Dany's arc in TWOW according to Quaithe (Spoilers Abound)

[roxWolfox]

I always thought Dany would invade Westros from the East. But one of the many people pulling Martin's talks together, says Dany (and we) will only learn of the East from other's memories or flashbacks.

So where does this put Quaithe? I agree with the assessment that she and Marwyn are working toward different ends. I am anxious to learn what role he takes in all this.

Please correct me if I am wrong. Dany is avoiding the perfumed stewart at her court, yes? I think the Stinking Stewart that Tyrion is aboard is the thing she must avoid.

I could never envision Dany and Jon together after Drogo. She needs a man, and Jon, though buffeted by the time beyond the Wall, is not yet there.

After finishing ADwD, I cannot envision Westeros after war with dragons, the Unsullied and the Dothraki. Not to mention the struggle at the Wall. Will it be a smoking wasteland, with little groups of survivors settling scores? Would the Dothraki return to the grasslands or thunder around the Reach?

Or Varys.

[~No One~]

Nothing in the first edition of the book indicates that he even grabbed clothing.

Oh dear. Winds of Winter could become an interesting read indeed.

[Watermelon Knight]

I wonder if Marwyn shows up in TWOW? Or does he disappear like many other prologue/epilogue characters?

[Amris]

To get back to the original post:

The topic has been discussed to death various times I suppose but it always is fun again, so here are my personal - and totally meaningless - 2 cents:

- south to go north: literally the first step Dany is to take: south to the little stream and follow it in order to link up again with Drogon and meet the Dothraki

- go east to reach the west: refers to going to Vaes Dothrak before getting to her real task in the west

- go back to go forward: refers to either Valyria or Westeros or Braavos. I think Westeros. Anyway: with this move the Dany (Dragon) piece is in place on the board. And then follows the end-game:

- pass beneath the shadow to reach the light: Her ultimate task and the decisive move of the game: Another long night is threatening to happen and must be bested.

My reasoning (in reverse order):

Shadow and light reminds me of Tolkien and Sauron's darkness and the struggle between light and dark. GRRM has called the Song of Ice and Fire 'High Fantasy'. !! and ! So it's got to have an epic ending. It is not (read: not only) subverting the trope. It'll stick to some of the rules or it won't be High Fantasy anymore. That doesn't mean the ending can't be bittersweet, as promised. But still Dany is bound to have some real epic task to do before being worthy of the Iron Throne (or even being worthy of heroically dying or whatever her fate my be :P). Just conquering for no better reason than a general feeling of entitlement doesn't hack it. That's what we have the Stannises and Tywins and whatnot for already. Also the Long Night legend is bound to mean something. And Jon and Dany are linked somehow. Representing Ice and Fire and all that and their arcs mirroring each other so much. No: epic stuff coming, definitely and Shadow and Light sounds too epic to not mean something in this context. GRRM's alleged sense of humour where prophecies are concerned aside: I can't believe this one just means something as simple as 'stand under Drogon's wing when the sun is up in the sky' or so.

Back to go forward: The hardest part for me as there are so many possibilities. This could mean nearly anything. Even the 'back to Vaes Dothrak' thing. However it would make the most sense (for me) if this meant 'back to Westeros'. As in: Your real task awaits you there! Get to it already! (much like what we readers have been thinking for a while now. Why should we be totally wrong?).

East to reach the west: Since it seems to be more and more dried and cut that we will see Dany in Vaes Dothrak soon (I recommend reading the very good threads discussing the why and how of this if anyone hasn't yet) this one seems easy. The revelation of that GRRM letter from 1993 in which he seemingly had planned to have her land in Westeros at the head of a Dothraki army also points that way IMO. I think he deviated from that original plan and had to park Dany in Meereen and away from the Dothraki because a lot more plotlines had sprung up as the story unfolded than he had first reckoned with and he needed those other plotlines to reach certain points first before he could do what he had always planned to do: have Dany invade and throw everyone else's plans into chaos.

But now he finally has the other pieces in place and can move his dragon again!

South to go north: That's what Dany literally does after waking from the Quaithe dream. She makes very sure she is heading south - returning to the little stream, following it. That leads to hooking back up with Drogon (with all THAT implies!). And meeting the Dothraki. And everything else follows from this IMO.

[Varysfan]

I like the idea of Dany coming to Westeros via the Iron Islands with my buddy Vic, not from the east as people would expect her too.

I know coming from the west coast is a popular idea but when so many have tried and failed to cross the sunset sea (or at least return to tell the tale) I don't see how it's going to be possible!

[Isgrimner]

I don't think the idea of her circumventing the globe to reach the west coast of Westeros is really a good idea or likely. It would most likely mean there are no more continents from what we have seen as any others could likely be in the way. Now I am familiar with Pangea and the fact all our continents may have been one land mass at one time, so it could be that what we have seen of the AoIaF world maps are all the continents. However if that is so, that means the voyage will most likely be even longer with out resupply for fresh water and food. It would also be harder to hit Westeros as they could drift north or south during such a long voyage. I also kind of think they may not be too good at navigation, as it seemed that the reactions to the Euron's raiders going out to sea a little before raiding Tyrell lands and not sailing along the coast meant it was pretty out of the ordinary.

[LadyMary]

I wondered if "the shadow" refers to the darkness that comes with the Otherpocalypse, and the light is the return of dawn, after the Others are defeated.

If that's the case, the prophesy may work like this:

“To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward, you must go back. To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.”

Before she can go North to the Wall, she must go South to defeat and unite the Southern forces as part of her army, after the fracturous war that has left the Seven Kingdoms in ruins.

To go forward; i.e., to become Queen or Azor Ahai, or whatever her destiny is, she must first go back. I can think of several possibilities for what she has to go back to: back to the smoking ruins of Valyria or what little is left of it for some purpose, or back to where she was born - Dragonstone, because there is something on the island that will be important to her destiny.