I just wanted to post something about my favorite character:

Sandor “The Hound” Clegane

I consider him to be one of the most intriguing if not most well developed character in the series… and he’s not even a POV character! Although I do very much wish he was. At first he seems like a monster, with half his face scarred by burns and his ruthless murdering at the whims of the likes of Joffrey Lannister. But then as I read more and more… he is a saint compared to his nightmare of a brother, the Mountain, Gregor Clegane. And he’s also a bad-ass warrior to win the Hand’s Tourney! And now with Sansa as a captive of the Lannisters, he seems to show more mercy than the rest of the treacherous court. He shuns the hypocrisy of knighthood, and yet he’s part of the Kingsguard. It sucks that he’s relegated to be the “Dog” of Joffrey… I wonder how he really feels about all these things. Come on, George! Give us the Hound POV chapters!!!!

So anyway, I was reading and came across this:

Sansa: “Why do you let people call you a dog? You won’t let anyone call you a knight.”

Sandor: “I like dogs better than knights. My father’s father was kennelmaster at the Rock. One autumn year, Lord Tytos came between a lioness and her prey. The lionness didn’t give a shit that she was Lannister’s own sigil. Bitch tore into my lord’s horse and would have done for my lord too, but my grandfather came up with the hounds. Three of his dogs died running her off. My grandfather lost a leg, so Lannister paid him for it with lands and a towerhouse, and took his son to squire. The three dogs on our banner are the three that died, in the yellow of autumn grass. A hound will die for you, but never lie to you. And he’ll look you straight in the face.”

I don’t even remember that part, but now I appreciate The Hound even more.

The Little Bird x the Hound 4 evar!!!!

I don’t remember what happens to him (if he died or not… you can never tell who Martin will off next), but I can’t wait to read more about him.

A couple friends and I started to cast the ASoIaF series with our favorite actors. We were thinking Vin Diesel to portray Sandor, but now… I think Sandor is a very complex character and I’m not sure if Vin’s acting abilities can handle it. I’m starting to think more along the lines of this dude:

Josh Holloway, aka ‘James Ford,’ aka ‘Sawyer’ from Lost

What do you think? I think he’s got enough um… ‘gruffness’ to be a good Hound.

Oh yeah, and now whenever I read the Hound, I imagine him with Watchmen’s Rorschach’s voice…

Ok, time to wrap it up… but not before some Hound fanart!

So let’s go through each characters’ chapters… I did try to predict their outcomes, but seriously, who would have thought that the book would end in cliffhangers?!

SPOILER ALERT.

The Ironmen. I seriously couldn’t care less about these guys. Boooo. Asha and Theon are the only ones I’m remotely interested in. Who cares about the rest? I don’t. But the slight mention of Dany in the end… hmm…

The Dornish. Slightly better than the Ironmen. Actually, it was either hit or miss. I was actually entertained by the bit of intrigue and betrayal in the plans to try and make Myrcella queen. Arianne seems like a character I want to learn more about too.

Cersei. Wow. She is really doing a great job as queen reagent, huh? hahaha, not really. She is horrible at it. Her little arrangement with Qyburn was also disturbing…. *shudder* I was actually kind of close in predicting what would happen with her. Although she didn’t get pregnant, I was just as surprised at her last chapter when she was taken prisoner for her conspiracy against Margaery. She did seduce a Kettleback, but her overall plan failed. And she did grow frustrated with Jaime, but I love how in the end she’s so desperate that she sends a letter for his help and…

Jaime. HAHAHAHA. HE. IS. AWESOME. I never would have pictured the Kingslayer like this when I was reading A Game of Thrones. He’s really got his shit together… even though he’s lost a hand. He still has his wit and he hasn’t let his handicap stop him from being an all around bad ass. The way he handled the seige at Riverrun was pretty much brilliant as well as chilling… I mean, he actually threatened to launch Edmure’s unborn child with a catapault at the walls. Just, wow. Hehehe and I just love his ending where he just has Cersei’s letter for help burn… it seems he’s seen what Cersei truly is, and he’s realizing that he’s better off without her.

Brienne. She was an interesting read. Definitely better than the Ironmen. And her last chapter… like OMG. I remembered the shocking epilouge from A Storm of Swords; but for Brienne and us as the readers to finally see Lady Catelyn back from the frickin dead… AND DAMMIT. CLIFFHANGER. Is Brienne dead?! Did they really hang her?! WTF?!

Samwell. OK, he’s an off and on character for me. I definitely see that he has really grown as a person, he thinks himself craven, but he doesn’t give himself as much credit as he deserves. I’m also glad he hooked up with Gilly. Woo hoo! Of course, that conflicts with his oath as one who took the black. But he really tries his best to do what he thinks is right, which really is what counts in my book. I’m kind of wondering what sort of exciting chapters lay for him though as he trains to be a maester…

Arya/Cat of the Canals. Spunky kid. I still don’t see what her overall role is in the grand scheme of things. I mean there are wars, conspiracies, dragons, and rebellions all about, and she’s just a little meek thing training to be… I have no idea. And her final chapter… she ends up blind? Wha? OK, you know what would be sweet? She grows up to be this awesome swordswoman and seriously gets revenge on all those on her list, The Count of Monte Cristo style; like she’ll grow to the ranks of high nobles, no one is the wiser to her true identity, and she’ll mercilessly take down every single person that has ever affronted her and her family. That’d just be so awesome.

Sansa/Alayne. Well, she really is better off than when she was in the company of Cersei and *shudder* Joffrey. While I have no idea of Littlefinger’s true intentions for her, at least she is not that terrified for her life as she once was. I mean, yeah the fear of her identity being discovered is there, but she has learned to really adapt to her situation. I’m still rooting for her to be saved and somehow live happily ever after (hah! tough chance!).

The A Song of Ice and Fire series has been awesome so far… but it has yet to be completed! ARRGH!!! Come on, George R. R. Martin! Finish it up! LOL… check out his latest blog entry:

lol. What a great guy. He’s even more awesome for being an NFL fan too! See? Sci-fi guys can still be interested in sports! And oh yeah! He’s actually making an appearance here on the east coast, at the World Fantasy Convention! I really wished I had gone to Comic-con this year… so now I vow to try and meet this guy at the convention! I don’t care if I have to spend my whole day waiting in line; I seriously want to shake his hand, get my picture with him, have him sign my ASOIAF books, and just tell him personally how much of a fan I am of his. LOL… wow… I’m such a fanboy…

OK. So that’s it… geez… how the hell am I gonna get my ASOIAF fix? I know! Fan art! Yay!

I was trying to look for some awesome work of Daenerys, and then came across this by Mark Evans. Which lead me to the rest of his A Game of Thrones card game illustrations. Although his Arya Stark looks like a dwarf or something… lol.

OK. Time for the next book! I’m looking at you, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone!

My friend said that Cersei is totally crazy… and she is! I can’t believe she is the queen regent… she’s paranoid about everyone, doesn’t care about the welfare of the kingdom, and only wants to control and kill everyone. I wish she would be more trusting, but then she wouldn’t be such an interesting character! But when she started hanging with Lady Merryweather, I had a sneaking suspicion… and then here we go, one of the craziest passages from the book…

Cersei cupped the other woman’s breast. Softly at first, hardly touching, feeling the warmth of it beneath her palm, the skin as smooth as satin. She gave it a gentle squeeze, then ran her thumbnail lightly across the big dark nipple, back and forth and back and forth until she felt it stiffen. When she glanced up, Taena’s eyes were open. “Does that feel good?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Lady Merryweather.

“And this?” Cersei pinched the nipple now, pulling on it hard, twisting it between her fingers.

The Myrish woman gave a gasp of pain. “Your hurting me.”

“It’s just the wine. I had a flagon with my supper, and another with the widow Stokeworth. I had to drink to keep her calm.” She twisted Taena’s other nipple too, pulling until the other woman gasped. “I am the queen. I mean to claim my rights.”

“Do what you will.” Taena’s hair was as black as Robert’s, even down between her legs, and when Cersei touched her there she found her hair all sopping wet, where Robert’s had been coarse and dry. “Please,” the Myrish woman said, “go on, my queen. Do as you will with me. I’m yours.”

LOL. Of all the passages I could have picked from the book, I had to share this one. Oh Cersei, what crazy shenanigans will you get into next?

On a more serious discussion… I’m wondering who would actually be a decent king right now. Tommen has the heart and enthusiasm, but he is way too young… and his mom is really, really scary. -_- Euron Greyjoy, or any of the Ironmen for that matter, not even Asha, don’t seem like the type to control so much land. Myrcella… I don’t know her that well, but she’s obviously too young to rule, even though some Dornishmen thought to use her in that capacity. Personally, I think either Stannis or Daenerys seem like strong, fair rulers compared to the others. Stannis actually answered the call to the Wall and seems to work more for the common good rather than for his own ambitions. I’m still kind of wary of Melisandre and her intentions though… But really, I think I’m rooting for Daenerys. She started out so meek and pitiful when her brother was around, but she has grown to become such a strong and powerful woman. She has the growing power as well with her dragons and Unsullied army. And she always seems to have a more caring nature about ruling…

I still have to finish this book and the series has yet to see an ending. I can only guess what new players and twists will occur. Anyone… anyone… is pretty much susceptible to death. It’s great.

I haven’t gotten that far yet in A Feast for Crows. I’m still in the middle of Sam’s first chapter. Hmmm… you can never really tell what’s going to happen in this series. I’ll try to predict how each character’s chapters end though.

SPOILER ALERT.

The Prophet. Not really sure about the Ironmen. His first chapter wasn’t really all that. Drowning men and kiss them back to life? Eh… I can’t really say what’ll happen to this guy since I hardly know anything about him. Maybe Theon somehow comes back…?

The Captain of the Guards. Don’t know a lot about the Dornish either. The Red Viper that fought the Mountain was pretty awesome until he was abruptly torn to shreds. The Dornish are new players in the book to me, so I can’t say what’ll happen to them either.

Cersei. Ooooh… I was eager to see more of this character. Hmm… I predict she’ll seduce some guy with power in an effort to control him. She’ll try to get into Jaime’s pants again, but I think she’ll grow frustrated at his new found sense of honor and his stump of a hand. I’m pretty sure she’ll kill someone. I wonder if she’ll somehow get pregnant again… that’ll be crazy. She’s crazy. This whole damn series is crazy. hehehe.

Brienne. She was a pretty neat character. It’s cool how she was given Oathbreaker from Jaime too. I hope she does find Sansa. Maybe she’ll save her, and cut off Littlefinger’s head in the process… that dude is really crazy and manipulative. I guess Brienne will make it all the way through the book as a maiden, but knowing the craziness of this series… it’d be too horrible to think what could happen to her.

Samwell. He’s a trooper. At first a pathetic craven, he’s really grown more bold ever since his trek back from beyond the Wall. He seems a little bit more buff too. Hahaha. I predict the Slayer will pull out the Sword of Godric Griffindor out of the Sorting Hat and chop off some creature’s head… lol! jk. Sam reminds me a little bit of Neville. He still has doubts about his abilities, but I’m pretty sure he’ll grow more confidence by the end.

EDIT: More characters… geez.

Arya. What’s her role in the overall scheme of things? I love how she’s just a little 10 year old who’s already a cutthroat killer. Hehehe. I guess she’s supposed to end up as this awesome, yet hardened and cold-hearted, swordswoman.

Jamie. Yay! His chapters are awesome. And it presents a really nice contrast to Cersei. He seems so haunted by his past actions now and is really trying to make up for it. And he seems more resistant to his twin sister… especially now that Tyrion said that she fucks other guys. I really hope he doesn’t die. I mean, I really hated him in the first book for throwing and crippling Bran, but he seems to really have changed for the better. I think he’ll continue his dedication to the the white cloak to some bitter end…

Sansa. I really pity her. It seems nothing will go right for her, and she’s just so innocent! She’s really held herself together all this time though… anyone weaker would probably have killed themselves after going though what she had to. And I REALLY hope Littlefinger doesn’t do anything… harsh with her. If only Brienne reaches her sooner!

The Kraken’s Daughter. Hehehehe… when she was first introduced in book 2 in Theon’s chapter, she was downright awesome. I mean practically seducing him and making him look the fool… lol. Again, I’m not familiar or attached to the Ironmen at this point. But she seems pretty cool. Maybe she’ll be the one ending up killing her rivals at the kingsmoot…

The Soiled Knight. That was an interesting intro chapter for Ser Arys. But it really looks like he’s being manipulated from the get go by that woman. And Myrcella hasn’t had that much of a big role… but now she’s launched into one of the many in competition to rule and wear the crown. Arys seems like such a weak willed character, too. I can’t imagine him doing something really noble as of yet. I imagine him being betrayed and killed by the books’ end.

That’s where I’m at now. I know there are other characters left, but I haven’t reached them yet. I’ll probably edit this post once I get to them.

Oh yeah, and speaking of books, I added a Library page to keep track of my books. I moved my Wishlist link to the Misc page. The Library runs on the Now Reading plugin. I had to modify the code a bit to fit in the layout, but I’d say it’s a pretty cool app.