Blackwood = Magic?

[rhoynestar]

15 hours ago, NimbleDickCrabb66 said:

You make a good point about extreme tribulations being necessary to bring out warging abilities. I like the idea of tapping into primal instincts due to life threatening situations, it fits nicely.

Yes, I do think the Stark siblings possibly inherited their magic (no matter who brought it into the bloodline), only it stayed dormant until it was brought out by extreme situations. Bran sees a sudden outburst of warging/greenseeing after being crippled and bedridden. Arya and Jon develop warg-like dreams and abilities after their family tragedies and hardships. Even Jojen suffers from seizures and they apparently coincide with bursts in power. So in the case of the Starks it looks like the magic was not an external "input", such as someone or certain conditions suddenly giving them magical powers they did not have (3ER input theories for instance). It appears to be a pre-existing dormant trait that was brought to life by triggers. 

 

16 hours ago, NimbleDickCrabb66 said:

You also made me second guess the idea of Blackwood blood being special. It could just be first man blood. Brynden Rivers could have performed spells to enhance his ability and it could have been due to the ancient weirwood tree at RavenTree. There's so much we don't know still. There plenty of info. out there to support the argument that Blackwoods are no more special than a wildling warg north of the wall, but there is also evidence to support their bloodline being important.

There doesn't seem to be any indication that Bracken blood has magical properties, and the only known Wargs from the blackwood family was Bloodraven. It could just be because he had an interest and developed his ability through learning what his blood was capable of (First man/Targaryen-Valyrian). Blackwoods were conquered and I'm guessing mixed or intermarried with iron islanders (House Hoare) and StormLanders (Durrandon), but we don't hear of any wargs or greenseers. What we have to do is look at the blackwood family tree and see if we can find any other mention of wargs or special abilities.

I would agree that First Men blood seems special. Blackwoods appear to have more First Men blood in the beginning, so the two are not mutually exclusive -- First Men have magic so Blackwoods have magic. 

I do want to point out though that First Men blood magic carried by those with the Blackwood name seems to be stronger than others who have the same blood mix but do not have the name. Basically the Brackens and the Blackwoods have the same blood by this point, say 50% Blackwood and 50% non-Blackwood. But those who carry the Blackwood name seem to trigger more magic when they marry Targs or Starks. I'd wager a Bracken with the same blood mix may not have the same effect (would be interesting to see whom the Brackens married). It seems the genetic magic trait in Blackwood blood is enhanced by either carrying the "Blackwood" name, or actively practicing the old gods faith, or living in the presence of the Blackwood weirwood tree, or all of these three. A bit complicated, but it's interesting to see how magic in the blood -- even dormant magic -- seems strengthened by certain factors connected to the old gods, COTF and First Men. 

[Damon_Tor]

On 7/25/2016 at 1:56 PM, NimbleDickCrabb66 said:

Do you have any evidence that might suggest this? I'm not saying your idea is unreasonable, its just, I don't know why you would think that the name Stark isn't a familial name like all of the others, and is instead a corrupted version of something like Magnar, or some old tongue name for leader.

Magnar is a great example of what I'm talking about, actually. "House Magnar" is a perfect example of a family name being taken from a title. Also look at how the other more traditional First Men families call their patriachs: Theo Wull wasn't "Lord Wull" he was "The Wull" and the call the Lord of Winterfell "The Stark" as well. It signifies a very different way the First Men thought about their leaders prior to Andalization.

On 7/25/2016 at 1:56 PM, NimbleDickCrabb66 said:

 I think the saying "A Stark must always be in winterfell" has something to do do with a pact with the others and/or Children, due to the Stark's magic blood,

To be clear, so do I. I just want us thinking outside the box. For example, I really doubt the Children of the Forest care at all about patrilineal descent, or bastardy for that matter. If there's magic in the Stark Blood there's no reason it isn't passed to their daughters as well as their sons, and to their legitimate children as well as those born outside of wedlock. In otherwords, the human construct of "House Stark" isn't likely to be relevant to the actual reason the "Stark in Winterfell" requirement exists. Jon, whether he's Ned's bastard, Brandon's bastard (as some believe) or Lyanna's child bastard or not is likely 100% qualified to be The Stark.