Like who are they in their background? Varys (the Spider)'s background is described in Dance, as he rose to power in Pentos, before he moved over to Westeros. It's in the first third of the book, when Ilyrio is telling Tyrion about it in the wagon on the way to Griff.

I don't recall the blog site that mentioned the theory that the mad king was the Imp's father. I do believe there is a link on Amazon to discussions that talk about this. I will have to go back through the book to find where it is implied that the mad king had an interest in Tywin's wife. I think it is when Baristan talks to Dany about her family and if her parents married for love.

I just think that there's more to Varys and Lemore than he has told us.

Finished reading Dance at lunch today, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about where the story left off. I think all it did was annoy me.

most upset about jon. thought cersei's suffering wasn't as much as the poor folks in the dungeon and was well deserved.

And now you get to wait another 5 to 6 years to be annoyed again.

I think that if Tywin thought for one second that Tyrion was not his, Tyrion would have been extinguished long, long ago. Just my opinion though. I firmly believe that Tyrion is a Lannister.

I thought the same and thought the theory of someone other than Tywin being his father was crazy. Now I wonder. Probably just over thinking it.

Well, there is a lot going on in this series so anything is possible!

So did I. He really left us hanging in this one. I'll say no more until everyone catches up.

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I finished the book last Friday. So many questions left unanswered.

I finished last weekend - can we discuss cliffhangers, questions, etc?

Yes please.

I'll suggest one. What is Dany's next move?

Dany is just who I was thinking of too. I assume she is bleeding due to miscarriage? I expect confrontation with the Khal, don't you? At a minimum, verbally, if not outright physical combat. Not sure if she can bend this Khal to her will, wasn't he one of the ones who took off with a lot of her people?

Is anyone overly concerned about Jon Snow? I am not - mostly because I read an interview with GRRM where the interviewer said something about his death and GRRM replied "Oh, you think he's dead, do you?" Don't know if he can come back to *this* body, but I don't think we've seen the last of Jon Snow.

Now Abel the singer in Roose Bolton's Winterfell was really Mance Rayder and the spearwives, right? Is Mance really dead, do we think? Or is that a B*stard's lie? And along the same lines, is Stannis dead, as that last letter said (I think no)? I think Melisandre would have seen that one coming.

I haven't given up on Jon Snow. I refuse to believe that this is the end of him!

I don't for a second believe that Stannis is dead (or Mance for that matter). Seems to me that in the rest of the books when we didn't "witness" a character dying, they weren't really dead.

I never thought about Dany bleeding due to miscarriage but I guess that would make sense.

Some of the spearwives are dead for sure, though. But I won't be surprised if Mance isn't - for one thing, a clean death is *not* the B*stard's style. And I'm 99.9% certain Stannis isn't either - for one thing, the B*stard wanted his 'Reek' back and the last we saw of Theon, he was with Asha in Stannis' camp. If they'd battled and beaten Stannis, wouldn't Theon be back in captivity, or dead?

Oh - thought of another question - who on earth did Brienne take Jamie off to see? She said it was Sansa and the Hound, but unless I've got my timetables mixed up (totally possible) I don't see how that can be.

It never occurred to me that the singer was Mance. Good call. I don't think Mance or Stannis are dead. The B*stard is pulling a fast one. I think we will hear from Jon Snow again but not sure in what form. There seem to be a lot of characters who may or may not be dead. Will the next book be called "the Walking Dead"?

I also did not think that Dany could be having a miscarriage. She will either bend the Khal or the dragon will roast him.

Isn't someone wearing the Hounds helmet? Someone hanging out with Lady Stoneheart. I think that is who she is taking Jaime to but who knows. Seems like I overlooked a lot. We never learned what word Brienne yelled that kept Lady Stoneheart from hanging her. Will we find out in a future book in a flashback?

(The next book is Winds of Winter. Or WOW, for short. I hope that is a good omen.)

I forgot about the person wearing the Hound's helm. I need to read Book 4 again. I bet you're right about that being who it is. Boy is she going to be disappointed. It's neither Sansa NOR the Hound.

I'm struggling to see how Martin is going to bring the stories back together at this point. Dany is wandering the wilderness. Jon's been stabbed, Sam (we have to assume) is in maester school. Jaime and Brienne (who may or may not be a zombie) ran off together. Sansa's story seems to be on indefinite hold in a strange, windy little corner of the realm while Littlefinger nurses an unhealthy obsession with her. The zombie count is rising. Bran is a tree. What's wrong with Jojen? Why haven't we heard anything about Rickon in two whole books now? Arya is halfway 'round the world learning to be an assassin.

The list just goes on and on....

Davos is off to get Rickon - I can see those 2 stories merging next book.

Does everyone think this mysterious huge silent champion of Cersei's is a zombie Ser Gregor?

ETA: To Becca's point, I'm going to be really mad if at the end of Book 7, he ends it with "and they all got run over by a truck the end."

I think that Brienne is taking Jamie to zombie Catelyn. I believe that Catelyn gave Brienne that option (hang or bring me Jamie) because she believes that Jamie betrayed her.

Becca is right...the zombie horde is about ready to take over!

Yes. Didn't someone here refer to him as "Franken Gregor" earlier?

I bet the silent champion is Gregor. They gave the necromancer his body after he died. I only remember this from reading other blogs. By the time WOW (I'm sure that will be false advertising) comes out, who will remember where any of the stories left off?

I think the last book will end with Pam Ewing waking up to Bobby coming out of the shower and it was all a dream. I will then go find Martin's grave and do some very disturbing things.

I can see Martin sitting at his PC, staring a blank Word doc, saying, "What have I done? How am I ever going to pull this together?"

I'll definitely have to re-read the books in 2016, just before WOW is released. Looking forward to popping over to my neighborhood Borders store to buy it...

I wonder if I'll even remember that I've read the series by 2016?