Hyrkoon the Hero and Some questions about the far east

[Ser Duncan of Flea Bottom]

In the World of Ice and Fire we see an image of Hyrkoon the Hero with Lightbringer.

Is Hyrkoon another name to Azor Ahai? Or is he considered another hero?

Plus, I know nobody but Martin will answer this question correctly, but, in your opinion:

Do you think the lands of the far east like The City of the Winged Men, Carcosa, The City of the Bloodless Men and many other places, are really real or just fable?

[TheSovereignGrave]

I think Azor Ahai just has different names in different cultures, and Hyrkoon the Hero is just one of the names he's known by.

As for the very far East, I think there's at least some truth to the tales. The settlements are, in my mind, without a doubt real places. Whether or not the people there are as mythical as they're described, probably not (sort of a 'here be dragons' type thing). Though I have something of a crackpot theory that the Grey Waste is home to Essosi others, and the Cities of the Bloodless Men may refer to an entire civilization that was destroyed and turned to wights during the Long Night.

[Mithras]

The Others were only in Westeros and it was the LH who fought them and ended the LN.

People in Essos didnot suffer the terrible winter as Westeros did but they suffered greatly due to the blocking of sun and the death of vegetation. No doubt, they paid great importance to this phenomena and produced myths to explain it.

Azor Ahai and all the other Essossi heroes mentioned in TWOIAF do not exist or they might be local heroes to whom foreign heroic myths were attributed. The Last Hero was the one true hero and his tales no doubt reached East. Since the Dawn age, there is trade between Essos and Westeros. This makes it possible for the myths to travel.

So, the Essossi heard the Westerosi hero who ended the LN but in time they attributed those deeds to their local heroes or created new heroes as a figurehead of their newly created cults.

[aryagonnakill#2]

I'm reminded of the end of Madagascar 2, when King Julian says they need to sacrifice to the volcano to get the water to please the gods so they will send the water back. A shark winds up falling into the volcano and simultaneously the damn blocking the water is destroyed in an unrelated plot.

I'm sure there were religious or military leaders all over the world during the long night claiming that if people followed them they could end this, and that as soon as the Long night ended, they were happy to take credit based on whatever they were doing.

[joluoto2]

They wouldn't have built the 5 forts if they weren't fighting something. I don't think it was the Others though. But something creepy did attack Eastern Essos during the Long Night. (note how the heroes are Eastern Essosi, from places such as Hyrkoon, Yi Ti and Asshai. As far as we know we don't have an equivalent in Western Essos).

[Mithras]

They wouldn't have built the 5 forts if they weren't fighting something. I don't think it was the Others though. But something creepy did attack Eastern Essos during the Long Night. (note how the heroes are Eastern Essosi, from places such as Hyrkoon, Yi Ti and Asshai. As far as we know we don't have an equivalent in Western Essos).

We do not know who built those structures. What if they were fighting against the nomadic people who constantly raid their lands? That was what the Great Wall of China was built for and they still have a constant enemy, Joghos Nai, being very similar to nomadic Central Asian tribes. Perhaps during the LN, the migration of nomadic tribes posed a serious threat to all the settled societies.

[Archmaester Drew]

The Others were only in Westeros and it was the LH who fought them and ended the LN.

People in Essos didnot suffer the terrible winter as Westeros did but they suffered greatly due to the blocking of sun and the death of vegetation. No doubt, they paid great importance to this phenomena and produced myths to explain it.

Azor Ahai and all the other Essossi heroes mentioned in TWOIAF do not exist or they might be local heroes to whom foreign heroic myths were attributed. The Last Hero was the one true hero and his tales no doubt reached East. Since the Dawn age, there is trade between Essos and Westeros. This makes it possible for the myths to travel.

So, the Essossi heard the Westerosi hero who ended the LN but in time they attributed those deeds to their local heroes or created new heroes as a figurehead of their newly created cults.

Yes, this is my thoughts too -- except that I wouldn't rule out an Essosi form of Others from the Grey Wastes. :)

[OmnomnomPomelo]

I think that the Long Night was everywhere in the world, but the different nations have different stories about it. So in Yi Ti it's the story of Hyrkoon, the last hero in Westeros, probably Azor Ahai in Asshai etc. I think it's logical.

[Reginald blackfield]

We do not know who built those structures. What if they were fighting against the nomadic people who constantly raid their lands? That was what the Great Wall of China was built for and they still have a constant enemy, Joghos Nai, being very similar to nomadic Central Asian tribes. Perhaps during the LN, the migration of nomadic tribes posed a serious threat to all the settled societies.

But why were they attacking? Just as the wildlings attacked the wall for fear of others, perhaps they too were fleeing something. Or maybe not, we may never know.

[Maester Mando]

We do not know who built those structures. What if they were fighting against the nomadic people who constantly raid their lands? That was what the Great Wall of China was built for and they still have a constant enemy, Joghos Nai, being very similar to nomadic Central Asian tribes. Perhaps during the LN, the migration of nomadic tribes posed a serious threat to all the settled societies.

The Five Forts werent built to hold the jogos nhai back. They form the border to the grey waste, land of the shrykes, etc. There are no jogos nhai settling there.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

The Five Forts are very old, older than the Golden Empire itself; some claim they were raised by the Pearl Emperor during the morning of the Great Empire to keep the Lion of Night and his demons from the realms of men …

The Five Forts were built before the Long Night, probably during the reign of the Pearl Emperors (the successors of the God-Emperor)... to keep in bay savages and mosters from the grey waste (we can assume given the forts´s locations)

During the Long Night, one could imagine massive migrations, and invasions due to lack of food. Besides the Grey Waste are said to be a "Freezing desert". It shouldn´t surprise anyone if some/all these monsters that live beyond the limits of the Great Empire tried to invade.

Of the lands that lie beyond the Five Forts, we know even less. Legends and lies and traveler’s tales are all that ever reach us of these far places. We hear of cities where the men soar like eagles on leathern wings, of towns made of bones, of a race of bloodless men who dwell between the deep valley called the Dry Deep and the mountains. Whispers reach us of the Grey Waste and its cannibal sands, and of the Shrykes who live there, half-human creatures with green-scaled skin and venomous bites. Are these truly lizard-men, or (more likely) men clad in the skins of lizards? Or are they no more than fables, the grumkins and snarks of the eastern deserts? And even the Shrykes supposedly live in terror of K’dath in the Grey Waste, a city said to be older than time, where unspeakable rites are performed to slake the hunger of mad gods. Does such a city truly exist? If so, what is its nature?

the fact that Yendal calls them, "Grumkins and snarks of the eastern deserts" is telling. Grumkins and snarks are used to denigrate tales of Others and other real threats in Asoiaf.. So if these lizard-men, bloodless men, winged men and so on, are the equivalent of Grumkins and snarks, then they are most definetly real.

the pearl emperor raised the five forts to defend the borders of the empire against them. also it shouldn´t surprise anyone if they are associated with the evil "Lion of the night", evil god figure.

In the annals of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal, as his usurpation is named, that ushered in the age of darkness called the Long Night. Despairing of the evil that had been unleashed on earth, the Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back upon the world, and the Lion of Night came forth in all his wroth to punish the wickedness of men.

During the Long Night, the Lion of the Night come forth "in all his worth". That means that his "demons" were more of a threat than ever before.

How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior—known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser—arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.

Here comes Hyrkoon the hero, and other myths. They are probably rooted in some true historical figures. There was probably a war against these monsters from the East. And some hero/leader gave courage to men to defeat the invaders.

But the Long Night didn´t end with those victories. The true War for Dawn was fought in Westeros.

[joluoto2]

One thing though, we should take both Essosi and Westerosi chronology with a huge grain of salt. We don't know when the Long Night happened, and what events actually happened before or after the Long Night. It's based thousands of years of myths and legends. Errors in the narrative have crept in over the ages, due to cultural shifts or just misunderstandings. GRRM likes to play with unreliable narrators, and if any narrator in unreliable, it's ancient history.

[TheHighTower]

Could the Last Hero who ended the LN is Westeros really be a warrior from across the Bones? Afterall they did name their realm after this guy

[joluoto2]

It's all speculative, but either there was some super warrior travelling all over the World helping people during the Long Night or there were several heroes rising up to lead their peoples during this cataclysmic event.