Is the Crossroads Inn Dragon Sign Metaphor about Dany?

[LiveFirstDieLater]

When Podrick asked the name of the inn where they hoped to spend the night, Septon Meribald seized upon the question eagerly, perhaps to take their minds off the grisly sentinels along the roadside. "The Old Inn, some call it. There has been an inn there for many hundreds of years, though this inn was only raised during the reign of the first Jaehaerys, the king who built the kingsroad. Jaehaerys and his queen slept there during their journeys, it is said. For a time the inn was known as the Two Crowns in their honor, until one innkeep built a bell tower, and changed it to the Bellringer Inn. Later it passed to a crippled knight named Long Jon Heddle, who took up ironworking when he grew too old to fight. He forged a new sign for the yard, a three-headed dragon of black iron that he hung from a wooden post. The beast was so big it had to be made in a dozen pieces, joined with rope and wire. When the wind blew it would clank and clatter, so the inn became known far and wide as the Clanking Dragon."

"Is the dragon sign still there?" asked Podrick.

"No," said Septon Meribald. "When the smith's son was an old man, a bastard son of the fourth Aegon rose up in rebellion against his trueborn brother and took for his sigil a black dragon. These lands belonged to Lord Darry then, and his lordship was fiercely loyal to the king. The sight of the black iron dragon made him wroth, so he cut down the post, hacked the sign into pieces, and cast them into the river. One of the dragon's heads washed up on the Quiet Isle many years later, though by that time it was red with rust. The innkeep never hung another sign, so men forgot the dragon and took to calling the place the River Inn. In those days, the Trident flowed beneath its back door, and half its rooms were built out over the water. Guests could throw a line out their window and catch trout, it's said. There was a ferry landing here as well, so travelers could cross to Lord Harroway's Town and Whitewalls." 

 

-

 

I think most of us are familiar with the above quote giving the history of the Crossroads Inn.

Many have theorized about how it is a metaphor for fAegon (Blackfyre), so I won't rehash the whole theory as many others have gone through it in detail on this forum and elsewhere. 

TLDR: The Black Dragon Head thrown into the water and washing up later "red with rust" is representing (f)Aegon as a Blackfyre pretending to be a Targaryen. This combined with Dany's "mummer's dragon" vision in the House of the Undying imply that Aegon is a lie in need of slaying.

However, right away I have issues with this interpretation. First, if Aegon is fake, and a child of Illyrio’s, then he didn’t start in Westeros. So entering the river and coming out red with rust being an analogy for the narrow sea doesn’t work. Second, even if Aegon is fake, and is a Blackfyre descendent pretending to be a Targaryen, then he is still a dragon (and thus not a “mummer’s dragon” or fake dragon). After all, as Illyrio himself says, “Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon.”

I'd like to offer a different interpretation, not all of it original or surprising perhaps, however the devil is in the details, so first, a little Westeros history review:

First, the name of the Inn was the Two Crowns, for Jaehaerys and Alysanne who built the Kingsroad and stayed at the Inn (as well as supposedly traveling to the Wall and beyond). Interestingly, Jaehaerys actually wore two crowns himself. First he was crowned with his father’s crown (large and gold) then he had a crown of his own with Seven Gems of different colors (he also made peace between the Targaryens and the Faith of the Seven, so makes sense). Alysanne had a similar more feminine version of his second crown. However, neither of these were the Valyrion steel crown worn by Aegon the Conqueror and Maegor the Cruel (this crown was supposedly later lost in Dorne, by the Young Dragon).

However, as it turns out the location of the Inn itself might be significant for another crown.  Torrhen Stark, the Last King of the North, knelt on the banks of the Trident and gave up his crown to Aegon the Conqueror. What happened to this crown is unknown, but the location where he knelt could well have been the location of the Crossroads Inn (speculation).

Then the Bellringer for its bell tower. Although I'll admit, it read to me like a description of being hit over the head (as in heavy handed clues).

Once the big black dragon sign goes up it becomes the Clanking Dragon (or Clan-King-Dragon without much effort, as in, family of the king).

Now the dragon is gone, and we get a story. During the Blackfyre Rebellion Lord Darry cut down the sign and tossed it in the Trident (which no longer runs besides the Inn). This is the part of the quote I want to take another look at… so I’ll return to it once my history review is done.

There was a ferry landing here as well, so travelers could cross to Lord Harroway's Town and Whitewalls.

A little history about both places:

Lord Harroway's Town is visited by Arya and the Hound who find it under water because the Trident is flooding.

Harroway was a house who ruled from Harrenhall way back shortly after the conquest. They did not escape the curse and went extinct long before ASoIaF takes place. (and yet the name is remembered...)

Maegor the Cruel married Alys Harroway in 39AC, however he was already married to the High Septon's niece, Ceryse Hightower.

The Dowager Queen Visenya (and Maegor's mother) led the Valyrian Ceremony. This marriage made the Faith of the Seven pissed.

Maegor is exiled to Pentos. It should be noted that by this point he has been given or claimed the Valyrian Steel Swords Blackfyre and Darksister from his father and mother respectively, as well as his father's dragon Balerion the Dread.

The Faith of the Seven rebelled against Meagor's brother Aenys, who keels over and dies. 

Maegor returns and earns his moniker, the Cruel. He claims the crown despite not being the next in classic succession, and beheads the Grand Maester who pointed it out. 

Lord Harroway (father to Alys) is named Hand of the King.

In 44AC, after Alys Harroway gave birth to a monstrosity, Maegor had the entire family eradicated. 

End Harroway.

Meagor finishes the construction of the Red Keep, and the murders the builders to keep its passages secret. There is more, and if you're interested then I suggest picking up The World of Ice and Fire.

But, finally, Meagor died on the Iron Throne. Possibly killed by his own kingsguard (some of whom had already abandoned him), or maybe he killed himself, it isn't clear. There was no Usurper's Dog to ride in and catch a Kingslayer red armored.

Whitewalls is the setting for most of one Dunk and Egg story as well as the location of a (very brief) Blackfyre Rebellion. However, this claimant arrived without the sword Blackfyre and was undone by another royal bastard Bloodraven.

However, what is odd is that Bloodraven had said he intended to tear the castle down, and yet here it is mentioned. It's possible that Bloodraven didn't go through with tearing it down, or that we are just hearing about the ruins or a memory of the castle (but it's been longer since it was supposedly torn down then from the castles construction to the Tourney at Whitewalls, not to mention it was known locally as the Milkhouse).

Also, worth noting that the daughter of Ambrose Butterwell is married to Tommard Heddle, of the same Heddle’s who own the Crossroads Inn. He is killed by Dunk.

Both of these places have a few things in common, including that both houses have met their ruin.

Lord Harroway was Hand of the King when he was executed for treason.  Alys Harroway, one of Maegor’s multiple wives, was accused of infidelity after a stillbirth that was a monstrosity.

The Butterwells, Lords of Whitewalls, had two Hands of the King (for Aegon IV and Daeron II). They fell from grace when they held the tourney at Whitewalls, which acted as a meeting for Blackfyre Rebles. They were sentenced by another royal bastard Blood Raven.

"These lands belonged to Lord Darry then, and his lordship was fiercely loyal to the king. The sight of the black iron dragon made him wroth, so he cut down the post, hacked the sign into pieces, and cast them into the river."

Now if I play with these two sentences a little bit...

Darry was a good man and true (didn't take much work there, fiercely loyal). 

The news of the dragon, heir to the Iron Throne clad in black armor, made him wroth, he cut and ran from his post, split the dragon family into pieces and sent them across the water. (A good man and true, but not of the Kingsguard. The Kingsguard does not flee). 

Remember that the sign was made of 12 pieces? The Clanking Dragon? Here are the remaining members of the clan of the dragon king at the time of Rhaegar’s death: Aerys (1), Rhaella (2), Elia (3), Aegon (4), Rhaenys (5), Viserys (6), Aemon (7), Bryndon (8), Lyanna (9), Jon (10), Dany (11), Tyrion (12).

Now I could defend why I included each of these names, and not others, but I’ll save that for later debate. This post isn't meant to be about R+L=J&D or about how Tyrion is a Targ. 

One head of the dragon reappeared many years later disguised as a red dragon. Really the only two options are Aegon and Dany since, besides Viserys (dead by the time we get the metaphor) they are the ones in Essos.

Needless to say, I don’t think it applies to Aegon since he would either be a red dragon (real) or he is a mummer’s dragon (fake). If he was a Blackfyre, how does the river/rust metaphor apply? He wasn’t born in Westeros… 

But Dany I could go on about for a long time, seeing herself in Rhaegar’s Armor, “Remember who you are…”, the house with the red door and lemon tree, the longing for home… Seeing the great wolf in MMD’s tent, and visions of a wolf headed king at a feast of corpses in the House of the Undying, her natural talent for riding… A cup of ice, and a cup of fire.

So men forgot the Dragon, and since in those days it was so close to the Trident (Battle of the Trident) people called it the River Inn (Robert's Victory at the Trident won him the Iron Throne, and it was where the “last dragon” (Rhaegar) died).

 Guests could throw a line out their window and catch trout, it's said. There was a ferry landing here as well, so travelers could cross to Lord Harroway's Town and Whitewalls

Robert's two closest allies, Eddard Stark and Jon Arryn, both married Tullys... who's sigil is a jumping Trout.

Now remember the history of Harroway and Whitewalls? 

Because Jon Arryn died as Hand of the King, much like Harroway, with the legitimacy of the king’s children at issue ("the seed is strong"). 

Ned Stark was also Hand, and executed over the order of succession… not only that but Winterfell has been sacked (Lord Butterwell lost Whitewalls, which Blood Raven said he was going to pull down after the Tourney at Whitewalls).

 

So I know it's nothing conclusive, or probably even convincing... but the metaphor of the Clanking Dragon seems to fit Dany better than it does Aegon.

[Kienn]

Can you be specific about the parallels you're seeing? This just seems like a lot of random tidbits thrown together with an assumption that I'll see what you see.

For example: for me the clanking dragon story fits best for the golden company itself.

- Sign is made by a Heddle - a family with ties to the blackfyres, just as the golden company.

- Sign is many large pieces tied together - Bittersteel united the fragmenting remnants of the rebellion into the GC.

- Sign was hacked apart and thrown in the river - GC was defeated most recently under Maelys in the narrow sea (river)

- Dragon head returns red instead of black- GC returns supporting a Targ instead of a Blackfyre

 

The interpretation for the sign as Aegon is even more simple:

- A piece of black iron turns red on the outside but remains black inside - Aegon presented as Targ but remains blackfyre.

That interpretation obviously fits Dany just as well already.

[Springwatch]

Will have to read the OP again (with a map!) - before I get it.

I'm going to re-read this as well, in which @Seams explores the same kind of area:

Inns: signs, kneeling and regime change. Help sort out the hinnts?

[Dorian Martell's son]

It is a metaphor for the golden company

[LiveFirstDieLater]

4 hours ago, Kienn said:

Can you be specific about the parallels you're seeing? This just seems like a lot of random tidbits thrown together with an assumption that I'll see what you see.

For example: for me the clanking dragon story fits best for the golden company itself.

- Sign is made by a Heddle - a family with ties to the blackfyres, just as the golden company.

- Sign is many large pieces tied together - Bittersteel united the fragmenting remnants of the rebellion into the GC.

- Sign was hacked apart and thrown in the river - GC was defeated most recently under Maelys in the narrow sea (river)

- Dragon head returns red instead of black- GC returns supporting a Targ instead of a Blackfyre

 

The interpretation for the sign as Aegon is even more simple:

- A piece of black iron turns red on the outside but remains black inside - Aegon presented as Targ but remains blackfyre.

That interpretation obviously fits Dany just as well already.

So I guess I tried to point out some parallels I saw, and included the background for discussion's sake. 

What I don't see is much that points to Aegon.

The Golden Company was created after the first blackfyre rebelion, from the exiled. 

There was a Heddle at Whitewalls, and a blackfyre (but no golden company) . Otherwise what is the blackfyre-Heddle connection?

I don't understand what you are saying about Bittersteel making the sign from fragments... it only gets thrown in the river after its chopped up...

Why is it Lord Darry who chops it up?

25 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

It is a metaphor for the golden company

I don't see it... did the golden company have three heads? Was the golden company broken into pieces? Is the golden company a black dragon that now looks red?

I am certainly used to accept the Aegon explanation, but the more I think about it the less it makes sense...

[Dorian Martell's son]

1 hour ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I don't see it... did the golden company have three heads? Was the golden company broken into pieces? Is the golden company a black dragon that now looks red?

I am certainly used to accept the Aegon explanation, but the more I think about it the less it makes sense...

The Golden company was formed from the broken remnants of the black dragons, who disappeared for a time and then have returned to westeros as red dragons, flying the targ banner 

[LiveFirstDieLater]

18 hours ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

The Golden company was formed from the broken remnants of the black dragons, who disappeared for a time and then have returned to westeros as red dragons, flying the targ banner 

The Golden Company didn't just disappear for years to now show up waving a Targ red dragon banner...

They tried to invade three times before, twice landing in Westeros and once on the stepstones.

The Blackfyres can include an additional attempt in the second rebellion at whitewalls (mentioned in the quote) but the Golden Company wasn't involved.

I really don't see how it works as an analogy for the Golden Company or Blackfyres on even a basic level.

[Dorian Martell's son]

1 hour ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

The Golden Company didn't just disappear for years to now show up waving a Targ red dragon banner...

They tried to invade three times before, twice landing in Westeros and once on the stepstones.

The Blackfyres can include an additional attempt in the second rebellion at whitewalls (mentioned in the quote) but the Golden Company wasn't involved.

I really don't see how it works as an analogy for the Golden Company or Blackfyres on even a basic level.

The Golden company has not been seen in westeros in over a generation. That is going away black and returning red. 
As for not seeing it, that's too bad. It is pretty obvious  and it does not need the gymnastics of (f)Aegon to work 

[LiveFirstDieLater]

59 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

The Golden company has not been seen in westeros in over a generation. That is going away black and returning red. 
As for not seeing it, that's too bad. It is pretty obvious  and it does not need the gymnastics of (f)Aegon to work 

Wait how does it work without Aegon?

I get the idea that one head shows up later rusted red... but honestly if that's the extent of the metaphor, it's really poor.

The sign was chopped down in the first Blackfyre rebellion... so a bunch of pieces should have shown up since then.

Not to mention that is Aegon is descended from the female line of Blackfyres then he isn't really a Blackfyre at all and isn't in the line of succession.

[Dorian Martell's son]

2 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Wait how does it work without Aegon?

the changing allegiance of the golden company now that their reason for existing has died decades earlier 

3 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I get the idea that one head shows up later rusted red... but honestly if that's the extent of the metaphor, it's really poor.

Complexity =/= Better. Simplicity =/= poor 

4 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

The sign was chopped down in the first Blackfyre rebellion... so a bunch of pieces should have shown up since then.

 Have you ever dropped a lump of metal in a river? when you do we can revisit this bit 

4 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Not to mention that is Aegon is descended from the female line of Blackfyres then he isn't really a Blackfyre at all and isn't in the line of succession.

That is fan speculation to make the BF theory work. That is why the metaphor works better for the Golden company 

[LiveFirstDieLater]

10 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

the changing allegiance of the golden company now that their reason for existing has died decades earlier 

Complexity =/= Better. Simplicity =/= poor 

 Have you ever dropped a lump of metal in a river? when you do we can revisit this bit 

That is fan speculation to make the BF theory work. That is why the metaphor works better for the Golden company 

Wait so you aren't saying the black dragon head covered in rust represents the Golden Company switching its loyalty from Blackfyre to Targ?

because that is laugh out loud funny as both nonsensical and a really bad metaphor... it's still black iron under the rust.

why didn't they help Viserys?

I would agree that complexity is not requires nor is simplicity bad, but it has to make sense...

ive seen plenty of rusted metal... not sure where you are going with this... I was just pointing out that any Goldberg company metaphor should show their several failed attempts at returning to Westeros.

I simply either don't see the same metaphor or disagree, I think...

[Dorian Martell's son]

1 minute ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

Wait so you aren't saying the black dragon head covered in rust represents the Golden Company switching its loyalty from Blackfyre to Targ?

because that is laugh out loud funny as both nonsensical and a really bad metaphor... it's still black iron under the rust.

what is laughable is your attempt to put so much detail into a simple metaphor 

2 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I would agree that complexity is not requires nor is simplicity bad, but it has to make sense...

It does, unless you require literary symbology to be as complex as the actual story. If so, what is the point of metaphor?

4 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

ive seen plenty of rusted metal... not sure where you are going with this... I was just pointing out that any Goldberg company metaphor should show their several failed attempts at returning to Westeros.

Says you. 

4 minutes ago, LiveFirstDieLater said:

I simply either don't see the same metaphor or disagree, I think...

That is just fine 

[Jon Ice-Eyes]

.

[Springwatch]

I've no objection to the rusty dragon head being Dany - it could easily be the black Targ dragon covered in metaphorical blood.  Dany seems close to embracing her fire and blood nature - so if she lets rip and a lot of people end up dead, then a period of calm and reflection at the Quiet Isle seems to be a very good idea.

Brienne's party imagined more names for the Crossroads Inn - the 'Gallows Inn', the 'Orphans' Inn' and the 'Crossbow Inn'.

I don't know about 'gallows', but I'm reminded that our three dragon-heads are probably all orphans (I'm thinking of Dany, Tyrion and Jon). So it would be a nice touch if they met up at the Crossroads Inn, which is also a crossroads in their lives.