Creature Size

[LyrnaSnowBunnyAvenger]

Bran also said the mother direwolf was twice the size of the largest hound in his father's kennel - considering this is the warden of the north he probably has a well supplied kennel. So the biggest hound he has would probably be the size of an Irish Wolfhound ~33 inches(could be bigger) that puts the direwolf mother at 66 inches(6 and a half feet) - and thats a female so a fully grown male direwolf could be as big as 7 feet.

Tall or long? Either way, that would be pretty damn terrifying.

[Barty]

Tall or long? Either way, that would be pretty damn terrifying.

Tall. And Terrifying is right . I wonder how big the show will make them though.

[C0bR]

Tall or long? Either way, that would be pretty damn terrifying.

With that height you would be probably closing on some 13 feet of lenght.

[The Holy Goat]

According to Bran the Direwolf mother was bigger than his pony - so about the size of a horse. But that is a female and in the dog family males tend to be bigger and heavier than females. So the male direwolves - Ghost, Shaggy and Summer are probably as big as your average warhorse while Nymeria is slightly smaller.

Bran also said the mother direwolf was twice the size of the largest hound in his father's kennel - considering this is the warden of the north he probably has a well supplied kennel. So the biggest hound he has would probably be the size of an Irish Wolfhound ~33 inches(could be bigger) that puts the direwolf mother at 66 inches(6 and a half feet) - and thats a female so a fully grown male direwolf could be as big as 7 feet.

I highly doubt they are as large as warhorses. And twice as big is not the same as twice as high. Twice as big is more suggestive of mass, or general body area, e.g. weight, so if the largest of Lord Eddard dogs weighed, say, 60 kg, the dead direwolf would've weighed 120 kg. That does not amount to a warhorse in any way.

Claiming that it is twice as high, yet keeping with the the same proportions as you do now, would give us a wolf that is at least eight times as large as the largest dog (since the wolf would not only be twice as high, but also twice as long, and twice as broad etc. All measurements would be doubled, creating a huge creature, weighing many times more than an irish wolfhound)

So, no, just no.

[Barty]

I highly doubt they are as large as warhorses. And twice as big is not the same as twice as high. Twice as big is more suggestive of mass, or general body area, e.g. weight, so if the largest of Lord Eddard dogs weighed, say, 60 kg, the dead direwolf would've weighed 120 kg. That does not amount to a warhorse in any way.

Claiming that it is twice as high, yet keeping with the the same proportions as you do now, would give us a wolf that is at least eight times as large as the largest dog (since the wolf would not only be twice as high, but also twice as long, and twice as broad etc. All measurements would be doubled, creating a huge creature, weighing many times more than an irish wolfhound)

So, no, just no.

I really doubt Bran knows how much his father's hounds weigh or how much a dead direwolf weighs. Very unlikely he was talking about weight. Height and overall size (dimensions) is much more likely since he just compared it to his pony(a comparison which you happily ignored).

According to wikipedia:

"the official definition of a pony is a horse that measures less than 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm) at the withers."

Since the direwolf is bigger than the pony( much bigger since it was easily noted by Bran ) that means it is easily 60+ inches. Meaning a fully grown male direwolf can easily reach 7 feet.

Both the sentences when used to find the size of the dead direwolf give similar results.

[Free Northman Reborn]

I imagine a creature around 5 feet high at the shoulder.

Although, this does not gel with the fact that Jon feels Ghost would struggle to overcome a shadowcat, which is somewhere between a leopard and a lion in size. Meaning 3 feet high at most.

I don't see how a 5 foot high wolf would struggle against a 3 foot high cat.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

I imagine a creature around 5 feet high at the shoulder.

Although, this does not gel with the fact that Jon feels Ghost would struggle to overcome a shadowcat, which is somewhere between a leopard and a lion in size. Meaning 3 feet high at most.

I don't see how a 5 foot high wolf would struggle against a 3 foot high cat.

Hmm, could you please direct me to that scene? I don't remember it.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Hmm, could you please direct me to that scene? I don't remember it.

I don't have the exact reference, but it occurs beyond the Wall, probably in Storm of Swords.

I recall Jon thinking that a shadowcat would be dangerous for even Ghost to come across.

And in an SSM Martin was asked whether a shadowcat was similar in size to a panther or a lion, to which he replied "Somewhere inbetween."

[Free Northman Reborn]

Also bear in mind that a direwolf surely does not approach a polar bear in size, and polar bears are only around 5 feet tall at the shoulder.

In that context I would probably put Ghost at 4 and a half feet tall at most, which still matches a female polar bear in height.

Edit

Consider that this is bigger than a lion, which averages around 3 foot 9 inches at the shoulder.

And do we really think direwolves are more dangerous and powerful than African lions?

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Thanks. Unfortunately I won't have the time to dig it up.

But the lion comparison helps (on the wiki, it's stated to be between a tiger and a lion). Those have between 200 and 250 kg, with 123 cm or ~100 cm height at the shoulder. With a completely different build though. Yes, the tiger weighs more despite being 20% smaller (in height).

Big wolves would have 80 cm shoulder height at 80 kg.

Oh well, confusing.

[The Holy Goat]

I really doubt Bran knows how much his father's hounds weigh or how much a dead direwolf weighs. Very unlikely he was talking about weight. Height and overall size (dimensions) is much more likely since he just compared it to his pony(a comparison which you happily ignored).

According to wikipedia:

"the official definition of a pony is a horse that measures less than 14.2 hands (58 inches, 147 cm) at the withers."

Since the direwolf is bigger than the pony( much bigger since it was easily noted by Bran ) that means it is easily 60+ inches. Meaning a fully grown male direwolf can easily reach 7 feet.

Both the sentences when used to find the size of the dead direwolf give similar results.

I never claimed that Bran knew how much the dogs or the direwolf weighed, that was an example I provided for you, so that you might understand better. Evidently, it went straight over your head. And yes, of course Bran was talking about overall size, since that's the only thing he could measure with just his eyes - this is unlikely to mean that the wolf was twice as tall as the largest dog however, as that would make the wolf much more than twice the size of the dog, unless the wolf simply has abnormally long legs.

What you're suggesting is a size difference between the wolf and dog that is similar to this, e.g. twice as tall: http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kingstonridingcentre.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F04%2Fhorsevspony.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kingstonridingcentre.com%2Fwhat-is-the-difference-between-a-horse-and-a-pony%2F&h=536&w=858&tbnid=rzaLlWaiTW0ObM%3A&zoom=1&docid=-gGloNJ4d2v7sM&ei=DwlJU8_2EKGQ4ATss4GADA&tbm=isch&ved=0CNQBEIQcMCc&iact=rc&dur=675&page=2&start=29&ndsp=38

Yet, although the horse is twice as tall as the pony, it's quite obvious that the horse is more than twice the size of it (more like four times the size of it, and that's without taking into account the the horse likely is broader as well).

I also find it highly unlikely that Bran's pony was anywhere close to 147 cm high. The average warhorse was between 140 cm and 160 cm high, yet Ned was describe as a giant from Bran's perspective. It's unlikely that Bran's pony was close to that, or his reaction to his father looming over him wouldn't havebeen nearly as jarring.

I'd personally wager the wolf was a little larger than Bran's pony, wich I believe to be as large as a large american shetland (115 cm). So perhaps 120 cm.

And if you still don't see my point, well then I'll simply have to leave ye to yer ignorance.