Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Boiled Leather Audio Hour #46

Forecasting The Winds of Winter, Part 2: Essos

We’re going back to the future with part two of our all-predictions podcast series on The Winds of Winter! This time around we’re traveling to Essos to speculate as to what Volume Six of A Song of Ice and Fire has in store for our old friends, from Braavos to Meereen. What fate will befall the five POV characters currently located east of Westeros—Arya, Barristan, Victarion, Tyrion, and Daenerys? What about supporting players like Jorah Mormont, Moqorro, and Marwyn the Mage? (Forgot about him, didn’t you?) Then, of course, there’s the matter of the dragons to consider, and consider them we do. It winds up being a wide-ranging discussion of lands near and far, futures immediate and distant. Guess along with us!

This episode also features an update on our fundraisers, both our emergency PayPal fund to help fix Sean’s broken laptop and our Patreon drive, where your monthly subscription/donation can help guarantee more episodes, better sound quality, topics of your choosing, and more. We greatly appreciate all our donors and patrons so far, and if you think the podcast’s worth a few bucks a month, we’d be so grateful for you to join their ranks!

Download Episode 46

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11 comments:

  1. Excellent as usual, guys!

    On the question of the horn: I think the idea is that Dragonbinder is a parallel for the Horn of Joramun. One horn for Fire, one for Ice, and Euron hijacks both. If one horn can knock down the Wall from a remote point, why not the other send a dragon long-distance?

    As for what Moqorro's up to, he did indeed see Euron in his fires: "a tall and twisted thing with one black eye and ten long arms, sailing on a sea of blood." But red priests are hubristic; just like Mel misinterpreted her vision of Bran and Bloodraven, I don't think Moqorro realizes that Euron's skinchanging the Dusky Woman, and whatever the red priest does to the horn, Euron can undo from afar. Vic trusts the Dusky Woman, just as Euron planned when he sent her along, cutting out her tongue so she couldn't tell Vic the truth. (Again, I think the remote-action thing is Euron's signature--remember the Faceless Man?) So Moqorro fucks up and inadvertently helps Euron get the horn, just as Mel encourages the pretender Stannis. The Black Flame then has to warn Dany about the Crow's Eye, just as Marwyn has to warn her about the Others and Tyrion warns her about the "mummer's dragon" Aegon. (The tragedy is, she cares more about the last one than the other two...at first.)

    I think the "lips" thing you were referring to isn't the grey-lipped vision from the House of the Undying (I think that's JonCon myself); it's the "blue and bruised" lipped version of Hizdahr that assaults Dany in her dreams. I've argued that's Euron incepting her.

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    1. Thanks a lot for getting back at this. What do you think Moqorro is doing to the horn?

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  2. :) I think he's just trying to disable the damn thing like a bomb in an action movie, so that his messiah doesn't lose one of her dragons. And either that can't be done, or Euron made it so it can't be done, or again acts directly via the Dusky Woman. I love the idea of Vic being at the center of this cold war on his ship he knows nothing about, both sides using and deceiving him.

    But yeah, from that Vic TWOW chapter GRRM read, the Iron Suitor is so damn obsessed with that horn now, and so resentful of the redshirts he's telling to blow it when they get there, and like ya noted insightfully has wrapped up his little-brother complex with Moqorro (he tries so hard to make Moqorro like him and be comfortable) ...all that is definitely foreshadowing for him doing just what you said, elbowing them aside like the selfish brat he is. MY TOY! And then he burns.

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  3. Ha! Me too. It's the great tragedy/comedy contrast with Quentyn; we cried for the Spurned Suitor, we'll laugh at the Iron Suitor.

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  4. In regards to mics I highly recommend the solid and easy-to-use Blue brand. I have experience with the Snowball line they have and I don't know if you'll find a better deal for a good mic (if, of course, they sell them in Germany). I've heard great things about the Yeti and other more expensive models by Blue but I think the Snowball has the perfect balance of performance, look (go Chrome), and ease-of-use.

    And definitely buy a pop filter as well. They run about $10-$20US and it will really enhance how you sound. I ordered a six-inch one with a clamp by Nady. You just clamp it on the table, put it between you and the mix and no one will dare complain about popping your P's (not that you do now, it's just the better the mic the more those kinds of sounds will be noticeable and they're pretty cheap).

    Oh, and tell Sean he needs a quieter keyboard, heh. Keep up the good work, love the podcast and no matter how it sounded I would keep listening. Good luck.

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    1. The pop-filter is definitely on the list. I'm carrying that thing in my Amazon wishlist for nigh two years now, as well as the mic. As soon as the money is transferred (which may take up to two months) I'll spend it on the mic and filter. Glorious podcasting!

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  5. Could Moquorro be interested in sending a Dragon to Euron to Get Danny's butt in gear and head to Westeros to be in place to take on the real threat?

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    1. Sure, but this would be extraordinarily risky. It would also assume that Moqorro is in the clear about who Euron is, what he intends and, crucially, what he's likely to do. And all of that seems pretty unlikely.

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    2. I've always thought it would be more effective if Euron was able to enslave/steal both formerly vaulted dragons. This way Danny has no choice but to pursue him. But what would Euron do with two Dragons? He'd need another rider, and he doesn't seem to trust anyone.

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