Eddard Stark: Bugs Bunny
Catelyn Stark: Slappy Squirrel
Jon Snow: Sylvester
Daenerys Targaryean: Lola Bunny
Tyrion Lannister: Tweety
Jamie Lannister: Daffy Duck
Cersei Lannister: Milissa Duck
Arya Stark: Dot Warner
Sansa Stark: Penelope Pussycat
Bran Stark: Beaky Buzzard
Robb Stark: Wile E Coyote
Rickon Stark: Buster Bunny
Theon Greyjoy: Willford b Wolf
Samwell Tarly: Porky Pig
Jorah Mormont: Pepe le Pew(with a different kind of comedy)
Davos Seaworth: Bushwkacker Bob
Brienne of Tarth: Petunia Pig
Sandor Clegane: Ralph the Guard
Tormund Giantsbane: Taz
Grey Worm: Thickly Kangaroo
Missandei: Constance Koala
Varys: Elmer Fudd
Petyr Baelish: Pete Puma
Stannis Baratheon: Cecil Turtle
Millesandre: Witch Hazel
Gendry Baratheon: Wendel T Wolf
Podrick Payne: Wakko Warner
Bronn: Yakko Warner
Tywin Lannister: The Roadrunner
Olenna Tyrell: Granny
Margery Tyrell: Prissy Hen
Joffrey Baratheon: Henry Hawk
Ramsay Bolton: Marvin the Martian
Roose Bolton: Rocky
Walder Frey: Dr. Scratchensniff
Euron Greyjoy: Speedy Gonzalas
Yara Greyjoy: Minerva Mink
Eleria Sand: Hello Nurse
Oberyn Martell: Ralph Wolf
Gregor Clegane: Crusher
Qyburn: Evil Scientist
High Sparrow: Sam Sheepdog
Tommen Baratheon: Eggbert
Myrcella Baratheon: Tina Duck
Loras Tyrell: Barnyard Dawg
Renly Baratheon: Mark Anthony
Eddison Tollet: Pesto
Beric Donadarron: Count Bloodcount
Thoros: Bobby
Hodor: Gossomer
Lyanna Mormont: Babs Bunny
Ygritte: Sylvia Cat
Robert Baratheon: Foghorn Leghorn
Khal Drogo: Yosemite Sam
The Night King: Hugo Yeti
Hot Pie: Pinky
Maester Pycell: Brain
Mance Ryder: Thaddeus Plotz
Jeor Mormont: Buddy Boar
Daario: Digory Dingo
Edmure Tully: Buttons
Benjen Stark: Squit
Lysa Arryn: Elmyra Duff

I have a scene were a character lora gets styled into a given situation, i.e: Bob as a paladin riding a white horse in a shining armour.
I also have Loras with Eric, John and Ted, I'd like to have them randomized in the scene each time I queue a prompt, but no luck so far.
I know how to randomize the scene using Mikey Wildcard Processor, I have a txt file where every line reads something like "riding a black horse", "sitting on a throne", etc. is there a way to do the same for Loras?
Thanks!

Lo YouTuber HeelvsBabyFace ne è convinto: c'è qualcosa (anzi, qualcuno) che "sta distruggendo compagnie come Remedy Entertainment dall'interno". Su Reddit, l'utente SnooWords9178 scrive: "Mi sembra che quel sito sia un buon posto per capire quali videogiochi non giocare. La prossima volta che proverò interesse verso un determinato titolo andrò a controllare se sono coinvolti e, in tal caso, non lo comprerò assolutamente". Dismal-Range 1678, sempre su Reddit, così descrive la CEO e co-fondatrice della società incriminata, Kim Belair: "Non le piacciono i videogiochi e non è qualificata per questo lavoro, ma i soldi la inseguono ugualmente. Il risultato è che è diventata ricca ottenendo la possibilità di distruggere il nostro hobby imponendo la sua perversa visione del mondo".
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In molti parlano di Sweet Baby Inc., società canadese di consulenza che ha offerto i propri servizi a compagnie come Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Santa Monica Studio, Valve. E, di recente, a Remedy Entertainment, lavorando sull'arco narrativo dei personaggi e offrendo quello che in gergo viene chiamato "sensitivity reading", ossia una consulenza sullo script del gioco per individuare stereotipi, espressioni che potrebbero essere considerate offensive, ma anche imprecisioni e dati inesatti. Nulla di troppo esotico: qualche mese fa, lo scrittore Irvine Welsh (autore del celebre romanzo Trainspotting) ha dichiarato di essersi avvalso di una persona trans che ha fatto da sensivity reader durante la scrittura de I lunghi coltelli, libro che tratta di questioni che interessano proprio la comunità trans. Lo stesso vale per Stephen King, che da anni si avvale di figure di questo tipo.
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Riguardando in retrospettiva il video di HeelvsBabyFace, non si può non pensare al fatto che, se davvero Sweet Baby Inc. sta cercando di distruggere Remedy Entertainment dal suo interno, dovrebbe impegnarsi di più. Nel corso degli ultimi The Game Awards, Alan Wake 2 ha portato a casa tre statuette pesantissime: Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction. Senza contare l'esibizione trionfale di parte del cast in diretta dal palcoscenico di Los Angeles, sulle note di "Herald of Darkness", con una sorpresa per il pubblico: il director Sam Lake, che nel gioco interpreta il detective Alex Casey, si è unito alle danze, in un momento davvero memorabile di celebrazione del profondo legame tra opere e autori, tema peraltro centrale all'interno dell'ultima avventura di Alan Wake.
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Ripercorriamo le polemiche su Alan Wake 2 e Sweet Baby Inc., dando un'occhiata alle opinioni espresse da utenti e content creator su piattaforme come Reddit e YouTube, cogliendo l'occasione per fare chiarezza sul contesto più ampio in cui queste feroci critiche nascono e si sviluppano. Precisiamo che l'articolo non contiene spoiler sulla trama di Alan Wake 2, e pertanto può essere letto tranquillamente anche da chi non ha ancora giocato l'ultima opera prodotta da Remedy Entertainment.
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Saga Anderson
Facciamo un salto indietro nel tempo, arrivando fino al 2016, anno di uscita di un altro videogioco prodotto da Remedy Entertainment: Quantum Break. In un video easter egg presente all'interno del gioco, vediamo Sam Lake affiancato dall'attrice finlandese Malla Malmivaara. Come confermato dallo stesso Lake, si trattava di un'anticipazione di Alan Wake 2: Malmivaara avrebbe ricoperto il ruolo di Saga Anderson, agente dell'FBI alla ricerca dello scrittore Alan Wake insieme al detective Alex Casey, interpretato dallo stesso Sam Lake.
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A qualche mese di distanza dall'uscita di Alan Wake 2, sappiamo che le cose non sono andate esattamente così. Il personaggio di Saga Anderson è rimasto, ma è cambiata l'attrice chiamata a interpretarlo: il ruolo è toccato alla britannica Melanie Liburd, di origini caraibiche. Quando Remedy Entertainment ha rivelato questo mutamento di rotta, la reazione degli utenti non si è fatta attendere. "Carino questo cambiamento di razza, Remedy", scrive su Twitter l'utente calcutas6000 a giugno 2023, poco prima che la piattaforma venisse ribattezzata X. "Non vedo l'ora di giocare nei panni di un personaggio debole che dovrà essere salvato ogni dieci minuti da una ragazza nera messa lì per migliorare il rating ESG [giudizio elaborato da agenzie di rating specializzate nella raccolta e nell'analisi di dati sulla sostenibilità delle imprese e sulle loro performance sociali e di governance, N.d.A.]", afferma Kigeki3, sempre su Twitter. "Perché non cambiate la razza anche ad Alan Wake e ad Alex Casey?", aggiunge BobLoblaw860. Lapidario IT3YB4LLS: "Sono diventati woke".
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Alan Woke 2?
Dopo un picco di polemiche nel mese di giugno 2023 - momento in cui fu rivelata l'identità della nuova attrice chiamata a interpretare l'agente Saga Anderson - un tweet ha approfondito la questione ha dato il la a un nuovo ciclo di polemiche. La ragione è semplice: l'utenza sembra avere individuato il colpevole per il casting di un'attrice nera all'interno di Alan Wake 2 e per la riscrittura del personaggio di Saga, confermata da Sam Lake già da prima dell'uscita del gioco.
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Il 26 ottobre 2023, l'utente di X kenshirotism punta il dito contro una società canadese: Sweet Baby Inc. "Oggi ho scoperto che quasi tutti gli studi che producono videogiochi tripla A esternalizzano la scrittura affidandola a una società canadese. Sweet Baby. Sono un gruppo finalizzato a migliorare i rating ESG che mira ad annacquare i prodotti per rendersi il più possibile sicuri, aperti alla diversità e aziendalisti ["safe, diverse and corporate", nell'originale, espressioni di difficile traduzione in lingua italiana, N.d.A.]". Sul forum di NeoGAF.com - parte dei cui moderatori hanno fondato ResetEra nel 2017, dopo aver abbandonato NeoGAF a causa delle accuse di molestie sessuali rivolte al proprietario del sito - l'utente Vick avvia un thread di discussione dal titolo "Sweet Baby Inc, il cancro che si cela dietro Alan Wake 2, Spider-Man 2 e GOW: Ragnarök". Nel suo post del 31 ottobre 2023 scrive: "Prima che qualcuno venga ad accusarmi di accostare 'diversità e inclusione' al cancro, preciso che ovviamente mi riferisco alla pura e semplice propaganda che viene iniettata nell'arte in maniera forzata e dozzinale. Il che vuol dire uccidere la vera diversità nelle forme d'arte. E se avete mai pensato che ogni videogioco tripla A moderno sembra scritto dalle stesse persone, è perché è proprio così". Segue presentazione di screenshot tratti dal sito di Sweet Baby Inc., che sulla sua pagina web presenta i vari progetti a cui ha lavorato: da Spider-Man 2, a Sable, passando per Alan Wake 2 e Goodbye Volcano High.
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La situazione non migliora recandosi sulla piattaforma Reddit. Ancora a fine anno, il seguitissimo streamer statunitense Asmongold non mancava di polemizzare contro Sweet Baby Inc. con un post del seguente tenore: "Ammirate! Ecco Sweet Baby Inc.! Le persone che si celano dietro il virus DEI [sigla che sta per Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, N.d.A.] che colpisce i moderni videogiochi occidentali. Potete ringraziarli per i cambiamenti nel design di Poison Ivy". Asmongold si riferisce alla Poison Ivy di Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, in uscita il prossimo 30 gennaio. "È propaganda, né più né meno", risponde Sudden-Anybody-6677. "La colpa è degli idioti che li assumono. Sono loro a rendere redditizio il modello di business di questi imbroglioni", aggiunge Severe-Kumquat sotto al post.
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In post e articoli su alcuni siti specializzati in cultura nerd e videogiochi possiamo rintracciare un argomento ricorrente, riassumibile più o meno con la frase "i risultati parlano da soli". È proprio con questa espressione che Selvir Katich, in un articolo pubblicato su Boundingintocomics.com il 25 novembre 2023, apre la sua tirata contro Sweet Baby Inc. "I risultati parlano da soli. Vi stavate chiedendo perché in Spider-Man 2 è presente una fase in cui dovete giocare nei panni di una ragazza sorda che fa graffiti con poesie di autori BIPOC [sigla che sta per Black, Indigenous and People Of Colour, N.d.A.]? La risposta è Sweet Baby Inc. E che dire di Alan Wake 2, in cui è stata cambiata la razza di un personaggio giocante per farlo diventare una agente dell'FBI nera ed emancipata, solo per proporci dialoghi del livello di The Room [film del 2003 noto per la sua trama inconcludente, N.d.A.] che ci comunicano quanto è emancipata? La risposta è Sweet Baby Inc.".
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Facendo un rapido giro di YouTube, si trovano numerosi video di indignazione nei confronti di Sweet Baby Inc. e del cambiamento che ha interessato il personaggio di Saga Anderson. Griffin Gaming (canale con 223.000 iscritti) nel suo video del 17 novembre 2023, dal titolo "Sweet Baby Inc: Why Modern Gaming has Become Woke Political Garbage" ["Sweet Baby Inc: perché il gaming moderno è diventato spazzatura politica woke", N.d.A.] lamenta che "Il gaming moderno è morto, e realtà come Sweet Baby Inc. sono i responsabili". "Se avete avuto l'impressione che giocare non sia più divertente, che il gaming moderno faccia schifo, che sia noioso, o che sia stato riempito di ideologia politica woke", dice Griffin Gaming, "allora vi sarete probabilmente domandati come mai così tanti studi di sviluppo e publisher sembrano voler auto-sabotare i loro prodotti pubblicandoli in uno stato così orribile".
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Sul canale Side Scrollers (62.700 iscritti), il content creator Melee James parla di Sweet Baby Inc. in un video dall'eloquente titolo "This Company Is Why Your Video Games Suck - Part 1" ["Questa compagnia è la ragione per cui i vostri videogiochi fanno schifo - Parte 1", N.d.A.]. "Non importa di che gioco si tratti, loro accetteranno di lavorarci in ogni caso", dice. "E perché? Perché a questa compagnia importa più la loro agenda politica, il loro obiettivo, ossia riuscire a trasformare l'industria in ciò che vogliono, piuttosto che l'amore e il rispetto per il gioco stesso". Il giorno in cui era partita la polemica scatenata su X da kenshirotism, Melee James aveva scritto su quella piattaforma: "Seguirò l'account di Sweet Baby Inc. solo per sapere quali videogiochi non giocare". La ragione per cui gli sviluppatori si rivolgono alla società di consulenza? Nel video non ha dubbi: definisce gli sviluppatori "scansafatiche".
Ma cosa fa Sweet Baby Inc.?
Dati i frequenti malintesi esposti da chi si scaglia contro Sweet Baby Inc. sulle varie piattaforme social e di pubblicazione di contenuti sulle attività svolte dalla società può essere opportuno, a questo punto del racconto, parlare di questa realtà canadese, anche grazie alle parole della CEO e co-fondatrice Kim Belair, vittima di molti post infamanti in questi mesi, ascoltata dai microfoni di Gamesindustry.biz.
"Creiamo prodotti per persone reali, e non possiamo pretendere che, se qualcuno cambiasse domani il colore della sua pelle, non avrebbe una diversa esperienza di vita. Bisogna parlare alla propria audience e comprendere che il design narrativo avviene negli occhi del giocatore. Il nostro design non avviene nel vuoto pneumatico", ha dichiarato Belair ad Alan Wen. Non a caso, Sam Lake ha spiegato che il team di narratori di Alan Wake 2 ha completamente ripensato il personaggio di Saga Anderson, una volta definito che sarebbe stato interpretato da Melanie Liburd. Guardando i lusinghieri giudizi della critica e il premio Best Narrative assegnato ad Alan Wake 2 nel corso degli ultimi The Game Awards, verrebbe da pensare che il lavoro svolto sull'agente FBI - dotata in un arco narrativo profondo e convincente - abbia dato ottimi frutti. Per rendere possibile un lavoro di consulenza efficace, Kim Belair nell'intervista discute dell'importanza di intraprendere il percorso con Sweet Baby Inc. fin dalle fasi preliminari dello sviluppo, in modo tale da potersi avvalere di un team di specialisti nel sensitivity reading e nella costruzione di storie interessanti e ben radicate nel contesto scelto dagli sviluppatori. "Sweet Baby Inc. è una società di consulenza narrativa che promuove l'inclusione", si legge sul sito della compagnia. "Stiamo costruendo una squadra e dei processi di lavoro che possano promuovere un'industria più gentile e sostenibile a ogni livello. Che voi abbiate bisogno di un paio d'occhi freschi o di una mano per guidarvi, siamo qui per lavorare con voi".
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Ma come si svolge, in concreto, il lavoro di Sweet Baby Inc.? "Iniziamo con una lettura e una discussione di tutto il materiale relativo al progetto", è spiegato sul sito Internet. "Tutto il personale di Sweet Baby Inc. dà un'occhiata al vostro progetto per condividere pensieri, emozioni e idee. Procediamo in questo modo perché ciò permette al lavoro di cominciare con una moltitudine di prospettive, scatenando una conversazione capace di arricchire il lavoro e di permettergli di risuonare anche prima che è stato buttato giù su carta". La società viene coinvolta per dare una mano nella scrittura, nella strutturazione della narrativa, nella valutazione delle rappresentazioni presenti all'interno del prodotto, e può curare anche lo sviluppo di un videogioco, come nel caso di Lost Your Marbles, avventura narrativa in esclusiva per la console Playdate.
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Sweet Baby Inc. ha collaborato con progetti e studi di sviluppo di varia scala. Si va da prodotti indie come il videogioco di esplorazione a mondo aperto Sable, uscito nel 2021, e Goodbye Volcano High, pubblicato nell'estate dello scorso anno, fino ad arrivare a blockbuster del calibro dell'ultimo episodio della serie God of War, e poi Spider-Man 2, Alan Wake 2 e Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, in uscita a fine mese. Come abbiamo visto, attività come il sensitivity reading sono tutt'altro che una novità in altri media - letteratura, cinema, serie TV - ma ultimamente stanno facendo grande scalpore nella comunità dei gamer.
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L'onda lunga del GamerGate
Concentrandosi sul cambiamento nel casting di Saga Anderson, gli utenti di Reddit, YouTube e altre piattaforme hanno individuato il colpevole immediato in Sweet Baby Inc., non mancando però di puntare il dito su un agente che si celerebbe dietro la società di consulenza: il famigerato "politicamente corretto". Si tratta della narrativa per cui "Non si può più dire niente", della lamentela per cui esisterebbe una vera e propria "dittatura del politicamente corretto", volta, per esempio, a "cancellare" attori e attrici bianchi, sostituendoli con attori e attrici neri "senza alcun contesto". Le discussioni sul "politicamente corretto" sono ben lontane dall'essere confinate all'ambito dei videogiochi o del cinema, anzi: sono una costante nel dibattito pubblico internazionale. Ma dove e quando è nata questa espressione?
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Nel suo recente volume We Need New Stories. Challenging the Toxic Myths Behind Our Age of Discontent (pubblicato da Orion Publishing nel 2020), la giornalista del Guardian Nesrine Malik traccia una vera e propria storia del "politicamente corretto", le sue origini andrebbero fatte risalire agli Stati Uniti d'America degli anni '80. Think tank di destra come il l'Heritage Foundation e il Cato Institute puntavano il dito sugli ambienti universitari di sinistra, dipingendoli come un pericolo per la libertà d'espressione dei cittadini statunitensi, al fine di scoraggiare cambiamenti in una società che - questo il pensiero degli ideologi di destra - era in realtà completamente sana, senza alcun bisogno di essere messa in discussione nei suoi fondamenti. Di questi temi ha parlato Gaia Amadori nel suo intervento sugli scenari distopici virtuali.
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Il "politicamente corretto" si è quindi posto come utile nemico contro cui puntare i riflettori in un'ottica conservatrice. E questo accade anche nel mondo dei videogiochi, dove storicamente hanno prevalso utenti e personaggi maschi e bianchi. Il fatto che negli ultimi anni diversi tipi di rappresentazioni e fasce di giocatori si siano fatte sempre più largo non ha fatto altro che accendere gli animi di parte dell'utenza: oggi esistono videogiochi come That Dragon, Cancer che parlano dell'esperienza di due genitori che si trovano a perdere il figlio piccolo a causa di un cancro, o protagoniste forti e indipendenti come Bayonetta, o ancora agenti dell'FBI nere come Saga Anderson.
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Altra parola importante, non a caso molto presente nei tweet degli utenti indignati per il cambio di rotta di Remedy Entertainment nel casting dell'attrice che ha interpretato Saga: "woke". Nel gergo afroamericano, "stay woke" è un invito a "restare vigili" rispetto a tematiche sociali importanti per la comunità di riferimento. Con una vera e propria appropriazione culturale, il termine "woke" è stato impiegato dai conservatori per dipingere in maniera sprezzante gli attivisti per i diritti civili, considerati alla stregua di capitani di una presunta "caccia alle streghe", espressione peraltro molto cara a Donald Trump, di cui discuteremo a breve.
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Nel 2014, la situazione esplose con il GamerGate, manifestazione di questo genere di ideologia all'interno del mondo videoludico. Partito nell'agosto del 2014 con un post nel blog di Eron Gjoni contro la sviluppatrice Zoë Quinn, accusata di avere intrattenuto una relazione con il game critic Nathan Grayson, il GamerGate si espanse presto a dismisura, diventando una campagna d'odio contro sviluppatrici come la stessa Quinn - rea, stando agli utenti, di aver trattato di argomenti "inappropriati" per i videogiochi, come la depressione, nel suo Depression Quest - ma anche contro studiose come Anita Sarkeesian, autrice di una serie di video di analisi di videogiochi con la lente degli studi di genere, dal nome "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games". Al motto di "Fuori la politica dai videogiochi!", in una crociata senza requie contro il "politicamente corretto", gli utenti di piattaforme come Reddit, 4chan e 8chan hanno diffuso insulti e minacce di morte per opporsi, da un lato, alla trattazione di certe tematiche all'interno dei videogiochi, da tutelare a tutti i costi da tutto ciò che poteva non essere considerato "intrattenimento" e, dall'altro, cercando di espungere da questo mondo le minoranze che si stavano affacciando allo sviluppo di prodotti appartenenti a questo medium (donne, persone appartenenti a minoranze etniche, persone diversamente abili). Lamentele su una presunta politicizzazione dei videogiochi non sono mancate in occasione dell'uscita di Hogwarts Legacy: ve ne avevo parlato in questo speciale sul boicottaggio di Hogwarts Legacy, non a caso criticato da alcune testate appartenenti ad ambienti dell'estrema destra italiana.
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È un meccanismo ben noto all'alt-right, enucleato alla perfezione dalla figura e dalle tecniche comunicative di Donald Trump, incentrate sulla ricerca ossessiva di un nemico contro cui far fronte comune. Colonizzando, nel frattempo, luoghi di aggregazione online come YouTube, Facebook, Reddit e X, creando spazi di radicalizzazione: non a caso, l'assalto a Capitol Hill del gennaio 2021 è stato organizzato per mesi su Facebook. È per questo che episodi come quelli che hanno interessato Alan Wake 2 vanno iscritti in un contesto più ampio, contestualizzandoli all'interno di ideologie conservatrici che individuano in persone trans, omosessuali, donne e appartenenti a minoranze etniche il bersaglio perfetto per lamentare la perdita di vecchi privilegi, come la possibilità di esprimersi in maniera violenta, senza riguardo per la persona umana e la sua dignità, e senza timore di subire alcun tipo di ripercussione. L'utente IT3YB4LLS è libero di scrivere di Remedy Entertainment: "Sono diventati woke". Fortunatamente, critici e pubblico sono altrettanto liberi di indagare sulle ragioni di affermazioni di questo tipo e sulle loro radici, oltre ad apprezzare personaggi ben scritti come Saga Anderson, di certo una delle donne virtuali più importanti e memorabili del 2023.
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Any Clothing Generation Pointers? I often use SD (on RunDiffusion and SeeArt) to create clothing outfits. Often the outfit requirements are quite specific, and it can take a bit of time or many inpaint iterations to get what I want. So I wondered if anyone really recommends a good model/Lora/workflow which works for them?
Example prompt
a woman in a crowded pub. wearing a black leather skirt featuring a large blue vertical stripe. Small split to front of skirt. Wearing an orange top with a logo and text, sleeveless, off shoulder asymmetrical design, with multiple white shoulder straps over one side. Thick black knee socks, black boots. In a busy modern airy pub. a beautiful mixed-race nigerian korean model with pale skin. short bob haircut, with blue streaks. Standing, walking towards the camera. slim, busty
Output
Photoshop mockup, Dreamshaper, epiCRealism https://imgur.com/a/NhHUoVz
I guess what I'm asking is: is it too much to expect it to draw what I've imagined, even with text description and a prompt - or should I just let SD do all the work?
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https://minimalfreaks.co/2023/12/traxsource-top-200-house-of-2023/

Cajmere, Dajae – Brighter Days (Marco Lys Remix) 06:22 126bpm 8A Ben Westbeech, The Vision, Andreya Triana, Kon – Hallelujah In Heaven feat. Andreya Triana (Groove Assassin’s Supernova Extended Edit) 08:02 124bpm 5A Riva Starr – How It Feels (Extended Mix) 05:39 125bpm 10B Soulsearcher – Feelin’ Love (DJ Fudge Extended Remix) 06:46 124bpm 11A Terri Walker, Ridney, Artful – Missing You (2023 Mixes) (Michael Gray Extended Remix) 06:29 124bpm 2A The Shapeshifters – Lola’s Theme (VIP) 07:18 125bpm 6A Jamie Jones – Lose My Mind (Extended Mix) 07:00 124bpm 5B DJ Oji – The Good Ol’ Dayz (DJ Oji’s Groove And Bang Mix) 06:18 137bpm 7A Kenny Dope, Crystal Waters, Alok, Ella Eyre – Deep Down (Never Dull’s In My Mind Extended Remix) 06:13 122bpm 7A Cevin Fisher, DJ Chus – Everytime I Try (Extended Mix) 06:47 125bpm 2A Waajeed, Dames Brown – Glory feat. Waajeed (Floorplan Extended Remix) 07:18 125bpm 4A Jay Vegas – Can U Feel It (2023 Remaster) 05:31 120bpm 10A David Penn, Sex-O-Sonique – I Thought It Was You (Extended Mix) 05:56 125bpm 5B Soul Avengerz, Krysten Cummings – Heard It All Before feat. Krysten Cummings (Rogers Surgery Mix) 07:29 125bpm 3A Angelo Ferreri – Ask Yourself (Can You Dance) (Extended Mix) 05:57 124bpm 5B Blind Truth, Tata & Toney, Odyssey Inc., Louis Latino – Why Can’t We See (Odyssey Inc. Feat Louis Latino Remix) 07:02 125bpm 11A Mattei & Omich, Fatimah Provillon – My Feelings Can’t Explain (Jay Vegas Classic House Mix) 05:59 123bpm 9A Nic Fanciulli, Butch – I Want You (Extended Mix) 08:30 125bpm 12A Honey Dijon, Louie Vega – Feel So Right (feat. Honey Dijon) (Tedd Patterson Club Remix) 07:31 126bpm 6A Superlover – Piano Pump (NiCe7 Extended Remix) 06:46 124bpm 4A Mochakk – Jealous (Extended Mix) 05:45 128bpm 9A Richard Earnshaw, Ridney, Andy Joyce – Reachin’ (Extended Mix) 06:50 124bpm 8A Shawn Christopher – Another Sleepless Night (Wayne Soul Avengerz and Odyssey Inc. Remix) 07:25 124bpm 9A Soulista, Karmina Dai – Love & Life (Micky More & Andy Tee Extended Mix) 06:26 124bpm 12B Sean Finn – Cada Vez (CASSIMM Extended Remix) 06:17 126bpm 5B Polina, A’studio – SOS feat. Polina (Skylark Remix – Nic Fanciulli Extended Edit) 06:40 125bpm 7B Dirty Channels – Make You Cry (Extended Mix) 06:36 126bpm 9A Geoffrey C – This Will Do (Original Mix) 06:41 125bpm 5B The Shapeshifters – Do What You Wanna Do (Extended Mix) 05:46 122bpm 9A Todd Terry, Riva Starr – This Is The Sound (Original Mix) 06:07 126bpm 6A HP Vince, Chuck Roberts – Jack Had A Groove (Glen Horsborough Remix) 06:51 124bpm 7A Mark Knight, Nitro DeLuxe – Brutal (Extended Mix) 06:19 124bpm 11B Atlantic Ocean – Waterfall 2023 (Dr Packer Extended Remix) 06:18 125bpm 5B DJ Fudge – Animus (Original Mix) 05:44 124bpm 9B Dutchican Soul, Greg Van Bueren – Reckless Girl (Extended Mix) 05:51 125bpm 4A Soul Avengerz – Love You Feel (Wayne Soul Avengerz & Odyssey Inc. Trois Garcon Mix) 07:33 125bpm 6A Kano – I´m Ready (Mousse T´s Extended Club Remix) 07:34 123bpm 5A Danny Tenaglia, Cevin Fisher – Move That Body (Original Mix) 07:07 124bpm 10A Venessa Jackson, Odyssey Inc., Wayne Soul Avengerz – Ain’t No Man (Extended Mix) 07:45 125bpm 5A The Kollective – Return To The Classic (Jo Paciello Deep Mix) 05:38 122bpm 8A Raven Maize, Dave Lee ZR – The Real Life (David Penn Extended Remix) 06:26 124bpm 5A Adeva – Musical Freedom (Original Mix) 06:22 113bpm 8B Doug Willis, Dave Lee ZR – Music Speaks Louder Than Words (Micky More & Andy Tee Piano Mix) 06:28 124bpm 11B Mike Dunn – Don’t Pay Me No Mind (Original Mix) 05:44 124bpm 2A Floorplan – We Give Thee Honor (Extended Mix) 05:41 125bpm 5A Kid Massive – Alright (Sugarstarr’s 12Inch Mix) 05:21 124bpm 6A Mark Knight, Green Velvet, James Hurr – The Greatest Thing Alive (Extended Mix) 06:04 122bpm 8A Aldo Bergamasco, Antonello Ferrari, Sabrina Stones – Shine On feat. Sabrina Stones (Antonello Ferrari & Aldo Bergamasco Club Mix) 07:42 123bpm 8B Sandy Rivera, Jame Starck, Alexis Victoria, Zetaphunk, Yvvan Back – Set You Free (Original Mix) 05:24 124bpm 6A Arielle Free – Feels So Good (Extended Mix) 05:31 124bpm 6A Bob Sinclar – Vision Of Paradise (Riva Starr Extended Remix) 06:11 125bpm 9B Téodoro, Angelo Ferreri – La Guitarra (‘Traxsource Exclusive’ Mix) 05:43 128bpm 8A Larse – A Part Of (Riva Starr Extended Saturn Mix) 05:47 126bpm 7A Ron Carroll – Let’s Do It (House Culture Mix) 05:07 125bpm 3A Venessa Jackson, Odyssey Inc., Wayne Soul Avengerz – Don’t Mess With My Man (Trois Garcon Mix) 06:28 125bpm 11A Grant Nelson – In Motion (Original Mix) 05:39 126bpm 10A MD X-Spress – God Made Me Phunky (Jess Bays Extended Remix) 07:23 128bpm 1A Sex-O-Sonique – I Thought It Was You (Full Intention Extended Remix) 05:11 124bpm 6B Urban Blues Project, Mother of Pearl, Pearl Mae – Your Heaven (I Can Feel It) feat. Pearl Mae (Micky More & Andy Tee Extended Remix) 06:23 122bpm 5A Ron Carroll, FrescoEdits – You Will Survive (Extended Mix) 05:27 120bpm 11A Wade Teo, Kameelah Waheed, Charles Rickards – La De Da (feat. Kameelah Waheed) (Kenny Dope O’ Gutta Mix) 06:10 126bpm 3B ANOTR, Abel Balder – Relax My Eyes (Original Mix) 06:36 132bpm 3A Soft House Company – What You Need (Don Carlos Remix) 07:09 123bpm 5A S.e.l – You Gotta Be (Eric Powell MDFC Remix) 06:32 125bpm 8B Re-Tide, Mattei & Omich – Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ On But The Rent (Extended Mix) 05:53 124bpm 2A Afromento – Human Wave (DJ Fudge Extended Remix) 06:24 125bpm 1A Jay Vegas – Disko Express (Original Mix) 05:57 125bpm 7A Hercules & Love Affair – Do You Feel The Same? (Luke Solomon Tribute Remix) 10:18 118bpm 12A Jill Scott, Higgo – Living My Life (Golden) (Extended Mix) 04:09 128bpm 2A Jansons, Dope Earth Alien – Hypnotic feat. Dope Earth Alien (Extended Mix) 05:36 126bpm 7A Serge Funk – Get Up (Extended Mix) 06:11 122bpm 9A David Penn – Get Loose (Extended Vocal Mix) 06:06 124bpm 8A Serge Funk – Disco Hustle (Extended Mix) 06:08 123bpm 8B Trace (UZ) – Tom’s Diner (Original Mix) 04:55 126bpm 11A Soul Central – Strings Of Life / Un Amore Supremo (Extended Raw Mix) 06:12 125bpm 2A Federal Hill, Odyssey Inc., Jon Cox, Gary Tutalo, Victor Simonelli, Tommy Musto – I Have Something For You (Odyssey Inc. Feat Jon Cox Remix) 06:30 125bpm 2A Harry Romero – Revolution (House Masters Extended Edit) 05:13 124bpm 7B Wade Teo, Kameelah Waheed, Charles Rickards – La De Da (feat. Kameelah Waheed) (Kenny Dope Remix Main) 06:09 126bpm 9B Word of Mouth UK – It Ain’t Easy (Original Mix) 05:08 126bpm 9A Grant Nelson, Lynsey Moore – Hurt You So (House Mix) 05:33 127bpm 10A Ron Carroll – Lucky Star (Jay Vegas Classic Disco Mix) 06:46 123bpm 4B David Penn, Bemende – Reachin Out feat. Bemendé (Extended Mix) 05:16 124bpm 4A Roog – Feel My Desire (Extended Vocal Mix) 05:13 124bpm 5A Louie Vega, Anane – Cosmic Witch (feat. Anané) (Todd Terry Remix) 06:17 125bpm 5A Marlena Shaw – Woman of the Ghetto (Catz ‘n Dogz Beat Remix) 05:21 124bpm 12A Crackazat – Back For You (Mana’s Dub) 07:47 122bpm 4A Zetaphunk, Yvvan Back, Alfreda Gerald, Jame Starck – He´s Alright (feat. Alfreda Gerald) (David Penn extended edit) 05:28 126bpm 8B Re-Tide, Mattei & Omich – Naasty (Mattei & Omich Re-Grooved) 05:21 122bpm 5A Shakedown, Bootsy Collins – Funky And You Know It (Shakedown Work That Mother Extended Mix) 05:30 123bpm 5A Honey Dijon, Louie Vega – Feel So Right (feat. Honey Dijon) (DJ Deep Remix) 06:10 126bpm 5B Mattei & Omich – Stand Up (1997 Mix) 07:20 122bpm 6A Andrea Marchesini – What U Want (Richard Earnshaw & Ridney Remix) (Richard Earnshaw & Ridney (Extended Revision)) 06:31 125bpm 11A Ferreck Dawn, Jena (US) – Better feat. Jena (Extended Mix) 05:41 124bpm 6A Roach Motel – Movin’ On (Darius Syrossian Extended Edit) 06:27 125bpm 3A Jon Cutler, E-Man – It’s Yours (Kyri Markou Extended Remix) 05:39 126bpm 8A Angela Johnson, Micky More & Andy Tee – So Wide Open (Extended Mix) 06:22 122bpm 10A Bobby D’Ambrosio, Lasala – Runaway Love feat. Lasala (Michael Gray Dub) 06:08 120bpm 6B Alan Dixon, Will Tramp – Sunday Stomper (Piano Preacher Extended Mix) 06:43 124bpm 4A Prunk, Rona Ray – Keep It Simple feat. Rona Ray (Extended Mix) 06:43 126bpm 7A Re-Tide, Fatimah Provillon – I Like To Party (Extended Mix) 07:39 124bpm 12A Solution, Soulution, Karl Frampton, Andrew Carroll, Victor Simonelli – Feels So Right (2023 Karl Frampton And Andrew Carroll Remix) 08:30 124bpm Cm Todd Terry, Ferreck Dawn – Get On Down (Original Mix) 05:25 125bpm 3A Grant Nelson – Resist (Original Mix) 06:43 127bpm 9A Friendly Ghosts – Fan The Flame (Extended) 06:25 125bpm 9B Joe T Vannelli – Hyper T (CASSIMM Extended Mix) 05:37 125bpm 11A Saliva Commandos – I Wish I Was (Extended Mix) 05:50 124bpm 5B Phebe Edwards, Illyus & Barrientos – Wait (Extended Mix) 06:32 125bpm 8A Mattei & Omich – Let No Man Put Asunder (Re-Tide Remix) 06:27 124bpm 12A Camden Cox, Oden & Fatzo – Lady Love (Extended Mix) 04:55 126bpm 11A Hannah Wants, ARA (UK) – The One feat. ARA (Extended Mix) 06:08 125bpm 6A Todd Edwards, MANT – Provenance (Original Mix) 06:41 128bpm 12A Mr. X – The Curse (Original Mix) 05:03 128bpm 11A Ron Carroll, Roog – Wasn’t For The Music (Jay Vegas Remix) 05:33 124bpm 11A Danny Losito – All I Want (Micky More & Andy Tee Extended Mix) 06:08 125bpm 6B Danny Tenaglia – The Brooklyn Gypsy (Original Mix) 07:41 153bpm 7A Barbara Tucker, Sam Karlson – Be Yourself (Michael Gray Remix) 06:25 124bpm 2A Basement Jaxx – Red Alert (Grant Nelson Remix) 06:10 125bpm 4A Bob Sinclar, A-Trak, Mele – Deep Inside Of Me (Extended Mix) 05:09 128bpm 5B Blaze, Barbara Tucker, UDAUFL – Most Precious Love (CASSIMM Remix) 06:06 126bpm 2B Trimtone – I Belong to U (Original Mix) 06:15 124bpm 12A Louie Vega, Anane – Cosmic Witch (feat. Anané) (Mochakk Remix) 06:39 125bpm 6B Gary Tuohy – Want Your Love (Original Mix) 06:39 125bpm 8A Antoine Clamaran – About Your Love (Original) 05:13 125bpm 8A Federal Hill, Odyssey Inc., TMVS, Victor Simonelli, Tommy Musto – We Got It Goin On (Odyssey Inc. Remix) 07:14 125bpm Bm Blaze, Barbara Tucker, UDAUFL – Most Precious Love (Dj Kone & Marc Palacios Extended Remix) 05:52 126bpm 6A Street Player – Nothing You Can Do (Alan Dixon Love Edit) 05:15 128bpm 10B Orlando Voorn – Be with You (Crackazat Remix) 05:43 126bpm 5A Mark Broom, Riva Starr, Star B – Love Will Remain (Original Mix) 04:33 126bpm 6A Zsak – House Thing (Qubiko Extended Remix) 06:11 125bpm 11B Marshall Jefferson, Ten City, Wh0 – I Love Me (Extended Mix) 06:48 125bpm 8A Amanda Wilson, Waterstone – It’s Over Now (Micky More & Andy Tee Remix) 05:52 122bpm 10A Omson – No More (Qubiko Remix) 06:31 125bpm 12A Phillip Ramirez, Sonic Soul Orchestra – Happy People feat. Phillip Ramirez (Jay Vegas Extended Classic Disco Mix) 07:02 124bpm 7A Vaudafunk – Plage Privée (Original Mix) 05:48 123bpm 6A Geoffrey C – This Is Hot (Yes Indeedy) (Original Mix) 06:42 125bpm 6A Tete De La Course – I Got It (Extended Mix) 05:41 126bpm 6A NY’s Finest, Victor Simonelli – Do You Feel Me (Odyssey Inc. Remix) 07:13 125bpm G Inaya Day, Harry Romero – Just Can’t Get Enough (Jamie Jones Extended Edit) 04:43 126bpm 1A Grant Nelson – Frequency (Original Mix) 06:23 126bpm 9A Jay Vegas – Wanna Dance (Original Mix) 06:18 124bpm 2A Ann Nesby, Ebony Soul, Earth n Days – Get Your Thing Together (Earth n Days Extended Rework) 05:08 125bpm 12A Becka, Angelo Ferreri, Foo Funkers – Love Enough ‘Better Place’ (Angelo Ferreri Remastered) 04:57 123bpm 3B Floorplan – Makes Me Wanna (Extended Mix) 05:59 129bpm 6A Donna Allen – Serious (Wayne Soul Avengerz & Odyssey Inc. Extended Remix) 06:59 125bpm 5A Jay Vegas – Another Dimension (Organ Mix) 05:53 125bpm 6A Jay Vegas – Disko Express (Mattei & Omich Remix) 06:04 125bpm 10B Jo Paciello, The Kollective – The Feeling (feat. The Kollective) (Original) 05:35 123bpm 7A Kevin McKay, James Cole, Darcey, Simon Ellis – Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Darcey, Simon Ellis) (Extended Mix) 06:34 129bpm 7A Steve Lawler, Marco Lys, Joy Farrukh – If Only You Knew feat. Joy Farrukh (Extended Mix) 05:37 126bpm 8A Tuccillo, Howard Perry – I Believe feat. Howard Perry (Original Mix) 07:44 126bpm 12A Mr. V, MicFreak, Abco – I Know What Like (MicFreak Refunk Remix) 07:29 124bpm 9B Neil Pierce – The Elephant March (DJ Spen, Thommy Davis, & Greg Lewis Remix) 07:42 125bpm 8A Sharon Pass, Steve Silk Hurley – The Word Is Love (Alain Ducroix & Daniele Quatrini Remix) 04:22 126bpm 5A Cevin Fisher, Micky More & Andy Tee – All About the Culture (Extended Mix) 06:34 123bpm 9A Kathy Brown, Jet Boot Jack – Bringing The Good Times Back (Richard Earnshaw Vocal Revision) 05:46 126bpm 1A Mr. X – The Curse (Revisited) 05:03 128bpm 11A Ron Carroll – Boogie Music (Main Mix) 05:28 123bpm Em Joe Ventura – Larry Keeps On Dancing (Michael Gray Extended Remix) 06:46 124bpm 6A Roach Motel – Wild Luv (Harry Romero Extended Remix) 07:21 124bpm 7B Angelo Ferreri, DAN:ROS – For You (Original Mix) 06:05 122bpm 3B The Bucketheads, Kenny Dope – The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind) (Massivedrum Remix) 05:41 126bpm 7A Angelo Ferreri, Adam Twelve, Deeprule – Take (Original Mix) 04:37 124bpm 6B MuSol, dAVOS – All This Love (Original Mix) 05:40 125bpm 2A Mattei & Omich – People Lose Control (Extended Mix) 05:57 125bpm 10B Junior Sanchez, NEZ (Chicago) – Hit It feat. NEZ (Chicago) (Extended Mix) 07:05 128bpm 7A N.W.N. – Sometimes (Original Mix) 06:15 123bpm 6A Agency – In Your Eyes (DJ Lora Remix) 06:54 122bpm 9A Adri Block – The Love I Need (Nu Disco Edit) 04:48 123bpm 6A Sam Divine, Hayley May – Face In The Crowd (Extended Mix) 05:37 126bpm 9B Blanco K – Piano Solo (Original Mix) 06:33 124bpm 6A Michelle Weeks, Din Jay, Jame Starck – Believe (Windy City Classics Remix) 06:11 126bpm 2B Mirko & Meex – Mine (Original Mix) 05:15 123bpm 5A Cajmere, Dajae – Brighter Days (DJ E-Clyps Remix) 05:10 124bpm 11A Riva Starr, Phebe Edwards, Soul City Connection – Brotherly Love Divine feat. Phebe Edwards (Jamie 3:26 & Danou P Extended Remix) 06:39 124bpm 5A Cloud 9, Victor Simonelli – Do You Want Me Baby (Odyssey Inc. And Wayne Soul Avengerz Remix) 07:14 125bpm A#m Dave Lee ZR, Amy Douglas, Jean Aubergine – Disco Numberwang (feat. Amy Douglas) (Jean’s Extended Numberwang) 07:02 125bpm 8A Bugsy – Sick And Tired (Dirty Channels Remix) 06:40 125bpm 6A Blaze, Barbara Tucker, UDAUFL – Most Precious Love (Unreleased CASSIMM Dub) 06:04 126bpm 2B Sean Finn, Block & Crown – Everybody Everybody (Extended Mix) 05:10 125bpm 4B DAN:ROS – You’re The One (Extended Mix) 05:31 124bpm 11A Saliva Commandos – Melt Your Pot (Original Mix) 05:49 127bpm 9B Hilit Kolet – POV Siren (Extended Mix) 06:15 128bpm 4A Junior Jack, Juliet Sikora, Flo MRZDK – Thrill Me (Extended Mix) 06:02 128bpm 6A Atlantic Ocean, CASSIMM – Waterfall (Extended Mix) 05:44 126bpm 6A Jay Vegas – Keep On Lovin’ (Hatiras Remix) 06:06 126bpm 6A Cevin Fisher, Micky More & Andy Tee – All About The Culture (Simon Field Remix Extended) 05:22 125bpm 5A Low Steppa – The Feeling (Original Mix) 06:52 126bpm 6B Mr. Flip – Drippn’ (Karizma Baltimore Drip) 06:03 128bpm 5A Luvism – Everybody (Original Mix) 06:00 125bpm 8A Dennis Quin – Dedication To House Music (Extended Mix) 06:45 130bpm 1B Rimarkable, SACRED H3ART – Complications (Extended Mix) 06:09 125bpm 4A Richard Grey, Ron Carroll – Can You Feel It? (Original Mix) 07:00 128bpm 8B Anthony Thomas, Kim Jay – Promised Land (Jerry C. King’s 2022 Mix) 06:12 125bpm 7A Thommy Davis, Greg Lewis – Haze (Spen & Thommy’s Original Mix) 05:57 123bpm 9A Kevin Aviance, DJ Gomi, Karmina Dai – I’ll House You (Extended Mix) 07:27 125bpm 9A Darius Syrossian – Funkflex (Original Mix) 07:09 123bpm 12A Todd Terry, Steve Mac – Jumpin (Keep On Jumpin Steve Mac VIP Edit LTD) 05:48 125bpm 5B Duwayne Motley, Aleysha Lei – Keep Talking feat. Aleysha Lei (Original Mix) 05:39 125bpm 10A Emmaculate – Konga Madness (Original Mix) 05:23 124bpm 6A Daniel Steinberg – Our House (Original Mix) 04:47 127bpm 11A 

I've been repeatedly asked this, so here are the steps from the top:

• Install Python, CUDA
  
• Download https://github.com/turboderp/exui
  
• Inside the folder, right click to open a terminal and set up a Python venv with "python -m venv venv", enter it.
  
• "pip install -r requirements.txt"
  
• Be sure to install flash attention 2. Download the windows version from here: https://github.com/jllllll/flash-attention/releases/
  
• Run exui as described on the git page.
  
• Download a 3-4bpw exl2 34B quantization of a Yi 200K model. Not a Yi base 32K model. Not a GGUF. GPTQ kinda works, but will severely limit your context size. I use this for downloads instead of git: https://github.com/bodaay/HuggingFaceModelDownloader
  
• Open exui. When loading the model, use the 8-bit cache.
  
• Experiment with context size. On my empty 3090, I can fit precisely 47K at 4bpw and 75K at 3.1bpw, but it depends on your OS and spare vram. If its too much, the model will immediately oom when loading, and you need to restart your UI.
  
• Use low temperature with Yi models. Yi runs HOT. Personally I run 0.8 with 0.05 MinP and all other samplers disabled, but Mirostat with low Tau also works. Also, set repetition penalty to 1.05-1.2ish. I am open to sampler suggestions here myself.
  
• Once you get a huge context going, the initial prompt processing takes a LONG time, but after that prompts are cached and its fast. You may need to switch tabs in the the exui UI, sometimes it bugs out when the prompt processing takes over ~20 seconds.
  
• Bob is your uncle.
  

Misc Details:

• At this low bpw, the data used to quantize the model is important. Look for exl2 quants using data similar to your use case. Personally I quantize my own models on my 3090 with "maxed out" data size (filling all vram on my card) on my formatted chats and some fiction, as I tend to use Yi 200K for long stories. I upload some of these, and also post the commands for high quality quantizing yourself: https://huggingface.co/brucethemoose/CapyTessBorosYi-34B-200K-DARE-Ties-exl2-4bpw-fiction. .
  
• Also check out these awesome calibration datasets, which are not mine: https://desync.xyz/calsets.html
  
• I disable the display output on my 3090 and use a second cable running from my motherboard (aka the cpu IGP) running to the same monitor to save VRAM. An empty GPU is the best GPU, as literally every megabyte saved will get you more context size
  
• You must use a 200K Yi model. Base Yi is 32K, and this is (for some reason) what most trainers finetune on.
  
• 32K loras (like the LimaRP lora) do kinda work on 200K models, but I dunno about merges between 200K and 32K models.
  
• Performance of exui is amazingly good. Ooba works fine, but expect a significant performance hit, especially at high context. You may need to use --trust-remote-code for Yi models in ooba.
  
• I tend to run notebook mode in exui, and just edit responses or start responses for the AI.
  
• For performance and ease in all ML stuff, I run CachyOS linux. Its an Arch derivative with performance optimized packages (but is still compatible with Arch base packages, unlike Manjaro). I particularly like their python build, which is specifically built for AVX512 and AVX2 (if your CPU supports either) and patched with performance patches from Intel, among many other awesome things (like their community): https://wiki.cachyos.org/how_to_install/install-cachyos/
  
• I tend to run PyTorch Nightly and build flash attention 2 myself. Set MAX_JOBS to like 3, as the flash attention build uses a ton of RAM.
  
• I set up Python venvs with the '--symlinks --use-system-site-packages' flags to save disk space, and to use CachyOS's native builds of python C packages where possible.
  
• I'm not even sure what 200K model is best. Currently I run a merge between the 3 main finetunes I know of: Airoboros, Tess and Nous-Capybara.
  
• Long context on 16GB cards may be possible at ~2.65bpw? If anyone wants to test this, let me know and I will quantize a model myself.
  

First off, I am against vegan diets for our furballs, but for humans, it's not too bad. Sadly, I needed some money, and there was only one place hiring where I lived. Due to my little track record of theft, my choices were limited. I wouldn't have gotten the job if it had not been for my looks, being a guy who tried to keep in decent shape, and my pal Grendal. Grendal is my pal who stayed by my side while on the streets. He is an energetic Pomeranian with only three legs, his front left missing, and his face slightly deformed since birth.
Anyway, I worked in the vegan food for pets for only a month, and I can already tell you it is literal hell. Every day, I am looked at by my manager, Lora, along with her partner, Bob, with lust and would occasionally get my ass smacked. Although Lora has an hourglass figure, she has one hell of a temper and an even shorter fuse. On the other hand, Bob is patient but gets pushed around a lot by his partner, even if he has a perverted side that only comes out while I'm working.
One day, I came in, like always, with Grendal by my side. Lora likes using him to bring in customers, which works well. While Grendal stays by the window to relax or play around, I stock and help customers who wander in or are regulars. So the ship opens at ten in the morning and closes at ten at night, and guess who does doubles? That's right—this guy! I have one day off, and during those days, I relax in my one-bedroom apartment with Grendal to let my body rest while occasionally reading Reddit or commenting on some posts.
So, one day, closing time was only a few minutes away; the door to the shop opened, and like a good worker, I went to greet whoever entered, even if the counter had a clear view of the front door. Instead of seeing a person, I come face to face with a dog, a Doberman, to be more accurate, but damn, was he well-groomed and healthy! He had no collar, and his eyes seemed filled with rage—more rage than I have seen. Thankfully, Grendal was passed out by the window, resting on his comfy bed.
'Disgusting,' A voice called, sounding like a gruff old man.
I was caught off guard by this voice that wasn't vocal. It didn't enter my ear but my mind, and for a moment, I thought I was only imagining things.
"Why do such disgusting places exist?" The voice asked as the Doberman started to look around while growling.
"Who is at the door? It's near closing time!" Lora questioned as she wandered over to see the front door with me standing before the Doberman.
Her eyes lit up as she called to her partner from the back to join her. When her partner joined her, they met up with the dog with wide smiles.
"Where is your owner, boy?" Lora asked, looking the Doberman over.
"So I guess I am just hearing things," I mused myself with a shrug while shaking my head.
'Disgusting humans,' The voice called again, and this time, Lora and Bob also looked around, trying to find the source.
"Who's there?!" Lora shouted, making my eyes widen.
"So I ain't going crazy?" I asked.
"No, you aren't, boy," Bob agreed, eyes on me before they moved over to the Doberman.
'If it were not for my father's contract, I would have devoured all three of you by now,' The voice echoed in our minds louder than before, causing me to fall to my knees in pain. 'I am George, the Doberman before you all. A damned. A child of Z.'
"Child? Z?" I repeated while looking at George, gritting my teeth.
"What?" Lora asked, confused.
"Contract?" Bob asked, also trying to figure out what was going on.
'Yes. I am to kill you all in the form of a game,' George answered, tilting his head while grinning.
His mouth opened more than it should have been able to; even its teeth were longer than any animal I have seen, and his eyes were pitch black. What caught my attention was the letter 'Z' scratched onto the top of the glass door and the skull of a dear outside looking at us while its jaws chattered. I nearly pissed myself seeing that skull before my focus fell on George, who scuffed as our eyes met.
"And if we do not play this game?" Bob asked, trying to act brave even though his voice and hands said otherwise.
'I get to eat you. Every last piece of you. Clothes and all,' George answered as he stared at Bob now while drool dripped from its maw.
"W-What's the game?" I asked, causing George to look at me now as he leaned forward, snarling.
'Red light, Green light,' George answered before he snapped his attention to Lora and Bob. 'Get to the back exit. If you win, you live. It is that simple.'
"I-It can't be that simple," I stuttered, my knees shaking.
All I heard was laughter echoing inside my mind.
'Only one way to find out,' Gearoeg replied, only for his attention to snap on Bob, who took a step forward. 'Do we have a volunteer? To show what will happen to those who lose in my games?'
Bob stared at George before he took a step back.
'Wise. How unfortunate,' George said, glaring at Bob.
"How do you play?" Lora asked, swallowing her saliva.
'Simple. Very simple,' George mused. 'The rules are simple. When I say green light, you are free to move. That is when I will close my eyes. When I say red light, you stop moving. If I catch you moving while my eyes are open...I will eat you alive.'
The mere thought of us being eaten alive scared me, with Bob freezing in place while Lora clung to her partner's arm.
'So. Let us begin,' George whispered as the floors, walls, and shelves were coated in a red organic substance.
I looked at the ground and shelves in fear before returning to George, who grinned.
'Green light,' George said, closing his eyes and bowing while sitting down.
Bob took this chance to shove Lora off his arm and race for the back exit. As Lora fell to the ground, my head turned to watch Bob run for his life.
'Red light,' George called, as eyes opened on the floors, walls, and shelves.
Even as the eyes opened, Bob continued to run for the exit. He took one more step before organic tendrils sprang from the floor to wrap around the man's legs and hold him in place. Under Bob, a large mouth formed, causing the man to scream out in terror while the tendrils hoisted him off the floor as the mouth opened. The tendrils released their hold on Bob, allowing him to descend into the gaping maw under him. I forced my eyes closed as the sound of his screams echoed throughout the shop, followed by crunching and the tearing of flesh. It took only a few seconds before the sound died down; I opened my eyes to face the ground, seeing the eyes on the floor staring back at me.
"Why are you doing this?!" I questioned, trying my best not to move my body.
'You humans think you know what is best for us, who we are, what we do, and how we do things. You decide what our lives will be for good or bad. I have had such a life before...and I absolutely hated it. Because of that, I am what you see before you today. A monster,' George explained with hatred as he growled.
"A demon!" Lora screamed as she stared at Bob's severed hand that was tossed in front of her to try and get her to move.
'You did not move. How disappointing,' George commented, now glaring at Lora. 'No matter. There is still time.'
"W-What if we don't move at all?" I asked, closing my eyes tightly as tears began to form.
'If I were you, I would get to the exit...before it closes completely,' George answered, chuckling. 'Go ahead. Look. I will let you do so.'
I open my eyes to look at George, who grinned and nudged his head. Seeing the Doberman, I slowly turn to look at the exit, seeing the organic substance gradually inching toward the door.
'You have a time limit. One minute,' George said while tilting his head. 'Greenlight.'
As those words echoed in my ear, I was about to run until my eyes shot over to George, then the front. Instead of running to the exit, I ran toward George while Lora raced to the door.
'Red light,' George voiced as the many eyes opened, causing Lora and I to freeze in place again.
All the eyes looked at me in confusion as George stood up and walked over to me.
'And why are you coming this way?' George asked, tilting his head.
"Grendal...my family member..." I answered truthfully.
'And who is your family member?' George questioned, his head mere inches from my own now.
"Grendal... my Pomeranian... my best friend," I answer, tears streaming down my face as I try to control my breathing even though my heart is thumping like a taiko drum now at full beat.
'Liar,' George said, growling in my face.
Suddenly, George's eyes snapped to Lora, who had stayed frozen for some time.
'No matter. If you fail, your friend will not be harmed. I am only here for you, humans. Not my brethren, you keep to entertain and control,' George said, taking a few steps back and sitting down again. 'Greenlight.'
Lora continued to run for her life while I raced over to where the window was and dug at the wall of flesh to reveal my friend Grendal, unharmed and still fast asleep. I scooped him up in my arms and turned to run, only to see Lora pull out her handgun under the counter and take aim and fire at George. The bullet collided with the Doberman but slowly came to a stop and fell to the ground, leaving George unharmed.
'...red...light...' George said slowly as he opened his many eyes to glare at Lora, who started to shake while holding her handgun. 'Stupid human. Wasting time on a pointless effort. And looking at the exit, only one of you will escape now.'
Lora looked to the corner of her eyes, seeing that what George had said was right; they only had a few more seconds before the door was engulfed by the flesh.
'Green light,' George said, closing his many eyes as Lora looked directly at me than at my friend.
My eyes widened, knowing precisely what she was about to do as I used my body as a shield, hearing the sound of her gun go off. Closing my eyes, I braced for the pain that pierced through my back and hit my bone. I screamed in pain while collapsing to the ground and holding Grendal to my chest. Lora smirked while I was curled up on the floor, taking this chance to turn and race toward the door. As she took hold of the doorknob and turned it to swing it open, her eyes widened as a giant eye was in front of her.
'Red...light...' George said, and Lora froze just in time while I could shift myself to see my former boss.
"Lora," A voice called out behind Lora, which belonged to Bob.
"Bob?" Lora whispered as she looked to the ground but did not move her body.
"Save...me..." Bob begged as scrapping echoed behind her like something was being dragged on the ground. "Please..."
Lora remained unmoved, but her body was beginning to shake violently. Suddenly, the sound of dragging ceased, and Lora became immensely nervous.
"SAVE ME!"Bob screamed into Lora's ear, making her flinch and scream while turning around to see no one there.
'Gotcha,' George spoke as she looked forward to seeing the Doberman inches from her face, standing on his hind legs like a lycan while his paws were morphed into long-bladed claws that touched the ground.
The next thing I saw was Lora being pulled through the door, followed by her screams and flesh being torn apart. Unlike with Bob, her screams lasted longer, as if George was taking his time eating my former boss. After what seemed like hours, the door opened to show George walking in with blood dripping from his maw until a long tongue slithered from his mouth to lap up what remained of the red liquid. I could not help but chuckle while looking down at Grendal, who finally woke up due to his fluffy, dirty blonde tail beginning to wag.
"Hey, boy. Did I wake you?" I asked, placing my forehead against the Pomeranian as he started to lick at my face. "I'm sorry, pal."
George shifted back to his Doberman form and stood there watching while I groaned and looked up at the monster.
"There never was an exit...was there?" I asked with a weak smile while Grendal barked happily.
George remained silent and stared at Grendal. The two looked at each other while I sat there in pain before George looked up at me. His eyes, which used to be filled with hate and rage, were replaced with envy and sorrow.
'If I had an owner such as you to begin with...I would not have become what I am now,' George said before walking past me to the front door with the flesh all retreating into the Doberman's form.
Once all the flesh returned to George, the shop was empty, with no mess or evidence of murder.
'They were planning on killing you, John. I envy Grendal. You let him pick his name, eat what he wished, and even do what he pleased. You have sacrificed for him more than many humans would us. As such, I will not kill you. In the safe within your former employer's office, I left the code for you to use beside it on paper. Use it as you see fit. Be warned, John. I will be watching you...very closely," George said before leaving the shop.
A towering figure stood outside, staring at me before I blinked to see the thing gone. In a sense, to George, nothing did happen. So I got up with some trouble and went to Lora's office. After opening the door, I found the safe and the piece of paper. Once I opened the safe, I saw what seemed to be at least ten thousand dollars in cash. It was Lora's backup money in case anything went south here, and to her credit, it did; it was just that it was in my favor.
"Let's go and get a real place to stay for tonight. What do you say, Grendel?" I say, looking at my pal and seeing him jump up in joy before scooping him up and making my way to the exit after locking up. "Things...might be looking up for us..."

Part 1: Identifying the Night's King - Part 1: The Night's King's "bedroom"
Part 2: Identifying the Night's King - Part 2: Lies of the Nightfort
Part 3: Identifying the Night's King - Part 3: Stannis, the Night's King and a prison?
Part 4: Identifying the Night's King - Part 4: Bael the Bard and the Night's King
Part 5: Identifying the Night's King - Part 5: House Bolton
TLDR:

• Aside from Stannis, Roose, Ned, retellings of Bael's/the Night's King's story can be found in Houses Lannister, Greyjoy and Tully in different ways - particularly in recent history.
• The Tully story shows us how a black "fish" turned out not to be a black "goat" despite similarities with the story of Bael/the Night's King.
• The Lannister story develops and expands on Stannis' to introduce bastard children to the equation instead of the shadowbaby (Edric is Robert's bastard, so this doesn't fit).
• The Greyjoy story provides us with the darkest example of the Night's King's tale

So, if Roose's story mirrors Bael and shares strong parallels with Stannis, let's look at other characters who also do. I will briefly address some of the primary examples (Lannister, Tully, Greyjoy), but literally if you pick a majosemi-major character (anywhere through history) and do some digging into their family situation, the story of Bael the Bard echoes throughout the series.

Lannisters

TYWIN AND JOANNA - STANNIS AND SELYSE - ROOSE AND THE MILLER'S WIFE
Tywin:

• Shits gold.
• Married his first cousin, Joanna - and "was ruled at home by his lady wife"
• Is one of four boys and one girl.
• Had three children, two boys and one girl.
• Tytos was weak, Tywin was strong.
• According to legend, Tywin as a baby bit the finger of his grandsire.
• At 10, he spoke out against the marriage of his sister Genna to Emmon Frey.
• Killed by the trueborn son.
• Seems to be blind to his grandchildren being bastards and became hand to Joffrey. Like Roose, prefers a peaceful reign:

Joffrey, when your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. And any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king at all. Aerys never understood that, but you will. When I've won your war for you, we will restore the king's peace and the king's justice.

Tywin's marriage to Joanna mirrors Stannis and Selyse, but just a different retelling of the same story. Unlike Stannis and Selysa, theirs was a happy marriage.Stannis's and Selyse's wedding:

There must have been a blizzard the day she and Stannis wed. Huddled beneath her ermine mantle and surrounded by her ladies, serving girls, and knights, the southron queen seemed a frail, pale, shrunken thing. A strained smile was frozen into place on her thin lips, but her eyes brimmed with reverence. She hates the cold but loves the flames. He had only to look at her to see that. A word from Melisandre and she would walk into the fire willingly, embrace it like a lover.

Joanna's and Tywin's wedding:

"Was that all it was?" That seemed to sadden her. "Men say that Tywin never smiled, but he smiled when he wed your mother, and when Aerys made him Hand. When Tarbeck Hall came crashing down on Lady Ellyn, that scheming bitch, Tyg claimed he smiled then. And he smiled at your birth, Jaime, I saw that with mine own eyes. You and Cersei, pink and perfect, as alike as two peas in a pod . . . well, except between the legs. What lungs you had!"

Stannis never smiled either, even at his wedding it would seem:

His mouth would have given despair to even the drollest of fools; it was a mouth made for frowns and scowls and sharply worded commands, all thin pale lips and clenched muscles, a mouth that had forgotten how to smile and had never known how to laugh.

Now, I don't want to go into the theories about Cersei and Jaime being bastard Targaryens because they have been done to death. I found this theory compelling, but not totally persuasive to convince me it was legitimate - but this parallel has completely changed my view. I am absolutely convinced the Lannister twins are Targ bastards, like Ramsay and Edric, but as twins they are split into good/evil.A parallel to Roose with Aerys wanting to practice the old custom of the right of first night:

"As you command." The white knight chose his words with care. "Prince Aerys … as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord's right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the … the liberties your father took during the bedding." His face reddened. "I have said too much, Your Grace. I—"

Oh, and consider what Robert did at Stannis' wedding:

Littlefinger shrugged. Rivulets of moisture twisted down the back of his cloak. "Does it matter? If you bed enough women, some will give you presents, and His Grace has never been shy on that count. I know he's acknowledged that boy at Storm's End, the one he fathered the night Lord Stannis wed. He could hardly do otherwise. The mother was a Florent, niece to the Lady Selyse, one of her bedmaids. Renly says that Robert carried the girl upstairs during the feast, and broke in the wedding bed while Stannis and his bride were still dancing. Lord Stannis seemed to think that was a blot on the honor of his wife's House, so when the boy was born, he shipped him off to Renly." He gave Ned a sideways glance. "I've also heard whispers that Robert got a pair of twins on a serving wench at Casterly Rock, three years ago when he went west for Lord Tywin's tourney. Cersei had the babes killed, and sold the mother to a passing slaver. Too much an affront to Lannister pride, that close to home."

The story is true - Aerys raped Joanna and she fell pregnant with the twins, because Aerys sent the twins gold once per year on their nameday, the same as Roose giving the miller's wife livestock and blue stars:

What Tywin Lannister made of this is not recorded, but in 266 AC, at Casterly Rock, Lady Joanna gave birth to a pair of twins, a girl and a boy, "healthy and beautiful, with hair like beaten gold." This birth only exacerbated the tension between Aerys II Targaryen and his Hand. "I appear to have married the wrong woman," His Grace was reported to have said, when informed of the happy event. Nonetheless, he sent each child its weight in gold as a nameday gift and commanded Tywin to bring them to court when they were old enough to travel. "And bring their mother, too, for it has been too long since I gazed upon that fair face," he insisted.
----
Each year I sent the woman some piglets and chickens and a bag of stars, on the understanding that she was never to tell the boy who had fathered him. A peaceful land, a quiet people, that has always been my rule."
"A fine rule, m'lord."

Tywin's grandmother, Lady Rohanne, shares similarities with death and potentially the corpse queen/sorcerer (Melisandre/Reek). I won't list all of them, but I'll give you a flavour of how she is a good parallel:

Only then did Lady Rohanne herself appear, astride a coal-black mare decked out in strands of silverly silk, like unto a spider's web. The Widow's cloak was made of the same stuff. It billowed from her shoulders and her wrists, as light as air. She was armored, too, in a suit of green enamel scale chased with gold and silver. It fit her figure like a glove, and made her look as if she were garbed in summer leaves. Her long red braid hung down behind her, bouncing as she rode. Septon Sefton rode red-faced at her side, atop a big gray gelding. On her other side was her young maester, Cerrick, mounted on a mule .

• Lady Rohanne was called the Red Widow and the smallfolk accused her of poisoning her husbands and being a witch who sold her unborn babies to the Lord of the Seven Hells so that he would teach her the black arts.
• She had a romance with Addam Osgrey, but her father married her off to a squire after rejecting Eustace Osgrey's suggestion that they marry.
• Becomes widow at 10, married off again at 13 to a man who was 54 years old.
• Six months after her second husband's death, she gave birth to their son, who was weak and died within three days.
• Her third husband died of choking, her fourth of the Great Spring Sickness.
• Before his death, Lord Wyman attempted to marry Rohanne to his castellan, Ser Lucas Inchfield, but she refused him. As such, Wyman stated in his will that Rohanne had two years to marry after his death. If she would remain unwed, Coldmoat would be granted to her cousin.
• Rohanne's father charged Lucas to scare off unworthy suitors, though in the two years that would follow, Lucas would attempt to scare off all who traveled to Coldmoat.

CERSEI & JAIME, THEIR THREE BASTARD CHILDREN AND TYRION

• Cersei:
  • Cersei wanted to marry Rhaegar (or Jaime really) and was instead forced to marry Robert.
  • Has a paramour - Jaime - and both were raised in a tower together - Casterley Rock - and engaged in matters forbidden (incest).
  • kills her husband and quashes rumours relating to the legitimacy of her son's claims and positions her son on the throne notwithstanding
  • ultimately is locked away in a tower by the High Sparrow/Faith Militant to stand trial for her crimes. Margaery and her brother Loras are also locked away in a tower for the same reasons.
  • the corpse queen /sorceress - turns to the dark arts by using wildfire and allying with Qyburn (who uses black/blood magic to raise the dead) to create an undead champion. Is described as beautiful, pale, thin, tall, but is losing her beauty with age.
• Jaimie:
  • the older brother and father of a bastard who grew up to become the Night's King (Joffrey) but isn't acknowledged as Joffrey's father and is not involved in raising him:

Remember Jaime at thirteen? If you want the boy to be his father's son, let him play the part.

• Tyrion:
  • the younger brother, married to a lowborn woman ("crofter's daughter")
  • locked away in a dungeon for being wrongfully accused of killing his nephew (the Night's King)
  • goes by an alias - the Imp
• Joffrey:
  • the Night's King, betrothed to the winter rose - Sansa - only to cast her aside for a southron rose, Margaery. Sansa is held hostage at KL after this.
  • demonstrated cruel behaviours since a young boy - has a sadistic streak, not unlike Cersei. Craved Robert's approval but never received it.
  • kills the Lord of Winterfell for treason - makes enemies with the King in the North
  • is murdered by the Tyrell's - an old woman, Olenna, and a lowborn schemer - Littlefinger.
  • after his death, his wife remarries his younger brother.
  • spreads lies like the Bard:

Why should I? Everyone knows it's true. My father won all the battles. He killed Prince Rhaegar and took the crown, while your father was hiding under Casterly Rock. A strong king acts boldly, he doesn't just talk.

• note Joffrey doesn't refer to Cersei's father as his grandfather. Because like Robert with Joffrey, Tywin was not Cersei/Jaimie's father.
• Myrcella/Tommen
• the bastard King's younger siblings, who were raised differently to Joffrey:

"The children don't need to hear this filth. Tommen, Myrcella, come."
"I'd sooner have Robb Stark's head," Joff said with a sly glance at Sansa. "Tommen, Myrcella, come."

• Myrcella and Tommen are sweet/delicate by nature.
• are both foreshadowed to die based on Maggy's prophecy.

Tyrion shook his head. If she had borne only one child for her husband, it would have been enough to disarm suspicion . . . but then she would not have been Cersei.

• Tommen succeeds Joffrey
• Myrcella is betrothed to a Martell at Cersei's behest - the Dornish scheme to place Myrcella on the throne.

Tully

"No. Tywin mistrusted laughter. He heard too many people laughing at your grandsire." She frowned. "I promise you, this mummer's farce of a siege would not have amused him. How do you mean to end it, now that you're here?"
"Treat with the Blackfish."

The Blackfish is another retelling of Bael.

• The Blackfish is an alias for his true name - Night's King's name is forgotten.
• Brynden Rivers is the name of Bloodraven - a Targaryen bastard/Blackfyre - a bastard of the Riverlands.
• Blackfish is locked in a fortress - the Lannister siege of Riverrun.
• Strained relationship with his older brother, Lord of Riverrun Hoster Tully. Hoster disowned Brynden at the wedding of his daughters to Ned and Jon after he left to serve Lysa and the Arryns, not Cat and the Starks:

The war had not ended until the day she and Lysa had been wed. It was at their wedding feast that Brynden told his brother he was leaving Riverrun to serve Lysa and her new husband, the Lord of the Eyrie. Lord Hoster had not spoken his brother's name since, from what Edmure told her in his infrequent letters.
"Each time I ride out, I wonder if I shall find him alive or dead on my return." Despite their quarrels, there was a deep bond between her father and the brother he had once disowned.

• Hoster Tully who had a sick wife (corpse queen). The Blackfish never married. Perhaps this is why the Blackfish remains a "good" person - he was never corrupted by a corpse queen.
• The Blackfish is the outcast of the Tully family, like a bastard would be the "black sheep", but it seems that Brynden didn't lean into the dark arts (fish vs goat):

Laughing, Brynden had pointed out that the sigil of their house was a leaping trout, so he ought to be a black fish rather than a black goat, and from that day forward he had taken it as his personal emblem.

• Parellel with the Black Gate at the Nightfort:

When they had climbed almost to the top, a knight rode out to meet them. His horse and his armor were grey, but his cloak was the rippling blue-and-red of Riverrun, and a shiny black fish, wrought in gold and obsidian, pinned its folds against his shoulder. "Who would pass the Bloody Gate?" he called.

• Three children - two daughters one son and a ward who grew up to be a deceiver (Theon/Reek):

Nonetheless, during all those years of Catelyn's girlhood, it had been Brynden the Blackfish to whom Lord Hoster's children had run with their tears and their tales, when Father was too busy and Mother too ill. Catelyn, Lysa, Edmure … and yes, even Petyr Baelish, their father's ward … he had listened to them all patiently, as he listened now, laughing at their triumphs and sympathizing with their childish misfortunes.

• Told stories to Jaime about his battles:

At table he had ignored poor Lysa, whilst pressing Brynden Tully for tales of Maelys the Monstrous and the Ebon Prince. Ser Brynden was younger then than I am now, Jaime reflected, and I was younger than Peck.

• Brynden refers to himself as a Tully, notwithstanding being the black fish of the family and eventually returns back to Riverrun, his family home:

"There was a bird from Riverrun," Catelyn began, "a letter from Edmure …"
"I know, child." The black fish that fastened his cloak was Brynden's only concession to ornament. "I had to hear it from Maester Colemon. I asked your sister for leave to take a thousand seasoned men and ride for Riverrun with all haste. Do you know what she told me? The Vale cannot spare a thousand swords, nor even one, Uncle, she said. You are the Knight of the Gate. Your place is here." A gust of childish laughter drifted through the open doors behind him, and her uncle glanced darkly over his shoulder. "Well, I told her she could bloody well find herself a new Knight of the Gate. Black fish or no, I am still a Tully. I shall leave for Riverrun by evenfall."

Also consider how Lord Frey describes his daughter to be wedded to Edmure in this passage from Cat's pov at the Red Wedding:

"Good," the Lord of the Crossing said. "That was very good, Your Grace. 'No words can set it right,' heh. Well said, well said. At the wedding feast I hope you will not refuse to dance with my daughters. It would please an old man's heart, heh." He bobbed his wrinkled pink head up and down, in much the same way his lackwit grandson did, though Lord Walder wore no bells. "And here she is, Lord Edmure. My daughter Roslin, my most precious little blossom, heh."

• Lord Stark's most precious flower - the winter rose
• Lackwit grandson - bastard grandson, the Night's King.

Greyjoys

And of course we have the Greyjoys, who, as expected, also fit into the broader theory and parallel with Bael's story/the Night's King.The Greyjoys generally have strong connections with the Others:

• Rock wife (trueborn) - salt wife (lowborn), corpse queen (trueborn) - sorceress (lowborn).
• "For what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger!"

We already have Theon as the ward - Petyr as the Ward. Theon as Reek - Ironborn connection to the Boltons. Ironborn raided Bear Island and took Bear Island from the Woodfoots.Going back a generation from Theon, we start to see the parallels with Bael starting to bleed out.
Quellon:

• Tytos had five children, Quellon had five children.
• Attached Lord Farman's fleet and sacked Faircastle because Lord Tytos was a poor liege lord of the westerlands.
• Tried to reform the ways of the ironborn and integrate them with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms by freeing thralls, forbidding most reaving, discouraging salt wives, encouraging marriages with the mainland, and bringing maesters to the Iron Islands. This is the opposite to Roose/Aerys and the old customs.
• His predecessor, Baelon son rejected his reforms and reinstates their old customs (Roose parallel here and Baelon's son Theon becomes Ree to Ramsay)

I feel like I don't even need to bother spelling out why Euron mirrors the Night's King because he has many similarities with the Others and dark magic/sorcery.Euron:

• second son to Urrigon who died in childhood from an infection (first born of Stannis Shireen had greyscale but survived, Lady Rohanne's husband died from the Great Spring Sickness)
• pale and handsome with black hair and a neat dark beard
• sexually abused his brothers Urrigon and Aeron because they are weak.
• uses sorcery and dark magic/Asshai (including to sail faster - wind control seems to be a power of the Others), has priests/sorcerers/warlocks on his ship the Silence
• cuts out the tongue of his crew so they are mute - Night's King's name is forgotten
• goes by an alias - the Crow's Eye, and has a bright blue eye (NK, Symeon)
• the kinslayer, cruel, sadistic, murderer, raper, robber - raped Victarion's wife, murdered his brother, robbed Asha at the kingsmoot (and steals from others generally, such as the Warlocks of Qarth and dragonbinder)
• associated with a corpse queen/sorceress - the dusky woman (I forgot to make the connection between Lady Dustin and Roose Bolton, but if anyone needs me to spell this out I am happy to do this in the comments).
• Gives the dusky woman to his younger brother who seduces him and tells her his secrets.
• tricks his younger brothers - Victarion on the mission to Dany (smoking arm) and Aeron (captures him and puts him on the prow of the Silence)
• Falia flowers the corpse queen and is seeking out Dany (associated with red/sorcery/fire)
• tall tower:

Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower? No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap

• considers himself a god ("raise you up" - raise from the dead) and stylises himself as the "King of the Isles and the North", ignoring his older brother's conquests.

Kneel, brother. I am your king. I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.

• Weds his niece, Asha, to Erik Ironmaker without her knowledge by seal - Erik is eighty-eight years old (young new wife for an old man - Miller's wife and Roose, Mel and Stannnis)

Some additional points about Urrigon/Aeron/Victarion/Baelon:

• Urrigon's hand isn't amputated, so he dies - Jaime's hand is amputated and he doesn't die. To avenge Urrigon's death, Baelon took off the maester's fingers and had Lady Piper sew them back on. The maester died raving.
• Aeron, the godly one, is held captive - imprisoned in the Silence. Rejects Euron as King.
• Victarion is travelling with Moqorro - a red sorcerer
• Fearlessness:
• Baelon was said to be fearless (NK had no fear). Remember what Roose says about how Ramsay should be afraid. Baelon died because he had no fear.
• So was Victarion - except he "feared no man, but the Drowned God's curse gave him pause".

I won't go into anymore, but there are so many mirroring stories to Bael. Dany is another one, but I will deal with her separately in a later part because the Night's King and Dany have a deeper connection.

Black and gold symbolism

A quick mention of black and gold symbolism. Interestingly, gold and black appear to recur throughout these parallels. Black is also described as "ash", "shadow", "obsidian".
Gold is also described "red gold":

Lord Beric Dondarrion, with his hair like red gold and his black shield slashed by lightning, she pronounced herself willing to marry him on the instant.
As he neared, she saw that Stannis wore a crown of red gold with points fashioned in the shape of flames.
A red gold brooch wrought in the shape of a scorpion from the Dornishman
Lord Randyll shared the platform with Lord Mooton, a pale, soft, fleshy man in a white doublet and red breeches, his ermine cloak pinned at the shoulder by a red-gold brooch in the shape of a salmon

• From Bran's dream:

One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful.

Lannisters:

• The City Watch:

The men who pushed into the room wore the black ringmail and golden cloaks of the City Watch.

• Pycelle:

The links were forged of every metal known to man: black iron and red gold, bright copper and dull lead, steel and tin and pale silver, brass and bronze and platinum.

Ironborn:

• House Sparr are ironborn:

His son Steffarion accompanied him, with another youth whose dark red fur-lined cloak was pinned at the shoulder with an ornate brooch that showed the black-and-gold warhorn of the Goodbrothers.

• Greyjoy banner is the golden kraken on a field as black as the midnight sea.

Tully:

• The Blackfish is described "wrought in gold and obsidian, pinned its folds against his shoulder" (similar to Steffarion's travelling companion).

I think that gold may be symbolic/representative of artifice/glamour concealing silver, which is a precious metal but not as rare as gold, meaning that those who are associated with gold are disguising something/someone of "silver" value and passing it off as of "gold" value. Sort of like a legitimized bastard.

Part 7 coming soon - the Age of Heroes and "thirteen"

Part 7 will start to delve into the historical identities of those who lived during the Age of Heroes that mirror Bael and look at the use of the number thirteen in the context of the Night's King.

Part 1: Identifying the Night's King - Part 1: The Night's King's "bedroom" (spoilers extended)
Part 2: Identifying the Night's King - Part 2: Lies of the Nightfort (spoilers extended)
Part 3: Identifying the Night's King - Part 3: Stannis, the Night's King and a prison? (spoilers extended)
Part 4: Identifying the Night's King - Part 4: Bael the Bard and the Night's King (spoilers extended)
Part 5: Identifying the Night's King - Part 5: House Bolton (spoilers extended)
TLDR:

• Aside from Stannis, Roose, Ned, retellings of Bael's/the Night's King's story can be found in Houses Lannister, Greyjoy and Tully in different ways - particularly in recent history.
• The Tully story shows us how a black "fish" turned out not to be a black "goat" despite similarities with the story of Bael/the Night's King.
• The Lannister story develops and expands on Stannis' to introduce bastard children to the equation instead of the shadowbaby (Edric is Robert's bastard, so this doesn't fit).
• The Greyjoy story provides us with the darkest example of the Night's King's tale

So, if Roose's story mirrors Bael and shares strong parallels with Stannis, let's look at other characters who also do.
I will briefly address some of the primary examples (Lannister, Tully, Greyjoy), but literally if you pick a majosemi-major character (anywhere through history) and do some digging into their family situation, the story of Bael the Bard echoes throughout the series.

Lannisters

TYWIN AND JOANNA - STANNIS AND SELYSE - ROOSE AND THE MILLER'S WIFE
Tywin:

• Shits gold.
• Married his first cousin, Joanna - and "was ruled at home by his lady wife"
• Is one of four boys and one girl.
• Had three children, two boys and one girl.
• Tytos was weak, Tywin was strong.
• According to legend, Tywin as a baby bit the finger of his grandsire.
• At 10, he spoke out against the marriage of his sister Genna to Emmon Frey.
• Killed by the trueborn son.
• Seems to be blind to his grandchildren being bastards and became hand to Joffrey. Like Roose, prefers a peaceful reign:

Joffrey, when your enemies defy you, you must serve them steel and fire. When they go to their knees, however, you must help them back to their feet. Elsewise no man will ever bend the knee to you. And any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king at all. Aerys never understood that, but you will. When I've won your war for you, we will restore the king's peace and the king's justice.

Tywin's marriage to Joanna mirrors Stannis and Selyse, but just a different retelling of the same story. Unlike Stannis and Selysa, theirs was a happy marriage.Stannis's and Selyse's wedding:

There must have been a blizzard the day she and Stannis wed. Huddled beneath her ermine mantle and surrounded by her ladies, serving girls, and knights, the southron queen seemed a frail, pale, shrunken thing. A strained smile was frozen into place on her thin lips, but her eyes brimmed with reverence. She hates the cold but loves the flames. He had only to look at her to see that. A word from Melisandre and she would walk into the fire willingly, embrace it like a lover.

Joanna's and Tywin's wedding:

"Was that all it was?" That seemed to sadden her. "Men say that Tywin never smiled, but he smiled when he wed your mother, and when Aerys made him Hand. When Tarbeck Hall came crashing down on Lady Ellyn, that scheming bitch, Tyg claimed he smiled then. And he smiled at your birth, Jaime, I saw that with mine own eyes. You and Cersei, pink and perfect, as alike as two peas in a pod . . . well, except between the legs. What lungs you had!"

Stannis never smiled either, even at his wedding it would seem:

His mouth would have given despair to even the drollest of fools; it was a mouth made for frowns and scowls and sharply worded commands, all thin pale lips and clenched muscles, a mouth that had forgotten how to smile and had never known how to laugh.

Now, I don't want to go into the theories about Cersei and Jaime being bastard Targaryens because they have been done to death. I found this theory compelling, but not totally persuasive to convince me it was legitimate - but this parallel has completely changed my view. I am absolutely convinced the Lannister twins are Targ bastards, like Ramsay and Edric, but as twins they are split into good/evil.A parallel to Roose with Aerys wanting to practice the old custom of the right of first night:

"As you command." The white knight chose his words with care. "Prince Aerys … as a youth, he was taken with a certain lady of Casterly Rock, a cousin of Tywin Lannister. When she and Tywin wed, your father drank too much wine at the wedding feast and was heard to say that it was a great pity that the lord's right to the first night had been abolished. A drunken jape, no more, but Tywin Lannister was not a man to forget such words, or the … the liberties your father took during the bedding." His face reddened. "I have said too much, Your Grace. I—"

Oh, and consider what Robert did at Stannis' wedding:

Littlefinger shrugged. Rivulets of moisture twisted down the back of his cloak. "Does it matter? If you bed enough women, some will give you presents, and His Grace has never been shy on that count. I know he's acknowledged that boy at Storm's End, the one he fathered the night Lord Stannis wed. He could hardly do otherwise. The mother was a Florent, niece to the Lady Selyse, one of her bedmaids. Renly says that Robert carried the girl upstairs during the feast, and broke in the wedding bed while Stannis and his bride were still dancing. Lord Stannis seemed to think that was a blot on the honor of his wife's House, so when the boy was born, he shipped him off to Renly." He gave Ned a sideways glance. "I've also heard whispers that Robert got a pair of twins on a serving wench at Casterly Rock, three years ago when he went west for Lord Tywin's tourney. Cersei had the babes killed, and sold the mother to a passing slaver. Too much an affront to Lannister pride, that close to home."

The story is true - Aerys raped Joanna and she fell pregnant with the twins, because Aerys sent the twins gold once per year on their nameday, the same as Roose giving the miller's wife livestock and blue stars:

What Tywin Lannister made of this is not recorded, but in 266 AC, at Casterly Rock, Lady Joanna gave birth to a pair of twins, a girl and a boy, "healthy and beautiful, with hair like beaten gold." This birth only exacerbated the tension between Aerys II Targaryen and his Hand. "I appear to have married the wrong woman," His Grace was reported to have said, when informed of the happy event. Nonetheless, he sent each child its weight in gold as a nameday gift and commanded Tywin to bring them to court when they were old enough to travel. "And bring their mother, too, for it has been too long since I gazed upon that fair face," he insisted.
----
Each year I sent the woman some piglets and chickens and a bag of stars, on the understanding that she was never to tell the boy who had fathered him. A peaceful land, a quiet people, that has always been my rule."
"A fine rule, m'lord."

Tywin's grandmother, Lady Rohanne, shares similarities with death and potentially the corpse queen/sorcerer (Melisandre/Reek). I won't list all of them, but I'll give you a flavour of how she is a good parallel:

Only then did Lady Rohanne herself appear, astride a coal-black mare decked out in strands of silverly silk, like unto a spider's web. The Widow's cloak was made of the same stuff. It billowed from her shoulders and her wrists, as light as air. She was armored, too, in a suit of green enamel scale chased with gold and silver. It fit her figure like a glove, and made her look as if she were garbed in summer leaves. Her long red braid hung down behind her, bouncing as she rode. Septon Sefton rode red-faced at her side, atop a big gray gelding. On her other side was her young maester, Cerrick, mounted on a mule .

• Lady Rohanne was called the Red Widow and the smallfolk accused her of poisoning her husbands and being a witch who sold her unborn babies to the Lord of the Seven Hells so that he would teach her the black arts.
• She had a romance with Addam Osgrey, but her father married her off to a squire after rejecting Eustace Osgrey's suggestion that they marry.
• Becomes widow at 10, married off again at 13 to a man who was 54 years old.
• Six months after her second husband's death, she gave birth to their son, who was weak and died within three days.
• Her third husband died of choking, her fourth of the Great Spring Sickness.
• Before his death, Lord Wyman attempted to marry Rohanne to his castellan, Ser Lucas Inchfield, but she refused him. As such, Wyman stated in his will that Rohanne had two years to marry after his death. If she would remain unwed, Coldmoat would be granted to her cousin.
• Rohanne's father charged Lucas to scare off unworthy suitors, though in the two years that would follow, Lucas would attempt to scare off all who traveled to Coldmoat.

CERSEI & JAIME, THEIR THREE BASTARD CHILDREN AND TYRION

• Tywin was one of four boys, one girl.
• Cersei:
• Cersei wanted to marry Rhaegar (or Jaime really) and was instead forced to marry Robert.
• Has a paramour - Jaime - and both were raised in a tower together - Casterley Rock - and engaged in matters forbidden (incest).
• kills her husband and quashes rumours relating to the legitimacy of her son's claims and positions her son on the throne notwithstanding
• ultimately is locked away in a tower by the High Sparrow/Faith Militant to stand trial for her crimes. Margaery and her brother Loras are also locked away in a tower for the same reasons.
• the corpse queen /sorceress - turns to the dark arts by using wildfire and allying with Qyburn (who uses black/blood magic to raise the dead) to create an undead champion. Is described as beautiful, pale, thin, tall, but is losing her beauty with age.
• Jaimie:
  • the older brother and father of a bastard who grew up to become the Night's King (Joffrey) but isn't acknowledged as Joffrey's father and is not involved in raising him:

Remember Jaime at thirteen? If you want the boy to be his father's son, let him play the part.

• Tyrion:
  • the younger brother, married to a lowborn woman ("crofter's daughter")
  • locked away in a dungeon for being wrongfully accused of killing his nephew (the Night's King)
  • goes by an alias - the Imp
• Joffrey:
  • the Night's King, betrothed to the winter rose - Sansa - only to cast her aside for a southron rose, Margaery. Sansa is held hostage at KL after this.
  • demonstrated cruel behaviours since a young boy - has a sadistic streak, not unlike Cersei. Craved Robert's approval but never received it.
  • kills the Lord of Winterfell for treason - makes enemies with the King in the North
  • is murdered by the Tyrell's - an old woman, Olenna, and a lowborn schemer - Littlefinger.
  • after his death, his wife remarries his younger brother.
  • spreads lies like the Bard:

Why should I? Everyone knows it's true. My father won all the battles. He killed Prince Rhaegar and took the crown, while your father was hiding under Casterly Rock. A strong king acts boldly, he doesn't just talk

• note Joffrey doesn't refer to Cersei's father as his grandfather. Because like Robert with Joffrey, Tywin was not Cersei/Jaimie's father.
• Myrcella/Tommen
• the bastard King's younger siblings, who were raised differently to Joffrey:

"The children don't need to hear this filth. Tommen, Myrcella, come."
"I'd sooner have Robb Stark's head," Joff said with a sly glance at Sansa. "Tommen, Myrcella, come."

• Myrcella and Tommen are sweet/delicate by nature.
• are both foreshadowed to die based on Maggy's prophecy.

Tyrion shook his head. If she had borne only one child for her husband, it would have been enough to disarm suspicion . . . but then she would not have been Cersei.

• Tommen succeeds Joffrey
• Myrcella is betrothed to a Martell at Cersei's behest - the Dornish scheme to place Myrcella on the throne.

Tully

"No. Tywin mistrusted laughter. He heard too many people laughing at your grandsire." She frowned. "I promise you, this mummer's farce of a siege would not have amused him. How do you mean to end it, now that you're here?"
"Treat with the Blackfish."

The Blackfish is another retelling of Bael.

• The Blackfish is an alias for his true name - Night's King's name is forgotten.
• Brynden Rivers is the name of Bloodraven - a Targaryen bastard/Blackfyre - a bastard of the Riverlands.
• Blackfish is locked in a fortress - the Lannister siege of Riverrun.
• Strained relationship with his older brother, Lord of Riverrun Hoster Tully. Hoster disowned Brynden at the wedding of his daughters to Ned and Jon after he left to serve Lysa and the Arryns, not Cat and the Starks:

The war had not ended until the day she and Lysa had been wed. It was at their wedding feast that Brynden told his brother he was leaving Riverrun to serve Lysa and her new husband, the Lord of the Eyrie. Lord Hoster had not spoken his brother's name since, from what Edmure told her in his infrequent letters.
"Each time I ride out, I wonder if I shall find him alive or dead on my return." Despite their quarrels, there was a deep bond between her father and the brother he had once disowned.

• Hoster Tully who had a sick wife (corpse queen). The Blackfish never married. Perhaps this is why the Blackfish remains a "good" person - he was never corrupted by a corpse queen.
• The Blackfish is the outcast of the Tully family, like a bastard would be the "black sheep", but it seems that Brynden didn't lean into the dark arts (fish vs goat):

Laughing, Brynden had pointed out that the sigil of their house was a leaping trout, so he ought to be a black fish rather than a black goat, and from that day forward he had taken it as his personal emblem.

• Parellel with the Black Gate at the Nightfort:

When they had climbed almost to the top, a knight rode out to meet them. His horse and his armor were grey, but his cloak was the rippling blue-and-red of Riverrun, and a shiny black fish, wrought in gold and obsidian, pinned its folds against his shoulder. "Who would pass the Bloody Gate?" he called.

• Three children - two daughters one son and a ward who grew up to be a deceiver (Theon/Reek):

Nonetheless, during all those years of Catelyn's girlhood, it had been Brynden the Blackfish to whom Lord Hoster's children had run with their tears and their tales, when Father was too busy and Mother too ill. Catelyn, Lysa, Edmure … and yes, even Petyr Baelish, their father's ward … he had listened to them all patiently, as he listened now, laughing at their triumphs and sympathizing with their childish misfortunes.

• Told stories to Jaime about his battles:

At table he had ignored poor Lysa, whilst pressing Brynden Tully for tales of Maelys the Monstrous and the Ebon Prince. Ser Brynden was younger then than I am now, Jaime reflected, and I was younger than Peck.

• Brynden refers to himself as a Tully, notwithstanding being the black fish of the family and eventually returns back to Riverrun, his family home:

"There was a bird from Riverrun," Catelyn began, "a letter from Edmure …"
"I know, child." The black fish that fastened his cloak was Brynden's only concession to ornament. "I had to hear it from Maester Colemon. I asked your sister for leave to take a thousand seasoned men and ride for Riverrun with all haste. Do you know what she told me? The Vale cannot spare a thousand swords, nor even one, Uncle, she said. You are the Knight of the Gate. Your place is here." A gust of childish laughter drifted through the open doors behind him, and her uncle glanced darkly over his shoulder. "Well, I told her she could bloody well find herself a new Knight of the Gate. Black fish or no, I am still a Tully. I shall leave for Riverrun by evenfall."

Also consider how Lord Frey describes his daughter to be wedded to Edmure in this passage from Cat's pov at the Red Wedding:

"Good," the Lord of the Crossing said. "That was very good, Your Grace. 'No words can set it right,' heh. Well said, well said. At the wedding feast I hope you will not refuse to dance with my daughters. It would please an old man's heart, heh." He bobbed his wrinkled pink head up and down, in much the same way his lackwit grandson did, though Lord Walder wore no bells. "And here she is, Lord Edmure. My daughter Roslin, my most precious little blossom, heh."

• Lord Stark's most precious flower - the winter rose
• Lackwit grandson - bastard grandson, the Night's King.

Greyjoys

And of course we have the Greyjoys, who, as expected, also fit into the broader theory and parallel with Bael's story/the Night's King.
The Greyjoys generally have strong connections with the Others:

• Rock wife (trueborn) - salt wife (lowborn), corpse queen (trueborn) - sorceress (lowborn).
• "For what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger!"

We already have Theon as the ward - Petyr as the Ward. Theon as Reek - Ironborn connection to the Boltons. Ironborn raided Bear Island and took Bear Island from the Woodfoots.
Going back a generation from Theon, we start to see the parallels with Bael starting to bleed out.
Quellon:

• Tytos had five children, Quellon had five children.
• Attached Lord Farman's fleet and sacked Faircastle because Lord Tytos was a poor liege lord of the westerlands.
• Tried to reform the ways of the ironborn and integrate them with the rest of the Seven Kingdoms by freeing thralls, forbidding most reaving, discouraging salt wives, encouraging marriages with the mainland, and bringing maesters to the Iron Islands. This is the opposite to Roose/Aerys and the old customs.
• His predecessor, Baelon son rejected his reforms and reinstates their old customs (Roose parallel here and Baelon's son Theon becomes Ree to Ramsay)

I feel like I don't even need to bother spelling out why Euron mirrors the Night's King because he has many similarities with the Others and dark magic/sorcery.
Euron:

• second son to Urrigon who died in childhood from an infection (first born of Stannis Shireen had greyscale but survived, Lady Rohanne's husband died from the Great Spring Sickness)
• pale and handsome with black hair and a neat dark beard
• sexually abused his brothers Urrigon and Aeron because they are weak.
• uses sorcery and dark magic/Asshai (including to sail faster - wind control seems to be a power of the Others), has priests/sorcerers/warlocks on his ship the Silence
• cuts out the tongue of his crew so they are mute - Night's King's name is forgotten
• goes by an alias - the Crow's Eye, and has a bright blue eye (NK, Symeon)
• the kinslayer, cruel, sadistic, murderer, raper, robber - raped Victarion's wife, murdered his brother, robbed Asha at the kingsmoot (and steals from others generally, such as the Warlocks of Qarth and dragonbinder)
• associated with a corpse queen/sorceress - the dusky woman (I forgot to make the connection between Lady Dustin and Roose Bolton, but if anyone needs me to spell this out I am happy to do this in the comments).
• Gives the dusky woman to his younger brother who seduces him and tells her his secrets.
• tricks his younger brothers - Victarion on the mission to Dany (smoking arm) and Aeron (captures him and puts him on the prow of the Silence)
• Falia flowers the corpse queen and is seeking out Dany (associated with red/sorcery/fire)
• tall tower:

Perhaps we can fly. All of us. How will we ever know unless we leap from some tall tower? No man ever truly knows what he can do unless he dares to leap

• considers himself a god ("raise you up" - raise from the dead) and stylises himself as the "King of the Isles and the North", ignoring his older brother's conquests.

Kneel, brother. I am your king. I am your god. Worship me, and I will raise you up to be my priest.

• Weds his niece, Asha, to Erik Ironmaker without her knowledge by seal - Erik is eighty-eight years old (young new wife for an old man - Miller's wife and Roose, Mel and Stannnis)

Some additional points about Urrigon/Aeron/Victarion/Baelon:

• Urrigon's hand isn't amputated, so he dies - Jaime's hand is amputated and he doesn't die. To avenge Urrigon's death, Baelon took off the maester's fingers and had Lady Piper sew them back on. The maester died raving.
• Aeron, the godly one, is held captive - imprisoned in the Silence. Rejects Euron as King.
• Victarion is travelling with Moqorro - a red sorcerer
• Fearlessness:
  • Baelon was said to be fearless (NK had no fear). Remember what Roose says about how Ramsay should be afraid. Baelon died because he had no fear.
  • So was Victarion - except he "feared no man, but the Drowned God's curse gave him pause".

I won't go into anymore, but there are so many mirroring stories to Bael. Dany is another one, but I will deal with her separately in a later part because the Night's King and Dany have a deeper connection.

Black and gold symbolism

A quick mention of black and gold symbolism. Interestingly, gold and black appear to recur throughout these parallels.
Black is also described as "ash", "shadow", "obsidian".
Gold is also described "red gold":

Lord Beric Dondarrion, with his hair like red gold and his black shield slashed by lightning, she pronounced herself willing to marry him on the instant.
As he neared, she saw that Stannis wore a crown of red gold with points fashioned in the shape of flames.
A red gold brooch wrought in the shape of a scorpion from the Dornishman
Lord Randyll shared the platform with Lord Mooton, a pale, soft, fleshy man in a white doublet and red breeches, his ermine cloak pinned at the shoulder by a red-gold brooch in the shape of a salmon

• From Bran's dream:

One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful.

Lannisters:

• The City Watch:

The men who pushed into the room wore the black ringmail and golden cloaks of the City Watch.

• Pycelle:

The links were forged of every metal known to man: black iron and red gold, bright copper and dull lead, steel and tin and pale silver, brass and bronze and platinum.

Ironborn:

• House Sparr are ironborn:

His son Steffarion accompanied him, with another youth whose dark red fur-lined cloak was pinned at the shoulder with an ornate brooch that showed the black-and-gold warhorn of the Goodbrothers.

• Greyjoy banner is the golden kraken on a field as black as the midnight sea.

Tully:

• The Blackfish is described "wrought in gold and obsidian, pinned its folds against his shoulder" (similar to Steffarion's travelling companion).

I think that gold may be symbolic/representative of artifice/glamour concealing silver, which is a precious metal but not as rare as gold, meaning that those who are associated with gold are disguising something/someone of "silver" value and passing it off as of "gold" value.
Sort of like a legitimized bastard.

Part 7 coming soon - the Age of Heroes and "thirteen"

Part 7 will start to delve into the historical identities of those who lived during the Age of Heroes that mirror Bael and look at the use of the number thirteen in the context of the Night's King.

https://minimalfreaks.co/2023/10/beatport-best-new-house-september-2023/

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I've previously argued that the original Twin Peaks series and the film Fire Walk With Me were a major influence on ASOIAF, and that GRRM has seeded ASOIAF with Peaks references in order to foreshadow that there is something very Peaks-ish at the core of ASOIAF (perhaps involving predatory skinchangers abusing/inhabiting children in a way reminiscent of the inhabiting spirit BOB abusing/trying to inhabit Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks).
Although I'll quickly sketch the latter argument in a general way at the outset, this post is not primarily about that. Rather, I just want to put out into the world a hugely updated exploration of what I believe is a delicious smorgasbord of Twin Peaks references in the ASOIAF canon, including a slew of winks in Fire & Blood (and more than a few I previously missed in ASOIAF proper as well).
The beginning of this writing is reworked from an old post. On the off chance you (a) read my old post about ASOIAF and Twin Peaks and (b) want to skip to the new bits, I'll label "NEW STUFF", significantly "UPDATED" stuff, and the point after which everything is all new.
Due to length, I'll split this writing into 2 Parts.

Why ASOIAF References Twin Peaks So Much

It's my belief that the ASOIAF canon references Twin Peaks as much as I'm about to argue it does in order to acknowledge/hint/foreshadow that the concept of human skinchanging in ASOIAF — of casting one's spirit into the body of another and taking it over and "piloting" it, as Bran does to Hodor and as Varamyr tries to do to Thistle — is in some ways an adaptation of and riff on the central supernatural/fantastical conceit of Twin Peaks, whereby innocent people are possessed by inhabiting spirits, spirits which at times control their thoughts and actions while at other times leaving them to their own devices. These spirits, like a skinchanger in ASOIAF, can pass from body to body, from "vessel" to "vessel". Indeed, BOB's desire to pass from Leland Palmer to Leland's daughter and victim Laura Palmer is at the heart of Fire Walk With Me.
Given all the references the ASOIAF canon seems to make to Twin Peaks, and given how central a phenomenon similar to human skinchanging is to Twin Peaks, I can't help but think that BOB-esque human skinchanging will prove to be hugely important in ASOIAF as well.
In Twin Peaks and Fire Walk With Me, BOB possessing Leland and trying to possess Laura is presented as a kind of fantastic embodiment of real-world sexual abuse, such that some viewers even choose to read all the fantasy/supernatural elements as metaphor or diegetic fantasy. It's my belief that child abuse is a key theme in ASOIAF, and I have come to suspect that certain characters were skinchanged as children/adolescents — recalling BOB's preying on and dominating Leland and his trying to do the same to Laura — and to suspect that said skinchanging may have influenced pivotal events at/around the tourney at Harrenhal and at the Tower of Joy.

GRRM & Twin Peaks

The idea that Twin Peaks influenced GRRM and ASOIAF makes chronological sense. GRRM was working in TV when Twin Peaks came along in 1990 and made massive waves in the industry, reimagining exactly how episodic a prime time show could be and blurring genres by blending soap opera, mystery, horror, and black comedy. GRRM simply couldn't have been unaware of it, and it makes sense to me that a nerdy, fantasy-loving, tabletop roleplaying gamer like GRRM would've dug Twin Peaks, since I was a fantasy novel-reading, D&D-playing nerd when Peaks came out, and every nerd I knew who liked that kinda shit liked Peaks, too. (By the end, it felt like we were the only ones watching.)
GRRM started work on A Game of Thrones after the original series wrapped up and Fire Walk with Me was released, so the timing fits for Twin Peaks to have directly impacted GRRM's ideas for ASOIAF, nominally a "fantasy" epic, but one with elements of mystery, horror, and soap opera to boot.
GRRM loves classic sci-fi, so he was surely familiar with Twin Peaks' co-creator David Lynch from Dune. And we have some reason to think GRRM is a Lynch fan: A book written by Lynch was displayed behind GRRM when he gave a video interview (from his bookstore?), as a redditor noticed HERE.

The Promised Delicious Smorgasbord of Twin Peaks References

Without further preamble, let's get into the bevy of Peaks allusions lurking in the dark woods of the ASOIAF canon, including what I'll argue are a vast hoard of them in Fire & Blood.

"The Things I/We Do For Love"

One of the catalyzing events of ASOIAF rather blatantly "quotes" Twin Peaks:

The man [Jaime] looked over at the woman[Cersei]. "The things I do for love," he said with loathing. He gave Bran a shove.
Screaming, Bran went backward out the window into empty air. There was nothing to grab on to. The courtyard rushed up to meet him. (AGOT Bran II)

Jaime's line is a near-verbatim quote of what Hank says to Big Ed Hurley right before he suckerpunches him in Twin Peaks Season 2, Episode 13:

Oh Ed. The things we do for love.

Blue (and Black) Roses

Equally blatantly, perhaps, both ASOIAF and Fire Walk With Me foreground the same memorable and unusual flower: blue roses. (In ASOIAF they're associated with Lyanna. In FWWM, Gordon Cole's walking code, "Lil", wears a "blue rose", which is the reason Agent Desmond goes back to the Fat Trout Trailer Park.)
Where Ned (seemingly) remembers Lyanna's blue roses being "dead and black" on her deathbed—

Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. (AGOT Eddard I)

—in Twin Peaks, "Black Rose" is the name girls at Horne's perfume counter are told to ask for when they call to get a job at the casino and brothel called One-Eyed Jacks.

One-Eyed Jacks

Speaking of which, One-Eyed Jacks casino/brothel prefigures ASOIAF's one-eyed gambler and whore-frequenter Jack-Be-Lucky.

Owls & The Others

"The Owls Are Not What They Seem" is a mantra in original Twin Peaks. And once you look, owls are regulars in ASOIAF, too.
In Twin Peaks and Fire Walk With Me, it's heavily hinted that the owls are a vessel for passage for inhabiting spirits like BOB, right? (We see an owl superimposed over BOB's face during Cooper's first dream, and then when Leland dies and BOB leaves him, we see a POV shot rapidly moving through the woods and then an owl in flight.)
That idea of a predatory raptor being used as a vehicle for the "spirit" of another prefigures the first explicit encounter with skinchanging in ASOIAF, when Jon is attacked by the skinchanger Orell in his eagle (which later becomes Varamyr's eagle).
But actually, we don't even need to wait that long for an owl reference that smells like a nod to Twin Peaks. The Prologue of A Game of Thrones textually juxtaposes an owl with the ghost-like, supernatural, would-be "Big Bad" that is The Others:

Down below, the lordling called out suddenly, "Who goes there?" Will heard uncertainty in the challenge. He stopped climbing; he listened; he watched.
The woods gave answer: the rustle of leaves, the icy rush of the stream, a distant hoot of a snow owl.
The Others made no sound.

The owl and the others are presented almost as paired counterparts, like BOB and the owls in Peaks.
Note how the bolded setting, a kind of "northwoods idyll", also hearkens back to Twin Peaks, with its endless shots of trees and constant invocation of the mystery and power of "these old woods", which we're told early in the series contain something mysterious, in terms which could as well be about the Night's Watch and the Others:

"There's a sort of evil out there. Something very, very strange in these old woods. Call it what you want. A darkness, a presence. It takes many forms but... it's been out there for as long as anyone can remember and we've always been here to fight it."

"It" may "take many forms", but one very much seems to be the owls, which "are not what they seem".
And an owl is what GRRM chose to mention immediately before introducing "the Others": his "sort of evil out there… in [his] old woods", "a presence" in the Haunted Forest who, it so happens, the Night's Watch has "always been here to fight… for as long as anyone can remember".

Owls & Spirits

GRRM does something similarly suspicious/interesting in AGOT Jon IX. Again, we're in the woods, and again, we see an owl juxtaposed with something that — denuded of context — could be another term for "spirit" as in the "inhabiting spirits" of Twin Peaks:

Off in the trees, the distant scream of some frightened animal made him look up. His mare whinnied nervously. Had his wolf found some prey? He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Ghost!" he shouted. "Ghost, to me." The only answer was a rush of wings behind him as an owl took flight.

Read in isolation, it's as if Jon calls forth a "ghost", and an owl answers, which would make sense if we're thinking about Twin Peaks with its spirit-carrying owls… as we very well might be, given the reference to the "scream of some frightened animal", which sounds like an echo of what Twin Peaks' Shelley memorably tells Bobby about Leo in the finale of Season 1:

He just screamed and screamed. He sounded like an animal.

Owls & Skinchanging

Is it a coincidence that when we get our real lesson in the nuts-and-bolts of skinchanging in the ADWD Prologue, it's made explicit that in ASOIAF, owls can be used a vessels for skinchangers, too?

"I know skinchangers who've tried hawks, owls, ravens."
A horned owl flew silently between his trees, hunting a hare; Varamyr was inside the owl, inside the hare, inside the trees.

How Peaksy is that? Varamyr is "inside the owl", just like BOB seems to go inside an owl when he is flying free in Twin Peaks after Leland's death.
Varamyr also tell us about skinchangers coming to resemble their animals, commenting that…

Borroq looked so much like his boar that all he lacked was tusks…

This recalls what Sarah Palmer says about BOB, Twin Peaks' version of a skinchanger:

He looked like an animal.

(Indeed, Bob has a notably wolfish look, and howls at times.)

Owls & Nightengales & Crows

ASOIAF also gives us the "hour of the owl", which is only mentioned a few times, so it's perhaps significant that twice it's juxtaposed with the hour of the nightingale. That juxtaposition surely reminds Twin Peaks buffs of Twin Peaks, with its owls and the song The Nightengale, which you can listen to [HERE].
Then there is "House Crowl" of Skagos. "Crowl" is a portmanteau of crow and owl, the all-important birds of ASOIAF and Twin Peaks, respectively. (The Crowl sigil is, curiously, Targaryen "flame and black". Fire is a huge deal in Twin Peaks, needless to say.)

Owl-Eyed Mya & Twin Peaks (NEW STUFF)

And what about Mya Stone saying…

"I have the eyes of the owl"… (AGOT Catelyn IV)

…when she is preparing to lead Catelyn up "the jagged peak" on which sits the Eyrie, all of two pages before they walk between what are clearly twin peaks?

When they came to a high saddle between two spires of rock. (ibid.)

As Peaks-y as that it is, the line is even Peaks-ier in context:

The girl made a face. "Torches just blind you. On a clear night like this, the moon and the stars are enough. Mychel says I have the eyes of the owl."

The first two bolded phrases basically translate to "fire is bad" — a truism in Twin Peaks — and, just about, "love is enough", per Dany's "sun-and-stars" mantra, which recalls Major Briggs' greatest fear: "the possibility that love is not enough".
And where did Mya get her owl eyes?

Mya liked to say that her father had been a goat and her mother an owl… (AFFC Alayne II)

So this owl-eyed girl's goat-father was like two of the most foregrounded demonic figures in ASOIAF, the Black Goat of Qohor and Vargo Hoat. Remember, the demonic BOB was, in a way, Laura Palmer's father.
And what does Mya say about her father? That he was fantastic when they were young, until suddenly he wasn't there:

"I remember a man throwing me in the air when I was very little. He stands as tall as the sky, and he throws me up so high it feels as though I'm flying. We're both laughing, laughing so much that I can hardly catch a breath, and finally I laugh so hard I wet myself, but that only makes him laugh the louder. I was never afraid when he was throwing me. I knew that he would always be there to catch me." She pushed her hair back. "Then one day he wasn't. Men come and go. They lie, or die, or leave you." (ibid.)

That may as well be Laura Palmer's childhood. Her father was great, until BOB started occupying him more and more, such that Leland Palmer wasn't there anymore, BOB was.

Black Adder, Twins, & An Owl (NEW STUFF)

And what about a curious "coincidence" in the litany of sigils Ned clocks at his tourney:

The shields displayed outside each tent heralded its occupant: the silver eagle of Seagard, Bryce Caron's field of nightingales, a cluster of grapes for the Redwynes, brindled boar, red ox, burning tree, white ram, triple spiral, purple unicorn, dancing maiden, blackadder, twin towers, horned owl, and last the pure white blazons of the Kingsguard, shining like the dawn. (AGOT Eddard VII)

After the most bald-faced television reference imaginable (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder), we get twin towers and a horned owl. Most of the owls shown in Twin Peaks were (great) "horned owls", needless to say. I can assure you that in 1992, the venn diagram of people who still cared about Twin Peaks after mass interest had cratered and people who liked Blackadder had a lot of overlap, so if this isn't a Twin Peaks signpost I don't know what it is.

The White Owl Passage & Twin Peaks (NEW STUFF)

That said, note that the "horned owl" Ned sees is surely that of House Mertyns, as in "The White Owl, Michael Mertyns", a knight of the kingsguard Jaime mentions when he's schooling Loras.
It just so happens that the passage in which Jaime mentions "The White Owl, Michael Mertyns"—

"Addison Hill? The White Owl, Michael Mertyns? Jeffory Norcross? They called him Neveryield. Red Robert Flowers? What can you tell me of them?"
"Flowers is a bastard name. So is Hill."
"Yet both men rose to command the Kingsguard." (AFFC Jaime II)

—is overflowing with Twin Peaks references.

Addison Hill & Twin Peaks (NEW STUFF)

"Addison Hill"? Addison, Texas, is the corporate home of the [Twin Peaks] sports barestaurant chain. (It was founded in Lewisville, but the corporate offices are in Addison c. Sept 2022. See the wiki's side bar info box. They list their corporate mailing address as "Dallas", but if you check the address, it's actually in Addison.)
A "Hill" is a kind of peak, of course, so "Addison Hill" is doubly ("twinly") Peaks-y.
Actually, he's doubly doubly Peaks-y: The last two lines of the passage set up "Addison Hill" as a "twin" of sorts to Red Robert Flowers: both are bastards, "both men rose to command the Kingsguard". Since he's a Hill and a hill is a kind of peak, the twinned bastards are, together, "twin" "Peaks".

"Red Robert" & Twin Peaks (NEW STUFF)

As long as we're talking about him, the name "Red Robert" evokes "Bloody BOB", as in Twin Peaks' Killer BOB, who is, indeed, called Robert:

COOPER Robertson, son of Robert. The letters under the finger nails: R, O, B, T. Bob was spelling his name. The signature on a demon self-portrait.

Robert has "a bastard name", and BOB is a real bastard.

"The White Owl, Michael Mertyns" & Twin Peaks (NEW STUFF)

As for the eptithet and name "The White Owl, Michael Mertyns", "White Owl" is one of many colloquial names for the Barn Owl and a direct translation of its latin name, Tyto alba. Barn owls are known for their incredibly creepy look and are known by many common names including "demon owl", "ghost owl", "death owl", and "lich owl" and are "in many places considered… to be birds of evil omen." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl#Etymology, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl#Cultural_aspects)
What could be more Twin Peaksy than "demon owls" and "death owls" and "ghost owls"?
Meanwhile, the name "Michael Mertyns", rearranged very slightly, gives you Michael Myers TN. The [Michael Myers] of TwiN Peaks is Killer BOB.

"Jeffory Norcross? They called him Neveryield." (NEW STUFF)

What about "Jeffory Norcross", called "Neveryield"?
"Jeffory", reversing the vowels in "Joffrey", suggests to me a kind of doppelganger Joffrey. Could this hint that Joffrey was afflicted by BOB-like tortures/possession/abuse? (Recall that Laura never yielded to BOB.)
Norcross likely refers to the "twin"-as-in-Twin Peaks-evoking [Norcross Brothers Contractors and Builders], a famed 19th century firm that worked mostly in stone, building a ton of famous buildings including the Rhode Island statehouse, Trinity Church in Boston, the Marshall Fields building and Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, and… The Jersey City Public Library, which was probably the closest big library to GRRM when he was [growing up next door in comparatively small Bayonne].
OK, so much for owl references in ASOIAF.

White Lodge, Black Lodge, House of Black & White/the Undying

Twin Peaks has the Black Lodge and its counterpart, the White Lodge, where dwell the "the spirits that rule man and nature", i.e. possessing spirits like BOB, while ASOIAF has The House of Black and White, where dwells a group of almost (and quite possibly actually) supernaturally powerful assassins who take the guise of others and very possibly practice human skinchanging themselves. The 'rhyme' is underlined by literal rhyme: Where the Black Lodge has black and white floors, the House of Black and White has black and white doors.
Meanwhile (h/t MalcolmTucker55 & IllyrioMoParties), the House of the Undying in Qarth reimagines the paradoxical, "impossible geography" and constant corridor-walking of the Black Lodge, while Dany's visions therein are reminiscent of Cooper's symbol-laden dreams (dwarfs abound!) and his trip to the Black Lodge. Both Dany and Laura are given specific, strict instructions prior to entry. Mrs. Tremond waving/inviting Laura through a door and the denizens of the Lodge sitting around the formica table recall Dany the "splendor of wizards" inviting Dany in and later the Undying seated around "a long stone table". (ACOK Daenerys IV)

The Shadow Self & Shadow Babies (NEW STUFF)

In Peaks, Hawk speaks of "the Dweller on the Threshold", which he also calls "the shadow self":

HAWK There is also a legend of a place called the Black Lodge, the shadow self of the White Lodge. Legend says that every spirit must pass through there on a way to perfection. There, you will meet your own shadow self. My people call it: The Dweller on the Threshold.
COOPER Dweller on the Threshold.
HAWK But it is said, if you confront the Black Lodge with imperfect courage, it will utterly annihilate your soul. (Season 2, Episode 11)

The shadow self looks like a person but contains all the evil that a person has done, and based on the end of Twin Peaks Season 2 it would appear that it seeks to escape the Black Lodge in order to replace the original person out in the word.
To say this might have inspired what occurs with Stannis, Melisandre, and the shadow assassin to which Melisandre gives birth (i.e. releases into the world) is an understatement. The shadow is clearly Stannis—

"I saw a shadow. I thought it was Renly's shadow at the first, but it was his brother's."
"Lord Stannis?"
"I felt him. It makes no sense, I know…" (ACOK Catelyn IV)

—and it seems to embody his repressed urge to simply kill Renly and be done with the whole mess. That is, it's difficult to believe that the magic could have worked had part of Stannis — his shadow self, so to speak — not been willing to kill Renly. And so Melisandre was able to give birth to and embody Stannis's shadow self while Stannis slept… which was perhaps a necessary condition, as it allowed the part of his soul that wanted Renly dead to guide his shadow's deeds.
In Twin Peaks, once the shadow self is loose in the world, it's very difficult to reverse the situation. And in ASOIAF?

The same dreadful song he'd sung this morning. "The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord." (ACOK Prologue)

Twin Peaks in the "Mark Frostfangs"

Mark Frost co-created/wrote Twin Peaks along with David Lynch. Sure enough, there are several references to two or twin "peaks" in the mountain range — mountains have/are "peaks"! — GRRM chose to call the "Frostfangs".
The first such reference is plain as day — doubly so because it follows a reference to a skinchanging vessel named "Ghost" disappearing like a real ghost/spirit might:

Ghost did not reappear as they set out again. The shadows covered the floor of the pass by then, and the sun was sinking fast toward the jagged twin peaks of the huge mountain the rangers named Forktop. (ACOK Jon VII)

Could "Forktop" allude to all the forks we see plunging into pies in Twin Peaks? Especially since the first pie mentioned was consumed in "Lewis Fork"? Especially since Cooper says of it…

"They got a cherry pie there [i.e. in Lewis Fork] that'll kill you."

…which surely recalls Joffrey's seeming death-by-pie.
The next chapter juxtaposes its twin peaks with another reference to skinchanging — again, the very thing I believe GRRM is using in ASOIAF in a manner very much influenced by Twin Peaks:

They were watched. At every dawn and every dusk they saw the eagle soaring between the peaks, no more than a speck in the vastness of the sky.
They were scaling a low ridge between two snowcapped peaks when a shadowcat came snarling from its lair, not ten yards away. (ACOK Jon VIII)

Two "snowcapped peaks" (behind some trees) is literally the logo of the town of Twin Peaks, seen constantly throughout the series, and there is a pass near Twin Peaks (probably between the eponymous twin peaks) called "Eagle Pass". There's also a shot of what appears to be an eagle or hawk soaring against the mountains in Season 1 Episode 6, used as an emotional beat after Bobby cries to Dr. Jacoby about Laura's corruption (by the inhabiting spirit BOB).

A Set of Twin Peaks Lead Into the Story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree

There's another set of "twin peaks" in ASOS Bran II. This time they're not in the 'coincidentally'-named Frostfangs, but the reference is just as juicy, as these "twin peaks" lead into the story of The Knight of the Laughing Tree, which is interesting to me since I suspect skinchanging and a BOB-like figure are at the core of that story:

They climbed without speaking for a long time, following a crooked game trail over the high saddle between two stony peaks. Scrawny soldier pines clung to the slopes around them. Far ahead Bran could see the icy glitter of a stream where it tumbled down a mountainside. He found himself listening to Jojen's breathing and the crunch of pine needles under Hodor's feet. "Do you know any stories?" he asked the Reeds all of a sudden.

"Two Mrs. Tremonds. Weird, Huh?"

Tremond Gargalen is a Dornish lord. The mysterious Mrs. Tremond appears in both the original Twin Peaks series and in Fire Walk With Me. She's another inhabiting spirit or something very similar, tightly associated with BOB and the Black Lodge. I suspect GRRM chose to name Lord Gargalen "Tremond" as a nod to Mrs. Tremond in Twin Peaks. (The surname "Gargalen" is itself loaded, in my opinion, but that's another story.)

Fire As A Character

Fire is a big fucking deal in both ASOIAF and Twin Peaks. In Peaks, the Log Lady famously calls fire "the devil hiding like a coward in the smoke", we get images in scenes of supernatural evil happenings, and of course there is the mantra "Fire, Walk With Me", which Lynch turned into the title of the Twin Peaks feature film.
I trust there is no need to talk about the importance of fire in A Song of Ice And Fire.

Time Has No Beginning & No End, The Future Is The Past

It's my belief that in ASOIAF, "all things come round again", with events constantly 'rhyming' with one another and with history. As Arianne says:

"The dragon [of House Toland, eating its own tail] is time. It has no beginning and no ending, so all things come round again". (AFFC The Soiled Knight)

Cyclical time? Sounds kinda like another Twin Peaks mantra:

Through the darkness of futures past / The magician longs to see
One chants out between two worlds / Fire Walk With Me

Jon Snow and Donna Hayward (NEW STUFF)

In Season 2 of Twin Peaks, clues begin to emerge that Donna Hayward may not have been sired by the man she knows as her father, Doctor Hayward, but instead by the "local bigwig" Benjamin Horne, who "owns half the town". Obviously this would prefigure Jon Snow being sired not by Ned but by someone more important/powerful. And/or other characters having lineages at odds with who they believe themselves to be.

Emerald and Jade (NEW STUFF)

Twin Peaks features a show-within-the-show called Invitation To Love, which features a pair of twins (one good, one evil) memorably referred to in the fake show's voiceover credits as "Emerald and Jade".
GRRM uses the phrase "emeralds and jades" to refer to the wildfire unleashed by the (evil) twin Cersei:

Baleful green tides moved against the bellies of the clouds, and pools of orange light spread out across the heavens. The reds and yellows of common flame warred against the emeralds and jades of wildfire, each color flaring and then fading, birthing armies of short-lived shadows to die again an instant later. (ACOK Sansa VII)

He also shows us Renly — who he introduces as a virtual twin to Robert—

"I see you have arrived safely, Lord Stark," Renly said.
"And you as well," Ned replied. "You must forgive me, but sometimes you look the very image of your brother Robert." (AGOT Eddard IV)

—as wearing both "jade" and "emerald" in ACOK Catelyn III and later dresses evil twin Cersei in "jade-green" accented by "an emerald". (AFFC Jaime III)

Magic Trees: Ghostwood & The Haunted Forest (UPDATED)

In the final episodes of the original Twin Peaks series, we see Glastonbury Grove in Ghostwood Forest, a ring of 12 pale-barked sycamores — seemingly an unusual tree for the forest given the focus everywhere else on pines and firs. At its center, ringed by a thin crust of white snow, is an oily pool reflecting the deep red curtains of the Black Lodge. Glastonbury Grove provides access to the spirit world/Black Lodge. This magical grove of trees is a clear reference to the legend of King Arthur, who was buried at Glastonbury and whose Knights of the Round Table were sometimes said to number 12.
ASOIAF 'rhymes' with all this when, in AGOT Jon VI Jon Snow swears his oath to the Night's Watch, a sworn fighting order like the Knights of the Round Table, in a white-barked circle of trees. (Night's : Knights :: 12 around a Round Table : a watch w/ 12 numbers.)
Where Glastonbury Grove in Peaks has a group of 12 pale-barked sycamores weirdly growing in a circle amidst pine and fir, in AGOT "nine [white-barked] weirwoods grew in a rough circle" in a forest consisting mostly of other trees, even though "a grove of nine was unheard of".
On Jon's ride to the "grove", there's "a thin crust of snow", just like the one that seems to surround the pool in Glastonbury Grove when we first see it (see youtube link, below).
Where Peaks' Glastonbury Grove has its black, oily pool reflecting the red curtains of the Black Lodge, the "forest floor" in AGOT's weirwood "grove" is "carpeted with fallen [weirwood] leaves, bloodred on top, black rot beneath." (Also worth noting that the first weirwood we see, in Winterfell's godswood, is associated with a "black pool".)
In the climactic shot of the penultimate episode of the original Twin Peaks series (Episode 27), when we first see Glastonbury Grove, we see the hand and lower arm of BOB, a spirit being from the Black Lodge, appear out of nowhere for several seconds between two sycamores, suspended in the air and disembodied. (Then BOB wholly appears and we see the black pool with its red curtains.) (Check it out: https://youtu.be/iDz1poEgQAc?t=44) And what happens in AGOT immediately after Jon and his brothers swear their oaths? "Ghost" appears "between two weirwoods" with a disembodied hand in his mouth:

And suddenly Ghost was back, stalking softly between two weirwoods. White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted. Like the trees …
The wolf had something in his jaws. …
"Gods be good," Dywen muttered. "That's a hand."

GRRM straight-up reworked one of the most iconic shots in the original Twin Peaks series in AGOT.
Where Glastonbury Grove provides physical access to the spirit world of the Lodges, the Weirwoods are part of and likely provide psychic access to a collective spiritual psyche.
Where King Arthur had 12 Knights per some sources, ASOIAF has the paradigmatic Kingsguard Arthur Dayne and the Last Hero of legend with his 12 companions.
And where Twin Peaks has "Glastonbury Grove", ASOIAF has House Peake (as in "Twin Peaks"), which historically controlled two castles improbably called "Dunstonbury" and "Whitegrove", a la "Glastonbury Grove". (They also/still control a third called "Starpike", about which more below.)

A Twin Killed By The Peakes

House "Peake" is loaded with Twin Peaks references.
In TWOIAF, GRRM contrives a "twin" only to introduce him to the "Peakes". We're told Tywald Lannister was a "twin", and then it's immediately explained that Tywald-the-twin died "in battle… during the Peake Uprising":

Tywald, the eldest of [Lord Gerold Lannister's] twin sons, died in battle in 233 AC whilst squiring for Lord Robert Reyne of Castamere during the Peake Uprising. (TWOIAF)

The Twins & The Peakes (UPDATED)

The Rosetta Stone-ish novella The Mystery Knight practically screams "ASOIAF is riffing on Twin Peaks!" by showing us a Lord Frey allying with a Lord Peake of Starpike, analogously lord of three castles to Lord Frey's "Twins". Surely we might say that the Lord of the Twins allying with Lord Peake whose house held castles named "Dunstonbury" and "Whitegrove" evokes Twin Peaks, right?
AFFC Jaime VI would surely think so:

Ryman Frey's great rectangular pavilion was the largest in the camp; its grey canvas walls were made of sewn squares to resemble stonework, and its two peaks evoked the Twins.

If "Two peaks evoked the Twins", the phrase "Two peaks evoked the Twins" itself evokes Twin Peaks, the TV show, as surely as the Lord of the Twins allying with Lord Peake does. (I suppose making "Lord Peake" lord of "the Twins" would've been too on the nose.)

"Gormon Peake" (EVERYTHING IS NEW STUFF FROM HERE ON)

The Lord Peake we meet in The Mystery Knight is named "Gormon".
Yes, "Gormon Peake" is in part "a reference… to the Gormenghast books written by Mervyn Peake," as the ASOIAF wiki notes. And yes, just from perusing wikis and summaries it's obvious to me those books are probably a big influence on ASOIAF.
But as with so much in ASOIAF, I believe the name "Gormon Peake" is overdetermined, and that it simultaneously nods to Twin Peaks in at least one and possibly a few ways.

The Criston Cole-ish Gormon Peake & Gordon Cole From Twin Peaks

First, the spelling of "Gormon" evokes "Gordon", as in Gordon Cole, the Twin Peaks character played by David Lynch himself. Yes, that's Gordon Cole as in Criston Cole, and that makes perfect "rhyming sense" since Criston Cole's story rhymes tightly with… Gormon Peake's: Both men are embittered by loss (Cole lost Rhaenyra, Peake lost powewealth/influence) and are consequently at the center of conspiracies to overthrow a Targaryen monarch they see as unworthy in favor of a line that was bypassed. Black Tom Heddle is plainly Peake's muscle, as Criston Cole is the Greens', and he has "coal-black" hair to match, verbatim, Criston Cole's "coal-black" hair.
So: Criston Cole-ish Gormon Peake (whose Cole-ishness is assisted by Heddle's) evokes Twin Peaks' Gordon Cole.

Stormin' Gorman Thomas, Who Had A "Twin" When He Played Against The "Twins"

Second, the name "Gormon" will immediately remind anyone paying any attention to baseball in the late 70s and early 80s (i.e. GRRM) of Gorman Thomas, the famously handlebar-mustachioed slugger best known for his time on the Milwaukee Brewers. Could GRRM have had this in mind when he named Gormon Peake, assuming he wanted the name to evoke Twin Peaks? Believe it or not, maybe.
Gorman played against the Minnesota Twins (who were one of the Brewers' chief rivals due to geography), and "Stormin' Gorman" famously had a "twin" of sorts on the Brewers, the also famously handlebar-mustachioed Pete Vuckovich. HERE is a picture of Gorman, and HERE is a picture of Vuckovich. The two were best friends, and growing up at the time, they're inseparably linked in my memory. Indeed, they actually opened a bar together called "Stormin' & Vuke's", a play on their nicknames.
I have to think GRRM is winking at Gorman's public-facing nickname, "Stormin'", when he constantly refers to Gormon Peake's conspiracy as a "storm":

"That boy [i.e. Gormon Peake's would-be king John the Fiddler a.k.a. Daemon II Blackfyre] is fiddling up a storm, and all of us would do well to be gone from here before it breaks."
"Lord Peake came to see me, after my last joust. He offered me a place at Starpike. He said there was a storm coming the likes of which Westeros had not seen for a generation, that he would need swords and men to wield them."
"See how they run," murmurred Alyn Cockshaw, as he slid up beside Dunk. "A few drops of rain, and all the bold lords go squealing for shelter. What will they do when the real storm breaks, I wonder?"
The real storm. Dunk knew Lord Alyn was not talking about the weather.

That "See how they run" line, by the way, is a lryic in and thus a reference to the song Three Blind Mice. In the 1970s and 80s MLB stadiums didn't blare music constantly during baseball games; instead, every MLB team had an organist that would ad-lib snippets of songs throughout the game. Baseball organists would often play Three Blind Mice to mock the umpires when they made a call that went against the home team. (Here's a video of a minor league organist being ejected for playing the song about ten years ago: https://youtu.be/hS0GrJoBBzs.)
Thus "See how they run" works to confirm that Yes, this "storm" business swirling around "Gormon" Peake is a tribute to Stormin' Gorman Thomas.
In the end, GRRM even gives us "Stormin' Gormon" Peake, just like "Stormin' Gorman" Thomas:

And suddenly Lord Peake himself was storming across the muddy field to climb the steps to the herald's platform, his cloak flapping behind him.

Again, though, things like this tend to be heavily overdetermined in ASOIAF, and thus "Gormon Peake" can be a funny easter egg about a baseball player, a tribute to a seminal fantasy trilogy (Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast), and a clue regarding a less-predictable, perhaps deeper influence like Twin Peaks.
Indeed, Gormon Peake's own nickname may help bears this out:

"There you are, Gormy," called the rider…
"…the only lords hereabouts are Gormy and that wastrel who just left us, Alyn Cockshaw."
"Pay him no mind," the Fiddler said. "He's a sour old soul—he suspects everyone. Gormy, I have a good feeling about this fellow."

On the surface, this is "just" a wink to Gorman Thomas's clubhouse nickname, which was Gormy. (See here: https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/gorman-thomas/)
But does GRRM use "Gormy" because it's also "Peaksy"? I think so.

Gormy Gormon Peake & Wormy Twin Peaks

"Gormy" looks like and thus evokes "wormy", right? (We know from the "Areo/Arys" line in AFFC The Captain of Guards—

Ser Arys had come to Dorne to attend his own princess, as Areo Hotah had once come with his. Even their names sounded oddly alike: Areo and Arys.

—that GRRM is OK with loose wordplay like this. [The first line in the passage also foregrounds the fact that ASOIAF 'rhymes', in a figurative sense.])
And Twin Peaks is arguably "wormy": Peaks creator David Lynch directed the very "wormy" film Dune (giant sandworms!), and Peaks is in many ways a spiritual successor to and was very likely directly, consciously influenced by the cult comedy horror film The Lair of the White Worm (in the same way I believe ASOIAF is directly, consciously influenced by Twin Peaks). Countless people/reviewers have compared Peaks and Lair. There's a case to be made that the dream sequence in Fire Walk With Me is a conscious homage to a dream sequence in White Worm. (There's reddit post about it [HERE], but others have pointed this out, too.)
"That's crazy, Tootles! It was crazy to say Gormy reminds us of wormy and even crazier to say this could be a reference to Twin Peaks because of The Lair of the White Worm."
Maybe.
But it's not like The Mystery Knight doesn't put all the pieces on the table:

"Aye, that may well be," Ser Kyle said, "but many would welcome the return of Bittersteel. Bloodraven is the root of all our woes, the white worm gnawing at the heart of the realm."

A coincidence, that is not.

Gormon's "Twin", The Replacement

Having recognized that the name "Gormon" (Peake) points to Twin Peaks — per the Gordon Cole stuff if not the 'twins' Stormin' & Vuke and/or "Gormy" and Twin Peaks both seeming "wormy" — it's yet more curious that the canon presents us with 'twin' Gormons, and that the 'other' Gormon, Maester Gormon, was nearly Pycelle's "successor" i.e. replacement before coming to sit "below the iron mask in [Archmaester] Walgrave's place", i.e. before replacing Walgrave. (ASOS Tyrion II; AFFC Prologue) (Note: The "iron mask" smells like another twins reference, per The Man In The Iron Mask.)
A "twin" Gormon who's twice posited as a replacement is, I suspect, a nod to Gordon Cole's (i.e. David Lynch's) Twin Peaks' being a mid-season replacement show — a show that that was inserted into ABC's prime-time lineup to replace a show that was prematurely canceled.

Lord of Starpike

There's no doubt that Gormon's title "Lord of Starpike" is in part another nod to Gormenghast, which features the villain/anti-hero "Steerpike."
That said, "Lord of Starpike", too, feels overdetermined.

CONTINUED IN OLDEST REPLY, BELOW & HERE

Hi all,
The new airoboros 2.2 and spicyboros 2.2 models are all uploaded to HF (some are still being quantized by the legendary bloke).

• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/airoboros-l2-70b-2.2
• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/airoboros-l2-13b-2.2
• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/airoboros-l2-7b-2.2
• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/spicyboros-70b-2.2
• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/spicyboros-c34b-2.2
• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/spicyboros-13b-2.2
• https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/spicyboros-7b-2.2
• (airoboros codellama-34 will be uploaded soon, likely tomorrow morning)

airoboros vs spicyboros?
spicyboros is the uncensored actively de-censored version. It will still likely have some refusals, and bias inherited from the base llama-2 model, but is more likely to produce "harmful" content. The de-alignment data was not super comprehensive, but seems to have worked well, if you're into that sort of thing.
The de-alignment dataset includes a small amount of comedy, horror stories, llm-enhanced (nsfw) reddit stories, etc., so it will produce less PG content (when asked). The 7b model can be a bit... unhinged, so be careful with that one.
I removed all de-alignment data from airoboros models, so you may find them more censored than previous versions - use the spicy version instead if you want an uncensored model.
Prompt format
The prompt format now uses newlines instead of spaces!

A chat. USER: {prompt} ASSISTANT: 

So, system prompt, newline, USER: {prompt} (one space after colon), newline, ASSISTANT: There's plenty of training data that uses other names, so for a chat or RP you can replace USEASSISTANT with Tim:/Bob: or whatever.
The dataset includes many alternate system prompts to ensure the response are more likely to be styled by the system prompt, but I shorted the default system prompt to just "A chat."
Dataset updates

• enhanced "awareness" (based on system prompt) https://huggingface.co/datasets/jondurbin/airoboros-2.2#awareness
• text enhancement https://huggingface.co/datasets/jondurbin/airoboros-2.2#editor
• I regenerated (almost) all of the training data that included "Once upon a time..." because it's too cliche and boring
• summarization https://huggingface.co/datasets/jondurbin/airoboros-2.2#summarization
• I re-created RP/GTKM data without USEASSISTANT tokens polluting it: https://huggingface.co/datasets/jondurbin/airoboros-2.2#roleplayconversation

Edit: no space after "ASSISTANT:" (ty u/WolframRavenwolf)
Edit: checkpoints (lora adapters) here: * https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/airoboros-l2-70b-2.2-checkpoints * https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/airoboros-c34b-2.2-checkpoints * https://huggingface.co/jondurbin/spicyboros-70b-2.2-checkpoints

media.tenor.com/ydMWvQCt6MIAAAAC/horny-shrek.gif
Video: Mirror - Shrek
This is part of a series exploring the hidden motives and actions of the main players during Robert's Rebellion, named LBJ in reference to the influence of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War on GRRM's views and writings on war. LBJ also indicates considerations over whether Lyanna + Bobby B = Jon Snow. Previous installments include:

• Rhaegar Had To Be A Warrior
• Why Did Rhaegar Crown Lyanna?
  • Ice, Ice Baby?
  • Political Suicide?
  • Was She 'A Very Kinky Girl'?
• The Forging of Lightbringer: Blue Flowers & Narrow Visors
• Rhaegar Mistakenly Crowned Lyanna
• I am not fond of fish, but when fish is served, I eat it.
• All is fair in love and war...
• Kingsguard Loyalty
• Southron Ambitions & Lies
• The Return of the Prince: Éowyn at the Trident

In the last part, we combed through evidence that Lyanna fought disguised as Rhaegar at the Trident. We'll now examine why Cersei's torture of the Blue Bard indicates that Rhaegar was tortured by Robert, for the crime of crowning his beloved Lyanna with winter roses in front of half the realm.

"It saddens me to see Your Grace so careworn. I say, run off and play and leave the King's Hand to hear these tiresome petitions. We could dress as serving girls and spend the day amongst the smallfolk, to hear what they are saying of the fall of Dragonstone. I know the inn where the Blue Bard plays when he is not singing attendance on the little queen, and a certain cellar where a conjurer turns lead into gold, water into wine, and girls into boys. Perhaps he would work his spells on the two of us. Would it amuse Your Grace to be a man one night?"

- A Feast for Crows Cersei VIII

Mirror on the Wall: King Robert vs. Queen Cersei

Robert is practiced at shutting his eyes to things he’d rather not see, like when he can’t admit he’s too fat for his armor (like Cersei assumes washerwomen shrunk her gowns) or when he pretends wine made him hurt his queen (which Cersei reenacts on Taena, but is frustrated when that Myrish slut enjoys it). Robert fills his court with corrupt lickspittles and admits on his deathbed that he was a bad king when previously he expected Ned to say otherwise. Likewise, Cersei assumes she’s a political mastermind, basically Tywin with teats. In answer to Robert grooming Barra's barely pubescent mother, Cersei grooms and psychologically scars young Lancel (and Tyrek too for all we know). Robert incestuously cheats with his Estermont cousin early in his reign, so Cersei rekindles incest with her brother Jaime. Cersei has bastards killed who could threaten her own children's claims, and Robert tries to have Dany and her unborn child killed to protect the throne from dragonspawn. Robert pretends to care about his baseborn children, and people doubt Cersei loves anyone as more than an extension of herself (although Varys disagrees). Robert does seem to realize he doesn’t love his heirs, which raises the question of whether or not he knew they were bastards.

To her credit, Cersei did not look away. “He saw us. You love your children, do you not?”
Robert had asked him the very same question, the morning of the melee. He gave her the same answer. “With all my heart.”
“No less do I love mine.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XII
King Robert and Queen Cersei are an exercise in avoiding hypocritical analysis; any fault decried in one is reflected in the other in a role-appropriate way. Both lie to themselves and others, drink in excess, have cruel tempers, are physically and sexually abusive, and are terrible parents and rulers. Martin has clearly written Robert and Cersei to mirror one another, and if we saw Robert’s inner monologue, surely it would reveal that he’s just as arrogant and delusional as his wife.
It’s often claimed Robert was unaware of the illegitimacy of his heirs, as he would have gone berserk had he known. If one believes Robert would have executed Cersei for cuckolding him, then it must also be true that Rhaegar incurred Robert’s hatred when he crowned Lyanna with sexually suggestive winter roses in front of half the realm. In fact, we know he did:

As for Robert Baratheon himself, some say he laughed at the prince’s gesture, claiming that Rhaegar had done no more than pay Lyanna her due…but those who knew him better say the young lord brooded on the insult, and that his heart hardened toward the Prince of Dragonstone from that day forth.

- The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring The World of Ice and Fire
Given his family history of Targaryen betrayal, when the Laughing Storm rebelled against the Iron Throne over a broken betrothal, as well as his possessiveness of Lyanna, Robert would seek vengeance over Rhaegar's actions at Harrenhal. So when Robert talks about Rhaegar raping Lyanna, it’s easy to imagine that he’s reinforcing a lie to himself. Similar to how he projects Lyanna onto Cersei on their wedding night, Robert is capable of projecting his own actions onto Rhaegar. Robert is the person who actually had sex with Lyanna… but only once.

The king touched her cheek, his fingers brushing across the rough stone as gently as if it were living flesh. “I vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to her.”
“You did,” Ned reminded him.
“Only once,” Robert said bitterly.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard I
This subtext is mirrored by Jon Connington's implied love for Rhaegar. Connington laments that Rhaegar ass-ended his tower only once, then indicates that all the girls cried when Rhaegar played his harp, implying that Lyanna crying over Rhaegar's music was nothing special.

Yet when they parted, Jon Connington did not go to the sept. Instead his steps led him up to the roof of the east tower, the tallest at Griffin's Roost. As he climbed he remembered past ascents—a hundred with his lord father, who liked to stand and look out over woods and crags and sea and know that all he saw belonged to House Connington, and one (only one!) with Rhaegar Targaryen. Prince Rhaegar was returning from Dorne, and he and his escort had lingered here a fortnight. He was so young then, and I was younger. Boys, the both of us. At the welcoming feast, the prince had taken up his silver-stringed harp and played for them. A song of love and doom, Jon Connington recalled, and every woman in the hall was weeping when he put down the harp. Not the men, of course. Particularly not his own father, whose only love was land. Lord Armond Connington spent the entire evening trying to win the prince to his side in his dispute with Lord Morrigen.

- A Dance with Dragons The Griffon Reborn
Robert's false accusation of rape mirrors Lord Mathis Rowan's daughter's lie which landed Dareon, a singer and harpist, on the Wall; if Arya had this information, maybe she wouldn't have murdered him for desertion.

It made her angry to see Dareon sitting there so brazen, making eyes at Lanna as his fingers danced across the harp strings.

_

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince. And the singer should be on the Wall.

- A Feast for Crows Cat of the Canals
So when one considers that our favorite evil queen had an innocent singer imprisoned and tortured on trumped up charges, it then should not come as a shock that the fan-favorite warrior king would do something similar.

The Blue Bard Mirror

Cersei has the Blue Bard arrested and tortured in the dungeons, framing him for seducing Margaery. Afraid of Maggy the Frog's prophecies and thus jealous of Margaery, Cersei imprisons the young queen's favorite musician, accusing him of bedding her. She enlists Qyburn to torture a false confession from the Blue Bard and lies to herself about its veracity. The main beats of Cersei's motives and actions here 'rhyme' with what actually happened to Rhaegar: jealous over the prophecy-minded, musical prince's use of pale blue roses at Harrenhal, which according to Bael the Bard's song indicates a desire to bed and father a child on a Stark maiden, Robert imprisoned and tortured Rhaegar, also having Lyanna imprisoned in the tower of joy with Dorne's help, raped her, and lied about Rhaegar's guilt.
What follows is an examination of the Blue Bard torture scene from A Feast for Crows, Cersei IX.
Like Bael the Bard, the Blue Bard is linked to pale blue roses, signaling that his story is relevant to mysteries surrounding Lyanna.

“Not kind,” said Cersei, “merely truthful. Taena tells me that you are called the Blue Bard.”
“I am, Your Grace.” The singer’s boots were supple blue calfskin, his breeches fine blue wool. The tunic he wore was pale blue silk slashed with shiny blue satin. He had even gone so far as to dye his hair blue, in the Tyroshi fashion. Long and curly, it fell to his shoulders and smelled as if it had been washed in rosewater. From blue roses, no doubt. At least his teeth are white. They were good teeth, not the least bit crooked.
“You have no other name?”

His eyes are like Robert's eyes, beckoning readers to 'see':

A hint of pink suffused his cheeks. “As a boy, I was called Wat. A fine name for a plowboy, less fitting for a singer.”
The Blue Bard’s eyes were the same color as Robert’s. For that alone, she hated him. “It is easy to see why you are Lady Margaery’s favorite.”
“Her Grace is kind. She says I give her pleasure.”
“Oh, I’m certain of it. Might I see your lute?”
“If it please Your Grace.” Beneath the courtesy, there was a faint hint of unease, but he handed her the lute all the same. One does not refuse the queen’s request.
Cersei plucked a string and smiled at the sound. “Sweet and sad as love. Tell me, Wat . . . the first time you took Margaery to bed, was that before she wed my son, or after?”
For a moment he did not seem to understand. When he did, his eyes grew large. “Your Grace has been misinformed. I swear to you, I never—”

vs.

For a moment Robert did not seem to understand what Ned was saying. Defiance was not a dish he tasted often. Slowly his face changed as comprehension came. His eyes narrowed and a flush crept up his neck past the velvet collar. He pointed an angry finger at Ned. "You are the King's Hand, Lord Stark. You will do as I command you, or I'll find me a Hand who will."

- A Game of Thrones Eddard VIII
Not only do these passages share certain words and syntax, but they also reinforce both Cersei and Robert's rash, retaliatory natures. Both expect to be obeyed.
Cersei's violence towards the singer even evokes Robert smashing the rubies off Rhaegar's armor at the Trident.

“Liar!” Cersei smashed the lute across the singer’s face so hard the painted wood exploded into shards and splinters. “Lord Orton, summon my guards and take this creature to the dungeons.”
Orton Merryweather’s face was damp with fear. “This . . . oh, infamy . . . he dared seduce the queen?”
“I fear it was the other way around, but he is a traitor all the same. Let him sing for Lord Qyburn.”
The Blue Bard went white. “No.” Blood dripped from his lip where the lute had torn it. “I never . . .” When Merryweather seized him by the arm, he screamed, “Mother have mercy, no.”
“I am not your mother,” Cersei told him.

Cersei retorts that she's not the Blue Bard's mother, before having Wat tortured out of jealousy of her step-daughter Margaery, who she thinks is the younger queen from Maggy's prophecy. This is clearly meant to reflect the story of Snow White, in which her vain and wicked step-mother is told by a magic mirror that the princess is more beautiful, leading her to send a huntsman to kill her. He takes Snow White into the deep of the wood but lets her flee, presenting a boar's heart to the evil queen instead. Similarly, Robert is a huntsman who is killed by a boar, with the aid of strongwine supplied by Cersei.

Dorcas put a silver looking glass into her hand. Very good, the queen thought, smiling at her reflection.

- A Feast for Crows Cersei V
I've previously argued that the queen of love and beauty's laurel at Harrenhal was actually formed from white roses and mistaken as pale blue like frost in shadow. "The Blue Bard went white" is just one of many pieces of text that foreshadows this reveal. Azor Ahai forges Lightbringer, so it makes sense that solutions to major mysteries would involve light phenomena.

Even in the black cells, all they got from him were denials, prayers, and pleas for mercy. Before long, blood was streaming down his chin from all his broken teeth, and he wet his dark blue breeches three times over, yet still the man persisted in his lies. “Is it possible we have the wrong singer?” Cersei asked.
“All things are possible, Your Grace. Have no fear. The man will confess before the night is done.” Down here in the dungeons, Qyburn wore roughspun wool and a blacksmith’s leather apron. To the Blue Bard he said, “I am sorry if the guards were rough with you. Their courtesies are sadly lacking.” His voice was kind, solicitous. “All we want from you is the truth.”
“I’ve told you the truth,” the singer sobbed. Iron shackles held him hard against the cold stone wall.
“We know better.” Qyburn had a razor in his hand, its edge gleaming faintly in the torchlight. He cut away the Blue Bard’s clothing, until the man was naked but for his high blue boots. The hair between his legs was brown, Cersei was amused to see. “Tell us how you pleasured the little queen,” she commanded.

vs.

There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.

- A Game of Thrones Prologue
Qyburn slices off the Blue Bard's nipple and the wet red eye weeps blood... Margaery may favor his music, but it's obvious they did not have a sexual relationship. Lyanna also was moved to tears by Rhaegar's music, but that doesn't mean she desired him. This series is called A Song of Ice & Fire, so it's appropriate to hide major clues to its most important mysteries in a singer's tale.

“I never . . . I sang, was all, I sang and played. Her ladies will tell you. They were always with us. Her cousins.”
“How many of them did you have carnal knowledge of?”
“None of them. I’m just a singer. Please.”
Qyburn said, “Your Grace, mayhaps this poor man only played for Margaery whilst she entertained other lovers.”
Lord Qyburn ran a hand up the Blue Bard’s chest. “Does she take your nipples in her mouth during your love play?” He took one between his thumb and forefinger, and twisted. “Some men enjoy that. Their nipples are as sensitive as a woman’s.” The razor flashed, the singer shrieked. On his chest a wet red eye wept blood. Cersei felt ill. Part of her wanted to close her eyes, to turn away, to make it stop. But she was the queen and this was treason. Lord Tywin would not have turned away.

vs.

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying she poured wine over his head.

- A Storm of Swords Bran II
Like Cersei mentally distorts reality to believe Margaery seduced the Blue Bard, it's easy to imagine Robert convincing himself that Lyanna tempted Rhaegar, to try to make sense of the insult at Harrenhal:

In the end the Blue Bard told them his whole life, back to his first name day. His father had been a chandler and Wat was raised to that trade, but as a boy he found he had more skill at making lutes than barrels. When he was twelve he ran off to join a troupe of musicians he had heard performing at a fair. He had wandered half the Reach before coming to King’s Landing in hopes of finding favor at court.
“Favor?” Qyburn chuckled. “Is that what women call it now? I fear you found too much of it, my friend . . . and from the wrong queen. The true one stands before you.”
Yes. Cersei Robert blamed Margaery Tyrell Lyanna for this. If not for her, Wat Rhaegar might have lived a long and fruitful life, singing his little songs and bedding pig girls princesses and crofter’s lord’s daughters. Her scheming forced this on me. She has soiled me with her treachery.

Cersei urges the Blue Bard to recant certain accusations, reinforcing the fact that people of means have privileges, a theme of King Robert's reign:

"Not true, Your Grace," protested a wispy young man who must have been Caswell. "What is mine is yours."
"Whenever someone said that to my brother Robert, he took them at their word," Renly said.
"Do you have daughters?"
"Yes, Your Grace. Two."
"Then thank the gods that I am not Robert. My sweet queen is all the woman I desire." Renly held out his hand to help Margaery to her feet. "We'll talk again when you've had a chance to refresh yourself, Lady Catelyn."

- A Clash of Kings Catelyn II
vs.

By dawn the singer’s high blue boots were full of blood, and he had told them how Margaery would fondle herself as she watched her cousins pleasuring him with their mouths. At other times he would sing for her whilst she sated her lusts with other lovers. “Who were they?” the queen demanded, and the wretched Wat named Ser Tallad the Tall, Lambert Turnberry, Jalabhar Xho, the Redwyne twins, Osney Kettleblack, Hugh Clifton, and the Knight of Flowers.
That displeased her. She dare not besmirch the name of the hero of Dragonstone. Besides, no one who knew Ser Loras would ever believe it. The Redwynes could not be a part of it either. Without the Arbor and its fleet, the realm could never hope to rid itself of this Euron Crow’s Eye and his accursed ironmen. “All you are doing is spitting up the names of men you saw about her chambers. We want the truth!”
“The truth.” Wat looked at her with the one blue eye that Qyburn had left him. Blood bubbled through the holes where his front teeth had been. “I might have . . . misremembered.”
“Horas and Hobber had no part of this, did they?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not them.”
“As for Ser Loras, I am certain Margaery took pains to hide what she was doing from her brother.”
“She did. I remember now. Once I had to hide under the bed when Ser Loras came to see her. He must never know, she said.”

The previous line draws attention to a gaping hole in the Rhaegar red herring: Rhaegar believed his children by Elia were heads of the dragon, his son Aegon the prince that was promised, and yet he allegedly left three Kingsguard with Lyanna while leaving none to protect his other children. He also failed to explain their disappearance, when doing so would have gone a long way towards keeping his and Lyanna's families alive.

“I am not lying. Ser Amory dragged Princess Rhaenys out from under her father’s bed and stabbed her to death. He had some men-at-arms with him, but I do not know their names.” He leaned forward. “It was Ser Gregor Clegane who smashed Prince Aegon’s head against a wall and raped your sister Elia with his blood and brains still on his hands.”

- A Storm of Swords Tyrion IX
Wat is kept in the black cells and given milk of the poppy for his pain. He is told by Cersei that he can take the black if he lies sufficiently, so he continues to lie when the Faith gets ahold of and also tortures him. Ned was likewise kept in the black cells, feverish from his broken leg but denied milk of the poppy, then was given a similar deal, the black in exchange for lying and dishonoring himself, before being beheaded on the steps of the Sept of Baelor.

“I prefer this song to the other.” Leave the great lords out of it, that was for the best. The others, though . . . Ser Tallad had been a hedge knight, Jalabhar Xho was an exile and a beggar, Clifton was the only one of the little queen’s guardsman. And Osney is the plum that makes the pudding. “I know you feel better for having told the truth. You will want to remember that when Margaery comes to trial. If you were to start lying again . . .”
“I won’t. I’ll tell it true. And after . . .”
“. . . you will be allowed to take the black. You have my word on that.” Cersei turned to Qyburn. “See that his wounds are cleaned and dressed, and give him milk of the poppy for the pain.”
“Your Grace is good.” Qyburn dropped the bloody razor into a pail of vinegar. “Margaery may wonder where her bard has gone.”
“Singers come and go, they are infamous for it.”
The climb up the dark stone steps from the black cells left Cersei feeling breathless. I must rest. Getting to the truth was wearisome work, and she dreaded what must follow. I must be strong. What I must do I do for Tommen and the realm. It was a pity that Maggy the Frog was dead. Piss on your prophecy, old woman. The little queen may be younger than I, but she has never been more beautiful, and soon she will be dead.

Ahem...

It rained all through that night, and come morning Ned, Lem, and Watty the Miller awoke with chills. Watty could not keep his breakfast down, and young Ned was feverish and shivering by turns, with skin clammy to the touch.

- A Storm of Swords Arya VIII
Of interest, the only time our author's name appears in the canon is applied to Lord Confessor George Graceford, a notorious torturer during the reign of Aegon III who had a knack for extracting false confessions. Because of this, and in light of mirrored text during Qyburn's torture of the Blue Bard, surely this scene is of utmost importance in unravelling hidden truths.
Like Cersei with the Blue Bard, Robert may have wanted to witness the torture of Rhaegar. Previously, we saw indications that Rhaegar and/or his companions were held in Ghaston Grey, the Alcatraz-style island prison in the Sea of Dorne. Yet it's also possible Rhaegar was held for a time on the mainland, perhaps at Summerhall or even Storm's End, where Robert lingered while trying to consolidate his military power:

The king's voice was thick with anger. "My brother had a gift for inspiring loyalty. Even in his foes. At Summerhall he won three battles in a single day, and brought Lords Grandison and Cafferen back to Storm's End as prisoners. He hung their banners in the hall as trophies. Cafferen's white fawns were spotted with blood and Grandison's sleeping lion was torn near in two. Yet they would sit beneath those banners of a night, drinking and feasting with Robert. He even took them hunting. 'These men meant to deliver you to Aerys to be burned,' I told him after I saw them throwing axes in the yard. 'You should not be putting axes in their hands.' Robert only laughed. I would have thrown Grandison and Cafferen into a dungeon, but he turned them into friends. Lord Cafferen died at Ashford Castle, cut down by Randyll Tarly whilst fighting for Robert. Lord Grandison was wounded on the Trident and died of it a year after. My brother made them love him, but it would seem that I inspire only betrayal. Even in mine own blood and kin. Brother, grandfather, cousins, good uncle . . ."

- A Storm of Swords Davos IV
In testament to how easy it is to be duped into supporting conflicts based on lies, just as Robert and his allies garnered support for the rebellion based on malicious propaganda, consider this fact about the film The Rock, set at Alcatraz:

A scene from the film was the basis for incorrect and false descriptions of the Iraqi chemical weapons program. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service was led to believe Saddam Hussein was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction by a false agent who based his reports on the movie the false claims of weapons of mass destruction were the justification for UK’s entering the war.)

Video: The Rock - Ranger Bob
Going forward, we'll continue the examination of evidence that Robert Baratheon truly earned his moniker the Demon of the Trident, showing that he went along with a deceptive plot to overthrow the Targaryen dynasty, and even raped Lyanna after his loss at Ashford. We will then conclude by examining Ned's inner turmoil, indicting his best friend and king. To preview where this series is headed, in its full audio/visual glory with greater detail, look here.

Newbie but learning.
I've got a load of unstructured text. I've been investigating how to make LoRA with it.
The text is all speech as I am trying to improve character creation.
My question. Should I spend the time structuring the text? Adding some context above each file etc.
For example
The following text is Bob, Bob is a superhero who is very arrogant. He saves lives but nobody likes his attitude.
Or should I just leave the raw text with no context?
Or, is there something totally different I should do.