A sign in Sigils. House secrets or lost knowledge.

[AlaskanSandman]

Ok, so this post is to focus on one aspect of some of my research. It has a connection to grander thoughts and theories but i need a simple place to ease people into this. So lets begin with this, House sigils and possible signs. Ill list their sigil along with some info about the house. 

House Gardener.- Descended of the Legendary Garth the Green, long held the Reach as Kings. Supposed Knights, Dragons, and Dragon Slayers all in their realm during the Age of Heroes. House sigil depicts a halting green hand. (Of note, other sigils in Westeros display a halting hand, one yellow, one grey, and one bone hand). Legend of Garth as the First King in contradiction to Barrow Kings claim.

House Dustin.- Descended of the First King allegedly buried in a Great Barrow big enough for a giant. Sigil displays two axes crossing a 5 pointed crown.

House Manderly of the Reach (formerly)- Once ruled along the Mander as kings, the Mander named after the Manderly's. Sigil displays a merman with green hair holding a trident.

House GreyIron- Once High Kings of the Iron Isles, House Hoare descends from them. House GreyIron's sigil displays a head of a merman with green hair and a 5 pointed crown.

House Mudd of the Riverlands.- Once Kings of the Riverlands. Sigil displays a 5 pointed crown with green jewels around it.

House Fisher of the Riverlands.-Once kings of the Riverlands. Sigil displays a 5 pointed crown atop a catfish's head.

There are a couple other houses displaying a 5 pointed crown, Manwoody of Kingsgrave, Langward of the Crownlands and Hollard of the Crownlands. 

The merman with green hair and a trident i believe to be the one and only Garth the Green, who wore a  5 pointed crown and ruled where ever the waters ran.

This doesn't really change the power struggle as the Merling King seems to be on the side of Ice against Fire. It does how ever provide a link between these areas of Westeros that other wise seem separated. There are obvious other questions it does raise and i would like to further discuss as i do have further evidence for more.  

First lets see if any one has noticed or wondered about the sigil's maybe telling us something. Hit me back, let me know some thoughts and happy turkey day to every one tomorrow

http://imgur.com/0BkRcAP

[AlaskanSandman]

 

No, there is a Merling King. Has likely been multiple ones by now, im guessing that their life span is still long but not as long as Garths was due to mixing with humans. Both the Fire and Ice sides seem to have problems reproducing. Targaryens with their repeated still births and such. Garth the Green was likely just the first Merling King. Further more i think he's a skin changer as one of his ways he walks on shore. He is the King of a race of beings that we hear about interbreeding with men of the Three Sisters and the Thousand Islands to name a few.

 Since the Manderly's are an ancient house from the Reach and even the river Mander is named after them, i would figure they are the first rulers of that land or descend from him. There sigil is a merman, and the only sigil in the reach showing any sort of figure other than a Lion or some other animal. 

If Garth the Green was indeed a Merman skin changing Giant, then all those big black oily stone objects/constructions now have a good source for who built them with a clear tie to Gods and the Sea. As the people who had built these things were apparently sea men of some kind as they were able to traverse the globe and build on different lands. Who ever built these things were at odds with the children of the Forest and Giants (Mountain kind) seemed to be at odds with them as a battle happened on Battle Isle, and there just happens to be a fortress made of oily black stone with an underground labyrinth there with no signs of CotF, Giants, or Weirwood trees any where in the area. 

The Others and Merlings seem to be on the same side as reports from East watch about dead things out of the Sea and accounts from patch face about dead things and merman under the sea along with armies. Both these groups needing babies from the humans given as offerings (Crastor and such). 

So Others/Merman are the third race that Garth was the King of. 

Accounts from the Rhoynar speak of the freezing of her waters down to the joining of the Selhoru. In Westeros that would put that at just the southern border of Garths domains, Dorne and the Red Mountains, originally named the Green Mountains.  

Just thought id paste this here as it ties into Garth and other notes about him. Big point is the extent of his domain. It almost appears as though Garth is the Nights King in a sense. If the Long Night froze to where the lands of Dorne begin, and thats the southern border of Garths realm. It seems Garth is ruling the very lands of the Long Night. Im not sure the picture is quite that cut and dry as it does counter some what Garth making the land bloom. Though as i mention in this other thread, what truely makes a land bloom? Water. 

It is interesting though to note Garths realms ending at the Green Mountains now known as the Red Mountains. Our "hero" may have come from Starfall with his sword heading into these very lands. 

Interestingly the Green to Red as it was painted with blood makes me think of the Bloodstone Emperor. The stone being green with red blood droplets on it. Also there is the Bloodstones, the northern strip of the Stepstones and also the Green Blood. Green blood makes me think of the Bloodstone Emperor too, while also thinking about Garth. Though, this could very well be one of Garth's many sons who may have became the fabled "hero" of legend. Kinda again makes me think of the Nights King being brought down by his son Brandon the Breaker, as i perceive that story. 

I have so many more thoughts and questions even i would love to share and discuss. Such as, did the Andals bring the Long Night? This does go deeper, but let me know if any ones seeing what im suggesting about Garth too. If so, we can start getting deeper

[AlaskanSandman]

Just thought id paste this here as it ties into Garth and other notes about him. Big point is the extent of his domain. It almost appears as though Garth is the Nights King in a sense. If the Long Night froze to where the lands of Dorne begin, and thats the southern border of Garths realm. It seems Garth is ruling the very lands of the Long Night. Im not sure the picture is quite that cut and dry as it does counter some what Garth making the land bloom. Though as i mention in this other thread, what truely makes a land bloom? Water. 

It is interesting though to note Garths realms ending at the Green Mountains now known as the Red Mountains. Our "hero" may have come from Starfall with his sword heading into these very lands. 

Interestingly the Green to Red as it was painted with blood makes me think of the Bloodstone Emperor. The stone being green with red blood droplets on it. Also there is the Bloodstones, the northern strip of the Stepstones and also the Green Blood. Green blood makes me think of the Bloodstone Emperor too, while also thinking about Garth. Though, this could very well be one of Garth's many sons who may have became the fabled "hero" of legend. Kinda again makes me think of the Nights King being brought down by his son Brandon the Breaker, as i perceive that story. 

I have so many more thoughts and questions even i would love to share and discuss. Such as, did the Andals bring the Long Night? This does go deeper, but let me know if any ones seeing what im suggesting about Garth too. If so, we can start getting deeper

This would also change the meaning behind Moat Cailin and The Wall. Maybe Moat Cailin was Garth's seat of power while the Wall was meant to keep out the Giants and CotF?

[Maester of Valyria]

Very interesting, can't wait for more!

Just one quibble from a quick skim-read: you mention how the Wall was meant to defend Garth's kingdom from the Elder Races:

This would also change the meaning behind Moat Cailin and The Wall. Maybe Moat Cailin was Garth's seat of power while the Wall was meant to keep out the Giants and CotF?

• There were still giants and Children south of the North when the First Men arrived in Westeros, and continued to be so (albeit in diminishing numbers), until the invasion of the Andals.
• The Wall was not yet built in the early days of the First Men in Westeros, which is the period of Garth's reign. Even if, as you said earlier, he had a longer lifespan than 'normal' humans, it would still be stretching to assume he could have remained alive all this time.

[AlaskanSandman]

Very interesting, can't wait for more!

Just one quibble from a quick skim-read: you mention how the Wall was meant to defend Garth's kingdom from the Elder Races:

• There were still giants and Children south of the North when the First Men arrived in Westeros, and continued to be so (albeit in diminishing numbers), until the invasion of the Andals.
• The Wall was not yet built in the early days of the First Men in Westeros, which is the period of Garth's reign. Even if, as you said earlier, he had a longer lifespan than 'normal' humans, it would still be stretching to assume he could have remained alive all this time.

Just some quick wild thoughts real quick about Moat Cailin and the Wall. You may be right though about his death, as its hard to know. He may have lived a 1000 or maybe 10000 as the Pearl Emperor did. The Wall could very well have just been built by his son instead after they had pushed back most every one (Others/ CotF/ Giants). Or it could very well be something else. These are some of the things i would love to discuss more. 

As far as the Andal Invasion, that's the next step of easing people into. The Andals i believe were in Westeros before the Long NIght, and if im right about Garth's extent of rule, that would place him in charge of all the lands frozen by the Long Night. I discuss some of this in another thread that was a little too much for some people as an introduction into this theory. So i decided with this post to begin with Garth and show his link through out Westeros as represented through these banners, and with the tales combined as stated above. 

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/135873-andals-ironborn-and-valyria-long-and-quoted/

Here is the thread for that, it proposes a link between the Andals and the Ironborn while highlighting certain characters from the Age of Heroes and the fact that Andals such as the Corbrays brought Valyrians steel swords such as Lady Forlorn many thousand of years before Westeros allegedly received their Valyrian Steel Swords. I point out the tales of First men having dragons and the Andals knights coming with Dragon steel and killing off all of the Dragons. I believe Garth to be there leader as depicted in the GreyIron and Manderly Sigil.

Been looking for you Maester of Valyria, lost ya after they redid the website. 

[The scourge of westeros]

I've long suspected a connection between the reach, dornish marches, and the north through the influence or conquest of Garth greenhand. Brandon of the bloody blade was supposedly a son to Garth, and the origins of the Starks with Brandon the builder. Brandon the builder is connected to almost every settlement of first men through his building projects. Garth seems to be a fertility god with sacrifices to renew seasons and harvest. Through bran's vision into the past through the weirwoods at winterfell, we see him view time moving backwards and the last vision( the first chronologically was of a silver haired women performing a sacrifice beneath the heart tree. We know that this took place during the time of the kings of winter because bran also sees a youth breaking off branches from the tree and whittling them into arrows which torren stark thought he could use to slay aegon's dragons. The sacrifice takes place in the oldest of the memories that bran witnesses. There's definitely a common thread throughout westeros that the modern people have forgotten. 

[AlaskanSandman]

I've long suspected a connection between the reach, dornish marches, and the north through the influence or conquest of Garth greenhand. Brandon of the bloody blade was supposedly a son to Garth, and the origins of the Starks with Brandon the builder. Brandon the builder is connected to almost every settlement of first men through his building projects. Garth seems to be a fertility god with sacrifices to renew seasons and harvest. Through bran's vision into the past through the weirwoods at winterfell, we see him view time moving backwards and the last vision( the first chronologically was of a silver haired women performing a sacrifice beneath the heart tree. We know that this took place during the time of the kings of winter because bran also sees a youth breaking off branches from the tree and whittling them into arrows which torren stark thought he could use to slay aegon's dragons. The sacrifice takes place in the oldest of the memories that bran witnesses. There's definitely a common thread throughout westeros that the modern people have forgotten. 

In my research this appears to be the first men who came and adopted the COtF culture. Garth and his realms DONT seem to be in accordance with the CotF. For Garths realm seems steeped in tradition of knights and dragon slayers dating back to the Age of Heroes. 

In my theory i put forward, Garth is actually the Grey King (A title taken later in life likely) who killed Ygg (probably in Essos) and sailed to Westeros as the Andals and Ironborn. Check out Balon Blackskin, an Ironborn hero who fought with an Axe and a Hammer (signs carved all through out the Vale.) and had skin black and could shatter axes (just like an Other).

Take note of Loras during the Tourney of K.L. in opposition to the Tourney of Harrenhal, Loras is wearing silver steel with blue saphires all over among black intertwining patterns. Rhaegar was dressed as fire, this time, Loras is dressed as Ice. Theres more to these two Tourneys but ill not ramble. Point is the further link to Others.

As i mention above, take note of the Cobrays and Lady Forlorn, a sword of Valyrian steel in the Age of Heroes used by an Andal.

I feel these facts are just too much to ignore. 

[AlaskanSandman]

There is no first king of the first men, think about the Free People, "we do not kneel". So there is no first king who lead the first men, though kingdoms eventually formed. THEN Garth, the King of the Andals came professing to be the King of all First Men, the First High King, King of Kings. 

This actually works with the Grey King's story as Yandel states that there were already salt and rock kings before the Grey King. The Grey King just came along and became King of Kings. High King. 

[Maester of Valyria]

Just some quick wild thoughts real quick about Moat Cailin and the Wall. You may be right though about his death, as its hard to know. He may have lived a 1000 or maybe 10000 as the Pearl Emperor did. The Wall could very well have just been built by his son instead after they had pushed back most every one (Others/ CotF/ Giants). Or it could very well be something else. These are some of the things i would love to discuss more. 

As far as the Andal Invasion, that's the next step of easing people into. The Andals i believe were in Westeros before the Long NIght, and if im right about Garth's extent of rule, that would place him in charge of all the lands frozen by the Long Night. I discuss some of this in another thread that was a little too much for some people as an introduction into this theory. So i decided with this post to begin with Garth and show his link through out Westeros as represented through these banners, and with the tales combined as stated above. 

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/135873-andals-ironborn-and-valyria-long-and-quoted/

Here is the thread for that, it proposes a link between the Andals and the Ironborn while highlighting certain characters from the Age of Heroes and the fact that Andals such as the Corbrays brought Valyrians steel swords such as Lady Forlorn many thousand of years before Westeros allegedly received their Valyrian Steel Swords. I point out the tales of First men having dragons and the Andals knights coming with Dragon steel and killing off all of the Dragons. I believe Garth to be there leader as depicted in the GreyIron and Manderly Sigil.

Been looking for you Maester of Valyria, lost ya after they redid the website. 

Interesting ideas about the Andals: you'll need to back it up with a lot of evidence from the text though.

I believe there was a trade in Valyrian Steel between Westeros and Valyria during the time of the Andals, but it really picked up after the Valyrians took Dragonstone. Remember that most of the Andal Houses with Valyrian Steel swords would probably have acquired them in Essos before fleeing west. Many of the tales about the First Men having dragons are convoluted and untrustworthy, although I am quite partial to the theory that a certain ancient civilisation had outposts on the Iron Islands and Battle Isle, and brought their dragons to Westeros across the Sunset Sea.

I'm flattered to hear that!I got locked out of my account for quite a while after the update, and as a result I'm very far behind on my forum contributions, and most of my best content is gone . Nonetheless, I look forward to interacting with you further in the future!

[TheSovereignGrave]

There is no first king of the first men, think about the Free People, "we do not kneel". So there is no first king who lead the first men, though kingdoms eventually formed. THEN Garth, the King of the Andals came professing to be the King of all First Men, the First High King, King of Kings. 

This actually works with the Grey King's story as Yandel states that there were already salt and rock kings before the Grey King. The Grey King just came along and became King of Kings. High King. 

And what about the Thenns? They're Wildlings that have their own Lord and such. Who's to say that the "do not kneel" thing didn't come about later? After the Wall was up and the Wildlings' ancestors ended up in the harshest lands in the far North. There weren't any actual knights back in the days of the First Men, just valiant warriors that later ended up being referred to as knights because they fit the archetype. I mean, Serwyn of the Mirror Shield is said to be a Knight of the Kingsguard, an institution that originated with the Targaryen Kings.

And many of the legends of the Grey King seem to me to talk more about Ironborn conflict with Children of the Forest. He slew the Sea Dragon Nagga, but the Iron Isles are the only place you find legends of sea dragons and the "ribs" of Nagga could very well be a grove of dead weirdwood trees. He also killed Ygg, which was a pale demon tree that ate the flesh of men; a white tree = weirwood and fed on human flesh = human sacrifices of Old Gods worshipers. Plus the Storm God is associated with ravens, just as Children and Old Gods were before they become a Westeros-wide thing with the maesters. When you add in the founding of Storm's End (which involves a Sea and Sky deity) and the faith of the Sistermen prior to the Andal Invasion (which also involves a Sea and Sky deity) to me it seems like the Ironborn were simply First Men who didn't accept the Pact with the Children and instead kept to the original faith of the Old Gods which heavily involves a sea and sky deity, but they conflated the sky deity (Storm God) with the Children and demonized him while continuing to worship the sea deity (Drowned God).

 

EDIT: And I think you're wrong about the "five-pointed crown sigil" part. As far as I know, there's just several sigils that involve crowns, and most depictions just happen to have five points. Case in point, in tWoIaF shows the Dustin sigil and it has seven points on it.

[RumHam]

I totally agree that the Red Mountains would have been the last barrier between mankind and the Others during the long night. Speaking of inferring things from sigils, House Blackmont's is interesting. I'm guessing their "baby in a vultures claws" comes from that time. They were probably doing what Craster is doing now, providing the Others with human babies because they can't reproduce on their own. Presumably by warging into vultures and stealing infants. 

As i mention above, take note of the Cobrays and Lady Forlorn, a sword of Valyrian steel in the Age of Heroes used by an Andal.

This isn't actually true. Like with Ice, the name Lady Forlorn predates the current sword. An early version of the worldbook presented as a sample on the app did misidentify the older sword as Valyrian Steel, but it was corrected before release if I remember right. 

[AlaskanSandman]

I totally agree that the Red Mountains would have been the last barrier between mankind and the Others during the long night. Speaking of inferring things from sigils, House Blackmont's is interesting. I'm guessing their "baby in a vultures claws" comes from that time. They were probably doing what Craster is doing now, providing the Others with human babies because they can't reproduce on their own. Presumably by warging into vultures and stealing infants. 

This isn't actually true. Like with Ice, the name Lady Forlorn predates the current sword. An early version of the worldbook presented as a sample on the app did misidentify the older sword as Valyrian Steel, but it was corrected before release if I remember right. 

Thats taken from TWOIAF actually, not any apps. Just book notes. Ive written Elio about this topic and waiting for a response back as he also states in that same chapter that the sword was recovered. Meaning there is 2 Lady Forlorns now, or just the 1 original one. Ever take a look at who had swords too? I can understand the major houses, but why minor houses? Why the Tarly's and Hightowers and Corbrays?

[RumHam]

Thats taken from TWOIAF actually, not any apps. Just book notes. Ive written Elio about this topic and waiting for a response back as he also states in that same chapter that the sword was recovered. Meaning there is 2 Lady Forlorns now, or just the 1 original one. Ever take a look at who had swords too? I can understand the major houses, but why minor houses? Why the Tarly's and Hightowers and Corbrays?

My mistake, while one mention of it as Valyrian Steel was removed before the book came out, the other one was missed. It is a mistake though, as Ran explained here:

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?/topic/119082-new-twoiaf-excerpt-from-the-app-spoiler/&do=findComment&comment=6360748

As for why minor houses have Valyrian Steel blades it's really not that strange. (By the way the Hightowers are not a minor house. They used to be kings and they have a lot of influence with the Citadel and the Faith.) While the swords were very expensive, they weren't quite as rare as you're probably imagining. We know there are over two hundred in Westeros alone when the story starts. That's obviously way more swords than there are major houses. Some of them were purchased, and I'm sure some were won by killing the previous owner. 

[AlaskanSandman]

Again, ive already put the question to the source. Elio. 

Still have the fact that the Last Hero used a Dragon steel sword and that Lady Forlorn was allegedly recovered, so there may only be one blade. Plus there is also accounts of the Ironborn using black weapons that drank the souls of their enemies. 

Hightowers are not a ruling house in the time that the Targaryen's arrived tho, nor were they when Westeros received there swords. I count the Major Houses as the ruling House's.

Your told that there are roughly that many, though were only confirmed to know of a dozen or so. All of them got theirs 500 yrs ago i think it was while the Starks got there's a century after (or before, cant remember off hand but its a century different than every one else), but why? I would imagine that receiving these were mostly due to some sort of agreement or pact that were not aware of yet. Considering the lack of info regarding them, im leaning towards this. So i would venture that who has weapons is probably telling. Especially since those that resisted Aegon got theirs taken and added to his throne chair. Breaking the pact?

If Dawn was forged by running it through the heart of Nissa Nissa, that is how Valyrian steel is made that we know of from the smiths of Qohor. So Dawn is a type of Valyrian steel too.

The Just Maid, we dont know enough about but is from along time ago.

Then there is Ice, supposedly named for an older sword of the same name. Was Ice Valyrian? or like that of the Others? 

Needless to say, there is enough textual evidence to still question the existence of Valyrian steel going all the way back to the Long Night and the Age of Heroes.

Either way, Valyrian steel blades being around during the Age of Heroes isn't the main focus of this thread and doesn't change this topics threory. (Doesn't mean im not still open to debating them though  ) Just a little off topic is all. Valyrian Steel may play into my theory later once some other subjects are fully resolved. Like who's on who's side truely, which is what this thread is attempting to slowly lead into by establishing Garth, the Merlings, and the Others all on the same side as the Iron born, the Andals, and the Hightowers. Hopefully in doing this, we are all able to better understand what happened in those ancient days ( as best as we'll ever know ) and how that effects our current characters to hopefully better predict the whats gonna happen. Like is Euron on the side of the Others and gonna blow the horn to take down the wall. 

 

[TheSovereignGrave]

Well your theory behind the sigils with the crowns doesn't seem to make much sense in my opinion. I don't think anywhere ever actually states that any of the sigils is specifically a five-pointed crown. It just seems that there's quite a few sigils with crowns in them and they're just usually drawn with five points (probably because three would be too few, and seven would be too crowded). After all, we see an illustration of House Dustin's sigil in tWoIaF and the crown has seven points, so do you have any sources stating that the images you linked to are actually official?

[RumHam]

Again, ive already put the question to the source. Elio. 

Ran and Elio are the same person. The post I linked to is him answering your question. The Lady Forlon discussed here:

Though the Falcon Knight’s armor flashed brilliantly in the morning sun, his sword was no Lady Forlorn. The duel was done almost before it began, as the Valyrian steel sheared through the winged helm and laid the Andal low. For an instant, as his foe toppled from the saddle, Robar Royce must surely have thought his battle won.

Should not have been described as Valyrian steel. It was an error. 

I suspect that Valyrian steel is a type of dragonsteel. Not just dragon-forged, but also set with specific spells and folded over and over again. While the Last Hero had a dragonsteel sword he by definition could not have had a Valyrian steel sword, as Valyria didn't exist yet. 

If Dawn was forged by running it through the heart of Nissa Nissa, that is how Valyrian steel is made that we know of from the smiths of Qohor. So Dawn is a type of Valyrian steel too.

 

I think you're confusing Dawn and Lightbringer. Neither of them are Valyrian steel swords. Though Lightbringer may have been dragonsteel, it's unclear. 

Plus there is also accounts of the Ironborn using black weapons that drank the souls of their enemies. 

....

The Just Maid, we dont know enough about but is from along time ago.

Then there is Ice, supposedly named for an older sword of the same name. Was Ice Valyrian? or like that of the Others? 

Needless to say, there is enough textual evidence to still question the existence of Valyrian steel going all the way back to the Long Night and the Age of Heroes.

None of these things are evidence that Valyrian steel existed back then. Just Maid is just a legendary sword, whose supposed abilities go beyond what Valyrian steel is capable of. There's no reason to think the original Ice was Valyrian steel. Or that the Ironborn swords mentioned were Valyrian steel. 

[AlaskanSandman]

Just that they're from Elio and Linda's site.

As far a pic in the book, i didn't catch that one, but that means less than nothing as even Martin has stated that much in that book is not right visually. Though he did work with a couple of the artist to get Dragon stone right and a few others. 

Though a good catch, lets for a min just ignore the 5 points of the crown aspect and just focus on their being a crown represented on the banner. Who else also has a crown shown on their sigil? Ill look my self as they may also have clues for or against. I dont recall many who had crowns represented. Those that did all nearly had a sea connection on them.

So though a good catch it may or may not change anything to my over all theory. There are other stories linking the Sea and Merlings to the Andals who were sea faring people and the Iron born, all still tying back to Garth i believe through the Manderly sigil and the GreyIron sigil.

[AlaskanSandman]

 

Ran and Elio are the same person. The post I linked to is him answering your question. The Lady Forlon discussed here:

Should not have been described as Valyrian steel. It was an error. 

I suspect that Valyrian steel is a type of dragonsteel. Not just dragon-forged, but also set with specific spells and folded over and over again. While the Last Hero had a dragonsteel sword he by definition could not have had a Valyrian steel sword, as Valyria didn't exist yet. 

 

I think you're confusing Dawn and Lightbringer. Neither of them are Valyrian steel swords. Though Lightbringer may have been dragonsteel, it's unclear. 

 

None of these things are evidence that Valyrian steel existed back then. Just Maid is just a legendary sword, whose supposed abilities go beyond what Valyrian steel is capable of. There's no reason to think the original Ice was Valyrian steel. Or that the Ironborn swords mentioned were Valyrian steel. 

I kno they're the same.... go to the end of that thread. You'll see a post from me to him predating any of your comments. Nothing new. This was already pointed out to me and im well aware of who Ran is. Thank you for making sure though.

And no, im not confusing Dawn and Lightbringer, im asking a simple question based on a veryyy common assumption that they are the same sword.

No, you dont know when Valyria rose in accordance to the Long Night. The text repeatedly makes that point. 

If all of these accounts and descriptions aren't evidence in a book where all you have to go off of is printed words, then i dont know what evidence is to you in this context. 

You can ignore all of these accounts and descriptions or contradicting tales as you wish. They are there though. I choose to look at all of the evidence though. If i see a description that all but uses the word "fire", im gonna make the assumption its "fire".

Above it was pointed out that there is no actual mention of the crowns in the sigils having 5 points. I have to go with whats in the text and was wrong in this minor sense. I can yield to this. Everything else ive mentioned is in the text. Even ignoring Elio's apparent repeated mistake across 2 different platforms (makes me think Martin told him to remove it, but still ill ignore it.) there is still all the other textual accounts of "magical" swords having Valyrian properties. 

No, Ice may well be the only one that wasn't Valyrian steel, as i mention, it may have been a sword like that of the Others.

 

[AlaskanSandman]

As far as the sigils, for every one else reading. Please ignore the aspect of the crown having 5 points as i mention.

Instead focus on the sigil (or its discription of the sigil as thats what's really important.) of House GreyIron, House Manderly, and House Gardener for now as visuals into what Garth looks like. Garth the Green Hair. House GreyIron's sigil does mention a crown on the green bearded and haired merman, but nothing about it being 5 pointed. Still a crown on a green bearded and haired merman. While Manderly's shows a green bearded and haired merman complete with a trident while not wearing a crown. House Gardener has the Halting Green Hand on their sigil, so take that as a minor one but really take the accounts about Garth having Green hair, or hands, or skin all over. 

I simply propose his hair and skin turned grey with time. This also ties to Greyscale and the fact it relates to water and the Rhoynar, a water people. More water links. 

[Daendrew]

GRRM was only a smidgen away from being a chessmaster. Bobby Fisher made him change his career path to become a writer. That is how he writes such incredible intrigues within intrigues. It is all a game of cyvasse and he truly is a cyvasse-master

The Fisher Kings I think are a reference to Bobby Fisher.