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The Great Other


Grimwolfe

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I think the individual gods (the Other, the Storm God, the Stranger, the Faceless God, He Who Shall Not be Named) may all point towards the same overarching principle that the books seem to wrestle with: universal death and decay. I don't necessarily see the Great Other as a direct or literal 'god' of the Others, but rather as a more abstract force of death, just as the Others/White Walkers are death-in-the-flesh in some sense.

I think Melisandre is 'onto something' through her faith in the Red God, just as the Faith is 'onto something' when relating to the Stranger: they are different responses to the same phenomenon. But I also think that Melisandre is misguided in important ways. She's right in identifying the key danger - the Others, winter and darkness - but her own fanaticism clouds her judgment.

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This might be a crackpot theory, but i think the great other is bloodraven and eventually bran...it fits good with the religious aspect too. Plus bran is told to never fear the darkness and that it will make him stronger, while melisandre and her religion is always going around saying fear the darkness and all

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I think Melisandre is 'onto something' ... But I also think that Melisandre is misguided in important ways. fanaticism clouds her judgment.

It's rare that we get answers like this from the character in question herself! My user name makes me similarly qualified to put this question to rest:

fanaticism is what makes Melisandre ASSIGN a god from her pantheon to the Others. In her fires she seems to have zeroed in on Bloodraven, sensed his power, and assigned him a role in her religion's scheme of things, when really we as readers of the entire series know better. We know that the northern gods (BR) aren't the problem that's facing the realms of men. We've seen the agents of the northern gods (Coldhands) fighting the agents of the Others. Resisting their onslaught. So the key to unraveling this Great Other B.S. is to realize Melisandre is seeing everything through the filter of her faith. She doesn't know what the hell's really waiting out there in the cold. And that's scary. So she thinks of it in the familiar terms she does know. We haven't heard a damn thing from the Others about what their actual command structure is. Oh, wait, I've just received word that they're about to start a press conference to clarify all of this----let's listen in to hear what they have to say:

from The Spokesperson of The Others:

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ....
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Ok when there were the "Others" I immediately thought of Lost. Then the "Great Other" made me think of Lost again when the survivors found out there were "other Others". LOLz

Am I alone in my insanity?

who, Benjamin Linus? I used to live for that show

But let me tell you all something about The others/great other...

They mean business.

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I too think it's just a deity, for the threat should be personified. He doesn't exist, just like Rhlorr doesn't. White walkers being real and red priests having real power doesn't prove that there are beings "Rhlorr" and "Great other".

One thing I need to point out is that I don't think the Stranger is the Great Other's equivalent in the seven's faith. The seven is not a dualistic religion - all seven gods are the face of one, the Stranger is not the one who should be defeated or something to that effect.

A real world analogy - if the seven is christianity, then the Stranger is a part of the trinity (the Holy Spirit maybe), and not the devil.

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 months later...

It's rare that we get answers like this from the character in question herself! My user name makes me similarly qualified to put this question to rest:

fanaticism is what makes Melisandre ASSIGN a god from her pantheon to the Others. In her fires she seems to have zeroed in on Bloodraven, sensed his power, and assigned him a role in her religion's scheme of things, when really we as readers of the entire series know better. We know that the northern gods (BR) aren't the problem that's facing the realms of men. We've seen the agents of the northern gods (Coldhands) fighting the agents of the Others. Resisting their onslaught. So the key to unraveling this Great Other B.S. is to realize Melisandre is seeing everything through the filter of her faith. She doesn't know what the hell's really waiting out there in the cold. And that's scary. So she thinks of it in the familiar terms she does know. We haven't heard a damn thing from the Others about what their actual command structure is. Oh, wait, I've just received word that they're about to start a press conference to clarify all of this----let's listen in to hear what they have to say:

from The Spokesperson of The Others:

Why aren't all responses crafted with this much reason? Excellent thoughts, and constructed so neatly!

I agree with everything above. I've read posts on this forum that that appear to anticipate a reveal of the "true God(s)," along with (and this was surprising) a great battle of deities for dominion over man and earth. I've found that most careful readers see each faith as the equal to the next, and that their differences have only to do with cultural lens through which you interpret magic and miracles. Melisandre's magic will show her many things, but it's our socially constructed human mentalities that will offer a value judgement about what things mean. She might see Bran and BR in the flames and she will "shudder," but it's good to remind ourselves that the shudder is a human response to visions provided by magic, and one might have very little to do with the other. No pun intended.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, the others/wights/ old white haired blue eyed men that create animated frozen zombies seem to be able to be "dealt" with. Craster, even the Night's King married a female other so there is a logical conclusion they the "others" possibly have some hierarchy in their ranks.

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  • 1 month later...

Not only the word "other" but also, Mel sees Bloodraven and Bran and thinks "Is this my enemy?"

But its almost universal on here that Mel is a crackpot who at best can glamour and see tiny glimpses of the future that she interprets wrong.

I never for a second believed that the Great Other was the leader/king/god/sororitymother of the White Walkers. That's just Mel being... idk an uneducated fanatic. A slave.

If the Others are just pure evil, that'll be fine with me, but most tend to agree they have some sort of endgame. I hope its to kill humans and take back the land that was stolen from them, with the CotF by their sides.

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<snip>

I have always had a tiny crackpot idea that the Unsullied Goddess, She Whose Name Shall Not Be Told to Non-Unsullied, is actually the antithesis to R'hllor...meaning the Unsullied are the enemy of those who worship fire. The Unsullied have the essence of the life - their manhoods- cut and tossed on fire, their training includes tortures like being made to walk on hot coals and stand in blistering heat. They honor the goddess by purifying themselves in water each day. Water is obviously in stark contrast to fire.

This post, and another like it in a different thread, are both very intriguing wrt to the "Great (M)other" idea. Nice connections, DP.

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As far as I am concerned, there is no evidence that R'hllor exists, much less the Great Other. The fact that the Red Priests have magic does not, of necessity, make their god real.

Then why do all the red priests we see have magical powers? Thoros, Melissandre, and Morroqo - all have proven magical powers. R'hllor is real. The old gods also have power which has been proven - the three eyed crow, brans powers, Jojens powers, and the fact that Bloodraven is somehow kept alive by tree roots. Oh and that the entrance to the caves beyond the wall where Bran is possesses magical wards that keep out the others.
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