Dornish Neck Tie

It seems only natural that in order for the Andals to achieve cultural hegemony, they would find a way to filter their religious beliefs through a lens that fits at least partially with the customs of the natives. Even if the Andals never dealt with the Others (Free Folk/Children/cold gods) directly, they are bound to have inherited some responsibility for maintaining the uneasy balance that existed before their arrival en masse.

Oooh yes, I think that knighthood is a great illustration of what I want to talk about. The Night’s Watch, the Citadel, Andal knighthood, and maybe even the Faith are all mentioned as traditional paths for second sons and bastards of noble birth. (I can’t recall any specific examples for the Faith but it seems logical. Lancel Lannister attempts to take this route, though due to his marriage he doesn’t need to.) One big factor that separates knighthood from the other three and presents a corrupting influence is that knights are allowed to claim lands and titles for themselves, which obviously makes it the most desirable path for those with the privilege to seek it. The other paths all represent a surrender of individual will to a higher collective, and possibly a tribute to an otherworldly power in the case of the Night’s Watch, which also calls to mind Craster and child sacrifices in old northern folklore.

I say go for it! It definitely seems that Rickard was getting a little too involved with southron customs, and if any of his ancestors were watching, they would likely be quite offended.

I guess what I’m most interested in is the process by which Andal culture embedded itself in Westeros, and whether they have had a deeper relationship with the older powers of Westeros than we’ve been led to believe. In AGoT, when Catelyn goes to treat with Renly, there is a scene where she prays in a makeshift village sept, and the drawing of the Stranger there is evocative of both the white walkers and the many-faced god in a way that feels deeper than just their shared roles as gods of death.

Oh sure that would be great but I’m in no particular rush. I don’t have an essay-length OP ready to go or anything.

I think there could still be a lot to learn about the history of Westeros from the non-magical side of the story. In fact I think a real understanding of what really happened during the Andalization process in Westeros could be the key to understanding why the seasons are currently going haywire, as the Andals are currently the dominant culture in Westeros. I don’t have any fully formed ideas that challenge our current understanding of history yet but I’m hoping to uncover some more stuff in A Feast for Crows (super underrated book, maybe my favorite in the series. Jaime and Cersei are my favorite POVs).

No one really. “The land is one,” as they say. I think one possibility is that the seasons are messed up because human spirits gained access to whatever collective consciousness exists in the natural world. Over time, humans have gained more and more influence within the hive mind and infused it with their tendency to “swear bloody vengeance” against their enemies rather than just sing about their woes, and as a result the shifts in seasons and weather patterns have become more extreme and violent.

Rhaegar’s song? Of all the theories I’ve read about dragonsteel and Lightbringer, Cantuse’s is the one that has convinced me the most. He proposes that dragonsteel is an ancient term for silver, and that Lightbringer is a tool that will allow communication with the Others: a silver musical instrument that can play the Song of Ice and Fire, i.e. Rhaegar’s silver harp. It could be that it was used at Harrenhal to send some sort of signal to the ghosts watching from the birds and trees, intentionally or not. We also have the crannogman’s visit to the Isle of Faces. It could have been through his connection with the Children of the Forest, who themselves are strong candidates for being the present-day Others. ETA: I often wonder whether the makeup of the direwolf litter could be due to skinchanging the mother direwolf during the reproductive process. Perhaps the reason the pups initiate the connections with the Stark children is due to their mother being occupied by a human mind; they’re accustomed to the connection and are actively seeking it out. If so, a signal sent from the Harrenhal tourney would leave just enough time for someone to find and “wed” a female direwolf in order to produce a very specific set of pups.

I can think of a couple similarities between Bronn and Aerys: 1. Both had noteworthy incidents where they used an old, proud knight/lord’s armor as a weapon against them. Aerys famously turned Rickard Stark into a steel-clad rotisserie chicken. During Tyrion’s trial by combat at the Eyrie, Bronn allows Vardis Egen’s armor do most of the work for him, waiting for the old knight to exhaust himself under the weight of his armor before moving in for the kill. 2. Aerys names Tywin Lannister his Hand, while Tyrion Lannister makes Bronn his right-hand man while serving as Hand. In both cases, it’s not entirely clear how much control the supposed man in charge has over his right-hand man.

Absolutely. Lemore is probably going to be the mother of someone who we’ve met or heard about extensively. I can’t even begin to hazard a guess as to who, so I’m open to any predictions others might have. As it stands, subplots involving hidden children of uncertain identity tend to have associations with Dorne (Aegon, Dany, Jon, Ashara, Lemore, etc) so I think you are barking up the right tree here. I know they’re not really the A plot of ASOIAF and it might not be feasible, but I would love for the books to give us closer looks at the Westerlands and the Stony houses of Dorne. Both those regions seem to be hiding lots of information about recent history leading up to ASOIAF.

In addition to the implications about Tywin’s role in Westerosi politics over the previous 20 years, this passage does make me wonder if we’re never going to be told outright who Jon’s father is because it’s not important and we don’t need to know in order to understand the central conflict. The father half of the equation is just going to be one of those unsolved mysteries that gives people something to chew on during rereads once the saga is concluded. What matters is that one of his parents is a Stark, and that Jon is defined by the choices he makes, which are always in the interests of the Northern peoples.

How’s this for irony? From Tyrion in ASoS: And another quote from Tywin later in the same chapter:

Right, which leads me to believe very strongly that no one would be able to convincingly accuse Rhaegar of kidnapping Lyanna unless they saw Rhaegar’s armor, AND that Rhaegar would know full well not to wear a Targaryen mascot suit to an abduction unless he meant to start a war.

I’m doing a reread right now and it is something that really sticks out to me this time. GRRM goes into painstaking detail describing House arms and suits of armor almost every time they enter a POV character’s field of vision, which says to me that for in-story characters, arms and armor are the primary means of identifying people (of noble birth) outside of one’s own household.

It’s possible! I was a lurker for a long time and posted a little bit on here and the Last Hearth several years ago. I’m 60/40 leaning toward the Free Folk being the Others and that definitely came from reading your posts.