We know that the North is isolationist, by all accounts this means they should have diverged culturally from the rest of the Kingdoms, but they don't really.

For instance, why does the North speak the common tongue? This was brought over by the Andals, which never gained any toehold in the North. Not to mention the Faith of the Seven is largely absent in the North except a few enclaves, meaning there's no religious incentive for anyone to learn the Faith's liturgical language.

The closest explanation I can think of is that the Maester's brought it over. But at the same time the Maesters are relatively few, meaning they wouldn't have spread the tongue to all the non-nobility of the North.

The Riverlands might have more ancient mysteries and forgotten history than any other region of Westeros. Some of my favorites:

- House Mudd and Oldstones: What exactly remains of the ancient kingdom of the Mudds? Oldstones contains the supposed tomb of Tristifer IV Mudd and is later associated with Jenny of Oldstones, who claimed descent from the First Men kings.

- Jenny of Oldstones: Who was she really, and what was her connection to the mysterious woods witch who accompanied her and supposedly foretold the Prince That Was Promised?

- The Isle of Faces: Perhaps the greatest mystery in Westeros. What actually exists on the island where the Pact was made, and why is it still guarded thousands of years later? Howland Reed supposedly spent an entire winter on the Isle of Faces before appearing at the Tourney at Harrenhal. What happened to him there, and what did he learn?

- The Green Men: Who (or what) are they? Are they simply an ancient order of humans, or something more closely connected to the children of the forest and the old gods?

- Harrenhal: Is its infamous curse merely superstition, or is there genuinely something supernatural about the castle? Harren the Black built the largest castle Westeros had ever seen, supposedly using the wealth and labor of the Riverlands and Iron Islands and was completed on the exact day Aegon the Conqueror landed in Westeros. Then Balerion melted its towers. Since then, almost every family that has possessed Harrenhal (Hoare, Qoherys, Harroway, Towers, Strong, Lothson, Whent) has suffered some kind of catastrophe. Is the curse simply the result of owning an absurdly expensive castle in a strategically vulnerable location, or is there actually something supernatural about it? And what exactly happened there during the time of Mad Danelle Lothston, whose reputation involves sorcery, madness, bats, disappearances and possibly worse?

- Alys Rivers: Who was the mysterious witch of Harrenhal? What became of her after the Dance, and what happened to the child she claimed to have conceived with Aemond Targaryen? In the last episode of the season 3 of HOTD we learn that she was the wife of Harren the Black, it could be true?

- The Gods Eye: Two dragon duels happened in this area (Aegon vs Maegor and Daemon and Aemond, the last one were both Vhagar and Caraxes died, same as its riders). The lake is surrounded by strange events and Daemon Targaryen’s body was never recovered.

- The Ghost of High Heart: An apparently ancient dwarf woman who lives at High Heart, dreams prophetic dreams, demands songs as payment and seems deeply connected to the old gods. She also appears to recognize Arya’s connection to death before Arya even understands what she is becoming. And if she really is Jenny of Oldstones’ woods witch, she has been influencing or witnessing major events in Westerosi history for roughly a century. What exactly is she?

Also High Heart is interesting because why does a hill containing thirty-one dead weirwoods remain such a powerful place for visions and dreams?

- The children of the forest in the Riverlands: The Isle of Faces, High Heart, the weirwoods, the Pact, the Ghost of High Heart, Howland Reed’s pilgrimage, possibly even some of the legends surrounding Harrenhal and the Gods Eye. It makes me wonder whether the Riverlands are going to become much more important to the magical side of the story than they initially appear.

There are plenty of other smaller mysteries too: the true history of the ancient river kings, the extinction of Houses Mudd and Justman, what remains beneath Oldstones, Daemon’s missing body, the origins of the Green Men, what Howland Reed learned on the Isle of Faces, the Tourney of Harrehall and whether the Gods Eye itself has some deeper significance.

What Riverlands mystery do you think is most likely to matter in The Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring? And what other Riverlands mysteries have I missed?

I’ve been thinking about Davos’s future and the title Stannis granted as Lord of the Rainwood.

As things stand, Davos is in the North on Stannis’s mission to White Harbor, while the Stormlands are being invaded by FAegon and Jon Connington. If FAegon’s campaign succeeds, it seems very unlikely that Jon Connington would allow a loyal Stannis supporter to remain Lord of the Rainwood, in lands that might have been of House Connington prior to Robert Baratheon’s ascension to the Iron Throne.

That raises a few questions:

Do you think House Seaworth will actually lose the title before Davos ever returns south? If that’s the case, what would happen to his family?

If the story ends with Bran Stark as King, could Davos have his lands and title restored as a reward for his services or maybe giving some new lands and titles in the North/Riverlands?

I think one of the biggest misconceptions in the fandom is the assumption that, after the Others are defeated, Westeros will simply rebuild and the North will continue much as it always has. Winterfell will be restored, the surviving houses will reclaim their castles, and life will eventually return to normal. But, i believe the North as we know it will effectively cease to exist.

The books repeatedly remind us that the North is the region that suffers winter more than anywhere else in Westeros. GRRM himself has said that the North bears the consequences of winter most severely. That is true during ordinary winters but the Long Night is not an ordinary winter. Unlike the show, where the Others are defeated in a single battle after one night outside Winterfell, the Others in the books are almost certainly the central existential threat of the entire series because they represent the collapse of civilization itself.

One of the strongest clues is Mance Rayder. The entire realm believes he is leading an invasion, when in reality he is fleeing extinction. His mission is saving his people from the Others. I think Jon's story is heading in exactly the same direction. He will probably spend much of the story trying to defend the Wall, then the North itself, only to eventually realize what Mance already understood: you cannot defend a homeland against an enemy that only grows stronger with every death. At some point, survival will matter more than territory. Jon may become "Mance 2.0," leading not an invading army, but the surviving Northmen south as refugees.

George has already shown that migration is how the North survives catastrophe. Fire & Blood tells us that during severe winters, Northmen sold themselves into slavery so their families could eat. More importantly, after the Dance of the Dragons, thousands of Cregan Stark's men never returned north. Instead, they settled in the Riverlands, married widows, and even helped revive the worship of the Old Gods there. If the Long Night destroys the North, why wouldn't history repeat itself on a much larger scale?

Just as Cregan's veterans settled there after the Dance, the surviving Northmen may settle there after the Long Night, creating a new northern culture in the Riverlands. While the old North will be left wild, ravaged by disorder, hardship, infighting, and perhaps even lawlessness, yet it will embark on a long process of reconstruction under whichever member of House Stark ultimately rules from Winterfell.

Throughout the series we look at quite a few protagonists (Sansa, Arya, and Bran) as the Stark Children. But they are part Tully. It's noticeable that Dany and the Lannister siblings are "purely" their Named houses through intermarriage through relatives.

Will the kid's Tully heritage matter in the endgame? If so, how would it manifest?

Side note, I find it fun that Arya, who is Cat's only child who takes after the Starks look, is seen by many fans as being on a collision course with Lady Stoneheart.

Hola. Soy Gonzalo de Buenos Aires. Hace pocos días falleció mi abuela Paca y en su memoria me propuse reunir la mayor cantidad de información posible sobre su familia (ya que además siempre se me ha dicho que yo era el nieto que más se parecía físicamente a ella). Pude encontrar el pueblo desde donde llegaron su madre y tía en 1921 (Villalibre de la Jurisdicción en El Bierzo) pero aún no pude encontrar de donde era su padre Francisco Díez Crespo, que nació aproximadamente en 1886.

Según la información conservada por la familia, sus padres se llamaban:

• Eugenio Díez, cuyo segundo apellido desconozco.
• Juana Crespo, cuyo segundo apellido también desconozco.

Francisco tenía por lo menos un hermano llamado Manuel Díez Crespo, nacido aproximadamente en 1892.

Mi abuela siempre decía que su padre procedía de Castilla la Vieja, pero nunca supimos de qué provincia o localidad concreta. Comprendo que se trata de una indicación geográfica demasiado amplia para localizar directamente su inscripción de nacimiento.

Francisco emigró posteriormente a la Argentina en 1922. Su primera esposa fue María Salas Abad, con quien tuvo a Juan Manuel Díez Salas. Juan Manuel vivió durante muchos años en Madrid y contrajo matrimonio allí con Antonia Morales Behamud.

Quisiera averiguar:

1. El municipio y la provincia donde nació Francisco.
2. Los nombres completos de sus padres.
3. Si Francisco y su hermano Manuel aparecen en registros civiles, parroquiales, militares, padrones o documentos de emigración españoles.
4. Si el expediente matrimonial de Juan Manuel en Madrid podría contener documentación sobre la procedencia de su padre.

¿Alguien conoce bases de datos, archivos provinciales o documentación de Madrid que permitan avanzar cuando se desconocen el municipio de nacimiento y los segundos apellidos de los padres?

Muchas gracias.

Hola. Soy Gonzalo de Buenos Aires. Hace pocos días falleció mi abuela Paca y en su memoria me propuse reunir la mayor cantidad de información posible sobre su familia (ya que además siempre se me ha dicho que yo era el nieto que más se parecía físicamente a ella). Pude encontrar el pueblo desde donde llegaron su madre y tía en 1921 (Villalibre de la Jurisdicción en El Bierzo) pero aún no pude encontrar de donde era su padre. Mi bisabuelo Francisco Díez Crespo, que nació aproximadamente en 1886.

Según la información conservada por la familia, sus padres se llamaban:

• Eugenio Díez, cuyo segundo apellido desconozco.
• Juana Crespo, cuyo segundo apellido también desconozco.

Francisco tenía por lo menos un hermano llamado Manuel Díez Crespo, nacido aproximadamente en 1892.

Mi abuela siempre decía que su padre procedía de Castilla la Vieja, pero nunca supimos de qué provincia o localidad concreta. Comprendo que se trata de una indicación geográfica demasiado amplia para localizar directamente su inscripción de nacimiento.

Francisco emigró posteriormente a la Argentina. Su primera esposa fue María Salas Abad, con quien tuvo, entre otros hijos, a Juan Manuel Díez Salas. Juan Manuel vivió durante muchos años en Madrid y contrajo matrimonio allí con Antonia Morales Behamud.

Quisiera averiguar:

1. El municipio y la provincia donde nació Francisco.
2. Los nombres completos de sus padres.
3. Si Francisco y su hermano Manuel aparecen en registros civiles, parroquiales, militares, padrones o documentos de emigración españoles.
4. Si el expediente matrimonial de Juan Manuel en Madrid podría contener documentación sobre la procedencia de su padre.

¿Alguien conoce bases de datos, archivos provinciales o documentación de Madrid que permitan avanzar cuando se desconocen el municipio de nacimiento y los segundos apellidos de los padres?

Muchas gracias.

I’ve been researching one of my colonial Argentine ancestors, a woman named María Melchora Martínez (1781–1841), and I’ve uncovered a puzzle regarding her true identity and parentage.

Her baptismal record from January 1781 in Pergamino lists her as María Melchora Morales, daughter of Joseph Morales and Luciana Maldonado. Unlike most other entries in the same register, she was not described as “legitimate.” What’s striking is that the surname Morales essentially disappears from her life afterward.

Just a few weeks before her birth, in December 1780, an alférez (sub-lieutenant) named Manuel Martínez (son of a former colonial governor of Paraguay) appears as godfather in a baptism for the child of Luciana Maldonado’s sister. That means that when Melchora was born, Manuel was already moving in her mother’s immediate family circle.

When Melchora married Victoriano Gómez in Rojas in February 1810, her act is contradictory: in the body she is written as Melchora Gómez, but in the margin as Melchora Martínez, and coincidentially a couple of months after her marriage another record appears about a slave of Manuel Martínez marrying in the same town, meaning that Martínez was also living in Rojas at the time of Melchora marriage.

From that moment forward, in Melchora's children baptismal and marriage records, she appears under various forms — Melchora Morales Martínez (1814), Melchora Morales (1817), but predominantly and consistently as Melchora Martínez from 1819 onward, including her daughter Juana Paula’s marriage in 1835. Finally, in her death record from 1841 in Mercedes, she is recorded as Martínez, with the priest noting that she was the “daughter of parents that I could not ascertain.”

Meanwhile, Captain Manuel Martínez is documented throughout this period:

• In 1794, he married María de la Concepción Amores with no children of their own.
• In 1804, when Concepción’s sister died, Manuel and his wife took in her orphaned children, including María del Carmen Cornejo Amores.
• On 28 October 1810, Manuel was appointed commander of the Guardia de Luján (Mercedes), and from that time resided there. Curiously, it is at this exact moment that Melchora and her family also relocated from Rojas to Mercedes, where her children were baptized.
• In 1814, when Melchora’s daughter Juana Paula was baptized, her godmother was none other than María del Carmen Cornejo Amores, the same niece raised in the household of Manuel Martínez and Concepción Amores.

The family links don’t stop there. Juana Paula later married Dionisio Amores, a man born in Rojas in 1811 whose parents were “not known.” Dionisio’s possible kinship to the same Amores family is suggested by another case: Dominga Amores, born in Rojas ca. 1815, explicitly named as the daughter of Captain Juan Amores (with no mother listed), later married a nephew of Manuel Martínez. So we see repeated connections between Melchora’s descendants and the Amores family network.

Taken together, the evidence suggests that:

• Morales in her baptism was likely a placeholder or protective surname, not a real paternal link.
• Martínez gradually emerged as her true surname, consistent with the idea that she was the natural daughter of Captain Manuel Martínez.
• Her move to Mercedes in 1810 alongside Manuel’s new posting, plus the integration of her children into the Amores family orbit (through godparentage and marriage), strongly reinforce this interpretation.
• The wording in her death record (“daughter of parents I could not ascertain”) is exactly the kind of formula priests used when the true parentage was socially known but not to be recorded in writing.

My question to the community is this: Given all these overlapping details, how plausible is it to conclude that María Melchora was in fact the bastard daughter of Captain Manuel Martínez?

One of the oldest theories in the fandom is the existence of an informal alliance between Hightowers, the Citadel, and the Faith. There are enough curious coincidences that I’ve started wondering whether the Hightowers have been pursuing a political project whose ultimate goal is to shape Westeros without dragons (maybe since the Dance of Dragons or before) or magic.

The Citadel has long been suspected of working against dragons and magic. Marwyn the Mage explicitly tells Sam that the maesters “killed all the dragons” (or at least implies they played a major role in their extinction). The Faith also repeatedly found itself in conflict with the Targaryens whenever dragons strengthened royal authority, particularly during the Faith Militant uprising.

House Hightower sits at the center of both institutions. The Hightowers have traditionally been patrons of the Citadel, protectors of the Starry Sept before the Faith moved to King’s Landing, and one of the wealthiest and most influential houses in Westeros. If there really were a long-term alignment of interests between these three powers, the Hightowers would be the natural political bridge connecting them. But what if their influence extended beyond Oldtown?

We also know Maester Walys was almost certainly a bastard of House Hightower, yet he served as maester at Winterfell during the lordship of Rickard Stark. According to Barbrey Dustin, Walys encouraged Rickard’s “southron ambitions,” promoting marriage alliances with great southern houses (Brandon to Catelyn Tully and Lyanna to Robert Baratheon), even convince to send Ned to be foster by Jon Arryn in the Vale. Whether intentionally or not, this created the political coalition that ultimately overthrew the Targaryens during Robert’s Rebellion.

Of course, Walys could simply have been giving sensible political advice. But if one assumes that House Hightower had a broader strategic vision, placing one of their own in Winterfell at precisely the moment when the North abandoned centuries of relative isolation becomes an intriguing coincidence.

Then there is the current generation. Leyton Hightower has reportedly remained at the top of the Hightower for more than a decade, accompanied by his daughter, studying ancient books of magic. This seems almost contradictory if the Hightowers have historically opposed magic. Why would the lord of Oldtown suddenly devote himself to occult knowledge?

Finally, all of this unfolds just as Oldtown faces serious threats. As Euron Greyjoy is sailing toward the city, bringing with him blood magic, dragon-related ambitions, mysterious artifacts, and what appears to be an attempt to trigger an apocalyptic magical event. If there is ever a moment for the Hightowers to reveal what they have truly been preparing for, this would seem to be it.

What do you think their actual endgame is?

Ayer por la mañana falleció mi abuela, a los 90 años. Desde entonces pasé todo el día —y también esta noche, porque me resulta muy difícil dormir— pensando en ella y en lo que puede haber después de la muerte.

Me angustia profundamente la idea de que quizá nunca pueda volver a verla. Es un pensamiento que me llena de tristeza y que no logro apartar. En el fondo, deseo con todas mis fuerzas creer que existe algo más allá de esta vida, un lugar donde algún día podamos reencontrarnos con quienes amamos. Pero me cuesta creerlo, y esa incertidumbre es precisamente lo que más me duele.

Quisiera tener la certeza de que volveré a ver a mi abuela y a todos los familiares que ya no están. Pensar que tal vez ese reencuentro nunca llegue me produce una tristeza inmensa.

I understand why George keeps coming back to the Targaryens. They have dragons, civil wars, larger-than-life personalities, and they shaped so much of Westerosi history.

But at this point, I feel like I’m suffering from a bit of Targaryen fatigue. Whenever people speculate about future books, possible companion works, or even TV adaptations, the discussion almost always circles back to another Targaryen story. It sometimes feels as though the rest of Westeros exists only as a backdrop for them.

Personally, I’d love to see George write a *Fire & Blood*\-style history about another Great House—especially House Stark. The Starks ruled as Kings in the North for thousands of years. They’ve fought the Boltons, the Barrow Kings, the Marsh Kings, the Warg King, the ironborn, the wildlings, and countless other rivals. There are stories about the Long Night, the Night’s King, Brandon the Builder, Theon Stark, Cregan Stark’s ancestors, and so many other legendary figures that we only know through fragments of lore.

I’d happily read several hundred pages chronicling the reigns of the ancient Kings of Winter, the rise and fall of different Stark rulers, their wars, alliances, succession crises, and legends. Honestly, that interests me more at this point than another Targaryen civil war.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I think Westeros is at its most interesting when it reminds us that it has a history far larger than just one dynasty. Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just burned out on the Targaryens?

I understand why George keeps coming back to the Targaryens. They have dragons, civil wars, larger-than-life personalities, and they shaped so much of Westerosi history. I enjoyed Fire & Blood, and I understand why House of the Dragon was the obvious adaptation.

But at this point, I feel like I’m suffering from a bit of Targaryen fatigue. Whenever people speculate about future books, possible companion works, or even TV adaptations, the discussion almost always circles back to another Targaryen story. It sometimes feels as though the rest of Westeros exists only as a backdrop for them.

Personally, I’d love to see George write a Fire & Blood-style history about another Great House—especially House Stark. The Starks ruled as Kings in the North for thousands of years. They’ve fought the Boltons, the Barrow Kings, the Marsh Kings, the Warg King, the ironborn, the wildlings, and countless other rivals. There are stories about the Long Night, the Night’s King, Brandon the Builder, Theon Stark, Cregan Stark’s ancestors, and so many other legendary figures that we only know through fragments of lore.

I’d happily read several hundred pages chronicling the reigns of the ancient Kings of Winter, the rise and fall of different Stark rulers, their wars, alliances, succession crises, and legends. Honestly, that interests me more at this point than another Targaryen civil war.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but I think Westeros is at its most interesting when it reminds us that it has a history far larger than just one dynasty. Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just burned out on the Targaryens?