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Does "The Long Night" threaten just Westeros? (Or also the rest of the world?)


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It's said all over the books that the long night was a catastrophic event affecting all of Westeros 8000 years ago, but was this ONLY a Westeros event or did it affect the rest of the world too?

I'm specifically asking because we always hear about seasons and harsh winter affecting only the northern and central parts of Westeros, while Essos and places further east/south (Qarth, Summer Islands, etc) don't seem to have much in the way of seasons. The places Dany visits in Essos don't seem to ever be affected by winter - in the slaver cities, people all run around naked or clothed in purely decorative clothes, and live in what seems like a middle eastern or even African climate.

So if the Long Night is prophesied to come again, why isn't this just something that Westeros and maybe the Bravoosi should be afraid of? Why does Melisandre go all the way from Asshai to Westeros to fight the Great Other? Why do the Asshai'i even know about this event at all?

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The Long Night was/would be an apocalyptic cataclysm on an unprecedented scale, threatening to cause the complete and total extinction of Man. So yes, I'd say it'd be something that affected the whole world, not just Westeros.

A better question would be if the long summers and long winters we keep hearing about are something that only affects Westeros. The Summer Isles, Sothyros, Slaver's Bay, and Qarth all seem to have tropical climates, and judging by their culture and fashion it really doesn't seem like winter is a problem for them. So are the ridiculously long seasons a localized phenomenon?

EDIT: I looked over your post more closely and noticed you already touched on some of what I was saying, so sorry if my answer was a little redundant. The only problem with your question is that it lumps the strange seasons in together with the Long Night. Even if they're related (and that's definitely not something we know for sure), they're still different events. Just because one doesn't affect the whole world doesn't mean the other wouldn't.

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The seasons affect the whole world, not just Westeros. As Winter approaches, we see ice on the canals of Braavos for the first time.

Therefore areas on Essos are affected by the seasons to the exact same extent that areas in Westeros on a similar latitude are affected. I.E. Braavos experiences the same winter as the Fingers, Pentos more or less the same as King's Landing, and Volantis more or less the same as Dorne.

It is a world wide phenomenon.

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Yeah, I agree with the rest of the world theory. But I'm sure some places like Dorne or the summer isles won't be as affected. Sort of how winter is awesome in California (sometimes it rains but never longer than a week, and we still get 80 degree Christmases) but sucks in the north like NY (people's roofs caving in, no one picks up shit from the floor so its all dogshit under the snow on the streets)

As for Asshai, the red priests have all kinds of crazy hoodoo and divining skills so that's probably why they know about the long winter. Maybe they care because it would affect the rest of the world. The others are like nuclear warfare the long winter is the nuclear winter. Everything dies.

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"Asshai by the Shadow."

Asshai seems to be far more south of anywhere we've seen so far, and originates the Red Faith of R'hllor. It's potentially and reasonably far warmer than the rest of Essos or Westeros.

All we know of the 'shadowlands' are Dothraki legends of killer, evil grass and darkened skies. That a religion worshipping fire came out of this place seems appropriate, but makes one wonder about their "Great Other," being actually related to the Westerosi Others. If winter does affect the rest of the world, it's probably far milder in Asshai, and it's possible that they didn't even experience anything close to the Long Night in the same way. Their ideas of 'great darkness,' night, and the other things Westerosi assume to be about winter may be something completely different.

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Hmmm I always thought the "Long Night" was just a worse version of the normal Northern Westerosi winter :)

There's the Westerosi legend of the Long Night, which IIRC was a very long winter in which the Others came crawling out of the north. This Long Night / long winter only ended when a legendary hero managed to kill or drive off the others.

My thinking was: You need winter to get the Long Night. If you get no winter you get no long night. Astapor/Mereen/Asshai don't seem to get winter (they're tropical places) so they don't get the long night either?

On a side note:

If this long night / long winter is something threatening to befall all of the world, and if cold and night go together, then the people of tropical climates would all die regardless of the "night" aspect, wouldn't they? If winter was to befall a tropical place like Astapor the people would all freeze to death since they don't have anything in the way of proper clothes, food stores or animals capable of surviving winter.

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Well, if I recall, parts of Dorne remain unaffected during Winter, so certainly southern Essos and the Summer Isles would not experience Winter as the Westerosi do. Perhaps they even consider the long summers a more dangerous period (with it relating to volcanic activity).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Even it The Long night killed every living being ONLY on Westeros I think we would have to conclude that this would greatly affect the rest of the world. Imagine people in Volantis, Pentos, Slavers bay etc, with no Arbor Gold to drink.....sad, sad thought.

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I'm going with the whole world, otherwise "The Relm of Men" and all things with warm blood and beating hearts would just take up being snow birds and fly south for the winter, let the Others bugger themselves for a bit and come back in the spring. No need for that whole freezing your privy filler up on that long block of ice.

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I'm of the opinion that while the Long Night affected the entire world, only Westeros had to deal with the Others.

The result is that for Essos, the Long Night was just an extraordinarily long winter in the very distant past. Because it didn't have the added terror of the Others to deal with, it has been largely forgotten in the thousands of years since. That's why there are virtually no references to the Long Night in Essos (aside from the faith of Rh'llor, which has the Azor Ahai legend).

It's certainly possible that if the Others were successful in defeating the First Men and Children of the Forest in Westeros, they would of crossed the Narrow Sea and launched an invasion of a pre-Valyrian Essos, but they were defeated before they got the chance.

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The long night affected the whole world, but it was worst in Westeros. The more north you are the greater the effect. If you check the map and compare the latitudes of Westeros and Essos, Westeros is more northerly, so it might explain why Westeros suffered more than Essos. The Others need the cold to thrive and it is comparatively warmer in Essos.

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Question Time!

Do the Others come because of the long night?

or does the long night come because of the Others?

also, if the long night comes because of the Others, how do they hide the sun?

is the Storm god and the Others working together to make snowstorms for the long night?

I feel like I need more time to think this through more...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well my theory is that the others have to wait for a long winter to rise again and then if they gain enough power than they can prolong the winter into the long night. I think after a long enough winter the oceans might freeze ove and the others are able to march on essos. Or perhaps they build boats or ride whales. But the winter IMO would eventualy reach the most southern and equaterial tips of the earth and th others would follow.

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Potentially southern Sothoros is close enough to the southern pole to suffer winters as severe as Westeros' North.

Sothoryos spans the equator. So unless Sothoryos is significatly larger than Essos, I doubt it reaches all the way down to the South Pole. I suspect it goes about as far down as Africa does in the real world.

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I want to remind people that the world of a song of ice and fire is not earth and may not be restricted to the physics, climate, and traites of earth. We try to relate this world to earth, but on earth the seasons are layed out, magic, dragons and others do not exist and people can not change bodys with wolves here. it is then possible that there is not south pole etc...

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