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

[Evolett]

And another thing regarding The Gift. Bran says the Gift was given to the NW as 'sustenance '. My personal theory is that this 'sustenance' is primarily a metaphor for the magical influence of the wall. Those who man the Wall and who by extension live in the gift are supported and protected by the magical power woven into the Wall - the Gift represents the sphere of influence of the Wall in which a person will be safe. But this is only the case so long as the men of the NW remain true - true to their vows, one imagines. It's interesting that wildlings have been raiding this area for hundreds of years, so much so that there are hardly any occupants in the Gift south of the Wall. I also believe that both the Wall and Winterfell are fortified by fire magic - (Brandon the Builder - may have been a person capable of binding fire magic - Brand means 'a fire' or conflagration in German for instance).

In the case of Winterfell it should be 'was' fortified by fire magic - that is no longer the case - there is no Stark in Winterfell, the Castle is a ruin etc. In fact, Winter seems to be spreading from Winterfell itself towards the end of book 5. This sustenance is no longer present in Winterfell and now Jon Snow is dead or dying at the Wall - killed by treacherous brothers - it is possible that the Wall will fail. Alternatively or in addition to this, Mel may draw on the fire energy in the wall to resurrect Jon and deplete it? 

[sweetsunray]

And another thing regarding The Gift. Bran says the Gift was given to the NW as 'sustenance '. My personal theory is that this 'sustenance' is primarily a metaphor for the magical influence of the wall. Those who man the Wall and who by extension live in the gift are supported and protected by the magical power woven into the Wall - the Gift represents the sphere of influence of the Wall in which a person will be safe. But this is only the case so long as the men of the NW remain true - true to their vows, one imagines. It's interesting that wildlings have been raiding this area for hundreds of years, so much so that there are hardly any occupants in the Gift south of the Wall. I also believe that both the Wall and Winterfell are fortified by fire magic - in the case of Winterfell it should be 'was' fortified by fire magic - that is no longer the case - there is no Stark in Winterfell, the Castle is a ruin etc. In fact, Winter seems to be spreading from Winterfell itself towards the end of book 5. This sustenance is no longer present in Winterfell and now Jon Snow is dead or dying at the Wall - killed by treacherous brothers - it is possible that the Wall will fail. Alternatively or in addition to this, Mel may draw on the fire energy in the wall to resurrect Jon and deplete it? 

 

:lol: you should read my theory the Icejon for the Wall.

 

Basically I propose that Jon is in critical condition rather than dead, and Mel does a fire sacrifice to perform Ashai healing on him a la Moqorro with Vic, while he's warged in Ghost. The blood magic of that won't be enough, but breaks some seal on the magic in the wall, and the magic in the wall ends up being poured into Jon's body, healing him... The result: the wall's magic would be weakened or drained. A horn blow or something little will be enough to have it come down after that. But I think it's Ice magic (not fire magic), and instead of a smoky lava like looking body, Jon's body will be hard and icelike. He'll warg back into his body. Jon will literally be the Wall then, except he's just one man, and can only be at one place at the time.

[Evolett]

:cheers:  Looks like we have similar ideas on that score.

 

Check this out - the ants here symbolize wights:

 

The next morning she woke stiff and sore and aching, with ants crawling on her arms and legs and face. When she realized what they were, she kicked aside the stalks of dry brown grass that had served as her bed and blanket and struggled to her feet. She had bites all over her, little red bumps, itchy and inflamed. Where did all the ants come from? Dany brushed them from her arms and legs and belly. She ran a hand across her stubbly scalp where her hair had burned away, and felt more ants on her head, and one crawling down the back of her neck. She knocked them off and crushed them under her bare feet. There were so many …

It turned out that their anthill was on the other side of her wall. She wondered how the ants had managed to climb over it and find her. To them these tumbledown stones must loom as huge as the Wall of Westeros. The biggest wall in all the world, her brother Viserys used to say, as proud as if he’d built it himself.

Viserys told her tales of knights so poor that they had to sleep beneath the ancient hedges that grew along the byways of the Seven Kingdoms. Dany would have given much and more for a nice thick hedge. Preferably one without an anthill.

 

:)

 

So I'm off to read your essay. Please read mine on the Making of a White Walker - it's in my signature. 

[sweetsunray]

 

On Arya as an ugly duckling - yes, I agree with your assessment 100%. There are two other ugly ducklings on my list - I just have not had time to look into that further but since you're in the swing of things in that respect, take a look at Selyse and Shireen:

 

 

Selyse is certainly not the most attractive of women and poor Shireen is disfigured by greyscale. In this quote we find Selyse as the mother duck, followed by her ducklings, including Shireen. 

 

Jon also does not want to be followed by guards, the likes of whom he sees as so many 'ducklings'. 

 

As I said, I haven't had time to check this out but I'm sure there's something there.

 

 

Tormund and his preoccupation with his member has been a point of interest for me as well and your bear investigation will help to unravel some of that, no doubt. So yes, I've spotted that quote and it relates to something else I've been working on - the black goat. I can't put all of that in this thread however but hopefully I'll get round to writing an essay on it sometime soon. 

 

 

You may be right about the wolf replacing the bear in winter  - there's a quote to back this up: (this is the scene where Bran, Meera, Jojen and Hoder spend a night in a cave occupied by a Liddle)

 

Bran started, “I’d bet we’d be there if …”

“… we took the kingsroad,” Meera finished with him.

The Liddle took out a knife and whittled at a stick. “When there was a Stark in Winterfell, a maiden girl could walk the kingsroad in her name-day gown and still go unmolested, and travelers could find fire, bread, and salt at many an inn and holdfast. But the nights are colder now, and doors are closed. There’s squids in the wolfswood, and flayed men ride the kingsroad asking after strangers.”

 

 

In winter, when the bear is sleeping, the wolf does the protecting. But the bolded bit is interesting - a naked maiden scares bears off (according to your analysis). Should a bear come along, he can be chased away by a naked maiden.

 

Later, the Liddle is gone when the kids wake up but he leaves pinecones and blackberry cakes. Bran cannot decide which he likes best and eats both. Now, pinecones are a major source of food for bears (grizzly bears in particular) and so are berries. Pinecones are of particular significance because they represent the divine and the third eye and are associated with spiritual awarenes and perception. Pinecones are the food of spring, which the bears dig out of mounds, hidden by squirrels (the Cotf are likened to squirrels). Blackberries are more of an autumn foodsource. Interesting, not so?

 

From what I see, the bear is primarily associated with fire but there is also a link to ice magic, which is why I suspect something going on there too, perhaps the 'controlling' force which I see surrounding the Starks is a summer thing. Who knows how George has implemented bearlore?

 

Interesting too, that Tormund drinks mead which is basically wine made from honey - and honey is something bears really like. 

 

Oh, wonderful! Love that quote about the Liddle interaction! Black bears are fond of berries, pinecones and nuts too. It's also interesting that this occurs in a 'cave'. You are right. The naked woman reference would be a hint to the absence of bears... Like: the bears went hiding in their dens in winter with all them naked women wakling around. :lol:

 

I suspect we may find ugly duckling analogies in Brienne's story as well. Haven't looked for that yet. Right now I'm trying to get the maiden part of Arya done. There's the whole Acorn hall rumble, and stuff about the maiden of the tree.

[Evolett]

 

Oh, wonderful! Love that quote about the Liddle interaction! Black bears are fond of berries, pinecones and nuts too. It's also interesting that this occurs in a 'cave'. You are right. The naked woman reference would be a hint to the absence of bears... Like: the bears went hiding in their dens in winter with all them naked women wakling around. :lol:

 

I suspect we may find ugly duckling analogies in Brienne's story as well. Haven't looked for that yet. Right now I'm trying to get the maiden part of Arya done. There's the whole Acorn hall rumble, and stuff about the maiden of the tree.

 

So I'll be looking forward to that, especially your thoughts on the Oak Tree and acorns, which I feel have not been given enough attention in fandom. Brienne does appear to be the classical ugly duckling. I wish I could write as fast as my thoughts soar.. hm, but time is a problem and there're always new insights...

[sweetsunray]

Oh, sweet she was, and pure and fair! The maid with honey in her hair!

 

I took a sidestep in the previous essay, to show how GRRM not only roughly incorporated the Ugly Duckling analogy into Arya's plot, but inserted certain characters and used certain language to mirror Anderson's story, with the 'clucking' Amabel and 'purring' Weese for example. While Arya is of course a she-wolf, in a meta coming-of-age-plot sense she is a swan.

 

I have also shown how the chapter where she meets Tom & co of the BwB maps out the hidden and first three stanzas of the bear-song as well as the bear-hunt ritual. But GRRM does not stop with the bear-song analogy there.

 

Now that we both know the foundation of Arya's issues regarding being a highborn proper maiden (not believing she is) and also know at which point in the story she actually gets drawn into a bear capture plot, we can use this information to see how Arya fits in the rest of the bear-song. 

 

Establishing the maiden fair

 

The last time Arya was remotely close to being a 'proper girl' was in the first chapter of aGoT, until Septa Mordane shamed and embarrassed her in front of Princes Myrcella. In that chapter, Arya decided to give up trying altogether. After that we see her riding to KL, picking wildflowers for her father, and train with Mycah. At KL she refrains much from interacting with the courtly life, and instead spends her days chasing cats and water dancing with Syrio. Next, she pretends to be an orphan boy and all sorts of lowborn identities. But then Arya meets Tom & co and gets captured following proper bear hunt protocol.

 

For the bear-hunt part Sharna and Husband serve symbolically enough for there to be a 'maiden' waiting at the Inn and the maiden being 'wed'. With Gendry waiting outside to guard the horses, the first half of the song is done, and we get the clues to figure out the lies of Lem and Tom, and why they wanted Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie to go to the inn in particular.

 

Of course Sharna canot truly function as a maiden, or a fair one. There is but one maiden at the Inn, and that's Arya. But aside from Gendry, nobody knows who she is.

 

When Gendry runs in to warn them abtou Greenbeard's arrival, Arya realizes the full extention of the trap. In the song, normally the maiden fair must resist fiercely against being stolen.

 

Arya's only answer was to reach over her shoulder for her sword, but before she had it halfway drawn Lem grabbed her wrist. "We'll have no more of that, now." He twisted her arm until her hand opened. His fingers were hard with callus and fearsomely strong. Again! Arya thought. It's happening again, like it happened in the village, with Chiswyck and Raff and the Mountain That Rides. They were going to steal her sword and turn her back into a mouse.

 

In the village they stole 'Needle'. Now Lem is wrestling away the longsword that Gendry gave her before escaping Harrenhal. But 'stealing a sword' is not the same as 'stealing a maiden'. Or is it?

 

"Boy, girl," Syrio Forel said. "You are a sword, that is all."

 

Needle is not just 'Jon' and 'home' and 'Winterfell'. Most of all, Needle = Arya until she gets captured at the village by the Mountain, and Needle is taken by Polliver. After that Gendry's sword = Arya. So her thought of 'stealing my sword' is the same as, 'They're going to steal me'.

 

So, Arya fights back as fierce and hard as she can, as the maiden fair does in stanza 10. She breaks Lem's nose, he 'roars', she screams and makes a run for it, twisting and kicking when Lem grabs her. Lem here takes up the bear role for a moment.

 

She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair,

 

Her free hand closed around her tankard, and she swung it at Lem's face. The ale sloshed over the rim and splashed into his eyes, and she heard his nose break and saw the spurt of blood. When he roared his hands went to his face, and she was free. "Run!" she screamed, bolting.

But Lem was on her again at once, with his long legs that made one of his steps equal to three of hers. She twisted and kicked, but he yanked her off her feet effortlessly and held her dangling while the blood ran down his face.

 

And then Lem yanks her off her feet and holds her dangling in the air, much like stanza 8 of the bear-song.

 

The bear, the bear! Lifted her high into the air! The bear! The bear!

 

Gendry-bear steps in to come to her aid, like a knight, but he’s only a bear, all shaggy black hair, and not a knight yet, which relates to stanza 9. One version of the Wayland legend has Wayland fight a knight in order to gain the princess' hand. Wayland succeeded in a quest given by the king to knights. As Wayland was not a knight, a knight wants to steal the quest's prize to claim the princess for himself.

 

I called for a knight, but you're a bear! A bear, a bear! All black and brown and covered with hair

 

"Stop it, you little fool," he shouted, shaking her back and forth. "Stop it now!" Gendry moved to help her, until Tom Sevenstrings stepped in front of him with a dagger.

 

And in aCoK, when they travel to the God’s Eye, intent on reaching Harrenhal, Arya believes knights are meant to keep you safe, especially women. She hopes for knights.
 

Hot Pie was being silly; it wouldn't be ghosts at Harrenhal, it would be knights. Arya could reveal herself to Lady Whent, and the knights would escort her home and keep her safe. That was what knights did; they kept you safe, especially women. (aCoK, Arya IV).

 

It is rather ironic then that Gendry, a bear, ends up knighted by Beric and vowing to protect women and children, and yet Arya regards it as a betrayal. She would have preferred him to be a bound Wayland bear making swords for her brother. Instead he chooses to be a knighted bear.

 

Arya finally sees someone she thinks she can trust – Harwin, who used to be her father’s man - and openly declares her identity: higborn Arya Stark of Winterfell, the Hand's daughter, a maiden fair.
 

For a moment she did not know how to answer. She'd had so many names. Had she only dreamed Arya Stark? "I'm a girl," she sniffed. "I was Lord Bolton's cupbearer but he was going to leave me for the goat, so I ran off with Gendry and Hot Pie. You have to know me! You used to lead my pony, when I was little."

His eyes went wide, "Gods be good," he said in a choked voice. "Arya Underfoot? Lem, let go of her."

"She broke my nose." Lem dumped her unceremoniously to the floor. "Who in seven hells is she supposed to be?"

"The Hand's daughter." Harwin went to one knee before her. "Arya Stark, of Winterfell."

 

Looking the part

 

Arya may now be known by her true identity to the Brotherhood, but she certainly doesn't look the part yet. However, she does after arriving at Acorn Hall. For the first time since ages, Arya’s bathed and forced to wear an actual dress.

 

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!

 

Arya promptly found herself marched upstairs, forced into a tub, and doused with scalding hot water. Lady Smallwood's maidservants scrubbed her so hard it felt like they were flaying her themselves. They even dumped in some stinky-sweet stuff that smelled like flowers.

And afterward, they insisted she dress herself in girl's things, brown woolen stockings and a light linen shift, and over that a light green gown with acorns embroidered all over the bodice in brown thread, and more acorns bordering the hem.

...

 

Lady Smallwood fussed at the bodice of the gown. "Now you look a proper young lady."

I'm not a lady, Arya wanted to tell her, I'm a wolf. (aSoS, Arya IV)

 

To be honest, brown woolen stockings and light green gown with acorns embroidered on it, sound like a dress that Sansa would think beneath her. It doesn't sound like Lady Smallwood turned her into a 'court lady' here. It's one of the two dresses left behind by her daughter Carellen who was sent to Oldtown in the Reach. The Acorn dress isn't 'southern' enough most like. In any case, Lady Smallwood declares Arya to look like a 'proper young lady', and Arya answers Lady Smallwood's inquiry about dancing and needlework as courteous as she can be. So, she is sweet, pure and fair, and smelling like flowers.

 

Since GRRM hardly ever uses names and heraldry without symbolic reasons, we should take note of the 'acorn' and 'oak tree' symbol. Every majestic, strong oak grew out of a tiny acorn once. Therefore the acorn symbolizes 'potential'. In heraldry it stands for 'sovereignty' and 'independence'. Lastly, an acorn is a damn 'hard nut to crack', and as endurable as the oak tree itself. Oak trees are the 'king of the trees and forests'. Like bears they were 'protectors' of the forest. In Celtic (mainland, British and Irish) culture the oak was the tree of life, fertility, deeply rooted and 'sacred'. It was associated with the lightning god, such as Thor or Dagda. As tall as it was and its ability to grow old (over 200 years) it was often hit by lightning, proving its endurability and strength through surviving disasters others cannot. Just like the sacred bears, oak trees were once believed to enact revenge on those who felled them.

 

For House Smallwood the symbolism of the lightning lord fits their alliance with the Brotherhood, who are King's Men; the king meaning 'Robert Baratheon' who with his warhammer is like a Thor figure. The Brotherhood is at that time led by Ser Beric Dondarrion, the lightning lord.

 

Who is Lady Smallwood? She's Ravella Swann. So, Arya in fact interacts with a 'swan' at Acorn Hall. House Swann is one of the Marcher houses of the Stormlands. Strictly speaking Lady Smallwood should be as southron and ladylike as one expects one to be of the Stormlands. And initially she seems to be, when she talks about her daughter being such a good dancer and Needlework. But when you hear her talk with the Brotherhood, the swan, seems not shy to talk like a man. Imagine Sansa's blushes and gaping at Ravella Swann for talking so.

 

Lady Smallwood gave him a withering look. "Someone who doesn't rhyme carry on with Dondarrion, perhaps. Or play 'Oh, Lay My Sweet Lass Down in the Grass' to every milkmaid in the shire and leave two of them with big bellies."

"It was 'Let Me Drink Your Beauty,'" said Tom defensively, "and milkmaids are always glad to hear it. As was a certain highborn lady I do recall. I play to please."

Her nostrils flared. "The riverlands are full of maids you've pleased, all drinking tansy tea. You'd think a man as old as you would know to spill his seed on their bellies. Men will be calling you Tom Sevensons before much longer."

...

"What did m'lady tell them?" asked Jack-Be-Lucky.

"Why, that I had Ser Jaime naked in my bed, but I'd left him much too exhausted to come down. One of them had the effrontery to call me a liar, so we saw them off with a few quarrels. I believe they made for Blackbottom Bend."

 

In any case, this swan, tells Arya at the end of the chapter that she's pretty. Afterwards she has fond memories of Lady Smallwood, thinks of her respectfully, and remembers that the woman called her pretty.

 

"I'm sorry, my lady." Arya suddenly felt bad for her, and ashamed. "I'm sorry I tore the acorn dress too. It was pretty."

"Yes, child. And so are you. Be brave."

 

The scent on the fall air

 

When Arya is brought down for the dinner looking like a proper young lady, Gendry the bear finds that very funny. Until that point, they were bonded friends, shown for example by the two of them walking around the weirwood stumps of High Heart.

 

The next day they rode to a place called High Heart, a hill so lofty that from atop it Arya felt as though she could see half the world. Around its brow stood a ring of huge pale stumps, all that remained of a circle of once-mighty weirwoods. Arya and Gendry walked around the hill to count them. There were thirty-one, some so wide that she could have used them for a bed.

 

They were equals and gender did not matter. Their interaction was asexual from the both of them. So, his first response to laugh comes from an asexual POV. But then Harwin gives him a thwack over it. Now that Arya looks like a proper young lady, Gendry is reminded to treat her as such.

 

Supper was being served in the hall by the time Arya was all washed and combed and dressed. Gendry took one look and laughed so hard that wine came out his nose, until Harwin gave him a thwack alongside his ear.

 

From their escape of Harrenhal to Acorn Hall, Gendry and Arya speak and behave pretty much as a unity and one mind. But as I have shown, Gendry's meaning at the smithy - the longest speech he has ever held so far in any book, (the smith-commitment speech at Harrenhal being the second) - goes over Arya's head. Though she is unaware of the fact that their minds are separating, at least Gendry knows she misunderstands him.

 

He changes the subject, and he does it by acknowledging her as a proper maiden, pure (washed) and fair (fine dress). He suddenly inserts a gender difference between them. Then he sniffs at her, liking her perfume, just like the bear smells the honeyed scent on the summer air (stanza 5 and 6 of the “bear and maiden fair” song). "Sniffing" stands out a lot as an action: it is very animal like and very intimate behaviour, bordering to the sexual, and one we haven't seen Gendry do remotely close to it before.

 

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!
 

"You look different now. Like a proper little girl."

"I look like an oak tree, with all these stupid acorns."

"Nice, though. A nice oak tree." He stepped closer, and sniffed at her. "You even smell nice for a change."

Suddenly Gendry is seeing her through a different light, as a proper girl, and approving it. His eyes or rather his nose has been opened.

 

His subconscious word choice is very interesting: 'little girl' and not 'young lady'; 'nice' instead of 'pretty'. A 'girl' is still approachable, whereas a 'lady' is unattainable and set far above him. The addition of 'little' is a reminder to himself that she's a child. For similar reasons he chooses 'nice' instead of 'pretty'. 'Nice' is a weird word choice to compliment someone on their looks (honestly, the guy needs some tips). But even lowborn 'pretty' girls can have their pick. An unacknowledged bastard is as far low status one can be. But the word 'nice' implies he's indirectly asking her 'be nice to me now'. The bear is voicing his thoughts of liking what he sees and smells, but in such a way they cannot alienate her nor embarras him. He's giving her compliments in safe wording that keep her attainable and with an intention to compell her not to reject him.

 

We rarely see Gendry as an insecure individual towards highborn, not by his attitude towards Ned Stark, or his attitude towards Arya previously even when he knew she was a highborn lady. But it's different when he suddenly finds himself attracted to her. Attraction is often a catalyst for insecurities where we may have none before. And especially in the bear's case who is but regarded as a smith (Wayland) before a princess the risk and fear of rejection becomes thematic. Though nobody refers to Arya directly as a princess, that is exactly what she is then as sister to the King in the North. And of course the plot about Wayland revolves about him not being deemed highborn enough to marry princess Bodvild.

 

Surprising is that Arya does not protest against being called 'little' by him. She usually pipes up that she is not a little girl. Arya does not regard herself as a child, wanting others to know it too, and even proclaims she will be a woman soon, inviting the jape of marriage by Greenbeard.

 

"Don't call me little one!"

"Why not?" said Lem. "You're little enough."

"I'm bigger than I was. I'm not a child." Children didn't kill people, and she had.

...

"She has a sharp tongue and a fierce eye, I'll grant you that, but her heart's a good one, and she's fond of little girls."

"I'm not a little girl," she said angrily. (aSoS, Arya II)

...

"I'm not a squirrel," she said. "I'll almost be a woman soon. I'll be one-and-ten."

"Best watch out I don't marry you, then!" He [Greenbeard] tried to tickle her under the chin, but Arya slapped his stupid hand away. (aSoS, Arya IV)

 

Perhaps Greenbeard's joke reminded her of the possible consequences if she is too eager to be a woman grown. After all, where does Arya get the idea she'll be a woman at one-and-ten? Her sister Sansa was betrothed to Joffrey at that age. Reminded of marriage by Greenbeard and her nearing Sansa's age of ending up betrothed, it is likely that she considers being regarded as a 'little girl' might not be so negative after all.

 

Arya refers to herself as "looking like an oak tree", mirroring much of the same symbolic aspects of the bear - life, fertility, forest, strength, protection, regal, endurance, sacred and revenge. In that sense, Arya as oak tree and Gendry as bear stand as mirrors to one another. For Arya specifically it refers to her endurability, her survival skills, despite all the horrors she has seen and will see.

 

The second hald of the bear-song tells us of a wildling 'stealing' ritual. This tradition of the Wildlings is not about a man forcing himself onto an unwilling woman, but aimed at proving a man's strength and determination as well as the woman's independence and ability to defend herself. That is why a woman is required to fight the lover every step of the way, even if she is attracted to the man. Arya calls the acorns 'stupid' (not the oak tree). The most likely meaning of acorns that Arya indirectly calls stupid in relation to the stealing ritual is her independence. It's as if she' saying, being strong and endurable is all fine and dandy, but it's also very lonely. And is that not exactly how the Ugly Duckling feels?

 

Even without knowing the symbolism of the oak tree and acorns, we understand that Arya seems to ask for sympathy when she mopes about her dress. The question is whether she wants confirmation or a contradiction of her statement. This is unclear. It's also unclear whether she fears if he's mocking her or not. She has wondered before whether he was mocking her when he m'ladied her right before they were caught by the Mountain, and she knows he certainly mocked her about Winterfell at Harrenhal. While not outright stated in the Acorn Hal scene, it seems a most likely deduction that is what she believes. First of all, she suffers the Ugly Duckling syndrome, believing she will never be paired with handsome boys, only the fat ones. Secondly, Gendry has mocked her twice before. And finally, she is in fact attracted to him since a long time, and an attraction usually makes insecurities about how the other may perceive you soar sky high.

 

The evidence for this attraction is in the way Arya has a hightened awareness and focus on Gendry from almost the very beginning at King's Road. It is not the attraction of someone with sexual awareness, but an asexual attraction that just is. Children younger than Arya even can be attracted to another, just in the same way adults are attracted. The huge difference is that children's feelings of attraction do not provoke sexual fantasies or desire in the child. 

 

Clearly, Arya is asexual. When Hot Pie sings the bear-song lustily with Tom it has no impact on her. Jorah's bear kiss of Dany re-awakens her sexual desires so much she masturbates. The bear-song makes Sansa fantasise what it would be like to kiss Loras and later invent the Unkiss. The impact differs depending on each woman’s level of maturity and experience. Dany was a widow who had shared her bed with a man already. Sansa had flowered, but was not even kissed. Arya is a child, messed up about boy/girl, and still years from flowering. The song’s sexual meaning eludes her and so has no impact on her, just as she is indifferent to Lady Smallwood's sexual frankness. If Dany's protection are her bloodriders and dragons, Sansa's protection are courtesies and Brienne's a sword and warrior's armor, then Arya's protection is her asexuality. But it would be wrong to conclude that her asexuality means she feels and experiences no attraction.

 

Attraction involuntarily makes you have hightened awareness of the other. All the senses will be used to collect as much data: looking, smelling, listening, studying behaviour and facial expressions, and eventually wondering what the other might think of you, often at the strangest moments. Arya shows such interest about Gendry. We do not know half as much about Hot Pie than we do of Gendry, even though Hot Pie leaves her plotline only a few chapters before Gendry does.

 

Arya scuffed at the ground with her foot, but she let the Bull lead her around to the front of the inn. Rorge's laughter and Biter's hissing followed them. "Want to fight?" she asked the Bull. She wanted to hit something.

He blinked at her, startled. Strands of thick black hair, still wet from the bathhouse, fell across his deep blue eyes. "I'd hurt you."

"You would not."

...

The other gold cloaks were dismounting to stand beside their horses. "Why are we hiding?" the Bull whispered.

"It's me they want," Arya whispered back. His ear smelled of soap. "You be quiet." (aCoK, Arya II)

...

"No, I'll go," Arya said. "You're too noisy."

Gendry got that look on his face. "We'll both go." (aCoK, Arya V)

...

"No," the old man said. "Northmen, they were. Savages who worship trees. They wanted the Kingslayer, they said."

Arya heard him, and chewed her lip. She could feel Gendry looking at her. It made her angry and ashamed. (aSoS, Arya IV)

 

If the first exchange had occurred between Hot Pie and Arya, the description of wet hair and how blue those eyes are wouldn't even be there. She's looking for a partner to spar with, challenging him and yet she notices his hair is wet and that his eyes are deep blue. Especially the 'deep' adjective implies that his eyes have an impact on her on a subconscious level. It's typically a word used to suggest the one looking into such eyes feels as if 'pulled in'. It's a very romantic word really.

 

While she's hiding with Gendry behind bushes to keep out of sight of the Gold Cloaks, out of fear for her life, she notes his ear smelling of soap. It's a live or die situation. And yet, in the midsts of it all, her focus is distracted enough away from the Gold Cloaks to smell the soap scent of his ear, and puts her physically close to him.

 

"the look on his face" is indescriptive to us, but for Arya it's already so familiar for her that she simply calls it "that look". She has described and observed many of his facial expression - polishing his helmet with a look in his eyes as if he isn't there even, a stubborn one, a fierce scowl, a screwed up face when he has to think, some stern "I'm responsible and I should protect" kindof look. Which one is it? No idea. But Arya knows. "That look" reads as Arya being intimately familiar with Gendry's body language in a way that goes beyond the normal, requiring study and focus. She clearly isn't studying him for a kill mission, so that leaves only attraction as the reason for it.

 

Finally, she wants him to think well of her and her roots and family. GRRM could have left out the fact that she felt Gendry was looking at her as the man identified the culprits who desecrated the sept. Arya could have felt angy and ashamed over the actions of her brother's bannermen without it. And yet the "It" of "It made her angry and ashamed" is not the man's story, but Gendry hearing it as well as her and looking at her. While she cared not for Goodwife Amabel's opinion of Roose's and Vargo's atrocities towards the servants, she thought it wasn't "fair" of Gendry to be angry at her for Lucan's death. His opinion matters greatly to her.

 

Finally, Arya applies the same trick in her mind as Gendry applies in his commentary of how she looks and smells.

She climbed to the roof and peeked down. Gendry was beating out a breastplate. When he worked, nothing existed for him but metal, bellows, fire. The hammer was like part of his arm. She watched the play of muscles in his chest and listened to the steel music he made. He's strong, she thought.

 

Arya never explicitly thinks of Gendry as 'handsome', instead she uses the word 'strong'. She thinks of other men and boys as handsome, so why not Gendry. She refers to Joffrey as handsome, and Jaqen.

 

Arya knew which prince she meant: Joffrey, of course. The tall, handsome one. Sansa got to sit with him at the feast. Arya had to sit with the little fat one. Naturally. (aGoT, Arya I)

 

"A man does not choose his companions in the black cells," the handsome one with the red-and-white hair said. (aCoK, Arya II)

 

Dondarrion? Beric Dondarrion had been handsome; Sansa's friend Jeyne had fallen in love with him. Even Jeyne Poole was not so blind as to think this man was fair. (aSoS, Arya VI)

 

The handsome man had a beard of a different color every time she saw him, and a different nose, but he was never less than comely. (aFfC, Arya II)

 

Before summoning the serving men to carry him away, she knelt and felt his face, tracing the line of his jaw, brushing her fingers across his cheeks and nose, touching his hair. Curly hair, and thick. A handsome face, unlined. He was young. She wondered what had brought him here to seek the gift of death. (aDwD, The Blind Girl)

 

Arya notices handsome men, for sure, and she associates it with falling in love. The quote about Beric indirectly implies that Arya can't imagine falling in love with a man who isn't handsome. The quote about Joffrey implies she believes the reverse is true as well - no handsome man would fall in love with her. The four she explicitly refers to as handsome are all boys and men that are already unattainable for her. Joffrey is set up with Sansa and in the same chapter she decides he's a hateful boy on top of it as well. Jaqen is a grown man and a criminal. "The handsome man" at the House of Black and White is also a grown man and an FM. And the last one is dead. Thinking of them as "handsome" is emotionally safe for Arya.

 

That strong = handsome in Arya's mind is confirmed by the way her senses and focus are heightened about Jaqen, and the interactions have a sensual and intimate subtext. She thinks of Jaqen as handsome and is sensually aware of him in the same way as she is of Gendry. The difference is that Jaqen is too old for her, already has girls flocking to him, and barely gives her a glance. Calling Jaqen handsome poses no emotional inner conflict of Ugly Duckling insecurities. This is not the case, if she were to think of Gendry as "handsome". So, she uses the word "strong".

But Jaqen H'ghar still smiled. His garb was still ragged and filthy, but he had found time to wash and brush his hair. It streamed down across his shoulders, red and white and shiny, and Arya heard the girls giggling to each other in admiration.

...

Jaqen H'ghar took his hand away. The cellar was black as pitch and she could not see his face, even inches away. She could smell him, though; his skin smelled clean and soapy, and he had scented his hair. "A boy becomes a girl," he murmured.

"I was always a girl. I didn't think you saw me." ... By the time Arya lit her stub of a candle, only a faint smell remained of him, a whiff of ginger and cloves lingering in the air.

...

Arya leaned close and whispered, "Chiswyck," right in Jaqen's ear. The Lorathi gave no sign that he had heard. (aCoK, Arya VII)

...

She found Jaqen soaking in a tub, steam rising around him as a serving girl sluiced hot water over his head. His long hair, red on one side and white on the other, fell down across his shoulders, wet and heavy.

She crept up quiet as a shadow, but he opened his eyes all the same. "She steals in on little mice feet, but a man hears," he said. How could he hear me? she wondered, and it seemed as if he heard that as well. "The scuff of leather on stone sings loud as warhorns to a man with open ears. Clever girls go barefoot."

"I have a message." Arya eyed the serving girl uncertainly. When she did not seem likely to go away, she leaned in until her mouth was almost touching his ear. "Weese," she whispered.

Jaqen H'ghar closed his eyes again, floating languid, half-asleep. "Tell his lordship a man shall attend him at his leisure." His hand moved suddenly, splashing hot water at her, and Arya had to leap back to keep from getting drenched. (aCoK, Arya VIII)

 

Gendry's compliments propel Arya thus onto thin ice. Suddenly the handsome boy she's asexually attracted to is paying her compliments and manouvring into the 'proper girl' corner.

 

The rejection and rumble in the smithy

 

Arya the maiden ends up shoving the stinky Gendry bear away, whereas the bear lifts her in the air and tussles with the maiden, as the maiden kicks, punches and fights the bear’s hold, matching stanza 7, 8 and 9.

 

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!

The bear, the bear! Lifted her high into the air! The bear! The bear!

She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair,

 

"You don't. You stink." Arya shoved him back against the anvil and made to run, but Gendry caught her arm. She stuck a foot between his legs and tripped him, but he yanked her down with him, and they rolled across the floor of the smithy. He was very strong, but she was quicker. Every time he tried to hold her still she wriggled free and punched him. Gendry only laughed at the blows, which made her mad. He finally caught both her wrists in one hand and started to tickle her with the other, so Arya slammed her knee between his legs, and wrenched free. Both of them were covered in dirt, and one sleeve was torn on her stupid acorn dress. "I bet I don't look so nice now," she shouted. (aSoS, Arya IV)

 

The tussle stops short from going into stanza 10 and 11. There is no bear kiss, and the bear fails to steal the maiden. The maiden wins the fight.

 

This is not their first tussle.

• Arya invites Gendry to fight with her, who wishes to decline. They spar with words who would win such a fight. He claims to be stronger. She retorts she's quicker. She wins this round, when he gives in and they draw swords to fight. Then the Gold Cloaks arrive. Directly afterwards Gendry and Arya insult each other some more. Again, the sparring of words ends in her favor, and he tells her his name.
• When Gendry reveals he knows she’s a girl, they spar with words again. This time he wins the verbal tussle and she reveals her identity to him. When he teases her about being highborn, she proceeds to shove and kick him, and makes the fight physical. Gendry does not physically fight her, but simply laughs.
• At Acorn Hall’s smithy Arya does not spar too many words with him, but instead moves quickly to a physical confrontation, and this time Gendry engages, laughing, but Arya wins the tussle, because of her quickness. 

So, their sparring has evolved from words to physical fighting, once Gendry mastered the ability to gain the upperhand with words. Though there is no certainty that they will meet again, but if they do and it comes to a fight, then Gendry might actually have acquired enough speed to best her. If this were to happen Arya no doubt would be kissed by the bear.  

 

Arya's last words glaringly put her Ugly Duckling syndrome to the forefront. We know she believes she will not be paired with handsome boys. She also has come to regard acceptance and love of her by others as conditional, even that of a mother. Just the fact that she can't sing, dance, sow and mind her courtesies and is dirty is enough to make her believe not even her mother might want her back.

 

"What if my brother doesn't want to ransom me?"

"Why would you think that?" asked Lord Beric.

"Well," Arya said, "my hair's messy and my nails are dirty and my feet are all hard." Robb wouldn't care about that, probably, but her mother would. Lady Catelyn always wanted her to be like Sansa, to sing and dance and sew and mind her courtesies. Just thinking of it made Arya try to comb her hair with her fingers, but it was all tangles and mats, and all she did was tear some out. "I ruined that gown that Lady Smallwood gave me, and I don't sew so good." She chewed her lip. "I don't sew very well, I mean. Septa Mordane used to say I had a blacksmith's hands." (aSoS, Arya VII)

 

She believes she will ultimately fail at being a proper girl, and that she is Arya Horseface. Hence, she cannot accept compliments from the boy she is attracted to when she's dressed up as "proper young lady". She is sure she will disappoint him, and then he would reject her. Instead she desires acceptance when she's in the worst state, and proves to Gendry she doesn't look nice now.

 

Conclusion

 

Once Arya is outed as Arya Stark to the Brotherhood she ultimately is steered to the maiden fair role. At Acorn Hall she gets dressed up in finery and ends up facing the bear alone at the smithy. Gendry the bear sees Arya for the first time as an actual maiden fair and actually smells the scent of her. As the maiden fair should, Arya rejects and fights him. Gendry the bear is strong, but not quick enough yet to steal her.

[Clegane'sPup]

Ser Gendry of the Hollow Hill survives the massacres in the Riverlands. At Castle Black he reveals to Melisandre that the rescued Arya is not the true Arya. Both the Acting Commander and Melisandre send him on a mission to save Westeros from the Cold Children of the Great Other by stealing and retrieving the Darkheart acolyte of the Many Faced God in Braavos.

[sweetsunray]

Ser Gendry of the Hollow Hill survives the massacres in the Riverlands. At Castle Black he reveals to Melisandre that the rescued Arya is not the true Arya. Both the Acting Commander and Melisandre send him on a mission to save Westeros from the Cold Children of the Great Other by stealing and retrieving the Darkheart acolyte of the Many Faced God in Braavos.

 

That's just fanfic. But thumbs up on spending your time to google 'sweetsunray' and copy paste the synopsis.

[Clegane'sPup]

 

That's just fanfic

 

Yes, My lady.

[sweetsunray]

And if you'd actually read it, you'd know that it doesn't even have anything remotely to do with bear-lore. Now, stop harrassing me.

[sweetsunray]

The Hidden Bear-Maiden Song

 

I've established that GRRM has incorporated knowledge of bear folkore. We've uncovered the meaning of the "Bear and the maiden fair" song in relation to this bear folklore as a type of bear hunt codex, a wedding codex and how the last stanzas of the song or an actual bear kiss awaken sexuality. I've shown that Gendry is a fleshed out hidden bear in the books, and should be regarded as a bear from start to finish. I've estabished that Arya is the maiden fair to Gendry the bear. And I've shown how GRRM actually wrote several scenes and even chapters with these two characters as a re-enactment of the Bear song.

 

I've explained how identifying and naming a bear was actually a taboo, and that GRRM breaks it by having explicit bears or bear characters involved, as well as writing an explicit bear-song. I've argued that the lore is lost to our modern mind, exactly because it was such a taboo. We may know of certain legends, without really understanding such a legend is actually a bear-story. And I've argued that GRRM has tried to condition us to relate bears with revenge, sexuality and foraging succes either through extortion or proper adhering to ritual.

 

But ultimately all this is needed to tell a story about a bear without revealing he's a bear (the hidden bear Gendry) and just as well have a song that also adhers to the taboo - a hidden bear song. I propose this hidden bear-maiden song is the one that Tom sings at Acorn Hall.

 

The lord of the forest and maiden of the tree

 

“My featherbed is deep and soft,
and there I’ll lay you down,
I’ll dress you all in yellow silk
and on your head a crown.
For you shall be my lady love,
and I shall be your lord.
I’ll always keep you warm and safe,
and guard you with my sword.

And how she smiled and how she laughed, the maiden of the tree.
She spun away and said to him,
no featherbed for me.
I’ll wear a gown of golden leaves,
and bind my hair with grass,
But you can be my forest love,
and me your forest lass.” (aSoS, Arya IV)

 

It goes unnamed, has no title, never shows up again, and is not listed amongst the songs at the wiki. In between the two verses, Tom winks at Arya, and at the end Lady Smallwood comments she has no gown of leaves for Arya to replace the torn acorn dress. GRRM leaves no textual doubt with these hints that it is a commentary about these two characters and their subtextual interaction. He could have used the actual "bear and fair maiden" song, which would have been a very logical conclusion to the scene that went right before it. But he didn't.

 

The song is sung by two characters - one male, one female. The male proposes conventional marriage and seems to be some sort of lord or prince or king who can offer the woman a crown. The woman declines the conventional marriage proposal and instead offers a forest love affair. The necessary attractions and love are there, but they have differing and incompatible wishes regarding matrimony, or so the song suggests. 

 

Since Gendry does show an increasing annoyance and insecurity about Arya's highborn status, and he actually gets knighted, it is often concluded that Gendry must be the male with the convential wishes. Meanwhile Arya has declared to her father in aGoT that marriage to a king and having princes for sons is Sansa's path, not hers, and she has shown she could care less about class difference. So, she must be the one with the unconventional love affair wishes at heart. Of course, the irony is that Gendry made a very unconventional choice to be part of outlaws whose domain is a forest, which is his home as a bear, and that Arya has a very conventional and completely normal wish for a castle as home, for her highborn family, and that she feels betrayed that Gendry did not choose to be a conventional armorer smith for a king or lord in a keep. Personally, I think it's a disservice to both these characters to declare one as conservative and the other as non-confirmist. They are ultimately a mix of both.

 

And we actually may be missing an important key to the song itself. It is implied the man in the song is a lord or a king, but he is not actually named or identified, while the maiden is explicitly identified as "maiden of the tree". The song could have worked just fine without adding "maiden of the tree". We can only deduce that the man is some lord. But what is a lord or king doing in a forest proposing to a maiden of the tree? The lord's identity is hidden. Why?

 

The male verse and the context of the forest makes the most sense if it is sung not by a man, but a bear. A bear is called “Lord of the forest”, or even “King of the forest”. The forest is his domain and home. His chosen bride would become a Queen or Lady of the forest. His crown would be one of leaves, his featherbed literally one of gathered feathers or even leaves. And in most bear legends, the bear has a special sword to protect the forest life. And a song where the bear aspect is hidden seems completely apt for a hidden bear who is on his way to the denlike Hollow Hill in the middle of a forest.

 

Does this also work for Arya as a maiden of the tree?  Yes, she often climbs trees and then there are a few tree references related to her.

• Once when Lommy Greenhands has the watch she shimmied up an oak, moved from tree to tree until she was right above his head (aCoK, Arya III)
• She spies on the village where they get captured by the Mountain from a tree (aCoK, Arya V)
• When she trains her water dancing with a sharpened broomstick in the Godswood of Harrenhal, she sometimes climbs trees and dances in the upper branches. She does this the night she gives Jaqen his own name to force him into helping her free the prisoners. (aCoK, Arya IX)
• She hides behind the Willow tree from Tom, Anguy and Lem coming upon the garden, and then jumps from behind it to reveal herself, preventing Anguy from shooting arrows over the wall where Gendry and Hot Pie are hiding. (aSoS, Arya II)
• Greenbeard refers to her as a gold squirrel he found in his tree (aSoS, Arya III)
• They all climb up ladders to the village hidden in the upper branches of the yellow wood where the Lady of the Leaves lives (aSoS, Arya IV)
• Arya thinks she looks like an oak tree in the acorn dress (aSoS, Arya IV)

So, she can definitely be called a maiden of the tree.

 

It alse behoves me to mention an Arya stand-in character: Willow Heddle. She's of age with Arya. She talks in the spontaneous direct and authoritive tone of Arya. If GRRM hadn't written 'Willow' as a name in those passages, it's like hearing Arya demanding answers and giving orders. And she isn't shy of using weapons, in fact a bow, and wasn't a bow something Arya wanted to learn how to use? Rorge even gets to threaten he'll shove the crossbow in her cunt and fuck her with it, similar to how he threatened Arya several times. So, it is no coincidence this Arya stand-in (with the wrong color of eyes) bears the name of a tree, Willow.

 

"We'll have silver. Else you can sleep in the woods with the dead men." Willow glanced toward the donkey, and the casks and bundles on his back. "Is that food? Where did you get it?"

...

"No." Willow was staring at her, in a way that she knew well. "They're just . . . I don't know . . . the sparrows bring them here, sometimes. Others find their own way. If you're a woman, why are you dressed up like a man?"

...

Do you have rooms for us?"

"No," said the boy smith. "Yes," said the girl Willow.

They glared at one another. Then Willow stomped her foot. "They have food, Gendry. The little ones are hungry."

...

Gendry was the closest thing to a man grown, but it was Willow shouting all the orders, as if she were a queen in her castle and the other children were no more than servants.

If she were highborn, command would come naturally to her, and deference to them. Brienne wondered whether Willow might be more than she appeared. The girl was too young and too plain to be Sansa Stark, but she was of the right age to be the younger sister, and even Lady Catelyn had said that Arya lacked her sister's beauty. Brown hair, brown eyes, skinny . . . could it be? Arya Stark's hair was brown, she recalled, but Brienne was not sure of the color of her eyes. Brown and brown, was that it? Could it be that she did not die at Saltpans after all?

...

The door to the inn banged open. Willow stepped out into the rain, a crossbow in her hands.

...

As it faded, Brienne heard the man in the Hound's helm say, "Loose a quarrel at me and I'll shove that crossbow up your cunt and fuck you with it. Then I'll pop your fucking eyes out and make you eat them." The fury in the man's voice drove Willow back a step, trembling.(aFfC, Brienne VII)

 

It's almost as if the maiden of the tree, Arya, never left, like some alternative universe, where we get a glimpse of what Arya's life would have been like had chosen to reconnect with the Brotherhood instead of taking a ship to Braavos, just as much as we get a cruel glimpse of the alternative universe if Arya had been found by Jaime, Tywin or Roose and made to marry Ramsay Bolton.

 

The Bay Tree Maiden

 

I researched whether there were stories about tree maidens and found a Romanian story, called the Bay Tree Maiden.

 

Synopsis: A prince promises a crown and a silk swing to a pure maiden that climbed out of a bay tree to wash her face and pick flowers, if she allows him to take kiss flowers from her hair, her lips and bosom (aka deflower her). The naive maiden allows it, but of course the prince packs up before she wakes. She then discovers the bay tree refuses to let her climb back in the tree. In the disguise as a monk she decides to search the prince, but discovers he's engaged to be married to another (the bride is assuming a false identity). The maiden as monk and prince meet again, and she tells him the story of the tree maiden. He takes the monk home with him along with his betrothed, and has the monk tell him the story over and over. On the morning of his wedding, he saves the monk from suicide and discovers it's really the bay tree maiden, and also discovers the false pretense of his betrothed, and instead marries the bay tree maiden, because he finally accepts that the woman his mother once promised he'd marry was made up. That is the mother made up a name to shush his crying as a baby, and the false betrothed pretended to be named such. The story has two morals - for men not to chase some idealized non-existent woman and for maidens not to believe a man's promises too hastily.  

 

There are a few references in there that could link the actual inspiration of the song GRRM wrote loosely on that tale. We can see the prince's promises reflected into the male verses, including 'silk' and 'crown'. Meanwhile the maiden wears a golden dress. Arya has climbed in and out of trees often, and the last tree reference relating to Arya is at Acorn Hall, after she's washed and tussles with a king's son. She never gets to climb trees again, and Braavos doesn't have trees (except at the Sealord's Palace). At Braavos she gets to dress in the monkish acolyte's robe. Meanwhile she feels betrayed by Gendry's choice to remain with the Brotherhood and become an outlaw knight.

 

But there are also things that do not match up with the story. It doesn't mention a sword or grass binding of hair, and the dress is said to be made of leaves instead of flowers. There's no forest in the story, only one tree and a meadow of flowers. In the song, the male comes across with the intention to formalize the relation, whereas the tree maiden would be content to have an informal one. Gendry is not looking for some idealized fantasy woman, and there certainly hasn't been any deflowering. On the contrary, it seems that Arya very much becomes his idea of the ideal girl, based on the Arya reminders he surrounds himself with at the Crossroads Inn, when Brienne visits it. And at the Peach he acts out in order to protect her innocense and asexuality. It's also Arya who promises him life at a castle (at least in a castle's forge), and not the other way around.

 

I conclude that if GRRM used the bay tree maiden story as a source of inspiration, he only did it for the imagery of the lyrics, and his own goal to write a song that he could use to his own ends, fitting the concept of a hidden bear and his own plot that would also match with characteristics of Arya. 

 

The purpose of the song

 

The hidden bear in the story's plot ensures that GRRM adheres to the bear-taboos. While the bear and maiden fair song is both sexually explicit as well as bear-explicit, this song is not. The song may have romance as its topic, but no sexual double-talk is used to describe a sexual act. And it hides the identity of the man as a bear. By adhering to the taboos, the song protects Arya. She is a child and asexual. The bear-taboos and codexes in folklore were not only meant to prevent a bear spirit of avenging himself. They also served to protect unwed women, maidens and even female children from being targeted by the bear's sexual potency. Arya's asexuality may have warded her from the potency of the explicit bear-song that Tom and Hot Pie sun on the way to the Inn of the Kneeling Man, but the hidden bear is maturing and about to become sexually aware.
 

She spied Gendry then, and pinched him on the cheek. "Look at this fine young ox. Wait till Alyce sees those arms. Oh, and he blushes like a maid, too. Well, Alyce will fix that for you, boy, see if she don't."

Arya had never seen Gendry turn so red.  (aSoS, Arya V)

 

Arya's asexuality can only guard her for so long. But by hiding the bear she's traveling with and using a hidden-bear song, GRRM keeps Arya properly insulated for the duration.

 

If both Lem and Tom reveal the romantic subtext of the scene that went before at the smithy, they both attempt to protect Arya- Lem by clouting Gendry's ears and chaperoning them; Tom protects her with his song and calling Gendry the Bull in a scene of sexual tension instead of a bear.

 

Harwin took one look at them and burst out laughing, and Anguy smiled one of his stupid freckly smiles and said, "Are we certain this one is a highborn lady?" But Lem Lemoncloak gave Gendry a clout alongside the head. "You want to fight, fight with me! She's a girl, and half your age! You keep your hands off o' her, you hear me?" (aSoS, Arya IV)

 

Arya sat up yawning. Gendry was stirring on her left and Lem Lemoncloak snoring loudly to her right, but the baying outside all but drowned him out. (aSoS, Arya V)

 

"Tansy, you leave the Bull alone, he's a good lad," said Tom Sevenstrings. "All we need from you is safe beds for a night." (aSoS, Arya V)

 

Even Gendry himself ends up protecting her:

1-  mentally, by trying to argue it's not a brothel, because no highborn lady would visit a brothel; like parents sometimes make up some denial when their child asks what those two dogs are doing.

2 - physically, by lying that she's his sister to an old drunk pervert who mistakes her for a peach

3 - from his own sudden general and involuntarily sexual awakening around women by trying to think of her as a sister

4 - by sending her away of the common's room at the Peach (when he's not allowed to think of her as a sister)
 

"I bet this is a brothel," she whispered to Gendry.

"You don't even know what a brothel is."

"I do so," she insisted. "It's like an inn, with girls."

He was turning red again. "What are you doing here, then?" he demanded. "A brothel's no fit place for no bloody highborn lady, everybody knows that."

...

"She's my sister." Gendry put a heavy hand on the old man's shoulder, and squeezed. "Leave her be."

The man turned, spoiling for a quarrel, but when he saw Gendry's size he thought better of it. "Your sister, is she? What kind of brother are you? I'd never bring no sister of mine to the Peach, that I wouldn't." He got up from the bench and moved off muttering, in search of a new friend.

"Why did you say that?" Arya hopped to her feet. "You're not my brother."

"That's right," he said angrily. "I'm too bloody lowborn to be kin to m'lady high."

Arya was taken aback by the fury in his voice. "That's not the way I meant it."

"Yes it is." He sat down on the bench, cradling a cup of wine between his hands. "Go away. I want to drink this wine in peace. Then maybe I'll go find that black-haired girl and ring her bell for her."

"But . . ."

"I said, go away. M'lady."

Arya whirled and left him there. A stupid bullheaded bastard boy, that's all he is. He could ring all the bells he wanted, it was nothing to her.(aSoS, Arya V)

 

The evidence that Gendry attempts to protect Arya from his sexual maturation that suddenly springs him is how he takes her factual observance that he's not her brother so personal. Right after, in order to chase her off, he attempts to hurt her feelings by mentioning finding Bella. If he truly had brotherly feelings, and felt rejected in that, he wouldn't have attempted to hurt her back by referring to another girl. By not allowing him to think of her as his sister, she barrs his attempt of insulation, which frustrates him, and so he is forced to think of her at least in a romantic sense.

 

All in all though, all those efforts by the different characters, including the sexually maturing bear Gendry, as well as GRRM's effort to hide the bear identity of Gendry are succesful. Arya is taken away from the Brotherhood unkissed and her asexual frame of mind intact.

 

Conclusion

 

GRRM wanted to highlight the romantic subtext between Arya and Gendry at the smithy at Acorn Hall, but by preserving and protecting her asexuality and her purity as a child, as the bear realizes he's falling for her. He does this by keeping the bear identity hidden both for the bear character Gendry as well as in the song referring to them. No bear taboo has been broken, insofar that even bear Gendry himself steps in to protect her, so that even her experiences at the Peach do not harm her purity and sexual innocense.

[sweetsunray]

Also I think I may have hit on an idea about Jon and his 3 bachelor bears - Tyrion, Jeor and Tormund. There's a wee small bear. There's a middle sized bear. And there's a huge tall bear. Jon is as pretty as a girl. The Goldilocks story has numerous versions. There's a vixen/fox version (probably the oldest). Vixen was also used to refer to an 'old woman', and so the intruder became an old woman. But as the tale required an adaption for children, it gradually became a little girl who originally was called silver-haired. And in the older versions the 3 bears are all three male bachelors. And there's once version where the old woman ends up impaled on a steeple of St Paul's graveyard.

[Lady Dyanna]

Just wanted to let you know that I have really been enjoying your essays. Great job and looking forward to reading more of your ideas! :cheers:

[Regular John Umber]

 Been off for a week but have caught up. This is really, really great analysis and adds another layer to an already incredible story. Thank you so much.

[Meera of Tarth]

Since I thought your bear analysis on another thread was interesting enough, I picked up this one to read the full story..... IT has been a long reading, but it is superbly well written and argueed. Congratulations, Now I see things from a different perspective. If you have uncovered the real meaning of the supposed hidden bear, then I find Gendry's story to be more poetic, and it is great, because he is one of my top ten favourite characters. If it turns to end differently, you can always start writing your own story :)

BTW, If I remember correctly, you discussed (a few pages ago) that there are some connections between the different "bears" in the books, for instance, Jorah. Do you think he does also follow "The bear and the maiden fair" story, apart from awakening Daenery's desires, as you mentioned?

[sweetsunray]

Just wanted to let you know that I have really been enjoying your essays. Great job and looking forward to reading more of your ideas! :cheers:

 

Thank you! It's been hard work and I know it requires a lot of reading, and can be quite demanding, but I hope I made it entartaining enough and help uncover the depth with which GRRM writes. As for ideas... it's like going down the rabbit hole really.

 

 Been off for a week but have caught up. This is really, really great analysis and adds another layer to an already incredible story. Thank you so much.

 

Thank you! It's like he's making a tapestry and you first see the main figure, but then there are these little things and comments embroidered on it. Some strange, tiny little figures sitting on a flower, someone skulking behind a tree, etc... And initially you dismiss them as fluff, world making, not having any meaning, until you find out that they do, and that's when you can step back from the tapestry and see the main figures and their support characters in a whole new light. It makes it more magical to me now.

 

Since I thought your bear analysis on another thread was interesting enough, I picked up this one to read the full story..... IT has been a long reading, but it is superbly well written and argueed. Congratulations, Now I see things from a different perspective. If you have uncovered the real meaning of the supposed hidden bear, then I find Gendry's story to be more poetic, and it is great, because he is one of my top ten favourite characters. If it turns to end differently, you can always start writing your own story :)

BTW, If I remember correctly, you discussed (a few pages ago) that there are some connections between the different "bears" in the books, for instance, Jorah. Do you think he does also follow "The bear and the maiden fair" story, apart from awakening Daenery's desires, as you mentioned?

 

I had always observed that GRRM did some weird things with Gendry - making him ultimately sigilless (loss of helmet, unacknowledged bastard, Brotherhood Without Banners) and playing with the warrior-smith. I used to think the BwB was Gendry's stop to build him up to a warrior alone and in fact a wolfish identity. But then Tom's song struck me, and I realized it could be a taboo adhering bear-song. And in discussions I started to see more connections. And then I started this thread, and thought, I should first gather evidence that there is a bear theme, and I really never expected to find that much. I was surprised at the Tormund find, the effect of Jorah's kiss for Dany, Sansa's unkiss, the bear skull at Craster's keep, the reference to Harren loving bear baiting, Theon wishing for a bear out loud in the middle of a forest after just having seen scratch marks. I never even expected to find the meaning behind the actual bear and maiden song, or that GRRM mirrored the meeting with the BwB as a symbolical bear hunt.

 

Anyway, now I see that both the smith and warrior part is what makes him so complete, why he was a mistaken Bull to begin with, and that the BwB and the plot in the Riverlands are actually his home. It's where he belongs. The bear plot is what ties the stuff I had observed about him together. I expect him to gain significance in the RL plot, and I hope he survives - as one of two Thor's sons he actually might. But other than that I don't dare to actually make predictions.

 

The bear characters are all supportive characters to most of the main ones really - Jon has 3 bachelor bears (Tyrion, Jeor, Tormund), Arya has Gendry-bear, Dany has Jorah, Tyrion has Jorah somewhat (and played a small bear to Jon), Asha possibly has Aly (though she's not a main character). They make them question their original stances. Jon learns to wear the name bastard as a harnass; that leading the NW is so important and something completely different than ranging; that the wildlings are people and have needs and causes. Arya was already empathetic, but he gives her a bitter truth about the highborn; that those warring lords don't care who the common folk are; that even the "good" side of a war commits crimes; that even if she may think she's not a lady, she is still a lady. Sure, the first two she would have learned anyhow, but she is much more impressed by it because she knows it's Gendry's opinion. Dany learns to question her brother's ability to rule and to consider that ruling is more than just "win back the IT"; he empowers her to find her own army instead of getting it through marriage or being given it by Ilyrior, to be independent; and through her visions of him at the end of DwD to accept that acquiring peace at all cost is too high a price.

 

I don't see a clear-cut supportive bear in Sansa's story yet. She was mentally and emotionally closed off from Tyrion and he seemed to have no impact really on how to see things. That was Sandor instead. Lothor Brune might be a bear figure for his Brune name, and while he protects her, he's not a supportive catalyst or guiding character. But she's called a "bear cub". Perhaps she can become her own bear? I know that another euphemism for a bear is "God's dog", and that would fit Sandor, and Sansa likes dogs as animals too. Perhaps, Sandor is Sansa's support bear, even if he is not with her, just as most main characters are without their guiding bear in the plot at the moment (Arya, Dany). 

 

Jorah's bear plot... In many ways it seems like an overall reversal. He had a swan maiden for a wife, and he did everything to keep her, including traveling with her, taking her south with him (instead of chasing her), and he gave up his ancestral sword and home. But even then he still lost her. It's Jorah who takes people captive and sells them into slavery/bondage. Ned hunts him for it, but he flees and escapes. He replaces one swan for a princess (that fits), but he ain't no smith, and doesn't have his ancestral sword anymore. He attempts to seduce her, but it only serves for her to feel passion for others but him. He's sent in exile. He replaces the princess for a whore. Then he again captures someone else, Tyrion, to give as a present to Dany. It's like he's a bear who doesn't know how to be a bear. He's just a very messed up bear, even when he was home at Bear Island, attempting to use others in an extortionist way, by capturing and selling them. Trying too hard really. It's as if he doesn't know how to provide and use his bear power in that way, not like the other bears can. Just compare it with Gendry being captured, and a little later the Mountain capture Arya (never realizes it though), or Anguy shoots a duck + the BwB suddenly have a highborn Arya to ransom (they lose her, but that ain't Gendry's fault). This is even reflected in how Jorah literally doesn't know how to act the bear in Tyrion's and Penny's mummer's performance. He's a bear who's completely out of touch with his bearhood, from the get-go to almost the end of aDwD. 

 

However, his actual bondage and capture experience sets him back onto an actual bear-lore experience. And he recovers very quickly after being freed from the bondage and sign up with the Second Sons. Perhaps it helped to finally get in touch with his bear? 

[Meera of Tarth]

 

 

Jorah's bear plot... In many ways it seems like an overall reversal. He had a swan maiden for a wife, and he did everything to keep her, including traveling with her, taking her south with him (instead of chasing her), and he gave up his ancestral sword and home. But even then he still lost her. It's Jorah who takes people captive and sells them into slavery/bondage. Ned hunts him for it, but he flees and escapes. He replaces one swan for a princess (that fits), but he ain't no smith, and doesn't have his ancestral sword anymore. He attempts to seduce her, but it only serves for her to feel passion for others but him. He's sent in exile. He replaces the princess for a whore. Then he again captures someone else, Tyrion, to give as a present to Dany. It's like he's a bear who doesn't know how to be a bear. He's just a very messed up bear, even when he was home at Bear Island, attempting to use others in an extortionist way, by capturing and selling them. Trying too hard really. It's as if he doesn't know how to provide and use his bear power in that way, not like the other bears can. Just compare it with Gendry being captured, and a little later the Mountain capture Arya (never realizes it though), or Anguy shoots a duck + the BwB suddenly have a highborn Arya to ransom (they lose her, but that ain't Gendry's fault). This is even reflected in how Jorah literally doesn't know how to act the bear in Tyrion's and Penny's mummer's performance. He's a bear who's completely out of touch with his bearhood, from the get-go to almost the end of aDwD. 

 

However, his actual bondage and capture experience sets him back onto an actual bear-lore experience. And he recovers very quickly after being freed from the bondage and sign up with the Second Sons. Perhaps it helped to finally get in touch with his bear? 

 

Yeah, Jorah's very messed up, poor Jorah.

 

I really hope his experience with the Second Sons will make him change, and Tyrion's help too; and hope he doesn't die in the process but I'm not so sure.

[sweetsunray]

Note: Yes Lothor Brune falls within the bear symbology. Semi-canon sources give House Brune of Brownhollow at Crackclaw Point a bear paw for arms. They're landed knights and probably a cadet branch of House Brune of Dyre Den. Sounds like Lothor is a Brownhollow Brune who visited those of Dyre Den who turned their noses up at him.

[Coldfinger]

Great works guys, very well-argued and enjoyable reading. I second the sense of much of the description in ASoIaF seeming like 'fluff', so it's good to see some more of it teased out into proper threads. I look forward to reading more.

[sweetsunray]

Great works guys, very well-argued and enjoyable reading. I second the sense of much of the description in ASoIaF seeming like 'fluff', so it's good to see some more of it teased out into proper threads. I look forward to reading more.

 

Thank you. ABout the "fluff". I think we do often sense it's important somehow. For example Tormund's two stories. They have a bit of magic feel, like some riddle in one of those epic mythologies. In our gut we feel it's significant. And yet he seems to be telling some crazy story that's not even relevant to what Jon wants to learn. Jon thinks - I want to know about this horn related style, not this husband to bears stuff. And then Tormund goes on and on about it, in a way that doesn't seem to make sense even - not in a literal way. It's like GRRM misdirects on purpose to dismiss Tormund's stories. So,while our gut says, this must be significant, our head says - makes no sense, must be some fluff to characterize Tormund. And yes, of course it characterizes Tormund, but in a more meaningful way than we can conceive with our mind. Or people start to search for some physical meaning in it - he must be Maege's lover. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. Does it make his bear association any less significant if he wasn't? :)