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įollowing his exile from Oldtown, Qyburn joined the Brave Companions. Nevertheless, he claims to understand the nature of life and death better than any man in Oldtown. When these unethical experiments, as well as his studies of necromancy, were discovered, Qyburn was stripped of his chain and his position as a maester. However, he sought to surpass the archmaester, and instead of opening dead bodies to discover the secrets of the living as the Citadel has done for centuries, Qyburn opened living bodies to discover the secrets of death. Qyburn studied at the Citadel, and was as skilled a healer as Ebrose. Qyburn is clever and loyal, but also amoral and ingratiating. His torn robes are frayed and poorly sewn, and he lacks a maester's chain. He has grey hair, a lean frame, and looks fatherly. Qyburn is tall, slightly stooped with crinkles around his blue or warm, brown eyes. In any case, the message wouldn't be as powerful if Renly's death wasn't as surprising as it actually was, most probably.Appearance and Character See also: Images of Qyburn Also, it's not unlike the main theme of "Crime and Punishment", for example.
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That's what Cressen hints at in the prologue of ACOK. (Possible exception is Mel's magic on Mance in ADWD, but Martin has at least two more books to make some sense out of that.)Īs for Renly, his death sends a rather strong message that just because you think you're awesome and people around you mostly agree with that and you're generally loved and you're even well-intended, it doesn't give you the right to do everything that comes up in your mind. Some surreal elements in ASOIAF are foreshadowed, some aren't, but what's more important is the purpose each of them serves in the story, and so far none was used purely for the shock or as a cop-out, because none was presented as a one-time wonder without any baggage or side-effects. A reader is perfectly entitled not to like supernatural elements in any story, but the history of fiction is loaded with unrealistic stories that are universally and rightfully regarded as masterpieces.Īlso, while I disagree shadow-babies are pulled out of the ass (that Mel has some tricks in her sleeves is shown from the get-go), have to ask: why should everything be discussed before being introduced? That would be a formula on its own, and not a particularly interesting formula most probably. It has to be engaging, captivating, inspiring, interesting, and in order to be that it obviously must contain enough realism for readers to identify or empathize with it, but more realistic is in no way a tantamount to better. A narrative doesn't have to be more realistic. Well we do technically know that Mel is a "shadowbinder" we just don't really know what that meant until Renly's death. It just failed to be an instance of Deus Ex Machina.
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You'd have to be a bit dense not to expect it. The preceding chapter and the chapter it takes place in are redolent with foreboding. From our very first encounter with Lord Walder Frey we see that he is a treacherous, self-serving bastard and well capable of something like this. The Red Wedding, though it's just as horrible or more so for the Starks, is not an asspull. (and that judgment, TBPH, is probably tempered by the fact that I liked Renly, didn't like Stannis, and felt that things would have gone far better for the Stark protagonists if it had never happened - YMMV) However one may feel about the gloom and doom of the series, this does not and cannot come off as making the narrative more realistic. IMnsHO, it is horrendously bad writing, perhaps the worst bit in any of the novels. We are led down the garden path of believing that Renly is going to kick Stannis' ass, then take his superior army to KL and put an end to the Lannisters. This form of magic is not discussed prior to the event. The Shadowbaby killing of Renly Baratheon is definitely an asspull. For my part, I'll give you a couple of examples that MIGHT be thought of as Diabolus Ex Machina. Whether you perceive any given event in the novels as being pulled out of GRRM's ass without any foundation being laid ahead of time is a matter of personal judgment. Either trope comes under the larger heading of AssPull. But in other instances, rather than subvert it, he INverts it to the even worse technique of bad writing: Diabolus Ex Machina. I think he's pretty selective about when to subvert tropes and when to cling to them like they were the only thing afloat after a shipwreck.Īs far as Ned not escaping death, that subverts a trope that is almost universally perceived to be bad writing Deus Ex Machina.