Episode 098: The Desire to be Free

In episode 98 the Fingers of Davos explore the most impressive of the free cities:  Pentos, Braavos and Volantis.  These are perhaps the most different cities from each other as you can get.  Braavos, the poster-child of anti-slavery starkly cast against Volantis powered by slaves at a ratio of 5-to-1, with Pentos in between, pretending not to be pro-slavery but embracing everything it entails.  One that denies its Valyrian roots, one that holds itself as the Valyrian standard, and one that embraces its roots, but also fine with mixing with other cultures.  Such a fun set of differences to cover.  We also spend some time in Valyria itself, talking about its current state, and whether it is as dangerous as it seems.

In three weeks we are moving to a bit of a format change, so get psyched for Davos’ Fingers madness.  Nothing to read on your end, nothing to prep.  We are getting back to ASOIAF proper, with a series of episodes called “What If”.  Specifically in this case: What if Rhaegar had defeated Robert on the Trident?  So get ready for some zany analysis about what would have gone differently had Robert not caved in Rhaegar’s chest.

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Selection Covered:  most of the content from this episode comes from The World of Ice and Fire.  We are covering everything from Pentos on page 266 through the section on Braavos, ending on page 276.  But there is some additonal coverage on Valyria that comes from TWOIAF and other general knowledge from the series at large. Spoilers beware.