Hello, and welcome to the Nauticast podcast, the one true chapter-by-chapter podcast going through a song of ice and fire.

I'm one of your hosts Emmett, also known as Poor Quentin.

And I'm your other host, Manu, also known as Manuclear Bomb.

And welcome to the 231 episode of the Nauticast titled Snakes in the Garden, an analysis of

the captain of guards in a feast for crows, in which the sand snakes show up one by one to

semi-politely ask their uncle Duran, Prince of Dorn, for permission to commit war, murder,

mayhem, etc. And Aereo Hota is also there. Good for him.

If there's one thing you can say about Ario Hota, you can say that he is also there.

He is the guy whose job is literally to be standing there. Our spoiler warning, as always,

prepare to be spoiled for all five A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the three Duncan egg novellas,

any histories, any histories, any

interviews, any Wins of Winter sample chapters, as well as Game of Thrones and House of the

Dragon the TV shows. Anything and everything. Our question this episode comes from our patron,

Lord of Loneleaf, who asks, I've been fascinated by Aerea Hota's character, not because he's particularly interesting

in and of himself, but because of the parallel slash foil he acts as for Barriston in particular.

I think of Hota as the king slash prince guard that Barriston believes himself to be, but fails

to actually achieve for the very reasons that make Barristan a compelling POV character

himself. Do you agree that Hota acts as a bit of foil to Barriston a compelling POV character himself.

Do you agree that Hota acts as a bit of foil to Barriston?

Are there any other parallels or foils that stick out to you from our dear camera that rides?

Thanks for the wonderful discussion, as always.

What do you think, Minow about Hote as like a version of Barristan who's dealt with the angst, I guess?

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