Jump to content

Dissecting Names


Lyanna<3Rhaegar

Recommended Posts

I know there have been threads on name meanings before but I couldn't find an open one. 

For as long as I can remember I've been interested in name meanings, so much so that it was hard for me to name my children without knowing their personalities. Reassured they are all named, although my daughter did almost leave the hospital without a name - but that was because I was so sure she was a boy I only had a boy name picked! 

At any rate I've often wondered about George's choice of names & if there is any meaning to them. I made an attempt at dissecting 'Rhaegar' & did find some interesting things & thought maybe some of you smart folks could tell me some about other names :)

I had a hard time finding any meaning for "Rha" other than words also starting in Rha like 

Rhapsody: Noun - in ancient Greece - an epic poem, or part of it, of a suitable length for recitation at one time. 

With Rhaegar's connection to music I thought that was interesting. I moved on to looking for "Rhae"

Rhae - girls name in Greek meaning "flowing" 

Ae - often replaced by 'e' in English like in demon

So I searched for "Rhe" but found nothing. 

Moved on to "gar"

Gar - a type of fish heavily armored with diamond shaped ganoid scales. Slow moving except when striking their prey. Prefer the shallow areas of rivers, lakes, & bayous. Native Caribbean used their scales for breastplates. Their eggs are highly toxic to humans. I know Rhaegar didn't give Lyanna his egg but he did give her his seed & it killed her. 

In middle English: spear, dart, javelin, shaft, arrow, weapon, arms

In Turkmen: Snow :lmao:

Other names intrigue me specifically 

Osha

Asha

The prefix "a" often means: no, not, without. Can also mean on, in, into, to

The only thing I could find for "o" was that it was a prefix meaning descendant in Irish family names. So what is Osha a descendant of that Asha is not? Not sure this is a very good connection but for what it's worth 

Sha means Urial which is an upland wild sheep with reddish brown, long hair that fades during the winter. 

I didn't get very far with these but maybe someone can shed some light in my direction:

Sansa

Sandor

Gregor

San according to the wikitionary means - mentally healthy or sane

Dor is archaic meaning mockery or scorn

I would love someone else's input on these names or any others! 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fun topic to speculate on!  :) 

11 minutes ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Gar - a type of fish heavily armored with diamond shaped ganoid scales. Slow moving except when striking their prey. Prefer the shallow areas of rivers, lakes, & bayous. Native Caribbean used their scales for breastplates. Their eggs are highly toxic to humans. I know Rhaegar didn't give Lyanna his egg but he did give her his seed & it killed her. 

In middle English: spear, dart, javelin, shaft, arrow, weapon, arms

In Turkmen: Snow :lmao:

We have multiple in universe variations on Garth names starting with Garth Greenhand, who is strongly tied to real world pagan concept of the greenman or green god.  Characters with a garth type name tend to be related to the themes of the cycle of life, death, rebirth, fertility and sacrifice.  Also movement between the worlds of life and death as he is a psychopomp. @LmL 's Mythical Astronomy of Ice and Fire goes into the significance of Garth names and IIRC does make a connection to the gar (fish) and spear.  Lommy Greenhands comes to mind and he took a spear to the throat.  I do remember he pointed out that a commonly used method for catching fish was called a weir or a fishgarth.  

32 minutes ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

I didn't get very far with these but maybe someone can shed some light in my direction:

Sansa

Sandor

Gregor

I did have my guess on this one.  Starting with Sansa. I don't think the meaning of the name itself is important.  I think he just wanted a soft-sounding name that went with the character's personality.  George does like to play around with couples with similar sounding names.  Tyrion and Tysha, Elys and Alys, etc...  What's important is the "dor."  I linked some attributes of Sansa's story to some aspects of the Norse goddess Freya, which literally means "lady."  Not all aspects, as Arya is also linked to Freya too.  Freya possessed a falcon feather cloak that shape-shifts the wearer.  Think of Sansa in disguise and protected under the falcon of Arryn.  Freya's husband,  Óðr,  (also considered another version of Odin) is someone she is mostly separated from as he has left her to go on a long journey.  She weeps tears of red gold for him.  There's an obvious red connection to Sansa and weeping as Alyssa's tears pour from the Giant's Lance.  The valley below the mountain is described as red and gold in autumn. as well.  She choses to wear a ribbon of autumn gold, which mimics Clegane colors of the three dogs that died in the autumn yellow grass.  It's the only time "autumn" is used to describe gold or yellow in the series.  And we know Sansa wonders what became of Sandor and still feels a romantic/erotic connection to him.  Freya has been accused of being lusty and promiscuous, usually by Loki who has some Littlefinger parallels.  As Sansa is now the bastard Alayne, there's also the stigma of being born of lust and having loose sexual morals.  As for Sandor's Odin /  parallels, there's both dying on / against a tree to be reborn with wisdom and knowledge.  Sandor is of course working through his issues on the QI.  Odin is a warrior-poet type god who does sometimes have a cruel streak.  They both have a special horse.  So my guess is the origins and connection between the names might be Sansa = Lady = Freya, Odin/ Óðr = Freya's husband.  Smoosh the names together.  San + Odin/ Óðr = Sandor, Sansa's husband, given two cloaks already by him.

AS for Gregor, I got a little guess too.  Sandor also shares some parallels or a reverse image of Brynden Rivers aka Bloodraven.  THere's half their faces marked: one with a port wine stain, the other burned.  BR's hair is straight and white, Sandor's is straight and black.  BR lost an eye due to his brother, Aegor Rivers, aka Bittersteel.  Sandor's scarring was caused by his brother Gregor, aka the Mountain.  The connection might not be a deep one but maybe George was recycling some of the similar ideas between brothers with a blood feud.  Gregor/Aegor have some similar enough sounding names.                         

Link to comment
Share on other sites

YAY! I love names... I am all for this!

2 hours ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Other names intrigue me specifically 

Osha

Asha

The prefix "a" often means: no, not, without. Can also mean on, in, into, to

The only thing I could find for "o" was that it was a prefix meaning descendant in Irish family names. So what is Osha a descendant of that Asha is not? Not sure this is a very good connection but for what it's worth 

Sha means Urial which is an upland wild sheep with reddish brown, long hair that fades during the winter. 

The thing with name elements is that in many of these cases, at least with "-sha" or just "-a", in our world it simply denotes a feminine version of a name, as in our world. For that reason, I really don't too put much stock in the suffix of names like "Asha" because it is probably a feminine form of a masculine name, like "Asher" or even simply "Ash". Same with Osha -- it could be a female version of, I don't know, "Osa", "Osgar" or "Osney", maybe?

Asha and Osha could have a similar etymology as "Os-" (Old English name element for "god") derived from "As-"  (the Germanic name element for "god").

The element of Asha's name that had been bolded, firstly, could have an easy source of the ash tree, as it yields one of the toughest and hardest woods of them all. Practically speaking, it was used for tools like axes and makes a good firewood. Spiritually speaking, the wood was thought to ward off spirits (handy, if you are using it for firewood). Ultimately, it is a nature-like name that denotes hardiness, toughness and resilience that fits her personality. Or, heck, the "god" link could world just as well. Or both! :)

Osha could come from loads of possibilities! Give that "-sha" by its name would force someone to merge letters, I think we can fairly expand the etymology of her name from a single "O-" to "Os-" or even "Osh-". Any of these have a lot of possible sources. One that sprung to mind when I was thinking of masculine versions of the name was the word "ouse", which is the name of several rivers and an element of a few town names in England. I believe simply to river stems. I also think "Os-" is an Irish root word for deer as I believe. Either way, nature-related name for a woman from beyond the Wall. Many of the women seem to be named for flowers, trees and objects in nature. To take another example, Ygritte was probably born out of similar names and words related to the "yew tree" -- infamously used in making bows. Dalla and Val are both probably as they sound, too: a dale/valley (though, I think there might be more to both of them personally! ^_^)

 

2 hours ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Sansa

Sandor

 

For the most part, I always presumed that Sansa could be related to names like "Sandra" and "Sasha" both of which come ultimately from "Alexander", which generally means "defender of men". Another possibility might be a twist on the name "Sanna", which comes from the naming element meaning "truthful".

Either way, it's is a pretty sounding name. :)

On reflection, looking at the name Sandor, it could have a similar source for its name. I think either Behind the Name or Wiki also note that the name Alexander can also be related to "helper of men" or "protector of men" as well. The aspect of "helping" and "defending" feels like it fits Sandor more than Sansa, given that he often ended up doing the "right thing" despite himself. Plus Sandor/Alesander doesn't feel like much of a leap. Many of GRRM's names feel like twists and creative spellings/variations on our own names.

Given that both names have "San-" in them then they might have been purposely linked as two names related to both to the Alexander element and the name element for "truth".
 

2 hours ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

I had a hard time finding any meaning for "Rha" other than words also starting in Rha like 

Rhapsody: Noun - in ancient Greece - an epic poem, or part of it, of a suitable length for recitation at one time. 

With Rhaegar's connection to music I thought that was interesting. I moved on to looking for "Rhae"

Rhae - girls name in Greek meaning "flowing" 

Ae - often replaced by 'e' in English like in demon

So I searched for "Rhe" but found nothing. 

 

It would be nice is Rhaegar's name was related to poetry! It would fit him so well!

The issue with Targaryen names is that I really, really couldn't know where to start with them! The spellings are the thing that drives me crazy as does their love "ae" and "y". Then there is the fact that I'm unsure where to look for real-life counterparts. I guess Greek and Roman?

So, I decided to just think of them as they sound rather than how they are spelt i.e. rae or ray as opposed to rhae -- that "h" is silent, after all. It could be related to the Irish name "Reagan" meaning "kinglet" (or "little king"), maybe. I also believe that the name Reagan is related to the Irish name Riodhgach, which means "Impulsive". I'm not confident in any of this even though the meanings really fit nicely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Faera said:

The element of Asha's name that had been bolded, firstly, could have an easy source of the ash tree, as it yields one of the toughest and hardest woods of them all. Practically speaking, it was used for tools like axes and makes a good firewood. Spiritually speaking, the wood was thought to ward off spirits (handy, if you are using it for firewood). Ultimately, it is a nature-like name that denotes hardiness, toughness and resilience that fits her personality. Or, heck, the "god" link could world just as well. Or both!

I like all your interpretations!  Especially with linking Asha to the ash tree, which is also linked to Yggdrasil.  Much of the concept of a weirwood probably comes from Yggdrasil, an ash tree mixed with Celtic animism.  Ash also fits well with the fire motif of the burning red leaves.  It also connects her to her brother Theon, whose name means godly and who is now heavily connected to weirwoods in the later part of his story.      

Spoiler

"Then do the deed yourself, Your Grace." The chill in Asha's voice made Theon shiver in his chains. "Take him out across the lake to the islet where the weirwood grows, and strike his head off with that sorcerous sword you bear. That is how Eddard Stark would have done it. Theon slew Lord Eddard's sons. Give him to Lord Eddard's gods. The old gods of the north. Give him to the tree."
And suddenly there came a wild thumping, as the maester's ravens hopped and flapped inside their cages, their black feathers flying as they beat against the bars with loud and raucous caws. "The tree," one squawked, "the tree, the tree," whilst the second screamed only, "Theon, Theon, Theon."

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Blue-Eyed Wolf I love threads that relate mythology to asoiaf but I am not very schooled on the subject. 

The shape shifting cloak is great! The parallels to Freya & Odin/Sansa & Sandor are fascinating. Maybe Sansa will get her own horse :)

@Widow's Watch that's exactly what I'm looking for! I'll have to play around with the meaning of serenade & see what kind of sense comes from it. 

@Faera Nice! I agree the Targ names are the hardest! I honestly never thought of looking them up the way they sound rather than actual spelling. We may get further that way! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Blue-Eyed Wolf said:

I like all your interpretations!  Especially with linking Asha to the ash tree, which is also linked to Yggdrasil.  Much of the concept of a weirwood probably comes from Yggdrasil, an ash tree mixed with Celtic animism.  Ash also fits well with the fire motif of the burning red leaves.  It also connects her to her brother Theon, whose name means godly and who is now heavily connected to weirwoods in the later part of his story.      

 

I was thinking much along the same lines regarding the link to the Weirwoods and Nordic mythology of Yggdrasil, too! ^_^

Oooo you raise an interesting point with the connection between Theon and Asha's names being related to the word for "god" and godliness that I hadn't thought of. It could even tie together the two readings I had for her name of with Asha = Ash tree = Yggdrasil/The Tree of Life = Weirwood = gods = "as-" = Asha, as well. I know I'm reading to much into it there but it brings her name full circle in my own head now and, as you say, ties in with Theon, too.

24 minutes ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Nice! I agree the Targ names are the hardest! I honestly never thought of looking them up the way they sound rather than actual spelling. We may get further that way! 

Aha, no problem! Considering how their names are spelt it really does take breaking down the names to a phonetic level sometimes to just get your feet off the ground. Rhaegar is actually relatively easy to simplify compared to some of the other Targ names!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve always suspected that the names Joffrey and Sansa were inspired by Jofré Borgia and Sancia of Aragon, who married each other at a young age for political reasons. I think I read somewhere that GRRM’s original plan was to have Sansa marry Joffrey instead of merely be betrothed to him  

Joffrey and Jofré are variants of Geoffrey, which means God’s peace. Well, Joffrey definitely wasn’t peaceful, so maybe this is GRRM making a joke. And some think Jofré Borgia killed one of his brothers for having an affair with Sancia.

Jofré (also spelled Joffre, Gioffre, Goffredo) had an older sister (Lucrezia) and another brother (Cesare) who were rumoured to be incestuous, and were possibly the parents of a Borgia child whose parentage was disputed. I think they somewhat inspired Cersei and Jaime’s relationship. Furthermore, their father was the notorious Pope Alexander VI, who could be the inspiration for Tywin. Alexander VI’s body rotted very badly in a chapel or something upon dying. AFFC makes it very clear that Tywin’s corpse is turning very putrid in the sept.

Quote
As the glass in the dome began to lighten, suddenly there were rainbows shimmering off the walls and floors and pillars, bathing Lord Tywin's corpse in a haze of many-colored light. The King's Hand was rotting visibly. His face had taken on a greenish tinge, and his eyes were deeply sunken, two black pits. Fissures had opened in his cheeks, and a foul white fluid was seeping through the joints of his splendid gold-and-crimson armor to pool beneath his body. 
The septons were the first to see, when they returned for their dawn devotions. They sang their songs and prayed their prayers and wrinkled up their noses, and one of the Most Devout grew so faint he had to be helped from the sept. Shortly after, a flock of novices came swinging censers, and the air grew so thick with incense that the bier seemed cloaked in smoke. All the rainbows vanished in that perfumed mist, yet the stench persisted, a sweet rotten smell that made Jaime want to gag.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GRRM definitely does have meaning in his names, but often I think to him more than to others.

He does use history so yes Jofrey and Sansa relate to Jeoffre and Sancia

Other names obviously have a mythological significance - Bran and Hodor are obvious and is Old Nan. The Freys too but possibly counter intuitive.

Some names sort of deliberately link to foreign parts of Europe  so Sandor and Gregor have a very Russian or Slavic feel.

He also uses Old Germanic/Saxon naming patterns so that within one family there will be Rickard and Rickon and Benjen and Benfrey and Lyanna and Lyara, Eddard and Edwyl.

 

My own thinking is that the MAIN characters represent Nordic or Welsh gods or heroes, so that the Celts worship the Old gods. we have Bran (Bran the Blessed), Arya (Arianwyn - welsh godess), Ned (Nudd or LLud), possibly Nay (Danu). Jaime also seems to be Nuada but it is complicated. Jon snow could well be Jack Frost

Nordic gods have suggestive names seem to by Tywin and tyrion (Tyr  god of war), Hodor (Hodr), Nan (Nanna) , Frey,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surnames can be symbolic or linked to the region of the family:

  • Arryn: high mountain in Hebrew, just like the Vale
  • Stark: to describe something bare or desolate, like the North
  • Frey: Freya is the Norse Goddess of fertility, Walder is clearly very fertile
  • Lannister: from the name Lancaster 
  • Martell: warlike, Dorne was the only region Aegon I couldn't conquer
  • Tully: flood, the Riverlands has a lot of water

Names are also symbolic:

  • Cersei: in Roman mythos the witch Circe murdered her husband
  • Lysa: Lyssa was the Greek Goddess of madness
  • Sansa: holy, most likely named after Sancia Borgia 
  • Jon: "gift from god", a hint towards him being Azor Ahai
  • Dany: no idea what Daenerys means but Dany is Hebrew for judge, and she passed judgement on the slave cities
  • Bran: raven, he's the three eyed raven
  • Joffrey: peaceful, irony because he insitgated a civil war
  • Tommen: twin, a nod to his true parentage 
  • Arianne: holy woman, named after Ariadne who defied her father only to be betrayed by the man she loved
  • Nymeria: nimer means tiger in Arabic, idk if that means anything
  • Steffon: crown, all three of of his sons crowned themselves king 
  • Rhae sounds like Roy/Rania which means king/queen :dunno:

Here's a rundown of other name meanings:

  • Margaery: pearl
  • Arya: noble
  • Catelyn: pure
  • Sarella: serene
  • Elia: light
  • Jaime: supplanter 
  • Robb: red haired 
  • Theon: untamed
  • Eddard/Edmure: guardian
  • Rickon: ruler
  • Stannis: stone
  • Brienne: strong, honourable 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Melisandre is an interesting one.

Melony means black/dark, which is ironic considering the things Mel spews.

I know Melisandre is a French name because I heard it enough times, but the interesting part in it is "sandre" or perhaps "cendre", which in turn reminds me of Cendrillon (Cinderella). Cendre means "ash" (from fire). 

For "Mel",

Mel is also a standalone name from the Gaelic Maol, meaning bald; this was used to refer to tonsured men to mean servant, as in "Maol-Iosa" - Servant of Jesus. (From wikipedia)

Melisandre is a servant of R'hllor who is the fire god. We know she has been alive for a very long time, so we don't know what her true appearance is. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Luddagain said:

Sandor and Gregor have a very Russian or Slavic feel.

I never thought about about this, but YES! 

Gor in Gregor's, same as in mine, comes from Slavic word gora which means mountain. It stands for someone who is big and strong. Also, it is first part of words for bitterburn and proud in some Slavic languages

I will do some research to see if I could find anything about name Sandor. It probably is from old Slavic, because I remember some similarities with old Slavic names I read in literature

 

EDIT: All Slavic names I found that have dor are from Byzantine or Latin, so I don't know.

Also, san means dream

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One from me; "-don" possibly a corrupted form of son in westeros.

We have Durran Godsgrief who married the daughter of gods, Elenei. His house is Durrandon so it possibly means "of X" or "X's son"

So all the Brandons we see are "of Bran" or "Bran's son". Which is interesting because if it is "Brandon" and not "Bran" the builder then it may mean that like Karstarks being a cadet of Starks, Starks can be a cadet of house Brandon. Or just that Brandon the builder's father was named Bran.

While I am at it, two more similar examples; "-ister" as in Lannister and "-ly" as in Casterly and Manderly.

Lannisters come from Lann the Clever hence their name. Caster was the father of Corlos who found gold in Casterly Rock, house is named after the father. Manderlys were from Mander.

Also this may just be a coincidence but in Turkish (and  other Turkic languages, with some small derivations) a suffix sounding similar to "-ly" means "of" and "from" and also possession.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Sansa

Sandor

I always wondered in Sandor was French...as in Sans D'or or "without gold"

 

If this worked it could bleed over to Sansa we might look at "a" which is to posses in latin so Sans a would be to have no possession (though this takes some gymnastics to get to)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Pikachu101 said:
  • Stark: to describe something bare or desolate, like the North

Strong in German as well.

Maybe that is a bit of Sansan foreshadowing. One member of House Clegane becomes a Strong, the other becomes a Stark.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite name-catch of late is @Daena the Defiant's interpretation of the origin of the name 'Targaryen' from the herb 'tarragon' ('the dragon's herb') which is highly likely considering GRRM loves his cooking (and eating)!

 

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

Strong in German as well.

Maybe that is a bit of Sansan foreshadowing. One member of House Clegane becomes a Strong, the other becomes a Stark.

That's good!

ETA:  Accordingly, Jon Arryn's last words 'the seed is strong' could mean 'the seed is Stark..'?!

 

3 hours ago, YOVMO said:

I always wondered in Sandor was French...as in Sans D'or or "without gold"

 

If this worked it could bleed over to Sansa we might look at "a" which is to posses in latin so Sans a would be to have no possession (though this takes some gymnastics to get to)

The idea of Sansa existentially being defined by a deficit, in other words being 'without,' is quite apt.  When she's brought before the king to give testimony in good faith in support of her sister, she pretends to be without a clue, pleading ignorance (i.e. without knowledge), claims she saw nothing (i.e. without (in)sight), and withholds testimony, abdicating responsibility in order to save face (sans a voice), basically betraying the truth (without integrity) and forsaking her family (without loyalty) -- this travesty directly leads to her losing her wolf.  Quintessentially, she is the Stark without a wolf.

In keeping with GRRM's musical motif, the sisters are characterised by names referring to respectively the 'sansa' (a thumb piano which is plucked by another!) and an 'aria' (an operatic solo for one voice, requiring no other accompanying voice or instrument).  The symbolism is not hard to work out (though it will infuriate the 'San-San posse' who will soon doubtless descend to deconstruct my dichotomy, sans mercy...;)):

Quote

Sansa (thumb piano)

The sansa is a plucked instrument consisting of a number of metal or split cane tongues over a wood board or box. The tongues are held in position by a cross bar, with one end of each tongue free to be plucked. Plucking is usually done with the thumbs, which has led some people to call this instrument a 'thumb piano'. Although occasionally found elsewhere, the sansa is primarily an African instrument. It is usually held in the hands or rested on the lap, and the player uses his thumbs or forefingers to pluck the tongues. The pitch of a tongue is determined by its length, which can easily be altered by sliding the tongue back and forward under the lateral bar. The longer the tongue, the lower the note. Often the board or box is decorated by carving or painting and sometimes the sound is modified by wrapping wire around each tongue to produce a buzzing effect when plucked.

In ASOIAF, GRRM uses the word 'pluck' to connote some form of manipulation or machination, according to the politics of which it is usually preferable to be the 'plucker' rather than the 'plucked' in the power equation...(indeed, 'pluck, pluck...it rhymes with...')!  Besides the musical connotations, a flower being plucked is a double entendre implying a girl or woman having been taken advantage of sexually, or at least, in Sansa's case, having been 'had' in the sense of conned by a con artist, if not literally a musician in the tradition of Bael.  A sansa is usually plucked by the thumbs and/or index fingers; however, in the book Sansa is currently 'under the thumb' of a 'little finger' named after a singer (Bael-ish) who longs to 'finger her' in every which way...(I swear I don't make this stuff up, and I haven't even gotten to your fecund rendition -- a tour de force -- of the 'seaman' hoisting the ravenous sails on the 'fat pink mast'...B))!  Continuing the 'grotesque song-and-dance' metaphor of which GRRM is fond (e.g. see Varamyr-Thistle, Cat at the Red Wedding, Viserys dying, and the captive Bran sees sacrificed to the weirwood in his 'Ur-vision' of the weirnet) Sansa not only sings his song, she dances to his tune like a puppet on a string...  Interestingly, 'Sansapologists' will usually counter any criticism of Sansa's choices with the curious defense that Sansa had no choice -- she is caught in the web woven by another, having no other option but to tremble in time to his beat, resonating with his every movement (the musician is also a conductor); like the 'sansa', her tongue is 'held in position by a cross bar' and 'wrapped around with wire,' so presumably she has no other choice but to sound the note struck. 

Quote

A Game of Thrones - Sansa II

He was mocking her, she realized. "No one could withstand him," she managed at last, proud of herself. It was no lie.

Sandor Clegane stopped suddenly in the middle of a dark and empty field. She had no choice but to stop beside him. "Some septa trained you well. You're like one of those birds from the Summer Isles, aren't you? A pretty little talking bird, repeating all the pretty little words they taught you to recite."

"That's unkind." Sansa could feel her heart fluttering in her chest.

 

Quote

"Music soothes him," she corrected, "the high harp especially. It's singing he can't abide, since Marillion killed his mother." Alayne had told the lie so many times that she remembered it that way more oft than not; the other seemed no more than a bad dream that sometimes troubled her sleep. 

AFFC -- Alayne II

 

Quote

I praised him to the skies, to be sure . . . whilst my men spread disturbing tales amongst Lord Tyrell's servants. That is how the game is played.

"I also planted the notion of Ser Loras taking the white. Not that I suggested it, that would have been too crude. But men in my party supplied grisly tales about how the mob had killed Ser Preston Greenfield and raped the Lady Lollys, and slipped a few silvers to Lord Tyrell's army of singers to sing of Ryam Redwyne, Serwyn of the Mirror Shield, and Prince Aemon the Dragonknight. A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.

ASOS -- Sansa VI

Harps like thumb pianos are plucked...implying that Littlefinger fancies himself as a musician pulling the strings...

Quote

"I have seen you in the nightfires, Victarion Greyjoy. You come striding through the flames stern and fierce, your great axe dripping blood, blind to the tentacles that grasp you at wrist and neck and ankle, the black strings that make you dance."

ADWD -- The Iron Suitor

 

Quote

Illyrio agreed, "but the world is one great web, and a man dare not touch a single strand lest all the others tremble

ADWD -- Tyrion I

If the world is a web which is plucked like a harp or thumb piano, then is Sansa a fly caught in a spiderweb?  Is Peter Baelish really a bird?

Quote

"Oh, surely." It all goes back and back, Tyrion thought, to our mothers and fathers and theirs before them. We are puppets dancing on the strings of those who came before us, and one day our own children will take up our strings and dance on in our steads.

ASOS -- Tyrion X

How fitting -- it all started in 'Riverrun' (itself an allusion to eternal returns or vicious cycles, given the Joyce reference) with a narcissistic wound carelessly inflicted by a kissed-by-fire summer child on a boy who, despite his lowly social status, considered himself a cut above the rest.  What began as a playful child's game becomes a bitter duel on the water stair evolving into a fullscale war on the national stage.  Now the next generation must dance and sing to pay the debt.  There is no end to the debt -- so the song must go on indefinitely -- as the wound is bottomless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Widow's Watch said:

This may not enter into what you are looking for @Lyanna<3Rhaegar, but Daenerys read backward is Syrenaed, so serenade. I remember reading this somewhere and I wish I could give someone credit for it. It's definitely interesting.

I do love the Rhaegar stuff, though.

 

"Daenerys" is also an anagram of "Ser Dayne"

Sarela backwards is Aleras

Bael is an anagram of Abel 

But these are nothing new!

7 hours ago, Blooddragon said:

I guess he will rule as Lord of Winterfell

But google what a Shaggy Dog Story is... I'm sorry in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

×
×
  • Create New...