Waters Gate Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Edit: I basicly sprouted my ideas here for feedback, ive now come to finalize my theory's about this subject and have put it in a more clearly formated text in a new thread because i think it deserves it. For a beter overview and details: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/104580-the-dark-night-the-hightower-as-magical-lighthouse-and-ligthbringer-finalized-theory/ (if mods want to merge thread, im perfectly fine with that)--------(original post) Ive been wondering about this lately. Havinf read the discription of the hightower, and having searched the internet for anything like it, ive come to perceive that the hightower by it's discription is implied to be a sort of magical structure, similar to other magical structure's in Westeros like the Wall or Storms end. The hightower is about 800 feet tall, which is about 100 feet taller than the wall. Thats hughe, impossibly hughe in fact considering medieval technoligy. They didn't build much higher than 500 feet tall in medieval times, even that was a stretch and more something for thin spire's. For me it implies that the hightower is made in part by magical means, there are more impossibly large structure's in Westeros but where they do exist it's implied that for the part that the structure could not have been build by medieval technlogy, it has been done so with magic. The wall exists by magic, so has Storms end been build by magic. In these cases the magical property of the structure is clear, the wall wards of the others and storms end magicly beats storms. The hightower seems only possible with magic, then what is the magical function of a giant lighthouse? To give light? To "bring light" even as in lightbringer? Now i know this is a hughe stretch lightbringer is said to be a sword afterall. Mainly i wondered if there was more to the hightower than meets the eye, i wonder if by it's description and by the narrative that simaller sized structure's in Westeros tend to be magic that george kinda sneakingly implies that there is a magical function to the hightower which we should investigate? Certainly the members of house hightower themselfs seem to be somewhat secretive about their tower, The current lord having remained inside for so long for ex. The words of house Hightower are "we light the way", seems logical enough for a house sitting inside a enourmous lighthouse. I know it's kinda a stretch to go from light in lighthouse here to light in "lightbringer", a lighthouse is kinda of a lightbringer too but still a stretch id's say, but otoh given a number of indications i really get the impression that there is something magical about that tower and it has to do something with light, more than just giving directions to ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fool of a Book Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I always figured that a Hightower, with the house words We Light The Way, would figure prominently in the next books, but I never associated them with Lightbringer. More by a parallel for when they supported Aegon I, I see them supported "Aegon" in some way. Focus on the tower itself is interesting. Did it partially exist before the Andals came? Because I'm pretty sure the Hightower family was there before the Andals, making their name thousands of years old. So it's quite possible it was just added onto over the years, just as the Wall was. Sorry I need coffee... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waters Gate Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 It's probably the oldest of structure's in oldtown itself. Yes the hightowers were there before the Andals so was the hightower itself, i'm pretty sure the construction of the citadel and oldtowns sept came later, it's implied that the hightowers were around to build it and with a name like that you can figure they lended it from that enourmous lighthouse they were already living in. Possibly one of the oldest structure's in Westeros, build date unknow really, age of heroes era probably but possibly even before, possibly build by giants and children of the forrest for ex. as they could make magicly imbued structure's like that, they just didn't do it often apparently, this possibly with or withought the involvement of first men. The lighthouse is probably far larger than needed if ever intended as a fortress or ordinary lighthouse. While it seems logical at first that you want the light in a lighthouse to be up high, medieval lighthouses were functional enough being maybe only a tenth of the hightowers size. And i figure house hightower has excess space in there, that tower is massive, has the room of a well sized American skyscraper, should be able to house thousands in there. It does not seem to have been specificly build as a fortress, though it has some fortress like feature's which though might have come trough later addaptions, essentailly as a fort its an oversized keep. Keeps are not that bad as a fortress but rather than build them that outlandishly tall you could just as well build wider with more walls over a bigger surface so to have more layers of defense.To build a thing like the Hightowers either to fuction as fortress that also happens to be a lighthouse or lighthouse that also happens to be a fortress would seem rather weird. A smaller lighthouse could function as well, could just as well build a normal castle with one of the towers at the sea side also doubling as lighthouse.The hightower rather is an extreme feat of engineering, seemingly aimed at bringing light as high as possible, to a height unnessecary for ships and unfeasable from an ordinary engineering perspective. The structure is probably about as massive as the pyramids are. It also seems unoptimized for defensive purposes, rather its like a hughe lighthouse which, in its aim to get light that high, had to build such a vast supporting structure that youre left with basicly the room of a skyscraper in there to occupy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fool of a Book Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Since Leyton and the Mad Maid have been locked up in the tower for a decade, that gives some perspective to the size also. I'll absolutely agree there is some magic involved. It's still a mystery how Bran the Builder could have helped Durran build Storm's End, and then build both the Wall and Winterfell... all within his lifetime. He certainly had magical help. The Walls magic seems to be that the Others cannot pass. Storm's End has spells that prevent magic passing through the walls along with other traits. I'm not sure if we have any examples of Winterfell having magic properties, unless it has something to do with the hot springs or the crypts. Other than Hightower having been built by some magical means, what magical properties could it have? It might be a hint that Leyton and Malora are studying prophecies, I wonder if there is a connection there. As an aside, we also know that the (souls or spirits of the) CoTF can live in stone and rock, in addition to trees/wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waters Gate Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 I know the ligthbringer reference still seems odd, no reference in the Azor Ahai story seems to connect at first. Maybe another theory could be that the hightower is actually a vault for the sword lightbringer, and that lightbringer thus is in there, house hightower knowingly possesing it and keeping it in stach until Azor ahia comes around. Consider this: "It is said that during the midst of The Long Night, Azor Ahai rose up and defeated the Others, wielding a sword of fire, called Lightbringer." Just consider i guess that when a long night falls, i guess it's supposed to be very dark. In all that drankness, the hightowers light might actually kinda stand out, magicly even from miles away, maybe serving as a beacon for Azor Ahai to go to in the dark long night, maybe to get his sword. The hightowers do own a valyrian sword named vigilance. "The night is dark and full of terror" Full of terror for sure, but methaphoricly dark or just also really really vision impeding dark? Maybe the kind of dark in which only magic light can be seen? Lightbringer as sword might have a similarly "magicly illuminating" function in a night that is maybe so dark you couldn't see the other if he's was standing next to you. The long night is called just that, not the tlong winter or "time of the others". Apparently if there is one thing to denominate this event, it seems actually the darkness. Maybe it is so that in a long night, the darnkess is so dark that no normal light shines trough it, but only magical light does that. That might give reason to a sword like lightbringer, afterall the use of the sword does not seem to be its others killing abilety specificly as dragonglass does that just as well, so a 1000 men with dragonglass supposedly are still beter than 1 Azor Ahai wielding lightbringer, unless you really need that sword around to be able to see trough the darkness. Simmlarly, the hightowers light might be magical light that can also be seen during the long night, is one of the few lights that do work then and might stand out from far away as the magic light carry's that far. During normal times one does not perceive the magical light, because there is no magical darkness for it to contrast against. But the more i think of it, the more i"m beginning to think of the hightower as a beacon specificly build so it could be one of the few magical lights shinging trough some sort of magical darkness of a long night. And with that being a beacon, it seems it might be somewhere where a person aspiring to be Azor Ahai might be drawn to go to in the long night if he hasn't found his sword yet. The sword doesn't need to be remade afaik, it exists after the first AA made it, it's implied that it's somewhere, certainly if the long night was so dark and the hightower stands out as the sole beacon then it would be an excelent storage place for lightbringer should Azor Ahai pass by during the long night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fool of a Book Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Great point about the importance of the tower as a beacon during the long night...so you're saying Vigilance is a candidate for Lightbringer the sword? I like this theory. However, it makes me wonder who would be so far south of the Wall when the proverbial dung hits the fan. For instance, I don't see Jon showing up in Oldtown during the Long Night, but what do I know ;) His interests will lie in the far North. But we do have some people in or near the Citadel that could make some contact with Hightower, very logically... until the story progresses, we can't of course be sure of anything. But there has to be more to the Hightower story, agreed 1000%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waters Gate Posted February 23, 2014 Author Share Posted February 23, 2014 I basicly sprouted my ideas here for feedback, ive now come to finalize my theroy's about it and have put it in a more clearly formated text in a new thread because i think i really got it here and it deserves attention.Lightbringer is optional, i'm not sure if it's with the hightowers but i suspect it a lot. But i'm pretty sure that the function of the hightower is to shine a magical light during the long night where no normal light can penetrate. For a beter overview and details, ive put it in this thread: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/104580-the-dark-night-the-hightower-as-magical-lighthouse-and-ligthbringer-finalized-theory/ I could copy the text here but i'd rather continue the discussion on that thread as it gives a more clear overview of my theory's for newcomers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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