Moments of Foreshadowing 7 [TPatQ spoilers]

[ARYa_Nym]

OK, now this might have been said many times before but I couldn't find it anywhere else, so sorry if there's any repetition. When Catelyn is praying in the Sept before the eve of Renly's assassination,she sees Robert, Renly, Stannis, Jon Snow, Jaime, Robb and Arya when she is looking at the warrior. At first, I thought this would be foreshadowing of Arya being a notable warrior but then I realized that except for Jaime and Robert none of these are exceptionally skilled with a weapon. However all the men have at some point or the other been a leader of a large army and Jon will definitely be leading hosts in the future. Could this be foreshadowing of Arya leading an army at some point?

I've always thought that it would be Nymeria's "army" of wolves. Queen Nymeria was a commander and not a soldier so Arya can "command" in a way too by warging.

Anyways, if Selmy is killed by Victarion in Mereen that destroys the betrayal for love Septa Lemore/Ashara theory.

[Cas Stark]

I've always thought that it would be Nymeria's "army" of wolves. Queen Nymeria was a commander and not a soldier so Arya can "command" in a way too by warging.

Anyways, if Selmy is killed by Victarion in Mereen that destroys the betrayal for love Septa Lemore/Ashara theory.

I feel like Arya/Nymeria back together in the Riverlands leading some type of army has been heavily foreshadowed....I'm just not sure it won't end in another massive tragedy.

[Mithras]

Anyways, if Selmy is killed by Victarion in Mereen that destroys the betrayal for love Septa Lemore/Ashara theory.

One time, the girl remembered, the Sailor’s Wife had walked her rounds with her and told her tales of the city’s stranger gods. “That is the house of the Great Shepherd. Three-headed Trios has that tower with three turrets. The first head devours the dying, and the reborn emerge from the third. I don’t know what the middle head’s supposed to do. Those are the Stones of the Silent God, and there the entrance to the Pattern-maker’s Maze. Only those who learn to walk it properly will ever find their way to wisdom, the priests of the Pattern say. Beyond it, by the canal, that’s the temple of Aquan the Red Bull. Every thirteenth day, his priests slit the throat of a pure white calf, and offer bowls of blood to beggars.”

Aquan the Red Bull: Victarion

Pure White Calf: Barristan in QG cloak (and pure white represents his never stained honour)

Ser Grandfather :crying:

[Winnief]

The bullock which will carry Dany across the water is Victarion. I think there are other references here too. Xaro gave a pair of bullocks and guess who will be the other bullock who will sail with Dany to Westeros?

I think you're right Lamprey.

Also some observations from Sansa on the Eyrie.

Sansa could not love this place no matter how hard she tried...In winter this will be a cold white prison.

Yet another reason, I can't see Sansa' marriage to Harry the Heir, and her becoming the next Lady of the Vale. It just doesn't feel like home to her.

Also...

She had not thought of Jon in ages. He was only her half brother but still...with Robb, and Bran, and Rickon dead, Jon Snow was the only brother that remained to her. I am a bastard too now, just like him. Oh it would be so sweet, to see him once again. But it could never be.

Sansa will be heading north and re-uniting with Jon.

Then when crossing the bridge at the precipice near the bottom of the Eyrie...

It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains.

Foreshadowing, that Sansa's true Stark nature will be breaking out soon, and a reference to her latent Warging abilities.

[LordToo-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse]

The Gerrick Kingsblood sacrifice makes you wonder what it truly means to have King´s blood.

Raymund Redbeard died like 200 years ago. All his sons died too. Gerrick comes from the line of the brother of Raymund.

The "title" king beyond the wall isn´t hereditary. Even if Raymund Redbeard´s blood had any magical value, does Gerrick´s blood have any value today?

Come on, shouldn´t it be diluted by now? If this guy has blood with magical value, thousands of people could be in the same position. The idea of sacrificing King´s blood is for it to be rare.

I think him and his son will be sacrificed, and Jon will come back, but the true magical event will be Asha´s death. After that Jon is going to trust Melisandre more than he did before. And magic in general:

http://meereeneseblot.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/other-wars-part-vi-three-questions-about-jons-future/

Either that, or his death is not enough, and Melisandre convinces Selyse to sacrifice her own daughter.. And a Dragon "wakes out of Stone"

[JungWheats]

I think Mel knows that King's Blood, however, does not have any more value or magical properties than average blood. You can sort of see this in the mummer's farce she does with the leeches on Dragonstone. She foresaw everyone's death and burned the leeches in order to convince Stannis that she was legit. King's Blood has no extraordinary power, no more than regular blood at least.

[Winnief]

I think him and his son will be sacrificed, and Jon will come back, but the true magical event will be Asha´s death. After that Jon is going to trust Melisandre more than he did before. And magic in general:

I am thinking Theon's death, rather than Asha's. Sacrificing himself for another will be his act of atonement, also if Theon is executed in front of a Gods tree like Asha requests, that will put him in contact with Bran.

[Newstar]

I am thinking Theon's death, rather than Asha's. Sacrificing himself for another will be his act of atonement, also if Theon is executed in front of a Gods tree like Asha requests, that will put him in contact with Bran.

I think GRRM is going to pull a bait and switch with Theon and Asha. We're led to believe in the Theon TWOW chapter that Theon is going to be sacrificed, and everything would point that way to it being the logical and expected outcome: death would be a mercy for Theon, his storyline seems to have come to a natural end, he's set to be executed, etc. However, that's precisely why I think GRRM is going to turn the tables and kill Asha instead. Cripples, bastards, and broken things seem to enjoy greater longevity in the books than their able-bodied, unmarred, more attractive or higher-born counterparts (Jon vs. Robb, Sandor vs. Gregor, Gendry vs. Joffrey, Doran vs. Oberyn, etc.), and who's more broken than Theon at this point? If one of them is going to go--and the fact that they're two POVs now in the same location makes one POV expendable and suggests that one of them is going to go very soon--I believe it will be Asha.

[Cas Stark]

I think GRRM is going to pull a bait and switch with Theon and Asha. We're led to believe in the Theon TWOW chapter that Theon is going to be sacrificed, and everything would point that way to it being the logical and expected outcome: death would be a mercy for Theon, his storyline seems to have come to a natural end, he's set to be executed, etc. However, that's precisely why I think GRRM is going to turn the tables and kill Asha instead. Cripples, bastards, and broken things seem to enjoy greater longevity in the books than their unmarred or more attractive counterparts (Jon vs. Robb, Sandor vs. Gregor, Gendry vs. Joffrey, Doran vs. Oberyn, etc.), and who's more broken than Theon at this point? If one of them is going to go--and the fact that they're two POVs now in the same location makes one POV expendable and suggests that one of them is going to go very soon--I believe it will be Asha.

Neither one are going to die at the weirwood grove. Bran is going to do something that gets Theon to tell the truth that he and Rickon are alive or something about the crypts or otherwise provide some useful info. to Stannis...and somehow this is going to forestall Theon's execution, he will eventually die, but I don't think then and there. Not sure about Asha.

[Newstar]

Neither one are going to die at the weirwood grove. Bran is going to do something that gets Theon to tell the truth that he and Rickon are alive or something about the crypts or otherwise provide some useful info. to Stannis...and somehow this is going to forestall Theon's execution, he will eventually die, but I don't think then and there. Not sure about Asha.

With two POVs converging, and neither of them going anywhere anytime soon, and neither of them being one of Jon/Dany/Tyrion, I expect one of Theon and Asha will die very soon. My money's on Asha.

I should add that I don't expect Theon to survive the series, either, but I don't think he'll predecease Asha. There are lots of good posts about the imagery that seems to foreshadow Asha's death floating around the boards.

[Winnief]

From one such island rose a weirwood gnarled and ancient, its bole and branches white as the surrounding snows. Eight days ago Asha had walked out with Aly Mormont to have a closer look at its slitted red eyes and bloody mouth. It is only sap, she'd told herself, the red sap that flows inside these weirwoods. But her eyes were unconvinced; seeing was believing and what they saw was frozen blood.

The chains about the dead had cooled by now, she saw, but still held the corpses fast in their iron embrace. A raven was perched atop one, pulling at the tatters of burned flesh that clung to its blackened skull.

Oats and barley had been growing there when Asha took the castle, only to be crushed underfoot during her attack. A series of hard frosts had killed the crops they'd planted afterward, leaving only mud and ash and wilted, rotting, stalks.

Assuming you're right and neither Asha nor Theon survive the series, and with Euron Greyjoy and Victarion both on courses that won't take them anywhere good either, who would end up ruling the Iron Islands?!?

[Newstar]

From one such island rose a weirwood gnarled and ancient, its bole and branches white as the surrounding snows. Eight days ago Asha had walked out with Aly Mormont to have a closer look at its slitted red eyes and bloody mouth. It is only sap, she'd told herself, the red sap that flows inside these weirwoods. But her eyes were unconvinced; seeing was believing and what they saw was frozen blood.

The chains about the dead had cooled by now, she saw, but still held the corpses fast in their iron embrace. A raven was perched atop one, pulling at the tatters of burned flesh that clung to its blackened skull.

Oats and barley had been growing there when Asha took the castle, only to be crushed underfoot during her attack. A series of hard frosts had killed the crops they'd planted afterward, leaving only mud and ash and wilted, rotting, stalks.

Assuming you're right and neither Asha nor Theon survive the series, and with Euron Greyjoy and Victarion both on courses that won't take them anywhere good either, who would end up ruling the Iron Islands?!?

There is a theory about the greenseers bringing the Hammer of the Waters down on Pyke, and that this is what Melisandre saw in her vision of the towers being submerged by the black and bloody tide. If the Iron Islands are destroyed, that would eliminate the "problem" of Ironborn succession posed by Theon, Asha, Euron and Victarion's upcoming deaths (and really, given what we've seen of Ironborn culture, good riddance).

[Winnief]

There is a theory about the greenseers bringing the Hammer of the Waters down on Pyke, and that this is what Melisandre saw in her vision of the towers being submerged by the black and bloody tide. If the Iron Islands are destroyed, that would eliminate the "problem" of Ironborn succession posed by Theon, Asha, Euron and Victarion's upcoming deaths (and really, given what we've seen of Ironborn culture, good riddance).

I admit I'm not fond of IB culture either, but it seems pretty harsh to wipe them out completely instead of say reforming them to a different way of life possibly under Mainland control. Then again GRRM is pretty harsh,

[Fire Eater]

“I have given you my home and heart, do they mean nothing to you? I have given you perfume and pomegranates, tumbling monkeys and spitting snakes, scrolls from lost Valyria, an idol’s head and a serpent’s foot. I have given you this palanquin of ebony and gold, and a matched set of bullocks to bear it, one white as ivory and one black as jet, with horns inlaid with jewels.”

Nice job, to add to that the bullocks pull a palanquin of ebony and gold, and black and gold are the colors of House Greyjoy. As for the white bull, that was the nickname of Gerold Hightower, the LC of Aerys's KG, and Barristan is LC of Dany's QG and was the LC of Robert's KG. I think it fits with the pure white calf sacrificed.

spitting snakes

All Dornishmen are snakes

Spitting snakes= Dornishmen

[Aerys Ahai Reborn]

They don't know me, Arya realized. They don't even know I'm a girl. Small wonder; she was barefoot and . . .
The old fat septa moved foward. "Boy, how did you come here? You have no business in this part of the castle."
"You can't keep this sort out," one of the red cloaks said. "Like trying to keep out rats."
"Who do you belong to, boy?" the septa demanded. "Answer me. What's wrong with you, are you mute?"

Possibly foreshadowing Arya returning to King's Landing and posing as one of Varys's "little birds", which are more like mice, which are like rats? Iunno, maybe it is a stretch, I don't even know what to make of Arya's future (besides definitely more time in Braavos), but many people think this is a possibility.
It could though just be a hint toward Vary's little birds in general, this is the chapter Varys and Illyrio do discuss their "birds".

[Mithras]

“I have given you my home and heart, do they mean nothing to you? I have given you perfume and pomegranates, tumbling monkeys and spitting snakes, scrolls from lost Valyria, an idol’s head and a serpent’s foot. I have given you this palanquin of ebony and gold, and a matched set of bullocks to bear it, one white as ivory and one black as jet, with horns inlaid with jewels.”

Bowen Marsh is called pomegranate. I think Dany's pomegranate may be Brown Ben Plumm because both Bowen and Brown Ben are assholes. And perfume may represent Reznak the perfumed seneschal.

[The Crow's Third Eye]

I have given you my home and heart, do they mean nothing to you? I have given you perfume and pomegranates, tumbling monkeys and spitting snakes, scrolls from lost Valyria, an idols head and a serpents foot. I have given you this palanquin of ebony and gold, and a matched set of bullocks to bear it, one white as ivory and one black as jet, with horns inlaid with jewels.

Bowen Marsh is called pomegranate. I think Dany's pomegranate may be Brown Ben Plumm because both Bowen and Brown Ben are assholes. And perfume may represent Reznak the perfumed seneschal.

What the hell is a serpents foot? Do serpents have feet?

Anyway, spitting serpents is pretty much her court at Meereen no? The families of the Grand Masters etc.

Eta: nice cath btw with Xaro's gifts. Especially the bulls

[Mithras]

Aerion had a trueborn son passed over by the Great Council and he may have fathered bastards in Lys and/or during his time with the Second Sons.

Aerion smiled redly. The prince’s mouth was bloody.

“That creature is dangerous. Many a time I have glimpsed him in my flames. Sometimes there are skulls about him, and his lips are red with blood.”

Is Patchface descended from a bastard of Aerion? I think there is another parallel between Aerion drinking wildfire out of madness and this:

“We found him [Moqorro] clinging to a broken spar,” said the Vole. “He was ten days in the water after his ship went down.”

“If he were ten days in the water, he’d be dead, or mad from drinking seawater.”

I am pretty sure that Aerion and his descendants have every reason to hate Egg and his line. I think the skulls about a descendant of Aerion could mean that Brighflames and Blackfyres are united in the same cause to overthrow the Targaryens. In this case the skulls are the skulls of the past captain generals of the GC. That goes well with my theory on the dragons old and young which says Bright Dragon is a Brightflame (descendant of Aerion in short) and Dark Dragon is a Blackfyre.

"You won’t hurt Daeron, though," the boy said. "He told you he’d fall down. And Aerion . . . I remember, when I was little, he used to come into my bedchamber at night and put his knife between my legs. He had too many brothers, he’d say, maybe one night he’d make me his sister, then he could marry me. He threw my cat in the well too. He says he didn’t, but he always lies."

I think the enmity between Egg's line and Aerion's descendants may have another reason as well. We know that Aerion's infant son is passed over in the succession line by the Great Council. Aerion's son must have thought that the IT was his right and his queen ought to be Egg's daughter Rhaelle. When denied of everything, he must be pissed. If Patchface is really a descendant of Aerion, his relationship with Shireen becomes more interesting.

[Winnief]

If Patchface is really a descendant of Aerion, his relationship with Shireen becomes more interesting.

Well Shireen did dream she's be killed by a dragon...

[Mithras]

“Black or red, a dragon is still a dragon. When Maelys the Monstrous died upon the Stepstones, it was the end of the male line of House Blackfyre.”

Most of us believe that Blackfyres continued in the female line. I find this situation very similar to this quote:

“Him with the red hair, he’s Gerrick Kingsblood’s get. Comes o’ the line o’ Raymun Redbeard, to hear him tell it. The line o’ Redbeard’s little brother, you want it true.”

“He has a regal look to him,” Jon said. “He has a little red cock to go with all that red hair, that’s what he has. Raymun Redbeard and his sons died at Long Lake, thanks to your bloody Starks and the Drunken Giant. Not the little brother. Ever wonder why they called him the Red Raven?” Tormund’s mouth split in a gap-toothed grin. “First to fly the battle, he was. ’Twas a song about it, after. The singer had to find a rhyme for craven, so …” He wiped his nose. “If your queen’s knights want those girls o’ his, they’re welcome to them.”

“Girls,” squawked Mormont’s raven. “Girls, girls.”

That set Tormund to laughing all over again. “Now there’s a bird with sense. How much do you want for him, Snow? I gave you a son, the least you could do is give me the bloody bird.”

The wildlings do not give a shit to bloodlines we are told. But they (at least Tormund) know Raymun’s line quite well. Tormund had gold rings passed from father to son for some generations. Note that what happened to Raymun’s line is not known at the south of the Wall. Jon learned this from Tormund.

Is Tormund hiding something? Did Raymun have daughters or spearwives pregnant for his daughters along with him? Were those girls adopted and wed by the northern lords and eventually become the ancestors of Ned’s Flint grandmother?

We have interesting information about Bran’s obsession with climbing.

His father’s mother’s mother had been a Flint of the mountains. Old Nan once said that it was her blood in him that made Bran such a fool for climbing before his fall.

I agree that mountain clans should have some ability to climb. But it is also noteworthy that Raymun was such a fool to climb the Wall because he and his sons met their bloody ends as a result of that.

Tormund’s last word was not girls but Mormont’s raven repeated that 3 times. I think Jon has the blood of Raymun Redbeard through his daughter and when Gerrick and his son will be burned, it will have consequences.