And the the Oh, Egg, I dreamed I was old, is one of the saddest most moving lines not just in a song of ice and fire but ever if we

move beyond the sadness which is difficult you can appreciate the literary genius behind it.

It's just so efficient. Six words and it's one of the saddest things I've ever heard.

There's been contests out there, you know, what's the saddest thing you can write in one line or there's a

subreddit called two-sentence horror? I think George just schooled them all with that word not just because he wrote that a while ago

but you get the point it communicates the fear of aging and mortality that we all face

it tells of the struggles that come with the loss of mental faculties.

Even though this man is still quite capable, knowledgeable, and wise,

and he's losing some of what makes him who he is.

It also tells us or told us when we read it

that Aaman is dying, that he's near his end.

And if we dig beyond that, both the sadness

and the literary genius, there's even more to those

sick words. Of course we know who he thinks he's talking to he's actually talking to Sam

but he thinks he's talking to Egg, his younger brother, Eggon, of

Duncan Egg fame, of course. And it was Aeman who gave him that nickname, Egg in the

first place. And we know that Aeman went to the citadel to become a master when he was only nine or ten.

This was done in part because Aeman was a bookish boy, but also because Westrose had only

recently fought the first Blackfire rebellion and still remembered the dance of the dragons. It was believed, in particular

by the king, among others, that too many Targaryans was at least as dangerous as too few, if not more so. Now dreams don't always make sense.

But from those clues, we can gather that Aaman was dreaming of those years when he called

out his brother's name, meaning before he went to the citadel, while he was still in daily contact with Egg when they were boys, when Civil War was just a game.

...