Melifeather

I disagree that Bowen Marsh had anything to do with the Pink Letter. He never hid his disapproval of LC Jon Snow's actions, so I think a man that never hid his feelings would never be part of a hidden conspiracy. I think ultimately he was a man that would follow orders. Yes he was part of Jon's stabbing, but that was because he thought Jon was abandoning his post for a personal vendetta. In Bowen's eyes, he's not a mutineer. He's defending the Watch. Melisandre told Jon that he had many enemies, but that his true enemies smiled to his face and sharpened their knives behind their backs. Bowen never smiled to Jon's face, so I don't think he was a true enemy. I think the wildlings are only pretending to be Jon's friend. They are the ones Jon needs to watch out for. Actually, it's too late. They are already through the Wall and spread along the base of the Wall in the castles. I am expecting to read about white walkers south of the Wall near the beginning of Winds. Edited to add: Bowen Marsh doesn’t know who Reek is nor have any way to know who he is.

Not yet.

A Song of Ice and Fire does reveal its secrets after a second and third reading. I think its because we're more sensitive to certain key words after forum discussions that our attention gets drawn by passages that we barely considered the first time around. Regarding the Pink Letter...even after watching the video, I don't think Mance can be eliminated simply by saying he wouldn't know which ravens know how to fly to the Wall. Why wouldn't he? He was raised by the men of the Watch since he was a small boy. Surely the ravens wear bands that designate the places they are from? Real life homing pigeons wear a metal band secured to their leg indicating their home roost. A man of the Watch would probably know that - at least what the band of a Wall raven would look like. I think the biggest clue in the Pink Letter is Mance's description. It states that he's hanging naked in a cage wearing a cloak made of six skins. There are several things in that description that indicate Mance is wearing a glamor. IMO the cage hints at Rattleshirt's vest made of bones as well as the reference to when he hung in a cage over a huge fire. Rattleshirt was "naked", because Mance had his bone vest. The word "cloak" refers to a glamor, and "six-skins" is intended to recall the skinchanger, Varamyr Six-skins.

I have been preoccupied with the third season of Westworld. There was even a cheesy nod to HBO's GOT last night. They had Dave and Dan as staff engineers working on a robotic Drogon. I just finished posting my analysis for episode 2 on HoBaW.

I had read George's Not a Blog the other day and pretty much thought the same thing!

My personal theory is that the Children of the Forest are trying to "right" a past wrong which was resurrecting the Last Hero before he could go into the trees, rocks, and streams. They did it in order to defeat the Others and prevent them from taking Winterfell. Time was placed into a continual loop so that Brandon Stark would never join the godhead. Every time his physical body died another one was created. The natural cycle of birth, growth, maturity, and death was interrupted, and death is needed before regeneration can birth a new cycle. By capturing the last Brandon Stark and making him a greenseer at such a young age, they may have already prevented a new Brandon Stark from ever being born. His body needs to be preserved long enough to remove the time loop and let nature take it's course. The Others need to be allowed to take Winterfell, and Brandon Stark needs to be allowed to die and go into the godhead.

Do you think it will require a blood sacrifice to the weirwoods in order to resurrect him?

Now THAT would be interesting!

I’m actually still enjoying the Walking Dead! I cannot wait until Negan kills Alpha!

The warnings about not bringing back the dead does seem to confirm that it is possible. I think we all expect that greenseers will have powers at their command - surely more than simply watching and learning the past, present, and future.

Thank you. My intention was to return and insert examples for Jon, Bran, and Arya, and maybe Daenerys, under each phase to see if GRRM was following the Hero's Journey - which I want to stress isn't a single work of fiction, but rather a pattern Joseph Campbell had noticed with ancient storytelling - but I haven't found the time yet. His theory was that there weren't hundreds of hero myths, but rather one myth that each storyteller elaborated upon, putting their own personal spin on it, adding details to make their telling more interesting to their audience. I'm not sure if he personally thought all the myths were inspired by a single original true story or simply a formula for what seems to constitute a great story? As you hinted at, Star Wars follows the Hero's Journey and it's actually cited as an example if anyone should research Joseph Campbell's theory. As for Bran - so far the only "temptress" that has caught his eye is Meera. Bran frequently thinks of Meera in a romantic manner, and I suspect that he will be tempted to leave the cave of skulls to be with her.

Anyone familiar with Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces? It’s a book about the common themes in mythological stories. The hero always goes through 17 stages. Reading through this list brings to mind Jon’s, Bran’s, and Arya’s journeys - maybe even Sansa’s and Daenerys’. In the beginning there is the status quo. Then: 1) a call to adventure - bargain w/o knowing 2) refusal of the call 3) supernatural aid - meet the mentor 4) crossing the first threshold - the 1st part of the adventure. 5) belly of the whale - a metamorphosis. A minor danger or setback. 6) Initiation. The road of trials. 7) the meeting with the goddess. Receives items that will help him in future. 8) the woman as temptress. The hero faces physical temptations. 9) atonement with a father figure or entity with life or death power. 10) apotheosis. Greater understanding is achieved. 11) the ultimate boon or reward. 12) the return, and in many cases a refusal to return to an ordinary world to bring the ultimate reward back to the masses. 13) the magic flight. Sometimes the hero has to use magic to escape in order to bring the ultimate boon to the ordinary world. 14) rescue from without. Sometimes the hero needs help from some friend or outsider to escape, especially if wounded or weakened. 15) the crossing of the return threshold. The hero finds it difficult to return to ordinary. 16) master of two worlds. The hero achieves balance between material and spiritual. 17) mastery leads to a freedom from the fear of death. Living in the moment without worrying about the future or the past.

Now this end is called the thagomizer. Named after the late great Thag Simmons. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer

I was thinking on this again...the crown prevailed over Stannis, not because of the Renly armor trick, but because House Tyrell chose to rejoin it's massive army to the crown. The only way the crown could have been overthrown would be for the two brothers - Renly and Stannis - to have found a way to resolve their claim to the throne issue. Stannis was the elder, but Renly was more popular. IMO Renly should have deferred to Stannis and supported him as his Hand - and waited his turn. They could have saved the realm from Joffrey and Cersei, but there was no way to seal an alliance. This was symbolically demonstrated with the peach offering, which I believe represented a maidenhead. Political alliances are cemented by intermarriage. Stannis was already married, but he had a daughter that he could have promised. Renly was gay, but he had married Margaery, and she would have found a way to get impregnated - likely in a similar fashion as the show demonstrated. But Renly didn't have an heir to offer Stannis - yet - so he offered the peach. It was a symbolic gesture of an alliance that Stannis refused.

Speaking of the circumstances surrounding Renly's armor, Loras knows it wasn't Brienne that killed him: