sorry i keep talking about my man yandel, i think it's interesting what stories he decides to dismiss and which ones he takes as truth. i like that, for example, he does frequently cite the works of maesters he doesn't agree with. he usually does this just to dismiss them, but i imagine him as being very aemon & sam & luwin like, which is to say, he seems to just like knowing things. for example, when he talks about the ironborn-
The lavish, detailed, and somewhat disturbing illustrations included in Strange Stone make this rare volume fascinating to peruse, but the text is impenetrable in parts; Maester Theron had a gift for drawing but little skill with words. In any case, his thesis has no factual basis and may safely be dismissed. And thus we find ourselves back whence we began, forced to concede that the beginnings of Oldtown, Battle Isle, and its fortress must forever remain a mystery to us.
He did try to read what Maester Theron wrote, and he dedicates several paragraphs to explaining Theron's hypothesis. He dismisses it but he does that because he doesn't believe there's factual basis. And he's the same way about the Faith of the Seven-
Some septons, less wise, claim that the Valyrians brought the disaster on themselves for their promiscuous belief in a hundred gods and more, and in their godlessness they delved too deep and unleashed the fires of the Seven hells on the Freehold
I love TWOIAF it's so fun, if you're a F&B hater you should read TWOIAF it's just infinitely better, I think it lends itself to the "hiding information from the reader while leaving puzzle pieces" aspect of the supplementals so well.
