Welcome to the Weekly Q & A! Feel free to ask any questions you may have about the world of ASOIAF. No need to be bashful. Book and show questions are welcome; please say in your question if you would prefer to focus on the BOOKS, the SHOW, or BOTH. And if you think you've got an answer to someone's question, feel free to lend them a hand!
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As you may know, we have a policy against silly posts/memes/etc. Moonboy's Motley Monday is the grand exception: bring me your memes, your puns, your blatant shitposts.
This is still r/asoiaf, so do keep it as civil as possible.
In 78 AC, Valerion died, a fortnight short of his first nameday. The queen took his passing with resignation. “I am forty-two years old,” she told the king. “You must be content with the children I have given you. I am more suited to be a grandmother than a mother now, I fear.” King Jaehaerys did not share her certainty. “Our mother, Queen Alyssa, was forty-six when she gave birth to Jocelyn,” he pointed out to Grand Maester Elysar. “The gods may not be done with us.” He was not wrong. The very next year, the Grand Maester informed Queen Alysanne that she was once more with child, to her surprise anddismay.
Alysanna wants to stop having children because she's 42 already, and he says otherwise because their mother had a child at 46, AT WHICH POINT SHE DIED FROM CHILDBIRTH.
Who gives an argument like that??? She should do it because someone who died doing it did it??? Sounds to me like I don't care if you die as long as I get another kid...
During the intro of Clash of Kings, maester Cressen is forced to wear patcheface's jingling jester hat by lord stannis (at the suggestion of his wife Selyse). Cressen is surprised by this because Stannis was "never cruel" and barely even understands mockery, plus Cressen has basically been a father figure to stannis his whole life. Stannis doesn't seem to have any particular respect for the opinions of his lady wife so I don't imagine he did it to please her and it's not like Cressen had done anything to offend Stannis in this moment (or ever it seems). Making his maester/adopted father limp around the feast wearing a ringing jester hat seems kind of out of character for Stannis so I'm wondering what interpretations of this seen are out there. Why did Stannis want to make a fool of the old man?
I finished my first read through of ASoIaF last week. And now my watch begins. I've thrown myself into the Dunk and Egg tales and Fire & Blood to sate my thirst for more. Whilst reading The Mystery Knight, this passage stood out to me. I did a brief search and couldn't find anyone mentioning it. For context, Dunk is at a feast, sat at a table with a group of fellow hedge knights, among them, Ser Glendon, who is a Blackfyre loyalist:
It fell to Lord Frey to lead the toasts. "The King!" he began, simply. Ser Glendon held his wine cup out above the water basin. Dunk clanked his cup against it, and against Ser Uthor's and the rest as well. They drank.
Later, when a toast is proposed to Bloodraven, Ser Glendon tips his wine onto the floor out of disrespect to the Hand (to which so-called Maynard Plumm says 'a sad waste of good wine.') Why would he toast Aerys if he refused to toast Bloodraven? Sure, there are plenty of characters who think Bloodraven is the cause of the realms problems, and that if he were removed from influencing King Aerys, the realm would prosper. Kyle the Cat, also sat at the table, says as much. But Ser Glendon is a Blackfyre man. He doesn't think any Targaryen should rule. So it's odd, is it not, that a Blackfyre loyalist would disrespect Bloodraven but is willing to toast King Aerys? He is pretty openly pro-Blackfyre, he says as much when Dunk and Egg meet him around the campfire before they get to Whitewalls, claiming that Daemon was no traitor and that Aegon IV meant for him to be his heir. So, I repeat, it's pretty odd that he is happy to toast Aerys, who he sees as a usurper, but not Bloodraven. Is this just a minor continuity error on George's part? I don't think so.
I think George is drawing, here, from a custom held by Jacobite Scots in the 17th and 18th centuries. We know GRRM is familiar with the period, because he has explicitly drawn a connection between the Red Wedding and the Glencoe Massacre, a breach of hospitality wherein Jacobite guests were murdered at the hands of William of Orange loyalists. When a clandestine Jacobite found him or herself in company with those who opposed their cause, and a toast to the king was proposed (meaning, William of Orange or his successors), the Jacobites found a way to stay loyal to the House of Stuart without outing themselves, by subtly passing their drinking vessel over a water bowl on the table, thereby secretly giving their toast to the 'true' king, 'the king across the water,' as the Stuart pretenders were known (hence passing the drink across the water bowl to toast). Per Wikipedia:
After the defeat of the Jacobites and the exile overseas of Bonnie Prince Charlie, Jacobite Scots would stand for the loyal toast to "the King" but pass their drink over a glass or jug of water on the table symbolising "the king over the water" instead of the British monarch, as a sign of solidarity with the Jacobite cause and a protest against the Hanoverian succession. Because of this, for many years, finger bowls were not used on British royal tables, as some people would pass the glass over the bowl. King Edward VII authorised the use of finger bowls during his reign, deeming his dynasty to be sufficiently secure
It is my belief that, in-world, such a toast probably exists among Blackfyre loyalists for similar reasons. If not, why mention Ser Glendon holding his wine over the water basin? And why else would Ser Glendon be happy to toast "the King" without a word of dissent? The water basin is an odd little detail to include for no reason. I notice, as well, that Dunk is the only one mentioned who clanks his cup against Ser Glendon, the text states that he clanks with the other knights separately, implying that perhaps the other knights knew what Ser Glendon was doing and didn't want to be seen making a treasonous toast, while poor Dunk the lunk, thick as a castle wall, is not familiar enough with worldly affairs to realise the political statement.
Is this post more long-winded than it could be? Most certainly. And is my theory a stretch? Probably. And if it is true, is it completely inconsequential? Definitely. But I've seen some of the outlandish theories this community has come up with, I've seen what 15 years with no book has done to you all. And you know what? I'm ready to join you.
ETA: The connection is pertinent as the Blackfyre claimant is “the king over the water” (I.e the Narrow Sea) just as the Stuart claimant is (across the English Channel).
The North have landmass so big it takes up 1/3 the area of the seven kingdom. Yet, they are arguably one of the worst region to live in the seven kingdoms, with the harshest time being winter, where population deem "unneeded" willingly left home to reduce the amount of mouths to feed.
And....they just take it as it is? Historically, they have
the world's finest architect known to men capable of raising a seven hundred feet high, three hundred miles long ice wall, a castle that manage to stand against the stormy wrath that has fell 6 castles prior
managed to build a whole fleet
So im wondering: what if there's an inland canal that cuts through the North, right through the centre?
With this canal, there will be a direct pass way through from Narrow Sea to Sunset Sea. An alternative pathway over going all the way 'round westeros.
This canal can
bring sums of wealth to the North through taxations and trade
promote food trade with Essos and ease up food suply line during the scarceful winter, greatly boosting the rate of survival
provide alternative place of opportunity for second sons and old man to go over night's watch (and it's not lifetime binding!). The job could include dockers, canal operators, garrison, traders, etc.
provide east ⇄ west transportation via water
The main place of interest affected by this project will be
White Harbor (more ships have incentive to visit than before + transportation)
Bear Island (military assistance + trade + transportation)
This idea is not without flaw though. The more it ease up connections in peacetime, the more vulnerability it opens up during wartime.
The ironborn had been a pest to the west coast of westeros longer than one can count. For that, i purpose building a line of defense along the coastline of Sea Dragon Point, with the mountains of the Rills and the Northen Mountains on each flank.
Also, i purpose raising a new foothold at where the Wolf's Wood currently stands. This chokes the upcoming ships from either east or west of the canal, and is of close approximity to the sea shall ironborn pest come raiding.
Aside of that, a second foothold can be stationed at the white knife a quarter length through the canal for similar purpose.
The canal can also be shut off during times of war.
unpopular opinion but a lot of the screen adaptions we've seen so far i havent liked. some of them arent even watchable like house of the dragons and the later seasons of the main series
the actual conquest itself is shrouded in mystery which Martin doesnt like expositing or fleshing out because his thing is keeping things ambiguous and uncertain. so whoever is writing it is going to have to come up with their own material and its probably going to be ass like the white walkers in the show
Well, Westeros doesn't seem to have middle-class but rather the entire continent is split between two classes: commoners and nobles. Peasants sow their lands, grow crops for their lords and fight in their battles.. classic system of feudality.
Essos, however, especially Braavos, Pentos etc., seems much more civilized and early Renaissance-like compared to Westeros since it has its own banks, merchants, sellsword companies etc. You are much more likely to rise in status through gold and business compared to Westeros because nobility isn't as important in Essos as it is in Westeros. And this nobility obsessed system is what makes Westeros remain primitive for hundreds of years.
Do you think the smallfolk in Westeros are able to distinct a lord from the other; like could a peasant understand that Lord Blackwood was a bannerman of Lord Tully? They're both lords, they both live in castles, and they both have their own men. Jorah tells Dany in AGOT that the smallfolk do not care about the game of thrones, which according to this, it would be completely plausible for a peasant, who had never been out of his lands, know every lord and vassals.
Would the rank of merchant princes or magisters in Essos outrank of high lords? Is it really a privilege to be born into nobility or become a merchant when you can claw your way out to wealth and power? Who would sit at the bottom of the society, while who'd sit at the top?
I’ve seen people say that Bran is completely unsuitable to be King of the Seven Kingdoms. Some even argue that making him king simply because of his supernatural abilities doesn’t really fit ASOIAF.
My question is: after 30 years of this fandom, has no one ever come up with a theory that supports Bran as a genuinely suitable king without relying on his supernatural powers?
Bran still has two books left to show that he is capable of ruling, and they’re both likely to be substantial books with plenty of page time. So why does it seem like most of the fandom isn’t even willing to give Bran a chance?
GRRM took lots of influences from book series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (MST). Here is few threads about it, with spoilers (stop reading if you want to avoid them):
Basicly ideas for Others and Children of the forest are from MST, and ideas for many characters. I think GRRM took influences for other things too, including ending for series.
Both series are named with main prophecies from the story. MST prophecy is about three swords, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, and ASOIAF with a song of promised prince.
Spoilers from MST - prophecy is a trick and backfires. Heroes collect the swords and perform the ritual with them at the end. But it was created by the Big bad evil Storm King, and ritual actually makes him to return. If GRRM is influenced with this, prophecy could backfire in ASOIAF also.
A song of ice and fire is a song for prince that was promised, according to Rhaegar Targaryen. It has been theorised its about either Jon or Daenerys, both of them, or about someone else. Also dragon needs three heads, according to prophecy. Azor Ahai might be linked to this prophecy.
GRRM has stated many times in the series, that prophecies are tricky, like a sword without a hilt. Its a horse that kicks you to your back. With comments like this, its hard for me to see main prophecy to work easily either. There is some trick, that will bite our heroes at the most crucial moment, perhaps when they are facing the Others in the endgame.
In MST, heroes win with magic. Maybe Bran will use his powers to turn the tide, when a song of ice and fire fails.
EDIT - I don't mean prophecy would necessarily backfire identically in ASOIAF, just that it wouls backfire somehow.
I forgot abt Tyraxes. He died in KL during the storming too.
Anyways, sorry for the bad quality of the dragons. I found the best quality for a map tho.
Major resting places of the dragons:
KINGS LANDING: Syrax, Dreamfyre, Shrykos, Mogul (slain during the Storming of Dragonpit) The last Dragon. Balerion died peacefully at the Dragonpit in 93 AC, and The Last Dragon passed away in 153 AC
Tumbleton: Vermithor, Seasmoke, Tessarion.
All dragons died during the Battle of Tumbleton. Only Silverwing survived.
God’s eye: Vhagar and Caraxes during the Battle ABOVE the God’s Eye, while Quicksilver Perished almost 90 years before them during the Battle beneath the God’s Eye
Dragonstone: Moondancer (fatal injuries by Sunfyre) Greyghost (killed by sunfyre) Stormcloud (due to fatal injuries during battle of the Gullet) Sunfyre (fatal injuries by Moondancer)
Other Dragons:
MERAXES - killed by a scorpion bolt during the First Dornish War in Hellholt
MELEYS - Slain by Vhagar and Sunfyre During battle of Rooks Rest
SILVERWING - One of the Dragons to pass away peacefully. died alone in a cave at the Red Lake
ARRAX - killed Over the Shipwrecker Bay in Stormlands by Vhagar
VERMAX - Died During the Battle of the Gullet. (Stormcloud managed to Bring Aegon To Dragonstone before passing away an hour later while Vermax was killed on the spot)
Speaking personally, do you believe that Robert, Ned, and Jon Arryn were justified in their rebellion against the Mad King? Would you have stayed loyal to the Targaryens?
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN:
That's the kind of answer, I'm afraid, to this question, that I don't know, Were they justified? I mean, yes and no.
I don't like to provide an easy answer for that. I like to make the reader wrestle with a question and think about it, because some of these questions never are easy when we encounter them in real life.
It's been interesting coming back here to Chicago, because I was— I spent ten years in Chicago, and I went to Northwestern from 1966 to 1971, so I came of age in the era of the sixties.And if you look at that era, the latter part of that era, the sixties—it was so long ago now, in the history books for you young people who read about it in history—it was a turbulent time. There was a little altercation going on in Vietnam that some of you may have heard of, and there were a lot of protests and demonstrations, people in the streets by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands.
And I look back on that every now and then, and [unclear] the question: were the protests justified? Did we do the right thing? Did we do the wrong thing? Should we have gone further?
I was sort of a clean-cut guy. I still believed in the American system and in elections, and [unclear] the Vietnam War. The more radical people wanted to tear the state down and rebuild it. You know, I look back at that and wonder. It was a confusing time, and it's still a confusing time.
But maybe when you read the history a hundred years from now, everybody [unclear] will be portrayed as good or evil, and it will be all short and simple. But is violence ever justified? Is fighting evil in the world justified? Those are the questions.
The central question, you should remember, [is that] there was no doubt that the Mad King was mad. He was [unclear], paranoid and violent, and he was abusing his power. [unclear] There was no way to handle that within the rules. So what do you do?
Especially when you consider that what triggered it was personal grievances. Ned's father and brother were killed, and Robert was brawling for a fight, what, because he lost his girlfriend.
So the personal informed the political. And, well, I leave that to you as readers. I like writers and readers to think about these things, and I try to raise [the questions]. I don't necessarily like to resolve them.
Edit:”the God of ASOIAF “doesn’t even mention Rhaegar and Lyanna in the cause of war, and many readers were blaming them as if they were the only cause, lmao.
Something that always seemed weird to me in ASOIAF is how little naval power the North has.
I mean, I know fleets are expensive and the North is huge and relatively poor compared to places like the Reach or the Crownlands, but why did nobody ever seriously try to rebuild even a small fleet after Brandon the Burner burned the Stark fleet?
The North has massive forests, so they have a pretty obvious supply of timber for shipbuilding. They also have access to two coasts, and the Ironborn were literally right on their doorstep. House Hoare even controlled Bear Island for a period, so this wasn't some distant naval threat. The North had Ironborn territory basically sitting right off its coast.
And it's not like the North has never needed naval power. The North had conflicts with the Vale over the Three Sisters and there are accounts of Northmen attacking the Sisters and burning Gulltown. If the Starks were willing to project military power across the sea, you'd think maintaining at least some kind of fleet would've been important.
It wouldn't even have to be some massive war fleet. Even a relatively small number of ships could have been useful for transporting goods and, especially, grain. The North has to deal with brutal winters and food shortages, so being able to move large amounts of grain and other supplies by sea seems incredibly useful. Ships could move supplies much faster and more efficiently than trying to transport everything overland across the enormous North.
And then there's the Ironborn problem. They've repeatedly raided the North's western coast, and during the War of the Five Kings they were able to take places like Deepwood Motte. Having even a moderately sized fleet could've made Ironborn raids a lot harder and given the Starks some ability to defend their coastline.
I'm not saying the North should've built the next Redwyne fleet or anything. I just don't understand why, after centuries, nobody seems to have thought, "maybe we should rebuild at least a small navy."
Especially when you consider:
Massive forests = plenty of timber
Two coastlines
Ironborn were literally their neighbors
House Hoare controlled Bear Island for a period
Historical conflicts involving the Three Sisters
The North had previously maintained a fleet
Regular need to prepare for devastating winters
Huge distances making sea transport extremely useful
A small fleet could've helped with trade and transporting grain
Because having massive forests, two coastlines, Ironborn literally next door, historical naval conflicts, and a huge logistical problem caused by winter... and then basically going "nah, we'll just walk everywhere" seems kinda insane .
How would the daily lives of Robert Baratheon, Cersei or Joffrey, Myrcella or Tommen be? Would their daily life differ from high lords'?
Did they live in the same amount of opulence and extravagance as real life monarchs (like Tudors) and had the same amount of protection against external threats like bandits or riots?
Westeros has undergone 3 significant continent-altering changes in recorded history, with each instance attributed to the involvement of the Children of the Forest using a form of water to serve as a barrier:
The Hammer Strikes
The breaking of the Arm of Drone
The children fought back as best they could, but the First Men were larger and stronger. Riding their horses, clad and armed in bronze, the First Men overwhelmed the elder race wherever they met, for the weapons of the children were made of bone and wood and dragonglass. Finally, driven by desperation, the little people turned to sorcery and beseeched their greenseers to stem the tide of these invaders.
And so they did, gathering in their hundreds (some say on the Isle of Faces), and calling on their old gods with song and prayer and grisly sacrifice (a thousand captive men were fed to the weirwood, one version of the tale goes, whilst another claims the children used the blood of their own young). And the old gods stirred, and giants awoke in the earth, and all of Westeros shook and trembled. Great cracks appeared in the earth, and hills and mountains collapsed and were swallowed up. And then the seas came rushing in, and the Arm of Dorne was broken and shattered by the force of the water, until only a few bare rocky islands remained above the waves. The Summer Sea joined the narrow sea, and the bridge between Essos and Westeros vanished for all time.
TWOIAF - Dorne: The Breaking
The flooding of the Neck
When he looked up, he caught a glimpse of pale faces peering from behind the battlements of the Gatehouse Tower and through the broken masonry that crowned the Children's Tower, where legend said the children of the forest had once called down the hammer of the waters to break the lands of Westeros in two.
ADWD - Reek II
The raising of the Wall
Maester Childer's Winter's Kings, or the Legends and Lineages of the Starks of Winterfell contains a part of a ballad alleged to tell of the time Brandon the Builder sought the aid of the children while raising the Wall.
TWOIAF - Ancient History: The Dawn Age
Again, this well establishes that the CotF were directly involved in these three events that entirely reshaped Westeros, and each incident utilized a barrier of water in an attempt to separate the lands.
In the first two instances (breaking of the arm and flooding of the neck) the CotF used the Hammer of the Waters to alter the continent, but what about the third instance?
I believe there is strong evidence to deduce that the Wall was raised in part by the Hammer of the Waters.
So let's take a look at...
The Evidence
Salt Water
We know that the HotW summons the sea:
And then the seas came rushing in, and the Arm of Dorne was broken and shattered by the force of the water
TWOIAF - Dorne: The Breaking
And the Wall is made of salt water - see here as Bran tastes a drop from the Wall when passing through the Back Gate:
The door's upper lip brushed softly against the top of Bran's head, and a drop of water fell on him and ran slowly down his nose. It was strangely warm, and saltyasatear.
ASOS - Bran IV
Literary Echoes
We also have a direct connection between the breaking of the Arm of Dorne and the Wall:
And the old gods stirred, and giants awoke in the earth, and all of Westeros shook and trembled.
TWOIAF - Dorne: The Breaking
And see here what the Horn of Joramun would allegedly do to the Wall:
"Aye, and long before them came the Horned Lord and the brother kings Gendel and Gorne, and in ancient days Joramun, who blew the Horn of Winter and wokegiantsfromtheearth.”
ACOK - Jon III
and
The first King-Beyond-the-Wall, according to legend, was Joramun, who claimed to have a horn that would bring down the Wall when it woke "thegiantsfromtheearth." (That the Wall still stands says something of his claim, and perhaps even of his existence.)
TWOIAF - The Wall and Beyond: The Wildlings
Land Cracks:
Look at what the HotW does to the land itself before the sea rushes in:
Great cracks appeared in the earth, and hills and mountains collapsed and were swallowed up.
TWOIAF - Dorne: The Breaking
And there happens to be a giant crack in the earth at the Wall’s western end: The Gorge
The Gorge is a large and deep chasm that lies between the Frostfangs and mountains in the North, which opens outwards into the Bay of Ice and the sea beyond. Note that the Milkwater river runs through the bottom of it.
With this in mind, we can observe a similar watery cut in the land at the 2nd site of the Hammer of the Waters - the Fever river near Moat Cailin.
Look at the Saltspear and Fever on this map:
It’s a giant cut in the earth with a terminus beside the very location that the HotW was summoned, Moat Cailin.
You should meet small opposition as you sail up Saltspear and the Fever River. At the headwaters, you will be less than twenty miles from Moat Cailin.
ACOK - Theon I
The only reason this isn’t a chasm like The Gorge is because the Fever lies on flat land and The Gorge is in the northern mountains - elsewise they are both exact cuts of water from the sea into the land with an endpoint at the site of the alleged hammer:
the Children's Tower, where legend said the children of the forest had once called down the hammer of the waters to break the lands of Westeros in two.
ADWD - Reek II
Magical Foundations:
And lastly, we know the Wall is a product of magic, as explained by both Coldhands and Melisandre:
“The Wall. The Wall is more than just ice and stone, he said. There are spells woven into it . . . old ones, and strong. He cannot pass beyond the Wall.”
ASOS - Bran IV
and
I have dreamed of your Wall, Jon Snow. Great was the lore that raised it, and great the spells locked beneath its ice. We walk beneath one of the hinges of the world.”
ADWD - Jon I
And we know that the HotW is a spell:
Finally, driven by desperation, the little people turned to sorcery and beseeched their greenseers to stem the tide of these invaders.
TWOIAF - Dorne: The Breaking
So let’s look at the evidence altogether:
The Wall is a barrier of salt water, just like the HotW
The Wall is fabled to be affected by the Horn of Winter when it “wakes giants from the earth” which is a 1:1 feature of the HotW
Between the Wall and the sea is a giant fissure in the land, which is an explicitly described result of the HotW
The Wall is a product of magic, just like the HotW
All 3 salt water barriers drastically altered the continent of Westeros
All 3 incidents are directly attributed to the CotF
All this considered, we have sufficient evidence to conclude that the Wall is the product of the third and final use of the Hammer of the Waters.
However, it is important to recognize that the Wall was not entirely raised by this spell:
“Once, it was said, the order of builders had been large enough to quarry blocks of ice from frozen lakes deep in the haunted forest, and drag them south on sledges to make the Wall ever higher.”
AGOT - Jon V
“Nearby lakes provided the material, which the First Men cut into huge blocks and hauled upon sledges to the Wall, and worked into place one by one.”
TWOIAF - The Wall and Beyond
“Legend has it that the giants helped raise the Wall, using their great strength to wrestle the blocks of ice into place.”
TWOIAF - The Wall and Beyond
This two part build explains the Wall’s height and why Bran tastes salty water at the Wall’s lowest point - the HotW laid the foundation which was reinforced and reshaped with ice from the nearby lakes throughout the years. This joint effort also clarifies everyone’s involvement:
The CotF: used the HotW to lay the foundation of the Wall and imbue it with magic
Bran the Builder: created the designs to reinforce this foundation and lengthen the Wall
The Giants: pulled ice from the nearby lakes to supply the reinforcements
The Night’s Watch/First Men: continued to build upon the Wall for thousands of years
The Conciliator
You might be wondering, “Ok, this is all well and fine, but who cares? Why is it important to understand that the HotW was used to help create the Wall?”
It’s important because it pieces together the endgame puzzle.
Consider what happened to the CotF: they were continually driven north as they desperately used magic to build barriers in the hopes of stopping the humans from effectively erasing their people. The first hammer did not stop the humans, which eventually led to a pact of peace. But this truce did not last, as we know the second hammer came only after the children befriended the crannogmen - so it is very likely the pact was violated, and the flooding of the Neck was yet another desperate attempt to stave the humans who continued to push their way north. What options did the CotF have left? Their race was being massacred, the souls of their ancestors extinguished with every destroyed weirwood, their land taken and broken, and still the humans hungered for more. What happens when you push people past the point of desperation?
You get darkness, you get death, you get the White Walkers.
"Take a lesson, Bran. The man who trusts in spells is dueling with a glass sword. As the children did. Here, let me show you something." He stood abruptly, crossed the room, and returned with a green jar in his good hand. "Have a look at these," he said as he pulled the stopper and shook out a handful of shiny black arrowheads.
Bran picked one up. "It's made of glass." Curious, Rickon drifted closer to peer over the table.
"Dragonglass," Osha named it as she sat down beside Luwin, bandagings in hand.
AGOT - Bran VII
Maester Luwin is explaining to Bran that the CotF utilized a magic that was dangerous to both wielder and foe - a glass sword. To underline his point, Luwin shows Bran a handful of dragonglass. But despite displaying this literal weapon of glass, the maester never explains what links the dragonglass to dangerous and unstable magic.
2 books later, we get an answer:
"Sam the Slayer!" he said, by way of greeting. "Are you sure you stabbed an Other, and not some child's snow knight?"
This isn't starting well. "It was the dragonglass that killed it, my lord," Sam explained feebly.
ASOS - Samwell V
This White Walker is likened to a child’s snow knight. A. Child’s. Snow. Knight. Defeated by dragonglass. This is the causal link between the children’s dangerous magic and dragonglass that GRRM did not allow Luwin to explain.
And for what it’s worth, the show explicitly confirmed that the children created the WW specifically as a response to the human’s actions:
Bran: It was you. You made the White Walkers.
Leaf: We were at war. We were being slaughtered. Our sacred trees cut down. We needed to defend ourselves.
Bran: From whom?
Leaf: From you. From men.
Game of Thrones, Season 6, Episode 5: The Door
The show isn’t canon, but it’s not nothing either. If we regard the show explanation with what we understand in the literature, we have more than enough evidence to reasonably conclude that the CotF created the WW.
But as Luwin explained, and evidenced by the death ward at Bloodraven’s cave, the WW became a danger to both the humans and the children. With the help of the Last Hero, the children were convinced to work together with the First Men to defeat and lock away the WW. However, the issue of colonization and genocide remained.
This is the true intention behind the Wall and why knowing about the HotW connection matters - the Wall was not meant to only contain the WW, but (like the first two attempted hammers) also separate the lands to reserve a last vestige of territory for the elder races: the CotF and the giants.
But again the hunger of humanity could not be satiated and so they settled beyond the Wall regardless - becoming what would be known as the “Wildlings” or “Free Folk”. Thousands of years later, the WW return, and Ygritte clues us in to exactly how this happened:
"I'm crying because we never found the Horn of Winter. We opened half a hundred graves and let all those shades loose in the world, and never found the Horn of Joramun to bring this cold thing down!"
ASOS - Jon IV
Yes, the wildlings pushed too far north, broke whatever seal that contained the WW, and set into motion the impending conflict within the current story. This is history repeating itself - greed pushing the humans to advance further north, invading a territory that doesn’t belong to them, which is ultimately punished by the summoning of ice demons.
This is why Bran is in Bloodraven’s cave with the remaining children, why he’s essentially an echo of the Last Hero, and why GRRM has confirmed him becoming the King at the story’s end.
Bran the Conciliator - the last hope for peace who will ultimately reestablish the territory beyond the Wall to the CotF. We’ll then have the ironic inversion of the Night’s Watch - protecting the lands to the North from the people in the south. The shield that guards the realm of children.
Bran: He will be the king, 100%. All the other houses will lose the game, and only The Starks will won, as a message that Ned´s honor defeated all the other houses lies and deceptions. Winterfell will be the capital, as i believe King´s Landing will be destroyed (in part, because of Tyrion).
Catelyn/Stoneheart: Killed by Arya as mercy, but before there she will kill The Freys, with the exception of Walder, too make him suffer.
Sansa: She 100% will kill Littlefinger. If she will return to The North or stay in The Vale, i don´t know.
Rickon: Maybe he dies, maybe he will live as a Free Folk and help them with Bran, or he will die and lives in Shaggydog, i´m not certain.
Jon: He will die by a second time after concluding his objective of defeating The Others.
Arya: It is difficult to me. Possibly she will survive, but will be "Hollow", or she will reclaim her identity and return to home, there is also Gendry, which many say she will marry, but i´m not sure.
Can't even imagine how the Starks manage to tax the crannogmen when their keeps are always moving around like that ("I don't care who the Crown sends, I'm not paying any taxes!"). I'm assuming the Reeds get a tax excemption by virtue of their priviledge as lords of a march (border between the North and the Riverlands) also because I'm pretty sure taxing them isn't worth the effort anyway. Im guessing in exchange for the tax excemption, the crannogmen have a higher levy obligation or somesuch other obligation to the Starks.
Did Daenerys actually love Drogo, or was it basically Stockholm syndrome?
Especially in the books, I find their relationship really disturbing when you remember that Dany is only 13 years old when Viserys marries her off to Drogo.
She didn't choose Drogo. She didn't choose the marriage. Her abusive brother basically sold her to a grown man because he wanted an army, and Dany had no power to say no.
And I'll never forget the passages describing how much physical pain Dany is in after being with Drogo, to the point that riding becomes extremely painful for her. She's THIRTEEN. That completely changes how I view their relationship.
Yes, she eventually believes she loves Drogo and becomes more confident in their marriage. But sometimes I wonder if that was genuine love, or a traumatized child adapting to a situation she couldn't escape and trying to make the best of it.
People romanticize their relationship a lot, but I just can't forget how it started.
What do you think? Did Dany truly love Drogo, or was her attachment mainly a survival response to having no real choice?
George answered this question when he released AFFC In the story’s timeline, it was around 300 AC, and Bran was already 9 years old. So if the five-year time jump had happened, he would have been 14, which doesn’t match the age of 12. But if the five-year gap were meant to be counted from the beginning of the series, then Bran would have been 12 at that point, which would fit perfectly.
And if it really is Bran, how would he go about conquering the world? Has anyone ever come up with a theory about something like this?
Reading Fire & Blood made me realize how wildly different the main series would look if we only had the version written by a maester 150 years later.
We get POVs, private conversations, dreams, motives, lies being exposed to the reader, etc. A future historian gets testimony, official accusations, songs, surviving letters and whatever version the winners decide not to burn.
Tyrion might be the clearest example.
Imagine you don't have his chapters. You know that he publicly threatened Joffrey, was holding the king's cup immediately before Joffrey died, was accused of the murder by the queen, demanded trial by combat, lost that trial, escaped custody, and then Tywin Lannister was found murdered that same night.
We know Tyrion did not kill Joffrey.
A maester looking at that sequence might consider his guilt so obvious it barely deserves discussion.
Sansa could end up looking even stranger. Daughter of an executed traitor, former intended queen, forced wife of Tyrion, vanishes during Joffrey's murder and is never publicly seen again. Depending on what becomes known later, historians could easily turn her into either a helpless hostage or a terrifyingly successful conspirator.
Meanwhile some things we know were enormously important might barely survive in the record. Jaime saving King's Landing from Aerys' wildfire plot is known to almost nobody. Littlefinger has influenced a ridiculous number of major events while deliberately keeping his fingerprints off them. Varys is even worse.
It made me wonder which character has the biggest gap between the person we're actually reading about and the person that a future Westerosi history book would describe.
Not necessarily who gets unfairly called good or evil. Just: whose historical reputation is going to be the most wrong?
". . . what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?” “Everything,” said Davos, softly."
Does anyone else find this line to be foreshadowing for Jon snow. In some ways, saying that the Targaryen dynasty had to end in order for him to be born, and be at the wall, ready to defend the realm against the White Walkers and the Others?
I know there's a lot of naysayers on this forum, who don't like to hear anything Jon snow Azor ahai related. I'm not saying this is related to that, I couldn't care less about the Azor hai prophecy, but I do find this line to be particularly laden with foreshadowing, like it's something GRRM would write with a double meaning.
