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Runes In Bronze, or Why the Royces Remember


Silas Barbarossa

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2 hours ago, Equilibrium said:

Magic?

I once posted a theory (conjecture, really) that it was dragonfire. Magic is a major contender. Another is the cold / Others.

Aside from the dead Royces, there's also all the Tourney's Bronze Yohn entered for no other narrative point than to lose. I do think that this is meant to be strange, and I look forward to seeing what that armor does. 

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I'm glad it's a fun topic and  it's also something new for us to puzzle over.

I'll add another thing to think about here. It's bugged me for years, and I think that GRRM is smarter than all of us readers when it comes to his world.

GRRM has created a world where there is no pure Good and Evil, on purpose. He intentionally set out to create a grey morality in Terros. 

So so why would he intentionally do that, and yet create the Others, a race and a concept designed to be separate from men in intent and in morality. In fact, if we listen to Old Nan's stories, they are pure Evil.

 

But if NOTHING IS PURE EVIL, then the OTHERS ARE NOT PURE EVIL.

 

Old Nan is an unreliable narrator. She's wrong about the wildings, and she's wrong about the Others.

 

GRRM is so smart, that he included a mystery so obvious, so overwhelmingly easy to piece together, but also so human, that it distracts from the greater mysteries of Terros. 

Of course I mean R+L=J - a mystery that is not a mystery, but a distraction.

The true mysteries are the magic - where does it come from, how does it work, and who are the gods from which it derives - and how did the gods and humans interact in the Dawn Age.

This is not a story about Others and Dragons, or Tits and Dragons, or human politics, or about Targaryen restoration.

This is about the return of the Gods of Terros, and their horrible half human children, and the remaking of the world. It's so much bigger than we have been imagining the conclusion to be, that every theory so far has been wrong. 

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On August 23, 2016 at 7:13 PM, Silas Barbarossa said:

Hi all! This is my first post here, and I'm excited about this theory, which is a part of the greater Gods of Terror theory that I have been formulating over the last few weeks. 

And I think I've solved a long-standing mystery in the books, with a little help from George RR Martin himself.

The Gods of Terror theory, in a nutshell, is that Terros is a world located in the literary universe of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Gods of Terror are the ancient gods of Lovecraftian horror, who spawned the civilizations of man.

These gods are at war with each other, and humans are caught in-between, although they have the power to fight against the spawn of the gods. The spawn are the Deep Ones, although in Terros they are called squishers or merlings or selkies, among many names.

The histories of a Song of Ice and Fire, and the magic of Terros, take on new and terrible meanings within the framework of the Cthulhu Mythos.

But also, some of the long-standing mysteries of the stories make so much more sense!

In particular, this theory concerns the mystery surrounding the sigil and bronze armor of House Royce, First Men of the Vale. Their words are: "We Remember".

The armor is thousands of years old (some dispute that), but none dispute that it is covered in ancient runes that are suppose to ward the wearer from harm. Bronze Yohn Royce has the armor in the current story.

**Enter GRRM:**


That is an excerpt from a curious post by GRRM on his Not-A-Blog. This post was advertising the Suduvu Cages Matches, a fun series of imagined battles between popular characters that had Jamie matched up with Cthulhu in the second round of the tournament after defeating Hermione in the first round.

While he links to Suduvu's account of the battle, he decided to weigh in with his own take. And in this battle, Jamie and Tyrion do research into the Cthulhu Mythos to understand how to defeat the terrible Cthulhu, one of the Great Old Ones.

While they decide that they couldn't defeat Cthulhu, they do uncover a bit of useful information: the Elder Signs, ancient runes that protect the wearer from the Deep Ones. Jamie enscribes the runes into his armor to protect himself in the climax of the story: 


George ends the post with : "Current Mood: Devious"

Very devious indeed, George. And how very Jamie of you, Jamie.

The Elder Sign
 

          
          \ /_
     \  \ /
      \ /__
      / 

The Elder Sign is a Lovecraft symbol that resembles a rune. When shown to Deep Ones, it wards and protects the bearer from harm. It was often painted on rocks and other objects to ward off these terrible half human/half spawns of Cthulhu and other Great Old Ones.

The original Lovecraftian symbol is here. This version is the tree or branch form.

Other writers have taken up the Cthulhu Mythos/ Yog-Sothoros universe, specifically August Derleth, and the Elder Sign has taken on a new shape, that of a star - usually a five pointed star, but a septagram or seven pointed star has hovered around the Mythos over time. This form of the Elder Sign is know as the Flaming Star.

It make me think of the Seven-Pointed Star symbol that Andal warriors would carve into their chests before battle - another ancient Elder Sign, perhaps?

So, to recap:

  •   The Elder Sign was a powerful ward against the Deep Ones according to Lovecraft.
  •  The sigil of House Royce is a bronze shield with iron studs in it, surrounded by ancient runes.
  •  George calls out the Elder Signs (multiple) as wards against the Deep Ones in his short story.
  •  In the story, Tyrion and Jamie discuss the best way to wear the Elder Signs, and decide on etching it into Jamie's armor.
  •   All of the other Lovecraft references that populate Terros make it clear that this world is in the Cthulhu Mythos universe.
  •   My own Gods of Terror Theory, that states that the world was populated with Deep Ones at the Dawn Age.
  •   Hints that the Seven-Pointed Star might represent another ancient Elder Sign.

House Royce Remembers. That's why their sigil has Runes etched in Bronze.

They remember wars against the Deep Ones in the Dawn Age, and they are ready for their return. With their sigil carved with Elder Signs, and their bronze armor with more of the ancient runes, they are ready for the next war against the Deep Ones.

I would like to add my voice to those who said great first post. I will read the linked material soon and get back to you. Great work!

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On 24/8/2016 at 1:13 AM, Silas Barbarossa said:

snip

It was since the first read of the Worldbook I had some vague similar sentiment, but I couldn't express it, give it a completely formed reality.

Silas Barbarossa, just now you are my new hero.

I like this one!

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I've began reading -finally, after many years of hesitation- Lovecraft works in a more systematic way and the parallels with George work is so evident (specially in the worldbook) I'm amazed it doesn't get mentioned more often.

On a more OT manner, when Euron mentions the famous 'won't be worthy of HIM' line, I was instantly transported to Chambers King in Yellow short stories (George is a huge fan of those), and considering there's a Yellow Emperor (or sorcerer lord) in Carcosa I kinda thought that is exactly the guy who is moving Eurons strings. Heh.  

Got nothing to add to the initial post. Great notes, tho, gratz.

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I've been a big fan of the Cthulhu Mythos for some time now, so this has been a great read. While I don't really think ASOIAF is within the Lovecraftian universe, it is a well thought-out theory and fairly clever nonetheless, and something interesting to think about. Great work on the theory, I really love these sort of mythological-related hypotheses! 

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@King Merrett I Frey - I love that quote by Euron. I have a lot of catching up to do w/r/t Lovecraftian and the Cthulhu Mythos, so I've started ordering a lot of Lovecraftian books to find more source material. Thanks for the new search material!

@Maelys I Blackfyre - glad you enjoyed it. 

 

i think both of you would like my new post, which is a continuation of the exploration of the crossover between ASOIAF and the Cthulhu Mythos- check it out here

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