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The bear and the maiden fair - an analysis of all bear related themes in aSoIaF


sweetsunray

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Yeah, there will be an essay about the hidden bear. I may not convince many people, and we'll probably need at least one more book to see it confirmed, but I have a candidate character, and there's even a song involved. But watch for some updates on the previous essays. I'm combing through the books for every POV for bear references. I just found one regarding Theon that I will add tonight to the bear-revenge.

And thanks for the encouragement. :D

Regardless of if people are convinced, I think they will see you've put a hell of a lot of work and thought in this. I dunno if you've heard of http://asearchoficeandfire.com/ but if you just type in the word bear and check off all the books it should give you all the sentences it was used in. Might make your job looking for facts a bit easier if you're not already using it!

ETA: holy mother fucking shit, I searched it out of curiosity, and the word bear is used 1471 times (including all the books, the novellas, and the WOIAF book)

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Regardless of if people are convinced, I think they will see you've put a hell of a lot of work and thought in this. I dunno if you've heard of http://asearchoficeandfire.com/ but if you just type in the word bear and check off all the books it should give you all the sentences it was used in. Might make your job looking for facts a bit easier if you're not already using it!

ETA: holy mother fucking shit, I searched it out of curiosity, and the word bear is used 1471 times (including all the books, the novellas, and the WOIAF book)

But 'bear' also often shows in sentences as 'for the love you bear me', and 'could she bear even more', or 'to bear a child'. Also in the word 'beard' you can find the word 'bear'.

There's also the word 'forebear', which means 'ancestor'. I don't count that as a 'bear', but interestingly enough a totemic bear ancestor would be called a 'forebear', and literally would be one, wouldn't they?

Anyway, the majority of 'bear' hits on the search site are that type of hits.

But Areo Hotah and Doran think and mention 'dancing bears'. Arya Hotah used to go watch dancing bears at the Sinner's steps with his mother as a child at Norvos. Doran met Mellario for the first time in Volantis where there were dancing bears. With Doran's marriage eventually having gone sour and Mellario leaving Doran for Norvos again there might be something there.

One of Daenerys' guards at Mereen has a bear mask. She also witnesses a bull and bear fighting in the fighting pits. Both animals die, and are then butchered and made into a stew to feed the poor. Dany agrees to have this practice continued.

There's a bear carcass in the ice cells at the Wall, when Jon inspects the provisions there. A wighted snow bear attacks the cave where Bran & co are kept safe. It might be the same one that attacked the Fist. I must compare the descriptions. That bear gets killed and eaten by Summer and Vararmyr's former wolf pack. And then there's Varamyr's bear of course. And then some bear references to the former bears already discussed: Jaime revisiting the bear pit at HH and seeing the bones and pelt of the animal, feeling pity for it, and Ronnet's disparaging comments about Brienne, including that if she had fought the bear naked, she would have scared the bear (Har! Thormund would say... a true gem of bear-lore). Samwell stops Grenn from singing the song on the march to Craster's Keep after the attack on the fist. Hot Pie sings the song with Tom. Nimble Dick sings it when leading Brienne to Shagwell. The Freys and Abel sing the song at WF. Sansa thinks of herself as a bear cub. Dany has her dream with Jorah in her final chapter. Roose comments that bulls are strong, and bears.

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Yes, there are quite a lot of bear references in the books. I've been reading up on dancing bears and as one would suspect, there is a distinction between bears dancing naturally and bears forced to dance by man. The Inuit believe in reincarnation, preferably as a polar bear. The returning Inuit spirit is so happy that the polar bear dances for joy. A Native American myth tells the story of a sage who saw bears dancing while in trance. The bears, who were dancing on their hindlegs in the sun appeared to be very real to him. He interpreted the dance as one of gratitude as well as a prayer for the healing and protection of their cubs. This dance, with the bear as the central figure, was incorporated into the rituals of the tribe. It symbolized protection, strength and continuation of the progeny.


In the dancing bear, the Inuit also see the dance as an expression of the joy of the weight and responsibility of life. A bear is heavy and clumsy, not really suited to dancing but he dances because he is joyful of having achieved balance. A similarity between the two myths is the idea that a dancing bear cannot be seen and is not meant to be seen by humans. The Inuit believe this is because the bear himself has poor vision and in the Native American story, the sage only sees the dancing bears while in a trance.




Quite in contrast to the above characterisation and meaning behind the dancing bear, we have the captive dancing bear, trained to entertain humans. Training and subduing a bear is only achieved by abusing the animal. The methods employed are horrific and include boring a permanent hole through the sensitive nose to attach a controlling rope and forcing the animal to stand on hot plates. To avoid the pain, the bear then jumps about on the plates to 'in time' with the music. Eventually, it responds to the music without the hot plates. All dancing bears suffer extreme cruelty throughout their lives. Needless to say, it is a practice that has been almost eradicated worldwide.




The dancing bears in the story are thus another example of the kind of bear abuse as demonstrated by the OP. It is interesting that both nobles and smallfolk love these dancing bears. There is a passage in the World Book, which states that Aegon III calls a halt to a feast, asking his lords to give the food to the hungry instead. “I mean to give the smallfolk peace and food and justice,” he says. “Full bellies and dancing bears shall be my policy.” Then we have the yearly ritual in Norvos, where a bear dances down the Sinner's steps. Justice and Sinner's Steps imply that the bear is carrying out a ‘walk of shame’, atoning for some injustice, either symbolically or because the bear itself is thought of as a monster worthy of punishment? All these bears are dancing in full view of the public.



Qohor and Norvos were founded as a result of religious differences between the colonists and Old Valyria, each new state installing their own Gods. The evil sounding Black Goat is worshipped on Qohor. Qohor with its heavily forested areas offers another habitat to bears. In the song, we have the following lines in the third stanza:



And down the road from here to there.


From here! To there!


Three boys, a goat and a dancing bear!


They danced and spun, all the way to the fair!



Remember my suspicions that bears are being misused as part of some dark ritual? I may be wrong about the purpose of the ritual but I still maintain there is a ritual.


In the above lines we have three boys, a goat and a dancing bear. I’ll leave the boys aside for now but I see the goat as a reference to Qohor. Qohor is a place of dark necromancy. It is home to the dark secrets required to rework Valyrian steel and probably more. If here is a ritual involving bears and maidens, then this song tells us about the ritual. And I think your analysis provides at least part of the answer. It is the potency of the bear and sexual energy released by the bear, which transfers to the maiden that is the key here. I suspect this spiritual sexual energy is harnessed somehow to power or fuel something else (this is a concept of some Far Eastern thought and the essence of Tantra, for instance). The bear is abused in the process, as is the maid. The Norvoshi, who practice their own religion and have the bear walking down the Sinner’s Steps are also rivals of the Qohori. They seem to be symbolically punishing the bear for its role in the mysterious ritual.



Another topic is the misuse of bears in skinchanging. Varamyr’s power to skinchange the snow bear is not at all natural. He tells us that the bear fights this assault on its spirit every time. I have an essay on warging and skinchanging here, which explains this further. In a nutshell – he unwittingly performed a blood ritual to waken these powers.


In BR cave we have several skulls lined up – a wolf, a bear, a giant and several human skulls. I presume the animal and giant skulls may once have been greenseers’ familiar animals into which they skinchanged regularly, as we see Bran do. The wighted snowbear could very well be Varamyr’s bear. Interesting that it turns up at the cave….


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Thanks, Evolett for your contribution... I'm actually trying to write the next essay, which is about the dancing bears and how it involves weddings (Norvos, Qohor, Purple Wedding), Doran's marriage, and it does include the bear-Brienne fight as well. Fighting is called 'dancing' often. And yes, the goat in the song always stuck out like an eye sore to me. And we have a ram's head at Craster's Keep too. Personally I think that both in Qohor and Norvos things might go down very badly, starting with Qohor. As Vargo Hoat is avenged for his bear abuse, he's also the Goat and of Qohor. To me it's a foreshadowing. And then there is the link of Qohor tapestries with "hunting scenes". But what's being hunted on those tapestries? And there's a theory out there that those tapestries may be like some code regarding how to reforge Valyrian steel. Guess which armorer forge has a hunting scene at its door? Tobho Mott's and he's the sole one we kow of who can reforge Valyrian steel.




If you don't mind I will probably incorporate some of your suggestions here about it.



Also on the "ancestor" versus "forebear" hits: GRRM uses the latter word far more often in the books... interesting!



ETA: The Inuit too regarded polar bears as skinchangers, celestial messengers and spirits able to turn into a bird, and bear vengeance against extortionists withholding food from others.


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No problem - here's one of the links I used.



Littlefinger's tapestries are very intriguing, so many subtle hints here and there but nothing conclusive. I'm sure we're in for a few big surprises. The tapestries may indeed be some kind of blueprint. I haven't read any of the VS theories but it's a possibility. LF does have a broken sword hanging on the wall of his humble 'castle' on the Fingers. That sword isn't there for nothing.



Interesting stuff about the Inuit and polar bears as skinchangers and celestial messengers - that feeds into a whole bunch of ideas I've been tossing around :)


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Oh, sweetsunray, what did you do to me? Now I'm looking for "hidden bear" motifs all over the books. :) Fascinating essays, I'm looking forward to the continuation.



I'll be back with more comments later... I'm still processing the information and the ideas.


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6. The ritual and custom within the song

The Hunting ritual

In the bear and the maiden song the first three stanzas seem to follow the lore about ritual bear hunting. It was a shamanic bear hunter who would choose and select which bear to hunt at which den. The first stanza of the song is like a shaman’s shout out, “That bear! I know the bear we should hunt!”

1. A bear there was, a bear, a bear!

all black and brown, and covered with hair.

The bear! The bear!

At the den, the hunters would enter, the shaman first, prod him awake, lure him out. They would talk in a manner that would keep their actual intentions undisclosed, a type of ritual speech. The second stanza of the song involves a conversation of somebody inviting the bear to a fair. Fairs are feasts, held at villages. This means, the somebody went to the den, woke the bear up, and attempted to trick the bear into believing they have the best intentions and just want to join them to the fair.

2. Oh come they said, oh come to the fair!

The fair? Said he, but I'm a bear!

All black and brown, and covered with hair!

In the third stanza the bear dances to the fair/village with three boys and a goat. But when we read the third stanza closely in comparison to the second stanza, there seems to be something odd, almost as if there is something missing. While the boys invited the bear to come to the fair with them, the bear’s response was not, “Sure, I’d love to come.” Instead he says, “The fair? But I’m a bear!”

Of course before the bear could be carried to the village preparing for the annual bear-hunt feast, with the whole village feasting on the bear meat for several days, the bear had to be killed at his den. The hunters would then carry the bear with drums, pomp and ceremony to the feast, pretending to take the bear along as a companion who believes himself to be alive, rather than a slain kill. So, the song “hides”/”leaves out” the killing of the bear. It jumps from waking him up, to carrying the hunted bear to the village.

3. And down the road from here to there.

From here! To there!

Three boys, a goat and a dancing bear!

They danced and spun, all the way to the fair!

The fair! The fair!

What is the evidence for this? The hunt was performed by three hunters, and there are three boys in the song. The song calls them “boys”, not grown men, as at least two of the bear hunters must be. There might be a boy-man coming along for some manhood initiation, but not all three. That would be suicide.

Well, I explained in the introduction essay how they attempt to trick and placate the bear-spirit of the killed bear as they carry it back to the village. Not only did the hunters lie to the bear about their intentions and what he was actually being carried off to. They would also portray themselves as innocents. If the bear discovered he was actually dead, they wanted to avoid the bear to know their identity so that the bear could not avenge himself on the hunters and their kin. In words they would deny having anything to do with the kill, proclaiming it was some accident, and in some cases even blame someone else for the killing, shouting they were "men of Sweden/England/everywhere else".

This is reflected in the usage of “boys”. Boys are innocent, not deadly bear-hunters. And it explains the presence of the goat. The goat is the “scapegoat” for the killing of the bear. If the bear would ask the 3 hunters, “Why did you kill me?”, they would answer, “We did not kill you. We are mere boys. It was the goat that did it.”

Remember Craster’s bear skull at his gate? Craster is scapegoating a ram for killing the bear.

On the southwest, he found an open gate flanked by a pair of animal skulls on high poles: a bear to one side, a ram to the other. Bits of flesh still clung to the bear skull, Jon noted as he joined the line riding past. (aCoK, Jon III)

The goat also reveals the origin of the bear-hunt ritual in aSoIaF – Qohor. If we ever learn of an actual proper bear-hunt ritual, it is most likely performed in the vast Qohor forest that would be teeming with bears.

Arya did not know who Bloody Mummers were until a fortnight later, when the queerest company of men she'd ever seen arrived at Harrenhal. Beneath the standard of a black goat with bloody horns rode copper men with bells in their braids...[cutout]

At their head was a man stick-thin and very tall, with a drawn emaciated face made even longer by the ropy black beard that grew from his pointed chin nearly to his waist. The helm that hung from his saddle horn was black steel, fashioned in the shape of a goat's head. About his neck he wore a chain made of linked coins of many different sizes, shapes, and metals, and his horse was one of the strange black-and-white ones.

"You don't want to know that lot, Weasel," Weese said when he saw her looking at the goat-helmed man. Two of his drinking friends were with him, men-at-arms in service to Lord Lefford.

"Who are they?" she asked.

One of the soldiers laughed. "The Footmen, girl. Toes of the Goat. Lord Tywin's Bloody Mummers."

"Pease for wits. You get her flayed, you can scrub the bloody steps," said Weese. "They're sellswords, Weasel girl. Call themselves the Brave Companions. Don't use them other names where they can hear, or they'll hurt you bad. The goat-helm's their captain, Lord Vargo Hoat." (aCoK, AryaVII)

Vargo Hoat’s nickname was the Goat, and banner of the Bloody Mummers/Brave Companions is the Black Goat with bloody horns of Qohor.

She might have done it if not for Weese. He'd told them more than once what he'd do to anyone who tried to run off on him. "It won't be no beating, oh, no. I won't lay a finger on you. I'll just save you for the Qohorik, yes I will, I'll save you for the Crippler. Vargo Hoat his name is, and when he gets back he'll cut off your feet." (aCoK, Arya VIII)

Note how the banner has a black goat with bloody horns. The Black Goat is the god the people of Qohor worship and he demands daily blood sacrifice (mostly lifestock animals, sometimes condemned criminals, and times of crisis the children of nobles). That banner makes for a perfect scapegoat for the Qohoric bear-hunter to say, "Wasn't me. It was the Black Goat. See the blood on his hoarns."

Qohor has a vast forest at the east of it, requiring two weeks to travel through, and the Qohoric are mostly famed as hunters and foresters.

For half a moon, they rode through the Forest of Qohor, where the leaves made a golden canopy high above them, and the trunks of the trees were as wide as city gates. There were great elk in that wood, and spotted tigers, and lemurs with silver fur and huge purple eyes, but all fled before the approach of the khalasar and Dany got no glimpse of them. (aGoT, Daenerys III)

It is claimed they meddle in dark sorcery and sacrificial blood magic, though there is no proof for it. They have managed to preserve the knowledge of reforging Valyrian steel. So far, we only know of one man who can reforge Valyrian steel in Westeros – Tobho Mott, who claims to have learned it as a boy in Qohor, and his door boasts a hunting scene. Since Qohor is also know for tapestry making and wood carvings, the hunting scene is most likely Qohoric, and Tobho’s posting sign to say “I know how to reforge VS steel.”

The double doors showed a hunting scene carved in ebony and weirwood. (aGoT, Eddard VI)

Tobho had learned to work Valyrian steel at the forges of Qohor as a boy. Only a man who knew the spells could take old weapons and forge them anew. (aGoT, Eddard VI)

Thus it seems that we have all the ingredients –famed hunters, vast forests, hunting scenes and sword magic (remember Wayland's sword) – for a candidate where they have proper ritualistic bear hunts, and where the “bear and maiden song” originates from. And if the song actually describes the ritual, but follows the taboos, it is a type of codex that gives the instructions by example how to respect the bear. It may seem strange that a properly moral ritualistic bear hunt would involve lies and deception. But this is not unprecedented in Saami and Finnish bear hunts. In fact, there is a story where a woman wintered in a bear den, not daring to reveal her brothers were hunters. Later then, the hunters kill the bear, but risk the bear's revenge. When the woman finds out, she asks them why didn't come to her, because the bear had instructed her how to do it properly. From this a poetic story followed as a hunter behaviour codex. So, basically, those bear-hunt instruction stories were said to have been passed on by the bear itself - the bear gave instructions how to deceive him. At least the first half of the "bear and the maiden song" fits the mold of such a type of hunting instruction. Of course, only the original bear hunting culture would recognize it as such.

This also suggests that despite the rumors about dark arts being performed at Qohor the free city is actually being scapegoated and slandered. Vargo Hoat may be the biggest scum that ever walked around in Planetos, but does that mean that all people in Qohor are Vargo Hoats; that he even reflects Qohoric culture and attitudes? Vargo Hoat is a sellsword far away from Qohor. Generalizing how Qohoric people are based on Vargo Hoat is like assuming a banished Westerosi sellsword can be taken as example to determine what Westeros people are like. Vargo Hoat might very likely be a complete red herring, and as a sellsword half a world away most likely is.

In the next stanza a maiden is chosen for the bear. An unwed woman was usually selected to serve as a ritualistic bride to perform a wedding with the bear. And the bride must be pure and innocent - a maiden true.

4. Oh, sweet she was, and pure and fair!

The maid with honey in her hair!

Her hair! Her hair!

The maid with honey in her hair!

The wedding customs

The next phase of the song describes wedding customs as well as expected proper maiden behaviour and mating. When we remember Thormund's tale about stealing his she-bear, it seems as if the song describes a custom similar to the "stealing of a woman" as done with the free folk.

The bear/man is driven wild with desire by the female scent, and most likely the scent of the honey between her legs. Here the bear is described as a testosterone filled man. The fifth stanza ends the previous hunting ritual codex, as the bear approves of the chosen bride for the bear wedding. But it is also the start of the cultural wedding custom between a man and a woman. It is therefore a bridging stanza.

5. The bear smelled the scent on the summer air.

The bear! The bear!

All black and brown and covered with hair!

He smelled the scent on the summer air!

He sniffed and roared and smelled it there!

Honey on the summer air!

Even if the unwed woman desires the man herself, she must protest against him. She must be a reluctant bride. A proper maiden is expected to be proud of her maidenhood, preferring to keep it than voluntarily give it away.

6. Oh, I'm a maid, and I'm pure and fair!

I'll never dance with a hairy bear!

A bear! A bear!

I'll never dance with a hairy bear!

In the next stanza, despite her verbal protests, the groom-bear picks up his bride to carry her off to bed. He steals her.

7. The bear, the bear!

Lifted her high into the air!

The bear! The bear!

The following stanza’s instructs the maiden to keep protesting, even while she's being carried off. She wanted a knight, and instead she gets a bear. A woman should be demanding. The man must prove his worth: that he can protect and provide for her, like a bear, and can fight for her like knight.

8. I called for a knight, but you're a bear!

A bear, a bear!

All black and brown and covered with hair

The final stanza’s I have discussed in a previous essay already, but I will discuss them some more here as well. Remember that 2 stanza’s before that, the bear lifted the maiden to carry her off. In this stanza she physically protests. First she has to say "no", then she must make "demands" and finally she must fight him, requiring the man to prove his strength. The woman must kick and scream and scratch and put up a fight, and the man is required to sexually please her, so she can finally give in, ending in a customary "happy match". Do they have a similar custom as the wildlings in Qohor?

9. She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair,

But he licked the honey from her hair.

Her hair! Her hair!

He licked the honey from her hair!

10. Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air!

My bear! She sang. My bear so fair!

And off they went, from here to there,

The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair.

The euphemistic name for a bear in some regions (Baltic) is “honey licker”. More suggestively, the bear’s penis is also called “honeyed”. The licking of the honey from the maiden’s hair thus can mean both “oral sex” as well as copulation.

Conclusion

The song in its totality first describes the hunting of the bear by three hunters, involving trickery, lies of innocence and scapegoating and the bear-wedding, secondly a custom of stealing a woman as well as pleasing a woman sexually.

ETA: source link to the deceptiveness and type of lies of the bear hunters

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Oh, sweetsunray, what did you do to me? Now I'm looking for "hidden bear" motifs all over the books. :) Fascinating essays, I'm looking forward to the continuation.

I'll be back with more comments later... I'm still processing the information and the ideas.

Hehe, Har! ;) Thanks :D Still more to come, but I'm keeping my hidden bear for last :p

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So… my two cents about the bears. I really like your overview of bear mythology, sweetsunray. Since you mentioned Finnish and Saami mythology, let me bring up the bear-cult of Siberian peoples. The Mansi people’s bear mythology contains the myth that the bear has heavenly origin – the bear lived in the sky, but longed to see the Earth and was finally lowered to the Earth in a cradle by his / her heavenly father.



Thinking of that, I find it interesting that Tormund is not only “Husband to Bears”, but also “Speaker to Gods”. He is also “Father of Hosts”. There seems to be a magical – religious air surrounding him: his strong voice (Horn-blower), his ancient, golden arm-bands, his drinking horn always full of mead (Mead-king of Ruddy Hall), which is reminiscent of the cornucopia, and his extraordinary “member” make him appear like a sort of fertility god or perhaps a priest of a fertility god. I also happen to think that at the end of their negotiation in ADwD, this fertility god aspect is passed on to Jon Snow (Corn King). The idea that Tormund takes the bear, this most sacred of animals, to wife (even if it is actually a skin-changer, a magical human being), fits this picture.



Otherwise Tormund’s bear story looks a like a reversed version of the stories where a maiden lost in the forest finds refuge in a bear’s house and the bear takes her to be his wife.



Back to the bear coming from the sky: according to the legend, before his descent to the Earth, the bear is told what he must and must not do, i.e., there are taboos that the bear must keep as well.



Now, in ASOIAF we actually have a bear that breaks an important Westerosi taboo: Jorah Mormont sells people to a slaver. As a result, Eddard goes on a bear hunt – he wants to arrest Jorah to punish him, which would mean, I suppose, either literary death or symbolic death (if Jorah took the black). The bear hunt is unsuccessful though, because the bear escapes…



Regarding your point about Maege Mormont considering the present male Mormont bloodline finished when she sends Longclaw to the Wall, this idea seems to be confirmed by the fact that the bear pommel of the sword is destroyed in the fire and gets replaced by a wolf pommel.







Hehe, Har! ;) Thanks :D Still more to come, but I'm keeping my hidden bear for last :P





Naturally! ^_^ (Any chance that you might drop some clues? LOL)



Superb analysis of the song! Excellent!


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So… my two cents about the bears. I really like your overview of bear mythology, sweetsunray. Since you mentioned Finnish and Saami mythology, let me bring up the bear-cult of Siberian peoples. The Mansi people’s bear mythology contains the myth that the bear has heavenly origin – the bear lived in the sky, but longed to see the Earth and was finally lowered to the Earth in a cradle by his / her heavenly father.

Thinking of that, I find it interesting that Tormund is not only “Husband to Bears”, but also “Speaker to Gods”. He is also “Father of Hosts”. There seems to be a magical – religious air surrounding him: his strong voice (Horn-blower), his ancient, golden arm-bands, his drinking horn always full of mead (Mead-king of Ruddy Hall), which is reminiscent of the cornucopia, and his extraordinary “member” make him appear like a sort of fertility god or perhaps a priest of a fertility god. I also happen to think that at the end of their negotiation in ADwD, this fertility god aspect is passed on to Jon Snow (Corn King). The idea that Tormund takes the bear, this most sacred of animals, to wife (even if it is actually a skin-changer, a magical human being), fits this picture.

Otherwise Tormund’s bear story looks a like a reversed version of the stories where a maiden lost in the forest finds refuge in a bear’s house and the bear takes her to be his wife.

Back to the bear coming from the sky: according to the legend, before his descent to the Earth, the bear is told what he must and must not do, i.e., there are taboos that the bear must keep as well.

Now, in ASOIAF we actually have a bear that breaks an important Westerosi taboo: Jorah Mormont sells people to a slaver. As a result, Eddard goes on a bear hunt – he wants to arrest Jorah to punish him, which would mean, I suppose, either literary death or symbolic death (if Jorah took the black). The bear hunt is unsuccessful though, because the bear escapes…

Regarding your point about Maege Mormont considering the present male Mormont bloodline finished when she sends Longclaw to the Wall, this idea seems to be confirmed by the fact that the bear pommel of the sword is destroyed in the fire and gets replaced by a wolf pommel.

Naturally! ^_^ (Any chance that you might drop some clues? LOL)

Superb analysis of the song! Excellent!

Yes! Thormund is such a special character in that regard. As a man-character I tend to think of him as fitting the range of Robert (the pleasant fighting and drinking buddy - not the failing king). They're both Thor-like characters... hot tempered, hot blooded, virile, big mouth, eenie-tienie-heart, fierce fighters to have on your side, strong, big/tall, kindof childlike innocent too - big boys. And Thormund's other nickname is "Thunderfist". Har! (Clue: follow the trails of Thors into the woods).

Nice catch on Eddard Stark going Jorah-bear-hunting.

Yeah, the she-bear skinchanger is a bit of a reverse isn't it? I'm still scratching my head over where he's going with that, including the Mormont she-bears.

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7. The Dancing Bear

aSoIaF features and mentions dancing bears several times: in the song, the Purple wedding, Areo Hotah’s memory of Norvos and Doran’s memory of meeting Mellario.

As I explained the song of the “bear and the maiden fair” fits a typical bear-hunt instruction guidebook, on how the bear hunters should act towards the bear (alive and dead). The hunters must pretend the bear is still alive, lie about killing him, pretend to be innocent boys and scapegoat someone else. They do this by dancing and carrying him to a wedding with a maiden. The “dancing bear” thus is supposed to be a groom, dancing at his own wedding feast.

The dancing bear at another's wedding

Tyrion’s doubtful remark about weddings and dancing bears thus shows him as being ignorant of this type of bear-lore

"Then perhaps seven courses would suffice. Three hundred guests instead of a thousand. I understand that a marriage can be just as binding without a dancing bear." (aSoS, Tyrion IV)

It is supposed to be the other way around: a proper bear wedding can’t take place without a groom, which is a bear, a happy bear and that would be a dancing bear.

But none of the featured dancing bears in aSoIaF dance at their own wedding, let alone voluntarily. The bear at the Purple Wedding, is not dancing on his own wedding, but that of another couple, and is partnerless. Poor, poor bear. At least, the actual groom dies.

Thereafter dishes and diversions succeeded one another in a staggering profusion, buoyed along upon a flood of wine and ale. Hamish left them, his place taken by a smallish elderly bear who danced clumsily to pipe and drum while the wedding guests ate trout cooked in a crust of crushed almonds. (aSoS, Tyrion VIII)

The dancing bears of Norvos

Areo Hotah went to see the dancing bears at the Sinner’s steps with his mother.

As he honed the axe, Hotah thought of Norvos, the high city on the hill and the low the river. … He saw his mother in her dress with the squirrel collar, the one she wore but once each year, when they went to see the bears dance down the Sinner's Steps. (aFfC, the captain of Guards)

Norvos is a city divided in a devout upper and noble part of stone, and a lower city of mud and wood for the commoners. The Sinner’s Steps is the sole connection between the two parts of the city – a stone stairway, and probably called so because it will lead the devout to the lower Sin City. It’s a theocracy with bearded priests speaking for the secret “true god”, and only the bearded priests know his name. They have magistrates but they are appointed by the priests. Three huge bells govern everyday life: when to get up, to sleep, to work, to rest, to pray, to fuck. The priests don’t cut their hair and shave their beard ever, self-flagellate, wear haired and untanned shirts (hides without the hair taken off and uncolored). So they pretty much hold to an ascetic life without embellishment and self-torture. The religious rules and peace are enforced within the (upper) city with a holy guard of slave soldiers, branded with a double-bladed axe on their chest and ritually marry their longaxe. Areo Hotah is such a slave. Norvos’ Sin City is where the brothels and taverns are, where people can eat red meat and fish and drink strong black beer, where bears dance and supposedly slave women mate wolves in the cellars.

Since Areo was sold as a slave to the priests to become a guard as the sixth child, he was not of a noble family, but his mother only going down once a year to take him to see the dancing bears suggests he did not come from the Sin City part of town either. The paragraph can easily be mistaken to mean that the dancing bears are a one year event. They are to Areo, because his mother only took him down into Sin City once a year, but based on the world book they are around year-round. The surrounding geography of Norvos is one of lime stone hills with honeycombed caves and dark forests, and teeming with brown bears, red and grey wolves and boar, and this is where they get their bears and wolves from.

Doran remembers dancing bears as well, and the paragraph is quite deceptive. It almost seems as if Doran is talking about dancing bears in Volantis. He is not though. He is talking about the dancing bears in Norvos’s Sin City. Both Doran and Areo mention ringing bells and dancing bears on steps. The bells and steps point to Norvos. And this interpretation would be more logical. Mellario is a highborn of Norvos and their marriage was not arranged, but one for love. Areo describes how Mellario noticed Prince Doran at the steps, watching the bears, and she was curious about him, and they met, fell in love and married for love... a love marriage that did not last. They are still wedded of course, but Mellario packed her things and went back to Norvos years ago, and for how long is Doran still of Planetos?

Arianne had thought that Hotah would escort her to the Tower of the Sun to hear her father's judgment. Instead he delivered her to the prince's solar, where they found Doran Martell seated behind a cyvasse table, his gouty legs supported by a cushioned footstool. He was toying with an onyx elephant, turning it in his reddened, swollen hands. The prince looked worse than she had ever seen him. His face was pale and puffy, his joints so inflamed that it hurt her just to look at them. Seeing him this way made Arianne's heart go out to him . . . yet somehow she could not bring herself to kneel and beg, as she had planned. "Father," she said instead.

When he raised his head to look at her, his dark eyes were clouded with pain. Is that the gout? Arianne wondered. Or is it me? "A strange and subtle folk, the Volantenes," he muttered, as he put the elephant aside. "I saw Volantis once, on my way to Norvos, where I first met Mellario. The bells were ringing, and the bears danced down the steps. Areo will recall the day."

"I remember," echoed Areo Hotah in his deep voice. "The bears danced and the bells rang, and the prince wore red and gold and orange. My lady asked me who it was who shone so bright." (aFfC, The Princess in the Tower)

When Arianne is brought into her father’s solar by Areo he’s holding an onyx elephant. Elephants and tigers are the symbols of Volantis. Elephants are the animals Aegon takes with him to Westeros later on from the Volantene area. Doran is also in great physical pain and he tends to reminisce and have a wandering mind. So, when Arianne is brought into the solar, his mind jumps from the elephant to Volantis, one of the free cities he saw, but then jumps to Norvos and his wife Mellario he has not seen in years. Doran’s mind is wandering and jumping around. But the dancing bears Doran remembers are the dancing bears of Sin City at Norvos.

The dancing bears of Norvos thus may not be regarded as something sanctioned by the bearded priests. While they have a great wilderness of game, nothing suggests Norvos’ religion is that of a hunting culture, especially if red meat is something you can only do in Sin City. It’s a part of daily life of the non-devout, of Sin City where animal cruelty and licentiousness seems to be the commoner’s fuck you to the life controlling bells and bearded priests. The dancing bears are a pure form of sinful entertainment, with no deeper meaning. And dancing bears are in fact abused animals. Evolett explained the type of abuse involved into training bears to “dance”, so I will simply quote him from the post he made about this practice in this thread.

Quite in contrast to the above characterization and meaning behind the dancing bear, we have the captive dancing bear, trained to entertain humans. Training and subduing a bear is only achieved by abusing the animal. The methods employed are horrific and include boring a permanent hole through the sensitive nose to attach a controlling rope and forcing the animal to stand on hot plates. To avoid the pain, the bear then jumps about on the plates to 'in time' with the music. Eventually, it responds to the music without the hot plates. All dancing bears suffer extreme cruelty throughout their lives. Needless to say, it is a practice that has been almost eradicated worldwide. (Evolett)

Norvos’ Sin City thus is as ungodly and lowlife place as Craster’s Keep and the people of the lower city no better than Vargo Hoat.

Dancing and fighting – Harrenhal revisited

Within the books “dance” has a double meaning. The word 'dance' is regularly used to indicate a 'fight'. Jaime in fact goes to the bear pit, thinking it a fine place to 'dance' with Ilyn Payne. And of course Arya calls her sword training 'water dancing', the dance of the bravo’s (sword fighters and duelists in Braavos).

Now we will begin the dance. Remember, child, this is not the iron dance of Westeros we are learning, the knight's dance, hacking and hammering, no. This is the bravo's dance, the water dance, swift and sudden. (aGoT, Arya II)

Jaime wished to fight. He took the steps two at a time, out to where the night air was cold and crisp. In the torchlit yard Strongboar and Ser Flement Brax were having at each other whilst a ring of men-at-arms cheered them on. Ser Lyle will have the best of that one, he knew. I need to find Ser Ilyn. His fingers had the itch again. His footsteps took him away from the noise and the light. He passed beneath the covered bridge and through the Flowstone Yard before he realized where he was headed.

As he neared the bear pit, he saw the glow of a lantern, its pale wintry light washing over the tiers of steep stone seats. Someone has come before me, it would seem. The pit would be a fine place to dance; perhaps Ser Ilyn had anticipated him.(aFfC, Jaime III)

So, when Brienne was lowered into the pit with the bear, this does in fact signify a “dance”. For all purposes, this was a bear wedding. Brienne is still a maiden, pure of heart, and quite naïve still in aSoS, in a gown of pink satin and Myrish lace. The wedding customs of the song demand that the maiden puts up a fight against the bear. In that sense the second half of the song is fight (‘dance’) between maiden and bear. Brienne’s blunted tourney sword symbolizes her fighting stance.

Brienne wore the same ill-fitting gown she'd worn to supper with Roose Bolton. No shield, no breastplate, no chainmail, not even boiled leather, only pink satin and Myrish lace. (aSoS, Jaime VI)

At least they gave her a sword. The wench held it one-handed, moving sideways, trying to put some distance between her and the bear. (aSoS, Jaime VI)

In the following passages of the bear fight with Brienne, I urge you to try and read it with the song’s stanzas in the back of your mind. From the bear’s POV as a groom stealing a bride, some of the sentences in the bear fight gain a double entrendre.

When the bear approves of his bride he roars with desire, smelling the honey.

A roar turned Jaime back around. The bear was eight feet tall. Gregor Clegane with a pelt, he thought, though likely smarter. [cutout] Bellowing in fury, the bear showed a mouth full of great yellow teeth, then fell back to all fours and went straight at Brienne. (aSoS, Jaime VI)

Despite the maiden’s protests, the bear is supposed to steal her, lift her in the air.

Instead, she poked out ineffectually with the point of her blade. The bear recoiled, then came on, rumbling. Brienne slid to her left and poked again at the bear's face. This time he lifted a paw to swat the sword aside.

The bear is supposed to prove he is strong, overpowering, better than the knight the maiden called for. In other words, the bear must compete with male rivals.

He's wary, Jaime realized. He's gone up against other men. He knows swords and spears can hurt him. But that won't keep him off her long. "Kill him!" he shouted, but his voice was lost amongst all the other shouts. If Brienne heard, she gave no sign. She moved around the pit, keeping the wall at her back. Too close. If the bear pins her by the wall . . .

Pinning a woman against a wall, can be a violent act, but it can also be a sexual act.

The maiden must kick and wail.

The beast turned clumsily, too far and too fast. Quick as a cat, Brienne changed direction. There's the wench I remember. She leapt in to land a cut across the bear's back. Roaring, the beast went up on his hind legs again.

When Jaime jumps in, the bear suddenly has an actual rival, the knight the maiden called for, straddling his chosen bride.

Brienne tried to dart around, but he kicked her legs out from under her. She fell in the sand, clutching the useless sword. Jaime straddled her, and the bear came charging.

However, it are neither Brienne nor Jaime that kill the bear. Archers slay the bear. In some areas the bear would be a cub stolen from a den, reared by the villagers, with kindness, until it was old enough for the ritual. It would be walked around to the area where it would be killed, the bear trustingly following the people that had petted and fed it. A farewell would be said, and the bear would be shot with arrows, quickly and merciful.

There was a deep twang, and a feathered shaft sprouted suddenly beneath the beast's left eye. Blood and slaver ran from his open mouth, and another bolt took him in the leg. The bear roared, reared. He saw Jaime and Brienne again and lumbered toward them. More crossbows fired, the quarrels ripping through fur and flesh. At such short range, the bowmen could hardly miss. The shafts hit as hard as maces, but the bear took another step. The poor dumb brave brute. When the beast swiped at him, he danced aside, shouting, kicking sand. The bear turned to follow his tormentor, and took another two quarrels in the back. He gave one last rumbling growl, settled back onto his haunches, stretched out on the bloodstained sand, and died.

Eventually, the bear wedding has taken place and the bear is killed mercifully. Note how Jaime’s thoughts even reveal feelings of sympathy by Jaime for the bear.

When Jaime revisits the bear pit at Harrenhal, the bear's carcass is slowly decaying with time, and Jaime pities the beast. It may not be a literal burrial, but the description of the bear's carcass and Jaime's pity, leave an impression of mourning and finality. The bear's curse is "fading" or seems to be "laid at rest".

"Below, the carcass of the bear still sprawled upon the sands, though only bones and ragged fur remained, half-buried. Jaime felt a pang of pity for the beast."(aFfC, Jaime III)

An exchange follows between Jaime and Red Ronnet:

Red Ronnet raised his lantern. "I wished to see where the bear danced with the maiden not-so-fair." His beard shone in the light as if it were afire. Jaime could smell wine on his breath. "Is it true the wench fought naked?"

"Naked? No." He wondered how that wrinkle had been added to the story. "The Mummers put her in a pink silk gown and shoved a tourney sword into her hand. The Goat wanted her death to be amuthing. Elsewise . . ."

". . . the sight of Brienne naked might have made the bear flee in terror." Connington laughed.

In a strange twist, GRRM incorporated the bear-lore of women scaring bears off by lifting their skirts and showing their genitals.

Jaime installs people at Harrenhal there to make the place more harmonious. He clears out Gregor's men and installs the Holy Hundred, pious soldiers with their leader Bonifer the Good as castellan. Jaime also takes Pia, who has a high sexual appetite, with him, by the request of Bonifer. The highly violent cycle of Harrenhal seems to be at an end.

The anology of Brienne's fight with the bear in the bear pit as well as a different atmosphere, suggesting something almost close to peace for Harrenhal, after the revenge cleared the Bloody Mummers and the Goat and the Mountain and Tywin from Westeros, begs the question whether the ritualistic bear-wedding and thus bear-dance may have been a fight instead of a dance. The song describes a fight. If the bear is not killed at the den, but instead captured, raised and then sacrificed, did it involve a bear-maiden fight?

At the moment, I find nothing in the text to conclude this with certainty. Brienne's fight with the bear is the only example we have so far that resembles a bear wedding, but only from a metalevel understanding. (Tyrion's mummer's play as a slave may have been inspired by having heard of it after Jaime's return to KL). It was not intended so by either Vargo or Brienne. In-world it was Vargo's intention for Brienne to die, and the bear to remain alive ('You thlew my bear!"). Though as a Qohoric, one would assume Vargo might possiby have witnessed an actual bear wedding performed, here it seems at best it was meant as a mockery of the ritual, rather than the actual ritual.

As Evolett pointed out, an actual voluntarily dancing bear is a wonder, and not for man's eyes. It is a dance of the bear's spirit, rather than of a physical, alive bear. So, I am inclined that in a dance-wedding ritual, the bear would be dead already.

The Inuit believe in reincarnation, preferably as a polar bear. The returning Inuit spirit is so happy that the polar bear dances for joy. A Native American myth tells the story of a sage who saw bears dancing while in trance. The bears, who were dancing on their hindlegs in the sun appeared to be very real to him. He interpreted the dance as one of gratitude as well as a prayer for the healing and protection of their cubs. This dance, with the bear as the central figure, was incorporated into the rituals of the tribe. It symbolized protection, strength and continuation of the progeny.

In the dancing bear, the Inuit also see the dance as an expression of the joy of the weight and responsibility of life. A bear is heavy and clumsy, not really suited to dancing but he dances because he is joyful of having achieved balance. A similarity between the two myths is the idea that a dancing bear cannot be seen and is not meant to be seen by humans. The Inuit believe this is because the bear himself has poor vision and in the Native American story, the sage only sees the dancing bears while in a trance.

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Forgive me as I haven't gone through all the comments, but is there a mention or mythology surrounding seabears? They are on an island.

Good job putting all this exhaustive research together.

Bears go from land to water. I was wondering if there is a mythological archetype of a mainly naval bear-being.
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Forgive me as I haven't gone through all the comments, but is there a mention or mythology surrounding seabears? They are on an island.

Good job putting all this exhaustive research together.

Bears go from land to water. I was wondering if there is a mythological archetype of a mainly naval bear-being.

 

Not really... Inuit have similar beliefs about ice bears as other regions have about grizzly's, black bears, brown bears. These are in general called sub-arctic beliefs, and prevail in North America, north pole region and Europe. In all these regions they are the largest "predator", they den (unless black bears live south enough in the US not to need a winter sleep), and if you skin them you get something looking like a man.

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 Sweetsunray, I saw you had posted here and got excited because I really really want to know about your hidden bear! You're on a GRRM-level of cockteasing now! :)

 

:lol: I'm working on it

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Your interpretation of the song is compelling and though I’m not quite convinced regarding the role  you’ve given the three boys, I can see why you’ve placed them as hunters. The song does not give us any more information on the boys or the goat but the sections of the song involving the bear and the maiden do correspond to a proper bear ritual, I agree. I’m still convinced that the ritual is being misused by some party towards some mysterious end though, especially because

 

a) we see so many captive dancing bears in the narrative

b.the obvious dire consequences of abusing the bear which you have shown

c) Tyrion’s throwaway remark about weddings being just as binding without a dancing bear.

d) The three small boys who are rolled in different “aromas” and exposed to a bear in the fighting pits of Astapor.

 

Tyrion’s remark is interesting for its subtext implication in the context of weddings. If we look at it from that perspective, it may imply that there are folk who actually perform some kind of bear-wedding ceremony that is as binding as a normal wedding. We have an interesting parallel in Asha’s wedding, where a seal served as a stand-in for her – the wedding proceeded as normal and whether Asha likes it or not, the marriage is binding.

 

My personal feeling after going over all the evidence we have so far is that the three boys, the goat and the dancing bear are all victims in one way or another. I can get on board with the goat being a scapegoat (and thus a pseudo-victim) mainly because of Vargo Hoat’s role. He and his ‘Bloody Mummers’ are sellswords, in the service of two successive factions, first by the Lannisters and then under Bolton, the two factions originally on opposing sides during the war. They terrorise the countryside, killing, maiming and ‘foraging’ with an inordinate amount of brutality. Much as in the case of Tywin, who probably ordered the murder of Elia and her children, but who can use Gregor Clegane as a scapegoat by pointing the finger at him, so can Lannister and Bolton transfer guilt upon Vargo Hoat, should the need arise. The very sadistic nature of the crimes themselves lend credibility to the notion that an ‘honourable’ lord couldn’t possibly have ordered them.  

 

Returning to the bear ritual, using Vargo Hoat as an apparent scapegoat is a clever ploy by whoever is benefiting from the bear wedding ritual but it does not absolve Hoat from his crimes. Also, in terms of the sorcery and other dark practices, I do not see the Black Goat of Qohor or Qohor itself as misunderstood. From the example of Vargo Hoat, I think the point is that the ‘Black Goat’of Qohor sells its dark services to whoever can pay the bill. Those unable or unwilling to engage in dark magic themselves can subscribe to the Black Goat’s service and have the added benefit of claiming innocence when in fact they ordered it in the first place.

 

 

 

On to my next point.

That the Bloody Mummers catch a bear and bring it to Harrenhal at all, is interesting in itself and begs two questions.

 

Why not kill the bear for meat? The countryside is scoured almost clean of agricultural produce, yet Hoat’s use for the bear is not its flesh. Instead, he keeps it in a pit, using it as another instrument of torture. This is reminiscent of keeping the bear’s spirit enslaved for some ulterior motive. Yes, the bear gets a bride but Hoat is unhappy with the 300 dragons offered (instead of the sapphires he was expecting) to ransom her. Instead of taking the cash, Hoat decides to have some fun by watching Brienne die.  On a psychological level, having Brienne killed by the bear is worth more to him than 300 gold dragons and perhaps worth as much as the sapphires he failed to get.

Also, even though the bear gets a merciful death, it is not the Mummers, (who are performing the ritual), that kill the animal. Jamie’s entourage kill the bear.

 

The second question we must ask is if Hoat acted on a whim or whether he was familiar with the idea of capturing bears for this kind of sport or ritual. Trapping an eight foot bear alive, loading it onto and chaining it to wagon is no simple matter. I expect anyone doing this to have some kind of previous experience. All these signs lead me to believe that bears are the subject of a ritualistic form of dark magic in Qohor. Now, in Norvos, we have bears dancing down Sinner’s Steps. This sounds very like a walk of shame for the bear. What evil deeds are bears perceived of doing to warrant a walk of shame? Or are they merely scapegoats as well? Made scapegoats by the Norvosi priesthood who perhaps ordered a dark magic ritual from the Black Goat in Qohor?

 

 

 

While pondering over Brienne’s bear pit scene, it suddenly occurred to me that the children’s game, “monsters and maidens’ might relate to the bear ritual motif. It’s easy to imagine the bear in the role of ‘monster’ and the game’s theme is similar to what happens in the pit. A maiden at the mercy of a monster. The maiden is rescued by a knight.

 

Arya thinks of the game on her first visit to High Heart:

 

She used to hide in the crypts of Winterfell when she was little, and play games of come-into-my-castle and monsters and maidens amongst the stone kings on their thrones.

 

Shae initiates the game and plays it with Tyrion in the dungeons in KL, where the dragon skulls are stored.

 

“Shae …” He reached, but she spun and slipped free.

“You have to catch me.” Her voice came from his left. “M’lord must have played monsters and maidens when he was little.”

“Are you calling me a monster?”

“No more than I’m a maiden.” She was behind him, her steps soft against the floor. “You need to catch me all the same.”

 

Despite the threatening dragon skulls, Shae doesn’t want to be rescued, instead Tyrion is to play the monster. She puts up a mock fight and he does catch her and ‘ravish’ her accordingly.

 

 

Edric Storm, Patchface and Shireen are playing it in Aegon’s Garden on Dragonstone when Davos returns from his ordeal at sea.

 

The boy took him at his word. “We were playing monsters and maidens,” he explained. “I was the monster. It’s a childish game but my cousin likes it.

 

Edric is the monster. He does not say who the maiden is – probably Shireen but Shireen is running after and trying to catch Patchface so perhaps Patchface is playing the maiden while Shireen is the knight.

 

This is also when Patchface declares

“Fool’s blood, king’s blood, blood on the maiden’s thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye”

 

This could be the Red Wedding or something yet to come. Whatever the case we have another wedding and a chained bridegroom, which fits the abused bear scenario.

 

The locations in the case of Arya’s recollection and Tyrion and Shae’s play are also quite curious. Both times the game is played in dark, spooky, forbidding places. The crypts, surrounded by the stone kings, and the dungeons, in the midst of dragon skulls.  One would the think the kids would prefer to play this game outside in the godswood for instance. Kind of increases my suspicions regarding the Black Goat of Qohor’s involvement in bear rituals. That the game is played amongst dead stone kings and dead dragons is also significant, I think. But my thoughts on that would break the bounds of this thread. 

 

 

 

If monsters and maidens represent another parallel to the bear ritual then Tyrion’s contrasting roles may be significant regarding the outcome of the ritual. He plays the bear role with Shae who duly entices and gives him a challenge before succumbing to his advances. Both ‘monster’ and ‘maiden’ end up with a satisfying experience. But Shae herself is wanton and willing and the way she reacts and calls him her ‘giant’ is designed to stroke his ego.

This scenario is very different from the ‘Bear and the Maiden Fair’ act Penny and Tyrion have lined up for entertaining Yezzan and his guests. Planned is the humiliation and emasculation of the bear. Tyrion is to play the knight who ‘slams’ Jorah the bear in the balls to rescue the maiden.  My guess is that Tyrion came up with the act because he knows the very popular song and because Jorah is generally known as the ‘bear’. It was something he spontaneously thought of to convince Nurse to buy Jorah as well. We never see them actually perform the full act with Jorah as the bear. Tyrion leaves Jorah out of the act for their first performance. Jorah the bear is in pretty bad shape – abused, beaten and chained up. Tyrion realises that Penny has feelings for him and the thought gives him a great deal of discomfort. When they do kiss, it is tepid, without any passion, both press their lips upon each other in dry imitation of the real thing.  I guess a broken bear will hardly exude the potent sexual elixir that has the power to inflame passion in humans.

 

Oh, before I forget - Evolett is a she-bear :)

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Your interpretation of the song is compelling and though I’m not quite convinced regarding the role  you’ve given the three boys, I can see why you’ve placed them as hunters. The song does not give us any more information on the boys or the goat but the sections of the song involving the bear and the maiden do correspond to a proper bear ritual, I agree. I’m still convinced that the ritual is being misused by some party towards some mysterious end though, especially because

 

a) we see so many captive dancing bears in the narrative

b.the obvious dire consequences of abusing the bear which you have shown

c) Tyrion’s throwaway remark about weddings being just as binding without a dancing bear.

d) The three small boys who are rolled in different “aromas” and exposed to a bear in the fighting pits of Astapor.

 

On to my next point.

That the Bloody Mummers catch a bear and bring it to Harrenhal at all, is interesting in itself and begs two questions.

 

Why not kill the bear for meat? The countryside is scoured almost clean of agricultural produce, yet Hoat’s use for the bear is not its flesh. Instead, he keeps it in a pit, using it as another instrument of torture. This is reminiscent of keeping the bear’s spirit enslaved for some ulterior motive. Yes, the bear gets a bride but Hoat is unhappy with the 300 dragons offered (instead of the sapphires he was expecting) to ransom her. Instead of taking the cash, Hoat decides to have some fun by watching Brienne die.  On a psychological level, having Brienne killed by the bear is worth more to him than 300 gold dragons and perhaps worth as much as the sapphires he failed to get.

Also, even though the bear gets a merciful death, it is not the Mummers, (who are performing the ritual), that kill the animal. Jamie’s entourage kill the bear.

 

The second question we must ask is if Hoat acted on a whim or whether he was familiar with the idea of capturing bears for this kind of sport or ritual. Trapping an eight foot bear alive, loading it onto and chaining it to wagon is no simple matter. I expect anyone doing this to have some kind of previous experience. All these signs lead me to believe that bears are the subject of a ritualistic form of dark magic in Qohor.

 

 

Oh, before I forget - Evolett is a she-bear :)

 

I'll respond to your other points later, but I'll tackle the 3 boys with the goat first.

 

Break down of the song -

1) finding a bear + conversation

2) taking the bear to the fair

3) bear wedding, which is presented as stealing a maiden = wedding, and they happily sing their way as a couple

 

The boys are only mentioned in the third stanza. They are not important anymore to the ritual, other than the phase between finding the bear and bringing him to the village. The only ones who would take a bear to a bear-wedding would be the hunters. The bear wedding has a happy conclusion. The bear got his bride. There will be no bear revenge on the hunters, the village or bride's male kin. If the bear spirit is happy and takes no revenge, then the hunting ritual was performed following taboos, guidelines... a proper hunting ritual. Proper bear hunting rituals do not involve sacrificing 3 boys to a live bear.

 

There usually were 2 ways of a proper bear kill:

1) with the 3 hunters waking the bear, luring him out of the den, killing him and then carry him like a groom to his wedding, all festive; while the hunters would declare themselves innocent and scapegoat someone else in case the bear realizes he's dead.

2) raising a bear cub in the village, like a beloved child, to lead the trusting bear after a year to the field where he would be killed with arrows. This is not an abuse or extortion situation, because the bear cub is well treated until the very end, and he is not kept indefinitively.

 

The song does not talk about a bear cub, but a grown bear taken to a fair, a feast, a bear wedding. There is no glitch in the final stanzas to make us wonder - huh? something of the narrative is missing; something's been left out. So, the bear is not killed at the end of the song either. But we do have that jump between the second stanza and the third. What is purposefully kept out of the song is the bear kill.

 

Yes, we have all sorts of mistreated bears - extorted captive bears, bears killed at the wrong season, bears being warged, dancing bears. That doesn't rule out that there is a proper ritual. The 3 boys fed to the bear is a ritual in Astapor. Astapor =/= Qohor. There are dancing bears in Norvos. Norvos =/= Qohor. Bear-baiting is a sport in Westeros. Westeros =/= Qohor. More, neither Astapor, Norvos or Westeros have a particular renowned hunting culture.

 

The only one we have linked to Qohor doing something with a bear is Vargo Hoat. He is not a hunter. He's the commander of a sellsword company, with members from all over Essos. If the proper ritual that does not invite the bear's revenge is performed by Qohoric hunters, then Vargo Hoat would have indeed grown up with the beliefs about bear powers, about how the hunt is used to ensure a good hunting and foraging yield for a year. Except, he's a sick, twisted mind (Mountain, Craster and Ramsay like). Sick, twisted minds pervert rituals they know of for their own ends. That's why Vargo does not kill the bear and hold a bear wedding, but instead take a live one and keeps it and holding a sick twisted type of mock wedding. Remember that in Wayland's legend the king is not evil in particularly for having hunt a bear, but for keeping him captive and not releasing him as a spirit, as well as denying him a bride. The evil king steals Wayland's one ring of the 700 per hunting protocol, but the king cheats and does not give the bear what he's due in return for his life. That king knows perfectly what he's supposed to do, but he doesn't, because he's greedy and selfish and thinks he can get away with it. That is Vargo Hoat's character. Vargo's actions have no absolute bearing on Qohoric hunter tradition, but exactly the opposite.

 

Do not be deceived by the bear abuse by others or a sick mind like Vargo's to think those 3 boys in the song are victims. The bear's spirit is happy and he has his happy ending. The bear never turns on them. They are never even mentioned again. If something sinister happened to them, we would know, since the largest part of the song is from the bear's and the maiden's pov. The only stanzas from the boys and goat pov are the first 1,5. Other cultures seem to know or recognize power in the bear, but like the evil king in Wayland's legend think they can cheat and be master of nature's forces indefinitely. The song is not GRRM's Wayland telling, it's the proper telling, how it's supposed to go when properly done.

 

I agree though that Vargo Hoat is Tywin's and Roose's scapegoat, just as Walder Frey is Tywin's and Roose's scapegoat.

 

Any information we have on "dark rituals" done in Qohor comes from the world book, and that same world book also says it's rumor and no evidence is known for it. Sounds like Qohor is being set up as a scapegoat.

 

Now, in Norvos, we have bears dancing down Sinner’s Steps. This sounds very like a walk of shame for the bear. What evil deeds are bears perceived of doing to warrant a walk of shame?

 

The world book states that the bear dancing can be seen in lower Qohor, where the bearded priests have little to no say or influence. Meanwhile Areo Hotah and Doran talk of seeing the bears dance down the stairs. At this point we have no evidence whether it's sanctioned or even organized by the bearded priests. But it's possible that it's Norvos bearded priests statement regarding sexuality as something sinful. The bells organize daily life, including when to prey and when to have sex. According to the world book, a lot of prey moments, but a few sex moments. The whole self-flagellation thing of bearded priests and having the guards being wedded to their pole axe reeks of a religion against carnal appetites: eating of meat, sex, and so on. They would know of some instruction song a la "bear and the maiden fair" from Qohor, which has highly lewd sexual connotations in the latter half. The bears dancing down the sinner steps may be their way of showing how nature, sex and by extension the virile symbol of the bear is an abomination in their eyes. It would be Norvos' protest against Qohor who are hunters and foragers, who usually have rituals and a lifestyle praising nature's forces. Hunters usually attempt to live in harmony with nature. They live on it, but equally attempt to show respect for it, because they know full well that nature can be dangerous and humans may end up as prey just as well. Cultures that try to stand above carnal nature, often reject nature, try to capture it and show that humans are not part of nature but can rise above it and enslave nature. If the dancing bears in Norvos is a sanctioned ritual by the bearded priests then they are saying the latter.

 

Monsters and maidens

You may be right that it is possibly linked to it. Although I don't know where you get the knight from. It sounds like just a game of tag, where the one who is "it" (the one who has to tag) is the "monster" and everybody else a maiden, and no child having the role of knight to intervene. Notice how Edric says "I was the monster". So he was "it" first, chased Shireen, and now she's "it" trying to chase Patchface. Great find!

 

(I'm a she too)

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