Evolett

Just spotted these cool observations on lemons and lemoncake by @Lost Melnibonean

Some thoughts in connection with the runes on Illyn Payne’s new sword: While looking at female swords – Dark Sister and Lady Forlorn, I realized that Dark Sister pretty much describes Visenya, who first wielded it. Now, Visenya and Arya also share many characteristics and in particular, Arya is a very Dark Sister. So that got me wondering whether Rhaenys and Sansa (who also correlate), neither of whom had/have special swords, can also be described in terms of a female sword. Lady Forlorn, currently owned by Lyn Corbray fits the bill for both. Both Rhaenys and Sansa have the ‘forlorn’ surrounding them, Rhaenys dying alone in Dorne and Sansa was left forlorn and alone in King’s Landing. There is one more forlorn lady I’ll come to in a bit. Sansa’s wolf Lady may also be a nod at Lady Forlorn and this is where Ice comes in. Lady was Ned’s last execution before he was executed by Ilyn Payne. Note the wordplay here: Illyn/Lyn. It’s quite monstrous to be executed with one’s own sword, especially a Valyrian steel sword wrought with magic and sacrifices. I think Ser Illyn felt haunted after the execution and the reason for the runes on Ser Illyn’s new sword is protection from the revnant (either Ned’s or that of the sword). We recall that swords keep the ghosts of the kings of winter within their tomb – in the days of runic writing, the runes probably served this purpose (as on Tristifer Mudd’s tomb). Whatever the case, together, the runes and the wordplay on Illyn/lyn lead to the Corbrays and Royces (who also owned Lady Forlorn for a short while) and of course to Sansa. Sansa notes Lady Forlorn looks like Ice, the steel a dark smoke-grey. There was also a correction to the World Book regarding the sword’s Valyrian origins – apparently, Valyrian steel should not have been part of the description. This means it’s likely not a Valyrian Steel sword. In fact, it failed against Blackfyre. However, Blackfyre and Dark Sister can be regarded as a pair and I think Ice and Lady Forlorn are also a pair – Ice the male and Lady Forlorn its female partner. Lyn Corbray says she has a thirst for a drop of red and I really like this because it’s so full of meaning. A ‘drop of red’ could be blood, wine or simply a drop of colour. Aside from the killing aspect, her thirst could be a drop of blood to turn her into a Valyrian steel sword, a drop of colour pointing to the reforging of ice. When Ice is melted down, the smith tries to colour the sword with red colouring but the steel doesn’t take to it uniformly. Nevertheless, it ripples red and black. Perhaps Ice does not need the colouring because it’s already been infused. Anyway, Ice is melted down into Oathkeeper and Widow’s Wail and the plot kind of thickens here because we have another pair parallel, methinks. The Royce’s ancestral sword ‘Lamentation’, lost at the Storming of the Dragonpit could correspond to Widow’s Wail while Oathkeeper, now in Brienne’s possession could be considered a female sword and pair with Lady Forlorn. Brienne herself is another forlorn lady for a number of reasons. The men who spurn her, her love for Renly whom she lost, her seeing him in Gendry etc (reminds me also of the Sailor’s wife hoping for her lost husband). Of course Brienne has sworn to find Sansa (literally her sworn sword - har!) which brings us back in a circle to Lady Forlorn. Last not but least, when you leave the ‘a’s out of Lyanna, you get Lyn. And Lyanna was one forlorn lady. The whole thing tells a story which needs to be unravelled. I began looking into female swords because I have the feeling Jon is meant to wield a female sword rather than the more conventional theories regarding Dawn etc. Some speculation here: if Blackfyre turns up with fAegon and Jon ends up in battle against him, he must have a sword capable of withstanding Blackfyre. Lady Forlorn once failed against Blackfyre, but with a 'drop of blood' she might be the answer to that same sword. Lyanna needs avenging in my opinion, (I'm not in the R+L=J camp) and what better sword than Lady Forlorn with a drop of blood for that purpose? Not much on the runes but more wordplay – so far runes/ruins remain a bit of an enigma to me. ETA - forgot to add that Lady Forlorn has a red heart pommel! Just hoping she isn't thirsting for Sansa! ETA - Actually, being female, she would be thirsting for a man's blood. Harry the Heir seems like the perfect candidate, red Hair and all. :-)

There's definitely a connection between drowned and crowned with extensions to gold/cold, skulls and lemons and I think you're quite right about the correlation between a king being crowned a king being doomed. Further, it all relates to rising from the dead. To take Renly as an example: he is first crowned and later drowns on his own blood after the shadow-attack: The king stumbled into her arms, a sheet of blood creeping down the front of his armor, a dark red tide that drowned his green and gold. More candles guttered out. Renly tried to speak, but he was choking on his own blood. All of him drowns, including his armour. Later he returns as a ghost to lead a host (ghost/host). Jon likely drowns on his own blood as well. It's not that clear because the first wound is said to graze his neck but perhaps the cut went deeper than he realized because after that he seems to go numb, not being able to draw his sword: He cut me. When he put his hand to the side of his neck, blood welled between his fingers. “Why?” Tying this to Renly - Like Renly he returns from the grave but with a difference - his return is physical. He also drowns and has never been crowned. And I'll throw this in to complete the picture - Jon Snow, having returned from the grave, is (will be) Lord of (G)Hosts. Patchface's case is similar to Jon's - he drowns first and then is crowned, crowned with his ridiculous clanging hat. In one of his pronouncements he states : 'under the sea, men wear no hats', essentially - the drowned wear no crowns. So it seems rising in the flesh is only possible if one drowns before being crowned. Crowned/drowned also appears to include gowned. From Jamie's dream: In his dreams, the dead came burning, gowned in swirling green flames. Jaime danced around them with a golden sword, but for every one he struck down two more arose to take his place. It gets quite complex because crowns are also associated with skulls. Volantene Honors have a crowned king on one side and a skull on the other, linking crowns with death and again implying a crowned king is a dead king. Bittersteel's skull is gilded gold, comparable with Visery's molten gold crown - gilding a skull or a head is reminiscent of preservation (think of tarred heads). So again we have this idea of crowns and gold linked to preserving life in one form or other. This brings me to the gold/cold hand as in Symon Silver-Tongue's song: ..Hands of gold are always cold but a woman's hands are warm... Hands of gold are also deathly - Tyrion strangles Shae with a chain of hands of gold. Coldhands is a wight with cold/(gold?) hands. Gold/cold hands are possibly associated with males (Jamie, Coldhands, Tywin's chain of gold hands) and with a 'cold' raising where the flesh is in a state of preservation without any vital processes (re Jamie's dream - golden hand, golden sword - rising dead). I like @Isobel Harper's thoughts on lemons and truth, lemons/lemore/moredane. I'd add lem(ore) - gold ore, yellow gold. With all these links between gold and cold, I'm wondering if Lem Lemoncloak is meant to contrast Thoros or Beric and a 'warm' raising of the dead. The Lord's Kiss is a kiss of fire that contributes to reviving Beric and is linked to 'a woman's hands are warm', the mermaid's kiss that restores Patchface, the woman's kiss that restores the stony Shrouded Lord as well as the kiss that revives the whispering heads (restores speech and wits). The GoHH wants a kiss from Lem, saying his mouth will taste like lemons while hers tastes like bones. She's as old as the hills and complains: “My hair comes out in handfuls and no one has kissed me for a thousand years. I'm not sure how to interpret this. Could be she wants to curb the aging process with a preserving kiss from Lem? If Lem is Lonmouth, the knight of skulls and kisses, does this mean there's a cold kiss (kiss of death) as well as a warm kiss (kiss of life)? Or perhaps the the kisses are warm and the GoHH wants a new infusion of life? I just looked up House Lonmouth - their words are "The Choice Is Yours" so perhaps this is a clue to skulls as death and kisses as life. Still, would this be a warm or a cold raising? Mel sees Patchface with bloody red lips in the midst of skulls in one of her visions. Hmm. I've associated Lemore with Lemure (monkey with Valyrian features - purple eyes and silver fur) and also with ghosts - if I recall, Lemures are thought to be the spirits of the dead. In Malagasy culture lemurs, and animals in general, have souls (ambiroa) which can get revenge if mocked while alive or if killed in a cruel fashion. Because of this, lemurs, like many other elements of daily life, have been a source of taboos, known locally as fady, which can be based around stories with four basic principles. A village or region may believe that a certain type of lemur may be the ancestor of the clan. They may also believe that a lemur's spirit may get revenge. Alternatively, the animal may appear as a benefactor. Lemurs are also thought to impart their qualities, good or bad, onto human babies.[165]In general, fady extend beyond a sense of the forbidden, but can include events that bring bad luck. (source) Actually, because of the Valyrian connection and the spirit reference, I think Lemore is Ashara Dayne. I have a couple more for you: juggle/smuggle The most obvious connection to me is Davos smuggling Mel into Storm's end to birth a shadow (he essentially smuggles a shadow) and the exchange between Ser Alliser and Jon regarding juggling - specifically Jon teaching Ghost to juggle: Ghost smuggles a ghost (Jon's shadow or perhaps an ancestral shadow back into Jon - something along those lines. Bael/bail Baelor/bailer Baelor bails Aemon the Dragonknight out by releasing him from his cage prison. Bael the Bard bails the Starks out by providing Brandon the Daughterless with an heir. Actually this one is really interesting. I'm working hard at it at the moment.

Need to go to bed so just a quick one: The defense angle suits Doran quite well. In contrast to Oberyn, he's defensive, lies low (the grass that hides the snake) and bides his time. His overripe melon joint is at bursting point, which may coincide with his latest plan re Arianne and Aegon. With Sansa and Dontos it's interesting that she suggests having his 'teeth pulled' which matches with her love for lemon-cakes that ruin the teeth.

@Isobel Harper I found the link:

I'm not sure I can bring the two together meaningfully but perhaps there are a few interesting things about lemons, melons and weapons that I can share: Since lemons are associated with dental health and teeth with swords (e.g. Lion's Tooth, in wolf-dreams/warging swords, spears and daggers are 'teeth), lemons could generally represent swords or else the means that keeps the weapon sharp. There's some support for this in the text - many who drink unsweetened lemon-water are associated with important swords: Mormont / Longclaw - Stannis / fLightbringer - Darkstar who calls himself Sword of the Evening and would no doubt like to wield Dawn. Yezzan also falls in this category but there's no sign of a sword around him. Citrus fruits including lemons are thrown at Doran Martel as he enters Sunspear by a mob demanding war: Others farther back let fly with lemons, limes, and oranges, crying “War! War! To the spears!” One of the guards was hit in the eye with a lemon, and the captain himself had an orange splatter off his foot. Cersei drinking lemon juice despite her aversion to it may be figuratively honing her aggression, keeping her wits sharp so to speak. The connection between lemons and weapons (perhaps also wordplay here) extends to obsidian: “The maesters say it comes from the fires of the earth. They call it obsidian.” Mormont snorted. “They can call it lemon pie for all I care. If it kills as you claim, I want more of it.” Sam stumbled. “Jon found more, on the Fist. Hundreds of arrowheads, spearheads as well …” Obsidian/dragonglass is 'lemon pie' which kind of makes sense considering both obsidian and pies are not pure but contain 'inclusions'. The next citation is directly relates lemon pies to Aegon the Conqueror and to dragons And Cersei began to cry. Tyrion Lannister could not have been more astonished if Aegon the Conqueror himself had burst into the room, riding on a dragon and juggling lemon pies. Ageon is more likely to be 'juggling' a valyrian steel sword - thus perhaps the pie (moon) represents the meteoric iron while dragonglass gives it an extra sharp edge. Then of course there is Dany's lemon tree and this: “I’ll take that wager, Ser Alliser,” Jon said. “I’d love to see Ghost juggle.”.. I don't really see the same imagery around lemon cakes, which in any case are sweet and likely to ruin the teeth. Sometimes they are served with frosted sugar - icing, making them even more of a health hazard as far as dental health goes. The only thing I noticed is a posibble (lemon) tart/Tarth connection: Though not mentioned anywhere, Brienne is very much a sour lemon doing her best to find Sansa the tart (lemon-cake), perhaps to prevent her from losing her 'teeth'. Melons As per the discussion about fruit grenades earlier on, melons fall into the 'grenade' category. Almost every mention describes them as sweet, ripe and bursting. In Dontos case, as part of a morningstar, it's an identifiable weapon and also a comet reference, especially since it actually 'orbits' on a chain. The connection, or rather contrast between the melon and lemon may be Dontos himself. Dontos means 'teeth' in Greek. He was a knight who 'lost his lemons', his teeth, had his knighthood and sword taken away and turned into a fool by Joff on Sansa's suggestion. One could take this further - he arrives at the tourney late, drunk and without his pants, exposing his 'lemons', which are taken away. Indeed, stripping him off his knighthood is akin to stripping him off his manhood. But without the 'lemons' as a honing agent and in his capacity as a fool, he joins the ranks of 'lackwits'. Bereft of a sword, the toothless Dontos defends Sansa with his morningstar melon. Sansa knows his actions are not an attack but an attempt to defend her by making Joff laugh. Everyone else thinks it's funny but he doesn't. She thinks of him as her Florian in this scene as well, which fits quite well because St. Florian is the patron Saint of Firefighters. Dontos tries to defend Sansa by extinguishing the flames of Joff's wrath.Three important Melon Scenes are associated with laughter (the above and the two dwarf-performances) and serve as a contrast to the sour lemon water drunk by other characters. In conclusion, lemons are related to teeth, sharp piercing weapons and a means to improve their sharpness, obsidian and dragons, perhaps also to wits/intelligence and masculinity. Melons are akin to grenades, explosives and may be associated with defense, like the wildfire employed to defend KL. Perhaps also a lack or covering up of intelligence. There may also be a male/female thing going on here as in lemons/testicles, melons/breasts.

Just a quick reply for now: I suspect the connection between bats and dragons is navigation. Have you ever wondered how dragon riders manage to steer their dragons? There are no saddles or bridles involved as far as I know, nor do I remember reading anything about commands. Of course it could be telepathic but if the Valyrians really engineered dragons, then providing for a means of controlling them in the air seems logical. The basis for this might be something along the lines of echo-location, though I tend to think the latter has been modified to involve light absorption via the eyes rather than sound. Tyrion's and Bran's special saddles may also be a hint at this form of navigation/control over the destination of a dragon. I discussed some aspects of this on another thread a while ago. I'll try to find it and post the link.

I like this idea. Coming to think of it, Davos does manage to leave the 'birth canal' to be reborn on the Spears of the Merling King and his sigil happens to be a very moon-like onion on a black night field. He makes his way back to Stannis who together with Mel wants to rebirth dragons from stone. This also sounds very plausible. I have to think about the rune/ruins connection. What spontaneously comes to mind is the use of runes in magic, specifically their possible use as a ward. In relation to the swords, perhaps they are meant to protect the user from the spirits of the dead. Payne is executioner, his job is to kill so it would make sense for his sword to be adorned with protective runes against the vengeful dead. This brings me to the previous discussion on swords/wards/stewards which I found very intriguing. After some thought, I suspect Theon is indeed a 'magical' ward. Consider this: Theon is Ironborn and like the iron swords which keep the spirits of the Kings of Winter in their graves, he may serve in that function or something similar. There's the saying that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell. Bran was the last 'Stark in Winterfell' as well as the 'Prince of Winterfell'. Theon names himself Prince of Winterfell which may put him on a par with Bran - also, even after taking over Winterfell, he has not officially been released from his status as a ward - technically he is still a ward. The idea is strengend by the scene with Jon and Ghost, where Ghost serves as a sword/ward in the bed between Jon and Ygritte. The parallel here is Theon, who is also a 'Ghost s(ward) in Winterfell'. So in the absence of the Starks, Theon may be the presence that upholds the ward. His wanderings around Winterfell also evoke a sentinel on patrol. Now, Ramsay's efforts to turn him into Reek may represent the attempt to break the ward by taking away his identity. This may be the reason why Theon is 'no longer a man' and why the show includes his emasculation. By Ramsay's treatment, Theon becomes a 'stewed' ward, (or his manhood does). Symbolically, Theon loses his sword and is no longer a ward. But it's probably not as simple as Ramsay thinks because personal identity is not that easy to remove. First, the Boltons need Theon to be Theon in order to lend legitimacy to the fArya wedding. Roose thus restores his identity and then Theon is reminded of his name by Bran himself. Bran, in his capacity as a greenseer looking through the eyes of the heart tree is himself a 'Ghost in Winterfell'. Theon then escapes as Theon, leaving Winterfell unwarded at a crucial time when winter is vehemently setting in around Winterfell. Perhaps the Perfumed Seneshal is related to this. Since Jon is associated with sweet smelling blue winter roses, Dany sees the blue flower vision, coupled with the fact that he was a steward before he became LC, I've been thinking that Jon is the perfumed seneshal. Arya also mentions 'stinky-sweet' stuff - perfume that Lady Smallwood's maids dumped on her. So this is possible but considering that the whole point about the Selaesori Qhoran is the emphasis on stinky and fragrant (Fragrant Steward / Stinky Steward), Theon is also a likely possibility. He was a 'fragrant' ward who liked to dress in nice clothes and adorn himself with jewellery and was turned into a stinky 'stewed ward'.

I found a mention of it in a genetic database where it was listed as a gene that was discovered while trying to trace the movement of populations in Europe. Nothing more was stated in the source, only that it is very rare indeed. As I stated, I've not been able to find any more info on the subject.

Some of my observations on Joffery's dove pie include the parallel to the Qarth legend of the advent of dragons - the moon breaking apart to release dragons. the pie being the moon. Incidentally, the scene with Butterbumps and Sansa also appears to mirror this legend. In this case, Butterbumps himself is a representation of the sun via his weight and roundness, the yellow 'butter' in his name that suggests the colour of the sun, the 'bump' that suggests bumping into the moon and the feathers that he breathes out of his nose, which suggest flames. In this case Sansa is asked to crack open an egg (the moon) which releases several chicks (moon is egg, wife of sun). Sansa is the one who 'hatches' the moon egg which in turn suggests that like Dany, she is possessed of an inherent genetic ability to hatch dragons. When Butterbumps gobbles up one of the chicks, little Lady Bulwer is distressed but to her delight, the chick reappears via her sleeve. I find this particularly interesting because the Bulwer gene represents a very rare gene, one that is present in only 0.4% of populations worldwide. Unfortunately, it's been really difficult to find more information on this gene. So in this scene we have what I term 'visual wordplay' in addition to a play on words with the egg standing in for the moon, Butterbumps for the sun etc. Butterbumps himself sings to cover up the conversation between the Queen of Thorns and Sansa. This is possibly a clue to the origins of 'singing' as a product of fire. @wolfmaid7's establishes a link between singing and the bonding process between human and familiar animal in her post on Those who Sing - in short, the 'singing' of both dragons and wolves establishes a bond between human and animal. In this Butterbumps scene, singing also serves to conceal a conversation between two people, one of whom may be a 'dragon hatcher'. So 'singing' may be synonymous with stealth or camouflage, concealment as well. And indeed it is. For in the case of a warg who bonds with his familiar animal, we have the element of concealment at work - a human in wolf-form will go unnoticed, but be able to observe what is going on at a given location - he essentially becomes a spy (pie/spy). Getting back to Joffery and his dove-pie: the dove and pigeon belong to the same family but are different species. The doves that fly out of the pie flap from the windows and the rafters. They are not said to sing, but the musicians play a tune and Joffery and Maegery dance. Doves are a symbol of peace, something that is difficult to reconcile with Joffery. The dove is most noted for bringing back an olive branch to Noah after the great flood, which signified the end of the flooding period. However, we still have the imagery of the Qarth legend in evidence here. The question is, does the wedding scene really represent the Qarth legend? The following gives me cause to pause: Widow's Wail, forged from Ned's sword Ice is not the right sword for slicing the pie. Widow's Wail itself seems to be a reference to Nissa Nissa who was pierced by Azor Ahai's sword, into which her strength and soul went, imbibing it with magical properties. Instead of using the Valyrian Steel sword, Joff commands Ser Illyn to hand over his sword and on paying attention to the description, I can't get over the feeling that Ser Illyn's new sword is a representation of a comet. Ser Illyn himself is depicted in terms of a ghost. In fact, the pie from which the doves fly is a cold pie. I examined the 'Sing a Song of Sixpence' song in connection with these scenes a while ago and searched until I found the actual recipe of such a pie. It is a cold pie, baked in advance of including the birds, because obviously, live birds cannot be baked into a 'Hot Pie'. The birds do not sing but their flying is accompanied by music. I'm still ruminating on what this means but it serves as a distinction to the hot spiced pigeon pie served to the guests, of which Tyrion receives a piece. The hot pigeon pie stands in contrast to the cold dove pie. Arya's companion Hot Pie is a cook, specifically a baker who produces hot pies. Included in the 'hot pie' category is the pie that Tyrion eats as well as the Rat Cook's and Frey pies. These pies contain a jumble of ingredients - hot and spicy and are more a match for the dragon metaphor, even though there is no visible sign of dragons being present (or I have not noticed any). Let us not forget that pigeons were famous for their function in transporting messages - work that is carried out by ravens in the books. And though the ravens are alive, they are inhabited by the souls of dead 'singers'. So we could extrapolate that the 'hot pies' nevertheless contain entities that are able to 'sing', ie to impart knowledge or to send messages, i.e. the breaking of the taboo of cannibalism that took place on account of the Rat Cook's actions led to the ability to impart knowledge in this manner (dreaming, prophecy?) and all these are related to fire - the fire of the sun. I hope you can follow my train of thought . While we are on the subject of singers, Tyrion has a singer killed and this man is turned into 'singer stew' and eaten by unsuspecting persons who may then acquire said ability for prophecy etc.? So to take this further, what does Joff's opening of the pie actually represent? I'll have to draw on LmL's astronomical theory which postulates the involvement of a comet that broke the planet's second moon here. The guests served the hot spicy pigeon pie most likely get a slice of the hot fire moon that was broken. That too had to be cut up to be served as slices. Joff's cold pie could thus be a representation of the moon that still exists. It may have been hit by a comet as well but was not completely shattered. Instead, 'white doves' which could be interpreted as white meteors, or pieces of that moon that 'flapped' to earth, one of which was the 'star' that Dawn was forged from, the other being the 'Pearl' the first god-emperor of the dawn sat on. Perhpas the scene is also meant to represent the first or second forging of Lightbringer. To continue with the visual wordplay going on is the matter of dogs. Joff demands that Tyrion ride the pig, to which Tyrion replies that he will ride the pig, but only if Joff rides the dog. This identifies Joff with the dog and Tyrion with the pig. Tyrion himself later rides Penny's pig. Interestingly, a black dog sniffs at Joff's dead body after his gruesome death. Given that Joff's sworn sword is the Hound, a dog, this seems significant. Additionally, Dany is intent on revenge against the 'Usurper's Dogs', a list which includes the Lannisters. Joff is thus a 'dog' and his death draws the attention of a real dog. Joff is however more of a 'mad dog' of the type symbolized by Gregor, unpredictable and vicious. His own releasing of the doves (a symbol of peace) puts an end to his short lived era and indeed his sworn sword Sandor leaves his service before these events. Gregor himself is 'tamed', partially due to the Oberyn's poison and the efforts of Qburn who transforms him into a more controllable version and member of the KIngguard. Joff's release of the 'peace doves' that coincide with his death thus seems to herald the advent of peace in at least one area: the realm is free from the atrocities of the boy king. Now, I you ask me, I would say there appears to be a connection between the white doves that Joff releases, the white ravens that announce the change of seasons, the advent of a controllable loyal 'dog' and the white walkers that appear in winter. Additionally, 'pie in the sky' = moon in the sky... I discovered that GM has actually left hints to the use of puns and word play in the person of Patchface. I'll post that here if you are interested.

@sweetsunray Thanks for the extended details on the Norns. My feeling is the author has modelled the sewing theme / weaving destiny theme on both the Norns and the Fates. Its also interesting that a hart (white hart/deer) nibbles at the Ygdrassil tree (heart tree). I see a connection here to the role of the CotF, Garth the Green, antlered men and the Horned God, possibly further based on "The Mists of Avalon": "‘The Tribes of the fairy folk, and all the Tribes of the North, have been given a great leader, and the chosen one will be tested by the ancient rite. And if he survives the testing-which will, to some extent, depend on the strength with which the Maiden Huntress can enchant the deer-then he will become the Horned One, the King Stag, consort of the Virgin Huntress, crowned with the antlers of the God. Morgaine, I told you years ago that your maidenhood belongs to the Goddess. Now she calls for it in sacrifice to the Horned God. You are to be the Virgin Huntress, and the bride of the Horned One. You have been chosen for this service.’"

I do love your very insightful and detailed analyses of Martin's texts . I agree that Jon is done with his black cloak and on rising, will fully embrace his 'white cloak, his white shadow' who is not only Ghost the Direwolf, but a literal ghost, an ancestor, up until now resident in the wolf and who will be reborn in him. Sounds crackpot, I know. Anyway, while Dany is 'fire', Jon Snow is 'snow/ice'. I was quite surprised by my own conclusion upon investigating the genetic significance of blue winter roses. They represent another form of frozen fire and Jon Snow, Lord Snow is indeed living frozen fire, presumably impervious to the Others, with enough 'immunity' to tackle them when the occasion arises.

I hadn't thought of the colour scale and like your thoughts on that. I also find it significant that the Greyjoys are 'Grey Joys'. Given that there seems to be a link between the Shrouded Lord who offered a boon to anyone who could make him laugh and the Grey King of the Ironborn, it's rather interesting that Theon was a particularly happy 'Greyjoy'. He was noted for always smiling, named his horse Smiler as well. Ramsay essentially drives all the joy out of him, turning him into a sad caricature of his former self. Also, the name 'Theon' means 'untamed' or an 'untamed' man in French and in Greek it means Godly. Reek of course is a bad smell and this is what Ramsay reduces Theon to, but 'Reek' also means a plume of smoke or a vapour. The latter could mean that Theon may be sacrificed to the fire after all but actually, I think there's more to that meaning of Reek than meets the eye. As far as 'untamed' and 'godly' are concerned - this seems to indicate that Theon may be the 'godly' man to eventually seat the Seastone Chair and I think it's obvious that Ramsay did not fully succeed in 'taming' Theon.

'Sewing' and 'sowing' are very important to the backstory. Both relate to magic in terms of the mythological 'weaving' of magic as practiced by the Greek Fates. The Fates were three crones who controled the mother thread of life of all mortals from birth to death. They spun destiny from the moment of birth and each had a role in the weaving process. Similarly the Norns of Norse mythology had the task of shaping destiny by weaving it into a web or tapestry of life. They lived within the Well of Urd (the well of wisdom) beneath Yggdrasil (equivalent to a weirwood heart tree) and practiced the magic of seidr exclusive to women. Odin sacrificed his eye to drink from this well of wisdom - he additionally acquired the means to practice the magic of seidr normally exclusive to women. We have several characters associated with weaving, sewing, embroidery and related arts in the story. Sansa via her ability to sew, Arya on account of her Needle and Mel for her ability to 'weave' light for magical purposes. I have a theory that all this sewing and weaving is intimately related to magic and that it originally sprang from the Fisher Queens of the Silver Sea whose wisdom and capacity for magic (specifically for magically utilizing light), not only extended the life of the gemstone emperors of the dawn but also greatly enhanced the fertility of the land (sowing), making it possible for the empire to prosper and the people to live in 'peace and plenty'. It's a bit difficult summing up all that here but I have three essays that deal with the subject in detail. The Fisher Queens of the Silver Sea in my Pearl Inheritance series more or less brings all my findings and thoughts together. It's thus interesting that Tyrion was in charge of sewers and that he himself sews and rather enjoyed the process. Like Bloodraven, who mirrors Odin, Tyrion also appears to possess the magical ability to 'sew' and being in charge of 'sewers' actually also puts him in charge of the female 'sewers and weavers' possessed of this inner magic. Indeed, he is married to and was thus 'in charge of' Sansa and is now on his way to Daenerys, another 'weaver' of magic, whom we expect he shall guide in some way. The pun on the word sew in relation to sewing and sewers becomes evident, when we consider the wise Fisher Queens who ruled a water based kingdom but were (in my theory - yet to be completed), exploited, degraded and more or less exterminated, their benevolent magic corrupted for dark purposes by later rulers of the Empire. Tyrion putting the sewers in order, restoring water flow etc. is a pointer at his role in setting past wrongs right. The sow (the pig) is likewise related to all this in two ways - part one of my pearl study reveals that major pearl-wearers in the story are also 'weavers' and these young girls and women have been literally 'cast before the swine'. Pigs are thought of us unclean, which feeds into the 'sewer, all the shitty, stinky stuff and unclean water theme (think also pale mare in which Tyrion is involved and which arrives to plague Dany and her people). In the biblical sense, casting pearls before the swine meant offering the gospel to people incapable of understanding it; thus the metaphorical swine trample upon the pearls of wisdom in offered to them, disappointed that they are not given what they want: acorns. Tyrion and Penny feed the sow what she really wants - acorns. They do not offer the pig 'pearls' she neither wants nor understands. I would say both Penny and Tyrion are doing the right thing, at least metaphorically, though I am not quite sure what the 'right thing' is yet. I'll just add that 'sowing' in terms of agriculture, fertility of the land and producing enough food for the population are kind of hidden underlying themes. Recall Tyrion is not happy about the 77 courses planned for Joffery's wedding. Note the Tyrell's (as heirs to the Gardener's and thus to Garth the Green) role in producing and providing an abundance of food and Maegery's wish to give the poor the leavings of the feast as opposed to Cersei's callous attitude and her thwarting that of that wish. Of course the Ironborn also 'do not sow', they fish or steal the produce of others instead.

Having fire in addition to the snow and all the mayhem would have been very difficult in terms of filming, methinks. The solution was to aim at the wights heads which is I think is a good alternative. There's good reason to believe the wights are controlled via their blue eyes so aiming for the head/eyes to destroy them makes sense. We do get a few scenes of direct hits to the eyes. Ep 8 wins hands down this season. I really enjoyed it. Loved the white walkers, especially the young one. Great job by the make-up artists. I found the last scene kind of pregnant with meaning - I think there's more to that particular white walker than we realize.