The Horn of Winter was never made to make the wall fall...

[the trees have eyes]

On 07/12/2016 at 2:59 AM, LmL said:

I do think these stories are meant to be interpreted through he lose of fable... ALSO.. but certainly not exclusively. This is a fantasy story full of blood magic and flaming swords - there are really flaming swords and blood magic rituals. You will be missing out on a large part of the truth if you consider them as pure fable. There are really meteor swords in the story. There are heroes who had to actually wage magical warfare. All that is happening in the sootier now and it almost assuredly happened in the past. 

Also, the last hero, to the extent he overlaps with AA, would be the final stage of AA's life, the redemption arc. The villainy comes in breaking the moon, something not attributed to the last hero, but to Azor Ahai. 

In general, I absolutely agree that we have to keep an open mind as to the heroism or villainy of all of these mythical figures, especially with everything George has shown us about grey characters and actions that are misunderstood, a la Jaime's killing of Aerys or the rumors spread about Dany. What I am mainly claiming is that AA's blood magic forging of his sword was just what it appears - evil blood magic - and that his breaking of the moon (or being associated with said breaking) is the cause of the Long Night. To the extent AA caused the moon to break, he is a villain. Was he tyrosine to do something good? Maybe. We can't know. But breaking the moon and turning out the lights is an act of villainy. He may've redeemed himself, or maybe his son did, who knows. So when I said villain, that's what I mean - the moon breaker. He Who Turned Out The Lights. 

Pure fable?  No.  How could anyone when we have so much magic in story.  But GRRM keeps magic mysterious and subtle so I am wary of explanations like the Hammer of the Waters breaking the land bridge between Essos and Westeros and narrowly failing to sever the Westeros at The Neck.  This feels like entirely too much magic for GRRM to put in someone's hands.  I'm equall wary of ideas about destroying the (second) moon as this feels like an order of magnitude beyond that - hello, The Tech in Oblivion or an Alderan meet the Death star type of scenario.  The power seems too great and too bluntly used compared with what we have seen.

Bran the Builder, Garth Greenhand, Lann the Clever, etc.. are on the borderline between real historical characters embellished by myth and pure mythological constructs.  Maybe Bran was real, maybe he is an amalgamation of a number of First Men / greenseers who worked with the CotF (or learned from them) in order to build Storm's End and The Wall and other structures over generations all simplified into one person.  I believe the Last Hero was real and I'm more inclined to think he saved the day (boring and traditional I know), than he caused the whole problem in the first place through ambition or powerlust and then had to clean up his whole mess, i.e. stave off the apocalypse by a hair's breadth.  I do however take the story of AA and Nissa Nissa as an allegory for sacrifice and the cornerstone of a religious dogma more than a factual account of what happened.

[kissdbyfire]

On 15/11/2016 at 2:26 AM, The Fattest Leech said:

I also think the horn Jon found at the Fist is the Horn of WInter/Joramun.

It was made of bronze and horn and covered in runes, but the bronze is cracked so it doesn't make a sound when Jon tries it.

Jon gives it to Sam and Sam takes it with him to the Citadel... when training as a Maester, bronze is one of your first links you forge. The bronze link is for astronomy and Jon and the north are both heavily associated with bronze, the stars and constallations (the Thief, the Ice Dragon, the Red Wanderer, etc). Bronze is used in the north above and beyond gold, which would be inferior up there. Also, horn is bone and bones remember... just like the North remembers.

Also, Jon and the North are heavily associated with Norse mythology and horns are very important in those myths. Many times, but not all, they are for drinking mead. Well, Jon gives the horn to Sam Tarly... of Horn Hill... and tells Sam to make a drinking horn out of it. How funny would it be if Sam fixed the horn and made a drinking cup out of it??? Or he blew it and did not think anything would happen... but 1,000 leagues away the wall crumbles??? (No, not funny, Leech!)

Anyway, there is more but this is the short version. The only issue that someone brought up in the past is other posters seem to think the horn left with the Cinnamon Wind because Sam took too long

The wall has already figuratively fallen because of the mutiny. Not sure how much will physically fall if the horn is blown.

And before that, he tries blowing the horn but no sound is heard... which doesn't necessarily mean no sound was made. What if it was only inaudible? Shortly afterwards we have the attack on the FotFM.

He had made a dagger for Grenn as well, and another for the Lord Commander. The warhorn he had given to Sam. On closer examination the horn had proved cracked, and even after he had cleaned all the dirt out, Jon had been unable to get any sound from it. The rim was chipped as well, but Sam liked oldthings, even worthless old things. "Make a drinking horn out of it," Jon told him, "and every time you take a drink you'll remember how you ranged beyond the Wall, all the way to the Fist of the First Men." He gave Sam a spearhead and a dozen arrowheads as well, and passed the rest out among his other friends for luck.

[The Fattest Leech]

3 hours ago, kissdbyfire said:

And before that, he tries blowing the horn but no sound is heard... which doesn't necessarily mean no sound was made. What if it was only inaudible? Shortly afterwards we have the attack on the FotFM.

He had made a dagger for Grenn as well, and another for the Lord Commander. The warhorn he had given to Sam. On closer examination the horn had proved cracked, and even after he had cleaned all the dirt out, Jon had been unable to get any sound from it. The rim was chipped as well, but Sam liked oldthings, even worthless old things. "Make a drinking horn out of it," Jon told him, "and every time you take a drink you'll remember how you ranged beyond the Wall, all the way to the Fist of the First Men." He gave Sam a spearhead and a dozen arrowheads as well, and passed the rest out among his other friends for luck.

Like a dog whistle, only this one calls giant ice spiders and zombie Craster sheep. 

As far as no audible sound, I'm down with that being a possibility. People are expecting an epic wahooooo, but how much is actually literal in these books???