Who is on the way to Meereen?

The Imp

The Imp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
5,377
In listening to GRRM's latest podcast link, I again heard him describe the details of the Meereenese Knot and what made it so complicated. I don't think there's been another thread specualting about who exactly might be on the way there, if there has been just ignore this one. If there hasn't

Who's on the way? I think that we can safely assume that Tyrion will end up there. He's probably the only one you can be fairly certain about. Anything else is really speculative and going out on a limb, but........

Wouldn't it be interesting if Sandor is alive and makes his way there, maybe becuase everyone in Westeros wants him dead.

Brienne's plotline wouldn't seem to bring her anywhere near there, unless she thought that Sansa was there so maybe Sansa will somehow end up there.

How about the Sand Snakes? Uniting with Dany might be appealing to some or all of them.

Maybe Cersei in exile?

Jon in an attempt to bring her forces to the North to fight the Others?

If anyone has any thoughts I'd be interested
 
I guess I'll have to give this more thought, but at the moment the only two people I can think of that we definitely know to be on their way are Tyrion and Victarion. Surely I'm missing someone? Evidently a few someones, given the problems Meereen has given GRRM.

I'd struggle to see Sandor, Brienne, Jon or Cersei at Dany's court (as much as I'd love to see Cersei there) and in Jon's case, wouldn't it be more likely the other way round, with Dany visiting the Wall?

I'll sleep on this, but like you Imp I'll be interested to hear people's thoughts (I'll say this though - more and more I'm thinking that Arya will soon be on her way to Dany, blind or not, and that it might not be a good thing for Dany at all. But then I've always thought that for some strange reason).
 
No One said:
I guess I'll have to give this more thought, but at the moment the only two people I can think of that we definitely know to be on their way are Tyrion and Victarion. Surely I'm missing someone? Evidently a few someones, given the problems Meereen has given GRRM.

I'd struggle to see Sandor, Brienne, Jon or Cersei at Dany's court (as much as I'd love to see Cersei there) and in Jon's case, wouldn't it be more likely the other way round, with Dany visiting the Wall?

I'll sleep on this, but like you Imp I'll be interested to hear people's thoughts (I'll say this though - more and more I'm thinking that Arya will soon be on her way to Dany, blind or not, and that it might not be a good thing for Dany at all. But then I've always thought that for some strange reason).
Click to expand...
Of course, I totally forgot about Victarian. He's actually the only really certain one
 
Spoiler Alert for ADWD!!! Actually this is a spoiler alert for AGOT, ACOK, ASOS, AFFC, and ADWD. Read at your own peril!!!

I'd say that there are four confirmed pilgrims for Mereen. Actually since they are seeking Dany, I'll say Dany instead of Mereen. These four are Tyrion Lannister, Quentyn Martell, Victarion Greyjoy, and Maester Marwyn.

Tyrion. At the end of ASOS, I suspected Tyrion was headed towards Dany. He's been convicted of regicide on a Lannister King, he's murdered a Lannister Hand, and threatened both the Lannister Queen Regent and the Lannister Lord Commander of the Kingsguard... he's burnt all his bridges with the Lannisters. He's also assumed to be traveling in the company of a known Targ loyalist, Varys. The preview we've gotten from Tyrion's ADWD chapter likely clinches Tyrion's destination.

Quentyn. Doran confirms this to Arianne at the end of AFFC. The Martells were only one of two major houses openly allied with the Targs during Robert's Rebellion and the only to maintain secret ties to the Targs in exile. Doran's allegiance to Dany also meets his own goals of retribution upon Houses Lannister, Baratheon, Stark, Tully, and Arryn.

Victarion. He accepted Euron's request to seek out Dany for his bride. The stated goal of the Crow's Eye is the conquest of all Westeros. Dragons are the way for him to achieve this, thus his interest in Dany. Of course, Victarion sees Dany as his own payback against Euron.

Marwyn. Sam's last AFFC affirms this. Marwyn is almost a renegade maester. Is he seeking the dragons to finish the Citadel's mission of killing all dragons and magic or is he interested in reviving magic? Marwyn may be a key to Dany's mastery of dragon training.

I also think there are a few people who may be also seeking Dany. These are Griff (he's not actually been introduced in any of the story yet), Jorah Mormont, Loras Tyrell, Gerold Dayne, Aurane Waters, and an unknown associate of Littlefinger.

Griff. This is a major spoiler so I won't go into it. If you know who he is, then I suspect you'll agree that he's going to Dany because of the free company talk in Arianne's POV's.

Jorah. He lost his first wife. His second wife left him. Now Dany's exiled him. Where is he going? To kill his second wife? To apologize to his father? To take the Black? To run back to Illyrio? Or to go back to Dany... to seek forgiveness or to murder her? I think it's most likely he'll go away from Dany, but you never know.

Loras. Did he really suffer life threatening injuries on Dragonstone? Was he really burnt so bad that he must remain bed ridden and fully bandaged head to toe? If the Martells harbored secret Targ loyalties and are now sending a son to woo Dany, then why can't the Tyrells do the same? The Tyrells have already shown they know how to dress one man in another man's armor and fool everyone.

Gerold. The Darkstar. What is his agenda? Who is he working for? Is he already working for Illyrio, Varys, or Littlefinger? House Dayne was of Valyrian blood like House Targaryen. Arthur and Ashara were intimates of the royal family. Where did he go after he tried to assassinate Myrcella?

Aurane. Cersei's admiral seems to have just absconded with her entire new fleet. But where is he going? He's too inexperienced and his fleet is too small to challenge either the Redwynes or the Greyjoys. Will he turn pirate? Who needs a fleet? Stannis could always use more ships, but I doubt Aurane wants missing fingers as payment on delivery. The ******* of Driftmark, iirc, looks like Rhaegar... i.e. Valyrian... and Dany seems to need a fleet.

Littlefinger's representative. Baelish told Sansa something like, "The realm will not survive the War of the Three Queens." Who did he mean? Cersei, Margaery, Myrcella, Asha, and Dany are the obvious choices since Renly is dead. Maybe even Sansa herself. Anyway, Dany and Cersei simply must be two of them, right? I cannot imagine that Doran, Euron, Varys, Illyrio, Tyrion, and maybe even Olenna and Mace know of Dany's existence and yet Littlefinger is ignorant. He tricked the Tyrells into giving Margaery to Joffrey, putting Loras in White, and murdering Joffrey... and they thought those ideas were their own, so I must think he's still ahead of them in the game.
 
Well, I've slept on it - only to find that Boaz has beat me to it. That was, um, exactly what I was going to say...

Good points Boaz. Aurane, Gerold and Marwyn I'd forgotten about. Aurane could certainly help Dany's cause (unless he's been subverted by the Tyrells), Gerold is almost certainly working for someone who doesn't want to see the Martells and Lannisters cement an alliance, and Marwyn...well, he'll be a heavily toasted maester if he's not careful.

And Griff!? Wow. I'm drawing a complete blank on that name. I'll have to revise, but thanks for the pointer.
 
Griff is from Back to the Future. Nice of GRRM to pay homage to such a great movie......

.... and before you all say "No, It's Biff, not Griff." Griff is Biff's cybernetically-enhanced grandson.
 
Griff is:

(very mild spoiler; all the information below is actually from ASoS and AFFC):

Almost certainly Ser Jon Connington, former Hand of the King under Aerys II who was exiled to the Free Cities after losing the Battle of the Bells to Eddard Stark. Connington was Prince Rhaegar's best friend (after Ser Arthur Dayne) and a confidante and ally. House Connington's sigil is a griffon.

(very major spoiler from Tyrion's first two POVs in ADWD, read out at various conventions):

After going into exile, Connington established ties with Illyrio and has founded a small mercenary company with his son, 'Young Griff'. In ADWD Griff is contracted by Illyrio to escort Tyrion to Meereen.

(not a spoiler as such, but based on the spoiler above and popular fan speculation):

Young Griff is thought by some to be Prince Aegon, Rhaegar's son. The theory is that he was smuggled out of the Red Keep during the Sack and replaced with another young infant who was killed by Gregor Clegane in his stead. Aegon VI would be the rightful King, supersceding Daenerys's claim. Others think that all of the above would be claimed, but he'd turn out to be the 'mummer's dragon', a fake claimant, possibly Griff's own son after all.

In addition to the 'good guys' mentioned as going to Meereen there's also a heap of trouble headed there. Again, spoilerised:

In Dany's second or third chapter, she is visited by that merchant lord from Qarth who tried to hook up with her in ACoK. He offers her several ships in return for leaving Slaver's Bay and never returning. She is tempted, but the ships are too few to carry her army and all the refugees who'd flee Meereen with her. He then tells her that the warlocks of the House of the Undying are furious with her and that Qarth will consider itself at war. He leaves her the ships anyway, no doubt hoping she'll reconsider.

The Golden Company, the premier mercenary company of Essos, is also headed for Meereen. The Golden Company was founded by the Blackfyres and should in theory hate and despise the Targaryens, but with all the Blackfyre Pretenders dead they may be persuaded to side with the Targs (apparently Viserys and Illyrio tried to treat with them but they were uncommitted) in return for lands in Westeros, their ancestors' homeland.

In addition to them, the Dothraki khals formed out of the ruins of Drogo's army are apparently determined to either destroy Dany or return her to Vaes Dothrak to join the crones as is Dothraki tradition.

Finally, it is also revealed that the Yunkai'i have defeated the Astapori in battle, allowing them to join the fight (or conquer Astapor altogether).

So, in ADWD, we should see a huge conflageration as armies of Yunaki'i, Qartheen, the Golden Company and several Dothraki khals all have reason to attack Meereen, not to mention how Victarion's ironborn fleet, Griff's mercenaries, this new Qartheen fleet and other elements interact.
 
Thanks muchly Wert - even if I did force myself to stop reading half way through (I had no idea that GRRM had been leaking more ADWD chapters).

I've read the three initial preview chapters, of course, but I'm happy to leave it at that for now. Sounds very interesting though...
 
A throwaway comment made by Jaime in his last chapter of AFFC made me think something today. He mentioned that Littlefinger would make a good Hand, through various qualities, one of which not having any swords. Immediately made me think of the Golden Company, an entire troop of sell swords suddenly going off. Feasible? I confess I don't know the series half as well as others here, having only just read it, so there could well be stuff I've missed that would make this a silly idea.
 
No One said:
Good points Boaz.
Click to expand...
I get lucky once a year... what can I say? Wert always has the goods... But I stopped reading the previews a year ago, I'm trying to forget pending the imminent release of ADWD. It's kind of like trying to get my virginity back... Oops, did I say that out loud?

Sorry, it's Christmas and I'm on my thrid Bloody Mary... it's 12:30 pm. Already got the bird in the oven for two and a half hours... and I've built LEGO's Hogwarts, the Quidditch Pitch, a Bionicle, and a Star Wars fighter. LEGOs!!!! Uh, I swear they're for my niece and nephews... I swear.
 
Boaz said:
I've built LEGO's Hogwarts
Click to expand...

Seems to be a popular gift for, ah, kids, this year :D (not me though - my Evil Dead Ash figurine would have to destroy it. Groovy).

And is it just me or does Hoopy's comment about the Golden Company not sound so silly? Granted, I also fall into the category of not knowing the series as well as many others around here - despite re-reading most of AGOT and sections of the other books, I'm still mainly working off what I read a year ago.
 
To continue with Hoopy's and No One's comments on mercenaries. I'm currently reading Barbara W. Tuchman's A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous Fourteenth Century. The Free Companies of the Hundred Year's War seem fairly analogous to the mercenary companies of the Free Cities in ASOIAF. Perhaps the most famous (infamous) of the free companies of the fourteenth century was the White Company under Sir John Hawkwood. In the incessant squabbling between Milan, Florence, Venice, Genoa, Naples, and the Papacy, the White Company was often the deciding factor in whether a city took the offensive or not. Italian states depended completely (and England and France sometimes heavily) upon the free companies. They fought for pay and plunder. They changed sides seasonally.
 
hmmm a thought occurs in regard to the Golden Company... if they were created/formed by the Blackfyre's mayhaps they have the Valyrian (and Targaryen) sword "Blackfyre" in their possession... wasn't it lost when the last of the pretenders fled Westeros for the Free Cities?
I could think Dany, if she were to discover they had it, would do just about anything to reclaim one of her family's treasured heirlooms. Imagine it in her mind... there she is astride a dragon, a crown on her silver blond hair, and Blackfyre in her hand. She would be the new Aegon... Daenerys the Conquorer. (or in her mind, and with all the brainwashing Viserys and others have fed her, Daenerys the Liberator).
 
The Targaryen family sword going to Dany... I'd missed that. That'd be worth a lot of influence with Dany.
 
Bittersteel took the sword Blackfyre to the Free Cities with the Golden Company, sure, but it's fate is unknown after that (so is the fate of the other Targaryen sword, Dark Sister, which was last seen in Bloodraven's possession just before he was stripped of his rank and sent to the Wall).

It depends on whether Maegor Blackfyre took the sword with him to the War of the Ninepenny Kings. If he did, than Barristan Selmy presumably seized if after killing him (Barristan may even still have it somewhere, and may be waiting to produce it at the dramatically appropriate moment in ADWD; though it's far more likely he gave it to King Aerys). If not, the Golden Company likely still have it.

Certainly Dany having either Blackfyre or Dark Sister (or better still, both) when she invades Westeros would be a hugely symbolic piece of good PR.
 
ADwD spoiler chapters...


I know this has been discussed around here before but...

The glass candles are burning. Soon comes the pale mare. After her will come the others [no caps]. Crow and kraken, lion and griffin, the sun's son and the mummer's dragon. Remember the undying. Beware the perfumed seneschal.
Click to expand...

I think it's safe to presume that Kraken, Lion, Griffin, and Sun's Son are Victarion, Tyrion, Connington, and Quentyn respectively. I pretty firmly believe that the 'mummer's dragon' will be someone pretending to be Aegon (Aurane Waters or someone we haven't met yet probably with the Golden Company).

Less clear is what is meant by 'the pale mare' (a metaphor for death ie a plague or something?) and the 'crow' (Marwyn's been associated with a mastiff, not a crow... Maybe The Crow's Eye doesn't totally trust his brother... The rest of the list are house sigils, if I recall correctly House Morrigen has crows on their sigil, though I'm not sure if any of them survived Ser Guyard the Green or why we'd care that they're coming... Maybe representing Littlefinger?).

I've always like the idea that the Martell's faked Loras' injuries (likely) and sent him to strike a deal with Dany but I can't really see how he fits the prophecy at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top