Episode 159: A STORM OF SWORDS, DAVOS II: "Pirates and Prophet" SHOW NOTES!

Hello and welcome to the Not A Cast … podcast: the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through A Song of Ice and Fire one chapter a week. I’m one of your hosts Jeff better known as BryndenBFish.

And I’m your other host Emmett, better known as PoorQuentyn.

Welcome to the one hundred and fifty-ninth episode of the Not A Cast, titled: “Pirates and Prophets: An Analysis of ASOS, Davos II,” in which Davos tries to pull off an assassination while sick with pneumonia. Take a sick day, Davos!

This episode is brought to you by our NotASmallCouncil:

• Hand of the King WolfmanZack
• Grandmaester Timbob, troubleshooter of systems and designer of circuit boards
• Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Mark N.
• Ser Keith J, Master of Whisperers
• Lord Philip the Merciful, Master of Laws
• Archmaester June, Healer of the Lesser Poxes
• Ragged Michael, Warden of the North
• Nelson the Hammer, Prince of Dragonstone
• Scarlett the Other Red Woman and Mistress of Whisperers
• Lord Micah, the Quilled Lion, Warden of the West, Herald of the Golden Tooth, Master of the Banefort and the Kraken’s Bane
• Lord James: the Jim that was Promised
• Lord Jake, Assistant (to the) Hand of the King
• Lady Xena Valyrian
• Ser Jack, Lord of Ser Arthur Dayne and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen's Sad Prophecy Boys Club
• His Grace’s High Inquisitor Frank
• Laurence, Prince of Dorne
• Kelly, Warden of the East and Mistress of (Old) Bay of Crabs
• Steven the Steadfast, Master of Hounds
• The Blue Winter Rose Knight of Highgarden
• Lady Stephanie
• Lord Carlos
• Lord Andrew the Restless, a Priest of the Drowned God
• Ser Sourcedelica
• Sugar Tits Dent the Troglodyte Warrior
• Lord Penchant for Nostalgia
• Queer Alex, Beyonce's Favorite Stan, Herald of Cher, and Bastard of Chromatica, Exalter of Black Lives and Defender of Trans Lives, Rainbow Commander of the Theydes and Gentlethems and the Not A Cast’s Nonbinary Not an Army.
• Haldivar, The Waiter for TWOW
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• Vanerys of the House Colgaryen, the First of Her Name, Princess of Dragonstone, Mistress of Art, The Overworked, Queen of the Pencils, the Eraser and the First Draft, Queen of Monochrome, Devotee of the Great GOT, Portraitist of the Realm, Lady Realist of the Seven Kingdoms, Blender of Paints, Maker of Drawings and the Michaelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Lord Adam T
• Lady Alexandra of Tarth
• Ser Kristoph Logas, Bloody Scorpion of the Red Field, Defender of the Letter of Kin, and the Wolverine of house Qorgyle
• Lady Elizabeth, Mistress of Horse (Faced Lesbians)
• Ser Josh Snow Bastard Bounty Hunter of the North
• Ser Veyor, Chief of Parties in the Frozen Wastes
• Lord Peter
• The Dead Sheppard Reborn, Preacher of the Poor Fellows
• Marshall Harrison—Absent, shipwrecked in the Jade Sea
• Grave-Robb Stark, the Cadaver King and Horror of Harrenhal
• Olaf, proponent of establishing a feudal, pseudodemocratic system of Great Councils, wherein every count votes
• Ser Tim: The Knight Who Was Guided By Voices
• Lord Nick
• Thucydides, Lord of Plagues
• Ser Jack, Lord of Ser Arthur Dayne and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen’s Sad Prophecy Boys Club
• Lady Anna, The Lovely Castellan
• Pat Yronwood, the bloodroyal and guardian of the Boneway
• Luke, Lord of Lone Leaf & The Pillar of Autumn
• Joe Snow “King of the Metro North and protector of the Tri-State”
• Squire Matt S, future Ser Matt S, the one who will bring balance to the Kingdoms
• Lord Kyle
• Lord Samuel Seaworth
• Ser Max, Lord Commander of the Constitutional Guard
• Lady Ivory Dayne, aspiring noble author in the seven kingdoms, lady of Starfall, wardeness of the south, and patron of freewheeling bisexuals
• Lady Jemisa, She Who Suggests That Coconuts Migrate
• Lord Kristoff of Arendelle, official ice master and deliverer, the valiant pungent reindeer king, keeper of feisty pants, and prince consort to his ginger sweet love Queen Anna (Pronounced Ah-nuh)
• Lord Sir Septon Ruthers
• Ser Grizzly Adams, the King’s Justice, Warden of the Kingswood and Sheriff of the Seven Kingdoms
• Ser Kell, Contractor in Charge of Continually Extending the Small Council Table
• Lord Travis, Mentat Master of Ships and Third Stage Guild Navigator
• Lord Anonymous II
• Lord Tyler, the prince that promises to wait patiently, for the winds of winter
• Lord DB
• Sister Winter, Hopeful Romantic & Unrepentant Shipper
• Lord Moncef
• The severed head of a Targaryan prince, rotting on the council walls

Spoiler warning: All published books, 5 novels, 3 Dunk and Egg novellas, histories, interviews, TWOW sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones the TV show. Anything and everything!

Question

Ser Snark Knight, a Sworn Sword patron, asks:

Wanted to throw Jeff a bone this time, are there any battles in ASOI&F canon that are clearly inspired by historical battles plebs like us might not realize?  The Three Thousand of Qohor calls up images of the legend of the 300 Spartans, Steven Attewell called out similarities between the Battle of Castle Black and the Battle of Rorke's Drift.  Is there anything else George looted from history? (Bonus points if its Amurican)

So, thank you Ser Snark Knight for the question! If you’d like to ask us questions we’ll answer here on the NotACast pod-cast, you are welcome to become a Sworn Sword or higher-level patron over at patreon.com/NotACastASOIAF where you can also get show notes, bonus episodes, a shirt designed by our friend Sanrixian, access to the NotASlack, weekly minisodes and more!

Absolutely. But enough about patreon. When we last checked in with Davos Seaworth, he spoke to the gods, and the gods sent a ship to rescue him from his rock on Blackwater Bay. Let’s find out how Davos Seaworth, the godly warrior tries to kill another godly warrior in this synopsis of ASOS, Davos II!

Synopsis

When he came up on deck, the long point of Driftmark was dwindling behind them while Dragonstone rose from the sea ahead. A pale grey wisp of smoke blew from the top of the mountain to mark where the island lay. Dragonmont is restless this morning, Davos thought, or else Melisandre is burning someone else.

Back to the normal, cheery chapter openers for ASOS, I see.

Davos has been thinking a lot about Melisandre as they’d traversed from Blackwater Bay back to Dragonstone. He knew she’d be waiting for him, all beautiful and red and full of her god’s power. Davos thought she was loyal to Stannis, but now?

She has broken him, as a man breaks a horse. She would ride him to power if she could, and for that she gave my sons to the fire. I will cut the living heart from her breast and see how it burns. He touched the hilt of the fine long Lysene dirk that the captain had given him.

Melisandre had sexual intercourse with Stannis, cowgirl-style confirmed. Please focus all of your mental energy on that thought. Thank you.

Back to the present and away from uncomfortable thoughts that should not be thought: the captain of the ship that rescued Davos was, Micah Minor Character moment here, Khorane Sathmantes, and he’d been kind to Davos, giving him captain’s chambers and feeding him rich food that Davos, of course, threw up.

But now Dragonstone was ahead, and he could see the shape of the mountain. And how is Davos doing after spending some time on vacation? He was weak, bringing up bloody snot with each cough. He thinks it’s nothing, because certainly the gods wouldn’t let him live to kill him with a bad cold, right?

Davos listens to the sounds of the ship, thinking about being a young man and how these sounds would be the sounds of the sea watch coming to hunt down smugglers during the days of King Aerys II Targaryen. That was a long time ago, though -- when Davos had full-length fingers.

That was before the war or the red comet, before I was a Seaworth or a knight. I was a different man in those days, before Lord Stannis raised me high.

Davos learned the rest of the Battle of the Blackwater story from Captain Khorane: how the Lannisters attacked from Stannis’ flank, how Stannis’ bannermen abandoned him, how Renly’s ghost showed up to kill. Maybe Davos’ sons would show up as ghosts too? Anyways, Davos asks if anyone stayed loyal to Stannis. The Florents did! Yay? They got rescued, and Lord Alester Florent is Hand! Yay?

The mountain grew taller, crowned all in pale smoke. The sail sang, the drum beat, the oars pulled smoothly, and before very long the mouth of the harbor opened before them. So empty, Davos thought, remembering how it had been before, with the ships crowding every quay and rocking at anchor off the breakwater. He could see Salladhor Saan's flagship Valyrian moored at the quay where Fury and her sisters had once tied up. The ships on either side of her had striped Lysene hulls as well. In vain he looked for any sign of Lady Marya or Wraith.

Once they enter the harbor, the captain states that Davos must first go see Salladhor Saan before Stannis. Besides, no one sees the king these days. Davos agrees, not that he really has the option to disagree, and they head over to Salladhor Saan’s ship The Valyrian. But Salla isn’t there. Instead, Davos finds him aboard another ship The Bountiful Harvest counting out the number of jars of pepper, and then he sees Davos.

"Is it pepper stinging my eyes, or tears? Is this the knight of the onions who stands before me? No, how can it be, my dear friend Davos died on the burning river, all agree. Why has he come to haunt me?"

"I am no ghost, Salla."

"What else? My onion knight was never so thin or so pale as you." Salladhor Saan threaded his way between the jars of spice and bolts of cloth that filled the hold of the merchanter, wrapped Davos in a fierce embrace, then kissed him once on each cheek and a third time on his forehead. "You are still warm, ser, and I feel your heart thumpety-thumping. Can it be true? The sea that swallowed you has spit you up again."

Davos thinks back to Patchface and how he had come out of the sea mad. Is Davos now mad as well? He coughs and relays to Salla how he swam under the chain and ended up on a spear of the merling king before he was rescued by Captain Khorane. Salladhor wraps an arm around Khorane’s shoulder, telling him he’s gonna get a reward out of rescuing Davos. Anyways, Salla tells Davos that he has to finish up some work, but Davos should head over to his cabin. His eunuch servants will get him some hot, mulled wine and some cheese and olives, and Salla will meet him there.

So, Davos heads to the cabin, sits in an enormous chair and proceeds to enjoy the wine, cheese and olives. Salla appears a few minutes later, apologizing for the taste of the wine. But Davos is thankful for how the wine is warming his chest. Anyways, is Davos enjoying the big-ass chair he’s sitting on? Uh, sure. Whose chair is it? Illyrio Mopatis’ chair, of course. And how did Salla get Illyrio’s chair? Did he pirate it from Salla?

"Vile calumny. Who has suffered more from pirates than Salladhor Saan? I ask only what is due me. Much gold is owed, oh yes, but I am not without reason, so in place of coin I have taken a handsome parchment, very crisp. It bears the name and seal of Lord Alester Florent, the Hand of the King. I am made Lord of Blackwater Bay, and no vessel may be crossing my lordly waters without my lordly leave, no. And when these outlaws are trying to steal past me in the night to avoid my lawful duties and customs, why, they are no better than smugglers, so I am well within my rights to seize them." The old pirate laughed. "I cut off no man's fingers, though. What good are bits of fingers? The ships I am taking, the cargoes, a few ransoms, nothing unreasonable." He gave Davos a sharp look. "You are unwell, my friend. That cough . . . and so thin, I am seeing your bones through your skin. And yet I am not seeing your little bag of fingerbones . . . "

Davos reaches up for finger bones that aren’t there, noting that he lost them in the river. Will he ever bring those lost finger bones up again? Who knows, who’s to say. Salla observed the carnage of the Blackwater Rush from the bay. Davos asks if any other ships made it. Sure, Lord Steffon, Ragged Jenna, Swift Sword, Laughing Lord and a few others.

"Lady Marya?" Davos asked. "Wraith?"

Salladhor Saan put a hand on Davos's forearm and gave a squeeze. "No. Of them, no. I am sorry, my friend. They were good men, your Dale and Allard. But this comfort I can give you-your young Devan was among those we took off at the end. The brave boy never once left the king's side, or so they say."

For a moment he felt almost dizzy, his relief was so palpable. He had been afraid to ask about Devan. "The Mother is merciful. I must go to him, Salla. I must see him."

Uh, sure, Salla says. Maybe go see your wife first? Obligatory GGC “Davos, go home to your wife” reference. Salla will even give Davos a ship! Oh no need. Stannis will provide the ship. Well, um, no, because Stannis doesn’t have ships. Anyways, Davos will come work for Salla yes? Smuggling and doing the old jobs again? No. His duty is to Stannis. And he must keep fighting. Besides, Stannis is the rightful heir.

"All the laws are not helping when all the ships burn up, I am thinking. And your king, well, you will be finding him changed, I am fearing. Since the battle, he sees no one, but broods in his Stone Drum. Queen Selyse keeps court for him with her uncle the Lord Alester, who is naming himself the Hand. The king's seal she has given to this uncle, to fix to the letters he writes, even to my pretty parchment. But it is a little kingdom they are ruling, poor and rocky, yes. There is no gold, not even a little bit to pay faithful Salladhor Saan what is owed him, and only those knights that we took off at the end, and no ships but my little brave few."

Davos coughs and asks if Salla is serious. No one? Wellllll … Stannis sees one person: her. But Salla wants to move quickly past that point. Davos needs a blanket and a bed and a hot compress for his chest and more wine. But no. That’s not Davos’ path. Anyways, her? You mean Melisandre?

The Lyseni gave him a long doubtful look, and continued reluctantly. "The guards keep all others away, even his queen and his little daughter. Servants bring meals that no one eats." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Queer talking I have heard, of hungry fires within the mountain, and how Stannis and the red woman go down together to watch the flames. There are shafts, they say, and secret stairs down into the mountain's heart, into hot places where only she may walk unburned. It is enough and more to give an old man such terrors that sometimes he can scarcely find the strength to eat."

Melisandre. Davos shivered. "The red woman did this to him," he said. "She sent the fire to consume us, to punish Stannis for setting her aside, to teach him that he could not hope to win without her sorceries."

The Lyseni chose a plump olive from the bowl between them. "You are not the first to be saying this, my friend. But if I am you, I am not saying it so loudly. Dragonstone crawls with these queen's men, oh yes, and they have sharp ears and sharper knives." He popped the olive into his mouth.

Not to fear, Davos has a knife. He’ll cut Melisandre’s heart out. Uh, maybe keep your voice down, Davos? Even if you’re joking. Davos isn’t joking. He’s going to fucking killer her, provided she can be murdered by weapons. She had survived poison that one time after all. But old iron might kill a demon or so the old stories said.

Salladhor Saan says that Davos is talking dangerously, maybe he’s delirious? In other words, buddy, it’s time for you to take a nap. But Davos knows that Salla is trying to delay him long enough to weaken his will.

Davos got to his feet. He did feel feverish and a little dizzy, but it did not matter. "You are a treacherous old rogue, Salladhor Saan, but a good friend all the same."

The Lyseni stroked his pointed silver beard. "So with this great friend you will be staying, yes?"

"No, I will be going." He coughed.

Where is Davos going to go? He’s weak. He’s going to the castle where Melisandre is at where he can’t believe he has to say this again, but he’s going to kill Melisandre. Great. But Davos is a smuggler, not a killer. Beyond that, while Davos was away, Selyse was burning traitors like Lord Sunglass and Hubard Rambton’s sons. And that’s what Davos is going to get if he tries to kill Melisandre.

“She will sing and you will scream, and then you will die. And you have only just come back to life!"

"And this is why," said Davos. "To do this thing. To make an end of Melisandre of Asshai and all her works. Why else would the sea have spit me out? You know Blackwater Bay as well as I do, Salla. No sensible captain would ever take his ship through the spears of the merling king and risk ripping out his bottom. Shayala's Dance should never have come near me."

Was that maybe the wind? The Mother sent the wind? But your mom is dead, Davos? No, no, not his mom, the Mother. The Mother spoke to Davos. And she was sad about being burned. She was also sad about the shadows that Melisandre birthed. She was sad about Cressen, Renly and Cortnay Penrose getting got. Someone has to kill Melisandre for making mom sad. Sure, someone, Salla says. They’ll go to Braavos to hire a Faceless Man. Nope. Davos has to be the one to do it, and Salladhor needs to let him go.

Salladhor Saan pushed himself to his feet. "You are no true friend, I am thinking. When you are dead, who will be bringing your ashes and bones back to your lady wife and telling her that she has lost a husband and four sons? Only sad old Salladhor Saan. But so be it, brave ser knight, go rushing to your grave. I will gather your bones in a sack and give them to the sons you leave behind, to wear in little bags around their necks." He waved an angry hand, with rings on every finger. "Go, go, go, go, go."

Davos did not want to leave like this. "Salla-"

"GO. Or stay, better, but if you are going, go."

He went.

Doesn’t often get remarked on as one of the sad scenes of ASOIAF, but that’s some sad shit right there.

Davos walks out of the ship, passing by an empty town with half the houses showing signs of mourning in the windows. Thousands went to war, hundreds returned. It takes a while for sickman Davos to reach the castle gates, but he eventually arrives and finds that the way is shut. He pounds on the door receiving no answer. He kicks on the door, and finally, a crossbowman appears above him asking who goes there. It’s Davos who goes there. He’s here to see King Stannis. When the man tells him to get lost, Davos tells him to go talk to the king’s squire, his son Devan. This gets the man’s attention, and he asks who Davos is claiming to be. Again, it’s Davos. No way. Davos died. No. Davos is alive.

Davos then asks if Jate is still captain of the gate. Nope. Guy Crossbowman never heard of him. He’s probably dead. How about Hookface Will or Hal the Hog? Oh yeah, guy knows them. They’re dead. But given that Guy knows these dudes, he’s going to check on this thing. As guy heads off, Davos thinks about all the dead men who once manned the castle:

Gone, all gone, he thought dully, remembering how fat Hal's white belly always showed beneath his grease-stained doublet, the long scar the fish hook had left across Will's face, the way Jate always doffed his cap at the women, be they five or fifty, highborn or low. Drowned or burned, with my sons and a thousand others, gone to make a king in hell.

But then Guy Crossbowman is back. He tells Davos to head around to the other side, and they’ll admit him. So, Davos walks around, and he finds the guards are now all Florents which is a less than heartening sign. But they don’t take him up to the Stone Drum to see Stannis. Instead, he waits at Aegon’s Garden under the arch of the Dragon’s Tail. He asks if Stannis knows he’s back, but the Florent dudes don’t know. Regardless, Davos is unsure why they brought him to Aegon’s garden with its pleasant, piney smell and tall dark trees, wild roses, thorny hedges and spot where the cranberries grew.

Then he heard a faint ringing of bells, and a child's giggle, and suddenly the fool Patchface popped from the bushes, shambling along as fast as he could go with the Princess Shireen hot on his heels. "You come back now," she was shouting after him. "Patches, you come back."

When the fool saw Davos, he jerked to a sudden halt, the bells on his antlered tin helmet going ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling. Hopping from one foot to the other, he sang, "Fool's blood, king's blood, blood on the maiden's thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye." Shireen almost caught him then, but at the last instant he hopped over a patch of bracken and vanished among the trees. The princess was right behind him. The sight of them made Davos smile.

Interesting statements, Patchface. What do they mean? But before Davos can think on it more, he gets piledriven into the ground by a man. No, wait, a boy. Jet-black hair down to his collar, he demands to know why Davos was in his way. He shouldn’t be in Davos’ way. Davos agrees, coughing, and the boy asks if Davos needs a maester. No, Davos is totally fine. Anyways, the boy was playing monsters and maidens with his cousin. He was the monster. What’s Davos’ name? It’s Davos. Ser Davos Seaworth. Interesting. Davos doesn’t look like a knight according to the boy.

"I am the knight of the onions, my lord."

The blue eyes blinked. "The one with the black ship?"

"You know that tale?"

"You brought my uncle Stannis fish to eat before I was born, when Lord Tyrell had him under siege." The boy drew himself up tall. "I am Edric Storm," he announced. "King Robert's son."

"Of course you are." Davos had known that almost at once. The lad had the prominent ears of a Florent, but the hair, the eyes, the jaw, the cheekbones, those were all Baratheon.

Edric wants to know if Davos knew his dad. He sure did, but he never spoke to him. The boy tells Davos that his dad taught him how to fight and how he came to see him every year where they trained, and his dad sent him a warhammer at Storm’s End, but he had to leave it behind when he came to Dragonstone. Anyways, did Uncle Stannis cut off Davos’ fingers? Not exactly. Just the last joint. Really? How about Davos show him?

Davos peeled his glove off. The boy studied his hand carefully. "He did not shorten your thumb?"

"No." Davos coughed. "No, he left me that."

"He should not have chopped any of your fingers," the lad decided. "That was ill done."

"I was a smuggler."

"Yes, but you smuggled him fish and onions."

"Lord Stannis knighted me for the onions, and took my fingers for the smuggling."

Davos puts his glove back on, and Edric says that Robert wouldn’t have chopped his fingers off. Davos agrees nervously, thinking Edric is a lot like Robert and a lot like Renly.

Before Edric can interrogate Davos more, Davos hears footsteps. He turns to see the hero Ser Axell Florent coming down with a dozen guardsmen wearing the fiery heart of the Lord of Light. Davos starts to cough as Ser Axell approaches him. Davos remembers that Axell used to suck up to Davos as Davos was in Stannis’ favor. But he ain’t sucking up now. He asks how Davos is still alive instead of drowned.

"Onions float, ser. Have you come to take me to the king?"

"I have come to take you to the dungeon." Ser Axell waved his men forward. "Seize him, and take his dirk. He means to use it on our lady."

Ser Axell Florent: NotAHero, and that is the synopsis of ASOS, Davos II! Boy, I forgot how early we get to the action in Davos’ story in ASOS. Another barn-burner of a chapter! What did you think, ser?

Depth

We’re back with the best POV in ASOS! Like I said when we did Davos I, I love the structure of his story in this book. George builds beautifully from that sparse beginning with Davos on his rock. Now the solitary man is reintroduced to society. Davos thinks he’s been reborn in the light of the Seven to carry out their will. He’s a knight on a quest to kill the wicked witch...but he totally fails. This chapter is a series of false starts and setbacks for the new Davos. Even as he comes into his own as a POV, with his own motivations separate from those of Stannis, Davos is still searching for a foundation on which to rebuild his life. This chapter reveals how difficult and painful that process is. Throughout the book, Davos will continue to struggle to do the right thing.

There’s still too many fans who think that Davos is this unambiguously heroic figure whose only fault is his loyalty to Stannis or him cheating on his wife. What ASOS - and especially this chapter - does is demonstrate that Davos has more gray complexity to his character than meets the eye. Now, maybe we’re all in on Davos’ quest to try to murder Melisandre, but as re-readers, do we think this is fair for Davos to kill someone for a crime she probably didn’t commit -- namely in sending the fires that ended Stannis’ hopes on the Blackwater? I think not! I think Davos is being a little wild and out of control here. I mean, Salladhor Saan is the voice of reason in this chapter! A pirate! But what I love most about this chapter is how it’s a return to form for Davos. Davos is coming home … or he’s returning to Dragonstone. Is Dragonstone his home now?

• Sailing to Dragonstone
  • This chapter is our reintroduction to Dragonstone, where we spent the very first Davos chapter before he moved on to Storm’s End and King’s Landing. In ASOS, we spent a lot more time here--five Davos chapters!
  • We get a complete story here, instead of just the launching pad for Stannis’ campaign, and the image of Dragonstone rearing from the sea like some primeval beast locks us right back into that gloomy gothic dread
  • It looms over him as he sails closer and closer, representing how he has become obsessed with Melisandre, seeing her everywhere
  • The watch fires remind him of her, and the reflected light of the sun on the water. She’s a force of nature, like a god herself--or a devil, in Davos’ eyes
  • It’s gorgeous writing; George compares the clouds to Mel’s silks and satins, one of those images you wanna just reach out and touch
  • It reminds me of the beginning of Davos’ story, when Melisandre was burning the gods on the beach...but this time it’s all in his head
  • I argued in Davos I that he didn’t actually witness the Mother; she was a hallucination brought on by guilt, grief, and deprivation
  • I think you can see more evidence of that here, when Melisandre has replaced the Mother as the divine image driving him on
  • This might sound familiar--it’s exactly how Cressen thought in the Prologue to ACOK, when we first met all these characters
  • I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I think George is expanding on Cressen’s miniature downfall, fleshing it out as a gauntlet for Davos
  • Cressen saw Melisandre in the comet, and now Davos sees her in the clouds. Cressen thought he needed to save Stannis from Melisandre; Davos thinks the same. He no longer believes that Melisandre is loyal to Stannis; he thinks she’s riding the king to power, and she sacrificed his sons to that cause. Turns out, that’s not true!
  • Melisandre is sincere in her support for Stannis, and there’s no evidence she had anything to do with the wildfire explosion
  • In fact as we argued back during episodes on the Blackwater, having Melisandre at the Blackwater may have been a benefit for Stannis -- at least tactically.
  • As we’ll see later at the Battle of the Wall, Melisandre will use her fire magic to burn Orell’s eagle. What could she have done at the Blackwater is a question fans should ask!
  • But that’s only the tactics. The strategy of Stannis gaining the Iron Throne with the help of Melisandre and R’hllor may have proven problematic to Stannis holding the throne.
  • That’s a viewpoint that Davos held back in ACOK, and it’s one that’s only strengthened here in ASOS.
  • There’s more than an air of paranoia that Davos has about Melisandre. He’s become a full-blown conspiracy theorist, twisting facts to fit his conclusion that Melisandre was at fault for Stannis’ defeat.
  • In this, Davos resembles Westerosi prejudice against the Lord of Light, foreign gods and the fear of the small-o other.
  • Still, even while paranoid, Davos isn’t completely wrong about R’hllor and Melisandre and the danger they pose to Westeros and to his beloved Stannis.
  • Davos still has good reason to fear Melisandre and want to remove her from power on Dragonstone
  • She’s been burning people alive, as we’ll find out later, but Davos already seems to know it on some level as this chapter starts:
    • A pale grey wisp of smoke blew from the top of the mountain to mark where the island lay. Dragonmont is restless this morning, Davos thought, or else Melisandre is burning someone else.
  • Moreover, she won’t stop there. We’ll learn gradually in this book that she’s trying to convince Stannis to sacrifice his nephew Edric Storm
  • These are horrific actions, causing unimaginable pain to no guaranteed benefit. But George loves complicating our initial moral responses
  • In Melisandre’s case, the complications arise in terms of how Cressen and now Davos propose to stop her--what it reveals about them
  • Cressen struck pre-emptively, before Melisandre had even done anything besides convert Selyse. He brought the murder weapon; Melisandre went so far as to tell him he didn’t need to drink the poison wine himself
  • As for Davos, he’s lost the down-to-earth qualities that make him so relatable. All he cares about is his mission: stick a knife in Melisandre...
  • ...who intervenes to save Davos’ life later in the book, when the Florents want to burn him alive too! George captures this ambiguity in the imagery, writing that the clouds take on her red color for Davos at both dawn and sunset. Will she bring him the light or the darkness?
  • Davos is divided as well. He still feels an instinctive dread at the sound of oars in the water, because it reminds him of his smuggling days, barely escaping the Mad King’s men with his skin intact
  • That was another lifetime, he thinks; I was another man. Now I’ve been reborn as a holy warrior. It’s the same way Melisandre thinks she used to be a child named Melony, before being reborn in the Light of the Lord
  • Davos thinks he doesn’t have to fear the sound of ships; he’s a knight! Melisandre thinks she doesn’t have to fear the dark; God is on her side!
  • Ironically, Melisandre’s rivals invest in signs and portents just like her: Cressen says the comet is his, Davos says the Mother saved him
  • Davos is so caught up in the metaphysical that he ignores the physical: he’s wheezing and coughing, his legs barely support him, but he doesn’t care because surely the gods did not bring him back to die of a cough
  • Who does that sound like? Yep, Melisandre--who also ignores her body. No food, no sleep, all she needs is the Light of the Lord
  • The crowning image here is Davos’ fantasy of pulling out Melisandre’s heart and setting it on fire--which is her god’s symbol!
  • As with Cressen, in trying to kill Melisandre, Davos has become Melisandre. It’s an idea well founded in philosophy and spirituality: aggression is cancerous, turning noble Jedi into corrupted Sith
    • “Violence is a disease. You don’t cure a disease by spreading it to more people.”
  • Davos is on his own Hero’s Journey now. In ADWD, he’ll literally end up in the belly of the whale (ok, a pub named belly of the whale)!
  • A big part of the Hero’s Journey is recognizing that “your worst enemies are hiding inside, in the shadows of your heart” (from the movie L’Intrus)
  • Davos’ true mission is to find something to believe in, and he can’t accomplish that by cutting out Melisandre’s heart, but by using his own
  • Your comparison of Davos to Melisandre is spot-on, and I’d like to expand that to say that Davos also resembles Queen Selyse and later Axell Florent too.
  • Selyse, unlike Stannis, is a true believer in the Lord of Light, believing wholeheartedly in her god with the zeal of a convert.
  • Moreover, if you’ll recall from ACOK, Davos I, Axell Florent approached Davos and told him of seeing things in the flames.
  • Of course, Axell Florent’s vision in the flames was quite self-serving as we talked about: he saw the glory of Stannis’ victory in the flames.
  • That’s like Davos here in ASOS, Davos II!
  • He has the zeal of a new convert, taking on a viewpoint of religion of fierce devotion and belief in the Faith of the Seven without the moderating maturity of your Catelyn Starks.
  • And the Mother is validating his previously-held beliefs regarding the complicity of Melisandre and the need for her to die at his hands.
  • The danger of belief, then, is that it serves the needs and wants of the believer.
  • True religion - the type practiced by Catelyn, by Ned, by Jon - is one which convicts the believer, grants them doubt about their purpose and drives them towards positive change in their lives.
  • It’s a lesson that Davos will have to learn, and he’ll start to learn this lesson from the most unlikely of sources: Salladhor Saan.
• Snack time with Salladhor Saan
  • Davos sets foot on Dragonstone once more, ready to kill the wicked witch and save his noble king...and then he falls over coughing and is led away
  • That sums up the chapter as a whole. Davos has a one track mind, but he keeps being diverted, by his own body and by the people around him
  • “No one sees the king,” says the captain who found him, setting up a major dynamic for Davos’ chapters in this book. Stannis never had much patience for other people, but now his world has shrunk down radically
  • Stannis is almost a ghostly presence in these first few Davos chapters--much discussed, but never seen
  • Instead, the captain takes Davos to the man he really works for, the only person on Dragonstone to survive the battle unscathed: Salladhor Saan
  • When Salla was introduced, I pointed out how different he is from everyone else on Dragonstone: a flamboyant guy having a good time
  • That’s even more true now. Everyone else on Dragonstone is obsessed with what they’ve lost; Salla is reintroduced counting up what he’s gained
  • It’s not the end of the world for him. What does he care if Stannis lost the battle? This isn’t Salladhor’s fight; he’s in it for the money. If Redwyne sails show up on the horizon, Salla would run for it with no regrets
  • Which makes him a perfect foil for Davos. He’s the man Davos could’ve been if he never tied his family’s fortunes (and his self-worth) to Stannis
  • Simply by virtue of surviving the battle, Salla’s become a power broker--the only ships left are his, and Stannis owes him a ton of money
  • But there’s no gold on Dragonstone, so they’ve paid him with a title instead: Salladhor is now Lord of Blackwater Bay
  • Yet all this amounts to in practice is giving Salla a legal justification for piracy. He’s still just seizing ships and stealing their goods!
  • Because every podcast episode for the past three episodes has involved me boring you with some historical background for how George crafted his story, we arrived again at George remixing some more history into ASOIAF.
  • Salladhor Saan’s role here resembles that of the privateer during the Age of Sail.
  • Privateers were essentially legal pirates who operated legally through a letter of marque from the crown, or in an American context a letter of marque and reprisal.
  • Salladhor Saan’s own letter of marque in ASOIAF is a lordship and authorization to rob ships moving in and out of Blackwater Bay -- all for the king, of course.
  • I can’t imagine Salladhor Saan’s lordship and piracy endeared Stannis to the sailors and smallfolk reliant on the influx of goods in and out of King’s Landing.
  • I also can’t imagine Stannis giving a fuck either given that he lost the Battle of the Blackwater.
  • Still, it does belie this “justice robot” image surrounding Stannis. He is willing to bend the rules to allow legal theft to make ends meet.
  • In addition to showing Stannis’ moral and political flexibility, Stannis’ allowance of Salla’s actions is an early indicator of future plot points: the Sack of Claw Isle.
  • While I think we’ll both argue that Stannis was testing Davos in that instance, that Salladhor Saan is playing pirate under the auspices of Stannis’ legality might lead Davos to think that Stannis wasn’t just testing Davos but actually considering further bendages in his justice-man exterior.
  • It’s like how Vargo Hoat switched sides from the Lannisters to the Starks, but his role stayed the same: terrorize and shake down the peasants
  • As Davos has climbed the ladder, he’s found fresh burdens waiting for him. As Salla has climbed the ladder, he hasn’t had to change at all
  • He’s got a chair like a throne, all the food he could want; Davos meanwhile can’t keep down rich food and enjoys the cheap wine
  • By becoming a lord, Salladhor has gained the right to prey on smugglers--smugglers like Davos used to be
  • So Salladhor reflects Davos’ identity struggle back at him. His lord-self can’t coexist with the smuggler-self; he has to decide who he will be
  • Davos’ fingerbones stand in for this struggle. Salladhor notes that while he takes smugglers’ goods, he doesn’t cut off their fingers; he’s removed from the cycle of sacrifice and loss that defines Davos’ rise to power
  • Davos kept his bag of fingerbones because they symbolized his luck, reminding him of how unlikely it was for a smuggler to become a knight
  • But now Salladhor notices that Davos has lost them. That narrative of ascension and class mobility, Davos’ own American dream, burned up on the Blackwater with his sons. Now he’s tempted away from that sacrifice
  • Salla offers Davos a ship, saying he should sail home to see his remaining family...and then keep going. Abandon Stannis’ service and become a smuggler again. We’ll get rich in the Free Cities, just like old times!
  • But Davos says that Stannis will give me a new ship, like he gave me a knighthood. The war will go on, because Stannis is the rightful king. He’s the man who changed my life, raised me up and gave me a new name
  • That’s the lord’s face, arguing against Salla, his smuggler’s face. Davos thinks of himself as prophet, but Salla is more about profits! This is Davos at the crossroads, reborn with an uncertain sense of self
  • Stannis has no ships to give besides Salla’s; the king’s legal claim to the Iron Throne didn’t prevent all his ships from burning up
  • It’s that realization--the hard limits on his power--that seems to have broken Stannis. He has retreated inward, brooding on his failures
  • While the winners of the battle hold court in King’s Landing, Stannis has abandoned his political duties as king, leaving the business of ruling to Queen Selyse and her uncle, Alester Florent, who is now the Hand
  • Stannis will quickly come to regret that decision; in later Davos chapters, the Florents will become his true enemies, even more than Melisandre
  • Dragonstone belongs to the queen’s men now more than ever: we’ve already seen Alester Florent jump opportunistically onto the R’hllor bandwagon, and it looks like his men have followed suit
  • But for now, his focus is squarely on the red woman as this religious figure of corruption and dread. Salladhor won’t even say her name out loud
  • He’s heard that Stannis and Melisandre have been spelunking beneath the surface of Dragonstone: searching for the heart of the fire, the volcanic core of Stannis’ molten rage where only she can walk unharmed, like Dany emerging from the pyre
  • To burn and yet be unburnt is a powerful spiritual image, resonating both as classical myth and Christian metaphor. For Melisandre, it’s proof of concept that her god is real. Davos interprets it another way: she’s a demon out of hell, and the songs say demons can be killed by cold iron
  • Salla tries to dissuade Davos, revealing that Melisandre has burned Lord Sunglass and Hubard Rambton’s sons, who defied Stannis regarding the burning of the Seven. These are the first human sacrifices to R’hllor: we’ve gone from painted wood to living flesh. It is cruel and unusual punishment
  • While Stannis himself didn’t oversee this atrocity, he also didn’t do anything about it when he got back to Dragonstone; later on, he will officially take responsibility for it. That’s the situation Davos is walking into
  • Exactly correct that Stannis wasn’t personally there when Sunglass and Rambton’s sons were burned.
  • But that Stannis didn’t punish Selyse and Melisandre for the act works as post-facto royal sanctioning of the burnings.
  • In this, Stannis may have thought that burning these men was just in that they were traitors with Guncer Sunglass telling Stannis that he couldn’t support him after the destruction of the Dragonstone Sept and Hubard Rampton’s two sons killing queen’s men who smashed up the sept.
  • But that’s not how Melisandre and Selyse probably framed the act: to them, these were sacrifices to the Lord of Light.
  • That same dynamic will later play out with Alester Florent: burned ostensibly for treason, but Davos will note how Lord Florent’s burning created a fowl wind which blew them to Eastwatch.
  • Additionally, it’s similar to the Peasebury men from ADWD who were ostensibly burned for cannibalism, but several of Stannis’ knights openly declare that these men were burned to stop the blizzard snows.
  • There is sometimes this dynamic that I’ve seen in my own life’s travels where subordinates do the sketchy thing to prevent the boss from catching the blame and condemnation for it.
  • In ASOIAF, a famous example is when Bloodraven arrested and murdered Aenys Blackfyre after promising him safe conduct to attend the Great Council of 233 AC.
  • Bloodraven did the “hard thing” (the evil thing), but in that example, Aegon V Targaryen arrested Bloodraven and dispatched him to the Wall for his crime.
  • That’s not the conduct of Stannis Baratheon with these burnings. He isn’t punishing the people who held torches to fires. And I don’t believe he ever will until it’s too late with Shireen -- perhaps.
  • And that’s the question that Davos faces here. If he’s caught, the queen’s men can potentially face no consequences for whatever they do to Davos.
  • Salla says that if Davos kills Melisandre, they’ll burn him for it. If he tries and fails, they’ll burn him for that too. Either way, this is suicide
  • What a waste that would be! It’s a miracle you survived, and now you want to throw it away? But Davos argues that this is why he was reborn
  • Shayala’s Dance should never have come near me. The Mother intervened to save my life, and this is why: to kill Melisandre
  • Salla says it was an ill wind that drove that ship to Davos; Davos counters that the Mother sent the wind. Once more, he sounds like Melisandre, who says that R’hllor worked through Walder Frey to kill Robb Stark
  • So who’s right? I admire Davos for his principles: it takes courage to walk into a dragon’s mouth, defying abuses of power at cost to yourself
  • But I think Salla’s right that this holy-warrior mindset is leading Davos to make foolish choices. Even on his best day, Davos is no assassin, and this is not his best day: he’s physically ill and mentally stressed
  • He really doesn’t have a plan besides walk up to Melisandre and stab her. Why would you need more of a plan if the gods have your back?
  • When Davos hears about “Renly’s ghost” at the Blackwater, he believes it; he’s seen shadowbabies and heard the Mother’s voice, why can’t ghosts be real? But it wasn’t Renly’s ghost, just a man in his armor, and the same rule applies here: Davos is just a guy, the gods won’t intervene for him
  • Davos’ most powerful enemy is himself. He’s trying to exorcise his own guilt. The Mother said he called the fire; he called the shadows too
  • Nothing more universal than trying to escape guilt, but it’s leading Davos down some dangerous paths. He says that Melisandre killed Renly (true) and Cortnay Penrose (true), but also that she killed Cressen, which Davos knows isn’t true, because he saw Cressen slip the poison into the wine
  • Finally, Davos accuses Melisandre of killing his sons, which gives the game away. He’s the one who led them into battle
  • Davos is dedicating himself to death, and in the process, giving up on life. He has vengeance in his belly, and no room for food, he says
  • He thinks that this is already hard, and Salla is making it harder, by reminding him he still has a lot to live for
  • In particular, his family. When Davos says the Mother spoke to him, Salla points out that Davos’ mother is dead. That’s what matters: our fellow humans, not the gods we might be making up in our heads
  • As Davos says, Salla might be a treacherous rogue, but he’s a true friend...and Davos isn’t, Salla snaps back
  • Davos has devoted himself to killing Melisandre like he devoted himself to serving Stannis as his god, and in both cases, he hollows himself out
  • Davos isn’t willing to recognize the consequences of that. He’s leaving Salla with the task of returning his burnt bones to his wife
  • I had forgotten how Salla confronts Davos with the image of his surviving sons wearing his bones around his neck after he dies
  • That’s so powerful! Instead of symbolizing luck, those bones would symbolize loss: the burden of grief, a noose around the neck
  • Is that who you want to be to them? No longer their living loving father, but only a memory? When Salla sees Davos, he calls him a ghost, and that’s what he’ll be if the queen’s men sacrifice him to R’hllor: a ghost like Renly
  • Davos thinks his mission is righteous, but it’s also irresponsible--it doesn’t ask anything of him, it would allow him to die with a clean conscience
    • “Too much light can blind the eyes, and fire burns.”
  • Living is harder, and that’s what Davos will be forced to do
  • Salladhor Saan is so interesting every time we meet him because he is the voice of reason when by all appearances, he shouldn’t be.
  • Salla is a pirate, dresses like a rent-a-magician and speaks with that over-the-top style of the free cities.
  • He’s also a thief, and I love the bit of the worldbuilding where he’s lifted one of Illyrio’s chairs
  • (No, this does not mean that Salladhor Saan is Illyrio Mopatis as a bad theory had it about two years ago)
  • But he’s trying to do his best to save Davos’ life and be a friend to him, and I have to agree that Davos is not returning the favor.
  • Again, George continues the theme that appearances don’t necessitate truth and external beauty doesn’t reflect internal beauty.
  • Overall, though, this is the problem with fanaticism: it sweeps aside all reason to drive towards the end state of the person holding the belief.
  • Regardless, it’s nice trope inversion to have Salladhor Saan, the ridiculous-looking person, sounding the most sane amidst all of these somber, serious-looking people who act ridiculous.
  • But Salladhor Saan isn’t the only blast from the past Davos meets in this chapter. We still have Axell Florent and a boy who reminds Davos of the shades of Robert and troublingly, reminds Davos of Renly too.
• Introducing Edric Storm
  • Dragonstone was never exactly a fun place to hang out, but as Davos walks up to the castle, he sees that the island is more bleak than ever
  • The people have vanished; the children at play have been replaced by rats. When Davos keels over coughing, no one helps him
  • Most of the houses bear signs of mourning. It’s like walking through a graveyard: they rose and fell with Stannis, this is their collective tomb
  • It shows us that the Baratheon cause is at a desperate dead end; Davos needs to be the spark to rekindle the fire
  • But it also reflects his own conflicts. Davos is reminded that many more people died than his sons; this isn’t all about him and his mission
  • As we go through the book, the solitary man on his rock will open himself back up to considering humanity. He’s not doomed to die here
  • Carrying on means reckoning with those you’ve lost, rather than just rushing to join them. We see that again at the castle gate; the men Davos knew there all died in the battle. He’s a stranger here now
  • He remembers little details about all the men who used to hold this gate. Gone, all gone, down with his sons to make a king in hell
  • That fits the dreadful imagery of Dragonstone perfectly: Stannis is now a king in hell, attended by ghosts, preparing to burn it all down
  • There’s a real lack of talent left to Stannis on Dragonstone, and that starts to become painfully apparent in this chapter.
  • The chivalry of the Stormlands, Crownlands and Narrow died on the Blackwater or turned cloak to the Lannisters and “Renly” at the battle.
  • As we’ll find out in later Davos chapters, there are a few king’s men about Dragonstone, but they’re few and far between.
  • The sense we get from this and successive Davos chapters is that this ain’t the A-Team anymore.
  • Hell, it’s not even those Narrow Sea Lords we saw in the Prologue and Davos I.
  • It’s mostly incompetents like Guy the Crossbowman or the Florents.
  • Davos’ friends have been replaced by the Florents, whose men escort Davos not to Stannis in the Stone Drum, but to Aegon’s Garden
  • This is basically the only nice part of Dragonstone. It’s totally unlike the rest of the castle: the gloom and gargoyles replaced by the pleasant smell of pine trees, the sight of wild roses and cranberries--actual colors!
  • If Dragonstone represents Stannis, the hard man with fiery wrath building up inside him, then Aegon’s Garden is what’s left of his heart
  • So naturally, this is where Shireen hangs out--the one good innocent thing in Stannis’ life, doomed to be sacrificed as the one he loves the most
  • While everyone else mourns and schemes, she’s just playing, chasing around Patchface. Davos compared himself to Patchface earlier in the chapter, realizing that they’d both been spat up by the sea
  • This is what being the voice of god actually looks like; it drove Patchface mad. Is this the kind of prophet Davos wants to be?
  • He thinks he was sent here to kill Melisandre, but he’s wrong. I love how George writes this: Davos’ true mission literally runs right into him
  • Edric Storm comes barrelling into the story after being set up all through ACOK. He’s written very well, a realistic kid: both arrogant and kind
  • He knocks Davos down, and says you shouldn’t get in my way while I’m running. Uh oh, we think, is this kid another Joffrey?
  • But when Davos starts coughing again, Edric quickly changes his tune. Are you OK? Should I get the maester? Joffrey would never do that
  • Like a lot of 12 to 13-year-olds, Edric is desperate to prove himself mature. He’s playing games, sure, but only because Shireen likes them, Edric himself thinks they’re childish, and he’s not a child, no sir!
  • But he still has a child’s perspective on the world. He thinks Davos can’t be a knight because he doesn’t look the part; when he learns Davos’ name, Edric gets all excited, because he’s heard the stories about the onion knight! Like Sansa in the first book, his head is in the songs
  • He draws himself up tall to introduce himself: I’m King Robert’s son! A totally unnecessary introduction, because other than his Florent ears from his mom, Edric looks identical to his father. He could be young Robert…
  • ...which is exactly how Renly was described. Davos makes that connection in this scene: this kid is Robert and Renly reborn
  • George sets up that dynamic perfectly in this scene, even without Stannis himself being present. Edric clearly worships his father, who taught him to fight. He says that Robert would never have cut off Davos’ fingers
  • Stannis is the outsider, the exception; despite being a bastard, Edric seems more in line with the Baratheon image
  • That’s not to say the Baratheon image lines up with reality. It’s a heartbreaking detail that Edric says Robert visited him almost every year
  • Stannis knows all too well what it’s like to be starved of Robert’s love. He ran the opposite direction with it: resentment, alienation, the heart on fire
  • Edric’s similarity to Robert and Renly makes Davos real nervous. George doesn’t tell us why, but I think it’s pretty clear: look at what happened to Renly! How’s Stanis going to feel about his nephew, a living breathing reminder of the brothers everyone preferred to him?
  • This is Davos’ mission: to protect this sweet charming kid from Melisandre, who gradually convinces Stannis to sacrifice Edric to R’hllor
  • That fits the theme of mercy in Davos’ story, as well as his guilt over his sons. I failed to save them, but I will not fail to save Edric Storm
  • That will be his new foundation, not killing Melisandre...which he can’t do anyway! Axell Florent arrives to put Davos under arrest for precrime
  • It’s a real shock at the end of a slow, moody chapter. Davos’ quest looks more foolish than ever; unlike in the show, he didn’t even get as far as Melisandre herself. He was caught before he ever made the attempt
  • It’s one more setback in a chapter full of them--basically proof that Salla was right all along. This isn’t who Davos is, who he should be
  • The rest of his chapters in the book will find him reaching a different conclusion: he wasn’t brought back to take lives, but to save them
  • Davos’ religious quest all but ends with his arrest by Axell Florent here.
  • This was one of my criticisms of Davos’ story in ASOS -- that he really doesn’t reflect on the Faith much after Davos II.
  • But I have to correct myself a little. In reading the rest of Davos’ story, we find a really cool line in Davos’ final chapter:
    • The Mother never made me for tasks like this.
  • The task in this case was in confessing to Stannis that he saved Edric and sent him away.
  • What I love about that line and the renewed context is that Davos was so sure that his task here in Davos II was do a bit of murder.
  • But saving a bastard boy and confessing his crime to Stannis: that wasn’t a task he was made for -- or so he believes.
  • Yet, the end of his story in ASOS shows us that Davos’ true purpose, like you were saying, was to save lives.
  • And that comes from Davos himself, not a divine mission that he’s received from the gods.
  • What is one bastard boy against a kingdom and Davos’ recognition that the answer is “everything” didn’t take divine intervention.
  • It came from inside of Davos, but Davos will have a long way to go to get there, and it’s a journey I’m excited to keep undertaking with you, ser!

Foreshadowing/Groundwork

Patchface sees the Red Wedding coming: “fool’s blood, king’s blood, blood on the maiden’s thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye.”

This isn’t the last time everyone assumes Davos is dead--same thing happens in AFFC/ADWD, when Wyman Manderly claims to have executed the onion knight while secretly cutting a deal with him to retrieve Rickon Stark from Skagos.

Salla’s complaints about not getting paid will pay off (so to speak) in ADWD, when he abandons Davos in the Sisters.

Davos references how old iron can kill “demons”, perhaps referencing how obsidian or Valyrian Steel can kill the Others.

Stannis will later tell Davos that Robert never picked out Edric’s gifts--it was Varys.

Theory/Discussion

Davos wonders why he was sent to Aegon’s Garden; Stannis will later claim that Melisandre wanted Davos to meet Edric there. Any thoughts on why?

Conclusion

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