Песен за огън и лед 28 - Those are brave men... lets go kill them

It means to show or feel elation or jubilation, especially as the result of a success. When used in ASOIAF, it appears to indicate overconfidence followed by failure or an unexpected twist. The meaning is never positive, as I will show, because the term is used when characters rejoice too soon.

Cersei playing the High Sparrow:
“Margaery Tyrell is done, she thought, exulting.” (AFFC)

Well, Cersei got played by him too a few pages later.

Bran skinchanging Hodor:

“This time he took the wight’s head off at the neck, and for half a moment he exulted … until a pair of dead hands came groping blindly for his throat.” (ADWD)

Classic action scene where hero thinks he’s won, but hasn’t. He’s also skinchanging Hodor, which should unsettle us.

Bran warging Summer:

“I am walking, he thought, exulting. Part of him knew that it was only a dream, but even the dream of walking was better than the truth of his bedchamber, walls and ceiling and door.” (ACOK)

This starts Bran on the dark path where he wargs too much, and magic comes with a price in this universe.

Sansa:

“Your northerners won a crushing victory. We received word only this morning.” Robb will kill you all, she thought, exulting. “It’s … terrible, my lord. My brother is a vile traitor.” (ACOK)

Well, we know how that turned out.

Arya warging Nymeria as she kills a Dothraki:

“Her jaws locked on his arm as they fell, her teeth sinking through the leather and wool and soft flesh. When they landed she gave a savage jerk with her head and ripped the limb loose from his shoulder. Exulting, she shook it back and forth in her mouth, scattering the warm red droplets amidst the cold black rain.” (ASOS)

This is the first time Arya kills someone in her wolf dream. By this point Arya is pushing Gendry and Hot Pie too hard to reach Riverrun… Which we know isnt going to happen, but the author wants you to think she will because she just slaughtered the Bloody Mummers (she was worried they were hunting her).

Arya:

“[The Hound is] going to lose, she told herself, exulting, as Lord Beric’s flaming sword whirled and slashed.” (ASOS)

Does the Hound lose? In a way, yes. But Beric is resurrected.

Varamyr:

“I am the wood, and everything that’s in it, he thought, exulting” (ADWD)

This creepy fuck is going mad with skinchanging power. Twist: He loses his chance to skinchange Thistle - she becomes a wight.

Dany:

“That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper’s rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened.” (ASOS)

This passage has been used to support the idea that she will defeat the Others. If this fits the pattern above, either 3 things will happen 1) Dany defeats the Others but she won’t win against whoever the “Usurper” is at the time, 2) we have another iteration of the overconfident action hero move where she thinks she’s won against the Others, but she hasn’t, or 3) if the “Usurper” is the Starks, “armored in Ice” (Ned’s protection/Oathkeeper) and Jon “armored in black ice” (in his own dream), she will fail there too. Either way, this isnt good for Dany.

I am leaning toward interpretation #2 or #3 because in the other “exult” passages, characters are in very dark places - they arent “doing good,” they’re doing things that should creep us out or unsettle us: Cersei obsessed with power, Sansa becoming bitter and lying, Arya becoming more comfortable with death/killing, Bran becoming addicted to magic, and freaking Varamyr who is AWFUL.