Wow, I never noticed that v.16

[Megorova]

4 hours ago, Seams said:

I saw him tear one man's arm from his shoulder

It's unlikely that that man survived. Ripped off hand, is a more serious trauma than a hand cut off by sword, and then when the stump is burned (like in Jaime's case), it stops the bleeding. But I don't think that people close to that guy, in a middle of battlefield had a time to burn his wound. Or to stop the bleeding in some other way, or to give any medical help to that guy at all.

@Walda, @Lost Melnibonean

All those other people are insignificant, even though they also have only one hand left. And Jon's hand is still where it should be burning it a bit, or loosing it entirely, are totally different things. How will he wield Lightbringer, if his sword-hand will be missing?

Also none of those people

(Ulf; that guy attacked by direwolf, most likely is dead; Donal Noye and Qhorin half-hand, both dead and were burned to prevent them turning into WW, so they won't return;  wighted Jafer Flowers was also burned, so we can cross him out; Jacelyn Bywater - it's unlikely that this guy will become someone significant, probably he's also already dead; and that one-handed guy from Second Sons, is in Essos, and I think that the Stranger will be someone from Westeros)

look like someone important (Jon still has both hands), that will become a bringer of death, because that's what the Stranger is - Death.

So if GRRM, while writting that scene about burning of godly statues, hid in it some clues, about certain characters, then those six people (yes, six. Because the Crone's burning wasn't described, as detailed as the other six) should be an important characters. And there was also one detail in common between burning of the Stranger's statue, and how Jaime described what he felt, after his hand was cut off.

This is from Jaime's chapter, next chapter after they cut off his hand:

"His hand burned.

Still, still, long after they had snuffed out the torch they’d used to sear his bloody stump, days after, he could still feel the fire lancing up his arm, and his fingers twisting in the flames, the fingers he no longer had."

And this is from that chapter, where statues were burning:

"Davos watched the hand of the Stranger writhe and curl as the fingers blackened and fell away one by one, reduced to so much glowing charcoal."

[Lord Asher Forrester]

On 07/03/2018 at 0:38 PM, Corvo the Crow said:

Also never noticed this

Huzhor Amai sounds way too similar to Azor Ahai

Huzhor Amai was born from the last Fisher Queen. Queen comes from the port-germanic kweniz which means woman.

Azor Ahai has a wife named Nissa Nissa. Nisa means woman in Arabic and according to wiktionary means water in Zapotec.

So Nissa Nissa could be "Water Woman" with the Fisher Queens being Fisher Woman, or Fish Woman perhaps.

So these two legendary figures are very likely to be one and the same. 

 

 

I don't think these two have are at least a little likely to be the same character, sice Huzor Amai had three wifes:

"Huzhor Amai (the Amazing), born of the last of the Fisher Queens, who took to wife the daughters of
the greatest lords and kings of the Gipps, the Cymmeri, and the Zoqora, binding all three peoples to
his rule. His Zoqora wife drove his chariot, it is said, his Cymer wife made his armor (for her people
were the first to work iron), and he wore about his shoulders a great cloak made from the pelt of a
king of the Hairy Men."

So where is the mention to his Gipps Wife???? And what she brings as gift of marriage if one made his armor and the other drove his chariot? Pearhaps a shield since:

"The Gipps were long-legged and wore lime-stiffened hair; in war they carried wicker shields." 

But i don't think so... I think the gift was her own life, to temper the High King sword, Lightbringer, obviously i am proposing the Gipps Wife would be Nissa Nissa. Now this is much more likely and logical, IF Huzor Amai is indeed the same as Azor Ahai as we think.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Quote

“Who comes to see us so early, Pylos?” Cressensaid.

“It’s me and Patches, Maester.” ... “Pylos said we might see the white raven.”

“Indeed you may,” Cressen answered. ... Her name was Shireen. ... “Maester Pylos, do me a kindness and bring the bird down from the rookery for the Lady Shireen.”

“It would be my pleasure.” ...

The fool turned his patched and piebald head to watch Pylos climb the steep iron steps to the rookery. His bells rang with the motion. “Under the sea, the birds have scales for feathers,” he said, clang-a-langing. “I know, I know, oh, oh, oh.”

Prologue, Clash

Since the sea and man’s struggle upon it often symbolizes life in literature, the phrase under the sea can be used to symbolize death. Patchface is describing dragons, and he is relating the dragons to death.

Quote

... “Sit with me, child.” Cressen beckoned her closer. “This is early to come calling, scarce past dawn. You should be snug in your bed.”

Prologue, Clash

And sure enough, here come the dragons...

Quote

“I had bad dreams,” Shireen told him. “About the dragons. They were coming to eat me.” The child had been plagued by nightmares as far back asMaester Cressen could recall. “We have talked of this before,” he said gently. “The dragons cannot come to life. They are carved of stone, child. In olden days, our island was the westernmost outpost of the great Freehold of Valyria. It was the Valyrians who raised this citadel, and they had ways of shaping stone since lost to us. A castle must have towers wherever two walls meet at an angle, for defense. The Valyrians fashioned these towers in the shape of dragons to make their fortress seem more fear- some, just as they crowned their walls with a thousand gargoyles instead of simple crenellations.” He took her small pink hand in his own frail spotted one and gave it a gentle squeeze. “So you see, there is nothing to fear.”

Prologue, Clash

This is interesting because the Cressen assumes that the girl fears that the towers of Dragonstonewill come to life, as several readers have theorized.

Quote

Shireen was unconvinced.

Prologue, Clash

Me too—the dragons hatched from stone in the last chapter of Game.

Quote

“What about the thing in the sky? Dalla and Matrice were talking by the well, and Dalla said she heard the red woman tell Mother that it was dragonsbreath. If the dragons are breathing, doesn’t that mean they are coming to life?”

... “The thing in the sky is a comet, sweet child. A star with a tail, lost in the heavens. It will be gone soon enough, never to be seen again in our lifetimes. Watch and see.”

Prologue, Clash

The thing in the sky heralds the return of the Dragons, war, and death.

Quote

Shireen gave a brave little nod. “Mother said the white raven means it’s not summer anymore.”

“That is so, my lady. The white ravens fly only from the Citadel.” .... “They are larger than other ravens, and more clever, bred to carry only the most important messages. This one came to tell us that the Conclave has met, considered the reports and measurements made by maesters all over the realm, and declared this great summer done at last. Ten years, two turns, and sixteen days it lasted, the longest summer in living memory.”

“Will it get cold now?” Shireen was a summer child, and had never known true cold. “In time,”Cressen replied. “If the gods are good, they will grant us a warm autumn and bountiful harvests, so we might prepare for the winter to come.” Thesmallfolk said that a long summer meant an even longer winter, but the maester saw no reason to frighten the child with such tales.

Prologue, Clash

A long summer has ended, a star is bleeding, and the cold breath of darkness is about to fall heavy on the world.

Quote

Patchface rang his bells. “It is always summer under the sea,” he intoned. “The merwives wear nennymoans in their hair and weave gowns of silver seaweed. I know, I know, oh, oh, oh.”

Prologue, Clash

Those gowns of silver seaweed under the sea were sacrifices to the Old Gods.

Quote

Shireen giggled. “I should like a gown of silver seaweed.”

Prologue, Clash

Poor Shireen...

Quote

“Under the sea, it snows up,” said the fool, “and the rain is dry as bone. I know, I know, oh, oh, oh.”

“Will it truly snow?” the child asked.

“It will,” Cressen said. But not for years yet, I pray, and then not for long. “Ah, here is Pylos with the bird.”

Shireen gave a cry of delight. Even Cressen had to admit the bird made an impressive sight, white as snow and larger than any hawk, with the bright black eyes that meant it was no mere albino, but atruebred white raven of the Citadel. “Here,” he called. The raven spread its wings, leapt into the air, and flapped noisily across the room to land on the table beside him.

“I’ll see to your breakfast now,” Pylos announced.Cressen nodded. “This is the Lady Shireen,” he told the raven. The bird bobbed its pale head up and down, as if it were bowing. “Lady,” it croaked. “Lady.”

The child’s mouth gaped open. “It talks!”

“A few words. As I said, they are clever, these birds.”

“Clever bird, clever man, clever clever fool,” said Patchface, jangling. “Oh, clever clever clever fool.”

Prologue, Clash

The storyteller is telling us to pay attention to Patchface.

Quote

He began to sing. “The shadows come to dance, my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord,” he sang, hopping from one foot to the other and back again. “The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord.” He jerked his head with each word, the bells in his antlers sending up a clangor.

Prologue, Clash

This might foreshadow Melisandre’s shadowbabies, but I don’t think it does, since the shadowbabies seem to be one and done so to speak. I think this alludes to the Others, or to the dragons, or to both, especially since it seems to be tied to Shireen’s dragons—note how she seems to grow smaller...

Quote

The white raven screamed and went flapping away to perch on the iron railing of the rookery stairs.Shireen seemed to grow smaller. “He sings that all the time. I told him to stop but he won’t. It makes me scared. Make him stop.”

Prologue, Clash

[Seams]

3 hours ago, Lost Melnibonean said:

Prologue, Clash

Since the sea and man’s struggle upon it often symbolizes life in literature, the phrase under the sea can be used to symbolize death. Patchface is describing dragons, and he is relating the dragons to death.

Prologue, Clash

And sure enough, here come the dragons...

Prologue, Clash

This is interesting because the Cressen assumes that the girl fears that the towers of Dragonstonewill come to life, as several readers have theorized.

Prologue, Clash

Me too—the dragons hatched from stone in the last chapter of Game.

Prologue, Clash

. . .

Of course, Shireen herself has scales from her childhood bout with grey scale. And the men at the Bridge of Dream who have greyscale are called stonemen. She may be afraid of her own (dormant) disease.

Rereading this, I see that GRRM wants us to think of Patchface as a particularly important fool, just as the white raven is bigger and more important than other ravens, and it carries a singular message.

As you point out, Patchface's messages about the sea seem to be about mortality and death. If Patchface is a "white raven" with a message about death, and Shireen has scales, what does it mean when the fool says, "'Under the sea, the birds have scales for feathers,' he said, clang-a-langing. 'I know, I know, oh, oh, oh.'?" Perhaps Shireen is also a bird? Or, as you also point out that dragons also have scales, is Shireen a dragon?

[Lost Melnibonean]

Wow, I never noticed that, according to Dunk in The Hedge Knight, hedge knights fought in battles more often than in tourneys. 

Oh, and compare the way Ser Duncan the Tall treated Egg when he first encountered Price Aegon Targaryen, taking him for a stable boy, and the way Prince Aerion Targaryen treated Dunk, taking him for a stable boy too. 

[Lost Melnibonean]

Compare this...

Quote

Prince Daeron knotted his cloak around his neck and pulled up the hood. Dunk followed him back out into the soft rain. They walked toward the merchants’ wagons.

“I dreamed of you,” said the prince.

“You said that at the inn.”

“Did I? Well, it’s so. My dreams are not like yours, Ser Duncan. Mine are true. They frighten me. You frighten me. I dreamed of you and a dead dragon, you see. A great beast, huge, with wings so large they could cover this meadow. It had fallen on top of you, but you were alive and the dragon was dead.”

“Did I kill it?”

“That I could not say, but you were there, and so was the dragon. We were the masters of dragons once, we Targaryens. Now they are all gone, but we remain. I don’t care to die today. The gods alone know why, but I don’t. So do me a kindness if you would, and make certain it is my brother Aerion you slay.”

The Hedge Knight

To this...

Quote

"Ser Jaime?" Even in soiled pink satin and torn lace, Brienne looked more like a man in a gown than a proper woman. "I am grateful, but . . . you were well away. Why come back?"

A dozen quips came to mind, each crueler than the one before, but Jaime only shrugged. "I dreamed of you," he said.

Jaime VI, Storm 44

And then to this...

Quote

"I dreamed of you, Ser Duncan. Before I even met you. When I saw you on the road, I knew your face at once. It was as if we were old friends."

Dunk had the strangest feeling then, as if he had lived this all before. I dreamed of you, he said. My dreams are not like yours, Ser Duncan. Mine are true. "You dreamed of me?" he said, in a voice made thick by wine. "What sort of dream?"

"Why," the Fiddler said, "I dreamed that you were all in white from head to heel, with a long pale cloak flowing from those broad shoulders. You were a White Sword, ser, a Sworn Brother of the Kingsguard, the greatest knight in all the Seven Kingdoms, and you lived for no other purpose but to guard and serve and please your king."

The Mystery Knight

But there’s also this...

Quote

"Good morrow, Hugor." Septa Lemore had emerged in her white robes, cinched at the waist with a woven belt of seven colors. Her hair flowed loose about her shoulders. "How did you sleep?"

"Fitfully, good lady. I dreamed of you again." A waking dream. He could not sleep, so he had eased a hand between his legs and imagined the septa atop him, breasts bouncing.

"A wicked dream, no doubt. You are a wicked man. Will you pray with me and ask forgiveness for your sins?"

Only if we pray in the fashion of the Summer Isles. "No, but do give the Maiden a long, sweet kiss for me."

Laughing, the septa walked to the prow of the boat. It was her custom to bathe in the river every morning.

Tyrion IV, Dance 14

[Corvo the Crow]

Young Ned(of the hill)'s (magnificent) seven killing White Bull's three symbolizing the Fot7 ending the 3 Headed Dragon is discussed before

Quote

Ned's wraiths moved up beside him, with shadow swords in hand. They were seven against three.

"And now it begins," said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass, alive with light. 

"No," Ned said with sadness in his voice. "Now it ends." As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death.

but I have never noticed:

Davos, a not so devout worshipper of the seven who turned a Worshipper of Stannis loses 4 of his 7 sons, 

Quote

Allard kicked at a stone. "The Others take our onion . . . and that flaming heart. It was an ill thing to burn the Seven."

"When did you grow so devout?" Davos said. "What does a smuggler's son know of the doings of gods?"

...

"I do not know this Lord of Light," Davos admitted, "but I knew the gods we burned this morning. The Smith has kept my ships safe, while the Mother has given me seven strong sons."

...

Davos sipped his ale to give himself a moment. The inn is crowded, and you are not Salladhor Saan, he reminded himself. Be careful how you answer. "King Stannis is my god. He made me and blessed me with his trust."

ACOK Davos I

"And who sent the wind? Salla, the Mother spoke to me."

The old Lyseni blinked at him. "Your mother is dead . . ." 

"The Mother. She blessed me with seven sons, and yet I let them burn her. She spoke to me. We called the fire, she said. We called the shadows too.

...

You are no true friend, I am thinking. When you are dead, who will be bringing your ashes and bones back to your lady wife and telling her that she has lost a husband and four sons?

ASOS Davos II

 

Seven is done and gone with fires of both Red Rahloo( DS totem burning) and Blackwater (Davos' 4 sons dying)

The Dragon Which has Three Heads will return.

 

Also several others, just theorizing for now;

 

1.If all the speculation/theorising of Ser Arthur still being alive and hiding somewhere it means 3 people survived the fight and not 2, meaning the Dragon is still there, just concealed.

1a This may be because of Stannis' Targaryen ancestry (not his grandmother but the hidden one, Orys).

1b It could also be that Jon is a hidden dragon where as the other two dragons are in plain sight (Dany and Stannis).

2. Stannis is one of the heads of Dragon, not just because he had Targaryen ancestry but because that claim was used when placing Bobbert on the throne.

3. Blackwater was the battle that removed the 7 from power and reinstated the 3(or uncloaked it which was just hidden) like ToJ removed 3 (but actually just send it into hiding) but two of Davos' sons are together and one is separated from them, squiring for Stannis.  

3a.This may be because Stannis and Jon, two dragons are now together and Dany is separated from them or

3b the 3 headed dragon coming out of hiding in the aftermath of Blackwater could mean that Jon will come out of hiding.

 

Dany slaying Stannis' lie not necessarily means slaying Stannis himself. As posted earlier, the king with the burning crown could just be Mance with his flamey wreath or Viserys with his molten gold crown.

 

[Corvo the Crow]

Quote

Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . .

This is Daario, probably on the prow of an ironborn ship, Since Euron wants Dany as his bride.

 Danaerys has three possible husbands just before she marries to Hizdahr; Hizdahr, Daario and Quentyn.

Of these three, Daario is the one smiling the most, Quentyn almost never smiles. Hizdahr has placid eyes, Daario's eyes are described as Bright Blue. She ends up marrying Hizdahr but if I recall marriage is not consummated.

Quote

Dany found herself stealing looks at the Tyroshi when her captains came to council, and sometimes at night she remembered the way his gold tooth glittered when he smiled. That, and his eyes. His bright blue eyes.

 

So this ship could also be her ride to dread.

[Lost Melnibonean]

2 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

This is Daario, probably on the prow of an ironborn ship, Since Euron wants Dany as his bride.

 Danaerys has three possible husbands just before she marries to Hizdahr; Hizdahr, Daario and Quentyn.

Of these three, Daario is the one smiling the most, Quentyn almost never smiles. Hizdahr has placid eyes, Daario's eyes are described as Bright Blue. She ends up marrying Hizdahr but if I recall marriage is not consummated.

So this ship could also be her ride to dread.

Daenerys's marriage to Hizdahr was consumated.

The corpse with bright eyes is Daario Naharis. 

The mount Daenerys must ride to dread is her dragon, Drogo, the Black Dread, Balerion, come again. 

[Yukle]

I never noticed the title of the upcoming volume A Dream of Spring implies that the novels will end while it is still winter... and therefore, once the chaos is completed, the survivors must live through the pain of probably not surviving the winter anyway.

Either that, or the novels end with just about everyone dead but a bittersweet glimmer of the sun on the horizon.

[Lost Melnibonean]

3 hours ago, Yukle said:

I never noticed the title of the upcoming volume A Dream of Spring implies that the novels will end while it is still winter... and therefore, once the chaos is completed, the survivors must live through the pain of probably not surviving the winter anyway.

Either that, or the novels end with just about everyone dead but a bittersweet glimmer of the sun on the horizon.

I suspect that the final battle will correct whatever preternatural event that threw the seasons out of balance long ago. 

[Yukle]

On 16/03/2018 at 0:05 PM, Lost Melnibonean said:

I suspect that the final battle will correct whatever preternatural event that threw the seasons out of balance long ago. 

There’s an intriguing thought.

[Corvo the Crow]

Quote

I would need to steal her if I wanted her love, but she might give me children. I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall. I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister's son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly's boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We'd find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance's son and Craster's would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb.

 

ASOS Jon XII

Quote

… but then somehow he was back at Winterfell again, in the godswood looking down upon his father. Lord Eddard seemed much younger this time. His hair was brown, with no hint of grey in it, his head bowed. "… let them grow up close as brothers, with only love between them," he prayed, "and let my lady wife find it in her heart to forgive …"

ADWD Bran III

Jon being Ned 2.0

[Seams]

There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of the morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said.

AGoT, Bran I

So Bran heard what Gared said to Ned before the beheading, but he didn't remember much of it. There were twenty people in the group accompanying Ned to see "the King's Justice" administered. Presumably a number of them, older than seven-year-old Bran, would have remembered what was said.

We assume Gared deserted because he knew what happened to Ser Waymar Royce and Will. Isn't it fair to assume that he explained all this to Lord Stark before his death? A little while later, Benjen Stark comes to Winterfell to be part of the feast for King Robert. Doesn't it seem likely that Ned would have said something to Benjen about Gared, and the reason Ned felt compelled to execute him? If Ned didn't talk about it, wouldn't one of the other twenty (including Jon Snow and Robb) have said something to Benjen?

Yet Benjen's first mission, upon his return to Castle Black, is to go out looking for Waymar Royce.

Does Benjen know what Gared knew? Does Benjen know he is looking for a wight?

[Alexis-something-Rose]

4 minutes ago, Seams said:

There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of the morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said.

AGoT, Bran I

So Bran heard what Gared said to Ned before the beheading, but he didn't remember much of it. There were twenty people in the group accompanying Ned to see "the King's Justice" administered. Presumably a number of them, older than seven-year-old Bran, would have remembered what was said.

We assume Gared deserted because he knew what happened to Ser Waymar Royce and Will. Isn't it fair to assume that he explained all this to Lord Stark before his death? A little while later, Benjen Stark comes to Winterfell to be part of the feast for King Robert. Doesn't it seem likely that Ned would have said something to Benjen about Gared, and the reason Ned felt compelled to execute him? If Ned didn't talk about it, wouldn't one of the other twenty (including Jon Snow and Robb) have said something to Benjen?

Yet Benjen's first mission, upon his return to Castle Black, is to go out looking for Waymar Royce.

Does Benjen know what Gared knew? Does Benjen know he is looking for a wight?

This whole thing somewhat boggles the mind, I find. 

When we get Tyrion's POV at Castle Black, Jeor Mormont tells Tyrion that the "fisherfolk near Eastwatch have glimpsed white walkers on the shore" (Tyrion III, AGOT 21)

So there's already this awareness that there's something that's not kosher going on beyond the Wall.

The kicker comes from Qhorin with regard to Benjen's thoughts.

"The cold winds are rising. Mormont feared as much. Benjen Stark felt is as well. Dead men walk and the trees have eyes again. Why should we balk at wargs and giants?" (Jon VII, Clash 53)

Did Benjen felt those cold winds rising before he left Castle Black or after he came back and left on his ranging? I think that part of Benjen's mission beyond the Wall was to find out what happened to Waymar Royce. The other part was to verify the white walkers rumors.

[Alexis-something-Rose]

This might be unimportant, but it's an interesting connection.

Barristan Selmy saves Lady Jeyne Swann and her septa from the Kingswood Brotherhood. (Jaime VIII, ASOS 67)

Lady Ravella Smallwood who is a Swann by birth is assisting the Brotherhood without Banner and tells us in Arya IV, ASOS 22, that she sent her daughter to Oldtown to her great-aunt who is a septa at one of the motherhouses. 

It's interesting that GRRM connected two Swann ladies to two outlaw bands.

[The Fattest Leech]

6 hours ago, Seams said:

There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of the morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said.

AGoT, Bran I

So Bran heard what Gared said to Ned before the beheading, but he didn't remember much of it. There were twenty people in the group accompanying Ned to see "the King's Justice" administered. Presumably a number of them, older than seven-year-old Bran, would have remembered what was said.

 

I love this observation

6 hours ago, Seams said:

 

We assume Gared deserted because he knew what happened to Ser Waymar Royce and Will. Isn't it fair to assume that he explained all this to Lord Stark before his death? A little while later, Benjen Stark comes to Winterfell to be part of the feast for King Robert. Doesn't it seem likely that Ned would have said something to Benjen about Gared, and the reason Ned felt compelled to execute him? If Ned didn't talk about it, wouldn't one of the other twenty (including Jon Snow and Robb) have said something to Benjen?

Yet Benjen's first mission, upon his return to Castle Black, is to go out looking for Waymar Royce.

Does Benjen know what Gared knew? Does Benjen know he is looking for a wight?

This is such an irksome issue, isn't it? This is also an ongoing issue within the story as a whole. I think that the next chapter we get may answer part of your question here. It seems that the rumors it was "wildlings" is what is driving this fear. Whether or not the info got all mixed up in Gared's fear laden translation of accounts, or someone else claimed "wildlings" first, I don't know, but Ned seems to think it is wildlings. This, to me atleast, makes it plain that the author is taking the first step to illustrate how rumors cause a whole lot of misinformation to happen within the story. We readers just saw the Others, but in-story it is based on "wildlings", the derogatory term for free folk.

A Game of Thrones - Catelyn I

"He was the fourth this year," Ned said grimly. "The poor man was half-mad. Something had put a fear in him so deep that my words could not reach him." He sighed. "Ben writes that the strength of the Night's Watch is down below a thousand. It's not only desertions. They are losing men on rangings as well."

"Is it the wildlings?" she asked.

"Who else?" Ned lifted Ice, looked down the cool steel length of it. "And it will only grow worse. The day may come when I will have no choice but to call the banners and ride north to deal with this King-beyond-the-Wall for good and all."

6 hours ago, Widow's Watch said:

This whole thing somewhat boggles the mind, I find. 

When we get Tyrion's POV at Castle Black, Jeor Mormont tells Tyrion that the "fisherfolk near Eastwatch have glimpsed white walkers on the shore" (Tyrion III, AGOT 21)

So there's already this awareness that there's something that's not kosher going on beyond the Wall.

The kicker comes from Qhorin with regard to Benjen's thoughts.

"The cold winds are rising. Mormont feared as much. Benjen Stark felt is as well. Dead men walk and the trees have eyes again. Why should we balk at wargs and giants?" (Jon VII, Clash 53)

Did Benjen felt those cold winds rising before he left Castle Black or after he came back and left on his ranging? I think that part of Benjen's mission beyond the Wall was to find out what happened to Waymar Royce. The other part was to verify the white walkers rumors.

Very well could be because the men at the Wall are the closest to the truth.

[HexMachina]

I think Gared could have told Ned exactly what he saw. But Ned, as many others would, dismissed it as nonesense and didn’t think it worth troubling his brother with the ramblings of a Mad deserter

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

On 18-3-2018 at 1:19 PM, Seams said:

There were questions asked and answers given there in the chill of the morning, but afterward Bran could not recall much of what had been said.

AGoT, Bran I

So Bran heard what Gared said to Ned before the beheading, but he didn't remember much of it. There were twenty people in the group accompanying Ned to see "the King's Justice" administered. Presumably a number of them, older than seven-year-old Bran, would have remembered what was said.

We assume Gared deserted because he knew what happened to Ser Waymar Royce and Will. Isn't it fair to assume that he explained all this to Lord Stark before his death? A little while later, Benjen Stark comes to Winterfell to be part of the feast for King Robert. Doesn't it seem likely that Ned would have said something to Benjen about Gared, and the reason Ned felt compelled to execute him? If Ned didn't talk about it, wouldn't one of the other twenty (including Jon Snow and Robb) have said something to Benjen?

Yet Benjen's first mission, upon his return to Castle Black, is to go out looking for Waymar Royce.

Does Benjen know what Gared knew? Does Benjen know he is looking for a wight?

“He was the fourth this year,” Ned said grimly. “The poor man was half-mad. Something had put a fear in him so deep that my words could not reach him.”

I think Chapter 2, Catelyn I makes it clear that, if Gared had told Eddard what had happened, it was either not taken seriously (the poor man was half-mad), or a rambling that none could make sense of (and thus, could not report it back to the NW).

And that Gared told Eddard what he had seen is not even certain. Although Bran states that "questions were asked and answers given", he does not state who answers here. Are the questions directed at Gared, or at the men who have captured him and present him to the Lord of Winterfell for the King's justice? I suspect that the answers were given by the men who brought Gared forth, as Eddard himself implies that Gared himself was no longer capable of answering anything with a coherent reply. 

[Seams]

7 hours ago, Rhaenys_Targaryen said:

“He was the fourth this year,” Ned said grimly. “The poor man was half-mad. Something had put a fear in him so deep that my words could not reach him.”

I think Chapter 2, Catelyn I makes it clear that, if Gared had told Eddard what had happened, it was either not taken seriously (the poor man was half-mad), or a rambling that none could make sense of (and thus, could not report it back to the NW).

And that Gared told Eddard what he had seen is not even certain. Although Bran states that "questions were asked and answers given", he does not state who answers here. ...

 

On 3/18/2018 at 3:00 PM, The Fattest Leech said:

... the author is taking the first step to illustrate how rumors cause a whole lot of misinformation to happen within the story. We readers just saw the Others, but in-story it is based on "wildlings", the derogatory term for free folk.

A Game of Thrones - Catelyn I

"He was the fourth this year," Ned said grimly. "The poor man was half-mad. Something had put a fear in him so deep that my words could not reach him." He sighed. "Ben writes that the strength of the Night's Watch is down below a thousand. It's not only desertions. They are losing men on rangings as well."

"Is it the wildlings?" she asked.

"Who else?" Ned lifted Ice, looked down the cool steel length of it. "And it will only grow worse. The day may come when I will have no choice but to call the banners and ride north to deal with this King-beyond-the-Wall for good and all."

In GRRM's writing, some phrases stand out. He is a fluid writer but, once in awhile, he uses a phrase that doesn't sound like normal conversation or that stands out in some slightly awkward way. To my ear, the sentence singled out by @The Fattest Leech and highlighted by @Rhaenys_Targaryen, above, is one of those awkward phrases that calls attention to itself. How often is Ned that poetic? Is there any other place in the books where someone uses the phrase, "for good and all"? So let's take a closer look.

1) Ned doesn't say that Gared's words were incoherent. He says that his (Ned's) words could not reach him (Gared). Technically, Gared was not able to hear Ned (or that Gared refused to listen to Ned) but Ned doesn't say that he was unable to understand Gared. Fwiw.

2) Arya tells us over an over that fear cuts deeper than swords. I think there is some wordplay going on in Ned's sentence. There is wordplay on words / sword. Ned may be saying that fear had already (symbolically) beheaded Gared - Ned's "sword" could not reach as deep as the "cut" already made by fear.

3) Bran and Ned have a conversation after the beheading: "Bran thought about it. 'Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?' 'That is the only time a man can be brave,' his father told him." Maybe Gared wasn't brave; maybe he was just 100% afraid. But what we know of Gared from the prologue and this advice from Ned makes me think that Gared was brave, even though he had been frightened by the fate of Will and Ser Waymar. (My suspicion is that Gared didn't actually desert: he came south deliberately to find Ned and inform him of what he saw.)

4) Ned doesn't really answer Catelyn's question directly. We assume he is talking about Mance Rayder and the wildlings. If you read his words a different way, he could be talking about Old Nan's story and a reenactment of the Lord of Winterfell riding to Castle Black to kill the Night's King. I think he's deliberately dissembling. I think he knew what Gared saw and he either didn't want to alarm Catelyn or he didn't want anyone to know about the looming threat of the Others.

5) If Ned knew what Gared had seen, I suspect he let Benjen go on the ranging without full knowledge of the threat he would be facing. Ned may have played a role in killing his own brother.

But I don't know why.