George R.R. Martin posts excerpt from Fire & Blood!
By Dan Selcke
Fire & Blood, the first of two books exploring the history of the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros, comes out in November. Publishers are ramping up hype for the book, and author George R.R. Martin is right there with him. (Technically, the book is “written” by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel.) Today, Martin posted an excerpt from the book on his Not a Blog. It tells the story of Queen Alysanne Targaryen, known as Good Queen Alysanne, and her trip to the North, which she made over 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones.
Here’s an excerpt from the excerpt, showing what happened when Queen Alysanne, who was much loved by the people of Westeros, met the hard-edged Alaric Stark, then lord of Winterfell:
"After taking leave of White Harbor, the queen’s retinue sailed up the White Knife to its rapids, then proceeded overland to Winterfell, whilst Alysanne herself flew ahead on Silverwing. The warmth of her reception at White Harbor was not to be duplicated at the ancient seat of the Kings in the North, where Alaric Stark and his sons alone emerged to greet her when her dragon landed before his castle gates. Lord Alaric had a flinty reputation; a hard man, people said, stern and unforgiving, tight-fisted almost to the point of being niggardly, humorless, joyless, cold. Even Theomore Manderly, who was his bannerman, had not disagreed; Stark was well respected in the North, he said, but not loved. Lord Manderly’s fool had put it elsewise. “Methinks Lord Alaric has not moved his bowels since he was twelve.”Her reception at Winterfell did nothing to disabuse the queen’s fears as to what she might expect from House Stark. Even before dismounting to bend the knee, Lord Alaric looked askance at Her Grace’s clothing and said, “I hope you brought something warmer than that.” He then proceeded to declare that he did not want her dragon inside his walls. “I’ve not seen Harrenhal, but I know what happened there.” Her knights and ladies he would receive when they got here, “and the king too, if he can find the way,” but they should not overstay their welcome. “This is the North, and winter is coming. We cannot feed a thousand men for long.” When the queen assured him that only a tenth that number would be coming, Lord Alaric grunted and said, “That’s good. Fewer would be even better.” As had been feared, he was plainly unhappy that King Jaehaerys had not deigned to accompany her, and confessed to being uncertain how to entertain a queen. “If you are expecting balls and masques and dances, you have come to the wrong place.”"
Oh, those Starks; always talking about winter coming. The story has a happier ending, though. After spending more time with Queen Alysanne, Alaric thaws, and they part on better terms. Alysanne sounds a bit like a Margaery Tyrell type — or a Kate Middleton type, to make a modern reference — she knows how to win people over, a valuable skill for a member of the royal family.
You can read the full excerpt here. We may not be getting The Winds of Winter this year, but Fire & Blood looks like it will be a good time. It comes out on November 20.
I also have to mention one final bit, because it’s very intriguing. This is Archmaester Gyldayn’s account of what happened when Alysanne took her dragon, Silverwing, to Castle Black.
"The men of the Night’s Watch were as thunderstruck by the queen’s dragon as the people of White Harbor had been, though the queen herself noted that Silverwing “does not like this Wall.” Though it was summer and the Wall was weeping, the chill of the ice could still be felt whenever the wind blew, and every gust would make the dragon hiss and snap. “Thrice I flew Silverwing high above Castle Black, and thrice I tried to take her north beyond the Wall,” Alysanne wrote to Jaehaerys, “but every time she veered back south again and refused to go. Never before has she refused to take me where I wished to go. I laughed about it when I came down again, so the black brothers would not realize anything was amiss, but it troubled me then and it troubles me still.”"
So a dragon refuses to cross the Wall. Obviously, whatever was stopping Silverwing didn’t stop Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion when Daenerys took them beyond the Wall in season 7, much to the horror of everyone who isn’t the Night King. It’ll be interesting to see if this wrinkle will change the story when Martin gets to that point in his Song of Ice and Fire novels.
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