43 replies to this topic

[House Balstroko]

From the descriptions it seems pretty obvious that the comet is no mere coincidence, but a magical aspect. Does it get fully explained in later books?

[Xtopher]

I dont have the answer to that as i just finished Clash,
BUT!

didnt you notice that at the beggining of the book, every chapter mentions the red comet almost til halfthrough the book, and then never mention it again until The House of the Undying chapter. I didnt like that, its like you present a character and it starts to grow on you and then u just dont mention it again until the end of the book and only as a "mention", no more than 1 line about it.

[The Annazon]

House Balstroko, on 04 January 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

From the descriptions it seems pretty obvious that the comet is no mere coincidence, but a magical aspect. Does it get fully explained in later books?

I think its for the Prince that was promised aka Dany

[zmflavius]

Khaleesi Anna Nightborn, on 04 January 2012 - 09:34 PM, said:

I think its for the Prince that was promised aka Dany

Debateably.  Jon is also considered by many to be a strong contender.

[Lions-and-Roses]

I was kind of wondering where it went, but then I didn't care because of everything else which was happening.

[House Balstroko]

It does seem that Jon and Dany are going to play an even bigger role as the series goes on.I hope they do eventually meet.

[The Annazon]

House Balstroko, on 07 January 2012 - 10:41 AM, said:

It does seem that Jon and Dany are going to play an even bigger role as the series goes on.I hope they do eventually meet.

  Ice(Jon)+ Fire ( Dany)

[House Balstroko]

Khaleesi Anna Nightborn, on 07 January 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

Ice(Jon)+ Fire ( Dany)

yeah its the song of ice and fire

[HyacinthGirl]

House Balstroko, on 04 January 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

From the descriptions it seems pretty obvious that the comet is no mere coincidence, but a magical aspect. Does it get fully explained in later books?

I love how every other character sees it as a 'herald of their coming'. So entertaining, seeing as

Spoiler

Most of them die straight after deciding this

[LuisDantas]

I think that it is just a comet, myself.  It is sort of a running joke about how people are always eager to see portents and pressages everywhere.

[Catastrophe]

Agreed. Everyone keeps projecting their own hopes or fears onto it, when it really doesn't mean anything at all. Everyone sees themselves or their allies or their enemies as special, but the skies don't actually care. It's a good way of highlighting how pointless the game of thrones is, in the grand scheme of things.

[House Balstroko]

Catastrophe, on 08 January 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

Agreed. Everyone keeps projecting their own hopes or fears onto it, when it really doesn't mean anything at all. Everyone sees themselves or their allies or their enemies as special, but the skies don't actually care. It's a good way of highlighting how pointless the game of thrones is, in the grand scheme of things.

That actually does seem like a logical explanation. I guess i was just taken by the description of the comet, and how in most fantasy stories such an event signals the comming of a prophecy, but here its just a regular comet that serves as a vehicle to propel the concept of struggle.

[Xtopher]

If you are saying that the comet means nothing and not really helped anyone in any way other than convincing them to act,
Then how come....it helped Dany find the way towards Qarth

[LuisDantas]

Do we know that it wasn't a coincidence?

[MsSand]

In one of the Bran chapters, he is going around and asking everyone what the comet meant. He says that Old Nan has been around longer than all the others and her answer was "Dragons". He says she can't see it because of her poor sight, but tells Bran it has the smell of dragons. That sounds pretty straight forward in itself.

If we want to look further we can reflect on Dany's chapters from GOT where she is preparing the funeral pyre. The dothraki believe they go off to the night land and become a new star.( I don't remember, but did the comet show up before, during, or after Drogo and his horse were burned.) In this case, it would mean dragons as Old Nan said because this burning caused Drogo to become a star, and his death, as a king, lead to the rebirth of dragons.

I'm pretty confident on the first part, about Old Nan. I also think the Drogo part could be feasible, but not for sure.

[Catastrophe]

Xtopher, on 09 January 2012 - 10:56 AM, said:

If you are saying that the comet means nothing and not really helped anyone in any way other than convincing them to act,
Then how come....it helped Dany find the way towards Qarth

Well if you keep walking in one direction long enough you're bound to find something, eventually. It's not like there was anything particularly important for Dany in Qarth, she left the city in the same situation she was in when she entered it. It doesn't seem like being in Qarth was any part of her special destiny or anything like that, it just seems like a place she happened to find.

[StarFreak01]

Catastrphe-

I don't know if I agree. The House of the Undying is arguable one of the most important chapters in the book, and undoubtably for Dany. If she had not found Qarth, she never would have been to the house or seen any of the things she saw inside it.

Whether the comet is magical or just a natural occurance, it's hard to say. Because it was only mentioned in the first few chapters, it lost some of its importance in my eyes. But because GRRM wrote it into the book at all means it has some significance. Whether the significance is as some omen or just a methaphorical device, who knows.

[Catastrophe]

You do have a good point. Though, I find it interesting that during Dany's trip through the House, there was one room where all these supposed mages (who all looked and talked like they came right out of a traditional high fantasy novel) were talking about how they sent the comet for her. It turns out to be a trap, playing on Dany's sense of importance, and she almost falls for it before Drogon comes to her rescue. That scene was actually one of the things that makes me think that the comet doesn't have any real meaning, and that all the people who say it does are just deceiving themselves. To me, it's one of the many ways that this series subverts typical high fantasy cliches and expectations.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I doubt we'll ever know for sure, I wouldn't be surprised if the Red Comet was never mentioned again for the rest of the series.

[Xtopher]

The weird guys inside the House of the Undying sais they had been expecting Dany for a long time, and also said that they sent the comet to help her find the way... that seems proof enough for me that the comet was intended for her, the mother of dragons!

[The Queenfisher]

Xtopher, on 11 January 2012 - 03:42 PM, said:

The weird guys inside the House of the Undying sais they had been expecting Dany for a long time, and also said that they sent the comet to help her find the way... that seems proof enough for me that the comet was intended for her, the mother of dragons!

I am less than a hundred pages into SOS, so I may sound a fool for saying so, but I'm still unsure how much the visions in the House of the Undying were based in truth and how much was deception or simply in Dany's head.
This keeps me from ruling out other purposes for the comet aside from providing Dany with a north star of sorts.
That's not to say I don't think there's a reason it's become more prominent... I think I tend to side with Old Nan on that one.
Ultimately, though, I guess I'm from the school of thought that the comet signifies whatever the particular character needs it to be at the time.
If there is such a school.