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Need help deciphering an extract in House of Undying


Moriath

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I figured out most of it, but I need someone to explain me who does the text refer to in this part.

ACoK, Ch. 48

Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow.

Cast no shadow generally means that the person is dead.. So is this referring to wights?

A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly.

Who does this refer to?

I don't mind spoilers. If there is an explanation in the later books, please give it..

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The first quote is usually thought to refer to Stannis - as he has no shadow due to it being taken off him by Mel and used to kill Renly.



The second quote is more ambiguous. Grey lips smiling sadly seems to refer to a Greyjoy so it could be Victarion Greyjoy, a character from later books who sails to meet Dany. He is also possibly undead. He suffered a serious infection from a battle wound, but then was "healed" by a red priest. So he was potentially resurrected. Some people believe it refers to Aemon Targaryen as he travels from Braavos to Oldtown in A Feast for Crows.


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First one you ask about is Stannis: crown of a king, blue eyes, red glowing sword, and no shadow... the last is a metaphor referring to the fact that he used up his shadow with Melisandre to make 2 shadow babies, the one that killed Renly and the other of the Lord at Storm's End who doesn't want to give up Edric Storm to him. (all the necessary info to decipher this can be found in aCoK)

A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly.

This is almost a complete metaphor: 'grey lips smiling smadly' is a visualisation of 'Greyjoy'... a grey smile, but 'grey' is not the color you would associate with the word 'joy', but rather with sadness or mourning even (grey is the color of the silent sisters and the Stranger for example);

Corpse could be literally dead or metaphorically a reinforcement of a man of the Ironborn: the IB god is the 'Drowned God' and the words are 'What is dead may never die'.

Prow of a ship also hints at IB: the ship is important to an IB, part of their identity, not just a vessel to go from place A to B and never cross the sea again. And the man standing on a prow of a ship would be the captain.

So, two metaphorical hints to an Ironborn, and in particular a Greyjoy. Possible male Greyjoys from aCoK: Theon, Aeron, Victarion and Euron. You'll be able to quickly eliminate 2 of that iist from aSoS on. aDwD seems to give a little hint in a Dany dream to one of the 4 I listed only. Although I know plenty still hope it's the other remaining one.

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