Richard7666 Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Yandel describes them as massively muscled, big-boned, long arms, sloped foreheads, huge square teeth, heavy jaws, coarse black hair, flat noses that suggest snouts, and thick skins brindled in patterns of brown and white, making them seem more hoglike than human.Also the fact they aren't smart enough to make good slaves and can't breed with humans. Though references to cannibalism imply chimps over gorillas.When I read this my initial thought was this is a bit of a historical joke, playing on Westerosi ignorance. I get the impression GRR is referencing Hanno the Navigator: when the Carthaginians sailed down the west coast of Africa, they discovered a "hirsute people" who weren't very friendly and named them Gorillae (the word is a Latin translation obviously).I realise there are references to the Sothoryi having trading villages in the north, but I assumed these are genuine indigenous humans; with stories conflating the two into one race in the way the Carthaginians apparently considered apes to have been men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Blue Eyes Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 No. They are a different species of humans. Not homo sapiens but homo sothoryos or whatever. A bit similar to the homo erectus maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reginald blackfield Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Is this just another crackpot theory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSovereignGrave Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Yeah, I believe they're just another species of man. Similar to how the men of Ibben are probably Neanderthals (or something similar). And the brindled part could simply be paint or maybe tattoos of some kind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Skwisgaar Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Man, so much of WOIAF has to do with who can and cannot breed together, it almost makes you wonder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard7666 Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 True, the description does sound like any number of other hominids now that I think about it. The "thick skin" part probably made me think of the Carthaginian analogy too as I believe that was specifically noted. I wonder if the description was based on an actual species of hominid or is just a general "prehistoric ape man" description Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzalo Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 It could also be gossip evolution that has merged the Sothoryi with apes... perhaps some Sothoryi tribes dress with ape pelts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Lepus Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 The Brindled Men from the coast of Sothoyros speak the trade tongue of the Summer Sea, barter with visiting merchants, and one of them was a member of the Bloody Mummers. They aren't animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzalo Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 A brindled man among the Bloody Mummers?? who?? I remember Togg Joth who was one of the many Ibbenese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Lepus Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 A brindled man among the Bloody Mummers?? who?? I remember Togg Joth who was one of the many IbbeneseI have checked and there is mention of Brindled Men among the corsairs of the Basilisk Islands, but not among the Bloody Mummers. I guess I was wrong.But anyway, they can speak the trade tongue, so they aren't apes: The Sothoryi are big-boned creatures, massively muscled, with long arms, sloped foreheads, huge square teeth, heavy jaws, and coarse black hair. Their broad, flat noses suggest snouts, and their thick skins are brindled in patterns of brown and white that seem more hoglike than human. Sothoryi women cannot breed with any save their own males; when mated with men from Essos or Westeros, they bring forth only stillbirths, many hideously malformed.The Sothoryi that dwell closest to the sea have learned to speak the trade talk. The Ghiscari consider them too slow of wit to make good slaves, but they are fierce fighters. Farther south, the trappings of civilization fall away, and the Brindled Men become ever more savage and barbaric. These Sothoryi worship dark gods with obscene rites. Many are cannibals, and more are ghouls; when they cannot feast upon the flesh of foes and strangers, they eat their own dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 They are definitely not animals. Just a different human species. I imagine them as similar to homo neanderthalensis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Stark-Targaryen Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 This read to me like medieval accounts of encounters with people from different parts of the world. Until one of the characters interacts with the Brindled Men, we just won't know for sure... After all, Yandel doesn't even believe that the Others or the COTF are still walking around, so the further away we get from Westeros, the more I'd take the information as embarking upon the realm of the fanciful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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