Let's do better than Mel

[The Fresh PtwP]

Priests and priestesses are mortal and can error but Mel is batting pretty low, I think with the collective minds of the forums we can do better! Here's the excerpt from Mel's chapter in Dance: 

"Show me Stannis, Lord, she prayed. Show me your king, your instrument.

Visions danced before her, gold and scarlet, flickering, forming and melting and dissolving into one another, shapes strange and terrifying and seductive. She saw the eyeless faces again, staring out at her from sockets weeping blood. Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky...

A face took shape within the hearth. Stannis? she thought, for just a moment … but no, these were not his features. A wooden face, corpse white. Was this the enemy? A thousand red eyes floated in the rising flames. He sees me. Beside him, a boy with a wolf's face threw back his head and howled...

Snowflakes swirled from a dark sky and ashes rose to meet them, the grey and the white whirling around each other as flaming arrows arced above a wooden wall and dead things shambled silent through the cold, beneath a great grey cliff where fires burned inside a hundred caves. Then the wind rose and the white mist came sweeping in, impossibly cold, and one by one the fires went out. Afterward only the skulls remained...

The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again. But the skulls were here as well, the skulls were all around him."

A lot to sift through, but let's break it down.

Blue: The passages in blue I think are related to the North and beyond the Wall, The eyeless faces are obviously the Weeper, wooden face, thousand red eyes, boy with a wolf's face, sounds like our favorite weirnet duo. The cliff and caves vision is most likely Hardhome, and spelling out how doomed that whole situation is. For the last one in blue we have what is widely believed is Jon's resurrection and I can't really dispute that, Her visions of the North are pretty straightforward. The only nuance that really stuck out to me is that Mel always checks threats to her person first, and as a instrument to the Lord of Light I believe her visions would kind of do the same so the fact that she sees the Weeper first peaked my attention. 

Red: All the quotes I highlighted in Red I believe are directly tied with what Mel asked for, "Show me your king, your instrument" So pretty much Azor Azai stuff. I'm gonna guess that the lustful bodies are Dany and Daario, timeline fits, and the following vision is obviously the dragons. Now for Jon, he really gets the star treatment from the flames. They actually whisper his full name, gets a decent mug shot vision (enough that Mel can recognize him and his features) and that odd curtain which was mentioned when she glimpsed the dragons.

Green: Is what I'm least sure about. The towers by the sea could be Eastwatch, Oldtown, Storm's End, Pyke pretty much anywhere where there is a tower and a body of water. I think it's Storm's End and Aegon. Mel earlier thinks: "Death, thought Melisandre. The skulls are death." OK using that as a reference the next quote "Shadows in the shape of (death), (deaths) that turn to mist," Make me think Aegon, both shadows and mists are being used as part of a deception used to cover up or hide the skulls or "death".

First, shadows in the shape of, but not actual, "death". Meaning no actual death occurred just the appearance of one. (Pisswater)

Than, "death"s that turn to mist, which I interpret as an actual death that really isn't one. (Aegon reveal)

Or I could be as wrong as Mel, either way discuss and do better!

 

[The Hoare]

Weirdly, the green part always made me think about Blacktyde in the Iron Islands.

Dark tides, black tide...

Must be just a coincidence though

[Curled Finger]

3 hours ago, The Fresh PtwP said:

Visions danced before her, gold and scarlet, flickering, forming and melting and dissolving into one another, shapes strange and terrifying and seductive. She saw the eyeless faces again, staring out at her from sockets weeping blood. Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky...

Didn't Jojen dream about the tide sweeping over Winterfell?  Isn't there currently an Ironborn reaving crew off the coast of Old Town, home of the Hightower?  Doesn't that last red part recall this:

In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing.  ACOK Dany 4

and this:

 

Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed...The Forsaken transcript.

I look in the flames and all I see is frickin devastation.

[LindsayLohan]

1 hour ago, Curled Finger said:

Didn't Jojen dream about the tide sweeping over Winterfell?  Isn't there currently an Ironborn reaving crew off the coast of Old Town, home of the Hightower?  Doesn't that last red part recall this:

In one room, a beautiful woman sprawled naked on the floor while four little men crawled over her. They had rattish pointed faces and tiny pink hands, like the servitor who had brought her the glass of shade. One was pumping between her thighs. Another savaged her breasts, worrying at the nipples with his wet red mouth, tearing and chewing.  ACOK Dany 4

and this:

 

Dwarves capered for their amusement, male and female, naked and misshapen, locked in carnal embrace, biting and tearing at each other as Euron and his mate laughed and laughed and laughed...The Forsaken transcript.

I look in the flames and all I see is frickin devastation.

When I read the first part of the passage, I tend to think she sees the Ironborn sacking (and possibly leveling) Oldtown.  If Aeron's visions of the woman with the flaming hands (Cersei, as wife of Euron) are true, the idea that the towers of Oldtown can be brought down with wildfire is plausible.  She's already shown a propensity for burning towers (the Tower of the Hand) and would love an excuse to do it on a larger scale.

[Curled Finger]

4 minutes ago, LindsayLohan said:

When I read the first part of the passage, I tend to think she sees the Ironborn sacking (and possibly leveling) Oldtown.  If Aeron's visions of the woman with the flaming hands (Cersei, as wife of Euron) are true, the idea that the towers of Oldtown can be brought down with wildfire is plausible.  She's already shown a propensity for burning towers (the Tower of the Hand) and would love an excuse to do it on a larger scale.

We are on the same wave length then.   It's strange but not altogether unpleasant replying to a male in a hot pink bikini.  

[LindsayLohan]

5 minutes ago, Curled Finger said:

We are on the same wave length then.   It's strange but not altogether unpleasant replying to a male in a hot pink bikini.  

Obviously, I need to update to a burqa.

[Protagoras]

"Show me Stannis, Lord, she prayed. Show me your king, your instrument."

This feels more like the instruction to find her god´s tool. I think "your instrument" is more significant here. After all "your king" sounds more like Melisandres projection. She is asking for the tools she need and the vision will show them. 

"Visions danced before her, gold and scarlet, flickering, forming and melting and dissolving into one another, shapes strange and terrifying and seductive". 

The magic takes effect. Nothing of importance here.

"She saw the eyeless faces again, staring out at her from sockets weeping blood". 

Either the rangers blinded by the Weeper or a symbolic representation for the heart tree themselves. Which represents the Old Gods - one of tools needed. 

"Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths". 

Tricky. Some kind of place connected to the Ironborn (Rising from the depths) that we havn´t seen yet is my guess. Most certainly a tool as well. 

"Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky..."

Skulls are a classical symbol for death and the great, winged shadows must be Daenerys dragons. I suppose the "lust" could be her and Daario, but I am more in to the idea that it is a symbolic representation of fire itself (lust, writhing, rolling) and by the default a symbol of house Targaryen, one of her god´s "tools". 

"A face took shape within the hearth. Stannis? she thought, for just a moment … but no, these were not his features. A wooden face, corpse white. Was this the enemy? A thousand red eyes floated in the rising flames. He sees me. Beside him, a boy with a wolf's face threw back his head and howled..."

Another "tool", Bloodraven and Bran. 

"Snowflakes swirled from a dark sky and ashes rose to meet them, the grey and the white whirling around each other as flaming arrows arced above a wooden wall and dead things shambled silent through the cold, beneath a great grey cliff where fires burned inside a hundred caves. Then the wind rose and the white mist came sweeping in, impossibly cold, and one by one the fires went out. Afterward only the skulls remained..."

This is where Melisandre see her enemy - the others and what will happen if they are not stopped. I think that this is where her vision got redirected. After all, Bloodraven saw her! And it is likely that he took control from this point on. 

"The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again. But the skulls were here as well, the skulls were all around him."

Here we see the last (and most likely a very important one) tool, Jon Snow and his warging into Ghost as well as his resurrection. Again, skulls mean death and could either mean his stabbing or that he will die in the future once more. Or it could just be Bloodraven pointing this out specifically for Melisandre what he think and that he considers Jon Snow to be very important. 

[hiemal]

I think that the eyeless skulls refer on the obvious, surface level to the weeper's victims but on a deeper level to the NW brothers who were entombed in the ice for their "blindness" to the wildlings that slipped past them- Jon and the Realm's willful obliviousness to a true existential threat rendered in the bone if not the flesh.

[DigUpHerBones]

Quote

 Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist

Because of the similar tone to Patchy's whatever you want to call them, visions? ramblings? ive always said this is Storms End. my issue is every source we have, only lists SE of having (1) drum tower...could be a case of Jamie's horse's sex and Weterlings hips tho.

Quote

That creature is dangerous. Many a time I have glimpsed him in my flames. Sometimes there are skulls about him, and his lips are red with blood.

again from Mel, so...but the association of skulls with Patchy pops up a couple more times if i am not mistaken, and we know where Patchy washed up.

Quote

The shadows come to dance, my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord. The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord.

shadows dancing = mist

[Greywater-Watch]

On ‎26‎.‎01‎.‎2017 at 0:51 AM, The Fresh PtwP said:

Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky...

Then the wind rose and the white mist came sweeping in, impossibly cold, and one by one the fires went out. Afterward only the skulls remained...

Remarks to details.

• "Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist,"
• Mist seems to be the Wights
  • "Skulls that turned to mist" = dead bodies becoming wights.
  • "The wind rose and the white mist came sweeping in" means The Others commanded the wights (mist) to attack and turned the human defenders to skulls (most probably in the next step these skulls would become mist again.
• As already mentioned, this pictures possibly the fight of Hardhome; the first attackers being either Ironborn or (what I think is more probable) the dead things in the water we have already heard about. Whoever the first attackers, in the end all Wildlings at Hardhome (in this vision) are dead and are resurrected as wights.

 

• Question: "Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky..."
  • Why the HARD blue sky? Does it mean the sky North of the Wall?
  • => Daenerys' Dragons active in the fight against the Others?
  • when the word "shadow" appears it seems to mean living things (men, animals)

[The Fresh PtwP]

For whatever reason, I don't think the towers vision is related to Oldtown or the Ironborn. No mention of the "sea" dark tide is close but Jojen and Moqorro specifically say "sea" when refferring to the IB through visions. Also no krakens, but I don't know, I got to give Mel some credit this is harder then it looks!

[Cersei's Nachos]

Well TWOW spoilers....

 

Spoiler

Ever since I read the Damphair chapter, I've always though those were the crumbling towers by sea. It has the same symbolism as Jojen's  green dream regarding Winterfell and Mel's vision it happens not too long before Euron sacks the castle that I don't remember how it's called.