WREATHINGS in Flame, Mist, and Light

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

The recurring image of the "man wreathed in flame" recently came up in discussion on wolfmaid7's thread, The Cold The Wight Walker and the Wight. (I believe the comment that caught my attention was this one by nanother.) After looking around the text a bit, I found that the image occurs even more frequently than I had initially thought. In my review of books 1 through 5, I count 12 instances in which the word "wreathed" is used. On 9 of these occasions, the "wreath" is a wreath of flame or fire. Two of them appear to be wreaths of mist; one is a wreath of mist and moonlight; and one is a wreath of rainbows. In almost all cases, the word is used in connection with sacrifice, or with death (present or foreshadowed). Frequently, these "wreathings" are also accompanied by images or descriptions of "writhings"... (a related word, which I may examine in a second thread, unless someone else gets to it first).

So here, in a single thread, are the collected text quotations in which Martin uses the word "WREATHED" in ASOIAF. I'm eager to know what insights and connections others may have to offer that would tie together (or differentiate between) these descriptions. So read them over, and let us know what you think with your comments below. And of course - if you come across any examples I've missed, please let me know, and I will incorporate it into this post.

WREATHED IN FLAME

AGOT, Chapter 64 (Daenerys) [at Mirri Maz Duur's bloodmagic scene]:

Inside the tent the shapes were dancing, circling the brazier and the bloody bath, dark against the sandsilk, and some did not look human. She glimpsed the shadow of a great wolf, and another like a

man wreathed in flames.

ACOK, Chapter 10 (Davos) [at the scene of King Stannis' AA "reveal"] :

The burning gods cast a pretty light, wreathed in their robes of shifting flame, red and orange and yellow…

The Maiden lay athwart the Warrior, her arms widespread as if to embrace him. The Mother seemed almost to shudder as the flames came licking up her face. A longsword had been thrust through her heart, and its leather grip was alive with flame. The Father was on the bottom, the first to fall. Davos watched the hand of the Stranger writhe and curl as the fingers blackened and fell away one by one, reduced to so much glowing charcoal.

ACOK, Chapter 58 (Davos) [at the Battle of the Blackwater]:

A flash of green caught his eye, ahead and off to port, and a nest of writhing emerald serpents rose burning and hissing from the stern of Queen Alysanne. An instant later Davos heard the dread cry of "Wildfire!"

…Davos reeled off commands; one bank of oars pushed off while the other backed water, and the galley came about. Lady Marya had won clear too, and a good thing; the fire was spreading over Queen Alysanne and her foes faster than he would have believed possible. Men wreathed in green flame leapt into the water, shrieking like nothing human…

Through black smoke and swirling green fire, Davos glimpsed a swarm of small boats bearing downriver…

ASOS, Chapter 35 (Catelyn) [at the sending off of Lord Hoster's funeral barge]:

"Swiftly," Ser Brynden said. He nocked an arrow, held it steady for the brand, drew and released before Catelyn was quite sure that the fire had caught . . . but as the shot rose, she saw the flames trailing through the air, a pale orange pennon. The boat had vanished in the mists. Falling, the flaming arrow was swallowed up as well . . . but only for a heartbeat. Then, sudden as hope, they saw the red bloom flower. The sails took fire, and the fog glowed pink and orange. For a moment Catelyn saw the outline of the boat clearly, wreathed in leaping flames.

Watch for me, little cat, she could hear him whisper.

ASOS, Chapter 73 (Jon) [north of the Wall, as Stannis begins his attack on the wildling hosts]:

"Banners," he heard Varamyr murmur, "I see golden banners, oh... " A mammoth lumbered by, trumpeting, a half-dozen bowmen in the wooden tower on its back. "The king... no..."

Then the skinchanger threw back his head and screamed.

The sound was shocking, ear-piercing, thick with agony. Varamyr fell, writhing, and the 'cat was screaming too... and high, high in the eastern sky, against the wall of cloud, Jon saw the eagle burning. For a heartbeat it flamed brighter than a star, wreathed in red and gold and orange, its wings beating wildly at the air as if it could fly from the pain. Higher it flew, and higher, and higher still…

… Varamyr's wolves were fighting each other, and the shadowcat had raced off into the trees, but the man was still twisting on the ground...

ADWD, Chapter 10 (Jon) [at Melisandre's "altar call" before the defeated wildlings]:

One arrow took Mance Rayder in the chest, one in the gut, one in the throat. The fourth struck one of the cage's wooden bars, and quivered for an instant before catching fire. A woman's sobs echoed off the Wall as the wildling king slid bonelessly to the floor of his cage, wreathed in fire. And now his Watch is done," Jon murmured softly. Mance Rayder had been a man of the Night's Watch once, before he changed his black cloak for one slashed with bright red silk.

ADWD, Chapter 13 (Bran) [approaching the entrance to the last greenseer's cave]:

Up above them, flaming figures were dancing in the snow. The wights, Bran realized. Someone set the wights on fire.

Summer was snarling and snapping as he danced around the closest, a great ruin of a man wreathed in swirling flame. He shouldn't get so close, what is he doing? Then he saw himself, sprawled facedown in the snow….

The world moved dizzily around him. White trees, black sky, red flames, everything was whirling, shifting, spinning. He felt himself stumbling…. A cloud of ravens was pouring from the cave, and he saw a little girl with a torch in hand, darting this way and that… whirling, a scrawny thing, ragged, wild, her hair atangle.

ADWD, Chapter 71 (Daenerys) [recalling her view of events at Daznak's Pit in Meereen]:

The fire burned away my hair, but elsewise it did not touch me. It had been the same in Daznak's Pit. That much she could recall, though much of what followed was a haze. So many people, screaming and shoving. She remembered rearing horses, a food cart spilling melons as it overturned. From below a spear came flying, followed by a flight of crossbow bolts. One passed so close that Dany felt it brush her cheek. Others skittered off Drogon's scales, lodged between them, or tore through the membrane of his wings. She remembered the dragon twisting beneath her, shuddering at the impacts, as she tried desperately to cling to his scaled back. The wounds were smoking. Dany saw one of the bolts burst into sudden flame. Another fell away, shaken loose by the beating of his wings. Below, she saw men whirling, wreathed in flame, hands up in the air as if caught in the throes of some mad dance. A woman in a green tokar reached for a weeping child, pulling him down into her arms to shield him from the flames. Dany saw the color vividly, but not the woman's face. People were stepping on her as they lay tangled on the bricks. Some were on fire.

WREATHED IN MIST

AGOT, Chapter 30 (Eddard) [at the Hand's Tourney in King's Landing]:

"The king means to fight in the melee today," Ser Barristan said as they were passing Ser Meryn's shield, its paint sullied by a deep gash where Loras Tyrell's lance had scarred the wood as he drove him from his saddle.

"Yes," Ned said grimly. Jory had woken him last night to bring him that news. Small wonder he had slept so badly.

Ser Barristan's look was troubled. "They say night's beauties fade at dawn, and the children of wine are oft disowned in the morning light."

"They say so," Ned agreed, "but not of Robert." Other men might reconsider words spoken in drunken bravado, but Robert Baratheon would remember and, remembering, would never back down.

The king's pavilion was close by the water, and the morning mists off the river had wreathed it in wisps of grey. It was all of golden silk, the largest and grandest structure in the camp. Outside the entrance, Robert's warhammer was displayed beside an immense iron shield blazoned with the crowned stag of House Baratheon.

AFFC, Chapter 18 (Victarion) [on the bay called Nagga's Cradle, at Old Wyk, night before the kingsmoot]:

"Nuncle." Asha put a hand upon [shoulder. "Walk with me, if you would."

Outside the tent the wind was rising. Clouds raced across the moon's pale face. They looked a bit like galleys, stroking hard to ram. The stars were few and faint. All along the strand the longships rested, tall masts rising like a forest from the surf. Victarion could hear their hulls creaking as they settled on the sand. He heard the keening of their lines, the sound of banners flapping. Beyond, in the deeper waters of the bay, larger ships bobbed at anchor, grim shadows wreathed in mist.

WREATHED IN MOONLIGHT

AGOT, Chapter 63 (Catelyn) [in the Whispering Wood, as Robb Stark's forces descend on Jaime Lannister]:

Catelyn sat on her horse, unmoving, with Hal Mollen and her guard around her, and she waited as she had waited before, for Brandon and Ned and her father. She was high on the ridge, and the trees hid most of what was going on beneath her. A heartbeat, two, four, and suddenly it was as if she and her protectors were alone in the wood. The rest were melted away into the green.

Yet when she looked across the valley to the far ridge, she saw the Greatjon's riders emerge from the darkness beneath the trees. They were in a long line, an endless line, and as they burst from the wood there was an instant, the smallest part of a heartbeat, when all Catelyn saw was the moonlight on the points of their lances, as if a thousand willowisps were coming down the ridge, wreathed in silver flame.

Then she blinked, and they were only men, rushing down to kill or die.

WREATHED IN RAINBOWS

AGOT, Chapter 65 (Arya) [at the scene of Ned Stark's execution]:

Lord Eddard stood on the High Septon's pulpit outside the doors of the Sept, supported between two of the gold cloaks….

The High Septon himself stood behind him, a squat man, grey with age and ponderously fat, wearing long white robes and an immense crown of spun gold and crystal that wreathed his head with rainbows whenever he moved.

[brut]

Something that immediately comes to mind: sacrifice.

http://www.ryszardsiwiec.com/img/mnich.jpg

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

Something that immediately comes to mind: sacrifice.

http://www.ryszardsiwiec.com/img/mnich.jpg

Yeah. Wow.

[wolfmaid7]

Damn Brut :stillsick:

I think is a very good compilation Snowy,if i have to break the characteristics down to the core;strip away cold and heat.The core is essentially the same thing,two sides to the same coin.

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

Damn Brut :stillsick:

I think is a very good compilation Snowy,if i have to break the characteristics down to the core;strip away cold and heat.The core is essentially the same thing,two sides to the same coin.

Like that coin Illyrio tells Tyrion about, eh? A crown on one side, death's head on the other...

[LynnS]

I don't know if "limned" is synonymous with wreathed.

ADWD Chapter 31 - Melisandre

The flames crackled softly, and in the their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again....

This vision could be describing Mirri Maaz Duur dancing with the shadows in the sand silk tent, curtains fluttering; when Dany sees the man wreathed in flame from outside; dancing and spinning around with the shadow of the great wolf. Now a man, now a wolf, now a man.

[Schmendrick]

I don't know if "limned" is synonymous with wreathed.

According to Merriam-Webster, wreath means to interweave as well as to encircle or adorn with or as if with a wreath. Limn means to outline in clear sharp detail or delineate. I omitted the various meanings of both words that weren't relevant. The think the usage you quoted makes the two words (and their meanings in the books) potentially relevant to one another.

Speaking of which, I'd like to throw out another related word: Nimbus, which means a cloud or atmosphere (as of romance) about a person or thing as well as an indication (as a circle) of radiant light or glory about the head of a drawn or sculptured divinity, saint, or sovereign. The word nimbus is only used three times in all five books. All three describe fire:

Jon thinking back on burning the wight in Mormont's solar in AGoT:

Truly, the gods had heard Jon’s prayer that night; the fire had caught in the dead man’s clothing and consumed him as if his flesh were candle wax and his bones old dry wood. Jon had only to close his eyes to see the thing staggering across the solar, crashing against the furniture and flailing at the flames. It was the face that haunted him most; surrounded by a nimbus of fire, hair blazing like straw, the dead flesh melting away and sloughing off its skull to reveal the gleam of bone beneath.

Whatever demonic force moved Othor had been driven out by the flames; the twisted thing they had found in the ashes had been no more than cooked meat and charred bone. Yet in his nightmare he faced it again … and this time the burning corpse wore Lord Eddard’s features. It was his father’s skin that burst and blackened, his father’s eyes that ran liquid down his cheeks like jellied tears. Jon did not understand why that should be or what it might mean, but it frightened him more than he could say.

Dany peering into Drogo's funeral pyre in AGoT (note limned as well as nimbus):

She saw a horse, a great grey stallion limned in smoke, its flowing mane a nimbus of blue flame. Yes, my love, my sun-and-stars, yes, mount now, ride now.

And finally Dany observing a dragon's handiwork in ADwD:

Rhaegal took it in the air. His head snapped round, and from between his jaws a lance of flame erupted, a swirling storm of orange-and-yellow fire shot through with veins of green. The sheep was burning before it began to fall. Before the smoking carcass could strike the bricks, the dragon’s teeth closed round it. A nimbus of flames still flickered about the body. The air stank of burning wool and brimstone. Dragonstink.

A nimbus is associated with kings and Queens: an indication (as a circle) of radiant light or glory about the head of a drawn or sculptured divinity, saint, or sovereign. A wreath, of course, can encircle or adorn the head (like a crown). The first instance of the word "nimbus" above is interesting because it might tie the two words together. I've seen a number of posters theorize that the "man wreathed in flames" that Dany sees in the tent is the wight burning in Mormont's solar and that the wolf is either Ghost or a representation of Jon. It's also worth noting that when Jon has nightmares about the wight, its looks like Lord Eddard (who has the blood of the Kings of Winter). The second instance of the word Nimbus is associated with Drogo, who was the Dothraki equivalent of a king.

All of this goes by way of saying that I wonder if the word wreathed -- at least as it is used when Dany sees the "man wreathed in flames" in the tent -- is a sneaky way of writing "man crowned in flames" and linking it to Jon.

And while I'm at it: Wreath is a synonym of garland. The "garland of pale blue roses" Ned sees on Lyanna's head when he dreams he is back in Winterfell's crypts is also remembered by Ned as "a crown of winter roses, blue as frost" when he recalls Rhaegar naming his sister the Queen of Love and Beauty. So this would give us two crowns associated with Jon: A garland/crown of blue winter roses and a wreath/nimbus of fire. Crowns of Ice and Fire for a king associated with both. Somebody should write a song about that.

Edit:

And just to drive home the wreath = crown thing, I'll repeat one of the quotes from the OP:

The High Septon himself stood behind him, a squat man, grey with age and ponderously fat, wearing long white robes and an immense crown of spun gold and crystal that wreathed his head with rainbows whenever he moved.

We have a literal crown that "wreathed" the High Septon's head.

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

I don't know if "limned" is synonymous with wreathed.

ADWD Chapter 31 - Melisandre

The flames crackled softly, and in the their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again....

This vision could be describing Mirri Maaz Duur dancing with the shadows in the sand silk tent, curtains fluttering; when Dany sees the man wreathed in flame from outside; dancing and spinning around with the shadow of the great wolf. Now a man, now a wolf, now a man.

Good catch there, LynnS. I know we've discussed that scene in reference to the dancers in the MMD blood magic tent... forgot to go back and check to see what word was used. That's just the sort of thing to broaden and open up this topic: synonyms! (Or potential, functional synonyms, at least.) Hopefully it brings us closer to understanding Martin's intent...

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

According to Merriam-Webster, wreath means to interweave as well as to encircle or adorn with or as if with a wreath. Limn means to outline in clear sharp detail or delineate. I omitted the various meanings of both words that weren't relevant. The think the usage you quoted makes the two words (and their meanings in the books) potentially relevant to one another.

Speaking of which, I'd like to throw out another related word: Nimbus, which means a cloud or atmosphere (as of romance) about a person or thing as well as an indication (as a circle) of radiant light or glory about the head of a drawn or sculptured divinity, saint, or sovereign. The word nimbus is only used three times in all five books. All three describe fire:

Jon thinking back on burning the wight in Mormont's solar in AGoT:

Dany peering into Drogo's funeral pyre in AGoT (note limned as well as nimbus):

And finally Dany observing a dragon's handiwork in ADwD:

A nimbus is associated with kings and Queens: an indication (as a circle) of radiant light or glory about the head of a drawn or sculptured divinity, saint, or sovereign. A wreath, of course, can encircle or adorn the head (like a crown). The first instance of the word "nimbus" above is interesting because it might tie the two words together. I've seen a number of posters theorize that the "man wreathed in flames" that Dany sees in the tent is the wight burning in Mormont's solar and that the wolf is either Ghost or a representation of Jon. It's also worth noting that when Jon has nightmares about the wight, its looks like Lord Eddard (who has the blood of the Kings of Winter). The second instance of the word Nimbus is associated with Drogo, who was the Dothraki equivalent of a king.

All of this goes by way of saying that I wonder if the word wreathed -- at least as it is used when Dany sees the "man wreathed in flames" in the tent -- is a sneaky way of writing "man crowned in flames" and linking it to Jon.

And while I'm at it: Wreath is a synonym of garland. The "garland of pale blue roses" Ned sees on Lyanna's head when he dreams he is back in Winterfell's crypts is also remembered by Ned as "a crown of winter roses, blue as frost" when he recalls Rhaegar naming his sister the Queen of Love and Beauty. So this would give us two crowns associated with Jon: A garland/crown of blue winter roses and a wreath/nimbus of fire. Crowns of Ice and Fire for a king associated with both. Somebody should write a song about that.

Edit:

And just to drive home the wreath = crown thing, I'll repeat one of the quotes from the OP:

We have a literal crown that "wreathed" the High Septon's head.

First, I've just got to say... love the handle. I'm a big fan of Schmendrick the Magician!

And second... yes. Thanks for bringing out the crown imagery, and pointing out the uses of "nimbus." I hadn't looked at the nimbuses (nimbi?), but I have looked into the etymology of the wreath - and it too, originates in the symbol of the crown. Specifically, ancient Etruscan rulers crowned themselves with the wreath, and from there it was adopted into Greek and Roman mythology and politics. In Europe, the wreath came to be associated with pagan ritual and the changing of the seasons.

So, I think we're on solid ground here with the use of the nimbus and the wreath to describe similar images.

Also, I continue to be struck by the use of serpentine, snake-like vocabulary in conjunction with this image. The words "twist," "writhe," and "coil," are clear connections to "wreathe" in meaning and origin. But the word "slough" also appears in one of your quotes above - and I've noticed this word primarily in the context of Dany's dreams and nightmares (and her reality - it is used in MMD's description if the stillborn child). In general it means "to shed," but it can also specifically refer to the shedding of skin by a snake.

Of course, snakes aside, wreathes would be made of twisted and coiled vines and other flora. And I certainly think that Martin chose Lyanna's name with an eye toward the "liana" as one level of meaning...

[Schmendrick]

First, I've just got to say... love the handle. I'm a big fan of Schmendrick the Magician!

And second... yes. Thanks for bringing out the crown imagery, and pointing out the uses of "nimbus." I hadn't looked at the nimbuses (nimbi?), but I have looked into the etymology of the wreath - and it too, originates in the symbol of the crown. Specifically, ancient Etruscan rulers crowned themselves with the wreath, and from there it was adopted into Greek and Roman mythology and politics. In Europe, the wreath came to be associated with pagan ritual and the changing of the seasons.

So, I think we're on solid ground here with the use of the nimbus and the wreath to describe similar images.

Also, I continue to be struck by the use of serpentine, snake-like vocabulary in conjunction with this image. The words "twist," "writhe," and "coil," are clear connections to "wreathe" in meaning and origin. But the word "slough" also appears in one of your quotes above - and I've noticed this word primarily in the context of Dany's dreams and nightmares (and her reality - it is used in MMD's description if the stillborn child). In general it means "to shed," but it can also specifically refer to the shedding of skin by a snake.

Of course, snakes aside, wreathes would be made of twisted and coiled vines and other flora. And I certainly think that Martin chose Lyanna's name with an eye toward the "liana" as one level of meaning...

First off, thanks! I'm a big fan of Schmendrick the Magician as well (obviously).

Good point about the etymology of wreath. I suppose for completeness' sake, we should throw laurel in there too, so we have all the obvious synonyms (or near-synonyms) of wreath. Only two instances in the books, though, and one I've already mentioned above.

Ned remembering Lyanna's garland:

Ned remembered the moment when all the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horse past his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay the queen of beauty’s laurel in Lyanna’s lap. He could see it still: a crown of winter roses, blue as frost.

Ned Stark reached out his hand to grasp the flowery crown, but beneath the pale blue petals the thorns lay hidden. He felt them clawing at his skin, sharp and cruel , saw the slow trickle of blood run down his fingers, and woke, trembling, in the dark.

Jorah telling Dany about Lynesse:

In the last match, I broke nine lances against Jaime Lannister to no result, and King Robert gave me the champion’s laurel. I crowned Lynesse queen of love and beauty, and that very night went to her father and asked for her hand.

The snake/serpent vocabulary (and its connection to wreath through writhe, etc.) is also interesting. Since you mention slough in particular, and since we're talking about connections between Jon and Dany, it's worth bringing up two more quotes, which I've always found really interesting to compare.

This first one is from AGoT:

Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms to the fire , embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean . She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce.

Note the use of the word "temper" (as a sword). And the description of Dany opening her arms and embracing an attack that should be fatal. But instead, her flesh sloughs away and she's remade into something new, strong, fierce.

Now check out this quote -- Jon reading the Jade Compendium in ADwD:

The pages told of Azor Ahai. Lightbringer was his sword. Tempered with his wife’s blood if Votar can be belived. Thereafter Lightbringer was never cold to the touch, but warm as Nissa Nissa had been warm. In battle the blade burned fiery hot. Once Azor Ahai fought a monster. When he thrust the sword through the belly of the beast, its blood began to boil. Smoke and steam poured from its mouth, its eyes melted and dribbled down its cheeks, and its body burst into flame.

The word temper(ed) shows up again, this time with regard to Lightbringer. And Nissa Nissa is mentioned, who supposedly embraced being slain by Azor Ahai in a way that seems awfully similar to how Dany embraces Dream-Drogon's flames. The description of Azor Ahai killing the "beast" is strikingly reminiscent of what happens to Dany in her dream, before she is made "strong and new and fierce." Like a serpent (or a dragon) shedding its skin and becoming ... Lightbringer?

[LynnS]

And while I'm at it: Wreath is a synonym of garland. The "garland of pale blue roses" Ned sees on Lyanna's head when he dreams he is back in Winterfell's crypts is also remembered by Ned as "a crown of winter roses, blue as frost" when he recalls Rhaegar naming his sister the Queen of Love and Beauty. So this would give us two crowns associated with Jon: A garland/crown of blue winter roses and a wreath/nimbus of fire. Crowns of Ice and Fire for a king associated with both. Somebody should write a song about that.

Fascinating post. Thank you. Limned also has its roots in "to illuminate".

v.tr.

1. To provide or brighten with light.

2. To decorate or hang with lights.

3. To make understandable; clarify:

4. To enlighten intellectually or spiritually; enable to understand.

5. To endow with fame or splendor; celebrate.

6. To expose to or reveal by radiation.

v.intr.

1. To become lighted; glow.

2. To provide intellectual or spiritual enlightenment and understanding

3. To be exposed to or revealed by radiation.

Perhaps Jon is being described as the embodiment of light bringer himself.

[LynnS]

Of course, snakes aside, wreathes would be made of twisted and coiled vines and other flora. And I certainly think that Martin chose Lyanna's name with an eye toward the "liana" as one level of meaning...

And I've started to notice the number of times that "no one" is referenced in Cerse's POV's. She asks Tommen where he gets his information essentially; and he tells her "no one" told him (before spilling the beans). And the number of times Tyrion tastes blood in his mouth ;) .

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

And I've started to notice the number of times that "no one" is referenced in Cerse's POV's. She asks Tommen where he gets his information essentially; and he tells her "no one" told him (before spilling the beans). And the number of times Tyrion tastes blood in his mouth ;) .

Ha. Gotta love the free-association style of analysis! (And I do think eventually I'll put together a collection of snake-related images and word choice. It's just so prevalent... )

But. For purposes of this thread - I think the relationship between the CROWN and DEATH/SACRIFICE seems like the first point of access for connecting and exploring these images. And identifying synonyms is a great way to expand this collection.

I'm interested in whether the recurring motif of the wreath/nimbus implies victory, kingship, or something else - and how that meaning fits into and enhances our understanding of the larger narrative. One thing seems clear to me, and that is that the wreath suggests the presence and participation of "the old powers" (aka, magic; aka, the gods) in the events at hand.

More synonyms? Thoughts?

.

[LynnS]

.

Ha. Gotta love the free-association style of analysis! (And I do think eventually I'll put together a collection of snake-related images and word choice. It's just so prevalent... )

But. For purposes of this thread - I think the relationship between the CROWN and DEATH/SACRIFICE seems like the first point of access for connecting and exploring these images. And identifying synonyms is a great way to expand this collection.

I'm interested in whether the recurring motif of the wreath/nimbus implies victory, kingship, or something else - and how that meaning fits into and enhances our understanding of the larger narrative. One thing seems clear to me, and that is that the wreath suggests the presence and participation of "the old powers" (aka, magic; aka, the gods) in the events at hand.

More synonyms? Thoughts?

.

At the moment, no. I think Schmendrick covered it (that moniker slays me LOL). But now that It's been pointed out and I'm attuned to it; my eyes are pealed, so to speak

I'm in agreement though that wreaths specifically suggests the old gods. What to make Jon now? Chosen, wreathed, limned and crowned!

[Schmendrick]

But. For purposes of this thread - I think the relationship between the CROWN and DEATH/SACRIFICE seems like the first point of access for connecting and exploring these images.

I think you are absolutely right and I'm really glad you made this connection. I've been researching the connection between kingship and sacrifice for a future thread, but I hadn't made the specific connection to wreath/crown imagery before reading this thread. It's amazing how well it ties in to and informs some of what I had already been looking at.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to write up anything substantive now, but I'll try to put some thoughts and quotes together tonight or this weekend. I really think you're on to something interesting, here.

[The Snowfyre Chorus]

I think you are absolutely right and I'm really glad you made this connection. I've been researching the connection between kingship and sacrifice for a future thread, but I hadn't made the specific connection to wreath/crown imagery before reading this thread. It's amazing how well it ties in to and informs some of what I had already been looking at.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to write up anything substantive now, but I'll try to put some thoughts and quotes together tonight or this weekend. I really think you're on to something interesting, here.

To paraphrase Illyrio... to crown them is to kill them. I look forward to seeing your posts and your future thread.