A Feast for the Dead, a Snow in the Tombs, a Dream in Dust

[Julia H.]

I think Tyrion was mentioned as staying awake late into the night in AGOT because he liked to stay up reading, but I might be wrong on that. I can't even remember if Tyrion mentions dreams at all, or if there was some sort of dream sequence shown in one of his povs.

As far as Tyrion losing his power, I don't know that power is what Tyrion wants or needs most, in comparison to what other characters in the shared dream lost. Tyrion's main problem is that he wants to be loved more than anything, but never is. It doesn't seem that he's lost anything, only that he is incapable of gaining something. Unless, of course, you count Tysha who truly did love him. Although she predates the timeline of the series, so maybe not? That's just kind of up in the air.

I'm not saying he won't be included in this shared dream in the future, or that the dream has nothing to do with him (tbh I think the dream has something to do with anyone in or linked to Westeros). I just don't see any evidence that Tyrion has had or will have a dream like this.

Here it is:

His reading lamp was flickering, its oil all but gone, as dawn light leaked through the high windows. He had been at it all night, but that was nothing new. Tyrion Lannister was not much a one for sleeping.

On the same page we can also read this (note that Tyrion is in Winterfell):

Something about the howling of a wolf took a man right out of his here and now and left him in a dark forest of the mind, running naked before the pack.

It is not exactly a dream, only Tyrion's imagination, but it can easily be compared to Theon's (more elaborate) direwolf dream in ACoK:

The sky was a gloom of cloud, the woods dead and frozen. Roots grabbed at Theon's feet as he ran, and bare branches lashed his face, leaving thin stripes of blood across his cheeks. He crashed through heedless, breathless, icicles flying to pieces before him. Mercy, he sobbed. From behind came a shuddering howl that curdled his blood. Mercy, mercy. When he glanced back over his shoulder he saw them coming, great wolves the size of horses with the heads of small children.

Theon's dream continues for a while, but this extract is enough to highlight the similarity between this and the impression Tyrion has when hearing the wolf's howl.

I really like the phrase "a dark forest of the mind". The dark forest is a symbol of the subconscious, which is exactly the place where dreams take us. So both Theon and Tyrion have subconscious fears of direwolves. In Theon's case, it is clearly guilt. Jaime refers to direwolves as "doom" in his dream just before he faces his guilt and remembers Ned Stark, who judged him. Perhaps Tyrion's fear may also have something to do with guilt if he, at this point, already suspects that Bran's fall may have something to do with Lannisters.

[Alaynsa Starne]

Here it is:

His reading lamp was flickering, its oil all but gone, as dawn light leaked through the high windows. He had been at it all night, but that was nothing new. Tyrion Lannister was not much a one for sleeping.

On the same page we can also read this (note that Tyrion is in Winterfell):

Something about the howling of a wolf took a man right out of his here and now and left him in a dark forest of the mind, running naked before the pack.

It is not exactly a dream, only Tyrion's imagination, but it can easily be compared to Theon's (more elaborate) direwolf dream in ACoK:

The sky was a gloom of cloud, the woods dead and frozen. Roots grabbed at Theon's feet as he ran, and bare branches lashed his face, leaving thin stripes of blood across his cheeks. He crashed through heedless, breathless, icicles flying to pieces before him. Mercy, he sobbed. From behind came a shuddering howl that curdled his blood. Mercy, mercy. When he glanced back over his shoulder he saw them coming, great wolves the size of horses with the heads of small children.

Theon's dream continues for a while, but this extract is enough to highlight the similarity between this and the impression Tyrion has when hearing the wolf's howl.

I really like the phrase "a dark forest of the mind". The dark forest is a symbol of the subconscious, which is exactly the place where dreams take us. So both Theon and Tyrion have subconscious fears of direwolves. In Theon's case, it is clearly guilt. Jaime refers to direwolves as "doom" in his dream just before he faces his guilt and remembers Ned Stark, who judged him. Perhaps Tyrion's fear may also have something to do with guilt if he, at this point, already suspects that Bran's fall may have something to do with Lannisters.

It's also possible Tyrion picked up on Jaime's disdain for Ned and in the back of his mind viewed the Starks as a family threat even though they're not personal enemies of his.

[Seams]

I was referred to this thread because of an observation I posted on the thread The Parallels Journey of Daenerys Targaryen & ... it took me awhile to read through it, but the original idea of linked dreams in the OP and the subsequent discussion here are great. Nice job, Kyoshi! My two cents, for what they're worth:

I'd be curious to further examine these feast and crypt dreams alongside the details of the non-dream feasts and visits to the crypt or crypt-like places. Jon and Tyrion meet outside of the Winterfell feast to celebrate King Robert's royal visit. When Jon asks why he's not at the feast, Tyrion says, "Too hot, too noisy and I'd drunk too much wine." They have a conversation about feeling like outsiders that reflects Jon's later thought during the dream described in your OP: "They are feasting in the Great Hall, but I am not welcome there. I am no Stark, and this is not my place."

The burning of the great hall and its reconstruction for the wedding feast of Ramsay Bolton and "Lady Arya" also seems significant - Theon was at the feast for Robert and the feast for Ramsay. Should we compare his account of Ramsay's wedding feast to his account of the dream feast?

I know there is one Winterfell feast where Bran presides - the last feast before Theon invades. The only detail I remember is that Bran sends choice dishes to people he likes and he sends root vegetables to Big Walder and Little Walder. (Should those root vegetables be compared to Bran's later bowl of weirwood paste?) Of course, because the castle and a good bit of the north is about to be destroyed, a number of the people at Bran's feast are marked for death, similar to Theon's dream except, at Bran's feast the deaths have not yet occurred while the people at Theon's dream feast are (mostly) already dead as far as Theon and the reader know. Bran and Theon are both the Prince of Winterfell at the time of their feasts, right?

Your good insight about these linked dreams helped me to realize that it's probably significant that Theon sits next to Lady Dustin at Ramsay's wedding feast and then takes her down into the Winterfell crypt. In the crypt, they reveal to each other that they both would have liked to have been Starks but they couldn't be. Lady Dustin's conversations with Theon are important in helping him to remember Theon and leave Reek behind again, I think. I also think Lady Dustin's revelations about Brandon Stark (Ned's brother) seducing her and his pleasure at having blood on his "sword" are super significant. The iron sword that was part of Brandon's tomb is one of the ones taken by Osha and Meera when they flee with Bran and Rickon - also significant. Frankly, if it turns out that Rhaegar is not Jon's father, Brandon is my current number one suspect. Many of the comments on this thread said they think Jon will finish his crypt dream and learn something about his past in the process. The bones of Brandon and Lyanna are both in this crypt, so it does seem like a place where Jon would go to discover his roots.

We also learn that the tomb of Theon's namesake, Theon Stark the Hungry, are in this crypt. The Hungry? Another tie between a feast and the crypt? And is it just a coincidence that Theon has a Stark name, or did his parents choose that name as a way of demonstrating loyalty to House Stark? Seems like an unlikely gesture coming from Balon Greyjoy. Maybe the point is just to emphasize that this trip to the crypt is helping Theon to rediscover his original identity.

Modesty Lannister, I love all of your well-documented and reasoned explanation of the Night's Watch men collectively preparing Jon for his "mission," whether it is to infiltrate the White Walkers or some other kind of afterlife. I had vague suspicions that something was going on, but you provided the evidence.

We know that there were unique and important books and scrolls that could be found only at Castle Black - Sam and Maester Aemon were taking them to Oldtown because they felt these one-of-a-kind written records should be shared with The Citadel. Is it possible that one or more of the manuscripts contained a prophecy the ASOIAF reader hasn't yet learned? Something involving a guy like Jon Snow? Maybe the prophecy was also contained in documents at the Winterfell library, burned during the attempt on Bran's life and, hmm idk, possibly the Summerhall library, also destroyed by fire? Let's see, who were the readers who might have known about this manuscript? Rhaegar at Summerhall? Maester Aemon at Castle Black? And Tyrion, who spends a lot of time in the Winterfell library and possibly also at Castle Black's library, "sharpening his edge" on the "whetstone" of reading during his visits.

- Benjen ... I'd go as far as to speculate that Benjen's role in Jon's training is just about to start.

- Mormont was grooming Jon for command. ... Also, Mormont gave Jon a Valyrian steel sword.

- Halfhand ... goes on and gives his LIFE so that Jon would reach Mance safely. Does that even make sense? Yes, if you think that each of these men has a role to play in preparing Jon for his final destiny....

- Mance, that fearsome king beyond the wall greets Jon like kin. He knows his name!!! and tells him how he met him twice before (that IS a story for a different thread).

- Giantsbane wants Mance to explain every title he's got. To an unknown boy deserter from the NW. Is that how fierce wildlings greet suspicious deserters from the NW?

I think Alliser Thorne may even have been part of Jon's preparation. In the interaction of Tyrion and Jon at the Wall, the word "edge" comes up over and over. The Wall is the Edge of the World. Jon would have cut off Grenn's hand if he had an edge on his blade. Tyrion and Alliser Thorne each have an edge in their voices at one point, oddly enough. And I mentioned that Tyrion explains to Jon that reading puts an edge on the blade of his mind. Jon himself may be the sword these mentors are working to sharpen. At any rate, all of these "edge" references hint at some important sword, I'm thinking.

On a related note, Tyrion and Alliser Thorne verbally spar over a dinner of crab (yet another important feast) - Tyrion makes fun of Thorne with a crab fork (allusions to Trident River, Meera's hunting trident, the fork Arya throws into the canal, Daario's beard?) and Mormont crushes a crab claw with his fist. I'm sure many people have observed that the sword Longclaw could represent the claw of a bear, wolf or an eagle but I think it's no coincidence that the trident river flows toward an area called the Bay of Crabs - another animal with a notable claw. The best hint I've seen to explain the symbolism of crabs is that Victarion Greyjoy gave his wife "to the crabs" after his brother seduced her - i.e., he killed her and put her body in the water. So crabs may represent death or mutilation after death. Maybe crabs are the "sigil" of the white walkers? At any rate, a crab claw is yet another kind of claw that could all be embodied by Jon's sword.

This may or may not be related to the role of the NW brothers in preparing Jon for his destiny: I think the new members who join the Night's Watch and thrive with Jon's help represent stages of his maturation as a black brother. Benjen Stark's last words to Jon are that he is "a green boy with the smell of summer still on you." Jon's first friends began as his adversaries: Grenn and Pyp may represent "green" and a pip is a "small, hard seed in a fruit". Samwell Tarly thinks of himself as a craven and may represent Jon's version of Mormont's pet raven. After Jon returns from his wildling mission, NW brothers named Leather and Satin become part of his trusted circle: Leather may represent the animal skin attire associated with the wildlings and Satin, a former sex worker, may represent Jon's sexual awakening as well as the red silk that was sewn into Mance's cloak by the wildling woman who nursed him back to health. Not sure about Dolorous Edd - maybe he represents Jon's blossoming sense of humor?

I am hoping that the pomegranate symbolism of Bowen Marsh is a hint that Jon's mission in the afterlife/underworld will allow him to return after six months or some other interval, like the story of Persephone and Demeter. The seeds may be strong, but let's hope there's a loophole that allows Jon's return.

(Mance) also wanted Jon in Winterfell, but Marsh's actions preempted these plans. Mance has good reasons for what he does and he has probably found something in the crypts that should be pivotal to Jon's quest. Since, Jon is not likely to return to Winterfell, I suspect Mance will send Giantsbane after Jon with whatever he found in the crypts.

If Longclaw isn't the important sword that is needed for Jon to fulfill his destiny, I'm afraid that Brandon Stark's sword may be the one that is needed. That may be what Mance needs from the crypt at Winterfell. Oops. Do we know whether it went with Rickon and Osha or with Meera and Bran? In the remaining books, there may be a mad scramble among Jon's NW brothers to find the sword that will allow their Lord Commander to return to the living world upon completion of his mission. I hope they find it.

[Hos the Hostage]

If Longclaw isn't the important sword that is needed for Jon to fulfill his destiny, I'm afraid that Brandon Stark's sword may be the one that is needed. That may be what Mance needs from the crypt at Winterfell. Oops. Do we know whether it went with Rickon and Osha or with Meera and Bran? In the remaining books, there may be a mad scramble among Jon's NW brothers to find the sword that will allow their Lord Commander to return to the living world upon completion of his mission. I hope they find it.

If you mean Eddard's elder brother Brandon, why is his sword important? It was just a steel sword and Lady Dustin says he would have hated to part with it. That's all. It was an old sword of the Kings of Winter, taken by Hodor, that was made of iron. Iron swords are heavy and of all people in Bran's party, only Hodor could take it.

It was Bran who took his namesake uncle's sword from the crypts, by the way.

[Modesty Lannister]

Modesty Lannister, I love all of your well-documented and reasoned explanation of the Night's Watch men collectively preparing Jon for his "mission," whether it is to infiltrate the White Walkers or some other kind of afterlife. I had vague suspicions that something was going on, but you provided the evidence...

Thank you. I have been off the forum for a long time. It seems like ages. So, I'm sorry for such a delayed answer. Regarding the books, keep in mind that Mance was in Winterfell during king Robert's feast. And after everyone's gone, the library burns down. Interesting ...

[Monctonvike]

I’ve searched extensively on the forum and I was unsuccessful in finding a thread on this topic. That may have been a result of the key words I used so I apologise if this has already been discussed. This post is basically aimed at showing that there has been a case of shared dreaming in ASOIAF. Here goes…

EDIT: Please note that the theory has now been expanded to include Jaime in the shared dream (see Julia H.'s post, #51 on page 3).

Theon’s Dream

In ACoK Theon has a dream where he is sitting in the Great Hall of Winterfell, surrounded by dead Starks and their servants. The door swings open and a bloody Robb walks into the hall:

That night he dreamed of the feast Ned Stark had thrown when King Robert came to Winterfell. The hall rang with music and laughter, though the cold winds were rising outside. At first it was all wine and roast meat, and Theon was making japes and eyeing the serving girls and having himself a fine time... until he noticed that the room was growing darker. The music did not seem so jolly then; he heard discords and strange silences, and notes that hung in the air bleeding. Suddenly the wine turned bitter in his mouth, and when he looked up from his cup he saw that he was dining with the dead.

King Robert sat with his guts spilling out on the table from the great gash in his belly, and Lord Eddard was headless beside him. Corpses lined the benches below, grey-brown flesh sloughing off their bones as they raised their cups to toast, worms crawling in and out of the holes that were their eyes. He knew them, every one; Jory Cassel and Fat Tom, Porther and Cayn and Hullen the master of horse, and all the others who had ridden south to King’s Landing never to return. Mikken and Chayle sat together, one dripping blood and the other water. Benfred Tallhart and his Wild Hares filled most of a table. The miller’s wife was there as well, and Farlen, even the wildling Theon had killed in the wolfswood the day he had saved Bran’s life.

But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind. Along the walls figures halfseen moved through the shadows, pale shades with long grim faces. The sight of them sent fear shivering through Theon sharp as a knife. And then the tall doors opened with a crash, and a freezing gale blew down the hall, and Robb came walking out of the night. Grey Wind stalked beside, eyes burning, and man and wolf alike bled from half a hundred savage wounds.

Theon woke with a scream startling Wex so badly that the boy ran naked from the room - (Martin, 1998).

I believe Theon’s dream is only one half of a complete dream, there is a second side.

Jon’s Dreams

In ASoS Jon has a dream where he is in the crypts of Winterfell. He knows there is a feast upstairs, in the Great Hall. In the dream he thinks the feast is only for Starks and because he is not a Stark but instead a Snow, he is not welcome at the feast:

He dreamt he was back in Winterfell, limping past the stone kings on their thrones. Their grey granite eyes turned to follow him as he passed, and their grey granite fingers tightened on the hilts of the rusted swords upon their laps. You are no Stark, he could hear them mutter, in heavy granite voices. There is no place for you here. Go away. He walked deeper into the darkness. “Father?” he called. “Bran? Rickon?” No one answered. A chill wind was blowing on his neck. “Uncle?” he called. “Uncle Benjen? Father? Please, Father, help me.” Up above he heard drums. They are feasting in the Great Hall, but I am not welcome there. I am no Stark, and this is not my place. His crutch slipped and he fell to his knees. The crypts were growing darker. A light has gone out somewhere. “Ygritte?” he whispered. “Forgive me. Please.” But it was only a direwolf, grey and ghastly, spotted with blood, his golden eyes shining sadly through the dark... – (Martin, 2000).

In ASoS we have the following interaction between Jon and Sam:

“I don’t even dream of Ghost anymore. All my dreams are of the crypts, of the stone kings on their thrones. Sometimes, I hear Robb’s voice, and my father’s, as if they’re at a feast. But there’s a wall between us, and I know that no place has been set for me.”

The living have no place at the feast of the dead, [thought Sam]. It tore the heart from Sam to hold his silence then. Bran’s not dead, Jon, he wanted to say – (Martin. 2000).

At this point I propose that Jon and Theon had the same dream but experienced it from different vantage points: one is at the feast while the other is in the crypts. While one might argue that Jon and Theon are not having the same dream because Bran and Rickon, who are both alive, are also present at the feast, it is worth noting that Jon only thinks they are at the feast. Unlike Ghost, Jon cannot tell when his brothers are dead. This is demonstrated by a wolf dream he has in ADwD. After waking from said dream he thinks:

Ghost knows that Grey Wind is dead. Robb had died at the Twins, betrayed by men he’d believed his friends, and his wolf had perished with him. Bran and Rickon had been murdered too, beheaded at the behest of Theon Greyjoy… - (Martin, 2011).

Much like Jon thinks he is not welcome at the feast as a result of his bastardy he makes the mistake of grouping the living Bran and Rickon with the convincingly dead Ned and the presumed dead Benjen. Without even knowing it, Jon declares the feast in the Great Hall a feast for the dead.

After giving up on the idea of the dead saving him he calls for Ygritte, a living person. Instead he finds a grey and ghastly direwolf that’s spotted with blood with his eyes shining, much like the grey direwolf seen by Theon at the feast: bleeding from a hundred savage wounds with his eyes burning.

House of the Undying vs. the Ghost of High Heart

In ACoK Daenerys sees this vision in the House of the Undying:

Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, a sprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Severed hands clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. In a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal – (Martin, 1998).

I think it’s generally agreed that this is a vision of the Red Wedding. If that is the case then I ask the following: why is it so different from the dream the Ghost of High Heart tells Beric Dondarrion, Lem, and Thoros of Myr in ASoS:

I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief. I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow” – (Martin, 2000).

The thing to note is that one of the most prominent things about the Red Wedding was the music, the horrible music that was a clangour, drums and pipes and screams; the ghost of High Heart says she thought her head would burst. Catelyn and Arya’s POVs both reflected on the horrid nature of the music with excessive detail.

I don’t think that Dany was shown the Red Wedding. Here is the main reason: the wolf king in Dany’s vision whose eyes followed her with mute appeal is wearing an iron crown, not bronze. IIRC, Robb’s crown was made of bronze. Again, my conclusion from these observations is that unlike the Ghost of High Heart, Dany did not see the Red Wedding, she saw something else.

I also think the reason the king in her vision had a wolf head was so we could automatically link him to the Starks. Bran is often referred to as a boy with a wolf’s head. This, in my opinion, is just a clue to link Dany’s vision to the Great Hall of Winterfell, not the wedding feast at the Twins.

Moreover, the other visions in tHotU had something to do with Dany, as I believe has been theorised several times on this forum; from the house with the red door to a prince who dies with a woman’s name on his lips. The Red Wedding and Robb’s death, as far as I know, have nothing to do with Dany. The only way Robb’s death becomes significant is if she sees all the deaths of the five kings. Why just the Red Wedding and not the Purple one, why not Balon’s fall from the bridge, why not a shadow slaying Renly?

Crackpot Time

My theory is that Theon, Jon and Daenerys each foresaw an event that still hasn't happened, the same event, from different views, each with an important piece to the puzzle, each of them with a role they must play (possibly).

I know this may have crossed the line between crackpot and plain madness but I think there’s something here.

EDIT: Observations Made by Other Posters

Here is what I found in

Apple Martini's topic, titled HotU Showed the Red Wedding...or Did It? The observation was made by Schmendrick, not necessarily to support my theory but it all fits so well I kicked myself for having missed it.

[in ACoK] at the [harvest] feast, Bran eventually stops eating and talking and his thoughts turn morbid. He thinks sadly of his family – his father and mother, brothers and sisters. He remembers the last time they were all together in the Great Hall, feasting King Robert - (Schmendrick, 2013):

And now they are all gone [thought Bran]. It was as if some cruel god had reached down with a great hand and swept them all away, the girls to captivity, Jon to the Wall, Robb and Mother to war, King Robert and Father to their graves, and perhaps Uncle Benjen as well …

Even down on the benches, there were new men at the tables. Jory was dead, and Fat Tom, and Porther, Alyn, Desmond, Hullen who had been master of horse, Harwin his son … all those who had gone south with his father, even Septa Mordane and Vayon Poole. The rest had ridden to war with Robb, and might soon be dead as well for all Bran knew. He liked Hayhead and Poxy Tym and Skittrick and the other new men well enough, but he missed his old friends.

He looked up and down the benches at all the faces happy and sad, and wondered who would be missing next year and the year after. He might have cried then, but he couldn’t. He was the Stark in Winterfell, his father’s son and his brother’s heir, and almost a man grown.

At the foot of the hall, the doors opened and a gust of cold air made the torches flame brighter for an instant - (Martin, 1998).

Surely the parallels between Theon’s dream and Bran’s POV are more than just coincidence. Another thing to think about is that Bran, referred to as a boy with a wolf's head, is presiding over a feast, just as a man with his head replaced by that of a wolf is doing in Dany's vision. Robb was not presiding over the Red Wedding.

As Schmendrick further pointed out, Bran is sitting in the place of Robb in the seat formerly known as that of kings in the North; so Bran is only like a king. Robb's crown was made of bronze and iron but because Bran is not the king his crown only has parts of Robb's crown. This may explain why the "king" in Dany's vision is only wearing an iron crown without the bronze.

I have never pur that together before amazing job!!!!!!

[ipsuel]

Here it is:

<snip>

It is not exactly a dream, only Tyrion's imagination, but it can easily be compared to Theon's (more elaborate) direwolf dream in ACoK:

The sky was a gloom of cloud, the woods dead and frozen. Roots grabbed at Theon's feet as he ran, and bare branches lashed his face, leaving thin stripes of blood across his cheeks. He crashed through heedless, breathless, icicles flying to pieces before him. Mercy, he sobbed. From behind came a shuddering howl that curdled his blood. Mercy, mercy. When he glanced back over his shoulder he saw them coming, great wolves the size of horses with the heads of small children.

Theon's dream continues for a while, but this extract is enough to highlight the similarity between this and the impression Tyrion has when hearing the wolf's howl.

<snip>

Great thread - I've literally read every post and don't have much to add since you all have done such a great job!

One little OT comment (and I don't want to start a whole thing here) is about the above dream of Theon's. This seems to me more like foreshadowing -- leading me to think Arya (or Nymeria's pack) will get to Theon in a weirwood grove/godswood. I mean: "Mercy, mercy" + howling + "great wolves with heads of small children" just seem so foreshadow-y :-)

Thanks to all for a great thread!

[Kyoshi]

Really interesting ideas since I last posted. Have to think before I actually contribute again.

[Seams]

In response to my musing, Hos the Hostage asked for clarification:

If Longclaw isn't the important sword that is needed for Jon to fulfill his destiny, I'm afraid that Brandon Stark's sword may be the one that is needed.

If you mean Eddard's elder brother Brandon, why is his sword important? It was just a steel sword and Lady Dustin says he would have hated to part with it. That's all. It was an old sword of the Kings of Winter, taken by Hodor, that was made of iron. Iron swords are heavy and of all people in Bran's party, only Hodor could take it.

It was Bran who took his namesake uncle's sword from the crypts, by the way.

My reasoning for this was actually buried in an earlier paragraph:

I also think Lady Dustin's revelations about Brandon Stark (Ned's brother) seducing her and his pleasure at having blood on his "sword" are super significant. The iron sword that was part of Brandon's tomb is one of the ones taken by Osha and Meera when they flee with Bran and Rickon - also significant. Frankly, if it turns out that Rhaegar is not Jon's father, Brandon is my current number one suspect.

[Alaynsa Starne]

I wish I had time right now to go through this thread again and see if someone has brought up this point before, but for now I'll just jot it down.

Something that's occured to me about Jaime's portion of the dream is that "doom" is often associated with Valyria and Rhaegar. An unidentified "Doom" destroyed Valyria and the Targaryens were the most powerful remnants of the lost nation. Barristan specifically mentions to Dany in ASOS that because Rhaegar was born in the grief of Summerhall he had a sense "of doom" about him. In ADWD, Dany speaks to Barristan again, and when asked what happened to the woods witch who predicted TPTWP, Barristan replies "Summerhall." Dany notes that "The word was fraught with doom." We have noticed that Jaime says that it is not a lion or a bear that waits in the dark in his portion of the dream, leaving the direwolf as the only option. We also know that in Jon's portion of the dream, he notices Jaime's sword flickering out ("A light has gone out somewhere.") suggesting that the two are in the same general vacinity and that Jon is at least on some level aware of Jaime's "presence". It's possible that Jaime is also aware of Jon. I would posit that Jaime's fear of the "doom" in the dark be a subconcious acknowledgment or prophetic vision that is not yet understood that Jon is a combination of Rhaegar (via association with doom) and Lyanna (via association with the direwolf).

The associations between Jon and Doom are maybe a bit too obscure, but I figured the observation fit well in this thread.