AI Summary
5 min readBoiled Leather Begins: Two Prologues, One World
The hosts of A Song of Ice and Fire Book Club are doing something they've never done before. After years of reading the series in publication order, they're tackling "Boiled Leather"—a fan-created chronological reordering that interleaves A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, two books that George R.R. Martin split by geography rather than timeline. For their first episode in this experiment, they cover both prologues at once: Pate's fatal encounter in Oldtown and Varamyr Sixskins' death beyond the Wall. Reading them back to back, they argue, immediately reveals something the original structure obscured.
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What you'll learn
- 1 Ep. 227: Boiled Leather Part 1 | AFFC & ADWD Prologues
- 2 (01:26) **Welcome & Boiled Leather Introduction** - Matt and Jimmy launch the Boiled Leather reread, explaining the chronological merge of AFFC and ADWD
- 3 (03:41) **Personal Updates & The Conquer Challenge** - Hosts catch up on life and Jimmy shares a fitness app discovery
- 4 (08:50) **Episode Format & War for Westeros Game** - Housekeeping on YouTube chapter-only cuts and discussion of the upcoming RTS game
- 5 (11:20) **Prologue Overview: Two Chapters at Once** - Setting up the dual-prologue episode covering the Citadel and Varamyr Sixskins
- 6 (12:54) **Initial Reactions to Reading Back-to-Back** - Why these prologues work together as an opening
- 7 (14:36) **Would the Varamyr Prologue Have Existed Without the Book Split?** - Speculating on George R.R. Martin's original intentions
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
AFFC Prologue — Pate
In Oldtown, struggling Citadel novice Pate steals a master key in exchange for a gold dragon from a mysterious alchemist, hoping to use the money to win Rosey. After completing the exchange, Pate suddenly collapses and dies, while the chapter also introduces rumors of Daenerys's dragons, Marwyn the Mage, and a burning glass candle.
ADWD Prologue — Varamyr Sixskins
A dying Varamyr Sixskins reflects on his life as a powerful skinchanger and the forbidden acts his mentor Haggon taught him never to commit. After unsuccessfully attempting to take over Thistle's body, Varamyr dies and enters his wolf for his "second life," later encountering Thistle resurrected as a blue-eyed wight.
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