The Ghosts of Harrenhal: A Song of Ice and Fire Podcast (ASOIAF)

Send us Fan Mail Kevan Lannister presides over the Small Council, has dinner with Cersei, and then gets murdered by Varys and his little birds. Busy day. Mackelly and Simon try to keep it together. Chapter Review: Kevan Lannister and the Small Council quiz Ronnet Connington over the reappearance of cousin Jon Connington and this pretender Aegon. He protests his loyalty, but is held pending further...

Send us Fan Mail Daenerys lives. She’s learned to ride Drogon, but now she tries to walk home. This leads to an unfortunate run-in with old friends. Simon and Mackelly try to put one foot in front of the other. Chapter Review: Daenerys Targaryen lives. Drogon has brought her to a rocky outcrop in the Dothraki sea which he has made his lair. Between a small pond and the scraps from Drogon’s success...

Send us Fan Mail Ser Barristan watches a man die before meeting with his queen’s new council to discuss both peace and war plans. He then talks with the Dornishmen to offer a get-out-of-jail card. Finally, he meets with the Green Grace. The Yunki’i have rejected his ransom offer for the hostages. To emphasize this point, the Yunkai begin launching corpses into the city. Mackelly and Simon duck and...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Snow tries to arrange for a rescue mission to Hardhome, but his plans are derailed by a taunting missive from Ramsay Bolton. He now decides to go south to confront his tormentor, but this is the last straw for his critics who gang up on him and stab him repeatedly. Mackelly and Simon try to find reasons for hope. Chapter Review: Lord Commander Jon Snow describes his plan to re...

Send us Fan Mail Quentyn Martell tries to fulfill his destiny, and his deal with the Windblown, to obtain dragons. Not much goes to plan and the chapter ends with Rhaegal setting Quentyn afire. Simon and Mackelly hope his Targaryen blood will save him.   Chapter Review: Prince Quentyn Martell is determined to obtain a dragon. He cannot face the shame of returning to Dorne empty-handed. Gerris Drin...

Send us Fan Mail Ser Barristan Selmy commits to the plan to oust King Hizdhar. He’s not thrilled about it, and extracts promises from Skahaz that blood would only be shed as a last resort. His capture of Hizdahr is interrupted - the dragons are loose. Jenny and Mackelly fetch buckets of sand. Chapter Review: Ser Barristan Selmy plots with Skahaz mo Kandaq to dethrone King Hizdahr zo Loraq and to e...

Send us Fan Mail Tyrion makes a deal with the Second Sons which gives him, Penny, and Jorah a second chance. Mackelly and Simon weigh up the deal that he’s struck. Chapter Review: Tyrion Lannister signs a stack of parchments, each gifting an increasing tranche of gold to the senior members of the Second Sons. He feigns anguish at the amounts but knows that he’s good for it if he comes into his inh...

Send us Fan Mail Cersei does the walk of shame through King’s Landing. Mackelly and Simon wistfully recall their college days. Chapter Review: Queen Cersei Lannister is shaved (all over) and must walk through the streets of King’s Landing, from the Great Sept of Baelor to the Red Keep to atone for the cherry-picked sins that she has confessed to. She’s a lion and won’t be cowed.  She keeps her eye...

Send us Fan Mail Arya gets her first assignment as an assassin for the House of Black and White. She also gets a new face, that of a little girl who had been badly beaten. After a successful mission, Arya is promoted to Acolyte and given her first apprenticeship. Simon and Mackelly decide to stop biting their coins. Chapter Review: Arya Stark witnesses a meeting of priests of the House of Black an...

Send us Fan Mail Victarion Greyjoy follows Moqorro’s advice and gains many victories. He believes that he is now blessed by two gods. Simon and Mackelly wonder if poly-religiosity is frowned upon by the deities. Chapter Review: Victarion Greyjoy is advised by Moqorro where to sail. Repeatedly the red priest comes up with the goods and the Iron Fleet swells with each captured vessel. Victarion emul...

Send us Fan Mail Asha Greyjoy watches a preview of her own possible gruesome fate, listens as Stannis’ army argues over their best course of action, and has a most unexpected reunion. Mackelly and Simon must remember their names. Chapter Review: Asha Greyjoy stands, cold and hungry, as the Queen’s Men chain four naked men to poles before setting the men on fire. The condemned men’s crime was canni...

Send us Fan Mail Jon Connington retakes his ancestral home, pines for Rhaegar, plots his next move, and hopes that a splash of cheap plonk will keep the greyscale at bay. Simon and Mackelly celebrate the Westerly motion. Chapter Review: Jon Connington and the Golden Company successfully retake Griffin’s Roost. It wasn’t hard, security has become lax. Not all of the ships that set out have arrived,...

Send us Fan Mail Quentyn Martell stays in Meereen and offers the Tattered Prince his heart’s desire if the latter can help Quentyn to steal a dragon. Simon and Mackelly think that that might be quite risky. Chapter Review: Quentyn Martell and friends discuss Ser Baristan Selmy’s warning to go home. Quentyn is resolute, Daenerys’ words about the dragon having three heads has given him a glimmer of...

Send us Fan Mail Ser Barristan Selmy gets more dispirited by Hizdahr’s rule and suggests to Quentyn Martell that the Prince of Dorne should leave town. An idea Prince Quentyn isn’t a fan of. Simon and Mackelly try to think of alternatives. Chapter Review: With Queen Daenerys Targaryen still missing, Ser Barristan Selmy attends King Hizdahr zo Loraq’s court. He sees few friends and a lot of Hizdahr...

Send us Fan Mail Jon watches as more than three thousand Free Folk pass through the Wall. He also receives desperate news from Hardhome where Cotter Pyke’s mission is going very badly. Simon and Mackelly celebrate the good news and worry about the bad. Chapter Review: Lord Commander Jon Snow rides out to meet with Tormund north of the Wall. The wildling waves his people forward. They come in a gre...

Send us Fan Mail Tyrion, Penny, and Jorah hitch a ride on the pale mare to start a new life. Mackelly and Simon look to a brighter future. Chapter Review: Tyrion Lannister, Penny, and Sweets tend to their master Yezzan zo Qaggaz, who is sick with the bloody flux. Some survive but the slaver was in such poor health anyway that Tyrion has no doubt that he’ll die. A healer is called for, who says the...

Send us Fan Mail Victarion Greyjoy meets Moqorro. The priest of R’hllor proves his value by curing Victarion’s wounded hand. Onwards to Meereen and Daenerys - to claim her as his bride. Simon and Mackelly wonder if he and Daenerys might be ill-suited. Chapter Review: Victarion Greyjoy is awaiting the rest of his storm-ravaged Iron Fleet on the Isle of Cedars. The fleet has dwindled from 93 down to...

Send us Fan Mail Barristan Selmy takes stock after the departure of Daenerys on Drogon. As Hizdahr cements his power, the old knight is forced into plots that he hoped he’d left behind. Simon and Mackelly egg him on. Chapter Review: With Queen Daenerys Targaryen still missing, Ser Barristan Selmy is informed by the seneschal Reznak mo Reznak that King Hizdahr zo Loraq no longer needs him by the ne...

Send us Fan Mail Cersei makes the only play she can. She wisely confesses to most of her crimes, that have already been verified by other witnesses anyway, but denies the big ones. For those questions, trial by combat will determine her guilt. Uncle Kevan reports wholesale changes in the Small Council. Mackelly and Simon weigh her chances. Chapter Review: Queen Cersei Lannister hates her jailors,...

Send us Fan Mail Jon negotiates terms with Tormund, introduces Val to Queen Selyse, and not for the first time tries to convince his underlings of the true meaning of their vows and the sanity of his plans. Simon and Mackelly try to shake the feeling that it is Groundhog day, again. Chapter Review: Lord Commander Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane discuss terms for Tormund’s band of roughly four thou...

Send us Fan Mail Daenerys attends the reopening of the fighting pits. It’s pretty much as she expected until Drogon arrives and whisks her away. Simon and Mackelly try not to get carried away. Chapter Review: Daenerys Targaryen dons a tokar for the reopening of the fighting pits. Barristan Selmy reports that he freed Meris of the Windblown who assured him that she and the rest of the Westerosi des...

Send us Fan Mail Theon watches as a child's body is laid before Lord Roose instigating in-fighting in the castle. Roose calls for battle preparations against Stannis. Theon is called into duty to smuggle Arya out of Winterfell. All goes well, until it doesn’t. Mackelly and Simon hope for a soft landing. Chapter Review: Theon Greyjoy sits at the back of the Great Hall of Winterfell, alongside...

Send us Fan Mail Daenerys hosts her conquerors, the Yunkai’i. Peace has cost her more than she can stomach. Mackelly and Simon sympathize with her. Chapter Review: Daenerys Targaryen attends a banquet thrown for the Yunkai’i to celebrate the peace. The accords hold, no re-enslavement, no more freeing of the existing slaves, but Daenerys is far from pleased that a slave market has been opened outsi...

Send us Fan Mail Jon has a full day at the Wall. He gives away a bride, checks on his new high-born prisoner, gets news from Eastwatch, and believes Val and Tormund have returned to Castle Black. Simon and Mackelly throw some rice in celebration of the new couple. Chapter Review: Lord Commander Jon Snow waits with Alys Karstark as Melisandre prays to R’hllor. Jon notices that his top ranking broth...

Send us Fan Mail Jaime ends the siege of Raventree Hall. On his way back to Riverrun, Brienne of Tarth finds Jamie and tells him that she’s found the Stark girl and that Jamie must come quickly, and alone. Simon and Mackelly say hello to an old friend. Chapter Review: Jaime Lannister arrives at Raventree Hall and tries to bring an end to hostilities between the Brackens and the Blackwoods. Good lu...