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[ADWD SPOILERS] Prologue p. 3-15 US HC


Brewmaster

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There were no Others there , only wights. Some are wearing tattered remains of clothes, some naked, and some in black. Hence some are wildlings and some are men of the Nights Watch who fell at The Fist of the First Men.

Thistle bit off her own tongue when Veramyr tried to take control of herself , it would not be rediculous to assume she did the same to her eyes. Whats interesting is that even though her eyes are gone , the blue is still glowing from the sockets. The power that transformed them is deep within their body!

As someone else pointed out , i thought the most interesting thing about this prologue is that Varemyr does not mention his own body. Sure it would be frightening to see Thistle as a wight and have her recognize him, but I would be more concerned about my own body coming to life, yet there is no mention of it. Can wights not be resurrected if there is no spirit inthe body ? The fact that Thistle notices him signifies that some past memories and thoughts still inhabit their brains. Interesting stuff!

Overall my favorite prologue so far. I love the wargs and Bran is my most revered character. Cannot wait to know more !

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  • 1 month later...

I enjoyed the prologue,interesting that they all seem to involve a death by magic or some kind of magical creature. I wonder if it will end with all these kings and factions who are warring against each other having to band together to fight the wights/Others in order to keep them from taking over the entire kingdom.

I love Bran too and can't wait to see him back in this book.

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  • 1 month later...

Here I am! Finally reading A Dance with Dragons! I'm so glad I didn't have to wait as most of you did, since I just started reading the series this year. I really enjoyed the prologue and learning more about warging. Hearing that Jon Snow is likely a powerful warg was very cool and seems to confirm the abilities that all of the Stark children have to warg. If they hadn't killed Grey Wind at the Red Wedding, I'd suspect Robb would be living his second life. I would like to see Sansa bond with an animal and discover her abilities. Arya has already warged Nymeria as well as a cat in Braavos, though she doesn't seem to be aware that she's doing it. I imagine she and Jon will develop their talents as Bran has.

Varamyr, what in interesting character! Such an abomination! The description of him eating the people and the baby was oh so disturbing and the idea of him having sex as a wolf, also intriguing. Never thought I'd ever wonder about that. I found it interesting that a person absorbs the traits of each animal they enter. I wonder if this is why Sixskins has become so perverse. He's just got such a mix of animal essences inside him and he's lost touch with his humanity. I suspect that he did kill his brother, but not on purpose and I imagine that the event started the decline of that humanity. Either that or he didn't kill him, and the fact that his parents thought he did and abandoned him screwed him up. I hope Bran can keep his head about him. He showed signs of losing interest in his own broken body, preferring to be Summer.

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  • 2 months later...

First off I am a long time lurker, and didn't find this board until after reading the entire series. After seeing everything I missed the first time through, I realized a second read is at least necessary, and planned on paying much more attention to small things this time around. Anyways before even reading this thread, my take from the prologue was that Varamyr warged into the Weirwood,. Am I totally off there?

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First off I am a long time lurker, and didn't find this board until after reading the entire series. After seeing everything I missed the first time through, I realized a second read is at least necessary, and planned on paying much more attention to small things this time around. Anyways before even reading this thread, my take from the prologue was that Varamyr warged into the Weirwood,. Am I totally off there?

Since you read the entire series, but not everyone in this topic did (since it's still reading) I'll put it in spoilers (concerning a later Bran chapter).

Since Bran was able to warg into weirwoods I actually think you are right.

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First off I am a long time lurker, and didn't find this board until after reading the entire series. After seeing everything I missed the first time through, I realized a second read is at least necessary, and planned on paying much more attention to small things this time around. Anyways before even reading this thread, my take from the prologue was that Varamyr warged into the Weirwood,. Am I totally off there?

It seems as though he did for a moment at least. IIRC he exulted about being in the ground with the burrowing worms, in a squirrel, in a hare and in an owl (it might have been different creatures, but he made clear he felt as though his spirit was in several things). He ended up in one his wolfs though (One-Eye, the alpha I believe), with the wight's looking at it as if they knew he was in there.

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  • 3 months later...

This is almost thread necromancy I know, but hey I just started reading ADWD and her are my notes..

Best prologue after ACOK for me..amazing how GRRM can fit so many things in a chapter without over-exposition and his trust his readers makes me respect him a lot. This was also obvious in AFFC, he intentionally avoids spoonfeeding readers in AAFC and I love that book for that,, never understood the hate for it. Hopefully ADWD will be like that too.

An interesting point for me was learning warging *the gift* doesn't pass from father to child. So it is most likely isn't "blood related" which makes all Stark kids being wargs some big exception. (yes Sansa lost her wolf early and we never had Robb POV but I suspect if we did we would see he was a starter warg too).

Also, did Varamyr saw a Children of Forest riding an elk while he merged with everything in that brief moment? That would be the first time we officially see Children still exist?

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Sansa really missed out since Lady was killed off so fast but Robb and Grey Wind are referenced a lot of times as fighting in tandem. I always enjoyed reading the rumors soldiers were saying about Robb either riding a wolf into battle or transforming into one. The way Grey Wind goes wild outside during the Red Wedding I thought also showed that Robb was definitely doing some skinchanging. Never getting his perspective leaves us in the dark into how much he understood about the process though.

Just started reading this book Sunday so I am greatful for your necromantic actions, cuthbert. This prologue really gave me the desire to just dive right into this one.

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  • 3 months later...

I had a few thoughts during my recent re-read of the prologue.

1. That it must be possible to resist someone warging into you. Thistle seemed to overcome six-skin's attempt to enter her.

2. Wargs controlling other people, not just animals, will probably become an important part of the last 2 books.

3. Are the others directly controlling the wights (like a warg controls someone/something) or is there another kind of resurrection power at work in them?

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Just a couple of things I found interesting in the prologue:

1.

"The freefolk fear skinchangers, but they honor us as well. South of the Wall, the kneelers hunt us down and butcher us like pigs."

Who are these kneelers? I wonder if they have something to do with the reinstatement of the Faith Militant we see in AFFC. Why exactly do they hunt down wargs? They must find them as some kind of threat or maybe they fear the unknown.

2. I found the weirwood focus in this chapter important. It seems like they're some kind of conduit between this life and the next.

The white world turned and fell away. For a moment it was as if he were inside the weirwood, gazing out through carved red eyes as a dying man twitched feebly on the ground and a madwoman danced blind and bloody beneath the moon..."

Can anyone expand on these ideas as I found them to be pretty important.

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  • 1 year later...

Just a couple of things I found interesting in the prologue:

1.

Who are these kneelers? I wonder if they have something to do with the reinstatement of the Faith Militant we see in AFFC. Why exactly do they hunt down wargs? They must find them as some kind of threat or maybe they fear the unknown.

Isn`t `kneelers` just wildling slang for `people south of the wall`? As in people that kneel to lords/maester or superiors in general, thereby mocking the social structures south of the wall.

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