasonably be expected to know that the magical explosives would grow more dangerous over time. His silence is a lost opportunity to prevent future disaster. But he didn't put the wildfire there. It's extremely unlikely that he'll be the one to set it off.

As with Aerys and Daenerys, so with Jaime. Actions aren't one and done. They have consequences echoing down the years. Jaime saved King's Landing at the end of the Rebellion. That was important and that was a good thing. Sixteen years can't be erased by future events partially enabled by Jaime's own tragic flaws - the flaws allow the readers to keep talking about consequences.

[434697-blog]

Syaoran’s sisters

[turtle-paced]

Do you think Brienne will ever meet with Sansa because their storylines seem to be heading in very different directions?

Different directions... for the moment.

If Brienne survives her various run-ins with Lady Stoneheart (I'm optimistic but cannot guarantee it), I think she heads north afterwards - where she might not only be able to meet Catelyn's surviving children, but see them relatively safe and as reunited as possible. As Catelyn would have wanted.

[deadlyviperquill]

Monthly Update 29/04/2026

This month's update includes reviews of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, The Wire Seasons 1/2. News on Unmasked Truth project that has demo out now.

Along with the latest chapter for Code Geass Liar's Dice fanfic.

Monthly Update 29/04/2026 by DeadlyViperQuill on DeviantArt

Monthly Update 29/04/2026 — a journal by DeadlyViperQuill on DeviantArt. Published: 2026-04-29 · Likes: 0 · Views: 39