The power of Beric and Catelyn comes from the Old Gods, not the Lord of Light, and Jaime will be next.

[Hammermen's Revolt]

There'd be a lot less to discuss if everything was spelled out.

That's true. Wouldn't miss the discussion as much as the delightful uncertainty though. Don't you love the fact that even Stannis can't be sure that the three deaths were caused by the leeches or by completely separate causes? Could be Rh'lor, could be coincidence. [emoji1]

[The Mother of The Others]

Could be that they both accessed the breath of life power from the same source that wasn't rooted in either of their religions. They're the heroes that something wanted, so their wishes were granted. The trees and the flames are just the filters they use to collect power with, like different brands of satellite dish that both pull in the signal from the great beyond.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Would this not rely on each of Beric's resurrections being in front of a weirwood though? In order to be influenced by the Old Gods/BR I mean

Here's the first...

"Can I dwell on what I scarce remember? I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?"

Arya VII, Storm

The light of the rising sun glittered off the points of five hundred lances and ten times as many spears. The night's grey banners were reborn in half a hundred gaudy colors. And above them all flew two regal dragons on night-black fields: the great three-headed beast of King Aerys I Targaryen, red as fire, and a white winged fury breathing scarlet flame.

Not Maekar after all, Dunk knew, when he saw those banners. The banners of the Prince of Summerhall showed four three-headed dragons, two and two, the arms of the fourth-born son of the late King Daeron II Targaryen. A single white dragon announced the presence of the King's Hand, Lord Brynden Rivers.

The Mystery Knight

[Blazfemur]

i can only offer speculation which may or may not support:

consider the correlation, between Melisandre, and Bloodraven. Between Bloodraven, and where his mystical powers come from.

First, Melisandre's powers strengthen at the wall. No, there's no connection between the wall and Bloodraven, however, there IS, connection, between the weirwood door and it's magic, to the weirwood throne and the magic in that cave. The same magic, keeping the dead out of Bloodraven's cave, amplified through weirwood (possibly), could be present at the wall, and the weirwood beneath the wall amplifying it (the same shield repelling the dead)

COTF magic? are they behind the weirwood, and the powers that eminate from it? Possibly. if so, there would be a combination of parallels, between the cotf, and rh'llor.

this is not to discount the "great other," and how the powers of The Others work (i speculate first men blood, which ISNT cotf or rh'llor or anything).

this obviously would need more brainstorming and mental mathematics.

[Blazfemur]

my only quarrel, is that thoros is the harbinger for resurrection, and his faith lies in rh'llor. for any of this to work, rh'llor would in himself, need to be one of the old gods. thoros' faith in rh'llor is said to be the main property for resurrection (though, it did JUST begin, when the comet started, when the dragons hatched, etc, even though he always claimed to be a follower)

[John Doe]

And there's this line...

Arya VIII, Storm

Doesn't sound too pious to me.

Because everytime Berric is resurrected he loses a part of his self.

[Pod The Impaler]

This theory goes well with the idea that it was Arya who awakened Catelyn from the Trident to be reborn as Lady Stoneheart, not Beric or Thoros.

[Archmaester Drew]

I suspect that there are elemental magics that are in an eternal struggle for balance, and that the various religions have developed around them... :)

[Northernmonkey]

I think it's possible that Patchface's powers come from the old gods. He had a traumatic incident and woke up with prophetic powers, which sounds very familiar. Although we don't know if he has any blood of the first men.

[JonathanTheBold]

just to interject but haven't the old gods basically be proven to just be old green seers and are therefore not real

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

I disagree, I don't there are different sources of magic, I think there is one stream being tapped into through different ways. That explains the similarities across different types of magics and most requiring a blood sacrifice.

[Archmaester Drew]

I disagree, I don't there are different sources of magic, I think there is one stream being tapped into through different ways. That explains the similarities across different types of magics and most requiring a blood sacrifice.

They certainly have their commonalities, but there is fire magic (Valyria and Asshai), water magic (Rhoynar), earth magic (Children and First Men), as well as the 'song of ice and fire' and 'song of the earth' -- the only thing missing is the air/sky magic/songs, and there is evidence for those too... :)

[Queen‍‍‍‍‍‍ Alysanne‍‍™]

They certainly have their commonalities, but there is fire magic (Valyria and Asshai), water magic (Rhoynar), earth magic (Children and First Men), as well as the 'song of ice and fire' and 'song of the earth' -- the only thing missing is the air/sky magic/songs, and there is evidence for those too... :)

I agree there are different types of magics but my point was more of them just being different facets of a universal pool of magic.

Such as weirwoods and fire both having ine source but being tapped from different parts of the pool.

[Archmaester Drew]

I agree there are different types of magics but my point was more of them just being different facets of a universal pool of magic.

Such as weirwoods and fire both having ine source but being tapped from different parts of the pool.

I agree, they are all part of a whole system. :)

[Lord Spark of House Spark]

i can only offer speculation which may or may not support:

consider the correlation, between Melisandre, and Bloodraven. Between Bloodraven, and where his mystical powers come from.

First, Melisandre's powers strengthen at the wall. No, there's no connection between the wall and Bloodraven, however, there IS, connection, between the weirwood door and it's magic, to the weirwood throne and the magic in that cave. The same magic, keeping the dead out of Bloodraven's cave, amplified through weirwood (possibly), could be present at the wall, and the weirwood beneath the wall amplifying it (the same shield repelling the dead)

COTF magic? are they behind the weirwood, and the powers that eminate from it? Possibly. if so, there would be a combination of parallels, between the cotf, and rh'llor.

this is not to discount the "great other," and how the powers of The Others work (i speculate first men blood, which ISNT cotf or rh'llor or anything).

this obviously would need more brainstorming and mental mathematics.

The Faceless Men use magic behind a weirwood door too. Not sure how it fits with BR but I Am sure someone can make it work.

[Mithras]

I think Bran Vras suggested this idea before. Or was it tze?. I definitely remember reading the idea that Arya resurrected Cat through Nymeria.

Anyway, I agree with this. Perhaps Beric was an experiment for BR.

[Modesty Lannister]

Absolutely. I have been claiming the same thing all along. Hollow hill is most likely a huge cave under High Heart. The chair where Beric is sitting in when Arya arrives is a throne made out of weirwood roots similar to the one BR is using. So, Hollow Hill is most likely a former CotF stronghold with powerful magic present. Plus, it is not far from the Isle of Faces and the power of its weirwoods. Thoros of Myr himself said that his magic never worked before. So, I'd say it never did. It's the CotF magic that works. It is interesting that the most powerful CotF magical spots past and present are located in the Riverlands. Jaime (whom is suspect will be the last hero) has been already targeted by the CotF through dreams and when Brienne takes him to Hollow Hill, magic will happen.

[No Song so Sweet]

So the connection is some similarities in the description?

I don't think that Beric has any relation to the old gods, there is no indication of that. He is a Marcher Lord, not a northener, he just had a connection to Eddard because he appointed him to chase Gregor instead of Loras. This doesn't indicate anything more, as Loras was also considered (because he volunteered).

Also a wierwood throne is very different and very specific, wierwoods being there is much more plain. Maybe you suppose that Beric is much inferior in the share of power of the old gods than Brynden Rivers? Either case, I don't really by the idea, It doesn't have many compelling indications.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

The hollow hill where Sandor's trial took place seems to be just a convenient hangout for the BwB. It's been abandoned for thousands of years. There's no real reason to link Thoros to the Old Gods just because the BwB use an old CotF dwelling. Apparently the CotF were into semi-standardized architecture.

Thoros' first resurrection of Beric took place on a stream bank (the Mummer's Ford). No link with the Old Gods is evident.

It might be important to remember that Bloodraven is only half Blackwood (First Men/Old Gods). He is also half Targ, so we can expect some heavy fire symbolism to be associated with him.

The key thing to realize about Thoros' resurrections of Beric is that they are the work of a semi-amateur, and they are not working out. Thoros doesn't really know what he is doing. (He didn't pay very close attention in priest school.) Beric keeps coming back less and less. It's not a true resurrection - Beric is basically a very high quality fire wight. Only death can pay for life, and Thoros isn't paying the price for a proper resurrection. That's why Beric keeps degrading, and why the transfer to LS works so badly (coupled to the fact that it was performed by Beric, not Thoros). You would think that Bloodraven would know how to do a proper resurrection.

There are certainly some very strong resemblances between the images of Beric and BR sitting on their respective weirwood thrones, as the OP points out. This is IMO a case, however, where the purpose of that similarity isn't to show us a link, but to invite us to draw a contrast between the two.

[Mithras]

Actually, the presence of one-eyed figures is all throughout the text, from Balerion the Cat to the one-eyed crone among the dosh khaleen, from the one-eyed horse given to Val to Mors Umber and many others.