Grayish mist/fog in bravos (some tiny mercy spoilers)

[Mrmanakan]

"Bravos only had three kinds of weather; fog was bad, rain was worse, and freezing rain was the worst." Cat of the Canals

It wasn't odd at all in the sample chapter that Bravos was experiencing one of its three weather modes.

I forgot that quote. Thanks for pointing it out.

Still she does state it's the worst that she's seen it. But I guess it's to be expected with winter upon them

[ShaggyPup]

He does seem to mention the grey fog a fair bit, I think I counted five times. I like the line "The fog opened before her like a tattered grey curtain to reveal the playhouse", as if she is still Arya Stark in the fog and when the grey curtain is pulled back the mummers show begins.

[Mrmanakan]

Yea, maybe that's it's purpose to make it the arya's curtain for her "performance".

I was just speculating that maybe it has to do with the shrouded lord who I anticipate we will see at some point in the books

[Carey Snow]

I think it's simple symbolism for her being lost, her path is murky, dark and unclear. The old man is traveling in the opposite direction to the way she is, and she envies him his light.

I like this thought.

[Takiedevushkikakzvezdy]

What about the Mistborn? ;)

[Robbie Hood]

IIRC, wasn't Braavos founded by those escaping the Valyrian Doom, and remained hidden due to it's location in huge fog cloud?

[Uldra I]

In the fog all cats are grey, Mercy thought. In the fog all men are killers.

These lines were underscored in the text of the Mercy chapter on GRRM's website. http://www.georgerrmartin.com/excerpt-from-the-winds-of-winter/ This seems to be just a foreshadow of the upcoming murder, or it could be saying that she, cat of the canals, a killer, is turning grey, washed out like a ghost... maybe too much a reach, but interesting lines.

Mercy passed an old man with a lantern walking the other way, and envied him his light. The street was so gloomy she could scarcely see where she was stepping.

as already said by chrisdaw, these lines seem to indicate her inability to see where her path is taking her, and longing for some clarity.

and

The last bridge was made of rope and raw planks, and seemed to dissolve into nothingness, but that was only the fog. Mercy scampered across, her heels ringing on the wood. The fog opened before her like a tattered grey curtain to reveal the playhouse.

Notice that she next runs headlong across the bridge even though she can't see the other end. Sort of like her path in life. What does this bridge in her life, the FM, lead her to?

All 3 of these passages point to Arya's blindness concerning where her path is taking her. Interesting question, Mrmanakan. thx

[evita mgfs]

MARTIN’S MEANING in his GREY MISTS/FOG MOTIF

Martin does make good use of the grey mists and fog as an evolving motif that recurs in the novels of A Song of Ice and Fire. Not every mention of grey mists and fog has symbolic significance; however, several key POV’s share commonalities related to the grey mists and fog that help to unify and advance themes and plotlines.

The “grey” mists/fog appear early in A Game of Thrones, and through Bran Stark’s POV, Martin establishes a relationship between “future-greenseer” Bran and the mists and fog, so when the grey mists and/or grey fog recur in other narratives, it is more remarkable than coincidence.

In “The Prince of Winterfell” from A Dance with Dragons and in “Mercy” from The Winds of Winter, the grey mists and fog insinuate Bran’s far-reaching presence as he flexes his muscles, experimenting with his powers of greensight. Nature inspires the grey mists and fog, and the grey mists are part of Lord Brynden’s visits to Bran’s dreams. It stands to reason that Bran’s magic will allow him to manipulate the mists and fog – and to manipulate other forces related to nature. He will also visit the dreams of others like Lord Brynden as Three-Eyed Crow”.

Martin employs the “grey mists” five times in Bran’s 3EC dream; thereby through repetition Martin seemingly designates them as symbolically meritorious. The color “grey” is associated with House Stark and their banners, with the grey stone walls of Winterfell, with the statues in the crypts, with the landscape of the north, and with the direwolves of all but one “Stark” sibling, a few among many examples. Throughout Bran’s dream, these mists serve as a protective “armor” that blankets Bran, keeping him safe from further harm during his “falling”, his “flying”, and his “landing”.

Five examples from Bran’s 3EC dream follow:

GREY MISTS #1

“The ground was so far below him he could barely make it out through the grey mists that whirled around him, but he could feel how fast he was falling, and he knew what was waiting for him down there”.

In the above passage, Martin mentions the “grey mists” for the first time in Bran’s 3EC dream. The “grey mists” whirl around Bran, spinning quickly, which hinders his ability to see the ground below him. Bran feels himself plummeting, gaining speed, and death awaits him. But the “grey mists” protect him from dizziness and confusion.

The grey mists and/or fog impedes clear vision, a theme reaffirmed in Theon and Arya’s POV’s later; since Syrio and the kindly man emphasized “seeing” what is there and not what the heart wants to see, Arya – and by association Bran, Theon, and others – may be “symbolically” blind to their own faults, or to the darkness of the paths they are taking.

Martin repeats verbs in his comparisons of the mists/fog in other POV’s.

*********************************************

GREY MISTS #2

“The ground was closer now, still far far away, a thousand miles away, but closer than it had been. It was cold here in the darkness. There was no sun, no stars, only the ground below coming up to smash him, and the grey mists, and the whispering voice. He wanted to cry”.

Not cry. Fly.

"I can't fly," Bran said. "I can't, I can't . . . "

How do you know? Have you ever tried?

The cold in the darkness may suggest imminent death if Bran does not fly, for many of those who die “feel the cold”.

Note the second time “grey mists” are referenced, as well as the “whispering voice”- we have both a visual image and an auditory image. Martin evokes all the senses during this fall, even our own feelings of fear regarding falling.

***********************************

GREY MISTS #3

“Bran was staring at his arms, his legs. He was so skinny, just skin stretched taut over bones. Had he always been so thin? He tried to remember. A face swam up at him out of the grey mist, shining with light, golden. "The things I do for love," it said.

“Bran screamed.

“The crow took to the air, cawing. Not that, it shrieked at him. Forget that, you do not need it now, put it aside, put it away. It landed on Bran's shoulder, and pecked at him, and the shining golden face was gone”.

A face swims up out of the grey mist, and we know the implication of this shining golden light and the words, “The things I do for love.” Bran is remembering that because of Jaime Lannister’s push, Bran would not be falling.

The crow orders Bran not to think of that, and when the crow lands on Bran’s shoulder and pecks at him, the golden face disappears.

The crow wants Bran to concentrate all his energies on flying, not reliving his fall. He can visit the memory later when the situation is not as dire as this.

The grey mist appears for the third time, and it seems to bring the image of Lannister to light, but it still safeguards Bran as he falls.

GREY MISTS #4

“Bran was falling faster than ever. The grey mists howled around him as he plunged toward the earth below. "What are you doing to me?" he asked the crow, tearful”.

Teaching you how to fly.

"I can't fly!"

Note for the fourth time “the grey mists” are referenced, this time “howling” around Bran as he plunges toward the earth below. The fact that Martin personifies the grey mists with “howling” suggests the howling of the direwolves of House Stark, which leads credence to this “grey mist” being somehow aligned with a Stark force, since it is represented as “grey” and howls like a wolf.

GREY MISTS 5

“The crow opened its beak and cawed at him, a shrill scream of fear, and the grey mists shuddered and swirled around him and ripped away like a veil, and he saw that the crow was really a woman, a serving woman with long black hair, and he knew her from somewhere, from Winterfell, yes, that was it, . . .”

Martin mentions the “grey mists” for the fifth and final time, and these mists “shudder,” “swirl”, and “rip” just like a VEIL, so Bran, via the protective veil, is returned safely to his bed in Winterfell.

THE GREY MISTS in “THE “THE PRINCE OF WINTERFELL”ADwD

In A Dance with Dragons, Martin mentions the “[grey] mists” repeatedly in the “The Prince of Winterfell” POV, and they transform the godswood into an eerie site for a wedding. The title “The Prince of Winterfell” actually refers to, or had once referred to Theon and Bran. After Ramsay speaks his vows, the title passes to him.

Reek/Theon, as a ward of Lord Eddard Stark’, is necessary to authenticate “Arya Stark”, and to give Arya “away” to her bridegroom. Lord Bran Stark himself , the “true” Prince of Winterfell”, makes his presence in the godswood known [for the readers] through the expression on the weirwood’s face, through the murder of ravens, through the wind whispering through the leaves, calling “Theon” , and through the “grey” and “ghostly” mists commandeering the godswood.

Likewise, in Arya’s “Mercy” POV, Martin stresses the “grey fog” so much that it seemingly becomes a character indigenous to Braavos. Arya intuits that this day’s manifestation of fog unique, even exceptional for Braavos.

Martin intimates a strong connection between Theon and Arya’s mist/fog, one that points to its source – Bran, whom Martin has divulged carries a grey aura – like mist/fog and even air/wind in his 3EC dream – is now able to reach out to Theon through the heart tree of Winterfell and to Arya through dreams of hunting with her wolf, where she sees a tree watching her.

EXAMPLE #1 and EVIDENCES

From ADwD:

“He [Theon] had never seen the godswood like this, though – grey and ghostly, filled with warm mists and floating lights and whispered voices that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere” (487).

From “Mercy” TWoW:

“She had never seen a thicker fog than this one. On the larger canals, the watermen would be running their serpent boats into one another, unable to make out any more than dim lights from the buildings to either side of them”.

“Half-light filled the room, grey and gloomy”.

Neither Theon nor Arya have ever seen their current environs so very much transformed by mists and/or fog. For Arya the mists dim lights from buildings, and for Theon the lights’ origins are enigmatic as they seem to come from everywhere and nowhere.

The fact that both Theon and Arya seek out a light – and mark, or try to mark, the location of illumination – this sign is hopeful for it hints that both of them have a shot at redemption. Since both are symbolically blinded by the mists/fog and both are searching for “light”, which is emblematic to “enlightenment” or “knowledge”, Martin suggests that they may acquire all that they need to make changes for the betterment of self and others, but only if they cast off the grey in their eyes and acknowledge the truth.

Martin bathes the godswood in a “grey” and “ghostly” ambience, and “grey” is representative of the Starks who live in the “grey” north, who often have “grey eyes”, who live in a castle made of grey stone and are buried in the crypts that are marked with grey stone statues.

Grey is a color with complex symbology, but in the instances of the “grey” in the godswood, grey fog in Braavos, and Martin’s death imagery, the GREY MISTS/FOG may symbolize “death”. Consequently, those present for the fraudulent nuptials are marked for death by the “grey mists”. In “Mercy”, a certain Lannister guard is marked for death.

EXAMPLE #3 and EVIDENCES

From ADwD:

“Up above the treetops, a crescent moon was floating in a dark sky, half-obscured by mist like an eye peering through a veil of silk” (ADwD 486).

From AGoT:

“The crow opened its beak and cawed at him, a shrill scream of fear, and the grey mists shuddered and swirled around him and ripped away like a veil. . .” (AGoT).

Martin compares the mists to a silk veil, which echoes his first comparison of the [grey] mists to a “veil” in AGoT, when Bran first dreams of the Three-Eyed Crow.

A “crescent moon” is an eye “peering through a silk veil.” The veil covering the eyes suggests a “mask” designed to disguise someone’s appearance. The concept of a “mask” arouses the description of Braavos as a city of “masks and whispers”.

“No One”, aka Arya of House Stark, resident of the House of Black and White located in Braavos, parallels her brother Bran watching through the eyes carved in the trunks of weirwoods, only Arya watches through the hooded “skins” from those who died in the temple.

EXAMPLE #3 AND EVIDENCE

From ADwD:

“The mists were so thick that only the nearest trees were visible; beyond them stood tall shadows and faint lights. Candles flickered beside the wandering path and back amongst the trees, pale fireflies floating in a warm grey soup” (487).

From “Mercy” TWoW:

“If the fog was thick there was nothing to see but grey, so today Mercy chose the shorter route to save some wear on her poor cracked boots”.

“Braavos was a good city for cats, and they roamed everywhere, especially at night. In the fog all cats are grey, Mercy thought. In the fog all men are killers”.

Both excerpts describe the mists and fog as “thick” and touch upon the difficulties of discerning with certainty what is not far in front of them.

Theon’s narrative presents details, and he conveys the extent of the opaqueness of the fog with an example that he could only see trees directly in front of him. Martin chooses language that is poetic, especially when aligned with his language choices for “Mercy”. Theon’s POV covers “shadows and faint lights”, “Candles flickered,” a path wandered, “pail fireflies” floated”, and the fog is “warm pea soup”. Arya’s diction, in stark contrast, is matter-of-fact. Martin’s word choices for her are not immersed in modifaction.

To Arya, her cracked boots beg her attention, and she avoids walking to excess if it can be avoided to spare her well-used footwear. Arya’s ability to disassociate herself from events and from people around her is a symptom that bodes ill for Arya’s future. She also is classifying cats and men as they rank in conjunction with grey fog.

The mists are “a warm grey soup”, a phrase Martin coins in his world of ice and fire that is similar to a popular phrase that compares a dense fog to the thickness of pea soup.

EXAMPLE #4 AND EVIDENCE

From ADwD:

“Then the mists parted, like the curtain opening at a mummer show to reveal some new tableau” (487).

From “Mercy” TWoW:

“The fog opened before her like a tattered grey curtain to reveal the playhouse. Buttery yellow light spilled from the doors, and Mercy could hear voices from within”.

“The mists seemed to part before her and close up again as she passed”.

Martin engages the theatre arts, or the performance arts, as a motif throughout the novels in his series. References to theatre arts occur often in Martin’s texts, although not all mention of the theatre arts are rich in symbolic significance.

Here are two examples of visual images that Martin uses quite often: a curtain parting to reveal “something” significant. In ADwD, Martin like curtains to expose the wedding of Ramsay and “Arya” as a fraud.

In “Mercy”, Martin describes the fog as “opening”, employing the simile comparing the fog to a “tattered GREY curtain”. The poor condition represents the “poor quality” of the moldy costumes and performance choices of the Gate mummers. The “tatters” could be emblematic of Arya’s choices and her situation. Who had once been a strong-willed, opinionated girl-child who loved having her hair messed up by her half brother Jon Snow is now older, tougher, wiser, and deadly. Arya Stark’s life is in tatters, as are the lives of her family. Arya was once a girl from Winterfell , and her crooked stitches foreshadow her future in Braavoa with its crooked streets and alleys of Braavos.

Curtains work for a while to conceal what hides behind them. A weirwood mask provides eyes through which a new greenseer learns his powers. When the misty curtains open, the enormous heart tree towers over the couple like an officiant for a wedding. In Theon’s case, he is a witness to a fraudulent marriage since he knows that “Arya Stark” is “Jeyne Poole”. He remains mute, too frightened to act.

Bran’s presence is felt through the mists parting, and the young WF lord witnessing a horror. It will be Bran who assists in guiding Theon to see “the truth” and who is “father confessor” to his sins.

EXAMPLE #5 AND EVIDENCE

From ADwD:

“All the color had been leached from Winterfell until only grey and white remained. The Stark colors. . . Even the sky was grey. Grey and grey and greyer. The whole world grey, everywhere you look, everything grey except the eyes of the bride” (489).

From “Mercy” TWoW:

“Braavos was lost in fog”.

“Braavos was a good city for cats, and they roamed everywhere, especially at night. In the fog all cats are grey, Mercy thought. In the fog all men are killers”.

Martin’s language, once again by comparison, narrates each POV, but Martin deliberately changes his tone, style, and diction to distinguish Theon from Arya. Theon’s POV has impressive verbs, like “leached”, followed by how the whole world is GREY. Once more, Theon IS a poet. His word grouping of three lines of prose evocates a rant or a chant because he repeats grey six separate times, and in one phrase, the comparative of GREY is GREYER and they are separated by coordinating conjunctions, or two “ands”:” Grey and grey and greyer.

“Mercy’s” POV states that – “Braavos is LOST in the grey fog”.

Consequently, Theon’s view of Winterfell as a place consumed with grey matches Arya’s observance that the fog has devoured Braavos.

EXAMPLE #6 AND EVIDENCE

From ADwD:

“ It [the godswood] felt like some strange underworld, some timeless place between two worlds, where the damned wandered mournfully for a time before finding their way down to whatever hell their sins had earned them” (487).

From “Mercy” TWoW:

“The last bridge was made of rope and raw planks, and seemed to dissolve into nothingness, but that was only the fog. Mercy scampered across, her heels ringing on the wood”.

“She could see the green water of the little canal below, the cobbled stone street that ran beneath her building, two arches of the mossy bridge… but the far end of the bridge vanished in greyness”.

The thick mist educes otherworldliness. “Underworld” is the Greek Hades, where the dead souls “wander mournfully”, but eventually Hermes locates his charges to escort them to the afterlife.

Likewise, the fog in Braavos causes things to “vanish” in the “greyness”, and “to dissolve into nothingness” – “greyness” and “nothingness” intimate a state after death, which suggests a grey and gloomy underworld.

Homer describes the souls of the suitors as chattering like “bats” on their arrival to Hades’ Gates, their escort Olympian Hermes, who passes on his charges to Charon, the boatman, whose job it is to transport the dead cross the River Styx, after which they are judged. This determines their assignments for eternity. When a soul dies, whether good or bad, he or she goes to Hades for judgment.

Many scholars on Westeros have compared Arya to mythological figures associated with the dead. In Homeric mythology, Hermes guides the dead, Charon boats them. Arya is similar to either, and with her nearness to and her relationship with water, she may be an inspiration drawn from many cultural mythologies that attempted to understand death and the soul’s passage to the afterlife.

THEATRE and CURTAINS: MEL POV ADwD

"The flames crackled softly, and in 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. But the skulls were here as well, the skulls were all around him. Melisandre had seen his danger before, had tried to warn the boy of it. Enemies all around him, daggers in the dark. He would not listen."

These words are smartly written, and I think they give some evidence, although I am just offering an opinion.

Martin employs a theatre motif with Mel, her glamors that disguise people in costume and Martin’s language denotes a staged show:

she heard the whispered name Jon Snow

Whispering is associated with the theatre for an audience must be silent, and if they speak, their words should be whispers.

Actors whisper back stage giving directions and preparing for their entrance, etc.

a fluttering curtain.

Her flames provide stage lighting;

When Mel gazes into the flames, she often sees visions. So, Martin compares the flames to stage curtains which open when the show begins, only in the case of Melisandre, her hungry flames expose several visions.

Appearing and disappearing
A magician makes things disappear and reappear:
a shadow half-seen behind

A SHADE is a SHADOW in Homeric mythology. Look at what the Wiki says:

In literature and poetry, a shade (translating Greek σκιά Latin umbra) can be taken to mean the spirit or ghost of a dead person, residing in the underworld.

The image of an underworld where the dead live in shadow is common to the Ancient Near East, in Biblical Hebrew expressed by the term tsalmaveth, literally "death-shadow" The Witch of Endor in the First Book of Samuel notably conjures the ghost (owb) of Samuel.

Perhaps Mel’s vision, in this context, tells us that Jon Snow is DEAD when she sees him – he is already a shade. [she cannot see the death-shadow accurately]

Her vision is speaking to the fact that Jon is wolf = wolf is Jon.

Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again

Mel misinterprets her vision. Jon in death will move from JON to WOLF; then WOLF will move back to JON.

Martin intimates this will be done magically – for the theatre terms indicate it is like a magic show – so abracadabra! Jon is dead. Jon is Ghost.

In theatre, these would be interchangeable masks: Ghost returns Jon to Ghost.

Enemies all around him, daggers in the dark.

Mel may see how Jon dies,[but she doesn't realize it] as well as the men who kill him. [she earlier offered to give him their names].
Since the entire context of this passage is a magic show in miniature, whose magic will “assist” Ghost in returning Jon back to his dead body?

The most logical choice is Ghost – with the help of his own brother Bran. Bran knows – the birds always mentioned in the rafters of the halls are keeping an eye on what’s going on.

Ghost = BR = Bran =CoF=Weirwood trees and their faces=the old gods.

[Sun]

I think it's simple symbolism for her being lost, her path is murky, dark and unclear. The old man is traveling in the opposite direction to the way she is, and she envies him his light.

Yes, exactly. I agree.

All 3 of these passages point to Arya's blindness concerning where her path is taking her. Interesting question, Mrmanakan. thx

Yes, this too.

[The King Beyond The Wall]

evita mgfs - you are a legend! Such attention to detail.

[Urien the Ragged]

Nm

[Talking Hodor]

Yep, it's foggy in Braavos. A lot.

[Mrmanakan]

Yea, as OP i feel kinda dumb because I reread all of arya's DWD and FFC chapters and basically it's foggy there most of the nights and chapters except when she's arriving if I remember correctly. Oh well I did think it was strange how it was such a big bit of the environment and it really reminded me of the sorrows for some reason especially when she said she's rdy to throw raff in the water so the eels could do the rest. Sounds very shrouded lordish. Who knows before we know it she could be fixing the shrouded lords horn if you know what I mean. U could say it was foreshadowing if you consider the shrouded lord no different from the stranger :)