Jump to content

The Long Night's Watch - the Undead Companions of the Last Hero


LmL

Recommended Posts

The story of the Last Hero is familiar to all of us - during the Long Night, after mankind was getting its ass kicked by the Others for a while, the last hero set out into the cold dead lands with a horse, a dog, and twelve companion to seek for the children of the forest in hopes they might know a way to defeat Others. His horse and dog died, his companions died, his sword snapped from the cold, the Others were chasing him....

...then Old Nan's story is interrupted...

...and later in AFFC we learn that the children did somehow save and assist the last hero, though we are not told how. In the annals of the Night's Watch, we learn that Sam  

"found one account of the Long Night that spoke of the last hero slaying Others with a blade of dragonsteel.  Supposedly they could not stand against it.”

And from that we can deduce that somewhere along the way, he got a new sword, and a pretty good one at that.  The sword itself isn't the topic here though - this is simply everything we know about the last hero. All his friends died, the children helped him, and then he reappears at some point with dragonsteel in hand, victorious over the Others. 

Now here's a question for you: do you think the last hero fought the Others by himself? I mean, probably not, right? And I don't think he fought the Others with only children of the forest pew-pewing dragonglass arrows from the trees. There's actually one more piece of information about the last hero, hidden away in one of the songs sung at Winterfell in AGOT when the Northerns are getting all fired up to go to war with Robb Stark, and it has a clue about this.  This song is called "The Night that Ended."

Much later, after all the sweets had been served and washed down with gallons of summerwine, the food was cleared and the tables shoved back against the walls to make room for the dancing. The music grew wilder, the drummers joined in, and Hother Umber brought forth a huge curved warhorn banded in silver. When the singer reached the part in “The Night That Ended” where the Night’s Watch rode forth to meet the Others in the Battle for the Dawn, he blew a blast that set all the dogs to barking.

Ah ha! We know that according to the annals of the Night's Watch and Westerosi folklore, someone remembered as the last hero helped to win the "War for the Dawn" which ended the Long Night. And here, we have the Night's Watch riding out to fight this battle. This has to be about the last hero, right? I mean, don't we all assume that the last hero would have been part of the first Night's Watch, perhaps it's first Lord Commander? The idea of him leading the Watch out to fight the War for the Dawn makes a lot of sense, but what happened to those dead companions?  The last hero got help from the children... gap in story... and then he emerges to fight the Others, now leading a group of people remembered as the Night's Watch.  Where did those folks come from? He was alone by himself in the cold lands... where did he get his crew? 

I say that his fellow Night's Watchmen who rode out with him to fight the battle for the War for the Dawn were his dead companions - now his undead companions. 

In Part one of this series, Sacred Order of Green Zombies: the Last Hero and the King of Corn, I talked about the reasons why cold and dead Jon Snow, bleeding out in the snow when we last saw him, is going to become a resurrected skinchanger, and why that might be important. Basically, because the soul of a skinchanger goes into his animal when he dies instead of dissolving into the ether, a resurrected skinchanger might make for a better zombie than we have seen with beric or Stoneheart. It may be possible to resurrect a skinchanger's recently dead corpse and then transfer the human spirit out of the animal, where the skinchanger has begun second life, and back into the resurrected corpse - and thereby making a zombie which is in possession of its own soul and memories (and probably magical abilities). Something like this is almost certainly going to happen to Jon - his spirit is probably going into Ghost as he dies (his last words are "Ghost" of course), and we all expect that Jon will somehow come back to life and get back into his human body.  Melisandre sees Jon in her fire vision as "a man, then a wolf, and then a man again," which I think most of us take for a sign of his resurrection prices. A man, death, then into Ghost, then back into his man's body for resurrection.  

In other words, I think that skinchangers make for the best kind of zombies, ones that have possession of their soul and memories. And if you think about it, there are certain benfits of being a walking corpse, at least when your mission involves going into the frozen dead lands and confronting the Others.  Walking corpses - like Coldhands - don't need to sleep or eat or seek warmth or shelter. All huge benefits for a mission into the cold lands. So in Part One, I basically suggested that this is why Jon will be a resurrected skinchanger zombie, because he has to journey into the cold lands and face the Others like the last hero did.  I argued that Coldhands was probably an undead skinchanger too, and also the last hero. I won't go into all of that now, but here you have the abbreviated summary. I have laid out the evidence that the original last hero and the new last hero (one of them anyway, I haven't forgotten Bran don't worry) were and will be undead skinchangers, and in this essay (and matching podcast), I will be laying out the case that the original Night's Watch - the Last Hero's twelve companions - were all undead skinchangers. 

We'll take a look at amazing quotes, like this one from the mouth of Dolorous Ed in ACOK: 

“We ride at first light, did you hear?  Sun or snow, the Old Bear tells.”

Sam glanced up anxiously at the sky. “Snow?” he squeaked. “We … ride? All of us?” 

“Well, no, some will need to walk.” He shook himself. “Dywen now, he says we need to learn to ride dead horses, like the Others do. He claims it would save on feed. How much could a dead horse eat?” Edd laced himself back up. “Can’t say I fancy the notion. Once they figure a way to work a dead horse, we’ll be next. Likely I’ll be the first too. ‘Edd,’ they’ll say, ‘dying’s no excuse for lying down no more, so get on up and take this spear, you’ve got the watch tonight.’ Well, I shouldn’t be so gloomy. Might be I’ll die before they work it out.” 

Might be we’ll all die, and sooner than we’d like, Sam thought, as he climbed awkwardly to his feet. 

Or this one from AGOT:

The other keeps, long deserted, were lonely, haunted places, where cold winds whistled through black windows and the spirits of the dead manned the parapets. 

Or this one, also from AGOT, a conversation between Jon and Mormont after Jon runs away from Castle Black and is brought back by his friends. Man, there are some layers to  this one:

“I know the penalty for desertion my lord, I’m not afraid to die.

“Die!” the raven cried.

“Nor live, I hope,” Mormont said, cutting his ham with a dagger and feeding a bite to the bird. “You have not deserted— yet. Here you stand. If we beheaded every boy who rode to Mole’s Town in the night, only ghosts would guard the Wall. Yet maybe you mean to flee again on the morrow, or a fortnight from now. Is that it? Is that your hope, boy?” Jon kept silent. “I thought so.” Mormont peeled the shell off a boiled egg. “Your father is dead, lad. Do you think you can bring him back?” 

“No,” he answered, sullen. 

“Good,” Mormont said. “We’ve seen the dead come back, you and me, and it’s not something I care to see again.”

We'll also talk about the seventy nine sentinels, which are actual dead Night's Watch brothers who man the Wall. We'll talk about those curious scarecrow brothers they make before the WIldlings attack Castle Black. I say curious because a fire undead person, Beric, is thrice called a scarecrow. Beric also wields a bring sword, a clear Azor Ahai symbolism, so his being an undead scarecrow in a black cloak... well that's the kind of thing we'll talk about in detail.  We'll also get into green men, Patchface, and the connection between greenseers and the original Night's Watch.  

The full essay is right here, and the link to the podcast (which matches the text) is embedded on that page as well. 

I will leave you with this thought, one last hook to draw you in: have you ever considered that before the Andals came to Westeros, all of the Night's Watch brothers, save for a few ironborn, would have been Old Gods worshipping First Men?  In other words, for thousands of years, the brothers of the Night's Watch have sworn their oaths to weirwoods, to the greenseers. The Night's Watch is pledged to the greenseers, swearing that they will defend the Wall and the realms of men and all the rest. This hints at an ancient partnership, that the founding of the Night's Watch is intrinsically connected to the greenseers. Consider the Black Gate, a weirwood face which opens when you recite the abbreviated (and probably original) version of the Night's Watch vows. It's like magic spell almost. The words have power, and they are said to the greenseers. From this we can deduce that the original Night's Watch brothers owed their lives - or their unlives - to the greenseers. This fits well with the gap in the story of the last hero - he got help from the children (from the greenseers), and later emerged with companions to fight the Others and a spiffy new sword. In other words, the greenseer magic of the children was vital to the survival of mankind and the establishment of the Night's Watch. 

I suggest that this assistance had something to do with raising the dead. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@LmL that was a nice OP, well worth the read. Like you pointed out there are many gaps in the last hero story, i and many others do not believe that he simply imputed IDDQD and blasted trough all the undead army.

So i like the idea of fighting "evil" with "evil" it makes sense for the humans to want to at least equal their nemesis in power. I do not believe though that the first NW was pledged to the green seers. I believe (tv show spoilers and all) that the children messed up and they created the Others in a desperate attempt for survival.

So a little summary: men vs children, men win by landslide, children get desperate, they create the Others, it all goes horribly wrong and the Others now start killing everybody.

A pact is then made between the Humans and the Children of the forrest, the enemy of my enemy type of deal, and the Children teach the Last Hero how to create his own Zombie army.

This has to be the whole NW at leas at this point, even with a kick ass sword in his hands, i really don't see how he can win vs the Others almost infinite numbers without a army at his back. So my guess is that he turned the whole NW at the time into Undead soldiers and they did battle with the others.

I have another theory, that after the events of the long night, this last hero is also the same guy that married the "female other" as a truce. He then turns evil yada yada yada.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought this quote may help to go along with the OP:

TWOIAF - ANCIENT HISTORY: THE LONG NIGHT.

"How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all such matters of the distant past have become. In the North, they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest, his companions abandoning him or dying one by one as they faced ravenous giants, cold servants, and the Others themselves. Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the white walkers, and all the tales agree this was a turning point. Thanks to the children, the first men of the Night's Watch banded together and were able to fight—and win—the Battle for the Dawn: the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others fleeing to the icy north."

 

If it is the case that the Last Heros companions died and were resurrected with the help of the Cotf I always try to figure out why weren't the dead resurrected by the Others first? Since it seems they resurrect all dead to fight on their behalf. 

If they were skinchangers and their shades fled in to the animals they shared their skins with in life, such as Direwolves or what not, did this interfere with the Others being able to resurrect them? 

Its the only reason I can think of really, or the Others would have just resurrected the Last Heros dead companions to be Wights for them first would they not?. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, aryagonnakill#2 said:

The main problem I see here is that the current NW is mainly made up of southerners who are primarily Andal 7 worshippers who we have no reason to expect can skinchange.

the wildling with the boar calls John brother when they meet I believe, could be one of the companions

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, aryagonnakill#2 said:

The main problem I see here is that the current NW is mainly made up of southerners who are primarily Andal 7 worshippers who we have no reason to expect can skinchange.

There must be a fair few left North of the wall, i dont suppose they have to be brothers of the watch. Varamyrs gathering he describes in his Prologue made it seem as though there were many Skinchangers North of the Wall, enough to arrange their own gatherings anyway. Orell was there, the goat woman Grisella, and a group of Wargs Varamyr called the Wolf brothers.

If im honest i expected much more Skinchangers than Borroq to pass the Wall south and always thought there must be many more still out there.

I forgot Briar with the shadowcat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@LmL, perhaps the Last Hero did not get a new sword. Perhaps the Titan of Braavos is a statue of the Last Hero? And perhaps some of the Last Hero's companions actually lived. In The Long Night, TWOIAF we learn that at least some of the Last Hero's friends may have only abandoned him. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

@LmL, perhaps the Last Hero did not get a new sword. Perhaps the Titan of Braavos is a statue of the Last Hero? And perhaps some of the Last Hero's companions actually lived. In The Long Night, TWOIAF we learn that at least some of the Last Hero's friends may have only abandoned him. 

"A broken sword can still kill," as they say, but right before that, they say "a broken sword can be reforged." Who knows, maybe dragonsteel was just a broken off piece of obsidian. I tend to think a reforging was more likely, but its' hard to say because the cotf don't smelt or anything. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Macgregor of the North said:

Thought this quote may help to go along with the OP:

TWOIAF - ANCIENT HISTORY: THE LONG NIGHT.

"How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all such matters of the distant past have become. In the North, they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest, his companions abandoning him or dying one by one as they faced ravenous giants, cold servants, and the Others themselves. Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the white walkers, and all the tales agree this was a turning point. Thanks to the children, the first men of the Night's Watch banded together and were able to fight—and win—the Battle for the Dawn: the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others fleeing to the icy north."

 

If it is the case that the Last Heros companions died and were resurrected with the help of the Cotf I always try to figure out why weren't the dead resurrected by the Others first? Since it seems they resurrect all dead to fight on their behalf. 

If they were skinchangers and their shades fled in to the animals they shared their skins with in life, such as Direwolves or what not, did this interfere with the Others being able to resurrect them? 

Its the only reason I can think of really, or the Others would have just resurrected the Last Heros dead companions to be Wights for them first would they not?. 

 

Thanks for reminding me of that summary from TWOIAF, it basically says what I am saying - that the cotf were instrumental in establishing the NW. 

So, they may have been wighted by the Others, and then repossessed with the help of the magic of the children. 

TV show spoiler season 6:

Something along the lines of what happened to Coldhands/Benjen in the show.

Or it could be that skinchangers can be wighted. Some have pointed out that as Varamyr's spirit flies through the world to his wolf to begin second life, he sees Thistle's wighted corpse, but not his own - perhaps that's a clue. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, aryagonnakill#2 said:

The main problem I see here is that the current NW is mainly made up of southerners who are primarily Andal 7 worshippers who we have no reason to expect can skinchange.

Well, there are a few from the Reach, where the blood of Garth runs strong. Still, I am not sure if we will see Jon with a group of twelve just like the LH. This may be a bit more of an Easter egg type thing. And we dont know how many originl NW brothers the Last Hero ended up to fight the War for the Dawn at the end. Perhaps not all 12. 

We might see a more distant echo, with twelve characters in the story all playing a direct role in the end game event. Perhaps Jon's companions will not be all actual resurrected people - some may only symbolize resurrected people  (perhaps they've gone through a symbolic death / rebirth like Sam). 

Or perhaps only Jon is the skinchanger zombie, maybe the rest of his crew will be regular zombies like Beric, not skinchangers. Maybe a burning check of brothers who are slain together will be raised by Mel at the same time. There are a lot of possibilities, so we will just have to see how it goes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Nocturne said:

@LmL that was a nice OP, well worth the read. Like you pointed out there are many gaps in the last hero story, i and many others do not believe that he simply imputed IDDQD and blasted trough all the undead army.

So i like the idea of fighting "evil" with "evil" it makes sense for the humans to want to at least equal their nemesis in power. I do not believe though that the first NW was pledged to the green seers. I believe (tv show spoilers and all) that the children messed up and they created the Others in a desperate attempt for survival.

So a little summary: men vs children, men win by landslide, children get desperate, they create the Others, it all goes horribly wrong and the Others now start killing everybody.

A pact is then made between the Humans and the Children of the forrest, the enemy of my enemy type of deal, and the Children teach the Last Hero how to create his own Zombie army.

This has to be the whole NW at leas at this point, even with a kick ass sword in his hands, i really don't see how he can win vs the Others almost infinite numbers without a army at his back. So my guess is that he turned the whole NW at the time into Undead soldiers and they did battle with the others.

I have another theory, that after the events of the long night, this last hero is also the same guy that married the "female other" as a truce. He then turns evil yada yada yada.

As for the NW swearing to the greenseers, I am pointing out they would have literally said their NW vows to the weirwoods, and would thus be swearing. to the greenseers. That doesnt conflict with your notion however, we still don't know what the basis of the agreement was. It could have gone down like you say, but that doesn't change the fact that at the end, the NW and children seem to have been on the same side. The idea of the NW swearingredients oaths to the greenseers suggests the greenseers had some leverage, something the NW needed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, LmL said:

Thanks for reminding me of that summary from TWOIAF, it basically says what I am saying - that the cotf were instrumental in establishing the NW. 

So, they may have been wighted by the Others, and then repossessed with the help of the magic of the children. 

TV show spoiler season 6:

  Reveal hidden contents

Something along the lines of what happened to Coldhands/Benjen in the show.

 

Or it could be that skinchangers can be wighted. Some have pointed out that as Varamyr's spirit flies through the world to his wolf to begin second life, he sees Thistle's wighted corpse, but not his own - perhaps that's a clue. 

I'm almost there with full belief that the Nights Watch were actually formed to fight the Others in the War for the dawn but one quote is like a thorn in my side.

TWOIAF:

"Unique in the Seven Kingdoms is the Night's Watch, the sworn brotherhood that has defended the Wall over centuries and millennia, born in the aftermath of the Long Night, the generation-long winter that brought the Others down on the realms of men and nearly put an end to them."

It contradicts the quote I left before and also the quote you left in the OP from the song. But since we have it 2-1 on quotes I still lean to the NW being a thing created for the War for the Dawn and not made in the aftermath. 

Maybe they just got more organised and structured as time went on and their Wall was built and this is what the WOIAF quote is hinting at? Or maybe it's a small text error?. 

Who knows. 

I can see where your heads at with the mummers screen adaption reference but can we really take anything from that as canon for the books?.

Spoiler

I mean they flat out explained that Benjen was Coldhands when we know fine well he isn't in the books. 

And the whole thing with the Cotf creating the Others themselves, or good guy Wights like you say for that matter, by stabbing their hearts with Dragonglass (like they did to Ben in the show, and also the guy they turned to an Other) just seems like a show creation to me and something that I'm not ready to believe happens in the books unless I read it.  

I like how the ADWD Prologue does not describe Varamyr seeing his own corpse rise like you pointed out, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm looking at for some kind of explanation for how/if the Others maybe won't/don't/or can't raise a Skinchanger who's slipped into his animals skin at point of death, as a Wight. 

How that works I'm unsure but I'm quite convinced Varamyr never rose as a Wight and it's the only explanation really isn't it?.

Whether the Cotf raised good guy Wights to be the first Nights Watch and fight alongside the Last Hero im still unsure but the idea interests me. 

I wanna see if Jon's corpse could be raised as a Wight by the Others, because if we go by the Varamyr angle, it seems that's not so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really well argued and referenced podcast, (applause). 

It also ties in directly with the prologue to AGOT, where the actions of the others suddenly makes more sense. The ritual way they engage in single combat with Royce until blood is drawn and it turns to slaughter.

The care they take of only risking one other's death, suggests they fear Royce is an undead brother/last hero/companion/Lord Commander, but once blood is drawn, they know he's just a normal man, talk to each other, have a laugh and kill him. 

There's talk of this in the thread about Craster and his black blooded curse. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here we have another bastard hero accused of treason:

Quote

The dragon was Seasmoke, his rider Ser Addam Velaryon, determined to prove that not all bastards need be turncloaks. How better to do that than by retaking Tumbleton from the Two Betrayers, whose treason had stained him? Singers say Ser Addam had flown from King’s Landing to the Gods Eye, where he landed on the sacred Isle of Faces and took counsel with the Green Men. The scholar must confine himself to known fact, and what we know is that Ser Addam flew far and fast, descending on castles great and small whose lords were loyal to the queen, to piece together an army.

After visiting the Green Men Ser Addam sacrifices his life to save KL:

Quote
Lords Piper and Deddings, seated together atop a low rise, burned with their squires, servants, and sworn shields when the Bronze Fury chanced to take note of them. An instant later, Seasmoke fell upon him.
Alone of the four dragons on the field that day, Seasmoke had a rider. Ser Addam Velaryon had come to prove his loyalty by destroying the Two Betrayers and their dragons, and here was one beneath him, attacking the men who had joined him for this fight. He must have felt duty-bound to protect them, though surely he knew in heart that his Seasmoke could not match the older dragon.
This was no dance, but a fight to the death. Vermithor had been flying no more than twenty feet above the battle when Seasmoke slammed into him from above, driving him shrieking into the mud. Men and boys ran in terror or were crushed as the two dragons rolled and tore at one another. Tails snapped and wings beat at the air, but the beasts were so entangled that neither was able to be able to break free. Benjicot Blackwood watched the struggle from atop his horse fifty yards away. Vermithor’s size and weight were too much for Seasmoke to contend with, Lord Blackwood said many years later, and he would surely have torn the silver-grey dragon to pieces … if Tessarion had not fallen from the sky at that very moment to join the fight.

Note that Blackwood is observing all of that.

Quote

Afterward, Lord Unwin Peake offered a thousand golden dragons to any knight of noble birth who could claim Silverwing. Three men came forth. When the first had his arm torn off and the second burned to death, the third man reconsidered. By that time Peake’s army, the remnants of the great host that Prince Daeron and Lord Ormund Hightower had led all the way from Oldtown, was falling to pieces as deserters fled Tumbleton by the score with all the plunder they could carry. Bowing to defeat, Lord Unwin summoned his lords and serjeants and ordered a retreat. The accused turncloak Addam Velaryon, born Addam of Hull, had saved King’s Landing from the queen’s foes … at the cost of his own life.

Yet the queen knew nothing of his valor. Rhaenyra’s flight from King’s Landing had been beset with difficulty.

So this hero dies, by sacrificing his life - but only 'greenseer' knows about that... Is the same fate awaiting Jon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, SiSt said:

Really well argued and referenced podcast, (applause). 

 

TY, TY :)

5 hours ago, SiSt said:

It also ties in directly with the prologue to AGOT, where the actions of the others suddenly makes more sense. The ritual way they engage in single combat with Royce until blood is drawn and it turns to slaughter.

The care they take of only risking one other's death, suggests they fear Royce is an undead brother/last hero/companion/Lord Commander, but once blood is drawn, they know he's just a normal man, talk to each other, have a laugh and kill him. 

There's talk of this in the thread about Craster and his black blooded curse. 

That's an interesting take, I hadn't thought of that! Very possible! 

You have to wonder what would happen  Coldhands if he was stabbed by an Other's blade. Maybe nothing? Its not the like extreme cold would hurt him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/4/2017 at 9:24 AM, LmL said:

Well, there are a few from the Reach, where the blood of Garth runs strong. Still, I am not sure if we will see Jon with a group of twelve just like the LH. This may be a bit more of an Easter egg type thing. And we dont know how many originl NW brothers the Last Hero ended up to fight the War for the Dawn at the end. Perhaps not all 12. 

We might see a more distant echo, with twelve characters in the story all playing a direct role in the end game event. Perhaps Jon's companions will not be all actual resurrected people - some may only symbolize resurrected people  (perhaps they've gone through a symbolic death / rebirth like Sam). 

Or perhaps only Jon is the skinchanger zombie, maybe the rest of his crew will be regular zombies like Beric, not skinchangers. Maybe a burning check of brothers who are slain together will be raised by Mel at the same time. There are a lot of possibilities, so we will just have to see how it goes. 

This is an interesting premise.  I don't have any particular theories about TLH and his dozen companions, but it's pretty clear there will be some sort of reenactment of the story.  We can sort through heroes all day and night.   My personal list contains 28 potential companions and I've still only really decided on 4 of them.   I've long understood that the heroes would die in this quest, but it never occurred to me they might have to die before going on quest.   Outside of the Starks, the only skinchangers or potential skinchangers other than those noted previously are maybe the Mormonts, Farwynds and Tormund.   (There is a family in the Reach I can't for the life of me remember their house name.) This seems to be fewer than a dozen and the Farwynds and Reach family are unlikely to become important players this late in the game.   Blackwoods maybe?  

I've tried to connect present time characters to Garth Greenhands with little success.   What is resonant is the importance of some of these secondary support characters, like Sandor Clegane, Thoros of Myr and even Meera Reed.   They are extraordinary and heroic in their own way.   Then there are main characters who seem to be written toward a great redeeming quest like Theon Greyjoy, Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth.   Meera, at least is remnant of the Marsh Kings with their interesting abilities.  Jamie and Brienne have a magical sword and Thoros has his own peculiar talents.  Still they aren't skinchangers that we know of.   Perhaps I'm missing something here and the obvious heroes will not be companions.  Then again perhaps The Others were skinchangers once?  

Our "fire zombies" seem to have their own distinct lives after life.  I'm thinking of Beric in particular, with his flaming sword ignited with his own blood.    Our Red Priests are well represented in story crossing several characters' paths.  A case could be made for Septons and Septas also showing up, but the emphasis appears to be on these Red Priests.    I am enjoying this idea of the companions having to die and change to enlist in TLH new quest.   All that holds me back from fully embracing the idea is that the companions will have magic swords that the original companions probably didn't have if the dates are even close to correct.   It's a really fun idea, @LmL.   I will find time to listen to the podcasts this weekend.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, SiSt said:

Really well argued and referenced podcast, (applause). 

It also ties in directly with the prologue to AGOT, where the actions of the others suddenly makes more sense. The ritual way they engage in single combat with Royce until blood is drawn and it turns to slaughter.

The care they take of only risking one other's death, suggests they fear Royce is an undead brother/last hero/companion/Lord Commander, but once blood is drawn, they know he's just a normal man, talk to each other, have a laugh and kill him. 

There's talk of this in the thread about Craster and his black blooded curse. 

This is not necessarily true if I may point out.

I have no doubt there is some importance in the blood in the AGOT Prologue, but it is the sword shattering that seems to be the signal the back up Others needed to move in. The sword they may fear to be Dragonsteel, or even if they are not familiar with that term, the same weapon of devastation the Last Hero of the Nights Watch destroyed some of their kind with thousands of years ago.

The Prologue shows the lead Other draws blood and mocks Waymar, but the back up Others still do not move in after that.

Then when Waymar lunges and screams "For Robert!" and his sword shatters when the Other parries the blow, that is when the text states that a signal seems to have been given. 

Then they mercifully butcher him, seemingly feeling safe now, as the fancy jewel hilted brand new shiny blade was simply ordinary castle forged steel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 
Quote

 

Again and again the swords met, until Will wanted to cover his ears against the strange anguished keening of their clash. Ser Waymar was panting from the effort now, his breath steaming in the moonlight. His blade was white with frost; the Other's danced with pale blue light.
Then Royce's parry came a beat too late. The pale sword bit through the ringmail beneath his arm. The young lord cried out in pain. Blood welled between the rings. It steamed in the cold, and the droplets seemed red as fire where they touched the snow. Ser Waymar's fingers brushed his side. His moleskin glove came away soaked with red.

The Other said something in a language that Will did not know; his voice was like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, and the words were mocking.

Ser Waymar Royce found his fury. "For Robert!" he shouted, and he came up snarling, lifting the frost-covered longsword with both hands and swinging it around in a flat sidearm slash with all his weight behind it. The Other's parry was almost lazy.

When the blades touched, the steel shattered.

A scream echoed through the forest night, and the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces, the shards scattering like a rain of needles. Royce went to his knees, shrieking, and covered his eyes. Blood welled between his fingers.

The watchers moved forward together, as if some signal had been given. Swords rose and fell, all in a deathly silence. It was cold butchery. The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk. Will closed his eyes. Far beneath him, he heard their voices and laughter sharp as icicles.

 

I was a bit quick there, but still.

The other draws blood. Mocks Waymar and seems generally chilled out. The next time the steel touches, even with just an almost lazy parry, the steel shatters.

There are a couple of things here that point in several directions.

1. Drawing blood improves the strength of the others magic through blood magic? Just one more good reason for an undead last hero?

2. Drawing blood seems to relax the Other. This is either a general, "human" reaction to having the upper hand in combat, or a nod to the fact that the opponent is merely human?

3. Royce is blinded by the shards, hardly an opponent any more, so why would the other Others move in to help with the butchery, unless there´s magic in the blood that helps make them stronger/improves their magic/improves their swords?

I don´t think there´s enough here for a conclusion, but I still think it fits well with the undead last hero idea, and that potentially also tells us a bit about the Others, namely that they have may some form of oral history or simply that they are very, very old and remember the last time there was an undead last hero out and about in the north.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...