The

The The The end of a dance with dragons set a relaxed, if ominous tone, culminating in a death that

was quite sudden. You might have expected a death given the apparent pattern of epilogues

and prologs, but not only was the murderous moment masterful, it brought back a favorite

who had been missing.

One of the most interesting, exciting, mysterious, and dangerous, and dynamic characters

whose presence was a huge part of the early books we're talking about.

He came back to kill two members of the small council in one room

in one evening pretty easily. With children doing much of the work, I mean, you know you've been

outplayed when children are your downfall. A man who himself used to be on the council, by the way.

His return itself should be perhaps the biggest news of all,

the matter most urgently in need of a response. This man has access to everyone in the castle

via his knowledge of the secrets of the Red Keep, meaning the tunnels. Secrets he has been learning

and hoarding for his long game of Thrones, now in its final phase.

Aegon is here.

He's landed.

Conquest 2.0, sort of.

It's time to emerge from the shadows and pave the way for his candidate in darkly effective ways, like assassination.

A masterstroke, the killing of an enemy leader in a manner that causes his own allies to turn on each other. It's so perfect. Varus is just one of

the best written characters in my opinion, because super smart characters are among the hardest

to write. I mean, how do you convincingly write someone that outsmarts everybody?

How do you convincingly craft a character who comes off as capable of running circles around the rest through cunning?

...